GLENN - 140116

Better to sell Mac1 separately from Dick Smith: creditors told

The future of Dick Smith-owned Apple reseller Mac1 is up in the air

The Apple reseller was acquired by Dick Smith 18 months ago but was placed under administration last week along with Dick Smith’s other subsidiaries.

At the first meeting of creditors this morning, administrator Joe Hayes told attendees he believed that if Mac1 was sold as a separate business, it would produce a better return to creditors than if it was sold along with Dick Smith.

Mac1 is one of only three Dick Smith subsidiaries that is not in receivership. However, a deed of cross guarantee applies, which means if any of Dick Smith’s companies are wound up, every creditor of Dick Smith also becomes a creditor to that company.

This means in order for Mac1 to be sold off separately, Dick Smith creditors who weren’t originally Mac1 creditors may have input in the decision.

In May, Dick Smith revealed its “store-in-store” strategy to open dedicated Mac1 kiosks to service Apple products within existing Dick Smith stores. Mac1’s website currently lists 13 services desks in Adelaide, Albury, Armidale, Campbelltown, Canberra, Hobart, Innaloo, Marion, Melbourne, Narre Warren, Newcastle, Perth and Wollongong, and two dedicated retail stores in Canberra and Wollongong.

Founded in 1990, Mac1 provided Apple servicing as well as running an education technology business with account executives in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania.

Coles, Kogan, Woolworths offer relief for useless Dick Smith gift cards

Disadvantaged Dick Smith customers now have some relief, with Coles, Kogan and Woolworths offering to provide credit for Dick Smith gift vouchers that were declared worthless earlier this week.

Coles and woolies have revealed that it would offer to exchange any Dick Smith vouchers purchased from any of its supermarkets, in return for a Coles gift card of equal value.

The supermarket giants announced that while the revenue from Dick Smith gift cards had already been passed onto the electronics reseller, the gift card exchange offer has been initiated as “a gesture of goodwill”.

Meanwhile, online electronics retailer Kogan.com is offering $25 credit for customers left stranded with a Dick Smith voucher.

Apple's Finally Improving Its Data-Munching Wi-Fi Assist

In iOS 9, Apple introduced Wi-Fi Assist, a theoretically good feature that defaults to cellular data when your wi-fi connection is sucking. Unfortunately, in doing so, it chews through 4G data . In the latest beta of iOS, Apple is fixing that

Wi-Fi Assist is still present in iOS 9.3 beta 1; the difference is a tiny counter underneath the toggle to enable Wi-Fi Assist, which tells you how much data has been used by the feature.

SA govt to trial digital drivers' licences

The South Australian government is set to follow in the footsteps of New South Wales by running a trial of digital identity cards - including drivers’ licences - which can be displayed on a smartphone.

The pilot program will see the state government issue digital tokens that are stored online and can be accessed from mobile devices, which it hopes will eventually supersede physical printed licences.

Alongside drivers’ licences, the scheme will eventually incorporate other forms of identity such as seniors’ cards, national parks passes, boat licences and trade certifications.

However the pilot program will be offered on an opt-in basis and plastic cards will still be available to people who do not use a smartphone.

Apple reveals pay packets of top execs

Tim Cook - A$14.6 million

chief financial officer Luca Maestri - A$35.9 million

senior vice president for retail and online stores Angela Ahrendts - 25.8 million US

Cook also sat below senior vice president in charge of internet, software and services Eddy Cue, senior vice president in charge of hardware engineering, Dan Riccio, and general counsel and secretary Bruce Sewell in the pay rankings.

All three earned roughly $US25 million in the year.

Where’s Johnny Ive?

David Bowie: The internet pioneer

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35279234  16 minute video interview

In a time before Instagram, YouTube, Twitter or even MySpace, most artists provided little if any online material to their followers.

But Bowie's platform not only offered a wide variety of exclusive content, but also several ways to interact with the singer himself.

BowieNet also operated as a full internet service provider (ISP) in the US and UK, competing with AOL, Claranet and others.

For a monthly fee, members got an @davidbowie.com-ending email address and exclusive access to audio recordings, music videos and chat rooms, which the singer participated in himself.

"He would never announce it in advance, but he would get on to the chat board and talk to us. The handle he always called himself by was Sailor,

Bowie also used the service to create what became known as the world's first "cyber-song".

Fans were invited to send in lyrics to help co-write a track, and 80,000 people responded.

The singer said he had read through many himself - "there were a lot of potty ones", he told one journalist - and eventually chose a submission by a 20-year-old American about the idea of having a virtual life on the internet.

Fans were invited to watch the track being recorded via a 360-degree interactive webcast - a technology that is only just becoming commonplace today.

The song, What's Really Happening?, later featured on the Hours... album.

He was also one of the first artists to release an "internet-only" single. Telling Lies was downloaded by more than 300,000 people before later being sold as a physical single.

Bowie also took part in 1999's Netaid charity concert, which was streamed on the web to more than two million people, a record for its time.

about seven or eight years ago, although you could still log into BowieNet, there didn't seem to be many updates

In 2006, Bowie's ISP business was quietly retired, but it was not until 2012 that his Facebook page confirmed what many already knew.

"BowieNet, as we have known it, is kaput!" it said.

Shayne - 140116

Bitcoin company to finally list on ASX

• After months of delays, Australian bitcoin company Bitcoin Group will finally make its share market debut in February.

• The Melbourne-based company is the first cryoptocurrency miner in the world to offer shares through an initial public offering, which opened on December 24.

• It is offering investors 100 million shares at 20 cents each to raise $20 million in the IPO, which closes on January 25.

• For those who don’t know: Bitcoin is a digital currency, a medium of exchange that is electronically created and stored with no central authority, and no physical notes or coins.

• As a bitcoin miner, Bitcoin Group earns money from validating peer-to-peer bitcoin transactions which are recorded on the `blockchain’ — the digital currency’s publicly accessible money ledger.

• The “mining’ process involves solving complex, time-consuming mathematical equations known as `blocks’ using purpose-built supercomputers.

• Bitcoin Group, which has five computer centres in China, is able to crack one to two blocks a day using 6,000 machines.

• With the float, the company is offering tech-savvy investors the opportunity to invest in the digital currency and the technology behind bitcoin.

• “This is a billion dollar opportunity rather than a million dollar one,” Mr Lee said.

• About $18 million from the IPO will be spent on more computers to bolster the group’s mining power.

• Bitcoin Group shares are due to start trading on February 2.

• Another bitcoin miner, Digital BTC, joined the local share market through a backdoor listing in July 2014.

Dutch Police Claim They Can Crack Emails On Special Encrypted Blackberries

• In a report on Dutch blog misdaadnieuws.com, since confirmed by Motherboard, the Netherlands Forensic Institute has claimed to break a series of encrypted emails held on Blackberrys modified by Canadian firm Phantom Secure.

• According to leaked documents, the NFI managed to pull 325 emails off a device, and decrypt 279 of them.

• The technique only seems to work when authorities have physical access to a device,

H.265/HEVC vs H.264/AVC: 50% bitrate savings verified

• BBC R&D video coding research team focused on evaluations of UHD content and definition of analytics as part of standardisation process and presented in this paper.

• The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard has been developed jointly by the two standardisation bodies ITU and ISO

• The main goal of the process was to provide significantly improved video compression compared with its predecessors; H.264/AVC being the most recent.

• HEVC standard was ratified in 2013 as H.265 by the ITU-T and as MPEG-H Part 2 by ISO/IEC.

• The purpose of the subjective tests was to verify using human viewers the compression gains of the new video coding standard that had previously been estimated using objective metrics (e.g. Peak Signal to Noise Ratio – PSNR).

• The subjective tests used a carefully selected set of coded video sequences at four different picture sizes: UHD (3840x2160 and 4096x2048), 1080p (1920x1080), 720p (1280x720) and 480p (832x480), at frame rates of 30Hz, 50Hz, or 60Hz.

• The tests for UHD and 720p picture sizes were conducted at the BBC R&D labs under controlled viewing environments complying with the ITU-R BT.500 and ITU-T P.910 recommendations on visual quality assessment.

Hard-coded password raises new backdoor eavesdropping fears

• Less than a month after Juniper Network officials disclosed an unauthorized backdoor in the company's NetScreen line of firewalls, researchers have uncovered highly suspicious code in older software from Juniper competitor Fortinet.

• The suspicious code contains a challenge-and-response authentication routine for logging into servers with thesecure shell (SSH) protocol. Researchers were able to unearth a hard-coded password of "FGTAbc11*xy+Qqz27" (not including the quotation marks) after reviewing this exploit code posted online on Saturday.

• On Tuesday, a researcher posted this screenshot purporting to show someone using the exploit to gain remote access to a server running Fortinet's FortiOS software.

• Ralf-Philipp Weinmann, a security researcher who helped uncover the innerworkings of the Juniper backdoor, took to Twitter on Tuesday and repeatedly referred to the custom SSH authentication as a "backdoor." In one specific post, he confirmed he was able to make it work as reported on older versions of Fortinet's FortiOS.

• The company rejects the “Back Door” claims stating that this was resolved with a patch in July2014.

• According to the exploit code, the undisclosed authentication works on versions 4.3 up to 5.0.7. If correct, the surreptitious access method was active in FortiOS versions current in the 2013 and 2014 time frame and possibly earlier, based on this rough release history.

• While one researcher told Ars the exploit no longer works in version 5.2.3, that release is still suspicious because it contained the same hard-coded string.

• At this point, it's too early to definitively identify the suspect routine as a backdoor that was planted for the purpose of providing unauthorized access. Still, there's little doubt the code had precisely that effect.

Australians Join Global Protest Against Laws To Weaken Encryption

• A “backdoor” to allow access to any encrypted file — including personal conversations, medical and banking records — will be created if laws proposed in countries around the world are passed, according to the Electronic Frontiers Association (EFA).

• The EFA has joined the Australian Privacy Foundation, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and hundreds of other organisations from over 53 countries to protest the changes, which would require companies to provide exceptional access to encrypted materials.

• The protest is addressed to world leaders — including those in France, India, the UK, China and the US where the new laws are proposed — asking them to support strong encryption and to reject any law, policy, or mandate that would undermine digital security.

• “The internet belongs to the world’s people, not its governments. We refuse to let this precious resource become nationalized and broken by any nation,” said Brett Solomon, Executive Director of Access Now.

• EFA executive Jon Lawrence says “Calls to undermine encryption in the name of ‘national security’ are fundamentally misguided and dangerous.”

• “Encryption is a necessary and critical tool enabling individual privacy, a free media, online commerce and the operations of organisations of all types, including of course government agencies.”

• “Undermining encryption therefore represents a serious threat to national security in its own right, as well as threatening basic human rights and the enormous economic and social benefits that the digital revolution has brought for people across the globe.”

Australian Pirates May Be Behind Record Mass Movie Screeners Leak

• Hollywood has broken two very different records this holiday season. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the first movie to reach US $1 billion in gross sales in just 12 days.

• The other record however is one that the movie industry will not be so proud of.  According to TorrentFreak, movie pirates have released 12 DVD quality movie previews, called screenersfor download on the Internet. These screeners feature movies like the latest James Bond Spectre, the new Tarantino movie “The Hateful Eight” and a list of others that include: Suffragette, Legend, In The Heart of The Sea, Joy, Steve Jobs, Spotlight, Creed, Concussion, The Danish Girl and Bridge of Spies.

• Screener DVDs are typically sent to a range of movie producers, critics and movie awards voters under strict conditions to avoid the films being leaked. Security mechanisms are built in to the films that can theoretically tie a particular movie back to a specific person sent the screener.

• The FBI are already investigating how a copy of The Hateful Eight, linked to Andrew Kosove, the co-CEO of film production-finance company Alcon Entertainment, wound up in the hands of the movie pirates.

• Hive-CM8 are thought to be a loose collective of individual movie piraters associated with the website crikeym8.com which makes money from early releases of the movies to subscribers of the site.

• The site appears to be run by an Australian(s) given the name, the Australian cultural references and the location of the Twitter account in Melbourne, Victoria.  The site is allegedly not responsible for the process of producing the pirated movies, nor does it host the content.

• Last week, five of the UK’s most active movie pirates weresentenced to a total of 17 years in prison for their releasing over 2,500 films.

• In all likelihood, movie piracy is going to be something that the industry will just have to live with as long as the incentives to use high quality previews still exist. It is no coincidence that Disney has chosen not to send preview copies of Star Wars to anyone.

Fire fears force Microsoft to recall Surface power cords

Microsoft is set to commence a mass recall of Microsoft Surface power cords, reportedly due to fire concerns.

“As a result of damage caused by AC power cords being wound too tightly, twisted or pinched over an extended period of time, a very small proportion of Surface Pro customers have reported issues with their AC power cord,” said a Microsoft Australia spokesperson.

“We will be releasing details of how customers can obtain a free replacement cable shortly.”

The recall will reportedly include AC power supply units for all Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 devices sold before 15 July 2015.

Surface Pro 4, expected to be unaffected by the power supply recall, was released late last year but has been suffering from stock shortages in the Australian channel,

Microsoft to donate $1 billion of cloud services

Microsoft is set to donate US$1 billion in cloud services to non-profit organisations and universities.

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said the plan is to give access to the same cloud tools to non-profits, charities and researchers that might not be able to afford it.

The program is estimated to reach over 70,000 non-profit and non-governmental organisations globally over the next three years.

Services that will specifically be included are Microsoft Azure, Enterprise Mobility Suite, CRM Online and Office 365. Researchers will also be granted free Azure storage under the Microsoft Azure for Research program.

Uber explores on-demand helicopters with Airbus

Uber Technologies is working with Airbus Group to provide on-demand helicopter services

Uber co-founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick said

"The point is if you can push a button and can get a ride, then why not push a button and get a helicopter," Kalanick said talking to students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai.

Kalanick said India, where Uber last year committed to investing US$1 billion, holds one of the biggest opportunities for the company as more Indians start using smartphones.

US based Uber now has a 40 percent share in the Indian market compared to 4 percent same time last year,

Largest known prime number discovered in Missouri

The largest known prime number has been discovered by a computer at a university in Missouri in the US.

Prime numbers - such as two, three, five and seven - are divisible only by themselves and one, and play an important role in computer encryption.

The new prime is more than 22 million digits long, five million longer than the previous largest known prime.

Primes this large could prove useful to computing in the future.

The discovered prime is written as 2^74,207,281-1, which denotes two, multiplied by itself 74,207,280 times, with one subtracted afterwards.

Large prime numbers are important in computer encryption and help make sure that online banking, shopping and private messaging are secure, but current encryption typically uses prime numbers that are hundreds of digits long, not millions.

This prime is too large to currently be of practical value," the Gimps project admitted in a statement.

However, searching for large primes is intensive work for computer processors and can have unexpected benefits.

"One prime project discovered that there was a problem in some computer processors that only showed up in certain circumstances," said Dr Steven Murdoch, cybersecurity expert at University College London.

Netflix shares jump as customers numbers surge

The firm said it added a record 5.59 million customers in the three months to December, bringing total member numbers to 74.76 million.

However, it said it missed its forecast for US subscriber growth.

Earlier this month, the firm said it had expanded to 130 more countries.

Despite its growing subscriber numbers, Netflix's profits fell in the three months to December from a year earlier, although it said its earnings numbers were still positive.

"On earnings, we stayed profitable in Q4 despite, foreign exchange headwinds, and delivered operating income of $60m ($42.34m) and net income of $43m," the company said in a statement.

The company's shares have surged 124% in the last 12 months.

Minecraft to launch education edition

The product will offer teachers new ways to use the world-building video game in a range of subjects.

It says more than 7,000 classrooms around the world already use Minecraft in some form.

"Teachers are using Minecraft to do so many things, including teaching maths, science, religion and poetry," Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's vice-president of worldwide education

MinecraftEdu already allows teachers to modify content in the game and use a shared library of education-themed assets.

Microsoft is promising to improve the experience by:

• allowing characters created by the children to retain their characteristics between sessions

• letting pupils take "photos" of their progress via an in-game camera, and then store them in an online book alongside their own notes. These can then act as tutorials for other children or be used by the teacher to score their progress

• permitting children to download software that will allow them to continue playing the educational version of Minecraft outside school without having to buy their own copy of the game

To access the service, children and teachers each need their own Office 365 ID, which can also be used to provide access to the Microsoft's cloud-based productivity software.

Do you understand the teen slang on Ask.fm?

Goat (Greatest Of All Time), Ootd (Outfit Of The Day), Pap (Post A Picture) and "Netflix and chill" (a hook-up) all made the list.

Bad means good, Savage means extremely good, No chill means irrational

Tbr - to be rude (before writing something harsh)

Slept - knocking someone out, missing something good or being high

Ship - relationship

:3 - symbol which represents the cat-like face made by animal characters when they say something clever, sarcastic, or comment on something cute

Idek - I don't even know…

Ikr - I know, right?

A frog and coffee cup emojis together - I'm just saying.../But that's none of my business

Smh - shaking my head

Dime - a kind of approval rating on a score of 1-10

Sixty-one agencies want access to Aussie metadata

A total of 61 agencies have requested access to the telecommunications non-content data, a freedom of information request by privacy advocate Geordie Guy has revealed.

Four agency names were redacted, as it would be "contrary to the public interest" to release them, according to the Attorney-General's Department.

The agencies in question include federal bodies like the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Clean Energy Regulator, the Tax Office, the National Measurement Institute, the Australian Financial Security Authority and the departments of Agriculture, Defence, Environment, Health, Human Services, Social Services and Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The list also includes state bodies such as the Bankstown City Council, Racing NSW and Racing Queensland, Greyhound Racing Victoria, the Victorian arm of the RSPCA, the Victorian Taxi Services Commission, and numerous state government departments.

The Attorney-General has the power to declare an agency a criminal law enforcement agency for the purposes of accessing the data for 40 days only.

hat list includes the AFP, state police forces and anti-corruption commissions, and Border Force, as well as regulators like the Crime Commissions, the ACLEI and the ACCC

The scheme requires telecommunications providers to store certain customer data like personal details, billing information, IP addresses, location and traffic data, and upload and download volumes, among other things, for government agencies to access without a warrant.

The government had cut down on the amount of agencies able to ask telcos for data in the lead up to the introduction of the scheme, which had previously numbered around 80.

Previously the list had included the likes of local councils, environmental bodies and the RSPCA, which were removed after privacy and civil rights advocates questioned why such bodies needed access to the data.

Corporate regulator ASIC was one of those taken off the list and applied to be put back on.

Shayne - 210116 (PLEASE LEAVE)

Netflix closes in on VPN loophole, Unblock-us.com is unfazed

• Despite the presence of Netflix locally, Australians are among users who use a virtual private network (VPN) or unblocking site to access the more content-rich version of Netflix in the US.

• The fact users get around this geoblock has aggravated Netflix’s local competitors because in the US, Netflix often has the rights to movies and TV series that these local competitors have Australian rights to.

• On the back of pressure from these rivals, Netflix several times has signalled an intention to close this loophole and stop customers geo-skipping out of the country they are in; but these attempts have seemed half-hearted.

• Even now, an Australian Netflix customer with a local account can access US content with the same account. You can sign up to Netflix with an Australian credit card in Australia and still access the wider US Netflix media library using an unblocking service. - Confirms what Erik said.

• In a blogpost this week, Netflix vice president of content delivery architecture David Fullagar said the streaming service would move to nullify the unblocking services, thereby forcing viewers to watch Netflix content available from where they are watching.

• But one of the unblocking services has signalled it will fight the move. Unblock-us.com charges users around $5 per month for a service that lets them choose which country’s Netflix library they wish to access. They select it from a drop down menu. They also offer geo-selection of other streaming services such as Hulu.

• A spokesperson for unblock-us.com indicated they are unfazed by Netflix’s decree and will fight the move.

• The spokesperson said it was the company’s mission to provide its customers with open and free access to content from anywhere around the world.

• Netflix says that over time it hopes to offer its content everywhere and, as The Australian reports, US companies such as Google are seeking for government to rewrite copyright law they regard as more appropriate in the digital age.

• But Netflix also faces the prospect of local media companies forming alliances with overseas content providers to collectively outbid the US streaming service, or make buying content much more expensive.

Apple experimenting with Li-Fi technology on future iPhones

• AN eagle-eyed Twitter user has spotted a code that reveals Apple is experimenting with some awesome technology for future iPhones.

• When looking at the operating system’s library cache file — a place to store something temporarily in a computing environment — Chase Fromm discovered the code.

• “Li-Fi testing is already imminent. May appear in the next iPhone 7 according to iOS code in iOS 9.1 firmware,” the user wrote.

• Li-Fi refers to light based technology that delivers high-speed communications.

• Data is transmitted by rapidly modulating a light source, which is then received by a photosensitive detector before being reconstructed into an electronic signal.

• This method is distinctly different from established forms of wireless communication such Wi-Fi because it doesn’t use radio frequency signals to transmit data.

• In November last year, an independent study tested Li-Fi capabilities and discovered it was able to transmit data at 1GB per second, making it 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.

Trump Says He Will Force Apple To Manufacture In The US Even Though That Makes Absolutely No Sense

• US GOP presidential candidate and angry sweet potato Donald Trump claims he’ll be able to change Apple’s entire manufacturing system if he is elected president.

• First, in the span of a few sentences, he insisted that he’d impose a 35 per cent tax on businesses producing goods overseas while claiming to support free trade. At the end of his rambling speech, he said this:

• “We’re going to get Apple to build their damn computers in this country instead of other countries.”

• The US president does not have the power to ban a company from outsourcing, nor does the president have the power to completely overhaul the global economy.

• Trump could advocate for legislation designed to prevent outsourcing. But he would have to champion laws that would fundamentally alter free trade to make it financially advantageous for Apple to upend its manufacturing and supply chain.

• Apple outsources because it maximizes profit, but that is not the only reason. Asia’s electronics supply chains are much larger than what the US has to offer.

Microsoft leaks new HoloLens details

• Microsoft's augmented reality headset called the HoloLens has already won over a number of fans eager to try the device, but details about how it works have been scarce.  However, a few more bits of information about the HoloLens leaked during a recent event in Tel Aviv, Israel, courtesy of Bruce Harris, a technical evangelist at Microsoft.

• The device will offer roughly five to five and a half hours of battery life when working on Word documents or email, and about two and a half hours when using it for highly intensive computational work involving detailed renderings. - Not sure why you would wear it using word???

• That video that disclosed these details has since been removed, but in it Harris also confirms that the HoloLens doesn't get warm because it was "built to dissipate heat," and that the device has "no option for a wired connection."

• Harris also confirmed that the HoloLens can connect to anything with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity, includes 3D audio and will only offer English support for the first version.

• He also addressed questions regarding the HoloLens' field of view (FOV), saying that the experience is like having a 15-inch monitor about "this far" from your face, at which point he holds his hands about a foot in front of his face.

• Back in December, Microsoft made the HoloLens available for the public to test at its Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan. But at $3,000 a pop, the device is really more for developers rather than the general consumer market.

• The HoloLens is scheduled to begin shipping to developers in the first quarter of 2016.

GLENN

Apple can read your iMessages despite encryption

if users backup data using iCloud Backup, they need to be aware that, although Apple stores the backup in encrypted form, it uses its own key.

Motherboard has reported that if a user enables iCloud Backup on their Apple device, copies of all messages, photographs and data including iMessages are encrypted on iCloud using a key controlled by Apple and not the user.

This allows Apple and by extension anyone who breaks into their account, to see all personal and confidential data.

A widow's battle to access her husband’s Apple account

A Canadian widow for example, recently tried to get her deceased husband’s Apple ID password in order to continue using apps on their shared iPad.

The widow, Peggy Bush, ended up being told by Apple support that she would need to produce a court order before they would be able to give her access to her husband’s account.

Peggy’s daughter spent weeks going back and forth with Apple before writing to Apple CEO and going to the media with her family’s story. Apple eventually agreed to help the family with their issue but has not said whether this will include giving the family full access to Peggy’s husband’s account.

In Apple’s words:

“Unless otherwise required by law, You agree that your Account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or Content within your Account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your Account may be terminated and all Content within your Account deleted.”

Google has an automated system for example that handles accounts that have been inactive for a certain period of time. This allows for people to be notified and email and other content to be downloaded or transferred. It also allows a user to decide to delete everything in that event

Drone Racing

http://qz.com/602230/theres-now-a-drone-racing-league-that-feels-like-pod-racing-from-star-wars/

They have spent hours custom building their multi-rotor machines and fitting them with onboard cameras.

Known as FPV racing - or first person view - the racers use special goggles, some held together with gaffer tape, giving them a drone's-eye view as they manoeuvre around the course.

Clocking speeds of more than 60 kilometres an hour, Darren French loves the adrenaline rush.

The first US national drone racing championship took place last summer in California, but few braved the heat to watch it. A new company, however, thinks it has figured out how to turn the visceral excitement of watching drones fly through courses at high speeds into a sport. Today, the Drone Racing League (DRL) announced its inaugural racing season. The league hopes to be the Formula 1, NASCAR and MotoGP of drone racing, and has secured backing from venture capital firms and celebrities to make that a reality.

its first official race was in the Dolphins’ stadium, and its next one will be in an abandoned mall in Los Angeles—and after each event, the DRL will produce a series of episodic videos of the races. The league adds to the drama at their events by lining the buildings in bright neon lights and pumping in dry ice fog. Not only does this make the course and the drones a bit easier to spot with the naked eye, it gives the races a wonderfully 90s-cyberpunk vibe.

NAB lets customers tap and pay on Android phones

dubbed NAB Pay, in partnership with Visa.

bank announced its own mobile payment service for Android phones, allowing customers with NFC-equipped Android phones and a NAB Visa debit card to tap and pay at merchants with contactless payment terminals.

Payments can be made directly from the Android device's home screen, inside apps and from NAB’s own app, by tapping the phone on the reader.

There is a $100 per transaction PIN-free limit, after which customers must enter their personal identification number to complete the payment.

Android devices that use near-field communications and run at least version 4.4 “Kitkat” of Google’s mobile operating system will work with NAB Pay, the bank said.

However, Sony’s Xperia Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 and M4 are listed as not compatible with NAB Pay, along with Google's Nexus 6P.

NAB Pay marks another blow to the success of Apple Pay in Australia

Banks are resisting Apple's push to take 15c of the 83c banks receive for every $100 worth of transactions processed on Visa or MasterCard.

Many of Australia's big banks have instead signed with Google's Android Pay, which is understood not to demand a cut of interchange fees.

Google's VirusTotal now picks out suspicious firmware

Google's VirusTotal service has added a new tool that analyzes firmware, the low-level code that bridges a computer's hardware and operating system at startup.

Advanced attackers, including the U.S. National Security Agency, have targeted firmware as a place to embed malware since it's a great place to hide.

It will now be possible for people to extract their own firmware and submit it to VirusTotal, which has the potential to create a database of various firmware images that could contribute to research into bad ones.

Santos included tips for extracting a firmware image without revealing sensitive information that may be contained in the code.

AI pioneer Marvin Minsky dies aged 88

The mathematician and computer scientist was one of the world's foremost AI experts.

As a student, he built one of the first neural-network learning machines, using vacuum tubes.

He went on to cofound the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Lab, in 1959, with John McCarthy.

Prof Minsky's ideas and influence were wide-ranging - from computational linguistics, mathematics and robotics - but underpinning it all was a desire, in his own words, "to impart to machines the human capacity for commonsense reasoning".

He viewed the brain as a machine whose functions could be replicated in a computer.

And his 1985 book, The Society of Mind, is considered a seminal work in exploring the diversity of mechanisms that interact in intelligence and thought.

His last book, The Emotion Machine, continued the theme, offering a new model for how minds worked.

He was also a talented pianist and, in 1981, wrote an influential paper on the connections between music, psychology and the mind.

He also invented the earliest confocal scanning microscope.

He received many awards over the years, including the Turing Award - the highest honour in computer science - in 1969.

EBF

Stan signs multi-year content deal with premier US network Showtime

AUSTRALIAN Netflix will face its biggest threat with competitor streaming platform Stan signing a multi-year content deal with premium US network Showtime.

Showtime is HBO’s biggest cable competitor in the US and behind hits including Homeland, Weeds, Dexter and The Affair.

The deal will offer the exclusive rights to new series Billions and the anticipated return of Twin Peaks in 2017. It also includes fan favourites such as Ray Donovan, Californication, Penny Dreadful and House of Lies.

Existing contracts for Showtime content with other platforms will remain until they expire, at which point they will be given exclusively to Stan. Showtime programming currently airs on Foxtel and Channel 10 and some of it is also streaming on Netflix.

The exclusive partnership between Stan and Showtime is a big blow to Netflix because it will lock highly talked about TV shows away from the world’s biggest streaming platform in the Australian market.

Stan chief executive Mike Sneesby said the new agreement is one of the most significant Australian content licensing deals in recent times.

“Showtime is one of the world’s greatest creators of television programming, and we are delighted to enter this long-term partnership, cementing our position as Australia’s leading local SVOD service,” he said.

“The deal with Showtime rounds out an amazing first year for Stan, with more than 1.5 million Australians having used the service across almost 700,000 subscriptions since our launch.”

This is the second licensing agreement in international markets in less than a week for Showtime, with the networking striking a similar deal with pan-European network Sky.

President of Showtime’s parent company, CBS Global Distribution Group, Armando Nunez said he was excited to be expanding into the Australian market.

“The growth of SVOD services internationally has created a huge demand for premium content globally. Showtime’s prestigious brand and growing portfolio of programming align perfectly with this marketplace,” he said.

The deal will see Aussie customers getting access to each episode of Showtime’s latest 12-part series, Billions, at the same time it is released in the US.

In addition to Showtime programming, CBS shows such as Madam Secretary, Limitless, Elementary and Under the Dome will also be added to the catalogue.

iPhone's Safari browser crashed for millions of Apple users - and here's how to fix it

By Rhiannon Williams

27 January 2016 • 1:40pm

iPhone users are reporting difficulty in opening native browser Safari after it repeatedly crashes upon attempted launch.

The problem, which also appears to be affecting iPad and Mac users, appears to be linked to the browser's search engine suggestions.

Turning off safari engine suggestions by going to Settings > Safari > Safari Suggestions appears to fix the issue.       

