Archive for August 7, 2014

ZTE Grand X Headed To Bell And Virgin Mobile

Posted in Commentary with tags , on August 7, 2014 by itnerd

ZTE Canada today announced the Canadian availability of the Grand X, a powerful new smartphone that offers premium features at an affordable price. The Grand X will be available with Bell and Virgin Mobile starting today. This is the first phone that the company has offered in Canada has offered with a major carrier.

 

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The Grand X features:

  • 2400mAh battery – Up to seven hours of talk time and 350 hours of standby to keep you going longer.
  • 5.0” HD LCD screen – Go big. Watch movies, stream your favourite shows, play games and more in crisp 720p HD, all protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2.
  • Two cameras – The 5MP rear camera with 4x zoom and LED flash lets you take crisp, clear photos and HD videos, while the 1MP front camera is perfect for selfies and video calls.
  • Android Powered – Enjoy all the great features of Android 4.3 and over a million apps, games, movies and more available on the Google Play store.
  • Immersive SRS TruMedia sound – Premium sound on the go: enriched headphone performance with deep, rich bass and a cinema-like simulated surround sound experience
  • Powerful 1.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor – With a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, you can send, receive, view, listen, watch, and play anything and everything at blazing speeds.
  • Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE
  • HSPA+ 
  • Up to 32GB of storage via a MicroSD slot

The ZTE Grand X is available now in stores and online with Bell and Virgin Mobile for $149.99 without a contract.

 

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Apple Products May Not Be Banned In China

Posted in Commentary with tags , on August 7, 2014 by itnerd

So, this story from yesterday where a Bloomberg report said that a list of Apple products had been banned in China just got interesting. News.com is saying that Apple isn’t being banned in China:

But Bloomberg and/or its sources may have confused some facts of the matter, thereby drawing the wrong conclusions. A report from Chinese news site Caixin cites sources close to China’s Ministry of Finance who say that Apple simply neglected to apply to be included in the procurement list, which actually is geared toward energy-saving products, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Why Apple didn’t file an application or at least not the right application is unknown, though authorities are currently looking into the issue, AppleInsider said. Caixin’s take is that Apple may have simply failed to submit the necessary documents, including energy-saving product certification, which are required to make the list.

Now Bloomberg stands by its story, but one has to wonder what the truth is. When I get it, you’ll see it here.

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Security Company Who Discovered Russian Hack Trying To Profit From It

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on August 7, 2014 by itnerd

Yesterday I posted a story on the discovery of a cybergang who allegedly stole 1.2 billion passwords from a variety of websites. Today it has come to light that the group who discovered the hack, Hold Security is only going to notify website operators if they were affected if they sign up for its breach notification service, which starts at $120 per year. Here’s what IT World had to say:

Some security researchers on Wednesday said it’s still unclear just how serious the discovery is, and they faulted the company that uncovered the database, Hold Security, for not providing more details about what it discovered.

“The only way we can know if this is a big deal is if we know what the information is and where it came from,” said Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisor at Sophos. “But I can’t answer that because the people who disclosed this decided they want to make money off of this. There’s no way for others to verify.”

Wisniewski was referring to an offer by Hold Security to notify website operators if they were affected, but only if they sign up for its breach notification service, which starts at US$120 per year. Individual consumers can find out through its identity protection service, which Hold Security says will be free for the first 30 days.

I’m a big believer that if you discover a flaw like this, you have a responsibility to disclose everything that you know as quickly as possible. If the party who is at the center of this doesn’t take the disclosure seriously, then you need to go public. To try and profit off of this is wrong. If there is a threat here, it is incumbent on Hold Security to get it out there as quickly as possible as the implications are huge if they don’t. I am of course assuming that this is real. The fact that no facts have been put on the table casts a shadow on their claim. That’s another reason why Hold Security should say what they know now.

 

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