People don’t want to talk to LG’s big friendly robots

Last year was when talking to a smart speaker started to become the norm, but surprisingly, LG has struggled to replicate the same success with its CLOi series commercial robots. Ahead of LG’s CES show, I talked to its Head of Research for Life Robots, Jaewon Chang, who updated on the company’s robot trial service in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport. Since deployment in July, each of the five Guide Robots has interacted with around 2,500 people. However, only a quarter of travelers used voice interaction, with the majority preferring the touchscreen mounted vertically on the robot’s chest. Likewise, just as few people let the robots guide them to their destination. Chang needs to find a way to boost those figures — and make us learn to trust these big friendly robots.

“There are still psychological barriers in using voice recognition and also following robots around for directions,” Chang said. “They feel this awkwardness and some degree of hesitation.”

Having interacted with Pepper out in the wild on several occasions, I questioned whether a more humanoid form factor — or at least the addition of arms — would help. While Chang admitted that he’s interested in humanoids and that his team will ultimately add arms to its robots, initially those limbs would be largely decorative, gesturing aside. Then there’s also the issue of how certain cultures perceive humanoid robots: Chang pointed out that Japan may have its friendly Astro Boy, but American folks will bring up the ruthless Terminator as a counterexample.

“To take away the awkwardness, we need to change the [conceptual] perception of the users … adding arms won’t solve that issue. It’s up to companies to gain more trust from the consumers, making them believe in our products more,” Chang explained. He added that this will eventually change when those arms become sophisticated enough to perform meaningful tasks.

For Chang, the missing ingredient in many robots right now is artificial emotion. We’re not talking about having a humanlike face here; specifically, it’s the combination of recognizing the user’s mood and responding accordingly, with the former relying on video-recognition artificial intelligence — something that Chang believes the industry as a whole should put more effort into.

This is where the much smaller CLOi Hub Robot comes in. Much like its siblings, the Hub Robot also features a circular face showing a pair of jade-colored eyes that can animate a range of expressions; and unlike the ASUS Zenbo, it doesn’t feature a mouth. (Perhaps that’s why the bot stopped talking to the presenter halfway through his keynote at CES.)

Even though the machine lacks mobility, it’s able to wiggle on the spot to pull some cute moves or even dance to music. Better yet, on top of common interactions like proactively greeting, asking or making suggestions to a person, it claims to be capable of delivering appropriate emotional reactions based on the user’s tone.

I’m also looking forward to the Hub Robot’s ability to control other LG home appliances — a bit like using LG’s own smart speaker except more fun. There’s no word on when the bot will hit Western markets; all we know is that it’ll be made available to Korean consumers in Q2 2018. Additionally, you can also expect the device to start serving customers in banks and shopping malls in the same region soon.

It’s still too early to tell whether the Hub Robot will be a commercial success. If anything, it seems that LG may actually have a better chance with its larger, slightly more imposing machines. “There are two major areas where we could see a real takeoff in commercial robots: hospitality and logistics,” Chang added. “The logistics market is expected to be far greater than that of hospitality.”

Throughout the months of airport trialing, LG optimized its Guide Robots’ voice-recognition technology for noisy environments, and it also improved the path-planning algorithm for both its Guide Robots and Cleaning Robots to better suit the busy floor. In the end, one of the Guide Robots accumulated a total travel distance of more than 120km within the airport building. Chang pointed out that thanks to the robots’ exposure at Incheon Airport, his team received more trial requests from potential clients who had figured out other use cases — hopefully ones that will encourage more voice interactions between machine and human.

