IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 11/20/2014

Thimbleweed Park, a 'true spiritual successor' to Maniac Mansion
Maniac Mansion is one of those games I will forever cherish, with the point-and-click adventure game being one of the big Lucasfilm Games of their time. Well, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick are now making something they're calling "the true spiritual successor" to Maniac Mansion, called Thimbleweed Park.

The developing duo are taking Thimbleweed Park to Kickstarter, hoping to hit $375,000 in required funds to get the point-and-click adventure off the ground. When explaining the game, they say it "cuts to the core of what made classic point-and-click adventure games so special ... It's deep, it's challenging, it's funny, it's everything you loved about adventure games". On Kickstarter, it says: "It's like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you've never played before".

Thimbleweed Park will tell the tale of a pair of "washed-up detectives" who are in charge of an investigation into a death in Thimbleweed Park that "once boasted an opulent hotel, a vibrant business district and the state's largest pillow factory, but now teeters on the edge of oblivion and continues to exist for no real reason".

Nostalgia will be no problem, as Thimbleweed Park will give you five playable characters to play with, with puzzles being solved using the classic verb interface that was found on LucasArts' SCUMM engine. Thimbleweed Park will arrive on the PC, Mac, and Linux, with an estimated release of June 2016.


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Apple will offload tasks from Watch to iPhone when it launches
We are finally learning more about Apple's first wearable, Watch, as the company has released its WatchKit for developers to tinker with. We now know that third-party apps will require a connected iPhone in order to work, as the processing for Watch is offloaded to the iPhone, with the Watch just rendering the result.

Apple's WatchKit also revealed some animations being pre-rendered as an image sequence on the iPhone, before it is blasted up to the Watch for display. We also don't know what will happen if your iPhone disconnects from Watch while you're looking at it, as the Watch apps are installed to the wearable by "your existing app" found on your iPhone. The documentation does state that Apple will support "fully-native" Watch apps in the future, but this won't happen until this time next year.

One thing we know for sure, is that the Watch will come in two different display resolutions; 272x340 for the 38mm Watch, and the 312x390 for 42mm version. Apple won't start selling its Watch until "early 2015", but it could be delayed a little later into the year yet.


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Sony's new image sensor is capable of amazing auto-focus abilities
It looks like Sony could have one of the best smartphone cameras in recent history with the news of the commercialization of its new Exmor RS IMX230 stacked CMOS image sensor, an image sensor that will be baked into the company's upcoming smartphones.

Why is this a better sensor? Well, according to Sony, the sensor will capture 21-megapixel still photos, and is the first CMOS image sensor for smartphones that features an on-board image plane phase detection AF single processing function, something that can use up to 192 auto-focus points. This means it will allow super-quick focus for fast-moving objects, and much more.

The new sensor is also capable of capturing HDR still images, and video, and can gather data from two different exposure conditions. From there, it will create a single image output that attempts to correct the bright and dark areas of the photo. When it comes to video capabilities, the new sensor is capable of capturing 720p video at 120FPS, 1080p video at 60FPS and 4K video at 30FPS. We should see this new sensor baked into Sony smartphones sometime in the second half of 2015.


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50% of consumers thinking of a smart wristband will buy a smartwatch
The wearable electronic devices market will reach 68.1 million units in 2015, a slight drop from 70.1 million units in 2014, the Gartner research group said. The industry will take a hit as consumers consider a wider adoption of smartwatches, especially devices that can be easily paired with their Google Android or Apple iPhone smartphones.

The five most prominent fitness wearables currently on the market: wristbands, sports watches, heart rate monitors, smart garments, and other fitness monitors. While sport watches and heart rate monitors are common place, newer generation of devices are disrupting the market - but not fast enough to prevent the onslaught of smartwatches that will be released in 2015.

"Smartwatches having retail prices of $149 or more will typically have the capability to track activity and have accelerometers and gyroscopes similar to their smart wristband cousins," said Angela McIntyre, Gartner research director. "The smartwatches differ from smart wristbands in that smartwatches need to display the time and have a user interface oriented around communication. However, some smart wristbands have the ability to display and send text messages. The overlap in functionality between smart wristbands and smartwatches is expected to continue."


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FBI becoming more active in fight against malware, cybercrime efforts
The Interactive Advertising Bureau's Anti-Malware Working Group has teamed up with the FBI and US Department of Justice in their effort to fight malware and cybercrime. There has been an increase in organized cyberattacks targeting the IAB, and federal partnerships could help limit future widespread issues.

