Tag: the-end

Google is now reviewing apps before they reach the Play Store

Although Google has tightened app policies on the Play Store over the years, the company thinks it can do more to protect users. One way to do that is to crack down on the amount of malware and bad apps on its marketplace , so it’s begun reviewing apps before they become available to download. The new policy, which is similar to Apple’s approach on the App Store, has been in effect for a couple of months and uses a mix of algorithms and human intervention to weed out rogue apps. But that’s not all it’s doing. Google has also launched a new rating system for Android apps that will spell out which apps and games are appropriate for certain age groups. It’s teamed up with a number of independent bodies including the ESRB, PEGI, USK, ClassInd and the Australian Classification Board, the same groups that classify video games like GTA V before they go on sale. The idea is to help developers better target users and educate parents about the apps and games they are being asked to download. The ratings will cover the usual topics: sexual content, violent content, drugs, alcohol and gambling. According to Google, if users aren’t in one of the supported countries, it will deliver an “age-based, generic rating” that has been awarded after developers have completed a content rating questionnaire. If developers don’t comply, downloads could be blocked in certain regions. It’s a far cry from the early days of Android, when developers could submit whatever they like. The Play Store is now a $7 billion-plus business, so Google needs to better protect users as hardware gets more powerful and apps normally reserved for desktops and consoles come to mobile devices. Filed under: Cellphones , Gaming , Internet , Software , Mobile , Google Comments Source: Android Developers Blog

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Google is now reviewing apps before they reach the Play Store

Nintendo’s next-generation console is codenamed ‘NX’

It should come as no surprise to hear that Nintendo is working on a new console. Fresh hardware takes years to develop, so engineers are always working on future systems while the rest of us play on the current generation of consoles. What we didn’t expect, however, is for Nintendo to talk about its next system so soon . In today’s press conference , where the company detailed its plans to make mobile games with DeNA, it also teased a new system codenamed “NX.” Few details were disclosed, other than it’ll involve fresh hardware and gameplay concepts. The NX symbol appeared on a slide alongside the Nintendo Wii U, 3DS and other mobile platforms, which suggests it could launch as a complimentary system, rather than an immediate successor to its current home system and handhelds. The NX will also tie into a new membership service that Nintendo is developing alongside DeNA. It’s a replacement for Club Nintendo, and will incorporate multiple devices including the Wii U, 3DS and non-Nintendo hardware such as smartphones and tablets. It’s no secret that Nintendo’s Wii U has been struggling . Despite some standout titles, including Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U , the platform hasn’t resonated with consumers like the original Wii or the latest hardware from both Sony and Microsoft. Many have wondered how long it will take before Nintendo decides to cut its losses and shift focus to a new console entirely. That would, of course, disgruntle existing Wii U owners, so a new system that sits alongside Nintendo’s existing hardware, at least to begin with, makes sense. Chief executive Satoru Iwata said more details about NX will be shared “next year, ” so don’t expect any grand announcements at E3 or the next Nintendo Direct. “As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business, let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename ‘NX, ‘” he says. Why is Nintendo making this announcement now? Its decision to develop new smartphone games with DeNA is sure to rile some of its most dedicated fans, which feel the company’s characters should be protected from outside developers, especially those in the mobile space. Teasing the “NX” today should reassure gamers that Nintendo is still committed to “hardcore” titles and won’t be abandoning its hardware business anytime soon. Filed under: Gaming , Nintendo Comments

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Nintendo’s next-generation console is codenamed ‘NX’

Microsoft offers pros a peek at the latest versions of Office and Skype

If you rely on Office or Skype to make a living, you may be in for a treat. Microsoft is following up its recent sneak peeks at universal Office apps and Office for Mac with pro-only previews of Office 2016 for the desktop and Skype for Business . The pre-release Office doesn’t include everything you’ll get (Microsoft says it’s saving a lot of the interface tweaks for later), but it already includes better remote management and performance boosts. The Skype for Business preview, meanwhile, largely does what it says on the tin — it expands the company’s Lync communication tool with both a fresher interface and support for talking to regular Skype users. It’s not certain when the desktop version of Office will be available to everyone, but Skype for Business will be ready for action in April. Filed under: Internet , Software , Microsoft Comments Via: The Verge Source: Office Blogs (1) , (2)

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Microsoft offers pros a peek at the latest versions of Office and Skype

