XAMI

+18

Do you think of the command line as an antiquated leftover from the past, or an old fashioned way of interacting with a computer? Think again. In Linux, it is the most flexible and powerful way to perform tasks. For example, searching for all .tmp files in a directory (and its sub-directories) and then deleting them can be a multi-step process when done via graphical user interface, but is a matter of few seconds when done through the command line. In this article, we'll discuss the basics of the Linux command line including directory navigation, file/directory operations, and search. Once you have mastered these, you can check out Part II of this guide that goes a layer deeper to discuss file metadata, permissions, timestamps, and more. 1. What is a home directory in Linux? Linux is a multi-user operating system, which means that more than one user can access the OS at the same time. To make things easy, each user is assigned a directory where they can store their personal files. This directory is known as a user's home directory. Home directories are found under the home directory. For example, my home directory is/home/himanshu. Please note that a user’s home directory has the same name as their login name. If you are a Windows user, you can think of a Linux home directory as a user specific directory usually present inside C:\Documents and Settings or C:\Users. Users have complete control over their home directory as well as all its sub-directories. This means that they can freely perform operations like create and delete files/directories, install programs, and more, inside their home directory. 2. How to check the present working directory? Whenever you open a command line shell in Linux, you start at your home directory. This is your present working directory, which changes as you switch to some other directory. Use the pwdcommand to check the complete path of your present working directory at any point of time. Here is an example: The pwd command output, shown in the screenshot above, indicates that the user is currently in thePictures directory, which is inside the himanshu directory, which in turn is a subdirectory of the homedirectory. In this case himanshu@ubuntu:~/Pictures$ is the command line prompt. 3. How to switch directories? Use the cd command to navigate through the Linux filesystem. This command requires either a directory name or its complete path depending upon where the directory is present. For example, if your present working directory is /home/himanshu/pictures, and you want to switch to/home/himanshu/pictures/vacations, then you can simply run the command: cd vacations. In this case, the command line shell will search for the vacations directory inside pictures. A path relative to the present working directory is also known as relative path. But in case you want to switch to /home/techspot, you’ll have to run the command: cd /home/techspot. The complete path, that begins with a forward slash (/), to a directory is also known as its absolute path. To quickly switch to the previous directory in the tree, run: cd .., or if you want to switch to the previous working directory run cd - 4. How to view directory contents? Use the ls command to list the contents of a directory. If the command is run without any argument, it displays the contents of the present working directory. Here is an example: To view the contents of any other directory, you can either specify its name (if it’s a subdirectory) or its complete path (if it’s not a subdirectory) as an argument to the ls command. If you observe closely, the output of the ls command is color coded. These different colors represent different types of files, making it easy to visually identify them. Some of the basic colors that you should know are: Blue (Directories), White (Text files), Red (Archives), Cyan (Links), Green (Executables), and Pink (Images). 5. How to view the contents of a file? Use the cat command to view the contents of a file. This command expects a filename as an argument. As you can see in the screenshot below, the cat command displayed the contents of thearg.c file. However, there is a limitation. If the file is large, the output might be too big for the command line shell screen to accommodate. In that case you can use use the less command along with the cat command: cat [filename] | less. The| symbol represents a pipe, which redirects the output of the cat command to the less command, which in turn makes it possible for you to navigate through the file's content using the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up and down. To quit the display mode press the q key. 6. How to create a new file? Use the touch command to create a new file. The command requires a filename as argument. For example, to create a file named test.log in the present working directory, just run the command: touch test.log. To create a new file at a location other than the present working directory, use the absolute path. For example, touch /home/himanshu/practice/test.log. Tip: To write anything into a newly created file, use a command line editor like Vi or Vim. 7. How to rename/copy/delete a file? Use the mv command to rename a file. For example, to rename log.txt to new_log.txt, run the command: mv log.txt new_log.txt. As always, if the file is not present in the present working directory, use the absolute path. You can also use the mv command to move a file from one location to other. This is the equivalent of a cut-paste operation via GUI. For example, to move log.txt (present in current directory) to/home/himanshu, run the command: mv log.txt /home/himanshu. To copy a file from one directory to another, use the cp command. Like the mv command, cp also requires a source and a destination. For example, cp log.txt /home/himanshu would create a copy oflog.txt (with the same name) in the /home/himanshu directory. To remove a file, use the rm command. This command expects a filename as an argument. For example, rm log.txt will remove the text file, if present in the current directory, while rm /home/himanshu/practice/log.txt will remove the text file present inside the practice directory. To remove directories, use the -r command line option with the rm command. For example, rm -r /home/himanshu/practice/ would delete the practice directory with all its subdirectories and files. 8. How to search for files? To search for files within a given directory, use the find command. The command requires directory path and filename as argument. For example, to search for a file named inheritance.cpp in the/home/himanshu/ directory, use the find command in the following way: I used sudo in the find command above to remove certain permission errors. You can skip it. If a directory path is not specified, the find command searches in the present working directory. You can also use wildcards with the find command to get the most out of it. For example, if you want to search all .c files present in the /home/himanshu/practice directory, use the find command as shown below. The '*' character is a wildcard that can represent any number of characters. For example, tech* can represent tech, techspot, techreport, and more. 9. How to search text within files? To search text within files, use the grep command. The command expects a keyword and a filename as arguments, and outputs lines that contain the keyword. For example, to search all the lines in the file /home/himanshu/practice/wazi/gdb/test.c that contain the keyword ptr, use the grep command in the following way: Use the -n command line option in case you want grep to display line numbers in output. Tip: To search a keyword in all the files present in the current directory, use the * wildcard character as the filename. Please note that unlike the find command, the grep command doesn’t search within subdirectories by default. However, you can enable this functionality by using the -R command line option while running the grep command. 10. What is the auto-complete feature? While working on the Linux command line, typing long paths, file names, and more can feel like a burden. Use the tab key to auto complete these long names and paths easily. For example, to write/home, you can just write /ho and press tab. The command line shell will auto complete the name for you. In the example above, it was easy for the shell to guess the name home because there was no other similar candidate in the / directory. But in case the shell encounters similar names while auto completing, it will display those names and you'll have to write a few more letters for the shell to know the correct name. Here is an example: The shell displayed all the names that it can use for auto completion. If, for example, you wanted to write techspot, then you’ll have to type in at least c to resolve the ambiguity. Once done, you can hit the tab key again to autocomplete the name. 11. What is root? Root is the only user that has control over the entire Linux system. It is capable of doing what normal users can’t, such as, changing ownership of files, adding or removing files from system directories, and more. As you can guess, the root account is mostly used by system administrators only. The top level directory in a Linux system, represented by forward slash (/), is known as root directory. It is the same directory that contains the home directory, which further contains user specific directories. However, you shouldn’t confuse / with the root user’s home directory, which is located under / by the name of root. 12. What are man pages? To learn more about Linux commands, you can head over to their respective man (or Manual) pages that come preinstalled with Linux. To open a man page, just run the man command followed by the command name. For example, run man rm to open the manual page of the rm command. You can find a lot of useful information about Linux commands this way. We've barely scratched the surface here, as the Linux command line has much to offer. Practice and master each and every command discussed in this article.

