SteamVR will fine-tune VR to match the graphics chip, not the headset

The latest beta of SteamVR now includes a new feature that fine-tunes virtual reality experiences to match your PC’s graphics chip for the best experience possible. This component will alleviate the need to upgrade the PC’s graphics card when customers purchase next-generation headsets with higher resolutions than the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

According to Valve Software’s Alex Vlachos, SteamVR now measures the speed of the installed graphics chip and tells applications to render the experience at a certain resolution. On a more technical level, it determines how many “VR megapixels per second” the GPU can safely handle at 90 frames per second, and sets the resolution accordingly.

For example, if the chip can’t handle the application at its native resolution, viewers will see everything at a lower resolution that is more appropriate for their GPU’s rendering capabilities. Likewise, if the chip can handle the experience at a higher resolution than the application’s native setting, the experience will see a visual boost due to a higher resolution. 

“The best part is that customers won’t have to do anything to get the correct resolution settings. The SteamVR runtime does all the hard work. Of course, if one prefers a different resolution, it’s easy to manually override this by editing the Video settings in SteamVR (previously known as supersample settings),” Vlachos said. 

Vlachos believes the new SteamVR component should reduce the cost of VR on a whole. If customers already own a “VR Ready PC” or “VR Ready GPU,” there won’t be any need to upgrade. Vlachos says many applications still don’t take full advantage of the GPUs currently on the market. 

Valve’s approach with this new SteamVR component is that for decades, PC gamers have upgraded their monitors without changing the core components in their PC. The company is now applying the same logic to VR headsets given they’re just receivers and don’t really do any hard work. Of course, to get the maximum resolution supported by the HTC Vive Pro, you need a graphics card that can handle the resolution at 90 frames per second. If it can’t, a GPU upgrade may be in order anyway. 

Outside of the benefits for VR headset owners, the new SteamVR component is good for developers, too. That’s because they are required to test applications on every headset running on every supported graphics chip available on the market. They must make “difficult trade-offs” in order to render high-resolution graphics on next-generation headsets. 

More importantly, with more than 2,000 VR applications made available through Steam, getting developers to update those applications to support newer headsets and higher resolutions is out of the question. But that is no longer the case given the new SteamVR feature pulls VR headsets out of the development process. 

The new feature is only available through the SteamVR Beta. You can join the fun by going to “Library > Tools” and right-clicking on “SteamVR” to pull up the “Properties” box. Click the “Beta” tab and select “beta” from the drop-down menu. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• HTC Vive vs. Vive Pro
• Oculus Rift vs. Vive Pro
• HTC Vive review
• HTC’s Vive Focus mobile VR headset uses the same lenses, displays as Vive Pro
• Twitter tease indicates HTC could reveal a 4K Vive VR headset at CES

Take a bite of the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ on Pi Day

If you’re a mathematician, then March 14 is probably one of your favorite days of the year. It’s Pi Day, maybe the only officially recognized celebration of a number and, in addition to feasting on a real pie, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the influence of math and science on technology. If you’re the Raspberry Pi Foundation, then it’s also a great day to introduce a new member of its single-board computer family.

This time around, it’s the Raspberry Pi Model B+, the newest version of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B that was first introduced roughly two years ago. As the foundation points out, it usually releases “plus” models after a couple of years with improved specs and functionality, and the Raspberry Pi 3 is the next in line to receive the same treatment.

The Model B+ updates include improvements in the diminutive computer’s performance, including incorporating an updated version of the Broadcom application processor, the BCM2837B0, that is 200MHz faster and builds in power integrity optimizations and a heat spreader that allows it to run so much faster. In addition, the Cypress CYW43455 combo Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip improves wireless performance, particularly on the 5GHz band. It also uses new metal shielding that’s certified under Federal Communications Commission regulations, making conformance testing of Raspberry Pi solutions easier and less costly.

