Google unveils Android Wear beta program, but it only supports one model

Oreo is coming to Android Wear — eventually.

Google has announced a very limited beta program for Android Wear, allowing its flagship smartwatch, the LG Watch Sport, to test out some upcoming features based on Android 8.0 Oreo.

Today, we are launching the beta of the next Android Wear update. As we mentioned at Google I/O, this will mainly be a technical upgrade to API 26 with enhancements to background limits and notification channels.

The update is not significant from a consumer perspective at this point, since it doesn’t change the Android Wear 2.0 user interface that started rolling out earlier this year. Instead, it updates the core AW code to Oreo, giving it access to two important features phone users have been enjoying for some time: notification channels, and background limits.

The former lets apps on the watch follow the same rules as apps on the phone; if you limit a particular app from sending specific notifications, that behavior will be imitated on the watch.

For notifications generated locally by Android Wear apps, users will be able to customise the notifications channel they want to see, right on their watch.

Given that Android Wear is becoming more phone-independent, notification channels will likely benefit those who rely on apps that generate their own notifications rather than just forwarding them from the phone.

Background limits are battery-saving properties that should extend the battery life of some watches.

There are increased restrictions on background services. Developers should assume services can no longer run in the background without a visible notification. In addition, the background location update frequency will be reduced. Battery-saving best practices such as using JobScheduler should be adopted to ensure your app is battery-efficient and able to perform background tasks when possible.

There’s no word on when Google will make the Android Wear beta program available to more watches, but it’s good to see the company sticking with its development path nonetheless. You can sign up for the beta if you have the LG Watch Sport.

Android Wear

• Everything you need to know about Android Wear 2.0
• LG Watch Sport review
• LG Watch Style review
• These watches will get Android Wear 2.0
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

After Las Vegas shooting, Facebook and Google get the news wrong again

The worst mass shooting in modern US history took place last night in Las Vegas, where a gunman killed at least 58 people and injured more than than 515 others, according to the latest reports. Not long after the unfortunate event, Facebook and Google began populating news stories on their respective platforms, as they often do. And, in what’s become a problematic trend, some of the articles being highlighted and distributed to millions of people were from unreliable sources. This time, among them were a trolling thread on internet forum board 4chan and a completely false story from a far-right conspiracy website.

Just last month, Facebook launched its “Crisis Reponse” feature, which lets users let others know their status during a disaster like this one. It also displays links to articles and fundraising information. Unfortunately, earlier today the tool was plagued by spam and scam pages, and it took hours before Facebook cleaned that mess. That wasn’t the only issue with Facebook’s site, either. The top of its News Stories feed had an article from The Gateway Pundit titled “Las Vegas Shooter Reportedly a Democrat Who Liked Rachel Maddow, MoveOn.org and Associated with Anti-Trump Army.”

When 4chan doxed Marilou, they found his account and saw that he likes tons of anti-Trump pages. Which they are now jumping on. pic.twitter.com/LSqzRRC2bJ

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) October 2, 2017

The Gateway Pundit has a reputation for spreading fake news, including the well-documented “Pizzagate” story, which falsely claimed that members of the Democratic Party were involved in a human-trafficking, child-sex operation during the 2016 US Presidential election. As it turns out, the article about the Vegas shooter seen on Facebook also turned out to be incorrect. It has since been taken down, but not before it managed to go viral — and Facebook should be partially to blame for that.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the company said. “Our Global Security Operations Center spotted these posts this morning and we have removed them. However, their removal was delayed, allowing them to be screen captured and circulated online.” When asked why its Crisis Response and News Stories algorithms failed to catch any of this, we did not get an answer, but Facebook said it is “working to fix the issue that allowed this to happen in the first place and deeply regret the confusion this caused.”

Google, for its part, didn’t do much better than Facebook. In fact, one of the reasons why that Gateway Pundit story gained traction is because Google News’ Top Stories was promoting the 4chan thread that seems to have been the source of it. Users of the popular internet forum board wrongly claimed that the shooter was someone named “Geary Danley,” whom they said was a member of an “anti-Trump army” based on his Facebook activity, such as page likes.

Facebook has put The Gateway Pundit at the top of its feed today. Google News promoted a 4chan thread. Silicon Valley, we have a problem.

— Ed Bott (@edbott) October 2, 2017

“Unfortunately, early this morning we were briefly surfacing an inaccurate 4chan website in our Search results for a small number of queries,” Google said in a statement. “Within hours, the 4chan story was algorithmically replaced by relevant results. This should not have appeared for any queries, and we’ll continue to make algorithmic improvements to prevent this from happening in the future.”

