NASA photos shows Pluto's North Pole region

OK, Pluto might not be a planet anymore (it's now a dwarf planet for those living under a rock for the last decade), but it's still stunning.

On Thursday, NASA released a color photo captured by their New Horizons spacecraft which shows off Pluto’s diverse geological and compositional features in the north polar area.  It was obtained at a range of approximately 21,100 miles from Pluto, about 45 minutes before New Horizons’ closest approach on July 14, 2015.

Long canyons can be seen running vertically across the polar area. The widest of the canyons is about 45 miles wide and runs close to the north pole.

The degraded walls of these canyons appear to be much older than the more sharply defined canyon systems elsewhere on Pluto, perhaps because the polar canyons are older and made of weaker material. These canyons also appear to represent evidence for an ancient period of tectonics.

A shallow, winding valley runs the entire length of the canyon floor. Many other valleys run nearby.

Long canyons can be seen running vertically across the polar area. The widest of the canyons is about 45 miles wide and runs close to the north pole. (Photo: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)

Large, irregularly-shaped pits are 45 miles across and 2.5 miles deep. These pits may show locations where subsurface ice may have melted from below, collapsing the ground.

Also, the color and composition of this region are unusual.  High elevations show up in a distinctive yellow, not seen elsewhere on Pluto. The yellowish terrain fades to a uniform bluish gray at lower elevations and latitudes. New Horizons' infrared measurements show methane ice is abundant in the area, and there is relatively little nitrogen ice.

“One possibility is that the yellow terrains may correspond to older methane deposits that have been more processed by solar radiation than the bluer terrain,” Will Grundy, New Horizons composition team lead from Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz., said.

The dwarf planet may look like it has nothing in common with Earth, but new images from NASA show Pluto has blue skies and patches of icy water.  NASA

In this extended color image of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, rounded and bizarrely textured mountains, informally named the Tartarus Dorsa, rise up along Pluto’s day-night terminator and show intricate but puzzling patterns of blue-gray ridges and reddish material in between

High-resolution images of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft just before closest approach on July 14, 2015, are the sharpest images to date of Pluto’s varied terrain—revealing details down to scales of 270 meters. In this 75-mile section of the taken from the larger, high-resolution mosaic above, the textured surface of the plain surrounds two isolated ice mountains.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). Pluto’s surface sports a remarkable range of subtle colors, enhanced in this view to a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges, and deep reds  NASA


In the center of this 300-mile (470-kilometer) wide image of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is a large region of jumbled, broken terrain on the northwestern edge of the vast, icy plain informally called Sputnik Planum, to the right. The smallest visible features are 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) in size. This image was taken as New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers).  NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Fake girlfriend, revisited

Three years ago, I hired a fake girlfriend.

Sophia, as she called herself, charged $5 (£3.50) a week to be in a relationship with me on Facebook.

She'd leave messages, laugh at my hilarious status updates and, most important of all, change her relationship status to say we were an item.

As an experiment, I tried to see if my friends would be duped by this arrangement, one which I could describe only as a form of escorting - although strictly online only.

After a long week, I came clean to both my friends and Sophia.

I told them it was all a joke, and I nervously told her I was a journalist.

Thankfully, she was up for a chat.

"The whole Sophia thing is just my marketing username," she said.

"Nothing on that Facebook profile is real. My photos on there are really me, but nothing else is."

She said she was doing it to save money so she could go away and study.

'Thousands of users'

But that was 2013, and this is now. Has fake girlfriend tech moved on?

While browsing Product Hunt, a great site that highlights new apps and ideas, I recently spotted an intriguing service called Invisible Girlfriend.

It promised me the chance to sign up and create my perfect girlfriend, and soon I'd start getting text messages from her so I could impress all of my friends.

"My cofounder had the idea for years," said Kyle Tabor, the site's chief executive, in an email.

"He mainly needed a fake girlfriend to get his parents off his back after he was divorced."

It works like this. You pick from one of six broad personality types - because there are only six types of women in the world, you understand. Rejecting "saucy and sarcastic" I went with "lovingly nerdy".

Faced with a stock photo library of about 30 people, I picked out a picture of a pretty brunette. I should, apparently, save it to my phone to show my friends later.

After a selecting a few standard interests - "lower league English football" wasn't available - I was then given help concocting a convincing back story. We met at an office party, and she's the girl of my dreams.

Her name? That was left to a name generator.

Mum, Dad... meet Alma Doris Brakus.

I guessed I'd have to get used to it.

'my skin. lol'

Time to get down to some serious pro-flirting via text.

Feel free to take notes.

