As much fun as it is to connect my lights, there are plenty of less sexy appliances and items that could probably benefit more from a bit of connectivity. Such as the humble water heater, which according to the U.S. Department of Energy is the second largest consumer of energy in most U.S. homes,...
https://gigaom.com/2014/10/20/meet-a-water-heater-with-wi-fi-and-a-little-bit-of-ai/
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Source: http://gizmodo.com/google-just-released-hundreds-of-cool-icons-that-you-ca-1648797992
As part of its Material Design project
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/20/jade-raymond-leaving-ubisoft/
The driving force behind some of Ubisoft's most successful franchises and best moments is no longer with the game maker as of today. Jade Raymond, executive producer on Assassin's Creed II, Watch Dogs and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, has left the company after ten years of service, the company announced. To do what, exactly? That's anyone's guess. She's been in the AAA space for a good portion of her career, working on The Sims Online prior to joining Ubisoft and being a key voice in the creation of the first two Assassin's Creeds. Given her experience running Ubisoft's Toronto studio, though, it might not be much of a stretch to imagine her going indie and assembling a quick and nimble team entirely of her own -- it wouldn't be the first time we've seen it happen.
In an interview with Metro last year, she lamented that she'd love to make a game where it was a challenge for an elderly player character to even make it to the bus stop, but went on to say that when you're dealing with a $100 million budget that type of experimentation just isn't possible. Maybe this will be her chance. Either that or she could go majorly left-field and start brewing craft beer.
[Image credit: ZCooperstown/Wikimedia Commons]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Ubisoft
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/20/china-icloud-data-attack/
Notorious for the constant surveilling and censorship of its people, the Chinese government appears to be at it again -- this time with Apple iOS users. According to a report from GreatFire.org, a website that focuses on privacy matters, China has secretly started collecting iCloud data through what's known as a "man-in-the-middle" intrusion; basically, the attacker eavesdrops by independently connecting to the user and making it seem as if it's a private connection, when, in fact, it isn't. Chinese Security expert Zhou Shuguang suggests that the network service providers are likely being told by the authorities to use fake trust certificates, making it rather easy for them to conduct these attacks.
The purported SSL attack on iCloud by China officials comes as Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have just been released in that country, where there's estimated to be upwards of 100 million people using an iPhone. At the same time, this issue is hot on the heels of Apple announcing it would begin storing personal data in servers in China, as it looked to improve cloud features like iMessage and others. Back then, Apple said all info would be encrypted, adding that data center providers were not going to "have access to the content." Still, it's unclear at the moment if that's related in any way.
We've reached out to Apple for comment on the matter and will update this story if we hear back.
Photos by Will Lipman.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Apple
Via: Quartz
Source: GreatFire.org, Zhou Shuguang (Chinese)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/19/white-house-payment-order/
American banks and stores may already be planning to tighten your payment security, but the White House wants to give those efforts a boost. President Obama has signed an Executive Order that will require the federal government to both issue more secure chip-and-PIN (aka EMV) payment cards and upgrade terminals to match. This isn't just for protecting day-to-day staff expenses -- it also means that pensions, Social Security and veteran payments (all of which tend to go through official debit cards) should be safer. There should also be fewer risks when you're buying from federal locations like national parks and the passport office.
Additional moves should improve protections against identity theft, whether or not you're on the government's dime. The order will have federal investigators share more of their evidence with companies when looking into data breaches. It will also refine IdentityTheft.gov to make it easier for you to report (and ideally, recover from) fraud, while partnerships with both Citi and MasterCard will respectively give account holders free monthly credit score updates and identity theft support. There's only so much these new measures will do, especially when chip-and-PIN security won't arrive in earnest until 2015, but it's hard to object to better security.
Via: New York Times
Source: White House
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