The FCC doesn’t care what you think about net neutrality

By now, you’ve probably heard what FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has in store for the internet in the United States. If not, here’s the short version: Pai wants to strip the internet of its current status as a “common carrier” until Title II of the Telecommunications Act, roll back the “internet conduct standard” (a vague list of things service providers can’t do to interfere with your online experience) and open a discussion about whether we need specific “Bright Line” rules to prohibit blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. You may agree with Chairman Pai’s assessment of the situation, or you might not. (For the record, most of us around here don’t, for reasons we’ve made clear in the past.)

Either way, it’s your right as part of the FCC’s rule-making process to offer comments to the commission’s staff, and more people are doing that than ever. In 2014, when a proposed net neutrality plan was for discussion, the FCC received millions of comments on the matter — over 60 percent were in favor, and those rules were eventually adopted. While in that case, public opinion mostly aligned with the commission’s own plans, that’s probably not going to happen this time. There are reasons to support the Title II classification (among other things), and even if millions of you make your distaste known to the FCC, it probably won’t matter.

The thing to remember about FCC proceedings is that they are 100 percent not up to a public vote. You can — and should — offer your fears, concerns, your nuanced takes to these people who have been selected to serve us. With that said, remarks made recently by Commissioner O’Rielly, Chairman Pai and senior officials within the FCC make it clear that we, the people, have very little power to change their minds.

Pai broadly laid out his plan for the future of the internet in a speech (PDF) delivered at the Newseum in Washington DC yesterday, and in it, he referred to the main supporters of Title II classification as “special interests.” Groups like Free Press did advocate for the commission’s earlier Open Internet rules, and those groups certainly campaigned to get people to submit comments during the rule-making process. Still, that doesn’t mean the list of comments submitted (which is actually still growing) is invalid, or that those concerns aren’t valid. And Commissioner O’Rielly, when speaking at a FreedomWorks event, couldn’t start talking about the public response to the net neutrality rule-making process fast enough.

“I must smile when I hear proponents try to defend net neutrality’s enactment,” he said. They inevitably refer to the nearly four million comments the Commission received on the topic. Lost somehow is the simple truth that more than 1.6 million, or almost 40 percent, of those comments opposed the imposition of the rules. More importantly, Commission outcomes are not and cannot be decided by poll numbers or letter counts.”

That last point says it all, and was reiterated by senior FCC officials today when asked if massive backlash against Pai’s new rules would prompt the commission to reconsider its plans for Title II classification.

“We will of course take into account any comment that is filed, and analyze the arguments and reasoning that is made,” an official noted. “At the same time, certainly, the comments process does not function as the equivalent of a public survey opinion or poll, and what matters is the quality of the argumentation presented. The facts that are entered into the record, the legal arguments that are placed into the record; it’s not a counting procedure where we decide which side has placed more comments onto the record and that side wins.”

Put another way, Wheeler-era net neutrality opponents can complain as loud and often as they want. The FCC isn’t obliged to please them, even if a majority of commenters are opposed to Pai’s plan. Considering what the (normally five person) FCC looks like right now, it’s hard to see how supporters of the existing system even have a chance.

With the ouster of commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and former chairman Tom Wheeler’s resignation last year, the ideological leanings of FCC has shifted. Chairman Ajit Pai and commissioner Michael O’Rielly are Republican, and since Republicans have control of the Senate (if only narrowly), it stands to reason that the next commissioner will be a conservative, too. Mignon Clyburn is the third member and sole Democrat on the commission and the best case scenario for her is that she’s joined by another, even though they’ll still be outnumbered. Point is, the bench is currently — and for the foreseeable future, will be — stacked with people who will almost certainly back Chairman Pai’s plans.

ThinCase brings the headphone jack back to the iPhone in a big way

Why it matters to you

Many cases offer these individual features, but few unite them in one package as ThinCase does.

When the iPhone 7 debuted without a 3.5mm headphone jack, as many had feared, two things happened: a sizable chunk of Apple’s user base was annoyed, and a new industry for accessory makers was born. Many companies, like Incipio and Fuze, introduced cases that revived the headphone jack, in most cases alongside an external battery.

Many of these products are just fine, but there’s always room for improvement. A campaign launched a little over a week ago on Indiegogo aims to add a little more utility than just a headphone jack or extra battery, and it’s called ThinCase.

ThinCase is unique for a couple of reasons. First, despite packing both those features, it is considerably thinner than the competition — even Apple’s own Smart Battery Case with the awkward hump. ThinCase adds slightly less than 5mm of bulk to the back of the iPhone 7, and the company is offering the product for the iPhone 6 and 6S ranges as well.

