Tech

Logitech K480 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard Capsule Review

Anandtech - Tue, 2014-10-28 18:45

We have been doing round-ups of various input devices fit for HTPC purposes. Some of the vendors have started shipping with Bluetooth instead of using a proprietary communication mechanism over 2.4 GHz RF. The advantage of Bluetooth is its versatility and presence in almost all modern mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). These don't support a full-size USB host port for plugging in the USB RF receiver dongles. Utilizing Bluetooth enables these input devices to communicate with the rising crop of mobile devices as well as interface with traditional PCs. Communication with PCs can be enabled by using either an inbuilt card - common in most notebooks which integrate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities in a single mPCIe card - or, an explicit Bluetooth dongle.

Logitech recently introduced an innovative Bluetooth keyboard, the K480. While traditional Bluetooth keyboards have aimed to differentiate with aesthetics, in-built rechargeable batteries and support for multiple devices at the $100+ price points, Logitech's K480 aims to bring in a set of 'sweet-spot' features for $50.

Gallery: Logitech K480 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard

The salient features of the K480 include:

  • Support for up to three different Bluetooth devices, with easy switching between device profiles with a rotary dial on the top left corner
  • Recess to allow placement of smartphones / tablets in a position suitable for viewing while typing on the keyboard
  • Keyboard support for both Mac and Windows / Android ecosystems
  • Explicit power on/off switch for conserving battery life

After extensive use, we found that the keyboard fulfills most of its promises. It is cross-platform and does support pairing to multiple devices. The sequence of steps to get the device paired is outlined pictorially in the top half - This ensures that even the tablet-only non-tech savvy consumers can get up and running quickly with the unit. There is no need for a dongle, and as long as the target device has Bluetooth capabilities, the keyboard is good to go. Range is not an issue due to the use-case (mobile devices in close proximity). The unit feels quite solid, and is heavy (in order to ensure stability when heavy tablets are placed in the recess). The function keys are multiplexed with some multimedia / mobile specific buttons (such as single keypress to home). In addition, on Android devices, an app can be installed to provide additional keyboard layouts.

In terms of key feel and the typing experience, it has to be said that the keyboard is suitable for usage in bursts (again, the typical smartphone / tablet usage), and not prolonged typing. The shape of the keys, as well as the keypress feedback, seem to have been decided more with the looks and aesthetics in mind, rather than the typing experience. Fortunately, there is nothing to complain about the keyboard layout itself (from the viewpoint of Windows and Android systems, at least). Other than that, it would have been nice to have an adjustable tilt option for ergonomic considerations.

