Tag Archive for: bring

Shortwave helps bring order to clutter in users’ Gmail accounts

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I just whipped through my email in record time using Shortwave for Gmail.

Shortwave was created by two guys from Google who figured out how to declutter everything. Ironically, Gmail is about to get even more cluttered. Take a look at the preview of the version rolling out this month.

I love how Shortwave bundles similar emails together. That way, if the whole group looks like junk, I can sweep it off my plate in one fell swoop. This is stuff I normally would have looked at, wasted time on, been sorry I bothered. But when the subject line of a bundle gives me an instant idea of what’s inside, I have more will power. For example, in a subject line labeled “Promotions,” I saw “Book TV,”https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/apr/02/shortwave-helps-bring-order-to-clutter-in-users/”Trippin’ Travel,” and “DoorDash,” along with tiny, recognizable icons for the rest. When I opened it, I got a list of headlines for everything in there. I can click on an item to unravel it without unrolling the rest. I can check each item off after I’ve read it, pin it or snooze it for reading later or check off the whole bundle. Just now, I dispatched nine items in a few seconds. I feel freer already.

Neatly listed on the left side of the page are the names of people you have recently corresponded with. Click on a name to see your latest conversations. The free version only lets you search for stuff emailed in the past three months, but everything else can be retrieved in regular Gmail. I have notes going back to 2005.

Surprisingly, Shortwave has no delete button. At first this bugged me, but it actually saves time. I no longer fuss over what to delete. Once a day, I go back to regular Gmail to delete whole swaths of stuff. I call it up by clicking the advanced search icon to the right of the search bar, typing in the word “today” next to “date within one day of.” Just now, there were 116 items. I selected all for deletion, saving four of them.This sounds like extra work, but takes only seconds.

Shortwave is available for Windows, Mac, iPhone or iPad. On Android phones, go to app.shortwave.com. The paid version is $9 a month and offers team features as well as unlimited search and email history.

If you’re…

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AWS and the NHL Unveil New Face-off Probability Stat to Bring Hockey Fans Closer to the Action on the Ice

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SEATTLE–()–Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), and the National Hockey League (NHL) today announced Face-off Probability, a live, in-game NHL stat that will be displayed as a graphic that instantly shows the odds of a player winning a face-off and possession of the puck and displays them on screen for fans watching the broadcast of the game. Before the puck is dropped in a face-off, the Face-off Probability machine learning (ML) model identifies where on the ice a face-off is going to occur, and who will take the face-off, and determines the probability of each player winning the draw.

When play stops, the Face-off Probability model begins generating win probabilities for players who it predicts will take the upcoming face-off. The probabilities are based on metrics including the players on the ice, face-off location, and current game situation. Face-off Probability is one of the first ML driven stats developed for NHL Edge IQ, powered by AWS. Fans can learn more about how AWS is transforming the hockey industry with the NHL on the AWS NHL site.

The face-off is one of the most anticipated and contested moments in hockey. Late in the third period of a close game, when two players are face to face on the ice, waiting for the puck to drop deep in the zone, the tension is palpable. Whichever player wins possession can swing the momentum to his team and directly impact the game’s outcome. With Face-off Probability, fans and broadcasters now have data to back up their predictions and determine which player is most likely to win.

“We’re excited to showcase Face-off Probability as part of NHL Edge IQ,” said Dave Lehanski, NHL Executive Vice President, Business Development and Innovation. “Applying AWS’s machine learning services to game footage and official NHL data allows us to develop and share such analytics and insights as Face-off Probability, which provide new in-game analysis and predictions to enhance live broadcasts and take fans deeper into the game.”

The NHL’s new ML-driven Face-off Probability model, powered by AWS technology and created in partnership with the AWS ML Solutions Lab, uses…

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Bring a burner to the Olympics, and other mobile device travel safety tips

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Image: iStock/LDProd

You’ve probably heard some of the commonly circulated advisories for athletes traveling to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing this year: Bring a burner phone and don’t log into any personal accounts. That’s good advice for athletes and non athletes alike, no matter where they’re traveling.

Knowing how to protect yourself properly requires knowing a bit about the threats you’re likely to face, so what should olympians, and the rest of us, plan to be wary of in China and other international destinations?

Aubrey Turner, executive advisor at Ping Identity, said spying and spyware in China are definitely a concern, but there’s more to that “bring a burner” line than just concerns over Chinese government spying. “Who knows you better than your smartphone? Think of all the sensitive data, sensitive memories, the secrets, passwords, all that stuff,” Turner warned.

“[Your device is] a living history of you. Do you want to risk that potentially being compromised?”

Cyberthreats to Olympic travelers in China

Due to COVID-19, the Olympic games in Beijing are going to be relatively spectator-free. There aren’t any generally available tickets, and only Chinese citizens will be allowed to procure the few that are selectively available. With that in mind, if you’re traveling to Beijing later this week you probably have a professional reason to be there, so it is important to be aware of threats you might encounter while visiting.

Aside from concerns about Chinese spying, Turner said that the very nature of a big event creates a target-rich environment for criminals to take advantage of. “With the Olympics you’ve got a lot of people congregating in one place for one event. So certainly, it’ll be a target-rich environment for cyber crime, people will be distracted by the games, and the like,” Turner said.

SEE: BYOD Approval Form (TechRepublic Premium)

The possibility of theft means that anyone traveling to the games should be acutely aware of physical security to prevent a device, memory card or other sensitive piece of data storage hardware vanishing from a pocket.

In addition to pickpockets and government spying, there’s…

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After the Affair: Spies Like Hanssen Bring in Future Changes

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His request seemed straightforward. He wanted the secretary to arrange meetings with ‘high profile people at NSA who can tell me about NSA’s computer infrastructure.’ Good that this secretary turned him down, if only on general suspicion that even though he was one of the most senior officials of the FBI, Robert Hanssen’s need to know seemed vague. Hanssen was discovered to be the most damaging spy in FBI history. In fact, one of his last deliveries to the Russians was a thousand-page trove of documents from the FBI’s automated case support system. He betrayed everything he could access.

The 22-year espionage career of Hanssen for his Soviet, later Russian, intelligence masters is notorious. His damage assessment continues to this day. His commentary after arrest is a warning for clearance holders. Regarding this huge breach of the case system, he said, “Any clerk in the bureau could come up with stuff on that system. What I did is criminal, but it’s criminal negligence…what they’ve done on that system.”

Damage is High When Employees Understand Vulnerable Systems

Our federal government is instituting new computer security certifications for its systems. This will apply across all government contracts. It is because of people like Hanssen, whose true ability was an early awareness of the vulnerability of computers, that such common security measures will be implemented. Companies need to have well-trained and certified computer specialists who can understand what it means to block, air-gap, and compartment information. Sharing of data is always problematic, because need to know must always be a factor.

In May of 2021, an Executive Order was issued to try to limit even further the threats to our computer systems. In fact, several measures were implemented immediately. For example, it was recognized that several Federal investigative agencies were blocked from sharing investigative data about security breaches. “Removing these contractual barriers and increasing the sharing of information about such threats, incidents, and risks are necessary steps to accelerating incident deterrence, prevention, and response efforts and to enabling more effective defense of…

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