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26 articles, 2016-06-12 00:19 1 From virtual reality to androids, five expectations for E3 E3 is at a crossroads. 2016-06-11 21:48 3KB phys.org (1.02/2)

2 News News for the Open Source Professional 2016-06-12 00:19 480Bytes www.linux.com 3 FarmBot Grows Things So You Don't Have To Programming book reviews, programming tutorials,programming news, C#, Ruby, Python,C, C++, PHP, Visual Basic, Computer book reviews, computer history, programming history, joomla, theory, spreadsheets and more. 2016-06-11 22:58 4KB www.i-programmer.info 4 FileHippo News - powered by FeedBurner Ransomware is malicious malware installed secretly on victim’s machines that encrypts all or part of the data on a person’s machine and that can then... 2016-06-11 18:43 23KB feeds2.feedburner.com 5 The Roadmap to Kotlin 1.1 Kotlin development is heading towards version 1.1 and Kotlin lead language designer Andrey Breslav explained the roadmap to JetBrains’ JVM language new version, which will include major new language features. 2016-06-11 18:04 1KB www.infoq.com 6 All Clues Point to the Death of the Angler Exploit Kit Angler EK spotted online for the last time on June 7 2016-06-11 19:25 3KB news.softpedia.com 7 Exploring Performance Counters with F# WMI Type Provider Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a primary source of data when monitoring Windows systems. Given that the performance counters available vary from machine to machine, a tool is needed to list all counters available. The WMI type provider is one possible option to explore WMI performance counters. 2016-06-11 18:04 2KB www.infoq.com 8 Bluetooth 5 is on the way: four times the speed, twice the range, and location-awareness Due to be announced next week on June 16, Bluetooth 5 has a great deal to offer. Ahead of the announcement, Bluetooth Special Interest Group executive director Mark Powell has revealed a little about what we can expect. Due to be announced next week on June... 2016-06-11 17:42 1KB feeds.betanews.com

9 Java 9 Will Remove CORBA from Default Classpath As part of the ongoing transition to the module system, CORBA and other Java EE modules won't be included in the default classpath from Java 9 onwards. These modules will still be available, but specific command line flags will have to be used to be able... 2016-06-11 18:04 2KB www.infoq.com 10 Microsoft will be offering a $10 credit to some users for revoking free Fallout 4 licenses Microsoft has revealed that it would be crediting $10 to the accounts of Xbox users whose free Fallout 4 licenses were revoked after it corrected the accidental $0.00 pricing on the Xbox Store. 2016-06-11 16:32 1KB feedproxy.google.com 11 Data Streaming Architecture with Apache Flink Jamie Grier recently spoke at OSCON 2016 Conference about data streaming architecture using Apache Flink. He talked about the building blocks of data streaming applications and stateful stream processing with code examples of Flink applications and monitoring. 2016-06-11 18:04 2KB www.infoq.com 12 Reviewing Microsoft's Automatic Insertion of Telemetry into C++ Binaries It was recently discovered by users of Reddit that Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 has been quietly adding telemetry function calls to all code produced by the product's Visual C++ compiler. Microsoft has since confirmed that this behavior is occurring as well as provided information on... 2016-06-11 18:04 3KB www.infoq.com 13 HyperDev Spins Up New Web Apps with No Effort Fog Creek Software has released a new web-based tool to create a new web app, live on the internet, without any of the chores normally associated with creating a new app. Called HyperDev, it allows for collaborative front- and back-end development using Node.js. 2016-06-11 18:04 3KB www.infoq.com 14 iPhone 7 AT&T and International Versions to Get Intel LTE Modem Verizon and Chinese variants will come with Qualcomm chips 2016-06-11 15:31 2KB news.softpedia.com

15 The “No Love for Windows Phone” Effect: 72% of Americans Never Used Cortana Study shows Siri is more widely used in the United States 2016-06-11 15:12 2KB news.softpedia.com 16 Facebook threatens to delete synced photos if users don't download its new photo app Facebook has decided on quite the way to convince people to download Moments: by threatening to delete thousands of photos if they don't. 2016-06-11 14:37 3KB www.cnbc.com 17 YouTube star Christina Grimmie shot and killed after concert The world has lost many greats of late including Prince and Muhammad Ali. Now it loses one more, though perhaps a bit less known to the older generation, but that makes the story no less sad. The world has lost many greats of late including Prince... 2016-06-11 14:18 1KB feeds.betanews.com 18 7 Days: A week of Marshmallow rising, Xbox highs and lows, and Windows 'appyness From App Store changes and Apple Store thieves, to foldable phones, Lenovo's Tango, Insider t-shirts, Jon Snow in space, and the PS4 with more, it's our regular roundup of the week's top tech news. 2016-06-11 14:18 20KB feedproxy.google.com 19 Google turns evil and backs controversial Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) The Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, or TPP, is a controversial trade agreement which has been decried by many as limiting privacy and freedom of expression, as well as lacking transparency. Google has just announced that it supports TPP. The Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, or... 2016-06-11 11:48 2KB feeds.betanews.com 20 Windows 10 Build 14361, Planner On Office 365: Microsoft Roundup This week, Microsoft released Planner and GigJam to the public, launched Windows 10 Build 14361 to phones and PCs, and organized a WWDC afterparty for app developers. 2016-06-11 10:06 4KB www.informationweek.com 21 Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is the main villain in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Activision has announced that Kit Harington - who plays Jon Snow in HBO's Game of Thrones - will be the main villain in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, with assistance from film director Guy Ritchie. 2016-06-11 07:00 2KB feedproxy.google.com

22 Samsung testing new TouchWiz UI Samsung, via its Galaxy Beta Program, has rolled out a new user interface for users in China and S. Korea. The UI scraps the launcher button, includes new icons, and has redesigned menus. 2016-06-11 06:34 1KB feedproxy.google.com 23 Microsoft Pushes for Android Apps on Windows 10 with New PC Notifications Users can now request Android devs to code for Windows 2016-06-11 06:31 2KB news.softpedia.com 24 Yahoo Shuts Down Messenger Desktop App to Focus on Web, Android & iOS Versions Yahoo! users won't be able to log in via Yahoo Messenger desktop clients starting with August 5, 2016 2016-06-11 01:50 2KB news.softpedia.com 25 Fedora 24 to Ship with Linux Kernel 4.5.7, Will Be Rebased Later on Linux 4.6 Linux kernel 4.5.7 will be offered as a 0-day update 2016-06-11 01:12 2KB news.softpedia.com 26 Pakistani Hackers Deface Websites for Seven Indian Embassies, One Police Station All websites are now back and functional 2016-06-11 01:00 2KB news.softpedia.com Articles

26 articles, 2016-06-12 00:19

1 From virtual reality to androids, five expectations for E3 (1.02/2) While the allure of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo remains blockbuster console and PC games, virtual reality and mobile gaming will have a bigger presence at this year's game industry gathering. It'll kick off Sunday with briefings from Electronic Arts and Bethesda Softworks and continue through Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. "There are 2,000 products that are going to be shown to consumers and 130 announcements that are going to be made next week about experiences and games that no one has seen before," said Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, which organizes E3. "There's tremendous momentum going into E3. " The festivities will spill out onto nearby streets and venues in downtown Los Angeles with companies such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Sony hosting fan-centric events. The organizers of E3 are joining them for the first time with their own public event, E3 Live. Gallagher expects 20,000 fans to show up for game demonstrations and other revelry. Here's a look at other E3 prospects: ___ SECOND WIND As has become familiar practice at E3, a litany of sequels and prequels will be on hand at the convention, including several sophomore outings. They include the stealth adventure "Dishonored 2," mech-heavy shooter "Titanfall 2," superhero mash-up "Injustice 2," hacker tale "Watch Dogs 2" and sci-fi strategy game "Halo Wars 2. " There will likely be many more franchise follow-ups unveiled at publishers' splashy press conferences Sunday and Monday. ___ NEW REALITY Following the rocky launches of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive virtual reality systems earlier this year, the immersive medium will be on the mind—and noggins—of many of the 50,000 attendees expected at E3. Gallagher said the number of VR exhibitors has doubled since last year's expo. Sony is likely to dedicate lots of energy on hyping PlayStation VR , which works in tandem with the PlayStation 4 console and is scheduled to debut this fall. ___ FRESH FACES There are several titles at E3 starring unlikely protagonists, such as scrappy survivor Joule of "ReCore" and introspective android Kara of "Detroit: Become Human. " A few sequels are adding new heroes to the fray. The young heir Emily Kaldwin is a grown-up assassin in "Dishonored 2," and "Watch Dogs 2" will introduce an Oakland-born hacker named Marcus Holloway. "Gears of War 4" is centered on the son of the series' hulking star Marcus Fenix. ___ LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Despite the prevalence of sequels, many publishers are touting a change of scenery at E3. "Watch Dogs 2" is swapping Chicago for San Francisco. "Battlefield 1" will ditch the military shooter series' modern-day conflicts for an epic World War I setting. The true-crime romp "Mafia III" is moving to New Orleans in the 1960s, while the tactical shooter "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands" will take on corruption in an open-world rendition of Bolivia. ___ GENERATION X There could be a few new pieces of hardware dramatically unveiled at E3 press conferences and on the show floor—but probably not. Nintendo is creating a new system codenamed NX, and Sony is working on an upgraded PlayStation 4 featuring 4K resolution, but both companies have maintained that they won't show them off at E3. Meanwhile, Microsoft may be developing its own updated version of the Xbox One that could make an E3 debut. Explore further: 'Dishonored' video game sequel set for November debut More information: www.e3expo.com 2016-06-11 21:48 phys.org

2 News Brought to you by The Linux Foundation is a non-profit consortium enabling collaboration and innovation through an open source development model. Learn More © 2016 The Linux Foundation 2016-06-12 00:19 www.linux

