Samsung Pay updated with a cleaner and more traditional UI

The bottom navigation bar strikes again.

During my short stint with the Galaxy S8 last year, one of my favorite features was easily Samsung Pay. Between MST support and reward points for making regular purchases, it’s definitely my prefered mobile payment service of choice. The app in its current state is perfectly functional, but the latest update brings a new design that looks rather nice.

First spotted by our friends at Droid Life, updating Samsung Pay to build number 2.8.18 brings a new user interface that’s cleaned up and makes a bit more sense from a usability point of view.

As you can see in the left screenshot below, the version of Samsung Pay we’ve had for a while has the main navigation buttons for the app smack dab in the middle below the rotating hero images. In the new version, these buttons have been moved down to a bottom navigation bar like we’ve been seeing in more and more Android apps as of late.

Samsung Pay’s old UI (left) and the new one (right).

The Home page shows all of the latest promotions, your current status with Samsung Rewards, how many cards are in your wallet, and any recent transactions you’ve made. Along with this, there are separate pages for Wallet, Rewards, Store, and Deals.

What do you think about Samsung Pay’s new look?

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US will reveal revised autonomous car guidelines this summer

We’ll see the latest revised set of guidelines for autonomous vehicles this summer, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has revealed at the annual Detroit auto show. According to Chao, her agency has been preparing for the arrival of autonomous vehicles, conjuring up ways on how to regulate them to keep everyone safe while promoting innovation at the same time. She said the revised guidelines cover not just autonomous cars, but also “barriers to the safe integration of autonomous technology for motor carriers, transit, trucks, infrastructure and other modes.”

When the guidelines reached the Senate late last year, it reportedly didn’t include trucks — far from ideal, considering quite a few companies are already working on autonomous big rigs. Daimler tested a platoon of them in Oregon, while Toyota and Volkswagen joined a full-scale autonomous truck platooning trial in Singapore. Uber began developing autonomous trucks after its controversial purchase of Otto, a company founded by a former Waymo engineer who allegedly stole the Alphabet company’s self-driving technology. Tesla has recently unveiled a truck with semi-autonomous features, as well.

Automakers have been asking the government to make changes to vehicles’ safety standards for a while now, so that they don’t have to meet all 75 of them to be able to start deploying their fully autonomous products. Most of those standards don’t apply to cars without steering wheels and pedals anyway. They’ve also been asking the administration for favorable laws that apply to all states, preventing individual states from blocking autonomous vehicles on their roads.

We might only have to wait a bit to start seeing level four or five autonomous cars on the road once the new rules are in place. GM recently detailed its plans to release a no-steering-wheel, no-pedal car in 2019, and its rivals will likely follow suit.

Source: Reuters

Algorithms transform Chicago scenes into trippy lobby art

Office lobbies are prime spots for corporations to make statements about their values and taste, yet “lobby art” is usually a shorthand way of saying “insipid crap.” However, an art installation studio called ESI Designs has given a Chicago office building a much more interesting, experimental and local take on it. Called “Canvas,” it’s a 14- by 23-foot LED display installation that generates moving paintings based on video from the Chicago River and Navy Pier amusement park rides. “The daily motion of Chicago ‘paints’ the pictures into place at 515 North State,” said ESI’s Senior Designer Ed Purver.

ESI Designs created the installation at 515 North State, the first US skyscraper created by Pritzker award-winning architect Kenzō Tange. The building used to be the home of the American Medical Association, but now touts “best-in-class connectivity,” rooftop honeybees and organic gardens. The brutalist-style gray lobby, while foreboding, is the perfect backdrop for ESI Designs’ colorful installation.

The videos at first appear to be just wild, streaking colors, but eventually they morph into realistic images of boats, trains and people. The images are created by custom paint-simulation software “in a poetic interpretation of human vision,” as ESI design puts it.

“Our custom software analyzes each video for moving objects, so moments like a person walking, or a car driving become the ‘brushstrokes’ that slowly create each abstraction,” explained Purver. “As each video collides with the next, new compositions unfold in real time, literally creating thousands of possibilities in this one-of-a-kind evolving digital artwork.”

All told, the system can generate up to 5,000 unique canvases from the five hours of footage that was shot specially for the project at 16 separate locations. The massive installation can easily be seen from the street, and even from Google Street View, if you can’t make it in person.

ESI didn’t say how much the installation cost, but we imagine that the owner, real estate behemoth Beacon Capital Partners, can easily afford it. In any case, it’s probably a lot cheaper than a Picasso, and more accessible and relevant to the Chicago public, too.