There are a host of other improvements as well, including faster wired Ethernet connectivity, Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, and general thermal improvements that should make for a generally faster and more stable single-board computer. If you’re looking to build a Raspberry Pi project, then you’re going to find it to run faster and more reliably — always a good thing.

Here are the complete specifications for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+:

SoC:
Broadcom BCM2837B0

CPU:

Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz

RAM:

1GB LPDDR2

Wireless:

802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2

Wired:

1GB Ethernet over USB 2.0

Connectivity:

4 x USB 2.0, HDMI, CSI camera port, DSI display port, 4-pole stereo output and composite video port, microSD, Extended 40-pin GPIO header

Power:

5V/2.5Am DC power input

If you’re looking to kick off a Raspberry Pi project, then you will be happy to know that the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ remains available at the same low $35 price. It’s available for purchase, meaning that you can get started right away on that artificial intelligence-powered smart mirror you have been wanting to build.

Editors’ Recommendations

• These Raspberry Pi 3 bundles will cover everyone, from coders to gamers
• Raspad is a portable Raspberry Pi tablet for bringing creative projects to life
• You can build your own smart home hub with Mozilla’s Project Things
• Best pie gadgets to make your Pi-Day baking a piece of cake
• Forks not required: Pi Day celebrates our favorite infinite number

The best monitor you can buy

It wasn’t long ago that monitors with 4K panels and curved designs were inordinately expensive and required a hefty system to run, but that’s changed over the past few years. More recently we’ve seen the monitor market really come into its own. Previously exotic solutions have matured into affordable and increasingly high-performance options for gaming, media, and even your home office.

Our pick

Why you should buy this: You want a sensible but impressive curved ultra-wide monitor.

Our Score

The Best

Samsung CF791

The CF791 is an astonishing piece of technology, and sits comfortably in the Goldilocks zone when it comes to price, performance, and pictur…

$949.99 from Samsung

Who it’s for: Anyone looking upgrade their desktop experience

How much will it cost: $750+

Why we picked the Samsung CF791

Most ultra-wide monitors offer a spectacular viewing experience — that’s what they’re for. But Samsung has somehow managed to outdo the competition with the CF791, delivering a stellar viewing experience, a deep curve, and a display that is almost otherworldly.

Before you even turn it on, the Samsung CF791 cuts an elegant figure. A broad aluminum-colored disc supports a glossy white armature that seems to effortlessly hold the display aloft. And once you hit the power button, the CF791 just springs to life.

Right out of the box, the colors and contrast are nearly pitch-perfect. Hitting a 940:1 contrast ratio without any calibration, and delivering nearly perfect color accuracy after calibration, the CF791 was full of surprises during our review. It consistently outperformed the competition and our expectations. Games look great, movies look great, and even day-to-day productivity is enhanced.

That said, it’s not a 4K monitor, so that might be a downside if you’re looking for the highest resolution you can possibly get. But the CF791 delivers impressive display quality on a 21:9 1440p display panel that somehow manages to prevent any and all light-leakage.

This monitor routinely sells for $750 online. That’s not cheap, but given the fact that this CF791 is the best-in-class ultra-wide monitor, it’s an investment that will easily outlast your desktop.

Our full review

The best gaming monitor

Why you should buy this: 1440p, 165Hz refresh rate, and Nvidia’s G-Sync.

Our Score

The Best Gaming Monitor

Asus ROG Swift PG27AQ

Gamers, this is a super fast 1440p monitor that can give you up to 165 fps. It will future-proof your gaming rig.

$446.50 from Newegg.com

$474.99 from Monoprice.com

Who it’s for: Gamers, media enthusiasts.

How much will it cost: $750+

Why we picked the Asus ROG Swift PG279Q

Simply put: it’s fast. Seriously, this thing is too fast for its own good. You can push the refresh rate up to 165Hz which is, currently, a little overkill. Let’s be honest, is your gaming rig powerful enough to run any recent games at 165 frames per second? Well, if isn’t today, it might be in the future, and that’s why the Asus ROG Swift PG279Q is our pick for best gaming monitor.

