Honda’s Urban EV Concept is a throwback to the old Civic

Some cars are timeless. The first generation Honda CVCC is one of those vehicles. With it’s tiny frame it bucked against the large American cars of the 1970s and become an instant classic. So it’s no surprise that the automaker looked back at its heritage as it brings a new small electric vehicle to market.

The Urban EV Concept (yeah, that’s its name) is Honda’s answer to the entire industry going electric. At the Frankfurt auto show, Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo introduced the tiny car and announced that it would hit the road in Europe in 2019. Sad times for America — at least for now.

The car will be part of a dedicated EV platform and a Power Manager Concept that not only keeps the car charged, but will also charge your home when needed and sell electricity back to grid at peak times. The Power Manager is set to be tested in parts of France starting in 2020.

There’s no word on range, but that shouldn’t stop US residents from hassling Honda to get the Urban EV Concept to our shores. Hopefully with a better name.

Source: Honda

Kodak channels Polaroid for its hybrid instant camera

I still remember how excited I was when my parents brought home a shiny Kodak instant camera, and how that turned to disappointment when it was recalled in a patent dispute with Polaroid (yes, I’m that old). I’m not nearly as excited with Kodak’s latest instant camera, the Printomatic, though. That’s because this time, it’s nearly a carbon copy of Polaroid’s Snap, introduced in 2015 and produced by a third company, C+A Global, that licensed Kodak’s name.

The camera was in fact designed by the same company and has an identical form, as the Verge notes, albeit with the optical viewfinder in the corner instead of popping up above the lens like on the Polaroid Snap. It uses the same type of ZINK (zero ink) heat-activated, color-crystal, 2 x 3-inch paper, in lieu of inkjet or photochemical paper. You also get 10-megapixel digital copies stored on a MicroSD car.

C+A Global is obviously hoping to exploit the instant camera trend and Kodak’s name, as other interlopers like Fujitsu and Leica have recently staked out turf. If you really want that nostalgic buzz, however, you might be better off with the rival models, as they actually use good old chemical instant film — originally created by, you guessed it, Kodak. Those types of films invoke the look of old Polaroid cameras much more than ZINK.

The main thing it Kodak does have going for it with the Printomatic is the price: It’s just $70 with a 10-pack of ZINK paper, memory card and USB-cable. It arrives in September in gray or yellow.

Via: Imaging Resource

Source: Kodak

Instagram Direct is a new way to share Stories

Though Instagram’s Stories is already more popular than Snapchat, the photo-sharing service won’t stop introducing more ways to share them. In May, it introduced location and hashtag Stories so they popped up more in Explore. Now, Instagram is taking it a step further and will now allow you to share other people’s Stories through Direct messages.

Sharing a Story is as simple as sharing a normal Instagram photo. Simply tap a direct icon at the bottom right, choose who you want to send the Story to, and hit send. Of course, as a Story only exists for 24 hours, the recipient had better check it quick before it goes away.

Instagram describes this as a relatively harmless feature that lets people share interesting Stories in DMs. But it sounds a little creepy, especially if you tend to think of your Stories as intended only for your followers, not other people.

Thankfully, Instagram has included an opt-out in settings, and if you have a Private account, only your followers will be able to see the Story through Direct messages. The feature is rolling out globally starting today, to both iOS and Android.

Ads in Instagram Stories will look more like your own stories

Instagram has been showing ads in its Stories since March of this year, but it’s been pretty obvious they’re ads — they’re often pre-produced clips that were obviously shot and edited with professional equipment. But starting today, however, those ads could look a lot more like the ones you and your friends create. That’s because Instagram is now allowing advertisers to use the native Instagram Stories camera in ad creation.

What that means is that every once in awhile, you might see an ad in Stories that uses the same camera filters and tags that you use. There’ll still be a sponsored tag at the top left, but since the ad looks like any other Story, you’ll probably be less likely to tap past it.

Instagram’s Stories has been a huge success for the photo-sharing site this past year. It now has well over 250 million daily users, and more than 50 percent of businesses have created an ad story in the past 30 days.

Russia used Facebook to organize anti-immigrant rallies

Facebook is in hot water with US lawmakers. The web giant’s reluctance to stamp out Russia’s propaganda farms on its social network did not go down well with Congressional investigators. It finally acted last month, taking down thousands of ads linked to an infamous, pro-Putin internet agency. The shady organization, known for running misinformation campaigns, must’ve felt at home on the platform. After all, Facebook is still grappling with its fake news conundrum. But, the Russian rabbit hole goes even deeper than the $100,000 spent on deceptive ads. The Daily Beast is now reporting that operatives from the country set up Facebook events to remotely organize political protests in the US. Among these was a 2016 anti-immigrant rally in Idaho. Others reportedly pushed anti-muslim conspiracy theories. Facebook confirmed that it had shut down “several promoted events” as part of its recent clampdown.

