AT&T, Apple, Google to work on 'robocall' crackdown More than 30 major technology and communication companies said on Friday they are joining the U.S. government to crack down on "robocalls," automated, prerecorded phone calls that regulators have labeled a "scourge." AT&T, Google parent Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Comcast Corp are among members of the "Robocall Strike Force" that held its first meeting with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Reuters
Corning responds to that worrying Galaxy Note 7 scratch test video You've likely seen the video: Zack from JerryRigEverything performing his now-familiardurability test on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Surprisingly, he appears to leave visible scratches on the device's Gorilla Glass 5 with a metal pick that rates a 3 on Mohs scale of hardness -- "only one step above plastic," as Zack notes in the video. A new glass from Corning that appears to scratch much more easily than its predecessor is admittedly hot news, but as is often the case, the "scandal" may have gotten blown a little out of proportion. Android Authority
Nasa just made all its research available online for free Care to learn more about 400-foot tsunamis on Mars? Now you can, after Nasa announced it is making all its publicly funded research available online for free. The space agency has set up a new public web portal called Pubspace, where the public can find Nasa-funded research articles on everything from the chances of life on one of Saturn's moons to the effects of space station living on the hair follicles of astronauts. Independent | NASA
SLAC, Stanford gadget grabs more solar energy to disinfect water faster In many parts of the world, the only way to make germy water safe is by boiling, which consumes precious fuel, or by putting it out in the sun in a plastic bottle so ultraviolet rays will kill the microbes. But because UV rays carry only 4 percent of the sun’s total energy, the UV method takes six to 48 hours, limiting the amount of water people can disinfect this way. Now researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created a nanostructured device, about half the size of a postage stamp, that disinfects water... Stanford
The gif is dead. long live the gif. November 5, 1999, was Burn All GIFs Day. Had you visited its homepage that Friday, you would have seen the movement's game plan laid out as plainly as its name: "On Burn All GIFs Day, all GIF users will gather at Unisys and burn all their GIF files." This, alongside a selection of pointedly anti-GIF imagery -- all proudly PNG files. Despite the obvious joke of setting files on fire, acknowledged with a winking plea to "extinguish all GIFs before leaving the vicinity," the anger was real and the mission was earnest... Popular Mechanics
Eleven reasons to be excited about the future of technology In the year 1820, a person could expect to live less than 35 years, 94% of the global population lived in extreme poverty, and less that 20% of the population was literate. Today, human life expectancy is over 70 years, less that 10% of the global population lives in extreme poverty, and over 80% of people are literate. These improvements are due mainly to advances in technology, beginning in the industrial age and continuing today in the information age. Medium
Books you should read: Basic electronics I learned some basic electronics in high school physics class: resistors, capacitors, Kirchoff’s law and such, and added only what was required for projects as I did them. Then around 15 years ago I decided to read some books to flesh out what I knew and add to my body of knowledge. It turned out to be hard to find good ones. The electronics section of my bookcase has a number of what I’d consider duds, but also some gems. Hackaday
The World Series of hacking -- without humans On a raised floor in a ballroom at the Paris Hotel, seven competitors stood silently. These combatants had fought since 9:00am, and nearly $4 million in prize money loomed over all the proceedings. Now some 10 hours later, their final rounds were being accompanied by all the play-by-play and color commentary you'd expect from an episode of American Ninja Warrior. Yet, no one in the competition showed signs of nerves. Ars Technica
"I want to write video games" Do you? Do you really? Be honest with me. I mean, I don't want to shoot down your dream. There are lots of people who've done the research, who know exactly what they're getting into when they say this, and who spend years earnestly pursuing their goal. There are also lots of people who like the notion of getting into game development but figure they'll never have any real skills like programming or art so this is their best bet. Medium
People ignore software security warnings up to 90 percent of the time Software developers listen up: if you want people to pay attention to your security warnings on their computers or mobile devices, you need to make them pop up at better times. A new study from BYU, in collaboration with Google Chrome engineers, finds the status quo of warning messages appearing haphazardly -- while people are typing, watching a video, uploading files, etc. -- results in up to 90 percent of users disregarding them. Phys.org
Your Tesla is watching you -- whether or not you're watching the road In the wake of Tesla's first recorded autopilot crash, automakers are reassessing the risk involved with rushing semi-autonomous driving technology into the hands of distractible drivers. But another aspect of autopilot—its ability to hoover up huge amounts of mapping and "fleet learning" data -- is also accelerating the auto industry's rush to add new sensors to showroom-bound vehicles. Quartz
Airbus to build autonomous flying taxis Billing it as a solution to urban congestion, Airbus hasannounced a new effort to build helicopter-like autonomous flying vehicles to transport both small parcels and, even more radically, passengers. The battery-powered passenger vehicles, currently dubbed CityAirbus, would be summoned by smartphone and travel along aerial urban roadways, constituting a system of robotic flying taxis. Fortune
Extremely rare celebration Apple-1 computer The computer that sparked the revolution in home computing! This is the most unique, and quite possibly the first, Apple-1 ever created. The "Celebration" Apple-1 is an original Apple-1 pre-NTI board that has many unique features, period correct power supply, original Apple-1 ACI cassette board (also populated with Robinson Nugent sockets), early Apple-1 BASIC cassettes... CharityBuzz
DRAM will live on as DDR5 memory is slated to reach computers in 2020 Hardware experts believed the last DRAM would be the current DDR4, but that's not the case, with DDR5 memory now under development. Specifications for DDR5 memory will be released this year, and deployment of the DRAM will begin in 2020, according to a slide deck presented at the Intel Developer Forum this week. PCWorld
Hackers claim to be selling NSA cyberweapons in online auction The hacking world's attention was captivated Monday morning when a group called the Shadow Brokers claimed to have hacked the National Security Agency's Equation Group, a team of American hackers that have been described as both "omnipotent" and "the most advanced" threat cyberspace has ever seen. The Daily Dot
From Chrome Apps to the Web We have always believed in making the open, interoperable web as strong as possible. For a while there were certain experiences the web couldn’t provide, such as working offline, sending notifications, and connecting to hardware. We launched Chrome apps three years ago to bridge this gap. Chromium
Solid batteries improve safety Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a lithium-ion battery made entirely of solid material: it contains neither liquids nor gels. The battery cannot ignite, even at very high temperatures, giving it a safety advantage over conventional batteries. In addition, they allow new forms of battery design. ETH Zurich
Stealing bitcoins with badges: How Silk Road's dirty cops got caught DEA Special Agent Carl Force wanted his money -- real cash, not just numbers on a screen -- and he wanted it fast. It was October 2013, and Force had spent the past couple of years working on a Baltimore-based task force investigating the darknet's biggest drug site, Silk Road. During that time, he had also carefully cultivated several lucrative side projects all connected to Bitcoin, the digital currency Force was convinced would make him rich. Ars Technica
Mozilla open design We're updating our brand identity using Mozilla open source principles, and everyone's invited. In this, our Concepting phase, we're narrowing from seven possible themes to a few concepts that will proceed to iterative design work. Your comments on the work in progress are welcome. Mozilla
