Tag: script

Harrison Ford will return in ‘Blade Runner’ sequel

Need more good news after today’s net neutrality ruling? Deadline and Variety report it has been confirmed that Harrison Ford will return to the role of Rick Deckard in the Blade Runner sequel that’s currently in the works. Ridley Scott is producing the film, Hampton Fancher (co-writer of the original movie) and Michael Green are writing, and Denis Villeneuve ( Prisoners ) is in negotiations to direct.The movie is supposed to start shooting next summer, giving Ford plenty of time to recover from any Star Wars-related injuries and us an opportunity to check out Amazon’s upcoming (and also based on a Philip K. Dick story) The Man in the High Castle series. Developing… [Image credit: Getty Images] Filed under: Misc , Home Entertainment , HD Comments Source: Deadline , Variety , The Hollywood Reporter

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Harrison Ford will return in ‘Blade Runner’ sequel

WSJ: YouTube isn’t making money, even with a billion viewers

Despite “Gangnam Style” having over two billion views , hosting countless other viral clips and netting over a billion users per-month, YouTube can’t seem to turn a profit. How’s that? Well, after paying for the infrastructure that makes Google’s video empire possible (and its content partners), The Wall Street Journal says that YouTube didn’t contribute to Mountain View’s earnings. The culprit, apparently, is that most users arrive at videos via links, rather than daily visits to the YouTube homepage where Google could charge a premium for ads. WSJ also reports that the site’s reach isn’t very wide either, with one source’s estimate that nine percent of viewers account for a whopping 85 percent of online-video views. That makes it a much less appealing audience for advertisers than traditional TV programming, despite the outfit’s increasing investment in original content . Google’s hoping that things the Music Key subscription service can hold the tide of red ink back and turn that sea black. Another method is with targeted ads, so you can get inundated with sales pitches for stuff you’ve recently browsed on Amazon. WSJ ‘s sources say that those might be a bit harder to add than Google previously expected, though, and thankfully could take some time to roll out. At least there’s some form of silver lining here. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD , Google Comments Source: The Wall Street Journal

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WSJ: YouTube isn’t making money, even with a billion viewers

Police kill money-stealing botnet that infected millions of PCs

Europol and police forces across Europe have shut down Ramnit, a botnet that infected up to three million computers world-wide. The virus, generally installed by email phishing attacks or rogue sites (please stop clicking on attachments, whoever your are ) was mostly used by criminal hackers to steal banking info. If you were so foolish to click, the program gives hackers remote access to your Windows PC, letting them steal banking credentials, personal details and other info. The countries hit hardest were the US, India and Bangladesh. To wipe out the botnet, authorities shut down the master servers along with over 300 IP address used by crooks. They were aided in their efforts by Microsoft (the virus only affects Windows machines), along with Symantec and AnubisNetworks. As you’d expect, clearing the virus from individual PCs isn’t trivial. For instance, it loads into memory when the victim boots up and re-installs itself if the virus is deleted from the hard disk. It also disables antivurus software, and can monitor your websurfing to steal cookies. If you’re worried, UK police have recommended you use specialized software that can detect and disinfect the virus — Microsoft has it here . [Image credit: Benjamin Howell/Getty] Filed under: Software Comments Via: BBC Source: Get Safe Online

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Police kill money-stealing botnet that infected millions of PCs

Facebook rolls out new tools to help prevent suicides

With over a billion users, Facebook plays an important role in keeping people connected. It serves as a place to share good news, but also provides a platform for users to request support from their digital peers. The company is keenly aware that it can assist users when there is a cry for help, which is why it rolled out an (lengthy) way to flag suicidal content back in 2011 . Now, it’s taking that one step further by introducing new tools to boost its suicide prevention efforts. From this week, Facebook will begin rolling out a new option inside each post that lets users flag when a friend may be considering self harm. The concerned party can click on the little arrow at the top right of a status and click “Report Post.” When that person logs in next, Facebook will then offer options to contact the person concerned about them, enlist the help of another friend or put them in contact with a suicide helpline. The social network has teamed up with mental health organizations Forefront, Now Matters Now, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Save.org to make it easier for users to show their concern. The feature will be available initially to those in the US and Facebook says it will complete the rollout within the next couple of months. It’s also vowed to improve its tools for users in other parts of the world. Filed under: Internet , Facebook Comments Via: Time Source: Facebook

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Facebook rolls out new tools to help prevent suicides

Five miles of Hyperloop test track will be built in California

If you were worried that Hyperloop was nothing more than a fantasy, you might be happy to learn that some companies are taking the idea very seriously. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies , one of the companies inspired by Elon Musk’s idea of making people travel in tubes, has signed a deal to build a five mile test facility in California. The facility will be built by a local developer along Interstate 5, and is expected to begin construction next year. According to CNBC , the scheme will cost an eye-watering $100 million to build and should be up and running by 2019. Although Elon Musk himself is credited with the Hyperloop idea, he had originally stated that he was too busy with SpaceX and Tesla to develop the project. Since then, however, the entrepreneur has changed his tune, pledging to build a test facility of his very own down in Texas . Unlike HTT’s, the Musk loop will be used by companies and students to test pod designs, and could even host a student race competition in the vein of Formula SAE. All we can say is that we hope it won’t be long after that before we start seeing Hyperloop tunnels popping up across the country. Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: CNBC

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Five miles of Hyperloop test track will be built in California

