Kronaby Hybrid smartwatch: Our first take

A hybrid watch for anyone who values stylish design and premium materials over extensive, and often useless, smart functionality

The hybrid is the best thing that could have happened to smartwatches. It bridges the gap for people who want a traditionally-styled watch, and also one that has smart functionality, while freeing the maker from the design constraints presented by the need to incorporate a touchscreen. Kronaby, a newcomer to the industry that has been working on its watch since late 2015, has launched four hybrid watches that crucially incorporate the best materials used in traditional watchmaking, then combines the result with smart features controlled by a custom, easy-to-use app.

Each Kronaby model has a stainless steel body, water resistance of 10 ATM, and sapphire crystal glass over the watch face.

Each Kronaby model has a stainless steel body, water resistance of 10 atmospheres, and sapphire crystal glass over the watch face. The last is probably the most important, and ensures the Kronaby watch looks and lasts like a premium traditional watch. Sapphire glass is scratch resistant and has a wonderful sheen to it, reflecting light in a very attractive way. There’s a choice of metal bracelets or leather straps to complete the look.

The sophisticated Sekel, Kronaby’s mid-range model, caught our eye. It features a polished stainless steel body with a black face that has been machined to catch the light beautifully, but it doesn’t have numbers around the face allowing for a great, clean look. The leather strap was comfortable straight out of the box. We tried on one that had been worn before, and the leather had softened up nicely, and easily wrapped around our wrist. For comparison, we also slipped on a metal bracelet, but it caught the hair on our arm instantly. We’d definitely opt for the leather here.

Easy to use app

Lightweight but still solid, the build quality felt exceptional across all the models we handled. The Kronaby Sekel was perfectly sized, but if some consider it too large, the cheaper Nord and Carat models are more suitable for smaller wrists. The most expensive Apex model is almost identical to the Sekel, but with a different face design. There are three buttons on the side of all Kronaby watches, and their functions are customizable through the app.

Like the watches themselves, Kronaby has designed and produced the app in-house, with the intention of keeping it simple, usable, and upgradable in the future. It’s very easy to use — all customisable functions rely on a drag and drop interface, so it’s easy to alter the function of each button regularly. These include checking your step count, showing the date, controlling music, or taking a picture on your phone. The experience was very similar to Fossil’s hybrid smartwatch app, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The watches track your steps and deliver notifications based on vibrations. This can be customized according to who you want to receive alerts from, so you know who is getting in contact without looking at your phone. The app works with Android and iOS, and Kronaby plans quarterly updates adding in new features, or tweaking existing ones. Sleep tracking, which isn’t included in the first release, is a possible addition in the future. But the emphasis is on simplicity, so don’t expect masses of new gestures or button press combinations to learn when new features do come.

We used the app on two different phones, saw it in action on a third, and it remained stable throughout. It alerted us when the connected phone was out of range, and it took just a few seconds for new functions to be applied to a button. Apps can be the hardest part of any connected product, but the company founders worked in technology before starting Kronaby, which has paid off here.

Stylish, but expensive

Kronaby’s dedication to getting the app experience right, and its commitment to using premium materials in the build, has translated into a relatively high price. At launch, our personal favorite Sekel model will cost 500 euros, or about $540. That’s substantially higher than hybrid watches from Fossil, including the $300 Emporio Armani model we reviewed recently. The cheapest Kronaby is 400 euros, or about $430, and the most expensive is 600 euros, or $650.

More: Read our review of the Fossil Q Crewmaster hybrid watch

You’ll need to really love the design to pay out for a Kronaby watch. Thankfully, we’re happy to say that if you do, you’ll like the product when it’s on your wrist.

Highs:

• Wide variety of designs
• Sapphire glass
• Easy to use app

Lows:

• Expensive

Asus Transformer Pro T304 is a Surface Pro 4 look-alike that can be ordered today

Why it matters to you

If you’ve been waiting for a Windows 10 2-in-1 that adds seventh-generation Intel CPUs and USB Type-C to the Surface Pro 4, then Asus has the machine for you.

