Logitech’s ZeroTouch magnetic car dash is now best friends with Alexa

Logitech is giving its excellent ZeroTouch magnetic car dash an Alexa upgrade.

During CES this past January, Alexa seemed to be everywhere, from creepy robots to capacious refrigerators. Even phones (coming soon). But Logitech waited until the middle of February (yes, that’s now) to launch Alexa support for its excellent (and expensive) ZeroTouch magnetic car dash. The company has also updated its companion app for the product, allowing customers in the U.S. and UK (the only two countries officially optimized for Alexa, natch) to respond to “Hey Alexa” queries while driving.

“This Amazon collaboration gives the Logitech ZeroTouch even more hands-free power,” said Patric Frank, head of new ventures at Logitech, in a press release. “Now, the possibilities are endless –even while on the road. The marriage of Logitech ZeroTouch and Alexa make it possible for drivers to not only use their voice to control more than just their smartphone, but all smart devices kept at home, before they even get there.”

As with the Amazon Echo and any number of other Alexa-enabled devices, the app connects to the cloud, meaning that whenever Alexa is updated with new commands and abilities, it will be reflected in the ZeroTouch app.

In his review, Phil Nickinson praised the system for its marriage of hardware and software:

Again, $60 or $80 seems like a lot of money to throw at a way to stick your phone to your air vent or dash. And it is. But you get a really good hands-free system along with it.

Since then, Logitech released a second version of the ZeroTouch mount, called SmartCar, to automatically launch the new universal Android Auto app instead of its own ZeroTouch app. While Google’s solution is comprehensive and integrates with its excellent set of apps, including Google Maps and Google Now, there’s something to be said for Logitech finding ways to keep people inside its own app.

There are two versions of the mount, a $59.99 option that sticks to a car’s air vent, and a $79.99 variant that more securely attaches to a dash. Either one requires a metal tab to be installed either to the back of one’s phone, or to a case, that then adheres magnetically to the mount.

See at Logitech

Keep your eyes on the road and phone safe with this car mount for just $15 for a limited time!

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Stop holding your phone, or setting it on the seat only to have it fly onto the floor, and instead grab one of these. Safety is important, so stop delaying and use coupon code GDFXMVUF for the full savings.

See at Amazon

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DEXED review: Like a virtual slot machine

It’s a shooter! It’s a puzzler! No, it’s DEXED!

When it comes to a game like DEXED, it’s difficult to place it into a category. Is it a shooter? Yes, but not in the traditional sense. Is it a puzzler? Well, sure, but it rewards dexterity and precision more than smarts. Is it rewarding? Extremely.

Read more at VR Heads!

New Sony smartphone camera comes with built-in DRAM, promises 1,000fps slow-mo

Sony has developed a new CMOS camera sensor for phones that could revolutionise smartphone photography.

It works like sensors in its dedicated cameras, with DRAM built in as a third layer on top of the conventional two-layer stacked image sensor. This allows it to process images at far greater speeds than other smartphone sensors.

As a result, the new Sony sensor can capture stills of fast moving objects with less focal plane distortion. It is also capable of recording super slow motion video at up to a staggering 1,000 frames per second.

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The first feature reduces focal plane distortion because it is able to capture a still image of 19.3-megapixels at 1/120 second – approximately four times faster than other smartphone sensors. This means each pixel line is read more quickly and therefore renders more accurately.

The second feature can record 1080p video at a maximum of 1,000fps, which produces some incredible slow-mo effects.

The sensor itself has an effective pixel count of 5520 x 3840 (21.2-megapixels), but still images are shot at 19.3-megapixels in 4:3, 17.1-megapixels in 16:9.

It can shoot video up to 4K (3840 x 2160) at 60fps.

We expect to see it implemented on a Sony phone sometime this year although this month’s Mobile World Congress will likely come too soon. We also believe Sony will sell the sensor to other manufacturers as is the norm.

Twitter will filter abusive tweets out of your timeline

Twitter is delivering three new tools to help battle abusive users just one week after admitting it hasn’t moved fast enough to curb rampant harassment taking place on the platform. In a blog post published this morning, VP of engineering Ed Ho announced three new features that’ll be on Twitter soon. Perhaps the most immediately useful is a filter that hides “abusive or low-quality” tweets by default. It sounds similar to the “quality filter” that tries to remove trolls from your @ mentions.

