Expect a settlement in the Volkswagen emissions fiasco tomorrow
A federal judge has given Volkswagen until Tuesday, June 28th, to present a plan aimed at making amends in the diesel emissions scandal that’s been dogging the company for nearly a year. Reuters and Bloomberg report that the settlement will cost VW $15 billion. In September, regulators discovered VW was using emissions-concealing software in roughly 500,000 of its diesel vehicles sold since 2008.
Last week, the AP claimed VW would settle the scandal for $10.2 billion, and the new reports build on that figure. According to Reuters and Bloomberg, VW will pay just over $10 billion to buy back vehicles using “defeat devices” that hide their true emissions production. Owners of affected VW vehicles could receive up to $10,000 apiece, Bloomberg says — that’s double the $5,000 figure originally reported in April.
Plus, VW will spend $2 billion on clean-emissions technology, and pay $2.7 billion in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, Bloomberg says. VW will also settle with individual states for another $400 million, the site says.
In April, VW estimated the fiasco would cost $18.2 billion to resolve. The company saw an operating loss of $4.61 billion in all of 2015.
Source: Bloomberg, Reuters
Dell made a 70-inch touchscreen for schools
Forget chalkboards and whiteboards in the classroom — Dell thinks tech is the answer. It’s launching a 70-inch touchscreen, the C7017T, that’s designed to replace interactive whiteboards in schools and boardrooms. You probably wouldn’t want this at home given the 1080p resolution, but it can handle 10-finger touch and includes two pens for collaborative sessions. More importantly, it’s downright frugal compared to Microsoft’s 84-inch Surface Hub. Dell’s $5,000 price doesn’t include a computer, but it’s still going to take a much smaller bite out of the school budget.
Source: Dell (1), (2)
Facebook debuts hand-picked event listings in 10 cities
In its latest attempt to seem a little more human and a little less algorithmic, Facebook debuted a new feature Monday that suggests interesting events picked by real, live humans in 10 major US cities — even if those events aren’t on Facebook. As TechCrunch reports, iOS users in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and elsewhere will see the cleverly named “Featured Events” listings at the top of the events tab starting today. Unlike “suggested” events, which are based on your friends’ interests and RSVPs, Facebook has actually built out a team of curators to hand-pick events in each city.
According to Facebook Events product manager Aditya Koolwal, the new feature is meant to be “like a weekend or weekly digest of cool stuff that you can do in your city,” and is designed to give people enough lead time to spot an upcoming event and invite their friends. For this initial rollout, the cities include Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The listings will also focus on large, public events with broad appeal so there’s no fear that your 10-person backyard cocktail party will suddenly get featured and go viral. Although it won’t be selling the listings just yet, it’s possible that Facebook will monetize the listings in the future. And, after that whole Trending Topics mess, Koolwal says the new Events listings won’t feature anything political or religious in nature either.
Finally, as Recode points out, this is a relatively minor change for Facebook, but it could put another huge dent in print media and smaller city blogs where event listings never quite disappeared.
Source: TechCrunch, Recode
Apple Pay Expands to More Parking and Hotel Apps
Apple Pay has expanded to an additional trio of parking services and one hotel booking service over the past week.
Parking Panda, an app that allows you to find and reserve parking in advance, was updated last week to allow customers to use Apple Pay.
Parking Panda is offering customers a 10 percent discount off purchases made with Apple Pay between now and September 1. The discount is automatically applied after choosing Apple Pay at checkout. Apple Pay customers will also be eligible to win a free month or a free year of parking along with other prizes.
Parking Panda is available at thousands of parking garages, lots, and valets in 40 U.S. cities, including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The app can also be used in Toronto, the most populous city in Canada.
Parking Panda is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad.
Likewise, PayByPhone has updated its app with Apple Pay support along with location aware imagery, personal reminders, and smart notices.
PayByPhone, used by over 12 million motorists, allows you to find and reserve parking in advance, add more time remotely, and stay up to date about local events and parking-related news. The app is available in over 300 cities globally, such as San Francisco, London, Paris, Geneva, and Vancouver.
PayByPhone is also offering U.S. customers that pay with Apple Pay a chance to automatically win a free month of parking until September 1.
PayByPhone Parking is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone.
Meanwhile, parking reservation app SpotHero now enables drivers to use Apple Pay to find and pay for parking without creating a SpotHero account. The app can be used at more than 2,500 garages, lots, and valets in 13 major U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.
SpotHero is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone.
Last, last-minute hotel booking app HotelTonight has also been updated to let customers find and book a hotel room using Apple Pay without creating a HotelTonight account. HotelTonight can be used to book hotel rooms up to a week in advance at more than 15,000 hotels in over 500 destinations worldwide.
HotelTonight is offering first-time customers that use Apple Pay $25 off their first $135+ reservation using promo code APPLEPAY25 until September 1. All customers can also redeem promo code TRAVELTUESDAY on any Tuesday through August 30 to get $20, $40 or $100 off bookings of $150+ when using Apple Pay.
