Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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Another quiet week, but signs of live emerging with the response to the poll from last week.
Enjoy the odd item you may have missed!
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Windows 7 users warned to upgrade
· Press Association
PC users running Windows 7 have been warned to upgrade to avoid possible cyber attacks as support for the software ends.
The 10-year-old operating system will no longer receive critical updates from Tuesday onwards, meaning Microsoft will stop patching any weaknesses that appear, making machines vulnerable to hacker attacks.
According to NetMarketShare estimations for the end of 2019, Windows 7 is still one of the most popular Windows operating systems with a 32.74 per cent global share, second only to Microsoft's most recent version, Windows 10, at 47.65 per cent.
GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has told the public not to access banking, emails or other services containing sensitive information from devices on Windows 7 due to the high risk.
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Amazon Australia signals pharmacy foray with new trademark application
By Dominic Powell
January 14, 2020 — 11.45pm
The local arm of retail giant Amazon has filed a trademark for the term "Amazon Pharmacy", suggesting it could be looking to enter Australia's highly regulated pharmaceuticals market.
Submitted to trademark authority IP Australia last Thursday, the submission covers a number of goods and services classes in the pharmacy space, including various medical apparatuses, medication dispensers, online pharmacy retailing and the distribution of prescription medication.
Most notably, the trademark covers a "pharmacy packaging service that aligns, sorts and packages a patient's medications by date and time into individual packets".
This is similar to Amazon's existing pharmacy retail service in the US, which it kicked off last year through a $1.35 billion acquisition of online pharmacy startup PillPack.
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Don’t judge a mental health app by RCT alone
Authored by Samineh Sanatkar Samuel Harvey
THE randomised controlled trial (RCT) model is a vital tool in clinical practice and helps establish, with reasonable precision, the usefulness of novel drugs and therapeutic techniques. As is implied in the name, RCT models are characterised by employing randomisation techniques and the presence of a control group. Successful randomisation to experimental and control groups ensures that all participant characteristics are equally distributed across the experimental conditions. With that, any confounding factors, both known and unknown, should not unduly influence the outcomes in one group more than in the other. The experimenter can be reasonably certain that any changes in the outcome variable can be linked back to the variable of interest (ie, the treatment method or drug administered). The control group is equally important – only with a control is it possible to establish how big a treatment effect is compared with other options such as treatment as usual or some other treatment option.
While RCTs need to remain the gold standard when deciding if a new treatment or intervention works, a positive RCT result alone does not guarantee that a new program will have a meaningful impact. The limitations of traditional RCTs are particularly stark when evaluating new technologies.
Over the past decade, there has been an exponential increase in the number of digital mental health programs (ie, mental health websites and mobile applications) that have been developed and tested. Many of these new online or app-based interventions have been shown in RCTs to be effective (here, here, and here), leading to the suggestion that digital interventions may be an important part of the solution for persistently high rates of mental health symptoms in most countries. However, very little of this evidence has flowed through into the applications and programs being used in the real world. A recent investigation published in Nature estimated that only 2% of the popular depression smartphone apps had a reasonable evidence base.
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Motion-sensing Wi-Fi routers get new powers thanks to 'wellness pods'
By Alice Clarke
January 13, 2020 — 3.19pm
As always, one of the big themes at CES in Las Vegas this year was tracking literally everything. There’s a connected kitty litter box and water fountain that alert your vet if your cat pees too much, and a belt that tells you you’re getting fat after you have a big meal (as though mothers hadn’t already been invented).
Most of these innovations are weird, or privacy violations waiting to happen. But at the booths of Belkin companies Linksys and Phyn, I spotted some connected devices that manage to walk the fine line of being informative and helpful without being creepy.
The Linkys Wellness Pods can monitor movement, from small actions like breathing to large ones like falling, nearby.
For people using certain models of Linksys' mesh Wi-Fi routers, the company already offers a subscription service called Linksys Aware which can detect motion in your home. It does this without creepy cameras, by sensing distrubances in your wireless networking. It’s kind of a low-budget, agnostic version of The Force.
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US Army to expand Asian cyber efforts to 'punch a hole' in China's air, sea defences
By Tony Capaccio
January 14, 2020 — 6.24am
Washington: The US Army will expand efforts to counter China by deploying a specialised task force to the Pacific capable of conducting information, electronic, cyber and missile operations against Beijing.
The unit, which Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy is expected to detail at an event in Washington on Friday, would also be equipped to hit land- and sea-based targets with long-range precision weapons such as hypersonic missiles, possibly clearing the way for Navy vessels in the event of conflict.
