Samsung and NYX want to sell you makeup with VR tutorials

It’s not just video games — virtual reality has lots of potential to change the way we experience information. You can experience what its like to walk in space with the BBC’s ISS app for Oculus, watch every NBA game this season with your VR headset or lean back and experience the globe without ever leaving your house via Discovery channel’s VR travel series. The trendy new tech is unavoidable, like in a new advertising campaign featuring NYX makeup and Samsung Gear VR.

Called the “Impossibly NYX Professional Makeup” experience, you’ll be able to watch three makeup tutorials from top beauty video bloggers Kristen Leanne, Mykie, and Karen Sarahi Gonzalez. You’ll also be able to use the Gear VR controllers to select different NYX products to learn more about, and you’ll be able to to buy the products that are featured in the tutorials at a reduced price. You’ll be able to try it out yourself starting December 18th in “select” NYX Professional Makeup stores, with a national rollout to the rest of its 42 retail stores during 2018.

This isn’t the first foray into merging technology with makeup, of course. Sephora has its own way of selling makeup via AR tech, yet another trend in the space. While it’s hard to say whether a makeup tutorial in VR is any better than one on a flat screen, we’ll likely see more of this type of immersive branded advertising in the near future.

Source: NYX Professional Makeup

Dutch police retire convocation of drone-catching eagles

Police in the Netherlands may have been a tad too hasty in testing a squadron of drone-catching eagles. NOS has learned that Dutch law enforcement officials are retiring the birds (they’re going to new homes) and winding down the program. Not surprisingly, the decision is a response to both actual demand as well as the performance of the birds themselves.

To start, there just isn’t much need for the eagles — they were support to thwart terrorists and potential accidents, but there thankfully hasn’t been much of a problem. And, like you might guess, even birds trained from youth to intercept drones won’t always do what they’re told. There was a concern that their performance problems in tests might be magnified in the chaos of real-world conditions. Raising and training these predators wasn’t cheap, either.

Dutch police are also ending an experiment that had rats sniffing out fake cigarettes, human remains and illegal fireworks. The rodents couldn’t be made “operational,” police said.

It wasn’t hard to predict that the eagle program would shut down. Even if you discount the utility of the birds, anti-drone technology is advancing quickly enough that technology can likely do the job as well or better. If you can disable drones at will with a portable gun, why spend years grooming eagles that aren’t even guaranteed to do what you want? As it stands, we’re sure the eagles would rather catch the sort of prey they can eat.

Via: DutchNews.nl

Source: NOS (translated)

Google app experiments push the limits of phone photography

Google doesn’t want to limit its photographic prowess to its own phones — it just released an initial batch of “appsperiments” that use the company’s knack for computer vision and other technologies to test the boundaries of phone photography. Storyboard for Android is arguably the highlight. The app uses object recognition and style algorithms to automatically grab interesting frames from a video and drop them into comic-style layouts with appropriate filters. You could summarize an event just by recording one video, rather than remembering to take gobs of photos.

The other experiments could be convenient, too. Selfissimo! for Android and iOS automatically snaps photos whenever you stop moving, letting you take a ton of selfies without having to press the shutter every time you strike a pose. The iOS-only Scrubbies app, meanwhile, creates video loops whose speed and direction you can ‘remix’ like a DJ at the turntables.

Are these apps particularly useful by themselves? Not really — in many ways, they’re the novelty features that you see phone makers trot out at launch events and never mention again. As experiments, though, they could be very helpful. Google is asking users for feedback and ideas, so you could see more practical adaptations of these apps down the line. As it is, they say a lot about Google’s thinking. It wants to put AI to work in virtually every facet of photography, not just obvious areas like image quality and portrait effects.

