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Today’s topics include reports that Intel is developing an AR headset prototype, WhatsApp gains document sharing features, a Verizon security study that claims hackers are helping pirates rob ships on the high seas, and news that Google is testing what it calls a “hands free” mobile-payment app.
Intel is reportedly developing a headset similar to Microsoft’s HoloLens that would leverage the chip maker’s RealSense 3D camera technology to offer augmented-reality capabilities.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources briefed on the company’s plans, reported that Intel’s AR headset would rival those being developed not only by Microsoft, but also by such companies as Apple, Google and IBM, as well as smaller startups.
WhatsApp users can now share documents with others thanks to a selection of new features. To start, only PDF documents will be sharable, but WhatsApps is expected to extend support for sharing to other document types soon. Although WhatsApp has not announced the changes to its messaging app, it is rolling them out to users immediately.
Pirates teaming up with online spies, hackers “joyriding” in a water company’s network and a man working for multiple companies using outsourced labor to make hundreds of thousands of dollars—these are some of the story lines released in a briefing published by Verizon at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on March 1.
Verizon tracked each incident back to an information system compromise. In the case of the pirates on the high seas—not digital pirates—the criminals would board a cargo ship as it passed Singapore on its way into the Indian Sea.
The pirates targeted specific items—such as gems and jewelry—and they knew which containers to search, Bryan Sartin, managing director of Verizon’s RISK Team, told eWEEK.
Google has begun pilot-testing a new mobile-payment application that will let smartphone users pay for purchases by verbally providing their initials to the cashier at the point-of-sale system.
The company is inviting Android and iOS users in San Francisco’s South Bay area to try out the new app, dubbed Hands Free, at a small number of participating merchants in the area.
Among those who have agreed to participate in the trial run are McDonald’s, Papa John’s and a handful of local restaurants in the area.