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Instagram profile tracking app harvests your usernames and passwords:

Just because an app has passed iTunes' verification procedure doesn't automatically mean it's safe. Take this Instagram client called "Who Viewed Your Profile -- InstaAgent" for example, which was available on both iTunes and Google Play until an iOS developer found out that it harvests usernames and passwords. It's not very popular in the US, so we wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it, but in a nutshell, it's an app that monitors your Instagram profile views. Peppersoft developer David L-R took a close look at the app and revealed on Twitter that it's been sending log-in credentials (unencrypted and in cleartext, to boot) to remote server instagram.zunamedia.com. Despite that address, it's in no way connected to Instagram itself.

David also found that the app can post images on your IG account without permission, and he believes that it's been downloaded around half a million times. That's not exactly huge when it comes to app store numbers, but it means as many as half a million users could be infected. We can't find the exact application on iTunes and Google Play anymore, but we're seeing a lot of similar ones with "Who Viewed My Instagram Profile" and the like in their names. If you've ever downloaded something akin to InstaAgent, make sure to change your password, just in case.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft's Xbox One Update

Instead of downplaying its Nov. 12 Xbox One update, or even trying to moderate expectations, Microsoft has been hyping it to the moon.

[adtechdaily-blog]

NVIDIA's 'mobile supercomputer' can make machines smarter:

Hardware developers looking for a quick way to add machine learning to their devices just got some help from Nvidia. The GPU-centric company announced the Jetson TX1 developer module with an emphasis on machine learning. The device could lower the lead time needed to create machines that rely the on computations needed for dynamic input and computations. This includes: autonomous drones, facial recognition and behavioral analysis within a crowd and computer vision. The TX1 development kit replaces the Nvidia TK1 launched last year. The tiny supercomputer pushes one terraflop of performance, networks via ethernet and 802.11 ac, is under 10 watts and ships with Linux installed. Oh, and you can play Doom on it. The TX1 developer kit will be available for preorder on November 12 and will ship on November 16. The retail price is $599 with educators and students able to grab one for $299. The stand-alone module will be $299 and will ship in the first quarter of 2016.

At an event in San Francisco, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said, "the architecture of the computer is fundamentally changing and it's changing right in front of us." He pointed out how GPUs are enabling the computing power needed for machine learning features like those found being utilized by Facebook, Google and YouTube for image recognition and stabilization. By offering the TX1 to the masses, companies without the resources of the Silicon Valley giants can build their own small-scale devices without additional overhead. "We're trying to democratize machine learning," added Huang.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Apple Music is now available on Android:

The Apple Music subscription service is now available for Android devices.

The new Android app is free at the Google Play store as of today. It will work on devices running Android 4.3 or higher.

Android users can do the same 3-month trial period the iPhone people got, then decide whether or or not to pay the $9.99 monthly subscription fee.

Apple’s music service directly competes with Google Play Music, which also costs $9.99 per month, but Google apparently wants Android users to have the option.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, recently said his company’s music service now has 6.5 million paying customers, with 8.5 million users in a trial period.

For Apple, launching an Android app is a bit of a no-brainer. Android, the most popular mobile operating system in the world, represents an opportunity for Apple to dramatically increase the subscriber count for its music service.

Apple needs its new music-streaming service on Android in the same way it needed iTunes on Windows PCs. There is too much profit to be made, and too many cross-platform competitors such as Spotify — Apple simply can’t ignore Android.

[adtechdaily-blog]

An algorithm generated obstacle-detection system that allows a drone to autonomously dip, dart and dive through trees at 30 miles per hour, without crashing, has been developed by an MIT Ph.D. student.  Andrew Barry's drone system uses a stereo camera set up to capture 120 fps footage and map objects 33 feet in front of the drone.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Swedbank website down in hacker attack:

Swedbank's Swedish website has stopped working after a hacker attack and cannot be reached by its customers, a spokesman said on Friday.

The attack means that customers cannot conduct online transactions or contact the bank through the Internet although mobile applications and payments continue to function, Swedbank spokesman Claes Warren said.

The website was also hit by a hacker attack in October.

"It is not the first time and it will probably not be the last one," Warren said.

He said he did not know when the website would work again.

The bank's website in the Baltic countries was not affected.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Another $1 Million Crowdfunded Gadget Company Collapses:

Remember the Robotic Dragonfly? The little drone was an early crowdfunding success story, netting over a $1 million in pledges on Indiegogo in 2012. At the time, it was one of the first crowdfunded gadgets to raise more than a million dollars. The project promised a tiny robot that can fly like a bird and hover like an insect — and for $99, too. Bad news, friends. This little drone is not taking off as scheduled.

The company announced yesterday that it is in deep financial trouble. But it’s not their fault, the founders say in notes on Indiegogo. It’s PayPal and Indiegogo’s fault for not releasing funds. How much? The company didn’t release that information.

TechCrunch reached out to TechJect, PayPal and Indiegogo for additional information. This post will be updated with responses.

This is not the first crowdfunded gadget to fail to ship. It’s becoming a trend. Pirate3D promised an easy-to-use and cheap 3D printer, but the company ran out of cash before fulfilling orders placed on Kickstarter.

It seems TechJect failed to even fully develop the Robot Dragonfly even though the project hit first hit Indiegogo nearly three years ago. The Indiegogo project page states the developement had begun (in at least 2012) on a $1m grant from the US Air Force. “We don’t want users to wait for technology to trickle down,” the page says. Yet backers are still waiting.

