Waymo bids its self-driving bubble cars farewell

Say goodbye to Waymo’s quirky bubble-shaped autonomous cars. Google’s former self-driving car division is retiring its fleet of “Fireflies” — also known as “koalas” and “gumdrops,” among many other nicknames — to focus on integrating its technology into more traditional vehicles. It particularly aims to give more people access to its self-driving technology through a fleet of 600 Chrysler Pacifica minivans, which the team has equipped with its latest custom-built radar, LiDAR and vision systems. The minivans also come with Waymo’s newest AI platform that can see farther and more clearly. Plus, they run like normal vehicles do, unlike the Fireflies which are limited to 25mph.

This move doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. A report from late 2016 said Alphabet’s Larry Page scrapped Waymo’s plans to manufacture bubble-shaped driverless vehicles to make the company’s strategy more feasible. It said Page’s new plan involves collaborating with automakers to design and make cars with no pedals and steering wheels that use Google’s self-driving tech. Shortly after that report came out, Waymo introduced its heavily modified Chrysler Pacificas with altered electrical, powertrain, chassis and structural system to accommodate the extra weight brought by the company’s equipment.

While Waymo will no longer use its Fireflies for future tests, you can still catch a glimpse of the cute bubble cars in various locations. This August, they’ll be on display at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix before making their way to the The Thinkery in Austin, Texas this October. You’ll also find a Firefly at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California and another at the Design Museum in London.

Source: Waymo

Tim Cook says Apple is working on ‘autonomous systems’

Has Tim Cook made the first public admission that Apple is indeed working on self-driving car technology? Bloomberg seems to think so, based on comments made by the CEO in an interview at WWDC earlier this month. After remarking on the exciting automotive trends of self-driving cars, EVs and ride-sharing, Cook said: “What we’re focusing on — what we’ve talked about focusing on publicly — is we’re focusing on autonomous systems. And clearly one purpose of autonomous systems is self-driving cars. There are others, and we sorta see it as the mother of all AI projects. It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects, actually, to work on. And so autonomy is something that’s incredible exciting for us, but we’ll see where it takes us.”

Make of that what you will. Cook talks around the subject, emphasizing Apple’s work in AI and by extension, autonomy, rather than addressing anything directly. “We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we will do, but we are being straight-forward that it’s a core technology that we view as very important,” Cook goes on to say. Let’s just assume he’s saying Apple is working on self-driving tech here, but isn’t willing to commit to an actual vehicle coming from the company. That would jibe with a Bloomberg report from last year, which said Apple had abandoned car development and scaled so-called “Project Titan” back to focus on the backend technology.

All things considered, though, we don’t really need Tim Cook to publicly acknowledge Apple’s self-driving strategy in detail. Between high-profile hires, discussions with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and seeking an autonomous car testing permit in California, the secret’s been out for some time now. Most recently, an actual vehicle that’s reportedly part of Apple’s program was spotted in the wild, a few days prior to the company joining Tesla in suggesting changes in self-driving car policy to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Let’s also not forget that Apple has pumped $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing darling Didi Chuxing, which happened to open an autonomous AI lab in Mountain View earlier this year. Tim Cook’s latest comments are intentionally vague, but we don’t really need Apple’s CEO to make a formal announcement about a project that’s so obviously well under way.

Source: Bloomberg

‘YouTube Red’ Free Three-Month Trial Ends July 4

Google is currently promoting a free three-month trial of YouTube Red, its ad-free video service offering subscribers uninterrupted music, background app play, and offline access to YouTube-hosted content.

In addition to allowing users to test out the personalized stations via the new YouTube Music mobile app, the trial provides access to original programming produced by YouTube creators as well as the full range of YouTube Kids channels.

A free Google Play Music account is also included as an extra perk, offering access to an extensive catalog of streamed music and unlimited storage for uploading their existing music library.

After the free trial concludes, subscribers pay $9.99 per month. Users can cancel their YouTube Red trial and full membership at any time. It’s also worth noting that if users cancel their Google Play Music subscription they lose access to YouTube Red and no longer qualify for the free trial.

The limited time offer is open to U.S. residents only and ends July 4.

(Thanks, Nick!)

Tag: YouTube
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Ubisoft Announces New Free-to-Play RPG ‘South Park: Phone Destroyer’ Coming to iOS in 2017

During Ubisoft’s E3 press conference this week, the company announced an all-new South Park game that’s coming to iOS and Google Play sometime later in 2017, called South Park: Phone Destroyer (via TouchArcade). Developed by Ubisoft studio RedLynx in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios, the new app combines the real-time combat of the new series of console South Park games with trading card collecting and multiplayer battles.

