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Manufacturers deal with sensitive information each and every day. This includes test and quality data, warranty information, device history records and the engineering specifications for a product that are highly confidential. Trusting that data to a cloud-based application or cloud services provider is a major step, and manufacturers need to fully educate themselves about the security risks and advantages of cloud-based software. Consider the questions below as a guide to use when discussing application infrastructure and operations with cloud providers. What do you do to keep my data safe? This is the most important question a manufacturer should ask a cloud provider. The answer should be long and multi-faceted. Because no single tool can defend against every kind of attack in any network, cloud providers must deploy multiple layers of defense using: internal systems; protection provided by tier 1 cloud platforms; and security service providers. All of these elements come toge...

One of the problems with over-the-counter fertility monitors is that they don't often tell you much beyond if you happen to be ovulating at the time you're taking the test. If you are, there's a smiley face, and if you're not, there's nothing. The Mira fertility monitor, however, is a little different. It has an AI so that it learns your patterns over time, and will figure out when you're ovulating potentially weeks before it happens. The way it does this is by tracking the levels of luteinizing hormone in your pee. It's the same method that those drugstore fertility monitors use to figure out if you're ovulating, but the difference with the Mira is that it keeps track of that information so that you don't have to do it. You pee on the one-time-use Mira fertility wand, stick it into the egg-shaped digital reader, and voila, you'll see if you're ovulating in the tiny digital screen. It'll also send that information over to a companion ...

Don't think it's enough to have Amazon Alexa in your car ? Garmin thinks it has a better proposition: throw in a dash cam. Its new Speak Plus includes the same voice assistant that offers directions, music playback and other hands-free controls, but it also tucks in a camera that can both record "incidents" (read: collisions) and deliver alerts. It'll warn you if you're too close to a car, if you're drifting out of your lane or if that gridlocked traffic has finally started moving. The Plus continues to pair with your smartphone to get online, and can use either Bluetooth or an aux cable to pipe music to your car's audio system. An OLED screen provides basic navigation details so you don't miss a turn. Not surprisingly, the addition of the camera raises the price. The Speak Plus will sell for $230 when it ships on January 22nd ($200 if you pre-order by January 20th), or well over the $150 for the original Speak. However, it might make more sens...

Yes, you can listen to music on a smartwatch without keeping your phone nearby, but that usually means settling for relatively simple fitness tracking. Garmin may have a solution that eliminates those compromises, however -- it just introduced the Forerunner 645 Music, a GPS running watch that (surprise) stores up to 500 songs for playback over Bluetooth earphones. You can track your runs (or bike rides, or swims) and the detailed stats to match while listening to tunes you've saved either from your computer or from streaming services like iHeartRadio. The watch is an upgrade in the style department as well. It's the first Forerunner with a steel bezel, so it looks more at home on your wrist when you're not in the middle of a half-marathon. You'll also get Garmin Pay (to buy that post-workout drink), an always-on color display and support for a Running Dynamics Pod that tracks stats like cadence and stride length. The battery will last up to a week in a regular sm...

Just as some watch makers are figuring out how to stream music from our tiny wrist-computers, Garmin is catching up to the times and starting to offer music storage on its GPS watches. Garmin’s newly-announced Forerunner 645 watch, revealed at CES, stores music locally on the watch and pairs with Bluetooth headphones so you can run without your phone and still listen to music. It’s shipping now and will cost $450. A version of the same Forerunner watch without music will cost $400. The watch’s music capabilities are somewhat basic. The Forerunner 645 can store up to 500 music files, either transferred from a computer or downloaded as offline playlists from streaming services like iHeart Radio and Deezer. But it doesn’t work with other... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Ffe2Yg"

China is reportedly seeking an "orderly exit" from bitcoin mining , according to a leaked document seen by Quartz . The nation's internet finance regulator is asking local governments to strongly encourage firms to quit the business by jacking up power prices and and issuing stronger environmental rules. The government is reportedly concerned about pollution and the havoc that could be triggered by investors who lose money investing in mining and cryptocurrency. "Currently, there are some so-called 'mining' enterprises that produce 'virtual currencies,'" the January 2nd document reads. "They have consumed huge amounts of resources and stoked speculation of 'virtual currencies." Two-thirds of the world's power consumed from bitcoin mining comes from China, Quartz notes, and unfortunately a lot of that electricity is dirty. Mining operations have set up shop near coal-fired power plants, which produce cheap electricity but al...

