Latest News - Page 2868

Facebook has just launched a new iPhone app called Paper, a new standalone app for the social network that is more like a news reading app than purely a social network. Paper uses the traditional Facebook News Feed, but recreates it in a more immersive, full-sized experience.

The new app does away with nearly all of usual buttons, and UI styles for a much cleaner, bigger status update, photos, and news stories. If you tilt your iPhone, Facebook will adjust themselves, something the team calls the "Ken turns" effect. UI elements simply face away, with news stories displayed in a much different manner. Facebook has pumped over nine months into the new iPhone exclusive app, which is also locked to the US market for now. No one outside of the US market will have access to it, for now.

Paper brings forth a new venture for Facebook, where the main screen now displays completely different content. It will feel more like Flipboard infused with Facebook, made for the iPhone. A new compose screen is bought into play, where you can view the exact end product before making it live. Facebook says: "it's a publishing tool, a way of publishing great content, and a way of viewing great content".

Edward Snowden has been nominated by two Norwegian politicians for the 2014 Nobel peace prize. Baard Vegar Solhjell, a former environment minister, and Snorre Valen, politicians with the Socialist Left party, said the public debate and policy changes in the wake of Snowden's NSA revelations had "contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order".

The five-member panel will not confirm who has been nominated, but nominators include members of national parliaments and governments, university professors and previous laureates, must enter their submissions by February 1. You can watch Snowden's world-first 30-minute video interview with German TV station NDR, right here.

ZDNet is reporting that Apple has been blocking 4G networks to certain carriers around the world, with the Cupertino-based giant now looking at possible fines for LTE blocking in Belguim.

The Council of Ministers has ruled that no mobile phone maker can block 4G access for any carriers. Apple has a preferred partner relationship with Mobistar in the region, with Mobistar being the only officially certified by Apple to sell the iPhone. Mobistar doesn't have operational 4G network for consumers yet, but its competitors Proximus and Base do, but they are now officially certified by Apple.

Base's Corporate Affairs Manager, Coralie Miserque, wrote in a blog last November: "It was a true obstacle course; after months and months of (fruitless) attempts to approach Apple, Base finally received a typical Apple answer that the certification process was pending and would require some time. But how much time, the company refused to specify. It seems that Apple continues to protect its preferred partner in Belgium and refuses to certify its two competitors or at least is delaying the process until Mobistar has deployed its own 4G network. And this is not an exception, in other countries, Apple often grants its preferred partners 4G access months before anyone else".

Apple was awarded quite the patent on Tuesday, that might end up with consumers seeing a solar-powered MacBook being announced sometime in the future. The concept's original patent filing took place in 2010, so we might not even see this technology used by Apple in the coming years.

The patent described multiple formats which could be used, with a laptop being powered by direct sunlight. All versions did share the same core concept, that the display and functional features on both sides, were labeled as "electronic device display module". Currently displays baked into laptops have a screen on one side, and a non-functional lid surface on the other - which is for protection purposes.

Apple's new patent would see the back of its MacBook screen turned into a very special part of the device. The main concept involves a multifunctional outer surface for the laptop, which would feature photovoltaic cells, that would let the computer run indefinitely, as long as it was in sunlight.

Scientists have been working for years on the age reversing process, but it looks like we're very close to it being a reality. Scientists have successfully reversed the aging process in mice, according to a new study.

The next step? Human trials, something that will begin possibly before 2014 wraps up. The study itself was published in the peer reviewed science journal, Cell, after US and Australian scientists made the breakthrough discovery. David Sinclair of the University of New South Wales, and lead researcher, says he's hopeful that the results can be duplicated in human trials.

Where this gets amazing, is that not only could the aging process be slowed down, but a measurable reversal. The study showed that after administering a certain compound to the mice, muscle degeneration and diseases caused by aging were reversed. Sinclair was amazed at the results, saying they had exceeded his expectations, he explained: "I've been studying aging at the molecular level now for nearly 20 years and I didn't think I'd see a day when ageing could be reversed. I thought we'd be lucky to slow it down a little bit. The mice had more energy, their muscles were as though they'd be exercising and it was able to mimic the benefits of diet and exercise just within a week. We think that should be able to keep people healthier for longer and keep them from getting diseases of ageing".

Lenovo has just purchased Motorola Mobility from Google for a cool $2.91 billion, which will provide the Chinese smartphone manufacturer with a more competitive stance in the US market.

The Chinese manufacturer will complete the purchase with a mix of cash, and stock. Google will continue to own most of Motorola's patents, while 2,000 patents and a license on the remaining patents will be handed over to Lenovo. Lenovo will shell out $660 million in cash to Google, $750 million in stock, and the remaining $1.5 billion will be paid out over the next three years.

Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement "Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem. This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere".

The founder of the SpyEye malware, Aleksandr Andreevich Panin, recently pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and bank fraud charges. The Russian citizen was extradited to the United States early last year, and will be sentenced on April 29, where he will almost certainly receive a prison sentence.