Players will become the New Kid in South Park and assume a variety of roles, including cowboy, pirate, cyborg, angel, and more throughout a new single-player campaign. Although not many details have been shared yet, Ubisoft said that card collecting will impact combat, and eventually becomes the strategic key to competing and winning in the real-time multiplayer mode, which includes a ranking system.

In South Park: Phone Destroyer™, players once again assume the role of the New Kid and team up with South Park characters to play a new game with cowboys, pirates, cyborgs and even almighty gods. Take your gang on a new single-player adventure featuring an original story. Full of fun, explosive battles and irreverent humor, players build and upgrade an all-powerful team to master the true strength of the cards they acquire.

Upgrading and learning to use cards strategically is key to competing at the next level: the real-time Multiplayer mode. Player versus Player combat challenges players’ skill and knowledge needed to defeat opponents in order to rise up the global multiplayer ranks.

Ubisoft also noted that South Park: Phone Destroyer will stay true to the TV show with all of the humor, jokes, characters, and animation that fans expect. Show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will also provide the mobile game with authentic audio and voice work of all the classic South Park characters. The developer also confirmed that the game will be free to play.

South Park: Phone Destroyer is set to launch worldwide on the iOS App Store and on the Android Google Play store later this year.

Tags: App Store, South Park
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Tim Cook Confirms Apple’s Focus on Autonomous Driving Systems

Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken to Bloomberg to clarify for the first time the company’s intentions in the automotive market, following several reports in recent months indicating that the company has put its ambitions to build a car on the back-burner.

“We’re focusing on autonomous systems,” Cook said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “It’s a core technology that we view as very important.”

“We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects,” Cook said in his most detailed comments to date on Apple’s plans in the car space. “It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects actually to work on.”

Cook has not been as forthcoming in previous remarks when asked about Apple’s car plans, choosing instead to call the automotive space “interesting” because of the potential for new technologies. However recent rumors had converged around the belief that Apple has refocused its car project, which reportedly involved more than 1,000 engineers when it originally began in 2014.

Ballooning costs and a change in management were said to have pushed Apple’s car strategy increasingly toward autonomous driving systems, leading to dozens of employees involved in the project being laid off as part of an internal “reboot”.

“There is a major disruption looming,” Cook told Bloomberg, citing self-driving technology, electric vehicles and ride-hailing. “You’ve got kind of three vectors of change happening generally in the same time frame. If you’ve driven an electric car, it’s actually a marvelous experience. “

Cook’s comments are particularly timely, following indications that Apple’s exclusive focus on self-driving technology has accelerated in recent months.

In April, the company was granted a permit from the California DMV to test self-driving vehicles on public roads, and is rumored to be planning to test its self-driving car software platform in three 2015 Lexus RX450h SUVs. The SUVs have already been spotted out on the road fitted with a range of sensors and cameras.

Apple is thought to have several teams working on different aspects of its automotive software. In Canada, a team of two dozen former BlackBerry QNX customers are said to be developing the base operating system, while another team is working on the software that will run on it, such as a heads-up display and self-driving capabilities.

A report by Bloomberg last October claimed Apple could return to developing its own vehicle in future, or partner with existing carmakers, but given Cook’s latest comments, any prospect of an Apple Car seems some way off, at least for now.

“We’ll see where it takes us,” Cook told Bloomberg most recently when asked about the chances Apple could one day make its own vehicle. “We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we will do.”

Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tag: bloomberg.com
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Day One Journaling App Gains End-to-End Encryption Feature

Popular journaling app Day One received an update yesterday that introduces end-to-end encryption to its cloud server for the first time, as well as a handful of other improvements.

Rather than using iCloud, Day One synchronizes data between devices using its own servers, something that has opened it up to criticism in the past because of security concerns regarding private journal data.

Version 2.2 of the app should allay those worries, since Day One now encrypts journal data from client to server via a user-generated private key. However it’s important to note that the new end-to-end encryption feature is enabled on a journal-by-journal basis, so users need to go to Journals in Day One’s Settings and select the journals they want to encrypt from there.

If users do not enable end-to-end encryption, Day One defaults to standard encryption, which encrypts journal data “at rest” on the company’s servers. This less secure method requires that Day One staff hold the keys to decrypt journal data.

In addition to the enhanced security feature, the in-app camera has been improved to make it easier to take photos and quickly add multiple square-cropped shots to entries. Journal metadata now also includes the device name on which an entry was created.