Its price tag is justified in part due to the fact that it’s a little more future-proof than competitors with 1440p resolution. By allowing you to push the refresh rate to a currently unnecessary degree, it has a lot of head room. It will look smooth and vibrant for years.

The monitor’s image quality is good, with sharp and crisp 1440p resolution, and solid marks in contrast. While it’s not technically the most impressive monitor we’ve tested, it is better than many of its gaming-oriented rivals. Opening Overwatch or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is when this display really shines.

Our full review

The best professional monitor

Why you should buy this: You need pitch-perfect color accuracy

Our Score

The Best Professional Monitor

BenQ SW2700PT

If color accuracy matters, this is the monitor for you, even in a bright office environment.

$549.00 from Amazon.com

$629.00 from Newegg.com

Who it’s for: Photographers, graphic designers, anyone who needs perfect color accuracy above all else.

How much will it cost: $550+

Why we picked the BenQ SW2700PT

This monitor is a great tool for editing movies, photos, or running a high-end graphic design workstation. The BenQ SW2700PT is designed from the ground up for the professional market, which has very particular needs. Color accuracy is the name of the game here, not speed or even resolution.

For professionals like graphic designers, photographers, and film editors, a monitor needs to reproduce colors as faithfully as possible, and in our tests the SW2700PT did just that.

That might be an understatement. In fact, the SW2700PT reproduced colors almost perfectly. To put it in perspective, when a monitor reproduces colors there is almost always a slight difference between the displayed color and the color data itself. That “color difference” can skew the look of an image and cause problems when editing digital content. This BenQ has almost no noticeable color difference, so images shown on it appear as they should.

It’s also bright, sharp, crystal-clear, and comes with an attachable shade to preserve color accuracy even in a bright office environment. The SW2700PT is a fantastic monitor, and the best choice if you’re in the market for a new professional-grade display solution.

Our full review

The best budget monitor

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Why you should buy this: You don’t mind 1080p, and don’t want to break the bank.

Our Score

The best budget monitor

Dell S2418H

This Dell monitor is fantastic and reliable. It’s also the only monitor we recommend under $300, which is a feat.

$229.86 from Amazon

$151.39 from Newegg.com

Who it’s for: Anyone looking for a great monitor under $300.

How much will it cost: $200+

Why we picked the Dell S2418HX:

This one is not exactly a showstopper, but it will earn your respect with an impressive spec sheet and excellent contrast ratio. The Dell S2418HX is a reliable all-around choice for a home office or a dorm-room desktop. If you just want a monitor that is going to work, but more importantly won’t cost you an arm and a leg, look no further.

The Dell S2418HX isn’t just a good budget monitor, it’s a good monitor overall. The color accuracy is fantastic, and the contrast ratio is still extremely competitive, coming in at 1000:1 at full brightness.

If you’re looking for a good all-around monitor, but you don’t want to make the jump to 4K or invest in an ultra-wide, this is a very good pick.

Our full review

How to decipher monitor specs

You might be wondering what some of the specifications you read above mean. Here’s a quick cheat sheet.

Aspect Ratio – The relation of the monitor’s width to its height. Most monitors are 16:9 — the same as an HDTV. But some are 21:9, which means they’re much wider than a typical display.

FreeSync and G-Sync – These are two, separate frame refresh technologies. the former promoted by AMD, the latter proprietary to Nvidia. Read our comparison of FreeSync and G-Sync to learn more.

Resolution – How many pixels the monitor has. More tends to provide a sharper, more realistic image.

Refresh Rate – Express in hertz, abbreviated “Hz” — This is the number of times the monitor image refreshes each second. A higher refresh rate can make the monitor look smoother in motion.

How we test

We test monitors by putting them through a comprehensive series of test that includes color accuracy, color gamut, gamma, brightness, contrast, and black levels. Our testing is complimented with real-world use, so we know how the monitor will look to you every morning.

