CDC barred from using ‘science-based’ in budget documents

We can just imagine CDC personnel still shaking their heads after finding out that they can’t use certain terms in official documents for next year’s budget. According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration has prohibited the CDC from using “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based” — terms you’d expect to be part of CDC’s everyday vocabulary. The censorship comes almost a year after barring the EPA from sharing info with the public and having it remove all references to climate change on its website.

CDC’s senior officials in charge of its budget have apparently revealed the new edict to the agency’s policy analysts in a 90-minute meeting. WaPo’s source said attendees couldn’t believe what they were hearing, especially since the administration didn’t even offer an explanation. While the CDC could come up with workarounds, this will make it a lot tougher for its divisions to report about their work in a factual manner and could ultimately impact the funding of health initiatives.

Can you imagine working on reproductive health or diseases affecting pregnant women like Zika and not being able to use the word “fetus?” How will a health worker focusing on LGBT issues refer to transgender health concerns without being able to use the word “transgender?” “Vulnerable” is commonly used when referring to diseases and populations.

And then there’s “science/evidence-based.” It’s typically used to indicate treatments, programs and approaches backed by available evidence from scientific research. It’s also a term used to discredit pseudoscience and quack medical theories. In fact, there’s a medical approach called “evidence-based medicine,” which the National Institutes of Health describes as “conscientious, explicit, judicious and reasonable use of modern, best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.”

The government wants the agency to replace instances of “science-based” or “evidence-based” in their documents with “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.” Dr. Gleb Tsipursky wrote on Scientific American that by using that poor alternative for “evidence-based,” the administration is saying that it “wants doctors to shift away from treating people based on the best scientific research, and instead use the fuzzy standard of ‘community wishes.’” Tsipursky, who calls the censorship part of the administration’s war on science, leads Pro Truth Pledge, which aims to fight fake news and alternative facts.

WaPo’s source believes the agency’s scientists and subject matter experts “will not lay down quietly.” But unless they can convince the administration to lift the ban on those words ASAP, then CDC’s officials already have a rewrite to attend to: the White House sent back budget drafts with the words “vulnerable,” “entitlement” and “diversity” for correction.

Source: The Washington Post

HP Z38c review

Research Center:
HP Z38c

Most people don’t want to $1,000 to spend on a monitor. It’s not an easy thing to justify when you’ve already spent at least that much on your gaming rig or laptop. Yet the size and quality of your monitor can have a larger effect on your workday or gaming sessions than you might assume. If you’ve got the budget for it, why not go all in? If you’re thinking about picking up the $1,200 HP Z38c, you’re going all in.

Ultrawide, curved displays just keep getting sharper – and wider.

LG impressed everyone when it introduced its 38-inch wonder to the world in late 2016, but Dell did it better for $400 cheaper with its UltraSharp 38 Curved Monitor this year. HP is getting in the game with its own version, a massive, 38-inch curved display that competes spec-for-spec with the competition. While there are wider monitors out there, the Z38c is an impressive sight to behold with its 3,840 x 1,600 resolution and 21:9 aspect ratio. Ultrawide, curved displays have been around for a couple of years now, but they just keep getting sharper – and wider.

HP is the latecomer to the 38-inch monitor game this year, so let’s dig into the details to find out if the HP Z38c is worth going all-in.

Elegant, yet understated

‘Immersive’ is the buzzword often associated with ultrawide displays — and there definitely is an element of being absorbed within the width of the display. If you’ve never seen an ultrawide curved monitor in person, it’s an experience worth seeking out, especially for gamers and professionals.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

The Z38c is one of the widest monitors out there, at 38 inches, and that kind of size gives you an odd 21:9 aspect ratio. To put it in perspective, it’s around the same height as a more standard, 27-inch 16:9 monitor. Its 3,840 x 1,600 resolution is the same as Dell’s UltraSharp 38 Curved Monitor, and LG’s 38UC99-W.

