LinkedIn mercifully redesigns its cluttered homepage

LinkedIn, the professional network that everyone loves to hate, is rolling out a big redesign on the web. And as is often the case with social networks these days, LinkedIn appears to be taking serious “inspiration” from another company — in this case, Facebook. (Just take a look at that screenshot!) Regardless of where this inspiration came from, it’s long overdue. LinkedIn has definite utility, but it also has a long history of being obtuse, cluttered and just plain difficult to us (and the less said about LinkedIn’s email practices, the better).

That’s changing with this redesign, which LinkedIn says is the biggest desktop redesign in the service’s history — and probably the biggest change to LinkedIn since Microsoft bought it last summer. The main screen is still a feed of content and updates from people in your network, but it looks like navigation has been significantly streamlined. The top navigation bar features seven self-explanatory sections: home, messaging, jobs, notifications, me (your profile), my network and search. Below that navigation bar, posts from your network are surfaced immediately — it’s a lot nicer than the clutter that fills up the old LinkedIn homepage. You can still drop a status update, share an article or write something longer right from that home feed, but the interface element is simpler and takes up less screen real estate.

Messaging has also been revamped — after turning the old inbox into a messaging app meant for quicker back-and-forth conversations, LinkedIn has moved it into its own UI element that floats over your home feed, much like Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts.

LinkedIn says it has also revamped how it serves posts to your home feed, using a combo of human-curated and algorithmic suggestions. As with similar feeds (like on Facebook). The new feed is also theoretically smarter about showing you trending topics and news from industries you care about, but without actually seeing it in action it’s hard to say how different things will be here.

Search will also soon include the ability to look through posts as well as just people, companies, schools and groups. The service is also now offering better profile suggestions to get users to fill out as much of their personal info as possible. Lastly, LinkedIn will offer a little more detail on who is looking at the things you share so you can see if you’re reaching people of interest.

As useful as these new features might be, though, the real jewel here is the fact that LinkedIn’s historically cluttered interface might be a bit friendlier now. Whether that’ll be enough to convince users to browse their feeds rather than just use the site to update their online resume or look for jobs remains to be seen, but it’s a step in the right direction. The new interface will be rolling out to all users “in the coming weeks.”

Via: TechCrunch

Source: LinkedIn

Leica’s M10 rangefinder gives you full mechanical control

Unless you’re really fond of its lens system, Leica’s M-series range-finders have always been a tough sell — models like the M8 and M9 have limited features, and they cost a fortune. Leica has just launched the M10, though, and is trying to give you a bit more (and less) for your money. The mirrorless model is now as small as classic film cameras like the M7 and weighs about the same. It’s also got a new ISO-adjustment mechanical dial so that you don’t have to dip into the menus, which again makes for a more Leica-like experience.

Inside, there’s an all-new 24-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor driven by Leica’s Maestro II image processor. That gives it faster shooting speeds, better dynamic range and a much-needed boost to the ISO range, now from 100 to 50,000 ISO. That sensor is the similar to the one used in the Leica Q, and should produce similar quality images, the company says. Like past models, the Leica M10 doesn’t do video at all.

Unlike the EVF-equipped Q, however, the M10 is an optical rangefinder camera, and Leica has made some improvements in that area too. There’s now a 30 percent greater field of view, higher 0.73X magnification and a better range of adjustment for users who wear eyeglasses. If you’d prefer to have an electronic viewfinder, you can attach Leica’s Visoflex EVF accessory to the top.

Other new features include a simpler three-button control system for the rear display, giving you review, live-view and menu options. The menu function has been updated with a “favorites” menu, giving you commonly-used settings more quickly. It’s also easier to focus using the back screen thanks to a focus peaking feature that draws colored lines around sharply focused edges. The M10 is also the first camera in the series to get built-in WiFi, letting you send pictures to a smartphone or control the camera remotely via the Leica M-App.

The main draw for Leica users is the lenses, and along with the M-series, you can use R-glass via a new lens adapter. You’ll still be focusing manually, of course, but that’s arguably an easier chore with a rangefinder than an EVF. The M10 is now available for $6,495, exactly the same amount as Fujifilm’s new medium format GFX-50S. That’s a pretty big ask considering it doesn’t even do video, but with a lot of improvements over the last model, Leica fans probably won’t hesitate.