The Army task force would help neutralise some capabilities China and Russia already possess and are intended to keep US carrier groups away from the Asian mainland, McCarthy said in an interview. It's not clear how quickly the unit, which would likely be based on islands east of Taiwan and the Philippines, can be deployed.
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Home Affairs rejects claims anti-encryption laws conflict with US CLOUD Act
“No issues” that would prevent bilateral agreement.
The Department of Home Affairs has dismissed claims that Australia’s controversial anti-encryption laws are standing in the way of a landmark cross-border data access agreement with the United States.
The compatibility of the Assistance and Access Act 2018 with a future bilateral agreement under the US Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act to streamline law enforcement access to data first came under the spotlight in mid-2019.
A coalition of American tech giants, including the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple, and civil liberties organisations warned that the US Congress was unlikely to enter into such an agreement with Australia due to a clear conflict between the laws.
The group said Australia’s laws, which give law enforcement agencies the power to ask technology companies to provide assistance or introduce technical changes to their platforms, "undermine[d] substantive and procedural protections for privacy and civil rights".
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/travelex-restoring-electronic-services-after-ransomware-attack-536445
Travelex restoring electronic services after ransomware attack
Some internal and order processing systems back online.
Travelex is restoring operations to process foreign exchange orders electronically, it said on Monday, almost two weeks after cyber hackers took hold of its systems, leading to a global blackout of its online services.
Staff at Travelex were forced to use pen and paper to serve thousands of customers after ransomware forced the company to take all its systems offline, causing chaos for New Year holidaymakers and business travellers seeking online currency services.
"We continue to make good progress with our recovery and have already completed a considerable amount in the background," Travelex, owned by Finablr Plc, said in an email.
"We are now at the point where we are able to start restoring functionality in our partner and customer service."
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Tinder images being shared to cyber-crime website
Tens of thousands of images are being shared by a cyber-crime website, and women appear to have been primarily targeted.
More than 70,000 photos of Tinder users are reportedly being shared by a cyber-crime website known for dealing in malicious software.
Only women appear to have been targeted, according to Gizmodo.
The images were discovered by cybersecurity firm White Ops and were accompanied by a text file containing about 16,000 unique Tinder user IDs.
It’s unclear what the images were being used for but there are concerns they could be used for illegal acts, to target users, generate fake profiles or possibly to train a facial recognition product.
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Faxes on the way out
16 Jan, 2020 7:46am
Northland Age
The Ministry of Health has given pharmacies around the country until the end of the year to get rid of their fax machines, and to replace them with a secure digital alternative.
The ministry said faxes were becoming increasingly incompatible with modern technology, but at least one Kaitaia pharmacist does not agree.
Eric Shackleton, who sold his pharmacy to Atif Malkonyan in 2017, and is due to embark upon fulltime retirement in March, said faxes were in fact more secure, and less problematic, than the encrypted email alternative.
"A fax is much more difficult to interfere with than an email, because the message goes directly from one phone number to another number," he said.
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Icon Group Improves Patient Experience and Provider Service Levels with InterSystems HealthShare Health Connect
Australia’s largest dedicated cancer care provider gains rapid integration with healthcare providers
Icon Group is Australia’s largest dedicated cancer care provider with more than 2,800 employees. Icon’s businesses have extensive capability and experience in radiation oncology, medical oncology, haematology, chemotherapy compounding and pharmacy. Icon Group has grown rapidly in Australia, New Zealand and Asia over the last four years with expansion continuing.
Icon has 12 major clinical applications supporting 36 oncology centres and 60 pharmacies. As they grew, Icon used point-to-point interfaces to integrate these software applications and connect to external healthcare providers.
However, the effort to develop and support also grew rapidly. To remove a barrier to further growth, Icon decided to implement a centralised integration platform.
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Thursday, 09 January 2020 23:18
Withings launches smartwatch for detection of cardiovascular, sleep apnea issues
Consumer electronics company Withings has launched what it says is the first hybrid smartwatch combine medical grade electrocardiogram and sleep apnea detection as part of treatment for cardiovascular and sleep issues.
Developed by cardiologists and sleep experts, Withings - formerly Nokia Health says the smartwatch - dubbed ScanWatch - is its most medically advanced wearable to date, helping users and their physicians monitor overall health and to identify highly prevalent, yet largely underdiagnosed cardiovascular and sleep issues early.