The FBI and other government agencies want to increase proactive behavior to clamp down on cybercrime, and this marks the first industrywide relationship they have created. The IAB Anti-Malware Group formed in September and has generated widespread interest, including from the US government, as cybercriminals make millions from compromising companies and users.

"We have become such a target of organized crime that we think this is the only way to truly be successful long-term," said Mike Zaneis, IAB executive vice president. "In the advertising space, what we're particually worried about is the type of malware that will basically make your computer a zombie, or a bot, and will begin to generate non-human traffic back to criminal websites or just selling traffic on networks or exchanges."


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Real estate drone captures topless sunbather, accidentally uses pics
Australian real estate company Eview Real Estate made a mistake when it posted a listing on a billboard, after being informed they used a picture that included a topless sunbather only wearing a thong. Mandy Lingard discovered the picture of herself after spotting it in the neighborhood, and Eview Real Estate has now removed the listing.

"Images of Miss Lingard were not used intentionally, it was merely an oversight and Eview Group have put into place systems and procedures to ensure that such instances do not occur in the future," said the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, the national group responsible for licensing commercial drone flights.

Meanwhile, Lingard said she is embarrassed by the situation, as she explained what happened: "I heard a noise and then I saw this odd thing flying around and thought it was a kid's toy. It hovered around and luckily I was face down at the time."


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81% of enterprise security staff ready to 'guarantee' data security
There were a number of major data breaches reported in 2014, but it would appear companies have higher hopes for data security in 2015, according to a study published by ThreatTrack Security. In its "2015 Predictions from the Front Lines," 81 percent of enterprise security staffers said they would be willing to "personally guarantee that their company's customer data will be safe in 2015."

Hearing that eight out of 10 security staff would be willing to guarantee customer data sounds absolutely ridiculous - but might be a necessary leap of faith to win over customers, increasingly concerned their personal information could be leaked.

Millions of US consumers faced debit and credit card fraud from the Home Depot and Target breaches alone, with a number of other companies also breached in between.

"What we found is that security professionals are supremely confident that their ability to defend against data breaches and advanced malware threats will improve in 2015," said Julian Waits, Sr., President and CEO of ThreatTrack Security. "That optimism seems rooted in their growing confidence in the leadership provided by their Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and the fact that they expect to invest in new cybersecurity solutions, including advanced threat detection technologies and threat intelligence services."


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Logitech announces the Skrillex Edition UE Boom mobile speaker
Logitech has announced its latest addition to the UE Boom lineup, with the company teaming up with six-time Grammy Award-winning electronic dance music producer Skrillex for the Skrillex Edition UE Boom.

Skrillex has provided a unique visual style to the Skrillex Edition UE Boom, with his own hand-drawn work splashed onto the already slick-looking mobile speaker. Skrillex said: "UE BOOM is awesome because it's small, portable and powerful. They get so loud! I listen to them all the time on tour - from the bus to backstage. They're the best little speakers you can get, which is why I'm pumped to have my own artwork covering a custom edition".
The Logitech UE Boom is a great speaker, with my very positive review on it right here, but this new Skrillex Edition UE Boom is definitely for fans of Skrillex. General Manager of Ultimate Ears, Rory Dooley, said: "Skrillex has been a disruptive force in the EDM evolution, changing people's expectations of and experiences with music. UE is thrilled to work with an artist as notable as Skrillex to bring people their music in an exciting - and expressive - package. Skrillex finds inspiration in the combination of music, people and technology, and this collaboration is a natural fit for our brand".

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Netflix is coming Down Under, arrives in Australia in March 2015
After years of waiting, and months of rumors, Netflix has announced that it is launching its content streaming service in Australia, starting in March 2015.

Netflix will also be offering its streaming goodness to New Zealand in March 2015 too, and has teased that it will be offering Australians and New Zealanders HD content, as well as "4K [content] where available". There's not much more to know right now, but you can be sure we'll deliver you more news as it happens - and as an Australian, I'm very excited about this.

Not only is it great that Australians finally have access to Netflix, but it is going to disrupt the very, very controlled media market we have here. The rest of the world has so many options for content, especially in the US, but Australia is so tightly controlled, Netflix is really going to shake things up - let's just hope it doesn't have localized content to the point where it is better for people to VPN their Netflix accounts to the US.


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Why do we still not have a fully waterproof smartphone on the market?

