Climate change could prevent food getting around the world

Climate change is bad news for basically every facet of human existence and now it’s set to literally hit us in the gut by threatening global food supplies. According to a new report by leading think tank Chatham House, global warming is on course to produce more violent storms and increased flooding, affecting both crop yields and global trade routes.

The report, Chokepoints and Vulnerabilities in Global Food Trade, explains that while volatile weather will have a clear and direct impact on crops it will also affect important trade routes, restricting the global free flow of food on which we depend.

According to the report, international trade has allowed certain regions to specialise in particular types of food production, thereby boosting productivity and reducing costs.

But this system is now “coming under increasing strain”, and the report’s authors have called for an “emergency response mechanism” to deal with the growing risk of dwindling global food supplies.

The report identifies 14 chokepoints — areas where food needs to travel to keep the global food chain going. These include the Panama and Suez canals, the US rail network and Brazil’s roads — none of which are known for their reliability.

In fact, over the past 15 years all but one of the 14 critical chokepoints has been closed or restricted, while 10 percent of the world’s cereals, soybeans and fertilisers are transported through a maritime chokepoint which has “no viable alternative”.

As reported in the Independent, report co-author Laura Wellesley says that governments have a tendency to make decisions with “short-term, national interests in mind”, which only serves to exacerbate the problem.

“Past events, including floods in Brazil and the Southern US, and the export bans on wheat from the Black Sea countries that contributed in part to the Arab Spring, give us a flavour of the sort of disruptions that can occur when chokepoints are closed.”

Poor urban consumers and small-scale farmers will be hit the hardest, says Robin Willoughby, Oxfam’s head of food and climate policy and campaigns, who adds that climate change is “the greatest threat to our chances of winning the fight against hunger.”

Via: The Independent, Financial Times

Source: Chatham House

Uber will appeal compulsory English exam for London drivers (updated)

Uber continues to fight against an upcoming rule change that would force London drivers to pass an English language exam. Today, the ride-hailing company has won the right to appeal the requirement, originally proposed by Transport for London in March 2016, that all private hire chauffeurs hold an English GCSE or, if they’re from a predominantly non-English speaking country, B1-level qualification. Uber broadly supports the rule change, but thinks the written exam component is unfair. “Writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from A to B,” Tom Elvidge, Uber’s General Manager for London said.

The appeal follows a long legal tussle between the two organisations. The original rule changes announced in 2016 were light in comparison to other European cities (some of which have outright banned Uber), but expansive. Uber took legal action in August, which led to a partial review by the courts. Some of the rules came into effect in October but the English exam requirement — arguably the most critical change — was delayed until March 2017. In February this year, that date was pushed back once more until September to accommodate a High Court ruling in March.

Keeping up? The courts struck down two of Transport for London’s proposals in March which would have required Uber to set up a 24-hour call centre and ensure drivers have permanent private hire insurance. It sided with the transport regulator, however, on the matter of the English language qualification, much to Uber’s displeasure. The company announced immediately that it would be filing an appeal, which has now been approved by the legal system. “We’re pleased to have secured this appeal to defend tens of thousands of drivers who risk losing their livelihoods because they can’t pass an essay writing test,” Elvidge added.

The hearing isn’t until February next year, however. Given the date, Uber is pushing TfL to delay its intended implementation in September. “We urge TfL and the Mayor not to introduce these disproportionate and discriminatory rules before the appeal is heard,” Elvidge said. TfL did not immediately comment when contacted by Engadget.

Update: Transport for London has confirmed it will delay the implementation until next April. A spokesperson said: “As the English language requirement for private hire drivers is subject to legal proceedings, we propose to extend the deadline to meet the requirement to 9 April, 2018. We maintain that all licensed drivers must be able to communicate in English at an appropriate level. This is vital for passenger safety and was supported by the High Court. We will continue to robustly defend this position at the appeal.”

Uber’s goal is to retain, where possible, the relatively open rules that existed when it first launched in London. That legal ambiguity was, in part, what allowed the company to grow at such a tremendous pace, much to the annoyance of the traditional taxi industry. Any additional regulations pose a threat to that growth. Uber’s business, after all, ultimately improves if more trips are handled each day. A difficult English language qualification would, most likely, shrink its pool of drivers, which in turn would cap the number of passengers it can ferry around the city. Fewer cars mean lower revenue — a business trend it would rather avoid.

Via: Reuters

Yahoo gives Mail a makeover and introduces Yahoo Mail Pro

Even though Gmail is currently the king of web email providers, a lot of people still use Yahoo Mail. And for those loyal to the latter despite several security lapses, you’ll have a few things to celebrate today. That’s because Yahoo is bringing a host of new improvements to Mail that includes a cleaner, faster and more intuitive interface and better attachment support. Additionally, Yahoo is replacing its Ad Free Mail service with Yahoo Mail Pro, which is essentially the same thing, but cheaper.

