Yahoo Introduces Ear-based Scanning System

Yahoo has introduced an ear-based identification system that is concerned with the capturing of ear prints.

Yahoo has found out a new smart phone unlocking method, which would make use of body parts. Yahoo news reported that the technique involves scanning of ear to operate the high-tech phone. The device’s capacitive touch screen would sense and examine one’s ear when he or she presses it against the phone, which then develops an image that can be employed to recognize the user and unlock the phone.

The corporation has also pioneered a process to ensure that ‘Bodyprint’ operates with other body parts, which include knuckles, fingers, palms, and fists, while employing the phone’s screen to develop a low-resolution image unique to each user. This could then aid the process of locking and unlocking files. The use of different body organs indicates that the security procedure can make use of the whole body.

Experts stated the view that this scanning process would make the lives of phone users convenient, as people already hold their phone close to their ears. Yahoo finance informed that the phone users would have to ensure that their full ear presses against the display of the device; otherwise, this system would fail to function accordingly.

Body part scanning is not new to the smart phone industry, as devices, such as Samsung Galaxy S6 or iPhone, already employ finger print examining technology. The management of Yahoo thinks that this innovation could be used as a cheaper accurate alternate. Market experts believe that the feature’s affordability would determine its selling prospects in the competitive digital world.

The corporation’s team of experts has revealed that Bodyprint does not compromise on the quality of the authentication. It conducted an evaluation test of 12 participants, out of which the scanning system recognized body parts with 99.98% accuracy. These results indicate that the newly devised technology is capable of safeguarding the interests of its users. The details of its launch have not been disclosed. It is expected that the efficient use of this feature would not only secure gadgets efficiently but also reduce the costs of authentication.

Yahoo help affirmed that body-scanning methods are not new to the modern world, as in Switzerland, such procedures are employed at the scenes of robbery to help recognize criminals. Burglars use their ears to find out if anyone is in home; thus, police then takes a print of the ear. The ear-based authentication system is known for offering higher levels of privacy. Now it is yet to be seen that to what extent this new system is able to safeguard its user’s devices.

US Trade Office Keeping Tabs On Alibaba Website

US authorities are closely monitoring the company’s website for sales of counterfeit or pirated goods

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is being closely monitored by the US authorities. They kept an eye on its consumer shopping website for sales of counterfeit and pirated goods, but they did not put the site on the Blacklist.

Alibaba Group has been fighting hard to tackle the counterfeit products so that it is not prone to any reputational risk, as it will be having a direct impact on its share prices. The company may face a decline in its market value as a result, as reported in current Alibaba updates.

Upon allegations, a spokesperson from the company reportedly said, “Our track record of fighting illicit activities is clear, and like all global companies in our industry, we must continue to do everything we can to stop these activities.”

She further added that the company, in order to fight against the fake goods supply, the giant has taken measurable steps, which also includes conducting random checks, all the while using data-mining technology and offering an online complaint forum.

The US Trade representatives have previously removed the Chinese consumer website Taobao.com, from its list of famous markets in 2012. Taobao.com is a platform that connects consumer to retail brands. It does not sell merchandise itself and makes most of its revenue from commission and advertising.

According to Bloomberg report in December 2014, an inspection was done on Alibaba for selling counterfeit goods online, and is said to have removed 90 million listings that were a breach of the intellectual property rights. Moreover, it claims to have spent more than $161 million, just to ensure that it does not have fake goods and protect its consumers 2013. Despite the heavy investments for this purpose, the Chinese regulator still insisted that there was a lack of standardization and violation of trademarks in Alibaba’s sold products.

According to latest Alibaba reports, the company penalized around 131,000 sellers in September 30 2014.The company penalized around 131,000 sellers in September 30 2014. With the corporation of Chinese law enforcement agencies, more than a thousand cases of counterfeiting were filed, arresting 400 suspects.

Alibaba said that it is planning to introduce a system to fast track requests to remove the counterfeit items. The company has also announced the opening of its first data center outside china, which will be located in Silicon Valley. Moreover, it will be looking to target foreign clients for which it will be necessary for it to have a good image.

