Skype for Business event at Microsoft

The interesting concept is that Skype For Business can be used in addition to Lync provided that the Lync servers have the Skype Integration that will support the usage of Skype. The thing is, you may have to log out and then restart the client app if you want to switch in between those two. This year, a new version called Skype for Business Server 2015 was recently released that the servers running Lync Server can be upgraded to. From what I heard, various components are inside the Azure and Office 365 respectively and again, the communication still works the same way and somehow, Microsoft Lync is like one of the popular choices in comparison to some Cisco service that works the same way except that Microsofy Lync has some components that supersede the ones that service from Cisco uses.
The communication can be done from the phone, the tablet and computer running Lync or Skype for Business and like Skype for consumers, Skype for Business allows you to communicate with those who don't use their Skype organizational accounts but I suggest that you do this kind of communication on your personal device where you login to Skype through organizational account on it. Depending on the network performance, there may or may not be some lag when doing that kind of phone call.

Android M Developer Preview

Android 5 may have improved security on newer phones running it but the performance issues and the new interface are what drive the customers away when it initially launched. There are still people using IOS 8 and Android 5 of course but the amount of customers using Android 5 is unspeakably low compared to those using Android 4.x. Maybe, those superior Android devices are super-expensive and especially for those running the later versions of Android OSes. Another problem is that your current Android device cannot be upgraded to Android 5 if it doesn't support that.
Then, for Android M, it has better security than ever with the opportunity for the users to accept or deny the app permissions just like what Cyangenmod OS has. Other than better security, there's also the battery saving feature such as Doze in which when the device is inactive for a long period of time, the app activity will be inactive as well. For tablet devices, this feature may be handy like you can place it on the table when you're not using it but I still think that it should be better in saving battery when the device is on standby with app and service activity inactive. The activity should be really inactive when the device is on standby for a long period of time but I don't know if this is the point of that.
There are other features such as app auto-backup, USB Type-C support, new volume control, certificate installation for enterprises and so on. I don't know how the app auto-backup works but I guess that this is Google's official way of backing up your apps. I guess that the destination for that will be the cloud storage or something.
Android M will be released in the third quarter of this year.

Google patents dolls that track children's habits

This may seem unbelievable like there may be suspicious thoughts of repeat betrayals coming from tech companies to customers like what some of the US ISPs do in betraying their customers with something that goes against the purpose and definition of proper security or perhaps what Microsoft has with the How-Old.net service that makes technical betrayal real. Another unbelievable thing is what Google's planning with the dolls that listen and watch on what the children are doing. In general, we don't know what Google will be up to in patenting this technology.
This kind of technology such as voice controlled toys has been around for a long time and the Contana, Siri and Google Now are already based on the same exact technology which Neowin doesn't find them intrusive so be glad about that when using those voice assistants. However, combining all of these can lead to serious consequences for comprising security like that and we don't know if this is going to happen.
The movie, Five Nights at Freddy's, may have the same concept but in reality, the only addition is the technology itself that allows the fictional magic to happen in a wrong way. I may suggest that you invent the real-life version of something from some other franchise that has its own fictional technology like the hoverboard for instance. That was something someone invented and broke the global record when riding one in the air above the water for long instance. Don't patent and invent the technology that is used for something intrusive, destructive or any other bad purpose.

Microsoft Earn (Security Rant)

It's kind of shameful to Microsoft again after security experts find out about the How Old.net service as well as the upcoming Microsoft Earn. This may be due to the fact that the photos will be stored for advertising purposes which is the same planned bullshit they had planned the last time for the Xbox One Kinect and it's likely that it's going to be the same for whatever purchases you have made as part of Microsoft Earn as if there are millions of fags who don't care about security at all who use such services like that.
Like the shopping complexes that offer points/credits for whatever stuff you purchase provided that you are a member, Microsoft Earn earns you the credits for stuffs you have purchased but then, you may need credit cards to track purchases of the software, laptops, phones and more. Also, the purchase with this kind of campaign as the discount is effective in Microsoft stores.
Lastly, unless there's a competitive campaign where someone is lucky to have answered the call from the TV show organized by the supermarket company or whatever for spending so much money on stuffs where that money can be multiplied that will become a winning prize, you should buy whatever that suits your needs or enhancements as there may be multiple options to choose from. As this upcoming service is in Beta stage, this is the time to wait for further news about it to pop up.

