Yes, Amazon’s delivery drones are real (maybe)
If you’ve been dreaming of drone-delivered packages since Amazon announced Prime Air last year — apparently your dreams are getting a little closer to reality. In its 2013 letter to shareholders published today, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos not only confirms the delivery drone’s existence but also addresses its production. In what still may be the greatest retail troll of all time, Bezos says “The Prime Air team is already flight testing our 5th and 6th generation aerial vehicles, and we are in the design phase on generations 7 and 8.” All we want to know is what version Amazon will have to get to before we can start placing orders.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Re/code
Source: Amazon Investor Relations
The Heartbleed bug is affecting routers, too
Read our Heartbleed defense primer? Good, but the fight for your privacy isn’t over just yet: you might have to replace your router, too. Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks have announced that the Heartbleed bug — a flaw in OpenSSL that lets attackers bypass common security protocols — has been found in their networking products. This news isn’t too surprising, as any device using an older version of SSL is vulnerable, but checking these devices for the flaw is a laborious process. Naturally, devices that don’t use the affected versions of OpenSSL (like Linksys routers) are unaffected. Both firms are investigating their product libraries to compile lists of affected devices. You can find those lists here, here (for Juniper Networks) and here (for Cisco Systems). If one of your devices is listed, sit tight and watch for updates; both companies say they’re working on patches.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Network World, Wall Street Journal, Linksys
[Download] Google Keyboard updated to version 3.0.19423, including improved suggestions from Google Apps Data
Continuing with Google’s increasingly frequent and regular updates to their core Google applications, the Google Keyboard has been updated to version 3.0.19423 today, bringing with it some nice improvements which should make your typing experience a little more streamlined.
In the last update, Google Keyboard was given the ability to pull data from Google’s other core apps and make typing suggestions and corrections based on that data; in version 3.0.19423, it looks like they’ve improved the process a little. The full list of changes for the update runs as follows:
What’s New
- Improved suggestions and corrections using data from Google apps and services
- Keypress popup animations
- Bug fixes and stability improvements
The update should be rolling out as we speak, but if you’re not seeing the update and absolutely need to have the update, we have a download link down below:
Google Keyboard version 3.0.19423 download
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Facebook wants to clean up spam in your News Feed
“1 like = $1.” “1 like = 1 Respect.” “If you don’t share this, you’re literally the devil.”
We’ll bet you’ve seen the above way too often on Facebook. Thankfully, the social network’s now showing these unwanted status updates less prominently on your feed, if the original posts were published by a Page account. The updated News Feed can identify three types of spammy posts and make sure they don’t drown out more relevant status updates. Those infamous “like-baiting” posts that gain more attention than usual by asking users to like, share or comment are the first in Facebook’s downgrade list. That’s followed by photos and videos that Pages have already uploaded in the past, and then by links that trick you into clicking through to websites chock-full of ads.
The social network says legit Pages that post quality content won’t have to worry about anything, but those that intentionally post spam “will see their distribution decrease over the next few months.” Unfortunately, Facebook friends fond of posting spam still get off scot-free, so you’ll just have to tell your gramps to turn it down a notch.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Facebook
Bloomberg: US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign
The woman in charge of guiding United States health policy and the figurehead of Healthcare.gov, Kathleen Sebelius, is reportedly resigning from her position. Bloomberg cites sources within the Obama administration with the news; it’s unclear if her resignation has anything to do with the rocky rollout of the Obama administration’s health care website. The official announce of the news is expected for tomorrow.
Sebelius became the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2009, and was at the forefront of the debate and rollout of healthcare reform in the United States. In that role, she’s spent the past six months playing defense due to millions of Americans’ inability to access to new healthcare program’s website.
Just this morning, Sebelius announced that 7.5 million Americans have signed up for healthcare under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act thus far. That number is expected to grow even higher, as around 400K people per week are currently signing up.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Bloomberg
This Bluetooth speaker projects sound in 360 degrees
There are few topics that can set a gadget conversation alight than the humble Bluetooth speaker. Why? Partly thanks to cheap asian products that have given the category a bad name. And, partly because Bluetooth was never really designed with high fidelity audio in mind — yet there seems to be a never ending deluge of products trying to convince us otherwise. Some brands, however, have managed to buck the trend, and win over buyers. But they are a select, usually monied/established group. Enter Spaced360. Neither an known name, nor an off the shelf OEM. Those rarest of breeds: an independent British company with audio heritage, putting a new spin on the little old Bluetooth speaker. Or, given the “360″ name, maybe it’s a revolution? Maybe…
Yes, it’s another Bluetooth speaker, but wait, don’t turn off yet. This one’s different. While you might not have heard of Spaced360 yet, it’s actually a spin off from a company we’ve seen before: Orbitsound (space… 360… get it?). The speaker itself is instantly eye-catching thanks to it’s three-sided/triangular/unusual design. The concept here is to create a speaker that you place in the centre of the room, not stuck away in the far corner. The hope is to go after the 5am back-to-ours crowd that huddle sociably around the music, doing whatever else they might be doing. Spaced360 assures us, it’s not just three drivers pointing out into the wild, either. The product is actually six drivers, half on the mid-high frequencies, and the rest taking care of the low end. All positioned as such to create a consistent 360-degree “sweet spot.” The internal battery offers between four and six hours of use at full blast, and a proprietary charger slips discreetly underneath for when that’s just not enough. Oh did we mention it has NFC and a 3.5mm input too?
