Intel may be developing a split personality.
The high-tech giant is slated to build chips for two customers that have
ARM processors inside -- even as the x86 side of the company competes fiercely
with the U.K.-based chip designer ARM and its partners.
The most striking silicon that Intel will build is an Altera
system-on-a-chip (SoC) that integrates a quad-core 64-bit ARM processor.
The Altera system will use the ARM component as a control processor that
helps to manage the data packets on Altera's field-programmable gate array
(FPGA), into which the ARM chip is integrated.
"When this chip comes out it will be among the largest chips ever produced
on this planet in terms the number of transistors. It should pass 4 billion
transistors," said Chris Balough, senior director of SoC product marketing at
Altera, in an interview with CNET.
By comparison, Intel's latest Haswell chip has roughly 1.5 billion
transistors.
The Altera chip is expected to be available in late 2014 and to go into
production in 2015.
And Altera wasn't even the first. Well before Altera's 64-bit quad-core ARM
revelation this week, Netronome announced in April that Intel would make its
flow processor, which incorporates an ARM processor.
Netronome and Altera went to Intel because it is making steady progress in
building up its contract manufacturing operations, aka "foundry" business.
Currently, it has five publicly announced customers.
And Intel expects more ARM customers in the future. "Will other people come
ask us? Probably. Will we talk about it beforehand? No," said Intel spokesman
Chuck Mulloy.
If Altera's praise is any indication, more prospects will indeed be
knocking on Intel's door.
"In testament to how advanced their technology is, [Intel is] going into
production status of 14-nanometer in Q1 of next year," said Altera's Balough,
referring to the fact Intel is the first chipmaker in the world to achieve
production on the minuscule 14-nanometer scale, the most advanced process to
date.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Every enterprise is special and has diverse demands
The percentage of Computer customers operating Windows 8.1 doubled in a
month’s time, as outlined by the newest October information compiled by metrics
firm Net Applications.
Certainly, that’s nonetheless just a tiny fraction in the general Computer marketplace: 1.72 percent, as measured by the firm. But combined with the quantity of users running Windows eight, the combined marketplace share from the Windows eight.x OS topped 9.25 %. At its current pace, that share ought to major ten % by the finish of the year. (In September, Windows eight commanded eight.02 percent, and Windows 8.1 0.87 %, to get a combined share of eight.89 percent.)
And sorry, Linux: Windows eight.1 now tops you, as well. Linux commanded 1.61 % of all PCs measured by Net Applications for the month of October. Mac OS X ten.eight was used by three.31 % of customers, Net Applications located.
Naturally, the negative news for Microsoft is that its two older operating systems continue to dominate the Pc landscape. In accordance with Net Applications’s figures, greater than 46 % of users run Windows 7, and 31.24 percent of users continue to run Windows XP. Each numbers dropped less than a percent from a month ago.
XP’s marketshare is undoubtedly probably the most troubling, given that Microsoft will discontinue support for Windows XP by next April, leaving the 13-year-old operating technique without any way of getting patched. The “XPocalypse” will leave PCs in a “zero day forever” mode, exposing them to any and all future vulnerabilities. Firms starting to cheap windows 7 professional retail pack panic have chosen Windows 7 as a stopgap, on the other hand.
“Since Windows eight launched, our guidance to small business buyers has been to continue Windows 7 migrations that happen to be already in approach,” a Microsoft representative told PCWorld inside a statement final month. “We propose our prospects continue these deployments and contemplate Windows 8 in targeted scenarios where it tends to make one of the most sense, which include extremely mobile workers. As Windows 8 launched much less than a year ago, we're nevertheless seeing plenty of enterprises completing these planned Windows 7 migrations now.
“Every enterprise is special and has diverse demands,” the Microsoft representative added. “The most important issue is that companies move off XP just before April 8, 2014, and onto a modern day operating technique, and moving to Windows 7 will not only make sure that shoppers stay on a supported version of Windows, but they will be on a path to Windows eight and can reap the benefits of innovations within the Windows 7 platform, such as enhanced safety and control, enhanced user productivity, and streamlined Pc management.”
However, there’s about five months ahead of the XPocalypse draws nigh. While Microsoft stands to advantage in the shift-31 percent in the Computer user base stands to upgrade to some thing, whether it be Windows eight or Windows 7-there’s a genuine threat to users who stay on the older OS. It is worth remembering-again-that if you’re among those impacted, take into account creating an upgrade to a newer OS a priority.
