UK authorities sue Star Wars producer over Harrison Ford’s broken leg

Harrison Ford broke his leg at Pinewood studios. Now the production company is getting sued by UK authorities.

On Thursday, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced that it is pressing charges against Foodles Production, a UK-based Disney subsidiary that produced Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, over an incident that left actor Harrison Ford with a broken leg.

According to the HSE press release, Ford was “struck by a heavy hydraulic metal door on the set of the Millennium Falcon” on June 12, 2014, leaving him with a broken leg among other injuries. The accident occurred at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.

Ford was 71 at the time of the accident.

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UK authorities sue Star Wars producer over Harrison Ford’s broken leg

Time Inc Acquires Viant, Owner Of Myspace And A Vast Ad Tech Network

It looks like Myspace is becoming a big-media property once again. Today during its quarterly earnings report, Time Inc announced that it has acquired Viant, a company that has built a large ad tech business, but also owns other properties, including once-hot social networking site Myspace. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. Time plans to combine Viant’s business with its… Read More

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Time Inc Acquires Viant, Owner Of Myspace And A Vast Ad Tech Network

New report contends mandatory crypto backdoors would be futile

An estimated 63 percent of the encryption products available today are developed outside US borders, according to a new report that takes a firm stance against the kinds of mandated backdoors some federal officials have contended are crucial to ensuring national security.

The report, prepared by security researchers Bruce Schneier, Kathleen Seidel, and Saranya Vijayakumar, identified 865 hardware or software products from 55 countries that incorporate encryption. Of them, 546 originated from outside the US. The most common non-US country was Germany, a country that has publicly disavowed the kinds of backdoors advocated by FBI Director James Comey and other US officials. Although the Obama administration is no longer asking Congress for legislation requiring them, it continues to lobby private industry to include ways law-enforcement agencies can decrypt encrypted data sent or stored by criminal or terrorism suspects.

The authors said that they found no reason to believe the quality of encryption products developed abroad are any better or worse than their counterparts in the US or in the UK or France, whose officials have also hinted they favor encryption backdoors. The conclusion of their survey—which the researchers said represents the lower bound of the number of encryption products available worldwide—was that criminals or terrorists who are savvy enough to use encryption would also be smart enough to choose a product that isn’t subject to mandatory backdoor laws. The result, the authors argued, is that US competitiveness would be harmed with little benefit to national security.

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New report contends mandatory crypto backdoors would be futile

Marshmallow update for Android Wear promises battery boost

With a little over 1% penetration, Android 6.0 Marshmallow is still very much a rarity within the mobile realm and an illusive update most users are still waiting on. But it appears you handset won’t be the only device to benefit from the update, Android Wear units will eventually get a taste of Marshmallow goodness as well and with potential major benefits.

One of the main expected consequences of the new OS is improved battery life for the wearables. As most of you surely remember, Doze is a key feature of Android 6.0 and it appears it will be carried over to the wearable version as well.

We can’t really say how much this will extend average battery life, which currently sits at around two days, depending on usage, as well as how it will play with always on mode enabled. Still, there is bound to be at least some improvement, so we’ll take it.

As for availability, we understand that last generation Moto 360 watches already ship with the new Wear 1.4 OS. As for other devices, it appears a rollout has been in progress for a few days now, but no official update schedule has been provided. It is also worth noting that the new update brings support for speakers and making calls (currently limited to the Huawei Watch and the 49mm Asus ZenWatch 2, which have a built-in speaker), as well as a number of new gestures and voice…

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Marshmallow update for Android Wear promises battery boost

Microsoft lays off more employees from its mobile division

According to a report published today, Microsoft is laying off employees in multiple countries that were working for its mobile division. Some of those laid off were employed in Finland and had become part of Microsoft’s mobile division after the purchase of Nokia closed back in 2014. The report goes on to add that some of the employees affected were working in a marketing department that didn’t exist until Nokia Devices and Services became part of the software giant.

The exact number of job cuts is unknown at the moment, although it is believed to be a number in the “dozens.” Last July, … – Source

Microsoft lays off more employees from its mobile division

Android Runtime for BB10 updated to fix app uninstallation issue

BlackBerry has pushed a new update to Android Runtime for BB10 that is aimed at fixing an issue that was introduced after installing the OS 10.3.2.2876 update that rolled out last month.

