16 Snapchat tips and tricks you probably had no clue about
Snapchat is easy to learn and use — as long as you have someone to show you the ropes.
You can take a photo or a video, add a caption or doodle or filter or sticker or lens over top, and then send the final creation (aka a “snap”) to a friend. Or, you can add the snap to your “Snapchat Story” in order to broadcast it to select friends or the public. Friends can view your snap for up to 10 seconds before it disappears forever, and they’ll have access to your story for 24 hours at a time. While this is all basic knowledge to the average Snapchatter, you’d be surprised to learn there are other ways to spice up your Snapchat experience.
We’ll admit it: Snapchat isn’t the most user-friendly. It has a tonne of features that you got to hunt down and figure out. Sometimes you have to unlock buried settings in order to truly take advantage of what this fun messaging app has to offer. If you’d like to learn all about Snapchat’s untapped potential, we’ve rounded up a few tips and tricks. But first ensure you have the latest, up-to-date version of Snapchat.
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Check out Pocket-lint’s Snapchat guide for more tips and tricks, including details on how to use Snapchat to send money to friends, etc.
ISIS has converted commercial drones into bombers
As Iraqi Security Forces attempt to drive ISIS out of Mosul, a large city in Northern Iraq that the terrorist organization has occupied since 2014, it’s facing an arsenal of improvised, experimental weapons. One of ISIS’ newest hand-made weapons is the armed drone: a commercial quadcopter equipped with the ability to drop grenade-size explosives.
It’s well-known that ISIS uses weaponized drones, but new images out of Mosul confirm that the group is now using the quadcopters as bombers as well as single-mission vehicles. Kurdish media network Rudaw reported last week that the explosive-dropping drones have killed civilians and damaged equipment. So far, ISIS has not used these drones to deliver chemical weapons, Rudaw said.
Nice shot of the improvised release mechanism ISIL is using to drop grenades from commercial off the shelf UAVs https://t.co/Lj8Ltx0arQ pic.twitter.com/KCuzhUbndb
— Alex Mello (@AlexMello02) January 11, 2017
Iraqi forces have anti-drone weapons, including gun-like jammers that can drop some commercial models to the ground, and they’ve taken down at least a dozen armed drones so far, Rudaw reports. The ISF also uses off-the-shelf drones in its military operations, mainly for scouting and helping to call artillery strikes.
Three ISIS drones – all modified to drop small explosives – downed by ICTS in Mosul. Called “tieyara.” Guys are constantly scanning for these flying robot snipers. #SKYNET is self-aware here. #warofthemachines
A photo posted by Mitch Utterback (@mitchell.utterback) on Jan 12, 2017 at 8:53pm PST
Source: Rudaw, Popular Science
E-waste levels are surging in Asia
If you thought our throwaway gadget culture was already having a nasty effect on the environment, watch out… it’s getting considerably worse. A United Nations University study has revealed that the volume of e-waste in East and Southeast Asia surged 63 percent between 2010 and 2015, reaching 12.3 million tonnes. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China were unsurprisingly the largest local generators. But why the rapid spike?
The report argues that social and technological progress are to blame. Some Asian countries (such as China) have rapidly burgeoning middle classes. That’s great for quality of life, but it also leads to more people buying gadgets that wind up in landfills. The proliferation of new technologies like tablets and wearables doesn’t help, either. And when it’s both easier to import products yet harder to stick with them for long periods, it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a lot more junk.
The UN’s findings suggest that the lack of education and motivation doesn’t help, either. Many people don’t realize that they shouldn’t just chuck their devices in the trash, and those that do frequently don’t have strong incentives to properly dispose of their goods properly. Why take your phone in for recycling if locations are few and far between, or if it’ll cost you a significant amount of time and effort? To make matters worse, governments sometimes don’t either have adequate e-waste laws or have trouble enforcing them.
There are some lights piercing through the darkness in this study. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan do relatively good jobs of managing e-waste. Other countries, such as China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also established their e-waste laws relatively recently — they may fare better as their legal systems and public awareness levels get up to speed. On the whole, though, the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Via: CNN
Source: United Nations University
New 15-Inch MacBook Pro With Kaby Lake and 32GB of Desktop-Class RAM Coming Later This Year
Apple will release updated Mac notebooks with Intel’s next-generation Kaby Lake processors later this year, according to the latest research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Kuo said new 12-inch MacBook models with Kaby Lake processors will enter mass production in the early second quarter, which starts in March, and noted a 16GB of RAM option could be added—presumably as a high-end or built-to-order configuration. The two current 12-inch MacBook configurations include 8GB of RAM.
Likewise, Kuo said new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with Kaby Lake processors will start mass production in the early third quarter, which starts in July. The research note did not specify how much RAM these models will have, but 16GB could remain the limit due to the restrictions of current memory designs.
Interestingly, Kuo also mentions a “15-inch MacBook” that will include 32GB of RAM and enter mass production in the early fourth quarter, which starts in September. He said this model will be “the most significantly redesigned product this year,” and he believes it will adopt desktop-class RAM to satisfy high-end users.
Given the high-end specifications, it is likely that this 15-inch MacBook would be part of the MacBook Pro lineup, but Kuo did not specify. Beyond faster processors and increased memory, Kuo said most other specifications and the design of all of the notebooks will be similar to equivalent models released in 2016.
Kuo believes the new Kaby Lake notebooks will be power efficient, which may positively affect shipments. He estimates that Mac notebook shipments will resume year-over-year growth at about 10% on the strength of the new models, while shipments will be quicker as production delays affecting 2016 models are resolved.