Apple said the problem has now been resolved. Users still experiencing difficulty using Safari may find clearing the browser's cache will help - Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Remove all website data.

Google, ever one to seize an opportunity, tweeted a helpful suggestion to try its own app instead.

The issue has surfaced in the wake of site crashsafari.com, a website which, true to its name,forces Safari to crash once a user clicks on a link to it. Clicking on the site won't affect your device in any long-lasting way.

Safari was first developed for Mac, and was released alongside Mac OS X Panther in 2003. It has been the iPhone's default browser since the first model in 2007.

Apple predicted its sales willdecline for the first time in more than a decade on Tuesday night, despite posting record results for the final three months of 2015.

For the three months to the end of March, Apple said it expects to report sales of between $50bn and $53bn (£35-37bn), which will mark a decline on the $58bn during the same period last year. If the company's own forecasts are accurate, it will be the first revenue decline since the first quarter of 2003, just over a year after the first iPod was released.

Apple said that one billion iOS devices are now being used around the world, a 25pc increase on a year ago, but that the market had not peaked. "There are a lot of people in the world who will buy smartphones and we ought to be able to win our fair share of those," he said.

In fact, he said 60 per cent of iPhone owners before September 2014, which is when the iPhone 6 and 6S launched, have not upgraded to the new, bigger phones. This could be good news for Apple, with millions of new potential upgrades when the new iPhone 7 launches this September.

Apple's position as the world's biggest company is at risk from Alphabet, Google's parent company, whose market capitalisation is around 10pc smaller.

Apple set to report flatlining iPhone sales

By James Titcomb

25 January 2016 • 7:30pm

Apple’s unbroken run of growing iPhone sales could come to an end on Tuesday when it releases results for the final three months of 2015, a crucial period for the world’s biggest listed company after a substantial decline in its share price.

While Apple is expected to post an $18.2bn (£12.8bn) profit – breaking its own record for the biggest quarterly profit in US history – investors fear that the incredible run the company has been on since it released the iPhone in 2007 could be coming to an end.

Market forecasts are for Apple to have sold around 76m iPhones in the quarter, just a slight increase on the 74.5m it sold in the same period a year ago. Some analysts are even predicting that Apple will record a decline, after gloomy announcements from some of the company’s suppliers.

Even if it does not report a fall in iPhone sales tonight, the company is widely expected to do so for the current year as a whole, due to a strong dollar and tepid consumer interest in upgrading from older models.

The same quarter last year received an enormous boost from the success of the newly-released iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which featured a new design and larger screen sizes. The upgrades in the most recent 6s models, however, were less pronounced. “There has been concern that consumers are less enthusiastic about the feature and performance gains with the latest iPhone 6s/6s Plus models,” UBS analysts said last week.

An iPhone 7 is expected to be released in the second half of this year, featuring more significant changes that analysts believe will kickstart sales again.

Apple’s position as the world’s biggest listed company, which it has held for more than two years, is under threat: its shares have fallen by 23pc since its summer peak, and its market capitalisation is just 10pc higher than Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

Apple has launched a number of new products in the last year, including the Apple Watch, its music streaming service Apple Music, and a revamped Apple TV set-top box, but the dominance of the iPhone means that sales of the new products pale in comparison. The iPhone accounted for 63pc of revenues in Apple’s last quarter, against 56pc a year earlier and 52pc the year before that, with reliance on the popular smartphone rising as iPad sales fall.

Growing smartphone screen sizes and an increasingly saturated market has meant sales of the tablet declining from a peak of 26m in the final three months of 2013 to an expected 18m for the last quarter of 2015. Sales may have received a boost from the release of the iPad Pro, its larger-screened tablet aimed at eating into laptop sales.

Rumours that Apple is developing an electric car are gathering pace, although the notoriously-secretive company has confirmed nothing despite hiring hundreds of engineers and executives from the car industry.

Apple: Has the tech giant finally lost its bite?

A staggering one billion people now own one of its iPads iPhones or iPods – but the company has not had a blockbuster product launch since 2012

All is not well on board the spaceship. Apple’s futuristic headquarters in Cupertino, California, is not due to open until later this year, but for pessimists the $500m (£350m) building already reeks of hubris. Where to now, Apple?

It seems churlish to be critical of a company that just announced record quarterly sales of $74.8bn with gross margins remaining at almost 40 per cent. In 2015, Apple generated 14 times more revenue than Facebook. In a technology hardware market that has lost lots of steam over the past 12 months, those are still mightily impressive numbers. And yet its critics grow, happy to see it forced into a corner.

So how much trouble is Apple really in? Almost nine years after its launch, the iPhone still dominates Apple’s revenue. According to Tim Cook, the chief executive, the company sold 74.8 million of the handsets in the last quarter of 2015.

Speaking on a conference call, he added: “To put that number into some perspective, that is an average of over 34,000 iPhones per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 13 straight weeks.”

Impressive thought that is, it is not past performance that counts, it is future performance – and on that front Mr Cook was much more downbeat. Almost every industry is facing tough headwinds right now and Apple is no different. Mr Cook went so far as to admit that falling commodity prices and failing currencies were drastically reducing the numbers of people who can afford to buy its products. “We’re seeing extreme conditions unlike anything we’ve experienced before just about everywhere we look.”

He remained bullish about the long-term potential of Asian markets and Apple has no plans, yet, to cut investment in the region.

So are Apple’s critics on to something? In some ways, it is a victim of its own success. Having set the bar absurdly high and then cleared it comfortably for years, there had to come a time when it could no longer maintain that pace. And so the revenue plateau and disappointing growth forecast that came along with Tuesday’s earnings announcement should not really come as a huge shock.

Although anyone following Apple closely should have been ready for it, its shares still fell 5 per cent when Wall Street opened, the biggest one-day fall in nearly five months. The real problem is that Apple hasn’t had a blockbuster, a product to revolutionise a market, since the introduction of the iPhone 5S in 2012. Siri might never win The Voice but as far as Apple’s phone innovations go, it was the last big breakthrough.

While much of the excitement about the next iPhone, the 5SE, surrounds the size of its screen or changes to the headphone jack, as it does right now, the magic doesn’t feel quite so … well … magic. Giving an old phone a makeover is not the same as bringing a brand new device to Apple’s devoted customers.

Those iPhone sales, gargantuan though they may be, are themselves a headache for Apple. The smartphone dominates sales – producing almost 70 per cent of all revenue – to an extent that should have everyone at Apple concerned. Several of its other products, including the iPad and the Mac, are in steady decline. The iWatch, launched to great fanfare almost a year ago, has barely made it on to the sales radar. A second generation iWatch – rumoured to be launched in March or the autumn, depending on where you read about it, is unlikely to turn the ship around.

AppleTV is also yet to make much of an impression on revenue, despite heavy investment. It is a up against a crowded marketplace, where it is competing against Netflix and Amazon, two rivals that are a match for Apple’s technology and are capable of slugging it out.

A huge investment in cars, Apple’s so-called Project Titan, is a long way from payday – a project that management is rumoured to be so unhappy about that a hiring freeze has been in place.

To add insult to injury, Apple is also facing a problem over which it spent many years beating up Microsoft: technology glitches. Safari, the in-house web browser installed on all Apple products, has experienced crashes and there are new threats to its entire iPhone iOS operating system. These are problems that Apple’s customers are not used to dealing with, problems that if not successfully tackled could do lasting damage to the company’s market dominance. And yet, 99 problems or not, all is far from lost. Apple is sitting on a huge amount of cash, probably more than $140bn even if it repatriates the whole pile to the US and pays its tax bill. That limits its downside, no matter where that cash happens to be stashed.

A period of stagnant growth is not the end of the world, particularly against a backdrop of increasing global economic uncertainty. The fact that about one billion people now own an Apple product gives the company an incredible platform to leverage against. Most analysts (and few on Wall Street appear willing to bet against it) believe that its future growth is more likely to come from embedded services such as Apple Pay and Apple Music rather than hardware like the iPhone – recurring revenue sources rather than one-off hardware purchases.

But until those services start driving a bigger chunk of revenue, doubts will remain and critics will shout louder. At the worst possible time, Apple is facing its toughest challenge since the iMac dragged it out of the ashes almost 20 years ago.

Shayne -

International Data Privacy Day: How Secure Are You?

MITCHELL PIERCE - THOUGHTS ?

• Today is International Privacy Day

• In recent years, data theft has become one of the world’s most prevalent crimes with billions of dollars being lost each year through credit card fraud, identity theft and scams.

• Correct disposal of information is often overlooked.

• “People and organizations need to be as security conscious in the destruction of documents and records as they are in protecting them on their premises,” said Paul Hurst, National Association for Information Destruction, Australia and New Zealand (NAIDANZ) Chairman.

• According to NAIDANZ, ere’s what you should be asking yourself:

  • Who looks after data destruction in your work place and do they understand the inherent security risks and legal implications in the mismanagement of secure information disposal?

  • Are you completely certain that your old hard-drive will not yield sensitive information in the hands of an experienced data thief?

  • Is your data destruction service provider AAA Certified for 100% guaranteed disposal of information?

US Netflix Blocked? Here's How To Fix It And Watch Everything

• Aussie Netflix addicts went ballistic last week after the streaming service started blocking them from accessing its much bigger US catalogue.

• But less than a week after the crackdown came into effect, third-party “unblocking” providers say they’ve already found ways to circumvent the problem, with their customers happily tuning into US Netflix again.

• Melbourne-based proxy service uFlix, which uses “smart DNS” technology to trick Netflix into thinking you’re based in the US, said it was “still digging into” the detail of the issue but things were up and running again for its customers.

• Another popular unblocking service, Getflix, said it too had found a way around the geo-block.

• According to website Netflixable, which tracks new titles as they are released to Netflix in each region, Netflix’s US catalogue is almost three times as large as Australia’s, at about 6900 titles compared to about 2500.

• NetFlix CEO Reed Hastings, also said the company’s decision to step up enforcement of geo-blocking was at the behest of the film and television studios which own the rights to its streaming content. - I think Netflix just needs to give the impression that they want to block international users.

• Introducing “uNoGS” – or the unofficial Netflix online Global Search – a new website that lets you search Netflix’s catalogue across all countries

• It’s simply a matter of finding out which country has the title you’re after, and changing your (not blocked) internet proxy or VPN settings so that Netflix thinks you’re in that country.

• uNoGS also provides its own pointers on which VPN, proxy or DNS provider to use for the region you want, although we can’t guarantee any of these has found a workaround to the recent crackdown.

Google Wants To Forget It Ever Tried To Sell Humans Google Glass

• Google’s finally scrubbed the internet clean of its weird wearable consumer experiment known as Google Glass.

• Spotted by 9to5Google, Glass-related accounts on Google+, Twitter and Instagram have been shutdown with only Google+ giving any kind of parting farewell.

  • From the Google+:

  • Hi Explorers, we’ve had a blast hanging out with you on G+ throughout the Explorer Program. From now on, if you have any questions about your Glass, you can get in touch with us here.

• The Twitter and Instagram accounts are simply gone.

• With its social death, Google Glass’ public face turns inward, and the implication doesn’t need too much explaining

• Glass never should have been presented as a consumer technology — not even close.

• Though the company seems to have abandoned any short-term hope for consumer Glass, Google’s actually launching into a new era with the tech, in the form of an Enterprise Edition model, now under the direction of the new Project Aura.

• Google’s just left those involved in the Explorer program out in the cold.

iPhone, Mac users warned not to click viral link

• A viral link being circulated through social media, included Twitter, is shutting down people’s iPhones and computers and forcing them to reboot.

• 9To5Mac issued a warning today about the website that is going viral as people are trying to trick unsuspecting folk into crashing their device.

• If you click on a link to the website CrashSafari.com with an iPhone or Mac, a JavaScript code on the website will force your iPhone to reboot and crash your Mac.

• While the name of the website does give fair warning, the problem is people are sharing it online as a shortened link that disguises the web address.

• 9To5Mac said the website does not damage the device but crashing a phone or computer can cause you to lose the tabs you have opened in a browser and to lose any unsaved work.

• While the link clearly has been designed to attack Apple users, people have reported it has also affected other browsers on Windows machines.

Zach Sims Of Codecademy On Running A Company That (Still) Doesn’t Charge Users

• The four-year-old online platform Codecademy now teaches employable tech skills to 25 million users around the globe, it still doesn’t charge for its services, some early testing notwithstanding.

• The company is choosing instead to remain focused on growth before introducing what CEO Zach Sims describes as a “prosumer” business.

• In today’s market, that’s an unusual stance to maintain. It’s even more unusual  because Codecademy has raised just $12.5 million over the years, a small sum by the standards of most online learning platforms. The six-year-old, San Francisco-based online learning and teaching marketplace Udemy, for example, has raised $113 million to date.

• Sims thinks that Codecademy is far better positioned to survive and thrive than the many startups that have raised piles of cash and are now having to “right-size” their businesses.

Apple recalls AC wall plug adapters in Australia

The affected two-prong adapters could, in very rare cases, break and create the risk of an electrical shock if touched, the company said in a blog post.

The company said it was aware of 12 such incidents worldwide.

The affected adapters were shipped with Mac and certain iOS devices between 2003 and 2015 and were also included in the Apple world travel adapter kit.

Apple instructed customers to check the inside slot where the plug prongs attach to an Apple power adaptor.

Adaptors with four or five characters or no characters on the inside slot should not be used

Apple said the recall does not affect AC wall plug adapters designed for Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom, United States or Apple USB power adapters.

Telstra overtakes Woolworths as most valuable brand

Telstra and Woolies have swapped spots on the ladder between first and second place to make telstra the most valuable brand.

The telco’s overall brand is valued at US$10.7 billion, which is based on factors such as familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment and staff satisfaction.

Telstra’s rival Optus also cracked the top eight this year with a brand value of US$3.6 million. The rest of the list was dominated by the big four banks ANZ, CBA, Westpac and NAB taken the third to sixth places, respectively. Coles came in at seventh.

Telstra came in at No. 110 globally, up from No. 145 in 2015

Apple iPad Pro outsold Microsoft Surface Pro in Q4

according to a report by market research firm IDC.

The iPad Pro helped Apple lead the global tablet market, with 24.5 percent share. Despite its reign over the other vendors, Apple’s tablet shipments continued to slide, falling to 16.1 million shipments, 24.8 percent down from the same quarter last year.

While Microsoft's tablet sales did not help it make the top five market vendors in the overall market, the Surface Pro devices have gained popularity among enterprise customers.

an entry level Surface Pro 4 is $1,349 in Australia, while an entry level iPad Pro model is $1,249

Detachable tablets continued to gain traction in 2015 overall. While pure slate tablets experienced their greatest annual decline of 21.1 percent over the year, detachable tablets more than doubled their shipments since the fourth quarter of last year.

Father found not guilty of theft after confiscating daughter's iPhone

Ronald Jackson, from north Texas, confiscated his then 12-year-old daughter’s iPhone 4S during a 2013 access visit, upon discovering inappropriate text messages about his new partner,

The girl’s mother Michelle Steppe initially sent Jackson a letter of demand to retrieve the phone. A two-year police and legal pursuit then followed, culminating in Jackson’s arrest in April last year.

Judge Lisa Green instructed the jury to find Jackson not guilty, citing insufficient evidence.

Google denies giving $60,000 to Labor Party

Google has refuted the Australian Electoral Commission's annual report that showed the tech giant donated $60,000 to the Labor Party last year.

The AEC on Monday morning published its periodic disclosure list of political party donations, which listed Google as making its first-ever political donation in Australia, to the Labor Party.

http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Returns/56/UFLW2.pdf

Google adds Aussie twang to voice search

Australians can now substitute "footy" for football, "arvo" for afternoon and find directions to Mullumbimby or Goondiwindi,

The extended vocabulary came after Google, which is now part of holding company Alphabet Inc, added an Australian accented voice to its Google Maps and search applications last week.

"People are starting to talk to their phones much more regularly now. Mobile voice searchers have doubled in the last year," Google Australia spokesman Shane Treeves said.

Shayne - 4/2/16 - Returns from the dead…

Youtube Said To Be Working To Stream Live 360 Video

• You Tube is building capabilities that will allow it to stream wonderful, immersive and, in some cases, almost exhilarating 360-degree video live.

• According to BuzzFeed, YouTube has been meeting with 360-degree camera manufacturers about adding support for immersive live-streamed video broadcasts to its platform.

• While there are many 360 video cameras, only a small number of them can stream video live — and even then the footage isn’t amazing.

• The way the video arrives to YouTube could prove a headache too: different hardware systems stitch together their multiple video feeds together in a variety of ways, which may make displaying them properly difficult.

• then there’s the problem of streaming the resulting video files. Such 360 videos tend to be large, because they’re made up of multiple feeds.

• Facebook’s been working out how to compress them to make them easier to push down the pipes, but it’s a technique that right now works very much offline.

• According to BuzzFeed there’s no word on when such a feature might arrive on YouTube

TV recording comes to Apple TV

• Consumers soon will be able to access a TV guide, set up recordings and later view them all using a Generation 4 Apple TV attached to a display, and a new app being built by DVBLogic.

• “I am glad to confirm that we are working on AppleTV 4 DVBLink app as a part of our new DVBLink version 6,” a company spokesman said.

• “This new version is scheduled to be available in April 2016 and, among other new things, will feature lean-back apps for Android TV and AppleTV platforms,” the spokesman said.

• “These apps will offer full DVBLink functionality, including a TV guide, recording management, live TV and recorded viewing.”

• Apple’s action to build an app store for its TV is letting developers build diverse applications such as a software-based personal video recorder.

• consumers will have to attach a storage device such as an external hard drive or use a NAS box to store TV recordings. And they will need a device on their network that houses a TV tuner. So DVBLogic effectively is providing the front end of a PVR (personal video recorder) setup for Apple TV.

• Apps such as Plex let you use Apple TV to watch TV recorded on another device, but it doesn’t come with a program guide. You can’t initiate the recordings from the screen.

• Alternatives are to use Apple AirPlay to stream from another device to Apple TV, or, if you’re willing to take a risk as some had, install a PVR front-end on an older, jailbroken Apple TV.

• It’s possible already in the US at least to initiate and watch live TV on an Apple TV using an HDHomeRun tuner box and an Apple TV app called Channels.

• DVBLogic, a Netherlands company, specialises in live and recorded TV solutions and its DVBLink software handles 4 types of TV sources. They are free-to-air TV received by an antenna, cable TV, satellite and TV streamed across the internet (IPTV).

• DVBLogic software already runs on Windows, Mac and Linux computer systems, the tiny Raspberry Pi, and network attached storage (NAS) solutions by Synology, QNAP, Asustor, Western Digital and Netgear.

• DVBLink will stream TV output to phones, tablets and displays connected to a home network and, when configured, to a user from across the internet.

• Streaming & “catch up” negate the need for recording live tV, apart from sport.

Google parent Alphabet overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable company

• Alphabet, Google’s new parent company, topped Apple as the world’s most valuable business in after-hours trading after reporting surging earnings.

• Alphabet earned $US4.9 billion in net income on revenue of $US21.3 billion in the fourth quarter.

• That figure easily topped the average estimate of $US8.10 per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

• The earnings report provided the most detailed breakdown yet on the profits pouring in from Google’s dominant search engine and ad network. (Google reorganised itself under Alphabet last October.)

• Investors pushed up Alphabet stock $US44.23, or more than 5 per cent, to $US815 in extended trading.

• Based on that after-hours bump, Alphabet surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. According to calculations from S&P Indices, Alphabet was worth $US571 billion versus $US538 billion for Apple. That ranking, of course, could shift again in regular trading tonight (AEDT).

• Apple’s stock has been sliding amid concerns about a slowdown in iPhone sales. Alphabet’s stock has surged by 45 per cent since the end of 2014 when it was still trading under Google’s name.

• Alphabet’s other companies together produced an operating loss of $US1.2 billion on revenue of just $US151 million. Alphabet labels that category “other bets.”

Stop using Microsoft Edge's InPrivate mode if you value your privacy

• It is possible to peek behind the curtain and see which sites have been visited when using a browsing mode that should mask this with Edge.

• There are similar features found in other browser, Chrome has Incognito mode & Safari has Private Browsing mode.

• Somewhat counterintuitively, Edge actually records browsing history in InPrivate mode. More than this, by examining the WebCache file it is a relatively simple task for someone to reconstruct full browsing history, regardless of whether surfing was performed in regular or InPrivate mode. These were the finding of infosec expert Brent Muir.

• The Container_n table stores web history. There a field named 'Flag' will be available. A website visited in the private mode will have a flag value as '8'. Generally the purpose of storing this information is to retrieve crashed private sessions.

• \Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache

• any skilled investigator can easily spot the difference and get concrete evidence against a person’s wrongdoings.

• Microsoft is aware of the problem, and says:

• We recently became aware of a report that claims InPrivate tabs are not working as designed, and we are committed to resolving this as quickly as possible. - Sounds like they are working as designed, but the design was WRONG.

MyTransLink has a new feature – the trip announcer!

Use the trip announcer feature to track your journey in real-time. The screen will update as the trip progresses, displaying a map, the stop names and remaining trip time.  You can also set stop announcements that will announce your pre-selected stop or the next stops on the route.

There are a number of ways you can access the trip announcer:

• Go to "Timetables", select your bus, train, ferry or tram route, scroll to your departure stop, select the departure stop or the time of your service.

• Go to "Find stops", find and select your stop, select your service.

• Go to "My Services", select your favourite bus, train, ferry or tram route, scroll to your departure stop, select the departure stop or the time of your service.

• Go to "My Stops", select your favourite stop, select your service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z4rPukJ5J1U

Doctor Who Digital Pinball Table - Fully Funded

The kickstarter project to help recreate the 1990's Doctor Who Pinball Table in digital form, has reached its target.

With three days to go the project has raised over $56,000, enough to purchase the the licences to allow Farsight studios to recreate the famous 1992 Doctor Who Pinball Table for Consoles and Mobile devices.

In addition the makers have announced that, as well as recreating the classic Doctor Who table, they intend to develop an modern version of the table, featuring the latest doctors and new material from the show.

New tiers have been added to the Kickstarter campaign that include early access to this new version of the table.

The campaign closes on Saturday.

For full details see the project's Kickstarter page.

ACCC to pursue Apple for bricking iPhones

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will be querying Apple on its practice of deliberately deactivating iPhones that have been repaired by non-Apple service providers.

UK newspaper The Guardianreported last week that upon upgrade to iOS 9, the operating system would detect if the device’s home button or the fingerprint recognition sensor was not in its original state.

The iPhone could be in such a state as a result of repair by a non-Apple service provider or simply that the hardware was imperfect from use. Upon detection, the device displays “error 53”, with the operating system forcibly and permanently making the iPhone unusable – a practice known as “bricking” the phone.

Apple Store staff reportedly cannot reverse the bricking.

you could get your screen replaced by a neighborhood repair facility for US$50-80, Apple charges US$129 or more. There is incentive for Apple to keep end users from finding alternative methods to fix their products.

In the UK, The Guardianreported a barrister as saying Apple’s “reckless” policy of “killing” iPhones could potentially be in violation of the Criminal Damage Act, which makes it “an offence to intentionally destroy the property of another”.

US legal firm PCVA has called on affected users to register their interest about a potential class action lawsuit against the vendor

PCVA stated that the situation is analogous to repairing one’s car at a local mechanic.

“Under Apple’s strategy, your car would no longer start because you didn’t bring it to an official dealership. They intentionally disable your car because you tried to fix it yourself,” the law firm said.

“That is wrong, and we hope to prove that it violates various consumer protection laws in the United States.”

Optus is most complained-about telco

Optus has recorded more new complaints per user in the last quarter than either Telstra or Vodafone.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman announced that it received 5.9 new complaints per 10,000 services in operation for Optus in the quarter ending 31 December. Telstra recorded 4.9 and Vodafone had 3.5 new complaints per 10,000 services.

Amaysim - Australia’s fourth largest mobile telco and an Optus 4G reseller - left its larger rivals for dead, with just 0.7 new complaints per 10,000 services.

Optus took on the mantle of most complained-about communications provider in March last year, taking over from Vodafone. As recently as the quarter to December 2014, the Ombudsman was fielding 10.5 complaints per 10,000 Vodafone services.

….Is it a security thing? like xbox modding etc - 3rd party buttons might have malware etc???

Telstra giving away data to all mobile customers due to outage

Telstra is giving all its customers free mobile data all day Sunday following a mass outage that impacted 3G and 4G services across the country

In an interview with 702 ABC Sydney radio, Telstra admitted the problem was down to human error.

"While the outage was short in duration we fully realise the impact it had on our customers, which is why we are offering all of our customers a day of free mobile data this Sunday."

Microsoft boss Pip Marlow joins Australian Rugby Union board

Microsoft Australia managing director Pip Marlow has been appointed as a director on the Australian Rugby Union board.

Marlow fills the spot left by former chairman Michael Hawke who announced his retirement in December.

you imagine she is fulltime at MS so where do people get time to sit on boards? own time or they do what they like when the high flyers? seen as networking ? ERIK

Google to show anti-terrorism ads to would-be extremists

Those counter-narratives will take the form of Google AdWords, the sponsored links that appear at the top of a Google search result. It isn't clear what words will prompt a response, but the general idea seems to be that users searching for extremist material will throw up a couple of anti-extremist links.

A similar technique is currently in place for searches relating to suicide – wherein searches relating to that subject bring up links to the Samaritans and other refuge organisations.

Committee chairman Keith Vaz also asked representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Google how many of its employees were on “hot squads” for removing inappropriate content from their sites. He was told that Twitter, which has 320 million users, employs “more than 100” staff for that purpose. Google and Facebook declined to give figures publically.

Isn’t this censorship ? what do we think? is it ok about some topics and not others ?

'Netflix tax' bill hits parliament
The federal government has introduced draft legislation that would see the goods and services tax applied to digital products purchased from overseas

Products captured under the law would include digital music, applications, games, e-books, movies (streamed and downloaded) as well as consultancy and professional services, the bill states.

The government expects the move will reap it $350 million over four years, to be passed on to the states.

Treasurer Scott Morrison today said the changes would bring the tax system up to date with the 21st century economy.

Companies that sell more than $75,000 worth of products into Australia would need to register their products with the ATO for GST collection. The request will also be made to not-for-profits selling $150,000 worth of goods.

The government expects around 100 overseas digital vendors will register with the ATO.

Where sales are made through electronic marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, the platform operator will hold liability for GST rather than the product vendor, the draft law states.

The draft legislation is coupled with the government's policy decision to remove the $1000 GST-free threshold for online goods by mid 2017.

Vic police want to shoot GPS trackers at fleeing cars

Police officers in Victoria have put forward a case for GPS tracking devices to be shot onto cars speeding away from officers in order to reduce the risk involved in high-speed chases.

Officers also asked for remote vehicle disabling technology that would cut off a car's fuel supply and take control of its brakes.

The ideas arose from a survey of almost 3000 officers by the Victorian Police Association, which found 93 percent of the surveyed officers were unhappy with the force's current pursuit policy.

A "fleeing vehicle tagging system", as termed in the survey, would allow a "laser guided projectile" to be fired at a fleeing vehicle so police can track its movements via GPS.

Australian PPC-1 cable cut, out of action until March

The PPC-1 Australian submarine cable running between Sydney and the United States island territory of Guam has been fully severed, with the repair estimated to take around a month to complete.

After receiving an alert that a submarine line card for the cable had lost its payload, TPG engineers and the provider's infrastructure vendors found a fault around 4590 kilometres from Guam.

A repair ship will be dispatched and the estimated time of service restoration is Monday, March 7, TPG said.

Traffic rerouted over Southern Cross and Australia-Japan Cable systems

From their website:

PPC-1 is PIPE International’s submarine cable connecting Australia to Guam. The cable system spans 7,000 km and initially links Australia directly to Guam, providing international carriers and operators a new and competitive opportunity to interconnect other systems to Australia. In two short years PPC-1 went from a concept to becoming Australia’s first independent submarine cable. It is the single largest investment in Australia’s competitive telecommunications infrastructure since the dot-com era.

Thousands flock to 'malware museum'

An online archive of old computer malware has attracted more than 100,000 visitors since it launched four days ago.

Some of the software showed an animation or messages. Others invited the infected user to play a game.

The malware all dates from the 1980s and 1990s.

The versions online have all been stripped of their destructive capabilities, but show the messages they would have displayed within emulator windows.

https://archive.org/details/malwaremuseum&tab=collection

The Curator’s personal favourite is a virus called Casino, which overwrote a crucial part of the computer's file system but took a copy of personal files and then offered the user the opportunity to win them back in a game of Jackpot.

"Casino was a real problem," Mr Hypponen, who works at security firm F-Secure, told the BBC.

"At the time the advice was, you lose nothing by playing. In the early 1990s very few people had back-ups so you had lost your files anyway."

He said he was surprised by the number of people who felt nostalgic about the old malware.

Many of the viruses were created by "happy hackers" rather than organised criminals, said the curator

Shayne - 11/2/16

Dallas Buyers Club Throws In The Towel On iiNet Piracy Case

• After a year & a half the people behind the copyright lawsuit against 4000 Iinet customers is finally over with them giving up trying to get the details of the alleged offenders.

• Late last year the Federal Court dismissed the case entirely with an option to appeal by 11/2/16 (today)

• Over the journey what the Dallas Buyers Club people wanted dwindled down to the cost of the film, a reasonable licence fee & court costs.  But they could not agree on what a reasonable fee would be.

What a Week Telstra Has Had - 2 Outages

• Telstra customers experienced 2 major outages this week

• The first major outage that affected millions of mobile customers on Tuesday was as the result of a technician not following the correct procedure while trying to fix a faulty node

• This meant that other major nodes were essentially offline, unable to cope with the extra traffic

• In addition to the outage, some of the light hearted tweets from the official Telstra Twitter account raised eyebrows.  Upper management did not see the funny side

• Telstra is offering free data to all its customers on Sunday 14/2/16

• The second outage had less of an impact, affecting access to thousands of websites mainly hosted by Bluehost, HostGator and Hostmonster by Telstra Broadband customers

• This outage was due to router failure. - Not sure why redundant routers did not kick in

France gives Facebook 3 months to stop snooping on non-users’ browsing history

• Facebook has three months to comply with the French privacy watchdog demands and stop collecting data on people who don’t have accounts with the social network

• Facebook’s current data protection policy which allows it to track browsing activity of non-registered users without their consent or knowledge was deemed illegal by the French regulator

• Facebook follows internet users across all the sites they enter after they have visited a publicly shared Facebook page via the use of Cookies.

