Tuesday 11 April 2017

Tech News Flash

Tech News Flash: Tuesday -- April 11, 2017

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Headline Scan
Hackers Blast Emergency Sirens in Dallas
United Airlines Gives Appalling New Meaning to Customer Service
Why VR Is Failing
Google's Fact Check Labeling System Goes Global
Gadget Ogling: Samsung Swings, Plus Live 360 Cameras and Smart Tuners
Shuttleworth Gives Up Hope for Convergence Breakthrough
Microsoft's Project Scorpio Goes to Extremes
Zunum's Hybrid-Electric Planes Could Disrupt Commercial Flight Industry
Fatdog64: More Bark Than Bite
Take Command of Your Linux System's Processes
What Is Verizon Promising With Its New Oath?
Samsung's Tizen OS Riddled With Security Holes
Galaxy S8 vs. iPhone 8: Winning Has Little to Do With Phones
Microsoft Shutters CodePlex, Will Migrate Projects to GitHub
Prank Responsibly: April Fools' Gags That Missed the Mark
EquiSeq CEO Lexi Palmer: Act Like You're Not Scared and Go at It

Today's Story Highlights

Hackers Blast Emergency Sirens in Dallas

Screaming sirens serenaded Dallas residents in the early morning hours
Saturday after a cyberattack set off the city's emergency warning
system. All of the city's 156 sirens reportedly were set off more than a
dozen times. Officials have not yet identified the perpetrator of the
attack, but it likely was someone outside the Dallas area, said Office
of Emergency Management Director Rocky Vaz.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84447.html

United Airlines Gives Appalling New Meaning to Customer Service

United Airlines' self-made firestorm spread on Tuesday, as a video
showing a passenger being forcibly dragged off a plane continued to make
the rounds on social media. The passenger had refused to comply after
being told he'd been bumped off the Sunday flight. The incident sparked
international outrage, including calls for a boycott of the airline and
for CEO Oscar Munoz to step down.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84448.html

Why VR Is Failing

As a market, we seem to have trouble learning that three key elements
are necessary for a new technology to take hold: It has to appear
complete, it has to be compelling, and it has to seem like a value --
that is, be affordable. Compared to what we have today, the car that
opened up the automotive market in the U.S. was none of those things --
yet it was incredibly successful.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84440.html

Google's Fact Check Labeling System Goes Global

Google has extended the Fact Check feature it introduced last fall.
Publishers now can display a Fact Check tag in news stories everywhere
that Google News is available. The company also has introduced the Fact
Check feature globally in Google Search, in all of the languages it
supports. Not all stories will be fact checked, though, and only certain
publishers will be able to participate.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84444.html

Gadget Ogling: Samsung Swings, Plus Live 360 Cameras and Smart Tuners

Samsung is back with a new pair of flagship smartphones it desperately
needs to be hits in the wake of previous handsets that were a touch too,
erm, explodey. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have dispensed with the physical
home button and added an artificial intelligence assistant, screens that
so very almost kill the bezel, and fingerprint sensors on the rear. It's
a smart, striking design.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84442.html

Shuttleworth Gives Up Hope for Convergence Breakthrough

Canonical's long and winding quest for a unified user experience came to
a sudden halt on Wednesday, as founder Mark Shuttleworth announced the
firm's decision to stop investing in its struggling Unity8 shell and
revert to Gnome. The 6-year-old Unity plan was to create a user
interface that could work on various types of devices, ranging from a
mobile phone to a personal computer or tablet.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84445.html

Microsoft's Project Scorpio Goes to Extremes

The latest specs for the upcoming Xbox update, codenamed "Project
Scorpio," suggest that it could take gaming to new extremes. Microsoft
officially unveiled Project Scorpio at last year's E3, but it has
offered few details about what gamers can expect, until now. Project
Scorpio reportedly is ahead of schedule, but it is still at least six
months away from a consumer launch.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84439.html

Zunum's Hybrid-Electric Planes Could Disrupt Commercial Flight Industry

Zunum Aero, a startup backed by Boeing and JetBlue, on Wednesday
announced that it was developing regional hybrid-electric aircraft with
backing from Boeing's HorizonX innovation cell and JetBlue Technology
Ventures. The planes, which will have 10 to 50 seats, are scheduled for
launch in the early 2020s. Zunum aims to democratize access to fast,
affordable travel.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84437.html

Fatdog64: More Bark Than Bite

Fatdog64 has the potential to serve as an alternative lightweight OS to
Linux distros such as Puppy Linux, Knoppix and Zephyr. However, it has
some critical usability issues that need to be fixed first. Fatdog64
seems to have lost its performance edge over earlier versions that made
it more appealing as an alternative "frugal" Linux candidate. The latest
update does nothing to remedy that problem.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84433.html

Take Command of Your Linux System's Processes

Who's afraid of the Linux terminal? Not you, if you've learned the
basics of navigating your system. But how will these newly acquired
skills help improve your computing life? To give you a sense of the
terminal's everyday usefulness, here are some examples of tasks the
terminal is well-disposed to handle. To start with, system
administration is much more straightforward on the terminal.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84436.html

What Is Verizon Promising With Its New Oath?

