Original Pixel and Pixel XL owners will indeed have unlimited photo backups for life

Google has confirmed that Pixel owners will receive unlimited original-quality photo backups for life.

One of the great features of last year’s Pixel phones was the promise of unlimited photo backups at original quality to Google Photos. This differentiated from the unlimited “high quality” backups on non-Google phones. For the Pixel 2 and 2 XL, this feature is still available but with the small limitations that it’s only for photos taken before the end of 2020. Any pictures taken after that will be backed up with the same “high-quality” option that other devices have.

Google used the same “for life” promise when discussing the original Pixels, but we’ve found out that’s a little different from the Pixel 2. Android Police reports that any photos taken with the 2016 Pixels will still be uploaded in their original quality with no time restraints. Meaning the new three-year (or so) original quality limit put in place for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL doesn’t retroactively apply to the original Pixels.

It’s a bit odd that the older phone gets a better deal than the newer one, but this is a nice gesture to people who bought the first Pixels expecting lifetime unlimited original backups.

Are you excited to still have unlimited original-quality photo backups? Let us know down below!

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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‘South Park’ game’s main DLC items won’t be available this year

After a few delays, South Park: The Fractured But Whole will finally be released next week. If you’re curious what the super-hero-themed RPG’s season pass offers before laying down another $30 (assuming GameStop hasn’t already guilted you into buying it), we’ve got you covered. Come launch day on October 17th, you’ll only have access two two things: a costume and perks pack and Towelie, the pothead towel, who will give you tips in-game. Both will be sold separately; the former will cost $4.99 on launch day, and the latter will be $1.99 a week later.

The meat of the add-ons won’t be available until later, and what sounds like a wave-based combat challenge (“Danger Deck,” a nod to X-Men’s “Danger Room”) will launch sometime in December. Without the season pass, it’ll cost $5.99. A pair of story expansions won’t be available until 2018. “From Dusk to Casa Bonita” has you teaming up with Cartman’s The Coon (above) and Kenny’s Mysterion to take on a demonic presence, while “Bring the Crunch” adds a new story as well as an entirely new superhero class. Both will cost $11.99 a la carte.

If you’re looking to save some money, and only want the extra missions, waiting until those are released in 2018 will be $6 cheaper. Plus, being patient means you’ll have the chance to make an informed decision before laying down your hard-earned money — always a good idea.

Source: UbiBlog

Try the Xbox One X before it launches at select Microsoft Stores

With less than a month to go before you can get your hands on the new, more powerful Xbox One X, Microsoft is giving the unconvinced a chance to try it out at the company’s retail outlets. You can try the new console connected to a 4K display at flagship Microsoft Store locations like the one in New York and Sidney, along with spaces at Bellevue Square Mall and University Village. You’ll also get to try out Forza Motorsport 7 on the new console, win prizes and see special guests.

Even if you’re not near a participating Microsoft Store, any other branded retail outlets in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico will celebrate the launch of the Xbox One X with giveaways and celebration events, too. If you pre-oder a console at your local store, you’ll be able to pick it up at 9 PM PT/12AM ET on Monday, November 6th/7th from the same store you ordered it from.

Source: Microsoft

Fandango pulls a Ticketmaster with plans to buy MovieTickets.com

Who doesn’t love grabbing movie tickets from their mobile device before heading to the theater, skipping the long lines at the box office? No one, that’s who. Now there’s one less outlet to do so with, as Fandango continues to consolidate advance movie ticket sales with plans to acquire MovieTickets.com. According to Deadline, this leaves Atom Tickets as one of the only other competitors in the space, bringing Fandango closer to a Ticketmaster-style monopoly. The deal itself is set to close in the latter part of this year.

The deal will add more US coverage to the Fandango stable of movie theaters, including National Amusements, Cineplex, Landmark Theatres and Marquee Cinemas. Fandango will also get a bigger hold in Latin America, while entering Canada and the UK for the first time. MovieTickets.com will continue to operate from its Boca-Raton, Florida headquarters.

“MovieTickets.com has done a terrific job, building a popular and trusted brand with millions of loyal customers and hundreds of exhibitors, and has been a champion of serving theater circuits large and small for nearly two decades,” said Fandango’s Paul Yanover in a statement. “We look forward to sharing an array of mobile and social media innovations with their customer base to enhance the movie discovery, planning and ticket buying experience.”

Source: Fandango

Baidu plans to start mass-producing autonomous vehicles around 2019

Like its US counterparts, Chinese internet titan Baidu has been working on autonomous vehicle research for years. After a failed partnership with BMW, Baidu opened itself up to teaming up with other companies, notably bringing on NVIDIA to power its Apollo self-driving car program. The internet giant has another partner now: Chinese automaker BAIC, which will pair its cars with Baidu’s tech to start mass production of level three autonomous vehicles around 2019, followed by L4 vehicles around 2021.