var kblist_devtype = new Array("Keyboard Only","Keyboard + 2-button Touchpad","Keyboard + 2-button Touchpad","Keyboard + Trackball (with 2 buttons and a scrollwheel / middle button)","Keyboard + Trackball (with 2 buttons and a scrollwheel / middle button)","Keyboard + 2-button Touchpad","Keyboard + Trackball (with 2 buttons and a scrollwheel / middle button)","Keyboard + 2-button Touchpad","Keyboard + 2-button Touchpad","Keyboard + Optical Mouse (2-button with scrollwheel / middle button)"); var kblist_dim = new Array("11.77\" x 7.68\" x 0.79\"","11.75\" x 8.25\" x 0.8\"","13.94\" x 5.35\" x 0.94\"","14.125\" x 6.5\" x 1.5\"","13.6\" x 6.3\" x 1.8\"","12.125\" x 8.75\" x 0.625\"","15\" x 6.1\" x 1.6\"","18\" x 6.5\" x 0.9\"","11.75\" x 8.25\" x 0.8\"","14\" x 4.3\" x 0.2\" (K) ; 3\" x 4.6\" x 1.5\" (M)"); var kblist_wt = new Array("1.81 lbs / 820 g","1.25 lbs / 550 g","0.79 lbs / 360 g","1.26 lbs / 572 g","1.20 lbs / 544 g","1.4 lbs / 646 g","1.5 lbs / 680 g","1.875 lbs / 851 g","1.25 lbs / 550 g","0.77 lbs / 350 g (K) ; 0.18 lbs / 82 g (M)"); var kblist_power = new Array("2x AAA","2x AAA","2x AA","2x AA","2x AA","2x AAA","2x AAA","2x AAA","2x AAA","2x AAA (K) ; 2x AAA (M)"); var kblist_comm = new Array("Bluetooth","2.4 GHz RF","2.4 GHz RF","2.4 GHz RF","2.4 GHz RF","2.4 GHz RF","2.4 GHz RF","2.4 GHz RF","Bluetooth","2.4 GHz RF"); var kblist_psaver = new Array("Explicit On/Off Switch","Explicit On/Off Switch + Auto Sleep","Explicit On/Off Switch","Explicit On/Off Switch","Auto Sleep","Auto Sleep","Explicit On/Off Switch","Explicit On/Off Switch + Auto Sleep","Explicit On/Off Switch + Auto Sleep","Explicit On/Off Switches on both Keyboard and Mouse"); var kblist_keyscount = new Array("79 (with multiplexed multimedia and mobile-specific keys)","87","79 + 4 media hot keys","78 + 8 media hot keys","81 + 14 media hot keys","88 + 8 media / Internet hot keys","87 + 7 Internet hot keys + 7 multimedia hot keys","104 (with multiplexed multimedia keys)","87","103 (with multiplexed Internet and multimedia hot keys)"); var kblist_tpaddim = new Array("N/A","3.5\"","3.5\"","N/A","N/A","3\"","N/A","2.7\"","3.5\"","N/A"); var kblist_usbstor = new Array("N/A","Yes","Yes","No","No","Yes","Yes","Yes","Yes","No"); var kblist_bklight = new Array("No","No","No","No","No","No","No","No","No","No"); var kblist_keylayoutscore = new Array("8/10","7/10","8/10","6/10","5/10","6/10","7/10","9/10","7/10","7/10"); var kblist_ergonomicscore = new Array("8/10","8/10","6/10","7/10","7/10","7/10","7/10","8/10","8/10","7/10"); var kblist_bqualityscore = new Array("9/10","8/10","7/10","9/10","7/10","7/10","8/10","8/10","8/10","8/10 (K) ; 6/10 (M)"); var kblist_price = new Array("$49.99","$89.99","$39.99","$49.95","$59.99","$69.99","$69.99","$79.99","$89.99","$39.99"); var kblist_warranty = new Array("1 year","1 year","3 years","3 years","3 years","3 years","1 year","1 year","1 year","1 year"); HTPC & Mobile Keyboards Bench Aspect Logitech K480 Logitech K480Adesso WKB-4000UBLogitech K400IOGEAR GKM561RSIIG JK-WR0412-S1SIIG JK-WR0312-S1Adesso WKB-3000UAdesso WKB-4400UBAdesso WKB-4000BBAdesso WKB-1200 Device Type Keyboard Only Keyboard Only Dimensions 11.77" x 7.68" x 0.79" 11.77" x 7.68" x 0.79" Weight 1.81 lbs / 820 g 1.81 lbs / 820 g Power Source 2x AAA 2x AAA Communication Bluetooth Bluetooth Power Saver Explicit On/Off Switch Explicit On/Off Switch Keys Count 79 (with multiplexed multimedia and mobile-specific keys) 79 (with multiplexed multimedia and mobile-specific keys) Touchpad Dimensions (Diagonal) N/A N/A USB Receiver Storage Compartment N/A N/A Backlight No No Keyboard Layout 8/10 8/10 Ergonomics 8/10 8/10 Build Quality 9/10 9/10 MSRP (USD) $49.99 $49.99 Warranty 1 year 1 year

In terms of future improvements at this price point, it would be nice to have a trackball (in case of an unchanged form factor) or a trackpad. This would enable standalone usage with a PC (similar to the Adesso Bluetooth Keyboard WKB-4000BB). The Bluetooth keyboard market for mobile devices is heavily commoditized. So, it is refreshing to see Logitech integrating some nifty and interesting features in the K480 to make it stand out in the crowd.

Categories: Tech

Verizon-bankrolled “news” site bans stories on US spying and net neutrality

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 18:05
(Almost) all the news that's fit to print. SugarString

The tech press has competition from Verizon Wireless.

Verizon's wireless subsidiary is bankrolling a tech site called SugarString. It looks kind of like a regular news site at first glance, but scroll to the bottom and you'll see the words, "Presented by Verizon," followed by this disclaimer: "These articles were written by authors contracted by Verizon Wireless. The views expressed on SugarString may not necessarily reflect those of Verizon Wireless."

The site has headlines such as "Why The Future Of Anonymous Browsing Lies In Hardware," "Drag Queen Lady Bunny Speaks on Controversial Facebook Policy," and "Just How Terrible Is Hungary’s Proposed Internet Tax?"

