Augmented reality bottle labels could change the way you view beer

Why it matters to you

Augmented reality is finding its footing in our world through its implementation in everyday products and activities.

No, you haven’t had too much to drink — that beer label is moving, thanks to augmented reality. You don’t need to visit a high-end market or tavern to see that craft beer is on the rise.  Suds of all types from every corner of the country can be found at the corner deli or your favorite dive. Microbreweries peddling their wares in cities like Seattle, a city whose love of craft beer is on the rise, can get lost in a sea of delicious foam. That’s why one brewer turned to tech to augment its visibility.

As reported by GeekWire, Snoqualmie Brewery and Taproom of Snoqualmie, Washington, has implemented augmented reality bottle labels for one of its products. A nearby art studio called The Medium was brought on to help.

“When you’re staring at crowded shelves full of great offerings, you can’t taste the beer like you can in a pub, so the design is really all you have to attract that hand toward the bottle neck,” brewery manager Dave Eiffert told GeekWire.

When seen with the naked eye, the Sno Falls American Pale Ale labels look could be compared to any other colorful label. But if you download the free mobile app Layar, you can scan the label and watch it come to life.

A YouTube video shows the waterfall come to life; fish swim upstream against its current; a flock of birds flies by; and the brewmaster rides a barrel over the falls.

“The Medium has worked with the brewery for years creating new fun label design ideas and we had the idea to do an augmented reality label,” Josh Tuininga, creative director at The Medium, said. “After presenting the concept to the brewery we began design with Snoqualmie Falls as the theme. For the AR, we did some testing to make sure the technology would work on a bottle surface. After testing and design approvals, we started the fun part — animation.”

Unless you live in the area, you’re out of luck if you’d like to view these bottles firsthand. The beer can currently be found at Snoqualmie Safeway, Crescent Market at Snoqualmie Casino, Pourhouse in North Bend, IGA in Snoqualmie, the North Bend and Snoqualmie 76s, Family Grocer in Fall City, and the Snoqualmie Market.

You can also try your hand at brewing your own beer at home and find someone to help you make your own cool labels. Once this is done, try one these augmented reality apps to view your masterpiece!

Q&A live-stream app, Askedoo, will remind you to never take Google for granted

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

It’s tough to envision a world where our questions aren’t answered with one simple Google search. But sometimes, the search engine has you going past the second page only to realize you’ve reached a dead end. This week, we have an app specifically created for answering your questions in an unconventional way: Live-streaming.

Askedoo is a live-stream Q&A video chat platform meant to replace text-based Q&A websites. It connects you to a community of people who can answer your question in real time related to categories such as technology, home and garden, fashion, as well as beauty. Described as “Periscope meeting Ask Jeeves,” the app’s goal is to set you up with someone who has an answer, and seeing as how its user base is global, someone should always be around to help out.

Through the app, you can start a live broadcast with your own question or watch in on someone else’s. There’s also the option to rate your experience through high fives and search for other questions you can help answer yourself. The app even welcomes people to “Host a Topic,” where influencers and experts host a webinar-type stream and set prices for others to participate. For example, if you’re a professional makeup artist and want to earn some additional cash on the side, you can host a live-stream class training session at your own price.

Another way to make money through the app is through private Q&A sessions — similar to the days of ChaCha. For a nominal fee of $10, askers have the option to enter a one-on-one live-stream broadcast. The selected “answerer” receives 80 percent of the amount — $8 — and Askedoo takes 20 percent. The asker can tip the answerer up to $100 for their expertise, if they’d like. All of your revenue is tracked in the app labeled under the piggy bank tab. It shows how much you’ve made through Askedoo along with the amount you’ve earned in tips as well.

Your profile can be customized to include details like your expertise and a short bio. There’s usage stats that show how many questions you’ve asked and your broadcast time, along with the amount of questions you’ve watched and your watch time. All of your recent broadcasts and announcements are archived in your history which you can refer back to later through your profile. When you’re on someone else’s live-stream, a swipe to the left will reveal the question, channel, time elapsed, and total views.