Our testing is conducted with both out-the-box and calibrated settings. By doing this, we can tell you whether or not the monitor will look good from the moment you turn it on, and if you’ll see much benefit from tweaking its settings.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Dell Ultrasharp U3818DW review
• The best HDR monitors
• The best curved monitors you can buy right now
• Best gaming monitors
• How to calibrate your monitor

You can now talk to Google Assistant in Hindi

Google Assistant in Hindi is now rolling out to all devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above.

Google announced Hindi support for the Google Assistant at the start of the year, but the feature was limited to a few queries. That’s changing today, as Google is rolling out the full-fledged Assistant tailored for Hindi-speaking users. Assistant in Hindi is now available on all phones running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above, and is coming soon to devices running Lollipop, as well as iPhones and Android Go phones.

You’ll be able to do the same things as the English version of Assistant — finding directions to nearby restaurants or nearby points of interest, getting score updates, setting an alarm or a reminder, or seeing your calendar entries. The main difference now is that you can ask those queries in Hindi, and the Assistant will not only understand your question, but respond to you in Hindi as well.

From Google Assistant’s Technical Program Manager Purvi Shah:

The Google Assistant is truly Indian, it’s your helpful dost that speaks our language and understands the things you care about, from finding biryani recipes, to pulling up the latest cricket score, or finding directions to the nearest ATM.

In order to make it even more useful to Indians over time, developers and businesses can now build Actions for the Hindi Assistant through the developer platform Actions on Google. Once an action is built, you can just say “Ok Google, talk to” and access the service or content straight through your Google Assistant.

In addition to full compatibility for Hindi, Google is also enabling Actions on Google for the Hindi Assistant, through which developers can build additional actions for the virtual assistant.

Google has rolled out a site that gives you an overview of all the actions that are possible with the Hindi Assistant. Here’s a look at some of the actions detailed:

• Sabse kareeb Punjabi restaurant kahaan hain?
• Dadar tak pahunchne mein kitna samay lagega?
• Cricket ka score kya hain?
• Kal subah mujhe saat baje jagaao
• Selfie kheencho
• Daddy ko SMS bhejo “5 minutes mein pahunchenge”

Hit up the link below to take a look, and let me know how you’re liking the Hindi Assistant in the comments.

Google Assistant in Hindi

Nest’s $229 video doorbell is a useful addition to its ecosystem

Last September, Nest introduced several products to its connected home lineup: the Nest Secure home security system, the Nest Cam IQ Outdoor and the Nest Hello video doorbell. While both the Secure and the IQ outdoor cam have been out for a few months already, the Hello had not come to market yet. That is, until now. Today, the Hello and the previously announced Nest x Yale Lock are both officially available for $229 and $249 respectively. Oh, and Nest is introducing something new today as well: the Nest Temperature Sensor.

As its name suggests, the temperature sensor works in conjunction with the Nest Thermostat (and the Nest Thermostat E) to let you control the temperature in individual rooms. So if you set one in the bedroom, for example, you can then configure the Nest app to have it so that room is colder or warmer than the rest of the house. The price for a single unit is $39 or $99 for a pack of three. You can pre-order it starting today, and it’ll begin shipping next month.

As part of the above announcement, Nest recently gave us a demo of some of its connected home products to walk us through some of the new features. We saw much of it already at last year’s Nest event, but it was good to see how all of it comes together. Of course, you can definitely buy these products individually and they’ll work fine by themselves. But the beauty of the Nest ecosystem is when it all works together.

In our demo, Nest showed us a series of hypothetical home scenarios where its connected home system would come in handy. For example, if someone is at the door, the Nest Hello video doorbell would immediately recognize that there’s someone there. If you’re a Nest Aware subscriber, you’d not only get a notification on your phone that there’s a person at the door, but the facial recognition feature would kick in too. Basically, once the same person comes to your door enough times, you can train Nest’s Familiar Face Alerts to identify him or her, perhaps as your mother or your neighbor John. We tried an early version of this feature with the Nest Cam IQ Indoor, but it wasn’t very good back then. Hopefully the newer version will be better.

