Raspberry Pi 3 has a 64-bit processor and built-in WiFi

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been four years since the Raspberry Pi Foundation gave the DIY computing scene a huge kick in the right direction with the launch of the Model B. To celebrate the milestone and 8 million units sold, the charity is hosting another Big Birthday Bash, but more importantly, there’s also some new hardware for tinkerers to get their hands on. Introducing the Raspberry Pi 3: the Foundation’s first 64-bit computing board that also comes with WiFi and Bluetooth built in for the same $35/£30 price.

It should come as no surprise that the Pi 3 is an iterative update on the popular Pi 2. According to Raspberry Pi Foundation CEO Eben Upton, it’s been a year in the making. Gone is the 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU, replaced with a quad-core 64-bit 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A53 chip that is roughly 50 percent faster than its predecessor. “Our primary goal in moving to A53 from A7 was to get a better 32-bit core,” Upton told me. “A53 running in 32-bit mode outperforms A7 at the same clock speed by 20-30 percent.”

There’s the same 1GB of RAM and 400 MHz VideoCore IV graphics keeping things ticking over, both of which are housed on a board that retains the same dimensions as the Pi 2. However, the inclusion of integrated Bluetooth 4.1 and 802.11n WiFi will please many, as it’ll reduce the need to scour component sites for cheap USB dongles. If you’re thinking of swapping your old Pi, you may need to upgrade your power source as the Pi 3 requires a 2.5A input.

With cheap 64-bit boards like the Pine A64 starting to emerge, I asked Upton why the Pi 3 doesn’t include additional features like 4K support: “Moving to a new video codec block would have meant sacrificing backward compatibility with previous Raspberry Pi products,” he tells me. “With 8 million units in the field this isn’t a decision we take lightly.”

For this reason, the Raspberry Pi 3 will ship with a 32-bit version of the Noobs operating system. The Foundation isn’t worried about fancy tricks, it’s making sure that homebrewers can add more features to their projects without having to overhaul them first. The Pi 3 is available to buy right now from Element14, RS Components and other usual stockists for $35/£30.

Source: RS Components, Element14, The Pi Hut

Amazon UK to deliver fresh food with new Morrisons deal

Instead of taking the UK’s supermarkets head-on, Amazon has decided to ally with them in order to boost the popularity of its Pantry service. The site, launched in November last year, allows Prime subscribers to remotely order more than 4,000 products with next-day delivery. Now, it’s announced a deal with Morrisons — a heavyweight supermarket in the UK — that will add “hundreds” of new products to its platform. They’ll also be available through Prime Now, a one-hour delivery service that’s available in a smattering of cities. Morrisons says the new additions will appear on Amazon “in the coming months” and include fresh and frozen goods.

The partnership should benefit both companies. For Amazon, it’s a chance to quickly expand the number of products available through Pantry, thereby making it more useful and a viable replacement for supermarket sites. With a brand that customers recognise, the deal should also encourage new customers to sign up for Prime and try the delivery service. For Morrisons, it’s a new way to sell its wares as a wholesale provider, while handing off the responsibility of managing an online platform.

Morrisons has its own site, but at the moment all of its orders are fulfilled by Ocado, a UK specialist in supermarket deliveries. The two are locked in a 25-year deal but an “amended agreement” announced today could change the terms. Morrisons wants to grow its own website and the new pact means that it can take out space in Ocado’s new customer fulfilment center in Erith, southeast London. Alongside the Amazon deal, these are small but important moves that could make Morrisons more competitive with some of the UK’s other supermarket giants, like Asda and Tesco.

Source: Investigate

‘Ex Machina’s’ Oscar win is a triumph for low-budget VFX

If you’ve ever thought that a low-budget sci-fi thriller can’t compete with the cream of Hollywood, think again. Last night’s Academy Awards handed the Oscar for best visual effects to Alex Garland’s brilliant Ex Machina. It’s something of a shock, since the category had three heavy hitters in The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. By comparison, Ex Machina is a claustrophobic three-hander with a minuscule budget of just $15 million. According to Moviefone, that makes it the cheapest FX Oscar winner since 1979’s Alien and that’s before you take inflation into account.

If you haven’t seen it, and you really should, Ex Machina is the story of a turing test being carried out on a robot played by Alicia Vikander. It’s a fascinating examination of both what it means to be human, and also how making artificial devices in our image can create conflicting emotions in people. Most of the effects are centered around turning Vikander into a robot, using a combination of excellent makeup and CGI. It just goes to show, too, that canny filmmaking and a smart script can beat back Disney’s endless pockets of cash.