So, in other words, this is yet another case of “don’t blame us, blame our algorithm.” That’s not exactly what anyone wants to hear, especially when hundreds of millions of people get their news from Facebook and Google. They both need to know that dealing with these kind of issues “within hours,” as the search giant said, simply isn’t enough. Stories can go viral in a matter of minutes. Not only that, but if Facebook can’t keep something like its Crisis Response page clean, then what hope is there for the rest of its platform? And the same goes for Google’s Top Stories, which is often the first thing people see in their search results.

Right now, FB’s trending topic page for the Las Vegas shooting features two (2) posts from a Russian propaganda outlet. pic.twitter.com/jDR1V0zzPy

— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) October 2, 2017

Facebook’s data-saving Messenger Lite is available in the US

Facebook Messenger has gotten to be a bloated mess. Whether it’s suggested text replies and stickers or it pestering you to send money seemingly whenever it notices a dollar sign, sometimes all you want to do is chat with a friend via text. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, if you’ve been cursing Zuckerberg’s name when any of the above happens, know this: Messenger Lite is now available in the US along with Canada, the UK and Ireland.

Originally designed for developing markets, the app is available right now, so if you want to start saving data without losing touch with friends and family on the platform. That is unless you’re on iOS. Facebook hasn’t revealed if the app will make it to Apple hardware.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Play

What we’re listening to: Rayana Jay, ‘Destiny 2’ and Cobalt

Welcome back to IRL, our series dedicated to the things that Engadget writers play, use, watch and listen to. This week we’re focusing on music and podcasts, from Broadway to the Destiny soundtrack, via some black metal. First up, Senior News Editor Richard Lawler talks about Rayana Jay’s latest EP.

Rayana Jay

Richard Lawler
Senior News Editor

The older I get, the more tempting it is to relax in an exclusive cocoon of music I’ve already heard and avoid the loud noises coming from today’s youth, but occasionally something breaks through. The latest intruder is Rayana Jay, a singer from the Bay Area whose new EP arrived just in time to match a surprising extension of summer weather.

Like her first release, Sorry About Last Night, this project includes several collaborators, but two tracks with fellow streaming standout ROMderful distinguish themselves. Unlike too many soundalike R&B productions, “Magic” revives bounce in a way the genre has been missing without sounding dated, while “Play Thing” (feat. Innanet James)” brings a guitar element that’s unique without overwhelming the track. With Morning After, Jay has moved on to what she calls “the bounce back, the glow up and everything else that comes after the storm.”

The cringe-worthy ups and downs of early-20s relationships are on full display in her work (Fader accurately called SALN “one of the most relatable projects you’ll hear this year”), with songwriting that’s accessible even for the olds. Even though my exploits have mostly moved from overwrought breakups and late-night mistakes to day parties and baby showers, it’s nice to see these SoundCloud-era kids grow up in real time with content that matches their evolving production skills.

Cobalt

Timothy J. Seppala
Associate Editor

Cobalt was one of my first forays into black metal. A buddy of mine who’s been into the subgenre for decades described the Colorado-based band as “the Tool of black metal,” and I was immediately intrigued. Weird time signatures and hypnotic drums combined with bloodcurdling howls? Sign me up. While I’ve obsessed over 2009’s Gin (with guitar riffs seemingly plagiarized from Tool’s 2001 Lateralus LP), the last month I’ve been hitting repeat on Eater of Birds, from two years prior.

I’m going to be clear right up front: I have no idea what songs like “When Serpents Return” or “Androids, Automatons and Nihilists” are about, despite the fact that lyrics aren’t screamed out in, say, German or a Scandinavian tongue, as with some of the genre’s progenitors. OK, maybe the last song title telegraphs the lyrical content. But I can’t be too sure. What does it for me is the drums and guitar riffs. The former somehow make transitioning from death metal blast beats to jazz and swing sound easy, and the latter are among of the heaviest I’ve ever heard. Same goes for original vocalist Phil McSorley’s howl, which sounds like it’s coming from the very depths of his being. Seriously, the musicianship and songwriting on display here are absurd.

But despite being more progressive in nature (songs regularly venture past seven minutes in length), the music never sounds complicated in a masturbatory way. It’s a fine line, and Cobalt toes it well. Every time I listen to one of their records, I hear something new, no matter how many times I might’ve looped “Blood Eagle Sacrifice.”

Cobalt isn’t all crushing riffs and war drums, though. Clean guitar interludes and ritualistic rhythms sit comfortably alongside the main attraction in a way that doesn’t feel forced or contrived, offering a reprieve before the next wall of death.

