Tesla driver in fatal Autopilot crash ignored safety warnings

Following the investigation of a fatal Tesla Model S crash, the NTSB concluded in a 500-page report that the driver, Joshua Brown, ignored repeated “Autopilot” warnings to keep his hands on the wheel. “For the vast majority of the trip, the Autopilot hands-on state remained at ‘hands required, not detected,’ ” the report states. Specifically, Brown was supposed to have his hands on the wheel for a 37-minute portion of the trip, and did so for just 25 seconds.

At the same time, the NTSB appears to have debunked reports from the truck driver involved in the accident that Brown was watching a Harry Potter movie at the time of the crash. “No Harry Potter movie file was found on the hard drive of the [Chromebook] device,” it states.

It added, though, that “it could not be concluded whether or not the driver was on the laptop at the time of the crash,” because its screen was broken. It also said that a Chromebit device had Harry Potter music, but no video, on it, which may have been what the truck driver heard. The Brown family’s lawyer told Reuters he hopes the “unequivocally false” rumors that he was watching a movie instead of paying attention to the road will finally be put to rest.

While expressing sympathy for the family, Elon Musk’s company last year denied that its Autopilot system was to blame, noting that drivers “need to maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle … [and] always keep your hands on the wheel.” Earlier this year, the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) agreed, and cleared Tesla of fault in the crash.

Nevertheless, Tesla instituted a number of changes. It parted ways with MobilEye, the company that made some of the tech used in the Autopilot (MobilEye was subsequently purchased by Intel for $15.3 billion). It also implemented changes to the Autopilot by temporarily preventing drivers from using it if they ignored warnings to take the steering wheel.

It’s still not known why the Autopilot didn’t see the truck and apply the brakes, but at the time Tesla said that “neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky.” The NTSB also noted that the driver was speeding, going 74 mph in a 65 mph zone. In addition, because the body of the Model S passed under the tractor trailer, its highly lauded safety systems couldn’t do their job.

The accident investigation normally would have been routine, since it was technically the fault of the truck driver, who was charged with a right-of-way traffic violation. Because self-driving systems like Tesla’s are so new, however, separate investigations were carried out by the NHTSA, NTSB and even the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission), which wanted to make sure Tesla didn’t deceive stockholders.

Since the crash, Tesla’s Autopilot system has mostly garnered positive press, in one case applying the brakes after detecting an accident before it even happened. The NTSB’s next step will be to report the probably cause of the accident and make recommendations to prevent similar ones in the future.

Via: Reuters

Source: NTSB

Samsung ‘Intent’ on Continuing Note Brand Despite Note 7 Fires, Will Reveal Galaxy Note 8 in August

Samsung is planning to introduce its newest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 8, sometime in the second half of August, according to people familiar with the company’s plans (via Reuters). If accurate, the August announcement will come about four months after the launch of the Galaxy S8 and nearly one year since the first cases of exploding batteries in the Galaxy Note 7 were reported by users.

Although details are somewhat scarce, the Galaxy Note 8 is said to include a curved display that is “marginally larger” than the 6.2-inch display of the current Galaxy S8+, while also including two rear cameras. In comparison, last year’s Note 7 had a 5.7-inch curved display with one camera on the back. Today’s sources made no comment on the potential pricing for Samsung’s new smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy S8
Analysts said that Samsung is “intent” on continuing to use the Note brand, despite the Note 7 devices that caught fire on a worldwide scale last year and ultimately cost the company $5.4 billion.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd plans to hold a launch event in New York City for its next Galaxy Note smartphone in the second half of August, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Samsung is intent on continuing the premium Note series despite the costly collapse of the Galaxy Note 7, which it was forced to scrap roughly two months from launch in October due to fire-prone batteries. The incident, one of the biggest product safety failures in tech history, cost the firm 6.1 trillion won ($5.4 billion) in operating profit and hurt its credibility.

Following the initial cases of exploding batteries in the Note 7, Samsung faced a tough few months in 2016, sending out a video apology to users, halting Note 7 sales worldwide, and encountering a ban of the smartphone from all U.S. flights. In January, the company concluded that a design flaw in the Note 7’s battery and some welding defects were the main culprits behind the handsets that caught fire.

Now, Samsung runs an 8-point Battery Safety Check for its smartphones, beginning with the April launch of the Galaxy S8, and analysts believe that the company’s messaging is helping it to recover quickly following the Note 7 drama. Samsung said that pre-orders were its “best ever” for the Galaxy S8 earlier this year, leading to what could be the company’s highest profit period ever for April-June 2017.

