en apple news

آخرین مطالب

امکانات وب

Fan-made 'Star Wars: Episode VIII' trailer will get you as excited as the real thing - CNET

Filming wrapped this month for "Star Wars: Episode VIII," but fans are still eagerly awaiting the first official trailer for the sequel to "The Force Awakens." YouTube user Alex Luthor has a little something to tide you over in the meantime with a heart-pounding fan-made trailer for the film, which isn't due in theaters until late 2017.

Luthor combined footage from a variety of sources, including "The Force Awakens," as well as some other fan films. There's no need for a booming Hollywood voice-over here. Snippets of Star Wars film dialogue keep the trailer moving. There's an especially exciting moment when a blue lightsaber blade appears beside Luke Skywalker in an altered clip from "The Force Awakens."

"For people who say that the trailer is fake, well, obviously. I didn't make this trailer to fool or scam anyone, it's just a fan trailer," Luthor notes in the video description. YouTube has a healthy history of Star Wars fan films, ranging from this action-packed Darth Maul short to an X-Wing and TIE fighter dogfight shot with drones. The "Episode VIII" trailer fits right in with this creative legacy.

See Disney's crazy-accurate Star Wars prop... See full gallery

1 - 4 of 8

Next Prev

Mozilla's Firefox to turn off Adobe Flash by default in 2017 - CNET

Firefox maker Mozilla is clamping down harder on Flash.

Adobe Systems

Firefox parent Mozilla is taking its battle against Adobe Flash a few steps further.

In 2017, Firefox will require "click-to-activate approval" from you before you can trigger Flash-enabled videos and other Flash content on a website, Mozilla engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg said Wednesday in a blog post. This means the Flash content will remain dormant unless you actively click on a link or icon that says: "Activate Adobe Flash."

You can currently do the same thing yourself in Firefox by manually setting Flash to "Ask to activate." But next year's move will be dramatic due to the new default status for all Firefox users.

Adobe Flash has long been a necessary feature that enables web developers to offer games, video and streaming media via web browsers. But the Flash plug-in, which gets installed in the browser, has been blasted for its constant security holes and performance problems. The industry has been gravitating toward HTML5 as a replacement for Flash, though the move has been a slow one.

Firefox has advised web developers who use Flash as well as Microsoft Silverlight for video to make the switch to HTML5 as quickly as possible. Smedberg said that Firefox supports encrypted video playback using Adobe Primetime and Google Widevine as alteatives to plug-in based video formats such as Flash.

Mozilla isn't waiting until next year to start reining in Flash.

Starting next month, the company will block certain Flash content not considered essential to the "user experience." At the same time, it will continue to support legacy Flash content, meaning content that can't be viewed any other way. Mozilla expects this move to offer "enhanced security, improved battery life, faster page load and better browser responsiveness," Smedberg said.

Further, Mozilla will continue to block specific Flash content that's invisible to users, a move that should reduce crashes and freezes by 10 percent. And later this year, the company plans to expand its ban on the use of Flash to check whether certain content can be viewed, which Smedberg said is a common way to measure advertising on the Web. This should improve the performance of Firefox as well as conserve battery life on mobile devices, Smedberg added.

Adobe did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment. A spokeswoman for Mozilla said the company had nothing to add beyond the blog post.

Hillary Clinton creates a Trump filter for your photos - CNET

Looking for a chance to be insulted? Hillary Clinton's latest salvo in the online political contest is a page that creates insulting filters for your Facebook profile picture. Of course, they're not just any insults -- they're quotes from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The page is simply titled, "Trump yourself."

If you want to subject yourself to Trump's insults, some highlights include, "For a man to be successful he needs support at home ... not someone who is always griping and bitching."

And, "If you need Viagra, you're probably with the wrong girl."

And if you want the more tried and true classic, there's always, "[Undocumented Mexican immigrants are] bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Looks like the ball's in Trump's court.

Verizon to customers: No more data gobbling for you - CNET

Verizon customers may face trouble if they chew up too much data.
Verizon

Verizon subscribers who chew off lots of 4G data under an unlimited plan better enjoy it while it lasts.

