Googling medical symptoms may no longer convince you that you’re dying

Searches will offer up reliable medical information above standard results.

(credit: Google)

If you ask the Internet what’s wrong with you when you’re not feeling well, it’s bound to break the news that you’ve probably got cancer or perhaps some rare, terminal disease. It doesn’t matter that you just have a mundane, generic symptom. You likely only have a few months left and you should start getting your affairs in order. Sincere condolences, poor Internet user.

With the Web brimming with such bum medical advice—alarming patients and irking doctors worldwide—Google is now rolling out new search tools to try to strip away the medical malarkey or at least shove it down deep in search results.

In the next few days, the Internet giant will be adding in new digital cards that should pop up above common results when you search for terms like “stomach ache” and “skin rash.” The cards are said to contain accurate medical information about common ailments, created with the help of doctors from Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic.

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Tom Wheeler’s set-top box plan may be losing Democratic support

Commissioner Rosenworcel: Proposal has “real flaws,” should be changed.

A cable box, everybody's favorite piece of consumer equipment. (credit: Getty Images | Brian Finke)

The Federal Communications Commission plan to boost competition in the cable set-top box market may need some changes to shore up enough votes.

While Chairman Tom Wheeler and his Democratic majority led a 3-2 vote on the proposal in February, Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is pushing for changes before it hits a final vote.

Now that the FCC has received public comments on the plan, "It has become clear the original proposal has real flaws and, as I have suggested before, is too complicated. We need to find another way forward," Rosenworcel said in a statement published by Broadcasting & Cable yesterday.

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Linux-Distribution: Fedora 24 ermöglicht grafische Upgrades

Die aktuelle Version 24 der Linux-Distribution Fedora ermöglicht es Nutzern, auch grafische Versionsupgrades durchzuführen. Außerdem ist die Snappy-Konkurrenz Flatpak enthalten und die Distribution nutzt GCC 6 als Standardcompiler. (Gnome, Fedora)

Die aktuelle Version 24 der Linux-Distribution Fedora ermöglicht es Nutzern, auch grafische Versionsupgrades durchzuführen. Außerdem ist die Snappy-Konkurrenz Flatpak enthalten und die Distribution nutzt GCC 6 als Standardcompiler. (Gnome, Fedora)

Google’s new two-factor authentication system: Tap “yes” to log in

Codes are for chumps. With Google’s new 2FA system, just tap on the pop up.


Google's two-factor authentication system (2FA) is a great way to secure your account, but in the past it has relied on codes from the Google Authenticator app or the presence of a USB security dongle. There's now a new method called "Google Prompt," which, like many other 2FA systems, just uses a simple push notification. When it's time to sign in, just enter your password, and you'll get a pop-up message on your phone asking you if you want to sign in. Press "yes," and you're in.

If you want to set this up yourself, just go to the "Security" section of your Google Account settings. Click on the "2-Step Verification" section, and there should be a new option called "Google Prompt." The option works on Android and iOS (provided you have an iPhone 5S or later). Of course Google recommends you have some kind of secure lock screen if you're going to use this feature, as is standard with other forms of phone-based 2FA. Enabling Google Prompt will automatically disable "Sign in with your phone," which used a similar prompt as a password replacement.

If you aren't using 2FA on your Google account, you have no excuse now, since the push notification makes 2FA faster and easier than ever.

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15 years later, new Ecco the Dolphin game leaks onto Dreamcast

Unearthed prototype may be Sega’s last project for the long-defunct system.

The Dreamcast Ecco sequel you never expected is now available as a prototype download. (credit: Hidden Palace)

You probably thought that Sega's official abandonment of the Dreamcast back in 2001 meant we wouldn't see any new, Sega-produced Ecco the Dolphin games for that system. If so, you thought wrong. That's because a newly unearthed prototype of the Dreamcast's cancelled Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe has hit the Internet, more than 15 years after it was made.

The prototype build, uploaded by the game preservationists at Hidden Palace, is dated February 19, 2001, less than a month after Sega announced it would stop supporting the Dreamcast and step away from the hardware business for good. It comes to the Internet via a large lot of Ecco Dreamcast assets acquired by Hidden Palace, and the site promises "more exciting (and long overdue) [Ecco] stuff in the weeks to follow."

In addition to the ripped GD-ROM version, which is fully playable on PC Dreamcast emulators, Hidden Palace also released a self-boot CDI image that can be burned to disc and played on actual Dreamcast hardware (and hopefully on a real CRT television, for that authentic 2001 console gaming experience). We can thank the Dreamcast's extremely broken copy protection technology for that little wrinkle and for the widespread piracy that helped doom and/or popularize the system back in its day.

