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Facing a shrinking market for personal computers and a stalled market for tablets, Intel on Tuesday unveiled its 7th-generation processors, code-named "Kaby Lake," which deliver more speed and power than its 6th-generation chipsets, while improving battery efficiency.

Intel has positioned the new Kaby Lake chipsets as ideal for the immersive Internet. Their 14 nm+ technology delivers 12 percent increases in productivity and 19 percent faster Web performance, compared to year-ago processors.

The new processors will allow customers to create their own premium 4K UHD video and 360-degree content, said Navin Shenoy, general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group, and they'll be able to share it at a rate 15 times faster than is possible with typical 5-year-old personal computers.

Graphics capabilities will be three-times more powerful than on those older PCs, Shenoy said, and the new Thunderbolt 3 technology will enable a single connection for an external graphics dock and 4K UHD monitors.

More than 100 different 2-in-1 mobile computing devices and laptops using the new chipsets are expected in September, he said. Desktops and enterprise PCs with the new processors are coming in early 2017.

Intel and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on Tuesday announced that ULTRA will be available on computers powered by the new 7th generation processors in the first quarter 2017. ULTRA, SPHE's 4K movie streaming service, earlier this year launched on Sony 4K televisions.

In connection with the availability of Kaby Lake chipsets on computing devices, SPHE will offer new features like 10-minute previews and 48-hour rentals.

Baby Steps

Kaby Lake is just an incremental improvement over Intel's earlier Skylake processors, according to Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

The company often compares Kaby Lake's performance capabilities with those of 5-year-old PCs to rationalize the upgrade to the latest CPU, he told TechNewsWorld.

"Intel may get a bump from Apple and other PC vendors that choose to skip Skylake if they choose to use [Kaby Lake]" said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

However, the introduction of the 7th Gen Intel Core processors "does not change the competitive landscape," he told TechNewsWorld, "especially in segments outside the PC where Intel still faces challenges from other incumbent solutions."

Hardware vendors will be cautious about developing new devices with the Kaby Lake refresh, predicted Jitesh Ubrani, a senior research analyst for WW mobile device trackers at IDC.

The Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 were among the first devices to launch with the Skylake processors, he noted.

"At launch, those devices were plagued with firmware issues resulting from the Skylake processors," Ubrani told TechNewsWorld. "I would imagine the vendors would exercise a bit more caution this time around."

Microsoft is collaborating with Intel on Windows Holographic, according to Michael Fortin, corporate vice president, Windows and Devices Group Core Quality, who touted the 7th generation Intel processors, the newest OEM devices and Windows 10 as producing the best user experiences.

Same Game

In terms of the impact on gaming, it's questionable how big a driver the new Intel processors will be.

"We love to see advances in processor technology but do not think this is a big leap for gamers," said Ted Pollak, senior gaming analyst at Jon Peddie Research.

Intel has claimed that the flagship Kaby Lake i7-7700K processor will speed up 4K video and video editing, compared to the Skylake i7-6700K. However, the 7700K actually has a slower nominal clock speed at @3.6ghz versus 4.00ghz, but the same boost frequency at 4.2ghz as the 6700K, Pollak pointed out.

Games that respond to higher clock speeds tend to be heavy in artificial intelligence and physics, he noted, so simulation titles like ARMA 3 and Elite Dangerous, and open world titles with heavy physics, like Battlefield, may not see a big processing advantage. For mainstream titles and other AAA games, including e-sports, CPUs are becoming less important than GPUs for game quality.

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AMD, which has been clawing its way out of the doldrums, recently showcased its octacore, 16-thread Summit Ridge desktop processor featuring its Zen core in a performance match-up against Intel's octacore Broadwell-E Core i7-6900K CPU.

The two similarly configured processors were locked at 3 GHz for the test, in which they ran the multithreaded Blender rendering application, in a demo presented earlier this month in San Francisco.

AMD's Summit Ridge outperformed the Intel processor.

"They showed a benchmark where, under the conditions they set, they came up neck and neck with Broadwell, which is Intel's highest-performing chip," acknowledged Martin Reynolds, a Gartner distinguished analyst.

However, "that doesn't guarantee you great performance," he told TechNewsWorld.

Souped-Up Pinto

On the other hand, AMD "fixed all of the things that were obviously wrong with the previous generation," Reynolds pointed out, adding full dual-thread capability and dramatically improving cache bandwidth.

"This is like taking your Ford Pinto and giving it eight cylinders, making sure it has a really good fuel and air injection system, and giving it proper controls," he observed.

Zen is based on a clean-sheet design. It has a new cache hierarchy, improved branch prediction, and simultaneous multithreading. It will scale to meet a broad range of use cases, from fanless 2-in-1s to embedded systems, high-performance computing and data centers, AMD noted.

AMD hasn't begun to focus, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

However, "it's likely this part will do better than Intel on some loads and not as well on others -- that has yet to be determined," he told TechNewsWorld.

Picking Up Steam

AMD underclocked the Intel Broadwell to match Summit Ridge in the demo -- the Broadwell is clocked at 3.6 GHz, noted Kevin Krewell, a principal analyst at Tirias Research.

"We expect AMD will be able to match or exceed the Intel clock speeds when [Summit Ridge] ships in early 2017," he told TechNewsWorld.

AMD also demoed the 32-core, 64-thread Zen-based Naples server processor, in a dual-processor server running Windows Server, at the San Francisco event.

Both processors demoed are CPU-only, which is unusual for AMD.

"AMD wanted to ... give a further glimpse of where we are in development of our next-gen product, and take the opportunity to demonstrate a variety of combinations," spokesperson Jay Marsden told TechNewsWorld.

The company "has been strong on having graphics and the chipset together, but this is not an APU -- it doesn't have the graphics on the chip," Gartner's Reynolds noted.

That makes it easier to debug the processor and "tells us they're designing the processor to go after high-performance segments -- server sockets and high-end gaming," he suggested.

AMD will ship the Naples server in Q2 2017, and an APU processor with integrated graphics for the mobile and small form factor in 2H 2017. Processors for the embedded market will include both CPU-only items and APUs.

Zen Processor Caveats

"The Zen core achieved a 40 percent generational improvement in instructions per cycle, but IPC is not a good measure," Reynolds said.

The speed at which a processor works is determined by how much time it spends waiting for instructions, so "even a really good processor might spend 40 percent of its time sitting around," he pointed out, "and if you make it twice as fast, that means it's waiting around twice as long."

Further, Blender is "heavy on floating point," Reynolds noted, "We didn't get any kind of spread benchmark. The waiting around needs to be dealt with, and we need to see multiple benchmarks."

The Zen core has dedicated PCIe lanes for cutting-edge USB, graphics, data, and other I/O, so it won't take lanes from other devices and components, AMD said.

"Without dedicated lanes, devices can compete for resources, lowering performance," Enderle explained.

Until the processors are independently tested, "this is more of a showcase of what the product may do, and not yet what it will do," he cautioned, but OEMS "are unusually excited about [the Zen core], which tends to suggest there is fire under all this smoke."

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Nextdoor last week rolled out to all 110,000 of its neighborhoods a new form-based process for making crime and safety reports.

Implementation of the tool reduced incidents of racial profiling by 75 percent in areas where it was tested, according to CEO Nirav Tolia.

