Google Maps will wake you up when you need to get off the bus

Google Maps will make taking the train or the bus in places you’re visiting a lot less stressful: according to TechCrunch, the app will soon guide you through every step of a mass transit ride, including telling you when it’s time to get off. Once the feature rolls out, you’ll apparently find a “start” button at the bottom of the screen when you look up how to go to a certain destination. If you tap that button, you’ll get live updates on where you are as you walk or as your ride moves, not only within the app, but also on your Android lock screen.

[Image credit: TechCrunch]

You probably won’t need a feature like that for your daily commute, but if you’re traveling to a new city, state or country with a transit system that can be overwhelming for first timers, then it could be a godsend. Simply glance on your lock screen to see where you are (if your GPS and mobile internet are working inside the vehicle, that is) or wait for your phone to tell you that you’ve arrived. You can even scroll up and make sure you’re going the right way. TechCrunch says the feature will go live “soon,” but make sure to check your app right now — it might have already rolled out to random users for testing.

The concept isn’t completely new. Transit’s self-titled app has a “Go” feature that takes you through every step of a bus or subway ride. Google’s implementation would have a clear advantage, though: on Android, you wouldn’t have to download a separate app.

Source: TechCrunch

Scientists create unpowered 3D-printed objects that can communicate via Wi-Fi

Researchers at the University of Washington have created a way for 3D-printed plastic devices to interact with a wireless network, without using any batteries or electronics. Dubbed “Printed Wi-Fi,” the technique allows the manufacture of printed wireless sensors that can communicate with RF receivers.

The Seattle Times provides more details on the project, which is a product of the Paul Allen School’s Networks and Mobile Systems Lab. It was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and Google. The plastic devices, created by a 3D printer, include a plastic and copper filament that’s used as an antenna.

The objects use the mechanical movement of gears and springs to trigger a sequence that can be detected and decoded by a smartphone or laptop. As the switch in the object toggles on and off, the metal antenna either reflects or absorbs the ambient signals from a Wi-Fi router.

Justin Chan, a graduate student on the project, compared it to a flashlight beam. The metal antenna is basically a mirror that can deflect or reflect the light, sending the message to a receiver that decodes it.

“Our goal was to create something that just comes out of your 3-D printer at home and can send useful information to other devices,” doctoral student Vikram Iyer explained. “But the big challenge is how do you communicate wirelessly with WiFi using only plastic?”

As one example, the team describes a connected plastic bottle of laundry detergent. The sensor can detect how much is left in the container as you use it. “As you pour detergent out of a Tide bottle, for instance, the speed at which the gears are turning tells you how much soap is flowing out,” associate professor Shyam Gollakota said. “When it dips below a certain amount, it can automatically send a message to your Amazon app to order more.”

The lab has a history of creating low-tech projects that can exist in a high-tech world, such as a battery-free smartphone, or a poster that broadcasts FM radio signals, or smart fabrics that can store data.

Some graduates have even started their own company called Jeeva Wireless that’s aimed at providing connectivity using very little energy or, ideally, no power at all.

The team is also making the technology free to anyone who wants to use it, hoping people will tinker with their prototype designs and come up with something that they haven’t even imagined yet. “There are definitely a lot of very cool things happening,” said Chan.

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Scientists create unpowered 3D-printed objects that can communicate via Wi-Fi

Researchers at the University of Washington have created a way for 3D-printed plastic devices to interact with a wireless network, without using any batteries or electronics. Dubbed “Printed Wi-Fi,” the technique allows the manufacture of printed wireless sensors that can communicate with RF receivers.

The Seattle Times provides more details on the project, which is a product of the Paul Allen School’s Networks and Mobile Systems Lab. It was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and Google. The plastic devices, created by a 3D printer, include a plastic and copper filament that’s used as an antenna.

The objects use the mechanical movement of gears and springs to trigger a sequence that can be detected and decoded by a smartphone or laptop. As the switch in the object toggles on and off, the metal antenna either reflects or absorbs the ambient signals from a Wi-Fi router.

