script – Page 135 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

With Movie Creator, Microsoft wants to help produce better highlight reel videos

HTC’s done it. So has Sony. It’s available on iOS. Even BlackBerry’s got one. Apps that let you take your favorite clips and images and merge them together into a fun highlight reel aren’t uncommon these days, but that’s not stopping Microsoft from coming out with one of its own — and one that it feels is even better than the competition. Called Movie Creator, the premise is exactly the same as what everyone else has, but Microsoft promises its version will come with more customization, an easier user experience, less time required to create a video and no price tag. It’ll be available as a free beta starting today for both Windows Phone and Windows tablets, and it appears that Microsoft will offer the feature on lower-end devices like the Lumia 530. We won’t spend a lot of time going over what Movie Creator is, because it is essentially the same as the rest of the pack: You can pick out a bunch of your favorite clips and images, choose a song you like and presto — the app automagically produces a short video that you can share on Twitter, Facebook and other services (or keep to yourself, you selfish person). Each company does it a little differently, so it’s no surprise that Microsoft is adding its own flavor to the app genre. Movie Creator doesn’t impose any limitations on the length of the clip, and you can choose up to 25 videos and stills (and Cinemagraphs, on compatible devices) to include in the reel. Once you’ve picked out the ones you want, you’re presented with a linear timeline, each clip or image represented by a square. You can rearrange which order the pics are shown in, the music playing in the background (you can use either Microsoft’s music selections or your own library), the duration of each, add captions either on or in between images, rotate them, use filters to change how they look and you can even dictate if and how each clip pans across the screen (it lets you determine where each one starts and ends its animation). There are also plenty of preset themes, but there’s quite a few more available for download if you don’t see one that fits your needs. Themes have been done many times before, but Microsoft made a deal with Dreamworks that adds a unique element to them: You’ll be able to grab themes featuring characters from movies like Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. In my preview build, these options weren’t available, so hopefully they’ll show up in the final software. Finally, you’ll be able to change the quality of the finished product. Depending on your desired size and network speeds (in case you want to upload and share it), you can choose between low, medium and high quality, and you can even select how many frames per second you’d like the reel to finish up in — you can go up to a maximum of 30fps, so keep that in mind. It appears that the video resolution tops out at 1080p quality as well. Once you’re done, the file gets saved on the phone regardless of your sharing preferences, so it’s going to take up space on your phone or tablet by default. Since Movie Creator is starting out in beta, it’ll likely see some new features sprinkled in between now and its final release. Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile , Microsoft Comments

Google makes the ‘Nobel Prize of computing’ worth $1 million

The Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award is often called the “Nobel Prize of computing.” Every year since 1966 it’s been awarded to an accomplished computer scientist or engineer like Douglas Engelbart, the inventor of the computer mouse. But chances are you’ve never heard of the award at all, despite it being named after legendary Allied Forces code-breaker Alan Turing. That’s because it’s never really been that big — no huge sponsors meant it didn’t get a lot of promotion, and the annual prize was limited to a relatively modest $250, 000. That’s about to change with the 2014 award thanks to the largess of Google. The company’s been a co-sponsor of the award since 2007 alongside Intel, but now they’re taking full control of the prize money, upping the package fourfold to a rather hefty $1 million. We won’t know who the first lucky recipient of $1 million will be until next year, but they’ll join a list of luminaries that includes Silvio Micali . He won the award in 2012 for his work in cryptography, which made it easier to verify mathematical proofs in the study of complex systems. At an ACM event this morning he told an audience of fellow computer scientists that we need to “encourage our young scientists” by rolling out “a bright red carpet on what used to be a dangerous path.” Hopefully Google’s $1 million dollar prize will do just that. Filed under: Google Comments

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Google makes the ‘Nobel Prize of computing’ worth $1 million

