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09 Apr 2015

Precision Laser Weapon Scorches Mile-Away Truck Engine

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<a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/">Lockheed Martin</a>
 this week conducted a test of its Advanced Test High Energy Asset, or 
ATHENA, laser system. The successful demonstration attests to just how 
far directed energy weapons technology has come.</div>
Boring clean through the engine of a truck mounted on a platform more
 than a mile away, ATHENA decommissioned the running vehicle in a matter
 of seconds -- and the technology is now ready for wider adoption, 
according to Lockheed Martin.<br />
The test moved ATHENA a step closer to implementation in the weapons arrays of attack helicopters, jets, ships and trucks.
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<h2 class="subhead">
The Future Is Now
</h2>
That may seem far out and far off, but ATHENA's successful field test 
proves all the tech components for meeting military specifications have 
been developed, said Lockheed Martin spokesperson Lynn Fisher.<br />
"Tomorrow is already here, and Lockheed Martin is ready to provide these cutting-edge solutions now," she told TechNewsWorld.<br />
Based on Lockheed Martin's Area Defense Anti-Munitions, or ADAM, 
laser weapons system, the 30-kilowatt ATHENA weapon uses an array of 
fiber optic lasers, a technique known as "spectral beam combining," to 
produce a unified beam that's much stronger and more lethal than the 
unfocused efforts of 10-kilowatt blasts.<br />
The difference between ADAM and ATHENA, according to Fisher, is their laser sources. 
<br />
Lockheed Martin developed ATHENA from off-the-shelf components available
 to commercial buyers, along with its own beam and fire control software
 and algorithms, she explained.<br />
"At the time the ADAM prototype was designed, approximately four 
years ago, 10 kilowatts was the highest power single-mode fiber laser 
with good beam quality that was available," Fisher said. "We believed 10
 kilowatts to be adequate for defeating simple threats, and ADAM has 
successfully validated that premise."
<br />
<h2 class="subhead">
Benefits Outweigh Risks
</h2>
For those concerned about the risks of directed energy weapons like ATHENA and ADAM, they are relatively few, said  <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.frost.com/">Frost & Sullivan</a> Senior Industry Analyst Michael Blades.<br />
On the other hand, there are many benefits to using the nascent weaponry.<br />
"The cost per firing is low compared to traditional ammunition, and 
range capabilities are outstanding in clear skies," Blades told 
TechNewsWorld. "Also, as long as you have power, you never run out of 
ammunition."<br />
Directed energy weapons can neutralize other weapons or vehicles 
without any collateral damage, as proven by Lockheed Martin's ATHENA 
test, he pointed out. Instead of blowing up a vehicle and sending 
shrapnel everywhere, directed energy weapons can simply take down the 
threat's power source.<br />
"Additionally, DE weapons can 'dazzle' sensors so an adversary 
aircraft cannot attack," Blades noted. "This would be useful when you 
don't want to shoot down an armed unmanned aircraft for fear it might 
cause collateral damage on the ground."<br />
A major drawback of directed energy weapons is their inability to 
lock onto small and fast-moving vehicles. The effectiveness of these 
weapons also can be hampered by haze and smoke.<br />
Despite their vulnerabilities, directed energy weapons have been 
gaining traction for the last few years, and they're on track to place 
traditional weapons if testing continues to go well,  Blades said.<br />
This week's test was pivotal, said Lockheed Martin's Fisher, and its success indicates the technology is ready for adoption now.<br />
"Directed energy is a crucial revolutionary technology," she 
maintained, "because of the advantages of speed, flexibility, precision 
and low cost-per-engagement that only are possible with lasers."</div>
</div>

Precision Laser Weapon Scorches Mile-Away Truck Engine

Lockheed Martin this week conducted a test of its Advanced Test High Energy Asset, or ATHENA, laser system. The successful demonstration attests to just how far directed energy weapons technolo…