Certainly, that’s nonetheless just a tiny fraction in the general Computer marketplace: 1.72 percent, as measured by the firm. But combined with the quantity of users running Windows eight, the combined marketplace share from the Windows eight.x OS topped 9.25 %. At its current pace, that share ought to major ten % by the finish of the year. (In September, Windows eight commanded eight.02 percent, and Windows 8.1 0.87 %, to get a combined share of eight.89 percent.)
And sorry, Linux: Windows eight.1 now tops you, as well. Linux commanded 1.61 % of all PCs measured by Net Applications for the month of October. Mac OS X ten.eight was used by three.31 % of customers, Net Applications located.
Naturally, the negative news for Microsoft is that its two older operating systems continue to dominate the Pc landscape. In accordance with Net Applications’s figures, greater than 46 % of users run Windows 7, and 31.24 percent of users continue to run Windows XP. Each numbers dropped less than a percent from a month ago.
XP’s marketshare is undoubtedly probably the most troubling, given that Microsoft will discontinue support for Windows XP by next April, leaving the 13-year-old operating technique without any way of getting patched. The “XPocalypse” will leave PCs in a “zero day forever” mode, exposing them to any and all future vulnerabilities. Firms starting to cheap windows 7 professional retail pack panic have chosen Windows 7 as a stopgap, on the other hand.
“Since Windows eight launched, our guidance to small business buyers has been to continue Windows 7 migrations that happen to be already in approach,” a Microsoft representative told PCWorld inside a statement final month. “We propose our prospects continue these deployments and contemplate Windows 8 in targeted scenarios where it tends to make one of the most sense, which include extremely mobile workers. As Windows 8 launched much less than a year ago, we're nevertheless seeing plenty of enterprises completing these planned Windows 7 migrations now.
“Every enterprise is special and has diverse demands,” the Microsoft representative added. “The most important issue is that companies move off XP just before April 8, 2014, and onto a modern day operating technique, and moving to Windows 7 will not only make sure that shoppers stay on a supported version of Windows, but they will be on a path to Windows eight and can reap the benefits of innovations within the Windows 7 platform, such as enhanced safety and control, enhanced user productivity, and streamlined Pc management.”
However, there’s about five months ahead of the XPocalypse draws nigh. While Microsoft stands to advantage in the shift-31 percent in the Computer user base stands to upgrade to some thing, whether it be Windows eight or Windows 7-there’s a genuine threat to users who stay on the older OS. It is worth remembering-again-that if you’re among those impacted, take into account creating an upgrade to a newer OS a priority.
Monday, 14 October 2013
Will Attorney-General Brandis be the spooks' breakwater?
In the weeks since I wondered whether Australia's digital spooks could
escape an NSA-level backlash, and even whether privacy fears could burst the
dot-com bubble, Australians have been continuing to discover more about what's
going on — and getting more concerned about what they're discovering.
Last Monday, we learned that the Australian government was briefed on PRISM, the NSA's program to collect user data from major internet services such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, two months before Edward Snowden leaked the details.
That's curious timing. PRISM has supposedly been operating since 2007. Had the US been keeping one of its closest allies in the dark until then? Had the spooks been keeping the politicians in the dark? I'm sure that never, ever happens, right? No, it looks to me like someone figured out that Snowden's documents were about to drop, and the attorney-general had better get his PR ducks in a row.
On Tuesday, we learned that Australians are increasingly worried about online privacy risks.
A longitudinal study by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) showed, amongst other meaty findings — the report is well worth reading — that we're increasingly aware of federal privacy laws (82 percent, versus 69 percent in 2007), and increasingly concerned that we'll become a victim of ID fraud or theft in the next year (69 percent, versus 60 percent in 2007).
The Mark Zuckerbergs of this world, who claim that personal privacy is somehow a dead concept for the digital natives, are in for a surprise. Young Australians (aged 18 to 24) are the age bracket most concerned about personal information and online services, with 60 percent of them mentioning this as a privacy risk.
I wonder how long Facebook will be able to get away with doing things like opening up everyone's timeline to search, unless the searcher has previously been explicitly blocked, and characterising it as "finishing the removal of an old search setting". It's got plenty of form for this sort of sleight of hand, and it's not what I'd characterise as honest communication — and I'm being polite, because the words I'd prefer to use are not suitable for these pages, even in Australia.
Also last week, we learned more about Australians' dislike of electronic snooping.
Polling released by Essential Media (PDF) showed that far more Australians oppose America's secret collection of communications information than support it (45 percent versus 24 percent); far more think that companies providing services to Australia should reveal what information they give to foreign governments (75 percent versus 16 percent); and fewer believe that governments are justified in collecting information on all people, regardless of whether there is any suspicion of wrongdoing (42 percent versus 45 percent, but given that N=1,023 for this poll, that's within the standard margin of error of roughly plus or minus three percentage points).