SpyEye was reportedly created in 2009 and remotely infected PCs so cyber criminals could access personal information, including bank accounts, usernames and passwords. Panin sold licenses to the software from $1,000 up to $8,500, with more than 150 global clients using the malware to steal information.

"As several recent and widely reported data breaches have shown, cyber attacks pose a critical threat to our nation's economic security," said Sally Yates, U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Georgia, in a statement. "Today's plea is a great leap forward in our campaign against those attacks."

Lenovo has just announced that as of April 1, it will split itself into four business groups that will each tackle completely different parts of the market.

Yang Yuanqing, Chairman and Chief Executive of Lenovo, said "Today, Lenovo is in one of the most important and exciting phases in our history. We are the number 1 PC company in the world. We are number 3 in Smart Connected Devices (PC, tablet, smartphone). And we just announced the intent to make an acquisition that will make us a significant competitor in the enterprise space".

Lenovo will split into four completely different business groups, as follows:

Greenheart Games ran an interesting test last year, where the indie developer released its very first game, Game Dev Tycoon, into the world. What the team did, was release a cracked version of the game, minutes after upcoming up their Store.

Where it gets interesting, is that Game Dev Tycoon is about, well, you guessed it - a simulation of being a game developer. What the pirated version of the game does is let players spend hours and hours building up their studio, but messages begin to pop up, warning the player that piracy is causing their studio to lose money, and sales.

Over time, players' studios begin to bleed money, with newly created games having a high chance of being pirated. Greenheart Games had some hilarious responses that they found online, with gamers asking for help. One of them even said "why are there so many people that pirate? It ruins me!" Obviously this gamer means it ruins his game studio, within the game - all from a pirated copy of the game itself. Alanis Morisette would even be proud of this one, folks.

We finally got our first look at what HGST's 6TB, helium filled HDD will cost on the open market. If you want one, a seller on Amazon has nine listed but the price is a bit inflated from a consumer perspective, $798. The He6 model has a handful of unique features. It's filled with helium and has 6TB of capacity. Paul wrote an editorial about the drive and went over all of the details last November.

What's enterprise today will be consumer tomorrow...or maybe a year from now. It's nice to see HGST moving forward with this technology.

DICE is still trying to keep Battlefield 4 fans happy, with yet another apology: this time, in the form of special community missions, and daily giveaways that start on February 1.

During the month of February, Battlefield 4 gamers who log into the game will receive a Bronze Battlepack during the week, and a Silver Battlepack on the weekends. These Battlepacks will give gamers random XP boosts and camouflage skins. There will also be two shortcut bundles, which will unlock all grenade types and handguns.

If you're a Premium owner, you'll receive two additional shortcut bundles that will unlock all the DMRs and shotguns. DICE will also have another double XP weekend sometime during the month too.

Do you use e-mail? If so, the NSA probably has your entire digital life tracked, and saved somewhere on its servers. During the 30-minute video of Edward Snowden and German TV station NDR, Snowden admitted:

Snowden's revelations are far reaching, especially as he has admitted that every e-mail, purchase, and move you do is tracked. It seems the government just has a large net where it collects any and all information, whether it needs it or not - as it could come in handy in the future.

The Snowden revelations exploded today, with his interview on German TV station NDR. One of the more scary things he said is that the NSA - and even Snowden himself when he was still with the US spy agency - could wiretap or 'hack' virtually anyone, including President Obama or a Federal Judge.

Snowden said "When you are on the inside and you go into work everyday and you sit down at the desk and you realise the power you have - you can wire tap the President of the United States, you can wire tap a Federal Judge and if you do it carefully no one will ever know". I don't know what to be more worried with, that anyone can be wiretapped, or that "no one will ever know".

The ex-NSA employee goes into more detail, stating that most of these illegal NSA programs are useless. As they "have no value", and that "they've never stopped a terrorist attack in the United States and they have marginal utility at best for other things...The National Security agency operates under the President's executive authority alone. He can end of modify or direct a change of their policies at any time".

German TV station, NDR, sat down with NSA whisleblower Edward Snowden, in a world-first interview. The interview itself was reportedly a 6-hour stint, but the video was cut down to just 30 minutes.

Germany's broadcasting laws are different from the US, which is reportedly the reason behind this slice down of the interview. You can watch the 30 minutes above, where Snowden has some scary things to say such as "Every time you pick up the phone, dial a number, write an email, make a purchase, travel on the bus carrying a cell phone, swipe a card somewhere, you leave a trace and the government has decided that it's a good idea to collect it all, everything, even if you've never been suspected of any crime. Traditionally the government would identify a suspect, they would go to a judge, they would say we suspect he's committed this crime, they would get a warrant and then they would be able to use the totality of their powers in pursuit of the investigation. Nowadays what we see is they want to apply the totality of their powers in advance - prior to an investigation".

