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Phoenix666 writes in with a story that appears to come from gizmag:

Transparent and reflective displays might look cool, but in terms of the home, their applications are limited. However, bricks and mortar shops looking for some technological wizardry to get shoppers through the door are a different proposition. So it should come as no surprise that Samsung chose this week's Retail Asia Expo 2015 in Hong Kong to unveil the first commercial use of its Mirror and Transparent OLEDs.

Transparent and reflective displays aren't new, with Samsung rolling out the first mass produced transparent LCD panels in 2011 and Philips' HomeLab R&D outfit unveiling its LCD Mirror TV in 2004, the latest evolution of which Philips still sells under its Reflex Mirror TV line, primarily targeted at hotels. But just like conventional TVs, reflective and transparent OLEDs promise superior performance to their LCD forebears.

Samsung Display claims its Mirror OLED panel boasts a reflectance level of greater than 75 percent and outdoes the reflectance of competitor Mirror LCDs by at least 50 percent. It also offers color gamut of over 100 percent of NTSC compared to around 70 percent of NTSC for Mirror LCDs, and a contrast ratio of over 100,000:1 compared to 4,000:1. Response rate is also faster at under 1 ms compared to 8 ms. Additionally, OLED doesn't require any ambient backlight as is the case with LCDs.

Cool to have this built in as interactive display cases.

Phoenix666 writes with an interesting anecdote posted on Ars Technica:

We put a lot of trust in big companies, so when they let us down it can have serious consequences.

I recently went shopping for a new computer. I wanted a low-end laptop for light work, and the HP Stream seemed like a good deal. That deal was made even sweeter when Best Buy offered to sell me a returned one for almost 20 percent off. The salesman assured me that it was in like-new condition and that they would honor all warranties. Sold.

I always get a little thrill opening a new gadget. The computer looked like it had never been touched and all the paperwork was still in sealed bags. There was even a slip of paper in the box with the ID of the tech who cleaned and certified the unit.

So it surprised me when I booted up and saw someone else's name and Hotmail address at the login prompt. So much for like-new!

As I stared at the full name and e-mail address of the previous owner—let's call him David—I wondered. Could I get into this computer another way? It was mine after all. And how much more could I learn about him? How bad of a mistake had the store made?

Any similar stories out there Soylentils care to share?

turgid sent in news of a report in the The Guardian:

It discusses software being marketed by several companies to UK (and US) schools to monitor the internet communications of pupils, some as young as four, for signs of (religious) "radicalisation."

The software simplistically monitors for lists of words and phrases such as "Jihobbyist," dodgy organisations, and the names of various ISIS propaganda videos.

For example: John Cantlie, War on Islam, Jihobbyist, Pogrom, YODO, Storm Front, Kuffs, Message to America.

When use of such a term is detected, a screenshot can be forwarded to a teacher. Perhaps the teacher should then dial 999 and ask for the police?

A jihobbyist is someone who sympathises, but rather than getting themselves stuck somewhere warm and sunny like Iraq or Syria, they instead only cheer them on from the comfort of their own home. You learn something new every day.

I suspect some companies are going to make a lot of money out of this — and young children are going to have much fun winding up the teachers.

tonyPick writes:

According to The Register then Older versions of the Ask Toolbar are now considered Malware by Microsoft:

In a June 11 update to its Malware Protection Center site, Microsoft states that older versions of the toolbar, which set itself up as a browser's homepage and redirected all searches through Ask's engine, now contravene Redmond's policies. The latest build is fine, but older Ask toolbars will be hunted down and deleted.

"Older versions of software can restrict or limit your control over your search provider. It can prevent you from disabling or modifying your search provider," said Microsoft's advisory. "This software poses a high threat to your PC."

[...] The bulk of this comes thanks to Java, because for years every Java update for PCs asks if the user would like to install Ask's toolbar. Many a computer user has unthinkingly clicked through and installed the toolbar. Those running Java on OS X have been getting the same opportunity to experience the joy that is Ask's toolbar since March.

Also reported at PCWorld and Geek amongst others.

