Dell’s new Venue 8 Pro tablet is faster, higher-res, and twice as expensive

Dell’s new Venue 8 Pro tablet is faster, higher-res, and twice as expensive

The 2013 Dell Venue 8 Pro was one of the first 8 inch Windows 8.1 tablets to feature digital pen support. It was priced at $299 and up, but over the past few years Dell has offered models for as little as $199. Now Dell is giving its 8 inch tablet a major overhaul… and […]

Dell’s new Venue 8 Pro tablet is faster, higher-res, and twice as expensive is a post from: Liliputing

Dell’s new Venue 8 Pro tablet is faster, higher-res, and twice as expensive

The 2013 Dell Venue 8 Pro was one of the first 8 inch Windows 8.1 tablets to feature digital pen support. It was priced at $299 and up, but over the past few years Dell has offered models for as little as $199. Now Dell is giving its 8 inch tablet a major overhaul… and […]

Dell’s new Venue 8 Pro tablet is faster, higher-res, and twice as expensive is a post from: Liliputing

In NYC, pay phones become free Wi-Fi hotspots—and masturbation stations

What happens in the hotspot stays in the hotspot.

Hot Octopuss, a sex toy company, provides Internet for anyone who wants to relieve a little stress. (credit: Hot Octopuss)

This month will see the first rollout of LinkNYC's free Wi-Fi hotspots in New York City, which are set to replace nearly 7,500 neglected public telephones. Along with this experimental urban upgrade, New Yorkers can also expect to see another pay phone replacement idea: a "GuyFi" booth where men can "relieve stress" with a laptop and chair behind a privacy curtain.

Last week, a sex toy company called Hot Octopuss converted an unused phone booth at 28th Street and 5th Avenue into its GuyFi chamber of self-love by adding a black privacy curtain, a chair, and a laptop with high-speed Internet. Clearly playing on the buzz about LinkNYC's upgrades to New York's pay phone infrastructure, Hot Octopuss sent out a press release explaining that this was all about health:

According to Time Out, a remarkable 39% of New Yorkers ‘self-soothe’ in the workplace to alleviate stress. Hot Octopuss has created the GuyFi booth to take this habit out of the office and into a more suitable environment designed to give the busy Manhattan man the privacy, and the high-speed Internet connection, he deserves.

The company reported that at least 100 men used the booth on its opening day last week. Of course, public masturbation is illegal—and a rep from Hot Octopuss told Mashable, "We may be insinuating that these booths could be used in whichever way anyone would like to 'self soothe,' [but] the brand is not actively encouraging people to masturbate in public as that is an illegal offense." No word on how fast the Internet connection was, or whether there would be any efforts to help women "self soothe" at a rate equal to men in the workplace.

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2016 Acer Chromebook 11 with IPS display now available for $180

2016 Acer Chromebook 11 with IPS display now available for $180

At first glance, Acer’s new Chromebook 11 looks a lot like last year’s model. It’s still a Chrome OS laptop with an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and an Intel Celeron N2840 processor. But the new model has an IPS display with better viewing angles and a new case design that Acer says […]

2016 Acer Chromebook 11 with IPS display now available for $180 is a post from: Liliputing

2016 Acer Chromebook 11 with IPS display now available for $180

At first glance, Acer’s new Chromebook 11 looks a lot like last year’s model. It’s still a Chrome OS laptop with an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and an Intel Celeron N2840 processor. But the new model has an IPS display with better viewing angles and a new case design that Acer says […]

2016 Acer Chromebook 11 with IPS display now available for $180 is a post from: Liliputing

Top police body-cam companies get embroiled in a patent smackdown

Digital Ally says its “pioneering” system links body and vehicle cameras.

An officer with the Fresno Police Department wears a Taser Axon Flex body-worn camera. (credit: Cyrus Farivar)

Two major providers of police body-worn cameras have become embroiled in a patent battle.

Kansas-based Digital Ally sued Arizona-based Taser International late last week. The company accused Taser's Axon Flex body cameras of infringing its US Patent No. 8,781,292. The patent describes linking together a body-worn camera, a vehicle-based camera, and a "managing apparatus" that communicate with each other.

The lawsuit was filed just after the Digital Ally patent overcame Taser's legal challenge at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

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New Galaxy Note 5s have a fix for the stuck S-Pen issue

An extra piece of plastic stops a backward S-Pen from getting stuck.

Slide the pen in like this on older units, and it will get jammed. Removing it can break some S-Pen functionality.

Back in August during the launch of the Galaxy Note 5, an issue was discovered that could potentially break the device. If you stuck the S-Pen in backwards—pointy part first instead of flat part first—it would get stuck. From there, you'd have to forcefully remove the S-Pen, which could potentially break the top off the pen or damage the pen eject functionality.