BlackBerry’s ‘Jarvis’ finds security flaws in connected cars

As cars become more reliant on software, it’s critical for automakers to make sure their code is as secure as possible. It’s somewhat surprising, though, for a company like BlackBerry to come out with a potential solution. At a keynote during the North American International Automotive Show (NAIAS) today, the company’s CEO John Chen announced a new cloud-based tool called Jarvis that can scan the complex software required for modern connected and autonomous cars.

Jarvis scans automotive binary code to identify security vulnerabilities in the software used in modern and upcoming cars, much of which is written by third-party suppliers. Blackberry claims it can scan and deliver insights in minutes, reducing the time in one case study from more than 30 days to seven minutes. “Connected and autonomous vehicles require some of the most complex software ever developed,” said Chen, “creating a significant challenge for automakers who must ensure the code complies with industry and manufacturer-specific standards while simultaneously battle-hardening a very large and tempting attack surface for cybercriminals.”

Once a car company signs up for Jarvis, it can be customized for their own needs across their entire software supply chain, letting car companies scan files for problems at all stages of development. While Blackberry is initially targeting automakers, the tech could help with many other industries, scanning the complex software behind healthcare, industrial automation, aerospace and military defense projects, for example.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from NAIAS 2018!

Source: Blackberry

Chinese booster rocket nearly smashes into a small town

Space agencies prefer to launch near the sea or over empty land when given the choice, and China just got a reminder as to why. A booster from a Long March 3B rocket dropped and exploded near the small southwestern town of Xiangdu, roughly 435 miles away from its pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. And while these incidents aren’t completely unheard of, this is one of the few times the whole incident has been recorded for posterity. As you can see in the clip below, onlookers just a short distance away saw the booster tumble and create a massive fireball.

While there were no known casualties or property damage, this doesn’t mean it was safe. For one thing, China normally plans booster drop zones carefully and alerts (or in some cases, evacuates) areas to make sure no one gets hurt. This didn’t entirely go according to plan. Moreover, the highly toxic rocket fuel and secondary explosions posed risks to curious onlookers.

Not that China has much choice in the matter. As the Atlantic explained, three of China’s launch facilities were opened during the Cold War, when concerns about attacks took precedence over absolute safety. That meant setting up shop as far away from international borders as possible, guaranteeing that some launches would pose a risk to populated areas. A 1996 disaster even sent a rocket directly into the town of Xichang, killing at least six and injuring dozens more. China is building in safer areas (such as on the island of Hainan), but it could be a while before these sorts of incidents are a thing of the past.

另外一段视频 pic.twitter.com/jBoKBuJt7b

— ChinaSpaceflight (@cnspaceflight) January 12, 2018

Here’s the end of the close-up video of the booster that fell from the Long March 3B today. There’s bang then everyone runs away. Gets them away from the hydrazine for a while at least… pic.twitter.com/CbYKkDsvsO

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) January 12, 2018

Via: Popular Mechanics, Atlantic, The Verge

Source: GBTimes, ChinaSpaceflight (Twitter)

WeChat Users Again Allowed to Send Tips After Apple and Tencent Reach Deal

Apple and Tencent, the company that owns the popular WeChat messaging app, have reached a deal that will let WeChat users resume sending in-app tips to content creators, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Apple first asked Chinese social networking apps to disable tipping functionality back in May 2017 as it violated App Store rules. Tipping, Apple said, was a form of in-app purchase that should be subjected to the same fees as other in-app purchases.

In June, Apple officially updated its App Store Review Guidelines and began allowing tipping, but as an in-app purchase, ensuring the company received its full 30 percent cut. Another tweak was made in September, however, officially allowing Apple users to send monetary gifts to other users without Apple taking a cut.

Tencent initially refused to reimplement tipping as an in-app purchase because in WeChat, tipping is a free service provided to customers to build engagement, with Tencent receiving no portion of the money.

Tipping will soon resume in WeChat, though, as WeChat creator Allen Zhang said on Monday that the company had reached an accord with Apple. Details are scarce, but Zhang said WeChat will tweak its platform so tips are paid to individual content creators.

“In the past, companies like Apple might have had a difficult time understanding China-specific features,” Mr. Zhang said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Tencent. “We now all share a mutual understanding and we’ll soon bring back the “tip” function.”

