Category: News

In this week’s address, President Obama commemorates Memorial Day by paying tribute to the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in service to our country.

Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3

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Xbox One games are installed to the console’s hard drive and registered to users’ Xbox Live accounys. It remains unclear how the system will handle used games and Microsoft has failed to address the issue. According to a report from gaming news website MCV, retailers will be allowed to charge whatever they want for pre-owned Xbox One games, however both Microsoft and publishers will receive a percentage of every sale. Microsoft is looking to take control of the pre-owned market and will reportedly only allow specific retailers that have agreed to its terms to resell games.

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One of the more intriguing stories to follow in recent months has been the relationship between Samsung and several of the big-name tech companies that have relied upon it for components. Apple has made definitive moves away from Samsung and Google has shown some wariness about the company’s overwhelming clout in the Android ecosystem. But any anxieties Google might have about Samsung haven’t been enough to keep the South Korea-based manufacturer out of the loop on Google’s most experimental projects.

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The good news with patent suits is that even when they’re successful they very rarely result in outright sales bans of popular products. And now Ars Technica reports that yet another attempt to enforce a sales ban has fallen flat on its face, this time Motorola’s attempt to stop sales of Microsoft’s Xbox. According to Ars, Motorola filed suit against Microsoft back in 2010 because its Xbox allegedly infringed upon Motorola patents that detailed technologies for “video transmission and compression as well as Wi-Fi.” Motorola’s quest against the Xbox ended this week, however, when a six-person panel at the International Trade Commission decided to toss out the company’s complaint. A Microsoft spokesperson described the ITC’s decision as “a win for Xbox customers” that “confirms our view that Google had no grounds to block our products.”

At a town hall meeting today on school safety at the Classical Magnet School in Hartford, I got to hear firsthand how Connecticut is leading the nation in adopting common-sense solutions to reduce gun violence and improve school safety.

In the aftermath of the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, the courage and resilience of teachers, parents, children, and communities in the Newtown area has been nothing short of remarkable.

From Governor Dannel Malloy to state lawmakers to the members of the Sandy Hook Promise, the entire state worked together to pass comprehensive legislation to reduce gun violence.

Unlike here in Washington, Connecticut’s lawmakers didn’t defend the status quo or shrink from tackling difficult questions. With bipartisan support, they enacted a comprehensive law to help curb gun violence and mass shootings that does not infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and hunt.

Connecticut’s leaders have set an example of political courage that can teach a lot to Congress and the rest of the nation. At today’s town hall meeting, Governor Malloy talked about how he decided to press ahead for new gun violence prevention measures, despite fierce attacks from the NRA.

By contrast, in Washington, Congress has so far failed to take the sensible step of expanding the background check system to close loopholes that allow criminals and the mentally ill to buy guns.

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Watching curator Chris Anderson in speaker rehearsals before a TED conference feels like witnessing the zen of a longtime coach who knows his sport both inside out and backwards. Whenever a trial run of a talk feels just a little askew, a few simple sentences are whispered. Magically, the next time the talk is given publicly, it is mesmerizing — and without a hint that it was ever anything but.

In a new essay in The Harvard Business Review’s June issue, Anderson shares his fine-tuned advice for delivering a powerful talk. A few choice tidbits:

“We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey.”

“Many of our best and most popular TED Talks have been memorized word for word … Most people go through what I call the ‘valley of awkwardness,’ where they haven’t quite memorized the talk. If they give the talk while stuck in that valley, the audience will sense it … Getting past this point is simple, fortunately. It’s just a matter of rehearsing enough times that the flow of words becomes second nature.”

“Perhaps the most important physical act onstage is making eye contact. Find five or six friendly-looking people in different parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak. Think of them as friends you haven’t seen in a year, whom you’re bringing up to date on your work.“

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This past Tuesday Microsoft did its long-awaited Xbox reveal, though the company did not unveil every bit of information that customers were waiting for. For instance, we still do not know pricing or release date. However, the biggest urban legend in circulation — that of used games — is under attack from the console maker.

On the day of the big reveal, Larry Hryb took to his blog to assure users “While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, today we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail”.

These rumors came to head after Adam Orth of Microsoft Studios committed career suicide on Twitter while discussing the possibility of an always-connected console. The spectre of this addition to the next-generation gaming device raises the issue of users no longer being able to play used games, or even game while their internet connection is down.

Now Hryb goes further to reassure customers with an official statement from his company. “The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games. Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future”, the statement reads.

It is not a ringing endorsement, but it is, at least, promising. We will learn more during the time before the retail release, but potential customers should be able to breath a collective sigh of relief for the moment.

Following a cease and desist letter sent by Google little over a week ago, today, Microsoft reaches out to me and announces a new update for its homebrew YouTube Windows Phone 8 app. You might want to contain that burning desire to hit the “Update” button though.

“Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks”, says the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation. This comes two days after the passing of the deadline to remove the app from the Windows Phone Store.

The deadline was imposed by Google alongside the cease and desist letter, and says that the app must also restrict the ability to download content and enforce playback restrictions “on certain platforms”. The former requirement is already fulfilled in the update released two ago.