Nextdoor's Motivation

Some Nextdoor members had begun using the site to post messages targeting racial minorities, according to reports that began surfacing last year.

For example, users in Oakland, California, frequently posted vague warnings about suspicious activity focusing on black citizens walking down the street, driving a car, or knocking on a door, the East Bay Express reported.

The key principles driving Nextdoor's approach:

• Define a high bar for racial profiling. Nextdoor worked with community members, law enforcement, and outside experts to develop a definition that makes sense in the neighborhood context;
• Encourage members to stop and think before posting. Members are taken through a multistep process that, among other things, encourages them to question whether disregarding race or ethnicity would affect their assessment of an activity as suspicious;
• Require responsible and useful posting. Members are cautioned against casting suspicion over an entire race or ethnic group;
• Leverage the community to create quick feedback loops. Members are urged to flag instances of racial profiling so they can be removed quickly; and
• Test, learn and improve features. Though it has carried out extensive tests and analyses, Nextdoor is far from done, noted Tolia.

"If Nextdoor.com is holding itself open as a public forum where freedom of speech is the rule, then this sort of screening for racial profiling is actually inappropriate," suggested Michael Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

"This sort of governance implicitly acknowledges that Nextdoor.com is not a public forum where free speech is guaranteed," he told TechNewsWorld.

Pinning Down Racial Profiling

Because there is no universally accepted definition of the term "racial profiling," attempts to combat it often are viewed as subjective and tend to stir up emotions.

"If it's bias against a particular ethnicity, then it's probably bad," Jude said, "but if it's a statement of fact -- the guy I saw breaking the window was black, white, brown ... then it's an objective observation."

That type of description is problematic, according to Nextdoor, because it doesn't provide sufficient information to make an identification, but it does cast suspicion on every person of the specified gender and race who might be in the neighborhood for legitimate reasons.

Nextdoor is "trying to get this right, but every service is limited by the people that use it," remarked Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"No service will be able to overcome anyone's deeply held beliefs," he told TechNewsWorld.

"I'd push harder for pictures," Enderle suggested, which "are generally better than any description."

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Fitbit on Monday announced two new fitness trackers with sleeker looks, more durable construction and greater data-gathering capabilities.

The Fitbit Charge 2, priced at US$149.95, features continuous heart-rate tracking. It uses the data to generate a cardio fitness score and provides guidance for improving it over time.

The Charge 2 displays real-time exercise stats, connects to the GPS in a smartphone, and has a set of advanced sensors that make it easier to track activity throughout a day.

Its Relax feature guides users through two- or three-minute deep breathing sessions.

The Fitbit Flex 2, which sells for $99.95, is 30 percent smaller than previous models and can be paired with bands in a variety of colors. Optional accessories include a bangle priced at $99.95 for gold or rose gold, or $89.95 for stainless steel. A pendant is available for $99.95 in gold or $79.95 in stainless steel.

Flex 2 is water-resistant to a depth of 50 meters and can collect data from swimming sessions, such as pool laps, duration and calories burned.

In addition, Flex 2 will track fitness stats from walks, runs and workouts. It will remind users to move when they've been stationary for too long a time.

A simplified LED uses color-coded lights to display daily progress toward fitness goals.

More Than a Step Counter

Fitbit isn't losing any time incorporating the latest tech advances into its fitness tracking line, suggested Ryan Martin, a senior analyst at ABI Research.

"Fitbit is not only reinvigorating its roots, but tapping into some more opportunities in the market that might be there because of better hardware," he told TechNewsWorld.

Fitbit's step-counting-only days appear to be behind it.

"With its new products, Fitbit continues to expand beyond step-tracking to a wide range of fitness-tracking activities," noted Ross Rubin, senior director for industry analysis at App Annie.

"Of particular interest is the move into lifestyle or mental well-being with breathing exercises. This offers the opportunity to expand the appeal of the device to an audience beyond step-counters," he told TechNewsWorld.

"The Charge 2, in particular, reflects increased competition with smartwatches," added Rubin. "Indeed, some of its features have appeared earlier in smartwatches."

By adding capabilities to its hardware, Fitbit also will boost the popularity of its mobile app, he said, which has been No. 1 for the past year in the health and fitness categories for both iOS and Android.

As device gathers more data, users need to check the status of that data more often.

"That provides more opportunities to drive usage of the app and increase loyalty," Rubin said.

Truly Wearable Wearable

Fitbit's new devices are more wearable than wearables in the past, maintained ABI's Martin.

"Wearable suggests a device can be worn all the time. When that happens, you get a lot more value out of the software applications that you run," he said.

"If you need to take a device off at the end of every day, that isn't that wearable," Martin explained, "but if you can wear it for a few days without taking it off, then it is wearable."

With the design changes in the new Fitbit products, fitness tracking can become a 24-hour-a-day process, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

"Fitbit should be congratulated for upping its overall game, but these moves are also critically important from a competitive standpoint," he told TechNewsWorld.

Problematic Pricing?

Pricing could be an issue for Fitbit in the long-run.

"The fact that Fitbit continues to price it's Flex 2 at $99 must reflect that they trust their brand," said Roeen Roashan, a senior analyst at IHS Markit.

Competitors like Misfit and Xiaomi are offering trackers with the same functionality of the original Flex at a lower price than Fitbit's, he pointed out.

"The Flex 2 is basically the same device as its predecessor, except it's now swim-proof and has a new design," Roashan told TechNewsWorld.

Smartwatch adoption is likely to pick up over the next 12 months, and when it does, fitness trackers could start to feel the pain, he said.

"If the base model of the Apple Watch 2 is priced at $299 , it will only cost $150 more than a Charge 2, but with a far higher relative value," Roashan explained. "Multifunctionality is going to be critical for sustainable success in the wearable market. Fitbit does not have that figured out yet."

Smartwatch Threat

The issue of multifunctionality naturally brings to mind the smartwatch.

"There does seem to be a desire among some owners of Fitbit and other fitness trackers for a device that allows greater functionality and integration with smartphones," said Pund-IT's King. However, no smartwatch has been very successful yet -- which "translates into a good opportunity for Fitbit and others to offer something new," he noted.

"Unless or until smartwatches become far more compelling than they currently are, Fitbit-style wearables are fairly secure," King said. "It will be interesting to see whether Fitbit's new designs can bring the devices into greater use. If not, a well-designed, executed and promoted smartwatch player could eventually transcend them."

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I think there's a legitimate argument for removing one category of folks from the gene pool, because they spend the little time they are given on Earth making other folks' lives miserable. Back when I was playing MMOs, some twisted folks -- known as "griefers," would lie in wait to mug lower level characters and find creative ways to destroy the fun in a game, often eventually killing it.

Then came trolls, folks who drop into forums to attack other members, often driving people away from the forums and killing them. More recently, these folks have gone onto websites that allow comments to attack the authors, so that many sites have had to remove comment sections in order to protect their employees. That reduces engagement and eliminates much of the enjoyment associated with reading online.

One of the most horrible things I've ever witnessed in this regard is Gamergate, which started by pitting one of the rare women in tech against a bunch of -- you know, I don't have name bad enough for them -- who made her life, and the lives of most anyone who defended her, miserable because she dared to break up with an abusive boyfriend.

