#Touchscreen Takeover

[hitechno1mobile]

The Touchscreen Takeover: Are Touchscreens Becoming Standard on Laptops?

Explore the rise of touchscreens in laptops with our infographic! Discover if touchscreens are becoming the new standard. Presented by Hitech No1.

Visit this Infographic:

[goodluckclove]

Songbird Blog Takeover II: Scott Skylark Kaufner Intro

Hello, everyone!

First off, I should say that this isn't Scott. I'm his sister Tenzin, stepping in to craft a bit of an intro post on his behalf. Katy suggested that we just explain the concept well enough for him to do this himself, but I kind of shot myself in the foot fifteen years ago by making the internet out to be a singular entity that already knows about him. It was the only way I could get him to go online without someone else in the room, but I can't exactly back track and finally explain the whole concept of all of you being individuals with your own lives.

it would either fascinate him or push him into a massive existential crisis. He's agreed to use my old iPhone to post today (I showed him speech to text since touchscreen keyboards are hard for him), and that alone is such a push in the right direction that I don't want to rock his world too hard beyond that.

Anyway, here's what you need to know!

My Brother: The Basics

Scott is 30, Greek-Romanian, and an intersex man (Klinefelter's syndrome). He's an alloromantic asexual - I think sex-repulsed, but I haven't asked him directly for obvious reasons - and could be considered gender nonconforming.

He is also Traditionalist Birthright, and up until the age of 12 was raised entirely without gender.

Because of this, and as he lived exclusively in a witch town until his late twenties, he has nearly zero experience with most forms of bigotry. He does not think his upbringing was unique and does find his form of gender expression to be at all remarkable.

He definitely knows about ignorance though. He's not stupid. Once we were in a gay bar in Portland and a woman who was flirting with me made a sort of fetish-y remark about me being Nigerian and Scott heard and lectured her for ten minutes about the importance of broadening your horizons so you don't make "foolish fucking comments to nice people you've just met".

Scott doesn't know that much about birthright culture. Believe it or not, being a Traditionalist actually means he refuses to learn anything about his own history, instead choosing to see himself as a little creature being cared for by a loving and bountiful earth.

There's a whole thing with birthrights surrounding their middle name. It's considered a special rite of intimacy reserved for loved ones and the most trusted individuals in their lives. His first name is Scott, but considering that he thinks you are all one being he's known since childhood, I'm pretty sure you could call him Skylark if you want.

Scott is very passionate about Greek Mythology, music (He's been playing the piano since the age of two), breakfast foods, gardening, being outside, cats, bugs, food service, libraries, medicine, and uplifting movies about animals. He has seen The Adventures of Milo and Otis twenty-one times. I know this because I have also seen The Adventures of Milo and Otis twenty-one times.

That's all I can think to say. Scott is not at all technology or internet-savy beyond what he's needed to know for work and what he watched me do from over my shoulder. I'm kindly asking that, in turn, you dial back the chronically online high-octane absurdo-nihilism and just be nice to him. He's frankly excessive in terms of allyship, somehow being both sex-repulsed and deeply sex and kink positive (please don't ask why I know this). Katy him what he thought of the furry subculture and he nodded very seriously and said that he found them all very impressive. I don't know what that means. He refused to elaborate.

Scott just told me that he's taking the phone and going out to "show the internet his day". He seems excited.

Please, please be nice to my brother.

This is a Songbird Elegies blog takeover! Find out more about what that means by going here!

[mariacallous]

For now, Alex Lagetko is holding on to his Tesla stocks. The founder of hedge fund VSO Capital Management in New York, Lagetko says his stake in the company was worth $46 million in November 2021, when shares in the electric carmaker peaked at $415. 

Since then, they have plunged 72 percent, as investors worry about waning demand, falling production and price cuts in China, labor shortages in Europe, and, of course, the long-term impact of CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. After announcing his plans to buy the platform in April, Musk financed his acquisition with $13 billion in loans and $33 billion in cash, roughly $23 billion of which was raised by selling shares in Tesla. 

“Many investors, particularly retail, who invested disproportionately large sums of their wealth largely on the basis of trust in Musk over many years were very quickly burned in the months following the acquisition,” Lagetko says, “particularly in December as he sold more stock, presumably to fund losses at Twitter.”

Lagetko is worried that the leveraged buyout of Twitter has left Tesla exposed, as interest payments on the debt Musk took on to fund the takeover come due at the same time as the social media company’s revenues have slumped.

But Tesla stock was already falling in April 2022, when Musk launched his bid for Twitter, and analysts say that the carmaker’s challenges run deeper than its exposure to the struggling social media platform. Tesla and its CEO have alienated its core customers while its limited designs and high prices make it vulnerable to competition from legacy automakers, who have rushed into the EV market with options that Musk’s company will struggle to match.

Prior to 2020, Tesla was essentially “playing against a B team in a soccer match,” says Matthias Schmidt, an independent analyst in Berlin who tracks electric car sales in Europe. But that changed in 2020, as “the opposition started rolling out some of their A squad players.”

In 2023, Tesla is due to release its long-awaited Cybertruck, a blocky, angular SUV first announced in 2019. It is the first new launch of a consumer vehicle by the company since 2020. A promised two-seater sports car is still years away, and the Models S, X, Y, and 3, once seen as space-age dynamos, are now “long in the tooth,” says Mark Barrott, an automotive analyst at consultancy Plante Moran. Most auto companies refresh their looks every three to five years—Tesla’s Model S is now more than 10 years old.

By contrast, this year Ford plans to boost production of both its F-150 Lighting EV pick-up, already sold out for 2023, and its Mustang Mach-E SUV. Offerings from Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6 could threaten Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 in the $45,000 to $65,000 range. General Motors plans to speed up production and cut costs for a range of EV models, including the Chevy Blazer EV, the Chevy Equinox, the Cadillac Lyric, and the GMC Sierra EV. 

While Tesla’s designs may be eye-catching, their high prices mean that they’re now often competing with luxury brands. 

“There is this kind of nice Bauhaus simplicity to Tesla’s design, but it’s not luxurious,” says David Welch, author of Charging Ahead: GM, Mary Barra, and the Reinvention of an American Icon. “And for people to pay $70,000 to $100,000 for a car, if you’re competing suddenly with an electric Mercedes or BMW, or a Cadillac that finally actually feels like something that should bear the Cadillac name, you’re going to give people something to think about.”

While few manufacturers can compete with Tesla on performance and software (the Tesla Model S goes to 60 mph in 1.99 seconds, reaches a 200-mph top speed, and boasts automatic lane changing and a 17-inch touchscreen for console-grade gaming), many have reached or are approaching a range of 300 miles (480 km), which is the most important consideration for many EV buyers, says Craig Lawrence, a partner and cofounder at the investment group Energy Transition Ventures.

One of Tesla’s main competitive advantages has been its supercharging network. With more than 40,000 proprietary DC fast chargers located on major thoroughfares near shopping centers, coffee shops, and gas stations, their global infrastructure is the largest in the world. Chargers are integrated with the cars’ Autobidder optimization & dispatch software, and, most importantly, they work quickly and reliably, giving a car up to 322 miles of range in 15 minutes. The network contributes to about 12 percent of Tesla sales globally.

“The single biggest hurdle for most people asking ‘Do I go EV or not,’ is how do I refuel it and where,” says Loren McDonald, CEO and lead analyst for the consultancy EVAdoption. “Tesla figured that out early on and made it half of the value proposition.”

