China builds world's most powerful computer

The 93 petaflop Sunway TaihuLight is installed at the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi.

At its peak, the computer can perform around 93,000 trillion calculations per second.

It is twice as fast and three times as efficient as the previous leader Tianhe-2, also from China, said Top500 which released the new list on Monday.

Its main applications include advanced manufacturing, weather forecasting and big data analytics, wrote Jack Dongarra in a paper about the new machine.

It has more than 10.5 million locally-made processing cores and 40,960 nodes and runs on a Linux-based operating system.

For the first time since the list began, China has overtaken the US with 167 computers in the top 500 while the US has 165.

"Considering that just 10 years ago, China claimed a mere 28 systems on the list, with none ranked in the top 30, the nation has come further and faster than any other country in the history of supercomputing," said Top500.

The US has four supercomputers in the top 10 of the Top500 list, while China has two which currently occupy the top two places.

The other positions in the top 10, published twice a year, are occupied by machines from Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

"As a computer scientist it's difficult writing software that can take advantage of and control large numbers of computer cores," said Professor Les Carr from the University of Southampton.

"This is why supercomputers are restricted to specialised applications - you need very specialised computing needs to take advantage of them.

"They are like extremely high-spec Grand Prix racing cars - they are fantastic for racing on circuits but they're not great for travelling from London to Edinburgh."

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Google's YouTube to launch kids' app

The NSPCC has welcomed the news of the app's launch

YouTube will launch a new app specifically for children on Monday in a bid to make using the service safer.

It is understood that YouTube Kids will have parental controls and restrictions on who can upload content.

The app will run separately to the main YouTube service and it will initially be available in the US only, but it is understood that it will be rolled-out in the UK later.

The move has been welcomed by the NSPCC child protection charity.

A spokesman for the charity said: "Keeping children safe online is the biggest child protection challenge of this generation. So it's good to hear about the launch of YouTube Kids.

"I'm sure it will be embraced by parents wanting increased reassurance that their younger children won't be exposed to inappropriate material."

The app will launch in the US on Monday and a UK version will follow

The parental controls will include the ability to limit the amount of time children can spend watching videos, as well as a tool allowing the search function to be switched off, it is understood.

YouTube Kids will have channels and playlists organised into four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Users will also be able to search for individual topics.

The app will be free, but it will be available on Google's Android devices only.

The app will have parental controls and users will not be able to upload content, making it safer for children

DreamWorks TV, Jim Henson TV and Mother Goose Club will be some of the content providers, the BBC understands.

YouTube Kids product manager Shimrit Ben-Yair said: "Parents were constantly asking us, can you make YouTube a better place for our kids.

"We've seen 50% growth year over year in viewing time on YouTube, but for our family entertainment channels, it's more like 200%."

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Apple bans 'bonded servitude' for factory workers

Apple has banned the practice of bonded labour - where new recruits are charged a fee - from its factories.

In its latest audit of factory conditions, the iPhone maker said that any such fee must be paid by its supplier and not the employee.

Apple began the audits following criticism of the working conditions in some of its factories.

It comes as a report from labour rights group China Labor Watch questioned the low wages earned by some Apple workers.

Working conditions at factories such as Foxconn are now closely monitored by Apple

Its 2015 Supplier Responsibility Progress report said it had told its suppliers in October that it was outlawing bonded servitude from the beginning of this year.

"That fee needs to be paid by the supplier, and Apple ultimately bears that fee when we pay the supplier, and we're OK doing that," said Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice-president of operations.

Bonded servitude or labour sees new workers charged a fee - sometimes equivalent to a month's salary or more - for being introduced to a factory, typically by third-party recruiters.

It means many employees will begin work in debt. Some have their passports confiscated.

A BBC Panorama programme investigation last year highlighted the poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories.

Undercover filming at one of Apple's factories - Pegatron - showed new recruits handing over ID cards, in breach of Apple's standards.

Apple, which declined to be interviewed for the programme, denied the allegations of poor working conditions and long hours and said it was deeply offended by the allegations.

On the same day that Apple published its audit, labour rights group China Labor Watch (CLW) released a report saying the company was unable to effectively monitor standards in some of its supply chain, allowing companies such as Pegatron to keep base wages below local living expenses.

CLW based its findings on 96 pay stubs submitted by an unknown number of employees. It suggested that low pay compelled workers to put in more hours.

