The front-facing camera is the major driver of positive ratings for the iPhone X, Strategy Analytics reported. The camera enables Face ID, the phone’s security feature that replaced the fingerprint sensor used for security in recent iPhone models. Consumer sentiment about the TrueDepth camera, which also enables augmented reality features with Face ID and Animojis, is “extremely positive,” the researcher said Tuesday.
New malware reached an "all-time high" of 57.6 million new samples in Q3, a 10 percent gain over the previous quarter, McAfee Labs said Monday. New ransomware rose 36 percent, boosted by an increase in Android screen-locking threats. Top Q3 data breaches tracked included Equifax; a Verizon customer support supplier using a compromised server; and Apache Struts, a component of many websites and which experienced a coding vulnerability. The "Faceliker Trojan" malware, which manipulate Facebook to artificially "like" content by infecting users' browsers when they visit malicious websites, which McAfee first reported in September, also showed a Q3 gain.
Internet-connected toys and smartwatches continue to pose privacy concerns the FTC should address, consumer and privacy groups told the agency Monday. The My Friend Cayla and i-Que Intelligent Robot toys are of particular concern, said the Consumer Federation of America, one of several groups that asked the FTC to look into the threat in October (see 1710180021).The FTC said Monday it received the letter but had no further comment. Several major retailers have stopped selling the products "with the exception of Amazon," the groups said, though Walmart's website Monday displayed a listing for a reduced price version of the doll. Amazon didn't comment. The Cayla doll is listed in U.S. Public Interest Research Group's 2017 Trouble in Toyland list. “Connected toys raise serious privacy concerns,” said Marc Rotenberg, president of Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Kids should play with their toys and their friends, and not with surveillance devices dressed as dolls.”
EBay supports net neutrality and opposes the FCC order (see 1712140039) that will allow ISPs to potentially block, slow or otherwise discriminate against user access to web content, it blogged Monday. "We expect this new order will be challenged in court," eBay said, promising to keep users updated. Other net neutrality news Monday: Legislators are debating whether to roll back the deregulation 1712180047 while some state attorneys general consider whether to join a coming multi-state AG lawsuit 1712180039.
Forecasts for big sales gains on Cyber Monday and the week that followed were "more virtual than reality,” NPD reported. There was a “slight uptick” in overall U.S. holiday spending compared with the Thanksgiving week declines, the researcher said Thursday. Cumulative retail sales for the first five weeks of the holiday selling season were up 2 percent from a year earlier “across the key general merchandise categories” and consumer tech occupied three of the top five “performing categories” for Cyber Monday week, the firm said.
Amazon and Google take privacy seriously, they responded to Consumer Watchdog's report Wednesday (see 1712130023) that patent applications show possibilities for "surveillance" by those companies' smart home devices. "All devices that come with the Google Assistant, including Google Home, are designed with user privacy in mind," said a spokeswoman for that company, calling CW's claims "unfounded." Google Home stores only "voice queries after a physical trigger or after recognizing a hotword trigger," she said Friday. Amazon takes "privacy seriously and [has] built multiple layers of privacy into Echo devices," said the company Wednesday. "We do not use customer’s voice recordings for targeted advertising. Like many companies, we file a number of forward-looking patent applications that explore the full possibilities of new technology. Patents take multiple years to receive and do not necessarily reflect current developments to products and services."
Artificial intelligence by 2020 will create more net jobs, Gartner reported Wednesday, reaching 2 million five years later. “Many significant innovations in the past have been associated with a transition period of temporary job loss, followed by recovery, then business transformation,” and AI likely will be no different, said Gartner. It dismissed “calamitous warnings of job losses” as those that confuse AI with automation. By 2022, one in five workers “engaged in mostly non-routine tasks will rely on AI to do a job,” it said.
Consumers enjoy using IoT devices but few understand or trust how their data is being managed, said a Cisco survey of 3,000 consumers released Tuesday. Despite suspicions about data security, most consumers said they aren't willing to disconnect from IoT devices, the survey said.
Fifty-four percent of surveyed U.S. broadband households see little value in sharing data, and 42 percent don’t trust companies can keep their data safe, Parks Associates blogged Monday. "Consumers are caught between their security concerns of sharing personal data" and wanting to "unlock the value in the complete IoT ecosystem,” said Autumn Braswell, iQor chief operating officer-global solutions marketing. Consumers can’t receive IoT benefits and not share data, noted Leon Kuperman, Cujo chief technology officer. Alton Martin, chief evangelist of Trusource Labs, said device makers must “convey and instill confidence that not only do their products work well, but they are secure and will not allow a consumer's home and family privacy to be violated.” Martin warned of “negative blowback if IoT devices in the home suddenly became untrustworthy. They'd be disconnected in droves." Sami Nassar, NXP vice president-cybersecurity, said brands should work with partners to set security and quality benchmarks, with data privacy protection legislation to enforce certifications.
Cable companies and others spent more than $900,000 to oppose municipal broadband in last month's election in Fort Collins, Colorado, election documents show. Citizens voted to authorize up to $150 million in debt for a network, 57 percent in favor (see 1711080024). Campaign finance data including a report released last week showed the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association contributing $816,000 and Citizens for a Sustainable Economy giving $85,000 to “Priorities First Fort Collins,” which opposed the muni network. The group supporting the network spent about $15,000. Comcast and CenturyLink said they opposed the initiative because they didn’t believe taxpayer dollars should subsidize competitors and because muni broadband risks are high. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a muni broadband backer, blogged Saturday on the documents.