Uber comes to Japan to help the aged
Japan doesn’t allow amateur drivers to offer rides, so Uber’s had a rough time establishing itself in the country. But the nation’s aging crisis might just provide the opportunity for the ride-sharing firm to gain a foothold, thanks to a quirk of the law. As Reuters explains, the ban on amateurs doesn’t apply in areas where public transportation isn’t readily available, like in the Tango part of Kyotango city. It’s one of several “depopulated” areas in the city, with a population with around 40 percent of people aged over 65. Taxi services were withdrawn from the area eight years ago, and the only way to get around is by a around-town hopper bus that you have to book a day in advance. This dire transport situation has led regulators to give the thumbs up to Uber so that it can begin offering rides.
Uber’s previously been limited to just acting as a middleman between taxi firms and customers, with the bulk of its services unavailable. But rather than fighting the entrenched players, Uber is now casting itself as a private, market-based alternative to publicly-owned metro systems. In areas where there’s little money (and political will) to create proper infrastructure, Uber makes itself into an easy fix. Of course, the flips side is that it’s having to spend big in order to make itself essential: handing out 50 tablets to residents and charging just half the rate of the local taxi firm. But what happens when the taxi firm goes out of business?
Source: Reuters
Sony will trade sweet PS4 game clips for swag
Sometimes you’re just sitting at home, dialed into your favorite online game, when suddenly you pull off a ridiculous play that makes you feel like a closet professional. It’s only natural to want to broadcast your moments of genius, which the PlayStation 4 makes incredibly easy thanks to the DualShock 4’s dedicated Share button. While cool points are great and all, Sony’s announced it’s also going to start rewarding these multiplayer feats with swag. Each month, Sony will set Brits a selection of challenges across three games, with prizes awarded for the best shared clips.
These #PLUSMOMENTS will be showcased on a dedicated site, with Uncharted 4, FIFA 16 and Call of Duty: Black Ops III this month’s chosen games. All you need to do is get a sweet headshot or insane volley goal while playing online and upload proof to YouTube, including a note of your PSN ID as well as a couple of required hashtags. Potential prizes this month include a three-month PS Plus voucher, a DualShock controller, a Juggernog mini-fridge for CoD submissions, and signed Uncharted 4 artwork specifically for that game’s challenges.
While the monthly competitions are only available in the UK for now, Sony has a habit of rolling things out in specific regions before expanding them elsewhere, so it might not be exclusive for long. And remember Brits, you might wanna think about using the new features in Sharefactory to try and sway the judges with a lovingly edited clip… of you blowing someone’s face off.
Source: Sony (1), (2)
MSI’s Backpack PC is an imperfect solution to VR wires
One of the problems with the current crop of non-smartphone VR headsets is that they need to be connected to PCs via thick, heavy cables. These might hamper your movements when you’re busy playing a game, or worse, you could trip over an errant wire and fall face flat on the floor. Well, a few companies have come up with an interesting solution: VR backpacks that carry a full-fledged PC, enabling you to move around unencumbered. MSI’s version is called the Backpack PC, and as it was on display here at Computex 2016, so I had to try it out for myself.
Equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor and a GeForce GTX980 graphics card, the entire rig weighs in at around 10 pounds. That sounds pretty hefty, but to my surprise it actually didn’t feel too heavy when I strapped it on. This particular backpack was attached to a HTC Vive, which the helpers at the MSI booth then fitted to my head. I then played a game demo that had me shooting at flying robots, which shot back tiny red energy balls that I was supposed to avoid. If I didn’t dodge those bullets, my “ship” would be destroyed.
As a result, I found myself moving around a lot, bobbing and weaving as much as I could. Compared to the normal Vive experience, I have to admit the lack of wires feels pretty freeing. Instead of worrying on whether I was about to wrap myself around in cables, I could just enjoy the game. Still, having to wear a backpack does feel pretty silly, plus its battery life is only around an hour before you have to charge it again.
MSI hasn’t announced pricing or availability for its Backpack PC just yet, but the company says it should be out later this year. I don’t imagine this to be too popular for normal home use, but I could see it being useful for perhaps in-store demonstrations or amusement parks where wires lying around could be a real hazard. Or, you know, if you want to feel like you’re one of the Ghostbusters.
Stay on top of all the latest news from Computex 2016 right here.
ICYMI: Pennyfarthing reboot, ice box fridge and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: SnikkyBike wants to get folks on its electrified pennyfarthing of a bike, except that it doesn’t even have pedals, only a place for people to stand. Surechill Technologies made a refrigerator that takes the best parts of old school, pre-electricity ice boxes and reimagines it to use low amounts of energy.