AMD has released a new set of Radeon Software Crimson Edition graphics drivers, version 16.10.1, that are fully optimized two major upcoming titles: Gears of War 4, and Mafia III. The 16.10.1 drivers are another batch from AMD that include game optimizations before launch, which is something AMD struggled to achieve several years ago. While these latest drivers are available to download now, Mafia III won't be released until October 7th, while Gears of War 4 launches on October 11th. Game optimizations aren't the only changes made in the 16.10.1 drivers: Radeon owners can also enjoy a new CrossFire profile for Shadow Warrior 2, along with a number of CrossFire related fixes in games such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Overwatch, and Battlefield 1. As always, you can download the Radeon Software 16.10.1 drivers through Radeon Settings automatically.

Let’s cut to the chase: PlayStation VR should be better. At its best, Sony’s new virtual reality headset manages to conjure the astonishing, immersive wonder of modern virtual reality. Just as often it is frustratingly held back by outdated hardware that can’t quite do what’s being asked of it. PlayStation VR is Sony’s answer to cutting-edge VR headsets like the Facebook-backed Oculus Riftand the Valve-backed HTC Vive. On paper, it offers much the same experience as its competitors at a lower price, powered not by an expensive gaming PC but by a somewhat less expensive PlayStation 4 console. I’ve been using the PSVR for the better part of a week and have played a handful of the games that will be available at launch. I’ve been impressed by some things, turned off by others, and made nauseous by a few. Throughout that time I’ve also been disappointed. Sony’s lovely, well designed headset is consistently undermined by inferior motion controllers, an underpowered console, and a lackluster camera. The Basics PSVR is out next week on October 13. If you buy one, it’ll run you $400 for the headset, or you can opt for the $500 bundle, which includes a couple of Move controllers and a PlayStation camera. The Move controllers are a known quantity. They came out in 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and work like Wii Remotes. Sony’s push for the Move came and went a long time ago, but the controllers still work with the PS4. The camera is familiar, too—it launched alongside the PS4 and has existed as an odd, underutilized peripheral ever since. The headset, of course, is new, as is the ambitious attempt to use the PS4 to tie all three pieces of technology together into a coherent VR system. Let’s talk about what this thing does well and what it does less well. It offers a cheaper, still impressive version of modern VR. We’ve got three major VR headsets at this point, with more on the way. Each one stands on its own as an entertainment device, and each also makes a particular sales pitch for VR as a new way to experience virtual worlds. While each headset puts its unique spin on that pitch, the basic trajectory remains the same. VR is fundamentally cool. Once you’ve used one of these headsets, you’ll probably want your friends to see it. At times, it makes you feel like you’re “there.” A giant shark will loom toward you out of dark water, and your adrenaline will spike. You’ll peer out over a precipitous drop and your guts will do a backflip. A cute little critter will run up to your feet and you’ll instinctively try to pet it. You’ll use a motion controller pick up an object off of a nearby table and turn it over in your hand, marveling at how part of your brain really thinks you’re holding it. PlayStation VR manages all those feats, albeit with more suspension of disbelief required than the competition. It will initially feel familiar to anyone who has tried out an Oculus Rift or an HTC Vive. If you’ve never tried either of those two headsets, you’ll probably be more immediately impressed. You won’t notice the funky head tracking. You won’t mind that your in-game hands are constantly stuttering. You won’t be as put off by the blurry graphics or frame-rate dips. In fact, there are probably people for whom that will be enough. To its credit, PSVR does convincingly convey the niftiness of modern virtual reality, and it does so powered not by an expensive gaming PC, but by a game console that millions of people already own. Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s still very expensive. Most people will have to pay $500 for PSVR, which is the price of the Move + camera bundle. That bundle comes with a disc containing demos of several VR games, but no full games. You’ll have to buy those separately. At $500, PSVR is indeed a more affordable option than the competition. The Oculus Rift costs $600 and will cost even more once its Touch controllers launch later this year. The HTC Vive, which comes with its own handheld controllers, costs $800. Moreover, the Rift and Vive both require powerful gaming PCs that can cost two or three times as much as a PS4, if not more. PSVR may be the cheapest of the big three VR headsets, but that only means it’s the cheapest of three very expensive things. But let’s not kid ourselves: A relatively cheap VR headset is still awfully expensive. You could buy a new gaming console for $500 and still have enough cash left over for a few games. You could buy a cutting-edge smartphone and have enough left over for a year of online storage and streaming music. You could buy a secondhand ticket to Hamilton. One of the best launch games, Super Hypercube, will cost you $30, and most of the other games are in the $20-40 range. The multiplayer tank-wars game Battlezone costs a whopping $60, which certainly seems high for what I’ve played of it. So, some perspective. PSVR may be the cheapest of the big three VR headsets, but that only means it’s the cheapest of three very expensive things. It’s pretty easy to set up, but requires some adjusting. The PSVR isn’t all that difficult to set up. You run a passthrough HDMI cable from the small new PSVR receiver box to your TV, and another HDMI cable to your PS4. You plug a USB cable from the box into your PS4. You plug the headset into the box. You sync the two Move controllers and plug in the camera. You put the camera on top of your TV. You run a quick calibration, and that’s pretty much it. However, I’ve found that the PS4 can require an annoying amount of adjusting in between games. I’ve yet to find a sweet spot where I can play any game standing up, sitting down, or anything in between. A few times, if I’ve wanted to sit for one game and stand for another, I’ve had to adjust my camera so that my head stays set within a small box. Other games have told me I’m leaned too far back, out of the play area. You can reset the orientation by holding down the Options button mid-game, which resets the horizontal and vertical orientation of the game. Weirdly, I’ve found that some games begin to rotate ever so slightly to the left or right as I play, an annoyance that the Options button appears powerless to fix. At one point my Battlezone cockpit rotated until I was sitting at an angle on my couch, seemingly unable to make the game point me back forward. It wasn’t until I started a new game that it went back to normal. When you turn the headset on, your PS4 dashboard immediately pops up in the headset and you’re off to the races. The ease with which I can go from “not playing VR” to “playing VR” is admirable, and makes it much easier to decide on a whim to put on the headset and play some games, or show it to friends I’ve invited over. Whatever annoying calibration steps are required, PSVR does remove a lot of barriers between you and playing a game. The headset is great. The headset is a nice piece of electronics, smartly designed and comfortable for extended periods of time. It also plays well with glasses—even my big chunkers—though if given the option I’d still prefer to wear contacts. Rather than strapping to the front of your face, the PSVR eyepiece hangs down from a plastic halo-hat that goes around the crown of your head. You can easily open the halo by pressing a release button on the back. Once you’ve got it on, you can fine-tune the fit by turning a knob next to the button. You can also press a second button to independently slide the face-mask forward and backward, which makes it a cinch to fit over your glasses without smushing them into your face. The optics themselves fit comfortably and are framed by soft rubber blinders that gently block out most outside light from around your eyes and nose. It breathes well, and my face rarely feels crowded by the PSVR in the way it often does by other VR headsets. As a bonus, it’s easy to scratch your eye or nose while playing. (Seemingly a small thing, but actually very nice!) I do find that my hair frequently falls down into my eyes and obscures my vision, but I guess I need a haircut anyway. I can’t tell you exact numbers, but the headset’s field of vision feels open. In a given VR game I rarely noticed the black binocular effect happening outside of the visible area. In-headset visuals are clear, and the blurriness and frame-rate issues some games have are likely more due to underpowered graphics processing hardware than any deficiency in the headset. The PSVR headset is almost entirely made of plastic. It’s fairly light and manages screen-heat effectively, which keeps it from feeling heavy or hot over longer play sessions. (That being said, for me a “longer” session has only been an hour or so, as most of the PSVR games I’ve got to play are insubstantial.) The headset does contain a lot of interlocking, breakable plastic parts, and the fitting mechanism in particular seems like it will degrade over time. But overall: Good headset. The other hardware is much less great. Unfortunately, the headset is only part of the equation. The bulk of my issues with PlayStation VR are related to all the other stuff. From what I’ve played over the last week, the PlayStation Move controllers, camera, and even the PS4 itself do not appear to be up to the task of smoothly running modern VR games. The camera does a middling job of tracking your head’s movement, and sometimes when I’d move more than a foot or two in any direction, I