07 Mar 2015

What To Expect From The Apple Watch Event

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The Apple Watch is set to be the star of Apple’s special event on Monday in San Francisco, putting us in the rare position of actually knowing a lot about what’s coming in advance. That’s
 because Apple officially introduced the Apple Watch to the world last 
September at its special iPhone event, even showing off working hardware
 (and letting journalists like us try on versions of the Watch running 
locked demo loops of its software). Monday will still offer plenty of 
surprises, however, so here’s a look at what we know, what we expect, 
and what we’d like to see but probably won’t.<br />

<h2>
Apple Watch</h2>
Apple’s wearable will come in three separate collections,
 including the “Watch,” “Watch Sport” and “Watch Edition.” The Sport 
model will be the most affordable, offering an anodized aluminum case, 
special strengthened glass Apple calls “Ion-X,” and shipping with 
plastic bands in a variety of bright color options designed for active 
use. It’ll start at $349, and will be the most affordable of the three 
different collections.<br />

Apple Watch (the naming scheme is not Apple’s most clear) seems to be
 what Apple will use as the “default” option, analogous to how the 
iPhone 6 could be said to be its primary flagship, with the iPhone 6 
Plus as a slightly more premium model, and the iPhone 5s and 5c as more 
akin to the Apple Watch Sport. The Apple Watch’s pricing will be a key 
thing to watch, and could vary depending on bracelet and band options.<br />

The Apple Watch collection model offer either polished stainless 
steel or “space black” stainless steel case options, as well as link 
bracelet, leather loop, milanese loop (fine chain mesh), classic buckle 
leather strap or “fluoroelastomer” plastic sport bands. Various color 
options are available for the different straps, which can be mixed and 
matched with the cases, as well as swapped out easily using Apple’s 
unique custom strap connection system. Sapphire crystal protects the 
screen, compared to reinforced glass on the Sport Edition.<br />

Apple Watch Edition comes in six variants, with 18-karat gold cases 
Apple says are actually engineered to be twice as hard as standard gold,
 which is one of the software metals, so that should help it be more 
resistant to scratches. Sapphire glass is again the material used for 
the front face. Strap and buckle options are actually more limited vs. 
the Apple Watch collection, but the unique use of both gold and rose 
gold hardware to match the case finish options sets the accessories 
apart.<br />

All Apple Watches share in common a choice between a case size of 38 
or 42mm,  which are both smaller and slimmer than what you might be used
 to with the existing crop of smartwatches. Based on when we saw them in
 September, I’m inclined to favor the smaller size, but the fact that 
both exist is a clear sign Apple wants to make sure Watch appeals to a 
wide range of tastes.<br />

The digital crown is another key feature of the Apple Watch. It 
offers a physical input mechanism for the wearable, with rotation 
controlling zoom, and a push acting as a Home button to let you return 
from any app to the home screen. Apple has of course included a 
touch-enabled screen for direct input, but the digital crown is an 
incredibly addition that accommodates the smaller screen, which would be
 obscured completely using multi-finger pinch-to-zoom gestures. Tactic 
feedback, which is a new twist on the kind of physical vibration 
feedback we’ve come to expect that is surprisingly intimate in real life
 (like a human tapping you on the wrist) is another big tentpole 
hardware feature.<br />

In terms of this event and the Apple Watch basics, what will be most interesting to learn will be the specifics of battery life,
 which Apple has only vaguely described as suitable for a day’s worth of
 use. We’ll also get more information on just how water resistant the 
gadget is. It’ll be very interesting to see how, if at all, the Apple 
Watch’s physical design has changed since its original introduction – 
Apple is unlikely to have ventured very far from what we’ve seen, given 
that the Apple Watch has been photographed plenty and is plastered all 
over its website, but subtle changes may have cropped up in the 
intervening months since its unveiling.<br />