Microsoft has demonstrated in a number of ways that its Surface line of innovative Windows 10 PCs is meant to lead its OEM partners to make better machines. There’s no OEM that has embraced this more than Asus, which with its Transformer Pro line has created nearly identical copies of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4.

The latest model is the Asus Transformer Pro T304, which from a distance is nearly indistinguishable from Microsoft’s version. Asus announced the machine some time ago, and it’s now available for ordering, as Liliputing reports.

More: The Asus Transformer 3 Pro is a slightly bigger, slightly better Surface Pro

The Transformer Pro T304 is a Windows 10 2-in-1 that follows Microsoft’s “tablet that can replace your notebook” tagline. That is, it’s a tablet PC first and foremost, with a 12.6-inch IPS display running at 2,160 x 1,440 resolution that’s the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the Surface Pro 4. Like all good tablets, the Transformer Pro is also a light machine at 1.8 pounds, it’s quite thin at 0.34 inches, and it utilizes a very Surface Pro-like built-in kickstand to let it stand upright or angle down to a 155-degree stance.

The device transforms into a notebook-like PC when you snap on the detachable keyboard, which offers 1.4mm of travel, and so it’s close to the sweet spot for touch typists of 1.5mm, and it also includes a decently sized multitouch touchpad supporting Windows 10 gestures.

In terms of specifications, the Transformer Pro can be configured with seventh-generation Core i5 and i7 processors, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to a 1TB PCIe x4 SSD. Connectivity is provided by a single USB 3.1 Type-C port, a USB 3.0 port, a full-size HDMI connection, and an audio jack. In this respect, at least, it’s superior to the Surface Pro 4 with its single USB 3.0 port. Windows 10 Hello support is provided by a fingerprint scanner, while an array microphone provides for Cortana voice input. Finally, the Asus Pen is the final piece of the puzzle, offering up support for Windows 10 Ink.

One area where Asus hasn’t followed Microsoft’s lead lately is with pricing. While the Surface line is usually a price leader on the high end, Asus has actually priced the Transformer Pro T304 a bit closer to the stratosphere. The model with an Intel Core i5-7200U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD is priced by retailer NCIX at $1,450. That’s more expensive than the Surface Pro 4’s retail price and even more so than the discounted prices Microsoft has been offering lately. Note that Asus includes the keyboard and pen.

You can order the Asus Transformer Pro T304 from a few vendors and get it in a week or two. Note that Microsoft could be announcing its own Surface Pro 5 sometime soon, which could offer seventh-generation Intel processors, a higher-resolution screen, and its own USB Type-C connection, if rumors hold true. If you’re not willing to wait, then the Transformer Pro might offer some of the same advantages.

Give YouTube a round of [APPLAUSE] — sound effects are now auto captioned

Why it matters to you

Video creators will no longer have to manually add sound effects to closed captioning for three sounds, while viewers can enjoy more accurately labeled videos.

YouTube deserves a round of applause — because the video platform can now include [APPLAUSE] and other sound effects in a video’s closed captions automatically. The caption expansion, announced on Thursday, March 23, is made possible by deep neural networks, a form of artificial intelligence.

For now, YouTube can only automatically label applause, music, and laughter, but those three sound effects were the descriptions content creators added manually over any other closed captioning noise. The latest feature builds on the automatic captioning feature launched in 2009 for text, but adds the first sound effects to the system.

More: YouTube viewers now tally up a billion hours — every single day

YouTube says the program works similarly to detecting objects in images, but faced a few more difficulties over object recognition. To get the program to recognize just those three sounds, YouTube engineers had to teach the program to detect those sounds, separate them temporarily and then insert that recognized sound into the captions.

