Category: What’s On

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking several mobile carriers to provide it with more information about how their free-data streaming offers relate to the agency's goal of "maintaining a free and open Internet." The FCC's Wireless Telecommunication Bureau sent inquiry letters yesterday to AT&T, Comcast and T-Mobile. All three companies have been promoting programs whereby customers can stream some video and other content without having that traffic count toward their monthly data plan allowances. The FCC said its informal inquiry

Alleged VTech Hacker Arrested in the U.K.Police in the United Kingdom believe they have caught the culprit behind a massive cyberattack against leading electronic toy maker VTech that compromised the information of nearly 5 million adults and over 6 million children. The South East Regional Organized Crime Unit, or SEROCU, in Bracknell, a town about 30 miles west of London, arrested a 21-year-old man yesterday for alleged unauthorized access to a VTech computer. The police also seized several electronic items from

Engineers at a "secret" Apple lab in Taiwan are reportedly working to develop innovative new screen technologies for iPhones and iPads, according to unnamed sources "with knowledge of the facility."A Bloomberg report today said the lab, which began operating sometime this year, is focused on new ways to make device displays thinner and better. The lab is located in the Longtan District in northern Taiwan and reportedly employs at least 50 people. The building was formerly owned by U.S. chipmaker

MacKeeper is under some hacker fire this week. Kromtech, the company that develops software that works to make Mac computers more stable and secure, is reporting a “potential vulnerability” in its data storage system. That potential vulnerability reportedly exposed the personal data of 13 million people. Kromtech could not immediately be reached for comment. But here’s what we know: Security researcher Chris Vickery identified this issue privately to Kromtech before the company announced the breach. In a statement, Kromtech said it

Coldhak, a Canadian non-profit, is among the Twitter users recently warned by the microblogging service that their accounts might be targeted for hacking by "state-sponsored actors." Coldhak on Friday posted a tweet with the text of the warning from Twitter. The e-mail warning said hackers "possibly associated with a government" might be trying to gain information about Twitter users' e-mail addresses, IP addresses and/or phone numbers. This is the first time Twitter has sent out such a warning about state-sponsored security

Leading memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. is going all in on Inotera Memories, snapping up the remaining shares of the company it doesn’t already own. The sale price: about $3.2 billion. Micron already owned 33 percent of Inotera, which it acquired from Qimonda in 2008. Inotera, which provides DRAM foundary services based on 30nm process technology, produces about 120,000 wafer starts every month for Micron."The acquisition is the culmination of a highly successful seven-year partnership with Inotera,” said Micron CEO Mark

What’s the most frustrating part of owning a smartphone? A lot of users will point first to the meager battery life and the need to recharge more than once a day in some cases. A phone now available for pre-order, however, claims that one charge of its battery can last more than two weeks.China-based smartphone maker Oukitel has just announced a new Android-based smartphone called the K10000 (pictured) that it said can be used from 10 to 15 days without

It's been only two months since Google rolled out Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but some Googlers are already hinting at some new features that might arrive with Android N, the next update to the operating system. One of those features might be support for a split-screen to enable easier multi-tasking on tablets. That's according to a couple of comments made during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit featuring several members of Google's Pixel C team. The Pixel C, which came

Two months after adding support for Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail and AOL Mail to its email app, Yahoo announced today that Gmail has also joined that list. The app can now connect users’ Gmail and Google Apps accounts to Yahoo Mail. Multiple mailbox support for Gmail within Yahoo Mail was launched in both the mobile app for Android and iOS and in a desktop browser version. Gmail is the world’s most widely-used Webmail service.Yahoo said that it has expanded its server-side IMAP

Currently being tested by several hundred companies, including the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Club Med, Facebook at Work is expected to see a wider rollout next year. Available for desktop and mobile devices, the app will function much like the regular Facebook, except that posts, messages and other content will be visible only to users with company work accounts. "More than 300 companies are part of the pilot, including Heineken, Coldwell Banker, and Lagardere, and we are targeting a

Docker support. OpFlex backing. A stronger focus on layer 4-7 service. These are among the upgrades Cisco is rolling out with the new software release for its Application Centric Infrastructure, or ACI. Cisco’s bigger picture goal is to improve its Software Defined Networking (SDN) portfolio built on open APIs, open standards and a flexible ecosystem. The move could appease some Cisco critics that have accused the firm of being too proprietary in the past.“Customers tell me that only five to 10

