Sure, why not? FBI agrees to unlock iPhone for Arkansas prosecutor

The FBI, which just a few days ago was attempting to convince the country of its helplessness in the face of encrypted iPhones, has generously offered its assistance in unlocking an iPhone and iPod for a prosecutor in Arkansas, the Associated Press reports.

TechCrunch has contacted the prosecutor’s office for details, which for the moment are thin on the ground — but the timing seems unlikely to be a coincidence. It was only Monday that the FBI announced it had successfully accessed a phoneafter saying for months that it couldn’t possibly do so — and that Apple was endangering national security by refusing to help.

Related Articles ACLU map shows locations of 63 ongoing phone-unlocking cases Justice Department drops lawsuit against Apple as FBI has now unlocked Farook's iPhone Encryption pioneer Martin Hellman talks security, Apple, the FBI and the future of cryptography

The case is the alleged murder of a couple by two teenagers, and the prosecution on Tuesday received a postponement to the trial in order to request help in unlocking the iPhone and iPod — something the lawyers didn’t even know was possible until Monday. Amazingly, the FBI agreed to help the very next day, Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland told the AP. Court documents indicate that a “letter to Snapchat,” 10 pages of emails, and over 100 pages of “Facebook records” were being entered into evidence, so the defendant’s digital footprint isn’t exactly a total blank.

If the unlocking process being used by the FBI is so trivial that it can be offered on short notice to anybody asking nicely, that deeply contradicts the narrative the Justice Department has been building regarding the limitations of law enforcement in accessing encrypted phones.

Again, the specific details of the devices (model, OS version, etc.) are unknown, as is the exact nature of the FBI’s offered assistance. Until the court, prosecutor’s office, or defender files or volunteers further information (and we’ll be asking), this is fairly up in the air.

Is Tony Fadell In Nest’s Way?

Last week, we witnessed something fairly remarkable.

Last week, we witnessed something fairly remarkable. A major Alphabet executive — Nest Labs CEO Tony Fadell — publicly shamed the cofounder and employees of Dropcam, the connected camera company that Nest had acquired in 2014 for $555 million.

In an articlein The Information, Fadell said that he didn’t think Dropcam cofounder and CEO Greg Duffy had “earned” the right to report to him directly. Fadell also explained away an exodus of Dropcam staffers by suggesting they were subpar. “A lot of the employees were not as good as we hoped,” he told The Information. It was “a very small team and unfortunately it wasn’t a very experienced team.”

Fadell may have been reacting to comments by Duffy, who painted a highly unflattering portrait of Fadell in the same article. However, Fadell’s comments and his poor performance underscore what an ill fit Fadell is for Alphabet and why Alphabet needs new leadership at Nest.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, of course. Nest was acquired by Google for $3.2 billion in January 2014, a feat that earned Fadell plenty of accolades. Worried about competition and in awe of Fadell, who’d created the iPod as an Apple SVP, Duffy concluded that selling was his smartest play when Nest came knocking that spring.

Despite what seemed like a handsome payday for everyone involved with Dropcam, the bet soon looked like a poor one.

As I reportedin November 2014, not only did Duffy’s beloved VP of marketing almost immediately leave Nest over an apparent culture clash, but numerous employees I interviewed, along with scathing write-ups by former employees on Glassdoor, pointed surprisingly to trouble.

“Everything revolves around the CEO,” wrote one Glassdoor reviewer at the time. “It’s a dangerous mix of cult of personality and Stockholm syndrome. Comments like ‘[Fadell is] the next Steve Jobs are not uncommon, while people proudly say things like ‘I’m used to Tony screaming at me.’”

It wasn’t just the different management styles of Fadell and Duffy, whose organization was one-eighth the size of Nest and who was well-liked by his employees. There was suddenly an inability to get anything meaningful done. One Nest employee described to me a “huge meeting culture, to the point where anyone at the director level or up spends their entire day in meetings, many of them duplicative meetings about the same subject, over and over to the point where a lot of people have complained.”

Things remain much the same 16 months later, suggests The Information, whose report says Nest’s culture of micromanagement has more recently led the firm to plaster its offices with the phrase “Step Up” to ostensibly encourage lower-level employees to take more initiative.

Duffy wouldn’t speak with me back in 2014 when he was still working for Fadell, but having left last fall to start something new, he isn’t holding back from sharing his experience now.

He confirmed to The Information that he was embarrassed by Nest’s products and that he’d called Fadell a “tyrant bureaucrat” to his face. In the wake of Fadell’s comments about Dropcam employees to The Information, Duffy further took to Medium yesterdayto defend those engineers. In the same post, he also called out Nest’s management for “fetishizing only the most superfluous and negative traits of their mentors.”

Asked yesterday and today to comment for this story, Nest declined.

Certainly, it has seemed at times like Fadell is playing at Steve Jobs — with whom he worked closely — in ways that seem very contrary to how Alphabet runs its other operations.

Fadell couldn’t be further apart from Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, who is widely reported to be humble and team-oriented to a fault, or from Alphabet CEO Larry Page, who often wanders through academic conferences and engages in tête-a-têtes with prominent scientists (without assuming they know who he is). Even Google Ventures CEO Bill Maris has jokingly said that he merely masqueradesas a venture capitalist.

Fadell acknowledged the cultural differences between Google/Alphabet and Apple after Nest was acquired, telling an on-stage interviewerin 2014 that Apple had a “much more hierarchical structure, and the communications structure was very understood,” while at Google, “everyone could just talk to everyone and learn about everything, and there was much more transparency.”

“I’m not saying one is better than the other,” Fadell continued at the time. “But it’s very different. The very first day, when the [Nest] deal was announced, I got all these various individuals from inside Google saying, ‘Oh, congratulations,’ and ‘I want to work with you,’ and ‘Is there something we can help you with?’ And at Apple, it was very structured. It wasn’t like you were going to send a message to Steve for any reason and say congratulations and flood his email box.”

Time goes by, so slowly

One can understand why Google wanted Nest to spearhead its hardware efforts. As a private company, Nest had come up with its beautiful, signature thermostat and was presumed to have much more up its sleeve. Fadell is reportedly friends with Page. Not last, one of Nest’s investors was Google Ventures, which likely made the arrangement a little more attractive for everyone involved.

Yet from the outside looking in, Nest has seemingly devolved from a revolutionary outfit to an iterative one.

Though the company currently manufactures three products — its thermostat, a smoke alarm, and its Nest cam (via its Dropcam acquisition) — it has repeatedly delayed product releases and disappointed its customers, particularly given the billing that Nest’s products receive.

In one of the more visible cases of customer dissatisfaction, a New York Times reporter said in January that a software bug drained his Nest thermostat’s battery, a discovery he made only when his infant began crying from his chilly bedroomin the middle of the night. Nest’s smart smoke alarm has also been plaguedby software glitches.

In the meantime, says The Information, Google has moved forward on similar efforts, including its OnHub wireless routerand a stealth projectto create a competitor to Amazon’s Echo.

That Google has done so without Nest’s involvement must be demoralizing to Nest’s current employees, who were presumably drawn to the challenge of helping Nest become one of the world’s great hardware companies.

But there’s reason for even more concern going forward: Fadell has created a culture that’s increasingly unlikely to attract the world’s best engineers, which has always been the top priority for its parent company. (Google, in stark contrast, is consistently ranked as one of the best places to work.)

If Alphabet wants to maintain its feel-good reputation, it may be time to part ways with Fadell, or at least to demote him. He’s now had more than two years to prove himself.

What Fadell has shown instead is that he’s unable to get out of his own way — or Nest’s.

Sony spends $15 million on dealing with its cyberattack woes

Instead of announcing its financial results today, Sony had to merely issue a forecast for how it's fared in the last financial quarter.

Instead of announcing its financial results today, Sony had to merely issue a forecast for how it's fared in the last financial quarter. In case you've missed it, that's because it's dealing with the cyberattack that not only spilled the beans on much of Sony's movie business but also knocked out its accounting equipment. To that end, it's announced that it'll spend approximately $15 million this quarter to both investigate and recover from the cyberattack. (That's not to be confused with the $15 million in restitution it offered users last monthfor a separate security breach.) The company otherwise raised its earning forecast for the year, with net profits of $756 million made from October to December of last year. Sony isn't yet done restructuring, however. In its mobile business, it now plans to shed 2,100 jobs: a further 1,100 positions to cuts it previously announced last year.

