It's Wednesday, May 23, 2018. Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.  Hi there! Mark Zuckerberg faced important questions from the EU, but didn’t really deliver much in the way of meaningful answers. Belkin figured out a way to connect your brand-new iPhone to your not-at-all-new car stereo (spoiler: It’s a wire), and our latest feature from our team-up with Silica Magazine tells the tale of Wonders of Wildlife, a giant natural history museum established by Bass Pro's billionaire founder. (View in browser.) The first dual-camera phone from HTC since the One M8.  There aren't any major surprises or innovations in HTC’s flagship U12+ -- just the upgrades you'd expect. While it retains the 3D liquid glass design seen on the U11+, changes include a six-inch Quad HD+ (2,880 x 1,440) LCD, dual rear cameras (one wide angle, one telephoto) and Edge Sense 2 squeeze control, which makes the phone easier to use one-handed. You can pre-order one today, with prices starting at $799. | | So many questions.  At a hearing in the European Parliament today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a barrage of questions ranging from privacy concerns to the rise of fake news. But much of Zuckerberg's replies were similar to what we've heard before and didn’t address the specific concerns of EU lawmakers. The Facebook founder mostly kept to his talking points and didn’t really address the specifics of a lot of the questions. One of the possible reasons for this could be the unusual interview format, where all the questions were asked first, with Zuckerberg answering the questions in bulk at the end. Perhaps the most resonant comment came not from him, but from Guy Verhofstadt of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe: "You have to ask yourself how you will be remembered," he said. "As one of the three big internet giants together with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, who have enriched our world and our societies, or on the other hand, the genius that created a digital monster that is destroying our democracies and societies.” | | Bloomberg says the chips will power Apple's upcoming trio of iPhones.  Apple's new chip for the next-gen iPhones is smaller than its predecessors -- it's also already in production, according to a new report by Bloomberg. Cupertino's manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., has reportedly started mass producing the 7-nanometer chip that was created to be faster and more efficient than the 10-nanometer design (used for the iPhone 8 and X) it's replacing. | | Bass Pro's billionaire founder is creating an American mecca for wildlife conservation.  Johnny Morris is one of the United States' most renowned outdoorsmen. Today, he owns and operates 95 big-box Bass Pro Shops across the country, which sell the widest array of hunting, fishing, camping and outdoors-related merchandise you can get outside the internet. But selling rods and ammunition was never Morris' ultimate vision. For the past 40 years, the entrepreneur has also been at the helm of advocacy and fundraising efforts by sportsmen and women around the world to show how hunting is actually the pinnacle of global environmentalism and conservation efforts. He opened a literal monument to that vision: Wonders of Wildlife, (WOW) a 350,000-square-foot natural history museum, aquarium and immersive 4D wildlife attraction celebrating "people who love to hunt, fish and act as stewards of the land and water." The museum contains 35,000 live fish, mammals, reptiles and birds as well as thousands of stuffed animal trophies portrayed in painstakingly crafted replications of their natural environments. | | Take that, jack-less iPhones.  Apple doing away with the iPhone's headphone jack was supposed to make life a bit more streamlined, and while in many cases, it has, it still presented something of a headache for those who wanted to use their device to listen to music in a car that isn’t packing Bluetooth or other connectivity options. Finding a decent 3.5mm cable with a Lightning connector is no mean feat, which is likely why Belkin has stepped up to the plate with its latest cable offering. It's not cheap: $30 for the three-foot cable and $35 for the six-foot. | | It will allow users to see 3D content live on the Hydrogen One.  RED is partnering with a company called Lucid on an 8K, 3D prosumer camera that will work with its incoming Hydrogen One smartphone. The device has two synced 4K cameras that capture and convert video and images to 8K 4V (.h4v) files. Those can then be displayed in 3D on the Hydrogen One's holographic display and later uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and RED's own content hub. | | Civil rights groups are demanding it put a stop to the practice. If you're nervous about the privacy implications of Amazon's camera technology, there might be a good reason for it. The ACLU and a coalition of civil rights groups are calling on Amazon chief Jeff Bezos to stop offering Rekognition facial detection system to government customers after learning that the company is actively helping law enforcement implement the potentially invasive technology. Police in multiple regions have partnered with Amazon on surveillance projects, including an Orlando proof-of-concept that lets Amazon search for "people of interest" through city cameras. | | The Big Picture.  Peering inside the head of a humanoid robot. | | An endangered car that’s a sign of things to come.  A week before Roberto Baldwin took delivery of the Ford Fusion Energi (starting at $31,400) to review, the automaker announced it would be ending the US production of all but one of its cars (the Mustang) in the next few years. The Fusion's days are numbered and no single review would save it. So now what? The odd thing about the Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid sedan is that it would be perfect for ride-hailing services. The comfortable interior has seating for five. Its hybrid drivetrain won't win the car any medals or impress your friends but is fine for freeway and city driving. It's a fine car. It's a great car. It's just not that exciting. | | But wait, there's more... | |
