Wired Today

BARCELONA — Facebook told a few members of the press this week that its Internet.org initiative, which aims get more of the world's population online, is on track for an aggressive expansion.

Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org at Facebook, said the company plans to expand into 100 countries by the end of the year. The program is currently set up in six countries — Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Colombia and India — and has helped more than 7 million people access health, employment and local information services without data charges.

Internet.org, which launched in 2013, is a Facebook-led program that works with data providers in local markets to offer free web access to people who otherwise couldn't get online. The goal is to introduce people to basic services — like Wikipedia, job and health sites and of course, Facebook — and have them see the value of the Internet and ultimately, purchase a more premium data package.

"The ambitious goal this year is to roll it out to 100 [countries]," Daniels said. "We don't want to focus so much on the number, but we want this to spread to additional countries, operator groups and... see more people coming online, buying data and voice and SMS bundles. The number is indicative of our ambitious goal."

The overall objective, Daniels said, is "to bring connectivity to the entire world."

Mashable got a little hands on time with the Internet.org app offered in remote countries and noticed the Facebook site is a stripped down version of what we're used to seeing. While users can connect with friends and write on each other's walls, they are prompted to upgrade to a paying data plan to see videos and photos. This also ensures that only a thin layer of data is being used and doesn't present capacity issues for the operating partners.

And the effort is working. Countries that offer the Internet.org app have seen a 40% jump in new data customers for local operators. For example, the amount of people accessing Colombia's Tigo network has increased 50% and grew smartphone sales 10 times in Tanzania as a direct result of Facebook's initiative. Facebook works with the government in each country to select the sites available on the app.

Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a Mobile World Congress keynote that the company is "working on" building drones, lasers and satellites as a part of an initiative to the two-thirds of the world not online. More than 90% of the global offline population lives in developing countries, according to Facebook.

What if you could make music while sculpting a human face with your hands in virtual reality?

A new experiment, made available on the web by Mozilla's VR team via the WebVR API, aims to show us exactly what that looks like when using VR in a Firefox browser.

Developed by Isaac Cohen (aka Cabbibo), Rainbow Membrane is a virtual reality experience that allows you to produce sound by manipulating a virtual face, and the walls around that face. The dynamic is made possible by pairing an Oculus Rift (for immersive visuals) with a Leap Motion (for hand gesture detection).

Using those hardware components with the software, the user is able to push, pull and mold the virtual environment to produce any number of psychedelic visual flourishes as the software's audio feature produces musical tones corresponding to your "touch."

Rainbow Membrane from Cabbibo on Vimeo.

One of the development engineers working on Microsoft's HoloLens died on Saturday after his car was rear-ended by a driver traveling at more than 100 miles per hour, according to reports.

Mike Ey, 30, was "perfecting" the HoloLens, Microsoft's augmented reality headset that displays holograms, according to Seattle TV station Kiro TV. Ey grew up in New Jersey .

The headset made waves in the tech world after Microsoft's Windows 10 event — where it was unveiled — in January.

"He said it was the coolest thing ever," Ey's girlfriend, Kelly Piering, told the news station. "It's looking at the future while holding the present. Mike said it wasn't perfect but it was going to be one day."

The driver of the car, Robert Malsch, fled from the scene on foot, according Kiro TV. Police then tracked down and captured Malsch, who is being held on $100,000 bail. He now faces charges of vehicular homicide and felony hit and run.

While Apple's launch schedule remains "unclear," according to The Wall Street Journal, suppliers are already working on mass production of the redesigned 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina.

The initial reports of the redesigned MacBook Air with Retina came from 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman earlier this year, who wrote that the new MacBook Air will feature not only a higher resolution display, but will also eschew a full-size USB port, an SD card slot and even Apple's proprietary MagSafe connector in exchange for a single plug for everything .

This makes sense, as this is the time period Apple frequently releases updates or redesigns of its notebook products.

It's a great year to buy a new PC. Not only is Windows 10 coming later this year, but PC makers are stepping up their design game. Dell's XPS 13 is a real winner and now HP's joining the premium ultrabook game with its new Spectre x360.

HP's x360 is a 13.3-inch 2-in-1 hybrid laptop/tablet running Windows 8.1 that imitates Lenovo's Yoga 2 Pro. Like its rival, the 3.26-pound x360 can be folded in four modes: laptop, tablet, tent and stand mode.

But whereas Lenovo's ultrabooks are made from plastic, HP went the premium route with a precision-machined aluminum frame and jewel-cut edges. The result is a design that's gorgeous and sturdy.

The only plastic you'll find on this baby is the back-lit keyboard, which is full-sized and terrific to type on. The glass trackpad is extra wide, which is great for multitouch gestures, but I noticed some real lag while two-finger scrolling in Internet Explorer .

There are two IPS touchscreen resolutions: Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) and Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440). I didn't get a chance to look at the Quad HD model,but the full HD model I'm currently testing looks pretty excellent  and has vivid colors, despite how reflective it is : 

The x360 isn't just a beautiful 0.62-inch slim body. HP made sure that it could also keep up with the latest and greatest ultrabooks with Intel's fifth-generation "Broadwell" Core processors that start at 2.2GHz and Intel HD graphics 5500.

Here are the four configurations:

HP also says it put a lot of work into boosting Wi-Fi reliability when the x360 is in its different modes, a problem other convertible ultrabooks apparently suffer from.

Port-wise, there's plenty: Three USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot, a full-size HDMI port and a MiniDisplay 1.2 port. Together, the two video ports can drive two displays. You won't be able to do dual-screen gaming at any respectable settings with the Intel HD graphics 5500, but displaying two screens worth of websites and spreadsheets? Absolutely doable .

Battery life is up to 12.5 hours on a charge with "normal" usage. I haven't verified that claim yet, but so far the laptop's been able to squeeze out enough to last almost a full work day of browsing the web and watching videos. We'll have to do some more testing to see how the battery really holds up.

The x360 is available starting Sunday at HP.com. Best Buy will stock the laptop on March 15. The Quad HD model with 512GB of SSD will be available in April. HP's also selling a leather sleeve for $70 and the Active Pen stylus that'll work with its touchscreen for $45. 
I've been messing with the $999 model, which HP believes will be the one most people buy, and aside from the iffy trackpad, it's a pretty solid Windows 8.1 laptop. Stay tuned for our full review.

The device will be available in Wi-Fi and LTE variants (the second one being a little heavier at 393g). Both versions will launch globally starting June 2015.

Sony did bring a new phone to the show, albeit a mid-range one: the Xperia M4 Aqua. It's a 5.2-inch, waterproof smartphone with an octa-core, Snapdragon 615 processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front. It supports LTE and runs on Android 5.0 .

Xperia M4 Aqua will launch worldwide in white, black, coral and silver colors for around 299 EUR, starting spring 2015.