I’ve been using HyperX’s new Cloud Flight wireless gaming headset for a little more than a week now, and I’m dreading ever going wired again. The device, a new addition to the upper end of peripheral maker HyperX’s Cloud headset line, is the first wireless option the company has offered, and it’s a rather stellar piece of hardware. Today at CES, HyperX officially unveiled the Cloud Flight, which is on sale now in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia for $159.99. The headset combines the comfort of HyperX’s more affordable gaming headsets with a simple, functional wireless setup that works via USB for PS4 or PC. (The Xbox One is not compatible with third-party wireless headsets, but you can still plug the Cloud flight into an Xbox... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2D6xrdi"

Asus is bringing its new ZenFone Max Plus (M1) smartphone line to North America, where it joins the ZenFone Max line known for its high-capacity batteries. The Plus has a 5.7-inch display with an ultra-wide 18:9 display ratio, but curiously doesn’t have as much battery power as the Max, which comes in a 5.5-inch screen size; the Plus has a 4130mAh battery that gives up to 26 days standby, while the Max’s 5000mAh battery boasts that it can hold a charge for 38 days. Either way, they’re basically both huge powerbanks that can be used to charge other devices. In terms of cameras, it’s got a 16MP front camera with an F2.0 aperture for selfies, and a 16MP, 120 degree wide-view dual rear cameras to fit more scenery. It’s an upgrade over the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2magA2b"

It begins. We've parachuted the Engadget team into Vegas ready to tackle CES 2018, and while the press events officially start tomorrow, we're already reporting on cars, chips and a bunch of crazier things, as illustrated above. Coming up later today, we've got all the major press conferences from the likes of Intel, Samsung, Sony and more. We suggest you point your browser here for everything worth hearing about from CES. It's a consumer version of its cinema screen for theaters. Samsung is ready to build a 146-inch TV wall in your house Last year, Samsung announced a 34-foot 4K LED TV that could challenge movie theater screens, and now it's ready to sell a version for home use. The Wall by Samsung uses similar MicroLED tech that is "self emitting" (read: Each pixel works without a backlight) and can be assembled in extremely large sizes thanks to its modular design. We don't have much information to go on yet, but the 146-inch 4K screen we sa...

As it happens, one of the wildest — and most divisive — things I've seen at CES so far doesn't have wires or draw power or even turn on. MirraViz is a company out of Fremont, California that specializes in producing a very specific kind of projector screen that lets multiple people watch different videos at the same time. We're not talking about picture-in-picture, either: what you get to see depends entirely on where you're sitting. In theory, MirraViz's screen is similar to one of those lenticular cards you probably played with as a kid. The difference is, the millions of optical elements embedded into the panel mean there's no actual limit to the number of videos you could display on it simultaneously. It ultimately just boils down to how many projectors you can squeeze around the panel. The company had two set up here in the heart of Mandalay Bay's South Ballroom, and there was nothing particularly special about them — even so, I could watch Toy Story...

It's that time of year again: that is, time to promise that Steven Spielberg's Halo TV series isn't dead . In an interview with TV Guide , Showtime CEO David Nevins promised that the live-action, gaming inspired show is "still in very active development." He didn't provide more details, but did note that he had seen scripts and that the network was "encouraged by what we've seen so far." He was confident it would not only please Halo fans, but Showtime's overall drama audience. This may be heartening if you've wanted to see how Halo would fare in Hollywood. However, that "if" may be the problem. Microsoft proudly announced the show alongside the Xbox One in 2013, but it's been in limbo ever since. That's a long time to wait if you're used to getting new games in a franchise every couple of years or less. And remember, Halo 5 shipped in 2015. Even if the TV show arrives in 2018, that's a roughly 3-year ga...