But new requirements for funding under public charging infrastructure programs in the US may erode Tesla’s proprietary charging advantage. The US National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program will allocate $7.5 billion to fund the development of some 500,000 electric vehicle chargers, but to access funds to build new stations, Tesla will have to open up its network to competitors by including four CCC chargers.

“Unless Tesla opens up their network to different charging standards, they will not get any of that volume,” Barrott says. “And Tesla doesn’t like that.”

In a few years, the US public charging infrastructure may start to look more like Europe’s, where in many countries the Tesla Model 3 uses standard plugs, and Tesla has opened their Supercharging stations to non-Tesla vehicles. 

Tesla does maintain a software edge over competitors, which have looked to third-party technology like Apple’s CarPlay to fill the gap, says Alex Pischalnikov, an auto analyst and principal at the consulting firm Arthur D. Little. With over-the-air updates, Tesla can send new lines of code over cellular networks to resolve mechanical problems and safety features, update console entertainment options, and surprise drivers with new features, such as heated rear seats and the recently released full self-driving beta, available for $15,000. These software updates are also a cash machine for Tesla. But full self-driving features aren’t quite as promised, since drivers still have to remain in effective control of the vehicle, limiting the value of the system.

A Plante Moran analysis shared with WIRED shows Tesla’s share of the North American EV market declining from 70 percent in 2022 to just 31 percent by 2025, as total EV production grows from 777,000 to 2.87 million units.

In Europe, Tesla’s decline is already underway. Schmidt says data from the first 11 months of 2022 shows sales by volume of Volkswagen’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB) vehicles outpaced Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 by more than 20 percent. His projections show Tesla’s product lines finishing the year with 15 percent of the western European electric vehicle market, down from 33 percent in 2019.

The European Union has proposed legislation to reduce carbon emissions from new cars and vans by 100 percent by 2035, which is likely to bring more competition from European carmakers into the market. 

There is also a growing sense that Musk’s behavior since taking over Twitter has made a challenging situation for Tesla even worse.

Over the past year, Musk has used Twitter to call for the prosecution of former director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci (“My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci”), take swings at US senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders over government spending and inflation, and placed himself at the center of the free speech debate. He’s lashed out at critics, challenging, among other things, the size of their testicles. 

A November analysis of the top 100 global brands by the New York–based consultancy Interbrand estimated Tesla’s brand value in 2022 at $48 billion, up 32 percent from 2021 but well short of its 183 percent growth between 2020 and 2021. The report, based on qualitative data from 1,000 industry consultants and sentiment analysis of published sources, showed brand strength declining, particularly in “trust, distinctiveness and an understanding of the needs of their customers.”

“I think [Musk’s] core is rapidly moving away from him, and people are just starting to say, ‘I don’t like the smell of Tesla; I don’t want to be associated with that,’” says Daniel Binns, global chief growth officer at Interbrand.

Among them are once-loyal customers. Alan Saldich, a semi-retired tech CMO who lives in Idaho, put a deposit down on a Model S in 2011, before the cars were even on the road, after seeing a bodiless chassis in a Menlo Park showroom. His car, delivered in 2012, was number 2799, one of the first 3,000 made.

He benefited from the company’s good, if idiosyncratic, customer service. When, on Christmas morning 2012, the car wouldn’t start, he emailed Musk directly seeking a remedy. Musk responded just 24 minutes later: “...Will see if we can diagnose and fix remotely. Sorry about this. Hope you otherwise have a good Christmas.”

On New Year’s Day, Joost de Vries, then vice president of worldwide service at Tesla, and an assistant showed up at Saldich’s house with a trailer, loaded the car onto a flatbed, and hauled it to Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, to be repaired. Saldich and his family later even got a tour of the factory. But since then, he’s cooled on the company. In 2019, he sold his Model S, and now drives a Mini Electric. He’s irritated in particular, he says, by Musk’s verbal attacks on government programs and regulation, particularly as Tesla has benefited from states and federal EV tax credits.

“Personally, I probably wouldn’t buy another Tesla,” he says. “A, because there’s so many alternatives and B, I just don’t like [Musk] anymore.”

[accertify]

Beyond Passwords: Enhancing Security to Prevent Account Takeover Fraud

From banking and shopping to social media and email, we rely on online platforms that require user accounts. However, the increasing risk of account takeover fraud has brought to light the limitations of conventional password protection. Users and businesses alike are at risk when hackers are able to gain access to private accounts, a growing threat that can only be stopped by advanced security options beyond passwords.

The Rise of Account Takeover Fraud

Account takeover fraud occurs when unauthorized individuals gain access to user accounts and exploit them for malicious purposes. This type of fraud has become increasingly prevalent due to several factors, including weak passwords, phishing attacks, data breaches, and social engineering tactics.

The consequences of account takeover fraud can be severe, ranging from financial loss and identity theft to reputational damage for both individuals and businesses.

Limitations of Password-Based Security

Traditional password-based security measures have several inherent weaknesses that make them susceptible to account takeover fraud. Some of the key limitations include:

Password Reuse: Users often reuse passwords across multiple accounts, making it easier for attackers to gain access to multiple platforms if one account is compromised.

Weak Passwords: Many users choose weak passwords that are easy to guess or crack, providing attackers with an opportunity to exploit their accounts.

Phishing Attacks: Phishing attacks, where attackers impersonate legitimate entities to trick users into revealing their credentials, have become increasingly sophisticated and successful.

Data Breaches: Large-scale data breaches have exposed millions of user credentials, providing attackers with a vast collection of username and password combinations to exploit.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication is a robust security measure that adds an extra layer of protection beyond passwords. MFA requires users to provide additional evidence of their identity, typically through something they know (a password), something they have (e.g., a smartphone or hardware token), or something they are (biometrics). By combining multiple factors, MFA significantly reduces the risk of account takeover fraud.

Adaptive Authentication

Adaptive authentication leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze various factors, including user behavior, device information, and location, to determine the risk level associated with a login attempt.

This approach allows for dynamic authentication policies that can trigger additional security measures, such as step-up authentication or blocking suspicious login attempts. By adapting to evolving risk factors, adaptive authentication provides an effective defense against account takeover fraud.

Behavioral Biometrics

Behavioral biometrics analyze unique patterns in user behavior, such as typing speed, mouse movements, and touchscreen gestures, to establish an individual's identity. This technology creates a biometric profile unique to each user, which is difficult for attackers to replicate. Behavioral biometrics can work silently in the background, continuously verifying a user's identity, and raising alerts if suspicious activity is detected.

Risk-Based Authentication

Risk-based authentication uses risk assessment algorithms to evaluate the likelihood of fraudulent activity based on various factors, such as login location, IP address, device information, and user behavior.

By assigning risk scores to login attempts, organizations can implement adaptive security measures. For example, if a login attempt exhibits a high-risk score, additional verification steps can be triggered to ensure the legitimacy of the user.

Conclusion

By embracing advanced security measures like multi-factor authentication, behavioral biometrics, and continuous authentication, we can fortify our defenses. It's time to move beyond passwords and pave the way for a safer and more secure digital future.

[wildtige429]

Morning Call

@lynea-kureji

I was watching this scene and it made me crack up!

I hope you have a good laugh at this one!

Taken place before Toffee is first introduced to Ludo. Way before his takeover on his castle.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mwol eojjeogo jeojjeogo tteodeureodaesyeo I do what I do, geunikka neon neona jalhasyeo You can’t stop me lovin’ myself

Toshi groaned by the sudden vibration and ringtone resonating from his phone on the nightstand behind his head. 