Waterproof Tech Now

In May of 2013, Apple was granted two patents toward waterproofing. One was for a water switch and the other for gauging electronic device moisture. This shows us Apple is thinking about the waterproofing as necessity. Sony and Samsung had already come out with waterproof smartphones by the time Apple received the patents. Motorola introduced its first version of a waterproof smartphone in 2009.

Waterproof Testing

No smartphone is completely waterproof, and it all comes down to the grade given when tested.

Smartphones are graded on Integration Protection (IP), which is a two-digit number indicating how the phone stands up against dust and water. The first number is how a smartphone stands up against dust. The second number is how it stands up against water. For testing purposes, the phone is immersed in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes. The number is also indicative of how hard it can be sprayed with water before it breaks. Each of the two numbers is independent of the other. Numbers 5 and above are considered good.

The Sony Xperia received a rating of IP55, which tells us that it's almost completely dustproof and waterproof. The Samsung Galaxy S5 received a rating of IP67, which means it was even better at protecting against the elements.

Alternative Tech

Liquipel is a water-safe technology that applies a liquid repellent to an electronic device's surface. It offers protection for your phone, your tablet, your mp3 player and your headphones. The price ranges from $30-90. Liquipel offers protection in case of accidental liquid contact. This includes most phones including the iPhone.

Does it work? Strenuous tests have been conducted and if phones are used as Liquipel indicates, it boasts a near-perfect answer to waterproofing your current phone. Of course, that's taking into account the warning from Liquipel that the phone is not guaranteed against damage if you get it wet, so don't get it wet.

Liquipel also comes in skins, which are like screen covers, only are clear and thin. These are so durable that the manufacturer provides a limited warranty and says that it will be the "last protector you will ever need." The closest to a guarantee that a manufacturer can give regarding your phone's absolute protection from water.

It all comes down to this:

• Apple has not come up with anything to waterproof iPhones; Sony, Samsung and others have, but are more water resistant than waterproof.
• Samsung and Sony have the highest ratings of element-proof smartphones in the industry, but still are only water resistant.
• Liquipel offers a treatment for you to have a waterproof phone, but offers no guarantees that your phone won't be DOA if it's in a water accident.
• No smartphone is completely waterproof. So, even though research is in the works, our best guarantee is to make sure our smartphones don't come in contact with water.

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Report: Americans spend more time using mobile than watching TV
For the first time, US consumers spend more time using their smartphones and mobile devices than watching TV, according to a study released by the Flurry mobile analytics firm. Along with phone calls and texting, smartphone users are able to play games, visit social media, watch Netflix, and enjoy other entertainment - at the expensive of TV viewership - as companies find ways to keep consumers more engaged.

"In our analysis, we found that time spent on mobile devices grew in the US by 9.3% - from 2 hrs. and 42 minutes to 2 hrs. and 57 minutes - in the past nine months," according to Flurry. "That is almost 3 hrs. per day spent on mobile devices by the average American consumer, while time spent on TV has remained flat at 2 hrs. and 48 minutes daily, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics."

Of course, there is overlap when consumers watch TV while using their mobile devices, and it's a difficult metric to track, except for asking families.


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The 2016 Battlefield title shaping up to be a 'fun, new Battlefield'
Electronic Arts will give gamers a break from the traditional warfare featured in the Battlefield franchise next year, but already is excited about the next title in 2016. The new game was announced last month and will be a military-focused game that is reportedly a "fun, new Battlefield," according to an Electronic Arts executive.

"That will be a return to a Battlefield military-style game; more to come on that," said Blake Jorgensen, EA CFO, in a recent statement.

Meanwhile, EA CEO Andrew Wilson wants to "give Battlefield 4 and Battlefield Hardline players more time to enjoy these games and immerse themselves in a game, the live service, and the community," when explaining EA's decision to release Battlefield games as they are finished.


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Central Command says Islamic State 'may or may not' pose cyber threat
The Islamic State cleverly uses the Internet to spread propaganda and recruit new militants, and the group currently might be looking to evolve its cyber abilities. Each time a social media company, or video site boots the group, it only finds new methods to share its gruesome and reprehensible messages, according to security experts.

"They are posing a threat on multiple fronts," said Army Brig. Gen. Peter Gallagher, US Central Command director of communications, in a recent statement. "I don't want to get into what they may or may not be able to do in the world of cyber, I will tell you they are obviously a threat and we are doing everything in our power to mitigate the threat."

