Angry Birds 2: Freemium Clips Its Wings

Angry Birds 2 -- the 13th installment of Angry Birds and the original game's first proper sequel -- on Thursday became available for iOS and Android. The free-to-play model is a call to players beyond its base. However, those new players may slip through developer Rovio's fingers if the game's features fail to motivate them to play with real money. Though there are 12 titles separating the first game from Angry Birds 2, Rovio revisited every element of the core game except for the iconic slingshot.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1UdeNCB

Mozilla Gripes at Microsoft for Giving Edge an Edge

Mozilla CEO Chris Beard on Thursday published an open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, calling on him to offer Windows 10 users an easier way to set their browser preferences. Beard characterized the lack of choice in the Windows 10 experience as "very disturbing." It appears to have been designed to force users into an experience Microsoft wants them to have instead of one they want, he charged. Users who upgrade to Microsoft's Windows 10 using the express setup will have the new Edge browser set as their default.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1fQe0IC

Hackers Make Smart Rifle Go Rogue

Security researchers Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger have hacked a TrackingPoint smart rifle that was designed to deliver sharpshooter results, even for novices. They demonstrated their feat for Wired and will present their findings at the week-long Black Hat 2015 security conference in Las Vegas, which begins Saturday. The two purchased a pair of $13,000 rifles and spent a year working on them. They developed a set of techniques that could let hackers compromise the rifles through the weapons' WiFi connection.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1KF56IK

OpenDaylight Project Picks Up Steam

The OpenDaylight Project this week announced that AT&T, ClearPath Networks and Nokia Networks have joined, bringing its membership total to 359. OpenDaylight is a collaborative open source project hosted by the Linux Foundation. Its goal is twofold: accelerate the adoption of software-defined networking; and create a solid foundation for network functions virtualization. The Linux Foundation announced the project in 2013, and ODL released its third software version, dubbed "Lithium," last month.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1MwVKB1

Commerce Dept. Caves on Security Export Rules

Some proposed federal rules on the export of security tools created a tumult in cybersecurity circles -- a tumult that's pushed the rules into limbo. The comment period for the rules, which the U.S. Department of Commerce first aired in May, ended July 20 -- and although the regulations have noble intentions, they also could have dire consequences. "We don't believe we need these rules," said Cheri McGuire, vice president for global government affairs and cybersecurity policy at Symantec.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1JyFdvm

Microsoft Fans Embark on Windows 10 Migration

Microsoft on Wednesday began offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8 users in 190 countries. Eligible users began receiving taskbar notifications, beckoning them to begin the migration to Windows 10. To encourage migration, Microsoft has asked the first flock of digital pilgrims to use the hashtag #UpgradeYourWorld and to tag a nonprofit organization to their posts. The one that receives the most votes will be designated as the 10th nonprofit in the program, and it will receive $500,000 and other support from Microsoft.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1I46Ry7

Consumers Fret Over Health Wearables Security

Collecting health and fitness data through wearable devices is raising concerns among consumers about the security of that information. Twenty-five percent of more than 3,500 consumers who participated in a recent survey did not believe their personal health data was safe on fitness trackers or in health-tracking apps, reported Healthline. Considering the recent headlines about health info data breaches, such as those at Anthem and the UCLA Medical School, that percentage may be a bit surprising.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1fIJJvn

Motorola Promises Its Smartphones Will Love You Back

Motorola, on Tuesday launched three new handsets -- Moto X Style, Moto X Play and a refreshed Moto G -- designed to end the "one-sided relationships" between smartphones and consumers. People have been living with phones that nag during drives, make outbursts during meetings, and run out of juice just when they're most needed, the company said. Adding insult to injury, they are often mismatched with their owners' style and character. Motorola promised its newly introduced suitors will change all that.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1KABdJE

