Google Assistant will get support for Routines ‘in the coming weeks’

Today’s Google Assistant is much, much more capable than the version that first debuted on the original Pixel and Pixel XL. Don’t expect that progress to slow anytime soon, either: Google laid out some new plans to improve the Assistant just in time for Mobile World Congress, and they extend far beyond just teaching it more languages.

Most importantly, Google confirmed it has been working with smartphone makers on ways to weave Assistant more elegantly into our smartphones. That work is being formalized in the new Assistant Mobile OEM program, and Google’s list of accomplishments with its partners is nothing to sneeze at: it helped make Assistant compatible with certain kinds of mobile AI coprocessor and worked to make sure devices can listen for the right wake-words even when their screens are off. It won’t be long before you start to see device-specific Google Assistant commands, either — LG touted a list of 23 new commands for its updated V30, and Google also cited close working relationships with companies like Sony and Xiaomi.

Google Assistant is also finally getting support for Routines, a feature first announced last year. Long story short, you’ll be able to string together multiple actions with a single command; saying “OK Google, goodnight,” for instance, could dim your Philips lights, dial down the temperature on your Nest thermostat and lower the volume on your Google Home Max. Routine support is expected to go live within the next few weeks, as will location-based reminders through Assistant-powered speakers. (Yes, you could do this through a phone already, but parity between different flavors of Google Assistant is always a good thing.)

Source: Google

Samsung Galaxy S9: What to expect from Unpacked 2018

Samsung is primed to unveil its latest flagship, the Galaxy S9. Fortunately for anyone desperate to hear what’s coming on February 25th, there’s been no shortage of leaks and renders before the big day. It’s not good news for the secret-keepers at Samsung but gives us plenty of threads to pull at ahead of the big reveal in Barcelona. How will the Galaxy series fare against the latest trio of iPhones? Can it best the talking-poop emoji?

Say hello to the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9 Plus

Multiple rumors (and common sense) point to a repeat of last year, namely two new phones, once again. According to specs from WinFuture, the main difference between the incoming S9 and the S9 Plus will still be screen size. However, it may not be the only thing separating the 5.8-inch Galaxy S9 from the 6.2-inch Plus version. The bigger S9 Plus will apparently pack dual 12-megapixel rear cameras — a first for the Galaxy S family, even if the Note 8 picked up a second camera last year.

Judging by the leaked images from Evan Blass (AKA @evleaks), Samsung’s designers aren’t making any drastic stylistic changes.The new Galaxy S9 will apparently be all-screen, with just a lil’ bit of bezel. We’re not knocking it: Samsung’s 2017 flagships set a new standard for stylish smartphones, so we’re happy to see the same design. Early renders offered a silhouette with oddly thicker sides than last year’s S8, although last week’s blitz of leaks suggest “infinity displays” that once again stretch right from edge to edge, if not quite to infinity.

The latest shots also suggest slightly slimmer borders above and below the screen, which sounds good to us. And not a notch in sight. That said, there does appear to be a busier sensor and camera array above the screen, and it’s not the only thing that suggests the new Galaxy S phones will offer more in the way of security options and facial-tracking tricks.

Animated emoji

At the start of the year, Samsung’s chip division announced its latest Exynos mobile processor, and it made a big deal about how its new chip would improve future smartphones’ AI performance, face detection and image recognition. Real-time 3D scanning of your face, then, would be very possible. As the press release put it: “Hybrid face detection enables realistic face-tracking filters as well as stronger security when unlocking a device with one’s face.”

We know more than that, too. ETNews sources believe the S9 will pack a “3D emoji” ready to go head-to-head with Apple’s Animoji on the iPhone X. 3D faces will map your expressions to lil’ emoji — and we may have already glimpsed the animation through Samsung’s latest S9 preview video.

If this is a sign of what’s coming, we might be able to pin animated emoji to objects beyond your own grinning, karaoke-prone face.

