What’s new
Microsoft launched new bug bounty program for Office Insider Builds
Inside the Bug Bounty Program, users will be able to search bugs in early access Office builds and get awarded rather large sums of money. Microsoft is offering a minimum of $500 up to $15,000 USD. It even seems like a competition in some regards considering Microsoft will be awarding the bounty to the first eligible submission received. The Bug Bounty Program will only run for three months, until June 15.
You can read more here.
Gmail for desktop adds video attachment streaming preview
Video attachments can still be downloaded, but clicking on a file will now open a YouTube-style video player that will let users play the clip back, adjust quality and sound levels, and even stream it to a Chromecast device. Google says the feature is rolling out to everyone but may take up to 15 days before some users see it.
More info are available here.
New products
Microsoft Surface Book 2
The new Surface Book 2 will have a 13.5-inch display and a starting price of $1,000. It will feature a magnesium-aluminum alloy body and will be launched in April.
More info here.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3
The Tab S3 has a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It comes with a 6,000mAh battery and a 9.7-inch Super AMOLED display.
More info here.
You might want to know about this
A new algorithm from Google shrinks JPEG files by 35 percent
Google’s latest development is Guetzli, an open-source algorithm that encodes JPEGs that are 35 percent smaller than currently-produced images. This reduction method is similar to their Zopfli algorithm that shrinks PNG and gzip files without needing to create a new format, said Google in a blog post.
You can read more here.
Sony will soon stop PS3 production and shipments in Japan
According to the official Japanese PlayStation site, the PS3 is listed with a note stating that production on the console will be ending soon. After the production stops, the company will stop rolling out updates and supporting its titles on the PS Store, as well.
More info can be found here.
Fun stuff
Voodoo Manufacturing launches a fully-automated 3D printing factory operated by a robotic arm
Voodoo Manufacturing is the world’s first robot-operated 3D printer factory, which uses a high tech robotic arm that can swap out plates in between prints. The automated process can produce anywhere from 1 to 10,000 parts in as fast as 24 hours.
You can read more here.