In the past couple of years, HP’s design team has been hitting it out of the park, whether you’re talking about its 2-in-1 PCs, or its straight-up laptops. This one is marked with the redesigned HP logo on the front, and aluminum wrapping that gives it a more premium feel than the LG or Dell competitors. It’s the same look you’ll find on smaller displays from HP, like the Z27 or Z24.

HP did a great job of keeping things simple and trim all around the display, from the bezels that house it to the stand that holds it in the air. The bezel on the bottom is slightly bigger than the Dell’s, but it’s nothing noticeable.

HP did a great job of keeping things simple and trim all around the display.

The Z38c has a large, square stand that provides heftiness to the build of the monitor. Both the stand and base are made of aluminum, which adds some weight, and gives the Z38c substantial tilt, height, and swivel action. The 38-inch display can swivel up to 45 degrees to both the left and right, which is 15 degrees more than the Dell, and the LG can’t turn at all. You really must tug on it to adjust, but you never feel like you’re going to break it — and that’s important when you’re handling $1,200 of pixels.

However, the stand does take up a rather large footprint on the desk, especially compared to something like the LG 38UC99’s tiny base. If you want to switch it out, or install the monitor on an arm, you can use the standard VESA mounting adapter to do so.

Plenty of ports — facing the wrong way

For I/O, you’ve got a wide swath of ports, including DisplayPort (1.2), an HDMI (2.0), three USB-A ports, and a single USB-C port. For good measure, you’ve also got a Kensington lock. It doesn’t have quite as many ports as what’s available on the Dell, but it’s got the same selection of ports — and it’s nice to see a USB-C included here. The LG doesn’t include that.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

Most of these ports are on the back of the monitor, facing downward. Because the screen can’t rotate, access is particularly difficult — and with how wide this thing is, you’ll need to clear your desk completely to get a look at them. Once you’ve got everything plugged in, it makes for a clean setup. Just hope that you don’t have to switch them out regularly.

However, the Z38c does give you a USB-A and USB-C port on the left side of the monitor, for easy access. That means you can add peripherals without much hassle.

A modern monitor with old-school menus

You’ll find the controls on the Z38c just where’d you expect — on the right, on the bottom side of the display. You get a power button and four control buttons. While the power button is a bit too sensitive for our liking, the four control buttons are clicky, and easy to use.

The menus will remind you a bit of old televisions.

Outside of brightness, you probably won’t have to dig into the settings much, but HP does offer access to extensive color options and display modes. For viewing modes, you get toggles for Night, Low Blue Light, Reading, HP Enhance+, and Photo. As for color options, you do have the ability to minutely adjust color for RGB.

They’re not the prettiest menus in the world, though. They’ll remind you a bit of old television settings. Dell’s selection and design takes the cake here, but the Z38’s menus are functional enough.

Do you value silence?

The Z38c doesn’t have any built-in speakers. That’s probably not a big deal for most people who’ll want to use external speakers, but it’s something both competitors include that HP has ditched. If you want a monitor with speakers, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Pre-calibration display quality

If you’ve checked out the other two 38-inch ultrawide monitors on the market, the HP Z38c should look familiar. It’s got the same 3,840 x 1,600 screen resolution, which is still the highest you’ll on any ultrawide monitor. It’s also scores a tiny bit behind the others in terms of max brightness, contrast ratio, and display gamut (percentage of RGB) — though not by enough to notice.

These monitors don’t have the insane contrast ratio of something like the BenQ EX3200R or Samsung CF791 — but then again, those aren’t 38 inches large. The HP Z38c came in at 310 nits of brightness, which isn’t all that bright, but it stays on pace with the 38-inch Dell and LG.

HP claims the Z38c comes with “factory color calibration” that promises consistent and accurate colors. In our testing, the HP Z38 fares extremely well on that promise, getting an average color error of 2.03 before we calibrated the display. Colors appear bright and bold, making things like watching movies and playing games completely immersive.

Colors appear bright and bold, making movies and games immersive.