3 FarmBot Grows Things So You Don't Have To This is a machine that has lots to admire, but it does raise quite a few difficult questions. FarmBot Genesis will grow things for you without you having to be much involved. The technology is fascinating, but is this really a good idea? Farmbot uses a simple x,y, z positioning mechanism driven by an Arduino Mega, several stepper motors and a Raspberry Pi 3. Its components are either 3D printable or can be cut by a laser cutter and it is 100% open source. If you don't want to build your own then you can order one at the end of June. Take a look at it in action: If the size of the plot looks a little small then the good news is that it is easy to scale. All you need is a raised bed around which to run the x,y rails and it all works. There are three interchangeable tools that can be used to plant seeds, provide water and suppress weeds. Notice that there isn't much intelligence in this device; it is more like a CNC tool than an intelligent farm robot. It doesn't have any vision and certainly no AI. What it does is to pick up seeds and plant them in a rectangular grid pattern. It then waters them using the same grid pattern. Weeding is more like hoeing between the plants rather than any active seeking out of weeds. Of course, you could take the basic idea, add a camera and some CVS code and try to recognize problems of all sorts and develop the necessary algorithms. This would make a really nice long-term project. It is also suggested that you could add a weather station, some solar panels and perhaps a water storage system to make it more intelligent and more ecological. So what exactly is the point of FarmBot? It certainly looks fun and when I saw it I wanted one. The idea of armchair gardening is attractive. It is also suggested that you can build software growing regimens where the plants are treated differently at different points in their life cycle. But when you start to think about what work the system is eliminating it doesn't seem so attractive. For example, seed planting is something that is done just once and then you have to wait for the crop to be ready. You could probably manually plant the seeds in about the time it takes to change to the planting head - well not quite but you see the point. You would have to remember to give the plants some water, but with an automatic irrigation system you could even forget about this chore. As to weeding - as long as you have left enough space between the plants then dragging a hoe though once a week would have the same effect. While I'm not at all convinced of its use for the average kitchen garden, what you could use FarmBot for is experimenting with repeated crops under growing conditions that could be varied. It also might encourage a bio- clueless geek to get into growing things because it is a fun gadget. This isn't to say that it couldn't be made more intelligent and adding a 24- hour pest watch and elimination tool might well swing the jury in its favour. In short this is a piece of hardware looking for more sophisticated software. To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, sign up for our weekly newsletter, subscribe to the RSS feed and follow us on, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Linkedin. 2016-06-11 22:58 Written by