Now, there's Leslie Jones, a comedian, who has suffered brutal public attacks just for being herself. This has gone so far over the line that Homeland Security now is directly involved, suggesting her attackers are viewed as a threat against the State. The hashtag #StandWithLeslie is an aggressive call to action from those of us who are saying "enough."

Leslie Jones' website was hacked in massive violation of the actress' privacy: https://t.co/Cr3I1p36Pr pic.twitter.com/wks3qqwjlc

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 24, 2016

We in technology need to go further to make sure the tools we create to enrich lives aren't used to destroy them instead. We have the tools to identify people who engage in this type of behavior and not only remove them from social networks and forums, but also prevent them from getting on in the first place.

There is even a strong monetary incentive to do this. Trolls and griefers don't stop at destroying lives -- they kill digital properties too. So getting this right not only could make the difference in how your product is viewed, but also could determine whether it -- and your job -- survives.

I'll offer some thoughts on how to end trolls and griefers and then close with my product of the week: a long-underappreciated offering from Amazon, its US$49 Fire tablet.

Analytics to the Rescue

It strikes me that many of the amazing new technologies we develop end up largely being used against us rather than for us. Analytics is such a tool, because in most cases it is used to improve ad targeting in order to get us to buy stuff we often don't need.

In effect, analytics is incredibly powerful in getting the firm that uses it money. That is understandable, given that it's an expensive tool, and funding is far easier to come by if you can tie the spend to some increased revenue.

Nuclear power is similar, in a sense. Its first use was to kill, because that is what best justified the research -- survival is a huge motivator. However, both analytics and nuclear power offer far more beneficial uses than mining customers' wallets or killing mass quantities of people.

With analytics, we can analyze the personalities of people based on how they interact online, blacklist them from social media networks and online forums, and remove any chance they'll work for our companies.

Granted, there is a danger of falsely accusing people. For that reason -- and unlike the terrorist no-fly list -- people so identified should be notified and given a path to get off the list, particularly those who were wrongly included.

In the long term, successful elimination of trolls and griefers actually could change politics in the developed world, as people with those tendencies increasingly would find it difficult to get the critical mass of support needed to enter a race. Politicians who sank to trollish behavior while running immediately would lose their social media voice to a large extent.

I actually think this would make the current election far less painful to watch. Instead of an ugly choice between two people -- neither of whom should be viable candidates -- and a debate on which of them would do less damage, we'd be able to pick a qualified candidate based on potential accomplishments.

#HACKHARASSMENT Pledge

There are many tools to unfriend, block, or simply not acknowledge folks on social networks. You can think of them as cowards -- which most frankly are, in my view -- and realize that their lives must be pretty pathetic if what they think of as fun is simply causing others pain.

The old rule is "don't feed the trolls," and with all of the publicity, we are feeding them far too much right now and giving far too many of them their 15 minutes of fame. Deny them that, and this problem likely will begin to moderate.

One of the things our industry has gotten behind, and Intel is one of the big promoters, is the Hack Harassment Pledge:

Online harassment has become a pervasive and often vicious problem with real-life repercussions. It has significant negative consequences for the well being and safety of individuals and for the success of digital communities. Everyone -- regardless of their identity, background, or beliefs -- is entitled to an online world where they are treated with respect and are free from harassment.

In order to build a safer, smarter, and more inclusive experience online, I will recognize when harassment is occurring, responsibly speak up against it, and support those experiencing it by

• Abiding by and upholding the same standards and values online that are expected offline and accepting that my online behavior has real-life consequences;
• Valuing and supporting diverse perspectives, backgrounds and opinions;
• Actively participating in the movement to decrease the prevalence and intensity of online harassment.

I've taken this pledge, and this column is part of my effort to fulfill it. I'm asking you to take the pledge as well -- and if it is within your power, to support people like Leslie Jones and work to make this a better world. We should make it better not only for those we care about, but also for our own self interests as well. You see, the next Leslie Jones could be you or me.

Wrapping Up

We complain about the lack of women in technology, and yet we don't make the segment safe for women. However, trollish behavior knows no limits. Anyone of any age, sex, color or religion can be hurt by it. Both children and adults have suffered horrible humiliation, terror and other abuses, and some even have committed suicide as a result of troll attacks.

Take the pledge -- and even if you don't like the person being attacked, stand up for the individual's rights and stand against attackers.

I'm not advocating violence against those who do this. I'm suggesting that we stand united with those who are attacked and collectively and consistently tell the attackers to stop. If you have power over a social media tool or forum, I'm also suggesting that you set up a mechanism to identify and ban those who misbehave, providing some recourse so that people who are hacked or misclassified can get their privileges back.

At some point, we need to say "enough," and I've more than reached that point. My hope is that you have as well, and that you too will take the pledge and stand with people like Leslie Jones -- if only to ensure that you won't stand alone if the trolls should come for you.

I'm a long time Kindle and Fire tablet user, and I've bought nearly every product in Amazon's e-reader and tablet lineup. There have been only two exceptions: the high-end e-paper product and Amazon's $49 7-inch Fire tablet.

I passed up the first because I want something I can use for more than reading, so spending a ton on what is basically a reader doesn't make much sense. I resisted the second because I thought the $49 Fire had to be crap, given the price.

As part of a company project, I had to buy a $49 Fire tablet -- and you know what? It actually is surprisingly good. It is good as a reader, it plays movies just fine, the battery life isn't bad, and it is more portable than most of the other tablets I use. I actually prefer carrying it over either the larger Fire or the Samsung tablets I have -- each of which costs between four and 10 times what this little beast costs.

The $49 Fire is arguably sturdier than any of the high-end tablets as well. Granted, things like speakers and gaming performance are hardly high end, but given that you are mostly playing casual games on it, it isn't bad. You'll likely be wearing headphones with it most of the time too, so the speaker doesn't matter much.

If you want a tablet that is hard to break, doesn't break you if you break it, is great for kids, or just won't break the bank, Amazon's $49 Fire tablet is one of the truly amazing, incredible value products in the market -- and it's my product of the week.

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The Peppermint operating system is built around a concept not found in most Linux distros. It is a hybrid combination of traditional Linux desktop applications and cloud-based infrastructure.

Peppermint 7, the annual update released in June, is a lightweight distribution based on Ubuntu 16.04. It uses LXDE as the default desktop environment, and shows considerable growth since our review of Peppermint 5 two years ago.

The key to this process of linking full desktop functionality to cloud apps is an in-house developed application dubbed "Ice." Peppermint makes heavy use of site-specific browsers, or SSBs. The Ice application easily controls the process of creating one-click access to cloud-based infrastructure through the browser.

Peppermint 7 comes in both 32- and 64-bit editions. The 64-bit edition, with full UEFI/GPT/Secureboot support baked in, runs a new version of Ice with full Firefox Web browser support, as well as Chromium and Chrome.

New in Peppermint 7

The latest release shifts to the Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) code base. This is in keeping with the developers' policy of choosing the best components from other desktop environments, wherever they may be, and integrating them into a cohesive whole with Peppermint's own software.

Peppermint 7 stays with LXDE core session management for lightness and speed, but it adds a more modern, functional and customizable main menu. Two other key changes are a swap of lxpanel for the Xfce4-panel and the Whisker menu, along with a new Settings Panel to consolidate settings into one place.

