NewsFactor Network

Samsung Offers Tiny, Superfast PCIe SSDs for Ultrabooks

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:30:55 -0500

Solid-state drives are continuing their march forward. On Monday, Samsung Electronics announced it has started to mass produce the first PCI-Express 3.0 SSDs for the new wave of Ultrabooks.

The thin Samsung XP941, available in 512 GB, 256 GB, and 128 GB sizes, will be provided to manufacturers for the next generation of slim notebooks. The new model provides a sequential read of 1,400 megabytes/second, which Samsung noted is the highest performance available using a PCIe 2.0 interface. The PCIe connection offers faster transfer speeds than SSDs using the SATA, or Serial ATA, interface.

This level of transfer speed, the company said, allows a drive to read half a terabyte of data -- or 10 HD movies as large as 5 GB each -- in only 36 seconds. Samsung said that is seven times faster than a hard drive, which would require more than 40 minutes for the same tasks, and it's more than 2.5 times faster than the fastest SSD using an SATA interface.

Six Grams

The new drive is available in an 80mm x 22mm form factor, weighing 6 grams, or about one-ninth the weight of an SATA-based 2.5-inch SSD. In volume, the XP941 is about one-seventh the size of a 2.5-inch SSD drive, allowing more room in a mobile device for, say, a larger battery.

Young-Hyun Jun, Samsung Electronic executive vice president for memory sales and marketing, said in a statement that the company's shipment of the XP941 makes it "the first to provide the highest performance PCIe SSD to global PC makers so that they can launch leading-edge ultra-slim notebook PCs this year."

Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said SSDs have been coming from SanDisk, Intel, Kingston and others in addition to Samsung, which is the "largest flash memory vendor in the world."

Classic Technology Adoption

He...

Edward Snowden's Life Surrounded by Spycraft

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:35:38 -0500

In the suburbs edged by woods midway between Baltimore and Washington, residents long joked that the government spy shop next door was so ultra-secretive its initials stood for "No Such Agency." But when Edward Snowden grew up here, the National Security Agency's looming presence was both a very visible and accepted part of everyday life.

When Snowden -- the 29-year-old intelligence contractor whose leak of top-secret documents has exposed sweeping government surveillance programs -- went to Arundel High School, the agency regularly sent employees from its nearby black-glass headquarters to tutor struggling math students.

When Snowden went on to Anne Arundel Community College in the spring of 1999 after leaving high school halfway through his sophomore year, he arrived on a campus developing a specialty in cybersecurity training for future employees of the NSA and Department of Defense, though, according to the records, he never took such a class.

And when Snowden joined friends in his late teens to edit a Web site built around a shared interest in Japanese animation, they chartered the venture from an apartment in military housing at Fort George G. Meade, the installation that houses the NSA center dubbed the Puzzle Palace and calls itself the "nation's pre-eminent center for information, intelligence and cyber."

In this setting, it's easy to see how the young Snowden was exposed to the notion of spycraft as a career, first with the Central Intelligence Agency and later as a systems analyst for two companies under contract to the NSA. But details of his early life -- in the agency's shadows and with both parents working for other branches of the federal government -- only magnify the contradictions inherent in Snowden's decision to become a leaker.

What, after all, did he think he was getting into when he signed up to work for the nation's...

Why Google's Project Loon is Smart Business

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:53:35 -0500

Google is once again proving that it's much more than a search engine or even a mobile-device company, with Project Loon. The initiative aims to bring "balloon-powered Internet" to isolated areas of the world.

With a tagline "Loon for all," Project Loon deploys balloons that float in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and the weather. As Google explains it, they are carried around the earth by winds and they can be steered by rising or descending to an altitude with winds moving in the desired directions.

Practically speaking, people connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. The signal bounces from balloon to balloon, then to the global Internet back on earth.

Project Loon Pioneers

"Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But two-thirds of the world's population does not yet have Internet access," Google said. "Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters."