4 FileHippo News - powered by FeedBurner Ransomware is malicious malware installed secretly on victim’s machines that encrypts all or part of the data on a person’s machine and that can then only be unlocked by entering the decryption key, or by the hacker themselves. But of course it’s not like the software criminals are doing it for a laugh or as part of some sort of merry jest. Typically, for an end user to be given access to the decryption key, they must first pay the ransom, normally in the form of the online crypto currency Bitcoin, which by its nature is almost impossible to trace. Users who refuse to pay, or don’t do so before a given deadline face losing the data stored on their computers forever. The cost or ransom demand for unlocking the data can vary enormously, with individuals being forced to pay a few hundred dollars, with businesses being asked to part with thousands of dollars. The surge in the use of ransomware is partly down to the ease of use with which online criminals can get their hands on ransomware, and the increase of DIY kits that hackers can use to trap their victims. Mr Samani, talking to the BBC , blamed the rise on the appearance of freely available source code for ransomware and the debut of online services that let amateurs cash in for a relatively small one-time investment. Recently released research has pointed to a 3,500% increase in the criminal use of net infrastructure that helps run ransomware campaigns in the last year alone Experts who study ransomware have noted that there are now more than 120 separate families of ransomware that are currently in use. Because victims don’t have much of a choice but to pay up. For the criminals who use it, it’s a win/win situation. Even if someone doesn’t pay and decides that they can afford to lose all their data such as family photos, essays, and whatever else they have on their machines, the criminal will just move on to the next victim. But for some people, they feel they have no option, and in terms of forcing victims to comply, time limits are set for them to make up their mind or face the real promise that they will lose their private or corporate information forever. But crucially, experts have also stated that the increased use of ransomware has proved to be a problem for antivirus programs highlighting their weakness as an effective deterrent when it comes to dealing with such attacks. That being said, it would be a mistake not to have up-to-date antivirus on your device! You can download Bullguard Antivirus from FileHippo now and make sure you are protected. The post Intel Warns Of Alarming Rise In Ransomware Attacks appeared first on FileHippo News . “As part of efforts to maintain all options to address these systems issues, the university has paid a ransom totalling about $20,000 CDN that was demanded as part of this “ransomware” attack.” The University of Calgary admitted that it had transferred 20,000 dollars of Canadian currency into Bitcoin after both onsite and external IT security experts were unable to undo or remove the malware that hackers had encrypted the machines with. In a statement released on the Calgary University website, Linda Dalgetty, Vice-President, Finance and Services said: “As has been communicated over the past 10 days, the University of Calgary experienced a cyberattack that impacted its systems. This attack is part of a disturbing global trend of highly sophisticated and malicious malware attacks against organizations including NASA, law enforcement agencies and large health-care institutions. UCalgary IT teams have been working around the clock to address systems issues caused by the attack, and regular updates have been provided to the campus community. “ In an unrelated and coincidental move of irony, Intel announced in the same week that they were becoming increasingly concerned with the ever increasing number of ransomware infections and the ease of use with which a ransomware attack could be launched. As is now considered standard practice amongst ransomware hackers, Calgary University found that hackers had managed to encrypt over a 100 computers on their internal network and would not send on the decryption codes unless their payment demands were met. Victims of such an attack invariably find themselves with little option but to pay the ransom, or lose all their data. According to Dalgetty, the university is now “in the process of assessing and evaluating the decryption keys. The actual process of decryption is time-consuming and must be performed with care. It is important to note that decryption keys do not automatically restore all systems or guarantee the recovery of all data. A great deal of work is still required by IT to ensure all affected systems are operational again, and this process will take time..” At the time of writing, the university also said that there was so far no indication or evidence that suggested any confidential, university, or personal data information had been or would be released to the public. Time will tell. The post Calgary University Pays Ransomware Hackers $20,000 appeared first on FileHippo News . Data breaches…the gift that keeps on giving. At least, that’s the way Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has been experiencing them lately. Thanks to (probably) the 2012 LinkedIn hacking event, the social media creation whiz had three of his online accounts breached. How does that add up? Data that was stolen in 2012 was released only a matter of weeks ago on a dark web sales platform. Information that was stolen all that time ago included usernames, emails, and passwords for the business-oriented networking platform. Anyone who had established a LinkedIn account–and then promptly forgot about it–may have inadvertently been using a password on that site that they repeated on another site. Hence the hacking of Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts. Once the thieves accessed his LinkedIn account using the outdated, stolen information, they tried their hand at his other accounts and landed on access to two other social media accounts. Unfortunately, the genius behind arguably one of the most game-changing tech innovations of recent times reportedly used “dadada” as his password. Security experts have warned for some time that using weak passwords and then reusing your passwords on multiple sites is just courting danger. A strong password is one that contains an unguessable combination of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols; it should never contain any part of the user’s name, email domain, or the name of the website where the account is based. Of course, it should also not be one of the single most common passwords in use: password. Also, as the term implies, a unique password is one that you only use on one account. Had Zuckerberg heeded this crucial warning, the group who accessed his information on LinkedIn would have gotten no further than that lone account. The problem comes in trying to create a strong password that meets the above criteria, then trying to remember it for every different online account. This proves impossible, which is why experts recommend downloading a password manager like LastPass. The post Mark Zuckerberg Social Media Accounts Hacked appeared first on FileHippo News . At least it did for one Australian mother when she found her child wasn’t breathing . Of course, Siri doesn’t work on all iPhones, but Stacey Gleeson has been thanking her lucky starts that since last Christmas she now had an iPhone 6S, and she knew she could activate Siri from across the room. Previously Stacey had thought of Siri of being little more than a smart gimmick, using it to call her husband Nic, away on active service in the Australian Navy, on loudspeaker while putting her children to bed. “I had played around with Siri, I thought it was a fun feature. Now I have that feature turned on all the time and it will never be turned off again,” Ms Gleeson told Australian news channel, Outlet 7 News. The incident happened in March, and the child, Giana, had been fighting bronchiolitis and a chest infection when the young mother found her daughter wasn’t breathing. As she ran into the room, Glesson said that she dropped the phone in her rush to be beside her child, and unwilling to leave Gianna, simply called out “Hey Siri” and asked the personal assistant to call an ambulance, and Siri did so. As a result, Stacey was able to stay on the line with emergency services while she performed CPR. By the time the ambulance arrived, Gianna was breathing again, and consequently, doctors believe that there has been no lasting damage. They also said however, that every second had been vital, and had it not been for Stacey’s quick presence of mind, the result could have been markedly different. The post Siri Calls Ambulance For Distraught Mother appeared first on FileHippo News . There’s an alarming trend happening in the world of technology, one that affects everyone from thirteen-year-old girls who use their iPhones for Snapchat to company executives running Fortune 500 companies. It’s the unfortunate finding that use of antivirus and antimalware software is on the decline, not because we no longer need its protection, but because we’ve perhaps put too much trust in our computers’ ability to handle any threat. A survey in recent years –admittedly conducted by an antivirus software developer–asked respondents to explain their perceived levels of security, the tools they currently used to protect their technology, and the reasons why there might be a discrepancy in those two factors. The results were rather surprising: that thirteen-year-old social media addict was in the least likely group to install any AV measures, while the company executive, despite being in the age demographic that would be most likely to protect their data, often lacked enough awareness of the real threat to prompt him to take action. You only have to look at the number of large scale data breaches that were caused by the installation of malicious software, like the Target data breach of 2013 and the wave of hospital ransomware attacks that have happened this year, to know that the danger is out there. That’s why AV publishers are not only having to make their products as user friendly and one-size-fits-all as possible, they’re having to work overtime to get the word out about the very real threat of viruses and other malicious software. One such tool, BullGuard Antivirus, goes after all manner of threats, including viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, adware, spyware, malicious scripts, and worms. It not only detects threats before they’re installed, it can also root out malicious software that’s already in place and work to neutralize it. Of course, if users are already complacent about their protection–either believing they’re too “small” for hackers to go after, or not recognizing the danger–BullGuard reaches them where it really matters to them: spam blocking. By helping customers avoid unwanted messages in the form of spam, it’s actually helping prevent phishing attempts from reaching your inbox. Given the high numbers of companies that have fallen for boss phishing attempts (looking at you, Snapchat and all 55 of the companies known to have fallen for boss phishing emails in the first three months of this year), it’s important to keep all of your computers safe from spam. All antivirus protection is only as good as the known threats on the day it was installed; a virus that’s unleashed after you install AV software may or may not be recognized and avoided, depending on how it was written. That’s why BullGuard’s highlight feature is its constantly updated database of threats, giving you top-notch protection as each new malicious software is uncovered and armed for. BullGuard Antivirus offers something more, a feature that might be even more valuable than just standard AV blocking and protection, and that’s 24/7 live support. It’s nice to know that you won’t be stuck leaving a message if you discover that someone has already attacked your network, causing unknown amounts of harm. Its easy-to-navigate dashboard and its all levels of user-friendliness, along with its top of the industry protection, have earned it some well-deserving awards in the Antivirus business. The post Protecting Your Tech With BullGuard Antivirus appeared first on FileHippo News . In what is believed to be Russia’s largest ever arrest of hackers in one operation, Russian law enforcement agencies arrested over 50 people in 15 regions to catch most, if not all the people involved in the crime. The hackers are said to responsible for using malicious software to steal 1.7 billion roubles, roughly $25 million dollars. Russia’s equivalent of the US FBI, the FSB said in a press statement: “As a result of searches a large quantity of computer equipment was confiscated along with communications gear, bank cards in false names, and also financial documents and significant amounts of cash confirming the illegal nature of their activity.” The criminal gang’s alleged main weapon of attack was a Trojan known as ‘Lurk,’ that first rose to prominence in 2012. The Lurk Trojan is designed to hide on websites where it waits before silently infecting users devices with malware that could download more malware unbeknownst to the user that granted remote access to the hackers. Once inside, the criminals used their access to target and steal users bank account log in details. The data stole was then used to target bank accounts across Russia, and in particular Sberbank , one of Russia’s largest and most well-known financial institutions. Experts from Kaspersky Labs helped Russian police to catch the gang by tracing the advanced network of computers and servers that were used to steal money from victims accounts. The nick of time The FSB said that the timing of the arrests prevented numerous pending money transfers that would have resulted in the theft of another 2.3 million roubles. The post 50 Arrests Made As $25 Million Russian Hacker Gang Caught appeared first on FileHippo News . When news of a data breach occurs, typically the company whose information was hacked issues a statement to the effect of an ongoing cybersecurity investigation, informs the affected users, and offers up whatever legal reparations are required, such as credit monitoring or free copies of the victims’ credit reports. But in the case of recent complaints that TeamViewer’s web-based remote access was hacked –which then led to reports of victims’ bank accounts being drained and PayPal accounts being used without authorization–the company insists they were not hacked. The shadiness begins with TeamViewer’s service suddenly going offline, which victims state occurred during the time their passwords were being accessed and their accounts used. TeamViewer first insisted it was nothing more than a technical glitch, but now says it was just a denial-of-service attack. The victims, however, claim that their computers were taken over via the TeamViewer service, which then allowed hackers to access and empty their bank accounts , buy outrageous amounts of gift cards , and even place orders on Amazon and eBay. One victim who posted on Reddit described watching his mouse move across his screen, and then the steps that an unauthorized user attempted next. There’s an interesting, if somewhat dubious, explanation for what happened, at least as far as TeamViewer is concerned: a previous data breach. The company has already stated that they’ve run a full scan and have found no evidence whatsoever of a breach, and they’re pointing the finger at other breaches in which the victims’ passwords may have been accessed. TeamViewer has specifically cited the recent discovery of LinkedIn usernames and passwords for sale online, and has supported the idea that victims used the same password on both websites, which then led to their TeamViewer accounts being accessed. The post TeamViewer Insists There Was No Hacking appeared first on FileHippo News . “Fraud, waste, and abuse” is a collective, catch-all term that the federal government uses as a cautionary highlight. It serves as everything from a justification as to why a change must be made, to a rallying cry to individuals to stop the drain of financial resources at every turn. But now the Office of Management and Budget–the largest office within the executive branch, charged with producing the President’s proposed budget and then overseeing the spending–has called on the entire government to stop wasting so much money on software. Last December, the OMB spread the word to government agencies that big changes were coming in the way software would be bought, used, and upgraded. Some of the changes involve establishing a software manager position within every agency to oversee the best practices of any given title, to help ensure that software is not only up-to-date but also relevant to their mission, and to look for other ways each agency can save money through software instead of haemorrhage it. Now that sufficient time has passed for the OMB’s message to be shared and responded to, the proposed changes will take effect. According to a WhiteHouse.gov blog post on the proposal dated June 2nd, “To take advantage of this buying power, reduce duplication and fragmentation, and ultimately save money, the policy released today will help agencies move to a more centralized and collaborative software management approach. It calls on agencies to appoint a software manager to centrally manage software buys and reduce underutilization, to maintain a continual inventory of software licenses and better track usage, to consolidate redundant applications while identifying other savings, and to maximize the use of best-in-class solutions.” The government at every level doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to technology spending. In the now-infamous San Bernardino shooter iPhone case, the FBI would never have needed to wage war against Apple over unlocking it had the county government who’d issued it actually installed the remote unlock feature they’d been paying for ever since it was purchased; that begs the question, how many other purchased features in that county (and every other government agency) have been paid for but never installed? In terms of the OMB, their announcement revealed that they have done away with more than “700 duplicative professional services contracts, which is estimated to save the Government nearly $4 million over the next five years with sustained annual savings of $1.3 million thereafter.” Part of the work of eliminating those extremely expensive and wasteful contracts is first bringing in a software manager to even know they exist. And with an estimated $6 billion budgeted for software spending alone, it doesn’t take long to burn through that money if someone isn’t watching to see where it goes. The post OMB: Stop Reinventing The Software Wheel appeared first on FileHippo News . While Yahoo’s revelation probably doesn’t come as any surprise, and nor does it sound like big news, it is important. By choosing to release the contents of the NSL letters, Yahoo have become the first US company to positively confirm and admit that it has received such correspondence from a US Government agency. What is surprising about the release of the letters is that fact that Yahoo didn’t have to battle their way through the US legal system to do so. It’s all due to new legislation called known as the USA Freedom Act. In basic terms, the FBI now has to regularly come to a conclusion as to when NSL gag orders are no longer relevant or necessary except in exceptional cases that represent a clear and present danger to US national interests. Yahoo have published three NSLs they received between 2013 and 2015. Unfortunately, they’re heavily redacted, which basically means someone has taken a black marker to certain parts of the text. What you can see from the released letters however is the type of information the FBI requested that Yahoo provide, such as names, addresses, and service dates. The omission of any request for the actual content within emails should not fill conspiracy theorists with any sense of relief however, because it’s still unknown if other as yet unrevealed NSLs have or did. So while the three released redacted letters are a positive step on the road to transparency it doesn’t however reveal how many letters Yahoo itself has revealed. Companies are still only allowed to list the number of NSLs they have received in lots of 500. “Yahoo has always maintained a strong commitment to protecting our users’ safety, security and privacy. The release of these documents and information regarding NSLs today is consistent with our commitment to sharing as much information as we legally can regarding government data requests. We believe there is value in making these documents available to the public to promote an informed discussion about the legal authorities available to law enforcement. They also demonstrate the importance of hard-fought reforms to surveillance law achieved with passage of the USA Freedom Act.” The post Yahoo Releases FBI National Security Letters To The World appeared first on FileHippo News . Cloud-based software, typically licensed via a subscription model, became all the rage in recent years, as an article by Jeff Bennion for Above The Law demonstrated. Bennion points out several obvious benefits to subscription- based software, as opposed to only a handful of negative aspects, not the least of which are the overall cost savings, the often-included cloud storage abundance, and the ability to receive immediate upgrades without having to make another purchase. But a report by Shira Ovide for Bloomberg shows another reality in the cloud-based tech space, and that’s a drop in the valuation of startups that produce subscription modelled products. This data is coupled with numbers that demonstrate the inability of major companies who’ve bought some smaller startups to eek any profit from the moves. So where does that leave the users? Do consumers bother investing in a new system, hoping they don’t wake up to an email from Microsoft informing them their OneDrive storage is about to be slashed? Do businesses go back to the days of running a fifteen-year-old Office Suite because their employees are already trained on the old system? One of the correlations in this scenario (unlikely though it may seem) was the seismic-level shift in online publishing. Everyone from indie authors to Big Five publishers to scholarly journals embraced digital reading in its present form, and were quick to develop “downloadable” content that let users carry a full library in their pockets. But only a few short years after the boom, smart startups noticed a characteristic that once again completely revamped digital publishing, and that was the abundance of readily available wifi. There was no need to chew up memory space in your device with full downloads of the entire Game of Thrones series, since you could read-as-you-go through public hotspots or the enticing unlimited data offers carriers began to provide. So it’s not just about companies developing better technology or a changing tech landscape. As with digital reading, consumer tech behavior will be the driving factor in whether or not cloud-based subscription software thrives in a changing market or continues to fade. The post Has The Cloud Evaporated? appeared first on FileHippo News . 2016-06-11 18:43 feeds2.feedburner

