Vivo V5 Plus IPL Limited Edition phone to launch today in celebration of IPL 2017

Image Credit: Vivo

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo is launching a limited edition smartphone for the upcoming IPL 2017 (Indian Premiere League). IPL 2017 marks the 10th season of the annual Twenty20 cricketing event in India. The opening match of IPL 2017 is set for 5 April, Wednesday between Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The company has sent invites across for the launch event in Hyderabad. The Vivo V5 Plus was announced back in January and made available for the general public back in February. The only difference between the Vivo V5 Plus and the IPL Limited edition seems to be the matte black colour of the smartphone. One thing to note here is that Vivo is the official sponsor for IPL and the smartphone may come loaded with IPL-related apps but we are purely speculating about the second part here.

The Vivo V5 comes with a 5.5-inch display with HD (1280×720) resolution and a 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 3 on top, a 1.8 GHz Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor with 4 GB RAM along with 32 GB internal storage expandable up to 128 GB via microSD card is also present. In the camera department, it offers a 13 MP sensor on the back while a 20 MP sensor on the front takes charge of capturing selfies.

The camera on the back features a soft-LED flash and PDAF (phase detection autofocus). The smartphone also features a fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button, 4G LTE bands support, dual-SIM card slot, a 3,055 mAh battery and even Vivo’s proprietary Fast Charging technology. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Vivo’s FunTouch OS 2.6 skin on top.

It is highly unlikely that the smartphone will come with any changes in the hardware.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 9:25 am| Modified date: April 4, 2017 9:25 am

Over 85% Of Smart TVs Can Be Hacked Remotely Using Broadcasting Signals

The Internet-connected devices are growing at an exponential rate, and so are threats to them.


Due to the insecure implementation, a majority of Internet-connected embedded devices, including Smart TVs, Refrigerators, Microwaves, Security Cameras, and printers, are routinely being hacked and used as weapons in cyber attacks.

We have seen IoT botnets like Mirai – possibly the biggest IoT-based malware threat that emerged late last year and caused vast internet outage by launching massive DDoS attacks against DynDNS provider – which proves how easy it is to hack these connected devices.



Now, a security researcher is warning of another IoT threat involving Smart TVs that could allow hackers to take complete control of a wide range of Smart TVs at once without having any physical access to any of them.


Researcher Shows Live Hacking Demonstration
The proof-of-concept exploit for the attack, developed by Rafael Scheel of cyber security firm Oneconsult, uses a low-cost transmitter for embedding malicious commands into a rogue DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial) signals.

Those rogue signals are then broadcast to nearby devices, allowing attackers to gain root access on the Smart TVs, and using those devices for nasty actions, such as launching DDoS attacks and spying on end users.

Scheel provided a live hacking demonstration of the attack during a presentation at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Media Cyber Security Seminar, saying about 90 percent of the Smart TVs sold in the last years are potential victims of similar attacks.



Scheel's exploit relies on a transmitter based on DVB-T — a transmission standard that's built into TVs that are connected to the Internet.

The attack exploits two known privilege escalation vulnerabilities in the web browsers running in the background and once compromised, attackers could remotely connect to the TV over the Internet using interfaces, allowing them to take complete control of the device.

Once compromised, the TV would be infected in a way that neither device reboots nor factory resets would help the victims get rid of the infection.

Scheel's exploit is unique and much more dangerous than any smart TV hack we have seen so far.

Previous Smart TV hacks, including Weeping Angel (described in the CIA leaked documents), required physical access to the targeted device or relied on social engineering, which exposes hackers to the risk of being caught as well as limits the number of devices that can be hacked.

However, Scheel's exploit eliminates the need for hackers to gain physical control of the device and can work against a vast majority of TV sets at once.

The hack once again underlines the risks of "Internet of Things" devices. Since the IoT devices are rapidly growing and changing the way we use technology, it drastically expands the attack surface, and when viewed from the vantage point of information security, IoT can be frightening.



Swati Khandelwal
Technical Writer, Security Blogger and IT Analyst. She is a Technology Enthusiast with a keen eye on the Cyberspace and other tech related developments.