Kuo also expects Apple to discount the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a standard row of function keys this year as that model gradually replaces the 13-inch MacBook Air in Apple’s notebook lineup.
While no release dates were mentioned, Kuo previously said he expects new MacBook Pro models with 32GB of RAM to launch in the second half of 2017.
Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, Retina MacBook
Tags: KGI Securities, Ming-Chi Kuo
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now), MacBook (Caution)
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Smart bullets will help warships fend off drone swarms
Navies already have a lot to worry about between rival warships and aircraft, but it’s only going to get worse when drone swarms of all kinds threaten to overwhelm their defenses. The US Navy might not have that problem, though: DARPA just tapped Raytheon for the second phase of a smart bullet development project that will help fight off swarming attacks. The MAD-FIRES project (Multi Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System) should lead to ammo that’s as fast and small as what you’d find in a medium-caliber gun (20- to 40-caliber), but with the guidance of a missile. if a horde of robotic flyers appeared, a vessel could theoretically take all of them out even if they’re approaching from different directions.
Raytheon is expected to finish its work on the second phase by March 2018, so you won’t have too long to wait for results. And it’s unlikely to be alone when DARPA expects to hand out multiple contracts. Lockheed Martin should be on the short list, for instance. It could still be a while before MAD-FIRES smart bullets enter Navy service, but the relatively close deadline shows that this isn’t some far-off, pie-in-the-sky dream.
Source: Military and Aerospace Electronics
HTC One A9 gets its Nougat update
Good news for a phone that desperate needs some.
Owners of the strange, better-than-we-thought-but-worse-than-we-hoped 2015 “flagship,” the HTC One A9, will begin receiving Android 7.0 through an OTA update beginning late January 16.
The update is being aimed at owners of the unlocked version, according to HTC’s Mo Versi; it’s unclear when the Sprint model, T-Mobile and AT&T models will get the same treatment.
HTC One A9 Unlocked Owners! We have received technical approval on the Nougat OS update, and OTA will begin tonight!
— Mo Versi (@moversi) January 16, 2017
HTC began its Nougat update cycle with the HTC 10, whose unlocked variant began receiving Android 7.0 in late November. Since then, some carrier models have also been updated.
28 Snapchatters to follow for their awesome Snapchat stories
It’s easy to find famous or interesting people to follow on just about every social network, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But Snapchat is the exception; it doesn’t even make it close to easy.
To add Snapchatters, you must know their usernames, or they must be listed in your contacts. It takes a bit of digging to find specific usernames — and still, you never know if they’re really worth following. Instagram will at least show you what’s popular or trending, making it easier to discover celebrity profiles or interesting users, but not Snapchat. (However, it has started verifying some users.)
READ: 7 Snapchat tips and tricks you probably had no clue about
That’s where we come in, as we’ve spent some time playing with Snapchat and rounded up a brief list of all the users you should add now. Why? They post great stories. The “Snapchat Stories” feature allows people to broadcast both pictures and videos that they’ve captured throughout a day. Stories only stay live for 24 hours at a time, and public stories can be viewed by anyone.
READ: What’s the point of Snapchat and how does it work?
The Snapchatters listed in our gallery are mostly celebrities, which may include musicians, entertainers, athletes, politicians, and public persons. Their stories are always entertaining to watch. Let us know in the comments if you know of other people or accounts worth adding.
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Microsoft CEO says AI should help, not replace, workers
Artificial intelligence has gone from being something relegated to science fiction, to a buzzword every tech company is eager to slap onto their latest innovations. When it comes to the implementation of AI, though, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is urging for companies to take a considerate approach. “The fundamental need of every person is to be able to use their time more effectively, not to say, ‘let us replace you’,” he said at the DLD conference in Munich, according to Bloomberg.
While acknowledging that AI will be democratized quite a bit this year, Nadella noted, “The most exciting thing to me is not just our own promise of AI as exhibited by these products, but to take that capability and put it in the hands of every developer and every organization.” The notion goes back to his revised mission statement for Microsoft to “empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
It’s nice to see a CEO take a more humanistic approach to fancy new technologies for once. But it’s also hard to deny that even a light approach to AI could eventually lead to stronger implementations that could end up replacing human employees. That’ll be even more pronounced as artificial intelligence is applied to automation, something that’s already hurting manufacturing jobs (while increasing productivity for companies). As we’ve pointed out, technology could end up replacing retail jobs soon, similar to what we’ve seen with the Amazon Go concept store.
Source: Bloomberg
We’ve never seen global sea ice levels this low before
The world climate has passed another troubling milestone this year: global sea ice levels are at the lowest level ever recorded. New research from the US National Snow & Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado indicates that the normal winter buildup of floating ice around the arctic simply isn’t happening this year, though it might not be exclusively because of global warming.
There’s little debate that the Earth’s 1 degree temperature rise over the last century has drastically impacted sea ice levels over the past few decades. Researchers discovered a massive portion of the West Antarctic ice sheet breaking off from the rest of the shelf back in December, which followed the breakaway of a 225 square mile piece of the Pine Island Glacier the year before.
However, an atmospheric oddity may also have contributed to this year’s diminutive ice buildup. Researchers did notice a drop off in the amount of arctic winds in November, which in turn allow relatively warmer air to collect near the northern pole and hamper ice formation. What’s more, all that warm air sitting in the arctic pushes cold air out, which is why parts of Europe and Asia saw colder than normal winters this year. “It was a very exceptional month,” climatologist John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey told New Scientist. “Relatively small changes in winds can have a huge effect on sea ice.”
Researchers did note that ice formation in the arctic may rebound slightly in the coming years, but overall levels at both poles are still declining at an alarming rate.
Source: New Scientist
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