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The first website went public 25 years ago

The internet just marked another major milestone. The first website , Tim Berners-Lee’s description of the World Wide Web project, went public 25 years ago on August 6th, 1991. The launch was unceremonious — Berners-Lee announced the project on a Usenet group, and it wasn’t until after August 23rd that new users visited the site. However, the launch effectively marked the start of the web as a widely available tool. There wasn’t exactly a rush to embrace the technology, mind you. The big leaps toward the mainstream came in 1993, when NCSA released the first widely popular web browser (Mosaic) and CERN helped adoption by making the web’s software both free and open source. Berners-Lee’s original approach to the web treated it more as a platform for academic collaboration than a revolution. Still, there’s no denying that the events of 1991 got the ball rolling on a fundamental shift in communication. Via: Independent Source: Google Groups

US reportedly elevates the role of Cyber Command

Now that the US treats cyberwarfare as a staple of its combat operations , it’s ready to raise the prominence of its internet warriors. Reuters sources say that the Obama administration is planning to elevate Cyber Command , turning it into a “unified command” that’s just as crucial as a major regional section like Pacific Command. The proposed shuffle would also detach Cyber Command from the NSA, giving it more input on the use of online weapons and defenses. There’s no guarantee that the reorganization will go through as it exists right now. Neither Cyber Command nor the NSA are commenting, and an unnamed official tells Reuters that the link between Cyber Command and the NSA is “critical to national security.” If the report is accurate, though, the reform isn’t likely to face significant opposition. A switch-up like this might be necessary. Military leaders are reportedly annoyed at the sluggish pace of Cyber Command’s campaign against ISIS, and have already created a task force that partners with Central Command to improve its performance. A more powerful Cyber Command might get better resources and would have greater independence. As it is, the shift would be an acknowledgment that online warfare is no longer a side project — it can be crucial to winning a conflict. Source: Reuters

Windows 10 IoT Core for the Raspberry Pi Is Now Easier to Set Up, Adds Remote Client Access and More

Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi is a great way to create your own internet connected devices , and today Microsoft pushed out an update that makes the set up process a bit easier. Read more…

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Windows 10 IoT Core for the Raspberry Pi Is Now Easier to Set Up, Adds Remote Client Access and More

Man Says Tesla Autopilot Saved His Life By Driving Him To the Hospital

An anonymous reader writes: Last month a man sent an email to Elon Musk explaining how his Tesla Model S with Autopilot activated may have saved a pedestrian’s life. Now, it appears Autopilot may have saved the life of a Tesla Model X driver. CNBC reports: “A Missouri man says his Tesla helped saved his life by driving him to the hospital during a life-threatening emergency. Joshua Neally is a lawyer and Tesla owner from Springfield, Missouri, who often uses the semi-autonomous driving system called Autopilot on his Tesla Model X. The system has come under fire after it was involved in a fatal Florida crash in May, but Neally told online magazine Slate that Autopilot drove him 20 miles down a freeway to a hospital, while Neally suffered a potentially fatal blood vessel blockage in his lung, known as a pulmonary embolism. The hospital was right off the freeway exit, and Neally was able to steer the car the last few meters and check himself into the emergency room, the report said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Report: Blizzard will reveal HD remaster of StarCraft in September

It’d be cool to see this in a resolution higher than 640×480. (credit: Blizzard Entertainment) Are you one of the thousands of diehard real-time strategy gamers who has yet to abandon the 1998 version of StarCraft ? Would you rather not deal with the sequel’s altered soldiers and upgrade trees, yet also pine for a version of the original that runs at a higher resolution than 640×480 pixels? The game’s creators at Blizzard Software might have a treat in store for you: a remastered version of the original StarCraft . According to Korean news outlet iNews24— spotted by Kotaku on Friday—multiple sources are confident that Blizzard plans to announce StarCraft HD in September. The announcement would be followed by a deeper reveal at BlizzCon’s November event in Anaheim. The Korean report hints at “improved graphics resolution and user interface,” but it doesn’t confirm whether fans should expect redrawn 2D assets or a complete 3D overhaul of the game’s Terran, Protoss, and Zerg races. The report doesn’t mention whether or not the remaster will include single-player content, and it doesn’t mention whether the multiplayer mode will hinge on the Brood War expansion pack (though, based on that version’s dominance in international competitive play, we assume it will). Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Report: Blizzard will reveal HD remaster of StarCraft in September

Luxury Liner SS United States Cannot Be Put Back In Service

tomhath writes: Once the fastest ocean liner ever built, the SS United States has been mothballed for almost 50 years. An ambitious project to refurbish the SS United States as a luxury liner has been abandoned due to insurmountable technical and commercial obstacles. Plan B, to turn it into a floating hotel/convention center, might go forward. Miami Herald provides some history of the SS United States in its report: “The iconic 1950s vessel, which was bigger than the Titanic and once carried celebrities across the Atlantic Ocean, was set for a $700 million overhaul by the Los Angeles-based luxury line, which also has offices in Miami. The SS United States was decommissioned in 1969 and has been gutted and docked in Philadelphia for two decades on the Delaware River. On its maiden voyage in 1952, the ship traversed the Atlantic in three days, 10 hours and 42 minutes — a record it held until 1990.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Luxury Liner SS United States Cannot Be Put Back In Service