<h2>
Watch Pricing</h2>
One of the most frequently discussed unknowns regarding the Apple 
Watch is the specific pricing matrix Apple will use across its 
collections. From Apple, the only official word has been that $349 
starting price for the Apple Watch Sport. A report claiming that the 
Apple Watch collection would start at the same level was s<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/06/jony-ive-profile-apple-watch/" target="_blank">hot down by Apple PR</a>,
 so it’s likely that things will kick off there for at least $150 more, 
if Apple sticks with a pricing model similar to how it handles other iOS
 product lines, but don’t be surprised if they’re even as high as $600 
to start.<br />

As for the Apple Watch Edition, pricing estimates vary considerably. Our own John Biggs estimated at least $1,200 to start,
 and most guesses since seem to peg $2,000 as the bottom end, with 
ceiling estimates ranging as high as $20,000 depending on options. The 
steep pricing is mostly coming from sources familiar with the existing 
luxury watch industry, where four-figure pricing is actually on the low 
end. A solid 18-karat gold case alone at the very least merits breaking 
the $1k mark, according to many of these experts. The Apple Watch 
Edition also comes in a box that’s <a href="http://sixcolors.com/post/2014/09/the-luxury-of-the-apple-watch-edition/" target="_blank">leather-cased and becomes an accessory holder</a> for the wearable, too.<br />

<img alt="apple-watch-gold" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1113903 img-full" height="553" src="https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/apple-watch-gold.jpg?w=1024&h=553" width="1024" />Pricing
 a device that high, especially when most anticipate it will have an 
update cycle similar to the iPhone, may seem like a touch of madness, 
but Apple is clearly trying to court the luxury and fashion market with 
this new hardware. Pricing in those worlds plays by different rules: 
Many are happy to pay a lot for something that offers additional cache 
for its wearer, regardless of how it compares to cheaper devices in 
terms of pure functionality. Device pricing for the Edition line might 
not make “sense” for Apple’s gadget-loving crowd, but it is a logical 
course for it to take when pushing further into the high-end luxury 
market.<br />

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</div>
<h2>
Apple Retail</h2>
A second stage appearance for the Apple Watch could afford Apple the 
chance to talk about how it will sell the new wearable – rumors and 
reports have suggested changes in the works at Apple Stores and among 
front-line retail personnel, with new security measures such as special safes for overnight and Edition storage, and new hands-on areas where customers can sample the various personalization options available with Apple watch first-hand.<br />

A retail renaissance may provide Apple with more opportunity to chase
 those higher-end customers across its line, and recent reports suggest 
its retail staff have been instructed to sue the Apple Watch as a means 
to talk about and try to promote the iPhone to potential buyers as well.
 Selling the Apple Watch may be a case of “come in for a phone, leave 
with an accessory” to many, but it could also be that a “come in for 
jewelry, leave with a phone” situation becomes commonplace as well.<br />

<h2>
12-inch MacBook Air</h2>
Apple’s MacBook Air is reported to be getting a new addition, a 
super-slim device with a 12-inch Retina display, and a single port in 
the interest of battery and space conservation. This device was first 
unearthed by 9to5Mac, and has been a bit of a moving target in terms of pinning down its release date.<br />

Current theories about how it might operate include Apple supplying a
 first-party hub to give it additional port power, and it featuring a 
trackpad that does away with physical click to help keep the shell so 
svelte.<br />

<img alt="macbook-air-gallery1-2014" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1049286 img-full" height="580" src="https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/macbook-air-gallery1-2014.jpg?w=978&h=580" width="978" />It’s
 about time that the MacBook Air got a significant refresh, and a 
12-inch model with an extremely small physical footprint would 
definitely be an exciting device. Most argue that this would be a 
computer with a fairly steep price tag, however, and probably something 
with more niche appeal for those seeking extreme portability at the cost
 of other conveniences like plenty of I/O options.<br />

The latest rumors suggest we might <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/05/12-inch-macbook-air-2/" target="_blank">see the MacBook Air make a debut at the event</a>,
 but not necessarily ship right away. Apple could also easily save this 
particular reveal for WWDC, which has the added benefit of keeping the 
spotlight squarely focused on the Apple Watch.<br />

