Security of VPN Tools under Criticism

Warnings help the VPN Industry

Through numerous warnings in Germany and later worldwide, even ordinary computer users have shown increasing interest in VPN. Keyword music and movie downloads with torrent software. From 2007 to 2016, the waves of warnings have helped the VPN industry to grow considerably. Below you can see the trend very well: Continue reading →

Data gloves can be used to visualize movements in a virtual environment. But so far they have hardly been able to convey touch. A new data glove now also gives users haptic feedback. If the virtual finger touches a virtual object, the real finger also receives feedback from the glove within fractions of a second. You can imagine what effect this will have on VR Sex.

With a new type of data glove, wearers can feel the shape of virtual objects. South Korean researchers have developed a glove weighing almost 160 grams that enables haptic feedback. The team presents the device, which they tested on a virtual chess program, in the scientific journal “Scientific Reports”. Such data gloves could not only make games more realistic in the future, but could also help in the training of surgeons.

Read more about VR at https://www.pocket-lint.com/ar-vr/news/136540-what-is-vr-virtual-reality-explained

In simulations of a virtual reality (VR), special headsets have so far provided visual impressions of an environment, while data gloves have transmitted the user’s movements to a screen. However, the gloves have hardly provided any haptic feedback so far, writes Youngsu Cha’s team from Korea University in Seoul. At best, wearers could feel rough surfaces.

Electrical signals are converted into pressure

The researchers now present a lightweight data glove with which wearers can feel the shape of virtual objects. Similar to previous, similar gloves, flexible sensors made of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) register the movements of the wearer on three fingers: the diffraction of the finger changes the electrical voltage at the sensor. The resulting movement pattern is transmitted via Bluetooth in real time to the virtual hand on the screen.

Now the feedback is new: If the virtual finger touches a virtual object, the real finger also receives feedback from the glove within fractions of a second. This is ensured by a soft pneumatic actuator – a unit that converts electrical signals into pressure. “Soft actuators have various advantages, including low weight and flexibility,” the researchers write.

Testing the Oculus Quest: Virtual reality without cables

The actuators attached to the fingertips are made of the commercially available silicone rubber Ecoflex. They each have a diameter of 15 millimeters, a height of 5 millimeters and weigh 0.57 grams. They are made up of a central part and an outer ring. If the virtual finger touches a virtual object, the actuator switches on. Then electrical voltage shifts air from the outer ring to the center, which bulges the silicone by about a tenth of a millimeter, which the wearer feels at the tip of the finger. When the virtual object – the jumper’s chessman in the experiment – is released, the actuator switches itself off again.

The data glove weighs a total of 156 grams. “We expect that the glove we developed will be combined in several ways with different VR software,” the team writes.

Significant progress, but commercial use takes time

Holger Böse of the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research (ISC) in Würzburg, Germany, speaks of a significant progress compared to earlier approaches with much higher weight and bulky structure. The scientific and technical director of the Smart Materials Center at the ISC says that the shape of an object can be seen even better with the device if more actuators can be felt with the fingers.

“The road to commercial use is still long,” emphasizes Böse. In addition to playing games, future applications could include preparing surgeons for operations during their training or simulating assembly processes in factories and thus optimizing them.

 

Since 1 April 2018 you can access the Netflix media library EU-wide. We have all the information and tell you what you can do against geoblocking outside the EU.

Those who wanted to watch Netflix abroad so far had a surprise, because they could only access the media library of the respective country. Movies and series were no longer in German and there was no possibility to add a German subtitle. Responsible for this was the so-called geoblocking, which limited Netflix access to the country you were in. VPN software is often used to unblock this content.

These times have been over since April 1, 2018. The European Parliament passed a law in May 2017 that finally abolished geoblocking. From now on you can access the German Netflix media library in every country of the EU and stream all films and series without restrictions. “What is paid must also be allowed to be watched,” said SPD member of parliament Tiemo Wölken, explaining the verdict. In our other articles you can find the best series on Netflix and the new Netflix releases.