When it launches, the Galaxy Note 8 will be another competitor for Apple in the premium smartphone space, with Apple’s “iPhone 8” launch event expected to take place sometime in the traditional mid-September time frame. For the iterative iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus update last year, industry analysts said that the lack of “a compelling enough feature set” was not enough to convince some owners of potentially exploding Note 7 devices to switch from Samsung to Apple.

Tags: Samsung, Galaxy Note 7, Galaxy Note 8
Discuss this article in our forums

Google Search Gaining More Detailed Job-Related Results Like Commute Time and Employer Reviews

Google is today updating its search engine across mobile devices and the web with a collection of results that will make it easier for people to find useful information related to job searches. The update is part of the new “Google for Jobs” initiative that was discussed at its I/O conference this year, with the goal of connecting employer and employee through streamlined and bolstered search results.

For English users in the United States, when searches like “jobs near me” or “teaching jobs” are input into Google, the new search results will return more in-depth information that will lessen the time spent visiting websites around the web thanks to a more centralized accumulation of data.

This includes reviews of an employer from trusted employment rating sites, detailed job qualifications and descriptions, and even an estimated commute time to the workplace if users are signed into their Google account.

People from all walks of life, experiences and backgrounds have undergone a job hunt at some point in their lives. Whether you’re a young adult looking for your first job, a veteran hoping to leverage your leadership experience in civilian life, or a parent looking for a job with better pay to support a growing family, we hope this new experience on Google will help make the job search simpler and more effective.

The feature will also pick up right where users leave off in case they quit their search, and they can turn on alerts for a specific search inquiry to get email notifications the moment new jobs arrive related to it. In an effort to keep the results fresh, more search filters and data will be added in the future.

Google is partnering with sites including LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, and Facebook to help fill out the search data with new job listings “as soon as they’re posted.” Furthermore, third-party platforms and direct employers will be able to add their own listings into these results thanks to Google’s plan to provide open documentation for all job providers.

Tag: Google
Discuss this article in our forums

How to use Alexa for traffic updates

Nobody wants to get stuck in traffic, and Alexa can help.

Traffic is the bane of existence for anyone who’s ever been late to a meeting because of gridlock. While you can use your phone, the radio, or the internet to check on traffic before heading out of the house, you can also ask Alexa. She’ll let you know what your commute looks like; all you need to do is let her know where you’re going.

Alexa can let you know about traffic

From within the Alexa app on your phone. you can add an address and from then, on all you need to do is ask Alexa what traffic on your commute looks like. She’ll let you know the status of traffic, approximately how long it will take there, and the fastest route to get you there. Once you’ve got your destination address set in the Alexa app, you can check on your commute by asking “What does my commute look like?”, “What is traffic like right now?”, or “How is traffic?” to ensure you know what the roads look like before you even leave the house.

Since you can just ask Alexa what your commute looks like, this is a great way to save a few minutes in the morning when you’re running around, trying to get out the door to start your day!

How to add a destination in the Alexa app

Open the Alexa app on your phone.
Tap the menu button that looks like three horizontal lines in the upper left corner of your screen.

Tap Settings.

Tap Traffic.
Tap add address.

Type in the address of your destination and tap save changes.

Questions?

Sound off in the comments below.

Amazon Echo

• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

Amazon

Why OLED is important and why it’s the next big thing

There has never been a better time to buy a television.

Technologies such as 4K Ultra HD and HDR (high dynamic range) provide extraordinary clarity, contrast and colour representation. And we are blessed by the availability of one of the greatest breakthroughs for TV picture quality yet: OLED.

An OLED TV, such as the Philips 55POS901F, available at Philips.co.uk, provides unparalleled black levels, incredible colour representation and yet retains a superthin design, where outer bezels and thickness are both as minimalist as we’ve ever had.

The technology outperforms LED in many areas, providing the absolute best when it comes to viewing experiences.

Here then are the reasons why OLED is the bees knees when it comes to TV tech.

Black levels

Unlike LED TVs, that require a backlight to work, OLED televisions are capable of reproducing black levels that look as good when the TV is on as when it is switched off.

This is because each pixel of the Philips 901F and other OLED TVs is self-illuminating, so you get no light bleeding from one pixel to another. If an area of the screen is meant to be blacked out, it remains so. Yet other areas of the image are as vibrant, bright and colourful as they are meant to be.

Wider colour gamut

OLED offers a wider colour gamut than LED, rendering colours more accurately and vibrantly.