Eolssu johda You can’t stop me lovin’ myself Jihwaja johda You can’t stop me lovin’ myself

He cracks his sleepy eyes opened, the sunlight nearly blinding him from the open windows of his bedroom and he reached out, blindly clawing on the table until he finally found his phone. He squints a little and read the name of the caller.

DAD

Oh-oh-owoah Oh-oh-owoah-owoah Oh-oh-owoah Deonggideok kungdeoreoreo Eolssu Oh-oh-owoah Oh-oh-owoah-owoah Oh-oh-owoah Deonggideok kungdeoreoreo Eolssu

“Seriously?” he grumbled, scratching his messy bed hair. He took a peek at the electric calendar on his desk not far from his room and spots that today 14th of April. His birthday. 

“What could go wrong?” he said to himself, rising up into a sitting position. Without hesitation, he swiped on the tab and a video call was put on. He saw the phone being moved around a lot in its POV, what presumes to be somewhere in a bathroom. The phone’s camera then pans and he was met with a face he never thought he would see again for the past 20 years.

“Hello?” the lizard on the other side replied in curiosity.

Toshi just couldn’t help but cringed and squeezed his eyes in awkwardness. Judging by wetness of his father’s scales and how his hair is sticking to his face and neck, he must have finished showering.

And he assumed he is standing in his towel.

“Who is this?” His father piped out, looking closer into the camera to get a good look at the person he just called. From up close, Toshi could have sworn he saw a wart under his left eye. But he kept his mouth shut.

“Uhm? It’s me,” he answered, blankly in hoping his father would ring some bells on.

“Me? Who’s Me?” Toffee quirked, still not recognising him.

“Oh come on, you know who I am,” the young lizard groaned, “Toshi, your son!”

The older lizard just blinked at him with an eyebrow raised in confusion. Toshi just realised. Everyone calls him by his nickname, but the only person who calls him by his real name is his father.

“You know? Shirogane, the name you picked cause it’s a name of one of Seth’s greatest swordsmen on Septarsis?” he pressured.

Toffee made a sound of embarrassment and realisation, face palming a little that he was being such an idiot for not recognising his own son. Toshi couldn’t blame him. After all, he left his own family after he lost his finger to Moon the Undaunted, who happens to be Star’s mom and Queen of Mewni.

“I’m so sorry!” his father apologised, the camera showing he is walking out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, “It’s just.....it’s been 20 years, okay? I hardly even recognise you, especially not knowing your mother often calls you Toshi. Speaking of your mother, how is she?”

“She’s fine,” he answered, shaking a loose bang off his face, “She’s doing well being a single mom. And I made some friends after we settled down somewhere in Echo Creek. And we got tatzelwurm by the way. She named him Kurogane cause it’s a name of Shirogane’s sphinosaurus mount.”

Toffee shrugged, matter-of-factly, “Huh? That’s good to hear that you are doing well on Earth with your mother.” The older lizard began to frown when he noticed his son’s hair, “What did you do to your hair?”

Toshi glanced to the mirror to his right and saw his messy bed hair alongside the streak dyed bright green, “You look like you went through a necromancer’s lab and nearly had your soul mutated.”

“No, Dad, I just woke up after you called me. And it’s 7 IN THE MORNING!” Toshi sighed a bit, pinching the bridge between his eyes, “Sorry, a little sleepy. But you maybe you have a good reason for calling me, right?”

“Huh? I must have accidentally called you by mistake when I was showering,” Toffee realised, “Who’s idea is to make touchscreens on phones?”

“Steve Jobs,” Toshi answered. He saw the camera’s view of his father moved away, planting someplace else and all he could see is his shadow on the wall of the bedroom. 

Well at least he doesn’t have to see his father get dressed.

“Anyway, Dad, there must be a good reason for calling me, even if you accidentally called me when you were showering, right?” he asked, wincing and glancing away as he sees the shadow of his father putting on a pair of trousers and a shirt, buttoning it up.

“I don’t recall what today is, son,” his father answered, “All I can say, is congratulations on having friends, settling down someplace nice with your mother, getting a pet and ...... how old are you now? 12?”

“I’m 16 now,” Toshi huffed, annoyed that his father doesn’t realise today is his birthday, “And I already started going to school two months ago and met my friends there. They were cool. And met those who are anime-loving otakus like me.”

Toffee’s shadow stopped, in a moment of putting on a jacket, “What?”

“You know? Japanese cartoon shows on Earth? People who are called for loving them and stuff? I’m one of them,” he told him. His father cocked his head to the side a bit in thought until he finally put on his jacket, “Oh,” is all he said.

“Oh?” he echoed, annoyance nearly rising in him, “Is that all you can say? I wonder what you’re up to after the war. Don’t tell me you decided to become an accountant or lawyer or something?”

There was footsteps being heard approaching the phone and it was picked up. Toshi got a good view on his fully dressed father and couldn’t help but snort at the sight of his clothing. He didn’t mind seeing the unimpressed look on his face.

“Dude, you look like you’re going to appear on Law & Order!” he snorted. He heard his father sigh a little in feeling offended, “I hope you prosecute somebody in court today.”

Toffee let out a sarcastic laugh, “Very funny. If you excuse me, Shirogane, I have an important appointment with a client today. Tell your mother I said “hi”.”

And he ended the call right there. Toshi just let out a huge sigh that his father doesn’t know much about his son after he left him and his mother that day. He sure hope something good would happen on his birthday.

Maybe he can ask Star and Marco if they have any ideas to celebrate his birthday.

“Toshi, you awake!?” he heard his mother call out from downstairs, “I’m up, Mom!” he replied, hoping out of bed and running down the stairs. 

Or......maybe having a nice normal birthday celebration during dinner with his mom would be fine for today.

[jdmarkman]

Microsoft turns on

Hardware makers bristled when Microsoft (MSFT) introduced its Surface line of computers in 2012. The Redmond software giant seemed to be biting the hand that fed it.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, Microsoft’s long-range plan came to light. Lenovo announced a game-changing Surface-like computer with constant connectivity and long battery life.

The future of mobile computing is not smartphones. It is ACPCs – always-connected PCs. And they run Microsoft software.

In 2009, iPhone changed everything. Its touchscreen, ease of use, and constant connectivity were liberating. Almost a decade later, screens are larger and software more intuitive -- but let's be honest, actual computing is still much more comfortable on a desktop or laptop.

chart courtesy StockCharts.com

There is a good reason for that. Microsoft controls the productivity software people want. Office is a robust ecosystem with broad network effects. Good luck exchanging files if you are not running Word or Excel. To make matters worse, Microsoft has been unwilling to duplicate the most compelling features on smartphones.

The Lenovo Miix 360 is a crazy thin and light 2-in-1. The tablet/PC hybrid is ARM-based, promises 20 hours of battery life, and can surf the Internet at speeds greater than most home WiFi connections, thanks to always-on LTE. Better still, it runs the entire Windows software stack, past and present. For most computer users, it is the best of all worlds. 

It eliminates worries about battery life, connectivity, and compatibility. It is not the first time down this road for Microsoft. The original Surface RT, an ARM-based 2-in-1, was a $900 million flop. The machines were underpowered and unloved by developers and hardware partners. This time, Microsoft put in the hard work. The new Windows S software works. And Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Asus and others have announced new machines coming before the end of the year.

Two years ago Apple reimagined the computer with the iPad Pro. The big idea was corporate users would flock to the bigger form factor because they loved their iPhones. Beefed-up second-generation Surface computers were also selling very well. The 2-in-1 format became a legitimate category with widespread demand.