Without FreeSync support and just a 60 Hz refresh rate, this is far from the ultimate gaming monitor, but it’ll satisfy most gamers. For a serious ultrawide gaming monitor you’ll want to look toward something like the Acer Predator Z35, which boasts a refresh rate of 200Hz, or the Samsung CF791, which offers 144Hz.

In our testing, the display handled 95 percent of the sRGB color gamut, and 74 percent of AdobeRGB — which isn’t the absolute best, but is certainly good. Again, that lags a bit behind the LG and the Dell, but you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Right out of the box, the Z38c is great for editing photos and video without having to worry that the display is lying to you.

Post-calibration image quality

We calibrated the screen on the Z38c and didn’t see any serious changes. Color error went down by a bit, which is great, but there’s not much else here that’s different to report. Overall, HP has done a good job of making sure the display is very close to calibrated right out of the box.

Warranty information

HP comes with a standard 3-year warranty and options for extended protection to ensure you get your money’s worth.

HP Z38c Compared To

Dell Ultrasharp U3818DW

LG 38UC99

Dell S2716DG

BenQ PD3200U 4K Designer Monitor

LG 34UC89G

Acer Predator XB272 Gaming Monitor

BenQ EX3200R Gaming Monitor

Dell S2418H

LG 27MD5KA‑B Ultrafine 5K

Samsung CF791

Dell U3417W

Samsung CFG70

Acer Predator Z35

Dell UltraSharp U3415W

LG 34UM95

Our Take

Curved ultrawide monitors still have a bit of novelty to them, but it’s hardly a gimmick. The HP Z38c is a beautiful, massive monitor — there’s no doubt about that. The image quality is on par with its competitors, and the build of the stand and base make it stand out.

You can get a higher resolution monitor with higher contrast elsewhere, but for its size, the HP Z38 is the best you can buy.

Is there a better alternative?

There are two competitors to the HP Z38 — the Dell Ultrasharp 38, and LG’s 38UC99. The image quality is equal across the board, both in terms of resolution and refresh rate. Both the HP and the Dell offer their monitors at a highly discounted price compared to the LG (around $1,200, compared to $1,500), which mostly takes the LG out of the race. The feature that the LG has over the others is FreeSync support, which would make it the possible pick for gamers.

Between the Dell and HP, it’s nearly a tossup. We like the sleek design of the stand and base of the HP Z38c, compared to the more standard, corporate feel of the Dell. The HP Z38 also offers slightly better swivel and height adjustment, while the Dell gives you more USB ports, and a marginally lower price tag ($30 if you buy at MSRP). Both are great ultrawide monitors that are the best in their class.

If you also look at smaller monitors, Samsung’s CF791 remains our top pick. Its incredible image quality and slick design outperform these larger screens, and it can be purchased for as little as $750 online.

How long will it last?

When you buy a monitor, you should expect it to last a long time — especially when it costs over $1,000. The HP Z38 should last you many years, especially considering how sturdy the stand is.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The HP Z38 is big, beautiful ultrawide monitor that ties the Dell Ultrasharp 38 for the best of its kind.

SpaceX launches both a reused rocket and capsule in successful ISS cargo mission

SpaceX took a big step by showcasing its claim that reusable rockets are the future of space flight. The two-stage Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral and it featured not only a reused booster, but a reused Dragon capsule that’s already visited the International Space Station (ISS) a few months ago. What’s more, NASA may have gotten a discount on the flight.

Elon Musk has long touted the re-usability concept for his SpaceX program, and it kicked into high gear in 2017. Back in March, SpaceX made history by utilizing a reused Falcon 9 to send a satellite for the communications firm SES into orbit. In May, the company launched a recycled Dragon capsule for a resupply mission to the ISS.

The most recent launch marks the first time both a reused capsule aboard a reused rocket has made the journey. After a successful launch and landing back on Earth, the boosters and capsules are inspected, refurbished, and subject to a battery of tests to ensure they’re ready for another mission.

SpaceX has now completed 20 successful first-stage landings, and it’s reused the boosters on four occasions. In the pre-launch briefing for the most recent mission, Jessica Jensen of SpaceX said, “In the long run, reusability is going to significantly reduce the cost of access to space, and that’s what’s going to be required to send future generations to explore the universe.”