With little detail available on the deal established between Tencent and Apple, it’s not clear if Apple will be receiving a cut of tips sent between WeChat users, but the tipping feature should soon be returning to the app.
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Leaked Nvidia GTX 1050 Max-Q cards could target Intel AMD combo chips

When it was announced that Intel and AMD had collaborated on a processor design that bundled together an Intel CPU core and an AMD graphics chip on the same die, it seemed as if dogs and cats were about to start living together. But as the days rolled on, other market participants absorbed the news, which is why it’s no surprise that a leaked Nvidia specification appears to be going after the new combo-chip with a design termed GTX 1050 Max-Q.

Spotted by NotebookCheck in the latest Nvidia driver release for Linux platforms, the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti Max-Q chips are expected to sit somewhere just beneath the standard GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti cards in terms of performance, offering improved efficiency and thermal controls. If the speculation is correct, the idea would be to integrate such chips into lightweight laptops.

Although that kind of talk is all conjecture, the educated guesses at clock speeds by the likes of VideoCardz suggest that these new 10-series graphics processors (GPU) could have a purpose beyond expanding the existing range of Nvidia chips. Their speculated performance would put them around about the power of the recently announced Kaby Lake G series with AMD graphics on board. These new Max-Q GPUs could be Nvidia’s attempt to counter the new strategy from the chip giants.

How effective a strategy that will be, though, remains to be seen. We still don’t know what the real-world performance of the new Kaby Lake G chips will be like, as the close proximity of the CPU and GPU and the pairing with second-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM2) could give it a unique performance profile. Nvidia’s more typical graphics chip design could end up more powerful in some scenarios and less so in others.

Nvidia has yet to make any sort of official announcement of the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti Max-Q cards, so we have no idea when we can expect them to see the light of day. However, with them starting to receive official, certified driver support, we would be surprised if they didn’t appear, at least in a reference design, some time in the next few months.

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Broccoli and reprogrammed gut bacteria team up to battle cancer

Everyone knows that vegetables are part of a healthy diet, but very soon a stick of broccoli each day could actively help your body to battle cancer, thanks to some smart genetic modification. That’s based on work being carried out by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), who have been working on a new treatment for colorectal cancer, one of the most common cancers found in the developed world. As a new method of fighting this disease, researchers in the NUS Medicine lab aim to transform vegetables and a “bacteria cocktail” into a targeted system, specially designed to seek out and destroy colorectal cancer cells wherever it finds them.

“Our primary goal was to make use of what we already have in our body for disease prevention and treatment; basically reprogramming gut microbes that live with us to convert food into drugs on demand,” Professor Matthew Wook Chang, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “In this particular study, we reprogrammed gut microbes to harness dietary vegetable compounds to target colorectal cancer. These gut microbes specifically recognize and bind onto the colorectal cancer cell surface. Following this, the microbes use enzymatic conversion to unlock the latent anticancer properties of the plant-derived compounds to inhibit cancer cell growth and cause the cancer cells to self-destruct.”

In studies, the mixture of engineered probiotics and broccoli extract was shown to be capable of killing over 95 percent of colorectal cancer cells in a dish (although it had no effect on other types of cancer). The combination of probiotics and vegetables reduced tumor numbers by 75 percent in mice suffering from colorectal cancer. Those tumors which did appear were three times smaller than those found in mice which hadn’t undergone the treatment.

“We hope that these microbes could be used as a form of supplement drink or pills that could be taken on a weekly basis for people above a certain age or at risk of colorectal cancer,” Chang said. “The ingested microbes will screen the gut for any abnormal cells and naturally clear them with the help of a vegetable diet. Another application is to have these cells used in post-operative care where patients can take these microbes to help eliminate any remnant cancerous tissues after a surgery to remove the tumor.”

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

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Nest Secure vs. Ring Alarm: Which DIY security system is best?

Two well-known tech companies have competing — but also different — home alarm systems. Which one’s right for you?

For as smart as our homes have become — with damned near every device you can buy today connected to the internet, and probably with some sort of smart assistant baked in — alarm systems have sort of lagged in the past. Legacy companies continue to dominate, in no small part because there traditionally was very little for homeowners to do other than sign a check.

But advances in networking and in the simplification of the technology itself means that it’s gotten easier for anyone with a screwdriver to install all sorts of cameras and sensors in and around their home. In late 2017, Nest — already known for its thermostats, smoke detectors and cameras — announced its “Nest Secure” system. And upstart Ring — which has made quite the name for itself with a series of connected doorbells and lights, each with cameras built in — has followed suit with its “Ring Alarm” system.

