Latest news with #Computerworld
Android Authority
3 days ago
- Android Authority
You can apparently buy Google's official Pixel Tablet stylus that never launched
TL;DR Last year, Google canceled its plans for the Pixel Tablet 2, leaving the fate of the company's Pixel stylus unclear. This summer, that stylus has started popping up at online retailers, now branded as the Pixel Tablet Pen. The pen works fine with the existing Pixel Tablet, but not all its features appear fully implemented. Google's approach right now towards Android on screens larger than our phones is confusing, to put it mildly. On one hand, we've got Android's increasingly impressive Desktop Mode, and word that Android will essentially be taking over for Chrome OS. But then we're also looking at this in the context of Google's own hardware, and the canceled Pixel Tablet 2 doesn't exactly scream commitment to this form factor. As we wait to see how Google's efforts here evolve, we're thinking once again about the Pixel Tablet 2, upon the discovery of an accessory that seems like it shouldn't exist. Alongside the Pixel Tablet 2 itself, last year we reported that Google was also working on its own stylus, the descriptively named Pen for Google Pixel Tablet. While the hardware didn't sound particularly impressive, looking like any generic USI 2.0 pen, it was still interesting to see Google itself developing this accessory. But with the cancellation of the Pixel Tablet 2, we had no idea what fate would hold in store for this project. Well, speak of the devil, because the Pixel Tablet Pen is apparently out. A little earlier this summer, Computerworld got its hands on one, featuring a 'Designed by Google' message down the side and sporting model number GM0KF — exactly the same number we heard from our Google source last year. The team at 9to5Google managed to track down the stylus for sale, finding listings on Chinese marketplaces like Goofish as well as from Amazon resellers. The stylus the site ordered through Amazon sure appears to match our expectations, including the button on top — which turned out to be adorned with a little Google logo. Sadly, that button doesn't actually do anything right now, and the sort of app-quick-launch functionality we reported on earlier has not been implemented. But that hiccup aside, the pen works just as a USI 2.0 stylus should, and even attaches to the Pixel Tablet via magnets for convenient storage. It's incredibly unclear how this Pixel Tablet Pen made it from Google's design labs to these online retailers, and equally opaque for what the product's future looks like. Are these just the leftovers from a now-canceled production run? Has a manufacturing partner been taking a little too much initiative? We really can't say without just wildly speculating, but we will make one safe bet: Anyone who has one of these right now is a member of a pretty exclusive club. Follow
Miami Herald
31-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Popular cloud storage service might be oversharing your data
A friend recently told me that the artificial intelligence she uses occasionally asks her: "How is your baby?". That is what happens when you share personal information with an AI. The chats become weird and perhaps scary if you actually believe AI is sentient. Even if you don't believe AI is sentient, I assume you wouldn't want it to have access to your banking data. Would you? Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Having your data in "the cloud" has become the norm. It does not matter whether you use an iPhone with iCloud or an Android with Google Drive; your device is almost inevitably connected to a cloud service. It probably makes you feel your data is safer because even if your phone is destroyed in an accident, it is still in the cloud. The convenient sharing of files must be the "killer feature" for photography lovers. Once companies figured out they could make more money by selling their software "as a service", instead of selling it as a product you pay for just once, we got into the wonderful world where we can't avoid using so-called webapps. Good examples are Slack, Trello, ClickUp, Zoom, and, of course, ChatGPT. Yes, Slack can be installed as an application, but it is actually just a browser with one tab open and a lot of makeup. These services often offer integration with cloud storage services so you can share some of that data with them. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in October 2015: "More than half a billion people manage their documents and photos in OneDrive." As the company does not release usage data, that 10-year-old quote from Computerworld is the best available estimate of the number of OneDrive users. It is probably a lot smaller than the real number. Related: Palantir gets great news from the Pentagon Because Microsoft (MSFT) doesn't give any data specific to OneDrive, we have to rely on the data for Microsoft 365 products. Here are some interesting numbers from its earnings report for Q3 of fiscal year 2025: Revenue was $70.1 billion and increased 13% year over income was $25.8 billion and increased 18% 365 commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 11% 365 Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 10% YoY. Again, we don't have the exact numbers, just the total revenue, but the revenue from 365 services is growing steadily. Considering how much money it is making and that many businesses are using it, OneDrive must be very secure, at least that is what you'd expect. When two apps have "integrations", we can say that both of the apps "integrating" represent non-human identities working together. Oasis Security is a private company specializing in the management and security for non-human identities. Non-human identities are any software process, application, service, or machine that can interact with another. On May 28th, they published an alarming research paper on Microsoft's OneDrive. Oasis researchers discovered that whenever you upload files from your OneDrive to a web app like ChatGPT or Slack, OneDrive's file picker requests read access for the entire drive. This means that even when you upload a single file, the app gets access to all your files. More Tech Stocks: Palantir gets great news from the PentagonAnalyst has blunt words on Trump's iPhone tariff plansOpenAI teams up with legendary Apple exec This is the scenario where if you have banking documents on your OneDrive and you intend to give ChatGPT access to some unimportant text file, as a bonus, it gets access to the banking files, too, and whatever else you have there. And the best part-the permissions are valid for at least an hour. The company estimated that hundreds of apps are affected, not just the ones mentioned. According to Oasis, they reached out to Microsoft, "which took note of the report and may consider improvements in the future". If you use OneDrive, you should check which apps have access to it and revoke any suspicious apps. Oasis provided instructions on how to check your personal OneDrive accounts: Log in to your Microsoft the left or top pane, click on "Privacy".Under "App Access", select the list of apps that have access to your the list of apps, and for each app, click on "Details" to view the specific scopes and permissions can "Stop Sharing" at any time. Consider that an Access Token takes about an hour to expire regardless of when you clicked stopped sharing. This would however revoke a Refresh Token if present. Overall, when protecting your data, think deeply about giving apps access in the future. Related: Analyst resets Nvidia stock price target after CEO slams U.S. chip policy The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
