FCC broadband committee member quits over corporate influence

If you think that the FCC is basically controlled by the interests of big ISP-type businesses, you’re not alone. Even FCC members feel that Ajit Pai’s current gutting of net neutrality is a bad idea. Now even the mayor of San Jose has taken a stand. Sam Liccardo sent FCC chairman Pai a letter (originally provided by Axios) on January 25th, announcing his resignation from the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC).

In the letter, the mayor notes that he had “hoped to develop balanced, common-sense recommendations that will advance our goal of expanding broadband access across the country,” especially for low-income and rural Americans. “I joined the BDAC cognizant that the composition of the panel heavily favored the industry, with more than three-quarters of the membership representing telecommunications companies or interests closely aligned with those companies,” Liccardo wrote.

Still, he hoped that there would be movement toward constructive dialogue that would help cross the digital divide. Unfortunately, in his opinion, this hasn’t happened. Liccardo wrote that although the group has adopted principles that “pay lip service” to the objective, “not a single one of the draft recommendations attempts to meaningfully identify any new or significant resources to promote digital inclusion.” He pointed to the committee’s most recent meeting in DC, in which there were two specific provisions that prioritized industry over municipal interests.

“It has become abundantly clear,” Liccardo explained, “that despite the good intentions of several participants, the industry-heavy makeup of BDAC will simply relegate the body to being a vehicle for advancing the interests of the telecommunications industry over those of the public.” His resignation from the BDAC is effective immediately.

Via: The Verge

Source: Axios, San Jose Mayor Liccardo

CBS and Viacom are reportedly exploring a massive media merger

The heads of Viacom and CBS have discussed the prospect of merger, according to Reuters sources. Earlier this month, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and CBS CEO Leslie Moonves reportedly had an exploratory talk about a potential merger and both companies’ boards have scheduled a number of meetings to continue that discussion over the next few weeks.

This has been a bit of a will-they-won’t-they situation for quite some time. Shari Redstone (above), president of National Amusements, the company that owns both CBS and Viacom, tried to bring the two companies together back in 2016. But reservations on the part of Moonves and CBS’ directors kept that from happening. Two weeks ago, The Wrap reported that merger talks were back on though at the time, Reuters sources said in response that Redstone had brought up the idea to CBS’ directors but active merger discussions were not on the table.

The latest reports suggest Moonves has become more open to the idea and other industry consolidations have made a potential merger more appealing. Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox assets is said to have had an influence. And though both the AT&T/Time Warner and Sinclair/Tribune Media deals have yet to be approved by the FCC, the prospect of those going through is sure to play a role in the renewed CBS and Viacom discussions. In November, the FCC relaxed its restrictions on media consolidations, paving the way for easier approvals going forward. Bringing CBS and Viacom assets under one roof would theoretically give the resulting company more leverage during negotiations with cable companies — clout that Redstone believes both companies need to remain competitive.

However, while Viacom and CBS may be exploring the idea of merging, by no means is that guaranteed to actually happen. It’s all just preliminary for now.

Via: Reuters

Top Five Time-Saving iPhone Tips: Searching Web Pages, Swipe to Delete in Calculator, and More

If you’re looking to cut down on the amount of time you spend performing certain actions on your iPhone, there’s usually a solution hidden in Apple’s mobile operating system. Here are five quick iOS tips that once you start using will make you a lot more time-efficient in the long run.

This article assumes you’re using an iPhone running iOS 11 or later, but some of these tips will work on iPad and earlier versions of Apple’s mobile OS. Read on for more.

1. Search a Web Page

In Safari on iOS, there are two ways to search a web page for a specific word or phrase. One method is quicker than the other, although neither is necessarily immediately obvious.

The first way involves tapping the Share icon (the square with an arrow pointing out of it), sliding your finger left along the bottom column, and tapping the Find on Page button, indicated by a magnifying glass. Start typing what you’re looking for, and your search results will be returned automatically.

The second, faster method is to type your search term straight into Safari’s address bar and then tap the On This Page option at the bottom of the suggestion list, after which you’ll be able to tap through each occurrence of the term on the current page.

2. Swipe to Delete in the Calculator

It’s a common misconception that if you type the wrong number into the Calculator app, you have to start the whole sum all over again. Happily, that isn’t the case: Simply swipe right or left with a finger across the number display to remove the last number you typed, and repeat the action if necessary to remove several numbers.

3. Access Deeper Control Center Options Sans 3D Touch

In iOS 11, the Control Center is designed to reveal deeper controls when the user hard-presses to activate 3D Touch – just try it on the camera button, for instance.

If you own an iPhone SE or an older iPhone that doesn’t support 3D Touch gestures, it’s still possible to access these more granular controls on any button that supports them by using a simple long press instead.

