Instagram adds commenting directly from the photo feed

We wouldn’t say that commenting on an Instagram post is a hassle, but it is slower than it could be. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply share your thoughts while you’re still in your main photo feed? You might have that option right now. Instagram has been rolling out a feature that lets you comment on a photo directly from your feed. All you have to do is look at a photo for a few seconds — if you’re included, an “add a comment” text box will pop up.

We’ve asked Instagram about the nature of the test (or indeed, whether or not it’s a test at all). If it’s an experiment, though, it’s a fairly broad one — at least a few Engadget editors have it. This also appears to be a server-side addition, since people using regular Instagram releases have seen this show up.

That Instagram would try this isn’t at all surprising. If you’ve stopped scrolling for long enough to stare at a photo, you probably want to do more than like it. Also, a feature like this could help Instagram continue its runaway growth. The easier it is to comment, the more likely it is that you’ll get compliments and other interactions that could encourage you to stick around.

Update: Instagram says it started rolling out the feature on iOS a month ago, and that it’s just reaching Android this week.

Via: Android Police

YouTube will now play full-size vertical videos on iOS

If you’ve ever tried to watch vertical videos on your iPhone, you’re probably familiar with the struggle of actually performing the feat. The player didn’t resize based on the orientation of the video, which resulted in large, unsightly black bars. But the YouTube team is fixing that. They announced on Twitter this week that the video player will now adapt to the dimensions of the movie you’re watching. You can see how the player will work in the tweet below. The update doesn’t seem to be live yet, but hopefully it will be soon.

Bye bye, black bars. 👋

Now the YouTube player on iOS will automatically adapt to the shape of the video you’re viewing! pic.twitter.com/4jzJ6nPj4G

— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 19, 2017

Via: CNET

Source: Twitter

Facebook deal lets you use Universal’s music catalog in your videos

Most internet giants strike deals with major labels explicitly with music services in mind, but not Facebook. It just reached a worldwide agreement with Universal Music Group that allows the group’s music to be used across Facebook, Instagram and even Oculus VR experiences. This will let you (legally) upload videos with Universal artists’ music and “personalize” your music experience. In theory, you could drop some Kanye West or Tove Lo into your Instagram clips without worrying about a possible takedown.

This is also just the start. Universal notes that it’s the “foundation” for a roadmap, and that the two will “experiment” to bring “new music-based products” to Facebook’s platforms. This doesn’t guarantee that you’ll see a full-on music service (Facebook would need to sign other major labels before that’s even an option), but it’s clear this is about a lot more than sprucing up the soundtrack for your vacation highlight reel.

To some extent, this is about fending off copyright issues. Facebook likely isn’t interested in dealing with copyright takedown notices, and labels have long accused internet companies of not doing enough to curb piracy. This puts Facebook in the clear. However, it could easily help Facebook draw people in. If you knew your favorite artist made a song available to use on Facebook but not on Twitter, where would you go to share something related to that tune? It could make Facebook more compelling if you’re a music fan, even if Facebook needs additional deals to have the selection you crave.

Via: Variety

Source: Universal Music Group

NASA’s robots will either explore Titan or study a comet

NASA’s New Frontiers program consists of a series of unmanned missions with the intent of exploring the solar system. The missions are designed to target specific goals as defined by the broader planetary community. Yesterday, NASA announced the two finalists for a robotic New Frontiers mission, with a planned launch in the mid-2020s. One is a sample return mission to a comet; the other is to explore Saturn’s moon Titan.

The first mission, called CAESAR, or Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return intends to send a spacecraft back to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This is the same comet that the ESA spacecraft Rosetta explored. This mission would focus on returning a sample of the comet to Earth. Another sample mission, OSIRIS-REx, launched earlier this year and is destined for the asteroid Bennu.

The second mission, Dragonfly, is a quadcopter that would explore the Saturn’s moon, Titan. Cassini found all kinds of cool features on the ocean world of Titan, from flooded canyons to a molecule that could foster life. This mission would specifically be designed to examine the habitability of different areas of the moon.

There are three previous New Frontiers missions. One is New Horizons, which visited Pluto and is on its way to explore the Kuiper Belt. There’s also Juno, which is currently in an elongated orbit of Jupiter, as well as the afore-mentioned OSIRIS-REx. Whichever of the two is picked will be the fourth New Frontiers mission. Both missions will receive funding for another year develop their concepts.

