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Yahoo has expanded its anti-surveillance encryption to cover traffic between data centers, and has promised to deliver an encrypted Yahoo Messenger within months.

Having previously made HTTPS default for Yahoo Mail and encrypting mail between Yahoo services and other mail providers that support the SMTPTLS standard, Yahoo has gone a step further. It has announced that traffic between Yahoo data centers is now encrypted, as of March 31.

Revelations about NSA spying programs that leaked in the past year detailed how links between data centers can be targeted for spying programs.

Yahoo pledged to protect its customers by deploying encryption technologies across its services back in November 2013, and so far seems to be on track with the promises made by Marissa Mayer, Yahoo President and Chief Executive Officer.

Other steps taken by Yahoo include switching on HTTPS by default on the Yahoo Homepage and most Yahoo properties. The web giant also implemented the latest in security best-practices, including supporting TLS 1.2, Perfect Forward Secrecy and a 2048-bit RSA key for many of its global properties, and is working to eventually bring all Yahoo sites up to this standard.

A Russian national accused by Microsoft of stealing trade secrets from the company and passing them on to a French blogger has pleaded guilty.

Alex Kibkalo was a Microsoft employee in Lebanon when he allegedly obtained and leaked pre-release updates for the Windows 8 operating system, and also an SDK for Microsoft products that guards against software piracy, the Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit.

Kibkalo also reportedly leaked other Windows 8 materials and screenshots, apparently in an effort to get back at Microsoft for a poor performance review.

He allegedly uploaded the stolen materials to his backup storage in July and August of 2012, and provided access to a French blogger, encouraging him to spread the SDK to others who may be able to write "fake activation" codes based on it.

An unidentified individual alerted Microsoft to the leak after being approached by the blogger to examine the SDK.

Kibkalo admitted guilt as part of a plea agreement entered in a federal court in Seattle on Monday. As part of the agreement, Kibkalo will pay $22,500 in restitution and will be jailed for three months.

Chromecast expanded its growing collection of supported services this week, with VUDU, Rdio and Crackle all supporting Google's casting dongle across platforms.

You can now watch the latest movies and TV shows on VUDU with Chromecast (1080p supported) from the Google Chrome web browser through the existing extension on a Desaktop PC or Mac, or you can download VUDU Player for the iOS and Android platforms to cast from smartphones and tablets.

Rdio also now allows you to cast songs, albums, stations, and playlists to your TV while album art will be viewable on screen during playback. Again, all you have to do is press the cast icon in the Rdio iOS, Android or Web apps.

"Rdio on Google Chromecast marks another milestone in Rdio's commitment to delivering the best music experience everywhere," said Anthony Bay, chief executive officer of Rdio.

"Music fans can access Rdio's massive catalog of over 20 million songs or start a station easily, all from Chromecast on their TV."

Finally, Crackle has also updated its iOS and Android apps to support casting movies and short videos from Chromecast.

Sources and Links
Google Cast Chrome Extension: chrome.google.com/webstore/
VUDU Player on iOS: itunes.apple.com/
VUDU App for Android: play.google.com
Crackle App for Android: play.google.com
Crackle App for iOS: tunes.apple.com

Nokia has unveiled their new Lumia 930 smartphone, a device that the company says "beautifully blends the best of Microsoft and Lumia with a collection of features readymade for the needs of today's forward-thinking smartphone owner."

The phone has a 5-inch, 1080p Full HD display (1920×1080; 441ppi) with Gorilla Glass 3 protection and Super Sensitive Touch (to be able to type with gloves on). Under the hood is a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage with 7GB free OneDrive cloud storage. The device also has Dolby Surround Sound integrated. Other standards include Bluetooth 4.0 LE and LTE Cat4 along with wireless charging.

Microsoft has made a huge announcement today, making Windows free for all devices with screens smaller than 9 inches.

The move will include all Windows Phone smartphones and most tablets, and should boost market share for the operating system. The move is good for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, which will hit mobile devices in the coming months.

There had been reports that Microsoft was experimenting with a free version of "Windows 8.1 with Bing," which would have made the OS free but pre-loaded it with Microsoft apps and services.

Microsoft is calling the new version its "Windows for Internet of Things," and it even includes a free year of Office 365.

The company had previously charged $50 per Windows 8.1 license before slashing it earlier this year for some OEMs making tablets.

