Intel CEO Brian Krzanich used Monday’s CES 2018 keynote to highlight how data is changing our work and personal lives, while simultaneously pushing forward technological innovation both at his company and within the larger technology sector. His keynote also specifically addressed Intel’s new initiatives in the VR space. “Data is going to introduce social and economic changes that we see perhaps once or twice in a century,” Krzanich said. “We not only find data everywhere today, but it will be the creative force behind the innovations of the future. Data is going to redefine how we experience life – in our work, in our homes,
Nokia Uses Blockchain To Improve Health Data
Nokia has partnered with OP Financial Group, a Finland-based financial services group, to use blockchain technology to establish more trust in managing health data. According to a Nokia blog, the purpose of the pilot project, which involves 100 people, is to provide individuals more control over their personal health data. “Nokia’s experimental blockchain platform used in the pilot puts the focus on privacy and giving users full control over their data” is said from the company. To achieve this, they say any data that the users decide to share are encrypted, and can only be read by the intended participant on the platform, in this case OP. The
Google Announces Improved Gmail Security Warnings
The security of personal information & data is all the hype lately. This was a highly debated subject after the Apple iPhone access requested by the FBI following a recent terrorist attack that was declined by the company completely. Now, Google announced improved Gmail security warnings. One of the most prominent issues is the warning that is issued to accounts when is believed they’ve been targeted by state-sponsored attackers. This comes as a controversial measure. One, that we’re sure will raise a lot of attention in the world of security and data theft. It will also prove crucial to see how will Google react to potential data access to those
Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2: Review
Kingston’s MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 enables users to properly take their connected lives on the go and connect their mobile media devices together
USPS Hacked, 800,000 Employees' Info Accessed
The USPS has stated that around 800,000 employees of the USPS have had their personal information, including social security numbers compromised by hackers
Cloud Storage Company Bitcasa Screws Customers
Bitcasa has decided to get rid of unlimited storage and raise prices on their customers without any warning and is giving them three weeks to get their data
Hitachi Develops 100-Layer Quartz Glass Storage Device
Hitachi’s million year-lasting quartz glass data storage technology hits the 100-layer mark.
AT&T Might Owe You a Refund for Cramming
AT&T just paid a $105 million fine to the FTC to settle a cramming lawsuit where the company charged its customers bogus charges on their bills
Virgin Mobile Laughs Away Net Neutrality with New Plans
As if Sprint wasn’t already fairly out of touch with their consumers, they’ve once again found a way to make it clear that they are. This time, they have done it through a series of new plans through one of their prepaid subsidiaries, Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile is one of Sprint’s prepaid subsidiaries, including Boost Mobile as well, that has recently undergone some plan pricing changes in order to try to attract consumers amid competition from T-Mobile which has forced other carriers to be more competitive with their plans as well. Since Sprint’s adjustment of Boost Mobile’s plans, it makes sense that Sprint would also
T-Mobile Launches New Low-Cost Family Plan
T-Mobile is going after AT&T once again, and this time they’re trying to compete with them (and Sprint) on their family plans. Family plans generally save families a lot of money because not all of the users in the household use tons of data nor do they all need that much. Generally speaking, most parents use very little data while the children tend to hog up most of the data. T-Mobile’s new plan is designed to deliver 10 GB of 4G LTE data to a family of four for the low price of $100. As you can see from T-Mobile’s own table, their plan is
Gov't Sent Verizon 149,000 Data Requests So Far This Year
Even though the year is barely half over, the government has already sent Verizon 149,000 requests for clients’ data this year. This is a part of the company’s second ever transparency report which basically reports to the public how much information they’re being forced to hand over, or willingly handing over as part of a cooperation program with the government. The numbers only represent the first 6 months of this year, meaning that they will only be about half the amount of requests that one would expect over the course of the year. Below, we’ve copied Verizon’s table to show you a comparison from year
NZ Police Can't Share Kim Dotcom's Encryption Keys with FBI
