The biggest tech deal ever: Dell buys EMC for $67 billion

In the biggest tech deal of all time, Dell announced Monday that it has agreed to buy corporate software, storage and security giant EMC for $67 billion.

The deal completes Dell's transformation from a consumer PC business to an IT solutions provider for companies. That process began when Dell bought Perot Systems for $4 billion in 2009 and went full throttle in 2013 when company founder Michael Dell took the business private.

North Korea stages massive military parade, says ready to defend itself against U.S.

(CNN)Presiding over a massive military parade in the nation's capital, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was "fully ready" to defend itself against any U.S. threat.

In a carefully choreographed show of strength and celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, hundreds of troops marched in elaborate formations across Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, which was festooned with national and party flags, footage from state broadcaster KCTV showed.

Kim watched the extravaganza from a viewing platform and gave a rare live televised speech. Last year, Kim didn't show during a mysterious absence that lasted over a month.

"Our party can confidently state that our revolutionary armament today can deal with any kind of war U.S. imperialists ask for, and we are fully ready to persistently defend the country's blue sky and the well-being of the people," he told the gathered crowds.

North Korea's regime is fond of saber rattling and has made plenty of threats before. Intimidating words about the United States and South Korea have been more the norm than not for years.

Foreign dignitaries, media and tourists gathered in Pyongyang for the spectacle, which saw fighter jets flying in a "70" formation.

U.S. delivers 50 tons of ammunition to Syria rebel groups

(CNN)U.S. military cargo planes gave 50 tons of ammunition to rebel groups overnight in northern Syria, using an air drop of 112 pallets as the first step in the Obama Administration's urgent effort to find new ways to support those groups.

Details of the air mission over Syria were confirmed by a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly because the details have not yet been formally announced.

The $725m ranch bigger than New York and Los Angeles combined - Northwest Texas!

(CNN)The final countdown to the real estate sale of the century has begun.

Bigger than New York City and Los Angeles combined,Waggoner Ranch in Texas spans half-a-million acres, boasts more than 100 properties within its boundaries and oil reserves.

The ultimate equestrian estate is yours -- for $725 million. But be quick -- any potential buyers have until October 20 to raise the funds and submit an offer.

Bernard Uechtritz, an Australian realtor living in Texas, has been tasked with the sale of the equestrian estate that has stayed in one family for its entire 165-year existence. He's getting used to turning down the advances of some of the world's richest people in the sale.

2016 Ford Explorer Test Drive and Review

2016 Ford Explorer.  Photo (c) Aaron Gold

The original Ford Explorer is one of the vehicles credited with kicking off the SUV craze in America, but in the last few years, the Explorer has fallen by the wayside. The previous iteration featured a useful interior, but its strange exterior styling didn't do it any favors.

Now Ford is back with an updated Explorer, and they haven't just made a few minor changes: The new Explorer has a new look, a new driving demeanor, new techno-gadgetry, and even a couple of new engines, with EPA fuel economy estimates ranging from 16 to 19 MPG in the city and 22 to 28 on the highway.

The Chicago-built Explorer is covered by a 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty with 5 years or 60,000 miles of powertrain coverage. So is the Explorer ready to retake its crown as the standard-setter for full-size SUVs? Let's drive it and find out.

Ferrari sets $1 billion IPO. Ticker symbol? RACE

RACE. That's the ticker symbol that Ferrari will use when it debuts on the New York Stock Exchange with a $10 billion valuation within the next few months.

Parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCAM) said Monday it plans to set a price of $48 to $52 per Ferrari share and intends to sell about 10% of the company in the initial public offering. The company hopes to raise just about $1 billion from investors.

After the IPO, Fiat Chrysler shareholders will be given the remaining Ferrari shares to split the luxury car manufacturer from its parent company.

China's 50-Lane Traffic Jam Is Every Commuter's Worst Nightmare

Reuters/China Daily

Traffic after the holidays tend to be pretty awful. But China may have just turned every driver’s worst nightmare into reality as hundreds of millions of people headed home at the end of a Golden Week, a week-long national holiday.

Thousands of motorists found themselves stranded on Tuesday in what looks from above like a 50-lane parking lot on the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, one of the country’s busiest roads. Some are dubbing the traffic jam a “carpocalypse,” while others are calling it “carmageddon.”

