As developers for tablets and smartphones we like to keep abreast of the latest mobile technology developments . This is a daily digest of mobile development and related technology news gathered from the BBC, the New York Times, New Scientist and the Globe and Mail to name a few. We scour the web for articles concerning, iPhone, iPad and android development, iOS and android operating systems as well as general articles on advances in mobile technology. We hope you find this useful and that it helps to keep you up to date with the latest technology developments.
Apple Watch: FCC approval, Mail Pilot, Android Wear
Apple on Tuesday removed disclaimer language from its Apple Watch web page, signalling that it has obtained approval for sale of the device in at least the US, if not all the major countries where Apple is currently planning to launch the Apple Watch at retail beginning April 24. The Watch will be available for preview and pre-ordering — but not for sale — at Apple Stores beginning April 10 in select countries.
The Steve Jobs You Didn't Know: Kind, Patient, And Human
The untold story of Tim Cook’s friendship with Steve Jobs—and why Jobs wouldn’t let Cook try to save his life.
Premera Blue Cross Hacked, Medical Information Of 11 Million Customers Exposed
BOSTON, March 17 (Reuters) – Health insurer Premera Blue Cross said on Tuesday it was a victim of a cyberattack that may have exposed medical data and financial information of 11 million customers, in the latest serious breach disclosed by a healthcare company.
Premera said the attackers may have gained access to claims data, including clinical information, along with banking account numbers, Social Security numbers, birth dates and other data in an attack that began in May 2014.
It is the largest breach reported to date involving patient medical information, according to Dave Kennedy, an expert in healthcare security who is chief executive of TrustedSEC LLC.
About 6 million of the people whose accounts were accessed are residents of Washington state, where customers include employees of Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Starbucks Corp, according to Premera. The rest are scattered across every U.S. state.
The insurer said it has so far uncovered no evidence to show that member data was “used inappropriately.”
Medical records are highly valuable on underground criminal exchanges where stolen data is sold because the information is not only highly confidential but can also be used to engage in insurance fraud.
“Medical records paint a really personal picture of somebody’s life and medical procedures,” Kennedy said. “They allow you to perpetrate really in-depth medical fraud.”
A Starbucks spokesman told Reuters that Premera notified the coffee chain on Tuesday that Starbucks may have been affected by the attack. A representatives from Amazon did not respond to requests for comment, and a representative at Microsoft declined comment.
Although a breach at Anthem disclosed earlier this year and another large one disclosed last year by hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc involved larger numbers of records, those companies said they believed the attackers did not access medical information.
The Premera breach was uncovered on Jan. 29, the day that insurer Anthem Inc disclosed a cyberattack involving records of some 79 million members in Blue Cross Blue Shield plans across the country.
Premera spokesman Eric Earling said the two attacks were unrelated and that his company independently identified its breach.
Still, experts expect that other healthcare companies will find that they have been breached as the latest attack prompts them to look for intrusions.
“I think other insurance providers are compromised today and we still don’t know it. More and more are going to disclose attacks,” Kennedy said.
Premera hired FireEye Inc to investigate the matter and is also working with the FBI.
The attack affected Premera Blue Cross, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, and affiliated brands Vivacity and Connection Insurance Solutions. (Reporting by Jim Finkle; Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler)
TED – Day 1, Vancouver. Do We Trust Our Government?
There were three talks that raise a haunting concern coming out of TED’s first day in Vancouver. Three talks from the Fellow’s program, and one talk on the Main Stage each — in their own way — ask the question: Do we trust the U.S. government?
Individually, they’re reasonable questions being asked by smart intellectuals and activists. Taken together, the form a narrative that is more than that. They suggest a pattern — and one that the TED community is sure to pay attention to. For a group of leading scientists, technologists and world class entrepreneurs, the data tells the story.
First came Matt Kenyon, a TED Fellow.
Kenyon is an artist and an activist based in Detroid. Kenyon is disturbed by the fact that the US Government refuses to acknowledge the civilian body count of Iraqi civilian casualties resulting from the US-led invasion in 2003. He wanted to find a way for the Government to record the data. His art projects titled “Notepad” looks like a yellow legal pad. But the vertical and horizontal lines of each page of the notepad are embedding with micro-printed text. The text is that it contains the names and details of Iraqi civilian casualties. He told the TED audience he wants the to act as a Trojan Horse — he’s smuggled them into the hands of those in the United States Congress in various ways.
Then he asked the audience to look under their seats, where the yellow paper sheets were in a manila envelope. Kenyon asked the audience to write their representatives with the idea that correspondences from constitutes will end up stored i the public record, and encouraged people to write to their government officials on the paper, with the hope that this unwanted and unacknowledged civilian body count data will make its way into official governmental archives.
The fact that american citizens need to smuggle facts in to the public record was chilling. For all of our public sense of freedom and access to information — Kenyon’s project hit home.
Then came Trevor Aaronson, another TED Fellow.
Aaronson opened with the disturbing claim that the FBI’s efforts to stop terrorism in the U.S. has resulted in the creation of more terrorists than it has stopped. Many more.
