GIF search engine Tenor has been purchased by Google

The service will continue to operate under its own brand.

Google’s no stranger to buying companies it sees a lot of potential in, and the latest to be scooped up by the search giant is Tenor. Tenor has a database of millions of GIFs that users can search through, and Google says it’ll be integrating the company’s tech into things like Gboard and Google Images.

Tenor’s main product is its GIF Keyboard that’s available for Android, iOS, and macOS, and it allows you to search through the company’s entire collection of files and easily send them to people on the platform of your choice. Along with this, Tenor also has direct tie-ins with Facebook Messenger and the Samsung Messages app.

Commenting on the deal, Google Images Director of Engineering, Cathy Edwards, said –

With their deep library of content, Tenor surfaces the right GIFs in the moment so you can find the one that matches your mood. Tenor will help us do this more effectively in Google Images as well as other products that use GIFs, like Gboard. Tenor will continue to operate as a separate brand, and we’re looking forward to investing in their technology and relationships with content and API partners. So whether you’re using the Tenor keyboard or one of our other products, you can expect to see much more of this in your future.

Google didn’t disclose how much it purchased Tenor for, but what we do know is that things will be business-as-usual for Tenor while it continues to operate under its own name.

Court rules that Google owes Oracle for unfair use of Java in Android

Today’s best deals you won’t want to miss

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

Today you can get great discounts on a variety of devices including Samsung 4K Smart TVs, the SanDisk Ultra 200GB microSD card, and more! Don’t pass these up.

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Here’s another chance to save 15% on nearly anything at eBay

This discount only lasts a few hours.

Following up on its discount from last week, eBay is back with another one-day coupon code that helps you save 15% on nearly anything from its site. Using coupon code PREPSPRING during checkout will save you 15% on any purchase of $25 or more, with a maximum savings of $50.

Some of the best deals we’ve found with this coupon include:

• Nintendo Switch console for $255
• PlayStation 4 Pro console for $350
• Xbox One X console with Far Cry 5 for $410
• Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II wireless headphones for $300
• Google Wifi 3-pack for $221
• Nest Hello Doorbell for $195
• Nest Detect for $42
• TurboTax Deluxe + State PC Software for $38
• Apple Watch Series 3 from $272
• Refurbished Apple AirPods for $119
• Apple Pencil for $76

Apple’s ‘Field Trip’ education iPad event by the numbers

Well, that was underwhelming. At its “Let’s Take a Field Trip” education event in Chicago on Tuesday, Apple only had a nominal upgrade to its 9.7-inch iPad and some minor software updates to announce. But hey, at least Crayola’s new digital crayon looks pretty cool.

$329: Apple has long touted its 9.7-inch iPad as a potent yet affordable educational tool. This year, the tablet received both a small boost to its processing power — moving from the A9 chipset to the newer A10 — it also now boasts Apple Pencil integration. However, even with the company’s *ahem* generous $30 discount for schools, whether a significant number of educational organizations will spring for the $100 accessory in addition the the tablet itself remains to be seen.

3 Apps: Apple’s updated iPad isn’t the only thing rolling out added support for the Pencil. The company’s iWork Suite — specifically, the Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps — will now support the peripheral as well. Microsoft Office Suite and Notability should also now work with the Pencil if you’d prefer not to use Apple’s in-house tools.

$50: Given that the Apple Pencil costs roughly a third of what the tablet it works with does, some schools may balk at buying them en masse. But that’s where Crayola’s new stylus comes in. Rather than a Pencil, the company announced it is releasing a digital crayon for use with the iPad as well. This peripheral will cost half of what the Pencil does, though we’ve yet to learn whether the crayon will offer the same writing fidelity as its branded alternative.

1 extra layer of reality: AR and VR, like the children, are our future whether we like it or not. As such Apple has announced that it will be integrating an AR module into Swift Playgrounds, its coding app for kids.

4 artistic fields: Despite being a corporate juggernaut, Apple has taken a surprisingly humane stance towards art education. Building off of its existing Everyone Can Code initiative, the company announced on Tuesday that it will be integrating drawing, music, filmmaking and photography applications into existing lesson plans through its Everyone Can Create program. The system is slated to go live this fall, just in time for the new school year.

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s education event right here!

Lytro is shutting down, but some employees may head to Google

Lytro made a name for itself by allowing you to take a photo and then change the focus point after the fact. Its “Light Field” cameras never really took off, though, and neither did its pivot to pro-styled cameras and virtual reality. Now the company has announced that as of today it won’t be “taking on any new productions or providing professional services as we prepare to wind down the company.”

Last week the rumor was that Lytro was being picked up by Google for $40 million, in addition to its patents and technology. Last December, Lytro shut down its photo sharing network. With how hard Google is going on VR, the acquisition makes sense. With I/O coming up soon, maybe we’ll hear more about the acquisition in short order.

Via: The Verge

Source: Lytro

NVIDIA aims to make self-driving safer with virtual simulations

Amid the torrent of news at CES in January, it was easy to miss the unveiling of NVIDIA’s Drive platform — a way for the company to test out its self-driving algorithms through repeated simulations. At that point, it was more of a concept than an actual product. Today, the company revealed its Drive Constellation system, a multi-server setup that’ll let its partners run those self-driving simulations on their own. Think of it as The Matrix for autonomous algorithms: It’s a way to train those vehicles to deal with extreme situations, without endangering anyone in the real world. The news comes after NVIDIA announced that it’ll be pausing its self-driving testing on roads, following last week’s fatal Uber self-driving accident.

On stage at the company’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC) today, CEO Jensen Huang described self-driving as “probably the hardest computing technology we’ve ever encountered.” But, after the Uber accident, he says he was reminded just how important this work is. “We have to solve it step by step by step,” Huang said. “We’re dedicating ourselves to this problem. The grandest of computer problems.”

