Report: Apple placating China with ad policies affecting Chinese-language media

Why it matters to you

Apple may be pressuring retailers not to place ads in targeted publications at the behest of Chinese officials.

When it comes to appeasing the local governments of profitable markets, Apple exercises a strong editorial arm. That’s according to The Australian, which reports that the Cupertino, California-based company has deliberately interfered with the Chinese-language print ad campaigns of carriers in Australia in order to curry favor with Chinese officials.

The Vision China Times, a Chinese print newspaper, was informed in August 2016 that Apple didn’t want its products to feature in any of the publication’s carrier ad placements. But a few short weeks later, ads featuring the iPhone appeared in other publications seen as “Beijing-aligned” or “[People’s Republic of China] government-influenced” Australian-Chinese media.

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

Maree Ma, the paper’s general manager, told The Australian that the last time an iPhone ad appeared in the paper was in October 2015, for the iPhone 6s. “Since then, when [Australian carrier] Telstra runs their iPhone ads, they do not place any with our paper. There was a campaign last year in 2016 we missed out on.” Ma believes The Vision China Times has been effectively “blacklisted” by Apple “for political reasons as they are trying to protect their business in China.”

The Epoch Times, another local media property, has been similarly targeted. Carrier advertising in newer issues of the magazine don’t feature Apple products, and in October 2015, the publication failed to secure a cross-promotional deal for the iPhone 6s on Telstra.

“We have never had issues with Telstra, but at the last minute they had to pull out,” a spokesperson for the Epoch Times said. “Then we asked why. (Our advertising agent) said it’s actually from Apple.”

More: Report: Facebook planning censorship tool that could pave the way for China entry

John Fitzgerald, a Swinburne University professor specializing in the study of Chinese soft power, told Apple Insider that the heavy-handed policy could be an attempt by the Chinese government to exercise media controls outside its borders. “I would not be surprised if advertisers doing business in China were considering where their products appeared, considering Beijing’s strict media controls,” the professor told Apple Insider.

It wouldn’t be the first time the government has applied pressure on advertisers to cut business ties with publications seen as critical of the regime. In 2014, a Honk Kong newspaper claimed that two London-based banks stopped advertising as a result of government interference.

And it wouldn’t be the first time Apple has bent its policies at the behest of Chinese officials. In December, Apple pulled The New York Times app from the region’s iOS App Store — allegedly for violating local regulations. Conspicuously, the decision followed the Times’ series on “hidden perks and subsidies” provided by the Chinese government to local producers.

More: Is Facebook willing to trade censorship for access to China?

Apple seems eager to do whatever it takes to gain a foothold in the veritable gold mine of the Chinese market. Last financial quarter, China generated $16.23 billion in revenue for the company and is posed to overtake the revenue generated by Europe.

Apple is taking its clean energy promise to Japan and the open sea

Why it matters to you

Apple has been pushing for clean energy for years and the latest manifestation of that comes in the form of a floating solar island.

Apple’s highly anticipated new campus isn’t going to be the only ambitiously green infrastructure — it’s got a floating island in Japan in the works, too. On Wednesday, Apple announced that its component supplier Ibiden (a company that “helps bring together the integrated circuitry and chip packages in Apple devices”) has become the first company in Japan to pledge that it will “power all of its Apple manufacturing with 100 percent renewable energy.” Calling it a “significant step forward in Apple’s efforts to help its manufacturing partners transition to clean power,” Apple is now on track to be generating more than 2.5 billion kilowatt hours per year of clean energy for manufacturing products by the end of 2018.

To make good on their promise, Ibiden is planning to invest in more than 20 new renewable energy facilities, one of which is among the largest floating solar photovoltaic systems in Japan. The impressive structure is built on a converted lumberyard to ensure that the island nation doesn’t lose too much real estate in the name of environmental friendliness.

More: Apple iPad 2017: News and rumors

“We’re proud to partner with suppliers like Ibiden who recognize that renewable energy investments are good for the environment and good for business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “As we continue our push to power our global operations with 100 percent renewable energy, it is more important than ever that we help our manufacturing partners make the same transition to cleaner sources, and set an example for other companies to follow.”

