The Morning After: Friday, February 17 2017

Hey, good morning! We made it to Friday. But what about yesterday? Some poor soul got their hands on Nintendo’s new console two weeks in advance — but has no games to play on it, Apple is tinkering with a 4K TV box. Oh, and if you’d like some bedtime reading, may I suggest Mark Zuckerberg’s lengthy treatise on the future of Facebook?

At least one retailer accidentally shipped Nintendo’s next console two weeks early.A new Nintendo console… but nothing to play

One eager Nintendo Switch buyer saw his new console arrived two weeks ahead of schedule, Unfortunately, he has absolutely nothing to play on it. “I have no games at all,” he told the popular gaming forum NeoGAF. “All I can do is flip through the menus.” It looks like Nintendo has taken a better direction with its console UI, landing somewhere between Android and the PS4’s interface. Just a few weeks to go, you brave soul.

Beyond 1080pBloomberg: There’s a 4K Apple TV box on the way

Even with an App Store onboard, the Apple TV hasn’t revolutionized TV in the way some analysts predicted. Still, the company is working on this project, shifting execs around to possibly revive stalled plans for a Sling TV-esque “skinny bundle” of channels. For now, however, Bloomberg reports there’s a 4K and HDR-capable version of the box in the pipeline, but that should be the only big difference.

New boss, new direction.Google Fiber refocuses, may shift towards wireless

While gigabit fiber connections everywhere are a wonderful dream, rolling it out can get pricey, fast. That’s why Google Fiber is pulling back from previous expansion plans, and shedding employees. Under a new CEO, it may look to roll out high speed connections that “follow” users around town like WiFi, or expand the Webpass wireless service it acquired.

Competition is good, again.AT&T will offer unlimited data for all customers

Well that didn’t take long. Just a few days after Verizon announced it would start offering an unlimited data plan after years of selling capped data packages, AT&T will be doing the same. As of tomorrow, AT&T will let any current or potential customer buy an unlimited data plan — until now, only DirecTV customers were able to purchased unlimited data from the carrier. Stream, my friends. Download!

“Ok Google, order toilet paper.”Google Assistant now helps with your shopping on Google Home

Amazon’s Echo and its Alexa virtual assistant had a big head start before Google debuted Home, but the company has revealed a big addition that could strike at the heart of Alexa’s domain: shopping. You can now use Google Assistant on the company’s connected smart speaker to order goods from its Express shopping service.

Does that really need 5,700 words to explain?Zuckerberg challenges Facebook to build the foundation of a global community

If you have some time today, you can peruse Facebook’s new mission statement. In a sprawling essay, Mark Zuckerberg challenges his company to deal with issues like finding the line between responsible filtering and censorship across different communities. In his vision, Facebook can be a part of a social infrastructure. Of the few concrete plans mentioned, one focuses on connecting people by their interests — book club, anyone?

But wait, there’s more…

• Samsung’s South Korean leader has been arrested for bribery
• ZTE announces the first gigabit LTE-ready phone
• Hasbro’s Proto Max robot dog teaches coding on the sly
• Lenovo is being dragged down by its mobile business
• NASA wants to send humans aboard the first SLS flight

Giphy made 2,000 GIFs to help you learn sign language

A GIF can be more than a well-timed punchline for a tweet or group chat. Now, the looping clips can be used to teach people new languages. As Mashable reports, GIF provider Giphy has launched a new “channel” containing more than 2,000 educational sign language clips. They’re all dead simple: just the hand movements and a text caption explaining what they mean. These bite-sized flash cards have been pulled from Sign With Robert, an instructional series for American Sign Language (different versions are used throughout the world). The hope is that people will pick up a word or two by sharing them at convenient moments online.

“The GIF format has the ability to loop infinitely, so it’s perfect for learning new signs,” Hilari Scarl, director and producer for Sign With Robert said. “It doesn’t require the back and forth of hitting play, rewind or repeat.”

It’s unlikely that you’ll learn sign language through GIFs alone. But it’s a clever way of promoting a truly life-changing skill, and could encourage more people to study the language in greater depth. For many, Giphy is the go-to GIF repository, so there’s a good chance these loops will surface as people conduct their usual searches. Sign language GIFs have been done before, but now they’re more likely to have a real impact on the web.