AI, Robotics Wonks Urge Autonomous Weapons Ban

Leading artificial intelligence and robotics experts have issued an open letter arguing against the development of autonomous weapons. Its publication coincides with the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, which ends Friday in Buenos Aires. Many arguments have been advanced both for and against autonomous weapons. If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is "virtually inevitable" and autonomous weapons will "become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow," the letter says.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1gkvH3T

Nintendo's Sleep Monitor Is More Than a Dream

It's a piece that makes Nintendo's upcoming hardware and software platform even more puzzling. A patent application published last week has revealed more information about Nintendo's plans to build out its hardware ecosystem with contactless sleep monitoring technology. The device will assess individuals' emotions by using array of microphones and cameras to keep track of the noises and movements they make while getting some shuteye, according to the description in the patent application.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1MwBi3Z

Super-Scary Android Flaw Found

Zimperium on Monday revealed a stunning discovery by researcher Joshua Drake -- a flaw in Android's Stagefright media playback engine that could expose millions of mobile device users to attack without their having done anything. Stagefright, which processes several popular media formats, is implemented in native code -- C++ -- which is more prone to memory corruption than memory-safe languages such as Java, according to Zimperium. Stagefright has several remote code execution vulnerabilities that can be exploited using various methods.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1DMw2B9

The Key to Apple Watch Success: Getting Enough Right the First Time

I still find wry joy in all the "Apple Watch Tanks" headlines from early July. There are some great gems, like "Apple Watch is a FLOP: Sales of the gadget have fallen by 90 percent since April, report claims" or "Analyst: Apple Watch selling worse than thought." Trouble is, the reports and estimates were based on a tiny slice of reality. In fact, after Apple's earnings call with analysts last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple Watch sales were higher in June than in April or May. So, how is it that sales are tanking?

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1JO7Hgz

What To Do if Your Car Tries to Kill You

The scary news last week was that a couple of guys demonstrated they could hack into a Jeep and take control of it. Later, more details came out that suggested you might want to avoid Chrysler cars altogether. The industry appears to be waiting for the first major catastrophic accident before putting resources into fixing this problem at the proper level. They are slowly forming industry groups to look at it -- but at the current rate, their fix will come long after a lot of us are dead.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1VIMQEp

Tech Giants Boost Open Source Container Collaboration

The Linux Foundation this week announced the formation of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, a consortium dedicated to developing a new set of common container technologies and driving their adoption. The goal is to develop cloud-native applications that allow Internet companies to make scaling their businesses more practical. Open source container-packaged applications are easier to create, manage and deploy, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1I123Y8

Gadget Ogling: Gritty Tablets, Wireless Storage Sticks, and Swapped-Out Speakers

Dell's Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet is designed for people who work in the field, for the military and explorers, for industrial work and first responders. This system can handle some harsh conditions, including temperatures between -20 and 145 degrees and drops from more than four feet, as well as spills, mud, dirt and sand. It boasts an 11.6-inch screen, fifth-generation Intel Core CPUs, up to 12 hours of battery life, and up to 512 GB of solid-state storage. That sturdiness is something I'm all for.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HQrePg

Stephen Hawking Kicks Off $100M Hunt for Alien Intelligence

Space fever seems to be catching on. Stephen Hawking and a group of other high-profile space scientists joined with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner this week to announce a new $100 million effort to search for intelligent alien life. The funding will go to the Breakthrough Initiatives' Breakthrough Listen program. Breakthrough Initiatives is a 10-year multidisciplinary effort. The move comes as NASA continues to release stunning photos of Pluto captured by the New Horizons space probe.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1JDxYhn

Twitch Yanks Player Controls From Flash

Game-streaming service Twitch on Thursday joined Apple and other tech companies in swearing off its dependence on Adobe's Flash. The move away from Flash will happen in stages, but Twitch has promised its community that the gradual rollout will advance at a steady pace. Twitch began the transition to the more secure HTML5 and JavaScript by hybridizing its streaming video player. The controls have been replaced with HTML5 objects, but the streams running below are still Flash.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1RYspUA

