Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Article: What if Apple’s next router was also a smoke alarm?

Now that Marc Newson is one of Apple's design bigwigs, the guys at Curved Labs wondered what sort of new products might result from the collaboration. Their concept? An updated AirPort WiFi router that is also a smart smoke and CO2 detector, a la Nest Protect. Leaving aside the fact that you'd ei...

http://www.cultofmac.com/300203/imagining-future-airport-combination-wifi-router-smoke-alarm/

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Article: Meet a water heater with Wi-Fi and a little bit of AI

As much fun as it is to connect my lights, there are plenty of less sexy appliances and items that could probably benefit more from a bit of connectivity. Such as the humble water heater, which according to the U.S. Department of Energy is the second largest consumer of energy in most U.S. homes,...

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/20/meet-a-water-heater-with-wi-fi-and-a-little-bit-of-ai/

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Google Just Released Hundreds of Cool Icons That You Can Use For Free

Source: http://gizmodo.com/google-just-released-hundreds-of-cool-icons-that-you-ca-1648797992

Google Just Released Hundreds of Cool Icons That You Can Use For Free

As part of its Material Design project , Google has published a set of lovely icons, designed for use in mobile apps or whatever else you fancy using them for. And they're free!

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'Assassin's Creed' and 'Watch Dogs' lead Jade Raymond has left Ubisoft

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/20/jade-raymond-leaving-ubisoft/

The driving force behind some of Ubisoft's most successful franchises and best moments is no longer with the game maker as of today. Jade Raymond, executive producer on Assassin's Creed II, Watch Dogs and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, has left the company after ten years of service, the company announced. To do what, exactly? That's anyone's guess. She's been in the AAA space for a good portion of her career, working on The Sims Online prior to joining Ubisoft and being a key voice in the creation of the first two Assassin's Creeds. Given her experience running Ubisoft's Toronto studio, though, it might not be much of a stretch to imagine her going indie and assembling a quick and nimble team entirely of her own -- it wouldn't be the first time we've seen it happen.

In an interview with Metro last year, she lamented that she'd love to make a game where it was a challenge for an elderly player character to even make it to the bus stop, but went on to say that when you're dealing with a $100 million budget that type of experimentation just isn't possible. Maybe this will be her chance. Either that or she could go majorly left-field and start brewing craft beer.

[Image credit: ZCooperstown/Wikimedia Commons]

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Source: Ubisoft

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Monday, October 20, 2014

China allegedly using iCloud to secretly collect user data

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/20/china-icloud-data-attack/

Notorious for the constant surveilling and censorship of its people, the Chinese government appears to be at it again -- this time with Apple iOS users. According to a report from GreatFire.org, a website that focuses on privacy matters, China has secretly started collecting iCloud data through what's known as a "man-in-the-middle" intrusion; basically, the attacker eavesdrops by independently connecting to the user and making it seem as if it's a private connection, when, in fact, it isn't. Chinese Security expert Zhou Shuguang suggests that the network service providers are likely being told by the authorities to use fake trust certificates, making it rather easy for them to conduct these attacks.

The purported SSL attack on iCloud by China officials comes as Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have just been released in that country, where there's estimated to be upwards of 100 million people using an iPhone. At the same time, this issue is hot on the heels of Apple announcing it would begin storing personal data in servers in China, as it looked to improve cloud features like iMessage and others. Back then, Apple said all info would be encrypted, adding that data center providers were not going to "have access to the content." Still, it's unclear at the moment if that's related in any way.

We've reached out to Apple for comment on the matter and will update this story if we hear back.

Photos by Will Lipman.

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Via: Quartz

Source: GreatFire.org, Zhou Shuguang (Chinese)

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