The Electronic Frontier Foundation is still working to “convince” the World Wide Web Consortium to adopt its proposed covenant that would obligate all W3C stakeholders not to file or join a lawsuit against entities under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and similar laws for circumventing technological protection measures for security research purposes, Special Adviser Cory Doctorow said in a Tuesday blog post. EFF has been pressing W3C to adopt its proposed covenant as a condition for rechartering W3C's HTML Media Extensions Working Group, which is developing a standardized application programming interface for encrypted media extensions (EME). Other W3C stakeholders have previously told us support for the proposal remains minimal (see 1603240055). Doctorow urged EFF supporters to publicize the digital rights group's proposal, noting that W3C “is very interested in the public's ideas about what the Web can and should be.” W3C's EME API development work could potentially add encumbrances 'to the Web, rather than removing them,” Doctorow said. "That's wrong. We think the W3C had the right idea before: when corporations gather under its roof to make standards, they should have to pledge not to use the law to stop legal, legitimate, innovative Web technology.”

Intel estimates that 30 percent of the IoT “market segment” by 2020 will require “functional safety” such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), said Ken Caviasca, vice president-platform engineering and development in Intel’s IoT Group, in a Tuesday blog post. That was Intel’s rationale for acquiring Yogitech, an Italy-based "expert in semiconductor functional safety and related standards,” Caviasca said. Acquiring Yogitech “furthers our efforts to win in ADAS, robotics and autonomous machines for market segments like automotive, industrial and other IoT systems that require functional safety and high performance,” he said. “For years, Intel has been providing high-performance IoT systems that allow people and businesses to make better-informed decisions. The industry is now moving from automating data to inform better decisions, to automating actions informed by real-time data. You can see this evolution in the autonomous vehicle prototypes that nearly all have Intel inside. Functional safety is a requirement for these and other IoT customers. We see the combination of high performance and functional safety as a natural evolution of Intel’s IoT platform and strategy.” Intel is confident that the Yogitech acquisition, terms of which weren't disclosed, “will take our autonomous systems efforts to the next level,” though “we’re not ready to share product roadmap details yet,” Caviasca said.

Facebook introduced a new functionality -- automatic alternative (or alt) text -- that aims to describe photos on the website to blind or visually impaired users. "With more than 39 million people who are blind, and over 246 million who have a severe visual impairment, many people may feel excluded from the conversation around photos on Facebook," wrote software engineers Shaomei Wu and Hermes Pique and the Head-Accessibility Jeffrey Wieland in a Monday blog post. With this advancement, as a Facebook user encounters a photo using a screen reader on iOS devices, the user will hear a number of items that a photo may contain. "Someone could now hear, 'Image may contain three people, smiling, outdoors,'" the three wrote. Previously, screen readers only identified the name of the person sharing the photo and the term "photo" when they came across one, they said. Automatic alt text produces the description using object recognition technology, which is "based on a neural network that has billions of parameters and is trained with millions of examples," the three wrote. They said the company is launching the "nascent" technology first on iOS screen readers set to English but plan to expand it soon to other languages and platforms.

Roku began taking pre-orders Tuesday for a next-generation Streaming Stick with eight times the processing power of its predecessor. The $49 device will begin shipping later this month, Roku said. Features include a quad-core processor; private listening via smartphone or tablet using the Roku app for iOS and Android device; Hotel and Dorm Connect; and cast capability from Netflix and YouTube apps directly to a TV, said Roku. The announcement of the new Roku Streaming Stick coincided with Roku’s release of its 7.1 operating system, which the company said simplifies search and discovery by adding new categories within the My Feed section. Users can view TV shows and movies from various popular streaming channels in one place on the Roku platform and then choose to watch them immediately, follow them in the Roku feed to see changes in availability and price, or watch when they become available for free viewing, Roku said. A feature unique to the Streaming Stick allows consumers to use the mobile app on phone or tablet to listen to a show through wired or wireless headphones, it said. The app can also serve as a remote control, enabling search by voice or an on-screen keyboard, Roku said. The Play On feature lets users streaming personal videos, music and photos to the TV using the stick. With the Hotel and Dorm Connect feature, users can connect a Roku device to a password-protected network like those found in hotels, dorms and other public places and sign in with their login credentials using the browser on their phone, tablet or laptop, said Roku.

Thirty-seven percent of U.S. businesses lack confidence that their third-party vendors would inform them if a data breach involving sensitive information occurred, said a Ponemon Institute Web-based survey commissioned by law firm BuckleySandler and Treliant Risk Advisors. Ponemon surveyed 598 people in various industries, and involved companies that had a vendor data risk management program. "The study reveals the difficulty companies have in mitigating, detecting and minimizing risks associated with third parties that have access to their sensitive or confidential information," the survey said. It found that 73 percent of respondents didn't believe indirect service providers or subcontractors hired by a third-party vendor would notify companies of a data breach. "The risk to strategic data assets extends beyond any single third-party but rather to the web of relationships that comprise the data ecosystem," BuckleySandler Managing Director Rena Mears said in a Monday news release. Companies worry about data safeguards, security policies and procedures implemented by third parties, but the survey said that companies "rarely" perform reviews of vendor management policies and programs involving data risk. "Companies should compile a comprehensive inventory of and conduct data and privacy risk assessments for all third-party vendors; however, we found that few companies represented in this research, in particular those outside the regulated banking sector, have done so," Treliant Chief Business Officer Susanna Tisa said.

