Researchers demo voice assistant security flaw

A simple design flaw makes it astoundingly easy to hack Siri and Alexa — Co.Design — “Using a technique called the DolphinAttack, a team from Zhejiang University translated typical vocal commands into ultrasonic frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear, but perfectly decipherable by the microphones and software powering our always-on voice assistants. This relatively simple translation process lets them take control of gadgets with just a few words uttered in frequencies none of us can hear.”


Ticketmaster will soon admit you to events using audio data transmitted from your phone

Ticketmaster will soon admit you to events using audio data transmitted from your phone — VentureBeat — “Ticketmaster will soon be able to admit you to live events and track your movement using nothing more than a discrete digital audio broadcast from your smartphone… The ticketing giant has teamed up with Lisnr, a data-over-audio company that uses an ultrasonic sound technology it calls ‘smart tones’ to transmit information between devices.”




What's New in Payments

MoboMoney takes sound-based mobile payments to India

ToneTag

Indian consumers can now make payments at participating retail locations using their mobile device and sound based technology developed by startup ToneTag. The feature has been integrated into MoboMoney, an NFC payments platform launched by information technology provider Tech Mahindra in December 2015, to extend the service to a greater number of mobile devices and merchants across the country. More



Qualcomm demos 3D fingerprint technology for mobile phones

A fingerprint authentication solution that uses ultrasonic technology to scan through a smartphone cover made of glass, stainless steel, sapphire or plastic as well as contaminants on a finger, such as sweat or condensation, has been unveiled by Qualcomm. The technology can “detect if you are you under very difficult conditions,” product manager Max Hamel has told NFC World. More