• The data obtained is then used for marketing purposes, which violates user's’ right to privacy

• Facebook, as well as thousands of other companies, was obliged to find an alternative way of moving data that wouldn’t break the European law within three months. That deadline expired last week

• The case may be settled amicably if Facebook reconsiders its personal data policy and manages to fulfill the watchdog’s demands on time

Google's Chromecast 2 And Chromecast Audio Are Finally Coming To Australia

• Gizmodo reports that the Google Chromecast 2 & Chromecast Audio will be on sale in Australia in a few weeks

• According to their article, Kogan have it listed on their website & JB HiFI have it in their inventory & marketing material is also in stores

• According to Ausdroid sources the price for both the Chromecast 2 and Chromecast Audio is advertised at $59, with multiple SKU codes in the JB Hi Fi system - Can’t see how you can justify the same price for 2 different products

• Google Australia have declined to comment

Java installer flaw shows why you should clear your Downloads folder

• On Friday, Oracle published a security advisory recommending that users delete all old Java installers from their computers and use new ones for versions 6u113, 7u97, 8u73 or later.

• The older Java installers are designed to look for and automatically load a number of specifically named DLL files from the current directory. The downloaded directory in the case of Java.

• If an attacker manages to place a specifically named malicious DLL into a computer's "Downloads" folder, that file will be executed when the user tries to install Java for the first time or when he manually updates an existing Java installation by downloading and running a new installer

EBF

TIME FOR A BETTER

BUSINESS PLAN?

New customers can enjoy a massive 15GB of data for just $90/mth (normally $100/mth for 8GB) on a Go Business Mobile SIM L plan.

https://www.telstra.com.au/small-business/mobile-phones/mobile-plans/go-business-mobile-plans

Telstra explains network outage as worker faces the music

TELSTRA was quick to blame one of its workers for an “embarrassing” error yesterday that caused a widespread outage but one consultant says the telco may soon regret its response.

IT operations consultant Sam Newman of ThoughtWorks, says seeing Telstra chief operations officer Kate McKenzie place the blame for the outage on one individual was “nonsensical”.

Mr Newman has studied how failures are caused in complex systems including websites and financial trading systems, and said all humans made mistakes.

“A normal human being making a simple mistake shouldn’t be able to cause this massive outage ... you should have automation, checks and balances,” he said.

Another concerning thing was the strange “double-speak” that Telstra engaged in, seeming to blame the individual for making the error, while also admitting it had not done a full investigation.

“You are throwing one individual under the bus ... and this kind of blame culture creates a very toxic work environment,” Mr Newman said, adding that it may lead employees to cover up their mistakes in the future.

He said it was incredibly surprising that a COO of a major organisation like Telstra would come out with a statement like that.

“It speaks to a lack of understanding of how failures occur. Looking for a single cause of failure is like looking for a single cause of success,” he said.

“It’s about the system you create, it’s not about individuals.”

Mr Newman said observing Telstra’s response was like “watching a car crash in slow motion”.

“It’s pretty crushing for morale ... to see senior leadership throwing individual employees under the bus,” he said. “I’d be looking for another job”.

Mr Newman said his colleagues were also stunned.

“When Amazon has outages you don’t see them behave like this,” he said, adding that Telstra instead should have admitted it screwed up and confirmed it was looking into it.

Offering free data on Monday or soon after would also have been a better response than giving customers free data on Sunday, especially as the outage occurred on a weekday and would have impacted businesses.

‘DON’T THROW THAT WORKER UNDER THE BUS’

Yesterday Ms McKenzie told reporters that “[The employee responsible] didn’t follow procedures and clearly that’s not a good thing but I wouldn’t want to pre-empt the proper investigation and we’ll figure out what the right response is when we’ve had a chance to dig into the detail.”

She added: “I think he’s probably had the worst day of his career.”

When asked whether there would be repercussions for the worker, a Telstra spokesman told news.com.au this morning that it would make an official statement but indicated the outage was just “human error”.

“While this incident was the result of human error, our focus is on examining the processes that we have in place so we can prevent this type of error causing such an impact to our network,” he said.

Despite the huge inconvenience to millions of customers, many were sympathetic about the blunder and concerned that the engineer would be punished.

One Twitter user tweeted Telstra saying: “Please don’t throw that worker under a bus, we all make mistakes, sometimes they just have wider repercussions than others”.

Others criticised Telstra for blaming one employee for a systemic issue.

“If the system demands people to be perfect, it failed,” one Twitter user said.

Another said: “Seeing @telstra’s COO throwing one person under the bus for a major outage is just plain embarrassing”.

TELSTRA EXPLAINS OUTAGE

In a blog statement, Telstra chief operations officer Kate McKenzie, who yesterday described the outage as “an embarrassing human error”, provided further details about what happened.

She said the outage stemmed from a faulty node, which is a major connection point that Telstra customers use to access voice and data services. Nodes manage the flow of voice and data traffic across its mobile network.

“The outage was triggered when one of these nodes experienced a technical fault and was taken offline to fix,” Ms McKenzie wrote.

She said normally customers would not be impacted as services would be transferred to another node before the faulty one was taken offline.

“Unfortunately on this occasion the right procedures were not followed and this resulted in customers being disconnected and consequent heavy congestion on other nodes as customers attempted to reconnect to the network.”

BUSINESS COUNTS THE COST

The outage cost some businesses thousands in lost productivity.

PoweredLocal founder Michael Jankie told news.com.au that the two-hour outage had cost his wi-fi marketing service about $15,000 in sales.

Mr Jankie said the company’s 20-odd account managers were unable to sign up new clients as it was unable to demonstrate PoweredLocal’s services. The company provides small businesses such as cafes the ability to offer their customers free wi-fi in return for a Facebook check-in.

“We didn’t make any sales yesterday which is very unusual ... we should have signed $15,000 worth of sales,” he told news.com.au.

He said he had not been in touch with Telstra about the outage but believed that it would be very difficult to calculate fair compensation.

While Telstra has offered its customers free data on Sunday, Mr Jankie said this was a bit of a “slap in the face”.

“Businesses would have been the most financially affected (by the outage) ... and they will be unlikely to be using data on Sunday,” he said.

In general, Telstra’s service was fantastic but he said it needed to be functioning at 100 per cent. “There are too many essential services (relying on it) for it to fail at a national level,” he said.

IS FREE DATA OFFER ENOUGH?

There was also a mixed response on social media to Telstra’s free data offer.

The outage affected up to 16.7 million services attached to Telstra’s 3G and 4G networks and prevented phone calls from connecting to customers mobile phones, while other users reported complete loss of phone and data services.

Telstra confirmed the massive mobile phone service outage at 12.23pm AEDT, and did not start bringing services back online until after 2pm AEDT, though the company warned its service status page could display incorrect information due to overwhelming demand.

“While the outage was short in duration we fully realise the impact it had on our customers, which is why we are offering all of our customers a day of free mobile data this Sunday,” Ms McKenzie said. “Customers don’t need to do anything to receive the free data, it will happen automatically for all of our mobile customers.

“I apologise again on behalf of the company and thank everyone for their patience while we restored services.”

YouTube Red is coming to Australia, but who, if anybody, should be worried?

YOUTUBE Red is not even available in Australia yet but already it’s dividing opinion.

Some say it’s the next great competitor to rival Netflix, Stan and Presto. Others say it’s a rip-off disguised to charge existing platform users for the privilege of avoiding those annoying ads.

Most of all, it’s a mystery, given the video sharing giant has been very tight-lipped about the roll out.

YouTube Red was cautiously floated in the US in October last year. The cracks are still being ironed out but what we know is that for $US9.99 a month (first month free), subscribers will get access to original content unavailable elsewhere. Movies, TV series, documentaries and, we can only assume, plenty of new cat videos and pranks.

The Netflix, Stan and Presto business models already deliver unique content, but where YouTube Red distinguishes itself is in its secondary offerings. Those include access to streaming music and offline video viewing, something digital media expert Marc C-Scott says sets them apart.

“That’s part of the bargaining to get them across the line,” he told news.com.au.

The Google-owned business said in a statement on Thursday it will soon release “lots more thrills, chills, LOLs, smiles, romances and surprises”, but that’s about all it said, and that’s part of the problem, at least for Australian viewers.

YouTube Red is coming to Australia, apparently, but a spokesman told news.com.au it had no idea when that might be.

“There are no plans or timelines to announce at the moment. There’s no timeline for Australia.”

In the US, YouTube Red is this week launching its first four titles, featuring “homegrown” artists. The titles appear to be targeted at YouTube’s younger, already established audience, so presumably subscriptions will be coming out of the pocket money of teens and pre-teens.

Among the programs on offer are a musical teen drama, a TV series from the creator of The Walking Dead, a documentary by YouTube star Lilly Singh and a comedy titled Lazer Team.

Mr C-Scott, a lecturer in screen media at Victoria University, said YouTube Red has its limitations and other video-on-demand streaming services need not worry just yet.

“The information is a bit limited so it’s difficult to work out exactly what it is. It targets a different market to Netflix and the way the content is produced is quite different.”

He said where YouTube Red might run into problems is with the manner in which people already consume YouTube content.

“If you look at YouTube now, over 50 per cent of videos are viewed on mobile devices. That longer format (documentaries, movies) might not necessarily work.”

Should free-to-air networks in Australia be worried? Mr C-Scott said instead of worrying about what else is out there, Australian networks should focus on getting their own products right.

YouTube’s chief business officer Robert Kyncl told an audience at the YouTube Red launch in October that the commercial platform will complement YouTube’s free service.

“YouTube Red marks an evolution in our desire to give fans more choice and features that they love and a much better experience,” he said.

The Los Angeles Times reports it “remains highly unlikely” Red will unseat Netflix. Whatever the case, there’s money to be made. Lots of it. A Credit Suisse analyst said even a small percentage of YouTube’s billion-plus viewers converting to a paid model would deliver Google — which bought YouTube in 2006 — 10 times the annual revenue derived from advertising alone. It’s believed the revenue would be shared with creative partners.

Mr C-Scott said YouTube Red would likely be trialled in the US to gauge its pulling power before its rolled out elsewhere.

“They might use US to see if it works first. No one knew Netflix would go viral but it did. In a digital environment, anything can happen.”

On social media, users are divided and confused. Until YouTube offers more information, their questions will go unanswered.

One customer chews through 425GB of data in Telstra free-for-a day

The amount used is more than enough to download five seasons of Game of Thrones in high definition - four times over.

The data hungry customer, John from Rhodes in Sydney, told the Sydney Morning Herald, he downloaded all 25 seasons of the Discovery Channel’s How It’s Made and synced his entired Stream computer game library - 172 games in total - to a portable hard drive

By midnight on Sunday customers had downloaded 1841 terabytes.

The data usage was the equivalent of around 2.3 million movies, or 5.1 million episodes of Game of Thrones, or 23 million downloads of Kanye’s new The Life of Pablo album, according to a blog post by Telstra’s group managing director of networks Mike Wright.

“Over the course of the day we had twice as much traffic as we would normally see on a Sunday (or any day),” Mr Wright said

Ransomware offers live chat 'help'

According to a report from BleepingComputer, PadCrypt is the first ransomware to offer a live support chat feature for victims seeking online assistance with paying their ransom and decrypting locked files.

PadCrypt is also the first ransomware program to provide victims with a software uninstaller, which is downloaded along with the malicious encryption code at the time of infection.

PadCrypt is distributed via “spam that contains a link to a zip archive that contains what appears to be a PDF file,” BleepingComputer wrote. But the supposed PDF file is actually an executable that downloads malware from cybercriminals' command-and-control servers. These C&C servers were disabled following their discovery

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has been dealing with a ransomware infection for the last few days, checking backups, and then concluding that paying the ransom was probably the easiest way out.

In total, the hospital paid 40 Bitcoins (around $17,000) to anonymous hackers to reclaim access to its files, a settlement CEO Allen Stefanek said was “the quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions”.

1Tbps: researchers break broadband speed record

The researchers from UCL’s Optical Networks Group had achieved a rate of 1.125 Tb/s as part of research on the capacity limits of optical transmission systems. The research was designed to address the growing demand for fast data rates.

Dr Robert Maher, said: “While current state-of-the-art commercial optical transmission systems are capable of receiving single channel data rates of up to 100 gigabits per second (Gb/s), we are working with sophisticated equipment in our lab to design the next generation core networking and communications systems that can handle data signals at rates in excess of 1 terabit per second (Tb/s).

Toshiba Australia recalls PC batteries due to fire hazard

The recall dated 11 February involves 54 laptop models sold nationally at retail stores such as Harvey Norman, Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi from 1 June 2011 until 30 September 2015.

“If the defect occurs, there is a risk of a fire or a burn hazard to consumers,” the company said in a statement.

All affected consumers have been advised to turn off their PCs and remove the batteries immediately and only use the computers with the AC adaptor until the batteries are replaced.

The company is also offering free replacement packs to consumers with defected batteries.

Toshiba is the second company after Panasonic this week to have issued a recall on its rechargeable batteries due to overheating and fire hazards.

Kogan Mobile unveils $9 unlimited plan

Kogan’s 3XL plan now offers 30 days of unlimited standard calls and texts across Australia plus 3GB of data for $8.95. The same plan was previously offered at $29.90 per month.

The 5XL plan comes with 30 days of unlimited standard national calls and texts and 5GB of data for $10.95. In October, 5XL was launched offered at $36.90 per month.

Both deals equate to a 70 percent discount and will be on until 31 March.

Kanye West album 'pirated 500,000 times' already

Kanye West's latest album has already been illegally downloaded more than half a million times, estimates Torrent Freak.

The artist released The Life of Pablo on Jay-Z's music streaming service Tidal two days ago.

Thousands of subscribers have complained that they have been unable to download the album, despite paying for it.

It is currently one of the most popular music downloads on The Pirate Bay.

RIAA chief executive Cary Sherman wrote last year that the approach is increasingly ineffective.

The result is a never-ending game that is both costly and increasingly pointless."

Kanye West wants $1 billion from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kanye-west-wants-a-1-billion-from-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-2016-02-15

Great-grandmother accused of Robert Redford film piracy

An 82-year-old woman accused of illegally pirating a Robert Redford film has received a £600 demand.

Her daughter-in-law Sheila Drew said the claims were "absurd" as Mrs Drew did not know how to file share

It stated she could avoid legal action by accepting liability and paying a settlement of £600. It is the second letter the company has sent to her following initial correspondence in November 2015.

Mrs Drew said: "I'm upset to have been accused of something I didn't do... how many other people has this happened to?"

Sir Paul McCartney creates music for Skype emojis

Sir Paul McCartney has composed music for a series of 'audio emojis' on Skype to celebrate Valentine's Day.

The compositions - which are coupled with moving emoji designs - last just five seconds and can be sent to friends over the messaging platform for free.

The musician said he had at first considered the project a "strange proposition" but then changed his mind.

"I thought, you know what, why not? Something fun, and nice and new."

Apple recalls faulty MacBook USB-C cables

Apple will swap out a "limited" number of USB-C cables sold with its MacBook laptops from June 2015 after discovering a fault.

Affected cables connected to a wall power adapter fail to properly charge the MacBook battery, Apple said.

MacBook owners worldwide, including Australia, who provided a valid mailing address when they registered their products will receive a new cable by the end of this month.

Others who are eligible for new USB-C cables are advised to make an appointment at the Genius Bar at their nearest Apple retail store, or contact an authorised service provider.

Customers who have paid for a replacement USB-C cable can get a refund from Apple.

Shayne

Why You Should Care About Apple's Fight With The FBI

• The FBI asked Apple to provide a way (back door) of accessing an iPhone to help with the San Bernardino shooting/terrorist attack investigation but Apple has refused.

• The iPhone was seized from one of the shooters.

• The FBI has a warrant to search the phone & permission from the shooters employer as it was a work phone.

• The example used to illustrate the issue was that a warrant does not give the FBI the right to force a safe manufacturer, found in a normal home search, to make a tool to open that & therefore every safe.

• A second court order was obtained asking Apple to create a terrorist only version of IOS to help access the content of the phone & not a tool to crack regular IOS devices.

• Phone in question is an older 5C.  If phone was iPhone 6 or later then this would not be possible due to extra security features.

• The legal basis for requesting this assistance is the All Writs Act of 1789

• Story continues to discuss wider ramifications if Apple was to comply & create what it calls a Master Key & this would create a precedent which could also affect Android phones should one of those be found by law enforcement in a similar situation.

Hard-coded password exposes up to 46,000 video surveillance DVRs to hacking

http://www.insecam.org/

• Up to 46,000 Internet-accessible digital video recorders (DVRs) vulnerable to hackers due to hardcoded password.

• According to Risk Based Security (RBS), all the devices accept a hard-coded, unchangeable password for the highest-privileged user in their software -- the root account.

• Hardcoded passwords & hidden service accounts was common a decade or so ago.

• Zhuhai RaySharp Technology, a Chinese manufacturer of video surveillance systems, including cameras and accompanying DVRs is the company behind this instance.

• Web based scripts contained a routine to check if the user-supplied username was "root" and the password 519070.

• Other brands affected include: König, Swann Communications, COP-USA, KGUARD Security, Defender (a brand of Circus World Displays) and LOREX Technology, a division of FLIR Systems.

• Swann indicated that they were working on a patch.

• Possible workaround if DVR has to be accessed via internet is to incorporate the use of a VPN.

Breakthrough enables downloads 50,000 times faster than 'superfast' broadband

• British researchers simulated download speeds 50,000 times faster than 'superfast' 24 megabits per second (Mbps) broadband, breaking a world record.

• The University College London team achieved speeds of 1.125 terabits per second

• 45,000 times faster than the NBN target speed of 25Mbps.

• The UCL team used 15 super-fast optical fibre channels and a single receiver & they applied coding techniques commonly used to compress signals over Wi-Fi, but not yet widely used in fibre communications.

• The team is now testing the setup over longer distances to see how the speeds stack up in the real world

Hackers break into Ringo Starr's Twitter account with scary-simple method

• Starr’s account was compromised by a hacker operating under the username “af,”

• The hacker says he gained access to an email account associated with Doug Brasch, senior director of digital marketing at Universal Music Group, who managed Starr’s Twitter account.

• Using publicly available information, the hacker was able to reset the password on Brasch’s accounts and gain access to the Twitter accounts under his control via the me.com password reset function.

• After accessing Brasch’s email account, the hacker simply reset Starr’s Twitter account password, changed the email associated with the account, and started tweeting.

Streaming service JB Hi-Fi Now to shut down

• Retailer JB Hi-Fi’s music streaming service, JB Hi-Fi Now, will be shut down on 17 March 2016 after four years of operation.

• Service had 12,000 subscribers across the country

• Anyone that has a Now gift card can redeem its full value on in-store purchases instead.

• “We remain passionate about music and will continue to offer Australia’s largest range of CDs and Vinyl through our 180 stores nationally and via our online site.”

• Users who wish to export a list of their playlists can do log into the app and follow the instructions.

• JB Hi-Fi Now is the latest service to shut down, with Deezer, Rdio and Telstra’s Mog services all closing in recent months.

Dick Smith closes doors: 2,500 jobs gone

The shutdown will see 301 stores in Australia and 62 outlets in New Zealand stop trading, and lead to the loss of 2,460 jobs in Australia and about 430 in New Zealand.

"The offers were either significantly below liquidation values, or highly conditional, or both."

Harvey Norman fends off Microsoft price gouging accusations

A Reddit post showed that up until Friday, Harvey Norman was selling the Microsoft Sculpt Touch Mouse for $68, compared to $20 at Officeworks.

Rival electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi also sells the same mouse for $49. Seventeen hours after the thread was posted and received over 1000 up-votes, Harvey Norman changed the price to $48, just $1 less than JB Hi-Fi.

Microsoft advertises the product with a recommended retail price of $59.95

The spokesperson added that Harvey Norman had not received the “the price drop".

"As soon as we were made aware we immediately contacted the supplier and got the updated info. Pricing changed immediately.”

Telstra to unleash 1Gbps mobile this year

Telstra is upgrading its mobile network to support the LTE category 16 standard and provide peak speed boost on its 4GX network to 1Gbps in the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane CBDs later this year.

The network upgrade will mean theoretical peak download speeds of 1000Mbps and peak upload speeds of 150Mbps.

Telstra and Ericsson are set to begin 5G field tests in Australia later this year ahead of trial services during the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

John McAfee: I'll crack San Bernardino shooter's iPhone

The McAfee founder said “that his team of “some of the best hackers on the planet” who have “talents that defy normal human comprehension” could use social engineering to crack the code in three weeks.”

“I will, free of charge, decrypt the information on the San Bernardino phone, with my team” so that Apple doesn't have to place a backdoor on its product, he said.

"I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone."

McAfee also criticised the FBI for not being able to crack the phone on its own despite its resources. He said that the best hackers in the world don't work for the bureau because “the FBI will not hire anyone with a 24-inch purple mohawk, 10-gauge ear piercings, and a tattooed face who demands to smoke weed while working and won't work for less than a half-million dollars a year.”

Apple backflips on bricked iPhones

The company Friday said Error 53 was intended as a factory security test and should not have been seen by customers.

"This test was designed to check whether Touch ID works properly before the device leaves the factory," Apple stated. "We apologise for any inconvenience, this was designed to be a factory test and was not intended to affect customers."

Apple said affected users who update their phones via iTunes should now be able to restore their devices, however the fingerprint scanner will still not work. Touch ID, which stores fingerprints on the secure enclave co-processor on iPhones, won't be restored by the update as it would be a security risk, according to the vendor.

It means users who have had their phones repaired at unauthorised shops need to contact Apple to get the home button replaced, otherwise the Touch ID feature will fail to function.

Customers who have paid for out of warranty replacements of devices because of Error 53 should contact Apple Care for a reimbursement, the company said.

Skype group videos unleashed on Android, iOS

Skype has announced the rollout of group video calling on iPhone, iPad and Android phones, starting today. Western Europe and North America will get the feature first, and Skype has said it plans for group video calls to be available worldwide in March.

Up to 25 people can participate in a Skype video call.

Microsoft will in fact be working with Intel to enable the company's SILK audio codec to work with Azure cloud servers powered by Intel's processors.

Skype is also updating its chat invite feature, which lets users add people to group chats even if they aren't on that user's contact list. Even if the person being invited doesn't have Skype, they'll be able to join in using Skype for Web.

Player Discovers Secret Menus In Mortal KombatGames After Over 20 Years

Through a series of button inputs, a player has found previously undiscovered menus that lay dormant in the arcade versions of Mortal Kombat1, 2 and 3

The newly discovered menus were personally programmed by MK creator Ed J Boon, and display as “EJB Menu” after his initials.

The MK1 and MK2 menus allow you to watch various character endings, input initials directly into the leaderboard, run debug and diagnostic tests on the game cabinet, and do something called “coin bookkeeping.” There’s also a “Hello” option, which YourMKArcadeSource speculates is simply a list of people Ed Boon wanted to give a shoutout to. Fittingly enough, the first name on the list in MK2 is “mom.”

MK3's Ed Boon menu is considerably more robust, and includes an option to immediately unlock hidden characters. It also allows you to watch every fatality—a demonstration normally reserved for players who have beaten the game on Master difficulty. There is also something called the “Penacho/Miller Game,” which fires up an impossibly difficult Galagaclone.

Shayne - 25.2.16

I have a new toy - TL-SG1024DE

Apple Reported To Argue Code Should Be Protected As Free Speech In FBI Fight

• Apple is currently developing a legal response to the government’s request it assist with unlocking the iPhone involved in the San Bernardino shooting.

• The response is going to rely on two arguments.

  • 1   The demand over steps the powers granted to the government under the All Writs Act.

  • 2  That code is a form of Freedom of Speech, which is protected under the First Amendment.  Apple will try to argue that someone cannot be forced to write an article under Freedom of Speech & code is a form of writing.

Facebook rolls out 'reactions’ for when a like isn’t enough

• Facebook has finally launched its new ‘reactions’ feature across the globe including in Australia.

• Facebook will now let you react to a post with a ‘love, haha, wow, sad or angry’ emoticon, a move it says is designed for situations where a mere ‘like’ may not be appropriate.

• The expanded reactions feature had been tested in several markets including Spain & Ireland last October and is now rolling out globally

Nokia: We’re In No Rush To Get Our Brand Back On Phones

• Nokia could be returning to the phone market, after selling its mobile division to MS in 2013 for $7.2Billion (USD).

• There is a clause in the sale contract that could allow it to use the Nokia brand on handsets again starting from this year.

• Last summer NOKIAi told a German magazine it intends to find a licensing partner to design and build phones this year.

EBF  25.2.16

Tesla Model S for kids

Tesla has joined forces with toy maker Radio Flyer - the same company behind the iconic little red wagon - to build a Tesla Model S for kids. But unlike its rivals the toy Tesla boasts more modern battery technology and is available to be personalised.

The mini Model S is powered by a lithium-ion battery that can provide both a longer charge and charges faster than traditional toy car batteries. An optional, more powerful battery can also be ordered that can add another "50 per cent playtime" according to the makers.

It also has a scaled down version of the real Tesla's Insane Mode acceleration. In standard mode the tiny Tesla has a 4.8km/h top speed but a switch in the boot unleashes the full potential - 9.6km/h.

Buyers can tailor the little machine to their own tastes with several options. There are three genuine Tesla colours to choose from - red, blue and grey - and the option to select with black or silver finished 'Turbine' wheels. Custom number plates and a parking sign are also available, as is an indoor car cover to complete the ownership experience.

The car is equipped with working headlights and a spacious under bonnet storage space. It also comes standard with a sound system that allows you to plug your iPod in.

Tesla has no plans to sell the downsized Model S in Australia directly but it can be purchased via the Radio Flyer website.

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/tesla-model-s-for-kids-20160218-gmx76e.html

iphone 7 Rumours

THE next generation iPhone is expected to be released towards the end of the year and the rumour mill has kicked into overdrive.

Apple fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the iPhone 7 and speculation is rife as to the new features the device will provide. Among the rumoured new features is a completely waterproof handset, wireless charging, a dual camera and an improved battery life.

It’s also anticipated that Apple will introduce an obscure new technology that will allow the individual parts of the device to be shielded from electromagnetic interference, allowing the phone to better communicate with cellular and Wi-Fi connections.

The technology was used by the company in the Apple watch and since the parts are more effectively shielded from interfering with each other, the phone can be fitted with more elaborate chips which frees up space for a larger battery.

In great news for anyone who has dropped their phone in the toilet, pool or ocean, there is plenty of chat about the new handset being water proof.

Japan Display — the company which provides the majority of Apple’s iPhone LCD panels — has come out with a new technology called Pixel Eyes which is said to respond to touch input even when the user has wet fingers. This has led many to rationalise that as opposed to creating a device that can simply withstand spills and raindrops, allowing for wet finger response paves the way for a totally waterproof device.

Earlier in the week, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S7 model which is completely waterproof — a quality that T-mobile went to extreme lengths to test byunboxing the phone at the bottom of a pool.

While the camera quality on the iPhone 7 is expected to improve by featuring a dual camera system, allowing for SLR quality photos, the design around the camera lens will also change. The camera protrudes on the current iPhone 6, resulting in a less than perfect finish for design aficionados. But according toMacRumours, the iPhone 7 could rectify this with a smooth finish to the back of the device with the camera sitting flush.

The new design is also expected to be slimmer with an edge-to-edge screen.

There is also speculation that a desire for a thinner design will result in the removal of the head phone jack. Such a move would force customers to use bluetooth or other wireless technology to listen to music and apps.

Despite multiplereports touting “the death of the headphone jack”, most believe the likelihood of Apple going down that path is rather low.

Last month, coder Chase Fromm took to Twitter after spotting a piece of code pertaining to Li-Fi capability in the iOS 9.1 library cache. The result was plenty of rumours speculating the new phone could operate using therevolutionary new technology, which allows devices to be connected to the internet via a light source that provides internet speeds 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.

But this one’s a long shot. It will likely be a while (if at all) before we see Li-Fi used in the iPhone. AsExpert Reviews points out, “having a bit of code is a long way from having a finished product that will appear in the iPhone 7”.

News of the various rumours has been met with a mixed reaction from Apple fans with many taking to social media to express their hopes and wishes for the new generation of Apple’s marquee device.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/in-the-wake-of-samsung-galaxy-s7-rumours-are-abound-for-apples-next-generation-iphone/news-story/1035d508d7767dfb634482b95f120f8b

Qantas to introduce free high-speed Wi-Fi under ViaSat deal

Qantas says passengers will soon be able to access free inflight Wi-Fi delivering internet that is as fast as broadband connections on the ground.

The airline announced on Tuesday it would introduce the new service on a Boeing 737 this year in a trial that will see the aeroplane fitted with modems and antenna that can tap into the national broadband network's satellites.

The service, delivered under a deal with US internet provider ViaSat, will be rolled out to Qantas's domestic fleet of A330s and B737s from early 2017.

"Bringing high-speed Wi-Fi to the domestic aviation market has been an ambition of ours for a long time and we now have access to the right technology to make it happen," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.

"The sheer size of the Australian landmass creates some significant challenges for inflight connectivity but the recent launch of NBN's satellite has opened up new opportunities that we plan to take advantage of with ViaSat's help,"   Mr Joyce said.

He said internet speeds would be about 10 times faster than conventional in-flight Wi-Fi, meaning passengers could stream video and watch live news and sport.

"This service will give Qantas customers download speeds in the air similar to what they're used to on the ground ... you won't be limited to checking your email or Facebook," he said.

The trial will test the social acceptability of using services like FaceTime or Skype in flight before a final decision on policy is made.

"In the past the reaction to phone calls hasn't been great," Mr Joyce said. "We will be asking passengers what they think and what they want. Nothing has been decided on that."

ViaSat, a Swedish-owned satellite broadcaster which delivers in-flight Wi-Fi to US airlines JetBlue, Virgin America and United Airlines, will connect Qantas planes with a KA-band satellite and ground stations that link them to the NBN.

