Instagram Will Shift From Chronological to Algorithm-Based Feed

Instagram today announced that it will introduce a new algorithm-based feed in the coming months, shifting from its current chronological-based feed. The move follows Twitter’s announcement that it was moving to an algorithm-based feed. Instagram parent company Facebook has used an algorithm-based news feed for years.

You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average 70 percent of their feeds. As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share. This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most.

The photo sharing company says that the new feed will be re-ordered to show moments Instagram believes users will care about the most. The algorithm will largely be based on a user’s relationship to the person posting and the timeliness of their post. For instance, Instagram says if a user’s favorite musician posts a video from the previous night’s concert or a best friend posts a picture of a puppy, the new algorithm will ensure that the user does not miss it.

Instagram stresses that, as they begin on this process, the company only wants to optimize the order of posts. All the posts in a person’s news feed will still be there, but in a different order. While it’s unclear exactly when in the coming months users’ feeds will begin to change, the company says that it wants to take its time to “get this right” and that they’ll listen to user feedback along the way. Instagram did not mention whether the new feed will be an optional feature that allows users to opt out.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

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LG K8 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

LG

Flagship phones, like the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, have a high-end allure to them with lofty prices to match. If spending an arm and a leg for a new phone isn’t an option, LG is offering two alternatives, the K5 and K8, that might be a better fit for your budget — without sacrificing a sense of style.

The pair are expected to hit emerging markets later this year and pricing has yet to be announced, but LG purports that they’ll be reasonably priced. This post will be updated when that information is available.

The LG K8 is the fancier of the two, sporting an au courant look with curved edges and a woven-textured back panel. It has a sharper screen and better cameras than the K5, but is otherwise very similar to it. Both models come in a variety of colors, including gold, and the K5 comes in “titan”, which I’m pretty sure is just a lavish way of saying “black.”

They don’t hold a candle to the fancy modular LG G5, but these phones are stripped down in features in order to meet a lower price point. Since they’re geared toward emerging markets, like the K7 and K10, it’s unlikely that we’ll see them hit US stores.

LG K8 specifications:

• 5.0-inch HD display
• 1.3GHz quad-core CPU
• Rear 8-megapixel camera
• Front 5-megapixel camera
• 1.5GB RAM with microSD expansion slot (1GB in Latin America)
• Removable 2,125mAh battery
• Android 5.0 Marshmallow
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.2
• NFC
• USB 2.0
• Color options: gold, indigo and white
• Available in: Asia, Africa, Middle East, CIS and Latin America

LG K5 specifications:

• 5.0-inch VGA display
• 1.3GHz quad-core
• Rear 5-megapixel camera
• Front 2-megapixel camera
• 8GB internal storage
• 1GB RAM with microSD card expansion slot
• Removable 1,900mAh battery
• Android 6.1 Lollipop
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.1
• USB 2.0
• Colors options: gold, silver and titan
• Available in: Europe, CIS, Latin America and Mexico

Fossil Q Wander Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Fossil

Fossil’s first smartwatch, the Q Founder, was underwhelming but the watchmaker listened to feedback and plans to release two slimmer, sleeker models later this year.

First up, we’ve got the Q Wander. The case measures 44mm, compared to 46mm of the Q Founder. It also includes new wire lugs, which helps give it that slimmer look. The watch comes with a leather strap, but you can swap it out for a different one of your choosing.

Fossil

Next up, we’ve got the larger Q Marshal. The watch measures 46mm and features a more rugged case design. The grooves make it look similar to the Samsung Gear S2 Classic. The watch will also be available in navy blue paired with a leather strap, a combination that appeals to me.

The Q Wander and Q Marshal share the same features as the Q Founder. All three models are powered by Google’s Android Wear operating system, which let Android and iPhone owners view calls and text messages right from their wrist. Android Wear isn’t our favorite platform — it lacks the finesse of those from Apple and Samsung.

The Fossil Q Founder sitting on the ridiculously large wireless charger.

Sarah Tew/CNET

You will likely have to charge the watches daily. While both support wireless charging, they will only work with the same weird, bulky, padded charger used with the Q Founder. It also appears that neither watch includes an optical heart-rate sensor, a feature found in a majority of smartwatches from companies such as Apple, Samsung and Motorola.

An exact release date wasn’t announced. The Q Marshal and Q Wander will arrive sometime later this year and start at $275. That price converts to about £195 in the UK and AU$370.

NASA picks solar power candidates for deep space missions

NASA is going to need solar power if it wants to keep its future deep space missions running, and that means getting someone to build that light-gathering technology. Fortunately, the agency has some partners lined up. It just picked four solar power technology proposals that could find their way into spacecraft traveling as far as Mars. The outfits negotiating deals are definitely ones you’ll know — ATK, Boeing, Johns Hopkins University and NASA’s own Jet Propulsion Laboratory are all developing systems that collect solar energy in the unforgiving conditions beyond Earth.

These four will have to face some additional hurdles to make the cut. A second selection phase 9 months out will offer up to $1.25 million in design funding to no more than two of these organizations, and only one of them might be selected to build the finished project. It’ll be years before you see the end results, then. All the same, this is an important step in making deep space exploration a practical reality beyond a handful of probes.

Source: NASA

Yellow Nexus 5X screen? Here’s the fix – CNET

At the time of launch, many Nexus 5X owners noticed that their device’s display was appearing a bit too warm, or yellow. The only remedy for this issue was to exchange the device for another, but that didn’t guarantee the next device’s screen would be any better than the previous one.