would find that the whole screen would freeze and shake. There’s also the issue of what I think of as “persistent controller shudder.” In most PSVR games, you can look down and see either your DualShock controller or, if you’re playing a Move game, some sort of in-game representation of the Move controllers. In every game I’ve played, my in-game controllers are constantly moving even if I’m holding them perfectly still. It’s as though my character has the shakes. For example, one sequence in Arkham VR has the player reading clipboards in a morgue, and the shaking was so pronounced I had a hard time reading the giant text on the paper. The gif above does an okay job recreating the effect, but it’s much more noticeable and off-putting when you’re wearing the headset. This pervasive, low-level controller shudder exists in every PSVR game I’ve played. I’ve tested the layout of my living room, checked the lighting and made sure everything is clear, all to no avail. A few other people I’ve spoken with who have used a PSVR, including my colleague Stephen Totilo, have described a similar experience. It’s possible we have all failed to properly optimize some setting or other, but unlikely. It’s easier to ignore controller shudder if you’re moving around and playing a game, but any time I’d pause to pick something up and examine it, I’d find it moving forward and backward by inches. It made me feel like I was having a seizure, which, given the tendency for VR games to induce nausea, is not a good starting point. (Speaking of nausea, I did have to stop a weekend session ofBattlezone due to VR sickness, but I hesitate to draw too many conclusions from that. Stephen played more than I did and has had no issues.) In addition to the controller shake, my camera has had a hard time tracking my full range of motion. In Job Simulator and Arkham VR, I frequently found that my hands would simply vanish into thin air as they moved outside the view of the camera. This greatly limits the physical possibility space of a given game. For example: One of the pleasures of playing Job Simulator on the HTC Vive is the fact that you can really occupy the 3D space. In the Vive version of the game, you can crawl under your desk and peer into the trash can. Here’s a clip of me playing the Vive version back in April: On PSVR, I couldn’t do even crouch without losing control of my hands entirely: If you drop a key in Batman: Arkham VR and try to pick it up, your hand will simply disappear as you reach out of the frame and the key will reappear on the piano in front of you: The PlayStation camera can only see you from the front, which causes some other problems, too. In games where I was using the Move controllers, I moved around naturally but frequently found myself blocking the camera’s view of the controllers with my body. I’d turn around and try to pick something up, only to watch my hand fade and glitch out as the camera lost tracking. The PS Move came out for the PS3 in 2010. It’s now six years old. The PlayStation camera came out in 2013. I understand why Sony would use existing controllers and cameras rather than developing and releasing much more expensive new ones, but the compromise they’ve made is evident in almost every moment of every game. It’s difficult to shake the feeling that this older hardware has been conscripted into the service of a pursuit that is beyond its capacity. Some of the games are neat, but so far most aren’t that exciting. Even the most amazing gaming hardware will fail if it doesn’t have any good games. The inverse of that is also true. Lackluster hardware can be saved if the games are good enough. From what I’ve played, the PSVR’s game library fails to make up for the hardware’s shortcomings. That could change as Sony sends along more launch games, however. Super Hypercube is the most consistently enjoyable of the games I’ve played. It’s a simple, ingenious Tetris-inspired affair that conceptually places you above an ever-growing 3D tetromino and has you rotating it to make it fit through a hole in the floor before it collides. The effect of playing the game, however, is that of slamming forward through a series of tiny keyholes in a neon starscape. It’s a lot of fun, stylishly made with a fantastic feel and punchy, poppy rhythm. It’s also a very simple use of VR. There’s no walking around or exploration, you just have to peer around your shape and quickly work out how to make this three dimensional object fit through a two-dimensional hole. (No surprise that a game that so creatively reconciles 3D and 2D would come from Polytron, makers of Fez.) Other games are less exciting. Arkham VR is a brief return to Rocksteady’s gritty take on Gotham City, and mostly feels like a series of somewhat interactive cutscenes. Most of the scenes have you standing still and looking around. Amusingly, action will often take place against a black loading screen, with combat sound effects playing in your ears like an old Batman radio play. The most interesting sequence has you working through one of the Arkham games’ holographic crime scenes, rewinding and pausing playback of the action to attempt to figure out what happened. It’s the sort of thing that could make for a fascinating crime scene investigation game, were that the sole focus. Unfortunately, it’s just a small part of the game. Battlezone places you in the cockpit of a tank that feels straight out of Tron and lets you play alongside up to three friends as you take on fleets of enemy vehicles. I played this one online with a few people and it never quite gelled for me. Even on easy, we were constantly getting killed, and after about an hour I felt like I’d seen all there was to see. My tank would also frequently clip and lock into my teammates’ tanks, triggering a sort of mecha-body horror that’s difficult to put into words. A demo of Rez Infinite was nifty but often visually overwhelming and suffered from perplexing frame-rate issues that will hopefully be absent from the full game. PlayStation VR Worlds is a familiar collection of “wow look at the cool VR!” demos and mini-games, including a somewhat nauseating street luge ride and a scripted encounter with a terrifying [CENSORED] of a giant shark. Job Simulator is silly fun but as I’ve mentioned is inferior to its other versions. We still have a lot of PSVR launch games to try, so we’ll be playing and talking about more of them in the weeks and months to come. Some interesting-sounding games are inbound later in the fall, including the multiplayer Star Trek: Bridge Crew. Speaking of the weeks and months to come… It’s hard to be optimistic about the future. All last week, I kept coming back to the fact that the PSVR peripherals I’ve been using are mostly failed Sony hardware products. The Move motion controller came out six years ago and failed to catch on as an alternative to the Nintendo Wii. The PlayStation camera launched in 2013 alongside the PS4 and failed to become even as useful as the not-that-useful Xbox Kinect. The PSVR, then, starts to feel like Sony’s Island of Misfit Toys. It’s a magnet for gadgets that didn’t succeed on their own merits, and it’s hard to believe that, together, they might finally break through. Back in 2014, Sony’s Richard Marks explained to us that, in a way, the Move didn’t meet its potential because it was designed to work within a 3D space, rather than the 2D screen to which it was initially constrained. But the fact remains that Sony is not using the concept of the Move for their new VR controller. They’re using actual six-year-old Move controllers. It’s admirable that they’ve gotten the results they have, but hard to overlook how far behind the old tech is lagging. The PSVR starts to feel like Sony’s Island of Misfit Toys. The upcoming PS4 Pro will offer significantly more processing power than the current PS4, which Sony says will allow VR games to potentially run at higher, more consistent frame-rates. We’ll certainly report back on how the PS4 Pro does with the current slate of PSVR games, but all the GPU horsepower in the world can’t make the Move and the PlayStation camera any less outdated. Furthermore, if the PS4 Pro does wind up being the preferred way to play PSVR games, the extra cost of the new console puts a significant dent in the PSVR’s appeal as a lower-priced VR alternative. If you buy a PSVR, you’re locking yourself in with Sony and hoping they continue to support the headset. Ironically, both the Move in your hand and the camera on your TV are reminders that Sony frequently does not support their hardware, and for all of Sony’s assurances about their commitment to VR, I’m skeptical that the PSVR will be any different. Unlike competing PC headsets, it will be much harder for the PSVR to find an extended life though hacks and independently created software. If Sony decides to stop supporting it, it will fast become one more hunk of plastic sitting in the closet. In Conclusion The PlayStation VR narrative goes like this: While HTC and Oculus have been off making expensive, cutting-edge headsets for high-end PC gamers, Sony is swooping in with a more approachable, affordable alternative for everyday people. I have my doubts about that narrative. My sense is that VR as a whole is just not there yet, and that Sony is valiantly attempting to make the first mainstream version of a technology that is not yet mature enough to go mainstream. It’s certainly possible that I’m wrong. The PSVR could wind up being good enough, a curious designation that is difficult to predict or assign. The Nintendo Wii had lousy graphics that couldn’t compete with the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but its motion controls were good enough that it became a global phenomenon. The original N64 Goldeneye was in many ways inferior to the first-person PC games of the era, but it was good enough to get people excited about a console FPS years before Halo. PlayStation VR is inferior to the competition in several significant ways. It’s also less expensive and easier to use, and for all its flaws it still manages to communicate the goofy, surreal joy of modern virtual reality. Time will tell if that makes it good enough. Best to wait and see. Review by: TechSpot

