Tech firms say FBI wants browsing history without warrant
Tech companies and privacy advocates are warning against new legislation that would give the FBI the ability to access “electronic communication transactional records” (ECTRs) without a warrant in spy and terrorism cases. ECTRs include high-level information on what sites a person visited, the time spent on those sites, email metadata, location information and IP addresses. To gain access to this data, a special agent in charge of a bureau field office need only write a “national security letter” (NSL) that doesn’t require a judge’s approval.
It’s worth noting that ECTRs don’t amount to a full browsing history. If a suspected terrorist were reading this article, the FBI would only see they read “engadget.com” and how long for, rather than the specific page links. Additionally, the ECTRs won’t include the content of emails, search queries, or form content, but will feature metadata, so the FBI would know who someone is messaging and when.
Nonetheless, this data is extremely important to the bureau. FBI Director James B. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in February that the agency’s inability to make requests affects its work in “a very, very big and practical way.” He also said that the new legislation essentially fixes “a typo” in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) that has led tech firms to refuse to provide the bureau with ECTRs. The proposals are being considered this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee as an amendment to the ECPA.
Tech companies and privacy advocates are not happy with the proposed changes. The “ECTR coalition,” which includes tech giants like Facebook, Foursquare, Google and Yahoo and non-profits like the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, has signed an open letter warning against the legislation. In it, they argue that the expansion of the NSL powers would reveal “incredibly intimate” details of an individual’s life. “This information could reveal details about a person’s political affiliation, medical conditions, religion, substance abuse history, sexual orientation and … even his or her movements throughout the day.”
The letter also highlights the FBI’s past use (and abuse) of NSLs. It states that the FBI issued over 300,000 letters over the past decade, and also claims that the “vast majority” included gag orders that stopped companies disclosing the requests. It then points to a 2007 audit by the Office of the Inspector General (IG) that found “the FBI illegally used NSLs to collect information that was not permitted by the NSL statutes.”
The IG also found the bureau had stored that data indefinitely, and it was used in cases not relevant to an FBI investigation. Finally, NSLs were used to collect “tens of thousands” of records at once, rather than being carefully targeted. The letter ends urging the senate to “oppose efforts to include such language in the ECPA reform bill.”
Source: ACLU
England isn’t windy enough for new turbines, claims industry boss
Every country has its stereotypes, but England will always be famous for its terrible weather. You’d think a land labeled for its cold, wet and windy conditions would be ideal for generating energy, but it turns out that isn’t the case. The head of the UK’s wind industry trade body, Hugh McNeal, has even gone on record to admit that England simply isn’t windy enough to justify the creation of any more wind farms.
McNeal’s revelation comes in an interview with The Telegraph, in which he talks about the challenges faced by renewable energy companies in the UK after the government cut subsidies in April. He makes the case for onshore wind farms, noting that developers need to convince ministers that they are the cheapest way to generate new energy, but new developments in England would be “very unlikely,” beyond those that have already received funding and are waiting to be built.
“We are almost certainly not talking about the possibility of new plants in England. The project economics wouldn’t work; the wind speeds don’t allow for it,” McNeal told the newspaper.
Scotland, on the other hand, is enjoying lots of new wind energy investments. In October, Dong — Denmark’s largest energy company — confirmed it had been given the green light to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea. A month later, Norway’s Statoil said it would install five 6MW turbines off the coast of Peterhead, making it the world’s largest floating wind development.
While wind — and solar, to a point — might be not ideal in England, there are plans for alternative sources of renewable power. Tidal Lagoon Power aims to build the world’s first lagoon power plants, creating six giant structures — four in Wales and two in England — that capture energy from powerful coastal tides. The company believes it could generate as much as 8 percent of the UK’s total power, offering the government a predictable source of clean energy that has very little risks associated with it.
Source: The Telegraph
The robot-made shelter that adapts to human movement
I peer up at the clouds and squint as raindrops splatter my glasses. Up above, far beyond my reach, is a sparse canopy woven together by an extraordinary mixture of carbon and glass fibers. They stick, curve and cross over one another to form wide hexagonal discs, spreading out across the lawn like a fleet of flying saucers. As I walk underneath, I reach out and touch the pillars that keep the entire structure afloat. They’re narrow at the base, but shoot upwards and outwards like saplings craving sunlight.
The unusual shelter has been set up at the V&A Museum in London as part of a new “Engineering Season” that runs until November. It was created by a group from the University of Stuttgart in Germany: Achim Menges, an experimental architect and professor; Jans Knipper, a structural engineer and professor; Moritz Dorstelmann, a research associate and doctoral candidate at the university; and Thomas Auer, a climate engineer.
