Author: kenmay

Microsoft’s prototype keyboard cover has an e-ink touchscreen

Tablets are becoming more useful for getting real work done. Looking to further bridge the gap between slate and laptop, Microsoft Applied Sciences built a prototype device it calls the DisplayCover: a keyboard cover that houses an e-ink touchscreen display. The 1, 280 x 305 resolution panel not only provides access to app shortcuts, but it can also handle touch gestures for navigation and accept stylus input. The stylus feature seems to make things like signing documents and scribbling notes a breeze, based on the demo video. In the case of an app like Photoshop where you need constant access to tool palettes, those items can be parked at the top of the keyboard so they don’t take up valuable space on the tablet’s display (in this case a Surface ). Why e-ink? Well, the team says the material was selected because it wouldn’t put too much added strain on battery life like a full-color touch panel would. Sure, the DisplayCover is a prototype that’s obviously far from finished. However, it’s interesting to take a look at what companies are doing to make efficient use of small screen sizes for maximizing productivity. [Thanks, Antonio] Filed under: Peripherals , Microsoft Comments Source: Microsoft Applied Sciences Tags: cover, displaycover, e-ink, keyboardcover, microsoft, surface, tablet, touchscreen

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Microsoft’s prototype keyboard cover has an e-ink touchscreen

Twitter shuts down accounts monitoring politicians’ deleted tweets

After suspending API access to the Open State Foundation’s (OSF) primary American account in May, Twitter went ahead and nixed the foundation’s 30 remaining satellite accounts over the weekend. OSF employed these accounts to monitor and publicize the deleted tweets of elected officials in countries worldwide. Twitter also shut down the group’s Diplotwoops account, which served the same purpose but for diplomats. Notice:Twitter have killed part of @politwoops that powers this account. No new posts for now but tweets available at http://t.co/w6y19ppzRZ — Tweets MPs Delete (@deletedbyMPs) August 22, 2015 Twitter reportedly decided to shut out the OSF after “thoughtful internal deliberation and close consideration of a number of factors.” The foundation cited a note from Twitter regarding its decision, stating “Imagine how nerve-racking – terrifying, even – tweeting would be if it was immutable and irrevocable? No one user is more deserving of that ability than another.” The OSF has since released a statement on the matter: What elected politicians publicly say is a matter of public record. Even when tweets are deleted, it’s part of parliamentary history. These tweets were once posted and later deleted. What politicians say in public should be available to anyone. This is not about typos but it is a unique insight on how messages from elected politicians can change without notice. It should be noted however that Twitter is not a government entity and, even here in the US, has precisely zero responsibility to allow accounts that it feels violate its TOS. In light of the shutdown, the foundation states that it will continue working ensure messages sent by elected politicians remain visible. Just not on Twitter. Filed under: Internet Comments Via: The Next Web Source: Open State Foundation Tags: openstatefoundation, OSF, politics, twitter

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Twitter shuts down accounts monitoring politicians’ deleted tweets

Comcast planning gigabit cable for entire US territory in 2-3 years

While Comcast has started deploying  2Gbps fiber-to-the-home service to certain parts of its territory, much of its network is going to be stuck on cable for years to come. But customers outside the fiber footprint will still be able to buy gigabit Internet service after Comcast upgrades to DOCSIS 3.1, a faster version of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. Comcast said in April  that DOCSIS 3.1 will be available to some of its customers in early 2016 and eventually across its whole US footprint. Last week, Comcast said it wants to complete the whole upgrade within two years. “Our intent is to scale it through our footprint through 2016,” Comcast VP of network architecture Robert Howald said in an interview with FierceCable . “We want to get it across the footprint very quickly… We’re shooting for two years.” It could take up to three years, the story said. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Comcast planning gigabit cable for entire US territory in 2-3 years

The gorgeous faces and stunning cinematography of ‘Until Dawn’

The PlayStation 4’s latest exclusive Until Dawn is absolutely stunning visually. In particular? Its faces. By using 3D performance capture techniques that include strapping an HD camera rig attached to their heads to grab practically every minute detail and expression, the actors (including Hayden Panettiere and Peter Stormare) bring life to the characters in a pretty realistic fashion. What’s really cool is that oftentimes once you let the DualShock 4 sit idle for a moment, the camera will zoom in on the face of whichever of the randy teens you’re controlling. If motion controls are enabled, you can tilt the gamepad this way and that and the possibly-doomed cabeza will follow suit accordingly. It’s pretty neat! Slideshow-314565 Sadly, Until Dawn is severely lacking a proper photo mode though. I never thought I’d praise a game’s cinematography, but I was consistently wowed by how every scene was composed and framed during my playthrough. Those sometimes-annoying camera angles, combined with just how good the game looks, scream for the ability to futz with exposure, saturation and depth of field adjustments for even more stunning, shareable shots. Seriously. Take a gander at the gallery below and try telling me that something like The Last of Us: Remastered ‘s or Infamous: Second Son ‘s digital dark-rooms couldn’t make the screenshots look even cooler and more desktop-image worthy. Slideshow-314571 Filed under: Gaming , Home Entertainment , HD , Sony Comments Tags: 3dMotionCapture, cinematography, faces, gallery, gaming, HaydenPanettiere, hd, hdpostcross, PerformanceCapture, PeterStormare, photogrpahy, PlayStation, playstation4, ps4, sony, supermassivegames, untildawn

