Friday, July 31, 2015
E&Y Japan arm launches internal probe of Toshiba audit
Former CEO of collapsed Mt.Gox bitcoin exchange arrested in Japan: reports
White House: government cybersecurity improving, more work to do
U.S. federal agencies have increased cybersecurity measures since the hacking at the Office of Personnel Management, but more work is necessary to help prevent further attacks, the results of a 30-day effort to raise standards showed on Friday.The White House's Office of Management and Budget kicked off a "cybersecurity sprint" last month after the hacks that put the personal data of more than 22 million Americans at risk, directing agencies to strengthen their networks and report back.In a blog post about that effort, the White House's Chief Information Officer Tony Scott said federal civilian agencies had increased use of "strong authentication for privileged and unprivileged users" from 42 percent to 72 percent. Many were still not up to the highest standards set by OMB, however."We still have more work to do," Scott said. A team of more than 100 government and private industry experts are reviewing the government's cybersecurity "policies, procedures and practices" and will issue an assessment in the coming months, he said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Yahoo buys fashion website Polyvore
University of Connecticut says hit by hackers from China
The social security numbers and credit card details of up to 6,000 University of Connecticut students, faculty and others may have been stolen by cyberhackers from China, the university said on Friday.Officials detected a potential breach of the School of Engineering's network in March and an investigation uncovered that hackers may have gained access to it as early as September, 2013, spokesman Tom Breen said. He said 6,000 students, faculty, alumni and research partners of the school were notified that their personal information may have been compromised."The breach is far more extensive, could impact many more accounts and started much earlier than we originally believed," said Breen. "There is no way at the present time to determine the exact number of accounts hacked," he added. Breen said the hack has been traced to China "based on the type of cyber-attack that was launched, and the software used." He added the FBI and several state agencies have been notified. The university said it was also taking steps to secure its systems. (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Sandra Maler)
FDA warns of security flaw in Hospira infusion pumps
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday advised hospitals to stop using Hospira Inc's Symbiq infusion system, saying a security vulnerability could allow cyber attackers to take control of the system remotely.The agency issued the advisory some 10 days after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of the vulnerability in the pump, which is used to deliver medications directly into the bloodstream of patients.The FDA and DHS cited research from independent cyber security expert Billy Rios, who found that remote attacks could be launched on patients by accessing a hospital's network.Both government agencies said they know of no cases where such an attack has been launched, but the FDA said in its advisory that it strongly encouraged healthcare facilities to stop using the Symbiq infusion pump system and move to other devices. "This (vulnerability) could allow an unauthorized user to control the device and change the dosage the pump delivers, which could lead to over- or under-infusion of critical patient therapies," the agency said in its warning. The warning came as industry and government regulators are placing unprecedented attention on public safety risks posed by cyber vulnerabilities in products with embedded computers. Fiat Chrysler last week announced the recall of 1.4 million U.S. vehicles to install software to prevent hackers from gaining remote control of the engine, steering and other systems. It was the first auto recall prompted by a cyber vulnerability. The FDA said Hospira had discontinued the manufacture and sales of the Symbiq system for reasons not related to the cyber vulnerability, but that they were still in use and being sold by third parties.Hospira officials could not immediately be reached for comment. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg and wife expecting a baby girl
Uber valued at about $51 billion after latest funding round: WSJ
Apple, BMW in courtship with an eye on car collaboration
BMW (BMWG.DE) and Apple (AAPL.O) may rekindle a courtship put on hold after an exploratory visit by executives of the world's top maker of electronic gadgets to the headquarters of the word's biggest seller of premium cars.Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook went to BMW's headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker's Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric car, two sources familiar with the talks told . The dialogue ended without conclusion because Apple appears to want to explore developing a passenger car on its own, one of the sources said. Also, BMW is being cautious about sharing its manufacturing know-how because it wants to avoid becoming a mere supplier to a software or internet giant.During the visit, Apple executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about tooling and production and BMW executives signaled readiness to license parts, one of the sources said. News of the Leipzig visit first emerged in Germany's Manager-Magazin last week. "Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too," a senior BMW source said.The carmaker says there are currently no talks with Apple about jointly developing a