Few home-grown Google products have been as successful as Chrome. Launched in 2008, it has more than 63% of the market and about 70% on desktop computers, according to StatCounter data. Mozilla's Firefox is far behind, while Apple's Safari is the default browser for iPhones. Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Edge browsers are punchlines. From a report: Google won by offering consumers a fast, customizable browser for free, while embracing open web standards. Now that Chrome is the clear leader, it controls how the standards are set. That's sparking concern Google is using the browser and its Chromium open-source underpinnings to elbow out online competitors and tilt entire industries in its favor. Most major browsers are now built on the Chromium software code base that Google maintains. Opera, an indie browser that's been used by techies for years, swapped its code base for Chromium in 2013. Even Microsoft is making the switch this year. That creates a snowball effect, where fewer web developers build for niche browsers, leading those browsers to switch over to Chromium to avoid getting left behind.

This leaves Chrome's competitors relying on Google employees who do most of the work to keep Chromium software code up to date. Chromium is open source, so anyone can suggest changes to it, but the majority of programmers who approve contributions are Google employees, and any major disagreements get settled by a small circle of senior Google employees. Chrome is so ascendant these days that web developers often don't bother to test their sites on competing browsers. Google services including YouTube, Docs and Gmail sometimes don't work as well on rival browsers, sending frustrated users to Chrome. Instead of just another ship slicing through the sea of the web, Chrome is becoming the ocean.

Malaysia will return 450 tonnes of contaminated plastic waste to the countries that shipped it, in a refusal to become a dumping ground for the world's trash. From a report: Nine shipping containers at Port Klang, west of Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday were found to contain mislabeled plastic and non-recyclable waste, including a mixture of household and e-waste. Yeo Bee Yin, minister of energy, science, technology, environment and climate change, said the plastic was shipped from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Singapore. Five containers of waste were returned to Spain last month.

On April 24, Malaysia launched a joint task force to crack down on the growing problem of illegal plastic waste imports. The authorities have since carried out 10 operations. Last year, China banned plastic waste imports as part of an initiative to clean up its environment. That move caused a ripple effect through global supply chains, as middlemen sought new destinations for their trash, including Malaysia. A recent Greenpeace report found that during the first seven months of 2018, plastic waste exported from the US to Malaysia more than doubled compared to the previous year.

The US Navy is seeking to create an archive of at least 350 billion social media posts from around the world, in order to study how people talk online. From a report: The military project team has not specified which social media platform it intends to collect the data from. The posts must be publicly available, come from at least 100 different countries and include at least 60 different languages. They should also date between 2014 and 2016. The details were revealed in a tender document from the Naval Postgraduate School for a firm to provide the data. Applications have now closed. Additional requirements included: the posts must come from at least 200 million unique users; no more than 30% can come from a particular country; at least 50% must be in a language other than English; location information must be included in at least 20% of the records; private messaging and user information will not form part of the database.

Amidst an escalating trade war and political tensions with the US, Beijing officials have decided to develop a custom operating system that will replace the Windows OS on computers used by the Chinese military. From a report: The decision, while not made official through the government's normal press channels, was reported earlier this month by Canada-based military magazine Kanwa Asian Defence. Per the magazine, Chinese military officials won't be jumping ship from Windows to Linux but will develop a custom OS. Thanks to the Snowden, Shadow Brokers, and Vault7 leaks, Beijing officials are well aware of the US' hefty arsenal of hacking tools, available for anything from smart TVs to Linux servers, and from routers to common desktop operating systems, such as Windows and Mac. Since these leaks have revealed that the US can hack into almost anything, the Chinese government's plan is to adopt a "security by obscurity" approach and run a custom operating system that will make it harder for foreign threat actors -- mainly the US -- to spy on Chinese military operations.

Huawei's home-grown operating system -- codenamed HongMeng -- that's set to replace Android once the Huawei ban from Google comes into full effect, will be commercially rolled out next month, a Middle East head for the firm revealed exclusively to TechRadar Middle East. From a report: On May 20, Google announced that it would partially cut off Huawei devices from its Android operating system but was given an extension till August 19 by the US White House. "Huawei knew this was coming and was preparing. The OS was ready in January 2018 and this was our 'Plan B'," said Alaa Elshimy, Managing Director and Vice President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group Middle East. "We did not want to bring the OS to the market as we had a strong relationship with Google and others and did not want to ruin the relationship. Now, we are rolling it out next month."