The change to the Firefox Web browser resulted from Google's decision to end support for 32-bit Chrome and move to PPAPI plugins that ended flash support in 32-bit Chromium. This is the first time since Peppermint 1 that the community has adopted Firefox as the primary browser, which is significant since the Ice app is closely aligned with the Web browser.

The return to Firefox required a rebuild of Ice to allow Firefox to open SSBs in a similar fashion to Chromium's "--app" mode. However, if you prefer the Chrome or Chromium browser, you can still install it as your default choice. The Peppermint developers kept full support for the creation and removal of SSBs in all three browsers.

New Look, Same Feel

Long-time users of earlier Peppermint editions will notice a new look. It is flatter with a dark GTK appearance and colorful icon choices. This default theme change is not reflected in the appearance of Firefox, however.

The browser has issues with dark GTK themes on some websites, so the Peppermint developers locked Firefox to a light theme independent of the system default. You still can carry the new theme into Firefox by using a new tool called "Firefox Themer" in the Peppermint Settings Panel to unlock/relock the Firefox theming.

Another change is the swap to Pluma from the gEdit text editor. This could be a nice upgrade. Pluma is a fork of gEdit 2 used in the MATE desktop environment. It brings more functionality through additional features and plug-ins.

The Peppermint developers made the switch to get around how gEdit handles windows decoration. Its odd behavior interferes with the rest of the system theming.

Virtual Snafus

I did not experience any issues with installing Peppermint 7 in Virtualbox for testing, but some users have reported trouble that is hardware-dependent. Those graphics issues cropped up during the install on recent versions of Virtualbox. The Peppermint 7 ISO reportedly goes into abnormal resolution that scrambles the graphics in Virtualbox.

The workaround, according to the Peppermint team, is to tweak the installation in a relatively simple way. When you first load the Live CD in the virtualbox, hit F6. When you see "Try *ubuntu" or "Install *ubuntu," hit the Esc key.

Next, look for white letters at the bottom of screen ending with: "-quiet splash." Change to this: "-quiet splash vga=791" (do not use parentheses). Then hit the enter key to boot.

This forces GRUB to hold the resolution at 1024x768x16. The VM instance should boot perfectly, so you can continue with a normal Virtualbox installation.

Icing on the Web

Peppermint takes a path that at first seems similar to the Google Chromebook platform or rebranded Cub Linux (formerly the Chromixium distro). Both use the Web browser as the OS or as an integral part of it, but the similarity ends there.

Peppermint's innovative approach provides installed software that runs without cloud interaction. The Peppermint OS is not tethered to the Google apps infrastructure.

Instead, it uses the crafty Ice SSB, which lets users easily create a launcher that connects to a website with desired content or services.

Ice technology enables Peppermint users to connect to cloud applications by clicking additional menu items. The user does not manually navigate to the Internet location in a URL window within a Web browser. Rather, the browser contains and displays the Web application in a window.

Fully Functional Desktop

Peppermint runs a fully functional Linux distribution. You install Linux software and run cloud applications without being tethered constantly to the Internet. Several package repositories are provided in Peppermint 7.

Until you actually create a menu shortcut to a Web service, you easily can miss the convenience of SSBs. If you are heavily invested in Web applications, using Peppermint could be a no-brainer.

Ice allows an application to function more like a standalone window rather than running directly through the Web browser. This approach offers the advantage of additional screen space as well. SSBs do not include all the functions and menus of a browser.

Using the Ice technology in the Peppermint OS is much like launching a Web service or other Internet location on a smartphone or tablet. For instance, you launch Google Docs, Gmail, Twitter, Yahoo Mail, YouTube, Pandora or Facebook as self-contained apps on a mobile device.

However, these pseudo apps never need updating on Peppermint. Ice easily creates a menu entry to launch any website or application as if the package were installed on the hard drive.

Out of the Box

Peppermint 7 is a pleasant looking and easy-to-use Linux distro. It comes stocked with a handy variety of accessories and system tools. However, the standard fare of office suites is sorely missing. Other than a smattering of apps like Gmail and Google Drive, you get only a text editor. Even standalone spreadsheets are missing.

This is no doubt part of the philosophy behind the Web app approach that drives this distro. You have to pick office products to install.

Finding software to install is no problem -- the Peppermint repository is well supplied with thousands of titles. The software center application is uncluttered and easy to navigate.

Just click the All Categories tab and enter the name of your favorite applications. My cursory survey found everything that I use in my daily computing workload. If you can not find what you need, however, switch to the Synaptic Package Manager.

Bottom Line

Peppermint is a solid Linux operating system with a record for good performance and reliability. It is an ideal choice for handling everyday computing chores.

LXDE provides a fast and friendly desktop environment. The entire desktop package and tweaked Peppermint 7 settings give you lots of options for creating a comfortable platform. My only dissatisfaction is the lack of much in the way of desktop animation effects. All it provides are semi-transparent application interfaces in the background.

The Peppermint community is headed by the Peppermint OS LLC, a software company based in Asheville, North Carolina. Founded in 2010, the open source company issues one major release per year. A partial upgrade rolls out periodically.

Want to Suggest a Review?

Is there a Linux software application or distro you'd like to suggest for review? Something you love or would like to get to know?

Please email your ideas to me, and I'll consider them for a future Linux Picks and Pans column.

And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!

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WikiLeaks has leaked sensitive personal information belonging to hundreds of innocent individuals worldwide, including some residing in several highly repressive countries, The Associated Press reported this week.

The organization has revealed private credit card data, medical information, personal addresses and other data of various individuals, including the identification as gay of a Saudi Arabian who had been arrested, and the identities of two teenage rape victims, along with other highly vulnerable people, the AP investigation shows.

The documents the AP analyzed contain a troubling array of sensitive data linked to innocent private citizens who in many cases were not the targets of the organization's periodic data dumps. WikiLeaks has a massive trove of more than a half million documents, which include everything from Democratic National Committee emails to Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry and Turkish government files.

The AP report comes at a sensitive time for WikiLeaks, which sparked a controversy when it published Democratic National Committee emails suspected of coming from Russian government-sponsored hackers. The FBI is investigating the case.

WikiLeaks is led by Julian Assange, who's been holed up for years in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he's wanted for questioning on rape allegations.

Dirty Dumping

The AP's investigative team found diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia that included 124 medical files, including private information about refugees, sick children and psychiatric patients.

A doctor working in the Jordanian capital of Amman told the AP that the medical information of one of his brain cancer patients had been exposed.

The dump included as many as 500 passport, identity, academic or employment files from Saudi Ministry files, transparency activist Paul Dietrich confirmed to the AP.

The examples illustrate careless and even reckless behavior on WikiLeaks' part, according to critics.

The organization has taken pride in its role as a champion of individual privacy rights and government transparency, with the goal of protecting vulnerable people from governments viewed as repressive or operating in violation of international law.

Indeed, some of WikiLeaks' biggest international supporters have raised questions about whether the organization has harmed its own credibility, expressing concerns that it may have lost sight of the damage left in the wake of recent efforts to shine a light on possible corrupt behavior or government overreach.

"Transparency may be one of democracy's most important safeguards, but the privacy of our citizens' sensitive information is just as critical to preserving our rights," said Patient Privacy Rights in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Kate Gorski.

"To indiscriminately release medical data and other sensitive, personal information on private citizens is a huge violation that can and has endangered people," the organization pointed out.

