Apple Releases iOS 10.2 Beta 3 with SOS functionality now only for India

Image: Karissa Bell

By tech2 News Staff /  16 Nov 2016 , 18:48

Apple has released iOS 10.2 Beta 3, the previously introduced SOS functionality is now available only in India. The panic button gets triggered on five rapid presses of the power button. A panic button was mandated by the IT minister in all smartphones by 2017, as a measure to improve security, especially for women. The founder of One Touch Response however, says the ruling should be supported by an emergency response helpline.

Videocon was one of the first to react, and has included a panic button functionality across all its phones, and Karbonn has an SOS app on all its phones from June. This is how the panic button works on iOS.

https://twitter.com/karissabe/status/796066211272364032

9to5Mac has details on the other changes in the latest update. The videos app has been replaced by the TV app. The TV app ties in to third party video content providers that choose to support the TV app, and aggregates view history from all those apps into one screen. The feedback app has returned, so users can conveniently send back feedback on the beta to Apple. In messages, there is a new “Love” screen effect which is a heart that blows up like a balloon and floats across the screen.

The beta is available for free to the public. Any Apple user who wants to try it out on their device, just needs to opt in for the beta on the Apple web site.

Singapore to test blockchain technology for interbank transactions

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), speaks at the Singapore Fintech Festival in Singapore November 16, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su

  16 Nov 2016 , 18:00

In a major move to explore the use of digital currency in Singapore, the city state’s central bank plans to launch a pilot project with the country’s stock exchange and eight local and foreign banks to use blockchain technology for interbank payments. Cross-border foreign currency transactions will also be reviewed under the pilot as Singapore’s central bank looks to position the financial center as an important Fintech hub.

The effort is supported by the R3 blockchain research lab and BCS Information Systems, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said at the Singapore Fintech Festival. “Under the pilot system banks will deposit cash as collateral with the MAS in exchange for MAS-issued digital currency,” Menon said on Wednesday. The consortium includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd, Credit Suisse, DBS Bank Ltd, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp Ltd, JP Morgan, OCBC Bank, Singapore Exchange and United Overseas Bank.

Blockchain, which originates from digital currency bitcoin, works as an electronic transaction-processing and record-keeping system that allows all parties to track information through a secure network, with no need for third-party verification. “The next phase of the project will involve transactions in foreign currency, possibly with the support of another central bank,” Menon told an audience of bankers and executives from technology companies.

Policymakers in Singapore have sought to attract investment in Fintech, easing regulation and setting up special departments to support the industry. The MAS on Wednesday also finalised guidelines for a “regulatory sandbox”, which allows financial institutions and finTech players to test their new business models and products without falling foul of financial rules.

Menon also said Singapore is in the process of creating a national know-your-customer or KYC utility through a personal data platform that will have government-verified personal details of residents. The MAS will partner with the government agencies to expand the platform known as “MyInfo service” to the financial industry for more efficient KYC checks.

Singapore has stepped up scrutiny of its banking industry following a money laundering probe linked to Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which cast a spotlight on one of the world’s leading wealth management centres.

Reuters

Budget Android smartphones in US found stealthily sending user data to China

The Blu R1 HD, one of the phones that passed on user data to China

By Aditya Madanapalle /  16 Nov 2016 , 17:45

Low budget Android phones in the US have found to be sending user data to China, without the permission of the user. The data being transmitted included the apps installed on the device, what order the apps were used, diagnostic data, lists of files, the call logs, the numbers of the people the user had messaged, and the content of the text messages sent by the user. In some instances, the location information of the user was also transmitted. The data was being sent to Shanghai Adups Technology Limited.

Anti Virus software was not detecting the secret transmissions, because they normally assume that the firmware installed on the device by the manufacturers are safe. An expert user would have been able to detect the transmissions, but not a regular user. The compromised firmware was able to remotely reprogram the devices, bypass existing Android permissions, and allow for remote control of the device. The firmware essentially acted as a backdoor to devices.

The secret transmissions were discovered by Kryptowire, a company started by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Google, Amazon, Adups and Blu were all informed of the transmissions. Permission from the user was not taken for transmitting the data, and the data was itself packed in multiple layers of encryption.

Blue representatives confirmed to the New York Times that the firmware was not meant for devices used in the US, and that it had acted swiftly to resolve the issue. Blu smartphones in the market are no longer affected, and are not beaming back data to China any more. Additionally, Blu representatives re-assured users that all data collected so far has been destroyed. Adups, Google, Blu or Kryptowire have not revealed a complete list of affected models.

