Lifeboat Foundation

By next year, Volvo wants to become the first manufacturer to sell cars without keys. Instead of a physical key or even a Bluetooth key fob, Volvo customers will use a “digital key” in a smartphone app to access (and share that access) to their cars.

Drivers will be able to use the app (and a Bluetooth connection) to start their car, open the trunk, mess with the security system, or — like with a key fob — simply have the car unlock as you approach it. But the biggest implications of this change could be for ride-sharing. Customers (and manufacturers) have begun entertaining new ideas about how to use cars to get around without owning them outright, and something like a digital key makes it easier for multiple people to have control over one particular vehicle. That could mean something as simple as just sharing access with your family, but Volvo will also make it work on the cars it provides to Sunfleet, a Swedish car-sharing service.

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Google’s forthcoming wireless virtual reality headset is purportedly in the works. With this new VR headset, users will no longer need a smartphone, PC or gaming console for it to provide a VR experience. (Photo : Justin Sullivan | Getty Images)

Google is reportedly developing a wireless virtual reality headset. The more advanced form of the company’s cardboard viewer will soon not rely on a smartphone, PC or gaming console to make it work – this makes it the first of its kind in the VR field.

The Wall Street Journal, citing its unnamed sources familiar with this matter, says that the company is currently working on an all-in-one VR headset which could likely come out before the year ends.

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This time, there is a very serious news about virtual reality as Google Inc. is said to be getting ready to unveil a new-fangled smartphone headset.

According to The Financial Times, the new headset will succeed Cardboard, and would be featuring much better sensors, lenses, and a more solid plastic skin.

It’s said the product is the like of Samsung’s Gear VR since it will use a smartphone to display as well as most of its processing power. The only difference is that the current Cardboard VR headset is just a cardboard headset like its name with an inserted smartphone, while the new one will be coming with an extra motion sensor for adding whatever the phone places out.

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It won’t break.

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This is a good baseline around common known issues — the real problem is cyber terrorists (as I call them) learns from each attack they instigate and like an artist, they constantly are fine tuning their own skill. So, the attacker’s approach and execution may be done one way, and by the next attack they can easily have changed their whole attack model completely which makes it very cumbersome for experts to trace at times. If we believe this is bad now; wait until AI is more widely available and adopted. Or, Quantum ends up in the hands of these guys.

Cybercrimes in today’s technologically advanced society have become much more sophisticated and progressive. We can thank mobility for the ease of extended access to our personal data, as with every use of our mobile phones, laptops or tablets in public areas we further increase our risk and vulnerability. As business owners, online shoppers, students, employees and even house wives, we remain at high risk for intrusion of our virtual systems. In this digital day in age, our personal data is used everywhere from when we make an online banking transaction to buying a new shirt at the mall, and even working on a project at the local coffee shop. It is hardly responsible to think that your information is safe anywhere.

Continue reading “Tactics to Protect Against Most Common Cyber Attacks” »

The day the physical SIM card disappears is slowly getting closer. Last year, we heard that Samsung, Apple, and various mobile carriers were working to create a new standard for embedded or eSIMs (programmable SIMs that allow you to switch carriers without swapping the physical card in your device). Now, the GSMA has announced a new eSIM specification for smartwatches, fitness trackers, and tablets, with Samsung’s Gear S2 Classic 3G the first device on the market to come equipped with the new technology.

Now, a few caveats are needed. This isn’t the first mobile device to offer a programmable SIM card (certain iPads have this functionality using Apple’s own tech, for example). Nor does the standard apply to smartphones, with the GSMA saying that won’t be coming until June. And while the June eSIM will allow users to store the profiles of multiple carriers on a single phone, this new specification only supports one carrier at a time. However, this is still a big step forward for the eSIM, with the new specification backed by some of world’s largest hardware manufacturers (including Samsung, LG, Microsoft, and Huawei) and mobile carriers (including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and EE).

Speaking to The Verge, the GSMA’s chief engineer Ian Pannell says that the new specification is all about giving users more control. “We don’t want the consumer to be disadvantaged compared to the current SIM model,” he says, adding that the new specification is a simpler version of the full eSIM, to ease hardware partners into the change: “We’re putting the first specification out for companies that may want to launch products that are very simple.” He adds that the eSIM is also 90 percent smaller than a traditional SIM card, offering “a big saving in space.”

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Flexible smartphones were once talked about as being the ‘next big thing’ for the industry, but apart from the occasional limited demonstration at a convention, the hype surrounding the technology has died down – possibly because it’s taking so long to arrive. But now, Canadian researchers have created a device that may be the first step toward a truly flexible smartphone screen.

Created by researchers at Queen’s University Human Media Lab, the prototype ReFlex is the world’s first flexible smartphone to feature a full-color, high-resolution display and wireless technology.

Continue reading “World’s first wireless flexible smartphone lets you ‘feel’ an ebook” »

Lookout for MAZAR Bot — Androids should be scared.

One interesting feature of Mazar is that it can not be installed on smartphones running Android with “Russian” selected as the operating system’s language.

The malware allows the attackers to spy on nearly every activity capable on an Android device, including establishing a backdoor connection, sending premium SMS messages, reading texts sent to the device, including bank authentication PINs.

Continue reading “Mazar BOT Can Erase Android Phones” »

Government and tech + telecom & ISPs need to come to an agreement in how to ensure innocent people’s privacy are respected. When a person murders, stalk, threaten, kidnap, and/ or assault a person then we have a responsibility first to protect the innocent public. And, with the resistance being displayed by Apple, are we running the risk of further alienating the consumers and business customers more when it comes to releasing AI like robots, self driving cars, etc. onto the public where criminals can buy AI technology and use it to hurt others?

We really need to be addressing these issues soon.

Tim Cook is playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship with the U.S. government. In the process, he may set in motion political and judicial processes that will endanger the security of all our mobile devices.

Continue reading “Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Dangerous Game” »