Not just anyone can drive your Tesla, Elon Musk says -- You get to decide

Your Tesla will probably become your most prized possession (once you finally have it), so you’ll no doubt want to be extra picky about who you allow behind the wheel. And now, that selection process just might be built into the automobile itself. During his opening remarks at the Tesla Gigafactory battery manufacturing plant in Nevada on Friday evening, CEO Elon Musk expounded upon his plans for the car of the future.

“Whenever you’re not using your car, you’ll be able to just tap the Tesla app on your phone and then add it to or subtract it from the the shared fleet,” Musk said. “And you’ll be able to define, like, well, you know, who can use it, like only five-star users, or anyone, or only family, or whatever.”

These comments come as clarification after Musk revealed last week that the existing Teslas would be transformed into a “shared fleet,” which would allow Tesla owners to rent out their vehicles when they weren’t using them.

“This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla,” Musk noted. “Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5 percent to 10 percent of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not.”

But because you don’t want just anyone to be able to take your precious car out for a spin, Musk assured potentially concerned drivers, “It’s going to be totally up to you when you want to do it, or not do it. It’s all yours.” That’s right — no one is going to force you to give up your car, or let you rent it out willy-nilly to a random stranger. No, they’ll have to meet your standards and expectations.

Source: Digital Trends

Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone could become the world's largest solar farm

What do you so with land that’s been rendered inhabitable by humans? The Ukrainian government has decided the best use of the 1,600 square mile “exclusion zone” surrounding the former Chernobyl nuclear power station is to build one the world’s largest solar power plants, according to Electrek.

The solar energy plant plans are ambitious and on a fast timeline. The Ukraine government is currently negotiating with four Canadian energy firms and two U.S. investment companies, according to the Ukraine’s ecology minister, Ostap Semerak. The government is pushing for a six-month construction schedule to build a 1GWh solar plant. It would be the largest in the world if it were completed today — others of similar capacity are already in planning stages elsewhere.

Because Chernobyl was a site for energy production in its former capacity, transmission lines already exist. “The Chernobyl site has really good potential for renewable energy,” Semerak said. “We already have high-voltage transmission lines that were previously used for the nuclear stations, the land is very cheap and we have many people trained to work at power plants.”

As long as environmental and banking concerns are addressed, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development indicated it would be interested in participating.

After the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown, 31 reactor staff and emergency workers died, and the total rose to 64 deaths attributed to the disaster by 2008. Estimates of the eventual total deaths by cancer from excess radiation exposure during and in the aftermath of the meltdown range from 4,000 by the Chernobyl Forum to 100,000 by Greenpeace. While about 700 people still live in small villages in the area, which previously was home to 14,000, the city, and the area around it are like a ghost town.

With a fast track timetable once the project begins — if it does — Electrek raised a valid concern about whether workers involved in the solar plant construction would have to wear radiation suits and if they’d have shortened work days and weeks to limit exposure.

Source: Digital Trends

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to be sold at RM3,420 in Taiwan ?!

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is going to meet us soon. Today, Samsung has release an advertisement on YouTube namely, Next NOTE. Today, there’s a rumor coming from Taiwan media revealing that Note 7 will be priced at 26,900NT (~RM3,420) (~$842).

Inside this video, we can find out some clues that Samsung is trying to tell us. At the end of the video, we can see that Note 7 is going to launch in this August. Some of the users claim that the actual date will be 2nd of August, and pre-order will start at 6th-18th August and officially available in market by 19th of August.

Inside the video teaser, the advert makes it clear the Galaxy Note 7 recognizes fingerprints, iris scanner perhaps. As for your selfies, the dual-edged 5.7-incher (or so) should be able to ensure decent illumination, either with a front-facing LED flash or by integrating a wider aperture lens for superior low-light performance. Besides that, Note 7 is going to feature waterproof for sure.

Meanwhile, the S Pen will upgrade again with the features of highlighting text and enhanced the function of multi-language translation.

If the Galaxy Note 7 carries the price tag of RM3,420 (~$842) in our market, will you consider to buy it?

Source: Mdroid

Lenovo Air 13 laptop announced

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air is not the only notebook that pay tribute to Apple MacBook Air. Just by 2 or 3 days after the launch of Mi Notebook Air which are almost look alike to Apple MacBook Air, Lenovo has also follow the step of Xiaomi by launching Lenovo Air 13″ which is also use the same design language as MacBook Air and using the same “Air” name.

It’s equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor, a 13.3-inch display with a 1080p resolution, NVIDIA GeForce GTX940MX graphics, sixth-generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, 4GB of RAM and a fingerprint sensor. It runs Windows 10. Comes with the price tag of $750 (roughly RM3,099) is more affordable and a better deal as compared to Apple MacBook in hardware wise.

For those who are really into technology or computer world, they knew that the worth of Apple Macbook is their Mac OS which provide a marvelous using experience and worship by a lot of film and audio producer.

The Lenovo Air 13 is already available for order in China but Lenovo hasn’t announced plans to launch it outside that market.

Source: MDROID

Serious privacy flaws discovered in Glow fertility tracker app

There are scores of startups making fertility tracker and family planning apps today, but a Consumer Reports investigation has singled out Glow Inc. for serious security and privacy flaws.

First, Consumer Reports’ team was able to access very personal information including data and comments about users’ sex lives, history of miscarriages, abortions and more, through a privacy loophole having to do with the way the app allowed couples to link their accounts and share data.

Additionally, Consumer Reports found that Pregnancy Glow community forums transmitted personal data about its users including their full name, e-mail address, approximate location, birthdate and number of other health details they’d logged within the app.

The data was easily unearthed and parsed using a free-to-download security testing app, and online calculators, the report said.

Glow reportedly made immediate moves to fix the security problems with their app and issued a satisfactory update to their app after Consumer Reports notified them of the vulnerabilities.