This is again because there is no light leakage between pixels on an OLED set. The individual pixels therefore show colours exactly as they are meant to be viewed. This is improved with HDR (high dynamic range) content, which offers a wider colour gamut for broadcasters and content providers to play with, but still looks outstanding even with standard television programming and films.

Check out the Philips 901F with a Blu-ray of Guardians of the Galaxy and you’ll see what we mean.

Philips

Contrast

Thanks to the superbly deep blacks detailed above, OLED TVs offer superb contrast levels, with a massive difference between the darkest and brightest areas of an image.

The 55-inch Philips 901F OLED TV, for example, has a peak brightness of around 650nits, which means it is capable of searing whites that share the same screen as deep, immersive black levels.

Response time

OLED TV technology has a near instantaneous response time, with the Philips 901F TV having a refresh rate of as little as 0.01ms – 100 times faster than an equivalent LCD panel.

That means it is not prone to dark smearing artefacts like many LCD/LED panels.

Wide viewing angles

Viewing angles are considerably better with an OLED TV like the Philips 901F over an LED or LCD equivalent. You can nigh-on watch an OLED screen from a right-angle to the set.

The Philips TV has a viewing angle of 178-degrees, which means a whole family can be strewn around a living room, sitting wherever they like and still see an excellent picture.

Pictures on LED TVs generally fade and discolour the wider the viewing angle.

Philips

Superthin

As OLED doesn’t require a backlight, the panel itself is superthin – capable of a much smaller footprint than other TV technologies.

In addition, it requires a far slimmer bezel around the picture, which allows technologies such as Ambilight on the 901F to expand the experience almost seamlessly.

Ambilight is Philips’ proprietary lighting system that is housed along the top and both sides of the 901F OLED TV. It uses LEDs that react exactly to the action on the screen, so the light show projected behind the television is a direct extension of what you are watching, making for a more immersive experience.

The slim bezels mean that you almost cannot see where the on-screen picture ends and the light show begins. Superb.

Check out the Philips 55POS901F OLED TV and other excellent televisions with Ambilight at Philips.co.uk.

What is Samsung Pay, how does it work and what banks are supported?

Samsung Pay has been active in several countries, including the US and South Korea, for a while and is now available in the UK too.

It is a platform that allows you to pay for goods and services simply by waving your Samsung device near a cash register instead of swiping a credit card or doling out your payment information, a bit like Apple Pay or Google Pay on rival phones.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Samsung Pay: What do I need?

The payment platform is baked into Samsung Galaxy devices – from Galaxy S6, Note 5 and up – so it’ll work with a compatible phone. You can also use it with the Gear S3 smartwatch in some regions.

You simply download and install the Samsung Pay Android app on your supported phone, register desired cards and accounts and it will draw directly from these chosen sources when making a payment.

There are also plans for a Samsung Pay Mini app, it is said, which will work with other Android devices.

Pocket-lint

Samsung Pay: How does it work?

When using a phone: by swiping up from the bottom of the display (on either the sleep or home screens) the Samsung Pay app will launch and your default card will appear along with a message to authenticate a payment with their fingerprint (or iris scanner on Galaxy S8 and S8+). If a different card is needed, a simple left or right swipe will bring up others stored in your phone.

Once the payment has been biometrically authorised (hence compatibility with the latest devices only, as these have fingerprint or iris scanners) the phone tells you to tap it onto the contactless payment reader and bingo, a payment is made via NFC (near field communication).

Samsung Pay: More than NFC

Samsung Pay offers more than just NFC in some regions, such as the US. In an attempt to spearhead the mobile wallet space, while simultaneously taking on Apple Pay, Samsung acquired LoopPay – a startup that invented a mobile wallet technology called MST (Magnetic Strip Technology).

MST allows a contactless payment to be made with terminals that do not feature NFC readers (mostly outside the UK), which opens up a lot more retailers to the payment tech. It can also send the payment information to conventional terminals in stores that have the old-fashioned magnetic strip instead. Samsung told us during a demo that this covers the vast amount of payment terminals in the world.

Pocket-lint

A two-step payment process works like so: LoopPay’s app manages and securely stores all your payment cards (including credit, debit, loyalty, and gift cards) on a mobile device, while the LoopPay device (LoopPay Fob, ChargeCase, Card, or CardCase) processes your payment at the checkout as if you had swiped your card like usual.

What’s more, there is no danger of paying twice as the phone will prioritise an NFC signal if it finds one, while MST is passive and will only be utilised if no other contactless payment signal is found first.

Samsung Pay vs Apple Pay: What’s the difference?

