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Facebook’s Mobile Device Lab Tests Apps 24/7 On 2,000 Phones

The Mobile Device Lab tests several versions of all of Facebook’s apps.

How many phones does it take to test out the Facebook app? Almost 2,000. The number is no joke and not even a rough estimate. In Facebook’s Mobile Device Lab, dozens of server racks are lined on each side humming to the point where it feels more like an airport hanger rather than a cool, dark room.

Some of the server racks hold smartphones, of varying models and varying ages. Each rack can snuggly fit 32 devices, and each of them is on Facebook 24/7. Facebook’s Mobile Device Lab manages the phones in order to test the apps’ performance before each update.

Within The Racks Of The Mobile Device Lab

The devices run different versions of the Facebook app, Facebook Lite, Messenger, Instagram, and so on, but all of the devices have automated gesture programs running on them, which makes the phone behave as it was actually used by a human being. Likes, comments, stickers, tagging, searching, surveys, the gesture programs do them all, while monitoring chip, memory, and battery usage.

Small cameras hang above the screen of each phone recording every second of uptime so that engineers and researchers can see exactly what crashes when so that they can fix it.

So why does a Facebook’s Mobile Device Lab need almost 2,000 different devices? Well, because they are different. The smartphone market is a very big place. While most of us know the bigger names that pop up every year, there are actually hundreds of different smartphone manufacturers.

Almost each brand has a different chip covering the CPU, GPU, and modem, potentially different RAM and internal storage manufacturers, as well as different battery manufacturers and limitations. And each brand releases on average one or two phones per year.

The Mobile Device Lab needs to account for all the tech specs of a device. The apps need to look good and behave, no matter what device they run on. Phones with different or unique screen sizes, for example, also require their own version of Facebook.

Then there is the issue of operating systems, as almost each version of Android has its own settings and most phones also come with their own modified version of Android.

App developers are well aware of the fact that an app can work perfectly on several models of phones but crash on others, even if they’re running the exact same OS.

iOS devices run the same version, which is great for app developers, but technical specifications such as CPU, GPU, memory, and screen size are still an important factor.

So the next time the Facebook app glitches out, we can think of the Mobile Device Lab and know that they sometimes have their hands full but that they will eventually get to it.

Photograph Courtesy of Flickr.

Two Step Authentication From Google is Better in Every Way

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Two Step Authentication no longer uses the SMS.

Two Step Authentication is quicker, easier, and safer.

Google announced that their two step authentication service will be receiving an update. The update is meant to make the authentication process simpler, easier, but also much safer.

Presently, the two step authentication process consists of an SMS being sent to the registered number of a user whenever a login attempt with the correct username and password is made. The SMS contains a six-digit authentication code which then needs to be used in order to allow access.

The current two step authentication service implies that even if hackers have the user’s account and password, they will not gain access because they do not have the user’s smartphone, a device which the majority of people keep close to them, and with additional safeguards as well.

There are several databases with usernames, e-mails, and passwords that were either datamined, hacked, or just leaked. A strong password usually contains lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers and one symbol. The majority of users have one password which they use for several accounts and rarely change their passwords.

Nevertheless, hackers realized that they do not need the user’s phone to receive the two step authentication SMS. All they have to do is call the phone network’s customer service, pretend they are the user and change the number of the SIM to one that they have in their possession.

In order to claim that they are the user, hackers will be required to have the user’s social security number, a piece of data that has repeatedly been proven that is easily obtainable in a multitude of illicit ways.

All phone networks have the options of adding an extra security feature, such as a spoken password or PIN, but it is not implemented by default, and users do not often consider in being so thorough when it comes to the security of all their accounts.

Google’s new two step authentication will no longer be sending an SMS. Instead of a 6-digit secondary authentication code via SMS, users will now be prompted with a notification. Once anyone attempts to connect to a protected account with the correct username and password, the user’s smartphone will display the notification and give the user a simple Yes/No prompt.