New camera tricks

Let’s home in on those purported dual cameras. Beside the depth of field skills we’ve seen on other companies’ camera phones, Samsung might be planning something a little more remarkable: a rear camera that can switch between two different aperture modes.

Like Samsung’s Asia-only W2018 from last year, the camera may tap into an f/1.5 aperture for low-light shooting or macro photography, but also use an f/2.4 aperture to ensure more objects are in focus. F/1.5 is also an extraordinarily low f-stop for a smartphone — and means more light hitting the imaging sensor, more detail and less noise. A very early leak, involving a possible retail box for the S9, suggests this variable aperture camera will make it to both the new phones.

Reddit

The camera rumors don’t stop there, either: Samsung might be gunning for Sony’s own smartphone imaging tricks, with a new super slow-motion 960 FPS for silky smooth bounding puppies, frolicking children, birthday-cake-candle blowing and other cliched slow-mo examples.

If you were intrigued by Samsung’s DeX, the phone dock that turned the S8 into a desktop PC of sorts, then you can happily expect an updated model to go with your new Galaxy flagship. Sure, it looks like a Sega Genesis, but there’s nothing wrong with that. The phone will apparently nestle flat on this new device, rather than be propped — perhaps that touchscreen could come in useful?

Any other business

Last but not least, it looks like Samsung will fix one of our biggest issues with the Galaxy S8 — that terrible fingerprint sensor placement. Now, it’s graciously moved away from being right next to the camera sensor(s), looking a lot more like rival Android phones, at least on the back. We’ll discover which rumors turned out to be true in a few days. There’s a conspicuous absence of Bixby news, but we’re certain Samsung will have more to say about its beleaguered virtual assistant as it comes up to its one-year anniversary. Rest assured, we’ll be giving it a thorough hands-on testing as soon as we can.

Tesla wants to install charging stations at your office

Tesla has a pretty good track record when it comes to making its chargers more accessible, but it needs to step up its game now that it’s shipping more and more cars. One of the ways it plans to do that is by launching yet another charging program, this time for your office. The electric automaker is providing employers and commercial property managers with free Tesla Wall Connectors — and will also install them on company parking lots for free — so long as they apply and qualify for the program.

While Tesla’s Destination program installs chargers on restaurant, hotel and resort parking lots that anybody can use, the Workplace program focuses on company employees. According to Electrek, only people employed by a Workplace partner will be able to use the chargers, so don’t expect to spot them on Tesla’s navigation system. After all, the companies themselves will have to pay for the electricity Teslas use.

Tesla’s statement posted by Electrek reads:

“As Tesla’s fleet continues to grow, it is more important than ever for our customers to be able to easily charge their cars where they park. The most convenient way to charge is to plug in overnight at home, and for most people, this is all that is needed. For others, such as those who live in an apartment, Tesla is introducing its new Workplace Charging program. Charging at work is simple and convenient, just plug in and your car is charged by the time you’re done for the day.

For qualified employers or commercial property managers who choose to provide an EV charging option, Tesla will review, donate their Tesla Wall Connectors and provide installation assistance. Energy costs will be the responsibility of the property.”

Source: Tesla, Electrek

Apple devices at a California repair center keep calling 911

Apple devices at a refurbishment facility in Elk Grove, California have been calling 911 multiple times a day for the past few months, CBS Sacramento reports. Since last October, the Elk Grove Police station has received around 20 accidental emergency calls per day, adding up to some 1,600 calls in the last four months. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Communication Center has also received 47 accidental calls from the facility since the beginning of this year.

When the calls are answered, either no one is on the line or dispatchers can hear people in the background discussing Apple devices and repairs. “The times when it’s greatly impacting us is when we have other emergencies happening and we may have a dispatcher on another 911 call that may have to put that call on hold to triage the incoming call,” police dispatcher Jamie Hudson told CBS Sacramento.

