You can now tip your Uber driver in select cities

Uber has been trying to win back the hearts and minds of its drivers and riders lately. With board members resigning, the CEO stepping down, and apology emails to drivers in NYC, the beleaguered ride-sharing company needs a couple of wins. Last month, the company promised some changes to make driving for Uber better, including tipping. Today, Uber is taking the feature live in 121 different cities in the US and Canada.

Previously, riders who wanted to tip their drivers had to do so separately from the Uber app, with cash or other form of electronic payment. Now passengers will see a new screen after a ride is completed, letting you tip your driver whenever is convenient for you, similar to how you rate drivers. The tip is private, as it will be associated with the trip, not your name, and won’t be assessed a service fee. Drivers will need to download the latest Uber Driver app and then enable the Accept Tips system from there. They’ll also be able to track tips and cash them out to their debit card with Uber’s Instant Pay system.

Uber sent us a current list of cities with the new tipping feature, below. Tips should roll out to every US and Canadian city by the end of July.

• Adirondack, NY
• Albany, NY
• Amarillo, TX
• Anchorage, AK
• Ann Arbor, MI
• Augusta, GA
• Bakersfield, CA
• Baton Rouge, LA
• Beaumont, TX
• Bellingham, WA
• Bloomington, IN
• Boise, ID
• Boston, MA
• Bowling Green, KY
• Bozeman/Butte, MT
• Buffalo, NY
• Burlington, VT
• Calgary (CAN)
• Carbondale, CO
• Charleston, SC
• Cleveland, OH
• Coastal Georgia
• Coeur d’Alene, ID
• Columbia, SC
• Columbia, MO
• Corpus Christi, TX
• Dayton, OH
• Delaware
• Dubuque, IA
• Duluth, MN
• Eastern Idaho
• Eastern North Carolina
• Eastern Washington
• Eau Claire, WI
• Edmonton (CAN)
• El Paso, TX
• Erie, PA
• Fayetteville, AR
• Fayetteville, NC
• Flagstaff, AZ
• Fort Collins, CO
• Fort Myers-Naples, FL
• Gallup, NM
• Grand Forks, ND
• Greater Maine
• Greater Williamsport
• Hampton Roads, VA
• Harrisburg, PA
• Hattiesburg, MS
• Honolulu, HI
• Inland Empire, CA
• Jackson, MS
• Kalispell, MT
• Kauai, HI
• Kingston, NY
• Knoxville, TN
• Lafayette, LA
• Lansing, MI
• Laredo, TX
• Las Cruces, NM
• Lawrence, KS
• Lehigh Valley, PA
• Little Rock, AK
• London (CAN)
• Los Angeles, CA
• Louisville, KY
• Madison, WI
• Manhattan, KS
• Maui, HI
• Milwaukee, WI
• Missoula, MT
• Montgomery, AL
• Myrtle Beach, SC
• New Hampshire
• New Orleans, LA
• New York City/New Jersey/NYC Suburbs/New Jersey (Shore)/Hamptons/Upstate NY
• Ocala, FL
• Olympia, WA
• Omaha, NE
• Orange County, CA
• Outer Banks, NC
• Peninsula and SW WA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Piedmont Triad, NC
• Portland, OR
• Quad Cities, IA
• Rhode Island, RI
• Rochester, NY
• Rochester, MN
• San Francisco, CA
• San Luis Obispo, CA
• Santa Fe, NM
• Savannah-Hilton Head, GA
• Sioux City, IA
• South Bend, IN
• Southern Utah
• Springfield, IL
• Springfield, MO
• St Cloud, MN
• State College, PA
• Syracuse, NYC
• Tacoma, WA
• Tampa Bay, FL
• Terre Haute, IN
• Toledo, OH
• Toronto (CAN)
• Tri-Cities, WA
• Tucson, AZ
• Tulsa, OK
• Vancouver, WA
• Ventura, CA
• West Lafayette, IN
• Western Arizona
• Wichita, KS
• Wichita Falls, TX
• Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA
• Wilmington, NC
• Windsor (CAN)
• York-Gettysburg, NY
• Youngstown, OH
• Yuma, AZ