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FCC moves to treat online video like cable, a boon for Aereo

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 17:20

TV-over-Internet company Aereo, shut down this summer by a Supreme Court decision, may still pull victory from the jaws of defeat. As was rumored last month, the FCC may be its savior.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler published a blog post today saying that Aereo, and other "linear channels" of online programming, should be allowed to negotiate for programming just like cable companies. Just like satellite companies needed regulatory change in order to be allowed to compete in 1992, Internet video providers should be able to negotiate on the same terms, he wrote.

While Wheeler writes that "Aereo visited the commission to make exactly this point," he emphasizes that this isn't a rule that would be for just one company. Dish, Sony, Verizon, and DirecTV have all showed interest in offering preprogrammed content online, he noted; CBS and HBO, which recently announced it would offer online-only service, may well join in. Wheeler wrote, in part:

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Research links massive cyber spying ring to Russia

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 17:00

A professional espionage group has targeted a variety of Eastern European governments and security organizations with attacks aimed at stealing political and state secrets, security firm FireEye stated in a report released on Tuesday.

The group, dubbed APT28 by the company, has targeted high-level officials in Eastern European countries such as Georgia, and security organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While Russian and Ukrainian cybercriminal groups are known to conduct massive campaigns aimed at stealing money and financial information, APT28 focuses solely on political information and state secrets, according to FireEye.

The report argues that the group is closely tied to Russia and likely part of Moscow’s intelligence apparatus.

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VIDEO: 1000C lava reaches homes in Hawaii

BBC Tech - Tue, 2014-10-28 16:53
A lava flow from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island is now drawing close to homes.
Categories: Tech

Orbital Sciences ISS mission explodes during launch [Updated]

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 16:47

An Antares rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station on an Orbital Sciences mission exploded during launch at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Tuesday evening.

The livestream of the event showed the rocket launch failing seconds after liftoff, leading to a dramatic explosion.

"The Orbital Sciences team is executing its contingency procedures, securing the site and data, including all telemetry from the Antares launch vehicle and Cygnus spacecraft," NASA stated on its website. "Before launch the Orbital team was not tracking any issues."

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VIDEO: Moment unmanned rocket explodes

BBC Tech - Tue, 2014-10-28 16:44
An unmanned cargo rocket has exploded seconds after lifting off from a commercial launch pad in Virginia.
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Newly Facebook-owned WhatsApp lost roughly $200M in 2 years

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 16:00
samazgor

Several months ago, Facebook acquired messaging startup WhatsApp for a whopping $16 billion, plus an additional $3 billion for its founders and small staff. On Tuesday, Facebook announced that in 2012 and 2013, WhatsApp lost a combined $192.8 million. (WhatsApp famously has no advertising, and its current revenue model is to make money off annual subscription fees.)

Facebook also disclosed for the first time how it arrived at that $16 billion purchasing figure: $15.3 billion of that was simply wrapped up in the nebulous accounting term: “goodwill.”

"We're the most atypical Silicon Valley company you'll come across," Brian Acton, a WhatsApp co-founder, told Wired UK in February. "We were founded by thirtysomethings; we focused on business sustainability and revenue rather than getting big fast; we've been incognito almost all the time; we're mobile first; and we're global first."

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Fear of a cloud planet

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 15:55
Aurich Lawson

In our second day of the Ars UNITE virtual conference, we looked at just how broken cloud privacy is and asked what can be done to fix it. Response to our feature on the topic, “Taking back privacy in the post-Snowden cloud,” fell primarily into two camps: “Don’t use the cloud!” and “build your own!” (The latter which can be loosely translated as... “don’t use the cloud.")

It seems unlikely that Congress will act to fix the problems with cloud privacy, which include a gap between privacy laws in the US and other countries. That was a source of concern long before the Snowden revelations, and it predates the extra-territorial reach of US law enforcement and intelligence damaging trust in cloud privacy overseas. Long-time Arsian Kilroy240 expressed cynicism over any government involvement in a fix. “Other than minimizing cyber-theft (personal/corporate data, IP), what would the government gain by improving the security of the cloud?” the user wrote. “This would just make it harder for them to monitor data traffic—strictly because they are trying to ‘save us from the terrorists.”

Both in the feature comments and in the live discussion, we explored whether government could (and would) do anything to fix the cloud’s privacy and security problems—many of which government agencies created in the first place. Perhaps more importantly, what could be done absent their help?

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Study: Comcast and Verizon connections to Cogent dropped below 0.5Mbps

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 15:45

Plenty of Comcast and Verizon customers know just how bad Internet service was on major ISPs during the months-long battle over who should pay to deliver Netflix traffic.

