Intel and Micron say they've developed the first new kind of memory since NAND flash was introduced in 1989. The new technology, 3D XPoint, is a form of non-volatile memory that's as much as 1,000 times faster than NAND flash, the companies say. 3D XPoint should arrive in products next year, and it could change computing as much as SSDs have by powering better speech recognition, biometrics, and gesture-based interfaces.
Look for Facebook's mobile revenue to be up as it reports results on Wednesday
Analysts are expecting to see an increase in mobile revenue when Facebook reports second quarter results on Wednesday, re/code reports. The social network is tipped to report nearly $4 billion in revenue with as much as three-quarters of that coming from mobile.
Amazon and Google aren't the only ones with a delivery drone
In the race to develop a drone that delivers packages, don't count out Workhorse, a truck maker based in Loveland, Ohio. On Tuesday, it demonstrated an eight-rotor delivery drone designed to work with its electric trucks and utilize some of the same battery technology. The drone rides on top of a truck and helps pick off outliers on the route, and uses both autonomous and manual control.
Nokia's spherical camera shoots VR content
Nokia has developed a camera that can help turn everyday surroundings into virtual reality (VR) imagery for games and other applications. The OZO VR Camera captures images and sound in a 360-degree panorama, and the content can be published for use by VR headsets like the Oculus Rift. The OZO captures 3D stereoscopic video through eight image sensors and eight microphones mounted on the sphere.
On your mark, get set, update to Windows 10
Microsoft released Windows 10 to the masses on Wednesday; users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 who reserved a free update through the Get Windows 10 app will start to see a notification pop-up informing them that their update is ready for installation. The update is going out in waves, so not all users will actually get it today. The upgrade is free for Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year, after which they have to pay to upgrade their older systems.
Obama is urged to oppose cyberthreat sharing bills
A coalition of 39 digital rights and privacy groups and 29 security experts urged President Obama to threaten a veto of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which the Senate may vote on in early August. CISA would protect businesses that share cyberthreat information from customer lawsuits, but its opponents say it goes too far, fails to protect users' personal information and "allows vast amounts of personal data to be shared with the government, even that which is not necessary to identify or respond to a cybersecurity threat."
Salesforce tools let customers snap together new mobile apps
Rather than making end-users wait for developers to code apps from scratch, Salesforce has come out with a Lego-like approach that allows any business user to create an app by linking components via a drag-and-drop interface. Building on the Lightning platform Salesforce launched late last year, the company's new Salesforce1 Lightning Components and App Builder targets a tech-savvy generation of users seeking ways to improve their personal or team productivity quickly.
Darkode cybercrime forum might be making a comeback
An online hacking forum was taken down with much fanfare earlier this month when law-enforcement agencies in 20 countries swooped in on Darkode. But now it looks like the forum is making a comeback, and that key players avoided the dragnet. The forum's most recent administrator, a hacker known online as Sp3cial1st, or Sp3c, was suspected to have remained at large, and now there's reason to believe he's announced plans to restore the forum under tighter security rules.
Senators want probe of safety, security threats from connected cars
In the wake of a widely publicized demo of hacking and remotely controlling a Chrysler Jeep, two U.S. senators want the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to look into the risks to consumers, Computerworld reports. Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal said they see potential vulnerabilities in auto information and entertainment systems; they have also proposed legislation that would set security standards for car tech.
Watch now
Amazon has unveiled a bold plan to have dedicated airspace for drones, where its delivery drones and others can zip around autonomously at high speed.
One last thing
IBM has dug a deep hole near Zurich to house its nanotech lab. Ars Technica UK looked into it.