US laptop and tablet ban could extend to UK and Europe

The US is reportedly considering expanding its airline laptop and tablet ban to include the UK and Europe.

Flights to the States from several countries in the Middle East and Africa are already affected, with passengers not allowed to carry electronic devices larger than a smartphone in their hand baggage. Any larger devices are required to be stored in checked-in luggage and therefore not used during the flight at all.

Now CBS News claims the Department of Homeland Security in the US is looking at extending the ban to flights from Europe, possibly including the UK.

Government officials, it says, have met with US Airlines and a decision is expected “in the next few weeks”.

• Emirates gets round laptop ban by handing out Microsoft Surface tablets to passengers

If it is decided that a similar security threat could originate in Europe, you will not be able to take a laptop, tablet, games console (such as the Nintendo Switch), camera or any other electronic device other than a phone with you on a long haul flight to the States. You will have to check them in your cases.

How this will be managed is still unclear at present. Will you be checked at security for devices in correlation to your ticket – as many passengers will pass through the same security area who are not travelling to the US? Or will all passengers be double-checked the gate? Either way it could cause lengthy delays.

The UK also has an electronics travel ban in place. Passengers travelling to the UK from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia are already similarly affected.

IBM Watson adds voice commands to ‘Star Trek: Bridge Crew’

Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew won’t just put you in a VR starship when it finally launches. It’ll also give you the power to interact with the virtual Starfleet crew with your voice. The company has teamed up with IBM to add Watson’s interactive speech capabilities to the game, so you can tell a crew member to launch a missile — and maybe even pompously add “make it so” in the end — instead of using manual controls. Bridge Crew was supposed to launch last year but was plagued with numerous delays. It’s now scheduled to come out on May 30th for the PC and PS4, with Watson’s voice commands to follow later this summer during a Beta period.

Ubisoft’s senior creative director David Votypka Sr. says:

“We have been eager to find the right way to use interactive speech further the immersive and interactive experiences that virtual reality offers. Watson gives Captains in Star Trek: Bridge Crew the ability to issue commands to non-player crew members in the same way they do with a human crew; by using their voice. IBM provides an easy to integrate solution that is cloud based, so it’s light on code and performance while letting us remain fast on feature turnaround.”

While you’ll have to wait a few more weeks after the game launches to access voice control, developers can access the feature right now. They can also take advantage of the “VR Speech Sandbox” IBM uploaded to Github, which contains Watson’s Unity SDK, Speech to Text and Conversation. It can help them build VR user interfaces with voice interaction and could lead to even more immersive VR games in the future.

Source: IBM (Github), Ubisoft

The Morning After: Thursday, May 11th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

It’s Thursday, which in this case means we’re prepping for the second day of Microsoft’s Build 2017 conference, and it’s one you probably won’t want to miss. Take a look through Wednesday’s highlights, then check back for our live blog of the keynote speech starting at 11:30AM ET.

Vertical integration.Pre-orders are open for Tesla’s Solar Roof

Elon Musk’s quest to intervene in your energy use continues with new solar tiles. The company says it will cost an average homeowner around $21.85 per square foot, cheap enough to be cost competitive with standard tiles (when you add in the cost of electricity). However, unlike a Model S, these aren’t for showing off how green you are. Using a mix of nearly-identical solar and non-solar tiles, they’ll blend in and can be adjusted for expected energy use. Interested buyers can place their order now, with installations beginning this summer.

An amphibious ‘personal’ aircraftIcon A5 plane crash kills two, including its lead designer

When we rode in an Icon A5, it felt like ‘the iPod of planes,’ but the difference is that in-flight problems can have serious consequences. On Monday, two Icon employees were killed while flying at its facility in Lake Berryessa, CA. The cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation by the NTSB and FAA. Passenger Cagri Sever was a new employee who had recently joined the company from Ford, while pilot Jon Karkow designed the $190,000 A5.

Where is Ja, what does Ja think?Fyre Festival: When shilling for an event goes wrong

Maybe you’ve heard of the Fyre Festival by now. Billed as a music event in the Bahamas for the selfie generation, it ended with travelers eating cheese sandwiches in refugee tents due to horrifically poor planning and execution. Now the lawsuits are flying, and that could be bad news for the social media influencers who were paid to convince their fans to make the trip.