4. Quick-Switch Back From Numbers/Symbols to Letters

Switching onscreen keyboards when you need to type a number or symbol is an all-too-often occurrence on iPhone, so here’s a tip for making the transition super-swift.

Rather than tap the “123” key to switch to the number/symbol keyboard, hold down on it and slide your finger over to the key you want, then let go. This single action types the number/symbol and automatically switches you back to the alphabetical layout, avoiding the need to perform three separate taps to achieve the same result.

5. Clear All Notifications At Once

If you’ve got a bunch of notifications from earlier in the day or week that are clogging up your Notifications Screen, don’t waste time clearing them one by one. Simply hard press on the first x icon you see on the right of the list. From there, you only need to select the Clear All Notifications 3D Touch option to make them instantly vanish.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple’s Clips App Updated With Chinese New Year Graphics

Apple’s Clips video editing app received a small update this afternoon, introducing new artwork ahead of Chinese New Year on February 16.

Today’s update brings a new Apple-designed label and poster for Chinese New Year. The poster, which reads “Gung Hay Fat Choy” (the equivalent to Happy New Year in Cantonese) is accompanied by fireworks and can be used as an interstitial scene in a video composition, while the label, which says the same thing, can be used as a sticker.

According to Apple’s release notes, the update also improves stability when browsing and recording Selfie Scenes on the iPhone X and it addresses an issue that caused the Top Secret poster to animate incorrectly during playback.

Today’s minor Clips update follows a significant overhaul of the app that was introduced in November. That update added “Selfie Scenes,” a feature that’s designed to use the front-facing TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X to immerse users in 360-degree animated landscapes.

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The new poster and label is available on all devices, but Selfie Scenes are limited to the iPhone X. Clips can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Clips
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Google now allows users to mute those annoying reminder ads

Advertising is the primary source of income for scores of sites and services across the internet, but sometimes the methods used to push products can be a little invasive. Now, Google has announced plans to give users more power to filter out the worst offenders.

It’s not uncommon for online retailers to take visitors prior activity into account when they visit their site. For instance, if you’ve previously placed a certain item in your basket but didn’t go through with the purchase, said item is more likely to show up in banner advertisement in an attempt to convince you to reconsider.

Sometimes, this works out for both parties — you might have forgotten all about that purchase, and the reminder might be pretty useful. In other cases, you may well have decided against buying that item outright, so there’s no point in seeing further adverts.

Google is now allowing users to mute these “reminder ads” in apps, and across websites that partner with the search giant for their advertising, according to a report from CNET. Going forward, the company plans to expand this functionality to cover YouTube, its search engine, and Gmail, according to a blog post published on January 25.

To take advantage of this new functionality, users should sign into the Google Account, head to Ads Settings, and find the section titled “Your reminder ads.” There, they can review a list of advertisers, clicking the X symbol to remove any reminder ads that they would prefer not to see. Muting will take effect on non-Google websites that utilize the company’s ad platform.

Google’s “Mute This Ad” feature, which allows users to prevent a specific piece of ad content from appearing again, is also being upgraded. It will now recognize feedback from any device, as long as you’re signed in with your Google account, and it’s set to appear across a larger swathe of the web thanks to new partnerships.

Advertising is big business for Google, so while these change are a boon for users, they’re also beneficial for the company. Targeted ads are the priority, since if the content isn’t relevant to the interests of the individual, they’re unlikely to have much effect.

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Good luck getting out of a ticket with Ford’s A.I.-enabled police car

The police car of the future could outsmart speedsters, according to Ford. Filings recently submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office suggest the Michigan-based firm is studying ways to build a self-driving patrol car capable of enforcing the rules of the road without a human office behind the wheel.

Uncovered by Motor1, the filings explain Ford’s autonomous patrol car would primarily rely on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system. It would establish a wireless connection with a speeding car, for example, and send a message indicating it’s going too fast. The offending vehicle would then reply by specifying whether it’s in autonomous or manual mode. If a human is driving, it would also send a copy of the driver’s license. The police car would then send a ticket or a warning; there is no word yet on how it would make the call. Good luck smooth-talking your way out of a ticket.

It all sounds like a science-fiction film, doesn’t it? It gets better (or worse, depending on your point of view). Ford adds artificial intelligence could help an autonomous police car learn the best places to hide so speeding motorists don’t see it. It could drive itself autonomously with an officer behind the wheel or go on the prowl on its own so law enforcement officials can spend time performing tasks that can’t be automated.

