Author: Denny

Wearable technology hackers sought by FTC

| April 2, 2015

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking them for their broadened mobile tech unit and for the internet of things.

The FTC is responsible for the oversight of a broad range of different operations that investigate tech practices of companies, looking into issues such as data security and privacy and is now looking for hackers for areas such as wearable technology, mobile tech, and for the internet of things.

The Mobile Technology Unit (MTU) isn’t anything new at the FTC, but it is seeing a sizeable expansion.

The MTU performs independent investigations into a range of different components of the mobile environment. Recently, a number of the efforts of this unit were placed in the spotlight as it worked to spread awareness of the perceived dangers between certain mobile apps and their use by young children, in addition to the types of overall risks that are connected with mobile commerce activities. The tech under the FTC’s oversight is rapidly evolving and it must now keep an eye on everything from wearable technology to entire smart households.

As wearable technology and the internet of things come into play, the MTU has undergone its own evolution.

FTC - Wearable TechnologyIn this, the MTU is now being converted into the Office of Technology Research and Investigation (OTRI), and it will be experiencing a massive expansion of its role. It will now be overseeing wearables, smart homes, connected vehicles, mobile payment methods, and anything else that can be defined in a way that it would be categorized as a part of the internet of things.

Along with expansion, the FTC is looking to boost its staff with people who would be capable of hacking into each of those various forms of consumer technology. It is also on the lookout for a full time position that would be responsible for the coordination of all of the projects that would result from the OTRI research. There is also a two-year research fellowship being made available to recent grads with the right combination of policy and tech education.

These latest moves by the FTC are a reflection of the pace and size of the growth of wearable technology and other connected devices in homes, vehicles and on our very person.

Apple Watch apps are beginning to launch

| March 31, 2015

The pre-order date for the smartwatches is coming ever closer and now applications are finally starting to appear.

Ever since the Spring Forward event at Apple, reports have been stating that the company has been keeping the majority of Apple Watch apps developers from releasing their applications and updates, but some are now starting to squeak through.

While the devices haven’t even gone on sale, yet, the apps are starting to be listed for curious consumers.

The tech giant is now allowing some of its developers to certain updated versions of their mobile applications in a form that will be compatible as Apple Watch apps. The important thing to recognize at the moment is that there have only been a select few that have been permitted to make these launches. The support for the company’s first smartwatches is still quite restricted and the majority of developers have still had to keep the lid on the release of their own offerings.

It is believed that the Apple Watch apps that have been launched were likely handpicked for this purpose.

Apple Watch Apps LaunchThose smartwatch apps were probably chosen for providing the best possible experience over this type of wearable technology device. For this reason, though, it means that the list of the number of apps that can be downloaded for the devices remains quite limited. Still, among the few that are actually available, there are some rather powerful options.

Among them include the applications from Target, Twitter, At Bat, Evernote, CNN, and MLB.com. While the updated versions of those apps that are Apple Watch compatible can already be downloaded or auto-updated, it won’t actually give anyone the opportunity to check out the new functionalities, quite yet, as the device hasn’t even become available for sale, just yet. Therefore, the satisfaction that customers will have with those apps won’t actually be known until the end of the month, at the very earliest.

Once the wearables start to be shipped and customers begin using them, it is expected that there will be a much broader wave of Apple Watch apps that will rapidly become available, as developers scramble to take advantage of the opportunity of the limited starting market in a device that is expected to reach considerable popularity.