But now we have more numbers on the performance declines, thanks to a new report from the Measurement Lab Consortium (M-Lab). M-Lab hosts measuring equipment at Internet exchange points to analyze connections between network operators and has more than five years' worth of measurements. A report released today examines connections between consumer Internet service providers ("Access ISPs" in M-Lab parlance) and backbone operators ("Transit ISPs"), including the ones that sent traffic from Netflix to ISPs while the money fights were still going on.

Netflix eventually agreed to pay Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T for direct connections to their networks, but until that happened there was severe degradation in links carrying traffic from Netflix and many other Web services to consumers. Connections were particularly bad between ISPs and Cogent, one of the backbone operators that Netflix paid to carry its traffic.

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Motorola and Verizon Announce the Droid Turbo

Anandtech - Tue, 2014-10-28 15:45

Verizon and Motorola have always had a close relationship. The smartphones in Motorola's Droid line are typically exclusive to the carrier, and they helped make Verizon a heavy supporter of Android devices during a time where AT&T was the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone. Today's announcement is no exception. The Droid Turbo is a Verizon exclusive smartphone made by Motorola, and seemingly their most powerful. Its biggest selling point is its battery life, but before getting into specifics I've given an overview by laying out all the specifications in the chart below. 

  Motorola Droid Turbo Motorola Moto X (2014) SoC APQ8084 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 with 4 x Krait 450 + Adreno 420 MSM8974 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 with 4 x Krait 400 + Adreno 330 RAM/NAND 3 GB LPDDR3, 32/64GB NAND 2GB LPDDR3, 16/32GB NAND Display 5.2” 2560x1440 AMOLED at 565ppi 5.2” 1080p Super AMOLED Network 2G / 3G / 4G LTE Listed as Category 4 2G / 3G / 4G LTE Listed as Category 4 Dimensions 143.5 x 73.3 x 11.2 mm, 176 grams (Black Nylon)
143.5 x 73.3 x 10.6mm, 169g (Metallic Red/Black) 140.8 x 72.4 x 3.8-9.9 mm, 144 grams Camera 21MP (5248x3936) Rear Camera with F/2.0 aperture, 2MP Front Camera 13MP Rear Facing, 1/3.06" CMOS size (Sony IMX135), 2.1MP FFC Battery 3900 mAh 2300 mAh, 3.8V, 8.74 Whr OS Android 4.4.4 KitKat Android 4.4.4 KitKat Connectivity 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, DLNA, NFC 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, DLNA, NFC SIM Size NanoSIM NanoSIM

It's interesting that this is a Verizon exclusive device, as it has significantly better specifications than the Moto X which is Motorola's current widely available flagship. Like many of the other recently released flagship phones, the Droid Turbo uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 with four Krait 450 cores at 2.7GHz and 3GB of LPDDR3 memory. The front of the device sports a 2560x1440 AMOLED display, which is also quickly becoming the norm for Android flagship smartphones. Above it is a 2MP front-facing camera capable of recording 1080p video, and below it lies three capacitive navigation buttons which is a departure from the on-screen buttons that Motorola has been using on their other devices for some time now.

The back of the device is home to the 21MP rear-facing camera which Motorola states is capable of recording 4K video at 24fps, with 1080p recording still topping out at 30fps. The design of the back is somewhat similar to the Moto X and Moto G, but it appears to be far less curvy. There's a great deal of branding, with a logo for Verizon, the Droid brand, and Motorola's. Even without those, it's would still be clear to anyone familiar with Motorola's style of hardware design that this is a Motorola device. The curved back, centered camera, and crosshatch pattern on the back are all reminiscent of past and current Motorola phones. However, there is no lip at the top for the 3.5mm headphone jack like on Motorola's other current devices.

The big point of differentiation is the battery capacity. Motorola has not stated the voltage of the battery, but states that it has a 3900mAh capacity and claims it will last up to 48 hours of usage. While there is always some degree of variance from a manufacturer's claims based on how a user uses their device, if the Droid Turbo approaches anywhere close to that claim in battery testing it will be very far ahead of competing smartphones with regards to battery life. 

One possible issue I noticed with Motorola's listed specifications is in the network section which classifies the device as supporting category 4 LTE. This may be referring to Verizon's network certification, but the Droid Turbo should be rated for category 6 LTE.

