Tag: digital

LG bets big on flexible displays for cars and phones

More and more smartphones , TVs and wearables like Apple’s Watch now use OLED displays, but only two companies mass produce them — Samsung and LG. LG is trying to stay on top of demand by building a new 1.05 trillion won ($900 million) flexible OLED plant in Korea. Starting in 2017, the 6th-gen line will spit out four times as many screens as the current-gen plant thanks to a larger “substrate” sheet size. The plastic-based displays are aimed at smaller next-gen devices that can benefit from the bendability like automotive displays, cellphones and wearables. Most of LG and Samsung’s high-end smartphones and smartwatches already use OLED displays (P-OLED and AMOLED, respectively). Some — like LG’s G Flex 2 “banana” phone and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge — specifically take advantage of the flexibility. But, it’s other companies — the Vivo X5 , Oppo R7 and 2nd-gen Motorola Moto X all have OLED-based displays, for instance — that are creating demand for the technology. LG said it will eventually build another plant for larger, TV-sized displays that uses the same 6th-gen tech. Samsung also recently pledged $3.6 billion toward OLED production. Filed under: Displays , LG Comments

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LG bets big on flexible displays for cars and phones

Nanowires help produce hydrogen fuel using sunlight

You ideally want to produce clean hydrogen fuel using clean sources, and Dutch researchers have taken a big step toward making that a practical reality. They’ve built a solar cell that uses a grid of gallium phosphide nanowires to make hydrogen gas from water. The approach gets a useful yield of about 2.9 percent in lab tests. That may not sound like much, but it’s about 10 times more effective than previous techniques and uses 10, 000 times less exotic material. It’s still going to take more refinements before this kind of technology is practical. Even hooking up silicon cells to a battery nets a 15 percent yield, for example. If scientists improve their methods, though, you could be driving hydrogen cars whose fuel is eco-friendly at every step, not just when it’s in your vehicle. [Image credit: AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi] Filed under: Transportation , Science Comments Source: TUE , Nature

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Nanowires help produce hydrogen fuel using sunlight

Lockheed Martin buys helicopter maker Sikorsky

Don’t look now, but Lockheed Martin just became an even larger aerospace powerhouse. The aircraft maker has acquired helicopter maker Sikorsky (best known for the UH-60 Blackhawk) for $9 billion. The two have already been partners on programs like the MH-60, but this gives Lockheed its very own rotary-wing team. If a customer wants something that flies, the company will have it covered. The buyout is poised to close by late 2015 or early 2016, provided everything goes smoothly. The union might come at a stiff price, however. Lockheed says it’s conducting a “strategic review” of both its information systems group and a chunk of its missile division — tough times in the market have led Lockheed to believe that these segments would be better-off either spun out or sold to someone else. That puts the future of more than 17, 000 workers in doubt, and that’s not including whatever jobs might be cut when the Sikorsky deal wraps up. [Image credit: AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee] Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: Lockheed Martin

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Lockheed Martin buys helicopter maker Sikorsky

Spotify’s Discover Weekly uses your habits to recommend new music

Spotify just added a load of new features with a recent update and now it’s looking to help you find new music. To do just that, a new tool called Discover Weekly builds a two-hour playlist of suggestions based on your listening habits and those of folks with similar preferences. What’s more, the collection of tunes — basically a mixtape — is refreshed every Monday so that you’re greeted with new material on the regular. In fact, my collection was updated early this morning. Spotify says the more you use it, the better it’ll get, adapting as your musical taste evolves. Soon, Discover Weekly with appear at the top of your saved playlists for easy access. And yes, you can save individual songs you like or share the whole lot with your pals. I’ve had access to the tool for a few days, and based on the first set of tracks Spotify selected, I’m cautiously optimistic. Meek Mill, Run the Jewels, Of Monsters and Men and Miguel are getting the bulk of my attention these days, so the tool built my first playlist of songs from Caribou, Modest Mouse, Action Bronson, Flying Lotus and more. Understandably, this group of initial picks is a bit of a mixed bag — similar to my tastes — but I’m looking forward to seeing how the feature changes during weeks when I lean more towards one genre. In this morning’s update, for example, I received mostly hip-hop picks as my listening last week centered around that genre during workouts. While Apple Music touts its human-curated playlists, Spotify is relying on its software here, and it seems to work just fine. You’ll be able to try it for yourself soon enough, as the curated playlist should appear across all of Spotify’s apps shortly. Filed under: Portable Audio/Video , Internet , Software Comments

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Spotify’s Discover Weekly uses your habits to recommend new music