Source: Google Research Blog

FCC and FTC outline how they’ll cooperate after net neutrality vote

The FCC is scheduled to vote on its proposal to roll back net neutrality protections on December 14th and ahead of that vote, the FCC and FTC have released a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding each agency’s role in policing internet service providers after the proposal is passed. Once the proposal is approved, the FTC will regain some of the oversight it had prior to the 2015 reclassification of internet service, which means both the FTC and FCC will share jurisdiction over internet service providers (ISPs) going forward. “The MOU we are developing with the FCC, in addition to the decades of FTC law enforcement experience in this area, will help us carry out this important work,” said FTC Chair Maureen Ohlhausen in a statement.

The two agencies have agreed that the FCC will monitor broadband market entry barriers and review complaints it receives from consumers. It will also have the ability to take action against companies that don’t properly inform the public of any throttling, blocking or prioritization practices as per the new order. The FTC can also take action against companies that don’t disclose that information adequately or engage in any marketing, advertising or promotional activities deemed deceptive, unfair or unlawful. The FCC and FTC will also meet regularly to discuss any investigations against ISPs and will share legal and technical expertise when necessary.

Overall, the MOU outlines a fairly vague plan to cooperate. However, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sees it differently. “The Memorandum of Understanding will be a critical benefit for online consumers because it outlines the robust process by which the FCC and FTC will safeguard the public interest,” he said in a statement.

Source: FCC (1), (2)

American Express, Mastercard and Discover to Eliminate Signature Requirement for Purchases in April 2018

American Express today announced plans to eliminate signature requirements when customers make credit or debit card purchases, joining both Mastercard and Discover.

All three companies plan to stop asking customers to provide a signature when making a purchase in the United States and Canada starting in April of 2018. The change is designed to allow for a more consistent, streamlined, and speedy checkout experience for both merchants and cardholders.

Credit and debit card companies have long required signatures for purchases as an added security measure, but with technology improvements that include contactless payments and the adoption of EMV chip technology, signatures are no longer a necessity.

“The payments landscape has evolved to the point where we can now eliminate this pain point for our merchants,” said Jaromir Divilek, Executive Vice President, Global Network Business, American Express. “Our fraud capabilities have advanced so that signatures are no longer necessary to fight fraud. In addition, the majority of American Express transactions today already do not require a signature at the point of sale as a result of previous policy changes we made to help our merchants.”

American Express has already phased out signature requirements for purchases under $50 in the United States, as have other credit card companies, and the complete elimination of the signature is a shift that consumers are likely to welcome.

Doing away with signature requirements for credit and debit card transactions will also streamline the Apple Pay process in the United States when using a Mastercard, Discover, or American Express card. With Apple Pay, a signature can on occasion be required for purchases over $50 in the United States, a step that may be eliminated once the card changes are introduced.

Apple Pay customers in other countries that have similar restrictions may also see them lifted when using American Express, but there are locations like Canada where contactless payments are not permitted for large purchases. In these situations, there will be no improvements to the Apple Pay process.

While Mastercard and Discover have said the change applies to the United States and Canada, American Express plans to eliminate signature requirements globally on purchase transactions of all amounts. Merchants are, however, still able to collect signatures if required to do so by an applicable law in a particular jurisdiction.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Exclusive Offer: Get 15 Percent Off Pad & Quill Accessories for iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch

With holiday shopping in full swing, MacRumors has begun another exclusive partnership, this time with Pad & Quill and focusing on the accessory company’s iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch product categories. If you’re interested, browse from Pad & Quill’s accessories in any of these areas, add items to your cart, and then enter the promo code MR15 during checkout to get 15 percent off your order. The code expires on Thursday, December 21 at midnight.

If multiple items are in your cart, the code will take 15 percent off the total cost of your order for all relevant products. The code excludes items from Pad & Quill’s leather bags and wallet & accessories categories (note that this covers any bags and portfolios within the MacBook category).

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Pad & Quill. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Pad & Quill is focused on creating high-quality leather and wooden accessories, many of which MacRumors has reviewed over the years. These include the Classic Apple Watch Band, Lowry Cuff for Apple Watch, Timber Catchall and Timber Nightstand for Apple Watch, and Oxford Case for iPad Pro.

