The Real Reason Facebook Bought Oculus: 'Virtual Reality Will Be The On-Ramp To Optical Computing'

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-facebook-bought-oculus-2014-11

In March, Facebook freaked everybody out by buying Oculus, the makers of the Rift VR device, for $2 billion. 

As we've reported before, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said they bought the company because it was a "a new communication platform." 

At the Paley International Council Summit on Thursday, we learned a little bit more about those plans. 

It came up during a conversation between Dan Rose, Facebook's VP of content and media partnerships, and Jason Rubin, Oculus' head of worldwide studios. 

Rose gave this reason for Oculus being the future of both computing and entertainment: 

If you think about the trends in computing technology over the last 50 years, we went from mainframe computers, which were very impersonal and distant, to desktop computers that became directly interactive — you can touch and feel and interact with and interface yourself and set on your desk — to laptops, which you can now suddenly take with you, [to] now today, everybody has a computer in their pocket.

The natural progression of that suggests that the next computing platform will move closer to our bodies. And our belief is that means that it will be something that sits directly on our face that we interact with through our eyes. 

Futuristic, right? 

"There are a lot of different approaches to how this might take place," Rose said. "Our bet is that virtual reality will be the on-ramp to optical computing." 

To translate: Facebook thinks that virtual reality is going to be the gateway to working with a computer that you control with your eyes, which takes the promise of something like Google Glass and pushes it even further.

In a recent interview with Business Insider, Oculus CEO Br! endan Ir ibe said that virtual reality headsets will eventually shrink to the size of a pair of glasses. And if you could control those with your eyes, you're looking at a computer interface unlike anything we've ever experienced.

And Oculus, by Facebook's estimate, is way ahead of everybody else in making that happen. 

Thus the acquisition.  

SEE ALSO: Here's Why Mark Zuckerberg Studies Chinese Every Day

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FTC shutters bogus tech support firms that scammed $120 million from victims

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/20/ftc-tech-support-scam/

You've heard it happen one time or another: a senior who's not very tech-savvy clicked a dubious link online and paid a shady internet company a hefty sum to remove a virus that was never there. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book, and apparently, still one of the most effective: the Federal Trade Commission has just shut down two massive Florida-based telemarketing operations that reportedly scammed victims (mostly seniors) out of $120 million in total, duping them into buying fake anti-virus software and fake tech support. Both have been active since at least 2012, so they might sound familiar. The first one sold software called PC Cleaner, while the other did business under several names, including Boost Software Inc., OMG Tech Help and, hilariously enough, OMG Total Protection.

According to the FTC, their modus operandi starts when a hapless user downloads a free trial of the fake sofware, possibly through an ad on the internet. That fake program will of course diagnose the computer with dozens of equally fake malware and viruses, forcing the victims to buy the full version for $29 to $49. They will then be instructed to call a toll-free number to "activate" the software, giving the companies' telemarketers a way to scam them out of even bigger money. What these telemarketers do is ask users for remote access to their computers, where they launch programs most people don't use, like Windows Event Viewer. They tell the victims that these programs' presence means their computers have been deeply infiltrated, and the only way to save their machines is to purchase more software and lifetime tech support for as much as $500.

Feds got enough evidence to bring them down after undercover operatives asked the companies to look at perfectly clean computers, and the "tech reps" declared them infected, the Palm Beach Post reports. The enemy of all things scammy and scummy then raided the Delray Beach, Florida offices of OMG Tech Help and Vast Tech Support late last week, froze all the suspects' assets and filed cases against them. So, if you know anyone prone to clicking those shady "how to make your PC faster" links on the internet, send them over to FTC's report so they can read about this in detail

[Image credit: Alamy]

Filed under: Misc

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Via: The Washington Post

Source: FTC

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Flickr lets you turn other people's photos into wall art for your home

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/20/flickr-wall-art-licensed-artists-creative-commons/

Remember that Wall Art service Flickr launched in October that gave you a way to buy big prints of your own snapshots (or, you know, selfies)? Well, now you can also buy wall-size versions of other people's photographs, though, that doesn't mean you can choose random images posted on the website. The only photos you can purchase from the expanded Wall Art service are those that come from Flickr's licensed artists (who also sell their work through the Marketplace) or from the company's hand-selected list of Creative Commons images.

You can have any of those photos printed as a modest 8 x 10-inch portrait or as a much larger 20 x 30-inch wall art. And, like we've mentioned before, you can opt for a wrap-around canvas print if you think frames would ruin the beauty of exceptional works, such as one of NASA Goddard's images of the sky and celestial bodies. Of course, having Flickr blow up a picture that means something to you personally will always be the best choice. But if you find yourself lacking in artistic talent or decent camera equipment, this beats buying mass-produced prints from the mall.

[Image credit: Lars Kristian Flem/Flickr (frame), NASA Goddard/Flickr (Blue Marble)]

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Source: Flickr Wall Art

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drag2share: Forget Thermostats â IoT Adoption Will Be Driven By Companies Upgrading Factory Floors And Warehouses

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/UP8Lop6I-Cs/iot-adoption-driven-by-companies-2014-11

We may think of Internet of Things (IoT) devices as futuristic looking objects in the home that can lower energy costs and open garage door for you. 

But the IoT is actually much more important to the enterprise sector.

IoT devices and software can offer businesses huge benefits, including better security, more effective monitoring of machinery and equipment, efficiency, energy management, and more.

In a new IoT report from BI Intelligence, we size the enterprise IoT market, noting the breakdown between hardware versus software spending, and determine which industries will upgrade to the IoT first. We examine how businesses are already using IoT systems and what barriers might still stand in the way of IoT enterprise upgrades.

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Google News Will Now Pick Out News Stories It Thinks You Should Read

Source: http://gizmodo.com/google-will-now-pick-out-which-news-stories-you-should-1661152079

Google just added a new Suggested Stories feature to its news search results, so you can let the search engine pull up a customized selection of stories to read about based on whatever terrifyingly dense accumulation of personal data Google has on you by now.

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