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Samsung Troubles Deepen Following Formal CPSC Action September 19, 2016 
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Samsung last week
announced a formal voluntary recall of about 1 million Galaxy Note7
smartphones, after the high-end flagship device was found to have
overheated or caught fire in at least 92 incidents. Samsung was notified
of 26 cases of people being burned by the defective 5.7-inch
smartphones and 55 cases of property damage, according to the CPSC.
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Why Russian Hackers Are Doing the US a Favor September 19, 2016 
Colin Powell's hacked email once again showcases that what people
in office tell us and what they actually think are two very different
things. Politicians work for us -- we are supposedly their employers.
Yet we seem to know far less about what they do and think than what we
need to know in order to vote intelligently. Powell's comments are
actually far more damaging to Clinton than Trump.
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New Apple Products Have the Right Gaming Stuff September 17, 2016 
Apple wants to attract gaming fans to the more powerful graphics
and processing power embedded in its new iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series
2 products. The iPhone 7 features the new A10 Fusion chip -- the most
powerful ever in a smartphone, according to the company. The CPU fuses
two high-performance cores that run twice as fast as the iPhone 6 with
much more efficient use of battery power.
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Google Pursues Both Fiber and Wireless Broadband Ambitions September 16, 2016 
Google Fiber is reaching its tentacles into North Carolina's
Research Triangle, a move that seems to contradict the gloom-and-doom
rumors of layoffs and low consumer interest. The Triangle is Google
Fiber's eighth incursion. It's already available in Atlanta; Austin,
Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri;
Nashville, Tennessee; Provo, Utah; and Salt Lake City.
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iPhone 7 Draws Tepid Notices September 15, 2016 
The iPhone 7 may be Apple's best smartphone to date, but it's
garnering lukewarm reactions from reviewers and pundits. The new
iPhone's waterproofing and better battery life are welcome. Further,
"the camera and speed improvements are nothing to sneeze at," wrote
reviewer Andrew Cunningham, "but you'll need to buy into Apple's vision
of the future" -- a world without buttons or wires.
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Samsung Catches a Small Break in Midst of Note7 Battery Pummeling September 13, 2016 
Samsung stock recovered slightly on Tuesday from the nosedive it
took Monday, after regulators urged consumers to turn in more than 2.5
million Galaxy Note7 smartphones. Shares closed 4.2 percent higher on
Tuesday, erasing some of Monday's $14 billion loss in market value. The
FAA's alert came in response to a small number of reports of the phone's
lithium ion batteries catching fire.
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Apple Puts Its User-Friendly Stamp on Fancy iPhone 7 Cameras September 9, 2016 
Apple raised the ante for cameras in flagship phones with the
announcement of its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Others already have
taken the dual-camera approach to smartphone photography -- notably HTC,
LG and Huawei. "While it's not the first dual camera mounted in a
smartphone, it's on par with the others in terms of basic
functionality," said Brian Blau, a research director for Gartner.
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Apple Hopes iPhone 7 Extras Will Make Up for Missing Headphone Jack September 8, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday officially unveiled the iPhone 7
and iPhone Plus, confirming a rumor that has evoked widespread dread:
The traditional headphone jacks are gone. The new iPhones are sleeker
than their predecessors, though, as well as water resistant. Their
biggest plus might be the advanced lenses in what Apple claims is the
most sophisticated smartphone camera in the world.
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American Bookworms Still Love Paper September 7, 2016 
The death of the printed book appears to have been greatly
exaggerated. Nearly three quarters of participants in a recent Pew
Research Center study said they had read a book in the last year,
largely on paper. Of the more than 1,500 American adults who said they'd
read a book in the last 12 months, nearly two thirds had read a print
book. That's more than twice the number who had read an e-book.
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Google's Russian Android Appeal Falls Flat September 7, 2016 
A Russian appeals court has rejected Google's appeal of a $6.75
million fine regulators imposed for anticompetitive behavior -- that is,
for forcing mobile device vendors to put Google Play apps on the main
screens of devices using the Android operating system. The Ninth
Arbitration Appeal Court handed down its ruling last month, confirming
the decision of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service.
