New Digital Magazine from RS Components Brings Latest News in Automation and Control

DesignSpark Automation & Control magazine delivers latest product and industry news to machine and panel builders in multiple formats: newsfeed also available via free mobile app

JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 11, 2014 (ANTARA/PRNewswire) -- RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, has released the first edition of its DesignSpark Automation & Control magazine, a new digital publication aimed at machine and panel builders.

Minecraft Xbox One Download – Prepare for the Next Big Game

Daniel Kaplan recently indicated that a release for Minecraft Xbox One is in the pipeline.
The statements were posted on March 27th.It was in response to the growing push by fans to keep updated about the console ports next in line. Minecraft is about players destroying varying blocks in a 3D environment.
The Spanners Are In the Heart of the Works in Minecraft Xbox One Update Efforts
The latest believable revelations about Minecraft Xbox One says that the technicians and developers are well into the nitty-gritty of making the game come real and flashy.

Xbox One bundle at Fry's features both 'Titanfall' and 'Forza 5' together

Fry's Electronics dropped what is possibly the most enticing Xbox One bundle on Friday. The retailer is offering the console with a $40 discount and not one but two free games.
The Xbox One bundle with a downloadable copy of “Forza Motorsport 5” and a physical copy of “Titanfall” is available at Fry’s Electronics for $459.99. Shipping is not available currently but free in-store pickup is. This deal is good through Thursday, March 17 but state sales tax is applicable.
Microsoft recently put out two Xbox One bundles along with a $50 discount for a limited time. One bundle features “Forza Motorsport 5” and the other features “Titanfall.” Both have been available regularly at the Microsoft Store, Amazon and other retailers though not with the $50 discount consistently.

Mouser Electronics Honored for World-Class Customer Service Excellence

DALLAS & FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mouser Electronics, Inc., a leading engineering resource and global authorized distributor of semiconductors and electronic components, has received the prestigious 2013 NorthFace ScoreBoard Award (NFSB) from Omega Management Group Corp. in recognition of Mouser’s excellence in global customer service and support during 2013. This is the second consecutive year for Mouser to receive this honorable award.

Microsoft dragging Windows' users to its new world

Microsoft is firmly demanding users of its Windows 8.1 version to install this week’s major update. The company is strongly compelling customers for adopting its faster release strategy.

“Microsoft will drag enterprises and users into the new world of faster updates kicking and screaming,” wrote Michael Silver, Gartner, in an email. 

“Microsoft is asking users to trust upon keeping their systems updated. They being forced to deploy Windows 8.1 updates will turn them used to taking updates and stay updated,” he added. 

Windows XP Erases ‘Bliss’

With the end of Windows XP, computer users will be able to erase Bliss from their minds. The iconic default wallpaper will soon no longer be around to haunt our computer monitors. Some Windows XP users saw it as an annoyance and quickly changed the desktop background to a photograph of their children or another random picture they found online. Some users saw the true beauty of Bliss. Some even doubted that the image could be real.
Charles “Chuck” O’Rear took the photograph in 1996 while driving on a curvy road in Northern California.

Hong Kong Spring Electronics Fair and ICT Expo Open

3,300+ Exhibitors Showcasing a World of Products and Services

Hong Kong, Apr 13, 2014 - (ACN Newswire) - More than 3,300 exhibitors from 25 countries and regions are in Hong Kong for the 11th HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) and the 11th HKTDC International ICT Expo, which opened today and continue through 16 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

The twin fairs are presenting a wide range of products and services in the electronics and ICT industries.

IN PICTURES: Gadget Show Live 2014

This year’s Gadget Show Live has kicked off at the NEC in Birmingham.
Over 200 tech companies are showcasing the latest in tech. There’s something for everyone, including computing devices, audio products, toys, cars and video game consoles.
PCR headed down to the show on the professional day to check out what the exhibitors have in store for the five-day event.
While flying drones have been featured at the event before, with all the recent talk from Amazon and others about using them for parcel delivery, it appears the gadgets are back in force. Two notably impressive toys are from Flying Gadgets and Parrot.

Say goodbye to Windows XP

All pretty good things must come to an end.

On Tuesday, what ended was Microsoft support of its popular and widely used Windows XP operating system that made its debut 12 years ago.

Microsoft had set several dates for the demise of XP, and then extended the deadlines because a lot of people and businesses are still running the operating system and they begged Microsoft to extend XP’s lifespan.

New computer game targets opposition figures

TEHRAN: A new computer game is available online in Iran that allows players to shoot opposition figures involved in the disputed 2009 presidential election, media reported Wednesday.