The issue in question is related to the un-installation of Android apps on BB10 devices. BlackBerry explains the issue as, “Upon uninstalling an Android application, the application icon is removed from the home screen, however, the application is still installed on the BlackBerry 10 smartphone.”

To install the update, head to the Source 2 link below from the browser of your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. Once the update process completes, just restart your device, and the Android Runtime (and hence the app removal) should work properly.

Source 1 | Source…

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Android Runtime for BB10 updated to fix app uninstallation issue

LG Announces A Fancy Touch-Enabled Cover For The G5 Before The Phone Itself

LG is really excited about the G5. So excited, in fact, that they just can’t wait until Mobile World Congress later this month. To tide themselves over for the next few weeks, the PR folks have officially announced a cover for the LG G5 with a familiar see-through window and the capability to perform some basic functions with a touch-sensitive material. Most of the “Quick Cover” is translucent, allowing things like the phone answer or decline slider to be seen even when it’s closed.

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LG Announces A Fancy Touch-Enabled Cover For The G5 Before The Phone Itself was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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LG Announces A Fancy Touch-Enabled Cover For The G5 Before The Phone Itself

If Star Wars droids have sex, it looks like this

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, droids probably mashed metals.

While many of the most famous Star Wars humanoid characters developed romantic ties in the series’ seven movies, the love lives of the droids and robots that surround the same galaxy have been ignored. For almost three decades, the world has followed the entanglements of such hot couples as Leia and Han, Anakin and Padma, Jabba the Hut and that weird laughing, gremlin creature.

What about those amorous, amorous droids?

See also: The secret sex lives of ‘Star Wars’ droids

The sheer amount of droids that surround that galaxy hints that maybe its advanced cultures evolved robotics past the point of old-fashioned construction. Maybe those droids can replicate through coitus. Maybe those droids bang. Those droids probably bang …

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If Star Wars droids have sex, it looks like this

Your refusal to join Twitter is taking a toll - CNET

Though it’s popular with an in crowd of entertainers, politicos and hipsters, the microblogging service is having a hard time getting regular people to join. That’s a problem, a big problem.

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Your refusal to join Twitter is taking a toll - CNET

Yes, you can rely on Amazon’s new game engine during the zombie apocalypse

BRAAAAIIINNNNS! (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Since Amazon launched its free Lumberyard game engine yesterday, the world has been united in a single question: are we legally allowed to use the engine to operate life-saving infrastructure during the zombie apocalypse? After digging through Amazon’s updated terms of service for the new engine, we can now confirm that the answer is a definitive “yes.”

Don’t believe us? Go to the Amazon Web Services TOS and scroll down to rule 57.10. There you’ll see the following (emphasis added):

57.10 Acceptable Use; Safety-Critical Systems. Your use of the Lumberyard Materials must comply with the AWS Acceptable Use Policy. The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems, such as use in operation of medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, aircraft or air traffic control, nuclear facilities, manned spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat. However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.

As obvious jokes hidden in legal boilerplate go, Amazon’s efforts fall a little short of the Divinity: Original Sin EULA, which gave out rewards to the first 100 people who bothered reading through the boring language. And the humorous clause diverts attention away from other, potentially more worrying clauses therein, like the engine’s collection of “information about system and server resources, features used in the integrated development environment, frequency and duration of use, geographic and network locations, and error and information messages.”

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Yes, you can rely on Amazon’s new game engine during the zombie apocalypse

Merlin's beard, there's a lot of new Harry Potter stuff out this year

The year was 2011Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiered in theaters worldwide on July 15, and millions of Harry Potter fans wept into their popcorn as they bid adieu to the story that defined a generation. The credits rolled and we said goodbye. The end.

Image: Tumblr

Or so we thought.

See also: Surprise: An 8th Harry Potter book is coming out this summer

Ever since that last film, the Harry Potter universe has been growing exponentially. Gone are the days of waiting three years for a single book: 2016 alone brings with it a two-part play, a theme park, the first film in a new trilogy — and, of course, the elusive book eight. That’s a lot to keep straight — but we’ve got you covered. …

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Merlin's beard, there's a lot of new Harry Potter stuff out this year