One of the first things you’ll notice with the new Yahoo Mail is that it has a much more minimal design. There’s more spacing in between UI elements, making for a less cluttered look. Also, you can now finally customize the UI with different color themes and layouts, a feature that’s been available on rival Gmail for quite some time. Some themes even have a light and dark mode for different times of day. For those who care about such things, Yahoo Mail also has a new emoji set culled from Twitter’s open source library, as well as new stationery options.

Another cool thing about the updated Yahoo Mail is a new Photos and Documents view. It lets you see all of the attachments you’ve ever sent or received, be it a photo or a document, and it’ll label them appropriately. You can even preview these attachments in a side-by-side view that lets you look at the documents and the attached email simultaneously. Also, you can get a rich preview of photos and documents by hovering over an image icon in any email that has them.

Yahoo also took care to make the whole interface adapt better to different screen sizes and with faster load times, especially for those with slower connections. The settings interface looks better, and the search results are also a lot friendlier than before — if you have your email view set as conversation mode, your search results will return emails in conversation mode as well (versus a flat message list). The preview pane will sit on either the left or right, depending on your preference.

One more big change is that Yahoo is discontinuing its Ad Free Mail product in favor of a whole new plan called Yahoo Mail Pro. Just as with Ad Free Mail, Yahoo Mail Pro will have no ads. It’s also cheaper — while Ad Free Mail was $49.99 a year, Yahoo Mail Pro will cost $34.99 a year. For those who want to go with a monthly option instead, Yahoo Mail Pro is also available for $3.49 a month. There’s a mobile-only option that costs $0.99 per month or $9.99 per year, which would require you to download the Yahoo Mail app. Aside from not having any ads, Yahoo also promises that Yahoo Mail Pro customers will have priority customer support.

Last but not least, Yahoo has made Mail a lot more accessible to those with low-vision and hard-of-hearing, with better light-sensitivity and VoiceOver screen reader compatibility. There are also layouts with high magnification and full keyboard navigation.

Created almost 19 years ago, Yahoo Mail is one of Yahoo’s longest-lasting products. It’s gone through quite a lot of changes since then as it tries to compete against rivals like Outlook and Gmail. Two years ago, it underwent a huge redesign that bolstered its mobile apps, introduced a password-less login system and, importantly, added third-party email support so that you could use any email address you wanted within the Yahoo Mail interface. Yet, all these improvements were overshadowed by a huge security breach that tarnished its reputation — so much so that Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) even threatened to pull out of its $4.83 million acquisition. Still, the purchase went through anyway, and it remains to be seen how Yahoo Mail will survive its tenure under Verizon ownership.

The new Yahoo Mail will be available starting today, and is opt-in, at least to start. If you decide you don’t like it, you can always switch back to “classic” mode in settings.

Large-scale cyberattack is spreading through Russia and Ukraine

A large-scale cyberattack is working its way through a number of Ukrainian and Russian targets today. So far, in Russia, oil producer Rosneft and metal company Evraz have been affected by the attack. In Ukraine, Boryspil airport, the banking system, a state power distributer and even the Ukrainian government have been hit.

While the attacks have affected banking operations in Ukraine and will likely lead to some flight delays out of Boryspil airport, they don’t seem to have impacted services on a grander scale. Rosneft said on Twitter that because it had switched to a reserve control system, its oil production wasn’t stopped. And a spokesperson for the Ukrainian power distributor Ukrenergo told Reuters that the attack hadn’t affected its power supplies or broader operations.

Ukraine was the target of a slew of cyberattacks last year. The country’s power grid and weapon supply were hacked and Boryspil airport was hit with an attack as well. Those instances were all thought by Ukraine to have originated in Russia. But the origins of today’s attacks, which have hit both Ukrainian and Russian infrastructure, aren’t yet known.

There are also reports that a ransomware called “Petya” is ravaging a number of countries throughout Europe, but it’s as of now unclear if the “unknown virus” reported to be affecting the Ukrainian and Russian companies is the same one.

Source: Reuters

You can buy the OnePlus 5 right now for $479

Want a OnePlus 5 and couldn’t swing by one of the pop-up stores to get it early? You now have your chance. As promised, OnePlus is selling its latest flagship starting at $479 (£449) for a base version with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and $539 (£499) if you crave 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Whichever version you choose, you’re getting quite a lot of phone for the money. As we noted in our review, the OP5’s speedy Snapdragon 835 chip and dual rear cameras help it punch above its weight class — it’s not the best phone, but it’s a strong value.