Oh, and there’s a touching end-note to this, too. Andrew Whitehurst, who created the effects for the film, recently wrote an impassioned defense of CGI over at The Guardian. The self-effacing Brit even ended his piece by saying “When Star Wars wins the best visual effects Oscar on Sunday, it will look to the casual observer as if it is business as usual.” He’s probably pinching himself this morning.

Via: EW

Source: AMPAS

Rock, Paper and Scissors are friends in latest Android commercial

Google has really been knocking it out of the park with a diverse set of commercials related to its “be together, not the same” marketing campaign, and the latest iteration debuted during the Oscars. Even though Rock, Paper and Scissors are historically at odds, the latest commercial shows them on the same team.

William H. Macy tries on the Gear VR in Samsung’s Oscars commercial

Samsung has a big presence during the Oscars, with the vendor rolling out new commercials during the awards show to highlight its latest phones. It’s no different this year, as we have a new celebrity-studded commercial that showcases the best features of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

The commercial includes Wesley Snipes, Lil Wayne, Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, James Harden, and William H. Macy, who uses the Gear VR to present the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in virtual reality, highlighting the major features on offer with both devices.

The vendor also rolled out two other commercials during the Oscars, the first highlighting the low-light shooting capabilities of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, and the second touting the water-resistance features.

Source: YouTube (Samsung Mobile USA)

The Nuu Mobile Z8 is a premium flagship disguised by its low price (Review)

Since the start of the new year I have been making good on a promise to use only phones that aren’t in the premium price range. For 2016 I have

Google neural network tells you where photos were taken

It’s easy to identify where a photo was taken if there’s an obvious landmark, but what about landscapes and street scenes where there are no dead giveaways? Google believes artificial intelligence could help. It just took the wraps off of PlaNet, a neural network that relies on image recognition technology to locate photos. The code looks for telltale visual cues such as building styles, languages and plant life, and matches those against a database of 126 million geotagged photos organized into 26,000 grids. It could tell that you took a photo in Brazil based on the lush vegetation and Portugese signs, for instance. It can even guess the locations of indoor photos by using other, more recognizable images from the album as a starting point.

PlaNet isn’t a foolproof system. It’s only as good as the data it’s fed, and a photo will only reveal so much by itself — the network could only pinpoint 10 percent of images at the city level. Early tests hint that it’s already much better than humans, however, since it has a much wider view of the world than even the best globetrotters. Provided the researchers refine the technology, you could see photography apps that locate images even when you don’t have GPS turned on, or AI that can ask about your vacation without being prompted.

Via: Slashdot

Source: MIT Technology Review, ArXiv.org

YouTube reduces the chances of mistaken video takedowns

YouTube has taken steps to prevent mistaken takedowns of your videos, but that hasn’t been enough for some. A rash of alleged copyright violations in recent weeks (such as for Call of Duty clips) has triggered an outcry among creators who worry that YouTube is asleep at the wheel while its automated copyright system goes haywire. Thankfully, the company appears to be listening. In a response to the mounting complaints, YouTube has revealed that it created a team focused on “minimizing mistakes” that take videos down without a legitimate cause. It’s also promising transparency when it strips videos of revenue, and there are hints of efforts in the months ahead that will “strengthen communications” between YouTube support and video makers.

YouTube says it hasn’t seen a significant boost in the number of flawed takedowns, but it’s clear that the Google-owned outfit is trying to head off a potentially larger crisis. If the service develops a strong reputation for pulling legitimate videos and leaving creators hanging when they ask for help, its biggest stars might jump ship. What’s to keep a “let’s play” host from moving to Twitch, or a movie critic from giving up entirely? While there are no guarantees that YouTube’s efforts are enough (some want it to reduce or eliminate its dependence on automated screening), it knows it can’t just remain idle.

Via: 9to5Google

Source: YouTube Help Forum, Susan Wojcicki (Twitter)

Liquid-based watch tech is coming to more devices

If you’re a fan of high-end watches and really want to stand out, one of your slicker options is HYT’s H series. Instead of relying solely on spinning hands to tell the time, it uses a hydro-mechanical system that fills capillaries with fluid. Sounds niche? Well, it won’t be for much longer: HYT and its sister brand Preciflex are receiving $23 million to fund not just more of these liquid-based watches (including at “different,” likely more affordable prices), but to a “new type of fluidic jewelery.” Preciflex has also been using it in the automotive and medical fields, too, so don’t be surprised if you see the microfluidic tech grow there as well.

HYT isn’t saying much more about what the devices will do, but it expects them to be on sale in 3 years and might team up with “strategic players” to get them off the ground. As it stands, the investors include people as powerful as the chairman of Nestle. While their investment may not sound like much on the surface, it could turn a rare luxury into something relatively commonplace.

