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Two Step Authentication From Google is Better in Every Way

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.

Pressure Sensitivity for Every Smartphone

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ForcePhone. Pressure Sensitivity for Every Smartphone

While today pressure sensitivity is a feature only the newest and fresh out of the box iPhones have, tomorrow this could be the case for every smartphone out there.

A team of University of Michigan engineers, ironically, inspired by a Batman movie, thought about turning smartphones into a “sonar-based system.”

Apple emphasized on the technology it took for their engineers to develop the 3D pressure sensitivity feature on their iPhone 6s, but the Michigan researchers went and created their own low-cost feature. They’ve also improved it and its efficiency, and we’re hoping the feature will become mainstream real soon.

How did they improve this pressure sensitivity feature? Well, with their software, not only is the phone able to detect pressure, but it can also tell when it is being squeezed.

The program works through ultra-sound. Kang Shin, an electrical engineering, and computer science professor at Michigan University and his grad student Yu-Chih Tung confess in their university press release that The Dark Knight was an inspiration for this idea.

To find Joker, Batman turns all the phones into sonic device locators, so Tung thought turning phones into sonar-based systems could lead to applications that might help smartphones users.

How exactly does it work through ultra-sound? Just by borrowing two of the phone’s attributes, the speaker, and the microphone. Apparently when pressure is applied on the screen or the phone’s body, the speaker emits a sound between 18 to 24 kHz, then the microphone imbedded in the phone detects these wave sounds and the software reacts.

The human ear cannot reach this range, nor are any dogs affected by it. As the engineers say, there’s no need for built-in sensors or a special touch screen, what their technology does is improve the communication between the user and its phone.

The two researchers admit it doesn’t have the level of detail iPhone 6s or Wacom tablet sensors have, but you can “rely on it as a gesture;” it is not binary, varying pressure can be applied to it.

The so-called ForcePhone or pressure sensitivity feature allows users to command their devices differently and access their phones more efficiently. The work of the two engineers will be presented at MobiSys in Singapore this next month.

Image Source: Engadget

Cubimorph, the New Touchscreen Device

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Cubimorph prototype

Cubimorph, a new touchscreen prototype is being presented this week at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The project is the result of a collaboration between the universities of Bristol, Lancaster, Purdue, and Sussex.

What is this new gizmo? It’s a shape-shifting touchscreen made up of a chain of cubes in a Rubik’s cube kind of manner; the cubes are locked in together in different configurations and connect through “turntable-mounted hinges”. Each of the cubes has touchscreens embedded into the six slides.

The Cubimorph will change its shape depending on the task the user wants to do, being able to “form any approximate 3D geometry” and it is the result of the research led by Dr. Anne Roudaut from Bristol University.

This study aimed to make advances in the modular interactive technology; at the present there are a few samples of folded devices, but with Cubimorph researchers want to take the technology one step further and offer three-dimensional shapes.

In an example of how the device works, the developers explain that by launching a game, from its regular rectangular shape, Cubimorph will “morph” into a game controller.

The will image will appear across the mini screens much like the multiscreen displays seen in bars or other public spaces.

An algorithm tells the device what path to take when changing shapes so that accidents like snapping shut on the handler’s fingers or colliding cubes are prevented.

Users can set it to morph gently or rapidly. You wouldn’t want to slap someone by mistake with your straight line morphed device.

Roudaut wants a collaboration between the robotic communities and the human computer interaction for Cubimorph. Through mutually beneficial work, this technology would reach the end-user much faster.

Ultimately the cube is designed to enrich the user’s interaction with a device, and their proof of concept prototypes demonstrate how this technology would do just that. With the free-faces, seamless surfaces, and cool 3D geometries, the Cunimorph is a promising gizmo that we can already see in the hands of teens all over the world.

The internet is already making Cubimorph viral with the Cubimorph: Designing Modular Interactive Devices video BristolIG has just uploaded.

Image source: AlphaGalileo

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

Google Translate Smartphone App Updated Support for 27 Languages

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Google Translate Smartphone App Updated Support for 27 Languages

Google Translate had implemented its first real-time translation tool in January. Now it has language support for 27 languages.

The translation tool is used via the smartphone’s camera and it immediately transcribes a sign from a language to your own, when you point the camera at the text message.

The improved translation tool supported languages ranging from Catalan, Ukrainian, Slovak, Indonesian etc. The application was initially offering translation support between English and Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Russian.

The application works reciprocally, whereas Non-English speakers can translate signs, letters and words into their native languages.

There is an exception regarding Hindi and Thai though, as Google can exclusively convert English to the two languages – and not the other way around – due to the complexity of their characters.

So, you can now translate to and from English and Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. You can also do one-way translations from English to Hindi and Thai.

Evidently, the app is ideal for travelers, as it functions in the absence of a data or Internet connection for mobile phones. Thus, the app spares you the time of always traveling with a dictionary or a travel guide-booklet, whereas menus, bills, directions can be translated immediately to your native language.

As a matter of fact, the instant translation ability comes from the Word Lens app, which Google acquired last year, by purchasing the company behind it, Quest Visual.