Despite this, the mobile division managed to make a slim profit, which the company put down to a healthier (smaller) range of smartphones -- expect more streamlining in 2014. While Sony Pictures was understandably hit hardest by the hack, the arm still managed to pull in over $20 million in profit over the typically lucrative holiday quarter.

Sony Pictures hack: the whole story

This has been a wretched year for big corporations in the US: Target , Home Depot , JPMorgan and, most recently, Sony Pictures have all had to deal with unauthorized security breaches over the past few months.

over the past few months. As far as Sony Pictures is concerned, the problems began on November 24th, when various reports pointed to a high-profile, studio-wide cyberattackat the hands of a group calling itself "#GOP," aka the Guardians of Peace. Since then, the startling situation has turned into a colossal headache for the company. The hackers, who are believed to be from North Korea, have leaked some of its unreleased films online; revealed highly sensitive information, like passwords and executives' salaries; and gone as far as threatening employees and their families. As it stands, Sony Pictures is in a deep, downward spiralwith no end in sight.

[This piece was heavily updated on December 18th to reflect ongoing events; head to the bottom for that.]

Of course, Sony is no stranger to being on the wrong end of a virtual onslaught. A few years ago, in 2011, the PlayStation Network suffered one of the biggest security breaches in recent memory, which is estimated to have cost the company upward of $171 million; earlier this year Sony also agreed to a $15 million settlementfor a class action lawsuit from users. Roughly 77 million accounts were affected back then. But the attack on Sony Pictures appears to be more personal, whereas the PlayStation Network takedown was said to be about exposing security vulnerabilities in the service, particularly after Sony failed to act on multiple warnings from the culprits.

How is it, then, that something so similarcould happen again to a branch of Sony? "Unfortunately, not every company follows best practices or prioritizes security well enough," Kurt Baumgartner, principal security researcher at internet security firm Kaspersky Lab, told me. "I think it's going to require lawsuits and additional financial losses before companies start to take these types of attacks seriously."

#GOP

While Sony Pictures has, for the most part, chosen to stay mum since news of the breach first came to light, its attackers have been anything but shy from day one. Right as they took control of the movie studio's corporate systems, the GOP cyberattackers began leaving intimidating messagesbehind. "We already warned you, and this is just a beginning," read a GOP note. "We've obtained all of your internal data including your secrets and top secrets. If you don't obey us, we'll release the data shown below to the world." Sony Pictures was left "completely down, paralyzed," according to Deadline . Meanwhile, a Variety reportnotes Sony mentioning it was simply investigating an IT matter, but the company didn't confirm the intrusion at the time.

And it didn't take long for the GOP to make its next move.

The group went on to leaka number of unreleased films from the studio, including high-quality screening copies of Annie , Fury , Mr. Turner and Still Alice. What's more, someone under the moniker "Boss of GOP" began emailing media publications to make it clear that they were responsible for seeding out the torrent files of these movies. But this was only the beginning. In that same email, which we obtained a copy of, the GOP claimed that it had just "under 100 terabytes" of data belonging to Sony Pictures, and its intentions were to plaster it all over the web in due time.

Baumgartner says the malware used to harm Sony Pictures, known as Destover, acts as a backdoor and is capable of wiping disk drives and any Master Boot Record disk -- in other words, it can sneak into a system, completely take over and, just like that, have access to the data saved within. "It does not target consumers," he added. "There may be other issues for customers, however, that arise out of any business being hacked and sensitive data accessed."

Kaspersky Lab pointed outthat a sample of the malware showed, in fact, traces of being signed by a valid digital certificate from Sony. According to the cybersecurity firm, "The stolen Sony certificates (which were also leaked by the attackers) can be used to sign other malicious samples. In turn, these can be further used in other attacks."

"Because the Sony digital certificates are trusted by security solutions, this makes attacks more effective," Kaspersky Labs stated on its blog post. " We've seen attackers leverage trusted certificatesin the past, as a means of bypassing whitelisting software and default-deny policies."

For Sony's sake, the best thing that could happen now is for this certificate, which was apparently part of a jokebetween researchers, to get blacklisted immediately.

North Korea

A few days after the breach initially took place, sources told Re/code that Sony was worried North Korea was behind the attack. Why North Korea, though? Well, the timing coincides with the release of The Interview , an upcoming comedy about two journalists who attempt to assassinate the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. Strangely enough, back in August, The Hollywood Reporter wrotethat the studio was digitally altering the film, as it looked to keep it from "igniting a tinderbox." The tweaks, which were "precipitated by clearance issues," included the deletion of a scene in which Kim's face was melted. Meanwhile, the stars of The Interview , Seth Rogen and James Franco, have put a humorous spin on the matterby releasing a number of racy picturesfrom the set -- in typical Rogen/Franco fashion.

North Korea, for its part, denied having a role in any of this, referring to the allegations as nothing more than a "wild rumor." However, state news outlet KCNA did expressthat the cyberattack on Sony could be a " righteous deed" from "supporters and sympathizers" of the country. No, North Korea won't take the blame for the harmful actions on Sony Pictures, but it is very, very happy that someone did-- especially after being extremely outspoken about its oppositionto the release of The Interview .

" Stop the terrorist film!" the attackers wrote in a message recently posted to GitHub.

But the Guardians of Peace, whoever they may be, have also been demanding equality at the company, leading some to believe that employees could very well be involvedwith the attack. Another message by the group stated the following: "We want equality. Sony doesn't. It's an upward battle. Sony left their doors unlocked, and it bit them." It added, "They don't do physical security anymore. Sony doesn't lock their doors, physically, so we worked with other staff with similar interests to get in."

"We see operational and malware similarities that tie it to the previous DarkSeoul campaigns on South Korea, which were run by Korean-speaking attackers," Baumgartner told me. "Those campaigns are tied further back to a years-long operation targeting military and government organizations, which suggest a North Korean actor."

Meanwhile, the FBI has saidthere's no confirmation that North Korea was culpable for the attack. " There is no attributionto North Korea at this point," Joe Demarest, an assistant director at the bureau's cyber division, commented during a cybersecurity conference in Washington, DC.

It's personal

Lamentably for Sony Pictures, the situation has now taken a turn for the worse. The leak of its unreleased films and scripts, employee salaries, company passwordsand other sensitive, IT-focused information, seems relatively small compared to the latest threats from the GOP. Recently, a person claiming to be the leader of the hacker group said in an email, "Many things beyond imagination will happen at many places of the world. Our agents find themselves act in necessary places." The chilling message, written in broken English, continued, "Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email address below if you don't want to suffer damage."

"If you don't, not only you but your family will be in danger."

I am the head of GOP who made you worry.

Removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group which is a worldwide organization. And what we have done so far is only a small part of our further plan. It's your false if you if you think this crisis will be over after some time. All hope will leave you and Sony Pictures will collapse. This situation is only due to Sony Pictures. Sony Pictures is responsible for whatever the result is. Sony Pictures clings to what is good to nobody from the beginning. It's silly to expect in Sony Pictures to take off us. Sony Pictures makes only useless efforts. One beside you can be our member.

Many things beyond imagination will happen at many places of the world. Our agents find themselves act in necessary places. Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email address below if you don't want to suffer damage. If you don't, not only you but your family will be in danger.

Nobody can prevent us, but the only way is to follow our demand. If you want to prevent us, make your company behave wisely.

With the help of the FBI and Mandiant, a security firm Sony recently hired, the company's trying get to the bottom of this and find the people responsible for it immediately, and to get its internal systems back to normal -- or as close to it as possible. A recent memosent to staffers described the breach as " an unparalleled and well-planned crime," with Mandiant claiming that the organization behind the attack clearly had its mind set on destroying and releasing confidential info from the popular movie studio.

