Face Detection in Google Photos App Now Recognizes Cats and Dogs by Name

Google updated its Photos app on Monday with a new facial recognition feature that lets users organize pictures of their family pets more easily.

Since it was launched, Google Photos has employed facial recognition to identify humans and help users sort their snaps by friend or family member, similar to how Faces works in Apple Photos.

The latest version of Google’s own photos app builds on its face detection feature by recognizing cats and dogs by name, so users no longer need to type in “cat” or “dog” into the search field to bring up the relevant pictures.

Going forward, simply labeling a photo of a furry friend will cause any other photos of the cat or dog to be grouped under that name, just like they do for people.

In addition to the pet grouping feature, Google says users can also now “search by breed to see photos of your Poodle or Maine Coon”, or even search using a single cat or dog emoji.

The new pet detection naturally feeds into the app’s automated movie generator, found in the Assistant view, and users can create their own short films by tapping on the new photo group of their pet, selecting their favorite pictures, and tapping the “+” symbol.

Google has also included six “pet-inspired songs” to choose from in the movie editor to be twinned with four-legged family collections.

Google Photos is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Google Photos
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Huffington: Uber ‘very likely’ to close Softbank deal in the next week

An Uber-Softbank deal is “very likely” to occur within the next week, according to Arianna Huffington, who spoke at Wall Street Journal’s D.Live event in Laguna Beach, CA. She wouldn’t disclose the price — it seems they’re still working out the details — but she did say that the Softbank investment would involve primary investing at the last valuation of the company, as well as secondary investing in additional shares. This means that the Japanese company could end up with at least 14 percent of Uber’s shares.

“The Softbank investment is so important,” said Huffington, adding that Uber has lost quite a lot of money because of the competition (aka Lyft). “Having them on your cap table is very important when they’re also investing in so many of our competitors around the world,” she added, referring to rivals like Singapore’s Grab and China’s Didi Chuxing. As for whether she’s concerned about Softbank investing in Uber’s competitors, she waved it off, saying “This is not marriage; this is a business.”

Huffington also talked about how Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s new CEO, is making the company leaner by ending problems that burn too much cash, such as its car leasing program. It’s part of the grand preparation plan for Uber’s eventual IPO in 2019.

She also went on to talk about Uber and how it’s attempting to reshape its culture following the accusations of sexual harassment and the ousting of former CEO Travis Kalanick. “The company needs to stand for something beyond growth,” she said, adding that “the worship at the altar of hyper growth” has led to company-wide burnout, which then leads to people acting out in ways they shouldn’t. “You then forget to build the culture,” she said. “Culture is the immune system of a company […] When the culture is so driven by growth, there are other consequences.”

Yet, she said that even at the lowest moment in the company’s history, people still loved the product. “They didn’t love the company, but they loved the product,” Huffington said. “Now Dara’s goal is to get people to love the company, and not just the product.”

Lawsuit claims Essential stole modular accessory tech

Andy Rubin’s Essential Products is facing more legal troubles. The ex-Android chief’s company previously found itself in hot water with smartphone accessory maker Spigen over its use of the “Essential” name. Now — less than two months since the release of the Essential Phone — it’s getting sued for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to its modular connector, reports Reuters. Keyssa, the company behind the lawsuit, is best known for developing a wireless standard that lets you make gigabit-sized transfers in seconds. Its backers include Nest co-founder Tony Fadell, Samsung, and Playground Global (the venture fund Rubin heads).

But, Essential’s Phone beat Keyssa to the punch by launching with a magnetic connector for modular parts and wireless data transfers in September. Keyssa claims Essential held design and tech talks with it for 10 months, before dumping it in favor of its rival SiBEAM’s chip in November 2016. The lawsuit alleges that the Essential Phone carries many of the wireless connector elements Keyssa developed specifically for handsets — from antenna designs to methods of testing phones during production. Keyssa said it’s been working on its tech since 2009, and signed a non-disclosure agreement blocking Essential from using its feature. Now, it’s taking the matter to a San Francisco federal court.