Elsewhere, recent searches are now saved in a list for convenient re-use, while an app-wide state restoration system has been implemented so that users can pick up where they left off in the event of a crash or a force quit. The update also includes several fixes that should improve the user experience.

End-to-end encryption is included in the 2.2 update for both iOS and Mac. Day One is a $4.99 app on the iOS App Store and costs $39.99 on the Mac App Store.

Tag: Day One
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Destiny 2 will hit PCs almost two months after it hits console

While it was already known that the hotly-anticipated followup to Bungie’s Destiny would roll out later on PC than on either PS4 or Xbox One, it took until today to actually find out that day will be October 24. The information comes from the Blizzard Launcher, which now accepts pre-orders for Destiny 2. 

Activision had previously announced that Blizzard will be handling the PC distribution side of Destiny 2, to mixed reactions from the PC gaming community. Some expressed confusion, apparently forgetting Activision owns Blizzard, while others expressed joy that a company with a solid reputation for delivery and server stability will handle the title.

Either way, the purchase price is the same as the console versions, at $60 for the regular version, $90 with the expansions, and $100 total for the expansions and some extra “digital deluxe” in-game items.

While the PS4 and Xbox One beta will run in mid July, the PC beta won’t start until late August. As for what the beta includes, well, we don’t know. That information remains to be seen.

Hopefully, the wait will be worthwhile. Bungie is promising the PC version will, at the least, provide better visual fidelity than the console versions. It’s unclear if any other unique features will be available. While PC is capable of handling features like enhanced player counts and dedicated servers, such extras seem extraordinarily unlikely. In fact, we already know dedicated servers won’t be a thing.

After a rocky start to the original title’s release, it’s clear Bungie wants to get everything perfect this time around. Good MMOs can last years on player enthusiasm, and after refining Destiny over several years, it’s become a game with a big, excitable following. Whether Bungie can deliver on that hype remains to be seen, but either way, Destiny 2 is only going to make more noise before its release in the fall of this year.

Cyber firms warn of ‘Industroyer’ malware that could knock out power grids

Why it matters to you

This is some serious malware that our governments are going to have to deal with if our critical systems are to stay up and running.

The December 2016 power grid hack in Ukraine that plunged part of the capital, Kiev, into darkness for several hours was an alarming display of the capabilities of skillful hackers determined to bring chaos to communities by knocking out critical infrastructure.

On Monday, two cyber security companies — Slovakia-based anti-virus software outfit Eset, and American firm Dragos that deals with critical-infrastructure security — claimed to have identified the malware that caused the disturbing power outage.

Known by the names Industroyer and Crashoverride, they warned that it could be repurposed with little effort by other groups intent on causing further havoc around the world targeting not only power supply operations, but also water and gas systems, and transportation networks.

Industroyer is believed to be considerably more advanced than the malware used in another attack on Ukraine’s power grid a year earlier, in December 2015.

Eset said it’s been studying the malware for a number of months and recently shared its data with Dragos, leading it to conclude that it’s same as that used in the Ukraine incident in 2016.

Robert Lee of Dragos suggested this week that the Kiev transmission substation targeted in last year’s incident “may have been more of a proof of concept attack than a full demonstration of the capability in Crashoverride,” though at this stage he said he couldn’t be certain.

Either way, Eset senior malware researcher Anton Cherepanov said the Kiev attack “should serve as a wake-up call for all those responsible for the security of critical systems around the world.”

The researcher described Industroyer as particularly concerning because “it’s capable of controlling electricity substation switches and circuit breakers directly. To do so, it uses industrial communication protocols used worldwide in power supply infrastructure, transportation control systems, and other critical infrastructure systems (such as water and gas).”

The work of Eset and Dragos highlights the need for governments around the world to bolster their defenses against highly damaging cyberattacks capable of causing widespread disruption to critical infrastructure. Rather than for monetary gain, such acts of cyberwarfare are often thought to be backed by nation-states as they have the potential to cause chaos within society and reduce a population’s confidence in its own government. It’s not certain who’s behind the Ukraine cyberattacks, though coming during a period of conflict with neighboring Russia has prompted some to suspect it could be the work of hackers based there.

News of the security firms’ discovery led the U.S. Homeland Security to contact all critical infrastructure operators to ensure they’re following recommended security procedures, Reuters reported on Monday.

Cherepanov added that hackers “could adapt the malware to any environment, which makes it extremely dangerous.”