The free flash-based game resembles a shoddy knock-off of Doom, a popular horror-themed game in the 90s that pioneered first-person genre, and was produced by a local media company run by "youths faithful to the Islamic revolution," according to its website.

The company says the game allows the player to "confront symbols of sedition" -- a term coined in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election to describe pro-reform supporters who disputed the poll's result.

The player must shoot the targets -- the heads of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two opposition leaders who have been kept incommunicado under house arrests since February 2011 -- and reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami.

OpenSSL Heartbleed Computer Virus Fix and Security: How to Protect Yourself from the Latest Internet Bug

The Heartbleed virus is the latest in a series of viruses that steal all of your personal information, and its widespread enough that it can be considered an epidemic. In this day and age, a computer virus is just as annoying as a biological virus. So, what is it, and what can you do to protect yourself from it?
The Heartbleed bug is a bug in the open-source cryptography library, OpenSSL, which allows an attacker to read the memory of a server or a client, allowing them to retrieve, for example, a server's SSL private keys.

'Heartbleed' computer bug threat spreads to firewalls and beyond

Hackers could crack email systems, security firewalls and possibly mobile phones through the "Heartbleed" computer bug, according to security experts who warned on Thursday that the risks extended beyond just Internet Web servers.
The widespread bug surfaced late on Monday, when it was disclosed that a pernicious flaw in a widely used Web encryption program known as OpenSSL opened hundreds of thousands of websites to data theft. Developers rushed out patches to fix affected web servers when they disclosed the problem, which affected companies from Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc to Yahoo Inc.

Is Tesla Motors Inc. Really a Car Company?

Tesla Motors can't really be expected to disrupt global auto sales as just a carmaker. In order to make sense of how much disruption the electric-car maker might cause we've got to look at Tesla as technology innovator. 
The emperor's real clothes
At its heart, Tesla is a software developer dressed in a carmaker's robes. The Silicon Valley company has focused on developing its software to be the primary component behind its fleet's sophisticated safety and battery systems, not to mention its infotainment console.

Car sales likely to rise after two years of decline

Car sales, which have been declining for two consecutive years, may post a marginal rise this fiscal on economic rebound that is expected after the new government comes to power, experts said.
Car sales declined 4.56% for the second straight year in fiscal 2014 as auto companies sold 17,86,899 cars compared with 18,74,055 units sold in the previous fiscal, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
While the overall passenger vehicles (PVs), which include passenger cars, utility vehicles (UVs) and vans dropped 6.05% in the last fiscal, UV sales fell 5.01% and vans 19.58%.
Two-wheelers, on the other hand, registered a 7.31% year-on-year growth last fiscal.

Red Bull appeal is first test of new era

LONDON, April 12 (REUTER): The first big technical controversy of Formula One's new engine era has its day in court on Monday with champions Red Bull confident they have a strong case in appealing Daniel Ricciardo's Australian Grand Prix exclusion.

Ricciardo finished second in his home race last month, his debut for Red Bull, but was disqualified hours later when stewards ruled his car had breached the new fuel flow regulations.

In what is seen as a critical test of the regulations accompanying the V6 turbo engines and energy recovery systems, Red Bull will say the fuel flow sensors cannot be trusted.
"We have got a very strong case," principal Christian Horner, whose team needs every point they can get after a troubled start to the season, said after last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Xbox Kinect feels 'unnecessary', says Peter Molyneux

Game designer Peter Molyneux has said that Xbox's Kinect feels "unnecessary" and "like a joke".
The Dungeon Keeper creator made the remarks as part of an article in Edge discussing the future of the Xbox One.
"I actually wish Kinect wasn't a requirement," he said. "It feels like an unnecessary add-on to me. Maybe it's because we're in England, and it doesn't really use the TV stuff, but it feels more and more like a joke. My son and I sit there saying random things at it, and it doesn't work."Molyneux previously founded Lionhead Studios, which was acquired by Microsoft. While Molyneux was leading the studio one of the projects the studio was working on was Project Milo.

Meet H1Z1, Sony's zombie apocalypse multiplayer game

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has unveiled H1Z1 -- a zombie apocalypse-themed massively multiplayer online game (MMO).
You play as an apocalypse survivor being pitted against a world full of zombies after the H1Z1 virus -- the same name as the 2009 internet joke that offered an undead riff on the H1N1 swine flu virus -- has decimated mankind.
"Zombies aren't scary -- people are scary," said SOE president John Smedley during a playthrough for Game Talk Live. It's a comment that brings to mind the strengths of games and mods like DayZ, where the zombies are kind of a nuisance but the the real threat comes from real people -- the friends and strangers you encounter as you play.