Essential’s path to its debut smartphone has been a bumpy one, plagued by delays, privacy blunders, and trademark disputes. Just when it thought it was in the clear, it’s staring down yet another obstacle.

Source: Reuters

Greenpeace Gives Apple a B- in ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’

Greenpeace today published its Guide to Greener Electronics, which provides insight into the environmental practices of 17 major companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, and more.

Among all of the companies Greenpeace evaluated for energy, resource consumption, and chemicals, Apple received the second best marks, trailing behind only Fairphone, a device designed with minimal environmental impact in mind.

Apple was lauded for its commitment to renewable energy and reducing supply chain emissions and its efforts to be transparent about the chemicals that are used in its products.

According to Greenpeace, Apple is the only company to have set a renewable energy goal for its supply chain, and several of its suppliers have already committed to using 100 percent renewable energy.

Apple is also committed to renewable energy at its own facilities and is ultimately aiming for a closed-loop supply chain. As for chemicals, Apple is one of two companies (along with Google) that have eliminated all brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride.

Apple’s overall Greenpeace “grade” was a B-, but broken down, the company received an A- for the aforementioned environmental efforts, a B for chemicals, and a C for resources, due in large part to the lack of repairability of its devices and its use of proprietary parts.

Apple continues to design products with proprietary parts to limit access and actively lobbies against right to repair legislation in New York and Nebraska.

It is reported that Apple and Sony have blocked attempts to strengthen environmental electronics standards that would encourage device designs that are easier to repair, upgrade, and disassemble for recycling.

Greenpeace has previously targeted Apple in a repairability campaign to combat planned obsolescence, accusing Apple’s difficult-to-repair devices of shortening device lifespan and leading to more electronic waste. Apple is not likely to make changes to the way its devices are manufactured to make them easier for third-parties to repair, but its efforts towards a closed-loop supply chain could eventually result in far less waste.

Earlier this year, in Greenpeace’s annual green report, Apple was ranked the most environmentally friendly technology company in the world. That report focused on factors like energy transparency, energy efficiency, renewable energy commitment, and advocacy.

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: Greenpeace, Apple environment, Right to Repair
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Qualcomm has managed to fits its once briefcase-sized 5G modem into a phone

Qualcomm has a 5G modem that works in an actual phone.

Back at Mobile World Congress in February, I walked through Qualcomm’s sprawling show floor exhibit and was struck by the emphasis being paid to a technology that, at least at the time, had little form or concrete narrative.

5G is a term thrown around to denote the next generation of wireless technology, combining the benefits of today’s high-speed 4G LTE with something faster, more ubiquitous, and significantly cheaper. While it won’t be available to the public until, at the earliest, 2019, companies like Qualcomm are already preparing for the shift.

This is a 5G modem. Qualcomm has until 2019 to shrink it to fit inside a phone. #mwc17 pic.twitter.com/fMNfNpALP1

— Daniel Bader (@journeydan) February 28, 2017

Almost exactly a year ago, the company announced its first 5G modem, dubbed X50. It was a prototype product, using an unfinished specification of an unproven wireless technology, but it was, in the company’s opinion, an important first step towards proving 5G was a thing. At the time, the modem was briefcase-sized, and was shown off in a glass display.

Today, the company has announced that same product, the X50 modem, has not only been shrunk down to phone-appropriate dimensions, but it’s working inside Qualcomm’s first 5G reference smartphone.

Using the 5G chip, Qualcomm was able to achieve gigabit speeds using “several 100MHz 5G carriers” — carriers being the air channels over which the information flows, not the wireless carriers you pay every month for service — in the 28GHz millimeter wave spectrum. Such high frequencies have enormous capacity advantages to the sub-3GHz ones we use for LTE today, but can only travel fractions of the same distance, and require massive localized antennas to push the signal. It’s also really hard for a phone — with such small antennas — to send and receive signals at those high frequencies.

