Helping Seniors Live Independently
Minneapolis — Al Baker and his business co-creator Muhammad Abdurrahman entered into business with noble intentions. The two created Reemo, formerly Playtabase, to help Abdurrahman’s father live more independently after severe strokes limited his mobility. The mobility impaired have a high cost for every motion — to pick up a remote that’s dropped to the floor is to risk a life-threatening fall, Baker said. Their solution: wearable...
Hacking Into Your Fitbit
During a 2014 competition among Netflix employees to create potential new features, one group hacked into a Fitbit and created a “Sleep Bookmark” function, automatically pausing Netflix as the wearer started to fall asleep. Though used to create a function for the on-demand Internet streaming content company that might be appealing to late-night movie watchers, the competition showed the vulnerability of wearable fitness devices to...
We Can Hear You Now
San Francisco — Like a lot of teenagers, Aanya Nigam reflexively shares her whereabouts, activities and thoughts on Twitter, Instagram and other social networks without a qualm. But Aanya’s care-free attitude dissolved into paranoia a few months ago shortly after her mother bought Amazon’s Echo, a digital assistant that can be set up in a home or office to listen for various requests, such as for a song, a sports score, the weather,...
Google Unveils Android’s Latest Tricks
San Francisco — Google’s next version of its Android operating system will boast new ways to fetch information, pay merchants and protect privacy on mobile devices as the Internet company duels with Apple in the quest to make their technology indispensable. The upgrade will give Android’s personal assistant, Google Now, expanded powers of intuition that may be greeted as a great convenience to some and a tad too creepy for others....
Woes of Password Protection
Pittsburgh — High on the White House’s hit list: The series of letters, numbers and symbols you type in when you access everything from your bank account to your Netflix list. “Kill the password dead as a primary security measure,” urged Michael Daniel, the president’s cybersecurity coordinator, at the International Conference on Cyber Engagement, held recently at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. As more and more devices...
