Video: This is Samsung's vision of the future (...and it includes a touchscreen coffee mug)

Video: This is Samsung's vision of the future (...and it includes a touchscreen coffee mug):
Samsung's display arm envisions a future where just about everything you see and touch — from the walls in your house and the floor you walk on to your car windows and coffee mugs — is a display powered by Samsung's software and services. In a video from the company's analyst day in late November that is now making the rounds, Samsung Display laid out its vision of a world where anything and everything is a display. Users still carry some connected devices, but biometric fingerprint scanners embedded in every device allow people to touch just about anything in order to access their data and services. Of course everything is also connected to surrounding devices wirelessly; in one example, a woman in a cafe gets a video call on her smartwatch but transfers it to a transparent screen in the window beside her table.Before displaying her call, by the way, that window was serving up a giant advertisement for a sale at a clothing store, so apparently we have that to look forward to...

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Samsung Display expected to increase production capacity of OLED panels by 33% in 2014

Samsung Display expected to increase production capacity of OLED panels by 33% in 2014: Samsung Display is expected to increase its production capacity of OLED panels by 33% in 2014.

HP woes continue as 5,000 more employees face the axe

HP woes continue as 5,000 more employees face the axe: It certainly won't be a happy new year for thousands of HP employees -- not when the company has increased its layoff numbers yet again. Hewlett-Packard already adjusted the number of people it needed to let go from 27,000 to 29,000 a year ago, but ...

Ballmer’s nightmare: Chromebooks saw huge business sales growth in 2013

Ballmer’s nightmare: Chromebooks saw huge business sales growth in 2013:
Despite the rise of Android devices, Apple has managed to keep up its position atop the U.S. tablet market for years. But as 2013 draws to a close, the disparity between the two major players in the market has grown smaller than ever. According to new research from The NPD Group, Android tablet sales in commercial channels in the U.S. jumped more than 160% from 2012, capturing 8.7% of personal computing device sales between January and November this year. Apple did manage to beat out its competition once again, but the iPad's market share actually decreased from 17.1% last year to 15.8% in 2013. Even with the release of two brand new iPad models, Apple is beginning to feel the pressure from Android and Windows vendors, which are leaving their mark with some solid tablets of their own.

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Samsung's tablets received the biggest jolt from the holidays according to new data

Samsung's tablets received the biggest jolt from the holidays according to new data: Online publishing company Onswipe took a look at which tablets visitors to its Onswipe optimized sites were using from December 26th through the 29th, and then compared this with similar data collected from December 19th through the 22nd. The goal was to see which tablet manufacturer had the biggest improvement in sales thanks to purchases made by Santa...

Security in 2014: While hackers get better tools, the good guys will be in short supply

Security in 2014: While hackers get better tools, the good guys will be in short supply:

DeiMosz/Shutterstock

Mike Horn is the co-founder and CEO of NetCitadel, Inc.
For the casual observer, security predictions for 2014 might be as simple as declaring “more and scarier threats,” but subscribing to that view is a gross over-simplification. Security isn’t just about tools or attacks, but about the people involved. We see people, process, and technology changing in 2014 within the security industry:

Security analysts become the new rockstars

We repeatedly hear that it takes up to eight years for security staff to develop the skills, insights, and raw operational ability to understand and process security breaches effectively. Some universities have just launched “IT Security” programs in 2013, which is a good start, but we predict that even with the launch of education programs, the curricula will be improperly balanced, with the majority of students and programs focusing on forensics and detection, where many automated tools already exist. Schools have started to recognize this problem, but are not immediately diversifying the education. This leads to a greater shortage of skilled security analysts and further leads to workforce poaching and newsworthy hiring bonuses for security analysts.

Human behavior-based anomaly detection will gain ground

While people don’t like their actions being tracked in the general public, businesses can use employee behavior as a tool for threat identification. If a system has been compromised, it might use an employee’s identity to access systems or escalate privileges. Any change in privileged access patterns is an anomaly worth looking into. As a result, in 2014 companies will start to monitor network access patterns from personnel more aggressively.

The time it takes to mass-develop an exploit will fall, dramatically.

