U.S. Senators Ask Apple Why VPN Apps Were Removed From China App Store

Two U.S. senators have written to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking why the company removed third-party VPN apps from its App Store in China (via CNBC). Reports that Apple had pulled the VPN apps first arrived in July, following regulations passed earlier in the year that require such apps to be authorized by the Chinese government.

In the open letter dated October 17, Senators Patrick Leahy and Ted Cruz write that China has an “abysmal” human rights record when it comes to freedom of expression and free access to online and offline information, and say they are “concerned that Apple may be enabling the Chinese government’s censorship and surveillance of the internet”.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas, left) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)

“While Apple’s many contributions to the global exchange of information are admirable, removing VPN apps that allow individuals in China to evade the Great Firewall and access the internet privately does not enable people in China to ‘speak up’.”

“To the contrary, if Apple complies with such demands from the Chinese government it inhibits free expression for users across China, particularly in light of the Cyberspace Administration of China’s new regulations targeting online anonymity.”

The senators go on to note that Cook was awarded the free speech award at Newseum’s 2017 Free Expression Awards, where he said: “First we defend, we work to defend these freedoms by enabling people around the world to speak up. And second, we do it by speaking up ourselves.”

In the bipartisan request, the senators then ask Cook to explain Apple’s actions by answering a list of questions, including whether Apple was personally asked to remove the VPN apps by Chinese officials, and if the company expressed its concerns to the Chinese authorities before the country’s anti-freedom laws were enacted.

In addition, the senators question what Apple has done to promote free speech in China and whether it has pushed for human rights and better treatment of oppressed groups in the country.

During an earnings call, Cook spoke about his decision to remove the VPN apps. “We would rather not remove apps, but like we do in other countries, we follow the law where we do business.” Cook went on to say that he hopes China will ease up on the restrictions over time.

Apple has yet to respond to the letter.

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: App Store, China, VPN
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Google Follows Apple’s Lead By Reducing Play Store Fee for App Subscriptions

Google revealed on Thursday that it would follow Apple’s lead in lowering the amount of money app developers must pay for mobile subscriptions processed through the company’s Play Store (via The Verge).

Adoption of the subscription model by iOS developers has increased over recent months, causing some controversy within the app-using community. Apple incentivized developers to sell their apps for a recurring fee instead of a one-time cost when it made changes to its App Store subscription policies in September of last year.

Usually, Apple takes 30 percent of app revenue, but developers who are able to maintain a subscription with a customer longer than a year see Apple’s cut drop down to 15 percent.

Google is adopting the same policy for subscriptions in its Play Store – an Android developer selling a subscription service will be eligible for the cut if the customer in question has been subscribed for more than a year. The company plans to bring the change into effect starting January 2018.

As The Verge notes, Google is trying to stay competitive with Apple by offering a reduction in its fees. This way the company ensures that subscription services like Spotify don’t try to bypass the Play Store in an effort to avoid paying the fee. But it also encourages developers to work harder to keep users subscribed for longer, given that the free reduction doesn’t take effect until 12 months into the initial subscription.

Tags: Google, Play Store
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Watch Jeff Bezos smash champagne atop a wind turbine to launch a new wind farm

Why it matters to you

With energy demands on the increase, wind farms like this can help take care of some of this need.

He founded ecommerce giant Amazon and the ambitious space company Blue Origin, and now owns the Washington Post, so if Jeff Bezos wants to bless his new wind farm by standing atop a turbine and smashing a bottle of champagne on it, that’s fine by us.

Fun day christening Amazon’s latest wind farm. #RenewableEnergy pic.twitter.com/cTxeXdsFop

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 19, 2017

The wind farm in question is in Texas and is, according to Amazon, the company’s largest renewable energy project to date. Bezos posted a video of his bottle-smashing exploits on Twitter. The footage begins close up to the Amazon CEO before moving away to reveal the vast expanse of the wind farm. It also makes you realize just how mind-bogglingly massive one of those wind turbines actually is, or just how tiny Jeff Bezos is. We’re guessing the former.

Located in Scurry Country, Amazon’s latest wind farm includes 100 turbines capable of providing enough clean energy to power 330,000 homes. The company said these projects also help to support “hundreds of jobs and provide tens of millions of dollars of investment in local communities across the country.”