"The released records include medical details most individuals expect and deserve to remain private -- like information about sexually transmitted diseases, sick children, and sexual assault. It is hard to find the ethical justification for releasing the information of innocent families," Patient Privacy Rights said.

Balancing Act

There is an ongoing debate over the role of WikiLeaks, which claims to refrain from taking political positions on the information it gathers, noted Albert Gidari, director of privacy at The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.

One argument is that any culpability for harm resulting from the release of private information lies with the governments and private organizations that collect the data in the first place.

"It's a lousy system that requires post hoc remedial action after the damage has been done," said Gidari.

WikiLeaks has not struck the right balance between divulging important information citizens have a right to know, and withholding information that might cause harm to innocent and vulnerable people, suggested Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

"WikiLeaks' failure to consider the privacy interests of private individuals undermines its claims that it is promoting government accountability," he told TechNewsWorld. "Government transparency and privacy protection can coexist, but it takes more diligence than WikiLeaks has demonstrated."

Horrendous Consequences

The Human Rights Campaign, which long has documented the potential risks of exposing gay, lesbian and transgender people in culturally repressive societies, condemned WikiLeaks' actions.

This is dangerous and reckless behavior. The consequences could be life threatening for LGBTQ people. https://t.co/Ya9fuzuT1a

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) August 24, 2016

The organization has highlighted the plight of gay and lesbian community members in Gambia, Egypt and elsewhere.

"The outing of a gay person in a country with a hostile government can lead to violence, imprisonment, and in some instances, death," Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Sarah McBride told TechNewsWorld.

WikiLeaks pushed back with a series of tweets following the publication of the AP story. The group denied outing the gay Saudi Arabian, claiming that the government previously had disclosed the identifying information.

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A coalition headed by the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Internet Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union this week filed objections to a Department of Homeland Security proposal to collect social media information from visitors entering the United States.

The proposal, published in June, calls for the addition of a request to the I-94W form required for aliens seeking entry under the nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Program and the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

"Please enter information associated with your online presence -- Provider/Platform -- Social media identifier" is the proposed wording of the request.

Entering the data would be optional, according to the DHS.

Data collected would be used for vetting purposes and for application contact information. It would enhance existing investigative processes and provide greater clarity and visibility into possible nefarious activity and connections, the department maintained.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency handles visitors' travel forms.

Worries and Warnings

The proposal goes far beyond the customary visa-waiver application questions, according to the CDT coalition.

"Online identifier collection is highly invasive," its letter warns. "An open-ended inquiry into 'online presence' would give DHS a window into applicants' private lives. Individuals' 'online presence' could include their reading lists, political affinities, professional activities, and private diversions."

Analyzing all visa-waiver applicants' social media activity and connections would be difficult and highly expensive, it notes. Further, the content and connections on social media is subject to misinterpretion, as their meanings are idiosyncratic and context-dependent.

The data likely would be used to augment existing lists and databases for tracking persons of interest, the CDT's letter points out, which could have unfortunate consequences for innocent individuals swept up into those programs.

"The risk of discrimination based on analysis of social media content and connections is great and will fall hardest on Arab and Muslim communities, whose usernames, posts, contacts, and social networks will be exposed to intense scrutiny," the coalition's letter warns.

"As currently drafted, it is possible that the proposal will have a chilling effect on use of social media networks, online sharing and, ultimately, free speech online," the Internet Association warned in its comments in response to the proposal.

"The collection of this information poses a host of questions, none of which are answered or even acknowledged to exist in the published Notice," commented the ACLU.

"What will be done with the information? How much information will be accessed using the social media identifiers? What will be the standard for disqualifying someone based on accessed information? What about the impacts on others whose names are linked to the applicant's?" the ACLU asked. "These and other questions implicate an array of due process, privacy and speech rights."

Who Gets Caught in the Net

"This is likely to only identify stupid terrorists, [who] post their views against a country prior to going there," remarked Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

That said, it should be done "just to cover the bases," he told TechNewsWorld.

The data collected "could identify a crime in the making," Enderle suggested.

Still, "the most lethal folks are probably not on social media," he acknowledged, "and the utility of this method will drop sharply over time as people learn about it. It could also make more people in general more careful about what they put in social media."

"There are many ways this [data collection] can be used to do more than just identify terrorists based on their political views," said Daniel Castro, director of the Center for Data Innovation.

For example, the data could be used to identify people whose names were similar to those on a terror watch list, he told TechNewsWorld. It also could be used to verify a person's travel history based on the geolocation tags in their social media accounts.

The Customs and Border Protection Agency should be encouraged to explore how it might use data to improve vetting of travelers, the CDI wrote in a letter to the agency, but it cautioned that any implementation should be reviewed thoroughly to ensure it would be effective while also protecting civil liberties.

As for privacy concerns, "I don't see a major privacy risk if the government copy of a public tweet is shared inappropriately or hacked," the CDI's Castro said. "DHS should secure this like any other system housing sensitive personally identifiable information."

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Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that sometimes takes a break from clinging onto the last few weeks of summer to rise its head above the parapet and survey the landscape of gadget announcements.

On the horizon this time around are a pizza box that doubles as two turntables, a gel touchpad controller for your arm, a backpack that charges your laptop, and a tattooing robot.

As ever, these are not reviews, mainly because I haven't even seen these devices in person, much less used them. The ratings reflect only how much I'd like to try each.

Pizza Beats

Call it a gimmick if you must, but I'm very much into the idea of having a pizza box that doubles as a turntable.

Pizza Hut partnered with Novalia to make the box, which includes pitch and volume controls, a mixer, and touch-sensitive decks.

Using printed electronics, DJs can crossfade, rewind and even scratch. The box pairs with smartphones and computers using Bluetooth and works with DJ software.

I'm glad this is not a set of true physical turntables, as the idea of placing delicate vinyls anywhere close to a greasy pizza box makes me queasy. These are, of course, part of a promotional stunt, and Pizza Hut is only giving away five.

Still, this concept might have proved a fun, low-cost way for would-be DJs to take a tentative step into the world of music mixing. It's neat, but I'm more likely to slap together a Spotify playlist for a party and be done with it.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Margarita Mixes

Armed and Ready

When I was a kid, it seemed every TV show and movie with a remotely futuristic setting would feature a character wearing a wrist or armband they could use to control the world around them or communicate with others. I thought it was the coolest thing imaginable: a wearable computer!

We've seen innumerable wearable smart devices over the last decade, of course, and now researchers have revealed how a gel-based touchpad on your arm could work.

The touchpad uses material akin to that found in soft contact lenses. Demonstrated uses so far include writing, playing games and creating music, but it seems like these are very early use cases for what could go on to become a fascinating, prevalent technology.

If the day comes when these touchpads can make me feel like I'm Buzz Lightyear and truly embrace my childhood again, great. As a way to manipulate the digital world around us and interact with our environments in new and exciting ways, it could be even better.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Forearm Functions

Portable Power

HP has created a backpack that can charge all of your devices, including your laptop, while you're on the move.

Its battery pack can charge a smartphone up to 10 times, a tablet three times, and an HP laptop fully. I assume, however, you can find an adapter that will charge computers from other brands.

The backpack seemingly monitors and manages temperature, and it has ventilated pockets, which is useful if you prefer your back not to be on fire. Importantly, for travelers, it meets TSA regulations, so you won't have to worry about stowing it with checked baggage.

