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.
Online 'barrier' for disabled people
Moving benefit services online is creating a barrier for many disabled people in Wales, campaigners claim.
The Dismal Future of Interstellar Travel
I have been an avid science fiction reader all my life, but as an astronomer for over half my life, the essential paradox of my fantasy world can no longer be maintained. Basically, science tells us that traveling fast enough to make interstellar travel possible requires more money than society will ever be able to invest in the attempt.
Einstein’s theory of special relativity works phenomenally well, with no obvious errors in the domain relevant to space travel. His more comprehensive theory of general relativity also works exceptionally well and offers no workable opportunity to “warp” space in a way that can be technologically applied to space travel without killing the traveler or incinerating the universe. Interstellar travel will be constrained by the reality of special relativity and general relativity, and there is no monkeying with Mother Nature to make science fiction a reality.
The Daedalus starship (Credit: Nick Stevens, www.starbase1.co.uk)
So the only way to get from here to Alpha Centauri is by the slow-boat method of some kind of kinetic or radiative propulsion. There are many workable ideas, such as ion drives, fusion drives and solar sails. In fact, the all-around best ready-to-go idea is the ion engine, which is an off-the-shelf technology that has been used on many satellites and several spacecraft so far. With a small but constant thrust applied over months, years and decades, scaled-up versions of these systems could boost small payloads to over 10 percent of the speed of light in a few years, allowing travel times to Alpha Centauri and other nearby stars of as little as a century or less.
The Fly in the Ointment!
Andreas Hein, an engineer with the Icarus Interstellar Project, developed a rigorous method for forecasting the economics of interstellar travel, only to find that most economically plausible scenarios for a “Daedalus-type” mission would cost upwards of $174 trillion and require nearly 40 years of development and 0.4 percent of the world GDP. This would be for an unmanned, 50-year journey to Barnard’s Star using “fusion drive” technology. It consists of 50,000 tons of fuel and 500 tons of scientific equipment. Top speed: 12 percent of the speed of light.
All plausible interstellar missions require travel times of decades or centuries, which means the complex technology must be 100-percent reliable and/or self-repairing. There can be essentially no moving parts, because friction would create wear and tear over decades and centuries of use.
It is entirely plausible to think about kilogram-sized payloads that can be boosted to near-relativistic speeds very economically, but this is impractical because at the distance of the nearest stars, you need a powerful and massive transmitter that can relay data back to Earth, or what is the point of the journey? Even a Voyager-class spacecraft with, say, a “souped-up” megawatt radio transmitter could not be detected at Alpha Centauri by the largest Earth-based telescopes, even at data rates of 1 bit per year! A laser-based system would be highly directional and could possibly do the trick, but it would weigh tons, not kilograms.
One option could be a sophisticated nanotechnology system with a mass of a few dozen kilograms that would arrive at its destination, find an asteroid to mine, and then build from scratch a much more massive system capable of carrying out the scientific investigation and relaying the data back to Earth.
But the concept of sending humans to the stars makes no sense technologically, or at an economic scale that would interest humanity as it is currently constituted. Even if we were at the brink of extinction, do you really think that 7 or 10 billion humans would want to foot the bill and the decades-long effort to send a few lucky humans on a one-way trip to a distant planet — that may not even be habitable?
So What Do We Do?
Our solar system is vast, and a big-enough playground for human exploration to last us for centuries. It is technologically accessible to us even today, as the numerous unmanned spacecraft and robotic systems clearly show. There are many scenarios that can be planned over decadal or century timescales that would have human outposts and colonies on just about every interesting body in the solar system, from planetary surfaces and the surfaces of their moons to asteroids and comets.
But is manned exploration the only way to go for now? Absolutely not!
When you subtract manned exploration, which is hugely expensive, and replace it with robotic rovers that relay high-definition images back to Earth, all of humanity can participate in their own personal and virtual exploration of space, not just a few astronauts or colonists. The Apollo program gave us 12 astronauts walking on the lunar surface, a huge milestone for humanity, but today we can do the Apollo program all over again and augment it with a virtual, shared experience involving billions of people! This is the wave of the future for space exploration, because it is technologically doable today and scalable at ridiculously low cost per human involved. NASA’s Curiosity rover is only the Model-T vanguard of this new approach to human exploration. More sophisticated versions will eventually explore the subsurface ocean of Europa and the river systems on the “Earth-like” world of Titan — perhaps by the end of this century!
