How to watch porn on PlayStation VR [NSFW]

Porn isn’t out of reach when you’re using PlayStation VR.

Playstation VR has finally arrived, and so of course you might be asking the important questions. Like whether it’s possible to access porn while using it. Sony has a varied history with the adult entertainment industry, so that’s a pretty solid query. Have no fear though, you can definitely watch your adult entertainment using PlayStation VR and we’ve got all the details for you below.

Read more at VR Heads

What is Bixby? Everything you need to know about Samsung’s assistant

Forget about Google Assistant, Samsung’s next Android flagships will sport their own voice assistant.

This assistant is thought to be called Bixby (or at least that’s the female version of the name currently floating around), and it will let you do everything from control Samsung home appliances and third-party apps to search for objects in pictures and process payments with your voice. In terms of features, it’ll supposedly beat all other assistants from the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google, etc.

What is Samsung Bixby?

Samsung announced at TechCrunch Disrupt in November 2016 that it was developing its first voice assistant based on technology gained through its acquisition of Viv, an artificial intelligence firm run by Dag Kittlaus, co-creator of Apple’s Siri. Samsung bought Viv a month earlier, with the purpose of going toe-to-toe with Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana.

According to a Reuters report from November 2016, Samsung ultimately plans to integrate the AI platform into its Galaxy-branded line of smartphones, including the upcoming Galaxy S8 flagships, as well as expand voice-assistant services to home appliances and wearable devices. Samsung is hoping a new voice assistant will help it to revive its momentum after the recall of last year’s Galaxy Note 7.

In November 2016, it was revealed Samsung had filed for a trademark in South Korea that sought the protection of the word “Bixby”. The trademark application explained that the brand would be used for computer software for personal information management, mobile and PC apps uses for voice recognition, and software enabling hands-free use of a mobile phone through voice recognition.

Many reports have therefore speculated the Galaxy S8′s voice assistant will be called Bixby. However, GalaxyClub also uncovered trademark applications in both South Korea and the European Union for “Kestra” and several variations of the name “Bixby”. Although unconfirmed, Bixby and Kestra are rumoured to be the female and male names, respectively, of Samung’s digital assistant.

When will Samsung Bixby be available?

Bixby will probably launch this spring. SamMobile claimed in December 2016 that Samsung plans to use some of Viv’s artificial intelligence in its Galaxy S8 flagship smartphones. More specifically, Samsung will use Bixby (powered by Viv’s intelligence) in almost all the native apps that will come pre-installed on the Galaxy S8, which is expected to debut 29 March and go on sale 21 April in the US.

How will Samsung Bixby work?

Galaxy S8 button

The Washington Journal reported in November 2016 that internal prototypes of the Galaxy S8 flagships included a button on the side edge of the smartphone that would be used to launch Bixby, which could suggest it may not be voice-activated. The report cautioned that the prototypes weren’t final. It also noted that Samsung is building its post-Note 7 comeback around artificial intelligence.

System-wide S Voice successor

According to a SamMobile from December 2016, Bixby will be used in almost all the native apps that will come pre-installed on the Galaxy S8. It will be much more advanced than Samsung’s existing S Voice service, and it will work system-wide. Samsung will likely update most of the native apps with a new UI so that they have a similar design. Bixby will probably replace S Voice in the Galaxy S8, as well.

Contextual search and visual search

Thanks to system-wide functionality, SamMobile said a user would be able to ask Bixby to dig up and show a specific picture in the Gallery app, among other things. Bixby will also offer answers and actions based on context, just like Google Assistant, and it will provide visual search and act as an OCR tool using the camera of the Galaxy S8. The standard camera app will feature its own Bixby button.

These new camera tools will allow Bixby to recignise and process whatever the camera sees. Just aim your phone, press the Bixby button to capture an image, then Bixby will analyse the image, and identify objects or text. From there, it will help you search for that object (based on the image data or the optical character recognition data), and it may even allow you to purchase the object.