Google continues to make money thanks to mobile and YouTube

While Google has been enjoying consistent financial growth for quite some time, it was dinged the last two quarters for not living up to Wall Street expectations. But in today’s Q2 earnings announcement, the Mountain View firm has made significant strides in rectifying that reputation. It reported a revenue of $17.7 billion this past quarter, which is an 11 percent growth year over year and a 3 percent growth since Q1. This has beat Wall Street estimates handily, causing its stock to climb by 11 percent at closing. What’s contributing to this success? As CFO Ruth Porat puts it, it’s all thanks to mobile, with YouTube playing a star role. Though Google won’t reveal specific numbers, Porat said that “the gap between mobile and desktop continues to narrow” when it comes to the money it makes from advertising. There’s apparently been a particularly strong surge in mobile search , which is a significant contributor to ad revenue. Chief Business Officer Omid Kordestani said on the earnings call that “more searches happen on mobile than computers in 10 countries.” It’s why the company is putting even more resources behind creating a better mobile experience. He says that around 30 percent of mobile searches are location-related — perhaps they want to know what’s around them or where’s the closest gas station. “When people search on mobile, they want immediacy and action, ” he said. It’s not just search either. Google has also invested in other key mobile experiences, especially in a world where people are less likely to head directly to google.com to search. Kordestani states that efforts like Google Photos , Now On Tap and Android Pay all factor in to making Google’s mobile presence more widespread. He also credited deep linking — where users are led to install new apps from links within other apps — for a boost in traffic. Indeed, Porat said that Google Play “continues to grow at an impressive clip” and is the “fastest growing mobile gaming platform.” What’s particularly impressive is that YouTube ad revenue has also blossomed, particularly in mobile. The ” Trueview ” ad format — basically all those pre-roll ads you see before YouTube clips — has really grown of late. Porat said that YouTube has experienced an accelerated 16 percent growth rate and that “mobile watch time has more than doubled.” Cost per clicks have gone down, but that’s alright as those aforementioned Trueview ad hits have increased. A new feature of Trueview that automatically adds product information and pricing in video ads is cited for the growth. Indeed, the number of advertisers running ads on YouTube has gone up by 40 percent and the average spend is up by 60 percent. Kordestani said that the average viewing time on YouTube is also more than 40 minutes and that more 18 to 49 year olds watch YouTube on mobile than any cable network. He said YouTube is great for content creators too, as the number of channels making six figures is up by 50 percent from this time last year. As for Google’s other projects — Nest , Fiber and Google Life Science s — those are now under “tighter governance” and are seen as more longer-term sources for revenue. Which basically means that they’re not quite making money hand over fist from those units just yet, but the potential is there. [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images] Filed under: Google Comments Source: Google

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Google continues to make money thanks to mobile and YouTube

Former Reddit CEO says the site’s about to be purged

Steve Huffman’s going to reveal Reddit’s new content policy tomorrow , but one of his predecessors is promising that it’ll be a “purge.” Yishan Wong, who ran the site between 2012 – 2014 and has spoken in support of Ellen Pao , has decided to “declassify a lot of things, ” airing plenty of dirty laundry in the process. Wong points to discussions he had with Huffman during his tenure, saying that the co-founder was previously unconcerned with protecting free speech and was blasé about censoring racist, sexist and homophobic threads. He goes onto quote Huffman as saying that “I don’t think there’s a place for such things on Reddit , ” giving you a clue as to the tone of tomorrow’s AMA. “The free speech policy was something I formalized because it seemed like the wiser course at the time. It’s worth stating that in that era, we were talking about whether it was ok for people to post creepy pictures of women taken legally in public. That’s shitty, but it’s a far cry from the extremes of hate that some parts of the site host today. It seemed that allowing creepers to post (anonymized) pictures of women taken in public, in a relatively small subreddit that never showed up on the front page, was a small price to pay for making it clear that we were a place welcoming of all opinions and discourse. Having made that decision – much of reddit’s current condition is on me. I didn’t anticipate what (some) redditors would decide to do with freedom. reddit has become a lot bigger – yes, a lot better – AND a lot worse. I have to take responsibility.” Wong also takes the blame, personally, for the perilous state that the site currently finds itself in, saying that r/creepshots was a watershed moment for him. The executive said that he decided not to ban “creepy pictures of women” as it was a “relatively small subreddit that never showed up on the front page.” He felt that giving it a free pass was “a small price to pay” for making it clear that we were a place welcoming of all opinions and discourse.” The other notable point in the essay is the belief that the deposed Ellen Pao was, contrary to public belief, advocated against wide-scale bans on the site. When Pao banned r/fatpeoplehate, it was because it incited “off-site harassment, not discussing fat-shaming.” Wong adds that Pao “upholds free speech and tolerates the ugly side of humanity because it is so important” — as well as the more cynical point that the former Interim CEO’s gender and career provided a shield against criticism. “What all the white-power racist-sexist neckbeards don’t understand is that with her at the head of the company, the company would be immune to accusations of promoting sexism and racism: she is literally Silicon Valley’s #1 Feminist Hero, so any “SJWs” would have a hard time attacking the company for intentionally creating a bastion (heh) of sexist/racist content.” In closing, Wong issues a warning to the Reddit community that was successful in ousting Pao in the wake of the Victoria Taylor scandal . Just after saying that Huffman now “has the moral authority” to purge the “ugly side” of the site, he closes his piece by adding “We tried to let you govern yourselves and you failed, so now The Man is going to set some Rules. Admittedly, I can’t say I’m terribly upset.” Filed under: Internet Comments Via: The Verge , Casey Johnston (Twitter) Source: Yishan Wong (Reddit)

