Author: Zach Walton

Late last month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said that reforming the decades old Electronic Communications Privacy Act was a priority for him in 2013. He’s making good on his word by holding a hearing on the hotly debated issue tomorrow.

The Hill reports that the House Judiciary Committee has announced who will be attending the hearing on ECPA reform tomorrow. We’ll see representatives from the Justice Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation showing up alongside Google’s Richard Salgado and George Washington University Law Professor Orin Kerr.

It should be interesting to see what Salgado brings to the debate as he is Google’s director of information security and law enforcement matters. He previously served as a federal prosecutor specializing in computer crime as well. His insight into what the ECPA currently allows and whether it should be limited will be worth paying attention to.

As for Kerr, his work in the field of Internet privacy has been largely influential for proponents of email privacy. His work was even cited numerous times in the 2008 Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc. ruling that said Internet users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in email. The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, but you can bet that he’s going to be fighting for an ECPA amendment that better protects privacy tomorrow.

The two law enforcement representatives will most likely argue that ECPA’s current wording is sufficient. When ECPA reform was in the works last year, law enforcement and lawmakers sympathetic to their cause said that requiring a warrant to access emails would be detrimental to investigations.

This particular hearing, and any held after it, will have an influence on the current ECPA reform bill that was introduced in the House earlier this month. Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act would amend the ECPA and protect cell phone owners from warrantless tracking. The bill will undoubtedly be brought up by proponents of both sides at tomorrow’s hearing, and will most likely influence changes in the bill going forward.

Defense Distributed was never on the wrong side of the law with its 3D printed gun project. They were safe as long as they didn’t sell any of the parts. That being said, the team did want to become a licensed manufacturer and seller of 3D printed gun parts, and now they can.

Defense Distributed announced over the weekend that it now has a federal firearms license. Cody Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed, told Ars Technica that the license allows his team to “sell some of the pieces we’ve been making.” He says the license also lets them “do firearms transactions and transport.”

DefenseDistributed1 day ago

Look who now has a license to manufacture firearms! The work begins!

Powered by socialditto  314 likes ·  39 comments

Wilson can’t do everything that he wants to do with this license though. For that, he’s going to need an additional Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer license. With it, Defense Distributed can sell fully-automatic rifles. Wilson has already applied for the SOT and should hear back on it soon.

Those wanting to buy parts from Defense Distributed will have to wait a little longer, however, as the team doesn’t intend to start selling parts until the SOT license comes in. It makes sense as most of the parts made by the team so far falls under the SOT, like its AR-15 lower.

So, what is Defense Distributed going to do with the money it makes from selling gun parts? Wilson says that his team will use it to fund more prototypes as it works towards making the first fully 3D printed firearm. The team is also getting into the commercial search business with Defcad – a depository of 3D printed items that nobody else would carry.

The traditional Windows operating system has a mainstream support lifespan of at least five years. During that time, Microsoft will continue to update the OS with security and stability updates. It seems that Microsoft will be bucking that trend with its mobile OS.

Microsoft unveiled its support timeline for Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.8 recently, and both operating systems will have their mainstream support ending sooner rather than later. In fact, both will stop receiving support next year with Windows Phone 8′s support running out July 8, 2014; and Windows Phone 7.8′s support running out on September 9, 2014.

This short support lifespan pretty much confirms that Microsoft plans to take Windows Phone into an annual release cycle. A job posting from earlier this month suggested as much, and there’s the persistent rumor of Windows Blue. The latter could prove interesting if it cuts support for desktop Windows earlier than usual. Windows 8 should be in no danger of that for the time being, though, as its mainstream support ends in 2018.

Some consumers may be a bit sore over Microsoft ending support for Windows Phone 8 so quickly, but the company is just following the lead of its competitors. It’s rare to see any manufacturer support a mobile operating system more than two years after its launch.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft updates Windows Phone 8 devices to the latest Windows Phone operating system, or if it will require consumers with older phones to upgrade to hardware. We can only hope for the former, but don’t be surprised if Microsoft pushes for the latter.