W3C and the WHATWG signed an agreement today to collaborate on the development of a single version of the HTML and DOM specifications. From a blog post: The Memorandum of Understanding jointly published as the WHATWG/W3C Joint Working Mode gives the specifics of this collaboration. This is the culmination of a careful exploration effective partnership mechanisms since December 2017 after the WHATWG adopted many shared features as their work-mode and an IPR policy. The HTML Working Group which we will soon recharter will assist the W3C community in raising issues and proposing solutions for the HTML and DOM specifications, and bring WHATWG Review Drafts to Recommendation.

Motivated by the belief that having two distinct HTML and DOM specifications claiming to be normative is generally harmful for the community, and the mutual desire to bring the work back together, W3C and WHATWG agree to the following terms: W3C and WHATWG work together on HTML and DOM, in the WHATWG repositories, to produce a Living Standard and Recommendation/Review Draft-snapshots. WHATWG maintains the HTML and DOM Living Standards. W3C facilitates community work directly in the WHATWG repositories (bridging communities, developing use cases, filing issues, writing tests, mediating issue resolution). W3C stops independent publishing of a designated list of specifications related to HTML and DOM and instead will work to take WHATWG Review Drafts to W3C Recommendations.

Qualcomm said today that it's teaming up with Lenovo on "Project Limitless," the first 5G PC. From a report: It's still really early days for the laptop, which was teased at Qualcomm's press conference, and is pegged for an early 2020 release date. The laptop uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx processor paired with a Snapdragon x55 5G modem with 7GBps transfer speeds. In its current form, Project Limitless looks like one of Lenovo's Yoga-series of convertible 2-in-1s, with a bend-back hinge and scallop-shaped chiclet keys. That design is subject to change between now and 2020, I was told.

The companies behind the movies "Singularity," "Once Upon a Time in Venice," "Mechanic: Resurrection," "The Hitman's Bodyguard," "I Feel Pretty," "Boyka: Undisputed" and "Hunter Killer," accuse the alleged operators of YIFYMovies.is and YTS.am of inducing and contributing to massive piracy. From a report: "Plaintiffs bring this action to stop the massive piracy of their motion pictures brought on by websites under the collective names YIFY and YTS and their users," it reads. The case was filed last month but has thus far remained under the radar. The names of the alleged site operators are not known. They are referred to as Doe 1 and Doe 2 respectively. "Defendants DOE 1 and DOE 2 cause harm to Plaintiffs' business within this District by diverting customers in this District to unauthorized Internet based content distribution services through, at least, the websites yifymovies.is and yts.ag."

Both sites operate differently. YTS.ag, which now uses the YTS.am domain name, is a torrent site and by far the most popular of the two. YIFYMovies.is, on the other hand, allows users to stream content directly on the site. The movie companies accuse both site operators of intentional inducement of copyright infringement as well as contributory copyright infringement.

While Intel is expected to detail its upcoming 10nm processor, Ice Lake, during its Tuesday keynote here at Computex, the company is already making one bold claim -- that Ice Lake's integrated Gen11 graphics engine is on par or better than AMD's current Ryzen 7 graphics. From a report: It's a bold claim, and one that Ryan Shrout, a former journalist and now the chief performance strategist for Intel, said that Intel doesn't make lightly. "I don't think we can overstate how important this is for us, to make this claim and this statement about the one area that people railed on us for in the mobile space," Shrout said shortly before Computex began. Though Intel actually supplies the largest number of integrated graphics chipsets in the PC space, it does so on the strength of its CPU performance (and also thanks to strong relationships with laptop makers). Historically, AMD has leveraged its Radeon "Vega" GPUs to attract buyers seeking a more powerful integrated graphics solution. But what Intel is trying to do now, with its Xe discrete graphics on the horizon, is let its GPUs stand on their own merits. Referencing a series of benchmarks and games from the 3DMark Sky Diver test to Fortnite to Overwatch, Intel claims performance that's 3 to 15 percent faster than the Ryzen 7. Intel's argument is based on a comparison of a U-series Ice Lake part at 25 watts, versus a Ryzen 7 3700U, also at 25 watts.

Huawei's founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei told Bloomberg that retaliation by Beijing against Apple was unlikely and that he would oppose any such move from China against the iPhone maker. From a report: When asked about calls from some in China to retaliate against Apple, Ren said that he would "protest" against any such step if it were to be taken by Beijing. "That (Chinese retaliation against Apple) will not happen first of all and second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest," Ren said. "Apple is my teacher, it's in the lead. As a student, why go against my teacher? Never."