With a scroll-through interface similar to Instagram’s feed, I found myself mindlessly scrolling through the questions until I reached the end rather quickly. The app officially launched in July, but the amount of questions were dismal. Even when I went to check back the next day, I refreshed the app and found the same ones from before.

There were no live broadcasts to tune in to, so I had to settle for checking out the past streams. It’d be nice if you could subscribe to specific categories you consider yourself an expert in and receive push notifications when someone goes live.

Similar to Facebook Live, you can play back the livestream and watch when people joined in and asked questions. With 5,000 active users on the app, I saw nine people join the live stream at most and only a few comments generated — which you could argue is enough as long as one of them answers the question, but it felt uncomfortably empty.

When I tried asking a question on Askedoo, the setup was simple. I typed in my question, chose a category, hit “Go Live,” and waited for someone to answer. It only took a few seconds before one person entered the chat and started sending answers. But sitting there and waiting for a response became boring rather quickly, and I ended it after only a few minutes. The experience wasn’t at all revolutionary. It didn’t help that the front-facing camera zooms in so closely on your face that you start to panic while trying to find the “end” button.

But if a livestream is only attracting a few viewers and responses, it’s tough to see a difference between posting it on your social media accounts instead. Or the even more obvious resource — typing it into Google. When I showed the app to a co-worker, he took two of the first questions that appeared on the app and immediately found a straight-forward answer on Google in seconds. Having to log on to Askedoo, type in your question, go live, and wait around hoping someone is there to answer your question correctly is a lot of unnecessary work.

One broadcast I watched titled, “How do I sharpen these knives” saw only one semi-helpful response but the most ironic was when two people suggested searching Google or YouTube.

While I understand this app is trying to stand in as a modernized version of Q&A platforms, the fact that it’s visually based is its downfall. Random questions that pertain to household items or beauty don’t require a live-stream. What differentiates Askedoo is the ability to make a few extra bucks. But judging off the amount of content posted on a daily basis, don’t expect to be rolling in dough.

The education and tutoring category seem to be great for the live-stream format — there aren’t many successful apps that bridge the gap between online tutoring and smartphones. It’s a situation where a one-on-one Q&A session would make the most sense, especially when you need help right away. It’s also where Google and YouTube fail at times because homework problems are all unique, and it becomes tough to find a specific answer. Too bad the category was empty with content in Askedoo.

If you want to check the app out, it’s currently available for iOS. As for Android and desktop apps, it’s currently in development.

Honda sets aside $605 million to settle Takata airbag claims

The Takata airbag scandal affected several companies, but Honda felt its impact the most. Now, the Japanese automaker has agreed to a $605 million settlement to pay for buyers’ claims related to the deadly airbags in the US. The money Honda set aside will go towards paying for all the out-of-pocket costs and lost wages customers might have incurred from having to get their Takata airbag-equipped cars repaired. According to Financial Times, part of that amount will also be used to create an outreach program designed to speed up the pace of the recall as well as the replacement of recalled parts.

If the court approves the amount Honda is offering to pay, it’ll be the biggest among all Takata-related settlements. Toyota, Subaru, Mazda and Subaru agreed to settle for a total of $553 earlier this year, while Nissan settled a class-action lawsuit for $97.7 million. It only makes sense, though, since Honda is Takata’s biggest customer: among the 18 deaths related to the the company’s rupture-prone airbags, 17 happened in Honda vehicles.

Takata has been in hot water for years, since its airbags have the tendency to explode violently and shoot out hot metal shrapnels inside vehicles. However, things only got serious when the Senate accused the company of faking crash data in 2016, leading to the biggest auto recall in the US. A total of 42 million vehicles have been recalled so far, but the companies involved expect to recall 83 million more vehicles. Takata agreed to plead guilty to criminal misconduct and to settle for $1 billion late last year. Since then, three of its executives have been charged for falsifying crash data, while the company itself had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Source: Reuters, Financial Times

Reddit turns off access to its main source code

Reddit has made its website source code available since 2008 in a bid to keep the community alive no matter what, but it’s having a change of heart now that it’s older and larger. The company has announced that it’s turning off access to a monolithic source code for its site and mobile apps, and will instead offer “many” smaller code bases. This is partly because the team hasn’t done a great job of keeping this centralized code up to date, Reddit says, but it’s also due to competitive reasons. It’s difficult to develop features like video uploading in open source code without telegraphing your plans to your competitors, according to Reddit.

