CNN is the latest to make a daily news show for Snapchat

NBC isn’t the only major US broadcaster hopping on the Snapchat daily news show bandwagon. CNN has launched The Update, a survey of events that will run in the Shows section of Snapchat’s Stories at 6PM Eastern. Each regular episode will cover five or more stories in a quick, just-the-facts format. Logically, there will be out-of-cycle updates for breaking news. CNN’s Snapchat news output has so far been limited to infographics and story links, so this is a much more concerted effort to court the mobile crowd.

CNN isn’t shy about why it’s making this move: it wants to tap into a “young audience” and start “speaking their language.” To put it another way, the outlet is concerned that it might miss out on a generation that depends on its phones and rarely if ever watches TV to get their news. The Update isn’t about to become a primary source of news, but it may keep CNN in people’s minds at a time when viewing habits are changing rapidly.

This could be a big deal for Snapchat, too — it’s struggling to add more users as Facebook imitates many of its core features. If you’re interested enough in news to keep returning to Snapchat on a regular basis, you may stick around for more of its content and, of course, the messaging that defined Snapchat in the first place.

Source: CNN

Swiftly-falling snowstorms may fall at night on Mars

Certain areas of Mars develop clouds at night that drop icy rain rather quickly — and in some areas, perhaps snow. While neither have been strictly observed, researchers have developed new computer models that forecast frozen precipitation on the red planet, which might lead to snowy drifts. And while science had previously theorized that Martian precipitation in these storms took hours to descend one mile, the new predictions shave that down to minutes under certain conditions.

In short, faster-falling snowstorms could affect how particles, like dust and chemicals, mix in the air. The new findings, as outlined in a study in Nature’s Geoscience, might even push scientists to update Mars’ climate models.

“We need to investigate what would be the impact of those phenomena on the global cycle of dust and water on Mars,” Aymeric Spiga, planetary researcher at Université Pierre et Marie Curie and lead author of the study, told The Verge.

We’d known Mars had snow since shortly after the Phoenix probe landed on the planet in 2008 and reported both icy precipitation and, well, ice. Spiga and his fellow researchers used data collected by the Mars Global Surveyor and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, both of which hang out in orbit around the planet. They found that the nocturnal conditions can make the thin layer of clouds cold enough to destabilize, which can lead them to create swift winds that carry ice quickly down to the surface. Or, at least, relatively quickly: Prior models predicted that it took hours for icy particles to drop a mile, while these storms can send them dropping the same distance in five to ten minutes according to Spiga’s and his peers’ data.

This suggests to Spiga’s group that the winds, not gravity pulling ice particles planetward, is responsible for the swift descent. It bears further scrutiny — something that could be investigated further by another lander. That can be a perilous endeavor, as the European Space Agency learned when its ExoMars Schiaparelli craft lost contact with Earth and plummeted toward Mars last fall.

Via: The Verge

Source: Nature Geoscience

Disney Research taught AI how to judge short stories

Disney researchers have been coming up with some striking new technology lately, including a method for real-time speech animation, shared augmented reality and some creepy face-projection tech for live performances. Now, researchers at Disney and the University of Massachusetts Boston have been working on neural networks that can evaluate short stories. While these AIs don’t (yet) analyze story like a professional literary critic, the software tries to predict which stories will be most popular. “Our neural networks had some success in predicting the popularity of stories,” said Disney Research scientist Boyang “Albert” Li in a statement. “You can’t yet use them to pick out winners for your local writing competition, but they can be used to guide future research.”

The researchers used social question and answer site Quora for a large database to feed into its AI algorithms. Many of the answers on Quora come in the form of stories, so reader upvotes can be used as a measure of popularity, and as “a proxy for narrative quality.” The team gathered almost 55,000 answers and classified more than 28,000 of them as stories, each with an average of 369 words. Then they developed a couple of different neural networks — one to look at different sections of each story and one to take a more holistic view of a story’s meaning. Each AI made predictions about the relative popularity of a given story. Both neural nets were better at choosing a story’s popularity over a baseline text evaluation, but the holistic network showed an 18 percent improvement over the one that focused on sections.

It’s not hard to imagine a movie studio, for example, using a future version of this type of technology to choose scripts for production, of course, but the tech is still in its infancy. Let’s just hope that researchers find a way to filter stories for quality, and not just popularity. No one needs another Transformers movie.