Trevor Aaronson is the executive director of the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism.
Aaronson said that “the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the guise of engaging in counterterrorism since 9/11, built a network of more than 15,000 informants to infiltrate Muslim communities and ferret out would-be terrorists. The Bureau then provides the means necessary for these would-be terrorists to move forward with a terrorist plot — in some cases even planting specific ideas for attacks.”
He analyzed more than 500 federal terrorism prosecutions over ten years and found reason to question whether U.S. law enforcement is actually creating the very enemy we fear.
“The FBI spends $3 billion every year on counterterrorism, more than it spends on organized crime,” says Aaronson. “Some of their counterterrorism activities involve years-long sting operations, and informants working them can receive $100,000 or more for their work.”
Aaronson explained that “since 9/11 just one organization — the FBI — has been responsible for hatching and financing more terrorist plots in the United States than any other. Not Al Qaeda, the terrorist network founded by Osama bin Laden and responsible for the 2001 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Not Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al-Shabaab, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Not any of the other more than 40 U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.”
So, two powerful talks. Both suggesting that what our government does, and what we want it to do
And finally China.
The former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was the first speaker on the TED main stage. A lifelong Australian, his talk drew on his deep knowledge of Chinese culture, language and history. His disturbing conclusion: conflict is looming. And who’s fault? In large part, ours.
Rudd told the story of how China views the history of it’s treatment by the west. Rudd specifically cautions against these a number of commonly held notions about China:
1. China is a single monolithic state.
2. China intends to rule the world.
3. China is motivated by wealth, power and, above all, face.
4.There are fundamentally conflicting values between the West and China. There are many values — equality, freedom, solidarity with those across borders, and sustainability — that we increasingly share. Many of the philosophical and historical traditions bear some similarity, and it requires deep understanding and study before we write them off as different.
One thing is clear, China is on track to be both the dominant economy in the world, and the largest creator of greenhouse gasses that are driving climate change.
Kevin Rudd studies alternate courses for U.S.-China relations that guide us away from a seemingly inevitable confrontation. In his talk he made one thing clear, the U.S. and China have much to gain by working together, and little to gain by remaining on a collision course.
Overall — the mood at TED is optimistic and forward thinking. But these three talks together have me thinking about how we can ask our government to better represent our interest and shared goals.
You'll Soon Be Able To Send (And Receive) Money Via Facebook
There are many, many ways to send money to your friends online, but that’s not stopping Facebook from throwing its hat into the ring.
Facebook announced Tuesday that its Messenger app for mobile devices will let users send each other money. A Facebook spokesperson told The Huffington Post that users will also be able to send payments in the Chat feature for desktop, and that only users over 18 will be able to send payments via Messenger and Chat. The feature should roll out in the U.S. over the coming months.
It seems pretty simple to use, according to Facebook’s instructions:
To send money:
1. Start a message with a friend
2. Tap the $ icon and enter the amount you want to send
3. Tap Pay in the top right and add your debit card to send money
To receive money:
1. Open the conversation from your friend
2. Tap Add Card in the message and add your debit card to accept money for the first time
The company says it will take one to three days for the money to reach your bank.
Facebook has long allowed payments on its site for various reasons: games that let you purchase items with real money, for example, or a now-defunct gift card service.
For those concerned about security, the company said in its blog post that it handles over 1 million transactions every day and has a team of “anti-fraud specialists.” If Facebook can convince people it’ll keep their money safe, it could deliver a severe blow to mobile payment startup Venmo, which has been growing in popularity in recent months but has been slammed for its security problems.
If you do decide to use Facebook’s money-transfer feature, you’ll want to make sure your phone is encrypted or at least password-protected. Imagine leaving your device in a cab or at a bar with your debit card just a Facebook-tap away and connected to the largest social network on Earth. Yikes.
Thanks to an aggressive strategy basically forcing people to download the Messenger app, Facebook boasts at least 500 million users on Messenger. More than 1 billion people around the world have Facebook accounts.
How One New Feature Could Fundamentally Change Social Media
I am a fan of the #AskGaryVee show. For those of you who are not familiar with the show, it is hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk, social media thought leader and owner of Vayner Media. The concept is quite simple. Gary offers his social network the opportunity to ask him questions regarding social media, business practices and life in general. Viewers are encouraged to submit their questions using the hashtag “#AskGaryVee”. I have not seen every episode, but when I do watch, I always come away with a new concept to test or a helpful social media tip.
Episode 74 aired back on February 24th, but something Gary said in this video stuck with me, and really encouraged me to think about what I am sharing across my various social networks. One of Gary’s viewers, Spiker Helms, asked this question:
“If you created a social media platform, what would be the key feature and why? #askgaryvee”
Gary initially went on to talk about the ideal design for his platform. However, things got very interesting when he began talking about his key feature, which can be summed up in the following sentence:
“You can only speak once per day”
There is a surplus of content noise, and Gary argues that a 24-hour waiting period would cut down on this excess supply and require people to really think about what they are sharing. This rule may be hard to imagine in the context of a network that does not exist, but consider the implications on, for example, Twitter. If I send out a tweet today at 12 p.m., I would not be allowed to share another tweet until 12 p.m. the following day under the proposed “once per day” rule.
