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BetaNews.Com (13 non lus)

Watch Google’s 'mystery' product announcement live

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 5:37pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Google is making an announcement regarding a new device today. No one outside of the giant tech corporation has any clue what it might be. No one I tell you. Not a single solitary person anywhere. Except maybe Best Buy.

Of course that leak might just be a total co-incidence. Google could in fact be preparing to announce Hat -- a mind reading/recording device for the head. Or something entirely different.

Whatever Google is announcing, the company will be live streaming it and you’ll be able to watch the full reveal here very soon…

The live stream starts at 9am PT/12pm ET/5pm BST.

Place your bets as to what you think the new product might be.
First use of Android 'Master Key' vulnerability discovered

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 4:38pm CEST par Ian Barker

Security specialist Symantec is reporting the first malicious use of the Android 'Master Key' vulnerability that allows hackers to inject malicious code into apps without invalidating the digital signature.

The vulnerability was discovered earlier this month but Norton Mobile Insight has now detected its first use in the wild. Mobile Insight harvests and analyzes Android apps from marketplaces around the world and has discovered the infection labelled Android.Skullkey in two applications from China. These are legitimate apps used to make appointments with doctors.

A hacker has added code to these apps allowing them to steal sensitive data such as IMEI and phone numbers. They can also remotely control the device, send premium rate SMS messages and even disable some Chinese market security apps at root level.

Symantec's official blog says, "We expect attackers to continue to leverage this vulnerability to infect unsuspecting user devices. Symantec recommends users only download applications from reputable Android application marketplaces". Naturally, it also advises that Norton Mobile Security can protect against this threat.

Photo credit: arbalet/Shutterstock
wpTorrent app brings BitTorrent downloads to Windows Phone 8

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 4:07pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Despite being one of the main means of downloading pirated content and, therefore, a threat to Microsoft's profits (and that of many other big companies), the software giant just accepted a BitTorrent client on Windows Phone Store. Surely, popular service providers Netflix, Pandora, Spotify and the like are not too pleased about this decision, especially after releasing apps for the tiled smartphone operating system.

The BitTorrent client in question is called wpTorrent, and, judging by the number of features it touts, all the basics are covered. Users can discover and find files via RSS feeds and search engines and download content straight to their handsets (even when the device is locked).

The app comes with some pretty nice touches. Users can set wpTorrent to download content only via Wi-Fi (and not use the cellular data in the process) and only when the battery level is above a certain (defined) percentage. This is to ensure that you do not end up reaching the traffic limit, nor with a "dead" Windows Phone.

Download and upload speeds can also be set. For the former, the free wpTorrent app defaults to 200 KB/s, which can only be increased by purchasing the paid version (it goes for $3.99).

WpTorrent can play music and video files, even while downloading the content. To transfer the files onto a different device (like a laptop or tablet, for instance), users have to power up the file manager and share the files via the built-in web server. Content can be grabbed by typing the provided IP address inside a browser, and saving the needed files afterwards.

Overall, wpTorrent is an interesting app for BitTorrent aficionados who wish to take advantage of the file-sharing protocol on Windows Phone 8. The only issue, and this is not related to the quality of the app itself, is how long Microsoft will allow it to remain on the Store.

Apple, for instance, pulled BitTorrent clients from the iOS App Store right after the tech media brought them to public attention.

WpTorrent can be downloaded from Windows Phone Store. The paid version is also available.

Photo Credit: Didecs/Shutterstock
Open Hardware Monitor lets you track PC temperature, fan speeds, voltages and more

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 3:38pm CEST par Mike Williams

Whether you’ve been overclocking your PC, are worried about a specific device, or just wondering why your system has been so unstable recently, getting a better understanding of your computer’s inner workings can be very useful. And grabbing a copy of the Open Hardware Monitor is a great place to start.

The program is free, open source, and surprisingly easy to use. Unzip and launch it, and a simple tree view immediately displays temperatures, fan speeds, voltages, CPU load and more.