[h/t: Engadget]

Last night, Samsung finally unveiled its latest flagship device – the Galaxy S 4. You might have missed out on the announcement, though, and now you want all the information in one place. Besides watching the launch announcement video, is there any other way to catch up on all things Galaxy S 4?

It turns out that there is as Samsung has released an official infographic detailing the specs of its latest flagship device. The infographic includes all the necessary information you need to know about the Galaxy S 4 including its 5-inch Super AMOLED display, it’s 1.6GHz octa-cor processor, and its 13MP rear camera.

What the infographic fails to mention (or didn’t have room for) is that the Galaxy S 4 will also come equipped with some new software that’s part gimmick and part amazing. “Smart Pause” and “Smart Scroll” will use head and eye tracking technology to pause video and scroll Web pages all based on where your eyes are looking. “Air View” will provide previews of content when you hold your finger over an area.

We’re sure to learn more about the Galaxy S 4 as we approach its launch in the second quarter of this year, including its sure to be expensive price.

3D printers are making waves in the world of medicine as researchers continue to advance the technology’s ability to create parts of the human body. The latest 3D printer – coming from the University of Iowa’s Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department – is one step closer to printing human organs.

Much like past 3D bio-printers, the University of Iowa is using the new 3D printer to create working blood vessels. The team seems to have already made great strides towards that goal. Their next goal is to create the insulin creating part of the pancreas so that they can have a chance at curing Diabetes. From there, we may start seeing fully functioning organs coming out of labs.

Not all of the advancements being made at the University of Iowa apply to medicine though. The engineering team has made a 3D printer with two arms. That’s typically never seen in 3D printers as people can’t figure out a way to keep the arms from hitting each other as they move around the build space. The video doesn’t go into detail over how the team accomplished the feat, but regular 3D printers would benefit greatly from multiple arms printing at once by completing jobs faster, and perhaps with even more detail.

[h/t: Fabbaloo]

After a week hiatus, the Injustice: Gods Among Us Battle Arena is back. Instead of making us wait four weeks to see each quarterfinal matchup, the Injustice team has dumped all four fights on us at once in preparation for the semi-finals a few weeks from now.

First up, we have the much anticipated match up between Batman and Wonder Woman. Since the victors are decided by popular vote, it’s pretty obvious that Batman would win this fight. That being said, Wonder Woman puts up a great fight. Her stage is also a thing of beauty.

In what is possibly the strangest matchup today, The Joker and The Flash face off. I would have figured that The Joker would win the most votes, but The Flash came through to earn himself a spot against Batman in the semi-finals.

On the other side of the bracket, we first have Aquaman versus Green Lantern. While it was nice to see Aquaman come away with at least one win, he couldn’t stand up to the might of Hal Jordan.

The final fight is by far the most unfair of the bunch – Superman versus Green Arrow. Green Arrow has some amazing trick arrows, but Superman was guaranteed to win.

The results of the quarterfinals ensure that we’re in for a treat once the semifinals start up a few weeks from now. I’m especially interested in seeing that Batman versus The Flash fight. It’s sure to be exciting.

Injustice: Gods Among Us hits Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U on April 26

Drones are not exactly frightening. The little quadcopters that we’ve seen delivering pizza and tacos are actually kind of cute as far as heartless robots go.

Well, those cute little quadcopters have not been turned into heartless killers thanks to a simple additions by researchers at University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab. They thought it would be a good idea to attach a claw onto the copter so that it can dive down and grab objects without ever slowing down. The maneuver was inspired by how eagles hunt by diving to grab prey.

What’s terrifying about this particular robot is that it can grab objects while moving at three meters per second. If it ever becomes big enough, it could pick you up off the ground before you even realize you’ve been captured by the robotic equivalent of a pterodactyl.

