entertainment – Page 188 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Confirmed: Microsoft and Canonical Partner To Bring Ubuntu To Windows 10

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports for ZDNet: According to sources at Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, and Microsoft, you’ll soon be able to run Ubuntu on Windows 10. This will be more than just running the Bash shell on Windows 10. After all, thanks to programs such as Cygwin or MSYS utilities, hardcore Unix users have long been able to run the popular Bash command line interface (CLI) on Windows. With this new addition, Ubuntu users will be able to run Ubuntu simultaneously with Windows. This will not be in a virtual machine, but as an integrated part of Windows 10. Microsoft and Canonical will not, however, sources say, be integrating Linux per se into Windows. Instead, Ubuntu will primarily run on a foundation of native Windows libraries. Update: 03/30 16:16 GMT by M : At its developer conference Build 2016, Microsoft on Wednesday confirmed that it is bringing native support for Bash on Windows 10. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sony’s Ultra 4K Streaming Service Launching On April 4; Titles Priced At $30

Janko Roettgers reports for Variety: Sony is launching its 4K movie streaming service called Ultra next month: Consumers will be able to buy movies from the service, and stream to supported Sony 4K TV sets, starting April 4. The new service will offer 4K HDR movies to stream, including extras that have previously been able only on physical discs. Ultra ties into UltraViolet, the cloud locker service backed by Sony. Consumers will be able to upgrade SD and HD quality movies from their UltraViolet cloud locker for $12 to $15, respectively. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Sony’s Ultra 4K Streaming Service Launching On April 4; Titles Priced At $30

Toyota will make automatic braking near-standard by 2017

Worried that you might not stop your Camry in time to avoid a nasty collision? Toyota is determined to prevent that from happening going forward. The Japanese car maker has announced that its automatic braking systems will be standard on 25 out of 30 Toyota and Lexus models, at nearly every trim level, by the end of 2017. It’ll only be non-standard on the 4Runner, 86 (formerly the Scion FR-S), Mirai , Lexus GX and Scion iA. Just what you’ll get will vary: while Lexus only has one braking system (based on a camera and millimeter wave radar), Toyota has both laser- and millimeter wave-based variants. Whatever you get, though, it’s a big step forward for safety and semi-autonomous driving in one of the world’s biggest vehicle brands. You probably won’t have to fork over extra just to minimize the chances of a crash, whether you’re driving a frugal Yaris or a decked-out Lexus LX. Via: TechCrunch Source: Toyota

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Toyota will make automatic braking near-standard by 2017

Linux 4.6 Brings NVIDIA GTX 900 Support, OrangeFS, Better Power Management

An anonymous reader writes: The Linux 4.6-rc1 kernel has been released. New to the Linux 4.6 kernel are a significant number of new features including NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 open-source 3D support when using the closed-source firmware files, Dell XPS 13 Skylake laptop support, a fix for laptops that were limiting their own performance due to incorrectly thinking they were overheating, AHCI runtime power management support, Intel graphics power management features enabled by default, a new file-system (OrangeFS), and a range of other improvements. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Names That Break Computers

Reader Thelasko writes: The BBC has a story about people with names that break computer databases. “When Jennifer Null tries to buy a plane ticket, she gets an error message on most websites. The site will say she has left the surname field blank and ask her to try again.” Thelasko compares it to the XKCD comic about Bobby Tables, though it’s a real problem that’s also been experienced by a Hawaiian woman named Janice Keihanaikukauakahihulihe’ekahaunaele, whose last name exceeds the 36-character limit on state ID cards. And in 2010, programmer John Graham-Cumming complained about web sites (including Yahoo) which refused to accept hyphenated last names. Programmer Patrick McKenzie pointed the BBC to a 2011 W3C post highlighting the key issues with names, along with his own list of common mistaken assumptions. “They don’t necessarily test for the edge cases, ” McKenzie says, noting that even when filing his own income taxes in Japan, his last name exceeds the number of characters allowed. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Names That Break Computers

