Monday 31 December 2018

The Morning After: AI got its eyes in 2018

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Monday, December 31, 2018.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

We took the weekend to work on it and it turns out Netflix’s Black Mirror special episode (have you found all of the endings yet?) is not named Baldersnatch, Bumbersloot or Blipblops. We’ll see if 2019 brings more interactive TV experiences, but our last recap for the year includes Nintendo’s throwback gamepads and some info on how AI has improved.

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A dose of retro action in a pricey, wireless shell.

Nintendo’s Switch NES gamepads are an unnecessary blast from the past

The Switch NES controllers look just like the original, with the same blocky corners, plastic-yet-solid construction and concave buttons that hold your fingers just right. They even charge by sliding onto the console while it’s docked, although playing is a wireless-only affair. However, at $60 they’re an expensive add-on for controllers that are only meant to play emulated NES titles available via the new Online service.

She was the first woman executive at NASA.

Hubble telescope 'mother' Nancy Grace Roman dies

Nancy Grace Roman, the first chief of astronomy at NASA's Office of Space Science, died on December 25th at 93. She was widely considered the "mother" of the Hubble Space Telescope, persuading the scientific community to rally around the concept and campaigning for funding. Roman played an important role not just in running the early NASA, but in setting its current course -- many of the cosmic discoveries made in recent years can be attributed to the use of spaceborne telescopes.

That’s one way to start 2019.

NYPD to deploy a drone at Times Square on New Year's Eve

Security at Times Square tends to be extra-tight on New Year's Eve, but it's now poised to have some robotic support. The NYPD is deploying one of its new camera-toting drones at the event for the first time, giving it an aerial surveillance tool that's decidedly closer to the action than a conventional aircraft or helicopter. The machine will not only watch for trouble in the crowd, but wield "counter-drone technology" to keep potentially hostile vehicles at bay.

The better to see you with.

This is the year AI got its eyes

2018 has seen a marked improvement in two areas of AI image processing: facial-recognition technology in both commerce and security, and image generation in -- of all fields -- art.

Roberts embraced then-revolutionary data packet switching to handle traffic.

Early internet pioneer Larry Roberts dies at 81

Larry Roberts, best known as the program manager for ARPAnet (the internet's precursor), died on December 26th at the age of 81. While he wasn't as much of a public representative for the internet as people like Tim Berners-Lee or Vint Cerf, he made key decisions that would dictate how the internet behaved.

But wait, there's more...

1. 20 popular Android apps transmit sensitive information to Facebook without asking permission

2. Blizzard hopes to improve the quality of 'Overwatch' esports chats

3. Louis Vuitton's pricey smartwatch gets a Snapdragon Wear 3100 upgrade for 2019

4. China detains scientist who claims to have made gene-edited babies with CRISPR

5. EU offers bug bounties to help find security flaws in open source tools

6. Android's stock texting app now includes anti-spam safeguards

7. Amazon will build more Whole Foods stores to expand Prime Now

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Friday 28 December 2018

The Morning After: Instagram experiments with our swiping habits

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Friday, December 28, 2018.

Hey, good morning!

Friday already? That was quick! Not quick enough for Instagram, which faced blowback for an aggressive app design change (it was just a test -- for now). As we scowl in Facebook's direction, a Fake Alexa setup app tricked parents around the world and Jack Black has started his own YouTube channel.

Instagram gave your feed the stories treatment.

Instagram accidentally made users' feeds scroll horizontally

No no no no. If you opened up Instagram yesterday and found that your timeline orientation was totally switched, you weren't alone. Plenty of users discovered that their timeline had moved to ‘left to right’, where posts could be tapped through as they can be in stories. When the new timeline appeared, Instagram surfaced a notice that said, "Introducing a New Way to Move Through Posts," and told users to tap through to see their posts.

A number of Engadget editors had the new feed orientation but it seems this update was another quick test that Instagram has already concluded.

It asks for an IP address and a device serial number.

Fake Alexa setup app is topping Apple's App Store charts

Riding the tide of holiday gifting, a fake Alexa setup app has been making its way up Apple's App Store charts. The app is called "Setup for Amazon Alexa" and it's from a company called One World Software that, as 9to5Mac points out, has two other shady apps in the App Store as well. As of writing, the app was ranked at #75 in the "Top Free" apps list and #6 in the list of top utilities apps. When you launch the app, it asks for an IP address and your device's serial number, and so far at least, neither Apple nor Amazon seem to have taken any action against it.

Check out 'Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run' and 'Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.'