These products and more can now be purchased at a discount with our exclusive offer, so we’ve listed a few below to give you an idea of the savings you can get if you take advantage of the promo code.

• Woodline Case for iPhone X – $42.46, down from $49.95
• Bella Fino iPhone X Wallet Case – $76.46, down from $89.95
• Heritage Bella Fino iPhone X Wallet Case – $84.96, down from $99.95
• Valet Slim Portfolio for iPad 9.7 & iPad Pro 10.5 – $84.96, down from $99.95
• Author Series Case for 2017 iPad (with monogramming) – $106.21, down from $124.95
• Oxford Leather iPad Pro 12.9 Case – $127.46, down from $149.95
• Cartella Slim Case for Macbook Pro 13 – $84.96, down from $99.95
• Classic Leather Band for Apple Watch – $67.96, down from $79.95
• The Timber Catchall Stand for Apple Watch – $84.96, down from $99.95

Make sure to visit Pad & Quill and browse these items — and many more — to place your order before December 21, when the exclusive promo code will expire. Pad & Quill offers free shipping that typically estimates a delivery window of between 2-4 business days after you place the order, but factors like color combinations for certain products can affect delivery dates.

Also of note is a separate offer from Pad & Quill — which can not be stacked with our exclusive code — aimed at anyone thinking about spending over $125 on the company’s online store this holiday. If you spend $125 or more on an order at Pad & Quill, the company will email you a $25 special gift code for you to use — or gift — on your next order. Purchases over $250 get a $50 code and purchases over $400 get a $100 code. This offer lasts until December 17, and any code you receive has to be redeemed before January 31, 2018.

For other sales and exclusive promotions — including our ongoing 15 percent discount on full-priced Nomad accessories — head over to the full MacRumors Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple DealsTag: Pad & Quill
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Google Launches Two New Experimental Photography Apps on iOS

Google today announced the launch of two new experimental photography apps on iOS, which are designed to allow the company to test technologies like object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding, and more.

Called “appsperiments,” the two apps include “Selfissimo” and “Scrubbies.” Selfissimo is an automated selfie app that captures a stylish black and white photo each time you change to a new pose, sort of like a photo booth. The app lets you tap to start a photoshoot, and then it encourages you to adopt different poses. Each time it detects a pause in movement, it snaps a photo.

Scrubbies lets you manipulate the speed and direction of video playback to create video loops of action scenes, funny faces, and replay moments. You can shoot a video directly in the app and then use swipe gestures to remix it.

Scrubbies and Selfissimo can both be downloaded from the App Store for free.

Google has also released experimental apps for Android devices, and, since the company say this is the “first installment” of a series, we can expect additional photography apps to be released in the future.

Tag: Google
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Which Android Wear smartwatches will get Android Oreo?

Google has been busy sorting out loads of Android Oreo-style treats recently. There’s the recent update to Android Oreo 8.1 for Pixel and Nexus devices, the launching of Android Oreo Go for lower-end devices, and now, Google has revealed which Android Wear smartwatches will be receiving an update to bring them onto Android 8.0 Oreo.

Which watches will get the update?

Going forward, while it’s expected that all new Android Wear devices will have this update already installed, as of yet there has been no confirmation from Google of that.

As 9-to-5 Google has noted, older smartwatches like the original Huawei watch, the second-gen Moto 360, and the Asus Zenwatch 3 are all currently absent — as are devices with a Snapdragon 400. Most of the devices on the list are more recent watches from fashion brands, as well as the most recent additions to Android Wear from LG. Google has also refused to give users a timeframe for the update, and recommends that users contact manufacturers for dates.