And as Glow investor and executive chairman Max Levchin specified after our story initially ran on Saturday:

@TechCrunch @lorakolodny we have corrected the potential issues & there is no evidence to suggest that any @GlowHQ data was compromised

— Max Levchin (@mlevchin) July 31, 2016

However, it’s a bit unsettling the startup hadn’t thoroughly tested its own systems enough to find and fix those flaws first.

Consumer Reports set up dummy accounts to test the app for privacy and security flaws, and did not access users’ private data.

Glow CEO Mike Huang was not immediately available for comment.

It will be interesting to see if the scrutiny aimed at Glow, and the flaws exposed, inspire a wave of security-oriented updates across fertility tracker apps on iOS and Android.

Glow’s competition includes a hefty number of websites, mobile apps and even wearables to help couples get or avoid getting pregnant.

Venture funded competitors include SOSV-backed Kindara, which works in conjunction with a smart thermometer called Wink to measure basal body temperature; Union Square Ventures-backed period and ovulation tracker Clue; and Natural Cycles, which is backed by Bonnier Media Growth.

Fertility tracking apps have been found, so far, to be “generally inaccurate” in a study by researchers with Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, published in the July issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

That’s not good news for people relying on them for family planning. And it’s definitely not good news for women who do not want to become pregnant and fail to use other methods of contraception along with the tech.

Source: TechCrunch

Delve into London's rich and varied past with this amazing interactive map

Like any major metropolis, London has experienced tremendous changes throughout its long and colorful history.

Keen to share some of its fascinating story with both locals and faraway fans, the City of London’s Picture Archive has just launched a brand new interactive map that lets you search and view images of the capital going back hundreds of years.

The London Picture Map is an impressive piece of work that includes content not only for the city’s more famous points of interest in the center, but also for all 32 of its boroughs extending north, south, east, and west.

At the current time, visitors to the site can search more than a quarter of a million historical images of the city, while around 100,000 have so far been placed on the map, allowing you to browse the collection geographically.

“It’s a great way to discover images of a particular street or building,” the City of London says on its website. “Many of the images which we have placed on the map are of buildings that no longer exist, giving you an intriguing view of ‘Lost London.'”

The map’s compilers are constantly updating it with new images, which include photos as well as drawings, paintings, posters, and film clips.

The site is a breeze to use. Loading the map presents the viewer with thousands of numbered circles, indicating the location and number of images available to view. Simply zoom in to a particular area of interest to see the precise spot for which content is available, and click on a circle to view the material.

“The red ‘C’ markers represent one image,” the site explains. “The blue markers represent a group of less than 10 images in close proximity, the yellow markers represent a group of less than 100 images in close proximity and the red markers with numbers represent groups of more than 100 images in close proximity.” Hit the “browse results” button top right at any time to jump to the images currently indicated by the markers. You can also refine the search – for example choosing photos only – using the boxes down the left side of the page.

Of course, with the city’s landscape in a permanent state of flux, the site notes that images of streets and buildings that no longer exist can sometimes be difficult to place and therefore are marked as “approximate.”

For anyone with even a passing interest in London’s history, or simply with a fascination for our fast-changing times, a few hours spent browsing the London Picture Map really is a no-brainer.

Source: Digital Trends

Uber is not decreasing drunk driving deaths, according to study

During the 4th of July weekend, Uber partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and local law enforcement agencies in 25 U.S. cities to raise awareness about drunk driving. The ride-hailing company said that in surveys it has conducted more than 80 percent have reported that Uber helps them avoid drunk driving. That could be true, but a new study doesn’t show much impact on drunk driving fatalities in cities where Uber operates, according to CNN Money.

The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. A coauthor of the study, David Kirk, from the University of Oxford said, “Obviously the rise of Uber and Lyft has been incredible, and we were curious about potential implications.”

The study tracked drunk driving fatalities from 2009 to 2104 in the 100 most populated areas in the United States. They found that during that time period, when Uber was rising quickly, there was no significant decrease in deaths overall or even during peak drinking times like weekend nights.

After the 4th of July campaign law enforcement officials in Las Vegas, one of the areas where Uber worked with police and MADD, said there were no drunk driving-related fatalities for the first time in 10 years. Uber has also said that another study shows a 3.6 to 5.6 percent drunk driving fatalities in California for the same period. The Oxford researchers said their own statistical controls were “more complete.”

Kirk pointed out that there could be many reasons that the study didn’t find a significant decrease, despite Uber’s growing presence. A big factor is pure numbers. Each year 10,000 people die in the U.S. in drunk driving accidents and the number of Uber drivers is still very small. While there are hundreds of thousands of Uber drivers on duty each month, 4.2 million drunk drivers are on the road every month.

Also, while those who ride Uber often may be doing so instead of taking a taxi or bus. The people who are more intoxicated are less likely to be rational and reasonable and may insist on driving regardless. Another factor could be that the study was in large cities where there are already alternate forms of transportation and the Uber might have a larger immediate impact on smaller cities where taxi and bus service isn’t common.

Kirk didn’t rule out Uber’s potential impact and said, “It will be important to revisit the findings in a few years, assuming Uber and Lyft have even greater presence in the U.S. and beyond. And if Uber and Lyft can find a way to have greater appeal to drunk drivers (free or reduced priced rides for inebriated passengers), then there is a possibility of bringing fatalities down.”

Source: Digital Trends

Kickstarter has crowdfunded a better economy, creating more than 300,000 jobs

Kickstarter has been in the business of bringing dreams to market since 2009, but according to a new study from the b corp and the University of Pennsylvania, it has brought a lot more to life than just projects and dreams. Earlier this week, the crowdfunding platform released findings from the Ivy League institution’s research. Among the most impressive results are that Kickstarter has created 8,800 new companies and nonprofits, (kick)started 29,600 full-time jobs, generated more than $5.3 billion in direct economic impact for creators and their communities alike, and employed 283,000 part-time collaborators to bring creative projects to fruition. So yeah, your donations have been doing some real good.