It’s called the Elytra Filament Pavilion, and it takes inspiration from the hardened “elytra” wings used by flying beetles. While they’re shooting through the air, these insects raise their forewings into a flat, open position, revealing a pair of softer and more powerful sails underneath.
Credit: Getty Creative
“The shell of the flying beetle is a very light structure, because, well, the beetle has to fly,” Knipper says. “It’s also a system which consists of two layers, which are connected by fibers to create a load-bearing, strong system. We took this idea from the elytra and adapted its orientation and the layering of the fibers to make a very light, wide system at the V&A.”
The carbon and glass fibers allow the team to mimic the elytra’s design on a much larger scale. Each hexagonal piece weighs around 35 kilograms, making them easy to pick up and attach to the structure. “They’re interesting materials because they start off soft and flexible,” Menges says. “But then they cure when they are infiltrated with resin, becoming some of the stiffest and strongest materials that we have at our disposal.”
Those properties are useful because the team wants the pavilion to evolve over time. Sensors inside the glass fibers are able to measure the forces and structural stresses weighing on the canopy. Thermal imaging cameras can figure out where people are standing and moving underneath, either to find shade or avoid Britain’s nastier weather patterns. All of this information will be stored and analyzed to determine how the structure should change at what the museum is calling “events.”
A robot’s helping hand
The events will be shaped by a robot neat the back of the pavilion. Walking over, I can see it lurking behind a transparent cover, winding stringy fibers around an enormous steel hexagon. The machine has been developed by Kuka, a German company that develops factory robots for automakers like Audio and BMW, as well as brands like Adidas and Carlsberg. When a new event occurs — three are scheduled for June 17th, 18th and September 22nd — the team will look at the data that’s been collected and identify a spot for expansion. The robot will then generate a new, custom roof piece.
The robot takes about three or four hours to complete each segment. The carbon and glass fibers are stored in cylindrical rolls before being wound onto the steel scaffolding. Menges says the robot can figure out the exact shape and pattern required for the structure “almost by itself,” using its knowledge of the pavilion and what’s required to keep it upright. When the piece has been completed, the metal skeleton is then collapsed and taken out, ready to be used as the framework for another piece.
The process is fast and flexible. The team hopes that the robot and the lightweight materials will inspire people to rethink how structures can be built. So often they’re long, arduous processes involving huge construction crews and machinery. Architects design the building with a single look and purpose in mind; success is dependent on it looking and functioning the same for many years. The Elytra Filament Pavilion, meanwhile, takes an adaptive and free-spirited approach to design and manufacturing.
“It’s a form of feedback between what has already been built and what may come next,” Menges explains. “So it’s very interesting to think about an architectural system that doesn’t come to a determined end. Something that can sense its current state, that can gather its own data and then expand, contract or reconfigure on the basis of that. It’s nowhere near as intelligent as natural growth, but it begins to work in that direction.”
I happen to be visiting the pavilion on a cold, dreary morning, peppered with showers and the occasional gust of bone-biting wind. The pavilion offers little shelter — there are no walls or doors — so I beat a hasty retreat inside the V&A Museum. During the summer months, I can imagine the pavilion being a comfortable, exciting spot for visitors to take a break from the rest of the V&A’s offerings. The shape and materials are eye-catching, and I could watch the robot work for hours. The structure’s true beauty, however, should reveal itself later in the year. Like a garden or national park, the pleasure will come from seeing how it’s grown since last time.
“We really don’t know what is going to happen, where it’s going to grow, or what exactly the form of the next element is going to be,” Menges stresses. “This is what makes this (project) a really exciting endeavor, and also makes it interesting to come back and see what has happened.”
Three asks Ofcom to limit BT in next spectrum auction
Ofcom is expected to auction off fresh slices of mobile spectrum later this year, which carriers will use to improve speeds on their networks amid our ever-increasing demand for data. It’ll be a significant event in the mobile world, with the spectrum on offer being the equivalent of roughly 75 percent of the capacity released in 2013 to pave the way for the launch of the UK’s first 4G services. Ofcom hasn’t set a formal date yet, but already Three’s CEO David Dyson is calling on the regulator to protect his network’s interests so it can remain competitive with its larger rivals.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Dyson fears that BT could end up with something of a monopoly on the airwaves if they’re sold to the highest bidder. As it stands, it’s reported that Three commands 15 per cent of spectrum, O2 14 per cent, Vodafone 28 per cent and BT a whopping 42 per cent, given its own spectrum is now pooled with that of EE’s. Following BT’s acquisition of EE, Dyson believes the combined company “has got the financial ability to outcompete everyone in the market in how much they are willing to pay.”