El Faro had leaks, holes, other structural issues, former crew members say

(CNN)Three former crew members of El Faro, a ship that apparently sank during Hurricane Joaquin, told CNN the ship had structural problems and questioned whether it should have sailed with a major storm in the region.

The 40-year-old cargo ship never made it to Puerto Rico after it left Jacksonville, Florida, last week, and appears to have sunk near islands in the Bahamas.

The ex-crew members, who each last traveled on the ship at some point this year, said the ship had issues with taking on water.

"The chief cook's room was constantly leaking water," Kurt Bruer, a quartermaster who spent six months on El Faro, said. There were other problems. "The drainage didn't work well on the ship."

Verizon Hiking Unlimited Data Plans By $20!!!

I have bad news for anyone that is still on Verizon's unlimited data plan. Starting in November, your monthly bill is going UP by $20.

The drastic increase, 66 percent, will affect some of its long-time customers who have until now survived the company's efforts to lure them away from prized unlimited plans in the era of data-gobbling mobile apps. Customers will see the higher price on their bills starting Nov. 15.

Major Ransomware Campaign Disrupted

I'm not saying these guys are stupid...BUT...buying over eight hundred servers with stolen credit cards wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Cisco's researchers thwarted the activity of a single group of cyber-criminals responsible for 50% of all deployments of ransomware via the Angler exploit kit. The group conducted operations on such a large scale that by the end of the year they would have potentially earned more than $34 million / €30 million.

The $1B City Where Humans Are Banned

First there was a fake town for testing self driving cars, now there is this billion dollar town that humans are banned from living in. Technology hates homeless people. 

Planned for a population of 35,000, the city will showcase a modern business district downtown, and neat rows of terraced housing in the suburbs. It will be supplied with pristine streets, parks, malls and a church. But no one will ever call it home.

Uber Hit With Lawsuit Over Alleged Sexual Assaults

Damn! We were so close to making it through the week without one of these stories.

The suit, filed Thursday in US District Court in San Francisco, claims Uber aims its marketing at young women who have been drinking but doesn't conduct adequate background checks on its drivers. That lapse has led to a number of sexual assaults, according to the 52-page complaint filed on behalf of two "Jane Does" who allege their Uber drivers sexually assaulted them.

North Charleston reaches $6.5 million settlement with family of Walter Scott

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager is charged with murder in the death of Walter Scott.

North Charleston, South Carolina (CNN)The family of the late Walter Scott and the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, have reached a $6.5 million settlement.

The North Charleston City Council approved the settlement on Thursday night.

MPAA and RIAA’s Megaupload Lawsuits Delayed Until 2016

It's been almost four years since this all started, what's another six months going to hurt?

Megaupload has asked a federal court in Virginia to postpone its legal battles with the MPAA and RIAA while the criminal proceedings remain pending. The movie studios and recording labels haven't objected to the request which means that it will take at least six more months before the civil cases begin.

Apple Moves Forward With Data Center Expansion Plans

Apparently Apple is moving forward with its plans for total world domination. Whoops, pardon me, I meant "data center expansion plans."

Back in April 2015, Apple filed an application with the County Court responsible for the area including their Prineville Oregon data center, to expand their existing data center operation by adding two additional data halls -- or, as Apple calls them in its own non-standard terminology, pods. While the application has not yet been approved, the company has moved forward by purchasing 200 acres of land directly adjacent to their existing 159 acre Prineville data center campus.

NVIDIA Introduces GeForce NOW Cloud Gaming Service

NVIDIA has taken the wraps of its new GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. With a library of over 50 games at launch, the service will cost $7.99 per month with the first three months free.

GeForce NOW is the first cloud-gaming service to stream at full high-definition 1080p quality and at 60 frames per second. Membership costs just $7.99 a month with the first three months free. GeForce NOW arrives on Oct. 1 in North America, the European Union and Japan with more than 50 popular games included. And it offers members the option to buy and play many more in an instant.

Make $1000 A Week Standing In Line

A thousand bucks a week to stand in line for stuff like iPhones, product launches and other stuff isn't half bad.

Samuel recently spent 48 hours outside the Apple store in the Meatpacking District waiting for the iPhone 6s. He was the first in line, slept in a fold-up cot for two nights, had pizza delivered to his spot and snagged $1000 for the gig

Yahoo's Latest Transparency Report

Yahoo published its fifth transparency report today. Aside from requests to take down images "promoting terrorism" on Flickr in the UK, the rest of the report is business as usual.