The system also tended to struggle with sound effects that occurred at the same time as other sounds, like laughter and talking. Another challenge was to find a large enough data set to train the system that wasn’t already adequately labeled by manually inputting the data.

The deep learning network analyzes short segments in sequence, and is able to predict the likelihood of those sounds effects at a rate of about 100 frames per second. YouTube engineers, however, built the system in a way that will allow additional sound effects to be added to the system later.

So why applause, music, and laughter? Besides just being the most frequently manually adjusted labels in the close captioning system, each of those sounds also only has one meaning. A “ring,” YouTube explained, in offering an example, could be a ring from a doorbell, a phone, or an alarm, presenting a whole new challenge for the software.

According to YouTube, over 15 million videos with automatic captions are viewed every day. In a test of the latest update to the auto captions, two thirds said the sound effect labels enhanced the overall experience.

Gorillaz takes to Google Spotlight Stories for new VR music video ahead of album release

The future is coming on, is coming on, is coming on… in VR.

Gorillaz have a new album dropping on April 28, and they’ve taken to Google’s nascent VR platform to promote it. Partnering with Google Spotlight Stories, the new truly weird VR music video titled Saturnz Barz is available on YouTube VR with the some very interesting antics and — as always — some sick beats.

The VR video can be broken down into two portions: the main video is a 360-degree horror movie drug trip, and the beginning and end of the video put you on a seemingly normal train car watching the beginning and end of the music video on a virtual smartphone. The video gets a bit trippy, between the alien monsters and the psychedelic space journey, but judge it for yourself.

Maybe not at work, as there is a censored-but-still-very-much-naked virtual bandmate in here.

Check it out on Cardboard or Daydream, or wherever you get your VR fix!

Google Daydream

• Daydream View review
• The ultimate guide to Daydream
• These phones support Daydream VR
• Every Daydream app you can download
• Catch up with Daydream in the forums!

Google

Nova Launcher is getting a new feature that you’re going to love

Unread badges have always been a controversial piece of the home screen experience.

Some people can’t live or work without knowing how many hundreds of emails they are away from Inbox Zero. Some people just like having the badge to remind them of notifications and messages they may have ignored. Some people just can’t stand the look of ’em. Whatever camp you may be in, there’s a new kind of unread badge to try in the latest Nova Launcher beta update: Dynamic Badges.

In the notification badges section of Nova Launcher, you can now choose between Dynamic Badges, which will give little icons based on the notification it’s pulling the badges from for each app, or old-fashioned Numeric Badges.

If you choose the Dynamic Badges, your options are blessedly simple: what corner do you want them in and what size would you prefer for them. It may take restarting Nova Launcher for the badges to start populating on your home screen, but once they begin populating, you’ll see little badges in the corners of your apps and folders when you have notifications.

If the dynamic notification is on an app in a folder, rather than showing that app’s dynamic notification in the folder icon, it’ll show a tiny version of the app’s icon instead. Dynamic badges are based on notifications, and pull images from the notifications, meaning you’ll see album art if you’re playing music or a person’s face if they pester you on Slack.

They’re early, but it’s going to be an interesting experiment. This is also the first time Nova Launcher has offered notification badges without making you download a plugin for it.

If you’re interested in trying Dynamic Notifications, you can opt into the Nova Launcher beta over on Google+.

The best Android launchers for theming

The Moto G5 Plus home screen shows just how weird Google’s chat strategy is right now

Boot up a fresh new Moto G5 and get ready to be at least a little confused.

Check out the home screen for a new Moto G5 Plus and you’ll find the usual Google Apps folder full of bloatware useful Google-made apps, and on the other side of the Moto app you’ll find an icon for Google Duo. We know that Google exercises quite a bit of control over how an Android phone with the Google Play Services onboard needs to look, with some special emphasis on the home screen.

It’s not unusual for Google to want to show off new apps, so it’s not too odd to see Duo on the home page instead of in the Google folder, but Duo is alone on the home screen. There’s no Allo to be found. In fact, it’s not even installed on the phone.