I asked Microsoft if the upcoming version will also comply with Google’s remaining grievance, but the software giant refused to comment: “Nothing more to add at this point, sorry”.

Now here’s the bad news. “Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time”, says the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation. Ouch! The software giant tells me that the version in question is the dreadful pre-May 8 build which was basically the mobile YouTube website dressed as an app.

At the time of writing this article, Microsoft pulled the non-compliant YouTube for Windows Phone 8 app from the Store and has yet to replace it with the old, but complaint, version. The latter, however, does not show ads which is a tad ironic considering Google’s grievances.

Today, Microsoft and Google prove that working together is entirely possible, however this only appears to be the case when one company negatively affects the other. Let’s hope that this rekindled relationship can smooth the bumps in the road towards Google-branded apps on Windows Phone 8 and more Microsoft-developed software on Android.

The takeaway is that, in order to gain Google’s approval, Microsoft must offer an inferior YouTube experience on the tiled operating system. The Windows Phone 8 app no longer offers any advantages over its Android and iOS counterparts. But, hopefully, Google will allow YouTube for Windows Phone 8 to upload content to the popular video-sharing website.

Photo Credit: Cory Thoman/Shutterstock

On Thursday evening, former child actress Amanda Bynes was arrested after creating a disturbance at her Manhattan apartment. Bynes was allegedly smoking marijuana in the lobby of her building, causing the doorman to call police. When police arrived, Bynes allegedly fled to her apartment and flung a bong out of a window. She was arrested, taken to Roosevelt Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, and then booked on charges of reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence, and possession of marijuana.

Since that time, Bynes has had a preliminary hearing on the charges. The actress faced a judge while wearing the disheveled blonde wig she has been showing off on Twitter for months. Bynes’ lawyer stated during the hearing that the actress denies ever throwing anything out of her window.

The former Nickelodeon actress was released without bail and is scheduled to appear in court again in July. Bynes is already on probation for driving on a suspended license in California.

TMZ has also been able to obtain a mugshot (http://www.tmz.com/2013/05/24/amanda-bynes-mug-shot-shaved-head-arrest-bong/) for Bynes, which shows how short her hair is without her extravagant wigs.

Julianne Moore never realized that she was having a wardrobe malfunction while walking the red carpet at Cannes until she got home and saw the pictures online.

Due to a busy night and a long dress, Moore never noticed that her toes were popping out the sides of her heels.

“I didn’t feel a thing — not a thing,” she said in a recent interview. “I felt fine! I was just walking along, like, ‘Hiiiii, I’m at Cannes’ and my toes are hanging off [my shoes]!”

The embarrassing moment led to her declaration that she had no option for avoiding another incident in the future but to cut her toes off.

“I did what every reasonable person would do,” she told Jimmy Fallon. “I needed to prevent this from happening again, so I cut my toes off.”

So far this year, the film festival has been fairly drama-free (off-screen, that is). Other than audience members booing Ryan Gosling’s movie, “Only God Forgives”, the incident being labeled “Toemageddon” is perhaps the most talked-about happening.

Image: David Silpa

Microsoft’s newly unveiled Xbox One has gamers excited despite some huge question marks, but Microsoft thinks its current-generation Xbox 360 still has legs. Speaking with Official Xbox Magazine, Microsoft’s senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business Yusuf Mehdi said that the company is looking to sell 25 million more Xbox 360 consoled over the next five years. The Xbox 360 recently registered its 28th consecutive month as top-selling console, but sales of the 8-year-old console have slowed significantly in recent quarters. Inevitable price cuts may help Microsoft on its mission, but the company also has a few tricks up its sleeve that will be announced during the annual E3 video game conference next month.

Google announced that it would shut down Google Checkout in favor of Google Wallet back in 2011. This week, the company announced that in six months Google checkout will be officially dead to merchants.

With that, the company has shared an “office hours” video dealing with the change, so if you had any questions about it, give it a watch, and see if they get answered:

Developers for Google Play the Chrome Web Store and Offers Marketplace will continue to be supported, and will automatically transition to the Google Wallet Merchant Center in the coming weeks. Shoppers will simply be able to use Google Wallet to make purchases on merchant apps and sites, as well as on Google properties.

On May 22, 2013, Tesla Motors announced that it had paid back its $465 million loan to the Department of Energy, nine years before its full loan was due.[i] Tesla was awarded the loan, requiring matching private capital obtained …

We’ve already ascertained that the Oculus Rift is pretty awesome. The virtual reality headset has transported a grandmother to the Tuscan countryside in one demo while another has given people a taste of the French Revolution. Now it’s freaking out an “Irish mammy” with a roller coaster simulator.

It’s apparent once again that virtual reality has finally reached the point to where it actually feels pretty real. Now we might not be so far away from a Lawnmower Man-like future.

[h/t: lleti via Reddit]

Automattic, the company that operates blogging service WordPress.com, announced a $50 million investment from hedge fund Tiger Global on Friday.

(Reuters) – Automattic, the company that operates blogging service WordPress.com, announced a $50 million investment from hedge fund Tiger Global on Friday.