More futuristic technology once seen only in the movies is making its way into the real world - we’ve already got everything from advanced virtual reality systems to self-tying sneakers. Now, Panasonic has shown off an updated version of its transparent TV at Ceatec that looks as if it came straight from a sci-fi show. First unveiled at this year’s CES, the concept product's transparent pane of glass is unrecognizable as a television until you push a button or wave your hand to switch it on. Panasonic wasn’t happy with the transparency of the first model it showed off, so it has upgraded the TV to the point where it's almost indistinguishable from a standard glass panel. It now features an OLED display instead of LED, no longer requires external lighting sources to enhance the image, and offers a much brighter and clearer picture. When operating, it looks almost exactly like a regular television. The screen is created from a fine mesh and can be embedded into glass on any type of furniture - in this case, a sliding door on a large display cabinet. Panasonic also showed how the technology could be used as a door on a wine and sake cellar. The screen can display information such as the best temperature for the items, and touching a bottle via the glass door will bring up recipes that go well with beverage, based on what food is in the connected fridge. Sadly, it will be some time before these transparent TVs hit the market. A Panasonic spokesperson said they would likely be in development for at least three more years. Best start saving now.

It seems there’s no end to Yahoo’s problems. Last month, the troubled company admittedthat at least 500 million user accounts had been compromised in a breach that took place in 2014. It claimed “state-sponsored actors” were responsible for the attack, though a security firm disputes this. Now, it’s been revealed that Yahoo secretly built custom software last year that scanned all of its customers’ incoming emails for information provided by US intelligence officials. The report comes from Reuters’ Joseph Menn, citing three people familiar with the matter. Yahoo was complying with a classified US government request when it created the scanning tool that searched hundreds of millions of user emails at the behest of the National Security Agency or FBI. The software was searching for a specific string of characters, though it’s unclear exactly what words or phrases it was looking for and what data, if any, Yahoo handed over to the authorities. When Yahoo’s internal security team discovered the software, they initial thought it was the work of hackers. Company CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to comply with the demand led to Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos leaving his position to join Facebook in June 2015. Stamos said a programming flaw could have allowed hackers to access the stored emails. The incident is the first known case of a company agreeing to an agency’s request to scan all arriving emails, rather than probing stored messages or a small number of accounts in real time. "Yahoo is a law-abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States," the firm said in a statement. The American Civil Liberties Union called the order "unprecedented and unconstitutional [...] It is deeply disappointing that Yahoo declined to challenge this sweeping surveillance order, because customers are counting on technology companies to stand up to novel spying demands in court.” Last year, Yahoo became one of several companies that promised to alert users whose accounts they suspect have come under attack by state-sponsored hackers. Google, Facebook, and Twitter have also made the same promise. Other tech firms have denied that they received similar demands from government agencies. "We've never received such a request," a Google spokesperson said, "but if we did, our response would be simple: 'no way'." Microsoft was quick to damn Yahoo: "We have never engaged in the secret scanning of email traffic like what has been reported today about Yahoo." Stamos’ current employer said: "Facebook has never received a request like the one described in these news reports from any government, and if we did we would fight it." And Apple, which has had its fair share of troubles with the FBI, said: "We have never received a request of this type. If we were to receive one, we would oppose it in court." Whether these new revelations affect Yahoo’s $4.8 billion sale to Verizon remains to be seen.