The firm argues that this isn’t really a change in its behavior, but it’ll still have an effect — you’re only going to get access to bits and pieces of Reddit, rather than everything all at once. And some in the community have pointed out that Reddit could theoretically develop features behind closed doors and still release source code once it’s officially ready.

However, it’s not hard to see why Reddit would make the move. It isn’t in a rush to offer public stock like some social companies (it actually ruled out an IPO), but it’s still a large internet company feeling pressure to keep its strategy a secret and stay ahead of would-be rivals. It’s just trying to balance this strategy with the community-driven approach it’s had for more than a decade.

Via: Slashdot

Source: Reddit

Menu Bar Tools Bartender 3 and iStat Menus 5 Now Support macOS High Sierra

Surtees Studios recently announced it has released a public beta of Bartender 3 for testing on macOS High Sierra and macOS Sierra. It’s a free update available within Bartender 2, which costs $15 after a free four-week trial.

The popular tool for rearranging or hiding Mac menu bar items has been completely rewritten in Swift, according to the release notes.

Bartender 3 also no longer requires the Bartender Helper to be installed in menu bar apps in order to control them. As a result, Bartender is no longer able to display the Bartender Bar beneath the menu bar—only within it.

The change was necessary since, in macOS High Sierra, Apple has apparently tightened its System Integrity Protection security feature, preventing system items like Spotlight search from being controlled by Bartender 2.

iStat Menus 5 was also recently updated with improved support for macOS High Sierra and MacBook Pro, MacBook, and iMac models released in 2017.

The popular Mac system monitor also gained improved per-process network monitoring, improved per-process memory monitoring in OS X El Capitan and macOS Sierra, improved Bluetooth battery monitoring, and improved disk monitoring performance, plus a fix for an issue with the sun position in light map.

iStat Menus is built into the macOS menu bar, providing power users with convenient access to system information, such as CPU and GPU usage, memory stats, fan speeds, temperatures, disk usage, and battery life.

iStat Menus 5 is $18 on developer Bjango’s website, with a free 14-day trial available. The latest update is version 5.32.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
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How to change your Gmail password in five easy steps

Want to know how to change your Gmail password? You’ve come to the right place. We know how important it is to keep yourself secure online and regularly updating your passwords is a good way to do that, but with every site and service having their own method, it’s not always easy.

The first password that most people will want to change is for their email and for many, that means Gmail. Even if the client is one of the most popular in the world, with more than a billion users as of 2016, that doesn’t mean everyone knows their way around every nook and cranny.

To fix that, we’ve put together a quick and easy guide on how to change your Gmail password in a few easy steps.

Note: The Gmail mobile app doesn’t allow users to change their password without logging in to the full browser version of the website. 

How to change your Gmail password

Step 1. Log into your Gmail account, and click the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner.

Step 2. Click “Settings.”

Step 3. Click “Accounts and Import” at the top.

Step 4: In the “Change Account Settings” section, click “Change password.”

Step 5: You’ll be prompted to re-enter your current password to confirm your identity. Next, as seen in the screen pictured below, you’ll need to enter a new password — twice (note that you can’t reuse an old password once you change it).

Your new password must consist of at least eight characters, but we would recommend using a mixture of letters (upper and lower case), numbers and special characters for maximum security. Once you satisfy these requirements, just click the blue “Change Password” button, and you’ll be good to go.

If you have trouble inputting the same password twice, clicking the little eye symbols will let you forego the stealthy asterisks and see the passwords in clear text.