NASA probably got a deal on the mission as well. Last year, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell explained that reused rockets are cheaper to fly and some of that savings would be passed on to the consumer. “We are not decreasing the price by 30 percent right now for recovered and reused vehicles. We’re offering about a 10 percent price reduction,” she said. “At this point that is a reasonable reduction and then, as we recover some of the costs associated with the investment that we put into the Falcon 9 to achieve that, then we might get a little bit more.”

After the first stage’s successful launch and landing, the disposable second stage is powering the Dragon on to its December 17 rendezvous with the ISS. The cargo it’s carrying is not a Tesla Roadster, but the usual array of crew supplies and scientific experiments.

However, there may be something extra this time around. “I cannot confirm nor deny the presence of Christmas presents,” Kirk Shireman of NASA said. “There are crew care packages, and as program manager I don’t have to go inspect all those. So it wouldn’t surprise me, but I can’t say for certain.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Elon Musk’s crazy new plan combines Mars, David Bowie, and a Tesla Roadster
• SpaceX Dragon capsule splashes down in Pacific with a crew of mouse astronauts
• Dummies in space! Watch Jeff Bezos’ rocket company test a new crew capsule
• Dream Chaser passes a big milestone with a successful glide test landing
• Meet the amateur astronauts trying to crowdfund their way into orbit

NASA and Google A.I. team up and discover a new planet

In what might be the biggest Google search of the decade, CNET reports that NASA has used Google’s machine learning technology to discover a new exoplanet.

Orbiting Kepler-90, a sun-like star 2,545 light years away from Earth, Kepler-90i is an extremely hot, rocky, and barren planet that orbits its star in 14.4 days. Aside from its extreme temperatures, the planet is notable for the fact that it is the eighth planet discovered in the Kepler-90 system, making the system itself tied with ours in the number of planets which orbit a star.

Kepler-90i is also notable for the way in which it was discovered. NASA made use of Google’s machine learning to analyze data collected by the Kepler Space Telescope. The Kepler telescope collects more data than humans alone can analyze in a reasonable amount of time. By using Google’s machine learning technology, NASA was able to use A.I. to sift through the mass of data and search for signals that could indicate exoplanets.

“Just as we expected, there are exciting discoveries lurking in our archived Kepler data, waiting for the right tool or technology to unearth them,” NASA’s Paul Hertz said. “This finding shows that our data will be a treasure trove available to innovative researchers for years to come.”

Researchers  Christopher Shallue and Andrew Vanderburg trained Google’s A.I. to identify exoplanets by analyzing light readings recorded by Kepler. Light readings are tiny changes in brightness found when planets pass in front or transit a star. Machine learning has been used in conjunction with the Kepler data before, but this recent discovery marks a major milestone in NASA’s work with A.I.

Shallue, who is a senior software engineer at Google, said he became interested in using machine learning to search for planets when he learned how much data the Kepler telescope was collecting. Currently, Kepler’s four-year data set includes 35,000 potential planetary signals. NASA researchers work to identify the most promising leads, but it is difficult, if not impossible, for people to reliably search through so much data.

“In my spare time, I started googling for ‘finding exoplanets with large data sets’ and found out about the Kepler mission and the huge data set available,” Shallue said. “Machine learning really shines in situations where there is so much data that humans can’t search it for themselves.”

For more information on Kepler-90i, check out NASA’s AMA, which it will be holding on Reddit on December 16 at 3 p.m. EST.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The 10 best exoplanets we’ve discovered so far, ranked
• Here’s how NASA transformed Voyager 1 data into a beautiful (and super geeky) song
• This exoplanet telescope could help astronomers discover alien life
• IBM and MIT are working together to make sure A.I. isn’t our downfall
• Scientists hope their latest alien invitation won’t trigger an invasion of Earth

NASA and Google A.I. team up and discover a new planet

In what might be the biggest Google search of the decade, CNET reports that NASA has used Google’s machine learning technology to discover a new exoplanet.

