Microsoft announced it will be holding a Surface hardware event in New York City on October 2nd, which could be where the company unveils its dual-screen Surface laptop / tablet hybrid that's been in development for more than two years. As The Verge reports, the new dual-screen device, codenamed "Centaurus," is "designed to be the hero device for a wave of new dual-screen tablet / laptop hybrids that we're expecting to see throughout 2020." From the report: Microsoft demonstrated this new device during an internal meeting earlier this year, signaling that work on the prototype has progressed to the point where it's nearing release. Still, it's not certain that Microsoft will show off this new hardware in October or even launch it. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella famously killed off the Surface Mini just weeks before its scheduled unveiling. If Microsoft does plan to show this dual-screen Surface device, then it won't be ready to ship immediately. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell The Verge that the company is currently targeting a 2020 release date for its dual-screen Surface.

Alongside Centaurus, Microsoft will likely refresh other Surface devices. The Surface Book is long overdue an update, and Microsoft's Surface Laptop and Surface Pro hardware could finally see the addition of USB-C ports this year. Even Microsoft's Surface Go tablet is more than a year old now and could see a minor refresh.

Facebook has succeeded in blocking a pioneering order by Germany's Federal Cartel Office earlier this year that would have banned it from combining data on users across its own suite of social platforms -- Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp -- without their consent. TechCrunch reports: Pioneering because the antitrust regulator had liaised with EU privacy authorities during a long-running investigation of Facebook's data-gathering activities -- leading it to conclude that Facebook's conduct in the German market where it also deemed it to hold a monopoly position amounted to "exploitative abuse." The Bundeskartellamt (FCO) order had been likened to a structural separation of Facebook's businesses at the data level. Facebook appealed, delaying application of the order, and today's ruling by the Dusseldorf court grants a suspension (press release in German) -- essentially kicking the matter into very long legal grass.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: When the Department of Justice approved T-Mobile's purchase of Sprint, the DOJ's antitrust officials insisted that an unusual remedy could replace the competition lost in the merger. Sprint will no longer exist as a separate entity if the DOJ's plan is finalized, reducing the number of major nationwide mobile carriers from four to three. But the government agency is simultaneously requiring T-Mobile and Sprint to sell some of their assets to Dish Network in what amounts to a government attempt to micromanage the mobile industry. Dish, the government-selected replacement for Sprint, will create its own mobile service from its existing assets and spare parts the DOJ is requiring T-Mobile and Sprint to sell off. The DOJ acknowledged that T-Mobile buying Sprint "would eliminate head-to-head competition" and threaten the "lower prices and better service" created by that competition. But the department also claimed that the required divestitures will let Dish replace Sprint as a viable fourth carrier.

But will propping up Dish actually replace the lost competition? The answer in the short term is clearly no, because the merger remedies won't result in Dish building a nationwide network overnight. It will take at least a few years, and consumers will be stuck with three major carriers during that time. Even in the long run, Dish isn't likely to become a full-fledged nationwide competitor because Dish's plan only calls for covering 70 percent of the US population by June 2023. That could leave 100 million Americans without the option of a fourth carrier.

Kaspersky security researchers have discovered a Trojan Dropper malicious module hidden within the Android app CamScanner that's been downloaded over 100 million times on the Google Play Store. After they reported their findings, Google removed the app, but added, "it looks like the app developers got rid of the malicious code with the latest update of CamScanner." They conclude: "Keep in mind, though, that versions of the app vary for different devices, and some of them may still contain malicious code." BleepingComputer reports: As a confirmation to sudden increases in negative ratings and user reviews usually pointing out to something not exactly going right with an app, the researchers found "that the developer added an advertising library to it that contains a malicious dropper component." In this case, while CamScanner was initially a legitimate Android app using in-app purchases and ad-based monetization, "at some point, that changed, and recent versions of the app shipped with an advertising library containing a malicious module," says Kaspersky.

