Oracle kills Java browser plug-in

Oracle said that it will finally kill its Java browser plug-in. This move does not come as soon as possible — in the past years, the Java browser plug-in was a easy target for hackers and malware authors. A 2014 report from Cisco said that a whopping 91% of all attacks were targeted at Java.

The situation has improved afterwards ; Cisco’s mid-year 2015 report revealed that for sometime Java was a serious course for concern,the company had made strides on mitigating its attack profile and enhancing total security. As of last year, attacks against Flash were increasing alarmingly, while that of Java declined overall.

Even after these improvements, Oracle is still scaling down the Java plug in when it releases Java 9, and removing it totally at some point after that date. Both Edge and Chrome have already nuked browser support for Java from orbit; Firefox announced plans to do so late last year. Historically, Oracle has been slow to respond to vulnerabilities in Java, and its sandboxing was never as foolproof as the company advertised.

Oracle’s stated reasons for killing the browser plug-ins doesn’t mention the broken sandbox model or the lack of an automatic security update process. Instead, it reads:

As Java evolved to become one of the leading mainstream development platforms, so did the applet’s hosts – the web browsers. The rise of web usage on mobile device browsers, typically without support for plugins, increasingly led browser makers to want to restrict and remove standards based plug in support from their products, as they tried to combine the set of features available across desktop and mobile versions. The Oracle JRE can only support applets on browsers for as long as browser vendors provide the requisite cross-browser standards based plugin API (e.g. NPAPI) support.

In other words, Java was a cool, cutting-edge technology, until pesky browser companies decided to kill it.

If you don’t specifically need Java, we recommend uninstalling it. It’s the kind of application that you’ll know if you need (and won’t miss, if you don’t). IE11 still supports Java from within the browser if you need to use it, but Chrome has phased it out and Mozilla is in the process of doing so. Oracle’s migration document suggests that firms which rely on Java’s browser plug-ins should begin investigating “plug-in-free alternatives.”

Computer security is, by its nature, a moving target. Every now and then, however, Team White Hat scores a genuine victory. With Adobe Flash rapidly fading and Java plug-ins facing a near-term expiration date, the Internet should be genuinely safer — at least, for a little while.

A Day After Launch, “Exploding Kittens” Tops The App Store

“Exploding Kittens,” the hugely successful Kickstarter-funded card game from ex-Microsofties Elan Lee and Shane Small along with The Oatmeal’s creator Matthew Inman, has now been translated into a mobile game. And that game is now explodingonto the App Store, too, having scored the #1 Paid App slot only a day after launching.

The game, as you may recall, became one of Kickstarter’s most-funded projects ever, pulling in nearly $8.8 million in pledges from over 219,000 contributors. It also broke a record for the project with the most individual donors, at the time.

Bursting onto the scene a year ago, where it was touted as the new “Cards Against Humanity,” the game’s concept was to deliver a “kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette.” That is, players take turn drawing cards until someone pulls an exploding kitten and loses the game. Of course, there’s more to it than that – players can also use various cards to defuse the kitten (with belly rubs or catnip sandwiches, e.g.), or skip their turns, attack other players, relocate kittens and more.

In part, the card game’s launch was so successful because of Inman’s involvement, and his ability to leverage The Oatmeal’s sizable fan base to invest, as well as Lee’s reputation in the gaming world.

To bring the game to mobile, Lee and Small partnered with the Seattle-based digital product studio Substantial, as well as Inman, in order to translate the table game into a local, peer-to-peer party game you play on your phone.

Substantial, though not a name consumers may be familiar with themselves, does client work for a number of big names, including The WSJ, News Corp, Google, Amazon, Universal, IDEO, Getty Images, Starbucks, Citi, Genetech, ESPN, Lexus, and others. The company says goal was not just to clone the original, but make an evolved, improved and mobile-friendly version that would appeal to both fans of the card game and new users.