We carefully scrutinize each request to make sure that it complies with the law, and we push back on those requests that don’t satisfy our rigorous standards. When we are compelled to disclose data, consistent with our Global Principles for Responding to Government Requests, we disclose only as much data as is necessary to comply with the request.

What Shape Is The Internet?

What shape is the internet? According to these patent drawings, no one really knows. These are some of my favorites:

Microsoft Ditches Bing For Baidu In China

Whoa! Microsoft ditching Bing in favor of Baidu in China? I never thought I'd see that happen. They must really want Windows 10 to do well over there.

Today, we’re excited to announce another partnership with a leader in China – Baidu. With over 600 million active users, Baidu is one of the most frequently used Internet gateways in China. Together, we will make it easy for Baidu customers to upgrade to Windows 10 and we will deliver a custom experience for customers in China, providing local browsing and search experiences. Baidu.com will become the default homepage and search for the Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10.

Netflix Knows Exactly When You Got Hooked

Netflix says that they have us all figured out. I don't know how they know what gets us hooked but you have to admit, they are doing something right.

It turns out that when commercial breaks and appointment viewing are stripped away and consumers can watch an entire season as they choose, you can see fandom emerge. That is, 70% of viewers who watched the hooked episode went on to complete season one or more poetically, when members were hooked and there was no turning back.

FBI Arrests Chinese Millionaire Once Tied to Clinton $$ Scandal

The FBI has arrested a politically prominent Chinese millionaire, the alleged secret source of foreign money in a campaign finance scandal during the Clinton administration, on charges he lied about why he brought more than $4.5 million in cash into the United States over the last two years.

Ng Lap Seng was arrested in New York last weekend by FBI agents working with federal prosecutors assigned to the public corruption squad in the Southern District of New York, according to federal authorities.

His arrest came on the same day the Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle for a state visit to the United States.

In addition to his role as a prominent real estate developer on the gambling center island of Macau, Ng has close ties to the Chinese government and is listed as a member of a senior advisory group, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

This 14-Year-Old Boy And His Homemade Motorbike Will Inspire You

As parents, we dream our kids will discover something in life that they’re truly passionate about — something that keeps them honest, free from perils, and away from the many armchair-based video games encompassing today’s youths. If that passion turns out to be our passion — something we can share together — well, then count your blessings. You just hit the lotto.  

Haven Jarel, 14, was three when he fell in love with the motorcycle. A full-face helmet dwarfed his tiny body, and yet the child that was likely not long out of diapers bombed around a grassy field, “free,” as he so eloquently puts it. It was this moment that birthed his passion for bikes. And yet young Haven didn’t just want to ride them, he wanted to work on them and, ultimately, make his own.

An RPG vs. 16-inches of bulletproof glass: Which do you think prevails?

Leave it to the Russian YouTube channel Crash Zone to come up with an answer to a question no one ever really thought to ask: What happens when you pit a shoulder-fired RPG (rocket propelled grenade) against 16 inches of fortified bulletproof glass?

Why a whole lot of destruction, naturally.

As you might expect, the RPG emerged victorious by a mile. Bulletproof glass, especially 16 inches worth, is certainly no joke. But when you start talking about military grade weaponry, well, that’s an entirely different level of destructive power to contend with.

Ahmed Mohamed Will Not Return To MacArthur High School, Family Says

Days after administrators called for the arrest of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed for bringing in what they suspected was a “bomb” (actually a homemade clock), MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, said that it would “certainly welcome” the teen back to school.

“We're confident that we can continue to provide him with an excellent education,” a school spokeswoman told ABC News.

But Ahmed’s family says the freshman is not at all interested in returning to MacArthur. His father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, said Thursday that Ahmed will transfer out of the high school; the family is “still deciding where he will go next,” reports The Associated Press.

Associated PressAhmed Mohamed, 14, gestures as he arrives at his family's home in Irving, Texas, on Thursday.

Ahmed was arrested on Monday after teachers became suspicious of the homemade clock that he’d brought to school.

Police: Qatari sheikh left US with his speeding Ferrari

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — A Ferrari caught on video zooming through a Beverly Hills neighborhood last weekend is owned by a Middle Eastern sheikh who has since left the country and taken his million-dollar sports car with him, authorities say.

Police held a news conference Thursday to discuss the incident and identified the owner as Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, of Qatar. He's a lover of fast cars who owned a champion drag-racing team and is a member of the ruling family of the oil-rich country.