Alibaba’s Taobao platform basically connects relatively small vendors with the Chinese customers only. The giant's Tmall platform also comes under its operation, which basically is for the larger companies who seek to run online stores.

Alibaba Puts The Internet Risks in China and Benefits For Government

While Alibaba gets accused of missteps and counterfeit goods, the company benefits China with major items.

Latest Alibaba news is regarding the trio of stories that have been taking rounds. In a very nice way, the Chinese e-commerce titan has summarized the risks and also the benefits that the current Internet juggernauts in China exist for the country’s government. Furthermore, it suggested that there should be a fine line expressed between taming the newly emerged giants while also making sure that their economic powerhouses have not been cut down. It took merely a decade and the world has seen Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent evolve from start-ups that were venture based into one of the most reputable and revenue generating fortune companies in the world.

The evolution of these companies and the stature has not only brought a positive global placement of China but also the essential tax dollars for the local governments and also the tech-related jobs that Beijing wishes to utilize in order to replace the manufacturing labour associated to lower-tech. However, at the very same time, these young and on-growing companies are bound to take vulnerable missteps, those missteps can result in a bit of chaos in the huge Chinese marketplace and the capital shall become careful regarding that.

Alibaba news reports that one conspiracy has been haunting the company since the beginning of the year when Chinese e-commerce titan had been accused of allowing piracy all over the subsidiary, Taobao.com which is immensely popular in the country. Taobao.com is an e-commerce platform which is C2C based. The accusation had been made by the regulators of the country and this has not stopped here. The company’s home province, Zhejiang has fined it for 800,000 Yuan due to the claim that it had let the merchants have access to its B2C marketplace which is Tmall.com just so it can demeanour promotions that are misleading.

In the meantime, Alibaba has suffered through this publicity that was ultimately negative, the benefits that the company has aimed to provide and has been providing to the country’s economy are residing in the other items. Zhejiang’s governor has expressed that Alibaba, alone provides more than 30 million Yuan per day to the provincial tax reserves.

The other item reported is claiming that Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder has been the country’s biggest philanthropist by donating a whopping amount of 14.5 billion Yuan last year in charity.

Let’s not forget the counterfeit goods accusation that has been rumouring as well. Alibaba has been accused of having counterfeit goods on its e-commerce websites and has been under observation for it.

However, as far as the contribution of this company is concerned, lately with ‘Cloud Hospital’ and its immense interest and acquisitions in entertainment industry are enough proves that it is making its global and native presence felt almost everywhere.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Themes Store - Hands on

Samsung has launched a Theme Store for Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge which can be a turning point for the mobile manufacturing giant to make it an addition to further phones being launched by the company.

Last Friday we had been blessed with one of the most competitive android smart phones in the shape of Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. The major and most prominent change that TouchWiz has seen is the new themes store that was launched along with the handsets. Latest Samsung news reports that the company has begun accepting the third party themes in their Theme Store. In this article we aim to take a sneak peek at it.

The design for Galaxy S6 Theme Store is pretty much the same as to how Galaxy Apps is. However the store is sparse currently. There have been new themes added to the store which include Retro theme, Molang theme, Logo Juniors theme and a floral theme followed by a pink theme.

There is a separate category in the store with the name Peaceful theme which has some soothing themes such as Deer Dream, open-road Theme, spring theme and etc. Deer Dream and spring ones are the most striking themes despite how scarce the store is currently.

There is another category in the store which is dedicated to the illustrations and drawings. It also consists of Pixel Art theme. Others include a romantic theme, picnic theme and also the one where Trivial life is shown. An interesting factor to notice is that the pictures and themes have been drawn with hands instead of being generated from computers.

Samsung news reports that there other multiple themes which are available to be downloaded, such as “gorgeous themes with bright pink colors”, Rio theme, Forest theme and eye-catching Purple theme.

One of the most favorite one for anyone to have their eyes on is most likely to be Avengers one. As far as changing the themes are concerned, it is pretty simple. The user can choose the theme and tap Apply. Make sure that you are not needed to download the theme. Iron Man theme is of 19 MB.