The Droid Turbo will come with two choices of materials. There is a metallic finish which comes in black or red, and is the lighter and thinner of the two variants. These will all have a 32GB capacity. The 64GB version will only be available in the Nylon Ballistic Black finish which is slightly thicker and heavier. It will be launching this Thursday for $199 and $249 for the 32GB and 64GB variants respectively on a two year term. 

Categories: Tech

Pope reminds Catholics: evolution, Big Bang are true

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 15:35
"His eyes seem to follow me wherever I go." Vatican

Pope Francis took a stroll yesterday from the Vatican guest house apartment where he lives over to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to unveil a bust of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The bust itself is rather Teutonically foreboding, but the most interesting bit of the unveiling came when Francis made a short speech to assembled members of the Academy. Though only a few paragraphs long (and currently available only in Italian; the translation below is unofficial), Francis's remarks focused largely on evolution—still a controversial doctrine in parts of the worldwide Christian church.

"When we read in Genesis the account of Creation, we are in danger of imagining that God was a magician, complete with a magic wand capable of doing anything," Francis said. "But he was not. He created beings and let them develop in accordance with the internal laws that He has given to each one."

He went on:

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Windows 10 to get OS X-like trackpad shortcuts, better window snapping

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 15:25

One of the important consequences of Microsoft's new approach to updating Windows is that the company can deliver iterative, incremental improvements. This process has started already with the Windows 10 Technical Preview, and today at TechEd Europe in Barcelona, the company showed a few more small changes that will be coming soon.

Two improvements were demonstrated, and, in keeping with past work on Windows 10, they were designed to make the desktop experience better. The Aero Snap feature introduced in Windows 7 that enables side-by-side docking of desktop windows is being made better on multi-monitor systems.

In Windows 7 and 8, dragging windows with the mouse only supports snapping at the extreme screen edges; the internal edges between monitors don't "catch" the dragged windows (though the keyboard shortcuts can still be used to snap on all monitors). In Windows 10, snapping with the mouse will work on every monitor, making it much easier to snap on multimonitor systems.

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After unclear Tweet, Adobe issues resounding anti-GamerGate statement

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 15:10
Adobe cares not for bullies, and on Tuesday, the company finally called out GamerGate participants for bullying.

On Tuesday, software maker Adobe took to its official blog to respond to a week-old brouhaha involving GamerGate, ultimately distancing itself from "bullying" associated with the anonymous hashtag.

One week ago, a post from the company's official Twitter feed launched Adobe into the GamerGate maelstrom, and today's post came "because it appears that our silence is causing more harm than good," Adobe wrote.

The post explained that Adobe had recently requested its logo be removed from an "advertisers" page at the Gawker media network. That fact had been perceived as a victory by apparent GamerGate supporters who'd asked companies to pull their ads from sites and magazines they had decried (known as "Operation Silent Nod"), including Gawker, whose editor Sam Biddle had posted tweets that had mentioned bullying. While Adobe's Tuesday post appeared to deny such a connection, it also mentioned last week's official (and unclear) tweet about the advertising issue.

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Twitch to streamers: no shirt, no service

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 14:55
A compliant stream. imaqtpie

Streaming site Twitch is taking a hard line against users whose feeds include "sexually suggestive" outfits, according to the rules of conduct changes that posted Monday. "Nerds are sexy, and you're all magnificent, beautiful creatures, but let's try and keep this about the games, shall we?" reads the update.

Twitch states that gamers who stream themselves in no clothing, or sexually suggestive clothing including but not limited to underwear, lingerie, swimsuits, or pasties "will most likely get… suspended." Since the policy was implemented, Twitch has already banned one performer, according to Gamerheadlines: Rooster Teeth representative Meg Turney, who is "known for her high quality cosplay and saucy lingerie photos alongside excellent journalism for Rooster Teeth’s news show ‘The Know.’"

Twitch clarifies that even players who try to claim skimpy outfits or shirtlessness is due to the weather will still get banned. "If it's unbearably hot where you are, and you happen to have your shirt off (gents) or a bikini top (ladies), then just crop the webcam to your face," the company wrote. "If your lighting is hot, get fluorescent bulbs to reduce the heat. Xbox One Kinect doesn't zoom? Move it closer to you, or turn it off. There is always a workaround."

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Judge clears Activision for use of Noriega’s likeness in Black Ops II

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 14:30

This summer's news that deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was suing Call of Duty: Black Ops II maker Activision for inappropriate use of his likeness has the making of a nuisance lawsuit without much merit. A Los Angeles judge agreed with that assessment today, ruling that Noriega's lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice.