Following a series of leaks over the past few weeks Google finally took the stage today to reveal — or confirm — several new hardware releases. As expected, a portion of the show was devoted to home devices. Specifically, a new Wi-Fi router, a new Chromecast, and a hybrid speaker/smart home assistant that’s intended to rival Amazon’s Echo. Google Wifi First up was Google Wifi, a new router that’s designed to be modular and easy to setup, so you can just hook up a single unit or multiple of them as part of a mesh network that can cover larger homes with Wi-Fi. It’s similar to kits from Luma or Eero, but significantly cheaper at $129 for one router or $299 for a three pack. By comparison, the Eero will set you back $199 for one unit or $499 for three, and the Luma is $150 and $400 respectively. Google Wifi supports AC1200 wireless speeds, as well as simultaneous dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. It also has beamforming technology and support for Bluetooth Smart. Among its key features the company mentioned a network assist feature that will actively monitor and optimize your network, and the ability to automatically and intelligently transition devices to the best access point and the right wireless channel to avoid congestion. The router itself is shaped like a hockey puck with a glowing blue light across the middle. There’s no mention of ports on the Google Wifi product page or advanced features like DLNA, port forwarding, QoS, VPN and others. There is a companion app, however, that will let you do things like pause Wi-Fi on specific devices, view which devices are connected and how much bandwidth they’re using and prioritize bandwidth per device. Google Wifi will be available for pre-order in the U.S. in November and will ship in December. Chromecast Ultra Google also announced and update to its po[CENSORED]r, inexpensive Chromecast media streamer — which the company claims has sold more than 30 million units so far. Rather than replace its existing entry-level model, the company introduced a new premium version dubbedChromecast Ultra, that’s capable of delivering 4K and HDR content from YouTube, Netflix and Vidi — starting in November, Google Play Movies will also be releasing 4K movies. The device itself has the same 2-inch circular shape of the standard Chromecast model but packs a faster processor and includes an Ethernet port for good measure. Just like the original Chromecast, you can cast all of your favorite content from thousands of apps using your phone, tablet or laptop. Mirror any content from your Android device or from a browser tab on your laptop (using Chrome) to the TV. The Chromecast Ultra will be available starting in November for $69. Google Home Lastly, Google’s anticipated Amazon Echo rival originally announced back in May, was detailed at length at today’s event. This voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant focuses on four key functionalities: playing music, getting answers from Google, managing your everyday tasks, and controlling smart home devices. The device features a minimal design with no physical buttons and hidden LED lights on its top surface for visual feedback upon receiving a voice command. In case you do want to control it by hand, there are capacitive touch controls for music playback. Supported music services include Google Play Music, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn and YouTube Music, with additional services like iHeartRadio coming soon. Google Home lets you set your favorite service as default so you don’t need to specify which one should play your tunes every time. Google claims that its microphones are “best in class” and that the speakers will deliver a full range with rich bass sounds and clear heights. For the privacy conscious, there is a mute mic button on the Home so you can control when the device is listening and when it isn’t. Since this is Google we’re talking about there was a big focus on the Home’s ability to get contextually relevant answers from the Google Assistant. Don’t know the name of a song? Just give some additional information, like the artist and the movie it’s on, and Google will find it and play it for you. It can also give you real-time answers to things you want to know, translate phrases, do simple math calculations or convert units, fetch a recipe, get real-time info on the weather, the stock market, the traffic, or your favorite sports team. Google won’t always have the best answer so its virtual assistant will tap into other sources like Wikipedia when necessary to bring you the best match. It can also handle more personalized functions like briefing you on your day’s appointments, checking traffic conditions to work, keep track of shopping lists and more. The device is designed to be modular so if you have two or three units at home, you can interact with any and only the nearest one will respond, or you can play music on them simultaneously. Like the Echo, Google Home can interact with supported devices, allowing you to control your lights, thermostats and switches with po[CENSORED]r home automation systems like Philips Hue, Nest, Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT — with more coming soon. Google Home will be available in stores starting in November or you can pre-order yours today for $129 from the Google Store, Best Buy, Target and Walmart.

Yahoo on Tuesday launched a rebranded version of its mobile news aggregation app, now called Yahoo Newsroom. Readers of a certain age may remember a time when Yahoo was the center of the then-small Internet universe. Millions of people visited the Internet pioneer’s homepage on a daily basis to soak in the latest news headlines, stock updates, celebrity gossip, sports scores and more. These days, however, things are a bit more fragmented as you’ve got a wide variety of apps and social media platforms all vying for your attention. With Newsroom, Yahoo is looking to once again become the one-stop shop for content discovery and discussion. Available today for Android and iOS, Yahoo Newsroom lets users comb through a variety of topics – or Vibes, as Yahoo calls them – to follow. As you use the app, it learns your preferences and tailors the news feed to surface stories you’re most likely to be passionate about. The app also encourages users to submit stories from around the web that others can view and comment on. Yahoo hopes the app will empower its community to engage in healthy discussions without the pressure that social media may bring. As TechCrunch correctly highlights, this could be a recipe for disaster. In addition to having to keep out spam, trolls and malicious content, Yahoo Newsroom will no doubt have to deal with the proliferation of “fake” news sites that have already exhibited the ability to outsmartFacebook’s Trending Topics algorithm.

Late last year, Google expressed its disappointment over the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ restrictive draft proposals regarding self-driving cars. The proposed law stated that autonomous vehicles must have a steering wheel, and a licensed driver must be present to take over if the systems fail. But now, following pressure from several tech groups, California is relaxing some of these regulations and has become the first state to allow autonomous vehicles on its roads without a human passenger inside. Governor Jerry Brown signed off on the new rules, which only apply to a project at San Ramon’s Bishop Ranch business park. French company Easymile’s fully-autonomous, 12-seater buses move workers across the site, but as they cross some public roads, the updated was necessary. Easymile’s buses are already operating in Europe and Asia. They function without an operator, steering wheel, brakes, or accelerator. The revised law states that driverless vehicles must have a two-way communications link between passengers and a “remote operator.” Easymile’s shuttles must also meet federal standards and can’t travel faster than 25 miles per hour. The bill also covers the Concord Naval Weapons Station where Honda and Otto have been testing driverless vehicle technologies. Under more proposed new rules, car manufacturers will be prohibited from advertising a vehicle as “autonomous” or “self-driving” if a human is responsible for controlling it. Tesla’s autopilot feature, for example, couldn’t be described using either of those terms. Despite reportedly rebooting its long-rumored autonomous car project and laying off dozens of employees, Apple continues to test its Project Titan vehicles in a closed environment. Google, meanwhile, has been testing its self-driving cars on the roads of Texas for some time now, where there are no laws against autonomous vehicles without drivers, steering wheels or brakes. Both tech giants have reportedly shown an interest in the California Naval Station test site.