It's still unclear how muchthe GOP's act is going to end up costing the company, but Sony Pictures can't afford to start thinking about that just yet. Case in point: As I'm writing this, a tiny sound from a notification on my computer lets me know that more of the company's datais now available, including box office projections, additional scripts and, wait for it, Brad Pitt's phone number. In addition to that, Re/code's obtained an emailwith a link claiming to contain another batch of internal data from Sony Pictures, namely executives' email correspondence -- and some of the exchanges between them are far from pretty.

Which is to say, Sony Pictures needs to figure out a way to stop the bleeding, before it can get to healing.

Sony Pictures did not answer our request for comment.

Update (December 18th, 2014) :

Much has happened in the eight days since our original "everything you need to know" post was published. Earlier this week, the group claiming responsibility for the hack, known as the "Guardians of Peace," threatened violenceagainst people who went to see The Interview in theaters. Here's a snippet of the full message:

"The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001."

As a result, the film's stars Seth Rogen and James Franco canceled media appearances ahead of the movie's Christmas Day release. Ultimately, five major movie theater chains said they would not show the film, citing concern for customer safety. Sony Pictures ate the cost of the film and canceledthe release altogether soon after.

The Interview also isn't headed to DVD or video-on-demand services, according to The LA Times . In a statement, Sony said it was "extremely disappointed" with the outcome, but that the safety of movie-goers and theater employees was paramount.

Among the terabytes of data stolen from Sony Pictures and subsequently released are first and last names with Social Security numbers for current and former employees. The "Guardians of Peace" group claims that it won't release stolen personal informationif requested. In an effort to curb the many, many Hollywood leaks that've sprung from the leaked data, Sony's lawyers contacted media outlets directly asking them to destroy whatever data they may have downloaded. It hasn't stopped the flood of media reports citing the stolen data.

And yesterday, several media outlets -- including NBC and reportedthat US officials plan to announce today (December 18th) that they have identified North Korea as the source of the cyberattack. ( Wired 's counterargument is worth a read too.) The White House is treating the attack as a "serious national security matter," and President Obama's National Security Council is weighing its response. We'll update this post if and when the US makes any such formal accusations; Sony still hasn't responded to request for comment.

Update by Dana Wollman and Ben Gilbert.

[Image credits: AFP/Getty Images, Associated Press]

Snapchat seamlessly combines video, audio, GIFs, stickers in “Chat 2.0”

Say what you want, how you want.

Say what you want, how you want. That’s how Snapchat’s reps say CEO Evan Spiegel describes Chat 2.0, a massive set of new features launching today. It lets private conversations morph between mediums depending on what users want to show or tell, and whether they can speak up or must stay silent. As WhatsApp focuses on simplicity and Facebook Messenger chases commerce, Snapchat is positioning itself as the most vivid, human way to chat.

Snapchat is basically upgrading everything today, and explaining it all with a special Discover channel video you can watch by scanning this QR Snapcode. But here’s a quick list of the launches before we dive into what they mean:

Snapchat Stories now auto-advance , so when you get to the end of watching a friend’s Story or swipe left, the next Story in your list starts playing for easy lean-back watching that should boost view counts and encourage posting. Over 200 Stickers are now available in private chat, and ones related to text you’ve typed like “love you” or “hungry” are instantly surfaced when you press the Stickers button. ( Snapchat’s $100 million acquisition of Bitstrips makes perfect sense nowthat it has stickers, though Bitmoji aren’t available here yet) Video Notes in Chat let you record and send a quick 10-second max thumbnail-sized GIF-like loop so you can react with your face, and they play audio too if the recipient taps Audio Notes work similarly, allowing you to send short voice snippets when you’re moving and can’t type, or have something to say Video and Audio Calls can now be initiated even if the recipient isn’t already chatting with you, turning Snapchat into more of a phone You can now send multiple photos at a time in chat, and mark them up with Snapchat’s text, drawing, and filter tools first During Video and Audio Calls, you can simultaneously send camera roll photos to show someone something, and they appear translucent overlaid on the chat window Chat 2.0 lets both conversation partners toggle on the fly between Video and Audio Calls, Video and Audio notes, stickers, and text as their environment or intentions change, so users can start or stop transmitting and just listen or watch A new Privacy Center siteclarifies that Snapchat only temporarily saves snaps submitted to Live stories and deletes everything else, though nothing about privacy is changing

These updates roll out to all iOS and Android users today. For a video demo of these features plus a rant about why Snapchat won’t be easily beat, check out this video:

Snapchat 2.0 Is Not A Disappearing Teen Fad

All Human Communication In One Interface

Snapchat explains that “When we first launched Chat, our goal was to emulate the best parts of face-to-face conversation. Chat 1.0 was all about the joys of being here — when most apps told you when your friend was typing, Chat let you know that your friend was listening.” Now it’s actually delivering on its goal to be the second most vibrant way to interact beyond talking in person.

Snapchat has figured out how to pull every way humans communicate into a single interface — video, audio, text, symbols and, drawing. Instead of having to choose how you want to connect before you start, conversations can evolve on the fly.

In comparison, it makes other chat apps feel stiff and stodgy, like they’re trying to confine your communication into siloed buckets. This more natural and expressive style has always been Snapchat’s advantage, but now it’s making it painfully obvious how its competitors are more like outdated AOL Instant Messengers ported to mobile.

On the web, you were always in the same situation from start to finish of a conversation. You weren’t walking around, being interrupted or trying to message on the sly. Snapchat’s Chat 2.0 adapts to real life.

You could be texting but be on the move and seamlessly switch to an Audio Call or Note. You could be video calling but have to duck into the bathroom, and Snapchat lets you turn off video and audio broadcasting while still watching what you partner is doing. You could be Audio Calling but want to show photos from your recent vacation, and do both simultaneously. If that inspires the other person to send a Video Note reaction or start a full-blown Video Call, they can.

The flexibility will be addictive.

SnapPhone

While subtle, one of the most important changes here is that you don’t have to already be text chatting someone to do a call with them. Now, Snapchat serves as a phone. You can Video Call or Audio Call someone at any time. Snapchat even intelligently tells the caller their partner is “unavailable” if they miss they call, but that they “can’t talk right now” if they purposefully silence it.

This all makes Snapchat less of a messaging app and more a full communication suite richer than anything else your device has to offer. It’s certainly more complicated in the sense that there’s a lot more to do in Snapchat. But since all the features are woven into the existing chat interface and made to be optional, the update shouldn’t be too jarring, even for olds who are easily confused.

Nothing here has anything to do with monetization directly. But the more people swipe right to chat, the more likely they’ll wonder what’s on the other side of Snapchat’s camera, including Live Stories and Discover channels that are filled with ads.

At this point, Snapchat is becoming social media sharing and communication bedrock. It does everything, full-screen, with as little interface chrome as possible. Facebook and Twitter are filled with white-space and boring text. Even Instagrams are only half the height of your phone, and the experience is as much anti-social manicuring of your photos as it is interacting with others.

Snapchat is the closest thing to a direct window from your friends’ lives into yours. That’s going to make it very hard for competitors to dig underneath and offer any advancement significant enough to pull people away.

5 hard questions facing Oculus Rift

Today, the future became the present with the launch of Oculus Rift.

Today, the future became the present with the launch of Oculus Rift. The reviewsare in, but uncertainty hangs overhead with HTC and PlayStation’s VR headsets still on the way.

Here are the tough questions that will determine what you should buy, the distribution of power between the platforms and VR’s effect on our lives.

Should people buy Oculus Rift consumer v1, or wait another hardware and content cycle?

VR is going to happen. It’s mainly a question of when is right for most people. I wish I’d waited to buy v2 of the Apple Watch. I hardly wear it as the hardware doesn’t do enough and developers don’t know what to do with it yet. What’s the right move with Oculus? Can reviewers see past current novelty and future promises to make that call for us? Some critics are already saying Oculus isn’t worth it without the Touch motion controllers coming later this year.

Will Oculus Rift dominate the tethered VR market and we should commit to the benefits of network effect, or will it fragment amongst HTC Vive and PlayStation VR and we should wait to see what we prefer?