The game Surgeon Simulator has a re-skinned version that lets users practice operating on Donald Trump, which looks just as uncomfortable as any presidential candidate being laid out an operating table should, party affiliations notwithstanding. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Hubble shows the universe is expanding faster than we thought
New measurements from the Hubble telescope suggest the universe is expanding between five and nine percent faster than scientists initially thought. NASA and the ESA measured the distance to stars in 19 galaxies outside of our own and compared the data to the cosmic microwave measurements taken by the Planck and WMAP probes — and they didn’t tally quite like they should. This potentially puts a question mark above at least a part of science’s most enduring tenet — Einstein’s theory of relativity.
The discovery came after NASA’s team pioneered new measurement techniques that they claim give the findings an “unprecedented” level of accuracy. Cosmologists typically measure astronomic distances using light, specifically changes in redshift. These measurements (and those before it) are used to estimate the rate of the universe’s expansion, known as the Hubble constant. NASA and the ESA’s new data put this rate of expansion at 45.5 miles per second per megaparsec — a few percent faster than the two most recent missions.
Adam Reiss, the study leader and Nobel Laureate, explains that not only does this suggest the universe is expanding more rapidly, but the new findings could provide clues about what makes up the parts of the universe we currently struggle to understand — the elusive dark matter, dark energy and dark radiation.
The current theories as to why the universe is expanding faster are that dark energy or dark matter’s role in the universe is misunderstood, there’s another subatomic particle we don’t yet know about or that Einstein’s theory of gravity is incomplete.
Via: The Guardian
Source: NASA
Food Delivery Services GrubHub and Seamless Now Support Apple Pay
Food delivery company GrubHub has added Apple Pay as a payment option in the latest update to its GrubHub and Seamless apps (via TechCrunch).
The company follows in the footsteps of rivals Caviar, Door Dash, and Postmates in supporting Apple’s mobile payment platform, and means that users of its two apps can now pay for their food using cards registered in the native iOS Wallet app.
Originally founded in 2004, GrubHub began as a website where users could order from local restaurants offering home delivery services. It later merged with rival company Seamless and expanded to offer its own service for restaurants that don’t otherwise usually deliver. Last year GrubHub processed $2.4 billion in sales, 60 percent of which was generated through its mobile apps.
The move signals another domestic win for Apple’s mobile payment platform, and appears to confirm that the company’s recently stated aim to aggressively expand the service both at home and abroad is making progress.
Speaking to Fortune yesterday, Apple said its mobile payment platform is gaining a million new users each week, but the company stopped short of revealing the overall number of Apple Pay users. It also said that transaction volume through the service is five times what it was a year ago, and that payment volume within apps more than doubled in the second half of 2015.
In related news, The Verge reported today that Walmart has announced its intention to partner with ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft in order to trial a new grocery delivery service, in a move that will put it in direct competition with Amazon’s recently expanded AmazonFresh service.
Customers will soon be able to place their food orders online, for Walmart staff to prepare their groceries and then call local Uber and Lyft drivers to deliver the items, at a delivery charge of between $7 to $10, which is paid to Walmart. According to the company, the pilot program will begin within the next two weeks and initially operate in Denver and Phoenix.
Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: GrubHub
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Bollywood Star Shah Rukh Khan to be Apple’s Indian Ambassador
Apple is set to make Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan its brand ambassador for India, according to a local report yesterday.
Indian tech website PC Tablet cited sources familiar with the matter, claiming that the announcement will be made when Apple launches its latest iPhone models in India later this year.
Tim Cook with stars Shah Rukh Khan (left) and Sania Mirza. (Source: Instagram)
Apple CEO Tim Cook attended a private dinner at Khan’s home during his recent weeklong visit to the country. Before the Bollywood star-studded dinner, Cook was also escorted around movie sets by the president of India’s Film and TV Producers Guild, Mukesh Bhatt, who said Cook was “keen to see how Apple could partner with the Indian film industry”.
Apple has a number of brand ambassadors around the world, including Brazilian-born FC Barcelona soccer player Neymar and NBA player Steph Curry.
Last month it was reported that Apple is close to signing England international soccer player Raheem Sterling as its figurehead of Apple’s promotional work around the European Championship this summer.
Tag: India
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‘1Password for Teams’ Introduces Secure Password Sharing for Teams at Work
AgileBits recently announced that its long-in-beta product “1Password for Teams” has officially launched, bringing an enterprise-focused version of the company’s popular password management app to iOS, Mac, and Android. 1Password for Teams will let users in a designated team share secure passwords, documents, and other data through AgileBits’ heavily encrypted infrastructure.
Announced first in November, and now just coming out of a seven month-long beta test period, the new team sharing service gives control over a group of users to one administrator, who can then ensure that their entire team remains safe from phishing scams and hacks. With end-to-end encryption, 1Password for Teams ensures that team members don’t have to risk a security breach by emailing or texting passwords between one another.