Google has started the rollout of Android 7.1.2 for Nexus and Pixel devices

Google is now rolling out a new version of Android to Nexus and Pixel devices in the market. The new version of Android is not Android O as you may think but Android Nougat 7.1.2. The company initially released a beta version for Android 7.1.2 back in January along with the second beta back in March.

The new update is nothing significant and does not add any additional functionality to the operating system except the fingerprint scanner gesture.

The fingerprint scanner gesture is coming to Nexus 6P and 5X along with Pixel launcher for Pixel C tablet. The update also added the option to choose where you want to set the live wallpapers along with a new battery usage list as detailed by Android Police.

The option to choose where you want to set the live wallpapers gives you the option to choose if you want to only apply the current live wallpaper to the homescreen or the lockscreen also. The new battery usage list presents a ‘Usage alerts’ list where Android can list that apps that are draining more battery than usual.

The new update seems more focused on fixing bugs and issues in the operating system rather than introducing any ground breaking features that will improve the functionality the the Android O update. The update is rolling out gradually to all the devices. Nexus Player and Google Pixel C users have started receiving the update.

Publish date: April 3, 2017 1:48 pm| Modified date: April 3, 2017 1:48 pm

DDR5: Jedec is defining a new standard for RAM that’s twice as fast as its predecessor

Progress in the personal computing (PC) space can never be halted. The latest developments in the world of the PC indicate the arrival of DDR5 RAM, which will offer twice the bandwidth and consume less power than the DDR4 RAM it replaces.

RAM or Random Access Memory is an ultra-high speed storage unit on your PC. RAM is used to store frequently accessed data and to provide it to any process that needs it. The same data can be accessed from your hard drive, but RAM is orders of magnitude faster.

The current RAM standard is DDR4, which is already extremely fast. Data read and write speeds are in the range of 60 GB/s or higher. A regular hard disk might manage 120 MB/s and a really good SSD might pull of speeds in excess of 500 MB/s.

The downside to RAM is that is that it can’t be used to store data for extended periods. RAM is volatile memory, which means that unlike a hard disk, data stored in RAM is completely erased in the event of a power failure.

It might seem silly to say this, but even this much bandwidth is not enough for certain applications. Massive databases and machine learning algorithms require massive amounts of bandwidth and, as PC World points out, some programmers have started harnessing the power of RAM for in-memory processing of databases.

New forms of RAM were expected to replace DDR4, the primary challenger being Intel and its Optane memory. Optane memory is still not ready for large-scale consumer use, but it promises read and write speeds rivalling that of RAM. The full details of Optane still aren’t readily available, but if true, you may not need RAM again, if you’re not a demanding user that is.

AMD’s upcoming graphics architecture is also being designed to take advantage of high-speed databases.

DDR5 will be very welcome in some circles, but it will not matter to the average consumer. Jedec (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) is a standards organisation that’s working on finalising the standards for DDR5.

The initial parameters describe a standard that’s twice as fast as DDR4, offers double the data density (How much RAM is enough?) and consumes less power while doing so.

This process of defining the standard itself might take a year or more, and even after that, server-makers are likely to be the first ones to benefit from it.

PC World reports that Jedec is also working on a new standard of hybrid memory storage called NVDIMM-P. This will combine flash storage and RAM and reside in a DIMM slot traditionally used by RAM.

Internet providers in US say that they are not going to sell their consumers’ internet browsing history

Representational Image : Reuters

Comcast Corp, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc said Friday they would not sell customers’ individual internet browsing information, days after the US Congress approved legislation reversing Obama administration era internet privacy rules.

The bill would repeal regulations adopted in October by the Federal Communications Commission under former President Barack Obama requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers’ privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc’s Google or Facebook Inc . The easing of restrictions has sparked growing anger on social media sites.

“We do not sell our broadband customers’ individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC’s rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so,” said Gerard Lewis, Comcast’s chief privacy officer. He added Comcast is revising its privacy policy to make more clear that “we do not sell our customers’ individual web browsing information to third parties.”

Verizon does not sell personal web browsing histories and has no plans to do so in the future, said spokesman Richard Young. Verizon privacy officer Karen Zacharia said in a blog post Friday the company has two programs that use customer browsing data. One allows marketers to access “de-identified information to determine which customers fit into groups that advertisers are trying to reach” while the other “provides aggregate insights that might be useful for advertisers and other businesses.”