Via: Mashable

Source: Giphy (Sign With Robert)

Microsoft Brings Animated GIF Support and Account Switching to OneDrive App

Microsoft updated its OneDrive iOS app this week with a couple of features requested by premium users, with the added bonus that the improvements can be used by free 5GB account holders as well.

First up, Microsoft has added support for animated GIF files in OneDrive, which should come as good news for users working with marketing and promotional content. The GIFs can now be viewed from within the cloud file browser, instead of having to download and preview them outside the app.

Version 8.8.9 also brings fast account switching to the cloud client app. According to Microsoft, users now only need to tap and hold on the Me tab to instantly switch between accounts, whether free or premium.

Elsewhere, student users who own either work or school accounts are now able to receive notifications whenever someone shares a file with them, while Microsoft has also added Instant Preview support in the Sites tab.

Lastly, a number of other smaller bugs and crash issues have also been fixed. OneDrive is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: OneDrive
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Toyota, GM and Lyft want nationwide rules for self-driving cars

Automakers Toyota and GM and ride-sharing firm Lyft called on the US government to create US-wide standards to ease the testing and adoption of autonomous cars. The problem, they say, is that rules vary widely across the country are more restrictive in some states (like California) than others (Michigan). “Self-driving cars won’t drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol [and] they won’t be distracted by a cell phone,” GM VP Michael Abelson told a subcommittee on Tuesday. “We have the further opportunity to avoid crashes altogether.”

It’s not as though the US Department of Transport (DoT) is doing nothing, as it released a policy document last September. It outlined how the feds would be responsible for setting standards, investigating recalls and enforcing safety standards, but it has yet to lay out what those are. In an op-ed that went with it, then-President Obama wrote that “automated vehicles have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives each year … but we have to get it right.”

The group is looking for “specific exemptions” in the rules of the road for automated vehicle development, said Abelson. They also want the historically slow-moving standards bodies to try to keep pace with the rapid development of automatic driving tech. “Without changes to these regulations, it may be years before the promise of today’s technology can be realized and thousands of preventable deaths … will happen,” he added.

GM CEO Mary Barra shows off an autonomous Chevy Bolt (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Volvo is also part of the group pressing for standards, but several notable leaders in autonomous vehicle development, including Tesla and Google’s Waymo, didn’t participate. The group also wants to see expanded testing sites, and just before Obama left office, the DoT picked ten new ones in states including Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, California and Michigan.

So far, it’s not clear what the new administration under Trump, including new DoT secretary Elaine Chao, thinks about autonomous tech. However, he has decried the loss of US jobs to nations like China, even though many workers were in fact replaced by robots.

Via: Autoblog

Source: Subcommittee on DCCP

YouTube just hit another ‘one billion’ milestone, this one for auto-captioned videos

Why it matters to you

Hidden away, it’s a feature some of you might have forgotten exists though one that can certainly come in handy.

YouTube first introduced captions for videos in 2006. Three years later it automated the feature, a huge step forward that on Thursday enabled it to announce it now has a billion captioned videos on its site.

Captions show on videos as a text overlay and transcribe dialog and other relevant audio occurrences happening on screen. You can enable them by clicking on the icon on the far left in the bottom right of the video player.

Although primarily geared toward the 300 million people in the world with hearing impairments, captions can also come in handy for a good chunk of YouTube’s global user base of more than a billion people. Consider videos where the audio is a bit ropey or you simply can’t catch what the actors are saying. The feature could also be useful when you’re in a public place without your earphones and you’re still keen to view the content.

And yes, captions is a heavily used feature, with viewers clicking the “on” button more than 15 million times a day.

More: Google launches YouTube Go, a stripped down version of the main YouTube app

But the system isn’t perfect, at least, not yet. Errors in the text of course show up from time to time, with some YouTubers taking advantage of the slip-ups to create their own comedy videos.

However, the team has been working hard in recent years to improve the reliability of its automated captions technology. Discussing the issue in a blog post, YouTube’s Liat Kaver said significant progress has already been made in enhancing its speech recognition software and machine learning algorithms. “All together, those technological efforts have resulted in a 50 percent leap in accuracy for automatic captions in English, which is getting us closer and closer to human transcription error rates,” Kaver wrote.