Letting you customize the design and theme of the phone is one of the most favorite things for the users and Theme Store might be the major factor for Samsung and also for it to create it another business as the idea is unique for mobile manufacturing company to go for it. Surely there are not a lot of themes in the store but the phone have just been released and there can be additions in this regard since third parties can submit their themes on the store too. We might see Samsung adding the Theme Store in the phones coming in near future as well.

Tesla In China

The American electric vehicle manufacturer has got an opportunity to grow in the Chinese automobile market, while the government signalled to introduce a large number of electric vehicles.

Tesla Motors has an opportunity to expand itself in the Chinese market, as the authorities of the most populated country have begun to demand the development of battery charged vehicles. Tesla news reported that a number of vehicle manufacturers are currently operating within the boundaries of the second largest economy. These developers are being forced to pioneer electric cars.

The management of the Japanese automaker, Toyota, believed that hydrogen powered vehicles were the future of the automotive industry. The corporation has even developed a gas charged automobile, Toyota Miri. Experts hold the view that the car manufacturer should provide information about the features and benefits of the newly introduced products, as the policies of the Chinese government claims of no prior knowledge about the latest inventions. Like other automobile producers, the corporation is also being forced to develop electric-powered vehicles.

Tesla motors news informed that the company has received a bad news, as Toyota refused to collaborate with the electric-powered automobile supplier in future. This information explains that Toyota has not forgiven the vehicle supplier. Both companies had previously collaborated but their working relationship was adversely affected by Tesla’s faulty parts. Tesla would now coordinate with a number of Chinese organizations, which include FAW group and Guangzhou Automobile Corporation.

Market sources have revealed that more than 40 models of electric cars would be sold this year, which suggests about the capacity and performance of the industry. IHS Managing Director in Shanghai, James Chao, has stated that electric vehicle manufacturing is the cost of entering the largest auto market. However, the official doubts that manufacturers might not be interested in the production of electric-powered vehicles. Experts stated that the officials of the People’s Republic of China believe that pollution levels can only be reduced by the supply of electric-powered vehicles.

Tesla Motors should take some measures to expand itself in one of the largest economies of the world. The manufacturer should first ensure that its staff provides correct charging information to the electric car users. Tesla news today reported that the provision of incorrect information had made Tesla suffer in the Chinese automobile market. It should also improve its charging infrastructure in different regions of the country.

It is most likely that the Chinese authorities would facilitate the development of charging stations in the People’s Republic. Automobile experts believe that the business should take steps immediately; otherwise, it might suffer, as the Chinese officials would soon introduce a large number of competitors. The government should also examine the benefits of the electric-powered vehicles or otherwise, they might lose a pollution reducing opportunity. Now it is yet to be seen that to what extent the Chinese policies are able to affect the policies of the organization.

Twitter Inc Move on Limiting Abuse and Abusers

Twitter has begun tweaking the privacy policies and the product it self as well.

Latest twitter news reports that the social network giant has announced changes in the product as well as the policy with the aim that it shall bring in more secure and tackling move against the abuses and violent threats on the social giant’s platform.

The main issue is the conventional ‘social networking’ being misunderstood and assumed as a medium where minority groups can have an extensive opportunity of spreading sentiments pertaining to terrorists and also harass women or abuse them for that matter. In recent times, such course of events has raised and is bound to be looked into as it affects the person’s life in a great way.

Despite the terrorism, GamerGate saga rebounded on the social network as it was discovered by the women associated with the game industry that the social network platform had been used for misogyny and harassment that also included rape threats, death threats, doxxing and graphic material.

 This is however not an exception. There have been many times where public figures and entertainment industries have been targeted and suffered from abuses. One example is Caroline Criado-Perez who is a feminist and British journalist. Another one is Robin Williams’s daughter who was abused following the death of her father.

Twitter news is regarding the strategy for the abusive trolling and dealing with it. Some of these factors are still in the process to be finished. The social network has definitely worked out some balance between being the platform of free speech and the platform that is dumb to be conduit of bullying people online. The tweaks series is one of the steps towards it.

The Product management Director for Twitter, Shreyas Doshi expresses, “As the ultimate goal is to ensure that Twitter is a safe place for the widest possible range of perspectives, we will continue to evaluate and update our approach in this critical arena.”

