Tag: production

Apple unveils the next version of OS X, “El Capitan”

SAN FRANCISCO—As usual, another opening-day WWDC keynote has brought with it another new version of OS X. The new version, El Capitan, introduces a handful of new features to the platform but is otherwise focused on refinement, both in the overall stability of the OS and in its visual identity (El Capitan switches the system font from Helvetica Neue to the Apple Watch’s San Francisco typeface , which changes the look of the OS in subtle but significant ways). Spotlight becomes “more expressive,” according to Apple VP Craig Federighi. There are also improvements to window management and the built-in apps. On stage, Federighi showed off an improvement to the UI where a shake of the mouse causes the cursor to temporarily grow huge—for finding the cursor when first sitting down. The updated version of Safari shipping with El Capitan introduces the concept of pinned sites, which will load instantly on starting up Safari and which will remain in persistent tabs in the Safari UI. The browser also now allows users to see which tabs are playing music (similar to Chrome), and to mute noisy tabs with a single gesture. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple unveils the next version of OS X, “El Capitan”

County sheriff warrantlessly used stingray 500+ times, claims to have no records

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD), the largest law enforcement agency in California’s capital region, has operated a stingray at least 500 times without a warrant in the last decade. But if you asked SCSD directly, even recently they wouldn’t give you a definite figure. As part of an ongoing investigation into stingray use nationwide, Ars filed a public records request with the SCSD  this year. And at the end of April, the SCSD responded. The department claimed that “no responsive documents exist,” essentially saying that there are no  records  detailing how many times its stingray has been used. That seemed a bit odd because in 2013,  local Sacramento television station News 10  obtained a Homeland Security grant application written by the SCSD. The proposal aimed to upgrade  the department’s stingray capabilities, and as part of its justification, the SCSD claimed to know how successful its device has been: Read 23 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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County sheriff warrantlessly used stingray 500+ times, claims to have no records

Florida science teacher suspended for signal-jamming students’ cell phones

A Florida high school teacher was suspended without pay for five days Tuesday for deploying a signal jammer in his science class to block students from using their mobile phones. Science teacher Dean Liptak. Superintendent Kurt Browning said in a Pasco County School Board reprimand letter  (PDF) to instructor Dean Liptak that he exercised “poor judgement” and “posed a serious risk to critical safety communications as well as the possibility of preventing others from making 9-1-1 calls.” Liptak was accused of jamming mobile devices from his Fivay High School classroom between March 31 and April 2. Verizon discovered the blockage on the cell tower located on campus. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Florida science teacher suspended for signal-jamming students’ cell phones

Yes, you’ll be able to do clean installs of the free Windows 10 upgrade

Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to most Windows 7 and 8 users for one year after its July 29 launch. This has led, inevitably, to a number of questions about what happens to those who want or need to reinstall their operating system. Microsoft’s Gabe Aul has provided some much-needed clarification on this issue. On Twitter he confirmed that once upgraded , Windows 10 users will be able to perform clean installs of the operating system at any time, even after the one-year free period has ended. Users won’t be required to install Windows 7 or 8 and then re-upgrade, and they won’t need the Windows 7 or 8 product key , with Aul confirming that clean installs from an ISO will be possible. There’s still some uncertainty about Microsoft’s promise to provide free updates to the operating system for the “supported lifetime” of the hardware it’s installed on, especially in regard to the impact that hardware upgrades will have on this. This question has always been a little awkward for Windows licenses; a newly built machine clearly needs a new license (which won’t be free ), but an old machine upgraded piece by piece to be a new machine will probably be able to keep its free license, especially if the upgrades are staggered so that the product activation threshold is never hit. What does this mean for the “supported lifetime”? Is it extended indefinitely? Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Yes, you’ll be able to do clean installs of the free Windows 10 upgrade

Comcast issuing $5 credits after Internet outage caused by DNS failure

Comcast customers on the West Coast will be able to get $5 credits due to a multihour Internet outage that happened Monday night. Though Internet service providers might offer refunds to customers who call and complain, they aren’t generally in the habit of proactively issuing refunds after outages. But Comcast, the country’s largest cable and broadband company, has been trying to improve its reputation for awful customer service . “We are directly reaching out to those who reported problems last night to offer our apologies and a credit for lost service,” Comcast Senior VP Mark Muehl wrote in a blog post yesterday. The credit will be $5,  USA Today  reported . Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Comcast issuing $5 credits after Internet outage caused by DNS failure