Al Thani's bright yellow, 12-cylinder LaFerrari, which sells for around $1.4 million new, was recorded along with a white Porsche speeding down narrow streets and racing through stop signs Saturday evening. They eventually pulled into a driveway, the Ferrari's engine smoking.

Officers answering reports of reckless driving found both cars parked in the driveway. A man believed to be Al Thani told the officers that the cars belonged to him, and he denied speeding or driving recklessly, police said.

Owner Of Beverly Hills LaFerrari Does Not Have Diplomatic Immunity, Flees Country

The story of the Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 911 GT3 that were caught on camera speeding through a Beverly Hills neighborhood, ignoring stop signs and narrowly avoiding pedestrians, has taken another turn for the weird. Having been confronted by a video journalist, the cars’ owner — who’s name has not been released — reportedly told the man he had “diplomatic immunity” and could have him “killed and get away with it.”

The Air Force Will Have Combat Lasers On Its War Planes By 2020

I only have one question. Which company—Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, or Boeing—is best capable of creating the Vic Viper?

These armaments, dubbed directed-energy weapons pods, will be mounted on American warplanes and serve to burn missiles, UAVs -- even other combat aircraft -- clean out of the sky. "I believe we'll have a directed energy pod we can put on a fighter plane very soon," Air Force General Hawk Carlisle said at a Fifth-Generation Warfare lecture during the Air Force Association Air & Space conference earlier this week. "That day is a lot closer than I think a lot of people think it is."

US, China Seek Deal On Cyberspace Attacks

Despite ongoing negotiations between the superpowers toward an arms control accord for cyberspace, espionage and theft will likely go on as usual.

The agreement being negotiated would also not appear to cover the use of tools to steal intellectual property, as the Chinese military does often to bolster state-owned industries, according to an indictment of five officers of the People’s Liberation Army last year. And it is not clear that the rules would prohibit the kind of attack carried out last year against Sony Pictures Entertainment, for which the United States blamed North Korea. That attack melted down about 70 percent of Sony’s computer systems.

Batband Is A High-Fidelity Bone-Conduction Headphone

I am really curious as to what these sound like. It seems like they’d be perfect for activities where you need to hear your surroundings, like cycling around traffic.

How one high schooler made $80K (without getting a job)

Abby Saxastar [center] earned $80,000 in guaranteed scholarship on Raise.me.

High schoolers can now earn money for college -- no job required.

Startup Raise.me developed a program that allows high school students to start banking college scholarship money.
What's the catch?
The money is tied to students' individual achievements. The better they do in school, the more engaged they are with their communities, the more money they earn from Raise.me's college partners.
There are 76 colleges on Raise.me's platform, including Penn State, UMass and Tulane. Raise.me cofounder Preston Silverman hopes to increase that to 100 colleges by the end of the year.
As long as students meet the college's GPA requirements, they can start earning money from as many as they choose -- between $500 to $1,000 per achievement. Students don't get the money until they are accepted to one of the colleges.

China Punishes Social Media Pranksters

You know how it is illegal to yell "fire" in a crowded theater? Well, in China, the same thing goes for posting zombie pictures. I'm not kidding.

Earlier this month, the police in the southern city of Guangzhou published a notice online that images posted on Weibo of a woman covered in blood and a note suggesting she was a zombie were fake. The online warning added a reminder for residents to avoid hallucinogens. A 21-year-old man from the area with the surname Zhang was given 10 days of detention for posting the item.

Robot Tells TV Host F**k You Live On Air

I guess they won't be inviting this robot back on the show any time soon.

GM agrees to $900M criminal settlement over ignition-switch defect

People who opted to sue GM instead of taking a previous settlement offer may get compensated as part of the settlement announced Thursday by Texas attorney Bob Hilliard.


General Motors agreed to pay $900 million as part of a Justice Department investigation into its failure to fix a deadly ignition-switch defect blamed for more than 120 deaths.
Federal prosecutors hit GM with a wire-fraud charge and a charge for "engaging in a scheme to conceal a deadly safety defect" from regulators. But those counts would be dismissed in three years if GM fixes its recall processes. GM's official plea is not guilty.


U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara left the door open to prosecuting specific GM employees. But he said it's difficult to pin blame on an individual who may have had only partial knowledge of a backward bureaucratic process that led to tragedy.


