US law enforcement can’t ask companies to turn over foreign data

Microsoft has fought a long battle to prevent American law enforcement from demanding overseas data, but it can rest easy… at least, for now. A stalemate in a federal appeals court has upheld a July 2016 ruling that judges can’t issue warrants for data on servers located overseas. The court determined at the time that the Stored Communications Act didn’t cover searches outside the US, shooting down an attempt by investigators in a drugs case to collect email from a Microsoft server in Ireland.

As you might have predicted, some officials aren’t happy. The dissenting judges in the appeals court argued that this could hamper national security, and that there wasn’t any “substantial privacy interest” in protecting offshore data. They argue that it could even assist criminals — just store your communications in another country and you’re safe, right? To them, it’s a domestic search so long as it’s a US company with access to the servers. Staff at the Department of Justice are “considering [their] options” as they hope to challenge the decision.

They may face a stiff fight if they do, though. Microsoft insisted that the power to demand overseas data could threaten the privacy of customers. If you live outside the US, you generally assume that your data is covered under your home country’s laws — allowing foreign searches would have undermined that sovereignty, Microsoft says. It added that people would be less likely to trust cloud services if they knew American authorities could ask for that cloud data wherever the customer lives. And we’d add that Microsoft wasn’t alone in its objection, with support from the likes of Amazon, Apple, CNN, our parent company Verizon and even the Chamber of Commerce. A sustained fight could get ugly very quickly, and pit the government against the tech industry it’s trying to support.

Source: Reuters

Latest Android Wear 2.0 preview delivers better iOS support

Google has delayed the launch of Android Wear 2.0 once, but it looks like the operating system may actually be on track for its early February release. The company today released the fifth and final developer preview of the updated platform, adding iOS compatibility along with some bug fixes to the version already available. Apps that are compiled with this edition of the preview can be submitted for publication in the Google Play Store, where they will later be available for users to download onto their wearables.

In addition to standalone apps — that is, apps that can work on the watch without needing a companion phone — the new Android Wear will also have better iOS support, improved notifications and messaging interfaces, as well as auto-recognition of your activity. That means that when you start running, biking or walking, your watch can launch a relevant app once it detects what you’re doing. According to Google’s blog post today, standalone apps will work on iPhones as well.

Android Wear 2.0 is expected to launch on a pair of flagship, Nexus-like smartwatches. We’re just a few weeks away from the early February release, which should be enough time for developers to submit their apps in time for users to start downloading them the second they update to the new operating system.

Source: Google

Amazon pushes Star Trek future with new Alexa wake word

Amazon’s Alexa platform continues to be the go-to voice assistant not just for the home, but also vehicles. But it looks like the online-retailer’s helper in a cylinder was just given its greatest feature ever: The wake word “computer.” That’s right, you can now pretend you’re in the Star Trek universe.

The new wake word joins, “Amazon,” “Alexa” and “Echo” as things you can yell at the Alexa platform in order to get it to listen to you. Just don’t expect the device to help you locate dilithium crystals to get your starship to travel faster than light.

Via: thatgeekdad

Source: Amazon

Use Google Home to control WeMo and Honeywell connected devices

Since Home arrived a few months ago, Google has been regularly adding new features to the compact speaker and its virtual assistant. Today, the company announced that the connected device can now be used to control smart home gadgets from Belkin’s WeMo line and Honeywell. This adds more options for controlling lights, switches, thermostats and more with a simple “Ok Google” voice command.

Google Home already plays nice with the likes of Nest, Philips Hue and Samsung SmartThings to help you control connected home devices. It also works with audio and TV gear from Vizio, LG and Sony to keep tabs on music and visuals with a hand from Chromecast. Like Amazon’s Echo with Alexa, Google’s Assistant-equipped Home can also help with news, food, weather and even your to-do list. These are all welcome additions, but Google will need to keep adding new tools on a regular basis to catch up with all of those Alexa skills.

