Ubuntu 13.10 to Arrive on October 17, According to Official Release Schedule

The development of Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) is now in full force and Canonical has published the release schedule for their next distribution.

Canonical usually releases the Ubuntu operating systems like clockwork and there is no sign that they are slowing down.

The Release Schedule for Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) shows that they intend to release the distribution on October 17.

The first Alpha versions, for the other flavors and not for Ubuntu), have been scheduled for June 27, and the second Alpha for July 25.

Interestingly enough, Canonical also plans to release a new version of Ubuntu 12.04, the third one. Ubuntu 12.04.3 (Precise Pangolin) is expected to arrive on August 15.

The feature freeze will be in place on August 29, and the final Beta should be available on September 26.

More details about the Release Schedule can be found on the official website.

Obama: China Is Hacking Apple to Steal Designs for Latest Products [AFP]

After his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, many experts said they doubted that President Obama pressed his counterpart too much on the issue of cyber security.

However, in an interview with “The Charlie Rose Show,” broadcast on Monday, President Obama said he had very “blunt conversations” on the matter with Xi. He believes China has begun to understand that cyber espionage can affect US-China relations.

Interestingly, the US president made several references to China hacking the systems of Apple.

“I don't think you ever expect a Chinese leader to say, 'You know what, you're right, you've caught us red-handed. We're stealing all your stuff, and every day we figure out how we can get into Apple’,” Obama said, cited by AFP.

He admits that all nation states gather intelligence, but claims China has gone beyond standard fare, even trying to learn when he’s meeting with Japanese officials, or what his talking points are.

“There's a big difference between that and a hacker directly connected with the Chinese government or the Chinese military breaking into Apple's software systems to see if they can obtain the designs for the latest Apple product. That's theft. And we can't tolerate that,” the president explained.

During their meeting, Xi – whom Obama believes is a better leader than some of his predecessors – reiterated that China was also a victim of hacking.

So far, China has settled with denying the accusations brought against it. However, in a recent statement issued by Chinese officials, they have even provided numbers to show how many US computers were used to hijack 2.9 million of their mainframes in the first quarter of 2013.

On the surface, work groups are established and both sides are calling for open collaboration on the matter. However, it’s unlikely that this will have a significant impact in the near future.

Operation "Troll the NSA"

The world-wide outcry about the NSA surveillance program has reached another level. “If you can’t beat them, troll them,” seems to be the motto of a website that was recently created.

"Troll the NSA” is a new site that was built by Buzzfeed staffers, The Huffington Post reports.

Basically, they want to get as many people as possible to send an email or make a phone call at the same time containing a specific script that can be found on the page.

The text includes terrorist jargon and other keywords that are usually tracked by intelligence agencies. By doing this, the site owners hope to jam up the NSA’s scanners.

There are dozens of misleading words throughout the text including “overthrow,” “bomb,” “death to millions of Americans” and “blow up,” to name just a few.

It doesn’t even matter that the rest of the text talks about a stressful job, news articles and "Breaking Bad" since the scanners are sure to detect all these words.

The site urges Internet users to send this message out at 7:00 PM EST on Wednesday, June 12, 2013.

Apple Unveils 2013 Mac Pro with Unified Thermal Core, Killer Design

A new Mac Pro was announced by Apple earlier today, and boy is it a looker! Not only that, but it’s said to be wicked fast and sports an awesome cooling system.

When Apple says stay put, they mean it. Having faced backlash from the Pro community for over a year, they’ve finally delivered a Mac Pro that nobody really expected.

Featuring the jaw-dropping design displayed above, the 2013 Mac Pro is designed around an all-new “unified thermal core” that allows it to efficiently share its entire thermal capacity across all components.

It packs the latest Xeon processors, dual workstation-class GPUs, Thunderbolt 2, PCIe-based flash storage, and ECC memory: “an amazing amount of power into an incredibly small package,” at just 9.9-inch tall.

The next-generation Mac Pro will be released to the masses later this year. I encourage you to visit the official Mac Pro page for a visual delight.

Apple Unveils iOS 7 with Stunning New UI, Functional Layers

At WWDC 2013 yesterday, Apple unveiled iOS 7, “the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone,” according to the company’s marketing.

The new iOS features a flat user interface that has been completely redesigned with subtle motion, a sleeker color palette, and functional layers “that make it feel more alive.”

Apple has refined the typography for a cleaner look, and the software uses translucency and motion system-wide to make simple tasks more engaging.

New features in iOS 7 include a revamped Control Center and Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop (coming from OS X), enhanced Photos, a beefed-up Safari browser, a whole new Siri with realistic male and female voices and enhanced search, as well as iTunes Radio, “a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes.”

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active Goes Official, a Waterproof Galaxy S 4

Today, South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics officially unveiled the Galaxy S4 Active smartphone, a dust- and water-resistant member of the popular Galaxy series of devices.

Just as previously rumored, the new device packs a 5-inch full HD touchscreen display, along with a 1.9GHz quad-core processor inside, and 2GB of RAM.

Aimed mainly at people who live a dynamic lifestyle, the smartphone arrives on the market with qualified protection from dust and water (IP67), so that one could enjoy its features in all conditions.

The phone can resist for up to 30 minutes submerged in 1 meter of water, as it packs not only a water-resistant earphone jack, but also a unique construction that enables users to take photos even when underwater.

“The GALAXY S4 Active is the newest addition to the GALAXY series and is purposefully designed for active users who love the outdoors,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

“Samsung has taken the innovative features of the GALAXY S4 and added breakthrough protective design elements to create a device that thrives in an active environment and is built for a lifestyle of travel and exploration.”

The new Galaxy S4 Active packs an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, as well as a 2MP front camera for making video calls.

Furthermore, the device sports 16GB of internal memory, along with a microSD memory card slot with support for up to 64GB of additional storage, and a 2600mAh battery inside.

Samsung also included WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity inside the smartphone, along with NFC, GPS receiver, the usual set of sensors, and LTE Cat3, HSPA＋ 42/5.76Mbps, EDGE/GPRS Class 12.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active arrives on the market with Google’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean platform loaded on top, as well as with the features and capabilities that the latest flagship device from the company, the Galaxy S 4, was launched with.

The new mobile phone is set to become available for purchase later this summer. Initially, it will be launched in the United States and Sweden, in three different color options, namely Urban Grey, Dive Blue and Orange Flare.

Microsoft’s First Windows 8.1 Video Also Shows the Start Button

Microsoft released the first Windows 8.1 preview video earlier today, as it wanted to showcase some of its features before the public launch at the BUILD developer conference.

While the company has talked about many Windows 8.1 improvements, including the lock screen, the new search option, and the Start screen, it actually forgot to mention the Start button, which is probably the most requested feature in Windows 8.

Well, if you get really close to your monitor and watch every frame twice, you should see the Start button at 2:12. That’s right, the Start button is there, but the company doesn’t say a thing about it.

On the good side, this is another sign that Microsoft is indeed committed to bringing the Start button back in Windows with the next release, but on the other hand, it could be an indication that the company doesn’t care about it as much as users.

No matter the answer, the Start button is there, so get back on July 26 to deploy your own copy of Windows 8.1.