Bixby Pay

Samsung could include technology that will allow you to process payments through voice commands. The feature is supposedly being developed under the name Bixby Pay, according to SamMobile.

Third-party app integrations

In November 2016, Injong Rhee, chief technology officer for Samsung’s mobile division, told the Korea Herald that Samsung is developing a major AI interface, based on open AI platform, that will enable users to perform different tasks available from different apps just through voice commands, meaning they won’t need to jump through separate apps just to order pizza and call an Uber.

Home appliances

Injong Rhee, chief technology officer for Samsung’s mobile division, futher told The Wall Street Journal in October that the Galaxy S8 would feature technology from Viv Labs that offers services “significantly differentiated” from Siri, Google Assistant, etc. He said Samsung is planning to use the Galaxy S8 as a “springboard to expand” its AI technology into its other products, like home appliances.

Viv Labs CEO Dag Kittlaus also pointed out to the Koreah Herald in November 2016 that Samsung’s AI platform won’t just be limited to smartphones. It will work with home appliances that users interact with frequently. The platform will even double as a remote control for compatible appliances. You could ask your refrigerator to show you photos on your phone, for instance.

Harman speaker

Samsung acquired Harman audio for $8 billion in November 2016. The following month, Harman Kardon announced an upcoming speaker that packs Microsoft’s Cortana. If Samsung were to launch a Harman speaker with voice-activated Bixby, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. Presumably, a Bix speaker would let you cue up music and ask basic questions or at least search the web with your voice.

Want to know more?

Pocket-lint’s Samsung Galaxy S8 rumour round-up has related news.

Gamma ray telescope spots ancient, intense black holes

NASA’s Fermi gamma ray telescope has been working overtime, it seems. Scientists using the instrument have spotted extreme astronomical phenomenon both at the far edge of the universe and close to home. They’ve detected the farthest known blazars, or galaxies whose central black holes are so massive (over 1 million times the Sun’s mass) that they emit extremely intense light in every spectrum, including gamma rays. The oldest example existed just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang — ancient compared to the previous record-setter, which was visible “just” 2.1 billion years after the birth of the universe.

Researchers have also put Fermi to work spotting gamma ray bursts that originated on the far side of the Sun. While teams have detected the solar flares that cause these bursts before, scientists finally have imaging that connects the dots — NASA’s STEREO satellites caught ultraviolet imagery of the flares that lines up with the gamma rays erupting from the other side. For this to happen, the particles had to travel about 300,000 miles within 5 minutes, or 1,000 miles per second.

Both findings promise to widen our knowledge of the cosmos. The blazars by their existence may force scientists to rethink how black holes form. How could supermassive black holes come to be so soon into the universe’s existence? The solar flares, meanwhile, help paint a clearer picture of solar activity than we’ve had so far. Fermi isn’t a do-it-all tool by any means, but it has accomplished a lot in the several years since its 2008 launch.

Source: NASA (1), (2)

Razer acquires Nextbit and its ‘cloud phone’

In the last couple of years Razer has acquired companies including Ouya and THX, and now it’s making a splash in mobile with the purchase of Nextbit. Its latest target introduced the Robin “cloud phone” last year, which we found “beautiful, but flawed.” Its last major announcement was a disappointing one when we learned its plans for a CDMA version were canceled.

Now, it’s good news/bad news. The company has more resources for future products; however, the Robin is no longer on sale. Nextbit says it will continue to provide updates and security patches through February 2018 and fulfill warranties for another six months. According to head of product marketing Eric Lin, “And yes, it’s a good thing. We’re actually excited about it.”

From Razer’s side, CEO Min-Liang Tan says that “With the talent that Nextbit brings to Razer, we look forward to unleashing more disruption and growing our business in new areas.” It’s been a little over a year since Razer promised to “double down” on its Android-powered Forge TV, and we haven’t heard anything since, but perhaps a mobile angle is just what the company needs to pull its strategy together.

