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Submission + - A new life for old AM broadcast towers

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Video may have killed the radio star, but other media certainly make old AM radio towers superfluous. ...Maybe.

As once-loyal listeners tune away, most AM stations are barely holding onto life, slashing staff and budgets as deeply as they can while struggling to find a return to profitability. Once upon a time, having a broadcast license of any kind was like having a permit to print money. In today’s world, that's no longer true.

But, with 10,000 AM broadcast towers in the United States, stretching high into the sky, there may be an opportunity for wireless carriers who don't want to argue with community opposition from neighborhoods where residents don't want yet another cell tower. The amount of money an AM station owner can pocket by sharing its tower with a wireless partner varies widely, depending on the tower's location, height, and several other factors. But it's certainly more income — and a way to keep "old" technology from becoming obsolete.

Submission + - Steve Case on getting funding for innovation outside tech corridors

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Innovation occurs outside the Bay Area, New York, Boston, and Austin. So why is it so hard for a startup to get attention and acquire venture capital? Steve Case and Kara Swisher discussed this never-ending-topic recently, such as the fact 78% of U.S. venture capital last year went to just three states: California, New York, and Massachusetts. Case sees a "third wave" of venture capital funding and through his VC firm is investing in startups based outside major tech centers.

But, points out Stealthmode's Francine Hardaway, if you're in Boise or Baltimore you don't have to wait for Case to come to town. She shares advice about what's worked in other startup communities, focusing on the #YesPhx efforts.

Submission + - Australia Working On High-Tech Shark-Detection Systems (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Even if you're a frequent ocean swimmer, you're much more likely to die in a car accident than from a shark attack — and yet sharks strike fear into people's hearts in ways that directly affect the economies of surf paradises like Australia. That's why the Australian government is working on a host of techologies to detect shark incursions on popular beaches, including drones and smart buoys that can identify potential predators.

Submission + - Microsoft to Pay up to $15K for Bugs in Two Visual Studio Tools (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Yesterday, Microsoft started a three-month bug bounty program for two open source tools that are part of Visual Studio 2015. The program applies to the beta versions of Core CLR, which is the execution engine for .NET Core, and ASP.NET, Microsoft's framework for building websites and web applications. Bounties range from $500 to $15,000, although Microsoft will reward more 'depending on the entry quality and complexity.' The highest reward will go to researchers who've found a remote code execution bug with a functioning exploit and an accompanying, high-quality white paper. On the low end, cross-site scripting or cross-site request forgery bugs with a low-quality report will get $500.

Submission + - In Battle With Ad Blockers, Ad Industry Fesses Up To Alienating Users (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: In a post on the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) website Thursday, Scott Cunningham, senior vice president of technology of IAB and general manager of its Tech Lab, issued what amounts to an apology for '[losing] track of the user experience' and called on advertisers 'to do better.' But it may be a case of too little, too late as 'a report released in August forecasted that U.S. websites will lose US$21.8 billion in ad revenue this year due to ad blockers,' writes Jeremy Kirk.

Submission + - House of Representatives Proposal Aims To Regulate Car Privacy (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Even though, as reported today on Slashdot, 'experts from government, industry, and academia say they have no confidence they'll develop a secure system that can protect users from tracking and privacy breaches,' a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives have 'proposed that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set up an Automotive Cybersecurity Advisory Council to develop cybersecurity best-practice.' The draft proposal would require vehicle manufacturers to 'develop and implement' a privacy policy outlining their information-gathering practices, and would make vehicle data hacking illegal and subject to a $100,000 penalty for each violation.

Submission + - Beware of Oracle's Licensing 'Traps,' Law Firm Warns (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Slashdot readers are no strangers to Oracle's aggressive licensing practices, practices that have earned the notoriety over the years. This week, Texas law firm Scott & Scott wrote a blog post warning enterprises about the 'traps' in Oracle software licensing. One of the biggest problems with Oracle software is how difficult it is for companies to track internally what they're using and how they're using it, said Julie Machal-Fulks, a partner with Scott & Scott, in an interview with Katherine Noyes. 'They may use just one Oracle product and think they're using it correctly, but then Oracle comes along and says, 'no, you're using it wrong — you owe us a million bucks.'