The module dubbed Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Necro.n is a Trojan Dropper, a malware strain used to download and install a Trojan Downloader on already compromised Android devices which can be employed to infect the infected smartphones or tablets with other malware. When the CamScanner app is launched on the Android device, the dropper decrypts and executes malicious code stored within a mutter.zip file discovered in the app's resources. "As a result, the owners of the module can use an infected device to their benefit in any way they see fit, from showing the victim intrusive advertising to stealing money from their mobile account by charging paid subscriptions," found the researchers.

McGruber shares a report: Today, the dream of goggle-wearing masses has deflated, and investment in the tech has dwindled. But VR companies like Talespin have found a growing market in simulating the least entertaining content imaginable: our jobs. Consumers may not yet feel the pull of visiting fantasy worlds in their free time, but for businesses that need to train their workers, better tools are a necessity, not a luxury. "What you're seeing today is not an evolution but a return to the application that's always worked," said Jeremy Bailenson, the director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab and one of the founders of Strivr, a competing virtual reality training start-up. He traces the roots of virtual reality back to the Link trainer, a mock airplane fuselage mounted on a platform that could simulate real flying sensations, which half a million military pilots used to safely train during World War II.

Talespin found its first major client in Farmers Insurance Group, which needed a new way to train claims adjusters for home inspections. The start-up designed a virtual house, complete with cluttered closets and leaky sinks, that trainees could scour for evidence of water damage. The simulation changed slightly each time, letting new hires rack up months' worth of experience in just a few days. The company has grown to 75 employees to match the demand for VR training coming from Farmers and other large corporate clients, fueled only by $5.6 million in outside investment. But the company always uses Barry's termination as a demo for new clients -- it's a compelling proof-of-concept experience designed, Jackson said, "to see if talking to a virtual human can actually make you uncomfortable. It's proved to be pretty effective." That emotional realism is what separates virtual reality from all the other tools for teaching interpersonal skills in the workplace, from pamphlets and role-playing workshops to interactive tutorials.

Wi-Fi 6, the consumer-friendly new name for the tech standard actually called 802.11ax, won't just boost data-transfer speeds -- though it'll do that, by a factor of three or so. It'll also reach into corners of our house farther away from network gear, better handle the crush of people at airports and stadiums, and sidestep interference from your neighbors' noisy network. On your phone or laptop, it should save your battery life, too. From a report: No wonder wireless chip designer Qualcomm is betting big on Wi-Fi 6. The company on Tuesday showed off a quartet of processors that'll bring Wi-Fi 6 to a new range of network equipment -- and a number of partnerships designed to telegraph its clout with the technology. "Wi-Fi is ubiquitous and widely accepted," said Rahul Patel, leader of Qualcomm's Wi-Fi chip division in an exclusive interview with CNET ahead of Qualcomm's Wi-Fi event. But with more devices in our houses, and activities like gaming and streaming video putting new demands on networks, there's a network traffic jam, he said.

"Cord cutting is real. What was typically one TV in the average home is now five or six different screens," Patel said. "There's a tremendous amount of content sourced through the home that wasn't before. There's a congestion problem." One of Wi-Fi 6's biggest advances is OFDMA -- orthogonal frequency division multiple access, if you must know -- an efficiency-boosting technology purloined from mobile networks. Another is MU MIMO, short for multiple user, multiple input, multiple output. And then there's 1024 QAM -- quadrature amplitude modulation -- which bumps up data rates by 30%.