ThinCase

Better yet, although it’s more slender than Apple’s first-party case, it packs a significantly larger battery — 3,000mAh, compared to Apple’s 2,365mAh. You’re not paying any extra for it, either and you’ll actually pay less, if you’re one of ThinCase’s early bird backers. The case is currently available for $60, with shipping slated to begin just around the corner in June. The campaign is already well over 400-percent funded, and at the time of writing there’s still 22 days remaining.

But ThinCase’s real party piece is its kickstand. The case is functionally comprised of two halves that utilize the base as a hinge, and that clamp together with your phone sandwiched in between. The front half has a raised lip, and you can rotate it back to prop your iPhone up on a surface.

It’s an elegant and useful feature that also calls attention to how easy the designers have seemingly made the case to put on or take off. While many cases are overly form-fitted and difficult to slip on without causing damage (looking at you, Apple silicone case), putting your iPhone in the ThinCase is really as simple as plugging it in to the Lightning port, and snapping the top half closed.

Speaking of Lightning ports, ThinCase has one — which is not as common as you’d think among battery cases for Apple’s smartphones. The product works as a pass-through, topping up your iPhone’s battery first before charging the case’s. LED indicator lights on the rear show you the level of juice in the case with the press of a button.

Few cases include all of these features — a headphone jack, external battery, and kickstand — and fewer still accomplish this integration while still being reasonably compact. Many battery cases don’t even work with Apple’s included Lightning EarPods.

You can check out ThinCase and snap one up for yourself on Indiegogo. Conversely, you can find our picks for the best iPhone 7 battery cases here.

Acer’s focus grows with a new smartwatch, VR headset, and 360 camera

Why it matters to you

Acer’s side projects are helping bring Windows Holographic closer to fruition, among other beneficial partnerships.

Acer’s announcement-packed Next@Acer event included a slew of products ranging from gaming computers to slim laptops, with a varying set of release dates. A few don’t quite fit into any other major product releases, instead focusing on emerging and developing areas of technology with novel additions to the concept.

First up, the Acer Leap Ware takes the fitness smartwatch and refines it with a couple of key features that play well as a team. Instead of Android Wear, Acer developed its own smartwatch software, built on a MediaTek MT2523 chipset with an MT2511 for heart rate sensing. With a screen built from Corning Gorilla Glass and an IPX7 water resistance rating, users will not have to worry about an unexpected rainstorm or accidental damage, and a built-in LED helps for those who do not take their phone on a run. Acer also provides social features through the Liquid Life app, where users can share their workouts and battle for coins in the Liquid Life marketplace. The Leap Ware will hit shelves in North American in July, starting at $139.

Next up, two products with less clear release dates. The first is the Acer Holo 360, a 360-degree camera that also makes phone calls. It has 4G built right in and a small screen, which allows for quick viewing, editing, and sharing, all without a smartphone.

Acer also announced that it’s working with Microsoft on the mixed reality headset units promised for Windows Holographic, and that development kits are already in capable hands. No word on when either of those products will find their way into users’ homes, or how much they will cost when they do.

Acer continues to find new and intriguing ways to reach into different product categories. We have been waiting for mixed reality headsets in particular for quite some time, so any sign of progress is appreciated. That said, Acer’s focus continues to fall squarely on computers, which made up the bulk of the content at this year’s press conference.

Acer’s focus grows with a new smartwatch, VR headset, and 360 camera

Why it matters to you

Acer’s side projects are helping bring Windows Holographic closer to fruition, among other beneficial partnerships.

Acer’s announcement-packed Next@Acer event included a slew of products ranging from gaming computers to slim laptops, with a varying set of release dates. A few don’t quite fit into any other major product releases, instead focusing on emerging and developing areas of technology with novel additions to the concept.

First up, the Acer Leap Ware takes the fitness smartwatch and refines it with a couple of key features that play well as a team. Instead of Android Wear, Acer developed its own smartwatch software, built on a MediaTek MT2523 chipset with an MT2511 for heart rate sensing. With a screen built from Corning Gorilla Glass and an IPX7 water resistance rating, users will not have to worry about an unexpected rainstorm or accidental damage, and a built-in LED helps for those who do not take their phone on a run. Acer also provides social features through the Liquid Life app, where users can share their workouts and battle for coins in the Liquid Life marketplace. The Leap Ware will hit shelves in North American in July, starting at $139.

