No ratings yet.

The introduction of Apple’s latest MacBook Pro in 2016 initiated controversial discussions regarding its newest feature – Touch Bar and I/O ports.  In order to help customers decide whether to choose a laptop with touch bar or not, the following section will investigate and provide the description of the feature.

The Touch Bar is an OELD touchscreen bar, which replaces the first row of functional keys on the new MacBook Pro models. Following the evolution of Touch IDs on iPhones, Apple decided to incorporate this feature on their laptops as well. On the right corner of the Touch Bar, you can find the Touch ID, having the similar functions as on iPhone, making it easier and faster to unlock the laptop. Moreover, Touch ID allows for faster access to notes, or any kinds of password protected documents and authorization of Apple Pay. The content on the Touch Bar changes according to the applications opened on the computer, for example, while using the Mail app, the Touch Bar will provide users with the functions such as forwarding, replying, switching between tabs amongst other functions.

The feature that became the central point of discussion is the I/O port. With its decrease in thickness, the new MacBook Pro replaced the traditional ports such as USB and HDMI ports with Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports causing the complaints from customers regarding the need for extra converters in order to connect other devices to their laptops. However, the benefit of the new Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port is the faster data-transfer and charging capacity, and a thinner body of the laptop.

Apple has been criticised about pushing its own features to the customers and neglecting their need for easier and more accessible ones, however, these changes will cause the process of introduction and adaptation to the new, faster and smaller features.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/apples-new-macbook-pro-just-killed-off-most-of-the-ports-you-probably-need/

https://www.imore.com/touch-bar

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/11/15/everything-you-need-to-know-about-apples-touch-bar-and-touch-id-for-macbook-pro

No ratings yet.

If you follow tech focused websites, then, like me,  you must have had a bad start of the week.

Yesterday, Mathy Vanhoef a KU Leuven security researcher discovered a security flaw in the wifi encryption protocol WPA2.

Unlike a device-specific security flaws, this vulnerability extends to all devices (mobile, computers, even personal home assistants like the Google Home). The vulnerability, allows hackers to check into one’s network traffic, thus exposing sensitive data like passwords, private conversations and web-activity on any non-HTTPS website.

The attack has been coded KRACK (Key Reinstallation Attacks) whereby a hacker within physical range of a vulnerable device can take advantage of the flaw, decrypting network traffic, hijacking connections and injecting content into the traffic stream.

Scary stuff, but how likely are you to be affected? Vanhoef stated, “All Wi-Fi clients we tested were vulnerable” to an attack. This vulnerability proves quite dangerous as virtually, everyone, everyday, is connected to the Internet via a  Wi-Fi connection. While establishing connections within HTTPS website should stir you in the clear (assuming these have been appropriately configured), all other websites who do not follow such protocol are essentially an open book for hackers.

While no security patches have been created at the time of writing (unusual given the severity of the vulnerability) there are some precautions one can take to minimise their digital footprint.
Using a VPN (virtual private network) would encrypt the connection, reducing the likelihood of sensitive data being breached. Chromium-based web browser Opera is a great option as it features a built in VPN (and its free!). HTTPS everywhere, an extension available on most browsers helps too, as it automatically requests the HTTPS protocol where possible (although it is not as effective as a VPN).

Stay (digitally) safe!

References

Ghoshal, A. (2017). All your Wi-Fi are now belong to hackers (probably). [online] The Next Web. Available at: https://thenextweb.com/security/2017/10/16/all-your-wi-fi-are-now-belong-to-hackers-probably/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

Goodin, D. (2017). Serious flaw in WPA2 protocol lets attackers intercept passwords and much more. [online] Ars Technica. Available at: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/severe-flaw-in-wpa2-protocol-leaves-wi-fi-traffic-open-to-eavesdropping/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

Lomas, N. (2017). WPA2 shown to be vulnerable to key reinstallation attacks. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/16/wpa2-shown-to-be-vulnerable-to-key-reinstallation-attacks/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

Time.com. (2017). KRACK Attack: Everything to Know About the Wi-Fi Flaw. [online] Available at: http://time.com/4983720/krack-attack-wpa2-wifi/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

No ratings yet.