The end result is that the app version of “Exploding Kittens” is a bit different from the original card game. It has pulled some cards and added others, introduced new game mechanics, and has introduced new art from The Oatmeal’s Inman, as well as sounds and voices.

In addition, what’s interesting about the mobile game is that it climbed to the top of the App Store, despite the fact that you can’t play it by yourself, as you can with most mobile games today.

You can’t even play with strangers over the internet for the time being. Instead, as the game’s website explains, “Exploding Kittens” is “very much a party game” – meaning, a “multiplayer game you play with people who are actually sitting near you.”

To enable this functionality, the game uses a combination of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to allow players to communicate with others around them, instead of relying on the Internet or Game Center. The creators warn that this technology is new and may have some kinks to work out, and bugs.

The technology is similar to what you’ll find in apps like FireChat, the off-the-grid mobile messenger that’s been used at protests, and Occupy Wall Street, as well as in the teen-focused messaging app Jott that can work without a data plan or Wi-Fi connection.

Adding the same sort of offline capability to a mobile game meant to be played in groups, then, is a fairly clever trick. That eliminates the potential problems users could face when their signal isn’t as strong as their competitors, where Wi-Fi isn’t accessible, or even when you’re lacking cellular/data connectivity altogether.

The $1.99 game has now soared to the top of the App Store, again leveraging its prior viral buzz. And it won’t just be raking in revenues by downloads, the app also offers in-app purchases for “Avatar Packs’ that let users personalize their experience. The question for now is how long “Exploding Kittens” can retain its top spot.

According to Substantial’s, Adam Pearson, the Lead Developer on “Exploding Kittens,” the metrics show that a lot of people are playing the game simultaneously, but he declined to provide download numbers.

The product, described as a “version 1.0” release, doesn’t yet include the full feature set. For example, for now it doesn’t offer the “Nope” cards nor is there an Android version available. But the developers say these and more features are in the works for the future.

“We focused on doing the best possible job of adapting the physical card game to the mobile platform by sticking to a face-to-face, party game style of gameplay that still felt natural on a smartphone,” says Pearson, when asked about the company’s plans from this point forward. “Players can expect any future developments to open the game to a broader user-base.”

Android Reportedly Raked In $22 Billion In Profit For Google, According To Oracle

The business squabble between Oracle and Google over Android continues after a lawyer for Oracle revealed in court that the operating system has already generated $31 billion in revenue and $22 billion in profit for its maker.

During a federal court hearing in Northern California on Jan. 14, Oracle's legal counsel Annette Hurst discussed the findings of their analysis of revenue and profit from the Android OS.

In its court filing, Google said that Hurst's statements were based on information taken from internal financial documents that were not supposed to be made public. The company has asked the court to place the disclosures under seal.

"Google does not publicly allocate revenues or profits to Android separate and apart from Google's general business," Google said in its filing. "That non-public financial data is highly sensitive, and public disclosure could have significant negative effects on Google's business."

Oracle has declined to provide any comment regarding the disclosures in court.

The transcript of the hearing was initially available electronically at a courthouse in San Francisco, but has since been removed from the court's computer system accessible to the public. There is also no indication that the court has granted Google's request to have it sealed.

Java Language Use

The legal battle between the two tech companies began when Oracle accused Google of using Java language for the development of the Android OS without paying for the software.

Use of the Android OS started in November 2007 with the debut of the Android alpha. Android 1.0, the first version of the mobile operating system to be used commercially, was introduced in September 2008.

Oracle is trying to utilize information on Google's finances to prove in court that the company used the Java software in its development of the Android OS so that it can quickly make profits from it.

Oracle wants to set the value of damages it is seeking from Google based on the search engine company's earnings from Android. This would mean that the larger the revenue Google made from the operating system, the more money Oracle could receive for the copyright infringement once the case is taken to trial.

In last week's hearing, Hurst argued that at the time of Android's development, it was crucial for Google to finish the operating system as soon as possible.

The company was competing with Apple regarding which of the two can release their respective technologies first. Consumers were becoming increasingly accustomed to the concept of mobile OS.

