Hololens can be used to navigate the blind through buildings faster
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology developed an application for Microsoft's Hololens that can steer visually-impaired individuals through an unfamiliar, complex, multi-story building. This "non-invasive" method relies on augmented reality and 3D sound to navigate wearers.
Apple’s Touch Bar might be the influence for a future laptop from Asus
Extensions for an upcoming laptop feature called 'ScreenPad' have rolled out to the Microsoft Store since November. It will be similar to the Touch Bar on MacBook Pros, providing in-app touch-based controls on a secondary interface to reduce your mouse-based input. It will be a precision trackpad, too.
Dell has a new Developer Edition mobile workstation with Ubuntu, 3 more on way
Dell's Barton George introduced four new Developer Edition mobile workstations that will ship with Ubuntu. Available now, the Precision 3530 has a starting price of $942. It will soon be followed by the Precision 5530, 7530, and 7730 models.They're mostly based on 8th-Gen Intel Core and Xeon CPUs.
Qualcomm expected to reveal Snapdragon chip dedicated to VR, AR next month
Qualcomm is expected to reveal a Snapdragon XR1 all-in-one chip next week during the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara. It will be optimized for "extended reality" (XR) experiences, which is an umbrella term covering augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality applications.
Pornhub now provides a free virtual private network to hide your online habits
Pornhub launched a virtual private network service called VPNhub. The free model creates an encrypted "tunnel" across the internet that hides your IP address and allows you to surf the dark ends of the internet anonymously, including Pornhub. It's available for iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS.
The latest Asus gaming monitor will be insanely expensive
Hot on the heels of Acer's $2,000 Predator X27 desktop monitor, a similar model manufactured by Asus for the same price will ship in June. Both are based on Nvidia's G-Sync HDR reference design focusing on high brightness levels, high contrast ratios, high refresh rates, and a wider color palate.
The Justice Department is now cracking down on cryptocurrency scams
The Justice Department is now working with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to launch a criminal investigation to determine if digital coin traders are manipulating prices using illegal practices such as spoofing and wash trading. Sources say the federal probe is in the early stages.
Acer’s new lineup includes white gaming laptop and Pixelbook-esque Chromebook
The annual Next@Acer press event revealed Acer's refreshed portfolio of laptops and desktops for gamers, professionals, and students. The 2018 rollout includes the Swift 5 ultra-thin notebook, a gaming desktop packing two GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards, premium Chromebooks for business, and more.
Words lead to actions in the latest version of Slack packing Asana, Jira support
Slack rolled out a new feature called Actions, enabling you to enhance conversations with support for apps such as Asana, Bitbucket, and more. Merely click on the "More actions" three-dot icon to pull up a menu listing supporting apps. For instance, you can add a conversation to a Jira Cloud issue.
As A.I. takes over, Microsoft’s CEO sees the entire world as one big computer
During a presentation in London, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the right metaphor as the company moves forward in an A.I.-first world was to view the Earth as one big computer. This view stems from the rise of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and Internet of Things devices.
Sony’s next PlayStation may have an AMD Ryzen processor
Principal programmer Simon Pilgrim from Sony's Advanced Technology Group is tweaking the company's LLVM compiler stack to improve support for the "Zen" core architecture used in AMD's Ryzen processors. That compiler component is part of the development environment for PlayStation consoles.
Razer claims ‘world’s smallest’ with its 2018-edition Blade 15 gaming laptop
Razer refreshed its Blade-branded laptop for 2018 with a six-core eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processor and a pair of Max-Q discrete graphics chips from Nvidia. You will find five configurations starting at $1,899. The company also released a new external graphics card enclosure, the Razer Core X.
Comcast’s Xfi Pods turn power sockets into a mesh Wi-Fi network
After an initial launch in Boston and Chicago at the end of 2017, Comcast's Xfi Pods are now available to all Xfinity internet subscribers across the nation in a three-pack for $119, or a six-pack for $199. They're compatible with the company's Xfi Wireless Gateway and the Xfi Advanced Gateway.
Micron’s four-level memory tech stacks the storage in its new SSD
Micron's 5200 Series SATA SSD rollout continues with the upcoming launch of its 5210 Ion drive. Unlike the Eco, Pro, and Max models, this Ion-class drive relies on Micron's foul-level cell NAND memory versus the three-level cell NAND used in the other drives. It heads to datacenters later this year.
Leaked docs show Google may be cooking up a stand-alone AR headset
Leaked documents claim that Google is currently working on a stand-alone headset design for augmented reality. It will be based on one of two Qualcomm processors designed for Internet of Things devices. It may also be tied to a similar device reportedly in the works at AR headset provider Meta.
First preproduction units of the Pimax ‘8K’ VR headset to ship to testers in May
The Pimax team updated its Kickstarter post, reporting that preproduction models of its 8K VR headset will ship this month to 10 participants in the closed beta. If approved, the upcoming headset will go into production and begin shipping to Kickstarter backers in June along with the 5K model.
