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Another Tesla facility has experienced a fire and this time it is at the firm's ambitious Gigafactory.

Tesla's enormous (and still being constructed) Gigafactory in Nevada is used to make electric motors and battery packs for the company's all-electric Model 3 vehicle. Late on Saturday night, the local fire department responded to a fire at the facility.

Employees were evacuated and production was completely halted across the facility as a precaution. Tesla has said that nobody was injured in the incident, which is good news. Early on Sunday morning, the fire department turned the scene back over to Tesla for cleanup and repairs, and production resumed at the facility.

Last month, a Tesla factory in California also experienced a fire. The fire at the Gigafactory reportedly occurred in the cooling tube coating oven, which is on the third floor of the facility. Sprinklers managed to suppress it and the fire department made the facility safe.

Tesla has been working hard to push up its Model 3 production numbers and expects to produce between 50,000 and 55,000 vehicles in the third quarter. It also expects to turn a profit in the second half of 2018.

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus has been on the upswing for their entire five year lifespan. It began as the home of the "flagship killer" that provided very affordable smartphones with killer specs.

Now years later it has proven itself over and over again and gained a larger than its original cult following, especially in European markets. This year, the OnePlus 6T due in one month, OnePlus is bringing their smartphones first time ever to a major U.S. carrier, T-Mobile.

However, the company has even bigger, more radical, plans ahead.

The founder and CEO Pete Lau has posted at thread called "Intelligent Connectivity: Our Next Step Forward" on the official forums talking about a new product, and it's not a smartphone nor a tablet. In fact, it's doesn't seem to be anything mobile at all.

OnePlus' newest smart device will be a TV, they call it, aptly, OnePlus TV.

Unfortunately at this point Lau is not ready to reveal much about the device. Not even is it an actual TV or a media device like Apple TV, but the teaser photo seems to suggest it's the former.

The latest beta of Google Chrome provides access to fingerprint sensing hardware so it can be used by web services.

The Web Authentication API enables fingerprint sensing features for Chrome. This could be used, for example, for two-factor authentication by web services to enhance security.

In addition, the latest beta also adds "shape identification" which relies on multiples APIs to detect faces, barcodes and Latin text in images across the web.

Google has also beefed up its push for HTTPS by displaying a red "not secure" warning when a user enters an e-mail or password into a site without HTTPS enabled. It also will exit full-screen mode when dialog boxes appear. This change is designed to catch the attention of the user to ensure they get the proper context of the decision they are being asked to make.

More info: Chromium Blog

via: Engadget

SpaceX has signed up its first private passenger which it will fly around the Moon using its upcoming BFR rocket.

Previously the rocket-maker had planned to send two private tourists around the Moon this year in a human-rated Dragon capsule using its new Falcon Heavy rocket. However, SpaceX has since dropped plans for crewed missions using the Falcon Heavy as it shifts its focus to the BFR. It can ferry astronauts to the International Space Station using the Falcon 9 Block V which is currently seeking human rating.

On Monday, SpaceX will announce details of the BFR's first private passenger Moon mission and seems set to identify who is flying "and why". It will be the furthest humans have traveled from Earth since the 1970s if the mission goes ahead.

SpaceX' BFR, or Big Falcon Rocket, is am ambitious super-heavy-lift rocket/spaceship system that SpaceX hopes to replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy with. It can carry payloads large enough to open up Moon missions, and then Mars mission. It is also intended to be fully reusable. At the moment, only the Falcon 9 booster and the Dragon cargo capsule are routinely reused by SpaceX.

According to SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, the spaceship part of BFR could be ready for short hopper flights by next year. Test flights of the system will be a few years off.

Some Kodi users have been infected with a crypto-mining malware due to a malicious dependancy distributed with a popular add-on.

According to ESET, the malicious dependency had been distributed by a recently shut down add-on repository in the Netherlands called XvBMC-NL. However, it is likely that XvBMC-NL was an unwitting participant in its distribution as it seemed to originally show up on a repo for Bubbles, later renamed Gaia.

Specifically, the add-on affected is script.module.simplejson, which is a legitimate add-on that other add-ons depend on to work properly. The latest version of the add-on is v3.4.0, whereas the malicious version is v3.4.1. The malicious version reportedly showed up on the Bubbles repo back in December 2017 and was later removed from the newer Gaia report in April 2018.