To that end, LG announced three new CLOi industrial machines at this year’s CES: the Serving Robot, the Porter Robot and the Shopping Cart Robot. On top of that, Chang has been leading LG’s development of two other robots since 2015: a robot vacuum cleaner and a lawn mower bot, with the latter expected to hit European markets in the second half of 2018. The company might not have made the perfect robot, but it’s very aware of the challenges it still needs to overcome. It’s not giving up anytime soon.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

LG is launching its mobile payment system in the US this year

LG launched its mobile payment system in South Korea last June and Yonhap News reports LG Pay is finally on its way to the US. The US expansion is reportedly planned for sometime during the first half of this year and might be launched under a new name — LG Wallet. Android Police actually spotted an LG Wallet app in the Play Store a few days ago, but it has since been removed.

LG has some catching up to do if it wants to be a competitor with Apple and Samsung. Samsung released its mobile payment system in 2015 and it’s now available in 21 countries while Apple Pay is supported in 25 countries and regions. Android Pay, meanwhile, is available in 17 countries.

At launch, LG’s payment system will be available on G7 and V40 premium phones in the US and next year, LG will expand the system to its mid-range phones.

Via: Yonhap News

Drunk droning in New Jersey could land you in prison

The law is pretty firm when it comes to drunk driving — the consequences are obvious. Now, officials are turning their attention to drunk droning. New Jersey has just approved a bill that, if signed by Governor Chris Christie, would make it illegal to fly one under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Operating a drone with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.8 percent of more (the same legal limit for driving a vehicle) would be considered a disorderly offence under the new rules, and would carry a $1,000 fine and up to six months in prison.

There’s been no shortage of drone crash stories in the news in recent times — one of the most famous being the 3AM crash land on White House grounds in 2015, thanks to a drunken mishap. Even the army can’t get it right. So it’s no surprise companies are offering crash insurance for the devices.

The bill, which was approved 65-0, also aims to outlaw other shady drone practices, such as knowingly endangering someone’s life or property, harassing wildlife, or messing with the security of a correctional facility. If you’re caught doing any of these, you could face up to 18 months in prison and be handed a $10,000 fine. Governor Christie must now sign the bill before leaving office or the legislation is dead, but with at least 38 states considering restrictions on the devices this year, you can expect to see similar laws being rolled out elsewhere soon.

Via: NorthJersey.com

Source: Reuters

Soofa’s Sign is a 21st century smart bulletin board

Smart cities of tomorrow will run on information, with various pieces of connected urban infrastructure all sharing data amongst themselves. But what sharing information amongst the citizenry? That’s where the Soofa Sign, a community bulletin board for the 21st century, comes in.

The Sign is designed to serve as a standalone information-sharing platform and boasts a 42-inch solar-powered e-ink display. Community members can post messages and announcements at each Sign using the kiosk’s open CMS, which also tap into the municipal transit system to display pertinent information like upcoming bus arrivals as well as social media feeds.

A series of Soofa Signs were recently installed throughout Las Vegas’ downtown “Innovation District” as part of a six-month pilot program with the city. They’ve been placed at the stops for the Downtown Loop free shuttle and relay wait times for passengers.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

GoPro’s Nick Woodman confirms he’s ‘open’ to selling

It’s barely the second week of 2018, and GoPro’s already been through the media-mill. Reports first surfaced that the company was about to begin another round of layoffs, and that it would shutter its drone business for good. Those proved to be true. Then, just two days ago, a second story claimed GoPro was actively looking to sell off its business.

At CES, GoPro founder and CEO, Nick Woodman, took to the Engadget stage to dismiss the rumor that it was seeking a buyer, but he also confirmed they’re open to offers. Woodman even alluded to which companies he might be most interested in working with. (Hint: Social networks.)

To someone who’s followed GoPro closely for the last few years, the most interesting aspect was Woodman’s change of language. Previously, any talk of GoPro being bought out (which has been going on for years) has been quickly dismissed. During my interview with him on stage at CES, he made several references to being “open” to opportunities and spelled out why his company would be a good get.

First we need to understand why GoPro might want to sell. The closure of the Karma project obviously shows that it was an expensive experiment that wasn’t helping the bottom line. On top of that, recent financial information showed that even GoPro’s cameras weren’t selling as well as the company had hoped. Specifically the Hero 5, which was still on sale for the same price it was a year ago (despite being replaced by a new flagship).