Qantas said it was looking at options for high-speed Wi-Fi for its international and regional fleet. Mr Joyce said there were also plans to roll out Wi-Fi on Jetstar aircraft, albeit likely at a cost to passengers given Jetstar's pay per use policy for frills.

Mr Joyce declined to comment on whether fares would rise as a result of the free Wi-Fi inclusion on Qantas, but he noted there would be a cost to the airline for investing the equipment and paying for data.

Rival Virgin Australia has also been examining Wi-Fi options but it has yet to announce any plans for services or whether they would be included in the price of the fare.

Qantas reported a first-half underlyingprofit before tax of $921 million on Tuesday and announced an on-market share buyback of up to $500 million.

The airline also said it would build a new lounge at London Heathrow, set to open in the first months of 2017, and that it was keeping on two Boeing 747-400s slated for retirement in response to high demand as well as recruiting new pilots for the first time since 2009.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-to-introduce-free-highspeed-wifi-under-viasat-deal-20160222-gn0vrx.html#ixzz41AKJ36CJ

Stuart - 25/2/16

Mattel's ThingMaker 3D printer will give kids toys on tap

Mattel's new ThingMaker 3D toy printer.

New York: When Mattel debuted ThingMaker in the 1960s, 3D printing was still decades away. As a primitive "at-home maker device," it let kids produce bug-like Creepy Crawlers, mini-dragons, flowers and other small toys by pouring liquid plastic into special moulds, which were then heated up and cooled.

Now Mattel, in collaboration with Autodesk, is resurrecting ThingMaker as a $299.99, family-friendly, 21st century 3D printer. Mattel made the announcement in advance of the Toy Fair trade show, which kicks off in Manhattan this weekend.

A full-size, non-working replica of the printer, which works with a 3D printing app for iOS and Android - if not for its bold orange casing - could be mistaken for a funky-looking microwave oven.

Consumers can customise toy fairies, dolls, dinosaurs, robots, skeletons and jewellery (among countless other plastic things) inside the ThingMaker app, which supplies templates and a palette of drag-and-drop parts that you can assemble together on screen before tapping the print button. Parts are printed in batches; for safety purposes, the printer door automatically locks when printing starts.

"All the physical behaviours are as it would be when it was actually printed out, so you can get an idea for how it is going to mechanically move and what the limits of all the joints and sockets that you create are," says Dan Pressman, creative director at Autodesk. You pick the individual object colours in the app as well; come print time, separate jobs print each batch of colours.

The app is live now and can be used to design items for other standard 3D printers as well. But Mattel's new 3D printer won't be released until October, but you can pre-order it on Amazon now.

"We're going to use these seven months to really learn and gain analytics of how people are using it," says Aslan Appleman, a senior director at Mattel.

For all their potential, and their use for industrial, professional, and hobbyist purposes, 3D printers have been slow to catch on in the home. Such printers have generally been too pricey, too slow and too complicated, and the motives for owning one have eluded most consumers.

Mattel comes at it as a toymaker, of course, but the company is viewing its upcoming 3D printer more as a consumer electronics product than a toy per se. In fact, the printer is designed for users ages 13 and up. (The small printed parts are rated as safe toys for children three years old and up.) Beyond Amazon, Mattel hasn't finalised its distribution strategy.

Mattel has been tracking the evolution of 3D printing for awhile now. Appleman says, "We think this is the perfect time for us to come out in the market with a product that's disruptive in our opinion."

Time will tell if ThingMaker can conjure up the same nostalgic appeal with newer technology. (It was almost a year ago that Mattel teamed up with Google to produce a Google Cardboard-based version of the ViewMaster stereoscopic viewer.)

Mattel's printer will rely on standard PLA (Polylactic Acid) filament just like other 3D printers do. Mattel hasn't announced the precise branded colours it may make available or pricing for the filament, but the printer is likely to come with at least one spool, and you'll be able to use standard filament sold by third parties. (You can find spools online today for around $23.)

"Our thought is we want to make this open to makers," Appleman says. "What we want to highlight is the ThinkMaker ecosystem."

How much you can print off a single spool will vary with the size and type of objects printed . Rough estimate: with an average 1 kilogram spool of filament, you can print up to 20 figures, more than 30 jewellery items or about 100 rings.

There's no word yet on if or when you'll be able to print Barbie or Hot Wheels or other famous Mattel toys.

"Obviously we have quite a few iconic brands in our portfolio as well as access to partner brands. You can imagine that's part of our long term strategy," Appleman says

Printing itself will not be a quick process. A small ring may take 30 minutes to print; a large toy could take six to eight hours.

"We think it's pretty magical to watch these things being printed but after a while you don't want to sit there for hours," Appleman says. "For bigger prints, click print before [you] go to bed and wake up to a brand new toy."

USA Today​

Monopoly money is no more in the new Ultimate Banking edition

Hasbro has released a new edition of Monopoly called Ultimate Banking, that should help keep familial infighting to a minimum. Instead of paper money, which can easily be laundered or stolen when you aren't looking, this new edition uses debit cards. It also does away with the easily-corrupted Banker position, replacing the human with an electronic card reader (aka an ATM).

Both the players' debit cards and the property cards themselves will be machine readable. So, when purchasing property, players will first scan the property's bar code and then their own cash card. If they have enough money for the transaction, the funds will automatically be deducted from their account. Funds can also be transferred between players, if necessary. Removing the human influence should certainly help keep the financial shenanigans to a minimum -- just hold on to those debit cards. Monopoly Ultimate Banking will hit store shelves later this summer for $25.

HTC Vive Will Cost $800 and Hit Shelves in Early April

Here are the tantalizing final details about HTC’s virtual reality headset. The HTC Vive will be available for pre-order starting February 29th in advance of hitting shelves in early April. It’ll cost a whopping $799 (read: $800), far more than the Oculus Rift, which starts at $600.

For $800, you’ll get the headset (duh), two wireless controllers, two wall units for tracking your position, and a hub that collects all the data and sends it to your PC. Additionally, the system will come bundled with two popular game titles: Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption. The system has a few more components than the Oculus offering, but the extra parts make the HTC Vive more immersive, which helps to justify the higher cost.

There are also a couple of small improvements and new features in the new HTC Vive. The headset now has a microphone , and is far more comfortable than before. The two little cameras that track your motion across the room are now wireless, which is a huge, huge step forward—the previous cameras were very bulky and wired.

The Vive will launch in April in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, Taiwan, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand.

Here are the recommended PC specs for using Vive:

• GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970, AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or better

• CPU: Intel® i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better

• RAM: 4 GB or more

• Video Output: HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer

• USB Port: 1x USB 2.0 or better port

• Operating System: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 or later, Windows 10

Qantas will struggle to deliver on high-speed wi-fi promise, says expert

Qantas will struggle to deliver streaming entertainment and video calls over its new inflight wi-fi system as promised, a prominent telecommunications expert says.

The airline announced on Tuesday it would trial free wi-fi connecting passengers to the National Broadband Network, giving them internet as fast as what they are used to on the ground.

But Rod Tucker, laureate emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said Qantas was being "very optimistic" with its high-speed claims.

Professor Tucker, who advised Labor on the establishment of its NBN, said a satellite dish in remote Australia could deliver speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (mbps), which was fast enough to stream movies and make video calls.

Qantas is understood to be aiming for speeds of 12 to 20 mbps per passenger.

On a plane, however, that bandwidth would be shared among passengers, with speeds deteriorating for each additional device connected to the service.

"I think it's a great innovation - it means that people will be able to check their email during their flight," Professor Tucker said.

"But I strongly doubt it's going to provide reliable service to a large number of passenger for streaming video.

"I'll certainly be looking forward to using it, I just hope the person next to me isn't."

Qantas reported a first-half underlying profit before tax of $921 million on Tuesday. Photo: Brent WinstonePhoto by: Photo: Brent Winstone

Professor Tucker said Qantas could achieve faster speeds by using multiple satellites on a single plane, but that would risk draining the network and depriving people in rural areas of bandwidth.

"You'd be using up a lot of the capacity of the Sky Muster satellite and there would be nothing left over for the people in the outback who really deserve it."

Professor Rod Tucker said Qantas was being 'very optimistic' with its high-speed claims. Photo: Stan GrimesPhoto by: Photo: Stan Grimes

Qantas has brought in US internet service provider ViaSat to deliver the service, as it is already doing for US airlines JetBlue, Virgin America and United Airlines.

ViaSat says passengers there can get speeds of up to 20mbps each, with as many as 148 devices being used simultaneously on a flight and "many of those devices using streaming media."

I'll certainly be looking forward to using it, I just hope the person next to me isn't.

Qantas is understood to be aiming for speeds of 12 to 20mbps per passenger, with a trial on a single Boeing 737 this year expected to reveal if that is possible.

Independent telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said Qantas's promised speeds were possible but the airline would have to negotiate for more bandwidth with NBN.

"The way the satellite gets configured is to share capacity around... [Qantas] will have to have a deal with NBN that allows them to have that sort of capacity in the plane where it can be shared with the passengers," Mr Budde said.

Qantas reported a first-half underlying profit before tax of $921 million on Tuesday and announced an on-market share buyback of up to $500 million.

Google Is Laying Picasa in the Grave, Moving Over to Google Photos

Hope you like Google Photos. Starting May 1st, Google is going to start phasing out Picasa from its product lineup entirely. Fortunately, you still have some time.

If you have any photos stored in Picasa Web Albums, you can access most of them via Google Photos already right now. If you want to continue adding to and editing those albums, you’ll have to use Google Photos to do it in the future.

If you don’t like Google Photos, Google is going to release a tool that will allow you to view your Picasa Web Albums data. This won’t allow you to make any changes or add new albums, but all the data will be available for viewing or export.

The desktop Picasa application will no longer be supported, nor available for download (at least from Google) after March 15th. If you already have it on your computer, it will still work like normal, but it won’t receive anymore updates. Google suggests using the Google Photos desktop uploader instead, and managing photos from the web.

http://lifehacker.com/how-the-new-go...

This is a bummer for any die hard Picasa fans left, and Google Photos probably isn’t a perfect replacement. Fortunately, it is pretty damn good. Google has been steadily improving the service from its already impressive beginnings back in 2014. Picasa had a good run, but it’s a good time to move on.

Dick Smith to close its doors for good

Dick Smith is set to close its doors for the last time, ending a near 50-year era in which it helped Australians fill their homes with TVs, radios and computers.

Receiver Ferrier Hodgson said on Thursday it has been unable to find a buyer for the troubled electronics retailer, which hit the rails in January with debts of about $400 million.

The retailer, which blossomed with the CB radio boom of the 1970s and went on to sell computers and stereos to generations of consumers, will close 363 Australian and New Zealand stores within eight weeks.

A total of 2,890 staff will lose their jobs, with their only consolation that they will be placed ahead of secured creditors when it comes to receiving money they are owed.

The Dick Smith customer database is for sale

Receivers Ferrier Hodgson has placed a newspaper advertisement seeking parties interested in purchasing everything from brands and trademarks to domain names - also all the data that Dick Smith has gathered from customers signing up for newsletters and other promotions.

Garth Wylie, executive officer of the Consumer Electronics Association which represents suppliers and importers, said there was a serious issue if Ferrier Hodgson was proposing to sell the database without checking first with customers if they were happy for their information to be sold

The Privacy Commissioner's office was aware of the advert and said it had contacted the receiver, based in Australia, which referred the enquiry to its public relations company.

Privacy Principal 11 of the Privacy Act, "personal information" such as personal details of customers can only be used for the purpose for which it was collected or with authorisation from the person.

The act also required people to be told what that purpose is, when the information is being collected

Sony recalls VAIO laptop batteries

The recall includes battery packs sold with Sony’s VAIO E Series notebooks with product codes SVE15137CGP, SVE15137CGS and SVE15138CGW.

The notebooks were sold nationally by authorised VAIO resellers, including Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, from 1 December 2012 to 1 September 2013

We are implementing a free replacement program for the affected battery packs," Sony said in a statement.

With the battery pack removed, you may continue to use your PC safely with an AC adapter."

Sony also pointed out that the affected battery packs were provided by Panasonic.

This is the fourth laptop battery recall the ACCC has flagged this year. Microsoft commenced a mass recall of power cords in January, which affected all Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 devices sold before 15 July 2015.

Toshiba and Panasonic were also forced to recall laptop batteries last month.

Telstra offers 200GB of free OneDrive

The offer is only available to Telstra consumer customers with a pre-paid, mobile broadband or home broadband plan.

The offer, which starts today, makes it cheaper than buying from Microsoft direct. Microsoft charges $2 per month for 50GB, or $9 per month for 1TB bundled with Office 365.

https://www.telstra.com.au/latest-offers/onedrive

Google admits 'some responsibility' after self-driving car hits bus

Google said the crash took place in Mountain View on 14 February when a self-driving Lexus RX450h sought to get around some sandbags in a wide lane.

Google said in the filing the autonomous vehicle was traveling at less than 2 miles per hour, while the bus was moving at about 15 miles per hour.

The vehicle and the test driver "believed the bus would slow or allow the Google (autonomous vehicle) to continue", it said.

the Google car caused minor damage to the bus, striking the "pivoting joint", or flexible area in the middle of the articulated bus. After the crash, 15 passengers on the bus were transferred to another bus.

An investigation to determine liability is pending, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

The crash comes as Google has been making the case that it should be able to test vehicles without steering wheels and other controls.

In December, Google criticised California for proposing regulations that would require autonomous cars to have a steering wheel, throttle and brake pedals when operating on public roads. A licensed driver would need to be ready to take over if something went wrong.

Watch Steve Ballmer dunk

Los Angeles Clippers basketball team owner Steve Ballmer has dunked during a halftime event.

Ballmer - who will turn 60 later this month ran onto a trampoline to dunk the basketball in front of the Staples Center crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKWJiDXbQLw

7-Eleven app lets users lock in cheapest petrol price

7-Eleven Australia has released a mobile application that allows motorists to ‘lock in’ the lowest price for fuel for up to seven days based on their location and near real-time fuel price data.

The app - designed to compete against fuel discounts offered by Coles and Woolworths - searches prices at outlets closest to the user

Once the app locates the lowest price, the customer can then register for a 7-Eleven digital wallet and select a voucher for the type and volume of fuel they would like to purchase, between 10 and 150 litres.

Motorists can redeem the voucher within seven days at any of the chain’s stores by scanning a barcode in the app in-store.

The discount barcodes can only be redeemed once, even if a customer purchases more or less fuel than the amount chosen in the app, and only one voucher can be used per fuel type per transaction.

Users can check pricing 100 times each week, and can only lock in two prices within a 24 hour period

Kanye West uses The Pirate Bay just like everyone else

Kanye West trying to encourage his fans to sign up to Tidal to download his latest album rather than use torrents it looks like he’s a pirate just like everyone else.

It looks like West was torrenting Serum, a popular WaveTable editor that costs just $189 for a license after Googling “the best VST software.

EBF

Apple Planning to Debut OLED iPhone in 2017

Apple is reportedly aiming to push up the debut of the OLED iPhone to 2017,reportsNikkei (viaAppleInsider). The move would see Apple make the switch to OLED a year earlier than previously estimated.

In December, Apple contacted LG and Samsung about the potential to ramp up OLED production in time for the 2017 iPhone. However, the OLED technology would likely be limited to a higher-end iPhone like the 7 Plus or the rumored iPhone Pro due to possible supply constraints.

Apple, who isreportedly close to a deal with Samsung for flexible OLEDs, has been interested in using curved OLED displays in future iPhones, but Nikkei notes that Apple's accelerated development may leave those plans temporarily stalled. Apple is apparently looking to quickly switch to OLED displays to juice iPhone sales, which analysts expect to stall.

In November, Nikkeireported that Apple expected to switch to OLED displays in 2018. Apple supplier Japan Display is planning formass production of OLED displays for iPhones beginning in early 2018. Samsung and LG, however, areexpected to provide the bulk of the OLED panel production, with Samsung planning to ramp up OLED production to 45,000 panels per month this year. The ever-reliable KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuoreported in November that Apple was unlikely to fully adopt OLED displays until 2019.

http://www.macrumors.com/

iPhone 7 May Feature Flush Camera, Stereo Speakers and Thinner Lightning Port

Monday February 29, 2016 9:45 pm PST byHusain Sumra

Over the past six months there have been reports indicating that the iPhone 7 would include several new features, like a flush rear camera and stereo speakers. Tonight, Mac Otakara hasissued a new report corroborating several of those rumors, including that the iPhone 7 could include a thinner Lightning port, no 3.5mm headphone jack and more.

The site reports that the new phone will not have antenna bands across the rear and will have a flush rear camera, corroborating aMacRumors report in early February. The site notes that it's likely the iPhone 7 will also come with stereo speakers, which wasfirst predicted by Barclays analyst earlier this month.

Last September, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuoissued a report that the iPhone 7 would approach a thinness similar to that of the 6.1mm iPod touch. Mac Otakara's report roughly agrees with that, noting that the iPhone 7 could be 1mm thinner than the 7.1mm iPhone 6s.

Mac Otakara also reiterated its earlier reports that the iPhone 7 would not include a headphone jack, instead using an all-in-one Lightning port. The site claims that the Lightning port enclosure may be thinner than it currently is, but that it will still be fully compatible with current Lightning cables.

A source on Chinese social media site Weiboclaimed that the iPhone 7 would be waterproofed and use new composite materials for its shell last September. However,Mac Otakara says the iPhone 7 will include neither, instead using the same aluminum material and will be as water resistant as the iPhone 6s.

Thus far, reports have indicated that arumored new dual-lens camera system would be included on the iPhone 7 Plus to differentiate it from the regular iPhone 7. Mac Otakaracorroborates that the iPhone 7 will not have a dual-lens camera system, but notes that it doesn't know if the feature will be included in the 7 Plus. Earlier today it was reported that Apple is considering introducing a new high-end iPhone 7 Plus with a dual-lens camera system called theiPhone Pro to better differentiate it from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

Apple is expected to announce both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus at an event in September. Unlike the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which sourced A9 chips from both Samsung and TSMC, Applewill turn to TSMC exclusively for the iPhone 7's A10 chip. Apple is alsoexpected to announce the iPhone SE, a new 4-inch iPhone, this March alongside a new 9.7-inch iPad.

http://www.macrumors.com/

iCar release date rumours, features and images: Apple CEO Tim Cook comments on Apple Car rumours

Reports suggest that Apple is developing an electric iCar to rival Tesla. With reports that Apple is negotiating with BMW, and poaching Samsung employees (especially battery specialists) and reassigning large numbers of staff for its Project Titan, is Apple manufacturing an iCar, and when will the iCar be launched? We look at all the evidence.

Since February 2015, there have been various reports that Apple is working on a car that will "give Tesla a run for its money" after Business Insiderspoke to an Apple employee with knowledge of the subject. This coupled with a sightings of cars registered to Apple, clad with sensors/cameras (which were later debunked) got everyone talking.

The iCar project is codenamed 'Titan', according to The Wall Street Journal,which originally stated that there were "several hundred" Apple employees working on the project. With some reports describing an electric car and others describing a self-driving car, is there any truth to the claim or is it like the Apple TV set everyone was talking about a couple of years ago? Well…

There are eight main sections to this article, and you can navigate to each by clicking on the relevant link below:

Evidence that Apple is working on an iCar

Here is where we list some of the most prominent rumours suggesting Apple is making an iCar.

Also read:Apple rumours and predictions for 2016

'Engine noises' heard late at night at Apple Car campus

If Apple isn't developing a car, this rumour will be pretty hard to explain: AppleInsider hasreported that someone who lives near Apple's mysterious campus in Sunnyvale, Calfornia (believed to be where Apple is developing its car) complained about "motor noises" coming from the facility at night.

"[Do] there have to [be] motor noises at 11:00 p.m. at night like last night? Even with the windows closed I could still hear it," the resident reportedly remarked.

However, the resident may be mistaken - construction sounds sound similar to the revving of an engine, especially at a distance. Last year, Sunnyvale issued permits to Apple allowing the company to build a "windowless repair garage" at one of the buildings Apple operates at, so it's possible that is what was heard - although why the construction would take place at night is a mystery.

It's also worth noting that if Apple is building a prototype car at the facility, the noises could be the sound of the lathes and mills required to shape the metal, a notoriously noisy process.

Ford exec welcomes Apple to automotive industry

The Apple Car is shrouded in mystery, with the only real information we have (if that's what you can call it) is in the form of leaks and rumours, but that hasn't stopped people from forming opinions - in fact, even car company executives are chiming in on the rumours. During aninterview with TrustedReviews at CES 2016, Don Butler, Executive Director of Ford Connected Vehicles said that Ford welcomes the competition from Apple and that he thinks that techie companies including Apple and Google "can do it".

“We welcome others joining. We welcome the activity that’s in the space. We think it’s exciting. It’s actually changed that we are embracing,” said Butler when discussing the automotive industry. “So I think Apple can do it. I think Google can do it.”

While it's far from confirmation that Apple is creating the iCar, it goes to show that if/when Apple does enter the automotive industry, it's presence will be welcomed by the likes of Ford. From the above, it seems as if Ford believes that the likes of Apple and Google can (if they aren't already) change the automotive industry and the way we interact with cars for the better.

Apple buys car-related domain names

As firstreported by MacRumours, it appears that Apple has bought a number of car-related domain names including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto. The purchases took place in December 2015 and were brought to light via Whois, a service that finds information regarding specific domain names and IP addresses. Whois records were updated on January 8 2016 to show that Apple had registered the domains through registrar MarkMonitor Inc, although it’s worth noting that none of the registered domains are currently active.

While this may seem like confirmation that Apple is working on an Apple Car, it may not be the case; Apple could be buying the domains for use with Apple’s in-car system, CarPlay. It could also be to stop potential scammers looking to make money from people in light of the recent Apple Car rumours. Although with this being said, Apple bought iCloud.com months before its announcement and that was alsopicked up by MacRumours.

Elon Musk 'confirms' existence of Apple Car in an interview

As well as Apple buying car-related domain names, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk recently ‘confirmed’ the existence of Apple’s iCar whenspeaking to the BBC, claiming that it’s an “open secret” that the company is building a rival car. Musk went on to say that “companies like Apple will probably make a compelling electric car, it seems like the obvious thing to do” and regarding Apple’s privacy, he remarked “It's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it”.

Although he’s fairly confident that Apple is creating a rival car, Musk isn’t worried. When asked if Apple was a threat by a German newspaper, Musk mockingly replied: “Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?”. The cheek.

New electric car company could be a ‘front’ for Apple

The latestreports on the web claim that a new car manufacturer, Faraday Future, could, in fact, be a front for Apple’s rumoured electric car, allowing the company to develop the vehicle without the prying eyes of the media watching them.

Faraday Future is a relatively new manufacturer, first appearing on the scene earlier this year as a Tesla competitor – both companies are named after famous scientists, Nikola Tesla and Michael Faraday, and interested in electric vehicles. Though Faraday Future’s plans were initially unclear, the company recently announced that it’d be investing a whopping $1 billion in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in either California, Georgia, Louisiana or Nevada.

The company plans to create an electric vehicle, while it also explores “other aspects of the automotive and technology industries, including unique ownership and usage models, in-vehicle content and autonomous driving”. That’s according to Nick Sampson, senior vice president of Faraday Future, who continued to say "Our range of 100% electric and intelligent vehicles will offer seamless connectivity to the outside world." Very Apple-esque, wouldn’t you agree?

So, where is the connection to Apple? First things first, the company claims to have a team of around 400 “automotive and technology experts” along with a number of key employees, including ex-Tesla director of vehicle chassis engineering, Nick Sampson. This matches up with the reports earlier this year claiming that Apple was poaching a number of Tesla staff for its iCar project – but that’s not all.

Apple has reportedly just bought a huge amount of land in California, which is claimed to be around twice the size of its new Spaceship campus. Just to put that into perspective, Apple’s spaceship campus and surrounding land measures in at around 2.8 million feet. Now, where did Faraday Future say they’d be investing in a manufacturing facility? Oh…

The company has also received a massive $1 billion in funding – a move that’s almost unheard of for a new company, and many suspect that it’s Apple footing the bill. Apple has around $200 billion in the bank, so $1 billion would (as ridiculous as it sounds) be only a drop in the water for the company. The rumours gained more traction when the New York Times reached out for more information on its backers, with Faraday Future claiming that they are “keeping their partners confidential”. Intriguing, right? Well, there’s one more piece to this puzzle…

The CEO of the company has not yet been revealed, a move that shrouds this company in mystery. If Faraday Future is a front for Apple’s iCar development, it’d make sense not to announce a CEO; pushing an Apple exec to the position of Faraday Future CEO would immediately give away the company’s plans, possibly years before the launch of its electric car.

Of course, nothing has been confirmed or denied, and it does seem like a lot of effort to disguise its own efforts, but it is possible – and if it was going to be any company, it would, of course, be Apple to do it.

Secret iCar facility

Therehas also been talk of a secret automobile R&D facility where Apple is recruiting experts to potentially build the iCar. It's apparently run by the ex-head of R&D at Mercedes, Johann Jungwirth, and will be staffed with "experienced managers from its iPhone unit", according to The Times. They carry on to say that the seniority of the executives involved would suggest that an iCar could be in the works. They've also reported that Jony Ive and members of his industrial design team, who are responsible for most of Apples products, have been holding regular meetings with automotive execs and have even tried hiring them.

Project Titan team growing

According to a recentreport from the Wall Street Journal, Apple is taking the iCar project more seriously. Why? Apparently, the company has decided to triple the 600-person strong team to an 1800-person strong team to help reach the iCars all-new 2019 announcement target (see below for more information).

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wjkm58kvyenvmqf/AACvZgXO_0HY3StRpmDe3uUPa?dl=0

Stuart - 3/3/16

The Raspberry Pi 3 Adds Built-In Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Gets a 50% Speed Boost

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the Raspberry Pi and today a new model is available. The Raspberry Pi 3 features a new, faster processor, but more importantly, it finally comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the board. It’s still just $35.

The big news here really comes from the built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the Raspberry Pi 3. Previously, you needed to shell out around $10 for a USB Wi-Fi adapter and waste precious USB space on Bluetooth dongles. Now, all that’s built in, which means you not only get to save a little money, you also get access to more USB ports.

The other big news comes from the speed bump, which ups the CPU to a 64-bit 1.2 GHz chip (which should work out to be about 50% faster than the Pi 2) and a slight speed boost in the graphics chip, which is now 400 MHz.

After spending some hands-on time with the Raspberry Pi 3, it’s clear the speed boost is useful, but not totally revolutionary. All told, the Pi 3 feels pretty similar to the Pi 2 when using Raspbian. However, an updated version of Raspbian is also being released today that should improve compatibility. We did try to run some benchmarks, but without the new version of Raspbian to test, they weren’t particularly reliable, so we’ll need to revisit them later.

The good news is that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work pretty much out of the box and if you’re booting into the Raspbian graphic interface, setting up both work just like they would on any modern operating system. Right-click the Wi-Fi Network icon in the top right corner of Raspbian, then enter your network information. As far as setting up Wi-Fi from the command line goes, that’ll work the same as it always has, but you won’t need to track down drivers for that adapter anymore.

The Raspberry Pi 3 retains the form factor of the Raspberry Pi 2, so any cases you may have picked up will work just fine with the newest version.

As with previous iterations of the Pi, you’ll need to wait for operating systems other than Raspbian to update for compatibility. This includes the much loved RetroPie, which turns your Pi into a retro game consoleand Kodi. Historically, both are usually quick to update. As usual, if you want to update your current build of Raspbian in anticipation for the Pi 3, you can do some from the command line. Just type this in at the command line and then tap Enter:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Your Pi will now update to the new version of Raspbian, which means you can just swap that microSD card into the Pi 3 when it arrives.

The Raspberry Pi 3 is available from the usual list of distributors at launch, with more being added afterwards. Hopefully it’s not as difficult to track down as the Pi Zero is.

In Sweden, McDonalds Happy Meal Boxes Turn Into Google Cardboard-like VR Headsets

Watching the rapid evolution of VR technology in recent years has been pretty fascinating. Both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are now available for preorder, but as we've pointed out before, Google has shippedmillions of Google Cardboard viewers. While the Cardboard experience is (obviously) nowhere near as good as what the Rift or Vive can offer, the accessibility is comparatively totally off the charts. Most people already have a smartphone capable of running Cardboard VR games and apps, they're just missing the actual set of plastic lenses and the folded up cardboard to bring the whole experience together. Surprisingly enough, that's where McDonalds comes in.

McDonalds locations in Sweden are kicking off a promotion calledHappy Goggles. As the above video shows, the iconic red cardboard Happy Meal boxes are going to come packed with the lens kit and clever perforations in the box itself to carefully punch out and fold up your own Google Cardboard-like VR headset. The Happy Googles site mentions this is being tested in Sweden, but they hope to roll out the promotion to other countries soon.

It's crazy to think that it could be promotions like this that take virtual reality mainstream. No one is ever going to be able to argue that a greasy folded up McDonalds box is going to rival the experience of the Vive or Rift, but consumers have shown time and time again that price and accessibility are king when it comes to adopting new technology. It's difficult to think that many "mainstream" consumers are going to gravitate towards a $600-$800 headset they need to pay with a $1,500+ PC over using a smartphone they already have and a cardboard setup they got for free through a promotion like this

I guess you could argue that these viewers could be a gateway setup to consumers investing heavily into "real" VR, but it feels like even then the next logical step seems to be a bit more robust mobile device headset like the Galaxy Gear or many other higher quality plastic Google Cardboard-like setups. Either way, it's pretty insane to think back to the basic prized included in Happy Meals when I was a kid to today, where you get a pair of VR goggles instead.

The future is weird.

Now Coca-Cola is Getting in on Cheap Cardboard VR Headsets

One of the reasons why mobile VR is such a big opportunity for VR to spread compared to expensive dedicated headsets is because something like Google Cardboard can be made from, well, cardboard. We've seen McDonald's introduce Happy Meal boxes that become VR headsets, yes. But Coca-Cola, a company that sells a ton of products packaged in cardboard, seems to be pushing the idea that hey, you could easily turn a box of Coke into a VR headset:

https://youtu.be/eamKy74n-vM

The custom solutions that Coca-Cola includes in the video above seem like the most practical ways for people to make VR headsets, and there are some real branding opportunities there. Still, it goes to show just how accessible and potentially widespread mobile VR can be. You could make an entry-level headset from literal scraps of cardboard and the phone you already use. There are going to be countless VR experiences that are focused around basic, entry-level experiences like these – or at least the smart creators are going to not ignore mobile VR.

