76726063
submission
redletterdave writes:
At Oculusâ(TM) annual developer conference on Thursday, Oculus' chief scientist Michael Abrash took the stage to offer a few anecdotes and a ton of information about the current state of virtual reality, and where it needs to go in order to be truly great. Getting to the next level of virtual reality, Abrash said, will require coordinated advances in several different technologies. Specifically, Abrash believes the future of virtual reality will be built on three pillars: driving the human perceptual system, sensing and reconstructing reality, and interaction.
75770271
submission
redletterdave writes:
The Void is the first company to create a virtual reality theme park, where virtual experiences are layered on top of physical, real world environments. Tech Insider was the first media outlet to visit The Void's headquarters in Utah, filming the company's first creations. These experiences are still far from final, but the footage is impressive and entertaining.
74953335
submission
redletterdave writes:
A new patent filed last April but published by the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month suggests Samsung might be working on a smartphone that can bend in half like a flip phone. The biggest problem, according to the patent, is all the strain that accumulates by continually folding the display, or keeping the display folded for a long period of time, which can result in deformations and imperfections, Samsung notes. But Samsung's patent also describes how the phone could keep track of how long it's been in the folded and unfolded states, so as to alert the user of any strain that needs to be relieved. This could help extend the lifetime of the phone and its display.
63956299
submission
redletterdave writes:
Microsoft announced on its Windows blog Wednesday that it’s removed more than 1,500 apps from its Windows Store in a bid to clean up the store and restore trust with Windows 8 and Windows Phone users. Microsoft’s new certification process, in particular, asks for clear and accurate names that 'reflect the functionality of the app,' more accurate categories, and differentiated icons to ensure apps aren’t confused with one another. Microsoft reached out to developers with apps that violated its policies; some agreed to make changes to their software, while those who were 'less receptive' saw their apps removed from the Windows Store.
63754585
submission
redletterdave writes:
When Steve Ballmer announced he was stepping down from Microsoft’s board of directors, he cited a fall schedule that would 'be hectic between teaching a new class and the start of the NBA season.' It turns out Ballmer will teach an MBA class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in the fall, and a class at USC’s Marshall School of Business in the spring. Helen Chang, assistant director of communications at Stanford’s Business School, told Business Insider that Ballmer will be working with faculty member Susan Athey for a strategic management course called 'TRAMGT588: Leading organizations.' As for the spring semester, Ballmer will head to Los Angeles — closer to where his Clippers will be playing — and teach a course at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. We reached out to the Marshall School, which declined to offer more details about Ballmer’s class.
63190817
submission
redletterdave writes:
Nintendo posted its third loss in four quarters on Wednesday. Even though Mario Kart 8, its big first-party game released in May, shipped more than 2.82 million copies by the end of June, the Mario-themed racing game was not enough to help Nintendo’s struggling Wii U console perform in this particular quarter. The company said it lost $97 million between March and June. Nintendo shipped 510,000 units of the Wii U in the June quarter, bringing the total to 6.68 million consoles sold — it’s a big jump from the 160,000 units it sold in the same quarter a year ago and a small improvement over the 310,000 units it sold in the March quarter. Still, the Wii U is still lagging behind the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, and Nintendo must also contend with mobile games available on Apple and Google’s app stores, which cost but a fraction of a Nintendo game.
63067179
submission
redletterdave writes:
Sharron Laverne Parrish Jr., 24, allegedly scammed Apple not once, but 42 times, cheating the company out of more than $300,000 — and his scam was breathtakingly simple. According to a Secret Service criminal complaint, Parrish allegedly visited Apple Stores and tried to buy products with four different debit cards, which were all closed by his respective financial institutions. When his debit card was inevitably declined by the Apple Store, he would protest and offer to call his bank — except, he wasn’t really calling his bank. So he would allegedly offer the Apple Store employees a fake authorization code with a certain number of digits, which is normally provided by credit card issuers to create a record of the credit or debit override. But that’s the problem with this system: as long as the number of digits is correct, the override code itself doesn’t matter.
