Google's VirusTotal Security Service Can Now Scan Firmware for Malware

Google's free Internet security service, VirusTotal, which scans the image files of running processes, trigger scans of remote URL content before saving it to disk, and more, has now received a new feature where it can tell if the firmware is infected.

According to Francisco Santos of VirusTotal, antivirus software usually doesn't scan the BIOS of a computer, which means this layer remains unseen and a breach can fly under the radar. In a blog post, the company also gave few examples where attackers have taken advantage of firmware malware including NSA which has been alleged by Snowden's leaks to infect BIOS firmware and Lenovo's service engine among others.

"To all effects BIOS is a firmware which loads into memory at the beginning of the boot process, its code is on a flash memory chip soldered onto the mainboard. Since the BIOS boots a computer and helps load the operating system, by infecting it attackers can deploy malware that survives reboots, system wiping and reinstallations, and since antiviruses are not scanning this layer, the compromise can fly under the radar," writes Santos.

With the new tools, VirusTotal can characterise firmware images as legitimate or malicious. Some of the basic tasks that the new tool will perform include Apple Mac BIOS detection and reporting; strings-based brand heuristic detection, to identify target systems; extraction of certificates both from the firmware image and from executable files contained in it; PCI class code enumeration, allowing device class identification; ACPI tables tags extraction; NVAR variable names enumeration; option ROM extraction, entry point decompilation and PCI feature listing; extraction of BIOS Portable Executables and identification of potential Windows Executables contained within the image, and SMBIOS characteristics reporting.

The company also suggests users to remove private information before performing BIOS dumps and uploading to VirusTotal. The company says that private information could be saved by certain vendors such as Wi-Fi passwords in BIOS variables in order to remember certain settings across system reinstalls.

"If you are on a Mac, DarwinDumper will allow you to easily strip sensitive information by checking the "Make dumps private" option," notes the company. To recall, Google acquired the free Internet security service VirusTotal back in 2012.

Oppo to Invest Rs. 100 Crores to Open Own Manufacturing Plant in India by August

Chinese mobile handset firm Oppo on Thursday said it will invest Rs. 100 crores to start its own manufacturing unit in India by August this year.

"We have long term plan for India. We will invest Rs. 100 crores to start our mobile manufacturing unit by August 2016," Oppo Global VP and President of Oppo India, Sky Li said at the launch of selfie phone F1 and F1 Plus in New Delhi on Thursday.

He said that Oppo has already started its mobile handset production in India at electronic manufacturing services firm Foxconn's plant.

"We expect to grow our business volume significantly. We have sold 40 million handsets in China so far and expect India business to grow similarly. Oppo is looking at producing 10 million handset units per year in India at our own plant. We will continue our relationship with Foxconn as well," Li said.

The company is focusing on mobile photography and launch F1 and F1 Plus around this strategy.

Oppo is positioning F1 as selfie expert which will sell for Rs. 15,990. It has 8-megapixel front camera with a wide aperture lens and a one-fourth inch sensor. Li said that the phone has Oppo's patented 'screen flash' that can shoot clear selfies even in low-light conditions.

"With help of sensor, it can shoot selfies using hand gestures and spoken commands, ensuring stunning selfies in all conditions," Li said.

The F1 also features a 13-megapixel rear camera with a focus time of just 0.1 second. It has Qualcomm octa-core processor chipset, 3GB RAM, and 16GB of inbuilt storage.

Oppo also announced the F1 Plus which will be available in India from April with even more sophisticated camera functions for Rs. 26,990.

"Oppo will further expand its offline channels and is targeting 35,000 sales outlets and 180 official service centers to achieve radical development in India in 2016," Li said.

Ultimate Ears launches waterproof UE Roll Bluetooth speaker for Rs 8,495

After spending the last few months off the radar, Logitech-owned Ultimate Ears has finally launched the UE Roll in India for Rs. 8,495, a super-compact portable Bluetooth speaker that was globally unveiled in June 2015.

