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Archive for the ‘mobile phones’ category: Page 221

Feb 17, 2016

Mazar BOT Can Erase Android Phones

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet, mobile phones, robotics/AI, security

Lookout for MAZAR Bot — Androids should be scared.


One interesting feature of Mazar is that it can not be installed on smartphones running Android with “Russian” selected as the operating system’s language.

The malware allows the attackers to spy on nearly every activity capable on an Android device, including establishing a backdoor connection, sending premium SMS messages, reading texts sent to the device, including bank authentication PINs.

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Feb 17, 2016

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Dangerous Game

Posted by in categories: business, computing, mobile phones, robotics/AI, security, transportation

Government and tech + telecom & ISPs need to come to an agreement in how to ensure innocent people’s privacy are respected. When a person murders, stalk, threaten, kidnap, and/ or assault a person then we have a responsibility first to protect the innocent public. And, with the resistance being displayed by Apple, are we running the risk of further alienating the consumers and business customers more when it comes to releasing AI like robots, self driving cars, etc. onto the public where criminals can buy AI technology and use it to hurt others?

We really need to be addressing these issues soon.


Tim Cook is playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship with the U.S. government. In the process, he may set in motion political and judicial processes that will endanger the security of all our mobile devices.

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Feb 17, 2016

A New Smartphone is Launching—And It’s Only $4

Posted by in category: mobile phones

A new smartphone is launching. And this one costs just a little bit more than a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

Despite the ubiquity of smartphones, you’d be hard pressed to find one that you could purchase with spare change. Yet Ringing Bells, a handset manufacturer from India, has managed to create one that’s only going to cost $4.

The device is called Freedom 251 and was just very recently unveiled. Specs aside, the most impressive thing about the Freedom 251 is, by far, its price. The pricing strategy and development of the technology was anchored on Narendra Modi’s intent to ‘empower India to the last person,’ and the smartphone was a way for central government to promote inclusivity among its constituents for its digital initiatives.

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Feb 17, 2016

This Smartphone Costs Less Than A Sandwich, No Really

Posted by in category: mobile phones

This is the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone.


A technology company in India is launching what it claims will be the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone costing just $7 or around £5.

The Freedom 251 is being built by Ringing Bells and will reportedly sell for around $7 although the BBC reports that local media are pricing it even lower at just £2.50.

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Feb 16, 2016

Why the Most Famous CEOs Are Often Wrong About the Future

Posted by in categories: futurism, mobile phones

Interesting read — I must admit that today’s CEOs of large companies are not like the CEOs of my grandfather’s generation who were more like the mold of Sam Walton.


This habit for grandiose predictions seems to be contagious. Last fall, Miguel McKelvey, founder of shared office space giant We Work Cos. promised his company would be in a thousand locations “in the near future.” Given that the company at the time was present in just 52 places, this promised a growth rate north of 1500 percent—but probably had some intended influence on the company’s $10 billion valuation.

In 2013, before he left Blackberry under pressure, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins declared that “in 5 years, I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore.”

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Feb 15, 2016

New HIPAA Guidance For Mobile Apps, Health Info Exchange

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, health, mobile phones, robotics/AI, security

I was waiting for this HIPAA’s new guidelines for mobile apps (focuses a lot on IAM); this is only the first wave. We will see more when more AI is launched.


Federal regulators have issued new guidance, including material to clarify for healthcare entities and software developers various scenarios where HIPAA regulations might apply to mobile health applications, including situations when patients use smartphones to collect or transmit personal health data.

See Also: 2015 Breach Preparedness and Response Study: The Results

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Feb 15, 2016

Google Could Be Bringing Machine Vision To Smartphones

Posted by in categories: computing, mobile phones

“Computers are becoming more and more intelligent in the sense that they adapt to us.”

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Feb 12, 2016

Electronic luggage tag lets travelers check-in bags from home

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI, transportation

Expensive travel bags should do more than look good, and German high-end luggage manufacturer Rimowa would seem to agree. The company has developed an electronic luggage tag which displays baggage info in the same format, size and appearance of typical paper labels, but on a digital screen built into the unit and located near the handle.

The Rimowa e-tag is similar to a device tested by British Airways in 2013, which allowed travelers to attach it to any piece of luggage.

Continue reading “Electronic luggage tag lets travelers check-in bags from home” »

Feb 12, 2016

$15 Super Computer

Posted by in categories: computing, mobile phones

Pine A64


Meet the $15 super computer that’s the size of an iPhone.

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Feb 10, 2016

Should robots be friends or tools? Open-API platforms point strongly in one direction

Posted by in categories: habitats, mobile phones, robotics/AI

“There’s a reason the only robot a person is likely to have in their home today is a cleaning robot,” founder Shlomo Schwarz tells me during a recent call. “It gives added value to the person. You buy a cleaning robot because it cleans your house. You’re not buying a friend.” — when we say value; how do we know for sure. I know many consumers who bought the iRobot vacuums and don’t use them because for many of the women in my own family found it was limited in its usage.


An Israeli startup is modeling its Linux-based, Raspberry Pi-powered robot on the smartphone developer ecosystem.

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