Google Nexus 6 Review

Watch: Neil deGrasse Tyson Explaining the End of 'Interstellar | Indiewire

Watch: Neil deGrasse Tyson Explaining the End of 'Interstellar | Indiewire

Surface Pro 3 vs Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro - convertible battle - Load the Game

"Performance-wise, the Surface Pro 3 generally tops the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro according to most user reviews and benchmarks. The Surface line has been known to be extra-powerful, so we’re not surprised by that. You do have to pay the extra price, though. In case you need a high-end device with top-notch specs, the Surface Pro 3 should be your best bet. But if you want a powerful device that gives you all the mobility of a tablet, the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro would be the better choice. I personally love the watch hinge on the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro and would rather spend less on a fanless design with a pretty good performance, but that’s because I don’t use apps like Photoshop or video editing apps which need all the power the Surface Pro 3 can give."





Surface Pro 3 vs Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro - convertible battle - Load the Game

Can religion and science co-exist? | MSNBC

Can religion and science co-exist? | MSNBC

The New Yorker

“Interstellar” and “The Theory of Everything” Reviews

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Separates Fact From Fiction In 'Interstellar' : NPR

Tell Your Members of Congress to Oppose Internet Sales Tax Legislation in the Lame Duck | eBay Inc. Main Street

Bloomberg Businessweek: The Budget Mobile Era Arrives

"Call it the end of the beginning of the mobile revolution, an inevitable transition in which people start to give up on the grand (and expensive) experiment of tacking new gadgets onto their lives at regular intervals. We now know exactly where PCs are invaluable and where the usefulness of smartphones and tablets begins and ends. As a result, mobile prices are falling, and manufacturers are competing most fiercely at the bottom. “We are seeing the top of the market start to contract, with all the growth happening on the low end,” says Ryan Reith, program director of research firm IDC."

Chromebooks: Debunking the misconceptions | ZDNet

"Chrome has become a full platform, with extensions, system tools, and apps. Extensions are like the thousands of little utilities that have been around in the Windows and Mac worlds for years. They sit there ready to let the user do a particular task, no matter what application they might be using. They are easily invoked, performing a quick function. Once done, the user is back in the application."

Obama's net neutrality push cheers some, riles others

"President Obama's call for net neutrality could drive the Federal Communications Commission to regulate broadband service like a utility as a way to protect consumers' ability to access all content without a threat of connectivity being throttled."

Google's Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 Could Be Too Expensive (AAPL, GOOG, GOOGL,
SSNLF)

"Although previous Nexus devices didn't set sales records, they were fairly well-received -- the Nexus 7, in particular, fueled Asus' emergence as a top tablet vendor. Budget-minded consumers may have been attracted to the high-end hardware offered at an affordable price.
But it's hard to see these latest Nexuses as much of a bargain. Though both the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 are bigger and more powerful than their predecessors, they're also much more expensive.
Nexus has been synonymous with value
The last three Nexus devices -- the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 -- were defined as much by their low price tags as they were by their hardware. The Nexus 4, for example, retailed for just $299 despite offering what was, at the time, one of the fastest available mobile processors. In fact, in terms of hardware, the Nexus 4 was almost identical to Samsung's (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF  ) competing Galaxy S3, but it cost half as much."

iOS 8 vs Android 5.0 Lollipop Review: Material Difference - Forbes

"Comparing the iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop is a shock, because for the first time in Android history it has become more design focused than iOS. The ugly duckling is finally a swan. Its design is both visual, instructional and altogether more ambitious.

Not everything is right out of the gate. If anything Material Design is overly white and spread out (you can see less information in most apps – eg fewer emails, lines of text, etc) whereas its predecessor Android 4.4 KitKat was too dark and dense."

Google Nexus 9 review

" In Android's early days, the Nexus line served most notably as a comfortable, reliable tentpole. Really, the word "Nexus" was just about the only calm oasis during the operating system's Wild West period of varied hardware. New smartphones and tablets under Google's official banner usually came with the next big Android OS update, and they offered the kinds of stable hardware qualities (resolution, RAM, etc.) that developers could more easily target.