The three points listed below demonstrate how social media would fundamentally change if this new feature were applied.
1. 80/20 becomes at best 50/50
The 80/20 social media sharing rule refers to creating and distributing non-self-promotional content 80 percent of the time, including work from others, and self or brand-centric material only 20 percent of the time. It is hard to imagine, with a “once per day” speaking rule in place, the ratio of self-promoting material staying at just 20 percent. Let’s look at an example:
Say you create four pieces of content per week, which equals 208 per year. You are only allowed to speak 365 times during the year, which means if you want to promote all of the content you poured your heart and soul into, 57 percent of your posts would already be reserved.
That being said, due to the reciprocal nature of social networking, sharing content from others and engaging with your network remains essential. If you are not sharing the work of others, you cannot expect your work to be shared by others. What changes is the significance and value behind someone else sharing your work or taking the time to engage with you. As Gary says in his video, receiving a “Happy Birthday” wish from someone becomes very special because that person used up the one opportunity to speak for the next 24 hours on a birthday greeting.
2. A boom for the analytics industry
If I am only allowed to share one piece of content per day, I am firstly going to make sure that I am sharing when the majority of my target audience is online. This has always been important, but knowing your “best time to share” becomes essential to success. Furthermore, I am going to want to know exactly how my shared content performed. Did someone use one of their valuable shares in order to redistribute my content? How many impressions did my content receive?
Yes, analytics are important today, but I could imagine people investing more money and time in tools that provide answers to these, and many other essential questions.
3. No need for automation
I completely understand the benefits of automating social media activity, especially when trying to connect with and promote material to people across the globe. That being said, in my opinion, automation has in some cases been taken to the extreme, leading to 50, 60, or even 100 shares per day from an individual. I don’t care what ratio is being used (80/20, 50/50); this excess sharing is contributing to the overwhelming noise of content available to social media users.
The worst part is, despite sharing 50 times per day, automation makes it possible to share without even logging on to the platform. If my best time to share is at 4:00 in the morning, I would set my alarm and make sure I push that share button, because after all, I would only be able to do this 365 times per year. This new rule would, in essence, bring “excess-automaters” back to the actual social platform.
Closing Words
The notion of only being allowed to speak once per day on a social media platform was new to me, and really made me think about my current sharing strategy. I was able to pull five great reminders from this short #AskGaryVee clip that are applicable to today’s “unlimited” content sharing platforms:
Quality trumps quantity
Know your audience
Show your network you care
Think before you speak (share)
Be valuable, not noisy
What do you think about Gary’s proposed social media feature of “one piece of content per day per person”?
8 Steps to Keep Your Kids Safe Online
Do you know what your kids are doing online? Keeping your kids safe online is a lot harder than you think. That’s right. It’s not easy. There is a lot to consider. Should you let them pave their own way? Eventually. Does monitoring replace parenting? No. Is your kid going to try to disable any software you install? Yes. But it’s still your responsibility to not only keep your kids safe online, but to teach them how to keep themselves safe when they’ve shown they can handle the responsibility of having 24-hour access to the web. Here are 8 steps to get you started:
1. Get to know the technology
So many of the parents I speak with don’t know how to work apps, navigate a laptop or turn on the Wii. Search YouTube for how-to videos and spend some time getting comfortable with the technology your kid is using. You can also check out this App Guide for Parents to fill you in on all the latest apps.
2. Use existing privacy settings
Check the privacy and parental settings on all of your devices (desktop computers, laptops, phones, tablets, game consoles) and use them. Super-savvy teens can bypass these if they work hard enough, but younger kids can’t. You’ll be preventing accidental exposure to all sorts of stuff just by using the pre-existing settings.
3. Filter and monitor
Parents will tell me that they talked to their child about the Internet, so they don’t need to install monitoring software. Ummm… wrong. You do need to install it. And re-install it. There is software that can monitor tablets and smartphones like this one and this one, too. There is also software where you can manually allow certain websites (e.g. sexual health sites) that may be automatically blocked through filtering. You can find more info here. Of course, there are ways for your child to get around most software, which is why you need to stay on top of passwords and re-install frequently. However, the more difficult you make it, the less likely he/she can be exposed to content for hours on end. Be honest about your monitoring. Secretly recording a kid’s internet usage will likely do more harm to the relationship than good for the child.
4. Talk to your kids about digital citizenship
It’s important for your kids to know that everything online is permanent. Everyone could potentially see your “likes” and “favorites” as well as your comments on other photos. This permanency makes it important to consider your online reputation. Teens can start building a positive reputation online using LinkedIn and keeping all other social media profiles completely private. For example, most people keep their Twitter and Instagram profiles public and college admission committees will look up applicants online and see those profiles. Encourage teens not to post sexy or wild photos of themselves, or at least not as a profile pic.