The filings (pictured above) bring up an interesting question: in which circumstance(s) can an autonomous vehicle violate a traffic law? Proponents of the technology regularly trumpet self-driving cars represent a major breakthrough because they will make our roads safer by not speeding, swerving, texting, drinking, tailgating, running lights, or crashing. The companies building them will ensure they never break the law which, in theory, eliminates the need for traffic enforcement, especially on the highway.

It’s important to note patent filings don’t guarantee the technology will reach production, let alone hit the market in a timely manner. Automakers routinely patent ideas to ensure competitors don’t steal them. Ford recently placed a sizable focus on autonomous technology, but it hasn’t commented on the nature of the filings. Law enforcement agencies will, in the foreseeable future, continue to put human officers behind the wheel.

Ford sees other applications for its autonomous technology. In addition to virtually pulling you over, Robocop-style, the company wants its self-driving cars to take you to work and deliver the next pizza you order from Domino’s. It has already deployed an experimental pizza delivery car based on the Ford Fusion Hybrid in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area.

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A new hologram generator uses a tractor beam and lasers to make 3D images

Ever since we first watched Star Wars, and saw the scene in which R2-D2 beams a hologram of Princess Leia into thin air, we’ve dreamed of having our own 3D-holographic projector. Thanks to scientists at Brigham Young University, our childhood Jedi-wannabe dreams may soon be a reality.

What researchers there have demonstrated is a way to manipulate near-invisible specks in the air and to use them to create three-dimensional images that are clearer and more realistic than previous holograms. They have shown off their work by creating a small holographic butterfly hovering over a (real) finger, as well as the aforementioned Princess Leia scene, reenacted by a graduate student.

“Holograms create points by using a 2D surface to focus light,” Daniel Smalley, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, told Digital Trends. “Our eyes perceive that focus as a point. By comparison, our technology uses a tractor beam to capture a tiny particle of paper. That particle is then dragged around and illuminated by red, green and blue lasers to make points. The primary difference is that when you look at an image point in our display you’re looking at a material object.”

At present, Smalley says that applications of this technology are limited because the display is so small. Short of sending out messages consisting of diminutive princesses tracking down exiled Jedi masters, it’s difficult to think of what this could practically be used for — although he suggests that it could be useful for medical visualization. “If we can make it a lot bigger, I would like to see what can be done with telepresence, since our technology allows you to physically occupy a space,” he said. Doing this will require additional work and multiple beams.

Going forward, the team hopes to make the trapping of individual specks in the air as robust as possible and then to try and trap multiple particles to scale the display. “We are definitely willing to consider licensing the technology, including the potential for an exclusive license, and would be happy to have an industry partner willing to take a chance on an early stage research effort,” Smalley said.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Nature.

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Hunching over screens is ruining your posture — this gizmo aims to fix that

There is a whole lot to love about today’s world of constant connectivity, in which the smartphones in our pockets are thousands of times more powerful than the computer that put a man on the moon. Something that is not so great? The fact that we spend so darn long staring at these screens that it’s easy to ruin your posture.

A new product available on Kickstarter promises to help us fight that problem, however. Called FitNeck Pro, it’s a neck exercise device that is designed to correct forward head posture and neck pain caused by hunching over cell phones and laptops all day. It does this by strengthening the neck and back to pull the head back in line with shoulders, using a cervical retraction device with a resistance hinge to add extra intensity. The result, its creator claims, releases tension on the spinal cord to reduce pain and inflammation.

OK, so messing around with your neck with a gadget you bought on Kickstarter sounds like it’s a bit risky. But FitNeck’s creator James McNulty assures customers that it is based on a regularly employed exercised, created by physiotherapists, that consists of a chin tuck movement, using a towel or elastic band as resistance behind the head. The wall or chair-mounted FitNeck was developed in collaboration with industry professionals and athletes.

“After suffering for years with neck pain from sitting at my laptop all day, I finally went to the chiropractor, who sent me home with neck exercises doing the chin tuck,” McNulty told Digital Trends. “It worked well at first, but wasn’t very easy or convenient to do, so I thought to myself, ‘There has to be a better way.’ I couldn’t find any products online, so I began to develop my own.”

If you would like to get your hands (and, eventually, neck) on a FitNeck Pro, you can currently back its Kickstarter online. Prices start at $56 for a single unit, which McNulty says represents $66 off the eventual retail price. Shipping is set to take place in March. That’s just in time to start correcting your posture for summer!

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High Sierra beta makes using external graphics on Macs much easier

Alongside updates to the Safari browser and warnings to 32-bit application users, Apple’s new beta for MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4 introduced some much-needed features for external graphics cards. It makes it so that compatible enclosures can be plugged in without a shutdown or log off and a clamshell mode is now properly implemented, meaning you can shut your screen and it will automatically deactivate its workspace.

