Microsoft releases an app to help you swap work shifts

If you’re a shift worker, you might not have to worry about haggling for shift swaps in the near future. Microsoft has released its previously teased work scheduling app, StaffHub, and it promises to make life much easier for everyone from nurses to customer support reps. The Office 365-based software lets bosses easily manage schedules and send memos, which is helpful if you’re tired of reading bulletin boards and group emails. However, the real power comes in the Android, iOS and web apps that you can use as a staffer: it’s easy to trade shifts, find out who you’re working with and keep everyone else up to date. If you know you can’t come in one day, you won’t have to spend hours trying to find someone who can fill in.

It won’t shock you to hear that this isn’t intended for personal use. Your employer will need one of four Office 365 plans (K1, E1, E3 or E5), and everyone needs an Office 365 account. All the same, this could be important for the working world. Most of the business software we cover is aimed squarely at the 9-to-5 office crowd. This is one of the few times when it’ll make a difference for anyone whose hours aren’t set in stone, especially those who rarely if ever access computers when they’re on the job.

Source: Microsoft, StaffHub

FCC: Verizon and AT&T ‘zero-rating’ perks harm consumers

Tom Wheeler may be leaving, but he’s going out swinging. After grilling carriers Verizon and AT&T last month over their “zero-rating” policies, the FCC chairman released a report saying its practices harmed streaming rivals and, ultimately, consumers. It particularly singled out AT&T’s Sponsored Data service, saying it “unreasonably interfere[s] with [rival services’] ability to compete against AT&T’s affiliate, DirecTV.”

Sponsored Data, as a reminder, is an AT&T program that gives consumers free data to try out new apps or services, with the costs subsidized by the providers of those services through payments to AT&T. However, Wheeler’s report says that “AT&T imposes hefty per-gigabyte charges on third parties for use of sponsored data.” By contrast, T-Mobile gives “all [streaming services] the same zero rate for participating in Binge On.”

Verizon’s FreeBee Data 360 service, which is similar to AT&T’s Sponsored Data, also runs afoul of the FCC’s idea of fair zero-rating (Verizon owns AOL and by extension, Engadget). The report says that nothing seems to be stopping Verizon from charging third party streaming or other services higher rates than its net cost to stream its own go90 video service. The carrier the FCC it offers other companies “equivalent” terms to its own costs, but provided no data to back that up.

AT&T imposes hefty per-gigabyte charges on third parties for use of Sponsored Data.

Wheeler reviewed different carrier products on a “case-by-case basis,” asserting that he’s not against the idea of zero-rating in principal. Rather, the FCC is looking at cases where companies like AT&T and Verizon, which control significant chunks of broadband, favor their own “downstream” services (like DirecTV or go90) over competitors.

In a letter sent last month to AT&T, the FCC explained that a third-party streaming service might have to pay AT&T in the range of $16-$47 per month (depending on usage) to zero-rate its service so that it doesn’t count against a user’s data cap. Meanwhile, DirecTV Now costs $35 per month, period, and as it’s part of AT&T’s “Data Free” plan, has no effect on users’ data caps.

That, in effect, makes it infeasible for rivals like Sling TV to compete against AT&T’s own services over LTE networks. It also “favors big content providers who can afford to pay for access to users’ eyeballs, and marginalizes those who can’t, such as nonprofits, startups and fellow users,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote.

Both carriers slammed the FCC’s report, without addressing the FCC’s arguments. “It remains unclear why the [commission] continues to question the value of giving consumers the ability to watch video without incurring any charges,” said VP Joan Marsh. Verizon also dismissed it, saying that “we don’t agree with their view on free data and we don’t think our customers do either.”

I am confident that this latest regulatory spasm will not have any impact on the Commission’s policymaking or enforcement activities following next week’s inauguration.

The FCC won’t take any enforcement action against the carriers, however, as the process could take years. And once Wheeler leaves, the board will be controlled by Republican commissioners who intend to gut net neutrality rules.

