Feds delay endangered bumblebee’s protection

The rusty patched bumblebee was supposed to be officially added to the endangered species list on February 10th. Unfortunately, the insect’s fate is now uncertain: a Federal Register notice filed on January 20th says the Trump administration has put its designation on hold until March 21st. It was one of the things affected by an executive order the president signed last month, which imposes a 60-day freeze on regulations that aren’t in effect yet. Authorities say they plan to use that time to review “questions of fact, law and policy they raise.”

Bombus affinis was going to be the first bumblebee species in the list. It used to be common along the East Coast and in some parts of Canada, but then its numbers fell by 87 percent over the past two decades or so. The designation would have required the US Fish and Wildlife Service to conjure up a plan to protect its habitat and help its population recover.

As you know, bees are vital to the pollination of both food crops and wild plants. Since their extinction could devastate our ecosystem, a lot of companies and research organizations are pitching in to look into colony collapse disorder and even to create drones that can pollinate like they do.

While the government is officially only “temporarily postponing” the designation, environmentalists are worried the insect could lose the protection the wildlife agency promised. Rebecca Riley, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement:

“The Trump administration has put the rusty patched bumblebee back on the path to extinction. This bee is one of the most critically endangered species in the country and we can save it — but not if the White House stands in the way.”

On the other hand, the designation’s critics like the American Farm Bureau Federation are relieved that the administration is taking a second look at it. After all, protecting the bumblebee could limit farmers’ land and chemical use.

Source: CBS News, Federal Register (PDF), NBC News

What can’t she do? The best ways to use Amazon’s Alexa around the house

Whether you have an Amazon Echo, Dot, Tap, or what we can only imagine will be an increasing list of third-party devices that currently work with Alexa, there are lots of things you can ask the digital voice assistant to do. And while you likely already know she’ll read a couple lines of a Wikipedia entry or spout off a laundry list of facts, we doubt you’re aware of everything she’s capable of. That said, below are some of our favorite ways to use Alexa around the house, including the new flash briefings.

Related: Every device that currently connects with Amazon’s personal assistant, Alexa

Setup

Once you get your Alexa device up and running on your Wi-Fi network, there are still a few more things you might want to do before diving in, either using echo.amazon.com or the iOS or Android app. First, if your name is Alexa, you will definitely want to change the “wake” word, which cues the device in that it should be listening. Choose your device under the settings tab, then select your desired wake word, which can either be “Amazon” or “Echo.” Yes, you can call your Amazon Dot “Echo.”

By the way, the Echo Tap now features hands-free mode, too. That means customers have the capacity to control the Tap with their voice, all without pushing the microphone button. You can enable hands-free mode by way of the Alexa App, then simply use the wake word “Alexa” to take full advantage of its capabilities.

The Tap promises up to eight hours of continuous playback while in hands-free mode, and if you want to save battery life when you’re not using it, simply tap the power button to send it to sleep. A software update will be rolling out over the next few weeks, whereupon Tap will also support Echo Spatial Perception (ESP). This means that Tap will work in settings where there are multiple Alexa-enabled devices, and will respond only when appropriate.

Related: Amazon’s Alexa assistant can now open apps, find restaurants on Fire TV devices

If your significant other has significantly different musical tastes, you’ll want to set them up with a different profile. Under settings in the app, go to account, and click Household Profile. You’ll be guided through a series of steps, which include entering your loved one’s account info — meaning they’ll probably need to be there when you’re setting it up. Once that’s done, you can switch back and forth between accounts by saying, “Alexa, switch profile.”

There are also a number of third-party developers who have created skills for Alexa, from games (even bingo) to quizzes (are you master of the Seinfeld domain?) to fitness routines (like a 7-minute workout), so you’ll want to oomph up what she can do right away.

Oops, did you ask Alexa something embarrassing? You can delete individual recordings by going to Settings and History. To delete a recording, select it and click Delete voice recordings. If you want everything gone, go to http://www.amazon.com/myx, choose Your Devices, click on your device, hit Manage Voice Recordings, and delete them.

Send a message and some caffeine — WeChat lets users gift Starbucks in China

Why it matters to you

Starbucks is expanding its presence in China, and partnering with one of the nation’s biggest messaging apps is a step in the right direction.

It’s already on every street corner in major U.S. cities, and now it’s going to be just as ubiquitous in China. On Friday, it was revealed that Starbucks had established a Valentine’s Day partnership with Tencent, the company behind the popular messaging app WeChat. With this new collaboration, Chinese WeChat users will be able to gift a cup of joe via text. Because nothing says “I love you” like caffeine, right?

Gifting has long been a significant component of Chinese culture, and with the ease that comes with the digital age, this generosity has only increased. On New Year’s Eve, more than 14 billion “red wallets” were gifted among WeChat users. And speaking of WeChat users, there are now 768 million of them a month. Part of the popularity of the app lies in its multi-functionality — not only can you send messages via WeChat, but you can also buy things, hail taxis, pay your friends, and more. And now, that more includes giving Starbucks drinks.

