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The forthcoming Minecraft: Education Edition, written in C++, looks faster and smoother than the old Java version, but won't be compatible with all the old mods. If Microsoft mis-handles the transition, a split could damage the Minecraft community that underpins the game's stunning success.... Microsoft will release a beta of  Minecraft: Education Edition  written in C++ rather than Java, which looks like removing the performance problems associated with running the current version of Minecraft. The Education Edition should run well on the types of Windows laptop commonly found in schools, and in homes. Microsoft announced the Education Edition at the BETT 2016 educational technology exhibition held last week in London. Microsoft also announced that it had  purchased MinecraftEDU , an educational version of Minecraft, from Teacher Gaming LLC. (Microsoft  acquires MinecraftEdu from Teacher Gaming .) MinecraftEDU will not be developed any further, but most of its feat

Summary: Want a portable Linux-powered web server that will fit into your pocket? Look no further than  Ocean . Ocean may look like a smartphone, but it is in fact a fully functional Linux-powered web server that you can fit into your pocket. Ocean has been designed from the ground up for portability, and features an integrated battery that allows you to run web and Bluetooth applications in places where direct power is limited. The device is approximately the size of an iPhone 6, and can easily fit in your pocket. Because it packs the power of a Linux operating system (the default is Debian, but you can install your own), Ocean can be used for a variety of functions: Building and deploying web applications using frameworks such as Node.js or Ruby-on-Rails Building a custom router IoT hub iBeacon or Eddystone beacon prototyping The device can also act as a portable battery pack for iPhones and Android devices, and holds enough power to recharge an iPhone 6 1.3

Summary: The chip giant is preparing a gamer-friendly version of its pint-sized desktop with a quad-core Skylake Core i7 processor and Thunderbolt 3 port to connect to external graphics solutions.   As a result, these pint-sized PCs are perceived to be for a budget buyer, or someone who values their tiny footprint over specs. Intel has been trying to change that perception, having introduced a NUC  with a beefy Core i7 Broadwell CPU  nearly a year ago. Now it's looking to go a step further with a forthcoming model that it hopes will appeal even more to the performance crowd.Intel has made strides in  helping to reinvent the PC  with its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) systems, which are one of a number of tiny Windows computers that are shaped like the Mac Mini. The small size obviously limits the ultimate performance of these mini-PCs, as there's only so much room (and ability to dissipate heat) for components. The new NUC is being called "Skull Canyon" as a

In a surprise development, Google has abandoned its own Java standard libraries for those of Oracle. The move might be the first step in settling an ongoing lawsuit, but the implications for the Android community are profound. And it offers a possible opening for Microsoft. For a company that regularly brags about its commitment to open source, Google is remarkably closed about how it develops Android. The result is occasional shock at a sudden change in direction. The latest example emerged last week, when the Android community stumbled across a major change that appeared in the Android code base last November Google confirmed to several sources, including  VentureBeat , where I first saw the story, that it is dropping its own implementation of the standard Java libraries that are at the heart of Java, in favor of Oracle's OpenJDK libraries. That would be ho-hum software-plumbing news, except for the fact that Google and Oracle have been locked in a years-long copyright lawsuit

A relatively new Android Trojan family has been bringing grief to users around the world, posing as a Flash Player or  WhatsApp update , stealing online banking credentials, one time passwords (OTPs), and login credentials for popular Android apps. FireEye researchers dubbed the family SlemBunk. They have analyzed over 170 samples of the malware they located in the wild, and found that, over time, the authors of the malware have been adding capabilities for targeting more and more financial institutions.The latest variants are designed to imitate the legitimate apps of 33 financial management institutions and mobile payment service providers in the Asia Pacific region (many Australian banks), North America and Europe. “When the app is launched for the first time, it activates the registered receiver, which subsequently starts the monitoring service in the background,” the researchers explained. “On the surface it pops up a fake UI claiming to be Adobe Flash Player, or other a

The web giant is the latest firm, behind Google, Facebook, and Twitter, to warn users of state attacks.  Bob Lord, the company's newly appointed chief information security officer, said in a blog post that it will notify users if it suspects suspect that their account may have been targeted by a state-sponsored actor. "We'll provide these specific notifications so that our users can take appropriate measures to protect their accounts and devices in light of these sophisticated attacks," said Lord. Yahoo's security team, dubbed the "Paranoids," will provide notifications to targeted users with "specific actions" so that they can ensure their Yahoo accounts are safe and secure. The numerous safety steps on offer to the user, in part thanks to Lord's predecessor, Alex Stamos, who left earlier this year to work for Facebook, includes two-factor authentication and verifying account recovery information is valid and up-t

Microsoft is adding new suggested contact and automatic flight notifications to Outlook on the Web and Outlook.com starting in January 2016, Microsoft plans to make two new features available to users of Outlook on the Web and Outlook.com. Suggested contacts -- designed to help users find correct contacts more quickly -- and an "events from email" feature that will add airline flights automatically to users' calendars are both on their way, Microsoft officials announced on December 18. Events from email will start rolling out in early January 2016 to Office 365 First Release customers and those who have been migrated to the new Outlook.com preview. Microsoft officials said they expect this feature to roll out more broadly in March 2016. Because events from email are stored in users' calendars, they will show up automatically in all versions of Outlook (PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Windows Phone) that connect to Office 365 and/o

The first cumulative update for Windows 10 Mobile is available to Windows Insider testers in preview form. Microsoft has made available its first Cumulative Update to the version of the Windows 10 Mobile operating system it delivered in November. Microsoft delivered the update, which it is calling 10586.29, the evening of December 4. Microsoft officials are referring to the update as a Cumulative Update, rather than a typical preview build. What's in 10586.29 ? According to Windows Insider chief Gabe Aul: Improvements in upgrade experience, in particular for devices with limited free space, map rendering on update, and RCS enabled device settings. Improved application backwards compatibility for Windows Phone 8.1 Silverlight applications. Edge performance and stability improvements. Updated auto-completion to allow user to more easily edit the end of the URL in the address bar. Additional Bluetooth stability improvements. Fixes for s

Summary: Microsoft will release the core components of its 'Chakra' JavaScript engine as open source in January 2016. Microsoft plans to publish the core components of its "Chakra" JavaScript engine to GitHub under an MIT open source license in January 2016. Company officials announced the plans, which had been  rumored for the past few weeks , at the  JSConf on December 5 . Chakra was the codename for the JavaScript engine  that Microsoft built to power Internet Explorer 9 and which it has used in subsequent IE and  Edge browser  releases. I didn't realize until this until this week that the Chakra engine also is powering Cortana, Outlook.com, Azure DocumentDB and TypeScript. With Windows 10, Microsoft enabled Node.js to run with Chakra, enabling Node.js to work on Windows 10 IoT Core. Microsoft officials said that the people expected to use Chakra and for what types of applications and services as "We are still in the very early stages of th

Summary: A serious security flaw in VPN protocols used by companies en masse exposes the real IP addresses of users. A vulnerability discovered in protocols used by virtual private networks (VPNs) allows attackers to expose the true IP addresses of intended victims. In a   security advisory posted this week   by VPN provider Perfect Privacy, the company says that the flaw, dubbed "Port Fail," affects VPN providers which offer port forwarding and have no protection against IP leaks. VPNs are used worldwide by the privacy conscious and to circumvent geolocation-based content restrictions by disguising the true location of a person. VPNs are also a way to bypass censorship in countries that rule Internet access with an iron fist. The use of VPNs has also increased post-Snowden as more of us are now concerned about who could be tracking our online activity. Naturally, a security flaw which leaves our true IP addresses open for all to see defeats the purpose of VP