Facebook’s latest community push is on-site small business training

Facebook has been quietly supporting small businesses around the globe to the tune of $1 billion. The company says that it has trained more than 60,000 small businesses with Boost Your Business, and that over one million small businesses have used its free online learning hub Blueprint. 70 million small businesses use Facebook Pages, too, according to the company. Now Facebook is launching Community Boost, a new program to help small businesses in the US become more digitally savvy.

The idea of the new program is to support small businesses’ use of digital and internet tech, which new research (performed in collaboration with Facebook) has shown translates to new jobs and opportunities. According to Facebook, Community Boost representatives will visit 30 different cities in 2018, including Houston, St. Louis, Albuquerque, Des Moines and Greenville, South Carolina. Visiting teams will work with local organizations to provide digital skills training for job seekers, advise entrepreneurs on starting new businesses and help regional businesses and nonprofits “get the most out of the internet,” according to a blog post.

While much of the training will likely be focused on using Facebook to reach small business goals, the company does promise to help people getting online for the first time or wanting to support their community with training on basic digital literacy and online safety. The company will also train community members how to organize using Events and Groups.

Source: Facebook

Beoplay M3 is B&O’s cheapest multiroom speaker yet

Bang & Olufsen speakers generally sound pretty great, but they’re also just as well-known for being very expensive. If you want to outfit a house with wireless speakers, like the Beoplay M5, it’s going to get even pricier. Fortunately for those who like B&O’s sound and style, there’s a new, slightly less expensive option: the $299 Beoplay M3. That’s half the price of the Beoplay M5, which will make it a lot easier to get a handful of these and place them around your home.

The M3 comes in two colors (black and “natural” white) and also has changeable covers, like the bigger and more expensive M5 and A6. As for what you’ll find inside, the M3 has a single 3/4-inch tweeter and a 3.75-inch woofer — quite a bit less than the three tweeters, midrange and woofer units found in the M5.

But functionally, both speakers work with AirPlay, Bluetooth and Chromecast technology for streaming your music. Strangely, though, the M3 doesn’t have access to Spotify Connect, which lets you directly broadcast music from the Spotify app to compatible speakers — the M5 can do that, but not the cheaper M3. Still, between Chromecast, Bluetooth and AirPlay most users will be well covered here.

The $300 price point is reasonable, but the M3 has a lot of competition in the wireless audio space. Market leader Sonos has a voice-activated speaker starting at $200 now, and it works directly with far more streaming services. Meanwhile, Apple is getting ready to launch the $350 HomePod and Google has the $400 Home Max coming soon as well — both of those speakers may cost a little more, but they’re larger and have more drivers across the board. Still, if you’ve wanted to try B&O without totally breaking the bank the M3 should be a decent entry point into their wireless ecosystem.

Source: B&O

Apple pushes out iOS 11.1.1 to fix annoying autocorrect bug

Apple gave its mobile software a facelift when it released iOS 11 back in September, but bugs led the company to push out an 11.1 update a month later to protect user security from that WPA2 Krack vulnerability. Turns out that version introduced another set of squirrely issues, which has led Apple to release iOS 11.1.1 today. You can finally say goodbye to that stupid autocorrect bug switching out the letter ‘i’ for all manner of gibberish.

The update also addresses an issue where the ‘Hey Siri’ feature occasionally stops working. And…that’s it. Even the security content is the same as the 11.1 release, meaning Apple pushed this update out just to fix these two issues. Consider your outrage heard, given that Apple could have waited to fix until the forthcoming 11.2 update; Reportedly, some GPS issues with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X are fixed in the 11.2 beta.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Apple

AT&T CEO: DOJ never demanded CNN sale in Time Warner deal

Yesterday, reports surfaced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had requested a sale of either Turner Broadcasting, which owns CNN, or DirecTV before it would approve AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. However, the agency said that it didn’t request those sales, but merely presented them as options that would quell its antitrust concerns over the $85.4 million deal. Speaking at the Dealbook conference today, AT&T CEO randall Stephenson confirmed that, saying, “I have never been told that the price of getting the deal done was selling CNN. And likewise I have never offered to sell CNN. There is absolutely no intention that we would ever sell CNN.” He added that AT&T was also not willing to sell HBO or Warner Bros., which would also come along with Time Warner if the deal goes through. “You shouldn’t expect that we would sell something larger [than CNN] to get the deal done. It’s illogical. It’s why we did the deal,” he said.