Google’s messaging strategy for the future should be super clear by now. Allo and Duo, the chat and video messaging service unveiled at Google I/O last year, are the default apps for consumers. Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat, the re-branded counterparts every Android user has seen for the last couple of years, is for businesses or large groups. There’s no law saying you must use one or the other if you prefer, but the dividing lines have become fairly clear and Google seems committed to building Allo and Duo up to offer something unique and useful to users.

So why is it the new budget-friendly and surprisingly capable Moto G5 Plus, complete with Android 7.0, doesn’t reflect that strategy when you boot the phone for the first time?

Seriously, I don’t know. You tell me.

Moto G5

• Current OS version: Android 7.0
• Current security: Jan. 2017 (More info)
• Moto G5 Specs
• Top 10 things to know about the Moto G5
• Moto G5 vs Moto G4
• Hands on with the Moto G5
• Join our Moto G5 forums!

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It’s Morphin’ Time with these Power Rangers wallpapers

It’s Morphin’ Time!

This year — heck, this month — has already seen its fair share of nostalgia. And as we continue to bring back all that was awesome about the 90’s, we can’t leave out everyone’s favorite super-cheesy martial-arts-packed TV franchise: Nick Saban’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers! Now, I know there’s a lot to be apprehensive about with this reboot film, what with the big budgets and the wild new looks, but it’s still five teens with attitude against Rita Repulsor and the forces of evil.

Now grab your Power Coins and let’s go go Power Rangers!

This is actually a pretty great mash-up, because we have five “teens with attitude” who have been stereotyped not only by normal society but by the very power that has recruited them. Once we start digging into their journeys and their battles, we pull back the layers and see the complexities of each Ranger and the complexities of their relationships.

Also, can we just imagine the five of them stuck in weekend detention together?

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers n.12 – variant cover by DenisM79

The White Ranger is a fascinating arc of redemption and recovery. Tommy was the first evil Power Ranger, and when he finally was freed from Rita’s control and switched sides, he fought as the Green Ranger. Then that power was taken away from him, and he was lost… then like a Phoenix, he rose as the White Ranger, with a sick costume and an incredible new power.

The White Ranger is a reminder that even when you go into the dark, you can come back out and shine again. And by shine, I mean kick evil’s ass again and again.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers White Ranger by The-WoobiE

Pink Ranger BAM!

Ranger Pink may not be as classic and bold as red or blue, but pink is bright, vibrant, and completely ready to kick your ass! BAM!! That’s the brilliance of the Pink Ranger, it stands out, looks like an easy target, and then it will absolutely destroy you. People say they want to be Red Ranger or White Ranger, but no, I don’t want that. If I can’t be that absolutely sick teal that was Blue Mystic Ranger, then I wanna be Pink.

Real Rangers Wear Pink.

Pink Ranger BAM!

Red Ranger is the leader of the team, the first to believe in the power of the Power Rangers, a good man with a big heart and bigger muscles. Generations may come and go, styles may change, but Red Ranger is a constant, and Red Ranger is gonna call down that ridiculously sick Tyrannosaurus Rex Zord and take care of business.

Red Ranger by RedZeo5

Power Ranger use Power Coins and Power Up… and they call their Zords to fight larger threats. I get that Zordon gave them their powers and gave them the Zords, and I get that you get to name your creations, but that name is horrible. What isn’t horrible is this Megazord wallpaper, which is just about as awesome as a giant sword-wielding robot can look. The defensive stance, the lightning arcing to the tip of the sword… oooh, this just makes me want to pop some popcorn and settle in for some outrageous mecha battles and martial arts madness!

Megazord by Mephmmb

Fossil continues trying to sell smartwatches to the mainstream with new product lineup

Fossil’s new hybrid and touchscreen smartwatches combine stylish design with the powerful features of Android Wear 2.0.