Growing concern over privacy has prompted the Federal Trade Commission to turn to academia for its new chief technologist. The commission announced this week that it has appointed Carnegie Mellon University professor Lorrie Cranor to assume that post effective in January. She will replace Ashkan Soltani, who has served as chief technologist since November 2014. Soltani was a privacy practitioner who worked with The Washington Post to work some of the technical details out of surveillance programs revealed by documents from

This has never happened before. The global smartphone market is posting its first single-digital growth year on record. That’s according to the latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker from market research firm IDC. The firm predicts worldwide shipments will grow 9.8% to hit 1.43 billion units this year, thanks in part to slowing growth in Latin America, Western Europe and the Asia Pacific. The slower-than-expected growth actually signifies an industry downturn.And that’s not the worst of the bad news for smartphone

No longer just for celebrities, Facebook's Live Video feature is now available for testing by "a small percentage" of U.S. iPhone users, the company said today. Facebook launched its Live streaming feature in August for public figures with large followings on the site. Celebrities who have sent out live broadcasts through the Facebook Mentions app since the launch include Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Serena Williams, Martha Stewart and Michael Bublé. Their videos are made available live through News Feed, and are

In a move to help more companies adopt hybrid cloud infrastructures, IBM is beefing up its Direct Link service that allows customers to set up dedicated network connections from their IT infrastructures to the SoftLayer private network and cloud services. Big Blue just inked new collaboration deals with a number of new partners, including Equinix, Verizon and Digital Realty. IBM is focusing on the bigger picture: Organizations need reliable and secure cloud connections that eliminate the need to transfer data over

At Microsoft’s annual general meeting yesterday, former CEO Steve Ballmer made his opinions on the company’s current course crystal clear. For one thing, he thinks Microsoft's universal Windows app strategy is not destined to succeed. For another, the company needs to focus more on whether Windows Phone handsets can run Android apps, he said.Ballmer also said that the company should disclose profit margins and sales for its cloud and hardware businesses. "It’s sort of a key metric -- if they

Starting this week, Office 365 enterprise subscribers will have access to numerous new features of the productivity service, including the meeting, conferencing, and calling features of Skype for Business. Microsoft is launching its new subscription model for Office 365 tomorrow. The highest-end plan, Office 365 E5, is priced at $35 per user per month, or $420 per user per year. Microsoft introduced Office 365 E5 today during its Convergence EMEA conference in Barcelona.Office 365 E5 will include Skype for Business (pictured)

The release of Apple's iPhone 7 might still be nearly a year away, but rumors are already circulating that the company might ditch the standard headphone jack in favor of a thinner, proprietary Lightning connector. Switching from a standard 3.5-millimeter headphone jack to a Lightning connector would enable Apple to make the iPhone 7 even thinner than the iPhone 6, which came out in September. The iPhone 7 is expected to be released sometime in the fall of 2016.News of the

Chinese electronic toymaker (pictured: VTech Tote 'n Go Laptop) VTech, has been hacked, revealing the information of 5 million customers. The database of the company’s Learning Lodge app store, which allows customers to download apps, e-books and learning games, was breached on November 14 HKT (Hong Kong Time). The hack was discovered on November 24 and customers were notified on November 27. The customer database holds a slew of user profile information. The personal identifiers mentioned in the company’s report include

Samsung [made] history of a sort by launching the first major consumer-oriented virtual-reality headset. (It comes with an asterisk; prototypes and other not-quite-mass-market versions have been available for a while.) And its Gear VR headset is pretty impressive as first-generation devices go. The biggest surprise after using the new Gear VR for a few days: There's a lot of stuff to watch and play in the virtual worlds the headset opens up. Granted, some of that material is gimmicky or amateurish.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is the latest known hotel target of cyber attackers. The company on Friday announced that hackers had injected malware into point of sale systems at some of its hotels in North America.That malware ultimately made it possible for unauthorized parties to tap into the payment card data of some hotel guests. Starwood, which operates brands including Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, Element, and Westin, now joins the Trump Hotel Collection and the Hilton chain

Gunmen attacked a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners in Mali's capital Bamako early on Friday and are believed to be holding hostages, a senior source with the security forces and witnesses said.The raid targeted the Radisson Blu hotel, located just west of the city center in a neighborhood that is home to government ministries and diplomats, they said.Northern Mali was occupied by Islamist fighters, some with links to al Qaeda, for most of 2012. Although they were driven out by

