A burst of 7 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
Terrific unravelling of how the web now works by Wes Miller:
Imagine the response if you told a friend, family member, or colleague that you had a report/blog/study you were working on, and asked them, "Hey, I'm going to shoulder-surf you for a day and write down which Websites you visit, how often and how long you visit them, and who you send email to, okay?" In most cases, they'd tell you no, or tell you that you're being weird.
Then ask them how much you'd need to pay them in order for them to let you shoulder-surf. Now they'll be creeped out.
Finally, tell them you installed software on their computer last week, so you've already got the data you need, is it okay if you use that for your report. Now they're going to probably completely overreact, and maybe even get angry (so tell them you were kidding).
More than two years ago, I discussed why do-not-track would stall out and die, and in fact, it has. This was completely predictable, and I would have been completely shocked if this hadn't happened. It's because there is one thing that makes the Web work at all. It's the cycle of micropayments of personally identifiable information (PII) that, in appropriate quantities, allow advertisers (and advertising companies) to tune their advertising.
Aswath Damodaran:
the market would have to be three times my estimate — about $300 billion — or Uber's market share would have to be more than double my base case estimate — more than 20 percent — to justify a $17bn valuation. The former may hold if you see Uber's market more expansively than I do, and the latter may come to fruition if you believe Uber will have an easier time overcoming the competition and the regulatory constraints on its growth.
I also examined how the value would change if Uber's slice of gross receipts were to drop from my base case estimate of 20%, again allowing for different potential market sizes.
Not only does this table point to devastating effects on its value should competition force Uber to cut its 20% take, but it also reveals a danger for Uber (and its investors) in focusing too much on growth in gross receipts. Uber may be able to expand its market by charging less, but the effect on value of doing so will be negative.
We'll have to wait for Fox News's valuation to be sure.
Ben Bajarin:
many missed the single biggest feature of the iPhone that required it to be based on a 64-bit processor — encryption. I have had many long conversations with chipset architects since then and repeatedly heard encryption is THE use case that will see the most performance benefits from a 64-bit architecture. Which means, it is likely Touch ID is simply not possible, at least in Apple's deployment, on a 32-bit architecture. This could also explain why so many competing attempts at a fingerprint solution are terrible compared to Apple's Touch ID.
Apple's competition is left playing catch up. This is one of the key things I am looking for Google to address next week at Google I/O. As I sit attentively in the audience, I anticipate they will answer the 64-bit question. This is essential for Google, not just because 64-bit mobile architectures are the new basis of competition but because these architectures will usher in the new mobile era. One based around a new ecosystem of security and privacy through hardware encryption.
Code Spaces [a code hosting service] has been under DDOS attacks since the beginning of the week, but a few hours ago, the attacker managed to delete all their hosted customer data and most of the backups. They have announced that they are shutting down business.
From the announcement:An unauthorized person who at this point who is still unknown (All we can say is that we have no reason to think its anyone who is or was employed with Code Spaces) had gained access to our Amazon EC2 control panel and had left a number of messages for us to contact them using a Hotmail address. Reaching out to the address started a chain of events that revolved around the person trying to extort a large fee in order to resolve the DDOS.
That's all the customers' data, of course.
The blackmailer had gotten hold of the Symbian encryption key used for signing. The code is a few kilobytes in size.
Had the key been leaked Nokia would not have been able to ensure that the phones accept only applications approved by the company.
In 2007 half of the smartphones sold in the world were manufactured by Nokia.
When Nokia paid the money it was promised that the key will not be misused. It is not known how the key ended up in the hands of the blackmailer.
Nokia took matter to the National Bureau of Investigation, which began to investigate the case.
The situation, however, progressed rapidly, and the ransom payment was made in the Finnish city of Tampere. The money was left in a bag at a parking lot nearby Särkänniemi amusement park.
Then things went wrong. The blackmailer took the bag. Police, however, lost track of the blackmailer and the money was gone.
The case is still unsolved.
But surely the blackmailer had the encryption key and the money?
Joanna Stern:
These trackers work best when you've misplaced your items in close proximity, which is usually the case for me. (Yes, my glasses are often right on my head.)
When the trackers are in range of your phone's Bluetooth radio (100 to 150 feet), the app's proximity meter indicates how close your keys or wallet may be. Tile gives you text clues ("It's about an arm's length away") while TrackR and Duet show wireless signal strength.
Duet and TrackR let you set alarms that sound off on the phone and the tracker when the two are no longer connected. That is, when you've walked away from your precious belonging. TrackR's iPhone and Android apps even let you configure a song to play if the alarm is triggered. I chose the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling."
But even if you never again lose your keys, you may lose your mind with this feature. Anytime I stepped out of range—taking the garbage out, charging my phone in another room—the sensor on my keys tripped, and alarms (and that song) began blaring.
The Tile seems to come out ahead (it's more accurate about location - which must be the point) but is iPhone-only.
[Company] founder, Phil Nakata, a former IBM Chief Technology Officer and former Computer Science Corporation Partner explains, "By giving everyone a trusted digital companion -- think a Siri with the intelligence of a supercomputer - we can provide everyone the individually tailored knowledge, resources, and security they need to fully express themselves. Then by taking how business is done on the web currently, and feeding it the red pill, we can use the system's business intelligence to create massive amounts of value for humanity [the individuals and their social causes], by, first, biometrically securing everyone's identities, while simultaneously giving them back the revenues and control of something which is worth trillions: their market data."
"Architecting the digital consciousness"?
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