Firefox scans user's browsing history for advertising website suggestion

Again, this one is not compulsory technically as if you can turn this feature off for the sake of privacy Mozilla knows of. This collects your browsing habits and based on that, you will be suggested which advertiser websites in the New Tab. Personal data will not be sent to the advertisers of course and there will be no usage of cookies to do this advertising shit either.
This is kind of similar to what Twitter planned two years ago and the upcoming feature will be out in summer.

Google Play infected?

The great news is that the Patriot Act is bound to expire unless someone wants to extend it as an illegal excuse to continue that unauthorized data collection bullshit. Even the watered down USA Freedom Act was recently rejected as well that the people in the US get more privacy by the time we reach June 1st. However, this is not the time for victory yet as some extension excuses are like still intact or something. What else is affected is the Google Play. The motives are likely to be the same just to detect North Africa, Russia and Cuba for something destructive just like many other services. But then, we already know that things have already gone way too far and it may be why many other foreign nations and tech companies are concerned about those illegal technical actions. Also, those motives mentioned above were part of the XKeyscore. The proper talk about the motives that affect Google Play is about the Network Tradecraft Advancedment Team which is the advanced unit that comprises of analysts from all "Five Eyes" at a series of workshops that took place between Australia and Canada.
Again, this is unspeakably illegal and going too far like it's not the proper and decent way to protect people like us from anything that poses a serious threat to whatever nation you're living in. There has to be a real protective way to protect us through security while respecting our own rights and privacy as well. Hell, even the Samsung App Store for Android is infected by that same situation as well. Alternatively, you can sideload Android apps or perhaps install them from alternative app stores.

Adblock Plus browser beta for Android

There are already web browsers for Android that have higher security like Orweb, Ghostery web browser, etc. but they don't seem to be so recognized compared to the popular web browsers like Firefox, Android web browser and Google Chrome. This one may deserve some recognition from users probably due to the name, Adblock Plus, which is a popular addon for web browsers that blocks stinky ads.
However, when the web browser like this for Android is coming out in the future, we don't know if there will be similar concerns as like the existence of Adblock Plus app that made it to Google Play Store caused Google to take it down. This one is based on Firefox for Android similar to other web browsers on the computer are based on. Downside is that it is missing the ability to synchronize your bookmarks and other stuffs from other devices running Firefox.

Russia to have its own OS based on Sailfish OS

Not all IOS and Android devices are having the end-to-end and full device encryption on but that's not the point. It is that certain nations like Russia, Germany and China, etc. want to drift away from foreign service dependence. Perhaps, the illegal cyber-spying thing had gone way too far that it had become the global concern.
Last time, there were rumors about the upcoming OS that is to be made in China entirely as part of the independence but now, it appears that Russia the next nation to have its own local OS. Unfortunately, Sailfish OS is made by the Jolla which is the Finnish company but the thing is, the OS itself is open-source. The OS and the devices running it were already out by then but they still have to be available for other countries in the future as well.

Tech giants urge for rejection of weakening security with government backdoor

Ever since the Windows 9x days, there have been backdoors implemented by the government for the sake of security, monitoring every device running those OSes as well as to detect everything for any illegal activity. The computer's public IP address is one example on how the bad guy can be tracked down based on the situation encountered by the respective companies running those services the bad guy uses. The serious downside is that it weakens the purpose of proper cyber-security as this kind of cyber-surveillance/monitoring is considered illegal cyber-spying and the situations regarding that have been on-going. Back to two years ago, there had been cyber-security concerns many tech giants had and that they decided to increase the security level through encryption for their services, apps, devices and even the OSes. But by implementing that, it can allow the cyber-criminals to do whatever they want undetected and that's not what the government agencies want. There has to be some kind of equality like having higher security level that protects customers from all kinds of illegal cyber-activities organized by cyber-criminals and even the illegal cyber-spying done through government backdoors while still making sure that the devices can still be tracked down should their owners get their devices stolen or perhaps lost that they need help or something for instance. Another downside is that having improved security can make things more difficult for those agencies even with the warrant issued.
Perhaps, each side has its own upside and downside but it might seem that Android 5.1 may be making sure that the strong encryption for the phone is not made technically compulsory by default that the customers can turn it on if they want to. There was a recent news regarding the same encryption level for latest Iphones that was trolled, like it mentioned that the latest Iphones are the baddies' device of choice. It may be due to the fact that the strong encryption level such as End-to-End and Full Device encryptions that are enabled by default like there's no way to disable them.
I guess that there should be security balance and better importance of privacy and security or there will be concerns about the loss of customer trusts that may affect the technology business without proper security. And of course, if the services have like serious security issues as if the companies use them to do illegal data collection for advertisement for instance, why do we want to use them in the first place? Does it sound like they're betraying us with that? It has been the same story we know and blog about like there's no signs of new updates coming in.