I like the idea, though my 2011 laptop seemingly is incapable of charging its battery any longer, forcing me to stay shackled to a mains outlet whenever I am using it. Then again, maybe a backpack like this finally would force me to get a better, more modern laptop as well.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Battery Boosters

Industrial Design

I don't have a tattoo -- nor do I plan to get any. If the time ever came around when I chose to have one, I would probably hesitate before allowing a robot to engrave permanent marks on my skin.

A design duo has created a robot that does indeed tattoo flesh. It would require the tattooee to hold a great deal of trust in the robot, as well as remain perfectly still, to avoid have bigger problems than an askew tattoo.

The robot needs a 3D scan of the skin area it's working on (since no part of a human body is perfectly flat) and an artist to create the design using software.

There's a demonstration video that shows the robot creating a perfect spiral on a willing victim -- I mean, volunteer -- so there's a solid argument this machine could be better for intricate designs or those a freehand artist might find difficult.

Still, this seems too much of a leap for me. I'd much prefer to have a human tattoo me, someone who can react to my yelps and squirms as I finally realize my teenage dream of having a tribal design around my upper bicep. Or not.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Love/Hate Knuckles

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Happy Birthday Linux! You're 25!

When Linux was born on Aug. 25, 1991, it was little more than a hobby for then 21-year old Linus Torvald. Today the Linux community is estimated to be upwards of 86 million users strong. It has become the backbone of large enterprises, and it is installed in government systems and embedded in devices worldwide.

The Linux operating system started out as an alternative to other platform architectures in use on mainframes and enterprise back-ends. It has grown into a major mainstream computing platform for small through large companies' server operations, and has made inroads into consumer computing.

Linux has been ported to more hardware platforms than any other operating system, thanks to the popularity of the Linux-based Android operating system, noted Meike Chabowski, documentation strategist at Suse.

"Today, Linux has the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems worldwide. Linux is also the leading operating system on servers of any sort, and of 99.4 percent of the top 500 supercomputers," he told LinuxInsider. "Also, you find embedded Linux in a huge quantity of devices and machines -- built into cars, network routers, facility automation controls, entertainment equipment, and medical equipment such as X-rays."

Some people do not even know they are using it. Linux is everywhere, Chabowski said.

Full of Surprises

Early Linux was a revolutionary idea. It provided some conveniences not available to the Minix and Unix operating systems used at the university where Suse President of Engineering Ralf Flaxa studied.

One big plus was that he could run it himself on his PC at home, he told LinuxInsider.

What also surprised Flaxa was how quickly Linux evolved and improved, and how much it was able to do after such a short period of time.

"For example, at the very beginning you were able to multiplex your screen -- meaning with a key combination, you could switch to a second or third terminal," he noted.

"This was a brilliant idea and feature, especially at the time. There was no graphical environment with multiple windows yet," Flaxa said.

The surprises did not stop there.

"I started out with Linux as a pure hobby and because I wanted and needed it for my computer science studies," Flaxa recalled. "The moment I realized that I could actually turn my hobby into my job was for me personally the biggest Linux milestone."

The ease of swapping out hardware was a major Linux benefit for Gerald Pfeifer, senior director products and technology programs at Suse, as that was not the case with other operating systems.

"You can exchange any piece of hardware and an existing Linux installation will still work just fine," he told LinuxInsider.

Linux's open philosophy was the biggest surprise with the new computing technology, said SUSE's Chabowski. The philosophy of open and free source code impressed him from the start, "but what surprised me most and still does fascinate me today about Linux is that its model of joint and worldwide development worked and still works."

Linux at the Floodgates

Linux was a "good enough" operating system with the right price for a startup -- free -- recalled Cloud Foundry CEO Sam Ramji, who worked with Linux for the first time in 2000, when his company built the online digital photo developing service Ofoto.

"We used our knowledge instead of paying for Solaris licenses," he told LinuxInsider. "The leap from copycat to innovator was not something I had imagined, but by the mid-2000s, new features were coming to Linux that did not exist anywhere else -- things like filesystems and cgroups."

Awareness of Linux in the enterprise was nonexistent 25 years ago, when Ramji was an undergrad at the University California, San Diego. Solaris, MacOS and Windows dominated.

Even by the late 1990s, Linux could not provide the support and predictability needed in an enterprise setting. Companies using Linux had to build their own skill sets based on a free distribution or build their own in-house version. Adoption risk was high.

All that changed in the early 2000s, when Wall Street banks demanded Linux support for their enterprise application servers.

"That was a moment that broke down resistance to Linux in the big IT vendors like BEA, IBM and Oracle. That hole in the dam was the start of a flood," said Ramji. "Today Linux is the home of operating system innovation."

Changing World

Installing Linux was far from easy in the early days, according to Aporeto Virtualization Expert Stefano Stabellini, who has been a Linux user and open source advocate since the 1990s.

"It was very difficult to explain open source to people and companies back when I started with Linux in the '90s. They did not understand it. They thought that open source was unsustainable, and Linux was niche and hobbyist," he told LinuxInsider.

Now everything has changed. Every company has an open source strategy now.

"Microsoft was the biggest foe and now is a strong ally. Linux is the most widely adopted operating system of all times. It is known as the kernel that powers smartphones and light bulbs as well as supercomputers -- that is the opposite of niche," Stabellini said.

Secret Glue

The Linux kernel community deserves a large measure of credit for Linux being everywhere, according to Stabellini. The Linux kernel is a vast community of very different people. Many work for competing companies.They have expertise in different areas, different world views, and different modus operandi.

"It is surprising how remarkably dissimilar they can be, but their first and foremost goal is to progress Linux. It's the glue that holds it all together," Stabellini said.

As for the industry as a whole, two milestone achievements thrust Linux toward universal adoption, he said. One was the introduction of cgroups, which paved the way for the Linux containers of today. Another was development of the device tree for the ARM architecture, which made the growth of ARM boards in Linux sustainable.

Risk Factor

Using Linux in the early days was a major risk for early enterprise adopters. Too many unknowns clouded its sustainability potential.

"In the early days, I think the biggest challenge for enterprises using Linux was risk. Enterprises were not sure the project would continue. They did not know if it would support their hardware. They were not clear on the best way to maintain updates, and the expertise was hard to find," said Matt Hicks, vice president software engineering at Red Hat.

"However, the desire for a more open standard beyond the Unix distributions was strong, and it drove many to undertake those risks," he told LinuxInsider.

Today's Linux landscape looks much different. Linux is at the core of almost all technology innovation. The ecosystem surrounding it is massive, and talent abounds. In a very real sense, Linux has become the safe bet for those who are using technology as a core part of their business, Hicks pointed out.

The release of the Linux 2.6 kernel on Dec. 17, 2003, along with the publication of Linux Kernel Development by Robert Love are two milestones that changed Linux forever, Hicks said. "Despite having worked with Linux for years prior, that was the point at which I realized that Linux had a momentum that could change the industry."

Transiting Transition

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Linux was aligning the open source movement with the openness of a new operating system that broke all the rules, suggested Fedora Project Leader Matthew Miller. The open culture and wider free and open source movement grew up with Linux.

"Obviously, the Free Software Foundation was working for years before Linux came around, but Linux was really the catalyst for something big -- a whole movement," Miller told LinuxInsider.

