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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The Morning After: 'Doom' meets Roomba

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Thursday, December 27, 2018.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Our short holiday week isn’t over yet -- we’ll recap the exploding market for smart displays and explain what Doom has in common with your vacuum cleaner.

(View in browser.)

Pick a side.

Smart displays came into their own in 2018

If Amazon hadn't pioneered the Echo, Google might have never come out with its own line of speakers and displays. And if it wasn't for Google making competitive products, Amazon might never have improved the Echo and Echo Show with more robust features.

FYI

Tesla's Supercharger network will cover all of Europe in 2019

While encouraging potential Tesla owners to get their purchase in before the end of the year, Elon Musk addressed some charging concerns. According to Musk, next year the Supercharger network will stretch "From Ireland to Kiev (Ukraine), from Norway to Turkey."

Ho ho ho.

Turn your Roomba's travels into 'Doom' maps

Here’s one way to celebrate Doom's 25th anniversary: make your robot sketch out new levels. Game developer Rich Whitehouse has developed a script that translates your floors (mapped by Roomba) to playable maps for the original (aka the really old) Doom. You can customize the experience by specifying the quantities of enemies, weapons and pickups you'll accept.

It also comes with a 3D camera to help slim down the entire body.

Honor's 'hole-punch' View 20 will get a Moschino edition

Honor's recent teaser event gave away pretty much all the secrets of its new View 20 smartphone: It has a 25-megapixel punched-hole front camera and a 48-megapixel rear camera. Honor clearly just wanted to announce its "hole screen" technology before Samsung and Huawei. Now, Honor can go over all the finer details. The company plans to price the View 20 in China starting from 2,999 yuan (about $435) for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage version -- we expect global launch dates and prices early in 2019.