IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 12/31/2014

The founder of Xbox Live has left Microsoft,
Boyd Multerer, the engineer who was responsible on leading development for Xbox Live and the XNA game development tools for Xbox, has left Microsoft after working with the Redmond-based giant for 17 years. Multerer announced he was leaving the Xbox team on Twitter, where he said "Goodbye Microsoft. It was a good run. Xbox was Great! Time to do something new."

Multerer joined the company in 1997, where in 2000 he was hired to lead development on the online side of the original Xbox console, which was called Xbox Online at the time. Multerer then hired the Xbox Live development team, leading the design of what would soon become Xbox Live. He not only lead the design, but the direction and implementation of Xbox Live, too. Multerer was the very first person to use Xbox Live, where he emphasized security and anti-cheating measures to be installed.

The engineer would later turn into the product manager on XNA, in order to meet "the pent-up demand of independent game developers" and build "the first open marketplace on a console." The all-rounder engineer eventually becvame the director of development for Xbox, where he was part of the Xbox One team and overlooked technical design and development of Microsoft's then next-gen Xbox. During a technical roundtable discussion, Multerer said "The last one, the box was fixed," explaining that the Xbox One can access "a growing number of transistors that are not that far away" that will allow the console push out "bigger world's, and take some of the things that are normally done locally and push them out."


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Who got a new iPhone or iPad for Christmas? Tons of people, apparently
In what apparently shouldn't be too surprising, Apple device activations from Dec. 19 to Dec. 25 made up 51 percent of new device activations, while Samsung was in the No. 2 spot with 18 percent, according to Flurry. Microsoft, Sony and LG rounded out the top five, as technology companies likely saw impressive sales growth when compared with the past two Christmas holiday shopping seasons.

"To put this in perspective, for every Samsung device that was activated, Apple activated 2.9 devices," said Jarah Euston, Flurry VP of analytics and marketing, in a public statement. "For every Microsoft Lumia device activated, Apple activated 8.8 devices."

The holiday season sees a spike in shopping but isn't the only indicator of the overall smartphone market - but shows Apple's sales and marketing machine is still in perfect running condition.


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NVIDIA rumored to launch the GeForce GTX 960 at just $199
We only reported a couple of weeks ago that NVIDIA was rumored to launch its GeForce GTX 960 in January, but now some more information is coming through, including a price. At the time, I said that if the company launched the GTX 960 with a $199 price, it could be a hit. Well, this price could end up being true.

Various sources have confirmed that the GTX 960 will rock the GM206 core, but we could end up seeing NVIDIA use a cut down GM204 core, too. We have heard previously that the GTX 960 would feature 4GB of RAM spread across a 256-bit memory bus, but now we're hearing that the GTX 960 could feature a 128-bit bus.

Speculation is starting, where we could also see a GTX 965 or GTX 960 Ti arrive, where we could see the GTX 960 feature a 128-bit bus while the GTX 960 Ti version could throw things up to a 256-bit memory bus. We are still expecting one 6-pin PCIe connector and a total of 150W TDP, which will have mid-range systems enjoying a low-power, but high performing GPU.


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Sony continue to experience problems on the PlayStation Network
Sony can't catch a break lately, with their internal servers being breached by North Korea - well, at least the United States government and FBI is claiming they did - while their PlayStation Network was slammed down on Christmas Day by hacking group The Lizard Squad.

Sony's PSN service still experiencing "intermittent connectivity issues," something the company has taken to its PlayStation Knowledge Center to talk about. Some are able to sign onto their PS3, PS4 and PS Vita devices, but aren't able to sign into, or access the PlayStation Store, or get their Friends list to display.

The company is now asking gamers to attempt tweaking their MTU settings in their console's network configuration options, which could fix the problems they're having accessing the PlayStation Network.


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Microsoft replacing Internet Explorer with 'Spartan' in Windows 10
According to the latest rumors, Microsoft might be finally replacing Internet Explorer with something by the codename of "Spartan." Spartan would feature things we all know and love in browsers like Google CHrome, such as support for extensions, and much more. ZDNet is going as far as saying Spartan could be an entirely new browser, which is something I'd love to see from Microsoft.

ZDNey's Mary Jo Foley, who is usually spot on with Microsoft rumors, has said that the underlying structure of Spartan or whatever it will arrive as, won't change that much. The new browser will arrive with Windows 10, and will be a super-light client like Chrome and Firefox, rocking extension support when it arrives. We don't know if Spartan will be supported on non-Windows operating systems, such as Android, iOS and OS X, but that's something we should find out in the New Year.

Foley says that Windows 10 should include both the new Spartan browser, and IE11, with IE11 sitting there for backwards compatibility only. For keen-eyed readers, you might notice "Spartan" refers to Halo, just like Cortana does. Replacing Internet Explorer is going to be a hard task for Microsoft, but if they can do it right, they can kill the bad word that IE has stuck to it, hopefully doing things right going into Windows 10 and 2015.


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Hackers copy politicians fingerprint from press conference photos
Biometric security just took a big blow to the chin. Fingerprint scanners are increasingly used for security in Apple and Samsung devices, along with many others, and are even used for voter identification in some countries. At a recent conference in Hamburg, the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) hacker network revealed they had copied German Defense minister Ursula von der Leyens' fingerprint from publically available photos of a press conference she held.