The investment comes on the heels of Yahoo’s $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging company Tumblr, showing the high prices fast-growing services that targeting Internet users can command. The valuation for Automattic was similar, Fortune reported. A spokeswoman for WordPress declined to comment.

WordPress powers the blogs at companies such as CNN.com and Techcrunch, a spokeswoman said.

The investment bought out shares of existing shareholders, including early employees, rather than directly funding the company, wrote WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg in a blog post.

“Allowing early investors to lock in some returns releases any short-term pressure there might be on the company for a liquidity event and allows us to focus fully on the long road ahead,” he wrote in his post.

The investment is part of a crop of financing where nontraditional investors make bets on venture-capital backed companies. They include private-equity firms such as Riving Traverse Management, which last year led a $200 million funding round in payments service Square, and mutual funds such as T. Rowe Price, which has invested in companies including micro blog service Twitter.

Many of these investors “come in with the ability to write checks larger than the entire size of most VCR funds,” wrote Mullenweg.

More top blogs run Word Press than any other publishing platform, according to a 2012 study conducted by Kingdom, a website monitoring service. Blogs it cited in the study include technology sites such as Tech Crunch and Boingboing and Hollywood news site Deadline.

While many organizations use Tumblr, it is heavily associated with individuals updating friends and others on their activities and interests, social-media style.

And while Tumblr’s revenue is advertising based, the bulk of WordPress’s revenue comes from fees to users who upgrade beyond its basic free service. It also derives significant revenue from charging large media companies to host their entire blogging platforms, said Automattic Chief Financial Officer Stuart West in a telephone interview. He declined to disclose figures.

Like Tumblr, WordPress is growing fast, with 50 million users today compared with 4 million five years ago, the company said. Tumblr launched five years ago and today has more than 100 million blogs in its network.

The largest single audience group for WordPress is users aged 25-34, according to consultancy comScore. For Tumblr, the largest group is users aged 18-24.

Earlier this year, Tiger led a $444 million equity investment in online survey company SurveyMonkey as part of a financing round that also allowed early investors and employees to cash out. Tiger partner Lee Fixel handled his firm’s investment in both SurveyMonkey and Automattic.

Tiger extended its offer to WordPress in April, before Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr was announced, West said.

Automattic’s venture backers include Polaris Partners, True Ventures, and the New York Times Co.

The post Tiger Global invests $50 million in Automattic’s WordPress.com appeared first on peHUB.

One of the most common problems that annoyed early Xbox 360 adopters was the appearance of the “red ring of death,” a flashing red light on the console’s start button indicating that its hardware was essentially fried and would need to be sent to Microsoft to be replaced. But Microsoft Game Studios vice president Phil Spencer tells Edge that the company has learned its lessons and that the new Xbox One will not experience hardware failures on a mass scale like the Xbox 360 did. In particular, Spencer noted that Microsoft’s success rate on the more recently released Xbox 360 Slim was “very high” and said that the same team behind the Slim also built the Xbox One, so chances are very good that the new console won’t burn out within months of buying it.

Amanda Bynes, you’re making me worry about you.

The 27-year old former actress showed up in court this morning after her arrest on Thursday for allegedly throwing a bong out a window and she looked a bit…disheveled, to say the least. Wearing a long blonde wig and no makeup, Bynes reportedly looked nervous and constantly fidgeted throughout proceedings. Her attorney says she threw a vase, not a bong, but the judge wasn’t amused no matter what the story is. Since last year, the young star has been in heaps of legal trouble, including alleged hit-and-runs and drug accusations.

Bynes is currently on probation for driving without a license, and Burbank DA Danny Wei says he may file a motion that Bynes is in violation of that. If she’s found guilty, she could face jail time and multiple fines. She was taken to a hospital this morning for a psychiatric evaluation, and rumor has it her parents may apply for a conservatorship to take control of her finances and major decisions.

“We get info from the prosecuting agency, in this case the NYPD, and we will review the report and make the determination whether to file a probation violation with the court,” he said.

Image: SplashNews

If you’re excited about this weekend’s big Arrested Development season 4 premiere and you want to watch it on your TV, Microsoft is giving you another option.

The Xbox Netflix app will be unlocked this weekend – meaning that those with just an Xbox LIVE Silver membership will be able to utilize the app (as long as you have a Netflix subscription). Usually, you must have an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription to access Netflix.

“If you’ve been yearning for more of the Bluth family, look no further. The new season of Arrested Development finally premieres this Sunday, May 26. And it gets even better. Starting today, Xbox Live Gold will be unlocked* for the weekend for Netflix members in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. Basically, we’ve made it ridiculously really easy for you to catch up on the first three seasons of Arrested Development. If you’re not a Netflix member, fear not,” says the Xbox Wire.

The new season of Arrested Development drops (all 15 episodes) at 12:01 am PT on Sunday. Netflix offers a free 1-month trial right now, so it looks like the perfect storm for Xbox LIVE Silver members who want to watch via their Xbox. If you want to get caught up, you have until then to stream the first 3 seasons, which are all available on Netflix.

This sort of deal promotes binge watching – but be careful. According to Arrested Development’s creator, that could make it less fun. Marathonning is hard to resist, however. So, do what you want.