If you happen to have a Google Assistant-enabled device in your home — say a Google Home Mini or maybe the new Nest Cam IQ Indoor — those will give you Nest Hello notifications too. They’ll either say “Someone’s at the door” or, if you have a Nest Aware subscription, the name of that person as well (eg. “John’s at the door”).

From there, you can check out who your guest is by looking at the Nest app. The interesting thing about the Hello’s camera is that it has a vertical 4:3 ratio, so that you can see the person from head to toe. In our demo, we were pretty impressed by how sharp the HD quality was, and I liked that you could pan the camera left and right to see what else was around. We should note here that the Hello needs to be hardwired to your house’s electrical system, while the Ring smart doorbell just needs a rechargeable battery. This could be either good or bad depending on how you see it — hardwired means it’ll never run out of power, but it also means the Hello is a lot harder to install.

A Nest spokesperson told me that the Hello also has a “quiet time” mode that is basically a Do Not Disturb function for your doorbell, which is good for when the baby is taking a nap. You’ll still get push notifications on your phone, but that’s it.

And if you want to let John in and you have the Nest x Yale Lock installed, you can just unlock the door right in the app. And hey, if your house has the Nest Secure security system installed, unlocking the Yale Lock will automatically disarm the alarm as well.

Speaking of Nest Secure, Nest’s director of product marketing, Maxime Veron, said Nest added a few new features to the home security system since last year’s launch. For one thing, Nest Secure now has an “instant alarm.” Before, Nest Secure would give you a 30-second delay when turning it on, to allow you enough time to leave the house without setting off the alarm. But, based on customer feedback, now you can just instantly turn it on, which offers more peace of mind, especially when arming your house before going to bed.

Next, is the ability to arm your Nest Secure just by using Google Assistant. So, you can say “OK Google, set Nest Secure to away”, and that would then automatically turn Nest Secure on, giving you 30 seconds to leave the house before the alarm is set. And, yes, if you have the Nest x Yale Lock, you can have that automatically lock the house a few seconds after that as well. In the demo that we had, this happened a lot longer than I would like — around a minute or so — but according to Veron, that can always be adjusted. Oh, and if you have a Nest Cam, you can have that automatically turn on when you leave the house as well.

We should mention here that Nest told us that you can only use Google Assistant to arm Nest Secure, and not to disarm it. Which is good, because you don’t want any ol’ stranger to break into the house just by giving a voice command.

Also, it’s worth pointing out how different the Nest Cam IQ Indoor is with the new Google Assistant integration, which we didn’t have a chance to test out before. In our demo, this new feature almost turns it into a pseudo Google Home device — it can answer basic Google queries like “What’s the weather?” and “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” The only thing it can’t do that a Google Home can, is continuous audio playback, like playing music or podcasts. But if you don’t care about that, then getting a Nest Cam IQ Indoor is like getting a webcam and a Google Home in one device, which is pretty neat.

Going back to new Nest Secure features, another new one is that you can now have it so that the hub chimes whenever certain doors open, sort of like when you enter a store and a bell rings. To go along with this, Nest also added a “Quiet Open” option, where you can press a button that’ll disarm the door for just the one time — if it’s early in the morning, for example — and then it’ll go right back on after you leave.

“We started on this mission six years ago, with the thermostat,” said Veron. “But now we have 12 products in the catalog and have sold over 11 million products. [We believe] Nest is synonymous with the smart home.”

That said, Nest is still something of a latecomer to the industry; it’s definitely not the first to come up with a wireless security system, and the Nest Hello is obviously a response to the popular Ring smart doorbell. And now that Amazon has purchased Ring and has its own Cloud Cam security camera as well, it’s clear that Nest will have a lot of competition going forward.