While not all Kickstarter projects have necessarily met with great success (for every Oculus triumph, there’s a Coolest Cooler failure), all things considered, Kickstarter has done a pretty impressive job of boosting the economy in its own way. Everyone from filmmakers to designers to tech gurus have found a way to utilize the platform to their advantage, and many “reported that their project led to professional growth, greater earnings, and career advancement,” Kickstarter says.

“The kinds of outcomes achieved in crowdfunding are extremely diverse, meaning that there are many impacts, from jobs to awards to achieving dreams,” Ethan Mollick, an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of Business and author of the Kickstarter study, told Mashable.

Indeed, the crowdfunding platform reports that creative agency is the key to many of their creators’ successes. And while Kickstarter failures tend to attract significant media attention, there actually aren’t that many. As per Mollick’s research, only about 9 percent of Kickstarter projects fail, and of the 8,800 organizations that got their start through Kickstarter, 82 percent are still in operation.

“I want to understand how we can democratize innovation and entrepreneurship and that starts by finding out how we can overcome the biases that prevent many people from pursuing their innovations,” Mollick continued, and it looks like Kickstarter just may be the perfect case study.

Source: Digital Trends

Netflix is down, and you might have to spend Saturday night talking to someone

Netflix is down.

Proving just how easy it is to throw much of the human race into a total and complete tailspin, the internet appears to be collectively freaking out over its inability to access the video streaming service. Because seriously, what else are we supposed to do on a Saturday night? Go out? Please.

During prime binge-watching hours, Netflix suddenly went black, greeting hoards of dismayed television fans everywhere with a message that read suggested that they were “having technical difficulties,” or “unable to process your request.” Neither one of these explanations, of course, have been sufficient to quell the growing complaints from Netflix users.

The issues appear to be localized to Netflix users using the web player — Apple TV customers seem unaffected by this travesty. But it’s an international issue — Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and New Zealand are all experiencing problems, as per Twitter. And Down Detector suggests that Argentina, Brazil, Norway, New Caledonia, and Nicaragua are also having problems.

In a statement issued via Twitter, the Netflix acknowledged, “We are aware that some customers are seeing errors when visiting Netflix’s website and we are working to solve this as quickly as possible.”

But for the Twitterverse, it’s clearly not fast enough. (Also, it’s just not fast enough in general — it’s been over an hour, Netflix!)

To be fair, this certainly isn’t a common occurrence for Netflix. The last time an outage made headlines was back in November 2015. Of course, if this did happen any more frequently, we’d probably be dealing with a lot more distressed and disheveled denizens of the internet.

But in the meantime, check out some of these hilarious tweets tweets lamenting the situation for alternative entertainment. And just hope and pray that the entirety of your weekend isn’t ruined by the Netflix apocalypse.

Source: Digital Trends

Google and RailTel deployed free Wi-fi being used by 2 million people across India: Pichai

About two million people are logging on to free Wi-Fi deployed by Google and RailTel at major railway stations across India every month, chief of the global search giant Sundar Pichai said.

“We are working with the Indian Railways and RailTel to bring high-speed wireless access to the entire Internet to millions of Indians who travel through India’s top railway stations,” the India-born executive said during an investor call.

He added that there are “already two million people logging in every month and they are using as much as 15 times the data they would otherwise use in a full-day on their cellular networks”.

The Internet giant had teamed up with RailTel, the telecom arm of the Indian Railways, to provide free Wi-Fi at 23 stations across the country.

These include Mumbai Central, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda, Ernakulum Junction, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Patna, Guwahati, Ujjain, Allahabad and Chennai Central.

By the end of the year, Google aims to provide high-speed public Wi-Fi service at 100 railway stations across India under this project.

According to government data, India had a total Internet subscriber base of 342.65 million as of March 2016.

A majority of users log on using their cellular networks. Bharti Airtel has 90.53 million Internet subscribers while Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance had 67.55 million, 44.03 million and 39 million users, respectively.

State-run BSNL had 34 million Internet subscribers on its network.

Pichai, who made the comments while announcing Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) second-quarter results, said mobile phones have changed the way people consume information.

“Our investment in mobile underlines everything we do… (from) search and YouTube to Android and advertising. Mobile is the engine that drives everything.”

He added that through Google’s “deep investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence”, the company is building the engine that drives its future.

Alphabet saw its quarter’s revenues grow 21 per cent to USD 21.5 billion while net income was at USD 4.9 billion.

Source: Tech2

Flipkart denies laying off employees

Reacting to media reports that it is set to lay off 700-1000 employees for poor performance, leading e-tailer FlipKart on Friday denied any such move.

Flipkart denies all allegations of a lay-off, a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Earlier, media reports said that under-performing employees — 700-1000 in number — will be given the option to resign or hand over the pink slip.

At times, we have employees who do not meet the performance bar. In those situations, we work closely with employees to enable them improve their performance. In due course, if these employees are unable to make the desired progress, they are encouraged to seek opportunities outside the company where their skills can be better utilised, the spokesperson added.

As a performance-oriented organisation, we follow a transparent evaluation process,” the statement said.

This week, Flipkart-owned Myntra announced acquiring e-store Jabong from its London-based owners Global Fashion Group (GFG) for $70 million (Rs 471 crore) to consolidate its position in the fashion and lifestyle segment both operate in.

Flipkart acquired Myntra in May 2014 for an estimated $300 million.

“Jabong’s acquisition is a continuation of our group’s journey to transform commerce in India. We will offer a variety of styles, products and assortment of global and Indian brands,” said Flipkart co-founder and Chief Executive Binny Bansal in the statement.

As fashion and lifestyle is a major driver of e-commerce growth in the country, Bansal claimed Myntra’s strong performance had reinforced faith in the segment.

