DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 10/27/2016

This week we'll recap the Apple, Microsoft and Xiaomi announcements and for my Closer Look give you the 5 things you need to know to secure your Internet of things devices.

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This week's Biggest Stories

In case you missed it:

Microsoft Surface announcements
Apple announcements
Xiaomi announces new phones and VR headset
Denial of Service Attacks
Google Fiber pauses new city investigation
Otto self-driving beer run
AT&T buying Time Warner

Microsoft announced the next update to Windows 10 will come this Spring and be called Creators Update. It will include a new Microsoft Paint capable of making 3D designs that you can share on Facebook or export to a new 3D art community called Remix3D that also shares works from Minecraft. Objects can be scanned in 3D with an upcoming cross-platform phone app. Microsoft also showed viewing Remix3D objects in HoloLens AND announced Windows VR headsets coming from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer that require no external sensors, starting at $299. Windows Creator's Studio will also integrate Microsoft's game streaming service called Beam and add custom gaming tournaments and proper Dolby Atmos support. Finally Windows 10 will have a new messaging feature that combines Skype, mail, and other apps into a pop-up panel in the task bar and allow documents to be dragged to contacts there. It can also can receive SMS messages sent to Android phones.    

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/10/windows-10-creators-update-will-be-coming-for-free-this-spring/
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2016/10/26/windows-10-creators-edition-brings-game-streaming-custom-tournaments-dolby-atmos-support/

Microsoft also announced the SurfaceBook i7. As the name implies it has an Intel i7 processor, double the graphics performance of the previous SurfaceBook and promises 16 hour battery life. The Surface Book is up for preorder from Microsoft.com and ships in November for $2,399.

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/10/26/13418678/microsoft-upgraded-surface-book-16-hour-battery-life

Finally Microsoft announced the Surface Studio an all-in-one desktop. It has a 28-inch 192 ppi PixelSense touchscreen that is 12.5 mm thick and capable of 13.5 million pixels. It also has an Intel Core Processor, 32GB of RAM, a 2 TB hybrid hard drive and an Nvidia GTX 980M GPU. A hinge on the back allows it to be repositioned and lay almost flat. You can preorder the Studio today for $2,999 though it will only be available in limited quantities. Preorders get the Surface Dial haptic feedback input device for free. Others can buy it November 10th for $99.    

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/10/26/13380462/microsoft-surface-studio-pc-computer-announced-features-price-release-date
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/26/13417028/microsoft-surface-dial-announced-surface-event

Apple announced new MacBook Pros with the anticipated LED strip called the Touch Bar that replaces the function keys and changes based on software surfacing certain menu items and controls. The TouchBar is a Retina display with multitouch, responds to gestures and taps. Apple also added touchID fingerprint sensing to the right of the touch bar. It has a new T1 secure chip, intel Core i5 and i7, Radeon Pro GPU with Polaris or Intel iris graphics and up to 2 TB SSD and a brighter display. It has four thunderbolt 3 ports that also support USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort and more and all can charge the laptop. The new MacBook Pros come in 13-inch and 15-inch versions in silver and space gray. The 13-inch model is 14.9 mm thick and weighs 3 pounds the 15-inch is 15.5 mm thick and weighs 4 pounds. The trackpad is twice as big as the last gen of MacBooks.

Apple also announced a new 13-inch MacBook Pro as a replacement for the MacBook Air with two Thunderbolt 3 ports and traditional function keys

All MacBooks are available for preorder. The cheapest MacBook Pro is shipping, while the new ones with the Touch Bar ship in 2-3 weeks. Prices range from $1,299 to $2,399."

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/return-of-the-mac/
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/heres-what-you-can-do-with-the-touch-bar-on-the-new-macbook-pro/
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/27/13436750/apple-macbook-pro-announced-laptop-price-release-date-specs

Apple added a TV app to Apple TV. The new app accesses TV shows and movies from across installed apps including on demand and live streams. Partners at launch include CBS, HBO NOW, Hulu, Starz, Showtime and several apps from cable channels.Significantly Netflix was not announced. The TV apps is also coming to iOS. Siri now supports launching live channels as well including schedules. The TV app is coming to Apple TV, and iOS in December in the US.
Apple also announced Minecraft will come to Apple TV by end of the year.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/10/apples-new-tv-app-is-its-way-of-simplifying-all-your-streaming-content/