Orbiting Kepler-90, a sun-like star 2,545 light years away from Earth, Kepler-90i is an extremely hot, rocky, and barren planet that orbits its star in 14.4 days. Aside from its extreme temperatures, the planet is notable for the fact that it is the eighth planet discovered in the Kepler-90 system, making the system itself tied with ours in the number of planets which orbit a star.

Kepler-90i is also notable for the way in which it was discovered. NASA made use of Google’s machine learning to analyze data collected by the Kepler Space Telescope. The Kepler telescope collects more data than humans alone can analyze in a reasonable amount of time. By using Google’s machine learning technology, NASA was able to use A.I. to sift through the mass of data and search for signals that could indicate exoplanets.

“Just as we expected, there are exciting discoveries lurking in our archived Kepler data, waiting for the right tool or technology to unearth them,” NASA’s Paul Hertz said. “This finding shows that our data will be a treasure trove available to innovative researchers for years to come.”

Researchers  Christopher Shallue and Andrew Vanderburg trained Google’s A.I. to identify exoplanets by analyzing light readings recorded by Kepler. Light readings are tiny changes in brightness found when planets pass in front or transit a star. Machine learning has been used in conjunction with the Kepler data before, but this recent discovery marks a major milestone in NASA’s work with A.I.

Shallue, who is a senior software engineer at Google, said he became interested in using machine learning to search for planets when he learned how much data the Kepler telescope was collecting. Currently, Kepler’s four-year data set includes 35,000 potential planetary signals. NASA researchers work to identify the most promising leads, but it is difficult, if not impossible, for people to reliably search through so much data.

“In my spare time, I started googling for ‘finding exoplanets with large data sets’ and found out about the Kepler mission and the huge data set available,” Shallue said. “Machine learning really shines in situations where there is so much data that humans can’t search it for themselves.”

For more information on Kepler-90i, check out NASA’s AMA, which it will be holding on Reddit on December 16 at 3 p.m. EST.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The 10 best exoplanets we’ve discovered so far, ranked
• Here’s how NASA transformed Voyager 1 data into a beautiful (and super geeky) song
• This exoplanet telescope could help astronomers discover alien life
• IBM and MIT are working together to make sure A.I. isn’t our downfall
• Scientists hope their latest alien invitation won’t trigger an invasion of Earth

These are the biggest ultrawide monitors you can buy

You can find plenty of massive 40-inch monitors on the market, but these curved, ultrawide displays are a special breed of huge. They used to be the weird new player in the monitor world, but these days, ultrawide aspect ratios have found their place.

Judging by size and size alone, here are the absolute biggest, ultrawide monitors you can buy. 

For 34 inches that offers QHD resolution…

The LG 34UC89G, HP Z34c, Dell UltraSharp 34, or Samsung CF791.

34 inches seemed ridiculous when these monitors first hit the market — but now they’re only the starting line for many gamers. Still, a 34-inch ultrawide gives you a monitor that’s 31 inches wide. That’s 8 inches wider than the usual 27-inch monitor. 

These monitors are also more affordable, of course, and our favorite ultrawide overall is the 34-inch Samsung CF791. Available for $750 at some retailers, the Samsung offers a large, high-contrast, high-refresh, color accurate screen. It’s an incredible display for gaming. 

Squeezing in with 35 inches of ultrawide, gaming goodness…

The Acer Predator Z35.

Do you have a friend with a 34-inch ultrawide, and you want to do the bare-minimum effort required to say you have a bigger monitor? Then check out this Acer. It’s only an inch bigger than the common 34-inchers, but the Predator Z35 has more than just size going for it.

This is the ultimate, ultrawide gaming monitor, coming with support for Nvidia’s G-Sync support and an insane 200Hz refresh rate, which should please gamers looking for immersive framerates.

Delivering 38 inches of 3,840 x 1,600 resolution…

LG 38UC99, HP Z38c, or Dell UltraSharp 38.