YouTube cards might finally get you to click video links

Lots of YouTube videos carry annotations with links to related clips or other websites, but how many of them do you actually visit? Probably few of them, if any. However, YouTube may have a way to pique your interest. It’s rolling out cards that both look much nicer — compared to text boxes, anyway — and are available at any time, not just at specific moments. They’ll work on mobile, too, so you won’t miss important contextual info just because you’re on your phone. YouTube isn’t ditching old-school annotations yet (it wants to fill out the cards’ feature set first), but it’s clear that their days are numbered. Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Source: YouTube Creators

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YouTube cards might finally get you to click video links

Virtualized Air Force war games put Top Gun to shame

Every year for the past four decades, the US Air Force and its NATO allies have staged a series of mock battles — dubbed Red Flag events — to provide soldiers with “real-world” experience before actually throwing them into active combat. But this year’s Red Flag marks a significant departure from its predecessors in that the 2015 exercise will be the first to virtually integrate warfighters from around the country using cutting-edge flight simulators. Red Flag events are put on by the United States Air Force Warfare Center (USAFWC) and typically held at Nellis Air Force Base, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. This site provides 15, 000 square miles — roughly half the size of Switzerland — of open airspace in which participants can operate. However, real conflicts rarely happen within such a small area. That’s why the USAFWC is leveraging a network of connected flight simulators to virtually expand the theater of operations from 15, 000 square miles to a whopping 1.3 million square miles. This integration allows for many more friendly troops (Blue Flags) to match up against enormous simulated enemy forces (Red Flags). “The benefits to the warfighter of integrating ‘virtual’ into Red Flags are that it allows us to bring in more of the combat-realistic threat envelope, and we’re now able to maximize the air tasking order with the most amount of ‘Blue Forces’ in both the virtual and live sides of a joint air operations area that is 1, 200 by 1, 100 nautical miles, compared to the Nevada Test and Training Range which is about 100 by 100 nautical miles, ” Lt. Col. Kenneth Voigt, 505th Test Squadron commander, said in a statement. That’s not to say that everybody involved gets to fly (either physically or virtually). In fact, most of the remotely participating forces will be providing simulated ground surveillance and support for the planes that are actually above Nellis AFB, though there will also reportedly be a few virtual aerial assets in the mix. “What we’re going to do is take a virtual Joint Stars, or VSTARS, to pick up movers – live trucks on the range – and broadcast that to live strike assets, F-16 (Fighting Falcons) or F-15 (Eagles), to go employ on a dynamic target mission, ” Voigt continued. “The Nellis Test and Training Range personnel on the range are a crucial partner for LVC [“Live-Virtual Constructive”] integration. The ability to track and send location data to the VSTARS is due to their experts.” Red Flag will reportedly even include scenarios involving both live and virtual Patriot units — despite each missile costing nearly $1 million to transport out to the event. In all, hundreds of pilots are expected to participate. And it’s not just the cost savings that has the USAF crowing over the virtual integration: “By combining LVC training, we’ll be able to show how we can maximize our footprint in LVC, push the technology envelope, see where we need to go in the future with our end-goal being able to integrate fifth-generation fighters and bombers with our fourth-generation assets, while being able to provide them with realistic threats to go against, ” Voigt explained. “The combined efforts in the months leading up to 15-2 will pay huge dividends for all the participants, as they’re going to get the most combat-realistic environment in the Air Force.” At least until combat UAVs like the Taranis or the nEUROn take over and relegate every Air Force pilot to the role of remote operator. [Image Credit: USAF] Comments Via: The Aviationist Source: USAF Air Combat Command , Wiki

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Virtualized Air Force war games put Top Gun to shame

Yahoo hopes that you’ll forget your password

Twitter isn’t the only internet giant that wants to spare you from remembering passwords . Yahoo has just trotted out an optional login process that sends passwords on demand. Sign up and Yahoo will deliver a single-use password to your phone whenever you need to log in — you can prevent someone from easily hijacking your account no matter what device you’re on as long as your handset is nearby. This extra-secure option is only available in the US right now, but there’s a good possibility that you’ll see it in other countries before long. Oh, and the end-to-end email encryption that Yahoo promised? It’s still on track. The company gave its first demo of the locked down messaging system at SXSW, and it’s delivering early source code for curious tinkerers. The technology still doesn’t have a definite release date, but your sensitive Yahoo conversations should be safer from prying eyes by the end of the year. Filed under: Internet Comments Source: Yahoo (Tumblr 1) , (2)

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Yahoo hopes that you’ll forget your password

Windows 10 will deliver updates through your fellow PC users

Not fond of having to wait (and wait, and wait) while you download Windows updates from Microsoft’s servers? You might not have to when Windows 10 arrives. The Verge has noticed that a leaked version of the operating system lets you grab updates from other computers, whether they’re on your local network or online — yes, it’s a peer-to-peer network for patches. Besides accelerating the upgrade process, the option could save precious bandwidth (important on capped data plans) if you have a multi-PC household. There’s no telling when this feature will show up in a Windows 10 build you can try, assuming Microsoft doesn’t get cold feet. A new public test release is reportedly coming soon, though, so you probably won’t have to wait very long. Filed under: Internet , Software , Microsoft Comments Source: The Verge