Project Loon is starting this month with an experimental pilot project in New Zealand. Google said a small group of Project Loon pioneers will test the technology in Christchurch and Canterbury. Specifically, Google will launch 30 balloons for a small group of pilot testers, who will offer feedback that the company will use to refine the technology.

Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, told us Project Loon appears to be a creative and clever way to bring the Internet to people in rural and remote areas of the globe. If Google is able to pull it off, he said, it would be a remarkable feat.

Of course, there are obstacles.

What's In It for Google?

"The company would need the cooperation of...

Authorities Want Smartphone 'Kill Switch' To Fight Thefts

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:26:24 -0500

Law enforcement authorities are calling on the smartphone industry to adopt technologies that would deter theft by squeezing the market for selling stolen devices. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced a nationwide Secure Our Smartphones Initiative that aims to see smartphone makers add a kill switch to mobile devices.

The initiative is a coalition of state attorneys general, district attorneys, major city police chiefs, state and city comptrollers, public safety activists and consumer advocates from around the country. The problem they are tackling is real and growing.

According to Consumer Reports, 30 percent to 40 percent of all robberies reported nationwide are cell phones being stolen. In 2012, 1.6 million Americans were victimized for their smartphones. A Harris poll of phone owners found that nearly 10 percent said their phone had been stolen at one point, and a recent study found that lost and stolen cell phones cost consumers more than $30 billion last year.

A Five-Pronged Strategy

"Smartphones have become a part of our everyday lives. Over half of the U.S. population owns a smartphone, creating an environment ripe for violent street crimes," Gascon said. "The cell phone industry cannot ignore that smartphone theft is a crime that can be fixed with a technological solution."

The Secure Our Smartphones Initiative will attempt to address this national epidemic by focusing on five key areas. The first is to analyze patterns, causes and trends behind the growing and increasingly violent problem of device theft. The initiative will also investigate the capability of manufacturers to develop technology that would deter theft, including a "kill switch" that would enable stolen devices to be permanently disabled, eliminating the economic incentives for would-be thieves.

The third prong in the strategy is to understand how the economics of device theft have affected...

Microsoft, Facebook Tell of Thousands of Security Requests

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:27:41 -0500

Thousands of law enforcement and U.S. national security requests were received by Microsoft and Facebook in the second half of 2012, the two companies disclosed late Friday. The companies noted, however, that the requests represented a tiny fraction of their user bases.

John Frank, vice president and deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said his company was permitted, for the first time, to disclose the total volume of national security orders but was still not allowed to confirm whether it had received any Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders. Frank is still convinced, however, that what the company is permitted to publish falls short of what is needed to help the community understand and debate the issues.

Microsoft Escapes Verizon's Fate

With that said, Microsoft revealed that for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2012, it received a total of 6,000 to 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders from local, state and federal U.S. governmental entities, affecting more than 31,000 consumer accounts. Frank said that amounted to only a tiny fraction of Microsoft's global customer base.

"Microsoft has not received any national security orders of the type that Verizon was reported to have received that required the wireless carrier to provide business records about U.S. customers," Frank confirmed. That's good for Microsoft, since the debate over Verizon releasing customer information to the U.S. government and the National Security Agency is still raging.

"Verizon and Verizon Wireless are in the center of the storm, but they are keeping quiet and the storm has not ravaged them yet. That's the good news," Jeff Kagan, a wireless industry analyst, told us. "To date, they have not lost customers or investors. I hope they can continue to stay away from the chaos. However, things can change quickly.

"So far I would give Verizon an 'A' in the way...

Amazon.com Joins 3D Printer Craze, Enabling Wide Availability

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:47:28 -0500

The age of distributed manufacturing is upon us. This week, Amazon opened a section in its giant online store for 3D Printers & Supplies.