A small but quickly growing online community believes that transforming randomly generated numbers into clusters of location data could help us tunnel out of reality. Their name for themselves: Randonauts. From a report: It's a sad truth that most of our lives are pretty boring, geographically speaking. Live in one place long enough and you will develop routines, walking the same streets and patronizing the same coffee shops and generally making it easy for a simulation, should one exist, to anticipate where you will be at any given time. Randonauts hope to use this tedium to their advantage, by introducing unpredictability. They argue that by devising methods that force us to diverge from our daily routines and instead send us to truly random locations we'd otherwise never think twice about, it just might be possible to cross over into somebody else's reality. "New information and causality can pull you out of the filter-bubble and change your life," writes The Fatum Project, the online team responsible for the technological and philosophical framework of the movement. Even if you don't buy into the dense thicket of theoretical quantum physics underpinning the logic of it all, going on a Randonaut-style adventure can be a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

According to the The Fatum Project, there's hard science behind all this. Building on research conducted by Princeton University's Engineering Anomalies Research Lab into whether human thought could influence real-world events, they hope that Randonauts will be able to leave their "reality tunnels" and discover new contexts, appreciate daily life in fresh ways, or even venture into parallel iterations of their own realities. Getting started is easy. Log into the Telegram messaging app and send the command "/getattractor" along with your location to @shangrila_bot (formerly, you could also message @Randonaut_bot). The bot will plot out thousands of nearby geolocation points using a quantum random number generator, and spit out the area with the highest concentration of points near you. Conversely, if computer-determined desolation is more your style, you can send the command "/getvoid" and through a similar process, the bot will send you a location where there are no randomly plotted points. On Reddit, Randonauts have reported finding things like an upside-down airplane; a llama, standing totally still; three identical black cats; a family of horses in a public park; and a bird that also refused to move. Under the auspices of "/getvoid," users have reported finding derelict locales, creepy signage, and other marks of decay. Think of it as geocaching by way of Marianne Williamson.

Former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski was charged with stealing driverless technology from Alphabet's Waymo unit, resurrecting the intrigue of the biggest legal battle to grip Silicon Valley in recent memory. From a report: The 33-count indictment announced Tuesday by federal officials in San Jose, California, adds a new criminal chapter to the saga that hung over Waymo's civil claims of trade-secret theft against Uber. Even after the companies abruptly settled the litigation in the middle of a high-stakes trial last year, questions remained about the mysterious engineer at the center of the turmoil. "All of us have the right to change jobs," San Francisco U.S. Attorney David Anderson said at a press conference in San Jose. "None of us has the right to fill our pockets on the way out the door. Theft is not innovation." Levandowski, 39, voluntarily surrendered to authorities and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if he's convicted. Anderson said the government's investigation is ongoing, but he declined to discuss the probe further. Levandowski "didn't steal anything from anyone," his lawyer, Miles Ehrlich, said in a statement. The indictment "rehashed claims discredited in a civil case that settled more than a year and a half ago."

Verizon on Tuesday said it'll begin automatically enrolling eligible Android phones in its free Call Filter service. The company said it's making the move after the Federal Communications Commission in June voted to give wireless carriers greater power to "aggressively block" unwanted robocalls. From a report: "We know our customers are sick and tired of the endless onslaught of robocalls," Ronan Dunne, Verizon executive vice president, said in a release. "Our team is committed to developing and enhancing the tools that will help bring relief to our customers. This is another major step in that process." The free version of Call Filter will block robocalls, sending them automatically to voicemail, and put a warning label on potential spam calls. Verizon said auto-enrollment will begin Tuesday for postpaid customers with eligible devices. Prepaid Android customers and iPhone users can enroll in the free service by downloading the Call Filter app. Verizon started offering a free version of its spam- and robocall-blocking tools to customers in March. The wireless carrier also offers a paid version called Call Filter Plus, which costs $2.99 a month per line. The paid service offers additional tools like the ability to identify unknown callers by name and a spam number lookup feature.