The photos were taken from standard cameras, and several images were used to stitch together the copied thumbprint. One fingerprint may have taken a bit of work to accomplish, but now that the proof-of-concept experiment has succeeded it would be relatively easy to refine the process. This isn't the best news for politicians and others who are regularly photographed, and it might be wise to move to other technologies to secure access to devices.

Biometric scanning isn't considered the safest of identification verification technologies, chiefly because most systems can be fooled with replicas. There are new technologies emerging that provide better verification techniques, such as vein scanning. New finger scanners actually look for the unique vein patterns inside the finger, which would be impossible to replicate through photos. This also has the great side-benefit of requiring a living human to work, so copies are not a feasible approach to defeating these systems.


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Connected technology expected to invade the market in 2015
Devices in the household are getting smarter, and that trend will increase in 2015, as more consumers test connected devices away from TVs and set-top boxes, analysts believe. There are high expectations for security systems to enjoy strong smart growth, with the ability to arm systems from mobile devices, access live video streams remotely, and have systems learn behavior patterns.

However, manufacturers need to be careful not to add connectivity just for the sake of adding internet and other features simply because they can.

"It's one thing if [the technology] seamlessly fits in and there's a benefit, it's another if you're asking people to get out the screwdriver and pliers or change the way they do things," said Robert Brunner, founder of the Ammunition design firm that helped create the Beats headphones, in a statement published by NBC News. "Do you really need a smart can opener that texts you when the can is open?"

Connected technology should be front and center during CES in just a couple of weeks in Las Vegas, with automated home services, Wi-Fi-enabled accessories, and more affordable connected solutions on full display.


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MasterCard running "Masters of Code" hacking competition - $100k cash
Roll up Lizard Squad and Anonymous members, it's time to put your skills to the test. MasterCard has just announced through a press release that they will be running massive hacker collective competition across 10 cities with the ultimate prize being $100,000 in cold, hard cash.

Conducted through the use of MasterCard-supplies APIs, the entrants will compete to "create innovative prototypes that demonstrate artful coding and design skills while also articulating clear business use cases - all focused on driving the next generation of commerce applications" as according to their release.

If you fancy yourself as a computer security expert and think you have what it take to get to round two - the winning team from each region will be sent to Silicon Valley to compete in the Grand Finale Masters of Code 'hackathon'. This event features the $100k grand-prize and a few extras up for grabs:

• Two weeks on-site at the MasterCard Start Path accelerator location in Dublin, Ireland, or an alternate remote program;
• Six months of mentoring from a member of the MasterCard Open API executive team and the Start Path program team; and,
• Free payment processing for up to $250,000 in transactions for the first 12 months using Simplify Commerce.

As the event is set to kick off first in Sydney, Australia early this coming February, there is still some time to hone your skills. The qualifiers will eventually finish in London around November 2015 and be followed by the previously mentioned Grand Finale later in the year - located in Silicon Valley itself.

It's time to put your money where your mouth is and pit your skills against the best. For more information, you'll have to head over to their official website.


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Google to expand Google Fiber services to India
Google is apparently eyeing India, the second largest country in the world, as the next candidate for Google Fiber services. Google is planning to provide fiber broadband services as part of the Digital India program, with a small roll-out planned as a proof-of-concept project. Along with the blazing bandwidth, 100 times faster than normal connections, Google is offering unlimited uploads and downloads, and 1TB of free cloud storage.

There are several hurdles in the way. Google might have to acquire a telecom licence, which is apparently quite the feat in India, and several large native telecom companies are lining up to oppose the plan. The expansion to India would open a massive market of over 1.2 billion people up for Google, but there are numerous challenges and low internet penetration for the average citizen. The latest numbers from 2013 indicate only 15.1 citizens per 100 have internet access in India, which puts India at number 146 of 211 countries globally.

The lack of infrastructure would also present challenges, but Google has done significant experimentation with balloons and solar powered drones on their quest to provide internet service to every corner of the planet. Google is also working on expansion in the US in 34 more cities.


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'Wolf of Wall Street' and 'Frozen' top most pirated movie list of 2014
The "Wolf of Wall Street" was the most illegally pirated movie of 2014 with 30 million downloads, while "Frozen" took the No. 2 spot, racking up 29.919 downloads million torrent downloads during 2014. Despite being No. 2 on the list, "Frozen" racked up $1.2 billion dollars in the movie theater box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

"RoboCop," including the 1987 original and 2014 remake, took the No. 3 spot with 29.89 million, "Gravity" had 29.357 million downloads, and "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" collected 27.627 million downloads throughout the year.

Even though movie studios and copyright groups are desperately trying to clamp down on Internet piracy - with varying levels of support from national governments - Internet piracy is still alive and well.


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Windows 10 Preview bricking boot drives
The ever-evolving world of storage has created an issue in the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Microsoft has incorporated a new feature into Windows 10 that enhances performance with SSHD's, but this has unfortunately led to widespread problems with all types of boot devices. Microsoft has added a new command to the drivers, Power-Up in Standby (PUIS), that allows SSHDs to remain idle when the system is powered up. The system saves power by only powering-up the SSHD when it receives a specific command from the BIOS.

The new driver isn't fully compatible with all BIOS revisions and the driver is also sending the SSHD-specific command to all types of drives. Non-SSHD drives do not recognize the command upon boot up or resumption from standby, which results in the computer freezing. Microsoft is aware of the problem, which is specific to Build 9879, and a new update is already available to resolve the issue. There is also a workaround available that allows users to simply disable the PUIS command, which resolves the issue.