Justin Chan, a graduate student on the project, compared it to a flashlight beam. The metal antenna is basically a mirror that can deflect or reflect the light, sending the message to a receiver that decodes it.

“Our goal was to create something that just comes out of your 3-D printer at home and can send useful information to other devices,” doctoral student Vikram Iyer explained. “But the big challenge is how do you communicate wirelessly with WiFi using only plastic?”

As one example, the team describes a connected plastic bottle of laundry detergent. The sensor can detect how much is left in the container as you use it. “As you pour detergent out of a Tide bottle, for instance, the speed at which the gears are turning tells you how much soap is flowing out,” associate professor Shyam Gollakota said. “When it dips below a certain amount, it can automatically send a message to your Amazon app to order more.”

The lab has a history of creating low-tech projects that can exist in a high-tech world, such as a battery-free smartphone, or a poster that broadcasts FM radio signals, or smart fabrics that can store data.

Some graduates have even started their own company called Jeeva Wireless that’s aimed at providing connectivity using very little energy or, ideally, no power at all.

The team is also making the technology free to anyone who wants to use it, hoping people will tinker with their prototype designs and come up with something that they haven’t even imagined yet. “There are definitely a lot of very cool things happening,” said Chan.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Noninvasive RFID tag measures your vital signs without body contact
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• Razer jumps into the wireless networking market with an updated Portal router

This camera app requires users to wait three days for pictures to ‘develop’

Thanks to the convenience of smartphones, snapping photos has become second nature. Anyone can grab a phone and take as many pics as they want. Even more convenient is the fact that you can instantly see what the photos look like. If you took a bad one, you just delete it and move on. However, as strange as it might sound, there’s an increasingly popular app that mimics the use of old film cameras by making you wait three days to “develop” your photos.

The 99-cent app is called Gudak Cam and has become very popular in South Korea and Japan, especially among high school girls. The app came out earlier this year, and is meant to simulate the look and feel of using a Kodak disposable camera (remember those?). The app requires you to fill up a “roll of film,” which contains 24 shots. Once you’ve finished with that roll, you can have it developed in a process that takes three days, at the end of which you can view the photos on your phone.

With Gudak Cam, you will also have to wait several hours before you can add a new roll of film to your virtual camera.

All of this may sound incredibly inconvenient and, to a large extent, it is. However, the appeal of Gudak Cam lies in the fact that it forces users to slow down and really think about each shot. Rather than snapping half a dozen pictures and only keeping one, the idea is that users will slow take a handful of really good pictures that are worth keeping.

Beyond that, the app’s aesthetics do a lot to help explain its appeal. Once the app is active, an image reminiscent of Kodak disposables fills the screen, giving you the feeling that you’re truly holding one of these ancient devices. Even the method to shoot photos is changed — you have to use the app’s small viewfinder. All of this combines to create an experience that is quite different from using the standard camera app on a smartphone.

Whether Gudak is just a passing fad or the start of something bigger remains to be seen. However, it already has more than 1.3 million users, so it seems to be doing something right.

That being said, if you want something more modern than check out our list of best cameras of 2017 or the best camera phones if you prefer something smaller.

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Uber to settle second lawsuit from India rape victim

Uber’s determination to address its past scandals remains in effect. The ridesharing firm has agreed to settle the second lawsuit from the Indian rape victim who accused the company of improperly obtaining her medical records. While the company isn’t commenting on the settlement or its terms, a court filing revealed that the two sides will formally reach a deal in June. The suit represented a particularly dark chapter for Uber, as it underscored the outfit’s Kalanick-era tendency to fight legal challenges that few other companies would resist.

The lawsuit argued that Uber obtained the records because it privately doubted the woman’s claims. While Uber executives publicly supported the victim, they reportedly theorized in secret that she had conspired with Uber’s Indian rival Ola to undermine their business. In other words, they were apparently willing to violate the accuser’s privacy in hopes of discrediting her.

