Autoblog’s 2018 Detroit Auto Show roundup

By Jeremy Korzeniewski

Yes, the 2018 Detroit Auto Show is a showcase for the latest and greatest American pickup trucks, like the 2019 Ford Ranger, 2019 Ram 1500, and 2019 Chevy Silverado. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to interest those with nothing to haul.

Mercedes brought along its luxurious G-Class SUV, Volkswagen looks to entice sedan buyers with a brand-new Jetta, and Infiniti and Lexus pulled the covers of some hot new concept vehicles. And there’s plenty more where those came from. Check out all of our Detroit Auto Show coverage, and stay tuned for more as news continues to flow out of the halls of Cobo Center.

This article originally appeared on Autoblog, the complete authority for news, reviews and car-buying research.

Microsoft taps ‘Minecraft’ leader to run its game studios

Now that Phil Spencer is managing Microsoft’s broader game platform strategy, who’s going to fill his shoes? Now we know: Microsoft has appointed Matt Booty, the overseer of the company’s Minecraft teams, as the corporate VP of Microsoft Studios. He’ll watch over all of Microsoft’s own game publishing efforts, including Halo’s 343 Industries, Gears of War’s The Coalition and Forza’s Turn 10. This isn’t just about handing over the keys, though — as Spencer explained to VentureBeat, it’s also about improving the company’s first-party game business.

Microsoft knows its list of Xbox-exclusive games leaves something to be desired, and it’s committing more resources to that area. Booty’s new role helps create a unified leadership structure that theoretically helps the studios move more quickly and produce more of those desirable titles. The role covers mobile and PC titles by extension, so it won’t be shocking if there are more coordinated multi-platform releases at the same time.

There’s no certainty that Microsoft will enjoy a renaissance, and you probably won’t see the results of this executive shuffle for quite some time. Should it work as promised, though, it could lead to faster turnaround times for games and more projects. That won’t solve all of the Xbox One’s library problems, as one of Microsoft’s biggest challenges is convincing others to create Xbox-only titles. It might, however, reduce the company’s dependence on third parties.

Source: VentureBeat

Amazon Echo goes on sale in Australia and New Zealand next month

At the tail end of 2017, Amazon announced that both its unlimited music service and Echo speaker would head to 28 more countries. This packaged expansion seems to be their theme in 2018, as the company stated both would be coming to Australia and New Zealand early in the new year. Today, it confirmed that Amazon Music Unlimited would launch in those countries on February 1st with Echoes on sale at select retailers early that month.

While the rollout might be good for Australians and New Zealanders who want Echoes for themselves, it’ll be harder for Amazon to wean them off other music streaming services, like Spotify, which has been available in Australia since 2012. At the least, Amazon Music Unlimited is priced competitively. Australian and New Zealand users can subscribe to all three tiers: The Echo-only $5AUD monthly entry plan, the Individual for $12AUD and the upcoming Family Plan that splits an $18AUD bill between up to six people. Australian customers can pre-order an Echo with shipping starting in early February, but New Zealanders must pick them up in stores.

Source: Business Wire

Apple Temporarily Rerouting Employee Shuttles Due to Ongoing Vandalism

Apple runs several shuttle buses to transport its employees from San Francisco down to Cupertino each day, and recently someone has been attacking those shuttle buses, leading to broken windows.

An employee who spoke to Mashable said that several shuttles have suffered from broken windows, and on an internal email thread, there was speculation that it could be due to “rubber rounds” fired at the buses. There have been at least four reports of broken windows on January 12 and January 16.

Image via Mashable
As a result, Apple began rerouting shuttles starting on Wednesday, adding 30 to 45 minutes to the commute from the city to Cupertino. Employees were informed about the route change on Tuesday night in an email obtained by Mashable.

Due to recent incidents of broken windows along the commute route, specifically on highway 280, we’re re-routing coaches for the time being. This change in routes could mean an additional 30-45 minutes of commute time in each direction for some riders.

As always, the safety of our employees is our first priority. We’re working closely with law enforcement to investigate these incidents and we’ll notify you as soon as the coaches are able to return to the regular route. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

For the time being, Apple shuttles will avoid highway 280 as Apple works with the California Highway Patrol to figure out what’s going on. At the current time, it’s not known what was being used to shatter the windows of the shuttle buses, with the CHP attributing the broken windows to an “unknown object.”

Apple shuttles have, in the past, been the target of protestors frustrated by the tech industry’s impact on affordable housing and the cost of living in the Bay Area.
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Tim Cook on iPhone Battery Controversy: ‘Maybe We Should’ve Been Clearer’

While visiting the Apple data center located in Reno, Nevada this afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook did a quick interview with Rebecca Jarvis of ABC News, where he discussed Apple’s economic announcements and touched on the ongoing controversy over power management features in older iPhones.