Samsung's first response to the problem was to ship the Note 5 with a warning sticker on the screen, but now Phandroid has discovered that new Note 5s will offer a real, physical solution.

Pen detection on the Galaxy Note 5 was handled by an internal switch that the pen would hold down on when it was inserted. When put in backward, a void in the top of the pen would catch the spring-loaded switch, trapping the pen. Samsung has now put a flexible, plastic cover over the switch, which acts like a ramp. When the thinner part of the S-Pen passes over the switch in this setup, the ramped plastic allows the pen to press the switch down rather than catch it. (The cover also seems to be attached with adhesive tape.)

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Apple asked widow for court order when she sought late husband’s password

Woman supplied Apple will and death certificate, but it wasn’t enough.

iPads. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

A woman whose husband died has spent months trying to gain access to his Apple account, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report today. Apple initially told the woman that she would have to provide a will and death certificate, but once she provided those documents the company reportedly asked for something else—a court order.

There are good privacy and security reasons for Apple to impose strict controls on account access, but in this case the company seems to have acknowledged it went too far by demanding a court order. After CBC got involved, Apple relented and will apparently allow the widow, 72-year-old Peggy Bush of Victoria, BC, to get access to her late husband's Apple ID.

"After [CBC News] contacted Apple, it did reach out to the Bush family and apologize for what it called a 'misunderstanding,' offering to help the family solve the problem—without a court order," the report said. "At the time of publication, it was working with Donna Bush to do that."

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NASA’s newest cargo spacecraft began life as a Soviet space plane

Dream Chaser may finally carry humans after 50 years of design and development.

NASA's HL-20 in the fog at Langley Research Center in Virginia. (credit: NASA)

Last week when NASA awarded Sierra Nevada a contract to develop its Dream Chaser vehicle for cargo delivery to the International Space Station, it validated a design that dates back half a century. This particular winged vehicle concept marked the Soviet Union’s first attempt to develop a space plane and now, in an ironic twist of history, the Soviet design may help the United States to commercialize space.

The Dream Chaser traces its heritage to the BOR series "Беспилотный орбитальный ракетоплан," or uncrewed orbital rocket plane of lifting bodies, which themselves were derived from a 1965 space plane concept, the Soviet MiG-105. The BOR-1 was first tested in 1969, launching to an altitude of 100 km as the Soviets sought to study various heat shields for a winged vehicle.

The Soviets continued a series of test flights leading up to the BOR-4 vehicle, and it began flying in 1980. Although they had discarded the BOR concept for their space plane (choosing instead the shuttle-derived Buran orbiter), Soviet engineers continued to use the vehicle as a means to test the Buran’s thermal protection system.

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Karma Neverstop “unlimited” mobile hotspot plans gets some limits

Karma Neverstop “unlimited” mobile hotspot plans gets some limits

A few months ago mobile hotspot provider Karma launched a new unlimited data plan called Karma Neverstop, allowing customers to get unlimited data with speeds up to 5 Mbps for $50 per month. A few weeks ago the company acknowledged that there was a problem with offering unlimited data at that price: some customers were […]

Karma Neverstop “unlimited” mobile hotspot plans gets some limits is a post from: Liliputing

Karma Neverstop “unlimited” mobile hotspot plans gets some limits

A few months ago mobile hotspot provider Karma launched a new unlimited data plan called Karma Neverstop, allowing customers to get unlimited data with speeds up to 5 Mbps for $50 per month. A few weeks ago the company acknowledged that there was a problem with offering unlimited data at that price: some customers were […]

Karma Neverstop “unlimited” mobile hotspot plans gets some limits is a post from: Liliputing

VPN Providers Condemn Netflix Blocking Crackdown

VPN providers have unanimously condemned Netflix’s crackdown on subscribers who use so-called unblocking services. Several VPN companies have announced counter-measures, while others raise the issue of Net Neutrality, suggesting that there are better ways to tackle abuse.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

netflix-logoLast week Netflix announced that it would increase its efforts to block customers who circumvent geo-blockades.

This means that it will become harder to use VPN services and proxies to access Netflix content from other countries, something various movie studios have repeatedly called for.

With the application of commercial blacklist data, Netflix already blocks IP-addresses that are linked to such services, something also affects well-intentioned customers who merely use a VPN to protect their privacy.

Instead of providing access to the latest video entertainment, Netflix then serves the following error message to these blocked users.

A Netflix error several VPN users already see (U.S. server)

netfblock

TorrentFreak spoke with several VPN providers to hear their thoughts on Netflix’s plans. Several are already dealing with the issue and promise to do their best to ensure that workarounds will remain available.