Xiaomi announced new phones and a VR headset Tuesday. The 6.4-inch Mi Mix has an almost bezel-free front at 91.4 percent screen. It uses ultrasound for proximity sensing, a piezoelectric speaker using the metal frame for sound, and the camera is on the bottom of the front face. It has the same Snapdragon 821 that's in the Google Pixel. It goes on sale November 4th in China starting at ¥3,499 ($516). Xiaomi also announced the 5.7-inch Mi Note 2 with a curved screen coming November 1st in China in silver or black starting at 2,799 yuan ($413) Xiaomi also announced the MIUI VR store and the new Mi VR headset for use with its newest phones. It has a motion sensor, 16ms latency and a 9-axis motion controller and costs $29.    

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/25/13401440/xiaomi-mi-mix-concept-phone-specs-release-date-price
https://www.techinasia.com/xiaomi-note2-launch
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/10/25/13404634/xiaomi-mi-vr-virtual-reality-headset

Friday Oct. 21, sites like Twitter, Reddit, SoundCloud and Spotify experienced outages due to a denial of service attack on their Domain System provider, Dyn. The company optimizes online infrastructure for its clients including handling domain name management.    The attack was traced to the Mirai botnet running on infected Internet of Things device. China's Xiongmai noted many of its devices were infected and will recall some of its earlier products and issue patches for older products by April. Dahua Technology has also announced firmware upgrades and an exchange program for older cameras.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/21/many-sites-including-twitter-and-spotify-suffering-outage/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-devices-idUSKCN12P047

Alphabet's company Access, which operates Google Fiber is laying off or reassigning about 9 percent of its staff related to a pause in 10 cities where it has yet to fully commit to a fiber rollout. Cities that already have Google Fiber won't lose it. that includes Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Kansas City, Nashville, Provo, Salt Lake and The Triangle in North Carolina. Cities where Google is publicly committed will still get it, that includes, Huntsville, Irvine, San Antonio and Louisville.

Cities with WebPass, a wireless service recently acquired by Google Fiber are San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago, San Diego Boston and Miami. Of those markets, Chicago and San Diego has been removed from the upcoming list for Google Fiber and San Francisco has been switched to wireless deployment. That leaves Dallas, Jacksonville, LA, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland San Jose and Tampa in limbo for now.    

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/10/google-fiber-laying-off-9-of-staff-will-pause-plans-for-10-cities/

Uber-owned Otto completed it's first self-driving truck shipment. An 18-wheel Volvo semi carried a shipment of Budweiser beer 100 miles from a weigh station in Fort Collins, Colorado to Colorado Springs without human intervention. A human driver had taken it from the Anhueser-Busch plant in Loveland to the weigh station and remained on board during the autonomous leg of the journey.
A Colorado state patrol vehicle followed the truck to monitor the journey.     

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/25/13381246/otto-self-driving-truck-budweiser-first-shipment-uber

Saturday, AT&T agreed to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2017. Later in the week AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that DirecTV's over the top service will launch in November with hundreds of channels starting at $35 a month.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/24/att-directv-now-launches-in-november/
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/25/att-will-offer-35-subscription-with-100-channels-and-includes-mobile-streaming/

CLOSER LOOK - 5 WAYS TO SECURE YOUR IoT DEVICES

Monday we talked with Lamarr Wilson about how to secure all the light bulbs, cameras and other internet connected "things" you may have in your house. Here is a summary of the five tips we discussed

1. Update your firmware.
Check devices to make sure updates are automatically installed by the manufacturer, or if that's not an option, set a reminder to check them regularly.

2. Change the default password
And make sure you change it to a strong one. The majority of devices used in botnets are just accessed using default passwords.

3. Disable remote login options
If you don't need to access your lamp from outside the house turn off the ability for anyone to access it at all.

4. Update your router's firmware and security settings.
Beyond making sure your router's password is unique and strong, your firmware is up to date, make sure your router is using strong Wi-Fi encryption (preferably WPA or WPA2, with WPS disabled) and your router's administration page is not accessible to the Internet.

5. Secure your network with a firewall.
Many people may believe a router is a firewall. It isn't necessarily true. You may need to activate the firewall on your router. And make sure you haven't disabled protections in order to facilitate certain items on your network.