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Weekly Recap: Echo Show, Armadillo, solar tiles, Wannacry attack and Stack Overflow trends

May 12, 2017.

Echo Show

Amazon Echo Show.

Echo Show. © Amazon.

Amazon has unveiled its latest voice assistant, the Echo Show, equipped with a 7-inch touchscreen. The Show has the same basic capabilities as the regular, voice-only Echo, but the built-in display adds new functionalities: videoconferencing, displaying video feed from wi-fi connected cameras, displaying visual information to complement Alexa’s audio answers, streaming Youtube and Amazon videos, displaying Prime Photos, etc. The Echo Show will come in white or black. Available for preorder in the United States only, for US$230, with delivery as of June 28.

The Verge, “Amazon officially unveils touchscreen Echo Show.”

  

Armadillo for Fuchsia

Google Armadillo.

Armadillo. © Ars Technica/Google.

Google unveiled a light new operating system called Fuchsia. We thought at first that it would be IoT-oriented, but now, it comes with a graphic interface for mobile devices (telephones and tablets), called Armadillo. Unlike Google’s two other operating systems (Android and Chrome OS), Fuchsia is not based on a Linux kernel but rather on a home-grown one, called Magenta. Fuchsia applications are being developed with Dart, a language developed by Google to replace JavaScript. Fuchsia remains somewhat mysterious, as Google has released no information on the underlying strategy. It seems that the idea is to replace Android by starting from scratch and breaking away from the Linux GPL.

Ars Technica, “Google’s ‘Fuchsia’ smartphone OS dumps Linux, has a wild new UI.”

  

Tesla Solar Tiles

Solar Roof.

Solar Roof. © Tesla.

Elon Musk announced on Twitter that its solar roof tiles were available for preorder as of today, May 10. Two types are currently available: smooth and textured. Roman and imitation slate tiles are not yet in production. If our math is correct, a 75m2 roof made up entirely of solar tiles would cost US$46,500, or US$620 per square metre (optional battery pack an extra US$7,000). Tesla’s marketing strategy consists in providing a cost per square foot based on 40 to 70% coverage of solar tiles, on the grounds that roofs with 100% solar tiling are rare. While this trick brings down costs dramatically, a per-tile price would have been much more transparent. The tiles’ electricity production capability is guaranteed for 30 years. Tempered glass, the material the tiles are made of, is at least three times stronger than traditional and slate tiles, meaning that Tesla Solar roofs are much more resistant to hailstorms. Tesla manages the entire roofing process: permits, old roof removal, complete installation and maintenance. There are no plans to sell just the tiles; this is a complete service package available on quotation only.

Electrek, “Tesla releases details of its solar roof tiles: cheaper than regular roof with ‘infinity warranty’ and 30 yrs of solar power.”

  

Wannacry cyberattack

Ransomware.

Ransomware. © iStock.

A highly virulent new strain of self-replicating ransomware is shutting down computers all over the world, in part by appropriating a National Security Agency exploit that was publicly released last month by the mysterious group calling itself Shadow Brokers. The malware known as Wanna, Wannacry, or Wcry, has infected at least 57,000 computers, according to antivirus provider Avast. AV provider Kaspersky Lab said organizations in at least 74 countries have been affected.. The malware is notable for its multi-lingual ransom demands, which support more than two-dozen languages. Wcry is reportedly causing disruptions at banks, hospitals, telecommunications services, and other mission-critical organizations in multiple countries, including the UK, Spain, Germany, and Turkey. FedEx, the UK government's National Health Service, and Spanish telecom Telefonica have all been hit.

Ars Technica, “An NSA-derived ransomware worm is shutting down computers worldwide.”

  

Stack Overflow Trends

Php vs Python vs Perl.

Php vs Python vs Perl. © Stack Overflow.

On a typical day, developers ask over 8,000 questions on Stack Overflow about programming problems they run into in their work. Which technologies are they asking about, and how has that changed over time? Stack Overflow is introducing the Trends tool to track interest in programming languages and technologies, based on the number of questions asked per month.

Stack Overflow, “Introducing Stack Overflow Trends.”