Security company to release testing tool for SAP mobile access

As SAP invests heavily in mobile, a security testing company will release a tool next month to ensure mobile-accessible SAP systems are not vulnerable to hackers.

Boston-based Onapsis will release a new module for its X1 security suite, a product that performs automated security assessments, penetration testing and compliance audits for SAP’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, said Mariano Nunez, Onapsis’ CEO.

The module will focus in part on the SAP Mobile Platform, formerly known as the Sybase Unwired Platform Developer Center, which helps developers build SAP mobile applications for different devices and platforms. It also looks at the NetWeaver Gateway, an SAP server that links devices to back-end systems, Nunez said.

Exposing those back-end systems is complicated, and companies can face a risk of hacking if the systems are misconfigured or do not have up-to-date patches.

“We see that companies may not be paying enough attention to that and forgetting the devices,” Nunez said. “Our empirical experience shows those systems are usually left insecure because of people not applying the latest patches or not following SAP’s best security practices.”

SAP is focused on mobile access, device management and security as more companies embrace bring-your-own-device policies. SAP supports iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices.

Sanjay Poonen, head of SAP’s mobile division, said at the Sapphire Now conference in May that the company has more than 1,000 people working on mobile-related projects in areas such as retail, banking and consumer package goods.

Last year, SAP reported more than €222 million ($293 million) in license revenue from its mobile-related business, a revenue stream that didn’t exist two and half years prior, Poonen said.

“We think this market is really poised for an even bigger opportunity if you go even beyond devices,” Poonen said. “This world is going to require us to think of mobile security in a whole new way.”
Nunez said companies faces risks if, for example, a CRM (customer relationship management) system is incorrectly configured for access by mobile devices, opening a door for hackers using attack tools for Web services.

X1’s mobile security module looks at what functions and processes are exposed in the back-end systems and not on the mobile application itself, Nunez said. It alerts users to security vulnerabilities and tells users how to fix the issues. The module is scheduled to be released next month, and will be free to X1 subscribers.

Onapsis is also scheduled to present two SAP security workshops at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, which kicks off on July 27. The workshops, which are not product focused, will look at SAP security from an academic perspective, Nunez said. 

Lady Gaga to Release ARTPOP Album, App in November

Lady Gaga is set to release her new single on Aug. 19, followed by the much-anticipated ARTPOP album (and a corresponding app) on Nov. 11 Credit: Inez & Vinoodh
The wait is almost over! It's been five months since Lady Gaga canceled her Born This Way Ball tour to undergo hip surgery -- and more than two years since she released her last studio album -- but new music is finally on the horizon. On Friday, July 11, Mother Monster announced via a press release that the Haus of Gaga was once again open for business and would be releasing her new single on Aug. 19, followed by the ARTPOP album and app on Nov. 11.

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"The album ARTPOP musically mirrors Gaga's creative process as she passes through the mediums of each artist she collaborates with, scoring a blueprint of her journey," the release states. "The result, a 'rage' of electronic passion and fury, defining each artistic process from beginning to end, ARTPOP could mean anything. But for her, this is a celebration of obsession."

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The corresponding app, meanwhile, is described as "a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community -- 'the auras.'" Through it, users will be able to "build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once on November 11, our 'BIG BANG!'"

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The aim, the release states, is "to bring the music industry into a new age; an age where art drives pop, and the artist once again is in control of the 'icon.'"

The "Just Dance" singer, 27, has been hard at work on her upcoming album for months now. "Gaga has been writing some of the songs as they go," a source told Us Weekly recently. "She's been trying to make the music something fresh and beautiful."

BlackBerry Chief Admits Release of New Phones in U.S. Was Flawed

But Mr. Heins, speaking at the company’s annual meeting, told investors BlackBerry just needed more time for a turnaround — and he again sought their patience.

Not everyone was biting. One shareholder, referring to one of the new phones, the BlackBerry Z10, told Mr. Heins: “My sense is that the rollout of the Z10 was a disaster.”

“Were we perfect at the launch?” Mr. Heins responded. “Probably not. Was it a disaster? I don’t think so.”

After more than two years of development, the new phones and their new operating system were supposed to give BlackBerry smartphones capabilities similar to those of phones made by Apple and Samsung, the dominant forces in the market. But hopes have vanished that the new phones would swiftly increase market share in the United States — now just 0.9 percent, according to a survey from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Late last month, BlackBerry said that it had shipped just 2.7 million of the new models, about a million fewer than analysts expected. That disappointing news set BlackBerry’s stock sharply downward and eliminated the possibility that the annual meeting would be a turnaround celebration.