Apple ordered to pay $532.9 million to an iTunes patent troll

Despite attempts to curb patent trolls , at least some of them are getting lucky — and this week, one got very lucky. A Texas court has ordered Apple to pay a whopping $532.9 million to Smartflash, a holding company which sued over claims that iTunes (specifically its copy protection, payment systems and storage) violates its patents. The Cupertino crew allegedly abused the inventions on purpose, in part because one of its execs was briefed on them over a decade ago. Apple is appealing the ruling, and points out that Smartflash hasn’t exactly been above-board in its behavior. It exists solely to extract patent royalties, and waited years to take action — it even set up its only office across from the courthouse holding the trial, making it clear that lawsuits were expected from the start. It’s hard to tell whether or not the appeal will succeed in reducing the payout (Apple wanted to limit damages to $4.5 million) or overturning the verdict. However, Apple isn’t the only target in the crosshairs. Smartflash has also sued Google and Samsung, so it could cause a lot of grief for the tech industry as a whole. [Image credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images for Apple] Filed under: Software , Apple , Samsung , Google Comments Via: MacRumors Source: Bloomberg

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Apple ordered to pay $532.9 million to an iTunes patent troll

Microsoft gives eligible students free Office 365 subscriptions

Turns out Microsoft had a surprise in store for students around the globe this February, and not just for those based in New York . The company’s finally bringing free Office 365 subscriptions to students outside the US, so long as they live in one of the countries (it’s quite a lengthy list ) where the product’s available. Schools will have to buy subscriptions for staff and faculty, but once they do, students (and even teachers) can self-install for no charge by using a school-issued email address at the Office in education website . After signing up, they’ll get access to the newest Office, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and Publisher, and be able to install them on up to five computers and five phones or tablets. An account also comes with Office Online and, even better, 1TB of OneDrive storage, so users can go wild uploading anything without quickly running out of space. [Image credit: Shutterstock / Andresr] Filed under: Misc , Microsoft Comments Via: PC World Source: Microsoft , Office in Education

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Microsoft gives eligible students free Office 365 subscriptions

AMD’s next laptop processor is mostly about battery life

Intel isn’t the only chip giant championing battery life over performance this year. AMD has revealed Carrizo , a processor range that’s focused heavily on extending the running time of performance-oriented laptops. While there will be double-digit boosts to speed, there’s no doubt that efficiency is the bigger deal here. The new core architecture (Excavator) is just 5 percent faster than its Kaveri ancestor, but it chews up 40 percent less energy at the same clock rate — even the graphics cores use 20 percent less juice. Not that this is the only real trick up AMD’s sleeve. Carrizo is the first processor to meet the completed Heterogeneous System Architecture spec, which lets both the CPU and its integrated graphics share memory. That lets some tasks finish faster than they would otherwise (since you don’t need as many instructions), and it could provide a swift kick to both performance and battery life in the right conditions. You’ll also find dedicated H.265 video decoding, so this should be a good match for all the low-bandwidth 4K videos you’ll stream in the future. The new chip is pretty promising as a result. With that said, its creator will undoubtedly be racing against time. Carrizo is expected to reach shipping PCs in the second quarter of the year, or close to Intel’s mid-year target for its quad-core Broadwell processors. You may find shiny new AMD and Intel chips in PCs at around the same time — that’s good news if you’re a speed junkie, but it’s not much help to AMD’s bottom line . Filed under: Desktops , Laptops , AMD Comments Via: PCWorld Source: AMD

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AMD’s next laptop processor is mostly about battery life

Electron microscopes stop thieves from covering their tracks

Ask the police and they’ll tell you that serial numbers seldom help catch thieves — dedicated crooks are usually smart enough to file off those digits so that stolen items can’t be linked to a crime. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology might have just found a way to recover those numbers and stop criminals in their tracks, however. Their new technique uses electron microscopes to spot damaged crystal patterns in steel, revealing characters even when they’ve been polished into oblivion. Current recovery approaches (like acid etching or electrolytic polishing) only sometimes work, and frequently provide faint clues at best — the microscope produces clear evidence that you could use to convict someone in court. It’s going to be a while before the cops are using this method. Right now, it takes three whole days to identify eight numbers. That time could shrink to an hour through optimization, though. If that happens, gun runners and burglars may have a considerably harder time escaping the long arm of the law. Unless nogoodniks get particularly creative, you’d have little trouble tracing many weapons and fenced items back to their sources. [Image credit: White/NIST] Filed under: Science Comments Via: Slashdot , Gizmodo Source: NIST

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Electron microscopes stop thieves from covering their tracks

Chrome warns users of malware-infected websites before connecting to them

Google’s already making sure you don’t download malware, and now it’s expanding its Safe Browsing initiative. In addition to preventative warnings prior to downloading, the Chrome browser will now throw a red flag (pictured after the break) before visiting a site that may encourage you to install any malicious software. Search listings are getting marks for sites that might contain nefarious programs as well, and Mountain View says that it’s actively disabling Google Ads that “lead to sites with unwanted software.” The search giant is urging site owners to install its Webmaster Tools to help keep on top of any possible issues with a site pushing bad software to visitors, and says this’ll aid with the resolution process should that happen. Again, it’s Google working to keep its “don’t be evil” reputation in line and making the internet a safer place for everyone. After all, even the most web savvy among us have probably downloaded malware before at some point. [Image credit: Associated Press] Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Source: Inside Search blog

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Chrome warns users of malware-infected websites before connecting to them