"Hi Alma, what are you up to?" I offered, sultrily.

A few minutes later, she replied: "Not much, early day at work so I'm home already. What about you?"

Bored already? Me too. But that's what makes this service more interesting than I'd first assumed.

I thought this would essentially be a sex line. So if I said: "What are you up to?", the answer would be an attempt at sexiness, like: "Ooh, I'm all alone ;);)" and so forth.

Yet the service seems to strive to be somewhat unsexy, almost mundane - like real life. I half expected her to ask me to pick up some milk on the way home.

That authenticity is helped by the fact that the texts are written by real people, a team of "real anonymous humans" replying to every message.

My cagey attempts to inject a bit of rudeness fell flat. The raunchiest exchange being: "What's the sexiest thing you could wear?" met with: "My skin lol. Or a skirt".

"Can you send me a pic of yourself?" I asked, only to get "O->-<" in return. That's an emoticon of a person lying down, in case you can't tell.

I'd have pushed it further, but the thought of some "real anonymous" bloke texting me back made me feel strange.

50/50

To sum up: a ludicrous, pathetic idea, that no-one would possibly take seriously. Or so I thought.

"We have had thousands of users pay for the service," Mr Tabor told me.

"It's about 50/50 between the text only and the full suite."

You read that right. People pay for this (according to Mr Tabor at least).

If you just want text messages, it costs $15 a month. The full suite is $25, and you get voicemails and all sorts for that.

The service isn't just for fake girlfriends, either. The site also lets women, or gay men, sign up and have a fake boyfriend. And what Mr Tabor said next surprised me the most.

"Actually, over 60% of our accounts choose boyfriends."

Keeping up appearances

Consider me baffled. Why would anyone want or need this?

"Several reasons," Mr Tabor said.

"Get parents off your back, get a co-worker to stop hitting on you, make an ex jealous, or maybe just to practice flirting."

His team takes the illusion responsibility seriously.

I wanted to use the image of my beloved Alma Doris in this article, but Mr Tabor politely asked that I didn't, on the off-chance it might blow someone else's cover story.

An extensive how-to guide contains tips such as how to talk about your girlfriend/boyfriend, what questions to expect from pushy friends, and common mistakes people make when lying through their teeth about an imaginary human. There's even a live chat function to ask for advice from the site's staff.

But in the end, I had to break up with Alma Doris.

"I'm moving to Yemen," I said. She didn't understand.

If this service seems sad to you, then don't laugh. Just be thankful. Many users, Mr Tabor said, used the service for companionship. Someone to text for a chat now and then.

Like Sophia in 2013, Invisible Girlfriend and Boyfriend is satisfying a need, and a harmless one at that.

If people are prepared to pay for a service, and others are prepared to provide it - then fine.

And for the record, the woman behind Sophia did go on to save enough to study. Late last year, she certified as a fully qualified dietician.

Samsung debuts its first VR camera, the Gear 360

There's no point in owning a virtual reality headset if there's nothing to watch or play.

Samsung -- which just launched its first consumer VR device -- wants to make sure that's never a problem.

On Sunday, the company showed off its first-ever consumer camera capable of taking 360-degree photos and videos, aptly named the Gear 360.

The Gear 360 is a small, white, orb-like gadget that fits in the palm of the hand. The camera weighs a little less than half a pound.

There are two lenses that can capture 195-degrees of vision in high-definition. Images and videos are stored to a microSD card (up to 128 GB in size) and can be transferred over Wi-Fi to a Samsung Galaxy phone to be stitched together.

The final product can be shared online (YouTube and Facebook (FB, Tech30) now support 360-degree videos), or viewed with a Gear VR headset.

The settings also seem easy to use (On, Off, Picture mode, Video mode, Record) and I like the fact that I can see a preview of the images before shooting.

The settings on the Samsung Gear 360 seem easy to understand and use.

Although VR has been touted by many as the next big thing, most industry analysts believe it will take about 10 years for the medium to catch on.

In a press briefing with reporters last week, Samsung executives noted that many video industries in the past "really came to life with user-generated content." Think home movies on VHS or YouTube videos.

Selling the Gear 360, then, is a way for Samsung to help spur the growth of VR and 360-degree video entertainment. The company even invited Facebook (FB, Tech30) CEO Mark Zuckerberg on stage during its presentation to help promote the VR partnership between the two firms.

But ultimately, the Gear 360 is mainly another way to help Samsung sell more of its flagship smartphones -- specifically the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which also launched on Sunday.

The Gear 360 is similar to other point and shoot 360-degree cameras on the market, including theRicoh Theta S and Bublcam.

