Amazon Web Services Launches CloudHSM

Amazon announced the launch of new services of CloudHSM, which will provide  Amazon Web Services users who need to meet corporate, contractual and regulatory compliance requirements for data security a way to do so by using a dedicated Hardware Security Module (the ‘HSM’ in CloudHSM) within the Amazon cloud. Until now, Amazon argues, the only option for many companies that use its cloud services was to store their most sensitive data – or the encryption keys to it – in their own on-premise data centers. This, of course, made it hard for these companies to fully migrate their applications to the cloud.

The new service, Amazon writes, can be used to support “a variety of use cases and applications, such as database encryption, Digital Rights Management (DRM), and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) including authentication and authorization, document signing, and transaction processing.” The actual appliances are Luna SA modules from SafeNet, Inc.

The new CloudHSM service uses Amazon’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and the appliances are provisioned inside the user’s VPC with an IP address the user specifies. The service, Amazon says, provides businesses with secure key storage and protects these keys with “tamper-resistant HSM appliances that are designed to comply with international (Common Criteria EAL4+) and U.S. Government (NIST FIPS 140-2) regulatory standards for cryptographic modules.”

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Turn To LCD

Samsung Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 2, we expect that the third iteration of the Galaxy Note will be equally impressive. Interestingly though, the folks at SamMobile claim to have been tipped off by their inside sources regarding one aspect of the rumored phablet, which is its display. Apparently instead of using their AMOLED displays, which is typically found on most Samsung mobile devices, their insider claims that the Galaxy Note 3 could instead turn to LCD. Apparently the LCD panels made by Sharp are supposed to be “better” in terms of use with the S Pen, although we’re not sure what exactly that means. Could they mean it is better in terms of display quality, responsiveness, sharpness, etc.? While it might seem a little odd that the Galaxy Note 3 might use a different display technology from AMOLED, it isn’t so far fetched because if you recall, the Galaxy Note 8.0 uses an LCD display as well. In any case we suggest you take this with a grain of salt for now, but what do you think? Will the Galaxy Note 3 be better or worse with an LCD display

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Google to Abandon more Services

Google announced today that it's taking the ax to a handful of services, including Google Reader, in its latest round of spring cleaning.Google said it will retire the RSS reader on July 1, giving users and developers a little more than three months to export their data with Google Takeout to alternative RSS readers. The Web giant said in a company blog post today that its decision was based on declining usage of the RSS reader, which Google launched in 2005.The company also revealed a half dozen other services or features to be eliminated this year, bringing the total number of closures to 70 since it started its spring cleaning campaign in 2011. Google cited the dramatic shift to mobile devices as the impetus behind the latest round of cuts."It's been a long time since we have had this rate of change -- it probably hasn't happened since the birth of personal computing 40 years ago," Urs Hölzle, senior vice president of Technical Infrastructure, wrote in the blog. "To make the most of these opportunities, we need to focus -- otherwise we spread ourselves too thin and lack impact." The company announced today that it will immediately cease sales and updates for photo-editing software Snapseed Desktop for Macintosh and Windows, though it will continue to offer the related mobile app on iOS and Android for free. Next week, Google with end support for Google Voice App for BlackBerry and recommends that BlackBerry users wishing to continue using the app switch to its HTML5 app.For developers, Google is shutting down its Search API for Shopping, GUI Builder and five UiApp widgets, and CalDAV API, which will still be available only to white-listed developers. These tools will close on September 16.Other closures announced today include Google Building Maker, which allowed people to make 3D building models for Google Earth and Maps, and the Google Cloud Connect plug-in, which automatically saved Microsoft Office files from Windows PCs in Google Drive.

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