The XvBMC-NL repo shut down in Holland was likely still serving the malicious version unwittingly. The problem arises when a user installed the repo and automatic updates installed the seemingly newer version, which was the malicious version.

You can easily check if you have the Add-On on your Kodi if you use the media center. In the Kodi 17 interface, open Add-Ons. Then click the Settings button (cog wheel). Open "Manage Dependencies", and then scroll down to see if SimpleJSON is installed. The version will be shown beside the add-on. If you have v3.4.1, then you have the malicious add-on and should install and run an anti-virus software to find and remove the crypto-miner it installs.

North Korea has responded to charges against a hacker in the secretive country by insisting that the identified man does not exist.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) charged a North Korean man in connection to the hacking of Sony Pictures in late 2014, and also with the spread of WannaCry malware last year. WannaCry affected business and government systems around the world. In the UK, thousands of health appointments had to be canceled as the malware affected computer systems in the National Health Service (NHS)

North Korea is claiming that the identified man doesn't exist at all and warns that the accusations against the country could have a negative effect on relations with the United States.

The man "is a non-existent entity, and furthermore, the act of cyber crimes mentioned by the Justice Department has nothing to do with us," North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement to North Korean news agency KCNA.

Sony Pictures was hacked in 2014 ahead of the planned release of The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogan that depicts a U.S. plot to assassinate Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

The YouTube Kids app now provides parents with more control over the content that their children can see.

The most important addition to the YouTube Kids app was initially announced in April. It is parent-approved content, and it allows parents to handpick every video and channel available to their child in the app. It is available today globally on Android and coming soon to iOS.

For parents who want to enable this feature, open settings, go to the child's profile and select "approved content only." Now they're ready to start picking videos for their kids.

If this mode is enabled, then children will be unable to search for content. Parents can still search for content and can choose any video, channel or collection of channels they like by tapping the "+" button.

Another addition is the option to set the app to filter content for Older children, aimed at those aged between 8 and 12. It includes additional new content, like popular music and gaming videos. Parents can change between "Younger," "Older" and parent-approved content at any time.

As always, YouTube encourages parents to block and flag for review any content that they deem to be inappropriate for a child.

The BBC says it has solved a common problem with live sports streaming that caused a lag between broadcast and web streaming.

During the world cup, BBC viewers reported that they often heard neighbors celebrating goals before they saw the goal on their feed. This is fairly common for live streaming of sports and other events. For example, Amazon's broadcast of the US Open recently saw delays of up to 45 seconds.

The issue is difficult to tackle because there are many factors, including the broadband speed of the viewer and the equipment being used to view the content.

According to the BBC, it has found a way to make smaller video segments that can be passed through the system more quickly, resulting in viewers seeing action "at the same time as they would see it if they were watching on TV".

However, the BBC's solution would require the co-operation of the whole broadcasting industry. It is on show at the International Broadcasting Convention in the Netherlands today, and the BBC says it could be ready for prime time for the World Cup in 2022.

Source: BBC News

A Windows 10 Insiders preview is apparently prompting users when they try to install Chrome or Firefox, pushing Microsoft Edge instead.

Those who are testing the Windows 10 builds noted that when they downloaded Google's Chrome browser or Mozilla's Firefox browser, they were prompted with a message when they tried to run the installers.

"You already have Microsoft Edge - the safer, faster browser for Windows 10," the prompt reads. It then provides the options to Open Microsoft Edge (in blue) or to Install anyway (in gray).

Microsoft has irked some Windows users in the past by pushing Edge over competitors in a variety of ways. For example, at one point Microsoft tried to force Windows Mail to open links in Edge.

Google is set to discontinue its Inbox app just four years after it launched to test new features for e-mail.

Inbox brought about new features like snoozing emails to later and AI-powered experiences like Smart Reply, Nudges and high-priority notifications. In the intervening years, Google has taken what has worked from Inbox and it has added it to its Gmail service to "help more than a billion people get more done with their emails every day."

"As we look to the future, we want to take a more focused approach that will help us bring the best email experience to everyone. As a result, we're planning to focus solely on Gmail and say goodbye to Inbox by Gmail at the end of March 2019." writes Matthew Izatt, product managGmailr GMail.