Like any metal band worth its Satan-infused salt, Cobalt’s music demands to be played as loud as possible. If your chest isn’t rattling from Erik Wunder’s bass drum rolls, the volume knob isn’t cranked high enough. To my neighbors, readers and the guy who was sitting next to me at the stoplight picking his nose and eating it, you’re welcome for the introduction.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

Kris Naudus
Senior Editor, Database

Two years ago, I was all about the Hamilton original cast recording, and while it still makes the occasional appearance in my daily playlist, I eventually moved on. This year’s new hotness is Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, which opened on Broadway last November to generally good reviews, earned a bunch of Tony nods and then flamed out after declining ticket sales and a messy casting controversy involving Mandy Patinkin. Whew.

When I saw The Great Comet back in February, I enjoyed the spectacle and the music, even if the story was a bit underwhelming. Still, I looked up the cast album on Spotify and gave it a listen. But the Broadway recording wasn’t out yet, just the off-Broadway tracks, with composer Dave Malloy as Pierre. He’s no Josh Groban, but it had to do. And Natasha was Phillipa Soo, best known for playing Eliza in Hamilton. Nice!

The Great Comet went into regular rotation for me and I started appreciating all the little things about the musical, the things that are easily missed when you’re sitting in the back of a 1,400-seat theater. It’s a weird choice for a Broadway show, honestly — one of its major themes is suicidal depression, and one of the two leads spends most of the first act sitting in a pit reading. It also doesn’t have a satisfying conclusion, as it’s based on only a small part of Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace. But all of these things feel like less of a problem in the intimacy of my apartment, listening with headphones or the speakers in my home office. Pierre starts out with no will to live, tries to kill himself at least once and then realizes by the end that he does give a damn. Not exactly extravagant, flashy Broadway material. I was determined to experience it in person again.

For my second go-around, I splurged for the onstage seating, which was totally worth it if only to clink glasses with Natasha. But while I was mouthing the words of all my favorite songs, I realized that some changes had been made in the transition to Broadway: understandable, but it still threw me off. Soon after that, the Broadway recording was finally released, and I spent hours comparing the two. The instrumentation is different in a few places — a lot grander, to go with the larger, less intimate venue. Josh Groban is the better singer by far, but there are parts where I feel he sometimes underplays important lines, and in those cases, Malloy’s performance is superior.

Most changes were made to make Pierre’s emotional journey and eventual revelation a little more obvious. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep the show alive onstage; tourists are the major ticket buyers for most Broadway musicals, and who wants to think about existential despair when they’re on vacation? As a home experience, however, it’s rather nice — the show is sung all the way through, so there’s almost nothing that happens that isn’t reflected in the album, and both the humor and despair come across in the performances. It’ll probably stay in my rotation for a while, with me belting out tracks like “Letters” and “Dust and Ashes” in the privacy of my apartment… at least until the next hot musical comes along.

Destiny 2

Devindra Hardawar
Senior Editor

Destiny 2 is everything the original wasn’t — and that’s particularly true of its score. When Bungie fired its longtime composer, Martin O’Donnell, who gave us the iconic Halo scores, it felt like a huge loss. But even without O’Donnell, Destiny 2’s score (which you can listen to here) still captures the epic scope of Bungie’s previous series. And, surprisingly enough, it does an even better job than the first Destiny.

I’m a sucker for a good theme, and that’s something Destiny 2 sets up and evolves throughout the course of its soundtrack. Credited to Michael Salvatori (who was also instrumental throughout the Halo series), Skye Lewin, C Paul Johnson, Rotem Moav and Pieter Schlosser, the score brings together sweeping strings, bombastic drums and choral arrangements that gave me chills in the midst of every firefight.

“Journey,” my favorite track from the album, brings in the famed Kronos Quartet (best known for performing the Requiem for a Dream theme) for a rousing melody that befits a super-powered space warrior fighting to save the galaxy. It’s used throughout the Destiny 2 campaign as the action gets particularly heated, and it never ceased to give me a stupid triumphant grin. The score also knows when to use a light touch. “The Last City” is a track you end up hearing a lot toward the end of the game, and it feels a bit soothing, perfect for when you’re weary from battle.

Destiny 2’s soundtrack, like the game itself, feels reminiscent of Phantasy Star Online. That was another pioneering multiplayer loot fest (which I somehow played on the Dreamcast’s 56K modem) with an incredibly memorable score. It makes sense, though: These are games that have you returning to the same places over and over again, taking down the same enemies with slightly different objectives. If the music doesn’t keep you engaged, spending hours gathering loot just won’t be as much fun.

