Why You Should Upgrade Your Raspberry Pi

The hard-working developers behind Raspbian OS, the custom-made Linux distro tweaked for the Pi, have announced a major update called Pixel (short for Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight, if you’re wondering). It’s now the default OS offered for download by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and here’s why you should give it a try. Read more…

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Why You Should Upgrade Your Raspberry Pi

You Can Soon Buy That Tiny Scooter That Looks Like a Laptop You Can Ride

A Segway you can carry in a laptop bag? That’s what Cocoa Motors promised when it revealed the WalkCar , an ultra-compact personal transport, last year. And finally, after a year of perfecting its design, the WalkCar will be available for pre-order starting on October 21. Read more…

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You Can Soon Buy That Tiny Scooter That Looks Like a Laptop You Can Ride

Google To Divide Its Index, Giving Mobile Users Better and Fresher Content

Desktop Google searches could soon feel slightly out of touch compared to those done via smartphones as the company begins to push mobile search. Google has said it is fully splitting its search index into two versions: a rapid updated mobile one, and a secondary search index for the desktop web. SearchEngineLand reports: The news came today during a keynote address from Gary Illyes, a webmaster trends analyst with Google, at Pubcon. Illyes didn’t give a timeline in his talk, but in a follow-up with Search Engine Land, he confirmed that it would happen within “months.” Google first announced that it was experimenting with the idea of a mobile index last year at SMX East. Since that time, Google’s clearly decided that a mobile index makes sense and is moving ahead with the idea. It’s unclear exactly how the mobile index will work. For example, since the mobile index is the “primary” index, will it really not be used for any desktop queries? Will it only contain “mobile-friendly” content? How out-of-date will the desktop index be? Desktop usage is now a minority of Google queries but still generates substantial usage. The most substantial change will likely be that by having a mobile index, Google can run its ranking algorithm in a different fashion across “pure” mobile content rather than the current system that extracts data from desktop content to determine mobile rankings. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Google To Divide Its Index, Giving Mobile Users Better and Fresher Content

Ubuntu 16.10 Released, Ready to Download

After six months of development, Ubuntu 16.10, the latest stable release of the world’s most popular desktop Linux distro, is now available to download. The ISO image file of Ubuntu 16.10 is a little larger (up from 1.4GB to 1.5GB). OMGUbuntu talks about the new features (condensed): Ubuntu 16.10 is not a big update over Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, released back in April. If you were hoping it’d be a compelling or must-have upgrade you’ll be sadly disappointed. There are a number of small improvements to the Unity desktop and the Compiz window manager that powers it. Improvements that help everything work that little bit faster, and that little bit smoother. Ubuntu 16.10 also performs better in virtual machines thanks to the new Unity Low Graphics Mode. An all-new version of the Nautilus file manager also features, and is packed with some significant UI and UX differences. Plus, as always, there’s a newer Linux kernel to enjoy. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ubuntu 16.10 Released, Ready to Download

Apple reportedly wants to use changeable E Ink keyboards

Apple’s plans for advanced laptop controls may extend beyond that rumored OLED touch strip . Both 9to5Mac and TrustedReviews report that Apple has been in talks to use a laptop version of Sonder Design’s dynamic keyboard technology, which uses E Ink to change key labels on the fly. Just how Tim Cook and company would implement the hardware isn’t clear, but it might work the way these keyboards have operated since the days of Art Lebedev’s Optimus Maximus . If so, you’d get handy labels on keys as you switch contexts, such as brushes in an image editor or different characters when you switch languages. Although Sonder has confirmed that talks have taken place, it’s not saying whether or not it has a deal. It only adds that it’s “closing B2B procurement contracts” with three laptop makers, and that Foxconn (which helped get Sonder off the ground) and E Ink are helping. Given the timing, you probably aren’t going to get a MacBook with this keyboard any time soon. Even if Apple has a contract in place (there’s no guarantee that it has), you probably wouldn’t see these livelier keyboards until 2017 at the earliest. Source: 9to5Mac , TrustedReviews

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Apple reportedly wants to use changeable E Ink keyboards

Feds strike another multi-national “tech support” scam

Federal authorities say a group of scammers that “bilked millions” from US consumers with pop-up ads and hijacked Web browsers has been sued by the Federal Trade Commission. The scheme, which operates under the name Global Access Tech Support, used pop-up ads that told consumers their computers were “hacked, infected, or otherwise compromised,” according to the FTC complaint (PDF) published yesterday. Consumers are then instructed to call a toll-free number in the message. The pop-ups “are typically designed so that consumers are unable to close or navigate around them, rendering consumers’ web browser unusable.” Anyone who calls the toll-free number is connected to telemarketers in India, who then roll out a sales pitch explaining that the caller’s computer is “in urgent need of repair.” The telemarketers claim they’re affiliated with either Microsoft or Apple or are “certified” by those companies. Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Feds strike another multi-national “tech support” scam

PlayStation VR is easily the winner in virtual reality right now

 Consumer virtual reality has a clear new leader today, and it’s the just-launched PlayStation VR. Unequivocally, this is the best VR experience currently available outside of the kinds of high-flying, super secret test rigs that exist out there for army training or whatever that cost millions of dollars. That includes top-of-line hardware like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, as well as… Read More

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PlayStation VR is easily the winner in virtual reality right now

Chrome 54 Arrives With YouTube Flash Embed Rewriting To HTML5

Krystalo quotes a report from VentureBeat: Google today launched Chrome 54 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This release is mainly focused on developers, but the improvements to how the browser handles YouTube embeds is also noteworthy. You can update to the latest version now using the browser’s built-in silent updater, or download it directly from google.com/chrome. Chrome 54 rewrites YouTube Flash players to use the YouTube HTML5 embed style. YouTube ditched Flash for HTML5 by default in January 2015, but the old embeds still exist all over the web. Google says the change improves both performance and security for its desktop browser. The report adds that “Chrome also now provides support for the custom elements V1 spec, ” which allows “developers to create custom HTML tags as well as define their API and behavior in JavaScript.” BroadcastChannel API will also be implemented “to allow one-to-many messaging between windows, tabs, iframes, web workers, and service workers.” You can read more about Chrome 54 on Google’s blog post. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chrome 54 Arrives With YouTube Flash Embed Rewriting To HTML5

Steam will soon natively support PlayStation 4 controllers

While it’s been possible to link a DualShock 4 to a PC to play Steam games, the functionality has been provided by third-party apps, not the companies themselves. Luckily, that will soon change, after Valve’s Jeff Bellinghausen confirmed to Gamasutra that the game company is working to include native support for other gamepads, starting with the PlayStation 4 controller. “Believe it or not, when you use the PS4 Controller through the Steam API, it’s exactly the same as a Steam Controller. Not only is it a really nice, high quality controller, but it’s also got a gyro and a touchpad.” says Bellinghausen. “Existing native support for the PS4 controller on the PC is a bit weak; in this case Steam itself is communicating directly with the device so everything that’s nice and reliable.” In the past, Steam users have relied on apps like DS4Windows to connect DualShock controllers to their PC. However, with native Steam support and the new DualShock 4 USB Wireless Adaptor , which already helps PC users play PlayStation Now games on their desktop, it won’t be long before Sony’s gamepad can be fully utilized — touchpad and all — without any additional customization. Via: Polygon Source: Gamasutra

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Steam will soon natively support PlayStation 4 controllers