After the company announced the financial troubles yesterday, backers took to the comments section on Indiegogo en masse. And rightly so. Today, the company clarified that technically the project has not been canceled yet. The company just needs more money to continue. It also notes that if the product fails to ship, the company will release all the “all the company’s Dragonfly IP with full license authority to all our campaign backers for use, re-sale and more as they please to instigate recovery against their loss.”

The Robotic Dragonfly always seemed a bit far-fetched. We covered the campaign after visiting the Georgia Tech labs where the project was born. But good engineers do not always make good founders. It takes a special team to see a product from CAD drawings to prototypes to store shelves.

This is just the latest example of how consumers need to be more careful with crowdfunding. There are no guarantees with crowdfunding and there is more risk involved than what’s advertised. The Robotic Dragonfly was funded in 2012 during crowdfunding’s early days. Since then, sites have revised their terms of service to provide more security for backers. Still, several projects have popped up over the following years with wild promises and questionable claims. The Robotic Dragonfly will not be the last gadget to take a dip in the crowdfunding deadpool.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Videogame maker Activision launchesfilm studio:

Activision Blizzard Inc has launched a film and TV studio to create original content based on its popular videogame franchises such as "Call of Duty" and "Hearthstone" in its latest push to expand beyond console-based games.

Activision Blizzard Studios' first production will be "Skylanders Academy," an animated TV series based on the company's toys-to-life videogame "Skylanders", the company said in a statement.

A "near-term" project for the videogame maker's film and TV studio will be to develop a movie franchise based on the hugely successful military first-person shooter "Call of Duty".

The company said it would also consider adapting the franchise for TV.

"Warcraft", Activision's other well-known game franchise, is already being made into a film through a partnership between its Blizzard Entertainment unit and Legendary Pictures, and is slated for a 2016 release.

Activision said last month it would start an e-sports division to tap into the fast-growing competitive gaming market, where gamers play against each other for prize money.

Earlier this week, Activision agreed to buy "Candy Crush" creator King Digital Entertainment Plc for $5.9 billion to sharpen its focus on mobile games.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Japanese electronics maker NEC has unveiled a unique input mechanism that allows you to type on your arm using augmented reality.

The system is called the ARmKeypad and it combines a set of glasses to visualize the virtual keyboard and a smartwatch to detect how fast you type.

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The Priv is BlackBerry's first Android phone. It's still a BlackBerry though, so it has a slide out keyboard that should please the brand's purists. The company is also focusing on security with the device — the phone comes with a security suite preinstalled. As far as first impressions go, we were surprisingly pleased with the device during our brief time with it so far.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Tag Heuer has teamed up with Google and Intel to launch the Connected Watch, its first Android Wear timepiece. The Connected isn't just any average Android Wear watch, however. It's a $1,500 luxury timepiece clad in titanium and bearing more than a passing resemblance to Tag Heuer's analog watches.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Microsoft’s latest facial recognition project rates your moustache:

Microsoft’s new facial recognition tool is out to judge your facial hair. The machine learning-based project comes just in time for Movember.

The website, called MyMoustache.net, is designed to guess a person’s beard length. Facial hair is reviewed and rated as either “nostache,” “getting there,” or “ultimate mo.” Here’s how Microsoft describes the project:

We started with a simple question, “What if we could use machine learning technology to detect the length of facial hair?” Many hallway jokes, brainstorming sessions, and mockups later, our early ideas have been realized far beyond our initial expectations.

MyMoustache.net is run by the Microsoft Garage Project — the same group that brought us the meme-worthy website HowOld.net. Due to the simpler nature of the task, MyMoustache seems to be able to guess facial hair length far better than HowOld was able to determine a person’s age.

In addition to showcasing Microsoft’s technology, the site is hoping to raise both awareness and money for men’s health issues.

[adtechdaily-blog]

New Bicycle GPS Shows the Way Without Distracting User

Finding your way while riding a bike is not always easy, just like driving a car, it requires a simple system that enables users to concentrate on the road while getting directions.

This new smart device launched by a Canadian firm helps users navigate and doubles up as a burglar alarm. It is easy to fit onto the handlebars of a bike.

[adtechdaily-blog]

Tiny ring light does more than make your selfies shine:

Tech accessories tend to solve a single problem really well. The SELFLASH, a small ring light you attach to your smartphone for selfies, is not just around to make you look pretty.

In offering a flattering wink of light in a variety of colors and intensities, the SELFLASH also provides up to 128 GB of storage for file transfers, can serve as a backup battery for your phone and has a Bluetooth tracker. Not satisfied with your smartphone’s camera? A pro model of the SELFLASH also comes with a 15.1-megapixel camera.

The SELFLASH is currently on Indiegogo so the makers can fund production. It starts at $35, which is more than 50 percent off the eventual retail price.

The increasingly sophisticated cameras in smartphones, especially in the Apple iPhones, have been a great disrupter to the camera industry as millions of people pass on traditional cameras in favor of the cameras in their phones. Even professionals and artists are producing images suitable for publication and gallery walls.

But most flashes built into phones provide too harsh a light or too little light to effectively light up a dark room.

The SELFLASH is designed similar to a ring flash, used in professional photography since the 1950s. At first designed for macro photography, ring flashes have become popular in portrait and fashion photography because of softer shadows and circular highlights in a subject’s eyes.

The adjustable light on the SELFLASH can also shine continuously for video and a separate attachment can put it to work on the hot shoe of a DSLR. It works with a companion app, available in both iOS and Android, that can also serve as a sharing and social network platform.

Based in New Castle in the United Kingdom, the SELFLASH Co. also have a selfie stick that works with any phone and the portable light.