‘Nintendo Power’ is back as a podcast

Nintendo Power published tips, strategies, news and everything Nintendo for 24 years until it shut its doors in 2012. The magazine met its demise due to the rise of new media, but now it’s back — in the form of a podcast. Nintendo of America has announced the podcast’s debut episode on Twitter, where it has also revealed that the show is hosted by Chris Slate, the magazine’s former Editor-in-Chief. Slate talked about Breath of the Wild in the debut episode with the game’s producer, Eiji Aonuma, and director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi. A fitting start considering the success of Switch and the Zelda title itself.

It’s not entirely clear how many episodes Nintendo is planning to make — old fans can savor the first one right now, though. You can listen to the podcast on Soundcloud (we’ve embedded it below!), or you can go for the iTunes version if that’s more convenient for you. Nintendo says it will also be available on Google Play Music, but that one doesn’t seem to be available just yet.

Source: Nintendo of America (Twitter)

iMac Pro Orders Begin Shipping to Customers

A week after the iMac Pro became available to purchase from Apple’s online store, the first orders are beginning to ship to customers.

A handful of MacRumors readers in our iMac Pro order tracking discussion topic have confirmed that their orders have shipped in the United States and Canada, while at least one order in the United Kingdom is still preparing for dispatch.

Many of the orders that have shipped are estimated for delivery in the last week of December or the first week of January.

Apple still lists the iMac Pro as unavailable for pickup on its website, despite saying that the computer would be available at its retail stores by mid this week. There’s still a few days left in the week, so we’ll see if that changes soon.

At $4,999 and up, the iMac Pro is an expensive workstation aimed at professional users with the most demanding of workflows, such as advanced video and graphics editing, virtual reality content creation, and real-time 3D rendering.

At least one MacRumors reader claims to have ordered a 10-core model that costs $7,999, over four times as much as a regular, base model 27-inch iMac.

iMac Pro orders placed today ship in an estimated 1-2 weeks for 8-core and 10-core models, and an estimated 6-8 weeks for 14-core and 18-core models, with prices topping out at $13,199 for the highest end hardware available.

Related Roundup: iMac ProBuyer’s Guide: iMac Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Last-Minute Shopping PSA: B&H Photo Has Free Next-Day Delivery for Thousands of Products Ending Today

For any last-minute holiday shoppers out there, B&H Photo has a great free shipping offer that will end in under a few hours. B&H Photo says that the offer ends today at 12:00 p.m. ET, in under an hour, and is focused on thousands of tech and electronic items on the retailer’s storefront. For some product pages, the free next day shipping offer extends to 2 p.m. ET today, however, so there should be more time to get your shopping done.

B&H Photo has divided up the items that you can shop in by category and brand, including Bose, Sonos, OWC, and many more. Some of the items might not be discounted in any way, but if you’re under the wire for gifts that you need to have guaranteed Christmas delivery dates, this will be one of your last chances. All products that qualify for free next day delivery are only able to be shipped to the continental United States, so Alaska and Hawaii are excluded.

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

Apple products available with free next day shipping include MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, iPad, iPad mini, iMac, and more, all of which you can see on B&H Photo’s Apple-specific page. Yesterday we shared a few MacBook Pro models on sale at B&H Photo, all of which are offered for free next day delivery:

13-inch MacBook Pro

• Early 2015, 2.7 GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB Flash Storage – $1,249.00, down from $1,699.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 3.1 GHz, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD – $1,849.00, down from $1,999.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 3.5 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD – $2,399.00, down from $2,549.00

15-inch MacBook Pro

• Touch Bar, Late 2016, 2.6 GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD – $1,799.00, down from $2,399.00

• Touch Bar, Late 2016, 2.7 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD – $1,999.00, down from $2,799.00

• Touch Bar, Late 2016, 2.9 GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD – $2,499.00, down from $3,499.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 2.9 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD – $2,499.99, down from $2,799.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 3.1 GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD – $3,299.00, down from $3,399.00

For other sales and shipping offers, make sure to visit our full Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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Apple Working on EKG Heart Monitor for Future Apple Watch Models

Future Apple Watch models could include a sensor that allows for continuous electrocardiograph monitoring to better detect serious heart conditions, reports Bloomberg.

Apple is said to be testing a version of the Apple Watch that records the electrical activity of the heart using two fingers on either side of the device, a test that is known as an electrocardiogram or EKG/ECG. With an EKG, sensors detect electrical changes in the skin caused by the rhythm of your heart beat.

A version being tested requires users to squeeze the frame of the Apple Watch with two fingers from the hand that’s not wearing the device, one of the people said. It then passes an imperceptible current across the person’s chest to track electrical signals in the heart and detect any abnormalities like irregular heart rates.

