Month: November 2014

Yikes, your car can be hacked in a VERY dangerous way!

YouTube Video of a Forbes Writer – “Stomping on the brakes of a 3,500-pound Ford Escape that refuses to stop — or even slow down — produces a unique feeling of anxiety. In this case it also produces a deep groaning sound, like an angry water buffalo bellowing somewhere under the SUV’s chassis. The more I pound the pedal, the louder the groan gets — along with the delighted cackling of the two hackers sitting behind me in the backseat.

Luckily, all of this is happening at less than 5 mph. So the Escape merely plows into a stand of 6-foot-high weeds growing in the abandoned parking lot of a South Bend, IN strip mall that Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek have chosen as the testing grounds for the day’s experiments…”

Whoa! One Dollar for the Samsung S5!

Amazon Cyber Monday Deal brings Samsung Galaxy S5 for $1 on contract with Verizon, AT&T, Sprint

The West Side Story – By: Clinton Hesler – “Cyber Monday deals are here, and deals can be found almost at every retail location. Sprint, AT&T, Verizon are offering the Samsung Galaxy S5 for $1.oo on Amazon.com. Not every day a deal like this shows up, so interested parties should jump onboard before stock runs out.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is the 2014 flagship device from the South Korean giant, Samsung. The handset launched earlier in the year to a lot of raving reviews, though some critics Samsung added more gimmicks to give consumers the impression that the Galaxy S5 offers considerably more than the Galaxy S4.

The model Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon are offering, is the 16GB variety, a smartphone that usually goes for $599 when not available on a 2 or 3 year contract. If the 16GB internal memory is not enough, the device comes with an SD card slot for expandable memory.

When it comes down to features, the most standout on the Galaxy S5 is its 5.1-inch full 1080p Super Amoled HD display and dual frontal speakers. It’s a beautiful handset that should be owned by anyone with a love for Android devices.

Apart from the excellent display, the Galaxy S5 comes packed with a decent enough 16 megapixel rear camera, and a 2 megapixel, front-facing camera for video calls.

One of the best aspects about this handset is its 2800 mAh removable battery. Samsung never fails in this regard, as the company knows that removable batteries are important to the Galaxy loving fans.

The Samsung Galaxy S5, while not the best Android based smartphone in 2014, should be viewed as one of the most worthwhile. It is a solid smartphone for those who are in love with big screen devices and handsets with super-fast quad core processors. The deal right now is probably the lowest the handset will ever reach in its lifetime, so folks who have always wanted one should jump at this opportunity before the offer disappears for good.”

Last week we had an Open Source notebook computer, this week, it is an open Source, or as they call it, “People Powered” tablet!

The Jolla Tablet IndieGoGo Page

From the Jolla tablet Indiegogo Page – “Jolla Tablet’s Sailfish operating system will be unlike anything you’ve tried before. Once you try it, you’ll never want to go back. Independent and powered by open source, change whatever you like, whenever you like.

At Jolla, we believe in your privacy and respecting our users. That’s why Sailfish OS is totally independent and has been built the way it has. It’s our company policy that we’ll never sell or share your data with anyone. There are no back doors or anything third parties could use for monitoring your activity. Together with the open source community, we’re continuing to strengthen our privacy capabilities at every opportunity.

Multitasking on Sailfish OS shows all your running apps conveniently in one single view. At a glance, you’ll see everything that’s going on, as well as easily switch between apps. You can also control Sailfish OS apps directly from the multitasking view – for example, change your music or play and pause your video stream without opening the app in full.

Sailfish OS works with your natural hand movements via gestures, which makes using the tablet super-fast. You don’t have to push tiny buttons or search your way back home – everything is always under your thumb.

Besides running its own native apps, Sailfish OS has the capability to run Android apps. You can continue using your favourite apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as downloading all the latest ones via the Jolla Store and other Android app marketplaces. If an app doesn’t exist, you can always make it.

We want you to tell us how you want your Jolla Tablet to be. It doesn’t matter who you are, you’ll get your voice heard in our community forum together.jolla.com. It’s here that users can suggest new features for Sailfish OS, as well as discuss ideas with the Jolla Sailors (our development team). Our community votes on whether they’d like to see proposed ideas developed further. Anything that has been voted on by the community is prioritised by the Jolla Sailors.

Our community is a vital part of the process and plays a huge role in making something that is people-made. We already have a solid track record after implementing four out of the eight most voted features to our first product, the Jolla smartphone, during 2014.

With our second product, the Jolla Tablet, we want to involve the community even earlier in the development to make the product you want.”