It also bears mentioning that Nest products tend to be on the expensive side. While the Hello will retail for $229, you can get the Ring for around $134 on Amazon. Amazon’s Cloud Cam is also only $120, while the regular Nest Cam Indoor is $200 (The IQ version is about $100 more). You have to pay at least $5 a month to get any kind of video archiving with Nest Aware (if you don’t pay anything, all you get are still snapshots for the past 3 hours), while Amazon’s Cloud Cam video archives are free for the past 24 hours.

Still, Nest is betting hard on its connected home dream. That could certainly be why Google recently decided to merge their hardware teams together, which would bring a heavy dose of Google-powered AI to the Nest party. And with Google-imbued smart displays from the likes of Lenovo and LG coming up, it’s easy to see how Nest products would incorporate all of that and more.

Veron himself gave a hint that this is still early days in the Nest and Google marriage. “You’ll see a lot more Nest and Google integrations in the year ahead,” he teased. With rivals nipping at its heels and Amazon seemingly cutting off Nest products from its website, it’ll likely need as much support as it can get.

Duolingo’s Klingon course has finally arrived

It’s not an exaggeration to say we’ve been waiting for Duolingo’s course in Klingon for years. Now, it’s finally making its debut. Star Trek fans (or really, anyone who’s interested in taking a course in a constructed language, or conlang) can access a Klingon language course for free via the Duolingo website. It will be made available on the iOS and Android apps at a later date. The course is under license by CBS Consumer Products.

It’s not the first conlang that Duolingo has a course for. The service’s 200 million users currently have access to both Esperanto and High Valyrian (from Game of Thrones). But how does an organization decide to create a language course for a fictional language like Klingon? Michaela Kron, Duolingo’s senior PR manager, explained that it was all about the company’s volunteer system.

“While some of our earliest courses were built internally, most Duolingo courses are built by volunteers using the Duolingo Incubator,” Kron explained to Engadget. “Through an application process, we carefully vet the volunteer contributors to ensure their skill level and commitment to the project needs. Then our team of language learning experts, linguistics PhDs, and tech staff help review the courses and provide QA and testing.”

Once there were enough volunteers fluent in the language who were willing to spend time on the project, development could begin on a Klingon course. “In the case of Klingon, the course development was led by Felix Malmenbeck, the course’s lead contributor who is a fluent Klingon speaker and has been passionate about the language even before he became a fan of Star Trek,” Kron said.

It was somewhat of a bumpy road to bring this course to market, though. Part of that is because, again, it’s an all-volunteer team. “On our end, it took some time to find Klingon experts who could commit the time and effort to creating a full-fledged course, as we wanted the course to be substantial and cover a lot of ground,” clarified Kron. However, it was more than just that. Klingon is an exceptionally complicated language, as any Star Trek fan is aware.

The language had some quirks of its own, and Duolingo’s software team had to adjust the platform to compensate. “For example, Klingon uses apostrophes in the middle of words, which is not something our system was able to handle at first, since no other language does it,” Kron recalled. “Klingon also has case sensitivity, which means that a word can take on different meanings if it’s capitalized or lowercased.” In the latter case, the team was able to implement a tweak they’d already developed for the German language, which has a similar facet.

But why would anyone want to learn a fictional language? As course creator Felix Malmenbeck, who resides in Stockholm, Sweden, points out, it’s another way to express fandom and a love for the franchise, especially for those who are interested in the mechanics of language. “Many Star Trek fans become curious about the Klingon language at some point, but learning a language takes time, energy and regular practice, especially when you’re just starting out,” Malmenbeck explained to Engadget. “Therefore, if the language isn’t one of your primary interests, chances are you’ll end up investing that energy elsewhere, whether it’s cosplay, fan fiction, reading novels or any of the multitude of forms that fandom can take.”