As a solution, Google’s Android security patch for March (MHC19J) includes a new toggle to fix the Nexus 5X screen temperature. Here’s how to enable it:

Step 1: Make sure your device is up-to-date by checking Settings > About phone > System update. You’ll need to be on build number MHC19J (listed at bottom).

Enlarge Image

Screenshots by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Step 2: Enable developer mode by repeatedly tapping the Build number in the Settings > About Phone menu.

Step 3: Head to the Developer Options in the Settings menu and toggle Cool color temperature. You’ll need to turn the display off and back on for changes to take effect.

The addition of this option means that Google is truly listening to feedback from users. While some Nexus 5X owners exchanged devices until they found one with a color temperature they could accept, now a solution is available in the device menu.

Latest HTC 10 teaser puts the focus on its cameras

HTC continues offering some teasers for its next flagship smartphone. The latest such promotion is all about the cameras that will be on the phone, which is rumored to be called simply the HTC 10.

The teaser, as posted on HTC’s Twitter account, is pretty self-explanatory:

World First, World Class, Front and Back. You’ll see. #powerof10 pic.twitter.com/qN9HN6OP5i

— HTC (@htc) March 15, 2016

HTC seems to be hinting the new phone will have high end camera on both the front and the back of the device, and will have some unique features. We will have to wait and see if that’s true. HTC has yet to reveal a release date, or even an announcement date, for their new flagship, although recent rumors claim it could happen sometime in mid-April.

Straw can now alert you when polls you voted on close

Social polling app Straw has received some notification improvements courtesy of its latest update. Specifically, users will now see a button to request notifications for their favorite StrawCast topics when they’ve run out of polls to vote on. Users can also now get notifications when polls they’ve voted on close.

Here’s the full breakdown of what’s new in the latest update to Straw:

• StrawCast automatically loads more polls when you reach the end of the list
• Request notifications for your favorite StrawCast topics when you run out of polls to vote on
• Get notified when polls you voted on finish so you can see the final results
• bug fixes

If you’re interested in checking out all of the notification improvements, Straw version 2.6.1 is available now on Google Play.

Sony’s PlayStation VR launching in October for $399

As competition in the virtual reality sphere heats up, Sony has announced that its PlayStation VR headset will launch in October for $399. Sony made the announcement during a keynote at the Game Developers Conference 2016 (GDC), where the company also showed off footage of upcoming titles and more.

Sony also detailed the final hardware specs of the headset, noting a 5.7-inch OLED display running at a 120 Hz refresh rate and carrying a total resolution of 1290 x 1080 at 960 x 1080 per eye. Sony says the field of view comes in at right around 100 degrees with latency at under 18ms. The company also notes that we should expect to see around 50 games for PlayStation VR this year.

As far as pricing is concerned, PlayStation VR’s $399 pricing compares to the Oculus Rift’s $600 price tag and the HTC Vive’s $800 price point. The Oculus Rift is due out by the end of March while the HTC Vive is expected to start shipping in April, so while Sony’s offering will be late to the party, it’s also significantly cheaper. However, do keep in mind that it appears the PlayStation Move camera and controllers required for tracking will cost extra, bumping that $399 price up a bit more.

One other big advantage for Sony is that PlayStation VR only requires a Playstation 4 to get started. That’s compared to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, which both require rather beefy gaming PCs that could represent a significant hurdle (and cost) for interested buyers. Add in Sony’s already rather significant install base with the PlayStation 4, and it will be interesting to see if the company gets a leg up in sales.

Instagram will soon ‘optimize’ the order of your feed

Instagram is planning to make some changes in the feeds of its hundreds of millions of users. The social network, owned by Facebook, says that in the coming months it will “optimize” those feeds so that users can see what Instagram thinks they should check out first.

In a blog post, Instagram says that according to its data, its users miss 70% of their feeds. It states it wants to change that:

The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post. As we begin, we’re focusing on optimizing the order — all the posts will still be there, just in a different order.

Instagram says it will be listening to feedback from its users on these feed changes and that it will “take time to get this right”.

How do you feel about Instagram deciding the order of your feeds? Let us know in the comments!

Google is using VR to let you step inside this 16th-century Bruegel painting

Google’s latest virtual reality offering is perfect for those of you who are really into Flemish Renaissance art, or just free VR experiences.

Google has an initiative, called the Google Cultural Institute, which has been trying for the last few years to make important cultural material available to everyone in the world. It is doing so by working with places such as museums to digitise artwork, artifacts, etc. And with virtual reality becoming a thing, Google has been embracing 360-degree video as a means of making cultural material more accessible and immersive.

It created a 360-degree video to put you inside the orchestra pit of New York’s Carnegie Hall, and now it’s using those same techniques to let you experience Bruegel’s The Fall of the Rebel Angels, which is currently on display at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. Google has published a video to YouTube that you can view with or without a Google Cardboard-certified viewer. It’s also available via the museum’s app.

It also helped the museum to create an exhibition, called Bruegel Box, which features projections of three Bruegel paintings. It basically lets you step in and be shoulder-to-shoulder with villagers and creatures from the paintings.

Bruegel (Pieter Bruegel the Elder) was a Flemish Renaissance artist from the 16th century. The Fall of the Rebel Angels is an oil-on-panel that he painted in 1562, inspired by a passage from the Book of Revelation.