A team’s administrator has access to 1Password for Teams’ robust Admin Console, from which they can create password vaults and assign member access, restore a master password if a team member forgets their login information, and grant temporary access to guests.
AgileBits also promises that 1Password for Teams is backed by features that let members find “weak and reused passwords” so they can be changed proactively, a security alert system called Watchtower, a master password creator, and other various anti-phishing software. Through the service’s security-minded automatic wireless syncing, users can share financial records — like an office credit card or joint bank account — and even various word and text documents.
Similar to its 1Password for Families plan, AgileBits has created a subscription model for its new team service. Users can get a standard subscription for $3.99 per user per month when billed annually ($4.99 when billed monthly), which includes unlimited access to 1Password’s desktop and mobile apps, offline access, 1GB of storage per person, and a 30 day item history to recover lost documents.
A pro subscription is also available for $11.99 per user per month at an annual rate ($14.99 at a monthly rate), upgrading users to 5GB of storage, priority email support from AgileBits, an unlimited item history recovery system, and other top-tier features. The company is offering these pro-level features at a standard-level rate until August 1, and the pricing will be locked-in forever, so moving forward any added team members will be able to subscribe at the lower cost instead of the premium rate.
Check out more information for 1Password for Teams on AgileBits’ website.
Tag: 1Password
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AVA Direct Avatar VR desktop review – CNET
The Good The bold-looking Avatar has VR-friendly features, including many front- and top-mounted ports. It’s easy to access the interior for upgrades.
The Bad The bulky chassis has a massive desktop footprint, and the front-facing VR connection panel doesn’t feel sturdy enough.
The Bottom Line The AVA Direct Avatar is a VR-ready desktop with a striking design that puts the ports front and center — just make sure you have enough room for it.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
Everyone seems to be marketing a gaming desktop with top-end parts as “built for VR.” AVA Direct, like a small handful of other PC makers, has actually put some thought into that idea, most notably including a front panel with VR-ready HDMI and USB ports. That should make plugging in easier, especially if the desktop’s rear panel is facing a wall, under a desk, or otherwise hard to access — but it’s a better idea in theory than in practice.
That front panel, with two USB ports and one HDMI output, is an optional piece from component maker EVGA that comes bundled with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980Ti graphics card included with this configuration. Unfortunately, I found the front VR ports a little shaky and quickly switched back to the rear-facing ones. The VR front panel on the Velocity Micro Raptor was similarly flaky.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Like most gaming desktops, AVA Direct offers a choice of different processors, graphics cards, power supplies and storage on its configurator page. This high-end configuration, with the 980Ti, an Intel Core i7 6700K CPU, liquid cooling, and a 1TB HDD/500GB SSD storage combo is currently $2,549 in the US (the company doesn’t ship internationally, but that works out to around £1,768 or AU$3,511), which is very reasonable for that set of components. Note that prices and selection for custom PC configurations can vary even week by week. Configurations of the Avatar start at $1,599.
AVA Direct Avatar VR Desktop
| $2,549 |
| 4GHz Intel Core i7-6700K |
| 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,133MHz |
| 6GB Nivida GeForce GTX 980 |
| 500GB SSD + 1TB 7,200rpm HDD |
| Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit) |
The chassis is really striking — it’s a matte-black box with a curved front panel, raised feet in the front and back, and very little distracting decoration, aside from a lighted side panel with the company’s name etched into the plastic window. It’s a customized version of the Dead Silence Black Edition from case-maker Aerocool, and promises both sound-dampening and extra airflow via a mesh top panel for airflow.
Samsung Gear Fit2 GPS band and Gear IconX earbuds let you train phone-free
It’s official, Samsung has unveiled its Gear Fit2 band now packing GPS and a new earbud tracking system called IconX.
The Gear Fit2 uses the Super AMOLED curved display that its predecessor was famed for. But now the sports capabilities have been enhanced with GPS added to heart rate monitoring. It will also work as a stand alone music player with 4GB storage meaning you can do a fully tracked workout with music, minus your phone.
You won’t even have to tell it you’re training as the Auto Activity Tracking feature will do it all for you weather you’re running, cycling or even rowing.
The Gear IconX is a set of completely wireless earbuds which automatically activate when placed in the ears. By activate we don’t just mean play music over Bluetooth, these track activity and monitor heart rate too. Thanks to motion sensors the IconX buds track distance, speed, duration, calories and even heart rate.
Plus there’s Voice Guide which will offer feedback as you’re training. On top of all that these can also hold up to 1,000 MP3 songs in the 4GB memory for use without a phone, simply swipe the bud to skip track.
The Samsung Gear Fit2 will be available on 10 June while the Gear IconX will arrive in July. Pricing has yet to be announced.
READ: Pebble 2016 line-up: Pebble Core, Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 explained
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