Source: Uber

Baidu’s latest autonomous car road test may have been illegal

China’s largest search engine provider, Baidu, has gotten itself into some trouble. The company has been developing self-driving vehicles and during a conference this week, it aired a live video chat of its product in action. During the video chat, Baidu’s CEO Robin Li sat in a self-driving car as it navigated its way through Beijing traffic. But the police weren’t too thrilled with the stunt and said they were investigating whether any laws were broken.

In 2015, Baidu completed a full autonomous test of its self-driving car on mixed roads. Last year it began testing its vehicles on public roads in Wuzhen, China and was granted a permit to conduct tests in California. But in July of last year, Chinese authorities banned self-driving cars from the country’s highways until regulations on the vehicles were put in place. However, those regulations still haven’t been set and from the video of Li’s ride, it looks like he was on a highway.

But aside from whether Baidu was in violation of autonomous vehicle testing rules, the car’s traffic maneuvers didn’t seem incredibly safe. In the video, which you can watch here, you can see the car move into a new lane even though there’s a car very close behind it. And at one point the car begins to change lanes while another car is right next to it.

Li appears to be very calm throughout the ride, but it looks like the car’s driving system may need some more work. Baidu wants to get its self-driving cars on the road by 2019. Maybe by then they’ll be a little safer.

Via: Reuters

Source: Engadget Chinese

Samsung’s Smart TVs stream your Steam games with no extra hardware

You can now play PC games on your 4K Samsung Smart TV without having to buy a Steam Link device. Instead, just install the Steam Link app from the Samsung App Store and you’re good to go.

The beta version of the app supports 1080p video at 60fps, with 4K streaming support promised in the future. You can play your games using a Steam Controller (although PC Gamer also managed to hook up a Xbox 360 pad). Valve is promising compatibility for additional controllers soon.

Be aware that if you’re planning to stream powerful PC titles, it’s essential you use a wired or high-quality network (at least 5GHZ, according to Valve). And, as we noted in our Steam Link review, streaming quality will also improve depending on how powerful your gaming rig is. However, you may still encounter some niggles while using the Steam Link app — it is in beta after all. Valve expects any issues to be smoothed out by the time it’s officially released.

Valve announced its partnership with Samsung at its Steam Dev Days conference in October. The app was then quietly rolled out in the US last month, with a global release planned for later this summer. But if you’re still unsure about forking out for a Samsung 4K TV, you can just grab the regular Steam Link on the cheap for $50.

Via: Liliputing

Source: Steam

Sony streams PS4 games on PlayStation Now for the first time

Sony’s game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, is getting a huge boost today thanks to the addition of 20 PS4 titles. The company announced that, for the first time, subscribers can use its offering to play games like God of War III Remastered, Killzone Shadow Fall, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Resogun, Ultimate Street Fighter IV and WWE 2K16, to mention a few. With the newly included PlayStation 4 games, Sony’s PS Now digital library has reached more than 500 total. That means if you have a PS4 or Windows PC, now may be a good time to sign up for that seven-day trial and see if the service is worth it.

Source: Sony

iFixit kit helps with that tricky Retina MacBook Pro battery swap

Gadget repairability is an ongoing issue, one that iFixit has taken on by providing spare parts and manuals for those who want to fix their gear. The company is now offering battery replacement kits for MacBook Pros with Retina Display.

The kits are available for ten different versions of the model released between 2012 and 2015. And they make it possible to remove and replace the laptop’s battery, which Apple glues into place. To get around the glue problem, iFixit developed a chemical solvent that can dissolve it and the kit comes with a syringe to use for application. Other tools provided in the kits include various screwdrivers, tweezers and spudgers. Depending on the MacBook model, the battery replacement could require between 32 and 73 steps to complete and could take between 20 minutes and three hours.

