Tech news

Predicting the power output of wind farms has been challenging, but it's becoming less so with the use of machine learning. Google and British artificial intelligence company DeepMind have been using ML algorithms to improve predictions of the wind power output at Google's wind farms in the Midwest, according to a post coauthored by DeepMind Program Manager Sims Witherspoon and Google Carbon Free Energy Program Lead Will Fadrhonc. The farms use the algorithms to predict wind power output 36 hours ahead of generation. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2VpQbfO

A new cryptovirus called "B0r0nt0K" has been putting Linux and possibly Windows Web servers at risk of encrypting all of the infected domain's files. The new ransomware threat and the ransom of 20 bitcoins -- about $75,000 -- first came to light last week in a forum post. A client's website had all its files encrypted and renamed with the .rontok extension appended to them, the forum user indicated. The website was running on Ubuntu 16.04. The B0r0nt0K ransom note is not displayed in a text format or in the message itself, based on the report. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2tFVU5m

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has defended the company's $479 million contract with the U.S. military -- a commitment that some Microsoft employees strongly opposed. While pledging to engage with employees and consider Microsoft's role as a corporate citizen, Nadella said the company would not withhold technology from institutions in democracies elected to preserve the freedoms of their citizens. Microsoft was awarded the nearly half-million dollar contract last fall for an "Integrated Visual Augmentation System" using HoloLens technology. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2GNpQFs

The FIDO Alliance hammered another nail into the passwords coffin with the announcement that devices running Android 7.0 or higher will be compatible with FIDO2. Certification of Android 7.0+ means devices running those versions of Google's mobile operating system will support FIDO2 out of the box or through a software update. FIDO2, introduced last year, provides a FIDO Web authentication standard that combines the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Authentication specification with FIDO's Client-to-Authenticator protocol. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2GQVG4f

The Mobile World Congress is the annual event where everyone who hates Apple goes to grouse about their profits and point out Apple's lack of real progress. That's pretty much everyone who is anyone, aside from Apple itself. Much like CES often does, MWC tends to spin pretty hard toward the "I hate Apple, I'd like to be Apple" crowd of competitors. What makes this year different is the level of technology advancements that will be shown, with an emphasis on those tied to the rollout of 5G, which initially will not be accessible to Apple. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2XpYutN

We are now living in a time when customer expectations are changing particularly fast, and retailers that can't keep up get left behind. A consumer who enjoys the online shopping experience at an e-store automatically begins to expect the same level of service from every virtual point of sale. Thus, the expectation loop is born, and the only thing for retailers to do to get ahead of the curve is to innovate, innovate and innovate. Emerging 3D technologies are a force poised to drive the revolution in the online shopping experience. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2IwxdTr

The subject of this week's Linux Picks and Pans is a representative of a less well-known computing platform that coexists with Linux as an open source operating system. If you thought that the Linux kernel was the only open source engine for a free OS, think again. The Berkeley Software Distribution, or BSD, shares many of the same features that make Linux OSes viable alternatives to proprietary computing platforms. GhostBSD is a user-friendly Linux-like desktop operating system based on TrueOS, which is based on FreeBSD's development branch. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2U0vlDv

Samsung held its annual Unpacked event in San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Wednesday, presenting fans with a new product lineup that includes three versions of its flagship Galaxy S10, plus the Galaxy S10 5G, the Galaxy Fold, and several new wearables. It had been widely rumored well before the launch that Samsung "would adopt a similar strategy as Apple and launch three devices, with one being a cheaper model," noted Ville-Petteri Ukonaho, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2Gyb6de

Google has unveiled its game plan for fighting disinformation on its search, news, YouTube and advertising platforms in a 30-page document. "Providing useful and trusted information at the scale that the Internet has reached is enormously complex and an important responsibility," noted Google Vice President for Trust and Safety Kristie Canegallo. "Adding to that complexity, over the last several years we've seen organized campaigns use online platforms to deliberately spread false or misleading information." from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2tv5I1W

Cybersecurity has been becoming a larger and larger concern for organizations. Nowadays, most organizations -- regardless of size, industry, location, or profit vs. nonprofit status -- find themselves directly or indirectly impacted by cybersecurity. Even though the topic itself is increasing in importance, it remains a truism that many smaller organizations -- and in fact, some mid-sized ones -- don't have specialized security expertise on staff. That isn't to say that there's nobody working on security-relevant tasks in those organizations. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2TWJX70

One of the biggest problems for those of us who have electric cars is charging. Chargers that drop the charging time to a few minutes have been coming to market, but the cars that can use those chargers haven't yet begun to ship. What this means for most of us is that we are talking anywhere from 45 minutes to several days to fully charge our cars, depending on the charging system we have access to. Another problem is that it is still easy to forget to plug in our cars at night. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2DPLiWd