Even though Islamic State has been banned by several social networking websites, the group is still actively able to recruit new members in the Western world. Ideally, the group's members make contact with young women - to convince them to head to Syria - where they are often brainwashed and married to Islamic State rebels. The group also finds new fighters willing to pick up arms in Syria and Iraq, with social media used as a first point of contact.


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Survey: Most motorists believe autonomous cars are dangerous
Automakers are pushing ahead with self-driving, autonomous vehicles, but 65 percent of drivers believe these vehicles are "a dangerous idea," according to a Harris poll conducted for AutoTrader.com. However, drivers are interested in automatic collision avoidance, parking assistance, and other features, with 61 percent saying they would consider buying cars with these features.

Despite public concern - and growing interaction with US lawmakers - automakers will continue to push ahead with autonomous vehicles. It will take some time before these types of self-driving cars will be available to the general public, and swarm the open road, but it appears that is the next step in the coming years.

There will be a continued blend of technology inside vehicles, with in-dash video, GPS, smartphone-enabled features, and similar perks being integrated into new vehicles.


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Facebook launches TechWire, a new tool to find tech news alerts
Facebook has publicly introduced FB Newswire, a new way for technology journalists and newsrooms to find, share and embed breaking news. The resource includes news stories, first-person analysis, photos and videos that were posted on Facebook by technology journalists, companies and influencers.

This is Facebook's latest effort to try to win users away from Twitter, which has remained a popular resource for journalists searching for story leads. FB Newswire launched in April and this is the next step in Facebook's strategy to keep users engaged.

Facebook has a massive user base and increasing ad revenue, making it an appealing resource for news agencies to take advantage of.


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Facebook launches standalone groups apps to help users stay sorted
Facebook has spun off its Groups feature, and while mobile users will still be able to access their Groups through mobile apps, will also benefit from using a standalone Groups app. The app is now available in the Google Android and Apple iOS app stores today.

The No. 1 social networking website continues to unbundle core features, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously telling investors and journalists that individual apps could be the future of mobile Facebook. He previously said that "each app can only focus on doing one thing well, we think."

"Facebook is another outlet for students to share stories, swap lyrics and collaborate outside of the program," said Donnie Smith, Donda's House Executive, in a statement. "Phone numbers change, email addresses stop working, but we can always find our participants whenever we need to on Facebook."


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SCEA's Shawn Layden says harassment is 'completely unacceptable'
SCEA head Shawn Layden recently said online harassment in gaming is "completely unacceptable," and is one of the highest profile executives to speak out against cyber harassment. Layden also complemented his own company's stance on women in gaming, saying Sony is "best in class," in its efforts to get women more involved in the gaming industry.

"Over the past couple of months, there's been a small group of people who have been doing really awful things," Layden recently noted. "They have been making some people's lives miserable, and they are tarnishing our reputation as gamers. It's not right."

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo offered public statements, published by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), speaking out against harassment in the gaming world.

"I'll be very clear about my view of harassment or bullying: It's completely unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. I will not be vague or equivocate about that."


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Sony continues to restructure, wants to push forward in entertainment
Electronics company Sony is desperate to find ways to restructure and revamp its business offerings, as the company struggles to keep up with industry rivals. The company's PlayStation 4 continues to sell extremely well, but its high-definition TV (HDTV) sector and other units have greatly struggled. Meanwhile, Sony wants to prove it can turn its entertainment business around, so it is able to contribute to financial revenue.

Sony Music and Sony Pictures total 18 percent of the company's overall sales, which is ahead of Sony's mobile business unit. However, the company still strives for $4.8 billion to $5.2 billion from the music division, at a time when the music industry is still trying to adapt to digital music.

"I understand that everyone expects me to show how Sony can be changed into a highly profitable company... and to unveil a roadmap toward growth for the overall company," said Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai.


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US Marshals will auction off another lot of 50,000 bitcoins
The US Marshals plan to auction another lot of 50,000 bitcoins, worth around $19 million, which were seized when the federal government shuttered the original Silk Road. The second auction is scheduled to run for two weeks, and a winner will be announced on Dec. 5. The second auction takes place five months after a lot of 30,000 bitcoins were sold off by the US Marshals.

The first auction was won by venture capitalist Tim Draper, and the value of bitcoins have dropped from $647 down to $384 - but should still draw fierce competition from bidders able to pay the required $100,000 deposit to the US Marshals.