The company is cooking up an Unlimited Data Plan Migration for people who use the highest amount of unlimited data, Android news blogger Droid Life said on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. On Thursday, the biggest data gobblers will start getting notices from Verizon that their accounts have been flagged and they will have to make tough choices if they want to remain with the carrier.

Carriers that offer unlimited data plans are in a sticky situation. Promising unlimited data has been used as a lure to capture more customers who don't have to worry about bumping into monthly limits. But a small percentage of subscribers have taken advantage of that feature by using an excessive amount of data, which taxes the carrier's network.

Subscribers who do get tapped for guzzling up an "extraordinary" amount of data will have until August 31 to switch to one of the new tiered Verizon plans, which offer a fixed amount of data per month at a certain price. If those subscribers don't make the move, their lines will be disconnected, according to Droid Life. They'll then have up to 50 days to reactivate their account but will still have to switch to a tiered plan.

Verizon is "notifying a very small group of customers on unlimited plans who use an extraordinary amount of data that they must move to one of the new Verizon Plans by August 31, 2016," a company spokesman confirmed to CNET.

"These users are using data amounts well in excess of our largest plan size (100GB)," the spokesman added. "While the Verizon Plan at 100GB is designed to be shared across multiple users, each line receiving notification to move to the new Verizon Plan is using well in excess of that on a single device."

Snowden designed an iPhone case: guess what it does. - CNET

Edward Snowden has designed a phone case to keep the govement (and hackers) from spying on you.
Barton Gellman, Getty Images

Edward Snowden and noted hacker Andrew "Bunnie" Huang plan to present a design for a new personal security device at the MIT Media Lab on Thursday. According to Wired, the device is a case-like gadget that "wires into your iPhone's guts to monitor the electrical signals sent to its inteal antennas."

The goal of Snowden and Huang's new device is to constantly check if someone -- whether it be the govement or a private hacker -- is receiving information from your phone's radios. It does this by snaking wires through the SIM card port (the card itself will be moved to a new slot on the case) and monitoring the iPhone hardware for indicators of unwanted transmissions. While a feature like "airplane mode" does stop your phone from transmitting signals, Snowden says it is far less reliable than monitoring the hardware.

Snowden and Huang have yet to build a prototype, but they are presenting a detailed design on Thursday. How long it will be until users can get their hands on a product remains to be seen.

This lens turns a GoPro into a 3D camera (hands-on) - CNET

GoPro cameras are good on their own, but what really drives them, what makes them so versatile, is the big range of accessories for them. That's what transforms them into something useful for your specific needs. For startup Vitrima, the goal was to tu a single GoPro camera into a stereoscopic 3D camera.

The Vitrima 3D GoPro camera lens uses mirrors to split the image coming into a Hero3 or Hero4 camera into left and right images. Its successful Indiegogo campaign is about to end and the company is already ramping up to start shipping to backers. You can grab one today before it ends for $89 (about AU$120 or £70), otherwise the lens will be about $129 when it's widely available this fall.

Traditionally, you'd need two GoPro cameras to create a stereoscopic image and then you'd have to take the individual clips and combine them with software to create the effect. (GoPro even makes a housing for this purpose.) With the Vitrima, it instantly splits the image the second you drop your camera into its attached housing.

The current design requires the camera to be set to a narrow field of view, which in tu limits your top resolution to 1080p. But, you can still use whatever frame rates are available including 120fps for slow-motion clips.

The video above was shot with a preproduction Vitrima lens I tested. It's mounted to my chest since there was just a bit too much movement when I mounted the big lens on my helmet. The steadier you can keep the camera the better, of course, but that's especially the case here with the narrower view.

Vitrima lens tus your GoPro into a 3D video... See full gallery

1 - 4 of 10

Next Prev

Though the lens and housing I tested were generally well built, the latch on top was difficult to open and eventually broke. Vitrima says it has fixed this for the final production lenses. It has also made the power button easier to use; it was near impossible to press on the preproduction unit because of its position behind the lens. The lens will also be waterproof and shatterproof when it ships. Also, if you don't need the waterproof housing, Vitrima is offering a lightweight version that attaches directly to your GoPro's lens.