Expired antimalware software is nearly as unsafe as having no protection at all

Analyzing data to find the root cause of infections has been a long-standing focus of the MMPC. One area we’ve been investigating is the correlation between endpoint protection and infection rates. Back in version 14 of the Security Intelligence Report (SIRv14), we first published data on infection rates for PCs protected with fully up-to-date antimalware software in comparison to those that either had no antimalware software or software that was not on or fully current. We discovered that PCs are 5.5 times more likely to be infected if they aren’t protected with a fully up-to-date antimalware product. This data drove the MMPC to a new tenet – get everyone protected – and led to some changes in Windows 8 to help ensure that as many people as possible are running real-time, up-to-date, antimalware software. Alas, we know that customers, even on Windows 8, are in an unprotected state, leaving their computers prone to infection. So, over the past six months we’ve been digging deeper in the data to learn more about unprotected PCs. We published our findings in version 17 of the Security Intelligence Report released today (SIRv17). Here’s what we found. On Windows 8, it appears that the number one reason why people are unprotected is because their antimalware has gone into an expired state. Stated another way, more than one half of all unprotected Windows 8 PCs are in an unprotected state because they are running expired security software. An expired state happens when a trial version of an antimalware product has reached the end of the trial. The product may continue to inform you that you need to pay for the software to continue receiving updates, but it stops downloading updates that protect your PC. This often happens when you buy a PC from an online or local store and that PC is preloaded with lots of software. People may believe that an antimalware product is still protecting them even if it hasn’t downloaded updates in a while. The data says otherwise. When we compared the infection rates on PCs with expired antimalware, we found that infection rates were nearly the same as PCs with no protection. The following chart shows the infection rate of PCs with expired antimalware products and other unprotected states, in comparison to a protected PC. A PC with expired antimalware protection was nearly four times more likely to be infected with malware in comparison to a fully protected PC. So we have more work ahead of us. First, we’ve been working with security software vendors in our MVI program to help them understand their impact on people that are left in an expired state. Since March, we have been providing monthly reports that show their percentage of unprotected customers, their infection rates and other information to help them keep their customers safer. We also made some updates in Windows 8.1 to help close the time gap on how long a person will be left in an expired state. Lastly, we hope that the data in SIRv17 will demonstrate that people running expired software should not be lulled into thinking that an outdated security product will provide adequate protection. We urge people to upgrade to the paid version of their antimalware product, or download a free antimalware product, such as Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender (which comes pre-installed on Windows 8.1 and Windows 8). Holly Stewart MMPC

Bandcamp lets artists create their own music subscriptions

Thanks to Ms. Swift’s recent actions , artist compensation from music streaming is quite the hot topic, and one company has a new option to lend a hand. Bandcamp has been a choice for musicians to sell their music and merchandise for years, and now it’s looking to help sort streaming subscriptions as well. Each artist will be able to create a subscription-based plan for their music, allowing fans to access new tunes as they become available through the Bandcamp app. Listeners can download the tracks too, and acts can decide to offer parts of their existing catalog as a perk for opting in. New albums or songs can be released to subscribers only for a certain amount of time or remain exclusive, and the musicians themselves can set the cost of the plan. For its efforts, Bandcamp takes the same 15 percent cut that it does for regular sales — a fee that drops to 10 percent once the $5, 000 sales mark is reached. “The whole motivation here is that when you get to a point that you love an artist — when you go from liking them to being a real true fan of theirs — at some point you just want everything they make, ” the company’s chief executive Ethan Diamond told The Guardian . [Photo credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Internet , Software Comments Via: Fact Mag Source: The Guardian

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Bandcamp lets artists create their own music subscriptions

PlayStation Vue, Sony’s new on-demand and broadcast TV service, launches in 2015

If you thought cramming a PlayStation into your TV with the cloud-based PS Now was crazy, Sony’s now trying to do, well, the exact opposite, bringing broadcast TV (and a bigger dose of on-demand content) to the PS4, PS3 and, at a later date, even the iPad. Another subscription service, you might think. However, Sony has already signed up some major networks and players (Fox, CBS, Viacom and ABC, for starters) and a no-contract setup: you’ll pay month by month — like how you pay for Netflix. More device support from both Sony and non-Sony hardware is set to roll out to the service in the future, although there’s no specifics just yet. Beta testers will see around 75 channels of content, including local networks, when tests start later this month, although there’s one proviso: they have to live in Chicago, Philadelphia or LA. For the rest of us, the entire service is set to go live in early 2015. While the service was originally teased back at CES 2014 in January, this is the first time it’s been given a name — and well, some tangible details. According to SCE, anyone that pays up will be able to save their favorite shows within their account without storage restrictions or scheduling conflicts: it sounds like you won’t be using any offline storage, although we imagine there would be an offline viewer of sorts. Once a show is tagged, you’ll be able to watch it for up to 28 days after. Filed under: Displays , Gaming , Internet , Sony Comments Source: PlayStation