New malware will crash your PC if you try to thwart its digital coin mining
360 Total Security discovered new malware used by hackers to mine digital coins on infected PCs. It attaches itself to the critical system services in Windows, thus any manual attempt to stop the digital coin mining will trigger the Blue Screen of Death. It hides from popular antivirus solutions, too.
Intel’s 10nm CPU finally makes it to retail in a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad laptop
Lenovo's refreshed IdeaPad 330-15 has appeared sporting Intel's unannounced Core i3-8121U processor. That's one of Intel's new Cannon Lake chips based on its 10nm process technology. Mass production of these chips isn't expected to begin until 2019, thus Intel is generating a low volume for now.
Microsoft Bing joins Google, Facebook in banning cryptocurrency advertisements
Microsoft is now banning ads for cryptocurrency, related products, and unregulated binary options from its Bing Ads network. Given their unregulated nature, cryptocurrencies and related products pose an elevated risk due to bad actors that may participate in predatory behaviors to scam customers.
The Surface Hub 2 can ’tile’ four units into one big display
Microsoft's Surface Hub 2 arrives in 2019 sporting a 50.5-inch screen with an UHD resolution. That's slightly smaller than the current 55-inch unit, but the next-gen Hub makes up for the size loss by providing a new tiling feature supporting four Hubs, creating one large touch-capable screen.
HP’s Envy curved AIOs sport a six-core CPU, Nvidia graphics, and maybe Alexa
HP's huge assortment of devices introduced on Monday, May 14 include new Envy all-in-one curved PCs with six-core eighth-generation Intel Core processors and discrete GeForce GTX 1050 graphics. They're also supposedly the first all-in-one PCs to support the new Amazon Alexa app for Windows 10 out of the box.
Wired speeds in a $60 cordless gaming mouse? Logitech did it
Logitech introduced a new wireless mouse for mainstream gamers promising "pro" performance and features: the G305. It's compact and great for gaming-on-the-go, providing a slot for its wireless dongle next to the peripheral's single AA battery. There's no bling, just highly-responsive gameplay.
Email encryption flaw gives hackers full access to your secret messages
Researchers at the Munster University of Applied Sciences discovered vulnerabilities in the Pretty Good Protection (PGP) and S/MIME technologies used to encrypt email. The problem resides in how email clients use these plug-ins to decrypt HTML-based emails. Fixes are in the works but not available.
After the San Bernardino iPhone fiasco, lawmakers introduce the Secure Data Act
Lawmakers introduced the Secure Data Act on Friday, a new bill that prevents law enforcement and surveillance agencies from forcing companies to insert backdoor entrances into their products and services. It arrives after the iPhone 5C fiasco in late 2015 pitting the FBI against Apple.
Firefox 60 is the first browser to support password-free internet logins
The latest version of Firefox "Quantum" is out, and with it arrives support for the WebAuthn standard. This allows you to log into web accounts without the need for a password. The drawback, for now, is the need for a physical security key. Eventually WebAuthn will support smartphones and biometrics.
Lenovo wants to give the convertible PC a flexible, wraparound display
A patent application filed by Lenovo describes a convertible laptop sporting a flexible, wrap-around screen. In one implementation, the screen would merely wrap around the lid's lip to render notifications along the edges. A second design describes the screen covering the entire laptop lid.
IBM clamps down on leaks, bans workers from using external storage
A leaked advisory written by chief information security officer Shamla Naidoo says all employees and facilities scattered across the globe will be banned from using external storage devices like flash drives and SD cards in the coming weeks. The reason? Possible financial and reputational damage.
Lenovo’s new IdeaPad laptops tickle your gaming fancy without breaking the bank
Lenovo refreshed its IdeaPad laptop family with three new units: The 330, the 330S, and the 530S. They're based on Intel CPUs and discrete Nvidia GeForce graphics on some units. Lenovo is aiming to provide high performance for a low cost to meet the needs of customers on a budget, starting at $249.
You can soon stream your Steam PC games to Android, iPhone, Apple TV
Valve Software plans to launch its Steam Link app later this month for Android, iOS, and tvOS. It allows PC gamers to stream their library of Steam games over the local network to smartphones, tablets, set-top-boxes, and Android-powered TVs. Valve is also releasing a Steam Video app this summer.
Patch for April 2018 Update sends Windows 10 into infinite boot loop
Patch Tuesday has come and gone, and in its wake is a cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1803, aka April 2018 Update, that's causing many PCs to remain in an infinite boot loop. There's no official response or fix from Microsoft just yet, thus customers are reverting back to Fall Creators Update.
Patch your Windows 10 PC, now! Hackers are exploiting a zero-day flaw
The latest Patch Tuesday update for Windows 10 addresses an Internet Explorer vulnerability dubbed as "Double Kill." Found by the Qihoo 360 Core Security team, it lets hackers to take complete control of a victim's PC without the owner's knowledge by embedding a malicious website inside an Office document.
How Chrome and other browsers came together to protect you from Spectre
Google's Chris Palmer said that the security teams from major browser developers worked together to protect you from web-based Spectre attacks. For Chrome, Google incorporated a method called site isolation, which isolates the origins of each webpage so that data is not shared between those origins.
