Posts Tagged ‘windows’

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times both report that recent cyber attacks against US oil, gas, and power companies have come from Iran. The hackers were targeting control systems and probing for the kind of access that would give them the ability to disrupt oil pipelines and other infrastructure. The cyber attacks are likely backed by the Iranian government, though apparently the evidence isn’t definitive. Iran has apparently been stepping up its cyber warfare capabilities since its nuclear facilities fell victim to Stuxnet , widely believed to have been launched by a collaboration between the US and Israel.

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Hacks targeting US oil, gas, and electric companies traced to Iran

In what may be a first for the Federal Drug Administration, the agency has sent a letter to the makers of an iPhone medical app asking why its approval wasn’t sought before release. The uChek app analyzes photos of urine samples to give users quick health information. On Tuesday, the FDA told developer Biosense that it had 30 days to either show the agency that it has already received its blessing, or explain why the app didn’t need it in the first place. Continue reading…

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iPhone urine analysis app may require FDA approval, says agency

Developers in Argentina have begun receiving letters from Google informing them that “Google Play will no longer be able to accept payments on behalf of developers registered in Argentina starting June 27, 2013.” The change applies to both paid apps and apps that use in-app purchases. The move appears to be related to new, restrictive regulations the Argentine government has imposed on currency exchanges, which The Telegraph detailed this past September. Twitter has quite a few developers complaining about the changes , but it’s not clear how many people will be affected. Android customers in Argentina will still be able to purchase apps in the Play store and developers from the country can continue to offer free apps. Celularis has a…

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Google no longer able to pay Android developers in Argentina, pulling apps on July 27th

Tumblr is the quintessential example of a tumblelog, the stripped-down style of blogging for which it is named. But as the Daily Dot explains , it wasn’t the first to offer a short form blogging service. Tumblr — which Yahoo purchased last week for $1.1 billion in cash — is at least the third tumblelog to hit the Web, following two lesser known sites: Anarchaia and Projectionist . Those two predecessors served as inspiration for David Karp, who founded Tumblr about six years ago

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The little known history of the sites that inspired Tumblr

Chet Kanojia, CEO and founder of Aereo The nation’s largest television broadcasters filed a copyright lawsuit against FilmOn.TV and its Aereokiller service yesterday, alleging that the service retransmits TV programming without authorization or compensating them, according to a story in Variety . Aereokiller is the flippantly-named competitor to Aereo , the company that uses dime-sized antennas to capture over-the-air TV transmissions and then streams them to subscribers by way of the internet. This is part of an escalating fight for control of the country’s TV airwaves.

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Broadcasters go after Aereo by suing smaller competitor, Aereokiller

Yahoo is among the growing number of media companies that have bid to acquire Hulu, the streaming video service owned by NBC Universal, Fox, and Disney, according to a report by All Things D . The news site reported that the other bidders include DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, William Morris Endeavor, and Guggenheim Digital. Meanwhile, the New York Post reports that Hulu employees are begginning to depart.

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Yahoo among bidders for Hulu, as report says employees head for exits

This Chicago public school security guard was reportedly suspended after pushing a students down a flight of stairs. Damn! [via Sky News]        

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School safety officer throws student down flight of stairs

Google is working on building up wireless networks in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and other developing regions, reports The Wall Street Journal . Google is said to be “deep” in the process of funding and building such networks, and is looking to partner with local companies and seeking to have local regulators open up spectrum reserved for TV and other industries. That spectrum may be so-called “white spaces,” the portions that TV companies don’t use but which are still licensed to them. After all, in March, Google announced a trial to deliver wireless broadband to ten schools in South Africa over white spaces, which would seem to be in line with the larger ambitions reported today. Continue reading…

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Google may fund and build wireless networks in Africa, Southeast Asia, WSJ reports

In case you hadn’t heard, Microsoft pulls the wraps off of its next-gen gaming console earlier this week at an event on its Redmond campus. A brand new issue of our slate magazine steps inside the lab where the Xbox One was built for a behind the scenes look at how the new “all-in-one” box came to be. We also offer up our initial impressions of the unit and both its gamepad and Kinect 2.0 peripherals in an extended hands-on.