5 The Roadmap to Kotlin 1.1 Kotlin development is heading towards version 1.1; Kotlin lead language designer Andrey Breslav explained the roadmap to JetBrains’ JVM language new version, which will include major new language features. Kotlin 1.1 will provides a number of new language features: On the tooling front, Kotlin 1.1 will include direct support for Java 8/9 features, such as default method generation. Additionally, the JavaScript backend will be brought in line with the actual set of language features. Kotlin development is driven by the Kotlin Evolution and Enhancement Process (KEEP) , based on a GitHub repository where all planned use cases are described. Kotlin 1.1 will be both source and binary compatible with previous versions, meaning that new versions of Kotlin compiler will not break compatibility with older source code and binaries. 2016-06-11 18:04 Sergio De

6 All Clues Point to the Death of the Angler Exploit Kit If this is the first time you read about an exploit kit such as Angler, these are specialized Web-based applications that sit on a website and await visitors. Crooks use malvertising attacks, hidden redirections on hacked sites, or spam campaigns to send traffic to these Web pages. Here, exploit kits (EKs) like Angler test the user's locally-installed software and detect vulnerable versions. They then deliver malicious code via JavaScript, Flash, or Silverlight that exploit these weaknesses in order to download and install malware in what's known as a drive-by download. Most users never notice anything, unless their have antivirus software installed on their computers. The same things were also reported by a security researcher named Kaffeine (Malware don't need Coffee blog) and Brad Duncan (Malware Traffic Analysis blog). All three say that important actors in the malvertising scene are now migrating to other exploit kits, but mainly Neutrino. Researcher Kaffeine noted that while Angler has had ups and downs in terms of activity, it also had periods of downtime, usually when the people behind the exploit kit went on vacations or performed server maintenance. GooNky, the name of one of the biggest malvertising actors even synchronized its periods of inactivity with Angler's. The most recent one was in January 2016, when both groups took a break and returned at the same time. Now, even long-time fan GooNky has switched to the Neutrino EK, one of Angler's competitors, along with SadClowns, another major player on the malvertising market. As for Angler's rivals, Kaffeine says that Neutrino just doubled its price on the underground market, going from $3,500 per month to $7,000, while also dropping the weekly rental option. It appears that Angler's rivals are trying to capitalize from the void created on the market after Angler's apparent disappearance. This is somewhat reminiscent of the way Neutrino's authors reacted after the author of the Blackhole exploit kit was arrested in 2013. At the start of June, Russian authorities announced their largest cybercrime bust in history, during which they arrested 50 people and detained 18. Russian authorities revealed that the crooks they arrested were involved in the creation of the Lurk trojan. Kaffeine says that between 2012 and the start of 2016, the Lurk trojan was distributed via the Angler EK. Malwarebytes, Kaffeine, and Brad Duncan report that the last instance of the Angler EK used in a live malvertising campaign was recorded on June 7. Previously, the Nuclear EK also disappeared without a trace around April 30. 2016-06-11 19:25 Catalin Cimpanu

7 Exploring Performance Counters with F# WMI Type Provider Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a primary source of data when monitoring Windows systems. Given that the performance counters available vary from machine to machine, a tool is needed to list all counters available. The WMI type provider is one possible option to explore WMI performance counters. With FSI , WMI can be queried directly from the IDE. The following query outputs memory and garbage collection metrics for IIS worker process instances: WMI metrics can be used through a variety of applications: data collectors, Powershell scripts or in. Net code. Off the shelves monitoring tools often provide integration to WMI performance counters. The exact name of the counter and metric are required in order to configure the tool to monitor them. The WMI type provider creates objects with the exact names, meaning they can be copy-pasted directly from the IDE to the monitoring tool or Powershell script. Some additional configuration may be required when working on a 64 bit operating system. A 32 bits process running on a 64 bit system would be serviced by the 32 bit WMI provider when requesting data. This would lead to missing data as the 32 bit provider will only return data collected from 32 bit processes. FSI runs by default in 32 bit in Visual Studio. It can be configured to run in 64 bit by selecting the option in Tools/Options/F# Tools as a simple way to connect to the 64 bit WMI provider. Applications targeting. Net 4.5.* also compile to 32 bit by default in Visual Studio. Making the application compile to 64 bit is done by setting the prefer32bits attribute to false in the MsBuild target. The WMI type provider is a part of FSharp. Management , an open source project available on Github. The project also includes other type providers: file system, registry, Powershell and timezones. 2016-06-11 18:04 Pierre-Luc

8 Bluetooth 5 is on the way: four times the speed, twice the range, and location-awareness Due to be announced next week on June 16, Bluetooth 5 has a great deal to offer. Ahead of the announcement, Bluetooth Special Interest Group executive director Mark Powell has revealed a little about what we can expect. The headline-grabbing specifications for the latest version of the wireless standard are a doubling of the current range, and a quadrupling of the current speed. Slightly less exciting is the change in naming convention which is a move to simplify the communication of major changes, but another key feature of Bluetooth 5 is support for location-aware services. This is something that other companies are already implementing in different ways, and in the last few days Google launched Nearby which makes use of beacons to promote apps and services based on location. As Bluetooth 5 becomes widely adopted, we’re likely to see far more things like this. This is really what Bluetooth SIG is promoting, having already talked about the speed and range improvements earlier in the year. In a letter published in the Bluetooth newsletter, Blue News, Mark Powell says: We can expect to see Bluetooth 5 implemented in future smartphones, tablets and laptops, as well as featuring in upcoming IoT devices. The full launch takes place in London on Thursday. Photo credit: Wiktoria Pawlak / Shutterstock 2016-06-11 17:42 By Mark

9 9 Java 9 Will Remove CORBA from Default Classpath As part of the ongoing transition to the module system, CORBA and other Java EE modules won't be included in the default classpath from Java 9 onwards. These modules will still be included in the default distributions, but developers will have to include specific command line flags to be able to use them. The change will only affect non-modular applications targeting Java 9, as modular ones already need to explicitly indicate all the modules they depend on. As explained in the The State of the Module System , the addition of modular capabilities to Java 9 won't force developers to use them straightaway, instead, a number of backwards-compatible options are being provided. One of these will allow the compilation of traditional, non- modular code in Java 9. For this to work, non-modular code will be added by the compiler to a special module called the "unnamed module", which by default exposes all the packages there contained and has no explicit dependencies. Unfortunately, the fact that the unnamed module doesn't have any explicit dependencies imposes challenges to module resolution. In a modular Java application, the module being compiled will have an explicit list of needed dependencies. The compiler can use this information, together with the dependencies of the dependencies, to compute a graph that includes the transitive-closure of all modules needed directly or indirectly by the compiled module. Since the unnamed module doesn't indicate any dependencies, it cannot be used as a root to compute the module graph. In order to fix this, Java 9 will have to use some default value as the root module when compiling code into the unnamed module. With the latest change, this default root module has been changed from java.se.ee to java.se, which means all the Java EE extensions are now unavailable by default. This change will help prevent clashes with application servers that include their own implementations of Java EE packages. Those wanting to migrate to Java 9 but who aren't ready to rewrite their applications as per the module system can still add these dependencies back to the classpath by using the command line argument "-addmods " when compiling or running the application. 2016-06-11 18:04 Abraham Marín

10 Microsoft will be offering a $10 credit to some users for revoking free Fallout 4 licenses Yesterday, for a brief period of time, the Fallout 4 Deluxe Edition Bundle was listed for $0.00 instead of its usual $109.00 price. Some users were able to grab the game from the Xbox Store for free, but Microsoft later revoked these licenses. Now the company has begun notifying some of these users that their Xbox account would be credited with $10 as compensation. According to Windows Central, the following message is being sent to Xbox Live users who had downloaded the game for free: Although the incident was a gaffe, Xbox support staff had assured users that the game was indeed being provided for free as part of a promotional offer to all gamers. Via: Windows Central 2016-06-11 16:32 Shreyas Gandhe

11 Data Streaming Architecture with Apache Flink Jamie Grier, Director of applications engineering at data Artisans recently spoke at OSCON 2016 Conference about data streaming architecture using Apache Flink. He talked about the building blocks of data streaming applications. Data-streaming architectures are used to process data that's continuously produced as streams of events over time, instead of static datasets. Compared to the traditional centralized "state of the world" databases and data warehouses, data streaming applications work on the streams of events and on application-specific local state that is an aggregate of the history of events. Some of the advantages of streaming data processing are: Apache Flink is an open source platform for distributed stream and batch data processing. Flink was inspired by Google Data Flow model. It supports Stream Processing API in Java and Scala programming languages. Compared to other steaming data processing frameworks, there is no micro batching of data in Flink. It's based on "message at a time" stream processing. Jamie talked about stateful stream processing and showed some code examples of Flink applications and monitoring using Influxdb, open source time series database and Graphana visualization tool. He also talked about the Windowing concept in stream processing and Windowing in Processing Time v. Event Time. Windowing in processing time affects the streaming data analytics and results in some errors in data processing. In the Event Time approach, Windowing comes from data, not the clock time. With event time, data is processed according to a timestamp embedded in the data which allows you to compute more accurate results. Jamie also discussed the failure handling and fault tolerance when using Flink in applications. Savepoints feature in Flink allows updating the programs and Flink cluster without losing any state. The savepoints data snapshots are important when you are doing stream processing on the real live data. If you are interested in learning more about Apache Flink, check out their website. Also, Flink Forward 2016 Conference will be held in September in Berlin. The last date for submitting proposals is June 30, 2016. 2016-06-11 18:04 Srini Penchikala

