The biggest U.S. carriers planning to deploy controversial LTE-Unlicensed technology expect to use gear that’s been tested for coexistence with Wi-Fi, their executives said Wednesday. Speakers from Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA said they expect all the LTE-U devices they use to be vetted through a test plan created by the Wi-Fi Alliance. They also anticipate that gear based on a related technology, LAA (Licensed Assisted Access), will be certified through tests for that system. That’s good news for anyone worried about LTE networks using some of the same frequencies that carry Wi-Fi traffic. The
Google is making a major change to its cloud platform infrastructure that will help shore up one of the company's biggest weaknesses relative to competitors like Microsoft and Amazon. On Thursday, Urs Hölzle, the company's senior vice president of technical infrastructure, unveiled Having a broad distribution of cloud infrastructure is important to Google's competitive chances. More and more countries are requiring that some types of data are stored in particular geographic locations. And even with high-speed networks, a large distance between where an application is hosted and where its users are located will lead to a slowdown.
On Thursday, Microsoft took the unusual step of combining its Bing and Cortana product teams with Microsoft Research, in a bid to accelerate innovation for both the search engine and the digital assistant. The move was part of a broader reorganization that saw Microsoft split its Applications and Services Group, which also included Microsoft’s Office applications, into two separate organizations. Office applications will form their own group. Though Microsoft has asked researchers to work on projects that could eventually be commercialized, combining teams that work on active products, such as Cortana and Bing, with the future-facing teams that comprise Microsoft Research, is in fact unique within Microsoft. Together, Bing and Cortana, plus Microsoft’s Information Platform and Ambient Computing and Robotics teams, will form the Microsoft AI and Research Group. All told, the group will include more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers, Microsoft said.
The future of mobile device audio is here, and if you hated the iPhone 7’s Lightning connector headphones, you’ll loathe this new solution. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) recently announced the audio specification for USB Type-C was now complete. Officially named the USB Audio Device Class 3.0 specification, this new release sets the standard for how audio should work over
The The Raspberry Pi Foundation just revealed “Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight,” or Pixel, a beautified new desktop environment for the Raspbian OS. Pixel delivers a much-needed coat of fresh paint to the Raspberry Pi.
Rumors of a
Despite notable advancements in speech-recognition technology and voice input, and the popularity of tablets, the humble PC continues to be the workhorse device of choice for many workers around the world. And whether you're an office-bound professional slouched behind a desktop PC, or a globetrotting executives armed with the latest ultrabook, the "physical" hardware keyboard continues to play a crucial role in productivity. The last thing you want in the heat of the moment is to fumble around for a mouse or have to take multiple steps to complete a task that could be done with a quick keyboard shortcut. Of course, learning and remembering such shortcuts can be hard work, and you'll need to take some time to find the appropriate shortcuts for you.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has found more attempts to hack the voter registration systems of states, ahead of national elections. The agency had reportedly found evidence in August that foreign hackers had “There have been a variety of scanning activities, which is a preamble for potential intrusion activities, as well as some attempted intrusions at voter registration databases beyond those we knew about in July and August,” FBI Director James Comey told the
Antivirus software ain't what it used to be. The sneaky, sophisticated security threats your PC faces now have gone far beyond what traditional software can do. The future of protecting your PC will require a multi-pronged approach involving vigilant updates, bug bounties, and artificial intelligence. Like any software, antivirus is susceptible to bugs. Earlier this summer, Google’s Project Zero
As convenient as the built-in webcam on your PC might be, washed-out video and tinny audio probably won’t instill confidence in your professionalism when Skyping with a client or broadcasting to legions of loyal followers. Logitech’s HD Pro Webcam C920 can provide a little more polish with its 1080p resolution and stereo sound. This $100 webcam (available for
Just leave the slim and trim Blackout Buddy in your wall socket and you’ll never be in the dark. It automatically turns on when the power goes out so that you can easily locate it. Then, fold away the prongs and you've got yourself a flashlight. A very bright idea from the American Red Cross. Flip a switch and the Blackout Buddy also doubles as an LED nightlight, so you can keep your kids' rooms, hallways, or kitchen always illuminated. The Blackout Buddy keeps itself charged and provides up to 4 hours of light when needed. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 1,300 people on Amazon (
AMD wants its new Polaris GPUs to dazzle gamblers in Las Vegas using electronic devices. Qualcomm, meanwhile, wants its embedded Snapdragon chips to be installed in robots, drones, and smart devices used in homes and for commercial applications. For both chipmakers, the internet of things market is becoming too big to ignore. The companies this week announced CPUs and GPUs adapted from PCs and mobile devices for use in IoT devices. AMD adapted its Polaris GPU architecture, which is used in discrete GPUs and PC chips, for the IoT sector. Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 600E and 410E are compact chips originating from the company's mobile processor designs.