<h2>
Other Macs (and Mac Accessories)</h2>
Shipment times indicate we might see updates to the existing MacBook 
Air model, as well as possible to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which would 
make more sense in terms of an update alongside the Apple Watch (that 
wouldn’t steal its focus). If this happens, expect a processor bump, as 
well as improvements in base configuration specs, but not much else.<br />

One outlier possibility could be the introduction of some kind of 
replacement for the existing Thunderbolt display. After the Retina 5K 
iMac was introduced last year, many have been waiting for a standalone 
display with similar resolution. Apple has just begun listing its <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/06/magsafe-2-converter-discontinued/" target="_blank">MagSafe to MagSafe 2 adapter as “Discontinued”</a>
 on its store site, which could be an indicator that it’s planning to 
debut a monitor that comes with MagSafe 2 power out of the box. Still, 
this is definitely a long shot, as we’ve heard little else about the 
possibility of a display refresh.<br />

Another long shot, the iPad Pro with its supposed 12.9-inch screen
 seems to be supported by enough rumor “smoke” to indicate that there’s 
product “fire” behind it. But we’re unlikely to see it at this event 
specifically – new reports out earlier this week suggest Apple is more 
likely looking to fall as a target launch date for its larger tablet 
device.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Spring Forward</h2>
In the end, the Watch is what this event is all about, and Apple 
still has plenty of story to tell regarding its new device. The wearable
 is a decidedly different product from anything it has launched before, 
and the company’s media strategy has been demonstrably different in 
every regard right from the time it was first made official. Monday’s 
event will clearly be one like no other in Apple’s history, so be sure 
to join us right here when we kick things off for the 10 AM PT start 
time.<br />
</div>

What To Expect From The Apple Watch Event

The Apple Watch is set to be the star of Apple’s special event on Monday in San Francisco, putting us in the rare position of actually knowing a lot about what’s coming in advance. That’s because Ap…

07 Mar 2015

This Is Probably HTC’s Next Big Android Phone, The One M9

We’ve still got nearly two weeks to go before HTC officially unveils 
their new top-tier Android phone at Mobile World Congress, but it looks 
like the details have already started dumping out.<br />

On an episode of Droidcast
 back in January, we were pretty confident that HTC’s next big device — 
which we tentatively called the HTC One M9 — would look a whole lot like
 its HTC’s <em>last</em> flagship, the One M8.<br />

Sure enough: if these latest leaks are legit, it’s pretty much a dead
 ringer. They’ve moved some buttons around, sure, and it looks like 
they’ve gone from two cameras on the rear to one — but unless you really
 know your stuff, a quick glance would leave you thinking the two 
devices were one in the same.<br />

Check out these spy shots, obtained by <a href="http://phandroid.com/2015/01/22/new-htc-one-m9-pictures/" target="_blank">the guys at Phandroid</a>:<br />

Note that third button below the pair of volume buttons on the right.
 That’s the power button, which on the One M8 was located on the top of 
the device. Given how damned big the One M8 is, having the power button 
up top made it a bit arduous to reach at times.<br />

Meanwhile, Germany’s <a href="http://www.mobilegeeks.de/artikel/htc-one-m9/" target="_blank">MobileGeeks.de</a>
 found some official-looking renders lurking on a German phone retailer 
site, though the page has since been gutted of most of its imagery.<br />

Fortunately, these shots got snagged before that happened:<br />
<div>

</div>
<img alt="m9 1" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1122658" height="538" src="https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/m9-1.png?w=680&h=538" width="680" /><br />

So, yeah… it seemingly looks a <em>lot</em> like the M8. Here’s a side-by-side of the back side:<br />

But, hell — pretty much all smartphones look alike these days. It’s what’s on the <em>inside</em> that counts, right?<br />