The authenticator is a different app with a different unique retrieval serial key. Hackers will not be able to gain access to accounts just with changing the user’s SIM number to one of theirs via illicit customer service manipulation. To gain access, they would need the user’s phone.

All Google users are advised to install the new two step authentication app once it becomes available in their region. It is safer than the old version, easier to set-up, and quicker to use.

Image Courtesy of YouTube.

Google Plans an Injected Device for Your Eye

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Google Intra-Ocular Injected Device Plans

Google Plans an Injected Device for Your Eye, yet we do not have the “brain power” to decipher those plans, nor, to be honest, do they specify the purpose of such device. Should we speculate? If you’re a sci-fi enthusiast like me, you will want to!

Listen to this: because it will be “configured to be surgically installed within an eye”, they will further refer to it as an “ophthalmic electronics platform.”

Last week, Kind Cole U.S. Patent Application made inventor’s Andrew J. Conrad file patent with the name Intra-Ocular Device, for Google, available to the general public.

What is it made of? How will it look? What will it do? The long patent file details the mechanism of a programmed wireless device, controlled by optical power and bio-interactive biometric components to focus, scan, and receive commands via an antenna, but we don’t know yet what will it do.

I can already picture myself as a Google mind controlled hybrid – half man, half robot. However, let’s not rush into dystopian fantasies for the eye injected device might be the solution for vision problems or better yet, congenital blindness.

The device can be hooked to a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, can send GPS, NFC, and LTE signals, the antenna could be attached to the frame of the eye glasses and thus, this Google injected device can relief or actually fix problems related to the optical nerve or other birth defects or acquired problems for the eye components. Even though we know a lot of progress has been made in this field. What kind of surprise is Google preparing for us?

The fragileness of humanity can surely benefit from human ingenuity. And why not, Google’s intra-ocular injected device might help us in this respect. Bill Maris, Google’s Venture Chief is known to believe that the tech industry would have surprising results from the health and life science sectors. So it’s no wonder Google would invest and file for a patent for the health sector.

Again, these are all suppositions, ideas sometimes infused with a pamphlet character and other times with a hopeful air. Though with Google planning an injected device for your eye, the bottom line is: the immortality future is near! We are building it by components.

Image courtesy of: Wikimedia

Set Up Your Own Smart Home Device by Device

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You don’t have to buy all at once

While totally connected houses are not yet here you can set up your own smart home device by device.

Smart house devices have already been invented, just that they are not yet connected to each other. However, you have access to shades that lift by themselves when you just say ‘good morning’, light-controlling thermostat or the phone you can use to turn on the coffee machine while you are still in bed.

Strategy Analytics – a research company – has estimated that 1 in 5 homes in the United States have some kind of smart-home system.

According to Samsung’s smart-home business (SmartThings) co-founder Andrew Brooks, most people buy their first smart-house products for security, such as smart locks and smart garage doors. Brooks also says that Samsung’s new generation of smart TVs will be able to act as a smart-home hub.

If you don’t want to replace all your lights and other small home-devices you can make them smart(er) by buying a smart plug which allows voice command to turn the plugged-in devices on and off.

One configuration of smart house can be started with a Nest camera which allows you to watch your house through an app on your smartphone. Smart plugs can be connected with HomeKit system developed by Apple and your lights and other devices can be connected to the plugs. So if for example when you leave for vacation you can check on the Nest cam if you forgot the lights on. If you did, you can tell Siri to turn them off since it is connected to the HomeKit, connected to the smart plug.

If you are worried about security, besides smart locks and garage doors you can also install motion sensors and sync them with a SmartThings hub. This way you will be alerted if anyone gets inside your house without your permission.

When you go to sleep you can activate the voice command for your TV and lights to turn off when you tell them ‘good night’.

What is good is that all these devices are not necessary bought at the same time. You can start with the ones you truly need and then as the budget allows you, just add more to increase your comfort. You could eventually end up having some smart sprinklers which turn off when they feel your presence so you will always have your grass wet and your clothes dry.

Image source: freeimages