Between its early community, Facebook’s firepower and its first-to-market status, Oculus Rift could rule the mindshare. But it could be dragged down by flimsy launch titles or a killer exclusive on a competing platform. The HTC Vive full-body, walk-around-the-holodeck headset will ship soon with bulky motion controllers that unlock the true potential of VR. Oculus may have been smart to get Rift out the door first. But without the Touch controllers, Vive could command more early ooohs and ahhhs and the PlayStation VR’s low price could attract gamers on a budget. A fragmented market could spur more competition and innovation, but also restrict with what and with whom we play.

Can Oculus secure and maintain a stranglehold on the best VR developers?

We might only buy one, but developers will build wherever there’s the best market. Who sells the most headsets? But also, how much are those audiences willing to spend on content (think iOS versus Android)? What percent will each platform charge developers? How much promotion will third-party devs or indies get versus the platform’s own content and key partners? And how much flexibility around utilizing hardware, graphic content, adult content and approvals will each platform offer? There’s a delicate balance to be struck between profit for the platforms, attraction for developers, opportunity for the VR industry and reliability for the customer.

Rift will change much more than gaming, but is the social and cinematic content up to snuff for non-gamers to buy in yet?

Communication, film, education, travel and business are poised to be revolutionized by VR much the way they were by smartphones. But that didn’t mean you needed to own an early BlackBerry or even the first iPhone. Rift is deeply gaming-focused right now. If you’re looking to explore a new paradigm for reality more than to shoot down spaceships, it might still be too early.

When do we start talking seriously about VR addiction?

Hopefully now, because it’s coming. This thing is immersive. You’re not sitting alone in a darkened basement or bedroom staring at a glowing rectangle, acutely aware you’re shrugging off the real world. There are no edges. No way to look away. No reminders to stop. Oculus should be researching this now instead of after the first kid dies of dehydration with a Rift still strapped to their face.

These questions just stopped being vague hypotheticals. Finally, we can advance our thoughts about VR beyond the technology and toward the art, business and impact.

Hackers hijack radio stations to air a furry podcast

You don't need to take anyone hostage -- or even enter the building -- to get airplay these days.

Image credit: 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

In the kind of story we should probably get used to hearing, Ars Technica digs into an incident Tuesday morning where someone redirected multiple radio stations including KIFT and KXAX to broadcast an archived episode of a NSFW podcastfor the furry community. It's not clear who was responsible, but it appears to be linked to a coordinated effortto compromise Barixboxes many radio stations use to stream content for broadcasts. As we've seen with security cameras, baby monitors, carsand otherconnected devices, if something is left exposed to the wider internet with a default or weak password, hackers can and probably will access it.

This morning, our remote encoders that send audio to our transmitter site was hacked. We want to appologize to anyone...

Posted by Texas 104.3 & 102.5 - KXAXon Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Finding these devices is as easy as using the Shodan search enginethat indexes what's connected to the internet and where. According to Radio Insight , engineers needed to do a hard reset just to regain control over their own hardware. While radio stations are now getting advice on securing their hardware, it's really a warning relevant to any devices we connect to our networks.

This is Tesla’s Model 3

And there it is.

After years of speculation, the Tesla Model 3 has been unveiled. We’re live in Hawthorne, CA, where the company has just shown the car for the very first time.

Here’s what we know so far:

Deliveries will begin at the end of next year, and start at $35,000 for the base model. Base model will do 0-60 in under 6 seconds, with versions that go “much, much faster” to be announced later. Base model will get at least 215 miles per charge, and Elon said that “these are minimum numbers, we hope to exceed them”. Base model is rear wheel drive; dual motor versions are planned. All Model 3s will have autopilot hardware built-in — it’s not an additional upgrade. Like the Model S, it will have front and rear trunks. All Model 3s will come with supercharging support standard. The roof area is “one continuous pane of glass”. It has a 15-inch horizontal (widescreen) monitor in the dash, as opposed to the 17-inch portrait (vertical) monitor in the Model S and Model X. Much of the instrument panel — things like the speedometer — have been moved to the corner of that center dash display, as opposed to the Model S, where it’s on a separate screen behind the steering wheel. That behind-wheel screen, at least in this prototype, is gone.

Tesla Model 3 Event Recap

But what good is a snazzy electric vehicle if you can’t easily charge it? Tesla’s more popular supercharger stations can already get super busy during peak times — add in a sudden onslaught of Model 3 owners, and things might get crazy. Fortunately, Elon also committed Tesla to doubling the number of public superchargers from 3,600 to 7,200 by the end of 2017 — right around the time the Model 3 is scheduled to ship.

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Today’s Mortgage Rates: 30-Year Fixed Home Loans and Refinance Mortgage Rates at Chase for February 1

Chase Bank (NYSE: JPM) is a top U.S. lender, which provides several type of mortgage loans for borrowers in the United States.

Chase Bank (NYSE: JPM) is a top U.S. lender, which provides several type of mortgage loans for borrowers in the United States. Potential customers must have strong credit standing and be willing to pay 1.00% of the total loan amount in origination fees to the lender in order to be able to obtain a loan. Chase’s mortgage interest rates have been updated for February 1, 2015, which are discussed below.

According to the latest mortgage rate information, the lender offers the 30-year fixed mortgage, which comes with a conforming loan balance, at a rate of 3.500%. The loan’s APR variable is set at 3.622%. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage alternative is available at a rate of 3.125%. The loan package is coming with an APR figure of 3.269%.

As far as the lender’s flexible home loan packages are concerned, the 7/1 adjustable rate loan starts at a rate of 3.250% and it features an APR of 3.137%. Others, who decide to opt for the 5/1 ARM alternative, will see it being published at a rate of 3.125%. The corresponding APR is 3.030%.

Those considering to refinance with one of Chase’s favorable refinance loan, will see several attractive mortgage packages on offer. One of the more popular loans is the standard 30-year mortgage, which starts at a rate of 3.875% and comes with an annual percentage rate of 3.957%. In case of the 15-year fixed rate mortgage, the current mortgage rate hovers at 3.375%. The loan’s annual percentage is coming out at 3.538%.

Flexible ARM loans can also be used to refinance existing mortgages. As far as flexible refinance loans are concerned, the opening rate on the 7/1 adjustable rate mortgage stayed intact at 3.375%. The corresponding APR stands at 3.195% on this type of loan. The 5-year ARM can be obtained at a rate of 3.125% and it features 3.050% by way of annual percentage rate.

For additional details on Chase’s latest mortgage rates, loan assumptions and borrowing terms and conditions, please visit the bank’s website or contact a loan officer in charge.

Security director rigged lotteries with code

No one say anything about playing with balls.

Image credit: Associated Press

Associated Press

New evidence in an Iowa case shows a former security director at the Multi-State Lottery Association used code to rig draws. If someone made an 80s wish fulfilment movie for hackers, this might just be the plot. Or at least, until the whole getting caught part. Eddie Raymond Tipton was convicted for jackpot-fixing last year, but much of the prosecution's case was based on circumstantial evidence -- as the number generators involved had since been destroyed. A new filing on Wednesday this week claims to show that investigators have recovered code that proves the draws were fixed.

The prosecution suggests that the lottery machines were programmed/tampered with after (or during) a security audit. The added hack picked three specific dates (all of which related to lotteries involved in the case), and if two other conditions were met, the machine wouldn't use the regular random number generator, instead it'd pick the winning set from an algorithm. Tipton would be able to use this algorithm to predict the winning numbers claim the prosecution. Investigators were able to use the same code and methods to predict the exact same winning numbers.

The new evidence will help prosecutors figure out to what extend other parties were involved in the lottery rigging, and related crimes. Tipton's original downfall was security camera footage showing him buying a $16.5-million winning ticket, along with some hot dogs, at a Des Moines gas station. Tipton's brother, Tommy, gave testimony at the time saying the person looked nothing like Eddie, who doesn't even like hot dogs, reports ABC news . Surely suspicions were raised immediately. After all who doesn't like hot dogs?

Apple refused a court order to crack an iPhone in February

The report comes via unsealed court documents.

Image credit: China Daily China Daily Information Corp - CDIC

China Daily China Daily Information Corp - CDIC

Now that the dust has (mostly) settledbetween the government and Apple over the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone 5c, we're learning this isn't the first time the firm has objected to breaking into its smartphones. In February, a Boston magistrate tried getting the iPhone-maker to provide "reasonable assistance" in extracting information from an alleged gang member's handset, according to unsealed court documents obtained by Reuters . But, like in the case involving Syed Rizwan Farook's phone, the tech juggernaut didn't comply.