Next up, two products with less clear release dates. The first is the Acer Holo 360, a 360-degree camera that also makes phone calls. It has 4G built right in and a small screen, which allows for quick viewing, editing, and sharing, all without a smartphone.

Acer also announced that it’s working with Microsoft on the mixed reality headset units promised for Windows Holographic, and that development kits are already in capable hands. No word on when either of those products will find their way into users’ homes, or how much they will cost when they do.

Acer continues to find new and intriguing ways to reach into different product categories. We have been waiting for mixed reality headsets in particular for quite some time, so any sign of progress is appreciated. That said, Acer’s focus continues to fall squarely on computers, which made up the bulk of the content at this year’s press conference.

We noshed on Nougat, and Android 7.0 is Google’s sweetest update yet

It’s dessert time, and today we’re getting a special treat — Nougat. After more than 5 months of developer previews in the Android Beta Program, the official release of the newest Android flavor is here. We will periodically be updating this post with more Nougat-related features we uncover, such as how Night Mode is still available in the final release.

“Today, we’ll begin rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat to Nexus devices,” Sameer Samat, vice president of Product Management at Android and Google Play, wrote in a blog post. “And with more ways to make Android your own, it’s by far our sweetest release yet.”

It certainly is Android’s “sweetest release.” After 5 months of using it, we think Nougat brings more customization, multi-tasking power, and maturity to the operating system as a whole. Nougat is all about function and providing users more granular controls — and that extends to allowing developers to add more features that would make using the operating system more useful. Direct Reply, which lets you quickly respond to emails, messages, and more in the notifications, is one prime example.

If you have an Android device that can upgrade to 7.0 Nougat and you can’t wait, go ahead and install it. The rollout seems have to gone smoothly, and there have not been any system-breaking bugs, or complaints of one. You’ll be pleased to know that Google is already working on the first maintenance build of Nougat, which is due to be released in the fall.

“We’re moving Nougat into a new regular maintenance schedule over the coming quarters,” according to the Android Developers Blog.  “In fact, we’ve already started work on the first Nougat maintenance release, that will bring continued refinements and polish, and we’re planning to bring that to you this fall as a developer preview.”

So perhaps we’ll not only see monthly security updates, but also monthly version updates.

Unless you’re in a rush to get a new phone, it’s best to wait until you can snag a device with Nougat already installed. After all, we all know it can take ages to get the latest version of Android on non-Nexus phones.

Android 7.0 Nougat rolls out to select devices

Android 7.0 Nougat is currently rolling out to Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, and Pixel C devices. Android One’s General Mobile 4G is also getting the update. If you own another Android device, you’ll have to check with your carrier and manufacturer to see when and if the update is coming to you. We’ll keep you updated as more devices gain access to Nougat.

“The Nexus and Pixel C update to Android 7.0 Nougat occurs in stages and some carriers will receive the update later than others,” according to Google’s blog post. “This update will be pushed simultaneously to devices in the Android Beta Program.”

Coming a little over a month after Developer Preview 5, there’s not much of a difference between the official version and the most recent beta version. It seems as though Google is saving some specific features, such as the rumored Nexus Launcher and integration with the Google Assistant for the upcoming Nexus devices.

Other manufacturers are faring a little better — the LG V20 will be the first Android smartphone that ships with 7.0 Nougat, and you can read more about it here. It’s the first time an Android version is launching on a new device that’s not a Nexus phone.

Still, Google says there are now more than 250 “major features” in Nougat including multi-window support, which lets you split two apps in one screen; bundled notifications, which lets you act on incoming emails, messages, and tasks without having to leave an app; and support for Google’s upcoming virtual reality platform, Daydream. Let’s take a closer look.

Hands on Android 7.0 Nougat

Notifications get a visual refresh and more power

The first noticeable big change from Marshmallow to Nougat is the notification drawer, and with notifications themselves. Notifications wrap all the way to the edges of the screen and don’t have rounded corners anymore.

Gone are the spaces between each notification as well — just a single, thin line separates them. It certainly looks a lot neater and more mature compared to notifications in Marshmallow, though it may take some getting used to. If developers utilize Nougat APIs like Direct Reply, you’ll easily be able to act on certain notifications without having to tap on them and disrupt what you’re currently doing.

For example, Direct Reply lets you respond to notifications from apps like Facebook Messenger, Hangouts, WhatsApp, and more straight from the notification tray. What’s neat is that once you respond, the notification doesn’t disappear — you’re able to see most of the conversation thread, including your own messages.

