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Radar Turns Your Smartphone Into A Baseball Speed Detector

9/27/2015

Do you have a budding major league pitcher on your team? The cost of coaching a pitcher usually includes some very expensive radar guns etc. and a lot of stat books to write down all of the pitching data for scouts.
A new startup has come up with a very small radar measurement unit that transmits its data to a smartphone app and provides all of the analytical information necessary to get that hurler to the next level in his sports career.

The new product is called Scoutee and is another Kickstarter product looking for funding. At the time of this article, they’re about half way to their goal of $50,000 with a month to go.

How it works. Put the device in the right place with a clear line to the pitcher (including on the back of your phone, if you like) and it'll tell you just how quick that fastball really was. You can not only add notes, but record video with a speed overlay -- you'll know whether or not that curveball was slow from the start.

The gadget won't be cheap, but you can get a good deal if you pledge during the Kickstarter campaign. It'll take as little as $149 (normally $169) to get a Scoutee versus waiting for the retail launch, when it'll cost $299. You'll ideally get your device in April, just in time for those early spring games.

For more information, see their Kickstarter page or their video.

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Microsoft Close To Making An Android Phone

9/20/2015

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While Microsoft continues to maintain that its mobile offering is Windows 10 Mobile on Nokia hardware (and potentially other manufacturer’s gear as well), the reality is that people just aren’t buying it. Android and iOS rule the mobile market, period.

So an Android-based Microsoft smartphone might be a possibility and given several recent developments it seems that could be sooner rather than later.

It’s important to note that Google legally binds Android manufacturers to agreements that stipulate that Google search and the integrated Google apps suite must be a part of any phone sold and for access to the Play Store for other apps.

Given the tight integration of Google’s app suite, Microsoft couldn’t offer individual apps to replace some of Google’s offerings. Instead, Microsoft had to have a complete suite of its own to entice users to download and get them to do so through Microsoft’s own store.

You may not be aware of it, but Microsoft is surprisingly close to making this a reality.

Mobile versions of Office apps to replace Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms, Outlook to replace Gmail, OneNote to handle Keep, Skype for messaging and video chat, Groove Music instead of Google Play Music, Nokia Here to replace Maps, and of course OneDrive to connect them all together and offer cloud storage. This handles your basics, and even two years ago might have been enough to help people make the switch, but Google's integration goes a lot deeper than cross-app chatter nowadays.

Microsoft needed Cortana to replace voice search and act as a virtual assistant now that Google Now was baked in to all of the search functions. Between Arrow Launcher and Next Lockscreen for personalized access to apps and features, and half a dozen clever extras like Word Lens and On{X}, Microsoft as the default on an Android phone starts to look not only feature complete, but downright enjoyable.

The one big gap in Microsoft's plan for total Google Service replacement at the moment is a browser. While there are dozens of alternatives to Google's Chrome in the Play Store, it'd be nice to eventually see Edge come to Android with some of the features that make it interesting on Windows 10.

Looking at all of these apps installed and used in place of the current Google Apps demonstrates just how close the company is to a complete thought. And given Microsoft’s partnership with Cyanogen, they may be able to pull this off without even signing up with Google!

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Where Is The Biggest Risk In Cloud Security?

9/13/2015

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A recent report from CloudLock, a major cloud security company, says that we need to focus on user behavior as the biggest risk. Based on analysis across 10 million users, 1 billion files, and over 91,000 applications, CloudLock concluded that 1% of users represent 75% of the risk.

Understanding the composition of this 1% of users is crucial for security teams: often times, this subset of users includes super-privileged users, software architects, as well as machine-based identities (i.e., applications with programmatic access) that grant access privileges and archive data.

The disproportionate nature of cybersecurity risk extends to cloud-based collaboration. While organizations on average collaborate with 865 external parties, just 25 of these account for 75% of cloud-based sharing per organization. Unexpectedly, 70% of external file sharing occurs with non-corporate email addresses over which security teams have little control.

Many cloud applications support integration with third-party applications, outside the network and undetectable via traditional security tools, such as proxy- or gateway-based solutions. These apps are frequently targeted by cybercriminals as entry points to organizations. CloudLock’s research revealed that 52,000 instances of applications were installed by highly privileged users - a number that should be zero given privileged accounts are highly coveted by malicious cybercriminals.

By involving the most active users in the security process, organizations can rapidly mitigate the majority of cybersecurity risk. One CloudLock client decreased public exposures by 62% in just one day by doing so.

“Cyber attacks today target your users - not your infrastructure. As technology leaders wake up to this new reality, security programs are being reengineered to focus where true risk lies: with the user,” says CloudLock CEO and co-founder Gil Zimmermann. “The best defense is to know what typical user behavior looks like - and, more importantly, what it doesn’t.”

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British Lab Tests Fuel Cell In An iPhone 6

9/6/2015

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The lithium-ion batteries in smartphones are the targets of more research than almost any other part of the mobile devices. One company’s efforts to replace the traditional battery with an environmentally friendly fuel cell.

Intelligent Energy, a UK research firm, had developed a prototype based on a normal iPhone 6 which develops power by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a power supply that lasts for a week! And when you recharge it, hydrogen gas is pumped in through the modified headphone jack, rather than plugging the device into an electrical socket.

There is one slight change to the iPhone’s familiar shape, thanks to tiny vents added to the rear which allow water vapor and heat generated by the cell to dissipate.

“We have managed to make a fuel cell so thin we can fit it to the existing chassis without alterations and retaining the original battery,” said Henri Winand, CEO at Intelligent Energy.

Interestingly, Intelligent Energy has been linked with Apple in the past, when talk of a partnership spread in mid-2014. However, neither company commented on a possible partnership. Intelligent Energy also developed the Upp portable fuel cell charger, sold through Apple Stores already.

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Rick Richardson, CPA, CITP, CGMA

Rick is the editor of the weekly newsletter, Technology This Week. You can subscribe to it by visiting the website.

Rick is also the Managing Partner of Richardson Media & Technologies, LLC. Prior to forming his current company, he had a 28-year career in technology with Ernst & Young, the last twelve years of which he served as National Director of Technology.

Mr. Richardson has been named to the "Technology 100"- the annual honors list of the 100 key achievers in technology in America. He has also been honored by the American Institute of CPAs with two Lifetime Achievement awards and a Special Career Recognition Award for his contributions to the profession in the field of technology.

In 2012, Rick was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame by CPA Practice Advisor Magazine. He has also been named to the 100 most influential individuals in the accounting profession in America by Accounting Today magazine.

In 2017, Rick was inducted as a Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achiever, a registry of professionals who have excelled in their fields for many years and achieved greatness in their industry.

He is a sought after speaker around the world, providing his annual forecast of future technology trends to thousands of business executives, professionals, community leaders, educators and students.

Radar Turns Your Smartphone Into A Baseball Speed Detector

Microsoft Close To Making An Android Phone

Where Is The Biggest Risk In Cloud Security?

British Lab Tests Fuel Cell In An iPhone 6

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