Those are lower grades of automation than the fully-autonomous, no-steering-wheel level five ‘robo taxis’ that many automakers are salivating over (and NVIDIA claims its dedicated new AI computer can power). But those, like Intel’s partnership with Waymo for L4/L5 vehicles, are mostly eventual goals.

Baidu has outlined a roadmap for its line of self-driving cars with scheduled goals: By the end of 2018, BAIC’s self-branded vehicles will carry Baidu’s Apollo connectivity features along with the internet giant’s DuerOS voice assistant, with plans to produce one million of those cars by the next year. Both companies also collaborate on a cloud-based ecosystem of products and services like crowd-sourced traffic, according to TechCrunch.

Via: TechCrunch, Weixin

Source: Ifeng

Tesla fired ‘hundreds’ of workers this week

Tonight The Mercury News reports that Tesla — which is in the midst of ramping up production of the Model 3 — fired hundreds of workers this week at its headquarters and factory. In a statement, the company cited performance reviews as a reason for departures from its workforce of more than 33,000 and said that it is continuing to grow. Workers the paper spoke to estimated some 400 – 700 workers have been fired, however, the company indicated that overall attrition is similar to last year.

Currently, we’re still anticipating updated Model 3 production numbers (it only made 260 in Q3) when Tesla reports its earnings in a few weeks, as well as the unveiling of its electric semi on November 16th.

Tesla:

Like all companies, Tesla conducts an annual performance review during which a manager and employee discuss the results that were achieved, as well as how those results were achieved, during the performance period. This includes both constructive feedback and recognition of top performers with additional compensation and equity awards, as well as promotions in many cases. As with any company, especially one of over 33,000 employees, performance reviews also occasionally result in employee departures. Tesla is continuing to grow and hire new employees around the world.

Source: The Mercury News

Unleashing hungry bacteria on our landfills could produce tons of natural gas

Why it matters to you

A new approach to breaking down landfill waste could not just help the environment, but give us a new source of natural gas, too.

When it comes to climate change, most people tend to focus on carbon dioxide (CO2). But methane is actually a far more damaging greenhouse gas than CO2 — by around 25 times. That’s a big problem, particularly since we tend to decompose methane-releasing organic materials in the form of manure by letting it sit in landfills, creating a major health and safety hazard in the process.

With that problem in mind, chemical engineers from Michigan Technological University have set out to explore an alternative method, and to demonstrate not just how well it works, but what adopting it could mean for the environment. The solution they chose is something called anaerobic digestion (AD), referring to composting organics without air. It involves taking piles of manure and placing it in large covered tanks to be broken down by hungry bacteria. Not only does it mean that methane is not longer pumped out into the air; it also produces a liquid digestate end product which could be used for fertilizer, as well as bio-methane, which can be used like natural gas.

“By diverting all the food waste and manure to anaerobic digestion, approximately 0.41 percent of overall greenhouse gas emissions of the approximately 7 billion tons carbon dioxide CO2 equivalents can be saved in the United States annually, using approximately 100 [facilities the size of Colorado’s Heartland Biogas Facility, where the study took place],” Sharath Ankathi, a researcher on the project, told Digital Trends.

“If implemented on a national scale in the U.S., a savings of 0.74 percent of the present annual natural gas energy demand can be realized from production of bio-methane, through AD of all food waste and a significant fraction of total dairy manure.”

According to the Michigan Tech’s study, the new approach results in 15.5 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions, compared to the alternative regular process of composting food waste and manure. Better yet, as noted, it could provide a much-needed extra source of natural gas.

Next up, Ankathi said the team wants to continue exploring the subject by looking at ways to optimize the anaerobic digestion process, as well as carrying out a detailed study examining the likely technological, economic, and socio-environmental impact it could have on the United States.

A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy.

This massive billboard targets you with ads depending on what car you drive

Why it matters to you

A giant billboard that identifies the cars around it and plays relevant ads may be the new face of advertising.

When you’re paying top dollar to rent a billboard in one of the biggest cities in the world, you want to know that it’s got the maximum chance of reaching the right eyeballs. With that in mind, Landsec, the U.K.’s biggest listed commercial property company, has just given a futuristic upgrade to its digital advertising space in Piccadilly Circus, one of London’s most famous tourist attractions.

The famous screens have been switched off for much of this year, due to renovation work. During that time, the company has replaced six separate screens which previously occupied the site with one massive 790-square-meter display, offering a resolution that’s better than 4K, and the largest of its kind in Europe.

Amazingly, that’s not the most impressive part, however. In a move straight out of the great 2002 movie Minority Report — in which the central character receives customized ads as he walks through a public space — the billboard will now reflect what’s going on around it. Obviously, personalized ads focused on a single individual won’t work when you’re dealing with a giant billboard in a massive public space, but that has not stopped Landsec from trying.

