Sonos One is the company’s first speaker with built-in voice control

Sonos wasn’t shy about promising a voice-controlled speaker at its October 4th event, and it’s delivering. It’s introducing the Sonos One, its first speaker with voice control built-in. It looks like a Play:1 on the outside, but it has a six-microphone array to pick up your spoken commands and lighting to indicate when voice control is active. It’ll support Alexa out of the box, but Sonos says it’s open to using other voice assistants — in fact, Google Assistant will be coming in 2018.

You’ll have access to Alexa’s skills from the get-go, of course, but the big deal is that you can control playback entirely through voice if you like. You can tell the One to play music on specific Sonos speakers or throughout your entire home, for instance. And if you prefer to use apps, newly-added support for direct control and (in 2018) Apple’s AirPlay 2 lets you skip Sonos’ own controller software in favor of the likes of Audible, iHeartRadio or Tidal.

The speaker will cost $199 when it ships on October 24th, which is decidedly pricier than your typical smart speaker but on par with the One’s voiceless precursor. Sonos is clearly betting that its reputation for good sound and its experience with whole-home audio will justify a premium. The catch, of course, is that Amazon, Apple and Google aren’t standing still.

Watch Google’s Pixel 2 event live right here at 12PM ET

Well folks, today’s the day. It’s Google’s turn to reveal a new lineup of devices that are likely to tempt you before the holiday scrum begins. We’ll be there live to bring you all of the news as it’s announced, but if you want to watch today’s festivities, we’ve embedded the livestream below for easy access. Tune in and keep an eye on our liveblog for witty analysis, terrible jokes and more from today’s Pixel 2 event. While you’re waiting for 12PM ET to roll around, catch up on what we expect to be announced and take a look at our retrospective of Google phones going back to 2007.

Follow all the latest news from Google’s Pixel 2 event here!

Amazon Drive Users Can Now Easily Share Files as iMessages

Amazon Drive’s iOS app has been updated with an iMessage app extension to easily share files in the Messages app on iPhone and iPad.

After updating to version 1.9.0 of the app, Amazon Drive users can simply open Messages, tap the App Store logo to reveal the iMessage app drawer, and tap on the Amazon Drive icon. From the list of directories that appears, users can then select an individual file to share as an attachment bubble.

The recipient can tap on the attachment and view or save the file directly on the Amazon Drive website, with no access to other files.

YouTube also updated its iOS app this week with an iMessage app extension to easily search for and share videos in Messages.

Amazon Drive is available on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad.

Tags: Amazon, iMessage, Amazon Cloud Drive
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Plex makes its adaptive streaming tech available to all

If you own a giant personal media collection (legally or otherwise), few services are as useful as Plex. The media server and streaming apps combo makes it easy to watch your favorite movies and TV shows from anywhere, and on any device. Now, the company behind Plex is adding a few nifty features to keep your streams running smoothly. The first is Auto Quality, which had previously been limited to Plex Pass subscribers. Switch it on and Plex will automatically adjust video quality depending on your connection and how many other people are hammering your Plex server.

The second addition is hardware-accelerated streaming. It’s a technical change that takes advantage of the dedicated video decoder and encoder hardware support in your Windows, Mac or Linux PC. Hardware acceleration assists with transcoding, a form of video conversion that’s often required to stream your chosen files properly. The result should be faster and smoother playback, while reducing the hit on your PC’s usual performance. There are some drawbacks, however; Plex says some videos may appear “more blurry or blocky,” especially at lower resolutions. Oh, and this feature is exclusive to Plex Pass subscribers, at least for now.

Source: Plex (Blog Post)

Google Assistant’s latest feature is a male voice

Ahead of its Pixel 2 event, Google has quietly added a new voice to Google Assistant. The AI, which can be found on Google Home and the company’s handsets, no longer skews female. As spotted by Android Police, Assistant now also boasts a male option. Fittingly, Google has bestowed the impersonal, robotic voice with the nondescript title: “Voice II.” To switch to the new intonation (probably in US English only), select settings on your phone Assistant or the Google Home app. The voice options can then be found in preferences, under “assistant voice.”

Others have pointed out the problematic questions gendered digital assistants raise, especially when they’re designated female voices. That’s the default mode for Siri. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Cortana is voiced by Jen Taylor. And, Amazon named its AI Alexa. Therefore, it’s good to see Google branching out. Plus, the more options the better — bring on Bill Murray next.