In response to the disclosure by Kryptowire, Adups released a statement in response, claiming that the technology used in the firmware was for identifying and flagging junk text messages. The firmware was inadvertently shipped with the Blu devices. Adups has been cooperating with Blu and Google to make sure the data is not collected again. The data was collected for only a short period of time, and was not shared with anyone else.

Microsoft and Elon Musk-backed OpenAI sign Azure agreement

  16 Nov 2016 , 17:11

OpenAI, the non-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research firm backed by Tesla Motors Inc’s Elon Musk and other prominent tech executives, has signed an agreement to run most of its large-scale experiments on Microsoft Corp’s flagship cloud service, Azure. OpenAI will use Azure for its experiments in deep learning and AI, and Microsoft will collaborate with the company on advancing research and creating new tools and technologies.

Musk, along with venture capitalist Sam Altman, co-chairs OpenAI, whose backers apart from Musk include Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services and tech investor Peter Thiel and LinkedIn Corp co-founder Reid Hoffman.  OpenAI is an early adopter of Microsoft’s Azure N-Series Virtual Machines service, which will be generally available from December.

These cloud-computing services, which are powered by Nvidia Corp graphics chips, are designed for the most intensive computing workloads, including deep learning and simulations.

“In the coming months we will use thousands to tens of thousands of these machines to increase both the number of experiments we run and the size of the models we train,” OpenAI said in a blogpost. The non-profit was created last December for the purpose of creating AI that augments human capabilities.

The investors have committed $1 billion to the startup, but OpenAI said it expects to spend only a “tiny fraction” of that in the next few years. OpenAI will continue to release open-source software to make it easier for people to run large-scale AI workloads on the cloud, and will provide Microsoft with feedback to ensure that Azure’s capabilities keep pace with its advances in AI.

Reuters

Mark Zuckerberg’s Pinterest and Twitter accounts hacked by Ourmine

By tech2 News Staff /  16 Nov 2016 , 16:25

Ourmine, a hacking group that targets high profile entities has hacked Mark Zuckerberg. The group posted an update on its site, revealing the old and new Twitter passwords of Mark Zuckerberg. After the previous hack, Zuckerberg has added two factor authentication to his Twitter account. The Pinterest page of Zuckerberg was defaced with the group claiming the hack, and a link back to their site.

This is the second time this year that Ourmine has hacked Zuckerberg. In June this year, Ourmine had hacked the Twitter and Pinterest accounts owned by Zuckerberg. Ourmine claims to have used private methods for the hacks, not related to database leaks. However, there was a massive breach of Pinterest two years ago, and the Linked in password dump was used previously by Ourmine to compromise accounts held by Zuckerberg. This is what the previous hack looked like:

 Follow

Ben Hall @Ben_Hall

Ouch. Mark Zuckerberg's social media accounts have been hacked

10:08 PM - 5 Jun 2016

 
•  581581 Retweets
 
•  362362 likes

Following the defacing, Ourmine emailed a CNet reporter informing him of the hack. Ourmine had also claimed that the Instagram account held by Zuckerberg was compromised. However, in a statement that Facebook gave to VentureBeat, there seems to be no such intrusion. The compromised accounts have been restored, and the defacement removed.

Ourmine also peddles security services

Previously, Ourmine had hacked Buzzfeed news and left cryptic messages on the site. Ourmine compromised the Quora account of Google CEO Sundar Pichai. At the height of the Pokémon GO craze, Ourmine claimed to have launched a dedicated denial of service attack against the Pokémon GO servers, but the servers were struggling because of legitimate traffic itself. Ourmine compromised the Twitter account of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Ourmine has also compromised the Twitter account of ex Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo. Ourmine apparently wants to increase awareness about information security with the string of high profile hacks.

Twitter is expanding mute options, making reporting easier, and sensitising staff to take on abuse

Image Credits: REUTERS

By tech2 News Staff /  16 Nov 2016 , 16:11

Twitter is making changes to combat instances of online abuse. Twitter claims to have noticed a sharp rise in the instances of abuse, bullying and harassment. The constant trolling prevents people from being exposed to all perspectives of an issue, reduces engagement with the social media platform, and is a threat to human dignity.

Earlier this year, The Cincinnati Zoo deleted its Twitter account after facing continuous abuse. The account was flooded with memes and petitions, following the killing of a gorilla, Harambe, to save a three year old boy who had crawled into the enclosure.

The Freedom on the Net 2016 report studied instances of online abuse in India, and found that most of the harassment was targeted against women. The affected women would not respond to the harassment at all, or react by reducing their participation on social media platforms. Users did not know of the law enforcement mechanisms to protect them from abuse, and were not aware of the mechanisms provided by the site to combat such abuse.

