Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Pentagon Research Could Make ‘Brain Modem’ a Reality 02.26.16 9:05 PM ET The tiny injectable machine could turn your noodle into a remote control. The Pentagon is attempting what was, until recently, an impossible technological feat—developing a high-bandwidth neural interface that would allow people to beam data from their minds to external devices and back. That’s right—a brain modem. One that could allow a soldier to, for example, control a drone with his mind. This seemingly unlikely piece of technology has just gotten a lot less unlikely. On Feb. 8, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—the U.S. military’s fringe-science wing—announced the first successful tests, on animal subjects, of a tiny sensor that travels through blood vessels, lodges in the brain and records neural activity. The so-called “stentrode,” a combination stent and electrode, is the size of a paperclip and flexible. The tiny, injectable machine—the invention of neurologist Tom

Internet by light promises to leave Wi-Fi eating dust AFP By Laure Fillon 11 hours ago The Li-Fi technology uses the frequencies generated by LED lights to beam information through the air Barcelona (AFP) - Connecting your smartphone to the web with just a lamp -- that is the promise of Li-Fi, featuring Internet access 100 times faster than Wi-Fi with revolutionary wireless technology. French start-up Oledcomm demonstrated the technology at the Mobile World Congress, the world's biggest mobile fair, in Barcelona. As soon as a smartphone was placed under an office lamp, it started playing a video. The big advantage of Li-Fi, short for "light fidelity", is its lightning speed. Laboratory tests have shown theoretical speeds of over 200 Gbps -- fast enough to "download the equivalent of 23 DVDs in one second", the founder and head of Oledcomm, Suat Topsu, told AFP. "Li-Fi allows speeds that are 100 times faster than Wi-Fi" whic

While it defies U.S. government, Apple abides by China's orders — and reaps big rewards China iPhone sales By David Pierson  Feb 26, 2016 3:00AM Apple Inc. has come out swinging in its pitched battle with the government on its home turf. But when it comes to its second-largest market, China, the Cupertino, Calif., company has been far more accommodating. Since the iPhone was officially introduced in China seven years ago, Apple has overcome a national security backlash there and has censored apps that wouldn't pass muster with Chinese authorities. It has moved local user data onto servers operated by the state-owned China Telecom and submits to security audits by Chinese authorities. The approach contrasts with Apple's defiant stance against the FBI, which is heaping pressure on the company to decrypt an iPhone that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. I can't imagine the Chinese would tolerate end-to-end encryption or a refu

The end of the courier? Self-driving 'ground drones' are heading to London to make deliveries across the capital ·          Starship Technologies' robot can carry out a delivery in just 30 minutes  ·          The boxy drone can 'walk' at 4mph, cross the road and avoid obstacles ·          The battery-powered bot is going to start delivery trials in Greenwich ·          If anybody tries to snatch it, it alerts an operator and takes images of a thief ·            By   GIAN VOLPICELLI FOR MAILONLINE   and   SARAH GRIFFITHS IN BARCELONA FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED:   05:54 EST, 23 February 2016   |   UPDATED:   10:19 EST, 23 February 2016 ·            The iconic mopeds of delivery drivers everywhere are set to be ousted by 'ground drones' that can navigate city streets by themselves.   After more than 3,000 hours of testing in London, Starship Technologies' delivery bots are scheduled to start local deliveries in Greenwich next month. 

The end of the courier? Self-driving 'ground drones' are heading to London to make deliveries across the capital ·          Starship Technologies' robot can carry out a delivery in just 30 minutes  ·          The boxy drone can 'walk' at 4mph, cross the road and avoid obstacles ·          The battery-powered bot is going to start delivery trials in Greenwich ·          If anybody tries to snatch it, it alerts an operator and takes images of a thief By   GIAN VOLPICELLI FOR MAILONLINE   and   SARAH GRIFFITHS IN BARCELONA FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED:   05:54 EST, 23 February 2016   |   UPDATED:   10:19 EST, 23 February 2016 ·            The iconic mopeds of delivery drivers everywhere are set to be ousted by 'ground drones' that can navigate city streets by themselves.   After more than 3,000 hours of testing in London, Starship Technologies' delivery bots are scheduled to start local deliveries in Greenwich next month.  MailOnline te

Apple Is Said to Be Trying to Make It Harder to Hack iPhones By MATT APUZZO and KATIE BENNER FEB. 24, 2016  WASHINGTON — Apple engineers have begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the center of a court fight in California, according to people close to the company and security experts. If Apple succeeds in upgrading its security — and experts say it almost surely will — the company will create a significant technical challenge for law enforcement agencies, even if the Obama administration wins its fight over access to data stored on an iPhone used by one of the killers in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., rampage. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted to get into a phone in the future, it would need a new way to do so. That would most likely prompt a new cycle of court fights and, yet again, more technical fixes by Apple. The only way out of th

Use a wireless mouse? This $15 hack could compromise your laptop "Mousejacking" takes advantage of a flaw in many wireless USB dongles. By Sean Hollister February 23, 2016 4:55 PM PST They broke in like it was nothing. They could have wiped my hard drive, stolen my files, or practically anything nefarious you can do with a computer. All because I had a wireless mouse dongle plugged into my laptop. And all they needed was a simple antenna that costs as little as $15 at Amazon. Thankfully, "they" were a pair of security researchers from a company called Bastille, and every company that builds wireless mice and keyboards has already been alerted to the issue. If you have a Logitech Unifying receiver, there's already a fix. (Here is a link to a patch provided to us by Logitech: RQR_012_005_00028.exe.) But if not, you too might be vulnerable to this technique. They're calling it a "Mousejack." What Bastille security researcher

Smartphones to replace cards at bank machines Agence France-Presse on Feb 20, 2016 @ 5:30 PM Here's another use for the smartphone as it invades daily life: in place of your debit card at your bank cash machine. The "cardless" automatic teller machine (ATM) is gaining ground in the US and around the world, with smartphone technology allowing for speedier and more secure transactions. Dozens of US banks are installing new ATMs or updating existing ones to allow customers to order cash on a mobile application and then scan a code to get their money without having to insert a bank card. US banking giants Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase are in the process of deploying the new ATMs, as are a number of regional banks and financial groups around the world. Makers of ATMs and financial software groups are ramping up to meet this demand. "We think our model (using smartphones) reduces a lot of vulnerabilities," said Doug Brown, who leads mob