Source: Tech2

The Ava wearable wants to replace thermometers for determining fertility

Most women rely on a thermometer to measure their fertility throughout the month. Their internal body temperature fluctuates with their ovulation cycle, so it drops when an egg is released and returns to normal levels after the cycle ends. The thermometer has proved a reliable method since at least the 1960s and '70s, albeit one that’s time-consuming and kind of annoying. Now, a new wearable called Ava wants to replace the decades-old technique. It claims to be the world’s first fertility wearable that helps women plan for conception, although it’s not for women who have infertility. It makes tracking a temperature reading easier, but more than anything else, it helps women plan ahead by prompting them to have sex while they’re ovulating.

The Ava claims to track more than just temperature. It measures resting heart rate, skin temperature, heart rate variability, sleep, breathing rate, movement, perfusion, bioimpedance (the resistance of body tissue to tiny electric voltages), and heat loss. Owen Davis, a doctor and professor of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, told The Verge that beyond temperature readings, the other measures aren’t universally agreed upon as accurate indicators of ovulation. But with that being said, he also noted that it’s possible Ava’s algorithm can accurately determine when a woman can conceive.

To prove its accuracy, the wearable underwent a clinical trial during which it accurately identified five fertile days 89 percent of the time in 41 women. The study hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published yet, although Ava’s makers hope to have the results out by the end of the year.

Because Davis wasn’t able to read the study, he couldn’t make any conclusive statements about the device’s effectiveness. He did see its merits, though. If women can get an advanced heads up on when they’re going to ovulate, they’re more likely to be able to conceive. It might not be as accurate as LH-detecting test strips, which look for a hormone that’s only released in high quantities during ovulation, but Ava isn’t trying to replace hormone tests.

WE STILL NEED TO SEE THE STUDY

The only other thing to note is that the company behind Ava hails its FDA-approval, which while it’s not a bad thing to have, doesn’t lend much credibility. It only received Class One approval, which is the same qualification that dental floss holds. The FDA presumes wearables can’t cause much harm if they aren’t working properly, so it doesn’t as rigorously scrutinize them like it does with pharmaceuticals. Really, until we see the full study we can’t properly analyze the device, but for now, its claims don’t seem to be so preposterous.

The Ava is available now for $199(RM801).

Source: TheVerge

Wearable tech will be everywhere at this year's Olympics

It's almost time. The 2016 summer Olympics are less than a week away, with the opening ceremony scheduled for August 5th. This year's event, which runs through August 21nd, takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the organizers have reportedly struggled to prepare for the games. Whether Rio is ready or not, some of the world's best athletes will be there to compete for gold medals in just a few days. Naturally, technology will have a presence at the Olympics. That includes wearables designed to make life easier and safer for Olympians as well as others supposed to help in training. Read on in the gallery below to learn about eight different pieces of gear the athletes will be using.

Source: Engadget

Waze’s new feature will remind you not to leave your child in your car

Navigational app Waze might help give you directions on the road, but it’s now poised to help with a real problem: children left in hot cars. The company has introduced a new feature designed to remind drivers not to forget a child.

SINCE 1990, AN AVERAGE OF 29 CHILDREN DIE A YEAR FROM HEATSTROKE IN A VEHICLE

Waze has introduced a new feature: Child Reminder, which will appear once the vehicle reaches its destination by displaying a reminder not to forget a child in the car.

According to advocacy site KidsandCars.com, an average of 29 children passed away from heatstroke in vehicles since 1990. While municipalities, businesses and hospitals issue warnings to parents and drivers, children still perish.

The customizable notification means that the user can set a reminder for more than just children once they reach their destination: a reminder for a pet, groceries, or simply something that they need to remember to do after a long car trip. The feature is currently in beta and isn’t widely available just yet.

Source: TheVerge

SwiftKey bug leaked emails and other personal information

People use SwiftKey because it helps predict the words they’re trying to type, and usually, the service works pretty well. However, over the past week, some users reported that their keyboards were populating with other people’s email addresses and searched phrases. The bug relates back to SwiftKey’s cloud sync service, which has since been suspended.

The incorrect predictions spawned multiple Reddit threads. In one, an English speaker was getting someone else’s German suggestions; in another, someone received NSFW porn search suggestions.

Following user reports, SwiftKey took syncing and backups down. The company released an official statement today that doesn't detail the bug but clarifies that it "did not pose a security issue." SwiftKey said it’ll continue to update its blog as more information is released.

Source: The Verge

The Holofone Phablet is a 7-inch Android phone / Windows PC with a built-in projector

Smartphone season is rapidly upon us, with the new versions of Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Apple’s iPhone rumored to be just around the corner. Unfortunately for those two companies, Akyumen (Pronounced like "acumen," probably) has just announced that its Holofone Phablet, which I assume is going to be the only phone anyone will ever need to buy ever again, will be available September 1st.

Measuring in with a whopping 7-inch display, the Holofone literally dwarfs the any of its smartphone competitors (it's still considered a phone) and then completely destroys any screen size comparisons by also having a 45-lumen projector that Akyumen claims can project up to a 100-inch screen.

RUNS FULL WINDOWS 10 FOR PCS

Software-wise, users won’t have to make compromises either, with a choice between the year-old Android Marshmallow and Windows 10. Not Windows 10 Mobile or Continuum, but full Windows 10 for PCs. Is the Holofone is a Windows 10 PC in a tablet form factor that can also run Android? An Android phablet with a useful Windows PC feature? In this brave new world, anything is possible.

The Holofone phablet is available for preorder from Akyumen’s website, starting at $750 (RM3020)  for the basic bundle, or up to $950 (RM3826) for a set that includes a host of accessories including a Bluetooth speaker, game controller, and battery stand.

At the time of publication, all preorders for the September 1st date have been filled. Hopefully, though, they’ll reopen soon, so that I can throw out all my other electronic devices and replace them with a Holofone.

Source: TheVerge

Xbox One's Cortana update arrives at last

After months upon months of delays, Cortana is finally ready for your Xbox One. Microsoft has started rolling out its promised summer update with Cortana's smarter, richer voice control as its centerpiece. You can use your headset or Kinect to search games, invite friends to play and otherwise accomplish tasks that required either stiff commands or (gasp) your gamepad. This also represents another step toward tighter integration of the Xbox and Windows 10 experiences, such as platform-independent party chat and streamlined shopping that lets you redeem Xbox credits.