The circular audio configuration isn’t the only distinction. Unusually for this kind of product, the bass hasn’t been jacked up to out of control levels. In fact, the makers have tried to keep the response as flat as possible. Literally music to many people’s ears. Add in the all important support for aptX and A2DP (which is what stops Bluetooth audio from sounding criminal) and things are on the right path. We’ve fed a variety of music through this, side by side with competing products, and were relieved not only to hear a signal seemingly untouched by aggressive EQ, but one with decent dynamics too. There’s another flourish we’re reserving judgement on for now though, and that’s the option to buy brightly coloured covers/cases to house your speaker. We’re told there’s no affect on the audio (cutouts are placed where the drivers reside), but it’s perhaps an unnecessary grab at the youthful wallet (they’re £30 a pop) — but if you’re quick, early buyers will get one free for a limited time. Which brings us neatly onto price. At £250, this is right up there with the current Bluetooth speaker royalty. That’s quite a lot of money to lay down, almost enough to fund a (small) revolution.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Big music labels file their own lawsuit against Megaupload over piracy
The seemingly inevitable has happened: following in the footsteps of the MPAA, the big music labels behind the RIAA have filed a copyright lawsuit against Megaupload. The companies assert that Kim Dotcom and crew both fostered and “handsomely profited from” illegally copied tunes shared through the service before the federal government shut it down. The RIAA is quick to add that Megaupload’s death resulted in a drop in piracy across the board — that’s surely evidence that it was up to no good, right?
Not surprisingly, Dotcom isn’t having any of it. He maintains that Megaupload was “totally legal” and that the RIAA has been conducting a “witch hunt.” It’ll be a while before the full facts of the lawsuit emerge, so we wouldn’t reach any conclusions just yet. However, the odds aren’t looking great for Megaupload — the site’s operators now have to fend off no less than three court actions if they want to emerge relatively unscathed.
Copyright extremists are having a party on #Megaupload‘s corpse after the witch hunt & public burning of a totally legal cloud storage site.
– Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) April 10, 2014
Filed under: Internet
Source: RIAA, Kim Dotcom (Twitter)
T-Mobile 4G LTE Tablets Drop to Wi-Fi Prices with 1GB of Free Monthly Data
It is day 2 of 3 for T-Mobile’s trifecta of un-carrier announcements. Yesterday they announced the Simple Starter plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and 500GB of data for $40 a month.
Today they announce a new way of doing business in the tablet arena. Taking the silly cost increase of a 4G LTE tablet model and giving it the same price tag as the Wi-Fi only variant. That essentially knocks $112 of the Galaxy Tab 3 and $130 off the 16GB iPAD Air.
Operation Tablet Freedom begins on April 12th and kicks off with something a bit more than a price reduction on 4G LTE enabled tablets. If you bring a tablet, buy a tablet or trade a tablet for a tablet, you can pick up 1GB of 4G LTE per month for free for the rest of the year. Pair that with the 200MBs of free data they are offering regardless, and you get your hands on 1.2GB of data for nothing.
There are a few rules and details of course, like it has to be added to your voice account and is free after a $10 monthly credit. Still, free data is free data. Makes me consider a tablet a little more seriously now.
Any takers out there?
Source: T-Mobile
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Apple Confirms ‘Heartbleed’ Security Issue Did Not Affect Apple Software and ‘Key Services’
Apple today released a statement to Re/code confirming that iOS, OS X and “key web services” were unaffected by the widely publicized security flaw known as Heartbleed which was disclosed earlier this week.
“Apple takes security very seriously. iOS and OS X never incorporated the vulnerable software and key web-based services were not affected,” an Apple spokesperson told Re/code.
Heartbleed was a security flaw in the popular open-source software OpenSSL which helps provide secure connections between clients and servers. Due the ubiquity of OpenSSL, Heartbleed is believed to have affected approximately 66% of the internet.
Security blogger Bruce Schneier describes the issue as “catastrophic” and on “the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11.” The flaw allowed servers to leak server memory to a malicious attacker, allowing hackers to extract login/password and other private data from a server. Users are recommended to change their passwords on all services that may have been affected. Mashable provides a list of services where you should change your password. Fortunately, MacRumors Forums were unaffected by the security flaw.
iMovie for Mac Updated With Minor Feature Upgrades and General Improvements [Mac Blog]
Apple has updated its iMovie for Mac video editing package, adding a few minor improvements and fixing issues related to sharing, search and some foreign languages.
The update adds the ability to sort events in the sidebar by date, change the font, size and color of new titles introduced in iMovie 10, and the ability to double-click an transition in the timeline to adjust its duration. All small additions, but welcome ones for some users.
What’s new in iMovie 10.0.3
• Option to sort events in the sidebar by date
• Change the font, size, and color of new titles introduced in iMovie version 10
• Double-click a transition in the timeline to adjust its duration
• Crop and rotate clips in events
• Add speed effects using the Adjustments Bar
• Option to smoothly transition in and out of speed effects
• Fixes issues that could cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly
• Resolves issues that could cause sharing to fail
• Improves reliability of search when using partial or multiple search terms
• General usability improvements on computers using certain languages
Apple also released an update to Xcode coding app that fixes a few issues.
iMovie is available from the Mac App Store for $14.99, though it is included free for many users with their Mac purchase. [Direct Link]
Xcode is a free download from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]
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