passenger car and Apple declined to comment. However, one of the sources said exploratory talks between senior managers may be revived at a later stage.It is too early to say whether this will be a replay of Silicon Valley's Prometheus moment: The day in 1979 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs visited Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center where the first mouse-driven graphical user interface and bit-mapped graphics were created, and walked out with crucial ideas to launch the Macintosh computer five years later.BMW has realized next-generation vehicles cannot be built without more input from telecoms and software experts, and Apple has been studying how to make a self-driving electric car as it seeks new market opportunities beyond phones.STAFF CHANGESSince the visit, there has been a reshuffle at the top of BMW, with Harald Krueger, appointed BMW Chief Executive in May, in favor of establishing his own team and his plans for BMW by year end, before engaging in new projects, a person familiar with his thinking told . A further complication was the departure of BMW's board member for development Herbert Diess, who played a leading role in initial discussions with Apple. He defected to Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) in December. Diess, who declined to comment for this piece, oversaw the development of BMW's "i" vehicles which are built using light weight carbon fiber, using a radical approach to design and manufacturing. Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies ranging from Google Inc (GOOGL.O), which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric car-maker Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O). Diess has said the German auto industry needs to undergo radical change because consumers are demanding more intelligent cars and anti-pollution rules mean the next generation vehicles will increasingly be low emission electric and hybrid variants. In 2030, only two generations of new cars away in auto manufacturing time scales, only a third of vehicles will be powered by a conventional combustion engine alone, experts predict. "It means that in two cycles we will shut down two thirds of our engine manufacturing," Diess told a panel discussion in July last year, adding that the value chain for new electric cars is already shifting, with vehicle batteries made mainly in Asia. "The second part is that the car will become intelligent, part of the Internet," Diess continued. "And the strong players in this area are in the United States, in the software development area. We will surely need to find alliances in this field." Germany has two years to prove that it can hold its own against new entrants when it comes to shaping the future of luxury vehicles, Diess said. THEM AND USCarmakers including BMW have already developed next generation self-driving cars, vehicles which need permanent software updates in the form of high-definition maps allowing a car to recalculate a route if it learns about an accident ahead. The technology is moving ahead faster than the legal and regulatory rules which would allow large-scale commercial availability.Earlier this year, BMW's new R&D chief Klaus Froehlich said his company and Apple had much in common, including a focus on premium branding, an emphasis on evolving products and a sense of aesthetically pleasing design. Asked, in general terms, whether a deeper collaboration beyond integration of products like the iPhone would make sense, Froehlich initially said BMW would not consider any deal that forces it to open up its core know-how to outsiders."We do not collaborate to open our eco systems but we find ways, because we respect each other," Froehlich told . BMW will keep in mind the needs of the customer, and what the company's core strengths are, when it considers the merits of entering any strategic collaboration, Froehlich added.Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW's management board member in charge of the Mini brand as well as digital services declined to comment on possible talks with Apple in an interview earlier this year.But he said: "Two worlds are colliding here. Our world, focused on hardware and our experience in making complex products, and the world of information technology which is intruding more and more into our life." The winners will be those companies that understand how to build intelligent hardware, he said, adding it made sense for carmakers and tech firms to cooperate more closely."We need to get away from the idea that it will be either us or them ... We cannot offer clients the perfect experience without help from one of these technology companies," Schwarzenbauer said. That dialogue is well underway, he stressed. [ID: nL5N0W52KI] With $202.8 billion in cash, Apple has the resources to enter the automotive market on its own, said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, a consulting firm in Orange, Calif.The tech giant would have an edge on the dashboard, its CarPlay infotainment system connecting iPhones to cars, but would be at square one with the rest of the car, Noble said.If Apple decided to sell a car it could make sense to find a partner to help with industrial scale production, retail and repair, since demand for such a vehicle could be high. There are no estimates for potential Apple car sales but the brand and its products command a loyal following. So if only 1 percent of Apple's annual iPhone customers decided to order a car, it would need to make 1.69 million vehicles.That's more than the 434,311 vehicles Jaguar and Land Rover produced last year. Even BMW Group, which made just over 2 million cars last year, would struggle to free up capacity. (Additional reporting by Eric Auchard; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
