Friday, 31 May 2019
‘Gato Roboto’ and ‘Dig Dog’ put pixelated pets to work in gleeful gaming homages
Drawing inspiration from games of yore but with dog and cat protagonists that signal light adventures rather than grim, dark ones, Gato Roboto and Dig Dog are easy to recommend to anyone looking to waste a couple hours this weekend. Not only that, but the latter was developed in a fascinating and inspiring way.
Both games share a 1-bit aesthetic that goes back many years but most recently was popularized by the inimitable Downwell and recently used to wonderful effect in both Return of the Obra Dinn and Minit. This is a limitation that frees the developer from certain concerns while also challenging them to present the player with all the information they need with only two colors, or in Dig Dog’s case a couple more (but not a lot).
In the latter game, you play as a dog, digging for bones among a series of procedurally generated landscapes populated by enemies and hazards. Dig Dug is the obvious callback in the name, but gameplay is more bouncy and spontaneous rather than the slower, strategic digging of the arcade classic.
On every stage you’re tasked with collecting a bone that’s somewhere near the bottom, while avoiding various types of enemies and traps or, if you so choose, destroying them and occasionally yielding coins. These coins can be traded with a merchant who appears on some stages, offering various gameplay perks like a longer dash or higher jump.
Get it! Get the bone!
The simple controls let you jump, dig, and do a midair dash that kills enemies — that’s pretty much it. The rest is down to moment-to-moment choices: dig around that enemy or go through them? If I go this way will I trap myself in this hole? Is it worth attacking that bat nest for a coin or will it be too hard to get out alive?
Collected bones contribute towards unlocking new stages with different, more dangerous enemies and devious traps. It gives a sense of progression even when you only get a bone or two, as does your dog rocketing back upwards in a brief but satisfying zoomies celebration every time. So even when you die, and you will die a lot, you feel like you’re working towards something.
It’s a great time-waster and you won’t exhaust its challenges for hours of gameplay; it’s also very easy to pick up and play a few stages of, since a whole life might last less than a minute. At $4 it’s an easy one to recommend.
Interestingly, Dig Dog was developed by its creator with only minimal use of his hands. A repetitive stress condition made it painful and inadvisable for him to code using the keyboard, so he uses a voice-based coding system instead. If I had been told I couldn’t type any more, I’d probably just take up a new career, so I admire Rusty Moyher for his tenacity. He made a video about the process here, if you’re curious:
Gato Roboto, for Switch and PC, is a much more complicated game, though not nearly so much as its inspirations, the NES classics Metroid and Blaster Master. In Gato Roboto, as in those games, you explore a large world filled with monsters and tunnels, fighting bosses and outfitting yourself with new abilities, which in turn let you explore the world further.
This one isn’t as big and open as recent popular “metroidvanias” like Hollow Knight or Ori and the Blind Forest — it’s really much more like a linear action-adventure game in the style of metroidvanias.
The idea is that you’ve crash-landed on a planet after tracking a mysterious signal, but the spaceman aboard the ship is trapped — you play his cat, Kiki, who must explore the planet in his stead.
At first (or shall I say fur-st) you really are just a cat, but you’re soon equipped with a power suit that lets you jump and shoot like any other action game. However, you frequently have to jump out of it to get into a smaller tunnel or enter water, in which the suit can’t operate (and the cat only barely). In this respect it’s a bit like Blaster Master, in which your pilot could dismount and explore caves in top-down fashion — an innovation that made the game one of my favorites for the system. (If you haven’t played the Switch remake, Blaster Master Zero, I implore you to.)
Gato Roboto isn’t as taxing or complex as its predecessors, but it’s not really meant to be. It’s a non-stop romp where you always have a goal or an obstacle to overcome. The 1-bit graphics are so well executed that I stopped noticing them after a minute or two — the pixel art is very clear and only rarely does the lack of color cause any confusion whatever.
Like Dig Dog and Downwell before it, you can pick up color schemes to change the palette, a purely aesthetic choice but a fun collectible (some are quite horrid). The occasional secret and branching path keeps your brain working a little bit, but not too much.
The game is friendly and forgiving, but I will say that the bosses present rather serious difficulty spikes, and you may, as I did, find yourself dying over and over to them because they’re a hundred times more dangerous than ordinary enemies or environmental hazards. Fortunately the game is (kitty) littered with save points and, for the most part, the bosses are not overlong encounters. I still raged pretty hard on a couple of them.
It’s twice the price of Dig Dog, a whopping $8. I can safely say it’s worth the price of two coffees. Don’t hesitate.
These pleasant distractions should while away a few hours, and to me they represent a healthy gaming culture that can look back on its past and find inspiration, then choose to make something new and old at the same time.
https://tcrn.ch/2JM9sq8
Huawei Mate 20 Pro makes a comeback on Google's Android Q beta program
When Google officially announced the Android Q beta program at Google IO 2019 in early May, it revealed 21 handsets that were part of the beta program.
One of those handsets was Huawei's Mate 20 Pro, however, when the US Government put Huawei on the entity list, Huawei's products disappeared from the Android Enterprise program and the list of devices eligible for Android Q beta.
However, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has reappeared on the Android Q beta program, as spotted by Android Police.
We don't know if there has been any progress on talks between Huawei and Google but this is surely good news for Mate 20 Pro owners that registered to be a part of the Android Q beta program.
Re-instating the beta suggests that Mate 20 Pro will receive updates that Google posts to the Android Q beta program.
- Huawei calls for quick end to US ban
- Huawei ban: the global fallout explained
- How to download the Android Q developer beta
http://bit.ly/2WH2IQB
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 could drop headphone jack and all physical buttons
Often praised as a steadfast holdout amongst smartphone manufacturers for its refusal to cave to handset trends that negatively impact the end user (i.e. removing the 3.5mm headphone jack), it now seems Samsung is planning to do just that, if a new report from Android Police is to be believed.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 could have a quad-lens camera
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- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 looks set to offer 5G
Citing a "source familiar with the company's plans", the site is reporting that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note 10 may finally (and regrettably) ditch the headphone jack that it's held onto for so long.
Additionally, the report states that Samsung may also drop all physical buttons from the Galaxy Note 10, including volume and power keys, opting instead to use "capacitive or pressure-sensitive areas" which may or may not be "highlighted by some kind of raised 'bump' and/or texture along the edge."
But why?
Along with LG, Samsung is one of the few Android phone manufacturers to reject the headphone jack removal trend that was spearheaded by Apple with 2016's iPhone 7. Brands such as Huawei, OnePlus, Google and Motorola have all dropped the 3.5mm socket from their current flagship devices.
Of course, there are numerous reasons why Samsung might want to remove the headphone jack it's long fought for: it could provide additional room for an even larger battery in the Note 10, and may also allow for a thinner form factor.
That said, the latter reason seems unlikely, given the device will always need a place to hold its signature S Pen, which is far larger than the 3.5mm area taken by the headphone port.
While rumors of Samsung ditching the headphone jack and buttons from its phones are hardly rock-solid, it's not the first time either has cropped up – South Korean technology site ET News reported on Samsung's supposed desire to remove the 3.5mm port back in October, and we reported on the possible removal of all physical buttons back in March.