Fossil was one of the first watchmakers to get in on the smartwatch game, releasing its first attempt, the Fossil Q Founder back in 2015. More recently, its second-generation smartwatches were upgraded to Android Wear 2.0, giving them most of the same functionality as the new LG Watch Sport — excluding the hardware limitations.

This week, at the Baselworld watch and jewellery conference in Switzerland, Fossil revealed a slew of new watch styles for 2017, all running on the latest Android Wear 2.0.

First, there’s the new touchscreen watches, the 42mm diameter Q Venture and 44mm diameter Q Explorist. The new watches feature Fossil’s first ever round touchscreen, offering a much more cohesive look. Both run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor and 4GB of built-in memory along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity and an improved magnetic charger. Running on Android Wear 2.0 means they allow for downloadable third-party apps and watchfaces from Google Play, along with Google Assistant integration. These new styles will start rolling out in the fall with prices starting at $255.

Fossil also unveiled its latest hybrid smartwatches, the Q Accomplice and Q Activist. Offering an unassumingly traditional watch face, these hybrids are slim yet come with functionality for activity tracking and notifications for calls, texts, emails, and calendar events. They also feature programmable “pusher” buttons on the side which can be used to take selfies with your phone, skip tracks while listening to music, or for playing a unique ringtone for those times you misplace your phone. These new styles will be available later this year and will retail with prices starting from $155.

Blending Fossil’s stylish watch design with smartwatch features, these new devices exemplify Fossil future vision for this market.

“Almost two years after our initial launch, it is abundantly clear why we entered this market: as creatives, we felt there was a void of beautifully designed smartwatches where users could customize technology to their unique lifestyle,” said Jill Elliott, Fossil’s Chief Creative Officer.

Thanks to Google’s latest Android Wear 2.0 software, 2017 is shaping up to be a huge year for Android wearables. Expect to hear more smartwatch news emerge from Baselworld, as the conference continues through the weekend, wrapping up March 30.

What do you think about these watches? Since the release of Android Wear 2.0, are you more inclined to buy a smartwatch from a traditional watch manufacturer, or are you still more comfortable buying your wearable tech from companies like LG or Motorola? Let us know in the comments!

Michael Kors returns with more Android Wear 2.0 watches, this time with jewels

Android Wear

• Everything you need to know about Android Wear 2.0
• LG Watch Sport review
• LG Watch Style review
• These watches will get Android Wear 2.0
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

Mint SIM vs. Metro PCS: Which is better for you?

How does Mint SIM stack up against Metro PCS Wireless? Here’s our comparison!

Mint SIM and Metro PCS are both mobile virtual network operators — MVNOs for short. They’re known as alternative carriers, offering consumers choices beyond the Big Four (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint).

Switching to an MVNO can save you money because they simply lease coverage from one of the larger networks and resell it to customers. Plans are often prepaid, so you don’t have to worry about overages.

Let’s take a look at two major players — Mint SIM and Metro PCS — and see how they compare to one another.

• Mint SIM background
• Metro PCS background
• Mint SIM plans
• Metro PCS plans
• Best phones available from Metro PCS
• Which should you go with?

Mint SIM background

Who owns it? Ultra Mobile

Which network does it use? T-Mobile 4G LTE

How long has it been around? Since 2016

Tethering allowed? Yes

Cheapest plan: $35 for 1 month: 2GB 4G LTE, unlimited nationwide talk, text, and 2G data

Metro PCS background

Who owns it? T-Mobile

Which network does it use? T-Mobile 4G LTE

How long has it been around? Since 1994 (originally as General Wireless). Merged with T-Mobile in 2012.

Tethering allowed? Yes, on all but the $50 unlimited data plan

Cheapest plan: $30/month: 1GB 4G LTE, unlimited talk, text, and 2G data

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Mint SIM plans

Mint SIM doesn’t operate with traditional contracts. You pay upfront for your term, which can be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months, with “buying in bulk” saving you more money in the long run. All plans include unlimited nationwide talk, text, and data, though you only get so much 4G LTE per month. Unlimited international texting is included in all plans.

