Early birds who buy it at a Microsoft store can snag the portable speaker for $50.
Those of you looking for a good portable speaker can grab one made by Jawbone at a hefty holiday discount, courtesy of Microsoft.
For day five of the software giant's 12 Days of Deals, the Jawbone Mini Jambox speaker is selling for a jaw-dropping $69, down from the regular price of $130. Like all the daily deals, the Jawbone speaker is available at Microsoft's online store, starting at 5 a.m. PT, and at Microsoft retail outlets when they open. The first 50 customers who buy one at a Microsoft retail store can snag it for $50 -- a total savings of $80.
What's so special about the Mini Jambox?
Well, it's small -- about half the size of its predecessor. It offers a pair of front-facing stereo drivers to better direct the sound and a bass radiator that delivers a high-quality sound, especially considering its compact size. It supports Bluetooth 4.0 and can stream audio from any Bluetooth-connected device from a distance of about 33 feet. It also includes a stereo port for direct connections. The speaker's rechargeable lithium-ion battery will give you around 10 hours of playback in a single charge.
The Jambox also comes in seven different colors.
CNET's review of the Mini Jambox said that "while you'll pay a premium for it, the Jawbone Mini Jambox is the best-sounding and best-designed micro wireless speaker." Microsoft's deal now trims that premium price tag, making the Jambox certainly worth considering if you need a good wireless speaker for your smartphone, tablet or other device.
The deal runs for a full 24 hours or until supplies last. Microsoft's 12 Days of Deals promotion runs through December 19. Saturday's deal halves the price of two Xbox One/Xbox 360 games. Normally selling for $60, Destiny and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will each sell for just $30.
View the original article here
sâmbătă, 13 decembrie 2014
Facebook wants right to challenge search warrants for user data
Should the social network be able to contest a search warrant on behalf of its users? That issue is now being debated in court.
Facebook is arguing in a New York court that it should be able to push back against search warrants, to protect the rights of its users.
Facebook is trying to convince a panel of judges that it should have the right to challenge search warrants that let law enforcement sweep up private user data, even of people not charged with a crime.
On Thursday, a group of five judges on the New York State appeals court started hearing arguments between Facebook and the Manhattan district attorney's office over a legal issue involving bulk search warrants. The case stems from warrants issued to the social network in 2013 that forced it to disclose the complete Facebook accounts of around 300 people not charged with an actual crime, The New York Times reported Friday.
Facebook was required to share private information of 381 different people in a case where prosecutors were trying to get indictments against police officers and other public employees for disability fraud, the Times said. But 302 of the people whose accounts were exposed were never charged with fraud.
The case involves the ongoing question of if and how someone's online but private information should be protected, and a ruling could affect not just Facebook but other social-media companies as well. Google, Twitter and LinkedIn have all filed briefs in support of Facebook's position, the Times reported.
The FBI has argued that it doesn't even need a search warrant to access a person's Facebook chats, emails and other private data. That goes against a 2010 ruling by an appeals court that law enforcement officials must secure warrants in order to obtain such information.
But in the case being considered by the panel of judges, known as "In Re 381 Search Warrants Directed to Facebook Inc.," the social network has contended that even the search warrants themselves were too wide in scope and because of that the company should have had the right to reject them.
Though the judges also seem to be bothered by the wide scope of the warrants, they've so far fallen back on the fact that state law prevents people from appealing search warrants. The Manhattan district attorney's office has emphasized that point, saying Facebook has no more right to reject a search warrant than the operator of a brick-and-mortar storage company does, the Times reported.
Facebook's attorney has countered that argument, saying the company had to take an active role in searching for the information and handing it over to the prosecutors. That makes these warrants "different from a typical search warrant where you stand aside and let the police come in with a box," attorney Thomas Dupree said in Facebook's court brief.
One of the judges asked if government requests for user information could be thought of as a subpoena or a mixture of a warrant and a subpoena. Such an approach would give Facebook the right to challenge them. And in a case that clearly is a difficult one for the court, that approach could provide the legal justification Facebook would need to back up its position.