38-inch ultrawide monitors are definitely big enough to attract a crowd. Adding four more inches over a 34-inch ultrawide may not sound like much, but it actually results in almost 25 percent more display real estate to enjoy. 

Plop one down on your desk and you probably won’t get any work done (which is a shame — because of how great at multitasking these are).

LG, HP and Dell are the main choices right now, but new screens are entering this arena. We currently recommend the HP if you want sleek design, or the Dell if you want a lot of ports and functionality at a low price. They’re all tied in image quality, so pricing is a major factor. 

Measuring in at over four feet of screen, the heavyweight champion is…

The Samsung 49-inch Gaming Monitor CHG90.

While the rest of the competition is still stuck at 38 inches, Samsung wowed the world by stretching out its biggest ultrawide to 49 inches this year. Better yet, it’s a 49-inch monitor made for gaming, with support for Radeon FreeSync, HDR, and an impressive 144Hz refresh rate.

Its vertical resolution is only 1080p, which means its not as sharp as the 34-inch and 38-inch monitors on this list, but the width means you’ve got a crazy, 32:9 aspect ratio, which makes gaming that much more immersive. In case you can’t do math, that’s the equivalent of putting two 27-inch 16:9 displays into one screen.

Just make sure your space can handle this beast of a monitor. It’s as wide as many desks. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• HP Z38c review
• LG 38UC99 38-inch ultrawide monitor review
• Dell Ultrasharp U3818DW review
• Best gaming monitors
• Black Friday wasn’t the end, check out the best Cyber Week tech deals

California advises against keeping your phone in your pocket

The jury is still out on whether or not cellphone radiation is bad for you, but California’s Department of Public Health isn’t taking any chances. The agency just issued an advisory that suggests residents should take steps to limit their exposure to cellphones. The notice recommends avoiding phone use when unnecessary, particularly when the cell signal is likely to kick into overdrive (such as when you’re in a weak coverage area or streaming video). It also advises keeping your handset away from your body — CDPH Director Dr. Karen Smith even suggests “not keeping your phone in your pocket.”

The advisory follows the release of CDPH findings from 2009, which were prompted by a lawsuit from UC Berkeley professor Joel Moskowitz in his bid to explore possible links between cellphone use and increased risks of cancer. He believes that cellphone radiation poses a “major risk.” Other agencies, such as Connecticut’s own Department of Public Health, have put out similar recommendations.

The CTIA wireless industry group, which has historically opposed attempts to raise public concerns over phone radiation, isn’t taking a definitive stance. In a statement, the CTIA said that health was “important” to its members and that people should “consult the experts.”

It’s a bold move when some of the companies that dominate the cellphone landscape are based in California. The question is whether or not the advisory will make a difference. Without a definitive link between phone use and health issues, the statement may not carry much weight. And let’s face it, telling people to stop using smartphones as they normally do (especially in California) is like telling them to stop breathing. There would have to be a clear risk to make everyone give up devices that have quickly become staples of modern life.

Via: TechCrunch, Mercury News

Source: California Department of Public Health

Google won’t show news from sites that hide their country of origin

Google’s ongoing quest to curb fake news now includes sites that are less than honest about their home turf. The company has updated its Google News guidelines to forbid sites that “misrepresent or conceal their country of origin” or otherwise are aimed at people in another country “under false premises.” A Russian site trying to masquerade as an American news outlet shouldn’t show up in your news results, in other words.

A spokeswoman speaking to Bloomberg explained it as a matter of adaptation. Google has to update its policies to “reflect a constantly changing web,” she said, and that means ensuring that people can “understand and see where their news online is coming from.”