Ibiden echoed these sentiments, with Kyoichi Yamanaka, Managing Director of Ibiden’s Environment Group noting, “These innovative new clean energy investments demonstrate our commitment to doing business responsibly and economically. Our products help Apple devices run smarter, and now we’re powering our operations with smarter energy too. We’re pleased to partner with Apple and lead the way in helping Japan meet its clean energy goals.”

Apple is taking its clean energy promise to Japan and the open sea

Why it matters to you

Apple has been pushing for clean energy for years and the latest manifestation of that comes in the form of a floating solar island.

Apple’s highly anticipated new campus isn’t going to be the only ambitiously green infrastructure — it’s got a floating island in Japan in the works, too. On Wednesday, Apple announced that its component supplier Ibiden (a company that “helps bring together the integrated circuitry and chip packages in Apple devices”) has become the first company in Japan to pledge that it will “power all of its Apple manufacturing with 100 percent renewable energy.” Calling it a “significant step forward in Apple’s efforts to help its manufacturing partners transition to clean power,” Apple is now on track to be generating more than 2.5 billion kilowatt hours per year of clean energy for manufacturing products by the end of 2018.

To make good on their promise, Ibiden is planning to invest in more than 20 new renewable energy facilities, one of which is among the largest floating solar photovoltaic systems in Japan. The impressive structure is built on a converted lumberyard to ensure that the island nation doesn’t lose too much real estate in the name of environmental friendliness.

More: Apple iPad 2017: News and rumors

“We’re proud to partner with suppliers like Ibiden who recognize that renewable energy investments are good for the environment and good for business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “As we continue our push to power our global operations with 100 percent renewable energy, it is more important than ever that we help our manufacturing partners make the same transition to cleaner sources, and set an example for other companies to follow.”

Ibiden echoed these sentiments, with Kyoichi Yamanaka, Managing Director of Ibiden’s Environment Group noting, “These innovative new clean energy investments demonstrate our commitment to doing business responsibly and economically. Our products help Apple devices run smarter, and now we’re powering our operations with smarter energy too. We’re pleased to partner with Apple and lead the way in helping Japan meet its clean energy goals.”

Apple is taking its clean energy promise to Japan and the open sea

Why it matters to you

Apple has been pushing for clean energy for years and the latest manifestation of that comes in the form of a floating solar island.

Apple’s highly anticipated new campus isn’t going to be the only ambitiously green infrastructure — it’s got a floating island in Japan in the works, too. On Wednesday, Apple announced that its component supplier Ibiden (a company that “helps bring together the integrated circuitry and chip packages in Apple devices”) has become the first company in Japan to pledge that it will “power all of its Apple manufacturing with 100 percent renewable energy.” Calling it a “significant step forward in Apple’s efforts to help its manufacturing partners transition to clean power,” Apple is now on track to be generating more than 2.5 billion kilowatt hours per year of clean energy for manufacturing products by the end of 2018.

To make good on their promise, Ibiden is planning to invest in more than 20 new renewable energy facilities, one of which is among the largest floating solar photovoltaic systems in Japan. The impressive structure is built on a converted lumberyard to ensure that the island nation doesn’t lose too much real estate in the name of environmental friendliness.

More: Apple iPad 2017: News and rumors

“We’re proud to partner with suppliers like Ibiden who recognize that renewable energy investments are good for the environment and good for business,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “As we continue our push to power our global operations with 100 percent renewable energy, it is more important than ever that we help our manufacturing partners make the same transition to cleaner sources, and set an example for other companies to follow.”

Ibiden echoed these sentiments, with Kyoichi Yamanaka, Managing Director of Ibiden’s Environment Group noting, “These innovative new clean energy investments demonstrate our commitment to doing business responsibly and economically. Our products help Apple devices run smarter, and now we’re powering our operations with smarter energy too. We’re pleased to partner with Apple and lead the way in helping Japan meet its clean energy goals.”

IBM Research figured out how to store 1 bit of data on a single magnetic atom

Why it matters to you

IBM has taken a step forward in progressing magnetic storage technology to the next level with its new method of storing data on hard drives and other solutions.

IBM said on Wednesday that it has created the world’s smallest magnet by using a single atom. While many may ask what would be the point, consider that hard drives rely on magnetism to store data on their spinning discs. These drives are capable of using around 100,000 atoms to store a single bit of data. But with IBM’s new magnetic atom, one bit of data can be stored per atom, opening the door to new data storage possibilities.