Windows 10 Updates Are Deleting Some Apps Without Notifying Users

If you’ve applied a major update to Windows 10 recently, you might notice that a couple of your apps have gone missing. It’s not a bug. Windows 10 is removing apps it considers incompatible or outdated.

As tech site the How-To Geek points out, critical Windows 10 updates (like the big November update) sometimes remove apps from users computers. On my own machine, I found that system information tool Speccy was no longer on my computer. Other users are reporting that apps including CCleaner, HWMonitor, and CPU-Z are also missing after an update.

It’s unclear why Windows is doing this right now. While the primary theory is that the upgrade is removing outdated apps and drivers, Microsoft hasn’t officially commented on the reasoning behind it. For now, if you want your apps back, you’ll have to reinstall them manually. Check out the How-To Geek’s post for more details on how to potentially recover your files as well.

Dubai hosts the first World Drone Prix on March 11th

While there are plenty of efforts to make drone racing a serious sport, Dubai is determined to outdo them all. It's about to host the World Drone Prix, which will robotic fliers against each other in high-speed (over 62MPH) competition. Over 100 teams will participate in "American Idol-style" qualifiers between March 7th and 8th; the top 32 from that bunch will make it to the actual races on March 11th and 12th.

This isn't about to usher in a Formula 1-like pro racing league, but this does have a shot at succeeding where other leagues might struggle. Besides the lavish production values (see the supercar-laden promo video below if you need proof), it's handing out a total of $1 million in prizes, including $250,000 for the winner. Although that pales in comparison to what top-tier race car leagues offer, it's a big enough incentive that it could keep teams coming back for future events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PPdSok1AZR8

Malware hijacks big four Australian banks' apps, steals two-factor SMS codes

Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank customers are all at risk from the malware which hides on infected devices waiting until users open legitimate banking apps. The malware then superimposes a fake login screen over the top in order to capture usernames and passwords.

The malware is designed to mimic 20 mobile banking apps from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, as well as login screens for PayPal, eBay, Skype, WhatsApp and several Google services.

other financial institutions including Bendigo Bank, St. George Bank, Bankwest, ME Bank, ASB Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Kiwibank, Wells Fargo, Halkbank, Yapı Kredi Bank, VakıfBank, Garanti Bank, Akbank, Finansbank, Türkiye İş Bankası and Ziraat Bankası.

the malware can also intercept two-factor authentication codes sent to the phone via SMS — forwarding the code to hackers while hiding it from the owner of the phone. With access to this information, thieves can bypass a bank's security measures to log into the victims' online banking account from anywhere in the world and transfer funds.

The infected Flash Player application does not come from Android's official Google Play app store, instead phone users are tricked into installing via infected websites or bogus messages. To become infected Android owners must override the default security option and accept apps from unknown sources. The download comes from a range of bogus domains including flashplayeerupdate.com, adobeflashplaayer.com and adobeplayerdownload.com.

A Google spokesperson warned against allowing your phone to install any applications downloaded from the web.

Square's card reader coming to Apple, Officeworks, Bunnings

According to the company, "Square Reader is the smallest, most mobile and most affordable credit and debit card reader available in the local market that allows you to accept card payments quickly and securely on a smartphone or tablet device."

The device, which plugs directly into the headphone jack of Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, costs $19 and is immediately available from the company's website with free shipping anywhere in Australia. In "the near future" it will also be available at Bunnings, Apple and Officeworks stores.

It allows Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit or debit card payments, charging 1.9 percent per transaction.

Paypal is 2.6% plus $0.30 AUD of the amount you receive. For example, if you are sent $100.00 AUD by credit card, the fee would be $2.90 AUD ($2.60 + $0.30).

First-known Mac ransomware targets Apple users

Palo Alto threat intelligence director Ryan Olson said the "KeRanger" malware, which appeared on Friday, was the first functioning ransomware attacking Apple's Mac computers.

"This is the first one in the wild that is definitely functional, encrypts your files and seeks a ransom," Olson said i

The malware is programmed to encrypt files on an infected personal computer three days after the original infection, according to Olson

n Apple representative said the company had taken steps over the weekend to prevent attacks by revoking a digital certificate from a legitimate Apple developer that enabled the rogue software to install on Macs. The representative said he could not immediately provide other details.

Transmission is one of the most popular Mac applications used to download software, videos, music and other data through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer information sharing network, according to Olson.

www.transmissionbt.com, on Sunday carried a warning saying that version 2.90 of its Mac software had been infected with malware.

It advised users to immediately upgrade to version 2.91 of the software, which was available on its website, or delete the malicious one.

It also provided technical information on how users could check to see if they were affected.

Toshiba's robot is designed to be more human-like

designed to look as human-like as possible - has had the German language added to its repertoire.

upgraded  machine's control system to make its movements smoother.

Prof Noel Sharkey - a roboticist at the University of Sheffield - said he thought the machine still fell "clearly on this side of the uncanny valley".

The term refers to the fact that many people feel increasingly uncomfortable the closer a robot gets to appearing like a human being, so long as the two remain distinguishable.

Headphones use ear canals to carry out ID checks

works by playing a sound and then checking how it resonates in the wearer's ear canal.

This provides a biometric check that serves as an alternative to a fingerprint sensor or eye scanner.

NEC said it intended to make products using the facility available before the end of 2018.

One expert praised the innovation for offering a fresh alternative to passcodes -

the shape and size of each person's ears are unique, the firm said, the resulting data could be used to distinguish an individual.

Skype ditches support for smart TVs

the move reflected the public preference for using mobile devices to make video calls from the living room, despite the size advantage TVs offered.

It will continue to maintain the service until June.

Afterwards, it will be up to individual manufacturers to decide whether to remove the app or continue offering an unsupported service.

Skype for TV was first unveiled at the CES tech show in January 2010 and was marketed as a way to let families "share the limelight [from their sofa] so there's no more huddling around the computer or missing an out-of-shot moment".

It required TVs to be fitted with either a built-in camera or a plug-in peripheral.

Didnt give it long enough - not eveyone has smart tv - typical of MS-remeber first with the tablet. How much to maintain anyway

Driverless lorries to be trialled in UK

The Department for Transport said the UK would "lead the way" in testing driverless "HGV platoons".

The technology enables vehicles to move in a group, using less fuel, it said.

plans could result in platoons of up to 10 computer-controlled lorries being driven metres apart from each other.

It said the chancellor was preparing to fund the trials as part of plans to speed up lorry deliveries and cut congestion.

EBF

Microsoft's Surface Book Ads Borrow Music From Apple to Focus on Things a Mac 'Just Can’t Do'

Following thelaunch of a few ads focused around the advantages of Windows 10 PCs over Macs, this week Microsoft continued its campaign with new commercials showcasing the Microsoft Surface Book. The ads feature wildlife photographerTim Flach describing the pros of the Surface Book, pointing out a few things that he "just can't do" on a Mac.

The first video showcases Flach's "initial impressions of the Surface Book," with the photographer commenting on the detail provided by the two-in-one laptop/tablet device. Flach also detaches the top half of the Surface Book to directly edit and manipulate his photographs. He ends the video stating, "I can't do that on my Mac."

The second ad delves deeper into the powers of the Surface Pen and its 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, with Flach comparing the experience he had with Microsoft's device to his time as a painter. Despite the touch-screen similarities the Surface Book shares with the iPad Pro, Microsoft keeps the comparison specifically to Apple's Mac line in each video.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/09/microsoft-surface-book-ads/

Early iPhone 7 Case Has No Headphone Jack and Stereo Speaker Cutouts

While theiPhone 7 is not expected to launch until September, French leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer hasshared photos one of the first cases prepared for Apple's next-generation flagship smartphone.

The case has a larger cutout for either a traditional camera and LED flash setup, or possibly dual cameras. There are also two openings forstereo speakers in lieu of a 3.5mm headphone jack on current iPhones.

The aftermarket case's form factor closely resembles an iPhone 6s overall, with cutouts for a possibleall-in-one Lightning connector, pill-shaped volume buttons, and side-facing power button in their traditional places.

Early case leaks have historically been fairly accurate indicators of new iPhone designs, though there have been a few notable exceptions. Thefirst cases for Apple's purportediPhone SE also surfaced last week ahead of itsexpected March 21st launch.

Multiple rumors have also claimed the iPhone 7 will feature adual-lens camera system. The hardware could be based on technology Appleacquired from LinX Imaging, which could lead to brighter and clearer DSLR-quality photos and severalother major advantages for the iPhone 7 cameras.

Meanwhile, Barclays analysts believe the iPhone 7 will havedual speakers supplied by Cirrus Logic, an Austin-based provider of analog and digital signal processing components for consumer electronics. Stereo speakers could be louder and route audio signals through two channels to simulate direction perception.

Update: A previous version of this article said the case has a cutout for dual cameras, but the opening may only be large enough for a traditional single camera and LED flash setup. Some rumors claim the dual camera setup may beexclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus, which reportedly may be called theiPhone Pro.

Google tests app that lets you pay with little more than a smile

Google has announced that it's testing a payment program called "Hands Free" that lets users pay for goods without having to reach into their pockets.

The days of swiping or inserting cards, or paying cash, could soon be over if Google gets its way. Photo: Michele Mossop

The idea behind the program is that anyone can walk in to a store, find what they want and head to the register, requiring only their face and a moment's conversation to purchase something.

Hands Free is in a limited pilot program at select stores in the Silicon Valley area. Google said that it uses a variety of sensors in a users' smartphone, including Bluetooth and WiFi, to detect when shoppers are in a particular store. When at the cash register, the users simply have to say, "I'll pay with Google" and give their initials to the cashier. The store employee checks the initials and a picture that users have uploaded to their payment accounts to verify that they are who they claim to be.

According to the company's website, stores never get access to consumers' full credit card information. Users also get a notification when their Hands Free account has been used, as a fraud-prevention measure.

Googlereleased a video illustrating how the process works, showing a woman buying goods with little more than a smile and some magic words. The promotional video from Google has strong echoes of the way Apple first promoted its Apple Pay program, highlighting that the current ways we pay — cash or card — are not as convenient as they could be. Why, the video illustrates, do we still have to fumble around with things in our hands to pay?

But the real push toward mobile payments has come from companies that see the appeal of controlling mobile payments. In addition to payment-focused start-ups and traditional credit card companies, tech firms such as Samsung, Amazon and Apple have turned to mobile payments as an opportunity to raise their profile with customers and become more indispensable in their daily lives.

Hands Free demonstrates that Google has larger plans in this space. The company said it's also planning a program that works solely based on matching your Google Hands Free picture with an image of your face taken at the register.

"Images and data from the Hands Free in-store camera are deleted immediately, can't be accessed by the store, and is not sent to or saved to Google servers," the company said.

The Washington Post

German Court Says Websites Need Consent to Send Visitor Data to Facebook

Ruling is latest setback for company in Germany, where it has faced backlash over privacy laws

By FRIEDRICH GEIGER

March 9, 2016 1:46 p.m. ET

BERLIN—A German court ruled Wednesday that domestic websites may not transfer visitor data toFacebook Inc. via its “like” button without the visitors’ knowledge or consent.

In a case focusing on e-commerce, a Düsseldorf court ruled the “like” button could only be embedded on a website if the site informed users that visiting would send their data to Facebook, or asked them to consent to the data transfer.

In the case, the Consumer Advice Center of North Rhine-Westphalia sued a subsidiary of Peek & Cloppenburg KG, a clothing retailer, alleging its website FashionID.de transferred data to Facebook without consent.

The ruling is the latest setback for Facebook in Germany, where it has faced a backlash from politicians and consumer groups allegingit violates privacy laws.

Facebook recently amended its terms for Germany after a court forbid a clause related to users’ intellectual property. Separately, the Federal Court of Justice said Facebook’s find-a-friend function was a form of intrusive advertising and ruled it illegal.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office is also currently investigating whether Facebookabuses its market position to harvest personal information.

Facebook wasn’t a party to the “like” button lawsuit, but is nevertheless affected because the ruling restricts usage of the ubiquitous plugin.

A Facebook spokesman said “this case is specific to a particular website and the way they have sought consent from their users in the past. We understand the website has since been updated.”

The ruling can be appealed.

The consumer center that brought the case requested six companies amend the “like” button in a privacy-compliant way last year. Four agreed, the center said. It sued the remaining two, Fashion ID and Payback, a subsidiary ofAmerican Express Co.

A Payback spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit. The center said Payback’s hearing was scheduled for May.

The consumer center said there were ways around the problem for German websites that want to embed the “like” button. One is a solution developed by information technology magazine c’t, in which data are transferred only after a visitor has clicked a button indicating consent.

Another c’t solution transmits data about the website’s server to Facebook, rather than sending visitor data.

Write to Friedrich Geiger at friedrich.geiger@wsj.com

Stuart - 10/3/16 - stuarts got the death roll for the week

Destinations on Google Is a One-Stop Travel Planning Tool for Your Mobile Phone

Google wants to make it easier for you to plan a trip with its new Destinations on Google tool. You’ll find flight and hotel prices for flexible dates, itineraries and attractions, and more in one spot just by adding one word to your mobile search.

Add “destination” or “vacation” after the location you want to visit, and Google will quickly show you all your options. You can compare airfare and hotel costs across popular cities in a region, see popular itineraries, and find out when the weather is good and when the destination is most popular for travelers.

In the “Plan a trip” tab, find the highs and lows for hotel and airfare over the next six months—an awesome feature if your travel dates are flexible.

Filters let you customize the recommendations by hotel class, number of travelers, and more.

The new feature is sure to spark your wanderlust.

Lumino City

Lumino City is a wonderful puzzle adventure crafted entirely by hand out of paper, card, miniature lights, and motors.

Through this gorgeous environment weaves a clever, charming and puzzling adventure. Lumi’s grandfather, the caretaker of Lumino City, has been kidnapped. To find him, you must explore the city and figure out the fascinating mechanisms that power this unique world.

Winner of numerous international awards, including the BAFTA for Artistic Achievement alongside nominations for Innovation and Best British Game, Lumino City now finds its home on the App Store as the perfect tactile experience for iPhone and iPad. Lumino City has an estimated 8 - 10 hours of gameplay and no In-App Purchases.

First time on sale for iPhone/iPad - usually $7.99, now $2.99.

Email inventor Ray Tomlinson dies

It's a sad day for the Internet: Ray Tomlinson, widely credited with inventing email as we know it, has died from a suspected heart attack at 74. In 1971, he established the first networked email system on ARPANET (the internet's ancestor), using the familiar user@host format that's still in use today. It wasn't until 1977 that his approach became a standard, and years more before it emerged victorious, but it's safe to say that communication hasn't been the same ever since. When's the last time you sent a physical letter?

In some ways, Tomlinson also changed language itself. His choice of the @ symbol for email popularized a once-niche character, making it synonymous with all things internet. Arguably, he paved the way for modern social networks in the process. Twitter would be a very, very different place without the @ mentions that help you chat with other users, and numerous other services use it as an easy way to share status updates.

Tony Dyson, Creator of R2-D2, Has Passed Away

Tony Dyson, the creator of one of the most iconic and well loved robots in modern pop culture has passed away. Dyson was found in his home in Malta, and likely died of natural causes. He is most widely known as the person who constructed the R2-D2 used on the sets of Star Wars in 1977. Originally designed by concept artist Ralph Mcquerrie, R2-D2, a shining example of practical movie props, went on to be a major feature in every single Star Wars movie since then.

Fresco News teams with Fox stations for crowd-sourced coverage

Back in January, Fresco News launched an Apple TV app to deliver a curated feed of crowd-sourced breaking news coverage. Now, the citizen journalism app is working with local Fox affiliates to make user-submitted photos and videos part of regular new coverage. Television stations in 11 cities will be able to send out location-based alerts through the Fresco iOS app in hopes of getting first-person coverage.

Captured footage and stills will then be vetted and curated by the folks at Fresco before being passed along to the local newsrooms. And yes, if your video or photos are used, you'll be compensated for them. The going rate is $50 for video and $20 for a photo that's used on-air during a broadcast. Fresco actually began testing the system with a Fox station in Philadelphia last month. With the newly announced expansion, news teams in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, Tampa, Charlotte and Orlando will also take advantage of the on-the-ground coverage.

Shayne - 10/3/16

Microsoft to court: Make Comcast give us the Windows-pirating subscriber's info

• Microsoft is going after Comcast in order to unmask the person behind an infringing IP address which activated thousands of Microsoft product keys stolen from Microsoft’s supply chain.

• Microsoft wants the court to issue a subpoena which will force Comcast or any ISP reseller to hand over the pirating subscriber’s info.

• From 2012 to 2015, Microsoft maintains that an IP assigned to Comcast pinged its servers in Washington over 2,000 times during the software activation process.

• As TorrentFreak pointed out, the Microsoft complaint (pdf) filed in a federal court in Washington state's:

  • Cyberforensics allows Microsoft to analyze billions of activations of Microsoft software and identify activation patterns and characteristics that make it more likely than not that the IP address associated with the activations is an address through which pirated software is being activated.

• It would be a significant gaffe on behalf of the alleged pirates if the IP address data pointed to their real identities.

Embrace mining technology innovation, urges Ryan Stokes

• The world-class breakthroughs in mining technology achieved in Western Australia and their potential broader applications around the world should not be forgotten in the wake of the mining boom, Ryan Stokes says.

• Mr Stokes pointed to the progress made by the likes of Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group in installing automated trucks and drill rigs across some of their Pilbara iron ore operations as an example of the cutting-edge technology used in the mining industry, comparing the huge automated trucks to the self-driving vehicles being developed by the likes of Google.

• Mr Stokes, whose Seven Group owns the WesTrac mining equipment business, said the growing use of autonomous mining fleets was just one example of how Australian miners were using innovation to improve their cost positions.

Snowden: FBI's claim it can't unlock the San Bernardino iPhone is 'bullshit'

• The FBI says that only Apple can deactivate certain passcode protections on theiPhone, which will allow law enforcement to guess the passcode by using brute-force.

• Talking via video link from Moscow at a conference, Snowden said: “The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone. Respectfully, that’s bullshit.”

• Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in a discussion on Reddit: “I think there needs to be a discussion about when the government should be able to gather information. What if we had never had wiretapping? Also the government needs to talk openly about safeguards.”

• Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak also spoke out against the FBI on the Conan O’Brien show on Monday, saying: “I side with Apple on this one. [The FBI] picked the lamest case you ever could.”

• I had heard on TWiT that it is not so much about the content on the phone anymore but about setting a precedent.

Google ordered to hand over names of fake reviewers in Dutch court case

• Fake reviews have been an occasional and frustrating by-product on sites like Google, Yelp and Amazon for years.

• A nursery in Amsterdam has won a case against Google in a civil court in the city this month, in which Google was not only forced to take down several negative fake reviews that appeared on Google sites, but also disclose the details, such as IP addresses, of the people who posted the reviews in the first place.

• The lawyer for the nursery, Paul Tjiam of Simmons & Simmons, believes this is the first time that the search giant has ever been forced by a court to reveal contact and registration details of fake reviewers.

• Google so far has no comment on the case. “We’ve received the ruling and are reviewing it but nothing else to share at this time,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email.

• While the case appears to be a landmark ruling — it’s the first time that Google has been required to provide contact details and IP addresses for Google reviewers — it also highlights the challenges for a search platform like Google when navigating questions of freedom of speech and more recent developments that touch on user privacy.

Xbox Finally Opens the Door for Multiplayer Across Consoles

Chris Charla, director of the independent games program for Xbox One and Windows 10, announced today that they’re enabling developers to support online play across different “platforms”—a videogame industry euphemism for other gaming consoles.

Charla went on to say that Rocket League, the utterly brilliant car soccer game by Psyonix, would be one of the first to take advantage of the new functionality, “enabling cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players, with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well.”

The big question, at this moment, is whether or not Sony would consider playing ball.

Android fingerprint scanners can be fooled by an inkjet printer

Researchers tested the fingerprint scanners on two leading Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy S6and Huawei Honor 7, and found that both devices could be unlocked using a fingerprint printed from a regular inkjet printer.

The researchers were able to unlock the phones after scanning the fingerprints of several fingers and printing them using a special conductive ink and onto paper which is used normally used to print electronic circuits.

In a video, the researchers demonstrate just how easily they were able to take prints off the phones themselves and then unlock each device.

The Huawei Honor 7 and Samsung Galaxy S6 use similar fingerprint scanners as many other Android devices, including those found on the LG G5 and across Google’s Nexus range, so it is possible the same technique could be used to unlock a whole host of Android smartphones

researchers highlight in the their video, previously successful attempts at fooling the fingerprint scanners on the iPhone 5s required the use of a 2.5D print made out of liquid latex or wood glue.

Apple reportedly goes Google cloud, cuts reliance on AWS

Multiple Sources - so apparently Alphabet's Google has quietly scored a major coup in its campaign to become an enterprise cloud computing powerhouse, landing Apple as a customer for the Google Cloud Platform

JB Hi-Fi builds NBN army

JB Hi-Fi is training sales leaders from across its 7,000-strong workforce to resell Telstra NBN services, CRN can reveal.

Sales and management staff will go through a 12-week program prior to NBN being deployed in their area. Training is conducted during normal business operations and includes approximately eight to 10 hours of content delivery.

A JB Hi-Fi spokesperson said the goal was to provide staff with the specific tools to be able to qualify and service customer’s requirements when signing up to the NBN with Telstra.

Anonymous declares 'total war' on Donald Trump

Hacktivist group Anonymous has doubled down on its threats to interfere with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, declaring “total war” against the candidate in a YouTube video.

In the online video, Anonymous establishes 1 April as a target date to launch a cyberattack against TrumpChicago.com, the official site of Trump's Chicago-based condominiums, and attempts to recruit the hacker community at large to take down other Trump online assets and dig up dirt on the controversial businessman.

“You say what your current audience wants to hear but in reality you don't stand for anything except for your personal greed and power,” the voice in the video continued.

A link in the YouTube video sent users to a Ghostbin page listing the following Trump websites, as well as support sites: DonaldJTrump.com, Trump.com, TrumpHotelCollection.com, TrumpTowerNY.com, TrumpVegasCondos.com, DonaldTrump2016online.com and CitizensforTrump.com.

The webpage also lists Trump's alleged social security number, birth date, cell phone number and other personal information.

I am offering, freely and without constraint, my services to his campaign in helping design a cybersecurity platform that will, in the event of his election, help protect America when the cyberwar that lurks on our horizon becomes a reality…….John Mcafee

Dick Smith vendor awaits Kogan's next move

Dick Smith’s remaining stock was not part of the sale of assets to Kogan revealed Tuesday morning, CRN has learned.

Kogan was revealed as the winning bidder for selected intellectual property from Dick Smith, with the deal including Dick Smith’s brand and trademarks, online business, customer and loyalty databases, websites and domain names. However, the effect on suppliers when Kogan revives Dick Smith’s online retail store on 1 June is as yet unknown.

Kogan said that “suppliers who previously refused to supply Kogan to avoid a backlash from traditional retailers, such as Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, may be more willing to supply DickSmith.com.au”.

Kogan founder Ruslan Kogan said he would continue to run Dick Smith's online store as a separate entity to his own business.

“Dick Smith is an iconic Australian brand and we’re thrilled to be able to keep it alive, as well as Aussie owned and run. We will invest in building and nurturing the Dick Smith community, and honour the great legacy of this Australian business.

Victoria trials satellite scans to detect water leaks from space

State Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water, Lisa Neville, says up to 160 million litres of drinking water is lost to leaks in Victoria every day. This equates to 12 percent of the total annual water revenue for Victoria.

Victoria's 17 water corporations and VicWater partnered with an Israeli company called Utilis to undertake a pilot in December that would verify whether they could in fact detect leaks through scans from space.

A 3000 square kilometre area of north Melbourne was scanned from the Alos-2 satellite, operated by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), orbiting some 650 kilometres above ground.

Microwave reflectometry, using electromagnetic signals with a wavelength that can penetrate the ground, is deployed by the Utilis system to detect a spectral signature that matches drinking water.

The Utilis system can pick up leaks as small as 85 to 246 millilitres per minute. It found 18 leaks in just four days in different Melbourne suburbs during the pilot.

Foxtel, Village Roadshow want IP address, URL piracy site blocking

Representatives for Foxtel, Village Roadshow, Telstra, Optus, TPG and M2 appeared in court this week as part of the first test of new legislation allowing rights holders to apply for an order to have a piracy-facilitating website blocked for Australian users.

The two content owners launched the first court action seeking to make use of the website-blocking legislation - passed into law last year - in February.

Foxtel and Village Roadshow are separately seeking to restrict local access to The Pirate Bay, SolarMovie, Torrentz, Torrentound and IsoHunt websites, which they claim exist solely to facilitate copyright infringement.

The ISPs have put forward their case for blocking at the domain name system (DNS) level, while Foxtel and Village Roadshow are pushing for blocking of IP addresses and URLs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbWyYr82BM

Apple appoints Cookie Monster as its spokesman

Optus to launch 24-hour EPL channel...but only for its own customers

Australia is getting its first ever 24-hour soccer channel. But you'll need to be an Optus customer

It will deliver the games including an EPL app, website and subscription TV channel for Fetch TV. As part of the announcement, the telco also confirmed it has partnered with SBS to air the 2018 FIFA World Cup on its platforms as part of a "sub-licence" from the free-to-air broadcaster.

Optus says it will announce pricing mid-year. The telco is advising that fans interested in accessing EPL can"register their interest" online to get "news, offers [and] pricing

Watch a cancer operation at any angle via Google Cardboard

St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London next month will live-stream an operation on a cancer patient in 360-degree video so that it can be viewed by anyone in the world with a virtual-reality headset, including bargain-priced ones like Google Cardboard.

The live stream is set to be a world's first,

STUART - 17.3.16

Munzee

Munzee is the next generation in global scavenger hunt games.

Track down QR Codes hidden in the real world and capture them for points. Whether you are a casual player, an avid explorer, or a hardcore competition enthusiast, Munzee helps you rediscover the world around you.

Munzee is a freemiumscavenger hunt game where places have to be found in the real world. The game is similar to Geocaching but uses QR code technology, in addition to device GPS location, to prove the find instead of a logbook. Launched in Texas in 2011, the game caught on first in Germany, along with California and Michigan. It is now played in more than 188 countries around the world, and there is at least one physical Munzee deployed on every continent, including Antarctica.

With over 4 million deployed worldwide, there is bound to be a munzee hiding nearby!

www.munzee.com

The IKEA effect: Building your own robot makes you love it more

Next time you assemble a set of shelves, see how you feel afterwards. Accomplished? Proud of yourself? That's called the IKEA effect, and it's well-known to the furniture industry.

Now, however, researchers at Penn State University have found that the same principle applies to robots. People who took part in a study on robot assembly tended to feel more positive about the machines if they helped to make them.

In the research, 80 undergraduate students were split into groups. Some were asked to make several hardware and software modifications to a robot, including adding a battery and setting up the software. The others watched as a researcher set it up. Afterwards, they interacted with it for a few minutes and watched it perform a dance.

Shyam Sundar, who presented the findings at the Human-Robot interaction conference in New Zealand, said: "We guessed that if you find [the IKEA] effect in objects like furniture, you would find that effect in interactive media and especially robots."

'Damnit, there's a piece missing'

But they also found something that IKEA-assemblers will be familiar with - participants who had difficulty assembling or programming their robots were less likely to rate the bot highly.

Sundar says that robot makers should take this phenomenon into account when they're packing up their bots.

"The manufacturer should give the customer a sense of ownership and a sense of accomplishment, but without making the process feel too painful because if the perceived process costs are too great, robot evaluation is going to suffer."

Uber's New Family Profiles Lets Up to 10 Riders Share One Account

Today, Uber launched their version of a family ride sharing plan, which allows you to share your account and payment options with nine other people. The best part is those nine people can be family, friends, or coworkers.

That’s right. Even though the new feature is called Family Profiles, you get to decide who is family. Once the feature is live in your area and you have the latest version of the Uber app, head to Menu and choose Settings. Find “Add a Family Profile” and pick the contacts you’d like to add to your account. It could be a loved one who can’t drive on their own, your kid at college who needs a way to always get home safe, or even some coworkers or employees who are traveling. They’ll receive an invitation from you, and once they accept it, they’ll be able to request rides from their phone with your account and payment methods. Whoever created the Family Profile will always receive receipts when their account is used. On their blog, Uber notes that Family Profiles will go live today in Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix, but will be rolling out elsewhere soon.

The best drone racer in the world just won $250,000

What did you do with your weekend? 15-year-old Luke Bannister just won $250,000 by beating out 150 teams in the first World Drone Prix, held in Dubai. Drone racing is now a very real thing, with racers using camera-mounted navigation to steer their craft around a track -- and through or around obstacles. Even if you didn't place first, the Drone Prix offered a prize pool totaling $1 million.

The teen beat home favorites Dubai Dronetek into second place, but for those looking to make their fortune, plenty other races and chances to strike it rich are cropping up. We'll see y'all in Hawaii this October forDrone Worlds' championship race -- and that $200,000 prize. I just need to figure out how to fix this whole motion sickness thing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIrIvKGSFVU

US Army turns to phone app to prevent base attacks

Neighborhood watch apps aren't just for civilian streets. The US Army has forged a deal with CloseWatch to use a mobile crime reporting app,iWatch Army, to prevent mass shootings and other crimes at over 20 domestic bases. The software forwards tips (based on the FBI's own crime codes) to the appropriate unit in less than 8 seconds, or faster than a 911 call. It also has its own notifications, so you can get an alert if there's a credible threat. While iWatch Army isn't meant to replace emergency services, it could be crucial to catching terrorists before they're ready to strike.

Shayne - 17/3/16

The gloves are off: FBI argues it can force Apple to turn over iPhone source code

• Dept of Justice filed its response to Apple’s appeal by claiming it could compel Apple to hand over the source code for IOS itself so the government could make the modifications.

• The DoJ is accusing Apple of using the security of the phone as a marketing ploy.  The second sentence of the filing reads: “This burden, which is not unreasonable, is the direct result of Apple’s deliberate marketing decision to engineer its products so that the government cannot search them, even with a warrant.”

