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A research firm estimates Amazon.com has sold 3 million Echo voice-controlled home speakers, and that close to half of U.S. Amazon customers are aware of the product. [snip] The device, which sells for $180, also has given Amazon a big role in the emerging field of home automation, as many people use it to control thermostats or lights that work off Wi-Fi. [snip] Launched in late 2014, the Echo slowly picked up speed as word spread about its uncanny abilities — from answering questions to turning on the living-room lights.

A cross-platform messaging app owned by Facebook leapfrogs iMessage; Apple should step up and join it. credit: WhatsApp Apple’s security and encryption strategies have received a lot of attention lately, from the way in which iOS devices’ data are locked down to how Apple doesn’t have the encryption keys the iMessage and FaceTime systems employ to secure its users’ communications to how Secure Enclave keeps our secrets secret. But WhatsApp, an app-based text, video, and voice service with a billion users, took the spotlight Tuesday with the news that its users have end-to-end encryption as well. WhatsApp has a couple...

As Ohio Gov. John Kasich campaigned for the presidency, Ohio taxpayers paid $222,243 in overtime during the past year to the state troopers who guard him on the road and at home. The nine State Highway Patrol troopers assigned to the governor's executive-protection unit earned $183,600 in overtime in 2015, a 64-percent jump from 2014, according to state payroll records released today in response to a request from The Dispatch. Four troopers earned more than $20,000 in overtime pay last year for working more than 40 hours a week; one earned nearly $27,000 to boost his annual pay to $94,400....

I took down my Rebel flag (which you CAN'T buy on ebay any more) and peeled the NRA sticker off the front door. I disconnected my home alarm system and quit the Neighborhood Watch. I went out and bought two Pakistani flags and put one at each corner of the front yard. Then I purchased the black flag of ISIS (which you CAN buy on ebay) and ran it up the flag pole. NOW, the local police, sheriff, FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, Secret Service and other agencies are all watching my house 24/7. I've NEVER felt safer and I'm...

Overall, the survey showed Clinton leading Trump by a razor-thin margin of 45 to 44 percent in a poll with a 2.5 percent margin of error. But when voters were asked which candidate would be better suited to keep America safe, they gave Trump a commanding advantage despite Clinton's presumed expertise on the international scene after four years as secretary of state. By a 37 to 27 percent margin, voters said Trump is better suited than Clinton to keep the United States safe from terrorists. Trump also won – 40 to 32 percent – on the question of which candidate...

The unlocking procedure used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to break into an iPhone 5c at the center of the San Bernardino case cannot be used on new devices, the bureau's director said on Wednesday. The IP Box setup, via MDSec. Comey told a group of students and educators at Kenyon College in Ohio that his department had "purchased a tool" from a third party to unlock the iPhone in question, according to CNN Money. Though he stopped short of revealing the exact process, he did note that it would not work on more modern handsets. "This doesn't work...

All signs are pointing to Cellebrite, an Israeli company, as the mysterious "outside party" that helped agents unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernardino terrorist. An elite group of engineers at Cellebrite -- led by a "brilliant" hacker in Seattle -- helped the FBI crack the iPhone 5C last week, according to two people with direct contact to the team. Everyone at the company has since been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements to remain silent about the matter, one of them said. Additionally, government records now show that Cellebrite landed its biggest contract ever with the FBI -- one...

When it comes to genocide, John Kerry is like the bank guard in that wonderful little Life Lock bank television ad. You know the one. It's where two gunmen break into a bank, smash a glass counter, wield weapons, take a hostage and shout, "Nobody move." Bank employees and customers hit the ground, except for a lone bank guard who is still standing. One woman lying on the floor looks up and says, "Do something." The guard looks around and pleasantly explains, "I'm not a security guard. I'm a security monitor. I only notify people if there is a robbery."...

Police at Brussels airport have claimed at least 50 Islamic State supporters are working there as baggage handlers, cleaners and catering staff. In an astonishing open letter, the officers said they have warned about the terrorist sympathisers whose security badges give them access to planes, but they remain employed. The airport police, who are threatening to go on strike because of security deficiencies, also said they have raised the issue of terrorists scouting the airport to plan possible attacks. The extraordinary claims come after the Mail reported how the family of two of the bombers involved in the attacks last...

What would Jesus pack? The Mississippi Senate just passed a bill that would allow churches to train members to carry guns and act as security guards during religious services — and exempt them from legal action if they use their weapons. “This will allow a church to have a sergeant-at-arms to protect the church body, just like we have (in the Legislature),” Sean Tindell, a Republican state senator, was quoted as saying by the Clarion-Ledger. Tindell pointed to last year’s massacre at a church in Charleston, South Carolina as an example of why churches need an armed guard. Others said...