This marks the first time the company has publicly acknowledged the existence of such events, which were promoted using paid ads. Although the August 27 rally in Idaho has been deleted (along with many of the other meet-ups), The Daily Beast did manage to identify it from search engine caches. The 3-hour protest titled “Citizens before refugees” was apparently held in Twin Falls, a town that’s been resettling refugees for decades. In recent years, however, it’s been at the centre of misinformation campaigns conducted online, and by conspiracy theorists (including InfoWars’ Alex Jones).

Judging by its rhetoric, the Russia-backed event preyed on the fears raised by these false reports. “Due to the town of Twin Falls, Idaho, becoming a center of refugee resettlement, which led to the huge upsurge of violence towards American citizens, it is crucial to draw society’s attention to this problem,” the event notice reportedly said. It was hosted by “Secured Borders,” an anti-immigrant group outed as a Russian stooge. Its Facebook page was shut down as part of the site’s recent clean-up efforts.

Only 48 people clicked that they were “interested” in the event, with four stating that they “went.” That’s a small number, but the extent of these types of paid posts is still unclear. Facebook hasn’t clarified how many of these events were created on its platform, and whether they’ve already taken place.

We reached out to Facebook for a comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

Source: The Daily Beast

Reddit has become less toxic after banning hate groups

Reddit got a lot of flack when it banned hate communities like /r/coontown and /r/fatpeoplehate — a lot of people called the move a censorship and criticized the website’s administrators. According to a study by researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and other institutions, though, that move worked well for what the platform was trying to accomplish. The social network has effectively reduced the prevalence of hate speech on its website by killing those subreddits, as well as the copycats that pop up before they even gain traction.

The team looked up all the /r/coontown and /r/fatpeoplehate users and observed their posts before the subreddits were banned and after. They found that members of those hate communities left Reddit (or, more realistically, abandoned their old usernames for a new one) at a significantly higher rate than the subreddits in their control group.

Those who stayed migrated to subs like /r/The_Donald, /r/BlackCrimeMatters and /r/RoastMe. However, the team found that members who didn’t leave reduced their use of hate speech by 80 to 90 percent. Further, the researchers didn’t see an increase in hateful behavior in the subreddits they moved to — though some of them are quite toxic even before the new members moved in — suggesting the users didn’t bring their hate speech with them.

The researchers warn, however, that while the ban had a positive effect on Reddit, it might not have changed the views of the banned communities’ regulars. They found a lot of those same users in groups like /v/fatpeoplehate and /v/[n-word] on Voat. Some users might have also migrated to Gab, a social network that became a popular hangout for the “alt-right” crowd last year.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Georgia Institute of Technology (PDF)

‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ will be directed by J.J. Abrams

It’s only been a week since Colin Trevorrow left (or was forced out of) the director’s seat for Star Wars: Episode IX, but a familiar replacement is already lined up. J.J. Abrams, who you may know from such films as the Star Trek reboot, Super 8 and a little film called Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be writing and directing Episode IX. It’s a very safe and familiar choice — Abrams did an admirable job handling The Force Awakens, skillfully reviving the series after George Lucas’ reviled prequel trilogy. Of course, there was also criticism that he played it too safe and essentially remade A New Hope, but all but the most jaded fans found his take on the universe to be a solid return for the long-dormant franchise.

“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement.

The choice of Abrams makes sense given the that Disney seems to want to play it safe with its investment in the Star Wars universe. Before Trevorrow left Episode IX, Disney also removed the directors Christopher Miller and Phillip Lord in favor of Ron Howard for the untitled Han Solo stand-alone film. Miller and Lord would definitely have represented a different direction for a Star Wars film, one that Disney was apparently not comfortable with.

Similarly, many fans were concerned that Trevorrow was out of his depth handling the movie — particularly given that many feel he has only made one good film, and one not nearly as daunting as the closing chapter of a Star Wars trilogy. Abrams has already proven he’s up to the task, and there’s something to be said for having creative continuity within a series. Still, we’ll first have to see how director Rian Johnson deals with The Last Jedi, which arrives on December 15th.

Source: Star Wars

Samsung Announces Plans for Galaxy Note Smartphone With Bendable Display in 2018

Ahead of the iPhone X unveiling, and the launch of the Galaxy Note 8 on Friday, Samsung today made a few announcements at a press event in Seoul, South Korea. The company said that it aims for the next iteration of the Galaxy Note to be bendable in some capacity, with the goal of launching sometime next year (via The Associated Press).