Hackers Take Hijacked Jeep Cherokee for Joyride

White-hat hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek remotely took over a Jeep Cherokee, ran its controls, then cut the transmission as it sped at 70 mph along Interstate 64 in an experiment conducted with Wired. They turned on the air conditioning, switched radio channels, turned on the windshield wipers, activated the windshield washer fluid pump, and transmitted a photo of themselves to the vehicle's digital display -- all from a laptop 10 miles away. The hackers attacked through Chrysler's Uconnect infotainment system.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1IoVmV6

OPM Director's Resignation Draws Mixed Reactions

The resignation of U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta is drawing mixed reactions from the cybersecurity community. Archuleta's departure on July 10, in the wake of a massive data breach resulting in the theft of the personal information of more than 22 million people, is being characterized by security pros as everything from "necessary" to "unfair." It was "fair, justified and necessary," said Richard Blech, cofounder and CEO of Secure Channels.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1OAfAdG

Commodore's Ghost Lives in New Machine

Yet another Android smartphone hit the market last week -- but what's surprising is that it comes from Commodore. The Commodore PET smartphone is from Commodore Business Machines, a UK-based firm that has acquired the brand and trademark. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and has a 5.5-inch full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS OGS display. Two preinstalled emulators let owners play games written for old-school Commodore PCs. The PET might appeal to Commodore aficionados, but "I'm not sure how many of us are still alive," quipped tech analyst Rob Enderle.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1VvzTOc

The New Solus: Putting the Pieces Together Again

The Solus Project is a rebranded and rereleased Linux distro trying to regain its former popularity. In a field of Linux distributions cluttered with look-alike offerings, Solus brings something simple and something new. Solus has impressive potential for being uncomplicated and different. Based in the UK, the Solus Project is the latest iteration of SolusOS, which morphed into Evolve OS. The new Solus is not a complete porting of the old Evolve OS. Other than the bult-from-scratch Budgie desktop, much of it appears to be gutted.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1DvfD3Y

A New Challenger Pounds the Street Fighter V Pavement

Capcom has introduced a new character for its upcoming Street Fighter V, as it continued a reveal that promises a more connected, less confusing experience for players of the next installment in the decades-old series. Whether in a dark alley or a sunny park, any encounter with Necalli would trigger the run-and-hide side of the fight or flight response. Necalli takes on his opponents with an animalistic style of fighting that makes up for in pure brutality what it lacks in finesse, according to Capcom Community Manager Peter Rosas.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Ov7ClW

Philanderers, Scarlet Women Cower After Ashley Madison Hack

About 40 million swingers and sexual sophisticates have been whimpering in fear since hearing Sunday's news that hackers broke into the servers of Avid Life Media, the parent company of online cheating site Ashley Madison. The hackers reportedly stole large caches of personal data. "The Impact Team," as the hackers call themselves, apparently broke into the servers hosting Ashley Madison and related sites Cougar Life and Established Men. In addition to random customer data, the hackers stole employee account information, among other things.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1JuivQG

New Ford Tech Shines Light Where Drivers Need It

Ford Motor Company has developed a new lighting system that can illuminate hazards on the road -- even those that are not in the direct line of travel of the vehicle -- better than conventional headlights. Ford on Friday unveiled the Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System, which can widen the beam from headlines at junctions and roundabouts, and help draw the driver's attention to pedestrians, cyclists and animals that are in the vehicle's path -- or even off the road.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1OsQq0u

Angry Birds 2 Set for Late July Landing

Six years and more than a dozen spinoffs after Angry Birds first took flight, the game finally will receive a proper sequel on July 30, Rovio announced last week. The details are scant, but Angry Birds 2 apparently will be "bigger, badder and birdier," going by a tweet from Rovio. Rovio hasn't specified if Angry Birds 2 will launch on both Android and iOS, but the company indicated that the game will hit "app stores," plural. Exclusivity could hurt a company that's still searching for it's next massive hit.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1I8k6dY