Google on Tuesday unveiled Pixel, its first branded smartphone in the post-Nexus era. With it, Google is squarely taking aim at Apple and its new iPhone 7. Here’s everything you need to know. Google’s Pixel smartphone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 SoC, a quad-core chip with two high-performance cores clocked at 2.15GHz and two energy-efficient cores running at 1.6GHz, along with 4G of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB or 128GB of local storage. Around back is a 12.3-megapixel rear-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens and 1.55 micron pixels that Google spent a year working on. Google touched on a few camera features including smartburst in which you hold down the shutter button to capture multiple images and let the phone select the best of the bunch and HDR+, a nifty low-light technique in which the camera snaps several photos and stitches them together instead of capturing one long exposure that may end up being blurry. The search giant was quick to point out that Pixel received a rating of 89 from DxOMark, the highest score ever for a smartphone camera. For comparison, the Galaxy S7 Edge and Sony Xperia X Performance earned a score of 88 while the iPhone 7 could only muster a score of 86. What’s more, Google is offering free, unlimited storage of full-resolution images and videos shot with Pixel via Google Photos meaning you won’t run out of storage at the most inopportune time. Connectivity shouldn’t be an issue as Pixel includes a USB Type-C connector as well as Bluetooth 4.2. Oh, and there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack – another solid jab at Apple. Powering the device is a 2,770mAh or 3,450mAh battery depending on which model you purchase. Quick charging technology allows you to get up to seven hours of runtime with just a 15-minute charge. As you’ve no doubt seen in leaked images, Pixel is constructed of a combination of aluminum and glass with no unsightly camera bump on the rear. It’ll ship running Android 7.1 Nougat and will be the first with Google Assistant built in. It'll also come with a dongle that'll make transferring data from your existing phone a breeze. For all of the features and benefits that Android affords, the mobile OS has been plagued by fragmentation over the years as handset makers and wireless carriers more often than not take their sweet time in rolling out updates. As a Google phone, Pixel owners shouldn't have much to worry about in this category as the handset will automatically download and install the latest Android updates in the background, making the process about as seamless as possible. Pixel will also come with a custom launcher that features round icons and apps that are just "a swipe away." The overall look and feel of the skin looks quite clean and polished, somewhat reminiscent of the vanilla experience that Nexus devices offered but with some subtle changes. Worth noting is the fact that Pixel doesn’t appear to be water resistant nor does it have a microSD card slot for local storage expansion. Google is partnering with Verizon in the US but will also sell Pixel unlocked via the Google Store. Pixel also works on Project Fi, should that be your preferred wireless provider. Pixel will be offered with your choice of 5-inch (1080p) or 5.5-inch (2,160 x 1,440) AMOLED display – both coated with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 – in three colors: Very Silver, Quite Black and Really Blue (a US exclusive). Pricing starts at $649 and $769, respectively, with both phones being made available to pre-order starting today. They're scheduled to ship later this month.

Someone has obtained a board for Nvidia's upcoming GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, revealing the company's new Pascal GP107 GPU that's reportedly being built using Samsung's 14nm process. The photos reveal a die smaller than a postage stamp, which is significantly smaller than the GP106 GPU used on the GTX 1060. This is due to a reduction in CUDA core count that sees the GTX 1050 Ti packed with 768 cores, as opposed to 1280 on the GTX 1060 6GB models. The reduction in core count, along with a smaller 128-bit memory bus, reduces the overall size of the GPU. The die is surrounded by four GDDR5 memory chips for a total of 4 GB of on-board frame buffer, which will be the standard amount of memory for the GTX 1050 Ti. Leaked specifications indicate the card will have a 75W TDP, so in theory it could rely solely on PCIe slot power, however the photo of the GTX 1050 Ti's board shows a 6-pin PCIe power connector in the top right. Rumors suggest Nvidia will launch a GeForce GTX 1050 alongside the GTX 1050 Ti, which will pack a cut-down GP107 GPU with just 640 CUDA cores. Both graphics cards will slot into Nvidia's graphics card line-up below the $200 GTX 1060 3GB version, providing budget performance for po[CENSORED]r games like Overwatch.

In an effort to keep costs down, the Mozilla Foundation recently launched a new project that it hopes will reduce the amount of time its developers spend working on non-core components of Firefox. As a non-profit, it’s important for the Mozilla Foundation to keep costs at a minimum. As Mozilla Senior Director of Engineering Johnny Stenback explains, Project Mortar will allow Mozilla to have a stronger focus on advancing the web and reduce the complexity and long-term maintenance cost of Firefox by replacing non-core pieces of its platform with existing alternatives like those from other browser vendors. Initially, Project Mortar will investigate how Firefox handles PDF rendering and look for lower cost approaches to providing Flash support as its use continues to decline. Right now, the project is determining the feasibility of using the minimum set of Pepper APIs to support the PDFium library for rendering PDF documents as well as the Pepper Flash plugin. As The Register highlights, PDFium is Chrome’s open-source native PDF viewer. The Adobe / Google-built Pepper Flash player, for those not familiar, runs inside a sandbox in an effort to limit the amount of damage that malicious code could do when exploiting a vulnerability in the plugin. Stenback notes that if these experiments are successful, it will allow them to completely remove NPAPI support from Firefox once NPAPI is disabled for general plugin use.

Samsung’s reputation may have taken a beating following the overheating Galaxy Note 7saga, but it’s nothing compared to the damage done to Volkswagen after last year’s revelations that it cheated on emissions tests. Now, the German car manufacturer is trying to repair customer trust with its electric and fully-autonomous concept car, the I.D. Volkswagen showed off some images of the I.D. at the Paris Motor Show over the weekend. It also unveiled a futuristic short video of the car (below), demonstrating how features such as the “collect me” app and retractable steering wheel might work. The car will be Volkswagen’s first vehicle to use its Modular Electric Drive Kit. The company says it will have a range of 373 miles on just a single charge, and that all its future electric cars will be based on the I.D’s design, using similar parts and component. Volkswagen wants the I.D. to be its first fully autonomous vehicle. The steering wheel disappears into the dashpad when drivers touch the logo, activating the self-driving I.D. pilot mode. The feature may not available when the car launches in 2020, but the company promises the system will be available in the I.D. by 2025. Other specs include a 168bhp electric motor, a lithium-ion battery, wireless charging with the option of plugging it into the mains, and the ability to charge up to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes. Moreover, the trunk can be used as mailbox, whereby delivery services can locate the car using GPS and are granted permission to open the trunk using an app and drop off parcels. Owners are then notified of the delivery and the boot is locked. "Volkswagen is currently working with international logistics service providers to implement this innovative concept," the company says. It will take time before people can trust Volkswagen after it used special software to beat emissions testing. While the company refused to relate the I.D. with Dieselgate, it no doubt sees an electric car as a step toward repairing its damaged reputation and showing it can be an eco-friendly company.

