Hackers Targeted DC Police Cams Days Before Inauguration

A ransomware attack darkened the video surveillance system of the District of Columbia's police department eight days before the presidential inauguration of Donald J. Trump. Video storage devices for 70 percent of the CCTV system reportedly were unable to record anything between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15, as police techies scrambled to combat malicious software found on 123 of 187 networked video recorders. However, the safety of the public was never in jeopardy during the camera blackout, a Secret Service official said.

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BlackBerry, Microsoft and the Ever-Smarter Connected Car

BlackBerry last week announced that its turnaround was finished, and Microsoft finally provided some information on its new connected car deliverables. One strange thing was that after CEO John Chen excitedly pointed out that BlackBerry had displaced Microsoft in Ford, he then announced a strategic initiative to work more closely with Microsoft's Azure on BlackBerry's own market-leading QNX car operating system. That showcased not only the massive changes in both companies, but also the really strange way this market is evolving.

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Apple Formally Joins High-Powered AI Partnership

The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society on Friday announced that Apple, well known for its culture of secrecy, has joined the organization as a founding member. The other founding members are Amazon, Facebook, Google/Deep Mind, IBM and Microsoft. The group also announced the final composition of its inaugural board of trustees. The group plans to announce additional details sometime after the board's Feb. 3 meeting in San Francisco, including how other organizations and individuals can join.

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Trump Clings to Personal Phone Despite Security Risks

President Donald J. Trump apparently has continued to use his personal Android smartphone despite security concerns. Trump was concerned about losing access to his personal phone even prior to taking his oath of office, according to aides who said he worried about how isolated he could become in the White House without his phone to keep in touch with friends. The president recently reportedly told a friend he had given up his phone as security officials urged him to do, but it appears that he has continued to use his personal Android to tweet.

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Customizing a Computer? Here's What You Need

There are plenty of reasons to build a custom computer. While custom computers may initially be more expensive than prepackaged desktops or laptops, they can provide you with nearly endless possibilities, whether you're looking for a top-notch gaming machine, a system for mixing music, or the ideal choice for developing Web applications. A custom computer is the way to go if you want both performance and flexibility. Upgrading individual parts often is less expensive than buying a new computer, which could save you money in the long run.

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Asus Tinker Board Joins Raspberry Pi on the Bargain Table

Just when you thought Raspberry Pi couldn't be knocked from its market-leading perch, along comes Asus with a rival device that may give the Pi a run for its relatively little money. Asus just launched its own low-cost computer, the Tinker Board, which is being sold in the UK and continental Europe for about $57. Its features could interest open source enthusiasts in doing a little comparison shopping before deciding on a new device. The Tinker Board features a quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex A-17 CPU with ARM Mali-T764 graphics.

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China Aims to Wash VPNs Out of Its Hair

China this week announced new measures to further restrict its citizens' access to the Internet. The 14-month campaign appears designed to crack down on the use of Web platforms and services unapproved by the government, and on virtual private networks, which can used to access those platforms and services covertly. While China's Internet network access services market is facing many development opportunities, there are signs of "disorderly development" that show the urgent need for regulation, according to the government.

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Samsung Explains Note7 Failure, Promises to Do Better

Samsung Electronics on Monday announced that it has developed new quality assurance protocols to ensure that it won't have a repeat of the catastrophic issues that plagued its Galaxy Note7 handsets. The company last fall issued a universal recall after several of the devices caught fire or exploded. In one incident, a Southwest Airlines flight had to be evacuated in Louisville, Kentucky, after a Samsung Galaxy Note7 caught fire and produced thick smoke on an aircraft.

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The US Press Corps vs. Trump: A Teachable Moment

Life is about negotiation. We negotiate our relationships -- including marriage, which is a contract that many don't take seriously. We negotiate our jobs, and we negotiate our interactions with our families. Those who are good at this tend to have relatively happy lives. While they don't get everything they might want, they get more than most. When things go badly, they degrade into wars, and both sides lose. That is what was in the front of my mind last week, when I read the idiotic open letter to President Trump from the U.S. Press Corps.