1 month	$35	$50	$60
3 months	$69 ($23/month)	$99 ($33/month)	$119 ($39.67/month)
6 months	$119 ($19.83/month)	$169 ($28.17/month)	$209 ($34.83/month)
12 months	$199 ($16.58/month)	$299 ($24.92/month)	$399 ($33.25/month)

Add-ons

As far as add-ons are concerned, Mint SIM’s selection is very slim:

Extra data:

• 1GB/month: $10
• 3GB/month: $20

International credit:

Mint SIM’s plans contain no international calling, though unlimited international texting is included. You can add international calling credit to your account in $5, $10, or $20 increments.

You can see a list of international rates here.

Metro PCS plans

All Metro PCS plans include unlimited talk, text, and data, and its website features a data calculator to help you find a plan that fits your specific needs based on your estimated usage. There are no annual contracts with Metro PCS; you pay on a month-to-month basis.

— | — | —
| 1GB LTE | 3GB LTE | Unlimited LTE Data | Unlimited LTE Data (plus 8GB hotspot).spec-table

Price (monthly) | $30 | $40 | $50 | $60
Extras | | Music Unlimited | Music Unlimited | Music Unlimited

Plan Features

All plans from Metro PCS feature no annual contracts, with all taxes or regulatory fees included in the price. Voicemail and visual voicemail are included with each plan, along with Caller ID, Call Waiting and 3-way Calling.

Music Unlimited is included on $40 and higher rate plans, which lets you stream from 40+ streaming music services including Apple Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Napster, Spotify, and more without it counting against your monthly high-speed data allotment.

4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is included in all plans except for the $50 unlimited plan.

Additional Services

Napster Unlimited Music

For $10 a month, you get unlimited, ad-free access to the Napster app, which allows you to download and play your favorite music for offline listening or stream online. There are ad-free artist radio channels to choose from as well as live radio options available There are millions of songs available to be downloaded.

Mexico Unlimited

Do you have friends or family living in Mexico? Do you often vacation south of the border? For only $5 a month, you can add Mexico Unlimited to your plan and get unlimited calling to and from Mexico to mobile phones and landlines, unlimited data in Mexico just as you would receive in the U.S. (based on your $40, $50, or $60 base rate plan), as well as unlimited text messages, sending and receiving, while in Mexico.

Canada Unlimited

Essentially the same as Mexico Unlimited, except for our pals to the North. For $5 a month, you get unlimited calling to and from Canada (including mobile phones and landlines), unlimited data while in Canada (high-speed data based on your $40, $50, or $60 base rate plan), as well as unlimited text messaging while in Canada.

Value Bundle of Features

For just $5 a month, you can add five features to your account to make life easier. They include:

• Name ID: Blocks calls from unwanted, restricted, anonymous, private or unknown parties. Also includes Reverse Number Lookup and Real Time Caller ID.
• International Text Messaging: Send text messages across the globe. Find the full list of countries here.
• Voicemail to Text: Converts your voicemails to texts and delivers them straight to your phone
• Call Forwarding: Allows you to forward calls to any local number. Call Forwarding is easy to setup and use for those times when it might come in handy.
• Unlimited Directory Assistance: Unlimited calls to directory assistance for business and residential listings in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

The Premium Handset Protection Program

For an added $6 a month, Premium Handset Protection covers your device against loss, theft, damage and out-of-warranty malfunction. Includes access to Lookout Mobile Security Premium, which helps keep your device secure by backing up your data including your contacts, photos and call history, and will also send you an email alert if they suspect your phone has been stolen.

Premium Handset Protection can only be added on the day of activation.

