Google adds a dash of Pinterest with recipes and shopping

Google Image Search hasn’t really been well-suited to competing with Pinterest. You could save images for later viewing or visit the source page, but you couldn’t always tell what you would get when you would click through. That’s changing today. Google has updated Image Search to not only identify when an image points to a special content, but to display some of that content with a single glance. If you look for food, for instance, you may see “recipe” badges and even the recipe itself once you tap the picture. It’ll also highlight purchasable products, animated GIFs and videos.

This isn’t Google’s first stab at Pinterest-like features. It previously added a computer vision-based feature for mobile users that identifies products in the photos you find. However, Google is more explicitly targeting its rival this time around — Pinterest is frequently considered an internet cookbook, and you might not need it so much now that a simple web search might turn up what you’re looking for.

It’s not surprising why Google would make a move like this, especially now. Pinterest is putting more and more of an emphasis on search, and Google is likely worried that you won’t spend as much time on its pages if Pinterest regularly covers what you’re looking for. This won’t trounce Pinterest’s advantages as a social network, but it could easily produce more of the all-important ad revenue that Google craves.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google

Senate bill demands tougher security for the Internet of Things

Security among Internet of Things devices is bad enough at home, but it’s downright scary in government, where a vulnerable security camera could lead to hackers stealing vital secrets. A bipartisan team of US senators wants to reduce the chances of ever happening. They’re introducing a bill, the Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act, that mandates a base level of security standards for any IoT gadgets used in government. The would-be law is there mostly to ensure that vendors don’t get away with rookie mistakes that leave their devices wide open to attack.

The legislation would require that devices support patches and password changes, and are free of known exploits. To that end, security researchers would have greater legal protection when they’re hacking devices to find those exploits. The government would be allowed to ask for permission to buy devices that don’t meet all the requirements, but only if they’re fenced in through network isolation, operating system containers or other tricks that prevent attackers from doing much damage.

There’s no guarantee that the measure will become law. There’s a corresponding House bill already in the works, however, and Senator Mark Warner stresses that they’re aiming for the “lightest touch” possible. This is more about raising the bar for IoT gear than a narrow set of expectations. If it does take effect, though, it could have an effect well beyond government. Some companies are likely to sell their connected devices to both home and government users, and scoring a lucrative government contract could require that they improve the baseline security for everyone.

Via: Reuters

Source: Senator Mark Warner

Request a Lyft inside the Amtrak app when your train arrives

Lyft has teamed up with another brand, forming a partnership that totally makes sense. Now, Amtrak riders can request a Lyft directly from the Amtrak app. Lyft said in a statement that rides to and from transit stations are one of its most popular routes and account for a quarter of Chicago ride requests alone. Amtrak travel is available in 46 states and as of now, Lyft is available to 97 percent of Amtrak riders.

This is the most recent brand partnership for Lyft, which just launched its Minnie Vans for guest transport throughout Disney World. The company also recently joined forces with Taco Bell. These brand partnerships are smart moves, building on increasing momentum that has pushed the company past the one million rides per day mark and nudged its growth beyond that of Uber’s.

Access to Lyft via Amtrak’s app is available starting today. First-timers can use code AMTRAKLYFT for $5 off of their first four rides.

Source: Lyft, Amtrak

Get your first taste of ‘Sunless Skies’ on August 30th

Sunless Skies, the sequel to Sunless Sea that reached its Kickstarter goal in just four hours, will be available for Early Access play on August 30th. Kickstarter backers will get their key via email and anybody else who would like to play and provide feedback can get the game for 10 percent of its regular $25 price during the first week of release.

Players will get to check out the Reach, which is one of the High Wilderness regions, and can experience a number of gameplay features while the game is under development. In a statement, Failbetter Games included this description of the Reach, “The Reach is a verdant, sunless frontier. London pioneers— spearheaded by the avaricious Windward Company—establish far-flung colonies and plunder the riches of the region’s ruins and wild gardens. But many colonists crave independence from the Empire, and the Reach is rife with conflict. Will you be one of the lucky few who strikes it rich? Or one of the masses broken amidst the green wastes?”

Failbetter said that feedback it received during Early Access play of Sunless Sea was important for the game’s development and it’s excited to open Sunless Skies up to players. The early look will be available on Steam Early Access and GOG Games in Development.