HotelTonight is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
When making in-app purchases, Apple Pay is compatible with the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, and both the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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This laser-powered drum machine is a stunning work of art
We’re big fans of homemade instruments, synthesizers and other noise makers here at Engadget. Russian artist Vtol created a massive laser-powered drum machine installation as part of Earth Lab, a joint project between the Polytechnic Museum Moscow and Ars Electronica Linz. Vtol describes the huge instrument as “an autonomous light-music installation,” and it’s certainly provides a neat visual to complement its noise making. The setup is officially called “Divider” and it uses seven lasers that pass through fans to send a light signal for generating sound. The laser beams are altered by high-speed fans with a photo sensor on the end monitoring the presence or absence of light.
The lasers serve a “independent binary variables” that offer the basis for all the sounds from the machine. Fans can each spin at variable speeds, which creates the range of different noises due to the modulation of the light rays. The inspiration for “Divider” came from the Rhythmicon, an instrument created by Russian inventor Léon Theremin in the 1930s. It was basically the first drum machine, creating sound with rotating discs that broke up light rays that were detected by optical sensors. Don’t take our word for it though, watch the demo of Vtol’s installation in the video below.
Via: Fact Magazine
Source: Vtol
How to post 360-degree photos to Facebook – CNET
Enlarge Image
Jason Cipriani/CNET
Over the past few weeks you’ve likely come across an interactive photo whilst browsing your Facebook feed. Such photos instruct you to hold your phone up and move it around to view different parts of the photo.
It’s a fun way of viewing so-called 360-degree photos. The truth is, however, you don’t need a special camera or even a 360-degree photo app in order to upload your own interactive picture.
Dedicated camera need not apply
James Martin/CNET
But should you want to jump aboard the 360-degree camera movement, there is a list of cameras Facebook officially supports:
- Ricoh Theta S
- Giroptic 360 Cam
- Samsung Gear 360
- LG 360 Cam
- IC Realtech ALLie
- 360Fly
- Panono
Each one of these cameras can capture your entire surroundings in a single shot, but come at a steep cost in most instances.
Your phone is the better choice
Chances are you own a phone or tablet that will work with the new Facebook feature. According to Facebook, anything newer than an iPhone 4S, iPad Mini 2 or either iPad Air and iPad Pro model will work. Facebook doesn’t list a series of Android devices (let’s be honest, that list would be far too long), but does specifically state using a Galaxy device newer than Samsung Galaxy S5 or Galaxy Note 3 will work.
Owners of a non-Samsung Android device can use the Google Camera app.
The not-so-new method
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Naturally, not just any ol’ photo will work with Facebook’s 360-degree viewer, so what’s the secret?
You need to use the camera app on your device to take a panorama photo. That’s it. You probably have a couple in your camera roll right now, just waiting to be uploaded and shared with the Facebook world.
Or you can go one step further and use the Google Street View (Android | iOS) app to take a true 360-degree photo sphere and upload it.
There is one thing to keep in mind when taking a panorama to upload: Facebook states this feature will only work with photos that are 100 degrees or bigger. Unfortunately there’s no easy way to see just how big a photo is (in terms of degrees, at least), so if you don’t want to capture the full landscape, you’ll need to do some trial and error to get a better idea of the correct size.
Uploading
Uploading a panorama photo to Facebook is done using the same method to upload all your other photos: Open Facebook, tap Photo, select a picture, post. Also, you can’t upload more than one panorama photo at a time.
U.S. Cellular support now officially available in Project Fi
U.S. Cellular support is now officially available for Project Fi customers. You’ll need to update the Fi app to ensure that everything is working properly on your end with connecting to the new network. With this addition, Fi customers will now have three different networks to bounce between to ensure they always are using the best network in the area they are in.
T-Mobile and Sprint were the original partners with Google on Project Fi, and now U.S. Cellular joins as the third. As previously mentioned, be sure to update your Fi app so you can see if this enhances your coverage at all. Be sure to let us know if you notice any differences in the comments!
Google Project Fi
- What is Project Fi?
- Get the latest Project Fi news
- How Project Fi pricing compares to carriers
- How to move back to Google Voice
- Here’s what comes in the Project Fi box
- Discuss Project Fi in our forums
- Compatible phones: Nexus 6P | Nexus 5X | Nexus 6
- Sign up for Project Fi
How, exactly, would a ‘Google phone’ fix what Nexus hasn’t broken?
Google already makes its own phones. It’s called Nexus. So what would taking the manufacturer partnership out of the equation actually help?
At least once a year or so we get rumors about Google “building its own smartphone.” That is, one not named Nexus, and presumably one without any sort of branding (and marketing support) from the usual manufacturing suspects.
The Information, citing “people who work at Google,” raised the mostly toothless idea back in November 2015. “There is debate and discussion about the topic right now—as there is with myriad ideas at [Alphabet] … But the fact the issue is on the table at all is noteworthy and shows how Google’s Android strategy remains in flux.”