EU mobile operators plan to block ads

This plan may be a good thing for customers like it will be preinstalled on various devices but the companies that still rely on ads to make money won't be happy about that. If that's the case, there has to be other ways in making money without relying on ads to do so from whichever stuffs you have made and published so far. The ads will be blocked on the apps and websites but not the feeds like the ones on social networking sites.
It may be simple to block the god-damn ads on the web browsers but what about the ads on the apps? Adblock Plus is one of the popular examples in going deeper protection for the customers by blocking ads on the apps but you will probably need to specify some proxy on the network settings to perform all the ad blockage. When that happens, it appears that some of the companies are going against Adblock Plus for some reason through lawsuit as if ads are still needed to pay the bills.
Lastly, even the existing net neutrality rules may be conflicted by this plan as well like they need to make sure that things are going equally. Also, the carriers that come up with this plan will face scrutiny from the EU regulators because of how serious the amount of impact will be when it is made effective. Having to block all the ads in one go is a no-no because it goes away from technical equality as if the major companies that rely on ads are not able to pay the bills that way. Also, there may be illegal and indecent ads that show up on the screen or the websites that can be blocked easily with no problems but that may be one easy example everybody knows of.

AOL acquired by Verizon?

I don't know if this is considered controversial, a move you don't want or something that's too normal for you but it seems that things are starting to get really critical in terms of the situations everyone has like Net Neutrality in the US getting sued after being renewed recently that the battle was still going on, the phone data record collection in the US that was declared illegal and people in the US were glad about that and especially that the TPP is being voted on that we have to prevent that from happening because it may be a serious disaster for the internet freedom. So, say that Verizon had recently acquired AOL this year, you may probably think that AOL is starting to betray you again with that as Verizon is one of the unhappy ISPs in the US about the real Net Neutrality. Last time, Time Warner might have acquired AOL in the past but it might seem that AOL and About.me might had gotten out of that merger into working as independent corporations.
Speaking of AOL, their services might be interesting back then and the legacy stuffs are still there today like the classic voice clip plays when you receive the new emails in your AOL inbox. It was first heard in my childhood but back then, there wasn't any internet connection at all and that we started to have one during our Windows XP days. Of course, it wasn't until recently that I really got interested in using AOL mail service years ago.

Uber for Outlook with Cortana?

Uh, what the hell? Had Uber already learnt the lesson the last time? There were already previous blog posts and articles about Uber causing some security or other controversy that there were some complaints coming in from the customers and various organizations and yet they're planning to invade Outlook with their service? This is all happening at this year's BUILD conference organized by Microsoft in which there will be new features and improvements for Windows 10 and the new prototype stage is now Insider Preview which I'm already using under Slow Ring mode. Don't use Fast Ring mode no matter what as it already annoyed the hell out of me when prototyping Windows 10 as if you may end up cursing and swearing at the OS when broken things happen.
The deeper Cortana integration will be coming in summer. Previously, you could use Cortana to request the Uber car via the app or something but with Uber add-in for Outlook, you can make similar requests based on your Outlook calendar.
If Uber is already doing things right this time, then the customers will have less problems making requests for Uber cars in the future.

Enable or disable what Google tracks about your online activity

Damn, talk about laziness like I've got nothing to work on at this moment other than some signs of progress on my YouTube account and my blog. It may appear that miscellaneous stuffs to work on don't count as they are not that important and parts of New Year Resolutions. This year, like two years ago, there will be blog posts that have the security topic in them and this one as discovered from Neowin is about how Google tracks your online activity if enabled. There was a recent announcement that you get more options to turn off things you're tracked through Google services.
If you want to disable Search and Browser history, that's a good thing, in case you may get intercepted browsing through something extremely indecent on the web in which you don't mean to. I don't mean to stumble upon those kinds of stuffs nor do I appreciate or contribute to them. Maybe there should be some policy that blocks or takes down indecent stuffs automatically so that I can see the web properly and especially when those things originate from the advertisements. But be warned, there's an option to download your search history should you choose to disable the search history. You should only save that to the safe location, not a public location or a public device.
Plus, there are other options that include your YouTube search and video view histories that you can turn off as well. Prior to blogging about this, most of the options were already paused but pausing doesn't mean you may have already removed those histories of yours completely.