HTC Spends Nearly $10M On A 15% Stake In Virtual Reality Platform WEVR

 HTC is planning to release its extremely well-received virtual reality headset Vive to consumers later this year, possibly in November. In the meantime, the Taiwanese company is busy building out its VR ecosystem. HTC disclosed that it spent almost $10 million for a 15 percent stake in WEVR, an open VR platform and community based in Los Angeles. Read More

See original article:
HTC Spends Nearly $10M On A 15% Stake In Virtual Reality Platform WEVR

LG made 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold last quarter

LG’s latest earnings report shows just how tough the smartphone market is getting. On the one hand, LG Mobile shipped 8.1 million LTE smartphones, its best result ever. On the other hand, it sold fewer premium models in Korea and spent a lot of money marketing its flagship G4 in the US against models by Apple, Samsung, et al. (The company singled out Apple , saying that iPhone sales hurt its earnings this quarter.) The net result was a mobile operating profit of just 200 million won ($172, 000) or 1.2 cents per phone. The good news is that the LG G4 has only been on sale in the US for two months , so it may have a stronger impact on LG’s bottom line next quarter. On top of a tight smartphone market, LG’s Home Entertainment division said that global demand for LCD TVs was “soft, ” as revenue dropped 22.7 percent to 3.93 trillion won ($3.59 billion). However, the company is bullish on its 4K OLED TVs , and plans to expand its lineup “with newer designs at more attractive price points.” For the quarter, LG saw an overeall drop in sales of 7.6 percent and earnings that were down 45 percent over last year to 226.4 billion won ($195 million). And if not for the company’s profitable Home Appliance division , that number would’ve been a loss. Filed under: Cellphones , Home Entertainment , LG Comments Source: LG

Visit site:
LG made 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold last quarter

Intel and Micron Unveil 3D XPoint Memory, 1000x Speed and Endurance Over Flash

MojoKid writes: Today at a press conference in San Francisco, Intel and Micron unveiled 3D XPoint (Cross Point) memory technology, a non-volatile memory architecture they claim could change the landscape of consumer electronics and computer architectures for years to come. Intel and Micron say 3D XPoint memory is 1000 times faster than NAND, boasts 1000x the endurance of NAND, and offers 8-10 times the density of conventional memory. 3D XPoint isn’t electron based, it’s material based. The companies aren’t diving into specifics yet surrounding the materials used in 3D XPoint, but the physics are fundamentally different than what we’re used to. It’s 3D stackable and its cross point connect structure allows for dense packing and individual access at the cell level from the top or bottom of a memory array. Better still, Intel alluded to 3D XPoint not being as cost-prohibitive as you might expect. Intel’s Rob Crooke explained, “You could put the cost somewhere between NAND and DRAM.” Products with the new memory are expected to arrive in 2016 and the joint venture is in production with wafers now. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the original article here:
Intel and Micron Unveil 3D XPoint Memory, 1000x Speed and Endurance Over Flash

LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal

Mark Wilson writes: LinkedIn caused a storm a couple of days ago when it removed the option to instantly download contacts. Many users of the professional social network were more than a little irked to discover that while contact exporting was still available, a wait of up to three days had been put in place. Unsurprisingly, users revolted, having been particularly upset by the fact the change was implemented with no warning or announcement. But the company has managed to turn things around by quickly backtracking on its decision after listening to a stream of complaints on Twitter. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read this article:
LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal

Tomb, a Successor To TrueCrypt For Linux Geeks

jaromil writes: Last day we released Tomb version 2.1 with improvements to stability, documentation and translations. Tomb is just a ZSh script wrapping around cryptsetup, gpg and other tools to facilitate the creation and management of LUKS encrypted volumes with features like key separation, steganography, off-line search, QRcode paper backups etc. In designing Tomb we struggle for minimalism and readability, convinced that the increasing complexity of personal technology is the root of many vulnerabilities the world is witnessing today — and this approach turns out to be very successful, judging from the wide adoption, appreciation and contributions our project has received especially after the demise of TrueCrypt. As maintainer of the software I wonder what Slashdot readers think about what we are doing, how we are doing it and more in general about the need for simplicity in secure systems, a debate I perceive as transversal to many other GNU/Linux/BSD projects and their evolution. Given the increasing responsibility in maintaining such a software, considering the human-interface side of things is an easy to reach surface of attack, I can certainly use some advice and criticism. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View post:
Tomb, a Successor To TrueCrypt For Linux Geeks