Notifications are also bundled, meaning that if you get more than two emails, you’ll still be able to see and act on each of them by swiping down with two fingers. This applies to other apps that implement bundling — Trello, for example, lets you respond to every comment you’re tagged in on various cards through the notifications alone.

Moving notifications slightly left or right will display a gear icon. This brings up a slider that lets you choose the level of importance of the notification — you can also access this setting by pressing and holding on a notification. These “levels” go all the way from Level 0 to Level 5, meaning you can either block notifications from the app or allow it to “always peek, and allow full-screen interruption.” Of course, there are four other levels to choose from in case you want to customize how notifications interrupt you.

It’s this kind of functionality that makes Nougat more powerful than previous iterations of Android.

Quick settings are more useful

Swiping down from the top of the home screen pulls down a small bar with five quick access settings tiles. Tap on a tile to turn the setting, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, data, or the flashlight, on or off. You can change these tiles to your liking, and the plan is that developers would be able to add new tiles for their own apps. We have yet to see this implemented, though.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

There’s also an expand button on the far right that lets you see your full notification tray, or you can swipe down again. The notification tray is now a single color, and you can swipe horizontally to see more tiles if you have them.

The edit button at the lower right of the tray lets you rearrange the tiles and remove them completely as well. Tapping on a tile opens up more details. For example, if you tap on Wi-Fi you’ll see networks you can connect to near you. Press and hold these tiles to go into the respective page in the Settings app.

Trint text-to-speech web app takes the pain out of transcription

Why it matters to you

Hate transcribing audio? You’re not alone. Trint is a great text-to-speech web app that can listen to long blocks of audio and transcribe it almost flawlessly.

Sometimes stories about breakthrough artificial intelligence systems make us worry about the prospect of robots snapping up good jobs. Other times they’re automating a job so time-consuming and mind-numbingly dull that we really couldn’t be happier about the imminent machine takeover.

Guess which one of these categories “transcribing lengthy passages of audio” falls into?

The groundbreaking tool in question is a web app called Trint, a portmanteau of “transcription” and “interview,” which promises to listen to long blocks of text and transcribe it almost flawlessly. It can even do neat things like distinguishing between multiple people in a recording, or letting you assign time code to your transcription for later reference.

“We use the best automated speech-to-text you will find,” CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Kofman told Digital Trends. “With reasonably clear audio we can return transcripts that are 95-98 percent accurate. When you take very clear speakers like Trump or Obama, our automated transcripts are often 99 percent accurate. People tell us they think what we’ve built is magic.”

As a former journalist, Kofman appreciates that professionals such as researchers, lawyers, and others need to know that they can trust their transcripts. As a result, Trint marries two pieces of software to allow for a toolset that not only carries out automated speech-to-text, but also provides a simple, intuitive way to quickly search, verify and if necessary correct the output.

As such, the software comprises both a text editor and audio/video player, which lets users check the finished product like a karaoke track, with both video and text on screen at the same time. If they spot an error, it’s incredibly easy to correct it.

Trint can transcribe in North American, British and Australian English, along with 12 other languages including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian. Kofman notes that it’s no miracle worker — so you’ll need to provide decent audio to get a good output — but it’s amazing what it can do.

The service is currently available, priced at $10-15 per hour depending on the type of audio. If you want to check it out as a comparison to existing dictation tools, Trint offers a free 30-minute trial.

“In the coming months, you will see Trint begin to release a series of publishing tools and social media integrations that for the first time will make it easy to quickly and cost-effectively transcribe and share recorded content, and instantly make it searchable on Google,” Kofman said.

Acer goes crazy with Triton 700, Helios 300 gaming laptops, and a 4K HDR gaming monitor

Why it matters to you

Acer is addressing the casual gaming market with three new laptops and a desktop monitor just before students return to school this fall.

On Thursday during Acer’s press event in New York City, the company revealed five new products for PC gamers — three laptopsone desktop monitor, and an updated desktop. They are part of the company’s overall back-to-school rollout, which will begin shipping to stores later this summer, and apparently includes the “lifestyle gamer” crowd. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Nitro 5

Acer started its gaming-focused segment by teasing the audience with the Nitro 5, which is pictured above. Although the company confirmed the unit will arrive sometime in July, Acer didn’t reveal much about its specs. Instead, Acer confirmed it was indeed a “tease” after the presentation.