With Star Wars relaunch, the Force is with Electronic Arts
Comcast's NBC blocks Sling TV ads, Dish says
Car hacking risk may be broader than Fiat Chrysler: U.S. regulator
Uber, driver attorneys maneuver toward crucial hearing
Nvidia recalls all Shield tablets due to battery fire fears
Qualcomm wins appeal in $173 million ParkerVision case
Dixons Carphone to sell Phone House Portugal
British electricals and mobile phone retailer Dixons Carphone has agreed to sell The Phone House Portugal, further streamlining its business as it focuses on markets where it has a leading position.The group said on Friday it would sell the 130-store loss-making business to Digital Place, a company owned by the shareholders of the TLCI group of companies, a telecoms retailer and wholesaler in the region.Following completion, expected by the end of next month, Dixons Carphone will receive a small cash consideration. A deferred cash consideration measured against profitability will be payable over five years.Earlier this year the group sold The Phone House Netherlands and The Phone House Deutschland. Shares in Dixons Carphone, up 36 percent over the last year, were up 1 percent at 454 pence at 1352 GMT, valuing the business at 5.2 billion pounds ($8.14 billion).($1 = 0.6388 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)
China mulls forcing Tencent, Alibaba to offer rivals' online payment services
Google refuses French order to apply 'right to be forgotten' globally
Japan's Sharp to exit Americas TV market after deep first quarter loss
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Oculus deploys virtual reality hedgehog to lure filmmakers
Uber to invest $1 billion in India: FT
Globalstar location-tracking network vulnerable to hacking: researcher
Location-tracking devices that communicate with a major satellite network operated by Globalstar Inc can have their transmissions intercepted or mimicked with false data, a U.S. security researcher said on Thursday.Globalstar, of Covington, Louisiana, has sold hundreds of thousands or millions of the devices, which are widely used for tracking valuable shipments and assets.The problem is that unlike Globalstar's satellite phone services, data from the devices is not encrypted in transit, said Synack Inc researcher Colby Moore, who will present his findings at next week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.Instead, the system changes frequencies and transmits a great deal of inconsequential data that can be discarded once an attacker figures out the methods involved, as Moore did. Such systems "are kind of fundamentally broken from the get-go," Moore said in a phone interview. "I ended up figuring out how to decode the data in transit." In addition, the system does not make sure that the data is coming from the place it claims.The flaw is an architectural issue that Moore said would be hard or impossible to patch. New software could be written to encrypt the traffic in future devices, but the technology is already embedded inside popular hardware without that functionality and no clear way to install it.Globalstar representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Moore said his work would be easy to replicate and that organized crime, intelligence agencies or others may already be eavesdropping on the network.Tracking-system devices using the Globalstar network are handy for monitoring shipments, sending longitude and latitude coordinates through dozens of low-earth orbiting satellites. They can also carried by travelers and used for search-and-rescue missions. Some devices send additional binary signals, for example reporting whether an alarm has been tripped, which can also be intercepted and decoded or imitated with false information.Major oil and gas companies are among Globalstar's customers. Moore said he did not know how many other satellite networks could have similar vulnerability to eavesdropping or faked traffic. (Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Tom Brown)
Apple to unveil next Apple TV version in September: BuzzFeed
In rural China, shoppers go online - with a little help
Cheng Yonghao left his village in central Henan province almost 20 years ago, not expecting to return. He's now back home, and this week opened a village store to help locals shop online.Cheng is just one of an army of local recruits who are part of Alibaba Group's big bet on rural e-commerce as China's internet giants invest billions in outpost service hubs to tap a market twice the size of the United States.E-commerce growth in the countryside now outpaces that in major cities, though fewer than one tenth of online purchases made on Alibaba platforms were shipped to rural areas in the first quarter of this year. Alibaba estimates the potential market at 460 billion yuan ($74 billion) by next year. Rival JD.com also says that developing rural e-commerce is a key strategy this year.While the rewards are enticing, few are making money yet. "We don't know when our rural e-commerce operations will become profitable, but there's value in what we're doing, there's consumer demand," Gao Hongbing, director of Alibaba's research arm, told reporters earlier this month.TRAIN THE TRAINERBefore it can reap the rewards, Alibaba is having to teach a rural population - which tends to be older, poorer and less comfortable with technology - how to browse and buy.That's where Cheng and the others come in.Alibaba has been on a recruitment drive to find and train local 'partners', who set up service centers in their home villages, helping locals shop online. Partners - mostly younger, educated, and more familiar with navigating websites like Taobao, Alibaba's online