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PlayStation Vue, Sony’s new on-demand and broadcast TV service, launches in 2015

Samsung lawsuit claims that NVIDIA’s benchmarks are misleading

Samsung definitely isn’t taking NVIDIA’s first patent lawsuit lying down. The Korean tech firm has countersued NVIDIA not just for allegedly infringing on six patents, but for leading buyers astray with benchmarks for the Shield Tablet . NVIDIA is supposedly trying to “confuse customers” by claiming that the slate’s Tegra K1 processor outpaces the Exynos 5433 chip in the Galaxy Note 4 ; regular benchmarks show that’s not true, Samsung claims. The suit also accuses PC vendor Velocity Micro of violating two additional patents (for a total of eight), since NVIDIA’s graphics cards play a heavy role in its lineup. NVIDIA tells Engadget that it’s still examining the complaint, but it’s already rejecting allegations that it misled gamers with its Shield tests. Both devices were using their stock, fresh-from-the-box software loadouts, the company insists. Whether or not that’s true, the lawsuit comes across as the pot calling the kettle black. After all, it was the revelation that Samsung inflated benchmark scores which led many to question the honesty of mobile device makers. Really, the assertion of dodgy benchmarking is as much about corporate pride as anything else — if successful, it would force NVIDIA to eat humble pie. Filed under: Gaming , Tablets , Mobile , Samsung , NVIDIA Comments Source: Law360 (registration required)

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Samsung lawsuit claims that NVIDIA’s benchmarks are misleading

Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot weighs 330 pounds, but it can now balance on one leg

Atlas is back . While the robot itself may be from Google-owned Boston Dynamics, the balance algorithm is from IHMC (Institute for Human and Machine Cognition) who’s worked with the robotics company to get the six foot two biped walking better. IHMC has a strong track record in DARPA’s Robotics Challenge , coming first in computer simulations and second in real-life field trials. The next challenge comes in 2015, with more advanced trials in the summer. Turn down your speakers, then jump after the break to se a pile of motors and metal balance atop a few cinder blocks and flap its arms. There may be a beauty to its motions, but it certainly ain’t a quiet beauty. Again: mute the sound. Filed under: Robots , Google Comments Source: IHMC

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Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot weighs 330 pounds, but it can now balance on one leg

Google says the best phishing scams have a 45-percent success rate

Conceptually, phishing scams sound easy to see through: a fake webpage with the wrong URL that doesn’t look quite right — who’s going to fall for that? Quite a few people, apparently. According to a new Google study, the most successful phishing websites will capture data from 45-percent of its visitors. The least successful scams only scored information from three percent of its visitors, but when crooks are sending out phishing emails by the millions , that still adds up. The study found that the majority of the hijackers operate out of China, the Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa, and that they work quick: 20-percent of accounts were compromised within 30 minutes of having information phished. Most hijacked accounts are used to continue the cycle: sending emails to account’s contacts asking for bank transfers (under false pretenses, of course) or simply distributing links that might capture yet more accounts. The best way to protect yourself, Google says on its blog, are the old ways: enable 2-step verification on your accounts when possible and “stay vigilant” — report messages asking for personal information to and never, ever reply to them. Want to read the full study? Click right here . [Image credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Via: Huffington Source: Google (1) , (2)

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Google says the best phishing scams have a 45-percent success rate