It seems that every time we’re on the eve of a big smartphone reveal, a retailer manages to leak some images and specs online. Google’s set to unveil a slew of new hardware at its San Francisco event tomorrow, including the highly-anticipated Pixel and Pixel XL handsets. But UK store Carphone Warehouse has beaten it to the punch, with pictures and specs of the new smartphones appearing on its website. Canadian carrier Bell Canada ‘accidentally’ leaked photos of the devices when a preorder page appeared on the company's website yesterday. It was quickly taken down, but Carphone Warehouse’s information (since removed) showed even more photos and a list of specifications, though 9to5 Google points out that “some specs don’t quite add up.” Other than the 5-inch and 5.5-inch sizes, the Pixel and Pixel XL look identical. The top and bottom bezels are quite large, and the top half of phone’s rear features a mirror-finished section where the fingerprint sensor and camera sit. There appear to be two speakers at the bottom of the device next to the UBC Type-C charger, which can provide 7 hours of battery life from a 15-minute charge. Internally, the standard Pixel features a Snapdragon 821 2.15GHz processor. It comes with 32GB or 128GB of storage - though you can add another 256GB with the microSD slot - and 4GB of RAM. The Gorilla Glass 4-covered screen has a 1920 X 1080 resolution, and the 12MP rear camera has a f/2.0 aperture. The front snapper, meanwhile, offers 8 megapixels. The 5-inch pixel is powered by a 2770mAh battery, and it comes with Android Nougat 7.1. The Pixel XL has mostly the same specs as its little brother, apart from the upgraded quad HD display and 3450mAh battery. Both phones are available in black or white. Carphone Warehouse’s page revealed some of the services available with the Pixels, including “unlimited storage for your photos and videos, all stored at full resolution.” Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant is also highlighted, as is its messaging app, Allo, and cross-OS video calling application, Duo. There’s even support for Live Cases, the customizable cases that come with companion live wallpaper. No prices appeared on Carphone Warehouse’s page, but some rumors claim the smaller Pixel will start at $649.

Nearly two months after the successful launch of Instagram Stories, Facebook is now bringing a Snapchat-like way of sharing moments within Messenger. Dubbed Messenger Day, the feature essentially lets people share photos and videos with layered text, scribbles and stickers that disappear in 24 hours. Each image can be displayed for up to 10 seconds. A Facebook spokesman told TechCrunch that the social network is “running a small test of new ways for people to share updates visually,” but for now that test is limited to users in Poland. The company noted that it often runs such experiments, but they don’t always turn into actual products, and that it has nothing to announce for now. Similar to Instagram’s implementation, Messenger Day feeds are available at the top of the Messenger home screen, above recent conversations. Users can respond to an individual photo or video and the conversation will be directed to Messenger. The Stories slideshow format has proven quite po[CENSORED]r for Snapchat in terms of time spent within the app and engagement. Instagram launched a near perfect clone back in August, with CEO Kevin Systrom having no repairs in giving Snapchat all the credit they deserve. This isn't the first time Facebook has made Messenger itself more Snapchat-like. The company also tested disappearing text-based messages, and launched failed products like Poke and Slingshot that borrowed from Snapchats ephemeral theme.

HTC has launched a new app store for its Vive virtual reality headset where it’ll highlight a variety of VR experiences beyond gaming including art, design, education, music, sports, travel, and more. Dubbed Viveport, the storefront is available now in more than 30 countries including the US following a closed beta for Chinese users. “Viveport is the place where people can start their journey to virtual reality experiences,” Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport, said in a statement. “We launched in China earlier this year. We are happy to roll this out globally with some of the best creators in the industry. Our vision is to establish Viveport as the platform for virtual reality.” Currently Viveport has a fairly limited catalog of about 60 titles. Some of them are games, such as Cloudlands: VR Minigolf, Everest VR, Fantastic Contraption, and World of Diving. But the store has plenty of non-gaming VR content including Stonehenge VR, Mars Odyssey, The Music Room and an all-new edition of the Blu, among others. A special section called Viveport Premieres will highlight new content that’s launching on the store first. In contrast to Oculus’ approach, Viveport will not restrict itself to Vive-compatible software, it will accept titles from other stores and platforms. The company told Venture Beat that while there are no Oculus VR titles now, users should “stay tuned for news on that in the future.” Referring to the arrival of the PlayStation VR headset from Sony in October, Steiber wished them the best of luck. “It is important that VR be successful on game consoles and mobile. We’ll have more consumers coming on to experience VR. That’s good for the ecosystem.”

A report from Chinese site Zol, as spotted by TechPowerUp, suggests that Nvidia could be preparing the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti for launch at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2017. The GTX 1080 Ti would be the second graphics card to use Nvidia's Pascal GP102 silicon, which was first used in the Titan X. This new report suggests that for the GTX 1080 Ti, 26 of 30 SMs will be enabled, leaving the card with 3,328 CUDA cores and 208 TMUs. In contrast, the Titan X has 28 SMs enabled for 3,584 CUDA cores. The GPU will reportedly come with a base clock of 1,503 MHz and a boost clock of 1,623 MHz. As for the memory interface, we're expecting to see 384-bit GDDR5X providing 480 GB/s of bandwidth, attached to 12 GB of VRAM. With this sort of specification sheet, the GTX 1080 Ti will be an expensive graphics card, especially considering the GTX 1080 already retails for $599. There's no word on exact pricing just yet, but it could end up costing $700-800 in Nvidia's current line-up. The Titan X, which is Nvidia's most powerful graphics card, already retails for a huge $1,199. Between now and CES 2017, Nvidia is expected to launch the GTX 1050 and, if a new report is correct, the GTX 1050 Ti. Both cards will slot beneath the $250 GTX 1060 in Nvidia's mid-range and entry-level line-up. The GTX 1050 Ti will reportedly pack 768 CUDA cores, while the GTX 1050 will use 640, down from 1280 cores in the GTX 1060.

Microsoft at its Ignite conference for IT professionals this week demonstrated some of the many ways it is building artificial intelligence into its products and services. As Microsoft AI and Research Group Executive Vice President Harry Shum points out, they’re focused on building an AI stack that spans infrastructure, services, apps and agents in an effort to “democratize” AI, thus making it accessible – and valuable – to everyone. Shum points out that AI is shifting the computer science research supply chain and blurring the lines between research and product. As someone that has worked on both research and product teams, Shum said he realizes that end-to-end innovation in AI will not come from isolated research labs alone but rather from the combination of at-scale production workloads. Indeed, one only needs to look back to this past March and the failure that was Microsoft’s “Tay” chat bot as evidence that a single division approach isn’t always best when working with cutting-edge technology like AI. To help accelerate this movement, Microsoft is forming a new group that’ll bring several divisions under one roof. Included in the new sector are Microsoft Research and the company’s Information Platform Group as well the Bing and Cortana product groups plus the Ambient Computing and Robotics teams. The combined group will be comprised of more than 5,000 engineers and computer scientists, Shum said.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has launched an updated version of Raspbian, a po[CENSORED]r open-source operating system for the foundation’s various single-board computers. Raspbian isn’t developed or affiliated with the Raspberry Pi team although it does serve as one of two operating systems the foundation officially supports (the other is Noobs, which stands for New Out Of the Box Software). As UX engineer Simon Long explains, he met with Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton a little over two years ago and was flat out asked if he thought he could make Raspbian better. Having very little experience with Linux or Xwindows, Long hesitantly said he thought he could help. Raspbian, for those not familiar, isn’t exactly the most aesthetically pleasing OS on the block. As such, the initial batch of changes consists almost entirely of visual tweaks. This is evident from the get-go as an elegant splash screen replaces most of the diagnostic messages during boot-up. Long notes that the splash screen was carefully coded as to not slow down the machine’s boot time. Once at the desktop, you’ll find a vibrant background image – one of 16 sourced from the foundation’s own Greg Annandale. Other quick-hit changes include reworked taskbar, menu and file manager icons, revised temperature and voltage indicators, a new window frame design, the inclusion of the Infinality font rendering package, an updated login screen, options to disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth plus a handful of new applications. The new image, dubbed PIXEL (which stands for Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight), is available to download free of charge from the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s website. Long notes that the uncompressed image is more than 4GB in size meaning some older unzippers may not be able to decompress it properly. If that’s the case, you can simply use a program like 7-Zip on Windows or The Unarchiver on Mac to get the job done.