External graphics cards have been an exciting prospect for years, for Windows PC and MacOS users alike. They make it possible to have a powerful gaming system in a fixed spot and all the portable functionality of a slimline laptop everywhere else. Apple systems could particularly benefit, however, as typically their graphics options are a little limited and underpowered compared to Windows counterparts.

That is what makes the new High Sierra 10.13.4 build so exciting, as it brings users one step closer to a streamlined external graphics card system. In this new beta, plugging in an external graphics enclosure doesn’t send a notification requiring you to log out to enable it — it simply becomes enabled automatically. If users want to disconnect it mid-use, they needn’t log out or shut down either, they can simply eject it from a new menu system located at the right-hand-side of the menu bar.

The other addition to MacOS with the new High Sierra beta build is a fully implemented clamshell mode, according to AppleInsider. Although partially usable in the past, this latest build makes it so that shutting the lid of your laptop will shut off your laptop-screen workspace, whether the displays were mirrored or independent. In the previous build, that would only happen in the case of dual workspaces.

External graphics cards are still considered to be in beta on MacOS — much like the High Sierra 10.13.4 build itself. However, full implementation is expected to arrive in the spring and has the potential to give Apple MacBooks and desktop systems far more graphical power. That, in turn, could open up some exciting possibilities for Apple systems in terms of rendering and gaming prowess.

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Microsoft selling a commercial version of its Surface Laptop with Windows 10 Pro

Microsoft first introduced its Surface Laptop in May 2017 sporting a new version of Windows 10 branded with an “S.” Both had students in mind, with the operating system locking app installs to products only served up in the Microsoft Store, and limitations to how end-users can change settings. But the Surface Laptop is more than just a tool for students, and the limitations of Windows 10 S are simply unacceptable in a corporate environment. That’s why Microsoft now offers the Commercial Surface Laptop with Windows 10 Pro. 

Comparing the two available Surface Laptops, the only differences reside in the memory amount, color, operating system options, and starting price. The commercial version doesn’t include a 4GB memory option, making its $1,099 starting price slightly higher than the mainstream $999 starting point. The commercial version also doesn’t provide the Graphite Gold color option, but it does offer Windows 10 Pro alongside Windows 10 S as a second OS choice for an additional $100.

Here are the Surface Laptop specifications in case you missed them: 

Operating system: 

Windows 10 S
Windows 10 Pro (commercial only) 

Screen size: 

13.5 inches with Touch 

Screen resolution: 

2256 x 1504 

Processor: 

Core i5-7200U
Core i7-7660U 

Graphics: 

Intel HD 620 (Core i5)
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (Core i7) 

Memory: 

4GB (mainstream only)
8GB
16GB 

Storage (SSD): 

128GB
256GB
512GB
1TB 

Sound: 

2x Omnisonic speakers
Doly Audio Premium 

Camera: 

720p with facial recognition 

Connectivity: 

Wireless N
Bluetooth 4.0 LE 

Ports: 

1x USB-A 3.1 Gen1
1x Mini DisplayPort
1x Headphone jack
1x Surface Connect 

Battery: 

Up to 14.5 hours 

Dimensions: 

12.3 x 8.79 (D) x 0.57 (H) inches 

Weight (starting): 

2.76 pounds 

Colors: 

Platinum
Burgundy
Cobalt Blue
Graphite Gold (mainstream only) 

Starting price: 

$999 (mainstream)
$1,099 (commercial) 

Even if customers purchase the mainstream model, they can still grab Windows 10 Pro as a free upgrade from Windows 10 S until March 31, 2018. But the newer S-stamped operating system might be best for students or other individuals computing in a controlled environment. 

The platform’s “S” suffix could essentially mean “secure” or “streamlined,” as Microsoft fine-tuned the platform to squeeze every bit of high performance and battery juice out of the Surface Laptop, and other low-end solutions. The company also focused on security, hence the Microsoft Store app lockdown to prevent students from installing malicious software.  

“[Apps] are first verified for security, and then locally each run in a safe ‘container,’ ensuring consistent performance and security for the system,” the company says. “Windows 10 S customers will be protected from malware by default with Windows Defender and can use additional antivirus software available in the Windows Store if they choose.” 

But with Windows 10 Pro, you can install any app or desktop software you want. That means you can use your favorite non-Microsoft browser, antivirus software, and PC games distributed on Steam. But it’s not streamlined for low-end machines, and it packs enterprise-friendly features students can live without. According to Microsoft, once you upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from the slimmer “S” version, there’s no turning back. 

To configure the Surface Laptop with Windows 10 Pro installed right out of the box, order from Microsoft here. 

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