62703515
submission
redletterdave writes:
Dan Petro, a security analyst for the Bishop Fox IT consulting firm, built a proof of concept device that’s able to hack into any Google Chromecasts nearby to project Rick Astley’s 'Never Gonna Give You Up,' or any other video a prankster might choose. The 'Rickmote,' which is built on top of the $35 Raspberry Pi single board computer, finds a local Chromecast device, boots it off the network, and then takes over the screen with multimedia of one’s choosing. But it gets worse for the victims: If the hacker leaves the range of the device, there’s no way to regain control of the Chromecast. Unfortunately for Google, this is a rather serious issue with the Chromecast device that’s not too easy to fix, as the configuration process is an essential part of the Chromecast experience.
62128253
submission
redletterdave writes:
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s biggest chip maker by revenue, has shipped its first batch of microprocessors to Apple as the iPhone maker looks to diversify its overseas suppliers. Apple will continue to rely on Samsung for its microprocessors, but as the rivalry between Apple and Samsung heats up in the mobile and soon wearable arenas, the deal with TSMC allows Apple to be less reliant on Samsung and therefore have more leverage with respect to price negotiations for future chips, as TSMC has supplanted Samsung Electronics as Apple’s chief chipmaker for iPhones and iPads. Since 2011, Apple has been striking deals with other display and chip makers around Asia to reduce its dependence on Samsung. As a result of this slowdown in sales, Samsung on Monday announced operating income for its fiscal second quarter had sunk to a two-year low, blaming “weak” sales of low- and medium-end smartphones, strong competition and subpar demand.
62077053
submission
redletterdave writes:
Tor has been sued in the state of Texas over a revenge porn website that used its free encrypted communications service. The plaintiff in the case — Shelby Conklin, a criminal justice major at the University of North Texas — alleges a revenge porn site called Pinkmeth 'gained unauthorized access to nude photographs' she owned and posted them to the internet. She also said Tor, which The Economist once called 'a dark corner of the web,' was involved in an active 'civil conspiracy' with Pinkmeth because the revenge porn website used the anonymous communications service to prevent others from tracking its location.
61977501
submission
redletterdave writes:
Uber announced in a blog post on Monday it would cut the prices of its UberX service in New York City by 20% — but it’s only for a limited time. Uber says this makes it cheaper to use UberX than taking a taxi. Consumers like Uber’s aggressive pricing strategy but competitors — and some of its own drivers — are not as happy.
61976807
submission
redletterdave writes:
The largest private employer in all of China and one of the biggest supply chain manufacturers in the world, Foxconn announced it will soon start using robots to help assemble devices at its several sprawling factories across China. Apple, one of Foxconn’s biggest partners to help assemble its iPhones, iPads, will be the first company to use the new service. Foxconn said its new 'Foxbots' will cost roughly $20,000 to $25,000 to make, but individually be able to build an average of 30,000 devices. According to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, the company will deploy 10,000 robots to its factories before expanding the rollout any further. He said the robots are currently in their 'final testing phase.'
61775797
submission
redletterdave writes:
Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company’s massive secret experiment designed to purposefully manipulate the emotions of its users was communicated 'poorly.' Sandberg's public comments, which were the first from any Facebook executive following the discovery of the one-week psychological study, were made while attending a meeting with small businesses in India that advertise on Facebook. 'This was part of ongoing research companies do to test different products, and that was what it was,” Sandberg said. 'It was poorly communicated. And for that communication we apologize. We never meant to upset you.'
61623729
submission
redletterdave writes:
Apple is one of the biggest headphones makers in the world thanks to those signature white earbuds that have shipped with every iPod, iPhone, and iPad since 2001. But even two years after earbuds became 'EarPods,' the design could still be improved — and competitors are taking notice. Amazon recently unveiled a new pair of in-ear headphones that are magnetic, tangle-free and $5 cheaper than Apple’s $30 EarPods, while smaller startups are promoting their own wireless and customizable 3D-printed earbuds. But Apple has an ace up its sleeve, in the form of patents for a set of headphones with 'one or more integrated physiological sensors' designed to help users keep track of their body stats.
61590835
submission
redletterdave writes:
In a blog post from Gregg Pollack, CEO of the Code School, Google is paying for three free months for any women and minorities interested in tech to expand their skills. The offer is part of Google’s $50 million 'Made With Code' initiative, which aims to help close the gender gap in tech. While Google is also offering the same vouchers to the women in attendance at its annual I/O developers conference this week, the search giant has released an online application that’s available to women everywhere. Google says its available vouchers for women number in the 'thousands.'