One significant change the social network has unveiled yesterday that is most likely to be a change in product itself instead of merely a policy. That includes a feature which shall help the social network to suspect the tweets that might sound abusive and limit them.

Further it was added by the director that the feature, currently in testing process, is going to examine the tweets and activities that might correlate with abuse. This will not affect the way we see the content but the fact that it will help the social platform to limit the harm or content that is potentially abusive.

Xperia Z4 Revealed - The Flagship Phone for Sony

Sony has unveiled Xperia Z4 at Japan, however the announcements for international launch have not been made yet.

Sony news today is about the launch of its flagship phone, Xperia Z4. According to the company itself, the phone depicts the “state of the art Sony” which is supposed to mark the finishing of Xperia Z series. It is 6.9mm thick smart phone which is equipped with aluminum frame and a screen of 5.2 inches. Its design is of glass material and has the strength. The design does not lose the shine and colors it possesses even embezzle.

There have been made enhancements in the front camera and also the main camera keeping the immensely growing demand of Social Networking Services, an example is SELPHY which is a self-portrait, as reported by Sony news and the video calls. While capturing pictures, the style preferences can be set that may emphasize on “AR mask” or “style portrait”.

The phone is equipped with 64 bit octa core processor which is Snapdragon 810. “Cover with window” and desktop holder are also an addition to various features.

At this very point, there is no announcement date for international unveil or Compact version release date doing the rounds.

It is examined that the new Xperia Z4 is not so much different from Z3 predecessor. It has the same screen size as that of its predecessor. Also Snapdragon 810 which existed before. The eye popping 27 megapixel camera with rear-facing is the same too. Android 5.0 externally and 3GB Ram internally. Surprisingly!

Sony has been known for creating the water and dust resistant devices and the latest flagship product by the company serves the same purpose too. Note should be taken by any frustrated Galaxy users that wanted water resistance features in the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

It had been rumored that Sony was planning to leave the smartphone market and space, despite the fact that the latest reconstructing by the company don’t seem so. It might remain a possibility that the entertainment and tech giant might carry on. When it comes to Xperia Z4, this seems to be another iterative product, its predecessor had received positive reviews however it did not bring much sale for the company. This factor seems questionable as to how sticking to the same strategy or same recipe would make it productive for the company’s dig on the mobile market.

However, if you are one of the Xperia fans, international launch of the phone awaits you. This will be sooner in the announcements as it has been launched in Japan. Let’s see what this phone brings up for Sony.

New MacBook's Reparibility Score Is The Worst

Apple Inc new MacBook 2015 is terribly hard to repair and iFixit has been annoyed by that.

The latest Apple news is about the review regarding the new MacBook reparability. There has been no secret regarding the fact that Apple does not consider anything when it comes to the device reparability on the basis of “do it yourself” phenomenon. However some of the devices belonging to the company such as iPhones, tablets are considered to be friendlier than the others. The latest MacBook that has been launched is said to be the decidedly on the unfriendly aspect of the scale. A company, iFixit has unveiled the step by step teardown, which is apparently exhaustive, of the new MacBook with almost visible frustration. According to the company, “It’s like they took note of iFixit’s reparability scale, and actually tried to hit zero.”

That shows how frustrated the iFixit team seems. The detailed teardown has been made available on the company’s website but it is not a pleasant read for anyone who is fond of replacing the broken hardware in the devices by themselves. The standard Apple features are retained in the new machine which includes the batteries that are glued down and etc. The entire machine has been designed using, “futuristic pegs and weird spring clips.”

Also there are some aspects where Apple has been complemented such as the motherboard is called “lovely” as the hardware designers at Apple had done a creative and mind boggling job when it comes to squeezing the entire apparatus in tiny chassis, as reported by Apple news. However all of the squeezing has come with a high cost. Cable connections that are fragile, cable routing which is odd and glue abound when it comes to its configuration.

The battery has faced some criticism as well; every battery cell has been glued down firmly, even the center one. The entire keyboard has accommodated 83 pentalobe screws for being screwed down, astonishingly. Also the individual key can relatively be replaced easily, but if you wish to replace the entire keyboard circuit board, welcome to the nightmare.

