Wednesday, May 28, 2014

drag2share: Broadcom's new chip lets your phone use any wireless charging standard

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/28/broadcom-universal-wireless-charging-chip/

Broadcom BCM59350 wireless charging chip

Wonder why only a handful of mobile devices support wireless charging? It's partly because the standards are horribly fragmented: companies have to choose between technologies like PMA, Rezence and Qi, and it's not clear which of those will last. Broadcom might put the issue to bed with its new (and awkwardly titled) BCM59350 chip, though. The hardware lets gadgets charge using any existing wireless technology -- you won't have to hunt for specific charging pads. It can also handle up to 7.5W of power instead of the usual 5W, so your gear might charge faster than it would using old-fashioned wires.

Broadcom isn't naming customers or estimating release dates, but test samples have already gone out to "select" partners. It's doubtful that the chip will resolve confusion over standards; that's going to require fewer standards or greater compatibility, either of which could take much longer. However, device makers may now be more comfortable including wireless power in their products. It won't be shocking if it's much easier to get cable-free charging in your next phone or smartwatch.

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Source: Broadcom

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Posted by Augustine at 10:15 AM

drag2share: Amazon welcomes numismatists with new collectible coin store

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/28/amazon-collectible-coins-store/

Amazon's well known as the one-stop online shop for practically anything you might want, but apparently it has, until now, regretfully underserved numismatists -- that's coin collectors to the uninitiated. According to the company, rare and collectible coinage is one of the most popular product categories people search for on its collectibles and fine art portal. As such, Amazon's thought it necessary to open a dedicated page (in the US, at least) showcasing such items from "highly regarded dealers." The Collectible Coins store is now live for your perusal, through which you can even buy a 1907 Saint Gaudens Ultra High Relief Pattern $20 coin -- provided you have $3.75 million to hand. Not the best exchange rate, but the shipping's free, at least.

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Source: Amazon (1), (2)

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Posted by Augustine at 10:14 AM

drag2share: New Details On Apple's iWatch: It Will Have A Round Face, And Apple Is Increasing Its iWatch Orders (AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/iwatch-will-have-a-round-face-2014-5

Motorola 360 Watch

Apple's iWatch is going to look like ... a watch. 

Analyst Brian Blair of Rosenblatt Securities just got back from a big trip to Taiwan, and he has new details on the iWatch.

According to his supply chain sources, the iWatch will have a round face. Many people were expecting it to have a rectangular face, but Blair's sources tell him it's going to be round, like a normal watch. 

Motorola has announced plans for its own circular smartwatch that runs on Android. Blair's sources say the iWatch will have a similar look, but a "slimmer profile." 

If you've been watching Apple's software design evolution, this would make sense. It's made icons and buttons on the iPhone round. So, we could see it fitting those icons onto a watch. 

Blair says the iWatch will go into production around July/August. There will be "models" of the iWatch. (Probably one for women, one for men.)

It sound like Apple is growing confident in the success of the iWatch. Blair says Apple's orders for the iWatch are higher than previously expected. He forecasts Apple makes 18-21 million iWatches for the second half of the year, up from his previous estimate of 15-20 million.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:55 AM

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

drag2share: Roll Your Own Malware Detection on Mac with Folder Actions

Source: http://lifehacker.com/roll-your-own-malware-detection-on-mac-with-folder-acti-1582094205

Roll Your Own Malware Detection on Mac with Folder Actions

Malware isn't too crazy on Macs, but it's still out there. If you'd prefer to create your own solution instead of downloading clunky software, blogger Jacob Salmela shows off how to roll your own system using Folder Actions.

Folder Actions is a handy built-in feature of OS X that allows you to run a script when you add an item to a folder. In this case, you can monitor if malware gets into your Mac's folders that manage system processes. You'll want to set up these folder actions in the following folders to monitor for malware:

  • /Library/LaunchDaemons
  • /Library/LaunchAgents
  • /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
  • /System/Library/LaunchAgents
  • /Users/<username>/Library/LaunchAgents

That's it. When it's all set up, you'll get a popup window every time something is added to one of those folders. If you didn't add something on purpose, chances are it's malware or at least worth investigating. Head over to Salmela's site for the full guide.

OS X: Roll Your Own Malware Detection | Jacob Salmela

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Posted by Augustine at 7:30 PM

drag2share: Younger Americans are open to Google, Apple, PayPal becoming their bankers

Source: http://gigaom.com/2014/05/27/younger-americans-are-open-to-google-apple-paypal-becoming-their-bankers/

Your next bank migt just be Google or Walmart if the younger generation of North American bread earners has anything to say about it. A recent survey conducted by Accenture found that many people between the ages of 18 and 34 were amenable to the idea of doing their banking completely online as well as getting their financial services from non-traditional financial service providers.

PayPal was at the top of the list, with 46 percent of that age group saying they would be “likely” of “very likely” to bank with the eBay-owned company. That shouldn’t be too much of surprise since PayPal is already a dominant player in payment services. But Google, Amazon, Apple and Walmart rounded out the top 5 list of potential alternate banking providers – not the first companies you’d think of when opening a checking account.

"Open to Alternatives: If these companies offered banking services, how likely would you be to bank with them?"

Accenture’s poll of 3,846 bank customers in Canada and the U.S. found that we’re becoming much more comfortable with the idea of “branchless” banking where all transactions, from depositing checks to applying for loans, are conducted in the web browser,  on the mobile phone or by telephone. When asked whether they would consider a branchless alternative when they next switched banks, 27 percent of those polled answered in the affirmative. Among the 18-34 demographic that number rose to 39 percent.

Of course, whether many of these companies would ever consider becoming banks is doubtful. They would be joining an industry much more heavily regulated than their own. I’m not sure if Google wants to add the Federal Deposit Insurance Coporation and Federal Reserve to its list of regulators.

"Branchless Banking: If you were to switch banks, would you consider a bank with no branch locations?"

Still for companies that are already getting heavily involved in their customers finances like PayPal, Walmart and even Amazon; banking might be the logical next step. One of the more interesting nuggets from Accenture’s report was about Square. While Square isn’t yet a well-known consumer brand, 50 percent of those polled that were familiar with Square – likely the small business owners that use its services — said they would bank with Square if they could.

Also being a virtual bank doesn’t necessarily require a company to become an actual bank. One of the more popular online banking services Simple doesn’t actually maintain any accounts. Rather it contracts out with Bancorp to and CBW Bank to hold its customers’ money – and deal with regulators – while Simple provides the front-end services.

 

 

Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
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Posted by Augustine at 7:21 PM

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