The course couldn’t come at a better time. The Star Trek franchise’s newest installment, Discovery, has featured the Klingons and their language heavily in its first season. It’s provided for a renewed interest in the franchise as a whole and Klingons in particular, and now Duolingo has lowered the barrier for entry to learning the language. “I suspect that this will lead to an increased number of Star Trek fans continuing their studies of Klingon,” Malmenbeck concluded.

Images: Duolingo

Google purged 3.2 billion bad ads from the web last year

It’s no secret that Google (and much of the tech industry) struggle to deal with bad advertising in 2017, and the company now has the stats to prove it. The company has revealed that it removed over 3.2 billion bad ads in 2017, or nearly twice as many as the 1.7 billion it pulled in 2016. Accordingly, Google kicked out 320,000 ad publishers, blacklisted 90,000 websites and removed ads from 2 million pages per month. An April policy change that widened anti-hate policies led to 8,700 pages losing their Google ads.

The company hasn’t outlined the full scope of its ad removals, but software threads only played a small part. Out of the 3.2 billion removed ads, ‘only’ 79 million were yanked for steering people to malware sites. Google also pulled 66 million “trick to click” ads (that is, they masquerade as something besides an ad) and 48 million ads goading people into installing unwanted software. To put it another way, ad removals weren’t focused on active threats to your devices.

It’s tempting to suggest that fake news and misinformation campaigns played a large part, but it’s not clear that this is the case. Google, at least, downplays it — the company claimed there were a “small number” of ad publishers to blame for “misrepresentative content” like fake news or scams. Out of 11,000 potential policy violators, it only found 90 publishers and 650 sites that warranted a crackdown. Instead, Google saw a larger problem with sites that copy content (such as, say, news articles). It blocked more than 12,000 of those sites.

Still, it’s evident that Google was much more aggressive in tackling bad ads throughout 2017, in no small part due to government pressure. Politicians and regulators want to know that Google isn’t aiding Russian meddling, fake news purveyors and scams, and aggressive clean-up efforts like this could show that Google is serious enough about fighting bad ads to avoid government intervention.

Source: Google

‘Fortnite’ streamer breaks 500k viewers with help from Drake

Tonight Twitch streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins smashed the record for concurrent viewers, crossing the 500,000 mark around 1 AM, mostly due to who he’s playing Fortnite with: Drake. It’s not all Drake or the popular battle royale game though, as Ninja is the most popular streamer on the platform — he has over 3 million followers and with over 160,000 paid subscribers, an estimated monthly income of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Back in February Twitch confirmed that the record number of concurrents for an individual had been set at over 388,000 by Dr. Disrespect, but now there’s a new champ.

Update (1:47 AM ET): The stream has at times crested over 600,000 viewers, with Kim Dotcom joining the pair. Apparently, the only thing keeping JuJu Smith-Schuster and Travis Scott out of the action are problems adding Drake’s obviously overloaded PSN tag (TheBoyDuddus if you’re wondering). Also notable — they’re playing crossplatform with PS4 and PC, which is about to get a significant boost when the mobile Fortnite Battle Royale game launches soon — you can sign up for access on iOS here.

Watch live video from Ninja on http://www.twitch.tv

playing fort nite with @ninja https://t.co/OSFbgcfzaZ

— Drizzy (@Drake) March 15, 2018

Source: Ninja (Twitch)

France issues legal challenge to ‘abusive commercial practices’ by Google, Apple

Marcel de Grijs/123rf

France will be taking legal action against Google owner Alphabet, and Apple with allegations that both tech giants have taken advantage of app developers with “abusive commercial practices.”

Speaking to RTL Radio on Wednesday, March 14, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire claimed that the two companies held all the cards in their relationships with app developers, and that they could rewrite the rules as they saw fit. He said “I learned that when developers develop their applications, and sell to Google and Apple, their prices are imposed, Google and Apple take all their data, Google and Apple can unilaterally rewrite their contracts. All that is unacceptable and it’s not the economy that we want. They can’t treat our startups and developers the way they do.”