On one end of the Constellation system is a server running NVIDIA’s Drive Sim software. As you’d probably guess, it simulates all of the technology you’d find on a self-driving car, including sensors, cameras, radar and lidar (the light and distance measuring component). It’s powered by the company’s GPUs, each of which creates its own stream of sensor data. The simulation server can also render “photoreal data streams” to reflect all sorts of driving conditions, like a fierce blizzard or glare during a sunset.

Another server is powered by the company’s Drive Pegasus software, which runs all of NVIDIA’s autonomous car technology and processes the incoming sensor data. The Pegasus server sends its responses back to the simulation machine for validation. That feedback loop occurs 30 times a second, according to NVIDIA.

Using this dual server setup, car makers will be able to construct all sorts of extreme scenarios to see how their self-driving algorithms react. The obvious drawback is that it’s tough to simulate every potential issue, but it’s still better than relying entirely on real-world testing (especially since it can easily be run millions of times per day).

Like any machine learning algorithm, NVIDIA’s self-driving technology will only get better with every simulation. At CES, the company unveiled its Xavier system-on-a-chip, which will let other companies quickly build up their own autonomous vehicles. NVIDIA says early access partners will get access to the Drive Constellation platform in the third quarter of this year.

NVIDIA’s next AI steps: An ARM deal and a new ‘personal supercomputer’

Soon you won’t need one of NVIDIA’s tiny Jetson systems if you want to tap into its AI smarts for smaller devices. At its GPU Technology Conference (GTC) today, the company announced it’ll be bringing its open source Deep Learning Architecture (NVDLA) over to ARM’s upcoming Project Trillium platform, which is focused on mobile AI. Specifically, NVDLA will help developers by accelerating inferencing, the processing of using trained neural networks to perform specific tasks.

While it’s a surprising move for NVIDIA, which typically relies on its own closed platforms, it makes a lot of sense. NVIDIA already relies on ARM designs for its Jetson and Tegra systems. If it’s going to make any sort of impact on the mobile and IoT world, it needs to work together with ARM, who dominates those arenas. And ARM could use NVIDIA’s technology to prove just how capable its upcoming chip platform will be.

The company isn’t just thinking small this year though. NVIDIA also unveiled the DGX-2, the next version of its “personal AI supercomputer.” It’s about 10 times faster than the previous system, the $149,000 DGX-1, which was powered by its first Volta GPU, the Tesla V100. Notably, the DGX-2 is the first server able to deliver more than two petaflops worth of power. That’s mostly due to the revamped V100 GPU, which now sports 32GB of memory. The server is powered by 16 of those cards, all strung together by the company’s NVSwitch technology.

NVIDIA

At 350 pounds, NVIDIA is also calling it the world’s largest GPU (sure, technically). The DGX-2 will run you a cool $399,000 when it’s released in the third quarter.

NVIDIA reportedly suspends its self-driving tests on public roads

NVIDIA will suspend all of its public road self-driving tests following Uber’s fatal accident, a company spokesperson has told Recode. The company supplies chips for Uber’s self-driving vehicles and it says that it needs to find out more about last week’s crash. “The accident was tragic,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “It’s a reminder of how difficult [self-driving car] technology is and that it needs to be approached with extreme caution and the best safety technologies.”

During his keynote today at NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference, CEO Jensen Huang said the fatal accident reminded the company how important safety is when it comes to this type of technology. “It’s hard,” he said. “Safety is the single most important thing. It’s really hard technology, it’s probably the hardest computing technology we’ve ever encountered.” He added that NVIDIA was dedicating itself to improving safety calling it “the grandest of computer problems.” He didn’t mention, however, that the company was suspending its self-driving tests.

Uber halted its testing following last week’s accident as did Toyota and nuTonomy. Yesterday, Arizona’s governor suspended Uber’s ability to test its self-driving vehicles on the state’s public roads. “Improving public safety has always been the emphasis of Arizona’s approach to autonomous vehicle testing, and my expectation is that public safety is also the top priority for all who operate this technology in the state of Arizona,” Governor Doug Ducey said in a letter. “The incident that took place on March 18 is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation.”

Tempe’s police chief has said that Uber was likely not at fault in the fatal crash.

Today, NVIDIA announced its Drive Constellation system — a multi-server setup that will let autonomous vehicle developers test their algorithms through virtual simulations rather than real-life evaluations.

Via: Recode

Buy Apple’s peripherals in Space Gray without ponying up for an iMac Pro

We weren’t sure who would best use the iMac Pro that came out last fall, but one thing it did was come in a new color for the desktop and its attachments: Space Gray. After releasing its HomePod in the same scheme, Apple has expanded its suite of standard silver peripherals to come in the smokey hue. Now you can get the magic mouse, keyboard and trackpad in the vaunted space gray color palette. Sadly, the company’s wireless keyboard is still silver-only, but hopefully that will change in time.

Source: Apple Magic Mouse, Apple Magic Keyboard, Apple Magic Trackpad

Google Maps finds routes in 39 more languages

Believe it or not, Google Maps has only supported a limited set of languages so far. A bit ironic for a service that helps you navigate the planet, don’t you think? That might not be a problem for many people after today. Google has added support for 39 new languages, and there’s a good chance there’s one you might appreciate. In addition to the Armenian you see above, the expansion includes numerous eastern European, Scandianvian and former Soviet republic countries as well as Afrikaans, Hebrew, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese and Zulu.

All told, the Maps update provides routes and places of interest for another 1.25 billion people in their native languages. And that might be crucial to Google’s dreams of making internet access as widely available as possible. If you’re just trying Google Maps for the first time, you’re more likely to embrace it if it reflects your local culture.

Source: Google