It’s no secret as to why Google is implementing another measure to crack down on duplicitous news sites. The internet giant is under pressure from lawmakers and the public to do more in light of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 US presidential election, and culling sites that are deceptive by their very nature (not just their content) could be a significant help. The question is whether or not Google will be effective at spotting sites that hide their nation of origin. If it regularly waits until sites become news, pulling them will be more of a symbolic gesture than an effective deterrent.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: Google News Help

Five companies, other than Shazam, that Apple should acquire

It’s no secret Apple purchases small companies with promising technology. With nearly 100 acquisitions thus far, Apple uses these companies to create better user experiences for both iOS and Mac. With Apple’s recent purchase of Shazam, there’s lot of speculation about the next company in Apple’s sights. Here are the top five companies we believe could drastically improve user experience on Apple devices.

Transit

Apple Maps has been the butt of many jokes since its release. When it first replaced Google Maps way back in 2012, it wasn’t uncommon to see Apple Maps recommending a quick detour through a lake or off the side of a cliff to get to your destination. Even though the app has improved dramatically since iOS 6, it’s still no match for Google Maps.

So what could Apple do to give Apple Maps more value? Acquiring Transit would be a great start. Transit provides real-time updates for public transit systems across the country. While you may be saying “Apple Maps does the same thing” (depending on where you live), the truth is that Transit does it a lot better.

Let’s use the MTA, New York City’s public transit system, as an example. Since it’s one of the only transit systems in the world that runs 24 hours a day, maintenance is often performed on nights and weekends. Each week, the MTA publishes a report called “The Weekender” to alert users of station closures and detours. Even though your train may not be running, Apple still recommends an out of service train and simply adds an alert that the train is not running. Transit, on the other hand, uses crowd sourcing (and a guy named Leo) to update its app to reflect the closures and offer detours.

While Apple Maps looks nice, that’s where the appeal ends. We would love to see Apple integrate data from Transit into future releases of iOS and OS X to create a more robust mapping app that competes with Google Maps.

Dish

At first glance, Dish seems like an odd target for Apple. Known primarily for providing satellite television for millions of Americans, Dish would be a huge acquisition for the world’s largest tech company. Valued at over $30 billion dollars, it would also be the largest acquisition ever for Apple. However, Dish would give Apple an advantage on two fronts.

It’s no secret that Apple has attempted to launch live television service for the last several years.  In 2015, The Wall Street Journal announced that Apple would launch a live TV service, offering a “slimmed down bundle of TV networks.” Licensing issues appear to have all but stopped the process.

Using Sling TV, Dish Network’s live streaming TV service, to catapult its own Apple branded product would not only allow the company to quickly get the service up and running, but would position it as one of the top players in the market. With a current subscriber base of more than 13 million, Dish would allow Apple to start its service with a consistent revenue stream that would allow it to further develop its lineup for multiple devices and platforms. Users would be able to easily update their channels in the App Store using Face ID or Touch ID and be able to transfer their services easily using Apple TV.

While Dish would be an attractive acquisition target for its live TV service alone, it has another trick up its sleeve. Over the past decade, Dish has aggressively purchased wireless spectrum from the FCC. A significant portion of this spectrum could be used to create an IoT network, something Dish is exploring. Apple could leverage this spectrum to make it a leader in connected home technology, offering a secure, private network that works with HomePod and other devices.

Pinterest

Hear us out on this one. Pinterest would be an excellent acquisition target for Apple, not just for its social media platform, but for its fledgling AI technology.

It’s long been rumored that Apple is interested in creating a social media network. Earlier this year, Apple Insider reported that Apple may be building an ad-free premium social network. Acquiring Pinterest’s platform of more than 150 million, largely active millennial users, would allow the company to kick its plans into high gear at a relatively low entry cost (last year Motley Fool estimated Pinterest was worth approximately $11 billion dollars).

Apple already uses artificial intelligence and machine learning throughout iOS, but Google made a significant leap in computer vision and object recognition this year when it introduced Google Lens. Google Lens combines the power of AI with your smartphone camera to identify objects and provide contextual recommendations and actions based upon the object.

Right now, Apple has no comparable feature. Pinterest Lens could allow Apple to quickly create a similar experience for iPhone users, while pairing it with a social media platform. Pinterest Lens works much like Google Lens but provides more personalized recommendations based on your own pins and likes. Apple could easily bake this technology into future versions of iOS and OS X, not only creating a Google Lens-like feature, but also integrating it into Photos and other apps to allow easy cataloging and sharing on its social media platform.