What’s hard to imagine is that everything we use and access on a PC is nothing more than ones and zeroes. The smallest form of data is a bit, which either has the value of “1” (on) or “0” (off). A group of bits is called bytes, and from there you move up in size to kilobits, kilobytes, megabits, megabytes, gigabits, gigabytes, terabytes, and so on. Thus, despite what users see and hear on their devices, it’s all still a bunch of ones and zeros.

More: IBM plans to build the first commercially available universal quantum computer

The atom used in the world’s smallest magnet is from the chemical element olmium (Ho). As shown below, this atom is attached to a magnesium oxide surface so that the magnetic north and south poles of the atom stay in one position. This prevents the magnet from changing its position when other magnets are nearby. One magnetic pole defines the “1” value and the other defines the “0” value.

In the data writing process, IBM’s custom scanning tunneling microscope (pictured at the top) packs a sharp metal needle that zaps the atom to flip its magnetic poles, changing it between “1” and “0.” The data reading process uses the same instrument to determine the atom’s digital value by measuring the magnetic current passing through the atom. However, IBM’s microscope requires liquid nitrogen cooling so the atoms can be written and read, and an extreme vacuum environment to block out air molecules and other “contaminants.”

IBM Research scientists demonstrated that two magnetic atoms divided by 1 nanometer of space could be written separately. That distance equals to a millionth the width of a pin head, and indicates that magnetic storage solutions could be 1,000 times denser than today’s hard drives and NAND-based solid state drives. That could lead to storing the entire iTunes library of 35 million songs on a credit card-sized device.

Christopher Lutz, a nanoscience researcher at IBM Research, indicated that the new discovery may be ideal for data centers that rely on magnetic storage devices (hard drives, tape drives) to house incredible amounts of information. Generally available devices like smartphones, tablets, and most super-slim notebooks rely on NAND-based memory that doesn’t depend on magnetism or moving parts. That said, there’s a general shift away from magnetic storage devices due to the speed and reliability of flash-based storage.

But the discovery could lead to a new type of magnetic storage device. IBM Research talks more about its discovery in the latest publication of Nature, the international weekly journal of science.

IBM Research figured out how to store 1 bit of data on a single magnetic atom

Why it matters to you

IBM has taken a step forward in progressing magnetic storage technology to the next level with its new method of storing data on hard drives and other solutions.

IBM said on Wednesday that it has created the world’s smallest magnet by using a single atom. While many may ask what would be the point, consider that hard drives rely on magnetism to store data on their spinning discs. These drives are capable of using around 100,000 atoms to store a single bit of data. But with IBM’s new magnetic atom, one bit of data can be stored per atom, opening the door to new data storage possibilities.

What’s hard to imagine is that everything we use and access on a PC is nothing more than ones and zeroes. The smallest form of data is a bit, which either has the value of “1” (on) or “0” (off). A group of bits is called bytes, and from there you move up in size to kilobits, kilobytes, megabits, megabytes, gigabits, gigabytes, terabytes, and so on. Thus, despite what users see and hear on their devices, it’s all still a bunch of ones and zeros.

More: IBM plans to build the first commercially available universal quantum computer

The atom used in the world’s smallest magnet is from the chemical element olmium (Ho). As shown below, this atom is attached to a magnesium oxide surface so that the magnetic north and south poles of the atom stay in one position. This prevents the magnet from changing its position when other magnets are nearby. One magnetic pole defines the “1” value and the other defines the “0” value.

In the data writing process, IBM’s custom scanning tunneling microscope (pictured at the top) packs a sharp metal needle that zaps the atom to flip its magnetic poles, changing it between “1” and “0.” The data reading process uses the same instrument to determine the atom’s digital value by measuring the magnetic current passing through the atom. However, IBM’s microscope requires liquid nitrogen cooling so the atoms can be written and read, and an extreme vacuum environment to block out air molecules and other “contaminants.”

IBM Research scientists demonstrated that two magnetic atoms divided by 1 nanometer of space could be written separately. That distance equals to a millionth the width of a pin head, and indicates that magnetic storage solutions could be 1,000 times denser than today’s hard drives and NAND-based solid state drives. That could lead to storing the entire iTunes library of 35 million songs on a credit card-sized device.