We've previously learned how, following all of the NSA and PRISM news, almost half of Australians (49 percent) are now more concerned about privacy, and almost half (49 percent again) are less trusting that companies are keeping their personal data securely.
And only a few weeks ago, the Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine — hardly a hotbed of left-wing radicalism — referred to NSA chief general Keith Alexander as "the cowboy of the NSA".
All of this is looking like a bit of a trend, isn't it?
In August, I described this all as a "groundswell of opposition to what some have quite rightly called a 'surveillance state' at a level that's seen in Western nations only once each generation".
It looks to me like that groundswell is still rising. So far, we've seen only a small part of Snowden's trove of documents. Investigative journalists are only beginning to probe Australia's role.
But will this groundswell continue to rise?
Even if it does, will it be enough to cause real change?
Australia has a new government. Our new attorney-general, Senator George Brandis, has yet to say anything significant on these issues, but here's what I wrote about him in June, when he was still in opposition.
A scan through everything Brandis has said in the Senate this year reveals little more than debating tactics and routine attacks on the government that parrot the day's approved Coalition talking points. Following allegations in May that the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had been hacked, Brandis had nothing to tell a security conference beyond aboilerplate cybercrime-is-scary squawk and another round of predictable political point scoring.
I'm assuming that if Brandis has anything intelligent or insightful to say about Australia's digital future, he'd have said it by now.
So how might Brandis play this, now that he's attorney-general?
On the one hand, Brandis will be keen to keep his party's conservative supporters happy, and the conservative side of politics tends to support being "tough" on national security and law enforcement issues.
Indeed, the Essential research shows a clear split of opinion along party-political lines, with opposition to digital surveillance strongest amongst Labor and Greens supporters. Brandis may well just mutter "national security" a few more times — because that's all that he seems to have done so far — and that's about it.
On the other hand, the government may want to bolster its majority, and bring a few more swinging Labor and Greens voters into the Liberal-National coalition fold. If so, there might be wisdom in at least opening up the question of surveillance, tricky though it is, just to shut it back down.
But on the third hand of this mutant 21st-century beast, what if this really is a generational change in political views? Would Brandis recognise when we've truly reached such a watershed moment, and move for substantial reform? Would any of us?
Last Monday, we learned that the Australian government was briefed on PRISM, the NSA's program to collect user data from major internet services such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, two months before Edward Snowden leaked the details.
That's curious timing. PRISM has supposedly been operating since 2007. Had the US been keeping one of its closest allies in the dark until then? Had the spooks been keeping the politicians in the dark? I'm sure that never, ever happens, right? No, it looks to me like someone figured out that Snowden's documents were about to drop, and the attorney-general had better get his PR ducks in a row.
On Tuesday, we learned that Australians are increasingly worried about online privacy risks.
A longitudinal study by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) showed, amongst other meaty findings — the report is well worth reading — that we're increasingly aware of federal privacy laws (82 percent, versus 69 percent in 2007), and increasingly concerned that we'll become a victim of ID fraud or theft in the next year (69 percent, versus 60 percent in 2007).
The Mark Zuckerbergs of this world, who claim that personal privacy is somehow a dead concept for the digital natives, are in for a surprise. Young Australians (aged 18 to 24) are the age bracket most concerned about personal information and online services, with 60 percent of them mentioning this as a privacy risk.
I wonder how long Facebook will be able to get away with doing things like opening up everyone's timeline to search, unless the searcher has previously been explicitly blocked, and characterising it as "finishing the removal of an old search setting". It's got plenty of form for this sort of sleight of hand, and it's not what I'd characterise as honest communication — and I'm being polite, because the words I'd prefer to use are not suitable for these pages, even in Australia.
Also last week, we learned more about Australians' dislike of electronic snooping.
Polling released by Essential Media (PDF) showed that far more Australians oppose America's secret collection of communications information than support it (45 percent versus 24 percent); far more think that companies providing services to Australia should reveal what information they give to foreign governments (75 percent versus 16 percent); and fewer believe that governments are justified in collecting information on all people, regardless of whether there is any suspicion of wrongdoing (42 percent versus 45 percent, but given that N=1,023 for this poll, that's within the standard margin of error of roughly plus or minus three percentage points).
We've previously learned how, following all of the NSA and PRISM news, almost half of Australians (49 percent) are now more concerned about privacy, and almost half (49 percent again) are less trusting that companies are keeping their personal data securely.