<strong>Here’s what the rumor mill suggests is under the hood:</strong><br />

<ul>
<li>5-inch Display running at 1080p</li>
<li>20.7 Megapixel rear camera, 4.0 megapixel front camera with HTC’s “Ultrapixel” tech</li>
<li>Android Lollipop 5.0 (with some HTC Sense stuff running on top)</li>
<li>2,840mAh battery</li>
<li>3GB of RAM</li>
<li>2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU (though some rumors pin it at 2.8Ghz)</li>
</ul>
Everything is still up in the air for now, of course. Even the name 
is still up for debate; some say it’s the “One M9″, some say it’s just 
“The One”. Whatever the case, HTC should be making things 100% official 
come March 1st in Barcelona.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

This Is Probably HTC’s Next Big Android Phone, The One M9

We’ve still got nearly two weeks to go before HTC officially unveils their new top-tier Android phone at Mobile World Congress, but it looks like the details have already…

22 Feb 2015

Funnely Builds Smarter Facebook Ad Campaigns For Online Stores

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If you run an e-commerce business, Facebook can be a big opportunity for making sales and finding new customers — in fact, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/17/facebook-product-ads/"> the company just announced new ad units for this very purpose</a>. But if you need a little more handholding, there’s a startup called <a href="http://funne.ly/en.html" target="_blank">Funnely</a> that might help.<br />

Funnely was created by a team based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and 
that’s where the startup’s developers are still based — but other team 
members have relocated to Mountain View, Calif., where they’re part of <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/04/niche-to-win/">the most recent class at incubator 500 Startups</a>.<br />

As explained to me by Lucila Campos and Susana Cipriota — two of 
Funnely’s four founders — the product is built for e-commerce 
businesses, particularly small ones that don’t have the time and/or 
expertise to create sophisticated Facebook ad campaigns. The pair said 
that distinguishes them from other social ad platforms like Nanigans, 
which are better-suited to large advertisers.<br />

Funnely plugs into shopping platforms like Shopify and pulls out 
behavioral data about customers, which it then uses to both create and 
target Facebook ads. Campos said the product “makes sure the whole 
funnel is healthy,” which means advertising to potential new customers 
and using retargeting to convince existing customers to make a purchase.<br />

The company launched its public beta last week, but it says it’s 
already managing $150,000 in ad spend and delivering 17x ROI and 15 
percent growth with early advertisers.<br />

For example, during its private beta period, Funnely worked with wine company <a href="https://www.invino.com/" target="_blank">Invino</a>,
 targeting previous visitors with ads based on their interests (like red
 wine ads for people who visited red wine pages) while also finding 
Facebook users who looked like they could turn into lucrative wine 
buyers. Invino ran test campaigns of $600 per week, and they brought in 
$9,700 in revenue, or a 16x return on investment.<br />
<div>

</div>
The process is mostly automated for advertisers, but Campos noted 
that the degree of automation varies depending on where someone is in 
the sales funnel: “The lower funnel is the most automated,” she said, 
while Funnely also taps into a crowdsourced network of ad targeting and 
creative.<br />

Funnely is currently limited to Facebook advertising, but Campos said
 she definitely intends to expand to other ad platforms. She’ll stay 
focused on social media, however, because, “We are focused on the 
content … and the content is the most important part of social media 
ads.”<br />

The company has raised $237,000 in funding from 500 Startups, MITS Fund, NXTP Labs, and undisclosed angel investors.<br />

<a href="https://vimeo.com/118950072" target="_blank">What's Funnely?</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user23793842" target="_blank">Funnely Team</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/" target="_blank">Vimeo</a>.<br />

Funnely Builds Smarter Facebook Ad Campaigns For Online Stores

If you run an e-commerce business, Facebook can be a big opportunity for making sales and finding new customers — in fact, the company just announced new ad units for this very purpose. But if you n…

22 Feb 2015

Azure Machine Learning Aims to Convert Data to Information

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Microsoft on Wednesday announced new data services
 running on its Azure cloud in what it has positioned as a bid to bring 
big data to the mainstream.</div>
Those services include the HDInsight Apache Hadoop-based service; 
Storm on HDInsight, which lets users use Hadoop and Storm to create 
distributed, real-time data processing solutions in Azure; and Azure 
Machine Learning, a managed cloud service for advanced analytics.<br />

