Twitter limits access of fast-growing Meerkat live-stream app

Meerkat has gained a lot of buzz since launching in late February. Meerkat

AUSTIN, Texas -- Twitter may be in self-defense mode.
Meerkat, a fast-growing mobile app that lets people live-stream a video feed to their Twitter followers, has gotten a lot of traction since it launched in late February, especially with the approach of the South by Southwest tech, music and film festival here in Austin.
But Meerkat relies heavily on Twitter's audience, and Twitter on Friday evening made it harder for the new app to reach its intended audience. The timing is a blow for Meerkat, as many young tech companies try to use the spotlight of SXSW and its 30,000 attendees to make a name for themselves. Buzzfeed first reported the news.
"We are limiting their access to Twitter's social graph, consistent with our internal policy," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. "Their users will still be able to distribute videos on Twitter and login with their Twitter credentials."
Twitter's tweak prevents Meerkat users from automatically linking their Twitter followers to their Meerkat accounts. That restricts the number of notifications that can be received and sent out when Meerkat users are live-streaming their videos. The change comes the same day Twitter announced the acquisition of Periscope, a Meerkat competitor.
"Twitter's move here shows how significant Meerkat has become," tweeted Meerkat co-founder Ben Rubin.
Live video could become an important element for social networks, as people put more of their personal lives on the Internet. There are also potential revenue opportunities as marketers look to how they can advertise with individualized video feeds.
Twitter knows the power of SXSW more than anyone. Back in 2007, the social network sprang into the mainstream after a burst of popularity at the festival, which brings together the tech community, filmmakers and musicians. Festival-goers used Twitter to find out where their friends were having lunch or figure out which parties were worth attending.
Some venture capitalists were already predicting Meerkat's success at SXSW this year. Josh Elman, a partner at the venture firm Greylock, highlighted Meerkat as a potential standout app at this year's festival -- but that was before Twitter's move.

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State Department takes network offline for security scrub

The State Department's network shutdown this weekend may be related to a Russian hack last year.

The State Department has shut down parts of its computer network for the weekend as it looks to boost security.
The efforts are another attempt to ferret out malicious software tucked into the department's unclassified email system by Russian hackers last fall, according to an ABC News report on Friday that cited US officials.
The State Department released information on Friday about the shutdown, though it did not specifically note email or hackers.
"As a part of the Department of State's ongoing effort to ensure the integrity of our unclassified networks against cyberattacks, the Department is implementing improvements to the security of its main unclassified network during a short, planned outage of some Internet-linked systems," the government said in a statement. "There has been no compromise of any of the Department's classified systems, nor of our core financial, consular and human resource systems."
The threats from hackers who've cracked into government, corporate and individuals' private data -- from sensitive emails to medical records to bank accounts -- seem only to grow. The financial incentives for making off with such information, whether it's to enable criminal acts or government espionage, are incredibly strong.
Among the highest-profile security breaches in recent years, a hack at Target in 2013 yielded the credit card data of 40 million customers. Another at Home Depot last year exposed 56 million credit card numbers. Last fall, a hack into Sony Pictures highlighted the inner workings of the movie studio. In December, office supply chain Staples said a hack affected more than a million payment cards. And in January, insurance provider Anthem revealed that hackers had potentially accessed the personal data of 80 million people.
Last fall, the State Department temporarily shut down its unclassified email system to make repairs and security upgrades after "activity of concern" was detected on the system. According to ABC News, this weekend's shutdown is related to the one last fall.
State Department email has been a much-scrutinized topic in the past two weeks because of revelations over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of personal email during her tenure. The department's current shutdown, however, appears to be unrelated.

source: CNET

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AeroMobil prototype of a flying car

AeroMobil unveiled its most current prototype of a flying car in October. AeroMobil

AUSTIN, Texas -- AeroMobil, a startup from Slovakia, is already making sci-fi lore a reality: the company has made a prototype of a flying car. But that's not enough for the company. The next thing it has on its roadmap for the coming decade? A self-flying car.
AeroMobil has built a hybrid car and plane that can unfurl its wings and take off when it has a grass runway of about 800 feet. The idea is that someone could take a trip of about 500 miles and not have to switch vehicles, which cuts out waiting in airports. But the company eventually wants to make it so the driver doesn't even have to operate the thing. (As part of the current vision, the person at the wheel would also need a pilot's license for once the vehicle takes flight.)
The company stressed that it's still for now focused on developing the first prototype -- which needs a human at the controls -- but that it wants the next version to be automated. AeroMobil is a finalist at the South by Southwest Interactive Innovation Awards, which will take place Tuesday here, at the tech, film and music festival.
"Maybe 10 years from now, it needs to be automated," said Stefan Vodocz, the company's chief communications officer. "With an algorithm, it would be managed much better by a computer than by man."
Cars are the current fascination of the technology industry. Google is famously hard at work on a self-driving car (an earthbound one) that it wants to take to market in the next five years. Apple is also reportedly developing its own car. Google and Apple also have platforms that bring their mobile operating systems into car dashboards. Meanwhile, Tesla has helped to popularize the electric car.
AeroMobil, which was founded in 2010, unveiled the most current version of the prototype, called the Flying Roadster, in October. The company wants to eventually commercialize the product, and not just leave it in the realm of academic experiments. But AeroMobil knows it has an uphill battle in overcoming regulations and legislation. (Google, for example, has been working with the Department of Motor Vehicles as it tests its driverless car.)
"We need to somehow deal with 100 years of bureaucracy in the air, and 100 years of bureaucracy on the road," said Juraj Vaculik, AeroMobil's CEO.
The company envisions a future where gas stations double as airfields where cars can legally take off. In less-developed countries, AeroMobil hopes governments can spend less on infrastructure like roads. The prototype took 10 months to make, Vadcocz said, though the company wouldn't specify how much it cost to produce.
Vaculik is aware of the challenges but thinks the flying car is an inevitability. He points to a quote from Henry Ford in 1940: "Mark my words: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come."
source: CNET

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BlackBerry takes another shot at a tablet -- sort of

BlackBerry says the SecuTablet will be a "high security" version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, shown here. James Martin/CNET

BlackBerry is taking another stab at the tablet business, albeit through a backdoor.
On Saturday, at the CeBIT tech conference in Germany, the company unveiled the SecuTablet -- developed by Samsung, IBM and Secusmart, a Germany-based security-software maker BlackBerry bought last year.
The "high-security" tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 modified with a Secusmart Security Card for voice and data encryption and with IBM's "app wrapping" to separate secured work apps from less secure personal ones, BlackBerry said.
BlackBerry has struggled to regain traction since its smartphone market share began to plunge years ago. The company currently has less than 1 percent share of the mobile market. John Chen, who took over as BlackBerry CEO in late 2013, has been working to build the company back up bit by bit.
Four years ago, BlackBerry introduced its first tablet, the consumer-oriented PlayBook, only to see it rapidly sink before finally discontinuing it altogether. The SecuTablet is set for release this summer. Its target audience will be corporations and governments seeking to keep out spies and criminals.
At the Mobile World Congress conference earlier this month in Spain, Chen hinted at the company's re-entry to the tablet market. "It's not in the works, but it's on my mind," Chen said at the time.
Technically, the SecuTablet is not a BlackBerry tablet because it doesn't run BlackBerry's operating system, so Chen may still have something up his sleeve.
Germany's Federal Office for Information Security is currently assessing the tablet to certify it for government use with classified information, BlackBerry said.

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