“IRL” is a recurring column in which the Engadget staff run down what they’re buying, using, playing and streaming.

‘Nioh’ will bring 4K graphics and punishing difficulty to PC

Developer Team Ninja’s comeback story Nioh will make its way from PlayStation 4 to PC next month. It’ll take the form of Nioh: The Complete Edition and feature the punishing game’s trio of add-on packs, a “stable” 60FPS frame rate, or, what Tecmo calls “Movie Mode.” That (probably) doesn’t drop the frame rate to 24 frames per-second and add letterbox bars, but it does bump the resolution as high as 4K. As a nod to where the digital-only game almost positively will appear, it also features a special helmet with a valve-like design. So, Steam sounds like a likely place to find the game when it’s released on November 7th.

Toys ‘R’ Us hopes AR will bring you back to its stores

Let’s say you’re Toys ‘R’ Us: you’ve just declared bankruptcy, and you’re looking for something, anything that might convince customers to visit your stores instead of buying all their toys through Amazon. What would you do? If you ask Toys ‘R’ Us, the answer is simple: make a game out of store visits. The retailer has unveiled Play Chaser, a free augmented reality app for Android and iOS that turns stores into virtual playgrounds. Point the app at star icons in the store and your kids can play basketball (including with others) or take home a digital doll. The brand’s mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, will even introduce the app and get players started.

Play Chaser is currently in testing across 23 American stores, most of them in California, New York and North Carolina. However, it should be available across all stores in the country as of October 21st.

Will this work? It’s hard to say. There will no doubt be some kids who’ll beg to go back to the store as a result, and you just know this will lead to purchases as kids ‘conveniently’ find toys they wouldn’t have discovered without exploring the store. However, the logistics suggest that Toys ‘R’ Us won’t want to rely too heavily on Play Chaser as part of its comeback. Never mind the thought of traveling to the store to play games — while many parents can spare tablets and other devices for their kids, how many will trust their young ones to carry those devices through a store? It may well sweeten the experience for children (and parents, if it keeps kids preoccupied), but it might not change your mind if you were already bent on shopping from home.

Via: USA Today

Source: Toys ‘R’ Us

Ford creates ‘Team Edison’ to speed up EV development

There’s little doubt at this point that electric cars are the future, but how do you get to that future as quickly as possible? To Ford, it’s a matter of finding the right friends. In a Reuters interview, Ford’s Sherif Marakby says the company has created “Team Edison,” a group focused on speeding up the worldwide development of electric vehicles — including by forming partnerships with suppliers and other companies. The aim is to “look holistically” at the EV space and “make quicker” decisions to keep pace with the development of EV technology.

The team will mainly operate out of Ford’s home turf in Detroit, but it’ll work with EV teams in China and Europe. It’s reporting to Ted Cannis, who’s now the global director of Ford’s electrification efforts.

It’s too soon to say whether or not Team Edison will help, but Ford has already been putting its money where its mouth is: it’s expanding its EV lineup, and previously earmarked $4.5 billion in related spending over the next 5 years. The big challenge is keeping pace with its rivals. GM, for instance, just announced that it’ll have 20 electric car models by 2023. Ford’s new group may have to pull out all the stops if it wants to be seen as EV-first.

Source: Reuters

Chamberlain Debuts Updated MyQ Smart Garage Hub With Better Connectivity

Chamberlain today announced the launch of a new version of the MyQ Smart Garage Hub, which is designed to allow smartphone users to control their garage doors from anywhere using the accompanying MyQ app.

The MyQ Smart Garage Hub, which connects to a home Wi-Fi network, is compatible with most brands of garage door openers manufactured after 1994. The new MyQ Smart Garage Hub supports improved communication between the hub and the garage door sensor, enhanced sensor battery monitoring, and automatic identification of available Wi-Fi signals to make installation quicker and easier.

“The MyQ Smart Garage Hub was developed in response to customers’ requests for improved Wi-Fi connection reliability and enhanced communication between the door sensor and the hub. And, it further develops our line of secure and reliable connected products,” said John Villanueva, Vice President and General Manager of Residential Access Solutions at Chamberlain Group.

When paired with the MyQ Home Bridge, the MyQ Smart Garage Hub also works to enable HomeKit compatibility so the garage door can be controlled via Siri commands. The MyQ Home Bridge, released in August, pairs with the new MyQ Smart Garage Hub, the existing MyQ Garage, or a MyQ-enabled garage door opener.

