The battle over virtual reality supremacy is heating up, as news comes that Google may be in on a big funding round for Magic Leap, a VR content and hardware creator that’s focused on something called “cinematic reality.”
What’s that, exactly? Basically, the blending of real and virtual objects in a way that is so lifelike, it’s tough to determine what’s real and what isn’t – unless tiny flying elephants are involved. It’s a logical step forward from the current state of virtual reality, which is still fairly stuck in the very much less-than-real CGI and gaming space.
Magic Leap hasn’t shown any hardware or demos as of yet, but CEO Rony Abovitz sold his robotic surgical device business for $1.6 billion, so we’re paying attention to what they come up with.
Everyone seems to be searching for an easy way to keep their data, messages and networks safe from prying eyes, and a new device may be just the thing the average tech user needs.
Called the Anonabox, the encryption device keeps it simple: just install it into your home network and… well, that’s it. There’s no software, sign-ups, service fees, configurations to set up or any other hassles. It’s basically plug-and-play encryption by using an automated gateway to the anonymous Tor network. The developers said they were inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, where governments worked hard to lock down Twitter and other social platforms.
But many users were able to get information out through Tor, which takes some set-up and computer chops to use. The Anonabox developers say they are hoping to make safe Tor usage as simple as plugging in two cables to their $50 invention.
Speaking of privacy, popular online cloud storage service Dropbox is under the microscope after someone claimed they had over 7 million passwords to Dropbox accounts.
Dropbox immediately fired back, saying the information was not taken from their systems but from third-party apps that interact with Dropbox. They also said that the majority of the stolen passwords were expired but they have contacted anyone with an affected account. But it didn’t help that data leaker Edward Snowden mentioned Dropbox in a warning a few days ago to stop using the service, along with Google and Facebook, due to a lack of “local encryption.”
So just to be safe, you might want to change up those passwords again and also activate 2-step authentication. And maybe keep the naughty selfies in your camera for now.
Your host today is Holly Resnick
