Latest News - Page 2698

With Google launching Fiber in Kansas City, other internet providers are looking to step up their game in order to continue profit and growth. AT&T have been the first to do so in this region, offering up their U-Verse with GigaPower network - set for launch in Kansas and "parts of Leawood, Lenexa, Olathe, Overland Park, Kan. and in surrounding communities located throughout the metro area."

Offering 1Gbps for $70 per month, with an additional Internet and TV package bumping the price up to $120 per month total - AT&T is trying to closely match Google's Fiber pricing in that regard. However AT&T are also offering something a little different, with an internet, TV and Voice plan for $150 per month.

Their Kansas president Mike Scott issued a release, stating "we're proud to launch in these cities as the first locations where we will offer ultra-high speeds to local consumers and employers in the Kansas City area. The AT&T GigaPower network will help encourage economic development in the area by facilitating a new wave of innovation through enhanced opportunities for education, health, research and small business growth."

The prisons of South Carolina don't mess around. Prisoner Tyreem Henry has been handed 37 years in solitary confinement for writing 38 posts on Facebook whilst incarcerated.

Whether these posts were him whinging about sleeping conditions, letters to his family or setting up connections outside - that is not clear. However what is clear that this man has not only lengthened his 15 year sentence to 37 years of solitary confinement, he's also lost 74 years of canteen, phone and visiting privileges.

Have you had a chance to get your own Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm (Heroes) beta yet? Set out to be a fast-paced and action packed MOBA style game, Blizzard have made it publicly known that they're interested in turning this title into another large eSport offering.

With plenty of different Blizzard characters on offer including your favorite Warcraft and StarCraft personalities, they've set out to make this game somewhat of a LoL style environment (jump in and play, or practice and go pro) with a twist. There's a bunch of side objectives you can complete in every game alongside each match shortened to around 20 minutes.

This game also does away with singular hero leveling. A little confusing at first, all heroes on the same team will level at the same rate no matter how many kills or deaths one player may have. This helps your team progress together and provide some more linear game-play. There's no earth-shattering ultimate abilities like in Dota2, however the fast-paced nature and quick games make for an enjoyable experience.

Researchers are looking forward to the future of medical technology that could have major life-changing impact, with great breakthroughs in bionic vision. During the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference last week, medical researchers discussed everything from telescopic contact lenses to prototype bionic prosthetics.

New technology developments greatly aid patients suffering from vision impairments - and varying levels of blindness - giving them the chance to better distinguish the world around them.

"Retinal implants have moved from sci-fi into reality over the last few years," said Daniel Palanker, professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University, in a statement to the San Jose Mercury News. "Now we are in the race of improving resolution, improving image processing, dynamic range (of light intensity) and levels of gray - and will keep improving."

DARPA is constantly working on various things that we'll see in the next couple of decades, but one of them is something that started out as "supervision" contact lens for soldiers. But as things progressed, it was looking like it was better suited to age-related macular degeneration.

The latest version of the 'supervision' contact lens has bulked up a bit from its first iteration which was 1.17mm, to 1.55mm. The added thickness could have something to do with adjusting the reflective bits inside of the lens itself, or that there's a different material used in its construction.

When asked about the added thickness, researcher Eric Tremblay said that out of the five patients that have used the lens, said it was light enough and more than comfortable to wear around for daily use. The contact lens itself works as a pair of liquid crystal glasses that the user wears, where winking your right eye turns on the magnification, while winking the left eye turns it off. Blinking, does nothing. The big issue now is getting oxygen through the lens, and to the users' eye. Without oxygen to the eye, the contact can only be worn for around half an hour. The team is already working on fixing this, with current experiments leading them to use tiny channels cut into the contact that feed oxygen as well as add reservoirs of oxygen-rich fluids.

Mobile phones are under attack by cybercriminals, trying to steal personal data and possible financial information stored on devices. Studying information collected on cellular networks, 0.68 percent of mobile phones suffer from malware infection, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

Google Android devices - the No. 1 mobile OS across the world - make up 99 percent of the infected devices, with infection rates increasing. Adware.Uapush, Trojan.Ackposts and SMSTracker are the top three infections, commonly hidden in legitimate looking mobile applications.

"Most importantly is the fact that there is less control - you can download the apps from third-party app stores and there is very little checking of the digital signature that you sign the app with," said Kevin McNamee, director of Alcatel-Lucent's Motive Security Labs.

First released as a teaser trailer on YouTube in late 2014 - The Gadget Expo 2015 sets out to plug the gap as seen in the Australian tech calendar. Aussies often have EA Games press events, EB Games running their massive gaming exhibition and PAX Australia with two years of gaming pop culture success - but what about the lovers of straight up technology?