US airport screeners missed 95% of weapons, explosives in undercover tests

Transportation Security Administration screeners allowed banned weapons and mock explosives through airport security checkpoints 95 percent of the time, according to the agency’s own undercover testing. ABC News reported the results on Monday, but Ars could not independently confirm them. According to ABC News, a Homeland Security Inspector General report showed that agents failed to detect weapons and explosives in 67 out of 70 undercover operations . The report said: Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was apparently so frustrated by the findings he sought a detailed briefing on them last week at TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, according to sources. US officials insisted changes have already been made at airports to address vulnerabilities identified by the latest tests. It’s been a bad past two days when it comes to the government’s anti-terror strategy. The ABC News revelation came a day after a Senate impasse Sunday allowed parts of three terrorism-fighting aspects of the USA Patriot Act to expire, including the bulk telephone metadata program that Edward Snowden disclosed. Lawmakers are trying to broker a deal to the legislation that is needed, according to Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) because terrorists “want to kill us all.” Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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US airport screeners missed 95% of weapons, explosives in undercover tests

Apple reportedly plans paid streaming music service announcement at WWDC

Add “subscription-based streaming music service” to the list of things we’re expecting to hear Apple announce at next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The Wall Street Journal, citing those “familiar with the plan,” said that Apple will price the service at $10 per month and position itself in direct competition for customers’ ears with Spotify’s and Pandora’s paid options. Apple already offers its own free ad-supported streaming service, iTunes Radio, which it announced at WWDC in 2013 . However, the WSJ explains that the new paid streaming service will include human-curated and even human-hosted channels (reportedly including the likes of hip-hop musicians Q-Tip, Drake, and Dr. Dre). The paid streaming offering is not expected to include all of the songs and artists in the iTunes Store, since Apple’s existing deals with labels for selling music typically don’t include the rights to stream that music. The WSJ ’s sources indicate Apple is “rushing” to have the service ready and to get streaming deals signed in time for launch. The obvious goal for Apple would be to transform occasional purchasers from the iTunes store into sources of ongoing monthly revenue. To that end, the WSJ sources say Apple may prompt iTunes customers who spend $10 purchasing an album to give the new streaming service a try for the same cost. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple reportedly plans paid streaming music service announcement at WWDC

Verizon FiOS reps know what TV channels you watch

If you call Verizon FiOS and try to cancel or downgrade your TV package, you might find that the FiOS rep knows almost as much about your TV viewing habits as you do. Verizon’s Rep Guidance software tells Verizon representatives what channels you watch to help them make a more effective sales pitch. The system, which also shows them how much Internet data you use and which pieces of TV equipment you use most, was detailed by a Verizon executive in a public presentation hosted by Data Driven NYC. A Quartz reporter  wrote about the presentation yesterday . Verizon “is now closely tracking exactly what you watch, what devices you use, and how much data you consume,” Quartz wrote. “It knows whether your household spars over DVR conflicts and how many hours your kids spend binge-watching shows on HBO. What’s more, the company is listening in on phone calls to customer service in real-time, with supervisors poised to jump at the moment they sense a fight brewing or hear trigger words from an unhappy customer, such as ‘switching to Time Warner Cable.'” Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Verizon FiOS reps know what TV channels you watch

Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison

NEW YORK—Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison Friday, following a jury’s finding in February that the 31-year-old was the mastermind behind the Silk Road, once the Internet’s largest online drug marketplace. Operating online as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Ulbricht worked with a small staff to control everything sold on the site. He was arrested in October 2013, and the government made its case against him during a three-week trial here earlier this year. Ulbricht pleaded for leniency  during the hearing. “I wish I could go back and convince myself to take a different path,” he said. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison

Android M embraces USB Type-C, MIDI devices

USB Type-C is still a rarity today, but as the year goes on, the new port is going to begin showing up in more and more devices. In anticipation of this, Google has introduced a handful of features in the Android M release to support some of Type-C’s new features. Google hasn’t released a ton of information about the new features, but the most significant ones relate to the USB Power Delivery spec . A menu that pops up when you plug one USB Type-C device to another asks you what kind of connection you’re trying to make. The standard MTP and PTP file and photo transfer protocols, available in current versions of Android, are on this list, but the menu will also ask you if you’d like to charge the device or use it as a power supply for another device. The USB selection pop-up in Android M. Google This effectively makes Android M devices with USB Type-C ports into external batteries. Your tablet can charge your phone. Your phone could charge a camera battery or Bluetooth headset. Not every device combination makes sense (using a large laptop or tablet battery to charge a small phone battery seems useful; using a small phone battery to charge anything else seems ill-advised) but for compatible devices, it will be a handy feature. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Android M embraces USB Type-C, MIDI devices