GSM-R: Funkwerk macht wieder Gewinn

Funkwerk, der Experte für Kommunikationssysteme aus dem thüringischen Kölleda, schreibt wieder schwarze Zahlen. Wichtig für das Unternehmen war ein Großauftrag der KPN für die Umrüstung aller Zugfunkanlagen im Personenverkehr auf GSM-R. (Funkwerk, Netzwerk)

Funkwerk, der Experte für Kommunikationssysteme aus dem thüringischen Kölleda, schreibt wieder schwarze Zahlen. Wichtig für das Unternehmen war ein Großauftrag der KPN für die Umrüstung aller Zugfunkanlagen im Personenverkehr auf GSM-R. (Funkwerk, Netzwerk)

Big Brother Awards: Negativpreis für Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe und Change.org

Die Preisträger für die Big Brother Awards 2016 stehen fest. Mit den BVG wird er zum ersten Mal einem Verkehrsbetrieb verliehen. In der Kategorie Wirtschaft bekommt eine Kampagnenplattform die Antiauszeichnung. Endlich erhält ihn auch der Verfassungsschutz – für sein Lebenswerk. (Überwachung, IBM)

Die Preisträger für die Big Brother Awards 2016 stehen fest. Mit den BVG wird er zum ersten Mal einem Verkehrsbetrieb verliehen. In der Kategorie Wirtschaft bekommt eine Kampagnenplattform die Antiauszeichnung. Endlich erhält ihn auch der Verfassungsschutz - für sein Lebenswerk. (Überwachung, IBM)

Latest Windows 10 preview build includes many “Anniversary Update” changes coming this summer

Latest Windows 10 preview build includes many “Anniversary Update” changes coming this summer

Microsoft recently announce plans to roll out a Windows 10 Anniversary Update this summer. But if you won’t want to wait until then, you can join the Windows Insider program, sign up for “fast ring” updates, and get the Windows 10 preview build 14328. It includes many of the features that will be coming to all users this summer.

This is a preview release, so there are some known issues and may be other bugs.

Continue reading Latest Windows 10 preview build includes many “Anniversary Update” changes coming this summer at Liliputing.

Latest Windows 10 preview build includes many “Anniversary Update” changes coming this summer

Microsoft recently announce plans to roll out a Windows 10 Anniversary Update this summer. But if you won’t want to wait until then, you can join the Windows Insider program, sign up for “fast ring” updates, and get the Windows 10 preview build 14328. It includes many of the features that will be coming to all users this summer.

This is a preview release, so there are some known issues and may be other bugs.

Continue reading Latest Windows 10 preview build includes many “Anniversary Update” changes coming this summer at Liliputing.

New Windows 10 build: New Start menu, notifications, and pen features

New build is out for both desktop and mobile.

The new Pen Workspace. (credit: Microsoft)

At its Build developer conference a few weeks ago, Microsoft announced the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, a major update for Windows 10 due this summer. One of its biggest aspects was substantially reworked and improved pen support ("Ink" in Microsoft terminology) intended to make pen applications easier to find and use and to make stylus use more powerful. A new Windows build that provides the first access to these new features, version 14328, has just been promoted to the fast ring.

The core of this new support is the Windows Ink Workspace, a panel that provides instant access to pen-powered apps. Pressing the eraser button on a Surface Pen will show the panel instead of its current action (which opens OneNote). The Anniversary Update also comes with a trio of new pen apps: Sketchpad, a sketching app; Screen sketch, a screenshot annotation app; and a new Sticky Note app.

New Sticky Notes. (credit: Microsoft)

The new build contains a lot more than just Ink improvements. The Start menu has been revised to make All Apps permanently visible, and in tablet mode, All Apps is now full-screen. Also in tablet mode, the taskbar can autohide without being autohide in desktop mode. The taskbar clock now shows on all monitors on multihead systems, and the calendar now shows your appointments. The Action Center notification system has had its layout refined to show more notifications and now includes rich Cortana notifications.

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Dealmaster: Get an Xbox One bundle with the game of your choice for $299

And more deals to kick off the weekend.

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our partners at TechBargains, we're brightening up your Friday with a bunch of great deals. Our featured deal is perfect for gamers: now you can get an Xbox One bundle, including the console, a controller, and the game of your choosing, for just $299. Considering this bundle would be $349 normally, this is a deal you don't want to miss—especially since you can choose from a few awesome games including Gears of War Ultimate and Rise of the Tombraider. 

Be sure to check out the rest of your deals below, including discounts on PS Plus memberships, MacBookPro laptops, and more.

