Google WiFi helps keep you off the internet at night

Settling in and letting go of screens for dinner or bedtime can be a struggle for both kids and adults. Scheduling time to focus somewhere besides the internet, then, might make a lot of sense. Google’s WiFi router now has a feature that can help you pause the signal in your home so you can get to bed or take care of important IRL things without the sweet distraction of WiFi.

Using the Google WiFi app, you can tell your Google WiFi to shut down at specific times in your daily schedule, like “Bedtime” or “Homework.” When the time comes, the router will pause the internet just for the devices you tell it to, making sure that keeping your kids off the internet won’t stop you from working.

Of course, Apple’s routers already have a way to set up time limits, but you need to use desktop software to make it happen. Google’s new WiFi feature is available today and should make it easier to set up a schedule if you need force yourself to put down the Snapchat at night. Sleep well!

Source: Google

This connected vibrator’s camera is disturbingly easy to hack

While your microwave definitely isn’t spying on you, it’s always important to make informed choices about which connected devices you bring into your home. Case in point: the $249 Svakom Siime Eye, Wi-Fi-enabled vibrator — which comes with a built-in camera for livestreaming and, according to security researchers at Pen Test Partners, an interface that can be easily hacked by anyone within Wi-Fi range.

The “hack” is remarkably simple, Motherboard reports, because the smart dildo creates a Wi-Fi access point with the easily guessed default password of “88888888”. Anyone picking up the signal can simply tune into the video stream, Pen Test founder Ken Munro explained, but with a little extra work researchers were able to access the device’s web server, root the device and set it up for a remote connection. According to Munro, his team attempted to contact the company about the problem for months before making their findings public.

While the Siime Eye was most likely aimed at users who want to broadcast some intimate uses for the device, giving neighbors and anyone in Wi-Fi range easy access to its stream poses an obvious security and privacy risk. It’s also not the first sex toy to compromise its users’ personal information. Last month, Standard Innovation, makers of the We-Vibe line of connected vibrators, settled a class action lawsuit for violating users’ privacy. As it turned out, We-Vibe toys were collecting and sending “highly intimate and sensitive data” back to the company’s servers without the user’s permission.

Via: Motherboard

Source: Pen Test Partners

Nintendo Switch owners report yet another issue: warping

The Nintendo Switch is the fastest-selling console in the company’s history, sure, but it hasn’t been all roses. For example, gamers have encountered significant problems with the dock and Joy-Con controllers. But wait, there’s more: Remember when the iPhone 6 famously experienced bending issues in 2014? Now, it’s the Switch that has warping troubles.

As TechnoBuffalo notes, console owners like Reddit user _NSR and others commenting on the thread are reporting that their machines are noticeably bowing, particularly after being used in docked mode. _NSR speculates this could be because the console works harder while outputting video, so it gets hot enough that internal components become more likely to expand. On the plus side, the bending doesn’t seem to affect the Switch’s functionality.

Nintendo has yet to comment on the issue, but the company is repairing affected consoles, according to a Reddit commenter. That’s nice, but this seemingly constant stream of Switch problems is still a bummer. We’re enjoying our consoles very much, but it looks like questionable quality control means that some people aren’t getting as positive an experience as others.

Via: TechnoBuffalo

Source: Reddit

How NASA’s future robots will explore frozen worlds

Delivering a rover to the surface of a distant icy world like Jupiter’s moons Europa and Titan is only half the challenge. Once on the surface, the robotic explorers will have to contend with intense space radiation, plunging temperatures that drop to hundreds of degrees below zero and miles upon miles of ice before hitting the subsurface oceans that astronomers suggest may contain life. But NASA has a plan.

“Robotic systems would face cryogenic temperatures and rugged terrain and have to meet strict planetary protection requirements,” Hari Nayar, of NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory, said in a statement. “One of the most exciting places we can go is deep into subsurface oceans — but doing so requires new technologies that don’t exist yet.” That’s why, as part of its Ocean Worlds Mobility and Sensing study, the JPL has been developing the tools future rovers will need to successfully scout frozen planets and moons.

The first challenge will be making it through the ice. Europa’s frozen crust, for example, is estimated to be anywhere between 6 and 12 miles deep. If NASA underestimates the crust’s thickness, the rover could expend all of its available energy before breaking through, bringing the mission to a quick and inglorious end. So, rather than use conventional “melt probes” which inefficiently radiate heat to bore through ice here on Earth, the JPL is instead is developing a thermally insulated device that employs a chunk of heat-source plutonium to act as the energy source. A rotating blade at the bottom of the probe would chew through the ice below it, pushing the ice chips it produces through the device’s body where they melt against the plutonium. The melt water can then be funnelled back up to the rover for biosignature analysis.