Nextbit is joining the @Razer family! Now we’ll have more resources for more exciting (rebellious) projects. https://t.co/rC6Oww7TMO pic.twitter.com/HJScaIlVfS

— Nextbit (@nextbitsys) January 30, 2017

We’re excited to welcome @nextbitsys to the Razer family. Great things are coming – stay tuned.

More info https://t.co/l8i0XYZFtS pic.twitter.com/9WzasurbTB

— RΛZΞR (@Razer) January 30, 2017

Source: Nextbit

This tiny glob could be humans’ earliest known ancestor

Paleobiologists in search of the earliest records of life on Earth have discovered what they believe is the human race’s earliest known ancestor: a 540 million-year-old deuterostome about the size of a grain of rice called Saccorhytus coronarious that may have evolved into everything from sea urchins to land mammals and humans.

Deuterostomes make up a superphylum of animals that includes vertebrates, sea creatures and certain worms. The discovery of fossilized Saccorhytus coronarious in central China’s Shaanxi province was detailed in a new study in the journal Nature and the remains are estimated to be over half a billion years old — making them the oldest deuterostomes discovered to date.

“This is, if you like, the starting point of an evolution which led ultimately to things as different as a sea urchin, starfish and rabbit,” University of Cambridge professor and one of the paper’s co-authors Simon Conway Morris told the Guardian. The creatures were only a millimeter long, but Conway Morris and his colleagues examined the fossils under an electron microscope to identify interesting like a large, gaping mouth and smaller openings on the side of the globular body that may have been the evolutionary precursors of fish gills. Saccorhytus coronarious likely lived among grains of sand on the sea floor and fed by opening their mouths wide to envelop prey. “These things are so small, you can envisage something which is basically just a digestive sack with holes on the side,” Conway Morris explained.

Their size may also hold the key to filling in another gap in Earth’s fossil record: If these earliest known deuterostomes are so small, then it opens up the possibility that their predecessors were so tiny they could only be preserved in “very, very exceptional circumstances.”

Via: The Guardian

Source: Nature

Googlers stage a walkout to protest Trump’s immigration ban

Numerous technology companies have already voiced their opposition to the Trump administration’s executive order from Friday banning the immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations. Today, Google employees from eight campuses have staged a work stoppage and walkout to protest the order as well.

Super proud of all my fellow Googlers who showed up in a display of solidarity #NoBanNoWall #GooglersUnite pic.twitter.com/BvVip6eE6L

— Mike Doherty (@mikedoherty_ca) January 30, 2017

The employees are coordinating and documenting their protest using the #GooglersUnite hashtag. Google does not have an official comment on the situation but a source within the company did state that the company supports the employees’ rally.

This is @google right now. #googlersunite pic.twitter.com/arSNpveFUp

— PGK (@patrickgage) January 30, 2017

There are at least 187 Googler families affected by there #MuslimBan. Today we stand with them. #Googlersunite #NoBanNoWall pic.twitter.com/s7cd5xf1XO

— Bri Connelly (@bricon5) January 30, 2017

According to company reps, Google Assistant project manager Soufi Esmaeilzadeh acted as the keynote speaker for the Mountain View campus. Esmaeilzadeh, an Iranian-born Canadian citizen who has lived in the US for 15 years (and employed by Google for the last five), was on a plane from San Francisco en route to Zurich when Trump’s executive order took effect. After conferring with Google’s legal team, she returned to the US via Boston and arrived back in the Bay Area yesterday. In addition to Esmaeilzadeh, other employees affected by the order spoke out as well as Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai, and company co-founder, Sergey Brin. The company estimates more than 2000 employees participated in total.

Update: That didn’t last long. According to eyewitnesses, the San Francisco branch of the protest has apparently already headed back to work.