Kara Hurst, Amazon’s worldwide director of sustainability, described the company’s investment in renewable energy as a “win-win-win-win — it’s right for our customers, our communities, our business, and our planet.”

The company has so far launched 18 wind and solar projects across the U.S., with 35 more under development. “These are important steps toward reaching our long-term goal to power our global infrastructure using 100 percent renewable energy,” Hurst said.

Alongside its investment in renewable energy, Amazon is also focusing on sustainability, evidenced by its Frustration-Free Packaging program that helped to eliminate more than 55,000 tons of packaging in 2016.

Amazon’s announcement of its latest wind farm comes just a few days after Greenpeace criticized it for being “one of the least transparent companies in the world in terms of its environmental performance,” claiming it refuses to report its greenhouse gas footprint, “nor does it publish any restrictions on hazardous chemicals in its devices or being used in its supply chain as other leading electronics brands provide.”

Even if Greenpeace is unimpressed by Bezos’s smashing video, hopefully it’ll at least welcome this latest renewable energy effort from the company.

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DHL’s autonomous mail robot is huge and won’t take the jobs of delivery workers

Why it matters to you

Mail workers with dodgy necks and backs would welcome a robot buddy like PostBOT on their rounds.

Delivery giant DHL has invested a great deal of time and money in developing delivery drones, and over the last few years has run several trials targeting isolated communities on small islands and in mountainous regions.

Its latest autonomous effort involves not a flying machine but instead a ground-based robot by the name of PostBOT. If you’re a mail delivery worker, the good news is that PostBOT isn’t out to replace you, rather it wants to act as your buddy, accompanying you on your rounds, carrying all the mail, and, importantly, freeing up your hands so you can deal with letters and packages on the move.

Deutsche Post DHL Group announced this month that it’s ready to start testing electric-powered PostBOT in Bad Hersfeld, a town of about 30,000 people in central Germany.

Designed by French robotics firm Effidence with input from DHL delivery staff, PostBOT is a hefty-looking machine that stands at around 150 centimeters. It holds six mail trays and can carry loads of up to 330 pounds (150 kg), enough weight to vaporize all the discs in your back if you ever attempted to carry all that by yourself. Best leave it to PostBOT.

On-board sensors track the legs of the mail carrier, ensuring both robot and human stay close to one another for the entirety of the round. As you’d expect, those sensors also prevent PostBOT from barreling into obstacles, though it’s a safe bet that any nearby pedestrians will be quick to make space if they see this large and somewhat bulky robot coming their way.

“Day in and day out, our delivery staff performs outstanding but exhausting work,” said Jürgen Gerdes of Deutsche Post DHL. “We’re constantly working on new solutions to allow our employees to handle this physically challenging work even as they continue to age.” And with Germany a nation of four seasons, PostBOT has been built to handle all weather conditions, ensuring year-round operation.

Gerdes said many staff are already making use of e-Bikes and e-Trikes for mail deliveries, while the six-week PostBOT trial is expected to offer “important insights into how we can further develop the delivery process for our employees.”

Ground-based delivery robots have been getting increasing exposure in recent years, though up to now most of them have been concerned with grocery and fast-food orders. As with drone technology, one of the main obstacles to their implementation are local authorities that need convincing of their reliability and safety. Steve the mall-based security robot, for example, recently proved that some designs clearly aren’t quite ready.

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Google will pay hackers who find flaws in top Android apps

Google is probably hoping to raise the quality of apps in the Play store by launching a new bug bounty program that’s completely separate from its existing one. While its old program focuses on finding flaws in its websites and operating systems, this one will pay hackers when they find vulnerabilities in Android’s top third-party apps. They have to submit their findings straight to the developers and work with them before they can turn in a report through HackerOne’s bounty platform to collect their reward.

Google promises $1,000 for every issue that meets its criteria, but bounty hunters can’t simply choose a spammy app (of which there are plenty on the Play Store) to cash in. For now, they can only get a grand if they can find an eligible flaw in Dropbox, Duolingo, Line, Snapchat, Tinder, Alibaba, Mail.ru and Headspace. Google plans to invite more app developers in the future, but they have to be willing to patch any vulnerabilities found… which means you can’t rely on the program to fix the issues in your favorite low-quality application.

