Tech vs. terror: Drones and data fight a new battle against poachers

When night falls, danger unfolds at the uMkhuze Game Reserve. And while some of the world’s most deadly predators—ranging in size from hyenas to lions—coexist next to African elephants, giraffes, and more within this massive, 140 square mile natural area, they aren’t the only creatures out hunting at night. This particular section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa plays host to one of the country’s most profitable, albeit illegal, industries: poaching. In Africa, it’s a $70 billion business. Organized crime rings dabbling in poaching often carry ties to other smuggling industries like narcotics and weapons; some even connect with terrorist organizations. In this specific target area, rhinos most often land in the criminal crosshairs, with over 3,800 killed in South Africa alone over the past seven years. Their horns allegedly sell for $65,000 per kilogram as poachers look to profit from ivory and rhino horn powder. On the evening of November 4, 2014, two poaching suspects entered the reserve. One carried a .458 caliber rifle outfitted with a silencer. A cane knife—a long, machete-like tool used for harvesting—may have also been involved. Nearly 80 rhinos had been poached already that year; more seemed destined for the tally. But by chance, four park rangers noticed suspicious movement while on foot patrol that evening. A firefight ensued. Read 30 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Tech vs. terror: Drones and data fight a new battle against poachers

A Compact Semi-Portable Keyboard With Genuine Mechanical Keys

There’s just nothing quite like the sound and feel of typing away on a keyboard with genuine mechanical switches under each key. But while most mechanical keyboards are giant and designed to permanently live on your desk, the TEX Yoda has a much smaller form factor and footprint making it easier to travel with so you’ll never have to settle for typing on a portable keyboard’s Chiclet keys ever again. Read more…

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A Compact Semi-Portable Keyboard With Genuine Mechanical Keys

Roku’s Boxes Get Better Hardware And News Ways To Find Stuff To Watch

 The Roku 2 and Roku 3 streaming boxes are getting refreshed today, with new hardware providing faster movement through the interface as you jump around between channels and apps. Read More

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Roku’s Boxes Get Better Hardware And News Ways To Find Stuff To Watch

Apple Blazes A Trail With Streaming Route Sharing Patent

 Apple has a new patent that could result in interesting use cases, including getting navigation directions from a robot scouting ahead, or live route information from your local friend when you’re visiting an unfamiliar city. The new patent (via AppleInsider) describes the sharing of live path tracking between devices, which goes beyond the kind of location sharing in Find My Friends… Read More

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Apple Blazes A Trail With Streaming Route Sharing Patent

Apple Patents A Light-Splitting iPhone Camera Sensor System

 Apple has secured a new patent (via AppleInsider) for a special three sensor camera designed for thin, wireless devices like the iPhone. The three sensors would each capture a separate color component, as divided by a special light-splitting cube that would divide up light entering the camera into red, green and blue (or other color set) wavelengths. Why? Better resolution and lower noise… Read More

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Apple Patents A Light-Splitting iPhone Camera Sensor System

FAA Grants Amazon Permission To Test Drone Deliveries

 The FAA just released a statement indicated that Amazon now has limited permission to test and develop drones in the United States. It’s not a blank check, though. The FAA gave Amazon strict rules and regulations. Read More

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FAA Grants Amazon Permission To Test Drone Deliveries

Flesh-Detecting Table Saw Instantly Drops the Blade Without Destroying It

Close to a decade ago a clever inventor came up with a safety feature for power tools that could detect when a blade made contact with human flesh and instantly retract it to prevent injury. Unfortunately, it destroyed the tool in the process. Read more…

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Flesh-Detecting Table Saw Instantly Drops the Blade Without Destroying It

A look at Android 5.1: speed, security, tweaks

Four months after the first release of Android 5.0 Lollipop , Google has followed up with a second version: Android 5.1. The speedy turnaround time compared to Android 5.0 (which appeared a year after 4.4) means that there aren’t many large-scale changes to look at—but the release does feature numerous little improvements and tweaks. It’s faster! (on the Nexus 6, at least) Ron Amadeo 5.1 brings much faster random read and write speeds to the Nexus 6, and the Nexus 5 improves a little, too. 3 more images in gallery 5.1 seems to have eliminated many of the performance issues with the Nexus 6. When we initially reviewed the device, the Nexus 6 was slower at loading apps and switching tasks than the older Nexus 5 had been. With 5.1, the newer phone feels much snappier; with non-game apps, it can now keep pace with the Nexus 5. On benchmarks, we’re seeing much higher random read and write scores on the Nexus 6 with 5.1; random read gets a 2x speed boost, while random write is a whopping 9x faster. The same dramatic speed boosts aren’t present on the Nexus 5, and we suspect the difference is that the Nexus 6 is encrypted while the Nexus 5 is not. According to Francisco Franco , a longtime third-party Android kernel developer, Google is now using NEON instructions on the Nexus 6 to speed up encryption performance. Performance could be further improved by enabling hardware-accelerated encryption, which the Nexus 6 still doesn’t use, but Google has been experimenting with the feature in the Android Open Source Project. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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A look at Android 5.1: speed, security, tweaks

First look at the Office 2016 Preview for Windows

Hot on the heels of Office 2016 for Mac , Microsoft today released a preview of Office 2016 for the operating system that it actually earns money from. You know—Windows. In fairness, Windows isn’t in such desperate need for an updated Office. Office 2013 is fresher than Office 2011 was, and so it’s not altogether surprising that Office 2016 is to Office 2013 much the same as what Office 2013 was to Office 2010. This is a minor update with some small new features and a visual refresh. The preview is currently aimed at IT professionals and developers, and as such it requires an active Office 365 subscription. A consumer-oriented preview should be released later in the year, but it’s pretty clear that Microsoft wants people to subscribe to Office 365, and the company is going to continue to offer small perks for having a subscription. Last year’s Outlook for Mac update was similarly an Office 365-only benefit. Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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First look at the Office 2016 Preview for Windows

Elon Musk Says Tesla Model S ‘Range Anxiety’ Will End With A Software Update

 Elon Musk has teased something big coming from Tesla this week – an end to ‘range anxiety.’ The Model S (and every other electric vehicle), Tesla’s current flagship, has been known to inspire so-called range anxiety, wherein a driver spends a lot of time worrying about when they’ll next be able to get a full charge, and consequently don’t often drive… Read More

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Elon Musk Says Tesla Model S ‘Range Anxiety’ Will End With A Software Update