Source: Leica

Rick Perry didn’t understand the role of the Department of Energy

Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas, could become the United States’ next energy secretary. However, according to a New York Times report, Perry believed the role would help him champion the country’s oil and gas industry — which he has experience with during his time as governor. In fact, the job specification (and the majority of the department’s budget) actually centers on the nation’s $20 billion nuclear stockpile and overseeing national laboratories that form a major part of the government’s science remit. If approved, Perry has incredibly stiff learning curve ahead of him, encompassing nuclear management, science and technology investment.

Perry, who once demanded the elimination of the Energy Department, will start the confirmation process later today in front of the Senate Energy Committee. His predecessor, Ernest Moniz, was chairman at MIT and directed the institutes linear accelerator. Before Moniz, the secretary was Steven Chu — a Nobel Prize winner. Perry graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in Animal science.

If approved by the Senate, Perry would oversee the US’ nuclear stockpile, as well as being in charge of refurbishing and maintaining it. The country’s nuclear weapons program is currently in the middle of developing a new weapons system that will connect all its missiles via a secure network. This will cost over a trillion dollars.

Meanwhile, the department attempting to protect its political impartiality, with new guidelines to ensure employees can continue their research without any political influence. According to the guidelines, scientists will be able to express their opinion, get the opportunity to review Department statements about their work, and that officials should not and will not ask scientists to tailor work to fit particular conclusions. As we reported earlier, the new regulations would require Rick Perry to appoint an independent Scientific Integrity Official to handle any complaints. (Also: How easy would it be to undo these new guidelines once the new President is inaugurated?)

The Department has reason to be concerned: It recently refused a request from the President-elect to name employees that have attended climate change meetings. It said it will provide publicly available information, but will keep staffers’ names under wraps to “respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence”.

The DoE also has a role in funding new energy ideas and the companies that bring them forward. It loaned Elon Musk $465 million towards Tesla, which the company is paying back ahead of time.

Does the former governor know what he’s in for? Michael McKenna, an energy lobbyist who worked on both Perry’s 2016 presidential campaign and Trump transition’s energy department team, which he has since left, told the NYT: “If you asked [Perry] on that first day he said yes, he would have said, ‘I want to be an advocate for energy. If you asked him now, he’d say, ‘I’m serious about the challenges facing the nuclear complex.’ It’s been a learning curve.” Mc.Kenna has since reportedly recanted his remarks, saying they were out of context.

Update: The confirmation process has started. Perry started by apologizing for his past efforts to squash the department.

“My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking. In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”

Source: New York Times

Google Home support coming to LG’s Music Flow speakers

LG’s Music Flow speakers are based on Google Cast (now “Chromecast built-in”) and on its site, LG specifically shows a home with a multi-room setup. Yet, while both Sonos and B&O products work with Google Home and Google Chromecast Multiroom, so far, LG’s Google-specific models do not. However, it looks like that’s changing soon: An LG representative said on the company’s product forums that both Google Multiroom and Home support are coming “before the end of February.

Music Flow owners were starting to get a bit testy about the Chromecast features missing from the device, especially after Sony unveiled Google Multiroom support for its X77 speakers. That level of fanaticism over speaker features may have taken LG by surprise, so it decided to integrate both Home and Multiroom support and release it in a new update. “We have prepared Google Multiroom functionality … and we decide[d] to update Google Home at the same time,” a representative said.

With Multiroom, you’ll be able to use Chromecast from a phone or other device to cast to groups of speakers around your house, while Google Home will let you order songs by voice. Both those updates should make your Music Flow speakers a lot more useful, and they’ll be delivered by an over-the-air update in February.

Via: 9 to 5 Google

Source: LG Forums

Netflix enters the design world for its next docu-series

Next month, Netflix will debut a new documentary series called Abstract: The Art of Design highlighting on individual designers’ work and methodology. It’ll begin streaming on February 10th, and from the trailer, it looks a lot like the cooking-focused Chef’s Table, but for design.

The eight-episode series will focus on eight designers from different disciplines: Graphic design, illustration, photography, architecture, interior design, set design, shoe design and automobile design. There are some pretty huge names in each category, perhaps most notable being the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels (think Via 57 West), Nike’s Tinker Hatfield (think Air Jordans and Mags) and Fiat Chrysler’s head of design Ralph Gilles (many, many cars).