Robotic exploration of the solar system is now in full-swing! (Credit: NASA/Curiosity)
I know this robotic vision of human exploration doesn’t match up with the Star Trek or Babylon 5 versions of the future, where flesh-and-blood humans explore the galaxy in starships. As an avid science fiction reader, I too am pissed that we live in a universe where star travel seems permanently beyond reach in any kind of human future that makes scientific or economic sense. But this is the deck of cards that we are dealt. We can pine away for a mythical future of interstellar colonization, but that will be a reality for a future humanity that looks nothing like our civilization, perhaps driven by extinction to help focus the resources toward that goal.
Meanwhile, if you want any kind of space exploration that matters within the next century or beyond, it will be robotic, virtual, and involve billions of people, not just a few very lucky travelers — so what’s wrong with that?
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Uber Accused Of Describing Alleged Kidnapping As 'Inefficient Route'
It was a nightmare ride through Los Angeles in an Uber car recently, but the question is whether it was the passenger or driver who’d like to forget the trip.
A woman said her Uber driver took her 20 miles out of the way to a deserted lot and kept her locked in the car for two hours, according to Gawker. When she complained, she initially received only a partial refund for her troubles. The ride-sharing company calls her claims “inaccurate,” alleging she was intoxicated and a nuisance for the driver who’d picked her up.
The woman, who’s name wasn’t used out of alleged safety concerns, said the driver ignored her directions and questions and locked her door when she tried to get out.
“Only when she caused a commotion and screamed did he finally return her home,” Gawker writes. “What should have been a quick ride took over two hours.”
Her complaints the next day to Uber got her a partial refund for the driver’s “inefficient route,” though she later got a full refund.
But an Uber spokesperson said the woman’s claims clash with those made by the driver, according to a statement sent to The Huffington Post.
“Early reports on this ride are inaccurate,” Eva Behrend said. “Based on the information we have at this time, this driver called 911 to ask for assistance with an intoxicated rider who requested an extended trip. However, we have refunded the rider’s trip and reached out to the rider for additional information.”
Uber said it offered to discuss the issue further with the woman, but she hasn’t gotten back to them. Gawker reports the woman has been in touch with the LAPD and a lawyer.
Uber has endured a spate of bad press, most recently receiving a “F” grade from the Better Business Bureau, a consumer advocacy group.
In July, a tech startup CEO claimed he was a passenger in an Uber car when the driver went on a high-speed chase to avoid a taxi inspector in D.C.
There are several other Uber horror stories in the press.
For its part, Uber says it is committed to rider safety.
“All Uber ridesharing and livery partners must go through a rigorous background check that leads the industry,” the company’s website says. “The three-step screening we’ve developed across the United States, which includes county, federal and multi-state checks, has set a new standard. These checks go back 7 years, the maximum allowable by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.”
The company says the standards for its drivers, who are independent contractors and not technically employees of Uber, are often more rigorous than those for regular taxi drivers.
“Our process includes prospective and regular checks of drivers’ motor vehicle records to ensure ongoing safe driving,” the company says. “Unlike the taxi industry, our background checking process and standards are consistent across the United States and often more rigorous than what is required to become a taxi driver.”
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Outernet gets data to the unconnected
A radical scheme to provide data to the unconnected
Cyber-worm seeks home data stores
A malicious worm that can roam the net seeking data stored on insecure hardware has been created by a security researcher.
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The Power of Customizable SAAS Price Modeling
Software as a service (Saas) pricing can be a tricky thing. Vastly different than commodity pricing, SaaS pricing strategy tends to revolve around ongoing utility rather than a cut-and-dry “flinch test” (keep raising the price and constraining the terms until the customer flinches). While the latter may have been an effective pricing art in the era of enterprise software, as Bessemer Venture Partners notes, the flexibility of a cloud computing customer to flip your services on and off requires greater emphasis on customer pricing expectations, not just a financial spreadsheet.
SaaS pricing strategy depends on policies that guide discounting and margin management, according to PwC, who estimates it takes most SaaS providers at least two years to break even. Typical SaaS pricing models typically bill clients using one of the following three metrics:
Number of users
Volume of resources consumed, or
A combination of both
Image source: PWC.com
The folks at Sixteen Ventures, authorities on SaaS strategy, have a model called the 10x Rule. Use it in your = SaaS pricing strategy and, they claim, you’ll make your customer happy while boosting company profits.
I decided to test out this theory.
As a consultant, on one of the obligatory business tasks I passionately resist is client invoicing. Like any software tool, an accounting program should be so simple to use that a user doesn’t have to be an accounting professional to take care of his or her basic business needs. This brings me to a great, new invoicing service I discovered, Hiveage, and a pertinent quote from CEO Lankitha Wimalarathna: “For freelancers, it’s all about getting things done quickly and easily. We’re sick of clunky applications that require learning, and much prefer our users to jump right in and start doing.”
