With virtual reality stalled, smart glasses companies are heading to CES focused on expanded opportunities in the enterprise segment. Heavy market “fragmentation and scarcity of content” is plaguing consumer VR hardware growth (see 1812200009), but “maturation of developer tools, supporting platforms, and use case breadth are shifting market dynamics slowly toward the enterprise,” said ABI analyst Eric Abbruzzese in a recent report. While VR gaming presents a $5 billion opportunity by 2023, “simulation and training, as well as more specialized VR uses, will propel VR” alongside augmented reality.

TracFone told the FCC it's time to address problems with the Lifeline national verifier, in reply comments posted Thursday in docket 17-287 (see 1812200018). “Despite numerous efforts by TracFone and other Lifeline carriers to engage” with the Universal Service Administrative Co. “the rollout of the National Verifier remains haphazard and mired in confusion,” TracFone said. “Its decision-making process is opaque, with ensuing outcomes that reflect little, if any, input from the Lifeline community who are on the frontline serving millions of eligible customers each day.” The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority, in its reply, said the FCC should pause use of the verifier until changes are made. “Lifeline service for residents of Tribal lands is critically important for their health, safety, and welfare,” it said.

TracFone told the FCC it's time to address problems with the Lifeline national verifier, in reply comments posted Thursday in docket 17-287 (see 1812200018). “Despite numerous efforts by TracFone and other Lifeline carriers to engage” with the Universal Service Administrative Co. “the rollout of the National Verifier remains haphazard and mired in confusion,” TracFone said. “Its decision-making process is opaque, with ensuing outcomes that reflect little, if any, input from the Lifeline community who are on the frontline serving millions of eligible customers each day.” The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority, in its reply, said the FCC should pause use of the verifier until changes are made. “Lifeline service for residents of Tribal lands is critically important for their health, safety, and welfare,” it said.

A widespread phishing campaign is underway, looking to grab personal information from online shoppers, reported Bleepingcomputer.com. Emails with PDF attachments pretend to be a purchase confirmation from the Apple App store and direct consumers to click a link if the transaction was unauthorized. All the links are for shortened URLs so a recipient doesn’t know the URL they are sent to, it said. The landing page asks the victims to log in with their Apple ID, which looks like the legitimate Apple account management portal, it said. If victims don’t type in information, they are told their Apple account has been locked. The phishing page redirects consumers to a legitimate appleid.apple.com account management page in a way that triggers the Apple website to post a “timed out for your security” message, corroborating the phishing page’s story, it said. If users enter the information requested, attackers will have enough for a “complete identity theft,” it said, including opening bank or credit card accounts, accessing other accounts with the information, or filing tax returns under the victim's name. New York magazine said fake receipts are also being sent out for Amazon accounts. Amazon and Apple didn't respond to questions Friday.

A widespread phishing campaign is underway, looking to grab personal information from online shoppers, reported Bleepingcomputer.com. Emails with PDF attachments pretend to be a purchase confirmation from the Apple App store and direct consumers to click a link if the transaction was unauthorized. All the links are for shortened URLs so a recipient doesn’t know the URL they are sent to, it said. The landing page asks the victims to log in with their Apple ID, which looks like the legitimate Apple account management portal, it said. If victims don’t type in information, they are told their Apple account has been locked. The phishing page redirects consumers to a legitimate appleid.apple.com account management page in a way that triggers the Apple website to post a “timed out for your security” message, corroborating the phishing page’s story, it said. If users enter the information requested, attackers will have enough for a “complete identity theft,” it said, including opening bank or credit card accounts, accessing other accounts with the information, or filing tax returns under the victim's name. New York magazine said fake receipts are also being sent out for Amazon accounts. Amazon and Apple didn't respond to questions Friday.

Four TV makers and one panel maker will be founding members of the new 8K Association launching at CES to spread consumer awareness of the fledgling ultra-high-resolution format, emailed Insight Media President Chris Chinnock, who will be the group’s executive director. It plans a Jan. 9 debut news conference on Day 2 of CES, CTA announced.

Accurate results of drive tests checking whether areas are eligible for Mobility Fund Phase II support is difficult, especially in remote tribal lands and nearby areas, Smith Bagley told an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. The carrier said it spent more than $250,000 on drive testing, “but has only covered a small fraction of the thousands of individual one square kilometer grid cells that it believes should be tested,” in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90.

Accurate results of drive tests checking whether areas are eligible for Mobility Fund Phase II support is difficult, especially in remote tribal lands and nearby areas, Smith Bagley told an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. The carrier said it spent more than $250,000 on drive testing, “but has only covered a small fraction of the thousands of individual one square kilometer grid cells that it believes should be tested,” in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and CBP will use a period of "informed compliance" starting Dec. 31 for entries of shrimp and abalone required to include data for the NMFS Seafood Import Monitoring (SIM) Program, CBP said in a CSMS message. "Entries will be audited, inspected, and verified for the “informed compliance” with the SIM rule starting December 31, 2018 to March 1, 2019," CBP said. "However, entries of only shrimp and abalone tariff codes [in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule] (HTS) will not be rejected if their SIM data is omitted." That period is meant to help the trade "work through any inadvertent, unintentional, or technical or concerns that may have precluded their being fully prepared to successfully submit SIM data for shrimp and/or abalone with the Entry," it said. Starting March 1, "entries that do not comply with the mandatory SIM message set requirements, including shrimp and abalone, will be refused entry," it said. A NMFS final rule issued in April said that as of Dec. 31, shrimp and abalone importers would be required to file harvest and landing data at the time of entry in ACE (see 1804230037).

The lawyer who filed companion federal complaints Friday alleging Apple and Samsung are shortchanging the public on the screen-resolution specs on which they market their smartphones won’t rule out targeting additional manufacturers. “That depends on what comes to us,” attorney C.K. Lee told us Monday, when asked if he plans more lawsuits.