Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon
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Dr. Bill pontificates on all things technical!
Microsoft has just confirmed that due to the issues arising from the recent security flaws in chips, it is requiring antivirus vendors to set a registry key in Windows to allow patching to occur. What this means is that if your particular antivirus does not set this registry key, or you did not set it yourself, then you will be BLOCKED from receiving security updates. That means security updates NOW, AND in the future! This is ridiculous! In effect, Microsoft is deciding that from now on unless you set this registry key your security will be compromised, regardless! Their heavy-handedness is getting out of hand!
Ouch! I hope you have newer systems!
Microsoft and Intel reveal just how much Meltdown and Spectre patches slow PCs
BetaNews – By: Mark Wycislik-Wilson – “The Meltdown and Spectre revelations have people around the world concerned about privacy, but there has also been great speculation about the reduction in performance that patches might bring. Now Microsoft and Intel have opened up about the sort of slowdown PC users and server operators can expect.
Having previously tried to play down the negative impact that bug patches will have on systems, Intel’s benchmark test now shows that — depending on the tasks — a slowdown of between 2 and 14 percent can be observed. Microsoft says that anyone with a computer dating from 2015 and earlier will notice a decrease in system performance.
Intel uses its performance test announcement to stress, once again, that there have been no reported instances of Meltdown or Spectre being exploited in the real world. The chip-maker says that it will share more information as it performs more tests, but wants to let its users know about its findings so far.
In a post in its newsroom, Intel says:
Based on our most recent PC benchmarking, we continue to expect that the performance impact should not be significant for average computer users. This means the typical home and business PC user should not see significant slowdowns in common tasks such as reading email, writing a document or accessing digital photos. Based on our tests on SYSmark 2014 SE, a leading benchmark of PC performance, 8th Generation Core platforms with solid state storage will see a performance impact of 6 percent or less. (SYSmark is a collection of benchmark tests; individual test results ranged from 2 percent to 14 percent.)
These figures are intriguing. Firstly, it is interesting to note that the benchmark results are not really in line with Intel’s insistence that the performance hit would be minimal. Secondly, it is important to note that the vast majority of people are not running systems kitted out with 8th Generation Core processors and solid state storage. Intel continues to say that the impact on data centers will be small, but reveals no figures to back this up.
Microsoft has shared its own findings which break things down in rather more meaningful terms. Terry Myerson has penned a blog post in which he reveals that, perhaps unsurprisingly, it is older systems — although not particularly old — that will see the greatest negative impact.
Summarizing the company’s findings, Myerson says:
He goes on to explain:
For context, on newer CPUs such as on Skylake and beyond, Intel has refined the instructions used to disable branch speculation to be more specific to indirect branches, reducing the overall performance penalty of the Spectre mitigation. Older versions of Windows have a larger performance impact because Windows 7 and Windows 8 have more user-kernel transitions because of legacy design decisions, such as all font rendering taking place in the kernel. We will publish data on benchmark performance in the weeks ahead.
As more benchmarks are performed and there are more real world tests from users, the impact of Meltdown and Spectre patches will really start to be understood. There has been insistence from many sides that any negative performance hit will gradually be mitigated against, but it looks as though we’re in for a long and bumpy ride.”
Would you pay $499.00 for a videophone for Facebook?
Facebook Portal video chat device tipped to take on Amazon Echo
Slashgear – By: Brittany A. Roston – “Facebook is about to launch a hardware product called Portal, according to a new report, to take on Amazon and its Echo devices. Portal, at least unofficially, is a video chat device for homes that makes video chatting a simple task. Facebook’s hardware won’t be announced at CES 2018, the sources say, instead being slated for an early May unveiling with a launch date later on this year.
The information comes from sources speaking to Cheddar, which reports that Facebook will be introducing Portal at its developers conference in May. Assuming the sources are correct, this will be the first time Facebook launches its own hardware product, a move said to be directly competitive with Amazon and its Echo products.