Even the not-quite-headline-worthy updates are fairly substantial. You can play background music from supporting apps (Pandora is first) when a game's soundtrack just won't do. It's easier to sift through your game collection, and you can set your language independently of where you live -- handy if you've moved to another country. No, the software doesn't fulfill all of Microsoft's promised Xbox One changes for this year (you'll have to wait until September for Play Anywhere), but it's undoubtedly one of the biggest updates in a long while.

Source: Engadget

Self-driving cars, Fiber and Alphabet’s other non-Google moonshots lost $859 million this past quarter

As long as Google’s core businesses keep printing money, Wall Street will be fine with its unorthodox arms losing cash.

The subsidiaries under Alphabet outside of Google — the 10 or so units that include its broadband effort, self-driving car and far-out medical projects — brought in $185 million in sales this past quarter and lost $859 million.

Unless something has changed since last quarter, the only units within these “Other Bets” that earn money are Google Fiber, Nest and Verily (its life sciences unit). On prior earnings calls, Alphabet’s CFO Ruth Porat has typically mentioned the company’s commitment to funding these projects, particularly Fiber and Verily. We will see if she mentions any of the others on today’s call, which starts at 1:30 pm PT.

In the second quarter last year, the “Other Bets” units reported $75 million in revenue, with operating losses of $574 million.

Source: Recode

Here are two reasons why we don't see many notebook PCs with USB Type-C

The USB Type-C port on an Apple MacBook.

USB Type-C has been touted as the connector of the future. Along with the new USB 3.1 specification, USB Type-C connectors will be able to deliver data, video and even power over a single wired connection.

However, as of late, only a handful of notebooks have adopted this new connector. A report from Taiwan reveals why. According to the report, there are two main reason why notebook manufacturers are shunning this new connector.

The first reason is increased electrical interference and heat, as a result of the connector's ability to support higher power. The second reason is increased cost, because of the need of an additional amplifier chip, receiver chip and special transmission wires.

The sources pointed out that the USB Type-C interface has two issues that have been stopping it to become a mainstream technology in the notebook market. First is that the interface features electric current that is larger than one of the previous-generation interfaces, and could lead to interference and heat dissipation problems when adopting too many at once. 

Second is that the USB Type-C features a high-speed transmission, but in order to achieve its maximum speed, it requires an amplifier chip, a receiver chip and a special-spec transmission wire, which significantly raise product costs.

The report also states that USB Type-C is unlikely to become a mainstream feature until at least 2017.

Source: Hardwarezone 

Microsoft is cutting another 2,850 jobs from its smartphone and sales divisions

Image source: USA Today.

It looks like Microsoft is serious about distancing itself from its underwhelming mobile phone business, as the company is planning to trim an additional 2,850 jobs from both its smartphone and sales divisions.

And we’re saying additional because earlier this month, Microsoft had written off 7,800 jobs as part of its restructuring efforts. Venture deeper into the rabbit hole, and you'd notice that this recent spate of job cuts began back in May, when the company initially dismissed 1,850 employees to cut losses from its unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the smartphone industry with the Windows Phone.

Microsoft disclosed the information through a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which read:

"In addition to the elimination of 1,850 positions that were announced in May 2016, approximately 2,850 roles globally will be reduced during the year as an extension of the earlier plan, and these actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2017."

Source: Hardwarezone

Nikon celebrates 100 millionth NIKKOR lens with world’s first 105mm f/1.4 AF lens

The AF-S NIKKOR 105mm  f/1.4E ED.
Image source: Nikon

Nikon Malaysia announced that, as of June this year, 100 million NIKKOR lenses have been produced since its inception in 1932. To celebrate this historic milestone, the company also announced the world’s first autofocus lens with a 105mm focal length and f/1.4 aperture.

The AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED now joins the illustrious NIKKOR lens family, which saw the release of Aero-Nikkor aerial photographic lenses in 1933, the release of the Nikon F SLR camera, as well as the first NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras (including the NIKKOR-S Auto 5cm f/2) in 1959.

Sample photo shot with the AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED lens.
Image source: Nikon.

“Creating a significant shallow depth of field with the smoothest of bokeh through a 105mm focal length is now made possible with the combination of phenomenal optical performance and innovative design. This new lens, the world’s first with a 105mm focal length and a maximum aperture of f/1.4, answers to the desire of a portraiture with soft, mesmerizing bokeh effect. The effect is made possible through gradual alteration from the focus position and resulting in the creation of a natural reproduction of the subject’s depth. NIKKOR design technology further equips the lens with a highly accurate diaphragm control for stable auto exposure, and various elements to reduce chromatic aberration and flare effects. This lens will be a compelling apparatus for a photographer’s creativity,” said Hiroaki Ono, General Manager of International Marketing Division Imaging Group, Nikon Singapore Pte Ltd.

Nikon's lineup of NIKKOR lenses currently consists of more than 90 types of lenses, including fixed focal length (prime) lenses covering ultra wide-angle to super-telephoto angles of view, fisheye lenses, zoom lenses, Micro lenses, and PC-E lenses. In 2017, the company will celebrate its 100th anniversary, and shutterbugs can expect more good things to come.

Dedrone partners with Airbus to bring drone detection to wide open spaces including airports

A startup that helps businesses determine when drones are flying unwantedly or otherwise into their airspace, Dedrone, has partnered with the electronics division of civil aircraft manufacturers Airbus to bring drone detection to wide open spaces and remote locations.

Through their partnership, Dedrone will integrate Airbus’s long range radar technology into its systems which are comprised of ground-based sensors and data analytics and reporting software in the cloud.

The radar (and data from it) expands the range of the startup’s drone detection systems to a radius of up to 3 kilometers in open spaces, according to Dedrone CEO Joerg Lamprecht.

