Security vs Convenience
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| Security vs Convenience | |
| Number | 3220 |
| Broadcast Date | FEBRUARY 14, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 30:00 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane |
| Guests | Scott Johnson |
IBM produced a study showing consumers value security over convenience. Is this a trend, and if so will this lead to greater demands on companies to secure their online services? Plus Qualcomm has released its X24 LTE Modem and Snapchat rolls out analytics tools for its biggest creators.
Guest
Quick Hits
- Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) researchers claim they can't expand operations at two observatories because of the high demand for GPUs due to cryptocurrency mining. Prices for GPUs have been high and availability has been limited.
- CNBC reports that the heads of six US intelligence agencies told the US Senate intelligence committee that they recommend US citizens not use products from Huawei or ZTE. FBI Director Chris Wray said the government was “deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks.
- Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor has set a deadline of Wednesday for controversial videos of billionaire Oleg Deripaska to be removed from YouTube and Instagram accounts of opposition protestor Alexi Navalny. If neither Navalny nor YouTube or Instagram remove the offending videos, the sites could be blocked in Russia.
- HTC's President of smartphone, Chialin Chang has resigned due to his "personal career plan." Google took over a large part of HTC's mobile phone business at the end of January though HTC still has plans to release phones. According to Apple Daily and UDN, Chang plans to set up an AI startup later this year.
Top Stories
- Qualcomm has announced that its X24 LTE modem, can handle speeds up to 2 Gbps. The X24 is the first commercial Category 20 LTE modem to be announced, according to Qualcomm. It may be integrated in Qualcomm's next premium mobile chip, which Qualcomm says will show up in commercial devices in the first half of 2019. The X24 is built on a 7 nanometer process, which would translate to potential power savings. All of this of course would rely on carriers supporting 7x aggregation and 4x4 MIMO on up to five aggregated carriers.
- Chrome's built-in ad blocker goes live Thursday, though ad blocker may imply it does things it doesn't. Chrome will only block ads on sites that violate the Coalition for Better Ads Guidelines. That's a group with folks like The Washington Post, Facebook, Proctor and Gamble and the World Federation of Advertisers on board. It's not just a Google thing. If a site that gets most of its visitors from North America or Europe (to start) shows pop-up ads, prestitial ads, autoplay video ads (and a few other kinds), then Chrome will block all its ads including those from Google's own AdSense. Otherwise it doesn't block ads.
- Facebook’s app for kids, called Messenger Kids, is now available for Android in the US. Wired reports controversy continues over the app and whether its actually responsible for parents to let their kids use it. In 2017, Facebook donated at least $50,000 to MediaSmarts, which has two members on Facebook's advisory board for Messenger Kids. At least seven members of that board have some kind of financial tie to Facebook. Facebook also donated money to the National PTA for the first time in 2017. On the other hand, Wired reports that Common Sense Media and Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, two large nonprofits in the field, say they weren’t informed about it until weeks or days before the app’s debut.
- At Recode's Code media conference, MagicLeap's CEO Rony Abovitz said the company plans to release multiple versions of its headset and the cheapest would cost you as much as a high end smartphone and the most expensive equivalent to a high end PC. He also said MagicLeap has a deal with the NBA to let you watch classic NBA games and highlights on the headset. Eventually they hope to enable live streaming. NBA SVP Jeff Marsilio said that the hope is to enable "[live] streaming on your coffee table as though you were a giant looking into the arena from above."
- Tens of thousands of Snapchat's biggest creators will start seeing view counts and demographic analytics on their Snapchat profile as the company tries to embrace its most active users and increase their discovery options. The new analytics could help creators prove their reach for sponsored content and product placement deals. Snapchat creators previously had very little data on their community and followers, and had to use unofficial third-party analytics providers to get more.
Discussion
Mailbag
- I have often thought about better technologies for home entry, as I feel the need for physical keys to be quite antiquated. My feelings that home entry needs an update is because I enjoy that my car comes equipped with sensor, that as long as I have my car fob within a few feet of the front door of the car, I can lock and unlock a door without physical insertion. This is especially useful when you have 2 children and have your hands full with all their gear.
I considered the prospect of applying this technology to home door use, but felt home entry should require at least 2 factor authentication. I felt the (proverbial) key to my conundrum would be to have a phone Near Field Communication (NFC) chip as the primary authentication, and to have a camera use facial recognition as the second factor. The obstacle with the camera would be that it would draw too much power, and would be require either a large battery pack, or be hardwired.
Your talk yesterday of the company that devolved a camera that can run for over 2 years with a single AA battery was quite inspiring. I wonder if Amazon purchased blink with home entry in mind? Especially with its foyer into in-home delivery? Just a thought. - Sent by Chris Copping in Portland, Oregon
- I have often thought about better technologies for home entry, as I feel the need for physical keys to be quite antiquated. My feelings that home entry needs an update is because I enjoy that my car comes equipped with sensor, that as long as I have my car fob within a few feet of the front door of the car, I can lock and unlock a door without physical insertion. This is especially useful when you have 2 children and have your hands full with all their gear.
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Links
| Preceded by: "Blade Cuts Through PC Game Streaming" |
Security vs Convenience |
Followed by: "Apple Has Character Flaws" |