Pending medical clearance, the France headquartered Withings says its ScanWatch will be available in Australia and New Zealand in Q2 2020 starting at A$479, and in addition to the two watch size options (38mm and 42mm), users will be able to select from a variety of colour options and select from swappable soft silicone and leather wristbands.
According to Withings, with nearly 1 billion adults worldwide estimated to have obstructive sleep apnea and research showing that atrial fibrillation will reach epidemic proportions worldwide in the coming decade, the need for these high tech, medical devices are now more prevalent than ever.
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Vection Technologies (ASX:VR1) taking more healthcare ground with CompuGroup contract
- Software specialist Vection Technologies (VR1) has signed an app-development contract with CompuGroup Medical
- Through the contract, Vection will build an eHealth mobile app for pharmacists
- Through the app, pharmacists can easily scan and identify products for efficient inventory and supply management
- The app represents an initial $50,000 in development revenue for Vection
- The two companies are busy negotiating a commercial agreement to distribute the new app
- Vection shares have remained flat today, continuing to trade for 2.5 cents each
Virtual and augmented reality specialist Vection Technologies (VR1) is taking more ground in the healthcare sector through a contract with eHealth giant CompuGroup Medical.
Vection has been signed on to create an eHealth mobile application for Studiofarma, a subsidiary of CompuGroup. eHealth refers to the healthcare sector's use of electronics and technology — such as internet-based healthcare services or data analytics for practitioners.
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Channel won $500m in Canberra during Q4 '19
We trust everyone has settled back into work now after some much-needed R&R over the Christmas holiday break. For some in the channel though, business never slowed down in the fourth quarter of 2019. That’s why CRN’s federal government procurement analysis is back to see who sold the most kit to the government.
This time round, we’ll cover federal contracts awarded from 1 October to 31 December 2019. With 2019 behind us, that means we can start pulling together an analysis of the entirety of the past 12 months. But for now, we’ll stick to Q4 to give those partners and vendors a chance to shine.
As always: the results aren't necessarily definitive as AusTender doesn't publish every contract in a timely manner or use the same business name for each contract.
Nevertheless, we are confident that these figures will provide a useful depiction of the biggest winners in Canberra for Q4 2019. Check out our 2018 analysis if you want to know how we do it.
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Google to disable third-party cookies
· The Times
Google is to limit the ability of advertisers to track people across the web as it responds to criticism that it does too little to protect privacy.
The giant internet group said on Wednesday it intended to withdraw support for third-party “cookies” within two years.
Cookies are bits of computer code that sit in web browsers such as Google Chrome, allowing advertisers to collect data on the websites people visit. The information is used to target ads at people and help advertisers monitor campaigns.
The success of cookies has played a large part in helping Alphabet, Google’s owner, to come within touching distance of a $US1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) market capitalisation.
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Fitbit is rolling out blood oxygen monitoring to supported Versa, Charge, and Ionic devices
The company's most recent fitness trackers have all had an SpO2 sensor built-in, but its data hasn't been visible until now.
If you own a Fitbit Charge 3, Ionic, Versa, Versa Lite, or Versa 2, it's time to check the app for a new Estimated Oxygen Variation Graph. The graph will display your blood's oxygen level, using the SpO2 sensor that's been sitting idle inside compatible Fitbit devices. The update was first reported by Tizen Help. Fitbit confirmed to ZDNet the feature is indeed rolling out right now.
It's the first time that Fitbit has activated the sensor and made the data widely available to users. Previously, Fitbit used data from the sensor in its Sleep Score Beta in early 2019.
With access to the new graph, users can see when there are big and small variations in their blood oxygen saturation. The bigger the change, the more likely it is a sign that the person could have sleep apnea. Fitbit stops short of making that specific claim, but instead, it says it can help the user be more aware of variations in breathing during sleep.
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Bushfires: Power biggest issue for Telstra as it works to keep services online
Telco’s ability to refuel generators and replace batteries keeping telecommunications sites online depends on it getting the all-clear from fire authorities
Editor, Computerworld | 13 January 2020 9:12 AEDT
Telstra says it is making every resource it can available to address the impact of bushfires on telecommunications in regional parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
As of 5pm on Friday, 15 of the telco’s sites in New South Wales were affected, including five mobile towers suffering fire damage. There is also damage to the telco’s radio and transmission site at Mount Mittamatite in Victoria. In South Australia, Telstra’s Mount Torrens site has been “severely damaged,” but mobile sites on Kangaroo Island have been restored.