Via: The Verge

Source: Google

The developers of ‘Alto’s Adventure’ are building a skateboarding game

Snowman, the creator of ultra-chill snowboarding game Alto’s Adventure, is keeping busy lately. In addition to the sequel Alto’s Odyssey, it is also working with studio The Game Band for Where Cards Fall and partnering with Australian studio Slingshot and Satchel to build Distant. That’s an ambitious workload for a small studio, but that isn’t stopping Snowman from announcing yet another new title in development: Skate City. The all-too-brief trailer and Instagram clips show it to be a side-scrolling skateboarding iOS/Android game with the same chill vibe as Alto’s Adventure.

As with the studio’s other current projects, Snowman is working with a partner on Skate City, the Oslo, Norway-based Agens. Ryan Cash, one of Snowman’s co-founders, says these partnerships have been essential in helping the small studio juggle multiple projects. “We don’t just want to find people and hand them money and publish their game and take a cut,” Cash says. “The approach we decided to take was we work on [outside] projects just as much as we work on any of our own stuff.”

That means Snowman and partners like Agens essentially work together on games as if they’re a single studio. “We’re not sitting there building tools in Unity, but we’re involved in every major decision: music, art direction, testing, mechanics,” says Cash. “It doesn’t feel any different from the way we worked on Alto’s Adventure.”

As for this new game, Cash says he and Snowman co-founder Jordan Rosenberg had been thinking about a skateboarding game since shortly after they started working on Alto’s Adventure. Both Cash and Rosenberg are avid skateboarders, as are the developers at Agens who came up with the Skate City concept.

Skate City will share some of the visual style Snowman games are known for, but Cash stresses that this isn’t Alto on a skateboard instead of a snowboard. “What Skate City shares most with Alto is the sense of distilling the sport down to the simplest form — but with Skate City, the game is quite a bit more complex in terms of the tricks you can do,” Cash says. “The new game is more true to skateboarding that Alto’s Adventure was to snowboarding.” It might not be quite as frenetic as the excellent side-scrolling Olli Olli games that inspired Agens, but it sounds like this game will in some ways be more complex.

A video posted by Skate City (@skatecitygame) on Jan. 24th, 2017, at 8:11am PST

In a first for Snowman, fans can expect the development of Skate City to be a bit more public than with the studio’s other games. Rather than keep things mostly secret up until launch, a new Instagram account will highlight videos straight from the game, showing off various locations and tricks. “We don’t have too much to hide this time,” Cash says. “We want to save a few surprises for launch, but in general we want people to see what the gameplay will be like.”

With four games now in progress but none released since Alto’s Adventure first launched in early 2015, it’s fair to ask whether Snowman is spreading itself too thin. But by virtue of the partners it has working on most of these games, the six-person Snowman team now has help from another 20 to 30 people — enough so that keeping four games going seems feasible. Cash assures fans that the company isn’t interested in churning out games for a quick buck either. “Even if it feels like we’re doing quantity over quality, we’re making sure that everything we’re doing is unique,” he says. “We’ve had to turn down quite a few other opportunities that came our way to keep focused.”

Indeed, Cash says fans should have something new to play soon. “I think I can say that Snowman will be releasing something this year,” he says, though he declines to specify which title it will be. It’s probably too soon for Skate City — but ever since I tried Alto’s Adventure, I’ve wondered what a similar game done with skateboards would look like. Based on Snowman’s track record, it’s one that will be worth waiting for.

Source: Snowman

Apple is bringing the iPhone’s night mode to the Mac

Ask Mac users which app they install first and they may well point you to F.lux, which adjusts the color temperature of your screen to cut back on eye strain as night sets in. Well, that recommendation may have just gone out the window for most users. Users have discovered that the latest macOS Sierra beta (10.12.4) includes a Night Shift mode that, like its iOS counterpart, can automatically shift toward a warmer tint. You can set a schedule (say, when sunset arrives) and fine-tune the colors in case they’re a little too pronounced for your liking.