When Mr. Heins introduced the company’s new phones in New York this year, he spoke to an excited crowd, a situation that was repeated at a meeting this spring with enthusiastic developers. But on Tuesday, when he faced a crowd of shareholders and questions about the weak sales of those phones, the reception was far more muted.

And maybe that is the best he could have hoped for. A few weeks ago, when the shipment numbers were released, the company also reported an $84 million loss in the latest quarter. BlackBerry shares still have not recovered — and a chorus of harsh questions about the direction of the business have not gone away.

Mr. Heins again warned investors to expect more losses during the current quarter, while the company increases its spending on marketing and other promotions for the new BlackBerry 10 line of phones. And although the company has spent the last two years saying the phones were the centerpiece to its future, Mr. Heins repeatedly said on Tuesday that “we are not a devices-only company,” and he outlined his hopes for growth in its data services business.

He attributed the disappointing reception for BlackBerry 10 to the United States market.

“It is really a challenge in the U.S.,” Mr. Heins said at the meeting, which was webcast from the University of Waterloo in Ontario. When another shareholder asked him why the company had been unable to win over American investors, particularly ones based in New York, he said: “I would absolutely admit that this is an uphill battle.”

Richard Piasentin, the managing director of sales and marketing for the United States, left BlackBerry last month, Adam Emery, a spokesman for the company, said on Tuesday.

Some of problems with the BlackBerry 10 release seemed more related to the products than to advertising or lack of prominence in carriers’ stores, which had been cited as problems.

Some buyers of the Q10, a model that includes BlackBerry’s signature keyboard, have said they were disappointed to discover that it initially could not synchronize calendar and contact information with corporate systems that use Microsoft Outlook. Others discovered mail syncing issues that they had not had with previous BlackBerrys. And although BlackBerry continues to expand the apps offered for the phone, many important ones are missing, and assessments of their overall quality are mixed.

Among the disappointed was Mark R. McQueen, the president and chief executive of Wellington Financial in Toronto. While Mr. McQueen is a BlackBerry loyalist, his frustration with the Q10 became so great that he wrote two detailed posts enumerating its problems on his blog, which is widely followed in Canada’s financial community. He wrote that the phone’s shortcomings had prompted him to sell his BlackBerry shares at a loss.

“The sad reality is that BlackBerry management has failed to deliver on the incredibly modest expectations of someone who has held shares in the company, on and off, since the late 1990s,” Mr. McQueen wrote.

Many technology reviewers praised several features of the new phones. Mike Gikas, the senior editor for electronics at Consumer Reports, said the new phones were “pretty good but they don’t have the pizazz of top-shelf performers. No one’s dying for these phones.”

He said that whenever he was asked for his thoughts about the new BlackBerrys, “the next question is: ‘Do you think they’re going to be around?’ And that’s a consideration for people on a two-year contract.”

'Terminator' Reboot Gets Release Date

A new Terminator movie will hit theaters on June 26, 2015, Paramount announced Thursday, June 27.

Paramount, David Ellison's Skydance Pictures and Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures are partnering on the reboot of the franchise. The movie is intended as the first in a trilogy.

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The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by James Cameron, was released in 1984 and has spawned three sequels. The last of the movies, Terminator Salvation, was released in 2009 by Warner Bros. and grossed $371 million worldwide.

It's not clear what role, if any, Schwarzenegger would have in the reboot. He starred in the first three films and appeared briefly in Salvation, but he has not signed on to the untitled new film.

Twitter: @sajilpl

Build 2013 keynote: Microsoft unveils Windows 8.1, pledges 'rapid release' schedule

Microsoft formally unveiled Windows 8.1 to developers on Wednesday, with executives promising a “rapid release” schedule to keep the pace of new innovations coming.

 

For those who have read PCWorld’s hands-on of the Windows 8.1 preview, Microsoft’s announcements were nothing new. Executives confirmed the reworking of the Start menu, new boot-to-Desktop options, as well as a slew of updated apps that take advantage of Windows 8.1, which can be downloaded in preview form from preview.windows.com.

 

For Microsoft, the Build 2013 developer conference represents a chance to connect or reconnect with developers, luring them back to the Windows platform. Although Microsoft is nearing 100,000 Windows 8 apps, that still falls well short of the millions of apps that have been written for the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms.