Teething problems are expected in the Beta stage, and the Technical Preview system has worked by allowing Microsoft to identify and correct a problem before release. Windows 10 is slated for release in late summer/early fall of this year. Users can utilize hdparm to disable PUIS by following these steps:

• Download the hdparm installer for your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) from http://disablehddapm.blogspot.com/
• Install hdparm with the installer you downloaded above.
• Start Disk Management (WIN+X, then K).
• Determine which disk # maps to the disk that needs PUIS disabled.
• Run an elevated command prompt (WIN+X, then A).
• In the command prompt, run the following in order:
• cd %systemdrive%"Program Files (x86)hdparm"
• hdparm.exe -s 0 hd[a-z]
• [a-z] is a single letter that maps to the disk number. E.g. if your disk # is 0 then you would use "hda", if your disk # is 1 then you would use "hdb", etc.

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The Open Bay - an open source Pirate Bay has emerged through Github
The Pirate Bay previously made its website open for hosting by anyone with "minimal web knowledge". After it was closed recently time and time again thanks to various lawsuits, GitHub has seen 372 copies of "The Open Bay" created, seeing The Pirate Bay hit the open source market.

Being starred over 2,282 times and forked 679 times over on GitHub, this source codes front-page reads "we, the team that brought you isoHunt and oldpiratebay.org bring you the next step in torrent evolution. The Pirate Bay source code."

Isohunt has called out to developers across the globe, asking them to band together to make oldpiratebay.org something of a nostalgic improvement to the long-standing and popular torrent website, them stating that "our current goal is not only make it open source, but eventually provide fully decentralized torrent database for the community." As The Pirate Bay still remains shut down, where will users go for their illegal downloads? The answer is basically everywhere - with us previously reporting on the fact that torrent traffic has not slowed down at all since this large-scale shutdown.


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Snowden leak reveals which encryptions NSA cannot decipher
The compilation of sensitive data secreted out of the NSA by Edward Snowden continues to be a big thorn in the side of spying agencies. Recent disclosures in Der Spiegel, the newspaper that has leaked the majority of the Snowden information, reveals several programs that the NSA has found to be very difficult, or totally impossible, to decipher. The information is complete as of late 2012, so the NSA may have already overcome these limitations, but the information is interesting.

Some emails are still indecipherable, notably the Zoho encrypted email service. The NSA has also noted that following targets across the Tor network is difficult to impossible, which means it works as advertised. The NSA has been very proactive in their dealings with encryption programs, primarily by working with vendors and committee's to have backdoors installed into the major encryption programs before they are even released to the public. One of the most surprising findings is that TrueCrypt, an open-source program, is largely safe for encrypting data. The NSA apparently didn't have as much luck penetrating an open-source project, which isn't entirely surprising considering the peer-reviewed nature of open source programs. It would be hard to insert a secret back door into a program that is actively worked on by a large group of people without company/government affiliations. PGR encryption tools and OTR chat encryption were also notable exceptions to the NSA's decryption schemes.

The revelations also contained some information on services that are easy prey for the NSA. VPN's are of little help, and the agency has already outwitted the HTTPS system. The NSA was grappling with AES encryption in late 2012, but were yet to make a breakthrough. The NSA's focus on AES means it is likely they have since cracked it, so users beware.

The majority of the programs easily cracked by the NSA are still very safe against typical hackers and bad actors. One would have to be under the scrutiny of the NSA, or another agency with incredible resources, to worry about their BitLocker protected files, for instance. The NSA intercepts millions, and perhaps billions, of communications each year. However, intercepting them and decrypting them are two different undertakings entirely. It is likely that the NSA only decrypts difficult data from individuals or entities they have an active interest in.


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Uber facing class action lawsuit over 'Safe Rides Fee'
Two Uber users are unhappy with paying the $1 'Safe Rides Fee' for their services, claiming that it's unfair. This extra add-on is implemented by Uber, who claim that their drivers have to undergo extensive background and safety checks before getting the tick of approval to operate, much more-so than regular taxi companies.

What's the truth? Forbes says that they don't. If you're looking to join a traditional taxi service, you're going to have your fingerprints taken and many various methods will be utilized to prove your identity and safety. Uber has been slammed by members of the public and media, claiming that it's simply too easy for someone to use another persons identity to sign up as an UberX driver, faking your credentials and background checks.

So what exactly is involved with the Uber background checking system? Gizmodo emailed this emerging company back in 2013 and was hit with a reply claiming it was a "trade secret". Many more news outlets have been trying to pry this information away from Uber, surely it can't be that difficult to release? One concern that may arise is if Uber release their selection process, people will be made publicly aware and start developing methods to work around these facts.

The lawsuit has been put under way by a few angry users, however there are reports that district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco are also getting in on the action.

This information follows a $2 fee implemented in New York City for would-be passengers, it would seem that fees are Uber's new favorite thing.


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Steam Holiday Sales have Watch Dogs discounted by 50%, and much more
Valve is slowly draining gamers' wallets with its annual Steam Holiday Sale, where we have Watch Dogs at just $29.99, down 50% from its original price of $59.99.

Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition is 40% off, down to $29.99 from $49.99 while Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director's Cut is down to just $5.99, down from its original price of $14.99, representing 60% discount. The Long Dark has 50% off, dropping its original $19.99 price to just $9.99, while Fallout: New Vegas is just $2.49, with a huge 75% off its original $9.99 price.


