Apple Encryption Battle Could Boost Security; Tor Users Treated Differently

Posted February 24th, 2016 at 11:55 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

People gather at a small rally in support of Apple's refusal to help the FBI access the cellphone of a gunman involved in the killings of 14 people in San Bernardino, California, Feb. 23, 2016. (Reuters)

People gather at a small rally in support of Apple’s refusal to help the FBI access the cellphone of a gunman involved in the killings of 14 people in San Bernardino, California, Feb. 23, 2016. (Reuters)

Apple Encryption Fight Could Speed Development of Government-proof Devices

Apple’s refusal to obey a court order to decrypt an iPhone belonging to a California mass shooter faces some public opposition, but also has the support of many like-minded tech firms. But the showdown has already triggered a move toward developing more secure mobile devices and applications. And experts say even a government victory could prompt tech companies to create security systems that their engineers cannot access.

Tor Users Increasingly Treated Like Second-class Web Citizens

Users of The Onion Router’s anonymity network appear to be falling victim to those who use the Tor browser for spamming or hacking. A new collaborative study found 1.3 million websites that refuse to connect Tor users. About 3.67 percent of Alexa’s top 1000 websites also block Tor users at the application level.

The Why’s and What’s of 5G

A hot topic at this year’s World Mobile Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain is the next generation of wireless networks or 5G. Writer Bob O’Donnell sheds light on this impending technology.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Wireless Mice, Keyboards Open to Attack; Bill Gates on Energy Miracles

Posted February 23rd, 2016 at 11:52 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - A photo illustration shows a USB device being plugged into a laptop computer in Berlin, Germany, (Reuters)

FILE – A photo illustration shows a USB device being plugged into a laptop computer in Berlin, Germany, (Reuters)

Countless Computers Vulnerable to MouseJack Attack Through Wireless Mice, Keyboards

Startup wireless security company Bastille reports that wireless mice and keyboards from several companies, including Amazon, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, Logitech and Microsoft can be hacked from 100 yards away or about three feet. The problem, called MouseJack, is the result of a vulnerability in the protocols between the devices and a computer’s USB wireless receivers.

Bill Gates: An Energy Miracle is Coming, and It’s Going to Change the World

In an interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Business Insider questioned the head of the  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation about climate change, energy, how to bring power to millions of people who don’t have it, and how the world’s billionaires can make an energy miracle happen.

Bill Gates Backs FBI as Public Opinion Weighs In on Apple Encryption Fight

The standoff between Apple and the U.S. government continues as Apple CEO Tim Cook remains unwilling to help law authorities break the encryption of an iPhone that belonged to a California mass shooter. And according to the Wall Street Journal, The U.S. Justice Department is now looking at court orders to force Apple to break the encryption on several other devices in about a dozen other cases. The controversy has also divided public opinion between Apple supporters and those backing the government.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Five App Makes Messaging Accessible to Deaf Users

Posted February 19th, 2016 at 11:03 am (UTC-5)
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A screenshot of the sign language options on the mobile app, Five, which is geared for deaf users. (Mateusz Mach)

A screenshot of the sign language options on the mobile app, Five, geared for deaf users. (Mateusz Mach)

A mobile app developed by an 18-year-old high school entrepreneur in Poland is set to become a major missing link in communication for deaf people.

The app, called Five, allows deaf users to create a sign language for chatting and messaging on their smartphone or iWatch. While there are largely universal sign language standards for deaf people at international events, sign language is not uniform. Much like in the spoken language, there are hundreds of different sign language “dialects” around the world.

“Currently, there are no messaging apps for deaf people because I think that the majority of entrepreneurs don’t know about the problems of deaf people,” said Five CEO Mateusz Mach. “… Eighty percent of deaf people can’t read or write even the simple messages because they don’t hear the internal voice which you hear during reading of, for example, [a] book or magazine.”

There are several apps that help deaf users access information or get tactile alerts to sounds around them. Others use text-to-speech technologies to enable communication between deaf and hearing people. But Five is the world’s first sign language app created especially for the deaf.

Ironically, Five was conceived for a different reason. The original version started out as a messaging tool between friends and Hip-Hop music lovers. Mach, a Hip-Hop enthusiast himself, came up with the idea as a fun way to exchange hand signs similar to what Hip-Hop artists use. He took his cue from one-word messaging app Yo, which started out allowing users to message each other, well, the word “yo”. But the list of words is expanding.

