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Our obsession with selfies — we take millions of them a day — is finally generating something useful: innovation.

Microsoft has announced that it will continue to offer its Gold Xbox Live service for free in China.

However the news has disappointed some console owners who believe a subscription would enable them to access more content.

China's Xbox Gold service is very limited compared with other markets in order to comply with the country's strict censorship laws.

The free trial was supposed to have ended this week.

China is the only country in which access to a regionally locked-down version of the online Gold service is free.

Regular membership in most countries includes online multiplayer functions, free online games and discounts on others.

Online games still require government approval before they can launch in China, which means that many are unavailable.

Sharing the news on its official Weibo account, a popular Chinese micro-blogging platform, Microsoft said it would continue to be free "for reasons you understand".

"To say that Chinese Xbox fans were not amused might be an understatement," reports the Tech in Asia website.

"Fans are incensed at what many see as a pattern of constant delays."
The Xbox One gaming console went on sale in China in 2014, after a 14-year ban on consoles was lifted.

Microsoft has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

• Ensuring vehicle software is up-to-date Keeping an eye out for recalls 
• Being careful when making modifications to vehicle software 
• Exercising discretion when connecting third-party devices to vehicles
• Being aware of who has physical access to vehicles

The FBI also warned that criminals may latch on to online vehicle software updates by sending out fake messages that trick users into " opening attachments containing malicious software".

If you've been reading the headlines about Apple's fight with the FBI, you know it's easy to assume we're all doomed.

Either law enforcement will lose the ability to thwart terrorist plots, or we'll be forced to live in a police state. Neither of those outcomes is exactly what you'd call appealing.

But Apple and the US government say those are exactly the things at stake in a court battle playing out in California. The two sides will meet before a magistrate judge on Tuesday in Riverside to make their arguments on whether Apple should build a new version of its mobile software so the FBI can hack into an iPhone 5C used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

Apple argues it shouldn't be forced to make its phones less secure. The company, which has the backing of Silicon Valley notables like Google and Facebook, argues that creating software to break into one phone puts all other iPhone users at risk if the technology falls into the wrong hands. The FBI calls its request "modest," says it can't get into the device without Apple's help, and notes that information on the iPhone 5C could reveal more about the terrorists' activities.

Tuesday will be the first chance for both parties to make arguments before Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym. This could drag on for a while, even years. Judge Pym won't make a ruling immediately, and her decision faces appeal, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court.

"Because technology is moving at warp speed, we don't have two to three years to wait for a solution here in this particular case or in the boatload of cases after it," said Ed McAndrew, a former federal cybercrimes prosecutor and now a lawyer at Ballard Spahr.

While we wait it out, let's look at those worst-case scenarios from each side.
Going dark

In the eyes of the FBI, this is about keeping Americans safe. If law enforcement can't get access to data on iPhones, criminals can "go dark," the government says. FBI Director James Comey warned a Congressional committee earlier this month that offering a place no authorities could touch would create a haven for terrorists and criminals.

"Before these devices came around, there was no closet, basement or drawer in America that could not be entered with a judge's order," he said. Privacy is important, Comey said, but so is stopping murder, violence and pedophilia.
A loss in this case could also hurt the FBI's ability to get info from other tech companies, like Facebook.

Apple counters the government's warning by saying the FBI shouldn't be fixated on what it can access but realize there's a "mountain" of information that now is available because of technology.

"Going dark -- this is a crock," Apple CEO Tim Cook said during an interview with Time. "No one's going dark."

And experts say law enforcement has to find a way to fight crime in a world with strong encryption.

"The cost of maintaining a free society is that sometimes criminals won't be caught," said John Hasnas, a professor of ethics at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business. "Sometimes there are bad things we can't prevent."

Police state

Apple says the government is asking for a back door into all iPhones. If the FBI is able to get access to one phone, it'll ask for access to more, the company said.
There's also no way to guarantee that the loophole won't fall into the hands of criminals. It would become a top prize for hackers, and Apple undoubtedly would face attacks.

Apple also fears the government's demands won't stop with unlocking iPhones. Next, law enforcement could ask for access to an iPhone's camera and microphone to keep tabs on you, Eddy Cue, Apple's head of Internet software and services, said during a recent Univision interview.

"Where does this stop?" Cue said. "In a divorce case? In an immigration case? In a tax case with the IRS? Someday, someone will be able to turn on a phone's microphone. This should not happen in this country."

Then there are the international implications. No foreign government has a back door into Apple's products, but if the US government is successful, you can bet other countries, such as China, will come knocking too.

At stake are the "very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect," Cook said.

The FBI counters by saying that Apple helped it gain access to devices in the past without causing a loss of privacy and freedoms. Stacey Perino, an FBI electronics engineer, argued in a declaration that even if Apple didn't destroy the new software and criminals got access to it, they couldn't use it to hack all iPhones. That's because the code would run only on an iPhone if it had Apple's unique digital signature, Perino said.