Fairphone, the company that wants to get ethically-responsible smartphones into the hands of consumers worldwide, has unveiled the third iteration of its modular device. From a report: Fairphone 3, launched under the tagline, "The phone that dares to be fair," is available for pre-order now, and boasts some pretty decent specs that put it on par with more well-established devices. The phone runs Android 9, and comes with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 632 chip, which has helped make solid dual cameras a reality on mid-tier devices. It also runs the same camera system as the Pixel 3a XL, boasts 64GB internal storage (expandable with a microSD card), a fingerprint scanner, quick charge support and NFC, plus it crams in the ubiquitous 3.5mm headphone jack that many fear is not long for this earth. In a bid to cut down on e-waste it doesn't come with any accessories -- cables or earphones and such -- but who doesn't already have a draw full of those kicking about? In short, it packs a pretty respectable punch, with the added assurance that it's been built using as many conflict-free resources as possible and -- thanks to its modular construction -- is durable, repairable and upgradable. Fairphone is also the first smartphone company to integrate Fairtrade gold into its supply chain.

China's Huawei has begun talks with Russia about installing Russian operating system (OS) Aurora on 360,000 of its tablets to conduct Russia's population census next year, Reuters reported Monday, citing two sources. From the report: Huawei has been seeking alternative operating systems to Google's Android OS after Washington put the world's second-largest smartphone maker on a so-called Entity List that threatens to cut off its access to the essential U.S. components and technology. "This is a pilot project. We see it as the first stage of launching the Russian OS on Huawei devices," the first source told Reuters. Huawei is in talks with the Russian Ministry of Communications, a spokeswoman for Huawei said, but did not provide any other details. Last week, Huawei said the U.S. trade restrictions could cut its smartphone unit's revenue by about $10 billion this year. Russia is discussing the use of Aurora OS on 360,000 Huawei tablets by August 2020.

The Department of Homeland Security stored sensitive data from the nation's bioterrorism defense program on an insecure website where it was vulnerable to attacks by hackers for over a decade, according to government documents reviewed by The Times. From a report: The data included the locations of at least some BioWatch air samplers, which are installed at subway stations and other public locations in more than 30 U.S. cities and are designed to detect anthrax or other airborne biological weapons, Homeland Security officials confirmed. It also included the results of tests for possible pathogens, a list of biological agents that could be detected and response plans that would be put in place in the event of an attack. The information -- housed on a dot-org website run by a private contractor -- has been moved behind a secure federal government firewall, and the website was shut down in May. But Homeland Security officials acknowledge they do not know whether hackers ever gained access to the data.

Internal Homeland Security emails and other documents show the issue set off a bitter clash within the department over whether keeping the information on the dot-org website posed a threat to national security. A former BioWatch security manager filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was targeted for retaliation after criticizing the program's lax security. The website shared information among local, state and federal officials. It was easily identifiable through online search engines, but a user name and password were required to access sensitive data.

You really have to give Oracle a lot of points for persistence, especially where the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract procurement process is concerned. An anonymous reader shares a report:For more than a year, the company has been complaining across every legal and government channel it can think of. In spite of every attempt to find some issue with the process, it has failed every time. That did not stop it today from filing a fresh appeal of last month's federal court decision that found against the company . Oracle refuses to go quietly into that good night, not when there are $10 billion federal dollars on the line, and today the company announced it was appealing Federal Claims Court Senior Judge Eric Bruggink's decision.

Apple has released today an iOS security update to patch a bug the company accidentally un-patched in an earlier release, introducing a security weakness that allowed hackers to craft new jailbreaks for current iOS versions. From a report: The original bug, discovered by Ned Williamson, a Google Project Zero security engineer, allows a malicious app to exploit a "user-after-free" vulnerability and run code with system privileges in the iOS kernel. iOS version 12.4.1, released today, re-patches this bug that was initially fixed in iOS 12.3 but was accidentally unpatched in iOS 12.4, last month. Sadly, Apple's blunder didn't go unnoticed and earlier this month, a security researcher named Pwn20wnd released a public exploit based on Williamson's bug that could be used to jailbreak up-to-date iOS devices and grant users complete control over their iPhones. But while users taking a risk and jailbreaking their own devices doesn't sound that dangerous, a lesser-known fact is that malware operators and spyware vendors can also use Pwn20wnd's jailbreak as well.