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FastComputer: Fussy but Fixable

FastComputer Linux is a disappointing experience that almost fails. It is poorly designed, has little community support, and lacks its own home base and identity, all of which contribute to an identity crisis. Its home -- on Sourceforge.com -- lacks much in attractiveness, as does the distro. The Linux OS' greatest strength is its ability to provide customized distributions with a variety of features. Distros that offer users something new and more inviting are great finds. FastComputer is not one of them.

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Yahoo and the Year of Living Dangerously

If there is a lesson to be drawn from Internet search giant Yahoo's hellish past year, it is a grimly illustrative one: Never assume a cybersecurity disaster can't get worse. Last September, the Internet portal disclosed that it had suffered the most damaging and far-reaching data breach in history -- only to then announce in December the discovery of a second, earlier, and even larger hack. Yahoo has began a probe into the hack that is expected to take several weeks, but we may not know the full extent of these hacks' effects for years.

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New LinkedIn Site Design Encourages Engagement

LinkedIn on Thursday announced a new look tied to a complete overhaul of its technology architecture, which brings conversations and content front and center. The redesign brings the LinkedIn desktop in line with the mobile browser version launched in 2015. LinkedIn will roll out its new desktop globally over the next few weeks. Among the changes are a streamlined navigation bar, now with seven core areas: Home, Messaging, Jobs, Notifications, Me, My Network and Search. LinkedIn also has added a smarter real-time messaging interface.

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Luckey Dons Virtual Flak Jacket for Zenimax Testimony

Palmer Luckey on Wednesday denied that he stole proprietary code from ZeniMax Media, in the little-known company's blockbuster $2 billion lawsuit against Oculus VR and Facebook. ZeniMax has alleged that in 2012, when Luckey was just a video game enthusiast in southern California, he corresponded with John Carmack, the iconic former ZeniMax programmer behind Doom, who was then technical director of its Id Software unit. Carmack allegedly used proprietary hardware and software information to develop the Oculus Rift VR headset.

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Google Gives Google+ Some Nips and Tucks

Google on Tuesday announced three new updates to Google+ in an effort to revive interest in the faltering product. The added features will be rolled out next week, when the old Google+ layout will vanish. First, lower quality comments will be hidden, although Google didn't explain how comments will be judged or who will make those calls. Google has tweaked the Google+ user interface to display more posts and less white space. Further, a zoom functionality has been added to photos on Google+.

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Microsoft Hardens Latest Windows Version Against Hackers

Microsoft has fortified the latest version of Windows to make it more secure than previous editions, but the strongest protections will be available only to those willing to pay a steep price for them. Windows 10 Anniversary Update has introduced many mitigation techniques in core Windows components and the Microsoft Edge browser, helping protect customers from entire classes of exploits for recent and even undisclosed vulnerabilities, Matt Oh and Elia Florio of Microsoft's Windows Defender ATP Research Team wrote in an online post last week.

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Did BuzzFeed Just Commit Suicide?

Remember the old song, "You Don't Mess Around With Jim"? The chorus goes like this: "You don't tug on superman's cape, You don't spit into the wind, You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger, And you don't mess around with Jim." One of the lessons we learned last year is that what goes for "Jim" likely also goes for Peter Thiel, who put Gawker out of business and is one of President-elect Donald Trump's leading supporters. BuzzFeed decided to publish a controversial dossier about Trump that includes some disgusting material.

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Nintendo Banks on Switch Hit

Nintendo on Thursday announced the Nintendo Switch handheld gaming console, its long-awaited successor to the poorly received Wii 2. The $300 Switch will hit the streets March 3. Purchasers will get the console, two Joy-Con controllers, a Joy-Con Grip, a set of Joy-Con wrist straps, a Nintendo Switch dock, an HDMI cable and an AC adapter. The Switch has a 6.2-inch capacitive multitouch screen and a kickstand. The Switch can be used as an independent handheld player. Battery life ranges from 2.5 to 6 hours.