5. Limit technology use
Try to limit time by providing time windows when the use of the Internet is allowed and windows where it is not. You could also try a tech curfew (no internet after 7 or 8 p.m.). Some families have found that having no tablet/smartphone usage from 5-7 p.m. works, then they have a 30 minute window to return emails, messages and texts, and then off again at 7:30 p.m.. There is also software which tracks time spent on Netflix, Facebook, Games, Word, Excel, etc. offering another way to monitor. There is a new trend called “vamping,” where teens stay up all night long on social media while their parents think they’re asleep. If this is the case, you might have to disable the wireless router at night. Whatever you choose, 24-hour unlimited access to the internet doesn’t mean we need to be online 24-hours a day.
6. Keep Internet devices in public places
No laptops, tablets or smartphones in bedrooms or bathrooms. They are not private devices, so they do not belong in private rooms. Here’s the catch: You should do this too. Try to have a “home” for the devices such as a basket or cabinet (some families I’ve worked with have a cabinet that locks for kids who sneak their devices at night). This sends the message that these devices don’t belong to the child, they belong to the parent, who is allowing the child to use the device.
7. Set rules with consequences
Cyber behavior should be thought of as an extension of the self… or representation of the self. If you wouldn’t do it in-person, you probably shouldn’t be doing it online. Little kids understand this better than big kids who can think more abstractly and can rationalize their bad behavior online. One way to get your child to think about his/her online behavior is to have him/her make a contract, you can find a sample one, here. There needs to be a consequence if they break the contract.
8. Gradually build autonomy
Your goal as a parent is to build autonomy within your child in almost every area: finances, emotions, social bonds, chores. You want your kid to be able to take care of him/herself. The same is true for their cyber-self. Trying to block and/or monitor everything or eliminate technology completely isn’t going to help them regulate their own use once they leave your house. That said, kids under 14 don’t really have the ability (developmentally) to regulate themselves, so blocking and/or monitoring as much as you can is the way to go. As they get older, you can expand their cyber freedom as they earn your trust.
UMBC Women's Lacrosse Players Suspended For Threatening Freshmen
BALTIMORE (AP) — Five members of the University of Maryland Baltimore County women’s lacrosse team have been suspended indefinitely for writing text messages that threatened freshmen on the squad, the school’s athletic director said Monday.
UMBC athletic director Tim Hall said the messages were written in GroupMe, which claims to be “a private chat room for your small group.”
Hall did not discuss specifics of the texts in an interview Monday, but he said the school has taken steps to protect the team’s freshmen. In addition to suspending the five players, the squad has been practicing recently without any contact drills.
“This type of behavior and language from any student is concerning and it doesn’t reflect the community standards at UMBC as an institution,” Hall said. “What we have done for anybody who has reached out is to assure and reassure that we have put the appropriate safety measures in place, because the welfare of our student-athletes is our highest priority.”
Mackenzie Reese, Alyssa Semones, Amber Kovalick, Meghan Milani and Brittany Marquess have been suspended, with no timetable for their return.
“We wanted to be open-ended to say indefinitely, until we have a better and more comprehensive understanding of the situation,” Hall said. “Situations of this nature need to be looked at very thoroughly and sometimes they can take some time. We won’t sacrifice thoroughness for expediency.”
The women apologized in a statement issued on their behalf late Monday, saying, “Our stance was utterly inappropriate and we are deeply sorry to the many we negatively impacted, particularly our hard-working teammates who deserve much better.”
The players have already missed two games: last Wednesday against Drexel and Saturday against Manhattan.
In addition, Retrievers co-coach Tony Giro was not on the sideline for the Drexel game.
“That was a decision I made administratively at that time,” Hall said, though he would not elaborate.
Mixed Opinions About Smartwatches as a Whole
Why is Apple making a gold watch? Think luxury markets. Apple is a lower end luxury company — now they are entering the higher end with the outlandishly priced top tier Apple watch edition. See what Ben Evans of a16z says.
Apple ($APPL) will make its smartwatches available pre-order on April 10th and available April 24th.
The watch is unique to itself, but an apparent and analyzed market move. Critics need to look at the original critique of the iPad, which many considered an item that was not necessarily needed. The same is being said about the smartwatch. But then again a watch is an accessory and accessories are not needed by everyone and Apple is a consumer electronics company that makes products. Regardless, for the luxury part it could be a good fit assuming Apple is (better) positioning itself as a luxury product company.
A few okay-but-not-needed functions of the smartwatch:
Using the watch as your hotel keycard
Opening the garage (assuming it is connected to the internet)
Turning on your thermostat?
Basically endless ideas follow Apple’s gadget expect quality battery life. Not even Dick Tracy had that issue. Batteries top out at three hours, six hours, eight hours… dependent on use.