There is no RAM upgrade option, happening for a while now though. There is incredibly difficult to replace USB-C connector along with it.

One major reason for hard to replace hardware could be the company’s idea behind forcing the users deliberately to change the machines and devices every year or so in order to be updated. If the hardware becomes easily replaceable, what is the need of new MacBook anyway? This seems quite a strategy and maybe it hooks the end users to the company, however it can annoy a few techy users as well.

IBM collaborates With Companies To Improve Healthcare Services

International Business Machines (IBM) has collaborated with a number of corporate giants to improve health care services.

The American high-tech company, International Business Machines Corporation, has decided to employ its resources in the health care sector. IBM news reported that it has collaborated with a number of companies, encompassing Apple Inc., Medtronic Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, to serve the health care sector. All the four partnering businesses have joined to establish Watson Health Data Venture.

This aforementioned venture has been designed to employ the expertise of the modern company in the field of healthcare. Experts have stated that the collaboration aims to make use of the corporation’s highly advanced system to facilitate the patients and health care providers. The Joint efforts of the corporate giants represent the view that the effective use of patient details could play a constructive role in delivering enhanced health care services. Analysts and experts have supported and appreciated the endeavors of the organizations. 

IBM news today highlighted that the health care venture would cut the cost of gathering and organizing healthcare information. Market sources have revealed that the three giants – Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic – would be sharing revenue with the corporation on any applications they sell to users. It has been decided that all collaborating businesses would supply health care data to the pool. A privacy-friendly data gathering process has been designed to gather data. Data will be only gathered from patients who have agreed to disclose their information.

IBM breaking news affirms that Apple would be held responsible for supplying information regarding nutrition levels, fitness, and heart rate. Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson would provide data from gadgets for diabetic patients and those recovering from surgery. This venture would be able to improve the relations between the companies and customers. The corporation has decided that it would gather data through Phytel and Explorys, two acquired devices that store clinical details about more than 50,000,000 patients. The gathered data would be used by a health cloud of computers. The cloud would safeguard the data from hackers.

IBM would collaborate with Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic to pioneer healthcare applications for patients. Medical providers would be held responsible for distributing these applications. These applications have been designed to provide information regarding patient progress to the health care provider. In this manner, the joint efforts would contribute in improving the healthcare practices. The American corporation is well known for working in the health care sector as it supplies products to 89 of the world’s top 100 healthcare companies.

AT&T Penalized For Data Breaches And Privacy Invasions

AT&T is fined with $25,000,000 for violating the privacy of its customers.

The management of the American telecommunications company, AT&T, has suffered from a huge setback, as it has been fined. AT&T news reported that the Federal Communication Commission has penalized the company of $25,000,000 fine for breaching its customers’ data at call centers in a number of countries, including Philippines, Colombia, and Mexico. The commission’s decision also requires the firm to serve the affected customers with credit monitoring and notifications. These breaches have adversely affected its customers, as their confidential information is disclosed, which includes their names and social security numbers.

The customers need to be careful now, as the revealed details could be employed against them. An official of the commission stated that the breaches have affected approximately 280,000 U.S customers. The employees of the company invaded the data privacy and used the disclosed data to access handset-unlock codes for its phones.

Officials of AT&T have stated that they are interested in amending their policies and improving their operations. This statement explains that the management of the firm is interested in serving its customers. An official of the American regulator informed that the imposed penalty represents the strictest action taken by the commission, as it is interested in safeguarding consumer rights. The FCC has maintained a record of penalizing companies for data breaches, as it had imposed a $10,000,000 fine on telecommunication firms – Terra Com and YourTel.

The commission had conducted an investigation into the controversial disclosure of customers’ details at the telecommunications firm’s call centers in Mexico. This investigation was followed by the news report that breaches had also taken place in Philippines and Colombia. This proves to be troublesome to the customers who relied and trusted the telecom giant.

AT&T breaking news affirms that in the territories of Columbia and Mexico, 40 employees were able to gather confidential information about 211,000 customers. This report is adequate to elaborate that a small number of employees can affect a large number of people. The probe report revealed that third parties funded a number of call center employees to gather customer information.