As magistrate Marianne Bowler explains, that sort of assistance entails:

"To the extent possible, extracting data from the device, copying the data from the device onto an external hard drive or other storage medium and returning the aforementioned storage medium to law enforcement."

Exactly which model of iPhone was involved in this case, and whether or not the government's "tool"for bypassing its security applies to this one aren't clear at this point. If anything, though, this proves that Apple at least remains steadfastin not complying with any request to hack its own software -- not just when there's a highly public case involved. We've reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post should the company respond.

AT&T will launch online-only packages for DirecTV this year

In an effort to appeal to cord cutters, AT&T will launch three new services that allow users to stream DirecTV online without an annual contract, satellite dish, or set-top box.

that allow users to stream DirecTV online without an annual contract, satellite dish, or set-top box. The plans—called DirecTV Now, DirecTV Mobile, and DirecTV Preview—will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

AT&T became the world’s largest pay TV company last yearwhen it acquired DirecTV for $48.5 billion. It already allows current DirecTV subscribers to access programs online, but the three new services may help it attract new customers who don’t want to bother installing and paying for cable because they already stream most of their movies and TV shows through platforms like Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu.

While it’s difficult to count exactly how many people have started ditching pay TV services for over-the-top streaming media, a study by Digitalsmiths (a TiVo subsidiary) found that in 2014, 8.2 percent of former pay TV subscribers they surveyed had gotten rid of their pay TV subscriptions, with many citing increasing fees for cable and satellite services as their main motivation.

AT&T hasn’t revealed how much its DirecTV streaming plans will cost or if they will be zero-rated so people on AT&T Internet plans with data caps can watch unlimited video. One option, DirecTV Preview, is free and will be supported by ads, with a limited sampling of DirecTV programming.

In its announcement, AT&T said that more than 60 percent of its network traffic is video and that it already delivers more than 60 million streams and downloads to its TV customers every month. The WSJ reports, however, that AT&T lost a net 26,000 video customers last quarter as it struggled to convert customers from its U-Verse TV Serviceto DirecTV after the merger.

Lobster lets you sell your Facebook photos to advertisers

Lobster , the marketplace for buying and selling user generated content, has just announced an integration with Facebook.

, the marketplace for buying and selling user generated content, has just announced an integration with Facebook. This means that Facebook users can sign up with Lobster to sell their content to advertisers.

Facebook users can sign up with Lobster to have their Facebook photos marketed on the platform. Advertisers (or regular folks) can then browse through those photos to license them at $2/piece or on a subscription basis. The majority of the commission goes to the content creator, with a small cut going back to Lobster for facilitating the transaction.

But let’s say that an advertiser for Pepsi stumbles upon a Facebook photo of Jack and Jill drinking a Pepsi, but it isn’t listed on Lobster. Lobster will then facilitate communication between Pepsi advertisers and Jack and Jill to see if the content creators would be interested in licensing that photo to make some money.

Lobster launched out of Disrupt Europe in 2014, starting with Instagram and Flickr content licensing.

Recently, the company expanded to include YouTube videos, with licensing costs at around $7/video.

You can learn more about Lobster here.

NSA director: 'Encryption is foundational to the future'

And we're wasting time arguing about whether or not to do away with it.

While the US government continues to argue the pros and cons of encryption, one official is actually defending the practice. NSA director Admiral Mike Rogerssaid Thursday encryption is "foundational to the future," and that we're wasting our time debating its use. Rather than arguing whether or not encryption should be commonplace, Rogers suggests it's not time to sacrifice privacy for security. Instead, there has to be a solution that tackles both, which will be a lot easier said than done.

"Concerns about privacy have never been higher. Trying to get all those things right, to realize that it isn't about one or the other," Rogers explained. He went on to say that security shouldn't be the focus "to drive everything," like many government officials argue.

FBI director James Comey has been pushing for backdoor access for law enforcement for quite some time, citing the dangers of the "bad parts"of encryption. Of course, those backdoors for government would give hackers a way in, too. Comey recentlywent as far as to recommend tech companies give up end-to-end encryption for customers completely, which would allow them to intercept messages and other content to hand over to law enforcement. With legislators planning billsthat would require a way in for the authorities, the encryption debate is only getting started.

[Image credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Amazon debuts its first live show that lets you shop while you watch

Amazon’s foray into fashion continues today with the launch of what will be the company’s first daily live show, called Style Code Live , which will feature fashion and beauty tips and advice from style experts and viewers.

, which will feature fashion and beauty tips and advice from style experts and viewers. However, the more interesting aspects to the new program will be the ability to shop the products while you’re watching, access links to those products on Amazon, as well as a way to interact and ask questions in real-time during the show through a live chat interface.

Hosts will chime in to respond to viewer comments and questions in the live chat, giving the show more of a community feel.

Another interactive feature will be the Style Code Love Bag, which offers a way to send virtual feedback. Viewers will “applaud” the various segments and products by clicking on the bag, which then fills with confetti. The bag will release the confetti when it gets full.

In addition, a Style Carousel underneath the video player will highlight the products being shown on the program, and links will be provided, allowing users to find the items both on and off Amazon.

The show, which premieres tonight, is not only Amazon’s initial debut of a live TV show of sorts, but also its first experiment with an interactive commerce experience.

To what extent this show will actually resonate with viewers or increase sales, of course, remains to be seen.

The program itself is a 30-minute stream that’s being made available on weeknights at 9 PM ET (6 PM PT) to all who visit the website. It features hosts Lyndsey Rodrigues, Rachel Smith and Frankie Grande – all who have television and broadcast backgrounds. Rodrigues previously hosted MTV’s “Total Request Live,” while Smith is a correspondent at ABC News for “Good Morning America” and “Nightline.” Meanwhile, Grande is a TV personality who has appeared on CBS’s “Big Brother 16” and performed on Broadway in “Rock of Ages.”

“Style Code Live’s” overall format will include covering the latest fashion and beauty trends using a combination of guest experts, celebs and viewer tips. It’s kicking off its opening week with a couple of bigger names dropping by, including Grammy winner Meghan Trainor, actress Keri Russell, YouTube star Tati Westbrook and fashion blog “WeWoreWhat” founder Danielle Bernstein.

The show’s debut comes at a time when Amazon has been investing in making itself better known as a fashion brand and destination. The online retailer quietly introduced its own private label fashions on the site, it was revealed last month, and some analysts believethat Amazon could pass Macy’s to become the No. 1 seller of clothing in the U.S. as soon as next year.

However, the new show will not be the first “shoppable” experience to take place on Amazon’s platform, we should note. Earlier this month, shopping network HSN released its “Shop by Remote” app for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, which allows users to both watch HSN programming and shop at the same time, using the device’s remote control.

Latest Mortgage Rates: Wells Fargo Fixed, ARM and FHA Refinance Mortgage Rates for May 11

California-based major financial institution, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), updated its mortgage information for May 11, 2015.

California-based major financial institution, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), updated its mortgage information for May 11, 2015. Take note, that the interest rate quotes are given presuming the borrower has strong credit status and that he is ready to pay 1.00% of the total loan value in origination costs. The lender’s latest mortgage interest rates can be found below.

As far as current refinance rates are concerned, the long-term 30-year fixed mortgage is listed by Wells Fargo at a rate of 4.125%. The loan’s annual percentage rate is published at 4.173%. Mortgage shoppers, who lean toward the 15-year home refinance loan can expect to pay 3.375% in interest. This type of loan carries 3.458% by way of APR.

The FHA-backed version of the 30-year fixed mortgage, which can be used for refinancing purposes, is listed at a rate of 3.875%, according to the latest data. The APR variable on the loan package is coming out at 4.894%.

Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) could be ideal solutions for borrowers who are looking for flexible interest rates. The 7-year ARM loan product is quoted at a rate of 3.375%, whilst the APR is coming out at 3.209%. On the other hand, Wells Fargo’s 5/1 ARM FHA has a lending rate of 3.500% and it features an APR of 3.638%.