Hurst referenced a testimony given by an engineer from Google in which the individual stated that alternatives to the Java software "all suck."

Industry analyst James Cakmak of Monness Crespi Hardt & Co. explained that Oracle's data did not have enough granularity in terms of how much of the figures' percentage were derived from established and emerging markets, as well as how the numbers change with time in order to provide a concrete re-evaluation of Google's business.

He said that the margin in Oracle's figures was not much of a surprise, and that it helps provide a framework that can be used to interpret Google's monetization prospects regarding mobile.

Samsung unveils Galaxy TabPro S with Windows 10 OS

  

Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy TabPro S, a tablet running Microsoft’s Windows 10 to take on the likes of theiPad Pro and Surface Pro 4.

Another entrant into the "laptop killer"category,this tablet posseses full notebook PC performance plus a keyboard cover complete with trackpad.

The Galaxy TabPro S, unveiled at CES 2016, is indeed slender at 6.3mm thin and 693g, so can possibly be carried everywhere.

The full-sized keyboard cover, which is fitted with the tablet, is a pleasure to use and WIRED had a good experience playing with it - the trackpad in particular was highly responsive. A Pogo pin on the keyboard means there is no need for pairing or charging separately.

The 12in Super AMOLED display (2,160x1440 pixels) is just as expected, bright and clear. According to Samsung,the multitouch screen can reproduce "a deeper colour contrast with 94 percent of natural tones" to show better true-to-life colours. And that, combined screen size, is good news for media playback and gaming.

The overall impression is a quality product with clever industrial design that holds brief of being a good replacement for your existing laptop.

The TabPro S is LTE Cat 6 enabled,as the 5,200mAh battery borrows the fast-charging tech from Samsung smartphones so can fully charge in 2.5 hours, with a claimed 10.5 hour battery life. The tablet’s 2.2GHz Intel Core M processor delivers a low 4.5W of power consumption.

Deep within is a NFC, Bluetooth 4.1, 4GB of RAM and space for an 128GB or 256GB SSD. The TabPro S also has a 5MP front and rear-facing cameras. A multi-port adapter (HDMI, USB Type A & C) and Bluetooth Pen will be available for purchase separately.

There's no retail price yet, but the Galaxy TabPro S will be available globally from February.

Xiaomi Rolls out Redmi Note 3, Its First Phone With A Fingerprint Scanner

Widening the focus of its young payment platform, China’s Xiaomi has introduced fingerprint scanners on its range of affordable smartphones for the first time after it rolled-out the third-generation Redmi Note in Beijing.

The sensor is located on the backside of the Redmi Note 3, is the most prominent feature of the new 5.5-inch phablet, which will be sold for 899 RMB ($140) and will first debut in China. Also, the phone comes in a metallic casing while Xiaomi has increased the device’s battery to a larger capacity of 4000mAh.

Beneath, the phone is powered by a Helio X10 chip from MediaTek. With dimension of 8.65mm thick and,mass 164g,which is 4g heavier than previous Redmi Note 2,unveiled just three months earlier. The Redmi Note 3 includes a similar 13-megapixel front camera and 5-megapixel rear camera like its predecessor.


This phone may be the first among many from Xiaomi to have a fingerprint scanner, but its unveiling signals Xiaomi’s trip into the payments space in a very big way.The sensor can also be used to unlock the phone without using a passcode,just like similar devices from other companies, that’s just the beginning.

Way back in July, Xiaomi released Mi Wallet, a new platform that exceed  services like Apple Wallet or Apple Pay with additional features to allow payments, bank account management and other financial services for Xiaomi phone owners. Presently, Xiaomi is increasing the base for the mobile payment service,which could be a vital component  of Mi Wallet.

Skeletal Mi Wallet service is available worldwide,some specific components such as mobile payment is restricted to China presently. Since Xaiomi sold 60 million devices in 2014, and it is aims to attain 80 million this year, its entry into mobile payments sector could help it achieve this target.