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New Facebook Project Aims to Strengthen Journalism

Facebook on Tuesday unveiled the Journalism Project, which is designed to establish stronger ties with the journalism industry. Through the project, Facebook aims to bolster the quality of journalism on the network. Among other things, the project aims to tackle the fake news issue that flared during the U.S. presidential election and its aftermath. The project will foster collaboration with news organizations to develop products, including the creation of new story formats and business models to better suit their needs.

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Gadget Ogling: The CES Spectacular Edition

Trust Razer to come up with something completely ridiculous that I need in my life immediately. Project Ariana is a projector that incorporates Razer's full-spectrum lighting system, Chroma. It uses a wide-angle lens to project images, but it seems there's no lengthy setup process required here. Ariana uses 3D depth-sensing cameras to detect objects in a room and adjusts for them accordingly so that it still projects a flat image. You can use Ariana as a regular 4K projector when you're not playing games. It looks incredible.

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St. Jude Medical Patches Cardiac Machine's Cybersecurity Flaw

Medical device maker St. Jude Medical on Monday began deploying software designed to protect its remote monitoring system for implantable pacemaker and defibrillator devices. The move came on the heels of the U.S. food and Drug Administration's warning that the company's Merlin@home Transmitter contained vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers. Merlin@home wirelessly communicates with implanted cardiac devices. It gathers data and sends it to a physician over the Merlin.net Patient Care Network.

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Pentagon Battle-Tests Micro Drone Swarm

The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday announced a successful demonstration of one of the world's largest micro drone swarms at China Lake in California. Three F/a-18 Super Hornet combat jets launched 103 Perdix drones in the exercise last fall. The micro drones demonstrated advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision making, adaptive formation flying and self-healing. Since Perdix's 2013 debut, the DoD's Strategic Capabiities Office has upgraded the technology using commercial components, 3D printing and agile manufacturing.

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iPhone at 10: The Best Is Yet to Come?

It seems like yesterday -- not 10 years ago -- that Steve Jobs took the stage at MacWorld to debut Apple's latest new gadget: the iPhone. It was three devices in one, he declared at Moscone West in San Francisco. It was a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device. Apple's "three-in-one device" has gone on to become a critical contributor to the company's success, accounting for more than half its revenues annually, as well as a can't-live-without tool for many people.

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Min Browser Muffles the Web's Noise

Min is a Web browser with a minimal design that provides speedy operation with simple features. When it comes to software design, "minimal" does not mean low functionality or undeveloped potential. If you like minimal distraction tools for your text editor and note-taking applications, that same comfort appeal is evident in the Min browser. I mostly use Google Chrome, Chromium and Firefox on my desktops and laptop computers. I am well invested in their add-on functionality, so I can access all the specialty services that get me through my long sessions in researching and working online.

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CES 2017's Magic

CES was a fascinating show this year. One of the things that made it so fascinating was that everyone and their brother had cars demonstrating one form of technology or another. It kind of makes me wonder what we'll see at the next car show -- PCs, drones, tablets and smartphones? That wasn't the only surprise at the show, though. Nvidia, long thought of as living in Intel's shadow, broke out, taking over the prime keynote spot in a big way and demonstrating that it has all but cornered the market for car brains.

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Las Vegas Captures Ransomware Crown

Las Vegas is arguably the gambling capital of the world, but it's also the king city for ransomware, based on recent research. Among the world's nations, the United States ranked highest in ransomware incidents, according to a Malwarebytes report on the prevalence and distribution of extortion apps. The area of the country that logged the most incidents was the Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada, region. evada cities led the nation in overall ransomware detections, most detections per individual machine, and most detections per population.

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Nvidia Lays Out Bold Strategy at CES

Nvidia offered a bold new strategy at this week's International CES in Las Vegas. The company, which has been a leader in hardware graphics technology for decades, recently has expanded into the realms of artificial intelligence, deep learning and automotive tech. Graphical support and video delivery will however remain a key component of the company's strategy, according to Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. Nvidia's GeForce NOW Service will expand to millions more PCs and Macs, he announced in his keynote address at CES.