• FBI also accused Apple of being a literal threat to American democracy, writing: “Apple’s rhetoric is not only false, but also corrosive of the very institutions that are best able to safeguard our liberty and our rights: the courts, the Fourth Amendment, longstanding precedent and venerable laws, and the democratically elected branches of government.”

• The main argument is over how much of a burden it is for Apple to either break the security of IOS or provide the source code for IOS.

• FBI also stated that it had not gone after the source code thus far because this would also require Apple to hand over its Private Electronic Signature, indicating that it was doing Apple a favour, but it would go down that road if required.

• The story then went on to discuss how other companies chose to fold rather than comply with the government's demands (PRISM) to allow them through any security in their products - Lavabit a secure email provider.

Dick Smith Extended Warranties Will Be Honoured

• The company that provided extended warranties for Dick Smith from 2008 up until the retailer’s closure in February has confirmed it will continue to honour valid claims across Australia and New Zealand.  The Warranty Group has stated this includes claims sold before and after the chain went into receivership.

• Online retailer Kogan had purchased Dick Smith’s online business.

• Geeks Interrupted stated that customers will be contacted & given the chance to be removed from the customer database before it is given to any potential buyer.

How To Find A Hidden Battery Report Feature On Your Windows 10 Laptop

• Windows 10 (like its predecessor, Windows 8.1) comes with a hidden battery report feature that you can only access from the command line.

• The report provides detailed readouts on the usage, status, and health of your laptop’s battery.

• To generate the report, launch a command prompt window with administrative privileges by right-clicking on the Start button and choosing Command Prompt (Admin). Type out:powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html"

• your finished report can be found in the root directory of the C: drive (or wherever you specified).

• You get information on the full specifications of the installed battery, as well as recent usage and battery capacity charts. Battery life estimates is an interesting section to check to see if you’re getting the time between charges specified by the manufacturer.

Windows 7 users complain of unprovoked Windows 10 auto-upgrades

• As Microsoft auto-upgrades more PCs to Windows 10, some users are complaining that they weren’t adequately notified.

• Reports of unwanted Windows 10 upgrades have been circulating for the past few days after last “Patch Tuesday”

• These users say they never approved or initiated the upgrade, and were dragged away from their Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 8) installs anyway.

• Last October, the company announced that it would reclassify Windows 10 as a “Recommended” update from older versions starting in early 2016, at which point many more users would get the upgrade without explicit permission.

• Early 2016 turned out to be Feb 1.

• Recommended update looks like, this.

• First, users will receive a notification saying their PCs are scheduled to receive Windows 10 in the next three or four days.

• Users can click a small link to cancel or postpone the update, but simply closing the window will cause the notification to appear again one hour before the scheduled update time.

• If users don’t cancel or postpone within that timeframe, the update will begin automatically.

• The only way to back out of the Windows 10 update is to “Decline” the End User License Agreement that appears during the installation. This will cause the system to roll back to the previous Windows version.

• For users who haven’t upgraded yet, head to Windows Update in the Control Panel, and uncheck the box under Recommended updates, which reads “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates.”

EBF

Google Gets Apple to Jump Aboard Its Cloud Business (Though It May Not Last)

By Mark Bergen

@mhbergen

March 16, 2016, 6:13 PM PDT

In its bid to raise its name in cloud computing services, Google nabbed a big-name customer: Apple. The iPhone-maker recently started storing portions of its iCloud and services data with Google’s cloud platform, according to sources familiar with the deal.

It’s a win for Google, which is gunning for larger companies as cloud customers. But it might be short-lived, as it looks like Apple is also simultaneously building out its own system to bring data stored on its millions of devices in house.

Currently, much of Apple’s iCloud luggage sits with Amazon Web Services (AWS) the leading cloud provider by a long mile, and also with Microsoft’s Azure too.CRN, the publication which first reported the news, claims that Apple is trimming its reliance on AWS by turning to Google. At minimum Apple would seem to be adding Google to the mix.

Apple and Google both declined to comment.

Amazon, which often doesn’t disclose the identity of its customers issued a statement, implying that Apple hadn’t defected. “It’s kind of a puzzler to us because vendors who understand doing business with enterprises respect NDAs [non-disclosure agreements] with their customers and don’t imply competitive defection where it doesn’t exist.”

For the record Apple disclosed its reliance on AWS and on Azure in a2014 whitepaper.

CRN pegged Apple’s spending with Google between $400 and $600 million. One source simply said it was a “significant” amount. If the CRN report is accurate and the revenue figure refers to an annual rate, that would be significant for Google! The search giant doesn’t disclose its cloud numbers, but some analysts have pegged its total revenue last year at around $500 million.

For Apple, though, the deal might portend a move to cut costs ahead of creating its own cloud storage system. Google’s cloud team is in deal-making mode, aggressively seeking to bring in new customers to use its cloud services, and may have sweetened the deal — or been more willing than AWS and Azure to concede to Apple’s demands. (And Apple, if anything, is good at aggressive demand-making.)

Then there’s Apple’s next step. Morgan Stanley, in a note last month, laid out the tea leaves: Apple has announced three data centers opening soon, and spent an estimated $1 billion last year on AWS. It’s a logical move for Apple if it wants more independence from its tech rivals. And it’s one Apple should make to store the growing media libraries from its mobile, TV and TBD products.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Apple already has a team working on this; it’s known internally as “McQueen,” as in Steve. It’s unclear if that project will materialize or when. But a source tells Re/code that the codename refers to Apple’s intent sometime in the next few years to break its reliance on all three outside cloud providers in favor of its own soup-to-nuts infrastructure.

Apple has reckoned, one source says, that given the fees it is paying Amazon and Microsoft, it could break even with its own data centers within about three years, and not have the headache of negotiating with companies it considers rivals in other areas of its business.

In the interim, the deal is a boost for Google, whichhas very quickly accelerated its enterprise business after hiring industry bigwigDiane Greene to run it in November. To date, the company’s cloud has largely targeted startups and small businesses, but is making a concerted sales push for larger clients. Last month, Google announced it hadsigned on Spotify.

http://recode.net/2016/03/16/google-gets-apple-to-jump-aboard-its-cloud-business-though-it-may-not-last/

Apple Leak Reveals First 'iPhone 7 Pro' Images

TheiPhone SE launches next week givingAppleAAPL +1.36% fans the upgraded 4-inch smartphone they’ve long craved. But a beast will follow it…  

The beast in question is the ‘iPhone 7 Pro’, a new 5.5-inch flagship device that will sit above both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus when the three phones are released in September. It’s calling card? Arevolutionary dual lens camera. And now MacRumorsclaims to have attained the first photo of it.

As you might expect for a device not due to be released 6 months, I suspect we’re looking at a prototype here but it ties in with thegrowing consensus that the iPhone 7 models will carry over much of the iPhone 6/6S design.

iPhone 7 Pro leaked photo (left) and matching Feld & Volk render (right). Image credits: MacRumors and Feld & Volk

Interestingly the discovery has also prompted aftermarket iPhone modification companyFeld & Volk to release its own iPhone 7 Pro renders. This paints a far more compelling picture and the last time F&V did this was for the iPhone 6 in 2014 where itnailed every single detail.

Also standing behind the discovery was prolific (andhighly accurate) smartphone leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer aka OnLeaks. Speaking to me, Hemmerstoffer was initially doubtful aftertrashinga less credible leak earlier in the day but went on toadmit this “could be the real deal”.

My own thoughts? I’m personally a lot less interested in the design than the logic behind Apple possibly splitting its premium iPhone range into three models (four, depending on the pricing of the iPhone SE) and fragmenting their feature sets, which would result in:

• iPhone 5S – Touch ID but no Apple Pay, 3D Touch or optical image stabilisation in the camera

• iPhone SE – Touch ID, Apple Pay but no 3D Touch or OIS camera

• iPhone 7 – Touch ID, Apple Pay, 3D Touch, possible OIS camera (not in iPhone 6S)

• iPhone 7 Plus – Touch ID, Apple Pay, 3D Touch, OIS but no dual lens camera

• iPhone 7 Pro – Touch ID, Apple Pay, 3D Touch, OIS dual lens camera

Yes, that’s a mess and is likely to create a lot of confusion. Sceptics would argue this isn’t very Apple, but then again look at the iPad range which currently consists of five – yes five – models: the iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 4 (the iPad Mini 3 is discontinued), iPad Air, iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro. It’s also a mess.

The iPhone 7 Pro may be even thinner than the iPhone 6S, but how thick its dual lens camera is remains to be seen. Image credit: Feld & Volk

As such seeing Apple expand both its iPhone and iPad ranges to five models apiece would confirm a new strategy of trying to hit every possible price point (by using models of different ages) at the expense of its famous simplicity.

Instead I’d rather see Apple to adopt a simple ‘Small, Medium, Large’ approach of identically specified (or as near as possible) product lines. For example: iPad Mini, iPad, iPad Pro and iPhone Mini, iPhone, iPhone Pro. It would also largely tie in with Apple’s computers: MacBook Mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, Mac and Mac Pro.

Then again Apple tends to be at its best when it surprises us and – based on the consistent leaks starting to appear – it seems the company may have a very big surprise for us in September…

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/03/15/apple-iphone-7-pro-photos/#5fd02b994548

The if anyone cares section

Apple Watch 2 release date, design and feature rumours: Apple launch event announced for 21 March - invites go out | How to watch 21 March event

The Apple Watch has been on sale for almost a year, which means the rumour mill has started churning out rumours regarding the upcoming Apple Watch 2. We discuss the latest Apple Watch 2 rumours including its UK release date and possible features, and explain why we think the Apple Watch 2 needs an ARM Cortex A32 processor. Plus: How to watch Apple's now-confirmed launch event on 21 March. Will there be any news for Apple Watch fans?

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/apple-watch-2-features-design-straps-rumours-release-date-how-to-watch-3606039/

‘Worried’: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak isn’t a fan of the Apple Watch

APPLE co-founder Steve Wozniak has hit out at the company, saying it sold its soul.

In aReddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Wozniak, who is responsible for inventing the first ever Apple computer, claimed he “worried” the company has fallen victim to commercial opportunities by taking the tech business “into a jewellery market”.

In a pointed statement, he claimed thelaunch of the Apple watch in September 2014 strayed from the original goals of the company and focused on false appearances “where you’re going to buy a watch between $500 or $1100 based on how important you think you are as a person”.

“I had some other smart watches, and I got turned off … Basically about all you can do on it is talk and tap a little.”

While he claimed he still “loved” his watch, he was clearly concerned by the product and its overbearing costs.

“The only difference is the band in all those watches. Twenty watches from $500 to $1100. The band’s the only difference? Well, this isn’t the company that Apple was originally, or the company that really changed the world a lot.”

But, he said, “You’ve got to follow the paths of where the markets are.”

Apple has remained tight-lipped about the popularity of its watch, refusing to disclose just how many units have been sold.

But according toVenture Beat, the company had raked in at least $1.68 billion in revenue for the product.

Wozniak, known to his fans as “The Woz”, hinted his frustration with the product might have developed due to the company’s changing landscape.

“The founding of Apple is often greatly misunderstood,” he wrote.

“I like clearing the air about those times. I like to talk about my ideas for entrepreneurs with humble starts, like we had. I fought being changed by Apple’s success. I never sought wealth or power, and in fact evaded it.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

“Wearables are becoming very attractive because of the less hassle to use them. I like picking up my watch, and asking it to send a quick text to my wife, or using it for other things without having to pull the phone out of my pocket,” he said.

“The Apple Watch does some amazing things with Apple Pay, boarding passes for aeroplanes, and all the Siri commands that work. I do wish the speaker were louder.

“Of course, every once in a while I’ll put my hand on a table in a restaurant, and pull my hand back, and it pulls back the fork with me, that attaches to the magnet of the watch.”

First world problems, eh?

Elsewhere, Wozniak approved of the “new Apple” but said he “dearly missed” his Apple co-founder and former high school friend Steve Jobs, who passed away in 2011 after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Wozniak praised current Apple CEO Tim Cook for “continuing a strong tradition that Steve Jobs was known for of making good products that help people do things they want to do in their life”.

Wozniak, known for his somewhat odd and quirky personality and who once dated comedienne Kathy Griffin, said he was “more into products than socialising” and in an ironic twist, confirmed: “I do not carry around my phone answering every text message instantly. I am not one of those people.”

Other highlights included his thoughts on Siri (“the app that changed my life”), his interest in self-driving cars (“I’m so happy not using my hands or feet”) and his favourite up and coming gadgets (“the Oculus Rift, or any of the VR headsets”).

In January, Apple reported the largest quarterly profit of any public company in history, beating its own record for the first fiscal quarter of 2016 by $400 million to a total of $18.4 billion.

The company sold 74.8 million iPhones during the quarter.

View the full Reddit AMA with Steve Wozniakhere.

Stuart's Band - The Triennial Performance !

The Deloreans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLEaYdTuwSk

GLENN

Israeli firm aids FBI to crack encrypted iPhone: report

Cellebrite, an Israel-based provider of mobile forensic software, is helping the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's attempt to unlock an iPhone

Cellebrite, a subsidiary of Japan's Sun Corp, has its revenue split between two businesses: a forensics system used by law enforcement, military and intelligence that retrieves data hidden inside mobile devices and technology for mobile retailers.

Telstra suffers another outage

Complaints began to spike at around 11am Sydney time on Tuesday from customers unable to use Telstra’s mobile network.

second outage in just five days for Telstra.

Vodafone offers free month to lure unhappy Telstra users

Vodafone has announced that it is offering one month of free access fees for any new customer that defects from a rival network.

The promotion came on the same day that Telstra suffered its second network outage in five days, and its third in two months.

"If you’re having trouble with your network, we invite you to come on over to Vodafone,” said Vodafone director of sales Ben McIntosh.

The one month free offer is available to customers that transfer their existing mobile number to a Vodafone post-paid voice or mobile broadband plan before 5pm Tuesday 29 March.

Apple unveils cheaper iPhone SE with top-range specs

The new device, called the iPhone SE, has a 4-inch screen and starts at A$679 for the 16GB model.

The new phone, with Apple's vaunted A9 chip, is much faster than Apple's previous attempt at an entry-level phone, launched in 2013. It also runs Apple Pay and comes in the wildly popular rose gold color.

Also

new wristbands for the Apple Watch and a new iPad Pro tablet at Monday's event

Apple also announced a new scheme it called 'Liam' to take apart old iPhones and reuse the materials.

Apple reveals 9.7-inch iPad Pro

instead of iPad Air 3

Apple has revealed a smaller model of the iPad Pro, measuring in at 9.7 inches and featuring Apple Pencil support, four speakers and an A9X chipset.

The new iPad Pro comes with the iPad Pro's Oxide TFT display. It's apparently 25 percent brighter than an iPad Air 2, works with Night Shift and something called True Tone display – which measures “colour temperature” and adapts the colour of the screen to suit.

It will also feature Siri, and support both a smart keyboard (A$229) designed to suit the 9.7-inch retina display, and the Apple Pencil (A$165).

The new iPad Pro's 12MP iSight camera features True Tone flash and 4K video recording.

The wi-fi-only model starts at A$899 (US$599) for the 32GB model,

$1,149 for 128GB and

$1,399 for 256GB.

With wi-fi and cellular, the new iPad Pro costs A$1,099 for the 32GB model,

$1,349 for 128GB and $1,599 for 256GB.

Leaves the ipad Air 2 - 16GUS$399 (A$599)

                                   64Gig US$499 (US$729)

Shayne 24/3/16

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pledges $100 million toward cutting-edge biotech research

• Investor, entrepreneur, billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has announced a $100 million investment in the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a fund focusing on the future of biotech research.
• Allen, who is worth about $15.3 billion, announced the investment at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
• The purpose of this investment is to “explore the landscape of bioscience and fund ideas at the frontier of knowledge to advance science and make the world better,” according to a statement.
• Even though the Frontiers Group is based in Seattle, Allen assured the audience the new foundation will partner to create projects at various U.S. and global institutions — starting with the Allen Discovery Centers and Allen Distinguished Investigators.

BMW announces Android app integration

• BMW was among the first auto manufacturers to introduce integration with iPhones in 2011.
• five years later, the company has at last announced at the New York International Auto Show that BMW Apps will integrate with Android devices.
• The first three apps to work with the iDrive system in the 2016 BMW 7 Series are all about the music: iHeartRadio, Pandora and Spotify. - Strange that they are all music streaming services???
• Users need to download the BMW Connected app to stream music from their phones through iDrive via Bluetooth.

Australian Lawyers And Scholars Are Encouraging Civil Disobedience In This Year's Census

• The 2016 Australian Census will not be anonymous, and a lot of people aren’t happy about that. A group of Australian privacy advocates, including a professor of computer science and a former NSW deputy privacy commissioner, are raising concerns, and some are encouraging Australians to avoid the Census, refuse to fill it out, or to use civil disobedience — like listing their religion as “Jedi Knight” — to skew the accuracy of results.
• In December 2015, in a move that mostly went unnoticed, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that it would keep the name and address of every person in Australia, with the collection of that data effectively starting with this year’s Census.
• This data will be individually identifiable, too.
• Former NSW deputy privacy commissioner Anna Johnston, director of consultancy Salinger Privacy, has called the proposal “the most significant and intrusive collection of identifiable data about you, me, and every other Australian, that has ever been attempted.”
• This year’s Census data will be linked to previous Censuses, too. - How is this possible if this is the first time the date is identifiable???
• A list of “what concerned people are doing” has been published  — and what concerned citizens can do on Census night to avoid their personally identifiable data being captured and catalogued by government. This civil disobedience may attract fines.

FBI says it might not need Apple’s help unlocking that iPhone after all, asks to postpone hearing (UPDATE: Postponed!)

• Just one day before the government was set to meet Apple in court to determine whether Apple could be forced to unlock an encrypted iPhone used by terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, the government is saying “Never mind (for now)!”  Why?  Because they might’ve found their own way in.
• Apple executives spoke with reporters today, explaining that Apple knows nothing about whatever method the government might have found to break into the device.
• A judge has granted the government’s request to postpone the hearing.
• Speculation is that the NSA is stepping in because they sensed that the FBI was getting cold feet & could lose the case.
• I wonder if it could be one of the following:
  • The FBI found an existing backdoor.
  • The FBI found an existing vulnerability.
  • John McAfee came through on his promise to get in.
  • Perhaps, as Glenn has been suggesting, Apple & the FBI have got together behind closed doors & sorted it out & all this public chest beating was a smokescreen for this secret meeting.

Stuart - 24/3/16

Sophos UTM Home Edition

Overview

Our Free Home Use Firewall is a fully equipped software version of the Sophos UTM firewall, available at no cost for home users – no strings attached. It features full Network, Web, Mail and Web Application Security with VPN functionality and protects up to 50 IP addresses.

The Sophos UTM Free Home Use firewall contains its own operating system and will overwrite all data on the computer during the installation process. Therefore, a separate, dedicated computer is needed, which will change into a fully functional security appliance. Just right for the spare PC you have sitting in the corner!

Features

• Increase your Internet Bandwidth - You can make easy use of multiple Internet connections at the same time, giving your home more bandwidth.
• Protect your Kids Web Surfing Habits - Use Web Filtering to stop sites from infecting you with viruses and spyware, keep your kids from surfing to bad sites, and get full reporting on the activity in your home.
• Solve your Spam Mail Problems - Use Mail Filtering to clean up your inbox and reduce the amount of spam you have to sift through using any POP3 or SMTP setup.
• Access your Home Network from Anywhere - Dial in using Road warrior VPN access to securely use Remote Desktop, transfer files, and even print, from anywhere in the world, even from your iPhone.
• Connect to Work or Friends - Create a permanent tunnel to other Unified devices, linking you with a friends network, or having the perfect encrypted link to your office Astaro to work from home!
• Stop Viruses in Web and Email - Dual Scanning Engines stop viruses in file downloads, email attachments, and embedded in web sites. Sophos catches them at the gateway, before they can get in to assault your computers.
• And a lot more...

MythResults Summarizes the Tests from Every Episode of MythBusters

We love busting myths here at Lifehacker, and because of that, we love the show MythBusters. If you do too, the web site MythResults summarizes all 271 episodes of the show so you can quickly see what’s fact and what’s fiction.

You probably know Adam Savage from MythBusters, the popular, nearly 10-year running show that tests …Read more

MythResults summarizes each and every one of the over 1,000 myths the show put to the test. Everything is organized by myth type in the table of contents (movie myths, household & everyday, food & drink, etc.), and each result is explained with a single sentence so you can see the truth immediately. If you want to learn more, however, just click the link and you’ll go to the episode’s main page. There you can read a full-on summary, including an explanation of the test and the science behind the results. Check it out at the link below and try not to get distracted for hours.

Historical Feats

The Apollo moon landings were not faked; there are not discrepancies in the photos, a flag can flap in a vacuum, a footprint can be made on the moon, the video footage is not slowed down, and the astronauts did leave behind equipment that we can detect.

http://mythresults.com/

Apple may have reached its peak

Vivek Wadhwa (Washington Post)

Apple's last major innovation – the iPhone – was released in June 2007 and most gadgets since have been tweaks on old products.

Facebook is set to release its virtual reality headset, Oculus, next week. It will be big and clunky, expensive, and cause nausea and other problems for its users. Within a few months, we will declare our disappointment with virtual reality itself while Facebook listens very carefully to its users and develops improvements in its technology. Version 3 of this, most likely in 2018 or 2019, will be amazing. It will change the way we interact with each other on social media and take us into new worlds – like the holodecks we saw in the TV series Star Trek.

Jobs' tactics worked very well for him and he created the most valuable company in the world. But without Jobs – and given the dramatic technology changes that are happening, Apple may have peaked. It is headed the way of IBM in the '90s and Microsoft in the late 2000s. Consider that its last major innovation – the iPhone – was released in June 2007.

Since then, it has been tweaking its componentry, adding faster processors and more advanced sensors, and releasing this in bigger and smaller form factors – as with the iPad and Apple Watch. Even the announcements that Apple made on Monday were uninspiring: smaller iPhones and iPads. All it seems to be doing is playing catch-up with Samsung, which offers tablets and phones of many sizes and has better features. It has been also been copying products such as Google Maps and not doing this very well.

By now, Apple should have released some of the products that we heard rumours about: TV sets, virtual reality headsets, and cars. It could also have added the functionality of products such as Leap Motion and Kinect, with the iPhone functioning as a Minority Reportmotion detector and projector. It should be doing what Facebook is in getting new products out and letting the market judge them. And it should be doing moonshots like Google's – with self-driving cars; internet-delivery through balloon, drone, and microsatellite; and Google Glass. Yes, it might have failed with version one as Google did with Glass, but that is simply a learning experience. Google's version 3 Glass is also likely to be a killer product.

Instead of innovating, Apple has been launching frivolous lawsuits against competitors such as Samsung. My colleague at Stanford Law School, Mark Lemley, estimated that Apple had spent more than $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) in attorney and expert fees in its battle against Samsung. And this netted it an award of $158,400, which ironically, went to Samsung. It could have spent this money on acquisitions of companies which would give it a real edge.

Will Apple release some products later this year that blow us away? I am sceptical and doubtful. I expect we will only see more hype and repackaging of tired old technologies.

Report: Nintendo to cease Wii U production in 2016

2016 may mark the beginning of the end for the Wii U, according to Japanese business journal Nikkei.

Nikkei's report says that Nintendo will cease manufacturing of the console in 2016, just four years after the console launched – though sales could still continue.

It goes on to say that manufacturing of certain Wii U accessories has already been halted.

Nintendo's touch-screened console failed to capture imaginations and consumers the way its predecessor did in the previous console generation, selling just 12.6 million units to the Wii's 100 million-plus (and the PlayStation 4's 36 million).

The report also states, however, that Nintendo will unveil its new "NX" console in 2016; the platform holder's stock also jumped up in value today after the launch of its first mobile app, Miitomo.

Windows 10 cracks 270 million users

active users eight months after launch

One reason for the rapid take-up is that Windows 10, released in July, is free for individual consumers who download it during its first year.

An anniversary upgrade to be released this summer will also be free for users already running Windows

Ransomware uses Dropbox to overwrite hard drives

Trend Micro researchers spotted a new ransomware variant dubbed Petya that is delivered to victims who believe they are linking to a resume stored on a cloud storage site like Dropbox.

The ransomware overwrites the affected system's hard drive master boot record (MBR) in order to lock out users

The process of overwriting the MBR of the system and putting the ransom note in the startup process of the machine makes this variant of ransomware unique.

It makes the system unusable and will display their ransom note during bootup,

researchers are also seeing new and improved graphics with the ransom notes in their attack, possibly to improve the look and feel of the popups.

The scam starts with the attackers using phishing emails disguised to look and read like an applicant seeking a job,

In the case studied by Trend Micro, the email provides a link to a Dropbox storage location. The email is supposed to link to the applicant's resume, but instead the link is connected to a self-extracting executable file that unleashes a trojan into the system.

Researchers said the trojan blinds any antivirus programs defending the computer before downloading and executing the ransomware.Trend Micro said the cybercriminals asked for 0.99 Bitcoins to unlock the computer.

Once executed, Petya overwrites the entire hard drive MBR to prevent the victim's device from loading Windows normally or even restarting in Safe Mode. If the victim tries to reboot their computer they will be greeted by an ASCII skull and given an ultimatum to pay the ransom or have the files deleted.

Trend Micro has informed Dropbox about the malicious files hosted on their service.

All Dick Smith stores to shut by 30 April

An unnamed Dick Smith employee told Fairfax last week that staff couldn’t find new jobs until management specified when stores would close. This is because employees will void their redundancy entitlements if they resign before a notice of redundancy. He added that Dick Smith is required to give employees four weeks’ notice if they were made redundant.

Online electronics reseller Kogan bought selected intellectual property from Dick Smith on 15 March, with the intent to continue the Dick Smith brand as a separate online store. However, Kogan said at the time it didn't intend to reopen brick-and-mortar Dick Smith stores.

Optus rolls out Uber wi-fi

Optus to rollout in-car wi-fi for drivers in Sydney and Melbourne.

Uber will initially deploy 100 wi-fi points in low-cost UberX cars, with the potential to expand if successful.

The wi-fi devices allow 10 concurrent users per car using Optus’s 4G network. Cars will also be fitted with mobile charging units as part of the trial.

Uber drivers will be offered discounted Optus plans, including a $40 BYO plan that comes with unlimited calls and texts, 300 minutes of international calls and 10 GB of data

Drivers will also be offered two months free on any 24-month Optus plan.

Apple can now demand iPhone hack from FBI

The FBI might now be pressed into providing Apple with the details of how its third-party hacker – now reportedly Cellebrite – will break into the device so Apple can modify its security vulnerability, according to Bloomberg.

Owing to a recent ruling by the Obama administration, known as an equities review, the FBI might have to disclose the security flaw it seeks to exploit in the Apple phone, unless it can prove to administration officials that doing so would be a risk to national security.

The rule sets a time frame for government entities to notify companies of security flaws, after deciding whether to keep them secret or not.

Malvertising strikes Gumtree

miscreants penetrated the network of an Australian legal firm and put up a phony version of its site that appeared legitimate, but actually contained a fraudulent subdomain off its main server.

Gumtree, a subsidiary of eBay, receives 48 million monthly visits and is popular in the UK, Australia and South Africa.

The criminals cut and pasted the firm's logo and some text from the legitimate site and fashioned what appeared to be a typical ad banner. They then contacted ad networks to inquire about advertising.

Anyone clicking on the bogus, malvertising-laden ad would be vulnerable to receiving the Angler exploit kit, which typically injects different payloads, including ransomware or banking trojans.

Cloud POS vendor Square adds 490 Australian resellers

Cloud-based credit card reading device vendor Square Reader has announced its release to 490 retail outlets in Australia through major chains Officeworks, Apple and Bunnings.

The product is available for $19 via the retailers or the company's website with free shipping across the country. Square can be used with the free POS Square app, which is compatible with Intuit's QuickBooks Online and Xero's accounting system.

Square accepts debit and credit payments from Visa, MasterCard and American Express with a 1.9 percent charge per transaction.

Reward for dobbing in pirates quadruples to $20,000

People that dob in the use of unlicensed software by Australian business will get up to $20,000 reward from BSA The Software Alliance - four times the previous $5,000 reward.

The reward applies for leads on the illegal copying or use of software that belongs to BSA members, which includes Adobe, Apple, CA, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Symantec.

IDC research revealed that the higher the unlicensed PC software rate in a country, the more malware was generally registered.

Reward payments will be made 30 days after the BSA members obtain a judgement or out-of-court settlement. Potential recipients must provide assistance and evidence to support the information provided.

Last year Western Australia was the state with the highest number of software piracy settlements by businesses. BSA said the majority of offenders were in the manufacturing industry.

Sydney school bans laptops: labels them 'scandalous waste of money'

The Sydney Grammar School has banned students from bringing laptops to his school,

“We find that having laptops or iPads in the classroom inhibit conversation — it’s distracting,”

Sydney Grammar students still have access to computers in the schools labs and can use laptops for homework, but are required to handwrite assignments until year 10.

The prestigious Sydney school charges a $32,644 annual tuition fee and regularly leads in national literacy and numeracy tests.

Bitdefender's free tool protects against TeslaCrypt, Locky, CTB-Locker ransomware

Anti-virus software vendor Bitdefender released a free tool that can be used to protect systems infected by several growing ransomware strains.

The “combination crypto-ransomware vaccine” protects infections from the rising ransomware family Locky, and two older ransomware strains CTB-Locker and TeslaCrypt that recently resurfaced, the company said.

Many ransomware creators also build checks into their programs to ensure that infected computers where files have already been encrypted are not infected again. Otherwise, some files could end up with nested encryption by the same ransomware program.

The new Bitdefender tool takes advantage of these ransomware checks by making it appear as if computers are already infected with current variants of Locky, TeslaCrypt or CTB-Locker. This prevents those programs from infecting them again.

The downside is that the tool can only fool certain ransomware families and is not guaranteed to work indefinitely. Therefore, it’s best for users to take all the common precautions to prevent infections in the first place and to view the tool only as a last layer of defense that might save them in case everything else fails.