These rovers will also need to traverse the surface, not just burrow into it. The JPL has studied the effects of intense cold and vacuum on ice formation and found that ice actually behaves like grains of sand under such conditions. They pile up into berms and dunes, like the frozen deserts of Mars, only colder. Luckily, NASA’s already got nearly two decades of experience with that sort of strata and should be able to adapt the same sorts of wheels that Spirit and Opportunity utilized.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is studded with gas vents and fissures, blowing material from the moon’s interior out to the surface. These are ripe for exploration but future rovers are going to need pretty long arms to safely reach down into them. To that end, the JPL is developing a number of grippers that can extend far beyond the 8-foot reach of the Mars rovers. The agency is working on both a foldable boom arm that can pick up objects 30 feet and a projectile launcher that shoots a sampler as far as 164 feet.

But don’t expect to see these systems outside of a NASA lab anytime soon. “In the future, we want to answer the question of whether there’s life on the moons of the outer planets — on Europa, Enceladus and Titan,” Tom Cwik, who leads JPL’s Space Technology Program, said in a statement. “We’re working with NASA Headquarters to identify the specific systems we need to build now, so that in 10 or 15 years, they could be ready for a spacecraft.”

Source: NASA

Death Star-like lasers become a practical reality

Like many elements of sci-fi, the superweapon in Star Wars’ Death Star seems implausible: can you really combine multiple laser beams into one fearsome blast? Apparently, you can… if not quite as dramatically as you see in the movies. Scientists have developed a technique that uses diamond to merge multiple laser beams into more powerful ones. The key was to put an exceptionally pure diamond at the point where the beams converge, taking advantage of the crystal’s inherent tendency to send the light’s power in a specific direction. The material is good at shedding excess heat, too, which is rather important when you’re funneling a lot of laser power into a small space.

No, the invention isn’t going to be used for destroying rebellious planets. The military could certainly stand to benefit, though. Super-powerful lasers could quickly destroy drones and missiles that normally require a sustained laser attack to take down. There are some more peaceful purposes, too: for a start, spacecraft could use extra-powerful lasers to annihilate oncoming space junk. And when existing single-laser technology is frequently limited by overheating worries, it’s likely that there are many other potential uses that just haven’t been feasible until now.

Via: Phys.org

Source: Macquarie University, Wiley Online Library

Verizon is rebranding Yahoo and AOL as ‘Oath’

Somewhere along the way, Verizon’s planned purchase of Yahoo got real complicated. Thanks to security breachs of gargantuan proportions, Yahoo has lost a ton of value — and the company was struggling even when Verizon announced its intentions to buy the former internet juggernaut. Part of the value lost is in the Yahoo brand, which Verizon apparently considers toxic at this point. To that end, Verizon is changing the name of the combined Yahoo and AOL company. Business Insider first reoprted that “Oath” will be the new name of the company (which would be the parent company of Engadget). Minutes after we published this story, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong confirmed the change in a tweet.

Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36

— Tim Armstrong (@timarmstrongaol) April 3, 2017

Right now, the transaction is scheduled to close in the current quarter, which means we could hear something official about the future of the Yahoo and AOL brand names before too long. That’s a bit later than originally anticipated; the delays came from Yahoo’s huge security breach and the subsequent restructuring of the deal that saw Verizon save $350 million on its purchase.

Even before the name change became official, the internet passed swift, merciless judgement:

My Twitter feed is 60% “Oath” jokes, and this is why I love Twitter.

— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) April 3, 2017

My name suggestion for the combined websites will always be Verizon Zero Dawn

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) April 3, 2017

… well, it’s better than Tronc at least. https://t.co/9DNWbujvb1

— Tim Stevens (@Tim_Stevens) April 3, 2017

i’ll take this as a sign that the ya-hole campaign is DOA https://t.co/c4mJ8SpMzp

— Christopher Trout (@Mr_Trout) April 3, 2017

Source: Business Insider

Computer programmers can still qualify for H-1B visas

Yes, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is cracking down on the controversial H-1B category of work visas with new anti-fraud and anti-abuse measures. But it is not disqualifying computer programmers from getting the visa, contrary to reports you may have read. A recently issued “Policy Memorandum” instructs employees to stop relying on what it calls an outdated handbook to determine if an applicant’s job qualifies as a specialty occupation, but it does not deny them altogether. Not only that, the memo is really only meant to bring specifically the USCIS’ Nebraska Service Center, which stopped processing H-1B paperwork for close to ten years, up to speed. Other service centers had already been using the updated policies for assessing a candidate’s qualifications.