Yelp

Yelp seems like a somewhat obvious acquisition target for Apple. Its reviews are featured in Apple Maps and it’s already integrated into the iMessage app drawer. Developing and refining these features into future version of iOS and OS X, however, could allow users to use this information in a variety of different ways across multiple apps.

Yelp can be a little annoying. On mobile, you need to download the app and create a login to get the most out of it. For the casual user, it seems like a lot of trouble. If Apple purchased Yelp, the features could be baked into iOS and OS X and allow users to link reviews to their iCloud accounts. The service could also be further built into iMessage and Calendar to to provide location-based suggestions when texting or scheduling appointments. Users could also pin reviewed locations and corresponding photos to the Apple Maps app.

Dark Sky

The Weather app is one that doesn’t get a lot of attention. The design hasn’t changed much over the years, and it gathers information from The Weather Channel. While it gets the job done, it’s pretty basic and can sometimes be not very accurate.

Dark Sky is one of the most popular weather apps in the App Store. While no one at Dark Sky is a meteorologist, they manage to provide extremely accurate, up-to-the-minute forecasts. How do they do it? Well, the company uses machine learning and neural nets to discern good data from NOAA and other weather services from noise.

Both elegant and informative, Dark Sky seems like the perfect target for Apple. The app could easily be rebranded for iOS 12. It could also provide added value to other Mac and iOS services. For example, Apple Maps could automatically recommend routes with less walking and fewer transfers for commuters during inclement weather.

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Explosive claims of illegal spying and hacking rock the Uber vs. Waymo trial

The newest twist in the Uber vs. Waymo trial over allegedly stolen self-driving technology sounds like something out of a Tom Clancy novel. A letter from a former Uber employee has been made public for the first time, claiming that some of the practices that Uber engaged in included covert hacking, illegal surveillance, and bribery of foreign officials.

Known as the “Jacobs letter,” it was written by former Uber security team member Richard Jacobs and sent to Uber executives last May. The trial was delayed in November when this new document came to light, after it was forwarded to Judge William Alsup by a US attorney also investigating Uber for a different matter. The judge blasted Uber’s lawyers in court, and questioned whether they had something to hide.

Although several of these allegations have been previously raised in the trial, the full document was released last week. Many details are redacted, but you can read the full 37-page document here.

“While we haven’t substantiated all the claims in this letter — and, importantly, any related to Waymo — our new leadership has made clear that going forward we will compete honestly and fairly, on the strength of our ideas and technology,” said an Uber spokesman in a statement, according to Buzzfeed.

The letter claims that Uber “fraudulently impersonates riders and drivers on competitor platforms, hacks into competitor networks, and conducts unlawful wiretapping.” They used these tactics to evaluate vulnerabilities in their competitors’ security, using anonymous servers to “make millions of data calls against competitor and government servers without causing a signature that would alert competitors to the theft.”

The letter goes on to implicate former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and details some of the procedures used to illegally wiretap meeting of their competitors’ executives. “In at least one instance, the LAT operatives deployed against these targets were able to record and observe private conversations among the executives including their real time reactions to a press story that Uber would receive $3.4 billion dollars in funding from the Saudi government. Importantly, these collection tactics were tasked directly by Sullivan on behalf of Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick. Upon information and belief, these two Uber executives, along with other members of Uber’s executive team, received live intelligence updates (including photographs and video) from Gicinto while they were present in the ‘War Room.’”

For its part, Uber says that Jacobs was attempting to extort money from the company with his letter, according to CNET. He received at least $4.5 million from Uber in a settlement reached in August. “From where I sat, my team acted ethically, with integrity and in the best interests of our drivers and riders,” former chief security officer Joe Sullivan told CNET.

If the court finds that Uber stole the files, as alleged in the lawsuit, it may be forced to pay $2 billion to Waymo and halt its autonomous-vehicle program.

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