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Distro Issue 92: Building the Xbox One

Rumors have been flying around about a major visual redesign to Apple’s iOS ever since Jony Ive took on an interface design role following the departure of senior VP and mobile software head Scott Forstall . Most of those rumors have focused on a new, “flat” design that would remove many of the skeumorphic aspects of iOS that have cropped up over the years, and now 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman has been tipped off to a number of new features and design elements in iOS 7. For starters, Ive will reportedly banish the mismatched “heavy textures” found across iOS in favor of a unified scheme largely featuring more simple black-and-white tones.

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Jony Ive’s iOS 7 redesign reportedly eliminates ‘heavy textures’ for a flat, ‘black and white’ design

Worried it might lose younger block-buying customers to video games and computers, Lego has teamed up with Sony to bring the two closer together. PCWorld reports that researchers at Sony’s Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo have already started working on a number of experimental Lego products — including DualShock-controlled robots and camera-mounted figures. While Lego’s main business remains construction focused, the company is experimenting with new prototypes to stay ahead of the curve, even if it has no firm plans to release any commercial products. Continue reading…

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Sony and Lego research leads to DualShock-controlled minibots

Somebody at Lego built a life-sized, five-million-brick model of a Rebel X-Wing fighter. Or rather, 32 somebodies, who spent 17,000 hours building the 43-foot-long, 45,980-pound replica — the largest Lego model in the world. Gizmodo reports that the the fighter was assembled at the Lego Model Shop in Kladno, Czech Republic before being shipped to New York City, where it currently sits on display. Lego had other motivations for building the X-Wing than just breaking records — it’s being used to promote Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, a new three-part animated series coming to Cartoon Network on Wednesday, May 29th

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Life-sized Lego X-Wing smashes world record with five million bricks

Multibillionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is set to release his next project this summer: the major label debut of his band, The Underthinkers. The LA Times reports that the record features Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders, Neville Brother Ivan Neville, and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, and that all the money from album sales will go toward educational programs at his Experience Music Project museum in Seattle. You might not guess it, but Allen is an accomplished guitarist, as evinced by the impressive blues shredding in the video below.

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Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen rocks out with Joe Walsh and Chrissie Hynde on major label debut

A good read in The Daily Dot about a “major piece of the puzzle” in Tumblr’s origin myth that’s often overlooked: “[Founder David] Karp wasn’t the first person to create a tumblelog, the term used to describe the stripped-down blogging and content curation he has become known for. He wasn’t even the second. The true        

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The unsung heroes of early Tumblr culture

US Senators’ indulgent treatment of Apple CEO Tim Cook at this week’s hearing on tax avoidance didn’t escape the writers at The Daily Show. On Wednesday’s episode, host Jon Stewart skewered lawmakers like John McCain (R, AZ) and Claire McCaskill (D, MO) with a supercut of fawning and adoration, punctuated with lines like “you’ve managed to change the world,” ” we love the iPhone and the iPad,” and “I harassed my husband until he converted to a MacBook.” Cook was called in to testify about Apple’s offshore profit shifting — avoiding US taxes on over $100 billion of income by keeping it stashed overseas. After throwing in a shot about Apple Maps, the host ripped the senators for asking Cook what kind of tax code he thought… Continue reading…

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‘The Daily Show’ rips fawning Senators at Tim Cook’s tax hearing

The Xbox One is a next generation console, and as such, it’s built with some future proofing in mind . It can do things you’re not quite ready for just yet, such as play back 4K resolution games, movies, and TV. And it’ll support 3D visuals too, despite the fact that 3D in the home has yet to catch in any meaningful way when it comes to TV, movies, or games.

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Future proofing: Xbox One to support 3D and 4K content

Google wants to blur the lines between its newly revamped Google+ social network and the rest of its services. To that end, the company announced today it will bring users’ Google+ photos to search results, both in Google’s main search results page and in Google+ itself. It’s part of the enhanced photos experience that launched last week at Google I/O . The new feature rolls out today, and signed-in users can find their photos simply by typing in ” my photos ,” which returns a grid of recent images on the search results page. But hidden behind the new functionality are new machine-learning algorithms, which will allow users to make detailed queries using natural language.