In fact, Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai excoriated the report, saying that Wheeler is “pursuing partisan, political agendas that only harm investment and innovation” on his way out. As a prelude to a new FCC that’s likely a lot more carrier-friendly, he added “I am confident that this latest regulatory spasm will not have any impact on the Commission’s policymaking or enforcement activities following next week’s inauguration.”

Via: The Hill

Source: FCC

Apple is looking to make its own Netflix-beating TV shows

Apple is planning on investing in original TV shows, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. With iPhone sales on the decline, people close to the company have revealed that it will attempt to gain Apple Music subscribers by adding original video content to the service. While this move has been rumoured since the relaunch of Apple TV, the company has apparently now started reaching out to Holywood producers, planning to offer original video content by the end of 2017.

Instead of investing in a full library of scripted content, however, Apple is initially setting its sights on a few high-quality original concepts. The same sources claim that Apple is seeking to rival the quality of shows like HBO’s Westworld and Netflix’s Stranger Things, with original movies possibly coming further down the line.

The report claims that Apple is still yet to buy any scripts due to internal debates about how to handle its business model. While Netflix refuses to share any kind of viewer figures or demographic data, Holywood producers believe that Apple will be far more open about how its original content performs.

While surprising, this wouldn’t be Apple’s first foray into publishing video content. Seeing the phenomenal success of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke, Apple Music recently bought the rights to broadcast its own 30 minute version of the series. The company also revealed that it’s creating a semi-autobiographical documentary series called ‘Vital Signs’ starring Dr. Dre, due to premiere on Apple Music later this year.

While significant, both confirmed shows are firmly rooted in music. This rumoured expansion could mark Apple’s first step into non-music-related video content. Despite that, this seems to be a way to lure subscribers away from Apple Music competitor Spotify, rather than serving as a rival to purely video streaming services like Netflix. At last count, Apple Music had 20 million subscribers and Spotify double that.

Source: Wall Street Journal

These companies are banking on your fear of radiation

Imagine if, next week, every Best Buy in the land began selling a Dan Cooper-branded Fluorocarbon detector for $99.99. There’d be a big cardboard cutout on each aisle end, with my stern-looking face advising you to protect your family with this product. Even if you didn’t instantly lay down a Benjamin for Dan Cooper’s Lean, Mean, Fluorocarbon Detectin’ Machine, you’d probably think about it. Maybe you’d do a cursory Google to learn more — since they wouldn’t sell the equipment for no reason, would they?

For the record, Fluorocarbons are generally harmless, odorless and don’t, in their natural state, cause any environmental damage. But no matter how reassuring the science is, you’ll remain puzzled by the existence of that product in Best Buy. You’ll start to wonder if you’re being lied to, and maybe you should begin to worry anyway because of what you don’t know. It’s exactly this sort of anxiety that companies like to prey upon — and you’ll always see a few of these turn up to CES.

This year’s preoccupation was with radiation — that most silent of killer — in at least two different forms. The first was ionizing radiation, the sort that you’ll find in an X-ray machine or if you stand too close to a nuclear reactor.

Dosime was at the show hawking a consumer version of the clip-on radiation meter (dosimeter) you’d need to wear if you actually worked at a nuclear power plant or in a hospital. The company’s pitch was that everyone should be worried about getting a fatal dose of radiation while they’re out and about. Dosime also doubles as a home monitoring device, and can be used to sniff out any X or Gamma radiation in your local area.

But there wasn’t just one dosimeter at CES, and the second that we stumbled across came in the form of Ruim from French inventor Gael Patton. Much like Dosime, Ruim is designed to monitor the local environment and warn you about potential health risks. Unlike its competitor, Ruim also uses that data to build a crowdsourced map of radiation hotspots across the world. That way, you can check for risks of irradiation before your morning run or when you’re buying a new home.

If you live in the shadow of a nuclear power plant or on an estate that hosted a nuclear test, then it’s reasonable to worry about radiation. I’m not looking to demean or trivialize the small subset of people who have legitimate concerns about what’s in their locale. Same goes for Radon, a naturally-occuring ionizing radiation that can harm your health if your home is poorly ventilated. But in the US, residents of every state bar New Jersey can pick up an EPA-approved radon detector for $25 — ten times less than the price of Dosime.