From CNET:
For the case of its entry-level Sport edition (starting price: $349), Apple said that its engineers custom-designed an alloy based on aluminum that is 60 percent stronger but just as light. The company started with pure, raw aluminum that was heated to a molten state and then added magnesium and zinc to form a more protective and stronger compound.
For its midrange Apple Watch (starting price: $549), the company started with a steel alloy known for strength and resistance to corrosion. Apple then put the metal through a cold-forging process to make it as much as 80 percent harder and less vulnerable to nicks and scratches. For the black stainless steel edition, Apple added a carbon layer to create a more durable and brighter appearance. And for the top-of-the-line Apple Watch Edition (starting price: $10,000), Apple started with 18-karat solid gold for the body and then used a custom alloy designed to be twice as hard as standard gold. After the body went through its manufacturing process, ultrasonic scanners were employed to detect flaws in the metal. In the end, each case was hand-polished by ‘jewelry artisans.’
Not to be out done, competition has followed up to some degree.
Huawei is among the first firms to unveil smartwatch models that operate on Androids Wear platform. The latter by the way is full of smartphone watches, in fact it is like a smartphone competitor showcase explosion.See Link
Wired brought up a good question — especially pertaining to markets and bottom lines — what is the point of this product? It can’t beat a smartphone or a watch.
Stocktwits @InsiderMonkey blasted: Surveys Showed 10 percent Of iPhoneUsers Interested In $AAPL’s Smartwatch
From the BBC:
The big question: will Apple be able to reinvent the wristwatch industry in the way it has redefined others like computing and music?
Cable Companies Should Be Seriously Terrified Of Apple Right Now
Apple could finally offer some real competition to cable and satellite companies.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday evening that the consumer tech giant is planning to launch a web-based TV service this fall, with a small package of roughly 25 channels.
A TV service from Apple, which has been rumored for years, could shake up the TV industry, forcing other pay TV providers to drop prices, improve customer service and offer smaller packages to compete.
“If nothing else, it should put some pressure on the traditional pay TV players and get them to up their game,” said Jan Dawson, an independent telecom analyst. “Most of them don’t have much competition today, and as a result they have high prices, poor customer service, lousy interfaces and complex offerings.”
For many people, the company they pay for TV is also the company they pay for Internet, and Internet providers may raise the price of broadband-only subscriptions to keep people from dropping their TV packages.
The price of expanded basic cable service went up 188 percent between 1995 and 2013, according to a report last year by the Federal Communications Commission. TV industry executives justify higher rates by saying that the value of a bundle has never been better — you’re getting more channels than ever before.
That may be true, but you’re likely not watching the vast majority of them.
Even though many TV packages offer more than 200 channels, the typical person watches fewer than 20 channels, according to Daniel Ernst, a principal at Hudson Square Research, a technology and media research firm.
“What people really want is the major broadcasters — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — plus a handful of cable and Internet networks like ESPN, HBO and Netflix,” Ernst said.
Apple’s TV service won’t be á la carte — that is, you won’t be able to pay only for the channels you want to watch — but it will reportedly be a small package of roughly 25 channels, including ABC, CBS, Fox and ESPN. It’s still unclear whether the package will include channels from NBC Universal, because Apple had a “falling out” with NBC parent company Comcast, according to the WSJ.
It’s unclear how much the service will cost — the WSJ pegs it at between $30 and $40 a month, while The New York Times reports it could cost as little as $20 . It will not only work on Apple TV, the company’s streaming box that connects your TV to the Internet, but will also work on other Apple devices, like iPhones and iPads, the Journal reported.
Apple declined to comment.
In another foray into TV, Apple and HBO announced last week that Apple will sell HBO Now, HBO’s standalone streaming service, through its devices.
This latest round of rumors of a TV service from Apple — some details of which were reported by Re/Code last month — come as pay TV companies face increased competition on all fronts.
Subscriptions to pay TV are declining slightly, as a growing number of consumers choose to get their entertainment from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon instead of paying for TV. Dish, the satellite provider, recently launched a smaller live TV service aimed at so-called cord cutters, Sony is expected to launch its own TV service soon and Verizon has said it will launch a web-based one later this year.
Ernst said that Apple, the company that revolutionized the way we buy music to become the largest seller of music in the world, is in the best position to compete against the cable companies.
Apple can “give consumers what they want, when they want it, in a reasonable and well-executed package,” Ernst said.
Cable companies may be forced to respond to Apple with their own slimmed-down packages. But even that may not be enough to lure customers back from Apple, which will likely offer a better user experience and won’t require a set-top box rental fee.
Because Apple has something going for it that cable companies don’t: It’s a company Americans seem to really like. It ranks in the top 10 out of 1,300 brands in perception, according to YouGov’s BrandIndex.
No cable company ranks outside of the bottom 10 percent.
Protecting Flash Drive Data Is a Priority, Not an Option
Every time we read an article or hear a rumor about a major corporation or government agency being hacked by cyberthieves, the more paranoid we become. Fortunately there are ways we can protect our data from these hackers and feel a bit more confident that our documents and other information aren’t being stolen.