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iCirround iShowdrive Wireless microSD Flash Drive Review

Over the last few years, we have seen a few portable solution come through the lab that changed the way we interface with our data. As of late, most solutions coming on the market are built to interface with our smartphones and tablets, allowing us to expand our storage and backup our memories.

The iShowdrive is a unique solution that allows users to install a microSD card into the pen drive shaped solution and then access their data through the USB 2.0 connection. On the smartphone side of things, the iShowdrive carries a wireless data connection that allows you to move your data to and from, along with streaming as well. With the iShowdrive, users can connect up to 10 devices at one time of either iOS or Android flavors, while storage capacity is supported up to 32GB.

MSRP of the iCirround iShowdrive is listed at $49.99 with a one-year warranty.

Here we get our first look at the iShowdrive, as you can see it's a rather large unit for a flash drive.

The side of the drive houses the switch to swap between USB or Wi-Fi modes.

Looking at the connection, we find a standard USB 2.0 port with a microSD slot placed above it.

To test the performance of the iShowdrive via USB, we installed a 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC card. As you can see, performance wasn't great as we weren't able to top out USB 2.0 speeds. Read results came in at 5.43 MB/s, while writes topped out at 6.12 MB/s.

The app for the iShowdrive is freely available on the app store.

Opening the iCirround app, we found both our iPhone and iShowdrive listed in the storage menu. Down below we have the option to setup our dropbox account with the app as well.

Moving over to the settings menu, options are available to change photo quality, along with size.

The configuration menu shows the firmware version and build date, along with storage capacity of your microSD card.

The iShowdrive is a unique portable solution for anyone wanting to add storage capacity to their smartphone or tablet, and even for those that want a solution to share media with multiple users. Build quality of the drive was quite good, but I would like to see better materials used in the drive. While the body of the drive itself fit together quite well, I found the cap to fit loose, and this could be an issue with end users losing the cap.

Performance of the drive was rather disappointing over USB 2.0. As you seen in our testing with the very quick SanDisk Extreme Pro microSD, we were only able to reach 5 MB/s read and 6 MB/s write. Now over on the app side, the performance was quite good. We were able to stream a few small videos without issues, along with moving pictures back and forth between devices.

PRICING: You can find the iCIRROUND iShowDrive Wireless Flash Drive Color White 16G for Smartphone and Tablet for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The iCIRROUND iShowDrive Wireless Flash Drive Color White 16G for Smartphone and Tablet retails for $42.00 at Amazon.

... Read the rest in your browser!



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UK - Boxing Day retail proves to be 'damp squib' with 17% drop in online purchases
Boxing Day has lost its positioning as the premier shopping date of the Christmas season with Black Friday now the key date in the sales and bargain-hunting calendar.

The expected carnival of retail on Boxing Day saw online shoppers making 17% fewer purchases than they did a year ago.

Consumers got online in search of a bargain on Boxing Day at about twice the rate that they did throughout Christmas Eve and made five times as many purchases in the process.

However, the country's biggest online retailers saw their conversion rates - the percentage of online shoppers that actually made a purchase from a website - drop from a total of 3% on Boxing Day in 2013 to 2.5% in 2014.

Meanwhile, the conversion rate on Black Friday - the 28th November, reached 2.7% as British consumers went looking for deals. The number of people spending money online was also higher than on Boxing Day - almost 79% more internet shoppers bought something on an ecommerce website on Black Friday than on the 26th December.

As a result many retailers such as Currys are already preparing for Black Friday next year and using their websites to urge customers to mark out the 27th November 2015 in their diaries.

Though Boxing Day lost out to Black Friday in terms of online purchases, UK shoppers still flocked to the internet in massive numbers looking for deals once Christmas was done. Qubit's clients - a list that includes Topshop owner Arcadia Group, DFS and Shop Direct Group - saw a total of 17,657,174 online visitors throughout the day with just under half a million people making 824,152 individual purchases.


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Apple Expected to Reverse iPad Misfortunes in 2015; 16% YoY Growth for Tablet OEMs, Says ABI Research
According to the latest forecasts from market intelligence firm ABI Research, tablet growth is expected to resume and continue over the next 5 years with a forecast of nearly 290 million tablet shipments in 2019. As the calendar year comes to a close, many of the world's tablet vendors are looking forward to opportunities in 2015 and are hoping to avoid a repeat of lackluster 2014 results. Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Google are expected to show year-over-year declines in branded tablet unit volume, while Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, and Samsung should end higher in calendar year 2014.

"Historically, Apple has counted approximately 35% of its iPad sales in the last calendar quarter of the year," says Senior Practice Director Jeff Orr. "Unless Apple can pull off a 32+ million unit quarter, sales for CY2014 will be down for the first year since the iPad launched." ABI Research predicts Apple iPad to reach nearly 68 million in 2014, compared to just over 74 million shipped in 2013. Samsung, the second largest tablet vendor, is expected to ship nearly 43 million tablets in 2014, up from the 38 million in the previous calendar year.

Comparing tablet operating systems, Android continues to gain share with an expected 54% of branded tablets including the Google OS in 2014 while iOS falls to 41% and Windows 8 trails at 5% of shipments.