Good hardware support means you should get details for most key devices. Our test PC displayed detailed sensors for its motherboard, CPU, graphics card and hard drives, for instance, as well as more general information like available RAM, free hard drive space and more.

At its simplest, you can just browse the tree, checking the values, or watching them as they update (running some heavy duty app to see how it affects your CPU temperature, say). Or maybe print your system status as a text report for easy reference later.

Open Hardware Monitor can also plot graphs of your chosen values over time, though. Click View > Show Plot, then check the "GPU Core" Temperature and "GPU Core" load boxes, for instance, and you’ll find out how your graphics processor load relates to its temperature.

Maybe you’re only interested in a single value? Right-click it for an option to display an indicator in your system tray, or on a desktop gadget.

If you really know what you’re doing, there are even options to make the reports available via a simple built-in web server, while publishing its data via WMI means it can be accessed and used by other software.

But perhaps best of all, there’s no installation here, no drivers, nothing intrusive at all: Open Hardware Monitor just consists of an executable and a few DLLs, 1.25MB of files in total, which you can use almost anywhere. Go check it out.

Photo Credit: Sergii Korolko/Shutterstock
Mobility management and security is getting a little less messy

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 3:27pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

Security and management in the mobility space, at least since the dawn of the iPhone, has always had a "figuring it out as we go along" quality to it. So far we’ve gotten away with it; even though the potential for significant security breaches via mobile devices has always been there, and even though compliance with best practices in mobility is a rare thing, I’ve seen no evidence that they are a significant source of actual breaches. The real problems are what they always have been: SQL injection, weak passwords, social engineering, and so on.

In the meantime, the market for products to manage and secure mobile devices has been maturing. Of course management and security should be closely-intertwined, if not run by the same products. That can be difficult when the major products don’t include more than trivial management capabilities and very little is compatible cross-platform.

This has created an opening for third parties, and those third parties have flooded into that opening. Several large and important companies have emerged, such as AirWatch, Good and MobileIron. They have all been on acquisition sprees and are attempting to fill out the gaps in their management capabilities.

But there are many, many smaller companies, and some of them have clever people and useful solutions. The only road open to them -- short of getting bought by some larger mobility company -- is to start to form alliances with each other to create more useful and complete solutions. An example of this came about recently when Notify Technology and MobileOps agreed to create WorkSecure, a combination of their products complete enough to compete at a high level. Appthority, Boxtone, Appcelerator, Apperian, and Happtique have all made similar moves.

No doubt, when large companies evaluate mobile security solutions, or any product, a big part of it is counting the checkboxes that matter to them. WorkSecure checks a lot of boxes. This has a better chance of getting it in the door when Faceless National Bank conducts its bake-off of mobility solutions.

In the bigger picture, there are two solutions to the lack of standards, assuming you see it as a problem: agreed-upon standards and de-facto standards. There actually is an organization working on industry standards in this space: The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). It has some backing from Microsoft in Windows 8.1 and RIM is also a member, as are most of the major carriers and many large Android OEMs (including Samsung), but neither Apple nor Google are.

I see more of a future for de-facto standards. Apple has begun to include MAM (Mobile Application Management) capabilities in iOS with version 7. BlackBerry (for what it’s worth) already includes these features in BES 10, and attempts to do what it can with iOS and Android. Samsung is attempting some of the same with its SAFE initiative. I haven’t heard that Samsung or BlackBerry are going to conform to OMA in their products or share their technology with the Alliance.

But clearly Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry are on to something. The basics of security and management, if not the more cutting edge stuff, should be in the operating system. It would be better and more logical for them all to agree on some standard interfaces for it, but sadly that seems to be limited to the basic MDM API created by BlackBerry back when it was pretty much the whole smartphone market.

And allow me a moment here to express disappointment with Microsoft. Even though it’s good it seems to be on the OMA bandwagon, its own mobile products (other than Windows 8 on tablets) have only the crudest management capabilities, and its management tools are uninspiring. I expected more from the company.