 

For Steve Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft, the company is undergoing a transformation to a business that develops devices and services, and not just software. “And the only way that can happen is by a company undergoing a rapid-release schedule,” he said.

 

Although Ballmer and other Microsoft executives focused on Windows 8, they took a few moments to make a few announcements regarding Windows Phone, which provides an interface consistent with that of the other Windows platforms. “It’s beautiful, and it looks like the same software that we have on Windows tablets, Windows PCs, and our Xbox systems,” Ballmer said.

 

New Windows Phones will appear on Sprint. The big news for Windows Phone is that Sprint will add the HTC 8XT as well as the Samsung ATIV S Neo, meaning that Windows Phones will appear on all U.S. wireless carriers.

 

But whether it’s a phone or a tablet, smaller screens will become increasingly important, Ballmer said.

 

”The PC of today doesn’t look a lot like the PC of ...five or seven years ago,” Ballmer said, referring to an “explosion of new devices,” including small-form-factor tablets. Acer’s eight-inch ATIV tablet is “flying off the shelves,” Ballmer said, enabling kids to do homework and do a little bit of entertainment, too.

 

”This small form factor is very important,” Ballmer said.  “I wouldn’t call them PCs, but this small form factor is very important.”

 

Ballmer also promised that hardware makers would deliver Windows 8 devices with touchscreens, a capability that was neglected within early Windows 8 offerings. Consumers will see an “outpouring” of new devices that are notebook computers in every respect, and touch-enabled, Ballmer promised, Customers that have touch systems are much happier than non-touch-enabled customers, or Windows 7 customers, he said.

 

Ballmer showed off the Helix notebook from Lenovo, a Core i7 device with a full day’s worth of battery enabled with a keyboard dock.. “It literally makes it the most powerful PC, and the most powerful lightweight tablet... should we call it a PC? Should we call it a tablet? I’d call it all Windows, all the time,” Ballmer said.

 

Finally, Ballmer moved to the meat of the presentation, the changes that it had made to make Windows 8.1 a bit more consumer friendly—or in Ballmer’s words, to “refine the blend” between the Start page and the Desktop, among other changes.

 

Ballmer said that the way in which the Desktop and the Start page will be integrated will represent a better blend of both, with boot to Desktop, common backgrounds between the Desktop and the Start page, and other features bringing both together.

 

Combining the Desktop and Start pages "refines the blend," according to Steve Ballmer. Julie Larson-Green, who runs the Windows division at Microsoft, said she was proud of how responsive Microsoft’s engineering team had become.  The company had over 800 updates to the products since Microsoft launched Windows 8 last October, and Windows 8.1 is the biggest.

 

In portrait mode, the new Start screen works well on the new small-form-factor devices, Larson-Green said. The Twitter app has been designed for the new, smaller form factor. With Windows 8.1, she said that Microsoft had added gestures to the on-screen keyboard, where users can slide their fingers across, tap, and then the word appears. Users can also press and hold to access.

 

 

Microsoft's message at Build 2013 is that apps rule—both its own, and the ones created by third-party developers.

Larson-Green showed off the new Mail app, due in the fall. Users will be able to banish or Sweep emails from a certain sender, and then segregate automated emails, such as those from Facebook and Twitter, or subscribed newsletters, into their own folder.

 

Free music streaming from from Xbox Music will comes with Windows 8, Larson-Green said, together with the ability to create a playlist from music it finds on the Web, she said.

 

Larson-Green also showed off personalization features, such as the ability to show photos via the lock screen, the ability to take a Skype call from the lock screen, and Windows 8.1’s ability to add personalized backgrounds. She also briefly explained integrated photo editing, plus new apps including Food & Drink, which can be manipulated via hands-free mode. Basically, all the apps “in Windows 8.1 have either been written for Windows 8.1 or updated for it," she said. Those apps can be snapped together,  with four per widescreen monitor.

 

Ballmer also emphasized that new apps for Windows 8 were on the way. “It’s gratifying to me that developers are doing really great work for Windows 8."

Larson-Green also showed off a preview of alpha code for PowerPoint, designed for the Modern experience on both Windows RT and Windows 8. Microsoft did not say when the full release for Office, within the Modern environment, would be released.

Antoine Leblond took the stage to unveil the improvements in Windows 8.1 for developers, which will be described in 100 sessions or so across the conference.
 

Visual Studio 2013 is also operating at a faster release cadence, Leblond explained. Devs can download the preview version of VIsual Studio 2013 today, he said, including new features that measure power, assist in asynchronous debugging of code, and send notifications via Windows Azure.
 