Turning attention to Wells Fargo’s current home loan options, the benchmark 30-year fixed conventional mortgage is quoted at a rate of 4.125%. The aforementioned loan bears 4.150% by way of annual percentage rate. Wells Fargo’s shorter-term, 15-year fixed home purchase loan is listed at a rate of 3.375% and the loan is coupled with an APR figure of 3.427%.

Borrowers, who are seeking non-conforming home purchase loan option at this lender, will see the 30-year fixed mortgage loan with a jumbo balance being offered this Monday at a rate of 4.000%. This type of mortgage loan features an annual percentage rate of 4.000%. Others, who opt for the 7-year ARM jumbo loan package, can expect to pay 3.250% interest cost. The aforementioned loan is coupled with an APR figure of 3.131%.

Please, head over to Wells Fargo’s website for updated mortgage interest rates or contact the loan officer in charge for more information.

Mortgage-buyer, Freddie Mac reported last week, that the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage soared to 3.80% from the previous 3.68%. On the other hand, the average rate on the shorter-term 15-year fixed mortgage ticked up to 3.02% last week. Previously this type of mortgage loan was hovering at a rate of 2.94%, according to Freddie Mac.

Microsoft’s mobile problem may not be a problem at all

When Microsoft announced its Windows 10 strategy last year, the thinking was that the unified platform would drive Windows Mobile and finally bring the Windows phone out of the doldrums where it’s been virtually forever.

The idea was you could develop once for Windows 10 desktop and easily share that code on any device, making it impossibly attractive for developers, which would finally drive Windows Mobile popularity in a beautiful virtuous development cycle.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out that way, and Microsoft finds itself in an unusual position, developing software for iOS and Android because it simply doesn’t have a viable Windows mobile ecosystem.

According to comScore’s latest market share numbers, Microsoft had 2.9 percent market share in the U.S. for the fourth quarter last year. That was unchanged since September, in case you were wondering. In its fourth quarter earnings report in January, Microsoft reported a smartphone platform deeply in decline.

That would cover the period where the Windows 10 mobile development magic was supposed to be happening. As you can plainly see, the plan doesn’t seem to have worked as drawn up.

Windows 10 is out. It appears to be getting great adoption on 270 million devices, but it doesn’t seem to have trickled down to Windows smartphones much at all.

Singing different tunes

Here’s how Satya Nadella outlined how he hoped his mobile strategy would play outin an interview with Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet last year:

“[T]he free upgrade for Windows 10 is meant to improve our phone position. That is the reason why I made that decision. If somebody wants to know whether I’m committed to Windows Phone, they should think about what I just did with the free upgrade to Windows, rather than — hey, I[‘m] making four more phone models of value smart phones.”

In an interview with Matt Rosoff from Business Insider this week, Rosoff pointed out the lack of discussion of Windows Mobile at last week’s Build developer conference. Nadella’s position was more nuanced this time:

First of all, I don’t think of Windows for mobile differently than Windows for HoloLens or Windows for Xbox now. We have only one Windows. We don’t have multiple Windows. They run across multiple form factors, but it’s one developer platform, one store, one tool chain for developers. And you adapt it for different screen sizes and different input and output.

TechCrunch’s Haje Jans Kamps also noticed that the Windows phone was conspicuously absent from the Build conferencekeynote discussions. At one point while introducing Xamarin, the presenter put it like this:

“We don’t care if it’s Android or iOS, we have you covered,” the presenter said, and continued onto the rest of his presentation. “Spot any platforms missing from that two-bulletpoint-list,” Kamps wondered with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

Getting by with some help from their friends

The question remains; can Microsoft succeed without a strong Windows mobile position? From the looks of things, they don’t seem to have much choice. Nadella appears to be staking his position in the cloud, which is a perfectly reasonable way to play it, while opening up his company’s tools to iOS and Android in the absence of any meaningful Windows phone adoption.

Related Articles Even Microsoft's own presenters have given up on Windows Phone Now the cloud wars (really) begin Microsoft Is Buying Mobile Cross-Platform Development Company Xamarin Microsoft Launches A Bing-Powered News App For iOS Devices, News Pro

When you look at the beauty of the mobile-cloud connection, it’s understandable Microsoft would want to be there with Windows, but perhaps Nadella is beginning to understand that Windows is not necessarily the future of the company — Azure and Office 365 are — and that could explain why the company stayed firmly focused on these two areas at Build.

When you combine that with the idea of bots created by Microsoft, including Cortana (Microsoft’s talking virtual assistant), that can run in Microsoft’s tools or external platforms like Slack and LINE, you start to see a vision where Microsoft thrives even without an in-house mobile platform.

As the world moves swiftly to that mobile-cloud intersection, perhaps the underlying OS becomes less important. If that’s the case — if Microsoft can have a piece of the underlying cloud-mobile plumbing and have apps and bots created in its ecosystem, run anywhere on any device — it renders the Windows phone gap irrelevant.

For Microsoft with its weak mobile position, it had better hope that’s the case.

Current Mortgage Rates: SunTrust Jumbo Loans and FHA Mortgage Rates for December 30

SunTrust Banks, Inc.

SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) performs its banking operations through SunTrust Bank, which provides home loans for mortgage shoppers. The Atlanta-headquartered financial institution’s mortgage rates are updated for December 30, 2014.

Take note, that the lender’s mortgage interest rates are subject to change without prior notice and may vary upon loan approval or actual disbursement of funds. With the exception of loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) for borrowers with low credit scores, the mortgage rate quotes are given assuming the borrower has strong financial standing. In addition, lock-in periods apply for most mortgages and the loan terms may vary depending on the property’s location and geography.

The bank’s updated loan information revealed, that the 30-year fixed home purchase loan, which comes with a conforming loan balance, is offered at a rate of 3.75%. The mortgage loan’s annual percentage rate, which shows the interest and others costs of the mortgage at a yearly rate, is set at 3.8697%. The mortgage product also features 0.209 discount points. Borrowers, who favor the 15-year fixed home loan, will encounter a rate of 2.99%. The loan package has 0.162 discount points and an APR variable of 3.1924% rounds out the package.

Now, switching to non-conventional home loan offerings, the FHA-backed 30-year fixed mortgage loan is currently available at a rate of 3.5% and 0.133 discount points. With regards to the corresponding APR, it stands at 5.1239% as of Tuesday.

The lender also provides non-conforming loans for borrowers, who are able to meet its credit standards. Currently, the 30-year fixed mortgage plans with a jumbo balance are starting at a rate of 4%. The corresponding APR stands at 4.1601% and it comes with 0.774 discount points.

Mortgages, which have more interest rate flexibility, including adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), are are also available at this bank. Looking at current adjustable rate loan solutions, SunTrust’s Agency 5/1 ARM plans are starting at a lending rate of 2.99%. The loan carries 0.278 discount points and it’s accompanied by an APR of 3.0348%. The Agency 7/1 version of the financial institution’s ARM can be secured at a rate of 3.2%. The loan package bears 0.117 discount points and an APR of 3.1414%.

Information on SunTrust’s borrowing terms and conditions, as well as details on additional mortgage loan options can be found on the bank’s website.

Government-sponsored housing firm, Freddie Mac reported on Wednesday, that the interest rate on the 30-year fixed loan increased to 3.83% from the previous 3.80%. Meanwhile, the interest rate on the shorter-term 15-year fixed loan climbed to 3.10% last week. Previously this type of mortgage loan averaged a rate of 3.09%, according to the organization.

Samsung Galaxy S5 preview: simpler in some ways, more 'glam' in others

Once a year, Samsung takes some of its best material and slaps it together into a premium flagship model called the Galaxy S.

Once a year, Samsung takes some of its best material and slaps it together into a premium flagship model called the Galaxy S. While 2014's version -- the S5 -- came a bit earlier in the year than some earlier iterations, we're no less excited to see it become the star of the show at Mobile World Congress. The new device will ship in April (on stage, Samsung specifically mentioned that it launches on April 11th in 150 markets), although exact pricing and availability are still unknown. It features a refreshed design language, yet anyone who has used a GS phone recently will immediately recognize it as a Samsung flagship.