At present, there's no word on whether Samsung is planning to do the same with next year's Samsung Galaxy S11.
http://bit.ly/2EK4plI
Salesforce launches blockchain channel
At its fourth annual TrailheaDX developer conference, Salesforce announced its new low-code platform called Salesforce Blockchain that enables organizations to share verified, distributed data sets across a trusted network of partners and third parties.
By bringing blockchain to its CRM platform, the company is enabling organizations to create blockchain networks, workflows and apps that have the potential to deliver entirely new customer experiences.
To deliver increased connectivity for their organization and customers, businesses need to be able to harness and share massive amounts of data with their network of partners and third parties, all without sacrificing trust. Blockchain technology is able to solve this “trust gap” through the use of a distributed ledger that saves, traces and authenticates data across every employee and partner in the network.
- Salesforce resolves massive outage with gradual access restoration
- Demystifying enterprise blockchain
- Apple and Salesforce team up on workplace apps
The combination of Salesforce's CRM workflows with blockchain data will allow companies to create new business processes and models that span their entire organization to help accelerate the speed of business.
Salesforce Blockchain
Salesforce Blockchain is a low-code blockchain platform that extends the power of CRM to lower the barrier for creating trusted partner networks.
The company built its new blockchain offering on the open source technology of Hyperledger Sawtooth and it has been deeply customized for Salesforce Lightning.
Businesses can utilize the platform to build and maintain blockchain networks, apps and smart contracts using the company's powerful low-code capabilities. Customers will even be able to create and share a blockchain object using the same process as they already do for any CRM data object in Salesforce without the need for writing code.
Salesforce Blockchain is currently available to select design partners but the company expects it become generally available in 2020.
http://bit.ly/2Xhe2Qi
The 5 best laptops of Computex 2019: the most exciting laptops from the show
Computex 2019 is clearly the biggest computing trade show of the year, focused almost exclusively on the latest in desktop PCs and the components that power them. However, it has increasingly become a show about laptops, too, and 2019 is the biggest year for them yet at the Taipei show.
We’ve sifted through a veritable ton of laptop news and hands-on reviews to bring you the absolute most exciting highlights from the show. You’ll find dual-screen wonders, incredible new redesigns and bold, fresh directions that will make 2019 a landmark year in mobile computing – all debuting at Computex 2019.
Check out all of TechRadar's Computex 2019 coverage. We're live in Taipei to bring you all the breaking computing news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from fresh laptops and desktops to powerful new components and wild overclocking demonstrations.
Asus has been experimenting with additional displays on its laptops for about a year or two, but the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo is on a whole new level. This notebook adds an entire "Screenpad Plus" display above the keyboard but below the 'main' screen. This secondary 4K screen can be used to present document editing controls, making editing video and image content at 100% 4K resolution on a primary laptop display a reality.
Of course, Asus plans to bring the goods to back up such endeavors with a larger 'main' display, allowing for Intel Core i9 and Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics configurations. This certainly isn’t a thin or light notebook, but really the point is to serve as a one-stop shop for content creators that also like a little bit of gaming on the side. While we don’t yet have a price, we can’t wait to see what this laptop can do with those two displays.
The new flagship Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 laptop from Dell heralds the firm’s new XPS design aesthetic that started earlier this year with the revamped Dell XPS 13 for its hybrid line. Sure, the webcam has moved to above the display, but we’re more excited by the laptop’s brand-new, quieter MagLev 2 keyboard – not to mention its cooling system that allows for full-fat, 10-nanometer Intel mobile processors.
This is a 2-in-1 laptop that can promise to deliver on power, much unlike so many that has come before it. It also delivers a larger display than before – bigger than even the straight-laced XPS 13 – with a new 16:10 aspect ratio. As you can see, just about everything regarding Dell’s leading 2-in-1 laptop has seen a revamp or upgrade, making us quite excited to give it a full review later this year.
The next phase for MSI’s desktop replacement gaming laptop obviously brings on the power by packing in the latest components from Intel and Nvidia, but that’s not the biggest story here. The real buzz behind the MSI GT76 Titan is the aesthetics. Everything about this laptop’s chassis has become more worthy of its astronomical price tag.
Gone are the plastic trappings of last year, replaced by an aluminum shell and RGB lighting strewn throughout the chassis – including per-key backlighting. This is a laptop that truly looks the part when you see the massive price tag. Throw in desktop-grade, overclock-ready parts, and you’re looking at a PC gaming desktop setup in a box … one that you can actually haul around.
While these laptops sadly weren’t available for hands-on review in Taipei, we have to commend HP’s interesting design direction with its upcoming HP Envy Wood series of Ultrabooks and 2-in-1 laptops. All of HP’s 2019 Envy laptops will feature real wood aesthetics on their palm rests.
Across the three available colors for these laptops, there is a unique type of wood that comes as a placard in the palm rest, trackpad and even fingerprint reader, including walnut, pale birch and ceramic white birch. Naturally, HP promises that this wood will be sustainably sourced. We don’t know how much these laptops will cost when they launch later this year, but we’re a lot of intrigued folks will be willing to pay up.
We are ecstatic to see Dell and Alienware bring that rad Area-51m design to the Alienware m15 and m17 laptops. The design translates to the thin and light trappings of the product line perfectly, making laptops that look less like the mothership that is Area-51m and more like light, nimble fighters in the fleet.
This new design also brings plenty of previously absent practicality to Dell’s thin-and-light Alienware laptops, vastly improving their cooling design as well as visual aesthetics. Now, we are a bit miffed by the entry-level pricing. But Dell certainly adds a lot of value to the more expensive options, particularly Tobii eye tracking, which is used by Alienware’s very own competitive gaming tutors (via Alienware Academy) to train your reflexes.
http://bit.ly/2JMakuP
Warriors vs Raptors live stream: how to watch the 2019 NBA Finals online from anywhere
The 2019 NBA Finals lineup is set and the Golden State Warriors will take on the Toronto Raptors in a best-of-seven series to see which team will be this year’s NBA champion. If you’re looking for a Warriors vs Raptors live stream, then you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading and we’ll show you exactly how to watch the 2019 NBA Finals online wherever you happen to find yourself in the world.
For the first time in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors have advanced to the NBA Finals. The team may have lost two games to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals but thanks to a run led by Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors managed to win Game 6 and earn themselves a spot in the Finals. The Golden State Warriors on the other hand, swept the Portland Trail Blazers 4-0 in the Western Conference Finals to advance to the final round.
The Warriors are back in the Finals for the fifth straight season and the team will be shooting for their third title in a row. If they can pull it off, they’ll be the first team to three-peat since the Los Angeles Lakers pulled off the feat back in 2002. Either way, the 2019 NBA Finals are set to be an exciting time for fans of both teams and lead to an historic outcome.
Whether you’re rooting for Golden State or Toronto, we’ll show you how to tune into all the action either on your TV or online. Get the info you need in this Warriors vs Raptors live stream guide.
- NHL fan? Then get yourself a Bruins vs Blues live stream in the Stanley Cup
How to watch the 2019 NBA Finals online from outside your country
Living in the US, UK or Australia and want to catch the Warriors vs Raptors? Scroll further down the page and we'll explain how to watch a 2019 NBA Finals live stream, whether or not you have cable.