Welcome Claudiu

Ask people for their views on artificial intelligence, and many will talk about their fears of Terminator-style human enslavement by robots. Even Professor Stephen Hawking once saidthat AI could end humanity. But now, five tech giants have joined forces to publicize the benefits of super-intelligent machines. Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft have formed an alliance under the snappy title of the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society (PAI). In addition to alleviating fears over a possible Skynet scenario and other “legitimate concerns,” the non-profit group will conduct and publish research in AI-related areas such as ethics, fairness, privacy, transparency, the exchange of information between machine learning systems, trustworthiness, reliability, and collaboration between people and artificial intelligence. The Alliance emphasized that it has no plans to "lobby government or other policy-making bodies." There will be equal representation between corporate and non-corporate members, and it wants “academics, non-profits and specialists in policy and ethics” to join the group. The project's website states: "We believe that artificial intelligence technologies hold great promise for raising the quality of people's lives and can be leveraged to help humanity address important global challenges such as climate change, food, inequality, health, and education." One name noticeably absent from the list of founding partners is Apple. Microsoft’s Eric Horvitz, one of the partnership’s two interim co-chairs, told The Guardian: “We’ve been in discussions with Apple, I know they’re enthusiastic about this effort, and I’d personally hope to see them join.” Elon Musk’s non-profit research company OpenAI is also missing from the founding members lineup, though it may join at a later date. PAI is in discussions with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence regarding future members.

The outrage that some have exhibited over Apple’s decision to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus likely isn’t going away anytime soon. The Cupertino-based company does supply a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter with each phone sold but in reality, it’s just something else to leave behind or misplace during a busy day. What’s more, the adapter prevents you from charging your device while headphones are plugged in. If you’ve found yourself facing these circumstances lately, a project currently seeking funding on Indiegogo may be worth a look. The Fuze case is, well, a protective case for your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus. What’s unique about it is that it reintroduces the 3.5mm headphone jack, thus eliminating the need to carry around a dongle or adapter. It also has a Lightning port through which you can presumably charge your phone while listening to music and an integrated battery (2,400mAh for the iPhone 7 case and 3,600mAh for the iPhone 7 Plus version). It’s worth noting that the images of the device on the Indiegogo page differ a bit from what’s shown in the video above. Its creators say the original design was to have an extended base where the 3.5mm jack would be stored but after prototyping and testing, they decided it was too bulky and unattractive. Instead, backers will receive the case shown in the still images which measures 5mm thick and weighs 28 grams. A pledge of $49 at the early bird tier will get you on the list for a Fuze case for your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus. The flexible funding campaign has a month left and has raised a little over $2,600 of its $60,000 goal thus far.

Images of Huawei's upcoming large-screened flagship, the Mate 9, have leaked on Chinese social network Weibo. The images show a large six-inch screen with bezels as slim as the Mate 8, with a new dual-camera system boasting Leica branding. A slide advertising the Mate 9 has also revealed the pricing tiers and color options for the device. The most expensive model will deliver a ludicrous 6 GB of RAM along with 256 GB of storage for 4,700 yuan ($705), while the middle model provides 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for 3,900 yuan ($585). The cheapest Mate 9 will set you back 3,200 yuan ($480) and pack 4 GB of RAM plus 64 GB of storage. Color options also appear to vary by tier, with the top-specced model coming in six colors, filtering down to three colors for the cheapest variant. The phone itself seems to use a metal body, so the colors are appropriate for a high-end metal design. The dual camera system on the rear is expected to use the same dual-12-megapixel sensor setup as on the Huawei P9, although the leaked images show an increase in aperture from f/2.2 to f/2.0. Internally, benchmarks have suggested the Mate 9 will include an all new Kirin 960 chipset featuring ARM's latest high performance CPU cores, the Cortex-A73. The Mate 8 launched in November last year, so it's only a matter of time before Huawei decides to official unveil the Mate 9. The phone is set to launch with Android 7.0 on board and a new version of the company's EMUI skin, making this the first major Huawei phone to launch with Noguat pre-installed.

When he isn’t giving away his vast fortune, bringing the internet to remote parts of the earth, or trying to rid the world of all disease, Mark Zuckerberg continues to run a social media network that boasts nearly two billion active monthly users - and that requires some innovative tech. To show off some of Facebook’s cutting-edge, eco-friendly hardware, Zuckerberg is posting rare images of the technology on his own FB profile. First up is its massive data center facility in Luleå, Sweden, which stores the world’s largest archive of photos, as well as an increasing number of videos. As the site is located less than 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the temperature in the area is often below 50 degrees. Zuckerberg showed the huge fans that draw cold air from the outside to cool the tens of thousands of servers in the data hall. In the winter, when temperatures can drop to minus 30, the heat from the servers is used to warm the building, which is about the size of six football fields. The natural cooling/heating system, along with the power from a dozen nearby hydro-electric plants, mean the facility is 10 percent more efficient than traditional data centers and consumes 40 percent less power. Google is another company trying to reduce its data center energy usage; the search engine giant is using it Deep Mind AI to efficiently manage servers and environmental controls. As big as the building is, there are only around 150 people working inside its halls. Zuckerberg says that because of the simplified design, just one technician is required for every 25,000 servers. They often travel about on scooters, given the enormous size of the center. The Facebook CEO explains how the equipment has been stripped back to its bare bones so it can be accessed and repaired quickly. “A few years ago, it took an hour to repair a server hard drive. At Luleå, that’s down to two minutes," he said. Max Zavyalov, a network engineer in the Edge & Network Services team, was equally enthusiastic about the hardware: “Look at these racks, the network devices, the cabling. Everything is like reference model!” Through its Open Compute Project, Facebook releases its data center hardware designs to other developers and engineers. “We come from a proud hacker background and from a company largely built upon open source philosophy in software,” said Joel Kjellgren, Luleå Site Manager. “We just couldn’t understand why the same principles couldn’t apply to hardware.” It’s not all about power and efficiency; there’s also the question of privacy and security. Zuckerberg posted an image showing the huge number of old and obsolete hard drives that have been crushed to protect their contents. As a final word, Facebook’s director of data center design engineering Jay Park claimed that “There is no more efficient data center in the world.” And the company isn't slowing down; when the Los Luna, New Mexico site comes online in late 2018, it will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy and the company's seventh data center.