Blade Runner 2049′ trailer teases the replicant dilemma

If you’re still debating whether a Blade Runner sequel was a good idea, you might want to see it anyway. Unlike the teaser we got back in December, Blade Runner 2049’s first real trailer has more than vanity footage of Rick Deckard’s return. Though it’s edited to suggest Ryan Gosling’s android hunter is about to ask the veteran Blade Runner the series’ most haunting question, we’ll have to wait until the film premiers on October 6th to see whether Harrison Ford was a robot all along.

The trailer opens heavy on the nostalgia, leaning on Vangelis’ synth tones from the original film’s iconic score. We also get juicy camera pans around a rainy, neon-soaked city before some familiar androids-as-slave-labor/master-creator dialogue sets up Ryan Gosling, apparent Blade Runner of the new generation, and his search for old Deckard. There’s a lot of imagery to chew through while we wait to see if director Denis Villenueve (Arrival) pulls off a miracle following up on arguably the top science fiction film of all time.

Source: YouTube, YouTube

Ableton’s interactive lessons teach the basics of music production

It’s incredibly easy to make a music track today with all the killer tools out there. You don’t have to convince a bunch of musicians to show up in your garage to record a session, nor do you need to become a multi-instrumentalist like Prince. All you need is a decent digital audio workstation like GarageBand or Ableton Live, and you can put together your own version of a hit song in a surprisingly short amount of time. Not everyone is savvy about creating tunes with their computer, however. In order to help, the folks behind Ableton Live have a new website called Learning Music to help anyone with a web browser learn the basics of modern music production.

The interactive site has dozens of mini-lessons, including sections on beats, notes and scales, chords, bass lines and even song structure. It assumes no previous knowledge, either, making it a good starting point for the newbie producer. There are several real-world songs deconstructed, as well, including Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” Robert Hood’s “Ride,” and Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies” to help you see music in action. Each lesson has an interactive, Ableton-live style section that gives you a space to practice the ideas in, like adding in kick drum parts or editing a melody on a piano. You can export many of these little examples into Live, as well, which turns the whole thing into an interactive advertisement for Ableton’s flagship music sequencer.

Still, if you’re new to the music production game, Learning Music is a solid option. The instruction is simple and easy to follow, and the ability to play with the knowledge could keep you coming back for more. The website joins Ableton’s book on creative production strategies and artist-led instructional production videos as the company’s push into training up a whole new generation of producers, each of whom might become customers.

Via: FactMag

Source: Ableton

Workflow for iOS Regains Chrome and Pocket Actions, Support for Up Next

Apple-owned Workflow was updated to version 1.7.4 today, re-introducing features that were removed when Apple acquired the app and adding new Apple Music actions.

For those unfamiliar with Workflow, it’s an automation tool that can be used to create a variety of workflows to accomplish tasks like creating GIFs from photos, pulling images from a website, calculating a tip, posting photos to multiple social networks at once, and much more.

When Apple purchased Workflow back in March, several actions were removed, but support for Google Chrome and Pocket has now been re-added and workflows involving those apps are now functional once again.

Along with support for Google Chrome and Pocket, today’s update introduces new actions for Apple Music users. There’s now an “Add Music to Up Next” action and a “Clear Up Next” action for automatically adding content to an Apple Music playlist.

Today’s update also includes a long list of bug fixes, which are outlined below:

– Get Distance now supports getting the distance from a specified location
– The order of items passed from a Dictionary action to Choose from List is now preserved
– Fixed getting prices for books in Search iTunes Store
– Fixed making archives with special characters in the filename on iOS 10.3 and later
– Fixed an issue where workflow glyphs in the Today Widget may be stretched and cut off
– Fixed an issue where latitude and longitude may be formatted incorrectly in international locales
– Fixed an issue where .wflow files may fail to open on iOS 10.3 and later
– Fixed an issue where improperly formatted URLs from Pinboard could cause Workflow to crash
– Fixed an issue where booleans may not update when their value is changed inside dictionary fields
– Fixed an issue where handing off clipboard content from the Today Widget or Action Extension may throw a “The file Clipboard could not be opened” error
– Fixed an issue that could cause Workflow to crash on launch
– Other bug fixes and minor additions

When Apple purchased Workflow, the Workflow team said app integrations and the Gallery would be updated on a regular basis, but a later report suggested Apple planned no more updates. Based on today’s update, which adds new features, that report was incorrect.