The MyQ Smart Garage Hub is priced at $99.99 from the Chamberlain website, and for a limited time, Chamberlain is offering a $20 discount on a $150 bundle that includes both the MyQ Smart Garage Hub and the MyQ Home Bridge with the promo code SGHHBPCK20.

Tags: HomeKit, Chamberlain
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T-Mobile Continues to Advertise Fastest 4G LTE Network Despite Verizon Complaint

T-Mobile plans to continue advertisements where it claims to have the fastest 4G LTE network in the United States despite complaints from Verizon and a recommendation to stop from the National Advertising Division (NAD), the company told Ars Technica in a statement today.

The National Advertising Division, which aims to review advertisements for truthfulness and accuracy to settle disputes without litigation, last week said the data T-Mobile used as proof for its fastest network claim was not sufficient.

T-Mobile used crowd-sourced data from Ookla and Open Signal to support its claim, with the data collected in early 2017 around when Verizon’s unlimited data plan first rolled out. Verizon complained to the NAB and said the speed tests may have included data from Verizon customers who had been deprioritized for the first time after using over 22GB of data, making them inaccurate.

The NAD agreed that the tests may have had a bias in favor of T-Mobile and recommended T-Mobile stop all advertisements claiming to have the fastest network.

T-Mobile agreed to comply with the NAD’s recommendation, but found a loophole with updated data. Instead of basing its claims on data collected earlier this year during the time that Verizon’s unlimited data plan rolled out, T-Mobile now cites new OpenSignal and Ookla data on its website collected later in 2017. T-Mobile says it plans to continue on with its advertisements using the new data.

“On the fastest LTE network challenge, NAD ruled that the one month of crowd-sourced data we submitted (when Verizon launched their unlimited plan) could not be used,” said T-Mobile Senior VP of corporate communications Janice Kapner. “NAD previously recognized third-party crowd-sourced data as a way to look at network performance, so we looked at the latest results, and verified what we already knew! T-Mobile is still the fastest LTE network and we’ll continue to let consumers know that!”

“We did say we’d comply with NAD’s recommendation, and we will, but that means we won’t rely solely on the specific data we submitted. We have taken the NAD’s concerns into consideration and are confident we have robust data that addresses them and proves, once again, that we have the fastest LTE network,” a company spokesperson told Ars.

As T-Mobile says, the NAD recommendation only applies to data collected during the initial test cited in Verizon’s complaint and not to the new data that’s been collected. Verizon can submit a new complaint, though, which will require the NAD to again take a look at the data T-Mobile is using.

While T-Mobile plans to continue to say that it has the fastest LTE network, the company has agreed to modify some other claims about its coverage. The NAD looked at the following T-Mobile claims:

– T-Mobile has near-equivalent area and/or geographic coverage as Verizon
– T-Mobile covers 99% of the area covered by Verizon
– T-Mobile covers 313,312 or “311 Million and Counting” Americans with 4G LTE
– T-Mobile “covers 99% of the Americans that Verizon covers” and 99% of Verizon’s customers

T-Mobile does cover 99.7 percent as many Americans as Verizon, but it does not offer 99.7 percent of the geographic coverage that Verizon offers, so the NAD recommended T-Mobile modify its advertising to make it clear that coverage comparisons are based on population. T-Mobile says it will comply with the request going forward and will remove ads featuring imagery of geographic coverage that could be confusing.

Tags: T-Mobile, Verizon
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Nike+ Run Club App Updated Ahead of Nike+ Apple Watch Series 3 Launch

Just ahead of the launch of the Nike+ Apple Watch Series 3 models, which will be available starting this Thursday, Nike has updated its official Nike+ Run Club app with new functionality that was highlighted on stage during Apple’s September event.

On both iPhone and Apple Watch, Nike+ Run Club is gaining Audio Guided Runs, which are a series of guided workouts from Nike coaches and athletes like Mo Farah and Kevin Hart. Runs are paired with a playlist that can be used with streaming music services.

Audio Guided Runs can be accessed on Apple Watch by opening the Nike+ app on the watch and then scrolling down under the Start button. Runs will need to be downloaded on the watch ahead of time.

Along with Audio Guided Runs, Nike is introducing a “Cheers” feature that lets users notify their friends when they go for a run to get cheers in response for motivation. There’s also an updated Activity History feature on Apple Watch that displays the details of the last five runs, and on Apple Watch Series 3 models, elevation data is now available on standalone watch runs.

The Nike+ Run Club app can be downloaded on the iPhone and all Apple Watch models, but with Nike+ models, there’s an option to launch the Nike+ Run Club app from the exclusive Nike watch faces.

Nike+ Run Club is available from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Nike+
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