Tell me about it.
One of product’s unique features is customizable module pricing — pay for what you need. And this occurs even at the beginning of the “free trial.”
I wish my cable company would let me do this — Investigation Discovery, yes, Cartoon Network, no. But that might create a whole lot of unused inventory and revenue loss for the big cable providers.
So, does it work for SAAS products? I sent a three-point Q&A to Wimalarathna, to find out if, in fact, the pricing structure making me happy, is making him profit, as well.
Q: Has customizable pricing been a successful, profitable move for Hiveage?
A: Customizable pricing has been one of the cornerstones of our success. While our pricing overall is competitive, the fact that you can mix and match and pay exactly for the features you need has made us very popular among small businesses who don’t want to pay for the ‘catch-all’ tier systems offered by other online billing packages. We like to think of ourselves as the sushi train of online billing apps – we have everything, but you only pay for what you actually eat! Naturally, SMEs love this!
Q: How important is customer input to your pricing model and general strategy?
A: Customer feedback is at the core of our design and development processes, and we constantly go back to the drawing board based on issues that our users bring up. We’ve always understood that the day we stop trying to meet their demands is the day we stop being the service we have always set out to be.
In fact, some of our coolest features have originated in support threads! We are blessed with a passionate userbase and a vibrant community, and modifying the app based on what they need is one of the most rewarding parts of our job.
Q: What do SaaS businesses need to keep in mind as they negotiate pricing rates?
A: Perhaps the most important thing you need to remember as a small business offering SaaS is that people expect more and more for less and less. This doesn’t mean that you should cut your prices and run at a loss. Instead what you can focus on is keeping your operating costs low and passing these savings on to your users.
Takeaways
Think about it. Do you really need that new pool table in the break room? Are you spending more on utilities that you should be?
Most SaaS markets are super saturated and highly competitive, and keeping your own costs down can be a great way to offer the same features that your competitors do, and carve out a sizable chunk of that market on pricing alone.
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Google Discloses Vulnerability In SSL Web Encryption Technology
By Jim Finkle
BOSTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Three Google Inc researchers have uncovered a security bug in widely used web encryption technology that they say could allow hackers to take over accounts for email, banking and other services in what they have dubbed a “Poodle” attack.
The discovery of “Poodle,” which stands for Padding Oracle On Downloaded Legacy Encryption, prompted makers of web browsers and server software to advise users on Tuesday to disable use of the source of the security bug: an 18-year old encryption standard known as SSL 3.0.
It was the third time this year that researchers have uncovered a vulnerability in widely used web technology, following April’s “Heartbleed” bug in OpenSSL and last month’s “Shellshock” bug in a piece of Unix software known as Bash.
Security experts said that hackers could steal browser “cookies” in “Poodle” attacks, potentially taking control of email, banking and social networking accounts. Even so, experts said the threat was not as serious as the two prior bugs.
“If Shellshock and Heartbleed were Threat Level 10, then Poodle is more like a 5 or a 6,” said Tal Klein, vice president with cloud security firm Adallom.
The threat was disclosed in a research paper published on the website of the OpenSSL Project, which develops the most widely used type of SSL encryption software.
Rumors of a bug in SSL software had been circulating in recent days, prompting some security professionals to prepare for a major new threat this week.
Ivan Ristic, director of application security research with Qualys, said “Poodle” was not as serious as the previous threats because the attack was “quite complicated,” requiring hackers to have privileged access to networks.
Jeff Moss, a cyber adviser to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said attackers would need to launch a “man-in-the-middle” attack, placing themselves between victims and websites using approaches such as creating rogue WiFi “hotspots” in Internet cafes.
Google suggested a technical workaround to secure web servers, but added on its blog that it hopes to eventually remove support for SSL 3.0 from all client software.
Mozilla plans to disable SSL 3.0 by default in the next version of its Firefox browser, to be released on Nov. 25. (http://mzl.la/1DaxOwY).
“SSL version 3.0 is no longer secure,” Mozilla said on its blog. “Browsers and websites need to turn off SSLv3 and use more modern security protocols as soon as possible.”
Microsoft Corp issued an advisory suggesting that customers disable SSL 3.0 on Windows for servers and PCs.
Representatives with Apple Inc could not be reached. An Oracle Corp spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
Matthew Green, an assistant research professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University said that disabling SSL 3.0 can be difficult for some computer users.
