Hulu is finally rolling out individual streaming profiles
Sharing a streaming service account is convenient, but it also runs the risk of jacking up your queued shows and movies or those important recommendations. To help keep your personal list in order, Hulu is rolling out profiles for its subscribers. The new feature will allow you to divide your account with up to six different profiles that display a personalized masthead, home page, recommendations and Watchlist. In other words, one person’s obsession with the likes of The Mindy Project won’t wreck suggested options for someone who’s more into shows like Designated Survivor.
When you create a new profile, Hulu will ask a series of questions to get a feel for what you like to watch. Based on your answers, the service will be able to show recommendations from the jump. For younger viewers, there’s a child-specific profile type that allows kids to browse the age-appropriate content on their own without the risk of picking something that they shouldn’t be watching.
If this all sounds familiar, Netflix has offered individual profiles since 2013. The tool works similarly with that streaming service, keeping members of the same household separate in terms of viewing habits. Netflix also has a kid-friendly option that only surfaces selections from its library of children’s shows and movies.
Hulu’s new profiles will be rolling out to smart TVs and other streaming devices “over the next couple of weeks.” However, if you stream via the web, you can create profiles now by accessing your account right here.
Source: Hulu
The NSA has been listening to in-flight cell phone calls for years
By now, we’re all well aware of how good the NSA is at spying on people’s communications. But it’s still a little surprising to learn that the NSA and the British Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) were able to listen in on people’s in-flight phone calls as far back as 2005. Le Monde and The Intercept, which has previously broke many stories from Edward Snowden’s info on the NSA, say that a secret program called “Southwinds” could gather all cellular communication from commercial air flights, including “voice communication, data, metadata and content of calls.”
While cell phone conversations are generally prohibited on many commercial flights, an NSA document says that it recorded data from about 100,000 people who used their phones while flying in February 2009. But the agencies were targeting in-flight calls on Air France as early as 2005. When the program was up and running, it could collect data in “near real-time” and airplanes could be tracked every two minutes using the cell connections. The only real requirement was that a plane be cruising at over 10,000 feet.
Once cruising altitude was reached, ground-based stations could intercept the call as it was passed through a satellite. From there, the agencies could cross-reference the call with the list of passengers on board and find who was making the call. And judging by this report, this practice continues through today — the report shows calls tracked as recently as 2012, and with in-flight calling expected to be far more common in the coming years, the NSA and GCHQ will have many more opportunities to listen in to calls.
The forthcoming boom in in-flight mobile phone usage will “further extend the scope of espionage by providing a pool of potential targets comprising several hundreds of thousands of people, a level of popularity anticipated by the NSA seven years ago,” writes Jacques Follorou of Le Monde. “This implies a population that goes far beyond terrorist targets. The political or economic surveillance of passengers in business or in first class on long-haul flights could be put to many other uses.”
Naturally, both the GCHQ and NSA told Le Monde and The Intercept that their actions comply with European Convention on Human Rights and US law and policy, respectively.
Via: MIT Technology Review
Source: The Intercept
Twitch gamers will stream from the White House next week
A host of popular Twitch streamers will emerge from their poster-walled bedrooms next week to give President Obama a masterclass in clutch plays. On Monday, December 12th, Monster-guzzling gaming celebs will huddle around screens at the president’s Washington D.C. residence for the “White House Competitive Gaming Event.” A four-hour livestream starting at 4PM ET will broadcast all the casual and competitive action, with highlights of the first White House LAN party to include a pro-am Rocket League showmatch featuring members of NRG eSports, and a Street Fighter V clash between US fighting game legend Justin Wong and people’s champion Mike Ross, commentated by none other than PogChamp himself. We believe in you, Mike.
The special event isn’t simply an excuse for Barracks Obama to hang out with his favorite streamers before leaving office, though. Instead, it’s intended to “raise awareness about the importance of health insurance” ahead of the December 15th deadline to enroll or change plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace, before coverage starts on January 1st 2017.
Before and during his presidency, Obama has reached out to gamers several times, with this special Twitch event being the latest example of the White House going to where the community is (though it’s kind of the other way around this time). As a 2008 candidate, he campaigned in Burnout Paradise and several other games, popping back up in the menus of various EA titles in 2012 while chasing re-election.