The world is another step closer to a single unified wireless charging standard, with news that Powermat has joined the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) , developers of Qi wireless charging. Powermat is best known for developing the PMA/Airfuel standard — the only major outstanding rival to the dominant Qi brand. However, after Apple signed on to use Qi wireless charging for its iPhones last year, the battle has been pretty much over. Powermat joining the WPC is just signing the peace treaty. Powermat says it will contribute its technology to the WPC’s work and continue to develop wireless charging tech which maintains backwards compatibility with Qi. In a press statement, Powermat CEO Elad Dubzinski said: “Qi has become the dominant... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FcXOyS"

Home theater headsets have come a long way , but there's still a common problem: they tend to dominate your face. It's hard to know when someone wants your attention unless they tap on your shoulder. You might not be quite so cut off in the future, though. Kopin and Pico Interactive have unveiled a wearable home theater prototype, the Eagle, that promises the equivalent of an 80-inch screen while giving you better awareness of the outside world. You probably wouldn't want to walk with this on your head, but it could give you a peek at an approaching person before they say hello. Not surprisingly, the displays are key. Eagle revolves around a pair of newly unveiled 0.49-inch OLED screens that may be limited to 720p, but pump out a high 1,000 nits of brightness while consuming relatively little power. This doesn't appear to be a convertible design like Avegant's Glyph, though, so it won't do as much good if you only want to listen to music. As it stands, yo...

CES hasn't been much of a smartphone show in recent years, but don't tell Sony that. Rather than save the goods for Mobile World Congress, the company decided to reveal a trio of new Xperias meant to spice up its existing line of mid-range devices before the show officially kicks off. First up is the Xperia XA2, which blends Sony's classic Xperia aesthetic with one of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 630 chipsets and 3GB of RAM. Unlike last year's XA1, Sony's sequel packs a 5.2-inch display running at 1080p — a much-needed bump in resolution that hopefully won't affect the bottom line too much. And since the screen is slightly bigger than the XA1's, that means the tweaked build of Android 8.0 here gets a little extra room to breathe. Sony's cameras have always been one of the biggest reasons to buy an Xperia, so it's little surprise the company went with one of its impressive 23-megapixel sensors with hybrid autofocus and support for 4K video recording ...

High-quality audio company Sennheiser introduced new wraparound Bluetooth earbuds to its lineup to compete with Apple's AirPods and Beats X. The company's CX 6.00BT model features an integrated microphone, a three-button remote and six hours of battery life, and will be available this month for $100. The CX 6.00 has a few unique tricks, like the ability to pair with two devices at once (so you can listen to audio from your phone and computer simultaneously, say) and support for 3-way calling. Otherwise, Sennheiser is introducing another pair of cans at CES: The HD 820, an update for the company's lauded HD 800 line of headphones. The key new feature are discs of Gorilla Glass that cup the outside of each can to allegedly reflect escaping sound back toward 'absorber chambers' to minimize resonance. This audio ambrosia doesn't come cheap, though: The HD 820 will retail for $2,400 in early summer. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018. via...

Sony phones will finally come to the US with a fingerprint sensor on them. I know, that probably doesn’t sound very exciting because every phone ships with a fingerprint sensor on it. But for some reason , Sony has always disabled the fingerprint sensor on its phones in the US, which has made them really unappealing for the last several years. But this month, that starts to change. The next three phones Sony ships — the Xperia XA2, XA2 Ultra, and L2 — will all include fingerprint sensors when they arrive in the US. Sony is also changing how it does fingerprint sensors: instead of building the sensor into the phone’s power button on the side, these phones all place them on the back. It’s a less elegant look, but it’s a convenient position... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2qGs9Ti"