While it’s unclear exactly what is going on, the influx of accidental 911 calls could be due to the Emergency SOS feature on iPhones and Apple Watches. Holding down the Apple Watch’s side button for a few seconds or either clicking the iPhone’s power button five times in a row or holding it down along with a volume button can trigger an emergency call. It could be that while Apple’s phones or smartwatches are under repair, that feature is being unintentionally triggered.

Apple told CBS Sacramento that it was aware of the issue and was working with the police stations to rectify it.

Source: CBS Sacramento

UK tech brand Acorn taps nostalgia to sell a rebranded phone

Acorn, the British computer company that dominated the market in the late ’70s has been revived, once again. This time out, the outfit is pushing its own smartphone, the Acorn Micro Phone C5, which appears to be a rebadged Leagoo S8. Should you want that device, albeit with the Acorn logo and a little union flag symbol on the base, then you can throw some cash at Indiegogo. Backers will need to spend between £90 ($125) and £150 ($210) to snag the handset, assuming the company hits its target of £450,000 ($628,456).

The handset itself looks an awful lot like the Leagoo S8 you can pick up on AliExpress now for around $140. It’s packing an octa-core MediaTek MT7650T paired with 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and four cameras — two up front, and two ’round back. Nestled beneath the primary lenses is a fingerprint scanner, while up front is a 5.72-inch 1,440 x 720 18:9 display. In order to differentiate itself from other OEM handsets, the C5 comes with some retro software touches, including a keyboard that mirrors that from the original Acorns.

Britons of a certain age are likely to have used a BBC Micro, an education-focused machine created by Acorn Computer, as their first computer. The British company spent the late ’70s and early ’80s locked in a battle for computing dominance that would see it becoming a household name. Like the rest of the industry, it faced bankruptcy and ruin during the 1984 downturn that saw Apple go to the sword and Atari go under.

Acorn was, at the time, looking to develop its own chip architecture, the Acorn RISC Machine, better known these days as ARM. The spin off, co-owned by Acorn, Apple and VLSI, would belatedly becoming king of the mobile world, providing pretty much every phone with its brain. The company first collapsed in 2000, after its remaining divisions, since bought and sold several times, were shut down.

Subsequently, the name was purchased by a French reseller that used it to sell IBM-compatible PCs and accessories, including external hard drives. It, too, collapsed in December 2009, leading to the brand being revived a third time in 2015. This time around, the brand has been purchased by Sam Goult, co-founder of British tablet brand MyGo.

Sadly, Acorn has become one of a small number of brands that are now bought and sold in the hope of juicing some recognition from nostalgic buyers. Kodak, Polaroid, Atari and plenty of others now exist as names you kinda/sorta remember attached to products you don’t remember them making before.

Source: Indiegogo, Acorn Computers

Twitter relaxes the rules for customer service DMs

Twitter’s bot crackdown is great for improving the quality of the service, but might make it harder for businesses to use it effectively. That’s why the company is tweaking its system to enable companies to better deal with bulk communications. In the future, you shouldn’t be waiting as long for a response from your favorite airline / cable provider, unless of course they’re just ignoring you.

Right now, Twitter limits the amount of requests and messages a piece of software can make to its system at a given time. It’s a way of stopping propagandists and tolls from overwhelming Twitter, and your DM inbox. But that also stops businesses which use Twitter to handle customer service from thousands of irate users at a time.

The change means that, for every message you send to a company over DM, they can send you five responses within 24 hours. If you send them another message, then that figure resets, meaning that you can theoretically chat forever, should you want to. It should also serve as another appeal, from Twitter to business, that it is listening and tweaking its platform to ensure they don’t go elsewhere.

Source: Twitter

Pentax’s full-frame K-1 Mark II has a ridiculous ISO range

Pentax has unveiled the 36.4-megapixel K-1 Mark II DSLR, the successor to its first full-frame, the K-1. The new model hasn’t changed much, apart from one outstanding new feature. Thanks to a new “accelerator unit” for its Prime IV image processor, the K1 II can do noise reduction much quicker, allowing you to shoot at up to 819,200 native ISO.