“This announcement comes as no surprise to us and we have been expecting a Netflix VPN crackdown for some time now,” TorGuard’s Ben van der Pelt says.

“Unfortunately, many legitimate paid subscribers will be left in the dark as an unavoidable outcome of overreaching IP blocks.

“TorGuard is monitoring the situation closely and we have recently implemented new measures that can bypass any proposed IP blockade on our network. VPN users who encounter Netflix access problems are encouraged to contact us for a working solution,” he adds.

SlickVPN takes a similar stance and says that the static IP-addresses they offer are less likely to be blocked.

“We work tirelessly to ensure our customers have access to the entire internet. If we find that our IP addresses start to become blocked we’ll migrate to new IPs as needed. We also offer the option of static IPs which eliminates the problem entirely,” SlickVPN’s Greg Lyda says.

Mullvad is one of the VPN services that’s already blocked by Netflix. The company doesn’t understand why companies such as Netflix have to make it impossible for people to pay for their services.

“Why do some companies insist on making it difficult or impossible to buy their products? Why does a company resort to blocking people from literally paying them?” Mullvad’s Fredrik tells TF.

“Seriously, this world would be a much better place if services like ours didn’t have to exist – Not for censorship, not for mass surveillance, and not for geographic restrictions. I love what I’m doing, but I’m even more looking forward to the day when Mullvad goes bankrupt from obsoletion,” he adds.

Andrew Lee, Digital Rights Activist at Private Internet Access, notes that their users are not experiencing any problems yet. However, he adds Netflix’s planned crackdown is clearly violating Net Neutrality.

“By blocking PIA and other VPN customers, it would be a very loud and clear message heard across the world: Netflix does not believe in net neutrality and will even go to lengths to block access to their service from privacy minded customers who live in the U.S,” Lee notes.

“Netflix is a for-pay credit card service that requires a billing address. There is no reason to ban a VPN unless the billing data is fraudulent,” Lee adds.

keepout

The last issue is also referenced by GoldenFrog President Sunday Yokubaitis, who operates VyprVPN. If Netflix knows where people live they can simply always show the same content library everywhere, which new European regulation also requires.

“As a Netflix customer, I know that they collect my billing information, including my mailing address and country. Why doesn’t Netflix use the customer billing information to display the correct content to users?” Yokubaitis asks.

This option would also eliminate the need to do any VPN blocking whatsoever. The only change would be that Netflix has to put more effort into verifying people’s addresses.

While most providers are planning to counter Netflix’s blocking efforts, not all are. IVPN informed TorrentFreak that their focus lies on privacy and that enabling customers to watch Netflix has never been a priority.

The company does point out that VPNs in part contributed to Netflix’s success, which makes the recent crackdown changes even more bitter.

“Netflix has clearly benefited from VPN service providers for many years. This has helped facilitate the rapid expansion of Netflix’s worldwide customer base whilst at the same time complying with the ‘letter’ if not the ‘spirit’ of their content providers’ restrictions,” IVPN’s Nick says.

“In reality Netflix has become a victim of its own success. Netflix’s content providers now wish to curtail the provision of material to markets that are not licensed by Netflix and their content providers,” he adds.

At this point it’s unclear how Netflix plans to block VPNs and proxies and what precautions Netflix will take to ensure that legitimate users are not hindered.

However, someone from the U.S. who wants to use a Canadian server to connect to the Internet is likely to be blocked, so with millions of VPN users around the world there will be plenty of collateral damage.

Disclaimer: PIA, SlickVPN and TorGuard are TF sponsors

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Report: Robots, other advances will cost humans 5.1 million jobs by 2020

Hiring gains in engineering, math; blunt advice for businesses, schools.

The World Economic Forum warns about what robots and other advances may do to the worldwide job market by the year 2020. (credit: World Economic Forum)

Are the robots coming to take our jobs? Advances in any tech that aids in automation always come with questions about the jobs they take versus the jobs they create, but the World Economic Forum warned in a report published on Monday that advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and other modern technologies are currently likely to lead to a net loss of 5.1 million jobs worldwide by the year 2020.

"Without urgent and targeted action today to manage the near-term transition and build a workforce with futureproof skills, governments will have to cope with ever-growing unemployment and inequality—and businesses with a shrinking consumer base," the report states in its introduction.

The workforce number estimate, which is based on surveys and data provided by 371 companies' chief HR officers worldwide (whose combined workforces include over 13 million employees in 15 "major, developed, and emerging economies"), includes numbers for different industries' gains and losses. The biggest loser, according to the WEF, will be in the office and administrative job sector to the tune of 4.76 million jobs—due to "a perfect storm of technological trends that have the potential to make many of [the job roles] redundant," the report states. Other fields with major expected losses include manufacturing and production (1.61 million) and construction and extraction (497,000).

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