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    in Networking

    Bluetooth-based Auracast tech can power 'unlimited' headphones in public spaces

    The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG), which manages the technology behind the wireless connection protocol, announced the founding of a new brand focused on wide-area audio broadcasts. Dubbed Auracast, the new initiative will take the assets of the technology previously known as Audio Sharing and develop them as a way to output sound to an unlimited number of devices, using only one transmitter. 
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    Most Bluetooth connections feature a single transmitter and a single receiver. This is typically something like a laptop feeding sound to a pair of headphones or a smartphone outputting audio via an external speaker. However, Auracast promises to power massive numbers of headphones and other devices using only a single transmitter. The transmitter could be something as complex as a public address system or something as simple as a smartphone, a laptop, or a TV. Mark Powell, CEO of the Bluetooth SIG, claims the launch of Auracast will “reshape personal audio and enable public venues and spaces to deliver audio experiences that will improve visitor satisfaction and increase accessibility.” The Bluetooth SIG proposed multiple applications for the technology in its initial announcement, including sharing your home audio playback among a group of friends, listening in to audio output tied to displays in public spaces, and improving audio quality for the fully abled and hard-of-hearing by providing both with a direct channel to broadcasted audio in a public space like a “transit center, cinema, conference center, or house of worship.” The organization believes this final use case also could see Auracast becoming the basis of next-generation assistive listening systems (ALS) for the hearing-impaired. More: Best Bluetooth speakersAlthough Auracast’s specifications are considered part of the Bluetooth LE Audio specification suite, the new technology still will require specific Auracast-enabled devices to function. The initial Auracast specifications are expected to be released “within the next few months.” No time frame was given for when the first Auracast-enabled products might reach the public. Developers and others interested in the technology can learn more by visiting the official Auracast web page.
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    in Information Technology

    NSA, FBI warning: Hackers are using these flaws to target VPNs and network devices

    Image: Dzelat/Shutterstock The US is warning that hackers working for China have been exploiting publicly known flaws in network devices as part of broader attacks to steal and manipulate network traffic.  The National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have listed 16 flaws in network […] More

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    in Information Technology

    Time to update: Google's Android updates fixes 41 flaws, five critical

    Google’s Android security updates for June 2022 fix 41 vulnerabilities, including five classed as critical.  The updates, for the Android operating system versions 10, 11 and 12, have been detailed in Google’s Android Security Bulletin. Among the most severe security vulnerabilities receiving updates is CVE-2022-20130, a vulnerability in Android’s Media Framework that could lead to […] More

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    in Information Technology

    SUSE doubles down on security in its latest SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 release

    Security is a primary consideration of Linux and open-source software today. So when European Linux giant SUSE released the SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Service Pack 4 (SLE 14 SP4) it came as no surprise that it incorporated top security features.
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    This included a Supply chain Levels for Software Artifacts (SLSA) Level 4 compliance. SLSA, pronounced “salsa,” is an end-to-end framework for ensuring the integrity of software artifacts throughout the software supply chain.” Started by Google, SLSA is now a Linux Foundation project.With SLSA Level 4 compliance, SUSE claims that its code has been given a two-person review of all changes and uses a hermetic, reproducible build process. This is the highest level of SLSE compliance — it means you can have a high degree of confidence that its software hasn’t been touched by hackers.SLE 15 SP4 also supports confidential computing if you’re running on AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State (SEV-ES) CPUs. What’s that? Instead of just encrypting data when it’s at rest in storage or on the network, it’s also encrypted in memory or CPU registers. This is important if you’re running processes with sensitive data on the cloud. SLE 15 SP4 is the first Linux distribution to support this. Today, you can use this to isolate virtual machines (VM) on the Google Cloud. You can expect to see it supported on other clouds soon. Speaking of the cloud, SUSE has worked with Nvidia to deliver maximum performance and availability by integrating Nvidia’s recently open-sourced GPU kernel-mode driver. While this won’t help gamers, at least not yet, it enables SLE 15 SP4 cloud and server users to speed up such GPU-accelerated computing jobs as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). SUSE has long been a live-patching pioneer. In this latest release, though, SUSE now supports live patching for user-space applications. This means you can update user programs with no downtime. This also means SUSE will live-patch security-critical programs that you might not think of as user-space such as the OpenSSL cryptographic library.The new SLE runs on the Linux kernel 5.14 and systemd version 249. If you run the SLE desktop (SLED), the desktop now uses Gtk4 and GNOME 41 by default for its interface.For managing SLE, while SUSE still supports YaST, it’s moving to the DevOps tool Salt. SUSE Manager Server also now works hand-in-glove with Salt.If you don’t subscribe to SLE, you can still easily and freely try it with openSUSE Leap 15.4. That’s because starting in 2021, SUSE made its community Linux binary compatible with its enterprise offering. If you decide you like SUSE’s take on Linux, the company makes it easy to migrate from openSUSE to SLE.If you elect to use SLES 15, the operating system has a 13-year life cycle, with 10 years of General Support and three years of Extended Support. Version SP3 will be fully maintained and supported until six months after the release of SLES 15 SP4. So, you’ll have until December 2022 to move from SP3 to SP4. The migration is simple and straightforward.So, if you’re considering a serious Linux for your business, I urge you to remember that it’s not just Canonical Ubuntu or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). SUSE and SLE are also well worth your time.As SUSE CEO Melissa Di Donato said at the SUSECon keynote, “From our business-critical Linux … we are on course to becoming the most trusted and most secure open-source infrastructure provider in the market.”Related Stories: More

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    in Information Technology

    Apple's Safety Check combats domestic abuse but timing its use is critical

    Apple has debuted a new mobile tool to wrestle away control in coercive, domestic violence situations — but timing is crucial if you have to use this feature. The feature, Apple Safety Check, has been designed to help tackle domestic abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV). Apple has worked with organizations, including the National Network To End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCV) to design this new feature.Read on: How to find and remove spyware from your phoneSafety Check is making its debut in iOS 16, the next upgrade to Apple’s mobile operating system. iOS 16 is in beta and is expected to become widely available in the fall.   What is domestic abuse or IPV? More

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    in Information Technology

    Hackers are now hiding inside networks for longer. That's not a good sign

    The amount of time cyber criminals intruders are spending inside victims’ networks is increasing, providing them with the ability to carry out higher complexity campaigns and more damaging cyber attacks.  According to analysis by cybersecurity researchers at Sophos, who examined incidents targeting organisations around the world and across a wide range of industry sectors, the […] More

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    in Robotics

    Amazon teams up with a fast food robot

    Miso Robotics The maker of a fast food robot designed to cook burgers, fries, wings, and chips for major chains is partnering with Amazon Web Services. The move will allow Miso Robotics to drastically increase its simulation capacity, a key ingredient in the fast-food robot wars. ZDNet Recommends This is a story about the intersection […] More