I haven’t tested these products and can’t comment as to their efficacy, but I have no reason to believe that they don’t do the job that they’re advertised to do. But that doesn’t mean it’s ethical to market them to the public, especially if the vast majority of them will never need to worry about radiation. It’s the same laissez-faire attitude that enables companies to peddle nonsense about how smartphone signals cause cancer or deplete your sperm count.

Speaking of which, Franco-American outfit Spartan has created a pair of boxer briefs with silver woven into the fabric. The idea is to protect your genitals from the imagined horrors of the smartphone that sits in your pants pocket. After all, that device is pumping out harmful radiation that’ll cook your sperm and give you all sorts of cancers. A single pair costs around $50 with shipping from France to the US, so you can imagine how well the company’s creators sleep at night.

Let’s be clear, your smartphone emits radio frequency (RF) radiation, a non-ionizing form of radiation that is also generated by microwaves and radio signals. The only time that you’re likely to suffer any harm from RF is if you burn yourself on an overheated TV dinner. But Skimguard and MJoose would prefer it if you didn’t know that, because they’re selling phone cases designed to block phone radiation.

When asked why their product existed, Skimguard’s Con Samios said that “there are people who are worried about radiation from their phones. I know for me, whenever I talk on my phone, it gets really hot. It can be worrying.”

A smartphone gets hot for a variety of reasons, but an excess of radiation isn’t one of them — just ask Samsung. But these companies have no guilt about hawking their products on the back of false premises. MJoose’s Chase Schumcher explained it perfectly when he said that these products are for people “concerned with(sic) radiation.”

But let’s be honest, we know why these products exist, and it’s not to improve your health or protect your family. It’s to exploit ignorance and and use technology as a smokescreen for bullshit, same as those hologram energy bands. Dosimeters and radiation shields may very well do what their creators claim, but that doesn’t make them necessary. If you’re worried about Radon, spend $25 on a survey kit, don’t get conned into buying an expensive smartphone accessory that you don’t need.

Additional photography by Jessica Conditt, Chris Velazco and Nicole Lee.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Rudy Giuliani will advise Trump on cybersecurity

During an appearance on Thursday’s Fox & Friends talk show, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that he would be forming a cybersecurity team for President-elect Trump. According to the Trump Transition’s official announcement, the team would advise the President-elect on issues “concerning private sector cyber security problems and emerging solutions developing in the private sector.” Presumably, this will entail more than simply writing things down on paper and having them delivered by courier.

“The President-elect decided that he wanted to bring in, on a regular basis, the people in the private sector, the corporate leaders in particular, the thought leaders, who were working on security for cyber,” Giuliani said during the show. “Because we’re so far behind.”

“It’s his belief, which I share, that a lot of the solutions are out there, we’re just not sharing them,” he continued. “It’s like cancer. You know, there’s cancer research going on all over the place—you’d almost wish they’d get together in one room and maybe we’d find a cure.” That’s right folks, Giuliani thinks that both information security and cancer can be “cured” simply by putting a bunch of people in the same room together. Golly, how has nobody ever thought of that before? It’s like he’s never heard of DefCon or the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) annual summit.

It’s questionable whether Giuliani will bring much more than access to the table in his new role. The former mayor’s first position after leaving public office was as a partner in a newly formed consulting firm which provided “management consulting service to governments and business,” according to the letter he wrote to NYC’s Conflicts of Interest Board shortly before leaving office. Giuliani Partners proceeded to earn more than $100 million between 2001 and 2005 and transform Rudy into a globetrotting multimillionaire. However, given the firm’s secretive nature and stringent use of nondisclosure agreements with its clients, it’s not clear how much, if any, cybersecurity-related advising Giuliani Partners actually did. In January of 2016, Giuliani signed on to be the global chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s cybersecurity and crisis management group.