Nest Secure is available today. Ring Alarm is coming sometime in the spring of 2018. The two systems aren’t really a 1:1 comparison, whether it’s in price or products. If you’re looking to deck out every point of entry in your home, one will cost significantly more than the other, at least on paper.

But it’s still worth taking a look at them side by side, which we’ll do now.

Nest Secure ($499, available now)

What you get: For the base price you get a Nest Guard base, two Nest Detects, and two Nest Tags. The Nest Guard includes a keypad and is how you’ll arm and disarm the system. (You also can do so with your phone.)

The Nest Detect looks like a typical door or window sensor to alert when something’s been opened, but it also serves as a motion detector. Or, it can do both. (It also provides path lighting.)

Nest Tags are little keyring-size pucks that you can tap on the Nest Guard to arm and disarm the system.

Add-ons: An additional Nest Detect will cost $59 each. That’ll get expensive real fast if you’re looking to monitor every door or window in your home. But remember that each one can also serve as a motion detector. Additional Nest Tags cost $25 each, and you can pick up a Nest Connect range extender for $69.

Monitoring: Just like with Nest’s other products, everything will ping into your phone. For $50 a year (or $5 a month) you can add a cellular backup option, so you’ll still be alerted even if your home internet is down. And there’s full 24/7 professional monitoring available through MONI, starting at $25 a month with a three-year contract — $900 over the life of the plan.

Our take: Nest Secure certainly looks like an expensive option. But that also fits into Nest’s product range — function and style, along with ease of use, and a price tag to match. Arming every single point of entry would get very expensive — we might just concentrate on strategic locations instead.

See at Nest

Ring Alarm ($199, not yet available)

What you get: The bottom-line price gets you a base unit and separate keypad. Also included is a single door/window contact sensor, and a single motion sensor.

Add-ons: The basic Ring Alarm system is a lot less expensive but comes with fewer sensors. However, it also has more products available to tie in to the system.

An additional keypad runs $50. Each additional motion detector is $30, and additional contact sensors are $20 each. A flood/freeze sensor is $25, as is a smoke/CO sensor.

Monitoring: Ring Alarm doesn’t appear to have as extensive monitoring options — including cellular backup or professional monitoring. But $100 a year (or $10 a month) hooks you in to Ring’s “Protect Plus” plan, which gives full playback and sharing from all of your Ring devices, lifetime warranty, and discounts on future devices.

Our take: Ring Alarm was pushed back due to legal issues, and we don’t know exactly when it’ll be available, or what might change in the interim. It’s more of a DIY home security thing and lacks the sophistication of other systems. But it’s far less expensive and should still be a good option.

More info at Ring

The bottom line

If you’re looking for alternatives to the legacy alarm vendors, both Nest Secure and Ring Alarm should be intriguing options — especially if you’re already using products from either ecosystem.

Nest Secure is more expensive. I could rig up all of the doors and windows of my home with Ring Alarm and have money left over for more motion detectors. On the other hand, Nest Secure may make more sense if you’ve got a Nest Thermostat or Nest Cam and want to have products in as few ecosystems as possible.

I’ve got Nest products in my home. I’ve got Ring products in my home. Both work well, though Nest’s software tends to work a little better in my experience (your mileage may vary), and often is easier to set up. On the other hand, I love my Ring doorbell.

I’d look at this as a couple of good options for different budgets. And, again, we’ll have to see how the thing actually work once Ring Alarm is released.

Someone made a YouTube app for Android Auto

The app’s called ‘YouTubeAuto’ and you can download it now.

Android Auto had a surprisingly big presence at this year’s CES. Wireless connectivity and full Google Assistant support are the two main features that are coming to Android Auto, and now there’s an app you can download that lets you watch YouTube videos while in the car.

The app is called “YouTubeAuto” and it was created by developer Kiran Kumar. You can browse all the latest trending videos, check out new uploads from channels you’re subscribed to, and search through YouTube’s entire catalog of clips. It’s essentially a port of the regular YouTube app for Android phones and tablets, and while some of the UI looks a bit stretched off and janky, you do have access to just about every YouTube feature that you’d find in the mobile app.

I certainly don’t recommend watching YouTube videos while driving, and this something you’ll see a warning for every time you open the app. With that said, if there’s a podcast, song, or other video that you can just listen to in the background, this might be worth checking out.

YouTubeAuto isn’t available in the Play Store as it violates Android Auto’s guidelines, but you can download the APK file now from Kumar’s website.

Android Auto is fantastic with the addition of Google Assistant and wireless connectivity