Apple disagrees.

Finding middle ground?

Even the American public is split on the issue. According to a poll by CNET sister publication CBS News and The New York Times, half of Americans believe Apple should unlock the phone, while 45 percent think it shouldn't. More than two-thirds of Americans think unlocking the phone will make it at least somewhat likely that other iPhones are more vulnerable to hackers, and 58 percent of Americans remain concerned about losing some privacy in the fight against terrorism.

Some are hoping to find common ground.

Apple has recommended that a commission set the parameters for tech's interactions with the government. Two US lawmakers, Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, agree and say they want Congress to form a commission charged with addressing issues on digital security that have put authorities and private companies at odds.
"Both the FBI and Apple are taking absolutist positions and in many ways are talking past each other," Warner said in an interview on Wednesday. "I do believe there are technology solutions that can protect encryption and not lead to back doors."

Warner hopes to have a commission approved within a couple of months and to see the group issue a full report in about a year.

Even if the US comes to some agreement, it won't matter much if other countries have conflicting policies.

In the end, all it could take is one more attack for everything to change.
"We know there will be another catastrophic attack on the homeland," said a former counterterrorism official at the White House who didn't want to be named. "When that happens, the privacy-security pendulum will swing wildly back toward the national security side. The public will forget about encryption and will be very willing to give up some of their privacy for enhanced security."

Mark Zuckerberg has been running around the world (literally) but his latest jog in Beijing has caused an uproar.

Sony stakes its VR claim

AI - friend or foe?

"If somebody has all this information … we may see [a] resurgence next year of fraudulent tax returns," Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, told CNBC in 2015.

The IRS discovered an incident involving its "Get Transcript" application last May, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration conducted a nine-month investigation. That review turned up the additional accounts that could potentially have been accessed.

Additionally, the IRS said there were 295,000 taxpayer transcripts that were targeted, but "access was not successful."

The agency said it will send mailings to affected taxpayers beginning February 29.
"The IRS is committed to protecting taxpayers on multiple fronts against tax-related identity theft, and these mailings are part of that effort," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement. "We appreciate the work of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to identify these additional taxpayers whose accounts may have been accessed. We are moving quickly to help these taxpayers."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg furiously reprimanded employees in a private memo on Thursday, warning them to "stop crossing out 'black lives matter' and writing 'all lives matter'" on the company's famous signature wall in Menlo Park, California, calling such behavior "disrespectful" and "malicious."

"Black lives matter doesn't mean other lives don't," Zuckerberg wrote in the scathing message, posted on an internal forum and obtained by Gizmodo. "This has been a deeply hurtful and tiresome experience for the black community and really the entire Facebook community, and we are now investigating the current incidents," he added.

Employees have always been encouraged to write or draw on the whiteboard walls at Facebook -- essentially a real-life version of Facebook's virtual timeline wall. "We've never had rules around what people can write on our walls," wrote a seething Zuckerberg, "We expect everybody to treat each other with respect."

The Black Lives Matter movement started when George Zimmerman was acquitted in the murder of Trayvon Martin, and has since become a nationwide protest about police brutality against African Americans.

Facebook has drawn criticism in the past for its WASPy, frat-house culture, and suffers from a lack of diversity -- only two percent of employees are black.

Samsung Pay, Samsung's mobile payment service, is going to become a lot more useful to U.S users in the new year.

A report from Reuters says Samsung will expand Samsung Pay with online payment support, putting it in direct competition with the likes of PayPal and Visa Checkout.

Letting users pay for online purchases using Samsung Pay would also give Samsung's service an edge over Apple Pay, which lets users pay for things within apps, but not directly online.

Thomas Ko, Samsung Pay's global co-general manager, told Reuters, "wider handset availability of Samsung Pay as well as online payment support is coming soon."

At the moment, Samsung Pay is only supported by a few of Samsung's flagship smartphones, such as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5. If Samsung ever hopes to see Samsung Pay take off and become widely adopted, it needs to bring the feature to not only its high-end smartphones, but also its low-end and mid-range lineups.

Since its launch in on Sept. 28 in the U.S., an average of eight transactions per user were made within the first month, according to Samsung.

Samsung Pay differs from Apple Pay and Android Pay in that it works with existing mobile payment and credit card terminals. Whereas Apple Pay requires businesses to install new NFC-enabled terminals, Samsung Pay-compatible smartphones are automatically detected as if they are credit cards when they're held near a magnetic terminal.

The festive season is upon us, and there's no better time of the year to surround yourself with your friends and loved ones for a nice meal or party. And with New Year's Eve coming up, we all have the chance to celebrate another year gone, and the exciting potential that comes with 2016's beginning.