emporium - go through a written exam, computer test and interview. More than 1,000 applied for one batch of 50 jobs, said one applicant from Henan. Training takes place at local government business offices over 2-3 days in groups of around four dozen. Trainees are asked about their aspirations and how they can reach their potential."My dreams aren't that big," said Cheng, 29. "I just want to live in the countryside and give back to the people there so they can have the same quality of life as people in cities."Having some of its surplus of university graduates return to the countryside also fits government policy for developing the rural economy. "Some are university students, others have spent a couple of years working in cities and want to come home, some have been working in the village all along," said Xing Guanjie, who trained with Cheng. "You've got all kinds, but almost everyone is between 20 and 35 years old."Training also covers Alibaba's corporate values and history; how to choose where to set up shop, open a Taobao account, operate at village level, and match products to consumers."There's pressure for us to go out and promote the company," said Zhu Ling, 25, who runs a service center in Zhejiang province. "But it's difficult as I know most people here and they're skeptical of my motives." Alibaba declined to say how many partners it has trained, but it has said it plans more than 100,000 rural service centers.SHIFTING LANDSCAPEThere are signs the rural retail landscape is shifting. "I'm planning on retiring early, it's getting too tough to do business here," said Chen Tiehua, 45, who runs a lighting store in Zhejiang's Tonglu county. "A lot of my friends who run small businesses face the same problem: we can't compete against e-commerce."A half-hour's drive away, villagers in Yuzhao fetch packages and check on orders at a Taobao service center - little more than a dusty computer and wall-mounted TV in a corner of the village general store."I tell people to buy whatever's ranked highest in terms of sales," said Zhu, scrolling through recent orders that include a child's bike, underwear, phone data packages, industrial gloves and a tent. "They often just want to buy the cheapest, but I tell them not to," she said, adding some villagers worry that online shopping is a scam or that products ordered online won't be as good as those bought in the store.Zhu said she makes around 1,000 yuan ($161) from Taobao sales each month.In nearby Duji, Shen Zhixiang and his friends sit outside the village's small general store, where the walls are lined with orange and green Taobao posters. Inside, the computer is switched off, and the store owner is out back playing mahjong. "People come to order things after work," said Shen, 52. "I buy everything on Taobao now. My online order for dog food just arrived, I'll take it home later," he said. "Not just dog food, but corn, flour, rice, millet, clothes, shoes, everything."While the potential is vast, these are early days, and Jin Jianhang, Alibaba Group president, concedes that China still lacks rural infrastructure."Bluntly, China's county-level towns are built like European ones, but its villages are like African ones," he said in a speech promoting rural e-commerce this month.($1 = 6.2095 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Sue-Lin Wong, with additional reporting by Paul Carsten and the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by John Ruwitch and Ian Geoghegan)
FireEye revenue jumps as companies spend more on cybersecurity
No end in sight for Oracle, Google legal fight over Android
Minority Report-type insect robots jump on water
The spider robots that invade the bath of Captain John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, were one of the highlights of iconic 2002 film Minority Report. Now a team of international researchers has created a similar insect android that can launch itself easily from the water."I'm just fascinated by how the water striders can jump on water and I'm really excited to see that we were able to extract the principles from nature to re-create one of the most fascinating locomotion of nature, the water jumping," said Kyujin Cho, professor of mechanical engineering at Seoul National University. The prototype robot weighs just 68 milligrams and has a two centimeter long body. The researchers from Seoul National University and Harvard University, studied how water striders (Gerridae) jumped on water, to create a robot that could successfully launch itself from the surface of water. They noticed that the creature's long legs accelerate gradually, so that the water surface doesn't retreat fast and lose contact with the legs. The authors theorized that the maximum force of the striders' legs is always just below the maximum force that water surface tension can withstand. In their robot they used a torque reversal catapult (TRC) mechanism to generate a small initial torque and gradually increase, without exceeding the water's surface tension. High-speed camera footage of the insects also revealed that the water strider sweeps its legs inward to maximize the time they can push against the surface of the water, thus maximizing the overall momentum. They then applied this concept to help them achieve lift off. If the water surface is not broken, it can endure 16 times the body weight of the robotic jumping insect. The robotic insects can jump as high on water as on hard ground. In addition to Cho, the multi-disciplinary research team included biologists Professors Piotr Jablonski and Sangim Lee and fluid dynamics Professor Ho-Young Kim, all from Seoul National, and Harvard biorobotics Professor Robert Wood. Their work is published in the journal Science on July 31.