According to Barak Turovsky, product lead for Google Translate – just 20 percent of the planet speaks English, and this minority needs some entrepreneurial assistance. Google’s advance is remarkable.

Turovsky acknowledged the need of people to translate pieces of text easier and thus he was able to help them.

“Today, we’re updating the Google Translate app again, expanding instant visual translation to 20 more languages, and making real-time voice translations a lot faster and smoother so even more people can experience the world in their language.”, he said.

The app, available for iPhone and Android, does not require an Internet connection, users being prompted instead to download the language packages to their copy of the application.

“In many emerging markets, slow mobile networks can make it challenging to access many online tools,” said Turovsky.

He continued by saying –

“In addition to instant visual translation, we’ve also improved our voice conversation mode so it’s even faster and more natural on slow networks.”

Photo Credits khcn.cinet.vn

Hotel Room Keys Replaced by Smartphones

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Some hotels have begun giving their guests the option of by-passing check-in by simply using their smartphones as keys. One of these hotels is the Starwood group, which has upgraded 30,000 room locks in more than 150 hotels so that the system works perfectly.

The hotel uses Bluetooth technology to make sure that an encrypted, secure channel is used so that thieves do not abuse the innovation. For the past year, Starwood group has been working on developing the SPG system so that guests no longer require conventional keys.

Users simply need to go through a one-time registration process that makes them receive a Push notification containing their room number. After walking into the hotel and up to the communicated room, the smartphone acts as a key opening the lock.

One of the system’s advantages is security-at least in part. As opposed to not noticing the key going missing, when a smartphone suddenly disappears, users notice. The ability of detecting a loss is very quick. The key is not only delivered directly to the smartphone on an encrypted channel, it also is locked to the receiving device. If the phone is lost, the key can be removed.

The system does not use already existing Bluetooth protocols. Instead, it creates its own encrypted channels which have rotating keys. As such, security is quite high.

“Nothing is 100% secure, and once this technology is in widespread use it will make a very tasty target for hackers,”

Prof Alan Woodward from the University of Surrey’s department of computing said.

“It may be more secure than a standard hotel swipe card lock but use of strong security features such as AES encryption and ‘rotating keys’ does not mean someone won’t find an alternate way in. They will need to watch, learn and adapt if they are to keep their guests secure.”

So what are the benefits of deciding for the smartphone hotel-key system? It’s not just that the smartphone isn’t demagnetized (such as magnetic swipe cards). The developers of the keyless-system claim that Onity magnetic key card locks are easily hacked with an Adruino. Moreover, skipping the check-in process altogether and heading directly to one’s hotel room does seem like an added bonus.

There are some cons to the idea, however. Consider battery life. If the phone dies for some reason, guests could be forced to seek other solutions.

Regardless, starting November 5^th, ten of Starwood’s hotels will enable keyless entry via the SPG app. Next year, Hilton is also expected to hop on the SPG wagon with approximately 4,000 hotels upgrading their locks to fit the SPG system.

Amazon Fire Phone Fails, Causes Staggering Q3 Losses

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Amazon just announced its third quarter earnings today and the retailer giant is surely navigating in shallow waters. In its earnings conference call, Amazon reported a third quarter loss of $544 million, compared to the $25 million losses announced in the third quarter of 2013. Who’s the culprit you would ask? None other than the Fire Phone, some company reps report. According to reports, the eccentric smartphone wasn’t as hot as expected, causing the company a $170 million write-down in addition to supplier commitment costs.

It’s true that very few had expected the Amazon Fire Phone to be as great a trailblazer as the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy. What is surprising, though, is that it performed as terribly as it did in the market. In fact, the retailer giant is not a newborn where mobile devices are concerned and although smartphones are slightly different from ereaders or tablets, it still doesn’t explain why the Fire Phone did so badly. The device itself is no underdog, porting the basic hardware that normally comprises any high-end smartphone.

What many would blame is the Fire Phone’s exclusivity to one (and just one) carrier. While such a stunt could have been pulled off by a highly popular and more established smartphone producer, Amazon shouldn’t have attempted to shut out others out from the device. And it’s true that when you’re just starting out, you might experience some issues when deciding to get in bed with only one carrier, be it AT&T. The Fire Phone simply couldn’t solve the adoption problems even when the price was brought down to just one U.S. dollar.

However, there are some who believe that the Fire Phone had an even bigger problem. While other Amazon devices focus on one particular use case (and that is precisely where they perform excellently), the Fire Phone isn’t much of anything. It does good, but so do countless other models and as a reading device, it’s not as good to begin with. The Fire Phone was designed to be intimately connected to Amazon’s selling business, and although people love shopping, buying a smartphone dedicated just for online shopping simply doesn’t seem reasonable.

There are some notable features that the Fire Phone also has, for instance, the Dynamic Perspective, however, these fancy gimmicks only sugar coat the device’s clear lack of vision.

And when you’re planning to buy a smartphone, the Fire Phone strikes one as being too expensive, looked down and as having poor specs. Not to mention no Google Play.