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Nokia announces the N1 Android tablet, pushing forward with mobile
Finnish technology maker Nokia recently announced the N1 Google Android tablet, which will be released to the market in Q1 2015. Nokia has signed a licensing agreement with Foxconn to manufacture and distribute the device, as Nokia no longer directly markets its own consumer products.

The N1 features a 7.9" display and is powered by an Intel 2.4GHz Intel AtomTM quad-core processor, running Google Android Lollipop.

"We are pleased to bring the Nokia brand back into consumers' hands with the N1 Android tablet, and to help make sophisticated technologies simple," said Sebastian Nyström, Nokia Head of Products. "The N1 has a delightfully intuitive interface and an industrial design to match it. This is a great product for Nokia fans and everyone who has not found the right Android tablet yet."

Nokia promises "many" additional smartphones and tablets with the company's branding in the quarters ahead, as it wants to try to stay afloat in the competitive mobile market.


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Intel announces new Xeon Phi Knights Hill at SC14
Supercomputing 2014: Intel has announced a new Xeon Phi processor, code-named Knights Hill, at Supercomputing 2014. The Xeon Phi co-processors are the offspring of the Larabee project, and Intel has improved performance and inter-operability with each successive product generation. Knights Hill is a key advancement for Intel in the HPC (High-Performance Computing) market, and will leverage a 10nm process and integrate Intel's Omni-Path Fabric technology.

The Knights product series competes directly with NVIDIA in the supercomputing market, and Knights Hill is a natural progression of the product line which will enhance performance scaling and bandwidth while simultaneously reducing power consumption.

Knights Landing features the Intel Silvermont Architecture that is designed specifically for HPC applications. The architecture significantly boosts single thread performance by 3X in comparison to the Knights Corner product. The on-package memory tops out at 16GB and offers amazing bandwidth, over 5x more than DDR4. This stacked memory design also significantly reduces the power consumption of the memory subsystem by as much as 5X.

The Intel Omni-Path Architecture provides up to 100Gbps line speed and a 56% lower switch fabric latency over InfiniBand deployments. The 48-port switch also provides more connectivity than InfiniBand, which is limited to 36 ports. Knights Landing is due in the 2nd half of 2015, and the new Knights Hill will likely be available in 2017.


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Huawei Debuts new liquid-cooled FusionServer products at SC14
Supercomputing 2014: Huawei announced their new FusionServer X6800 products at Supercomputing 2014. The new FusionServer X6800 supports a variety of high-density nodes in a 4U chassis, which provides flexibility for different configurations of compute, storage, and GPU acceleration within the same server. The X6800 also supports the latest SSD configurations and offers two to four GE ports or two 10Gbe ports.

Huawei also announced a new liquid-cooled version of the FusionServer E9000. This blade server features cutting-edge heat dissipation technology in a 12U enclosure. This liquid-cooled behemoth features 16 slots and redundant power supplies, along with 40GBe or InfiniBand FDR (56G). The platform is built upon a scalable architecture that allows for dual or quad CPU nodes. Huawei will also be demonstrating the RH5885H V3 server, a standard 4U rack server that supports four Intel E7-4800 v2 processors, and the RH2288 V3, a dual socket 2U server rack that supports Intel E5-2600 v3 processors.


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Foremay launches 4TB and 8TB SATA SSDs
Foremay, Inc. has announced their new 4TB and 8TB SATA 6Gb/s SSDs. SATA SSDs are one of the hottest growth segments in the datacenter, and more capacity is always welcome. There are SAS SSDs with up to 4TB of capacity, such as the SanDisk Optimus MAX, but the introdcution of a high-capacity SATA SSD will broaden the use-case for high-capacity SSDs. Foremay focuses on the OEM market, and the new SSDs are geared for servers and ruggedized applications. The EC188 and SC199 features a random read/write speed of 100K/100K, and sequential read/write speeds of 500/500 MB/s.

The SSDs feature AES-256 encryption and are TCG Opal 2.0 compliant and feature military-grade secure erase functionality. The new SSDs are designed for high heat environments to provide reliability in enterprise and industrial applications. Foremay SSDs are custom built, and can also equipped with a supercapacitor to provide power loss protection. There simply aren't any SSD controllers on the market to address that much flash, so this is likely to be a custom solution with a bridge device akin to the Intelliprop Hydra SATA bridge we evaluated recently.


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Kaspersky wants to keep the world secure going into the future
Kaspersky is imagining the future of the world, with the increase in use of technology, the increase of threats are there too. Infrastructure attacks, financial system attacks, governments being hit, and much more. The video below does an incredible job of showing us how Kaspersky view the future.