The latest course change at Microsoft leverages Surface’s compatibility strengths, and adds always-on connectivity and better battery life, thanks to ARM-based architecture and mobile system-on-a-chip processors. At 20 hours, ACPC’s will achieve battery life 50% greater than iPad Pros. 

It’s ironic. As Apple is embracing Intel (INTC) and moving away from Qualcomm(QCOM) silicon, Microsoft is going the other way.

That is why ACPC is so important. It could help Microsoft make a surprise takeover of mind share in mobile computing software, with a legitimate competitive advantage.

Microsoft stock has been shooting higher after an important upside breakout at $85. That level is now support. It's a buy for those of you who like large-tech on pullbacks; I'm on the lookout for a spot.

Click here to sign up for my free VIP newsletter on the intersection of business, technology and culture

[johnjankovic1]

Cross-Pollination of Industry

Companies do not reinvent the wheel though occasionally their R&D may do just that. But more generally the digital economy democratizes global commerce by shrinking the borders between industries whose newfound permeability of ideas, capital, and finished goods raises productivity and innovation-led growth. Modern technologies in this age of disruption is then the sum of a cross-pollination between companies from which innovation is imported by an unrelated firm to commercialize a product in their respective market: (1) SpaceX imported the unlikely production methods for water towers and oil refinery tanks as a turnkey operation to scale up prototypes of its Starship after the decision to substitute stainless steel for composite materials; (2) Last-mile delivery services imported air drones for quicker distribution; (3) Big-box retailers like Walmart and Home Depot imported e-commerce into their core businesses to grow marketshare; (4) The apparel industry imported semiconductors with sensors into smart wearables to measure the biometrics of users; (5) Makers of consumer electronics like Philips imported wireless connectivity to develop smart-home gadgets. This cross-pollination between various technologies decreases the lead times of innovation within the pipelines of companies whose febrile pace for marketshare conduces to ‘Industry 4.0’.

This diffusion of proven technology across firms lowers the risk of R&D for which the confidence in capital investment remains above water sometimes in spite of burn rates for multiple quarters. In migrating technologies already tested there is a reassurance to designers and engineers alike of how their use will bring more value to a firm. Many mergers and acquisitions today whether they are horizontal or vertical are then a testament to how the digital economy emboldens bullish companies in pursuit of new technologies to capture marketshare like Unilever’s procurement of the Dollar Shave Club, or Facebook’s buyout of Instagram, or Tesla’s absorption of Solarcity, or Disney’s purchase of Marvel, or Google’s takeover of Android. Such diversification and even development of big-tent ecosystems like those of Amazon or Apple with over a billion devices in the wild becomes unprecedented in the value chains of companies as the life cycle of their products is pared down which in turn demands a welter of innovation to ward off competition. Every firm comes to covet the next benchmark of an advantage for the sake of profit, manifesting in how companies espouse a startup culture to remain the leaders and not laggards of their industries. Such urgency to innovate informs the growth strategies of all companies in today’s digital world.

A lofty performance in this new economy however does not guarantee primacy for long which Research in Motion became notoriously emblematic of amid the World War I of smartphones in North American markets. The Blackberry produced by RIM held universal appeal all the way up to the Oval Office until the UX and form-factor of iPhones trounced it. The Blackberry’s tactile keyboard simply could not compete with the ecosystem of iTunes and an App Store despite RIM’s own imitation in 2009, although this tit-for-tat spurred Apple to launch the iMessenger against Blackberry’s BBM later in 2011. Ultimately, the product family of iPhones generated greater profit as a result of its marketing towards the youth demographic since its technology privileged such core features as the futuristic touchscreen or web surfing which lured corporate professionals away from their Blackberries over time. Issuing from this foregoing appeal to personal and business users, Apple then created more value with consumers from its reinvention of the phone whose brand loyalty pushed marketshare and sales upward for its user-friendly products. This genius broaches once more the cross-pollination of technologies whereby Apple’s core competency was its product innovation as other industries filed the void to create the rich content of its apps, music, and Internet browsing.

Exploiting the output of other industries to partially create your own defines the marriage of innovation between firms. Amazon espoused the same philosophy as a maiden retailer to connect sellers with buyers for goods through its use of platform capitalism which Airbnb, Uber, and Facebook replicated. What is the basics of this business model? Quite simply Amazon transplants the division of labour from the mass production of Fordism in assembly lines to online markets. All inputs are standardized from the wares being sold and together they capture value with the scale economies and monopoly power that invariably follow. What becomes unique for this business model is how these giant firms exercise control over upstream and downstream processes while skirting government oversight since they are neither beholden to labour nor consumers in a mercenary kind of way. Risks and liabilities pass onto other parties in the absence of direct ownership as the supply chain is farmed out. The digital economy in perverse logic grants immunity to such middlemen as retailers abide by Amazon’s rules and consumers assume the risk yet none complain since the one sells to a larger market and the other enjoys lower prices. The cross-pollination of technologies thus creates rents in excess of profits as Amazon redefines shopping away from brick-and-mortar stores.

The value-added of smart wearables signals another seismic shift as the adoption of this technology from a niche to a mass market changes the apparel industry and, moreover, society where humanity turns bionic in lockstep with a better quality of life. Embedding electronics into textiles and accessories with which users interact especially in smart environments, like home gadgets and appliances, illustrates how industries are slowly becoming homogenous with one another. Such cross-pollination of technology informs products between smartwatches, smart glasses, clothing, footwear, headbands, wristbands, or jewellery whose many functions measure wellness and fitness while providing the convenience of wireless connectivity. The seamless integration of electronics in the lives of consumers is a growing market valued at billions of dollars as demand increases proportionally with the overall change in the percentage of patents being registered over the last decade. Also pertinent in this market is the big data analysis of end users on their behaviours and performances that can be uploaded to a cloud-based system for commercial development of future products. Investors see high returns in this industry as it continues to miniaturize the form-factor from Sony’s Walkman in 1979 to the modern Fitbit and iWatch thus concluding in the fungible nature of innovation today.

Another case study includes major logistic companies which experiment with multicopter drones imported from recreational use since 80 percent of packages by e-commerce weigh less than 5 lb. If machine learning and extended battery life can be integrated well enough into this hardware then the autonomous system would minimize costs, time, and CO2 emissions. Rather than make use of public roads a drone would fly a parcel by air in minutes most notably to remote locations where such infrastructure is nonexistent. On average the reduction of time is in the order of 35-50 percent for shipments between depots and estates according to studies at MIT. FedEx and UPS are in the midst of adopting this technology in their last-mile delivery services for which the urbanization of the global economy and the growth of e-commerce were the impetus. The United Nations foresees 65 percent of the world population living in urban centres by 2050 whose density will require innovation from couriers to accommodate greater demand and volume when traffic will be a deterrent for the more traditional methods of shipment. Drones offer a viable solution to the juggernaut of crowdsourcing from firms like UberEats, DoorDash, or Foodora which upon their entry could capture the marketshare of legacy companies if the latter are unable to transplant such innovation into their delivery services.

These same trappings of Industry 4.0 have contributed to Space 2.0 in effectively privatizing the final frontier for mankind amid the industry’s upswing along an S-curve with regard to development against the status quo from government agencies and aerospace contractors. This fringe movement consists of Silicon Valley entrepreneurialism, venture capital from angel investors, risk-taking, open IT, use of non-space technology, and rapid prototyping unlike the ossified operations and public funding of NASA. The Wild West of California revolutionized the industry with the knowledge of how any learning curve requires failure which has until now dissuaded the corporate world from entering space as a new market whose valuation will exceed USD 1 trillion by 2040. SpaceX came to produce the first reusable rocket, flew the first commercial space capsule for humans, recovered and reused the first stage of an orbital launch, made the first commercial flight to the International Space Station, resupplied the ISS three times, and reduced the cost of launches by a factor of 2. The company has had a banner year with the accolade of being the largest producer of rocket engines in the world despite the many detractors and doubters who balked at the notion of any startup in space. SpaceX thus epitomizes the thesis of how the digital economy erases borders between industries.

