Wednesday 20 December 2017

The Morning After: EU clamps down on Uber

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Wednesday, December 20, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

What’s the connection between chocolate and tech? If you don’t know yet, we can answer that for you, as well as provide some impressions of Google’s latest smart speaker and a new hybrid from Honda.

Does the company provide rides or just information?

EU decides to treat Uber like a taxi company

Europe's highest court has ruled that Uber is a transportation company and not some kind of middleman between passengers and drivers, like it has often claimed. The much-anticipated decision opens the door for member nations to impose stricter regulations on the company, especially where it operates the UberPOP service with non-professional drivers.

No other smart speaker sounds this good.

Google Home Max review: an assistant for music lovers

Google upgrades the sound quality for its latest smart speaker. The Google Home Max is expensive, but you get a lot for your money. If you want great audio and don't want to mess around with more complicated speaker setups, the Home Max is a solid option -- with all those Google Assistant smarts.

Its lane-keeping skills need work, though.

Honda’s Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is a luxury car at a bargain price

The Honda Clarity line is now complete. After introducing the lease-only pure EV back in July, the Plug-In Hybrid and Fuel Cell models are here; Roberto Baldwin got to test-drive both and came away impressed. While the Clarity vehicles look identical, their inner workings are different enough that it's like driving three different cars.

Even though Google… sells… ads

Chrome starts blocking annoying ads on February 15th

In June, Google announced Chrome would get a blocker to filter out ads that blare loud music or hide the webpage, and now the feature has a launch date. We’re about two months away from finding out how some skeevier parts of the ad industry respond to this change.

Can we learn to get along with our robotic pals of tomorrow?

This year we took small, important steps toward the Singularity

Artificially intelligent robots already walk, roll and occasionally backflip among us. They're on our streets and in our stores. AI is adopting physical form to multiply the capabilities of the humans it serves. As robots gain ubiquity, friction between these bolt buckets and we meat sacks is sure to cause issues. So how do we ensure that the increasingly intelligent machines we design share our ethical values while minimizing human-robot conflict? Warning: may contain science-fiction references.

Check the fine print.

Proposed net neutrality bill would ban blocking and throttling

The FCC only just decided to undo Title II net neutrality protections; however with a court battle over the move still pending, Congress is considering its next step. Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn has introduced a net neutrality bill that would contain language banning ISPs from blocking and throttling, but it is largely similar to the FCC’s new rules.

The president of the Free Press Action Fund called it fake net neutrality and said: “This cynical attempt to offer something the tiniest bit better than what the FCC did and pretend it's a compromise is an insult to the millions who are calling on Congress to restore real net neutrality.”

A future X-plane.

NASA will take images of its quiet supersonic jet's shockwaves

The photo above was captured during NASA's latest round of tests wherein a US Air Force Test Pilot School T-38 aircraft traveled in supersonic speeds between the cameras and the sun at an altitude of 10,000 feet.

But wait, there's more...

1. White House temporarily shuts down 'We the People' petition site

2. UPS is Tesla's latest electric semi-truck customer

3. Samsung's mega-wide gaming monitor is first to be HDR certified

4. Bean-to-bar chocolate is fueled by the tech world

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Tuesday 19 December 2017

The Morning After: A future with no more cracked phone screens

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Tuesday, December 19, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Good morning! This morning we wait with bated breath for a phone screen that will heal itself, test out Amazon’s adorable Echo Spot and kick off our year in review coverage.

Good riddance!

2017 year in review

Over the next two weeks, we'll be looking back on the year that was, and sharing our hopes and predictions for 2018. Join us as we place our bets on AI, algorithms, social-media regulations, green tech, streaming services, robotics, self-driving cars and even space taxis. And, of course, since we're Engadget, you can expect to hear about the upcoming products and games we're most excited about.

Accidental.

A new polymer could make phone-screen repairs a thing of the past

Researchers in Tokyo have discovered a new polymer that may actually heal itself, potentially leading the way to a future of self-healing phone screens. The research promises a unique hard glass-like polymer called polyether-thioureas, which can heal itself with only hand pressure. This makes it different to other materials that typically need high heat to repair cracks and breaks. The funny part? The special polymer was discovered by mistake by a graduate student, Yu Yanagisawa, who thought the material would become a type of glue.

This alarm clock's tiny screen belies a big feature set.

Amazon Echo Spot review: as smart as it is cute

If you want Alexa in a device that looks like a cool alarm clock then the Echo Spot is it. Its touchscreen display is also pretty useful, as its adds additional context and visual information, and it's great for video calls, too. It’s not perfect, especially when $20 more can get you the bigger Echo Show, which also has better audio skills. The Echo Spot is great, but we'd hold off a little for a price drop.

Our team’s choice cuts of long-form from the last 12 months.