While hosting any sort of get together is a lot of fun, it can come with a lot of work before and during. Luckily, smart home technology and connected gadgets can provide a digital helping hand when it comes to pretty much any type of in-home entertainment.

Here are just a select few ways smart gadgets can help you throw the best party on your street this holiday season — all made possible with the Samsung SmartThings hub and the compatibility that the open SmartThings platform has with hundreds of smart devices.


1. Control your music
A party simply isn't a party without some great music. Control the music all through your house or flat with a smart speaker system like the Samsung Wireless Audio-360. You can even program the system to turn music on at the opening of a door, which is a great and unexpected way to welcome a guest into your home or into a specific room.

2. Customise the lighting throughout your home
Smart lighting systems like Philips Hue let you control lighting in any room of your home. You can set your lights to coincide with your doorbell ringing or someone standing outside your front door. For example, you could set the lights to flash red when a guest is knocking, so you won't have to worry about not hearing them over the music and conversation.

3. Help guests wake up with an automatically brewed pot of coffee


Of course, a successful party starts with the quality of the people attending, but food and drink often come in at a pretty close second. After everyone has filled up on festive appetizers and cocktails, use a Samsung SmartThings Power Outlet in conjunction with your coffee maker to automatically brew a pot of coffee to keep everyone awake so you can keep the party going all night.

4. Keep guests out of rooms you’d like to keep private
You may not want attendees going into your bedroom or other rooms in your home. A Samsung SmartThings Motion Sensor can send you notifications when movement is detected in certain areas. You can also use it to turn lights on automatically when movement is detected. This way, you and your guest will be able to see without fumbling around for a light switch when heading to the kitchen for a drink of water in the middle of the night, or while heading downstairs to the basement for a fresh bottle of wine while the party is in full swing.

To become a true Jedi you have to construct your own lightsaber... and that's exactly what 23-year-old YouTuber Drake Anthony (a.k.a. styropyro) did.

Inspired by Allen Pan's flamethrower lightsaber, Anthony decided to put his own spin on the Jedi weapon using a 7-watt blue laser in place of fire. The result is a lightsaber that's powerful enough to cut through objects and light them on fire.

In the video, Anthony uses his homemade laser lightsaber to set fire to tape, burn a cup, ignite plasma, cut soldering wire in half, engrave wood, and more.

"This beam is so awesome...it totally reminds of the scene where Gandalf says, 'Use the Force, Harry,'" jokes Anthony. (In case you didn't get the reference, the pop-culture mashup only exists on the Internet.)

Want to build your own? Though Anthony doesn't detail in depth how he built his lightsaber, he does provide a look at the inner workings:

My device uses a Nichia GaN laser diode, which was overdriven to 7W of output by running it at 4.6A with a couple high efficiency buck drivers in parallel. An anti-reflective coated glass lens focuses the beam, and the whole device is powered by two unprotected 18650 batteries in series.

The lightsaber may be impressive, but Anthony assures us he's working on even bigger and more badass laser projects. He says he's working on a "laser bazooka" and another "ruby laser" that projects a beam through a ruby crystal and is powered by explosives. Stay safe, guy.

SAN FRANCISCO — It faces possibly the biggest crisis in its 21-year history, but for one night Yahoo celebrated as if it were the Roaring Twenties.

The troubled Internet company marked the holidays with a Great Gatsby-themed party to celebrate its 20th birthday here earlier this month. In swanky, spacious digs along the water, revelers dressed as flap dancers enjoyed food, booze and a cover band in a speakeasy motif, according to a guest who attended. Cost of the gala: About $2 million.

BIZJOURNALS
The extravagance of some tech companies during the holidays and their decision to emulate the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is brimming with irony. Jay Gatsby and his friends luxuriated in an opulent lifestyle shortly before the Great Depression.

Many in the tech industry are bracing for what they fear could be a major correction. In fact, many are partying like it's 1999 — coincidentally the year before a dot-com crash took out hundreds of start-ups.

High-flying Facebook hit on the same theme, with a 1920s-era casino room and golden palm trees, according to a report in Business Insider. Google employees celebrated at a James Bond-themed party, replete with Aston Martin outside, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Facebook and Google did not reply to e-mail messages for comment.

The parallel to the pre-bust years hasn’t been lost on angry Yahoo shareholders such as Eric Jackson, who scorched Mayer & Co. in a 99-page presentation to the company’s board of directors, calling for the ouster of CEO Marissa Mayer and a massive reorganization. In his presentation, he claims the Gatsby-themed party at Pier 48 — which he says cost $7 million — is indicative of profligate spending by a company that is being clobbered by Facebook and Google.