Though you can view the video using Google Cardboard or a similar viewer, the best experience is with a headset like Samsung's Gear VR. No special viewer is required, so you can just play them straight from your phone. If you have a 3D headset, you can view the clip above on it or visit Vitrima's YouTube channel.

While the results might not be as good as shooting with two cameras, Vitrima's lens is certainly cheaper and requires a lot less effort. It's another great tool for expanding your GoPro's abilities.

Facebook will live-stream the USA basketball exhibition games - CNET

The NBA will live-stream the US national team's exhibition games on Facebook.
James Martin/CNET

No need to go to Brazil to watch USA basketball. It's on your phone.

The NBA will live-stream the US national team's exhibition games on Facebook, the league said Thursday. A total of nine games played by the men's and women's basketball teams will be streamed on both the USA Basketball and NBA Facebook pages. The men's team includes stars Kyrie Irving of the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers, as well as Kevin Durant and Draymond Green from the Golden State Warriors.

The games will also be retransmitted on NBA TV.

The news comes two days after Twitter announced it would live-stream a weekly NBA pregame show on its network.

The first game, the men's team versus Argentina, will be streamed on Friday at 6 p.m. PT. The first women's game is set for July 25.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will be held from August 6 to August 21.

Google vet launches app Candid for anonymous sharing that puts trolls in their place - CNET

Candid CEO and cofounder Bindu Reddy

Candid

Candid, an anonymous sharing app aiming for frank debate, launched Thursday by a vet of Google, Bindu Reddy.

Reddy, Candid's CEO and a former head of product for Google's social apps, said she embarked to create Candid after she felt unable to share unfiltered opinions on mainstream social networks.

"My social media network includes everyone in my life, from friends I haven't seen since high school to family members and work colleagues. Expressing my opinion, especially about controversial issues, inevitably upsets someone," she said in a statement. "I needed a place to express myself and engage in discussions where ideas can be debated on their own merits instead of being used to attack me as a person."

In the last week, outcry has mounted about trolling and some social networks' milquetoast efforts to control the hate-driven online attacks. Tuesday, Twitter conceded it hasn't done enough to curb abuse, after it banned high-profile troll Milo Yiannopoulos. A tech joualist who has described himself as "most fabulous supervillian on the inteet," Yiannopoulos stoked Twitter users to bombard "Ghostbusters" star Leslie Jones with racist and misogynist tweets tied to her appearance in the female-led film remake.

Joining a cohort of anonymous-sharing apps like Whisper and Yik Yak, Candid leans on artificial intelligence to moderate posts. To combat the typical occurrence of a small number of users contributing the majority of negative posts, Candid developed a "natural language processing" technology to analyze all posts. The tech is meant to remove objectionable content, flag negative posts, and redirect off-topic Idea to appropriate groups. The app also has a "sentiment analysis" model that the company says identifies hate speech, slander and threats.

That differs from social networks like Facebook or Twitter, which generally rely on users to flag objectionable material.

For anonymity, Candid assigns psuedonyms -- "HyperMantis," "Sincere Giraffe," "GroundedTurtle" -- that stick with the same user only in an individual thread. You may post as "DiligentBunny" in one thread and "IntuitiveSpider" in another. The app doesn't collect IP addresses and encrypts data.

It also has a rumor alert, aimed to weed out fabrications but allow news leaks and insider information to rise to the surface. The AI-based moderation system identifies rumors and then tries to verify them with a web and Twitter search. If the statement can't be validated, the app prompts users to mark the statement as "true" or "rumor."

U.S. authorities seize Kickass Torrents domains - CNET

Kickass Torrents appears to still be running. Movies currently in theaters like "X-Men: Apocalypse" and "Captain America: Civil War" are available for illegal download.
Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

U.S. authorities announced that they have arrested Artem Vaulin, the alleged owner of the most-visited file sharing site online: Kickass Torrents (or KAT). A federal court in Chicago also ordered that a bank account and seven domain names believed to be associated with KAT be seized.