To rectify that, GoPro cut the price of the Hero 5 and the Hero 6 by $100, which Woodman claims has reinvigorated sales. He also hinted at the first new product of 2018. “We have a new product coming out in the first half of the year that’s going to be really exciting for our entry-level customers.”

One of Woodman’s favorite mantras has always been that, at GoPro, they are the user, so they make products for themselves. “I’m sitting up here on stage saying that’s no longer the case. And it’s a good thing.” Woodman’s referring to a change of strategy where they acknowledge the need to build products specifically that their customers want.

So, a new focus and a leaner team might lead to profitability. But there’s still that pesky rumor of a buyout. “At the heart, I’m an entrepreneur that wants to see GoPro succeed … I would be thrilled if the easiest, most efficient way to achieve that was through the sale of the company to a bigger business that could really help GoPro shine.” Woodman said.

He cushioned that statement a little by adding that the prudent thing to do, right now, is carry on as if they were to remain independent forever. While he stated that they are open to opportunities, he claimed that GoPro wasn’t actively out “shopping the business,” which is contrary to reports yesterday from CNBC.

If he was seeking a corporate suitor, Woodman said he’d want one that can scale and add to their vision. He also mentioned the social aspect of GoPro — sharing. If there was a partner that could dramatically scale their reach, turn on new customers, and make GoPro more accessible, Woodman said that “we would be all over that opportunity.” To me, that sounds like something a social network, rather than a hardware-only company could offer.

I asked that exact question — would Facebook (and by proxy Instagram) or YouTube (Google) or even Snap (Spectacles) — be ideal partners to meet their needs? All those companies have huge platforms, rely heavily on video, and have dabbled in hardware (Facebook owns Oculus remember). His response? “People’s social activity, and the viral nature of it, really is the reason that GoPro exists.”

Woodman went on to suggest that social networks, as a software product, aren’t always sure about making hardware. “It’s something that’s non-obvious and new to companies.” I’m not saying he’s hinting that it’s something to these networks that it’s worth exploring, but it would be easy to read that between the lines. If you were so inclined. Especially when he added, “And apparently there are only so many companies willing to do truly new things in this world.”

As for why an approach hasn’t happened already, Woodman candidly admitted that, in the past, there had been “real questions about GoPro’s viability.” Before reminding us how much more social the world is now, how much more convenient a GoPro has become (for sharing), and how the app will make a video for you. Referencing Instagram by name, he talked about how the “social opportunity is clearly growing.”

For now, though, it’s business as usual. This week GoPro announced that it’s “Overcapture” feature — key to the consumer success of Fusion — is finally available, and it’s still selling its remaining Karma inventory and the newly priced cameras. One thing’s for sure: 2018 will be an action-packed year for the company either way.

Wi-Fiber’s streetlights are an easy way to make cities smart

The difference between the technology in our pockets and that lining out streets is growing ever more pronounced, and that’s a problem. it’s one of the reasons that smart city technology is going to become an increasingly visible part of the world over the next few years. Communities need to catch up, and companies like Wi-Fiber are hoping that offering a way to retrofit new equipment into existing infrastructure is the solution.

The company has produced a modular street lamp that can be customized to suit any number of needs, from smart lighting through to municipal WiFI. First up, there’s LED bulbs that will offer more efficient lighting, and also the ability to change colors and strobe. That could be useful, for instance, if law enforcement are responding to an emergency, the lights can be flashed to highlight where the crisis is taking place.

Unfortunately, the system will also offer up an easy way to further the reach of our surveillance state, including a 4K camera and two-day microphone and speaker. In addition, the company is pledging that the footage can be archived and searched, ensuring that Big Brother knows exactly where you are, and when. But, on the upside, the system can be fitted out with gunshot sensors, air quality monitors or even ZigBee controllers.