More: WeChat’s censorship system extends beyond China’s borders, finds new study

Users who wish to gift a Starbucks product can select from a host of gifts found within the app, then add a personal touch with a message, image, or video. The recipient will receive the gift in his or her WeChat wallet, and can redeem it at any Starbucks in China.

This isn’t the first time Starbucks has partnered with a social network for a gifting promotion — previously, the coffee chain worked with Twitter and Facebook to help spread the love. But as Ad Age points out, this WeChat partnership is a bit different in that the app is already well known for its payment processing abilities. That said, Starbucks is actually the first retail brand to offer a gift through WeChat. And it’ll certainly help with the company’s growth goals in the nation.

Within the next five years, Starbucks hopes to double the number of locations in the nation, reaching a total of 5,000 stores. And with a WeChat partnership, it may be on its way there.

Episode is an interactive storytelling app with some insights to the future of dating

Why it matters to you

The future of dating looks to be largely based on apps, storytelling platform Episode finds.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it seems like just about everyone is looking for a fairy tale, or is excited to tell their own. And here to help is Episode, a storytelling network and platform featuring interactive stories built for mobile. To date, 5.5 million users (most of whom are young women) have become authors in their own right, creating some 2.5 billion animated stories featuring original scripts and characters. And every once in awhile, Episode checks in with its fast-growing user base to better understand exactly what kinds of stories they’re interested in telling.

When the app asked about Valentine’s Day, it received 23,000 responses from young women around the nation, and now has a story of its own to tell about the future of dating, from the perspective of Generation Z.

More: Start dating more efficiently with one of these 8 apps

For starters, it looks as though the future of dating lies in apps. Already, a plethora of options abound, including Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble. And while it may have been taboo when it first began, it now seems to be the way of the world — in fact, Episode found that 57 percent of respondents had never dated someone they met offline. That means 57 percent of respondents have exclusively dated people they met via an app or dating website. In fact, 50 percent of young women today say they exclusively date online.

Perhaps this penchant for efficiency when it comes to choosing a mate has also led to a general distaste for the hearts and flowers that come along with Valentine’s Day. 63 percent of Episode’s respondents said V-Day was overrated, and nearly 20 percent said they would rather celebrate with their friends (Galentine’s Day) than with a date.

If they do go out on a date, Episode’s data suggests that there’s a 14 percent chance of experiencing a first date on the most romantic day of the year. Conversely, there’s an 8 percent chance of experiencing a breakup.

Of course, you could always look at Valentine’s Day as just another day in the middle of the year. But if you’re looking to turn it into something more, you could turn it into a story by way of Episode.

Could these liquid lens smart glasses eliminate the need for bifocals?

Why it matters to you

We may not need to get reading glasses or switch to bifocals as we age if these liquid lens smart glasses prove to be successful.

Bye-bye bifocals. A new pair of smart glasses from the University of Utah may have just eliminated the need for spectacles. According to researchers, these new smart glasses come with liquid lenses that can automatically adjust their focus, which means that you don’t have to take reading glasses on and off. This can also replace bifocals, which help you see through one prescription at a distance, and another for nearby objects.

“The major advantage of these smart eyeglasses is that once a person puts them on, the objects in front of the person always show clear, no matter at what distance the object is,” Carlos Mastrangelo, the electrical and computer engineering professor who led the research with doctoral student Nazmul Hasan, told Smithsonian Mag. The sight problem most people have as they get older lies in their eye lens’ inability to change shape in order to accommodate different distances. Today, this is remediated with reading glasses or bifocals, but in the future, those may not be necessary.

More: Add some smarts to any old pair of glasses with Kai, now on Kickstarter

The prescription glasses you wear now don’t help you eyes adjust to different distances — instead, they just change the range of what your eyes can focus on. That means that when you don a pair of reading glasses, you can see up close, but you’ll have to take them off to see far away. But the new smart glasses hope to remediate this problem. With lens that are made of glycerin enclosed in flexible membranes, these glasses are a novel approach to eyesight problems.

“The lenses are set in frames containing a distance meter on the bridge, which measures the distance from the wearer’s face to nearby objects using infrared light,” Smithsonian Mag explained. “The meter then sends a signal to adjust the curve of the lens. This adjustment can happen quickly, letting the user focus from one object to another in 14 milliseconds.”

And like all the latest smart objects, the glasses come with a companion app. By making use of a wearer’s prescription, the app can automatically calibrate the smart glasses’ lenses by way of Bluetooth. If your prescription changes, just update the app with your new information. “This means that as the person’s prescription changes, the lenses can also compensate for that, and there is no need to buy another set for quite a long time,” Mastrangelo said.

Don’t get too excited, though. The glasses have yet to undergo formal testing, and today’s prototype isn’t exactly fashion forward. But Mastrangelo hopes that within the next two or three years, we may have a pair of smart glasses that will change the way we see — in every sense of the word.

Keeping your data safe and private while you travel across borders is a lot of work

The things you may need to do to protect your privacy in today’s world is interesting and terrifying at the same time.