Given BT’s dominant position, Dyson argues it could use its bank balance to hoover up as much spectrum as possible, purely to stifle rival providers. Thus, he wants Ofcom to impose “fairly significant restrictions” on BT and Vodafone in the upcoming auction, including potentially making the former releasing some of its existing spectrum before being allowed to buy more.
Though Dyson may be stomping his feet a little prematurely, he does have a point. Should O2 and Three have merged, the resulting company would’ve had a spectrum allowance equivalent to Vodafone’s, and a bigger customer base with better cash flow. Basically, an equal player at auction — the auction that was supposed to take place early this year before Ofcom was forced to delay while the BT/EE and O2/Three proposals played out.
The European Commission ended up blocking the marriage of Three and O2 based primarily on concerns that shrinking the number of mobile operators from four to three would have a negative impact on competition. Ofcom was of the same disposition, and now Dyson is asking that the regulator continue to protect competition by engineering the auction appropriately.
Network infrastructure, of which intangible spectrum forms a part, is something Three’s top brass have been paying a lot of attention to of late. Last month, it came to light that Three is seeking over £150 million in damages from EE over a mast-sharing agreement between the two. Three claims it has only been allowed to access half of the mobile masts it was promised under the deal, which EE denies of course. This mast-sharing agreement also played a part in the recent devaluation of Three UK by owner CK Hutchison.
Looking into his mirky crystal ball, Dyson told the FT that if “we can make the business model work,” CK Hutchison would continue to invest and support Three, “but as the smallest [operator] we have few customers to recoup the investment.”
Source: The Financial Times
‘Persona 5’ delayed in the US until February 2017
Unlike Final Fantasy XV, which will be released simultaneously in Japan and the US, Persona 5 will have a split release, and the English translation won’t come until February 14th, 2017. That’s five months after the Japanese release date of September 15th, 2016.
Persona 5 is the latest in the long-running Persona series, itself a spin-off from developer Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei games, which date back to the ’80s. Originally due out in 2014 for PlayStation 3, it was pushed back to 2015 and also announced for PlayStation 4. That plan slipped, with Atlus promising a release “in Japan and the Americas in 2016.” The company formally announced the Japanese release date last month along with a new trailer.
Together with the US release date we also got news of some limited editions. The “Take Your Heart” Premium Edition will arrive with a soundtrack CD, a 4-inch Morgana plush, a 64-page hardcover art book, a steelbook copy of the game, a school bag, and a “colossal collectible box.” That’s actually pretty great for $89.99.
English-speaking fans can console themselves with the fact that Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, a Shin Megami Tensei / Fire Emblem crossover game, is coming out in the US and Europe at the end of the month for Wii U. Although it’s not Persona, it does have a very Atlus battle system, relationship building and some great music.
Neither a European release date nor the availability of the collector’s edition in the region have been confirmed by Atlus. We’ll update this article if we hear anything regarding the international release plans.
Via: Kotaku
Source: Atlus
ICYMI: Plant-powered, self-moving robot and safer spacecraft
Today on In Case You Missed It: The Hortum Machina B is made of plants that send electrochemical stimulus to the autonomous robotic machine that houses them, so they can direct where to move. UC Santa Barbara researchers developed materials that can better handle the thermal loads carried inside modern rocket engines, because in some cases, the components are close to completely melting (bad news for the astronauts onboard).
Take a spin through this Norwegian cruise ship’s slide and if you want to watch our new favorite VR freakout video, it’s here. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Microsoft Launches Trello-Like ‘Planner’ App For Office 365 Subscribers
Microsoft has announced it is rolling out a new project management and collaboration app called Planner to all Office 365 subscribers for free from today.
Similar to Trello in concept, Planner enables users to organize projects into “buckets”, or collections of tasks that can then be dragged and dropped between buckets in the project interface.
Planner has a marked emphasis on team collaboration: tasks can be assigned to individual team members and users can get a visual overview of task responsibilities, progress, and upcoming deadlines.
The company has been trialling the app through a select few customers since September, but the planned rollout “over the next several weeks” marks the app’s official entrance into the standard Office suite of apps.
Existing Office users needn’t do anything to access the app, as the tile should appear in the Office 365 launcher as soon as it becomes available.
In recent months Apple has been including a subscription option for Microsoft Office 365 in all iPad ordering processes on its website, a move that initially raised a few eyebrows, since Apple usually positions its iWork suite as a better alternative to Microsoft’s Office apps.
A one-year, single-license Office 365 subscription on Apple’s website costs $69.95. A five-license subscription costs $99.95 and a four-year, two-license University download comes in at $79.95.