Users should always keep the software on their computer up to date, especially the OS, browser and browser plug-ins like Flash Player, Adobe Reader, Java and Silverlight. They should never enable the execution of macros in documents, unless they’ve verified their source and know that the documents in question are supposed to contain such code.

https://labs.bitdefender.com/2016/03/combination-crypto-ransomware-vaccine-released/

FBI agrees to unlock another iPhone in homicide case

Police in Arkansas wish to unlock an iPhone and iPod belonging to two teenagers accused of killing a couple

A judge agreed to postpone the Arkansas case on 28 March to allow prosecutors to ask the FBI for help.

Hackers charge big bucks for stolen Aussie creds

Credentials for Australian accounts held with ANZ Bank with balances of A$23,827, were on sale for US$2250, US$3800 and US$4750 respectively.

The cost of MasterCard and Visa cards with magnetic strip data went up to US$25 compared to US$19-US$20 last year, with premium cards costing US$35 each.

Globally, hourly rates for denial of service attacks to disrupt networks have gone up, costing US$5 to US$10 per hour, or double that of last year, Secureworks said.

Longer attacks have halved in price, however, with day-long network flooding going for US$30-US$55, and weekly runs for US$200 to US$555.

Telstra customers hammer network on free data day

Telstra customers used up 2686 TB of data on Sunday during the telco's free data day mea culpa for its recent outages, outstripping previous records by 46 percent.

In the February free data day, Telstra customers downloaded 1841 TB of data.

Stuart - 7/4/16

Kodak launches new Super 8 camera

It was the low-tech, easy-to-use film format beloved of budding auteurs and cinema-obsessed visual artists, but Super 8 died a death in 1982, when Kodak stopped making the camera units after the rise of video. Now, however, Kodak has announced it will issue a new version of the Super 8 camera, half a century after it was first launched in 1965.

Super 8 – so called because of the redesigned camera and film stock, which allowed a larger image to be derived from film that was a similar size to the standard 8mm gauge – helped revolutionise home movies in the 1960s and 70s by operating with an easily-loaded film cartridge, and adding capability to record sound on the same film strip.

‘Nothing beats film’ … Kodak’s Super 8 LCD camera

Despite the current predominance of digital formats in photography, Kodak is aiming to capitalise on what it calls the “analogue renaissance”, with a product launch at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. High-profile Swiss designer Yves Béhar has taken a lead role in the creation of the new camera.

Major directors have lined up to endorse Kodak’s new Super 8, many of whom used the format as teenagers in their first film-making attempts. Interstellar director Christopher Nolan said: “The news that Kodak is enabling the next generation of film-makers with access to an upgraded and enhanced version of the same analogue technology that first made me fall in love with cinematic storytelling is unbelievably exciting.” Star Wars: The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams – whose third feature, made in 2011, was called Super 8 – said: “While any technology that allows for visual storytelling must be embraced, nothing beats film … The fact that Kodak is building a brand new Super 8 camera is a dream come true.”

And also in black … Kodak Super 8

However, the new Super 8 is not entirely devoted to celluloid: anyone sending their footage to Kodak for processing will also receive a digital copy of their film. The camera, which is expected to be available later this year, is likely to be sold for $400-$750 (£270-£510).

US Army hopes to outfit soldiers with tiny drones by 2018

American soldiers should soon get drone support beyond just big, expensive machines flying well above the battlefield. The US Army has requested industry information on the feasibility of making tiny drones (Soldier Borne Sensors in official lingo) that would help infantry gather intelligence on a small scale, such as peeping over a hill or around a building. Its dream recon machine would weigh no more than a third of a pound, launch within one minute and fly for at least 15 minutes. Ideally, the drones would be in service as soon as 2018.

These kinds of drones aren't completely new (both British and Norwegian soldiers are already using them). However, they're usually hand-built and expensive -- not very practical for one of the world's largest militaries. This initiative could lead to mass-produced miniature recon drones that help squads when conventional air support just isn't an option.

NASA's use of HoloLens puts you on Mars with Buzz Aldrin

I got a ticket to Mars.

At the end of an exhibit hall at San Francisco's Moscone Center, a Microsoft representative punched my orange ticket. I was ready to strap on the company's augmented reality headset for a holographic stroll on the neighboring planet. I was one of eight HoloLens-wearing visitors in a group at NASA'sDestination: Mars installation at Build. Although the demo was open to a limited audience last week, it will open its doors to all visitors at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this summer.

Inside a pitch-black room, stars twinkled in every direction I looked through my headset. Within seconds, I heard a male voice behind me. I turned to look in the direction of a life-size and lifelike hologram of Buzz Aldrin, the legendary Apollo 11 astronaut. Standing on the rusty red surface, he welcomed the group to the planet and proceeded to give us a tour. Many arms in the room stretched out to touch him but only cut through the light projection of his NASA jacket.

Halfway through the experience, Erisa Hines, a Curiosity rover driver at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, showed up on the planet. Her holographic avatar, dressed in dark denim and high boots, introduced the six-wheeled vehicle that has been gathering data on Mars since 2012. As she talked about discovering specific formations based on the rover's findings, a small white arrow simultaneously popped up on the screen to make me look at a large rock before pointing me to a drilling site.

"We didn't concoct this environment for people to look at," Dr. Jeff Norris, lead mission operations at JPL, told me later. "It's not a theme park ride. This is what Mars really looks like. People are looking at it the same way as many of our scientists are looking at it."

Destination: Mars is an offspring of OnSight, a mission-control software that helps JPL scientists navigate the surface of the planet with HoloLens. Through the collaboration between NASA and Microsoft, which kicked off early last year, the team has been able to project an accurate 3D replica of Mars. "When scientists put the HoloLens on, Mars fills out the room around them," said Lorraine Bardeen, GM Windows and HoloLens experiences. "So they can get up, walk around and say, 'Oh, actually we were going to go that way but there's a dip that would've gotten the rover's wheels caught in. Let's go around that way.' They wouldn't see that from the 2D images."

Prior to OnSight, scientists have worked with two-dimensional information, images stitched together for scientific planning and estimation. "They have spent years being trained for this. They're optimized to understanding those images but it's still challenging," said Bardeen. "With augmented reality, they're able to avoid challenges they wouldn't have realized were coming."

Because AR is a medium that modifies a user's reality, it's easy to compare its applications to VR. While the use cases may sound similar, they're not interchangeable. "We use HoloLens for OnSight because we wanted the scientists, who we're building the tools for, to be able to use other tools in conjunction with it," Norris pointed out. "So when they're on the surface of Mars, they can look up and see where things are but also do things on their computer at the same time."

Having successfully employed the device internally and even sending a couple of headsets to the International Space Station, bringing the holographic experience to tourists and space enthusiasts in Florida seems like a natural step forward. "This is the best way for us as scientists and engineers to look at the planet but this is also the best way to involve the public in what's happening in the journey," said Norris. "Space exploration feels so abstract to people when they're just looking at the picture or a video. But this allows us to speak to the part of their brain that will make them realize that this is a real place. We greatly respect the innate ability and desire to explore. We want to unburden and unlock that."

While both VR and AR have the power to solve specific problems and unlock immersive experiences, in some use cases like a public installation, one medium is more effective than the other. Where VR creates a full, deep immersion, AR can build shared experiences. The ability to have a personal moment as you view the spectacle of space through your headset is only made greater when you hear other people in your group "ooh" and "aah" at the same sights. "It's very important to us that it's not a solo experience," said Norris. "We want the group to be self directive, crisscrossing in the room and pointing together. We needed to have an untethered device like HoloLens to be able to do that."

NASA's use of the device is transforming the way scientists are studying an alien surface. It validates the visual capabilities of Microsoft's technology. Imagine being able to experience the solar system with a legendary astronaut in addition to reading about it, seeing your future holographic home in your architect's office or collaborating on a design project in real time over Skype.

But outside of Microsoft's initial partnerships with NASA and Case Western Reserve University (where HoloLens is being tested in a medical setting), the landscape of applications is wide but mostly barren at the moment. The infancy of the medium is its biggest challenge right now. "For Destination: Mars we were figuring out how to render a full-scale person and the Mars terrain together, within the performance constraints of the device," said Norris. "But also how do we tell a story about Mars where people can look anywhere they want but also attract their attention to things that are exciting. We had to find a balance between leaving them alone and drawing them in."

The inclusion of Aldrin and Hines in this narrative keeps the viewer engaged in the experience. "I'm hoping that the way we connect participants with Mars, we will also connect them with the explorers," said Norris. "Mars is a real place and real people are exploring it. Maybe this will help people think, 'I can be a part of that exploration.' I think if we achieve that then Destination: Mars was successful."

Back in the dark-room installation, Aldrin stepped back into view to conclude the holographic journey on Mars. He talked about the future of space exploration as he drew the group's attention to a human-built camp. All HoloLens-wearing heads in the room followed his lead to find two astronaut figures in the far distance, overlooking the vast expanse of the tawny planet. Within moments, a space shuttle blasted into space with a rumbling sound. I turned my head up, way up, to follow its fire trail cut across the dark sky. As I watched it fade into space, I suppressed the lump in my throat before slowly making my way out.

EBF

Apple Admits To Serious iOS 9.3.1 Problem

OS 9 hashad a bumpy ride. Despite being claims this generation of iOS would focus on optimisation as opposed to major features, each major iOS 9 release – 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3 – has suffered fromsignificant problems. But even if the bugs haven’t improved since iOS 8, AppleAAPL +1.05%’s attitude towards them certainly has…

Apple iOS 9.3.1 – Image credit: Gordon Kelly

Last week Apple launched iOS 9.3.1 – primarily to address serious problems introduced in iOS 9.3 – and this fix in turn was discovered to cause amajority security hole. Yet, unlike the silence that greeted many problems in iOS 8 (7 months toadmit to ‘WiFried’ anyone?), Apple has again fronted up immediately and admitted to the flaw.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/04/06/apple-ios-9-3-1-security-problem/#5bc9ffa253ec

Will Apple's FBI Tussle Take a Bite Out of the Brand?

he revelation that the FBI was able to break into a secured iPhone without Apple's help won't take a bite out of Apple's brand reputation, but consumers will be looking for security improvements soon.

The Apple brand has already withstood worse. In 2014, hackers posted nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities after guessing their passwords and breaking into their Apple iCloud accounts. Beyond security, Apple has faced complaints that the iPhone 6 Plus bent too easily and that the iPhone 4 lost signal strength when users held it a certain way.

In each case, Apple's reputation recovered -- and the company went on to sell 232 million iPhones last year. And on Thursday, crowds formed at some stores as the new iPhone SE went on sale, though the company hasn't released figures.

YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks brand perceptions, said that the Apple brand has been trending modestly positively since early March and that the FBI dropping the case had no effect on that.

And investors haven't shown much concern: Apple's stock has increased 4 percent since the FBI said late Monday that it didn't need help to break into the phone. Investors have typically been more worried about whether Apple can maintain its growth as smartphone sales slow down.

Apple resisted the FBI's demands that it rewrite the iPhone's software to override safeguards against repeatedly guessing passcodes. But the FBI now says it didn't need Apple's help after all in breaking into an iPhone used by a San Bernardino killer. It was an older model, but has recent iPhone software.

Apple is already expected to tighten security even more with its next iPhone software, likely to be announced in June and available in September. But can Apple assure its phones are unbreakable when the FBI won't reveal what technique it used?

"They have a window to address the problem, but ... there has to be news soon, with Apple saying 'Here's how the new iPhone is now Fort Knox," said Allen Adamson, founder of Brand Simple Consulting.

Apple won't comment on specific plans, but says it's constantly working to improve the security of its devices, because it knows hackers are always looking for new vulnerabilities. Apple also says it can deliver software updates quickly because it sends them directly to users. With Android, any updates have to wait for phone makers and wireless carriers to approve them.

And even if the FBI doesn't disclose the technique it used, it may become outmoded as Apple continues updating its security protections.

Christopher Lehmann, managing director of branding firm Landor in San Francisco, said iPhone buyers will understand that Apple's in a business that's "always about improvement, evolving and being agile about how you approach technology."

In addition, Apple likely got some kudos from consumers for standing its ground against the government.

And Apple benefits from a quick resolution. Scott Galloway, clinical professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, said Apple risked public sentiment turning against the company as people became more informed about the case, and particularly if Apple lost.

For now, he said, "the line isn't going to be any shorter for the iPhone because the FBI in concert with a third party figured out a way to hack into one phone. I haven't heard anybody say 'That's it, I'm switching to Samsung.'"               

http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story_id=013000R409B1

Tesla steals the show with the Model 3

The new Tesla Model 3 has arrived and so has the hype.

The high-end electriccar company last week revealed its more affordable Model 3, which starts at $35,000. Customers lined up to snag one, and Tesla said preorders for the Model 3 -- which won't even be delivered to customers until late next year -- hit 276,000 over the weekend. We discuss whether excitement about Tesla's new vehicle has already overreached or if the Model 3 signals a big shake up in the car world.

While Tesla may be enjoying the attention, Apple is uncharacteristically not getting much notice for its newest product. The iPhone SEreportedly posted weak sales during its first weekend, revealing a lack of interest in the 4-inch phone.

We also discussApple's 40th birthday and, naturally, whether its rumored car project will come to fruition.

The 3:59 gives you bite-size news and analysis about the top stories of the day, brought to you by CNET Executive Editor Roger Cheng and Senior Writer Ben Fox Rubin.

Gareth Thomas 1945-2016

Thomas played Roj Blake, leader of a band of rebels, pitted against a corrupt federation in the series created by Doctor Who writer Terry Nation. The series ran on BBC One from 1978-1981, with Thomas taking the lead role for the first two series. When Thomas decided not to renew his contract for series 3, the character of Blake was killed off. The ghost of Blake was present throughout the remaining series and Thomas returned twice, once at the end of series 3 and once for the climatic final episode, Blake.

Border Force swoops on counterfeit resellers

NSW Fair Trading said it had seized more than 10,000 items at one location, including “unapproved and potentially dangerous” USB phone chargers.

Some of these chargers were counterfeits of Apple, LG, Samsung, Huawei and Motorola, while others were not branded but styled on a branded product.

Fair Trading said that other items were labeled with false approval numbers. (why not counterfeit those alos ?!)

Commissioner Rod Stowe said some of the chargers in the shipment intercepted by the Australian Border Force had inferior components and circuitry.

LinkedIn opens data centre to serve Australia

LinkedIn has opened an Asia-Pacific data centre to handle the growing volume of traffic from this part of the world.

The new Singapore facility is the social network’s sixth data centre, but the first outside the USA.

LinkedIn has 414 million members, including seven million in Australia, which is part of the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. Between 2013 and 2015, Asia-Pacific membership more than doubled to 85 million, while regional revenue more than tripled, according to the company. (But they were scraping facebook and putting up emprty profiles?)

11% of machines still using Windows XP

Exactly two years ago, Microsoft's Windows XP operating system reached its end of life with no further updates, yet as of March 2016 nearly 11 percent of machines operating globally

Online scams 'target Apple customers for richer pickings'

The text message scammers sent out alerts to victims' smartphones, claiming their Apple ID accounts were going to expire. The message encouraged people to visit a fake website where they were asked to enter their account information.

Avoid clicking on links in emails because they might take you somewhere phishy. Instead go to the website directly and log in that way."

a second scam disguised as an update to Adobe Flash, which encouraged victims to install a new version of the software.  

Blogger Graham Cluley The best advice for many users may be to ensure that you have configured Adobe Flash Player to automatically update itself.

Apple's Mac OS X operating system does have a safeguard, enabled by default, that prevents people installing software written by unknown developers. However, it appears the attackers were able to circumvent this.

Petya ransomware encryption system cracked

An unidentified programmer has produced a tool that exploits shortfalls in the way the malware encrypts a file that allows Windows to start up.

In notes put on code-sharing site Github, he said he had produced the key generator to help his father-in-law unlock his Petya-encrypted computer.

The malware, which started circulating in large numbers in March, demands a ransom of 0.9 bitcoins

It hid itself in documents attached to emails purporting to come from people looking for work.

Apple: iPhones, Apple Watches should last three years

It suggests the same lifetime for Apple Watches, and a year extra for MacBooks and iMacs, at four years.

"To model customer use, we measure the power consumed by a product while it is running in a simulated scenario,” the company explains. “Daily usage patterns are specific to each product and are a mixture of actual and modelled customer use data. Years of use, which are based on first owners, are assumed to be four years for OS X and tvOS devices and three years for iOS and watchOS devices.”

Apple beefs up MacBook and MacBook Air

Apple MacBook processors have been upgraded to the latest Skylake generation of Intel's Core M processors as well as bumping up the RAM speeds to 1,866MHz and given the PCIe flash storage a speed boost.

The MacBook is also now available in a rose gold finish

the 13-inch MacBook Air also gets a little upgrade – 8GB RAM is now supplied as standard.

Apple has revealed Australian pricing.

The MacBook with 1.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.2 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage has a recommended retail price of $1,999 including GST.

The 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Core m5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.7 GHz, 8GB of memory and 512GB of flash storage costs $2,449 including GST.

All done: Dick Smith closes 195 remaining stores

Ferrier Hodgson, appointed in January as receivers, has been closing the network of physical stores progressively since 25 February

the remaining 195 shops would close between 27 April and 3 May.

The Dick Smith name will live on as an online shop, after Kogan acquired selected assets in March.

IBM posts worst revenue in 14 years

worst revenue in 14 years sent its shares down nearly 5 percent in extended trading.

The company's revenue fell 4.6 percent to US$18.68 billion in the first quarter ended 31 March, but beat analysts' average estimate of US$18.29 billion.

IBM also posted its 16th straight quarter of revenue decline.

IBM has been moving towards areas such as cloud-based services, security software and data analytics, while trimming its traditional hardware business by exiting low-margin businesses.

However, revenue in the company's newer businesses is failing to make up for declines in its traditional segments.

Xbox 360 games console discontinued by Microsoft

Microsoft has said it is to stop manufacturing the XBox 360 games console, 10 years after it launched.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer said gamers had completed more than 78 billion hours of play on the devices.

Mr Spencer said all remaining Xbox 360 consoles would still be sold, and the platform would continue to be supported for existing users.

Apple 'abandons' QuickTime on Windows

Apple has stopped producing updates for its QuickTime media player software on Windows, according to security experts.

The Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) website said two vulnerabilities found in the Windows version of QuickTime had been reported to Apple.

Apple has not officially announced the end of QuickTime on Windows.

It was first released in 1991 and a version was later made available to download for Windows computers.

Trend Micro said "The only way to protect your Windows systems from potential attacks against these or other vulnerabilities in Apple QuickTime now is to uninstall it," it said.

However, it is understood QuickTime on a Mac will continue to receive updates.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205771

EBF

Apple Reportedly Running Secret Car Lab in German Capital

Monday April 18, 2016 4:16 am PDT byTim Hardwick

Monday April 18, 2016 4:16 am PDT byTim Hardwick

Apple is operating a secret vehicle research and development lab in the heart of Berlin, claims a report published in a German news outlet this morning.

According toFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (also known as F.A.Z.), Apple's clandestine facility employs between 15 and 20 "top class" men and women from the German automotive industry, with backgrounds in engineering, software, hardware, and sales.

The workers at the car lab are described as "progressive thinkers" in their respective fields who agreed to work with Apple after their ideas for innovation were stifled by the more conservative outlooks of their previous employers.

The article goes on to repeat previous speculation surrounding Apple's rumored vehicle research, noting that the company's first car will be electric, but also ventures to claim that it will lack self-driving capabilities because the required technology is still in development.

Additionally, the report alleges that Apple is investigating a vehicle-sharing model similar to BMW's Drive-Now and European car rental service Sixt, owing to the company's lack of a nationwide distribution network. Similar toprevious rumors, Austrian contract manufacturer of high-end cars Magna Steyr is also cited as a partner for vehicle creation once the R&D stage is complete.

Apple Car rumors have gained momentum since early 2015, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple hashundreds of employees working to develop an electric vehicle under the codename "Project Titan." The bulk of research and development is thought to be taking place in an Apple-leased Sunnyvale campus in California, where loud "motor noises" were heard, sparking speculation that the building is a secret car testing facility for Apple's automotive project.

Tim Cookteased about the possibility of an Apple Car in February by saying "it's going to be Christmas Eve for a while," suggesting the much-rumored project will not be publicly revealed for some time.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/18/apple-secret-car-lab-in-german-capital/

Apple Car Talks With Daimler and BMW Fell Apart Over Leadership Issues, iCloud

Wednesday April 20, 2016 12:01 pm PDT byJuli Clover

Apple has been unable to establish a deal with Daimler and BMW over a possible manufacturing deal for theApple Car, reports German news siteHandelsblatt. Apple is said to be seeking a partner that could potentially help it produce the Apple Car, as Apple has no experience with vehicle production.

Talks with Daimler and BMW reportedly ended because there were questions over who would lead the project and which company would have ownership over data. Apple is said to be holding out for deepiCloud integration.

A Magna Steyr conceptual vehicle from 2012

Apple wants the car to be closely built into its own cloud software, while the German carmakers have made customer data protection a key element of their future strategy.

The talks with BMW collapsed last year, while those with Daimler collapsed more recently, the sources said.

Rumors last year suggested Apple was considering usingthe BMW i3 as the basis for its electric car project, but as was mentioned today and in past rumors, Apple's talks with BMW fell apart after just a few months. Additional rumorshave speculated Apple and BMW could resume talks at a later date, and Apple is also said to be in talkswith Magna Steyr. Apple executives have visited Austria tospeak with Magna Steyr and there's not yet any indication that those talks have come to an end. Today's report suggests Magna Steyr is the frontrunner to work with Apple on manufacturing the so-called Apple Car.

Apple's car project is focused on creating an electric car, whichmay or may not include self-driving capabilities. Such a vehicle will likely interface with the iPhone and other Apple services, but beyond the fact that a car is in development, little is known about the project.

Hundreds of employees are working on the car, at secret locations rumored to be located inSunnyvale, California andBerlin, Germany. Apple is said to be aiming tocomplete work on the car in 2019 or 2020.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/20/apple-car-talks-bmw-daimler/

New 12-Inch MacBook Tidbits: 15% Faster, 41.4-Watt-Hour Battery, Refurb Price Drop, and More

Tuesday April 19, 2016 11:06 am PDT byJoe Rossignol

Apple today announced thenext-generation 12-inch Retina MacBook with several faster tech specs, one hour longer battery life, and a new Rose Gold color option.

The ultra-thin notebook is available on Apple'sonline store starting today from $1,299, and from Apple retail stores and authorized resellers beginning tomorrow.

15% to 18% Faster CPU Performance

Christina Warren hasshared 64-bit Geekbench results that show the new 12-inch MacBook (1.2GHz configuration) has around 15% to 18% faster CPU performance compared to last year's equivalent model. The notebook earned a single-core score of 2,894 and a multi-core score of 5,845, versus 2,437 single-core and 5,049 multi-core scores for the previous generation 1.2GHz model.

Primate Labs founder John Poole also shared32-bit Geekbench 3 results for the new 12-inch MacBook (1.2GHz configuration) that confirms around a 15% bump in CPU performance compared to the equivalent 2015 model. The new 12-inch MacBook earned a single-core score of 2,670 and a multi-core score of 5,252, compared to 2,303 and 4,621 for the last-generation model.

Meanwhile, early BlackMagicdisk speed tests have seen write speeds that are up to 80 or 90 percent faster than the write speeds in the previous-generation MacBook. Read speeds are also improved.

480p FaceTime Camera, No Thunderbolt 3 or DDR4 RAM

Initial reaction to the MacBook refresh among MacRumors readers hasbeen mixed, with some appreciating the long-awaited arrival of faster Skylake processors and others disappointed that the notebook continues to have only one USB-C port, a 480p FaceTime camera, and no Thunderbolt 3 or DDR4 RAM.

MacRumors forum member PatriotInvasionwrites:

No Thunderbolt 3, no extra USB-C port, and same $1,299 starting price. Ouch. Not what I expected. Let's see what theMacBook Pros will be like.

My guess is Thunderbolt 3 is overkill for the users this Mac is targeted at, but the starting price point is overkill as well.

12-inch MacBook supporters argue that the notebook was never intended to have such capabilities, nor might those additions even be feasible without jeopardizing its size and price point, and promote the MacBook Pro as a more suitable alternative for expanded connectivity and CPU-intensive tasks.

41.4-Watt-Hour Battery

Apple says the new 12-inch MacBook has an additional hour of battery life for up to 10 hours on a full charge. The improvement was made possible by not only more efficient Skylake processors, but also due to a 41.4-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery. The original 12-inch MacBook has a slightly shorter-lasting 39.7-watt-hour battery that delivers up to 9 hours of power per charge.

- Up to 10 hours of wireless web browsing

- Up to 11 hours of iTunes movie playback

- Up to 30 days of standby time

1.3 GHz Core m7 Upgrade Option

The new 12-inch MacBook is available with a faster 1.3GHz Intel dual-core Core m7 processor as a$150 to$250 built-to-order upgrade option.

The upgrade can be applied to both standard configurations, which offer 1.1GHz Core m3 and 1.2GHz Core m5 processors for $1,299 and $1,599 respectively.

Refurbished Price Drop

Apple has lowered the price ofrefurbished early 2015 model 12-inch MacBooks on its online store. The notebooks now range between $929 and $1,319 in the U.S. depending on the configuration selected.

The cheapest $929 model features a 1.1GHz Intel dual-core Core M processor based on previous-generation Broadwell architecture, along with 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 RAM, 256GB PCIe-based flash storage, and Intel HD Graphics 5300.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/19/new-12-inch-macbook-benchmarks-tidbits/

AuDA to allow direct registrations in .au

After ten months of deliberation and two rounds of public consultation that drew some 5000 responses, a majority of panel members recommended in December last year that direct registrations in .au should be possible.

auDA did not say when direct registrations will become available, but said it would undertake a comprehensive policy development process and further consultations with interested parties to implement the feature.

Australia Post trials parcel delivery by drone

The organisation this week launched closed-field trials of drones to work out how small parcels can be delivered "safely and securely" - and much faster than current standards -  to residences.

Last month CASA relaxed the country's drone rules to allow commercial operators to fly drones weighing under 2 kg without a licence. The changes will take place on September 29 this year.

However, operations outside of line-of-sight and over densely populated areas are still prohibited without special CASA approval.

Drone operators are also required to stay more than 30 metres away from people, buildings, vehicles and boats; and not exceed 120 metres height in controlled airspace.

More than 7 million Minecraft credentials exposed

Lifeboat runs servers for Minecraft Pocket Edition

Troy Hunt, who maintains a database of compromised user credentials, accessible via his Have I Been Pwned? website, Lifeboat's network was hacked in January 2016, resulting in a data breach exposing the mobile game's seven million-plus user base.

Hunt accused Lifeboat of failing to notify its customers of the incident. Moreover, passwords accessed in the breach also hashed with a weak MD5 algorithm, making them susceptible to cracking.

Just today, Lifeboat issued a security update acknowledging the breach, noting that leaked information included usernames, “weakly encrypted passwords” and emails, but not personal information such as real names or addresses.

In its statement, Lifeboat explained that upon learning of the breach, it chose to be discreet, forcing customers to reset their passwords without explaining why. “We did not learn of the breach until late February. At that time we prompted you to choose a new password in-game," the statement read. "The password that you chose is encrypted using much stronger algorithms, and we've taken steps to better guard the data.”

By only prompting a reset in-game, people never learned of the risks to their other accounts where they'd reused credentials.

World's most secure phone on sale for just $20,000

A British-Israeli start-up plans to sell a mobile phone from next month that will offer users unprecedented levels of technology and security – and retail for close to US$20,000.

Sirin Labs said on Monday it had raised US$72 million in private funds to launch the device, which would be aimed at executives.

The phone will be based on the Android operating system and run otherwise unspecified technology two to three years in advance of the mass market, he said.

the value of the global luxury phone market at about US$1.1 billion, a fraction of total mobile phone sales. Most top end phones sold are more for status – regular phones with gold and diamonds

Apple's iPhone 5 Black Diamond sold for US$15.3 million

Can using a computer really fight dementia?

new research from US scientists suggests that logging on to a computer once a week is enough to fight dementia. In a four­ year study of 2,000 people aged over 70, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Arizona, found that using a PC helps people retain memory and thinking abilities in old age.

In fact, regular PC users were 42 percent less likely to develop memory problems (“mild cognitive impairment”) that can lead to dementia. Other activities were tested, such as knitting, completing crosswords and attending social events.

They all helped to keep the brain alert, but none was as beneficial as computer use.

An evening with Steve Wozniak

Australia will have the pleasure of being in the company of someone who can be said to have truly, literally changed the world. Among the many accomplishments for which Wozniak is renowned, two stand out above the rest: the inventor of the personal computer, and – along with Steve Jobs – the co-founder of Apple. Woz’s inventions have been as innovative as the path along which he has travelled to reach his destination.

Woz has not yielded to the vice that can be immense success; despite a net worth of US $100 million, hubris has not stood in the way of humility for Woz as he consistently values a good old-fashioned work ethic of pleasure over profit.

MELBOURNE (27/08/16)

Doors: 5:00pm

Event start time: 6:30pm

Event ends: 8:00pm for general ticket holders and 9:15pm for Meet and Greet ticket holders.

BRISBANE (26/08/16)

Doors: 6:15pm

Event start time: 7:15pm

Event ends: 9:00pm for general ticket holders and 10:15pm for Meet and Greet ticket holders.

SYDNEY SHOW ANNOUNCED!

Sun 28 Aug - Australian Technology Park, Sydney

Get Tickets

Man Found Dead in Apple Conference Room Was Employee

An Apple employee that the company described as "young and talented" was found dead in a conference room inside the company's headquarters in Cupertino on Wednesday

Police were called about 8:35 a.m. Wednesday for a report of "a person down" at 1 Infinite Loop and found a dead man, she said. "They determined there were no other individuals involved and they believe it was an isolated incident and that there was nobody else on campus or in the public at risk

Apple said in a statement it is working to support the people who worked with the "young and talented" man. It declined to identify him

What should Apple do next?

Apple reported its first fall in sales in 13 years on Tuesday. Sales were down around $8bn compared with this time last year and its shares have fallen nearly 20% in the last 12 months.

Apple sold 51.2 million iPhones during the quarter, down from 61.2 million in the same quarter of 2015.