SPECS AT A GLANCE: HTC NEXUS 9
SCREEN 2048×1536 8.9" (281 PPI) IPS LCD
OS Android 5.0 Lollipop
CPU Tegra K1 dual-core 2.3GHz Denver
RAM 2GB
GPU Nvidia Kepler DX1
STORAGE 16GB or 32GB (non-upgradeable)
NETWORKING 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.1, A2DP, NFC, optional LTE
PORTS Micro-USB, headphone
CAMERA 8MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera
SIZE 8.98" × 6.05" × 0.31" (228 x 154 x 7.9 mm)
WEIGHT 15 oz. (425 g)
BATTERY 6700 mAh (non-removable)
STARTING PRICE $399

That's not the case in 2014. Across the phone-and-tablet spectrum, the hardware has become more homogenized, and even low-end hardware is good enough for typical mobile tasks. And while Android's next major update, Lollipop, offers some substantial visual changes and user requested features (look for the Ars Lollipop review coming separately), the OS is also about to roll out to other capable flagship devices, as if to say that eager upgraders don't need the newest model to dive in. What does the Nexus branding mean for a new device in 2014, then?

In the case of the brand's tablet half, the name seems to mostly signify power. Up until now, Nexus tablets—most notably, the Nexus 7's two iterations—have made waves with a combination of high quality parts and ridiculously low prices, undercutting a slew of other cheap, ho-hum tablets without skimping on performance. This year's Nexus 9, conversely, set its price point just a hair beneath Apple's similar iPad Air 2 while promoting its own industry-topping specs. This is not a tablet meant to blow the competition away with crazy new features or gimmicks; instead, it's a solid, familiar-looking Nexus device that just happens to have a ton of juice.

But just as we asked with the iPad Air 2, what does power really do for users when it's strapped to a mobile-first operating system? Are 8.9 inches of Android any better equipped to scream with 2GB of RAM, a 2.3GHz dual-core processor, and a 192-core Kepler GPU? And does the rest of the package—design, screen, camera—do much to either cement the love of the Android faithful or turn the heads of the iOS weary?"

Find Out if Your Wireless Carrier Is Tracking You on Android | Drippler - Apps, Games, News, Updates & Accessories

How Google tricks itself to protect Chrome user privacy - CNET

It's a sticky issue for software developers: how do you gather data about your product's users without invading their privacy?

One solution, as embodied in a new Google open-source project called Rappor, is to have the software send data that you know is wrong.

That approach may seem counterintuitive, given how much effort data gatherers usually devote to screening out bad data. The key to Google's approach, though, is a trick called randomized response that still lets the truth shine through, according a blog post Thursday by Úlfar Erlingsson, a manager in Google's security research division.

How Google tricks itself to protect Chrome user privacy - CNET

Hands on with Google's Nexus 9: This Lollipop tastes like an iPad

"You can taste the iPad influence in Google’s Nexus 9 tablet. Laying eyes on it for the first time, you’d be forgiven for thinking Apple made it. The slim bezel and the 4:3 aspect ratio screen are very iPad, but the display is slightly smaller — 8.9 inches to Apple’s 9.7.

At 15 ounces (425 grams), the Nexus 9 just as light as the iPad Air 2. The metallic rim adds the iPad feel, but I noted one important difference: It's easier to hold the Nexus 9 in one hand. I was able to grasp it more or less comfortably with my fingertips on one side and my thumb on the other, but I'm 6'4" (with what I suspect are normal-sized hands for that height) so your mileage may vary here."

LG G Watch R review - CNET

LG G Watch R review - CNET

'SUSTAINED' CYBERATTACK ON WHITE HOUSE

"WASHINGTON -- The White House computer network has been hit by what appears to be a sustained cyberattack, administration sources told HuffPost.

The White House -- or the Executive Office of the President (EOP) -- regularly gets hit with hapless cyberattacks from all corners of the web, but the one revealed Tuesday, said people familiar with the situation, has been much more significant in duration and strength, putting the system on the fritz for nearly two weeks, if not longer.

A White House official confirmed on Tuesday that the White House had "identified activity of concern on the unclassified EOP network." Network outages are not uncommon in the White House, but they typically last no more than a few hours. For the system to be damaged for days on end indicates an attack of significant strength.

"Certainly a variety of actors find our networks attractive targets and seek access to sensitive government information. We are still assessing the activity of concern, and we are not in a position to provide any additional details at this time," the White House official said in a statement.

The network outages have been a defense mechanism, White House staff were told in an internal note obtained by HuffPost. "Our computers and systems have not been damaged, though some elements of the unclassified network have been affected. The temporary outages and loss of connectivity that users have been experiencing is solely the result of measures we have taken to defend our networks," the email reads.

White House press pool reports sent by email Tuesday night were "significantly delayed," according to pool reporter Steven T. Dennis of CQ Roll Call. "Some people are getting pool reports significantly before other people," Dennis reported. He said later that the pool report delays "appear to now be resolved."