Kevin Collier/dailydot/Hacktivists operating under the Anonymous banner say they’ve gotten more than 5,000 Twitter accounts affiliated with the Islamic State knocked off the site since Friday.We report that more than 5500 Twitter account of #ISIS are now #down! #OpParis #Anonymous #ExpectUs — #OpParis (@opparisofficial) November 17, 2015Anonymous's anti-ISIS campaign is part of a broad attempt to make using the Internet harder for members of the terrorist group that’s claimed territory in Iraq and Syria. Anonymous offshoots have been hindering ISIS Twitter accounts for

|By Shara Tonn|WHEN A GREEN architect does a particularly good job, you’ll know it by the bling: the silver, gold, and platinum LEED certifications that emblazon buildings’ exteriors. But the best eco-conscious constructions don’t need a seal of approval—and their builders probably wouldn’t appreciate it anyway. Mound termites, native to Africa, South Asia, and Australia, are pros at building self-regulating structures that maintain oxygen levels, temperature, and humidity. And now human architects and engineers want to adapt that ingenuity for their own

Building on a connected-car technology it first introduced in 2007, Ford today launched an app that will let users remotely lock, unlock, start or locate their vehicles using their smartphones (pictured). The new Sync Connect feature will even allow car owners to, for example, schedule their vehicles to start up at 7:50 a.m. so the interiors are warm and comfortable when they get in to drive to work at 8 a.m.Ford made the announcement during today's kickoff of the LA

In the wake of the ISIS terror attacks in Paris, many technology companies are looking ahead and preparing for the worst. Disaster recovery is a new focus for some, while others have had their eye on the target for much longer. IBM, for example, announced a contest today that gives developers access to its cloud to encourage disaster response-related app development. Just days after Friday evening's attacks that killed 129 people and injured hundreds more in the French capital, IBM has

CEO Satya Nadella (pictured) today revealed Microsoft's plans to enhance enterprise security and help its customers have stronger protection for what he referred to as the "mobile-first, cloud-first world." Addressing the Microsoft Government Cloud Forum in Washington, D.C., Nadella said that Microsoft already invests $1 billion in security research and development each year, but despite that the company is creating a new Cyber Defense Operations Center. Nadella said that center will be a state-of-the-art facility that contains a staff of security

Gone are the days when Microsoft waits for entirely new versions of its software products to make updates -- and the latest PowerPoint upgrade is once such example. After hitting the market two months ago as part of the Office 2016 suite, Redmond is rolling out a new wave of monthly updates for Office 365 subscribers.In November, PowerPoint is front and center. The updates include tools -- Designer (pictured, above left) and Morph (above right) -- that help regular Joes

A security researcher who uncovered a high-risk exploit in Chrome for Android has received more recognition this week after demonstrating how the vulnerability works at a security conference in Tokyo. Late last year, Guang Gong, a researcher at 360 Total Security, uncovered a vulnerability that could be used by hackers to gain system server privileges on Android devices. Yesterday during the PacSec conference in Japan, Gong demonstrated how the vulnerability could enable someone to gain control of a smartphone -- in

Redmond is doubling down on its OneNote note-taking app. Yesterday Microsoft announced a major new upgrade for the app. The latest versions contain a number of new features for a variety of devices, including iOS and Android updates, that will begin rolling out in the next couple weeks. Among the new features is the ability to add audio and attach files to your notes (pictured). The increased functionality should help OneNote keep pace with the features available in other popular note-taking

Unlike Apple, which exerts start-to-finish control over the chips and software that go into its iPhones, Google must deal with a far more diverse hardware/software environment for Android smartphones. But the tech giant might be looking to increase its influence over the systems-on-chip (SoCs) that go into Android devices. An article published yesterday in The Information noted that Google has recently talked with different chip-makers to give them "a road map for how it is thinking about the future of Android

San Francisco-based mobile security company Lookout said it has uncovered a new threat to the Android operating system in the form of malware that disguises itself as a variety of well-known apps -- but that actually exposes devices to root attacks and is virtually impossible to remove.The new malware has been found in software available from third-party app stores. The malware program insinuates itself in legitimate applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat Candy Crush, Google Now and WhatsApp. Lookout said

Two months after announcing a $50 million investment in artificial intelligence (AI) research, Toyota is more than doubling down on its bet. At a press conference in Toyko today, the car maker unveiled plans to spend $1 billion over the next five years to establish a new company -- the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) -- focused on AI and robotics. The institute will be located in Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto's Stanford University and will be led by Gill Pratt (pictured

Drone maker DJI and Canonical want to help developers’ applications take flight. Literally. The companies announced today that they are releasing a computer embedded on a drone platform. The goal is to allow developers to transform drones into more intelligent, autonomous machines capable of performing complex computing tasks on their own, according to DJI. The DJI Manifold, as the new system is called, runs on Canonical’s Ubuntu operating system and supports CUDA, OpenCV and ROS. The platform has been optimized for