Mastercard’s New Payment System Uses a Selfie for Verification

Selfies. You may know them either as the only memorabilia your friends bring from trips abroad or as the cultural shock you never really recovered from. Either way, it is a phenomenon which is here to stay, more so after being immortalized by an unlikely savior: MasterCard.

With the security paranoia and privacy needs prevalent everywhere, the company is now using selfies as a method of verifying your identity. You heard that right. Selfies are not a nuisance anymore, they can quite literally be a life-saver.

The process requires an app for work. After entering your credit card information online, it requires you to take a quite photo from the camera on your phone, which also requires you to blink to make sure the photo isn’t from a photograph. The technology used is clever enough to know whether a video is being used as a hoax verification.

So while the TouchID in your iPhone may be enough for unlocking and other simple operations for now, it is clear that corporations are searching for techniques even more reliable than your fingerprint. With Windows Hello making its way to hundreds of millions of Windows PCs, the path for Iris and other more futuristic modes of verification could get open sooner than you think.

And selfies aren’t even the only crazy verification method. MasterCard is also reportedly trialing heart-beat verification using the unique electrocardiograms of users. The method of payment could catch on as wearables featuring these intricate sensors become more commonplace.

MasterCard isn’t the only company trying out bizarre, futuristic methods. While fingerprints are increasingly getting common now, banks like HSBC are introducing voice passwords, which are set to roll out in 2017-18. ATMs in places like Japan similarly use nerves underneath the finger to allow withdrawals of cash.

As for the selfie method, it should be making its way in the next 12 months although its availability could vary. And don’t deny, that’s the one you’re waiting for.

Whether Operation Self-portrait satiates the privacy hunger of the world remains to be seen but if ever you wanted to get an excuse to get in the craze (or double your snap volume), now is the time to get kicking. And you know who to thank

KiloCore is the World’s First 1,000 Core Processor

A team of researchers from the University of California have designed a first of its kind, 1000 core processor which they call the KiloCore.

Bevan Baas, professor of electrical and computer engineering, who led the team said,

“To the best of our knowledge, it is the world’s first 1,000-processor chip and it is the highest clock-rate processor ever designed in a university.”

There have been attempts at making processors with a lot of cores, but none of them ever went past 300 cores according to an analysis by professor Baas’ team. Majority of those were made for research purposes and very few of them ever made it into the consumer market.

Features of the KiloCore

The processing chip was fabricated by IBM using 32nm CMOS technology. The professor claims that this processor is the most energy efficient processor as well, saying that it uses just 0.7 watts of power.

The way the processor handles its tasks is also much more efficient than regular processors because it divides each application into smaller applications. Each of the smaller apps are given to a single processor to handle, in a more flexible approach. It can execute instructions about 100 times more efficiently than a regular laptop processor.

Possible Use in the Future

The KiloCore would not enter mass production any time soon as they were made using a relatively older manufacturing process of 32nm, whereas most of the processors nowadays are made using 14nm technology.

We could possibly see it make its way into the mobile devices, where several small applications are being run at the same time, and using less power is also considered a major plus point. This can lead to long-lasting mobile gadgets.

Meet macOS: your Mac will completely change this FALL

OS X is dead. Long live macOS. 

At its annual Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, Apple announced macOS Sierra, the next version of its computer operating system for Macs shipping this fall as a free update. It'll be available as a developer preview in July.

With macOS, Apple now has all of its operating systems for its various devices all tidied up. iPhone, iPad and iPod touch have iOS, Apple Watch has watchOS, Apple TV has tvOS and now Macs have macOS.

It's not just new branding. macOS will come with some useful new features.

Auto-unlock is one new feature that lets you automatically unlock your Mac when it detects you're wearing your Apple Watch right near it.

Apple Pay is also coming to the Mac via the web. "So now when you're shopping online, you'll have a pay with Apple Pay button," Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said. Authentication is made with your iPhone's Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

IMAGE: SAMANTHA MURPHY KELLY/MASHABLE

Siri, Apple's personal voice assistant, finally makes its debut on the Mac. Siri is able to perform sophisticated queries according to Federighi. "Show the files I worked on last week about the offsite." Siri on the Mac works in conjunction with the Mac's Finder and works similarly to Windows 10's Cortana.

IMAGE: SCREENSHOT: APPLE

Picture-in-picture lets you shrink your video down into a smaller window so you can do something else while the video is running in a corner. The video window is resizable and you can move it anywhere on the screen.

iCloud Drive does more, too: You can sync multiple Mac desktops as well as view files stored on your Mac from your iPhone. 

Optimized Storage will also smartly manage your files for you so your Mac always has enough storage; it does so by uploading files into the cloud and deleting them off your hard drive so you'll always have space, but never lose the files.

Universal clipboard, a feature that uses Continuity, will let users copy and paste between Macs and iOS devices.

While the new name and features are a big deal, macOS isn't a fundamental leap from the previous OS. Under the hood, macOS is still based on Unix. It's just a new name is all — and a whole bunch of new features

Facebook Messenger now let you send text messages - Android only

Today the Vice President of Messaging products at Facebook, David Marcus, announced that the Messenger is getting a brand new feature for the Android version.

SMS integration

The new feature is the ability to send SMS messages from the Messenger. This will allow users to focus all of their messaging on one app instead of using separate apps for SMS and instant messaging.

David commented,

“Very excited to announce a major new feature for Messenger on Android today! From now on, you’ll be able to send and receive your SMS messages from Messenger, which means you now have one integrated place for all your messaging!

Aside from the usual options in SMS apps, the Messenger will allow sending voice clips, stickers and let you share your location via SMS. All of this is done on the client side and none of the SMS are sent to Facebook’s servers, if you were wondering about the security aspect.

He added that a lot of texting apps for Android did not have enough features and options for the users, which led them to design the Messenger so it works as a texting app as well, killing two birds with one stone.

The app will include Messenger exclusive features as well such as chat heads and more. It’s limited to Android for now.

The update is expected to be released today and will be available for most countries by Friday including Pakistan. 

Microsoft to BUY LINKEDIN

Microsoft has announced that it is planning to acquire LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, for $26.2 Billion in cash.

Yes, Microsoft announced today that it would buy LinkedIn for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 BILLION.

It is so far the biggest acquisition made by Microsoft, which has made 8 takeovers, including Skype in 2011 and Nokia in 2013, worth more than $1 Billion.

According to the tech giant, LinkedIn will retain its own brand and product, and also LinkedIn's existing CEO Jeff Weiner will remain as the company's chief executive.

LinkedIn will now become a part of Microsoft's productivity, and business processes segment and Weiner will report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Here's what Nadella said about the deal:

"The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals. Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet."

The offer of $196 per share on LinkedIn represents a premium of 49.5 per cent to LinkedIn's Friday closing price.

LinkedIn is the world’s most popular as well as largest professional social network and continues to grow. With the launch of new version of its mobile app last year, the company has increased its member engagement and enhanced its news feed to deliver better business insights.

Both Mr. Weiner and LinkedIn’s chairperson, co-founder and controlling shareholder Mr. Reid Hoffman back the deal.

"Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn's network, now gives us a chance also to change the way the world works," Weiner said in the statement.

"For the last 13 years, we have been uniquely positioned to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful, and I’m looking forward to leading our team through the next chapter of our story."