And only a few weeks ago, the Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine — hardly a hotbed of left-wing radicalism — referred to NSA chief general Keith Alexander as "the cowboy of the NSA".
All of this is looking like a bit of a trend, isn't it?
In August, I described this all as a "groundswell of opposition to what some have quite rightly called a 'surveillance state' at a level that's seen in Western nations only once each generation".
It looks to me like that groundswell is still rising. So far, we've seen only a small part of Snowden's trove of documents. Investigative journalists are only beginning to probe Australia's role.
But will this groundswell continue to rise?
Even if it does, will it be enough to cause real change?
Australia has a new government. Our new attorney-general, Senator George Brandis, has yet to say anything significant on these issues, but here's what I wrote about him in June, when he was still in opposition.
A scan through everything Brandis has said in the Senate this year reveals little more than debating tactics and routine attacks on the government that parrot the day's approved Coalition talking points. Following allegations in May that the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had been hacked, Brandis had nothing to tell a security conference beyond aboilerplate cybercrime-is-scary squawk and another round of predictable political point scoring.
I'm assuming that if Brandis has anything intelligent or insightful to say about Australia's digital future, he'd have said it by now.
So how might Brandis play this, now that he's attorney-general?
On the one hand, Brandis will be keen to keep his party's conservative supporters happy, and the conservative side of politics tends to support being "tough" on national security and law enforcement issues.
Indeed, the Essential research shows a clear split of opinion along party-political lines, with opposition to digital surveillance strongest amongst Labor and Greens supporters. Brandis may well just mutter "national security" a few more times — because that's all that he seems to have done so far — and that's about it.
On the other hand, the government may want to bolster its majority, and bring a few more swinging Labor and Greens voters into the Liberal-National coalition fold. If so, there might be wisdom in at least opening up the question of surveillance, tricky though it is, just to shut it back down.
But on the third hand of this mutant 21st-century beast, what if this really is a generational change in political views? Would Brandis recognise when we've truly reached such a watershed moment, and move for substantial reform? Would any of us?
Windows Phone should really swiftly incorporate Nokia-designed
The optimist would say that Windows Phone's prospects have never been
brighter. The pessimist would disagree.
On the bright side, Microsoft just announced Windows Telephone eight Update three, which incorporates new support for quad-core CPUs and phablets that helps preserve its spec lists seeking fresh. Furthermore, the buyout of Nokia's smartphone arm will bring Redmond's greatest hardware ally totally into the fold, all whilst BlackBerry's apparent demise topples the competition for third-largest ecosystem. All this provides the computer software giant a opportunity to at the very least double Windows Phone development by 2017.
On the other hand, Windows Telephone adoption has been slow, using the OS fighting for much less than 10 % of mobile's worldwide industry share, even though Android and iOS gobble up the overwhelming majority.
In addition, Microsoft includes a difficulty with partners. At this time it's trying to woo back HTC to after again expand the Windows Phone ecosystem. If that fails, Microsoft could be the only outfit making Windows phones. That single-source approach may well operate for Apple, but even the iPhone is possessing a really hard time standing up to Android's diverse and seemingly inexhaustible players.
Back in 2010, and once more in 2011, Microsoft pleaded for patience in acquiring its Windows Telephone off the ground. But this year, the most recent update's most visible enhancements are a modified interface for extra-large phones plus the capability to close apps in multitasking mode. You also can customize text tones by make contact with.
This can be hardly hearty fare, but Microsoft points out that these are the most-wanted additions requested by fans.
Nevertheless, Windows Phone buyers also clamor for any notification center, a file manager, a individual assistant, greater storage assistance for microSD cards, and indicator lights that signal missed calls and alerts. Several of those happen to be requested because the OS debuted and have extended existed on Android and iOS.
Then there's Skype, the other business that Microsoft purchased in 2011 (and for 1.three billion greater than Nokia), however the enterprise has however to integrate it into Windows smartphones by default to counter Apple's FaceTime and in some cases Google Plus Hangouts. Yes, Windows Telephone 8 Skype customers can location calls in the Men and women hub, following initially downloading the app. What I'm speaking about is producing this an out-of-the-box function.
We do know, at the least, that Microsoft is tough at perform on a cheap windows 7 ultimate key personal assistant of its personal named Cortana, which understands organic language and can replace the legacy TellMe voice input currently in use.
Microsoft's next update should really be a significant one that includes this private assistant, notification center, and Skype integration at the really least. Just after the Nokia acquisition is full (assuming it gets shareholder and regulatory approval), Windows Phone should really swiftly incorporate Nokia-designed software tools, like its camera add-ons, into the native OS expertise.