[whipplefilter]

RIP BRAVE VESSEL

So my grandpa gave me his old, broken iPad mini, which was pretty sweet when I discovered last month that I could draw on it. Alas, this iPad has witnessed the heat death of the universe and died a painful and protracted death. It would put random dots on my canvas because its touchscreen was going haywire, refuse to acknowledge my own touch, resize the canvas or exit the app at will, draw its own lines, refuse to recognize my own, DELETE the lines it DID let me draw, make the canvas invisible, etc. 

Every line took like 50 tries, but sometimes there’d be like 20 magical seconds where it would let me live, so basically I just learned to draw as fast as possible in those windows. 

But I think that finally this iPad has breathed its last breaths into these three images of Lightning losing a race to a chicken. (Thanks for the prompt, @hostile-takeover-bank! <3) 

I didn’t get to finish any of these (you could say the iPad chicken-blocked me BD), and you can probably see the progressive deterioration of this poor iPad’s mind in these last three images. But I’m posting them anyway because IT WAS A FUN MONTH, IPAD. I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU. You probably made me a better artist with all these shenanigans. <3 RIP.

(There isn’t a chicken in that last one because the iPad wouldn’t let me get that far. It took like 20 minutes just to make sure Lightning at least got eyeballs. Which was a dumb use of time, but I didn’t want him to be without EYEBALLS. Poor babe!)

[kindlecomparedinfo]

BMW’s magical gesture control finally makes sense as touchscreens take over cars

BMW has been equipping its cars with in-air gesture control for several years and I never paid attention to it. It seemed redundant. Why wave your hand in the air when there’s dials, buttons, and touchscreens to do the same? Until this week, that is, when took delivery of a BMW 850i loaner equipped with the tech. This is about the future.

I didn’t know the 850i used gesture control, because, frankly, I had forgotten BMW had this technology; I stumbled upon it. Just make a motion in the air to control the volume or tell the navigation to send you home. Now, in 2019, with giant touchscreens set to takeover cars, I find BMW’s gesture control smart and a great solution to a future void of buttons.

It’s limited in use right now. There are only a few commands: volume, nav, recent calls, and turning on and off the center screen. It’s easy to see additional functions added in the future. It’s sorely missing the ability to step back a screen. I want that function the most.

Here’s how it works: to control the volume, take one finger and spin it in the air above the center stack. Anywhere. The range is impressive. A person can do this next to the screen or two feet away. A person’s arm could be resting on the center armrest and lift in the air and twirl their finger. Bam, it controls the volume. Put two fingers up – not spinning, like a flat peace sign – and the screen turns on or off. Make a fist and open it twice to load the navigation or phone (user picks the function).

After using the system for several days, I never had a false positive. The volume control took about 10 minutes to master while the other gestures worked the first time.

In this car, these commands work in conjunction with physical buttons, dials, and a touchscreen. The gestures are optional. A user can turn off the function in the settings, too.

I found the in-air control a lovely addition to the buttons, though. At night, in the rain, they’re great as they do not require the driver to remove their focus from the road. Just twirl your fingers to turn down the volume.

I’m not convinced massive touchscreens are better for the driver. The lack of actual, tactile response along with burying options in menus can lead drivers to take their eyes off the road. For the automaker, using touchscreens is less expensive than developing, manufacturing, and installing physical buttons. Instead of having rows of plastic buttons and dials along with the mechanical bits behind them, automakers can use a touchscreen and program everything to be on screen. Tesla did it first, Ram, Volvo, and now Ford is following.

In-air gesture control could improve the user experience with touchscreens. When using BMW’s system, I didn’t have to take my eyes off the road to find the volume — something that I have to do occasionally, even in my car. Instead, I just made a circle in the air with my right hand. Likewise, BMW’s system lets the user call up the nav and navigate to a preset destination (like work or home) by just making another gesture.

BMW debuted this system in 2015. The automotive world was different. Vehicles were

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8176395 https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/04/bmws-magical-gesture-control-finally-makes-sense-as-touchscreens-take-over-cars/ via http://www.kindlecompared.com/kindle-comparison/

[thenewsmax]

BTS to take 'extended period of rest and relaxation'

New Post has been published on https://newsprofixpro.com/newsmax/2019/08/12/bts-to-take-extended-period-of-rest-and-relaxation/

BTS to take 'extended period of rest and relaxation'

BTS are putting their global takeover on pause for now. The Korean boy band’s management company, Big Hit Entertainment, announced on Twitter that the group would be taking “an official and extended period of rest and relaxation” following their performance … Read More

 Buy Now

   Price: $431.90

Item specifics

Condition:

New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is

Camera Resolution: 12.0MP Lock Status: Factory Unlocked Model:

Samsung Galaxy S9+ SM-G965U

MPN:

SM-G965U

Operating System: Android Network: Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T Contract: Without Contract Storage Capacity: 64GB Style: Bar Brand:

Samsung

Cellular Band: GSM/CDMA/HSPA/LTE Memory Card Type: Nano-SIM Connectivity: 2G, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth, GPRS, GPS, Wi-Fi Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year Features: 3G Data Capable, 4G Data Capable, 4K Video Recording, Accelerometer, Bluetooth Enabled, Music Player, Speakerphone, Touchscreen, Wi-Fi Capable Processor: Octa Core Model Number: SM-G965U Screen Size: 6.2 in RAM: 6 GB

$431.90 End Date: Monday Sep-2-2019 8:03:38 PDT Buy It Now for only: $431.90 Buy It Now | Add to watch list

[savetopnow]

2018-03-14 09 TECH now

TECH

Ars Techica

A raft of flaws in AMD chips makes bad hacks much, much worse

Let’s Encrypt takes free “wildcard” certificates live

Patch Tuesday drops the mandatory antivirus requirement after all

Pre-Columbian people spread fruit species across Latin America

Dealmaster: Get an Apple TV 4K for $105 (when you buy three months of DirecTV Now)

Buzzfeed Tech

Silicon Valley Is Having An Existential Crisis Over "Time Well Spent." But So Are We.

A New Netflix Test Rewards Kids With Patches For Binge-Watching TV

Out of Prison, Social News Pioneer Matthew Keys Laments "Reactive" Social Media

Musical.ly Is Struggling To Deal With Self-Harm Content

Twitter Just Suspended A Ton Of Accounts Known For Stealing Tweets

CNet

This basketball-playing robot is coming for you, Steph Curry - CNET

YouTube will add Wikipedia snippets to conspiracy videos - CNET

President Trump floats military 'Space Force' idea - CNET

Melania Trump to discuss online harassment with tech giants - CNET

Chi Touchscreen Clothing Iron Release Date, Price and Specs - CNET

Clean Technica

Cleantech Entrepreneurship Bootcamp For Startups In Europe, Middle East, North Africa & Beyond

France Committing €700 Million To International Solar Alliance, Says President Macron