Facebook reportedly plans to start shipping the device some time in the second half of this year. Facebook Portal will use Facebook’s video chatting platform, making it easy for someone who is home to initiate a video chat with someone else, sans the use of phones and tablets.
Portal will reportedly use facial recognition tech to recognize someone and automatically find their Facebook account. Much like Amazon’s Echo Show, the device won’t be limited to just video chatting, instead also supporting services like Netflix, Spotify, and others.
The only technical detail provided is the inclusion of a wide-angle lens; presumably the device will have a touchscreen display, but details on that, such as size, weren’t given. The sources did say that Facebook expects to charge $499 USD for Portal, which would make it far more expensive than the Echo Show ($230 USD). However, the sources indicate that Facebook may drop the price to spur consumers into buying it.”
Google unveils point-and-shoot VR cameras from Lenovo and Yi
Engadget – By: Nicole Lee – “Last year at VidCon, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki revealed VR180, a video format that just shows you stuff in front of you, rather than behind you. When viewed in a VR headset, the videos are especially immersive — think of it as a giant field of view that stretches wider and taller than your standard IMAX screen so much so you can actually feel like you’re in the room. But in order to watch such VR content, one also needs to create it. So at CES 2018, Google is partnering with Lenovo and Yi Technology to announce two new VR180 cameras: the Lenovo Mirage Daydream and the Yi Horizon VR180.
Both cameras are designed to essentially be point-and-shoot devices and, from my brief time with both of them, they look very much alike. They’re both slim, compact, with dual 13-megapixel fisheye lenses each, as well as a 2.2-inch touch screen on the back. The Mirage Camera comes in white while the Yi Horizon is clad in black. One interesting part about the Horizon is that the display flips around, so you can take a VR180 selfie.
They can both capture images, record video as well as livestream video directly to YouTube Live. The content can be viewed on a standard display of course, but it’s really meant to be used with a VR headset. And since these cameras have WiFi built-in, shipping those captured-media files to Google Photos or YouTube is relatively easy. Both cameras work with Google’s VR180 companion app to upload and view content.”
A Bitcoin competitor?
Kodak’s stock doubles after camera and film pioneer boards blockchain bandwagon
Marketwatch – By: Emily Bary – “The latest trend among companies trying to drum up interest: announcing plans to introduce blockchain into the business.
Eastman Kodak Co. on Tuesday became the latest to do so, when the company said it would begin a ‘major blockchain initiative.’ Kodak intends to use digital ledgers to help photographers license their work and get paid for usage.
The stock KODK, +119.35% more than doubled on the news, rocketing $3.70, or 119%, to $6.80 in very active trade, after being down as much as 1.6% before the news. Trading volume spiked to 64.9 million shares from a full-day average volume of about 264,000 shares, according to FactSet.
After closing at a record low of $3.05 as recently as Jan. 4, the Tuesday move was the biggest gain and saw the most shares traded in a day since the stock began trading in its current form in September 2013.
The company and WENN Digital announced the launch Tuesday of the KODAKOne image-rights management platform and KODAKCoin, a photo-centric cryptocurrency.
For its part, Kodak acknowledged in its press release that blockchain, like cryptocurrency, is a ‘hot buzzword’ right now, but CEO Jeff Clarke said that the technology will actually prove useful in the company’s case. ‘For photographers who’ve long struggled to assert control over their work and how it’s used, these buzzwords are the keys to solving what felt like an unsolvable problem,’ he said in the release.
Kodak added that distributed-ledger technology, which is the backbone of cryptographic currencies, will help spot unlicensed usage of photos.
The latest trend among companies trying to drum up interest: announcing plans to introduce blockchain into the business.
Eastman Kodak Co. on Tuesday became the latest to do so, when the company said it would begin a ‘major blockchain initiative.’ Kodak intends to use digital ledgers to help photographers license their work and get paid for usage.
The stock KODK, +119.35% more than doubled on the news, rocketing $3.70, or 119%, to $6.80 in very active trade, after being down as much as 1.6% before the news. Trading volume spiked to 64.9 million shares from a full-day average volume of about 264,000 shares, according to FactSet.