That crazy ISO number is native, so it uses the electronic gain, rather than software to attain that sensitivity (unlike with extended ISOs). Pentax didn’t supply any samples in the upper ranges, but images at ISO 25,600 and 51,200 look decent.

The K-1 Mark II also has a new pixel shifting system called Pixel Shift Resolution System II. Like similar systems from Sony and others, it can capture four burst photos and marry them into “super-high-resolution images,” Pentax parent Ricoh said. The new system now captures RGB color with each pixel however, allowing for “significantly finer details and truer colors” than other DSLRs, according to the company.

The pixel shift system now allows handheld shooting in concert with the five-axis stabilization. “The system works together with the camera’s shake-reducing mechanism by synthesizing the composite images while detecting the slight fluctuations of the subject’s position during the capture process,” Ricoh explained.

Other features remain unchanged, including the 36.4-megapixel sensor with anti-alias-free filter, 5-axis image stabilization, 3.2-inch tiltable (but not flippable) screen, AI-based real-time scene analysis, 33 autofocus sensors, dual SD card slots (UHS-1 only), 4.4 fps burst speeds and, unfortunately, 1080p 30 fps video.

There’s one advantage to Pentax not having changed the new model much. If you bought the original K-1, you can pay $550 and Ricoh will upgrade the circuit board to the one on the K-1 Mark II, giving you all the features of the new model. You’ll even get a cosmetic upgrade with the new K-1 Mark II logo. The new model arrives in stores in April for $2,000, or $2,400 in a bundle with the Pentax-D FA 28-105 f/3.5-5.6 ED DC WR zoom lens.

Source: Ricoh

Sony’s new flagships ditch an aging design for full screens

Sony’s phones have looked largely the same for years now, but that’s apparently about to change. The electronics company has redesigned its flagship phone to be full screen. Venture Beat has pictures and descriptions of the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact, which will be revealed at MWC 2018.

The two phones appear to be mostly similar, other than their different sizes. The XZ2 boasts a 5.7-inch screen, while the compact version measures at 5.0 inches. They both are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 (reportedly the same chip in the Samsung Galaxy S9) and run on Android 8.0.0 Oreo.

The XZ2 will come in four different colors — silver, pink, black and green — and has 3D glass on both sides, attached to an aluminum frame. The XZ2 comes in a glossy finish, while the XZ2 compact sports a a non-scratch polycarbonate finish. Both phones have Gorilla Glass 5 protecting their full-HD LCDs.

According to Venture Beat, the 19-megapixel camera on the back is the same as is found on the XZ Premium and the back of the phone also boasts a fingerprint scanner. The XZ2 is capable of wireless charging, with a 3180 mAh battery; the XZ2 compact only supports wired charging, however, and its battery is 2870 mAh.

These phones will officially be revealed on Sunday at MWC 2018, which is when we’ll learn pricing and other details. They’ll likely be available sometime in March.

Source: Venture Beat

1Password Integrates With ‘Pwned Passwords’ to Check if Your Passwords Have Been Leaked Online

Password management app 1Password this week got a new feature on the web, and developer AgileBits described it as a way for users to check and make sure that their passwords aren’t “pwned passwords,” or passwords that have been leaked online. While the launch is web-only right now, AgileBits said it will be coming to 1Password apps in the future.

1Password’s new feature integrates with a newly updated service by Troy Hunt — who previously created a breach notification service called Have I Been Pwned — and securely and privately checks your passwords against more than 500 million passwords collected from various breaches.

This way, users can further ensure that their passwords saved within 1Password are as secure as possible, and if Hunt’s new service surfaces a warning about compromised data, they can change to a new one without leaving 1Password.

Pwned Passwords originally launched as a feature within Have I Been Pwned last August, but Hunt has now updated it to version two and greatly expanded the amount of passwords indexed, originally starting with 320 million. For 1Password’s integration, which is still just a proof of concept as of now, AgileBits said the feature is available today to everyone with a 1Password membership, and shared the following steps:

– Sign in to your account on 1Password.com.