E-books over the Atlantic.DHS reportedly considers banning carry-on laptops on flights from Europe

After banning carry-on laptops for flights from some Middle Eastern and African countries, The Daily Beast reports that today the Department of Homeland Security will expand its ban to all flights from Europe. A DHS spokesperson confirmed a change is “under consideration,” but claimed no final decision had been made.

Silly rules.Netflix’s future at Cannes is in doubt

This year, Netflix original movies will be shown at Cannes Film Festival for the very first time. Unfortunately, it could also be the last time, thanks to a French law saying that movies shown in theaters can’t come to streaming for three years. Due to protests by exhibitors, the festival says that in the future it won’t accept entries unless they also play at theaters across France.

Ditch the calipersThe ShapeScale 3D scanner can color-code your body changes

If your fitness efforts require an even higher degree of precision, this device includes a camera mounted on a rotating arm that will 3D scan your body. The idea is that it will create a “heat map” to identify where your workouts are making an impact, without having to wait to see those changes reflected in the mirror you already own. The ShapeScale is expected to start shipping in 2018; preorders are now open for $299.

But wait, there’s more…

• Verizon reportedly outbid AT&T for key 5G wireless spectrum with a $3.1 billion offer
• ‘The Sims’ find a new home on iOS and Android
• Microsoft PowerPoint adds AI-powered real-time presentation translation
• Netflix HDR streaming arrives on Android
• Microsoft takes aim at Alexa with Cortana Skills Kit

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.

UberEats has London’s need for late-night munch covered

We’ve all been there. You get home late, the local chippy has shut up shop for the night, and you’re starving. In London, UberEats already has the hangover cure covered with the addition of breakfast deliveries earlier this year. Now, the service wants to cash in on late-night munchies in the capital too. As of today, UberEats has extended its London opening hours from 11PM to 2AM, with over 150 partner “restaurants” able to meet your midnight snack requirements — calling them restaurants might be a bit of a stretch, because we’re talking Papa Johns, Roosters PiriPiri and similar establishments that serve ravenous dinner-skippers already.

It’s not like Londoners have been going to bed hungry before now. Deliveroo still calls it a night at 11PM, but Hungryhouse and Just Eat have plenty of eateries on their books that’ll send a midnight moped ’round to wake the neighbours. There’s nothing wrong with more choice, mind, and it means you can now schedule a late-night grub delivery to coincide with the arrival of your post-pub Uber home.

Europe’s top court advised to treat Uber like a taxi company

Uber is a service that enables people to get from one place to another, but don’t you dare call it a taxi company. That way lies a whole mess of burdensome regulations that the startup has fought tooth-and-nail to avoid. Unfortunately, Travis Kalanick and co. may not be able to get away with the ruse much longer in Europe, as a senior expert has suggested that Uber might just be in the transport business.

The European Court of Justice is being asked to decide on a case between Uber and a body representing taxi drivers in Barcelona. Like many other taxi bodies around the world, the Asociación Profesional Elite Taxi believes that Uber operates as unfair competition. A Spanish commercial court, hearing the complaint, referred parts of the case to the higher, European court, which will rule on it later this summer.

Before the hearing, a question was referred to one of the court’s advocate generals, Maciej Szpunar to weigh in on. He was asked to determine what Uber’s business model was, since Uber positions itself much like so many of those gussied-up hotel-booking platforms. As such, it shouldn’t be bound by the same rules on background checks, safety and insurance. In his opinion, however, Uber is not simply a way for people to connect to drivers, but something far more meaningful.

Szpunar believes that Uber drivers “do not pursue an autonomous activity that is independent of the platform,” and wouldn’t even be Uber drivers without Uber. Secondly, Uber “imposes conditions” on its drivers that go beyond the hands-off approach of so many e-commerce platforms. Szpunar also points out that Uber hands bonuses to drivers who perform well and, conversely, excludes low-performing drivers.