According to the criminal complaint filed with the Chicago court, Kickass Torrents is estimated to be the 69th most commonly visited website on the inteet, and has an estimated net worth of over $54 million. Between all of the movies, TV shows, music, video games, and other media it hosts for download, Assistant Attoey General Leslie R. Caldwell says KAT is "responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials."

Kickass Torrents domain names have been blocked before in various countries across the globe, and its main site appears to still remain functional. But if Poland cooperates with the U.S. in the extradition process, Vaulin will be tried in American courts on counts of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.

In a statement Wednesday, Assistant Attoey General Caldwell said, "[Vaulin's] arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice."

Japan issues Pokemon Go safety guide ahead of game's launch - CNET

Pokemon Go is expected to arrive in Japan any day now, and the country's National Center for Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity has sent out a safety guide, to hopefully stop any Pokemon-related accidents before they occur.

The guidelines were published via Twitter and messaging service Line, Reuters reports, and wa of the risk of heat stroke while catching Pikachus under the midday sun. They also advise against wandering into dangerous areas while playing the game -- which is frankly good advice whatever you're up to.

The mobile game has already proved a bona fide phenomenon across many parts of the world, but is yet to actually officially launch in Japan -- the birthplace of Pokemon.

Such has been the game's engrossing popularity in the US, UK, Australia and other countries that reports of players blundering into danger have become commonplace. Recent Pokefails have included crashing into a parked police car and wandering off a cliff.

Pokemon Go prompts Saudi Arabian clerics to renew fatwa against franchise - CNET

The game's references to evolution have not gone down well in Saudi Arabia.
Sean Hollister/CNET

In light of the exploding popularity of Pokemon Go, Saudi Arabia's top clerics have renewed a decade-and-a-half old fatwa against the popular video game franchise, deeming it to be un-Islamic.

The original decree was made to deal with the then-growing Pokemon Card Game craze, which promoted gambling and featured forbidden imagery, according to the clerics. Gambling, of course, is forbidden in Islam, or haram.

Saudi site Arab News quoted Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan, a member of the kingdom's Council of Scholars, as saying that the current version of Pokemon Go retains the same un-Islamic qualities as older Pokemon properties and therefore the fatwa (No. 21,758) is being renewed.

A big issue the Council had with the franchise is that Pokemon "evolve".

"The theory of evolution is a main element. One of the most important things that makes man condemn this game is adopting the theory of evolution developed by Darwin," the edict states. "This theory states that all species of organisms evolve and that the origin of man was an ape. Astonishingly, the children frequently use the word 'evolution' inside and outside the game. You can hear them saying that this creature contained in the card has evolved to another form."

The original declaration also took issue with symbols in the series, including a six-pointed star that can be associated with Israel, as well as "many forms of the [Christian] cross."

It's not the only place in the Muslim world that Pokemon Go is coming under scrutiny. There is talk of banning the game in Egypt due to security conces, Al-Jazeera reports. Similar discussions are happening in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Telegraph.

Apple Watch's first role-playing game coming from creators of Final Fantasy - CNET

Square Enix, creator of the venerable Final Fantasy video game series, has launched a teaser website for a new role-playing game that will launch not on a powerful next-gen console, but on the humble Apple Watch.

The website calls the game Cosmos Rings, and simply states it's coming soon. It's safe to assume that the specific mention of "Apple Watch", rather than "smartwatches" means that this won't be a game for Android Wear devices.

It's not known what form the game will take, with only the small teaser image to go on, and that may not be representative of final gameplay. The watch's small screen doesn't lend itself to graphically intense gaming using traditional on-screen controls, so I expect to see a far more stripped-back experience. I wouldn't be surprised either to see a game that makes use of GPS, to rival the phenomenally popular Pokemon Go.

I've asked Square Enix for more information on the game -- including whether it will see a release beyond the company's native Japan -- and will update this article if I hear back.

Apple free to open stores in India thanks to special exemption, report says - CNET

Apple stores like this could soon be opening in India.
Josh Miller/CNET

After months of back-and-forth, it looks as though Apple is on the cusp of officially getting a green light to open stores in India.