Reading Buses Testing 17 Scania Double-Decker Biogas Buses

Shanghai Says All Is Well With Tesla Talks, Marchionne Says Mistakes Were Made

Wanting To Become The Uber Of Electric Scooters, Bird Raises $100 Million

Hacker News

YouTube will add information from Wikipedia to videos about conspiracies

Using Google Cloud AutoML to Classify Poisonous Australian Spiders

Amazon Is Hiring More Developers for Alexa Than Google Is Hiring for Everything

Now Little Caesars Is Getting into Pizza Making Robots

Flexport is hiring software engineers

Mashable

Taylor Swift's video for 'Delicate' is a whole lot of goofy dancing

New online tool could help calculate your risk of developing melanoma

Bose's AR sunglasses use sound, not a screen to augment reality

Elon Musk says he's 'optimistic' Mars ship will make first trips in 2019

Barry Jenkins, director of 'Moonlight,' finally delivers his Oscars speech

Motherboard

The Congressional Black Caucus Is Asking Silicon Valley Why It's So White

Researchers Say AMD Processors Have Serious Vulnerabilities and Backdoors

People Seeing the Moon Up Close for the First Time Is a Dose of Good Vibes

The International Monetary Fund Has a Dystopian Vision for the Blockchain

Facebook Posts ‘Substantively Contributed’ to Myanmar Genocide, UN Investigators Say

New York Times Technology

Broadcom’s Other Regulatory Hurdle: How It Treats Customers

Ex-Leader of Baltimore County Schools, a Tech Booster, Pleads Guilty to Perjury

Even With Takeover Bid Blocked, Qualcomm ‘Is in a Tight Spot’

The One Thing That Protects a Laptop After It’s Been Stolen

Op-Ed Contributor: The Real Problem With Video Games

Recode

Full transcript: Senator Chuck Schumer on Recode Decode

Recode Daily: Trump stops the Broadcom-Qualcomm deal

Former CNN digital boss KC Estenson is running GoNoodle, an educational video company

Full transcript: ‘Sneaky Pete’ showrunner Graham Yost on Recode Media

Stitch Fix made a big addition to its business that won’t show up in its Q2 financial results

Reddit Technology

A New Kind Of Metal Grown In Tanks May Change The Way We Build Forever

Permitted 3D printed home made in less than 24 hours for less than $4000

Verizon Forced to Update Aging DSL Networks in New York

TSA accused of searching domestic travelers’ devices with no warrant

Google is now taking real passengers in its self driving taxis, with no safety driver behind the wheel

Reuters Technology

Broadcom to stay on deal path after Qualcomm halt: analysts

Amazon launches first debit card in Mexico e-commerce push

Judge rejects U.S. demand to exclude AT&T argument in Time Warner merger trial

British city of Sheffield renews Uber's license for five years

Google brings free WiFi to Mexico, first stop in Latin America

Slashdot

Facebook Has Turned Into a Beast in Myanmar, UN Says

Amazon Recalls 260,000 Portable Power Banks For Fire Hazard

A Chatbot Can Now Offer You Protection Against Volatile Airline Prices

'Women At Microsoft Are Sexualized By Their Male Managers,' Lawsuit Alleges

Developers Love Trendy New Languages, But Earn More With Functional Programming: Stack Overflow's Annual Survey

TechCrunch

Winklevoss-led Gemini announces a self-regulatory group for crypto

Google Assistant multi-step routines are now live in the U.S.

A gentle critique of the new Coinbase index fund

EasyEmail is autocomplete for Gmail

Twitch will now give Prime users free games each month

The Next Web

Little Caesars patents robot that assembles perfect pepperoni pizza

Space Boobs In Space is the best thing on Prime Video

Winklevoss twins have a plan to police cryptocurrency trading

Researchers tap AI in the fight against ICO scams

Nintendo’s latest update highlights what the Switch is missing

The Verge

YouTube limits moderators to viewing four hours of disturbing content per day

Trump’s ‘Space Force’ sounds a lot like the Space Corps his administration didn’t want

YouTube will add information from Wikipedia to videos about conspiracies

A Chinese reporter’s frustrated eye roll goes viral in China and is censored

Upgrade is set up as a colorful near-future thriller, but it’s actually pure body horror

WSJ Tech

In U.S.-China Tech Rivalry, Whose Side Is Qualcomm On?

Vice Media Names A+E's Nancy Dubuc as CEO

Artificial Intelligence Rules More of Your Life. Who Rules AI?

Uber for Bikes Is a Commuter Dream… When It Works

Trump Blocks Chip Deal by Broadcom on Security Concerns

Wired

Don’t Do Drugs and Watch ‘Annihilation’

‘Dr. Strangelove’ Is Basically a Documentary

Total Clips

Aliens Would Probably Like It If You Gave them Flowers

All About HomePod

[gertlushgaming]

Review: Squidgies Takeover (Nintendo Switch)

Review: Squidgies Takeover (Nintendo Switch)

Find creative solutions to each level’s puzzles by making the Squidgies swing, fling, float, splat, stretch into tubes, and turn metallic. Some Squidgie powers can be combined together for even more mind-bending puzzle-solving techniques.

Pros:

Bright colorful graphics.

1gb download size.

Touchscreen support.

Control settings-sensitivity/smoothing/speed.

Self-playing tutorial level.

Online…

[terabitweb]

Original Post from Talos Security Author:

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw.

Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week.

The only news we’re going to cover this week is the biggest news we’ve had in a while. Tuesday, we announced that Cisco Incident Response was becoming part of the Talos family. We’ve been working together for years, but now we’ll be closer than ever, so Incident Response can benefit from Talos’ intelligence, while their boots-on-the-ground experience will only add to Talos’ portfolio.

Check out our announcement blog post for more information. The Talos Incident Response at-a-glance also provides an overview of the services IR provides. And the new IR page on TalosIntelligence.com gives you an easy way to contact IR, should you need their services. 

We also have a special edition of the Beers with Talos podcast, where Amy Henderson of Talos’ Threat Interdiction team joins us to talk about the benefits of this new relationship. 

Upcoming public engagements with Talos

Event: “It’s Never DNS…. It Was DNS: How Adversaries Are Abusing Network Blind Spots”  at SecureWV/Hack3rCon X Location: Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center, Charleston, WV Date: Nov. 15 – 17 Speakers: Edmund Brumaghin and Earl Carter Synopsis: While DNS is one of the most commonly used network protocols in most corporate networks, many organizations don’t give it the same level of scrutiny as other network protocols present in their environments. DNS has become increasingly attractive to both red teams and malicious attackers alike to easily subvert otherwise solid security architectures. This presentation will provide several technical breakdowns of real-world attacks that have been seen leveraging DNS for a variety of purposes such as DNSMessenger, DNSpionage, and more.

Event: “Reading Telegram messages abusing the shadows” at BSides Lisbon  Location: Auditorio FMD-UL, Lisbon, Portugal Date: Nov. 28 – 29 Speakers: Vitor Ventura Synopsis: One of the cornerstones of privacy today is secure messaging applications like Telegram, which deploy end-to-end encryption to protect the communications. But several clone applications have been created and distributed with the intent of spying on their users. In this talk, Vitor will demonstrate how the Telegram registration process became abused, allowing message interception on non-rooted Android devices without replacing the official application. This is another example on how encryption is not a panacea, and that side-channel attacks like this are a real problem for otherwise secure applications.

Event: “Signed, Sealed, Compromised: The Past, Present, and Future of Supply Chain Attacks” at CactusCon Location: Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center, Charleston, WV Date: Dec. 6 – 7 Speakers: Edmund Brumaghin and Earl Carter Synopsis: This talk will discuss the common techniques we’re seeing in supply chain attacks. Supply chain attacks are a broad topic, but one that has continued to evolve and mature over the last decade. Nick and Edmund will walk through what a supply chain attack constitutes, the history of how these attacks have evolved, and where we see this attack technique moving in the future.