What we do know is that the Nitro 5 relies on Acer’s CoolBoost technology, which enables users to manually adjust the speed of the fan cooling the innards inside. This enables Acer to inject the slim notebook with seventh-generation Core processors from Intel, and discrete GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB/4GB) or GTX 1050 Ti graphics chips.

Other minute details spilled during the press conference include PCI Express-based SSD storage and Dolby audio.

Predator X27

The Predator X27 desktop display will support Nvidia’s G-Sync technology for synchronizing the visuals on-screen with the output of a GeForce graphics chip. This prevents screen tearing, stuttering, and visual input lag caused when the display and graphics chip are generating frames at different rates. This tech is backed by High Dynamic Range (HDR) for the blackest of blacks and incredibly bright whites for a huge, rich color spectrum.

Even better, the panel is based on Quantum Dot Technology, which relies on nanocrystals of different sizes, each of which can emit light at different frequencies. The panel also sports 384 individual backlights that can be controlled on a per-light basis, providing perfect void-like blacks and a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits (the average display is only around 300 nits).

There will actually be two models released later this summer: the vanilla “flat” Predator X27 with a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution at 144Hz, and the curved Predator Z2271UV with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and a curvature of 1800R. The latter curvy model will sport a ZeroFrame edge-to-edge design, support for 125 percent of the sRGB color space, a 1mn response time (3ms native), and an overclocked 165Hz refresh rate.

Not mentioned during the show is that both panels will include integrated Tobii eye-tracking technology. We presume Acer plans to sell displays with and without the Tobii technology, but we won’t know the full scoop until Acer gets ready to toss the monitors out into the PC gaming community later this year.

Here are the specs provided by Acer during the press briefing:

Predator Z271UV
Predator X27
Panel Type:
TN
IPS
Max resolution:
2,560 x 1,440 @ 165Hz
3,840 x 2,160 @ 144Hz
Response time:
1ms
4Ms
Contrast ratio:
1,000:1 typical
100M:1 (ACM)
Brightness:
400 nits
1,000 nits (peak)
Color space:
sRGB 130 percent
DCI-P3 95 percent
Adobe RGB 99 percent
sRGB 100 percent
DCI-P3 96 percent
Color support:
16.7 million
1.07 billion
Color depth:
8-bit
10-bit
Ports:
1x HDMI 1.2
1x DisplayPort 1.2
4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C
Audio output
1x HDMI 2.0
2x DisplayPort 1.4
Audio:
2x 7-watt speakers
2x 7-watt speakers

Acer goes crazy with Triton 700, Helios 300 gaming laptops, and a 4K HDR gaming monitor

Why it matters to you

Acer is addressing the casual gaming market with three new laptops and a desktop monitor just before students return to school this fall.

On Thursday during Acer’s press event in New York City, the company revealed five new products for PC gamers — three laptopsone desktop monitor, and an updated desktop. They are part of the company’s overall back-to-school rollout, which will begin shipping to stores later this summer, and apparently includes the “lifestyle gamer” crowd. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Nitro 5

Acer started its gaming-focused segment by teasing the audience with the Nitro 5, which is pictured above. Although the company confirmed the unit will arrive sometime in July, Acer didn’t reveal much about its specs. Instead, Acer confirmed it was indeed a “tease” after the presentation.

What we do know is that the Nitro 5 relies on Acer’s CoolBoost technology, which enables users to manually adjust the speed of the fan cooling the innards inside. This enables Acer to inject the slim notebook with seventh-generation Core processors from Intel, and discrete GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB/4GB) or GTX 1050 Ti graphics chips.

Other minute details spilled during the press conference include PCI Express-based SSD storage and Dolby audio.

Predator X27

The Predator X27 desktop display will support Nvidia’s G-Sync technology for synchronizing the visuals on-screen with the output of a GeForce graphics chip. This prevents screen tearing, stuttering, and visual input lag caused when the display and graphics chip are generating frames at different rates. This tech is backed by High Dynamic Range (HDR) for the blackest of blacks and incredibly bright whites for a huge, rich color spectrum.

Even better, the panel is based on Quantum Dot Technology, which relies on nanocrystals of different sizes, each of which can emit light at different frequencies. The panel also sports 384 individual backlights that can be controlled on a per-light basis, providing perfect void-like blacks and a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits (the average display is only around 300 nits).

There will actually be two models released later this summer: the vanilla “flat” Predator X27 with a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution at 144Hz, and the curved Predator Z2271UV with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and a curvature of 1800R. The latter curvy model will sport a ZeroFrame edge-to-edge design, support for 125 percent of the sRGB color space, a 1mn response time (3ms native), and an overclocked 165Hz refresh rate.