The UE Roll's USP is that is waterproof and small enough to take along with you no matter where you go. The shape of the UE Roll also ensures that it produces a 360-degree sound that resonates in all directions.

"Music is made for sharing, connecting and enjoying," said Ashok Jangra, Cluster Category Manager India & South West Asia. "It transforms moments into something special, and we designed UE Roll to be part of those moments. No matter where you are, or what you're doing, UE Roll is there to amplify any experience."

The UE Roll has its own dedicated app for Android and iOS, which can be used to set music-based alarms, remotely turn on the speaker, and pair to other Ultimate Ears speakers to play music together for a louder sound. The company also promises to deliver updates to the app that will add features to the speaker itself.

Logitech's UE Roll speaker is available now, and comes in a handful of colour options, including Volcano (Grey), Atmosphere (Blue), Sugarplum (Pink), and Sriracha (Orange). Ultimate Ears first started out as a producer of high-end custom fitted in-ear monitors for artistes and performers. The company has since expanded its range to include all ranges of earphones and wireless speakers, including the UE Boom 2 which was launched last year.

Highlights of Ultimate Ears UE ROLL portable Bluetooth speaker

• Powerful pint-sized wireless Bluetooth speaker-small and lightweight
  360-degree sound with deep bass
  Waterproof (IPX7 rated) life-resistant shell designed for adventure (Waterproof for up to 30 minutes and a depth of 1 meter)
  Marine-grade bungee cord attaches to you or your bike, backpack, snorkel or whatever
  UE ROLL companion app-tune it, alarm it, Double UP the sound by pairing it to another Ultimate Ears speaker
  Wireless, over-the-air speaker updates.
  Works with Apple iOS and Android devices
  9 hours of battery life

RailTel's Free Public Wi-Fi Service by Google Launched at Mumbai Central

Google, in partnership with the Railways’ telecom wing RailTel, introduced the first public Wi-Fi service at the Mumbai Central railway station. In the future, Wi-Fi services will be provided at Bandra Terminus and Surat stations of Mumbai division. In addition, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Indore stations of Western Railway shall also be covered with Wi-Fi services in the near future.

RailTel will provide Internet services as RailWire via its fiber network, in partnership with Google. Railwire Wi-Fi will be available to any user who has a working mobile connection on a smartphone. The project was announced last September during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Google headquarters in Mountain View.

In an statement, Google stated that even with just the first 100 stations online, this project will make WiFi available to millions of Indians, who pass through railway stations every day, making it the largest public Wi-Fi project in India and among the largest in the world by number of potential users.

Commenting on the launch, Chairman and Managing Director of Railtel Shri R. K. Bahuguna of Railtel said, “Our intent was to fulfill Indian Railway’s vision of providing Railway passengers access to high speed Internet through our Optical fiber communication network. Affordable smartphones have made it possible for the common men to experience the power of Internet. With our partnership with Google, we are very confident of rolling out a robust, scalable service at Railway stations in the near future.”

Speaking at the launch, Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google South East Asia and India said, “We’re delighted to launch India’s first high speed public Wi-Fi service in partnership with Indian Railways. Bringing affordable Internet access to millions of people is an important part of making the Internet both easily accessible and useful for more than 300 million Indians who are already online, and the nearly one billion more who are not. By end of this year over 10 million people will be able to enjoy this experience at 100 stations spread across the country.  I would like to thank the Indian Railways for their support and vision to provide a world class high speed public Wi-Fi network at the stations.”

Microsoft Ends Support for Windows 8 on Tuesday

Three years ago Windows 8 was released. But on Tuesday, January 12th Microsoft is ending up with Windows 8 support lifecycle policy. No more update of Service Pack Support will be provided for windows 8 operating system. So, its time to upgrade to windows 8.1 or windows 10 else downgrade to windows7 because the support for Windows 7 lasts until January 14, 2020.However the Windows 8 lifecycle policy, which extended to January 10, 2023. But the Microsoft company  states that Windows 8 customers will have 24 months to move to Windows 8.1 after General Availability in order to remain supported.

