Voice assistant 'Nina' lets any app obey your commands, makes speech your password

Voice recognition technology from Nuance is all over the place -- in everything from Smart TVs to Beemers. But today, in response to the growth of device-specific voice assistants like Siri and S-Voice, the company wants to take things down a different route: launching a mobile SDK for iOS and Android that any third-party app can employ. Baptized "Nina," the voice assistant won't only be able to understand instructions, but will also identify the speaker using vocal biometrics. That means Nina could potentially pay a bill, arrange a bank transfer, book a vacation or even interact with government services without ever requiring you to enter a password. The video after the break shows just how intimate things could get -- assuming you're able to find a spot where the two of you won't be overheard.

[Source: Engadget]

Tweeting Truck Lands on Mars

Overcoming its “seven minutes of terror” — and winning the hearts of geeks worldwide — the 2,000 lb. NASA Curiosity Rover landed on Mars at 1:39am, early Monday morning EST.  “We’re on Mars again,” said the exhilirated NASA chief, Charles Bolden. “It’s just absolutely incredible. It doesn’t get any better than this.”  Much of the Twittersphere agreed with him — especially as the Curiosity Rover’s official account was live-tweeting the whole landing, writing in what you might well call the voice of the Internet. 

[Source: To read the full article visit Mashable]

Researchers use ambient WiFi radio waves to see through walls

Seeing through walls hasn't been a super hero-exclusive activity for a while now. According to Popular Science, however, University College London researchers Karl Woodbridge and Kevin Chetty have created the first device that can detect movement through walls using existing WiFi signals. While similar tech has required a bevy of wireless nodes, the duo has pulled off the feat with a contraption roughly the size of a suit case.

Much like radar, the device relies on the Doppler effect -- radio waves changing frequencies as they reflect off of moving objects -- to identify motion. Using a radio receiver with two antennas and a signal-processing unit, the system monitors the baseline WiFi frequency in an area for changes that would indicate movement. In tests, the gadget was able to determine a person's location, speed and direction through a foot-thick brick wall. The technology's potential applications range from domestic uses to scanning buildings during combat. Best of all, since the university's hardware doesn't emit any radio waves, it can't be detected. How's that for stealthy?

[Source: Engadget]

Entrepreneur: How I made $10K in one day with Facebook Ads

As a counterpoint to the company that claimed its Facebook Ads didn't work because most clicks came from bots, entrepreneur Brendan Irvine-Broque decided to tell the story of how he used the social network's advertising platform to make five figures in one day.

After deciding to get rid of a record collection consisting of 6,000 vinyl records, Irvine-Broque created a Facebook Event titled "MASSIVE Vinyl Sale in the East Bay!" He then spent $150 to promote it using Facebook Ads, which simply said "6000 Vinyl Records, $3 Each" and pointed to the event. Here's the description in full (sans address):

I used to be a record dealer, specializing in rare and private press LPs and 45s, and have thousands of vinyl records sitting in storage, many of which I've never even seen. It's time to let go of them, and now that it's warm outside, I figured it'd be a good time to setup some tables outside and have folks over to dig through. There are well over 6000 records, including tons of private press of all genres, obscure 12-inch singles, etc. Everything is $3 each, save for 1-2 boxes of heavily discounted rarities. I'll have snacks and drinks, feel free to bring your own too. Lots of good food just up the street in case you get hungry. Hope to see you there!

[Source: cnet - Click to read the full story]

Dropbox sends password change notification to some users

In a blog post today, Dropbox's VP of engineering Aditya Agarwal explained that the online storage company is addressing some key security concerns in the wake of some concerning incidents. Some Dropbox users saw a spike in spam messages to their registered email accounts over the past few weeks, which drove an internal investigation.

The spam emails turned out to be the result of a breach of an employee's Dropbox account, which contained a project file with some user contact information. The employee's account info had been stolen from a third-party website that was compromised -- which points out the necessity of having password diversity among your web service accounts, rather than using the same password for all of them.