However as pointed out by the Register this may only affect older versions:

Ask confirmed to The Reg that its current toolbar is "fully compliant with Microsoft policies" and that its software should automatically update to the latest version every time the browser is opened. A spokeswoman said only one per cent of Ask's user base is affected by the change.

takyon writes:

A video with a 4320p (7680×4320) playback option has appeared on YouTube. According to the video description for "Ghost Towns in 8K", it was "Filmed on the RED Epic Dragon 6K in Portrait orientation and then stitched together in Adobe After Effects. Some shots simply scaled up by 125% from 6.1K to meet the 7.6K standard."

Very few people on the planet will be capable of playing the upscaled video in its full glory. The NHK and Panasonic plan to trial 8K broadcasting during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Perhaps YouTube should add an intermediate 5K (5120×2880) option for Apple and Dell users.

hubie writes:

Nine science instruments were selected to fly on the NASA mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. The instruments will study the moon from its atmosphere to its subsurface. The instruments are (as copied from the NASA press release):

• Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS) -- principal investigator Dr. Joseph Westlake of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Maryland. This instrument works in conjunction with a magnetometer and is key to determining Europa's ice shell thickness, ocean depth, and salinity by correcting the magnetic induction signal for plasma currents around Europa.
• Interior Characterization of Europa using Magnetometry (ICEMAG) -- principal investigator Dr. Carol Raymond of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California. This magnetometer will measure the magnetic field near Europa and – in conjunction with the PIMS instrument – infer the location, thickness and salinity of Europa's subsurface ocean using multi-frequency electromagnetic sounding.
• Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) -- principal investigator Dr. Diana Blaney of JPL. This instrument will probe the composition of Europa, identifying and mapping the distributions of organics, salts, acid hydrates, water ice phases, and other materials to determine the habitability of Europa's ocean.
• Europa Imaging System (EIS) -- principal investigator Dr. Elizabeth Turtle of APL. The wide and narrow angle cameras on this instrument will map most of Europa at 50 meter (164 foot) resolution, and will provide images of areas of Europa's surface at up to 100 times higher resolution.
• Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON) -- principal investigator Dr. Donald Blankenship of the University of Texas, Austin. This dual-frequency ice penetrating radar instrument is designed to characterize and sound Europa's icy crust from the near-surface to the ocean, revealing the hidden structure of Europa's ice shell and potential water within.
• Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS) -- principal investigator Dr. Philip Christensen of Arizona State University, Tempe. This "heat detector" will provide high spatial resolution, multi-spectral thermal imaging of Europa to help detect active sites, such as potential vents erupting plumes of water into space.
• MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX) -- principal investigator Dr. Jack (Hunter) Waite of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio. This instrument will determine the composition of the surface and subsurface ocean by measuring Europa's extremely tenuous atmosphere and any surface material ejected into space.
• Ultraviolet Spectrograph/Europa (UVS) -- principal investigator Dr. Kurt Retherford of SwRI. This instrument will adopt the same technique used by the Hubble Space Telescope to detect the likely presence of water plumes erupting from Europa's surface. UVS will be able to detect small plumes and will provide valuable data about the composition and dynamics of the moon's rarefied atmosphere.
• SUrface Dust Mass Analyzer (SUDA) -- principal investigator Dr. Sascha Kempf of the University of Colorado, Boulder. This instrument will measure the composition of small, solid particles ejected from Europa, providing the opportunity to directly sample the surface and potential plumes on low-altitude flybys.

takyon writes:

Google CEO Larry Page has announced the launch of Sidewalk Labs, an urban living focused company that is similar in approach to the healthcare and anti-aging Google spinoff Calico:

Page says the new company will be "developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation, and energy usage." Sidewalk Labs will be run by Dan Doctoroff, former CEO of Bloomberg LP and the "Deputy Mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding" for New York City.

There's a website up and running at sidewalkinc.com, which calls for a rethink of how we design cities. "By 2050, the population in cities will double, intensifying existing socioeconomic, public health and environmental problems. At the same time, innovations in technology can be used to design communities that are more efficient, responsive and resilient."