The Emperor Is Naked and We're All Idiots

An old fable keeps running through my mind about the scam artist who convinced an emperor that he had created clothing only smart people could see. Everyone says they see the clothing because they don't want to look stupid. Granted, I'm thinking that walking around in clothing stupid people can't see doesn't sound that enticing, but that was clearly a different time. In the end, one child finally bursts out that the top guy in the state is a naked idiot. Recently, it has seemed clear to me that the folks reporting the news think we are idiots.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1CRWMVW

Gadget Ogling: An Amped-Up Smartphone, a Giant USB Charger and a Gun Detector

Marshall, best known for its guitar amplifiers and headphones, is moving into the smartphone market. Its first device, London, has dual front-facing speakers and a pair of audio outputs, making it easy to share what you're listening to with a friend who's also wearing headphones, assuming you're in a setting where you don't have the option of playing the audio over speakers. There's a dedicated button for access to various music services, and there's a scroll wheel with that unmistakable Marshall gold sheen to control the volume.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HGAlj7

Pluto Pix Push Interest in Space Exploration

Photos transmitted from 4 billion miles away by NASA's New Horizons Pluto space probe have sparked fresh interest in space exploration. New Horizons traveled more than 3 billion miles over a nine-and-a-half year stretch to reach the Pluto system. A close-up image of a region near Pluto's equator shows a range of mountains reaching up to 11,000 feet in height. "This is one of the youngest surfaces we've ever seen in the solar system," said Jeff Moore, geology, geophysics and imaging team leader at NASA's Ames Research Center.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Lr6no1

Swipes, Taps and Cursor Movements Can Foil Cyberthieves

Swipes, taps, cursor movements and other ways of interacting with electronic devices can be used to protect online merchants from Net fraudsters. Many people are familiar with biometric authenticators like irises, fingerprints and voices, but it turns out that how we behave with our machines can be a means of authenticating our identities, too. "We're able to profile users based on their interaction on the Web," said Natia Golan, product manager at BioCatch.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1OikoEw

Social Networks Funneling More News

News consumption on Facebook and Twitter has increased significantly in the last two years, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation. Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of Twitter and Facebook members surveyed said they got news from those social networks. For Twitter, that's an 11 point increase from 2013, when 52 percent of its members said they got news there. For Facebook it's a 16 point jump since 2013, when 47 percent of its members said they looked to it for news.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HOfZDP

Flash Furor Grows Despite Adobe's Latest Fix

Three new vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player have been reported over the past two weeks, triggering a storm of protest and leading Mozilla and Google to ban the plug-in from their Firefox and Chrome browsers. "It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day," Facebook CSO Alex Stamos tweeted Sunday. Flash "currently poses a huge risk to security -- these latest events are a perfect example of that," said Kasper Lindgaard, director of research and security at Secunia.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1OelSzC

Google Photos Backup Keeps Collecting Until You Make It Stop

Uninstalling Google's Photos app doesn't turn off backup sync, meaning photos taken with Android devices could be saved to the company's cloud storage, even if the user doesn't intend to store them there, Google acknowledged on Tuesday. The issue came to light last week, when a BizJournals editor reported finding hundreds of family photos he had deleted from his phone stored in Google Photos -- even though he had uninstalled the Google Photos app.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1I2enwH

Report: Android Wear Smartwatches to Get Together

It's rumored that the next version of Android Wear, reportedly scheduled for release in August, will bring tap gestures and watch-to-watch communications. The update initially was scheduled for launch on July 28th. "For now, these features simply bring parity between Android Wear and watchOS," said IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani. These new features "ultimately lay the groundwork for future messaging platforms," but neither platform "offers a compelling use case or killer app, as they're both essentially first-generation products," he added.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Hvb8Iv

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata Leaves Legacy of Charm

After more than a decade of shaping fan-forward Nintendo philosophies, President Satoru Iwata died Saturday at 55. Iwata had been struggling with cancer for about a year. The one-time programmer and long-time video game enthusiast worked his way through the ranks of Nintendo until there were no more promotions left. He succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002, which made him the first Nintendo president who wasn't a member of the Yamauchi family. Of the many successes bearing Iwata's signature at Nintendo, none stands out more than the Wii.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1IY0v5r