"We're not done, and it remains possible we will charge an individual," Bharara said at a news conference in New York. "If there is a way to bring a case like that, we will bring it."
GM engineers, attorneys and midlevel executives failed to fix the defect for more than a decade.
“To sum it up, they didn’t tell the truth in the best way that they should have, to their regulators, to the public, about the serious safety defects that risked life and limb," Bharara said.
As part of the settlement, GM admitted to having defrauded customers by marketing its vehicles as safe during that period.

'Pacific Rim 2' Could Be Cancelled For Same Reason As 'Tron 3'

Image from ‘Pacific Rim,’ courtesy of Warner Bros. and Legendary

If Pacific Rim 2 gets cancelled, it will arguably be for the same reason that Walt Disney DIS +0.96% pulled the plug on Tron 3.
There is a big, juicy piece in The Hollywood Reporter today about the push-and-pull between Legendary and Universal/Comcast CMCSA +1.72%. A lot of it has to do with the whole “Skull Island goes to Warner Bros./Time Warner TWX +0.00%” thing with a little bit of bad blood concerning Legendary’s Thomas Tull perhaps taking too much credit for mega-hits like The Dark Knight and Jurassic World over the years. I will admit that I am a little disheartened to hear that Universal wasn’t thrilled about a film as expensive as Crimson Peak going out as an R, but that may be for another day if I get a chance to discuss their still worthwhile slate of theatrical horror films this year. The big geek news concerns the now uncertain fate of Pacific Rim 2. The film was slotted for August 4, 2017, before it was pulled off the schedule a week or so ago.

World's first 8K TV costs $133,000

Sharp will begin selling the world's first 8K television just in time for Halloween.

Interested? You'd better be prepared to pay up. The 85-inch "LV-85001" ultra-high definition TV set will cost you ¥16 million ($133,000) when it goes on sale October 30.

Donate Sperm To Get An iPhone 6S

Oh come on, don't act like you wouldn't do this. Too bad it's in China.

Several facilities in Shanghai are using Apple's latest iPhone to boost the amount of donations they receive, according to regional-news site Shanghaiist. One such institution is Renji Hospital, which posted an online advertisement that, roughly translated, reads: "No need 'to sell their kidneys,' easily have 6S."

A Japanese Robot Is Learning The American Way

And by "learning the American way" the folks at MIT mean ROBOTS ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL!!!!

"In Japan, because they have a very cute-centric culture, Pepper is much more silly and cute," says Alia Pyros, international communications manager at Aldebaran Robotics, a French company that developed the robot in collaboration with the Japanese corporation Softbank before Softbank acquired it outright. "In the U.S., we have this kind of C3-PO idea, where he’s kind of snarky and kind of smart."

Apple Wins Patent Ruling Against Samsung

The current round in the never ending fight between Samsung and Apple goes to the crew from Cupertino.

The 2-1 appeals court ruling said that Apple's proposed injunction is narrow because it does not want to ban Samsung's devices from the marketplace, and that Samsung can remove the patented features without recalling its products.

The Best, Most Efficient GPU For 1080p Linux Gamers

If you want to know what the best, most efficient graphics card for Linux gamers is, you should probably read this article at Phoronix today.

Earlier this week I posted a graphics card comparison using the open-source drivers and looking at the best value and power efficiency. In today's article is a larger range of AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards being tested under a variety of modern Linux OpenGL games/demos while using the proprietary AMD/NVIDIA Linux graphics drivers to see how not only the raw performance compares but also the performance-per-Watt, overall power consumption, and performance-per-dollar metrics.

What Texas Teen Ahmed Mohamed Said About His Clock Being Mistaken for a Bomb (VIDEO)

The Texas teen who was arrested after school officials mistook his homemade invention for a bomb says he plans to transfer schools and is on his way to the White House.

"I guess everyone knows I'm the one who built a clock and got into a lot of trouble for it," Ahmed Mohamed, 14, said in a news conference today. "I built the clock to impress my teacher, but when I showed her, she was threatened by it."

Ahmed, a high school freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, was taken into police custody Monday when his homemade digital clock was mistaken for a bomb by school officials and the police.

                                                                           

Teen Arrested After Homemade Clock Mistaken for Bomb Cleared After Investigation (ABC News)

"In terms of what he [Ahmed] said, he told the officers that it was a clock," Chief Larry Boyd of the Irving Police Department told ABC News today. "We live in an age that horrific things have happened in schools across this nation and, of course, we have to be cautious.”