A DOJ official said that the department would rather the merger not happen at all, according to CNBC, but that it was open to other proposals in addition to those it laid out. But many, including AT&T executives, expected the acquisition to be finalized by the end of the year, and the DOJ’s pushback has all but ensured that won’t be the case. Stephenson, however, made it clear that AT&T was prepared to fight attempts to block the deal. “It’s time to settle, or it’s time to go to court,” he said.

Via: CNBC, Variety

Google urges FEC to adopt more specific rules for political ads

Google, Facebook and Twitter have all found evidence of Russian influence for last year’s US presidential election. Google, however, is seeking to separate itself a bit from it’s social-media peers in a new document filed with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Thursday, according to a report by Recode.

The Google filing apparently urges US election regulators to create more specific rules for foreign-funded online political ads, including guidelines for ads about issues as well as those about candidates. In addition, the company says that it is different than Facebook or Twitter in that it allows political ads on Adsense websites, in search and on YouTube, so needs different rules for publishing.

According to Recode, Google things that the “majority of advertisers…self-impose some sort of disclaimer” when placing ads, though the company is also considering requiring all election-related ads to use a specific icon to explain to viewers why they’re seeing the ad. Google further said that it needed to “modernize its disclaimer rule so that political committees and other organizations have clear notice regarding the disclaimers they are required to include with their internet communications,” according to the report.

While this all sounds like a great first step, there’s more work to be done to ensure that future elections are not tampered with in this way. As Recode notes, it wasn’t just ads that were placed, but organic content shared and published by fake Russian accounts.

Source: Recode

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ season one resumes January 7th

Star Trek: Discovery is doing pretty well, it seems, with CBS All Access bringing in record numbers of subscribers. In fact, the network has given the go-ahead for a second season of the latest Star Trek series. According to a report over at Deadline, CBS has set a premiere date for the second half of the first season, unofficially known as “Chapter 2,” with the tenth episode, “Despite Yourself” to air on January 7th of next year, with a Season One finale set for February 11th.

Just like the current weekly release system, Chapter 2 episodes will be available via the All Access app for subscribers after 8:30 PM ET every Sunday. While some felt like the non-binge format was more a dying feature of old-school media, CBS appears to be doing pretty well with it, showing that there is more than one way to release a hit show in today’s streaming environment.

Source: Deadline

Of course ‘Star Wars: Battlefront II’ is getting ‘The Last Jedi’ content

Fans of a galaxy far, far away are paying attention to two countdowns leading up to the holidays: The release of Star Wars: Battlefront II on November 17th and the next film in the saga, The Last Jedi, which comes out on December 15th. In a shrewd (but not unexpected) move, publisher EA has announced that the first batch of new (and free) content featuring locations and heroes from the new movie will be added to the game days before The Last Jedi hits theaters.

Because factions are all the rage these days, on December 5th Battlefront II will start urging players to pick a side (Resistance or First Order) enabling challenges that grant particular rewards. On December 13th, the game will add two new heroes: Everyone’s favorite former stormtrooper-turned-Resistance fighter Finn and his former chromed badass commander, Captain Phasma. The faction with the most points that week later will get a high-powered upgrade crate for their respective hero.

Battlefront II will also add two new multiplayer locations: Ground battle map Crait and one for Starfighter Assault, D’qar. Resistance also gets a new ship (presumably from The Last Jedi), Tallie Lintra’s modified A-Wing. Lastly, on December 13th the game is also adding some additional single-player content detailing protagonist Commander Iden Versio’s actions during the First Order’s rise to power. (Guess she survives the solo campaign, huh?)

This content package is free, just as EA promised all post-launch content would be, and labeled The Last Jedi Season. Faction events and rewards will continue through the end of December. Oh, and if you join Origin Access or EA Access, they’ll give you a 10-hour headstart to play the game ahead of its November 17th release.

Source: EA

New ‘Médor’ Apple Watch Hermès Band Coming on November 14

Apple and Hermès have partnered up to launch a new Hermès-branded band for the Apple Watch, called Médor. Available in a “Noir Swift” black leather, the Médor band comes in Double Tour (38mm) and Single Tour (42mm) variations and joins the existing Hermès Apple Watch band lineup.

The design of the new Médor band is based on dog collars, according to Hypebeast, with pyramid-shaped studs that protrude from each end of the band. Dog collars were one of the first objects that Hermès produced.

Apple plans to release a new Apple Watch Series 3 Hermès model that features the Médor band and a new exclusive Hermès watch face inspired by the Carrick font.

