Day: February 1, 2017

Facebook’s revenue surges 50.8 pct

Facebook has reported a strong end to its financial year as the social network’s monthly users jumped to more than 1.86 billion. The technology giant, which also owns virtual reality firm Oculus as well as Instagram and WhatsApp, revealed its revenue had risen 54 per cent per cent in the last year to $US27.6 billion , while net income more than doubled from $US3.7 billion to $US10.2 billion .

New Hampshire figures out how to deal with self-driving cars

In 2013, when a state representative put forward a bill to study autonomous vehicles, proponents faced an image problem: “Scary robot cars!” That’s how Rep. Steven Smith, a Republican from Charlestown, described the past image of self-driving cars after discussing his new bill, which would shape how New Hampshire should prepare for autonomous vehicles. Judging from Tuesday’s hearing on the bill before the House of Representatives’ transportation committee, robot cars aren’t scary anymore.

Samsung Electronics may build a U.S. manufacturing base for appliances: source

A flag bearing the logo of Samsung Electronics is pictured at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, November 29, 2016. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd may build a manufacturing base in the United States for its home appliances business, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, amid growing concerns about protectionist policies pursued by the new Trump administration.

Arkansas bill aimed at forcing Amazon to collect sales taxes

Forcing Amazon and other e-commerce companies to collect Arkansas sales taxes could generate up to $100 million annually in extra revenue, a senator said Wednesday, arguing his plan would put the state in a better position to enact deeper tax cuts in two years. The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on Wednesday advanced a proposal that would require out-of-state companies with no physical presence in the state to collect the tax if they sell more than $100,000 worth of products or make at least 200 transactions.

Facebook’s Oculus facing $500 million bill in copyright case

Facebook’s virtual-reality subsidiary and two of its founders are facing a sobering reality after a jury hit them with a $500 million bill for violating the intellectual property rights of video-game maker ZeniMax Media. The verdict reached Wednesday in a Dallas federal court represents about one-fourth of the $2 billion that Facebook paid two years ago to buy Oculus, a developer of virtual-reality gear and software.

New York AG sues Charter for poor internet service

Attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed the suit in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court after a 16-month investigation determined the company provided customers with internet speeds that were slower than advertised. New York AG sues Charter for poor internet service Attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed the suit in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court after a 16-month investigation determined the company provided customers with internet speeds that were slower than advertised.

AsmIDE

Full description=This release includes a new debugger, source code generator, disassembler, updated reference tool, library expansion and numerous other changes. Full description=This release includes a new debugger, source code generator, disassembler, updated reference tool, library expansion and numerous other changes.

Linux-libre

It removes non-free components from Linux, that are disguised as source code or distributed in separate files. It also disables run-time requests for non-free components, shipped separately or as part of Linux, and documentation pointing to them.

Cybersecurity EO postponement: Lessons learned from immigration EO?

Mystery solved? The White House had announced that Donald Trump would sign an executive order on cybersecurity that would, among other new policies, move the executive responsibilities for the effort into the White House itself. The signing ceremony got postponed without much explanation, and it appeared that Trump and his team decided to take a little more time to mull over their new directives.

Arkansas bill aimed at forcing Amazon to collect sales taxes

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, left, shakes hands with Senate President Jonathan Dismang on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, after signing legislation outlining a $50 million tax cut for thousands of low-income residents. A Senate panel endorsed a separate proposal aimed at forcing Amazon to collect state sales taxes, and lawmakers are eyeing the potential revenue from the move to help pay for future income tax cuts.

Judge in guards’ murder trial to rule on text messages

Prosecutors in the upcoming trial of three jail guards charged with fatally beating mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree and assaulting another inmate want to introduce text messages that they claim show the guards were motivated by their general contempt of prisoners, and the pleasure they took in seeing them suffer. “This motive is illustrated in the texts found on their phones wherein they express humor and enjoyment at pain or discomfort experienced by the inmates, regardless of who inflicts it,” Braker wrote.