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Gadget Ogling: Floating Speakers, Neckbrace Audio, and Charming Caffeine Fixes

LG features twice in this edition of the column with two very different but similarly strange speakers. The "Levitating Portable Speaker" has as descriptive and accurate a name as the "Small Transparent Speaker" from last month's edition of this column. You can call it "PJ9" if you prefer the duller moniker. Yes, through the magic of electromagnets and a base station, this speaker will levitate and pump out audio in every direction. LG's Dual Passive Radiator system is designed to provide strong high- and mid-range tones.

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Crowd Forms on Alexa Bandwagon

New additions to Amazon's growing ecosystem of Alexa-based products are making a splash at CES this week. With a growing number of home appliance, computer and electronics makers announcing integrations with the company's digital assistant technology, the transformation to automated homes and home offices appears to be taking place before our eyes. Among the most notable integrations is Lenovo's Smart Assistant, which features Alexa's cloud-based voice technology. It recognizes the user's voice, and performs a variety of functions.

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Google, FCA Test-Drive New Open Source Infotainment System

Google and FCA this week showcased a new in-auto infotainment platform at CES in Las Vegas. The open source system combines Uconnect with Android Auto. The companies demonstrated their concept design inside a Chrysler 300 sedan at the show. The integration of Android and Uconnect enables a system built for connectivity and compatibility with the universe of popular Android applications. The demo highlighted integration with Google Assistant, Google Maps, and popular Android apps including Pandora, Spotify, NPR One and Pocket Casts.

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Snapdragon-Powered AR Smartglasses Are the Real Deal

Qualcomm on Tuesday debuted its groundbreaking Snapdragon 835 system on a chip at CES. Following the 835 launch, the company joined Osterhout Design Group in unveiling two new ODG augmented reality headsets, the R-8 and R-9, which are the first Snapdragon 835-powered devices to be announced. The Snapdragon SoC is the first chip built using the ultra-advanced 10nm FinFET process node, said Qualcomm spokesperson Liz Sweeney. The Snapdragon 835 is 35 percent smaller and consumes 25 percent less power than its predecessors.

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Lenovo Surprises With Home Tech Play

Lenovo watchers expected the company to announce a number of new laptops when CES rolled around, but the company surprised on Tuesday when it also unveiled new products aimed at the home technology market. "The Smart Assistant and Smart Storage line probably caught everyone off guard," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. Lenovo developed its Smart Assistant with Amazon. Like Amazon's Echo, the Lenovo assistant uses the Alexa cloud-based voice services to respond to a user's spoken commands.

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Absolute Linux Caters to the Slackware Crowd

Absolute Linux is a distro that raises the question: Is it really worth the bother? Any version of this Slackware-based Linux OS is just that -- a really big bother -- unless you love Unix-like systems that give you total control. It likely would be especially bothersome for less experienced users and for folks comfortable with Debian distros such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint and such. Some Slackware-based distros are easier than others to use, but the text-based installation and mostly manual operating routine makes using Absolute Linux a challenge.

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Norton Core Router Gives Home Security a New Design

Norton by Symantec on Tuesday announced the Norton Core secure router for smart devices in the connected home at CES. The router protects up to 20 PCs, Macs, Android and iOS smartphones and tablets on a home network, and unlimited devices connected to the IoT. It will update its firmware in background mode automatically, said Ameer Karim, GM of consumer IoT security at Symantec. The router scans incoming and outgoing network packets across the home network, quarantines infected connected devices to a separate network, and alerts the user.

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Looking Ahead to CES: This Will Be a Big One

CES week is here, and it's the one week of the year I look forward to looking back on. CES is a killer show -- not because you are up to your armpits in interesting new products, but because it is so spread out that it'll kill your legs as you hike all over the damn place. One year, I walked so much I actually ripped the soles off both shoes. What is weird about this show is that it really comes too early for vendors to have much of what they intend to have in stores by the end of the year. So, it fails to deliver the impact it once did.

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