– Click Open Vault to view the items in a vault, then click an item to see its details.

– Enter the magic keyboard sequence Shift-Control-Option-C (or Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C on Windows) to unlock the proof of concept.

– Click the Check Password button that appears next to your password.

Once you click “Check Password,” 1Password will communicate with Hunt’s service of indexed passwords, letting you know if yours exists in his database. As AgileBits pointed out, “If your password is found, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your account was breached. Someone else could have been using the same password.” Still, the company encouraged immediate action for any user who sees a confirmation of a password matching to Hunt’s service.

In the announcement, AgileBits ensured that this communication with Pwned Passwords keeps user passwords “private and secure” because they are “never sent to us or his service.” Hunt’s service never receives the full password, and only requires the first five characters of each password hash. The developer stated, “we would never add it to 1Password unless it was private and secure.”

First, 1Password hashes your password using SHA-1. But sending that full SHA-1 hash to the server would provide too much information and could allow someone to reconstruct your original password. Instead, Troy’s new service only requires the first five characters of the 40-character hash.

To complete the process, the server sends back a list of leaked password hashes that start with those same five characters. 1Password then compares this list locally to see if it contains the full hash of your password. If there is a match then we know this password is known and should be changed.

Hunt goes into more detail about Pwned Passwords in his own announcement post about the update to the service. AgileBits confirmed that it will be adding Pwned Passwords to its own security breach warning feature, called Watchtower, within 1Password apps “in future releases.”

Tags: 1Password, AgileBits
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See ya, Fitbit: VSP Global’s smart glasses make activity tracking look stylish

VSP Global introduced a new pair of smart glasses called Level that tracks your daily activities, such as step count, distance traveled, and calories burned. The wearable doesn’t include special screens to display the resulting information in your field of view like the highly-expensive Google Glass or Vuzix Blade. Instead, it throws out costly augmented reality technology to report your daily data in an app installed on a paired smartphone. 

“Because Level is centered on your body’s axis, our engineers have designed a step count model that accurately tracks purposeful steps and eliminates non-step movements,” the company explains. 

The activity-tracking component resides in the left temple of the frame while a Micro-USB port for charging seats on the left arm where it connects to the frame. The company says the battery takes around 30 minutes to charge, and lasts for about five days, depending on how you use the specs. 

Customers who purchase Level can sync their data with VSP Global’s “Eyes of Hope” initiative to earn points for achieving their daily goals. Once they reach 50 points, a comprehensive eye examination and eyewear goes to someone in need. Level owners can actually choose the group receiving the donations too: Children, elderly, veterans, or the homeless. 

Keep in mind that Level isn’t just a cool gadget; it’s built to replace frames you purchase from an optometrist. The drawback is that your eye doctor must participate in the VSP Global Premier Program, and there’s no sign of any way to purchase the specs outside your eye doctor’s office. The company says “hundreds” will offer the activity-tracking glasses once they go live across North America. 

“Each [is] designed by The Shop and produced in Italy through VSP Global’s eyewear division, Marchon,” the company adds. “The designs feature hand-polished cellulose acetate, stainless steel accents, and injection-molded temples. Each frame is available in four colors, including black, classic tortoise, slate and grey tortoise.” 

There are three unisex versions of Level, one of which is Minsky named after artificial intelligence researcher Marvin Minsky. There’s also a model borrowing its name from World War II radio guidance system designer Hedy Lamarr, and another named after futurist and mechanical engineer Nikola Tesla. The Minsky edition sports a modern-yet-classic rectangular shape, Hedy is somewhat cat-like, and Nikolo is a bit more rounded than its two Level-branded siblings. 

VSP Global’s Level will roll out in March for $270 in addition to the cost of your prescription lenses. The first market will be Sacramento, California, followed by five additional markets in April: Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C, and Portland, Oregon. Plans for additional markets will depend on consumer demand and feedback, so expect additional launch dates in the future if Level catches on with the activity-tracking crowd. 

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