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Submission + - USB-IF Publishes Audio Over USB Type-C Specifications (anandtech.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The USB Implementers Forum this week published the USB Audio Device Class 3.0 (direct download) specification, which standardizes audio over USB Type-C interface. The new spec enables hardware makers to eliminate traditional 3.5mm mini-jacks from their devices and use USB-C ports to connect headsets and other audio equipment. Makers of peripherals can also build their audio solutions, which use USB-C instead of traditional analog connectors. Developers of the standard hope that elimination of mini-jacks will help to make devices slimmer, smarter and less power hungry. As reported, the USB Audio Device Class 3.0 specification supports both analog and digital audio. Analog audio is easy to implement and it does not impact data transfers and other functionality of USB-C cables since it uses the two secondary bus (SBU) pins. The USB ADC 3.0 defines minimum interoperability across analog and digital devices in order to avoid confusion of end-users because of incompatibility. In fact, all ADC 3.0-compliant hosts should support the so-called headset adapter devices, which allow to connect analog headsets to USB-C. However, digital audio is one of the primary reasons why companies like Intel wanted to develop the USB-C audio tech on the first place, hence, expect them to promote it. According to the USB ADC 3.0 standard, digital USB-C headphones will feature special multi-function processing units (MPUs), which will, to a large degree, define the feature set and quality of headsets. The MPUs will handle host and sink synchronization (this is a key challenge for digital USB audio), digital-to-analog conversion, low-latency active noise cancellation, acoustic echo canceling, equalization, microphone automatic gain control, volume control and others. Such chips will also contain programmable amplifiers and pre-amplifiers, which are currently located inside devices. Besides, USB ADC 3.0-compatible MPUs will also support USB Audio Type-III and Type-IV formats (the latest compressed formats), but will retain compatibility with formats supported by ADC 1.0 and 2.0. Finally, among the mandated things set to be supported by USB-C Audio devices are new Power Domains (allows devices to put certain domains in sleep mode when not in use) as well as BADD (basic audio device definition) 3.0 features for saving power and simplified discovery and management of various audio equipment (each type of devices has its own BADD profile).

Submission + - Microsoft Aims To Offer Windows 10 Upgrades For All Windows Phone 8 Lumias

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: News suggesting that Microsoft plans to offer Windows 10 upgrades for all its Windows Phone 8 devices broke today. “It’s our intention to enable a Windows 10 upgrade for Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “At this early stage in the development process, and given the vast portfolio of Windows devices worldwide, we can’t predict that all devices will be upgradeable, but it is our intention that the Lumia smartphone line be upgradeable to Windows 10.”

Submission + - AMD Catalyst Driver To Enable Mantle, Fix Frame Pacing, Support HSA For Kaveri (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: AMD has a new set of drivers coming in a couple of days that are poised to resolve a number of longstanding issues and enable a handful of new features as well, most notably support for Mantle. AMD's new Catalyst 14.1 beta driver is going to be the first publicly available driver from AMD that will support Mantle, AMD’s “close to the metal” API that will let developers wring additional performance from GCN-based GPUs. However, the new drivers will also add support for the HSA-related features introduced with the recently released Kaveri APU, and will reportedly fix the frame pacing issues associated with Radeon HD 7000 series CrossFire configurations. A patch for Battlefield 4 is due to arrive soon as well and AMD is claiming performance gains in excess of 40 percent in CPU limited scenarios but smaller gains in GPU-limited conditions, with average gains of 11 — 13 percent over all.

Submission + - Target Admits 110 Million Victims in Data Breach, Not 40 Million (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Retail giant Target continues to drastically downplay the impact of the massive data breach it suffered during December, even while admitting the number of customers affected is nearly twice as large as it had previously estimated. Target admitted today the massive data breach it suffered during the Christmas shopping season was more than twice as large and far more serious than previously disclosed. A Jan. 10 press release admits the number of customers affected by the second-largest corporate data breach in history had increased from 40 million to 70 million, and that the data stolen included emails, phone numbers, street addresses and other information absent from the stolen transactional data that netted thieves 40 million debit- and credit-card numbers and PINs. “As part of Target’s ongoing forensic investigation, it has been determined that certain guest information — separate from the payment card data previously disclosed — was taken during the data breach” according to Target’s statement. “This theft is not a new breach, but was uncovered as part of the ongoing investigation.” The new revalation does represent a new breach, however, or at least the breach of an unrelated system during the period covered during the same attack, according to the few details Target has released. Most analysts and news outlets have blamed the breach on either the security of Target’s Windows-based Point-of-Sale systems or the company’s failure to fulfill its security obligations under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Submission + - PC Shipments In 2013 See The Worst Yearly Decline In History 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The PC market continues to be in free fall, having now seen its seventh consecutive quarter of declining worldwide shipments. Worldwide PC shipments dropped to 82.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Gartner, a 6.9 percent decrease from the same period last year. It’s worth emphasizing that this past quarter resulted in a total of 315.9 million units shipped in 2013, a 10 percent decline from 2012, and the worst decline in PC market history. The overall shipment level was equal to the one in 2009.