Though two new actions have been re-introduced, there are still features missing from the Workflow app. Maps actions are restricted to Apple Maps, and translating text only works with Microsoft’s translation services. Other previous app actions, including Uber, Telegram, and LINE, are still unavailable.
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Net-neutrality supporters cripple the FCC website again

Sunday night, John Oliver merely pointed out a problem (again), and the results were pretty predictable if you’re familiar with the last time he did similar. The most recent episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight’s main segment concerns net neutrality and all the ways Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai has tried explaining that it’s a frivolous concept — sentiments echoed by senator Ted Cruz and others in a recent Washington Post op-ed. Well, as a result of Oliver setting up a URL that makes it incredibly easy to express your interest in maintaining an open internet to the FCC, parts of the regulatory body’s website have been crippled under the server load.

Page loads for GoFCCYourself.com are lethargic, but sections of the FCC website that Oliver’s custom URL doesn’t point to seem to be running normally. It’s just the comment page for the net neutrality case that’s been struggling under the sudden influx of traffic here. The reason for the redirect in the first place? As Oliver illustrates in the video below, finding the actual page to tell former Verizon lawyer Pai and his compatriots that an open internet is deeply important to you was extremely convoluted.

As you can imagine, this isn’t the type of thing that’d reside on the FCC’s (currently) functioning homepage. Getting to the comment section involves finding the comment page, knowing the proceeding number and then realizing that the resulting link with “+ Express” means that’s where you go to register your feelings on the issue. GoFCCYourself sidesteps all that and takes you directly to the comment page. It’s pretty handy, which probably at least partly explains why the site is experiencing so many issues at the moment.

Unlike the last time this happened, the FCC has yet to tweet about the page’s non-responsiveness so we’ve reached out for more information and will update this post should it arrive. Something tells us the organization has its hands full with other problems this morning, so maybe we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for a comment.

Via: Variety

Source: GoFCCYourself, Last Week Tonight (YouTube)

Senator confirms FBI paid $900,000 to unlock San Bernardino iPhone

In early 2016, Apple was embroiled in a battle with the FBI over privacy, specifically whether it could (or would) crack an iPhone 5C following the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Apple refused to specifically create a backdoor piece of software that would circumvent the security protections built into iOS, citing concerns for the privacy of the other millions of people out there using iPhones and iPads. Ultimately, it became a moot point: the FBI purchased software to crack the iPhone in question. The agency refused to say how much it spent, but now Senator Dianne Feinstein has revealed that it cost $900,000 to break into the shooter’s phone.

That’s less than the $1.3 million that was estimated before, though that estimate was a back-of-the-napkin calculation based on a statement from FBI director James Comey. He said that the cost to the FBI was greater than what he’d make in the seven years and four months leading up to his retirement. Reuters did the math based on his salary, but it looks like the figure wasn’t quite accurate.

Senator Feinstein noted the $900,000 figure this past Wednesday while questioning Comey at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing. “I was so struck when San Bernardino happened and you made overtures to allow that device to be opened, and then the FBI had to spend $900,000 to hack it open,” Feinstein said (as reported by the AP). She would know — she’s the top the Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees the FBI.

Until this statement, the FBI has refused to disclose either how much it spent to break into the San Bernardino iPhone; it also has protected the identity of the individual or company that broke into the phone. The agency has said both of those pieces of information are classified.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: Associated Press / CNBC

Pepe the Frog is dead, but that won’t stop 4chan

You have to sympathize with Matt Furie. The Boy’s Club artist created Pepe the Frog as a positive, mellow character, but the amphibian got hijacked by the “alt-right” and became virtually synonymous with bigotry despite attempts to save him. So now, Furie is taking the next logical step: he’s declaring Pepe dead. If you picked up Fantagraphics’ Free Comic Book Day offering on May 6th, you saw a strip where Boy’s Club characters mourned Pepe as he rested in an open casket. It’s no doubt a hard decision for Furie (would you want to kill one of your cherished characters?), but arguably an important one — he’s effectively acknowledging that the internet has taken control of his creation.

http://mattfurie.tumblr.com/post/160388812592

Pepe is the quintessential example of the internet discovering something funny, creating a joke from it, and giving it a life of its own. After web surfers discovered the huge-eyed frog, he was originally used for relatively innocuous purposes on sites such as 4chan (you’ll still see him in generic “feels good man” and “feels bad man” memes). However, alt-right communities like 4chan’s /pol/ and Reddit’s /r/the_donald eventually latched on to him as a mascot for both racist views and support for Donald Trump.