Watches that will receive the update

Casio

• Casio PRO TREK Smart WSD-F20

• Casio WSD-F10 Smart Outdoor Watch

Diesel

• Diesel Full Guard

Emporio

• Emporio Armani Connected

Fossil

• Fossil Q Control

• Fossil Q Explorist

• Fossil Q Founder 2.0

• Fossil Q Marshal

• Fossil Q Wander

Gc

• Gc Connect

Guess

• Guess Connect

Huawei

• Huawei Watch 2

Hugo BOSS

• Hugo BOSS BOSS Touch

LG

• LG Watch Style

Michael Kors

• Michael Kors Access Bradshaw

• Michael Kors Access Dylan

• Michael Kors Access Grayson

Misfit

• Misfit Vapor

Mobvoi

• Mobvoi Ticwatch S & E

Movado

• Movado Connect

Nixon

• Nixon Mission

Polar

• Polar M600

TAG Heuer

• TAG Heuer Tag Connected Modular 45

Tommy Hilfiger

• Tommy Hilfiger 24/7 You

ZTE

• ZTE Quartz

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Watches that have already received the update

Fossil

• Fossil Q Venture

LG

• LG Watch Sport

The LG Watch Sport was part of the beta program for Android Wear Oreo, and was one of the first devices to receive the update.

Louis Vuitton

• Louis Vuitton Tambour

Michael Kors

• Michael Kors Sofie

Montblanc

• Montblanc Summit

What’s new in this update?

The Android Wear Oreo update isn’t huge — it’s certainly nowhere near the level that you’ll see on a mobile Android 8.0 Oreo update. Instead, this update adds a few quality-of-life updates, including the ability to set vibration strength, set a lock on tap-to-wake while out in wet weather conditions, support for more countries and languages, and a handful of changes that should improve battery life.

Instead, what you’re seeing with this update is more likely to be a pledge for continued support for your device. Android Wear 2.0 was always based on Android 7.0 Nougat, and while the change over to Oreo isn’t anywhere near as big a change as we saw between 1.5 and 2.0, it does make it more likely that the supported devices will continue to be supported in at least the next few updates.

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‘Operation Apex’ lets you explore the deep, no scuba gear required

The water surrounding me provided little resistance to the powerful handheld propeller in my hands. Effortlessly gliding over the seabed, I reached the edge of a precipice. Stopping, I gazed down into the blackness. It was filled with mystery, and I felt dizzy staring down. Looking up, schools of tuna and black sea bass swam, creating dark shadows against the bright sunlight beyond the rippling surface. A voice urged me to continue my mission of cataloging sea life, and exploring the effect our environmental carelessness was having on them.

This wasn’t real life, although I was in the coastal city of Brighton in the United Kingdom. I was wearing an HTC Vive headset and playing Operation Apex, a virtual reality game from startup Curiscope. It’s close to living The Blue Planet as I’m going to get.

While we use the word “game” to describe Operation Apex, it’s not quite correct. It’s not a game in the traditional sense, and it’s not a primarily educational experience like Curiscope’s other main product, the quirky-but-awesome Virtuali-Tee. It bridges the space between the two, merging the exploratory aspect of games like No Man’s Sky with the cinematic, engaging, and absorbing story-telling we adore in documentaries like The Blue Planet.

While we may be used to this format in TV, movies, or even some games, it’s unusual in virtual reality. Curiscope considers it the way forward for VR, and has spent the last year on this ambitious project, creating an undersea educational experience with a strong conservationist message that is as compelling to play as any game, yet as visually interesting as our favorite documentaries.

The name of Operation Apex is inspired by apex predators, Curiscope CEO Ed Barton explained — which means sharks, in this case. “We’re the shark startup,” he joked, referencing Curiscope’s breakout shark-based 360 video experience, now an AR title for iOS, which has received tens of millions of views on YouTube.

You play the role of a researcher tasked with discovering the effect plastic is having on ocean life. Your exploration leads to understanding the food chain, and how pollutants are affecting all creatures under the sea, and therefore our lives on land. Sounds depressing, right?

Your exploration leads to understanding how pollutants are affecting creatures under the sea.