Republicans in Congress Tuesday narrowly passed the repeal of the rules with no Democratic support and over the objections of privacy advocates. The vote was a win for internet providers such as AT&T Inc, Comcast and Verizon. Websites are governed by a less restrictive set of privacy rules. The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump plans to sign the repeal of the rules, which had not taken effect.

Under the rules, internet providers would have needed to obtain consumer consent before using precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children’s information and web browsing history for advertising and marketing. Websites do not need the same affirmative consent. Some in Congress suggested providers would begin selling personal data to the highest bidder, while others vowed to raise money to buy browsing histories of Republicans.

AT&T says in its privacy statement it “will not sell your personal information to anyone, for any purpose. Period.” In a blog post Friday, AT&T said it would not change those policies after Trump signs the repeal. Websites and internet service providers do use and sell aggregated customer data to advertisers. Republicans say the rules unfairly would give websites the ability to harvest more data than internet providers.

Trade group USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said in an op-ed Friday for website Axios that individual “browser history is already being aggregated and sold to advertising networks – by virtually every site you visit on the internet.” This week, 46 Senate Democrats urged Trump not to sign the bill, arguing most Americans “believe that their private information should be just that.”

Reuters

Publish date: April 3, 2017 12:54 pm| Modified date: April 3, 2017 12:55 pm

HTC U flagship smartphone leaked in press-renders, reveals a button-free design

HTC was rumoured to be working on a new flagship smartphone code-named HTC Ocean, which would be unlike any other handset that we have seen. Today, we have a leaked press-render of an HTC smartphone which seems to match the rumours.

According the leak, the smartphone is HTC U. It will be a full metal smartphone and have slim bezels. As you can see there are no physical buttons, only a USB Type-C port at the bottom with a pair of speakers. This matches the previous rumours we have heard about the HTC Ocean, where it was speculated to have touch sensitive sensors on the edges for certain functionalities like volume control and power button. There is no fingerprint scanner either so it could very well be embedded under the display and it seems to lack a 3.5mm audio jack as well.

There is also a leaked set of specifications for the handset which suggest a 5.5-inch display with quad HD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, a Snapdragon 835 chipset and two storage variants of 64GB and 128GB. While there is no confirmation of the RAM, it is speculated to be 4GB. The rear camera could feature a 12MP sensor while on the front we could see a 16MP selfie shooter. It is expected to run on Android 7.0 Nougat OS with HTC Sense 9 UI. The handset is rumoured to be unveiled this month with a launch date in May.

If the speculations are true, this will be the third handset under HTC’s new U-series, the first two being the HTC U Ultra and U Play which were announced in January.

Publish date: April 3, 2017 12:46 pm| Modified date: April 3, 2017 12:46 pm

Nokia 9 may come with QHD OLED display, Iris scanner, Android Nougat 7.1.2 and more

Representational Image

HMD Global, the company that is making Nokia smartphones is planning to launch the flagship, Nokia 9 in coming months. According to a new tip reported by Nokia Power User. the company may be planning to include Iris scanner to the upcoming flagship smartphone.

The report hinted at an entire list of specifications that are rumoured to come with Nokia 9. This is in contrast to the lack of any official statements from HMD Global regarding the release of the smartphone.

Nokia 9 is expected to sport a 5.5-inch QHD OLED display panel while running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with Adreno 540 GPU. The quality German glass made by Carl-Zeiss used by original Nokia is expected to make a comeback with Nokia 9 where 22MP Dual-lens camera module will be equipped with Carl-Zeiss optics and a 12MP front camera. Nokia 9 will come with 6GB RAM and two storage variants of 64GB and 128GB internal storage. The smartphone will sport a 3,800 mAh battery along with Qualcomm Quick-Charge 4 support.

HMD Global will also include an Iris scanner like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ in addition to the usual fingerprint scanner.

Nokia 9 is also expected to come with IP68 certification along with Nokia OZO audio enhancements. One thing to note here is that there is nothing official about this tip like the previous tips reported so we can’t confirm about how many things will actually make the cut or if Nokia 9 will actually launch.

Publish date: April 3, 2017 12:14 pm| Modified date: April 3, 2017 12:14 pm