One of the scarier things Kaspersky says in its video, is "will a single click trigger a global economic crisis", but follows it by a "world where technology works for us", or "controls us". The video continues, sayign "could it be a truly connected universe, where we'll be able to express the full power and imagination. Or one where those connections make our critical infrastructure vulnerable to attack".

The ad makes you really think about the many, many possibilities we as a human race have to face - as the world is constantly changing around us. Not only are we dealing with things at a personal level, but societal level, and then infrastructure level. Are the governments of the world prepared for these attacks, or simply taking our freedoms away with far-reaching government agencies like the NSA and GCHQ spying on all citizens at once. What do you think?

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Sales of Toyota Mirai begin next month, US debut mid-2015
Toyota will jump into the emissions-free, hydrogen-powered vehicle market with the launch of Mirai next month in Japan. The vehicle will debut in the United States and Europe and while the $57,600 price tag will scare many potential buyers away, there will only be several hundred released in Japan, as Toyota tests the waters.

The Japanese automaker hopes Mirai is the first successful step to help bring fuel cells to the mainstream - and prices will drop as technological breakthroughs occur - as interest in next-generation vehicles continues to increase.

"In time, the fuel cell vehicle will become mainstream. We wanted to take the first step," said Mitsuhisa Kato, Toyota executive vice president, in a recent statement. "We want to beat the leading edge."

"We believe that behind the wheel of the Mirai, we can go places we have never been, to a world that is better, in a car that is better," according to Toyota. "For us, this isn't just another car. This is an opportunity, an opportunity to really make a difference. And making a difference is what Toyota is all about."


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Battlefield 4: Final Stand DLC teases final video before its release
It's almost here! Battlefield 4: Final Stand will hit gamers' rigs across the world later today, as long as you're a Premium member, while the rest of the world waits until December 2. Until then, enjoy the gameplay trailer, below.

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Senator Markey demands DoJ offer details regarding phone snooping
The Department of Justice (DOJ) program that reportedly uses cell-tower mimicking equipment during airplane flights that allows the federal government to snoop on mobile phones has drawn an angry response from many Americans.

Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass) wants Attorney General Eric Holder to provide details about the DOJ operation, such as mission length, additional surveillance programs, and which cities were impacted.

"Americans are rightfully disturbed by just how pervasive collection of mobile phone information is, even of innocent individuals. While this data can be an important tool for law enforcement to identify and capture criminals and terrorists, we must ensure the privacy rights of Americans are protected," Sen. Markey said in a public statement. "We need to know what information is being collected, what authority is being used to collect it, and if and how this information is retained and stored."

It has become an ironic twist for many supporters of the Obama Administration, as the younger, idealistic president was expected to be a supporter of privacy and using the Internet for the right reasons - instead, the NSA and other federal agencies have created even more sophisticated surveillance programs.


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Samsung to reduce the number of smartphones it offers next year by 30%
Profits are stumbling over at Samsung, so the South Korean electronics giant is set to reduce the amount of smartphones it offers next year, by up to 25-30% according to Head of Investor Relations, Robert Yi.

Yi said: "After maintaining smartphone operating-profit margins above 15% for 10 consecutive quarters, Samsung's margins from its mobile and information technology business were squeezed to just 7% in the third quarter ended September-the lowest level since the end of 2008, before it launched its first Galaxy smartphone. Acknowledging the slide in margins, Samsung executives said during an earnings call last month that its new goal is to maintain a sustainable double-digit percentage margin starting in the new year. They reiterated that pledge during this week's investor day meeting".

We don't know which models will be cut, but the company has said that it will focus its attention more on the mid- and entry-level segments. In order to do this, a Samsung executive said it will "increase the number of components shared across mid- to low-end models, so that we can further leverage economies of scale". I'm sure the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note ranges will be left mostly unchanged, especially handsets like the upcoming Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5.


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Indian govt. orders Internet service providers to block porn sites
The Indian government has decided to go on a blanket ban spree by making all the Internet service providers in the country block access to 39 websites. Most of these websites are not only porn sites, but also free image and file hosting websites.

While viewing porn in India isn't illegal, the distribution and watching child pornography is banned. What should be noted is that these websites and the content providers/owners are hosting it outside of India where are governed under their respected country's laws, such as 18 USC 2257 where producers are required to point out that all models are at least over 18 years of age. The Department of Telecom isn't very clear about the imposed blanket ban, but it does display the message "this website has been blocked until further notice either pursuant to court orders or on the directions issued by the Department of Telecommunications".

