SIKORSKY WINS TO REPLACE MARINE ONE US PRESIDENTIAL HELICOPTERS

Airforce One may be the flashiest plane in the US presidential hangar, but that doesn’t mean the day-to-day runabout gets neglected. The US Navy has announced that Sikorsky Aircraft has been awarded the contract to replace the Marine One helicopter fleet used to transport the President. The initial US$1.24 billion contract is for six S-92 helicopters and two trainer simulators for the US Marine Corps as part of a development and conversion program that will see a fleet of 21 aircraft built for presidential use by 2023.

Marine One is the call sign of the helicopter used by the US President for getting from place to place quickly and securely. It’s usually a VH-3D Sea King or a VH-60N WhiteHawk, but these date back to the 1960s and 1980s, and after the 9/11 attacks were regarded as obsolete.

The previous attempt to replace the Marine One fleet was a competition between Sikorsky and a Lockheed Martin / Agustawestland partnership. Lockheed won the contract to build the replacement helicopter, called the VH-71 Kestrel, but the cost of the 28-helicopter fleet skyrocketed from US$6.1 billion to $13 billion before being cancelled by the Obama administration in 2009.

The new helicopter, dubbed the VH92, is based on the dual-engine, medium-lift S-92, of which Sikorsky has delivered over 200 to customers in ten countries since 2004. Applying lessons learned from the previous replacement program, Sikorsky was required to submit a proposal based on an existing, in-production helicopter in its bid, which will be fully evaluated before production begins. The six aircraft to be delivered by 2018 will be used to test the flight performance and mission communications of the S-92, with four going on to operational status. Meanwhile, the simulators will be used to train pilots and flight crews.

If all goes according to schedule, the first batch of production aircraft will be ordered with the final deliveries by 2023. Assembly of the helicopters will be at Sikorsky’s S-92 production facility in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. These will then be sent to a secure facility in Stratford, Connecticut, for modifications before going on to another facility to install the integrated communications and mission systems, then back to Stratford to install the presidential interior complete with in-flight toilets.

Exactly what the VH92 will be like is highly classified, but industry opinion about the previous replacement program indicates that it will have greater range than existing Marine One helicopters, and carry up to 14 passengers and thousands of pounds of cargo. It will also be specially hardened against electromagnetic pulses, carry encrypted communications and video conferencing gear, and be able to jam radar and deploy countermeasures against anti-aircraft missiles, though the combat and communications capabilities may be scaled back to control costs.

BMW GIVES “I8″ THAT IS ITS VERY OWN SOLAR CARPORT

BMW Group DesignworksUSA has designed a solar carport to house the new i3 and

forthcoming i8 electric vehicles. BMW is revealing the one-car solar garage concept as part of the official media launch of the i8 in Los Angel

The concept follows previous efforts from the German automotive giant to power its “i” sub-brand using renewable energy. It last year unveiled a similar carport system conceived in partnership with the photovoltaic firm SOLARWATT GmbH.

The latest design features an insect-like frame that makes extensive use of bamboo and like the SOLARWATT system, it features glass-on-glass solar modules on its rooftop.

The system is designed to work in conjunction with BMW’s i Wallbox Pro, enabling owners to charge direct from the solar collector panels and providing a detailed report on the amount of solar going into the system and how that compares against grid consumption. Any excess energy produced by the carport can be fed back into the owner’s residence for domestic use.

BMW’s solar carport concept may not be quite as eye-catching as say, thePure Tension collapsible solar pavilion revealed by Volvo last year, but it does appear to have a better chance of moving beyond concept stage.

The i8 hybrid, when fully charged has a range of approximately 22 miles (37 km) in all-electric mode.

EMAILS BETWEEN GOOGLE,OTHER MAJOR TECH COMPANIES AND NSA SUGGEST ONGOING COOPERATION(REPORTS)

Google and other major tech companies have been meeting with the NSA about cybersecurity for years, emails obtained by Al Jazeera reveal. The emails between Google executives Sergey Brin and

Eric Schmidt and NSA Director General Keith Alexander were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and date from the summer of 2012.

The emails refer to ongoing co-operation and information sharing between the NSA and industry leaders, even while some of those same industry players have been publicly voicing concerns over NSA practices.

In November of 2013 reports began to surface that the NSA was accessing data travelling between data centers, andGoogle was amongst a chorus of objectors.