Judging from a GIF in the blog post, it looks like this filter will work on replies to tweets you see in your feed — so if you dig into a tweet to follow a conversation stemming from it, the “less relevant replies” will be hidden by default. You can of course expand that and see everything that has been posted. But if this filter works, it probably won’t be worth your while. It might not all abusive or inflammatory tweets, but it should hopefully help elevate the conversation and avoid it getting derailed by trolls. Twitter’s quality filter for mentions seems to work pretty well so far, so hopefully this new feature will as well. The company says it’ll be rolling out in the coming weeks.

Twitter is also attempting to keep trolls off the platform by limiting new account creation. The company is trying to identify people who’ve been permanently banned and keep them from creating new accounts, which are often just for harassment and abuse. There aren’t any details on how it expects to pull this off, and we imagine enterprising trolls will figure out a way around it. But making the barrier to re-entry after getting banned could slow down the less dedicated trolls out there.

The last thing Twitter is working on is “safer” search results. If you run a search, tweets from accounts you’ve blocked or muted will not show up (this seems like an incredibly basic thing that should have been implemented a long time ago, but here we are). Search results with “potentially sensitive content” will also be blocked, although Twitter doesn’t say how it will be identifying such content. As with the quality filter coming to replies, you’ll be able to see all the search results if you want — the default will just be to hide tweets that distract from what you’re looking for.

As is the case with most of Twitter’s moves to battle harassment, these new feature are certainly welcome — but they’re also the kinds of things that should have been implemented years ago. Whether or not they’ll help turn around the rather negative public perception of Twitter the company has been battling lately remains to be seen, but dedicated Twitter users should hopefully see some benefit from these changes.

Source: Twitter

AIAIAI suggests headphones based on one of your Spotify playlists

AIAIAI first announced its modular TMA-2 headphones back in 2015. With swappable parts, the system allows you to pick and choose which components will work best for your listening habit. However, with all the different configurations to choose from, the number of options can be a bit daunting. Don’t fret: The company has a new tool to lend a hand and it’s powered by your Spotify streaming habit.

Spotify’s Discover Weekly has been serving up a playlist full of new music based on its users’ streaming preferences since the summer of 2015. In the time since, the feature has proven to be quite popular. With AIAIAI’s TMA-2 Discover tool, the headphone maker pulls in that Discover Weekly data and analyzes it to suggest the best configuration for its headphones. After you link your Spotify account, a dedicated website employs tech from music data company Moodagent to break down genres, moods and tempo for the tracks in that curated playlist. For each category, you’ll see a percentage breakdown as well as the ability to preview any of the songs.

Once you scroll through the data from those three categories, AIAIAI provides a suggestion for the ideal headphone setup. As you might have guessed, you can complete the purchase with a few more clicks. Even though most of the hard work is done, you can still change the headband, earpads and cable to fit your sense of comfort and utility. Sure, it’s a marketing tool, but using Spotify data to make a product recommendation might come in handy, especially when the possibilities are seemingly endless.

Source: AIAIAI

Facebook says it can’t police all posts for racism

Facebook has a lot of control over what you see in your social feed, but it can’t control everything… at least, according to its lawyer. While defending against a German lawsuit over misuse of photos in fake news, the company’s attorney said it wasn’t possible for Facebook to watch for racist language in every post. There are “billions” of posts every day, Facebook claims, and it would require a “wonder machine” to catch every possible instance of abuse.

Not surprisingly, plaintiff Anas Modamani’s side doesn’t buy that argument. His lawyer likened it to Volkswagen claiming it couldn’t make every car safe — just because there’s a large volume of content doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Also, the attorney pointed out that Facebook is quick (sometimes overly quick) to detect nudity. Why, he argues, can’t Facebook tackle racism and misused photos with similar enthusiasm?

Whoever’s right, there may be a compromise in the works. Facebook is so far opposed to paying out damages in the case, but it’s open to a court-offered proposal that would settle the case by blocking use of the photo in question (of Modamani taking a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel) across Europe. That won’t prevent abuse of the shot in fake news stories elsewhere, but it might do enough to relieve pressure on Modamani and let him regain some semblance of a normal life. Facebook won’t be completely absolved, however — it’s still facing the prospect of German laws that would fine it for failing to remove fake news posts.

Source: Facebook

Nintendo’s engineers have embraced Unreal Engine

If there’s one thing that Nintendo has struggled with, it’s enticing third-party developers to create games for its consoles. But according to VentureBeat, the company is looking to change that with the advent of the new Switch. At an investor Q&A session, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that Nintendo engineers have been learning how to use third-party development tools like the Unreal Engine.

