Friday 4 November 2016

The Morning After: Google Home & GoPro Karma reviews, plus our guide to the 2016 presidential candidates

It's Friday, November 04, 2016.

TGIF.

Before you fall back this weekend, it's time to take a look at Google's Assistant-powered Home device, take a spin with GoPro's drone and find out how Singapore is pushing to be the first "Smart Nation." Also, undecided (or, more likely, firmly decided) voters can peruse Engadget's election guide to see where presidential candidates stand on tech issues.

A "living lab" nation-state

Inside the Smart Nation initiative pushing Singapore into the digital age

Across this 30-mile-wide island, a network of fiber connections and sensors underpin scientists' efforts to address the problems of urban living. The "Smart Nation" plan is trying to address pain points, like energy usage, health and transportation, while also accumulating data to fill out a detailed model of Virtual Singapore, where planners can test new projects to see their potential impact. The only problem? Figuring out the potential privacy impact of pulling together all of that information.

Google is in your home, showing you how smart it is

Review: Google Home brings its Assistant to your living room

Nathan Ingraham says Google Home is a great way to show off just how smart Google is, but it doesn't feel like an essential experience yet. That's mainly because it lags behind Amazon's Echo in terms of support for third-party services. For now, the Echo might be a smarter buy, but Home is a perfectly viable option for those who use lots of Google services.

Less for drone lovers, more for outdoor moviemakers

Review: GoPro's debut drone, the Karma

As a standalone drone, GoPro's Karma lacks a lot of the features found on rival fliers. Worse still, the battery life is borderline acceptable. However, the charm with GoPro's first foray into drones is its ease of use and overall versatility. If you're invested in the GoPro ecosystem, Karma makes a lot of sense. More serious drone enthusiasts, however, might want to look elsewhere.

Something old, something new …

Here are the first games optimized and ready for the PlayStation 4 Pro

It's a mix of recent titles ("Battlefield 1," "Bound," "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare," "FIFA 17," "Hitman," "Mafia III," "Rise of the Tomb Raider") and flagship older hits like "inFamous Second Son," "Knack," "Ratchet" and "Clank," as well as a bunch of PSVR titles.

Mark this down for Turkey Day

NFL Films is producing a nine-episode VR series for Google's Daydream platform

A still-untitled project will offer a 360-degree view of NFL action from the perspectives of players, coaches and fans. It's coming to the Google Daydream platform, with the first episode debuting Thanksgiving Day, so expect some additional demo content to show the family on your new Pixel.

It is election season

The "New York Times" is free to read during the presidential election

Yes, the Gray Lady is opening up those paywall curtains to let readers in for 72 hours of election coverage. Alongside live coverage, the paper will also be Facebook livestreaming on Election Night as well as hosting a call-in show run by the crew of the "Run-Up" podcast.

But wait, there's more...

1. Engadget's guide to the 2016 presidential election

2. The first sex toy on Kickstarter is the Fin

3. PlayStation's official coloring book is here

4. Huawei's Mate 9 is a solid, smart device that optimizes itself to fit your needs

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Thursday 3 November 2016

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Thursday -- November 3, 2016

The E-Commerce Times -- E-Business Means Business
http://www.ecommercetimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network

Headline Scan
Broadcom Sews Up $5B Deal for Brocade
Amazon Builds Fulfillment Centers, Investors Grouse
Microsoft Rebrands
Tech Industry Lambasts New FCC Privacy Rules
Tech Billionaire Thiel Aims to Justify His Trump Support
Many Customers Aren't on Board With Self-Service Trend
Should Salesforce Buy NetSuite?

Today's Story Highlights

Broadcom Sews Up $5B Deal for Brocade

Chip manufacturer Broadcom on Wednesday announced that it would buy
Brocade Communications, a major supplier of fiber channel storage area
networking technology to data centers, for $5.5 billion in cash and the
assumption of Brocade's $400 million debt. That represents a 47 percent
premium over Brocade's closing share price last week, said Brocade CEO
Lloyd Carney.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84057.html

Amazon Builds Fulfillment Centers, Investors Grouse

Amazon shares closed at $785.14 on Monday, having failed to rebound from
last week's slide. The company's stock had closed at $818.36 last
Thursday, just before the company reported third-quarter earnings that
unpleasantly surprised Wall Street. Its share price dove $40-plus on
Friday. Amazon's net income rose 52 cents a share, in the quarter, but
analysts had expected 78 cents a share.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84054.html

Microsoft Rebrands

Microsoft recently rebranded its business software offerings and the
effect largely has been positive. Still, it must be emphasized that the
cumulative effect of the deck chairs moved in performing the exercise
remains to be seen. One of the effects is surely that all of the ERP and
CRM solutions now are offered online, as the "Dynamics 365" moniker
implies.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84056.html

Tech Industry Lambasts New FCC Privacy Rules

The U.S. FCC last week adopted privacy rules for both wired and wireless
broadband ISPs aimed at giving consumers greater control over their
data, more privacy, and stronger security safeguards for that data. The
rules implement Section 222 of the Communications Act. They establish a
framework of customer consent required for ISPs to use and share their
customers' personal information.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84052.html

Tech Billionaire Thiel Aims to Justify His Trump Support

Peter Thiel, one of the few well-known Silicon Valley figures who has
given Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a public
endorsement, on Monday reiterated his support at a National Press Club
event in Washington. He prefaced his remarks with a disclaimer. "Nobody
thinks his comments about women were acceptable," Thiel told the
gathering, referring to Trump.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84047.html

Many Customers Aren't on Board With Self-Service Trend

Enterprises have been warming to digital transformation, but it's
crucial that they maintain a human element in their customer
interactions, according to a study Verint published last week.
Researchers surveyed more than 24,000 consumers and 1,000 businesses
across 12 countries for the study. Organizations have to balance digital
and human customer engagement to thrive and survive.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84051.html

Should Salesforce Buy NetSuite?