But if you can't watch because you're not in your home country and so your coverage is geo-blocked then we can suggest a clever alternative (and no, it doesn’t involve finding some dodgy feed on Reddit). Using a VPN - or Virtual Private Network - you can change the IP address to one in a different state or country which does have the stream so that you can watch the series from anywhere in the world. The process is very straightforward…
Watch the NBA Finals on TV in the US
If you've already signed up for an NBA League Pass then we're afraid that won't help you get a live stream of the Warriors vs Raptors. The NBA's own streaming service doesn't show any NBA Finals games live online. The best it can do is to show the games on replay three hours after they air on TV.
To watch on TV then, ABC is your only option as the network has secured the rights to broadcast the NBA Finals live.
We wish watching the NBA Finals was easier on TV but you can get around network exclusivity deals by opting for a streaming service that gives you access to every channel showing the playoffs and all of which coming with some kind of free trial.
- fuboTV $44.99 for the first month - fuboTV doesn't include ESPN but you do get access to TNT, NBA TV and ABC in most markets. The service also includes Cloud DVR so you can record games to watch them later and if you forget to record a game, the company's 3-day replay allows you to replay nearly any game, show or movie that aired in the last three days. FuboTV even offers a free 7-day trial so you can test out the service.
- Hulu with Live TV $44.99 per month - Hulu with Live TV gives you access to ESPN, TNT and ABC in most markets but the service doesn't include NBA TV. The service supports a wide variety of streaming devices and even includes its own Hulu Originals in case you want a break from watching sports.
- Playstation Vue starting at $44.99 per month - Playstation Vue has four plans: Access, Core, Elite and Ultra but you'll need to opt for the Core plan at $49.99 per month to watch sports. The service's base plan gives you access to ESPN, TNT and ABC in most markets but you'll need to check to see if the plan you choose has NBA TV. There is also a 5-day free trial available.
- DirecTV Now $50 per month - DirecTV Now gives you access to ESPN, TNT and ABC in most markets but only some plans offer NBA TV. You can stream on up to three screens simultaneously and with the DirecTV Now app you can watch live TV on the go. New customers can take advantage of a 7-day trial but you'll have to purchase on of DirecTV Now's packages first.
- Sling TV starting at $15 per month - Sling TV's Sling Orange or Sling Blue packages each cost $15 or you can combine them for $25 per month. However, each package contains different channels so make sure the one you choose has the channels you want to watch. Sling TV gives you access to ESPN, TNT and ABC in limited markets with NBA TV available as an add-on.
- YouTube TV $49.99 per month - YouTube TV gives you access to ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and ABC in most markets. The service also offers NBA League Pass. With YouTube TV you get free unlimited DVR storage space to record games for later and you can stream the service on three devices simultaneously. A free 14-day trial is also available so you can test it out for yourself.
- Discover our pick of all the US's best sports streaming sites
How to watch the Warriors vs Raptors in the UK
Basketball fans in the UK will be able to tune into the NBA Finals on Sky Sports. The service will air the majority of the Warriors vs Raptors games at 2am BST.
If you’re not already a Sky Sports subscriber and don’t feel like paying for the service just to watch the NBA Finals, don’t worry as you can buy a daily, weekly or even monthly Sky Sports Pass on Now TV. This will allow you to watch the NBA Finals and all other sports shown on Sky.
When it comes to streaming basketball online our first choice is NBA.com. With the NBA League Pass you you can watch hundreds of Live and On-Demand games on all of your favorite streaming devices including Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox, Playstation and even on mobile. It costs £39.99, and will give you access to all remaining NBA games live.
And if you find yourself outside the UK at any stage during the playoffs then don't forget that you can always use a VPN to change your IP address back to the UK and watch any of these streaming services as if you were back at home.
How to get an NBA Finals live stream in Australia
If you're up for a bit of morning NBA watching Down Under (the games are due to start at 11am AET), there are plenty of options on TV and online.
If you have Fox Sports, then you'll want to turn to channel 508 for the ESPN channel.
If it's a phone or laptop you'd sooner watch from, then there's the ESPN Player instead. Or you can live stream NBA action via the Kayo Sports streaming service, which features no lock-in contracts and also includes access to over 50 sports, both live and on demand.
Kayo Sports Basic Package costs $25 per month and allows users to stream across two devices simultaneously. Alternatively, the service also offers a Kayo Sports Premium Package, which provides three concurrent streams for $35 per month.
The Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports apps means you can access this from your chosen device wherever you are (although you'll need a VPN if you're taking that abroad).
http://bit.ly/2I7P1Rk
Apple, WhatsApp criticize GCHQ surveillance plans
Apple and other tech firms have rallied together to criticize a GCHQ proposal which would enable the UK government to eavesdrop on encrypted chat services.
The iPhone maker, together with WhatsApp and 50 companies, civil society organizations and security experts, have signed an open letter calling on the GCHQ to abandon it so-called “ghost protocol” and instead focus its efforts on “protecting privacy rights, cybersecurity, public confidence and transparency”.
Technical director of the UK's national cyber security centre, Ian Levy and head of cryptanalysis at GCHQ Crispin Robinson first raised the proposal back in November of 2018. Together they suggested a technique that would require encrypted messaging services to share any encrypted messages sent with a third recipient in addition to those already in a chat.
- US and UK governments call for mandatory backdoors in encrypted chat
- Five Eyes nations want access to your encrypted communications data
- The war for encrypted data
Levy and Robinson made the case that their proposal was “no more intrusive than the virtual crocodile clips” already used today in wiretaps of non-encrypted communications.
GCHQ surveillance opposition
The open letter sent to the GCHQ in opposition to its plan argues that the proposal “requires two changes to systems that would seriously undermine user security and trust”.
Under the proposal, service providers would be forced to inject a new public key into a conversation that would turn a two-way conversation into a group chat with the government being an additional participant.
Additionally, the GCHQ's proposal would require messaging apps, service providers and operating systems to alter their software by changing the encryption schemes used. They would also be required to mislead their users by blocking the notifications that appear when a new user joins a chat.
The proposal may not call for back doors into encrypted messaging services but it would undermine user trust in security as a whole. Levy replied to the open letter in such a way as to suggest that the proposal could be scrapped following the backlash it has received, saying:
“We welcome this response to our request for thoughts on exceptional access to data - for example to stop terrorists. The hypothetical proposal was always intended as a starting point for discussion. We will continue to engage with interested parties and look forward to having an open discussion to reach the best solutions possible.”
- We've also highlighted the best VPN
Via The Guardian
http://bit.ly/2ws2PQX
Chrome will limit full ad blocking to enterprise users
The days of easily blocking ads in Google Chrome may soon be over thanks to a proposed change to the browser's extensions system called Manifest V3 that Google announced back in January.
Manifest V3 would prevent current ad blockers from working efficiently and despite overwhelming negative feedback, the search giant is sticking to its guns concerning Chrome's ad blocking changes. However, enterprise users will not be affected and will be able to continue utilizing current ad blocking capabilities going forward.
Once Manifest V3 goes into effect, Chrome's extension system will see a revamp to its permissions system as well as a fundamental change to how ad blockers operate.