Repeal only with restrictions

In order to prevent abuse, however, the lifting of geoblocking is only ever valid for a limited period of time, such as holidays or business trips. Unfortunately, legislation has so far failed to define the length of this limited period. Is it two weeks? A month? It should have been a little more precise. Netflix writes on an info page: “In countries of the European Union, we offer you the same content as in your home country for a limited period of time. When this limited period is over, you will be notified by us. You will then be given access to the titles available in the country to which you have travelled. We will, of course, inform you of the time.

1. In addition, the EU-wide lifting of geoblocking applies only in one direction: you can access the German Netflix media library from abroad, but not the contents of other countries from Germany.
2. That this will one day be possible doesn’t seem so absurd. Karolina Wojtal, lawyer at the European Consumer Centre Germany, is of the opinion: “The next step must be to grant consumers access to offers that are only available in another Member State.
3. At the moment, EU citizens are in many cases still limited to their own country.

What can you do outside the EU against geoblocking?

Outside the EU, the country block will remain in place. To avoid this, many users use VPN services like “ExpressVPN”, “NordVPN” or “VyprVPN” to make Netflix believe that the user is still in Germany. These tools have a free trial period before they cost between five and ten euros a month. However, by using these services you are in a legal grey area. In general jurisdiction, the use of a VPN tool to bypass a geo-block is not considered “bypassing an effective protective measure”. As long as, as with Netflix, it is only a stream and not a download, there is no legal copyright infringement. Despite from VPN there are also smartdns provider, read more here to learn about the difference.

However, bypassing the country block clearly violates Netflix’s own terms and conditions, as the streaming service has its own license to its content in each country. If you are caught using a Netflix VPN tool, the company theoretically has the right to delete your account and lock you out. In practice, however, no such cases are known.

The BTC price briefly reached 8,750 USD this morning and is again close to the 9,000 USD mark. But not only the Bitcoin course develops positively in the last weeks and months. Bitcoin’s fundamentals and the interest of institutional investors also seem to be on the right track.

The improved fundamentals and the increasing interest of large investors in BTC could influence the volatility and price development of future rallies and corrections.

Bitcoin Fundamentals Let BTC Price Rise

Aaron Brown, the author of a commentary article recently published in Bloomberg, believes that the next Bitcoin price rally could be even stronger. He cites the improved fundamentals and global financial products surrounding Bitcoin as the reason. The BTC is less likely to be driven up by greed and FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Also BTC is beeing used now for gambling in casinos too.

According to Brown, the behaviour of the crypto market is unlikely to change immediately. There will continue to be an extreme price boom and slump. This is mainly due to the small market, which can be influenced with little capital. If the Bitcoin price rallies from the past should repeat themselves, then the BTC price will rise to 60,000 – 400,000 USD and then briefly collapse again. Most people are using popular exchanges like bitseven to buy bitcoins, more on bestbitcoinexchange.net.

Bitcoin Dominance and Market Capitalization

Brown argues that the last two bullruns in 2013 and 2017 were driven primarily by private investors and that 2019 will be very different. The current market capitalisation of all crypto currencies is USD 260 billion.

By comparison, market capitalization was USD 1 billion in 2013 and USD 17 billion in 2017. This is mainly due to the emergence of thousands of Altcoins in recent years. In 2013 the Bitcoin dominance was still 95%, at the beginning of 2017 85% and currently only 56%. Bitcoin still has the market under control but not as it did a few years ago.

Interest in Bitcoin and Crypto is growing with large companies

In addition, today there are significantly more investors in crypto currencies and the entire infrastructure. In 2018, more than USD 30 billion of institutional and invested capital went into building new platforms. This trend seems to us to continue. A lot of money continues to flow into the development of new projects.

There is also more clarity at the regulatory level. The first regulations are slowly taking effect and are bringing some order to the wild Crypto West. Companies such as Facebook, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity that invest in the sector are also strengthening Bitcoin and the crypto market as a whole, as well as increasing confidence.

Bitcoin price will lose volatility and become more stable

Although the development seems more than robust, Brown warns that this does not rule out the possibility of a new bubble and a crash. In his opinion, the market will at some point decrease in volatility and generate “predictable” returns and then “only” collapse by 20%.