Freelancer site Fiverr is where a company can hire a short term app developer, a logo designer, or someone to help with their social media accounts. Fiverr is also a site where you can buy malware to illegally spy on your spouse, pay someone to place a GPS tracker on a car, or hire an unlicensed private investigator, Motherboard reported Monday, citing public listings on Fiverr. From the report: The news highlights how the struggle to moderate content is not limited to large social networks and platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Other sites, like Fiverr, also have trouble policing their platforms. Motherboard has covered extensively the harm that malware used in abusive relationships, sometimes known as spouseware, or how technology can enable stalking. "I have undetectable spyware to monitor your cheating spouse, staffs [sic] and kids gadgets," one listing on Fiverr found by Motherboard reads. For $5, customers can apparently buy malware that will record keystrokes and websites visited, and for $400 can buy software that will allegedly steal a target's passwords and email contents. The quality of the malware on offer is unclear. Another listing offers to "covertly deploy [a] tracking device to a vehicle."

Fiverr removed the listings offering malware and GPS tracking after Motherboard contacted the company for comment. "Any gigs that fall under our 'Illegal or fraudulent services' violate our terms of service by doing so. Two of the gigs you shared did violate our terms of service in this way and have been taken down, as a result," a Fiverr spokesperson told Motherboard in an email. It appears Fiverr also deleted the user accounts offering those two services.

A collection of consumer groups has written a letter to California lawmakers urging them to keep the strong protections in a state law due to take effect next year. From a report: The California law, if left largely as is, could usher in a range of new consumer protections. However, direct marketers and tech companies, working through various entities, have been seeking to water down the law. A coalition of 10 consumer groups -- including ACLU -- has written to California State Senate leader Toni Atkins encouraging legislators to explore the background of the Nonprofit Alliance, a group that has been pushing to have the law weakened. "We are asking that the Nonprofit Alliance release their financial information; explain their ties to corporate donors; and clarify their leadership, mission, and membership," the group said in the letter.

Australia laid out some of the country's first concrete steps to make good on its promise of combating the spread of extremism online at this year's G7 leader's forum, Reuters reported Sunday. From a report: Officials said the government intends to cut off all access to any internet domain that fails to block terrorist material during a crisis event, and legislation requiring online platforms to upgrade their safety measures is also being considered. "We are doing everything we can to deny terrorists the opportunity to glorify their crimes," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, per Reuters. These measures come in the wake of a terrorist attack in March that killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand. The tragedy was livestreamed on Facebook, with the footage quickly spreading to other online platforms that, in turn, hurried to shut it down. The incident prompted increased scrutiny from both Australia and New Zealand about how these platforms moderate their content.

Officials said they're establishing a framework to enable them to block access to domains hosting extremist violence, a decision which would be determined by Australia's eSafety Commissioner on a case-by-case basis. Hosting material "showing murder, attempted murder, rape, torture, or kidnapping" recorded by someone involved in the act, per Reuters, would also trigger a government block on that domain. To help police this new policy, the country plans to establish a 24/7 Crisis Coordination Centre to suss out such material online.

Google is launching new Chromebook Enterprise devices that it hopes will draw more businesses away from Windows-powered laptops. From a report: Microsoft has dominated enterprise computing for years, but as businesses increasingly look to modernize their fleet of devices, there's an opportunity for competitors to challenge Windows. Google is teaming up with one of Microsoft's biggest partners, Dell, to help push new Chromebook Enterprise laptops into businesses. Dell is launching Chrome OS on a pair of its popular business-focused Latitude laptops, offering both a regular clamshell design and a 2-in-1 option. While it might sound like just two existing Windows laptops repurposed for Chrome OS, Google and Dell have been working together for more than a year to ensure these new Chromebook Enterprise devices are ready for IT needs. That includes bundling a range of Dell's cloud-based support services that allow admins to have greater control over how these Chromebooks are rolled out inside businesses.