“It’s not going to take out the infrastructure of the Internet. But it’s going to be a hassle to fix,” Green said. (Reporting by Jim Finkle. Additional reporting by Kanika Sikk; Editing by G Crosse and Ken Wills)
Facebook And Apple Will Pay For Women To Harvest And Freeze Their Eggs
Apparently, Facebook and Apple want to be on more than just the cutting edge of consumer technology.
In January, Apple will join Facebook as one of the first large companies to offer employees coverage for egg freezing for non-medical reasons, representatives told NBC News. Coverage for the procedure — which can offer women a more flexible schedule when it comes to deciding when or if to have children — may appeal to young, career-driven employees and entice more women to join the companies.
The procedure can be expensive — a single round of egg harvesting can cost at least $10,000, and doctors usually suggest two passes, the Atlantic notes — but with benefits that cover up to $20,000 in egg freezing costs, Apple and Facebook’s investment in their employees’ health could pay off, NBC reports.
“The benefit will likely encourage women to stay with their employer longer, cutting down on recruiting and hiring costs,” the outlet writes. “And practically speaking, when women freeze their eggs early, firms may save on pregnancy costs in the long run.”
Facebook declined to comment when reached by The Huffington Post; Apple did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
Though the method isn’t always successful, some specialists stand behind the advantages of the technology.
“Egg-freezing provides a very good chance of healthy genetic motherhood for those women into their forties without facing the horror of repeated miscarriage, which tends to occur because of age and poor egg quality,” United Kingdom fertility specialist Dr. Gillian Lockwood told Newsweek in August, explaining the prime time for egg freezing is when women are in their late teens or 20s.
An April Bloomberg Businessweek piece, titled “Later, Baby: Will Freezing Your Eggs Free Your Career?” explores the liberties egg freezing could afford younger women. Author Emma Rosenblum writes:
Imagine a world in which life isn’t dictated by a biological clock. If a 25-year-old banks her eggs and, at 35, is up for a huge promotion, she can go for it wholeheartedly without worrying about missing out on having a baby. She can also hold out for the man or woman of her dreams. Doctors hope that within the next 30 years the procedure will become a routine part of women’s health, and generous would-be grandparents will cover it as they would a first-mortgage down payment.
Forums: Who is the target audience for the Apple Watch?
Yesterday in the MacNN forums, one long-time member made some interesting points about the most likely clientele for the premium editions of the Apple Watch that could be priced above $500, stating that a watch is really the only piece of “jewelry” a man can pull off with style, so some of the higher-end models would likely be very appealing to watch aficionados. More suggestions for the best free iOS 8 keyboards have been coming in one thread started late last week.
Why We All Need to Help Change the Ratio on Diversity in Tech
By Jessica Reeves, Vice President of Marketing, Voto Latino
It’s been a few months since Google released data on its company diversity statistics. Since then, there’s been a fairly steady stream of company after company having their cathartic moment in the sun, acknowledging there’s a problem when it comes to tech and diversity and promising they’re going to help solve it.
Then last week happened. A report by the American Institute of Economic Research revealed that Asians, blacks and Hispanics in the tech industry are paid less than their white counterparts for equal work. Although the report drew some media attention, including a USA Today story, its point was soon hijacked by an off-the-cuff comment by Microsoft CEO Natya Nadella.
Mr. Nadella said women in the tech industry should not ask for a pay raise and trust that doing so will generate “good karma” that will compensate them in the future.
Yes, he has since retracted what he said and apologized. But first he took a pummeling.
All of this served as one more sign of both the depth of this problem and, well, those who perpetuate it. AIER statistics on the pay gap prove this industry’s issues with diversity are not just about growing the number of minorities working at a given company; they’re also about treating those minorities as equal. Nadella’s comments prove that such equality may be hard won when tech leaders don’t see what’s wrong with thinking this way unless the Internet yells at them.
There is no simple solution, but that doesn’t excuse us from seeking one.
At Voto Latino, a national nonprofit where I work, we leverage technology to engage and empower Latino Millennials. In our ten years of existence, we’ve concluded that the dismal number of Latinos in high-paying STEM careers exists not due to a lack of interest, but due to a lack of access to tech tools, training and mentors.
That’s one of the reasons Voto Latino, in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, HASTAC and Google, launched the VL Innovators Challenge. The Challenge is a tech competition that will re-grant $500,000 to 10 to 15 Millennial-led tech projects.
The VL Innovators Challenge does not require previous technological experience or a college degree, and applications will be accepted through October 15, the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month. Winners of the Challenge will receive access to mentors, training and other resources to develop their tech project and learn new skills along the way. What we value most is Latino Millennials’ creative tech ideas, which they will own if selected as winners.