Via: Android Police

Source: HackerOne

Pioneer and Canada partner to ensure musicians get paid for DJ play

Pioneer DJ wants to make sure electronic artists get paid for the remixes you hear at the dance club. The company’s Kuvo entertainment service has partnered with Canada’s performing rights organizations (PRO) and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) to beam music metadata into other PROs, according to a press release. Apparently this won’t cost DJs or venues a thing, either.

“After testing Kuvo extensively at one of Canada’s largest electronic music nightclubs, Coda in Toronto, SOCAN has welcomed the implementation of the service at any venue in the country wishing to use it,” the statement reads.

Given how much music DJs put into a set and the very nature of the mashups they create, ensuring everyone gets their fair share of royalties can be pretty difficult. KUVO seems like a pretty elegant way of addressing that.

Club goers stand to benefit as well. If you hear a song on a night out and don’t want to deal with how flaky Shazam can be, if you have the Kuvo app installed on your phone, you’ll be able to see what’s playing.

The service is already being used in Austria, Belgium, Spain and the UK. This marks its first implementation in North America.

Source: Businesswire

‘The Walking Dead’ VR scene puts you in the shoes of a walker

Would you submerge yourself in a fear-inducing virtual setting overrun by zombies? That’s the world The Walking Dead has expertly crafted during its seven-year run, and now AMC is inviting you to step into it, courtesy of its VR app. You can grab it for iOS, Android, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Daydream right now, but the real fun begins on Sunday. Directly after the show’s 100th episode, the network is dropping an exclusive VR scene.

The immersive experience will put you in the action from both sides. You’ll start off trapped in an abandoned car waiting for help to arrive as the walkers inch ever closer. If that doesn’t sound terrifying enough, you’ll also get to join the herd and feast in the carnage. Once you get your fill of claustrophobic horror, you can peruse the extras, including trailers and features from that other AMC show Into the Badlands. The network is also promising to keep the app stocked with virtual experiences for the foreseeable future.

The AMC VR app follows the announcement of The Walking Dead: Our World — an augmented reality game coming soon to iOS and Android. The two combined should turn you into a regular zombie-slaying survivalist.

In sneak preview, Adobe shows off tech for automatically colorizing old photos

Why it matters to you

Sneak peeks at Adobe’s latest projects offer a rare glimpse at how the company’s products are developed, and what new tools may come in the future.

In what has become a popular tradition at the annual Adobe MAX show, Adobe showed off several sneak previews of in-development technologies that may make their way to future versions of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, and more. For example, Character Animator, which recently came out of beta, was unveiled during a previous MAX show. While all of the projects are interesting in their own right as examples of cutting-edge software tech, a few stand out for photographers and video editors.

Powered by the Adobe Sensei AI engine, Project Scribbler can take a black and white photograph and automatically colorize it with surprisingly realistic results. The program was trained on tens of thousands of images to be able to recognize facial features of a monochrome image and appropriately apply correct colors to different regions of a face, from the hair to the skin to the lips and teeth.

Although Project Scribbler is currently limited to faces — it can’t colorize full-body portraits — it is not limited to photos; it can colorize sketches, as well. In a live demonstration, Adobe showed how it can help an artist ideate a character or do a quick mockup to show a client before diving in and finishing the color by hand.

Sensei was definitely a running theme at MAX this year, and two additional projects are using it to provide a much more robust alternative to Photoshop’s Content Aware Fill option for removing and replacing objects in a scene. Project Scene Stitch draws on deep learning and semantic cues to replace a photo’s foreground with one built from Adobe Stock images, while Project Deep Fill applies similar technology to replace smaller objects within an image. Deep Fill can also reshape objects based on user input, which Adobe demonstrated by sketching a heart line beneath a rock arch which caused the arch to conform to the shape of the sketch.

For video editors, Project Cloak is essentially Content Aware Fill applied to video. It automatically removes objects from a video shot without the user needing to clone out the object on a frame-by-frame basis, and it does it in a way that is much more accurate that per-frame editing.