The team also wants to invest more time in improving the caption accuracy of its other supported languages, which include Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Kaver said the long-term aim is to get captions on every clip that requires them. “Ideally, every video would have an automatic caption track generated by our system and then reviewed and edited by the creator,” she wrote, adding, “With the improvements we’ve made to the automated speech recognition, this is now easier than ever.”

A disgruntled cafe owner has started billing customers extra if they charge their phones

Why it matters to you

Even when it’s free, you can’t always find an outlet, so you may be better off investing in a portable charger to ensure your device never runs out of juice.

A cafe owner at a famous Vienna landmark has had enough of customers charging their smartphones on the premises.

To try to discourage customers from sticking their chargers in the wall for lengthy periods of time, owner Galina Pokorny is now levying a fee of €1 (about $1.07) for anyone who charges their phone for more than 15 minutes.

Pokorny runs the Terrassen Cafe inside Hundertwasserhaus, a colorful and quirky apartment building in the Austrian capital designed by the late architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

It appears, however, that the fee is less about visitors taking up space for long periods of time without ordering anything, and more about using the cafe’s power supply.

“Tourists — always electricity, electricity, electricity. Sorry but who is going to pay me for it?” Reuters reported the disgruntled owner as saying.

Pokorny said she may be the only cafe in town charging customers for powering up their mobile devices, but insisted she was doing so because “I run a cafe, not an internet cafe.”

She added that the practice appeared to be getting “more and more extreme. People come and think everything is accessible and free.”

The fee has actually been in place for some time, but came to light this week after local media heard about it. The extra expense is reportedly also added to the check of anyone charging a laptop or tablet for a long period of time, and charged on a per-outlet basis.

More: Bystander promises to call ambulance for asthma attack teen, steals phone instead

Despite Pokorny’s complaints about customers using too much electricity, a ZDNet report last year suggested the cost of charging a smartphone once a day for a whole year amounted to a mere $0.84. Yes, $0.84 for the entire year.

On the plus side, Terrassen Cafe’s wi-fi is still free, so anyone heading there for a relaxing coffee and intense smartphone session would be wise to ensure they have a fully powered device and a portable charger. Unless you’re cool with coughing up the extra fee, of course.

Skype is jazzing up its app with four new features that’ll help you ‘express yourself’

Why it matters to you

Competition is rife in the video-chat and messaging space, and Skype hopes its latest rollout of new features will help to keep it relevant.

Once the go-to app for video chats, Skype seemed to go off the boil somewhere along the way and these days faces tough competition from a mountain of messaging apps that now incorporate their own video options.

Still, Microsoft, which acquired Skype in 2011 for more than $8 billion, is far from giving up on the service, and in recent years has been pushing out a slew of updates in a bid to keep it relevant.

The latest one rolled into the room on Thursday, bringing with it four potentially handy features that the company says provide new ways for you to express yourself during video chats and messaging sessions.

So let’s kick off with in-call reactions. Taking a leaf out of live-streaming services like Periscope and Facebook Live, it’s now possible to throw emoticons, live text, and real-time photos into your video calls in just a few taps.

Along the same lines, messaging reactions also makes it possible to quickly add stuff to chats for others to see. Skype suggests using emoticons for “voting, showing excitement, or just for fun,” or basically when you can’t be bothered to tap out a text response and you fancy adding a bit of color to the conversation.

Next up, the integrated camera. Say you’re messaging with a friend and you want to capture something there and then — simply swipe left to access your camera, take a snap, and immediately share it in the chat. You can easily add emoticons, stickers, and annotations before you hit send, too.

Finally, there’s the find panel. This lets you quickly find and share links, news, sports results, restaurants, the weather, videos, and more — without ever leaving the app. Great for you, and great for Skype, too, as it should mean you won’t get distracted by other apps so easily.

“No more switching back and forth between apps; we’re making it easy to bring the content you care about to the conversations that matter,” the Skype team said.

More: They say seeing is believing, so here’s 10 of the best video chat apps available

All of these new additions are currently being tested, but Android users can try them now by downloading the Skype Preview app from Google Play. iOS users who fancy taking the new features for a spin need to be enrolled in the Skype Insider program. Not currently a member? You can sign up here.