Ultimately, we hope to build a long pipeline of diverse talent that companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and others can hire from. That’s how we plan to help change the ratio – on everything from pay equality to institutional stereotypes. For more information, visit www.vlinnovators.com.
Teen Geniuses Find Way To Justify Multitasking
While most of us like to believe we’re accomplished multitaskers who can watch TV, tweet, text, and make an omelette all while producing great work, science is always trying to tell us we’re actually underperforming. (Why do we keep inviting Science to the party again?)
Your Smartphone Would Be Dumb Without Federally Funded University Research
Federally funded research projects at universities led to the smartphone as we know it.
As the Association of American Universities illustrated in a post last week, each portion of modern smartphones was developed through university research. The lithium ion battery, for instance, would have been wildly expensive without John Goodenough’s research on “less expensive, alternative materials for batteries” at the University of Texas, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. The multi-core processor, which allows your phone to run responsively without becoming heated, was first developed by professor Kunle Olukotun at Stanford University with Department of Defense funding.
The technology used in smartphones is the culmination of decades of such research. The TRANSIT Navigation Satellite System, the precursor to the GPS, was created at Johns Hopkins University during the Cold War with funding from the Department of Defense and NASA. In 1946, the first electronic general purpose computer — which led to phones’ CPUs — was invented with funding from the U.S. Army at the University of Pennsylvania.
And the iconic touchscreen? It was initially developed in 1971 at the University of Kentucky, and improved at the University of Delaware with funding from the National Science Foundation. The research pair at the University of Delaware founded FingerWorks, which was acquired by Apple in 2005.
Federally funded university research has led to dozens of new companies, like Google, which was developed at Stanford University, and Duolingo, developed at Carnegie Mellon University, both with funding from the National Science Foundation. Last year, the University of Minnesota was honored for two startups launched from federal funding, one of which improved MRIs and one of which is finding more effective ways to generate energy from fossil fuels.
Despite the undeniable advances federally funded university research has brought us, research funding has recently been suffering. The AAU made this page because they “worry that policymakers sometimes forget how critical university research is to technologies we use everyday, like smartphones, vaccines and medicines, MRI, even the latest automobiles,” explained AAU representative Barry Toiv.
Funding takes a hit with each government economic stumble, from the 2012 fiscal hit to the 2013 budget crisis. The government sequestration hit academic research funding hard, with the National Institutes of Health having to cut $1.7 billion in 2013 alone. As of this July, university research is still suffering from sequester cuts, especially as researchers leave universities for private companies or foreign countries with more abundant funding.
(h/t Politico Morning Education)
Ebola.com Owner Wants $150,000 For Rights To Domain Name
What’s in a domain name?
As much as $150,000 if the owner of Ebola.com has his way.
Las Vegas-based entreprenuer Jon Schultz paid $13,500 for the rights to Ebola.com back in 2008.
Now he hopes to make a killing off the disease’s domain and figures his asking price is more than reasonable.
“According to our site meter, we’re already doing 5,000 page views per day just by people typing in Ebola.com to see what’s there,” Schultz told the Washington Post. “We’re getting inquiries every day about the sale of it. I have a lot of experience in this sort of domain business, and my sense is that $150,000 is reasonable.”
Schultz is speaking from experience: He and partner Chris Hood own Blue String Ventures, an “Internet Real Estate company that buys and sells generic domain names for profit.
Besides Ebola.com, the duo hopes to sell Fukushima.com, BirdFlu.com, and PotassiumIodide.com, Time.com reports.
Who might have interest in Ebola.com?
CNBC.com points out that big pharmaceutical companies commonly hold domain names for major diseases.
Johnson & Johnson owns the Cancer.com and Obesity.com domains, while Diabetes.com is held by an affiliate of GlaxoSmithKline, and Arthritis.com by Pfizer.
Schultz admits it was love at first sight when he first thought about buying Ebola.com.
“Having seen the movie ‘Outbreak,’ I was entranced by the subject and couldn’t resist buying the domain,” he explained to CNBC.
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The Future Of The Culture Wars Is Here, And It's Gamergate
Over the weekend, a game developer in Boston named Brianna Wu fled her home after an online stalker vowed to rape and kill her. She isn’t the first woman who’s been forced into hiding by aggrieved video game fans associated with Gamergate, the self-styled reform movement that’s become difficult to ignore over the past several months as its beliefs have ramified out from the fever swamps of the internet into the real world. She probably won’t be the last.
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