- Latest Google Chrome update draws government and telecom concerns
- Popular Chrome ad-blockers could be crippled under proposed design changes
- Google Chrome update blocks fake ads
Ad blockers such as uBlock Origin and Ghostery, which rely on Chrome's webRequest API to block ads before they're downloaded will no longer be able to do so as under the Manifest V3 proposal, Google will deprecate the API's ability to block requests before a page is loaded.
Manifest V3
Now that months have passed since the changes were first proposed, Google has responded to some of the issues raised by the community by offering more details on how permissions and ad blockers will be affected.
Extensions developer advocate, Simeon Vincent clarified the company's changes to ad blocking and privacy blocking extensions in a Google Group discussing Chromium extensions, saying:
“Chrome is deprecating the blocking capabilities of the webRequest API in Manifest V3, not the entire webRequest API (though blocking will still be available to enterprise deployments).”
Essentially Google is saying that Chrome will still be able to block unwanted content but this feature will now be restricted to paid enterprise users. However, enterprise users will likely not be blocking ads and will instead develop in-house Chrome extensions that can block unwanted content for employees.
Now that ad blockers can no longer use the webRequest API, they'll have to switch to a rules-based system similar to the one currently in use by AdBlock Plus. However, Chrome imposes a limit of 30,000 rules which will likely makes things difficult for developers trying to switch to a rules-based approach.
Advertising is Google's main revenue stream and by allowing ad blockers to continue to operate unchecked, the company was cutting off a significant portion of its own revenue. Enterprise users will be able to continue blocking ads because they pay for the company's services unlike most of its users.
- We've also highlighted the best VPN
Via 9To5 Google
http://bit.ly/2VZmaDr
Sprint 5G network launches today in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City
Sprint has officially launched its 5G network in a handful of US cities: Texas, Georgia and Kansas/Missouri today, with aims to expand to more including Los Angeles and New York City by the end of 2019. The carrier is the third to join the 5G race this year after Verizon and AT&T back in April.
Sprint 5G is live today in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Kansas City. Customers can access the network by picking up a Sprint 5G phone – the LG V50 ThinQ 5G or an HTC 5G Hub, or the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G in the coming months (‘summer’ in the northern hemisphere).
Unlike the ‘millimeter wave’ 5G in Verizon and AT&T’s nascent networks, Sprint is opting to spread their low-frequency network essentially on top of its existing 4G LTE one – literally, with the carrier deploying its 5G Massive MIMO radios (which broadcast on the 2.5 Ghz mid-band spectrum that Sprint already uses) on existing 4G cell sites. The 5G network should then have similar (if not identical) coverage to its current 4G range.
Pros and cons in the early days of 5G
We’ll have to see whether Sprint’s 5G network performs better than its competitors; almost two months after launching, Verizon 5G mmWave has demonstrated over 1 Gpbs download speeds, but only within a few blocks in Chicago and Minneapolis.
Thus far, reporters have noted speeds of 100 Mbps up to 250 Mbps, with some claiming up to 700 Mbps. That’s obviously lower than Verizon’s 5G speeds, but lower is expected from Sprint’s sub-6 network – the bigger question is how far that coverage extends, at least in the early days of both networks.
If Sprint’s 5G network continues to underperform, we’ll have larger concerns, but building out a new network on top of the old is promising.
- Sprint has only some of the 5G phones on the market – check out our list
http://bit.ly/2Mjrx0H
NordVPN ups security with new encryption tool
NordVPN is known for providing VPN services to users around the world and now the company is expanding its offerings with the announcement of a new tool for securing files stored locally or in the cloud.
The company's new cybersecurity tool called NordLocker will secure files stored on a user's computer or in the cloud with end-to-end encryption.
NordVPN's CMO, Marty P. Kamden explained how NordLocker will make data security more accessible to all users, saying:
“We at NordVPN believe that the digital environment must be better than it is today. As a company, we strive to move towards becoming an all-around cybersecurity solution that people trust. By releasing NordLocker, we want to make top-notch data security available for everyone – regardless of their tech skills. To achieve this, we combine the best usability practices with the highest encryption standards.”
- NordVPN kills popular free trial due to widespread abuse
- BullGuard and NordVPN announce new partnership
- The encryption debate is at a dead end
NordLocker
When it launches later this year, NordLocker will be available for both macOS and Windows and it will help protect user's data by encrypting files on their device as well as those stored in the cloud.
The file encryption app will use the two most secure encryption algorithms available today, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) and 4096-bit RSA. NordLocker will also utilize NordVPN's own zero-knowledge encryption process to ensure ultimate security. In addition to encrypting their files, users will also be able to share them securely by managing access permissions.
NordLocker is currently going through internal stress-tests to ensure that it is ready for its launch later this year. However, interested users will be able to get their hands on the first beta version this summer.
You can sign up for early access on NordLocker's website and we'll fill you in on more details regarding the new app as we get closer to its launch.
- We've also highlighted the best VPN
http://bit.ly/2XgjPWl
Call of Duty Modern Warfare trailer shows us the bleak future of combat – again
After laying dormant for close to a decade, Activision has finally announced the next game in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare franchise called… well, Modern Warfare.
The game was unveiled in a new trailer posted by Activision that stars one of the game’s protagonists, Captain Price, and gives us our first look at some of the locales we’ll be visiting in our next tour of duty. (We’ve posted it down below.)
One of the most striking parts of the trailer, however, is all of the nightvision scenes, where the footage seems almost identical to real-life raids. According to Activision, everything in the trailer was in-game footage, so that seems really promising.
According to information sent to TechRadar in a press release, the game won’t feature a traditional season pass and will instead offer at least some of its map packs for free. We’ve also seen reports that Modern Warfare will support cross-play between the three platforms - though, thanks to some pre-existing deals between Sony and Activision, PS4 might get DLC ahead of the other platforms.
The game will be developed by Infinity Ward, the studio behind the original Modern Warfare and its sequel, Modern Warfare 2, and is set to arrive on October 25 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One with pre-orders beginning today.
- Need something to play right now? Here's our list of the best PS4 games
http://bit.ly/30Y2kw3
Prime Day preview: Amazon's Fire TV devices are on sale today
If you don't want to wait for Amazon Prime Day to snag deals on best-selling devices, then you should take advantage of today's sale on Fire TV sticks. You can get the best-selling 2nd generation Fire TV stick on sale for just $29.99. That's a $10 discount and the best price we've found for the streaming media player. Amazon also has the 4K Fire TV stick on sale for $39.99.
The Fire TV stick allows you to stream thousands of movies and TV shows, and gives you access to thousands of apps, games and Alexa skills. You can also browse websites like YouTube and Facebook or stream your favorite songs through services like Apple Music and Spotify.
The 2nd generation streaming device now features an Alexa voice remote so you can launch Netflix, browse movies, turn on the TV and more with the command of your voice. You can also ask Alexa to control other compatible smart home devices using the remote.
If you want to stream your favorite movies and TV shows in 4K Ultra HD, Amazon also has the 4K Fire TV stick on sale for $39.99. That's a $10 discount for the streaming media player that's powered by Alexa.
You can shop more Fire TV device deals with the best Amazon Fire TV deals, prices and sales that are happening now.