If creating a super strong password makes it hard to remember, don’t forget you can always use a password manager. Here are some of our favorites.

Updated 08/29/2017 with new images.

How to remove Android malware

Is your Android device suddenly slow, using too much data, or showing corrupted data? You could have downloaded an infected app that came along with malware — or the much more obvious ransomware. Suspect apps (often promising free work software, cheat codes, new games, porn, or money) are an increasingly common method of getting viruses onto your mobile devices, where they wreak havoc and steal data.

If you can still access your Android device, your first step should be to get rid of the infected app ASAP, before it tries to infect other devices or does more damage. Here’s how to locate and remove Android malware, along with a few options for security downloads to help protect you in the future. We’re going to speak generally about consumer Android platforms here, but we also have a guide on deleting apps in stock Android which you may find useful.

Step 1: Shut down until you find out the specifics

Once you’re sure your phone is under attack by malware, hold the power button down and turn the phone fully off. It may not stop the malware from causing damage, but it can stop the problem from getting worse, and may halt ongoing malware attempts to access nearby networks.

Shutting down also gives you time to think and research. Do you know the specific infected app that brought malware onto your device? Do you know what other types of software it may have downloaded without your consent? If not, then move to another computer and look up your symptoms (as well as any new apps you tried out) to narrow down the issue. If you can’t find the app at the root of the problem, you can’t remove it!

If your research turns up nothing, you may want to turn your phone back on and skip down briefly down to step 5. Anti-malware apps can help identify what is causing your problems and will even be able to remove the infected software for you. However, it will also give your phone access to the internet again, which involves some risk.

Step 2: Switch to safe/emergency mode while you work

Flickr | Kārlis Dambrāns

When you turn your device back on and plunge back in to isolate the problematic app, switch over to safe mode first. This will help limit the damage the infected app can do.

For most Android devices, you can switch to safe mode by holding down the power button for a couple seconds once your device is on. This should bring up a few power options, including the option to switch to “safe mode,” “emergency mode” or similar wording. Choose this mode and wait for your phone to reboot before you continue.

Note: If you can’t find out what’s causing your malware problem, even after downloading a security app, this is not the time to tinker. Ask a professional for help and if you should wipe your phone. This is a good strategy if increasingly common ransomware takes over your phone and blocks your actions.

Step 3: Head to Settings and find the app

Visit Settings on your Android device. Settings typically has a gear-shaped icon, but that depends on your themes and arrangement: Search for it if you have trouble locating the right spot.

In Settings, scroll until you see the section called Apps, and enter. Look for a list of all your current apps — you may need to choose App Manager to locate the full list. Once there, scroll until you find the infected app at the center of your problems.

Select the app, and this should bring up options to Uninstall or Force close (you cannot uninstall core apps, only disable them, but these apps are unlikely to be the problem).

Step 4: Delete the infected app and anything else suspicious

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simply choose Uninstall, and your Android device should remove the app in question. It’s also a good idea to review your app list and uninstall other suspicious downloads — if you haven’t looked at this list before, you may be surprised at some of the odd things your device will automatically download.

Note: In some cases, you can’t uninstall the app, and the option itself will be disabled. Some of the most clever malware/ransomware will visit your administrator settings and give itself special protection to prevent this very thing. Fortunately, it’s often easy to fix. Go back to the original Settings menu and scroll down to Lock Screen and Security (or a similar corresponding section). In the Security menu, look for a section that says “Phone (Device) Administrators.” You may need to visit “Other security settings” first, depending on how your security menu is set up. In Phone Administrators, you should be able to enable the ability to remove Android malware.

Step 5: Download some malware protection

A vulnerable Android device deserves protection. There are a number of security apps you can download to help protect your phone, scan for viruses, and get rid of junk files and any potentially infected software. When you are finished manually deleting the troublesome app, download a security program to help take care of any future issues. There are many choices in this field: Try software like 360 Security, or Avast Security, or AVG Antivirus from the Google store. You can take a look at our other Android security recommendations here.