Alphabet (Google) and Apple are the two major players in smartphone operating systems, with Android and iOS taking up almost all of the market between them. As such, they’re the only real game in town for mobile app developers. France’s Finance ministry conducted an investigation during the period of 2015 to 2017 that determined that “significant imbalances” existed between the developers and the tech companies, and if Le Maire’s comments are to be believed, then both companies could be on the hook for millions of euros as a result.

This isn’t France’s first tangle with tech companies. Following the revelation that Apple had been purposefully slowing down older iPhones to combat unexpected shutdowns, France launched an investigation into the possibility of planned obsolescence. Le Maire has also pushed to punish Amazon on similar grounds, accusing the ecommerce company of abusing its lofty position in the marketplace. Should the matter make it through tribunal, that case could cost Amazon a hefty 10 million euros ($12.35 million).

Both companies are main runners in the race to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, and while some business practices could be changed as a result of this challenge, it’s unlikely the financial loss will be significant. Still, we doubt that either Apple or Google would want the bad press that comes from this sort of challenge.

In an email to Digital Trends, Google said “With more than 1,000 downloads per sec, Google Play is a great way for European app developers large and small, including many in France, to distribute their apps to people all around the world. We have been collaborating with DGCCRF on many topics over the last few years, including on Google Play. We believe our terms comply with French laws and are looking forward to making our case in court”.

We have also reached out Apple for comment and will update this article if we hear back.

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Google will ban cryptocurrency ads from its AdWords network in June

Google has announced that it will block all advertisements related to cryptocurrencies starting this June. The company recently updated its AdWords-based Financial Services policy to restrict various forms of advertisements, including forex and financial spread betting and unregulated Contract for Difference (CFD) trading. The cryptocurrency ban includes all related content such as initial coin offerings (ICOs), virtual wallets, trading advice, and more. 

On the whole, Google is addressing advertisements based on “unregulated or speculative financial products.” It’s part of the company’s continuous sweep to respect the user experience by removing unsavory advertisements and banning publishers from its AdWords network. Just in 2017 alone, Google removed more than 3.2 billion ads – more than 100 bad ads per second – and banned around 320,000 publishers. 

Google lists cryptocurrency ads under its “emerging threats” banner despite the rising demand for digital money. The problem with  cryptocurrencies From Google’s standpoint is that they’re not regulated, so investors have no guarantee of safe, honest trading despite market claims. There’s also the rising trend of cryptocurrency startups generating cash through initial coin offerings, and then disappearing with the funds. 

For instance, Twitter is littered with cryptocurrency-related scams. Individuals are creating “verified” accounts and promising big returns for investing small amounts of digital coins. The scammers then disappear with the cryptocurrency. An advertisement with a similar offering could do even more financial damage. This is one scenario Google likely wants to avoid.  

Facebook introduced a similar ban on its social network in January. According to the company, ads must NOT “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency.” 

Some of the advertisement examples no longer allowed on Facebook include: “New ICO! Buy tokens at a 15-percent discount NOW!” and “Click here to learn more about our no-risk cryptocurrency that enables instant payments to anyone in the world.” 

“We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception,” Facebook states. “That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith.” 

Google said on Wednesday, March 14, that not only did the company ban 320,000 publishers from its advertisement network in 2017 but it blacklisted nearly 90,000 websites and 700,000 mobile apps. Google also removed legitimate ads from two million individual pages each month that violated its policies. Google tacked on another 8,700 pages after updating its policies in April 2017 to protect web surfers against “dangerous and derogatory content.” 

Subscription-free websites generate revenue by displaying advertisements stemming from platforms like Google’s AdWords. But for a free, ad-supported internet to work, those ads need to be safe and effective. For Google, that means investing in talent and technology over the last 15 years to crack down on ad-based fraud, scammers, and malware. Banning cryptocurrency ads is just the latest step in that direction. 

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