Disney's 'Star Wars' theme park trailer takes you inside its rides

The full-blown Star Wars theme park -- the dream. Disney’s dropped a new trailer for the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park and two of its main attractions, "Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run" and "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" -- with Disney describing the latter as "the biggest and most immersive Disney Parks attraction ever."

Whether it's due to feedback or just a temporary move isn't clear.

Capcom pulls in-game ads from 'Street Fighter V'

While it was no side-swiping Instagram interface, were you less than thrilled with Capcom throwing ads into Street Fighter V? You'll be glad to hear that they're gone, at least for now. Polygon and others have noticed that Sponsored Content ads have disappeared from both the "ad-style" costumes (which remain available) and the stages themselves. The company hasn't explained the move, but series producer Yoshinori Ono said in mid-December that the team was "collecting everyone's feedback" on Sponsored Content.

But wait, there's more...

1. VW's mobile quick charging station is a juice pack for your EV

2. Samsung's 2019 TVs can remotely access your PC

3. Jack Black takes on PewDiePie in YouTube channel debut

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Thursday 27 December 2018

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Thursday -- December 27, 2018

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

Headline Scan
The Do's and Don'ts of Designing a Great Digital UX
Cable One's Bright Sparklight Idea
Abusive Tweets Hurled at Women Every 30 Seconds: Report
AT&T to Switch On 5G in 12 Cities

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Today's Story Highlights

The Do's and Don'ts of Designing a Great Digital UX

In tech parlance, the emotional result of a person's interaction with a
website or digital app is called "user experience" or "UX" -- and the
success of a business depends on it. Users who have easy, positive
experiences with websites and apps likely will be drawn back to the
business. On the contrary, websites and apps with poor navigation and
slow loading times likely will turn off consumers.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85756.html

Cable One's Bright Sparklight Idea

The cable TV industry has been changing over the last decade and lately
has been penetrating the wireless space. Brands like Xfinity Mobile,
Spectrum Mobile and Altice Mobile have emerged. Cable One, a smaller
cable television company, has announced its new brand, Sparklight. Could
this be its first step toward offering a wireless service? That's the
direction I think it could be heading.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85751.html

Abusive Tweets Hurled at Women Every 30 Seconds: Report

Women are abused on Twitter every 30 seconds, and minority women are
harassed more often, according to Amnesty International. Volunteers for
Troll Patrol, a crowdsourcing project set up by Amnesty International to
process large-scale data about online abuse, sorted through 288,000
tweets sent to 778 woman politicians and journalists in the UK and the
United States last year.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85750.html

AT&T to Switch On 5G in 12 Cities

AT&T is poised to activate its 5G network in parts of 12 U.S. cities. A
select group of users will receive a 5G hot spot that connects to AT&T's
5G+ network. AT&T's 5G service will roll out in parts of Atlanta;
Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Houston; Indianapolis; Jacksonville,
Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; Oklahoma City; New Orleans; Raleigh,
North Carolina; and San Antonio and Waco, Texas.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85747.html

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Tech News Flash

Tech News Flash: Thursday -- December 27, 2018

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

Headline Scan
DNA Printing in the Cloud, Part 2
2018: The Year of Fighting for Positive Change
5 Ways to Make Your Website Gen-Z Friendlier
Firework Offers Snack-Size Original Content

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Today's Story Highlights

DNA Printing in the Cloud, Part 2

In DNA printing, genetic code becomes computer code. This occurs when
the chemical bases adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine present in a
chemical mix or gene sequence are translated by computer through gel
electrophoresis technology into their representative letters: A/T, T/A,
C/G, G/C. This alphabet code was formalized in 1970 by the International
Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/85755.html

2018: The Year of Fighting for Positive Change

When I think of corporate responsibility, one company tends to float to
the top, and that is Cisco. With massive efforts to train people all
over the world in the critical networking skills needed to secure and
expand global communications, Cisco has been taking a major chunk out of
joblessness. It has invested millions to reduce homelessness near its
headquarters, for example.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/85754.html

5 Ways to Make Your Website Gen-Z Friendlier

Generation Z is getting a lot of attention these days, as the cohort is
expected to outpace millennials, and comprise 32 percent of the world's
7.7 billion population. This powerful group of consumers was born into a
digital world. A much-reported claim is that Generation Z has an
attention span of 8 seconds. It may seem that your website should mirror
this lightning-quick attention span.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/85752.html

Firework Offers Snack-Size Original Content

Firework this week released a collection of shows consisting of 12
episodes that will run just 15-seconds each. The first, "Fireside Chat
featuring Molly Tarlov," debuted Tuesday. Three more followed on
Wednesday, and another is scheduled for release on Dec. 28. Users can
download the episodes via the Firework app, which is now available on
the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/85746.html

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