12 Reviewing Microsoft's Automatic Insertion of Telemetry into C++ Binaries Recently Reddit user "sammiesdog" posted claims that Visual Studio's C++ compiler was automatically adding function calls to Microsoft's telemetry services. The screenshot accompanying their post showed how a simple 5 line CPP file produced an assembly language file that included a function call titled “ telemetry_main_invoke_trigger ”. The ensuing discussion then revolved around how to disable this unannounced “feature” while also speculating its purpose. “sammiesdog” noted that this appears in release builds, while user “ssylvan” also indicated that it appeared in debug builds too. The telemetry function is intended to communicate with ETW. User “xon-xoff” explains their concerns in a posting to a related thread: You are correct, ETW by itself just logs events. That in itself is not a problem. Here are the problems: ETW can and is sometimes used as part of solutions for remote telemetry. These events are coming from the program itself whenever the CRT is statically linked into the program. It's called telemetry. While conducting research for this article, this author was able to view the telemetry function calls reported by “sammiesdog” using the following CPP code when compiled under Visual Studio 2015 Update 2: #include "stdafx.h" #include int main() { return 0; } telemetry_main_invoke_trigger was found in both Debug and Release builds when the project was compiled under both Windows 7 and Windows 10. The ensuing controversy and conversation about the discovery of this function led to a response from Microsoft’s Steve Carroll, Development Manager for the Visual C++ team. First and foremost in his response is the unequivocal statement that this functionality will be removed in Visual Studio 2015’s Update 3. Carroll goes on to explain Microsoft’s thought process behind including this functionality: …what the code does is trigger an ETW event which, when it’s turned on, will emit timestamps and module loads events. The event data can only be interpreted if a customer gives us symbol information (i.e. PDBs) so this data is only applicable to customers that are actively seeking help from us and are willing to share these PDBs as part of their investigation. We haven’t actually gone through this full exercise with any customers to date though, and we are so far relying on our established approaches to investigate and address potential problems instead. In the meantime, users who have a copy of VS2015 Update 2 and wish to turn off the telemetry functionality currently being compiled into their code should add “ notelemetry.obj ” to their linker command line. (This fix was confirmed by Carroll.) InfoQ reached out to Microsoft to confirm whether or not this default behavior exists in Visual Studio “15” and according to a Microsoft spokesperson while this behavior does currently exist in "15", it will be removed in a future preview release. However, a timetable for removal has not been provided. VS2012 and VS2013 do not include this telemetry behavior. 2016-06-11 18:04 Jeff Martin

13 HyperDev Spins Up New Web Apps with No Effort Fog Creek Software has released a new web-based tool that spins up a new web app, live on the internet with no effort beyond searching for "HyperDev". In a blog post announcing the public beta , Joel Spolsky says that HyperDev will be "the fastest way to bang out code and get it running on the internet. We want to eliminate 100% of the complicated administrative details around getting code up and running on a website. " The start-up experience is indeed streamlined. By just hitting http://hyperdev.com , the user is given a clean instance of a baseline Node.js back-end project and a simple HTML/JS front-end. All of the setup, source control, and hosting is taken care of. HyperDev takes the idea of jsFiddle and extends it to include server-side code. By default, users see an in-browser IDE that contains a front-end and a back-end code portion. The back-end portion sets up a Express. JS web server that serves up the contents of the front-end portion. From this starting point, developers can write whatever server code they need, exactly as they would in a "traditional" Node.js app. Spolsky highlights the repetitive new project tasks that HyperDev eliminates: You didn’t make an account. You didn’t use Git. Or any version control, really. You didn’t deal with name servers. You didn’t sign up with a hosting provider. You didn’t provision a server. You didn’t install an operating system or a LAMP stack or Node or operating systems or anything. You didn’t configure the server. You didn’t figure out how to integrate and deploy your code.` Many professional web developers will already have their own streamlined processes for creating a new project, whether it's for a prototype or production. However, for those that only dabble in the web from time-to- time, HyperDev proves to be a valuable tool to get something up and running on the web without a lot of ceremony involved. HyperDev projects can be shared, with each developer's code changes getting updated in real-time, says Spolsky: Literally every change you make is instantly saved, uploaded to the server, the server is restarted with the new code, and your browser is refreshed, all within half a second. So now your server-side code changes are instantly deployed. It’s a magical kind of team programming where everything shows up instantly, like Trello, or Google Docs. A collection of examples is available in the HyperDev Gallery. So far, it only works with JavaScript based projects, but the team hopes to add more languages soon. In a community discussion on Hacker News, many of the comments are positive, but place HyperDev into the category of a "toy". Nicholas Charriere sounded an excited note, saying , "It's all about diminishing the barrier to entry, and honestly I'm very impressed with this project. To me, this is a breakthrough. I think that combining this with a very minimalistic class could teach people that computers aren't magical, and anyone can try. " 2016-06-11 18:04 David Iffland

14 iPhone 7 AT&T and International Versions to Get Intel LTE Modem A report by Bloomberg and citing people with knowledge of the matter indicates that Intel won’t replace Qualcomm for the iPhone 7, but actually build chips alongside it, so some versions of the device will come with Intel’s LTE modems, while others will feature Qualcomm’s. As a result, the Intel chip will be installed on iPhone 7 units supposed to be sold at AT&T, but also in international markets, while those coming with a Qualcomm model will be available at Verizon and in China. For the moment, there doesn’t seem to be any big difference between the chips manufactured by the two companies, but previous reports indicated that Intel was favorite to sign Apple for the iPhone 7 thanks to its 7360 LTE modem. And yet, it appears that Qualcomm will offer technology very similar to Apple, so the two chips are expected to be similar in performance and power consumption. Intel’s mode, for instance, allows for download speeds up to 450 Mbps and upload up to 100 Mbps, and Qualcomm’s solution should get anywhere near this. On the other hand, seeing two different providers for the iPhone 7 chips is kind of a risky decision for Apple because should problems be experienced with any of them, sales of the device could be impacted in the corresponding market. Keep in mind, however, that this is still in the rumor stage and nothing will be confirmed until the iPhone 7 goes live in September, so take everything with a pinch of salt in the meantime. 2016-06-11 15:31 Bogdan Popa

15 The “No Love for Windows Phone” Effect: 72% of Americans Never Used Cortana A study conducted by Creative Strategies shows that no less than 72 percent of the Americans never used Cortana, despite the fact that Microsoft’s assistant is currently available on both phones and PCs. On the other hand, only 21 percent of the participants in the study said they never used Siri, while 34 percent said they didn’t try Google’s personal assistant. What’s more, when it comes to iOS users alone, just 2 percent of the customers said they never used Siri, while in Google’s case, 4 percent of Android users weren’t interested in a digital assistant. As for Windows Phone, the company says that the number of Windows Phone users participating in the study was too small and such statistics could not be determined. Another interesting fact revealed by the study is that while usage of digital assistants is growing, most mobile phone owners prefer to use them at home or in cars. Only 6 percent of them talk to a digital assistant in public because “they feel uncomfortable talking to their technology” when someone else is around. “With public usage as low as 3% for iPhone users, it seems users are still uncomfortable talking to their devices. Even more fascinating is this happens in the US where consumers are accustomed to talking loudly on phones in public,” the study shows. Despite all these figures, Microsoft’s most recent statistics have shown that Cortana adoption is growing and the assistant has already answered billions of questions since its launch on the PC. For the moment, however, such technologies are more useful on the go, and with Windows Phone losing ground in many markets, Cortana still has a hard time gaining more users. 2016-06-11 15:12 Bogdan Popa

16 Facebook threatens to delete synced photos if users don't download its new photo app Facebook has decided on quite the way to convince people to download Moments : by threatening to delete thousands of photos if they don't. The notice has to do with a photo syncing feature that was recently removed from Facebook's main mobile app. Starting in 2012, the core Facebook app was able to automatically upload photos from a phone's local camera roll to a private album on Facebook. They were kept there for storage, but also to make it easier to later share them publicly on Facebook. That syncing tool has now been moved out of the core Facebook app and into the photo app Moments. Facebook made it clear that this would happen — and in fact it happened months back, seemingly without much pushback. What Facebook was less clear about was what would happen to photos that had previously been synced. How to be human: can moving cities help me reset after a breakup? Mr. Robot concept store lets you ‘hack’ a fake ATM for real money Apple is changing App Store revenue share for subscription apps TechCrunch spotted this email that someone received, warning them of the deletion: While Facebook is giving people plenty of time to make the jump over to Moments, it's being pretty shameless here about what's going on. Now you can perhaps argue that anyone actively using Facebook's auto sync will have already downloaded Moments. Like the person in the tweet above, it's entirely possible that Facebook will be removing photos that people forgot or didn't realize were synced. But it's still, to say the least, not the kindest of tactics to delete photos when Facebook certainly has the resources to go on storing them. It's a blatantly aggressive push to get people to download Moments, which Facebook seems to be hoping will be its next big app. This isn't the first time Facebook has been aggressive about moving people to another of its apps. Two years ago, it removed Messenger from the core Facebook app, requiring people to download Messenger's own app to keep using it on mobile. That was an annoying shift for some, but maybe not on quite the same level as what it's doing for Moments — it's not like Facebook would delete your chat account. Anyone who's used Facebook's auto sync feature in the past has until July 7th to download Moments or a zip file of their synced photos. Otherwise, they're going to disappear. 2016-06-11 14:37 Jacob Kastrenakes

17 YouTube star Christina Grimmie shot and killed after concert The world has lost many greats of late including Prince and Muhammad Ali. Now it loses one more, though perhaps a bit less known to the older generation, but that makes the story no less sad. Christina Grimmie, who amassed fame on YouTube with over three million followers, and then went on to become a finalist on The Voice working with Adam Levine, was playing a concert last night in Orlando, Florida. CNN reports "A man armed with two guns walked up to the 22-year-old singer as she was signing autographs late Friday night and opened fire, Orlando police spokeswoman Wanda Ford said". The gunman was tackled by the singer's brother, but turned the gun on himself, so we may never know the true cause of this tragedy. There are countless possible causes -- a jilted boyfriend or an online stalker spring to mind. Little information is known at this point, as police try to piece the case together. The Bureau of Justice Statistics points out that 3.4 million people in the US are stalked annually. And much of this is done online including social media and unwanted emails. Perhaps most telling is "waiting at places for the victim". While we obviously can't point a finger of blame at cause, we do know that being famous comes at a cost. Perhaps we'll eventually discover the motive for this, but for now, we can only mourn the tragedy. Image Credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com 2016-06-11 14:18 By Alan

