Lexus LS may get plug-in hybrid, EV, and hydrogen fuel cell variants

As automakers continue envisioning a future for alternative propulsion to rid the world of the classic internal combustion engine, some are doubling down on their efforts to make this vision a reality in the name of innovation. Some are taking an even more aggressive approach by doing away completely with the gas engine entirely in the name of electrification.

But others are looking for a more progressive transition into electrification by blending the best of both worlds with hybrid powertrains. One of those automakers, Lexus, recently launched its latest and greatest LS flagship in Australia, and Australian auto outlet GoAuto.com heard the newest model has some new powertrains under development in the pipeline.

Speaking with the Lexus LS’s chief engineer Toshio Asahi at the regional media launch, GoAuto.com learned that Lexus is currently working on a plug-in hybrid variant, a full-electric, and even a hydrogen fuel-cell. When the latest LS was undergoing planning and R&D, Asahi said all of those variants were immediately brought to the table for discussion and are still being considered.

Of course, Asahi wasn’t very specific with details of future models, as is the typical candid response from most manufacturers. But it still is a far cry from a flat-out “no,” and leaves potential for future variants of the LS. He acknowledged that the company is aware of its direct rivals from Europe are doing.

Given that electrification is the latest trending strategy from automakers — but battery technology and lacking infrastructure continue to inhibit its growth — some car manufacturers are instead trying to ease customers into the transition toward electrification.

As of now, the best solution is the hybrid powertrain — part electric and part gas-powered. Because combines the best of both worlds without incurring the impractical quirks of all-electric vehicles, we’re expecting a huge influx of hybrids and plug-in hybrids in the near future to meet most people’s needs. All-electric versions will also surface for the EV fans, and those who like to keep things traditional can opt for the base gas-only V6 model. Fans of even more futurist tech will also be interested in a hydrogen fuel cell model, which is also a promising prospect for alternative propulsion.

At launch for us stateside, the 2018 Lexus LS flagship sedan comes with the choice of a gas-only six-cylinder beginning with the LS500, featuring an all-new twin-turbocharged V6, a first for Lexus. Displacing 3.5-liters, it churns out an impressive 416 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of twist, to either the rear wheels or all-four through a new 10-speed automatic.

In keeping with tradition from the previous models, there is a hybrid variant, called the LS 500h. It takes the same, new Multistage Hybrid System from the hot LC 500h coupe, and stuffs it into the LS. It features dual-electric motors with an Atkinson-cycle 3.5-liter V6 for a total of 354 horsepower. Juice is supplied by a lithium-ion battery pack.

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By assembling Ikea chairs, robots steal the one job we never wanted

People sometimes talk about robots being able to carry out all the jobs which are considered too dull, dirty or dangerous for humans to do. Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore apparently want to add one more “D” to that list: Jobs that are frustrating. With that in mind, they have demonstrated how a pair of off-the-shelf robot arms can be used to assemble a flat-packed Ikea chair in mere minutes. Best of all? The robot arms don’t waste time having raging arguments about whether or not the instructions are being read properly.

“Similar to humans, the robot first localizes the chair parts using vision, then plans the motions to reach those parts, and control its motion so as to realize the different tasks — [such as] inserting a pin or carrying the frame,” Francisco Suárez Ruiz, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends.

In all, the robot took 20 minutes to put together the Ikea chair. Localizing the parts took just three seconds but planning its movement took 11 minutes, and assembly an extra nine. Ruiz said that the work is interesting because it shows a robot’s ability to perform a task which has been designed specifically to be accomplished using human dexterity.

Nanyang Technological University

“Fine manipulation is one of the key human skills,” he explained. “In general, robotics researchers are interested in reproducing those key human skills in their robots. We wanted to reproduce the generality of human ‘hardware:’ the same eyes and hands are used to assemble many different objects. Also, the capabilities that we develop based on off-the-shelf hardware can be easily and largely deployed in the industry. This approach of generality and off-the-shelf hardware makes the task of assembling a chair, that is already complex, even more difficult.”

However, thanks to key advances in computer vision, planning, control, integration of multiple software and hardware components, and bimanual manipulation, it is now possible for robots to carry out some of these functions.

Don’t start fearing an Ikea chair-assembling Skynet just yet, though. The robot had to be advised on the best way to assemble the chair, meaning that there was still a human in the loop. The finished product also wasn’t perfect, since the robot arms were unable to carry out some of the ultra-fine work involving placing dowels in the chair’s pre-drilled holes. But all this may change in the future.

“We are planning to incorporate A.I. so that the robot can figure out by itself the sequence of instructions,” Ruiz said.

A paper describing the work, “Can Robots Assemble an Ikea Chair?” was recently published in the journal Science Robotics.