EMBARGOED JUNE 13 12:01 A.M.: Logitech unveils Circle 2 security camera with wired and wireless operation

Built for both indoor and outdoor use, and wired or wireless operation, Logitech’s new Circle 2 smart camera promises to be a flexible home security tool wherever you put it. It features a 1080p camera with an ultra-wide, 180-degree angle of view, making it easy to position in such a way to monitor an entire room. With a broad range of support accessories, it can be wirelessly mounted directly to a wall or window, or simply plugged straight into an outlet.

The Circle 2 will be available in either wired or wire-free models, but both feature the same weatherproof design. For outdoor wired operation, Logitech offers an optional weatherproof extension cable to safely wire the camera when the standard cable doesn’t provide enough reach. The wire-free model features a swappable, rechargeable battery that the company claims will last up to three months. Additional batteries can be purchased separately, ensuring you don’t have any downtime when it’s time to recharge.

With the Window Mount, the Circle 2 can clearly monitor the outside of a home from the inside – the mount holds the camera face-out directly to the window pane. The Plug Mount is a minimalist approach to indoor continuous operation and lets the camera be connected straight to an outlet – no wall-mounting hardware or power cord required.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Circle 2, however, is its support for both Apple’s and Amazon’s smart home hubs. While Apple HomeKit support won’t initially be available with the camera, it will be added sometime after launch via a software update. The device will ship with Amazon Alexa support, which will let users control settings and trigger recordings with voice commands.

The camera can also be controlled by a mobile app (iOS and Android) as well as a web app. It also supports Logitech’s POP Smart Button, which can be connected to other smart home devices, as well.

Aside from the versatile mounts, the rest of the Circle 2’s feature set runs par for the course. It includes night vision, two-way audio, encrypted cloud storage, and 24 hours of free online backup. Users can choose to add on either a 14-day or 31-day backup plan for additional storage. There is no memory card slot. The wired model starts at just $180, while the wire-free version bumps the price up to $200.

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro review: A great phone with one major drawback

Samsung gets a lot of things right with the Galaxy C7 Pro, but outdated software and a high price prevent the phone from achieving greatness.

The Indian handset segment saw a lot of changes over the last two years. One of the key trends was the influx of Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Huawei, and Lenovo, which siphoned off market share from local manufacturers. Chinese brands now account for 50% of all handset sales in the country, and that number is only set to increase as competition intensifies and new players make their entry.

In all this time, the one constant has been Samsung. The South Korean manufacturer not only managed to retain its position as the number one phone brand in the country, but it also successfully increased its market share. The reason it was able to do so was because of its competitiveness across key segments — the Galaxy S series and Galaxy A series targeted the high-end and mid-tier categories, whereas the Galaxy J and Galaxy On series catered to budget buyers.

While the Galaxy S series undoubtedly occupies a majority of the mindshare, it is the Galaxy J series that leads the way for Samsung in India — over the last two years, Samsung sold tens of millions of devices in this segment, allowing the brand to solidify its position as the leading smartphone vendor in the country.

That leaves us with the Galaxy C series. The lineup sits one tier below the Galaxy A series, and there are a few key differences — the Galaxy C7 Pro isn’t water-resistant, and there’s no Samsung Pay. The upside is that the C7 Pro is available for ₹25,990, or ₹7,500 less than the Galaxy A7 2017. Does the C7 Pro have what it takes to hold its own in a segment that’s dominated by the OnePlus 3 and 3T?

Let’s find out.

About this review

I (Harish Jonnalagadda) am writing this review after using the Galaxy C7 Pro for two weeks in Hyderabad, India, on Airtel’s 4G network. The phone came with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box and picked up the May 1, 2017 security update midway through the review.

Metalhead

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro Hardware

Samsung has been offering gorgeous metal-and-glass designs with the Galaxy S series for a few generations now, with the Galaxy S8+ showcasing the best that the manufacturer has to offer. The Galaxy A series offers a similar design ethos with a glass back, but with the Galaxy C series, the company went with an all-metallic chassis that looks great.

The front of the phone is dominated by a large 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display. It’s not a QHD panel like the Galaxy S8, but it makes up for it with vibrant colors and excellent viewing angles. Having used the C7 Pro after the Galaxy S8, I didn’t notice any major issues with the panel.

The earpiece sits above the display and is flanked by the front camera and the notification LED. There’s a Samsung logo underneath the earpiece for good measure, and you get a physical home button with an embedded fingerprint sensor that lets you store three prints. As always, the multitasking key is to the left of the home button, with the back button located to the right.

The power button is located on the right, and the SIM card tray is located right underneath. The C7 Pro has a hybrid SIM card slot, which means you can use a single SIM card along with a microSD card, or two SIM cards. The volume buttons are to the left of the device, and they offer decent travel. The phone features a USB-C port at the bottom, flanked by a 3.5mm jack and a microphone to the left and a speaker to the right. There’s a secondary microphone located at the top of the phone.