The University of Illinois' Gies College of Business has become the latest school to announce that it is getting out of the full-time, on-campus MBA market. From a report: Instead, Gies will focus more aggressively on its online MBA option, the $22,000 iMBA, which has seen big growth since being launched in 2015. Why is Gies giving up on its full-time MBA? For one thing, the school admits it is losing money on the program. While it may surprise many observers given how high tuition rates are for MBA programs, many of these programs are actually loss leaders or "show" programs to get a U.S. News ranking. Secondly, applications to most MBA programs have been declining for years, evidence that there is less interest in the degree.

Just look at the numbers at the University of Illinois' full-time MBA, ranked in the top 50 by U.S. News. Applications to Gies' full-time program fell to 290 this year from 386 in 2016. The school actually enrolled fewer than 50 full-time students in each of the past three years. Even when apps were nearly 100 higher in 2016, Gies was only able to enroll a class of 47 students. There are a surprising number of schools in this same predicament. They have sub-optimally sized programs that cannot support the expenses required to deliver a quality program. And that is why we have seen a number of schools drop out of the full-time MBA market. The list includes the University of Iowa, Wake Forest University, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Virginia Tech, and Simmons College.

For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services. From a report: But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case. Since 2017, when the N.S.A. lost control of the tool, EternalBlue, it has been picked up by state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China, to cut a path of destruction around the world, leaving billions of dollars in damage. But over the past year, the cyberweapon has boomeranged back and is now showing up in the N.S.A.'s own backyard. It is not just in Baltimore. Security experts say EternalBlue attacks have reached a high, and cybercriminals are zeroing in on vulnerable American towns and cities, from Pennsylvania to Texas, paralyzing local governments and driving up costs.

The N.S.A. connection to the attacks on American cities has not been previously reported, in part because the agency has refused to discuss or even acknowledge the loss of its cyberweapon, dumped online in April 2017 by a still-unidentified group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. Years later, the agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation still do not know whether the Shadow Brokers are foreign spies or disgruntled insiders.

Japan's government said on Monday that high-tech industries will be added to a list of businesses for which foreign ownership of Japanese firms is restricted. From a report: The new rule, effective Aug. 1, comes amid heightening pressure from the United States in dealing with cyber-security risks and technological transfers involving China. The Japanese government made no mention of specific countries or companies that will be impacted by applying existing foreign ownership restrictions to the IT and telecoms industries.

The announcement came on the same day visiting U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are holding talks in Tokyo on trade and other issues. The United States has warned countries against using Chinese technology, saying Huawei Technologies could be used by Beijing to spy on the West. China and Huawei have strongly rejected the allegations.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that "privacy cannot be a luxury good offered only to people who can afford to buy premium products and services," a comment that some viewed as a dig at Apple. Well, Apple's software chief, Craig Federighi, says he doesn't "buy into" the criticism that Apple is turning privacy into a luxury good. From a report: Apple wants to sell products to "everyone we possibly could," Federighi said, adding that Apple's products are "certainly not just a luxury." [...] Federighi said it's "gratifying" to see other companies discussing privacy, but that it'll take more than "a couple of months and a couple of press releases" to change these companies' business practices, which rely on data collection. Federighi didn't name Google specifically, but likewise, it's pretty clear which company he's referring to.

In the interview, Federighi also addressed two other criticisms of Apple's privacy stance: that it shouldn't be storing Chinese' users iCloud data in China, where the country could spy on it; and that its choice not to collect much user data has made it fall behind when it comes to develop AI features, like Siri. On China, Federighi suggests that storing data within the country isn't as big of a risk for Apple as it would be for other companies, because of "all of our data minimization techniques." Between encrypting data and collecting a small amount of data in the first place, Federighi says there's not much to access on its Chinese iCloud servers, and that anyone who does gain access wouldn't be able to do much with that information. Federighi also says he sees the choice between collecting data and building powerful new AI features as a "false trade off."

China's ByteDance, owner of the popular TikTok streaming app, is taking a step into hardware to develop its own smartphone [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], Financial Times reported Monday, citing two people familiar with the project. From a report: ByteDance, whose $75bn valuation ranks it as one of the world's biggest start-ups, plans to launch a phone preloaded with its own apps -- which include newsfeeds, short video platforms and games -- in a bid to further spread its reach. The move comes as Chinese tech companies, spooked by the fallout from US bans on exports to Huawei, are ramping up their self-reliance. ByteDance is one of the few tech companies from China to boast a large user base outside its home market, including in India and the US.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon and Walmart's problems in India look set to continue after Narendra Modi, the biggest force to embrace the country's politics in decades, led his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to a historic landslide re-election last week, reaffirming his popularity in the eyes of the world's largest democracy. The re-election, which gives Modi's government another five years in power, will in many ways chart the path of India's burgeoning startup ecosystem, as well as the local play of Silicon Valley companies that have grown increasingly wary of recent policy changes.