Windows 8.1 builds on the foundation of Windows 8, and includes many enhancements and great new features in key areas like personalization, search, the built-in apps, Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity,” the company states. “Windows 8.1 also introduces new manageability, mobility, security, user experience and networking capabilities for businesses. — Microsoft

According to the above chart, Windows 8 Mainstream support actually ends on January 9, 2018, and the extended support end date on January 10, 2023. This schedule also applies to Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8 Enterprise N, Windows 8 N, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Pro N.

Microsoft Experiments With Showing Network Speed Test Results on Bing

You may no longer need to download SpeedTest app on your smartphone to assess how good your Internet connection is. Microsoft has embedded what appears to be similar technology into its Bing search engine, and is allowing users to initiate the feature by simply searching for "speedtest" or "speed test."

Discovered by user Kabir Cheema on Twitter (via WindowsCentral), users can trigger the speed test feature right on the search results on Bing. Kabir added that the feature works on both Web and mobile. After failed attempts on Chrome for Web, Safari for Web, and Chrome for Android, Gadgets 360 was able to replicate it on Opera for Android. The feature also shows one's IP address. It is needless to mention that at the time of writing, the feature doesn't work on all Web browsers, or for all users.

Microsoft is yet to officially acknowledge the feature, which could mean that the company is merely testing it. To recall, Ookla, the maker of Speedtest, announced last month that it was dropping resource-intensive Flash technology from its feature and is switching to HTML5. Perhaps this made it possible to have the feature good enough to be embeddable right on the search engine. At this point, it is unclear whether Microsoft is using Ookla's technology or utilising its own network features.

Microsoft's Bing search engine already offers a range of contextual information when a user looks up for certain things such as movie titles, lyrics of a song, or simple calculation. The contextual search feature is similar to Google's Knowledge Graph. At this point, Google doesn't have any feature to let you know about your network speeds. It, however, can tell you if the surface is level.

Apple may launch new app that will allow iOS users to 'move to Android'

Apple is said to be working on a tool that will allow iPhone users to more easily switch to Android. As per a media report, the change of heart comes as European carriers continue to put pressure on the Cupertino-based company.

Apple has agreed to develop a tool that will allow users from the iOS camp to migrate to Google's Android haven, reports Telegraph citing an industry source. The iOS app will allow users to transfer data such as contacts, music, and photos from their iOS device to Android.

The change of heart isn't apparently a result of goodwill on Apple's end, the report adds. Instead, it is because major European telecom operators believe that the technical difficulties in transferring data from an iPhone makes it hard for users to switch to Android, and as a result, only a tiny fraction of customers ever make the switch.

The iPhone maker is under pressure from mobile operators to make the migration process easier. The carriers, the report adds, feel that Apple's refusal to provide its users with an easier way to switch to Android has put them on the disadvantageous side, reducing their negotiation power with Apple.

To recall, Apple released an app called Move to iOS last year which allowed Android users to easily transfer their data to an iPhone. The company's first Android app didn't receive the most welcoming reception with thousands of users plastering a one-star rating against the app.

While it isn't known how many iPhone users switch to Android, as per Apple, around 30 percent of the record number of iPhone sold in the fourth quarter last year were users who previously owned an Android handset.

At this point it is hard to digest that Apple would ever make an app or tool to allow users to ditch iPhone. The company has long tried to keep its users within the ecosystem. It will be interesting to see if Apple ever releases the purported app, and in case it does, what it has to say about the move.

India will launch its fifth regional navigation satellite on January 20

India will launch its fifth regional navigation satellite on January 20,
a top official of the country's space agency said on Monday.

Once
launched, it will help in disaster management, vehicle-tracking and
fleet management, mapping and geodetic data capture, visual and voice
navigation for drivers and others.