Some deem that this is an abuse of power as there are no actual laws in the IT act where the Indian government can force Indian-based internet service providers to block porn sites along with the image and file storing websites. Sunil Abraham of Centre for Internet and Society said, "There is a possibility that government is interpreting some sections of the IT Act to suit its purpose but I feel that is wrong and should be challenged in the court by ISPs if they care about the rights of their users."

Indian service providers have a different opinion. The president of Internet service providers association of India, Rajesh Chharria said that it's not possible for them to do as they are licensees who have to operate their business under the law. He also added, "But I feel ideally the government should ask the people who have produced objectionable content to remove it from the web if these people are in India. If they are outside, the websites should be blocked at the international cable landing stations. Involving 150-odd ISPs to implement an order is not the right way to do it."

Many folks in India might remember a parody video from AiB about how India reacts to ban on porn. Who knew that roughly after a year since the video is out, the Indian government would start its plan of a blanket ban. In any which case, ban on porn might be futile considering that there are ways to access such content, including access via VPN. Not talking about the specific reason for blanket ban for any reasons leads to ignorance and inefficiency of tackling actual concerns if any. In a country that is considered as the largest democracy in the world, a blanket ban is a concern.


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Destiny gets updated with a 2.44GB patch, preparing for its first DLC
Bungie is currently pushing out a new patch for Destiny, bringing the open-world title up to version 1.0.3. The new patch has the developer baking in fan-requested features, such as a beta for voice chat when in the matchmaking screen. The full patch notes are available on Bungie's website.

The problem is, if you're playing Destiny, you're going to need to leave your game in order to download, and install the patch - something that weighs in at a very connection-straining 2.44GB. Bungie has released this patch, as the start of a series of updates that will end in the first DLC for Destiny, The Dark Below, being released on December 9.

Bungie has also doubled the number of bounty slots, upping the number from five to 10, provided gamers with the ability to preview emblems, and armor shaders, too. The new update also makes some slight changes to Destiny's Iron Banner: Fireteam leaders, which now need to be at level 10. Players will also need to be within three levels of their opponents in order to be competitive. Players below level 20 will also need to be with a Fireteam leader in order to enter. There's also a 10-15% increase in the incidence of public events, descriptions for skull modifiers, as well as the usual slew of fixes, bugs and other bits and pieces.


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EA cancels Dragon Age: Inquisition for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
While many gamers across the world are looking forward of their copy of Dragon Age: Inquisition, those in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will not. EA has cancelled pre-orders from these countries and started refunded money to those who placed an order for physical and digital copies.

EA said in its EA Help website: "In order to avoid a breach of local content laws, EA has withdrawn Dragon Age: Inquisition from sale in India and the game is no longer available for pre-order. Customers who pre-ordered the game will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded."

EA regional marketing director Simon Smith-Wright said, "The current action we've taken only affects Dragon Age Inquisition." It should be noted that EA did not give any proper reasons for refusing pre-orders from these countries. Later, nation-wide distributor Milestone Interactive confirmed speculation made by many gamers that it was due to the options of engaging in same-sex and bi-sexual relationships. For those who don't know, India has a law under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1861 declares that having sex between two consenting adults of the same gender punishable by law.

Dragon Age: Inquisition isn't the first game where publishers were sceptical to release in the local markets, especially for India. It was pointed out that Dante's Inferno was not sold in India as some took offence to the game's content. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas were also not sold in the country, as it offended Indian sentiments. Interestingly, Mass Effect series that also had options to engage in same-sex relationships were sold in India with no hiccups to physical and digital copies.

It should also be noted that not a lot of gamers (especially Dragon Age fans) in India are happy about EA's decision to stop selling a game to avoid a possible lawsuit. With a disclaimer that I have no proper knowledge of the Indian law, (let along the relevant Indian Penal Code) effort should be made in some form by the publishers of the region to sort the issue legally to avoid future hiccups. Although VPN is an option, one may have to ask if companies will be comfortable allowing gamers to play these games with a VPN. In the future, such company may or may not have a new terms and conditions. In such cases, a publisher may remove a paid game from the player's game list in Origin (or any similar clients) or suspend the user's account to 'avoid' a possible lawsuit. EA also needs to consider that this may force gamers and fans to take the piracy route to get a copy instead. Settling the matter with the relevant courts in advance will give everyone a breathing space and end the matter.


