Category: Gadgets

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.

Mobile technology has propelled Canada to the top of internet use

| April 1, 2015

As a result of smartphones and tablets, Canadians now spend more time online than people in other countries.

Although spending a great deal of time online is a popular activity for people in countries throughout the world, the penetration of mobile technology devices has sent Canada to the top of the list of internet use.

Canadians now use the world wide web a great deal more than people from any other country in the world.

A recent comScore Canada study’s results have shown that people in the country spend an average of 36.3 hours per month browsing and visiting about 80 different websites. Comparatively, Americans spend about 35.2 hours online per month, and people in the United Kingdom spend closer to 33 hours online per month. The study also revealed that mobile technology played a very large role in the amount of internet use that Canadians had.

Mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets considerably boosted the internet usage across the country.

Mobile Technology - CanadaMobile devices were accessed a considerable amount, boosting the use of the internet above what it would have been if Canadians were using laptops, netbooks, and desktop options, alone. The research also determined that the subscriptions to various mobile apps and publications increased by five percent throughout 2014, reaching 24 million people.

That said, for the most part, when it comes to mobile users, the internet is being used primarily for visiting Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, above all else. When it came to actual net surfing, reading, and other online activities, many Canadians still clearly preferred laptops and desktops. Shopping played a large role in the extensive internet usage of Canadians, but, again, this was primarily conducted over computers instead of mobile devices, particularly when the actual purchases were being made.

comScore also reported that Canadians are not only using mobile technology a great deal, but they’re also remaining on the pages that they visit for a longer period of time than other people from around the world. In Canada, people spend time on slightly more than 3,000 pages per month. This is notably lower than countries such as Russia, which spends far less time on the internet. This suggests that Canadians are spending a lot more time on each page that they visit than their counterparts from other countries.