Obama has long been an advocate of responsible gaming, urging parents not to let their kids spend too much time glued to screens. That’s not to say he doesn’t enjoy a session himself on occasion, and he was apparently a bit of a dab hand at Wii Bowling in his day. More recently, he’s been spending a bit of time playing Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, but it appears he’s not the biggest fan of the latest installment in the popular FPS franchise.
NYC will stop collecting info Trump could use for deportations
The NYC mayor’s office has announced that it will no longer store personal records for immigrants who apply for the city’s free IDNYC identification card. While the card allows users to secure accounts for utilities, banking and more, officials fear President-elect Trump could use the database for his proposed deportation plans. Mayor Bill de Blasio said in the weeks following the election that he would keep cardholders’ personal records from the federal government and other authorities.
“The IDNYC program will be transitioning to a policy that does not involve the retention of cardholders’ personal background documents,” a statement from the mayor’s office explained this week. The program will continue the pre-application process that is available by calling 311. The statement said that the office expects to resume processing full applications under the new policy next month.
Republican State Assembly members have already filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that the move to destroy collected immigration info violates New York’s Freedom of Information Law. Assmemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and assemblyman Ron Castorina argue that the new policy would make it impossible to track people who use fraudulent information when applying for an IDNYC card. A court injunction has temporarily stopped the city from deleting any existing records pending a hearing later this month.
Via: BoingBoing, The Verge
Source: City of New York
Google opens up its Assistant actions to developers
When Google first unveiled its Assistant earlier this year, the service seemed to have quite a lot of potential. Unfortunately, in our testing of the company’s new Home speaker and Pixel smartphones, we found the digital helper rather limited. Now that Google has opened up Assistant’s developer platform, though, the service could finally become as powerful as promised.
The platform, called Actions on Google, was briefly described at the company’s October event, and is a little bit like IFTTT. Developers will eventually be able to create at least two types of Actions — Direct and Conversation. For now, only Conversation Actions are available. These create a back-and-forth interaction with Assistant, and “users won’t need to enable a skill or install an app, they can just ask to talk to your action,” according to Google’s announcement post.
Interested developers can request to become early access partners to try out upcoming features, and those who want to get started on Conversation Actions can go over to the Actions for Google website. The company promises to make the developers’ integrations across the various Assistant-enabled services and devices such as the Allo app and the Pixel phones. It also says that support for purchases and bookings as well as deeper Assistant integration is coming, although it doesn’t say when. Eventually, though, it looks like Google’s digital helper is going to get many more functions, making its supported devices potentially smarter and more useful.
Source: Google
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, dies at 95
John Glenn, the legendary war veteran, astronaut and United States Senator, died this afternoon at the age of 95 after being hospitalized in his home state of Ohio. After serving as a combat pilot in World War II and the Korean War, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. This feat came in the middle of the Cold War — Russia had just achieved orbit itself and Glenn’s trip evened out the space race between the two countries.
Glenn set the transcontinental speed record as a test pilot in 1957 and he soon after joined Mercury 7, the US’ first class of astronauts. On February 20th, 1962, Glenn boarded NASA’s Friendship 7 spacecraft and blasted off into orbit.
He famously commented, “Oh, that view is tremendous!”
Glenn was the last living member of the original Mercury 7 team. And in 1998, he broke another record: He blasted off again at the age of 77, making him the oldest person to reach space.
On the 50th anniversary of Glenn’s initial trip around the Earth, we called him a “real American hero,” a moniker he carried proudly until the end.
Source: NPR
Join the perfect match in ‘Halo 5’ with the custom game browser
Today’s update to Halo 5: Guardians adds a long-requested feature to Xbox One and Windows 10: a custom games browser. The new browser allows players to search for in-progress games from the main menu, customizing search parameters by specific maps, modes or players. It’s been a long time coming, considering Halo 5 debuted in October 2015.
“This Custom Games Browser is something the team has wanted to add for a long time for the community, but we needed the Content Browser and the search engine that powers it up and running first,” 343 UX Design Lead Vincent Hui says in a blog post. “Thanks for being patient.”
Today’s update also adds an Observer mode, and it enables the Forge map editing tool and Arena multiplayer mode in Windows 10, though the desktop version still doesn’t include matchmaking. Get the full details in both of 343’s blog posts, here and here.