Learn more about Prime Day with our guide on Amazon Prime Day 2019: everything you need to know for the July deals event.
http://bit.ly/2EMvmFI
Starfield: latest trailers, rumors and news
We may not know much about Starfield, but by goodness are we excited. Bethesda's upcoming single-player RPG set in outer space marks the gaming giant's first new IP for 25 years.
But just what is the game about? And, more importantly, when will we actually be able to play it?
During the game's shock announcement at E3 2018, Bethesda boss Todd Howard called Starfield "our next-generation, single-player epic". However, Bethesda wouldn't divulge any more details apart from a short teaser trailer announcing the game and showing off its logo.
However that hasn't stopped us from boarding the hype train with a first-class ticket. There's nothing more exciting than whetting your appetite for a new game by future gazing (or star gazing in this case).
So, in that spirit, we've searched the galaxy to bring you the latest news and rumors on Starfield. Here's everything you need to know.
[Update: Starfield isn't likely to make an appearance at E3 2019. Read on to find out more.]
Cut to the chase
- What is it? A single-player RPG in outer space from the makers of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls
- What can I play it on? It's almost certainly coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox, but we might have to wait for the next generation of consoles
- When can I play it? No word yet, but we may be looking at later than 2020
Starfield release date
So far, what's been released is a title, trailer and, well, promise of greatness to come.
With details so thin on the ground, the earliest we'd expect to see a Starfield game would be 2020.
Bethesda Game Studios Director Todd Howard has stressed that "everyone should be very, very patient".
In Bethesda's E3 2018 presentation, Howard referred to the first Starfield game as "next-gen", suggesting it might not see a release before the next generation of consoles (either the PS5 and Xbox Two).
He might, however, just mean the game will use the capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox One's recent mid-cycle upgrades, in which case late 2019 or early 2020 would be a more likely window.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Howard elaborated:
"What systems we put it out on - what's the hardware requirements - is still to be determined. We're pushing it; we're thinking very, very far in future so we're building something that will handle next-generation hardware. That's what we're building on right now, that's where our mind is, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't exist on the current systems as well."
Starfield trailers
We saw our first glimpse of the game during E3 2018. it's not much more than a title and setting at this point, but the video does introduce us to an unnamed planet, a floating satellite or space station, and some sort of... glowing wormhole?
Check out the teaser trailer below:
Starfield news and rumors
Starfield may not be coming to E3 2019 after all
E3 is the place to announce exciting gaming news but it looks like Starfield won't be making much of an appearance at E3 2019. During a panel at PAX East which celebrated the 25th Anniversary of The Elder Scrolls, Todd Howard responded to a question about some photogrammetry tech being used in Elder Scrolls and Starfield with the news that "it’s going to be a long time! It’s not something we’re going to be talking about, either of those games, at E3 this year, and so patience, please”.
Bethesda's E3 2019 showcase dated and confirmed
Bethesda's E3 2019 showcase kicks off at 5.30pm PDT on Sunday June 9, with the horror shooter Doom Eternal taking center stage. But could we see some surprises too?
First announced at last year's E3 show, could we finally get a glimpse at Starfield? It's no secret that Starfield is a long time away from public consumption, but with the PS5 and Xbox Two apparently around the corner, we're hopeful that Starfield could be revealed alongside them. But, as stated above, it seems unlikely due to Howard's comments at PAX East.
A whole new world
Bethesda has reportedly been talking about making Starfield for years now.
There have been rumors flying around about the game since Bethesda publisher Zenimax filed a trademark for the name as far back as 2013.
Given how much mileage Bethesda has achieved out of its other tentpole IPs – Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, which have both seen various spin-off entries and MMO variants – it is presumably hoping to make Starfield a far-reaching franchise in the same vein.
...and whole new systems
The idea behind Starfield has been floating around as far back as 2004, and Howard has said it has the recognisable Bethesda DNA to it – so expect deep character customisation and open exploration. But also expect all new ideas entering into the mix – this won't just be Fallout or Skyrim in space. Speaking to Eurogamer, Howard stated "[...] it has a lot of new systems we've been thinking about for a while that fit that kind of game really well." So don't be surprised if there's some sort of on-theme space flight element involved too.
Bigger than ever before
Both the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series have shared a similar character progression system and open-world backdrop, partially rooted in their sharing of the same gaming engine.
While we haven't heard specifics on gameplay, Starfield looks set to follow in the same vein, albeit in a more galactic setting. But the final frontier could hold much larger potential for exploration, allowing players to travel across various planets and encounter unknown civilizations.
There's a big gap in the market for sci-fi RPGs
With the future of the space-opera RPG series Mass Effect looking uncertain, and the unfulfilled promise of the planet-hopping exploration game No Man's Sky, Starfield will be entering a gaming market hungry for a sci-fi RPG done right. With the proven success of Bethesda's other franchises, could the developer have the next Mass Effect up its sleeves?
(Image credits: Bethesda)
Keep checking back here for all the latest Starfield news
- Keep up to date with all our game coverage of E3 2019
http://bit.ly/2URvrSB
UK Internet attitudes study finds public support for social media regulation
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has published a new joint report and stat-fest on Internet attitudes and usage with the national data protection watchdog, the ICO — a quantitative study to be published annually which they’re calling the Online Nation report.
The new structure hints at the direction of travel for online regulation in the UK, following government plans set out in a recent whitepaper to regulate online harms — which will include creating a new independent regulator to ensure Internet companies meet their responsibilities.
Ministers are still consulting on whether this should be a new or existing body. But both Ofcom and the ICO have relevant interests in being involved — so it’s fitting to see joint working going into this report.
“As most of us spend more time than ever online, we’re increasingly worried about harmful content — and also more likely to come across it,” writes Yih-Choung Teh, group director of strategy and research at Ofcom, in a statement. “ For most people, those risks are still outweighed by the huge benefits of the internet. And while most internet users favour tighter rules in some areas, particularly social media, people also recognise the importance of protecting free speech – which is one of the internet’s great strengths.”
While it’s not yet clear exactly what form the UK’s future Internet regulator will take, the Online Nation report does suggest a flavor of the planned focus.
The report, which is based on responses from 2,057 adult internet users and 1,001 children, flags as a top-line finding that eight in ten adults have concerns about some aspects of Internet use and further suggests the proportion of adults concerned about going online has risen from 59% to 78% since last year (though its small-print notes this result is not directly comparable with last year’s survey so “can only be interpreted as indicative”).
Another stat being highlighted is a finding that 61% of adults have had a potentially harmful online experience in the past year — rising to 79% among children (aged 12-15). (Albeit with the caveat that it’s using a “broad definition”, with experiences ranging from “mildly annoying to seriously harmful”.)
While a full 83% of polled adults are found to have expressed concern about harms to children on the Internet.
The UK government, meanwhile, has made child safety a key focus of its push to regulate online content.
At the same time the report found that most adults (59%) agree that the benefits of going online outweigh the risks, and 61% of children think the internet makes their lives better.
While Ofcom’s annual Internet reports of years past often had a fairly dry flavor, tracking usage such as time spent online on different devices and particular services, the new joint study puts more of an emphasis on attitudes to online content and how people understand (or don’t) the commercial workings of the Internet — delving into more nuanced questions, such as by asking web users whether they understand how and why their data is collected, and assessing their understanding of ad-supported business models, as well as registering relative trust in different online services’ use of personal data.