The section includes 3D printers, 3D printer filament, books, CAD software and related items. 3D printers include the featured Alfinia 3D Printer H-Series at $1,599 -- which Make Magazine said provided "the best overall experience" -- the MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer for $2,479, and the Mbot Cube 3D Printer Dual Head at $1,299.

Amazon is not the only indication that the 3D printer revolution is here. Office-supply store Staples is selling Cube 3D printers, as well.

The RepRap Project

Commercially available 3D printers have recently moved from being expensive hobbyist devices to being pricey but accessible consumer devices, selling in the $1,000-$2,000 range. But there's also a movement to replicate 3D printers using -- what else? -- 3D printers, such as the RepRap project in the U.K.

Dr. Adrian Bowyer, a lecturer at the University of Bath in England, started the RepRap project to build a low-cost 3D printer that can print plastic objects and duplicate itself.

Bowyer completed the first RepRap printer in 2007, and he named it, appropriately enough, Darwin. He said he wanted to see if he could build a printer for a few hundred pounds, instead of the 30,000 pounds he paid at the time. The schematics were then made freely available online, and there are an estimated 20,000 users of RepRap printers now. Some of the models from the companies MakerBot and Bits from Bytes have used the RepRap specs as the basis for their commercial versions.

3D printers build objects by placing layer after layer of molten plastic on a base. While plastics are most commonly used, printer modifications have also enabled the use of such other materials as ceramics. Currently, a...

New York Gets More Neighborly Online with Nextdoor

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:29:12 -0500

New York City is often referred to as the City that Never Sleeps. Now, it's about to get a little more neighborly in the social media age through a new partnership.

On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a partnership with Nextdoor, a free, private social network designed to help neighbors stay connected about important city and safety updates through secure neighborhood Web sites and a mobile application.

"Partnering with Nextdoor is another step forward in our adoption of strategic technology that better serves New Yorkers," said Bloomberg. "Nextdoor gives New York neighbors an easy way to connect and communicate with those who live around them. It also provides the City with a direct line of communication to residents about important and often critical updates."

How It Works

Here's how it works: Residents can use their Nextdoor Web sites to get to know their neighbors, ask questions, and exchange local advice and recommendations. Neighbors in New York City, for example, can use Nextdoor to share information about neighborhood safety issues, local events, local businesses, lost pets, and other issues.

Nextdoor has already created more than 1,800 neighborhood Web sites across all five boroughs to support the residents of New York City. With the initial rollout, New York City residents will receive pertinent information from the City, via its Nextdoor NYCgov Web site. NYCgov currently uses social media platforms like Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook to post news, services, programs, free events, and emergency notifications for New Yorkers. By using Nextdoor, the City will be able to target those postings to specific neighborhoods.

Nextdoor is free for residents and the city. More than 14,000 neighborhoods and more than 120 city governments, including three of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. -- San Diego, Dallas and San Jose -- have adopted the service.

Staying in the Know

Nextdoor is...

New Facebook Data Center Uses All Home-Grown Servers

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:03:07 -0500

Facebook has opened the doors, so to speak, to its new data center in Lulea, Sweden. The data center marks a first for the social networking giant in two ways: It's the first in Europe and it's the first to be equipped with all Facebook-designed servers. The servers are handling live traffic from around the world.

The data center debut is the first full fruits of the company's Open Compute Project. Facebook started the project nearly two years ago with a goal to build one of the most efficient computing infrastructures at the lowest possible cost. By releasing the Open Compute Project technologies as open hardware, Facebook's goal is to develop servers and data centers following the model traditionally associated with open source software projects.

"All the equipment inside is powered by locally generated hydro-electric energy. Not only is it 100 percent renewable, but the supply is also so reliable that we have been able to reduce the number of backup generators required at the site by more than 70 percent," the company said in a news release. "In addition to harnessing the power of water, we are using the chilly Nordic air to cool the thousands of servers that store your photos, videos, comments, and Likes. Any excess heat that is produced is used to keep our office warm."