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Gadget Ogling: Smart Desks, New-Wave Gaming, and Roaming Routers September 7, 2016 
After a long, laborious process and a lot of scraping paint
splotches from the floor, the office space in my new apartment is ready
for me, and I will soon no longer need to write this column from my
kitchen table. So, I'm in the market for a desk.
With my nascent interest in standing desks, the Gaze Desk seems a decent
option. It switches between standing and seated modes with a button
press.
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That Hissing Sound Is the Last Bit of Air Leaking From Apple's Balloon September 6, 2016 
Apple used to guard details about a new iPhone more closely than
Fort Knox, but that doesn't seem to be the case any more. The shift has
been glaring with the iPhone 7, slated for introduction on Wednesday.
It's widely believed that the new iPhone has no headphone jack. Sound is
piped to the user through a set of EarPods that connect to the phone
through its Lightning port or a dongle.
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Google Fiber's Long, Tough Road Is Full of Twists and Turns September 6, 2016
Alphabet has been facing significant roadblocks in expanding Google
Fiber into new U.S. cities, in part due to significant competitive and
legal challenges from incumbent broadband providers like AT&T and
Comcast. The companies currently are embroiled in a dispute over access
to utility poles in Nashville, Tennessee, and the city council is
scheduled to vote Tuesday on a controversial proposal.
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Sacking Jack May Anger iPhone Headphone Fans September 3, 2016 
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak recently said removing the headphone
jack in the next version of the iPhone is going to "tick off a lot of
people." It's been rumored for months that Apple would be scrapping the
3.5 mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7 it's expected to unveil next week.
Such a move, Wozniak said, could upset users who have invested in
listening technology that uses the headphone jack.
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Can Apple Beat Snapchat and Instagram at Their Video Game? September 1, 2016 
Snapchat and Instagram, look out. Apple has you in its sights. The
company reportedly is working on a video-sharing app with features
similar to those found in Snapchat and Instagram. The app, possibly
slated for release in 2017, will allow users of Apple devices to record a
video, apply filters and draw on it, then share it with others on a
variety of social networks.
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Intel's Kaby Lake Chip Promises Deeper Internet Immersion August 31, 2016 
Facing a shrinking market for personal computers and a stalled
market for tablets, Intel on Tuesday unveiled its 7th-generation
processors, code-named "Kaby Lake," which deliver more speed and power
than its 6th-generation chipsets, while improving battery efficiency.
Intel has positioned the new Kaby Lake chipsets as ideal for the
immersive Internet.
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Election Season Spawns Scams With Political Twist August 30, 2016 
Dirty tricks during political campaigns are nothing new, but the
Internet and the proliferation of mobile devices have allowed tricksters
to up their games a notch. It came to light last week, for example,
that Donald Trump's campaign app was hoovering the address books on his
supporters' phones. Trump's app wasn't doing anything illegal. It wasn't
even trying to hide what it was doing.
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Snazzier Fitbits Sport Beefed-Up Feature Sets August 30, 2016 
Fitbit on Monday announced two new fitness trackers with sleeker
looks, more durable construction and greater data-gathering
capabilities. The Fitbit Charge 2, priced at $149.95, features
continuous heart-rate tracking. It uses the data to generate a cardio
fitness score and provides guidance for improving it over time. The
Charge 2 displays real-time exercise stats.
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WhatsApp Shaves Off a Little More Privacy August 25, 2016 
WhatsApp on Thursday announced an update to its terms and privacy
policy -- the first in four years. Among other things, the changes will
affect the ways users can communicate with businesses while continuing
to avoid third-party banner ads or spam messages, according to the
company. However, WhatsApp will begin to share some personal details
about its 1 billion users with Facebook.
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Gadget Ogling: Musical Pizza Boxes, Backup Backpacks, and Tattooing Robots August 25, 2016 
Call it a gimmick, but I'm very much into the idea of having a
pizza box that doubles as a turntable. Pizza Hut partnered with Novalia
to make the box, which includes pitch and volume controls, a mixer, and
touch-sensitive decks. Using printed electronics, DJs can crossfade,
rewind and even scratch. The box pairs with smartphones and computers
using Bluetooth and works with DJ software.