The report also assesses public support for Internet regulation — and on that front it suggests there is increased support for greater online regulation in a range of areas. Specifically it found that most adults favour tighter rules for social media sites (70% in 2019, up from 52% in 2018); video-sharing sites (64% v. 46%); and instant-messaging services (61% v. 40%).
At the same time it says nearly half (47%) of adult internet users expressed recognition that websites and social media platforms play an important role in supporting free speech — “even where some people might find content offensive”. So the subtext there is that future regulation of harmful Internet content needs to strike the right balance.
On managing personal data, the report found most Internet users (74%) say they feel confident to do so. A majority of UK adults are also happy for companies to collect their information under certain conditions — vs over a third (39%) saying they are not happy for companies to collect and use their personal information.
Those conditions look to be key, though — with only small minorities reporting they are happy for their personal data to be used to program content (17% of adult Internet users were okay with this); and to target them with ads (only 18% didn’t mind that, so most do).
Trust in online services to protect user data and/or use it responsibly also varies significantly, per the report findings — with social media definitely in the dog house on that front. “Among ten leading UK sites, trust among users of these services was highest for BBC News (67%) and Amazon (66%) and lowest for Facebook (31%) and YouTube (34%),” the report notes.
Despite low privacy trust in tech giants, more than a third (35%) of the total time spent online in the UK is on sites owned by Google or Facebook.
“This reflects the primacy of video and social media in people’s online consumption, particularly on smartphones,” it writes. “Around nine in ten internet users visit YouTube every month, spending an average of 27 minutes a day on the site. A similar number visit Facebook, spending an average of 23 minutes a day there.”
And while the report records relatively high awareness that personal data collection is happening online — finding that 71% of adults were aware of cookies being used to collect information through websites they’re browsing (falling to 60% for social media accounts; and 49% for smartphone apps) — most (69%) also reported accepting terms and conditions without reading them.
So, again, mainstream public awareness of how personal data is being used looks questionable.
The report also flags limited understanding of how search engines are funded — despite the bald fact that around half of UK online advertising revenue comes from paid-for search (£6.7BN in 2018). “[T]here is still widespread lack of understanding about how search engines are funded,” it writes. “Fifty-four per cent of adult internet users correctly said they are funded by advertising, with 18% giving an incorrect response and 28% saying they did not know.”
The report also highlights the disconnect between time spent online and digital ad revenue generated by the adtech duopoly, Google and Facebook — which it says together generated an estimated 61% of UK online advertising revenue in 2018; a share of revenue that it points out is far greater than time spent (35%) on their websites (even as those websites are the most visited by adults in the UK).
As in previous years of Ofcom ‘state of the Internet’ reports, the Online Nation study also found that Facebook use still dominates the social media landscape in the UK.
Though use of the eponymous service continues falling (from 95% of social media users in 2016 to 88% in 2018). Even as use of other Facebook-owned social properties — Instagram and WhatsApp — grew over the same period.
The report also recorded an increase in people using multiple social services — with just a fifth of social media users only using Facebook in 2018 (down from 32% in 2018). Though as noted above, Facebook still dominates time spent, clocking up way more time (~23 minutes) per user per day on average vs Snapchat (around nine minutes) and Instagram (five minutes).
A large majority (74%) of Facebook users also still check it at least once a day.
Overall, the report found that Brits have a varied online diet, though — on average spending a minute or more each day on 15 different internet sites and apps. Even as online ad revenues are not so equally distributed.
“Sites and apps that were not among the top 40 sites ranked by time spent accounted for 43% of average daily consumption,” the report notes. “Just over one in five internet users said that in the past month they had used ‘lots of websites or apps they’ve used before’ while a third (36%) said they ‘only use websites or apps they’ve used before’.”
There is also variety when it comes to how Brits search for stuff online, and while 97% of adult internet users still use search engines the report found a variety of other services also in the mix.
It found that nearly two-thirds of people (65%) go more often to specific sites to find specific things, such as a news site for news stories or a video site for videos; while 30% of respondents said they used to have a search engine as their home page but no longer do.
The high proportion of searches being registered on shopping websites/apps (61%) also looks interesting in light of the 2017 EU antitrust ruling against Google Shopping — when the European Commission found Google had demoted rival shopping comparison services in search results, while promoting its own, thereby undermining rivals’ ability to gain traffic and brand recognition.
The report findings also indicate that use of voice-based search interfaces remains relatively low in the UK, with just 10% using voice assistants on a mobile phone — and even smaller percentages tapping into smart speakers (7%) or voice AIs on connected TVs (3%).
In another finding, the report suggests recommendation engines play a major part in content discovery.
“Recommendation engines are a key way for platforms to help people discover content and products — 70% of viewing to YouTube is reportedly driven by recommendations, while 35% of what consumers purchase on Amazon comes from recommendations,” it writes.
In overarching aggregate, the report says UK adults now spend the equivalent of almost 50 days online per year.
While, each week, 44 million Brits use the internet to send or receive email; 29 million send instant messages; 30 million bank or pay bills via the internet; 27 million shop online; and 21 million people download information for work, school or university.
The full report can be found here.
MMC Ventures launches fresh £52M seed fund aimed at London startups
Synthesia is a London-based startup that recently achieved notoriety after powering the technology behind the recent global campaign showing Malaria survivors speaking through David Beckham to help raise awareness around the Malaria Must Die initiative.
That is, at least now, well-known. What was less well-known until today was that to achieve this, Synthesia was backed by the (also) London-based VC MMC Ventures, via its new fund, announced today by the mayor of London. The new £100 million Greater London Investment Fund — of which MMC Ventures has been appointed to manage £52 million ($65.6 million) — is aimed at enabling investment into high-potential tech companies in London.
As well as investing in 170 companies, the fund will seek to secure at least another £103 million in private sector investment, with the aim of creating 3,500 new jobs in the capital.
The bulk of the money for the new fund comes from European Union sources, which the government is yet to give any assurances about replacing post-Brexit: £35 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme, overseen by City Hall and the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP); and £50 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). But the ERDF cash has long since been banked by the city, prior to the U.K.’s moves toward Brexit, and the fund has already started drawing down funds from the EIB.
MMC will invest from the GLF at seed and Series A, creating a portfolio in which MMC can deploy capital, utilising MMC Ventures’ other funds over multiple rounds as they scale.
The new fund has to be seen partly thought the optics of Brexit. Not only is Mayor Sadiq Khan a staunch opponent of Brexit, and a potential prime ministerial candidate, but the new fund will boost his image as a business-friendly politician in an era where most politicians seem to have replaced their business credentials with “Brexit credentials.” Furthermore — and somewhat ironically — London is finally having to shout about itself, having rested on the laurels of being the EU’s financial heart for 40+ years.
The new fund will primarily back companies already based in London, but will also seek investments in businesses either relocating to London or opening or expanding an office in London, providing local support to the business and any co-investors. Clearly this may be tempting to some European startups that were previously put off by the U.K.’s strange Brexit optics.
What’s to be welcomed is that it will also target investments in businesses founded or run by individuals from under-represented groups — including female entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of minority ethnic groups and those with disabilities, in partnership with the mayor’s team.