Both male and female versions of Google’s digital helper will soon be heard emanating from a range of new Google hardware. Later today, the search giant is expected to reveal its refreshed Pixel handsets, and its new Home Max and Home Mini smart speakers, among other new products.

Via: Android Police

HP’s Spectre x360 13 hides your screen at a push of a button

In recent years, laptop makers focused on squeezing longer-lasting batteries and incrementally better performance into thinner, lighter and more attractive bodies. Those improvements are beneficial, but on the whole it feels like the industry is having trouble coming up with new features that are truly helpful. That’s why HP’s latest mainstream laptop feels refreshing. In addition to the usual performance bumps and smaller footprint, it offers a built-in privacy shield that you can toggle with a dedicated key — something its competitors haven’t offered (or copied) yet. I checked out a pre-production unit of the new Spectre x360 13 at a recent demo in New York and want one just for the protective screen.

HP introduced the “Sure View” privacy screen in its Elitebook line of commercial laptops last year. The Elitebook series is aimed at business users who want to protect, say, confidential presentations on the go, and it made sense to offer Sure View to them first. But the rest of us deal with sensitive info as well, so it’s nice to see the company bring this to its mainstream line.

You can toggle the privacy screen by pressing a button on the keyboard’s function row where the F2 key usually sits. This hides your content from people in your vicinity by making the display look completely white unless you’re directly in front of it. During my demo, the Spectre x360’s screen looked like a blank white canvas when I stood at an extreme angle from it. When I moved closer to the center, though, I could make out colors and shapes like the green header row of an Excel spreadsheet. But it was only when I faced the computer head on that I could see the actual words on the screen.

Frankly, the text on our demo unit was so small that I probably couldn’t read what it said unless I was up close, either. Still, having the privacy screen can provide some extra peace of mind, and the dedicated button toggle is convenient, too. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve anxiously looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was glancing at my screen when I worked on confidential stories or entering my credit card information at an airport or a press conference.

The Sure View upgrade will cost you an additional $100, which, considering third-party privacy shields cost about $30, seems a bit steep. But you’ll get the convenience of switching it on and off whenever you want without having to deal with flimsy attachments that could lose their stickiness (or magnetism) over time.

As with most laptops being updated for the holiday season, the new Spectre x360 13 will come equipped with 8th-generation Intel chipsets (Core i5 and i7 options), specifically the U series that now packs four cores instead of just two. HP said that in addition to performance improvements, this infrastructure should also extend battery life, and the company estimates the laptop will last up to 16.5 hours. The Spectre x360 also gained a fingerprint sensor along the right edge of the laptop for convenient identity verification, but it requires a bit of searching to find. You’ll still have the IR camera above the screen for Windows Hello logins, though. Oh, and the device’s 13.3-inch screen got bumped up from full HD resolution to 4K.

HP also unveiled the new Spectre 13 laptop, which features CPU and battery improvements while retaining the same svelte 10.4mm profile as its predecessor. In fact, this year’s Spectre 13 is actually slightly smaller than its older brother, since HP managed to narrow down the display bezels and get rid of the space around the keyboard. The touchpad is wider, with an aspect ratio that’s closer to the screen’s for more intuitive navigation. The company finally added touchscreens on some configurations (only non-touch before) and display resolutions now go up to 4K. Plus, there’s a new “Ceramic White” color option for those who wanted an alternative to existing the grey/copper version, and I’d have a hard time picking one since both models are equally attractive.

The Spectre laptop and the Spectre x360 13 start at $1,300 and $1,150 respectively, and will be available in stores on October 29th. If you already know for sure that you want one, you can also pre-order it on Best Buy’s website, although I would caution you to wait until we get to check out a production-ready unit before you splurge.

DeepMind forms an ethics group to explore the impact of AI

Google’s AI-research arm DeepMind has announced the creation of DeepMind Ethics & Society (DMES), a new unit dedicated to exploring the impact and morality of the way AI shapes the world around us. Along with external advisors from academia and the charitable sector, the team aims to “help technologists put ethics into practice, and to help society anticipate and direct the impact of AI so that it works for the benefit of all”.

The unit has been in the works for the last 18 months with eight staff members and six external fellows, and is expected to grow to around 25 people over the coming year. The team will focus on six areas: privacy, transparency and fairness; economic impacts; governance and accountability; managing AI risk; AI morality and values; and the way AI can address global challenges.