The Cupertino, Califoia-based company is currently disqualified from opening stores exclusively selling its own products due to Indian laws stating that a company doing so needs to source 30 percent of its products locally.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's govement will soon announce a three-year exemption to this rule for Apple, and other "cutting-edge" weste companies, Bloomberg reports.

Previous reports indicated that this relaxed requirement will only be good for two or three years. During that time, Apple would be expected to work out agreements with local manufacturers under which it would be able to buy its components locally and eventually meet the local sourcing rules. Apple acquires almost all of its components from China.

Tinder users can now swipe right on group dates - CNET

Tinder now lets you swipe away on whole groups of people.
Tinder

Tinder already revolutionized the way we date, now it wants to change the way we hang out with friends too.

The app is going to begin giving users the ability to make matches as groups with a new feature announced Thursday called Tinder Social.

"Tinder Social is designed to make it as easy as possible to plan your night, get out into the real world and meet new people," said Tinder CEO and co-founder Sean Rad, in a statement.

Why use Tinder? In an age where people run their lives from their phones, an app like Tinder feels like a natural way to find someone to go out with. No surprise, the swipe-right-for-yes nature of the app has led to a reputation for facilitating hookups, but many people use it as they would a dating website. Now Tinder's trying to see how far it can go beyond the dating world.

Tinder isn't the first app to organize group outings. Squad. launched in 2015, lets groups -- or "squads" -- of up to six people find other groups to hang out with. There's also Grouper (only available for New York City at the moment). If two people like each other, the app arranges a date between their two respective friend groups. And don't forget Meetup and Craigslist, the trusty services that have been around since before some Tinder users were bo.

If you use Tinder, you can unlock the social function (or avoid it all together) in the app and create a group with one to three of your friends who have already opted-in. Your group picks a status like "watch the game with us" or "happy hour," and the usual swiping commences.

It just takes one person from each group to swipe right on each other for two groups to be matched. Once a match is made, the members of each group can chat about plans. The conversation will expire by noon the next day, however.

If a member isn't loving the group dynamics, he or she can leave the group. Or, the person who created the group in the first place can also chose to shut it down.

Tinder's been adding new features recently designed to make its app more than just a typical dating app. In March, for example, the company debuted a new sharing feature designed to send along profiles of potential matches to friends.

Tinder declined to say how well that sharing feature is doing.

Tinder Social was originally tested in Australia, and is available now in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and India.

Michelle Obama talks Snapchat and sings Beyonce in 'Carpool Karaoke' - CNET

First Lady Michelle Obama and "The Late Late Show" host James Corden sing along to Beyonce.
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET

"The Late Late Show" host James Corden has a knack for convincing some of the most entertaining singers and celebrities to carpool with him, and now First Lady Michelle Obama can be added to the roster of people who love to belt out tunes during their commute.

In his wildly popular "Carpool Karaoke" video segments that air during his TV show, fans have seen the talented host sing along in the car with special guests such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gwen Stefani, George Clooney, the Broadway cast from "Hamilton," Chewbacca Mom and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams.

His very first "Carpool Karaoke" segment with British singer Adele -- which aired in January -- still remains one of the most popular videos in the series at 117 million views and counting.

In the latest episode of "Carpool Karaoke" posted Wednesday night, Corden drives the First Lady around the White House grounds as they sing along to her favorite songs and chat about life in the White House.

As they drive past the Rose Garden, the Oval Office and various landmarks on the White House grounds, the First Lady joins Corden in a sing-a-long to songs by Stevie Wonder and "Single Ladies" by Beyonce -- complete with dance moves.

In between songs, Corden asks the First Lady some interesting questions about life will be like for Obama and her husband after they leave the White House when President Obama's term is up.

"I'm going to miss the people," she told Corden. "These are people you see every single day. They help you. You know their families. That's going to be hard."

Corden also asks the First Lady about using Snapchat to spread the word about her upcoming trip to Liberia, Morocco and Spain for her new initiative called Let Girls Lea.