Twitter is taking some concrete steps to combat the harassment. The mute button, which so far prevented users from seeing Tweets by muted accounts in their timelines has been expanded considerably. Users will now be able to mute notifications as well, including notifications from individual accounts, keywords, phrases and conversations. This was a much demanded feature from Twitter.

Twitter is also apparently rolling out a more comprehensive system for reporting Tweets that attacks anyone over the basis of race, religion, gender, age, nationality or ethnicity. Twitter did not provide details on how the new system would be implemented.

The support teams have been retrained with new policies. The support teams have recieved special lectures on cultural and historical  contexts for hateful abuse. There is an ongoing refresher program for employees. There are new tools and mechanisms to better deal with reported offenders.

Twitter mentions in the blog post that this is just a few of the many steps, and that it will continue to learn from and adapt to new situations, to continuously improve the way it tackles online abuse.

Porsche to announce two new variants of the Panamera at the Los Angeles Auto Show

Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, Panamera 4S, Panamera 4S Diesel, Panamera Turbo, 2016, Porsche AG. Image: Porsche.

By tech2 News Staff /  16 Nov 2016 , 16:04

Porsche is expected to announce two new variants of its second-generation 2017 Panamera sport sedan range at the Los Angeles Auto Show. According to reports, the new variants will include a new base model Panamera along with a long-wheelbase Panamera 4 Executive version. The new variants will join the Panamera 4S and 4 E-Hybrid which are expected to launch in January 2017.

CEO Oliver Blume with the new Panamera 4 E-Hybrid. Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, 2016, Porsche AG

The new basic variant will come in a rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD) options. It will be powered by a new turbocharged, 2.9-liter V-6 engine that generates 330 bhp mated with an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. According to the company, the rear-wheel drive variant is accelerates from 0-100 kmph in 5.4 seconds with a top speed of 264 kmph.

Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, 2016, Porsche AG. Image: Porsche.

As for the long-wheelbase Panamera 4 Executive, it comes with 5.9 inches of extra rear legroom and will come with an all-wheel drive option. The long-wheelbase Executive versions will be offered as Panamera 4 Executive (330 bhp); Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Executive (462 bhp); Panamera 4S Executive (440 bhp); and Panamera Turbo Executive (550 bhp).

Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, 2016, Porsche AG. Image: Porsche.

The Executive variant has comes with a panorama roof, heated electronically-adjustable front and rear seats and adaptive air suspension with an electronically controlled damper system. The Panamera 4S Executive and Panamera Turbo Executive add more standard features including rear-axle steering and what Porsche calls soft-close doors. The Panamera Turbo Executive offers standard 4-zone climate control, LED headlights featuring Porsche’s Dynamic Light System, and ambient interior lighting.

Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, 2016, Porsche AG. Image: Porsche.

All the 2017 Panamera Executive models will feature an optional large rear center console, and the latest generation of Porsche’s rear-entertainment system. There will be two 10.1-inch displays in the backrests of the front seats that can be detached for more functionality or just be used as tablets.

Mercedes-Maybach S650 Cabriolet launched: Adds pizzazz, exclusivity and a price

By tech2 News Staff /  16 Nov 2016 , 16:09

Contrary to what Porsche does, Mercedes-Maybach is into the habit of adding more “things” to its cars as the price tag creeps higher. With the just launched Mercedes-Maybach S650 Cabriolet it does just that, adding plenty of goodies to what was already a powerful cabriolet with the Mercedes-Benz S65AMG.

Apart from the classy add-ons that make this S650 a Maybach, you also have to keep in mind that the price is set a over  Rs 2,19,92,720 and at that price you also get exclusivity; as only 300 convertibles will be produced.

It looks fabulous in red, but it is a wee bit disappointing that it just looks like tuned Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Cabriolet with a few cosmetic changes. Those changes come in the form of new front-bumper and some chrome accents that you will find all over the convertible’s body.

There are Maybach badges on both sides and you get shiny new 20-inch bichromatic forged wheels.

However, it is the interiors that have changed, something that adds that extra oomph and the Maybach luxury. There’s waterfall inspired upholstery and diamond ring quilting that should impress perspective buyers.

And obviously one can tell the exclusivity when there is a chrome-plated ‘1 of 300’ sitting in the center console between the two front seats. As with all things Maybach, there’s also the four-piece luggage set and a car cover with a diamond quilted design.

Under the hood there’s a 6.0-litre V12 that produces 625bhp and 738lb ft of torque, which should be enough to propel the owner and three other passengers (including the car) from 0-60mph in just 4.1 seconds.