So even if a certain amount of basic security becomes included with the product it appears that the overall market will still be a mess, and that should leave plenty of opportunities open for competitors, large and small. I don’t see any consolidation happening sufficient enough to lead the overall market in one clear direction.

If you’re a buyer, this means that you should have an increasing selection of options, from large and small companies, that can provide workable solutions. It won’t, however, translate into that one safe choice you can make. You still have a lot of work to do, figuring out which works best for your organization’s needs.

Photo Credits: Slavoljub Pantelic/Shutterstock
Internet Explorer has the worst phishing catch rate of all major browsers

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 12:41pm CEST par Ian Barker

A new report by security research firm NSS Labs looks at the comparative performance of popular browsers when it comes to blocking phishing attacks. Over a 12-day test period the average phishing catch rate ranged from 96 percent for Firefox 19 to only 83 percent for Internet Explorer 10.

Of the other big three, Chrome 25 scored 92 percent, Safari 5 managed 95 percent, and Opera 12 scored 89 percent. Chrome, Firefox and Safari all make use of Google's Safe Browsing API so it's unsurprising that they scored within a few points of each other. Microsoft uses its own SmartScreen technology in IE, whereas Opera uses a combination of blacklists from Netcraft, PhishTank and TRUSTe.

The average block rate across all of the tested browsers is 90.1 percent, down almost 2 percent on the previous year's average, although those using the Google Safe Browsing API performed slightly better than last year.

What's also interesting is the amount of time it takes for a new phishing site to be blocked. As these sites only have an average lifespan of 26 hours it's vital that they're detected and blocked quickly. Once again IE 10 turns in disappointing results, taking on average 2.55 hours to block a new site. Safari and Firefox do best here taking 0.5 and 0.7 hours respectively, whilst Chrome at 1.68 hours is around the all browser average. Opera scores just ahead of IE with 2.47 hours.

All of the NSS tests were carried out on a PC running Windows 8 Enterprise with the latest version of each browser available on each day of the test. The full methodology is available on the NSS website.

Photo credit: Slavoljub Pantelic/Shutterstock
Google extends its cloud printing service to Windows

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 12:22pm CEST par Mike Williams

Google has updated its Cloud Print service, adding full support for Windows (XP, Vista and 7, anyway) and making it easier to share printers.

Cloud Print was first made available in 2011, and essentially allows you to access your printers from phones, tablets, PCs and more, wherever you happen to be. The service has previously been accessible via Chrome, but this new release makes it available to any Windows desktop application.

The first part of this update is Google Cloud Printer, a virtual printer driver. Choose Print from any application, select the Google Cloud printer, and a Chrome window will open where you can log in, assign and manage the print job.

The second element, Google Cloud Print Service, is a Windows service which makes it easier to share your printers via Cloud Print.

One small complication is that you’ll need a copy of Google Chrome to install and use either of these packages.

And more significantly, the programs don’t yet officially support Windows 8. (Our first extremely brief tests suggest they work on the desktop, but not from Windows 8 apps.)

The entire system is still in beta, though, so there’s plenty of time for this situation to improve. If you’re already using Cloud Print on PCs then the latest releases are a big step forward, and downloads of Google Cloud Printer and Google Cloud Print Service are available now.
New Nexus 7 pops up at Best Buy for pre-order

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 12:17pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

The next-generation Google Nexus 7 surfaced at Best Buy, with complete specifications, price and photos. Interested buyers can pre-order the new tablet, which is available in both 16 GB and 32 GB storage trims, and, presumably, receive it after the search giant officially unveils its latest slate (which should not be too far away).

According to the details revealed by the US retailer, the new Nexus 7 arrives with some pretty impressive hardware under its dark-colored shell, and runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (which, like the slate, has yet to be officially announced by Google). The price? Well, the 16 GB version runs for $229.99, while its 32 GB counterpart goes for $269.99.

The current Nexus 7 generation kicks off at a lower price-point (the 16 GB model can be had for as little as $179.99), but comes with outdated hardware compared to the new iteration.