Verizon on Monday confirmed reports that it will rebrand its AOL and
Yahoo businesses under a new entity called "Oath." AOL CEO Tim Armstrong
delivered the message via a tweet. The rebranding is part of a plan to
reinvest millions into the legacy digital content companies with the aim
of creating a major new platform. The "Yahoo" and "AOL" names will live
on under the overarching Oath brand.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84434.html

Samsung's Tizen OS Riddled With Security Holes

There are more than three dozen previously unknown flaws that pose a
potential threat to consumers using some Samsung TVs, watches and
phones, a security researcher has reported. Hackers could exploit the
vulnerabilities found in Samsung's Tizen operating system to gain remote
access and control of a variety of the company's products, according to
Amihai Neiderman, head of research at Equus Software.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84435.html

Galaxy S8 vs. iPhone 8: Winning Has Little to Do With Phones

The new Samsung Galaxy S8 has launched, and its target of choice is the
as yet unlaunched Apple iPhone 8 Anniversary Edition. These phones are
critical for both companies. Apple survives largely off the iPhone
today, and Samsung is trying to recover both from its burning phone
problem and from its top executive being arrested on bribery charges.
Neither firm can afford a big loss to the other.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84425.html

Microsoft Shutters CodePlex, Will Migrate Projects to GitHub

In a move that caps off its gradual embrace of open source in a bear
hug, Microsoft last week announced that it would shutter its nearly 11-
year-old CodePlex project site and migrate its library of work to
GitHub. The company has been forced to deal with a couple of major
issues, such as a 2015 spam epidemic and a substantial decrease in
usage, which in part prompted the move.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84430.html

Prank Responsibly: April Fools' Gags That Missed the Mark

The Internet is a minefield on April 1, with tech companies getting in
on the April Fools' act in weird, wonderful and often woeful ways. The
line between a successful prank and one that leaves users sighing, or
worse, is micron-thin, and the boost to one's reputation -- or knock on
it -- can hang around for some time. This year, we've rounded up some of
the Internet's worst April Fools' pranks.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84426.html

EquiSeq CEO Lexi Palmer: Act Like You're Not Scared and Go at It

Lexi Palmer is CEO of EquiSeq, a biotech firm that does genetic testing
of horses. Palmer met the company's founder, genetic researcher Paul
Szauter, in 2015. "I was just finishing up my degree in interpersonal
communications ... and he told me about the company he'd started,"
Palmer recalled. "I told him I knew everything about horses and said I
could learn everything he did and market it."
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84411.html

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The Morning After: Need an excuse to buy a 4K TV?

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

This Morning After is brought to you by the death of phone calls on flights (hooray!), how Persona 5 manages to digitally manifest Tokyo and the most valuable car company in the US is Tesla -- with a lot of that value resting on the incoming cheaper Model 3.

We’ll write you a note

‘Planet Earth II’ on Ultra HD Blu-ray is a good reason to buy a new TV

If you’ve been waiting for some ideal 4K demo material, the sequel to HDTV-seller Planet Earth will do the trick. Thanks to the bitrate afforded by Ultra HD Blu-ray plus the expanded color range and contrast of HDR, Devindra Hardawar claims "it completely justifies the existence of the doomed disc format."

Cybercrime

Justice Department attacks global spam botnet as its alleged operator is arrested in Spain

Yesterday Spanish authorities reportedly arrested Peter Yuryevich Levashov, and according to a statement by his wife, linked him to alleged hacking of the US presidential election. Later, the US DoJ and FBI announced that Levashov is suspected of operating the "Kelihos" botnet that hijacked Windows computers to send spam, but did not mention any ties to the election.

It's reportedly pumping up to $875 million into LG Display.

Google might bring curved screens to its next Pixel phone

Google is investing up to $875 million in LG Display to develop its own stable supply of flexible OLED screens for its Pixel phones, according to multiple reports. This should help ease supply problems for its next smartphone, as the current Pixel has been impossible to find in stores for a lot of us.

The agency's Chairman just wants some mid-air peace and quiet.

FCC axes plan to allow phone calls on flights

Be quiet for a few hours, will you?

Super Cruise is truly hands-free, but there’s a catch.