The placement of municipal WiFi in city centers can also benefit both cities — which can cut down on their cellular subscriptions — and individuals, especially in our smart car future. Wireless infrastructure will better enable machine-to-machine communication, or at least it could, depending on how it’s implemented. In fact, that’s the rule for all of these things: it all depends on how it’s implemented, and the intentions of those who do.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Source: Wi-FIber

Facebook is testing a dedicated section for local news

Facebook is testing a new section dedicated to local news and events, Recode reports. Called “Today In,” it’s currently being tested in six cities — New Orleans, Louisiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; Billings, Montana; Peoria Illinois; Olympia, Washington; and Binghamton, New York. It’s accessible through the menu button on the bottom right of the mobile app and will include stories from local publishers — which will be approved by Facebook’s News Partnerships team — as well as emergency updates and local events.

Facebook made quite a few changes to how it manages news last year. It made efforts to minimize the spread of fake news on its site and incorporated new features to highlight legitimate news sources. Facebook also began pushing more posts from local politicians into the News Feed and started testing a “breaking news” tag.

Recode reports that Facebook intends to bring Today In to more cities in the future and will allow users to follow cities where they don’t currently live.

Via: Recode

Confide Introducing New ‘ScreenShield’ SDK That Will Allow Developers to ‘Screenshot-Proof’ Their Apps

Private and secure messaging app Confide is gaining an interesting new feature that will successfully prevent its users from taking a screenshot within the app, and the team behind Confide is also planning to release the anti-screenshot technology as an SDK that can be used by other app developers.

Called ScreenShieldKit, the new SDK prevents screenshots, screen recording, QuickTime recording, Screen mirroring, Xcode screenshots, and viewing an app’s contents in the App Switcher on both the iPhone and the iPad.

There is no dedicated API to stop screenshots from being taken in iOS like there is in Android, so ScreenShieldKit is using a whiteout feature instead. In an app that has ScreenShieldKit enabled, screenshots taken are a blank aside from a single status bar at the top. The same goes for recordings.

Apple does have a feature that prevents screenshots from being taken in apps that stream video content from a server, such as Netflix and iTunes, but since Confide does not stream from a server, Confide’s developers tell us it took quite a bit of tweaking and work to develop ScreenShieldKit.

The Confide team used a “collection of technologies” to get ScreenShieldKit to work, and they believe they’re the first to come up with this screenshot proofing concept on iOS devices. ScreenShieldKit uses only public APIs, and no private APIs, and it’s a seamless experience for end users.

The current version of the Confide confidential messaging app already protects against screenshots by revealing just one line of text at a time, but the new ScreenShield feature is being implemented into the app to provide even more robust screenshot protection.

In the Confide app, ScreenShield will make it so any screenshot captured will show no message content. Confide also already uses end-to-end encryption and erases messages after they’ve been viewed to provide a secure messaging platform.

While Confide’s ScreenShield feature will prevent on-device screenshots, there is, of course, no way to stop people from taking a photo of an iPhone’s screen with a secondary device. Still, for on-device use, it’s a solid solution that many developers may be interested in adopting.

Confide is offering the ScreenShieldKit feature to developers, with more information available on the ScreenShieldKit website.

The Confide app, with ScreenShield built in, can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: App Store
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macOS High Sierra’s App Store System Preferences Can Be Unlocked With Any Password

A bug report submitted on Open Radar this week reveals a security vulnerability in the current version of macOS High Sierra that allows the App Store menu in System Preferences to be unlocked with any password.

MacRumors is able to reproduce the issue on macOS High Sierra version 10.13.2, the latest public release of the operating system, on an administrator-level account by following these steps:

• Click on System Preferences.
• Click on App Store.
• Click on the padlock icon to lock it if necessary.
• Click on the padlock icon again.
• Enter your username and any password.
• Click Unlock.