 

As one of the oldest means of entertainment, music and its corresponding recording industry, represents one of the most intriguing examples of information goods. According to Shapiro, information goods are goods whose market value comes from the information they enclose (Shapiro & Varian 1999). Indeed, whilst an empty CD will cost one approximately 20 cents, a pop-singer’s album is valued at $5-10. However, does anyone still buy CDs in 2017?

With that question in mind, one shall claim that the way music is distributed and accessed has changed over time. The oldest complete musical composition dates back to 200 BC (Wired 2009). Since then and until the invention of sound recording, those interested in listening to music could either attend a live performance or buy music sheets to play it themselves. The 20th century brought vinyls and CDs to store music, radio broadcasting and portable players.

Interestingly, most of the participants in the music industry (content creators, distributors and consumers) always fulfilled the same roles. Traditionally, there are three types of property that are created and sold by the industry: compositions, recordings and media. For example, the song “My way” is owned by its composers Paul Anka and Claude Francois,  the recording is owned by Capitol Records and the reproduced vinyls are owned by individual consumers.When a CD is sold, portions of revenue are divided among all those parties involved in the journey from the music creation to the customer’s ownership of a copy.

Digitalisation shifted music consumption from analog to digital, and brought several changes to the industry’s competitive environment. Starting from alteration of the cost structure and unlimited scalability of digital copies to brick-and-mortar stores closing down. The emergence of Napster, as peer-2-peer network, has shifted consumer behavior towards downloading music instead of buying physical copies. The content present on Napster was shared illegally and, as a result, Napster has been shut down by court orders due to lawsuits by copyright owners (Pepitone 2011). The industry did not appropriately respond to the changing nature of consumer demand (iTunes was introduced only in 2004), which resulted in dire losses. This prepared the grounds for streaming to come into play.

Streaming entails aggregating numerous compositions and delivering them to various devices over the internet. It employs a shared-service based model and divides the costs and revenues between users and content owners respectively (Sears 2016). While the artists and labels’ royalties are calculated in many ways, users are offered Freemium and Premium packages, following the product versioning strategy (Shapiro & Varian 1999). The platform incentivises users to shift to Premium via exclusive features, and removal of pain points such as ads, limited-skips etc.

While several changes to the industry, such as streaming services taking over digital copies, have already taken place, there are several possible scenarios regarding the way music will be distributed and experienced in the future. For instance, Coachella introduced VR, allowing the Tupac hologram to perform on stage in 2012 (Ngak 2012). Spotify may leverage this trend by introducing VR support, through the bundling of VR goggles in Premium subscription. Moreover, the evolution of Big Data, Machine Learning and AI will force streaming platforms to compete on having better music discovery and playlist curation algorithms than on offering a large catalogue (Vanian 2015).

Experts claim that in the future, the way we experience music will not be limited to an auditory experience anymore, but will also include more experiences in the sensory spectrum. Who knows? Maybe one day we might even be able to taste music!

References

Ngak, C 2012, Tupac Coachella hologram: Behind the technology, in , Cbsnews.com, viewed 29 September 2017, <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tupac-coachella-hologram-behind-the-technology/>.

Pepitone, J 2011, Today is Napster’s last day of existence, in , CNNMoney, viewed 29 September 2017, <http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/technology/napster_rhapsody/?source=cnn_bin>.

Sears, G 2016, viewed 29 September 2017, <https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-the-average-artist-earn-per-play-on-Spotify/answer/Glen-Sears>.

Shapiro, C & Varian, H 1999, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass.

Vanian, J 2015, Spotify buys Seed Scientific to improve its data science around music streaming, in , Fortune.com, viewed 29 September 2017, <http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/spotify-data-acquisition/>.

WIRED, T 2009, The Seikilos Epitaph: The Oldest Song in the World, in , WIRED, viewed 29 September 2017, <https://www.wired.com/2009/10/the-seikilos-epitaph/>.