Apple is expected to launch a subscription news service at an event next month. The service has been described as "Netflix for news," because it would let customers access an unlimited amount of content from publishers for a single monthly fee. It will be based on a reworked version of Texture, the media subscription service Apple purchased last year. "Apple is targeting consumers who are serious about the news and willing to pay for it," said Michael Goodman, a research director at Strategy Analytics. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2EbrRZr

Amazon has scooped up mesh WiFi network maker Eero, the home network company known for making an easy to set up product that can blanket a home with high quality WiFi. "We are incredibly impressed with the Eero team and how quickly they invented a WiFi solution that makes connected devices just work," said Dave Limp, Amazon's senior vice president for devices and services. "We have a shared vision that the smart home experience can get even easier, and we're committed to continue innovating on behalf of customers." from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2S3GRMQ

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at boosting artificial intelligence R&D in the U.S. The order sets up the American AI Initiative, which instructs federal agencies to move projects involving artificial intelligence to the top of their priority lists. No funding is proposed in the order, but the initiative directs federal agencies to focus on five areas: prioritization, making resources available, creation of standards, establishment of fellowships and apprenticeships, and collaboration with American values in mind. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2SsjykI

Last week, like a lot of you, I imagine, I watched the State of the Union and tried to figure out what was true and what was fiction. Tied into several of the live-streamed press fact-checking streams, I found that the comments validating or invalidating what the president said came in so far after the comment was made that it would have been better to skip the speech and wait until the next day when the talk and the feedback were better matched. Even then, it wasn't linear, it was just collections of biased comments. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2GDvrNq

AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have sold access to subscribers' real-time location data to aggregators, which in turn have sold it to about 250 bounty hunters and related businesses, according to a report. In some cases, the data allowed users to track individuals to their specific locations inside a building. Some companies made thousands of location requests to data brokers; one made more than 18,000 such requests in just over a year. The news, which sparked widespread outrage, prompted a range of responses, including demands for federal action. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2GwSLfV

If you need a task manager application to run on your Linux operating system, tap into a software category filled with options that go far beyond the to-do list app you have stuffed into your smartphone. Keeping up to date with multiple daily activity calendars, tons of information, and never-ending must-do lists can become a never-ending challenge. This week's Linux Picks and Pans reviews the top open source task management and to-do apps that will serve you well on most Linux distributions. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2TJKd92

The e-ticketing systems of eight airlines, including Southwest Airlines and Dutch carrier KLM, have a vulnerability that can expose passengers' personally identifiable information, mobile security vendor Wandera has reported. They use unencrypted links that hackers can intercept easily. The hackers then can view and, in some cases, even change the victim's flight booking details, or print their boarding passes. Air France, Vueling, Jetstar, Thomas Cook, Transavia and Air Europa also have this problem, according to Wandera. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2BozutU

The next upgrade of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 12.2, will come with an annoying surprise for VR and AR developers. It reportedly will block Web access to the accelerometer and gyroscope in Apple mobile devices by default. That means users will have to grant permission to any Web apps or sites that need those components to function, including those with virtual reality and augmented reality components. Apple's move is designed to protect the privacy of its customers by giving them control over who has access to their location data. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2HSVHFW

Google has announced two new Android applications designed to make life easier for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. One of the apps, Live Transcribe, turns live speech into real-time captions by using a phone's microphone; the other, Sound Amplifier, improves a phone's sound output. Live Transcribe, which works on Android 5.0 Lollipop and up, will be available in 70 languages and dialects. It has a type-back keyboard for users who can't or don't want to speak, and works with external microphones to improve transcription accuracy. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2TvG9Jv

I've been watching antitrust cases actively since the 1980s. I had to study historical antitrust cases going back to Standard Oil and RCA, in order to ensure compliance with a related consent decree When I worked at IBM. Each of the other cases had one thing in common: Both of the companies being charged were massively and obviously monopolies. There were many questions about whether they were behaving badly or really had an adverse impact on competition, but there generally was no doubt they had monopoly power. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2WGsD83

Do you take your online privacy seriously? Most people don't. They have an ideal scenario of just how private their online activities should be, but they rarely do anything to actually achieve it. The problem is that bad actors know and rely on this fact, and that's why there's been a steady rise in identity theft cases from 2013 to 2017. The victims of these cases often suffer a loss of reputation or financial woes. If you take your online privacy seriously, follow this 10-step guide to protect it. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2GiHMXh

Endless OS is an unusual Linux distro in that its user interface is more like an Android smartphone or tablet than a Linux desktop computer platform. Version 3.5.4, released on Jan. 17, brings parental controls and other refinements that make this distro a cool alternative to the Chromebook for home, educational and community use. Endless OS goes a long way to eliminating the learning curve attached to using more traditional Linux OSes. This ease-of-use performance makes it a good selling point as a simplified computing platform. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2UA0m16