All of these, in Szpunar’s opinion, means that the company “cannot be regarded as a mere intermediary between drivers and passengers.” In addition, the fact that its reason for being is to move people from one place to another, so it’s a transportation company. Put simply, if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck, no matter how hard Travis Kalanick says otherwise.

We’ve probably explained hundreds of times by now that these advisory documents are not binding decisions. But, opinions like this are often used by the court to make its judgments and frequently reflect how the court is thinking. So while, for now, Uber can continue to go about its business, plenty of eyes will be pointed towards Europe to see what the judges decide.

Source: Europa (.PDF)

Jobs Biographer Walter Isaacson: Apple ‘No Longer the Most Innovative Company’

Walter Isaacson, the biographer of Steve Jobs, went on record this week to express his belief that Google and Amazon have overtaken Apple to become the most innovative technology companies of the modern day.

The Aspen Institute CEO and writer of the best-selling biography made the frank remarks in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” show, during which he singled out Apple’s lack of movement in the virtual assistant space as an example of where the company had been left behind.

Image via CNBC

“Apple is no longer the most innovative of companies,” Isaacson said. “But they are good at execution. The innovation in the virtual assistant space, for example, is coming from Google and Amazon, not Apple.”

Isaacson said he was “surprised” that Apple hasn’t moved its virtual assistant Siri into the home and claimed that he frequently used both Amazon’s Echo speaker and Google Home. “Sometimes I let them compete,” he said.

Apple is expected to release a smart speaker with Siri integration soon, possibly as early as next month at WWDC. However, Isaacson thinks it could be too late for the company to catch up in that space, and suggested Apple should at other areas in which to innovate.

“You could have a great company — and Apple is a great company — without having really a next big thing, but it isn’t in Apple’s DNA to be that way,” said Isaacson.

Related Roundup: Siri Smart Speaker
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Steve Jobs Opera Coming to California and Washington After Santa Fe Premiere in July

An opera exploring the life of the late Steve Jobs has won the financial backing of opera companies in San Francisco and Seattle, ensuring the musical production will be shown in the Apple co-founder’s home state of California (via CBS SF Local).

The partnerships were announced on Tuesday, ahead of the premiere of “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” this July at the Sante Fe Opera’s open-air summer stage, in the foothills of New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The opera is a “deeply layered, moving portrayal of a man grappling with the complex priorities of life, family and work,” according to San Francisco opera general manager Matthew Shilvock, who called Jobs “a real person and a member of our community”.

“This is not an opera about technology, although it will be the highest technology production that we’ve ever done,” said Charles MacKay, general director of the Santa Fe Opera. “It is an opera about relationships, and it is an opera about human frailties. He could be a very difficult man.”

The opera has been composed by electronica DJ Mason Bates and written by librettist Mark Campbell. Accompaniments include a live orchestra, guitar, natural sounds, and expressive electronics. The co-commission from the Seattle Opera and the San Francisco Opera will cover artistic creation of the opera as well as its physical stage production, and guarantee their right to stage performances beyond Santa Fe in California and Washington, although it could take a few years before that happens because of the time it takes to schedule opera calendars.

Since his death in 2011, Jobs’ personal and professional life has been the subject of several books, documentaries, and films. MacKay said Jobs provides the “sort of heroic, tragic figure” that operas have explored for centuries, and hopes the performances may lure new and younger audiences to metropolitan opera houses.
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TSMC Begins Production of A11 Processor After Initial Manufacturing Issues Resolved

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has commenced production of Apple’s A11 processor, according to a new report by DigiTimes. The chip is expected to power the company’s redesigned OLED “iPhone 8”, scheduled to launch in the fall.

TSMC is the sole supplier of A11 chips, which could also make their way into the upgraded “S” cycle models of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and potentially upcoming iPad refreshes this year, too.

TSMC originally aimed to start producing the chip in April with a view to completing 50 million units by July, but production was delayed because of issues in the 10-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process. However, those problems have now been solved, according to today’s report.

TSMC has begun 10nm chip production for Apple’s next-generation iPhone 8 series, the sources said. Production was once affected by issues involving stacking components in the backend integrated fan-out packaging process, but they have already been solved, the sources said.

