Intel shows off its own 'Internet of Things' platform

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/09/intel-iot-platform/

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Intel is a bit obsessed with the Internet of Things (IoT). Connected gadgets were all over Intel's booth at the last CES, and it's one of the fastest growing portions of the company's business. The chip giant also kicked off an IoT consortium together with Samsung, Dell, and others earlier this year. Now, Intel is taking another major step in this arena with the launch of its IoT Platform, which it says will help companies to more easily test, deploy, and secure smart devices. Everything the company is doing is a direct response to Qualcomm, which stole the mobile chip market from Intel and is already well-poised to take on IoT with the AllSeen Alliance and AllJoyn standard, both of which aim to unify the fractured IoT market. But it seems Intel has learned the dangers of being late to a potentially lucrative new market (even if it did so the hard way).

It's already partnered with Dell, Accenture, and others around this new platform, and you can bet that it's going to work hard to score more deals. The company also debuted a few new IoT software and hardware offerings that should make life simpler for its partners. Yes, Intel's approach will butt heads with Qualcomm, but hopefully their competition will lead to some truly useful connected devices. A smart baby onesie isn't going to cut it anymore.

Filed under: Intel

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Source: Intel

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Forget Encryption, Encode Secret Messages in Fake Spam

Source: http://gizmodo.com/forget-encryption-you-can-encode-secret-messages-in-fa-1668660264

Send an encrypted email, and whoever sees it whistle past their eyes knows you're trying to hide something. So why not hide your most secret messages in plain sight, hidden in otherwise innocuous looking spam?

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Meet Pixelmator, Apple's Pick For Best iPad App Of The Year

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-ipad-app-of-the-year-pixelmator-2014-12

Apple recently announced its best apps of the year, and the winner for best iPad app is Pixelmator, a powerful new image editor.

Pixelmator got a lot of buzz after its team was invited to demo the app onstage at Apple's big iPad event in October, and after watching a photo get touched up and transformed in real-time, it's easy to see why.

Pixelmator is both incredibly powerful and user friendly, a rare combination that will appeal to veteran photo editors, digital artists, and even the casual person who takes some pictures on their iPhone and wants to make them look special.

While Pixelmator also exists for Mac, the app feels truly at home on the iPad's interface. The touch controls feel intuitive rather than tacked on, which is nice for those looking to sink some serious time into image editing.

If you're looking to work with photos, Pixelmator offers a full suite of photo editing tools that will let you choose a template, adjust colors, add effects, retouch, resize and crop, and insert text and shapes.

You can even remove undesirable objects from a photo quickly with Pixelmator's Repair tool.

For those looking to give their photos an artistic look, Pixelmator offers some gorgeous filters such as Light Leak, Vintage, Black and White, and even a fun Miniaturize effect that makes your photo look like a toy model.

 

And that's just what Pixelmator can do for photo editing.

Pixelmator is also a fully featured painting app for digital artists or those simply looking to add some paint to their photos.

You can start a painting from scratch, choosing one of Pixelmator's 70 realistic or stylized brushes, or paint over an existing image. There's tools for adjusting the style and size of the brush stroke, and there's even full stylus support, allowing you to paint with a Wacom stylus if you prefer.

For those that work closely with Adobe Photoshop, you'll be pleased to know that Pixelmator calls itself "Photoshop friendly," meaning you can save your work as a Photoshop file, and many of the most popular Photoshop features are supported as well.

Pixelmator is exactly what you want from an iPad image editor. It's easy to use for the novice, contains enough tools to keep the expert interested, and is bot! h flexib le and powerful enough to make a compelling case as a primary editing application for photographers in the field.

You can download Pixelmator for $9.99 over at the App Store, or you can see a video of the app in action below.

SEE ALSO: Meet Elevate, Apple's Pick For Best iPhone App Of The Year

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Blackphone to launch the world's first privacy-focused app store

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/09/blackphone-privacy-focused-app-store/

Earlier this year, with the Snowden leaks still fresh in the public consciousness, a privacy-focused smartphone called the Blackphone wanted to put people back in control of their data. Running PrivatOS, a custom fork of Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the device aims to strip away bloat and make calls, messaging, contact storage, calendars and internet browsing as secure as they could possibly be. However, its secure core also came with one big disadvantage; if users want to keep their communications private, they could only use default apps supplied on the device. That's about to change, though, after the company announced it's going to launch the "world's first privacy-focused app store".

The marketplace is set to come as part of the "biggest update" to PrivatOS to date. Launching at the start of next year, "Silent Space" will be featured by default and come with the suite of Silent-branded apps, the Blackphone store and a selection of third-party safety-conscious apps. The update will also introduce "Spaces," a new feature that will help users divide their personal and work apps, data and accounts into two separate sandboxes on one phone. If you know of Samsung's secure Knox platform, then you'll have a pretty good idea of what Blackphone is trying to achieve.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile

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Via: Blackphone (PRNewswire)

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Amazon Prime Instant Video begins streaming in 4K

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/09/amazon-prime-instant-video-4k/

Amazon just announced another benefit for folks with a Prime subscription: 4K video streaming. That's right, Ultra HD content is now available via monthly membership through the Instant Video app or on compatible smart TVs. For now, the selection is a bit limited, but you can expect to enjoy Amazon Originals, BBC's Orphan Black and a smattering of titles from Sony Pictures Entertainment in all of their 4K glory. Higher video quality doesn't come with an extra fee either, as the content will be lumped in with the rest of those Prime perks. Amazon's a little tardy with the rollout, but hey, we can't complain too much as it's here in time to break in that shiny new TV Santa will deliver in a few weeks.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Amazon

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Source: Amazon

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