According to Cook, when the power management features were first introduced in iOS 10.2.1, Apple did explain what was going on, but following the controversy, he believes Apple should have been clearer.

The company did indeed mention that the shutdown issue was caused by uneven power delivery and explained that its power management system had been tweaked, but there was no clear notice that it could cause devices to operate more slowly at times. Cook says Apple “deeply apologizes” to customers who thought the company had other motivations.

About a year ago, we released some code that essentially what it does… is all batteries age over time and they become unhealthy at a point in time and an unhealthy battery has a probability that it will create an unexpected restart.

When we did put it out, we did say what it was, but I don’t think a lot of people were paying attention and maybe we should have been clearer as well. And so we deeply apologize for anybody that thinks we had some other kind of motivation.

Much of the rest of the interview focused on the announcements that Apple made today. The company plans to repatriate much of its $250 billion in overseas cash thanks to a change in U.S. tax policy, which will result in Apple paying $38 billion in taxes. Along with the tax bill, investments, the creation of a new campus, and more, Apple believes it will directly contribute $350 billion to the U.S. economy over the next five years, along with 20,000 new jobs.

When asked about whether Apple would have been able to make these announcements without the tax policy changes, Cook said there are “large parts” of the announcement that are “the result of the tax reform” and “large parts” that Apple “would have done in any situation.” He went on to explain that the corporate part of the recent tax bill has the potential to bring a faster growing economy.

There are two parts of the tax bill. There’s a corporate piece and an individual piece. I do believe the corporate side will result in job creation and a faster growing economy.

When asked about whether Apple would introduce a cheaper iPhone, Cook said it was unlikely, telling Jarvis that “the phone costs what the innovation inside of it costs.”

The final bit of the interview touched on where Apple might open its new campus, which was announced by the company earlier today. Cook said details will be shared later in the year, but it won’t be in Texas or California, where Apple already has campuses in Austin and Cupertino, respectively.

Tag: Tim Cook
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Google may be bringing its handy Smart Replies to Gboard

Smart Replies may be cold and impersonal, but they’ve been handy if you’ve just wanted to acknowledge a work message or answer a simple question. And soon, you might not even have to open the app. The 9to5Google crew has discovered code references suggesting that Gboard may soon get Smart Replies. When an app supports it (Hangouts, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are a few examples), you could deliver a canned response to someone directly from a notification. As dispassionate as that might be, it could save you precious time if you just want to fire off a quick “be right there” while you’re racing to a lunch meeting.

The code also provides further hints of an option to create your own GIFs by recording them. Also, a “Universal Media Keyboard” may help you search for all kinds of content, although it’s not clear whether this is limited to cosmetic features like emoji and stickers or will include web material like news.

There’s no guarantee that these features will arrive in one of the near-term updates to Gboard, and there’s always a chance they’ll get cut. With that said, it’s hard to see Google ditching Smart Replies given how they’ve already pervaded multiple apps.

Source: 9to5Google

Nintendo unveils Labo, DIY cardboard add-ons for the Switch

If you thought Minecraft was the best thing for kids on the Switch, get ready for Nintendo to (once again) blow your mind. Behold Labo, a set of DIY tools built on cardboard sheets that turns the console into a powerhouse of play. Make a piano, with the Switch’s screen for music! No, wait, a motorcycle game with cardboard handelbars! A house, with the Switch displaying an interior you can customize! Now is the era of the toy-con.

Labo goes on sale on April 20th for US and April 27th in Europe.

Developing…

Source: Nintendo – What Is Labo?

Hawaii’s missile alert agency stored its passwords on Post-it Notes

It’s bad enough that North Korea continues to pursue its nuclear weapons program and the country is developing missiles capable of delivering those weapons to the United States. Adding fuel to the fire by scaring people to death doesn’t help, which is exactly what Hawaii Emergency Management Agency did when it issued an erroneous warning of impending ballistic missile attack. And apparently, it was a poorly designed system that was behind the faux pas — including passwords stored on Post-it Notes.

As Business Insider reports, the terrifying false alarm was the result of “an employee (pushing) the wrong button,” as Hawaii Governor David Ige attested. But with so many cyberattacks over the last few years, it’s natural to suspect that a hacker was at fault. As a picture posted in an Associated Press story published in July 2017 demonstrates, that suspicion is justified — the Post-it Note stuck on the lower left-hand display contains the system’s password, a real security risk.