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Tim Cook doesn’t believe customers want MacOS and iOS combined

Apple CEO Tim Cook believes that MacOS and iOS should remain as separate operating systems, and never merged as a single platform. He expressed this view in an interview after a recent event in Chicago, saying the company has no desire to “water down” either platform for a unified experience. Why? Because each platform is exceptional in their target devices. 

“Both [the Mac and iPad] are incredible. One of the reasons that both of them are incredible is because we pushed them to do what they do well. And if you begin to merge the two … you begin to make trade-offs and compromises,” he said. 

Of course, with just one operating system to rule all Apple devices, the company would be more efficient, he acknowledged. But Apple isn’t targeting efficiency, but rather what customers want out of their devices, whether it’s the new iPhone X or the MacBook Air. According to Cook, Apple wants to empower customers with the hardware they want for expressing their creativity, expressing their feelings, or changing the world. 

“This merger thing that some folks are fixated on, I don’t think that’s what users want,” he added. 

Cook may be indirectly referring to rumors hinting to a unified platform across all Apple devices codenamed as Marzipan. But Apple isn’t shooting for a one-OS-fits-all-devices solution. Instead, the move is something akin to Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform for Windows 10. A single app should work across all Apple devices no matter the underlying hardware and Apple-based operating system. 

Currently, developers must generate separate apps for MacOS and iOS, and right now, they appear more inclined to develop for iOS than MacOS. Just look at the Mac App Store’s seemingly barren state, which is devoid of popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and Hulu. Yet now developers are reportedly able to create a single app that works on both platforms while supporting touchscreens, trackpads, keyboard, and mice in the process. 

Will this “universal app platform” be what developers need to provide Mac owners a better app experience? Time will tell. Twitter pulled the plug on its Mac-based app in February, stating that Mac owners can get the “full” Twitter experience using their web browser. Meanwhile, Twitter’s app still remains on the App Store for iOS, Google Play for Android, and the Microsoft Store for Windows 10. 

Cook’s view on a MacOS/iOS merger is similar to Google’s take on Chrome OS and Android. The move seems imminent given Chrome OS now supports Google Play and Android apps. But according to Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome OS, and Play Hiroshi Lockheimer, merging just doesn’t make sense. 

“I think we’re very fortunate as a company to have two very successful platforms each in their own way and in their own segments,” Lockheimer said in late 2016. “For us, there’s no point in merging them. They’re both successful. We just want to make sure both sides benefit from each other, so that’s why we brought Google Play from Android over to Chrome OS.”  

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Google to evolve Android Messages into ‘Chat’ using RCS, will pause Allo development

This may finally be the one Google chat service that works.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Google has a plan to launch a unified messaging system. Right, it’s done this what feels like a dozen times before — but the reality is it’s been like half a dozen, and that’s still bad. Google Talk, Google Voice, Google+ Huddles, Hangouts, Allo … yeah, not a set of successes right there. The latest attempt, according to a great report from The Verge is a new system simply called “Chat” that will be built into the default Android Messages app by the end of the year. And thankfully, this isn’t following the same playbook as previous attempts.

The short version is that Allo, launched just two years ago, is having its development halted indefinitely — and the entire team that’s been evolving that standalone chat app will be moving to work on Android Messages. Yes that’s Google’s default SMS app, and . We’ve already seen trickles of this move, with little additions like Allo’s Smart Replies arriving in Messages, but now they’re going all in.

In the coming months, and for sure by the end of the year, Google will have built out a comprehensive set of advanced messaging features — if not fully duplicating Allo — in the Android Messages app. And it will be available to anyone who installs the app (plus one more caveat: carrier), including the hundreds of millions of people who will have it loaded on their phone by default.

Seeing Chat in Android Messages succeed where Google has failed so many times all hinges on this new standard called RCS, or Rich Communications Services. You’ve heard us talk a lot about it, though in fits and starts as various carriers and phone makers got on board. RCS, as the name implies, is a standard for providing rich chat services not unlike Google Hangouts, or WhatsApp or WeChat or any of the dozens of other super-popular over-the-top chat services. The difference is that RCS is an evolution of SMS, so it’s backwards-compatible with the legacy SMS/MMS system we know today. That means that these new “rich” communications will happen right in your regular SMS app, using your phone number as a profile identifier, and if you send a message to someone who doesn’t have RCS it’ll just come through as a regular SMS.

But that compatibility with SMS cuts both ways: in order for RCS to work, you need the carriers of all people involved in the chat to support it and be using phones that support it. Carriers like T-Mobile got on board early, but bigger names like Verizon straggled. Google now has over 50 carriers on board worldwide, plus lots of big names like Samsung and Huawei committing to including RCS compatibility on their phones (Samsung ships its own SMS app called Messages).