Best phones available from Metro PCS

You can bring an unlocked phone to Metro PCS; just check compatibility first. If you don’t have a phone to bring, we recommend the following:

• Samsung Galaxy S7: $549 (after offers)
• iPhone 7 32GB: $649
• iPhone 7 128GB: $749
• iPhone 7 Plus 32GB: $769
• iPhone 7 Plus: 128GB: $869
• Samsung Galaxy S6: $299

Which should I go with? Mint SIM

Both Mint SIM and Metro PCS use T-Mobile’s network, so deciding which to go with will really depend on how much data you expect to use, and the extra features available from Metro PCS.

From a purely price-conscious perspective, Mint SIM is the better option, especially if you have an unlocked phone of your own. So long as you sign up for three months or longer at a time, you get a lot more data for your money even when compared to the Metro PCS unlimited plans. 5GB to 10GB of data a month is probably going to be more than plenty for the average person.

However, if you frequently travel to Canada and/or Mexico, then Metro PCS offers the better deal with its Canada Unlimited and Mexico Unlimited deals. Getting unlimited calling and texting, as well as being able to use your base rate data while out of country is a huge plus that simply isn’t available with Mint SIM.

Alternative carriers (MVNOS)

• What is an alternative mobile carrier?
• What are the advantages of going with an alternative carrier?
• How to make sure your phone works on a prepaid alternative carrier
• 8 Important Considerations When Switching To An MVNO
• These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.
• Mint SIM vs. Cricket Wireless: Which is better for you?

Treasury secretary doesn’t see AI as a threat to jobs

Anyone who’s been paying attention to the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence over the last decade likely will admit that those technologies are going to effect the economy in ways we can’t fully predict quite yet. For treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, however, it’s apparently business as usual. In an interview today with Mike Allen from Axios, Mnuchin said that technology that could displace jobs was “50 to 100 more years” away and that the issue is “not even on my radar screen.”

Mnuchin went on to clarify his comment a bit, noting that he doesn’t think self-driving cars use artificial intelligence because “that’s computers and using real technology we have today.” It’s a comment that shows his understanding of machine learning and AI to be rather short-sighted and outdated. Mnuchin said that he is thinking more about robots taking people’s jobs, invoking the R2-D2 droid from Star Wars, saying that a self-driving car network is “very different from artificial, you know, R2-D2 taking over your job.”

Overall, he said he’s “not at all” worried about robots or AI displacing jobs in the short term. “in fact, I’m optimistic,” he said, referring to the potential of technology to help “create productivity.” That may be true — but last December, the Obama administration released a detailed report that claimed automation and artificial intelligence could affect between nine and 47 percent of jobs over the next 10 to 20 years. There’s a lot of room for ambiguity in that figure, but even the low end of estimates is still a notable impact.

Not surprisingly, the reaction to Mnuchin’s comments from tech leaders came swiftly and with much condemnation. Futurist author Amy Web went on a tweetstorm in which she said that Mnuchin’s comment was “one of the most misguided things I’ve heard from the Trump Admin so far.” Indie developer Brian Mueller called his comments “dangerously incompetent,” while former Clinton Administration official Larry Irving said that Mnuchin’s view was “actually kind of frightening.”

Mnuchin: Losing human jobs to AI “not even on our radar screen.”

Exclusive video of GOP radar screen⬇️ pic.twitter.com/O8ufcRs3oz

— Hunter Walk ✎ (@hunterwalk) March 24, 2017

There will likely be plenty more comments condemning this viewpoint, as there are many examples of instances in which technology will start to replace jobs being done by humans. Just look at Amazon’s grocery that doesn’t need human cashiers, or the many companies working on delivery by drone — and that’s to say nothing of the impact the self-driving car will have, something Mnuchin did at least acknowledge. But when Bill Gates is proposing robot taxes to help humans find jobs when machines take over, it’s pretty short-sighted not to consider that the impact of AI will be felt sooner than later.

Source: CSPAN, Axios