Nasty Blackphone vulnerability allowed decryption and worse, and more for Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Nasty Blackphone vulnerability allowed decryption and worse David Meyer Jan 28 2015, 6:45am PDT The theoretically-super-secure Blackphone had a very serious bug in its SilentText chat app, security researcher Mark Dowd revealed Wednesday after informing the phone’s makers. The vulnerability in Silent Text, which is also available for other devices from Blackphone backer Silent Circle, made it possible for attackers […] Read More » Facebook owns the four most-downloaded mobile apps in 2014 Kif Leswing Jan 28 2015, 6:37am PDT Mobile analytics firm App Annie released a report on app trends on Wednesday that sorts out what kind of software people downloaded on their phones and tablets in 2014. The answer: Facebook-owned apps, including Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, were the four most-downloaded apps worldwide when combining iOS […] Read More » How well is vCloud Air doing? Who knows? Barb Darrow Jan 28 2015, 6:25am PDT VMware has pinned high hopes on its vCloud Air hybrid cloud, the company’s response to public cloud competitors like Amazon Web Services. But there’s not a ton of information on just how well that cloud is doing in the market. Those hoping for more details on the company’s fourth quarter […] Read More » Chrome Show: Dell backs Chromebooks in the workplace Kevin C. Tofel Jan 28 2015, 6:03am PDT We often talk about Chromebooks in the consumer and education markets so it’s easy to overlook the Windows-centric enterprises. Dell isn’t doing that though: The company has a new computing appliance that supports Chromebooks for I.T organizations to manage in-house systems for inventory and support purposes. […] Read More » Sponsored post: Three app deployment disasters every business should know about IBM Cloudant Jan 28 2015, 5:55am PDT Mobile applications and Internet-enabled goods promise to transform your brand and cement its position in the minds of your audience. At their core, these apps are about generating new types of data and using that data in new ways. You don’t have to be a software […] Read More » All the Harry Potter ebooks are now on subscription site Oyster Laura Hazard Owen Jan 28 2015, 5:32am PDT The seven Harry Potter books, plus three spin-off titles, are now available through the ebook subscription site Oyster. The company says Harry Potter has been in its top-ten searches since launch. The Harry Potter series is also available in Amazon’s subscription service, Kindle Unlimited, so the differentiator here is the […] Read More » Cable’s next step: Offer “virtual” cellular service Kevin Fitchard Jan 28 2015, 5:00am PDT Cablevision has become the first cable operator to launch a smartphone running entirely off of Wi-Fi, but there’s one more thing it has to do for its mobile service to become truly mainstream. It has to become a mobile virtual network operator. MVNOs are network-less carriers, buying […] Read More » Netflix is revamping its data architecture for streaming movies Jonathan Vanian Jan 27 2015, 3:30pm PDT Netflix is revamping the computing architecture that processes data for its streaming video service, according to a Netflix blog post that came out on Tuesday. The engineering team wanted an architecture that can handle three key areas the video-streaming giant believes greatly affects the user experience: knowing […] Read More » Apple Watch goes on sale in April “on schedule,” says Tim Cook Kevin C. Tofel Jan 27 2015, 2:33pm PDT There isn’t much more time to wait for the Apple Watch, which up until today was expected in “early 2015.” Apple will start shipping its watch on an unspecified date this April, it announced on Tuesday. That’s not early, nor late, but “right on schedule,” according to […] Read More » Apple earnings: 74.5M iPhones sold, record-breaking $18B profit Kif Leswing Jan 27 2015, 1:30pm PDT There was a lot going for Apple in its most recent holiday quarter. As the first quarter with the popular iPhone 6 on sale for the entire period, many expected Apple to boast eye-popping earnings, and Apple’s first fiscal quarter has traditionally been its best. Expectations were […] Read More » Six ways in which Andrew Keen is wrong about the internet Mathew Ingram Jan 27 2015, 11:12am PDT In his new book "The Internet Is Not The Answer," author Andrew Keen continues a theme he introduced in previous books, about how the internet is a net negative for the economy and for society. But I think he is far too negative Read More » White House CTO calls for open source APIs, visibility for women Jeff John Roberts Jan 27 2015, 9:00am PDT U.S. citizens create world-beating tech sites like Amazon, Facebook and Twitter — so why can’t agencies like the IRS or Veterans Affairs do the same? The White House’s chief technology officer, Megan Smith, suggested it’s possible, provided the government can attract enough people with a high TQ, or […] Read More » Microsoft throws down the gauntlet in business intelligence Derrick Harris Jan 27 2015, 8:12am PDT is not content to let Excel define the company’s reputation among the world’s data analysts. That’s the message the company sent on Tuesday when it announced that its PowerBI product is now free. According to a company executive, the move could expand Microsoft’s reach in the business […] Read More » Google Fiber coming to four more cities Stacey Higginbotham Jan 27 2015, 7:46am PDT Update: Google has since confirmed that it will expand to 18 cities within the four metro areas below, with construction to start “within several months,” according to Dennis Kish, the VP of Google Fiber. It also added that it is continuing to explore bringing fiber to […] Read More » License plate data lets cops spy on US drivers at record rates Jeff John Roberts Jan 27 2015, 6:03am PDT A new investigation shows the scale of surveillance on U.S. highways is more extensive than many previously imagined, thanks to a license plate database that allows federal and local law enforcement to watch cars and even drivers in real time. According to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the […] Read More » Facebook: Downtime was caused by an internal boo-boo, not a hack David Meyer Jan 27 2015, 1:32am PDT Facebook’s outage early on Tuesday, which also took out linked services such as Instagram and Tinder, was down to a technical issue caused by the company itself rather than external factors. The outage affected users around the world. According to a technical note, the outage lasted […] Read More » Silent night: Facebook, Instagram go down for Snowmadgeddon Tom Krazit Jan 26 2015, 10:36pm PDT All those carefully crafted images of snowscapes will have to stay locked up for a bit, East Coasters, because Facebook and Instagram are down. (Update 11:12pm: Our brief Facebook-related national nightmare appears to be over, at least for me and Janko Roettgers on the West Coast.) […] Read More » Scientists create quantum entanglement on a silicon chip Jonathan Vanian Jan 26 2015, 5:33pm PDT A team of scientists has figured out a way for a standard silicon chip to tackle quantum entanglement — a phenomenon in which multiple particles are connected to each other and act in uniform, regardless of how far apart they are. The scientists’ findings were detailed on […] Read More » Microsoft cites key cloud and mobile segments for good Q2 Barb Darrow Jan 26 2015, 1:23pm PDT Microsoft is claiming strong cloud-and-mobile growth in its second-quarter earnings release. The company which is playing catchup in cloud now claims a $5.5 billion run rate there, up from the $4.4 billion it claimed last quarter. On Monday the company reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of […] Read More » Got a low-cost laptop? Windows 10 upgrade may take some effort Kevin C. Tofel Jan 26 2015, 11:23am PDT Now that Microsoft has opened up the floodgates to try the Windows 10 Technical Preview, you’re itching to give it a go, right? So am I, so I attempted to get the latest software through the Windows Insider program. These days, I’m using the $229 HP Stream […] Read More »