The FTC approved a final order Tuesday, resolving a complaint against Oracle that it deceived customers about security updates to the Java platform, standard edition (Java SE) software (see 1512210028), the commission said in a news release. The commission approved the order 4-0 after a public comment period. FTC announced the settlement in December when the commission said Oracle was aware of "significant security issues" with older Java SE versions -- installed in more than 850 million personal computers -- that support browser-based features such as calculators, online gaming, chat rooms and 3D images. FTC's complaint said Oracle didn't tell customers that software updates may have left older versions intact. The complaint said hackers could exploit the flaws in the older versions, potentially giving them access to consumers' usernames and passwords to financial accounts and enabling them to launch phishing attacks. The order requires Oracle to notify customers of any older versions on their computers during an update process, inform them of the risks and give them the choice to uninstall them. "In addition, the company will be required to provide broad notice to consumers via social media and their website about the settlement and how consumers can remove older versions of the software," the FTC release said.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment set for Monday the debut of its 4K Ultra HD movie streaming service, Ultra, for owners of qualified Sony Ultra HD TVs, it said in a Tuesday announcement. Ultra, which Sony announced at CES, will offer a variety of movies for purchase and playback in 4K Ultra HD, with many including high dynamic range, it said. Films available on Ultra for $30 each will include new releases like Concussion, The Night Before and The Walk, and library titles such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Ghostbusters, it said. Consumers who buy eligible Sony 4K TVs with Ultra this summer will receive four free movies when they sign up for the service, it said.

Wall Street met news of management changes at Pandora with a 12 percent cut in stock value Monday, but analyst firm Dougherty & Co. maintained an outperform rating on the No. 1 music streaming company. Pandora replaced CEO Brian McAndrews Monday with co-founder Tim Westergren while Chief Financial Officer Mike Herring added the president title and Chief Strategy Officer Sara Clemens was tapped as chief operating officer. “We continue to think that Pandora's long-term strategy will drive profitability,” Dougherty analyst Steven Frankel said in a research note. Frankel compared Pandora’s strategy to invest in on-demand subscription service, live events and international expansion to that of Netflix with one exception: “Netflix has little control over its content costs, and Pandora has relatively well-settled pricing for its content.” New Copyright Royalty Board rates “set a benchmark” for negotiating international and on-demand content rights, while Pandora's three-tier offering (commercial-supported and commercial-free Internet radio plus on-demand listening) gives it “a competitive advantage over virtually every other service,” Frankel said. It could take a year or more for the strategy to show results, he said. Shares closed at $9.60 Monday.

The revelation last week that Netflix allegedly throttled its own stream on AT&T and Verizon devices for five years (see 1603250050) isn’t a net neutrality violation, but could have other policy implications, said Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant Monday in a note to investors. The FCC last summer fined AT&T $100 million for insufficient disclosure that unlimited data service was slowed after reaching 5 GB a month, Gallant noted. “Netflix has a sensible rationale -- reducing Netflix's churn with AT&T and Verizon wireless subscribers, who might otherwise drop Netflix due to higher data charges,” he said. “But getting ‘caught’ doing this may put Netflix on its heels in Washington at a time when important [over-the-top] policies like interconnection pricing and zero rating are fluid and could go either way.” The revelation also shows the power of edge providers, he said. “ISPs have long complained that they are being unreasonably singled out for regulation within the Internet ecosystem,” Gallant wrote. “This Netflix report may highlight for government officials the leverage possessed by large Internet companies. Slowing streams to specific wireless [operators] implies a range of steps a large edge provider ... could take to disadvantage an ISP relative to its competitors.”

Harman spotlighted its automotive technology on display in vehicles debuting at the New York International Auto Show Friday, running through April 3. The Maserati Levante uses Harman’s advanced platform with a multi-touch 8.4-inch SVGA screen and voice control system. In-vehicle add-ons include dual Bluetooth pairing and Harman’s Aha connected services that offer GPS and radio support, Harman said. The Porsche Macan features a 7-inch widescreen TFT touch screen and connects to the iPhone over Wi-Fi via Apple’s CarPlay and to other smartphones over Bluetooth, Harman said. The Macan navigation system supports real-time traffic information, Google Earth, Google Street View, 3D city maps and landscape representation, and it has automatic zoom for a clearer view of intersections, real-time traffic information and dynamic route guidance, Harman said. Mercedes bowed the GLC Coupe and AMG GLC43 at the Auto Show, and its Command online hub uses Harman connectivity and infotainment solutions for access to Google Street View; Google Earth, including 3D cities; local search; and real-time traffic information, said Harman. Users can stream music from smartphones via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi via the vehicle’s wireless hot spot, Harman said.