One of the major points of the interview, is the power that President Obama has to stop all of this, where Snowden says "But what (the review boards investigating the illegal NSA programs) found was that these programs have no value, they've never stopped a terrorist attack in the United States and they have marginal utility at best for other things... The National Security agency operates under the President's executive authority alone. He can end of modify or direct a change of their policies at any time".

Companies are testing the potential of 3D printed food in what could evolve into one of the biggest 3D market segments moving forward. During the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, a number of different companies showed off 3D printing technology, including several food-based products.

There are a number of different types of 3D-printed foods currently in various phases of development, and it will be an industry to watch in the future.

Chocolate maker Hershey's also teamed up with a 3D company to produce 3D printed chocolate, which will be a major draw for the company's gift shop. Cornell Creative Machines Lab has developed printers that can dough-based corn chips, while sugar candies also are available courtesy of 3D Systems' Chefjet.

PC enthusiast company Cooler Master has announced the Trigger Z mechanical gaming keyboard, a fully programmable keyboard able to support up to five custom gaming profiles. The keyboard includes 128KB onboard memory and includes a detachable wrist rest with a non-slip rubber coating to increase comfort.

The keyboard can register up to 64 button presses at a time, so users don't have to worry about the keyboard responding with any lag. The Cooler Master Trigger Z Gaming keyboard will launch globally next month. It will launch in Cherry MX Brown, but Cherry MX Red or Blue will become available later this year.

Mechanical gaming keyboards are still more expensive than a traditional gaming keyboard, but continue to prove popular among gamers.

Medical researchers and military veterans are increasingly teaming up to study traumatic brain injuries (TBI) that U.S. personnel are dealing with after returning home from the battlefield. An estimated 15 to 23 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer TBI, which equates to about 300,000 to 460,000 soldiers in need of various levels of medical treatment.

Researchers are developing new objective imaging testing methods that provide better insight of brain scans and cognitive testing - and while progress is accelerating - there are a large number of veterans that aren't receiving proper medical treatment. However, using a new diffusion tensor imaging helps indicate nerve track fiber damage and provides better guidance to detect mild-TBI episodes that can be more easily corrected if discovered quickly.

"Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress is a different kind of wound," noted Arnold Fisher, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund staff member. "It's unseen. Apparently, because it's unseen, very many people don't understand it."

Back in 2013, we saw wearable tech really take the center stage and bloom into an entire new industry, with smart watches, exercise bands, and even smart glasses launching. 2014 is poised to take wearable technology to the next level, and if a new product being developed in Japan is any indication, wearables are going to get much more personal in the very near future.

Pictured above is the "True Love Tester" bra, a piece of smart lingerie that is designed to thwart off sneaky companions who might try to unhook its clasps covertly while its wearer is distracted. Unfortunately, that task is much harder with a smart-bra than it is with traditional underwear. The True Love Tester bra features sensors that feed back information on its wearers heart rate to a smartphone which analyzes the data and will only release the clasps if the heart rate signature indicate "true love."

The accompanying app is able to discern from other strenuous, heart rate elevating activities such as running, shopping, eating spicy food, or even getting frightened while watching a scary movie. While this all sounds cool, the app does not simply release a locking mechanism on the bra, it apparently flings the cups open with much gusto, which means that technology like this could provide for some interesting scenarios when worn in public with ones significant other near by.

An Android-based smartphone was the last thing anyone thought they would ever see from Nokia, especially with its handset division recently being purchased by Microsoft, but all indications point to a Nokia Android phone being in existence. Dubbed "Project Normandy," the smartphone's release seems imminent if the increasing rate of leaks is any indication.

This morning we spotted the Nokia RM-980, Project Normandy's model number, in Rightware's online benchmark results, and while the numbers leave much to be desired, the fact stands that and Android-based Nokia smartphone is in existence. In the results, the RM-980 falls below the now dated HTC Incredible S, and just above the HTC OneX which all but confirms the low-end specs that leaked recently from @evleaks.

The infamous leakster says that Project Normandy will feature a very low-end 4-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 480x800 and will be powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked in at 1GHz. Just 512MB of RAM will be packed in along side 4GB of storage and a 5-megapixel generic imaging sensor. The leak did mention a 1500mAh battery as well as Android 4.4 KitKat, so at least it has that going for it. The more info that comes in on Project Normandy, the more I begin to believe rumors that this is actually the next-generation of the Asha line of feature phones. With MWC 2014 not far away, I am sure we will have a definitive answer on Project Normandy soon.

The last time we heard about Far Cry 4 was when an ex Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer teased it - but now we're back, with the latest tease of the upcoming first-person shooter from Ubisoft.

The latest comes from Xavier Plagnal, who is Ubisoft Shanghai's Studio Design Manager, where his LinkedIn profile teases that he worked from September 2013 to present as Content Director on "the next Far Cry." This isn't 100% yet, but it is getting awfully close. I'm hoping for a reveal sooner rather than later, myself.