Concord: Multi-car crash spurs I-680 traffic alert

A traffic collision involving five vehicles forced the California Highway Patrol to issue a Sig-alert and close multiple lanes of Interstate 680 Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. The crash was reported just before 2 p.m., and officers responded to southbound I-680 lanes near the Concord Boulevard off-ramp, CHP Officer Ron Simmons said.

Facebook’s Oculus ordered pay USD500 mn in suit on stolen tech9 min ago

A US jury has ordered Facebook and creators of its Oculus Rift to pay USD 500 million to gaming software firm ZeniMax in a lawsuit that claimed the virtual reality technology was stolen. The Texas jury made the award yesterday in a trial in which Oculus was accused of basing its Rift headset on technology stolen from ZeniMax’s virtual reality software, court documents showed.

The GNOME Foundation gets a new director

The GNOME Foundation’s long search for a new executive director has finally come to an end: Neil McGovern has taken the job. ” McGovern is an experienced leader in Free Software projects and is best known for his role as Debian Project Leader from 2014-15.

Clickbait

Braving the choppy waters of the South Atlantic four days a week, fisherman David Shoshola says a mobile phone app is helping him worry less about the risk of not being able to support his family. The 50-year-old and three colleagues fish from two small, open-deck boats based in the seaside town of Lambert’s Bay, on South Africa’s windswept west coast.

Gravitas Picks Up ‘One Under The Sun’; Area 23A To ‘Dig Two Graves’

Gravitas Ventures has secured the worldwide rights to the sci-fi drama One Under the Sun , which will premiere February 25 in Los Angeles followed by a theatrical and digital release March 21. Directed by Vincent Tran and Riyaana Hartley, the pic stars Bollywood actress and former Miss India Pooja Batra as Kathryn Voss, an astronaut and Mars mission commander who is the only survivor of a space accident and emerges with no memory of the event and with an extraordinary gift. Longing to return her husband and terminally ill daughter, Voss instead is sequestered in a secret government facility, forcing her to become a fugitive from a government that fears her gift.

SpaceX Launches Return To Florida Following September Explosion

SpaceX is reportedly resuming launches from Florida’s Space Coast some five months after an explosion at its Cape Canaveral launch pad. The Orlando Business Journal reports that a SpaceX mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station is scheduled for Feb. 15, with another launch slated for this month to deliver the EchoStar 23 communications satellite to orbit.

Make Friends with iPal at Silicon Valley Airport’s New Robot Playground

In true Silicon Valley fashion, Mineta San Jose International Airport is giving travelers a modern way to enjoy the wait at the boarding gate with the debut of the new iPal Playground, the first interactive play space featuring the iPal humanoid social robot. The only installation of its kind in the U.S., the iPal Playground features AvatarMind’s new iPal social companion robots to play with, entertain and even educate travelers?adults and children alike?passing through SJC.

Whoosh! Swish! Meet Bat Bot, the new flying batlike drone

This photo provided by Alireza Ramezani, University of Illinois, shows a Bat Bot, a three-ounce flying robot that they say can be more agile at getting into treacherous places than standard drones. Because it mimics the unique and more flexible way bats fly, this new robot prototype can do a better and safer job getting into disaster sites and scoping out construction zones than those bulky drones with spinning rotors, said the three authors of a study released Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, in the journal Science Robotics.

The Bot That Flies Like a Bat

Imagine a drone that could bounce off a building instead of crashing into it, or move safely and seamlessly among workers at a skyscraper under construction. While most drones cause damage when they collide with objects or people, a new flying robot promises safer flights by mimicking bat behavior.

HEALTH: How Samsung is leveraging VR to manage pain. Together, …

Together, Samsung and AppliedVR are working with a group of hospitals to validate the technology for children and adults. In one randomized controlled trial, the two have collaborated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to evaluate the clinical utility of VR for inpatient pain management and its effect on narcotic use, length of stay, and patient satisfaction.