Source: Failbetter Games

Apple iPad sales grow year-over-year for the first time since 2013

This time of year isn’t usually great for Apple’s hardware sales, but the company’s newly released Q3 earnings has at least one pleasant surprise. In addition to raking in $45.4 billion in revenue over the past three months, Apple also said it sold 41 million iPhones and 11.4 million iPads. That works out to growth of a tepid 1.5 percent for iPhones over last year, but the iPads? We’re looking at a jump of nearly 15 percent since last August. This also marks the first time iPad sales have grown year-over-year in Q3 since the dark days fo 2013.

That iPhone sales basically stayed flat is little surprise — Tim Cook himself said last quarter that incessant reports about new models stymied sales, and we’re now about month away from new iPhone announcements. Of course this bit was going to be dull. Meanwhile, iPads — and the tablet market in general — have been looking anemic at best for a while now. This quarter’s notable lift is thanks to the launch of multiple new models this year, from a pair of new iPad Pros to a low-cost, $329 model meant to help new customers and upgraders with old ‘Pads experience iOS has to offer. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t mention whether this surge in tablet sales was mainly attributable to those beautiful new Pros or its rock-solid cheap tablet.

Mac sales, meanwhile, remained essentially flat with just about 4.3 million units sold. People clearly weren’t too thrilled about the refreshed machines Apple showed off at WWDC, but the big stuff hasn’t arrived yet. We’ll see what happens when that sleek new iMac Pro goes on sale later this year.

The seasonality of Apple’s fortunes are well understood — Q3 is generally pretty quiet as people gear up for the announcement of new products in September. (The financial party really kicks into high gear in Q1 when Apple the results of its typically-bonkers holiday sales period.) Since lulls like this are relatively easy to foresee, Apple has to be proud that its service revenue — the money it makes off things off iTunes and App Store purchases, Apple Music subs, iCloud and more — is also up. All together, those purchases add up to $7.26 billion, up 22 percent since this time last year.

And then there’s all those other products, like AirPods, Watches and more, that Apple handily lumps into a single category called “Other Products.” This time, the company reported $2.75 in revenue, which is up a whole lot from last year but not so much from last quarter. The year-over-year jump is to be expected since Apple’s surprisingly popular AirPods weren’t available until the winter of 2016; the very slight decline since last quarter could mean people aren’t buying AirPods quite as rapaciously as before, or that Apple is (still) having trouble producing them to meet demand. Sadly, Apple is still more than happy to avoid breaking down revenue into slices its wearables and accessories, so it’s hard to say for sure which products have caused this segment grow slightly.

Red’s $15,000 ‘Red Raven’ Camera Kit Available Exclusively at Apple Stores

High-end camera company Red today announced that its Red Raven camera kit, priced at $14,995.95, is being sold exclusively through Apple.com and demoed at select Apple retail stores around the world.

Red describes the Raven camera kit as a “complete camera package” that features a “diverse” set of accessories that have been sourced from brands like Sigma, G-Tech, Nanuk, and of course, Apple, with the company contributing Final Cut Pro X. The full kit components are listed below:

• RED RAVEN 4.5K camera BRAIN
• RED DSMC2 Touch LCD 4.7″ Monitor
• RED DSMC2 Outrigger Handle
• RED V-Lock I/O Expander
• RED 120 GB RED MINI-MAG
• Two IDX DUO-C98 batteries with VL-2X charger
• G-Technology ev Series RED MINI-MAG Reader
• Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art
• Nanuk heavy-duty camera case
• Final Cut Pro X
• foolcontrol for RAVEN Camera Kit

The Red Raven 4.5K camera, which can capture up to 120 frames per second, is designed to produce cinema-quality imagery while also remaining small and compact for portability. It weighs 3.5 pounds and can be used with drones, gimbals, and handheld configurations. As with all Red cameras, the Raven has a modular design that allows it to pair with both Red accessories and accessories from third-party brands.

The Red Raven Camera Kit with Final Cut Pro X is available for purchase from Apple.com starting today, with next-day delivery available.
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Snap Might Buy Zero Zero, Company Behind Hover Camera Drone Sold Exclusively at Apple Stores

Snapchat parent company Snap is in talks to purchase Zero Zero Robotics, the company that created the $500 Hover Camera Passport Drone that’s currently sold exclusively at Apple retail stores and Apple.com, reports The Information.

The Hover Camera Passport is an ultra lightweight drone that’s designed to work as a personal camera, following closely behind a person and capturing hands-free photos and videos using face and body tracking. Given its small size (242 grams) and its foldable carbon fiber body, the Hover Camera Passport can go essentially anywhere.

If Snap establishes a deal with Zero Zero Robotics, the Hover Camera Passport and future related products would join Snap’s existing Spectacles, which are camera-equipped sunglasses meant to capture short videos and upload them to Snapchat.