The telco says that it is facing a dynamic situation, which means service availability can change rapidly and that its ability to remediate damaged infrastructure can be affected by changes in fire conditions.
The biggest impact on services has been interruptions to mains power. Most of Telstra’s 40,000 network sites have some form of battery backup or generator to deal with power outages, but the telco has warned that event its largest capacity batteries could run-down during extended mains outages. The company is only able to refuel generators and replace batteries when given the all-clear by fire authorities.
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NBN Co reveals active Sky Muster users within 25km of city centres
Sheds light on 'urban' satellite usage.
NBN Co has revealed for the first time the number of active satellite users within a 25 kilometre radius of most major Australian capital cities.
The network builder disclosed the numbers under freedom of information (FoI) on December 18 last year. [pdf]
This in itself is remarkable - it’s only the third time since December 2017 that a FoI lodged with NBN Co has been successful.
But it also provides the most accurate picture to date of how many premises in otherwise urban zones prove too hard to connect to the NBN using anything other than Sky Muster.
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NBN Co may need to prove it isn't cross-subsidising enterprise play
Faces renewed attention on its transparency.
NBN Co is facing calls to prove it is not using income from its regulated activities - supplying residential broadband - to subsidise its entry into the enterprise and government market.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said late last month that additional “reporting and transparency requirements” may be imposed on NBN Co to address cross-subsidisation concerns.
The ACCC noted NBN Co “has been increasingly expanding into the contestable enterprise market” and that this “expansion is likely to continue over the coming years.”
“The ACCC considers that NBN Co’s continued expansion into the enterprise services market may result in concerns about cross-subsidisation between products,” it said.
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The biggest issue for the NBN in 2020 isn't writedowns, it's upgrades
Jennifer Duke
Media and telecommunications journalist
January 12, 2020 — 11.29am
The quality of Australia's telecommunications infrastructure has been in focus in recent weeks, with concerns bushfires have exposed the vulnerability of phone and internet connections to natural disasters.
It's a topic that is likely to remain in the spotlight this year as a pivotal moment for internet quality in Australia - the end of the National Broadband Network rollout - fast approaches.
The NBN build is due to finally finish in June. It will be the culmination of a drawn out process to update the nation's broadband that began in 2007 and has featured design overhauls, missed constrution deadlines and a lot of political bickering.
Those involved might be tempted to celebrate the end of the NBN rollout when it arrives, but they'd be better served putting the champagne on ice. If anything, scrutiny of the vast project will only ramp up from here as Australians take a closer look at what $50 billion of taxpayer funds has delivered for them.
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Earth’s oldest stardust calls Australia home
· The Times
Hundreds of millions of years before the sun was born, another star died, its last act being to fling off particles of dust that formed in its winds.
At least six billion years later, some of those particles landed in rural Australia … and now they have been identified as the oldest known solid objects on Earth.
Scientists hope that these “presolar grains” made of silicon carbide could give insights into our galaxy before it contained the sun and help better understand the formation of stars.
“These are real star samples,” said Philipp Heck, from the Field Museum in Chicago. “The carbon in the grains was produced directly in their parent star. It is still fascinating to me that nature made us this rock from which we can learn something of the history of the galaxy,” he said.
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DVT expert treats NASA astronaut from Earth
Friday, 10 January, 2020
In an astounding example of technology advancing health care, a blood clot in the jugular vein of an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has been treated via telemedicine.
UNC School of Medicine blood clot expert and member of the UNC Blood Research Center Stephan Moll was contacted by NASA for his vast knowledge and treatment experience of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) on Earth. This was the first time a blood clot had been found in an astronaut in space, so there was no established method of treatment for DVT in zero gravity.
The astronaut’s blood clot was asymptomatic, but was discovered when the astronaut was taking ultrasounds of the neck for a research study on how body fluid is redistributed in zero gravity.
“My first reaction when NASA reached out to me was to ask if I could visit the International Space Station (ISS) to examine the patient myself,” Moll said.
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Asteroid impact caused dinosaur extinction
· Deutsche Presse Agentur
An asteroid striking the earth 66 million years ago caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs and other animals, a new study has confirmed.
The study rejects a competing hypothesis that attributed the phenomenon to volcanic eruptions in southern India.
According to the study published in the journal Science this week, at least half of the massive volcanic activity along with the ensuing release of gases in the Deccan region in India occurred well before the mass extinction.
An international team investigated deep sea drill cores taken from the North and South Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, focusing on the period at the boundary between the Cretaceous and the Palaeogene periods 66 million years ago.
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Enjoy!
David.
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