Cadillac unveils its answer to Tesla's semi-autonomous tech

Outside of Tesla, semi-autonomous driving modes are still quite rare. GM’s upcoming 2018 Cadillac CT6 (due this fall) will be the company's first car with Super Cruise, a technology that can take over during highway drives. If you believe the Cadillac crew, this is the first production car with "true" hands-free driving. Super Cruise promises an extra level of mapping accuracy thanks to the use of extensive LiDAR data in addition to the usual onboard sensors and GPS. However, this also lets Cadillac dictate where you're allowed to use the feature. It'll only be allowed on divided, limited-access highways with clear entrance and exit ramps.

It may be temporary, but it's a milestone for the EV company.

Tesla overtakes GM to become the most valuable US car maker

Tesla just managed a symbolic but important win in its quest to make electric cars popular. Yesterday, Tesla's stock market cap overtook that of GM -- it was worth about $51 billion, or $1.7 billion more than its established rival. While it's not clear that this will last (we've seen some give and take as of this writing), it's no mean feat for a company that has made just three car models in its brief 13-year history. The big question is whether or not Tesla can back up that value with raw sales numbers in the next few years.

Few JRPGs capture Japan quite like this.

'Persona 5' took me back to Tokyo

Plenty of games tries to deliver a Tokyo experience to games, but none come close to Persona 5, the latest in Atlus' long-running JRPG franchise. The game delivers a phenomenal representation of Japan’s capital, capturing its sights and sounds with pinpoint precision. For more than 50 hours Nick Summers strolled through its pixel-perfect neighborhoods, hanging out in karaoke bars, bombastic arcades and relaxing bathhouses. For him, it's virtual tourism at its best. Oh, and there’s a pretty fantastic game attached to it all.

'You look like a thing and I love you.'

This neural network generates weird and adorable pickup lines

Training a neural network involves feeding it enough raw data to start recognizing and replicating patterns. It can be a long, tedious process to barely approximate complex things, but aim one at pickup lines, and the results are a combination of cute and baffling.

But wait, there's more...

1. ZTE's first Android Wear watch is also one of the cheapest, at just $200

2. AT&T paid $1.6 billion to own the next generation of wireless

3. Sling TV's $5 cloud DVR arrives on Android and Roku

4. What's on TV: 'Hidden Figures' Blu-ray, 'Yooka-Laylee,' 'MST3K' on Netflix and 'Doctor Who'

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe.

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Monday 10 April 2017

Editor's Pick: Why VR Is Failing

Why VR Is Failing

Rob Enderle Apr 10, 2017 10:32 AM PT
	As a market, we seem to have trouble learning that three key elements are necessary for a new technology to take hold: It has to appear complete, it has to be compelling, and it has to seem like a value -- that is, be affordable. Compared to what we have today, the car that opened up the automotive market in the U.S. was none of those things -- yet it was incredibly successful. [More...]

More Picks:

Oracle's Strategery
Watching Oracle's cloud strategy roll out has given me renewed respect for its approach to the market. As a company that has been public for a long stretch of time, Oracle has displayed all the warmth of an anaconda. I have friends there, and they are not anacondas, but I hope they know what I mean. Oracle knows its business and it's making money, and it does it unabashedly. [More...]

Google's Fact Check Labeling System Goes Global
Google has extended the Fact Check feature it introduced last fall. Publishers now can display a Fact Check tag in news stories everywhere that Google News is available. The company also has introduced the Fact Check feature globally in Google Search, in all of the languages it supports. Not all stories will be fact checked, though, and only certain publishers will be able to participate. [More...]

Gadget Ogling: Samsung Swings, Plus Live 360 Cameras and Smart Tuners
Samsung is back with a new pair of flagship smartphones it desperately needs to be hits in the wake of previous handsets that were a touch too, erm, explodey. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have dispensed with the physical home button and added an artificial intelligence assistant, screens that so very almost kill the bezel, and fingerprint sensors on the rear. It's a smart, striking design. [More...]

Shuttleworth Gives Up Hope for Convergence Breakthrough
Canonical's long and winding quest for a unified user experience came to a sudden halt on Wednesday, as founder Mark Shuttleworth announced the firm's decision to stop investing in its struggling Unity8 shell and revert to Gnome. The 6-year-old Unity plan was to create a user interface that could work on various types of devices, ranging from a mobile phone to a personal computer or tablet. [More...]

Fatdog64: More Bark Than Bite
Fatdog64 has the potential to serve as an alternative lightweight OS to Linux distros such as Puppy Linux, Knoppix and Zephyr. However, it has some critical usability issues that need to be fixed first. Fatdog64 seems to have lost its performance edge over earlier versions that made it more appealing as an alternative "frugal" Linux candidate. The latest update does nothing to remedy that problem. [More...]

Take Command of Your Linux System's Processes
Who's afraid of the Linux terminal? Not you, if you've learned the basics of navigating your system. But how will these newly acquired skills help improve your computing life? To give you a sense of the terminal's everyday usefulness, here are some examples of tasks the terminal is well-disposed to handle. To start with, system administration is much more straightforward on the terminal. [More...]

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