Snapchat Reportedly Acquires Bitmoji Maker Bitstrips For $100 Million

An anonymous reader writes: According to a report from Fortune, Snapchat, the messaging platform which has recently become the number one free app on the App Store, has agreed to acquire Bitstrips, the folks behind the popular emoji-creation service Bitmoji. Fortune’s sources has said the deal is “in the ballpark” of $100 million. TechCrunch writes, “The idea behind Bitmoji is simple. Users download the app and create an Avatar that represents them. They can choose from a wide range of options like face shape, hair color and cut, eye shape and color, etc. From there, Bitmoji is added as a third-party keyboard, and the app offers hundreds of options for users to send to their friends, all featuring their avatar.” It’ll be interesting to see which features of Bitstrips will be implemented into Snapchat, given Bitstrip’s experience with keyboard integrations. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Snapchat Reportedly Acquires Bitmoji Maker Bitstrips For $100 Million

Petya Ransomware Uses DOS-Level Lock Screen, Prevents OS Boot Up

An anonymous reader writes: A new type of ransomware was discovered that crashes your PC into a BSOD, restarts your computer, and then prevents your OS from starting by altering the hard drive’s master boot record (MBR). This keeps the user locked in a DOS screen that doubles as the ransomware’s ransom note. The ransomware’s name is Petya, and was currently seen only targeting HR departments in Germany. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Netflix’s US Catalog Has Shrunk by More Than 2,500 Titles in Less Than 2.5 Years

According to a report on AllFlicks, a website that lists and categorizes Netflix content, the streaming service’s library for American subscribers has shrunk by a third since 2014. The report claims that in March 2014, the US Netflix library consisted of about 6, 500 movies and 1, 600 television shows. As of this month, the same library offers 4, 330 movies and 1, 200 TV shows. An article on Quartz explains the shrinkage: The reason is that securing international streaming rights to shows and movies is exceedingly difficult — laws and regulations differ by country, as does the type of content that people around the world consume. Netflix hopes that its library in other countries will eventually rival its comprehensive selection in the US. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Netflix’s US Catalog Has Shrunk by More Than 2,500 Titles in Less Than 2.5 Years

AMOLED Displays Are Now Cheaper To Produce Than LCD

An anonymous reader quotes an article on AndroidAuthority: Optics pundits have been crowing about AMOLED destroying LCD for a while now: they are thinner, brighter, more energy efficient and arguably offer better colors, higher contrast, and deeper saturation than LCD. The biggest barrier stopping AMOLED from taking over as the smartphone display technology of choice has been price. Until now that is. As predicted two years ago, it has only taken 24 months for AMOLED production costs to fall below that of LCD. Production costs in the first quarter for a 5-inch Full HD smartphone display are $14.30 for an AMOLED panel and $14.60 for an LCD display. In the fourth quarter of 2015, these figures were $17.10 and $15.70, respectively. With AMOLED production costs dropping below LCD for the first time, AMOLED panels will soon become the default display technology choice for manufacturers on their mid-range and entry-level devices as well. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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AMOLED Displays Are Now Cheaper To Produce Than LCD

Starboard Launches Proxy Fight To Remove Entire Yahoo Board

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP moved on Thursday to overthrow the entire board of Yahoo Inc, including Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who has struggled to turn around the company in her nearly four years at the helm. Starboard, which has been pushing for changes at Yahoo since 2014 and owns about 1.7 percent of the company, said it would nominate nine candidates for the board. The proxy fight comes as Yahoo is pressing ahead with an auction of its core Internet business, which includes search, mail and news sites. Yahoo and Starboard could still come to an agreement before the company’s annual meeting, expected to be in late June. If they cannot avoid a proxy fight and the Yahoo board election is taken to a shareholder vote, attention will swing to the large mutual and index funds that own the stock and will carry heavy weight in the final tally. Yahoo and Starboard representatives met on March 10 to discuss ways the two sides could avoid a proxy fight, according to people familiar with the matter. But those talks broke down, in part because Starboard was upset by Yahoo’s announcement that same day that it appointed two new board directors, these people say. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Starboard Launches Proxy Fight To Remove Entire Yahoo Board