To help protect against future security issues, Dropbox is implementing some policy and technical changes immediately, and also rolling out others over the next few weeks. Two-factor authentication is one of the future changes, similar to what Google has already implemented for Gmail accounts; users will be able to validate password changes with a separate fact or via a cellphone verification pass.

In the meantime, some Dropbox users who have never changed their password or who have an easily crackable password will be getting email reminders to change their password. These emails may appear suspicious, but they are coming from Dropbox (and you should double-check, should you receive one, that you're directed to a Dropbox reset page). When you pick a new password, you can make it extra secure by using a random generation system like Diceware -- endorsed by the makers of 1Passwordand XKCD alike.

[Source: TUAW]

BMW shows 75 mph electric scooter

In the last decade, BMW's motorcycle division dabbled in scooters as a green solution for crowded urban centers, producing the C1 for a few years. Now BMW is showing off the final fruits of a new project, an electric scooter designed to achieve the performance specifications of a gasoline-fueled scooter.The C Evolution is the third generation of an electric scooter that BMW has previously shown in concept form. This two-wheeler uses an electric motor and an 8 kilowatt battery pack to drive the rear wheel. BMW says that it can go 62 miles on a full charge. Although a large battery back, it does not use liquid cooling. Instead, its casing channels air through the individual cells. As the batteries produce more heat under load, the C Evolution should be going faster as the batteries hit higher temperatures, improving the air flow...

[Source: To read the full article visit CNET News]

10 Tips for a More Functional Home Office

If you work from home, you owe it to yourself to set up a proper office space. It’s vital you have somewhere to concentrate that’s separate from your home life — and is hopefully a nice space to spend time in. A good working space is even more important if you operate your small business out of your home.  To help you out on this rather specific front, we have pulled together some useful tips from experienced home-workers and chatted with home office expert Lisa Kanarek, founder of WorkingNaked.com. Also keep in mind that having a home office can entitle you to certain tax breaks, so your investment can end up right back in your pocket.

[Source: Mashable]

Fears of longer commutes increase in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics

Fears of longer commutes increase in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics Londoners prepare for remote working

Concerns around the need to work remotely are higher than ever now that London is moving closer to the Olympics. People are planning to work from home or elsewhere owing to fears transport will come to a grinding halt.
Remote access experts LogMeIn commissioned a consumer snap poll* to discover how Londoners expect the Olympics to affect them. Surprisingly, however nearly two thirds of Londoners (64.8%) are not familiar with the start and end dates of the London 2012 Olympics. 
The survey goes on to reveal that over half (58.7%) are planning to change their commute during the games as 33%, of those asked, believe that their daily commute would be extended by up to 30 minutes whilst more than a quarter (29.5%) anticipate a 45 minute journey increase.
However, it is not only employees who are taking precautions ahead of time but businesses, too. The survey showed that a mere 7.6% of workers will not have the option to carry out their jobs remotely. Fears are high that London transport will not be able to cope and consequently a whopping 85.7% of those involved said they would prefer to work from home during this time.

LogMeIn has several - completely free - services that offer support for remote working, such as:

join.me - a free, simple-to-use screen sharing and online meeting service.  A free version delivers on-the-fly collaboration in a matter of seconds – no registration or additional plug-ins required – supporting up to 250 participants. More features are available for an annual subscription.         

LogMeIn Free – also available for free, as the name implies - gives users remote access to an unlimited number of work PCs and Macs from their home computers and even their iOS devices, like the iPad and iPhone. Users can run and access everything – applications, files, email, etc. -- on their work desktop or laptop from home or anywhere with a WiFi or 3G connection.  

Cubby – simple free cloud data service allowing users to securely share information across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones,  Android devices, or with other people.  Cubby lets people turn any number of PC or Mac folders into ‘cubbies’ that can be accessed from other devices, stored in the cloud, and shared with colleagues and friends

*Research commissioned by LogMeIn was conducted in June 2012.