Mangaka Is an Artful Blend of Simplicity and Style

Mangaka is a nontraditional Linux distro with a gorgeous look. After gaining traction among fans of the manga and anime communities, Mangaka fell dormant in December 2009. Developer Animesoft International regrouped, and the latest Release Candidate version came out on June 20. The Mangaka Project -- the name means "love" in Japanese -- started out with the code name of "AngelOS." The unusual desktop environment and design may not tickle everyone's fancy, but the stunning artwork built into the background images will evoke smiles in some users.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1M2un1f

Haters Force Leadership Change at Reddit

The haters have won at Reddit, forcing the ouster of interim CEO Ellen Pao and her replacement by cofounder and former CEO Steve Huffman. Board member Sam Altman, who led a $50 million investment round in the firm, on Saturday announced Pao's resignation and Huffman's appointment, lashing out at the campaign against Pao. It was "sickening" to see some of the things Redditors wrote about Pao, he said. Disagreements are fine -- death threats are not, Altman continued, apparently referring to death threats some Redditors made against Pao.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TyczNU

Tech Tools to Make Your Next Move Less Painful

My wife and I just completed a move from California to Oregon, and it was far less painful than it could have been, thanks to technology. It used to be incredibly painful to move. While a lot of the pain is still there, technology has advanced a lot since we last moved -- about 18 years ago -- and at least some parts of the process now are far easier. For instance, with a little foresight, you actually can take your home phone numbers and saved programs with you. There is one Web service that will move all of your magazines and affinity cards.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HYSj3S

'Pac-Man' Satellite to Munch on Space Junk

There are more than 300,000 pieces of debris larger than 1 cm circulating less than 2,000km above Earth, and EPFL is working on a solution to the problem. Its CleanSpace One satellite project has passed a milestone toward its goal of launching a cleanup satellite to capture and destroy its SwissCube, which has been orbiting Earth for more than five years. S3, which focuses on in-orbit delivery of small satellites, will invest about $16 million in the cleanup system, which eSpace likened to a Pac-Man gobbling up space debris.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1LY9PHj

Gadget Ogling: Unobtrusive Audio, Connected Flora, and a Water Jet Cleaner

Dot is billing itself as the world's smallest Bluetooth headset. That might be mere marketing claptrap, but there's no doubt it's an impressive piece of kit. It runs for six hours of playback and nine hours of call time before it needs to recharge, and it has an 80-hour standby time. When Dot does need more power, you can simply plug it into the protective case, which doubles as a portable charger -- perhaps the smartest idea Dot offers. It also promises crystal clear sound.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Hmonxb

Apple Gives Fans a Taste of New OSes

Apple on Thursday released to consumers a preview of the latest versions of its mobile and desktop operating systems -- iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan -- which contain a number of new features, including a revamped two-factor authentication scheme. The latest release of iOS also contains two new smart folders. One automatically collects any photos captured with the front-facing camera in an iOS device -- which typically is used for selfies -- and the other aggregates any images used for screen shots.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1dQwsiU

IBM-Led Team Pulls Off Major Chip Feat

IBM Research on Thursday announced that an alliance it leads has produced the first 7nm node test chips with functioning transistors. Big Blue's partners are GlobalFoundries, Samsung and the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute's Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, or SUNY Poly CNSE. The alliance sought to develop industry-first innovations, such as Silicon Germanium channel transistors, and Extreme Ultraviolet lithography integration at multiple levels.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HmNigY

Gunpoder Malware Masquerades as Lesser Evil

Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 team on Tuesday published a report on Gunpoder, a family of Android malware that can evade detection scans by pretending to be adware. Cong Zheng and Zhi Xu authored the report. The team discovered the new Android malware last November. Its new report aims to spur cooperation within the security community to mount defenses against the threat. The name "Gunpoder" comes from the main malicious component the researchers identified in the malware code.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1LYZNXp

Gentlemen, Start Your 3D Printers!