In the beginning, Linux distributions were largely hobbyist projects. Even the business-oriented ones with greater aspirations were basically that way, he noted.

"Don't get me wrong. They were impressive work, but they were far from meeting enterprise or large-installation needs. Security in particular was horrible, with no real preemptive lockdown. System accounts with no password were the norm, and every possible service was usually enabled out-of-the-box. And there was not even a good model for updates -- even for security issues," Miller recalled.

Regardless, the Linux movement fascinated people. Linux installs grew from the inside as individual groups kept installing them. Eventually, it became a sort of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," he said.

"I think Red Hat Enterprise Linux came along just at the right time, focusing on solving these problems -- and perhaps more importantly, offering certifications and guarantees that open source was safe to use, Miller observed.

New Default

In the early 1990s, Linux in the enterprise typically was geared toward Web servers, FTP and smaller-scale applications. Linux was much less about workloads. Most enterprises in the '90s had mixes of hardware with a lot of Sun and SGI, as well as applications that were very particular about the hardware they ran on, such as Oracle, noted Dave Rosenberg, senior vice president for strategy and ops at The Linux Foundation.

Linux in the enterprise is much different today. As the '90s progressed into the 2000s, commodity servers became the norm, and Linux had the best stability and largest ecosystem of developers. That was and still is very appealing for enterprises.

"What has changed is that Linux has over the last 10 years become the default. There is no more 'should I use Solaris or should I buy an SGI?' Linux is already assumed to be the de facto OS standard," Rosenberg told LinuxInsider.

It is hard to point to another technology that has changed the technical and business landscape the way Linux has.

"It is important to note that even with the disruption that was felt by many companies, such as Sun and Microsoft, that Linux is a massive, massive net positive for everyone.," Rosenberg said.

New Possibilities

Linux proved its resilience after 25 years of being free and open. Today's new approaches and innovations are possible because of Linux, and not in spite of it, according to Gunnar Hellekson, director of product management for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

"The central challenge of Linux and its strength have always been its relatively fragmented ecosystem when compared with proprietary alternatives," he told LinuxInsider. "Choice and options are wonderful for innovation but do not make things easier operationally."

For example, consolidating packaging systems like RPM and DEB was a monumental and messy effort. Hopefully, containers will offer the tools to begin harmonizing the packaging mechanisms for the sake of Linux developers, Hellekson said.

"If we take a step back, the success of Linux has inspired an entire generation of software developers to work in open source communities, while simultaneously making that work possible on open source platforms," he added.

Without Linux, today's computer users would still be hobbyists distributing shareware for Windows PCs. Instead, there is a completely different IT ecosystem, Hellekson noted -- one that "is much more inclusive, much more expansive and much more effective."

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Apple has purchased medical records startup Gliimpse, Fast Company reported Monday, in order to broaden its presence in the personal healthcare information management market.

Apple confirmed that the purchase took place earlier this year, according to the magazine.

Apple in recent years has delved into healthcare with offerings such as HealthKit, CareKit and ResearchKit. The Gliimpse acquisition is seen as an extension of those efforts.

"Apple is highly committed to creating products and services around health," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies.

"Gliimpse gives Apple another powerful data-tracking tool to tie to their health ecosystem of products and services," he told TechNewsWorld.

'Magical Machine'

Gliimpse has been working for three years on its technology, which it refers to as "a magical machine."

The aim is to eliminate the tower of babble plaguing medical data today by converting medical records that can appear incomprehensible into information that both humans and machines can digest and use.

Apple so far has focused on healthcare information gathered outside the clinical spectrum, said Roeen Roashan, senior analyst for healthcare technology at IHS Markit.

"With Gliimpse, you're opening up the system with hospital records, lab records, and data from pharmacies," he told TechNewsWorld. "That not only expands Apple's reach and strengthens its product, but it also enhances its analytics capabilities in terms of providing better patient care."

Guessing Game

What Apple will do with Gliimpse's technology is anyone's guess, as the company is known for keeping its plans under tight wraps.

"Apple might consider Gliimpse a critical technology to an overarching healthcare service, or it may simply see it as complementary to other Apple health and fitness solutions," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "At this point, it's impossible to say."

Purchasing Gliimpse could signal a new direction for Apple, noted Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research.

"I think we're seeing arguably the beginning of a new type of Apple that's looking outside its core into a number of different areas and seeing how they can be a disrupter," he told TechNewsWorld. "Healthcare is one of those areas."

Formidable Challenge

Healthcare can be challenging for vendors who are already in the business, let alone for newcomers like Apple.

"The main challenge in this space is interoperability across systems -- not only within Apple's platforms, but also across provider networks and the rest of the healthcare sector," IHS' Roashan explained.

Numerous challenges face any company doing business in healthcare, Pund-IT's King told TechNewsWorld. They include a lack of consensus among healthcare providers and services, a reliance on proprietary technologies, and fierce competition among stakeholders.

"Even initiatives like electronic medical records can result in confusion -- at least when it comes to sharing records with nonaffiliated doctors and facilities," he added.

The problems only get worse when you go outside the United States, noted Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.

"Each country has its own compliance schema and laws, making things complex," he told TechNewsWorld, "which plays against the consumer's need for ease of use."

Baby Steps

With Gliimpse, Apple may be able to reduce some of the healthcare system friction that so frustrates its users.

"This is a baby step toward democratizing healthcare information and creating a more empowered consumer of healthcare," said Jeff Dachis, CEO of One Drop.

"The first step in doing that is giving consumers their own healthcare information," he told TechNewsWorld. "Gliimpse potentially offers that to them."

Giving consumers control of their own health data could be beneficial to both patients and the vendor that cracks the data-sharing problem.

"The idea of patients owning and managing their health information could make medical visits simpler, and diagnosis and treatment safer and more relevant," suggested Pund-It's King.

"The company that gets it right could become massively successful and prosperous," he added. "At the same time, meeting healthcare regulations and security requirements is not for the faint of heart, and numerous healthcare stakeholders are likely see such efforts as endangering the well being of their businesses."

Neither Apple nor Gliimpse reponded to our requests to comment for this story.

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Twitter last week announced it had suspended 235,000 accounts since February for promoting terrorism, bringing to 360,000 the total number of suspensions since mid-2015.

Daily suspensions have increased more than 80 percent since last year, spiking immediately after terrorist attacks. Twitter's response time for suspending reported accounts, the length of time offending accounts are active on its platform, and the number of followers they draw all have decreased dramatically, the company said.

Twitter also has made progress in preventing those who have been suspended from getting back on its platform quickly.

Tools and Tactics

The number of teams reviewing reports around the clock has increased, and reviewers now have more tools and language capabilities.

Twitter uses technology such as proprietary spam-fighting tools to supplement reports from users. Over the past six months, those tools helped identify more than one third of the 235,000 accounts suspended.

Global efforts to silence #Daesh online are bearing fruit. #UnitedAgainstDaesh pic.twitter.com/InNXnYUmEj

— مركز صواب (@sawabcenter) July 13, 2016

Twitter's global public policy team has expanded partnerships with organizations working to counter violent extremism online, including True Islam in the United States; Parle-moi d'Islam in France; Imams Online in the UK; the Wahid Foundation in Indonesia; and the Sawab Center in the UAE.

Twitter executives have attended government-convened summits on countering violent extremism hosted by the French Interior Ministry and the Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency.