From exactly where I sit, Microsoft's largest asset -- and challenge -- is always to take the major dangers that make a business stand out as a player worth paying attention to. Soon after the transition, the Windows Phone group should really not just use, but push Nokia's venerable design philosophy into edgier territory.
Microsoft really should waste no time funding projects that explore and apply new finishes and components (like continuing its function on graphene), publish a couple of wacky proofs of notion (like this a single from 2011, also below), and probably build a high-end luxury phone of its own.
Why? Microsoft's Windows Phone project has spent its lifetime being reactionary, attempting to catch up to Apple and Google with no definitely managing to help keep pace. This isn't the time for you to be conservative with cookie-cutter design and options which are just very good adequate.
On the bright side, Microsoft just announced Windows Telephone eight Update three, which incorporates new support for quad-core CPUs and phablets that helps preserve its spec lists seeking fresh. Furthermore, the buyout of Nokia's smartphone arm will bring Redmond's greatest hardware ally totally into the fold, all whilst BlackBerry's apparent demise topples the competition for third-largest ecosystem. All this provides the computer software giant a opportunity to at the very least double Windows Phone development by 2017.
On the other hand, Windows Telephone adoption has been slow, using the OS fighting for much less than 10 % of mobile's worldwide industry share, even though Android and iOS gobble up the overwhelming majority.
In addition, Microsoft includes a difficulty with partners. At this time it's trying to woo back HTC to after again expand the Windows Phone ecosystem. If that fails, Microsoft could be the only outfit making Windows phones. That single-source approach may well operate for Apple, but even the iPhone is possessing a really hard time standing up to Android's diverse and seemingly inexhaustible players.
Back in 2010, and once more in 2011, Microsoft pleaded for patience in acquiring its Windows Telephone off the ground. But this year, the most recent update's most visible enhancements are a modified interface for extra-large phones plus the capability to close apps in multitasking mode. You also can customize text tones by make contact with.
This can be hardly hearty fare, but Microsoft points out that these are the most-wanted additions requested by fans.
Nevertheless, Windows Phone buyers also clamor for any notification center, a file manager, a individual assistant, greater storage assistance for microSD cards, and indicator lights that signal missed calls and alerts. Several of those happen to be requested because the OS debuted and have extended existed on Android and iOS.
Then there's Skype, the other business that Microsoft purchased in 2011 (and for 1.three billion greater than Nokia), however the enterprise has however to integrate it into Windows smartphones by default to counter Apple's FaceTime and in some cases Google Plus Hangouts. Yes, Windows Telephone 8 Skype customers can location calls in the Men and women hub, following initially downloading the app. What I'm speaking about is producing this an out-of-the-box function.
We do know, at the least, that Microsoft is tough at perform on a cheap windows 7 ultimate key personal assistant of its personal named Cortana, which understands organic language and can replace the legacy TellMe voice input currently in use.
Microsoft's next update should really be a significant one that includes this private assistant, notification center, and Skype integration at the really least. Just after the Nokia acquisition is full (assuming it gets shareholder and regulatory approval), Windows Phone should really swiftly incorporate Nokia-designed software tools, like its camera add-ons, into the native OS expertise.
From exactly where I sit, Microsoft's largest asset -- and challenge -- is always to take the major dangers that make a business stand out as a player worth paying attention to. Soon after the transition, the Windows Phone group should really not just use, but push Nokia's venerable design philosophy into edgier territory.
Microsoft really should waste no time funding projects that explore and apply new finishes and components (like continuing its function on graphene), publish a couple of wacky proofs of notion (like this a single from 2011, also below), and probably build a high-end luxury phone of its own.
Why? Microsoft's Windows Phone project has spent its lifetime being reactionary, attempting to catch up to Apple and Google with no definitely managing to help keep pace. This isn't the time for you to be conservative with cookie-cutter design and options which are just very good adequate.
Saturday, 28 September 2013
U.S. spy agency used some Americans' data to map their behavior: NYT
The New York Times reported on Saturday that the National Security Agency,
the main U.S. government surveillance organization, had since 2010 used data it
gathered to map some Americans' "social connections that can identify their
associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and
other personal information."
In the latest revelation of the activities of the NSA, which have prompted concern about previously unknown intrusion into Americans' privacy in the name of protecting against terrorist and other foreign attacks, the newspaper quoted documents provided by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who fled to Russia earlier this year.
It said the documents showed that "the spy agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and email logs in November 2010 to examine Americans' networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after NSA officials lifted restrictions on the practice."