EKGs today are most often done in medical offices and hospitals, but there are some continuous-wear EKG monitors on the market for those who need more frequent monitoring. With the ability to detect irregular heart beats and other oddities, the Apple Watch would be able to better predict and monitor serious heart conditions. Such functionality has the potential to allow people to catch and treat heart problems early.

Bloomberg says development is ongoing on the EKG functionality for the Apple Watch, and Apple could still decide to scrap it. With the first Apple Watch, Apple reportedly dropped several sensors because they weren’t accurate enough.

Apple has taken a deep interest in heart health in recent months, and in November launched a ResearchKit-based Apple Heart Study app in partnership with Stanford University’s School of Medicine. The aim of the study is to determine whether the existing heart rate monitoring functionality of the Apple Watch can accurately detect irregular heart rhythms.

It’s not clear if adding EKG functionality to the Apple Watch would require Apple to get FDA approval. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said in the past that he doesn’t want to get the FDA involved with the Apple Watch, but Apple is participating in a pilot program for faster approval of digital health tools.

Just this past November, the FDA approved the EKG Kardia Band from AliveCor, the first official medical-grade accessory designed for the Apple Watch.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Tag: bloomberg.comBuyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

New 3D printer will combine all your medications in one personalized pill

We increasingly live in an age of personalized health care, where treatment can be tailored to suit individuals on a person-by-person basis. A new 3D printer aims to add another piece to this puzzle, by giving pharmacies the ability to quickly and easily produce custom doses of drugs for patients, based on their specific needs. That means that instead of patients on lots of medication having to remember to take three of one pill, two of another and so on, they could instead receive their required doses in vastly simplified form.

The toaster-sized AutoCompounder 3D printer responsible for this was created by a Rhode Island startup called Vitae Industries. It promises to print pharmaceutical pills and gummies in a third of the time that it takes for a pharmacist to fill a capsule by hand. The AutoCompounder will even be able to print complex “poly-pills,” which combine multiple medications into a single pill.

“The AutoCompounder platform helps pharmacies more efficiently produce custom-dose oral medications,” Vitae Industries CEO Jeanine Sinanan-Singh told Digital Trends. “Standard commercially available doses of many prescription drugs on the market are not right for many people. Enabling pharmacies to easily provide doses tailored to each individual’s needs may help transform medicine and improve the health of significant populations by treating the individual, not the mythical statistical average.”

It’s a great, albeit ambitious idea, and one that we sincerely hope Vitae Industries can pull of, since it could be a massive advance for many patients.The printer reportedly takes just 10 minutes to create its customized pills, and requires nothing more the pharmacist operating it to enter the drug and required dose, and then wait for the pills to be fabricated. The machine will also clean itself between printings, so there’s no risk of cross-contamination.

At present, the $5,000 machine has not been debuted, and Vitae declined to share any images of the AutoCompounder 3D printer with us. It’s certainly got investors interested, since they’ve so far pumped $2 million in venture funding into the startup. According to Sinanan-Singh, a limited pilot program release will start in the first quarter of 2018 with select pharmacies.

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Pepper is everywhere in Japan, and nobody cares. Should we feel bad for robots?

Whether it’s robots or smartphones, AI or premium audio products, Japan has always been at the forefront of any conversation about technology. We recently spent several weeks in Tokyo discovering not only what some of the biggest names in new tech are creating, but also taking advantage of the exciting location to test out the best smartphone cameras, and discover the charm of its popular tech-tourism destinations. Make sure to check out other entries in our series “Modern Japan.”

Pepper the robot has consistently hit headlines since its introduction several years ago. The humanoid robot is a surprisingly regular sight in Japan, despite being a rarity in the U.S. and Europe. Created by mobile technology mega-corp SoftBank, we were pleased to see Pepper on duty not only in SoftBank’s many stores, but helping out the public in other places too.

Watching Pepper out in public gave us a glimpse of a joyous robot-filled future.

Sharing space with an actual, functioning robot on an almost daily basis was like our wildest sci-fi dreams come true. Pepper is the real deal. It carries out increasingly complex tasks, can verbally interact with you, and can even read you facial expressions to judge how you’re feeling. It has been employed in various jobs over the years, from being a priest to selling phones.

Watching Pepper out in public gave us a glimpse of a joyous robot-filled future, but also grimly reminded us about the danger of instilling automations with personality — real or imagined. It gives them the power to play with our emotions, as it’s worryingly easy to forget they’re not human. Should this put us off chatting, and potentially caring about, robots?