The tablet outlook for 2015 paints a better picture for OEMs. There are several factors that will lead worldwide branded shipments to grow 16% year-over-year to 194 million:

• Broader tablet adoption by businesses for the "clipboard workforce"
• Clearer, tiered product portfolios from leading OEMs
• Benefits-oriented marketing messaging by vendors to reach laggard adopters in the most mature market economies

These Media Tablets & eReader Market Data findings are part of ABI Research's Media Tablets, Ultrabooks & eReaders Market Research.


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NVIDIA Executive Philip Hughes Joins Autonet Mobile as President
Philip Hughes, former NVIDIA Vice President of Automotive Sales and Business Development, was appointed as President of Autonet Mobile, Inc. today. Prior to joining Autonet Mobile, Philip oversaw NVIDIA's global automotive sales initiatives and served as Site Leader of NVIDIA's Technology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Autonet Mobile is the first provider of Internet-based telematics and application services designed for vehicles. The company is aiming to accelerate adoption of truly Connected Vehicle services and applications that benefit Connected Vehicle and IoT ecosystem partners as well as end users. With a rich portfolio of end-to-end Connected Vehicle solutions and partnerships with some of world's largest automotive OEMs, Autonet Mobile is in a key expansion phase.

"Philip brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to help catapult Autonet Mobile into a new level of growth and expansion in the Connected Vehicle space," said Roy Vallee, Autonet Mobile Chairman.

Philip has more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, business development, and operations. He joined NVIDIA in 2010 as Director of Automotive Sales & Business Development. Prior to joining NVIDIA, he led Fujitsu Semiconductor America's Automotive Business Unit. Philip also served as Director of Sales for North America at Kionix Inc. and Director of North American Operations at Wintek Corporation. Philip earned a BA from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan.

Co-Founder of Autonet Mobile, Sterling Pratz, continues his relationship to the company in an advisory role.


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SYNNEX Corporation to Announce Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Annual Results on January 12, 2015
SYNNEX Corporation, a leading business process services company, will announce fiscal fourth quarter and annual results for the period ended November 30, 2014 after market close on Monday, January 12, 2015. A conference call will be held to discuss the results at 2:00 p.m. PT and will be hosted by Kevin Murai, President and Chief Executive Officer; Dennis Polk, Chief Operating Officer; Marshall Witt, Chief Financial Officer; and Chris Caldwell, Executive Vice President and President of Concentrix Corporation.

A live webcast of the call will be available at http://ir.synnex.com. The conference call will also be available via telephone by dialing (888) 469-3219 in North America or (630) 395-0205 outside of North America. The passcode code for the call is "SNX." A replay of the webcast will be available at http://ir.synnex.com approximately one hour after the conference call has concluded.


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2015 International CES to Host Largest Ever "Internet of Things" Showcase
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® today announced that the 2015 International CES® will feature the largest ever showcase of products, services and technologies that make up the "Internet of Things" (IoT), with more than 900 exhibitors planning to share innovations that harness the power of the network to connect everyday devices. Owned and produced by CEA, the 2015 CES is the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, and will run January 6-9, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"The 'Internet of Things' is the hottest topic in tech right now," said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, International CES and corporate business strategy, CEA. "It's all about the opportunity to connect everyday items like cars, home security systems and kitchen appliances to networked devices like PCs and smartphones for greater control and management of our everyday lives. We're excited that the 2015 CES will bring together all of the companies and products that are making this a reality."

The Sensors Marketplace will highlight one of the key technologies that is enabling the IoT. Exhibitors participating in the marketplace include eyeSight Mobile Technologies, Logbar and QuickLogic Corp. In addition, the Smart Home Marketplace will showcase a smarter, more efficient home accelerated by smartphones and tablets interacting with a myriad of connected objects and devices, from basic security systems to connected lighting systems. Some of the 2015 CES exhibitors expected to showcase IoT technologies include Bosch, Lowe's, Konnect Labs, iDevices, Muzzley and Blinksight among many others.

2015 CES keynoters Boo-Keun Yoon, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corp., are expected to share their insights on IoT innovations. Other CES conference programming will also explore the future of this trend with the following sessions:

Privacy and the IoT: Navigating Policy Issues

Manufacturers and policymakers discuss steps that each can take to build consumer trust in devices and applications while preserving creativity and the flexibility to innovate. This panel will feature opening remarks from The Honorable Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the FTC.

1-2 PM Tuesday, January 6

LVCC, North Hall, Room N254

The Impact of the Internet of Things

Experts will discuss the impact of IoT products, including what application areas are going to have the biggest adoption or change.

2:15-3:15 PM Wednesday, January 7

LVCC, North Hall, Room N261

The State of the Internet of Things

Part of the Research Summit conference track, this session will explore where the Internet of Things stands today and what its defining trends suggest about the road ahead.

3:30-4:30 PM Wednesday, January 7

LVCC, North Hall, Room N253

The 2015 CES will feature more than 3,500 exhibitors unveiling the latest consumer technology products and services across the entire ecosystem of consumer technologies.


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MasterCard Launches Global Hackathon Series with $100,000 Grand Prize
MasterCard today announced the MasterCard Masters of Code competition. The intense, 10-city hackathon series will traverse the globe - from Sydney to Silicon Valley - to find the master artisans of our day: developers.

Sponsored and hosted by MasterCard and organized by AngelHack, the Masters of Code competition features regional weekend-long events that will bring together the world's top developers, designers and entrepreneurs to take on the APIs supplied by MasterCard. Using these APIs, developers will have access to unsurpassed assets, data and products from MasterCard focused on powering commerce on a global scale. The participating teams will compete to create innovative prototypes that demonstrate artful coding and design skills while also articulating clear business use cases - all focused on driving the next generation of commerce applications.

