Remember when you had to go to a tech fair, convention or other public gathering to experience virtual reality? Starting March 30,2016, you can have virtual reality at you doorstep…for a price.
Microsoft’s HoloLens kit is taking pre-orders. These kits will ship to the US and Canada starting March 30. The holographic headset will set you back $3,000. This is only for the HoloLens, charger, Bluetooth 4.1 clicker, carrying case, microfiber cloth, and replacement nose pieces. The software will require a PC, Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015. The headset alone has four cameras to capture the environment, one to build world maps and one 2MP camera for photography and video camera. The HoloLens has four microphones, ambient light sensor, and an internal measurement system that uses?accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect movement. It has two USB connections. It’s battery life can go for about three active hours without went charges. How much do you expect it to weigh: twenty pounds? ten pounds? Nope. This portable virtual reality kit weighs 1.37 lbs. Apps will include HoloStudio (see this link for explanation) and Skype. Both are Microsoft creations. An app called HoloTour shall provide the HoloLens consumer with trips and sights around the world…without even leaving his/her own home.
The future of virtual reality is here. That’s what Microsoft hopes. Microsoft has invested a lot of time and resources on this. But I think about the potential social ramifications of HoloLens. Could home virtual reality be addictive? Could it be so addictive people abandon their responsibilities, family, and friendships in the real world? I know HoloLens can be a great escapism tool, but sometimes you got to come back down to Earth. Try to imagine a parent forsaking a child’s needs or a boss/manager forsaking their co-workers because they can’t put HoloLens down. This could lead to the breakdown of family, households, workplaces, schools, relationships, and societies. I’m not too crazy about the price either. Is $3,000 worth the price of virtual reality?
Digital company and online store V Tech specializes in children’s technology products and learning tools. Just in time for the Christmas shopping season, V Tech faces a security crisis.
There’s been a massive breach at V Tech. It’s so massive that investigators and security experts believe up to 200,000 children and 4.8 million parents have been hacked. The only good thing about this cyber attack in no credit card numbers were affected, because V Tech’s database doesn’t contain them. But it’s believed adult names, email accounts, IP addresses and online histories have been compromised. What’s more disturbing is the information of child customers: their names, birthdays and genders were compromised as well. According to news site Motherboard, they stole photos and online chat information. V Tech insists affected customers were contacted. Some accounts were even shut down as a precaution. Security experts are warning more attacks against digital toys are likely. One reason is these toys lack security expertise and software development that most adult devices now have. One such expert believes V Tech missed the mark in securing data and allowed unscrambling the data to be too easy. V Tech is based out of Hong Kong, China. According to Motherboard, an anonymous hacker has claimed responsibility. This hacker says he will do nothing with the data.
Then why did he hack the data to start with? Why did he put millions of livelihoods on the line, including the privacy of over 200,000 children? Couldn’t there had been a better way to prove a point? But I will admit, there’s a point that needs to be made. We need to do a better job securing children’s toys and technology. If we fail to secure our kids’ toys, then we fail our kids. It’s that simple. There’s no telling what kind of predators would take advantage of this. That’s the scariest part of all. What can be done to keep digital toys safe?
Believe it or not, there are some battles even the mighty tech giant Apple can’t win. In China, it’s Apple vs censorship. It seems like censorship is winning in China.
Apple has disabled it’s news app in China. It’s believed regulations regarding strict online rules is the reason. The Apple News App is already available in the US, and being tested and promoted in international markets. It’s currently being tested in Great Britain and Australia. But Great Britain and Australia don’t have the intense government rules China has. That’s why Apple News App doesn’t work in China. When Apple users in China try to utilize the news app, all they get for their troubles is the following message: Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region. This could be a problem because China is Apple’s second biggest market. That nation made Apple $13 billion in Q3 2015 alone. But Chinese government leaders in Beijing pass the censorship blame to foreign companies. When the fact of the matter is, Chinese companies use software and employees to get rid of articles deemed sensitive or inappropriate. But rather than follow other Chinese media and technology companies, Apple decided to cut off the app altogether. As expected, Apple leaders and spokespersons aren’t commenting.
One of the most powerful companies in the world can’t break censorship in one of the most censored nations in the world. If China wants to remain one of the biggest economic powerhouses in the world, then it needs to loosen it’s grip on censorship. And then they want to blame private corporations. Maybe if Beijing loosened their laws, then these private companies wouldn’t have to bend over backward to accommodate such rules and regulations. Look at China’s record when it comes to issues like the environment and human rights. What does the Chinese government have to hide?