It means IT admins can more easily integrate these Chromebooks into existing Windows environments and manage them through tools like VMware Workspace One. Microsoft and its partners have offered a range of admin tools for years, making it easy to customize and control Windows-based devices. Google has also tweaked its Chrome Admin console to improve load times, add search on every page, and overhaul it with material design elements. Businesses will be able to choose from Dell's 14-inch Latitude 5400 ($699) or the 13-inch Latitude 5300 2-in-1 ($819). Both can be configured with up to Intel's 8th Gen Core i7 processors, up to 32GB of RAM, and even up to 1TB of SSD storage.

"The fight for space internet supremacy is on," writes the consumer policy expert at BroadbandNow, calculating the benefits of these additional broadband competitors: Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites for broadband internet access are beginning to display signs of real potential. Recently, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin pulled back the curtain on its space intentions by announcing Project Kuiper, a 3,236-satellite constellation. Additionally, Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink recently launched a rocket containing 60 satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral... Both players, alongside others like OneWeb, are spending billions in space in hopes of making further billions annually once the satellites go into service for consumers in the US and around the globe. SpaceX will initially launch service to North America, but once its full array is in place, the company has plans to roll the service out across the entire planet. Ostensibly, anywhere with access to open skies could be covered. Amazon has global aspirations for its project as well...

The arrival of this technology is likely to drive down monthly internet prices for hundreds-of-millions of Americans... According to further analysis of our market-wide pricing database covering plans and pricing from more than 2,000 ISPs, the average "lowest available monthly price" for the estimated 104 million Americans with only one wired broadband provider is $68. For the 75 million Americans with two choices, that average lowest price drops to $59. For the lucky 15 million Americans with five or more choices, it's $47. Because LEO technology will ostensibly be available everywhere in the US, as well as globally, this indicates the powerful influence the entrance of the technology will have on internet prices as new markets gain access to an additional true "broadband" option and competition heats-up.

Our projections show that that low-latency, LEO satellite internet is likely to have a similar impact on average regional prices as wired, low-latency wired providers. Extrapolating this additional competitor across all US households, the introduction of LEO satellite internet could save Americans over $30 billion... Shortly after, these same transformative benefits could spread to countries across the globe, permanently altering the landscape of the internet as we know it.

Slashdot reader sfcrazy writes: The Linux Foundation hosted the executive director of the FreeBSD Foundation, Deb Goodkin, at the Open Source Summit in San Diego. In this episode of Let's Talk, we sat down with Goodkin to talk about the FreeBSD project and the foundation.
"How did they let you in?" jokes their interviewer.

"They didn't realize that FreeBSD was not a Linux distribution," the executive director replies. "No, but seriously, they've been very welcoming to the FreeBSD community and wanting to include our voice in conversations about open source." FreeBSD is about five and a half million lines of code, versus 35 million for Linux, so "If you want to learn, it's a great way to learn... Someone said they believed that they were a great Linux sys-admin because of knowing FreeBSD."

Founded in 2000 in Boulder, Colorado, the FreeBSD project is a 501(c)(3) -- a public charity -- where the Linux Foundation is a 501(c)(6) -- a trade association. They have 400 committers, and "We're known for excellent documentation," the executive director says in the interview, describing how the community works to welcome new-comers and mentor new contributors. "We actually descended from the original Berkeley Unix. Some of those original people who worked on Berkeley Unix are still involved in the FreeBSD project. They're very approachable. So these young people go to conferences, and here you have Kirk McKusick, who developed UFS and still works on file systems, and he's there, and he's telling stories about back in the day, when he was at Berkeley working with Bill Joy, and he is really interested in helping these new people contribute."

Companies using FreeBSD include Netflix and Apple -- and according to Phoronix, the number of FreeBSD ports has increased to nearly 37,000 packages.