Not mentioned during the show is that both panels will include integrated Tobii eye-tracking technology. We presume Acer plans to sell displays with and without the Tobii technology, but we won’t know the full scoop until Acer gets ready to toss the monitors out into the PC gaming community later this year.

Here are the specs provided by Acer during the press briefing:

Predator Z271UV
Predator X27
Panel Type:
TN
IPS
Max resolution:
2,560 x 1,440 @ 165Hz
3,840 x 2,160 @ 144Hz
Response time:
1ms
4Ms
Contrast ratio:
1,000:1 typical
100M:1 (ACM)
Brightness:
400 nits
1,000 nits (peak)
Color space:
sRGB 130 percent
DCI-P3 95 percent
Adobe RGB 99 percent
sRGB 100 percent
DCI-P3 96 percent
Color support:
16.7 million
1.07 billion
Color depth:
8-bit
10-bit
Ports:
1x HDMI 1.2
1x DisplayPort 1.2
4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C
Audio output
1x HDMI 2.0
2x DisplayPort 1.4
Audio:
2x 7-watt speakers
2x 7-watt speakers

Google’s latest app makes it easier to book appointments at the salon

Why it matters to you

Booking and managing appointments can be a bit of a pain, but Google’s latest service could make it much easier.

Google wants to make it easier for stores and services to book and maintain appointments. Area 120, the Google incubator responsible for things like voice messenger Supersonic, has begun developing another service — Appointments.

The company uses hair salons as an example of using Appointments, but it would be easy to see how it could be applied to any service in which you make appointments. The project has not been publicly released just yet, but the website is live at salon.area120.com.

“Upgrade your schedule with a faster, smarter, and simpler booking app. Our free new phone line protects your privacy and automatically turns client-texts into booking links. Add in online booking and automated advertising — you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it,” the page says.

So, not only does the service offer online tools, but it also goes a step further with tools like the ability to turn SMS client texts into booking links. The website works on both desktop and mobile devices and if you need to book an appointment, you will be able to see up to a week of availability. On the business website, you will also be able to see things like services offered, directions, contact info, and more.

Google has been making a serious effort to expand Google Maps with more and better business listings and this product could help the company gather more information to ultimately use in Maps. Of course, it is also helpful for businesses, which could better set up their web presence through the service.

The product could also be a competitor to Microsoft’s Bookings, a service that was announced as part of Microsoft Office 365 last year. Having a service from Google could be very helpful, as it may better integrate with Google’s already-existing suite of productivity tools.

We will have to wait and see how big Appointments’ full potential is and we will likely get an official announcement of the product from Google in the near future.

Help marine biologists eliminate an invasive species with an underwater robot

Why it matters to you

The Guardian LF1 may be our best bet to save native species along the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico.

Off the eastern coasts of the United States and in seas throughout the Caribbean, a beautiful but destructive creature creeps along, disrupting every habitat it inhabits. The lionfish is a relatively new resident in the Atlantic, likely having been released by fish hobbyists about 30 years ago. But the invasive species quickly spread and now occupy waters as far north as Rhode Island and as far south as Panama.

“The problem with the lionfish is it’s like Darwin’s nightmare,” marine biologist Oliver Steeds told PBS NewsHour last August. With vicious spines and an appetite to match, lionfish have no natural predators in the Atlantic so they easily take over. And, once they do, they’re practically impossible to control. Steeds is the mission direction of Nekton, the organization behind Robotics in the Service of Environment (RSE) a nonprofit that’s developing a lionfish exterminator.

After months in development, RSE has now launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund its Guardian LF1 robot and its fight against the lionfish.

Guardian LF1 – Lionfish catching robot

The Guardian is a tethered robot made up of eight thrusters that allow it to perform a number of complex maneuvers while remaining stable in undersea currents. Two rods at the front of the device are designed to administer a low, controlled voltage that temporarily stuns the fish while jets of water suck the prey into a holding tube. Once collected from the tube, the lionfish can be culled and used for food — apparently they’re delicious.

In fact, a number of projects have been encouraging people to hunt and eat lionfish for years. Florida even had an app for that. The problem is, while spear fisherman can get to them in the shallows, most lionfish live at depths of around 200 feet, which is too deep for the average diver. RSE’s Guardian solution is designed specifically to get to these depths.

In supporting the project, backers can get rewards that include a lionfish fishing permit ($10), a lionfish cookbook ($25), and an “Eat ’em to Beat ’em” sweatshirt ($65).