Apple Pay employs an NFC chip into its smartphone, just like Samsung. Apple has steadily bulked its range of partners that accept Apple Pay and most recently included support for US federal payment cards.

The biggest difference between Apple Pay and Samsung Pay is that Apple Pay is accepted at fewer registers because it doesn’t include MST. Samsung Pay also has the potential of being accepted at 30-million merchant locations around the world, though both payment platforms have lined up several partners to back their payment systems.

Samsung Pay: Compatible banks and service providers

In its US guise, Samsung Pay has lots of available providers: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, US Bank, and PNC are the majors, along with a long list of additional providers. Furthermore, the MST technology enables Samsung Pay to support private label credit cards from key partners like Synchrony Financial and First Data Corporation.

Samsung’s service is similar to Apple Pay in operation, in that different banks need to confirm their compatibility. When Apple Pay launched in the UK it took some time for all the major banks to be on board.

You can now use Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards from Santander, MBNA, Nationwide, HSBC, First Direct and M&S Bank in the UK, with the latter three added to the mix after launch. American Express will follow, we have been told.

Pocket-lint

Samsung Pay: Payment limits

The payment limit is set by the bank or vendor, not by Samsung, so is different in different regions – not a fixed £20/£30 maximum per transaction, as with contactless cards.

But if you need to pay for an item above the set limit, the app will simply request you to enter a PIN code to confirm for the larger amount.

Samsung Pay: How secure is it?

In terms of security, Samsung told Pocket-lint that not only are details protected by Samsung’s Knox real-time hacking surveillance and rooting prevention, but no card details are stored on either a Samsung server or the device itself.

Just like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay uses tokenisation. Card payments are made secure by creating a number or token that replaces your card details. This token is stored within a secure element chip on your device, and when a payment is initiated, the token is passed to the retailer or merchant. The retailer therefore never has direct access to your card details.

In addition Samsung Pay offers ARM TrustZone to further protect transaction information from attacks.

When will Samsung Pay launch in the UK?

Samsung Pay is available in the UK, having launched on Tuesday 16 May 2017. It is also available in the US, South Korea, Spain, China, Thailand, UAE, Sweden, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

Kia announces Stonic SUV to take on Nissan Juke

Kia has unveiled its first smaller SUV in the Kia Stonic. The new compact crossover will launch in Europe during Q3 of 2017, taking on the likes of the Nissan Juke and sitting below the larger Kia Sportage.

The Kia Stonic is claimed to offer the company’s most striking design to date with sharp horizontal feature lines, blended with softer sculpted surfaces.

Though still recognisable as a Kia with its tiger-nose grille, the Kia Stonic adds a little more excitement thanks to the Targa-style roof that allows for a two-tone paint finish. There will be 20 two-tone colour combinations available in Europe, with the roof available in five distinctive colours.

Kia Motors

The interior has a burst of excitement too with a range colour packs available, while Kia has said the Stonic has “class-leading” shoulder room, generous head and leg room, as well as a 352-litre boot. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto both come as standard, along with heated front seats, cruise control and keyless entry.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) are also on board, which include technologies such as Torque Vectoring by Braking, Straight Line Stability and Cornering Brake Control. Users can also add Kia’s Drive Wise Advanced Driver Systems (ADAS) for further safety, which include features such as Autonomous Emergency Braking with pedestrian recognition, Forward Collision Alert and Blind Spot detection, among others.

The Kia Stonic will be available in four engines, comprising a 1.0-litre T-GDI, 1.25-litre MPI, 1.4-litre MPI and a 1.6-litre diesel engine. It will be sold as standard with the company’s seven year or 100,000 mile warranty. Prices have yet to be detailed.

ProtonMail makes its free VPN service available to everyone

ProtonMail, the encrypted email created by CERN and MIT scientists, has released a new product in response to the administration’s roll back of Obama-era internet privacy rules. Starting today, you can try out the company’s VPN service, which was in beta testing by 10,000 initial users for a year, by getting it from the official ProtonVPN website. The great thing about it is that it has a free tier that’s free forever. It might not be as robust as the paid ones, but it still routes your connection through multiple encrypted tunnels in three countries.

By offering free options, the company can reach more people, especially now that there’s a lot more interest in using VPN all over the world. In the US, the new FCC chairman and various Senators want to kill net neutrality in addition to nullifying rules that protect user data. UK Prime Minister Theresa May wants to regulate the internet. People in China, Egypt and other places where the internet is heavily censored also need VPNs to get around restrictions, while others need the service to keep their info secure and private.