Today, we’ve got another anonymously sourced pieced with the same sort of cliche headline and opening paragraph we typically see on this sort of thing.
From The Telegraph, under “Google to step up smartphone wars with release of own handset”:
Google is planning a shake-up of the smartphone market by releasing its own handset, a move that would tighten its grip on mobile software and see it compete directly with the iPhone.
Let’s be perfectly clear here — companies are always discussing doing all sorts of things. Some come to fruition. Others don’t. If Google never discussed making an unbranded phone without the visible help of an established hardware partner, the folks running that end of things wouldn’t be doing their jobs. It’s not a very difficult proposition to come up with.
The Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X are as Google as it gets already.
And The Telegraph ticks all the boxes of a piece trying to make a meal out of something while there’s barely any meat on the bone. “Shake-up of the smartphone market?” “Tighten its grip on mobile software?” “Compete directly with the iPhone?”
I don’t know what the hell any of that means. The last phone to shake up the smartphone market was the iPhone. It’s going to take something truly revolutionary to do it again. And Google simply “making its own phone” likely isn’t it.
And how, pray tell, would an unbranded Google phone tighten Google’s grip on open-sourced software? Nexus devices (and the Pixel C tablet) are direct targets of Google and the Android Open Source Project. (The software that Google actually ships with those phones is a little different, however, contains code different than what you or I could build for the Nexus phones. Welcome to open-source software.)
And “compete directly with the iPhone?” As opposed to what?
If Google really wants to ‘control’ Android, it needs to sell more of its phones. Not just give them a different brand.
None of that is to say that Google couldn’t do it. Or that it won’t. (Though it’s our understanding that the Nexus program isn’t going anywhere for a couple more years, at least.) But Google “building its own phone” would almost certainly still mean that it contracts with someone like Foxconn (or whitelabels a device from, say, Huawei or LG or HTC) to actually build the thing, as just about any other phone company does. And building a phone is a good bit different from building a tablet.
Nothing in The Telegraph piece gets anywhere close to addressing how a Google-branded phone would be anything beyond an exercise in rebranding. And there’s absolutely no proof that simply switching from “Nexus” to “Google” would do anything to steal away marketshare from Samsung, which maintains a huge lead over pretty much everyone.
And Google’s own Nexus phones already lead the way on software updates. That’s (sadly) telling when some eight months after both the release of Android 6.x Marshmallow and the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, a mere 10% of all current devices (and that’s including updated devices as as well as a handful of older Nexus phones) are on the most recent software. There simply aren’t that many Nexus phones in the world when you take that sort of context into account. Is a rebranding really going to move that needle any more than a Nexus phone already doesn’t move it?
Maybe Google’s making some sort of non-Nexus smartphone. Maybe it’s not. For sure it’s been talked about at some point. And maybe it’s all a behind-the-scenes thing, that it’d just be easier to not work with an established manufacturer that has its own hangups and ideas about how to do things.
But you can bet every last byte that if Google does “build its own phone” instead of building its own phone in partnership with an established manufacturer, it’s going to be far more than tightening the software grip it already enjoys on the Nexus line.
Google Cast SDK Version 3 released for Android and iOS
Google has released the 3.0 version of its Google Cast SDK for Android and iOS app developers. The updated tools will allow app creators to add more features in their Google Cast-enabled products.
The new Google Cast SDK update was previewed during Google I/O 2016. Among other things, version 3.0 offers developers a way to enable Cast features in their apps with less coding than before. It also offers a more consistent user interface for the iOS and Android versions. It will allow apps to cast their content across a wide range of devices and platforms, including Chromecast, Cast for audio, Cast TV, and Android TV.
Check out version 3.0 of the Google Cast SDK
Google Expeditions can take whole classrooms on virtual field trips
Google has launched is Expeditions educational virtual reality app for Google Cardboard for everyone, following a preview release last year. Expeditions is aimed at students and schools, and allows teachers to take their students on virtual field trips. Teachers act as guides, controlling the experience for a classroom-sized set of devices on the same Wi-Fi network.
These are the primary features of Expeditions:
- Guide classroom-sized groups of locally connected users from your phone or tablet.
- Explore along with a guide in immersive VR by putting your Android phone into a Google Cardboard viewer (https://vr.google.com/cardboard/) or use an Android tablet or phone in 2D “magic window” mode.
- Connect devices over the same WiFi network – if the Guide has downloaded some Expeditions, there is no internet connectivity required to run the Expedition!
- Choose from a growing list of over 200 Expeditions – each one is a curated set of VR imagery along with integrated descriptions, talking points and questions.
Expeditions is available now in the Google Play Store, and you can use existing Cardboard setups with Android phones to get started. However, there will also be pre-made Expedition Kits, which feature 30 devices for students, 30 ViewMaster VR viewers, and more equipment, on sale through Best Buy for $9,999.
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