The new Nexus 7 features a 7-inch IPS LCD display with 10-point multitouch, 300 cd/m2 and a resolution of 1200 by 1920 (previous generation: 800 by 1280). The slate is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (presumably, from the older "S4" family), an Adreno 320 graphics card and 2 GB of RAM (the battery capacity is not revealed).

The new Nexus 7 also comes, for the first time, with a 5 MP back-facing camera (which should be capable of 1080p video recording) and a 1.2 MP front-facing shooter (which will likely record 720p video).

Other noteworthy specifications include: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity; microUSB 2.0 port; GPS and Bluetooth 4.0. Best Buy does not list any other specifications, however it is fair to assume that Google has not skimped on sensors. The new Nexus 7 comes in at 7.9 x 4.5 x 0.3 inches and 11.2 ounces.

As you might expect, Google will also likely add its own branded apps, on top of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. That means Play Books, Play Magazines, Play Music, Google+ and Wallet, among others. Chrome will also likely be offered, judging by Google's interest to bundle the browser on its Nexus devices.

Will you pre-order the new Nexus 7?
SwiftKey Cloud brings trending phrases, sync and backup to your swipe-friendly keyboard

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 12:08pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Typing is just so passé; swiping is very much where it's at these days. SwiftKey's latest Android beta adds interesting new cloud features that can be tested for free during the beta phase. What’s new? Backup and sync options mean that dictionaries can be synchronized between multiple devices, and upgrading your phone need not result in having to start from scratch.

But perhaps the most interesting feature is the introduction of trending phrases. Whether you're writing in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese, SwiftKey analyzes trending topics on the likes of Twitter to help bolster its dictionary and provide better suggestions.

The beta version also builds on SwiftKey's lauded next-word prediction and auto-correction. The app analyzes and learns from the user's personal writing style so the suggestions provided are more personally tailored and less generic. Gmail, Facebook and Yahoo Mail can all be used as sources for analysis, giving SwiftKey a good chance of learning how you use language.

If you're already a paid-up SwitftKey user, all of these cloud features will be added to version 4.2 of the app, but everyone is free to try them out in the beta which can be downloaded from the SwiftKey website -- separate versions are available for phones and tablets.
BZR Player can handle over 480+ audio formats

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 11:17am CEST par Mike Williams

The PC world is packed with audio players of every type, which makes it difficult for smaller contenders to stand out from the crowd. Andreas Argirakis has done better than most with his BZR Player, though, thanks to a very simple strategy: he’s implemented support for just about every audio format you’ve ever heard of, and many more you haven’t, meaning the player now supports more than 480 file types in total.

The program doesn’t just open the regular formats, then: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG and so on. It also handles all kinds of game and hardware-specific formats, with the supported list including "Baldur’s Gate -- Dark Alliance", "Bio Hazard 2", "Conflict -- Desert Storm 1 & 2", EA formats, Nintendo GBS, NSF and NSFE files, and the list goes on.

You won’t use most of these often, of course, if ever, but fortunately the program has plenty of other conveniences. You can drag and drop folders onto BZR Player, for instance, or have it open and play the contents of archives (rar, zip, 7-zip, lha, atr, gzip and bzip2). There’s support for playing HTTP streams, the program can load M3U, PLS and NEZPlug M3U playlists (and save M3U’s), and you can even add songs from the command line.

There are also some useful playback tools and options. You can normalize tracks, add a reverb effect, alter the pitch of a song, enable some audio visualizers, and more.

More unusual features include a Pattern View, which displays the notes being played (though only for a small number of relatively uncommon formats, unfortunately).

And advanced users may even be able to automate the program by sending commands to port 9859.

This isn’t as polished as, say, VLC Media Player. There isn’t nearly as much flexibility, the settings you do get aren’t always where you’d expect, and so on.

BZR Player is only at version 0.95, though, and it already offers a great deal. If you’re looking for an advanced player with some interesting automation possibilities -- and, of course, the amazingly extensive file format support -- then you should definitely take a look.
YouTube announces Geek Week -- Dr Who and cosplay fans rejoice!

