BMW, Ford and GM want to bring blockchain to your car

Seemingly every company is determined to hop on the blockchain bandwagon, and that includes automakers. BMW, Ford, GM, Renault and and a string of tech partners (including Bosch and IBM) have formed the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative, a group that hopes to use blockchain’s distributed, decentralized ledger technology across many aspects of your experience, even when you’re not driving. They hope to create standards that allow for secure payments for everything from autonomous car hailing to congestion charges to ridesharing.

It could be useful for car-to-car data sharing, too. And behind the scenes, blockchain should be useful for vehicle ID (such as tracing stolen cars or collision histories) and bolstering the supply chain.

The move is undoubtedly super-trendy, and there’s no firm timeline for when any blockchain technology might show up in cars. However, this could have some very tangible real-world benefits. As there would be fewer (if any) gatekeepers, this could reduce the cost of the services you use without compromising on security — a trip in a self-driving taxi might be slightly more affordable.

Via: Coindesk

Source: Newswire, MOBI

DC’s streaming service has a name and a new show

DC’s streaming service is no longer quite so mysterious. The unlimited video offering is now called DC Universe (not to be confused with the DC Extended Universe), and has a landing page to whet your appetite. There’s a new show to go alongside the announcement, as well — DC has unveiled Swamp Thing, an adaptation of the classic comic series. This version has CDC researcher Abby Arcane studying a swamp virus in Louisiana and falling in love with fellow scientist Alec Holland, only to ‘lose’ him. Needless to say, he isn’t really gone — and he’s key to fending off “powerful forces” that want to use the swamp for nefarious ends. It premieres sometime in 2019.

The series will have a strong pedigree. Saw director James Wan is serving as the executive producer alongside Mark Verheiden (conveniently involved in the related show Constantine), Gary Dauberman (It) and Michael Clear (Annabelle: Creation).

The service already had four animated and live-action shows lined up, including Titans (which includes characters like Robin and Supergirl), Harley Quinn, Young Justice: Outsiders and the Superman-themed Metropolis. DC pitches it as more than a straightforward subscription service with fan interaction that involves both comics and shows. In other words, it’s not just attaching itself to a partner as with Marvel. It’s wagering that it can offer more with its own service (albeit one made with Warner Bros.’ help) than tying itself to someone else.

Via: Deadline, Variety, Newsweek

Source: DC Universe, DC Comics

Google’s first VR Doodle honors filmmaker Georges Méliès

Visit the Google home page tomorrow (May 3rd) and you’ll find an unusual Doodle of a stick-thin man with a pristine suit. Click and you’ll be presented with a YouTube player that brings the quirky figure — French filmmaker Georges Méliès — and his creations to life in a wonderfully animated 360-degree short. Google is calling it a VR Doodle, which it is, sort of. Back to the Moon will be available through the Spotlight Stories app, which works with Cardboard and Daydream headsets. The YouTube version, then, is both a stand-alone piece and a teaser for Google’s mobile VR platform.

Various Spotlight Stories, including Pearl, Buggy Night and Son of Jaguar, have been released on YouTube before. But they’ve never been promoted on the Google home page — a surefire way to attract thousands, if not millions, of extra eyeballs. Not once has the program, which started with Windy Day on the Moto X in 2013, tackled a historical figure like Méliès, either. They’re usually about original characters: a mouse chasing an orange hat on a blustery day, or a security guard pursuing Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Some have promoted well-known properties, including The Simpsons and Gorillaz, but these are hardly Doodle material either.

Google Doodles, meanwhile, have celebrated holidays, sporting events and historical figures like programmer Ada Lovelace and scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Helene Leroux, a Doodler in London, pitched a Méliès tribute to Google last summer. The director, who lived between 1861 and 1938, pioneered a host of special effects, including the substitution splice — an early version of the jump cut — multiple exposures and time-lapse photography. He made more than 500 films throughout his career, among them A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage and The One-Man Band. He often starred in his own films and contributed to almost every aspect of their production, from set designs to directing actors.

Initially, Leroux wanted to make a Doodle video, possibly with a mixture of animation and live action. Google encouraged her to make a VR film instead, which quickly led to a conversation with the Spotlight Stories team and Nexus Studios, a London company that specializes in film, animation and interactive stories. Nexus had worked on Rain or Shine, another Spotlight Story that was adapted into a full VR experience last year. By sheer chance, Leroux knew the team — she had interned there a few years ago — and was good friends with François-Xavier “FX” Goby, a French filmmaker who became the project’s co-director.

Next, Leroux contacted the Google Arts & Culture team in Paris. The department had a relationship with Cinémathèque Française, a French film organization that holds one of the largest movie archives in the world, including what’s left of Méliès’ work. Last November, Leroux and Goby visited Paris and pored over everything in the collection, including costumes, drawings and, of course, Méliès’ films. “Being there and seeing the real things, it was extremely inspiring,” Goby said.

Leroux, Goby and the rest of the team then worked on the Doodle in earnest. They took imagery from Méliès’ most iconic films — the lunar landing from A Trip to the Moon, for instance — and developed a simple story that included Méliès’ wife, who appeared in many of his films, as a capable princess and love interest. Finally, the team sought out the best example of each special effect that Méliès had invented. These include the duplication and double-exposure trick from The One-Man Band and the replacement maneuver — in which Méliès would stop the camera, switch characters and start filming again — from The Living Playing Cards.