Cyber Security Week in Review

The first public exploitation of the BlueKeep vulnerability hit over the weekend. Security researchers noticed the attacks in honeypots installing cryptocurrency miners, far from the worst possible outcome from these kinds of attacks. 

The U.S. and Taiwan held cyber war exercises this week being touted as the first of their kind. Taiwanese officials say the two countries focused on attacks that could come from North Korean-linked adversaries and other nation-state actors. 

The head of Russia’s State Security Service recently said at a conference Russia and the U.S. have resumed cooperation on cyber security. Russia is maintaining contact between their security experts and the CIA, FBI and DEA in the U.S., he said.  

Google is teaming up with three private cyber security firms to scan the Google Play store for malicious apps. Malware authors have been able to create ways to bypass the traditional protections Google put in place to stop malicious apps before they are posted on the store. 

Two former Twitter employees were charged with spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia. American prosecutors say the two men used their privileged access to gather information on Saudi political dissidents.  

Voting machines in one Indiana country reportedly switched users’ votes, one of a few reports of malfunctioning machines on election day in the U.S. Several voters reported that the touchscreen machines would not select the candidate they wanted to choose, errors that are backed up with video evidence. 

Apple released updates for its Catalina operating system and iOS to patch several critical remote code execution vulnerabilities. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged users to update their devices as soon as possible. 

Malware authors are starting to unleash a wave of politically themed malware. Talos recently discovered malware families using the likenesses of U.S. Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a series of ransomware, RATs and screenlockers. 

Notable recent security issues

Title: Use-after-free bug in Chrome could allow complete system takeover  Description: Google Chrome is urging users to update their web browsers as soon as possible due to a critical use-after-free vulnerability. The company says it will be releasing updates this week to protect against exploitation of the bug. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2019-13720, exists in Chrome’s audio component, and could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or enable full remote code execution capabilities.  Snort SIDs: 52068, 52069  Title: Two remote code execution vulnerabilities in Investintech Able2Extract  Description: Cisco Talos recently discovered two remote code execution vulnerabilities in Investintech’s Able2Extract Professional. This software is a cross-platform PDF tool for Windows, Mac and Linux that converts PDFs and allows users to create and edit them. Other features include PDF signing, redactions and annotations. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to execute arbitrary code on the victim machine.  Snort SIDs: 50864 – 50869

Most prevalent malware files this week

SHA 256: 7acf71afa895df5358b0ede2d71128634bfbbc0e2d9deccff5c5eaa25e6f5510 MD5: 4a50780ddb3db16ebab57b0ca42da0fb Typical Filename: xme64-2141.exe Claimed Product: N/A Detection Name: W32.7ACF71AFA8-95.SBX.TG

SHA 256: 3f6e3d8741da950451668c8333a4958330e96245be1d592fcaa485f4ee4eadb3 MD5: 47b97de62ae8b2b927542aa5d7f3c858 Typical Filename: qmreportupload Claimed Product: qmreportupload Detection Name: Win.Trojan.Generic::in10.talos

SHA 256: 6b01db091507022acfd121cc5d1f6ff0db8103f46a1940a6779dc36cca090854 MD5: 74f4e22e5be90d152521125eaf4da635 Typical Filename: jsonMerge.exe Claimed Product: ITSPlatform Detection Name: W32.GenericKD:Attribute.22lk.1201

SHA 256: 46b241e3d33811f7364294ea99170b35462b4b5b85f71ac69d75daa487f7cf08 MD5: db69eaaea4d49703f161c81e6fdd036f Typical Filename: xme32-2141-gcc.exe Claimed Product: N/A Detection Name: W32.46B241E3D3-95.SBX.TG

SHA 256: 85b936960fbe5100c170b777e1647ce9f0f01e3ab9742dfc23f37cb0825b30b5 MD5: 8c80dd97c37525927c1e549cb59bcbf3 Typical Filename: Eternalblue-2.2.0.exe Claimed Product: N/A Detection Name: W32.WNCryLdrA:Trojan.22k2.1201

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Go to Source Author: Threat Source newsletter (Oct. 31, 2019) Original Post from Talos Security Author: Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week.

[inhandnetworks-blog]

Foxconn's $4.4bn Sharp Takeover Delayed by 'New Material Information'

www.inhandnetworks.com

Updated | Taiwanese firm Foxconn’s takeover of Japanese electronics giant Sharp has been put in doubt despite an announcement that the $4.4 billion deal had been agreed.

Foxconn manufactures Apple’s iPhones as well as other smartphones and electronics, and its takeover of Sharp would have been the biggest ever acquisition of a Japanese firm by a foreign company.

Sharp announced on Thursday that it agreed to a deal with Foxconn, however the Taiwanese firm said “new material information” needed to be assessed.

“We will have Industrial Wireless M2M Router to pos industrial iot tpone any signing of a definitive agreement until we have arrived at a satisfactory understanding and resolution of the situation,” Foxconn said in a statement.

  cashless vending, light industrial, commercial, distribution automation, distribution power line monitoring, fault location, fault detection, da monitoring, smart grid, transformer monitoring, intelligent substation, goose-messaging-, remotemachine monitoring, remote secure networks, remote secure networking, secure web based scada, remote diagnostics, remote maintenance, plc-programming, intelligent traffic enforcement, ct scanners remote monitoring, mri remote monitoring, healthcare, wireless atm, branch networking, retail, digital signage, wastewater treatment, remote monitoring, industrial automation, automation,industrial transport, inhand, inhand network, inhand networks, InHand Networks - Global Leader in Industrial IoT, Global Leader in Industrial IoT Industrial IoT, IIoT, Industrial IoT Manufacturer, Industrial IoT Connectivity, Industrial IoT Products, Industrial IoT Solutions, Industrial IoT Products, industrial IoT Gateway, industrial IoT router, M2M IoT gateway, M2M IoT router, industrial router, Industrial IoT Router/Gateway, industrial IoT Gateway, industrial LTE router, Industrial VPN router, Dual SIM M2M router, Entry level Industrial Router, Cost effective, 3G 4G LTE, WiFi, VPN industrial router for commercial and industrial and M2M/IoT applications, Industrial 3G Router, Industrial 3g router, UMTS router, VPN routerIndustrial 3g router, UMTS router, VPN router, DIN-Rail router, cellular router, Industrial IoT Gateway,Industrial IoT Gateway, M2M gateway, VPN gateway, remote PLC programming, Industrial Cellular Modem, Cellular modem, data terminal unit, 3g modem, Industrial 3G Cellular Modem, 3g modem, industrial cellular modem3g modem, industrial cellular modem, industrial wireless modem, data terminal unit, Android Industrial Computer, Android Industrial Computer, Vending PC, Vending Telemetry, Vending Telemeter, Android Industrial Computer,Android Industrial Computer, Vending PC, Vending Telemetry, Vending Telemeter, Touchscreen & Vending PC, Vending Touchscreen, Vending Telemeter, Vending Telemetry, Vending Computer, Industrial LTE Router, industrial IoT Gateway, industrial LTE router, Industrial VPN router, Dual SIM M2M router, Industrial IoT Router/Gateway

[un-enfant-immature]

BMW’s magical gesture control finally makes sense as touchscreens take over cars

BMW has been equipping its cars with in-air gesture control for several years and I never paid attention to it. It seemed redundant. Why wave your hand in the air when there’s dials, buttons, and touchscreens to do the same? Until this week, that is, when took delivery of a BMW 850i loaner equipped with the tech. This is about the future.

