Robust New FreeOffice Suite Proves Free Can Be Just as Good

SoftMaker's FreeOffice Linux office suite is a LibreOffice look-alike that provides strong performance compatibility with Microsoft Office documents. SoftMaker offers a line of open source offerings that compete with its commercial flagship office suite, SoftMaker Office 2016. It's a Windows/Linux cross-platform office suite with integrated applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and email management. The commercial version is nearly identical to the free, open source FreeOffice version.

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Ford After Dark: Self-Driving Car 'Sees' All

Ford on Monday revealed that it has been testing its Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle with no headlights on remote desert roads at night. While such a task would be quite perilous for a human driver, it was an important step in developing a fully autonomous vehicle, the company said. The test vehicle relied not on cameras, which require light, but instead on LiDAR technology for navigation. LiDAR worked with the car's virtual driver software to navigate the pitch-black and winding roads at the Ford Arizona Proving Ground.

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Learning to Love Virtual Reality

At Nvidia's technology conference last week, I saw a variety of new technologies showcased. From deep learning systems -- computers that arguably are smarter than we are -- to self-driving cars that can drive better than we can, the technological advances on display made me feel just a tad inadequate. One way to get over my sudden concern over obsolescence was to check out the virtual reality showcase. With the realization of all the free time I'm likely to get, the prospect of computers doing what I used to do suddenly didn't look so bad.

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A Convoy of Autonomous Trucks Just Platooned Across Europe

A dozen trucks utilizing an autonomous driving system arrived Wednesday in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after traveling across Europe in the European Truck Platooning Challenge. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, along with the Directorate General Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands Vehicle Authority and the Conference of European Directors of Roads were behind the initiative, which equipped a number of trucks with state-of-the-art driving support systems to create more efficient commercial vehicles.

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Reddit's Blocking Tool Balances Free Speech With Right to Ignore

Reddit this week announced that it has extended the reach of its blocking tool, which was introduced in 2011 to let users fight harassment. The tool previously focused on blocking private messages; now it can block comments to users' posts. Clicking the Block User button while viewing a reply will hide the blocked user's profile, comments, posts and messages without that user's knowledge. The user doing the blocking won't be alerted to further messages from the user being blocked.

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White House Takes a Pass on Encryption Debate

It appears that the Obama administration will refrain from giving its outspoken support to any legislation that aims to compel high-tech companies to help law enforcement agencies crack mobile phone encryption. On the other hand, it won't level any outspoken opposition either. Introduction of such a bill, sponsored by Sens. Diane Feinstein and Richard Burr, is expected soon. Although the White House has reviewed a draft of the measure and offered feedback, it is expected to provide minimal public input.

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Volkswagen Picks Mirantis to Build Massive OpenStack Cloud

Mirantis on Wednesday announced that Volkswagen Group has selected Mirantis OpenStack to power its cloud applications. The selection process involved a series of cloud-to-cloud performance trials between Red Hat and Mirantis, one of the last pure-play OpenStack companies that hasn't been shut down or acquired. It's ideally positioned to pursue and win large-scale deals like the Volkswagen project, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. The cloud services contract encompasses dozens of data centers and tens of thousands of nodes.

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