Google Working On A Plan To Eradicate Child Porn On The Web

 Google may have found the ultimate weapon in the fight against child porn on the Web. The company told The Daily Telegraph that it has built a new way for Web companies to share information about child abuse images.

Photos and videos of child pornography on the Web have multiplied at an alarming rate over the past few years. In 2011, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it received 17.3 million images and videos of suspected child abuse, which is four times more than 2007.

“Behind these images are real, vulnerable kids who are sexually victimized and victimized further through the distribution of their images,” Google Giving director Jacquelline Fuller wrote in a blog post on Saturday. “It is critical that we take action as a community — as concerned parents, guardians, teachers and companies — to help combat this problem.”

Google’s plan is to build a database of child porn images that can be shared with other tech companies, law enforcement, and charities around the world. The database will let these groups swap information, collaborate, and remove the images from the Web.

Google will use a technique called “hashing” to build the particular data base. The “hashing” will help the firm tag images featuring sexual abuse of children with unique identification codes.

Google has also announced that it is donating $5 million for the cause of fighting child pornography. Part of the aid will go to global child protection partners like NCMEC and Exploited Children and the Internet Watch Foundation

The fight to remove these images from the internet is a global one, and we hope these measures will help in that important battle

Leaked : Windows 8.1 Screenshots

As you probably found out by now, the new Windows 8.1 Preview will come with enhanced support for smaller tablets, so some of the built-in features will be specifically tweaked to look good on 7- and 8-inch units.

Today a collection of screenshots, showcasing redesigns within key Windows 8.1 applications, were leaked online. The shots showcase changes in the Windows Store and Xbox Music, along with brand new apps including a calendar, alarm clock, and voice recorder.

Beta user Bavo Luysterborg sent the screenshots of Windows 8.1 on Twitter earlier today.

From the screenshots, we can see that the Xbox Music app will be receiving a complete UI overhaul in the Windows 8.1 update. It’s unclear whether this app will be included with the Windows 8.1 Preview, or if it will need to be downloaded as an update through the Windows Store.

The new Store interface (as The Verge reports) finally gives recommendations to similar apps based on what you are currently browsing. For example: If you are looking at the Xbox Music app, the store might also recommend Pandora or Slacker Radio.

Frank X Shaw, Microsoft’s corporate vice-president of communications, said the “continuous development cycle” introduced by Windows 8.1 will become “the new normal across Microsoft”, confirming the update model will apply to products beyond Windows 8 and RT, including Windows Phone and Server.

Windows 8.1 will be a free update available from the Windows Store, for both Windows 8 and Windows RT.

Via @BAVO on Twitter.

Google Announces 'Project Loon', Giant Balloons For Affordable Internet

Google has a truly sky-high idea for connecting billions of people to the internet – 19 kilometres in the air to be exact – through giant helium balloons circling the globe that are equipped to beam Wi-Fi signals down below.

According to Google, two of every three individuals on Earth either do not have access to the Internet, or don’t have access to a connection that is both fast and within their financial means – in some areas, individuals are faced with prices equal to more than a month’s paycheck. This issue isn’t going to resolve itself without thinking outside of the box, according to the company, and that is where the balloons come in. It was the culmination of 18 months’ work on what Google calls Project Loon.

In addition to providing access to the two out of every three people on earth Google says don’t have access to affordable broadband, another goal of the Google[x] team behind Project Loon is to help with maintaining communications following natural disasters.

The solar-powered, remote-controlled balloons would navigate stratospheric winds 20 kilometers above the surface of the earth, well above the altitude where most planes travel. Similar to the way satellite internet works, the balloons would communicate with special antennas and receiver stations on the ground.

The balloons also represent another of Google’s forays into the telecommunications business. The company has been setting up Google Fibre internet connections in Kansas City, Austin, Texas and elsewhere that offer speeds 100 times faster than what most consumers have today.

Rumour : Facebook RSS Reader Set For June 20 Launch

Facebook sent out press invitations via snail mail for a launch event, possibly for a Facebook RSS Feed or news reader, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California on June 20.

The Facebook launch event invitation postcards request that reporters come and see the “big idea” that their “small team” has been working on, Mashable’s Emily Price reported.

The dead-tree invitation features a printed coffee cup stain ring and the words “A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product.” 

With Facebook having launched hashtags, which is still technically in its early trial-and-error phase, this new product might have something to do with that new feature. But what we’re guessing is that the product announcement just might have to do with the discovery of an Facebook RSS reader hidden inside of Facebook’s Graph API code. Facebook hasn’t commented on the bit of code alluding to an RSS reader that was found, and come July 1, Google Reader will officially be killed off. The timing lines up pretty well. 

If Facebook does have a new Facebook RSS reader, the move would fit in with the company’s strategy of trying to become the go-to place for internet users looking to know what is going on in the world, a strategy Mark Zuckerberg pointed to at the March launch of Facebook’s revamped news feed.