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France is pissed off with Assassin's Creed: Unity and Ubisoft
It looks like myself, and countless other gamers aren't the only ones pissed off with Ubisoft right now, with a former Minister and Presidential Candidate in France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, denouncing Assassin's Creed: Unity as "propaganda" that favors the "favors the narrative of France's ruling elite over the revolutionaries" reports Polygon.

Mélenchon spoke on French radio, with the Daily Telegraph translating him, where he said: "[Unity] presents an image of hatred of the Revolution, hatred of the people, hatred of the republic which is rampant in the far-right milieu". He added a description of Marie-Antoinette as "that cretin, who is celebrated as a poor little rich girl" in AC:U.

He also said: "The man who was our liberator at a certain moment of the Revolution, because the Revolution lasted a long time, Robespierre, is presented as a monster. It is propaganda against the people, the people who are [portrayed as] barbarians, bloodthirsty savages. In 1789 there were the poor aristocrats, and they are presented as fine upstanding people".


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Creating a Multi-Installation Operating System Capable Flash Drive

Introduction

For those of you that manage multiple PCs with multiple version of Windows including 7, 8 and even the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview, the ability to have all your installation media on one flash drive is a means of making the whole process more efficient.
While the method I am about to show you in this guide is the one I have used for quite awhile, it is certainly not the only way to do it.

Prerequisites

To get started making this bootable or rather multi-installation capable flash drive, we will need to grab a few programs from the internet. The first is a program called Easy2Boot and the second is RMPrepUSB.
Of course, the base device you will need before attempting this is a USB flash drive, and depending on how many and how large your installation ISOs are will determine what kind of capacity you will need in your flash drive. For this guide, I am using the MX Technology ES Ultra 64GB pen drive.

Above, you can see the list of ISO files I have collected that I want to put on this installation flash drive. I find the easiest way to keep everything clean is to create a folder and throw everything needed into it.

Assuming that you have plugged in your flash drive and the drive is empty (this will erase all data), we want to navigate to the ISO/Docs/ in the Easy2Boot folder and right click and run as an administrator, the MAKE_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd file.

If you are successful up to this point, you will see this screen that will list all available drives. Enter the drive number that you would like to use and hit enter.

Following the last step, the script will now ask you what file system you would like to use. If you have ISO files over 4GB in size, you will have to use NTFS, otherwise FAT32 is the best option.

Moving along, you will now see this screen followed by the command prompt turning green to let you know everything was successful.

If we now look at the flash drive we created, the ISO directory will now include folders for each operating system. The Linux folder is where you can drop all Linux distributions you want to boot and above you can see the Windows folder is broken down into each version.

Now we simply drag and drop our ISO files from our folder we created on the desktop to the flash drive in the corresponding folders of each distro.

Before we get too far in, we need to load up RMPrepUSB and hit Control + F2 to bring up this menu to make all our files contiguous to minimize issues when booting from the drive.

Booting from the Drive

After you have ran RMPrepUSB to make all files contiguous, you can hit F11 in the app to test out your boot disk to make sure it works. As you can see above, we have loaded E2B with four versions of Windows present.

Selecting the Windows folder on the previous menu will bring you here where you can select what version of windows you would like to boot.

Here we have chosen to load up Windows 7, after a few moment we have Windows 7 ready to install to our system.

In addition to multiple versions of Windows, you can throw ISOs for utilities such as Parted Magic on the drive; just make sure they are in the appropriate folders. It's also worth mentioning at this point, that this flash drive is effectively a "live" boot disk, you can drag and drop ISO files to and from the drive without having to do any extra work.

As I mentioned above, you can use whatever distro you would like, as long as its in the correct folder when you drag it to the flash drive. Here we have put Parted Magic in the Linux folder, ready to boot to it.

As you can see above, we have a fully functional booted up copy of Parted Magic ready to secure erase our SSD.

Closing Words

For those that want to create a multi-boot capable flash drive for installing their copies of Windows or running their Linux utilities, this is a quick solution for that problem. However, not everything is perfect with this method, as it does have some drawbacks.
The largest drawback is this method does not support booting via UEFI so you will have to stick to legacy mode, which means you lose support for booting from 2TB+ drives and fast boot. All is not lost though, as this tool can support UEFI mode if you use the correct payload and convert each ISO file to a partition image or imgPTN files. This may be something I write a guide for in the future as I learn how to do it myself.
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