Abstract: The Art of Design was produced by Wired’s departing editor-in-chief Scott Dadich, who has written a hard-hitting advertorial about the show for the magazine and website. Dadich announced his departure from Wired last month (he’s leaving to start his own design firm), and will be replaced by The New Yorker’s Nicholas Thompson.

Alexa gets meta, finds you the latest AI research

AI research is so hot right now, it’s hard for even scientists in the field to keep up. To stay on top of the 300-plus papers submitted per day to Arxiv.org, machine-learning researcher Amine Ben Khalifa naturally turned to … machine learning. He taught Amazon’s AI-powered Alexa bot to find the latest AI research papers for the day, read the titles and give a summary of specific projects, all via voice control.

“Alexa changed the way I get my daily flash briefings,” Khalifa said. “With the arxivML Alexa skill, I intend to skip paper browsing altogether, and instead get paper briefings while getting ready to go to work.”

After it’s asked, as shown in the video below, Alexa reads the top 50 papers of the day related to machine learning, AI and similar topics. If you want to know more about one of them, it’ll then read the abstract, and you can stop it anytime, or say “Alexa, next” to skip to the next title. The app also shows titles and abstracts in the Alexa app to help you keep track of where it is.

Staying on top of the latest work is a must for machine learning researchers, Khalifa notes, and using Alexa is a pretty apt way to do that. (If you’d rather read about the latest AI work, there’s also the “Arxiv Sanity Preserver” from AI researcher Andrej Karpathy.) The arxivML Alexa skill is available to anyone who wants it on Amazon’s Skill Store, and in the spirit of the field, Khalifa also posted the code on GitHub for anyone who wants to tweak it.

Source: Medium

Buy a copy of ‘Resident Evil 7’ on Xbox One, get it free on PC

The latest game getting the Xbox Play Anywhere treatment is Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. That’s right, Capcom’s upcoming horror jaunt will support cloud saves, and buying the digital Xbox One version will net you a gratis copy of the game on PC. While it isn’t the first non-Microsoft produced game with the feature (indies Ark: Survival Evolved, Astroneer and We Happy Few will have it as well) it’s certainly the highest profile occurrence thus far.

Two scares for the price of one next week? If your heart stomach can handle it, sally forth. If there’s a downside to going digital, though, it’s that you won’t have physical access to the game’s excellent box art that’s evocative of Resident Evil 4’s European variant. Decisions, decisions.

RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard confirmed for @Xbox Play Anywhere – buy once, play on both Xbox One & @Windows 10 PC. https://t.co/yhcwjEnjla

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 18, 2017

Source: Phil Spencer (Twitter)

AirTV is shipping to customers without its biggest feature

Back at CES, we were quite smitten with AirTV’s ability to put all of your streaming services and over-the-air channels in the same place. Well, it looks like the set-top box is shipping to customers without its key feature. AirTV doesn’t currently integrate OTA channels inside the Sling guide, instead there’s a button that launches a Google Live Channels app.

A customer pinged Dish CEO Roger Lynch last week after receiving an AirTV that lacked the feature. Lynch explained that the boxes on display at CES a few weeks ago were running a beta version of the software and that the OTA feature “will be rolled out soon.” Other users report that Netflix queues and recommendations are absent from the guide as well. This is a major issue since AirTV has been on sale since the day it was announced in Vegas over two weeks ago. We’ve reached out to AirTV for more information on the issue and we will update when we hear back. For now, it doesn’t look like the device is putting OTA channels and streaming services in one spot at all — which was kind of the whole point.

@markreaume The version shown at CES had beta software where the locals are integrated. That feature will be rolled out soon.

— Roger Lynch (@RogerLynch) January 13, 2017

Via: Zatz Not Funny

Source: Roger Lynch (Twitter)

Apple Officially Ends iPod Nano Replacement Program, but Still Honoring Requests

Apple recently removed its first-generation iPod nano replacement program from its support website, over five years after it started.

MacRumors contacted a few Apple Authorized Service Providers that confirmed the program has indeed ended, and we were advised to contact Apple directly. Apple’s support team initially informed us the program is no longer in place, but a senior AppleCare advisor honored the program after we escalated our request.

In other words, if you still have a twelve-year-old iPod nano, you may be in luck still, but it could take some persistence to reach the right person.