"We are loading fuel in the
rocket for the launch of the fifth regional navigation satellite system
(IRNSS-1E) on January 20 from our spaceport," Indian Space Research
Organisation director M. Annadurai told IANS at the Indian Science
Congress here.

The space agency's spaceport is at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, off the Bay of Bengal coast, about 80km northeast of Chennai.

The
space agency will put the sixth (IRNSS-1F) and seventh satellites
(IRNSS-1G) in the earth's lower orbit in mid-February and by March 31
respectively.

The first four satellites were placed in observational orbit between July 2013 and March 2015.

The
44-metre polar satellite launch vehicle, a workhorse weighing about 320
tonnes at lift-off, will be used to carry the 1.4-tonne fifth
spacecraft into orbit.

"The system's first four satellites are
already in use," Annadurai said after addressing delegates on 'Space
Science, Technology and Applications' at a plenary on the second day of
the five-day annual science fair.

The Indian navigation satellite
system will be similar to the global positioning system of the US,
Glonass of Russia, Galileo of Europe, Beidou of China and Quasi Zenith
satellite system of Japan.

"The system will provide two types of
services – standard positioning services to all users and restricted
services to authorised users," Annadurai added.

The space agency
has set up ground stations for generation and transmission of navigation
parameters, satellite control as well as ranging and monitoring across
the country.

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Gujarat to Get Its First Solar, Stellar Observatories

Gujarat is all set to get its first-ever solar as well stellar observatories, with government-recognised Indian Planetary Society (IPS) selecting Kutch district for embarking on this project at a cumulative cost of Rs. 12 crores.

The Solar Observatory would be utilised to study the Sun as well as the Solar System, while the Stellar Observatory will collect crucial information by studying various galaxies, planets and stars, said IPS CEO Akshay Malhotra, who is at present in Kutch for a detailed study of possible locations in that area.

"This is for the first time when IPS is embarking on a project to set up its first solar as well as stellar observatories. We have decided to set up these observatories in Kutch, as the sky is very clear here, which is very essential for accurate results," he said.

"There are such observatories in different parts of India being run by the government, while we are an independent NGO recognised by the government. This is for the first time when Gujarat will get such observatories, as there are none at present here," said Malhotra.

Apart from having a clear sky, which is necessary for night observation of galaxies, the Tropic of Cancer passes from here, which gives ample sunlight necessary for solar observation, he said.

"The Tropic of Cancer passes from near Bhuj, which makes this place ideal for solar observation. As of now, we have zeroed-in on two locations, one is Lakhpat and another is Loriya village near Khavda, which is around 80 kms from Bhuj" he said.

According to him, high-efficiency telescopes, along with other high-end equipments, would be installed at these observatories under PPP (public-private-partnership project) model.

"Budget for the Solar Observatory is around Rs. 2 crores, while we may require at least Rs. 10 crores for the Stellar Observatory. We will go for PPP model to execute this project, which will take a couple of years to complete. We will raise funds through donations as well as through government fundings," Malhotra said.

Scientists from India as well as across the world are associated with IPS, having its head office at Mumbai. Scientist Dr J J Rawal is the founder president of this institution, he said.

Rawal has recently published a research paper where he has suggested that there is a great possibility that the Sun is having its radial rings, made of granite rocks, like the Saturn, Malhotra said.

However, more research is needed in that direction and the Solar Observatory would play a crucial role in it, he said.

"Very less information is available with us about various aspects of the Sun, such as solar flares. The upcoming observatory will serve that purpose and throw some more light on solar activities," he said.

According to him, the ground work to establish these observatories at Kutch has been started and search for suitable land is underway.

Source : NDTV

A Technology Wish List for New Year 2016

This past year brought lots of new products, services and features - including a few that even managed to improve everyday life.

For instance, a double tap of the home button on Samsung's newest phones instantly launches the camera, so you're less likely to miss that magical moment. TiVo has a smart way to skip commercials and speed up video playback so that you can watch TV shows and movies in half the time.