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Apple Issues 30-Year Bond in Taiwan at 4.15 Percent Yield
Confirming rumors reported last week, Apple on Monday issued a U.S. dollar bond in Taiwan that is estimated to raise between $1 billion and $1.2 billion (via Reuters).
The yield on the 30-year bond compares with a range between 4.2 percent and 4.3 percent ahead of its pricing, according to people familiar with the matter.
That yield comes in significantly lower than recent bonds by blue-chip multinationals such as Intel and Anheuser Busch InBev, but it is only the first issue of debt by Apple on the island, which is home to a number of the company’s partners in the supply chain.
The total amount raised by the bond, which is callable after the second year, has yet to be finalized, said sources who spoke to Reuters and could not be named.
Cathay Financial Holding, the parent company of Taiwan’s biggest life insurer, has reportedly bought a “small part” of the bond, since the yield is lower than others issued by Apple outside of Taiwan.
Apple has a large offshore cash pile and the company clearly sees debt markets as a viable way of financing its capital return program, which was recently increased to $250 billion following a $50 billion expansion in April. Apple is also said to be issuing bonds in Australia, and possibly Japan and Singapore, as part of broader plans to raise up to $4 billion in debt in the Asia-Pacific region.
Tag: Taiwan
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Original Apple ‘i-Brand’ Creator Says Naming Convention ‘on its Last Legs’
Last week, The Guardian published a negative-sounding article by Ken Segall with the title “How Apple lost its way: Steve Jobs’ love of simplicity is gone”.
Ken Segall worked with Steve Jobs as his ad agency creative director for 12 years. In that time he led the team behind Apple’s famous ‘Think Different’ campaign, and helped Apple create its ‘i-brand’ with the naming of the iMac, therefore Segall’s overall evaluation of how the company has evolved since Jobs’ death is likely to be a point of interest to many.
Interestingly however, yesterday Segall criticized The Guardian for its choice of headline, which he says misrepresents his views and the subject matter of the article. Segall has now published the complete article on his own website with the original title, “Has Apple lost its simplicity?”, which he says is a question, not a conclusion, followed by thoughtful opinion.
Segall notes in the article that Apple’s product naming used to be extremely simple – computers were Macs and consumer products were i-devices. But now “the consumer products are offered as i-things and Apple-things (Apple Watch, Apple Pay, Apple Music),” writes Segall, who claims that “the i is obviously on its last legs, and a transition like this doesn’t happen overnight”.
The article also covers a number of other topics related to the idea of simplicity, including the differences between Steve Jobs and current CEO Tim Cook, who “certainly knows how to make Apple run efficiently” but recognizes he “doesn’t have Steve’s many talents” and relies on the expertise of others in areas of product design and marketing.
Segall also compares simplicity versus complexity in Apple product lines, the challenge of finding simplicity in software (he calls Apple Music “bewildering” to use), the evolution of Apple’s marketing group (which has “changed dramatically” since Jobs’ leadership), and how he thinks the company currently fares in these areas.
Segall is the author of the books Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success and Think Simple: How Smart Leaders Defeat Complexity.
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Samsung Rumored to Launch Fully Bendable Smartphones in 2017
Smartphone maker and display manufacturer Samsung is believed to launch a pair of smartphones in early 2017, each with a bendable OLED display. According to people familiar with the smartphones’ development (via Bloomberg), the two devices could be unveiled as early as Q1 2017 — potentially at Mobile World Congress in February — and come in two different sizes, similar to that of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
Bendable smartphone mockup by Samsung
One phone would have a 5-inch screen when used in a normal handset fashion, and could then be opened to a tablet size that’s “as large as 8 inches.” The smaller alternative is estimated to be sized around a traditional modern 5-inch smartphone, but users would have the ability to fold it in half “like a cosmetic compact” to easily fit it into bags and pockets.
“This product could be a game-changer if Samsung successfully comes up with a user interface suitable for bendable screens,” said Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Co. in Seoul. “Next year is a probable scenario. Their biggest obstacle was related to making transparent plastics and making them durable, which seems resolved by now.”
Codenamed “Project Valley,” the bendable smartphones won’t be Samsung’s new flagship devices, and are believed to be angled more as an experiment by the company to test the waters of user response to bendable screens. Because of this, the two new handhelds also won’t fall under the Galaxy S line of phones currently running by Samsung, but will be newly named entries in its collection of smartphones.
While not bendable, Apple’s 2017 iPhone is expected to pack in a curved OLED display with an edge-to-edge, bezel-free design, similar to that of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 smartphone. Overall, Apple’s “iPhone 8” is expected to be a huge update year for the company’s smartphone, following 2016’s internals-focused upgrade, so it’ll be interesting to see how the the two handhelds fare against each other when they launch.
Tag: Samsung
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