Samsung expects to start selling the Gear 360 in the second quarter. No details yet on pricing.

India's $4 smartphone: Too good to be true?

What's the real story behind India's $4 smartphone? Just days after launching with enormous buzz, a cutting-edge device with a rock-bottom price is being blasted by industry officials and analysts.

Ringing Bells unveiled its Freedom 251 smartphone on Wednesday, touting features that included a 4-inch display, 1.3-GHz quad-core processor and 8 GB of storage.

The "made-in-India" product was listed for just 251 rupees ($3.65), a price with the potential to revolutionize India's devices market and make Internet access affordable for tens of millions of people.

One problem: Industry insiders say the deal is too good to be true.

"This seems to be a joke or a scam. It is something we are very upset about," said Pankaj Mohindroo, national president of the Indian Cellular Association. "This is being investigated by various government authorities."

In a letter to India's Minister for Communications and I.T., Mohindroo said that even when using the cheapest components, such a phone would cost at least 2700 rupees ($40) to produce. After counting taxes and duties, the price should be at least 3500 rupees ($52).

Richard Windsor, an analyst at Edison Investment Research, was also skeptical. He calculated that at the announced price, Ringing Bells will lose $26 on each device sold.

"This launch has generated a lot of waves, and we suspect that either after the first batch has been sold, the price goes up to $53 per device or that the company quietly disappears," he said. "There is no way that these economics add up in the long term."

Ringing Bells did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment.

A couple more warning signs: Journalists at the Freedom 251 launch event reported that white-out appeared to have been used to cover another brand on the sample phones they were allowed to test. Photos from the event also show that the phone's home screen icons have been ripped straight from Apple's iOS, an obvious copyright violation.

So what's going on? Windsor has a few theories: The Indian government could be subsidizing the smartphone; a manufacturer could be dumping phones that failed safety tests; or a Chinese company eager to enter the Indian market could be selling phones for cheap.

Ringing Bells has stated publicly that the phones will be made in India with no government subsidies. However, the prototypes passed around at the launch event resembled a model sold by Adcom. Adcom is an Indian company that imports tech products, but does not manufacture them, suggesting that the phones are actually from a foreign market, most likely China.

Ringing Bells said Thursday that it had stopped accepting orders after its website crashed due to intense traffic. The company has promised to deliver the Freedom 251 to customers by the end of June.

Obama's failing record on drones: Column

President Obama is on pace to leave a flawed legacy on America’s use of drones. Near the midway point of the president’s second term, a task force of senior military and intelligence officials from the Obama, George W. Bush and Clinton administrations recommended eight steps that would make America’s drone policy more transparent, accountable and consistent with long-term U.S. national security goals. Eighteen months later, the Obama administration has made little to no progress on achieving those goals. Now, as the clock winds down on the president’s time in office, there is still an opportunity to enact reforms that establish a sensible and comprehensive U.S. drone policy.

In 2014, I served as project director for the Stimson Center’s nonpartisan task force reviewing U.S. drone policy. Co-chaired by retired Gen. John P. Abizaid, the former head of United States Central Command, and Rosa Brooks, former counselor to the under secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration, the task force took a comprehensive view of the United States’ lethal drone program by examining national security goals, foreign policy ideals and commercial interests related to the growing demand and use of unmanned systems. The report detailed eight recommendations to help guide U.S. drone policy for this administration and the next. The recommendations focus on improving oversight, accountability and transparency; developing forward-looking international norms relating to the use of lethal force in nontraditional settings; devising sound export control and research and development policies; and developing drone standards for domestic and international use.

A year and a half later, there has been little progress in achieving these goals. In fact, when viewed as a report card with a letter grade of “A” representing a completed goal and “F” representing no discernable progress made, the administration’s grade card is underwhelming — filled with C’s, D’s, and F’s. Notably, the administration receives a failing grade in the category of developing more robust oversight and accountability mechanisms for targeted strikes outside of traditional battlefields due to the administration’s continued opposition to release pertinent information on the justifications underlying the U.S. drone program and lack of an independent commission to review U.S. lethal drone policy. Additionally, several categories receive a grade of “Unknown” — including the recommendation to conduct a strategic review and cost-benefit analysis of the role of lethal drones in targeted counterterrorism strikes — due to the secrecy surrounding the drone program. But there are brighter spots, particularly with regard to some progress on a new export policy as well as steps toward adopting rules and regulations for the use of drones in U.S. airspace.

With less than a year left to make final policy changes, the administration would do well to focus on ensuring that the drone program is viewed with greater confidence globally, sets a positive precedent and helps develop appropriate international norms and standards. President Obama could take three meaningful steps during his remaining time in office to fulfill these goals.