‘Really Blue’ Google Pixel now up for pre-order in the UK

Really Blue Pixel is coming to Carphone Warehouse and EE.

Google has announced that it is bringing the Really Blue Google Pixel to the UK via EE and Carphone Warehouse. The phone is now up for pre-order on EE, with in-store availability at Carphone Warehouse kicking off from February 24.

EE’s two-year plans for the standard 5.0-inch Pixel with 32GB of storage start at £45.99 per month, and if you’re opting for the 5.5-inch Pixel XL, you’ll have to shell out £50.99 per month. The plan includes 7GB of 4G data, unlimited calls and texts, free Daydream View VR headset, and 10 BAFTA-winning movies.

Pricing for Carphone Warehouse will be revealed next week. Google mentions that the color option will be sold in limited quantities, so if you’ve been holding out, act now to get your hands on the Really Blue Pixel.

See at EE

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: What’s the rumoured difference?

Samsung will launch its next Galaxy S flagship smartphones in the next couple of months, with rumours suggesting a launch date of 29 March. There has been plenty of speculation surrounding the two devices though, known as the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, giving us an idea of what to expect from the new devices.

How will they compare to their current competition? We have put the rumoured specs of the larger S8 Plus up against Google’s larger Pixel device, the Pixel XL, to see how they might differ based on the speculation.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus rumours
• Google Pixel XL review

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: Design

• Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor expected on both
• S8 Plus should be waterproof, Pixel XL isn’t 
• Both should have USB Type-C and 3.5mm audio jack

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus will no doubt feature a lovely premium build, which will most likely continue with the glass and metal sandwich design found on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. According to the rumours and leaks though, Samsung will be ditching the physical home button on the front of the device in favour of an almost all-screen finish, repositioning the fingerprint sensor to the rear instead.

Measurements, especially width, are rumoured to be very similar to the S7 edge, which has a footprint of 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm. It is thought USB Type-C will be on board the S8 Plus too, along with the 3.5mm headphone jack which some other manufacturers have been keen to do away with. The S8 Plus is also thought to be retaining the IP68 waterproofing found on its predecessors.

The Google Pixel XL measures 154.7 x 75.7 x 8.5mm, meaning it is a little wider than what is expected for the Galaxy S8 Plus and there is no waterproofing on board Google’s device. It does offer a lovely premium design though, with metal and glass being the primary materials, though designed in a different way to what is expected from Samsung.

The Pixel XL also has USB Type-C and the 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and no physical buttons on the front of the device.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 vs Google Pixel: What’s the rumoured difference?

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: Display

• S8 Plus expected to have curved display
• Bigger display expected on S8 Plus
• Shaper display expected on Pixel XL

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is reported to be coming with a 6.2-inch curved display. As we mentioned though, despite the screen size increase, the S8 Plus is said to be sticking with similar measurements to the S7 edge, suggesting a big improvement in screen-to-body ratio.

There were a couple of rumours to suggest the resolution would see a bump over the S7 edge, but more recent reports have claimed Samsung will be sticking with a Quad HD Super AMOLED screen, but offer improvements for VR. If this is the case, the S8 Plus will have a pixel density of 473ppi.

The Google Pixel XL has a 5.5-inch flat display, which makes it quite a bit smaller than the expected S8 Plus and perhaps not as exciting in terms of design. It too uses AMOLED and it also has a Quad HD resolution however, meaning it will be slightly crisper and sharper on paper than the S8 Plus due to the size difference, with a pixel density of 534ppi.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: Camera

• 12MP rear camera expected on both
• 8MP front camera expected on both
• S8 Plus could have OIS and wider aperture

There have been several rumours relating to the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus but the most reliable source claims the device will be coming with a 12-megapixel rear snapper and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

It has been claimed the front facing camera will also feature an iris scanner along with auto-focus, while the rear camera is said to be coming with a new visual search feature. Both are reported to have a f/1.7 aperture, which is the same as Samsung offered on the S7 edge.