There were a few main points covered in this trailer. Some of the most interesting inclusions include: the announcement that it will contain an emphasis on it being more of an 'event show' rather than a 'trade show', the event will contain a 'Gamers Bubble' - functioning as a sort of mini-PAX or mini-EB Expo, alongside a Home Tech Zone and an Innovation Zone.

As a whole this show is setting out to be somewhat of an Australian CES 2015, in which companies will come and showcase their latest and greatest technology - alongside various big-name tech heads sharing their thoughts and knowledge to thousands of seated fans. The Gadget Expo does promise "world renowned" tech experts, inventors, entrepreneurs and more at the event - here's hoping that all of these big claims can be pulled off.

Also known as the Commodore 64DX, Hackaday has spotted this piece of technological history for sale on eBay - eventually going for the cool price of $22,862.01 via the method of auction.

Including a whopping 128kB of RAM (expandable to 8MB) and a 1280x400 resolution displaying 4096 colors, this model was Commodore's last project in the early 1990's before the company was liquidated completely.

The C65's on hand were sold to members of the public after this closure and it's likely that the PC's which have been occasionally popping up on eBay are these exact ones. In regards to the high price, it's certainly not unusual - the last system spotted on eBay sold for $20,100 and even featured some missing parts.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that investment firm Columbus Nova purchased Sony Online Entertainment, which renamed to Daybreak Game Company, but now we're seeing layoffs from within the company.

Development of games will still happen for Daybreak Game Company, including the ongoing work for H1Z1, with the company explaining: "To better position our newly independent studio for future growth opportunities and to deliver on our legacy of making top online games, we have had to make some tough choices including realignment of resources".

Daybreak Game Company continued: "Unfortunately, this realignment means adjusting staffing as well. We announced today that we will eliminate positions in our San Diego and Austin studios. Many of us are saying goodbye to close friends and colleagues who we've worked with over the years, and we are grateful for the memories and all that they've contributed. They will be greatly missed, and we wish them nothing but the best for the future". The developer says that the layoffs will not have an effect on its current development operations.

Cybercriminals carrying out data breaches on organizations are helping create a suddenly booming cyberattack liability insurance market.

Traditional insurance companies - and a growing number of niche cyberattack insurance providers - are overwhelmed by an avalanche of new applications. The cyberattack insurance industry reached close to $2 billion in 2014, which is double the previous year, according to industry analysts.

"Think of a massive cyberattack as an intelligent hurricane," said Ty Sagalow, COO of the eBusiness division of AIG, in a statement published by the Los Angeles Times. "If it hits a house that doesn't fall down it learns why the house didn't fall and it changes. It is a scary thing... scary things sell insurance."

It looks like Apple is not just working on its own autonomous vehicle, but it will be building the car, too. The rumors aren't coming from unreliable sources, either, with The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and now Reuters all chiming in.

The new information on Apple's super-secret vehicle project has the company not only building its own software platform for the car, but building the actual autonomous car, too. According to Reuters' sources: "Apple is gathering advice on parts and production methods... adding that Apple appeared not to be interested in combustion engine technology or conventional manufacturing methods".

When it comes to the iCar (that's what we're calling it until it's officially named) we should expect it to be an electric vehicle, so think of the best world's between an autonomous car and Tesla Motors' various electric vehicles. The world of automobiles is about to get very exciting.

Halo has had a massive roller-coaster ride in the past few years in regards to eSports. Starting off as the building block for large events like MLG and ACL Pro, it had majorly fallen off in recent times, however 343 Industries wants to change this. In recent news, the Halo Championship Series Season 1 finals prize pool has seen a massive improvement from $50,000 to $100,000 - thanks to the developer.

Taken from Halo's official website, media director Che Chou has commented that this increase is thanks to gamer feedback and advice, stating: "One of the most important pieces of feedback we've heard is that all players - from amateur to top teams - simply want more opportunities to compete and earn more money in the HCS."

This prize pool increase will see the following payment structure take place:

Whether you're looking to 'raise your dongers' or post some kawaii faces on your favorite forum - the HTC One M8 comes pre-installed with almost every option under the sun.

My friend just received his model today and after inspecting the stock emoticon options (who wouldn't do that first?) he came to me extremely excited with a new find - extended meme-like 'smilies'.

This is nothing ground-breaking sure, but it's an awesome inclusion nonetheless. Here's hoping more phone companies subscribe to this kind of 'pop culture' and continue development in this direction.

Introduced nearly fifty years ago in 'Star Trek: The Original Series', the medical tricorder used by Dr McCoy and the medical staff of the Starship Enterprise was once a thing of far-off science fiction. Now, it's a reality.