This is not the first ethics-orientated unit Google has put together within the AI sphere. There’s also the highly secretive AI Ethics Board, DeepMind Health’s Independent Review Panel, and the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society. But the creation of DMES shows that AI is obviously a major focus for Google right now, and it seems it’s committed to getting what can be a contentious issue right.

Source: DeepMind

E.U. to Take Ireland to Court For Failing to Claim Apple Tax

The European Commission said on Wednesday it will take Ireland to court for its failure to recover up to 13 billion euros ($15.3 billion) of tax due from Apple (via Reuters). Apple was ordered to pay the unpaid taxes in August 2016 after the Commission ruled that the company had received illegal state aid.

The Commission argued that Irish revenue commissioners gave Apple unfair advantage between 1991 and 2007 by allowing the company to move income from the European market through two “non-resident” head office subsidiaries based in Ireland. Ireland vowed to appeal the ruling.

“More than one year after the Commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, adding that Dublin had not even sought a portion of the sum.

“We of course understand that recovery in certain cases may be more complex than in others, and we are always ready to assist. But member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition,” she added.

The Commission said the deadline for Ireland to implement its decision had been Jan. 3 this year and that, until the aid was recovered, the company continued to benefit from an illegal advantage.

Ireland’s finance ministry said it had never accepted the Commission’s analysis in the Apple state aid decision, but would collect the money due pending Dublin’s own appeal of the ruling.

“It is extremely regrettable that the Commission has taken this action, especially in relation to a case with such a large scale recovery amount,” the ministry said in a statement.

Apple claimed earlier this year that the Commission made “fundamental errors” when it ruled that the company owed Ireland the unpaid taxes plus interest, and argued that the profits to those activities were attributable to the United States.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the EC’s ruling “total political crap” and described the lower end 0.005 percent tax rate Apple is accused of paying as a “false number”. The Apple CEO has previously said he believes the decision will be reversed.

In addition, Vestager announced a demand for Amazon to pay around 250 million euros in taxes to Luxembourg. Amazon denied it owed any back tax, and claimed it had not received any “special treatment” from Luxembourg.

“We will study the Commission’s ruling and consider our legal options, including an appeal,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: corporate tax, European Commission, Europe, Ireland, Apple-Ireland tax case
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New Article Delves Into Origins of Ongoing Legal Feud Between Apple and Qualcomm

A new in-depth story about the ongoing legal fight between Apple and Qualcomm has been posted online today by Bloomberg Businessweek, going behind the scenes of the accusations and rebuttals made by the two tech companies. The fight centers upon the “Qualcomm tax,” or the amount of money that Qualcomm charges smartphone makers for the internal components of a device that allows it to connect to a cellular signal, also known as the smartphone’s modem.

According to court documents seen by Bloomberg Businessweek, the true origin of the feud is described as starting two summers ago at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. There, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee are believed to have “shared a quiet word,” where Cook told Lee to “pressure” South Korean antitrust regulators into intensifying a Qualcomm investigation that had been open for about a year at the time.

Apple wanted to get itself in front of investigators and spur more questions about the Qualcomm tax, which it could do because it was in an agreement with the modem supplier. That deal had lowered the tax from $30 to about $10 per iPhone, with Apple promising not to challenge any of Qualcomm’s patents. However, it meant that Apple could truthfully answer any question in an investigation about the supplier that was already under way — which Qualcomm claims was exactly Apple’s intent at the Idaho conference.

Qualcomm claims that at the event—almost certainly the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, which both Cook and Lee attended—the Apple executive urged Samsung to pressure South Korean antitrust regulators to intensify an investigation into Qualcomm that had been open since 2014. “Get aggressive,” the Apple executive said, according to Qualcomm’s filing, adding that this would be the “best chance” to get Qualcomm to lower its prices.

Apple says nothing improper happened. “I don’t know what conversation they are talking about,” says Bruce Sewell, the company’s general counsel, in an interview at headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. “For Apple to have said to Samsung, ‘You guys are in Korea and you should be watching this case carefully,’ doesn’t seem to me to be anything beyond simply the kind of conversation two CEOs might have.”

The story then details a few other parts of Qualcomm’s history, including its massive “Patent Wall” that greets visitors to its headquarters, displaying patents for Qualcomm’s CDMA specification and others that the company claims to be for the first smartphone and app store. “I can’t think of a keystroke that you can do on a phone that probably doesn’t touch a Qualcomm invention,” said CEO Steve Mollenkopf.