Source: Halo Waypoint
NASA has shared its massive GIF archive with Pinterest and GIPHY
NASA’s been making a concerted effort over the past year to share its enormous archive of images and video with the internet. Last October, the agency teamed up with Flickr to feature thousands of Apollo era mission pictures. Thursday, NASA once again opened its vault — this time to unload thousands more animated GIFs onto its Pinterest and GIPHY pages. If you already have accounts on either of these platforms, you now have full access to NASA’s archive. And thanks to GIPHY’s API integration, you’ll be able to embed these images into your tweets directly from the Twitter app.
via GIPHY
Source: NASA
The Wirecutter’s best deals: An $800 Dell laptop, down to $660
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, they may earn affiliate commissions that support their work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot – some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Street price: $780; MSRP: $800; deal price: $660
A solid price on this gaming laptop. The Inspiron 15 7000 typically hovers around $800 with periodic sales dropping the price to the $750 range, but with this drop to $660, it’s the best price we’ve seen to date.
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop is our pick for the best budget gaming laptop. In our guide, Kimber Streams writes, “The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 has amazing specs for the price and is easy to upgrade when your budget allows. The $800 configuration we recommend has a sixth-generation Intel Core i5-6300HQ processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics card with 4 gigabytes of dedicated memory, 8 gigabytes of RAM, and a 256-gigabyte solid-state drive—that’s powerful enough to run Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor on high settings, but you’ll have to step down to medium or lower on more trying titles like XCOM 2.”
Logitech Marathon M705 Wireless Mouse
Street price: $35; MSRP: $50; deal price: $20
A nice deal on this wireless mouse, which typically hovers between $30 – $40. At $20, this is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen.
The Logitech Marathon M705 is our top pick for the best wireless mouse. In our guide, Kimber Streams writes, “The Logitech Marathon Mouse M705 is the best mouse for most people. It was our testing panel’s favorite, and we think it has the best overall balance of features: medium size, ergonomic shape, six customizable buttons, long battery life, a Unifying Receiver (which lets you use up to six Logitech keyboards and pointing devices on a single USB port), and a three-year limited warranty. When we first recommended the Marathon in July 2014, it cost $50, and it’s an even better deal now that the price has dropped to around $30.”
Allen Sports Deluxe Two Bike Rack
Street price: $35; MSRP: $60; deal price: $22
This is a rock-bottom price on an already affordable car bike rack. Those searching on a limited budget will find a less full-featured and easy to use but functional option in this Allen 2-bike rack, now at $22, the lowest price we’ve seen.
The Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Rack is a super-budget car bike rack we like in our best bike racks and carriers for cars and trucks guide. Kristen Hall-Geisler and Rik Paul write, “If money is your number-one criteria when buying a trunk rack, you can’t go wrong with the Allen Sports Deluxe Two Bike, which sells for less than $50. Though it’s made of aluminum rather than plastic, it doesn’t weigh much more than our top pick, and it was very stable on the back of our vehicles. We found it a little hard to set up, though; it’s not nearly as easy as the Saris Bones.The rack’s frame has one setting only, and getting the arms that brace the bike frame in place can be difficult.”
Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Portrait Lens
Street price: $350; MSRP: $400; deal price: $300
This portrait lens from Panasonic is a very good deal, marking the lowest price we’ve seen on this lens in over a year. While it’s been bouncing between its $400 MSRP and its $350 street price pretty steadily, we haven’t seen any other significant sales. This $50 drop is the best we’ve seen in a while, bringing it to below the price of the “cheaper” Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm pick.
The Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 is our upgrade portrait lens pick in our guide to the first micro four thirds lenses you should buy. Amadou Diallo wrote, “The Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH Power OIS lens is just a bit more expensive than the Olympus portrait lens (although the prices for both lenses fluctuate) but it offers image stabilization, making it a better choice for those who own Panasonic cameras without built-in stabilization. With an 85mm-equivalent focal length, this lens offers a similar field of view as our top portrait pick and is comparable in size, weight, and build quality.”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
ChargePoint’s Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Now Displayed in Apple Maps
Electric vehicle charging network ChargePoint today announced a new partnership with Apple that sees its electric vehicle charging stations listed within Apple Maps.
Drivers can click on new Electric Vehicle Charger badges in Apple Maps to get directions to charging stations, find hours of operation, and get details on pricing.
When at a ChargePoint charging station, iPhone users can start the charging process, pay for the charge, and see other station details through a Maps link that leads to the ChargePoint app. ChargePoint operates over 31,100 charging stations and has delivered more than 19,400,000 charges to electric vehicle owners.
Tag: Apple Maps
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