Azure Machine Learning lets users build and deploy apps and conduct predictive analyses, among other things.<br />

</div>
Those tasks are facilitated by the Machine Learning Marketplace, or 
MLM, which offers analytics services, algorithms and APIs users can plug
 into their solutions.<br />

Microsoft also has signed up several partners for Azure, such as Informatica and Ziosk.<br />

"The Azure solution is much more intuitive than existing network and 
platform management solutions, especially for nontechnical people," 
noted Jim McGregor, principal analyst at <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.tiriasresearch.com/">Tirias Research</a>.

<br />
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<h2 class="subhead">
Microsoft and Machine Learning
</h2>
Azure Machine Learning can be set up using a Web browser. Users make 
drag-and-drop gestures and create simple flow graphs to set up 
experiments.<br />

Users can pull sample experiments, packages written in R and Python, 
and best-in-class algorithms from Xbox and Bing -- or they can write 
their own custom code in R or Python.<br />

Algorithms such as "Learning with Counts" let users learn from terabytes of data on Microsoft's servers.<br />

Users can easily update the models they build and return them to 
production. They can share their solutions with the Azure Machine 
Learning community in the product gallery, or monetize and brand them 
for sale in the Azure MLM.

<br />

<h2 class="subhead">
Big Data, Machine Learning and Microsoft
</h2>
Machine learning comes from intelligent recognition of patterns by 
complex algorithms. Those algorithms have to work on large datasets, so 
big data "is critical" to machine learning, McGregor told TechNewsWorld.<br />

However, Microsoft's machine learning "seems more like object-oriented design than machine learning," he pointed out.<br />

"While there is no set definition as to what level of intelligence 
constitutes machine learning, the Azure solution appears to stretch the 
term beyond what most would consider true machine-level intelligence," 
McGregor said, because the algorithms appear to really be networking 
models.<br />

Microsoft "alludes to learning through data analytics, but doesn't provide any details," McGregor remarked.<br />

Nevertheless, Microsoft's tools let users "quickly and easily define 
and configure cloud-based resources without the need of dedicated IT 
personnel," he pointed out. Viewed that way, Microsoft offers "a very 
interesting and useful platform."<br />

However, those tools don't eliminate reliance on IT staff, because IT
 professionals would be needed to configure solutions effectively, 
McGregor cautioned, especially when custom code is required.

<br />

<h2 class="subhead">
Transforming Data Into Information 
</h2>
The next wave of IT is going to be information technology, where people 
will work interactively with their devices, predicted Mike Jude, a 
program director at the Stratecast service of <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://www.frost.com/">Frost & Sullivan</a>. Services such as those Microsoft introduced play into that.<br />

"What we've had so far is the data age," Jude told TechNewsWorld. 
"We've learned how to generate and store data -- but so far, automation 
hasn't been able to turn that into information, which is data in 
context. That's why you need cognitive computing, machine learning and 
heuristics, and stuff like that."

<br />

<h2 class="subhead">
Playing Catch-Up With IBM
</h2>
IBM has been offering big data solutions for small businesses for a 
while, and that's "sort of like what Microsoft's trying to market," Jude
 said.<br />

IBM last year announced Watson Analytics, a natural language-based 
cognitive service that makes advanced and predictive analytics easy to 
acquire and use. A freemium version was released for the desktop and 
mobile devices.</div>

Azure Machine Learning Aims to Convert Data to Information

Microsoft on Wednesday announced new data services running on its Azure cloud in what it has positioned as a bid to bring big data to the mainstream. Those services include the HDInsight Apache Had…

22 Feb 2015

Lenovo Rapped for Preinstalling Spyware

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Lenovo on Thursday came under fire for preinstalling spyware on some of its laptops.</div>
The software, Superfish, uses the same techniques cybercriminals 
often employ to crack encrypted traffic from computers to the Internet.<br />

"Superfish is purposely designed to bypass the security of HTTPS 
websites in a manner that would allow malware and attackers to also 
bypass the security provided by HTTPS," said Adam Ely, cofounder of 
<a href="http://www.bluebox.com/" target="_blank">Bluebox</a>.<br />

"Users are inherently at risk of being directed to malicious sites 
that appear valid," , "making it much easier for 
attackers to steal information and further infect computers with 
malware."<br />

However, security concerns raised by malware fighters are misplaced, Lenovo insisted.<br />

"We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any 
evidence to substantiate security concerns," the company said in a 
statement provided to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Brion Tingler.