This isn’t to say that Uber has refused to settle cases in the past. It settled the victim’s original lawsuit in 2015, and settled multiple American sexual assault cases in 2016. However, this is still somewhat reflective of the strategy under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Uber wants to make amends for past abuses and improve its reputation, both to keep customers and to reassure investors who want to know that Uber’s unscrupulous days are in the past.

Source: Reuters

‘Jessica Jones’ season 2 reaches Netflix on March 8th

To say that the second season of Jessica Jones has been a long time in coming would be an understatement. Netflix premiered the first season of the investigator-turned-superhero show in November 2015, and it committed to a second season at the start of 2016. At last, though, it’s nearly here: Netflix has posted a trailer confirming that season 2 will premiere on March 8th, 2018. The preview hints that the new season will dive deeper into Jessica’s nebulous past, and that she continues to take no crap — there’s a not-so-subtle dig at Spider-Man, for one thing.

The return helps flesh out Netflix’s Marvel catalog, which still includes a number of single-season shows (although they almost all have commitments for more episodes). Also, it’s arguably one of the more anticipated Marvel releases to date. In addition to starring an unconventional superhero, the first Jessica Jones season tackled serious topics like gaslighting and sexual assault with an intelligence you wouldn’t necessarily expect. If that keeps up in the second season, it could be worth watching even if you don’t normally care for comic-inspired programming.

Source: Netflix (YouTube), (Twitter)

Discover announces that it will do away with signatures by April 2018

Discover has become the latest credit card company to get rid of signatures as a means of verifying a cardholder’s identity. The company says that it intends to do away with the signature requirement in April of 2018. In a press release, Discover stated that it has “has already implemented a number of digital authentication technologies such as tokenization, multi-factor authentication, and biometrics that are more secure than requiring a signature and provide a more seamless payment transaction.”

When discussing its reasons for moving beyond signatures, Discover mentioned several recent security measures, including chip cards and the ability for users to freeze their cards via the internet when it was misplaced.

This move will likely be a welcome one for many of Discover’s customers, as it’s becoming increasingly rare for consumers actually sign real letters when signing at check-outs. We imagine the vast majority of retail workers never bother to check them, and the whole process is weak as a security measure.

Beyond that, the rise of online retail has made the concept of signatures obsolete. After all, Americans spend millions of dollars each year on online purchases and none of those sales require a signature. The concept of signing your name for credit card purchases is an anachronism that seems rather ineffective in the age of Amazon and eBay.

Discover mentioned that stores interested in moving beyond signatures as a security method may need to update their point-of-sale systems. Given how slow some retailers can be to overhaul their systems, it may be some time before signatures are truly behind us. However, Discover’s decision will likely incentivize some businesses to get with the times.

Discover isn’t the only credit card company moving away from the use of signatures and pin numbers. Earlier this year, MasterCard announced that it was considering switching to cards that use biometric fingerprint scanners, similar to the ones found on flagship smartphones such as Apple’s TouchID. The technology has been in the works for some time, but it’s unclear when we will see it hit the mainstream.  Obviously, no technology is perfect, but fingerprint scanners are largely considered more secure than pins which can be stolen or cracked.

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Modem vs. router: What’s the difference?

When we open our laptops, or wake up our smartphone, the internet is seemingly always there. We’ve come a long way since the days of hearing PCs dial into America Online and creep along a constantly-disconnecting world wide web. Our connections are now fast, quiet, typically reliable, and always there given you’re keeping up with subscription payments. But you may not know quite how networks function, thus enter our modem vs. router comparison.

Both are necessary components for wired and wireless internet access in your home. Understanding the difference between the two can help you diagnose and possibly fix networking problems before placing time-consuming calls with technical support.

We provide an explanation of each, and illustrate how and why each device is important. We also explain a new alternative to using the standard router if you’re considering an upgrade to your current home network setup.