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Google uses machine learning to pull your personal photos into search results

A newly dispatched memo from the Department of Homeland Security warns that preventing the creation of 3D-printed guns could be an extremely challenging if not impossible endeavor. “Significant advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing capabilities, availability of free digital 3D printer files for firearms components, and difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risks from unqualified gun seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D printed guns” reads the document, reportedly obtained by Fox News . The bulletin goes so far as to mention the “Liberator” 3D gun, plans for which were distributed on the web for a brief time. “Limiting access may be impossible” the memo says. Lawmakers have been pushing to create legislation…

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Homeland Security memo: access to 3D gun plans ‘may be impossible’ to limit

Over four years into his tenure, President Barack Obama says he is reining in drone strikes. In a speech on the future of counterterrorism , Obama announced that he had signed a presidential guidance statement on drone warfare, codifying the cases in which it is justifiable. Targets, he says, must pose a “continuing, imminent threat” to US persons, and it must be nearly certain that the target is present in an area and non-combatants will not be injured or killed. Continue reading…

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Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay

The Very Large Telescope is about to turn 15, and to celebrate the European Southern Observatory has released a spectacular image of a radiant pink gas cloud. Naturally the shot you see above — showcasing just one nursery (IC 2944, according to Phys.org ) where stars are born in spectacular fashion — was captured by the VLT. The telescope’s massive optical power makes it feel as if you’re right there, but in reality this cloud lies some 6500 light-years away. Researchers turned on the Very Large Telescope in May of 1998, and since then it’s proven to be an indispensable tool cited in countless scientific papers and studies. And as you can clearly see, it’s still producing wondrous results

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As it turns 15, the ESO’s Very Large Telescope captures another interstellar stunner

Over 30 years after The Warriors took America on a dangerous midnight tour of New York, the city seems like a different world. Graffiti has been sanded, neighborhoods have gentrified, and citizens no longer fear attacks by roving mimes. But the traces of 1970s New York live on beneath repainted facades, and Scouting New York brings us along in a fascinating three-part attempt to find and photograph every location where The Warriors was filmed.

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Tracking ‘The Warriors’ through old New York, in 1979 and 2013

Amazon has opened pre-orders for its Kindle Fire tablets in over 170 countries and expanded its Android Appstore in nearly 200 regions . It’s the biggest device rollout the company has embarked on since it entered the tablet market, and sees it take on Apple in terms of availability and distribution. Before today, the Kindle Fire was available in only seven countries — including the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan.

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Amazon eyes Apple with massive Kindle Fire expansion in over 170 countries

Lenovo’s just announced its Q4 and full year 2012/13 financial results, and it’s touched new highs on the two most important indices. It earned $127 million on $7.8 billion in revenue for the quarter and $34 billion for the full year, both records for the company, while netting $635 million in profit for the full year — another all-time high. The only sore spot for Q4 was Lenovo’s laptop business, which dropped two percent over last year to $4.2 billion, but that’s a far milder plummet than many PC makers saw — thanks to a 74 percent revenue growth in China. Otherwise, desktop PCs held flat for the company at $2.4 billion during an otherwise down period, and it held firm as China’s number two smartphone manufacturer, seeing shipments grow at 206 percent year-over-year, double the average rate. It remains to be seen if Lenovo can continue to buck the downward PC trend that’s continued unabated with the release of Windows 8 — but if not, maybe we’d finally see some of its smartphones over here.

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Lenovo pulls in best-ever revenue of $7.8 billion for Q4 2012/13, record $34 billion for the year

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son wants Sprint, and he’s willing to make some significant concessions to get hold of it, like letting the US government choose one of the 10 directors to its board. The Wall Street Journal reported the news today, writing that the director in question will be in charge of overseeing national security issues. At the same time, rival Dish is hoping to derail SoftBank’s bid with a major PR blitz against its Japanese opponent, running full-page color ads in Washington publications like The Washington Post, Politico, and The National Journal, reports Reuters . The ads reportedly compare SoftBank’s proposal to acquire Sprint to the 2006 controversy surrounding Dubai Ports World’s ownership of various ports on… Continue reading…

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SoftBank pledges to work with US government as Dish sparks national security fears

AMD boasted that its Z-60 Hondo chip would bring Call of Duty to thin tablets , and its boasts were for naught, but it looks like the company’s latest processor core is going to see a lot of use in the next generation of cheap laptops. Today, AMD has revealed its basic performance claims for its Jaguar core, the same one that’s reportedly built into the chips in both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 . The resulting Temash and Kabini APUs could finally have the combination of performance and battery life you’d need in an inexpensive Windows 8 tablet or laptop. While some of AMD’s charts are a little misleading out of context, this one is fairly straightforward: AMD claims that its low-power Temash system-on-chip simultaneously manages to… Continue reading…

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AMD Jaguar: the Xbox One and PS4 cores that could power your next cheap laptop