Xpertfeed

Three mobile tech advances that would be great in 2014 Summary:  Next year could be a great year in mobile tech if these advances become reality. It's time to put 2013 behind us and look forward to next year. Call these predictions, wishes, or guesses, but these three mobile tech advances would be nice to see in 2014. Tech advances in 2014 iPad bump Apple's been accused of just incrementally improving the iPad for a few years, even though the iPad Air's weight loss was impressive in 2013. What I'd like to see in 2014 is a major push forward, with a surprising big technology jump. One such jump that would be impressive is an improvement in battery technology. Imagine an iPad Air with double its already good battery life. This is feasible as Apple has a solid track record of putting decent battery life in the iPad, even while improving performance. An iPad Air with 20+ hours on a charge while keeping the size of the current tablet from Apple would b...

Microsoft's Roslyn 'compiler as a service' inches forward Summary:  Microsoft is now compiling internally its daily Visual Studio builds using its 'Roslyn' compiler technology. Could a new preview and/or final release be happening soon?Lets wait and see. Microsoft is internally dogfooding its "Roslyn" compiler as a service technology, and is  compiling internal daily builds of Visual Studio using "Roslyn." That update, courtesy of a Microsoft  December 16 blog post , is the first Microsoft has shared about its Roslyn technology in more than a year. Microsoft's Roslyn effort is about re-architecting the C# and VB compilers to support "compiler as a service" (CaaS) scenarios. Currently, a compiler is a black box; with Roslyn, Microsoft is working on opening it up so that all of the information processed via a compiler is available in application programming interface (API) form. Microsoft's most recent Roslyn desc...

Biometric smartphones to become mainstream in 2014, Ericsson says Summary:  Following the release of the fingerprint sensor-enabled iPhone 5s, more smartphone makers could soon jump on the bandwagon, if Ericsson's predictions prove true. By the end of 2014, a wealth of new smartphones could come with biometric technology, such as fingerprint recognition hardware. In September, Apple released the iPhone 5s, which  included a fingerprint reader , in the hope of bolstering security and improving usability. And other mobile makers, keen to jump on the biometric bandwagon, could soon embed the technology in their own devices. According to new research by mobile network maker Ericsson, which  polled 100,000 people  over 40 countries, about 74 percent of respondents said they believe biometric smartphones "will become mainstream" during 2014.  More than half at 52 percent want to use their fingerprints instead of a complex alphanumeric combination of letters...

Amazon pilots cash-on-delivery service in India Summary:  E-commerce giant is reportedly testing the service with India Post to cater to customers who don't want to make upfront payments, and in a country where 80 percent of online transactions are completed with cash-on-delivery. Amazon is reportedly trialing a cash-on-delivery service in India, tapping the country's 150-year-old postal service to fulfil its last-mile service.   Citing sources familiar with the issue,  The Economic Times reported  that the e-commerce giant had commenced a pilot with India Post to tap the country's young but growing e-commerce market. The postal service operates India's largest distribution network with over 150,000 branches across the country, 89 percent of which are located in rural areas.  An India Post official, who declined to be named, said in the report: "We are trying to add capabilities like cash on delivery and reverse logistics. Consumers don'...

Amazon unveils delivery by drone: Prime Air. No, seriously Summary:  The retail giant is taking delivery to the next level by using unmanned drones. But don't hold your breath for the service to launch any time soon. Not content with next-day delivery service through its Prime program, Amazon wants orders to land on people's front porches in as little as half an hour. Just when you thought the technology industry couldn't get any stranger, the latest idea from the retail giant is to offer an audacious delivery-by-drone service. The company has been working on the "octocopter" project in a secret research and development lab at its Seattle, Wash.-based headquarters for months in efforts to ramp up its competition against its rivals. According to the program, the octocopter drones will pick up packages in small buckets at Amazon's fulfillment centers and fly directly to customers' nearby in as little as 30 minutes after they hit the "...