Once new Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) are publicly acknowledged, we expect even shorter times to develop kit-based exploits and widespread release. Just as there are software automation tools for rapid software development, those tools and technologies will be applied more frequently to malware. The speed at which Cutwail developers replaced the BlackHole exploit kit with the Magnitude kit is just a sample of what is to come. In 2014, we’ll see malware development modularized with push-button vulnerability inclusion in an interface as simple as that of Zeus Builder.

Malware developers will harden their attacks with enhanced evasive techniques and tools

In 2013, we saw a confirmation that malware developers could subscribe to “anti-virus detection as a service” tools to make sure that their attacks had no or limited AV detection. At the same time, there was a rise in the benign behavior of malware — creating legitimate files, dropping dozens of non-malicious files, HTTP GET requests to legitimate sites, and more. Of course, if only one out of 100 files was malicious and only one of 15 network calls was malicious, the attackers could run wild security analysts who were busy checking the other 99 files and 14 non-malicious sites.

These more sophisticated threats will drive advances in detection

These will include the human behavior analysis discussed earlier, as well as additional forms of anomaly detection, improved sandboxing, anti-evasion analysis tools, and real-time distribution of new threat data. New detection capabilities will also put pressure on security staff to learn about new technologies as well as evaluate, buy, and implement the technologies they choose. Wait, did we say there was a skills shortage?

New detection technologies will cause a new problem: more security alerts

Individual technologies may provide single source filtering, but security analysts will still be faced with processing security alerts from legacy detection tools as well as from newer detection tools — filtered or not. To solve this problem, security integration and coordination providers will gain ground, as will attempts at open consortia for sharing and processing security data.

Malware infections are the new norm

By the end of 2014, organizations will realize that post-detection security alerts are a fact of life, and that their incident response and containment teams need to catch up. Educators and chief security officers will embrace the fact that detected threats need rapid containment, even before full forensics can be completed.
I am a bit conservative on these views, but forward-looking security teams are probably seeing these trends take shape now and are already preparing.
As CEO, co-founder and chief product officer of NetCitadel, Mike brings over 15 years of experience solving challenging data networking and security problems for enterprises and service providers. It is this experience along with his passion for creating innovative new products that led him to co-found NetCitadel to change the way enterprises think about their network security. Prior to co-founding NetCitadel, Mike held a variety of leadership positions in product management, engineering, and operations at companies including Vidder, Avistar, Level 3, and Virtela Communications. Mike also spent several years consulting for companies ranging from early stage startups to Fortune 500 technology companies on product strategy.

How a top Microsoft rival could make 2014 the year of Windows Phone

How a top Microsoft rival could make 2014 the year of Windows Phone:
While we've been laser-focused on Samsung's split from Android, another major electronics company has purportedly been exploring other options as well. The Information reports that Sony is currently in talks with Microsoft to release a Windows Phone of its own as early as next year, breaking a four-year streak of Android exclusivity and pairing up two long-time rivals in the gaming console market. The sources say that Sony has already shared designs for a Windows Phone prototype with Microsoft, and also that any products released under the partnership would be branded as Sony Viao devices. The two companies have yet to finalize any plans, so roadblocks could undoubtedly arise, but if Microsoft can expand its mobile OS as far as Sony's lineup, the platform might finally stand a fighting chance against Android and iOS.

Dell portrays itself as a feisty startup in its first ad after going private (video)

Dell portrays itself as a feisty startup in its first ad after going private (video): Now that Dell is once again a private company, it's trying to shake off its reputation as a member of the status quo. Appropriately, the PC builder just unveiled a new TV ad that suggests it has all the energy and vision of a technology startup. The ...

Samsung’ gigantic 12.2-inch tablet reportedly headed to AT&T

Samsung’ gigantic 12.2-inch tablet reportedly headed to AT&T:
It appears that Samsung has yet to plug the leak, because once again news regarding the Galaxy Note Pro has surfaced, this time in the form of a carrier for the oversized tablet. According to @evleaks, AT&T is the first provider to agree to carry the 12.2-inch Galaxy Note Pro, a tablet which shares many of its specs with the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition). Those specs include a 2,560 x 1,600-pixel LCD display, a 2.4GHz quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera, a 9,500 mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat. The previous leak revealed that the tablet will launch internationally in the first quarter of 2014, but there was no word as to whether the U.S. would be a part of the initial rollout. If this new report is to be believed, chances are good that the tablet will indeed hit U.S. shores in the near future.