Apple Debuts Game Controller APIs In iOS 7, Will Support Third Party Controllers

Physical controllers for iPhones and iPads have long been left to the ThinkGeeks and the Kickstarter projects, due to the lack of support. But that’s going to change with iOS 7.

Playing traditional console style games on a touchscreen has always been difficult, especially when the developer has not tailored their game enough to a touchscreen. Now gamers do not have to worry about that problem if their favorite games support Apple’s game controllers API.

A slide (pictured below) indicated that the iOS 7 SDK would support MFi game controllers, a reference to Apple’s licensing program for third-party hardware add-ons.

TouchArcade points to a vague guide that Apple posted to its developer site yesterday that has basic guidelines on how game controllers should be used.

The one on at the top looks like your typical iPhone game controller, with a large opening in the center that allows you to view your handset’s display. And the one right below is obviously more of your standard, standalone-type gamepad.

 

 

Game Center will also get a visual overhaul with the latest update to Apple’s iconic mobile operating system, iOS 7, it was revealed during WWDC today. Apple aims to curb cheating through more secure game scores and support for ranking-style leaderboards. It’s also added a new Sprite Kit tool to help developers create games

 

[Via, Via]

 

Grand Theft Auto V PS3 Bundle, Custom Headset Announced At E3

A special Grand Theft Auto 5 package exclusive to PlayStation 3 has been announced at Sony’s E3 press conference.

Making the bundle all the more enticing, this gaming collection will come wrapped in a special box adorned with exclusive GTA 5 themed artwork.

The GTA V PS3 bundle includes a 500GB PlayStation 3, a Blu-ray copy of Grand Theft Auto V and a 30-day PlayStation Plus trial membership. Like Assassin’s Creed 3 and Uncharted 3bundles, this package is priced at $299.99. 

“The custom Grand Theft Auto V audio mode for Pulse – Elite Edition takes full advantage of the BassImpact technology embedded in the Pulse – Elite Edition headset to provide the ultimate Grand Theft Auto V experience,” an official Sony spokesperson stated. “This exclusive mode enhances the game’s most epic moments like car crashes, explosions and more.”

A custom-designed ‘Grand Theft Auto V Pulse – Elite Edition’ headset has also been produced in collaboration with Rockstar Games, and will go on sale for $179 in the US. UK and European pricing was not set out at E3.

The PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto V will also have a special ‘Pulse Elite Edition’ mode, using the technology in the headset to enhance sound quality during key moments in the game such as crashes and explosions. The software to activate the audio mode can be downloaded for free via the Pulse – Elite Manager app.

Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5 will be released on Sept. 17, 2013 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

About Time! Google Glass Cracked Open In Teardown

It was bound to happen at some point, and condolences to whomever sacrificed their frames for the greater good aside, we’ve got our first look at the components from Google Glass and how they’re fitted together.

The internet owes a deep thanks to Scott Torborg and Star Simpson who did a detailed tear-down post on the Google Glass.

Some of the motivation for the tear down was purely technological while some of it was driven by the growing concerns about privacy and personal security in the US.

“Growing up on a rich diet of dystopian tech fiction, we were filled with both intrigue and concern about Glass and decided to take our model apart to bring you a detailed view into the electronics guts of the device.

It is not surprising that the camera is similar in quality and resolution to cameras found in your everyday smartphone:

“The Glass camera seems to be of typical smartphone-level size and format. It is not coaxially aligned with the wearer’s eye. The camera and display appear to talk to the CPU independently, with no direct connection between each other.

The main board, which is held in place with “lots of paste.” Removing said paste revealed a TI OMAP4430 chip and a 16GB SanDisk flash chip. Next was the battery, which also required tearing the plastic in order to get to it. Obviously, this means users cannot replace the battery on their own. The rest of the teardown is detailed in extensive pictures, which you can check out at the link at the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

According to the Google Glass Tech specs page, Glass has a 5-megapixel camera that can shoot video in 720p. It supports 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Audio is provided by a bone conduction transducer, and the display is “the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away.” As for buttons and connectors, Glass has a Listen button, on/off button, capture button, touch sensitive area, and Micro USB port for charging. There’s also a status LED and rear-facing sensor array.
[Catwig]

Rumor : LG could make the Nexus 5 After All

 LG was the OEM of choice for building the Google Nexus phone last year, and the Nexus 4 has been quite a hit in the industry. Several tipsters and online rumors have pointed to different hardware being manufactured by different companies. The latest news comes from a Korean site called  Daum, that claims that the Nexus 5 is already in testing and may be announcedsooner than expected. The site also claims that LG is the choice as a manufacturer due to huge success with the Nexus 4 and an overall positive report from the market watch. 

Google is known to have the same company build the Nexus device year after year, as they did with Samsung’s Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, LG could be chosen for the Nexus 5 seeing as how well they executed the previous edition of the Google Phone.

While no real specs, images or design ideas for the upcoming product are available, it is claimed that the Hardware has already done several rounds of the Google Campus. With no real information to back this one, take it with a pinch of salt guys.