U.S. government made 150,000 requests for Verizon data in six months

Verizon's latest transparency report revealed the U.S. government issued tens of thousands of subpoenas in 2014 so far. But still no word on those pesky FISA warrants.

The U.S. government issued around 150,000 customer data requests from Verizon during the first half of 2014, the company said.

In its latest transparency report published Tuesday, the company complied with the vast majority — most of which were subpoenas for subscriber information on a single phone number or IP address, totaling more than 72,300. Other subpoenas demanded metadata requests, such as who a subscriber had called at a given time, the company said.
There were 37,000 court orders, which are harder to get than subpoenas because they require a judge's signature to authorize.

Out of this figure, 714 wiretaps that gave U.S. government access to user's content, were authorized. Over 3,000 trap-and-trace orders and pen registers, which give law enforcement and intelligence agencies real-time access to incoming and outgoing numbers respectively.

There were 24,257 "emergency" requests, which can be served on the company in cases where life or property are immediately threatened. 

Top secret and classified FISA warrants were not disclosed in the report, the company noted. These warrants can be served on companies to hand over data to the government for later inspection by the intelligence services.

"The government requires that we delay the report of any orders issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for six months. Thus, at this time, the most recent FISA information we may report is for the second half of 2013."

A little over a year ago, The Guardian published a top secret FISA warrant that ordered the phone giant to hand over its entire cache of metadata — including times, dates, and durations of phone calls, and the phone numbers themselves — on an ongoing basis.

Verizon did not comment, or confirm or deny the FISA warrant.

Little details were given on international requests. Aside from the U.S., France led the data request league table with 762 data requests, followed by Germany with 670 requests.

Australian government visualises geospatial data on National Map

The Australian government has launched a single platform containing a number of the data sets released by the government, including broadband availability and quality.
People will be able to access Australian mapping data from the one platform, with the government today launching the National Map Open Data Initiative.

A collaborative effort between the Department of Communications, National ICT Australia (NICTA) and Geoscience Australia, the National Map project combines a visual map of Australia with the data sets released by the government under the open data policy, including Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Bureau of Meteorology data, and data sets from data.gov.au.

Users can view data sets over the top of the map by selecting from a drop box on the side of the map.

The government has also included the data gathered from the Department of Communications' broadband quality and availability study, whcih was used in developing the MyBroadband website that will feed into NBN Co's revised rollout targeting areas that are said to have poor broadband availability today.

The National Map tool will be one part of the GovHack 2014 competition this week that will open up government datasets to developers to create apps and data visualisations.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that since the election there had been a "seven-fold" increase in datasets available on data.gov.au since the election, up to 3,500.

The New Zealand government has said its open data initiatives will change the way its measures goals and will change the budget process for the government.

It comes as a site dedicated to the National Broadband Network rollout has this week developed its own unofficial heatmaps for the potential speeds users in fibre-to-the-node trial sites will experience. Relying on publicly released information about the speeds available on VDSL technology over copper lines based on their distance from the node, MyNBN has estimated that the average download speeds for users across the eight locations will be between 36Mbps and 47Mbps.

The site determined the location of the nodes by trawling through Google Street View and determining where the existing Telstra pillars for the copper lines are located, and based NBN Co's potential nodes from those locations.

NBN Co has so far not released any indicative information on the types of speeds customers will receive on the fibre to the node network, except for one line test in Umina of 105Mbps down, and 45Mbps up on a copper line of 100 metres long.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and 10.5 review: Best Android tablets thanks to a super display

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and 10.5 are the eighth and ninth Samsung Android tablets released in 2014 alone. I gave you my first impressions a couple of weeks ago and am getting ready to send back the eval units. They are excellent media machines and I may be tempted to pick one up in a couple months.

Since these tablets are nearly the same, except for the display size, home button layout, and the battery capacity, I am going to include my review text on one page and then just call out where the two tablets differ.
Hardware

The most promoted and distinguished feature of these two new Samsung tablets is the large, high resolution Super AMOLED screens. The Galaxy Tab Pro models released in February were similar to these models, but used LCD display technology. These Super AMOLED screens really are quite fabulous with vibrant colors and dark blacks without the colors being too crazy like we have seen on earlier AMOLED screens. The same display technology is used in the Galaxy S5 and they all look great.

It has been a while since I used a Samsung tablet and I am very impressed by what they were able to do in regards to the thickness of the tablet. 6.6 mm in thickness is impressive, especially when you consider the Galaxy S5 is 8.1 mm thick.

One of my complaints about the Galazxy S5 is the cheap ridged edge design so it was great to see Samsung improve the edge design on these tablets that have more of a chamfered iPad/iPhone edge. The back has the same dimpled leather design as the S5 and they feel great in your hand with a more premium feel than we have seen on previous Samsung tablets.Samsung continues to use a hardware button on their devices. You will find it on the bottom of the Tab S 8.4 if you hold the tablet in portrait orientation and on the bottom of the Tab S 10.5 when you hold it in landscape orientation. There are capacitive buttons for the task switcher and back functions on either side of the hardware button. The proximity sensor and front facing camera are positioned above the display, across from the hardware button on both units.