The policy shift was intended to help the agency "discover and track" connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the United States, according to an NSA memorandum from January 2011, the Times said.
It said the NSA was authorized to conduct "large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness" of every email address, phone number or other identifier, the document said. Because of concerns about infringing on the privacy of American citizens, the computer analysis of such data had previously been permitted only for foreigners.
The agency could augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents, the paper said.
It said NSA officials declined to say how many Americans had been affected and said the documents did not describe the result of the scrutiny, which it said "links phone numbers and emails in a 'contact chain' tied directly or indirectly to a person or organization overseas that is of foreign intelligence interest."
COURT RULING
Earlier this week, leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said they were working on legislation that would tighten oversight of federal electronic eavesdropping programs. Support for such changes has been growing since Snowden leaked information in June that the government collects far more Internet and telephone data than previously known.
The Times said that an NSA spokeswoman, asked about the analyses of Americans' data, said, "All data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification, period." It quoted her as saying: "All of NSA's work has a foreign intelligence purpose."
She said the policy change disclosed in the latest revelations was based on a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that Americans could have no expectation of privacy about what numbers they had called.
The Times quoted her as saying that, based on that ruling, the Justice Department and the Pentagon decided that it was permissible to create contact chains using Americans' "metadata," which includes the timing, location and other details of calls and emails, but not their content. The agency is not required to seek warrants for the analyses from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
NSA officials declined to identify which phone and email databases were used to create the social network diagrams, and the documents provided by Snowden do not specify them, the paper said.
It said the NSA did say that the large database of Americans' domestic phone call records, which was revealed by Snowden in June and caused alarm in Washington, was excluded.
The Times said that while concerns in the United States since Snowden's revelations had largely focused on the scope of the agency's collection of the private data of Americans and the potential for abuse, the new documents provided a rare window into what the agency actually did with the information it gathers.
In the latest revelation of the activities of the NSA, which have prompted concern about previously unknown intrusion into Americans' privacy in the name of protecting against terrorist and other foreign attacks, the newspaper quoted documents provided by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who fled to Russia earlier this year.
It said the documents showed that "the spy agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and email logs in November 2010 to examine Americans' networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after NSA officials lifted restrictions on the practice."
The policy shift was intended to help the agency "discover and track" connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the United States, according to an NSA memorandum from January 2011, the Times said.
It said the NSA was authorized to conduct "large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness" of every email address, phone number or other identifier, the document said. Because of concerns about infringing on the privacy of American citizens, the computer analysis of such data had previously been permitted only for foreigners.
The agency could augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents, the paper said.
It said NSA officials declined to say how many Americans had been affected and said the documents did not describe the result of the scrutiny, which it said "links phone numbers and emails in a 'contact chain' tied directly or indirectly to a person or organization overseas that is of foreign intelligence interest."
COURT RULING
Earlier this week, leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said they were working on legislation that would tighten oversight of federal electronic eavesdropping programs. Support for such changes has been growing since Snowden leaked information in June that the government collects far more Internet and telephone data than previously known.
The Times said that an NSA spokeswoman, asked about the analyses of Americans' data, said, "All data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification, period." It quoted her as saying: "All of NSA's work has a foreign intelligence purpose."
She said the policy change disclosed in the latest revelations was based on a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that Americans could have no expectation of privacy about what numbers they had called.
The Times quoted her as saying that, based on that ruling, the Justice Department and the Pentagon decided that it was permissible to create contact chains using Americans' "metadata," which includes the timing, location and other details of calls and emails, but not their content. The agency is not required to seek warrants for the analyses from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
NSA officials declined to identify which phone and email databases were used to create the social network diagrams, and the documents provided by Snowden do not specify them, the paper said.
It said the NSA did say that the large database of Americans' domestic phone call records, which was revealed by Snowden in June and caused alarm in Washington, was excluded.
The Times said that while concerns in the United States since Snowden's revelations had largely focused on the scope of the agency's collection of the private data of Americans and the potential for abuse, the new documents provided a rare window into what the agency actually did with the information it gathers.
Unless Microsoft includes a magic trick up its sleeve to permit
In an work to save each of its ailing platforms, Microsoft is organizing to
combine each the Windows 8 and Windows Telephone eight app stores into a single,
all-encompassing app shop. It isn’t totally clear irrespective of whether this
will result in comprehensive cross-platform compatibility for each Windows eight
and WP8 apps - like Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Shop - or if it’s far more a
case of designing a really kick-ass app store that each platforms will then use
independently of one another. In either case, the new combined app shop will
seek to rectify two large complaints: That Windows 8 and Windows Telephone eight
have poor app ecosystems, and, specially inside the case of Windows 8, the
utterly atrocious app store encounter that ordinarily leaves you asking yourself
why on earth you decided to purchase a Windows tablet as opposed to an iPad.