But there's plenty more for tech companies to do. Here's a wish list for 2016:

Pick and choose online television

In 2015, HBO and Showtime freed themselves from traditional television shackles. Both now offer app subscriptions directly to consumers - with no cable or satellite TV service required.

It's a start, but lots of worthy channels, including ESPN, remain locked up in packages filled with channels not everyone wants. Even though Dish's Sling TV offers ESPN over the Internet Sony's PlayStation Vue will also do so soon - you can get it only as part of larger packages. I'd love to get AMC, ABC Family and Comedy Central as stand-alone subscriptions, for instance.

Managing your shows

With lots more online viewing options, we need better ways to keep track of what to watch and when shows expire from streaming services. I kept forgetting to watch that "Unauthorized Melrose Place Story" on Lifetime, and now it's too late.

Streaming TV devices from Apple, Roku, Amazon and Nvidia let you search multiple services at once to see what's available, but you don't have any way to add shows to a universal queue. Instead, you have to go to Netflix to see your list of flagged shows on that service, HBO to see its list, and so on. It's as if you needed separate video recorders for each channel. TiVo comes closest to offering a universal queue with its OnePass feature, but it has relatively few streaming TV apps.

Enough with passwords

Passwords are difficult to manage, which is one reason so many are trivial to guess ("password12345," anyone?) and so many people reuse the same weak passwords across multiple services.

Yahoo has an easier way to sign in to its services. Using Account Key, you confirm who you are through a text Yahoo sends to your phone. Google is testing something similar. Other services tap the fingerprint ID technology found on iPhones and some high-end Android phones. A touch of the home button bypasses the password by confirming you're the one holding the phone. We need more such mechanisms that offer both simplicity and security.

Getting along

Companies are getting better at acknowledging their rivals. Microsoft, for instance, made its Office apps for iPhones, iPads and Android before tackling its own Windows phone system. Samsung smartwatches now work with non-Samsung phones, while Apple made its music service available on Android.

It's a start. But animated photos taken with Apple's new iPhones can be viewed only on other Apple devices. And streaming devices made by Apple, Google and AMAZON typically won't play video bought from each other, at least not without using a backdoor relay feature such as AirPlay. So if you have Amazon video, you're stuck with Amazon's device. Amazon even stopped selling Apple TV and Google's Chromecast on its website.

Getting around with no Internet

Google Maps for Android and iPhones now works without an Internet connection, so long as you download mapping data ahead of time. That's helpful when you find yourself trying to leave a remote national park or an underground parking garage - both areas where cellular service is spotty or non-existent. But the offline feature doesn't work with walking or transit directions, so it's not as useful for wilderness hikes or in many subway stations.

Speaking of maps, all services could do better at directing motorists to rental-car centers at airports. Typing in the three-letter airport code assumes you're getting dropped off at the main terminals. The rental-car location might be miles away, perhaps off a different highway exit. It would be nice to see the rental-car location more prominent in map searches. Better yet, how about the closest gas station to refill your tank?

Motorola may have cracked the problem of shattered phone screens. Its Droid Turbo 2 phone ditches glass for shatter-proof plastic. While the glass used in most leading phones is chemically strengthened, it will still crack if it hits a hard surface with enough force. In testing, the Turbo's screen withstood normal drops, though plastic does make the device more prone to scratching.

Sure, there's a trade-off, but it's time to stop assuming that cracked screens are just something we have to learn to live with.

Blackberry Says Will Continue Operations in Pakistan

BlackBerry said it has decided to continue its operations in Pakistan as the government dropped a request for access to users' data.

The company, which has faced similar problems in the past in India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, had said last month it would delay shutting down its operations in Pakistan until December 30.

State-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had in July demanded that the company give access to its BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES), which encrypts data such as emails and instant messages.

BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd, said on Thursday it would not provide access to its BES servers.

A report released in July by British-based watchdog Privacy International said Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was seeking to dramatically expand its ability to intercept communications.

Shares of the company were down 0.46 per cent at C$12.91 on Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.