Samsung Electronics mobile business president Koh Dong-jin confirmed the company’s plans, saying it’s looking at a 2018 release date for “a smartphone with a bendable display.” The president also commented that there are “several hurdles” Samsung has to overcome to implement a smartphone with a bendable screen, so the company is leaving itself room to push back the 2018 release if it needs to.

A bendable smartphone mockup by Samsung
Similar reports about bendable smartphones from Samsung have come out in the past, but the company has yet to officially launch such a device.

Koh Dong-jin, president of mobile business at Samsung Electronics, said the company is setting its eyes on 2018 to release a smartphone with a bendable display. But he said there are several hurdles it has to overcome, leaving room to push back the release if those problems are not solved.

“As the head of the business, I can say our current goal is next year,” he told reporters. “When we can overcome some problems for sure, we will launch the product.”

What those issues might be were not detailed, but analysts watching the company pointed out that mass production on a premium smartphone with a bendable display and a thin body “will take time.” Rumors surrounding Samsung’s entry into the bendable smartphone market have been swirling for the past few years. In late 2016, reports even began citing Apple’s interest in the technology for future iPhones, which could be sourced from LG.

Koh further commented about Samsung’s plans to launch a smart home speaker in partnership with Harman, which will allow users to talk to an artificial intelligence assistant — likely Bixby — to control the device and perform various tasks. A release date or design details for the Samsung speaker were not given. Later today, Apple may reveal more information about its own smart speaker, the HomePod, which it announced in June for a December release.

Despite the Galaxy Note 8’s expensive price tag (about $930 in the United States), Samsung has said that pre-orders were the highest ever for the Note smartphone line, “beating its predecessor Note 7 over five days by about 2.5 times.” Samsung’s announcements come a few hours ahead of Apple’s big media event, where the Cupertino company will debut the significantly redesigned OLED iPhone X.

Tags: Samsung, Galaxy Note 8
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Audi’s Aicon concept car is all about autonomous luxury

At the Frankfurt auto show, Audi unveiled its fully autonomous Aicon concept car. The “design study” showcases the automaker’s vision of a world without steering wheels, pedals or the stress of driving.

The autonomous EV will have a range up to 800 kilometers (497 miles). There’s also the luxurious interior (the automaker compares it to first-class seating) which has swivel chairs that lean back and have integrated touch controls and it’s perfect for overnight long-distance driving. Or just cruising through the countryside.

To keep you in the know, the Aicon also uses Audi’s artificial-intelligence assistant PIA to offer up services before the passengers ask for them, based on situations and historical learnings. But that’s not all, the car would also have eye tracking, with support for voice commands and gesture controls. Basically, it’s all the things crammed into a silver tourer.

The company also envisions a world filled with sensor-heavy cars avoiding each other and obstacles so well, that restraint systems (seat belts) will no longer be needed. That of course relies on all cars being as safe and it’s going to take a very long time (if ever) for that to happen.

Still it’s not hard to imagine a world where luxury autonomous cars cater to the same people that fly first class and have AMEX black cards. The Aicon may seem like pie-in-the-sky science fiction today, but in a few decades, it could be how the rich tour the countryside.

Source: Audi

YouTube meets cable on Comcast’s X1 boxes

Last year Comcast plugged Netflix streaming into the X1 setup and starting today it’s rolling out YouTube access nationwide. Just as the company announced earlier this year, the service’s videos will be available via the YouTube app, or in Comcast’s video on-demand section. According to YouTube exec Robert Kyncl, “The living room is YouTube’s fastest growing platform. We are excited to supercharge our distribution there and bring Xfinity X1 users a seamless way to consume all of the content they love. Voice is a key enabler to discovery and we are looking forward to bringing it to Xfinity X1 users.”

When viewing through X1, users who are signed into their YouTube accounts will see their personalized settings and subscriptions. The service is also tied into Comcast’s voice remote so that people can search or simply say “”Watch Carpool Karaoke on YouTube,” and then it will start playing. In the VOD section, there will also be themed categories covering eSports, music, entertainment and local news.

Even though YouTube (like Netflix) has been available throughout living room devices, spreading to Comcast cable boxes is a reflection of the public’s changing video habits. A report released this morning by Limelight showed that US viewers are averaging over seven hours a week watching online videos, and for Comcast, keeping them within its ecosystem may be a better option than sending them to another interface it doesn’t control. As executive VP Matt Strauss puts it, “By adding billions of YouTube videos to our video platform, we are taking our role as the aggregator of aggregators to a new level and reaffirming that X1 is the best place to easily discover and access all types of entertainment with the sound of your voice.”

Source: X1