Yahoo chocolates from the company's holiday party.
Yahoo chocolates from the company's holiday party. (Photo: Jon Swartz, for USA TODAY)


Two people knowledgeable about the Yahoo party, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, said it cost closer to $2 million and was intended as a holiday celebration for all Yahoo employees instead of multiple parties. They said Yahoo chose to have one big event as part of a push to reduce its holiday party budget by about 30% from a year ago.

One person drawing attention at this year's parties: Yahoo CEO Mayer, under pressure to revamp the company's corporate strategy, and the very public face of the Internet company's attempt at a turnaround. At Yahoo's more modest party held for reporters, Mayer was one of the last to leave.

LAVISH PARTIES ABOUND

Bubble? What bubble?

The threat of a bursting bubble hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of tech start-ups and behemoths, if their holiday parties are any indication. Expensive wines are flowing, and high-end hors d'oeuvres are on the  menu. Indeed, tech companies typically throw lavish parties as one of the perks to retain employees and recruit others.

"There has been a boom in holiday parties across the board the past few years after many had scaled back following the recession," says KT Thompson, area director of catering in Chicago for Kimpton, the largest hotel boutique company in the U.S. "It's not just tech. It's consulting, construction and engineering."

Many tech companies also host press parties in Silicon Valley, New York and all points in between. There, executives mix with the fourth estate and informally offer a barometer of the year and what's to come. Larger, more extravagant private holiday parties for employees are held separately.

"After three years of working hard with our heads down, we decided to host our first press event," says Jerry Hum, CEO of Touch of Modern, a shopping web site of unique, high-end items. "It was time celebrate and showcase some of our listed products."

Several were on display at the Hotel Phoenix here — including the $2,000 Silver Phantom, the most-powerful BlueTooth speaker in the world, and a remote-controlled version of the Dark Knight car, Tumbler. A watch case, filled with pieces worth an estimated $500,000, was closely guarded.

$500,000 in watches were on display in a San Francisco
$500,000 in watches were on display in a San Francisco bar for the Touch of Modern holiday party. (Photo: Jon Swartz, for USA TODAY)



Guests at the mid-November soiree were treated to filet mignon beef jerky, vaporized martinis ("vaportini"), Tequila shot cups made of salt and whiskey bullets that chill drinks.

Parties in Silicon Valley this year are exultant, with barely a tinge of trepidation that the good times may soon end..

Mobile advertising agency AppLovin, based in Palo Alto, Calif., flew its nearly 100 employees to Las Vegas for a paid weekend of free spa sessions, shows (Britney Spears, David Copperfield, Cirque Du Soleil) and other goodies, including a penthouse party suite at the MGM Grand.

Not every gathering was ostentatious.

In lower Manhattan earlier this month, Intel party-goers were treated to carving stations and a fully-stocked bar. Personal computers, laptops and tablets were on display. One PC connected to a TV allowed attendees to play NBA 2K16. An Intel “goodie bag” contained a mug with small cake balls inside.

A court has blocked the app that 93% of Brazil’s internet users depend on for their communication needs.

A court in Brazil has ordered telecommunications companies to block popular messaging service WhatsApp for 48 hours, citing a failure to respond properly to a criminal case.

According to Brazilian newspaper O Globo, the order was handed down from the 1st Criminal Court of São Bernardo do Campo in São Paulo, Brazil, due to an unnamed petitioner seeking an injunction against the company. All Brazilian telecommunication companies — including Hi, Vivo, TIM and Claro — have to block users from accessing WhatsApp for the next two days starting at 9 p.m. ET.
“Because WhatsApp did not respond to a court order of July 23, 2015, on August 7, 2015, the company was again notified, with there being a fixed penalty in case of non-compliance. As yet the company did not attend the court order, the prosecution requested the blocking of services for a period of 48 hours, based on the law […], which was granted by Judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques,” the court said in a statement.

WhatsApp founder and CEO Jan Koum, whose company was purchased by Facebook in October 2014, posted that the company was “disappointed in the short-sighted decision to cut off access to WhatsApp, a communication tool that so many Brazilians have come to depend on, and sad to see Brazil isolate itself from the rest of the world.”

As TechCrunch has pointed out, 93% of Brazil’s internet users use WhatsApp to help avoid some of the highest phone plan prices in the world.

Messaging service Telegram boasted on Twitter that more than 1.5 million Brazilian users had signed up since the court order was handed down.


Brazil’s telecommunication companies have been lobbying for months to have WhatsApp declared illegal for avoiding the regulations that they face. But Telebrasil, the organization that serves a bridge between the Brazilian government and the telecoms, lamented that the court’s actions were not in the interest of the telecoms, particularly as they would be blamed by customers for the lack of service.

The head of Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency, John Rao, likewise said in a statement that blocking WhatsApp “is not the solution as it is disproportionate and affect millions of users.”