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Windows 10 will deliver updates through your fellow PC users

The ‘1,000mph’ Bloodhound car is so fast it needs to be bulletproof

Designing a car that can break the world land speed record is a tricky balancing act. It has to be incredibly fast and lightweight, while also offering unparalleled protection on the track. Not only in case there’s a conventional crash, either; even a tiny pebble could have devastating consequences for a vehicle travelling at up to 1, 000mph . To protect the British Bloodhound supersonic car , which Andy Green will be piloting in a record-breaking attempt later this year, the team has developed special panels that are effectively bulletproof . They’re constructed from millions of woven glass fibres that intentionally fray and soak up energy when hit by a fast-moving projectile. In the video below, engineers test their durability by firing a small shard from a cannon. Thankfully they’re up to the task, giving Green one less worry when he tries to break the current record (763mph) in South Africa. [Image Credit: Bloodhound] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Sky Source: Bloodhound

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The ‘1,000mph’ Bloodhound car is so fast it needs to be bulletproof

The latest version of Android could keep your data safe on public WiFi

Android 5.1 has been available to Nexus devices for a little while now, and it looks like one of its neatest features – sorry HD Voice and Device Protection – isn’t quite ready for public consumption yet. Thanks to a little bit of sleuthing by Pocketables editor-in-chief John Freml, it looks like you’ll eventually be able to log into a Google VPN when you connect to one of those potentially sketchy open WiFI networks out there. To be clear, it takes a bit of work to even get the service responsible for that secure surfing running, and even then it doesn’t yet work the way it’s supposed to — all Freml could coax out of it was a dialog box touting the feature and a link to a still-inactive Google support page. Still, considering just temperamental (not to mention potentially tricky) some of those wireless networks can be, Google’s onto something really, really important here. The inclusion of a system-level VPN is a great idea on its own, but it takes on even more significance in light of Google’s recently confirmed MVNO plans. Google SVP Sundar Pichai noted in an interview at this year’s Mobile World Congress that it’ll eventually roll out the “Nexus” of wireless services ; that is, it won’t necessarily compete with the industry’s lumbering giants for customers. Still, it’s clear that WiFi is going to play a crucial role in Google’s newest mobile push – the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that it’ll essentially combine T-Mobile and Sprint service with available WiFi networks for phone and data connectivity, and you can bet the search juggernaut has a vested interest in keeping its users’ information safe from ne’er-do-wells. Filed under: Mobile Comments Source: Pocketables

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The latest version of Android could keep your data safe on public WiFi

ASUS’ G501 gaming laptop comes with NVIDIA’s new graphics card

NVIDIA has officially launched the GTX 960M , and a number of manufacturers have revealed new, thin gaming laptops the video card was designed for at the same time. One of those laptops is the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) G501, which measures 0.81-inch in depth (0.30-inch thicker than the new Macbooks ) and weighs 4.54 pounds. The GTX 960M card inside it can deliver “sharp, vivid visuals, high-quality textures and smooth framerates in the most demanding games, ” at least according to Asus. In addition to the video card, you can find a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of GDDR5 and a 512GB SSD under the hood, encased in typical ROG brushed metal body with red accents. The device comes pre-installed with Windows 8.1 and has a 15.6-inch 4K/UHD display, three USB 3.0 ports and an Intel Thunderbolt connection. Plus, it uses the company’s dual-fan cooling system for super slim laptops called ASUS Hyper Cool Technology. It will set you back $1, 999 when it becomes available in April. If you want a gaming laptop right now , though, ASUS is also rereleasing a couple of older models equipped with NVIDIA’s new graphics cards today. First is the lower-end version of the G751 called the G751JL, which comes with the new GTX 965M graphics card instead of the GTX 980M/970M, like you can find inside the former. It costs $1, 399, or $100 cheaper than the previous model’s cheapest unit. Finally, the company is updating its GL551 laptops with the GTX 960M cards to release two versions that cost $1, 099 and $1, 299, depending on their SSDs. All these laptops are (or will be, in G501’s case) available in various retail outlets, but make sure to check out the ASUS G-Series website first for more info and a list of stores that where you can find them. Filed under: Laptops , ASUS Comments Source: ASUS

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ASUS’ G501 gaming laptop comes with NVIDIA’s new graphics card