When 5G networks launch in 2019, Qualcomm envisions its X50 chip side the Android phones that lead the transition. It also expects the technology to co-exist with 4G LTE for a number of years, just as we still use 3G signals for fallback today when LTE isn’t available. But Qualcomm representative Sherif Hanna says that in the early days of 5G, the technology will act as a sort of “turbo mode” for existing 4G, working side by side to add capacity to existing networks.

Eventually, though, 5G is expected to offer speeds ten times what we can currently achieve with the now-mature LTE standard, and Qualcomm envisions a time in the U.S. where wireless bandwidth is so plentiful that unlimited plans will be truly unlimited, not throttled after a certain amount of usage is hit.

For now, though, Qualcomm, despite its contentious legal situation with Apple, as well as accusations of anti-competitive practices, is forging ahead with its 5G strategy, hoping to continue its dominance in an industry that is slowly clawing its way out of paying it licensing fees for CDMA.

Until then, though, we’ll still have fake 5G.

Qualcomm just made it way easier for phone makers to support T-Mobile’s 600Mhz network

Your next phone will probably support a T-Mobile’s push for better coverage in the U.S.

A lot of T-Mobile customers were upset that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 didn’t support T-Mobile’s burgeoning low-band 600MHz network; many of those same people wondered why Apple’s iPhone 8 and upcoming iPhone X lack the same capabilities.

In fact, the LG V30 is the only phone to support T-Mobile’s new network, which pushes LTE signals further and penetrates walls better than even the widely-used 700MHz spectrum used by three of the big four carriers in the U.S. today.

That’s all about to change. Qualcomm is releasing a number of components to phone manufacturers as part of its RF Front-End portfolio that include support for Band 71, which comprises the 600MHz band. These parts, which include a Low-Band Power Amplifier Module, an Adaptive Aperture Tuner, along with Duplexer and Diversity Receive (DRX) Filter, work with the baseband inside any number of Snapdragon chips from the 200, 400, 600, and 800 series to support Band 71.

So how did LG get support for it so early? A Qualcomm rep I spoke to wouldn’t speculate, but said that it’s likely using a combination of off-the-shelf and custom components to make it happen. Starting in early 2018, most phones released in the U.S. will support Band 71, since manufacturers are more inclined to add something when they don’t have to work too hard to achieve it.

While T-Mobile owns nearly half of the 600MHz spectrum in the U.S., Band 71 will also be used in the IoT and enterprise fields to enhance long-range LTE communications.

Earlier this year, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said that two products, one by LG and another from Samsung, would support its 600MHz network by year’s end. That Samsung device has yet to materialize. Legere also said that the network would roll out to rural parts of the U.S. not currently served by its existing LTE network.

LG V30

• LG V30 review: The no-BS flagship
• Top LG V30 camera features
• Full LG V30 specs
• LG V30 vs. G6 vs. GS8
• The V30 is the first phone to support 600MHz spectrum
• Join our LG V30 forums

Grab a $50 Google Play Gift Card for just $45 at Amazon

Your next Android app just got more affordable!

Is this deal for me?

Google Play has millions of great apps, some of which are free and others of which you have to pay to use. Buying apps can be expensive, so it’s best to do it when they are on sale, but not every app goes on sale. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to save a little bit on all your app purchases?

Well, right now you can pick up a $50 Google Play Gift Card for $45 at Amazon. It’s extremely rare to find a discount on these gift cards at all, so when you do you’ll want to be sure to jump on it.

Whether you are looking to save a couple of bucks on your Google Play Music subscription, or have a slew of apps and icon packs that you want to buy, this discounted gift card can help. Buying this now is like giving yourself $5 for free to spend.