Facebook says drone ready for real-world testing later this year
Researcher says can hack GM's OnStar app, open vehicle, start engine
A researcher is advising drivers to halt the use of a mobile app for General Motors Co's OnStar vehicle communications system, saying hackers can exploit a security flaw in the product to remotely unlock cars and start engines."White-hat" hacker Samy Kamkar posted a video on Thursday saying he had figured out a way to "locate, unlock and remote-start" vehicles by intercepting communications between the OnStar RemoteLink mobile app and the OnStar service.Kamkar said he plans to provide technical details on the hack next week in Las Vegas at the Def Con conference, where tens of thousands of hacking aficionados will gather to learn about new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Kamkar released the video a week after Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recalled some 1.4 million vehicles after hacking experts demonstrated a more serious vulnerability in the Jeep Cherokee. That bug allowed them to gain remote control of a Jeep traveling at 70 miles per hour on a public highway. GM said its engineers had reviewed Kamkar's research. "A fix has already been implemented," the company said in a statement.Kamkar said he discussed the fix with representatives from GM, but their efforts failed to thwart the attack method he uncovered, which uses a device he built and dubbed 'OwnStar.'""They have not yet fixed the bug that 'OwnStar' is exploiting," he told . Representatives with GM did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the status of the bug or fix.The 'OwnStar' issue drew the attention of U.S. safety regulators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Representatives from the agency discussed the issue with GM, said the flaw could involve doors and engine start-stop, but does not involve other critical safety systems, according to a person familiar with those discussions.More than 3 million people have downloaded the OnStar RemoteLink mobile app for Apple iOS and Google Inc devices, according to OnStar's website. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit and Jim Finkle in Boston; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Jeffrey Benkoe)
'Collectibles' auction website Catawiki raises 75 million euros
A European company that holds online auctions for "collectibles" such as wine, rare comic books and historical artefacts said on Thursday it had raised 75 million euros ($82 million) from a group of investors led by U.S. group Lead Edge Capital.The investment is one of the largest in a Dutch start-up company and comes despite some industry watchers saying the market for online auction sites has become saturated following the success of companies such as eBay and Priceline.Catawiki, founded in 2011 in Assen, Netherlands, says it has grown rapidly in the past year and is now averaging 15,000 auctions a week. It has 200 employees in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Britain and 400,000 registered users. The company has not released sales or profit figures and declined to disclose further terms of the investment from Lead Edge, together with Accel Partners, Project A Ventures, NOM, and Booking.com co-founder Arthur Kosten.In an interview, Chief Executive Rene Schoenmakers said Catawiki was different from rivals because its used a "curator" model, in which auctioneers vet and approve items for auction. He said the company would use the funding to improve its software, add auctioneers, and expand internationally.Mitchell Green, managing partner at Leading Edge, said his fund believed Catawiki had found a niche auctioning articles that are less rare and expensive than those sold by auction houses Sotheby's or Christie's, but not addressing the mass market where it would have to compete with eBay and Amazon.com. As part of the deal, Leading Edge Operating Partner Lorrie Norrington, a former eBay executive, will advise the company on its international expansion. (Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli and Toby Sterling; Editing by Mark Potter)
FBI understaffed to tackle cyber threats, says watchdog
Google refuses French request to apply 'right to be forgotten' globally
Samsung can halt Smartflash patent infringement trial: U.S. appeals court
Facebook spending on messaging, wearables seen fuelling growth
T-Mobile's quarterly revenue rises 14 percent
Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent post strong results as merger approaches
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Sony first-quarter operating profit rises 39 percent, beats estimates
Sony Corp on Thursday reported a 39 percent rise in first-quarter profit, beating analyst estimates, helped by strong sales of smartphone camera sensors and PlayStation4 videogames.Sony said April-June operating profit rose to 96.9 billion yen ($780.8 million) from 69.8 billion yen a year earlier. That compared with the 73.3 billion average estimate of 18 analysts, Thomson data showed. (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
Network gear maker Nokia posts surprise profit rise
China's Baidu to repurchase $1 billion shares after investor selldown
Uber launches car leasing unit, makes entry into financial services
Samsung Elec cautious on outlook, says mobile business environment tough
U.S. likely to scale back planned limits on intrusion-software exports
Bounce in AMD's stock may put pressure on short sellers
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SAN FRANCISCO - A two-day rally in the lowly shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc may be squeezing short sellers, who recently increased their bets against the chipmaker.
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