It’s not, and all the better for it. The message is there, but it’s not heavy-handed, and the experience doesn’t come across as a lecture.

The Blue Planet’s subtle format was a major influence for Barton, co-founder Ben Kidd, and the Curiscope team — but it wasn’t the only one. He talked about Pixar movies, which weave their points into an entertaining storyline, and how the Discovery Channel presents stories about complex or challenging subjects.

For Curiscope, the tough part was taking the idea and bringing it into VR. Barton recalled Everest VR, which was visually awe-inspiring, but short on interaction. “We didn’t want Operation Apex to be an on-rails virtual reality experience,” he told Digital Trends.

It’s not. The HTC Vive’s controllers are multi-tools, with a map of your surroundings showing objectives, a scanner for cataloging life, and a clever lure system to bring shy creatures close to you. After a brief period of adjustment, it’s easy to use the control system, luring fish with one hand, and operating the scanner with the other. While the game has a clear mission structure, exploration is encouraged, often leading to hidden secrets that provide more information and background for the story.

The ocean is beautifully realized with waving kelp forests, open expanses of water, deep sea caves, and plenty of sea life. In the first stage I felt an overwhelming feeling of exposure, like I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. It’s very effective.

The best learning experiences are often those where you don’t know you’re learning, and Operation Apex’s conservational message is sufficiently subtle to not be the sole reason for the game’s existence, while at the same time provoking thought. It’s a complex juggling act that Curiscope has managed well.

The VR industry is still young, and creating new content that not only works, but pushes the format forward, is still a challenge. With Operation Apex, Curiscope’s meeting that challenge. It’s also only the beginning. In the future, it’s hoped this first version will be enhanced with new levels, each telling stories about life below the waves and our impact — good and bad —on it. This first edition of Operation Apex could be episode one of Curiscope’s own VR documentary.

Operation Apex is available now for the HTC Vive through the VivePort store, and will come to Oculus Rift and Playstation VR in 2018.

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Patch your HP laptops — the keyboard may have a keylogger installed

HP issued a patch for its Synaptics touchpad driver last month to fix a potential keylogger issue, but it may be more widely problematic than initially expected. The keylogger security researchers identified within the driver may affect hundreds of HP laptops and mobile workstations, including its recent Spectre Pro x360 models.

The fix for this problem was released at the start of November in a dry sounding fashion; the driver update was called the “Synaptics Touchpad Driver Potential, Local Loss of Confidentiality.” Although HP did designate it as something that should be acted on as soon as possible, ZwClose breaks down exactly why this issue is potentially more dangerous than HP makes it sound.

The keylogger in question was discovered hidden within HP’s keyboard driver and looked to save scan codes. Although the logging was disabled by default, it could easily be enabled by a user with administrative access. HP’s claim is that it was a debug trace that wasn’t removed — and now has been by the patch.

In the patch notes, it also goes out of its way to highlight that neither HP itself nor the touchpad developer, Synaptics, had any access to customer information:

“A potential security vulnerability has been identified with certain versions of Synaptics touchpad drivers that impacts all Synaptics OEM partners,” the update page reads. “A party would need administrative privileges in order to take advantage of the vulnerability. Neither Synaptics nor HP has access to customer data as a result of this issue.”

Such a problem could still be easily exploitable by malware or a nefarious individual with local access to the HP machine. The fact that this news arises at a time when HP stands accused of installing spyware and tracking software on to customers’ machines (as per ZeroHedge), is hardly ideal. It’s not clear where the tracker came from — be it Windows Update or HP itself — but some users have complained of it having a negative effect on system performance as well.

Although incidents like this don’t engender much trust in a company, it is important that you acquire the patched driver either directly from HP’s website or through a Windows Update. Considering hundreds of different HP laptops are said to be affected by this bug, it’s all the more likely someone would try to exploit it, so update your system as soon as possible.

This isn’t the first time HP has had trouble with keyloggers on its platform, though the most recent one was auditory.

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