Source: Disney Research

The first new ‘Age of Empires’ game in over a decade is in the works

It’s been over a decade since Age of Empires III came out in 2005, but fans of the lauded RTS franchise will once again be subject to Gandhi’s merciless wrath: Age of Empires IV is officially in development. At Gamescom today, Microsoft announced the next title in the much-loved series — and that we’d be getting remastered versions of each of the previous games.

The trailer for the fourth game is scant with details, so let’s hope you’re satisfied with its existence for now. We knew the original Age of Empires was getting re-released in a “definitive version” — which is coming out on October 19th, Microsoft also announced today — but redux editions of the second and third game are news. Both of those will get the same treatment to look pretty on current fancy screens: 4K resolution support, higher-detail textures, a remastered soundtrack and quality-of-life improvements.

Neither of those have release dates yet, so you’ll just to have to enjoy reliving your glory days of empire conquest in the distant past before the more recent games’ remasters come out.

Follow all the latest news live from Gamescom here!

Source: Microsoft (YouTube)

Apple Drops Price of HomeKit-Enabled D-Link Omna Camera to $149.95

Apple recently dropped the price of the HomeKit-enabled D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD camera from $199.95 to $149.95 in the United States, a $50 discount off of the launch price. Apple’s website doesn’t mention a discount, suggesting the base price of the accessory has been lowered.

The price has also been lowered in Canada from $269.95 CAD to $199.95 CAD, and it’s also been discounted in several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and more. It appears the price cut went live a few weeks ago.

The D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD was the first camera to include support for HomeKit, but other products have been released since then, including Logitech’s Circle 2.

The Omna is a quality in-home security camera with a wide angle lens, night vision support, and an accompanying app, but it records all content to a microSD card and does not include support for uploading to the cloud, a feature that may keep some users from wanting to buy it.

For a more complete picture of the D-Link Omna, make sure to check out our review.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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IRS warns that tax-related phishing scams are on the rise

According to the IRS, the amount of phishing scams targeting W-2 forms rose sharply this year compared to last. In 2016, around 50 companies and organizations fell victim to such scams while during this year’s tax season, that number increased to around 200. They were aimed at businesses, public schools, universities and nonprofits among others and several hundred thousand employees’ data were stolen.

Most of the scams work by sending a fake email that looks like it’s coming from a company executive to someone in the organization that has access to W-2s — payroll, human resources or financial department employees, for example. The email typically asks for an employee list and W-2s and sometimes requests a wire transfer as well. Since the beginning of 2015, the FBI reports that the amount of confirmed losses from business email scams has increased by 1,300 percent and now totals over $3 billion.

The IRS is asking businesses that have been victimized by these sorts of scams to report them via email through dataloss@irs.gov. Those that may have been targeted by a W-2 phishing scam but didn’t expose any data should email phishing@irs.gov. In both cases, “W-2 scam” should be used as the subject line. Businesses and organizations should also report the scams to the FBI through its Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Via: AP

Source: IRS

Qualcomm’s 3D Sensing Technology Two Years Behind Apple’s

Apple’s progress in 3D sensing design and mass production is 1.5 to 2 years ahead of Qualcomm’s, according to a new investor’s note released today by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo believes that Qualcomm is behind in both software and hardware development for 3D sensing, and won’t be able to ship the technology until 2019. As Qualcomm is the “most engaged” company when it comes to 3D sensing components for Android devices, Android smartphones could lag behind Apple devices for some time.

An iPhone 8 dummy depicting the location of the front-facing camera and 3D sensors

While Qualcomm has excelled in designing advanced application processors and baseband solutions, it lags behind in other crucial aspects of smartphone applications like dual-camera (many Android phones have instead adopted solutions used to simulate optical zoom from third-party vendors such as Arcsoft (US)) and ultrasonic fingerprint scanner (while a new reference design has been released, there is no visibility on mass production). So while Qualcomm is the most engaged company in the R&D of 3D sensing for the Android camp, we are conservative as regards progress toward significant shipments and don’t see it happening until 2019F.