Giuliani went on to explain to Fox & Friends that the task force would act as middlemen, connecting the President-elect “as well as anybody else in the administration” with “corporate leaders and their technological people.” In essence it would give the Trump and his crew direct line access to the technology and expertise they need to, say, build a Muslim registry. At the same time it would grant quid pro quo access to any organization willing to put company above country and fall in line with the new regime.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Fox News (Twitter)

Apple’s Lisa Jackson Joins Federal Committee Advising on Vehicle Automation

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives, has been named as a member of the new Federal Committee on Automation. Announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the committee will act as an advisory panel to discuss and look into “some of the most pressing and relevant matters facing transportation today.”

These matters are said to mainly include the development and deployment of automated vehicles. Additionally, the committee will act as a resource for the Department of Transportation as it continues to provide research, policy updates, and regulations on transportation in the U.S., while also helping “advance life-saving innovations.”

Its members consist of “leading professionals and experts” in a multitude of fields.

“During my time at the Department, we have fostered some of the most significant technological changes to ever take place in transportation, and we did so while keeping our focus on the safety of the American people,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. ”This new automation committee will work to advance life-saving innovations while boosting our economy and making our transportation network more fair, reliable, and efficient.”

In addition to Lisa Jackson, the Federal Committee on Automation will include Gloria Boyland (FedEx VP), Robin Chase (Zipcar Co-Founder), Rachel Holt (Uber Regional General Manager), Gerry Murphy (Amazon Senior Corporate Council), and various other technology executives, university professors, and automotive industry professionals.

Each member of the committee is said to contribute the “best practices, challenges, and opportunities” they have knowledge of in regards to the future of automation in vehicles. Apple’s own interest in autonomous cars was made official in a letter to federal regulators last month, and now it appears that the company will be willing to share its knowledge for the betterment of vehicle automation across the industry.

As technology develops, automation may play a larger role in a number of modes of transportation, including cars, buses, trains, planes, and UAS (drone) systems. This committee will play a critical role in sharing best practices, challenges, and opportunities in automation, and will open lines of communication so stakeholders can learn and adapt based on feedback from each other.

The full list of committee members can be found on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s official website.

Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tag: Lisa Jackson
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Akitio Launches 2.5″ Quad Thunderbolt 3 Storage Device for New MacBook Pro

Akitio has announced the release of the its Thunder3 Quad Mini, a 2.5″ four-bay Thunderbolt 3 external storage solution for the latest MacBook Pro.

The aluminum storage device has removable trays designed to house up to four 2.5″ SATA SSDs or hard drives purchased separately. The device is equipped with two Thunderbolt 3 ports—the first one connects to the MacBook Pro, and the second one can be used to connect or daisy chain Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C peripherals.

With Software RAID, Akitio said four striped SSDs can reach data transfer speeds of up to 1375 MB/s, while four striped hard drives max out at around 400 MB/s. Thunderbolt 3 provides sufficient bandwidth to connect dual 4K displays to the latest MacBook Pro and complete other data transfers simultaneously.

A dedicated DisplayPort 1.2 video output provides connectivity to the 4K displays at 60Hz, while supporting Power Delivery up to 15W to notebooks that support charging from a 5V/3A power source. 15W is hardly sufficient wattage for the latest MacBook Pro, which fully charges at up to 85W with Apple’s own charger.

Akitio said the Thunder3 Quad Mini will be available in March for $329 alongside five other Thunderbolt 3 storage devices it sells.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tag: Thunderbolt 3
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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A 10.5-Inch iPad Pro Could Match the 12.9-Inch Model’s Resolution and the iPad Mini’s Pixel Density

Apple is rumored to be working on a new iPad Pro that adopts an edge-to-edge display, and while it’s said to be somewhere around 10 inches, there are a lot of mixed rumors about the specific size of the tablet.

Studio Neat designer Dan Provost yesterday wrote a post on Medium (via Daring Fireball) making the case for a 10.5-inch iPad. His math is solid and his argument makes sense, framing all of the iPad Pro rumors in a new light.

When introducing the 12.9-inch iPad Pro in 2015, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller explained that Apple settled on that size because the width of the tablet matched the height of the existing 9.7-inch iPad. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro, he said, was similar to having two 9.7-inch iPads side-by-side.

