Tuesday 10 April 2018

The Morning After: Zuckerberg goes to D.C. and 'Westworld' spoilers

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Tuesday, April 10, 2018.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to Tuesday! Facebook’s CEO goes to Washington, Apple launches its latest limited-edition Product RED phones and we check out whether those newly discovered human organs are really just that.

The first hearing starts at 2:15 PM ET.

Mark Zuckerberg goes to Washington D.C.

For Facebook’s CEO, this is the start of two days speaking to lawmakers following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. His prepared testimony is already available, so we have a few ideas about what he’s going to say even before the questions start flying. Meanwhile, users who have had their data exposed should see notifications, and Cambridge Analytica has already started to push its version of the facts.

All will be revealed.

'Westworld' creators have an unusual approach to S2 spoilers

During a Reddit AMA with Westworld show creators, Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, Nolan made an unexpected announcement -- they’d spoil their own show instead of making fans cry or letting them down. Typically, fans try, all season, to connect threads and predict the plot's resolution without any real idea of what's happening. The deal was that the creators would do it if Nolan's comment received 1,000 upvotes, which it did. And so, the video has arrived.

For charity.

Apple's red iPhone 8 and 8 Plus go on sale today

For over a decade now, Apple has worked with HIV/AIDS charity Product RED. It’s raised over $160 million for the non-profit to date, on the back of sales of scarlet-colored accessories and the occasional special-edition device. Next up: the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus. The deep-red editions will be available to buy online today and in stores from Friday April 13th for the same price as existing models, and while there's no Product RED version of the iPhone X, a new claret-colored $99 leather folio case is also incoming.

The company claims it can be manufactured for $100 at scale.

Leap Motion crafts a reference design for cheap AR headsets

Leap Motion is a company most famous for building a gesture-recognition peripheral that wound up integrated into PC keyboards. Since then, however, it has built ever-smarter sensors that can bring hand gestures to VR without the use of dedicated controllers. Now, it’s announced Project North Star, a proposed augmented reality headset it plans to open-source next week -- and it should be cheap to produce.

In fact, they're not organs at all.

Two newly discovered human organs aren't what they seem

For a minute there, 2018 was shaping up to be a year of new-organ discoveries. In January, Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, foundation chair of surgery at the University of Limerick, declared that he had "discovered" a new organ, dubbed the mesentery. Then, in March, fledgling science journal Scientific Reports declared the interstitium, a fluid-filled membrane that surrounds the lungs, digestive tracts and arteries, an organ as well. If verified by the rest of the medical community, these findings could potentially revolutionize our understanding of the human body. There's only one problem with that: These biological structures aren't actually organs. Let Senior Editor Andrew Tarantola explain.

It really does depend...

Do you need a smart home hub?

Smart home devices offer a vision of domestic harmony: everything switching on and off as and when you need it to. But not everyone needs a dedicated smart hub to make their setup run smoothly. A smart speaker like the Amazon Echo or the Google Home can serve a similar purpose, with each device's apps acting as central command. Manufacturers have even begun bundling hubs into other devices like security systems and mesh WiFi routers, making home automation simpler for beginners. But do you actually need one?

But wait, there's more...

1. WSJ: SpaceX not to blame for 'Zuma' spy satellite disaster

2. In pursuit of the perfect AI voice: How developers are humanizing virtual assistants

3. What we're buying: Toto's toilet upgrade and an old Game Boy Advance

4. What's on TV: 'The Expanse,' 'Lost in Space' and 'Chef's Table'

5. IKEA's first Bluetooth speakers don't need assembly

6. Cliff Bleszinski's free-to-play battle royale game 'Radical Heights' debuts today

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe.

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Monday 9 April 2018

The Morning After: What Siri needs to get right and another Facebook ban

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Monday, April 09, 2018.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome back! Get the week started off right with a look at Sony’s smaller flagship phone and some exciting news for Splinter Cell fans.

Time to upgrade?

Apple may unveil red iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models this week

MacRumors has obtained a Virgin Mobile memo claiming (Product) Red versions of the 8 and 8 Plus will be announced soon, possibly as early as April 9th. No word on an iPhone X edition, though.

It’s definitely time to upgrade.

NVIDIA will end 32-bit OS GeForce support this month

NVIDIA will halt GeForce GPU driver support for 32-bit systems at the end of April, meaning users will lose access to new GeForce Experience features and game-ready updates. Moreover, NVIDIA will end security updates by January 2019, so continuing to use your 32-bit Windows or Linux OS with a GeForce card beyond that date could actually put it at risk.