One interesting byproduct of a shift in the U.S. executive branch’s stance on border safety is seeing people actually concerned about their privacy and data safety when they need to cross those borders. No matter where you stand on the current administration’s ideas and potential policy changes (and this isn’t the place to argue those) you should be able to understand that they will have an effect on how your information is treated by three-letter agencies in the U.S. anytime you move in or out of the country.

This has some smart people — very smart infosec type people — talking about why you need to be concerned and what you can do about it. It’s fascinating to read even if you think it’s all hogwash and we should freely share everything with any government agent.

Experts tell us to cross borders and leave no trace behind, much like when hiking or camping. This is how James Bond must feel.

Two pieces in particular I really enjoyed come from information security researcher the grugq (conveniently compiled by Microsoft engineer Mohamed Mansour) and forensic scientist and penetration tester Jonathan Zdziarski.

As you would expect from the grugq, the information is laid out as fact, leaves no room for any alternatives and is direct to the point. It’s also undeniably true. That’s probably the reason I read anything and everything with his name on it. It’s a refreshing no-bullshit look at what’s going on and what can be done to protect our right to privacy when we encounter it. His series of short tweets tell you in no uncertain terms how you should travel if you are going to be crossing a U.S. border and don’t want anyone else having access to any of your private information without your consent. Bam, boom. There you have it.

Zdziarski expands and explains why and how as he tells you the things you need to do to keep any errant eyeballs away from your personal information. The measures are extreme, and a few extra words about why it’s beneficial to follow his advice are appreciated. Again, this isn’t surprising. Zdziarski has a knack for making the extreme seem reasonable when it actually is a reasonable response. Zdziarski is a reassuring voice for the times when you need a reassuring voice to help understand the scope of a situation and advice on how to react.

We all need to think of how we can use this information, and if we need to follow any of the advice.

The two resources read very differently and are from two very different people, yet they echo the same basic ideas. Throwaway accounts and even devices, that live completely separated from your vital information and always assumed to be compromised and hacked. Essentially, the only way to be sure you aren’t giving away more than you need to give away is to become a virtual ghost at any border crossing. This is completely James Bond level stuff, and while it may be saddening to think we need to worry about it, knowing that we really can exist with no digital footprint is fascinating. Make sure you take a few minutes and read both.

There is a lot of room here for further discussion. Ways we can use the tools and services available to us for Android and Chrome to lock away the data we give so freely to Google if we need to suddenly hide it from anyone else need to be explored. Let’s face it — using the digital devices we love from any company doesn’t lend itself towards anything resembling privacy. We’re OK with sharing everything with a company we trust and never consider how any of it can be used “against” us. It’s given me plenty to think about and I hope it gives you plenty to think about, too.

I expect we’ll be circling back to this a time or two as we move forward.

Pros and cons: Our quick verdict on Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1

Convertible laptops aren’t anything new these days, but Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1 still stands out from the pack. It brings in most of the premium design elements we loved about the original XPS 13, including that gorgeous 13.3-inch, near bezel-less display. But it’s a lot more flexible, thanks to its ability to fold into several different orientations, and it’s also completely fanless. Sure, you give up some performance to get such a multi-functional device, but for anyone who wants to veg in bed with Netflix, it’ll be worth it.

Tiny airborne probe could help local weather forecasts

To date, it hasn’t been easy to get loads of airborne weather data beyond major airports. Airliners have had a sophisticated probe system (TAMDAR Edge) for over a dozen years, but that doesn’t help much in those remote areas where you may only see smaller airplanes or drones. NASA is close to covering this gap, though: it recently started test-flying a relatively tiny, lightweight version of TAMDAR Edge aboard an Ikhana drone. The tech promises real-time weather data on virtually any aircraft, filling in local atmospheric conditions even in barren places like the Arctic. You could have clearer indications of when a thunderstorm is brewing in a very specific region, or track previously unrecorded conditions above hurricanes.

Right now, the test system is quite limited: researchers have to wait until their drone lands to fetch information. It’ll get a big help later this year, though, as a link to Iridium’s satellite network will feed live weather data to both pilots and forecasters. NASA even envisions a dual-pronged hurricane forecasting approach where a mothership aircraft combines the probe’s data with that from gliders to get a more complete picture. If forecasters can get a better sense of where a hurricane is going, they can focus evacuations and relief on those areas that genuinely need it, rather than covering large swaths of the coastline “just in case.”

Source: NASA

Tesla Releases Completely Redesigned iPhone App With Touch ID Support

Tesla has updated its iPhone app with a completely redesigned user interface and Touch ID support for quick access to keyless driving.

The app now has a much cleaner aesthetic, a trio of shortcuts on the main screen for quick access to frequently used controls, and a more detailed render of the vehicle in the “Climate” menu. A new Today widget in Notification Center allows users to monitor their electric vehicle at a glance.

The Tesla app, now at version 3.0, is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone. The update is also available for Android.

(Thanks, Andrew!)

Tag: Tesla
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