Apart from faster A11 processors, all three rumored iPhone models may include glass bodies and wireless charging (though rumors disagree on this point). It is unclear if the two LCD models will feature the same edge-to-edge display rumored for the higher-end device and what other features will be included.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that production issues could result in a “severe” shortage of Apple’s upcoming “tenth anniversary” OLED iPhone in the months following its rumored September launch, but other sources claim production is on schedule.

TSMC was also the sole maker of the A10 chip in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which helped lead the chip maker to revenue growth towards the end of 2016.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tags: TSMC, A11 chip
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The TReGo turns your bike into a cargo trike

Why it matters to you

TReGo looks like the perfect solution if you ever need to transport heavy loads by bike.

Now here’s a neat idea for cyclists who sometimes want to carry loads that are too heavy for a backpack.

It’s called the TReGo, and it transforms just about any adult bicycle into a very handy cargo trike.

TReGo is the brainchild of Israel-based Ofir Yadan. The industrial designer and keen cyclist spent the last four years working through a dozen prototypes before finally launching it on Kickstarter this week.

The trolley, which includes an aluminum rack to hold your load, attaches quickly to the front of your bike via the unique “Fast Connector” — no tools needed. The system can handle anything weighing up to 40 pounds, making it perfect for a big trip to the supermarket or for carrying all your barbecue stuff to a nearby park or beach.

TReGo

And here’s a cool feature: When you arrive at your destination, you can detach the TReGo and pull it around like a regular cart or trolley, great if you need to collect or drop off a heavy load that you’re not keen on carrying. Oh, and when you detach the trolley, the Fast Connector acts as a bike stand so you don’t have to waste time looking for a post or wall to lean your bike against.

The TReGo’s two 16-inch wheels tilt when you turn, giving you a dynamic and agile riding experience, while its hydraulic disc brakes are part of the trolley and controlled by a separate brake lever that attaches quickly and easily to your handlebars.

The team is also working on additional designs, such as a baby carrier for the front and a towing cart attachable to the back of the bike that can handle an even heavier load of 88 pounds, though if there are inclines on your journey you’ll want to be sure your legs up to the job.

Providing the Kickstarter project reaches its $80,000 funding goal and the production schedule goes to plan, a $635 pledge — half the expected retail price — will get you the basic system, including that Fast Connector and rack. Pledge $700 and you’ll get the above plus the 10-gallon TReGo bag, marking a 50 percent saving on the retail price. Shipping is estimated for December, 2017.

Check out the video above to see the TReGo in action, or hop over to its Kickstarter page for more details.

This video render shows just how gorgeous the iPhone 8 could be

The iPhone 8, Apple’s supposed special edition to mark 10 years of the iPhone, has, unsurprisingly, been subject to its fair share of leaks and rumours. From those leaks, digital artists are able to come with renders to show what it could look like.

• Apple iPhone in pictures: Renders and leaked photos
• Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: What’s the story so far?

The latest one, from notable leakster @OnLeaks, who has collaborated with GearIndia, gives us our closest look at the iPhone 8 yet, and boy, what a phone it could be.

The video has been created based on leaked CAD drawings, and shows a front screen with minimal bezels and no home button. We’ve heard contradicting reports to suggest Apple will lose the front-mounted Touch ID sensor and will instead embed it into the display, or at least have a multi-function panel at the bottom of the screen.

However other reports suggest the Touch ID sensor will be moved to the rear panel, in a similar move to Samsung with the Galaxy S8. This particular video sides with the former, as the rear panel is completely clear, save for a protruding camera.

• Apple iPhone 8 to come with “revolutionary” facial recognition front-camera system
• Great iPhone 8 schematic shows Apple’s next phone with edge-to-edge display
• This latest iPhone 8 schematic shows rear-mounted Touch ID sensor

The camera has been placed vertically, which ties in with previous rumours. This is because Apple is expected to fit a speaker, front-facing camera and a 3D depth sensor along the top of the front of the phone, which will take up space. Because Apple is expected to fit the iPhone 8 with a dual rear-camera, it therefore has to be placed vertically, with a flash in between both sensors.