World Password Day is Thursday. Remember to change your shared passwords for video on demand sites

Thursday, May 5,  For the fourth year, you’ll surely see plenty of articles reminding you why you should change all of your passwords—a strong and unique password for every site where you login.

10-year-old boy wins $13,000 for hacking Instagram

A 10-year-old Finnish boy was awarded US$10,000 (AU$13,340) by Facebook's bug bounty program after discovering a vulnerability in the Instagram coding which allowed him to delete any message in the application.

“I would have been able to eliminate anyone, even Justin Bieber,” the recipient, identified as Jani, told the Finnish publication Iltalehti in his native tongue, according to a Forbes report.

Jani verified his claim by deleting a comment Facebook posted to a test account and the vulnerability was patched in late February 2016, the social media company told Forbes.

Jani is reportedly the youngest recipient of the company's bug bounty award.

Jani told Iltalehti that he learned his hacking skills by watching YouTube videos and said he has dreams of joining the security industry as a white hat hacker.

Dick Smith reopens under Kogan

a month ahead of schedule.

The website was originally slated to go live in June, but was built in just under two months using the existing platform and logistics infrastructure of Kogan’s online store.

The new Dick Smith store is already stocked with over 5,500 products from the likes of Samsung, Apple and Microsoft. The site will also start selling Kogan’s own-branded products and home appliances

The remaining Dick Smith stores were expected to close permanently by 3 May

react to budget 2016

The $20,000 accelerated depreciation intiative for small businesses, which debuted in last year's budget, has had its life extended to June 2017.

There were also a number of other announcements affecting businesses, including:

• $213 million in various initiatives to improve Australia’s cyber security practices

• $679 million to establish a 1000-person tax avoidance taskforce within the Australian Taxation Office

• $199.4 million to build a new payment processing system for the Department of Education, Department of Human Services and Department of Social Services

• Multinational companies will be taxed higher rates of 40 percent on profits they shift offshore

• Taxation taskforce

• The government will provide the ATO with $679 million over the next four years to fund a new Tax Avoidance Taskforce, which will employ around 1,300 people, including 390 new specialised officers, to crack down on multinationals and high-earning individuals.

• The taskforce is expected to raise an extra $3.7 billion over the next four years.

• "Tax cheats will be tracked down and will face the full force of the law," according to a media release from treasurer Scott Morrison.

• Companies with global incomes of more than $1 billion that fail to lodge their tax returns and other documentation will see a massive 100x increase in fines, from $4,500 to $450,000.

Businesses can be reimburses up to 50 percent of promotional expenses above $5000 provided the total expenses are at least $15,000 if  businesses are looking to productise and export their intellectual property to the global market.

Budget papers also revealed that the national broadband network will run out of public funding by the end of the 2016-17 financial year.

The government will fork out its last payment of $8.8 billion of a $29.5 billion funding cap for the NBN before the end of next year. That leaves an extra $16.5 billion and $26.5 billion that needs to be covered by the private sector to finish the NBN rollout.

Judge forces woman to give fingerprint to unlock iPhone

The agency recently pushed for a 29-year-old Los Angeles woman to provide her fingerprint to open her phone after she was sentenced in an identity theft case.

Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan had already been sentenced in an identity theft case and whisked away to lock up, when the FBI sought a warrant in another California court for Bkhchadzhyan's fingerprint to open the phone – an agent took her print later that same day.

The order sparked a debate as to whether the order was in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights and protects a person against being compelled to be a witness against himself in a criminal case. "Pleading the Fifth" is a colloquial term for invoking the privilege that allows a witness to decline to answer questions where the answers might incriminate him or her, and generally without having to suffer a penalty for asserting the privilege.

Aldi launches 4G mobile plans on Telstra network

Aldi Mobile has launched 4G services to customers for the first time at no additional cost.

Customers can purchase individual mobile packs that come with calls, text and data either in Aldi’s grocery stores or online via the Aldi Mobile app.

Packs start at $15 for 500MB of data, 250 minutes of calls and unlimited text and go up to $45 for 7GB of data and unlimited calls and text. All of Aldi’s packs are valid for 30 days.

Customers can also buy data-only plans that start at $15 for 1.5GB and a pay-as-you-go call and text plan for 12 cents per minute that's valid for 365 days.

Telstra releases 4G on wholesale

The wholesale offering includes access to Telstra’s 1800 MHz and 700 MHz coverage areas, with 2600 MHz spectrum coverage in selected areas. The 4G and 3G coverage footprint reaches 98.5 percent of the Australian population.

However, peak download speeds for Telstra 4G MVNO customers will be capped at 100 Mbps, and 4G voice (VoLTE) services will not be part of the offering.

Telstra is currently rolling out the LTE category 16 standard and is planning to boost peak speeds on its 4GX network to 1Gbps in the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane CBDs later this year.

Hackers steal Gumtree customer data

Online classifieds website Gumtree Australia alerted customers on Friday of a data breach after hackers stole their personally identifiable information last weekend.

sent customers an email notification warning that “The attackers accessed your email address. Contact names and phone numbers, which are made publicly available on the site if provided, were also accessed”.

Users' account passwords are not in danger, the company asserted.

The breach comes just one month after malvertising hit the popular classfied site.

Google given access to London patient records for research

Under the data-sharing agreement, Google's artificial intelligence division DeepMind will have access to all of the data of patients from the Royal Free, Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals in London going back over the past five years and continuing until 2017.

It plans to use the data to develop an app known as Streams that will alert doctors when someone is at risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI).

The data remains encrypted, meaning that Google employees should not be able to identify anyone, according to the Royal Free Trust.

The data-sharing agreement, revealed by New Scientist, includes full names as well as patient histories.

Google says it will use the data to develop an early warning system for patients at risk of developing acute kidney injuries.

EBF

Apple loses trademark fight over 'iPhone' name in China

Apple has lost a trademark fight in China, meaning a firm which sells handbags and other leather goods can continue to use the name "IPHONE".

The Beijing Municipal High People's Court ruled in favour of Xintong Tiandi Technology, said the official Legal Daily newspaper.

Xintong Tiandi trademarked "IPHONE" for leather products in China in 2010.

Apple filed a trademark bid for the name for electronic goods in 2002, but it was not approved until 2013.

"Apple is disappointed the Beijing Higher People's Court chose to allow Xintong to use the iPhone mark for leather goods when we have prevailed in several other cases against Xintong," said a spokesman for the firm.

"We intend to request a retrial with the Supreme People's Court and will continue to vigorously protect our trademark rights.

"We work hard to make the best products in the world and want to ensure our customers' experience is not compromised by companies who try to profit from using our brand."

TheLegal Daily (in Chinese) is widely recognised as the official mouthpiece for the country's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Its report came out in late April but has only just been widely circulated.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36200481

YouTube Working on 'Unplugged' TV Subscription Service for 2017 as Hulu Confirms Live TV Plans

Internet-based subscription television plans are growing in popularity, and YouTube is the latest company rumored to be working on a standalone television service. According toBloomberg, YouTube is developing a paid subscription service called "Unplugged," offering a bundle of channels for a set price.

YouTube has already built the infrastructure necessary for the service and is prioritizing its development for a 2017 debut. YouTube has been in talks with major media companies like NBCUniversal, Viacom, Fox, and CBS, but has not yet been able to secure rights for the service.

YouTube is said to be aiming to build a streaming service similar to the service Applehoped to offer before putting itsstreaming TV plans on hold. It would include a "skinny bundle" of channels from the four major U.S. networks along with a few popular cable channels priced at around $35 per month.

YouTube is also considering plans offering a collection of less-watched television channels or smaller groups of channels built around different themes, such as comedy or lifestyle.

YouTube would charge one subscription for the main bundle, and extra, smaller monthly fees for these theme-based groups, one of the people said.

Using this approach, YouTube could show it is capable of bringing new viewers to many of these second-tier channels, a major concern for large media companies that depend on TV for most of their profits.

If YouTube can make it work, media companies may be more open to including more-successful channels later, one of the people familiar said.

Along with YouTube, Hulu is also building its own competing streaming television service. News of Hulu's plansurfaced earlier this week and wasconfirmed this morning by Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins.

Hulu's subscription model will offer customers cable-style access to popular broadcast television networks and cable channels to complement its existing streaming service, plus it will include a cloud-based DVR feature. Hulu is also aiming to launch its live TV subscription plan in 2017 and is close to signing deals with partners like Disney and Fox. Pricing for the service has not yet been announced, but rumors suggest it will be available for around $40.

"This means our viewers will be able to enjoy live sports, news and events all in real-time without a traditional cable or satellite subscription," said Hopkins. "We're going to fuse the best of linear television and on-demand in a deeply personalized experience optimized for the contemporary, always-connected television fan."

As network executives grow accustomed to establishing deals for streaming television services, Apple may be able to revisit its television plans. Apple has been working on some kind of subscription TV service for several years, but executives have not been able to establish deals with content owners. Apple's latest streaming plansreportedly fell apart because media companies demanded more money than Apple wanted to charge for its TV service and were reluctant to unbundle channels.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/04/youtube-hulu-tv-services-2017/

No data, no problem: Use Google Maps offline

When you’re out in the sticks somewhere, you might get to a place where there’s no signal. How will you ever find your way home (or to the next party) without your trusty Google Maps app?

Well, with a little foresight, you can make sure Google Maps continues to be useful, even when you’re not in cellular data range.

Here’s how to use Google Maps offline to make sure you never get lost again when your smartphone goes offline.

Note: This tip will work with Android and iOS versions of Google Maps.

First up, you’ll want to open Google Maps when you have a good data connection or Wi-Fi, before you head off into the boonies.

In the search field, where you usually dictate or type in your destination address, simply type “ok Maps” to start the process.

You’ll get a screen that asks if you want to download the area. Tap on the Download button, then give your area a name. Google Maps will give you a helpful hint if you don’t know what to name it.

Name the offline area and watch it download. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Once you hit OK to confirm the name, your iPhone or Android phone will download the area you’ve named. Google Maps will show the download progress with a percentage. Once it’s done, you’re good to go; head off into the wilderness with your saved digital map. You can zoom in and out, ask for directions, and anything else you’d do with the online version of Google Maps.

Now you’ve got a way to make sure you’re always able to get to where you want to go with Google Maps, even if you end up somewhere far away without any data service.

Via:LifeHack

http://www.cultofandroid.com/80362/no-data-no-problem-use-google-maps-offline/#more-426687

Amazon launches competitor to YouTube

Amazon.com launched a service on Tuesday that allows users to post videos and earn royalties from them, setting up to compete directly with Alphabet's YouTube.

called Amazon Video Direct, will make the uploaded videos available to rent or own, to view free with ads, or be packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription.

JB Hi-Fi takes top spot on reputation rankings

JB Hi-Fi has reclaimed first place in this year's Corporate Reputation Index, climbing two places from 2015.

The Corporate Reputation Index is part of a global study conducted each year by Australian research consultancy AMR, in conjunction with the Reputation Institute.

The study measures how Australians feel about each company on products and services, innovation, workplace, citizenship, governance, leadership and financial performance.

Harvey Norman also showed improvement, reaching number 20 - six positions up from 2015's research results.

Hewlett-Packard and IBM were listed number 10 and 23 respectively. HP climbed four places from 2015 and IBM's place stayed the same.

Apple climbed two spots to reach number nine. According to AMR, the survey showed that concerns over Apple's governance and citizenship are still on the rise, which could represent its reputation is still at risk.

Samsung declined one spot and was listed number 3 this year.

On the telco front, Optus climbed 15 spots and is now ranked number 28. Telstra managed to climb four spots and holds number 50. Both positions are considered average or moderate, according to the list.

Although Vodafone has moved up two places, and is now number 55, it is among the companies considered vulnerable. In 2009 it ranked number 24 and was well ahead of Telstra and Optus, according to AMR.

The index was compiled from a survey of adults aged 18-64, with results weighted to ensure they represent appropriate gender and age groups. Data was collected online between 22 February and 21 March 2016.

JB Hi-fi has taken up the vacant retail spots left behind by Dick Smith in Sydney International Airport.

The electronics retailer signed a six-and-a-half year deal with airport retail partner Heinemann Tax and Duty Free to become the exclusive technology partner for the airport.

Read more: http://www.crn.com.au/news/jb-hi-fi-takes-over-dick-smith-airport-outlets-419200#ixzz48PcfAo66

John McAfee named CEO of tech investment house

John McAfee has been appointed as the chief executive of MGT Capital Investments, and said the company would buy certain assets of McAfee's anti-spy software company D-Vasive Inc.

MGT Capital, in turn, said it would change its name to John McAfee Global Technologies.

John McAfee, an online celebrity who sold his eponymous anti-virus company to Intel for US$7.6 billion, is also a presidential candidate for the November 2016 election as part of his new Cyber Party.

Kogan sells Windows two-in-one for $259

Kogan has revealed Atlas 2-in-1, a new convertible to retail for $259.

Atlas comes with a keyboard and runs Windows 10. When in tablet mode the device switches to the Windows 10 tablet interface.

The Atlas 2-in-1 is powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor.

With full PC functionality, according to Kogan, the tablet weighs 600g and has a high-definition 10.1-inch touch screen.

It also has a SD card slot, micro USB 2.0, full size USB 3.0 and mini HDMI type C ports. The Pogo Pin on the keyboard allows it to be charged with the tablet.

According to Kogan product manager Russel Proud, one full charge of the Lithium-ion 5800mAH battery is enough for a whole-day use of the product.

Optus finally joins Telstra, Vodafone with voice-over-LTE

Optus has launched voice-over-LTE, following Telstra and Vodafone's lead last year.

Voice-over-LTE, or VoLTE, is technology that integrates voice calls into the 4G data stream rather than have the network switch down to 3G for such purposes.

“VoLTE provides customers a number of benefits including high definition quality voice calls, faster call connections and the ability for customers to multitask on their device while browsing and making a call over a 4G connection,” said Optus networks managing director Dennis Wong.

The service will be available initially on Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, with progressive rollout to other devices. Geographically, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra metropolitan areas will be the first to benefit.

Microsoft warns free Windows 10 offer expires soon

Any users wanting to download the operating system will have to pay $179 for the home edition of Windows 10 in two months’ time.

Microsoft reminded customers on its blog about the offer expiration, along with news it has surpassed 300 million Windows 10 users since launching last year.

The software giant is preparing to release a Windows 10 anniversary update in the coming months for all Windows 10 users.

New features will include biometric security for Windows apps, more stylus functionality, and Cortana integration for more apps.

Space Invaders and Sonic added to gaming hall of fame

The 1978 space shooter was honoured alongside Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, Grand Theft Auto III and The Sims.

They join the six inaugural titles from 2015: Doom, Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, Tetris and World of Warcraft.

Hall of fame games become permanent exhibits at The Strong museum of play in Rochester, New York.

The winning games were selected from 15 finalists, which included Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider and the original Pokemon games.

EBF

Apple is preparing to abandon music downloads.

Apple is now preparing to completely terminate music download offerings on the iTunes Store, with an aggressive, two-year termination timetable actively being considered and gaining favor.  According to sources to Digital Music News with close and active business relationships with Apple, discussions are now focused “not on if, but when” music downloads should be retired for good.

The sources insisted on confidentiality and required that all conversations be conducted outside of email or any written medium, given the realistic fear of reprisals for sharing details of internal corporate discussions.

Back to the story, the sources indicated that a range of shutdown timetables are being considered by Apple, though one executive noted that “keeping [iTunes music downloads] running forever isn’t really on the table anymore.”  Also under discussion is a plan to “ride the [iTunes music download offering] out for the next 3-4 years, maybe longer,” when paid music downloads are likely to be an afterthought in a streaming-dominated industry.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/05/11/apple-terminating-music-downloads-two-years/

Update: Apple rep Tom NeumayrcontactedRecode and said the report that Apple would stop iTunes music downloads in two years is "not true."

http://www.macrumors.com/

2017 iPhone May Feature Edge-to-Edge Display With Embedded Touch ID Sensor, Front-Facing Camera

Wednesday May 11, 2016 10:21 am PDT byJuli Clover

Rumors suggest Apple's 2016iPhone 7 will look very similar to theiPhone 6s, with major changes to the iPhone's form factor actually coming in 2017, the year that marks the 10th anniversary of the device's initial launch. Apple blogger John Gruber recently shared some tantalizing details about the 2017 iPhone, which may see some radical design tweaks.

In thelatest episode of his podcastThe Talk Show, Gruber said he's heard "scuttlebutt" suggesting the 2017 iPhone will include an edge-to-edge display that eliminates the top and bottom bezels on the device, with the front-facing camera,Touch ID, and other sensors hidden under the display.

Concept image viaConceptsiPhone

I think next year's phone, the 2017 model, the one that will come out in September of 2017. What I have heard -- now this is not really from the rumor mill but just scuttlebutt that I've heard -- is that it will be an all-new form factor.

And there have been some rumors, I guess, but what I'm saying is that I've heard this independently and it is completely getting rid of the chin and forehead of the phone. The entire face will be the display. And the Touch ID sensor will be somehow embedded in the display. The front-facing camera will somehow be embedded in the display. The speaker, everything. All the sensors will somehow be behind the display.

What I don't know... I have no idea, but whether that means that they're going to shrink the actual thing in your hand to fit the screen sizes we already have, or whether they're going to grow the screens to fit the devices we're already used to holding... I don't know.

Previous rumors have indicated Apple isplanning to introduce a flexible OLED display in the 2017 iPhone, and an OLED display panel would allow for an edge-to-edge screen design. Apple has already signed a deal with Samsung for aportion of the OLED panels it will need for the devices.

Multiple rumorshave suggested one 2017 iPhone could include a 5.8-inch OLED display, which would perhaps mean Apple plans to have the display wrap around the edges of a 5.5-inch device, but it is not clear how such a screen size would work without top and bottom bezels as suggested by Gruber.

Along with an OLED display, the iPhone coming in 2017 isrumored to include a glass shell, like the iPhone 4 and 4s, rather than the aluminum body that's been used for the iPhone 5s, 6, 6s, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, and SE.Long-range wireless charging and expanded biometric features like iris or facial recognition are also features that have been rumored, along with a10-nanometer A11 chip from TSMC and NAND flash memorysupplied by Samsung.

Apple hasbeen working on developing touch and display driver integration (TTDI) chips since 2015, which would let the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system be embedded directly into the display, allowing for the elimination of the Home button.Analyst rumors have previously suggested the Home button will be removed in the 2017 iPhone, in line with what Gruber has heard.

With Apple planning major design changes for the 2017 iPhone, there have been rumors indicating the devices will not feature an "S" name, with Apple perhaps skipping the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus to move directly to the iPhone 8 or another name.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/11/2017-iphone-edge-to-edge-display/

Apple's notebook shipments plummet

Apple was clobbered by a huge tumble in notebook shipments last quarter.

The company's shipments fell 40 percent in the first quarter of 2016 over the final quarter of 2015, market researcher TrendForce said Tuesday. Apple's plunge was the largest decline among the top eight notebook vendors worldwide. Overall, the top eight sellers saw notebook shipments drop 19 percent in the first quarter to 35.2 million units.

TrendForcepointed to the lack of new MacBooks and Apple's failure to lower prices of existing MacBooks to boost sales after the holiday-shopping season.

First-quarter results always fall following a surge over the holidays. But the first-quarter shipments also showed a 7.3 percent decline from the same quarter last year.

The PC market has been in a free fall the past several years as more people have opted for big-screen smartphones andtablets over desktops andlaptops. At the same time, more people have hung onto their notebooks longer rather than refreshing them every few years. Microsoft's launch last summer of its newWindows 10 operating system, usually a catalyst for Windows PC sales, hasn't contributed much.

JB Hi-Fi in talks to buy The Good Guys

JB Hi-Fi is in talks to acquire competing electronics and appliance retailer The Good Guys, which could expand its home appliance footprint by 100 stores.

While The Good Guys is traditionally known as a home appliance retailer, the Australian company also sells a range of PCs and accessories from the likes of HP, Acer, Asus and Lenovo. The Good Guys is also an Apple premium reseller.

JB Hi-Fi announced its plans to expand into the connected home market in February 2015, taking on chief rival Harvey Norman.

JB Hi-Fi expects to have 179 stores in Australia by the end of the 2016 financial year, including 58 Home stores

Myer and eBay launch world first virtual reality department store

Myer and eBay are leading retail innovation by creating the world’s first virtual reality department store.

The concept is surprisingly simple with users requiring a VR headset, an iOS or Android device and the ‘eBay Virtual Reality Department Store’ app.

Once launched, the user chooses the departments of interest they would like to browse and a custom virtual store is built to reflect the customer’s selections.

The customer is now able to navigate through the product range with their gaze.

By simply hovering over a certain product customers can view a 3D model and are given the option to hover over information icons, which give more details in regards to full product specifications, price, availability and shipping details.

Purchasing for the customer is as simple as shifting their gaze to the “Add to Basket” icon, which will take them to eBay app where they can complete purchases.

Currently there are over 12,000 products providing a good range of inventory. The entire product range, pricing and stock information will also be updated in real-time, which is a first for virtual reality experiences globally

From today, eBay and Myer are offering customers the opportunity to receive their own shopticals — specially designed virtual reality viewers — to start their VR shopping experience. 15,000 shopticals will be available free of charge.

Netflix launches simple test to prove how slow your internet is

Netflix has launched a website that measures the speed of your connection,

Fast.com allows internet users to quickly and easily check their download speeds in real time.

In the State of the Internet report for the fourth quarter of 2015, Australia came 48th in the world for average connection speed, at 8.2 mbps (megabytes per second), and 60th for average peak connection speed, at 39.3 mbps.

A report by British firm OpenSignal from February revealed Australia has the ninth fastest mobile 4G speeds in the world, behind countries including Romania, Hungary and New Zealand.

We sit 20th in the world when it comes to overall coverage of the 4G network.

Popular adult website launches confounding mobile-based exercise game

Bangfit’ and it’s a mobile-based, interactive fitness program

“Today, due to our hectic work schedules and lack of motivation, many of us do not receive regular amounts of physical activity and lead sedentary lifestyles,” said Corey Price, VP of Pornhub.

“Here at Pornhub, we know from experience that there’s one activity people are always motivated to do and one for which they are never too busy. That’s getting busy. That’s why we came up with BangFit, which gamifies sex and encourages users to pump while they hump. Think of it as the Wii Fit for sex,” he said.

And don’t worry, the game has a single player mode.

First you select the number of players (you have the choice of one, two or three) and gender and then synch the website game with your smartphone. From there the sexerciser attaches the smartphone to a Bangfit waistband that looks like an erotic bum bag where the phone can record your movements via motion sensors.

the program shows users their stats and the number of calories they burned, giving each person involved a score

Participants can then share such information on social media, according to a rather funny promotional video (see above) released by the company.

More than 100 million LinkedIn credentials spotted for sale

The initial story came from Motherboard, which reported it was contacted by someone going by the name “Peace” who said he was selling the data set on an illegal market place called The Real Deal for 5 Bitcoins, or about US$2,200. The 117 million credentials come from a larger 167 million data dump of accounts that were supposedly grabbed when LinkedIn was breached in 2012.

At the time of the 2012 incident, which was believed to have impacted about 6 million accounts, LinkedIn required a mandatory password reset for the accounts it believed were compromised.

Tod Beardsley, security research manager,for Rapid7 “The most valuable data in the LinkedIn compromise may not be the passwords at all, but the enormous registry of email addresses connected to working professionals. Spammers rely on accurate, active email addresses to target, and the low price tag of 5 Bitcoin (approximately US$2,200) is likely to generate significant interest from today's spam industry,”

Microsoft to increase app advertising in Windows 10

In its Windows 10 Anniversary Update, slated to arrive later this year, Microsoft will be increasing the number of promoted apps – known as "programmable tiles" – from five to 10

Programmable tiles are shown as part of the Start menu. When a user clicks on a promoted app tile, they're taken to the corresponding page on Microsoft's Windows Store, where they can download it.

According to the PowerPoint deck, Microsoft's goal is to "introduce users [and] expose them to the Windows Store," where they can "discover [and] engage with high-quality [and] locally relevant apps".

As Microsoft notes in the deck, individual users can easily remove promoted app tiles, and commercial customers can use Group Policy to disable them.

Google to phase out Flash by end-of-year

Google's decision follows a move among many tech companies to avoid the persistent security risks posed by Flash Player in favor of HTML5.

Facebook abandoned Flash in videos such as in Facebook News Feed and on Facebook Pages in December 2015, switching instead to HTML5. However, the continues to use Flash for Facebook games.

Amazon announced in July 2015 it would replace Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight with HTML5. YouTube switched to HTML5 as its default video player from Flash in January 2015.

Netflix, which previously used Microsoft Silverlight instead of Flash until 2013, switched from Silverlight to a HTML5-based video player.

Researchers report an increasing use of Flash vulnerabilities, such as through serving malware on infected websites or incorporating vulnerabilities into exploit kits. Flash exploits increased by 200 percent in 2015, according to Bromium Labs' 2015 Threat Report.

Chrome will grant a one-year extension to the top ten websites that use Flash to “reduce the initial user impact,” based on Chrome's internal metrics.  These exemptions include YouTube.com, Facebook.com, Yahoo.com, VK.com, Live.com, Yandex.ru, OK.ru, Twitch.tv, Amazon.com, and Mail.ru.

Last week, Adobe patched the latest critical vulnerability affecting Flash in Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and ChromeOS.

Harvey Norman caught using Kogan screen

Ruslan Kogan has posted a video on Twitter showing a Harvey Norman store using a Kogan-branded screen for display in one of its stores.

Kogan said the video was taken in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria store, and asked how long it would take for the monitor to be removed after his tweet.

Kogan and Harvey Norman founder Gerry Harvey have taken shots at each other and their respective companies over the electronics retail market since 2010.

Kogan even has a "Harvey Norman vs Kogan" page on its website, claiming its direct model and online-only business means it can pass on savings to customers.

Telstra customers irate over DNS outage

Two Telstra name servers used by customers for domain resolution, ns0 and ns1.telstra.net, went offline just after eight o'clock last night, users reported.

Domain name system servers are used to look up and point client systems to the correct IP address for human readable URLs such as www.telstra.net.

Telstra's service status web page made no mention of the DNS server problem.

Google Translate now works with any text on Android

“Tap to Translate” is a new feature that will appear any time you highlight some text in a foreign language. Where you used to just see copy and paste, you'll now see a translate bubble - similar to the Facebook Messenger heads. Tap that, and Google Translate will offer its best guess at what was said in your native tongue. It runs in 103 languages on any phone that uses Jellybean or later, and should be happy to work in any app that allows you to highlight text, as this Whatsapp demo shows:

On top of that, the latest update now offers offline mode in iOS and introduces photographic recognition for simplified and traditional Chinese.

US nuclear weapons system uses 8-inch floppy disks

The United States national auditor has found the government is propping up decades-old systems at the expense of innovation, spending US$61 billion (AU$85 billion) of its US$80-billion 2015 tech budget on maintenance.

The GAO cited the example of a nuclear weapons co-ordination platform used by the Department of Defense which runs on an IBM Series/1 computer. The 16-bit machine uses 8in floppy disks for storage and dates back to the 1970s.

Defense also joined the Commerce, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs departments to be outed as still using Windows 3.1

the Justice Department's use of a COBOL-based platform for monitoring its inmate population; the 40-year old platform used by the Transport Department to track incidents involving hazardous materials; and the use of Windows 2003 servers at Homeland Security.

One in five Australians use pirated software

In 2015 alone, cyberattacks cost businesses more than $400 billion. And it’s not just the immediate fallout that’s an issue. Breaches to a company’s security can have a powerful ripple effect. Enterprises can suffer damage to their reputation, and irreparable harm to hard-earned customer confidence. Even one successful cyberattack “can do serious harm to a company’s reputation and credibility,Symantec Internet Security Threat Report

this year’s Global Software Survey from BSA found: Thirty-nine percent of software installed on computers around the world in 2015 was not properly licensed.  This represents only a modest decrease from 43 percent in BSA’s previous global survey in 2013. Even in certain critical industries, where much tighter control of the digital environment would be expected, unlicensed use was surprisingly high.

The survey found the worldwide rate is 25 percent – a full one in four – for the banking, insurance and securities industries. CIOs estimate that 15 percent of their employees load software on the network without their company’s knowledge, but nearly double the percentage of workers say they are loading software on the network that their company doesn’t know about.

20 percent of Australian computer users are running unlicensed software on their machines.

Apple hires Blackphone founder amid encryption fight

this month rehired a top expert in practical cryptography to bring more powerful security features to a wide range of consumer products.

Jon Callas, who co-founded several well-respected secure communications companies including PGP Corp, Silent Circle and Blackphone, rejoined Apple in May, an Apple spokesman said.

Callas had worked at Apple in the 1990s and again between 2009 and 2011, when he designed an encryption system to protect data stored on a Macintosh computer.

Apple declined to detail his new role, and Callas declined to comment.

Harvey Norman offers three-hour delivery

Customers can schedule a delivery for small appliances, consumer electronics and small goods deliveries between 7am and 10pm on weekdays.

Delivery starts at $11.53,  live GPS track their deliveries, a move Harvey Norman chief digital officer Gary Wheelhouse said was an Australian first for the market.

Shippit, a Sydney-based delivery start-up that launched in February 2015, signed a deal with Australia Post last month giving it access to its postal network, and is delivering its three-hour Harvey Norman deliveries through an arrangement with Bonds Couriers.

***leg up on kogan, ebay purchases??

Email fail at Do Not Call Register, thousands of contacts exposed

Thousands of email addresses were exposed yesterday in an email sent on behalf of the Do Not Call Register. DNCR is a free service operated by the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA)

In an email, DNCR Support informed about a planned service outage scheduled for 25 May. The email contained more than 2,000 email addresses in the "To" field.

Forced Windows 10 installation plagues users

Microsoft is offering a free upgrade to its new operating systems for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 customers until 29 July,

Windows 10 changed from being a 'Optional' update to a 'Recommended' update on 1 February, which meant the operating system would install automatically for Windows 7 and 8.1 customers with automatic updates turned on

The campaign is clearly working – as of 6 May, Windows 10 has surpassed more than 300 million users since it launched in September.

The operating system will cost $179 for the home edition once Microsoft’s free upgrade offer expires on 29 July.