While it sounds obvious, it’s also a really good idea to keep your Android device constantly updated. Forgetting to update is one of the key risks leaving Android phones open to attack.

How to remove Android malware

Is your Android device suddenly slow, using too much data, or showing corrupted data? You could have downloaded an infected app that came along with malware — or the much more obvious ransomware. Suspect apps (often promising free work software, cheat codes, new games, porn, or money) are an increasingly common method of getting viruses onto your mobile devices, where they wreak havoc and steal data.

If you can still access your Android device, your first step should be to get rid of the infected app ASAP, before it tries to infect other devices or does more damage. Here’s how to locate and remove Android malware, along with a few options for security downloads to help protect you in the future. We’re going to speak generally about consumer Android platforms here, but we also have a guide on deleting apps in stock Android which you may find useful.

Step 1: Shut down until you find out the specifics

Once you’re sure your phone is under attack by malware, hold the power button down and turn the phone fully off. It may not stop the malware from causing damage, but it can stop the problem from getting worse, and may halt ongoing malware attempts to access nearby networks.

Shutting down also gives you time to think and research. Do you know the specific infected app that brought malware onto your device? Do you know what other types of software it may have downloaded without your consent? If not, then move to another computer and look up your symptoms (as well as any new apps you tried out) to narrow down the issue. If you can’t find the app at the root of the problem, you can’t remove it!

If your research turns up nothing, you may want to turn your phone back on and skip down briefly down to step 5. Anti-malware apps can help identify what is causing your problems and will even be able to remove the infected software for you. However, it will also give your phone access to the internet again, which involves some risk.

Step 2: Switch to safe/emergency mode while you work

Flickr | Kārlis Dambrāns

When you turn your device back on and plunge back in to isolate the problematic app, switch over to safe mode first. This will help limit the damage the infected app can do.

For most Android devices, you can switch to safe mode by holding down the power button for a couple seconds once your device is on. This should bring up a few power options, including the option to switch to “safe mode,” “emergency mode” or similar wording. Choose this mode and wait for your phone to reboot before you continue.

Note: If you can’t find out what’s causing your malware problem, even after downloading a security app, this is not the time to tinker. Ask a professional for help and if you should wipe your phone. This is a good strategy if increasingly common ransomware takes over your phone and blocks your actions.

Step 3: Head to Settings and find the app

Visit Settings on your Android device. Settings typically has a gear-shaped icon, but that depends on your themes and arrangement: Search for it if you have trouble locating the right spot.

In Settings, scroll until you see the section called Apps, and enter. Look for a list of all your current apps — you may need to choose App Manager to locate the full list. Once there, scroll until you find the infected app at the center of your problems.

Select the app, and this should bring up options to Uninstall or Force close (you cannot uninstall core apps, only disable them, but these apps are unlikely to be the problem).

Step 4: Delete the infected app and anything else suspicious

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simply choose Uninstall, and your Android device should remove the app in question. It’s also a good idea to review your app list and uninstall other suspicious downloads — if you haven’t looked at this list before, you may be surprised at some of the odd things your device will automatically download.

Note: In some cases, you can’t uninstall the app, and the option itself will be disabled. Some of the most clever malware/ransomware will visit your administrator settings and give itself special protection to prevent this very thing. Fortunately, it’s often easy to fix. Go back to the original Settings menu and scroll down to Lock Screen and Security (or a similar corresponding section). In the Security menu, look for a section that says “Phone (Device) Administrators.” You may need to visit “Other security settings” first, depending on how your security menu is set up. In Phone Administrators, you should be able to enable the ability to remove Android malware.

Step 5: Download some malware protection

A vulnerable Android device deserves protection. There are a number of security apps you can download to help protect your phone, scan for viruses, and get rid of junk files and any potentially infected software. When you are finished manually deleting the troublesome app, download a security program to help take care of any future issues. There are many choices in this field: Try software like 360 Security, or Avast Security, or AVG Antivirus from the Google store. You can take a look at our other Android security recommendations here.