[h/t: NewScientist]

Over the past few years, Mozilla has emerged as a company dedicated to the privacy of its users. It’s going to take that to the next level with Firefox 22 as the browser will start blocking cookies by default. The ad industry isn’t particularly happy about it.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau sent out a press release this week claiming that Mozilla is “undermining American small business” by choosing to block cookies by default. The group says that the makers of Firefox are also undermining consumer choice by automatically blocking cookies, instead of giving users a choice.

“Thousands of small businesses that make up the diversity of content and services online will be forced to close their doors,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “This move will not put the interest of users first. Nor does it promote transparency or ‘move the web forward’ as Mozilla claims in its announcement. It will not advance Mozilla Corporation’s objective, as stated in its bylaws, of ‘promoting choice and innovation on the internet,’ but will, instead, impede both.”

As Consumer Affairs points out, Firefox isn’t the first browser to block third-party cookies by default. Apple’s Safari has been doing it for quite a while as well. It’s also not like Mozilla will be blocking all cookies anyway. It will only be blocking cookies from Web sites that users don’t frequently visit. What that means is a user’s one time visit to a blog covering the world of decorative dog sweaters won’t see any tracking cookies installed on their browser.

This isn’t the first or last time that advertisers will be upset with browser makers over controversial pro-privacy practices. Microsoft was caught in the middle of a controversy last year over its decision to make Do Not Track the default option in Internet Explorer 10. That decision has yet to break the Web or online advertisers, and Mozilla’s move will probably not affect much either.

That being said, advertising has a valid purpose on the Internet, and shouldn’t be blocked just because. Many of the things we enjoy for free are paid for with advertising. That’s why there needs to be choice in the matter, and Mozilla will hopefully make that choice clear when it starts to block third-party cookies by default later this year.

Flash 11 introduced a new development architecture called Stage3D that allows developers to bring “stunning visuals across desktop browsers and iOS and Android apps enabling advanced 2D and 3D capabilities.” The technology allowed one creator to make some incredible interactive projects.

Peter Shand cooperated with three organizations – RESN, Circul8 and Imagination – in 2012 to create various interactive video projects using Flash 11, Stage3D and other technologies. The results are exceptional:

To pull this off, Shand worked with Flash 11′s Stage3D and its Away3D library. The Away3D library is a free resource for Flash developers, and it can be used to create rich and immersive interactive experiences like the ones you see above.

Away3D is part of the Adobe Gaming SDK that was released last year, which includes Starling, Feathers and, of course, Away3D. To learn more about implementing Away3D, check out this tutorial from Away 3D co-founder Rob Bateman:

Another integral tool is the Starling 2D framework that allows developers to create hardware accelerated content. To learn more about Starling, check out this tutorial series that goes into how Starling can be used to create a game from start to finish:

If you want to get started on Adobe Flash development, especially for games, Adobe offers a free trial for its game developer tools on Creative Cloud.

After THQ went bankrupt earlier this year, the Saints Row franchise found its way into the coffers of Deep Silver. The small European publisher is better known for European RPGs and the Dead Island franchise, but it’s ready to become a publishing powerhouse with its acquisition of Saints Row.

Deep Silver and Volition announced today that Saints Row IV will be heading to current-gen consoles and PC on August 20. The game, originally envisioned as an expansion for Saints Row: The Third, has now been expanded into a full fledged game where players take on the role of the U.S. president who happens to have super powers.

In the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Deep Silver Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level – the leaders of the free world. In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. But the Saints are just getting started. Now the larger-than-life insanity of the Saints series gets a new twist with a catastrophic alien invasion, and the aliens have transported the Saints to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. Wield gargantuan superpowers and fight to free humanity from alien granddaddy Zinyak’s mental grasp. Escape the simulation that’s trapped the Saints crew, or die trying.

Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.

Save the world, Saints Style.

Oh, and the publisher released a teaser trailer for the title. It looks like more Saints Row, and that’s always a good thing:

One of the coolest things about Google Fiber is that the company throws in a free Nexus 7 tablet for those who subscribe to Google Fiber’s Internet and TV package. The tablet acts as a controller of sorts for the set top box allowing users to control all aspects of their television experience. Now the experience is moving to other Android devices.