Pepper’s willing to help

Pepper first greeted us at the monorail station at Haneda airport in Tokyo, where it was dressed in a stationmaster’s cap and jacket, providing information to anyone who stopped to ask. We were in a hurry, just like everyone else around Pepper, and an endless stream of people moved past the ‘bot, as it moved around in the crowds. We didn’t see anyone stop and chat.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The next time we came across Pepper was in a high-end karaoke establishment in Roppingi, where the robot was greeting eager singers as they entered. No doubt Pepper was willing to provide more information if asked, but not only did no-one stop, they didn’t even acknowledge the robot when they walked past. Pepper can be found everywhere from inside banks to hanging out in colleges. In conversations with friends, we were told about Pepper hanging out in dentists offices and at golf courses. It’s probably not performing any oral surgery though.

Pepper can be found everywhere from inside banks to hanging out in colleges.

SoftBank stores commonly have a Pepper on duty. In one large store near Shibuya, three Pepper robots lined up just inside the entrance, all displaying text on the chest-mounted screens. Eyes eagerly scanning faces, all the Pepper robots made eye contact and sometimes calmly spoke Japanese to anyone walking in, but they were largely ignored.

Over the next few weeks, we spotted Pepper often staring out from behind store windows, looking at the world passing it by. It was a rather lonely, expectant sight, like a child with its face pressed up against a window, waiting for a parent to return from a long day at work. That was sad enough, but worse was seeing Pepper powered down. Its head tilts towards the ground, its arms hang limply by its side, and the screen shows nothing more than a black void. Motionless, Pepper stands in the corner like just another piece of electronic equipment, waiting until it’s needed again.

Acceptance, or dismissal?

We were seeing Pepper being largely ignored. Why? No, it isn’t really a “new” thing anymore, having rolled around Tokyo for a while; but it’s still a robot. Even in Japan, where robotics is popular enough to be a mainstream hobby, could everyone have gotten used to seeing Pepper that it just blended into the background? Or, are people still too nervous to talk to a robot?

Either way, eager-to-please Pepper wasn’t really performing its robot-duties, and it was impossible not to feel a little sorry for it. Whether it was waiting for us to go into its store, or keen to impart information to the lost or confused, it didn’t seem like Pepper was leading a very fulfilling life. We wondered that if Pepper’s working day was filled with human interaction, and the feeling of a job-well-done, then maybe it wouldn’t look so downcast when sleeping?

Why do we care so much? What does it matter? After all, Pepper doesn’t have feelings. We humans have feelings though, and it’s very easy to project them on the already anthropomorphized creation — it takes on a vaguely humanoid form, with a cute, human-like face. Imagining it being pretty disappointed at the end of the day, when it hasn’t helped as many people as it had hoped, is a sad thought.

Happy to talk

There are plenty of people who do chat to Pepper and really enjoy it. We spoke to Tokyo resident Erina Takasu, who told us about several enjoyable experiences with Pepper. “Pepper was rare until a few years ago, but recently it has been introduced in more places,” Takasu told Digital Trends.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

“I have talked to Pepper at an amusement arcade, where it was doing an impression of popular Japanese comedians,” Takasu said. “Also at a souvenir shop, Pepper asked me some questions, and introduced recommended items.”

She also said how popular Pepper is with children, something we heard from several other people used to observing the robot.

“In a shopping mall, I have seen Pepper asking simple math questions and playing with children,” she recalled. “Children especially seem to like Pepper,” Takasu told us when asked about how people reacted to Pepper, adding, “Most adults are shy, but I’m not, so I want to talk to him.”

Pepper, and other robots, need love and attention

Notice the use of the word, “him?” Strictly, Pepper is an “it,” but like us and likely many others, Takasu has humanized the robot. Whether this is a bad thing or not may depend on your viewpoint. To us, it’s not much different to calling a car or boat, “she,” or imagining your pet making rationally thought-out, conscious decisions.

Next time you see Pepper, stop and chat.

We’re going to make an impassioned plea. Next time you see Pepper, stop and chat. Even if you can only manage a simple hello in Japanese, give it a try. If you find a rare Pepper that speaks English, or your native language , see what Pepper wants to tell you. In the near future, more robots will move around among us, all ready to provide undivided attention, friendly conversation, and all kinds of handy tips.

Artificial intelligence is the big tech boom of the moment, and companies are already using digital personalities to make virtual assistants friendlier and more natural to talk to. It’s only a short leap to instilling robots with artificial emotions, at which time may actually care if it provided the service it was designed to perform

We’ve got to get used to talking to them, and it’d be lovely if they went to sleep happy at the end of the day too.

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