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

We Were Very Wrong About the Number of Galaxies in the Universe

Using the Hubble Space telescope and other observatories, astronomers have completed the most accurate census of galaxies in the observable universe to date. In terms of the actual number, let’s just say we were way the hell off. Read more…

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We Were Very Wrong About the Number of Galaxies in the Universe

Terahertz radiation could speed up computer memory by 1000 times

One area limiting speed in personal computing speed is memory — specifically, how quickly individual memory cells can be switched, which is currently done using an external magnetic field. European and Russian scientists have proposed a new method using much more rapid terahertz radiation, aka “T-rays, ” the same things used in airport body scanners. According to their research, published in the journal Nature , swapping out magnetic fields for T-rays could crank up the rate of the cell-resetting process by a factor of 1000, which could be used to create ultrafast memory. The radiation is actually a series of short electromagnetic pulses pinging the cells at terahertz frequencies (which have wavelengths of about 0.1 millimeter, lying between microwaves and infrared light, according to the scientists’ press release). Most of the recent T-ray experiments have dealt with quick, precise inspections of organic and mechanical material. Aside from quickly scanning you for contraband and awkward bulges at airports, other proposals have involved using terahertz radiation to look into broken microchip innards , peer into fragile texts and even comb airport luggage for bombs . But similar to those hypothetical applications, you won’t see T-rays in your PCs any time soon. The scientists have successfully demonstrated the concept on a weak ferromagnet, thulium orthoferrite (TmFeO₃), and even found that the terahertz radiation’s effect was ten times greater than a traditional external magnetic field, meaning the new method is both far faster and more efficient. But the scientists have yet to publish tests on actual computer memory cells, so it’s unknown when, or if, T-rays will buzz around inside your machine. Source: Nature

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Terahertz radiation could speed up computer memory by 1000 times

Why Rick and Morty is the perfect show for our nihilistic…

Why Rick and Morty is the perfect show for our nihilistic age “Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s gonna die, ” 14-year-old Morty tells his sister on Cartoon Network’s Rick and Morty . “Come watch TV.” There’s something about a cartoon world that gives nihilism just the right conditions to flourish. Cartoon characters spend eternity wearing the same clothes, reciting the same catchphrases, and undertaking the same death- and physics-defying adventures. Their lives are pointless, but they don’t seem to know it. In this sense, Rick and Morty, whose two seasons on the air have earned it a dedicated cult following, is both a recognizable descendant of its animated forbears, and a horse of an entirely different color. Rick and Morty’s lives are pointless, and they do know it. Simply put, it’s a show that doesn’t succeed at mimicking real life in cartoon form as much as it does in showing us the cartoonishness of real life.

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Why Rick and Morty is the perfect show for our nihilistic…