Banks uses blockchain to the make first cross-border international trade transaction

Image Credit: Commonwealth Bank of Australia

  24 Oct 2016 , 15:48

The first cross-border transaction between banks using multiple blockchain applications has taken place, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wells Fargo & Co said on Monday, resulting in a shipment of cotton to China from the United States. Australian cotton trader Brighann Cotton Marketing bought the shipment bound for the port city Qingdao from U.S. division Brighann Cotton in Texas, the companies and their banks said in a joint statement. The blockchain trade, for 88 bales, totalled $35,000, Commonwealth Bank told Reuters.

Blockchain is a web-based transaction processing and settlement system whose efficiency banks say could slash costs. It creates a “golden record” of any given set of data that is automatically replicated for all parties in a secure network, eliminating any need for third-party verification. “Existing trade finance processes are ripe for disruption, and this proof of concept demonstrates how companies around the world could benefit from these emerging technologies,” Michael Eidel, Commonwealth Bank’s executive general manager for cash flow and transaction services, said in the statement.

The transaction is not the first involving the decentralised database, used since 2009 for the digital currency bitcoin. But it is a milestone for the traditional banking industry which at first shied away from the technology, partly because it makes money flows harder for law enforcement agencies to track.

Led by a consortium of over 70 of the world’s biggest financial institutions – called R3 – the banking industry has been researching ways to harness the speed, accuracy and efficiency afforded by blockchain. One of its benefits is removing people from transaction processing. That has been seen as especially appealing for cross-border trades, which are typically held up by duplication of payment processing and time zone differences.

R3 has been researching ways to expand the use of blockchain to include “smart contracts”, or payments triggered when certain conditions are met. The cotton transaction, for instance, involved automatically making payments when the shipment reached certain geographic locations, the statement showed. The shipment is currently between Singapore and Hong Kong, and is due to arrive in early November, Commonwealth Bank said. The bank also said that R3 – of which it and Wells Fargo are members – did not play a part in the trade.

Brighann Cotton was not available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Wells Fargo’s head of international trade services, Chris Lewis, said in the statement that his bank was committed to new technology. He also said, “significant regulatory, legal and other concerns remain to  be addressed.”

Reuters

Comedian Leslie Jones lashes back at hackers in “Saturday Night Live” over recent celeb hacks

  24 Oct 2016 , 15:02

A day after hackers unleashed an attack on some of the world’s best-known websites, comedian Leslie Jones weighed in on cyber-security in a commentary on “Saturday Night Live,” saying cyber criminals could put their talents to far better use than hacking celebrities. Jones, whose own website was hacked in August resulting in nude photos and personal information including her passport and driver’s license being posted, offered her perspective during her recurring gig as an impassioned contributor to the weekly comedy show’s “Weekend Update” news segment.

“I am very comfortable with who I am. I am an open book,” Jones declared, noting “I keep my porn in a folder labeled porn.” “If you wanna see Leslie Jones naked, just ask,” the comedian added, in what one Twitter user, an entertainment website editor, said may have been Jones’ “finest SNL moment.” After starring in the “Ghostbusters” film this summer, Jones briefly quit Twitter because she was bombarded by racist and abusive comments.

“If I was good at computers, I wouldn’t waste it trolling on people,” Jones said. Instead, “I would do something useful, like renew my driver’s license from home. I would hack into Tinder and delete all those other girls’ profiles, so no matter where you swipe, you get me.”

Adopting a seemingly more serious tenor, Jones scolded hackers by saying “If you want to hurt anybody these days, you’re going to have to do way more than leak their news or call them names. You can’t embarrass me more than I have embarrassed myself.”

“At a certain point you got to stop being embarrassed and just start being you, and I have been me for 49 years. Because the only person who can hack me is me,” she vowed, adding: “My firewall is a crazy-ass bitch with a shovel.”

Reuters

OnePlus Diwali Dash offers OnePlus 3 for Re 1, grand prize announced

Image Credit: OnePlus

By tech2 News Staff /  24 Oct 2016 , 14:43

OnePlus has announced the grand prize of the ongoing OnePlus Diwali Dash Festival. The company announced about the Dash Festival last week after the announcement of the launch of Online OnePlus India store. According to the announcement, the winner will get an all-expense paid, week-long trip to London where the winner will get to hang out with the OnePlus London team “for something truly memorable.”

In addition to the grand prize, other participants will get a chance to get a lot of OnePlus accessories, goodies and the Gold variant of OnePlus 3 for a price of Re 1. All those who will participate in

Prisma gets Indian twist with Kathakali, MF Hussain, Thota Vaikuntam and Horn Ok Please filters

  24 Oct 2016 , 13:00

By Siddhi Desai

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must have heard of the photo editing appPrisma. This app uses a combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence to transform photos into works of art.

While we all have tried our hands on the filters that are inspired by Van Gogh, Picasso, Hokusai and others; you can now give an Indian flavor to your photo memories by applying some new filters inspired by Indian artwork and culture!

The Prisma art filter app’s new Indian filters include Kathakali, MF Hussain, Thota Vaikuntam and Horn Ok Please. Each filter has a distinctive colour palette and unique output that serve as a great homage to the heritage it is inspired by.

Kathakali filter (Image: Siddhi Desai)

The Kathakali filter is inspired by the classical dance form of Kerala. Rooted in the story play genre of dance, Kathakali is known for

Galaxy Note 7 troubles worsen as 527 South Koreans to sue Samsung

Image Credit: REUTERS

  24 Oct 2016 , 14:14

Hundreds of South Korean Galaxy Note 7 smartphone owners were preparing Monday to file a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics over the fire-prone device. Attorney Peter Young-Yeel Ko, head of the Harvest Law Firm said Monday that 527 consumers want Samsung to compensate them for the costs to visit shops to exchange their phones, for the hours they had to wait while transferring data and for psychological harm from using a hazardous product.