Like iMessage and WhatsApp, there will also be a desktop component to Chat. Using a QR code (again, similar to WhatsApp) to authenticate, users will see a mirrored version of Chat on the web. But you use Hangouts, you claim. What’s happening there? Hangouts has been in the process of being converted into an enterprise service to compete with the likes of Slack, but with the announcement of Chat, it sounds like Hangouts for personal use will eventually be wound down.

The new Chat team is being run by a familiar face: Anil Sabharwal. His team led the launch of Google Photos, which is arguably Google’s most important recent product and one that’s widely liked from smartphone nerds down to average users.

Play tank sim ‘‘Battlezone’ without a VR headset May 1st

A few PSVR launch titles, like Here They Lie and EVE: Valkyrie, have gracefully released non-VR versions, and now VR tank sim Battlezone will follow suit. The revival of the same-named 80s classic debuted on the PSVR and was later ported to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, but now it will shed its vivid virtual world for a two-dimensional version. Battlezone: Gold Edition will be released on PC, PS4, Xbox One on May 1st for $30 — and later in the summer, it will come to the Nintendo Switch.

Battlezone: Gold Edition collects all the bonus content, skins, bobbleheads and other extras released over the years. This includes the lovely Classic Mode aping the original 80s game’s vectored green-line look to charming effect. Anyone who already owns regular version on PS4 or PC will get a free upgrade to the new version, including the ability to play without a VR headset.

Source: Battlezone: Gold Edition trailer (YouTube)

Hulu adds Cheddar’s online-only TV channels to its roster

You might not necessarily be familiar with Cheddar’s mix of business and tech news, but it’s quickly becoming hard to miss if you’re a cord cutter. Hulu is joining YouTube TV by offering Cheddar’s live channel and on-demand shows through its subscription services later in April. You’ll need the $40 per month Hulu with Live TV package to check out the as-it-happens broadcasts, of course, but any Hulu subscriber will have access to pre-recorded news briefs, highlights and “select” originals.

It’s no secret as to why Hulu might want to add Cheddar. It’s one of the few news outlets that’s relatively popular among young adults (15 percent of those aged 18-34 are aware of it, according to Market Strategies International), many of whom have either dropped conventional TV or never subscribed in the first place. As with YouTube, this gives Hulu a news channel for customers who don’t really care for what traditional broadcasters have to offer, even when it’s streaming online.

Source: Cheddar (Medium)

Judge mostly dismisses Uber lawsuit over its Hell program

Last year, reports surfaced that between 2014 and 2016 Uber had used a program called Hell that let it track Lyft drivers through their unique numbered IDs. With the program, Uber was also reportedly able to identify those who drove for both it and Lyft, leading it to give more rides and bonuses to those “double-appers” in order to coax them into driving for Uber exclusively. News of Hell led to a class action lawsuit, wherein Lyft driver Michael Gonzales claimed the program led to reduced income and was a violation of the Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. Yesterday, a judge threw out most of the lawsuit, but the plaintiff will be able to amend the complaint and try again.

Judge Jacqueline Corley dismissed complaints related to the Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act. However, she found that the plaintiff successfully argued that he had lost revenue because of Uber’s Hell program, though he’ll have to prove it going forward. Corley also dismissed claims relating to supposed violations of the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, but said that Gonzales can amend his complaint if he can “allege facts that plausibly suggest Uber violated a particular subsection of the Act.”

In August, Corley dismissed the first version of the lawsuit, initially filed in April, with leave for Gonzales to amend.

Via: Bloomberg, TechCrunch

Kanye just played Twitter like a fiddle

Kanye West finally ended his social media hiatus this past weekend, nearly a year after he randomly deleted his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Over the past few days, the producer/rapper/fashion designer has sent out an avalanche of tweets ranging from accusations that Nike copied one of his latest Adidas shoe designs, to sub-Philosophy 101 ruminations on how “hardcore” capitalists don’t understand the value of time and friends over money. His return to the site caught fans by surprise, but the timing of it can now be linked to one major reason: West just revealed on Twitter that he has two new albums coming out on June 1st and June 8th.

Yes, all those inspirational tweets, like “You have to protect your ability to create at all cost” or “[Try] to avoid any contractual situation where you are held back from your ideas,” were all leading to today’s announcement. Because even Kanye’s bizarre Twitter persona has a bottom line. Or do you really think it’s a coincidence that less than a week after he started tweeting again, he drops the news that he has new music coming out soon? While it’s no secret that Twitter is a public relations tool for every brand and famous person, Kanye has mastered the art of building hype for whatever he sells with outlandish tweets. And his fans easily fall for it.

In case that wasn’t enough, Kanye also said that the deep thoughts he’s been tweeting are all part of a philosophy book he’s working on, which is said to be called Break the Simulation. “[Oh] by the way this is my book that I’m writing in real time,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “No publisher or publicist will tell me what to put where or how many pages to write. This is not a financial opportunity[,] this is an innate need to be expressive.”