In a series of examples, Adobe demonstrated the impressive range Project cloak offers, from removing a lamppost to erasing two people from a shot where both the people and the camera were moving. If this technology makes it way into a shipping product (our guess is it would end up in After Effects), it would undoubtedly be a game changer for many editors.

For immersive video creators, Adobe also showed off two projects for working in 360-degree space. Project Sidewinder builds a depth map from stereoscopic 360 video which then creates a convincingly real three-dimensional effect and allows the viewer to change perspective beyond simply rotating, moving from side to side or up and down. When it comes to audio, Project SonicScape  offers a visual way to see and reposition audio sources with the spherical space.

Adobe showed off 11 development projects in total that ran the gamut from photography and video to design and 3D modeling and even data visualization. As with past Adobe sneaks, none of the technology demonstrated at MAX is guaranteed to be incorporated into a commercially available product, but the projects do offer a very real look at what Adobe is looking into and the types of tools we can expect to see in the not-too-distant future.

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• ‘Stylized Facial Animation’ project turns video into realistic-looking hand-drawn art
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KGI: iPhone X Production Woes Ending, but Only 2–3 Million Units Available for Launch

With just one week to go until pre-orders for the iPhone X begin, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new report indicating that the “worst [will] soon [be] over” with regards to production difficulties.

According to Kuo, the biggest hurdle has likely been the flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) for the device’s antenna, due to increased complexity and initial supply chain partner Murata’s inability to meet specifications.

Special materials, recipes, design, processes, equipments and tests are required for antenna FPCB, as the specifications for iPhone X antenna (supplied by Amphenol (US)) are higher than those of iPhone 8 and only Murata (JP) and Career Tech (6153 TT, NT$30.1, NR) can meet Apple’s requirements. Murata (originally with a 60% order allocation or higher) won’t be able to resolve its issues before 2Q18, and thus has been fully replaced by second supplier Career. We believe Career will ramp up in November, as capacity expansion takes time, and its materials, recipes, design, processes, equipments and tests are different from those of Murata.

A secondary bottleneck appears to have been the FPCB for the wide-angle rear camera lens. Unlike competing dual-lens camera smartphones from Samsung and Huawei, the iPhone X’s wide-angle and telephoto lenses use separate PCBs, and supplier Interflex has reportedly struggled with quality issues on the part for the wide-angle lens.

The third bottleneck that has received signifcant attention in recent weeks is the TrueDepth camera’s infrared dot projector, or the “Romeo” component. According to Kuo, previous design issues that led to poor facial recognition have been addressed and the “worst is behind us.”

Overall, Kuo is cutting his iPhone X shipment estimates for the fourth quarter to 25–30 million units, down from 30–35 million, and he expects that 2–3 million units will be shipped into distribution channels ahead of the launch. As a result, initial supplies will be very tight, as has been extensively rumored. Kuo says shipments will “pick up markedly” in the first quarter of 2018.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTag: Ming-Chi Kuo
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Newly-discovered lunar cave would be great for a moon base

Nothing quite captures the 2017 mood to leave Earth forever like dreaming about moon bases. Last month, space agencies from Russia and the US jointly announced plans to collaborate on such a satellite colony. But today’s discovery might bring that vision closer to reality. Japan’s space agency found a large cave underneath the lunar surface that seems like prime area for a human outpost.

Japan’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer (Selene) probe discovered a 50-meter wide by 50-meter deep opening underneath the Marius Hills region using a radar system designed to peer underground. After more readings, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) surmised that the chasm was 50 km (31 miles) long by 100 meters wide, structurally sound and filled with rocks that might contain water. They theorize that it was a tube carved by lava during volcanic activity 3.5 billion years ago.

Lava tubes are well-suited for human settlements, Jaxa senior researcher Junichi Haruyama told The Guardian. The tubes “might be the best candidate sites for future lunar bases, because of their stable thermal conditions and potential to protect people and instruments from micrometeorites and cosmic ray radiation,” Haruyama said. Their location underground also shields denizens from the surface’s wild temperature swings and radiation from the sun’s UV rays.

Source: The Guardian