USCIS spokesperson Carolyn Gwathmey told Engadget that the memo “does not change any policy that we haven’t been using for several years now.” She called the move “basically cleaning house,” explaining that the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) was the only one of the four open service centers using an older handbook when processing applications. NSC, along with the Texas Service Center, stopped processing H-1B petitions in 2006, but the NSC “began to directly accept” applications again in July 2016.

Since the H-1B submission window just opened this year, the USCIS circulated the memo to ensure its employees were using up-to-date definitions of what a computer programmer’s job entails.

As a recap, the H-1B work visa was created for foreigners working in “specialty occupations,” and who typically demonstrate qualification for those jobs with four-year Bachelor’s Degrees in related fields. The handbook that the memo in question refers to accepted those with two-year associate degrees as qualified candidates for jobs as computer programmers.

The updated guidelines don’t preclude self-taught individuals from getting the visa, but it does mean they will have to provide more supporting evidence to demonstrate their ability and knowledge of the specialized skill.

Source: USCIS

Longtime Industrial Designer Leaving Apple’s Design Team

Longtime industrial designer Christopher Stringer, who has been with Apple for 21 years, is leaving the company, reports The Information.

Stringer, who is part of Jony Ive’s industrial design team and had a hand in designing the iPhone, notably testified in the ongoing Samsung v. Apple legal battle back in 2012. As he’s been working alongside Ive for many years, Stringer has had a hand in designing everything from the iPhone and iPad to the Mac over the last 20 years.

Ive’s industrial design team is notoriously private, so little else is known about Stringer, or where he might be going after Apple. His departure comes nearly two years after Jony Ive took on the role of Chief Design Officer and took a step back from the day-to-day management of the company’s design team, a task that now falls to Richard Howarth.

Stringer is the second longtime Apple designer to have left Ive’s team over the course of the last year. Daniel Coster, who was also on the team for more than 20 years, left in April of 2016 to join GoPro.

Despite the changes to the industrial design team, and some mid-2016 rumors suggesting Jony Ive might be on his way out, Apple’s design chief is said to be as devoted and involved as ever.
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Apple Reimbursing Customers Who Recently Purchased Now-Acquired App Workflow

Apple today began sending out emails to customers who purchased popular automation app Workflow in the last few weeks, letting them know that they’ll be receiving a refund for the purchase price of the app.

Apple is handing out refunds because following its recent acquisition of the Workflow app and team, it made the Workflow app free to download and removed some key functionality.

A MacRumors reader shared his refund email with us, and we’ve also seen several reports of Workflow refunds from Twitter.

Dear iTunes Customer,
Thank you for purchasing Workflow by DeskConnect, Inc. Workflow is now available for free in the App Store. Since you recently purchased this app, we have issued you a full refund in the amount of $3.23. These funds will be applied to your original payment method and may take up to five business days from the issue date to post to your account.

Regards,

iTunes Support Team
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/

For those unfamiliar with Workflow, which is now owned by Apple, it’s an automation tool that allows users to create a variety of workflows to automate tasks like creating GIFs from a series of photos, translating an article, posting photos to multiple social networks at once, calculating a tip, and tons more.

Following Apple’s acquisition of Workflow, there was an update to remove certain features, including workflow functionality that involved Google Chrome, Pocket, LINE, Telegram, and Uber, likely for legal reasons.

Apple plans to keep Workflow available in the App Store, and it is now a free download. [Direct Link]

Tag: Workflow
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Apple to Announce Q2 2017 Earnings on May 2

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2017 on Tuesday, May 2.

The earnings release will provide a look at sales of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus following Apple’s record earnings results during the first quarter of 2017. It will also provide some insight into sales of the new MacBook Pro, which came out in October.

Apple’s guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 includes expected revenue of $51.5 to $53.5 billion and gross margin between 38 and 39 percent.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released at 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern, with a conference call to discuss the report taking place at 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern. MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings release and conference call on May 2.
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