A Fine Balance

Twitter has been largely reactive rather than proactive, and that's "been hit and miss, but from [its] standpoint, that's probably the best they can do without being too draconian," said Chenxi Wang, chief strategy officer at Twistlock.

"You could, perhaps, consider creating a statistical analysis model that will be predictive in nature," she told TechNewsWorld, "but then you are venturing into territories that may violate privacy and freedom of speech."

Further, doing so "is not in Twitter's best interest," Wang suggested, as a social network's aim is for people "to participate rather than be regulated."

Gauging Effectiveness

It's not easy to judge Twitter's success in combating terrorism online.

"How often does Twitter actually influence people who might be violent?" wondered Michael Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. "How likely is it that truly crazy people will use Twitter as a means to incite violence? And how likely is it that Twitter will be able to apply objective standards to making a determination that something is likely to encourage terrorism?"

The answers to the first two questions are uncertain, he told TechNewsWorld.

The last question raises "highly problematic" issues, Jude said. "What if Twitter's algorithms are set such that supporters of Trump or Hillary are deemed terroristic? Is that an application of censorship to spirited discourse?"

There Oughta Be a Law...

Meanwhile, pressure on the Obama administration to come up with a plan to fight terrorism online is growing.

The U.S. House of Representatives last year passed the bipartisan Bill H.R. 3654, the "Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015," which calls on the president to provide a report on U.S. strategy to combat terrorists' and terrorist organizations' use of social media.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee earlier this year approved a Senate version of the bill, which has yet to be voted on in the full chamber.

"It's probably a good idea for the president to have a plan, but it would need to conform to the Constitution," Jude remarked.

"Policies haven't yet caught up ... . It's not out of the question that government policies may one day govern social media activities," Twistlock's Wang suggested. "Exactly how and when remains to be seen."

Automatic Counterterrorism

YouTube and Facebook this summer began implementing automated systems to block or remove extremist content from their pages, according to reports.

The technology, developed to identify and remove videos protected by copyright, looks for hashes assigned to videos, matches them against content previously removed for being unacceptable, and then takes appropriate action.

That approach is problematic, however.

Such automatic blocking of content "goes against the concepts of freedom of speech and the Internet," said Jim McGregor, a principal analyst at Tirias Research.

"On the other hand, you have to consider the threat posed by these organizations," he told TechNewsWorld. "Is giving them an open platform for promotion and communication any different than putting a gun in their hands?"

"The pros of automatic blocking terrorist content online are it's fast and it's consistent," observed Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"The cons are, automatic systems can be easy to figure out and circumvent, and you may end up casting too wide a net -- like Reddit did with the Orlando shooting," he told TechNewsWorld.

"I'm all for free speech and freedom of the Internet," McGregor said, but organizations posting extremist content "are responsible for crimes against humanity and pose a threat to millions of innocent people and should be stopped. However, you have to be selective on the content to find that fine line between combating extremism and censorship."

There is the danger of content being misidentified as extremist, and the people who uploaded it then being put on a watch list mistakenly. There have been widespread reports of errors in placing individuals on the United States government's no-fly list, for example, and the process of getting off that list is difficult.

"I have one friend who's flagged just because of her married name," McGregor said. "There needs to be a system in place to re-evaluate those decisions to make sure people aren't wrongly accused."

Fighting Today's Battles

The automated blocking reportedly being implemented by YouTube and Facebook works only on content previously banned or blocked. It can't deal with freshly posted content that has not yet been hashtagged.

There might be a solution to that problem, however. The Counter Extremism Project, a private nonprofit organization, recently announced a hashing algorithm that would take a proactive approach to flagging extremist content on Internet and social media platforms.

Its algorithm works on images, videos and audio clips.

The CEP has proposed the establishment of a National Office for Reporting Extremism, which would house a comprehensive database of extremist content. Its tool would be able to flag matching content online immediately and flag it for removal by any company using the hashing algorithm.

Microsoft's Contribution

Microsoft provided funding and technical support to Hany Farid, a professor at Dartmouth College, to support his work on the CEP algorithm.

Farid previously had helped develop PhotoDNA, a tool that scans and eliminates child pornography images online, which Microsoft distributed it freely.

Among other actions, Microsoft has amended its terms of use to specifically prohibit the posting of terrorist content on its hosted consumer services.

That includes any material that encourages violent action or endorses terrorist organizations included on the Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List.

Recommendations for Social Media Firms

The CEP has proposed five steps social media companies can take to combat extremism online:

• Grant trusted reporting status to governments and groups like CEP to swiftly identify and ensure the removal of extremist online content;
• Streamline the process for users to report suspected extremist activity;
• Adopt a clear public policy on extremism;
• Disclose detailed information, including the names, of the most egregious posters of extremist content; and
• Monitor and remove content proactively as soon as it appears online.

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Google on Monday began rolling out its long-awaited Android 7.0 Nougat release to Nexus smartphones and tablets.

The new operating system became available as a beta release, known only as "Android N," earlier this year. The experiences of developers and other users led to more than 250 new features, including improved multitasking, stronger battery life and tighter security features, noted Sameer Samat, vice president of product development.

The new OS provides quick access to settings, so important features like Bluetooth, WiFi and the phone's flashlight are readily available when needed.

The system also provides multi-locale support, so that languages can be localized and other apps can be adjusted to reflect the user's location.

Among the more sought-after features are multitasking, which lets users run two apps alongside each other in adjustable windows. Users can access notifications without having to open individual apps. Switching between apps is a snap -- all it requires is double-tapping the overview button.

Emoji Explosion

Android Nougat's expanded list of emojis lets users be more creative with their messages. There are now 72 different characters and a total of more than 1,500 expressions.

Nougat's battery life improves on that of its predecessor, Marshmallow. Users can take advantage of the doze feature, which lets the device drop into lower power use during travel.

The OS allows experiences that are more immersive, likely with an eye to enhanced uses. Support for VulcanTM is included. VulcanTM is an advanced 3D rendering API for enhanced gaming, as well as for Daydream, the company's virtual reality platform for new phones, headsets and controllers.

The new system is designed to be more secure, with file-based encryption, direct boot capability and a seamless process that allows users of new Android devices to run software updates in the background, while allowing users of existing Nexus gadgets to install updates much faster.

Driving Adoption

Some of the new features in Nougat -- including the more powerful graphics and the ability to conserve battery power -- might prove to be compelling, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Whether they're compelling enough to draw new users into the Android fold may prove to be a more difficult question to answer, however, as the cost and time required to make a mobile OS switch remain significant barriers.

The slow rollout of devices in the pipeline is another challenge for driving adoption.

Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C and General Mobile 4G will get over-the-air upgrades to Nougat, according to Google.

The LG v20, scheduled for release on Sept. 6, will be the first new phone to debut with Nougat preinstalled, Google spokesperson Joshua Cruz confirmed.

The Instant App function is a potential game changer, as it will allow users to sample new apps in the Google Play Store prior to downloading, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

It's also possible Nougat will drive new hardware sales, he suggested.

"The company seems to be taking a harder line with handset makers and wireless providers in regards to system updates -- a reasonable course given growing security problems and threats related to smartphones," King told TechNewsWorld. "If Google puts some muscle behind Nexus as the market's most quickly updated and fully secured Android-based smartphone, it could help drive significant sales increases."

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