While it sounds obvious, it’s also a really good idea to keep your Android device constantly updated. Forgetting to update is one of the key risks leaving Android phones open to attack.

Will ‘Generation Z’ spell the end of traditional terrestrial AM/FM radio?

Why it matters to you

Traditional radio may not survive the digital revolution unless the entire industry changes dramatically.

A new study from New York University paints a grim picture for the future of radio. Larry Miller, head of the Steinhart Music Business Program, says that traditional radio, by failing to adapt to the rise of digital formats, has not engaged with Generation Z — people born after 1995. He also warns that radio will continue to decline in popularity and relevance unless substantial changes are made.

The problem for the industry, in a nutshell, is that young people don’t listen to the radio. Young millennials only spend 12 percent of their listening time on radios, according to a 2016 Music Business Association study. On-demand streaming, such as Spotify or Apple, account for more than half of Generation Z’s daily listening.

People have been predicting the demise of radio forever,  but there’s no denying that the quality and selection digital music is far superior to analog FM.

There is one place where radio is still king, however – in our automobiles. According to a 2015 Nielsen report, at least once a week 245 million people tuned in to the radio. The average car was more than 11 years old in 2016, however, according to the Department of Transportation. Newer cars have more digital options, from smartphone integration to services like Sirius.

Other highlights of the report include:

• Young people aren’t discovering new music on radio: “Younger music fans are increasingly turning to sites like YouTube to find new artists and songs, leaving radio in the lurch.”
• New revenue models: “Broadcast stations pay no royalties to record labels for the use of master recordings.”
• Gaming the ratings: “Nielsen’s current system, reliant on Portable People Meters (PPMs) in top markets, fails to take into account the passion a listener feels toward specific stations [and] under-samples younger and ethnic demographic groups.”

The National Association of Broadcasters, unsurprisingly, takes issue with some of the conclusions in Miller’s report: “Millions of Americans rely on radio for information and entertainment every week. Nielsen data affirms radio’s continued vitality. In the face of a constantly shifting media landscape, radio continues to have the broadest weekly reach among all media.”

You can read the full pdf report here: Paradigm Shift: Why Radio Must Adapt to the Rise of Digital.

Don’t have a Pixel or Nexus? How to get the Oreo Launcher on any Android device

Recently, Google announced the latest version of Android called Oreo and promised to push it out to Pixel and Nexus devices. Unfortunately, for owners of other Android devices there is no telling when Oreo will be available on any other phones.

There is no need to fear, though. Some developers have figured out how to get the Android Oreo Launcher to devices it normally wouldn’t be available on. They ported the new Pixel 2.0 or Oreo Launcher to an APK file that can be installed on any Android phone. In case you are worrying, a Root is not required.

Reddit user Amir Z and another Android developer called DeleteScape were able to get this package to work on a number of Android phones that can’t normally get the update from the Play Store. Thankfully, this is not too hard to do on your own. To install the Oreo Launcher on your Android device takes a couple of easy steps, as you will see in this video.

Installation

First, you want to allow the installation of apps from unknown sources on your phone. To do this, go to Settings and tap Security. Once there, find Unknown Sources and slide the bar to the right to turn it on.

Next, go to the GitHub page at this link. Once there tap the Rootless Pixel Launcher 2.1 update and select the Launcher3-aosp-debug.apk download link. After the link downloads, tap it and then tap install.

Once the launcher is installed, tap the home button and select Always, so that Launcher3 will run every time you hit the home button. This basically sets Launcher3 as your default launcher. Then turn on notifications for Launcher3 when you are prompted.

Undo installation

Go to Settings, then open Apps. Once there find the Launcher3 app and select it. Tap Open by default and tap the Clear defaults button. When you hit the back button you will be allowed to uninstall Launcher3.

The Oreo Launcher is not that much different from the Nougat Launcher. There are small, subtle changes that make the new Oreo Launcher slightly better. Since the self-install is so easy to do, and undo, you might as well give it a try.

David Cogen, a regular contributor here at Digital Trends, runs TheUnlockr.com, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him over at Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.