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The Samsung Galaxy S8 is the nicest phone I’ve ever held. It’s a beautiful combination of glass, metal, and an absolutely massive screen in a body that’s much smaller than you might expect. And that might not be enough to make it stand out anymore. There are two versions of the S8: the standard Galaxy S8 with a 5.8-inch screen and the larger S8 Plus with a 6.2-inch screen. Both are available for preorder on March 30th and will be shipping in the US on April 21st. Pricing, as always with Samsung, is up to the carriers — but you...

"...What it means: This aligns with the administration's focus on reserving the temporary visas for very high-skilled (and higher-paid) professionals while encouraging low- and mid-level jobs to go to American workers instead. The new guidance affects applications for the lottery for 2018 fiscal year that opened Monday..."

Last month, America lost a great defender of freedom, Michael Novak.Novak was committed to rightly ordered liberty and cared deeply about the principles and practices that produce it. His enormous body of work emphasized the cultural prerequisites for political and economic freedom, as he stressed that economic conservativism and social conservatism are indivisible.In the words of Heritage Foundation founder Ed Feulner, “Michael forced those of us trained in the dismal science of economics to explain that we should be more than ‘free to choose’—rather we should be free to make good free choices.”Last year, I was the recipient of the...

It is unclear, at this moment, as to how precise the photo used in the demonstration should be compared to the real face? Or at what distance the phone was held from the camera? Or what angle they chose during the registration of the recognition? But what's clear is the fact that a gap remains in the security system of the Samsung's new facial recognition feature. Moreover, there are reports that Samsung’s Galaxy S8 would include a facial recognition feature for mobile payments in the coming months.

President Trump’s appointment of former GOP congressman John Fleming, M.D., to newly created health technology post could portend ONC downsizing and MACRA changes. The new HHS healthcare technology top official's plans are still unknown, but signs point to possible changes to ONC that could weaken the agency's regulatory authority. The new HHS healthcare technology chief -- a longtime associate of HHS secretary, fellow physician and former GOP congressman Tom Price -- nonetheless also mentioned that ONC "may be reorganizing." Few in the capitol, other than his fans, want to comment publicly about what Fleming's ascension to the top HHS healthcare...

House Republicans are expected to vote Tuesday to repeal a set of historic privacy protections for Web users, in a sharp pivot away from the Internet policies of the Obama administration. President Trump is expected to sign the measure if it passes. Tuesday's vote is likely to lend momentum to a broader rollback of Obama-era policies, particularly in the technology sector. And it empowers Internet providers to enter the $83 billion market for online advertising, where the ability to collect, store, share and sell consumers' behavioral information is directly linked to companies' bottom line. Proponents of the repeal argue the...

When kids learn about the planet’s water cycle, they’re taught a simple concept: our atmosphere is filled with water vapor that has evaporated from the bodies of liquid water we see around us. When the vapor’s temperature gets low enough, it gets turned back into water. The presence of that vapor becomes especially apparent in the summer, when droplets collect on glasses of ice water and air conditioning units drip onto unsuspecting passersby. An Israeli company called Water-Gen does not think of that condensation as a byproduct; instead, it has built machines specifically designed to create and harvest as much...

“I actually thought we would get paid,’’ said Dinesh Khurana. “But this has lasted so long. To be very frank, I’ve lost hope.’’When Dinesh Khurana came to California from India as a tech worker in 1995, he assumed the American system of employment had a basic underpinning of fairness. It went this way: You did the work. You were paid for the job. Sure, there might be an occasional hiccup. But generally the check arrived. America was the land of the free, not a corruption-ridden place. Even when he became a consultant — and had to fend for himself rather...

When plugged in, this weaponized USB stick can destroy laptops, kiosks, ATMs, cars, and more. (Image: USBKill) Remember that USB stick that would destroy almost anything in its path, from laptops, photo booths, kiosks, to even cars? Now there's a new version, and it's even more dangerous than before. In case you missed it the first time around, a Hong Kong-based company built a weaponized pocket-sized USB stick, which when plugged into a device, will rapidly charge its capacitors from the USB power supply and then discharge, frying the affected device's circuits. Dubbed the USB Kill stick, it fries almost...

IBM Q isn’t vaporware. It’s a project years-in-the-making that could help quantum computation reach its massive potential. The future of quantum computers may arrive sooner than you think. When news arrived of IBM’s move to offer the first commercially available universal quantum computer last week, it was characterized as a “handoff” from IBM Research to IBM Systems. According to the company’s CTO and vice president of quantum computing, technical strategy, and systems, Scott Crowder, that’s not entirely the case. “It’s not quite a ‘handoff,’ it’s really a partnership,” explained Crowder. “This is definitely a transition point from it being pure...