The 38mm Double Tour Médor band will be priced at $589, while the 42mm Single Tour Médor band will be priced at $439, both of which are $100 more than standard Double and Single Tour bands. The Médor bands will be available from both Apple and Hermès stores starting on November 14.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Apple Design Chief Jony Ive: iPhone X Will ‘Change and Evolve’ Over Time

Apple design chief Jony Ive recently sat down for an interview with design, architecture, and fashion magazine Wallpaper* to discuss Apple Park, Apple’s newest campus in Cupertino, California which he had a hand in designing, and the iPhone X, Apple’s newest device.

The iPhone X, Ive says, was designed to serve as a vessel for software, with a design that melds into the background. Apple’s design team has always aimed to “get design out of the way.” “We try to define a solution that seems so inevitable that it does recede,” he said. In the future, Ive believes the iPhone X will offer capabilities it doesn’t have now because software is always evolving, something he finds intriguing and fascinating.

What I think is remarkable about the iPhone X is that its functionality is so determined by software. And because of the fluid nature of software, this product is going to change and evolve. In 12 months’ time, this object will be able to do things that it can’t now. I think that is extraordinary. I think we will look back on it and see it as a very significant point in terms of the products we have been developing.

Ive declined to comment on Apple’s future product plans, but he said his design group is “absurdly curious and constantly looking for alternatives.” Some ideas are “beyond the technology” at the moment, but exist to “galvanise the development of technology.” Reflecting on the past, Ive says that looking back on the past 25 years, what Apple has learned is more important and precious than what’s been designed.

I always think that there are two products at the end of a programme; there is the physical product or the service, the thing that you have managed to make, and then there is all that you have learned. The power of what you have learned enables you to do the next thing and it enables you to do the next thing better.

Ive is described as “giddily excited” about the new campus and its enormous ring-shaped main building and the potential it has to change the way Apple employees work by bringing them together. Design studios that are currently physically disconnected will be able to come together, so industrial designers can work with font designers, sound designers, motion graphics experts, and so on.

Ive says Apple Park has been designed to be inherently flexible and reconfigurable, with Apple able to “very quickly” create large open spaces or lots of smaller private offices. “The building will change and evolve,” says Ive. “I’m sure in 20 years’ time we will be designing and developing very different products, and just that alone will drive the campus to evolve and change.”

Wallpaper*’s latest cover, designed by Ive
There were rumors suggesting some Apple Park employees were dissatisfied with the open office design at Apple Park, so much so that Apple vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji insisted his team work at a different location, but the Wallpaper* piece mentions several times that office space within the main building is configurable, with teams able to choose individual offices or open spaces.

Apple will, however, maintain its culture of secrecy. “The way that we work is quietly,” said Ive. “We are conspicuously different in that and it is an important part of who we are.”

Ive’s full interview with Wallpaper* is well worth reading and offers further discussion about the Apple Park campus and the attention to detail that went into its design. It also looks further at the various elements of Apple Park, including the Steve Jobs theater, the landscaping, and the configuration of the building.

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Apple Publishes New Diversity and Inclusion Report

Apple today shared its latest report on diversity and inclusion, detailing its hiring practices over the course of the last year.

According to Apple, from July 2016 to July 2017, half of all new hires were from “historically underrepresented groups in tech,” including women, black, Hispanic, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander.

25% of new hires in 2016/2017 were Asian, 11% Black, 15% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, and 43% White. As of 2017, Apple employees, including retail and tech, are 68 percent male and 32 percent female. 21% are Asian, 9% are black, 12% are Hispanic, 3% are multiracial, and 54% are white. Apple’s tech only and leadership only breakdowns continue to skew more heavily towards white and male, however.

Female representation is “steadily increasing” and is up 5 percent since 2014. 36 percent of Apple employees under 30 are women, and 32 percent overall are women. Apple says that 29 percent of “leaders” at Apple are women, a one percent increase since July of 2016.

Apple says that “meaningful change takes time,” but with 130,000 employees, even “small percentage point changes” have the potential to affect thousands of people. A two percent increase in female representation since 2014 equates to 37,000 female hires across the globe.

Further breakdowns of the diversity at Apple are available through Apple’s updated Inclusion and Diversity website. Other topics on the site include education, programs for veterans, pay equity, accessibility, LGBTQ advocacy, and supplier programs.

Apple says it’s proud of its current accomplishments, but there’s “much more work to do.” “As we strive to do better, Apple will remain open. As it always has been. And always will be,” reads the diversity site.

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.

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