"We're really focusing on trying to get girls around the world educated," Obama says. "Right now there's 62 million girls worldwide that aren't in school for a variety of different reasons. So much could be corrected in the world if girls were educated and had power over their lives. My message to kids here is, 'Don't take your education for granted, because there are girls around the world who would die to get the education we have.'

"So I want our girls and boys here to be aware of it and I want them to com along on this trip with me, and Snapchat was a good way to hook them in."

We also lea the Obama's Secret Service code names: Michelle is Renaissance and Barack is Renegade.

Surprise guest (well, not if you've seen the video thumbnail) Missy Elliott joins them in the car to sing the Let Girls Lea charity theme song "This Is For My Girls," as well as her well-known hit "Get Ur Freak On," proving once and for all that the First Lady has some impressive rapping skills.

"When we got in the car and I saw her rapping 'Get Ur Freak On,' it kind of bugged me out!" Elliott told People magazine about their carpool experience. "I know for a fact that it was all over my face like, 'Wait, is she rapping this?' But that goes to show you just how cool she is. People hold her in such high regard -- as you should -- but she's so down to earth."

Editors' note:"The Late Late Show" is on CBS, which is the parent company of CNET.

This is what Wonder Woman's invisible jet looks like - CNET

Wonder Woman's famed invisible jet is on display at San Diego Comic-Con.
Richard Nieva/CNET

The press release said I was here to see an invisible jet. More specifically, Wonder Woman's famed mode of transport. In theory, they could've just put me on an empty street coer, told me the jet was in front of me, and I'd have had no grounds for argument.

And that's the fun of San Diego Comic-Con, which unofficially started Wednesday with a preview night for press. The 46-year-old event attracts 130,000 attendees every year to the San Diego waterfront for a half-week binge of comics and pop culture. So I went to see the jet.

Fortunately, the Wonder Women event, held by Waer Bros. Consumer Products, was not just an emperor's new clothes kind of stunt. The installation, on a street coer in San Diego's historic Gaslamp Quarter, looks like this: There's a backdrop of the sky and clouds, with what looks like half a jet protruding out of it. The aircraft is made of clear plastic -- similar to how toy versions of the jet look, just a lot bigger.

The installation is part of a 75th anniversary celebration of the iconic comic hero. Wonder Woman had a part in this year's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," and she's getting her own movie, due out in 2017. She even graces the cover of this year's official Comic-Con souvenir book.

The first fan to take a picture inside the jet was April Meneghetti from Sacramento, Califoia.
Richard Nieva/CNET

For Comic-Con, installations like this, which entice photographs and Facebook and Twitter posts (and, yes, news articles) are some of the biggest draws. Others this year are from HBO's "Game of Thrones" and Comedy Central's "South Park."

Wonder Woman fans were invited to line up and have their picture taken inside the jet's cockpit. The first fan to get inside was April Meneghetti, 39, an environmental health specialist from Sacramento, Califoia. She said she thinks the organizers picked her to go first because of the bright red Wonder Woman shirt she was wearing.

"I love everything about Wonder Woman," she told me after the photo. "She's the ultimate woman -- strong, powerful, doesn't need a man. She's just awesome."

As for the invisible jet, "It's pretty cool," she said. "But it's a little hot in there."

Anna Faris and Rhys Darby star in short film to educate you on airline safety - CNET

Air New Zealand is using the magic of celebrities and social media to make sure you have a safe flight.

The airline company's latest advert comes in the form of a short film starring famous NZ comic Rhys Darby and Anna Faris, of "Scary Movie" fame. You can find the YouTube clip above; you'll laugh, you'll cry and lea about airline safety.

It's not the first time Air New Zealand has gone to great, presumably expensive lengths for advertising. In 2014, the company commissioned a fun Hobbit-based safety advertisement.

Inside the RNC's secret cybersecurity battle - CNET

Despite years of batting away cyberattacks, Max Everett is still on high alert.

The Republican National Committee's chief information officer has been working 20-hour days, and they seem to be getting longer as the convention's main event -- Donald Trump's acceptance of the party's nomination on Thursday night -- approaches.