World of Warcraft motorcycles get online reality show

Blizzard has announced an online documentary series tracking the creation of World of Warcraft-inspired motorcycles.

The series follows custom bike designer Paul Jr as he, two teams of experts and members of the WoW development team create choppers themed around the two Warcraft factions, the Horde and the Alliance.

Titanfall patch allows you to play privately with friends (finally)

Titanfall's most recent patch update has added a private match beta test to the game across all platforms.As per the patch notes the option will allow players to create private lobbies for two to 12 players. You can join the lobbies via invite or friends can dip in at any time. Teams can contain up to six people.The lobby option is accessible via the main selection screen and users can select any of the game's maps and modes for their matches.

European Games Awards winners revealed

Both Grand Theft Auto V and Battlefield 4 took multiple wins at the European Games Awards.The awards were decided through a public online vote and are intended to honour European games and development talent. Grand Theft Auto V scooped the big prize of Best European Game and also managed Best European Action Game (not surprising given its overall win) and Best European Sound.

DICE's Battlefield 4 took Best Art Direction and Best European Multiplayer Game -- the latter in spite of the bugs, glitches and crashes that dogged the game after its release.

Share Secrets on New Social Network

Secret is the latest social media site to garner buzz. It’s different from Facebook or Twitter because you post anonymously to a pool of people gathered from your contact list, or linked through a series of friends-of-friends. You may ponder, “How is it social to post anonymously?” The hot new app is a like a social media masquerade ball and fans insist that the anonymity allows them to be more themselves than when they have to “face” their fellow users.
Anyone who’s used Facebook or Twitter has likely censored themselves at some point or another. By the time you gather a social pool of a few hundred “friends” including relatives, co-workers and neighbors,

Anonimity the next big thing on social networking apps!

When mobile social app Yik Yak swept into Auburn University, some of the coolest kids were quick to start posting on it. But no one knows who is saying what because the comments are anonymous. ”It spread pretty fast,” says Nickolaus Hines, a junior at the school in the US state of Alabama. ”The majority of things are jokes or things which are obviously funny,” said the 21-year-old. But “some … are pretty mean.”
Yik Yak, which allows smartphone users to see posts in a radius up to five miles (eight kilometers), is part of a flurry of new apps that offer novel ways to interact on social networks without revealing one’s identity.

But while some laud these new platforms, others blame them for false rumors, stress and even suicide.

Avoid your friends with Cloak, the latest anti-social networking app

There are days when you just don't feel like running into anyone you know.
Luckily, there is a new iOS app called Cloak that could help you out. It uses geo-location technology to track your friends and acquaintances -- so that you can avoid them.
The concept works using data from Instagram and Foursquare to provide real-time updates. Major networks Facebook and Twitter aren't included in the service (Twitter is ‘too vague', according to the company), but the makers hope to add more social networks in the future.
"Cloak scrapes Instagram and Foursquare to let you know where all your friends, "friends," and nonfriends are at all times so you never have to run into that special someone," claims the app.

Worldfloat social network crosses 50 million users

India’s homegrown social networking site Worldfloat has said its user base has crossed 50 million, which will help it challenge the dominance of global giants like Facebook. According to Worldfloat founder Pushkar Mahatta, the user base of the site has risen sharply in recent months on the back of several innovative features like free online movies and news and search engine facilities.

He said Worldfloat has users from across the world but the majority of them are from India.

Facebook has around 100 million users in India.

The Year Ahead: 5 Social Media Trends Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Technology is transforming how modern entrepreneurs stay connected to their business, their team and their industry. In this series, learn more about the cutting edge tools and thinking allowing innovators to stay ahead of the trends.

The social media landscape is evolving rapidly, and therefore, your social media marketing strategy cannot remain static. Instead, it’s important to reevaluate business goals, social media campaigns, platform results and revise your strategy at least once a year -- if not quarterly.

Twitter's 44 Persent of Users never Twitted, says report

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Twitter analytics company Twopcharts says that, according to its data, 44 percent of Twitter accounts have never tweeted.  No “Trying out this Twitter thing.” No “Just setting up my tweetz.” Not even “Hi.” The Journal places Twitter’s userbase at 974 million accounts, so if you do the math, that’s roughly 429 million accounts that have been silent.
What are all those users doing? Some are likely just readers, others may have created an account, only to forget that it exists; still others may be in the “I don’t get Twitter what is this I don’t even” camp.