For the last couple of years, technology and the Obama administration has had quite the relationship. Recently, it’s flared up again over the encryption issue.
Intense deliberation about encryption has taken months. The Obama administration decided it won’t push legislation requiring communication technology companies to decode messages for law enforcement whenever law enforcement wants. That’s a small victory for privacy rights advocates and Constitution advocates, but don’t pop the champagne yet. The White House still wants telecommunication companies to create ways for government to go into people’s data, but only for criminal and terrorist investigations. This is basically government agencies trying to walk the tightrope between public safety and ensuring privacy rights. However, FBI officials complain encryption makes it harder and harder to catch the bad guys. Take any smart device. Only the device owner has access to such data. So basically, in the case of smartphones, companies would be of little if any help even with a search warrant. National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh addressed this dilemma. He said, “As part of those efforts, we are actively engaged with private companies to ensure they understand the public safety and national security risks that result from malicious actors? use of their encrypted products and services.? ?Privacy rights advocates don’t trust the administration’s definition of strong encryption.
After months of quarreling over the encryption issue, little progress has been made. Don’t expect this issue to be solved or resolved anytime soon. Some of these complaints might be valiant. What if the guy with the smartphone is a terrorist, sociopath, psychopath, or career criminal? It might take more effort to catch him. But the point is, 99% of smartphone users don’t fit in such categories. So what about us? How long will they walk this tightrope? And can the handful of criminals be punished without taking it out on the rest of us?
The United States and United Kingdom aren’t the only nations embracing the Uber craze. One of the fastest growing economies in the world is joining the movement.
Uber expands in China. This ride-hailing app will expand to over 100 Chinese cities over the next year. That’s double of what Uber’s goals were just a few months ago. Chief Executive Travis Kalanick ?made this known in a speech in Beijing. Over four billion dollars were raised in a short time to make this happen. And now it’s happening by leaps and bounds. “When we started this year, we were about one percent market share. Today, nine months later, we’re looking at about 30 to 35 percent market share,” Kalanick said of Uber growth in China. Uber executives and investors bank heavily on China’s online transport market to become the biggest and most lucrative of them all. They’re even welcoming the Chinese government’s new regulations. That’s a far cry from other nations Uber has invaded (no pun intended). Kalanick spoke of the importance of a good relationship with China’s Internet services. Kalanick bragged about China’s ahem…’progressive’… government and services. This showering of praise came right after the Chinese Internet search leader demonstrated a smartphone finding services on it’s own with no human assistance.
Okay, China is the fastest growing economy in the world. In a few years, it might be the top economy in the world, whether we Americans like it or not. But look at the way Kalanick is kissing up to Chinese officials. I don’t remember Uber leaders rolling out the red carpet to other nations. I wonder how the Chinese people will respond to Uber. In the US and UK, Uber has done well. Uber has also been met with massive resistance from San Francisco all the way to London. No wonder why Kalanick is kissing up to China. Will it work?
In the last year or so, we’ve learned anything can be hacked. Even entire retail corporations?and government entities aren’t safe. Can a car be hacked?
The answer is yes. That’s according to professional hacker Charlie Miller of Ladue, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Earlier this week, he and a friend tested their hacking skills on a 2014 Jeep Cherokee. One person was on a laptop while another was on the road driving around greater St. Louis. From the laptop, Miller was able to lock the doors. He blasted the car radio. He was took control of the steering wheel. Miller even shut down the breaks and transmission. Charlie Miller plans to discuss these disturbing results at the Black Hat convention in Las Vegas in August 2015. Miller’s experiment is so alarming that everyone is taking note, from consumers to car makers to political leaders. Chrysler is already teaming up with Miller to fix their soft security spots. A Chrysler spokesperson said the company is “…focused on identifying and implementing software best practices…”. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) and Edward Markey (D-Mass) are pushing for laws that secure cars and protect the lives and privacy of everyone on the road. Miller worries the more automobiles depend on 21st century software technology, the more vulnerable?we all are. There could be hundreds of thousands of vulnerable cars on the road right now.
I agree with Charlie Miller. And I hope more legislators and car companies take note and do something. Don’t wait for tragedy to strike to combat evil and chaos. If they have a chance to stop it before they get started, then take it! We consumers should stay on their case until something is done. So share this and other stories like this all over social media. Write to your local Congressmen, Senator, car dealership and car company and insist this security threat is solved before someone gets hurt or killed. Don’t think somebody would hijack somebody’s car from home? Tell that to terrorists, cyber criminals, psychopaths, or anybody with a grudge. I‘m thinking even jilted ex-lovers could use this against each other. Can we afford to wait any longer to fight car hacking?