The recently released spreadsheet hacked from Salesforce board member
Colin Powell's email names multiple companies that Salesforce was at
least considering acquiring. In the aftermath of the initial reports,
it's worth noticing that there were at least two enterprise resource
planning/back office companies on the list: Workday and NetSuite. There
are plenty of reasons to dismiss acquisition talk.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84045.html

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Tech News Flash

Tech News Flash: Thursday -- November 3, 2016

TechNewsWorld -- All Tech - All The Time
http://www.TechNewsWorld.com
Part of the ECT News Network

Headline Scan
Microsoft Sees 3D Future for Everyone
Lenovo's Yoga Book Aims for Top Shelf
Q4OS+Trinity Gives New Meaning to Lightweight
Microsoft: Google's Policy Endangers Windows Users
MIT's Nightmare Machine Churns Out AI-Generated Horror
Apple vs. Microsoft: Remixing the Magic
Bot Armies Boost Candidates' Popularity on Twitter
Apple Brings a Surprising Touch to MacBook Event
Microsoft Open Sources AI Toolkit
Conspiracy Theories in the Information Age, Part 1
Xiaomi Debuts Magical Mi Mix

Today's Story Highlights

Microsoft Sees 3D Future for Everyone

Microsoft last week unveiled its new vision for bringing 3D to the
masses through a modernized version of its Paint application for Windows
Paint 3D will be available in the Windows 10 Creators Update. Anyone
who would like to start creating and sharing in Paint 3D can do so by
joining the Windows Insider Program -- available for PC and Phone -- the
company said.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84041.html

Lenovo's Yoga Book Aims for Top Shelf

Lenovo's recently unveiled 2-in-1, the Yoga Book, is available in
Android Marshmallow and Windows 10 Home versions. Reviews have been
mixed, with some praising its look and feel, but some considering its
capabilities not up to scratch. Its Intel Atom processor doesn't provide
enough power for a workhorse device, they've argued. The Android version
costs $500 and the Windows version goes for $550.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84055.html

Q4OS+Trinity Gives New Meaning to Lightweight

Q4OS is a lightweight Linux distro that offers some worthwhile
alternatives to more established distros. Q4OS version 1.6.1 "Orion,"
released this summer, has as its main claim to fame the developing
Trinity desktop. Trinity is a breakaway fork from the KDE 3 community. I
took a detailed first look at this new distro last year, primarily to
assess the Trinity desktop.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84049.html

Microsoft: Google's Policy Endangers Windows Users

Google on Monday posted to the Internet a previously unpublicized flaw
that could pose a security threat to users of the Microsoft Windows
operating system. Google notified both Microsoft and Adobe of zero day
vulnerabilities in their software on Oct. 21, wrote Neel Mehta and Billy
Leonard, members of Google's Threat Analysis Group, in an online post.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84053.html

MIT's Nightmare Machine Churns Out AI-Generated Horror

In honor of Halloween, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Media Lab launched the Nightmare Machine website, which
allows visitors to vote on AI-generated horror images created via an
open source deep neural network algorithm developed last year.
Scientists from the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization collaborated on the project.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84048.html

Apple vs. Microsoft: Remixing the Magic

What I think is funny in this market is that most people can look at two
companies, see the difference in their performance, and not learn the
fundamental lesson. The core magic is this: having someone who is
running the company who both understands the technology and understands
either the customer's current needs -- or how to manipulate customers to
need what you make.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84046.html

Bot Armies Boost Candidates' Popularity on Twitter

Internet bots have many useful online purposes, but they have a dark
side, too, as three researchers demonstrated in their analysis of
Twitter traffic during the first presidential debate between Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump. Bots are used to automate functions on the
Net. For example, if you belong to several social networks, you could
use a bot to post a photo to all of them at once.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84044.html

Apple Brings a Surprising Touch to MacBook Event

Apple on Thursday unveiled two new MacBook Pro laptops, adding a touch
more power to the line. Both the new 13-inch and 15-inch models will be
offered in silver and space gray. They have a Touch Bar that replaces
the row of function keys found on laptops, as well as a Touch ID
fingerprint scanner incorporated into the power button. They sport a
Force Touch trackpad that's twice the size of the trackpad in previous
models.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84040.html

Microsoft Open Sources AI Toolkit

Microsoft has released an updated version of its Microsoft Cognitive
Toolkit as an open source Beta. The deep learning system is used to
speed advances in areas such as speech and image recognition and search
relevance on CPUs and Nvidia GPUs. It also works with Microsoft's Azure
GPU offering. The toolkit's developers initially were looking for a tool
to speed up and improve their own research.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84043.html

Conspiracy Theories in the Information Age, Part 1

One of the most volatile conspiracy theories in recent times ended with
a whimper last month, when Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump made the terse statement, "President Barack Obama was born in the
U.S. Period." Though birthers may be with us always, it seems many have
turned their attention to other potentially scandalous topics -- and
they need look no further than the Internet.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84039.html

Xiaomi Debuts Magical Mi Mix

Xiaomi on Tuesday fired another shot in the shrinking bezel wars, as it
announced a smartphone with a front that's more than 90 percent display.
The Mi Mix is a 6.4-inch phone that's stylishly crafted by French
designer Philippe Starck. It sports a feature set that indicates Xiaomi
wants to compete at the high end of the smartphone market. The Mi Mix
has a screen-to-body ratio of 91.3 percent.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84037.html

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