Lifeboat Foundation

The day the physical SIM card disappears is slowly getting closer. Last year, we heard that Samsung, Apple, and various mobile carriers were working to create a new standard for embedded or eSIMs (programmable SIMs that allow you to switch carriers without swapping the physical card in your device). Now, the GSMA has announced a new eSIM specification for smartwatches, fitness trackers, and tablets, with Samsung’s Gear S2 Classic 3G the first device on the market to come equipped with the new technology.

Now, a few caveats are needed. This isn’t the first mobile device to offer a programmable SIM card (certain iPads have this functionality using Apple’s own tech, for example). Nor does the standard apply to smartphones, with the GSMA saying that won’t be coming until June. And while the June eSIM will allow users to store the profiles of multiple carriers on a single phone, this new specification only supports one carrier at a time. However, this is still a big step forward for the eSIM, with the new specification backed by some of world’s largest hardware manufacturers (including Samsung, LG, Microsoft, and Huawei) and mobile carriers (including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and EE).

Speaking to The Verge, the GSMA’s chief engineer Ian Pannell says that the new specification is all about giving users more control. “We don’t want the consumer to be disadvantaged compared to the current SIM model,” he says, adding that the new specification is a simpler version of the full eSIM, to ease hardware partners into the change: “We’re putting the first specification out for companies that may want to launch products that are very simple.” He adds that the eSIM is also 90 percent smaller than a traditional SIM card, offering “a big saving in space.”

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Flexible smartphones were once talked about as being the ‘next big thing’ for the industry, but apart from the occasional limited demonstration at a convention, the hype surrounding the technology has died down – possibly because it’s taking so long to arrive. But now, Canadian researchers have created a device that may be the first step toward a truly flexible smartphone screen.

Created by researchers at Queen’s University Human Media Lab, the prototype ReFlex is the world’s first flexible smartphone to feature a full-color, high-resolution display and wireless technology.

Continue reading “World’s first wireless flexible smartphone lets you ‘feel’ an ebook” »

Lookout for MAZAR Bot — Androids should be scared.

One interesting feature of Mazar is that it can not be installed on smartphones running Android with “Russian” selected as the operating system’s language.

The malware allows the attackers to spy on nearly every activity capable on an Android device, including establishing a backdoor connection, sending premium SMS messages, reading texts sent to the device, including bank authentication PINs.

Continue reading “Mazar BOT Can Erase Android Phones” »

Government and tech + telecom & ISPs need to come to an agreement in how to ensure innocent people’s privacy are respected. When a person murders, stalk, threaten, kidnap, and/ or assault a person then we have a responsibility first to protect the innocent public. And, with the resistance being displayed by Apple, are we running the risk of further alienating the consumers and business customers more when it comes to releasing AI like robots, self driving cars, etc. onto the public where criminals can buy AI technology and use it to hurt others?

We really need to be addressing these issues soon.

Tim Cook is playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship with the U.S. government. In the process, he may set in motion political and judicial processes that will endanger the security of all our mobile devices.

Continue reading “Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Dangerous Game” »

A new smartphone is launching. And this one costs just a little bit more than a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

Despite the ubiquity of smartphones, you’d be hard pressed to find one that you could purchase with spare change. Yet Ringing Bells, a handset manufacturer from India, has managed to create one that’s only going to cost $4.

The device is called Freedom 251 and was just very recently unveiled. Specs aside, the most impressive thing about the Freedom 251 is, by far, its price. The pricing strategy and development of the technology was anchored on Narendra Modi’s intent to ‘empower India to the last person,’ and the smartphone was a way for central government to promote inclusivity among its constituents for its digital initiatives.

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This is the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone.

A technology company in India is launching what it claims will be the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone costing just $7 or around £5.

The Freedom 251 is being built by Ringing Bells and will reportedly sell for around $7 although the BBC reports that local media are pricing it even lower at just £2.50.

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Interesting read — I must admit that today’s CEOs of large companies are not like the CEOs of my grandfather’s generation who were more like the mold of Sam Walton.

This habit for grandiose predictions seems to be contagious. Last fall, Miguel McKelvey, founder of shared office space giant We Work Cos. promised his company would be in a thousand locations “in the near future.” Given that the company at the time was present in just 52 places, this promised a growth rate north of 1500 percent—but probably had some intended influence on the company’s $10 billion valuation.

In 2013, before he left Blackberry under pressure, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins declared that “in 5 years, I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore.”

Continue reading “Why the Most Famous CEOs Are Often Wrong About the Future” »

I was waiting for this HIPAA’s new guidelines for mobile apps (focuses a lot on IAM); this is only the first wave. We will see more when more AI is launched.

Federal regulators have issued new guidance, including material to clarify for healthcare entities and software developers various scenarios where HIPAA regulations might apply to mobile health applications, including situations when patients use smartphones to collect or transmit personal health data.

See Also: 2015 Breach Preparedness and Response Study: The Results

Continue reading “New HIPAA Guidance For Mobile Apps, Health Info Exchange” »

“Computers are becoming more and more intelligent in the sense that they adapt to us.”

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