When asked to comment, Facebook pointed to its legal brief, which includes the following statement about its position:
This case, of course, concerns Facebook--an online social networking service with more than one billion users. Many of these users treat Facebook as a digital home where they share personal and private information. They use Facebook to share photographs, videos, and communications of a personal nature, and they control the audience with whom they share this information. The Government's bulk warrants, which demand "all" communications and information in 24 broad categories from the 381 targeted accounts, are the digital equivalent of seizing everything in someone's home. Except here, it is not a single home but an entire neighborhood of nearly 400 homes. The vast scope of the Government's search and seizure here would be unthinkable in the physical world.View the original article here
NASA interns launch spoof video 'All About That Space'
After the successful launch of the Orion spacecraft, a group of NASA interns cut loose with their very own pop cover tune.
They're bringing rockets back. Go ahead and tell the whole world that. Video screenshot by Michael Franco/CNET
Now here's a line from a pop song you don't hear too often: "If you got boosters boosters, just raise 'em up/'Cause every spacecraft needs propulsion/From the bottom to the top."
While they might not be as catchy as the original lyrics from Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" -- the song that's parodied -- it's easy to look past that because the starring NASA interns are just so goofily endearing in their spoof video titled "All About That Space."
In the video, the interns dance -- as only young engineers can -- around a bunch of NASA tech while replacing Trainor's lyrics with ones that talk all about the Orion mission, which had its first successful test flight last week.
"All about that Space" was created by interns at the Johnson Space Center to bring attention to the Orion spacecraft, which may one day take humans to Mars.
This, of course, isn't the first cover version of Trainor's runaway hit song. There's the classic, "All About That Bass," the Thanksgiving favorite, "All About That Baste," and the inimitable (and kind of creepy), "All About The Chase." Our favorite here at CNET though, is most definitely this "Star Wars"-themed cover called "All About That Base."
But this NASA one is running a close second. Party on, interns!
Microsoft's end to clip art makes Fallon weep
What are Microsoft Office users to do now that clip art is no more? "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon is not happy. He also says goodbye to Google's Captcha.
Fallon would like Microsoft to know that it dropped the ball. NBC/The Tonight Show screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
Change can clip human wings.
People are used to doing things a certain way. Then some upstart comes along and decides it just isn't going to be that way anymore.
It seems that Microsoft, with its decision to no longer offer clip art with Office, has caused minds to stir and emotions to boil. Instead, Office products will now surface image results from Bing.
Last night, "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon couldn't help but lament this parlous development in online life. He offered that this was "a devastating blow for church newsletters."
How, indeed, will the hosts of the holy attract the attention of the craven and unworthy? I know you're not supposed to worship graven images, but a few scattered drawings here and there help focus the mind to Sunday mornings.
So Fallon though he'd used a few of Microsoft's old images to express his concern. Why was there an alien pretending to be the Easter Bunny?
When he finished expressing this sadness, he moved along to Google's "improvement" of Captcha. What else could he do, but offer a memorial to some of the great captchas of all time?
"Weiner tower," for example. The legendary "scrape myanal," too. And life will surely never be the same without some human being having to type: "grinding pube fuel."
One day, we will all look back on this as having been a golden era, one in which so much was created and so many habits were disrupted.
We won't know for many years how affected we were by all of this and how the sudden withdrawal of such mental stimulus will influence our future development.
The first of J.K. Rowling's 12 'Harry Potter' short stories is here
The initial short whisks us away to Severus Snape's hometown of Cokeworth.
There's no spell casting today, but J.K. Rowling has given us a good look at Cokeworth, hometown of Harry's mother, aunt and Severus Snape. Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.
On the first day of Potter-mas, J.K. Rowling gave to me, a new story involving Harry. Well, peripherally involving Harry, anyway.
Rowling kicked off the "Harry Potter" version of the "Twelve days of Christmas" on Friday with a short story about Cokeworth, hometown to Severus Snape, Harry's Aunt Petunia and Harry's mother, Lily. There's admittedly not much story in Friday's three-paragraph blurb posted to Pottermore, but there is some interesting information about the town and the role it plays in the "Harry Potter" series. For example, Cokeworth is the town Harry's Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Dudley Dursley fled to in an attempt to escape the barrage of Hogwarts admission letters sent to Harry in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
Getting to the story wasn't terribly easy, as Pottermore users (you need to be logged in) must first correctly solve a riddle before being treated to the day's content. The riddle for today was "In a house on Spinner's End, a meeting takes place, a mother begs help for her son, tears on her face. Agreeing to help, though he doesn't know how. Which potions master performs an unbreakable vow?"