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Former Reddit CEO says the site’s about to be purged

Spotify tells iOS users how to avoid iTunes charges and pay less

Spotify isn’t happy that its iOS customers have to pay an additional $3 for a premium subscription if they make the purchase through the App Store. That’s why it’s planning to send them instructions on how to apply for a subscription straight from the company’s website. The Verge got its hands on a copy of the letter, wherein Spotify made clear that “the normal Premium price is only $9.99, but Apple charges 30 percent on all payments made through iTunes.” That ups the total to $12.99, which is only $2 away from Apple Music’s six-person family plan. That email, if you haven’t gotten it yet, contains links that make it easy to cancel Spotify’s auto-renew on iTunes and redirect you to the service’s website. You’ll have to wait until your current month ends before you can subscribe again, but after you do, you won’t have to pay $12.99 again. As Bloomberg notes, Apple doesn’t allow links within apps that allow people to make purchases from external websites. That’s likely what prompted the streaming service to decide on sending an email blast instead of adding a PSA inside the app. The publication also points out that Apple only adds $$$ on top of goods or services if it doesn’t have a competing product. For instance, you apparently don’t have to pay extra if you buy a plane ticket through United Airlines’ iPhone app . Since Cupertino’s new Music streaming service has a lot of competitors in addition to Spotify, it’s facing antitrust investigations in a couple of states. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images] Filed under: Misc , Mobile , Apple Comments Via: Bloomberg Source: The Verge

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Spotify tells iOS users how to avoid iTunes charges and pay less

iPhone encryption has locked out Manhattan cops just 74 times

You’ll frequently hear law enforcement complain that it can’t break the full-drive encryption in newer smartphone operating systems, but how often does the police run into that problem, really? Thanks to a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, you now have a better idea. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has revealed that, out of the 92 cases where an iPhone with iOS 8 has been involved so far, the cops have been locked out 74 times. District Attorney Cyrus Vance portrays this as proof that officers need backdoors or other forms of guaranteed access, noting that there’s at least one case (in Illinois) where evidence from a victim’s iPhone led to a conviction. Police shouldn’t simply be told that there’s “nothing [they] can do, ” he says. Context is everything, however, and this isn’t quite as dire a situation as Vance made it out to be. The Manhattan DA typically handles 100, 000 cases a year — 0.0007 percent is a drop in the bucket. Moreover, there’s no records showing whether or not the encryption actually stopped the investigation cold. It’s possible that the security merely forced officers to rely on other forms of evidence. While there’s still a concern that clever criminals will take advantage of encryption, there’s also no data showing that there would be enough arrests to justify the reduced privacy. [Image credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Apple Comments Source: Wired

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iPhone encryption has locked out Manhattan cops just 74 times

Army scientists build smaller, tougher, cheaper solar cells

Army researchers at the Redstone Arsenal have announced a significant breakthrough in solar energy production. They’ve created a photovoltaic solar panel that is smaller, more robust and less expensive to build and operate than any other panel currently available. Virtually every solar panel currently in existence relies on a pure silicon construction, however the band gap (the wavelength of light that it can actually be absorbed and converted into electricity) of single crystal silicon is exceedingly narrow compared to the full spectrum shining down from the Sun. Not only does this mean that conventional panels are missing out on potential power, the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths actively damage the panels by causing them to heat, warp and crack. The Army’s panel, on the other hand, sandwiches super thin layers of metals like silver and gold between the semiconductor layers. With these added layers, the panels offer a wider band gap for energy generation and can be tuned to reflect the harmful rays as well. What’s more, the Army’s panels generate the same amount of energy regardless of the angle that sunlight is hitting it. That means they don’t have to be affixed to expensive and motorized Sun-tracking stands. The technology is still in its very early stages, explained Wayne Davenport, Optical Sciences Function Chief of the Weapons Development and Integration Directorate, in a statement. “As with many basic research projects, the near-term benefits are sometimes yet undefined but are clearly worth the investment, ” Davenport continued. “The Army’s research laboratories at AMRDEC continue a legacy of high quality research projects and I expect to see many more of these type projects transition to the Warfighter in the future.” [Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images] Filed under: Science Comments Source: US Army

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Army scientists build smaller, tougher, cheaper solar cells

This Free Font Automatically Redacts NSA Surveillance Trigger Words

Some might see downloading this free font called Seen as the digital equivalent of donning a tin foil hat. Except that we know that security agencies like the NSA are intercepting emails and other communications , scanning for specific trigger words that this font automatically crosses out. Read more…

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This Free Font Automatically Redacts NSA Surveillance Trigger Words