The firm also rolled-out its second generation tablet, the Mi Pad 2. Now with metallic body, like the Redmi Note 3, Xiaomi said the new Mi Pad is 18 percent slimmer and 38g lighter than the previous model.It also comes in a new “Champagne Gold” color option.

In details, the Mi Pad has improved over its previous Nvidia internals, with the gen-two model powered by Intel Atom X5-Z8500 processor having an Intel Atom 64-bit CPU. It comes with a 7.9-inch display, 8 and 5-megapixel cameras at the back and front, and a 6190mAh battery. It supports USB Type-C port.

                                                          Mi Pad 2

The Mi Pad 2 is retailed at 999 RMB (about $155) or 1,299 RMB (about $200) for 16GB and 64GB models, respectively. Interestingly, the  64GB version may be available as a Windows 10 device from next month — making it a quite inexpensive entry  into Microsoft’s latest operating system.

Raspberry Pi, the original $25 PC, now smaller than a credit card and costs just $20

When the Raspberry Pi Foundation announced way back in 2011 that it would release a complete PC for $25, we were dubious — but hey, here we are in 2014 and Raspberry Pi has been a massive success story, with thousands of units sold at the promised $25 price point. Today, the Foundation is releasing the Raspberry Pi Model A+ — a smaller, cheaper version of the Model A. The A+ costs just $20, and you can buy it today from Farnell in the UK or MCM in the US. Amusingly enough, the A+ is now smaller than credit-card sized.
As you probably know, technology has a habit of getting smaller — we adopt smaller connectors, redesign board layouts, combine multiple chips into single packages, and process nodes step down from 90nm to 45nm to 28nm. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Model A+ is significantly smaller than the original Model A — the A+ is now just 65mm x 56.5mm, down from 85.6mm x 56.5mm for the Model A. With the size reduction and fewer components, the Model A+ is about half the weight (23 grams vs. 45 grams).


Raspberry Pi Model A+, side-on, with a too-shallow depth of field

 
Raspberry Pi Model A+, hooked up to a screen, playing HD video. (Cables, screen, etc. not included.)

While it’s nice to talk about the inexorable march of miniaturization, the main reason the Model A+ is smaller is that the Foundation removed some of the larger components. The composite video RCA jack has been removed (composite video is now available through the 3.5mm headphone jack), and the SD card slot on the back of the board has been replaced with a micro SD slot. Remove a few components, redesign the PCB a bit (the A+ looks a lot like the recently announced B+), and voila: You have a much smaller computer. The smaller parts list obviously helped the Foundation bring the price down from $25 to $20, but I’m sure the main Broadcom BCM2835 SoC costs significantly less than three years ago, too.


Specs-wise, the Model A+ is virtually identical to the A — the same ARM SoC clocked at 700MHz, the same 256MB of RAM, the same HDMI video output. The Model A+ massively increases the number of GPIO pins, though, from 26 pins to 40 — the same number of GPIO pins as the larger Model B+, and they’re in the same physical location along the top edge, which might be useful in some compatibility related circumstances. The other important improvement on the A+ is that it (reportedly) uses 1 watt — down from 1.5W for the Model A, and 3W for the Model B+. In the case of the Model B+, the additional power consumption is mostly due to the Ethernet socket — I’m not sure how the folks at Raspberry Pi axed the Model A’s power consumption by 50%, except for some updated components (maybe the BCM2835 went through a process shrink?)
The Model A+ should be fully cross-compatible with Model A, B, and B+ applications. The B and B+ have twice as much RAM, but as you can see in the videos above, the A+ still runs Minecraft: Pi Edition and HD video just fine. All in all, the Model A+ for $20 is a great deal — but its single USB port definitely makes it more oriented towards DIY hardware hacking, while the Model B+, with its four USB ports and Ethernet socket, is still a better option for a low-power Linux box or home-theater PC.
You can buy the Raspberry Pi Model A+ from Farnell in the UK, and MCM in the US — but more stockists will appear soon, I’m sure.
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