According to Kuo, Qualcomm is dealing with immature algorithms and an unfavorable hardware reference design for smartphones due to form factor design and thermal issues. Qualcomm may also be impacted by Apple’s choice of suppliers. Many key component suppliers have already allocated resources to Apple, so Qualcomm has to find different suppliers in order to obtain sufficient resources. Kuo also outlines the suppliers each company is using:

In general, Kuo says the “Android camp” appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach to 3D sensing, which also does not bode well for Qualcomm’s 3D sensing technology. Android manufacturers are said to be waiting to see how Apple will use 3D sensing and whether it will offer an “innovative user experience” with features like facial recognition.

Xiaomi’s 2018 flagship device is said to be the only potential adopter of Qualcomm’s 3D sensing technology, and if the OLED iPhone doesn’t see positive feedback following launch, Kuo believes Xiaomi may drop the project.

Apple is rumored to be introducing a front-facing camera with 3D sensing functionality that will enable a new facial recognition system to replace Touch ID, which the company could not build under the display of the device due to production issues. Apple’s “iPhone 8” with 3D sensors is expected to debut in just a couple of weeks.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
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Lifesaving smart fabric can detect and neutralize deadly nerve gas

Why it matters to you

Smart fabric could help keep both civilians and soldiers safe from deadly nerve gas attacks.

As part of the fight against deadly chemical weapon attacks, researchers at the City College of New York have developed a new smart fabric that is capable of not only rapidly detecting nerve gas, but also of neutralizing it.

“We have modified cotton fabrics by attaching to them a very active catalytic phase,” researcher Teresa Bandosz, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering, told Digital Trends. “The prepared fabrics are able not only to protect well against the surrogate of a nerve agent by adsorbing and decomposing it to benign products but also — by a visible color change — to inform the user about the duration of the protection they provide.”

The textile is made from cotton that has been infused with carbon nitride. According to Bandosz, the material could be used to fabricate a range of items, from suits to gloves to blankets. While she notes that it would probably be most likely to find a home in military clothing, it could also be used to create clothing aimed at the civilian population — as a possible defense against terrorist activity or similar.

This is not the first time that we covered material that is able to change color when it’s exposed to external materials. Last year, we wrote about three designer shirts which gradually change color in response to either carbon monoxide, pollution, or radioactivity. In the case of Bandosz’s material, the color change is also visible and gradual — but, unlike those other smart clothes, it can help dispel the effects of the thing it is designed to sense, rather than just alerting you to it. Further trials need to be done, but the results could be life-saving.

“The research leading to this development was supported by U.S. Army Research Office,” Bandosz said. “Unfortunately, the grant expired in March so right now to continue the research our first priority is to look, and eventually to secure financial support to go further with our efforts. Of course, we have ideas how to develop even better protection [materials]. It involves development of a new kind of an active phase, usage of optimal fabrics as a support, multi-functionality, and durability. All of these contribute to the ‘smartness’ of these materials.”

A journal describing this work was recently published in the journal Nanoscale Horizons.

Here is everything announced at Nvidia’s Gamescom 2017 presentation

Nvidia’s presentation at Gamescom 2017 was light on major announcements — no new hardware or architecture to speak of — but it was nevertheless heavy with enthusiasm for the state of PC gaming. GeForce Senior Vice President Jeff Fisher emceed the event, starting the show with a victory lap of impressive statistics about the industry (2 billion people playing games worldwide, more than 200 million on GeForce alone), before leading into a series of developers talking about the exciting ways they are integrating GeForce-specific features into their upcoming releases, with a particular focus on sharing social content. Below is our roundup of everything announced during the presentation.

Destiny 2

Community manager David “DeeJ” Dague took to the stage to update us about Destiny 2‘s highly anticipated PC release. Features for the PC version include: A fully-configurable mouse and keyboard settings, adjustable field of view, multisample anti-aliasing, an in-game framerate counter (to show off the uncapped framerates up to 4K resolution). Embracing the specs of as many machines as possible, Destiny 2 will support multiple GPUs and multiple monitors. DeeJ announced for the first time that Destiny 2 will support high dynamic range (HDR) lighting on PC as well.

He then elaborated a bit on the integration of Blizzard’s Battle.net service, which will include voice and text chat in-game, as well as whispers. Your friend list from other Blizzard games like Overwatch will slot right in, with the addition of your clan, which you can form with your friends and allies for cooperative play and manage them in-game or on Bungie’s website. In anticipation of the upcoming PC beta, NVIDIA will release a game-ready driver for Destiny 2 on Thursday. Also now available, GTX 1080 and 1080 TI graphics cards can be bought in a bundle with Destiny 2, which will include early access to the beta.