Hacktivist groups, like Anonymous, have already targeted Trump's campaign. It would be embarrassing if they were to break in just as the event reaches its apex.

"We know the eyes of the world will be watching," Everett said while en route to the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, where the convention is being held.

More than 10,000 devices -- iPhones, Android handsets, tablets and laptops -- are expected to tap into the RNC's network. Each one has data that can be stolen, kidnapped or destroyed. Though there's been no significant threat, the RNC cybersecurity team says it's seen suspicious traffic that's been traced to Asia and Russia.

"I would not want to be the cybersecurity guy working the RNC," said Steve Weber, a professor at the University of Califoia, Berkeley, specializing in cybersecurity. "The stress would be enormous."

In a nondescript network operations center, Vince Crisler, the CEO of security contractor Dark Cubed monitors screens displaying threat assessments.

The Washington-based company is no stranger to big assignments. It's managed security and strategy for the White House, the Pentagon and the Secret Service, according to its website.

Dark Cubed's assessments are calculated by the company's information-sharing technology, which lets networks swap threat information with each other. The community approach allows members to see how the threats on their networks compare to the threats on others.

One display sets the threat level at 6 percent. Still, Crisler isn't letting his guard down.

"We act as if the network is being targeted or threatened at any given moment in time," he said.

To secure the conventions is an enormous task, said Katherine Gronberg, an executive for Silicon Valley security firm ForeScout Technologies. Malware and phishing attacks are the most common threats facing the RNC.

Malware is bad for individual machines, she said, but the real menace is that malicious code can get inside a network and sniff around for weaknesses to exploit.

"You've got to have lanes of separation and separate high-priority networks, from lower-priority public facing networks," Gronberg said.

Meanwhile, Everett and his team of 70 professionals are going through final preparations Wednesday moing just hours before Trump's pick for vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, is scheduled to take the stage for a key speech.

The highly anticipated moment has Everett shuttling between the arena and command center, several blocks away. The RNC cybersecurity team has already neutralized several threats.

For example, when the team spots a tablet using a suspicious amount of bandwidth on the network, it moves the device's connection to a different part of the network. If the team determines the tablet poses a threat, it's blocked.

Everett keeps checking his smartphone. No evidence of a hack or attack at the moment, but he acknowledges his team has seen some "weird activity" and taken a few devices offline.

"The really sophisticated bad guys are going to try and come in and be quiet until the best possible moment," he said. "We'll be ready."

Dan Patterson of CNET sister site Tech Republic co-authored this report.

Buzz Aldrin's first Facebook Live session remembers Apollo 11 - CNET

In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the surface of the moon. Today, to commemorate that anniversary, Aldrin made his first delightful foray into Facebook Live to share his memories of that momentous occasion.

In the one-hour session, he and his daughter Jan shared anecdotes and memories, and his hopes for the future.

Highlights include Jan recounting how she couldn't hug her father when he came home because the astronauts had been quarantined; her faith in the space program; paparazzi climbing over the fence to photograph the Aldrin family; Buzz revealing that the reason there are so many photographs of him on the moon is because Armstrong had the camera; and detailing his hopes for humans travelling to Mars in the future.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet," he said.

Bubba Watson hits the links in a golf cart jetpack (Tomorrow Daily 394 show notes) - CNET

Golfing seems like a relaxing sport (if you're decent at it), but pro golfer Bubba Watson thinks you should consider adding a flying machine to your equipment list, and he's showing off Martin Aircraft's golf cart-inspired jetpack.

We're also taking a look at DURUS, a robot that's making (literal) strides toward walking like a human. It was recently seen strolling on a treadmill wearing a fancy pair of sneakers, and we were taken aback at how smooth and fluid its gait is.

Pro golfer plays 18 holes using a golf cart jetpack (Tomorrow Daily Podcast 394)

Of course, you can find us everywhere on social media. Like, follow and heart us as you desire!

Tomorrow Daily on: Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Google+

Ashley on Twitter | Jeff on Twitter | Producer Logan on Twitter

Subscribe to Tomorrow Daily:

iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ) | iTunes (MP3)

RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ) | RSS (MP3)