Boyd said that after further investigation, all four officers on the scene concluded that the device did not have the workings of an explosive and, in turn, no charges will be brought against Ahmed for bringing it to school.

Here's the "bomb" clock that got Ahmed Mohamed Arrested

At a press conference today, police in Irving, Texas, released this photo of the homemade clock 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed brought to his high school. Though police acknowledge Ahmed never claimed the device was anything but a clock, they arrested him anyway on suspicion of making a “hoax bomb.” Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said today the department wouldn’t be filing charges.


The story of a 14-year-old hoping to impress his teachers with a homemade clock who ended up in handcuffs instead turned Ahmed Mohamed into an instant celebrity. Police have decided not to file “hoax bomb” charges against Ahmed, but social networks are still seething with outrage over the egregious treatment of a person of color simply wanting to participate in technology.
Along with the outrage, however, has come an outpouring of support from technology’s biggest names.

Texas principal sends awful letter to parents after Ahmed Mohamed was wrongfully arrested

Fourteen-year-old Texas student Ahmed Mohamed was arrested yesterday for bringing a clock to school, after his teacher and police confused it for a bomb. While charges were eventually dropped, the school district issued a memo to parents stating that it succeeded in its goal of keeping students safe. That memo fails to acknowledge that it confused an incident ultimately fueled by Islamophobia for a legitimate one, instead showing the school trying to hide behind the reasonable aim of taking school security seriously.
In a memo sent to parents, MacArthur High School principal Dan Cummings states that the local police responded to a suspicious-looking item on campus. That item turned out to be a clock Mohamed invented for class. Despite the confusion and subsequent media fiasco, parents are now urged to take this opportunity to go over the Student Code of Conduct, as bringing dangerous items to school is strictly prohibited.

Ahmed Mohamed science project Clock, gets him initally arrested by 'hoax bomb' charges (Sept. 14, 2015)

School officers questioned Ahmed about the device and why Ahmed had brought it to school. Boyd said Ahmed was then handcuffed “for his safety and for the safety of the officers” and taken to a juvenile detention center. He was later released to his parents, Boyd said.
“The follow-up investigation revealed the device apparently was a homemade experiment, and there’s no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm,” Boyd said, describing the incident as a “naive accident.”
Asked if the teen’s religious beliefs factored into his arrest, Boyd said the reaction “would have been the same” under any circumstances.
“We live in an age where you can’t take things like that to school,” he said. “Of course we’ve seen across our country horrific things happen, so we have to err on the side of caution.”
The chief touted the “outstanding relationship” he’s had with the Muslim community in Irving. He said he talked to members of the Muslim community this morning and plans to meet with Ahmed's father later today.

Google Starts Rolling Out Android Pay

By a show of hands, how many of you guys that have NFC-enabled Android phones plan on using Android Pay?

Today, we’re beginning to roll out Android Pay -- the simple and secure way to pay with your Android phone at over one million locations across the US. Android Pay also stores your gift cards, loyalty cards and special offers right on your phone. We’ll be rolling out gradually over the next few days, and this is just the beginning. We will continue to add even more features, banks and store locations in the coming months, making it even easier to pay with your Android phone.

Marriott Introduces The First Ever In-Room Virtual Reality Travel Experience

Why would anyone travel to a hotel to use something like this? This only makes sense if you are taking a VR vacation ala Total Recall.

Marriott Hotels today announced the launch of "VRoom Service" – a first-of-its-kind guest service that allows guests to order inspiring virtual reality experiences to their rooms. Created in collaboration with Samsung Electronics America, "VRoom Service" is a first in the travel industry. The launch represents the latest in a series of innovations by the Marriott International flagship brand that are changing how people travel.

ASUS Announces H170, B150, H110 and Q170 Motherboard Series

ASUS today announced Signature and Pro Gaming motherboards based on the latest Intel® H170, B150, H110 and Q170 chipsets for 6th-generation Intel Core™ processors, and available in a variety of popular board sizes for maximum build flexibility — including ATX, mATX and mITX.

  

ASUS Signature motherboards span the four new chipsets, both DDR3 and DDR4 memory types, and all price ranges. They provide exceptional everyday computing, with advanced technologies including ultra-stable 5X Protection II, convenient USB Type-C connectivity, and beautiful LED-illuminated audio.