Popular Inbox features like Smart Compose were introduced to Gmail in April of this year.

Google has provided a transition guide for anyone who needs help to switch from Inbox to the newer GMail service.

Remedy Entertainment's 2010 hit Alan Wake may soon become its own television series.

Alan Wake is an Xbox 360 exclusive that was released in 2010, developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Games. It follows protagonist Alan Wake, a best-selling author, as he investigates his wife's disappearance in the small fictional town of Bright Falls in Washington state.

While looking for his wife, Wake begins to experience supernatural occurrences and event plots from the novel he is working on. He has no prior memory of writing the material.

The title took five years to develop and was created by Sam Lake. Now, Lake has signed on as executive producer for a television adaption of the story. Additionally, Remedy Entertainment announced on Twitter that Peter Calloway (Legion, Cloak and Dagger) will also work on the project.

Spotify has significantly increased the number of songs you can download to your mobile or other devices for offline listening.

The music streaming giant allows users to download songs and albums to be locally stored on devices for Offline playback. This is very useful for people who cannot stream Spotify music in certain locations, so they can still enjoy their playlist whilst paying their premium fee.

Previously, Spotify set a limit of 3,333 song downloads on each of three devices, which is quite a high limit. However, that didn't stop some users from eventually pushing up against their limit.

Spotify then quietly raised the song download limit to 10,000 songs per device and raised the device limit to 5. It isn't unlimited of course, but that should solve the problem for most users who ran up against a download limit.

"At Spotify, we're always working on improving the experience for our users. We can now confirm that we have increased the number of offline tracks per device -- from 3,333 on three devices to 10,000 tracks per device for up to five devices," a Spotify spokesperson confirmed to Rolling Stone.

Apple unveiled today the newest generation of iPhones. The flagship models carry the name Xs and Xs Max, and whatever you might think about the names they are beautiful craftsmanship, as you would expect.

We already went through most of the improvements on paper, but let's not kid ourselves, what matters to many is what the iPhones look like. Apple has of course released their own press photos that are aimed to show the new devices in the most glorious of lights.

The official high-resolution press photos of the new iPhone Xs and Xs Max showcase the new and improved camera, the Super Retina displays as well as some of the more important new software features.

Without further ado, here are the iPhone Xs and Xs Max in pictures.

Apple officially unveiled today the new iPhone Xs, and the Xs Max, the new flagship smartphone. But they also had in store one more iPhone, as expected, the iPhone Xr.

This cheap, or rather cheaper, iPhone features a 6.1 inch LCD (instead of OLED in the less affordable models) display that Apple calls Liquid Retina, which, let's be honest, is probably just marketin jargon.

The resolution is a standard Retina definition at 1792 x 828 at 326 PPI which is a far cry from the 458 on the bigger brothers, and there is no 3D Touch found on the iPhone Xr. However, Apple has implemented a longer touch with haptic feedback, called the Haptic Touch, which should work fairly similarly.

The camera is neither on par with the more expensive Xs models, and offers only a single 12 megapixel camera. This camera however does feature an OIS and can even do Portrait mode thanks to some Pixel-like software trickery.

Apple has today unveiled the new generation of iPhones lead by the flagship models iPhone Xs and Xs Max, as expected.

The new models offer upgrades in most respects but most significantly in display, processors and camera. The displays are 5.8 and 6.5 inches OLED panels that offer a resolution of 1125 x 2436 (Xs) or 1242 x 2688 (Xs Max) pixels and a 458 PPI pixel density.

The new displays, Apple calls them Super Retina, also support HDR in both Dolby Vision and HDR10 and include a 120hz touch sensor.

The processor side of things is upgraded by the new A12 Bionic system-on-chip that includes an improved six core big.LITTLE style CPU that provides 40 to 50 percent improvement in efficiency.

The GPU, nowadays Apple-made as well, on the other hand increases the performance up to 50%, and even the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) has been upgraded to 8 cores with improved performance.

The A12 Bionic performance was demonstrated by Bethesda and their new game, Elder Scrolls: Blades, among others.

Camera specs haven't changed much, after all its still mostly the same 12 megapixel dual camera from iPhone X, but Apple promises that the changed under the hood and to the software make it worth the upgrade.