Source:
Original Report from Build: The Verge

Earlier today, Amazon unveiled their new Fire TV media streaming box for $99, rivaling the popular Apple TV and Roku devices.

Besides streaming movie and TV content, the box also allows for console-esque gaming, with over 100 games available at launch.

In February, Amazon acquired the gaming studio Double Helix to boost their own in-house gaming offerings and the company has unveiled their first game, a sci-fi tower defense shooter dubbed "Sev Zero."

Here is how Amazon Game Studios explains the game: "Earth is threatened by an alien species, the Ne'ahtu. Early in the 22nd century, the Ne'ahtu infected Earth's energy grid with a computer virus that disabled the planet's defenses. Before the Ne'ahtu could strike, computer prodigy Amy Ramanujan neutralized the alien computer virus and saved the planet. Now, the Ne'ahtu are back and Dr. Ramanujan is trying to prevent them from another all-out invasion of Earth. Switching between towers (to launch various missiles and grenades) and face-to-face combat (to attack with machine guns), the player's mission is to join Dr. Ramanujan and defend Earth from the Ne'ahtu.

According to new research from ABI Research, Chromebook shipments jumped to 2.1 million in 2013, as the cheap notebooks remain popular among certain groups.

89 percent of shipments went to North America, and ABI forecasts an average growth rate of 28 percent per year until 2019 when shipments will reach 11 million.

"ABI Research tracked Chromebooks across six regions and found the average selling price (ASP) to be US$338," adds research analyst Stephanie Van Vactor. "This truly budget-driven device is a disruptive force to the portable PC market."

Chromebooks, due to their lower prices, light frames and long battery life, have been popular in the education market.

Source:
Press release: ABI Research

WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging app, has revealed that the service hit a new record by processing 64 billion messages in one day.

There were 20 billion messages sent and 44 billion messages received by WhatsApp users. The company explains that the numbers are so skewed because group messages are included, which can include many people either receiving or sending one message but having it viewed by many.

The service was recently acquired by social networking giant Facebook in a deal that is worth up to $19 billion, one of the largest acquisitions in the tech space, ever.

Growth appears to be very strong for WhatsApp, who announced 10 months ago that it was processing 27 billion messages per day. The service is likely to announce soon that it has surpassed 500 million monthly active users, as it adds voice calls and other features.

Amazon has unveiled its Fire TV set-top box that can deliver a lot of media from films, games, music and pictures to your living room over Wi-Fi.

The $99 tiny box packs quite a punch in its abilities. It can bring content from your favorite video streaming services - such as Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, SHOWTIME - to your HDTV. It can connect your living room TV to your favorite music services too, such as Pandora, TuneIn or iHearRadio, while also supporting services like YouTube.

For family photos and locally stored videos, you can easily stream them over the network to the big screen too.

Regulations in France that would require Netflix to invest in French content and abide by a quota of French content in its service can be avoided by serving from Luxembourg.

France has some cultural protection measures on its books and has previously clashed with U.S. firms, such as Google, and managed to squeeze money out of them for local content production and so forth. Netflix is not interested in bowing to the French government, but it can still reach French users.

According to a report in the WSJ's MarketWatch, Netflix will serve the French market from its headquarters in Luxembourg. Like a lot of other firms, Netflix has a Luxembourg presence for "tax purposes" anyway.

A report in the Les Echos newspaper cited unidentified officials at the French culture ministry in reporting the streaming service's plan to get around the country's regulations.

via: MarketWatch

Ed Fries, an Xbox co-creator, has said that Microsoft's Xbox One console can emerge victorious over Sony's PlayStation 4 (PS4) if Microsoft makes the right moves.

What would be the right moves? By focusing on good execution of software and services, while newer technologies like VR gaming might be worth avoiding for now.

In a Q&A (or AMA) on Yabbly, Fries gave his input on what Microsoft needs to do to overcome Sony, which has seen a better start to this console war with the PS4 thus far.

(UPDATE: Xbox boss Phil Spencer has responded to Ed Fries comments on Virtual Reality.)

"They need better exclusive games than PS4. They need to be more open to indie developers. They need to adopt free to play gaming more aggressively. They need to continue to move Xbox Live forward as the leading online service. They need to show people why they included the new Kinect on every machine by demonstrating a compelling use for it."