Conditions in Chinese factories were first highlighted in 2010 after 14 workers killed themselves at a factory run by Apple's biggest supplier, Foxconn.

Long hours, harsh working conditions and low wages were said to be partly to blame.

In February 2012 the hardware giant announced that its factories would be inspected by the Fair Labour Association (FLA).

This is its ninth annual audit, and Apple was keen to show off the progress it has made in improving conditions.

It said that it had tracked more than 1.1 million workers on average per week in 2014 and that suppliers had achieved 92% compliance with its 60-hour maximum working week.

"We consistently report suppliers' violations of our standards," Mr Williams wrote in Apple's report. "People sometimes point to the discovery of problems as evidence that our process isn't working. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Apple has previously cracked down on excessive recruitment fees that foreign contract workers pay to labour brokers. It ruled that anything more than one month's wages had to be repaid.

Last year suppliers repaid $3.96m (£2.57m) in excess fees to more than 4,500 foreign contractors, according to the audit.

It also said that it continued to take steps to stop the use of minerals from mines in conflict regions such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company said it had more than doubled the number of verified conflict-free smelts to 135 last year. Another 64 were in the process of being verified.

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Samsung investigates why its TVs put ads in others' apps

Samsung is the world's bestselling brand of smart TVs

Samsung says it is investigating why some of its smart TVs are adding adverts to television programmes and films played via third-party apps.

Owners have complained of a silent ad for Pepsi interrupting playback several times an hour.

A spokeswoman for Samsung said it was only aware of the glitch affecting customers in Australia at this time.

The fault comes days after the company faced controversy over the way its TVs made use of voice recordings.

"We are aware of a situation that has caused some smart TV users in Australia to experience programme interruption in the form of an advertisement," the spokeswoman said.

"This seems to be caused by an error, and we are currently conducting a full and thorough investigation into the cause as our top priority.

"This situation has so far been reported only in Australia. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience experienced by our customers."

Australian subscribers to Foxtel's app are among those affected

Users of at least two smart TV apps have complained about the issue:

1.Plex - media centre software that allows owners to stream video files stored on a hard disk to other equipment. In most cases, the user would not expect to see any ads at all when using this

2.Foxtel Play - an app installed by default on Samsung's Australian TVs, which provides access to the pay TV network's channels, which have ads of their own

News site Ars Technica noted that Samsung and Yahoo had been working together on a way to show pop-up ads on Samsung's smart TVs and suggested that the software involved might be the cause of the fault.

It said some users had been able to stop the ads appearing by rejecting a "Yahoo privacy policy" in the affected TV set's settings.

Samsung TV owners wrote about the problem on the Reddit news site

Voice recognition

Samsung's PR team is also dealing with a backlash prompted by fears that its smart TV sets might be "spying" on their watchers' conversations.

Concern was raised by a privacy policy that stated: "Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of voice recognition."

Several commentators compared the policy to the surveillance state depicted in George Orwell's novel 1984.

Samsung says its remote controls send voice data to Nuance

Samsung has since clarified the situation, saying there are two microphones involved:

1.One built into the TV set, which responds to pre-set commands, such as, "Turn the volume up," but does not store or transmit the user's words while doing so

2.Another embedded in its remote control, which does send speech to a third-party service - currently the voice recognition specialist Nuance - to let the TV respond to complex commands, including requests for movie recommendations. In addition, it said, the commands could be collected and studied by Samsung itself

The South Korean company said it had now altered its privacy document to read: "Samsung will collect your interactive voice commands only when you make a specific search request to the Smart TV by clicking the activation button either on the remote control or on your screen and speaking into the microphone on the remote control.

"If you do not enable Voice Recognition, you will not be able to use interactive voice recognition features, although you may be able to control your TV using certain predefined voice commands."

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Microsoft Reveals Windows Holographic, An Augmented Reality User Interface For The World

Microsoft revealed a version of Windows that blends holograms with real world video to provide users with an augmented reality version of their environment that blends real objects with virtual, and virtual interface elements, information boxes and guidelines viewable via a wearable headset device.

Windows Holographic provides ways for engineers to see instructions overlaid directly on the objects they’re working on, Microsoft said on stage, or offers a way for architects to survey and present their designs alongside clients even when separated by great distances. If you want a look at something very similar being done by a company that’s much younger, but aiming at something similar, take a look at Sulon Cortex and what they brought to CES.