The winning team from each region will be flown to Silicon Valley to compete in the Grand Finale Masters of Code hackathon. There, a MasterCard Masters of Code Champion will be crowned and will receive $100,000 to develop their innovation, in addition to the following prizes*:

• Two weeks on-site at the MasterCard Start Path� accelerator location in Dublin, Ireland, or an alternate remote program;
• Six months of mentoring from a member of the MasterCard Open API executive team and the Start Path program team; and,
• Free payment processing for up to $250,000 in transactions for the first 12 months using Simplify Commerce.

While in California, all winning regional teams will also be awarded a MasterCard Priceless® Experience - Northern California to take place in Napa Valley and San Francisco.

The 2015 MasterCard Masters of Code competition kicks off with its first event in Sydney, Australia on February 7-8, followed by events in Hong Kong (March 18-19) and Singapore (March 25-26). Additional locations for the Masters of Code series include cities in Brazil, Canada, Israel, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, among others.

"We encourage developers from around the world to participate in our Masters of Code competition and use the power of MasterCard through our APIs to create the next generation of commerce applications globally," said Mario Shiliashki, Senior Vice President of Open APIs, MasterCard. "MasterCard is the world's most advanced payments network, and the MasterCard Developer Zone is the bridge to it for developers. We are opening up our technology to the world for a simple reason - to enable any developer to utilize our products and platforms to build the next big thing."

* For more information about the MasterCard Masters of Code competition including rules, judging criteria, prizes, etc., please visit mastersofcode.org.


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Tablets and Ultrabooks Become 30% More Affordable in Emerging Markets, Says ABI Research
The Average Selling Price (ASP) of Ultrabooks and tablets declined by 7.8% in 2014, as the market matured and commoditized, allowing these devices to become more affordable in all markets. According to market intelligence firm ABI Research, the average weeks of household income needed to buy a tablet or Ultrabook both declined by approximately 30% YoY; making these devices more affordable to a wider range of consumers.

"Across 22 different countries between 2013 and 2014, there was an 8.5% decline for the ASP of tablets and 7.1% for Ultrabooks," says Research Analyst Stephanie Van Vactor. "This decline is allowing these devices to reach a larger audience in a wider range of countries." Although growth is slowing for both these types of devices, affordability could help prevent a drastic decline in sales.

The affordability of personal technology devices is strongest in many mature markets, such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, primarily due to the higher household income. However, ABI Research highlights that Chile experienced the largest decline in ASP, 56% for both tablets and Ultrabooks combined; tablets experienced the largest decline at 70.3%, due to the increase in selection and competition caused by lower-end devices entering the market between 2013 and 2014. In contrast, India experienced the largest increase in ASP between 2013 and 2014, at an average of 22% for both tablets and Ultrabooks; tablets alone experienced an increase of 34.5%, due to the surge of an e-commerce presence, Apple products, and mid-tiered devices.

As shown in Chart 1, the most noticeable change in affordability for weeks to buy for Ultrabooks and tablets occurred in Indonesia. In 2013, ABI Research's data shows that 11 weeks of income were needed to purchase an Ultrabook and nearly four weeks for tablets. In 2014, the weeks of income needed to purchase an Ultrabook declined by 47%, dropping to 5.9 weeks, and for tablets weeks of income declined by 60%, dropping to 1.5 weeks. "Partly due to the increase in models and price points in e-commerce, Indonesia, like many other developing markets, is a good example of the commoditizing of these devices," continues Van Vactor. "Market maturation will continue this effect through the next year, especially as competition increases and affordability continues to prosper as a result." Over the next year, competition will continue to surge and ASPs will continue to decline.

These findings are part of ABI Research's Media Tablets, Ultrabooks and eReaders Market Research (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/service/media-tablets-netbooks-ereaders/).


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CrashPlan Wins Best in Biz "Enterprise Product of the Year" Award
Code42, the leader in endpoint data protection and management for business and enterprise, today announced it has been named an "Enterprise Product of the Year" winner in the 2014 Best in Biz Awards. The award honors innovative companies, teams, executives and products for their business success in the past year.

"Enterprise-grade endpoint data security is top-of-mind for CIOs as end-user data continues to shift away from the data center, and seemingly beyond the reach and control of IT," said Brian Bell, president and chief operating officer at Code42. "More than 35,000 businesses have chosen the Code42 EDGE Platform-powering CrashPlan endpoint backup-to protect their important corporate information. We're pleased to again be recognized for CrashPlan's market leadership position."

Winners of the fourth annual Best in Biz Awards are determined based on scoring from an independent panel of 53 judges from highly recognized newspapers, business, consumer and technology publications, radio outlets and analyst firms. More than 550 award nominations were received this year across a variety of company, executive, team and product-focused categories. Nominations were fielded from public and private companies of all sizes, from virtually every major industry and region in the U.S. and Canada. For a full list of 2014 Best in Biz Award winners, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2014-winners.