Cutting Out the Middle Man

Facebook said its commitment to energy efficiency is also evident inside Lulea's giant data halls. Nearly all the technology in the facility, from the servers to the power distribution systems, is based on Open Compute Project designs. The designs are highly efficient and leave out unnecessary bits of metal and plastic. These designs are then shared with the broader community, so anyone can use or improve them.

According to Facebook, all this adds-up to a pretty impressive power usage efficiency...

Microsoft Office 365 for iPhone Finally Hits the Market

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:13:55 -0500

At long, long last, Microsoft is rolling out Office Mobile for iPhone. It's a free iPhone app for Office 365 subscribers. The app aims to help Office users access content on the go and offers full editing capabilities.

Here's how it works: After signing in to an Office 365 account, you can access, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from anywhere. You can use Office Mobile to keep your content and formatting intact so the documents aren't skewed when you view them again on a Mac or PC, according to the company.

"When we launched Office 365 earlier this year, we committed to delivering regular updates and new capabilities to Office 365 subscribers," Julia White, general manager of the Microsoft Office Division, wrote in a blog post. "Since then, we've expanded Skype calling and added new OneNote features."

How It Works

White offered a rundown of specifically what iPhone users can do with the new app. Beyond keeping the format intact when viewing, editing or adding comments, Office Mobile for iPhone promises to offer quick access to content in the cloud on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro.

"When you're on your phone, you'll easily find the content you viewed on your computer in the Recent Documents panel," White said. "And, of course, you can view and edit Office documents sent in e-mail."

Office Mobile has been optimized for the small screen. White said that makes it easy to use features like Slide Navigator, which allows you to page through PowerPoint presentations. Speaker Notes help you practice presentations on the go. The Resume Reading feature takes you to the exact point in the document where you left off on your computer.

"You can make quick edits and share your documents right from your phone with Office Mobile," White said. "When working with others, you can...

Microsoft Study Finds Gap in SMB Cloud Perception, Reality

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:29:34 -0500

Small- and medium-size businesses have been wary of cloud services because of security, privacy and reliability issues. But a new Microsoft report, released this week, found that perceptions of clouds contrast with actual experiences.

Adrienne Hall, general manager of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, said in a statement that "there's a big gap between perception and reality when it comes to the cloud." She said SMBs that have adopted cloud services have "found security, privacy and reliability advantages" that were unexpected.

The Microsoft study did not inquire about specific products, vendors or services, but asked non-cloud-using SMBs why they weren't leveraging cloud technology.

Data Security

For 60 percent of respondents in the study, a key concern has been data security, and 45 percent were concerned that they could lose control of their data. Forty-two percent doubted the cloud's reliability.

But, for SMBs that are actually using cloud services, the study found a different picture. Ninety-four percent reported they now have security benefits they didn't previously with on-premises technology, including up-to-date systems, up-to-date antivirus and spam e-mail management. Sixty-two percent said they experienced increased levels of privacy protection, while 75 percent noted improved service availability.

The study also pointed to the cost savings from cloud services, with 70 percent of respondents saying the savings allowed them to invest money and time into other areas and half saying they were "pursuing new opportunities" because of the time saved through cloud-based security management.

For some SMBs, cloud services also could pose an issue for regulatory compliance. But in announcing the study, Microsoft pointed to the DHCU Community Credit Union, a nonprofit financial co-op based in Illinois. The Union utilizes cloud-based Microsoft Office 365, and President/COO Matt McCombs is quoted as saying that 365 "gives us peace of mind that these things are being handled, and handled well."

Public, Private, Hybrid

The credit...

Keeping Your Data Safe from Spying

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:56:02 -0500

Phone call logs, credit card records, emails, Skype chats, Facebook message, and more: The precise nature of the NSA's sweeping surveillance apparatus has yet to be confirmed.