  

ASUS Pro Gaming motherboards appeal to today’s modern value-conscious consumers, who demand affordability and the very best technology. Every Pro Gaming motherboard features multiple ASUS-exclusive innovations to unleash full performance potential, including SupremeFX gaming audio with Sonic Radar II, gaming-optimized networking with Intel Gigabit Ethernet, GameFirst technology and LANGuard, plus Gamer's Guardian and smart DIY features for superb durability and easier builds.

  

China’s Nouveau Riche Have Landed on America’s Campuses

Chinese students abroad used to be seen as diligent, penny-pinching, and idealistic. No longer.

When Lingjia Hu arrived in the United States from China in 1996, she did so thanks to a scholarship that would allow her to pursue post-doctorate training at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Raised by a family of doctors, Hu told Foreign Policy she wanted to “save the country with science,” but there were no opportunities for her back home. At Xiangya Hospital in Hu’s native city of Changsha, the best medical institution in China at the time, the lights would intermittently turn off because electricity was unreliable. When Hu moved to Colorado, she did a homestay with an American family. It would be six months before her first bite of Chinese food in the United States, only after learning how to drive to the local take-out restaurant. She then married, raised a son, and has lived in Denver ever since.

Homicide suspected in off-duty Texas officer's death

The death of an off-duty officer in Texas is being treated as a homicide, police said Tuesday.

Abilene Officer Don Allen was found dead Monday inside his home in Clyde. Investigators haven't released details about the manner of death, but have described it as "clearly suspicious."

"The circumstances behind his death indicate that the probable cause is homicide," police Chief Stan Standridge told reporters. "Aside from that, I'm not going to comment any further. ... I don't want to say anything today that would compromise our ability to hold these people accountable."

Police looking at videos that show Texas deputies shoot man

Authorities in Texas are examining two videos recorded by bystanders that show sheriff's deputies in Bexar County, Texas, shooting and killing a man.

One four-minute video has been made public by a San Antonio television station that acquired it from the man who recorded it Friday. It is shot from a distance and it appears Gilbert Flores has at least one hand in the air (the other cannot be seen) when he is shot.

The other video has not been released by police. Bexar County District Attorney Nicholas LaHood told CNN the video is "a better view to make an assessment on what happened. It is a closer view and a better angle."

Ohio officer in video says 'direct eye contact' one reason he pulled over driver

When a police officer in Dayton, Ohio, handed John Felton a warning for a traffic signal violation, Felton asked whether he was stopped for something besides having out-of-state plates, according to a video of the conversation posted on Facebook.

"Because you made direct eye contact with me and held onto it when I was passing you," the officer replied in the video.

Felton posted the video on Facebook. It's another example of how the national conversation about police-community interaction, especially with minorities, is being scrutinized. Technology makes the interactions easy to record and to share via social media.

On Monday, Felton's lawyer, Byron Potts, said he thought the officer's actions were discriminatory. Potts said he plans to lodge an internal affairs complaint against the officer and may file a lawsuit.

US Government Denies Responsibility for Megaupload’s Servers

This went exactly how we thought it would.

"…the government has already completed its acquisition of data from the Carpathia Servers authorized by the warrant, which the defendants will be entitled to during discovery. As such, there is no basis for the Court to order the government to assume possession of the Carpathia Servers or reimburse Carpathia for ‘allocated costs’ related to their continued maintenance."

Intel Unveils New Details For Upcoming Intel Omni-Path Architecture

Today at HotInterconnects 2015, Intel provided new details for its future Intel® Omni-Path Architecture (Intel® OPA), a next-generation high performance computing (HPC)-optimized fabric technology and a key component of Intel's HPC scalable system framework. Intel OPA is designed for the integration of fabric components with CPU and memory to reduce latency, increase node bandwidth and enable the lower power, higher density systems required by next-generation data centers. The additional details on OPA were included in a technical paper that will be presented today at 2:10 p.m. by Todd Rimmer, Intel OPA software architect.

NVIDIA Foundation Awards $200,000 In Cancer Care Grants

Four nonprofits providing cancer care and support services in West Africa, India and the U.S. have won $50,000 grants from our employee-led corporate foundation, the NVIDIA Foundation. The awards are part of Compute the Cure — our companywide effort to fight cancer and offer support to individuals and their families who are dealing with it. Through grants and employee fundraising, the initiative has directed more than $1.6 million to cancer-fighting causes since 2011.