Despite its familiar design, the GS5 has a few new useful hardware features, including a fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor, and a toned-down TouchWiz UI on top of Android 4.4 KitKat. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, however, was that Samsung didn't overload its prized new smartphone with a heaping dose of new S-branded features. This is a marked departure from the company's previous strategyof cramming in every software feature under the sun, which leads us to wonder if this is related to Samsung's recent agreement to dial back the customization it does on Android devices. So what else is new here? Read on for a deeper dive.

Gallery: S5 | 12 Photos

Microsoft marches forward with its security plan, releasing Cloud App Security

As Microsoft works its way toward implementing the security plan that CEO Satya Nadella outlined in a talk last Fall in DC, part of that has been creating tools and part buying them.

in a talk last Fall in DC, part of that has been creating tools and part buying them. Today, it announced that Adallom, a company it bought last yearwas becoming generally available and renamed Microsoft Cloud App Security.

While the new name lacks the pizazz of the original, it does convey to customers and sales alike what the product actually does a bit more clearly, and that’s help companies detect cloud apps in use in a company — whether from Microsoft or a third party. That last part speaks to the new philosophy in play at Microsoft that when it makes sense, its products won’t be “all Microsoft, all the time” as they have in the past, but will work cross-product and cross-platform, even when those products may compete directly or indirectly with Microsoft.

With a product like this, it wouldn’t have made sense to work any other way.

It allows IT admins to look across the company and see any cloud apps that are in use in the organization. This is a useful exercise in itself to see how broadly employees are using unsanctioned apps — and chances are it’s quite a bit, says Assaf Rappaport co-founder CEO of the company formerly known as Adallom.

According to the company’s research, based on using its own product, the average employee uses 17 cloud apps at work and IT doesn’t know about most of them. Of course, this tool isn’t the first to do this kind of detection, but it takes it beyond pure detection to give visibility into how much data is moving outside the organization, in some cases in violation of security or compliance rules.

Finally once there is a preliminary usage map, the customer can put some controls into place to protect the organization in cases where it is warranted.

When it comes to control, Rappaport is careful to point out this is not about controlling user behavior or getting in the way of running the business, but applying controls where it makes most sense for the organization such as preventing unauthorized confidential information from being shared in the cloud or controlling access from unknown networks.

Related Articles Satya Nadella Delivers Microsoft State of Security Address Microsoft Begins Making Progress On Nadella's Broad Security Vision Microsoft extends its Windows Hello login security features to apps and the web Microsoft to bring post-breach detection to Windows 10 security

As for why he chose to sell his startup to Microsoft, he says he saw a company with a common vision and an ability to give his company scale on a level that would have likely been impossible as an independent company.

As part of Microsoft, his company gets access to the entire Azure security stack, its security graph data and all that entails in terms of further developing his product. It also gets access to Microsoft’s massive worldwide sales and marketing organization with scale and access to security and IT executives that would have taken years to develop on its own.

“When you have a small sales team, you usually approach Fortune 100 or 500 because your sales team is small. That’s what’s so great with Microsoft. We can now reach out to any organization on the planet,” he said.

Nokia's Refocus Lens camera app promises infinite depth of field control

Nokia's just announced a new camera app called Refocus Lens at Nokia World that brings a Lytro-like variable depth of field to Lumia cameras.

variable depth of field to Lumia cameras. Likely to be the fruits of that Scalado purchasefrom a while back, it'll let you change the focus of a snapshot using "clever algorithms" while adding "brilliant splashes of color" to images via a feature called color pop. Nokia also said that images will be 5-megapixels in size and that you'll be able to use the refocusing option while in Facebook. The app will debut on the Finnish company's new flagship Lumia 1520and trickle down at a later date to older devices like the Lumia 920 and 925. However, Nokia hasn't decided if the app will be available for lower-numbered Lumias like the 520 and 620 -- or any other Windows Phone devices, for that matter. We're still finding out more details from Nokia, so stay tuned!

: Nokia is now showing a dedicated Refocus sitewith a sample photo to play with. You can also check out a clickable sample embedded after the break.

Update 2: We've now added a video demo of the app, courtesy of Samuli Hänninen, Nokia's VP of of software program management for smart devices. It's surprisingly similar to the DigitalOptics' MEMS camera demowe saw back at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, but Nokia confirmed that there's no link between that and its own post-capture refocus technology.

Bill Gurley doesn’t think these giant new funds are such a great idea

On Monday, the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters released some surprising data .

. Despite few opportunities to exit from their investments, 57 venture firms managed to raise $12 billion in the first quarter — more money than VCs have raised since the second quarter of 2006. More, just seven firms counted for nearly two-thirds of all that money, with four raising north of a billion dollars apiece.

“It’s not just the size of the funds but the velocity” at which VCs are returning to their investors, known as limited partners (or LPs), says an astonished Bill Gurley of the venture firm Benchmark. “The Kauffman fund said that billion dollar funds sucked, then everybody went out and raised billion-dollar funds.”

Gurley is referring to a 2012 Kauffman Foundation reportthat suggests venture capital isn’t a great place for institutions to invest, and that big venture funds are a losing proposition almost entirely.

According to the organization’s findings, which it based on its 20-plus years of investing in more than 100 venture funds, only 20 percent of its investments had generated returns that beat a public market equivalent as of 2012, and even then, the funds outpaced those public market indices by a measly three percent. Kauffman further found that only four of 30 venture funds that exceeded $400 million delivered better returns for investors than a small-cap common stock index.

What’s changed in four years’ time? As far as Gurley is concerned, not a thing. Gurley — whose firm raised one billion-dollar fund in the late ’90s and quickly reverted back to sub $500 million funds — says he doesn’t think big venture funds add up for anyone other than VCs, whose management fees typically equal two percent of a fund.

“If you talk with an LP, you’ll hear that funds raised in times of scarcity perform the best, while those raised in peak [fundraising] moments don’t have the best returns. The only type of return that’s guaranteed is excessive fee income. You get that no matter what, which is a conflict, for sure.”

Indeed, Gurley thinks he knows why his fellow venture capitalists have been busy rounding up money — and a lot of it.

The venture industry has “record [internal rates of return] on paper and record low liquidity” meaning their markups have not been turned into cash-on- cash returns just yet. Add to that the numbers of still-private companies like Snapchat, Dropbox, Blue Apron that have seen their value publicly marked down and up and down againby their mutual fund shareholders, and you can understand their nervousness. “Some of these funds are afraid that their paper IRR is going to melt away in the future, and they’re raising money before that happens,” Gurley notes.

Of course, many LPs are highly sophisticated. They have the same data as Gurley, which begs the question of why they’re investing so much right now, instead of waiting to see more returns from their venture clients.

Gurley says interest rates are one reason. “The low-to-no interest rate environment that we’ve been in is just radical.” (When the interest on cash that banks pay is close to zero, other kinds of investments look more attractive because the risk-free alternatives produce so little.)

Low interest rates have “already caused the natural gas industry to boom and bust,” he says. Other industries aren’t immune either.

Gurley also observes that LPs are “in a tough spot.” These managers themselves get measured on their performance over a very long cycle, and if they get kicked out of a venture fund for not writing a check when its VC managers come calling, it can probably feel ruinous. The reality is that most venture funds invest over a period of a decade, and some VCs have very long memories. As Gurley notes, “The decision to opt out of a particular fund can easily impact an institutional investor for 20 years. I don’t think it’s easy to say, ‘We’ll pass on this one,’ because you’re passing on that brand for the rest of your career.”

Not everyone takes such a dim view of the money that’s continuing to flood into venture, despite a dearth of IPOs and high-priced acquisitions in recent years.

Investor Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures says that his own extensive survey of LPshas shown that “despite their worry about valuations in the short term, they believe that VC is an important part of their asset management, and they want allocation to the best funds.” Suster adds, “The trend they’re observing is that big companies are being created and — right or wrong — they think they can chase that alpha by investing in venture.”

Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz also puts more faith in LPs, though he admits that it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on right now.