There is a limit of one card per customer, and they are only valid in the U.S. You will have to wait for the gift card to be mailed to you, but the shipping is free and you can have it in as little as two days.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – Google Play Gift Cards very rarely go on sale, so even being able to save $5 is a great deal.
• Things to know before you buy! – There is a limit of 1 per customer, and you will have to wait for a physical gift card to ship to you. This will only work in the United States.

See at Amazon

More from Thrifter

• Amazon Prime Student is now available as a $5.49 monthly subscription
• The hottest toys of the upcoming holiday season

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Qualcomm’s new chip brings ultra-wide screens to mid-range phones

Ultra-wide screens are hot stuff on smartphones these days, but there still isn’t a whole lot of choice: you tend to either spring for the high end or make do with budget models. Where are the in-between options? Qualcomm might just help. It’s introducing the Snapdragon 636 processor, an upgrade to the mid-tier 630 whose centerpiece is support for extra-tall FHD+ resolution (roughly 2,160 x 1,080) screens. You should get a reasonably speedy, dramatic-looking phone without making your bank account cry for mercy. It supports Assertive Display, too, so you can expect better visibility in less-than-ideal lighting.

Logically, there’s some added power under the hood to back this up. The Adreno 509 graphics are only about 10 percent faster when you stack them up against the 630, but the Kryo 260 CPU is about 40 percent faster — you’re probably going to notice the difference with intensive tasks. Don’t expect a complete revolution when the 630 was still brand new half a year ago, though. You’re still getting the familiar 600Mbps LTE support, and the Spectra 160 image signal processor delivers the same photo-taking quality. This is is ultimately a speed bump, it’s just one that will have a very visible effect on mid-range Android phone designs.

Qualcomm isn’t naming customers, but it’s shipping the 636 to phone makers in November. And importantly, companies can use it on boards that were originally intended for the 630 or 660. If your favorite brand wants to make an ultra-wide phone at a modest price, it can reuse the innards from an existing design and put the new device in your hands that much sooner.

Source: Qualcomm

Qualcomm’s 5G dreams are closer to reality

A year after Qualcomm introduced its first 5G modem, the Snapdragon X50, the company is making another next-generation mobile push. Qualcomm announced today that it’s made the first 5G data connection using the X50, which reached gigabit speeds using the 28 GHz millimeter wave spectrum. Additionally, the company is also debuting its first 5G smartphone reference design, which will help guide phone makers as they start working on next year’s devices.

While the 5G data connection news doesn’t sound very exciting on its own, it’s a sign that Qualcomm’s technology is closer to something that consumers can actually use. It’s also developed a tiny millimeter wave antenna module (above), which is the size of a nickel — significantly smaller than competing designs. The company claimed the X50 could see speeds up to 5Gbps last year, but those speeds are far from what we’ll initially see with 5G deployments. Gigabit is more feasible to begin with, especially since that’s just the next step beyond what we’re seeing with gigabit LTE (which actually get between 100 Mbps and 300 Mbps speeds in real world performance).

According to Qualcomm reps, the 5G specification could be completed much sooner than we think. The first version will likely be finished by this December, and the company expects 5G phones to reach consumers in the first half of 2019. That’s a full year later than Qualcomm was expecting last October, but it seems much more realistic.

As for its 5G reference device, it’s the first proof we’ve seen that the X50 chip can fit inside a smartphone. Don’t judge its looks too harshly, though. Reference designs aren’t usually very pretty — they’re more of a testbed for how other companies can deploy Qualcomm’s technology.