Over a year earlier, in the summer of 2012, an email from Alexander referred to “A group (primarily Google, Apple and Microsoft) recently came to agreement on a set of core security principles.” The same email referred to a collaborative effort to foil a BIOS attack originating in China which included Intel, AMD, HP, Dell and Microsoft.

That alleged threat was covered by 60 Minutes, but has met with skepticism, both that the threat was real and that the NSA’s intention was the defense of data networks.Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Nate Cardozo told Al Jazeera that the NSA may have been “looking for weaknesses in the exact same products they’re trying to secure.”

John Pike, director and founder of GlobalSecurity.org told VentureBeat: “The large telecom companies, including Internet companies, have an extremely intimate relationship with the NSA. How could it be otherwise?”

One of the emails from Alexander to Brin thanks him for participation in the Enduring Security Framework (ESF) program, which was launched in 2009 to partner the private sector with the federal government to improve cybersecurity.

Another email invites Schmidt to participate in a “decision-oriented” meeting on security and threats involving mobile devices.

“We work really hard to protect our users from cyberattacks, and we always talk to experts — including in the US government — so we stay ahead of the game,” Google said in a statement. “ It’s why Sergey attended this NSA conference.”

The emails contain no reference to the NSA accessing Google user records.

Al Jazeera is expecting its FOIA request to eventually yield dozens of additional emails.

APPLE IS GOING TO BUY BEATS AUDIO FOR $3.2BN?

Apple has reportedly bought Beats Electronics for a cool $3.2bn. The news comes courtesy of Dr. Dre himself in what has to be one of the most unorthodox corporate announcements in recent years, via

Instagram.

The Instagram video along with a number of images, all of which seem to suggest the purchase is a sone deal, have all since been removed from the site.

This comes after the Financial Times reported that Apple’s purchase of Beats could be announced as soon as next week. The deal has been agreed in principle, but some financial details still need to be ironed out, the paper said.

T3’s very own Managing Editor and columnist Duncan Bell points out that whilst odd, there would certainly be method in Apple’s madness with buying Beats.

“Beats mouthpiece Jimmy Iovine has hinted at an Apple and Beats tie-up for years, but a full-on buy-out would still be a little surprising. ”

“However, the two brands would make a good pairing as they have one key thing in common: they make products that are premium in terms of pricing, yet mass-market in terms of popularity.”

“A buy-out would also give Apple an easy route in to on-demand streaming via Beats Audio, letting it compete with Spotify. Spotify isn’t profitable but it must currently be taking big chunks out of iTunes’ bottom line. Maybe Apple thinks it knows how to make money from music streaming…”

Beats Electronics is best known for its range of Beats headphones and speakers, as well as the recently launched Beats Music service.

The deal is said to be worth as much as £2 billion. If true, it would make the acquisition the largest in Apple’s history.

Apple has bought at least 24 companies in the last 18 months. Its purchase of Prime Sense is the largest that we’re aware of. Apple bought the company behind the original Kinect for $350 million (£207 million) .

The company has traditionally shied away from major purchases. However, Apple has said that it is willing to drop big money to buy a company – but only if it made sense.

Beats was founded by rapper Dr Dre and the chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine. The first headphones under the brand were launched in 2008.

Apple is thought to be targeting the business to buy into the Beats brand itself.

MICROSOFT GAINS MOST WEBSITES IN MAY 2014 NETCRAFT WEB SERVER SURVEY

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Microsoft gained the most websites again in April 2014, bringing it the closest it has ever been to Apache’s leading market share, according to the May 2014 Netcraft Web Server survey.

Netcraft received responses from 975,262,468 sites in April, up by 16 million from March.

Apache added 4.3 million sites in the month, however lost market share. Microsoft gained over twice as many sites, and increased its market share by 0.37 percentage points, bringing it to just under 4 percent behind Apache for total number of sites served.

Apache has been the most popular web server for over 18 years.

Among active sites Microsoft also gained modestly on Apache (0.20 percent), as did nginx (0.14 percent).

nginx released versions 1.6.0 and 1.7.0 on April 24, and while it lost sites overall, it was the only company to gain market share amongst the top million sites. nginx may see additional gains going forward from the improved support in the recent Ubuntu 14.04 release.

Use of the new gTLDs increased in April, with Netcraft finding massive adoption of both .email and .berlin. The latter increased in the month from 2 websites to 40,000, despite criticism of the new gTLDs from German news magazine Der Spiegel, which had previously registered its own .berlin domain name.