Local Motors this week unveiled designs for what it hopes will be the first consumer-ready 3D-printed electric cars. The company plans to build two versions of the Reload Redacted vehicle, based on a design by engineer Kevin Lo, who took first place in the Project [REDACTED] competition. Local Motors earlier this year demonstrated a concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show, where it printed out the entire body during the event. The resulting prototype, dubbed the "Strati," was made up of fewer than 50 individual parts.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1MiC01M

Security Pros Shine Light on Shadowy Cyberspy Ring

A highly sophisticated group of hackers who use cutting-edge techniques to shield their attacks from detection has been bedeviling corporations around the world for several years. The group, which Symantec dubbed "Morpho" and Kaspersky Lab calls "Wild Neutron," has hit multibillion-dollar corporations in the Internet, software, pharmaceutical and commodities sectors in at least 11 countries. It's believed to have been behind attacks on Twitter, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook in 2013.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HNOxw2

Artificial Intelligence Dreamtime

Google researchers last month reported progress in advancing the image classification and speech recognition capabilities of artificial neural networks. Image classification and speech recognition tools are based on well-known mathematical methods, but why certain models work while others don't has been hazy. To help unravel the mystery, the team trained an artificial neural network by showing it millions of images and gradually adjusting the parameters until the network was able to provide the desired classifications.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1D0xRu0

Is Isolating the Internet Key to Bulletproof Security?

With so many cybersecurity pros drowning in an ever-rising tide of hack attacks on their computer systems, an emerging approach to defending those systems may be the life preserver they've been looking for. The approach doesn't involve beefing up perimeter defenses, carefully scrutinizing network traffic, or applying analytics to employee behavior. "We need something very different -- something that will take the malware problem off the table," said Kowsik Guruswamy, CTO of Menlo Security.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HdZMun

GoPro Whittles Down Hero4 Action Cam

GoPro's latest action cam features something the company's fans haven't seen for eight years: a product redesign. The company on Monday announced the Hero4 Session, a 1-inch cube video camera that weighs just 2.6 ounces -- less than half the heft of an iPhone. Unlike previous GoPro models, you won't need a case to protect it from getting wet. It's designed to withstand a soaking in up to 10 meters of water. However, while the camera is light in weight, it's also light on features -- and a heavy on price.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1ClyF1H

Musk Donates $10 Million to Keep AI From Going Rogue

The Future of Life Institute on Monday announced 37 winners of grant funding provided by Elon Musk and the Open Philanthropy Project. Musk contributed $10 million toward the effort. A total of $7 million will be awarded to fund the research teams for up to three years, with many of the projects beginning in September. Another $4 million is available to support research grants for areas that emerge as most promising. The teams will focus on the common goal of keeping artificial intelligence beneficial to humanity.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1HII4R8

Rick Perry and the Texas vs. California Tech War

A couple of weeks ago, I was waiting to do a CNBC slot on the Apple Watch in Asia -- the entire smartwatch class is having a lot of issues -- and I ran into Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, as he was coming out of the studio I was about to enter. For some reason, I thought he was going to be a typical entitled stuck-up jerk, like a lot of folks in his position are, but he wasn't. We started chatting about technology and jobs, and how he'd been focused as governor on getting tech companies to move to Texas from California.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1UsLv3W

Microsoft Anchors Minecraft Strategy to Education

Microsoft wants to find ways to assist the pioneering teachers who have taught pupils through the sandbox construction game Minecraft. The company earlier this week launched its Minecraft in Education initiative to turn the pioneers into pillars. There was puzzlement over Microsoft's end game last September, when it purchased Mojang, the studio behind the multiplatform hit, in a $2.5 billion bet. Many thought Minecraft was at or near its peak. It turns out Microsoft has some novel plans for the game.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1H0fBlg