The answer to the riddle is Severus Snape, but Snape's name needs to be entered as "Professor Snape" to gain access to the story. Tricky, tricky, J.K. There will be new content posted to Rowling's Pottermore site daily over the next 12 days, leading up to what we can only hope is another lengthy tale like the one about Dolores Umbridge, the singing sorceress Celestina Warbeck or the tale of a middle-aged Harry from earlier this year.
Need storage for your Chromecast? Toshiba’s AeroCast Wi-Fi hard drive does that
External, wireless hard drives aren’t a new way of storing and enjoying your precious data anywhere, anytime, on any kind of device, but Toshiba’s just-unveiled Canvio AeroCast has the potential to eclipse all its established rivals.
The AeroCast is only available with 1TB of storage, which is slightly disappointing, but its complete PC, Mac, tablet and smartphone compatibility more than makes up for the lack of capacity options. You may have to limit your digital hoarding, but at least you know accessing and sharing the content will be as easy as pie on all mobile and computing platforms.
Even better, the tiny contraption can wirelessly pair to a separately sold Google Chromecast and beam your home movies and pictures on the big-screen living room TV via Toshiba’s proprietary Google Cast Ready app. Speaking of size, we should mention the Canvio AeroCast measures 4.8 x 3.4 x 0.95 inches, so it tucks nicely into a home theater or can be hidden in a bookshelf. Battery life is said to be five hours, which is quite good for a portable hard disk.
Wireless connectivity works with devices besides Chromecast, of course, so you can sync up to a phone, tablet or laptop in the blink of an eye. Transfer rates can reach a thunderous 150 Mbps courtesy of 802.11 b/g/n support. Connections can be made directly with the drive over Wi-Fi, as it can be configured to appear as an access point. There’s also an Internet Pass-Through mode, which ensures PCs and other machines connected to the wireless HDD in this way can also connect to the web.
At $220, Toshiba’s portable hard drive is a little steeper than competing products from WD or Seagate. But it’s faster, better-looking and easier to use both at home and on the go – or so it would seem a first glance. Make sure to check out the AeroCast if you’re shopping for Wi-Fi capable network drive.
A wild NUC appears! Intel leaks new mini-PCs
It appears Intel has just leaked the new version of the Next Unit of Computing, or NUC, the pint-sized PC form factor the company started to promote several years ago. New hardware has appeared, unannounced, on the official NUC webpage.
The miniature computers are simple silver and black boxes that measure about five inches wide and five inches deep by two to three inches tall. Each is powered by an Intel NUC board which is only four inches on a side and has a processor soldered to it.
What processor? That’s a key question. NUC is not new; versions with 3rd-en and 4th-gen Intel Core processors have been available for some time. What Intel just posted appears different than the systems and NUC boards that came before, however, leading to speculation that it’s based on Broadwell (aka 5th-en Core).
Other new features visible in the pictures include a sleep-and-charge USB port and an M.2 SSD slot. The latter is an expansion card format that allows the use of hardware much smaller than a typical SATA or even mSATA drive. Its availability means the new NUCs will be slightly more compact than those that came before.
The board also includes a standard SATA port, USB 3.0 and room for two laptop RAM DIMMs.
While NUC is promoted by Intel, it doesn’t intend to become a system builder. As with ultrabooks, the purpose of the initiative is to popularize a design that might become popular with consumers. Manufacturers and hobbyists can purchase NUC boards for their own builds. A new page on Intel’s site lists eight new kits, but they don’t include hardware specifications as yet.
We’ll probably hear more about the new NUC at CES 2015. Whether or not this leak was intended is unclear, but it lines up with what is likely to be addressed at the Las Vegas show. Intel’s continuing rollout of its 5th-en Core products is almost certain to be a focal point, and a new NUC announcement would fit snuggly into that narrative. Hold on; we’ll know more in just a few weeks.
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