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BetaNews.Com (5 non lus)

Add Bluetooth or Apple Lightning support to your car with new Griffin iTrip accessories

Publié: janvier 4, 2015, 9:04pm CET par Brian Fagioli

Sure, I'm a pretty high-tech guy who loves his gadgets and toys; however, I am also extremely frugal. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to spend money for quality, but I believe the old adage that a fool and his money are easily parted. Case in point, when I went new car shopping a few years back, I had a number in my head that I did not want my monthly payment to exceed. Once at the Ford dealership, I found a car that fit my budget, but it did not have any cool tech features. The little car has no Bluetooth support, no steering wheel audio controls, no navigation. It did, however, have Sirius Satellite radio, which I needed for Howard Stern, but I digress.

Long story short, I connect my Nexus 6 to my car stereo using an Aux cable with the headphone jack, like a total loser. Day after day, I pine away for a Bluetooth connection for my ride. Well, the concept of adding such a connection to a car is not new, but today, Griffin announces an elegant solution for a dilemma such as mine. Hell, for you Apple folks who want to charge and play through a lightning connection, the company has you covered too.

"Griffin is offering iTrip AUX Bluetooth, which adds Bluetooth capability to any AUX-equipped car stereo. Simply plug iTrip AUX Bluetooth into the car's power outlet, and then into the car's AUX-in port with the included 2 AUX cable. Using the most advanced AAC and aptX audio codecs, iTrip AUX Bluetooth streams the cleanest, best-quality audio wirelessly from any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet, through the AUX-in port to the car stereo. Setup is quick and easy; users pair their Bluetooth device once, and the device is automatically recognized each time the user enters the car", says Griffin".

The accessory manufacturer further explains, "as another connection option, iTrip AUX AutoPilot features an all-in-one design that plugs into the car's accessory outlet for fast 12 watt charging to iOS devices. As it charges, the direct connection through the device's Lightning connector takes the high quality digital audio output from the user's iOS device, converts it into cleanest-possible, noise-free analog audio, and delivers it to the car stereo through its AUX-in port. And to help drivers stay safe, iTrip AUX AutoPilot features fingertip playback controls at the dashboard accessory plug, so they can keep their eyes on the road".

Both of these accessories retail for $49.99 and are available at griffintechnology.com. The cost is a bit on the pricey side, compared to similar solutions on the market. With that said, Griffin has been making quality accessories for quite some time, and in my experience its products last while others may not. In the grand scheme of things, fifty bucks is a small price to pay compared to the dealership cost, and ultimately you can take these in and out of multiple cars when necessary.

My only beef is with the iTrip AUX Bluetooth, as I wish it too had media controls like its AutoPilot cousin. After all, if someone has a car without Bluetooth, they probably don't have steering wheel controls either. I would love the ability to pause and skip tracks from my lighter plug, but c'est la vie.

How do you connect your smartphone to your car for music playback? Tell me in the comments.
Montblanc enters the wearables market with new smartwatch strap

Publié: janvier 4, 2015, 8:11pm CET par Barclay Ballard

Luxury brand Montblanc has unveiled an innovative watch strap that will provide smartwatch features without compromising on style.

The strap comes with a small display that lets the user see any notification, as well as controlling their music and smartphone camera remotely.

The e-strap comes as an optional addition to the Montblanc Timewalker Urban Speed collection and features a leather strap with a carbon fibre texture dubbed "Extreme Montblanc Leather". An electronic module, available in a number of size and color options, is designed to sit under the wearer’s wrist.

The Montblanc strap does not include any fitness tracking capabilities, usually a key feature for smartwatches, but this is understandable since most consumers don’t exercise with a luxury thousand-pound watch on their wrist.

One of the main issues facing the wearables market is that, while functional, the majority of smartwatches on the market look clunky or overly geeky when compared with traditional timepieces.

As well as the Montblanc strap, watch firm Kairos has also developed the Tband, which turns normal watches into smartwatches using a similar design. While the Tband is available to anyone, the Montblanc strap can only be purchased by Montblanc customers, meaning you may have to fork out somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000, plus an additional $300 for the strap.

While the price tag may rule out mass market appeal, the development of high-tech straps that effectively turn ordinary watches into smart ones, could open up the market, allowing consumers to combine their favorite watch with cutting edge mobile technology.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.
North Korea says US sanctions after Sony hack demonstrate 'inveterate repugnancy'

Publié: janvier 4, 2015, 5:38pm CET par Mark Wilson

North Korea has reacted angrily to the sanctions imposed on it by the US. President Obama signed an Executive Order putting sanctions in place after an FBI investigation placed the blame for the hack of Sony Pictures firmly at the door of Pyongyang.

North Korea continues to deny involvement in the hack which was sparked by Sony's comedy movie The Interiew in which North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is assassinated. The country's state-run news agency issued an angry statement accusing the US of "groundlessly stirring up bad blood".