The investigators have stated that in Mexico, 68,000 customers have suffered from the controversial information disclosure. AT&T news today highlights that the commission has also asked the company to improve its safety standards and employ a compliance officer. Now it is yet to be seen that to what extent this decision is able to play its role in improving the security and safety procedures of the American telecommunications giant. 

Uber Launches Auto Service In India

Uber has introduced a new service in India, which would compete with other taxi service providers.

The American high-tech taxi service provider, Uber, has introduced an auto service in India. Uber news announced that the transporter has launched an auto service in the capital of one of the most populated country off the world. The name of the newly launched service is UberAuto. The management of the service provider has claimed that the auto service is a ‘cash-only’ service, whose charges would be calculated by practicing the existing transport regulations.

The service works like any other service of the transporter. Users operate the application, select ‘Uber Auto’ from the series of options, and wait for the confirmation of a driver. The introduction of the service in the capital is sufficient to explain that its management realizes the importance of rickshaws in the nation.

Uber has gone through very difficult times in Dehli, as one of its drivers was blamed for raping a passenger. This allegation had forced the it to employ the nonprofit model for serving its customers. It would also improve the overall reputation of the business in the Indian transportation market. If ‘Uber Auto’ operates through the same model, then its passengers would not have to pay service charges. In this manner, the customers would be able to enjoy the service at an affordable rate.

Experts believe that the new service has been launched to compete with the traditional Indian rickshaws that have attracted a large number of passengers of the company, as they are quite cheap. Uber news today 

Latest Uber news highlights that this service would increase the profit margins of the company, as it would increase its popularity among the masses. Experts believe that the cash factor would play an important role in promoting the facility to a significant number of transport users. In India, cash payments are quite popular among the public.

The business would contribute heavily to the global revenues, as Uber serves 11 Indian cities, which represents India as its second largest market. This would certainly threaten its competitors. The success of this service is not only essential for improving the financial conditions of the firm, but the global image of the company. Now it is yet to be seen that to what extent does the auto service is able to play its role in capturing the market of the second most populated country.

You Tube Plans for Ad-Free Subscription Based Service

You Tube plans to introduce Ad-free subscription based service to video consumers which can give serious competition to Vessel, the start up.

You Tube has confirmed the news of the last fall, the rumor regarding the ad-free subscription. Latest You Tube news that it has announced is about the plan it has for ad-free yet subscription based service. This has been explained by the email which was sent out to You Tube Partners. The email describes the future endeavors and this option. This feature will let users to enjoy the ad-free You Tube version on a monthly fee basis. The other monetization option includes the partners to agree on Creator Studio Dashboard’s updated terms, it acknowledges that these changes are made effective on June 15, 2015.

The email has encouraged many sellers and potential Creators of You Tube to take this opportunity positively and generate money more than what they can generate today merely through advertising. They think of the subscription service as something “excite your fans and generate a previously untapped, additional source of revenue for you.”

It has been quite some time that You Tube had plans of moving into subscription business. In October, one of the heads at You Tube expressed that this option is specifically going to be attractive for the mobile viewers who are not willing to have the ads being played before their videos. Now that the subscription model has appeared, You Tube is on its way to depict something like that of NetFlix. NetFlix is where consumers are paying in order to access the content that is on-demand and without interruption.

According to You Tube news, the company will pay 55% to the creators of the total net revenue generated from the subscription fees. The updated term states:

“One thing that neither the letter to creators nor the updated Terms references is the price of the subscription offering. Nor does it disclose when the service will be offered to the public.”

Further it said that June 15 is when the terms are coming into effect. However, it does not imply that people can instantly access it. It can either be a staged roll out or the large subscription launch can be held. But the sources report that the service is most likely going live this year.

We think the reason why the pricing has not been disclosed yet is because that factor has not been decided yet and has to be determined.

This might point to the increased competition for many startups such as that of Vessel. This start up is offering a service which is subscription based for $2.99 per month. It provides access to the videos rather earlier than usual to all the video consumers which they can watch for free on You Tube later though.