Launched this spring, our Compute the Cure Cancer Care grant program aims to help provide support to those affected by cancer in the communities in which we operate, and others around the world. More than 50 organizations submitted proposals. Three dozen employees reviewed the applications and selected a group of finalists. Then, our employees voted for their favorite recipient, the Employee Choice winner. The Foundation’s board of directors (composed of non-execs) awarded the other three grants.

AMD Radeon R9 Nano Video Card PAPER Launch

AMD has released information on the new Radeon R9 Nano. This may be a 6" video card, but you'll be surprised what lies in wait under the hood. Today is just a paper launch as is AMD's new habit. We are able to share specifications, photographs, pricing and availability only.

Introduction

Today AMD is paper launching The AMD Radeon R9 Nano for the second time. All we have to share with you today are slides and photographs from AMD along with pricing and availability. In fact, AMD hasn't yet sampled reviewers video cards, holding it close to the vest while the official availability date looms ever so closer.

The AMD Radeon R9 Nano was actually announced first back on June 16th, 2015 during AMD's live stream event: AMD presents: A New Era of PC Gaming. The video card was announced as a small Fiji GPU powered video cad and was held up to show us it does exist. We were also told that the August time frame was when we could expect its launch. While the latter did not quite happen, today's launch is another paper launch announcement. At least this time we have confirmed specifications, pricing and know when it will be available.

The AMD Radeon R9 Nano will retail for $649 and be available September 10th, 2015.

T-Mobile Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay

The music industry wants T-Mobile to voluntarily follow a court order that was issued against rival Internet provider? I'm no fan of the Pirate Bay but don't think this is how things are supposed to work.

The Austrian branch of T-Mobile is refusing to block access to The Pirate Bay and several other popular torrent sites. T-Mobile was asked to do so by a local music rights group, who want the ISP to voluntarily follow a court order that was issued against rival Internet provider A1.

OCZ Trion 100 480GB SSD Review

The review crew at NikKTech have the OCZ Trion 100 480GB SSD ($160 per PC Hound)on the test bench today. You can see our evaluation here for comparison purposes.

OCZ made a great comeback after being acquired by Toshiba and after releasing two great SSD models (ARC 100 and Vector 180) it was just a matter of time before they too released a more "entry" level one and its name is the Trion 100.

Researcher Sucks Carbon From The Air, Makes Stuff From It

Some guy came up with a method of taking carbon dioxide from the air and, once removed, it can then be turned around and made into other stuff.

A new method for taking carbon dioxide directly from the air and converting it to oxygen and nanoscale fibers made of carbon could lead to an inexpensive way to make a valuable building material—and may even serve as a weapon against climate change.

The Woman Who Said She Helped Take Down Ex-Subway Spokesman Jared Fogle

Rochelle Herman-Walrond couldn’t believe what the world-famous Subway spokesman was telling her.

Herman-Walrond, a former journalist in Florida, became acquaintances with Jared Fogle – then a popular pitchman after his dramatic weight loss on the “Subway Diet” – about 10 years ago. The so-called Subway Guy regularly traveled for events and promotions related to healthy living.

But during one of Fogle’s trips to Florida, she says, Fogle spoke to her about his sexual inclinations, his attraction to minors.

Herman-Walrond reported the conversation to authorities.

Herman-Walrond says additional conversations with Fogle followed over the course of four years, as she served as an informant, wearing a wire.

British Family Photographs Kids With 'Beach Buoy' That Was Actually a Bomb

A family beach outing turned terrifying last week when what was thought to be a washed-up buoy turned out to be an active bomb.

"My children took their boogie boards down and we were going out to the sea," Kelly Gravell of Burry Port, Wales, said. "We saw a large object on the beach, so we thought we’d have a little look.

"We get things washed up all the time, so we thought it was a buoy. We never thought for one second it was a bomb." 

Jared Fogle's Wife Filing for Divorce After Child Pornography Charges

Jared Fogle's wife of five years, Katie McLaughlin, has decided to leave the former Subway spokesperson after he was scheduled to plead guilty to child pornography charges.

"Obviously, I am extremely shocked and disappointed by the recent developments involving Jared," McLaughlin said in a statement to the media. "I am in the process of seeking a dissolution of the marriage."

McLaughlin and Fogle have two children of their own.