His clients include a consumer who claims to have lost thousands of pictures from a family vacation and another who drove eight hours round-trip to return the phone. Samsung recalled the Galaxy Note 7 phone because it tends to overheat. It recalled replacement Note 7s after finding they also were prone to catch fire, the company stopped making or selling them.

The company did not immediately respond to called and emailed requests for comment. Ko, a longtime Samsung phone user, said he had to visit a mobile shop three times after buying the Note 7 in August, first to get the battery checked when reports of the devices catching fire first surfaced. He went back to get a replacement phone after Samsung’s first recall and again after the company’s second Note 7 recall.

Apparently in response to criticism over its handling of the recalls, Samsung announced Monday that Note 7 owners who switch to Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge smartphones can get 50 percent discounts on upgrades to Galaxy S8 or Note 8 smartphones next year if they return the S7 or S7 Edges.

Samsung earlier offered 30,000 won ($26) worth of coupons for the Samsung mobile shopping mall to all Note 7 users. Those switching to other Samsung phones were offered 70,000 won ($62) worth of coupons.

Kim Chae Yong, who joined the lawsuit, said he spent nearly $100 on gas and highway fees to return a Note 7 phone after the first recall. Kim drove about 300 kilometres (185 miles) from his home in Cheonan to Busan, where he had bought the Note 7. “I feel betrayed,” the 26-year-old plant engineer said. “I am angry and I don’t ever want to use it again.”

Associated Press

Security experts urge companies to use multiple vendors to avoid major like cyber attack

Representational Image : Reuters

  24 Oct 2016 , 10:55

Companies can reduce the risk from the type of cyber attack that took out major websites on Friday by using multiple vendors for the critical internet service known as a domain name service, or DNS, companies and security experts said on Sunday. “We have advocated for years for redundancy in your infrastructure,” said Kyle York, chief strategy officer for Dyn, the New Hampshire DNS provider that was attacked on Friday. “I don’t think you can ever be safe enough or redundant enough.”

Hackers unleashed a complex attack on the internet through common devices like webcams and digital recorders and cut access to some of the world’s best known websites on Friday, a stunning breach of global internet stability. York said clients who used multiple servers “saw less of an impact.”

Using multiple DNS providers can, however, make managing traffic more complicated and costly, experts said. Friday’s cyber attack alarmed security experts because it represented a new type of threat rooted in the proliferation of simple digital devices such as webcams. Such devices often lack proper security, and hackers found a way to harness millions of them to flood a target with so much traffic that it can’t cope.

The attack on Dyn and the resulting outage started in the Eastern United States on Friday and then spread to other parts of the country and Europe, affecting companies including Twitter and Paypal. DNS providers such as Dyn act as a switchboard for internet traffic. “It’s important to implement diversity geographically, as well as architecturally,” for a defense against domain name service attacks, said Andy Ellis, chief security officer at Akamai Technologies, which helped Dyn recover on Friday.

Businesses can choose up to eight authoritative domain service providers, and some of the hardest-hit sites were customers who only picked Dyn. Eliminating the threat from the unsecured devices that make up what’s often called the Internet of Things will be a much tougher task, however. Many inexpensive webcams, connected thermostats, baby monitors and other products lack even basic security and sometimes use hard-coded passwords that are simple to break, security experts said.

Law enforcement authorities said on Friday they are investigating the attack. The tools making the new type of attack possible were released on the internet by unknown hackers last month, thus creating a long list of possible suspects. “This is the new norm, the internet wasn’t designed with these kinds of attacks in mind,” said cyber security expert and entrepreneur Barrett Lyon.

Long term solutions would likely require governments to take far more responsibility for mandating internet security, experts agreed. Chinese electronics component manufacturer Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology said on Sunday that weak default passwords on its products inadvertently played a role in the cyber attack, according to a report from IDG News Service. The company said it has patched the flaws and now is asking customers to change the default password the first time they use it.

Reuters

AT&T and Time Warner deal generates scepticism; calls for ‘close’ scrutiny in Washington

Image Credit: REUTERS

  24 Oct 2016 , 10:45

AT&T Inc’s proposed $85 billion takeover of Time Warner Inc generated scepticism among both Democrats and Republicans on Sunday, making it more likely that regulators will closely scrutinise the effort to create a new telecommunications and media giant. The biggest deal of the year, announced just over two weeks before the Nov. 8 U.S. election, is a gamble on a victory for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and a continuation of the status quo on antitrust and regulatory enforcement.

The Republican candidate Donald Trump, who is trailing Clinton in the polls, has said he would block the takeover. The billionaire businessman has railed against the media’s role in what he has described as a “rigged” election and he believes the acquisition of Time Warner, which owns CNN and Warner Bros, Hollywood’s largest film and television studio, would concentrate too much power in one organisation.

“AT&T, the original and abusive ‘Ma Bell’ telephone monopoly, is now trying to buy Time Warner and thus the wildly anti-Trump CNN. Donald Trump would never approve such a deal because it concentrates too much power in the hands of the too and powerful few,” Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro said in a statement on Sunday. Clinton, who has expressed misgivings about other corporate megamergers, has not yet commented on the takeover.

But Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s former rival for the Democratic party’s nomination, said on Twitter that the administration should “kill” the Time Warner takeover because it would mean higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. Sanders’ comments carry weight because Clinton needs Sanders’ coalition of young and left-leaning voters to propel her to the presidency.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters on Sunday there were “a number of questions and concerns” about the deal “but there’s still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusions should be reached.” The Senate subcommittee on antitrust will hold a hearing on the acquisition sometime in