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FTC task force will investigate tech industry competition
The FTC is about to step up its scrutiny of tech companies. The Commission has created a task force devoted to investigating competition in the tech industry. It will "coordinate and consult with" FTC staff on related subjects, including both potential mergers as well as "consummated" (existing) mergers -- yes, it could reexamine deals that have already closed.
Trump follows Amazon jabs by ordering US Postal Service review
President Trump recently tweeted that the US Postal Service's deal with Amazon was bad for taxpayers, but he has now taken his complaints beyond social media, the New York Times reported. The White House has convened a task force to examine the service's operations and "conduct a thorough evaluation of the operations and finances of the USPS," the order states.
US AG creates a new 'Cybersecurity Task Force'
Days after the Mueller investigation revealed indictments against 13 Russian nationals for election tampering, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new Cybersecurity Task Force. Its marching orders are a bit vague -- "canvass the many ways that the Department is combatting the global cyber threat" -- but the AG's first ask is for it to investigate efforts to interfere with US elections and infrastructure.
New York will tackle unfair biases in automated city services
Whether we're aware of them or not, algorithms affect a huge part of our lives. Now, in a US-first, New York is taking steps to address potential algorithmic biases in services provided by municipal agencies. City council has passed a bill that would -- if signed by Mayor de Blasio -- create a task force to examine if and how service algorithms are biased, how citizens can appeal decisions made by algorithms if they feel they're unfair, and if agency source code could be made publicly available.
Project Loon cleared to help restore wireless in Puerto Rico
Project Loon -- the balloon delivered internet project that started life as part of Google and now calls Alphabet's X "innovation lab" home -- has moved one step closer to becoming a part of the relief efforts in Puerto Rico. The FCC has issued an "experimental license" for it to provide emergency cellular LTE service. In a statement, an X spokesperson explained that the next step is to integrate with a telco partner's network, which it's "making solid progress on."
US carriers partner on a better mobile authentication system
Two-factor authentication (2FA) via SMS and a smartphone provides a heavy dose of additional security for your data, but as the US government declared last year, it's not without its flaws. To fix that, the big four US mobile operators, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T have formed a coalition called the Mobile Authentication Taskforce to come up with a new system. Working with app developers and others, they'll explore the use of SIM card recognition, network-based authentication, geo-location, and other carrier-specific capabilities.
San Francisco is serious about Airbnb regulation
Since San Francisco is all about startups, it's no surprise that the city changed its laws to accommodate one of its most successful: Airbnb. Last year, officials passed the so-called "Airbnb law," legalising short-term rentals of private property with a lot of caveats. Hosts complained that the new rules were inconvenient, so the city is creating a new taskforce to make the regulations easier to follow and catch those breaking the law.
White House wants its top agencies to have digital task forces
The US's web-based health care portal didn't launch as planned, to put it mildly, but the digital task force created to salvage that mess (and prevent others) showed that it's possible to have modern, responsive government services on the internet. Accordingly, the White House wants more -- as part of its proposed fiscal 2016 budget, the Obama administration is asking for $105 million to give each of its top 25 agencies a digital team of its own. The hope is that these new divisions, along with a bolstered central task force, will both improve your experience dealing with government bureaus online and help fend off malicious hackers.
Blu-ray Disc Association (still) working on a 3D standard, promises 1080p & backwards compatible discs
Just in case there was any doubt since the task force was announced in May, the Blu-ray Disc Association is still hard at work on a standard to bring home 3D movies the way they were meant to be seen. Ahead of IFA, the group squeezed off an announcement, mentioning its decision of minimum specs including requiring 1080p resolution to each eye and backwards compatibility for discs and players, so any 3D flick will have to include a 2D version for older Blu-ray players. Of course, we're sure Panasonic has something to do with this push, it's already planning to tour the country with 3D capable Blu-ray players in tow, so it shouldn't be too much longer until final decisions are made.
City of Heroes celebrates their 5th Anniversary with Issue 15
Been hoping to hear some more details on Issue 15? Well, true believers, your wait has ended! Earlier this morning, the newly rebranded Paragon Studios (formerly NC NorCal) announced their plans for Issue 15, aptly titled Anniversary! Along with some improvements to the Architect system introduced in Issue 14, I15 brings with it a new Fifth Column Taskforce; and not just the exact same one for Heroes and Villains, either. While the story arcs are based on the same premise, they will be told from different perspectives, thus giving the Villains some of that unique content they've been asking for. In addition to this, the Paragon Studios team is adding in a series of costume-changing emotes for players, supplementing the ones recently introduced in the Magic super booster. Also, for those of you who are as addicted to the character creation part of the game as we are, there are 20 new faces to check out. This, of course, ensures that several people will be heading for ICON, and perhaps even dusting off a costume change Veteran reward token for a makeover. (Like we really need an excuse for that!)
NCsoft Europe's Ultimate Heroic Weekend!