It’s not a completely hitch-free launch. We’ve seen reports of a (possibly mitigated) issue with WiFi signal drops when you hold the phone in an unusual way. And don’t assume that the benchmarks are completely representative of the OP5’s performance. OnePlus chief Carl Pei has acknowledged that phone maxes out the processor whenever it detects a benchmarking app (in short, it’s cheating). While you can expect similarly quick performance in games, you won’t get that kind of raw power in most other situations. They’re not deal breakers, but they’re worth considering before you plunk down your hard-earned cash.

Source: OnePlus

‘Tinder for friends’ uses AI to block flirty messages

Making new friends as an adult is hard, and it’s easy to find yourself relying on old college pals and work colleagues to bolster your social life, even if the former live on the other side of the country and the latter are, well, your work colleagues.

Many an app has tried and largely failed to address this problem, but as any woman who’s been brave enough to seek friends — genuine platonic friends — online will know, it’s not long before your inbox is inundated with dire pickup lines, weak attempts at ‘cheeky banter’ and, of course, the ubiquitous dick pic. Enter Patook. Launching globally on July 7 on iPhone and Android, the app claims to make finding new friends easier and less traumatic thanks to an algorithm which detects and blocks flirty language.

Using an AI method known as natural language processing, the ‘flirt detector’ has been trained on millions of creepy messages and pick-up lines circulating the internet, including a huge number submitted to Reddit (of course). It also responds to the behavioral activity of the user: who they message, how often, whether it’s a copy/paste job or if they’ve bothered to think of something original, and so on.

All of this combines into what Patook’s founders unsettlingly call a ‘magic sauce’, which determines whether a message is sent or not. “What kind of music do you like?” is fine. “Would you like to sit on my face?” is not. Break the rules, and you’re banned. In fact, upon the app’s beta release in 2016, five percent of users were banned before their first message was even delivered.

According to Patook CEO Antoine El Daher: “Initial feedback to the app has been extraordinary. People seeking friends and not romantic relationships have been left out in the cold until now. We anticipate rapid growth among all genders, and so far have seen approximately 40% women, 40% men, and 20% joining as couples.”

Romantic advances aside, Patook (which means ‘little hug’ in Armenian) operates in much the same way as a dating app. There’s an extensive set of privacy controls, and users build a profile and search for friends based on the usual criteria: location, interests, age range. The app also uses a points system to specifically identify and rate the value of the criteria they want in a friend. So if you’re into hiking, you might give five points to people who list ‘the great outdoors’ as an interest, or if you’re into Napalm Death, you might give points to other metalheads. Whatever floats your boat, as long as you keep it clean.

Aston Martin’s all-electric supercar launches in 2019

Aston Martin is going it alone on its first all-electric vehicle, the all-wheel drive RapidE, following a false start that caused it to curtail its production plans, courtesy of the departure of its financial partner LeEco.

Originally unveiled as a concept in 2015, the 800 horsepower RapidE will go into production in 2019. There’s just one catch: the vehicle is being limited to a production run of just 155 cars, about a third of the initial quota, reports Reuters. As such, what was going to be an expensive motor anyway, will likely see a price hike that is enough to make even Tesla S owners blush. The RapidE will come in at just under £200,000 ($255,000) on its home turf (that’s $115,000 more than the top-of-the range Model S, which can reach upwards of 760hp), with Aston Martin starting to take orders next month.

Aston’s Chief Executive Andy Palmer spoke to Reuters after the news agency caught wind of LeEco’s withdrawal from the project, confirming that his company is independently funding the venture. The two firms announced their partnership in February of last year and also promised a launch date of 2018 for the electric version of the Rapide S. But LeEco was forced to backtrack on its electric car investments after falling on hard times — the Chinese tech giant also scaled back its planned $1.3 billion Faraday Future factory in Nevada earlier this year.

“We’ve decided to make this car rare, which will obviously tend to push the price higher.”

Aston’s other collaborator on the RapidE project is staying the course. Williams Advanced Engineering, which built the original concept for the electric vehicle, will assist with its engineering integration and batteries. Aside from the RapidE, Aston Martin is set to reach another milestone with the launch of its first full production battery car in 2019: an electric version of the DBX crossover.

Source: Aston Martin

Facebook has 2 billion monthly users

Every month, 2 billion users post messages, share photos, disseminate links and argue with estranged family members on Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the milestone today in a quick post (on Facebook, of course) saying, “We’re making progress connecting the world, and now let’s bring the world closer together.” That sounds a lot like he wants to do more of the same — but you know what they say about things that ain’t broke.

Facebook was creeping up on 2 billion in March, when the social network revealed it had 1.94 billion monthly active users, up 300 million from the previous year.

The site is celebrating its growth with a personalized video for every user — it’ll show up over the next few days in your News Feed or at facebook.com/goodaddsup. That link will also host stories of people contributing to their communities. Plus, whenever you leave love for someone on Facebook over the coming days, you’ll see a message of thanks from the site itself.