Facebook's recent $2 billion acquisition of Oculus Rift turned a few heads (and made a few explode..) and Sony's own Project Morpheus indicate that VR is in the headlights whether we want it or not. Fries believes that Microsoft needs to take a good hard look at 3D before diving into the deep end.

Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles must go to the United States to answer questions as part of the Bitcoin exchange's bankruptcy case.

Karpeles has been ordered to present himself at the offices of his law firm, Baker & McKenzie, in Dallas on April 17. Last month, he requested that a Dallas court grant the failed crypotcurrency exchange Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection, after a class action lawsuit had been filed by clients.

Mt. Gox clients want answers about what happened to 750,000 bitcoins that the exchange claimed were stolen by hackers. Some clients allege that insiders stole the Bitcoins, and claims by former employees that there was worries about the use of customers' money as far back as 2012 won't serve to quieten such rumors.

At a May 20 hearing, Mt. Gox must prove that it should be granted bankruptcy protection, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan is adamant that Karpeles will be present in the U.S. and not Japan.

"If he avails himself of this court, my God, he is going to get himself over here," she said while ordering Mr. Karpeles to appear, and was not amused when one of his attorneys suggested that the Baker & McKenzie firm may replace Karpeles as the "foreign representative" of Mt. Gox in the bankruptcy court.

Following a slew of updates for devices made by HTC, Samsung and others, KitKat now claims a 5.3 percent adoption among Android devices.

The data comes from Google in its latest statistics mined from Google Play visitors, tracking those that run Android Froyo (v2.2), Gingerbread (v2.3.3, v2.3.7), Honeycomb (v3.2), Ice Cream Sandwich (v4.0.3, v4.0.4), Jelly Bean (v4.1.x, v4.2.x, v4.3) and KitKat (v4.4).

Specifically, the data came from Google Play visitors on Android devices during a 7-day period ending April 1.

KitKat has more than doubled its share since Google last shared its statistics with the Android developer community last month, when its penetration stood at 2.5 percent. Since then, KitKat updates for popular devices have continued to roll-out, finally giving the latest Android flavor the boost it has been waiting for.

Jelly Bean is still the King of the Droids for now though, with a combined 61 percent share. Gingerbread follows with 17.8 percent and Ice Cream Sandwich claims 14.3 percent.

Sources and Recommended Reading
Android Developer Dashboard with latest stats: https://developer.android.com/

Music streaming veteran Spotify is welcoming you to the dark side with its gorgeous new design and feature enhancements.

Spotify 1.0 has arrived and responded to user feedback with a darker new interface that will roll out across its services on every platform, starting today.

The new layout intends to make content the focus of our attention, as it "pops" out in its new dark surroundings. "Playing your favorite music has never looked so good," we are told.

In addition to turning the lights down, Spotify has also made some helpful feature changes. Your Music is a new way to browse and organize your favorite music tracks and albums. You can save albums and songs to your collection effortlessly, and create playlists that will suit your every mood and need.

In addition, Spotify has revamped its Browse feature so that it can serve up more localized, and relevant content for you.

The new design and features roll-out from today, April 2, across Desktop, iPhone and the web platform.

For the third time in just a couple of years, Apple and Samsung have gone to trial in a patent dispute case, with the Cupertino-based iPhone maker asking for a staggering $2 billion.

The trial commenced on Tuesday in a San Jose, California federal court. Apple is asking the jury to award it $2 billion in damages from the South Korean firm, which it accuses of violating a group of patents. It also wants a sales ban against allegedly infringing Samsung devices to be imposed.

Apple had previously won a $930 million reward when a different jury sided with it, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh refused to issue a permanent injunction against Samsung devices.

The South Korean consumer electronics firm is aggressively defending itself from claims made by Apple that it "slavishly" copied its iPhone and iPad tablets, and is now insisting that Apple's real target is its nemesis, Google.

New trial, new patents

So what is Apple accusing Samsung of violating at this trial? There are five key patents covering software features in the iOS-running iPhones, and Android-running Samsung devices, that Apple claims are being violated.

The first covers a feature familiar to all smartphone users: slide-to-lock. On an iOS device, a user manually pushes a slidebar from left to right in order to unlock the device, and Apple claims Samsung devices copy this feature. However, the slide-to-lock feature in Android and Samsung's devices is notable different to that on Apple's devices.