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 11:12am CEST par Mark Wilson

Geeks looking for their fix of programming have something of a treat in store thanks to YouTube’s upcoming Geek Week. The video site has teamed up with the UK's Channel Flip and the US channel Nerdist to showcase over 100 of the geekiest, most sci-fi packed channels known to man. It will also be "unveiling new videos, series premieres and creative collaborations".

YouTube Geek Week runs from August 4-10, starting with Blockbuster Sunday which will kick things off with a look at the icons and heroes of geek culture.

As the week goes on, there's all sorts of fun to look forward to. Global Geekery Monday brings a celebration of Doctor Who as well as (British kids of the 80s rejoice) a brand new episode of the cult classic Knightmare.

Other highlights for the week include a look at stunts and experiments on Brainiac Tuesday, the superhero packed Super Wednesday, games galore on Gaming Thursday and a super-nerdy Fan Friday -- featuring not only cosplay, but also (we kid you not) sci-fi themed cooking.

Of course, no geek event would be complete without something collectable to show off. Check out the Geek Week channel in the run-up to the big event where you’ll be able to collect badges through Easter eggs. Full details are available at the YouTube blog.

Photo credit: Gow27/Shutterstock
Apple’s Q3 flat earnings show how much it needs new products

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 10:50am CEST par Wayne Williams

For the past decade, Apple has posted year-over-year revenue growth every quarter. The company announced its Q3 2013 earnings yesterday, posting revenue of $35.3 billion. While that beats the $35 billion posted in the same quarter a year ago -- it’s a tight 1 percent growth this time around.

Apple also reported a net profit of $6.9 billion, down from a net profit of $8.8 billion in the same quarter last year. However, average sale prices are lower now, at $581, compared with $608 a year ago.

Apple said it sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 14.6 million this time last year.

The company also saw its first ever year-over-year decline in iPads, having sold 14.6 million during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter (down 14 percent). Apple hasn’t launched any new iPads this year, and the market has had time to settle down, explaining some of the drop. The wide range of tablets from other tech firms will likely have had some impact also.

The company sold 3.8 million Macs this quarter, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.

For Apple's fiscal fourth quarter of 2013, the firm is forecasting revenue between $34 billion and $37 billion.

"We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services," Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said. "We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014".

Apple’s now slowing revenue growth was originally fuelled by the launch of the iPad and backed up by the iPhone’s phenomenal success. Both products were launched with perfect timing, when there was nothing like them on the market. But in recent quarters, Apple has faced increasingly stiff competition, and had only variations of existing products -- the iPad mini being the prime example -- to offer in reply. This has been enough to keep the good ship Apple stable, but isn’t enough to support the rocketing growth the company has been enjoying. For that, Apple will need those "amazing new products" Tim Cook mentioned.
Still using Office 2010? SP2 is here

Publié: juillet 24, 2013, 3:03am CEST par Alan Buckingham

When I left IT little more than a year ago, my company still rocked Office 2007. Of course, computers were still running Windows XP and web browsers had only recently migrated from Internet Explorer 6 to IE 7. Now, with the addition of SP2 to Office 2010 business may be ready to make the move onto this platform.

"Today, we released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 set of products. SP2 provides key updates and fixes across our servers, services and applications including security, stability, and performance enhancements and provides better compatibility with Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10, Office 2013, and SharePoint 2013", says Microsoft's Chris Schneider.

The SP2 release is designed to improve the compatibility between the Office and SharePoint 2010 products and Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10, Office 2013, and SharePoint 2013. The SP1 update rolled out back in June 2011, so this has been in the works for sometime now.

Download links for all SP2 offerings are available over on TechNet. "After a 90-day period, SP2 will be offered as an automatic update through Microsoft Update. Customers using the Office Click-to-Run technology will have SP2 streamed to them beginning in August" Microsoft proclaims.

Photo credit: kurhan/Shutterstock