Ansel

One feature of GeForce Experience that Fisher particularly highlighted was Ansel, its in-game photography engine, which basically provides players with a virtual SLR to take high-quality pictures of their favorite gaming moments. Ansel allows players to pause the action and move the camera around freely within the game to get the perfect shots and apply filters. Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 and Middle-earth: Shadow of War were highlighted as upcoming titles that will lend themselves particularly well to the platform.

One new and particularly interesting feature announced for Ansel is AI Style Transfer, which lets you choose a reference image from a favorite artist, then apply its style to your screenshot, making it look like, for instance, an impressionist painting. They demonstrated the feature with ARK: Survival Evolved to good effect. As in-game photography becomes a growing field of its own, Nvidia is committed to remaining on the cutting edge of player creativity.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been one of the biggest surprise hits of the year and has certainly been popular among our writers. Bluehole lead community manager Sammie “poopiequeen” Kang took to the stage to announced the integration of ShadowPlay Highlights into the game. That means your GeForce Experience will automatically record highlights (such as anytime you knock out or kill someone, or when you win that sweet, sweet chicken dinner), and then let you immediately share them to the social platform of your choice. Streaming has been a massive part of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds success, so this will be a big boon to content creators, and will no doubt add fuel to the game’s viral fire. Be sure to tag Nvidia when you tweet out your highlights for the next month because they will be choosing the best in order to hand out prizes like GTX 1080 TIs and other hardware.

Final Fantasy XV

Lastly, Fisher brought out Final Fantasy XV game director Hajime Tabata to announce the Windows PC port of Final Fantasy XV. Tabata promises that this will be the most beautiful and definitive edition of the game yet. It is built on a new version of Square Enix’s Luminous Engine, which integrates features from Nvidia GameWorks such as advanced fire, hair, and shadow simulations, as well as Ansel for sharing those lush new visuals. It will natively support 4K and 8K resolutions and HDR10. There will also be a brand-new first-person gameplay mode, which was built from the ground up to be a fun and coherent way to play the game. Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition comes to PC in early 2018, including all DLC and updates from the console versions (as well as the upcoming multiplayer mode, expanded even further).

Millennials are not the most loyal when it comes to apps, Nielsen finds

Why it matters to you

Millennials may not be the most loyal of app users, but that doesn’t mean they’re not valuable.

They are the most coveted demographic for marketers, advertisers, and what seems to be most businesses today, but alas, millennials are proving to be a fickle group. Per Nielsen’s latest volume of its “Millennials on Millennials” report, it would appear that millennials are not exactly the most loyal of customers and this trend applies even in the realm of digital services.

In the second volume of the Nielsen study, researchers examined how those between the ages of 18 and 34 use communication and streaming music apps. While we certainly appear to be addicted to these sorts of tools, there is not a consistent preference toward a single app. And that, as one might expect, could present a problem for companies who hope to lock down a loyal user base.

Nielsen found that around 60 percent of millennials do not stick to a single music service, but rather switch between at least two apps. In contrast, those older than 35 tend to be a bit more singular in their tastes, with just 39 percent reporting to use more than one app on a regular basis.

Similarly, 70 percent of millennials depend on two or more messaging apps to stay in touch with their friends. However, just 42 percent of users over the age of 35 report doing the same. Perhaps part of the reason for the diversified app usage among younger generations is the need to send more than just text — Nielsen reports that millennials are often sending photos and videos in addition to words, whereas the older generations simply use text messages.

Curiously enough, however, millennials are not necessarily spending the most time on their smartphones. Nielsen estimates that those between 18 and 34 spent around 78 billion minutes a week using their smartphones in the first three months of the year. That works out to around 1,062 minutes per person. On the other hand, those between 35 and 49 spent 73 billion minutes a week on their smartphones during the same period, which works out to slightly more time per person at 1,196 minutes.

Ultimately, Nielsen concluded, “It’s abundantly clear that millennials approach digital content consumption differently from the rest of the population. More specifically, millennials are an unfocused audience, not particularly loyal to just one digital music or communication service. But this doesn’t mean millennials are consuming less content.”