Hologram support in Microsoft’s Windows 10 software is universal, just like their new app infrastructure, which means that you can build once and use everywhere. Microsoft also pointed out that they’re working to help make this compatible with all kinds of emerging hardware on that horizon, including Oculus Rift, and Magic Leap – but they also revealed Microsoft HoloLens, a new in-house headset that will be available “within the Windows 10 timeframe.”

HoloLens is completely wireless, and features see-through lenses, spatial sound and advanced sensors. It’s designed to be a self-contained unit, and it has its own custom CPU and new Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) to work. It doesn’t even require a phone or computer to connect to wirelessly to work, and is meant to be completely independent.

Based on what we know about Magic Leap, it aims to combine the real world with lifelike virtual objects in a similar way, but using what seems like different kinds of ocular image techniques. The HoloLens does seem an awful lot like the Sulon Cortex hardware, which is also designed to be tether-free in its final construction. Our early experience with the Cortex suggested a lot of potential for blended virtual/physical environments, so Microsoft devoting considerable resources to a similar project is definitely exciting.

To support HoloLens and Windows Holographic, Microsoft built HoloStudio, a 3D modelling tool that lets people build holograms, which they can then integrated into software or 3D print them for physical use. Microsoft demoed the tech on stage using an actual hologram of EVP Terry Myerson.

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Microsoft tests 'Work Assistant' app to help with Office tasks on phones

New application is designed to help users perform Office-related tasks on devices running Microsoft's OS for smartphones. Is this Bill Gates' "Personal Agent" project?

Microsoft is internally testing a new application called Work Assistant, which might be one of the projects with which company founder Bill Gates is involved closely.

WMPU was the first to cover the new Work Assistant app. (I saw the WMPU report via Softpedia.)

The Work Assistant app, marked as a private internal beta, is designed to help users perform various Office-related tasks on devices running the Windows Phone operating system for smartphones.

One of my contacts confirmed that the Work Assistant application is being developed by Microsoft's Digital Life + Work group, which is part of the Applications and Services Group (ASG) run by Qi Lu. Julie Larson-Green, chief experience officer of ASG, is believed to be spearheading the Work Assistant effort, and Gates has been involved, my source said.

Last week, during a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, Gates said he was helping Microsoft work on a new Personal Agent project. While not offering many details, Gates said:

"One project I am working on with Microsoft is the Personal Agent, which will remember everything and help you go back and find things and help you pick what things to pay attention to. The idea that you have to find applications and pick them and they each are trying to tell you what is new is just not the efficient model -- the agent will help solve this. It will work across all your devices."

The Work Assistant beta is 2MB in size, and was last updated December 2, 2014, according to the Windows Phone Store page about the app. It works on devices that run Windows Phone version 8.1 and requires information on users' appointments, contacts, Internet connection and microphone.

It's not clear what the Work Assistant's connection is to Microsoft's other "assistant": Cortana. During Microsoft's Windows 10 event in Redmond, Wash., in late January, officials showed off the ability for Cortana to do things such as fetch a PowerPoint deck from a user's own OneDrive storage system, simply by having a user ask (by voice) for slides for a particular meeting.

Cortana is integrated into Windows Phone 8.1 and will be integrated into Windows 10 and Windows 10 mobile for Windows phones and smaller tablets. Larson-Green also has said that Cortana will be coming to iOS and Android in some way, though she didn't provide a time frame.

Microsoft has said the name "Windows Phone" is going away with the launch of Windows 10.

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GoPro custom streaming channel gets a big boost with Roku deal

GoPro's content partnerships have come in more of a slow trickle than a deluge.

An in-flight entertainment channel on Virgin America kicked things off in October 2013. That was followed by channel apps for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Xbox One entertainment systems in January 2014, and an LG Smart TV app a year later this January.

While those first steps were important, GoPro is getting a big boost with its channel app coming to Roku's streaming media platform. Roku is the market leader in streaming entertainment devices, having sold millions of its boxes and HDMI streaming sticks.

The channel, loaded with both professional and user videos, will have featured playlists and easy access to favorited and recently watched videos. What's likely going to be more important for the brand, though, is the capability to see what GoPro products were used to shoot a particular video. Also included is a Product Showcase to learn more about what GoPro has available.

The Roku app arrives on the platform this spring, but if you want a taste of what you can expect, check out GoPro's YouTube channel.

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