Silk Road 2.0 was just the first: police seize more Tor-shielded darknet sites

Yesterday’s FBI takeover of Silk Road 2.0 was just the tip of the iceberg apparently, as European law enforcement organizations have announced a “global action” against similar darknet marketplaces. “Operation Onymous” resulted in 17 arrests total, the removal of 410 hidden services that allegedly offered illegal drugs and weapons for sale, as well as the seizure of more than $1 million Bitcoins in, $250, 000 in cash and drugs. Troels Oerting of the European Cybercrime Center told Wired that his staff hadn’t had time to assemble a full list of takedowns, but it includes Cloud 9, Hydra, Pandora, Cannabis Road and more. The Telegraph reports six Britons accused of helping run Silk Road 2.0 are among those arrested, while the BBC has word of two arrested in Ireland. Like both iterations of Silk Road, the sites were using Tor to anonymize access, but were still exposed. Details of how the service was pierced have not been revealed (we have an idea ), but The Wall Street Journal quotes Eurojust spokesman Ulf Bergstrom saying “You’re not anonymous anymore when you’re using Tor.” A Reddit thread charting the darknet takedowns also points out how the FBI was able to identify Blake Benthall, the alleged operator of SR 2.0. According to the complaint ( PDF ) they located and imaged the server that hosted the site, and while that occurred a support request came in asking the hosts not to reboot the machine. Then the FBI obtained logs from Gmail that tied it to Benthall’s IP addresses, as well as a network at a hotel where he was staying. Until the takedown , running the enterprise had its benefits, allowing Benthall to cash out about $273, 626 in Bitcoins, and make a down payment on a Tesla Model S. So what’s next? This round of arrests focused on those running the marketplaces, occurring in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA. According to Oerting, the next step is to go after others, including those who purchased illegal goods from the marketplaces. Filed under: Internet Comments Source: Europol , Eurojust

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Silk Road 2.0 was just the first: police seize more Tor-shielded darknet sites

Taylor Swift wants no part of the music streaming ‘experiment’

Just days ago, Taylor Swift shook off Spotify . The star opted not to leave her new album off of the service and pulled the rest of her catalog. Lucky for us, Yahoo caught up with the globe-trotting star during a promotional tour in Japan for more insight on the matter. As you might expect, she echoed the sentiment shared by some of her fellow musician s: streaming services don’t adequately compensate artists and the rest of the folks who have a hand in making albums. What’s more, Swift goes on to call Spotify and similar offerings “experiments, ” and she isn’t “willing to contribute my life’s work” to those outfits that don’t properly pay up. Spotify, for example, has been around since 2008, so we’re a bit beyond the honeymoon phase. Subscription-based and ad-supported music streaming has taken root in our lives, and it’s not leaving anytime soon unless there’s some kind of drastic change. She’s also well aware of the example she’s setting. And being the popular role model that she is, Swift doesn’t want folks thinking it’s okay to give their hard work away for free. In the end though, it apparently just didn’t feel right. “But I think it’s really still up for debate whether this is actual progress, or whether this is taking the word “music” out of the music industry, ” Swift explainss. Of course, Swift’s previous releases are available elsewhere, and Rdio reaffirmed its commitment to artist choice today, while boasting that the star’s back catalog can still be streamed there. If you’re after the full quote from the interview, it’s just below. Oh yeah, Swift’s new album 1989 sold well over a million albums in its first week. If I had streamed the new album, it’s impossible to try to speculate what would have happened. But all I can say is that music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment. And I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free. I wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal this summer that basically portrayed my views on this. I try to stay really open-minded about things, because I do think it’s important to be a part of progress. But I think it’s really still up for debate whether this is actual progress, or whether this is taking the word “music” out of the music industry. Also, a lot of people were suggesting to me that I try putting new music on Spotify with “Shake It Off, ” and so I was open-minded about it. I thought, “I will try this; I’ll see how it feels.” It didn’t feel right to me. I felt like I was saying to my fans, “If you create music someday, if you create a painting someday, someone can just walk into a museum, take it off the wall, rip off a corner off it, and it’s theirs now and they don’t have to pay for it.” I didn’t like the perception that it was putting forth. And so I decided to change the way I was doing things. [Photo credit: Fred Lee/ABC via Getty Images] Filed under: Internet , Software Comments Via: TechCrunch Source: Yahoo

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Taylor Swift wants no part of the music streaming ‘experiment’