Submission + - Barnes & Noble Has Been Quietly Refreshing Its Nook Hardware (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Peter Smith writes that he 'had more or less written off the Nook when Barnes & Noble farmed hardware duties out to Samsung.' But now that Amazon is aiming for the low end with its downgraded Fire tablet line, Barnes & Noble has an opportunity to 'carve out a niche on the higher end of things,' says Smith. And so it has been quietly moving in that direction. Yesterday, Venture Beat wrote about the newly (and stealthily) launched $250 Samsung Galaxy Tab E Nook. As Smith notes, 'the specs for this new tablet aren't anything special,' which might explain the stealthy launch, except that another, pricier Nook tablet apparently came out a month ago (again, according to VentureBeat), the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 Nook.

Submission + - Did You Get the Best Chip In Your iPhone 6S? (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Apple is splitting the manufacture of the A9 processor for its iPhone 6S between TSMC (~60%) and rival Samsung (~40%) — 'and they are not created equal', writes Andy Patrizio. For starters, Chipworks noted that Samsung uses 14nm while TSMC uses 16nm. And a Reddit user posted tests of a pair of 6S Plus phones and found the TSMC chip had eight hours of battery life vs. six hours for the Samsung. Meanwhile, benchmark tests from the folks at MyDriver (if Mr. Patrizio's efforts with Google Translate got it right) also found that the Samsung chip is a bigger drain on the phone's battery, while the TSMC chip is slightly faster and runs a bit cooler. So how do you know which chip you got? There's an app for that.

Submission + - Why Is RAM Suddenly So Cheap? (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: The average price of a 4GB DDR3 memory DIMM at the moment $18.50 — a price that silicon tech blogger Andy Patrizio calls "just crazy." Why is it so cheap? The memory business tends to go in boom and bust cycles, but the free availability of Windows 10 means that fewer people are upgrading their PCs, reducing RAM demand — and prices might stay low for another two years.

Submission + - Nissan Creates The Ultimate Distracted Driving Machine (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: More and more research is suggesting that it isn't safe to text or even talk on our phones hands-free while driving, but one brave car company is pushing full-speed in the other direction. Nissan has created a concept car in which every surface, including the entire dashboard and even the seats, is a display device. The car is the result of "extensive" surveys with the younger generation that came to the conclusion that, according to Nissan, young people "feel that time spent in a car should be time for connecting and sharing experiences with friends."

Submission + - Uber's Rivals Forming An International Alliance (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Didi Kuaidi is China's biggest native ride-sharing app, and it's using its cash hoard to build an alliance and global giant Uber. On the heels of a $100 million investment in Lyft, the company is also investing in Ola, India's biggest entry in the market. The deals have been described as involving sharing technology and market knowledge.

Submission + - Europe Agrees To Agree With Everyone Except US What 5G Should Be

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Following agreements signed by the EU with South Korea in June 2014 and with Japan in May 2015, the EU and China 'have agreed to agree by the end of the year on a working definition for 5G,' reports Peter Sayer. 'About the only point of agreement so far is that 5G is what we'll all be building or buying after 4G, so any consensus between the EU and China could be significant,' says Sayer.

Submission + - IBM's Watson Is Now Analyzing Your Vacation Photos (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer Watson is now suite of cloud-based services that developers can use to add cognitive capabilities to applications, and one of its powers is visual analysis. Visual Insights analyzes images and videos posted to services like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, then looks for patterns and trends in what people have been posting. Watson turns what it gleans into structured data, making it easier to load into a database and act upon — which is clearly appealing to marketers and just as clearly carries disturbing privacy implications.

Submission + - U.K. Man Gets Britain's First Ever Conviction For Illegal Drone Use (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Nigel Wilson of Nottingham was quite a drone enthusiast: he flew a drone over a Champions League soccer match low enough to startle police horses, and at other times flew drones over iPro Stadium in Derby, the Emirates Stadium in north London, and near the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the HMS Belfast and the Shard tower in London. He's been convicted under the Air Navigation Order 2009 and fined £1,800.

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