Intel Core I7-5775C Desktop Broadwell With Iris Pro 6200 Graphics Tested

bigwophh writes: 14nm Broadwell processors weren’t originally destined for the channel, but Intel ultimately changed course and launched a handful of 5th Generation Core processors based on the microarchitecture recently, the most powerful of which is the Core i7-5775C. Unlike all of the mobile Broadwell processors that came before it, the Core i7-5775C is a socketed, LGA processor for desktops, just like 4th Generation Core processors based on Haswell. In fact, it’ll work in the very same 9-Series chipset motherboards currently available (after a BIOS update). The Core i7-5775C, however, features a 128MB eDRAM cache and integrated Iris Pro 6200 series graphics, which can boost graphics performance significantly. Testing shows that the Core i7-5775C’s lower CPU core clocks limit its performance versus Haswell, but its Iris Pro graphics engine is clearly more powerful. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the article here:
Intel Core I7-5775C Desktop Broadwell With Iris Pro 6200 Graphics Tested

Experiment: Installing Windows 10 On a 7-Year-Old Acer Aspire One

jones_supa writes: Windows 10 will launch in less than a week and it is supposed to work flawlessly on devices already powered by Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, as Microsoft struggled to keep system requirements unchanged to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Device drivers all the way back to Windows Vista platform (WDDM 1.0) are supported. Softpedia performed a practical test to see how Windows 10 can run on a 7-year-old Acer Aspire One netbook powered by Intel Atom N450 processor clocked at 1.66 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, and a 320 GB mechanical hard disk. The result is surprising to say the least, as installation not only went impressively fast, but the operating system itself also works fast. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the original article here:
Experiment: Installing Windows 10 On a 7-Year-Old Acer Aspire One

US Court: ‘Pocket-Dialed’ Calls Are Not Private

itwbennett writes: In a case of a pocket-dialed call, a conscientious secretary, and sensitive personnel issues, a federal appeals court in Ohio has ruled pocket-dialers shouldn’t have any expectation of privacy. ‘Under the plain-view doctrine, if a homeowner neglects to cover a window with drapes, he would lose his reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to a viewer looking into the window from outside of his property, ‘ the court said. The same applies to pocket-dialed calls, according to the court. If a person doesn’t take reasonable steps to keep their call private, their communications are not protected by the Wiretap Act. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read More:
US Court: ‘Pocket-Dialed’ Calls Are Not Private

How Pentaquarks May Lead To the Discovery of New Fundamental Physics

StartsWithABang writes: Over 100 years ago, Rutherford’s gold foil experiment discovered the atomic nucleus. At higher energies, we can split that nucleus apart into protons and neutrons, and at still higher ones, into individual quarks and gluons. But these quarks and gluons can combine in amazing ways: not just into mesons and baryons, but into exotic states like tetraquarks, pentaquarks and even glueballs. As the LHC brings these states from theory to reality, here’s what we’re poised to learn, and probe, by pushing the limits of quantum chromodynamics. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More:
How Pentaquarks May Lead To the Discovery of New Fundamental Physics

Netflix’s TV apps get their first major update since 2013

While Netflix has focused on rolling out more original content to more countries over the last couple of years, we haven’t seen as many updates to its software as we used to. Last week the streaming video service said it would start optimizing its mobile apps, but first up is a tweak for the TV apps you probably use more often. Netflix says this is the first major change its TV apps have had since the new look rolled out in late 2013 , and it will start or resume video as soon as you select a title, while keeping the info on the screen (check after the break for a GIF showing how it works). An earnings report earlier this year mentioned bringing video “forward” in the TV experience, and this seems to be a part of that plan, delivering what Netflix says is a more cinematic experience. Cinematic or not, when I’ve fallen asleep mid- OITNB binge, a visual hint would make it easier to remember which episode I was on so this should help. When we spoke to Netflix’s Cliff Edwards in January we heard about plans to put its app on the same footing as cable, and creating a way for viewers to passively slip into watching makes that possible. Once you turn on cable TV the video is usually just there, while with streaming you’ve always had to pick something first — this new feature combined with faster loading apps and video makes your Netflix & chill moment more casual . If you’re using an older TV or device you may not see the feature, but it’s rolling out to “eligible devices” ( Netflix Recommended TVs are a good bet ) globally over the next few days. Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD Comments Source: Netflix Blog

Original post:
Netflix’s TV apps get their first major update since 2013