In his ruling [PDF], Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William H. Fahey noted that "Noriega's right of publicity is outweighed by defendants' First Amendment right to free expression." Fahey said Activision proved conclusively that Noriega was already known as a "notorious public figure," and that Noriega "failed to provide any evidence of harm to his reputation. Indeed, given the world-wide reporting of his actions in the 1980s and early 1990s, it is hard to imagine that any such evidence exists."

The ruling leaned heavily on reasoning laid out in a 2010 case brought against Activision by the band No Doubt, in which the group complained that its image was used in inappropriate ways in Guitar Hero. Unlike that case, here Fahey found that Activision's use of Noriega's likeness was "transformative," constituting "caricature, parody, and satire" that did not make up "the very sum and substance" of the work.

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Newspaper outraged after FBI creates fake Seattle Times page to nab suspect

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 14:05
YoungToymaker

In 2007, the FBI wrote a fake news story about bomb threats in Thurston County, Washington, and then sent out e-mail links "in the style of the Seattle Times."

The details have now been published by that very same newspaper, which today carries a story including outraged quotes from a Seattle Times editor. The FBI put an Associated Press byline on the fake news story, which was about the bomb threats in Thurston County that they were investigating.

“We are outraged that the FBI, with the apparent assistance of the US Attorney’s Office, misappropriated the name of The Seattle Times to secretly install spyware on the computer of a crime suspect,” said Seattle Times editor Kathy Best. "Not only does that cross a line, it erases it."

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Transcript: Ars talks to Android execs about Lollipop and the Nexuses

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 13:55

We recently got to speak to some executives from the Android team about the upcoming Nexus 6, 9, and Android 5.0, Lollipop. We turned out a hands-on article and an interview post from the meeting, but some people wanted a transcript of the interview. So here you go!

This is the mostly raw transcript from our conversation with Google. We skipped the hands-on discussion because without the context of the device in front of you, it's not very useful. The conversation is with Dave Burke, VP of engineering for the Android platform and Nexus devices, Brian Rakowski, VP of product management, and Gabe Cohen, the Android team's group product manager.

Again, we've curated the important parts in this article, and this is just for people who want to dig through the whole interview. Enjoy!

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The iPad Air 2: A host of hidden upgrades in one skinny package

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 13:45
Two iPad Air 2 models posed perpendicularly, if you're asking. Sam Machkovech

Apple has trained us pretty well about what to expect from alternating years of iDevice launches. The year of the Big Upgrade is routinely followed by the year of an extra letter tacked to the end of the name.

Traditionally, Apple devotes its so-called "off" years to smoothing out prior iPhone or iPad issues while introducing respectable speed and spec boosts, even the occasional cool new feature. While we know better than to expect tablet revelations on an annual basis, now is a bad time for Apple to hit the snooze button. iPad sales are flattening, tablet/phablet competition is growing, and there's a looming sense—one we already had last year—of wonder on the device itself, of where, exactly, the default iPad form factor fits into our personal device portfolio.

It's good that in the face of all that, the iPad Air 2 really isn't a standard off-year release. It barely bends the external mold of its 2013 Air sibling, sharing most of the same dimensions and screen attributes, but it also takes the processing power and spec sheet we were happy to pay $500-plus for last year and jacks them up significantly. On top of everything, Apple reduces device thickness and weight even further for its latest iPad (and the company even improves the rear-facing camera, too).

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Cold winters tied to drop in Arctic sea ice

ARS Technica - Tue, 2014-10-28 13:26
The Barents and Kara Seas, along with some of their ice. NASA

The cold winters in recent years have led some people to question the reality of climate change. But the winters have come at times where the global temperature was at or near record highs—so the issue was how the cold was distributed around the globe as much as anything else.

At the same time, there have been some suggestive hints that climate change may be influencing that distribution, at least indirectly, through the loss of Arctic sea ice. The idea was very preliminary, however, and it was difficult to get data that conclusively supported it. Now, a group of Japanese researchers found evidence that the loss of sea ice makes cold winters in Eurasia twice as likely as they would be otherwise.

The challenge of attributing cold winters to the loss of sea ice is that both of these phenomena show strong year-to-year variability. Thus, in order to tease out a correlation, you need long-term data on both. But we've only had accurate satellite measurements of sea ice since about 1980. If there is a connection between the two, it should show up in climate models if they're fed sea ice conditions that match those of the present. But climate models show strong variability in the winter weather they generate, which again makes determining any correlations very difficult.

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