“It was a messenger for my friends, for teenagers,” he told Techtonics. “I was quite inspired by the Yo ads … and basically it was a kind of messenger like Yo – really simple communication.”

The Five app, which is also one of the first messengers for the iWatch, didn’t get a whole lot of traction among the intended group of users. But then one day, Mach received a message from a hearing-impaired woman in the United States, thanking him for the signing app and asking him to expand on it for deaf users.

A screenshot of the Gesture Creator in the app Five, designed for deaf users, which allows them to create their own string of words to use for communications. (Mateusz Mach)

A screenshot shows Five’s Gesture Creator. The app allows deaf users to create their own string of words to use for communications. (Mateusz Mach)

“And thanks to her,” he said, “I was able to pivot and decide to prepare a version for the deaf people … because every country has its own sign language. And we are starting within five months with a new version in the United States.”

The current version is available for both Android and iOs smartphones. Mach said it already has more than 10,000 deaf users. “And we expect to have about 150,000 deaf users in the U.S. next year,” he said.

The app has caught the eye of the United Nations in New York. Mach was contacted and told that the U.N. “is interested in helping us with promotion of Five app in the U.S. after the [release] of the next version.”

Despite looming high school final exams, Mach was able to take his app to the next level. He secured $150,000 in venture capital funding – quite the feat for an 18-year-old. He said he is the youngest person in Poland to pull that off. The money went to hiring eight new people.

“I need sign language specialist interpreters,” he said. “And with the help of programmers, we are creating the next version of the app.”

Working with feedback from the deaf community, the team is fine-tuning the app for their needs. Given the “lack of a messenger for them in the past,” Mach said they “really appreciate the possibility of having one in the future.”

Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

LA Hospital Pays Bitcoin Ransom; Empowering Indian Women in Tech

Posted February 18th, 2016 at 11:59 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center is pictured in Los Angeles, California, Feb. 16, 2016. The FBI is investigating a cyber attack that crippled the hospital's electronic database for days, forcing doctors to rely on telephones and fax machines to relay patient information.   (Reuters)

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center is pictured in Los Angeles, California, Feb. 16, 2016. The FBI is investigating a cyber attack that crippled the hospital’s electronic database for days, forcing doctors to rely on telephones and fax machines to relay patient information. (Reuters)

Hollywood Hospital Pays Bitcoin Ransom Demand

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, whose computer systems were hijacked and locked down by hackers demanding payment on February 5, has succumbed and paid around $17,000 in digital bitcoin currency. Chief Allen Stefanek said paying the ransom was the most efficient way to restore normal hospital functions.

Three Key Ways India’s Tech Community Is Empowering Women

Women in India’s tech sector comprise about 30 percent of the workforce, and only 36 percent of women make it to supervisory positions. But some tech companies are trying to make a difference. PayPal, for one, has launched a program to reintroduce women who have taken time off back into the workforce. And there are several other initiatives underway to bring more girls into tech education and mentor women entrepreneurs.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has distinguished himself by his willingness to take on controversial issues. His defense of privacy and opposition to a court order to give law enforcement access to encrypted data on a mass shooter’s iPhone could set a legal precedent. His stance could also set the tone for corporate America and how it deals with the government. On the other hand, the White House said the government only wants help in one case when an iPhone was used by a mass shooter in San Bernardino, California last year.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Apple, FBI Face Off; Using VR to Help Stroke Patients

Posted February 17th, 2016 at 12:10 pm (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook speaks during a event for students to learn to write computer code in the Manhattan borough of New York. Dec. 9, 2015. (Reuters)

FILE – Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook speaks during a event for students to learn to write computer code in the Manhattan borough of New York, Dec. 9, 2015. (Reuters)

Tim Cook: Apple Will Fight Push to Add Backdoor to iPhone

Apple CEO Tim Cook said helping the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernandino, California mass shooters would be a “dangerous precedent.” The statement came in response to a court order demanding that Apple help the FBI break into one of the killers’ phones. But Apple is not alone as pro-encryption lawmakers and activists also weighed in against setting this precedent.

What Happens When You Leak Stolen Bank Data to the Dark Web?

Count yourself lucky if your personal and financial records have not been touched by hackers – yet. The information stolen from millions of people worldwide is already available on the so-called Dark Web for hackers to access and use. But what really happens to that information? ZDNet carried out an interesting experiment to find out.