Via: Hodinkee, Forbes, Bloomberg

Source: HYT (PDF)

AC editors’ apps of the week: Stack, Galactic Nemesis, MultiWindow Toggle and more

Our weekly app picks

It’s Appday Sunday and that means we’re back with more of our favorites to share. Every week we bring a handful of great apps to the table and share them with everyone. Sometimes they are new apps, sometimes old standards, but every time they are apps we love to use.

Give these a look and then take a minute to tell us all about the apps you are using and love so we can give them a try. We all find some of our favorites right in the comments on these posts!

Jared DiPane — Promo Codes V2

Promo Codes was originally released to everyone through Google Play, and it appears as though it grew a bit to quickly with little understanding. The developer had to end up changing the app and has released a second version. The concept is still the same, you try and win promotional codes for paid apps or in-app purchases, but this time you need an invite to download it.

The idea behind the invites is to help grow the right type of user base, as you now need to know someone using the app to get in. The more that people spend as a result of discovering a new app from Promo Codes will ultimately help the developer bring other developers with promo codes on-board. If you want a chance to win some free apps, be sure to try this out. And remember, if you don’t win it doesn’t hurt to pay for an app if it looks great. Support developers!

Download: Promo Codes 2 (Free)

Jerry Hildenbrand — Stack

Stack is a beautiful and simple game where your goal is to try and stack blocks as high as you can. The blocks come in from the right and the left, and you need to tap the screen when they are perfectly aligned with the top of your stack. Any overlap gets cut off, and the top of your stack gets smaller.

It’s addicting. I’m OK with that, because the simple graphics are absolutely gorgeous and the one-touch controls are perfect for a game on a phone. Even the audio is oddly satisfying. What I don’t like are the ads that randomly pop up, so I paid the $1.86 for the ad-free version. That’s $0.13 less than the cup of coffee I bought this morning, and well worth it.

Download: Stack (Free, ad-free as $1.86 IAP)

Russell Holly — Galactic Nemesis

There’s nothing quite like a well made arcade-style game to suck up all the time you should be spending doing other things. Galactic Nemesis is straight out of my childhood, only with a finger on the screen instead of on a cabinet in a dark room full of quarters and cheap pizza.

Shoot the bad aliens, upgrade your ship, shoot the bad aliens some more. It’s simple, straightforward, and more fun than it probably should be. Enjoy!

Download: Galactic Nemesis (Free)

Jen Karner — Neko Atsume

There is no reason I should enjoy playing a game where all I do is try to collect cats. Yet, that’s exactly what Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector is. You play by luring kitties to your yard with a variety of treats, food, and toys for them to play with. When they show up, all you really do is take pictures of them being cute. It’s ridiculously small, and simple…and yet after two months it’s still on my phone.

You’ll quickly realize different cats are lured by different things. Put out the right kind of lure and you’ll see special cats show up, like Ramses the Great. When cats enjoy visiting your yard they’ll leave you gifts of normal fish or goldfish. Those fish are the currency you’ll use to buy expansions on your yard, food for the cats to eat, and of course toys.

Download: Neko Atsume (Free)

Andrew Martonik — MLS Soccer 2016

I get to talk about the latest iteration of the official MLS Soccer app but once a year, and the week before the season kicks off is a perfect time for it. Being a young league with a young following, MLS does a pretty great job with its digital strategy — in its website, match streaming, social media presence and its official app.

Each year the app gets better, and in 2016 it’s basically just refined and improved from the big overhaul last year. The new News & Videos section has a much friendlier layout, the sidebar sorts things in a simpler way so you don’t have so many options and the individual articles don’t seem to have a format that gets broken with complex posts.

Perhaps most importantly, the app retains its great functionality as a way to get notifications about your favorite clubs, see match details for the entire league and even watch full matches streaming to your phone or tablet. There’s still Chromecast support (with an MLS Live subscription) here, too, which I use on a weekly basis every year.

This app will obviously only appeal to those who want to follow local league soccer in the U.S., but if you do it’s a no-brainer to have it on your phone and tablet.

Download: MLS Soccer (Free)

Phil Nickinson — MultiWindow Toggle

I’ve grown to enjoy Samsung phones more over the last year or so, mostly thanks to the Galaxy Note 5. What I’m not a fan of is grabbing the top of the screen to extend the notification area and instead shrink whatever app I’m in down to multi-window status. I just don’t use multi-window at all. I don’t want to use it. And Samsung doesn’t give us a way to turn it off.

This app does. And that’s all it does. OK, it also lets you put a toggle in the quick settings. But that’s it. No muss, no fuss, no more multi-window. Hersey, I know. But it’s my heresy.

Download: MultiWindow Toggle (Free)