Modem

The modem is your on-ramp to the world wide web. In the old days, they were bulky external devices that required you to either insert a rotary/push-button telephone’s hand-held receiver, or plug in a telephone cable. Once the internet grew to become a mainstream household product in the early 1990s, modems became add-in cards for desktops and USB adapters for laptops. Cable-based broadband producing speeds faster than 56Kbps seemingly re-introduced the external modem at the beginning of the century, thus here we are today.

Right now, Charter Spectrum is the largest broadband provider in North America, blanketing 43 states with coverage after acquiring Time Warner Cable in 2016. Behind Charter is Comcast’s Xfinity service covering 40 states, and Cox Communications service in 19 states. These broadband providers “rent” modems as part of their subscription plans so you can access their subscription-based service. But you can purchase compatible modems separately from any retailer to cut down on the monthly cost. Either way, you’ll one to access the internet.

How it works

A modem includes a physical connector for the coaxial cable installed in your home. That cable typically exits the home through a hole, and is tunneled around and/or underneath the house until it reaches the Cable Distribution Box mounted on your home’s exterior. An additional cable buried underground connects this box to the service provider’s node mounted on a nearby utility pole.

That said, the internet feed leaves the utility pole, arrives at your home’s Cable Distribution Box, and ends at the modem’s coaxial cable connector. After that, the output depends on the type of modem that’s included with your broadband subscription. Some models only have one square-shaped Ethernet port while others have up to four.

Modems usually include lights/LEDs along their front, so you can see what’s going on at a glance. One light indicates that the unit is receiving power, one signals that its receiving data from your internet service provider, and one shows that the modem is successfully sending data. This is where you start in a troubleshooting scenario: If the send and/or receive lights are blinking, then your internet service provider is likely having issues, or something is going on with the connection outside. Another LED is provided indicating that wired devices are accessing the internet.

Before we move on, note that modems aren’t just for a coaxial cable connection. Broadband can be served up through a Digital Subscriber Line too, or DSL. This internet on-ramp is accessed through telephone lines instead of coaxial cables, so the connecting jack looks no different that what you would see on physical, land-based phones. DSL is typically slower than cable-based broadband, and useful in rural areas where phone lines already exist, but there’s no infrastructure supporting cable-based TV and internet services.

Whether the router is designed for DSL or cable-based broadband, the four Ethernet ports are used for wired devices with a matching port or adapter. These can include desktops, laptops, HDTVs, gaming consoles, printers, and more. If you want the most out of your broadband connection, using these ports for your hardware is the best option, especially if the ports support speeds of up to one gigabit per second (aka gigabit Ethernet).

Router

But not everyone wants to line Ethernet cables all over their house, and that’s where the router come in. It’s a stand-alone device that connects to an Ethernet port on the modem, and “routes” networking/internet traffic to its connected devices. Routers typically have a dedicated, color-coded Ethernet port that it uses to physically connect to the router (WAN, or Wide Area Network), and four additional Ethernet ports for wired devices (LAN or Local Area Network).

Thus, the router sends and receives networking traffic from the modem with one connection, and routes all that data through its four Ethernet ports, and through the air via the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Despite advertised numbers, wired is faster than wireless, and we still suggest using Ethernet if you want every ounce of bandwidth out of your subscription. But obviously you can’t do that with smartphones, and draping Ethernet cables along every wall is just downright ugly.

To that extent, you’re not going to get gigabit speed if you’re only paying for a 300Mbps connection. There’s no magic wand or device that will widen your provider’s internet spout unless its installed by the company for additional fees. Sure, you can pass files from wired PC to wired PC at up to one gigabit per second on your Ethernet-based network, and you may even get great wireless transfers between smartphone to smartphone, depending on the router you buy, and the capabilities of those phones.

Unfortunately, routers come in all sizes, prices, and exaggerated promises. On the wireless side, they can include two external antennas or more, depending on the model. The more antennas they have protruding in the air like a dead spider’s legs, the higher the prices will soar. Of course, the added antennas mean increased range, but your connection speed will depend on your proximity to the router, and the technology powering that connection.

