25 'worst' passwords of 2014

Online security still remains a mirage. Web security firm SplashData recently released its annual list of 25 most commonly used passwords on the internet. The list compiled from more than 3.3 million leaked passwords during 2014 shows that even such brazen hacking incidents have failed to wake up the majority of netizens globally. Much of the online population still doesn't make effort to create strong passwords, putting itself at grave risk online.

Like in the earlier lists, simple numeric passwords remain commonplace, with nine of the top 25 passwords in the 2014 list comprising numbers only. There are some new entries too in the list, which -- as expected -- are easy-to-guess words.

Here are the 25 'worst' passwords of 2014.

1.

1. 123456 (Unchanged from 2013)
2. password (Unchanged)
3. 12345 (Up 17)
4. 12345678 (Down 1)
5. qwerty (Down 1)

2.

6. 1234567890 (Unchanged)
7. 1234 (Up 9)
8. baseball (New)
9. dragon (New)
10. football (New)

3.

11. 1234567 (Down 4)
12. monkey (Up 5)
13. letmein (Up 1)
14. abc123 (Down 9)
15. 111111 (Down 8)

4.

16. mustang (New)
17. access (New)
18. shadow (Unchanged)
19. master (New)
20. michael (New)

5.

21. superman (New)

22. 696969 (New)
23. 123123 (Down 12)
24. batman (New)
25. trustno1 (Down 1)

7 reasons why Apple is lobbying more

Tim Cook recently traveled to an unfamiliar destination for an Apple chief executive officer: The US Capitol.

During the trip last month, Cook posed for a photo with Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican taking over the Senate Finance Committee this year. It was one of the meetings Cook had while in town, which also included a stop at Apple’s store in the Georgetown area.

Apple, which has come under increasing scrutiny as the world’s most valuable company, is becoming more of a regular around Washington.

While co-founder Steve Jobs shunned the nation’s capital, Apple lobbied the White House, Congress and 13 departments and agencies from the Food and Drug Administration to the Federal Trade Commission in 2014 through the third quarter, according to OpenSecrets.org. In 2009, Apple lobbied only Congress and six agencies.

It’s all part of a broader push by Cook, who took the reins in 2011, to make the Cupertino, California-based company more open while laying the groundwork for new products that naturally attract more government scrutiny. That includes Apple Watch, the smartwatch arriving in stores this year, which has applications that track user health data.

“They’ve learned what others before them have learned -- that Washington can have a great effect on their business,” said Larry Noble, senior counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based non-profit that scrutinizes money in politics.

Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman at Apple, declined to comment for this story.

1. Way less than Microsoft, Google

Apple’s spending in Washington remains small compared with other technology companies. Microsoft Corp., which faced an antitrust trial in the late 1990s, spent $6 million last year through the third quarter in Washington, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks spending. Google Inc. is the biggest technology spender after grappling with its own antitrust scrutiny, with $13.7 million in US lobbying costs in 2014 through the end of September. In that same period, Apple spent $2.9 million.

2. Staffing up in Washington

As the company’s Washington spending has risen, Apple has staffed up in the capital. Cook last year hired Amber Cottle, former chief of staff for the Senate Finance Committee, to head Apple’s lobbying office. She replaced Catherine Novelli, who joined the State Department.

In 2013, Cook hired Lisa Jackson, former head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, to oversee the company’s environmental initiatives. While Apple had been making efforts in that area under Jobs, it wasn’t vocal about what it was doing.

“We understand that we need to talk about it,” Jackson said this month during an appearance at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. “We need to say to people, ‘Stop saying it can’t be done, here it is.’”

Apple also added law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP to its growing list of outside lobbying firms in October, according to a Senate filing. WilmerHale, which represented Apple in its patent fight with Samsung Electronics Co., was hired to lobby on issues of competition, intellectual property and technology, according to the filing. The firm joins five others listed as lobbying for Apple this year, totaling 23 people, according to OpenSecrets.

3. Legal setbacks

The increased activity follows several setbacks for Apple in Washington. The US Justice Department won a case against Apple in 2013, in which the department sued the company for conspiring with publishers to fix e-book prices. 

The FTC last year accused Apple of unfairly billing parents for charges that they never consented to that were incurred by kids using apps, with the company agreeing to refund a minimum of $32.5 million to consumers to settle the complaint.

Cook himself testified for nearly two hours before Congress in May 2013 over Apple’s use of offshore tax shelters, using the occasion to call for a simplified US tax code.

“We have never had a large presence in this town,” he told senators, before they peppered him with questions about the company’s tax strategies that had left billions of dollars overseas.

4. Window to product pipeline

Apple’s increasing activities in Washington now offer a window into some of the company’s plans. In December 2013, four Apple vice presidents -- including Jeff Williams, of operations, and Bud Tribble, of software technology -- met with FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and her staff about mobile medical applications. FDA officials told the Apple executives that they regulate based on the intended use of a device.

A glucometer, which measures glucose levels, may be unregulated if used to measure blood sugar to promote better nutrition. Yet if it’s marketed for diabetics it’ll likely be regulated, Apple executives were told, according to an FDA memorandum of the meeting that Bloomberg News obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“It’s not unusual for a company that’s a device company to go meet with FDA and I think Apple is becoming a device company,” Jeffrey Gibbs, a lawyer at the Washington-based firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, said in an interview. “The FDA doesn’t want to be surprised, especially if you’re a very prominent company like Apple.”

Jennifer Haliski, a spokeswoman for the FDA, declined to comment on the meeting.