There's also a press release, that says Sidewalk Labs will work on "making transportation more efficient and lowering the cost of living, reducing energy usage and helping government operate more efficiently" and that it will "develop new products, platforms and partnerships to make progress in these areas." The press release calls out "ubiquitous connectivity and sharing, the internet of things, dynamic resource management and flexible buildings and infrastructure" as technologies it thinks can help with city life.

Sidewalk Labs seems to very closely follow the Calico model, Google's healthcare and anti-aging company: 1) find a leader in an up-and-coming-field (Sidewalk has Doctoroff, Calico has Art Levinson), 2) use Google's vast resources to start a spin-off company with said leader as CEO, and 3) have them work on moonshots. Like Calico, Sidewalk Labs is a separate company from Google and isn't part of Google[x] or any other division—we'd imagine Google has a large ownership stake in the new company, though.

sudo rm -rf writes:

Amongst other news outlets, CIO reports on a hacker attack on the German parliament (Bundestag) that occured four weeks ago and is still ongoing:

Some MPs have concerns to call experts from the foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, for help, because the agency would gain access to the legislative process, a possible violation of the principles of Separation of Powers.

[1] Apparently about 20.000 machines are affected

Original Submission

And one for the start of the weekend. Vice News reports:

An Anonymous Coward writes:

For years Google Maps has offered Street View, giving viewers a street level glimpse into far away destinations.

Word on the street (no pun intended!) is that Apple is sending out vehicles to photograph various locales in Ireland, UK, and the United States, with the imagery being used in their Apple Maps application.

In the US, Apple will be driving around parts of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas, Utah, and Washington state.

In Ireland, Apple will map the greater Dublin area. For the UK, street mapping will be done in Essex, Greater London, Kent, and Birmingham.

Apple's page states:

[...] Apple is driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps. Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates.

[...] We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Twitter announced that Dick Costolo had resigned as CEO, effective July 1. Jack Dorsey, a Twitter co-founder, has been appointed by the board as his replacement. (Tweet version here). Dorsey is also CEO of Square, which provides front-end devices and back-end systems for processing mobile payments.

While Costolo is reportedly popular with employees, investors were impatient with the company's growth in revenue and earnings, which has trailed expectations. One fund manager, Chris Sacca, wrote an essay to fellow shareholders (linked by the TechCrunch piece) explaining his disappointment, and ideas for a different direction for the company:

Costolo insists the exit was in the works for awhile, and he wasn't pushed. For now, we can expect plenty of witty tweets.

wantkitteh writes:

Ars Technica reports that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement debate and vote due to be held at the EU Parliament on Wednesday 10th June were postponed at the last minute following an MEP revolt over the back-door inclusion of the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement clauses:

Things began yesterday, when an e-mail was sent to MEPs on behalf of Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament. It informed them that the text on TTIP agreed by the European Parliament's trade committee (INTA) a fortnight ago would not be voted on as previously agreed. The reason given was that there were so many amendments to the text—more than 200—that it was not possible to consider them in the plenary session. Schulz was therefore asking the INTA committee to re-work the text, taking into account some of the amendments, and discarding others.

Although the European Parliament vote on the TTIP text was cancelled, the plan was to continue with the debate today. But in yet another surprise, early this morning the MEPs voted by an extremely narrow margin—183 in favour and 181 against—to postpone the debate as well. The earliest that these could now take place is July, although they may be pushed into autumn.

Underlying these moves is a growing discontent among the left-wing S&D group with the INTA committee's compromise text, particularly the way it left open the door for the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. One amendment to the committee's text, which called for the European Parliament to "oppose the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in TTIP," was gaining support among S&D MEPs.

ISDS is a mechanism by which commercial entities can extract financial compensation from governments who have made any of their activities, or planned future ventures, illegal. The inclusion of ISDS clauses in the NAFTA trade agreement has lead to Canada being sued by an oil company for $250million after various provinces banned fracking, Mexico being sued by a waste disposal company for $16.7million for keeping a dump site closed due to concerns over water supply contamination, as well as the US being sued by a fuel company for $1billion after California banned the use of a fuel additive also over water supply contamination concerns, along with hundreds of other suits against all three nations.

iWantToKeepAnon writes:

Matthew Inman over at The Oatmeal announced a documentary about Nikola Tesla called Tower to the People.