The best Engadget stories of 2017

It’s been a long year, but beside all the phone reviews, social-media messes and the rest, Engadget has continued to tackle some of the more unusual parts of this tech world. Or just simply calling out political figures’ lack of science comprehension.

Nope, this wasn't an official port.

There was a fake version of ‘Cuphead’ on the App Store

Early Monday, a fake version of Xbox indie hit Cuphead appeared on Apple’s iOS App Store, with a $4.99 price tag and, well, nothing to do with the actual game itself. Apple moved to take down the game before midday ET, but it demonstrates the struggle for both games developers and the iPhone maker when it comes to tackling fakes.

But wait, there's more...

1. What's on TV this week: 'Bright' and the 'Christopher Nolan 4K Collection'

2. US officially blames North Korea for WannaCry outbreak

3. China's most popular game is about to launch in the US

4. Kaspersky sues US government over federal software ban

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Monday 18 December 2017

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Monday -- December 18, 2017

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

Headline Scan
Guiding Ecommerce Into Commercial Real Estate
Most Marketers Struggle to Reach Targeted Customers
FCC Votes 3-2 to Upend Net Neutrality
Internet Pioneers Urge Cancellation of Net Neutrality Repeal Vote
Creeping Decentralization and CRM

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Today's Story Highlights

Guiding Ecommerce Into Commercial Real Estate

E-commerce has inflicted damage on the conventional retail or "brick"
segment of the commercial real estate world. Yet, there are ways that web-
based shopping is helping to boost retail real estate. A reverse flow is
arising as growing numbers of ecommerce-only players are waking up to the
commercial value of offering goods both online and also in physical stores.
http://ow.ly/fZfT30hiy5Q

Most Marketers Struggle to Reach Targeted Customers

Sixty percent of the digital marketing professionals who responded to a
recent survey reported difficulty in reaching their target audiences
with messaging and content. Only 19 percent of those surveyed were "very
familiar" with how automation could help drive marketing campaigns,
according to Ytel. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said they liked
to use phones for marketing.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85013.html

FCC Votes 3-2 to Upend Net Neutrality

The FCC on Thursday voted 3-2 to repeal Obama-era Net neutrality rules
that prevented ISPs from blocking, throttling or otherwise giving
preferential treatment to customers. Backers of the repeal characterized
it as promoting greater technological innovation and freedom to conduct
business. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spearheaded the reversal of the Title II
Net neutrality regulations.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85007.html

Internet Pioneers Urge Cancellation of Net Neutrality Repeal Vote

A group of 21 leading technology pioneers, including Apple Computer
cofounder Steve Wozniak and World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee,
signed an open letter to key congressional leaders asking them to
pressure FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to cancel Thursday's planned vote to
repeal Net neutrality. The process is severely flawed, they argued, and
a rules repeal poses an imminent threat to the Internet.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85003.html

Creeping Decentralization and CRM

One of the big stories of next year might be decentralization.
Decentralization is what it sounds like: pushing centralized processes
and decision-making to the periphery, where it is believed people can be
more effective at dealing with whatever is on tap. Western democratic
capitalism runs circles around Soviet style centralized command-and-
control economics.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85004.html

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Editor's Pick: What Amazon's Abuse of Power Foreshadows for 2018

What Amazon's Abuse of Power Foreshadows for 2018

Rob Enderle
Dec 18, 2017 10:10 AM PT

Given how many big names have fallen over the last few weeks due to sexual misconduct, abuse and harassment, you'd think I'd name 2017 as the year of power abuse. However, while I know a lot of folks think the issue is dying down, I don't see that at all. There are entire industries that have yet to be hit by this, and Congress hasn't even finished cleaning house or putting in place rules to prevent this activity. [More...]

More Picks:

Most Marketers Struggle to Reach Targeted Customers
Sixty percent of the digital marketing professionals who responded to a recent survey reported difficulty in reaching their target audiences with messaging and content. Only 19 percent of those surveyed were "very familiar" with how automation could help drive marketing campaigns, according to Ytel. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said they liked to use phones for marketing. [More...]

Data Modeling Is Key in New Customer Insight Platform
Heap has introduced a new feature set for its autonomous customer insight platform. Non-destructive data modeling allows users to define and model new insights without touching the raw data structure, resulting in faster iteration and speeding up productivity. Virtual event definitions let users retroactively update metrics on the fly wherever they are used. [More...]

Microsoft Gives Productivity Tools More AI Chops
Microsoft has announced new AI features and functionality for several of its flagship products and services. Harry Shum, EVP of Microsoft AI and Research, recently demonstrated some of the new capabilities. Building on the progress the company has made in integrating AI over the past year, the new enhancements are designed to help users perform increasingly complex and complicated tasks. [More...]

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