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No Tracking Involved
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Superfish was installed on some consumer notebooks from September to 
December of last year to help customers potentially discover interesting
 products while shopping, Lenovo explained.<br />

After receiving negative customer feedback, the company in January 
disabled the software on all Lenovo machines and stopped preloading it 
on new laptops.<br />

"We will not preload this software in the future," the company said.<br />

Although it has been reported that Superfish monitors user behavior, Lenovo refuted that claim.<br />

"To be clear," it said in its statement, "Superfish technology is 
purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral. It does not profile
 nor monitor user behavior," the company maintained.<br />

"It does not record user information. It does not know who the user 
is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted. Every session is independent.
 Users are given a choice whether or not to use the product," Lenovo 
added.<br />

Further, "the relationship with Superfish is not financially 
significant; our goal was to enhance the experience for users," the 
company said. "We recognize that the software did not meet that goal and
 have acted quickly and decisively."

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Copycatting Bank Robbers
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Preloading software that has more to do with marketing than utlilty is a
 common practice in the PC world, but what makes Superfish so disturbing
 to many in the security community is the program's disregard for <a class="story-keyword-offsite" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security">SSL</a> security. SSL is used to encrypt communication between computers and websites.<br />

"Superfish allows every bit of communication with your bank, your 
email provider, or your healthcare provider to be inspected," said Kevin
 Bocek, vice president for security strategy and threat intelligence at 
<a href="http://www.venafi.com/" target="_blank">Venafi</a>.<br />

"It uses the exact same technique that cybercriminals use for bank account takeovers," he told TechNewsWorld.<br />

When SSL is used to encrypt a data stream from a device, a digital 
certificate is used to do it. Superfish circumvents that process by 
substituting its own certificates for the legitimate ones.<br />

Communication isn't the only thing compromised by Superfish, noted Pavel Krcma, CTO of <a href="http://www.stickypassword.com/" target="_blank">Sticky Password</a>.<br />

"It allows anything to be injected into the data stream from your 
computer," he told TechNewsWorld. "It can install a backdoor to your 
computer."

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SSL Stymies Adware
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Superfish can be removed from a computer through Windows uninstall, but 
that won't plug all security holes created by the program, Lenovo 
explained in one of its forums.<br />

"If you uninstall the software, it doesn't remove the certificate 
created by it," Venafi's Bocek said. "That allows hackers to create 
malicious websites that will be trusted by those Lenovo computers."<br />

As more and more websites start using SSL, advertisers will be looking at ways around it.<br />

"Adware thrives on being able to monitor a user's activity when they 
visit websites," Bocek explained. "If I can't look inside that traffic 
because it's encrypted, that's a problem."<br />

Just how pernicious Superfish is may lie in the eye of the beholder.<br />

"When it comes to Superfish as an adware provider, they are not one 
of the biggest and most offensive companies out there," said Pat 
Belcher, director of security analytics at 
<a href="http://www.invincea.com/" target="_blank">Invincea</a>.<br />

"They have a slick interface that allows for object-based searching 
based on photographs," he told TechNewsWorld, "and while they may 
collect personal information about you for eventual advertising 
purposes, there are lots of companies out there that do that and much, 
much, much worse."</div>

Lenovo Rapped for Preinstalling Spyware

Lenovo on Thursday came under fire for preinstalling spyware on some of its laptops. The software, Superfish, uses the same techniques cybercriminals often employ to crack encrypted traffic from com…

22 Feb 2015

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