A spokesperson said: "The policy persistently pursued by the US to stifle the DPRK [North Korea], groundlessly stirring up bad blood towards it, would only harden its will and resolution to defend the sovereignty of the country".

North Korea has offered to conduct a joint investigation into the source of the hack in conjunction with the US, but this offer has been declined. The sanctions that have been put in place instead have been very angrily received:

The persistent and unilateral action taken by the White House to slap 'sanctions' against the DPRK patently proves that it is still not away from inveterate repugnancy and hostility toward the DPRK.

The US has been blamed for the widespread internet outages that North Korea suffered last week, but no official comment has been made about this.

Photo credit: Attila JANDI / Shutterstock
HexDive finds interesting strings in binary files

Publié: janvier 4, 2015, 9:08am CET par Mike Williams

You’ve found a mystery executable on your PC. What is it? Could it be malware? You check the file’s Properties dialog, and search for its name online, but can’t find anything useful.

One common next step is to open it in an editor. If the file isn’t packed then you might find it contains meaningful text strings -- company names, URLs, prompts, paths, Registry keys -- which will give you much more information about its origins and purpose.

There’s a problem: spotting any relevant text can be a challenge, especially when it’s scattered across hundreds of pages of binary garbage. But the free console-based HexDive can help, quickly finding and displaying the most interesting strings while ignoring everything else.

If you’ve tried analyzing executables then this will seem a familiar idea, and there are similar programs around. Typically they’ll scan through some binary file and spit out any lengthy string of printable characters, which does a reasonable basic job, but also means you get plenty of "W:BBnw#+SZX"-like junk amongst the valuable data.

HexDive is smarter, because it comes with a dictionary of keywords (which is also why it’s an 18.4MB download) and by default only displays the matches. Run something like hdive file.exe at the command line to view the results, or try hdive file.exe | clip to send them to the clipboard.

This extra intelligence really can save you time and hassle, but there’s also the possibility HexDive might leave out something important. Fortunately the developer has provided additional switches, like hdive -a file.exe to display all strings within a file.

We particularly like hdive -c file.exe , which displays every detected keyword with its context (the 80 surrounding bytes, see the screenshot).

If you ever need to analyze executables then HexDive really can help ensure you don’t miss anything important. Give it a try.
Piracy-beating VPN clamp down by Netflix is pointless

Publié: janvier 4, 2015, 12:59am CET par Mark Wilson

Netflix is one of the many websites that can only be accessed in certain parts of the world or has region specific versions. Of course, where there's a will there's a way, and there are numerous tools that can be used to bypass any restrictions that may have been put in place.

Whether using a VPN or a proxy, it's relatively simple to access Netflix from anywhere in the world. Netflix -- or rather the studios whose shows are being "pirated" (if that's the right way of looking at it) -- has had enough. It is fighting back, blocking access to some people who use circumvention measures.

TorrentFreak reports that there has been a jump in the number of VPN and proxy using Netflix users who have started to experience problems accessing the service. In particular, TorGuard -- the popular VPN provider -- has been dealing with users who have seen error messages informing that their Nextflix access has been blocked as a direct result of VPN or proxy use.

At the moment this is little more than a minor irritant. Change settings to change the location you appear to be in, and access is granted again. So it would seem that while Netflix is sometimes able to detect when circumvention tools are being used, whatever method is being used is not perfect. It's not clear whether particular users are being targeted, or users in particular parts of the world, but it appear to be little more than another fence to be hurdled.

A TorGuard spokesman said:

This is a brand new development. Just two weeks ago we received the first report from a handful of clients that Netflix blocked access due to VPN or proxy usage. This is the very first time I’ve ever heard Netflix displaying this type of error message to a VPN user.

As pointed out in the intro, where there's a will there's a way. Any obstacle put in place by Netflix will discourage only a proportion of users. Whatever content is out there in digital form, be it books, software, music, movies, streaming TV, there will be a way to either get it for free, or to connect to content that's not available in your region.

TorGuard seems to think that Netflix is just testing the water, and at the moment it may be that alarm bells are only sounded when there is a spike in the number of users logging in from a particular location. Using VPNs or proxy tools means there is a risk that a huge swathe of people could all appear to be in the same place at the same time, and this could appear suspicious. But this is far from being an insurmountable problem.

Faced with a choice of not streaming the latest episode of your favorite show, or seeking out a new way through the blocks, which route do you think most people would take? But it sounds as though -- as is so often the case -- the hard work will be done by someone else. TorGuard has promised that should Netflix start to aggressively block users, its tool will be updated accordingly.

Just as with torrent sites, Netflix is starting a perpetual game of cat and mouse. The mouse will never be caught, and will continue to find new ways to sneak through the cracks.

Photo credit: Sukharevskyy Dmytro (nevodka) / Shutterstock