Christopher Lutz, a nanoscience researcher at IBM Research, indicated that the new discovery may be ideal for data centers that rely on magnetic storage devices (hard drives, tape drives) to house incredible amounts of information. Generally available devices like smartphones, tablets, and most super-slim notebooks rely on NAND-based memory that doesn’t depend on magnetism or moving parts. That said, there’s a general shift away from magnetic storage devices due to the speed and reliability of flash-based storage.

But the discovery could lead to a new type of magnetic storage device. IBM Research talks more about its discovery in the latest publication of Nature, the international weekly journal of science.

Hey now, here’s an ‘All Star’ remix of Smash Mouth with sounds from Windows XP

Why it matters to you

The fact that XP is still creating joy more than a decade and a half from its release is good enough for us.

Although both Smash Mouth and Windows XP no longer have much official support out there, it doesn’t mean both can’t be remembered fondly. Indeed they’ve both inspired Youtuber James Nielssen to create an homage to the late 1990s standouts in a mashup video of the 1999 hit, All Star.

The wave of recent reboots, remasterings and recreations in all media shows how powerful a tool nostalgia can be and Nielsson has tapped right into that with his video. Windows XP is the operating system that for many people, defined their early years of PC usage, or at least transformed it and Smash Mouth had that song everyone loves.

Using error bongs and bings, the warm tones of the startup sound and the pings of booting programs, this take on All Star is an impressive re-creation. Many important parts of its melody are there and though we aren’t treated to a cameo from Bonzi Buddy singing, we are left with the haunting image of the Office paperclip, which still continues to stare at us with those dead eyes, two decades after its introduction.

This isn’t the only time that Nielsson has dredged up sounds of operating systems past to generate music. More recently, he managed to recreate Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony using Windows XP sounds.

Once again we’re treated to the paperclip leading the way and he’s joined by all of his error and launch sounds as before. Who would have thought the sounds of unresponsive programs and task failures could turn out to be so musically capable.

More: Someone set this The Walking Dead chase scene to Benny Hill music, and it’s hilarious

If neither of these beautiful renditions of music strikes your fancy, Nielsson’s other videos ask you all sorts of important questions, such as whether you like jazz — more than a million times.

Google algorithm can detect cancer more consistently than a human pathologist

Why it matters to you

This advance in the predictive power of Google’s relevant algorithm could mean increased accuracy in cancer diagnosis.

When it comes to diagnosing a disease as complicated as cancer, it’s natural to assume that machines just aren’t up to the task. No matter how good the algorithm or accurate the hardware, many folks naturally assume that human doctors will always spot symptoms more consistently than their mechanized counterparts. But robots, it turns out, have a major advantage: Objectivity.

In a study of breast biopsies, diagnostic agreement — the percentage of doctors who settled on a single diagnosis — was as low as 48 percent. And a 1968 study found that physicians, when given a copy of a stomach ulcer screening they’d already diagnosed, tended to disagree with themselves, rendering entirely different diagnoses.

More: Pebble publishes fitness-tracking data, launches “Happiness” app

It’s no real wonder, then, that algorithms are discovering insights that human doctors can’t. A recent Google project focused on analyzing breast biopsies used data from Camelyon16 project, which challenged participants to create cancer-detection algorithms. With the accumulated data, Google has developed a model that can match or exceed the performance of a pathologist taking an unlimited amount of time to examine images.

In preliminary tests, Google’s algorithm not only performed better than a human pathologist, but did just as well in a generalized scenario with images acquired from a different hospital. And in at least two instances, it did so faster than its human competition.

That’s not entirely surprising. As Google researchers point out in a recent blog post, pathologists are responsible for reviewing all biological tissue on a slide, and there are typically many slides per patient. Making matters worse, each slide is 10+ gigapixels when digitized at 40X magnification — a veritable mountain of information to sift through in a few hours. “Imagine having to go through a thousand 10-megapixel (MP) photos, and having to be responsible for every pixel,” Google’s Martin Stumpe, and Lily Peng wrote.

More: Could holograms help bring the end of Malaria? Experts build new tool

Google’s research is good news for cancer patients, for whom the diagnostic stakes are especially high. Diagnoses that are missed, incorrect, or delayed are believed to affect 10 to 20 percent of cases, and a 2009 report funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that 28 percent of 583 diagnostic mistakes were life-threatening or resulted in death or permanent disability.