I didn’t know the 850i used gesture control, because, frankly, I had forgotten BMW had this technology; I stumbled upon it. Just make a motion in the air to control the volume or tell the navigation to send you home. Now, in 2019, with giant touchscreens set to takeover cars, I find BMW’s gesture control smart and a great solution to a future void of buttons.

It’s limited in use right now. There are only a few commands: volume, nav, recent calls, and turning on and off the center screen. It’s easy to see additional functions added in the future. It’s sorely missing the ability to step back a screen. I want that function the most.

Here’s how it works: to control the volume, take one finger and spin it in the air above the center stack. Anywhere. The range is impressive. A person can do this next to the screen or two feet away. A person’s arm could be resting on the center armrest and lift in the air and twirl their finger. Bam, it controls the volume. Put two fingers up – not spinning, like a flat peace sign – and the screen turns on or off. Make a fist and open it twice to load the navigation or phone (user picks the function).

After using the system for several days, I never had a false positive. The volume control took about 10 minutes to master while the other gestures worked the first time.

In this car, these commands work in conjunction with physical buttons, dials, and a touchscreen. The gestures are optional. A user can turn off the function in the settings, too.

I found the in-air control a lovely addition to the buttons, though. At night, in the rain, they’re great as they do not require the driver to remove their focus from the road. Just twirl your fingers to turn down the volume.

I’m not convinced massive touchscreens are better for the driver. The lack of actual, tactile response along with burying options in menus can lead drivers to take their eyes off the road. For the automaker, using touchscreens is less expensive than developing, manufacturing, and installing physical buttons. Instead of having rows of plastic buttons and dials along with the mechanical bits behind them, automakers can use a touchscreen and program everything to be on screen. Tesla did it first, Ram, Volvo, and now Ford is following.

In-air gesture control could improve the user experience with touchscreens. When using BMW’s system, I didn’t have to take my eyes off the road to find the volume — something that I have to do occasionally, even in my car. Instead, I just made a circle in the air with my right hand. Likewise, BMW’s system lets the user call up the nav and navigate to a preset destination (like work or home) by just making another gesture.

BMW debuted this system in 2015. The automotive world was different. Vehicles were

[enterprisemag]

The new Audi A8: future of the luxury class

In its fourth generation, the flagship model of the new Audi A8 again provides the benchmark for Vorsprung durch Technik – with a new design language, an innovative touchscreen operating concept and a systematically electrified drive. The Audi A8 is also the first production automobile in the world to have been developed for highly automated driving. From 2018, Audi will gradually be taking piloted driving functions such as parking pilot, garage pilot and traffic jam pilot into production.

Doyen of style: the exterior design The Audi A8 is stylistically defining – it signals the dawning of a new design era for the entire brand. The front end with the wide, upright Singleframe grille and the fluid, muscular body symbolize sporty elegance, sophistication and progressive status. The new A8 delivers on the promise made by the Audi prologue design study. The luxury sedan possesses a powerful presence – whether in the 5.17 meter (17.0 ft) standard version or the A8 L, which has a 13 centimeter (5.1 in) longer wheelbase.

The Audi brand is renowned worldwide for sports appeal, lightweight construction and quattro permanent all-wheel drive – and the design of the new A8 conveys these values. The balanced proportions emphasize all four wheels in equal measure. Muscular shapes above the wheel arches give visual expression to the quattro drive. Viewed side-on, the upright front end combined with the gently inclined rear create visual tension. The flagship model proclaims its identity both day and night, drawing on both the striking HD Matrix LED headlights with Audi laser lighting, and the LED light strip combined with OLED technology rear lights. These produce unique light animations as the driver approaches and leaves the car.

Luxury lounge: the interior Freedom is the defining design feature with a new luxury slant. This explains the A8’s resemblance to a lavish, spacious lounge. Compared to the predecessor model, it has grown substantially in length in both body versions.

The range of equipment and materials is extensive, with every detail radiating superlative bespoke quality – from the perforation in the seat upholstery to the electrically opened and closed shutters on the air vents.

The classiest seat in the new Audi flagship model is in the rear right – the optional relaxation seat in the A8 L that comes with four different adjustment options and a footrest. In this seat, the passenger can warm and massage the soles of their feet on a unit with multiple settings incorporated into the back of the front-passenger seat. The new comfort head restraints complete the experience. The rear passengers can also control an array of functions such as ambient lighting, the new HD Matrix reading lights and seat massage, plus make private phone calls, via a separate operating unit. The rear seat remote, with its OLED display as large as a smartphone, is a removable unit housed in the center armrest.

Fingertip response: the controls The luxury sedan’s interior deliberately adopts a reductive design; the interior architecture is clear and with a strictly horizontal orientation. Audi carries its high quality standards into the digital age with a radically new operating concept. It does away with the familiar rotary pushbutton and touchpad of the predecessor model. The instrument panel is kept largely clear of buttons and switches. At its center is a 10.1-inch touchscreen display which, when off, blends almost invisibly into the high-gloss black surround thanks to its black-panel look.

The user interface appears as soon as the car is opened. The driver controls the Infotainment system with fingertip control on the large display. They can use a second touchscreen display on the center tunnel console to access the air conditioning and comfort functions as well as make text inputs. When the driver activates a function in the upper or lower display, they hear and feel a click by way of confirmation. The glass-look operating buttons respond in the same way. The combination of acoustic and tactile feedback along with the use of common touch gestures such as swiping make the new MMI touch response especially safe, intuitive and quick to use.

The A8 can also engage in intelligent conversation. The driver can activate an array of functions in the automobile using a new, natural form of voice control. Information on destinations and media is either available on board or is delivered from the cloud at LTE speed. The extensive Audi connect range also includes traffic sign recognition and hazard information – innovative car-to-X services that draw on the swarm intelligence of the Audi fleet.

The extensively optimized navigation is another new feature: It is self-learning, based on the route just driven. This provides the driver with intelligent search suggestions. The map also incorporates highly detailed 3D models of major European cities.

World premiere: the pilot-driving Audi A8 The new A8 is the first production automobile to have been developed specially for Level 3 automated driving. The Audi AI traffic jam pilot takes charge of driving in slow-moving traffic at up to 60 km/h (37.3 mph) on freeways and highways where a physical barrier separates the two carriageways. The system is activated using the AI button on the center console.

Because traffic jam pilot is capable of handling the full driving task – acceleration, steering and braking – when certain conditions are met, drivers can take their hands off the steering wheel until the car requires manual driver control again. This takeover request occurs before the system nears the limits of its capabilities.

From a technical perspective the traffic jam pilot is revolutionary. During piloted driving, a central driver assistance controller (zFAS) now permanently computes an image of the surroundings by merging the sensor data. As well as the radar sensors, a front camera and the ultrasonic sensors, Audi is the first car manufacturer also to use a laser scanner. The introduction of the Audi AI traffic jam pilot means the statutory framework will need to be clarified in each individual market, along with the country-specific definition of the application and testing of the system. The brand’s high quality standards are equally applicable in the realm of highly automated driving. In addition, a range of approval procedures and their corresponding timescales will need to be observed worldwide. Audi will therefore be adopting a step-by-step approach to the introduction of the traffic jam pilot in production models.

The Audi AI remote parking pilot and the Audi AI remote garage pilot autonomously steer the A8 into and out of a parking space or a garage, while the maneuver is monitored by the driver. The driver need not be sitting in the car. They start the appropriate system from their smartphone using the new myAudi app. To monitor the parking maneuver, they hold the Audi AI button pressed to watch a live display from the car’s 360 degree cameras on their device.