AP

That’s not the only issue that’s been identified. As Ars Technica pointed out, the system was simply poorly designed, with options that were not clearly labeled nor organized in a fashion to avoid confusion. The employee who kicked off the message has been “reassigned,” and the agency has now added an automated “false alarm” notification to make it easier to broadcast a correction. That’s a good thing, given that the former manual process required a full 38 minutes for a correction to be released.

These are the two images side-by-side. One resulted in widespread ridicule. The other appears to be a response to that. Both raise LOTS of questions pic.twitter.com/On88vbsZ5z

— Nick Grube (@nickgrube) January 17, 2018

It seems that Hawaii isn’t the only place where accidental missile warnings have caused distress. Japan also sent out an erroneous alert, via broadcaster NHK with the message, “NHK news alert. North Korea likely to have launched missile. The government J alert: evacuate inside the building or underground.” In this case, the message was retracted instantly, and the NHK subsequently issued an apology for the error.

Clearly, as geopolitical tensions heat up, these systems need to be fixed sooner rather than later.The Aesop fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf comes to mind, whereby false alerts could lead to complacency and citizens failing to respond should a real emergency arise.

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Forget forklifts — these tiny warehouse drones team up to lift big objects

If you’re trying to carry something that is heavy or unwieldy, the easiest thing to do is to grab a buddy and take one end each. But while this may seem straightforward to us, no one has previously managed to get drones to carry items in this way — until now, at least. With the goal of helping create the drone-led warehouses of the future, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a smart system that allows autonomous drones to work together to transport payloads in this collaborative manner.

“We address the problem of cooperative transportation of structures, which are either too heavy or too big to be carried by small vehicles,” Giuseppe Loianno, a doctor of computer and automatic engineering and lead author of the research, told Digital Trends. “A more advanced form of collective behavior is required for tasks that simply cannot be accomplished by individuals, but can be solved by cooperation and coordination. Each robot needs to interact with the payload and also accommodate the rigid constraints introduced between the different robots. The transportation task does not depend on cable connections, but rather on a rigid connection between the vehicles and the load. The rigid connection is preferable in constrained environments where physical constraints do not allow the use of suspended cables. Our solution is simple and inexpensive. The proposed approach also scales very well with a large number of robots.”

The drones are equipped with just a single camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU), an electronic device which measures the physical forces acting upon them, using a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes. With just these simple measurement devices they then communicate with one another using a cooperative localization scheme that allows each vehicle to benefit from measurements acquired by the other vehicles. This ensures that the object being carried is done evenly and in a way that will not cause it damage. Using this system, the drones can reach speeds of 4.2 meters per second while carrying objects.

“In the future, we aim to have a complete system that will be able to automatically infer to an operator the number and types of vehicles needed to pick each object in a coordinated fashion, and transport them to the final destination,” Loianno said. “The system has to guarantee a close and safe collaboration and coordination between robots and humans, allowing an operator to benefit from the collaborative interaction with the robot during the task. This system must be intelligent and adapt itself to the type of environment and objects [that need] to be manipulated and transported.”

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.

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New Brother printers are designed for speed and office efficiency

The Brother company wants you to spend less time waiting around the printer at the office. On Wednesday, January 17, Brother announced a new line of nine monochrome printers designed with both speed and budget in mind.

The new line includes five printers as well as four all-in-ones, all monochrome laser models. Compared to other models at a similar price point, Brother says the new line leads in print speed with most models hitting up to 36 pages per minute. Brother says all nine printers also increase efficiency over earlier models, with enough space to load 250 sheets at once. A handful of models expand that capacity with a 50-sheet document feeder.

“We listened to our customers — we’re laser-focused on what matters most to them and their bottom line — and designed a lineup of printers to help drive their businesses forward,” Phil Lubell, Brother’s senior director of B2C product marketing, said in a statement. “That’s what has made us the number one laser printer brand for small and home offices, and what drives us to continually enhance our products.”

Printers with a higher price point in the new lineup add a 2.7-inch touchscreen, cloud connectivity, and near-field communications (NFC). Every printer in the lineup is equipped with Wi-Fi for printing from mobile devices, along with automatic duplex printing for double-sided prints. That same connectivity also allows the printer to communicate with auto-fill programs like Amazon Dash as well as the manufacturer’s own refill program, Brother Refresh.

The line also is the first time the company has launched XL Extended Print models. Both XL models in the new line ship with enough toner to get the average user through the first two years and Brother said it is the first company to do so.

The lineup starts at $120, adding features all the way up to the $400 MFC-L2750DW XL four-in-one printer with prints, copies, scans and faxes. Brother recommends the new line for businesses and home offices that average fewer than 2,000 printed pages per month. The new line is already available both online and in-store.

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