18 7 Days: A week of Marshmallow rising, Xbox highs and lows, and Windows 'appyness 7 Days is a weekly round-up of the Editors' picks of what's been happening in the world of technology - written with a dash of humor, a hint of exasperation, and an endless supply of (Irish) coffee. After the excitement of Computex, this past week hasn’t been quite as manic as the last – but there’s been no shortage of exciting developments across the tech world in recent days. Now, the weekend is here once again – and of course, that means it’s time to pause, reflect, recline and relax, and let 7 Days bring you up to speed with what’s been happening. We begin this week in France, where the Euro 2016 football (or “soccer” for those in the US) tournament is now underway. In a sad sign of the times – following the appalling attacks in Paris last November, in which 130 people were killed – authorities there have released an app that delivers terror alerts to those in the country. But the app has additional applications too; beyond warning users of terrorist attacks, it can also keep them posted on hazardous material spillages, dam failures and nuclear disasters. T-Mobile’s larger-than-life CEO John Legere announced the latest addition to its Uncarrier commitments on Monday. Along with free food, drinks and movies to buy the love of its customers, T-Mo is also giving away shares in the company. After launching its Vive VR headset in April for $799, HTC announced the Vive Business Edition on Thursday, priced at $1,200. The company says its offering will “lead [the] virtual reality enterprise sector”. Slack is an increasingly popular collaboration tool among businesses, and it became even more useful this week, as it rolled out integrated voice call support for all users , following several months of testing. Well, I say “all users” – but what I actually mean is “all users except those with Windows phones”. What a surprise. There was bad news this week for those who use the forums of uTorrent, the world’s most popular BitTorrent client. The company said that its forums had been hacked , and warned users that their “passwords should be considered compromised”. Twitter was forced to deny that it had been hacked this week, after the credentials for 32 million accounts popped up for sale on the web. It appeared that the usernames, passwords, and email addresses may have been harvested by malware installed on users’ devices – but on Friday, Twitter responded to the security threat by locking many users out of their accounts until they reset their passwords. Twitter also joined forces with Transport for London – the city’s public transit authority – to launch a new pilot scheme, delivering urgent travel updates to inform passengers about potentially serious service disruptions via direct messages. And Twitter also launched a new version of its Android app on Tuesday, with user interface changes, and a fresh look based on Google’s Material Design visual language. BlackBerry began the process of phasing out its own OS last year when it launched its new Android flagship, the Priv – but according to an AT&T executive, the device is “really struggling” against its rivals . A year after the launch of its similarly rugged predecessor, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S7 active on Monday. The flagship-class device features a shatter-resistant display, IP68 dust- and water-resistance, a large 4000mAh battery, and plenty of other high-end specs. It also comes in a 'Camo Green' option, because... erm... nope, no idea. A report earlier this week suggested that Samsung is working on two devices with foldable displays under the codename ‘Project Valley’, and said they could be unveiled as soon as February 2017. That rumor was fuelled by comments later in the week by a Samsung executive, who said that devices like these are now “right around the corner”. Lenovo held its Tech World conference this week, at which it brought a piece of concept technology to market in a smartphone for the first time. The new Phab2 Pro is the first phone to feature Google’s Project Tango technology, including motion tracking, as well as 3D scanning and depth perception, allowing users to quickly and easily map a physical space (and potentially, any objects within it) simply by pointing the device's camera at it. With a 6.4-inch display, the handset is also huge . Lenovo also unveiled its Moto Z flagships – and it showed off a novel approach to the modular solution that LG attempted (and didn’t get quite right) with its latest G5 range-topper. The Moto Z is spectacularly thin with a 5.2mm profile, but the company is offering ‘Moto Mods’ which seamlessly and magnetically attach to the rear, bringing additional capabilities, such as a projector, or up to 22 hours of extra battery life. Notably, given the exceptional thinness of the devices, the company has dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack entirely, requiring users to connect their headphones to the USB Type-C port via an adaptor. Huawei got tongues wagging this week, when an executive revealed that the company is “doing the Nexus again this year” , fuelling speculation that it will develop a follow-up to its current Nexus 6P flagship. The Nexus 6P’s smaller sibling – the Nexus 5X, built by LG – is usually priced from $349 in the US. But two retailers are currently offering the 5.2- inch device for just $269.99 for a limited time. Both the Nexus 5X and 6P were unveiled as ‘showcase’ devices for Android 6.0 Marshmallow last year. But eight months after Marshmallow began rolling out to other devices, Google revealed this week that that version of the OS has so far made it to just 10.1% of active Android devices . That’s a pretty pathetic effort after so long – but it the rollout has been gaining momentum, with its presence on devices having doubled in the last two months. Marshmallow continues to slowly make its way to more devices around the world. Most recently, it arrived on Samsung’s Galaxy S5 models with Exynos processors in India … …and on the Galaxy Note Edge on Verizon in the US. And months later than originally promised, the OxygenOS update built on Android 6.0.1 finally began rolling out to the OnePlus 2 this week as well. Cyanogen announced the release of version 13.1 of its OS for the OnePlus One , including support for MODs (or ‘Mods’ or ‘mods’ – the company is annoyingly inconsistent in how it refers to them). MODs effectively allow users to tweak the OS with functionality provided by other providers, and several examples are available from Microsoft including Cortana, Skype and Hyperlapse MODs. On Tuesday, Microsoft restored ‘Hey, Cortana’ voice activation functionality for its digital assistant on other Android devices – but the news isn’t quite as good as it first appears. Unfortunately, the feature now only works on Android devices within the app itself. Apple released a fresh round of developer betas for its operating systems on Monday: iOS 9.3.3, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan, and tvOS 9.2.2, along with its first beta of watchOS 2.2.2. Apple announced significant changes to its App Store , ahead of its Worldwide Developer Conference next week. Among the changes are new app subscriptions, and a revised revenue sharing structure for subscriptions, allowing developers to take an 85% cut, rather 70%. Annoyingly, though, Apple is also introducing ‘search ads’ in the store, allowing developers with deeper pockets to pay for prominent placement in store search results. Given criticisms about how difficult it is for indie developers, including those with very limited budgets, to get their apps seen in the store, it’s hard to see how this move will improve anything but the size of Apple’s enormous cash reserves. Microsoft announced new features for its Project Islandwood app bridge , to help developers port their apps from iOS to Windows 10 devices. The new features include additional layout APIs, integration with the CoreFoundation framework, and new sample projects on GitHub. Microsoft slashed a chunky 29% ($40) off the Lumia 550 , its entry-level Windows 10 Mobile handset, in the US on Sunday, reducing its price to just $99, unlocked and off-contract. You’ll have to be quick to take advantage of the offer though – it ends on Saturday, June 11. Over in the UK, Microsoft again reduced the price of its Lumia 950 and 950 XL flagships , by a hefty 17%, in what appears to be its latest permanent price cut. Sweetening the deal further, Microsoft is also offering a free Display Dock and one-year Office 365 Personal subscription with the devices, worth just under £140. On Tuesday, Dona Sarkar – the new head of the Windows Insider Program, who took over from Gabe Aul last week – promised “some *really* interesting things” on the way for those testing Windows 10. On Wednesday, Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14361 arrived for both PCs and phones. However, while there were some new features listed for PCs , there appeared to be nothing at all for phones with the exception of the usual list of known and fixed issues. (And of course, there was a similar list for PCs too .) Coinciding with the rollout of build 14361, LastPass officially announced the release of its web extension for Microsoft’s Edge browser , becoming the first (and only) password manager to do so, so far. However, it's only available for Windows Insiders for now. Microsoft also invited members of its Insider Program to take part in a contest to design what “might just become our next official Windows Insider T-shirt” . (We have no doubt that you can do a lot better than our hastily- assembled effort, shown above…) Bank of America finally released its long-awaited app for Windows 10 PCs and phones on Tuesday, three months after the company said it would arrive “in the next few weeks”. And Disqus revealed on Thursday that its Windows 10 app “is coming together quickly now”, and will soon be made available for PCs and phones running Microsoft’s latest OS. An open beta is also on the way. But while many brands are jumping onto Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform, developing apps that can run across various Windows 10 devices, some major companies still aren’t convinced that it’s worth the effort. Amazon revealed this week that it has withdrawn its app for Windows phones , and it hasn’t commented on any possible plans to launch a new Universal app. Its app remains available for Windows PCs and tablets – but that version of the app was originally developed for Windows 8. On Tuesday, Microsoft made new additions to its Windows App Studio tools to help those with no coding experience create more powerful apps. The most significant addition is that of REST API support, allowing users to easily connect a much wider range of data to their apps – but there are other handy new features and improvements too. For experienced developers, Microsoft also made Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 Release Candidate available on Tuesday, adding a range of improvements, with a particular focus on stability, improvement and bug fixes. Coinciding with the Apache Spark Summit in San Francisco this week, Microsoft announced an “extensive commitment for Spark to power [its] big data and analytics offerings, including Cortana Intelligence Suite, Power BI and Microsoft R Server.” The following day, IBM announced its new Data Science Experience , which it says is “the first cloud-based development environment for real-time, high- performance analytics”. Building on its $300 million investment to develop Spark as a kind of ‘analytics operating system’, it aims to make it easier to interrogate and analyze massive data sets, and extract deeper insights more quickly than ever before. Meanwhile, Microsoft is aiming to make it easier for businesses to determine whether they’re prepared to upgrade to Windows 10, with the launch of its new ‘Ready for Windows’ site . It’s also hoping to encourage more businesses to buy its Windows 10 devices with its new Surface Membership Plan. Rather than purchase a Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 or Surface 3 upfront, Microsoft is now offering businesses the ability to spread the cost across up to 30 months, including comprehensive support and training, and accidental damage protection for the devices. Several key figures from the Surface Hub and HoloLens teams have left Microsoft for perceptiveIO, a start-up based in San Francisco that says it will develop products that “touch many millions of lives and radically change the world”. Microsoft sent out its third wave of invitations for the $3,000 HoloLens Development Edition on Wednesday. The company also said that it’s increasing the pace at which it sends out the invites to purchase its holographic headset; future waves are now expected to ship over the course of 3-4 weeks. Microsoft researchers published a study in a medical journal this week detailing their investigation into how Bing web search results could be used to help identify people with pancreatic cancer, before they’ve been diagnosed. Pancreatic cancer has an extremely low five-year survival rate, so even the smallest measure to improve early detection of the disease could prove hugely beneficial. Microsoft shared details of its Windows 10 Anniversary Update for the Xbox One on Monday, after announcing back in March that it would come to the console this summer. However, it won’t actually be one update, but two – only the first of which will arrive this summer. A wide range of new features and improvements are promised, but curiously, there were two very notable omissions from Microsoft’s announcement on Monday. The company made no mention at all of support for running Universal Windows Platform apps on the console – which it previously said would be coming this summer too – and TV DVR functionality was similarly absent from the announcement. Microsoft originally announced the addition of DVR (digital video recording) for the Xbox One in August 2015, to allow owners of the console to record over-the-air TV broadcasts, and even be able to watch those recordings on other Windows 10 devices. But having previously said it would arrive this year, on Wednesday, the company revealed that it has put development of the feature “on hold” , to focus instead on “new higher fan-requested gaming experiences”. As things stand, it’s not at all clear if Microsoft actually intends to deliver that feature. It’s also worth considering that, in the ten months since its original announcement, the company has continued to sell Digital TV Tuners for the console – perhaps even to some customers who made the purchase in anticipation of the DVR functionality arriving as promised. We’re eager to hear your thoughts on this – is Microsoft right to halt development and focus on gaming for the Xbox One? Or has it made a bad call that risks undermining the trust of its customers? Vote in our poll and have your say! Microsoft is expected to unveil new Xbox hardware at the E3 gaming conference next week, and until this week, Sony was expected to do the same. But on Friday, Sony surprised many of us by revealing details of its new “high-end PS4”, known also by its codename ‘Neo’ – but it also said that the new console won't be making an appearance at E3. Xbox gamers couldn’t believe their eyes this week, as the Fallout 4 Digital Deluxe Bundle – usually priced at $109.99 – was available to download from the Xbox Store free of charge. Of course, it was too good to be true, and unfortunately, users who downloaded the game at no cost due to the ‘maintenance issue’ won’t be allowed to keep it. There was disappointment for some PC gamers too on Friday, as Microsoft put an end to a rumor that claimed it was planning to port Halo 5: Guardians from the Xbox One to PC, saying it has no plans to do so . After introducing measures to deter cheating in Tom Clancy’s The Division in April, Ubisoft announced on Friday that it’s going even further, permanently banning those caught cheating on their first offense . And there was some interesting news for Call of Duty fans too, as Activision announced that the antagonist in Infinite Warfare will be played by Game of Thrones star Kit Harington. Popular movie director Guy Ritchie ( Snatch , Sherlock Holmes , The Man from U. N. C. L. E. ) is also assisting in the game’s production. But our journey through the lush and fertile lands of the tech world ends this week in New York City, where police are on the lookout for a rather brazen thief. A man walked into an Apple Store dressed as an employee, casually helped himself to 19 iPhones – worth over $16,000 – and then handed them off to an accomplice before they both walked out. Genius? Given the number of cameras dotted around Apple Stores, probably not… Before we wrap things up for another week, let me first highlight a few extra bits around the site that I hope you’ll enjoy reading. Timi Cantisano took a long hard look at the Chuwi HiBook , a detachable 2- in-1 Windows 10 device with a solid range of specs and a rather affordable price tag. Indeed, the price was one of the things he liked most, along with the solid build, decent performance and good battery life, but there was certainly plenty of room left for improvement. Timi also reviewed the LG Cam Plus , the photography-focused modular add-on for the company’s G5 flagship. The idea behind the Cam Plus is an interesting one – an accessory with extra battery capacity that makes the handset function more like a camera – but LG’s execution of that concept was absolutely hopeless in real-world usage. Usama Jawad got his game on with The Escapists: The Walking Dead for Windows 10 – but… well, you’d best read his review to find out just how disappointing it was . And Usama also interviewed Konstantinos Karatsevidis, CEO and co- founder of Finnish company Eve, which is developing a crowdfunded Windows 10 hybrid device with a 12-inch display, 7th-generation Intel ‘Kaby Lake’ processors and all sorts of other goodies. Be sure to check that out. We're giving away 3 copies of Linux Server Security: Hack and Defend, a guide for aspiring hackers and sysadmins to bolster their Linux network security skills, and identify common hacking tips. Check out the giveaway page for more details... and good luck! Consider this week the ‘calm before the storm’, because next week is set to be huge . The E3 gaming conference kicks off on Tuesday – but on Monday, two of the industry’s giants will be making their key announcements. Unusually, while Sony confirmed some details about its ‘high-end’ PlayStation 4 this week, it also revealed that the new console won’t make an appearance at E3. But there’s still plenty to look forward to from Microsoft, which will be holding its E3 keynote on the same day. Not only is Microsoft believed to be announcing two new media-focused streaming devices, but it’s also expected to unveil a new version of the Xbox One, 40% slimmer than the current model. And as if that’s not enough, recent rumors have also suggested that it may announce a newer, even more powerful Xbox console, codename ‘Scorpio – although there’s a possibility that it might revise those plans, given Sony’s decision not to unveil the PS4 ‘Neo’ at E3. On top of that, Apple is hosting its Worldwide Developer Conference all week, and there are some big announcements expected there too. Not only are we likely to see new versions of all of the company’s operating systems – iOS 10, OS X 10.12 (which may be renamed ‘macOS’), watchOS 3 and tvOS 10 – but there’s plenty more to look forward to, such as a major overhaul for Apple Music, and big improvements for Siri, including support on Mac devices. Could we see some new hardware too? It’s possible, but far from certain. And OnePlus will also be officially announcing its new flagship-class handset too – although after a long string of leaks in recent leaks, there may not be much left for the company to announce... Along with other official announcements, spicy rumors and intriguing insights, it’s set to be an absolutely thrilling week… so be sure to stay tuned to Neowin in the days ahead! For now, though, there’s plenty more to read across the site – including loads of interesting discussions over on our forums . 2016-06-11 14:18 Andy Weir