UK residents, NCsoft loves you! And to prove it, they're holding a 4-day social gaming event appropriately entitled the 'Ultimate Heroic Weekend'! Starting at 8 PM on Friday, March 21st, and continuing until 8 PM on Monday, March 24th in the capacious Omega Sektor in Birmingham, the UHW will challenge and satisfy gamers of all types with a veritable cornucopia of superhero-related joy.Similar to their recent convention, yet much more -- dare we say -- massive, the fun all starts on Friday with a meet and greet with Melissa 'War Witch' Bianco, who will remain for the entire weekend and provide details on the upcoming City of Heroes expansion, Issue 12! There will also be prizes for Best Heroic Costume and PC and console gaming until midnight.And the event truly kicks off with a bang on Saturday ...
WiMedia UWB gets thumbs-up, becomes ISO / IEC-certified
Just recently, we finally heard a bit of good news from the IEEE camp in regard to 802.11n's progress, and now wireless freaks can celebrate a little more as UWB has been officially published as an ISO / IEC international standard. We've already seen a number of related certification programs, prototypes, and even products, but just a few months after edging legality in the UK, it seems the deal is done. WiMedia-based ultra-wideband technology, which is the "approved format for Wireless USB," unsurprisingly enables "short range multimedia file transfers" at data rates up to 480Mbps that operate in the UWB spectrum of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. So while the brief rivalry was indeed entertaining, we're sorry about your luck, Freescale.[Via ExtremeTech]
IEEE pushing 802.16m WiMAX to 1Gbps, hopes to converge with 4G
If there's one thing that we'll never be satisfied with, it's finding out just how many nanoseconds we can shave off our download times from year to year, and thankfully, the IEEE seems to get that. While it has certainly taken its sweet time with 802.11n, the task force has already voted to make 100G the next Ethernet speed, and now it's pushing to make WiMAX implementations even quicker. Reportedly announced at 3GSM, the IEEE has began working on a new version of the 802.16 standard, dubbed 802.16m, which "could push data transfer speeds up to 1Gbps while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing WiMAX radios." Potentially more interesting than cheering for speed boosts is the group's outright assurance that this protocol will meet the ITU's requirements for 4G, insinuating that it should be the token choice for further 4G developments. Nevertheless, the increased bandwidth is supposedly needed due to convergence between VoIP and various forms of multimedia (IPTV, streaming video, digital downloads, etc.), and however true that may be, some skeptics are still understandably doubting the whole "backwards compatibility" aspect. Still, the IEEE hopes to have this together by "the end of 2009," but considering the team's less-than-stellar track record in the deadline department, we're not holding our collective breath.[Via DailyWireless]
802.11n going up for approval once again
Sure, they say the third time's a charm, but at this point, all "charm" in the grueling 802.11n ratification process has evaporated. Moving ever-so-slightly ahead of schedule, the IEEE's 802.11 working group has "unanimously approved Draft 1.10 of the 802.11n WiFi spec," and has now passed it along to the entire membership of the IEEE for final approval. Of course, we've certainly been down the unfortunate road before, but hopefully the folks in charge will give it the thumbs-up we all need to sanely move on with our wireless lives. Notably, there's "no set timeline" for when it expects an approval / denial decision, but if the membership does give this draft the green light, "it will be the final 802.11n specification." Now, let's all cross our collective fingers for some positive (and hasty) decision making.
IEEE votes 100G as the next Ethernet speed, scheduled for 2010
We're confident these off kilter batteries have been keeping the IEEE quite busy in recent months, but they've apparently made time to agree upon the next major Ethernet standard, and have raised the bar way above the rumored "40Gbps" level by dropping the hammer on 100G. If you're hoping to pick up some newfangled NIC and take advantage of these crazy new speeds anytime soon, fuhgetaboutit. The IEEE's High Speed Study Group (HSSG) has quite a bit of work to go, including the actual assembly of a new task force, which will "work to standardize 100G Ethernet over distances as far as six miles over single-mode fiber optic cabling and 328 feet over multimode fiber." John D'Ambrosia, chair of the IEEE HSSG, has admitted that the need for quicker (and larger) pipes is imminent, especially considering the growing trend in downloadable media and Web 2.0 applications, but anticipates the forming of 100G to "not be too great a challenge." While we're most definitely writing anything these folks say in regard to promptness off, we're admittedly glad the gurus behind the scenes feel this next step up should happen rather smoothly, but the IEEE still doesn't think a "finalized standard" will go live "until 2009 or 2010."[Via Shashdot]
IEEE taskforce begins 18-month revision of laptop battery standard
If you were hoping that the IEEE would hurry those 802.11n proposals along, you're probably not thrilled to hear that an issue with a bit more precedence is probably taking top priority. While we WiFi freaks wait impatiently for the next-generation standard to get its own stamp of approval, the taskforce is now beginning the efforts to update the apparently insufficient "Standard for Rechargeable Batteries for Portable Computing." In a presumed attempt to make the next wave of notebook batteries carry less explosive tendencies, the IEEE 1625 standard is being updated "to further safeguard the reliability of laptop batteries." The standard itself "defines approaches for evaluating and qualifying such batteries, verifying their quality and reliability, and educating and communicating with end users," all of which should see fairly dramatic changes. The bad news is that the IEEE is estimating a full 1.5 years before the protocol can be updated, but assures the frightened consumer base that all major notebook / battery manufacturers "have indicated strong interest to participate" -- which makes perfect sense when those very companies are losing millions recalling the current designs.[Via Laptoping]