As mentioned in the radar, System Preferences does not accept an incorrect password with a non-administrator account. We also weren’t able to unlock any other System Preferences menus with an incorrect password.

We’re unable to reproduce the issue on the third or fourth betas of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, suggesting Apple has fixed the security vulnerability in the upcoming release. However, the update currently remains in testing.

MacRumors is also unable to reproduce the issue on macOS Sierra version 10.12.6, suggesting the issue affects macOS High Sierra only.

The security vulnerability means that anyone with administrator-level access to your Mac could unlock the App Store preferences and enable or disable settings to automatically install macOS updates, app updates, system data files, and, ironically, even security updates that would fix a bug like this one.

This is the second password-related bug to affect macOS High Sierra in as many months, following a major security vulnerability that enabled access to the root superuser account with a blank password on macOS High Sierra version 10.13.1 that Apple fixed with a supplemental security update.

Following the root password vulnerability, Apple apologized in a statement and added that it was “auditing its development processes to help prevent this from happening again,” so this doesn’t look great.

We greatly regret this error and we apologize to all Mac users, both for releasing with this vulnerability and for the concern it has caused. Our customers deserve better. We are auditing our development processes to help prevent this from happening again.

Apple will likely want to fix this latest security vulnerability as quickly as possible, so it’s possible we’ll see a similar supplemental update released, or perhaps it will fast track the release of macOS High Sierra version 10.13.3. Apple did not immediately respond to our request for comment on this matter.

In the meantime, we can’t think of an obvious workaround for this issue, so if you keep your App Store preferences behind lock, you’ll want to keep a close eye on your Mac until further notice. If we learn of a solution, we’ll share it.

Update: It’s worth noting that the App Store preferences are unlocked by default on administrator accounts. While the seriousness of unauthorized access to the App Store menu is debatable, the underlying bug allowing a password prompt to be bypassed with any password is obviously unacceptable.

Related Roundup: macOS High SierraTag: Mac App Store
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T-Mobile Announces BOGO Rebate Offer: Get Up to $700 Off Second iPhone 7, 8, or X

T-Mobile today announced a few new offers that will be activated beginning this Friday, January 12, one of which is focused on Apple’s latest iPhones, including the iPhone X. With the deal, new and existing T-Mobile customers can buy one iPhone and get up to $700 off another iPhone of equal or lesser value, offered in the form of a rebate received via prepaid card.

The BOGO rebate applies to the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X, which must be purchased and activated on T-Mobile’s Equipment Installment Plan. Other qualifications include needing to port in “at least one new line” on a T-Mobile ONE or select Simple Choice Unlimited plan, and trade in one eligible iPhone, LG, or Samsung smartphone.

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

T-Mobile broke down the steps for the offer on its website:

– Purchase two new iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, or X devices on equipment installment plans.
– Port in at least one new voice line onto an eligible rate plan to be used with one of the new devices.
– Trade in an eligible device
– Submit a request on the T-Mobile Rebates page (including IMEI entry) using promo code 18Q1APLBOGO within 30 days of second device purchase.

Instead of offering the rebate to customers in the form of monthly bill credits, T-Mobile will send those who complete these steps a prepaid MasterCard card with their rebate amount, around six to eight weeks later. While the new deal is not a straight discount since it still requires a standard payment plan, those who take advantage of the offer could eventually get a notable markdown on a second iPhone X, or even receive a cheaper iPhone for free. The rebate extends to Samsung and LG smartphones, so visit T-Mobile’s page for the offer for more details.

T-Mobile also added the iPhone X to its “#GetOutOfTheRed” program, in which the company pays off customers’ existing Verizon smartphones (up to $650 on a virtual prepaid card) when they choose to switch to T-Mobile ONE or ONE Plus International plans. T-Mobile said that all of the new offers start Friday and can be combined on the same account but not on the same line.

Fore more of the latest offers, sales, and rebates happening in the new year, check out our full Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple DealsTag: T-Mobile
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