You may recall that Inman started a crowd funding campaign to save Tesla's Lab. Joseph Sikorski, who donated $33,000 back in 2012, directed the film. The movie is finished, but he's seeking funds to get it distributed and raise awareness about Nikola Tesla and their science center. If you want to support the film, please back the project or share this image.

For more background on Nikola Tesla, check out this entertaining and informative Ted talk.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Noah Remnick writes in the NYT that as the clock ticks on Richard Matt and David Sweat who escaped from maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility last weekend, experts say the two escaped killers are increasingly likely to evade capture for a substantial period. "A lot of escapes are spontaneous and the guys get tripped up because they don't know where to go," says Terry Pelz. "These guys know where to go. Most guys get caught after a few hours because they don't have a plan. These guys planned their escape and planned it well, so it could take much longer to catch them." Experts say there are some cardinal rules for living off the grid. "Your first priority is finding a secure place and a source of money," says Darrin Giglio. "You don't want anything traceable, so you'll either have to establish a new identity or get paid off the books, maybe as a day laborer."

Cellphone, credit cards, and surveillance cameras have added new layers of complication and possibility for both fugitives and law enforcement. "If they're smart, fugitives can really take advantage of technology," says Frank Ahearn, a New York-based skip-tracer turned skip-maker and author of "How to Disappear". "They can buy prepaid cellphones and credit cards. Their apartments, cars and bank accounts can be set up under anonymous corporations. They can live almost entirely virtually. That wasn't possible in the past." To combat such trickery, police departments have access to increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching forms of search and surveillance. "It's easier than ever to comb through enormous amounts of data. And with surveillance cameras all over the place, the only way to avoid detection might be changing appearance. Some people even get plastic surgery," says Giglio. "It's like being in the witness protection program. To be successful, you have to give up your entire past. Most people can't do that." Under such agonizing circumstances, there is no shortage of ways to blunder. Escapees often return home or place phone calls to friends and family members, whom the police might be tracking. Other times it is an escapee's suspicious behavior that tips off bystanders. "A lot of inmates who are legitimately released encounter a confusing new life," says Pelz. "They don't know how to drive cars, use cellphones, use credit cards. They need to re-educate themselves. That can trip up escapees too. Even if it's a well-planned escape, people get sloppy."

takyon writes:

UK Home Secretary Theresa May is continuing a trend of ignoring science advisers when it comes to drug policy:

Home Secretary Theresa May and her statutory advisers on drug policy look to be heading for a showdown over government plans to deal with so-called "legal highs". Some members of The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) are understood to be furious that they were not consulted on proposed legislation for a blanket ban on psychoactive substances. The relationship between the ACMD and ministers in various governments has long been strained. There have been sackings and mass resignations in the last few years, amid claims that expert scientists were being bullied and ignored because their advice didn't coincide with government policy.

Questions are now being asked as to whether the ACMD is being edged out of the drugs debate - 44 years after a Conservative government set it up to ensure science rather than politics dictated policy. In the House of Lords yesterday, a number of peers demanded to know why ministers had not asked the ACMD's opinion before drawing up the controversial Psychoactive Substances Bill.

"It is actually a legal requirement set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 that the ACMD must be consulted before alterations to the Act or new legislation is brought in," Labour peer Lord Rea told the House. "Instead, a specially appointed expert panel was set up by the Home Office. I can only suggest that this was done because the opinion of the ACMD is often not exactly welcomed by the Home Office".

The principle which underpinned the drugs debate in the UK at that time [in 1971] was the longstanding and broadly accepted view that addicts were ill and required treatment rather than punishment. Known as the "British system", ministers felt a medical science-led approach was preferable to US-style prohibition. Roll the clock forward four decades and the government view seems to have turned around entirely in responding to the threat from so-called "legal highs". The bill to outlaw NPS prohibits everything "capable of producing a psychoactive effect" unless it is specifically exempted - and there are concerns that the proposals are being introduced without proper consultation with health experts.

A blanket ban on psychoactive legal highs with prison sentences of up to seven years was featured in the Conservative Party's election manifesto and the Queen's Speech.