Featured

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Zotac Mobile VR stuffs a gaming PC in a backpack for virtual reality on the go

Zotac Mobile VR stuffs a gaming PC in a backpack for virtual reality on the go

High-end virtual reality systems like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift need high-powered PCs to work, which makes them a bit less portable than a Google Cardboard-style system that just uses your phone’s screen and processor.

But Zotac figures there’s a way to use premium VR kits on the go: stuff one of the company’s small gaming PCs in a backpack.

The company has released a demo video showing what it calls Zotac Mobile VR.

Continue reading Zotac Mobile VR stuffs a gaming PC in a backpack for virtual reality on the go at Liliputing.

Zotac Mobile VR stuffs a gaming PC in a backpack for virtual reality on the go

High-end virtual reality systems like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift need high-powered PCs to work, which makes them a bit less portable than a Google Cardboard-style system that just uses your phone’s screen and processor.

But Zotac figures there’s a way to use premium VR kits on the go: stuff one of the company’s small gaming PCs in a backpack.

The company has released a demo video showing what it calls Zotac Mobile VR.

Continue reading Zotac Mobile VR stuffs a gaming PC in a backpack for virtual reality on the go at Liliputing.

New NASA budget eats the seed corn of its Journey to Mars

Senate cuts tech budget to speed development of a rocket NASA doesn’t need yet.

An artist's rendering of the Space Launch System rocket. (credit: NASA)

This week, the US Senate's Appropriations subcommittee overseeing spaceflight put forward its blueprint for NASA's FY2017 budget. The top-line number looks promising at $19.306 billion—a $21 million year-over-year increase.

Yet the Senate plan exposes two potentially fatal flaws with NASA's Journey to Mars. Namely, the US Congress continues to place funding for the Space Launch System rocket and Orion space capsule before all other elements of NASA's exploration program. And by raiding other areas of NASA's budget, notably Space Technology, it is hamstringing the agency's ability to carry out the journey.

There is an old-time expression to characterize what is happening here: eating the seed corn. In a different era, a farmer's family might be forced to eat its seed corn for the next growing season to survive a long winter. This few weeks of sustenance would then doom the family during the next planting season, leaving them with no seeds to put into the ground. This sort of budget eats NASA's seed corn for the Journey to Mars.

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Microsoft pulls out of Google antitrust actions

Cases will go on without Microsoft’s participation.

(credit: Anthony Ryan)

Microsoft has withdrawn its regulatory complaints against Google across the globe—a matter of months after Redmond retreated from its fight over the ad giant's alleged abuse of dominance in the search market in Europe.

A spokesperson for the European Commission's competition chief Margrethe Vestager confirmed to Ars that her office was aware of Microsoft's decision to back out of the case.

“The Commission takes note of the announcement. We continue to investigate the conduct of Google as part of our ongoing formal probes, based on the facts, the evidence and EU law. The substantive analysis in an antitrust case is not affected by the number of complainants nor their identity,” Brussels' spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso told Ars.

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Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Alle Breitband-Förderanträge für Bundesland bestätigt

Das Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern dürfte bald besser mit schnellem Internet versorgt sein, denn bei seinen Förderanträgen hatte das Land einen guten Lauf. Genaue Zusagen kommen nächste Woche. (Breitband, Internet)

Das Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern dürfte bald besser mit schnellem Internet versorgt sein, denn bei seinen Förderanträgen hatte das Land einen guten Lauf. Genaue Zusagen kommen nächste Woche. (Breitband, Internet)

UK dead-set on 10-year sentences for P2P pirates

Despite questions about feasibility, harsh penalties for infringers are in store.

(credit: UK government)

The UK government has confirmed that it wants to bring in legislation increasing the maximum sentence for online copyright infringement to 10 years of imprisonment, despite widespread objections and doubts about its feasibility.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, parliamentary under-secretary of state and minister for intellectual property, writes in her foreword to the document responding to the consultation held at the end of last year: "we are now proposing changes that include increasing the maximum sentence, but at the same time addressing concerns about the scope of the offence. The revised provisions will help protect rights holders, while making the boundaries of the offence clearer, so that everyone can understand how the rules should be applied."

As the UK government's summary of responses reveals, 1,032 submissions were received, of which 938 came through the Open Rights Group. Concerns raised included the fact that there was no requirement to prove that an infringer had intent to cause harm for them to be considered guilty. That meant the proposed offence had an element of "strict liability," which would result in somebody being held liable even if they had no intention of causing harm.

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