Microsoft IIS gained 7 million websites, over a third of which were hosted in the North Central US Azure region.

CONSUMER READY CENTR VIDEO CAMERA TAKES 360 DEGREES FOOTAGE

Video professionals with the US Army, Red Bull and National Geographic are already using the technology, and you’ll soon have your chance. The consumer-ready CENTR Camera aims to make it easy to capture 360-degree HD footage, recording your world in full.

Built by former Apple engineers, the CENTR has four HD image sensors mounted around a palm-sized chassis. Instead of filming straight-on, like the average video camera, it’s constantly filming 360 degrees of footage. CENTR’s 20-variable image calibration stitches images from the four sensors into a single video automatically, so they’re available to view right away without any complicated post-filming editing.

“When shooting video, we pull either 720p or 1080p RAW video data from each camera,” CENTR explains on Kickstarter. “When each camera is shooting at 1080p resolution, we are processing 4K of panoramic video data in each frame. The effective resolution after image stitching is 1080 x ~7500 pixels. The final panoramic width for each video actually varies slightly based on the calibration parameters automatically set by CENTR.”

The footage can be viewed in real time using the CENTR interactive player on a Wi-Fi-connected desktop computer, tablet or smartphone. It looks like a normal video at first, but unlike your typical YouTube fare, you can scroll to spin it around. In a video made from the cockpit of a plane, for instance, you start off looking forward from the pilot’s POV and can then scroll to look over the wing and keep going to view the pilot himself.

In addition to video, the CENTR can be used to capture time-lapse panoramic stills photos. Each image sensor is 5 MP, allowing for 20-MP time-lapse photography. The camera also includes a single-sensor mode for times when you just want to shoot traditionally without the 360-degree effect.

The CENTR’s tape-roll design is meant to allow the filmer to grip the camera through the center without blocking any of the individual sensors. It’s also built to work with tripod and GoPro mounts, delivering a versatile filming platform for capturing everyday action.

Inside its housing, the CENTR Camera includes a digital bubble level that helps in leveling filming. It saves footage on 8 GB of internal flash storage and includes microSD expansion. The battery runs for two hours and is designed to be quickly swapped out. Audio is recorded via three built-in microphones. The camera weighs just 9 oz (250 g).

After developing the CENTR for the past three years, the design team has turned to Kickstarter to help it get over the hump to production. It’s offering an early bird pledge price of US$299 (est. retail: $399) in an attempt to raise $900,000. If all goes to plan, production is set to begin in February 2015.

When it does, it’ll be competing against products like the 360Fly and Geonaute.

The campaign pitch video can be seen below.

TECH COMPANIES STRIVE TO KEEP NET NEUTRALITY ON THE TABLE IN GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATIONS

More than 100 major technology companies have voiced opposition against a new proposal from

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler that would make concessions to a “pay to play” model of network management that would allow ISPs to charge companies for preferential treatment.

These new rules, which are currently scheduled to be voted on May 15, are expected to strike a major blow against “net neutrality,” the concept that ISPs should treat all data that travels over their networks equally.

The proposal by Wheeler, a former government lobbyist, has been opposed in writing by the likes of Google, Reddit, Facebook, Amazon, and dozens of other companies. The letter states that the FCC should not permit “individualised bargaining and discrimination.”

The Open Internet Order, a prior attempt by the FCC to set forth regulations in favor of net neutrality, was rejected in January by a federal court on the grounds that it exceeded the FCC’s authority.

According to the FCC, the latest plan will forbid ISPs from acting in a “commercially unreasonable manner to harm the Internet, including favoring the traffic from an affiliated entity.” This ambiguous wording has many worried that it could be “commercially reasonable” to allow ISPs to charge companies like Netflix or Amazon extra to for better network speeds.

There are also voices of dissent within the government agency itself. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has stated that the rulemaking should be postponed for at least a month to give the public adequate time to respond to Wheeler’s proposal.

Fearing what will happen to its users, web host Neocities is throttling all connections from the FCC to 28.8kbps modem speeds on the Neocities.org front site (identifying visitors based on the FCC’s internal IP block).

While it’s doubtful that anyone at the FCC will find their access to Neocities personally limiting, this is in an attempt to demonstrate how treating online entities differently online could make the internet a fragmented place where individuals and companies need to negotiate network speeds rather than making everything fast and available to everyone else.