It’s becoming very clear that the inability to repair our gadgets is a major environmental issue. To highlight that and the role tech companies play, Greenpeace and iFixit recently teamed up to rate the repairability of various phones, tablet and laptops. Apple didn’t rank so well. Earlier this year, five states introduced “right to repair” bills that made it easier and legal for third-party vendors to repair gadgets.

The iFixit Retina MacBook Pro battery replacement kits are available now and cost $90 – $110.

Via: The Verge

Source: iFixit

T-Mobile’s unlimited data plan loses edge after $5 price hike

The cost of T-Mobile’s One Plus unlimited data plan just went up $5. The add-on to the company’s basic unlimited plan is now $10 per month bringing the total monthly cost for a single line to $80.

Springing for the One Plus plan rather than the regular package gets customers unlimited HD video play and mobile hotspot access — both of which are limited with the basic plan. One Plus also comes with unlimited Gogo inflight WiFi and faster international data speeds.

T-Mobile has tweaked its unlimited data service a few times in order to stay competitive with rivals like Verizon and AT&T. After Verizon debuted its new unlimited plan earlier this year, T-Mobile moved its One Plus-exclusive HD video streaming and LTE hotspot tethering back to its basic plan, but that offer was short-lived. Similarly, when AT&T announced it was adding 10GB of tethering data to its unlimited plan, T-Mobile hit back with a buy two lines get one free promo.

The new price point still keeps T-Mobile fairly competitive. It’s now on par with Verizon’s single line cost and AT&T’s is a little pricier at $90 per month. Sprint’s plan currently starts at $50 per month. However, Verizon’s, AT&T’s and Sprint’s monthly prices don’t include added taxes or fees while T-Mobile’s does. T-Mobile customers already subscribed to the One Plus unlimited plan will still only have to pay $5 for the add-on; the higher price is for new customers only.

Via: The Verge

Source: T-Mobile

‘The Third Thumb’ is for all the times two just aren’t enough

How many times have you wished for a third hand while trying to carry too many things? Well, you can’t have that yet because it’s not a thing (at least not an available thing), but maybe you can get yourself another thumb, which is almost as good. Dani Clode, a graduate student at the Royal College of Art in London, created The Third Thumb, a 3D-printed prosthetic that straps onto your hand.

The thumb is motorized and connected by cables to a bracelet. Pressure sensors underneath the wearer’s feet connect to the thumb’s motors via bluetooth. So, working the extra digit just requires you to press down with your foot. Clode said that she linked the thumb to foot controls because with actions like driving, using a sewing machine or playing piano, we already have practice completing tasks that require hands and feet to work together.

Clode says the project is meant to explore how we can add capabilities to our bodies with prosthetics. “The origin of the word ‘prosthesis’ meant ‘to add, put onto’, so not to fix or replace, but to extend,” Clode said to Dezeen, “The Third Thumb is inspired by this word origin, exploring human augmentation and aiming to reframe prosthetics as extensions of the body.”

In the video of The Third Thumb, which is just a prototype, people use the extra digit while playing cards, carrying wine glasses, cracking eggs and even playing guitar. Overall, extra appendages feel like a move towards Orphan Black’s “Neolution”, but The Third Thumb seems much less permanent and way less creepy.

Via: The Verge

Source: Dezeen

Bixby, where are you?

There’s plenty to love about the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, Samsung’s latest mobile darlings. The near edge-to-edge displays and luscious design give them a fit and finish few other flagships can match. And the performance and battery-life are nothing to sneeze at either. Yet, nearly three months after their initial launch, the phones are still missing a key feature: Bixby.

Samsung’s AI-powered voice assistant is nowhere to be seen. Seeing as the company is keen on making Bixby the center of its consumer universe, the missing voice assistant is more than just a mystery; it’s also a liability.

When Samsung showed off Bixby at the S8 launch event in March, it wowed the audience, and frankly, us. The company claimed that the voice interface was so intuitive that you could control the phones as effectively as you could with the touchscreen. That’s a lofty goal, and would make it even more powerful and more capable than Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant.