“I don’t try to do macroeconomics, I don’t think economists do it very well, and I don’t think VCs should try to do it,” he says. But he thinks that “in general, tech is becoming more and more important, and it’s impacting more and more industries,” which could explain institutional investors’ willingness to write giant checks to venture firms.

“It used to be that tech meant building computers and spreadsheet software, and there was a limited domain of things you could do. Now,” says Dixon, “we’re talking about things that can address the whole economy . . . the car industry . . . the hospitality industry . . . healthcare and finance and transportation. Now, tech is at the heart of [these things].”

Dixon says it’s also worth noting that the “VC industry is very small. It’s a microscopic portion of [the investments that institutions make].”

Either way, perhaps the better question at this point is what all that new capital means for valuations, which have softened in recent months as public market prices (now rebounding) have drooped.

On this front, the investors seem less certain. Gurley says he doesn’t know what to expect of valuations in 2016 but that he has seen less reckless behavior on the part of other VCs, which seems to give him some degree of optimism that prices won’t soar skyward again soon. Suster similarly attributes overheated valuations last year to mutual and hedge fund investors, who’ve seemingly retreated from venture capital (for now).

As for Dixon, he also says he doesn’t know if valuations will be impacted, but he seems to enjoy watching the industry chew it over. “Two years ago people were super excited and now everyone thinks everything is going out of business. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.”

Andreessen Horowitz is currently raising a new, $1.5 billion fund, sources have told usin recent months. Upfront Ventures meanwhile closed on a $280 million fundabout 16 months ago. Benchmark closed its current fund with $425 million in December 2013.

DigitalOcean Raises $83M Series B Round Led By Access Industries

DigitalOcean , the fast-growing cloud infrastructure service for developers, today announced that it has raised a $83 million Series B round led by Access Industries, with participation from previous investor Andreessen Horowitz , which led the company’s $37 million Series A round last year.

last year. Access Industries previously invested in the likes of Rubikloud, ironSource, Beats and Cyanogen.

This new round brings the company’s total funding to $173.2 million, including a $50 million debt financing round last December. The company says it now has 500,000 developers on its platform who have spun up a total of over 6 million cloud servers since the service launched.

As DigitalOcean co-founder and CEO Ben Uretskytold me, the company had a lot of inbound interest from VCs since the beginning of last year, but things really started to ramp up around the start of 2015. The company still has sufficient capital in the bank from its last rounds and had originally planned to look into more funding later this year, but the team decided to capitalize on this opportunity. According to Uretsky, DigitalOcean has occasionally been profitable already, “but with this rapid rate of growth, you sometimes get a little bit ahead of yourself,” he admitted.

“We play in this very interesting developer ecosystem that touches a lot of startups. And they talk to a lot of VCs,” Uretsky said. “So DigitalOcean’s name comes up when they talk to VCs and that sends a very strong signal to the VC community.”

Many investors won’t touch capex-intensive infrastructure companies like DigitalOcean (or startups that challenge Amazon), but Uretsky believes that Access Industries is an investor who understands the ecosystem the company is playing in. Access Industries’ Pueo Keffer, who recently joined the firm after a long run at Redpoint Ventures, will take a seat on DigitalOcean’s board.

The company’s plan is to use this new funding to focus on new features for its platform. In its early days, the company was barely able to cope with its growth, so actual product development was kept on the backburner as the team focused on scaling the existing service and its international expansion.

“We now have a great global footprint, but now it’s time to step up and build out our feature set,” Uretsky said. The next major product launch is going to be a cloud storage service, which will likely launch in the first half of 2016. Before that, though, the company plans to launch a number of improvements to the networking component of its platform, including the launch of floating IPs, which will make it easier for developers to build highly available services on the company’s platform.

DigitalOcean was always popular with developers — both because of its focus on simplicity and its competitive pricing model. Now, however, the company wants to be more than just a playground for developers. It wants to be able to offer startups the tools they need to grow on its service and within five to ten years, Uretsky hopes, the next Uber-like emerging enterprise company will be built on its platform.

Today’s Mortgage Rates: 30-Year Fixed Home Loans and Refinance Mortgage Rates at Chase for January 15

Chase Bank (NYSE: JPM) offers a number of conventional mortgage loan packages for borrowers in the United States.

Chase Bank (NYSE: JPM) offers a number of conventional mortgage loan packages for borrowers in the United States. Potential customers must have strong credit standing and be willing to pay 1.00% of the total loan amount in origination fees to the lender in order to secure a loan. Chase’s mortgage interest rates have been updated for January 15, 2015, which are listed below.

The 30-year fixed conforming home loan is quoted at a rate of 3.375%, according to the lender’s updated mortgage information. The loan’s annual percentage rate, which shows the interest, mortgage insurance and additional costs of the mortgage at a yearly rate, is set at 3.465%. The shorter-term, 15-year fixed rate home purchase loan is up for grabs at an interest cost equivalent to 2.875% and it’s coupled with an APR variable of 3.036%.

The 7/1 adjustable rate home loan has a daily low rate at 2.750% and this flexible loan carries 2.915% by way of APR. Borrowers, who opt for the financial institution’s 5/1 ARM home loan, can expect to pay 2.750% in interest. The loan’s APR figure stands at 2.900%.

Besides home purchase loans, the lender provides mortgages for refinancing purposes as well. Now, looking at conventional loan products, the 30-year FRM has a lending rate of 3.625% and it’s coupled with an APR variable of 3.686%. Borrowers, who prefer to refinance with the 15-year fixed counterpart, will encounter a rate of 2.875%. As far as the corresponding APR is concerned, it stands at 3.072%.

The bank’s adjustable rate loans can also be used to refinance existing mortgages. As far as flexible refinance loans are concerned, the starting rate on the 7/1 ARM hovers at 2.875% and the deal features an APR sum of 2.963%. The 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage can be had at a rate of 2.750% and it has 2.919% by way of annual percentage rate.

For more information on Chase’s current home purchase and refinance mortgage rates, please head over to the bank’s website or contact a loan officer in charge.

LG G Pro 2 review: new year, new Note contender

G Pro 2
Get more info
Engadget
88
8.2
9.3
Type Smartphone (Android)
Camera yes
Internal memory 32 GB
Screen size 5.9 inches
From $933
The large-screen smartphone market is now one of the most fiercely competitive in the wireless industry.

Critic 16 Reviews

Users 4 Reviews

The large-screen smartphone market is now one of the most fiercely competitive in the wireless industry. But even though nearly every phone maker has produced a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Note, only a handful of products have actually been worth considering. LG's Optimus G Pro, a 5.5-inch flagship introduced last year, was one such exception. A year later, its 5.9-inch successor picks up where the first Pro left off, adding enough extra firepower to take on the Galaxy Note 3spec for spec. The LG G Pro 2 may very well have what it takes to stand up against its big-screen rival, but it'll have to overcome a few minor obstacles in order to succeed.

Gallery: LG G Pro 2 review | 65 Photos

Nokia details its new Pro Camera app, offers manual adjustment to shutter speed and focus

Ready to pair with Nokia's new Lumia 1020 is a new Pro Camera app to go with all those megapixels.

Ready to pair with Nokia's new Lumia 1020 is a new Pro Camera app to go with all those megapixels. Its new Pro Camera app, not to be confused with the Lumia 925's Smart Camera app, looks to offer users more control over camera settings, with a new concentric circle systemoffering access to flash, focus, ISO, shutter speed, white balance and exposure. In video mode, you can shoot at 1080p at 30 frames per seconds with 4x zoom, or up to 6x zoom in 720p. You'll also be able to reframe your shots within the app too, making better use of that high-resolution 3x zoom feature and manual focus.

Check out all the news from today's Nokia event at our hub!

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Oppo Find 7 is the world's first phone that can take 50MP photos (video)

We've seen the teasers and we've seen the leaks , so it's about time to see the real thing.

Oppohas finally unveiled the Find 7 in Beijing just now, and as promised, this Android 4.3 device really can take 50-megapixel photos! But as with many things in life, there's a catch here: the sensor is actually a 13-megapixel Sony IMX214 CMOS, so it's a software trick. Still, the results we saw earlier were surprisingly good, so read on to check out how it's done and what the rest of the phone is like.

Gallery: Oppo Find 7 | 5 Photos