How Virtual Reality Could Soon Help Stroke Victims Recover

Virtual Reality might be getting more attention in gaming these days, but Swiss firm MindMaze hopes to change that. The startup hopes to blend virtual reality goggles with neuroscience to help stroke patients trick their brains into a speedier recovery.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Hospital Hacked; Malware Remotely Erases Android Devices

Posted February 16th, 2016 at 11:36 am (UTC-5)
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Creative Commons image by user Chs87

Creative Commons image by user Chs87

Today’s Tech Sightings:

 

Hollywood Hospital Held to Ransom by Hackers

Hackers have taken control of computer systems at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and are now demanding $3.6 million in ransom. The hospital has been crippled by the attack, with staff having to revert to pen and paper for their records. The attackers are demanding the ransom in bitcoins, the virtual currency of choice among cyber criminals.

Android Malware Used Remotely to Erase Devices

Researchers at Heimdal Security discovered a malware strain identified as ‘Mazar Android BOT’ that allows hackers to take control of remote devices. The hackers send out a new MMS message that includes a link. Once triggered with a lick on that link, the malware installs the TOR browser through a legitimate URL on the target device.

Microsoft Wants to Make Building a PC a Breeze

Modular computing is in the conversation again. A Microsoft patent spied online hopes to turn PCs into modular computing devices that fit together, sort of like LEGO bricks. The devices could range from powerful PCs to low-end devices. A number of other companies have also been researching modular computing.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Worldreader Pushes Digital Literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted February 12th, 2016 at 10:25 am (UTC-5)
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A reader uses the Worldreader app in Kenya. (Worldreader)

A reader uses a mobile phone to access the Worldreader app in Kenya. (LFA\Worldreader)

Mobile technology has put digital books in the hands of people in developing regions who otherwise have limited reading resources. But millions of schoolchildren in places like Africa still have few or no books to help them develop reading and writing skills. Worldreader aims to change that.

Focusing mainly on Sub-Saharan Africa, Worldreader is a non-profit group dedicated to increasing literacy, educational outcomes and positive perceptions of reading in developing countries. Its library is available in 43 languages and 69 countries, including India, as well as the Americas.

“Readers access a library of over 30,000 – actually, currently it’s 31,000 digital books on e-readers or mobile phones,” said Worldreader’s Director of Content Danielle Zacarias in an interview.

The library is accessible on the Web and via an e-reader mobile app, available globally.

In 2013, Worldreader Mobile had, on average, 335,000 active readers each month who collectively completed 657,475 books and stories.

Worldreader also targets schools and libraries, where reach is limited but more impactful. Content is localized to target different regions and languages. So “Kenya would have much more content than the U.S. relating to their languages, for example,” said Zacarias. “And the reason is because … our key focus areas are Sub-Saharan Africa.”

While most of the library’s content is in English and French, Zacarias said the next biggest language on e-readers in schools and libraries in the region is Swahili. “And Swahili books are fairly popular in that region.”

Sub-Saharan African schools are often lacking in infrastructure and sanitation, not to mention books. In many cases, only one textbook is available for two or more students to share, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). About 153 million adults in Sub-Saharan Africa lack basic literacy and math skills. Women account for more than 60 percent of the region’s illiterate population.

Amisha Vittal Khedekar, a student reading outside her school in India. (Worldreader)

Amisha Vittal Khedekar, a student reading outside her school in India. (LAF\Worldreader)

While there is little raw data to determine what people are reading on Worldreader, romance is high on the list. But the genre is often poorly-understood or downgraded in public perception because “it is female writing,” even though it “does capture some of the female experiences that are not captured elsewhere.”

“People kind of snub their noses at romance – it’s not proper fiction,” said Zacarias. “And it’s one of the few places you can find stories told from a woman’s perspective, like love stories told from a woman’s perspective.”

Depending on availability and current interest, health and sexual health books are also popular. Health topics “spiked tremendously” in West Africa during last year’s Ebola outbreak. And Zacarias suggested that the popularity of a book about malaria might reflect Sub-Saharan Africa’s continued problems with the disease.

Books about sexual health might not even be available in some markets. Zacarias said readers might be reluctant to check out this type of material at a public library – assuming they have a public library – and more inclined to access them in private on their mobile device.

But Zacarias is less concerned with what people are reading than with the fact that they are reading at all.

