Facebook says drone ready for real-world testing later this year

By Yasmeen Abutaleb MENLO PARK, Calif. (Reuters) – Facebook Inc announced on Thursday it has completed building its first full-scale drone, which has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 and will provide Internet access to the most remote parts of the world. The plane will weigh about 880 pounds (400 kg), said Yael Maguire, the company's engineering director of connectivity

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FBI understaffed to tackle cyber threats, says watchdog

The FBI is struggling to attract computer scientists to its cybersecurity program mainly due to low pay, a report by the U.S. Department of Justice showed, highlighting weaknesses in a flagship initiative to tackle growing cyber threats. As of January 2015, The Federal Bureau of Investigation had only hired 52 of the 134 computer scientists it was authorized to employ under the Justice Department's Next Generation Cyber Initiative launched in 2012, the report showed

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Two more Chinese tech companies get buyout offers from CEOs

Chinese video streaming website operator YY Inc and online retailer E-Commerce China DangDang Inc, on Thursday, became the latest in a string of Chinese companies to get offers to be taken private. Chairman Jun Lei and Chief Executive David Li offered to take YY private in a deal valuing it at about $3.69 billion, while E-Commerce China CEO Guoqing Li and Chairwoman Peggy Yu Yu offered $7.812 per ADS for the online book and media retailer.

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Israeli jailed for Madonna album hack

A former contestant in Israel’s version of “American Idol” was jailed for 14 months on Thursday for selling demo tracks he stole from Madonna’s latest album by hacking into the email and cloud accounts of people close to the singer. Under a plea bargain at Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, Adi Lederman confessed to computer trespassing and infringement of privacy and property rights in connection with the offences, committed last year

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Oculus debuts consumer version of VR headset, partners with Xbox

By Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Oculus, the virtual reality company owned by Facebook Inc, debuted the much anticipated consumer version of its headset on Thursday and announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp's Xbox One gaming console. A prototype of the Oculus Rift has been available to developers since 2013, but Thursday marked the first time anyone had seen the consumer version, which will be available for pre-order later this year and will start shipping in early 2016

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Expedia shares soar on strong bookings despite strong U.S. dollar

Expedia Inc on Thursday reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ expectations as it earned more money from travel bookings in and outside the United States, despite foreign currencies falling relative to the U.S. dollar.

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FireEye raises revenue forecast as demand for cybersecurity rises

Cybersecurity company FireEye Inc raised its full-year revenue forecast as governments and businesses increase spending to protect their networks from sophisticated cyber attacks. Shares of FireEye, which also reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, rose 1.7 percent in extended trading on Thursday.

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More data from South Korea nuclear power operator leaked

A hacker believed to be behind cyber attacks on South Korea’s sole nuclear power plant operator released more files on Thursday, but a company official said the data was not believed to have been newly stolen but from previous hacking. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp, said in December its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen and operations were not at risk

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Lenovo to stop pre-installing controversial software

By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – China's Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest PC maker, said on Thursday it will no longer pre-install software that cybersecurity experts said was malicious and made devices vulnerable to hacking. Lenovo had come under fire from security researchers who said earlier on Thursday the company pre-installed a virus-like software from a company called Superfish on consumer laptops that hijacked web connections and allowed them to be spied upon.

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