Cameras hidden in the screen will now be able to track the manufacturer, model, and color of passing cars to trigger targeted ads. That means that companies who rent the billboard will be able to have it identify which vehicles are around and only play ads in response to certain ones. It can also screen ads in response to certain types of weather, or allow users to interact with the screens in real time.

Ultimately, we’ll have to wait until the screen goes live to see what advertisers decide to do with this technology. But it’s definitely an intriguing illustration of the direction giant billboard advertising is going to follow in the coming years, as it races to keep up with the kind of targeted ads users are used to receiving online.

The only question that’s left to answer is whether people who are targeted for custom ads will be flattered or creeped out. We guess a lot will depend on the car you’re driving at the time!

T-Mobile to Cap ‘Mobile Without Borders’ Feature at 5GB of LTE Data Per Month Starting November 12

T-Mobile this week quietly announced plans to tweak the way its “Mobile Without Borders” feature works, adding a 5GB data cap.

Introduced in 2015 as an Un-carrier initiative, Mobile Without Borders is a T-Mobile feature that’s designed to extend LTE coverage and calling to Mexico and Canada at no additional charge. It was designed to use a customer’s normal voice, message, and LTE data allotments while roaming in Mexico or Canada.

With an unlimited data plan, customers using Mobile Without Borders had access to “unlimited” 4G LTE data up to the standard cap of 50GB while in Canada or Mexico.

Starting on November 12, T-Mobile is limiting LTE data usage for Mobile Without Borders to a maximum of 5GB. After 5GB of data has been used in Mexico or Canada, or a high-speed data allotment has been reached, data speeds will be downgraded to Simple Global speeds (128kb/s for most T-Mobile plans, or 256kb/s for T-Mobile ONE Plus).

T-Mobile says that less than 1 percent of people who travel to Canada or Mexico use over 5GB in a month, and that the change is being implemented to “prevent usage beyond the intent of the product.”

Customers who need more than 5GB of LTE data in Mexico or Canada can sign up for the T-Mobile ONE Plus International plan, which is an additional $25 per month on top of the cost of a T-Mobile ONE plan.

Tag: T-Mobile
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Apple Extends Internal iOS 11.1 Apple Pay Cash Testing to Retail Employees

Starting in early October, Apple corporate employees in the United States began testing Apple Pay Cash internally in the iOS 11.1 beta, suggesting the person-to-person Apple Pay feature could be introduced in iOS 11.1 despite its current absence from the iOS 11.1 developer beta.

Apple has now expanded its internal Apple Pay Cash feature to its retail employees, making it available to a much wider range of people for testing purposes.

Retail employees gained access to the feature today and have been asked to install both the iOS 11.1 beta and an additional internal-only beta profile to unlock the Apple Pay Cash feature. According to the retail employee who spoke to MacRumors, Apple is also requiring iCloud accounts to be whitelisted to use Apple Pay Cash.

The Apple Pay Cash setup process can be seen in the screenshot below — it asks customers to verify their identity with name, address, and social security number.

Apple Pay Cash works through the Messages app and is designed to allow for quick person-to-person money transfers, much like Square Cash or Venmo. It’s available as a dedicated iMessage app in the built-in Messages app, with cash transferred through iMessage transactions. Though most Apple Pay Cash coverage has focused on the iPhone, money can also be sent using an Apple Watch.

When sending cash, it can be sent from a linked debit or credit card, while received cash is stored in an Apple Pay Cash card in Wallet that can be used for purchases or sent to a bank account. Sending cash through a credit card incurs a 3% fee, while sending cash from a debit card is free.

The Apple Pay Cash card available in Wallet is being made available through a partnership with Green Dot, a company that offers prepaid Discover cards.

For Apple Pay Cash to work, both parties need to have the feature enabled and activated. Money can only be sent in a one-on-one message, with Apple Pay Cash not available in group messages.

On the Apple Watch, the interface requires you to scroll past the Scribble icon in the Messages app to access the Apple Pay button. Tapping on it allows users to enter a dollar amount using the Digital Crown or on-screen buttons. Payment is then confirmed via a double click on the Digital Crown, but scrolling down allows for users to choose a different payment source than the default.

Apple first announced person-to-person Apple Pay as an iOS 11 feature at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, but it was not implemented in any of the iOS 11 betas and towards the end of the beta testing period, Apple confirmed it would be coming in a future iOS 11 update.

Apple Pay Cash is not present in the current iOS 11.1 beta available to developers and public beta testers, but given the expanded internal beta test, it appears Apple is nearly finished with the feature and is gearing up to release it as part of the iOS 11.1 update.

Related Roundups: Apple Pay, iOS 11
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