Google and Audi working on Android car systems

Google and Audi working on Android car systems: There has been plenty of talk recently about Apple's move to bring Siri and iOS to in-car systems, but obviously there was eventually going to be competition. A new report from The Wall Street Journal is saying that at CES next week Google and Audi are planning to announce in-car systems based on Android...

Eric Schmidt says that Google missed social networking trend, "won't happen again"

Eric Schmidt says that Google missed social networking trend, "won't happen again": 'Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has made his predictions for 2014 on Bloomberg Television. Schmidt says that the movement toward a mobile computing environment has been completed and mobile has won. He notes that more smartphones and tablets are being sold than PCs. He adds that the movement toward the mobile architecture is occurring rapidly...

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro (SM-P907A) headed to AT&T?

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro (SM-P907A) headed to AT&T?: The 12.2-inch Samsung Android tablet is expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2014, alongside three other new tablets. Nothing is confirmed at the moment though...

Nokia Lumia 520/521 now make up 30% of Windows Phones used worldwide

Nokia Lumia 520/521 now make up 30% of Windows Phones used worldwide: Alan Mendelevich's AdDuplex is a mobile ad platform concentrating in Windows Phone. As such, we always get a heavy flow of Windows Phone data from his Twitter account. According to the latest information, the entry level Lumia twins, the Nokia Lumia 520 and the T-Mobile branded Nokia Lumia 521, together own a whopping 30% of the Windows Phone market worldwide...

Chromebook sales surge during holidays — raising big questions for Microsoft

Chromebook sales surge during holidays — raising big questions for Microsoft:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics-Laptop-Computers/zgbs/electronics/565108/

Chromebooks, the minimalist laptops powered by Google’s browser-based Chrome operating system, exploded onto the market share this year, and appear to be finishing the year on particularly strong note.
According to just one popular metric, Amazon.com is showing that Chromebooks make up three of its top four best-seller laptops.
And that’s after Chromebooks already boosted their overall  market share among commercial buyers (businesses, schools, governments, etc) through November this year to 21 percent for notebooks, and 10 percent for all computers and tablets, according to the market research firm, NPD Group. That’s up from almost nothing last year: two-tenths of one percent for all computer and tablet sales.
That’s really rough news news for Microsoft, which is the principal loser of market share against the Chromebooks. For decades, “Wintel” computers, based on Microsoft’s operating system and Intel chips, have dominated the PC market. While Microsoft’s stock price has done well this year, in line with much of the rest of the technology market, its stock dropped Friday by 0.40 percent, to $37.29. Google’s stock was up 0.08 percent, to $1,118.40.
Yesterday, ComputerWorld first noted Amazon.com’s Thursday announcement that a pair of Chromebooks — Samsung‘s Chromebook and the Acer C720 Chromebook — came in as two of the three best-selling notebooks during the U.S. holiday season. The third was Asus‘ Transformer Book, a Windows 8.1 device that can alternate between a 10.1-inch tablet to a keyboard-equipped laptop.
When VentureBeat checked just now, that Amazon ranking was still in place. And in fourth and sixth places are more chromebooks: The HP Chromebook 14, and the Acer C720P Chromebook
Google is doing with its Chrome OS for PCs what it did with Android for smartphones: License its operating system to manufacturers essentially for free, in the interest of spreading web-based devices that help Google to serve more web-based advertising.
That free operating system is just one thing that allows Chromebook manufactures to sell at prices that seriously undercut the more expensive Wintel PCs. A good part of Microsoft’s business is based on Windows, and so it can’t afford to give it away for fee. Microsoft also has no comparable browser-based OS that allows a device to pull most of its core applications and functions from the web. Chromebooks exploit this advantage by offering devices with less hardware bells and whistles, for example less local storage and RAM.
The leading Amazon.com Chromebook sellers are selling for $199 (Acer) and $194 (Samsung), compared to the leading Wintel machine, which is selling for $439 (Asus). No wonder Google is starting to eating Microsoft’s lunch. The question is whether the market expected it to happen this quickly.
We’ll may have to wait to hear Microsoft’s strategic response to the trend. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer won’t be the one who has to deal with the Chromebook threat. He leaves that responsibility to his successor, who is expected to be appointed early next year.