19 Google turns evil and backs controversial Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) The Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, or TPP, is a controversial trade agreement which has been decried by many as limiting privacy and freedom of expression, as well as lacking transparency. Google has just announced that it supports TPP. While the TPP has been signed by the Obama administration back in February, it is still to be approved by congressed. In the meantime, many companies, organizations and interest groups have spoken out against it. Google admits that the TPP is not perfect, but joins the likes of Microsoft in lending its support. In a post on Google's Public Policy Blog , SVP and General Counsel Kent Walker described the TPP as 'step forward for the internet'. This is in contrast to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's view that it is "a secretive, multinational trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcement". There are 12 countries involved in TPP (US, Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei Darussalam), and critics says that the agreement benefits large corporations at the expense of individuals' rights. Google praises elements of TPP. It likes what it describes as the free flow of information it allows for, the strong copyright protections, and limiting governmental access to encryption keys. But it also concedes there is room for improvement: Support for TPP from tech companies seems to be growing at around the same rate the public opposition increases. The comments left on Walker's blog post illustrate that Google's users are far from impressed, with the suggestion being that the company has turned evil, and one commenter saying: "Wow. Clearly, Google does NOT know their audience". Photo Credit: tanuha2001 / Shutterstock.com 2016-06-11 11:48 By Mark

20 Windows 10 Build 14361, Planner On Office 365: Microsoft Roundup This week's Microsoft news included updates on Windows 10, Surface device membership plans, Planner on Office 365, and Project GigJam. The beta edition of business collaboration app Project GigJam became generally available to users on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. GigJam was designed to provide a way for teams to accomplish tasks by breaking down silos between apps and devices. For example, GigJam can be used to send specific paragraphs of a document for review, instead of the entire file. If you need a vendor to entire order information, you can use GigJam to access a Salesforce order, conceal the price, and send the info to their phone so they can edit. Redmond says it hopes to launch GigJam as part of Office 365 later this year. [Microsoft Band 2: Updated with Android support for Cortana .] You won't have to wait as long for Microsoft's Planner app, which has been added to the Office 365 suite. Users can access Planner to create new plans, organize and assign tasks, work together on files, discuss current projects, share documents, and keep others updated on progress. Each plan created within the app has its own board where participants can separate tasks and categorize them based on its status or on the person working on it. In the coming weeks, Planner will roll out to eligible Office 365 customers, including those with Enterprise E1-E5, Business Essentials, Premium, and Education plans. In other enterprise news, Microsoft has quietly started a Surface Membership plan for small business customers. Organizations can pay a monthly fee to finance current models of the Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, and Surface 3. Subscribers can upgrade to new devices for free as they are released, and they can access Microsoft support and services. Additional perks of the membership plan include seven-day tech support, individual personal training, in-store discounts, and the Microsoft Complete for Business extended service plan with accidental damage protection. Windows Insiders in the Fast Ring received preview build 14361 for smartphones and PCs. This build brings several fixes and a few major new features. As always, testers are cautioned to be wary of the known issues they're likely to encounter. Highlights of this build include password manager LastPass as a Microsoft Edge extension, Windows Ink improvements, design changes within Settings, and new icons. You can also use Docker natively on Windows 10 with Hyper-V containers to build, ship, and run containers using the Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 Nano Server container OS image. Microsoft has made Apache Spark for Azure HDInsight generally available, marking the end of a public preview period. This launch brings improvements to the scalability and productivity of Spark for business users. The launch of Apache Spark for Azure HDInsight is part of Microsoft's efforts to make big data more approachable and easier to handle. This service gives customers a Spark service that's ready for the enterprise, since it's secured, fully managed, and made simpler for users who may not be very familiar with handling data. We learned how Microsoft is analyzing queries entered in its Bing search engine to identify users who may have pancreatic cancer. In a study published by the Journal of Oncology Practice and reported by The New York Times , scientists demonstrated how online searches could indicate that someone is experiencing pancreatic cancer symptoms prior to a diagnosis. Next week, Microsoft says it plans to showcase its development projects at an afterparty it's holding following the start of Apple's 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The event is called "The Future of Apps," and will teach developers about Microsoft's recent company acquisition Xamarin , which enables users to build apps for a variety of platforms. 2016-06-11 10:06 Kelly Sheridan