Apple was reliant on Qualcomm for this reason for many years, as it produced the highest quality modems in the supply chain and forced the Cupertino company to deal with the Qualcomm tax. That changed in 2015 when Intel began producing modems that would arrive in the iPhone 7. According to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell, “What prompted us to bring the case now as opposed to five years ago is simple, it’s the availability of a second source.”

This introduction of a quality second source in the modem supply chain was met with another point by Apple: a smartphone modem is simply one of many components that make up an iPhone — and of “no special significance” as modern consumers rely less on the actual cellular features of the device. These two points encouraged Apple’s decision to fight back against Qualcomm, ultimately leading to Apple’s lawsuit earlier this year, a Qualcomm countersuit soon after, and more companies joining Apple in its fight.

“Cellular connectivity is important,” he says, “but it’s not as important as it used to be.” On another table behind Sewell, an Apple representative has laid out two versions of the iPhone 7: One model, which has 128 gigabytes of memory was sold by Apple for $750. The other, which has 256 GB, sold for $100 more. How is it fair, Apple asks, for Qualcomm to charge as much as $5 more for the technology in the more expensive phone, given that the two devices are otherwise identical?

In July, Qualcomm claimed that Apple infringed on six of its new patents concerning battery life and graphics processing in smartphones, and in August the U.S. International Trade Commission opened an investigation into Apple’s alleged infringement with a decision date aimed around the time of the September 2018 iPhone launch. The patent infringement accusation is said to be designed to disrupt Apple’s supply chain and “push the company to negotiate,” with Qualcomm CEO Mollenkopf stating that all of the legal back-and-forth won’t last forever, expecting Apple to settle soon.

That won’t happen according to Sewell: “There’s no way that this case settles, absent a complete reinvention of the licensing model that Qualcomm has adapted in the industry.”

Check out the fully story by Bloomberg Businessweek right here.

Tags: lawsuit, Qualcomm
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Adobe Debuts Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2018

Adobe today released new versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, the company’s more affordable photo and video editing software aimed at casual home users who want to improve their images and videos.

Both Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2018 offer a range of new tools and enhancements to existing features to streamline and improve the editing process.

Photoshop Elements 2018 offers a new Automatic Selection tool for detecting objects to make it simpler to remove a subject from its background, and there’s a new feature for automatically fixing photos where a person has closed eyes by copying the eyes from another photo and blending it in seamlessly.

A new Auto-Curate feature in the Adobe Elements Organizer allows it to detect and highlight your best photos. It intelligently analyzes photos using parameters like exposure, composition, focus, subject, and more.

Auto-Curate is able to recognize faces and surface photos that contain people, and it’s even able to recognize family members photographed often over strangers to recommend the best photos for editing.

Premiere Elements 2018 includes a new feature called Candid Moments for automatically extracting photos from raw video footage, while a customizable Smart Trim option detects and eliminates bad scenes from a video. There are also better organizational tools for finding all of the videos on your computer.

With an updated Slideshow feature, curated photos and videos in both Premiere and Photoshop Elements can be turned into dynamic slideshows with a single click, and there are easy-to-use options for choosing a theme, adding music, and integrating captions.

For those who are new to Photoshop and Premiere Elements, Adobe offers a range of Guided Edits that walk users through editing tasks. There are many existing Guided Edits, and today’s software release adds even more options.

In Photoshop Elements, Swap Backgrounds lets users select the subject of a photo and change out the background in just a few steps, while Create Double Exposures lets two photos be layered on top of one another.

Add Artistic Overlay Effects lets users add a shape overlay like a heart that highlights one section of an image, while Watercolors walks users through transforming a photo into a watercolor painting.

In Premiere Elements, there’s a Guided Edit for creating a bounce-back effect that lets a segment of video run forward and backward in quick succession (a Boomerang-style effect), and there’s an option for adding a freeze frame with an accompanying motion title.

For fisheye video captured with action cams like the Go Pro, there’s a tutorial for trimming and fixing lens distortion, and there’s a walkthrough for creating a quick animated video that can be shared on social media networks.

Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2018 are available for purchase for $99 each from the Adobe website starting today. Bundles are available for $149.99, and existing users can upgrade for $79.99 for one product or $119 for the bundle. Adobe is changing its Premiere and Photoshop naming scheme this year, so Premiere and Photoshop Elements 2018 are the follow-up to last year’s Premiere and Photoshop Elements 15.

Tag: Adobe
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