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Google Fills Nexus Devices With Rich Nougat Features August 23, 2016 
Google on Monday began rolling out its long-awaited Android 7.0
Nougat release to Nexus smartphones and tablets. The new operating
system became available as a beta release, known only as "Android N,"
earlier this year. The experiences of developers and other users led to
more than 250 new features, including improved multitasking, stronger
battery life and tighter security features.
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Verizon Toys With Risky App Revenue Plan August 23, 2016 
Verizon's reported consideration of a plan to preinstall mobile
apps from major retailers and financial firms on users' smartphones has
drawn sharp criticism. The carrier reached out to numerous retail and
finance brands with an offer to preload mobile apps on its Android
phones for between $1 and $2 per device, according to unnamed ad agency
executives.
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Netgear's Orbi WiFi Promises Strong Signal All Through the House August 23, 2016 
Netgear on Monday announced the Orbi WiFi System, designed to
eliminate dead spots in smart homes. Orbi's system "is similar to using a
network extender, but Netgear has improved on this approach with a
dedicated band for communication with the satellite devices," explained
Bill Ablondi, a research director at Strategy Analytics. The initial
Orbi system will be available in September for $400.
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Cloud Platforms and the Connected-Device Value Chain August 17, 2016 
Internet of Things cloud platforms offer device makers and
companies the opportunity to greatly expand the value of products and
services. These devices are reshaping the value chain by altering
product design and development, manufacturing, marketing, supply chain
management and service after the sale. They also generate new support
activities, such as product data analytics and security.
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Google Duo Aims to Make Video Calling Super-Easy August 16, 2016 
Google on Monday launched Google Duo, a one-on-one video calling
app that runs on iOS and Android. The app will be available worldwide in
the next few days, said Justin Uberti, principal software engineer at
Google. Duo switches from cellular service to WiFi, and transitions from
high-speed to lower speed wireless service smoothly, promising to let
users continue video calls uninterrupted.
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Gadget Ogling: Levitating Smart Things, Making WiFi-Perfect Wine, and Staying Safe While Solo August 16, 2016 
Lift is an antigravity charger for Apple Watch and Pebble. The
charger is wireless, so there's almost no clutter involved -- except, I
suppose, when you have to charge the charger. The watch wraps around a
portable battery pack, which the base keeps elevated using magnets.
There's a Pro version of the base, which you can use as an iPhone or
iPad stand and charger.
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Tim Cook Devotes a Lot of Words to Saying Very Little August 16, 2016 
Tim Cook talked about his five years at the helm of Apple in a
wide-ranging interview published Saturday. Apple fans looking for juicy
morsels about new products won't find them in the Q & A, however.
Among other things, Cook discounted the bleak claims of those analysts
who maintain the smartphone market is in decline -- and Apple's fortunes
with it.
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Russian Regulators Scoop Apple Into Price-Fixing Probe August 12, 2016 
A Russian regulatory authority earlier this week named Apple, along
with more than a dozen Russian retailers, as a target for an
investigation into price-fixing activities. The Federal Antimonopoly
Service, or FAS, has seen signs of price-setting coordination among
iPhone resellers in Russia, according to a notice published on the
agency's website.
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TCP Flaw Opens Linux Systems to Hijackers August 11, 2016 
A flaw in the RFC 5961 specification the Internet Engineering Task
Force developed to protect TCP against blind in-window attacks could
threaten Android smartphones, as well as every Linux computer on the
planet. The flaw is described in a paper a team of researchers presented
at the 25th Usenix Security Symposium, ongoing in Austin, Texas,
through Friday.
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900 Million Androids Could Be Easy Prey for QuadRooter Exploits August 9, 2016 
Four newly identified vulnerabilities could affect 900 million
Android devices, Check Point researchers disclosed. The vulnerabilities,
which the researchers dubbed "QuadRooter," affect Android devices that
use Qualcomm chipsets. They exist in the chipset software drivers. The
drivers, which control communications between chipset components, are
incorporated into Android builds.
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