A 9.7-inch iPad Pro with a 10.5-inch piece of paper over it, via Provost
Provost takes this concept and applies it to the iPad mini. The width of a 10.5-inch iPad would match the height of the iPad mini screen, and furthermore, a 10.5-inch iPad would use the same resolution as the 12.9-inch model, with the same pixel density as the iPad mini.

The math works out perfectly. This new 10.5″ iPad would have the exact same resolution as the 12.9″ iPad Pro (2732 x 2048), but the same pixel density of the iPad mini (326 ppi instead of 264 ppi). Crunch the numbers, do a little Pythagorean Theorem, and you end up with a screen 10.5″ diagonal (10.47″ to be precise, but none of Apple’s stated screen sizes are exact). In terms of physcial dimensions, the width of this 10.5″ screen would be exactly the same as the height of the iPad mini screen.

Existing rumors all agree that the upcoming iPad Pro will be in the neighborhood of 10 inches, but we’ve heard everything from 10.1 inches to 10.9 inches, suggesting Apple could be testing multiple prototypes.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo originally suggested the tablet would be 10.5 inches, but recently revised his statement to say that it could be anywhere from 10 inches to 10.5 inches.

Japanese site Mac Otakara has released two separate reports, one mentioning a 10.1-inch tablet and the other suggesting the display will measure in at 10.9 inches, while rumors from the Taiwanese supply chain suggest a 10.5-inch display.

While we can’t yet say for certain the iPad Pro will feature a 10.5-inch display, it’s the size that makes the most sense and fits well into Apple’s lineup.

The upcoming iPad Pro is said to be a new flagship model that will be sold alongside the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It’s said to feature an edge-to-edge display with no Home button and a small top bezel.

Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Buyer’s Guide: 12.9″ iPad Pro (Caution)
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Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.3 to Developers

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.3 update to developers, a few days after seeding the third 10.12.3 beta and more than a month after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.2, the second update to the macOS Sierra operating system.

The macOS Sierra 10.12.3 update is available for download through the Apple Developer Center or through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

According to Apple’s release notes, the 10.12.3 update “improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.” No specific changes, bug fixes, or feature additions were discovered in the first three betas, but we’ll update this post should any new features be found in the fourth beta.

With bug fixes, it’s often hard to determine exactly what’s included in an update until Apple supplies detailed release notes with a release. We do, however, know that this update fixes a Safari bug that caused battery life problems during the MacBook Pro testing conducted by Consumer Reports.

Available since September, macOS Sierra is the latest Mac operating system. It includes Siri support, Apple Pay for the web, Universal Clipboard, Apple Watch auto unlocking, improved iCloud Drive integration, Picture-in-Picture multitasking, and dozens of smaller features that can be found in our macOS Sierra roundup.

Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
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Sony VPL-VZ1000ES Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Big TVs are getting cheaper all the time, but 100 inches still costs a bundle unless you want to muck around with a projector, a screen and a dark room.

Sony has a couple of solutions for rich buyers who want a TV that big. One is the XBR-100Z9D, a 100-inch
LCD TV
that costs a cool $60,000 if you can find one. Another is the VPL-VZ1000ES, a relative bargain at $25,000. It’s available for preorder now and ships in April.

It’s not exactly a TV, but it comes close enough. It’s a short-throw projector, meaning it can sit within inches of the wall and still project a huge image (you could get up to 120 inches or more if you wanted). It can blend seamlessly into a cabinet and the whole system can disappear entirely if you spring for a motorized screen. Of course the price is well beyond most people’s budgets, but it still represents a cool concept and a different take on traditional TVs and projectors.

One downside with projectors is that the image washes out in bright light, but the VZ1000ES has a couple of fixes for that. One is sheer light output: its laser light engine puts out 2500 lumens, very respectable for any projector. Combined with a specialized screen designed to only accept light coming from below, as demonstrated in Sony’s booth at the Consumer Electronics Show, you get a massive picture that’s bright enough for most rooms.

Specs and features

• Short-throw projector (screen not included)
• 4K resolution
• HDR compatible
• SXRD laser light engine
• 2500 lumens light output