In the past, the Bitcoin price and thus the entire crypto market collapsed by more than 85% after a bubble. But that would certainly also ensure that the next bubbles would no longer be so massive.
Bitcoin correlation with S&P 500

Another possibility to analyze the Bitcoin price development is the correlation of Bitcoin with the S&P 500 index. This gives an interesting outlook on the Bitcoin share price development in 2019. The more the correlation for a quarter is at zero, the more Bitcoin tends towards average high returns in the following quarter. However, volatility also increases enormously.

On the other hand, if Bitcoin reacts to fundamental data independently of the correlation, average returns tend to be lower or even negative.

Does the Bitcoin price break the USD 9,000 barrier through fundamentals?

For these reasons, Brown believes that the upcoming Bitcoin price cycle may be different than in previous years. He expects the BTC price to increasingly respond to news about Bitcoin Fundamentals over the summer, rather than pure FOMO.

We are currently on the threshold of USD 9,000. In the last attempt to break through the strong resistance zone, the Bitcoin price was pushed below 7,500 USD. Now it goes into the next round.

If the 9,000 USD can be cracked, then we could scratch the 10,000 USD mark within a few days. The positive development of the Bitcoin fundamentals could boost the BTC price development. It remains exciting. We will keep you up to date.

Geoblocking refers to the blocking of multimedia content in certain countries due to licensing regulations. This could be a music video on YouTube or the streaming of series or sports events. Messages such as “This content is not available in your country” are the frequent and annoying consequence.

The EU has reformed legislation on country blocking and geoblocking. According to the EU portability regulation, providers who have acquired content in an EU country since then must also make it available to users in all other countries of the European Union.

• So you can stream your favourite series while on holiday or business trip. However, geoblocking is not completely abolished: the legislator has only prescribed this regulation for paid programmes.
• Subscriptions from payment service providers such as Netflix, Maxdome, Amazon Prime or Sky Go are covered by this regulation.
• However, free media libraries, such as those of ARD and ZDF, do not. Here it depends on the provider whether he allows streaming from abroad.

Where do I find information about geoblocking?

• fm4v3.orf.at
• Icharts.net
• Ventsmagazine.com
• https://www.my-private-network.co.uk/what-is-geo-blocking/
• http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-geoblocking-13057

Similar to roaming charges within the EU, the regulation only affects groups of people who are temporarily abroad. Users who move permanently to another EU country must continue to expect to be blocked after a certain period of use.

Ways to avoid geoblocking

Streaming fans avoid this problem by using a proxy server. The intermediary forwards their request. The streaming provider then no longer sees the IP address of the user, but that of the proxy server. If the proxy server is located in a country where the desired content can be retrieved, nothing stands in the way of the pleasure. In the meantime, however, this method no longer works in every case, since the IP addresses of many such intermediaries are now known to the providers and are blocked. In addition, proxies may pass on the real IP under certain circumstances.

Do not search for a proxy server for every application: Use VPN service

A VPN service (virtual private network) permanently maintains a connection to the provider’s server. This usually requires special software. Thanks to this software, neither the Internet provider nor the website accessed can see your actual IP address. Instead, only the IP address of the VPN provider is visible. In addition, the server’s location information is transmitted instead of its own.

In this way, users receive free content from a media library or previously paid for content, such as video-on-demand offers from Netflix or sports broadcasts via Sky Go, even if this would not be possible from the actual location due to geoblocking. Of course, it is necessary for these latter offers to have a corresponding subscription with the provider.

The use of a VPN tool to circumvent such a geo-blocking does not legally constitute circumvention of an effective protective measure by the provider. Streaming in this way is therefore permitted. The providers can see this differently and exclude this procedure in their general terms and conditions. Apart from a new blockade, however, users have nothing to fear when using the service. The probability that providers such as Sky Go, Netflix or Amazon Prime will block paying customers is rather low.

Can be used on different devices

The majority of VPN services offer customers simultaneous use on several, usually up to five devices, such as PC, laptop, smartphone and tablet, after booking a tariff.

 

With a live chat software you can easily address the visitors of your website. We looked at many different programs and compared the top three: Zopim vs Olark vs LivePerson. Below you will find our recommendation and a detailed comparison of costs, features, usability and expansion options.

In this article we compare Zopim LivePerson and Olark but there are a lot more support chat tool provider on the market.

Zopim vs Olark vs LivePerson: Who is the best live chat provider?