5. Privacy 'compulsions'

Last fall, Apple executives also met with at least two FTC commissioners and chairwoman Edith Ramirez to demonstrate the Apple Watch and Health app, according to people familiar with the matter.

Among the issues discussed was how Apple’s products collect and use consumer health data, the people said. The company expressed a commitment to protecting consumer data and explained that under its terms of service, data collected by the watch and health apps can’t be shared with third-party data brokers, one of the people said. Cottle, Tribble and Apple’s director of privacy, Jane Horvath, met with agency officials on September 17, according to visitor logs.

Apple officials rarely visited the FTC in recent years, unlike those from companies such as Facebook Inc., which had more frequent meetings, according to a former agency official.

Justin Cole, a spokesman at the FTC, said the agency regularly meets with a range of industry representatives and consumer advocates to “help deepen agency understanding on a wide spectrum of issues.” 

The proactive approach may be working. Ramirez, in an October speech, praised Apple for touting “as a selling point that they don’t share certain data from connected devices.” She added that “steps like this are, I believe, critical to fostering consumer trust. And they are good business too.”

6. iCloud scandal

Apple is trying to be more proactive to quell concerns. After the company unveiled Apple Watch and a digital payment system called Apple Pay in September, Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, and now-retired senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia, sent a letter to Cook seeking more information about how Apple would keep users’ data safe.

It was one of several inquiries that the company got at the time, following nude pictures of celebrities such as model Kate Upton being released online that were stolen from Apple’s iCloud accounts.

“The recent data security incidents that have affected major corporations, including Apple, demonstrate the need for such federal legislation,” the senators’ letter said.

7. Proactive briefings

Apple sent executives to brief staff members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is led by Fred Upton, Kate’s uncle, in September about its new products and included a discussion about Apple’s smartwatch, mobile payment system and health care initiatives, according to a person familiar with the briefing.

Upton’s committee didn’t respond last week to a request for comment.

“The big question is: Is Apple finally getting it?” said Chris Jones, founder of CapitolWorks, a lobbyist recruiting firm. “Yes, they are. They’re understanding there needs to be a proactive outreach on Capitol Hill and a proactive outreach to the administration."

Samsung to launch Galaxy S6 in March

NEW DELHI: South Korean electronics major Samsung will launch its next flagship smartphone Galaxy S6 by March-end.

Though there is no official confirmation from the company yet, according to industry sources the company will unveil Galaxy S6 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, scheduled for March 2-6. When contacted, a Samsung India spokesperson refused to comment.

Much-awaited Galaxy S6 will take over from Galaxy S5 as Samsung's top smartphone and is expected to be a huge departure from its predecessor.

Launched last year in March, Galaxy S5 was a big disappointment for Samsung and missed the company's first quarter sales expectations, which is a crucial test to assess any model's sales for the entire year.

In an effort to stem the rot, the company unveiled the Galaxy Alpha, its first Android phone with a metallic body, within six months of Galaxy S5's launch.

Samsung is expected to retain the same metallic design in its Galaxy S6, along with a 2K (1440x2560p) screen. Taking forward the Galaxy Note Edge design, Samsung is said to be working on a Galaxy S6 variant with curved screens on both edges.

There is some uncertainty over the processor to be used in the upcoming smartphone, with reports suggesting Samsung is facing overheating issues due to the top-end Qualcomm chip it is testing. However, there have also been reports junking such speculation.

If the reports of overheating are true, Samsung would likely use its own Exynos chip in the international variant. This chip is said to be designed on 64-bit architecture. Samsung usually sells Exynos-powered smartphones in 3G-dominant markets.

Other likely features of Samsung Galaxy S6 features are 20MP rear camera, faster 4G radios, 32 and 64GB storage options, microSD card support and battery capacity of over 3,000mAh.

Samsung is also said to be working on add-on back panels that provide extra functionality to the smartphone. Among the back panels being developed is one that turns the rear casing into an e-book reader, while another is said to put all the S Health features on the back.

Galaxy S6 is crucial to Samsung's profitability as the company' mobile sales are being squeezed by the likes of Xiaomi at the bottom end and Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus at the top end. The new iPhones have helped Apple post the biggest profit ever in corporate history recently.

Riding on stupendous iPhone 6 sales, some estimates say Apple may have overtaken Samsung for the numero uno slot though the final numbers are yet to be revealed. Samsung has a lot riding on the S6 launch after the failure of Galaxy S5 and is speculated to have delayed the launch a bit to ensure Galaxy S6 turns out to be a winner.

In Pics: Inside Apple's Largest Store In Asia

Apple just had the most profitable quarter of any company in history. China was a major part of the company's success — according to recent estimates by UBS, China is quickly becoming one of the company's largest markets for iPhones.

The company's ultimate goal is to have 40 stores operating in China by the end of 2016. Apple started its flurry of activity with the opening of its store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, this weekend. Situated over two large levels of retail space, the new Apple store is one of the biggest in Asia.

Excited fans turned out in droves to attend the opening of the new store. Here's a peek inside Apple's largest store in China.

The new store in Hangzhou is situated over two levels of retail space.

It's one of the largest Apple stores in Asia.

Inside you'll find the long tables and minimalist design we've come to expect in an Apple store.

Apple trademarked its store layout in 2013, so many of its retail locations look similar. This one has an enormous glass front that looks out on the streets of Hangzhou.

Merchandise is hung precisely on the walls.

A large glass staircase helps customers travel between floors.

You'll notice art from Apple's "Start Something New" campaign hanging on the walls. As part of the campaign, Apple is featuring artwork created on iPhones and iPads in stores worldwide.

Some fans had camped out in front of the store for days before it opened.