Google notes that the algorithm isn’t a silver bullet — it can’t account for an experienced pathologist’s breadth of knowledge, for example. That’s why the search giant envisions them incorporated “in a way that complements the pathologist’s workflow,” rather than replacing the human element altogether. “We envision that algorithms such as ours could improve the efficiency and consistency of pathologists,” Stumpe wrote. “For example, pathologists could reduce their false negative rates (percentage of undetected tumors) by reviewing the top ranked predictive tumor regions including up to 8 false positive regions per slide.”

Movado will unveil five Android Wear smartwatches at Baselworld 2017

Why it matters to you

2017 is bringing a lot of options for Android Wear enthusiasts. Movado is the latest watchmaker to partner with Google, after Swarovski.

While we already know Swarovski will announce an Android Wear smartwatch “for her” at Baselworld 2017, Movado just announced it will unveil a slew of devices at the annual watch and jewelry trade show. These devices won’t launch until the fall of 2017.

Qualcomm hinted early this year that more and more Android Wear smartwatches are on the way, and what better place for them to be unveiled than at one of the largest watch trade shows in the world? Movado’s Android Wear lineup has been designed for version 2.0 of Google’s smartwatch operating system, which launched on the LG Watch Sport and Watch Style in February. The new version is expected to roll out to a handful of current smartwatches over the coming months.

More: LG Watch Sport (Android Wear 2.0) review

Movado Connect is the name of the watchmaker’s Android Wear 2.0 lineup of smartwatches, and there will be five men’s styles “with a starting price of $495.” These smartwatches will be available in the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The company said smartwatches under the Movado Connect brand will feature “five unique customizable dials” that will each also have three to four customizable elements — such as backgrounds, watch hands, and complications. Complications are like widgets that sit on the watch face, offering a shortcut and a brief glance into specific apps, such as your calendar or your fitness activity. It seems as though Movado will offer further customization of these dials than what’s currently possible on other Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches.

More: Swarovski partnering with Qualcomm, Google on an Android Wear smartwatch

They will all likely feature NFC, as Movado specifically mentions Android Pay compatiblity. Google Assistant, which was introduced in Wear 2.0, will also be present. The watchmaker said the devices will have an always-on display, round screens, improved fitness tracking (which is likely the Google Fit improvements introduced in Wear 2.0), and iOS and Android compatibility.

Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss are also two brands in the Movado Group that are also partnering will Google to introduce new devices in the fall of 2017, though nothing specific was mentioned.

Google celebrates International Women’s Day with a Doodle and much more

Why it matters to you

Women throughout history have contributed to the progress of the world and Google celebrates their achievements in a fun way.

Wednesday is International Women’s Day and Google wants to make sure you know it. Wednesday’s Google Doodles celebrates the phenomenal individuals who have contributed to the progress of the world. Google says that it’s also “supporting efforts to close the gender gap in tech and other fields” as it pays homage to women in the month of March (Women’s History Month).

The Doodle in honor of International Women’s Day is a unique interactive slideshow, which follows a young girl who embarks upon an imaginary journey that brings her to 13 remarkable women from women across the world throughout history. “From a pilot in Egypt to a dancer in India, these women may not all be household names, but they’ve all made a unique mark on the world,” Google noted. “In fact, all of them have been celebrated in a Doodle in the past, but often only in their countries of origin. Today, we’re sharing their stories worldwide.”

More: Tinder celebrates International Women’s Day by donating up to $250,000

In addition to the Doodle, Google is also highlighting the achievements of these women by way of a new Spotlight Story in Google Arts & Culture. And that is not the only 360-degree experience you can have. Thanks to Expeditions, you will be able to check out 40 new virtual field trips that explore the careers, adventures, and contributions of women.

Google-owned YouTube is also curating playlists, like “Super Women of Our Past,” “Celebrate Women’s History Month,” and “Celebrate International Women’s Day” to draw further attention to this day and this month. Google has also partnered with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering to create a machine learning-based tool that examines how often women are seen and heard on screen. They found that in Oscar-winning films, women comprise just 32 percent of screen time and 27 percent of speaking time. “Over time, we hope this project can help raise awareness of the “missing women” in media, encourage filmmakers to include a broader range of characters, and introduce young people to more diverse role models,” Google said.