Aaaaaaaaand the Googlers are done. Protest duration: less than an hour pic.twitter.com/pOQRUqKbqh

— Blake Montgomery (@blakersdozen) January 30, 2017

Source: Twitter (#GooglersUnite)

Workplace AI makes it all too easy to track you on the job

Artificial intelligence can help you work and even help you find work, but it’s now being used to monitor you at work… and that’s not entirely a good thing. New Scientist notes that a London firm, StatusToday, recently joined a security accelerator run by the UK’s GCHQ intelligence agency. The company’s AI uses metadata from your workplace habits (such as the files you access and when you unlock doors) to spot unusual behavior as it happens. If you suddenly download a lot of data or venture into a part of the office you never frequent, the AI can alert the company and ask you what’s going on.

For GCHQ, the use case would be obvious: it wants to prevent spies and whistleblowers from making off with valuable secrets. It would also be helpful at organizations of all kinds worried that ex-employees might take data on their way out. However, it also raises serious privacy concerns, especially since it can also be used to track productivity. Management could know if you visited a friend in another department, for instance, or accuse you of slacking off if you aren’t following your usual work patterns.

This isn’t automatically a problem. The main question is permission: do you agree to AI tracking? It’s one thing if you know about monitoring when you apply for the job, but it’s another if your employer decides to snoop without telling anyone. Companies also need to explain just what they’re doing, so you aren’t left worrying about the conditions that set off an AI alert. This kind of monitoring is potentially helpful, but there’s plenty of potential for abuse.

Via: New Scientist

Source: StatusToday (Medium)

North Carolina Law Students Must Disable MacBook Pro Touch Bar for 2017 Bar Exam [Updated]

North Carolina law students who purchased one of Apple’s new MacBook Pro models that include a Touch Bar will need to disable much of its functionality to be able to use their MacBooks on the upcoming 2017 Bar Examination, according to a new notice put out today by the Board of Law Examiners of the State of North Carolina.

According to the notice, applicants will need to disable the Touch Bar’s ability to be used with apps through the System Preferences before they can use their computers to take the test. The Touch Bar needs to be set to “Expanded Control Strip,” which displays options like screen brightness and volume controls without allowing it to show app-specific content that shifts with each app.

This is a notice for all applicants who will be using their laptop at the February 2017 North Carolina Bar Examination. If you are planning to use the newest version of the Mac Book Pro with Touch Bar, you will be required to disable the Touch Bar feature prior to entry into the Bar Examination Site.

To disable the Touch Bar:
From the Dock, open System Preferences, then double-click Keyboard, then open the drop-down menu for “Touch Bar Shows,” and select Expanded Control Strip.

Please be advised that the Announcing Proctor will make an announcement at the start of the exam session asking anyone who is using a Mac Book Pro with Touch Bar to raise their hand so that a proctor or ExamSoft technician can come to their seat and ensure that the Touch Bar has been disabled.

The notice doesn’t include the reason why Touch Bar functionality must be limited, but in a statement, a board staff member said that it has the potential to compromise security, perhaps leading to cheating.

Software is already used to disable internet access, apps, and files, but there may be fears that the Touch Bar could be used to bypass existing restrictions, so the app feature will need to be turned off for the duration of the test.

Update: It appears the Touch Bar ban expands beyond North Carolina and is even harsher in some states. In California, the Committee of Bar Examiners has decided that the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar can’t be used at all on the February 2017 examination and sent out notices to test takers this morning.

The Committee of Bar Examiners has been advised that the MacBook Pro laptop with Touch Bar contains certain embedded features that makes it problematic for use during the upcoming February 2017 administration of the CBX. As a result, applicants will NOT be allowed to use the MacBook Pro laptop with Touch Bar during the February 2017 CBX.

According to the Committee of Bar Examiners, applicants will need to find a different laptop to use during the test. Those who attempt to use a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar will receive a score of zero for the session and will not be allowed to continue the exam.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Stops Signing iOS 10.2

Following the release of iOS 10.2.1 on January 23, Apple has stopped seeding iOS 10.2, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers.

