Weekly Recap: a Pocket Server, Multiple Resignations at Twitter, Android Revenue, Coleco is Back, and the Vulnerability of the IoT
A server in your pocket
A new project from California company iCracked: the Ocean server, roughly the same size as an iPhone 6. It’s Linux-based, and can be used to run Web and Bluetooth applications, even without power. Ocean can also charge smartphones (iPhone or Android) 61 times before depleting its battery! The highly portable server features a 1GHz ARM dual-core Cortex-A7 processor, 1GB DDR3 480MHz of RAM, a 16GB internal micro-SD card for storage, a 4GB internal flash chip, a UBS port, on top of both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities… Available next month for $149 US. The company plans to launch other versions with increased capacity later in 2016. http://zd.net/1Qp9TTt
Was their resignation letter 140 characters or less?
Things are not improving over at Twitter… Founder Jack Dorsey annonced the resignation of no less than 5 of his company’s executives this week. Four out of 9 vice-presidents decided to jump ship at the same time! And the director of video application Vine also left for Google, to work on virtual reality. The VPs are not expected to be replaced in the short term. Despite its undeniable influence on the technology –and even the media- realm, Twitter never managed to fulfill its potential as a business. User adoption has been all but capped for a while, and Twitter stock options are now only about 25% of their 2013 value. http://bit.ly/23nAl4V
The Android-related revenue
An extremely rare bit of information has been leaked this week: the money made by Google for its Android mobile OS. The numbers were released in court during an audience linked to the lawsuit filed by Oracle against Google in 2010. Here it is: since launching Android, Google reportedly made $31 billion in income, and $22 billion in profit. Even if that represents a huge sum, analysts remarked that it was still less than what Apple garnered for iPhone sales just in the fourth quarters of 2015 ($32 billion). The figures were not confirmed, and Oracle did not specify how they were obtained or calculated. Google attempted to stop their release, stating that the company did not usually provide this kind of confidential information, since it could have a « significant negative impact on its business ». http://bit.ly/1WyThsI
Coleco is back!
Much to the happiness of nostalgic gamers, Coleco is about to launch a new gaming console, the Chameleon. It will offer two different experiences: new 8, 16 or 32-bit style games, as well as faithful compilations of yesteryear’s favorites. Apparently, it’s not an internal Coleco project (remember the popularity of the Vision in the ‘80s and ’90?) but rather an acquisition, though. According to Retro Gamer, Chameleon is nothing more than the new name of the Retro VGS, which failed to meet the goal of its crowdfunding campaign in 2015. Coleco will present its new console at the New York Toy Fair in February. http://bit.ly/1T7oYr5 (Link in French)
The Internet of Things is vulnerable
Ouch! A huge breach in the Internet of Things (IoT) was recently put forward. Shodan, a search engine for devices connected to the IoT, presents a section that lets anyone « spy » on a multitude of video cameras, whether residential or else. This feature is even available without an paying Shodan account, or extensible technical knowledge. A security technician even said that this practice is more widespread that initially thought, since companies and device manufacturers rush to launch always-cheaper products, resulting in inevitable cut corners –for instance security! With the predicted multiplication of IoT in all aspects of our lives, when can we expect legislations that would enforce acceptable security regulations? http://bit.ly/1JImcZD