The replacement program was launched worldwide in November 2011 after Apple determined that, in very rare cases, the battery in the first-generation iPod nano may overheat and pose a safety risk. The manufacturing defect is limited to iPod nano models sold between September 2005 and December 2006.

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At $399, you better not dismiss the Moto Z Play

Why you should think about buying a Moto Z Play right now.

I’ve been a huge proponent of the Moto Z Play since its unveiling and subsequent release late last summer, largely because it is such a strong example of a mid-range phone that does almost everything right while incorporating trickle-down technology from its more-expensive flagship, the Moto Z.

Right now, the unlocked Moto Z Play is a cool $399 from Motorola and Amazon alike. The phone may not have the sheer power of the OnePlus 3T, the other “near-$400” device that we love, but it’s also a more versatile option, compatible with the growing (and unlike LG’s, continually viable) Mods ecosystem. Here’s why, at its discounted rate and with Nougat on the horizon, you should consider this phone.

See at Amazon

Battery life is insane

You don’t have to read too many reviews (including our own) to suss out the Play’s biggest selling feature: its incredible battery life. Combining a 3510mAh cell with a power-sipping Snapdragon 625 chip and an efficient 1080p display, the Moto Z Play easily lasts more than a full day on a charge, and then some.

Since its release, Motorola has teamed with Mophie to release a massive 3150mAh juicepack battery Mod, too, which for $80 extra makes the Play practically unkillable with a combined 6660mAh of energy. Of course, that comes at a thickness of over 15mm, but given that the Mod can be removed at any time, the solution is both practical and impermanent.

Performance is outstanding

For a device with “only” a Snapdragon 625, I am constantly amazed at what this thing can do. In day-to-day performance, there’s little between the Play and its more expensive Moto Z counterpart, and outside of a few very minor situations — it won’t be Daydream-compatible when it’s updated to Nougat, for instance — I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it over any flagship today.

And while it remains to be seen whether the update to Android 7.0 will take a toll on that hardware, Nougat has proven itself to be fairly performance-neutral on devices like the Xperia X, which uses a Snapdragon 650 based on an older 28nm manufacturing process. If anything, the fact that the Snapdragon 625 is more thermally efficient is an advantage for the Moto Z Play running newer software, since there’s a greater thermal runway to work with. And if Nougat proves to be a little more battery-heavy than Marshmallow, a 5-10% hit will be less noticeable on a device like the Play than it would be on, say, a Xperia X or Nexus 5X.

The camera is surprisingly good

I was astounded at some of the photos I was able to pull off with the Moto Z Play, largely because its 16MP rear sensor isn’t particularly impressive on its own. But coupled with a very sharp f/2.0 lens and a massively-improved camera app over the company’s last generation of phones, I have few complaints about the Moto Z Play, even in low light.

In particular, over the past few months I’ve found the Z Play, with its 1.3 micron pixels, to be more adroit at capturing low light photos, even without optical image stabilization, than many other devices with smaller pixels and OIS. That’s because Moto’s camera team has calibrated the sensor to optimize for both shutter speed and ISO, and I’ve found that unless the scene is completely devoid of light, the Z Play can pull off some outstanding photos.

Moto Display

I say this in every article I write about the Motorola devices, but Moto Display continues to be a game changer in the world of smartphones, even as other manufacturers have implemented so-called always-on displays. Moto Display isn’t just a method of checking notifications on the lock screen; it’s a form of essential triage that truly makes a difference to how I use a smartphone on a daily basis.

It’s getting Nougat soon

While it would be better to say that it’s getting Nougat now, or even better it ships with Nougat, alas I can only confirm that it will be arriving in March. Likely early March.

Since I’ve used the Moto Z on Nougat and have no complaints, I have every reason to believe the same will hold true of the Moto Z Play. And Nougat on the latest Moto devices is near-flawless.

Your thoughts

Moto Z Play isn’t a perfect mid-range phone, but it’s damn near close. Would you buy at its limited-time discounted rate of $399? Let us know in the comments!

Moto Z, Moto Z Force and Moto Z Play

• Moto Z + Z Force review!
• Moto Z Play review
• The Hasselblad True Zoom is a Mod to remember
• Moto Z specs
• Moto Mods custom backs
• The latest Moto Z news
• Discuss in our Moto Z forums

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