But given the revelations spilling out into the media, there hardly seems a single aspect of daily life that isn't somehow subject to spying by the U.S. agency.

For some, it's a matter of indifference who or what is rifling through their electronic records. Others, mindful of spy agencies' history of abuse, are more concerned.

Here are some basic tips to avoid having your personal life turned into an intelligence report:

ENCRYPT YOUR EMAILS

Emails sent across the Web are like postcards. In some cases, they're readable by anyone standing between you and its recipient. That can include your webmail company, your Internet service provider and whoever is tapped into the fiber optic cable passing your message around the globe -- not to mention a parallel set of observers on the recipient's side of the world.

To beat the snoops, experts recommend encryption, which scrambles messages in transit, so they're unreadable to anyone trying to intercept them. Techniques vary, but a popular one is called PGP, short for "Pretty Good Privacy." PGP is effective enough that the U.S. government tried to block its export in the mid-1990s, arguing that it was so powerful it should be classed as a weapon.

Disadvantages: Encryption can be clunky. And to work, both parties have to be using it.

USE TOR

Like emails, your travels around the Internet can easily be tracked by anyone standing between you and the site you're trying to reach. TOR, short for "The Onion Router," helps make your traffic anonymous by bouncing it through a network of routers before spitting it back out on the other side. Each trip through a router provides another layer of protection, thus the onion reference.

Originally...

Yahoo Opens Wallet Again, Buys Two Start-Ups

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:10:19 -0500

Yahoo has the buying bug again. On Wednesday, the venerable Net company scooped up two more start-ups, mobile photo app provider GhostBird and enterprise conference calling service Rondee.

While the prices for these new acquisitions were not released, they were undoubtedly cheaper than the $1.1 billion that it cost Yahoo to make a commitment to buy Tumblr in May. Yahoo has said that GhostBird's iOS-based photo apps, KitCam and PhotoForge2, will be integrated into Flickr, and Rondee has posted on its site that its conferencing service will be used to help small businesses.

The KitCam app featured filters for mobile device picture-taking that created looks resembling different "lenses" and "film stocks," and it provided manual control of exposure, white balance and other parameters. PhotoForge allowed image resizing, metadata editing, level settings and other post-capture modifications.

Buy and Shut Down

The GhostBird acquisition was announced via a Twitter tweet on Wednesday: "Today we acquired @GhostBirdSoft for @Flickr. Get ready to see your mobile photos in a whole new light!" This was accompanied by a link to a statement on the GhostBird home page. Flickr has undergone a recent redesign of its home page, and has launched new apps for Android and iOS devices. Adding a new editing app will help boost Yahoo's efforts to build a greater presence in the mobile space and could suggest that more changes are under way for Flickr.

Both companies will discontinue their current operations, with Rondee allowing current customers to use its service through July 12 and obtain data from previous uses of its service through August 12. GhostBird's app is no longer available on the Apple App Store, although current customers can continue using the software.

Except for Tumblr, Yahoo seems to be following a buy-and-shutdown pattern. It similarly purchased and then shuttered, for instance, news app Snip.It, video...

Will Apple Offer a 'Phablet' iPhone?

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:44:03 -0500

Even with a myriad of new products and upgrades, the rumor mill around Apple doesn't seem to ever stop churning out new story lines. According to a Reuters report, Cupertino is exploring opportunities for larger iPhones with bigger screens.

Reuters also cited "four people with knowledge of the matter" as saying Apple is also exploring cheaper models in a range of colors. If the rumors are true, Apple would be taking a page from a company that it has claimed takes pages from it: Samsung.

"Apple is looking at introducing at least two bigger iPhones next year -- one with a 4.7-inch screen and one with a 5.7-inch screen -- said the sources, including those in the supply chain in Asia," Reuters reports. "They said suppliers have been approached with plans for the larger screens, but noted it is still unclear whether Apple will actually launch its flagship product in the larger sizes."