The Google Pixel XL has a 12.3-megapixel rear camera with 1.55µm pixels and an aperture of f/2.0. It comes with phase detection autofocus and laser detection autofocus but not optical image stabilisation, the latter of which we hope to see on the S8 Plus. In terms of the front camera, the Pixel XL has an 8-megapixel resolution with fixed focus and an f/2.4 aperture.

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge review

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: Hardware

• Newer, faster hardware expected on S8 Plus
• Larger battery capacity expected on S8 Plus
• S8 Plus should have microSD 

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is rumoured to be coming in two variants – one with the Exynos 8895 chip, the other with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. There have been numerous reports regarding RAM, with some claiming 4GB, while others have suggested both 6GB and 8GB. Internal storage is said to start from 64GB and microSD is claimed to be on board.

The Google Pixel XL runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip, supported by 4GB of RAM. Storage options comprise a 32GB model and a 128GB model, neither of which offer microSD support for storage expansion.

The Galaxy S8 is said to be coming with a 3500mAh battery, while the Pixel XL has a 3450mAh battery, putting them almost on par in terms of capacity but bear in mind the S8 Plus will probably have newer hardware over the Pixel XL, which should hopefully mean improvements in performance.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: Software

• Android Nougat expected on both
• Pixel XL runs vanilla Android
• Pixel XL has Google Assistant, S8 Plus will have Viv

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus will probably launch on Android Nougat from the box with Samsung’s TouchWiz software over the top. It will come with the Bixby voice assistant, Viv, and it has been claimed there will be an always-visible status bar, as well as the option to connect the handset to a monitor for a desktop view of Android. 

The Google Pixel XL runs on the purest form of Android Nougat, meaning there is no extra bloatware or duplication, delivering a clean, seamless experience. The Pixel XL and its smaller sibling will also be the first devices to receive any new future Android updates and they also feature Google Assistant built-in.

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

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus vs Google Pixel XL: Conclusion

Based on the rumours, the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus will feature a more exciting design over Google’s Pixel XL, along with a larger screen within a similar footprint, faster hardware and a bigger battery capacity, which isn’t too surprising given it will be the newer device.

The Pixel XL remains a fantastic device though and chances are the Pixel 2 will give the S8 Plus a run for its money whenever it launches. For now, if all the rumours come true, the Pixel XL will be for those who want a smooth, pure Android experience, while the S8 Plus will be for those after design and the latest hardware.

You never know though, things might sway in the Pixel XL’s favour when the official specs of the S8 Plus are revealed so stay tuned.

• Google Pixel 2: What do we want to see?

See the Nintendo Switch’s alleged operating system in this amazing leaked video

The Nintendo Switch games console isn’t due to be shipped until Friday 17 March, at least for those who managed to get their pre-orders in. However one lucky NeoGAF user, hiphoptherobot, has supposedly got his hands on a console already. Rather than keep it to himself, hiphoptherobot has produced a short video showing the Switch’s operating system.

• Nintendo Switch: Release date, price, specs and everything you need to know

Nintendo’s previous consoles such as the Wii and Wii U have had heavily animated operating systems and full body avatars. With the Switch however, Nintendo appears to have made the whole user interface a lot cleaner, with a system that looks like it’s been plucked straight from an Android tablet.

The setup instructions are easy and clear to follow and the main home screen is simple. There are boxes that would house quick links to games or downloaded software and underneath those are various options that you have to double click to open.

There’s News, Shop (which may require a software update to access), Album, for capturing screenshots, Controllers, Settings and Sleep. To wake the console up from Sleep you need to press the power button three times, which has probably been done to make sure the console doesn’t power on if it’s in a bag or pocket.

A data management tab in the settings menu shows 25.9GB of free space, which confirms it has 32GB of onboard storage, as some needs to be reserved for the OS itself.

There’s also an icon in the bottom left of the screen that tells you what mode the console is in: either with controllers attached to the screen, or being used separately.

• Nintendo Switch preview: Return of the king?
• Nintendo Switch pre-order stock available again, get one while you can
• All the Nintendo Switch games: Launch titles and every game for 2017 revealed
• This is what FIFA on Nintendo Switch looks like

However, as with all early leaks, they have to be taken with a pinch of salt. While the console may look completely legitimate, we’ll reserve ourselves to receiving our console before confirming exactly what features the Nintendo Switch has.