Plus, it will invest in sectors that align with the mayor’s Economic Development Strategy, including Advanced Urban Services, Cultural and Creative Industries, Financial and Business and the Circular Economy.
Simon Menashy, partner at MMC Ventures said: “MMC has been investing in London’s startups and scale-ups for the past 20 years, supporting some of Europe’s most successful growth stories. Over that time, we’ve proven that you can generate growth and financial value while creating well-paying jobs and supporting sustainable business — something close to our hearts.”
MMC has already made its first investments through the fund — backing the aforementioned AI video synthesis platform, Synthesia, as part of a $3.1 million funding round, and yulife — the life insurance business — in a $12.6 million Series A.
MMC has also created a pre-seed programme — the MMC Greater London Lab — that will write cheques alongside angels, seed funds, incubators and programmes of different types.
MMC has a bit of a track-record in this respect, The MMC London Fund, launched in 2013, managed in partnership with City Hall, that is now entering its eighth year. That leveraged £14 million of initial investment to raise more than £120 million of co-investment from private partners, and invested in startups like Gousto, Appear Here, Love Home Swap and Masabi.
https://tcrn.ch/2XmMGIJLondon fintech Yapily raises $5.4M to offer a single API to connect to banks
Yapily, a London fintech startup that offers an Open Banking-based API platform to enable financial services providers and other types of enterprises, such as merchants, to connect to banks, has raised $5.4 million in seed funding.
Leading the round is HV Holtzbrinck Ventures and LocalGlobe. Investors also include Taavet Hinrikus (TransferWise chairman and co-founder), Ott Kaukver (Twillio’s CTO) and Roberto Nicastro (UniCredit’s former deputy CEO).
Founded in mid 2017 by ex-Goldman Sachs employee Stefano Vaccino, Yapily is another platform play aiming to grasp the opportunity of Open Banking by making it easier for various service providers to connect to banks. The platform provides a way to retrieve financial data and initiate payments via a “single secure API” that in turn connects to each supported bank’s open API.
Customers include accountancy firms, companies in the payment space, crypto currency providers, digital wealth applications and e-commerce companies.
“Yapily removes the technical barriers for enterprises that want to benefit from Open Banking, helping them to innovate and bring new products to life faster,” Vaccino tells TechCrunch. “Legislators have been implementing Open Banking differently in various countries and even within the same jurisdiction banks all have disparate technical implementations. For a service provider that wants to benefit from it, the technical barriers to integrating with hundreds or thousands of banks are very high.”
To that end, Vaccino says Yapily’s mission is to enable service providers to connect to all banks, both for data retrieval and payment initiation, via one single API. “We manage the upfront integrations and the ongoing maintenance of these connections,” he says, thus removing the technical obstacle for companies that want to benefit from “the Open Banking revolution.”
In that sense, similar to a cloud provider, Yapily is positioning itself as a pure technology enabler. “Our objective is to offer all the tools that an enterprise will need to manage this connectivity layer easily,” adds Vaccino.
To date, the Yapily API supports 35 of the biggest banks in Europe, both for data retrieval and payments initiation. This equates to 250 million bank accounts, the startup says. By the end of the year, Yapily aims to have connected to 536 banks, as more banks across Europe bring their open APIs online in order to adhere to European Union PSD2 legislation.
“By mid-September, 5,000 banks across Europe will need to have an API in place,” notes Yapily. “Governments in Australia, Japan, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Mexico and several other countries are also committed to delivering open banking.”
Meanwhile, Yapily says this seed round will be used to help the company expand its tech team and further develop the platform. It also plans to build out a sales team to respond to demand for its Open Banking product.
https://tcrn.ch/2wCUgDjApple, Google, Microsoft, WhatsApp sign open letter condemning GCHQ proposal to listen in on encrypted chats
An international coalition of civic society organizations, security and policy experts and tech companies — including Apple, Google, Microsoft and WhatsApp — has penned a critical slap-down to a surveillance proposal made last year by the UK’s intelligence agency, warning it would undermine trust and security and threaten fundamental rights.
“The GCHQ’s ghost protocol creates serious threats to digital security: if implemented, it will undermine the authentication process that enables users to verify that they are communicating with the right people, introduce potential unintentional vulnerabilities, and increase risks that communications systems could be abused or misused,” they wrire.
“These cybersecurity risks mean that users cannot trust that their communications are secure, as users would no longer be able to trust that they know who is on the other end of their communications, thereby posing threats to fundamental human rights, including privacy and free expression. Further, systems would be subject to new potential vulnerabilities and risks of abuse.”
GCHQ’s idea for a so-called ‘ghost protocol’ would be for state intelligence or law enforcement agencies to be invisibly CC’d by service providers into encrypted communications — on what’s billed as targeted, government authorized basis.
The agency set out the idea in an article published last fall on the Lawfare blog, written by the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) Ian Levy and GCHQ’s Crispin Robinson (NB: the NCSC is a public facing branch of GCHQ) — which they said was intended to open a discussion about the ‘going dark’ problem which robust encryption poses for security agencies.
The pair argued that such an “exceptional access mechanism” could be baked into encrypted platforms to enable end to end encryption to be bypassed by state agencies would could instruct the platform provider to add them as a silent listener to eavesdrop on a conversation — but without the encryption protocol itself being compromised.
“It’s relatively easy for a service provider to silently add a law enforcement participant to a group chat or call. The service provider usually controls the identity system and so really decides who’s who and which devices are involved — they’re usually involved in introducing the parties to a chat or call,” Levy and Robinson argued. “You end up with everything still being end-to-end encrypted, but there’s an extra ‘end’ on this particular communication. This sort of solution seems to be no more intrusive than the virtual crocodile clips that our democratically elected representatives and judiciary authorise today in traditional voice intercept solutions and certainly doesn’t give any government power they shouldn’t have.”
“We’re not talking about weakening encryption or defeating the end-to-end nature of the service. In a solution like this, we’re normally talking about suppressing a notification on a target’s device, and only on the device of the target and possibly those they communicate with. That’s a very different proposition to discuss and you don’t even have to touch the encryption.”
“[M]ass-scale, commodity, end-to-end encrypted services… today pose one of the toughest challenges for targeted lawful access to data and an apparent dichotomy around security,” they added.
However while encryption might technically remain intact in the scenario they sketch, their argument glosses over both the fact and risks of bypassing encryption via fiddling with authentication systems in order to enable deceptive third party snooping.
As the coalition’s letter points out, doing that would both undermine user trust and inject extra complexity — with the risk of fresh vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers.
Compromising authentication would also result in platforms themselves gaining a mechanism that they could use to snoop on users’ comms — thereby circumventing the wider privacy benefits provided by end to end encryption in the first place, perhaps especially when deployed on commercial messaging platforms.
So, in other words, just because what’s being asked for is not literally a backdoor in encryption that doesn’t mean it isn’t similarly risky for security and privacy and just as horrible for user trust and rights.
“Currently the overwhelming majority of users rely on their confidence in reputable providers to perform authentication functions and verify that the participants in a conversation are the people that they think they are, and only those people. The GCHQ’s ghost protocol completely undermines this trust relationship and the authentication process,” the coalition writes, also pointing out that authentication remains an active research area — and that work would likely dry up if the systems in question were suddenly made fundamentally untrustworthy on order of the state.