The 'Phablet' Market

It's unclear whether Apple will actually enter what many call the "Phablet" market -- part phone, part tablet. The iPhone 5 was the first model to veer toward a larger screen size. The iPhone 5 was also the thinnest, lightest model ever, with its 4-inch retina display.

The results were strong out of the gate: Pre-orders topped 2 million in just 24 hours. That pace more than doubled Apple's old record of 1 million pre-orders in 24 hours. The iPhone 4S held that honor.

Samsung, meanwhile, has seen strong success with smartphones of all sizes. But its recent move brought to market a smaller device in the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Mini. Could Apple be going bigger at a time when Samsung is going smaller?

Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, told us he is sure Apple looks into many different opportunities. That, he said, doesn't mean a product...

HP Offers OpenStack-Based Cloud OS, New Cloud Services

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:25:50 -0500

It's getting cloudier over at Hewlett-Packard. On Wednesday, HP announced new additions to its Converged Cloud portfolio that deepen its position in the OpenStack camp and position the company as a facilitator for hybrid clouds in the enterprise.

HP's announcements focused on its next phase of OpenStack-based architecture for its private, managed and public cloud offerings, as well as new software and services for cloud implementations. In its announcements, HP noted research it had commissioned, which found that "it is expected to be a hybrid world," with 75 percent of enterprise IT to be "delivered across private, managed and public clouds" within three years.

The HP Cloud OS is a platform that utilizes OpenStack and is designed for management across hybrid clouds. CloudSystem, its private cloud software, currently uses HP Cloud OS, and a new CloudSystem Enterprise Starter Suite is now being offered. The suite provides a bundled solution for rapidly providing cloud services, and the company said it reduces up-front costs by as much as 20 percent.

HP Cloud OS

HP Cloud OS will also be offered on HP Moonshot servers and used in HP Cloud Services. While based on the open source Open Stack software, the HP Cloud OS offers such enhanced features as a streamlined installation process, automatic upgrading, and the ability to move workloads between an on-premises cloud and an HP cloud service. The company said the enhancements were being added through plug-ins, not through a modification of OpenStack. A Cloud OS Sandbox will be offered to customers for trying things out, at no cost.

The company is also now offering its Converged Cloud Professional Services Suite, which include support, design and networking services, Proactive Care for CloudSystem, security risk consulting and an enhanced HP Applications Transformation to Cloud Services.

Meanwhile, HP Enterprise Services has upped its game for cloud services, especially...

Google Says Data Given to NSA Via Secure FTP and By Hand

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:46:25 -0500

Google disclosed Wednesday that it uses secure FTP servers and occasional in-person delivery when it complies with National Security Agency requests for user information.

"When required to comply with these requests, we deliver that information to the U.S. government -- generally through secure FTP transfers and in person," Google spokesman Chris Gaither said in an e-mail. "The U.S. government does not have the ability to pull that data directly from our servers or network."

Secure FTP is used to send files through an encrypted digital channel from one computer to another. By technological standards, it's an old tool.

Google's revelation comes on the heels of requests made Tuesday by Google, Facebook and other tech firms to publish further details about requests for user information made by the U.S. government for national security purposes.

Federal law currently prohibits the disclosure of any information about requests made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and permission to report even aggregate statistics about such requests would require an unprecedented declassification of national security information, USA TODAY reported Tuesday.

Since details about the secret government program PRISM surfaced last week, Google has said publicly that it was not aware of the program's existence and has said it took no part in providing the government with direct access to user information.

"We refuse to participate in any program -- for national security or other reasons -- that requires us to provide governments with access to our systems or to install their equipment on our networks," Gaither said.

The details released Wednesday go further to create separation between Google and PRISM, as FTP servers or in-person delivery of information would not give the government access to Google servers and would require the company's compliance with each request.

Meanwhile, other tech companies -- including Facebook, Apple and Twitter, which was not named in the leaks about...