Having the hardware button on the bottom of the Tab S 10.5 in landscape results in larger top and bottom bezels on the Tab S 10.5, but the side bezels are reasonable and the device still looks attractive and functions well.

A power button, volume button, microSD card slot, IR port, microUSB poort, 3.5mm headset jack, and dual stereo speakers are positioned around the sides of each tablet. The 8 megapixel camera and flash are found on the back of the tablets. You will also find the two accessory buttons, see my case section below, located on the back of the tablets.

Cases

Samsung sent along a couple cases for each tablet for me to test out. The Book Cover was my favorite since it gives you the ability to prop up the tablets in a couple positions for watching media content. It is available for $59.99 for the 8.4 and $69.99 for the 10.5, in a variety of colors.

Samsung also has a Simple Cover in a variety of colors for $39.99 for either size tablet. The Simple Cover attaches to the back buttons and just covers the display. It does not prop up the tablet for viewing, but does offer screen protection with no real addition to the size of the device.

These cases both attach to the Tab S via the two flush push button openings in the back. This is a handy design solution to making low profile cases for these devices and if I did not have these cases to test then I would still be trying to figure out what these two openings were for.

Software

These tablets are powered by Android 4.4 KitKat with their TouchWiz UI. As you will find, TouchWiz has been greatly scaled back and there are actually very few added Samsung apps. You have the ability to download others, but Samsung leaves that choice up to you and that is how I like it.

You will find a page of useful and functional widgets such as Quick Briefing, Paper Garden, Here & Now, Video, and WatchON all loaded on a home screen panel available via a swipe from left to right. Quick Briefing can be customized to show you three of your favorite website bookmarks, the SideSync 3 app, alarm utility, S Planner, and stock quotes.

Paper Garden is a Samsung tablet-optimized magazine service with content that is designed to provide you with an interactive experience. There are not that many content providers yet, but the reading experience was pretty slick.

Here & Now is like My Magazine on Samsung Galaxy phones. You customize the type of content you want to see, including your favorite sports teams. The Video and WatchON widgets give you quick access to these apps.

Multi-window mode is one function that sets the Samsung Galaxy tablets apart from the iPad, although there are rumors that multiple apps on one screen may be coming in iOS 8. The multi-window feature is well designed and I really like that you can setup default split screen experiences. While multi-window is better on the larger 10.5 inch model, it still works well on the 8.4 inch tablet.

Another function that sets the Samsung tablets apart from the iPad is the multi-user capability that lets you truly use the Samsung Galaxy Tabs as family tablets. You can setup full or restricted accounts and control what others have access to when they login on the same tablet. There are some limitations on what restricted accounts can access because of how deep some of the data syncs into the Android platform.

You will also find easy access to the Kid Mode application that lets you setup the tablet to share with young children, rather than using the multi-user mode.

SideSync is a promoted application and while I could get it to sync up with my Galaxy S5, the touchscreen did not work to control my S5 and I didn't see much utility in having my phone display mirrored on the Tabs. The experience is not as clean and flawless as I hoped and I think it is one of those early beta demos that needs more work.

The fingerprint scanner is as useless and unreliable on these Tabs as it is on the Galaxy S5. It seems to train well, but then doesn't work well to unlock the device.

Samsung also provides many free applications and services for you to keep or try out in the form of their Galaxy Gifts. Make sure to at least check them out since there are some items of value that may save you quite a bit of money.

Usage and experiences

These Galaxy S Tabs are very thin and are one of the best designed tablets I have ever used. If the LTE models were available now I might consider picking one up (they are scheduled for release later this year). I like using multi-window mode and the media experience can't be beat with these fantastic Super AMOLED screens.

The batteries seemed to go for days while using them via WiFi and I appreciated the large battery capacities. With my Samsung TV, the WatchON app on these tablets makes the television experience even better than one of those expensive smart universal remotes so that is one way you might justify the cost.

While Apple has many more tablet-optimized apps, Samsung is doing their part to bring you apps that run well on tablets. I like the calendar, email, and Hancom Office apps on the tablet due to the way they provide data and take advantage of the large displays.
Pros and cons

To summarize my experiences with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S devices, here are my pros and cons.