One of the areas most often ignored is information and other data stored on USB flash drives. Many of us just pop one of these small drives into an available USB port on our computers and transfer what we want to take with us without a thought as to what would happen if the drive was lost or stolen.
Fortunately there are a few flash drive manufacturers that thought about that for us and have provided us with safer, more secure ways of transporting our files.
We recently tested four of these drives: one from Apricorn, two from Kanguru and one from Kingston Technology.
Basically, they all offer the same protection. All of them provide military-grade 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) XTS hardware protection, which makes your files unreadable to anyone not authorized to access them. They are all USB 3.0 drives, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. but four times slower than the USB 3.1 standard that is waiting in the wings. And they all need passwords or key codes to make the data readable.
But that’s where the similarity ends.
The Apricorn Aegis Secure Key USB 3.0 Flash Drive ($199 – $369, depending on capacity) was, for us at least, the toughest drive to hack.
When you first unpack the drive, you notice a ten-digit keypad on top of the device. This is the first layer of protection and requires entry of an 7-to-16 digit passcode before the drive can be used. The code is entered before the drive is inserted in the USB port on your computer or other device. Also, if someone enters the wrong code 20 times, all the data is destroyed and your code is deleted. The drive also locks automatically if left unattended for a long time.
Another key feature is FIPS 104-2 Level 3 validation security, which is the U.S. government standard for protecting sensitive data. According to Apricorn, “The FIPS 140-2 validation covers 11 areas of the cryptographic key management and design integrity.” This covers the drive’s tamper resistance and its identity-based protection.
This advanced layer of protection is also available on two of the other drives we tested.
The Apricorn drives are available with storage capacities ranging from 30 to 240 gigabytes, which is a a lot more than the other drives, which have maximum capacities of 64 GB and 128 GB.
The Kingston DataTraveler 4000 G2 flash drive ($63 – $337) has all of the basic features of the Apricorn drive, except for the alpha-numeric keypad. These include 256-bit AES XTS hardware encryption and FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification.
The big difference here is how data is accessed. The DataTraveler uses enforced password protection to access the drive. All data is erased and the drive locks after 10 unsuccessful log-in attempts. Also, files can be accessed in read-only mode to prevent tampering and malware infections.
You can also customize the drive by changing the number of log-in attempts and the maximum password length.
The Kingston drives are available in capacities ranging from 4 GB to 64 GB.
The folks at Kanguru Solutions sent us two drives to test: a Defender Elite 30 ($44.95 – $249.95) and a Defender 2000 ($69.95 – $549.95).
The two drives are basically the same, but the one major difference is that the Defender 2000 offers FIPS 140-2 Level 3 protection and the Defender Elite 30 does not. Also, the Defender Elite 30 has a physical write-protect switch, which can protect your data from malware by making it read-only.
Both offer 256-bit AES XT encryption and both are accessed using a secure sign-on and password.
Now we come to a couple of features neither of the competitors offer: All of the Kanguru drives come with the option to register and access your drives remotely via the Cloud and offer antivirus protection for an extra fee after a short trial period.
The basic KRMC Cloud remote management service is available for $14.95 per year per device and allows you to delete everything from your flash drive remotely if it’s lost or stolen. The caveat here is that it can only be registered to one user. An upgrade to Cloud Pro enables you to allow access by an unlimited number of users for $399.95 plus $14.95 per year for each registered device. I would recommend this for medium-to-large businesses.
Both of these services can be used to set up passwords and sign-ons for each device, limit the number of invalid logon attempts and access data on any registered drive. You can also generate user reports for each drive.
The antivirus is available on a subscription basis for $7.95 for one year or $11.95 for two years.
The Defender Elite 30 is available in capacities ranging from 8 GB to 128 GB and the Defender 2000 ranges from 4 GB to 128 GB (in a larger housing).
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Hands On: Citymapper 5.01 (iPhone)
The best way to see any city is on foot. The cheapest way to see it is by public transport. The most expensive way to check out the sights is by taxi. Travel app Citymapper, now updated to version 5.01, shows you the best routes for all three, and does so very well. Mind you, it’s useless if you aren’t going to one of the cities it includes.
'The Creators' Documentary Reveals What It's Really Like To Be A YouTube Celebrity
The most popular YouTubers keep their subscribers happy by giving makeup tutorials, offering advice and even sharing details of their personal lives all in front of a camera. On the other side of the lens is a different view of YouTube fame — a side that isn’t all book deals and award shows.
In a documentary titled “The Creators,” Academy Award-nominated director Nanette Burstein sheds light on what it’s really like being a YouTube star and the obstacles that come with it.
The documentary focuses on four YouTube celebrities and the channels they run, including Zoe Sugg (known as Zoella online), who has more than 7 million subscribers and Thomas Ridgewell, whose TomSka channel has more than 3 million. Niki and Sammy Albon of NikiNSammy fame are working toward the same level of YouTube stardom and have more than 100,000 subscribers to date.
Though the three channels produce different content, the diversity of YouTube allows all of them to attract followers and make videos they actually want to create.