The Scanadu Scout, which started life as an IndieGoGo campaign in May 2013 before raising nearly $1.7 million USD is now shipping out to backers. The device, which the company is trumpeting as the 'First Edition' works by placement on the patients forehead for a total of 10 seconds, before a vital stream of stats including heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, oxygen level and even a complete ECG reading are instantly sent to a mobile device, and also allows for historical tracking.

If you missed the initial campaign and are interested in the device, you can subscribe on the Scanadu site to join the list to purchase the next wave of devices. Now, can we please turn our attention to warp drive? K, thanks.

Released just days ago and despite poor reviews (rated at just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes) the adaptation of EL James 'Fifty Shades of Grey' has amassed an amazing haul of $240 million worldwide from 59 markets, making it the one of the biggest openings for an R-rated film.

Made for an economical $40 million, the success of the film ensures that the proposed second and third movies in the 'Shades' trilogy will now go into production for Universal Studios, with stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan already signed. The 2011 erotic romance novel by E. L. James famously started life as fan fiction for 'Twilight' and has sold over 100 million copies worldwide.

North Korea isn't a cyberespionage powerhouse like Russia or China, but the country has a budding cyber warfare program that could cause major headaches for the United States and South Korea. Pyongyang is investing more resources into its cyber capabilities, evolving attack habits to be highly disruptive.

"A prime example could be if we're imagining that North Korea was under attack from South Korea, which was being supported by the US Army," said Egle Murauskaite, trainer at the US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, in a statement to the Christian Science Monitor. "North Korea could attack satellites to disrupt communication between the US and allies and imped the US ability to reach targets."

Along with satellites, precision guided missiles largely rely on electronics, so there are fears that attacks would be able to effectively disrupt these signals.

Companies and government agencies understand the need for improved cybersecurity to help defend against attacks and insider threats. It's a confusing mix of trying to defend against outside threats, and keeping reckless and improperly trained employees from causing harm.

Fifty-three percent of federal IT professionals believe insider threats, whether from intentional threats or untrained employees, remains the largest threat, according to a report from IT software firm SolarWinds. Furthermore, 64 percent of those surveyed think insider threats can be as damaging - or more damaging - than malicious external threats posed by hackers and cyberespionage.

"Contrasting the prevalence of insider IT security threats against a general lack of threat prevention resources and inconsistently enforced security policies, federal IT pros absolutely must gain visibility into insider actions to keep their agencies protected," said Chris LaPoint, group VP of product management at SolarWinds. "However, given the unpredictability of human behavior, the 'Why?' of those actions is an elusive query."

This massive stockpile of components will all be slotted nicely together in order to cool the NNSA's first Advanced Simulation and Computing Program's product - named the Trinity Supercomputer.

All of this gear is called 'warm-water cooling' and it's what you'd expect in order to provide an energy-saving alternative for some of the world's most advanced tech.

An explanation from the Los Alamos National Labarotory reads: "The Trinity supercomputer is the first of the NNSA's Advanced Simulation and Computing program's advanced technology systems. Once installed, Trinity will be the first platform large and fast enough to begin to accommodate finely resolved 3D calculations for full-scale, end-to-end weapons calculations. But the installation of such a powerful supercomputer is no small task." But wait, there's more! "In order to accommodate Trinity, the SCC first had to undergo a series of major mechanical and electrical infrastructure upgrades. Because energy conservation is a priority at Los Alamos, these upgrades included a shift to warm water cooling technology (which will result in a major energy savings), as well as a decrease in the use of city/well water for cooling towers.."

The surging biometrics market is predicted to reach $13.8 billion in 2015, largely due to government adoption, however, there could be growing interest in the private sector, according to the ABI Research group.

The United States and European Union nations will continue to adopt biometrics, with fingerprint recognition still the leading solution. Consumer and private sector biometrics spending could outpace government spending in 2018, according to ABI, as wearables and smartphones implement enhanced security protocols.

The healthcare industry is still trying to cope with news that Anthem suffered a major data breach - and there are increased talks regarding cybersecurity technologies that can be utilized to prevent future incidents. As more companies transition to electronic health records, biometrics supporters hope that it will present a great opportunity for hardware and software adoption.

Did you ever play Bridge Builder? I know I spend many hours of precious High School learning time teetering away, trying to build the best bridge on a budget to somehow transport my cargo across the raging chasm I was provided with.

Well we're now in the 'new age', with physics games being more than a few colors and lines - in comes Besiege. You're given a tiny starting block and as many resources as you can poke a stick at, each level has a slightly different objective and almost all have these cute little knights and archers waiting to slice you up.

Interested? Here's more - whether you're after a more tactical approach or simply want to build something ridiculous and massive like my aptly named 'Cannon Fire' as seen below, Besiege will present you with various problem solving tasks that you must complete. Each component in your arsenal can be tweaked and tinkered with, including different turning speeds, strengths and firing orders - further adding to the depth of this indie title.