Pros	Cons
Awesome high resolution Super AMOLED display	Limited functionality SideSync software
Thin and light	Troublesome fingerprint scanner
High quality construction and design	Still need more tablet-optimized apps
microSD expansion card slot
Long battery life
Infared port to help serve as excellent couch tablet
Multi-user support for family servicePricing and availability The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is available for $399.99 for the 16GB model and $449.99 for the 32GB model. The Tab S 10.5 is $100 more at $499.99 for the 16GB model and $549.99 for the 32GB model. I personally would pay the $50 more for double the internal storage since you may fill up the internal storage with high end applications and games as Android no longer permits you to install apps to the microSD card. You can find these models in white or bronze. It is interesting that there are no black or gray models, like we see on phones. I tested the 8.4 in white and the 10.5 in bronze. I like the bronze better since the front is not as stark as you enjoy media on the gorgeous display. The competition The competition for the Tab S 8.4 includes the Apple iPad Mini with Retina Display, Google Nexus 7, and LG G Pad 8.3. The iPad Mini starts at the same $399 price, but has no memory expansion capability. The Nexus 7 is priced a lot lower with the 16GB model at $229 and the 32GB model at $269. The LG G Pad 8.3 can also be found now for about $280 and is an extremly well designed tablet. The competition is pretty fierce at the smaller tablet form factor and it is tough to justify the high price of the Tab S 8.4 when you look at the competition. There are not quite as many large screen tablets, but we do see the iPad Air starting at $499. A 16GB Google Nexus 10 is priced at $399. The Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is much better designed than the Nexus 10, but it is still tough for Samsung to compete in the tablet space with the Apple iPad. Specifications     Processor: Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5420     8.4 Screen: 8.4 inch 2,560 x 1,600 Super AMOLED     10.5 Screen: 10.5 inch 2,560 x 1,600 Super AMOLED     RAM: 3GB     Internal storage: 16 or 32 GB     External storage: microSD up to 128 GB     Cameras: 8 megapixel rear and 2.1 megapixel front facing     Battery capacity: 8.4 - 4,900 mAh, 10.5 - 7,900 mAh     8.4 Dimensions: 212.8 mm x 125.6 mm x 6.6 mm at 294 grams     10.5 Dimensions: 247.3 mm x 177.3 mm x 6.6 mm at 465 grams Conclusion It's too bad Samsung couldn't have had these available in February rather than having to release similar tablets so close to each other. I also wish their cellular models were ready to go at launch and don't think they take anything away from sales of the WiFi only model. The tablets are very well designed and full of features, but they also are priced at the high end of the tablet market. If multi-window or multi-user use is important to you then these Tabs are the ones to get. Contributor's rating for Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and 10.5: 9 out of 10

The 100 Best Android Apps of 2014

Look at your Android phone and/or tablet. Has it started to seem just a little too familiar, too predictable? Have you been tempted by the siren song of iOS 8 after the slew of announcements at WWDC? Stay strong, my friends, and behold our list of the 100 best Android apps on Google Play. Everything you need to spruce up your phone and/or tablet and re-ignite your love affair with Android can be found within.
Oh My Gosh, That Is So Many Pages
It would be foolhardy to think that anyone could possibly look upon the perfect majesty of these apps at once and not be struck blind. But if you like toying with fate you can click through the massive slide show.
To safely convey these 100 best apps, we've broken the story into pages, each carefully categorized. That way, you can avoid the sections you don't want and jump to the ones that you really want to see. Also, if you're interested in more Android games (be honest, you are) check out our list of The 10 Best Android Games. You're welcome!
Hey, You Missed Something!
Unfortunately, we have yet to physically and mentally merge with the Google Play store, becoming an omnipotent being of total app knowledge. Until that glorious day, we'll rely on our own humble judgment and your feedback. If we missed something, or you have a recommendation, be sure to drop us a line in the comment section. We also have other lists highlighting critical free Android apps, the best messaging apps, and Android antivirus for your reading pleasure.
This App Is Stale
While 100 apps is a reasonably manageable slice of the one million plus apps in the Google Play store, it's still a challenge to keep up to date. That's the nature of a platform as enormous and dynamic as Android. We update the list frequently to keep it from becoming an ossified mess filled with broken and unhip apps. Hopefully, the next time you read this, there will be some new gems for you to discover.

13 Microsoft Word Tips You Need to Learn Now

Regardless of what computer platform you prefer or what type of hardware you have, the chances are very good that at some point in your life, you've been annoyed by a helpful little animated paper clip.Microsoft Word is so integral to our digital lives that it has successfully commandeered the actual word, "Word." If you refer to the once-nonsensical phrases like "Word docs," "editing in Word," or "a Word update," people will know exactly what you are talking about. That's the power of ubiquity.Even though the program has since been sucked into the greater branding gravity of Microsoft Office, Word still stands alone as the program with which everyone—regardless of their technological prowess—is at least somewhat familiar.The long-dominant word processing software faces a new class of cloud-based competition, and Microsoft has even gotten in on the action with Office 365. But the well-known Word software still remains the go-to tool for producing all our important docs (except for Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin, who keeps it insane-person old school by writing on a DOS word processor). And why shouldn't it be? Word is dependable, customizable, and with lots of baked-in functionality.Old veteran Word users like yourself probably think there's nothing left to learn. Oh, but there's always room for more knowledge! Here we present 13 functions that aren't hidden, but aren't exactly spelled out either. Click through to uncover little semi-hidden treats that only power user super ninjas know.Note: These tips were tested using Microsoft Word 2010 on a PC and Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac. Not all tips may be available or in the exact same locale on your version.