Bixby, it seems, can do more than just launch an app or check the weather. Bixby also promises to be contextually aware, potentially adding appointments and reminders without you having to do so manually. Plus, it wants to do all of it with natural language processing, so you don’t have to give perfect directions in order for it to work well.

If that all sounds too good to be true, well, maybe that’s because it is. When the phone launched, it was without Bixby Voice on board (though it still had Bixby Home, a home screen alternative to Google Home, and Bixby Vision, an augmented reality camera that can identify objects it captures). Instead, the company said that the voice assistant would arrive later than the actual hardware. From a company that usually has no problem churning out products, this seemed a little odd.

As the calendar flipped from April to May, Bixby still wasn’t ready. Apparently stymied by the complexities of the English language, Samsung just couldn’t get Bixby up to snuff. (It did, however, manage to get the Korean language version out the door in May). “Bixby Voice benefits from time to further enhance natural language understanding,” said a Samsung spokesperson to the Wall Street Journal at the time. Later in June, the company opened up an “early preview test” of Bixby so that it could give some users a taste of how it works, and also get a wider data sample.

Now it’s July, and it still doesn’t seem like Bixby is anywhere near done. As the Korea Herald puts it, Samsung just doesn’t have the “big data” necessary to have the AI up and running in languages other than Korean. The paper says that this is potentially due to geographical and linguistic barriers between Samsung’s Korean headquarters and the AI researchers in California. Considering Bixby’s lofty ambitions coupled with how difficult natural language processing is in the first place, those difficulties are not entirely surprising.

Yet, it’s a problem that Samsung should have foreseen. After all, this is a company that’s known for its innovation — it’s produced slim-yet-waterproof smartphones, next-gen smart watches and phone-powered VR headsets at a rapid pace, in many of those cases setting the stage for the rest of the industry. It’s not like the company has no experience ushering in technological wonders. Yes, it would be a newcomer to the AI space, but Samsung should have the resources available to tackle the issue head on.

Which is what makes the whole Bixby delay a little fishy. Something must have gone wrong somewhere. It seems as if Samsung bit off a little more than it could chew and just didn’t think an AI voice assistant would take as long as it did. This doesn’t just paint the S8 and the S8 Plus in a bad light, it also puts a serious damper on Samsung’s other products like the rumored smart speaker and the new Note coming up in September and any other smart-products — given Bixby will likely be the thread that ties them all together.

Considering the S8 was supposed to be Samsung’s redemption after last year’s Note debacle, overpromising and underdelivering is the wrong way to win customers back. If it ships Bixby in the next month or so, it could limit the damage. If it doesn’t, Samsung will need to really blow us away with the Note and its upcoming 2018 lineup while it figures Bixby out. The company delayed the S8 launch to deal with the Note’s battery issues and that appears to have panned out, so Samsung still has a chance to pull it out of the bag. But consumers only have so much patience left.

Scientists want to use satellites to predict landslides

Small satellites have countless uses, including when it comes to monitoring the planet for natural disasters. Now, scientists think they’ve made a breakthrough on this front: They’re using satellite data to map the Earth’s movement. Their end goal is to develop an early warning system for communities before landslides.

Last week, a massive landslide occurred in Sichuan Province in China, affecting Xinmo village. Three days later, a second landslide struck the same area and a third landslide hit a village about 20 km (12.5 miles) away. Using images from ESA’s Sentinel-1, the team was able to look at before and after pictures of the region, as they detailed in a presentation at the Dragon-4 symposium in Copenhagen.

It’s incredibly difficult to detect landslides using traditional methods. But by using satellite data, the team was able to map the landslide, identify its source and look at its extent. Professor Zehnghong Li of Newcastle University, who worked on the project, explains, “In fact, while we were monitoring the Maoxian landslides we managed to identify over 10 other active landslides in the same region and forwarded this information to the relevant agencies.”