The current wireless standard is Wireless AC. It’s first implementation enables three outgoing streams and three incoming streams (3×3) on the 5GHz band at up to 433Mbps each. They’re accompanied by three incoming and three outgoing Wireless N streams (3×3) on the 2.4GHz band at 200Mbps each. The latest update to the Wireless AC specification, aka Wave-2, adds a fourth stream for additional bandwidth. Problem is, smartphones typically only support between one (1×1) or two (2×2) incoming/outgoing streams, so they can’t get the full benefits of routers supporting 3×3 broadcasts.

How it works

If all of this is confusing, just imagine a high-speed train. It enters your home through the modem, travels to the train station (router) at full speed, and is redirected to a destination. If the destination is a wired connection, then it plows full speed ahead. If the destination is wireless, it’s speed is based on how many tracks/streams it can use at once (one, two, three, or four), the amount of congestion these tracks must penetrate, and the distance between the train station and the destination. The train will lose speed the further it travels away from the station.

The “up to” term means the hardware is physically capable of supporting those maximum speeds, but again you won’t see them. Part of the “congestion” slowing your local data train is your neighbor’s network spreading the love in the same air space. There’s also interference from devices within and outside your home. Having a router with multiple, external antennas with amplifiers will help push back all that unwanted noise.

Typically, routers will choose the ideal channel for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands that have the least interference. The 2.4GHz band is divided into 14 channels while more than 20 are set aside for the 5GHz band. But if you’re having connectivity issues, manually changing the channels within the router’s web-based interface can sometimes help. There’s a lot more at play regarding speed that gets into heavy technical territory and can make your head spin.

Check out our list of the best wireless routers you can buy right now. Some of the routers we’ve reviewed include the ZyXEL Armor Z2, the Linksys Max-Stream AC2200, the Linksys WRT3200ACM, and more.

Router/modem combo

Unfortunately, there’s no official name for this specific device. Comcast calls it a “gateway” while Spectrum simply calls it a modem. There are even listings that merely call it a modem/router combo. Regardless, you get the idea: it’s an all-in-one device that looks like your typical modem, but crams a router inside. This combo unit can be beneficial and a drawback, depending on how well you want to manage your network.

In the typical stand-alone modem, you can adjust firewall settings, open ports for specific traffic, assign addresses, and so on. The add-on router essentially provides a secondary firewall for better protection along with parental controls, device management, usage statistics, and more. When combining the two, you lose that second firewall aspect, and possible customization not provided by equipment rented from ISPs.

Another aspect to consider is that even though you’re “renting” one all-in-one device, your broadband provider may be charging you an additional fee for wireless service. Spectrum calls this a “Home WiFi” charge that shows up on your bill for an additional $5 per month, and only applies to modems with a built-in router rented out by the company. For complete control and a lower monthly bill, you’re better off supplying your own stand-alone router.

Combo devices typically include everything you would find hardware-wise on stand-alone modems and routers. For example, Spectrum rents out the Arris Touchstone TG1672 Cable Voice Gateway, which includes four gigabit Ethernet ports, two RJ-14 ports for digital phone service, and one USB-A 2.0 port for possibly sharing files or a printer on the network. It’s an older Wireless N device with a 3×3 broadcast setup, meaning its theoretical peak wireless speed is only 450Mbps (aka 150Mbps per stream).

Combo devices also have a few additional LEDs on the front. One will signal that the 2.4GH wireless band is active and in use while another is dedicated to the 5GHz band. If your combo supports digital phone service, LEDs for sending and receiving are provided as well. These LEDs will not be active if you don’t have an active digital phone subscription.

Mesh

But wait! There’s more! A newcomer has arrived to crash the networking party. It’s similar in nature to routers, but different in delivery. More specifically, the router is a single unit that broadcasts an internet connection like a radio tower. The further away those broadcasts travel, the weaker the signal thus a resulting slower speed. You get the same effect in a moving car: the further away you move from the city, the harder it is to hear your favorite music station.