“On YouTube, you can just create what you want, do what you want, be how you want,” Zoe said.
The film documents each YouTuber’s success as they sign autographs and take pictures with fans, but it also shows the side of YouTube fame many people don’t think about, such as Zoe’s struggles with panic attacks as she deals with her new fame. Thomas has even opened up to viewers about his depression and coping with the death of a friend.
“That’s when I started pouring my heart out and hoping that it would matter to people,” he said.
Now, his videos matter to millions.
As for the future of YouTube, even the experts aren’t completely sure. For Thomas, not knowing is part of the fun.
“I love explosions, and YouTube is an explosion. It’s just chaos. It’s just constantly evolving and changing, and I’m excited to see where it goes next.”
H/T The Daily Dot
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Meerkats & Squirrels: No Monkey Business at SXSW 2015
Now in its 28th year, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference & Festival is considered ground zero for sampling everything new from tech innovations to films to corporate parties galore, and featuring international, national and regional music acts. New ideas are flowing, and business deals are made hourly here in Austin.
If Mark Twain were around today, he would probably use the service that became popular during SXSW 2007 to Tweet, “The reports of #SXSW ‘s death have been greatly exaggerated – over 33,000 people here!” and as a 9-year attendee, I would have retweeted his message, and many brands would agree with me. Then again, SXSW 2015 may go down as the year of the Meerkat. Even multiple Emmy Award-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus of the HBO show “VEEP” started her panel discussion today using the new video app that allows anyone to launch a live stream using his or her iPhone. (Sorry Android users, no Meerkat for you)
“SXSW has continued to be the best place for Adobe to connect with a wide range of people in the creative community and they have told us they love getting to see our newest products here,” said Heidi Voltmer, Director of product marketing for Adobe Creative Cloud.
“Attendees learn about new technologies, how leading designers tackle projects, how to promote themselves and advance their careers and more. This year we had sessions about getting started with 3D design, social media video … even sessions with leading designers like Erik Natzke.”
Having two days of back-to-back sessions in the same venue made it easy for those of us who wanted to learn from Adobe. Besides the social media session, one that I made sure not to miss was one on latest Photoshop techniques for screen design.
SXSW Means Business
After its world premiere here, Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Alex Gibney’s documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, a look at the co-founder of Apple and the Silicon Valley culture he helped shape.
Announced on site, a surprise screening of the film Furious 7 before its nationwide release next month, was held to a packed audience.
More than 145 feature films will be screened here — an all time high for the festival. Over 120 of the films were made using Adobe video applications, including 60 that used Adobe Premiere Pro, according to Anita Engleman, Product Marketing for Adobe Creative Cloud Video Segment. These films include 25 feature films, 29 short films and 6 music videos. Additionally, over 80 of the filmmakers utilized Adobe’s visual effects tool, Adobe After Effects.
Brands also understand that there are opportunities to engage with attendees and influencers by creating memorable experiences during the 10-day festival, which started March 13. While you still see many gimmicks, such as giant squirrels reading books to promote Squirl.co, a service to discover book locations, other brands are working with their agencies to reach out to influencers. Some of the outreach programs I have found interesting include:
Roca Patron Tequila used the SXSW opportunity to create a special weeklong event called Techquila, where select guests are being treated to a special three-course meal paired with specialty cocktails. The dinner is served at a pop up restaurant on the railroad tracks, where The Patron Tequila Express, a 1927 private railroad car owned by John Paul DeJoria, cofounder of Patron Tequila and Paul Mitchell hair products, was stationed. The meal is prepared by chefs from local foodie hot-spot Barley Swine.
Wearable Camera maker Narrative reached out to several attendees to test their small Narrative Clip device that takes a photo every 30 seconds. While it takes great photos in the light of day, I eagerly anticipate the Clip 2, being released soon, which promises better photos in the dark and Wi-Fi will automatically upload and store my photos.
My home state of Florida, thanks to Film Florida, the not-for-profit entertainment production association, is hosting a Tuesday block party on the exhibition floor celebrating tech, film and music by Floridians timed for the release of a new, original streaming series filmed in the Florida Keys. (Hint: “blood” is in the title).
I hope the above information will encourage companies to send staffers to SXSW 2016. Attendees learn as much from speakers as they do from other attendees. And as I start making plans for my 10th SXSW next year, I would love to learn even more from those that read my HuffPost articles.
Julio Fernandez is Vice President of Search Marketing & Analytics for SocialShelfspace.com, a marketing agency that combines search engine optimization with social business intelligence to deliver measurable results. His previous posts covered Google’s Knowledge Graph as well as Facebook graph Search and privacy issues. If you see @SocialJulio at SXSW, ask him for his brunch recommendations as well as how to get invited to the best parties.
Tumblr CEO Gets Squawk'd
When Tumblr CEO David Karp was invited recently to appear as a guest on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the FCC’s recent yes vote on net neutrality issue, it probably seemed like a low-hanging opportunity to generate some market mindshare with a hot button issue that could affect Tumblr’s millions of users. In fact, it likely seemed so safe that his PR rep likely referred to it as something along the lines of, ‘softball thought leadership,’ and therefore neglected to adequately prep the spokesman.