The recognition marks the latest in a series of honors recognizing Code42's leadership in endpoint backup and commitment to providing enterprise-level data security and scalability for businesses. Earlier this year, CrashPlan earned the gold 2014 Golden Bridge Award for "Backup and Recovery" in the "Innovations: Information Technology and Security" category. Additionally, Network Products Guide gave CrashPlan its 2014 Best Product Award in the "Cloud Computing/SaaS" category, and Info Security Products Guide 2014 named CrashPlan a winner in its "Endpoint Security" and "Software as a Service/Cloud Solutions" categories. For information on the complete list of Code42 achievements, visit the Honors page on the company's website.


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Memory Market Sourcing Challenges to Continue According to Market & Technology Trends Report from Avnet Electronics Marketing
With no near-term end in sight for rising prices and extended lead times in a variety of DDR memory form factors, customers who do not proactively build backlog for these devices could find themselves facing the dreaded "A-word" - allocation - according to the latest Market & Technology Trends report now available from Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of Avnet, Inc.

In a video released today, Alex Iuorio, senior vice president, supplier marketing for Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, presents highlights of the most recent Market and Technology Trends Report, including commentary on memory market sourcing challenges as well information on exciting new product introductions supporting high-performance, high-functionality embedded and wireless systems for the ever-expanding connected device market. The video is available here: http://bit.ly/1Aq5Tai.

Click to Tweet: VIDEO: @AvnetDesignWire shares exclusive component market insights in latest market and tech trends report http://bit.ly/1Aq5Tai.

"The continued proliferation of big data in the enterprise world has put tremendous pressure on the memory market, but technology advances such as the 8Gb DDR3 monolithic devices and both 4Gb and 8Gb DDR4 will give buyers more options," said Iuorio. "Another hot technology to watch will be BLE beacons, applications of which are quickly expanding from the consumer world into the commercial, medical, connected home and personal asset tracking markets."

Each month, Avnet's Market & Technology Trends report details lead times, pricing trends, allocations, new product releases and end-of-life status on nearly 18 broad product categories from the company's line card of more than 300 suppliers. The report provides customers with the information they need to minimize sourcing risk and accelerate development of differentiated products.


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The New Tt eSPORTS BLACK V2 Laser Gaming Mouse Refreshed to bring a new edge to your game
Tt eSPORTS, the leading expert in professional e-Sports gaming peripherals is releasing the new BLACK V2 laser gaming mouse. The BLACK V2 brings new life to Tt eSPORTS' most time honored gaming mouse, the BLACK. Throughout its design, the BLACK V2 sees upgrades from the original BLACK. The laser sensor, surface finish, grips, buttons, and even mouse software has been sent back to the drawing board to come up with new improvements.

The BLACK V2 has now been fitted with an Avago ADNS-9500 laser sensor with up to 5700 DPI, offering superior tracking over a wide variety of surfaces. 4 programmable DPI levels per profile, adjustable by increments of 100 DPI at a time offers users the precision to win.

An additional thumb button has been added, bringing the total to 2; and the overall programmable buttons to 7 which amounts to a total of 35 programmable macros across 5 profiles.

Dedicated DPI indicator light relays the current DPI setting to the user, and the mouse wheel flashes when changing profiles to indicate the profile setting the BLACK V2 is on. The BLACK V2 features a new surface coating finish, that brings an even "softer" soft to touch (matte finish) that gamers are used to. The new finish in addition with the new hexagonal patterened thumb grip will offers gamers the perfect grip with the BLACK V2. Red LED illumination furthers the gaming styling.


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Panasonic Expands Scope of Toughbook H2 Battery Recall in United States
Panasonic announced it is expanding the scope of the U.S. recall Panasonic voluntarily previously put in place of battery packs included with the Toughbook H2 rugged tablet PC and those sold separately or as a result of servicing. The expanded recall includes Toughbook H2 battery packs manufactured between June 2011 and September 2012, following a recall announced May 28, 2014 covering battery packs manufactured between June 2011 and May 2012. The batteries are being recalled due to a rare possibility of overheating or igniting due to a manufacturing condition, although there have been no reports of fires nor injuries in the United States as a result of a faulty Toughbook H2 battery pack.

Customers can check the model number and manufacturing lot number of their battery packs to determine whether they are included in the recall. Please note that there are two battery slots, located on the left and right sides of the PC. Only battery packs showing both numbers need to be replaced.

• Applicable battery pack model number: CF-VZSU53AW
• Applicable manufacturing lot numbers: Beginning with B, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C93 C94, C96, C9C, C9J, C9K

The CF-VZSU53AW battery pack has a shape identical to the battery packs for the Toughbook H1 and Toughbook U1, and it may also be in use with those models. Please check the battery pack of your Toughbook H1 or Toughbook U1 as well if you have ever replaced the battery pack.

Those with affected devices should shut down the PC and remove the battery pack, and contact Panasonic Customer Support at (855) 772-8324 (option 1 for laptops) or H2BatteryProgram@us.panasonic.com for free replacement. For more information, visit http://pc-dl.panasonic.co.jp/itn/info/announcement.html.


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Panasonic Booth Overview at CES 2015
Panasonic Corporation will exhibit at the 2015 International CES, the largest consumer electronics show in the world, to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada, U.S.A., from January 6 to 9, 2015. The company will hold a press conference on the day before the opening of the event.

With the Brand Slogan "A Better Life, A Better World" as the theme for the booth, Panasonic will showcase not only the company's latest products but also solutions designed to improve all aspects of life.