Dedrone’s standard hardware is more for distributed use. The sensors are set up all around data centers which are often surrounded by trees, embassies, corporate campuses, or stadiums where a small drone could fly not just overhead but indoors and near windows attempting to capture images or hack into internal systems.

But if a business owns and operates something like an airport, water treatment facility, nuclear power plant, or test tracks where new vehicles are driven and safety-tested, Dedrone hardware with long-range communication capabilities via Airbus radar could allow a more centralized set up.

Lamprecht noted, “We have always integrated the best available technology on the market into our systems. We have had surveillance cameras, mics, frequency scanners and now we have the power of the Airbus radar, which will allow us to reach into new industries.”

Dedrone focuses on drone detection and monitoring, not counter measures to bring unmanned aerial vehicles down, or block them from entering a particular space.

Opening up its systems, and integrating with new hardware and data sources like those from Airbus, allows Dedrone to work increasingly in conjunction with other physical and aerial security systems, for example, jamming units that could force a drone to land before crashing into critical infrastructure.

Source: TechCrunch

Microsoft awards hardware startup ENTy the 2016 Imagine Cup

The festivities have wrapped for Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a global competition among students and young people to create new software and devices. The winner this year was ENTy, a polished and highly practical hardware solution for tracking posture, helping with diagnosis and possibly treatment of diseases that affect balance.

There were 35 teams in the finals, split evenly between three categories: games, innovation, and global citizenship. All of them presented to a panel of judges on Wednesday, after which a winner was selected for each category. Those three were each awarded $50,000, but the grand prize — prestige and a private mentoring session with Satya Nadella — was reserved for today’s final ceremony.

It took place at my very own Garfield High School (go Bulldogs!) and filled up our newly refurbished Quincy Jones Auditorium. An energetic beatboxer opened things up, but with it being before 9AM and coffee not allowed inside, I was eager for things to get started in earnest.

The teams await judgment.

Eventually the finalists were ushered out, along with the three judges: Dr Jennifer Tang, a previous winner and founder of Eyenaemia; Kasey Champion, computer science education specialist at Microsoft Learning; and John Boyega, whom you might remember from 2011’s Attack the Block and some flick about a Star War.

In the games category was PH21’s clever mobile title, Timelie, that combines tactical stealth with control over time. In global citizenship was Team Amanda, which aims to prevent bullying with a VR experience that measures the user’s response to bullying-related media. And in innovation was ENTy.

ENTy (the ENT stands for ear, nose, and throat — not the sentient trees) is a device and app that monitor balance and posture in real time, meant to help doctors diagnose and check up on inner ear problems like vertigo.

The patient straps on a device the size of a pack of cigarettes to the small of their back, and a set of sensors sends data to an associated app. There’s a real-time readout of position, and you can see that over time as well for a test that, for example, requires a patient to stand straight for 20 seconds with their eyes closed.

The live demo worked really well and certainly contributed to the team’s victory.

The team is only three people, from Romania’s University Politechnica: Iulian-Razvan Mateșică on hardware, Cristian Alexandrescu on the app, and Flavia Oprea on business development. She took the lead in presenting the tech and fielding questions — extremely well I might add; in fact, all the presentations I saw were highly polished, especially for students for whom English is not their first, or even second, language.

ENTy’s next step, presumably after getting some real talk from the CEO of Microsoft, will be to make the device a little more presentable. They’ve already tested it with several doctors and hundreds of patients, and the response has been very positive, but the device itself isn’t, as they say, ready for its close-up.

“The doctors say they don’t want it any smaller,” Oprea said in a Q&A Thursday. “But we have a plan for B2C to make it smaller — it has to be, how do you say, a sexy wearable, for everybody.”

To that end they are working with a firm in Bucharest to design and promote the device outside doctors’ offices, though the strictly medical side is also being pursued — but that seems to be mainly paperwork. Collecting data for machine learning is also on the table, but there’s even more red tape associated with that.

After the ceremony, Oprea also spoke with great optimism about the prospects of young women in tech, at least in Bucharest.

“The number of girls that are interested is growing,” she said. “We’re telling them not to be afraid, and not to listen to negative advice like ‘computers are for boys.'”

As a final treat, Microsoft invited Garfield’s principal, Ted Howard, on stage to accept a donation: “$100,000 worth of” Surface Books, which I take to be 85 or 90 of them. The school is looking a lot better than it did when I was going there in the late ’90s, but you better believe GHS appreciates the gift — somehow I doubt they’re swimming in laptops.

Here’s looking forward to next year’s cup and the fresh ideas that come with it.

Source: TechCrunch

Soylent founder’s abandoned “eco-living experiment” could land him in jail

Soylent’s Rob Rhinehart is facing criminal charges and fines up to $4,000 for allegedly refusing to remove a shipping container he placed on top of a hill behind his home in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The head of the meal replacement startup weirdly named after a movie where they ground up and served people in drink form was charged with unpermitted construction, grading and zoning code violations in Los Angeles court today for a structure he dubbed on social media sites an “eco-living experiment.”

Rhinehart built the structure on a hill within boundaries of his own property but failed to get the proper permits for the structure, according to the city attorney’s office.

Rhinehart bought the property, which has no water or electricity hookups, for $21,300 at an auction in December, according to Curbed, which first reported the debacle.

The Department of Building and Safety conducted an inspection of the property in January after neighbor complaints and found the unpermitted 9’ x 30’ bright red shipping container on Rhinehart’s lot.

According to prosecutors, Rhinehart abandoned the structure soon after placing it on top of the hill and let it become an “eyesore,” covered in trash and graffiti. The Soylent CEO refused several requests to remove what representatives from the L.A. city attorney’s office refer to as an “experimental living facility,” inciting ire from neighbors and raising safety concerns.

“Unpermitted structures pose a safety risk. They also can be unsightly and erode the quality of life in a neighborhood,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. “My office will work to hold property owners accountable if they flout our building and safety laws.”