Google announced that the Google Fiber app for Android is now available on all devices sporting Android 4.2 or higher. That means that all of Google’s Nexus devices and the Asus Transformer Pad will now be supported. Of course, you may have installed a custom Android 4.2 ROM on your device, and that’s fine too.

Oh, and before you ask, Google Fiber still isn’t expanding beyond Kansas City just yet. You can install the app though, and pretend that you live in Kansas City. That’s what the reviewers of the app are doing. Although, I’m pretty sure Google won’t be expediting the move of Fiber to other areas just because somebody from Michigan gave the app a five star review.

You can grab the new Google Fiber app here. Install it on your Nexus device and dream of a day when you’re not being scammed by incumbent ISPs.

[h/t: Engadget]

After months of speculation and rumors, Samsung finally unveiled its latest flagship mobile device. The company says that the Galaxy S 4 was “developed to redefine the way we live and to maximize our fulfillment of life.” It may not be that revolutionary, but the new Galaxy S is certainly a beauty.

The most apparent change to the Galaxy S 4 is its new larger display. The device sports a 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display powered by a 1.6GHz Exynos Octa-core CPU. As for other specs, it sports 2GB of RAM, a 13MP back camera, and a 2MP front camera. The device will also ship with the latest version of Android – version 2.2.2.

“With the GALAXY S 4, Samsung is again going to enhance the way we live,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. “All the innovative features of GALAXY S 4 were developed based on the insights and needs we found from our consumers all around the world. Following the successful GALAXY S series, this phone is yet another great proof point of people-inspired innovation. At Samsung we’ll never stop pursuing innovation conceived by people, so we can inspire them in return.”

As for specific software features, the Galaxy S 4 has quite a few that should make the device stand out from the crowd. The first is called “Air View,” a new feature that “allows users to hover with their fingers to preview the content of an email, S Planner, image gallery or video without having to open it.”

The new “Smart Pause” and “Smart Scroll” use the front camera to follow your face and eye movement to interact with the screen. “Smart Pause” uses this feature to pause a video whenever it detects you as looking away from the screen and automatically starting it up again upon looking at it. The “Smart Scroll” will scroll browser and email pages up and down by tracking where your eyes are looking.

“WatchON” turns the Galaxy S 4 into an IR remote for TVs, set-top box, DVD players and compatible air conditioners.

The most innovative feature by far, however, is that users can interact with the screen while wearing gloves. You had to buy special gloves before for this, but now it seems that any thin pair of gloves will work. Compatible glove thickness has yet to be revealed, but I doubt it will work with heavy duty work gloves. Your casual winter gloves will probably do the trick though.

As expected, there is no official release date or price yet. Samsung says that we can expect to see a global launch in Q2 though. It will be available at every major carrier in the U.S. and even some minor rising stars like US Cellular and Cricket.

After a two month drought, the Wii U is finally getting two of its most highly anticipated launch window titles – LEGO City Undercover and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The former will be launching next Monday, and Nintendo has a final launch trailer to coincide with the release:

Beyond a few tired movie references, LEGO City Undercover still looks charming as ever. The game has also been getting mostly positive reviews with a few middling scores thrown throughout.

LEGO City Undercover will launch exclusively for Wii U on March 18.

Late last year, Mozilla released Firefox OS simulator 1.0. The preview software would give developers an idea of how Firefox OS looks when running on a mobile device while allowing them to develop apps for the HTML5-centric platform. It’s only been a few months since then, and Mozilla has already pushed out two new versions with the latest being made available this week.

Mozilla announced that Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 is now available to developers. What sets this apart from previous Simulator builds beyond the obvious new features is that it’s a really early build that’s still “rough around the edges.” Still, Mozilla wants you, the developers, to have a go at it to help the team build the best product they can.

Here’s what you can expect to see in version 3.0 of the Firefox OS Simulator: