Windows 10 Officially Launches Today
After months of hype from Microsoft about its brand new operating system, Windows 10, it finally launches to the general public this morning. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users who reserved their copy in advance will be among the first to receive their upgrade, after insiders and reviewers received theirs over the last few days. Off the shelf and standalone versions of the operating system will be available for purchase in early August. Microsoft has set its target at 1 Billions users of Windows 10 by 2018, which may indeed be possible. Over 300 million new devices are shipped every year with Windows pre-installed. Along with the over 600 million devices that currently run Windows 7 or 8.1, that goal is easily in sight. Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group, says that approximately one third of consumers that are eligible will make the upgrade within the first few months, which are most likely enthusiasts and those looking to have the latest and greatest. Whereas the other two thirds, mainly business customers and general consumers, will wait until bugs and other issues are flushed out before making the switch.
Read more on USA Today...
Facebook under fire for Facial Recognition Privacy Concerns
Facebook is facing a pending lawsuit that argues that the social media network did not notify its users upon updating its terms of service stating that it will collect facial data on users that are tagged in photos. The company is standing behind their claim that the photo tagging service used by many users across its platform, enhances the entire user experience. Privacy advocates are arguing that Facebook’s facial recognition software which is a form of biometrics, that works by assigning numbers to physical characteristics on a photo, should only be used with explicit permission from its users. Facebook’s photo tagging tool can find the distance between a subjects eyes, nose and ears that will in turn assign a number as a faceprint. Regulators in Canada and Europe have ordered the software to be shut off.
Read more on TechMalak...
Qualcomm reveals improved Wireless Charging Technology
Rezence, Qualcomm's vehicle into the world of wireless charging has passed a significant milestone: it will now work with phones that have metal backs. Wireless Charging has two main players vying for dominance: Rezence, backed by the Alliance for Wireless Power including Qualcomm, Samsung, Intel, Duracell, EnergyStar, and AT&T, and Qi, backed by the Wireless Power Consortium including Asus, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Blackberry and Sony. Qi had an early lead with phones like Google's Nexus devices, and Nokia's Lumia devices. Rezence has been trying to break into the marketplace, and offers advantages like larger charging plates, allowing multiple devices to charge at the same time, but until now, the devices have been limited to those with plastic backs.
Read more on Gizmodo...
Japanese Researchers fire World's Most Powerful Laser
Scientists at Osaka University in Japan have successfully fired a laser with a power of approximately 2 quadrillion watts, that's 2,000,000,000,000,000 watts. Although the laser actually uses more power than the entire capacity of the earth's power grid (for now, at least), it will only be fired for fractions of a second. Also called 2 petawatts, Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments actually only used a few hundred Joules for this first trial run—about as much as a microwave oven uses in a few seconds. The high powers are generated not with huge currents, then, but by amplifying the signal through a series of glass lamps over the span of its 300-foot length. “With heated competition in the world to improve the performance of lasers, our goal now is to increase our output to 10 petawatts,” Junji Kawanaka, one of the researchers, explained in a press release.
Read more on Gizmodo...
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