If you decide to stick with ProtoMail’s service as your primary VPN provider after using it for a while, you can always choose to pay later to help the company continue offering its free services. ProtonMail says it relies on user upgrades to keep the company running, because (in its own fighting words) it doesn’t “abuse user privacy to sell advertisements” like “Google and Facebook.”

Source: ProtonVPN

The Morning After: Tuesday, June 20th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

On this fine Tuesday morning, we’re ready to ditch SIM cards, declare our favorite games from E3 2017 and check out some (potentially) Earth-like planets.

The rise of the eSIMGoodbye, and good riddance, to SIM cards

Fiddling with a tiny physical card is archaic and frustrating but, as Cherlynn Low explains, eSIMs can alleviate that pain. As an alternative, embedded SIMs integrate the identification technology of the plastic card into the device’s CPU or modem. However, we’re still at least a few months away from seeing the benefits.

They left an impressionOur favorite games of E3 2017

Now that our editors have escaped the confines of the LA Convention Center, it’s time to reflect on what we saw at E3 2017. Favorites included Beyond Good & Evil 2, Anthem, Duck Season (above) and a few others that stuck out on the show floor or during presentations.

Yes, people still playPokemon Go reworks battles with simpler gyms and 20-player raids

A year after it launched Pokémon Go is getting some big upgrades. The game’s awkward gym mechanic is getting a lot of attention to make it less complicated and easier for casual players by ditching the level and prestige systems entirely. Now, when a team controls a gym, its members can install six monsters (no duplicates — sorry Blissey trainers), and challengers will fight them in order based on which one has been there the longest. Fights will wear down a Pokémon’s motivation, which should make it easier to dislodge high-level monsters unless their trainer refreshes them with berries. A bigger change, however, is the pending addition of raid battles that could have up to 20 players at once working together for the chance to capture powerful Pokémon.

No more delays‘Star Trek Discovery’ explores new frontiers on September 24th

CBS’ new Star Trek show finally has a release date: September 24th. While the premiere will air on broadcast TV, the new show’s 15-episode run (split into two parts with the second half launching in January), will only be available on the CBS All Access streaming service in the US — we’ll see if that compels fans to grab a subscription.

Third time is the charmNintendo Switch update makes it easy to find missing Joy-Cons

The v3.0.0 update is now available for Nintendo’s convertible Switch console, and it’s a big one. It adds everything from a helpful locate feature for lost controllers to fixing an issue with a docked Switch accidentally changing the active HDMI input on your TV. Owners can easily add friends from their 3DS and Wii U friends lists now, and also choose to be notified when their friends sign on. For the full list of fixes and tweaks, check Nintendo’s site here.

But wait, there’s more…

• LG’s enhanced G6+ smartphone has more storage and premium sound
• GOP-hired data company leaked information on 198 million citizens
• NASA’s Kepler found ten more Earth-size planets in the ‘Goldilocks zone’
• Google Play’s new feature for Samsung phones isn’t so exclusive
• What’s on TV: ‘Better Call Saul,’ ‘Fargo’ and ‘Silicon Valley’ finales

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.

Google Search will help you find your next job

Finding a new job can be tough. With so many recruitment sites to keep track of, it can be difficult to know what’s out there, never mind applying and getting through the interview process. Now, there’s a new way to keep tabs on the work in your local area: Google. An update to Search on desktop and mobile allows you to, well, search for new employment with conversational queries like “jobs near me” and “teaching jobs.” You’ll then see a list of results from across the web, each of which includes the company’s name, the role, the hours and when the job was posted.

If you’re after something specific, you can drill down and filter by category (customer service, management, healthcare), title (nurse, data engineer, barista), and the type of employment (full-time, part-time, contractor, internship). Google will also list your estimated commute, if the job listing includes the necessary information. Half the battle is knowing when a new job has been posted, so you can also save a custom search and request email alerts every time a new opening matches your criteria. Throw in employer reviews and ratings, and you’ve got a pretty robust search tool.

For now, the feature is only available in the US. Google has teamed up with LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor and Facebook (yes, Facebook) to power the service, and has published some documentation so that other job providers can make their openings discoverable through the service. Should it take off, we wouldn’t be surprised if Google rolled this out elsewhere. Different countries are ruled by different recruitment sites, but the general model, at least in Google’s case, should work regardless of the region. As my colleague Roberto Baldwin noted, it’s nice to see Google helping people who need a regular paycheck more than an AI speaker or a flashy virtual reality headset.

Source: Google