Rhinehart, who could not be reached for comment, met with city attorneys last month and was asked to remove the structure but has so far refused to do so, according to the prosecution. He is scheduled for arraignment September 7th and could face up to two years in jail.

Source: TechCrunch

Adobe's Project Wetbrush promises realistic 3D paintings

Recently, Adobe entered collaboration with NVIDIA to develop a program that can simulate real-life painting. Named Project Wetbrush, the software is designed to allow artists to create art using 3D paint on a 2D surface.

Developing with NVIDIA's powerful graphics cards in mind, Project Wetbrush is programmed to simulate the flow, thickness, and viscosity of actual oil paint. Drawing with a stylus like you would with 2D art, the program will simulate the angle and speed of the virtual brush, as well as the texture and even down to how long the virtual paint would take to dry.

Although artists may still prefer the feel of an actual canvas and thick paint instead of in front of a computer, Project Wetbrush does have the advantage of having every kind of color readily available. Artists will not have to toil and mix all kinds of paints to get the shade they want.

Despite these advancements, Adobe and NVIDIA were not the only ones to venture into the 3D painting field. Using VR headsets, Google’s Tilt Brush software has also allowed artists to paint within a 3D space. However, these options lack the tactile feedback artists get from painting on a real canvas.

Source: The Verge

Immerse Yourself In Facebook Live While The Olympians Do Their Thing In RIO

Of all the problems plaguing the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the amount of coverage is certainly not one of them. And while most of today’s headlines surrounding the games focus more on incomplete infrastructure, health concerns, and doping scandals, once the action officially gets underway in just one week, we’ll be paying more attention to the competition than the shortcomings. And to help ensure that happens is a new partnership involving NBC Olympics, Facebook, and Instagram, which will provide Facebook Live content featuring athletes and NBC commentators to bring fans from around the world together on social media.

While this is actually the third consecutive time that NBC Olympics and Facebook have worked together for the games, it’ll be Instagram’s maiden voyage to the event — at least in this capacity.

“This partnership is about reaching fans on Facebook and Instagram with NBC’s great and compelling Olympic content,” said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics. “It’s about fueling the Olympic conversation and driving interest in watching the games — and it’s a natural outgrowth of our mission to share the powerful and captivating stories behind the world’s most accomplished athletes.”

NBC and Facebook will collaborate on a “Social Command Center” on site in Rio, which aims to capture Facebook Live content like interviews with experts and athletes. These videos will be pushed out across both Facebook and Instagram, and NBC has also committed to producing a two-minute daily recap video for American Facebook users that will serve as a highlight reel for the day’s happenings. And for Instagram, NBC will be producing a “daily slow-motion video around an inspiring moment.”

“We’re excited to work with NBC Olympics to provide fans with a unique, immersive, and engaging Rio 2016 experience on Facebook and Instagram,” said Dan Reed, Faebook’s head of global sports partnerships. “As a complement to NBC’s programming, our platforms will allow fans to access, interact with, and share a wide variety of engaging NBC video content from Rio to stay current and connect with their friends and communities. Together, our platforms will provide both a front row seat and backstage pass to the biggest event of the year.”

Source: Digital Trends

How BMW's Self-Driving Car Tech Will Give American Swimmers A Leg Up In Rio

There are a growing number of fitness trackers for swimmers making a splash (pun firmly intended) in the marketplace, but very few as clever as the system BMW has developed in collaboration with the high performance team at USA Swimming. The official mobility partner of the U.S. Olympic Committee has created an incredibly clever motion tracking system designed to analyze a swimmer’s underwater dolphin kicks and provide quantitative performance data to coaches.

“Until now swimmers typically have had to depend on the coach’s eye to help them adjust their alignment, strokes, and kicks,” Peter Falt, director at BMW Designworks, tells Digital Trends. “By tracking and measuring the movement of the athletes’ joints and limbs during the kick and delivering hard data in real time to help improve technique and maximize that movement.”

“The result is a unique learning system where its analytic techniques continue to evolve to produce insight never before possible.”

It’s a shining example of how a technology developed for one field can be perfectly adapted for another.

Whereas most activity trackers work based on broad metrics like steps run or strokes made, BMW’s system is incredibly granular — and lets users dial in on specific movements in just the way that, dare we say it, BMW researchers might do with a new car in the R&D lab.

In fact, that’s not a bad comparison. In the same way that BMW uses LEDs on its cars, the automaker’s swimming tracking system attaches miniature lights to swimmers’ wrists, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, and toes. (Just to make things extra high-tech, the LED mounts are 3D printed because… well, of course they are.) With the lights in place to illuminate the underwater environment, an underwater camera then films the practicing athletes, and this footage is analyzed with the same computer vision algorithms BMW uses for identifying objects in the road, estimating parking distances, and the finer elements of active cruise control.

It’s a shining example of how a technology developed for one field can be perfectly adapted for another. They even call it the “tail light” system — replacing an earlier “headlight” iteration, which used “illuminated tattoos” in place of LEDs.

Falt says that one of the big challenges was coming up with a solution that wouldn’t impede the way that swimmers were able to perform in training. This is one reason the system makes reference to tail lights since, like the disappearing tail lights of a car, the ambition was to make something that would be lightweight and unobtrusive enough to disappear from the consciousness of swimmers.

After all, while a slowdown of milliseconds wouldn’t mean too much for you or I, when you’re dealing with Olympic athletes it suddenly becomes a whole lot more crucial. “[It] was important to ensure the training didn’t create a different feeling or result than would be experienced in real competition,” Falt says. “This is also why we ruled out body suits or more obvious potential solutions that would have been a lot easier.”

Ultimately the technology means that coaches can not plot not only regular measurements (such as time) over the course of many, many practices, but also compare this data to specific performance points: noting where some almost imperceptible change makes a considerable difference over the length of a race. As Falt notes, “we can use the tool to hone in on technique adjustments that work best for each individual swimmer.”

