Samsung leader will be indicted for bribery and embezzlement

Following his arrest, Samsung Vice-Chairman Lee Jae-yong will be indicted on charges of bribery, embezzlement and two other crimes, according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. It’s the start of legal proceedings that could put Lee in jail for years, stalling a planned succession due to his father’s heart attack and hospitalization. Four other executives were charged, including Corporate Strategy Office Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung and President Chang Choong-ki.

The case could eventually bring down Korea’s President Park Geun-hye, too. Samsung’s Lee allegedly directed around $37 million to various bodies controlled by a friend of Park in exchange for backing of a merger between two Samsung affiliates. That would have firmed up Lee’s control of Samsung Electronics, the company behind Galaxy Note 7 and upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphones. Park herself was impeached in December and could be removed from office in weeks.

Samsung admitted it made the payments, but denied they were for political gain, the WSJ says. Prosecutors have reportedly spent months building the case and the trial could drag on for as long as 18 months. Lee can seek bail after the indictment, but his succession to Chairman, already delayed by the failure of the Galaxy Note 7, while likely be stalled further or halted completely.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: WSJ

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Sensor turns on a cop’s body camera when their gun is pulled

Years after high-profile police shootings pressured departments across the country to adopt body cameras, results have been mixed. The increased accountability expected from their rollout has been marred with technical malfunctions or absent footage when officers fail to turn on their devices. Stun gun maker TASER wants to change this with a simple sensor that automatically turns on body cameras when an officer’s gun leaves its holster.

The Signal Sidearm specifically works with cameras within TASER’s Axon brand, triggering any within a 30-foot radius to start recording once a gun is drawn from a sensor-equipped holster. On one hand, it’s a great way to get simultaneous synced coverage for overlapping footage from multiple angles. On the other, if recording starts only after officers pull their firearms, there’s no account of the escalation.

Therefore, it’s likely best as a redundant trigger when partnered with the rest of Axon’s Signal sensors, which activate cameras for events like flicking on a patrol car’s light bar or opening its door. But since departments still establish their own body camera systems, there’s room for the same unintentional (or even deliberate) faulty setups that have kept them from becoming foolproof evidence gatherers.

Source: PR Newswire

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NASA starts wind tunnel tests for its quiet supersonic jet

NASA’s plans for a quiet supersonic jet, the QueSST, just became tangible: the agency and Lockheed Martin have started wind tunnel tests for the future X-plane. It’s a scale model at this stage, but it will be subjected to winds as high as Mach 1.6 (950MPH) to gauge both its aerodynamic performance as well as parts of its propulsion system. The tests should run until the middle of 2017.

Whether or not QueSST moves beyond these tests will depend on funding approval. If it does get the go ahead, though, the next step is making an honest-to-goodness aircraft poised to fly in 2020. That goal is still a long way off, but it now seems more achievable than it did a year ago.

Source: NASA

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Netflix wins an Oscar for documentary short ‘The White Helmets’

While we were expecting Amazon to score an Oscar first for Manchester by the Sea, Netflix ended up beating out that film with a Best Documentary (Short Subject) Oscar for The White Helmets. Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, the film centers on a group of volunteer rescue workers for the Syrian Civil Defense Force, also known as "The White Helmets," who risk their lives to help civilians in that war-torn country.

The group has saved more than 60,000 lives so far, and they’ve also been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Ava DuVernay’s The 13th, another Netflix film, was also nominated for best documentary, but it lost out to the epic-length O.J.: Made in America. As you might have guessed, The White Helmets is available to watch on Netflix now.

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Google Assistant Coming This Week to All Phones Running Nougat and Marshmallow

google assistant all android

Starting this week, Google is bringing Google Assistant to all Android phones running Android 7.0 Nougat and 6.0 Marshmallow. That’s a cool 30% of Android devices, according to the most recent distribution numbers. 

Google made the announcement this morning during Mobile World Congress, stating that it would arrive automatically on your phone through the latest Google Play Services update. The rollout may take some time, but many of you are about to gain access to Google Assistant very soon.

Specifically, Google says Assistant will arrive “this week to English users in the U.S., followed by English in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as German speakers in Germany.”

Previously, Assistant was an exclusive to the Pixel phones. However, in the non-phone world, you can already find it in Google Home, in Allo, and on Android Wear 2.0.

To see Google Assistant in action, be sure to checkout the video below.

Via:  Google

Google Assistant Coming This Week to All Phones Running Nougat and Marshmallow is a post from: Droid Life

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Largest grid-tied lithium ion battery system deployed today in San Diego

On Friday, Southern California utility San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) held a small press conference in Escondido to show off its brand new energy storage facility, a 30MW battery system capable of storing 120MWh of energy, which can serve 20,000 customers for four hours. SDG&E also introduced a 7.5MW battery system built in El Cajon, CA.

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