When friends ask me about my endgame headphones — the ones that I would buy, love, and cherish above all others — my answer is usually the Sennheiser HD 800 S , a pair that I reviewed back in 2016. I’m not alone in my admiration for Sennheiser’s pricey flagship cans, and I suspect I won’t be alone in my profound excitement and curiosity about a new Sennheiser HD 820 that the German audio company just announced at CES. The 820 is a closed-back variant of the 800 S, adding a measure of isolation between your music and the surrounding environment. The original 800 S is like a sieve when it comes to letting outside sound in, and it pushes almost as much volume out of the headphones’ sides as it does into your cranium. There’s good reason,... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2mctWe3"

Amazon's Alexa recently arrived on headphones and even toilets , but it's about to become much more ubiquitous by hitting Windows 10 PCs later this year. HP, ASUS and Acer have revealed that the voice assistant is coming to various models, including ASUS's ZenBook and VivoBook lineup, the HP Pavilion Wave, and select Acer Spin, Swift, Switch and Aspire notebooks. Amazon will release a special Alexa app in the spring, and laptop builders are tapping Intel's Smart Sound tech to make sure that the app can pick up your voice when you're not right next to your PC. "Hands-free access to Alexa on PCs can be helpful to customers in many ways, like making it simple to interact with your smart home, get news or weather, set timers, and more," Amazon Alexa VP Steve Rabuchin said in a statement. In August, Amazon and Microsoft unveiled a surprise alliance with the aim of integrating their respective Alexa and Cortana voice assistants by the end of 2017. The comp...

Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant is seemingly everywhere these days, and now it’s arriving on Windows 10 PCs to challenge Microsoft’s built-in Cortana assistant. HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer all plan to integrate Alexa into a range of Windows 10 laptops and desktops being released this year. It’s the next logical step that will see Alexa appear on thousands of machines. The integration requires a special Alexa app for Windows that will be available in the spring, and most PC makers appear to be integrating Alexa on devices that are capable of far-field voice recognition to ensure there’s a good experience for the assistant. HP is bringing Alexa to its Pavillion Wave PC, a sleek desktop PC that looks more like a speaker than a computer.... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2qCEQOW"

MSI has announced two new gaming monitors that are the first to work with Steelseries’ GameSense lighting system. What does that mean? It means a lot of colored LEDs on the bottom edge and rear. GameSense lets you program these RGB lights to flash in sync with in-game things like cooldown timers, or for notifications in apps like Discord. Otherwise, the Optic MPG27CQ and MPG27CQ are pretty standard gaming monitors. Both are curved 27-inch VA panels with a 144Hz refresh rate, and the only difference is that the former is 1080p and the latter is 1440p. Pricing and release info isn’t yet available. Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CQqKzn"

Amazon’s Alexa assistant has slowly been making its way into cars in recent years; BMW , Ford , and Nissan are among the automakers adding capabilities to remotely start or lock vehicles, for example. The level of integration with cars has been limited to those brands and only the newest models, however. That’s where Anker’s Roav Viva comes in. China-based accessory maker Anker announced on Monday that it is venturing deeper into the automotive space with what it says is the first plug-in device intended to give a full complement of Alexa skills to drivers. In addition to weather and music, the Viva can control voice calls and navigation instructions through voice commands — something even the newest cars still struggle to do sometimes.... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CNeXkx"

Anker today announced a second-generation version of its extra-large PowerHouse portable battery that is lighter and smaller than the original, with less than half the capacity but almost half the price. The device, unveiled at CES, will be available this summer for $299.99, or about $200 cheaper than the first-gen PowerHouse . The gadget is pretty much the aesthetic equivalent of a car battery, but with an obviously sleeker interface designed to handle all manner of electronic gadget charging and household appliance power delivery. Anker markets the product as both an excessive charging solution for the gadget-obsessed camper — someone who can’t go even one day without a power outlet replacement — and a backup solution for outages and... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CQ3IYw"