After closing at a record low of $3.05 as recently as Jan. 4, the Tuesday move was the biggest gain and saw the most shares traded in a day since the stock began trading in its current form in September 2013.
The company and WENN Digital announced the launch Tuesday of the KODAKOne image-rights management platform and KODAKCoin, a photo-centric cryptocurrency.
For its part, Kodak acknowledged in its press release that blockchain, like cryptocurrency, is a ‘hot buzzword’ right now, but CEO Jeff Clarke said that the technology will actually prove useful in the company’s case. ‘For photographers who’ve long struggled to assert control over their work and how it’s used, these buzzwords are the keys to solving what felt like an unsolvable problem,’ he said in the release.
Kodak added that distributed-ledger technology, which is the backbone of cryptographic currencies, will help spot unlicensed usage of photos.
FactSet, MarketWatch
‘We are using Ethereum Smart Contracts, but we’re also developing our own proprietary blockchain and will evaluate the optimal solution during development,’ Kodak said in a statement.
The company, founded in 1888 in Rochester, N.Y., said it plans to launch an initial coin offering, or ICO, for KodakCoin, the cryptocurrency that will become the backbone of the new payment system. ICOs have emerged as a method of raising capital among ventures using digital tokens.
The ICO target is $20 million, with the potential to go up to $100 million.
‘This is a WENN digital currency,’ Kodak said in a statement. ‘Eastman Kodak Company will not be an issuer of the ICO, will not receive proceeds on the ICO.’
Companies demonstrating sudden interest in blockchain of late have been well received by investors looking for new ways to play the cryptocurrency trend. Shares of Riot Blockchain Inc. RIOT, +2.56% , once an unknown ‘animal healthcare’ company, have soared since the company announced its pivot toward blockchain. See CryptoWatch.
Then there are the more established brands, including Long Island Iced Tea Corp., which recently became Long Blockchain Corp. LBCC, +19.59% and enjoyed a nice stock-market boost for the name change. Hooters parent Chanticleer Holdings Inc. BURG, -7.65% said earlier this month that it would use cryptocurrency for its loyalty program, which sent the Chanticleer stock up sharply.
Kodak, which emerged from bankruptcy in September 2013 after a precipitous decline in fortunes that found it evicted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.41% in 2004, is a poster child for failing to embrace new technologies fast enough.
Kodak’s blockchain announcement boosted the company’s market value by $157.5 million on Tuesday, to $289.5 million. The stock remains down 55.6% over the past 12 months, compared with a 21.3% surge in the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.13% , even after Tuesday’s run-up.”
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2018 – “Toyota announced today it will introduce Amazon Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent cloud based voice service, within select Toyota and Lexus vehicles with Toyota Entune 3.0 App Suite and Lexus Enform App Suite 2.0 in 2018. Additional models will be available in 2019. This feature will allow Toyota and Lexus customers in the United States to interact with Alexa in the car.
Alexa can help customers with thousands of things and connects to more than a thousand third-party smart home products for added convenience and ease of use. With Alexa, customers can simply ask for directions, control entertainment, get the news, add items to a shopping list, control their smart home while on the road, and more.
‘Voice services are rapidly becoming more popular and through our integration with Amazon Alexa, Toyota and Lexus customers will soon be able to easily speak to Alexa in their cars while on-the-go,’ said Zack Hicks, senior vice president and chief information officer of Toyota Motor North America and chief executive officer and president of Toyota Connected.
‘We’re thrilled that Toyota and Lexus will bring Alexa to customers on the road,’ said John Scumniotales, head of product for Amazon Alexa Automotive. ‘Our vision for Alexa is that she should be everywhere a customer might need her – at home, in the office, on phones – and in cars. This integration means that customers can interact with Alexa, virtually anywhere they drive.’
Once Alexa is enabled, just ask her to do things like adjust your smart home’s temperature so it’s comfortable when you get there, add milk to your shopping list on your way to the store, or listen to your audiobook from Audible.”