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Verbände: Neue Vectoring-Verordnung “aus dem Bonner Tulpenfeld”

Der neue Einigungsversuch der Bundesnetzagentur mit der EU-Kommission über das exklusive Vectoring der Telekom wird von den Wettbewerber-Verbänden verrissen. Der Ton wird noch schärfer. (Vectoring, DSL)

Der neue Einigungsversuch der Bundesnetzagentur mit der EU-Kommission über das exklusive Vectoring der Telekom wird von den Wettbewerber-Verbänden verrissen. Der Ton wird noch schärfer. (Vectoring, DSL)

Angeblicher Bitcoin-Erfinder: Craig Wright will die Blockchain patentieren

Er wollte der Bitcoin-Erfinder sein, jetzt will er die Kryptowährung offenbar besitzen – jedenfalls Patente, mit denen die Verwendung der Technik lizenziert werden könnte. Craig Wright hat in Großbritannien offenbar schon mehr 50 Patente angemeldet. (Blockchain, Tauschbörse)

Er wollte der Bitcoin-Erfinder sein, jetzt will er die Kryptowährung offenbar besitzen - jedenfalls Patente, mit denen die Verwendung der Technik lizenziert werden könnte. Craig Wright hat in Großbritannien offenbar schon mehr 50 Patente angemeldet. (Blockchain, Tauschbörse)

UE Boom speakers now have “voice integration” for Siri, Google voice search

UE Boom speakers now have “voice integration” for Siri, Google voice search

The Ultimate Ears UE Boom 2 and Megaboom are popular, well-reviewed cylindrical Bluetooth speakers that allow you to stream music from your phone, tablet, computer, or other gadgets without wires.

Their shape also makes them look a bit like Amazon’s Echo or Amazon Tap devices… and now you can UE’s speakers a lot like an Amazon Tap.

UE has rolled out a software update that lets you use the speakers to ask questions or send voice commands to Apple’s Siri or Google’s voice search digital assistants.

Continue reading UE Boom speakers now have “voice integration” for Siri, Google voice search at Liliputing.

UE Boom speakers now have “voice integration” for Siri, Google voice search

The Ultimate Ears UE Boom 2 and Megaboom are popular, well-reviewed cylindrical Bluetooth speakers that allow you to stream music from your phone, tablet, computer, or other gadgets without wires.

Their shape also makes them look a bit like Amazon’s Echo or Amazon Tap devices… and now you can UE’s speakers a lot like an Amazon Tap.

UE has rolled out a software update that lets you use the speakers to ask questions or send voice commands to Apple’s Siri or Google’s voice search digital assistants.

Continue reading UE Boom speakers now have “voice integration” for Siri, Google voice search at Liliputing.

Meet Pearl, a startup full of Apple alums who want to bring tech to your old car

Pearl’s first product is a rather cool wireless, solar-powered backup camera.

(credit: Pearl)

There have been a lot of rumors over the past year or so about Apple secretly working on a car. While we don't have anything concrete to report on that front, we do know that some former Apple employees have left the mothership to work on car-related tech. Their company is called Pearl, and it just emerged from stealth mode with a rather cool wireless backup camera system, called RearVision.

As you might know, Congress has mandated that all cars from 2019 have a backup camera installed. And indeed, many new cars come with backup cameras already, with varying quality (some of them are truly horrible). But with about 260 million cars already on the road, the vast majority have to rely on old-fashioned mirrors to see behind them. Enter RearVision. We spoke with company cofounder and CEO Bryson Gardner ahead of the launch to find out a bit more.

"At Apple we loved taking the very latest technology and getting it into the hands of the consumer as quickly as possible," Gardner told Ars. "We wanted to find something that was infused with technology but ripe for change—we started looking at how technology gets into cars, and it's quite an extended timeline. There's a long design cycle, and it only appears in some makes and models; it can take 10 to 20 years to appear across the production line. The other challenge is the technology in new cars is designed to be stagnant, so it stays the same throughout the lifetime of the car, which is over 17 years now."

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Videolan: VLC für Android streamt im lokalen Netzwerk

Das Videolan-Team hat eine neue Version von VLC für die Android-Plattform veröffentlicht. Die neue Hauptversion beherrscht das Streamen aus dem lokalen Netzwerk, unterstützt den Mehrfensterbetrieb und liefert Anpassungen für den Betrieb auf einem Fernseher. (VLC, Android)

Das Videolan-Team hat eine neue Version von VLC für die Android-Plattform veröffentlicht. Die neue Hauptversion beherrscht das Streamen aus dem lokalen Netzwerk, unterstützt den Mehrfensterbetrieb und liefert Anpassungen für den Betrieb auf einem Fernseher. (VLC, Android)