I mean, it’s Squawk Box. How often do they fry their guests, right? Wrong. Karp looked like a deer in the headlights on the most simple questions, and downright lost when discussing the all-important, ‘last mile.’ Squawk Box host Rebecca Quick, lobbied this pitch at Karp:
“You have a monopoly because it’s really expensive to build pipes and so you have not had multiple people who would build pipes to the door.”
It was a reasonable defense of AT&T, et al, and one designed to give Karp an opportunity to show his breadth of knowledge as it relates to mobile, while carrying the net neutrality torch for millions of millennials. But he failed his missives. Massively. Watch the video for yourself and pay close attention at the 1:30 mark.
How could Karp have avoided this mess? The blame, or most of it, should fall on the shoulders of his PR rep, who it appears failed to properly prepare Karp for this discussion. That lack of preparation is likely related to the PR rep’s own lack of investigation into the opportunity at hand. Did Karp even know the topic being discussed ahead of time?
All media interviews are potential pitfalls, even the low hanging fruit. Do your client’s a favor, and rather than bask in the glow of gaining an interview, investigate that interview. Ask the reporter or editor for sample questions, story or appearance length, and then ask for a fact check pre-publication. Live TV prevents the fact check, but not the other important elements. Spokespeople deserve better.
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5 Steps to Local SEO Success
Optimizing a brand’s locations for search, discovery, and traffic — both online and in the real world
There has never been more ways to find a Starbucks. You can go to the store locator on the website. Chances are, it will be the mobile version, because that’s how local search happens more often than not.
Or you could use the Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Bing Maps apps. You could check Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook (Places), or the newest local discovery app, Vurb. If you’re over 50, then your car’s navigation system is also an option. What’s more, you might just type “coffee shop” into a search engine and see what comes up — could be a Starbucks but more likely it’s a neighborhood cafe.
This challenge for brands like Starbucks…and Bank of America and Target and McDonald’s and H&R Block and Verizon — any brand with hundreds or thousands of locations — boils down to two things: search and discovery. How easy is it for consumers to find the restaurant, the store, the branch, the office? That’s search. And how likely is one to find a particular store over another when searching the category? That’s discovery. All of which drives foot traffic, web traffic, and ultimately sales. Managing this at scale is no small task. Given how fragmented the local search ecosystem has become, brands face a nearly impossible challenge in getting this right.
What I’m describing here is broadly known as local SEO i.e. search engine optimization for physical locations. What are the benefits and ROI? Not only does it mitigate lost traffic and sales that would otherwise go to competitors, but if you do this right, it will generate incremental sales by owning premium real estate on the mobile devices of today’s consumer.
One thing is for certain. Tackling this challenge requires technology. It requires a software platform designed to automate the bulk of local SEO. It also requires the human touch to truly excel in this space. If you’re looking to win in local SEO, the solution must combine the best of both worlds: technology and services.
With that in mind, following are the five steps to nailing local SEO:
1. Store Locator
The foundation of any local SEO strategy is the store locator. In the past, these were an afterthought. In the mobile era, though, store locators are often the face of a brand. It has to support the brand promise, which means it’s not a simple zip-code lookup with an address list. Store locator 2.0 is one unique page per location, wherein the consumer is automatically located and shown the closest store. The design is responsive. It is fully integrated to the major search and social networks, and each page reflects the unique community the store serves.
Pro Tip: There are two hosting options for page-per-store locators. You can do sub-domain, which looks like this: locator.brand.com/santamonica. Or sub-directory, which looks like this: brand.com/locator/santamonica. The latter is better for SEO, but it also requires more resources to deploy.
2. Location Data Ecosystem
The store locator should host a brand’s “location data of record.” This means it’s the most accurate, comprehensive, and current set of data for that brand’s stores. The lat/long coordinate (geocode) for each location must be manually set over the building. There is no other way to get it right. The remaining address and contact information should be updated on a weekly basis. Once this has been established, these exact data must be syndicated to Google, Facebook, Foursquare, Bing, and 100+ other directories on an a regular basis. Finally, these third-party pages and listings each need to link back to the respective store locator page and vice versa, such that the local presence for each location is completely inter-linked.
Pro Tip: Some third-party services effectively “rent” local listings, such that when you cancel the service, the listings disappear. Be sure that you own and control all of these local assets outright.
3. Social Media Optimization
Social channels have recently become a major factor in local search results. Google’s algorithm is using social signals — likes, shares, comments, reviews, ratings – to assess the relevance and popularity of a location across the entire local ecosystem but most importantly with Google+ Local pages. It’s a bit like the lure we feel to a busy restaurant. It has social validation. Likewise, Google uses these signals to rank a pizza place, coffee shop, or retailer. The more happening and locally relevant each one appears, the higher it ranks in search results…and the