Physicist Stephen Hawking, who some have suggested is a conspiracy in and of himself, is now claiming we need “some form of world government” to protect us from the escalation of technology and artificial intelligence. “Since civilisation began, aggression has been useful inasmuch as it has definite survival advantages,” he told The Times. “It is hard-wired into our genes by Darwinian evolution. Now, however, technology has advanced at such a pace that this aggression may destroy us all by nuclear or biological war. We need to control this inherited instinct by our logic and reason.” … “The real risk with...

​In the never-ending quest to improve computing technology, IBM has just taken a big step smaller: It's found a way to store data on a single atom. A hard drive today takes about 100,000 atoms to store a single bit of data -- a 1 or 0. The IBM Research results announced Wednesday show how much more densely it might someday be possible to cram information. How much more densely? Today, you can fit your personal music library into a storage device the size of a penny. With IBM's technique, you could fit Apple's entire music catalog of 26 million...

In today’s hyper-partisan era, one goal crosses the political divide: the need for more entrepreneurs. Encomia are everywhere: Politicians praise them, Hollywood lionizes them, venture capitalists chase them, universities foster them. Entrepreneurs, from Henry Ford to Elon Musk, are embedded in American lore. In an earlier era they were popularized in Horatio Alger rags-to-riches terms; today it’s the garage-to-tech-titan stories that have legendary status for Millennials. Could it be, however, that we’ve hit peak preoccupation with entrepreneurship? Although entrepreneurial magic is often discussed in “tech” terms, the reality is most startups involve such things as restaurants and lawn services or...

Peter Thiel has been at Donald Trump’s side since the Republican National Convention, guiding the then-candidate on technology policy and brokering a meeting between him and top tech executives. Now Thiel has secured a place for one of his top aides in Trump’s White House — Michael Kratsios, formerly chief of staff at Thiel Capital, will step into the role of deputy chief technology officer. The appointment, first reported by Politico Pro and confirmed by TechCrunch, seems like a natural progression of Kratsios’ work alongside Thiel on the transition team. Prior to his work at Thiel Capital, Kratsios was the...

A team of engineers led by 94-year-old John Goodenough, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, has developed the first all-solid-state battery cells that could lead to safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries for handheld mobile devices, electric cars and stationary energy storage. Goodenough’s latest breakthrough, completed with Cockrell School senior research fellow Maria Helena Braga, is a low-cost all-solid-state battery that is noncombustible and has a long cycle life (battery life) with a high volumetric energy density and fast rates of charge and discharge. The engineers describe...

How did a country smaller than El Salvador with a population of eight million and few natural resources become a military superpower within a few decades? In The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower (St. Martin's Press, 2017), authors Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot explain this remarkable phenomenon. Calling on their experience as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veterans and seasoned national security analysts, they present an intriguing and engrossing account of Israel's defense capabilities development. From a country lacking bullets and aircraft, Israel transformed itself into one of the most effective militaries in the world and the...

he new bulletproof shield developed by Howell and his colleagues can be folded compactly when not in use. It is also much easier to deploy and transport. When expanded, which only takes five seconds, the bulletproof shield can offer cover for police officers and shield them from bullets such as the 9 mm, .44 Magnum and .357 Magnum. This new shield is also lightweight, weighing only 55 pounds. It was built with 12 layers of Kevlar and a common creasing origami-like pattern, which makes it foldable into a more manageable size. During tests, the bulletproof shield prototype proved to be...

I am taking a computer course and we are learning networking using the Cisco packet tracer labs. If anyone is familiar with this program, I would love to talk to you. No matter what I do it will not allow me to complete any of the sections that use the command prompt. I have updated Java, allowed the program full permissions on my computer, uninstalled and reinstalled the program several times on different machines - I just don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

The Great Firewall just got more impenetrable.Chinese authorities block access to big-name websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and numerous others, and to thwart these restrictions, many residents on the mainland use virtual private networks. Starting this week, that could be a crime. Use of VPNs and special cable connections in China must now be approved by the government, essentially making these services illegal in the country. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the new rules on Sunday, as reported by the South China Morning Post. Calling it a "clean-up" of the country's internet connections, the Ministry said...

Apple iPhones will be 'Made in India', and Bengaluru is where this will be taking place, according to the government It is now official: Apple is taking the 'Make in India' route with its iPhones, and Bengaluru is where this will be taking place. The government of Karnataka issued a press release "welcoming the move'. Apple's proposal is to commence initial manufacturing operations in Karnataka. The press statement reads, "Apple's representatives led by Ms. Priya Balasubramaniam, VP iPhone operations, Mr. Ali Khanafer (Head, Government Affairs), Mr.Dheeraj Chugh (Director, iphone operations) and Mr. Priyesh Povanna (Country Counsel) met with Ministers and...