At stake is also the future of India's internet, the second largest in the world. With more than 550 million internet users, the nation has emerged as one of the last great growth markets for Silicon Valley companies. Google, Facebook, and Amazon count India as one of their largest and fastest growing markets. And until late 2016, they enjoyed great dynamics with the Indian government. But in recent years, New Delhi has ordered more internet shutdowns than ever before and puzzled many over crackdowns on sometimes legitimate websites. To top that, the government recently proposed a law that would require any intermediary -- telecom operators, messaging apps, and social media services among others -- with more than 5 million users to introduce a number of changes to how they operate in the nation. Reuters adds: After Modi's win, about a dozen officials of foreign companies in India and their advisers told Reuters they hoped he would ease his stance and dilute some of the policies. Other investors hope the government will avoid sudden policy changes on investment and regulation that catch them off guard and prove very costly, urging instead industry-wide consultation that permits time to prepare.

Apple has issued a short statement on its website and in various newspapers announcing Apple Maps plans in Canada. From a report: The company plans to drive around the country with cars equipped with a ton of sensors in order to improve Apple Maps in Canada. Apple doesn't say when it plans to finish scanning Canadian roads and processing data. If you live in Canada, it could take a few months before you notice any change. Last year, Apple announced that it was in the process of rebuilding Apple Maps from the ground up. And you can already see some improvements in parts of the U.S. with more detailed maps, better representations of pedestrian and green areas, more accurate building shapes, etc.

AMD CEO Lisa Su today unveiled news about its chips and graphics processors that will increase pressure on competitors Intel and Nvidia, both in terms of pricing and performance. From a report: All new third-generation Ryzen CPUs, the first with 7-nanometer desktop chips, will go on sale on July 7. The showstopper of Su's keynote was the announcement of AMD's 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 3900x chip, the flagship of its third-generation Ryzen family. It will retail starting at $499, half the price of Intel's competing Core i9 9920X chipset, which is priced at $1,189 and up. The 3900x has 4.6 Ghz boost speed and 70 MB of total cache and uses 105 watts of thermal design power (versus the i9 9920x's 165 watts), making it more efficient. AMD says that in a Blender demo against Intel i9-9920x, the 3900x finished about 18 percent more quickly. Starting prices for other chips in the family are $199 for the 6-core, 12-thread 3600; $329 for the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 3700x (with 4.4 Ghz boost, 36 MB of total cache and a 65 watt TDP); and $399 for the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 3800X (4.5 Ghz, 32MB cache, 105w).

Nvidia today unveiled the tech behind new RTX Studio laptops, which can provide desktop-level computing performance for laptop users. From a report: Aimed at creators, the machines are targeted at independent artists who are fueling growing fields like social media, digital advertising, and 3D development. Nvidia says these laptops can deliver up to seven times the performance of a MacBook Pro. The 17 new laptop models from seven manufacturers, powered by a range of Nvidia GeForce and Quadro RTX graphics processing units (GPUs). The ultra-long battery life and stability when using newly developed Nvidia Studio Drivers.

The Laptops that meet the highest qualifications for creative capabilities will be badged RTX Studio. That will help creators to easily identify the right hardware to meet their demands. These Quadro and GeForce RTX-based laptops are purpose-built for GPU-accelerated content creation. The laptops feature the new Quadro RTX 5000 mobile GPU and GeForce RTX 2080, 2070 and 2060 GPUs. Quadro RTX 5000-based laptops are the world's first with 16GB of graphics memory, enabling advanced multi-app creative workflows and use of large 3D models that previously were not possible while on the go, Nvidia said. [...] RTX Studio laptops will be available starting in June from top computer makers, including Acer, Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, MSI, and Razer. Pricing starts at $1,600 and will vary based on partner designs, features, and region.

An anonymous reader writes: The SFGate site reports that Elon Musk engaged in a "bizarre Twitter fight" after someone suggested underground tunnels were better for trains than cars. "Opposite is true," Musk argued. "You can have 100's of layers of tunnels, but only one layer on surface (to first approximation), therefore trains should be on surface, cars below." Underground, he noted later, "you can have as many lanes as you want going in any direction."

San Francisco transit authorities then pointed out that their high-capacity BART trains carry 28,000 people every hour through a tube under the San Francisco Bay, adding "That's nearly twice as much as cars over the bay."

This being Twitter, BART "was attacked by a number of Musk fans and other BART critics, and was forced to defend everything from the odor on cars to the amount of public money the agency receives."