This news comes from the usual “sources acquainted with the company’s plans,” who spoke to the Verge. As outlined by the source, the head of Microsoft’s newly formed Operating Systems group, Terry Myerson, held a meeting exactly where he told a large number of Microsoft personnel regarding the new plan to combine the app stores. There didn’t seem to be significantly within the way of particulars, only that the new retailer - which we’ll bet excellent funds on it being named One particular Shop - would come with the “next release” of Windows and Windows Telephone. This need to imply Windows Phone eight.1 and an update for Windows 8.1, each of which are due in spring 2014.
As for how the 1 Retailer will actually perform, we are able to only guess. In a perfect planet, it would work like the iOS App Retailer: apps created for Windows Phone 8 will be scaled up for use on Windows eight tablets, and apps particularly created for tablet interfaces would show up if you are browsing the retailer in your Windows eight tablet. Apple can get away with this simply because its smartphones and tablets run the identical operating program, and thus developers can target the precise similar APIs. Windows eight and Windows Telephone eight share a lot of similar attributes, and also some low-level code, but it is nowhere near the identical level of similarity as an iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft, for its portion, has previously taken for the stage and promised a unified ecosystem - however the specifics on how such unification could really happen haven’t been forthcoming. Because it stands, in case you develop a Metro app very carefully, porting it to Windows Phone eight is usually as effortless as altering some lines of code. In reality, even though, resulting from wildly different screen sizes, UI and UX paradigms, as well as a big variety of hardware targets (from Tegra three and integrated GPUs, via to Haswell and discrete GPUs), cross-platform compatibility has remained elusive.
Unless Microsoft includes a magic trick up its sleeve to permit developers to conveniently create apps that run on each platforms - a compatibility layer (emulator) of some sort, perhaps - then it’s much more likely that the 1 Shop will just be a new app shop design and style that may be applied by both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Windows eight sorely requires a new app shop, and if a genuinely unified app ecosystem is coming for Windows 9 and Windows Telephone 9, then it wouldn’t hurt to obtain individuals utilized for the new app shop these days. (Study: The Windows eight Shop is broken: Here’s how you can repair it.)
A further possibility, as I’ve hinted at prior to, is that one particular of Microsoft’s OSes could actually consume the other. As lately as final week, Microsoft’s Myerson told some analysts that we should anticipate to see Windows RT on larger phones - and it goes the other way, as well, with the Lumia 1520 phablet operating Windows Telephone. I would not be shocked if Windows/RT sooner or later consumes Windows Phone, which would pretty neatly resolve the issue of cross-platform compatibility by removing the pesky “cross” bit.
http://www.windows7retailpack.com/microsoft-windows-7-professional-3264-bit-full-retail-pack-p-3527.html
This news comes from the usual “sources acquainted with the company’s plans,” who spoke to the Verge. As outlined by the source, the head of Microsoft’s newly formed Operating Systems group, Terry Myerson, held a meeting exactly where he told a large number of Microsoft personnel regarding the new plan to combine the app stores. There didn’t seem to be significantly within the way of particulars, only that the new retailer - which we’ll bet excellent funds on it being named One particular Shop - would come with the “next release” of Windows and Windows Telephone. This need to imply Windows Phone eight.1 and an update for Windows 8.1, each of which are due in spring 2014.
As for how the 1 Retailer will actually perform, we are able to only guess. In a perfect planet, it would work like the iOS App Retailer: apps created for Windows Phone 8 will be scaled up for use on Windows eight tablets, and apps particularly created for tablet interfaces would show up if you are browsing the retailer in your Windows eight tablet. Apple can get away with this simply because its smartphones and tablets run the identical operating program, and thus developers can target the precise similar APIs. Windows eight and Windows Telephone eight share a lot of similar attributes, and also some low-level code, but it is nowhere near the identical level of similarity as an iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft, for its portion, has previously taken for the stage and promised a unified ecosystem - however the specifics on how such unification could really happen haven’t been forthcoming. Because it stands, in case you develop a Metro app very carefully, porting it to Windows Phone eight is usually as effortless as altering some lines of code. In reality, even though, resulting from wildly different screen sizes, UI and UX paradigms, as well as a big variety of hardware targets (from Tegra three and integrated GPUs, via to Haswell and discrete GPUs), cross-platform compatibility has remained elusive.