First, to support calls for greater transparency, the administration should release, in full, the Presidential Policy Guidance on “U.S. Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in Counterterrorism Operations Outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities.” Currently, only a fact sheet on the policy guidance is available publicly. Releasing this information will provide — or at the very least allow the American public, as well as our global partners and allies to understand — the basic framework for U.S. drone strikes and answer significant domestic and international criticism.

Similarly, the administration should provide the domestic and international legal framework for the U.S. drone program, including the release of the legal memosundertaken by the Office of Legal Counsel, the CIA and the Pentagon that contain the government’s interpretations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law and how they apply to lethal drone strikes. The release of these memos will provide sought-after explanations of the legality of U.S. drone use and operations, which in turn can lead to greater accountability and a more coherent international precedent.

Microsoft Surface Pro 5 to be launched in October 2016: Report

NEW DELHI: Microsoft Surface Pro 5 will reportedly be launched in October this year as an update to last year's Surface Pro 4.

The hybrid tablet is said to be priced at $899 for the entry-level model, with models featuring beefier specs expected to cost $999 and $1,599.

According to a report by online publication MNR Daily, Microsoft plans to address one of the big concerns of Surface Pro 4 users with the next edition in the series: battery life.

Users have reportedly said that the battery of Surface Pro 4 lasts just 3 hours, instead of the 9 hours claimed by Microsoft. Battery is also drained when the device is in Sleep Mode. Microsoft later resolved the issues with updates.

It is said that the company aims to ensure that the problem does not crop up with the Surface Pro 5.

Zuckerberg is 'sympathetic' to Apple in its clash with FBI

Facebook's chief executive has said he is sympathetic to Apple's position in its clash with the FBI.

The FBI has ordered Apple to disable the security software on a dead murderer's iPhone but the tech giant has refused.

Mark Zuckerberg said he did not believe the authorities should have backdoors to bypass encryption protection.

However, a lawyer representing some of the gunman's victims has backed the federal bureau.

Stephen Larson, a former judge, said he intended to file legal paperwork next month telling Apple to co-operate.

"They were targeted by terrorists, and they need to know why, how this could happen," he added.

He declined to say how many of the victims he was representing, but did add that he would not be charging them a fee.

'Pretty sympathetic'

Mr Zuckerberg made his comments at the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona.

"I don't think that requiring back doors to encryption is either going to be an effective thing to increase security or is really the right thing to do," he said.

"We are pretty sympathetic to Tim [Cook] and Apple."

He added that Facebook was committed to doing all it could to prevent terrorism but his company was in favour of encryption.

The social network had previously issued a statement saying that the court order could create a "chilling precedent".

Leaders at Google and Twitter also voiced support for Apple last week.

'Justice'

Fourteen people were killed and 22 injured when gunman Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire in California last December.

Image captionA lawyer acting for some of the victims has urged Apple to co-operate with the FBI

Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has described the FBI's order as "dangerous" and "unprecedented".

He has said the firm would have to build a new operating system in order to comply.

"We strongly believe the only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn't abused and doesn't fall into the wrong hands is to never create it," the firm stated in a Q&A on the Apple website.

'Following a lead'

In a statement published on Sunday, the FBI Director James Comey said the demand was "about the victims and justice".

"We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist's passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly," the FBI director wrote.

"That's it. We don't want to break anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on the land.

"Maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists. Maybe it doesn't. But we can't look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don't follow this lead."

Last week anti-virus creator John McAfee offered to unlock the iPhone for the FBI.

"It will take us three weeks," he told Business Insider, adding that he would eat his shoe on television if his team failed.

First look: Samsung Galaxy S7 and 360 camera

BARCELONA — For weeks the speculation surrounding Samsung was that the South Korean electronics giant would trot out Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones just as the Mobile World Congress tech confab was about to begin. Samsung delivered right on cue Sunday.

If there was any mystery left, it was in what these fresh flagships would look like and feature, and what other new devices might Samsung reveal? The answer to this last question is a spherical 360 camera called Gear 360. The camera would appear to nicely complement Samsung’s push into virtual reality, which began in earnest last year with the release of Samsung’s consumer-oriented Gear VR headset.
But first, here's a look at what the new Samsung phones have to offer, with the great big caveat that I haven’t had a chance to test them out yet.

Some perspective. I was a fan of last year’s high-profile Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge models, judging them the finest-looking smartphones that Samsung ever introduced.  At the time, Samsung ditched the cheesy dimpled plastic design in favor of a handsome glass-and-metal design that happened to bear a striking similarity to the iPhone.