They further assert there’s no way for the security risk to be targeted to the individuals that state agencies want to specifically snoop on. Ergo, the added security risk is universal.
“The ghost protocol would introduce a security threat to all users of a targeted encrypted messaging application since the proposed changes could not be exposed only to a single target,” they warn. “In order for providers to be able to suppress notifications when a ghost user is added, messaging applications would need to rewrite the software that every user relies on. This means that any mistake made in the development of this new function could create an unintentional vulnerability that affects every single user of that application.”
There are more than 50 signatories to the letter in all, and others civic society and privacy rights groups Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, Liberty, Privacy International and the EFF, as well as veteran security professionals such as Bruce Schneier, Philip Zimmermann and Jon Callas, and policy experts such as former FTC CTO and Whitehouse security advisor, Ashkan Soltani.
While the letter welcomes other elements of the article penned by Levy and Robinson — which also set out a series of principles for defining a “minimum standard” governments should meet to have their requests accepted by companies in other countries (with the pair writing, for example, that “privacy and security protections are critical to public confidence” and “transparency is essential”) — it ends by urging GCHQ to abandon the ghost protocol idea altogether, and “avoid any alternative approaches that would similarly threaten digital security and human rights”.
Reached for a response to the coalition’s concerns, the NCSC sent us the following statement, attributed to Levy:
We welcome this response to our request for thoughts on exceptional access to data — for example to stop terrorists. The hypothetical proposal was always intended as a starting point for discussion.
It is pleasing to see support for the six principles and we welcome feedback on their practical application. We will continue to engage with interested parties and look forward to having an open discussion to reach the best solutions possible.
Back in 2016 the UK passed updated surveillance legislation that affords state agencies expansive powers to snoop on and hack into digital comms. And with such an intrusive regime in place it may seem odd that GCHQ is pushing for even greater powers to snoop on people’s digital chatter.
Even robust end-to-end encryption can include exploitable vulnerabilities. One bug was disclosed affecting WhatsApp just a couple of weeks ago, for example (since fixed via an update).
However in the Lawfare article the GCHQ staffers argue that “lawful hacking” of target devices is not a panacea to governments’ “lawful access requirements” because it would require governments have vulnerabilities on the shelf to use to hack devices — which “is completely at odds with the demands for governments to disclose all vulnerabilities they find to protect the population”.
“That seems daft,” they conclude.
Yet it also seems daft — and predictably so — to suggest a ‘sidedoor’ in authentication systems as an alternative to a backdoor in encrypted messaging apps.
https://tcrn.ch/2Wx9cBdThursday, 30 May 2019
EE launches UK's first 5G network in six cities
Mobile carrier EE has launched the UK's first 5G network in six cities, ushering in a new era of connectivity for not only our smartphones, but a whole host of smart devices.
EE's 5G network has been switched on in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester, but you won't just need to live in one of these locations to benefit from 5G.
You'll also need a 5G compatible phone and a 5G mobile contract to access the fifth generation of network technology.
At launch, EE offers four 5G handsets, with the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, LG V50 ThinQ 5G, OnePlus 7 Pro 5G and Oppo Reno 5G in the range.
There is also a premium to pay, with EE's 5G contracts more expensive than its 4G plans.
Faster, more reliable internet
5G is billed to deliver a much faster and more reliable internet connection to your smartphone, allowing you to download apps, games, movies and music in a flash.
The speed should be far superior to what you get with 4G, although it will be dependent on a number of factors, including how close you are to a 5G mast.
At the time of writing it's not clear how much of the launch cities are covered by EE's 5G network, but we'll be getting a handset today to put it to the test.
For those disappointed by the limited roll-out across the country, there's some good news, as EE promises to bring its 5G network to a further 10 locations by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Vodafone will join the 5G future on July 3 in seven locations, with a total of 19 locations connected before the year is out.
http://bit.ly/2wtFU84
Oppo's Reno 5G brings top data speeds and an impressive 10x zoom to Australia
After Oppo launched its Reno 5G smartphone in Europe last month, the Chinese tech giant is bringing its new future-ready flagship Down Under, alongside its 4G sibling, the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom.
As the latter’s name may imply, one of the star features shared by the two new Oppo handsets is the capability to perform a 10x hybrid optical zoom using a combination of the phones’ 48MP primary lens, 13MP periscope telephoto lens, 8MP wide angle lens, and dual optical image stabilisation.
Another part of the Reno range’s charm is its notch-free face, which allows for an impressive 93.1% screen-to-body ratio. It performs this clever trick with a similar gimmick found in the company’s previous Find X flagship – a pop-up selfie camera.
If you opt for the pricier 5G handset, naturally, you’ll be one of the first in the country able to experience the breakneck speeds (more than a Gigabit per second) promised by the new network standard, however, only Telstra's 5G network is currently operable.
This puts it squarely up against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which landed in Australia earlier this week, although the Korean company’s contender is currently only available with Telstra plans and hasn’t been given concrete details for an outright handset release.
Pricing and availability
The Oppo Reno 5G is available to pre-order from May 31 for a price of $1,499, and will officially land on sale on June 11. As an added bonus, you’ll also score a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 noise-cancelling headphones valued at $499.95 via redemption – but only while stocks last.
The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom is also available from June 11 for a cost of $1,199, and – similar to its 5G sibling – comes with the ability to redeem a pair of Bose SoundSport Free wireless earphones valued at $299.95 (also while stocks last).
http://bit.ly/2I7F8TH
Oppo's Reno 5G brings top data speeds and an impressive 10x zoom to Australia
After Oppo launched its Reno 5G smartphone in Europe last month, the Chinese tech giant is bringing its new future-ready flagship Down Under, alongside its 4G sibling, the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom.
As the latter’s name may imply, one of the star features shared by the two new Oppo handsets is the capability to perform a 10x hybrid optical zoom using a combination of the phones’ 48MP primary lens, 13MP periscope telephoto lens, 8MP wide angle lens, and dual optical image stabilisation.
Another part of the Reno range’s charm is its notch-free face, which allows for an impressive 93.1% screen-to-body ratio. It performs this clever trick with a similar gimmick found in the company’s previous Find X flagship – a pop-up selfie camera.
If you opt for the pricier 5G handset, naturally, you’ll be one of the first in the country able to experience the breakneck speeds (more than a Gigabit per second) promised by the new network standard, however, only Telstra's 5G network is currently operable.
This puts it squarely up against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which landed in Australia earlier this week, although the Korean company’s contender is currently only available with Telstra plans and hasn’t been given concrete details for an outright handset release.
Pricing and availability
The Oppo Reno 5G is available to pre-order from May 31 for a price of $1,499, and will officially land on sale on June 11. As an added bonus, you’ll also score a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 noise-cancelling headphones valued at $499.95 via redemption – but only while stocks last.
The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom is also available from June 11 for a cost of $1,199, and – similar to its 5G sibling – comes with the ability to redeem a pair of Bose SoundSport Free wireless earphones valued at $299.95 (also while stocks last).
http://bit.ly/2I7F8TH