It’s not certain when 10.12.4 will be available to everyone, although minor releases like this don’t spend a lot of time in development. Between this and Windows 10’s upcoming blue light reduction mode, though, you won’t have to track down third-party software just to help your eyes relax before bed. That’s not to say that other light-shifting are completely obsolete (F.lux has advanced features like a weekend sleep-in option), but they won’t be as important as they are now.

Via: The Verge, MacRumors

Source: 9to5Mac

California power companies want $1 billion to build EV chargers

It’s expensive to build an electric car charging network, and California utilities want the government’s help covering the tab. PG&E, SDG&E and Southern California Edison are requesting roughly $1 billion in funding to build both EV chargers and the power infrastructure needed to support them. Edison is asking for the most. It’s asking for $570 million to build public fast charging sites, the foundations for charging medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (including buses) and incentives in both electricity rates and for EV-toting ridesharing drivers.

The other two aren’t quite so ambitious, but are proposing additional efforts. PG&E would like to offer rebates on fast chargers for less fortunate communities, while SDG&E wants to both install chargers at 90,000 homes and offer dealerships rewards for selling EVs.

It’s not surprising why the three are asking for official help: California wants to dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and meeting that goal on time could require some help. With that said, it’s not guaranteed that the state will hand over as much cash as they want, if any. These companies tend to make hefty profits (PG&E made $388 million in one quarter, for instance) — it may be hard to argue for a handout when a firm could pay for its strategy without batting an eye.

Via: Autoblog

Source: PG&E, Edison, SDG&E

Instagram Live Stories are going global this week

Since it announced a live streaming feature in November, Instagram has slowly been rolling out the service to its users in various parts of the world. Over the coming week, though, Instagrammers around the globe can begin to use the feature. So get ready to see streams from far-off places such as, oh, I don’t know, Singapore.

Starting a broadcast from Instagram is easy enough. Just swipe right from the home page, or tap the camera icon on the top left. Then swipe right again to go into Live mode, or press “Start Live Video.” To see what people are recording at any time, go to the Explore panel by tapping the magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen. Popular videos will be shown in the top row with badges that say “Live.”

If you don’t see any of the above, you might need to update to the latest version of Instagram. The feature is only available on versions 10.0 and later.

Source: Instagram

Apple lets App Store developers respond to reviews

Android app developers have had the option of responding to Google Play reviews for a while, but the same hasn’t been true for Apple products. If you want to grouse about a bug or shoddy design, you usually have to email the developer directly. That’s frustrating — but thankfully, not for much longer. Documentation for the newly released iOS 10.3 developer beta has revealed that creators will soon have the ability to respond to reviews on both the iOS and Mac App Stores. If devs want to promise a fix or correct mistaken claims, they can do it in a public forum.

Moreover, you won’t have to put up with apps that kick you over to the App Store when you offer to rate them. The iOS 10.3 beta includes a software kit that lets you rate an app while staying in the app. This won’t be much solace if you hate “rate our app” requests in the first place, but it should minimize disruptions and prevent repeated nagging. It could also improve the overall quality of App Store ratings, since there’s less temptation to skip the ratings requests.

There’s no known release window for iOS 10.3, although Apple tends to wrap up beta tests for minor updates within a month or two of the first builds going online.

Source: TechCrunch

Developers Able to Respond to Customer Reviews in iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4

Alongside iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4, Apple is introducing new App Store review features for developers.

Going forward, developers will be able to respond to customer reviews on the App Store “in a way that is available for all customers to see.” This will allow developers to address negative reviews for the first time ever, something that has long been a point of contention in the iOS and Mac App Stores.

Previously, developers have had no way to respond to issues that customers report via an app review, or to further converse with a customer that has been having trouble with an app.

Developers are also able to ask customers to provide App Store ratings and reviews while using an app, allowing developers to get immediate feedback without requiring a customer to switch over to the App Store.

Apps are currently able to ask for reviews and ratings during usage, but doing so requires the App Store app to be opened up, interrupting an app or gameplay experience.

The new App Store ratings and reviews changes will be available to developers when iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 are made available to the public.

Tag: App Store
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