What’s on TV: ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘Gran Turismo Sport,’ NBA

The fall TV heavyweights are back, and this week that includes AMC’s The Walking Dead, returning for season number eight. Sports fans can get ready for NBA action, while gamers can finally get a fresh taste of Gran Turismo. South Park’s long-awaited game is finally arriving as well, while Spider-Man Homecoming tops the 4K Blu-ray list and Netflix premieres season two of Miranda Sings’ Haters Back Off. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• Annabelle Creation (VOD)
• The Dark Tower (VOD)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (4K, 3D)
• Girls Trip
• Samurai Jack: The Complete Series
• Serenity (4K)
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
• Apollo 13 (4K)
• Barry Lyndon
• American Gods (S1)
• Stranger Things (S1)
• Gran Turismo Sport (PS4)
• The Jackbox Party Pack 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch)
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Episode 2 (PS4, PC, Switch)
• Let’s Sing 2018 (PS4, Wii)
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Xbox One, PS4)
• Elex (Xbox One, PS4)
• Dungeons 3 (Xbox One, PS4)
• Megaton Rainfall (PS VR)
• Rogue Troper Redux (PS4, Xbox One)
• WWE 2K18 (Xbox One, PS4)

Monday

• Colts/Titans, ESPN, 8:15 PM
• Lucifer, Fox, 8 PM
• The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8 PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
• 9jkl, CBS, 8:30 PM
• Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8 PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8 PM
• Supergirl, CW, 8 PM
• 3 Hikers, Starz, 9 PM
• Valor, CW, 9 PM
• The Gifted, Fox, 9 PM
• Kevin Can Wait, CBS, 9 PM
• Me, Myself & I, CBS, 9:30 PM
• Scorpion, CBS, 10 PM
• The Brave, NBC, 10 PM
• The Good Doctor, ABC, 10 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Tuesday

• The Mindy Project, Hulu, 3 AM
• Patton Oswalt: Annihilation, Netflix, 3 AM
• Slasher (S2), Netflix 3 AM
• Celtics/Cavaliers, TNT, 8 PM
• Rockets/Warriors, TNT, 10:30 PM
• The Flash, CW, 8 PM
• Finding Your Roots, PBS, 8 PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
• Lethal Weapon, Fox, 8 PM
• NCIS, CBS, 8 PM
• WWE Smackdown, USA, 8 PM
• The Middle, ABC, 8 PM
• Fresh Off the Boat, ABC, 8:30 PM
• DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, CW, 9 PM
• Black-ish, ABC, 9 PM
• Bull, CBS, 9 PM
• The Mick, Fox, 9 PM
• This is Us, NBC, 9 PM
• Inside the NFL, Showtime, 9 PM
• Fantomworks, Velocity, 9 PM
• The Mayor, ABC, 9:30 PM
• Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 9:30 PM
• The Mane Event (series premiere), BET, 10 PM
• Undercover High, A&E, 10 PM
• Cyberwar, Viceland, 10 PM
• Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, ABC, 10 PM
• Law & Order: True Crime, NBC, 10 PM
• NCIS: NO, CBS, 10 PM
• American Horror Story, FX, 10 PM
• The Challenge, MTV, 10 PM
• Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10 PM
• Weediquette (season premiere), Viceland, 10:30 PM
• 90s House, MTV, 11 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Wednesday

• Chance, Hulu, 3 AM
• Freakish (season premiere), Hulu, 3 AM
• 76ers/Wizards, ESPN, 7 PM
• The Blacklist, NBC, 8 PM
• Empire, Fox, 8 PM
• The Goldbergs, ABC, 8 PM
• Survivor, CBS, 8 PM
• Lucha Underground (season finale), El Rey, 8 PM
• Riverdale, CW, 8 PM
• Speechless, ABC, 8:30 PM
• Dynasty, CW, 9 PM
• Modern Family, ABC, 9 PM
• Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 9 PM
• Seal Team, CBS, 9 PM
• Star, Fox, 9 PM
• American Housewife, ABC, 9:30 PM
• Timberwolves/Spurs, ESPN, 9:30 PM
• Mr. Robot, USA, 10 PM
• Shannara Chronicles, Spike TV, 10 PM
• Criminal Minds, CBS, 10 PM
• Chicago PD, NBC, 10 PM
• Designated Survivor, ABC, 10 PM
• Liar, Sundance, 10 PM
• Are You the One, MTV, 10 PM
• Channel Zero, Syfy, 10 PM
• You’re the Worst, FXX, 10 PM
• Garage Squad, Velocity, 10 PM
• South Park, Comedy Central, 10 PM
• Broad City, Comedy Central, 10:30 PM
• Rosehaven (season finale), Sundance, 11 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Thursday