Watch out! You need to check your Twitter privacy settings, if you don’t want them to know what you are buying via their app!

Twitter is now snooping on the apps you download — but you can opt out

Daily Digest News – By: Dan Taylor – “Watch out before you accept those new terms and conditions from Twitter: that new legal stuff says they can now spy on the other apps you install on your Android or iOS device and report back to the company.

Twitter launched a support page to tell consumers what the new terms and conditions are about, claiming the changes will actually be a benefit to its users — however, it means that Twitter will be able to advertise services and apps to you based on what you’re downloading, according to Forbes.

With this change, Twitter will know what certain people in certain demographics are downloading, allowing for more targeted and profitable advertising. For example, if Twitter knows that you use Uber, it can sell advertising to Lyft in an attempt to get you to switch.

Twitter said in its support page that it would only collect a list of applications installed, and not any of the data within those applications. Most probably won’t be bothered by the change, but for those who consider it an invasion of privacy, there is a way to opt out.

Twitter’s data gathering will mean changes beyond more targeted advertising. It will also affect what Twitter users you’ll be recommended to follow based on your interests, as well push relevant tweets into your timeline.

Android users who want to opt out of this feature need to go into their settings and deselect ‘Tailor Twitter based on my apps.’ For Apple devices, you need to go to settings, and then Twitter, and then privacy and remove ‘Tailor Twitter based on my apps.'”

Can you imagine a customer asking that question in a fitting room? Nordstrom is using eBay’s technology to build fitting rooms in their stores that allow customers to see themselves in the clothing that they’re looking at but also interact with the mirror which doubles as a screen that can be used as a touchscreen.

It is being tested at two Nordstrom locations, one in Seattle, WA, the other in San Jose, CA. From the touchscreen users can see other clothing options, and even ask for salespeople to bring them another item to try.

The idea is to provide an online experience while retaining the in store purchasing experience. By blending these two methods Nordstrom hopes to be able to bring people into their physical locations and provide services that will keep them coming back.

EBay is developing this technology to demonstrate that they’re more than just an e-commerce company, in fact, they desire to demonstrate that they’re willing to partner with anyone in any area of commerce. The combination of the eBay technology and their PayPal payment service is designed to demonstrate that they are an innovative tech company with a desire to provide services in the business arena.

I totally want one of these! The science involved is phenomemal! Watch the videos in their entirtity! Awesome!

Zano Kickstarter Page

Zano Micro-Drone is Tiny, Autonomous, and Equipped with Optical Image Stabilization

PetaPixel – by DL Cade – “Micro-drones are typically thought of as more of a toy rather than a tool. If you want to capture real recreational aerial footage, you buy a bigger, heftier drone, right? Well, not necessarily. ZANO wants to change all that by packing both power and ease of use into a tiny package that measures just 2.5 x 2.5-inches and weighs just over 1.2lbs.

Created by Torquing Group Ltd — a company that has spent years creating micro-drones for military use — the ZANO is being called, ‘the world’s most sophisticated nano drone.’

ZANO wants to be the best of all drone worlds. Easily piloted with an iOS/Android app that anybody could use, autonomous when you want it to be, able to avoid obstacles, featuring decent video and photo features, and even optically stabilized.

Here’s a quick intro to the already full-funded drone from the project’s Kickstarter page:

The uses, as you can see, are vast. You can set it to follow you (it will avoid obstacles along the way), tell it to sit in one spot, have it take your group picture from a distance, control it using your smartphone’s motion sensors and more.

ZANO connects to your smartphone using on-board WiFi, and anything captured will be zapped over to your phone automatically over the airwaves.

The camera on board can capture 5MP images and tops out at 720p video because of bandwidth restrictions, but that number might go up to 1080p at 60fps in a future update. The battery will let you fly the little guy for 10-15 minutes at a time between recharging.

Here’s some more footage of the current prototype in action. The prototype can already hold position, avoid obstacles, capture images and video, and beam them back to the smartphone.

The Kickstarter, which only launched a few days ago, has already raised and impressive £183,475 (approximately $287,000 USD), and is well past its funding goal.

To find out more about the drone, or pick up a ZANO for yourself, head over to the Kickstarter campaign. ZANO is set to go into beta in March 2015 and ship in May 2015 assuming everything goes to plan, and you can reserve your own for a very reasonable £140 (approximately $220 USD) if you snag the super early bird special.

After that, be prepared to drop £150 (~$235 USD) for the early bird deal, or £190 (~$297 USD) once all the early bird slots are gone.”