BlackBerry’s response to Samsung’s SAFE Knox for enterprise: ‘We’ve been doing that since 1999’

Posted on 25/02/2013 by Steve Dent

With Samsung stepping on Blackberry's enterprise turf via its SAFE with Knox launch, it's not too surprising the Canadian outfit has a few choice words on the subject. We spoke with mobile computing Executive VP David J. Smith, who finds it "flattering" that Samsung is taking a similar interest in enterprise security, but said it may take awhile to catch up since his own company's been doing it "since 1999." He said that experience means "nothing is more secure" than BB10 smartphones combined with its Balance work/home app and Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 (BES). Of course, the latter now supports Android and iOS devices, but Smith added that the main problem with Samsung's approach is Android itself -- which he feels brings its own bag of insecure worms to the enterprise space.

With Samsung touting Knox's ability to separate enterprise functions from a user's "personal space," Smith pointed to the Balance app -- which has been doing that since 2011 -- claiming it's the only solution that "can effectively keep sensitive corporate information secure while keeping an individual's personal information private." In contrast, Smith said Android is still inherently "vulnerable" due to its open nature, while BB engineered its Blackberry OS kernel in-house to be secure and that aspect was "completely understood" by company engineers. He added that programmers are constantly fine-tuning those features for its own BB10 and legacy handsets, adding that it would bring new Android and iOS "containers" and other features later this year to further boost security for those devices. Naturally, the outfit's likely hoping you'll want one of its shiny new devices to swipe or click, but failing that, says that you'll be the most secure under its BES 10 umbrella, regardless of your handset.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Blackberry

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Robot Walks a Tightrope: Robot Circus is One Step Closer

Posted on 21/10/2012 by Conner Flynn

Well, there goes my plan of hiding on a rock cliff from robots who can’t get me because they don’t know how to walk a tightrope. It appears they can now walk tightropes with the greatest of ease. Then again, I’ll just bring some scissors with me. That’ll teach ‘em.
robot walking tightrope
Check out this video of a humanoid robot walking a tightrope with no problems at all, complete with techno music to accompany the feat. It takes its time doing it, but still it’s doing it way better than most humans. The robot spreads its arms to help maintain balance and slides its feet one at a time.

So I have my supplies ready, including scissors and I have a nice high spot picked out to survive the robot apocalypse. Even if they deploy a high wire, I can cut it with cable cutters. I will probably starve up there after my supplies run out, but they can kiss my cold dead corpse.

[via Hackaday via Geekosystem]

Balance Seesaw Ensures a Fair Ride for Kids, Big and Small

Posted on 30/09/2012 by Technabob

If you ever went riding on a seesaw when you were a kid, you know how unrewarding the experience could be if the kid on the other side weighed decidedly more or less than you. But thanks to the laws of physics, one designer has come up with a solution to this problem.

balance see saw

Industrial designer Honghai Yu’s Balance seesaw offers an adjustable seating design which fixes the balance problem by allowing the lighter of the two children to pull their seat out, and moving one child further away from the pivot point. The result – a smooth ride on the teeter-totter for all. It’s not clear, though how significantly the riders’ weights could differ for this to work before the length of the seat extension became impractical. I’m sure some of the physics geeks out there could help calculate that for us.

It’s an ingeniously simple solution to an age-old playground problem. There’s no word on if or when the Balance seesaw will show up in parks, but it did take home a 2012 iF concept design award.

RIM puts BlackBerry 10 on display: new alarm, Peek gesture and more

Posted on 25/09/2012 by Sarah Silbert

At today's RIM event, the BlackBerry maker gave us a closer look at BB10, with CEO Thorsten Heins talking up the operating system as "all about getting things done" and coining the interface "BlackBerry Flow." He demoed a new Peek feature that lets users access the message notifications screen with a right angle gesture. The function can be used in any app: performing the swipe takes users to the BlackBerry Hub where they can view Tweets, messages and other notifications. There's also a new clock and alarm system, which works by the user holding their fingertip on the bezel and sliding it to the appropriate time to set an alarm.

There's also the business-friendly Balance feature we already knew about, which will let users' IT departments access corporate email and perform remote wipe without affecting the rest of the phone. With Balance, BlackBerry phones essentially have two profiles, one secured for the work environment and one for personal use. It just so happens that we already got a hands-on look at the software running on a Dev Alpha B handset: take a look here.

Gallery: RIM unveils BB10 features