Submission + - GCC 4.9 Will Make Compilers More Exciting In 2014 (phoronix.com) 1

Submitted by noahfecks
noahfecks writes: It seems that the GCC developers finally took actions to improve after CLANG is stepping ahead. Among the highlights to look forward to right now with GCC 4.9 include:
  • The Undefined Behavior Sanitizer has been ported to GCC.
  • ADA and Fortran have seen upgrades.
  • Improved C++14 support.
  • - RX100, RX200, and RX600 processor support by GCC.
  • Intel Silvermont hardware support.
Earth

Submission + - In 2011, Fracking Was #2 in Causing Greenhouse Gas in US (businessweek.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: According to Bloomberg, drilling and fracking results in greenhouse gases second only to coal power plants in the United States. From the article, 'Emissions from drilling, including fracking, and leaks from transmission pipes totaled 225 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalents during 2011, second only to power plants, which emitted about 10 times that amount.' According to Mother Jones, we now have more giant methane fireballs than any other country in the world and we can now see once dim North Dakota at night from space.
Businesses

Submission + - Woz Says iPhone Features Are 'Behind' (ibtimes.com)

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "The iPhone may be one of the bestselling smartphones on the planet, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes Apple's flagship smartphone has fallen behind its competitors, namely those built by Samsung, when it comes to smartphone features. Speaking at Businessweek's Best Brand Awards on Thursday evening, Wozniak said he was proud of how loyal Apple fans were to the iPhone, but also said 'this loyalty is not given,' shortly before denouncing his own company's smartphone. 'Currently we are, in my opinion, somewhat behind with features in the smartphone business,' Wozniak said. 'Others have caught up. Samsung is a big competitor. But precisely because they are currently making great products.'"
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista (kitguru.net) 5

Submitted by NettiWelho
NettiWelho writes: Data from Net Applications shows that Windows 8 is less popular than Windows Vista, the operating system that proved unpopular with the enthusiast audience.

Windows 8 usage uptake has slipped behind Vista’s in the same point in its release. Windows 8 online usage share is around 1.6% of all Windows PC’s which is less than the 2.2% share that Windows Vista commanded at the same two month mark after release.

Net Applications monitor operating system usage by recording OS version for around 40,000 sites it monitors for clients.

The slowdown for Windows 8 adoption is a bad sign for Microsoft who experienced great success with the release of Windows 7.

Data was measured up to the 22nd of December, so there is still time by the end of the month for Windows 8 to claim a higher percentage of the user base.
Apple

Submission + - Some Apple iMac's "Assembled in America" (appleinsider.com) 1

Submitted by whisper_jeff
whisper_jeff writes: A number of newly-purchased standard units are showing an "Assembled in America" notation. While the markings don't necessarily mean that Apple is in the midst of transferring its entire assembly operation from China to the U.S., it does indicate that at least a few of the new iMacs were substantially assembled domestically.
Windows

Submission + - Windows 8 Sales Sluggish: NPD Group (slashdot.org) 3

Submitted by
Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: "While Microsoft claims it’s sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since launch—a more rapid pace than Windows 7—new data from research firm The NPD Group suggests that isn’t helping sales of actual Windows devices, which, in its estimation, are down 21 percent from last year. Desktops dropped 9 percent year-over-year, while notebooks fell 24 percent. “After just four weeks on the market, it’s still early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market,” Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group, wrote in a Nov. 29 statement attached to the data. “We still have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for.”"
Robotics

Submission + - Activists' drone shot out of the sky for fourth time (suasnews.com)

Submitted by
garymortimer
garymortimer writes: "“I had more control than I anticipated,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it didn’t just drop out of the sky.”

Photos provided by the animal rights group show the multicopter smoking on the ground, with its lithium polymer battery supply smoldering. Another photo shows the drone’s video camera smashed. The drone, dubbed “Angel,” was a Cinestar 8 octocopter estimated at $4,000.

This wasn’t the first time SHARK has been shot out of the sky. This is the fourth drone that the group has lost while investigating pigeon shootings. One drone landed on club property, and is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.

“It’s becoming a regular occurrence because the police refuse to do anything,” Hindi said."
Android

Submission + - Paid Media Must Be Disclosed In Oracle v. Google (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruh
jfruh writes: "One of the odder moments during the Oracle v. Google trial over Java patents came when patent blogger Florian Mueller revealed that he had a "consulting relationship" with Oracle. Now it looks like we're going to find out which other tech bloggers and journalists were on the payroll of one of the two sides in this epic fight. Judge William Alsup has ordered that both parties disclose 'all authors, journalists, commentators or bloggers who have reported or commented on any issues in this case and who have received money (other than normal subscription fees) from the party or its counsel during the pendency of this action.'"
Linux

Submission + - SCO Group files Chapter 7 (groklaw.net) 3

Submitted by rkhalloran
rkhalloran writes: The remnants of the failed litigation engine that was SCOX has finally filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code. "There is no hope for rehabilitation". At this point the lawyers will suck the marrow from the carcass and leave the bones to bleach out in the sun.
Microsoft

Submission + - First Look: Microsoft Office 2013 (infoworld.com) 1

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "Ever since the first beta editions of Windows 8 appeared, rumors have circulated over how Microsoft would revamp its other flagship consumer product, Office, to be all the more useful in the new OS. Would Office become touch-oriented and Metro-centric, to the exclusion of plain old Windows users? A first look at Office 2013 provides the short answer: No. 'Office 2013 has clearly been revised to work that much better in Windows 8 and on touch-centric devices, but the vast majority of its functionality remains in place. The changes made are mostly cosmetic — a way to bring the Metro look to Office for users of versions of Windows other than 8. Further, Office 2013 has been designed to integrate more closely with online storage and services (mainly Microsoft's), although those are thankfully optional and not mandatory.'"

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