During the raid on Kim Dotcom’s property, the NZ Police took countless computers and hard drives from his residence and offices, many of which were fully encrypted. However, there was a lot of data on those drives that the NZ Police had no right in sharing with the FBI or any US authorities. In fact, they had already shared copies of the drives’ encrypted data to the FBI, which by now has probably cracked the encryption without Kim Dotcom’s keys. Kim’s lawyers have been wrangling with the policy negotiating whether or not he would provide the encryption keys to them and under what circumstances. According
T-Mobile's New Free Music Streaming Violates Net Neutrality
Normally, when a company violates something such as Net Neutrality it generally is in the company’s best interest and they are looking for ways to make things more profitable and less valuable to consumers. A perfect example of that is with what Comcast is doing to Netflix (and others) in terms of requiring them to pay for prioritization in violation of Net Neutrality. This ultimately hurts Netflix and Netflix users that might be on Comcast, resulting in everyone but Comcast losing. Now, T-Mobile as part of their Uncarrier 5.0 and Uncarrier 6.0 initiatives made an announcement that they would be allowing users to stream music for
Spotify Data Breach, Only One User Affected
Spotify has stated publicly that they had an internal data breach that resulted in some unauthorized access of their systems and internal company data and that only one user was affected. According to Spotify, this issue only affects Android users and as a result, they are asking Android users to update their Spotify Android clients whenever prompted by the Google Play Store. Spotify has made it clear that no users’ data was compromised outside of the single individual and that no login or bank account data was compromised during the breach of Spotify’s systems. However, they did make it clear that they highly recommend that all
The NSA is Recording all Calls in Afghanistan, Says Wikileaks
According to the latest release by Wikileaks, the NSA is recording all calls coming in and out of Afghanistan. They reported this even though other publications and journalists strictly opposed to releasing the name of Afghanistan in their disclosures that the NSA was recording all calls in the Bahamas. Under a week ago, The Intercept (Glenn Greenwald and co.) along with Wikileaks and a few other publications had disclosed that all cellular calls were being recorded by the NSA and that there was another country that had yet to be named that was getting a similar treatment. However, The Intercept refused to publish the name of the
Why Comcast is Lying to Us, Again
Comcast is trying to lie to us, again. Comcast is continually changing their story about why they should be allowed to acquire Time Warner Cable, constantly looking for reasons why it won’t hamper competition or consumer choice. They look towards the fact that our mobile carriers are also our internet service providers and that they are technically competitors with Comcast. Even though, anyone that knows anything about how the mobile industry works knows that mobile industry growth and competition has almost no negative effects on landline based internet. In fact, in a lot of cases users with mobile data coverage end up getting landline service
Why Comcast is Lying to Us, Again
Comcast is trying to lie to us, again. Comcast is continually changing their story about why they should be allowed to acquire Time Warner Cable, constantly looking for reasons why it won’t hamper competition or consumer choice. They look towards the fact that our mobile carriers are also our internet service providers and that they are technically competitors with Comcast. Even though, anyone that knows anything about how the mobile industry works knows that mobile industry growth and competition has almost no negative effects on landline based internet. In fact, in a lot of cases users with mobile data coverage end up getting landline service
Snapchat Lied, Your Images are Saved, Settles with FTC
So, you know the whole premise that Snapchat is based upon? The fact that you can set a timer for an image and once that image’s time disappears, so does the image? And that somehow is supposed to prevent people from potentially saving those embarrassing or racy photos? Well, that was all a big fat lie. In a settlement that Snapchat has reached with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) they have agreed to a whole host of regulations and oversight of the company’s privacy and security policies since they had misled consumers about both. In fact, Snapchat’s security and privacy will be monitored closely for
Boost Mobile Introduces $40 "Unlimited" Plan, Thanks T-Mobile
Boost Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprint, today announced that they would be offering new plans for those looking to get cheaper unlimited pricing. Boost Mobile has traditionally been Sprint’s budget carrier offering, offering cheaper devices and cheaper plans, so it comes as no surprise that they are now coming out with an offering designed to compete with T-Mobile’s latest ultra-cheap offerings. However, keep in mind that Boost Mobile is Sprint’s biggest pre-paid user base, which does not help with post-paid numbers but does ultimately affect the bottom line. In the past, Boost Mobile offered users to lower their bills by $10 a month