Even more, the 2.4GHz band is great for penetrating objects and walls, but it’s throughput speed is slower than the 5GHz connection mostly due to congestion. Meanwhile, 5GHz is faster and less congested, but it has difficulty penetrating objects and walls.

One way to solve this problem is to purchase a second wireless extender device. It grabs the signal produced by the router, and repeats it to areas outside the router’s reach. This is helpful in dead spots, but the drawback is that repeaters are grabbing an already-degraded signal unless you actually have a wired Ethernet connection between the router and the extender. These extenders are sold in various sizes and strengths ranging from wall-based units to solutions just as big as routers.

Arriving to alleviate all those woes is mesh-based networking. Kits are typically sold with two or three identical units, thus the setup doesn’t consist of a router and an optional extender. Instead, one plays the router role by physically connecting to the modem’s output, and then routes all traffic to and from the wirelessly connected nodes. So instead of a single unit broadcasting an internet bubble, you have multiple units creating a mesh-based blanket of coverage.

What’s great about these kits is that you have one connection: the kit determines if your device should use 2.4GHz or 5GHz. You also can’t tell that your wireless devices are shifting from one node to another as you move through the house. The drawback is that typically these mesh-networking kits aren’t cheap, thus the investment can be long term unless you’re willing to shell out the big bucks each time an upgraded kit hits the market.

How does it work?

To understand how this works, let’s imagine the train again. Once it leaves the modem, it travels to the unit that serves as a train station. If the destination is wired, the train moves ahead at full speed. If the destination is wireless, the train leaves the station and travels to the closest junction (node). From there, the train reaches its destination or travels from junction to junction until it reaches the end.

Again, the overall speed will depend on how many physical antennas each node will have, and how many tracks/streams they support. It will also depend on the hardware specifications of the destination: how many antennas does it have, and how many tracks does it support.

The difference with this node-based route is that the train doesn’t lose steam due to travel distance: it “refuels” at each node. Plus, these nodes route their tracks to avoid obstacles for the best pathway possible, whether the train is traveling horizontally, or to an office on the second floor. There’s no way to completely avoid furniture, walls, and floors, but the technology is smart enough to find the ideal path, and will even re-route paths if major changes are made in the house, or if a node is relocated.

Another drawback to mesh networking kits is that they typically don’t offer the depth of customization offered in stand-alone routers. They’re typically installed in the home using a mobile device and Bluetooth, and controlled by mobile apps that can test the internet connection, set parental controls, and assign devices to profiles. These kits are designed for customers who want an easy, maintenance-free plug-and-play system that provides great coverage… and looks good in the process. That could change as the mesh-based networking market grows, but current kits available today appear to lean more on simplicity than customizability.

But keep in mind that you can expand a mesh-based network. Manufacturers serve up stand-alone nodes in addition to their kits so that all you need to do is power up the new node, and get the currently installed kit to recognize the device via the company’s network management app. There’s likely a limit to how many mesh-based nodes you can have in one setup, but the coverage should be spectacular if you’re willing to spend the big bucks.

Some of the kits we put to the test include Eero, Luma, Velop, and Google WiFi.

Kinda Sorta Mesh

Finally, this category mashes two connectivity styles into one product. We saw this with Netgear’s Orbi kits, which provide two near-identical units that perform like a mesh networking kit. But at its root, one unit is clearly a router, offering everything you will find feature- and customization-wise in most stand-alone routers. The second unit is a satellite, but it doesn’t “repeat” the signal stemming from the router-class unit.

In this setup, the two units have three connections: one 2.4GHz band and one 5GHz band accessible by all wireless devices. The third is another 5GHz connection that’s only used by the Orbi units: a private, high-speed highway if you will that’s not accessible by any other device. That’s the big difference between Orbi and other mesh-based kits: those nodes use the same 5GHz space as all the connected devices, thus data transfers will be slower due to traffic. With the Orbi’s dedicated freeway, there’s nothing on the road except for Orbi-to-Orbi chatter.