SSH key mismanagement potentially worse in Asia, says founder Summary:  Secure shell key management could be a bigger mess in Asia because cultural barriers in the workplace can lead to less communication, according to CEO and founder of SSH Communications Security. Unmanaged Secure Shell (SSH) keys can leave a door open for authorized access by both malicious insiders and external threats, and these can be left undiscovered for years if ever. Over the past decade, very little attention has been paid over to the worsening situation because it is technical and deep within systems, said Tatu Ylonen, CEO and founder of SSH Communications Security, in an interview. Ylonen was also the author behind the Secure Shell protocol back in 1995, which is now used widely in the industry for business critical functions, automating administrative scripts, day to day file transfer, server authentication and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. The problem ...

Google launches physical debit card for Google Wallet Summary:  Users can use the card at stores accepting Mastercard, or withdraw cash from ATMs. For now, it's available only in the U.S. and is free with no monthly or annual charges. Google has rolled out a physical debit card linked to its digital wallet service that will allow users to buy goods at stores or withdraw cash from ATMs. "Your roommate finally paid you back for dinner through Google Wallet, and you want to use that money right away to pay for groceries this week. Now, you can use the new Google Wallet Card to spend the money instantly," explained Sandra Mariano, product manager of Google Wallet, in a blog post . Google launches physical debit card for Google Wallet. The Google Wallet Card will be accepted at millions of MasterCard locations. "Choose either credit or debit at checkout, and if you're prompted for a PIN, enter your Google Wallet PIN," said Mariano. Users can also w...

Low-end laptops:The rise of the Chromebook Summary:  Some people are still in denial about the rise of the Linux operating system with the Chrome Web browser interface, Chrome OS, and its hardware: the Chromebooks. The experts say, however, it's the one segment of the PC market that's growing while everything else shrinks. Some Windows experts, such as  Paul Thurrott, call Chromebooks a joke . Some industry groups, such as NetMarketShare, claim that they still see essentially no use of Chrome OS. Both need to wake up and smell the Chrome OS coffee. Chromebooks have been selling like hotcakes on a cold morning for  a year now. Market analysts agree: Chromebooks have taken off in the low-end laptop market while Windows 8.x PCs continue to decline. Chrome OS, a version of Linux that uses the Chrome Web browser for its main interface, and its main hardware platform, Chromebooks, are actually the one segment of the dying PC market that have actu...

New DoS attack directed at Healthcare.gov Summary:  Healthcare.gov can't catch a break. Security software provider   Arbor Networks   pinpointed a new denial-of-service attack on the federal online healthcare exchange site. Healthcare.gov  has been plagued with problems since launching on October 1, and given how widely reported its vulnerabilities are, it's should come as no surprise that hackers are tapping into them. But before things get out of control (more so than they already are), it should be immediately noted that Arbor researchers  posited in a blog post  on Thursday that this particular attack is "unlikely to succeed in affecting the availability of the healthcare.gov site." Regardless, the report suggests that the DoS attack could be making the site inaccessible to some visitors trying to access "https://www.healthcare.gov" and "https://www.healthcare.gov/contact-us." Of course, that could also be attributed to the inf...

Samsung 'hungry' for acquisitions, R&D for new growth Google+ Summary:  The electronics giant wants to invest more of its huge war chest in new technology and marketing, and is looking to reward investors more by at least doubling its dividend yield. Samsung Electronics wants to invest more money for new growth technologies, and part of that will come from being more aggressive in mergers and acquisitions as well as R&D. M&A will aim to reinforce current businesses, secure talent and find new opportunities, said Lee Sang-hoon, president and CFO of Samsung Electronics. The company has already spent about US$1 billion investing in 14 companies since 2010, which has been "somewhat conservative". Lee was kicking off Samsung's first Analyst Day since 2005 in Seoul which was streamed live. The event is seen as a platform for the company to better communicate with investors and analysts, amid sagging share prices and returns. Samsung currently has a cash...