Samsung Wants You to Know that Their Galaxy Note 4 Does Not Bend

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Last week, we saw how the internet exploded after many iPhone 6 users had their new smartphones bending in their pockets. The event was called Bendgate and it took over Twitter in a matter of days. In the meanwhile, Apple said nothing of the phone’s bendability. Today, we are going to take a look at Samsung’s new campaign in which it tells people that the new Galaxy Note 4 does not bend.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Does Not Bend

Samsung took advantage of the whole Bendgate fiasco and has put out a video in which they show that the new Galaxt Note 4 is strong… stronger that we think. The video hints at the fact that the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 doesn’t bend like the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Naturally, they don’t say this specifically, but they’re being quite obvious about their comparison.

The Galaxy Note 4 is put to a three-point bend test, where a device is pushed through the middle of the phone with a force of 25 kilograms. You can see how the phone does bend a little before it breaks, but that’s only normal.

So, what makes the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 so strong? Stronger than the iPhone? It’s the fact that it has got a metal frame and a magnesium bracket that holds everything in place. If you want a phablet and you’re going to be keeping it in your back pocket and you’re worried about it bending, then maybe you should reach for the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4!

We’re sure this new video and Samsung’s approach doesn’t sit very well with Apple. What are your thoughts on Samsung’s move? Do you own a Galaxy Note 4? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

Sony Xperia Z3 Review – The Perfect Phone?

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In a recent article we presented you the Sony Xperia C3, the selfie smartphone and today the wait for Sony’s flagship smartphone is over! We give you the Sony Xperia Z3 review.

We can’t put into words how excited we are about the Sony Xperia Z3 smartphone. Sony has gotten us accustomed to impressive phones, but the Z3 is much more than that. Sony keeps improving their flagship smartphone and the Z3 comes very close to being the perfect phone. There, we’ve said it!

Sony Xperia Z3 Review

The Sony Xperia Z3 is so much more than an Android phone. It is smaller than the Z2 and lighter than its predecessor. The new Sony Xperia Z3 offers us 10% more battery than the Samsung Galazy S5. What else is impressive about the Sony Xperia Z3? The 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor and the 3 GB of RAM. Unfortunately Sony’s still quite bad with internal storage as the maximum it will go is 32 GB.

Sony simply refuses to put a QuadHD screen on their phones and we’re quite OK with that. The IPS LCD screen has a 1080p resolution, which makes it clear and easy to see.

When it comes to the camera, we know that more megapixels don’t necessarily mean a better camera, but a 20.7 MP sensor is still pretty impressive. It comes with a wide-angle 25 mm G Lens which means that all those megapixels are going to be of use. Sony’s SteadyShot technology is removing the shake from the camera when shooting video, which gives you amazing video recordings.

Should you get it? If you like Android, the Sony Xperia Z3 is indeed the perfect phone. It’s got dream-like tech specs, it looks amazing, it’s waterproof and it’s got great battery life. Even if you don’t like Android too much, we suggest giving it a go, it might surprise you.

Huawei Ascend Mate 7 Will Be Introduced Next Week

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The beginning of fall is already booked with numerous important events. Apple will launch the iPhone 6 (maybe the iWatch too?) on September 9. Motorola will present four devices on September 4 – the Motorola Moto X+1, Moto G2, Moto 360 and an earpiece. Sony will launch the new Xperia Z3 and the Z3 Compact. The praised Compact line jumped over Z2 and people who prefer smaller displays, but want the flagship specs, are enthusiastic about it.

Now is Huawei’s turn to make a move. The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 will be launched next week. But the Chinese company will probably introduce a special Ascend P7 model as well. The flagship smartphone will allegedly be upgraded with a sapphire display. YouTube hosts many videos demonstrating the value of sapphire displays. The material is so resistant that even a knife stroke cannot leave marks. Needless to say, a sapphire display will surely increase the price of any device. iPhone 6 will allegedly sport such a display, but we will only find out for sure soon enough.

Huawei Ascend Mate 7 comes with high-end specs

To gather attention toward another product, Huawei launched a teaser. Huawei Ascend Mate 7 will be presented at IFA Berlin on September 4. Unfortunately, the video does not tell us anything about the device in itself. It shows seven people engaged in various activities and regularly using the smartphone, although everything seems more glamorous than it really is. So the Mate 7 will be a versatile device. Well, all other smartphones are pretty versatile as well.

But the good news is that we do have access to the specs thanks to the Chinese version of the FCC abbreviated TENAA. A report released by this institution tells us that the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is going to sport a 6 inch FullHD display. There is a new trend in hardware design and Huawei will stay up to date with a Hisilicon octa-core Kirin 920 SoC. Four 1.8 GHz Cortex A15 cores and four 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 cores will power the phablet. The camera will record 4K videos, a big plus. Moreover, the Mate 6 will come with LTE Category 6 capabilities, according to Android Headlines.

We do not know much about the design and material quality. However, the specs indicate a rather mid to high-end device, so we assume that Huawei Ascend Mate 7 will have a satisfying look.