Mercedes will reportedly challenge Tesla with four new EVs (confirmed)

Executives from Mercedes-Benz haven’t been coy about the company’s EV plans — it wants to go head-to-head with Tesla . As part of this strategy, Bloomberg reports that Mercedes is getting ready to introduce four electric vehicles, including two sedan models and two SUVs. The new fleet is said to be the starting point of a new sub-brand for Mercedes , although the German automaker still hasn’t decided what that will be called. Last month, Mercedes’ David McCarthy revealed that a concept electric would be shown sometime in September . In other words, it won’t be long before we see what Mercedes has up its sleeve. Update: Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company provided the following statement to Engadget: We can confirm that we are working on a large EV with a range between 400 and 500km (250-310 miles) based on a completely new architecture. Of course, we will have more cars to follow. Via: TechCrunch Source: Bloomberg

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Mercedes will reportedly challenge Tesla with four new EVs (confirmed)

Six Flags adds a gaming twist to its VR roller coasters

Six Flags first announced that it was teaming up with Samsung to outfit roller coaster riders with Gear VR headsets back in the spring. The theme park company is taking its virtual reality project to another level though, adding a gaming component to the immersive visuals. Before now, the addition of VR to rides just added a different visual experience to the ride itself. With the new “Rage of the Gargoyles, ” riders take flight in an Apache-style helicopter to battle “blood-thirsty” beasts. How do you control the game? Well, the Gear VR headset does all of the work so you can keep your hands tightly wrapped around whatever handle the ride offers. As Six Flags explains it, riders aim at the gargoyles by looking in their direction to aim the helicopter’s Gatling guns. Once a target is locked on, the weapon fires automatically. Based on the details the company offered, it sounds like there’s a HMD (Head Mounting Display) UI to guide you through the whole thing. There’s no word on if you’ll be able to keep score and compete against fellow riders. If you’re planning to take a road trip before summer officially comes to a close, “Rage of the Gargoyles” will be available on nine VR-equipped coasters at Six Flags parks in the US and Canada. Those locations and rides include Demon at Six Flags Great America, Skull Mountain at Six Flags Great Adventure, Shock Wave at Six Flags Over Texas, Kong at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Over Georgia, Goliath at La Ronde, Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis and Steamin’ Demon at The Great Escape. What’s more, there are sure to be new VR adventures at the parks in the future as Six Flags touts the setup’s versatility. “One of the most exciting things about this technology is that we have the ability to change the storylines to offer our guests new thrills and new reasons to visit our parks, ” said Six Flags president and CEO John Duffey. Rage of the Gargoyles virtual reality comes to the Demon https://t.co/xrpg9JzIYH — SF Great America (@SFGreat_America) August 5, 2016 Source: Six Flags (Business Wire)

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Six Flags adds a gaming twist to its VR roller coasters

Microsoft has two big Windows 10 updates slated for 2017

While announcing the gradual rollout of its Anniversary update for Windows 10, Microsoft confirmed that there would be two feature updates coming in 2017. This means moving to a twice-a-year schedule the company had previously set up for its ” Threshold ” updates for Windows 8, which used the codename for that operating system. According to Windows Central , the first update for 10, called “Redstone 2” after this operating system’s nickname, will come in early 2017, followed by “Redstone 3” four to six months later in late summer or early fall. The latest internal builds are around the 14900 range, the site said, meaning testers should soon receive bits of Redstone 2 to try out and give feedback. Source: Windows Central

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Microsoft has two big Windows 10 updates slated for 2017

Torrentz.eu quietly shuts down its torrent search engine

Popular Poland-based torrent meta-search site Torrentz.eu has removed its key functionality, effectively shutting down a major portal for finding pirated material on the web. According to a message on the site, which refers to itself in the past tense: “Torrentz was a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine combining results from dozens of search engines. Torrentz will always love you. Farewell.” A click on the search box currently re-directs to a pop-up ad from Alibaba. The end of Torrentz comes after the world’s biggest torrent site KickAssTorrents was shut down by the feds in July. The proprietor of KickAssTorrents, 30-year-old Ukrainian Artem Vaulin was arrested in Poland and charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. Vaulin is accused of illegally reproducing and distributing more than $1 billion worth of pirated media. In 2014, the founders of the popular Pirate Bay torrent site were also rounded up and the site struggled to stay online as it was raided several times . As for Torrentz.eu, the site managed to stay in the game a little longer because it didn’t host torrent links directly — only made it easier to find them elsewhere. As Variety notes , the site was moved to the .eu top-level domain after its .com was seized by the US Department of Homeland Security. The domain is also blocked in the several countries, including the UK. Torrenting as a means of pirating material may generally be in decline, however. A study by a UK-based antipiracy firm found that most online piracy activity has shifted to streaming sites . And BitTorrent itself has already gone legit.

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Torrentz.eu quietly shuts down its torrent search engine

Ken May

Author: kenmay