“When we think about the books that grabbed our attention and made us readers as kids, it’s often not high literature,” she said. “Like I was a fantasy nerd; and would I be the reader that I am today if I wasn’t allowed to just read whatever I wanted? Probably not.”

Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Indonesia Fights Same-sex Emoticons; 25 Percent of Mobile Apps Insecure

Posted February 11th, 2016 at 11:10 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - The logo of free messaging app Line and it's sticker characters are pictured at the Line Corp's press briefing venue in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)

FILE – The logo of free messaging app Line and it’s sticker characters are pictured at the Line Corp’s press briefing venue in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)

Indonesia Warns Messaging Apps to Drop Same-sex Emoticons

The government of Indonesia, where homosexuality is a sensitive topic, is demanding that instant messaging apps remove stickers and images that express support for bisexual or transgender orientations. The move follows a backlash on social media over same-sex stickers on popular messaging app Line

Here’s How Facebook Can Avoid Playing the Part of the Colonialist

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg Wednesday chided board member Marc Andreessen over an  offensive tweet about colonialism in India. Writer David Meyer argues that Facebook opened itself up to this type of criticism with its Free Basics Internet initiative, now banned in India.

25 Percent of Mobile Apps Include at Least One High Risk Security Flaw

A new study from NowSecure, a mobile security solutions firm, found business apps three times more likely to leak login information than other apps. Game apps were one-and-a-half times more likely to include high-risk vulnerabilities.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

Google Exec to Head Cancer-Detection Startup; Facebook’s Andreessen Offends Indians

Posted February 10th, 2016 at 12:00 pm (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

The offices of gene sequencing company Illumina Inc are shown in San Diego, California, Jan. 11, 2016. Illumina is going after the next big advance in cancer detection, working to develop a universal blood test to identify early-stage cancers in people with no symptoms of the disease. (Reuters)

The offices of gene sequencing company Illumina Inc. are shown in San Diego, California, Jan. 11, 2016. Illumina is going after the next big advance in cancer detection, working to develop a universal blood test to identify early-stage cancers in people with no symptoms of the disease. (Reuters)

Google’s Huber to Lead Illumina Cancer-Detecting Startup Grail

Google executive Jeff Huber has been named CEO of Illumina Inc.’s Grail, a startup developing a blood test to detect cancer at its earliest stage. Grail aims to create a screening blood test that can diagnose all types of cancers before their symptoms begin to surface.

Marc Andreessen Offends 1 Billion Indians With Single Tweet

In fairness, Mark Andreessen, a member of Facebook’s board of directors, deleted the offending tweet and promptly apologized. In the original tweet, he said that “anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for Indian people for decades. Why stop now?” Some Twitter users were not amused.

Google:Searches Related to Online Protection Growing in India

India is adding five million new online users every month, according to Google, and is expected to have as many as 500 million connected users in the next few years. But with that changing landscape, more Indians are doing security-related searches and exercising caution about online security and protecting their data.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

USBs Fight N. Korea’s Media Ban; Facebook’s Dilemma in India

Posted February 9th, 2016 at 11:07 am (UTC-5)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - A notification saying, "Warning! You can't connect to this website because it's in blacklist site" is seen on both a computer screen and on a smartphone screen in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 20, 2015. (AP)

FILE – A notification saying, “Warning! You can’t connect to this website because it’s in blacklist site” is seen on both a computer screen and on a smartphone screen in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 20, 2015. (AP)

Old USB Drives Fight North Korea’s Media Ban

The New York-based Human Rights Foundation and Silicon Valley nonprofit Forum 280 have launched a new initiative to collect USB flash drive donations and then ship them to the Koreas. Once activists in Seoul, such as the non-profit North Korean Strategy Center, receive the drives, they then stuff them with Western and South Korean films and TV shows and ship them across the border to fight North Korea’s ban on foreign media.

Facebook’s India Stumble Could Embolden Other Regulators

Web analysts say Facebook will now have to reconsider its approach – and pricing – to providing free Internet access after its Free Basics initiative was banned in India. More importantly, the recent decision by India’s regulators that prohibits Internet service providers from offering different prices for different content could encourage other countries to follow suit.

Modular Malware Hides From 24 Different Security Apps

T9000, as Palo Alto Networks calls it, is an intelligence-gathering, data-harvesting malware that can also record audio from Skype and .WAV files. According to Palo Alto researchers, the new strain goes after Microsoft Office files both on a computer hard drive and on removable drives.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.