Combine that close connection with mainstream exposure (Trump even tweeted an image of himself as Pepe) and it would be very, very hard to disassociate the character from the far right ideology he has come to represent. We checked in on both /pol/ and /r/the_donald, and both are celebrating Pepe’s “death” as proof that they effectively own his identity.

You’re not likely to see too many other examples of this happening. However, this also illustrates the sense of helplessness that creators sometimes face online. How do you take legal action to protect your work when anyone with a social account and a search engine can abuse it? Furie’s decision to kill Pepe may be his best bet. He might not get to reclaim Pepe or get compensation, but he can at least prove that he’s not involved in spreading hate.

Via: The Guardian

Source: Matt Furie (Tumblr), CBR

TripAdvisor adds GrubHub food delivery to its travel tools

GrubHub makes it pretty easy to scrounge up food when you don’t feel like picking it up yourself, and now the food-delivery company wants to extend that to how you eat when traveling. Travel site TripAdvisor has announced that starting today, when you’re planning your next vacation and mulling options for dining and entertainment in some 1,100 cities, GrubHub’s network of restaurants will be in the mix. The companies say that if you see the “order online” button next to a listing, clicking it will redirect to GrubHub’s website.

This marks another step toward GrubHub putting itself in more places where it makes sense. This past March, the company added a skill to Amazon’s Alexa platform that enables users to order food with their voice.

Should GrubHub and TripAdvisor take this relationship further, hopefully the names don’t change. After all, GrubAdvisor sounds more like an information repository for how to get rid of the moles plaguing your backyard than it does a service for ordering food while jet-setting.

Source: PR Newswire

Route planner Citymapper experiments with its own bus service

Citymapper is known for its popular route-planning app that helps people get around town. This week, though, the company is taking a more active approach to transportation, operating an actual bus route in London. CMX1 will only run from Tuesday, May 9th, through Wednesday, and it’ll be free for all passengers. As you’d expect, it’ll also feature in the Citymapper app and show up in route suggestions where appropriate. But what might surprise you is this isn’t quite the marketing stunt it appears at first to be. Citymapper is legitimately thinking about becoming a public transportation player.

CMX1 will drive a short loop in the center of the city, crossing Blackfriars Bridge and making its way back across the River Thames via Waterloo Bridge. It will use existing London bus stops along the route and arrival times will even show up on the standard departure boards. The buses will look a little different, however. They will be green, for starters, and smaller than regular buses with only 30 seats. Passenger will also have access to USB ports for charging their phones while traveling and a big screen towards the front of the bus will display the current location and upcoming stops on a map of the route.

Drivers of the Citymapper “Smartbus” will have a tablet in the cockpit that feeds back real-time traffic information, shows the current passenger count and how far apart other buses on the route are (for regulating the service). This gives you an idea of why Citymapper is experimenting with running a bus service in the first place. It’s all about data.

You see, Citymapper has intimate knowledge of how people navigate all the cities its app caters for, and with all this user data it built a tool known internally as “Simcity.” Plug a potential bus route into Simcity and it’ll tell you the most likely places people will board and get off. The simulation can extrapolate this to give you a good idea of how many buses the route would need to keep up with demand, how much money they could take in fares, and score how efficient the route is.

To actually operate a route, though, Citymapper also had to create software for managing a fleet of vehicles and getting them to share information with each other. It’s a means to an end, because the company is planning to take things further than this week’s two-day experiment. CMX1 functions like a normal bus route, but Citymapper imagines one day running an altogether more dynamic service. One that can react to demand in real-time and where vehicles can change their route based on traffic information while still pulling up at predefined stops.

The grander goal is to “solve urgent problems of congestion and infrastructure,” and improve the experience for passengers. Citymapper wants to use big data to create new and better routes, and it helps there’s money to be made in putting people on seats — we imagine its software might be worth something to interested partners, too.