Right now, the Hover Camera Passport is exclusive to Apple Stores, and Apple has inked a deal with Zero Zero that has made demo products available in many Apple retail stores around the world. Should Snap purchase Zero Zero, the latter company’s deal with Apple would presumably end.

Zero Zero is said to have approached Snap in an effort to secure additional funding, but a potential purchase price isn’t available. Snap has reportedly been looking into acquiring drone companies since mid-2016, and has already purchased one small drone maker in Los Angeles.

Tags: Snap, Hover Camera Passport
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Apple Reports 3Q 2017 Results: $8.7B Profit on $45.4B Revenue, 41M iPhones, iPad Sales Up 28% Over Last Quarter

Apple today announced financial results for the third fiscal quarter of 2017, which corresponds to the second calendar quarter of the year. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $45.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $8.7 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $42.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $7.8 billion, or $1.42 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Gross margin for the quarter was 38.5 percent compared to 38 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 61 percent of revenue. Apple also declared a quarterly dividend payment of $0.63 per share, payable on August 17 to shareholders of record as of August 14.

Apple sold 41 million iPhones during the quarter, up slightly from 40.4 million a year earlier, while Mac sales rose slightly to 4.29 million units from 4.25 million units in the year-ago quarter following the introduction of a number of updated Macs in June.

iPad sales saw a significant increase on the strength of new iPad Pro models released late in the quarter and a low-cost iPad earlier in the year, rising to 11.42 million from 9.95 million. iPad unit sales were up 28 percent compared to the previous quarter and 15 percent year-over-year.

“With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we’re happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We hosted an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and we’re very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall.”

Apple’s guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 includes expected revenue of $49–52 billion and gross margin between 37.5 and 38 percent.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q3 2017 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Conference call starts at 2:00 PM Pacific – No need to refresh

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Tag: earnings
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Apple’s iPad Sales Up 15% Year-Over-Year in 3Q 2017

Apple in June introduced new 10.5 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models with new features like a faster processor and an improved ProMotion display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it appears these new tablets are appealing to consumers.

Apple sold over 11.4 million iPads during the third quarter of 2017, according to today’s earnings results, bringing in nearly $5 billion in revenue for the company.

That’s up 15 percent from the third quarter of 2016, where Apple sold just under 10 million iPads. Compared to the second quarter of 2017, iPad sales are up an impressive 28 percent, indeed suggesting the new iPad Pro models have been a hit.

Apple also released a low-cost revamped “iPad” earlier this year, and its $329 price tag combined with a speedy A9 processor may also be driving iPad sales. iPad sales may climb even higher next quarter as the new iPad Pro models were introduced towards the end of the third quarter in June.

At 11.4 million iPads sold, Apple far exceeded analyst expectations. Many analysts forecasted a decline in sales, predicting Apple would sell only 7 to 9.8 million iPads during the quarter.

Prior to mid-2016, Apple saw a 10 quarter decline in iPad revenue, but numbers have climbed since the introduction of the iPad Pro and Apple’s effort to position it as a full PC replacement.

Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Tag: earnings
Buyer’s Guide: 10.5″ iPad Pro (Buy Now), 12.9″ iPad Pro (Buy Now)
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Close to the Metal Ep. 50: We talk Threadripper and Vega at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT

AMD’s release of its Ryzen processors earlier in 2017 was just the beginning of an eventful year for the company. On Sunday, August 30, the company revealed its next major chip – Threadripper.

With up to 16 cores and 32 threads, the processor is among the most powerful ever available to consumers. It represents not only a new high-end for AMD, but also an emerging trend of extremely powerful hardware that targeted the consumer market. Both AMD and Intel are working on chips with extreme core counts and extreme prices.

And that wasn’t all. AMD also finally took the veil off its first gamer-focused Vega cards, the Vega 64 and 56. Priced at $500 and $400 respectively, the cards are going to take on Nvidia’s GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. The company also announced a liquid-cooled version of Vega 64, only available in a bundle, alongside a smaller air-cooled version the Vega Nano.

We’ll cover these announcements, and more, in this week’s Close to the Metal.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that takes a deep dive into computing and PC gaming topics. Each show, we’ll focus in on one topic, and leave no stone unturned as we show off the latest in hardware and software. Whether it’s the latest GPU, supercomputers, or which 2-in-1 you should buy, we break down the complicated jargon and talk about how user experience is affected in the real world. Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We broadcast the show live on YouTube at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT every Tuesday.