The real value of this data? The team was able to identify that the land had been sliding approximately six months before last week’s events. This suggests that an early warning system for landslides using current satellite technology would be achievable and effective.

Source: EurekAlert

Review: ElevationLab’s ‘BatteryPro’ iPhone and Apple Watch Charger is Expensive, but Offers Useful Features

ElevationLab’s latest product is the BatteryPro, an Apple Watch and iPhone charger that’s got some clever design elements and a built-in Apple Watch charging puck for convenience. Priced at $99, the BatteryPro isn’t cheap, but if you value ease of use over cost, it’s worth checking out.

At first glance, the BatteryPro doesn’t look like much. It’s similar in design to many external battery packs, constructed from plain but durable black plastic and designed with a rectangular shape that matches up well with the iPhone. It’s meant to fit in a back pocket while charging the iPhone, and it does. Walking around with the BatteryPro in a back pocket isn’t exactly comfortable because it’s almost an inch thick and weighty, but it’s functional in a pinch.

Though it uses a simple design, the BatteryPro features a built-in Apple Watch charging puck and a unique elastic “StowStrap” that’s designed to hold the Apple Watch in place while it’s charging, so you can toss it in a backpack while on the go. When not in use, the strap sits flush in a groove that’s been added to the Battery Pro, but when you need to charge, you unhook it from the back, place the Apple Watch on the charger, wrap the strap over it, and secure it in a second slot on the back of the device.

With this setup, the Apple Watch is held firmly in place on the charger and it’s protected from scratches and other damage while it’s charging. This is ideal for charging the Apple Watch in a purse or a backpack, but it’s also handy on a nightstand because there’s no way to knock the watch off.

Along with the strap and the Apple Watch charging puck, there’s a micro-USB slot at the top of the BatteryPro that’s used for charging and a USB-A slot that accommodates a Lightning to USB cable for charging an iPhone (or any other kind of device). While a micro-USB cable is included, you will need to supply your own Lightning cable.

The top of the BatteryPro also features a red button that’s used to initiate charging when an Apple Watch or iPhone is connected, and on the front of the device next to the Apple Watch charging puck, there are four LEDs that display the approximate charge level whenever the red button is pressed.

There’s an 8,000 mAh battery in the BatteryPro, which is good for a week or two of Apple Watch charges. There’s not quite as much battery life when used with the iPhone, but with my 7 Plus, which has a 2,900 mAh battery, I got nearly two charges from it. On the first charge, my iPhone 7 Plus went from dead to full, and on the second charge, it had enough juice left to get it from dead to 84 percent. With the iPhone 7 (1,960 mAh) and other devices with less battery capacity, the BatteryPro will offer up to three charges.

ElevationLab says the BatteryPro features “smart high-speed USB out,” and it took a little over two hours to charge my iPhone 7 Plus from dead to full. Charging the BatteryPro itself from dead to full also takes just a couple of hours.

Bottom Line

You can get a 10,000 mAh Anker external battery pack on Amazon for a fourth of the price of the BatteryPro, and there are even cheaper off-brand options available. While cheap, those vanilla battery packs don’t come with the features that are packed into the BatteryPro, including a built-in Apple Watch charging puck and the strap that holds the Apple Watch in place.

I travel often and find it to be a hassle to carry around a lot of charging cables, so I much prefer built-in Apple Watch charging solutions like the BatteryPro, and being able to secure the band to the charger with the elastic strap was useful when I needed a little extra juice to get through the day. I do wish a short Lightning cable was offered with the BatteryPro, though, especially at the $99 price point.

If you don’t mind carrying around both an Apple Watch charging puck and a Lightning cable, the cheap battery pack is always going to be a better buy, but if you would rather shell out some extra cash for the sake of convenience, the BatteryPro is a solid iPhone and Apple Watch accessory that’s worth a look.

How to Buy

The BatteryPro can be purchased from the ElevationLab website for $99.

Tags: ElevationLab, BatteryPro
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