Facebook is finally coming to Windows 8.
Ballmer also emphasized that new apps for Windows 8 were on the way. “It’s gratifying to me that developers are doing really great work for Windows 8,” he said, including Flipboard for WIndows 8, NFL Fantasy Football. Most importantly, Facebook will bring an app to the Windows 8 platform, he said, eliminating the need to pin a shortcut to the Start menu.

Leblond also unveiled tiled resources, using a model of Mars made up of actual data from NASA. Normally, the graphics card would load all of the data, and downsample the data, he said. As the user would zoom in, the detail would become fuzzy. If put inside a game context, the result is an incredibly detailed game experience, Leblond said.
 

Leblond also showed off a Windows tablet working with a unreleased version of LEGO MindStorms, and showed off the capability of WIndows 8.1 to manage 3D printing.
 

Leblond also highlighted a new Samsung ATIV with the highest-resolution 13-inch display on the market, with an 8-hour battery life, and the Acer Aspire P3, about 0.25 inches thick, with a wireless keyboard that doubles as a touch cover. The Acer Aspire v5 offers high-quality touch for under $400, he said. Leblond also highlighted a Dell Windows RT tablet with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip inside, and a whopping 18 hours of battery life, with the keyboard. Finally, there's the Dell XPS ET, an all-in-one that weighs less than five pounds and promises seven hours of battery life.
 

Ballmer said that the company continually wins blind “taste tests” between its Bing search engine and Google’s search engine, with the “shell experience” of search within Windows 8.1 powered by Bing. But search has increasingly become an enabling technology, rather than just a destination.
 

"Search is not just a list of links, it's things you can do," Larson-Green said.
 

Gurdeep Singh Pall, a corporate vice president for Bing, said that the search engine’s share continues to climb, currently up to 17.4-percent market share. Developers know that Bing is an incredible product, but they want more, Pall said.
 

”For a long time we’ve had this vision that we can enable all these new experiences,” Pall said.
 

For developers, the “unbounded knowledge of the Web” is now available, Pall said, connecting the real world and the Web via Bing APIs and controls. Pall showed off technology that allowed users to take a virtual tour of Valencia, Spain, using Bing and the power of Bing Maps. Windows 8.1 Maps will come with 3D capability, Pall said, via a 3D control that can be added inside applications.
 

New 3D capabilities will be added to Bing Maps. Pall didn’t brag about it, but the 3D maps puts Bing back on pace with Apple and Google in 3D mapping applications, instead of just using its traditional “bird’s eye” view.  Pall also showed off integration with Bing to search out more information on a famous Valencia architect, as well as Bing’s translation capabilities, all designed to add the information to a sample travel app Microsoft developers.
 

”I believe that apps will have eyes, they have ears, they will have mouths,” Pall said, all with the idea that apps should be enhanced with additional capabilities.
 

Microsoft executives ended the keynote by showing off Project Spark, both a game and a development environment through which gamers can create their own virtual worlds for the Xbox One game console and PCs.

Twitter: @sajilpl
 

Cinedigm and Demarest Launch Partnership With Release of 'Short Term 12'

South by Southwest 2013 Grand Jury and audience winner Short Term 12 will be the first movie released under a new co-acquisition and distribution partnership between Demarest Films and Cinedigm, it was announced Tuesday.

Short Term 12, a drama about a twentysomething woman (Brie Larson) working in a foster home, will be theatrically released by Cinedigm on Aug. 23 and will be released in ancillary markets in early 2014. The film also stars Kaitlyn Dever, John Gallagher Jr., Rami Malek and newcomer Keith Stanfield.

The companies envision doing expanded independent film acquisitions, marketing and distribution in the future.

“This arrangement is truly unique as it’s not a traditional distribution or production relationship – it’s a fully fledged partnership that allows us to share equally in the upsides of our indie films, from theatrical all the way throught the vast ancillary opportunities our distribution expertise and infrastructure provides,” says Cinedigm CEO Chris McGurk. “It’s great to be working with such an innovative team, and this arrangement should expand acquisition opportunities for both parties in the future.”

“Cinedigm is on the cutting edge of the independent film renaissance, and we are thrilled to be partnering with them and tapping into the vast potential that digital distribution provides,” said Sam Englebardt, co-founder and CEO of Demarest Films, adding: “We expect this to be the first of many films that we co-release with Cinedigm and a model that we are excited to replicate with other distribution partners as well.”