“Our hope is that the potential of its outcome can make a significant impact on the future generation of swimmers.”

So, once Team USA — fingers crossed — emerges victorious in Rio, gold medals held aloft, are we going to be able to get our hands (and shoulders and hips and knees and…) on this technology? After all, if we start now we may be in with a shot for Tokyo in 2020. “Right now, we’re just focused on Team USA,” Falt says. “The tool is an exploratory project that we’ll continue evaluating over time, but our hope is that the potential of its outcome can make a significant impact on the future generation of swimmers.”

Usually the idea that a company was so explicitly comparing humans to machines, as is happening with the car/swimmer analogy, would be taken as a slight against people. In this case, the fact that BMW is willing to use its cutting-edge automotive research to help people (who aren’t even behind the wheel of a car) is the ultimate compliment.

After all, we know BMW really loves its vehicles. We guess it feels the same about Team USA swimmers as well!

Source: Digital Trends

Immersive, 360-Degree News Is Coming To A VR Headset Near You

Samsung is outfitting 50 Reuters photojournalists across 25 countries with its new Gear 360 cameras in a new global initiative to drive 360-degree journalism, Digital Trends has learned.

The cameras and new content will fuel Focus 360 – Reuters’ new virtual reality and 360-degree video and photography worldwide news portal, which launches online and on Android August 2 and on iOS August 5, the company told us. Users of newer Samsung Galaxy phones, including the S6 and S7, will also be able to watch Focus 360 content on the Samsung Gear VR headset. The news was part of an official business partnership announced Thursday.

“Our agreement with Samsung allows us to enhance our visual journalism and provide a more absorbing experience for our viewers,” Stephen Adler, Reuters Editor-in-Chief and President, said in a statement. He added that VR and 360-degree content will help viewers gain a new perspective and better understanding of the context of a news story.

The eye-shaped Samsung Gear 360 uses both front- and rear-facing cameras to record seamless, 360-degree videos and photos. Each lens sees a full 180-degrees horizontally and vertically, creating a truly spherical field of view when combined. Videos are recorded at 3,840 × 1,920 resolution, while still photos are captured at roughly 26 megapixels.

The camera is intended to be taken nearly anywhere and is certified IP53 for dust and splash proofing, making it a good choice for photojournalists in the field.

Naturally, the Gear 360 plays nicely with other Samsung products. Galaxy phone users can control the camera remotely and even stitch and edit 360-degree videos right from their phones. Videos can be played back through a VR headset or online through YouTube in supported browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

The Reuters journalists will be among the very first people to use the Gear 360. While Samsung has sold the camera in limited numbers at a few events, it still isn’t available to the general public.

Source: Digital Trends

Nextbit Robin, the Cloud-based smartphone, is now available in 'Ember Red'

Nextbit is a certifiable Kickstarter success story. The startup managed to raise $1.3 million in 30 days for Robin, a cloud-based smartphone, and now the phone is available in a color appropriate to its name: “ember red.” The fiery new model retails for $300, and is available exclusively on the company’s website in “very limited quantities.”

The Nextbit Robin will soon receive a major software update. The headlining new feature is “smart storage for videos,” a feature which automatically uploads clips to the cloud when local storage is running low, but security patches are in tow, too. It’s set to roll out to beta testers in July, and, assuming all goes well, to the broader Robin community in August.

Nextbit, founded by former head of Android business development Tom Moss and former head of Android power management Mike Chan, set up shop three years ago to free people from the current limits of today’s mobile technology. This ambition culminated in the Nextbit Robin, a new mid-range Android smartphone with a difference.

What sets the Robin apart from other smartphones is its ability to take apps, photos, and all other forms of media and store them automatically in the cloud. Nextbit in particular is capable of moving apps that haven’t been used, freeing up space that can be used to download more apps, store more music, and take more photos.

Using the latest version of Android, Nextbit has created a program that automatically makes space for more media and apps. On top of the 32GB of on-board storage, it has 100GB of cloud storage where all of the inactive apps, photos, and videos are stored. When you want to use an app again, you tap on it, let it download, and tee it up.

That pitch won over enough people who were willing to pay $350 (RM1409) on Kickstarter, despite there being no previous smartphone launches under the company’s name. The phone began shipping to backers in February, and is now available for $400 (RM1610) on the company’s site. The startup added another $100,000 (RM402,650) to the amount raised through pre-order sales on its new site, which includes all first-party accessories.

The chief product and design officer is Scott Croyle, who was responsible for overseeing the design of the HTC Evo, One M7, and One M8. Croyle crafted the Nextbit Robin. The full-HD 5.2-inch polycarbonate phone, also available in Mint or Midnight, stands out notably in the stale land of black, silver, and gold metallic smartphones. Two front-facing circular speakers sit on the top and bottom of the device, alongside a 5MP camera with LED flash. On the back is a 13MP camera with dual-tone flash and a cloud icon with four lights to tell users when they’re connected to the cloud.

On the order page, Croyle has also designed the Scratches Case, Bumps Case, and Bruises Case. A quick charger, screen protector, vinyl mascot, and the smartphone are also available.

The custom Nextbit ROM can be switched out for any open-source ROM, like Cyanogen or stock Android, without voiding the warranty. Nextbit promises it has not added any third-party apps to the smartphone. It wants to make this a truly open smartphone, with an unlocked Nextbit SIM card that can be switched at any time.

Power management is another core area on which Nextbit has focused, fitting a 2680mAh battery inside. Other specs include Qualcomm’s hexa-core Snapdragon 808, 3GB of RAM, NFC, USB Type-C, a fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, and LTE. It is surprising that Nextbit announced specs in September of 2015 considering that Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 820, a more powerful and well-optimized processor, earlier that year. Time and budget constraints presumably played a part.

Even without cutting-edge silicon, though, the Robin is a serious competitor in the “under $400” market — one of the most competitive among Android manufacturers at the moment.

Source: Digital Trends