Unless Microsoft includes a magic trick up its sleeve to permit developers to conveniently create apps that run on each platforms - a compatibility layer (emulator) of some sort, perhaps - then it’s much more likely that the 1 Shop will just be a new app shop design and style that may be applied by both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Windows eight sorely requires a new app shop, and if a genuinely unified app ecosystem is coming for Windows 9 and Windows Telephone 9, then it wouldn’t hurt to obtain individuals utilized for the new app shop these days. (Study: The Windows eight Shop is broken: Here’s how you can repair it.)
A further possibility, as I’ve hinted at prior to, is that one particular of Microsoft’s OSes could actually consume the other. As lately as final week, Microsoft’s Myerson told some analysts that we should anticipate to see Windows RT on larger phones - and it goes the other way, as well, with the Lumia 1520 phablet operating Windows Telephone. I would not be shocked if Windows/RT sooner or later consumes Windows Phone, which would pretty neatly resolve the issue of cross-platform compatibility by removing the pesky “cross” bit.
http://www.windows7retailpack.com/microsoft-windows-7-professional-3264-bit-full-retail-pack-p-3527.html
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Samsung to Launch Smartwatch Next Month
It’s offficial:
Samsung Electronics Inc. will launch its first wristwatch smartphone early next month, people familiar with the plan say. The move would allow Samsung to potentially beat rival Apple Inc. on what is expected to be the next major battleground for mobile phone makers.
The world’s largest smartphone maker will unveil its first device worn around the wrist called Galaxy Gear on Sept. 4, ahead of Berlin’s IFA, a consumer electronics show where technology companies showcase their gadgets. It will go on sale this year, the people said.
But, one person said the device won’t have flexible displays, contrary to the company’s patent filings in the U.S. and South Korea earlier this year that suggested a device with a bendable screen was in the works.
Analysts had cast doubts about mass producing flexible screens for a couple of years, making the possibility of wristwatch smartphones grim.
Wearable smart devices have been tipped as the next jackpot niche for leading handset makers such as Samsung and Apple as the lucrative high-end segment of the smartphone market worldwide is saturated. Samsung wrested the world’s largest smartphone maker title away from Apple last year and has pushed to widen the lead with a portfolio covering a wide array of smartphone and tablets.
Though the concept of a phone wrapped around one’s wrist has been a widely known concept for a decade or more, the hype has been building around “smart watches” recently with both Apple and Samsung prepping devices. Sony in June showed off a wristwatch-like device that connects with most smartphones running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
It’s still unknown whether Samsung’s new gear will also work via a conventional smartphone or as a standalone product.
Samsung’s earlier invitations for the same-date product launch was widely expected to be the next iteration of its phablet device Galaxy Note with a larger 5-inch screen.
The company also plans to showcase the Galaxy Note 3 at IFA.
Bloomberg reported earlier that Samsung will launch the wristwatch device at its “Unpacked” event on Sept. 4.
Samsung Electronics Inc. will launch its first wristwatch smartphone early next month, people familiar with the plan say. The move would allow Samsung to potentially beat rival Apple Inc. on what is expected to be the next major battleground for mobile phone makers.
The world’s largest smartphone maker will unveil its first device worn around the wrist called Galaxy Gear on Sept. 4, ahead of Berlin’s IFA, a consumer electronics show where technology companies showcase their gadgets. It will go on sale this year, the people said.
But, one person said the device won’t have flexible displays, contrary to the company’s patent filings in the U.S. and South Korea earlier this year that suggested a device with a bendable screen was in the works.
Analysts had cast doubts about mass producing flexible screens for a couple of years, making the possibility of wristwatch smartphones grim.
Wearable smart devices have been tipped as the next jackpot niche for leading handset makers such as Samsung and Apple as the lucrative high-end segment of the smartphone market worldwide is saturated. Samsung wrested the world’s largest smartphone maker title away from Apple last year and has pushed to widen the lead with a portfolio covering a wide array of smartphone and tablets.
Though the concept of a phone wrapped around one’s wrist has been a widely known concept for a decade or more, the hype has been building around “smart watches” recently with both Apple and Samsung prepping devices. Sony in June showed off a wristwatch-like device that connects with most smartphones running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
It’s still unknown whether Samsung’s new gear will also work via a conventional smartphone or as a standalone product.
Samsung’s earlier invitations for the same-date product launch was widely expected to be the next iteration of its phablet device Galaxy Note with a larger 5-inch screen.
The company also plans to showcase the Galaxy Note 3 at IFA.
Bloomberg reported earlier that Samsung will launch the wristwatch device at its “Unpacked” event on Sept. 4.
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