Still, some notable features went missing. Those Samsung phones, unlike predecessor models, weren’t water resistant. The onboard memory could not be expanded. You couldn’t swap out the battery.

With the S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung restored two of the three missing features, while sticking with metal and high-quality glass, and for the most part sticking reasonably close to last year’s design.
The S7 retains the 5.1-inch screen size of the S6. The S7 Edge though comes in at 5.5-inches, the same display size as on the iPhone 6s Plus, though Samsung is all too pleased to point out that its phone has a smaller footprint than Apple’s. Both new Samsung phones have curved backs; the S7 with a flat front, the S7 Edge a curved front.

The new devices bring back water resistance, meaning they ought to survive should you clumsily drop them in a puddle or toilet. Moreover, unlike earlier water-resistant Galaxy devices there are no awkward caps covering ports to contend with as you attempt to keep the innards dry.

Both new phones come with 32GB of internal storage, but now there’s a microSD slot for an optional memory card, which sits hidden away on a tray it shares with the SIM card holder.

The battery is still not removable, but the new phones do boast bigger-capacity batteries that, in theory, will last longer — we’ll have to see. Samsung is also promising a very fast wireless charging experience if you have a compatible charger, a feature advantage over the iPhone.

The Edge, of course, fits into the fast-growing phablet space that Samsung pioneered with its original Note device. The phone gets its name because of a secondary display that cascades along the right side of the phone. On this new device the edge portion of the display extends around corners, providing a little more space for displaying extra content, including shortcuts to certain tasks (capturing selfies, composing email).

Samsung has also added an always-on display feature that lets you peek at the time or notifications when the phone is face up on a flat surface.  The screen otherwise goes dark when you stash it in a pocket or purse. LG boasts a similar feature on some phones. Samsung claims no meaningful battery hit as a result of this feature.

I haven’t gotten a chance to take pictures yet, but Samsung says the camera is improved for low-light photography. And in a side-by-side demo, Samsung showed how its camera can focus a second or so faster on a subject than an iPhone.

As with its other recent handsets, the latest Galaxy is compatible with the Samsung Pay system that turns them into mobile wallets.
And it exploits Samsung’s enterprise grade Knox security scheme — no word on whether Samsung could or would open up a “backdoor” as law enforcement officials are trying to get Apple to do on one of the San Bernardino killer’s phones.
Samsung starts taking preorders on the new phones Tuesday; in the U.S. they’ll be available, in multiple colors, starting on March 11. Pricing has not been announced.

Apple urges government to drop iPhone request

A judge ordered Apple to unlock a San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. So what are the privacy implications

Apple is urging the government to withdraw its request to break into the iPhone of one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings, claiming such a move would create "dangerous implications."
According to an employee memo sent Monday and obtained by USA TODAY, Apple CEO Tim Cook says the case is more about unlocking one iPhone. "At stake is the data security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding people, and setting a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone’s civil liberties," writes Cook.
The company spells out more details in a separate Q&A to customers posted on its website, noting the privacy and security risks involved with cooperating to unlock this iPhone. Apple also urged the creation of a commission to "discuss the implications for law enforcement, national security, privacy, and personal freedoms."

"The order would set a legal precedent that would expand the powers of the government and we simply don’t know where that would lead us," reads an excerpt from the Q&A. "Should the government be allowed to order us to create other capabilities for surveillance purposes, such as recording conversations or location tracking? This would set a very dangerous precedent."

Apple also dismissed comments from Justice Department lawyers alleging the tech giant was fighting the judge's order to protect its business model and marketing strategy.

"This is and always has been about our customers," reads the Q&A. "We feel strongly that if we were to do what the government has asked of us — to create a backdoor to our products — not only is it unlawful, but it puts the vast majority of good and law abiding citizens, who rely on iPhone to protect their most personal and important data, at risk."

The memo and Q&A are part of an ongoing fight between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over iPhone encryption. The FBI wants Apple to disable a feature that automatically erases data from an iPhone after 10 failed login attempts. Apple says creating this software would be similar to generating a "master key" providing access to all iPhones. Apple says even creating this software would leave it a target to cybercriminals eager to find access to the iPhone.

In a blog post published to the website Lawfare, FBI Director James Comey said the agency owes the victims of the San Bernardino shootings a "thorough" investigation.

"We don't want to break anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on the land," said Comey. "I hope thoughtful people will take the time to understand that. Maybe the phone holds the clue to finding more terrorists. Maybe it doesn’t. But we can't look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don't follow this lead."