It’s not much of a surprise, given that the Switch, like the Wii U before it, supports the Unreal Engine. But the fact that Miyamoto has opened up on the subject shows that Nintendo may be softening its sometimes frosty stance on third-party developers. That relationship has never been too friendly, with former president Hiroshi Yamauchi saying in 2000 that third-parties are “not helping the industry at all.”

Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi echoed Miyamoto’s sentiment, adding that the business wants an environment where “a variety of different third-party developers are able to easily develop compatible software.” Miyamoto also suggested that Japanese developers no longer lag behind their western counterparts on third-party engines. He added that his engineers’ skill set can “now be compared with those of western developers.”

It’s more than likely that Nintendo itself will stick to using its own development tools when building games for its new hardware. But making an effort to understand one of the most commonly-used game development engines will be seen as a very public olive branch to the industry. Unfortunately, the early lineup of third-party games for the Switch is a little threadbare, the only notable names being NBA 2K16, Dragon Quest XI, Rime, FIFA and a late port of Skyrim.

The situation seems to be chicken-and-egg, with developers waiting to see how well the Switch does at launch. But fair-weather buyers may be hesitant to lay down several Benjamins for the new machine until they’re sure it’ll play the same games other consoles can. Not to mention, of course, that there are plenty of unanswered questions about how the device will handle online play — and developers hate that sort of uncertainty.

Source: Venture Beat

YouTube Launches Live Mobile Streaming for Creators With 10K+ Subscribers

YouTube today announced that its new mobile live streaming feature is officially launching to all content creators with 10,000 or more subscribers on their channel, while promising that the rest of YouTube viewers “will have it soon.” YouTube has supported live streaming on its website since 2011, but it began a very small beta test of mobile live streaming on iOS devices last summer.

To begin live streaming, creators will only have to open the YouTube app, tap the “capture” button, and their broadcast will be sent out to their subscribers so they can tune in. After a stream ends, former live videos will be indexed alongside traditional YouTube videos, able to be searched for, added to playlists, and protected from unauthorized use. The company implemented a few pieces of creator feedback discovered during the beta, including slowing down live chat and ensuring solid streaming quality on every device.

Our mobile live streaming uses YouTube’s rock-solid infrastructure, meaning it’ll be fast and reliable, just the YouTube you know and love. And we’ve been working hand-in-hand with hundreds of creators to refine the mobile streaming experience while they stream from a boat or take live calls from their fans.

On the monetization side of things, creators will be able to earn money through broadcasts thanks to “Super Chat,” which lets viewers “stand out from the crowd and get a creator’s attention” through the purchase of chat messages and bubbles that are highlighted in bright colors and remain pinned at the top of the live chat for upwards of five hours. Super Chat will be available for creators in more than 20 countries and viewers in more than 40 countries.

Super Chat gives viewers a chance to add a little visual flair to their chats and gives creators a new way to keep connected to their fans while earning a little money on the side, let’s say for example, while shopping at Target or playing video games 🙂

YouTube is entering the mobile live streaming video market in a crowded field, following companies like Facebook and Twitter, which each have ways for every user to stream from their smartphone. YouTube’s angle on creator-only streaming may help it stand out, and the company has yet to give a hint as to when the rest of its users will be able to stream on mobile.

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BeatsX Officially Launching February 10, Two New Colors Coming After Launch

BeatsX Earphones will launch this Friday, February 10, with Beats By Dre announcing the official date this morning on Twitter. Yesterday, rumors of an imminent launch of BeatsX began circulating following increased activity on Apple’s and Best Buy’s online listings for the earphones.

In December, Apple updated its BeatsX listing with a vague February launch window, but up until today we had yet to receive a more solid day on which the earphones would launch. In addition to the confirmed launch date, CNET has also reported that two additional colors of BeatsX are coming after launch: gray and blue. When they debut, users will be able to choose from white or black.

Yesterday, February 10 was a date pinned by French reseller Fnac, while other resellers — like Fry’s Electronics — looked towards a launch later in the month, on February 20. BeatsX include Apple’s custom W1 chip for fast device connecting via Bluetooth, enabling users to pair them by simply powering them on and holding them near an iPhone. The major difference with Apple’s AirPods is the flex-form cable that connects each BeatsX bud to one another.

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