It looks like there will finally be a general introduction in Android of being able to see the battery status of any connected Bluetooth devise. This has been available in custom and manufacturers for a while, and plenty of options in the app store, but up until now this has been the landscape. An article on XDA finds that “we can see that Google will add a new method in the Bluetooth Device class called getBatteryLevel() ” in the proposed new Android Open Source Project (AOSP) release.
Category: Technology
Brickerbot claims to brick 60K Modems/Routers in India
An interesting article on Bleeping Computer on a claim from a Brickerbot Dev that hey have bricked 60.000 modems and routers in Indian blocking subscribers on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) form accessing the internet. The obvious path of attack: default usernames / passwords exposed to internet. The joy of our IOT world continues!
“168 million will watch connected TV in the US this year”
eMakerter analyst Paul Verna has had a look at this years trends and volumes in the connected TV space in the US. He highlights the impact of a higher than expected sales figures, and also looks at the current HW clients and their prospects. Apple TV in particular is given a dim future, again highlighting the price combined with very little exclusive content being offered by Apple.
Bitcoin ICO’s to be considered as securities
An interesting article on Business Insider quotes the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC for short) on Tuesday : “ICOs” (Initial Coin Offerings) can sometimes be considered securities – and as such are subject to strict laws and regulations”.
Are the hay days of digital currencies over and will the world follow the Chinese approach of semi-regulating?
Another White Hat is arrested after reporting flaws
Another example of the perils of trying to help companies keep their website safe. The 18 year old Hungarian found a gaping hole in the security for Budapest’s Transport Authority. The resulting arrest enraged the Hungarian public, and the way the company handled the issues is a 101 course on how not to respond to public outrage. For those that want an English summary, here is an article on The Register.
Bye bye Flash (in 2020)
Adobe has finally decided on an end date for Flash as 2020. Facebook has decided to follow the same timeline. It is rather amusing how long this format has been around, and the endless grief it has given us over the years and the risks we had to take to use. Good riddance I say!
AT&T Q2 2017: Continues to bleed customers
AT&T continues to lose customers in Q2 of 2017 according to their quarterly report, a reported decline of 351.000 video customers, despite the acquisition of DirecTV . The planned purchase of TimeWarner is still on track and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
LA Times reported earlier this month that AT&T are planning to form a media division that includes the acquired TimeWarner to be headed by John Stankley (current CEO AT&T entertainment)