Customers who have upgraded to iOS 10.2.1 will no longer be able to downgrade their devices to iOS 10.2.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out to encourage customers to stay up to date. iOS 10.2.1 is now the only version of iOS 10 that can be installed on iOS devices by the general public, but developers and public beta testers can also download iOS 10.3, a future update that is currently being beta tested.

Apple has also stopped signing tvOS 10.1 now that tvOS 10.1.1 has been available for a week.
Discuss this article in our forums

Fugoo Go review: A portable, go anywhere speaker

The Fugoo Go is a portable Bluetooth speaker that is designed to go just about anywhere you might. Thanks to its IP67 rating, the unit can withstand being in three feet of water for up 30 minutes. Moreover, it will also stand up against dust, sand, mud, and pretty much anything else that might be considered messy.

When laid on its back, the Fugoo Go projects sound in an almost 360-degree manner. The unique design, however, lets you prop it up at an angle or stand it on its “side”. Not only that, but the attached bungee mounting cord lets you hang it from hooks or secure it to a pole, bike handlebars, or backpack.

One of the cooler features of the Fugoo Go is its ability to pair to another unit for true stereo sound. Conversely, it can also simply double the existing playback, giving equal sound to both. The former works great in an environment where you plan to listen to music with interesting audio mixing and engineering; the latter suffices for podcasts, audiobooks, and other less ambitious sources.

We found that the speaker puts out a decent volume on its own but it does lack an overall punch. The range itself was fairly broad but it was lighter in the bass. This may or may not affect you; it depends on what you’ll listen to.

When paired together in stereo, the Fugoo Go produces an excellent experience. The sound travels to and from speakers, dances between, and stays in place. There’s a very discernible left and right sound in music like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, or Ferry Corsten. And, like you’ll find with a good pair of headphones, it’s nice when the sounds can do what they’re produced and expected to do.

The Fugoo Go is a very solid little speaker and looks strong enough to take a beating. According to its website, the unit can withstand a drop from around five feet. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like dropping or submerging any electronics unless I have to. With that said, we did hang one in the shower and set it on the front porch during a recent snow. As you’d suspect, it still works just fine.

Volume controls are synchronized to your phone, meaning that when it’s at full volume on the handset, that’s where you are on the speaker. Some brands will let you continue to push volume louder with an indicator sound; these did not.

Pairing is very easy to do with the Fugoo Go and it’s automatically seeking upon powering on. Should you wish to connect two together, a simple press of the Bluetooth button and ‘+’ button starts the process. Do this on both speakers and you’re ready to go inside of ten seconds. Also a cool feature is that when you turn off one speaker, the other responds in kind.

We liked the feedback in the buttons for power and Bluetooth and the dimples are easy to find when fumbling blindly. The volume levels and play/pause are on the face of the speaker and are very obvious. Additionally, there’s no mistaking which one is which when feeling for them without looking.

According to Fugoo, the Go will get you around 10 hours of continuous playback at fifty percent volume levels. We never got into a situation to test the continuous aspect, but, suffice it to say, the speakers last a long time. We charged them up roughly three times in the span of more than two weeks. Charging is done via microUSB cable and takes around five hours if the speaker is at zero.

Were it warmer weather out we would have loved to set these near the pool or on the deck. The Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity tells us we should get up to 100 feet/30+ yards distance from the phone. In placing them around the house, and in different rooms, we were pleased with results. If you’re having a casual night of entertaining friends, you can probably set these at around 20 percent volume and put them in different rooms for a nice background soundtrack.

The Fugoo Go runs about $100 and comes with a one year warranty. Additionally, Fugoo offers a 30-day money back guarantee if you purchase from them. Looking at Amazon at the time of this article’s publication, we found it to retail for $78. Worth the money? At $100, it’s a good buy but not quite a must-have. If you can get your hands on one, or two, for less than $80, you’ll be in great shape.

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