The Panasonic Booth Summary

Date: Tuesday, January 6 to Friday, January 9, 2015

Venue: Central Hall (#9808), Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)

Booth size: 1,575 m²

Displays: Consumer electronics, B2B solutions, latest automotive and avionics devices and solutions

Panasonic Press Conference Summary

Date & Time: Monday, January 5, 2015 10:00 - 10:45 (PDT)

Venue: Mandalay Bay, South Convention Center, Level 3, Jasmine Ballroom A-H

Presenter: Joseph Taylor, Managing Executive Officer, Panasonic Corporation; Chairman and CEO, Panasonic Corporation of North America

The Panasonic Press Conference will be lived streamed at ,cnet.com/ces/videos

Panasonic Live@CES 2015

Panasonic will share its showcase and comments from industry leaders from the Panasonic booth and provide interactive communications opportunities for visitors and viewers via social networks.

URL: http://www.panasonicces2015.com/


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Lenovo Garners the 2014 Hong Kong Corporate Governance Excellence Award and Sustainability Excellence Award
Lenovo has been honored with the Corporate Governance Excellence Award (Hang Seng Index Constituent Companies Category) and Sustainability Excellence Award at the "Hong Kong Corporate Governance Excellence Awards 2014." Lenovo is one of the new awardees in the 2014 Awards, reaffirming the company's excellent standard of corporate governance and sustainability.

The Hong Kong Corporate Governance Excellence Awards are jointly organized by The Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies and the Centre for Corporate Governance and Financial Policy of Hong Kong Baptist University. These prestigious awards provide recognition for listed companies that exhibit a holistic approach to corporate governance and business ethics. The judging panel considers companies for realizing outstanding commitments to shareholder rights, compliance, integrity, fairness, responsibility, accountability, transparency, board independence and leadership and corporate social responsibility.

A special award on Sustainability Excellence was also granted to Lenovo, in recognition of the company's achievements in sustainability.

Wong Waiming, Executive Vice President and CFO of Lenovo said, "It is our great honor to receive these two awards for the first time, which affirm our exemplary achievement in corporate governance and sustainability. We believe it is critical to uphold high standards of corporate governance in order to enhance the company's transparency and accountability to our stakeholders. At the same time, providing a sustainable business model ensures that we are well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities in the market and to maintain strong business growth."

In addition to the above achievements, Lenovo has recently been presented the platinum award in the Best Corporate Governance Disclosure Awards 2014 (H-share companies and other Mainland enterprises category), organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Lenovo was once again recognized as a leading company in the quality of its all-round corporate governance disclosure and practices. This is the second year in a row that Lenovo has received this recognition.


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Lenovo Recalls Notebook Computer LS-15 AC Power Cords
Lenovo has announced a worldwide voluntary recall and replacement program in cooperation with government regulatory agencies. This recall is for affected AC power cords distributed worldwide with Lenovo IdeaPad computers. These computers were sold from February 2011 through June 2012.

Lenovo customers affected by this program are eligible to receive a replacement AC power cord for the recalled power cord in their possession.

View recall FAQs

Lenovo sold the power cords with new notebook computers or replacement parts on the models listed below. Note: Not all Lenovo products were sold with an affected AC power cord. Please validate your specific AC power cord using the instructions how to identify if my cord is being recalled.

Affected Systems:

• IdeaPad B460
• IdeaPad B470
• IdeaPad B560
• IdeaPad B570
• IdeaPad G460
• IdeaPad G470
• IdeaPad G475
• IdeaPad G480
• IdeaPad G560
• IdeaPad G570
• IdeaPad G575
• IdeaPad G580
• IdeaPad G770
• IdeaPad S100
• IdeaPad S10-3
• IdeaPad S10-3c
• IdeaPad S10-3n
• IdeaPad S10-3s
• IdeaPad S10-3t
• IdeaPad S110
• IdeaPad S205
• IdeaPad S400
• IdeaPad U150
• IdeaPad U160
• IdeaPad U165
• IdeaPad U260
• IdeaPad U455
• IdeaPad U460
• IdeaPad V360
• IdeaPad V370
• IdeaPad V460
• IdeaPad V560
• IdeaPad V570
• IdeaPad Y460
• IdeaPad Y470
• IdeaPad Y560
• IdeaPad Y570
• IdeaPad Z360
• IdeaPad Z370
• IdeaPad Z460
• IdeaPad Z465
• IdeaPad Z470
• IdeaPad Z475
• IdeaPad Z560
• IdeaPad Z565
• IdeaPad Z570
• IdeaPad Z575
• IdeaPad Z580
• Lenovo B460
• Lenovo B470
• Lenovo B470e
• Lenovo B475
• Lenovo B560
• Lenovo B570
• Lenovo B570e
• Lenovo B575
• Lenovo G455
• Lenovo G460
• Lenovo G465
• Lenovo G470
• Lenovo G475
• Lenovo G480
• Lenovo G560
• Lenovo G565
• Lenovo G570
• Lenovo G575
• Lenovo G580
• Lenovo G770
• Lenovo V370
• Lenovo V470
• Lenovo V470c
• Lenovo V560
• Lenovo V570

Lenovo recommends you unplug your line cord from the AC power outlet and the power adapter then follow the instructions below to determine if your cord is being recalled

Note: Only the AC Power Line Cord is being recalled. The Adapter that connects to the computer is not being recalled. Do not discard the adapter. Lenovo apologizes for the inconvenience caused by this issue. Shipment of quality products always has been and continues to be the foremost concern.


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