The Galaxy C7 Pro is built like a tank.

Round the back, the C7 Pro has antenna lines that run across the top and bottom of the device. The camera sits in the middle and protrudes slightly from the surface of the phone. While the C7 Pro may lack the design aesthetic of the Galaxy S8, it is built like a tank. It certainly feels much more durable than Samsung’s current flagship, and the build quality is top-notch, as one would expect in this segment.

The phone is available in two color options — gold and navy blue, and the blue variant looks better thanks to the all-black front plate. The gold version has matching accents for the earpiece and the fingerprint sensor at the front, giving the phone an added visual flair.

The highlight of the C7 Pro is its svelte profile, with the phone coming in at a thickness of 7mm. The sleek chassis makes it comfortable to hold the phone, but its sheer size makes it difficult for one-handed use.

Performance

The Galaxy C7 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 626 — the same chipset as the Moto Z2 Play. There’s 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, and Samsung’s memory management is still way too aggressive, closing down apps in the background with wild abandon.

The Snapdragon 626 is more than adequate for everyday use, and while you’ll notice the odd stutter in visually intensive games, there are no issues with day-to-day performance when using the device.

Continuing in the same vein, the 3,300mAh battery on the C7 Pro easily lasts a day on a full charge.

Burn it down

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro Software

If you’ve used a Samsung phone in the last two years, the UI on offer with the C7 Pro will feel right at home regarding the sheer number of features available. The interface itself has picked up a fresh coat of paint, and it looks much more modern. The phone also offers an always-on display mode that shows the time, date, and unread notification icons.

The leftmost home screen is taken up by Flipboard, but it can be disabled if you’re not a fan of the Briefing feature. There’s a standard app drawer, and Samsung continues to offer horizontal scrolling for the launcher. You’ll be able to sort apps alphabetically or in your own order. There’s also a blue light filter, which is useful when viewing the screen at night, and you also get a theming engine that allows you to customize the look of the UI.

The main drawback with the Galaxy C7 Pro is that it’s still running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. In mid-2017, there really isn’t an excuse to not offer Nougat out of the box, particularly in this segment. Samsung has done a great job of rolling out the Nougat update to its high-end devices in the country — India is usually one of the first markets to pick up the update for the Galaxy S series — but the company continues to ignore its mid-range offerings.

In mid-June, there’s no mention of when the Nougat update will be available for the device. That said, Samsung offers a ton of features out of the box, including a multi-window mode, one-handed mode, ability to lock apps with your fingerprint with S Folder, S Health, power-saving features, and much more. And unlike the Galaxy S8, you can quickly launch the camera by double pressing the home button.

Reverse Batman

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro Camera

The Galaxy C7 Pro has a 16-megapixel camera at the back that features an f/1.9 lens and PDAF along with a dual-tone LED flash. Samsung offers multiple shooting modes, including a food mode that makes objects in the foreground stand out. There’s also a panorama mode, a night mode, HDR, and a manual mode that lets you adjust the ISO, white balance, and exposure settings.

Images taken with the C7 Pro tend to look good for the most part — photos in daylight conditions offer a lot of detail and accurate colors. The camera struggles in low-light conditions, taking too long to dial in on a subject. The front 16MP camera is decent as long as you’re sharing images on social media.

It is what it is

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro Bottom line

The Galaxy C7 Pro has a lot of strong points — the build quality is great, the Full HD AMOLED display is excellent, the overall performance is adequate, and the battery life is amazing. The lack of Nougat is a major downside, and it doesn’t look like an update is forthcoming for the device any time soon.

There’s no Samsung Pay as well, a noticeable omission considering it is available on the Galaxy A5 and A7. The C7 Pro is tailored for multimedia, and in that role the phone excels. The large screen is great for viewing content, and the battery life ensures that the phone lasts a full day.

Should you buy it? Your call

It would’ve made a lot of sense for Samsung to release the Galaxy C7 Pro offline. After all, the manufacturer can leverage its distribution network to boost sales of the device at offline stores, making it a viable contender to what OPPO and Vivo have to offer in this segment.

However, that isn’t the case. The C7 Pro is up for sale on Amazon India, where it is going up against the likes of the OnePlus 3T. The phone doesn’t offer nearly as much value as the OnePlus 3T, but Samsung is targeting the likes of the Moto Z2 Play with the C7 Pro. Samsung’s offering wins out in that context, offering much better display and class-leading battery life.

See at Amazon India