WSJ More Seniors, Fearing Crime, Flock to Shooting Ranges Gun dealers say personal safety is a priority for older people who want firearms training By James R. Hagerty AUSTINTOWN, Ohio—On a recent Monday at the Austintown Senior Center, activities included painting, bingo and shooting guns. Around 9:45 a.m., a dozen people in their 60s and 70s bundled into a van and several cars and headed to the nearby American Range shooting gallery, whose lobby features a portrait of Clint Eastwood over the legend “Go ahead make your day.” Soon, they were blasting away at paper targets dangling in a dim,...

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said the top three functions of the United States government are security, healthcare, and education. During CNN’s town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday night, an audience member asked Trump, “What are the top three functions of the United States government?”“Security for our nation,” Trump responded. “I would also say healthcare… [and] education.”“The top three are security, security, security,” Trump stressed, saying America needs security “so we can continue to exist as a country.”“Thousands and thousands of people are infiltrating our country,” the real estate mogul explained. “We don’t know who they are.”On top of security,...

Apple announces plans to hand over iCloud encryption key management to users Apple has announced its plans to transfer iCloud encryption key management to account holders, a move which could stand in the way of or even prevent the FBI and other law enforcement agencies from requesting users' information.The tech giant currently manages the encryption key management for all iCloud account holders.eWeek reports that because of this level of control, Apple provided federal authorities with several iCloud backups of Syed Rizwan Farook, an individual who participated in a mass shooting and attempted bombing in San Bernardino, California back in December....

A zero-day exploit affecting Mac OS X allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on any binary. That’s not good, and it gets worse. The exploit bypasses System Identity Protection (SIP, sometimes called rootless), and is almost impossible to trace once implemented. Apple has been notified and a patch is on the way.“Our researchers recently uncovered a major flaw which allows for local privilege escalation and bypass of System Integrity Protection, Apple’s newest protection feature,” wrote SentinelOne in a blog post announcing the discovery. A talk given by Pedro Vilaça at SyScan360, a security conference in downtown Singapore this week, outlined...

In Donald Trump’s Worldview, America Comes First, and Everybody Else Pays By DAVID E. SANGER and MAGGIE HABERMANMARCH 26, 2016 Mr. Trump’s views, as he explained them, fit nowhere into the recent history of the Republican Party: He is not in the internationalist camp of President George Bush, nor does he favor President George W. Bush’s call to make it the United States’ mission to spread democracy around the world. He agreed with a suggestion that his ideas might be summed up as “America First.” “Not isolationist, but I am America First,” he said. “I like the expression.” He said...

The iMessage vulnerability got a lot of attention, but another bug allows for remote execution over Wi-Fi, which is a much bigger threat. Apple released new versions of several operating system products earlier this week, fixing vulnerabilities in OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 among others. Because encryption and Apple are big news these days, the attention mostly went to an admittedly interesting flaw in Apple's encryption for iMessage, reported by a research team, led by well-known cryptographer Matthew Green. But the bug is not an easy one to exploit and doesn't even expose a lot. There are much...

Two Americans confirmed to be victims in Brussels attacks Posted 7:13 am, March 25, 2016, by CNN Wire This was the news the family of Alexander and Sascha Pinczowski hoped would never come. The siblings were in the Delta ticket line at the Brussels Airport to check in for their flight to New York. Alexander was talking to his mother on the phone when the line went dead. They haven’t been heard from since. Nearly three agonizing days later, word came from Belgian authorities at Astrid Hospital in Brussels. It was a list of the remaining victims who were still...

The American People are angry. And it is not cyclical anger – after all, we are sitting at the top of the current business cycle. This anger is a secular trend. There is anger at the lack of jobs, there is anger over class warfare , there is anger at police profiling of young black men, anger at conservatives, anger at political correctness, anger at Liberals, anger at the break down of our inner city infrastructures and the poisoning of water in Flint, Michigan and elsewhere, anger at Hillary Rodham Clinton, anger at Donald Trump, anger at the main...

face reality: There was absolutely no justification for removing Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism. Our intelligence clearly shows that Cuba was allowing and continues to allow Hezbollah, Iran’s terror proxy group, to maintain a command-and-control base on Cuban soil from which to conduct criminal, narco-trafficking and terrorist operations throughout the Western hemisphere. Regrettably, this leads to the sad conclusion that President Obama has lied again when he certified to Congress, as required by federal law, that Cuba could be safely removed from the U.S. list of nations that sponsor terrorism. Does anybody care that our president...

Obama’s Legacy – The Threat of More Terrorism Here Free Fire | March 8, 2016 | Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, Defense Budget & Programs, Understanding the Shariah Threat Doctrine The President’s Homeland Security Advisor says international terrorist groups are “planning for sophisticated and coordinated terror attacks” in this country. In fact, Lisa Monaco warned that the threats are becoming ‘broader, more diffuse, and less predicable than at any time” since the 9/11 attacks. Call it Obama’s legacy. Unfortunately, as former clandestine CIA officer Clare Lopez and I point out in a new book, See No Sharia, our first lines of defense against...