I will work on this “book” when I feel it. When We sit still in the mornings We get hit with so many ideas and so many things We want to express. When I read this tweet to myself I didn’t like how much I used the word I so I changed the I’s to We’s.

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018

Source: Twitter (Kanye West)

Senator pushes for stronger FTC oversight of Facebook

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to FTC Acting Chairwoman Maureen Ohlhausen today, encouraging the commission to consider evidence that Facebook may have violated a 2011 consent decree and to pursue regulations that will protect consumers. The requests come as Facebook continues to face scrutiny over the privacy policies that led to Cambridge Analytica obtaining information on 87 million Facebook users. “Recent revelations about the illegitimate harvesting of personal data on tens of millions of Americans have shed new light on the systemic failure of Facebook to address privacy risks and keep its promises to users,” Blumenthal wrote. “Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s recent apology tour, Facebook’s history of negligence demonstrates that the company can no longer be trusted to self-regulate.”

Blumenthal recently introduced a bill alongside Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) that aims to protect consumers’ online data. The proposed CONSENT Act includes a number of regulations that would be enforced by the FTC.

In his letter, the senator points to a 2011 FTC consent decree wherein Facebook agreed to get authorization from users before sharing their data and to notify them in the event of any authorized access. Blumenthal notes that Facebook’s adherence to the consent decree is now being questioned in light of evidence that the “Thisisyourdigitallife” app allowed its makers to collect data not only from those that installed it but from their friends as well. “The Cambridge Analytica matter also calls into question Facebook’s compliance with the consent decree’s requirements to respect privacy settings and protect private information,” he wrote. “The ease with which the GSR app was able to harvest data on 87 million users demonstrates that third parties were effectively able to override privacy preferences without express consent.” He also points out that Global Science Research explicitly said in its terms of service that it reserved the right to sell user data, something that the senator says should have alerted Facebook and led it to reject the app. “Even the most rudimentary oversight would have uncovered these problematic terms of service,” he said.

Blumenthal asked the FTC to consider these facts when investigating Facebook and says that if it finds the company to be in violation of the consent decree, it should seek monetary penalties — the decree allowed for fines of up to $40,000 per person affected — and impose stricter oversight of the social network giant. Specifically, the senator asks the FTC to consider measures such as limits on the combining and sharing of data between Facebook-owned services, transparency on data collection, restrictions on data collection and a third-party monitor — measures mostly in line with the regulations proposed in Blumenthal’s CONSENT Act.

“Mr. Zuckerberg has acknowledged that the incident was a breach of trust between Facebook and its users, a broken promise that requires redress for consumers and enforceable commitments that deter further breaches,” Blumenthal wrote. “It is time for the FTC to thoroughly and rigorously reassess Facebook’s privacy practices and put into place rules that finally protect consumers.”

Blumenthal has also introduced a bill that aims to protect consumers’ personal data.

Source: Senator Blumenthal

‘Destiny 2’ adds new progression systems and exotic weapon tweaks

Bungie has been working to keep players interested in Destiny 2 with updates to the multiplayer Crucible, mobile companion app and rewards for its most loyal players. Now the company has just revealed a variety of exotic weapons and progression changes that should make things even more interesting.

The team has been ramping up its weaponry, with changes to exotic weapons like the powerful Graviton Lance along with the fast-swapping Sturm & Drang. This week, there’s some more info about Skyburner’s Oath and Rat King. The Oath now gets explosive tracking projectile rounds, which will fire at a faster rate when firing from the hip. Check it out in action below.

The Rat King is now fully automatic to make sure its damage per second (DPS) potential is fully realized when used by a group of players. The team also added some more perks when people have the gun equipped or stowed. They also increased the invisibility timer when teams are using the guns.

It’s not just weapons that are getting a revamp, either. Bungie is making some changes to the entire game, starting with the upcoming Warmind expansion that will encourage players with a better sense of progression and a more impactful way to gain higher Power levels. Bungie spelled out how players will best progress after the changes — and, spoiler, it’s by participating in a mix of group activities, Raids and Trials. Just keep in mind that the last little climb from 370 to 380 will take more time by design. “We believe the changes to quest rewards and Exotic farming will ensure the most effective way to reach the Power cap is to play the most challenges and social weekly activities,” wrote the team in a blog post.

Finally, Bungie is hosting a small group of players at its studio offices to allow them to share opinions on the goals and plans for Destiny 2. The summit will include conversations about the future of the game, not a way to announce anything new or market the title. “They won’t have a wealth of news to report once our time together is over,” wrote the team. “They’ll be welcome to report on the mood from the gathering and to tell you what they told us. We’d ask you not to press them for promises on what the state of Destiny 2 will be in the months to come.”

Source: Blizzard