Source: Facebook newsroom

Gene Munster Predicts Apple Will Eventually Earn More From AirPods Than Apple Watch

Despite selling for $159, considerably less than the Apple Watch at between $269 and $1,499, longtime Apple analyst turned venture capitalist Gene Munster believes AirPods will be “bigger than the Apple Watch” over the next decade.

Munster predicts that AirPods will contribute “about the same amount of revenue” to Apple’s pocket as the Apple Watch by the company’s 2022 fiscal year. He also predicts that AirPods will have an average price of $200 by then, as the product shifts towards what he calls “augmented audio.”

AirPods: Bigger Than Apple Watch. Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that AirPods will be bigger than the Apple Watch as the product evolves from simple wireless headphones to a wearable, augmented audio device. While both AirPods and Apple Watch should continue to grow, we see AirPods contributing about the same amount of revenue as Apple Watch by FY22. We expect the AirPods ASP to increase from $159 today to $200 in FY22 as the product shifts to augmented audio.

Apple doesn’t disclose AirPods or Apple Watch sales in its quarterly earnings results. Both products are instead grouped into its “Other Products” category, alongside sales of iPods, Apple TVs, Beats products, and accessories. Any revenue or sales numbers that circulate around are purely estimates.

Apple reported $2.87 billion revenue from “Other Products” last quarter, a 31 percent increase from $2.18 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Early last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the response to AirPods has been “great,” with the wireless earphones remaining hard to come by.

“Demand for AirPods significantly exceeds supply, and growth in Beats products has also been very strong,” said Cook. “In fact, when we combine Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats headphones, our revenues from wearable products in the last four quarters was the size of a Fortune 500 company.”

Despite launching over six months ago, AirPods continue to have a 6-week shipping estimate for orders placed on Apple’s website. Some third-party resellers have occasionally had them in stock with earlier delivery.

Apple analyst Neil Cybart recently said Apple is “underpricing” the Apple Watch and AirPods in an effort to bring new users into its ecosystem. He said this pricing strategy was “unimaginable” ten years ago, when Apple was often accused of pricing products artificially high—aka the so-called “Apple Tax.”

Cybart said a strong case could have been made for Apple to price AirPods at $249, or even $299. By selling them for $159, he thinks Apple has “removed all available oxygen from the wireless headphone space,” and forced other wireless headphone makers to cut their own prices in order to remain competitive.

AirPods have been well received by early adopters, achieving a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate in a recent survey conducted by Experian and market research firm Creative Strategies.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3, watchOS 4
Tags: Gene Munster, AirPods
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Apple Music’s New Curated Playlist ‘My Chill Mix’ Begins Appearing for Some Subscribers

Over the past few days, some Apple Music subscribers have noticed the appearance of a new playlist in the “For You” tab of the music streaming app, called “My Chill Mix.” Redditor Elliotblyth posted about the playlist recently, noting that their iPad remains on iOS 10 and that they have not yet installed the iOS 11 public beta that released yesterday. Still, a few commenters on the Reddit post have noted the appearance of My Chill Mix while on the iOS 11 beta.

In screenshots, the playlist doesn’t have a description like My Favorites Mix and My New Music Mix, but a few users who have been listening to the playlist have given a decent description of what kind of music it includes. As a point of comparison, currently My Favorites Mix (refreshed every Wednesday) gives subscribers a list of the songs they most listen to, while My New Music Mix (refreshed every Friday) recommends newly released music that aligns with the taste of a user’s previous listening history.

Images via Redditor Elliotblyth
My Chill Mix is said to be similar to My New Music Mix, but without the rule that only newly released tracks can be in the playlist. This means that Apple Music will pull from music selections that are both old and new, all based on each user’s personal listening history and likes/dislikes, to propagate My Chill Mix every Sunday. For subscribers who don’t see the new playlist, asking Siri to “play My Chill Mix” sometimes works.

Apple describes My Chill Mix as follows: “Tailored to your music tastes, My Chill Mix is a selection of songs to help you relax and unwind.” The playlist originally appeared in the watchOS 4 preview page after WWDC, with Apple including My Chill Mix among the playlists that will automatically sync to Apple Watch. Since then, any mention of the playlist has been removed from that page on Apple.com.

My New Music Mix and My Favorites Mix originally appeared on the iOS 10 public beta last September, a few months after WWDC 2016 when Apple originally announced that personally curated playlists would be coming to Apple Music. A few tweaks are coming to Apple Music in iOS 11 as well, including a new social feature where subscribers can make profiles, share playlists, see their friends’ playlists, and browse their friends’ listening history.

Related Roundups: iOS 10, iOS 11
Tag: Apple Music
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