21 Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is the main villain in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare While the official trailer for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has been received rather harshly by viewers with almost three million dislikes, this may change soon. Activision has announced that Kit Harington, who plays fan-favorite character Jon Snow in HBO's Game of Thrones will be assuming the role of the main villain in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Taylor Kurosaki, narrative director of Infinity Ward had the following to say about Harington's new role: The announcement follows the release of a YouTube video a couple of days of ago which showed Kit Harington in the middle of mo-cap in a studio. While the footage didn't explicitly state what Harington was preparing for, many had already started to speculate that he would be a character in the next Call of Duty game, given the timing of the release of the video. It is also noteworthy that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare also starred a major actor, namely Kevin Spacey as the prime antagonist in the game, and his performance impressed quite a few. It'll be interesting to see if Harington is able to follow in his footsteps with his villainous turn in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Activision has also stated that film director Guy Ritchie ( Snatch , Sherlock Holmes , The Man from U. N. C. L. E ) is assisting in the production of the game. Dave Stohl, studio head at Infinity Ward stated that: Seeing that Kit Harington plays a rather lovable protagonist (who knows nothing) in HBO's blockbuster Game of Thrones , it'll be quite interesting to see how he adapts to a completely different character in the upcoming game. We'll soon find out when Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare launches on November 4, 2016. Source: Activision 2016-06-11 07:00 Usama Jawad

22 Samsung testing new TouchWiz UI Samsung has begun rolling out a new user interface for Galaxy Note 5 users in China and South Korea as part of its 'Galaxy Beta Program'. The new UI is dubbed 'New Note UX', and notably does away with the traditional launcher button than Android users have become accustomed to over the past years. According to a report on Playfuldroid, the new UI, despite being named 'New Note UX', will roll out to devices including the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge , S6, S6 Edge, and the S6 Edge Plus. The site also reports that the new UI will be rolled out to the mentioned devices in August this year, so long as there aren't any problems along the way. Aside from the removal of the launcher button, the new UI comes packed with new rounded square icons - reminiscent of those used on Ubuntu Phone, an updated settings menu, and a new layout for the power toggle dropdown in the notification bar. By removing the launcher button, Samsung is aligning TouchWiz closer to Xiaomi's MIUI which also does not have a launcher button. Instead, all the applications sit somewhere on one of the home screens. There is no information on whether the UI will become available outside of the two countries. Source: Playfuldroid via Android Police 2016-06-11 06:34 Paul Hill

23 Microsoft Pushes for Android Apps on Windows 10 with New PC Notifications A recent update made in the latest Windows 10 preview build allows PC users to request Android developers to bring apps the Windows Store with the press of a button. Here is how it works. Windows 10 now allows users to synchronize Android and PC phone notifications, so whenever you receive a new notification on your Android phone, it also shows up on your PC to give you easier control while you work. This is possible with help from personal assistant Cortana, which is also available on Android, so it needs to be enabled on both PCs and phones with the same Microsoft account. Starting with this latest Windows 10 build, whenever Android phones receive a notification from an app that does not exist on Windows, the PC notification displayed to users also includes a button called “Request app” that allows them to ask the developer to bring it in the store. Clicking that button gets users to the WinStore Request UserVoice channel, where anyone can post a request for an app that doesn’t exist on Windows. Microsoft hopes that this way Android developers can better notice the opportunity for coding for Windows and the UserVoice forum is one easy method to do that. UserVoice allows users to vote for each request, so the bigger the number of votes, the more chances for Android developers to be convinced to bring their apps to Windows 10. For the moment, this new feature is only available in insider builds, but everyone should be getting it with the Anniversary Update due in the summer. Cortana for Android is currently available in the United States only, so you won’t find it in the store if you live in another country, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get it up and working if you know where to look. 2016-06-11 06:31 Bogdan Popa

24 Yahoo Shuts Down Messenger Desktop App to Focus on Web, Android & iOS Versions The company says that starting with August 5, 2016, users of the Yahoo! Messenger desktop clients won't be able to log into their accounts anymore. Yahoo! launched a Web- based version of the service in December 2015, along with powerful Android and iOS companion apps. On March 27, 2016, the company announced that the only supported platforms will be the latter three. Yahoo! stopped offering the desktop app as a download package via its website two weeks later, on April 12, 2016. Yahoo! Messenger launched in March 1998, and for many years, it was only available via a desktop application, for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Solaris. In the early 2000s, Yahoo! Messenger became extremely popular, battling for the top IM client spot with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger and Skype. The service's popularity died down as newer services appeared, such as Facebook's chat (now Facebook Messenger), Twitter's DM feature, and the slew of mobile IM apps that ate at its market share. Yahoo! failed to adapt in time and Yahoo! Messenger lost most of its huge following. Now, Yahoo is trying in a desperate attempt to launch a Web-based service, along with two mobile apps, to regain its place in the IM market. The company says that it's new "revamped" Messenger service is faster and supports sending text messages, photos, and animated GIFs. Yahoo! also says the new Messenger platform lets users delete past messages via an unsend feature, and also supports group conversations. The old Yahoo! Messenger desktop clients are now considered "Legacy Messenger" and are not part of Yahoo!'s current vision for the company, which includes only seven core services: Mail, Search, Tumblr, News, Sports, Finance and Lifestyles. In February, strong rumors appeared about Yahoo! being up for sale. About the same time, the plan about the "seven core services" also appeared, and Yahoo! started axing older services left and right, like its former Yahoo! Games platform , also very popular in the past. With today's announcement , Yahoo! also said it will shut down the Yahoo! Recommends service on September 1, 2016. Below are some photos of the soon-to-be deprecated Yahoo! Messenger client, if you need a trip down memory lane. 2016-06-11 01:50 Catalin Cimpanu

25 Fedora 24 to Ship with Linux Kernel 4.5.7, Will Be Rebased Later on Linux 4.6 Also, we reported a few days ago that the last maintenance update for the Linux 4.5 kernel series , version 4.5.7, landed, as the kernel branch reached its end-of-life on June 8, 2016. In the same day, the Linux kernel developers also released the second Linux kernel 4.6 maintenance version. So we've been asked by several of our readers with what kernel will Fedora 24 Linux ship. Well, according to Fedora kernel maintainer Josh Boyer , the upcoming operating system will ship with based on the latest Linux 4.5 kernel series, with the new Linux kernel 4.5.7 version offered as a 0-day update after the June 21 launch. As the Linux kernel developers warned all GNU/Linux distributions using kernel packages from the Linux 4.5 branch to move to the latest and most advanced Linux 4.6 series, it looks like the Fedora kernel maintainers will do the same, and they promise to rebase the OS on Linux kernel 4.6.3 or later. "We'll ship 4.5.7 as the final 4.5.y update and have that available as the 0- day update for the F24 release," said Josh Boyer. "Shortly thereafter we'll be rebasing F24 to 4.6.y, most likely starting with 4.6.3. We may use 4.6.2 if 4.6.3 is delayed for some reason, but it would be better to get the additional fixes that 4.6.3 will bring. " So that's great news for those planning on upgrading to Fedora 24 Linux on June 21, but it also looks like the Fedora 23 release will get a new kernel version as well, and the still supported Fedora 22 distro will likely receive one final Linux 4.4.y kernel update before it reaches its end of life at the end of the year. 2016-06-11 01:12 Marius Nestor

26 Pakistani Hackers Deface Websites for Seven Indian Embassies, One Police Station According to several local Indian news sources, two hackers by the names of "Romantic" and "Intruder" have defaced seven websites belonging to Indian embassies around the world. The hackers attacked and defaced the Embassy of India in Ankara, Turkey; Embassy of India in Athens, Greece; Embassy of India to Mexico; Consulate General of India, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Embassy of India in Bucharest , Romania; Embassy of India Dushanbe , Tajikstan; and High Commission of India, Pretoria, South Africa. The two left messages on the site claiming to be associated with the Pakistan Army. The full defacement message left on the seven embassy sites read as follows: “ Embassy of India in Dushanbe, Tajikistan Has Been OWNED, Hey Indian Government, Do not Mess With Us Pakistan Army Zindabad, Aata Majhi Satakli? Do not Be Panic We Rock And U Shock Salute To Pakistan Army! Pakistan Zindabad! Feel The Power of Pakistan ” Additionally, a hacker named Faisal 1337 from Team Pak Cyber Attackers has also defaced the website of the Karnataka State Police. The hacker left the Pakistani flag on the website's frontpage, along with other offensive messages. Authorities have started investigations in all cases. All sites have been restored to their working versions as well. There's a history between Indian and Pakistani hackers that's deeply rooted in the real-world conflicts between the two countries that range back to 1947. The most recent flare-up between underground hacking crews dates back to January when Indian hackers launched an all-out assault on Pakistani sites after the brutal terrorist attack on the Pathankot Indian Air Force Station. 2016-06-11 01:00 Catalin Cimpanu

Total 26 articles. Created at 2016-06-12 00:19