Speaking to WIRED, Citymapper CEO Azmut Yusuf confesses turning a profit is part of the plan. “We’re not really monetizing as a company,” he said. “This makes money. So we think if we can do this well, it will pay for itself.” Right now, though, regulators aren’t really prepared for a dynamic bus service as Citymapper imagines it. Though no appropriate license exists right now, Transport for London is in active discussions with Citymapper about how it could work in the capital. So who knows. Perhaps buses are the present and future of ride-sharing.

Source: Citymapper (Medium)

Apple Nears $800 Billion Valuation On Path to Becoming World’s First Trillion Dollar Company

Apple’s stock is currently trading above the $150 mark for the first time ever, after factoring in a 7-for-1 split in 2014, giving the company a record-high market cap of nearly $790 billion. That means Apple is just over $200 billion away from becoming the world’s first trillion dollar company.

Google Finance shows Apple flirting with the $800 billion mark today, but the tool appears to be overcounting the company’s number of outstanding shares, which totaled 5,225,791,000 as of last quarter. Apple’s outstanding shares have declined as the company continues its share buyback program.

Apple’s stock price will actually need to hit around $153 based on basic outstanding shares, or around $152 based on diluted outstanding shares, for a true $800 billion capitalization. Either way, it’s close.

Apple’s stock has been on an impressive run since dropping to as low as $89.47 in 2016, when the iPhone maker reported its first decline in annual revenue since 2001, and its first drop in iPhone sales ever.

Apple analyst Brian White of Wall Street investment firm Drexel Hamilton continues to believe Apple “remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world,” with “attractive upside” for investors. White raised his 12-month price target for Apple’s stock to $202 today, up from an already bullish $185.

An excerpt from White’s research note, distributed today and obtained by MacRumors:

Apple’s valuation has been depressed for years as investors grew concerned that Apple would fall victim to the missteps of consumer electronic companies of the past. However, Apple has proven its resilience through its unique ability to develop hardware, software and services that work seamlessly together. We believe this positions Apple very well to capitalize on the trend toward more “things” becoming a computer.

White’s price target implies that Apple could become the world’s first trillion dollar company within the next year. Apple shares trading for $202 would currently give the company a market cap of around $1.05 trillion.

Over a dozen prominent Wall Street analysts remain upbeat about Apple’s stock price heading into the second half of the year, with lots of excitement surrounding the significantly redesigned “iPhone 8” expected to launch in the fall. The smartphone’s sales may be boosted by a large “supercycle” of users due to upgrade.

Apple’s stock had briefly declined to as low as $144.27 last week after its second quarter earnings results fell slightly below Wall Street expectations, but the drop proved to be only a blip on the radar.

Tags: Brian White, AAPL
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Mother’s Day Activity Challenge Will Require Apple Watch Owners to Finish 1-Mile Workout

Mother’s Day takes place in the United States this Sunday, May 14, and Apple is gearing up to launch an all-new challenge in the Activity app for Apple Watch owners in order to celebrate the national holiday. The challenge will begin showing up in the Activity app this Friday, May 12, but will only be open on Sunday.

To accomplish the challenge, users will have to complete a walk, run, or wheelchair workout that lasts for one mile or longer on Mother’s Day. Users who meet that goal will get a Mother’s Day achievement in the Activity app, and a sticker to use in Messages. The challenge will only be available to Apple Watch owners in the United States (via 9to5Mac).

“Earn this rose badge and a special Messages sticker on Mother’s Day. Just do a walk, run, or wheelchair workout of a mile or more in the Workout app or in any third party app that writes these workouts to Health.”

Mother’s Day will mark the fourth public challenge that Apple has debuted for Apple Watch owners, coming after a 3.1-mile workout on Thanksgiving, an Activity ring competition in January to celebrate the New Year, and a 30-minute outdoor exercise on Earth Day.

Apple Watch owners can track their Mother’s Day workout through Apple’s own Workout app, or using any third party app that can connect and track exercise data through the Health app. Similar to the previous Activity challenges, users will have only the designated window — in this case, one day — to complete their workout before the achievement and sticker are no longer able to be earned.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tags: Mother’s Day, Activity Challenge
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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