Search, smart home control and third-party integrations.

What Siri can learn from Google Assistant

Not only is Apple beefing up its phones with "neural engine" chips to power AI efforts like augmented reality and machine learning, it's also building out its Siri team. The company recently listed 161 open positions and hired Carnegie Mellon's Russ Salakhutdinov last year to head up AI research. Now with former Google AI chief John Giannandrea leading the team, Nicole Lee looks at a few specific areas where Apple should focus if it’s going to take the lead.

The best small phone money can buy.

Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact review

Sony’s made several compromises on its smaller phones in the past, but not this time. You get all the power and important features of the bigger XZ2 in a cute, bijou body.

It’s about time.

'Ghost Recon Wildlands' is getting a 'Splinter Cell' crossover

Ubisoft's latest bid to keep Ghost Recon Wildlands in the spotlight: bring in one of the Tom Clancy universe's other stars. The developer has teased The Call, a special mission that appears to bring in Splinter Cell's legendary protagonist, Sam Fisher (apparently voiced by original actor Michael Ironside). Expect more details later today.

It’s currently building around 2,000 cars per week.

Tesla hopes to deliver all-wheel drive Model 3 in July

Prefer your mass-market EV with dual motors and all-wheel drive? According to Elon Musk, Tesla is trying to hit 5,000 Model 3s produced per week before adding that option to the mix, which he estimates could take until July.

But wait, there's more...

1. After Math: the week of living dangerously

2. Ultra HD group outlines next generation of 4K TV broadcasts

3. Facebook suspends data firm CubeYou for allegedly using Cambridge Analytica-like tricks

4. Recommended Reading: Does Facebook need to be regulated?

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Saturday 7 April 2018

Editor's Pick: Customization Tools Let You Have Enterprise Chatbots Your Way

Customization Tools Let You Have Enterprise Chatbots Your Way

Richard Adhikari Apr 7, 2018 5:00 AM PT
	Inbenta has released new APIs and SDKs that let enterprises customize chatbots. The company offers an artificial intelligence-powered natural language search and conversational platform. The new APIs and SDKs facilitate a number of chatbot capabilities: intent detection, decision trees, transactional intelligence, Content Digest and seamless escalation. [More...]

More Picks:

No Cure for Cyber Insecurity?
An alarming number of major U.S. retailers, industrial firms, government agencies and other organizations have been hit in a recent wave of cyberbreaches that may signal increasing vulnerability for consumers and businesses alike. The attacks have exposed millions of consumer payment cards to fraud. Cyberthieves have used a variety of methods to infiltrate corporate computer systems. [More...]

Facebook Comes Up With a New Data Access Plan
Facebook has announced an update to its policies for restricting data access on its platform. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also discussed some of Facebook's new efforts to shore up user privacy protections in a 45-minute long Q&A with members of the media on Wednesday. Facebook will implement nine changes, which will allow users to set privacy levels and limit automatic data sharing. [More...]

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E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Saturday -- April 7, 2018

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

Headline Scan
Customization Tools Let You Have Enterprise Chatbots Your Way
No Cure for Cyber Insecurity?
Facebook Declares Open Season on Russian Trolls

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Today's Story Highlights

Customization Tools Let You Have Enterprise Chatbots Your Way

Inbenta has released new APIs and SDKs that let enterprises customize
chatbots. The company offers an artificial intelligence-powered natural
language search and conversational platform. The new APIs and SDKs
facilitate a number of chatbot capabilities: intent detection, decision
trees, transactional intelligence, Content Digest and seamless
escalation.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85259.html

No Cure for Cyber Insecurity?

An alarming number of major U.S. retailers, industrial firms, government
agencies and other organizations have been hit in a recent wave of
cyberbreaches that may signal increasing vulnerability for consumers and
businesses alike. The attacks have exposed millions of consumer payment
cards to fraud. Cyberthieves have used a variety of methods to
infiltrate corporate computer systems.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85258.html

Facebook Declares Open Season on Russian Trolls

Facebook has taken down more than 270 pages and accounts operated by the
Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm, CEO Mark Zuckerberg
announced Tuesday. IRA trolls and ads were involved in Russia's attempts
to interfere with the 2016 United States presidential elections, and the
trolls have published hate speech and incitements to violence on their
Facebook pages.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85254.html

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