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The gorgeous faces and stunning cinematography of ‘Until Dawn’

Chinese Scientists Discover Structural Basis of Pre-mRNA Splicing

hackingbear writes: On August 21st, the research team led by Prof. Yigong Shi from School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University in China published two side-by-side research articles in Science, reporting the long-sought-after structure of a yeast spliceosome at 3.6 angstrom resolution determined by single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and the molecular mechanism of pre-messenger RNA splicing. Until now, decades of genetic and biochemical experiments have identified almost all proteins in spliceosome and uncovered some functions. Yet, the structure remained a mystery for a long time. The works, primarily performed by Dr. Chuangye Yan, and Ph.D students Jing Hang and Ruixue Wan under Prof. Yigong Shi’s supervision, settled this Holy Grail question and established the structural basis for the related area. This work was supported by funds from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Scientists Discover Structural Basis of Pre-mRNA Splicing

Phone and laptop encryption guide: Protect your stuff and yourself

The worst thing about having a phone or laptop stolen isn’t necessarily the loss of the physical object itself, though there’s no question that that part sucks. It’s the amount of damage control you have to do afterward. Calling your phone company to get SIMs deactivated, changing all of your account passwords, and maybe even canceling credit cards are all good ideas, and they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Using strong PINs or passwords and various Find My Phone features is a good place to start if you’d like to limit the amount of cleanup you need to do, but in this day and age it’s a good idea to encrypt your device’s local storage if at all possible. Full-disk or full-device encryption (that is, encrypting everything on your drive, rather than a specific folder or user profile) isn’t yet a default feature across the board, but most of the major desktop and mobile OSes support it in some fashion. In case you’ve never considered it before, here’s what you need to know. Why encrypt? Even if you normally protect your user account with a decent password, that doesn’t truly protect your data if someone decides to swipe your device. For many computers, the drive can simply be removed and plugged into another system, or the computer can be booted from an external drive and the data can be copied to that drive. Android phones and tablets can be booted into recovery mode and many of the files on the user partition can be accessed with freely available debug tools. And even if you totally wipe your drive, disk recovery software may still be able to read old files. Read 29 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Phone and laptop encryption guide: Protect your stuff and yourself

ASUS makes a Zenfone 2 with a whopping 256GB of storage

Smartphones with more than 128GB of storage are still extremely rare , but they just became a little more accessible… if you live in Brazil, at least. ASUS has unveiled a Delxue Special Edition of the Zenfone 2 that includes a cavernous 256GB of storage. You won’t be hunting for a microSD card any time soon if you pick this up, folks. You’ll also have the choice of carbon fiber- or crystal-like backs instead of the more pedestrian shells of the usual Zenfone 2. This special run arrives in Brazil this September. There’s no mention of it reaching other countries, but here’s hoping that it does — cloud storage and streaming media will only go so far when you want lots of apps and videos at your fingertips. [Image credit: ASUS Fanaticos ] Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , ASUS Comments Via: CTimes , Android Police Source: ASUS Fanaticos (translated) Tags: android, asus, brazil, mobilepostcross, smartphone, zenfone, zenfone2, zenfone2deluxespecialedition

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ASUS makes a Zenfone 2 with a whopping 256GB of storage

Apple launches replacement program for faulty iPhone 6 Plus cameras

Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus has the best camera of any iPhone (at least until we get new ones next month ), but it’s not completely problem-free. Apple has announced an iSight Camera Replacement Program for iPhone 6 Plus models sold between the phone’s launch in September of 2014 and January of 2015. “A small percentage” of phones sold included a faulty part that could make pictures taken with the rear camera look blurry. The problem doesn’t affect the standard iPhone 6, so the 6 Plus’ optical image stabilization component could be at fault. The front-facing FaceTime camera is also unaffected. If your phone fits this description, head to the program page linked above and enter your serial number. If your phone needs fixed, you can take it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or an Apple store, or you can contact Apple’s tech support and make other arrangements. Apple is warning users to back their data up to iTunes or iCloud before having the phone serviced, so phones may be wiped or replaced outright as part of the repair process. The program will cover faulty iPhone 6 Plus cameras for up to three years after you bought your phone, but doesn’t otherwise change the standard one-year warranty or the two-year AppleCare+ warranty you may have purchased. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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Apple launches replacement program for faulty iPhone 6 Plus cameras

Hands-On With Ford’s Sync 3

 Ford was one of the first major car manufacturers to bring connected car technology to its lineup with Sync in 2007, but while the first iterations of its Sync and MyFord Touch infotainment systems were ahead of their time in the car world, they were also rather slow, clunky, and the user interface was somewhat unintuitive. Sync 3, which is now available on the 2016 Ford Escape compact SUV… Read More

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Hands-On With Ford’s Sync 3