• Bomb Scared, Netflix, 3 AM
• I Love You America, Hulu, 3 AM
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 8 PM
• Superstore, NBC, 8 PM
• Gotham, Fox, 8 PM
• Supernatural, CW, 8 PM
• Chiefs/Raiders, CBS, 8:30 PM
• The Good Place, NBC, 8:30 PM
• The Eleven (series premiere), A&E, 9 PM
• Arrow, CW, 9 PM
• Scandal, ABC, 9 PM
• Van Helsing, Syfy, 9 PM
• The Orville, Fox, 9 PM
• Will & Grace, NBC, 9 PM
• Great News, NBC, 9:30 PM
• The Walking Dead: Behind the Dead, AMC, 10 PM
• Chicago Fire, NBC, 10 PM
• Better Things, FX, 10 PM
• The Mist, Spike TV, 10 PM
• Bong Appetit, Viceland, 10:30 PM
• The Rundown with Robin Thede, BET, 11 PM
• The Timeline, NFL Network, 11 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Friday

• Haters Back Off (S2), Netflix, 3 AM
• Wheelman, Netflix, 3 AM
• The Day I Met El Chapo (Episodes 1 – 3), Netflix, 3 AM
• Red Oaks (S3), Amazon Prime, 3 AM
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, CW, 8 PM
• Macgyver, CBS, 8 PM
• Once Upon a Time, ABC, 8 PM
• Tackle My Ride, NFL Network, 8 PM
• Jane the Virgin, CW, 9 PM
• Marvel’s Inhumans, ABC, 9 PM
• Active Shooter, Showtime, 9 PM
• Z Nation, Syfy, 9 PM
• The Exorcist, Fox, 9 PM
• A Football Life: Sam Mills, NFL Network, 9 PM
• Tough Guys, Showtime, 9 PM
• Superstition (series premiere), Syfy, 10 PM
• The Walking Dead: Walker World, AMC, 10 PM
• Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus, Cinemax, 10 PM
• Superstition, Syfy, 10 PM
• Tracey Ullman’s Show (season premiere), HBO, 11 PM
• Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents, Comedy Central, 12 AM

Saturday

• Too Funny to Fail, Hulu, 3 AM
• Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, BBC America, 9 PM
• The Walking Dead: The Journey So Far, AMC, 9 PM

Sunday

• The Toy Box, ABC, 7 PM
• Outlander, Starz, 8 PM
• Shark Tank, ABC, 8 PM
• The Simpsons, Fox, 8 PM
• Falcons/Patriots, NBC 8:20 PM
• Star Trek: Discovery, CBS All Access, 8:30 PM
• Ghosted, Fox, 8:30 PM
• Wisdom of the Crowd, CBS, 8 PM
• Outlander, Starz, 8 PM
• The Walking Dead (season premiere), AMC, 9 PM
• Family Guy, Fox, 9 PM
• Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN, 9 PM
• Poldark, PBS, 9 PM
• Ray Donovan, Showtime, 9 PM
• The Deuce, HBO, 9 PM
• The Last Man on Earth, Fox, 9:30 PM
• NCIS: LA, CBS, 9 PM
• Talking Dead (Season premiere), AMC, 10 PM
• Good Behavior, TNT, 10 PM
• Madam Secretary, CBS, 10 PM
• Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO, 10 PM
• Ten Days in the Valley, ABC, 10 PM
• This is Life with Lisa Ling, CNN, 10 PM
• Unsung Hollywood, TV One, 10 PM
• Vice Principals, HBO, 10:30 PM

[All times listed are in ET]