We reviewed the Orbi RBK40 kit here, and the more expensive (and larger) Orbi RBK50 kit here.

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Walmart has officially jumped on the meal kit bandwagon

Meal kits have become increasingly popular over the past year, with numerous companies getting in on the action. There are meal kits for babies, kits that can help you with the holidays, and many more. Retail giants like Amazon are even starting to get involved. Now, a new retailer has entered the meal kit fray and it’s one of the biggest in the world. Walmart has started offering meal kits on its website.

The retailer isn’t selling Walmart-branded meal kits, which is probably for the best, as Walmart isn’t known for its fine cuisine. Instead, it is partnering with brands such as TakeOut Kit and Home Chef to provide customers with a wide array of options that change on a regular basis. The pricing structure also varies, but appears to be about $30 for most of the kits. Several of them are proportioned for four people, but that also varies depending on which one you order.

The Street reports that the various meal kit companies such as Home Chef or TakeOut Kit are responsible for fulfilling the orders made from Walmart’s website. In exchange for the use of its website, Walmart gets a referral fee and commission.

TakeOut Kit was the first meal kit to be featured on Walmart’s website. It arrived on December 3, and others followed soon after. There are currently about 30 meal kits available for sale on Walmart’s site. This should give consumers plenty of options — TakeOut Kit, for example, is known for showcasing cuisine from different countries around the world, whereas Home Chef focuses more heavily on American-style food.

“This is a low-risk model for Walmart to see if their e-commerce shoppers will have an interest in meal kits, and if so, which ones are the most interesting to them,” Terra’s Kitchen CEO Michael McDevitt said earlier this year. “There’s no infrastructure risk, no marketing risk.”

There is plenty of interest from among Walmart shoppers, as several of the meal kits are already sold out. It remains to be seen how successful this venture will be for Walmart in the long term, however. For now, the company has a winning recipe on its hands.

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai ‘jokes’ about being a Verizon shill

Many have accused FCC Chairman Ajit Pai of being a telecom shill between his background as a former Verizon lawyer and his determination to ignore all public input (not to mention complaints about comment bots) as he kills net neutrality. And apparently, his attempts at joking about it are only reinforcing those views. Gizmodo has obtained video of Pai trying to roast himself at the Federal Communications Bar Assocation’s annual event, including a pre-recorded skit where an actual Verizon executive (senior VP Kathy Grillo) talks about wanting to “brainwash and groom a Verizon puppet” to become the FCC chairman, with Pai responding that it sounds like an “awesome” idea.

Aside from the jokes falling flat, there are all kinds of problems with the routine. To start, FCC officials shouldn’t be joking about being shills. Whether or not they have industry backgrounds (like former Chairman Tom Wheeler), they’re supposed to take corruption allegations seriously instead of turning them into comedy sketches. The humor fails in part because there’s a painful degree of truth to it — it wouldn’t have come up if Pai weren’t pursuing the exact deregulation policies that major telecoms want. And crucially, telecom executives shouldn’t ever be involved. If anything, Grillo’s inclusion in the skit supports accusations that Pai is on the take, since he’s clearly cozy enough with Verizon to recruit one of its VPs for a gag.

For that matter, why would a Verizon executive agree to appear in a skit that makes light of corruption, especially knowing that the video might become public and damage the company’s reputation? It’s safe to say this is unusual even for a telecom that hasn’t been shy about voicing its political stances and omitting views it doesn’t like. The company appears unfazed about the connection, however, and even seems to endorse it. When asked for comment, Chief Communications Officer Jim Gerace joked that “we never knew Kathy was so funny.”

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that Pai will face any repercussions in the near future. He was recently chosen to serve a second term, and his closeness to the companies he’s supposed to regulate is par for the course at the moment. This just backs notions that Pai is comfortable flaunting his industry ties, and that he won’t be shy about it going forward.

Source: Gizmodo