Zopim offers you lots of advanced tools that would cost you hundreds of dollars if you purchased them from other providers. For example, you can view a wide range of analyses of website visitors, store pre-formulated responses to speed up conversations, allow customers to email themselves a transcript of the chat, and much more. LivePerson has similar tools, but they are about 10x more expensive. Olark is inexpensive, but you won’t get any of these advanced features.

Zopim also had the best user interface for chatting and viewing reports. Most of all, I liked the fact that you can review past conversations you had with customers without leaving the chat window. You can also save notes about the customers that are displayed when you reconnect to the same IP address.

Finally, 2-page extensions are supported with numerous CRMs, including Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Sugar CRM, and Highrise and ZenDesk (for customer service). This means that not only can you get CRM data when you contact an existing contact, but you can also store information about the CRM directly from Zopim.

When to use Olark

Olark is perfectly suited for companies in eCommerce. It is the only program of those we evaluated that could be integrated into eCommerce platforms. This includes Shopify, Bigcommerce, Magento, Volusion and many more. This gives us the opportunity to see what’s in customers’ shopping carts as you talk to them so you can advertise, offer complementary products or help them find the products they’re looking for.

Olark is also one of the more affordable programs – it costs $17/month for 1 user or $49/month for 4 users. The disadvantage of this program is that I found the speed of the interface slower than with Zopim and LivePerson.

When to use LivePerson

LivePerson has a free version that impressively has all the core features. While Zopim’s free account is limited to 1 chat, LivePerson offers you an unlimited number of chats. They also have an appealing interface with numerous advanced tools, including pre-formulated answers, auto email transcripts and a tool that detects when a customer is dissatisfied. The disadvantage here is the paid version. Once you subscribe to it, you pay almost ten times as much as for Zopim.

Detailed rating: Zopim vs Olark vs LivePerson:

Zopim and Olark have comparable prices: 56 $/month and 49 $/month respectively for 4 users. LivePerson, on the other hand, is significantly more expensive, with about $545/month for the same number of users. And that’s the reason:

Zopim has several different editions. The free version offers limited functionality for 1 user: You can only open 1 chat at a time and cannot save triggers. These are rules for interaction with the customer, such as “Open chat window when customer was inactive for 30 seconds”.

The basic version offers an unlimited number of chats and 2 triggers for $14/user/month (or $11.20 for annual payment). The enhanced version offers an unlimited number of triggers and more detailed chat reports for $25/user/month (or $20 for annual payment). There is also a premium version that gives you even more detailed reports and the ability to make your chat window unbranded. This version costs $55/user/month (or $44 for annual payment).

Olark also has several different editions. All give you the same main features, with the difference in the number of users. This program starts at $17/month for one user and continues at $49/month for 4 users. For 129 $/month 8 users can use the program and you can divide the users into groups. For 243 $/month you get 15 user licenses and access to telephone support.

There is a 10% discount on all prices if you choose an annual contract or a 30% discount on a 2-year contract.

LivePerson has a free version with full access for 1 user. For the other versions, the price is determined by how many calls you make per month. You do not pay per user. 1 call = 1 “commitment”. You pay for a certain number of engagements per month:

• 20 $/month – 12 commitments
• 50 $/month – 30 commitments
• $92/month – 55 exposures
• 166 $/month – 100 exposures
• 298 $/month – 180 exposures
• 545 $/month – 330 exposures

Note: The price is approximately 10% lower if you pay annually.

So if you expect 11 conversations, or “engagements”, per day (330 per month), you will have to pay $545 per month. This makes LivePerson significantly more expensive than the other programs that offer you unlimited calls and are billed per user.

Features

Here are the functions you get with all 3 programs:

• A personalizable icon, which you can place on your website and with which your users can open a chat window by clicking on it.
• You can set the style, color, size, position and much more.
• Targeting Rules to determine when the live chat icon should appear. For example, to nudge visitors to your website after they have been inactive for 30 seconds, or to exclude customers from certain countries from live chat, etc.
• An online dashboard and mobile app for you and your employees to log in and communicate with your visitors. The chat window provides you with information such as location, search activity, time of visit, visitor’s IP address, and much more.
• Chat Tools, which have the function to transfer the chat to another operator or to block a visitor. You can also browse a history of past conversations.
• Support for most world languages, including reverse languages such as Arabic.
• Reports on visitors, chats, operators, and more.
• Extensions with CRMs, HelpDesks and eCommerce platforms.

In addition to these core features, there are tools such as pre-formulated responses, chat transcripts that can be sent by email, and more. Zopim and LivePerson have the most advanced tools, while Olark works on a more elementary level.

This is how the programs compare:

Zopim is peppered with advanced tools. On the one hand, you can use pre-formulated answers. These are already stored statements that the operator can use in the chat. For this purpose you simply have to start typing something and Zopim suggests suitable statements.

On the other hand, Zopim gives visitors a choice of chat tools. You can make the chat window disappear, attach files, send the chat transcript to your email address and rate the operator you spoke to.

Some reports are only available to advanced users ($25/month) and premium users ($55/month). These are, for example, the satisfaction ranking and the duration of the chat.

We have long become accustomed to devices communicating with each other. With a smartphone, we turn on the heating and the printer orders new toner on its own. This makes security solutions for data traffic in the IoT all the more important. Predictive maintenance, constant networking, all devices automatically connected: a beautiful new world? In any case – if it is secure and nobody has to fear for their data. The more “things” are networked in the Internet of Things (IoT), the more important end-to-end security solutions become. The cycle in which data is collected, processed and passed on is already difficult to keep track of today.

Not least through digital assistance systems such as Alexa, Siri and Google Home, networking is penetrating deep into the privacy of users. The IoT also involves risks for companies, which can ultimately be much more serious than in the private sector. Sensitive data must be shared with service providers and suppliers – how do you keep control? Operational processes must not be interrupted, otherwise it not only costs a lot of money but also trust. It is very important to install a VPN on all your devices, xbox (VPNXBOX.COM), iphone (IPHONEVPN.NET), and so on.

In order to send data securely in the IoT and to minimize security risks for all users, universally applicable security solutions for data traffic must be developed that guarantee a sufficiently high level of security, can be used together with all partners in the “value chain”, but can also be implemented technically and economically with justifiable effort. But this is precisely what is currently lacking: standards.

At the same time, the market is booming, for example in the area of Smart Living: the Smart Living office of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) estimates that a global market volume of up to 30 billion euros can be expected for 2021. A volume of 4.14 billion euros is forecast for Germany. Numerous communication concepts, many of which are still proprietary, are in competition with each other.

Dynamic Environment

In this dynamic environment, it is currently also the start-ups that offer solutions for secure data traffic in the IoT. Like PHYSEC, a young company based in Bochum that has already received several awards for its innovative solutions. They have specialised in applied cryptography at the IoT and are working successfully on innovative security and connectivity concepts.

The participants of the CIO Soirée were unanimous: “Without a cloud it is not possible today and in the rarest cases it is done with a single cloud. Find out how CIOs are shaping the multi-cloud.

The founders know that reliable IT security will have the greatest impact on the acceptance and further growth of the IoT market. So they developed the IoTree platform, which enables manufacturers to digitize items and connect them to the Internet. The platform also provides easy-to-use tools for truly secure encryption of this communication. The security solution focuses on creating an authentic and secure connection between the objects involved using individual cryptographic keys that are renewed regularly.

More innovation needed

For the digitization of products, processes and production, the integrity and security of data is the decisive success factor. Users – both private and commercial – rightly want complete sovereignty over their data. New business models can only be successful in the IoT if these requirements are met. In order to promote secure innovations, especially for private users, the “Founder’s Competition – Digital Innovations” of the BMWi – in which the founders of PHYSEC were also successful – has launched a special Smart Living prize.

The IoT of the future will be based even more strongly on sensors than on the fact that we ourselves monitor and control the processes in our personal environment on our smartphones. In the Smart Living area, this can be well illustrated by the simple example that the heating automatically adjusts itself when all residents have left the house.

• But the less we know that things are communicating with each other, the more we depend on it to happen safely.
• Increasingly powerful methods of artificial intelligence are available to delegate decisions from humans to machines.
• These will find their way into applications for everyone. Therefore, solutions must be found that are not only functional, but also reliably safe.