It all comes together in a Toy Story–inspired piece starring Méliès, the princess and some musicians in a room filled with giant books, games and props. They dance and briefly travel underwater before vanquishing a villain with a well-timed “cache” — a black board that Méliès used to make certain elements “disappear” during his monochrome films.

The wraparound view meant it was difficult to plan and choreograph. The team broke it down into three layers — the main action, the background musicians and the circular set — to make the storyboarding process a little more manageable. “I remember freaking out about the storyboard,” Leroux said. “Because you don’t have any frames, per se, where you can draw your compositions. So it’s like, what do you start with? The backgrounds or the main action? After a while, we just created a layout of the scene and took it from there.”

It’s a simple story to follow, and most of the action takes place right in front of you. The viewer is free, however, to look elsewhere, and if you’re using the Spotlight Stories app, the movie will adapt accordingly. If you look at the musicians, for instance, the main action — Méliès and his wife — will wait off-screen until you turn your head back. That’s possible because of some special Google software called the Spotlight Stories Editor, which allows for nodal-based logic, similar to what’s used in a video game.

“It’s immersive theater much more than it is a film.”

Mark Davies, a CG supervisor at Nexus Studios, says it works like punch-drunk-style theater. “It’s immersive theater much more than it is a film,” he said. “Because the actor is there, and if they see that you’re staring at the floor, the ceiling or something else, they’ll wait for you to turn around, and go, ‘Oh, yes, I can begin acting again.’” It’s a subtle technique that most viewers won’t even notice. “It’s really there as a mechanism to vary the pace of the story depending on the attention of the audience,” Jan Pinkava, creative director of Google Spotlight Stories, added.

The new Doodle has a wonderful score by Mathieu Alvado, who took inspiration from ragtime music and the dramatic sounds of early cinema. “Musically, we wanted to make you feel as though you were watching an old movie, but with a modern touch,” Goby said. The final track was recorded at AIR Studios with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra.

Back to the Moon isn’t the most ambitious Spotlight Story, but that’s by design. For many people, this will be their first exposure to 360-degree video, and Nexus Studios didn’t want to bombard them with wild character movements and multiple, simultaneous storylines. It’s also why the movie starts with a two-dimensional depiction of Méliès, before expanding to a spotlight and finally a brightly lit room. “You’re taken by the hand,” Goby said, “so within 30 seconds you understand that you can look around; however, it’s not overwhelming from the first frame.”

The Spotlight Stories team is also realizing that confining the action to a portion of the scene can be more impactful and enjoyable for the viewer. “I think with experience we’re realizing that people actually like it when the action is set in front of you and not all around,” Leroux added.

The Doodle is being released on May 3rd, 106 years after the premiere of The Conquest of the Pole, one of Méliès’ greatest films. It’s a charming and, more important, educational short. One that will inspire some people to research Méliès and learn more about his surreal, experimental effects.

For Google, of course, it’s also an opportunity to lure people into its VR ecosystem. Cardboard has sold well enough, but Daydream adoption has been slow, in part because so few smartphones support it. The other problem is content: Google needs to prove that Daydream has a library worth paying for. Back to the Moon is a great showpiece, and putting it on the front page of Google is a blunt but effective way of attracting attention to mobile VR. “It’s a wonderful stage on which this production can exist,” Pinkava said. “It is perhaps the most theatrically developed Doodle that Google has ever done. And so to be part of that is absolutely fabulous.”

Source: Back to the Moon (YouTube)

Spotify Now Has 75M Paid Subscribers, Apple Music Has 40M

Spotify this afternoon reported its first quarterly earnings since its February IPO filing, and in the report, the company revealed that it now has 75 million paid subscribers.

The 75 million number is up from the 71 million paying subscribers that Spotify reported at the end of February, and it’s almost double the number of subscribers who pay for Apple Music.

Apple in April said that it had 40 million paid subscribers across 115 countries and an additional eight million people using the service through the free three-month trial.

Though it has 75 million paid subscribers, Spotify’s total subscriber base is much larger at 170 million subscribers due to the free tier that it offers.

While Spotify has more paying subscribers than Apple Music, the latter service has been gaining new subscribers at a quicker rate. A recent report from The Wall Street Journal suggested Apple Music is on track to overtake Spotify in U.S. subscribers as soon as this summer because its five percent growth rate per month outpaces Spotify’s two percent growth rate.

Spotify last month beefed up its free tier with on-demand playlists, song recommendations, and a new low-data mode with the hopes that a more robust free tier will convert more listeners into paid subscribers.

Spotify stock is down following its earnings release as its $1.36 billion in revenue fell short of the $1.4 billion in revenue estimated by Wall Street.

Tags: Spotify, Apple Music
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Mad Skills BMX 2 review: Addictive racing at its best

A lot of racing games offer great graphics and animation, they can oftentimes leave you bored after a while, with stale game play. Mad Skills BMX 2, from the developer Turborilla, challenges that notion with a free, family-friendly title that I keep going back to again and again. Check it out and see if it’s a racer you would be interested in.

Setup

Setup couldn’t be simpler: just download from the Play Store, click on the icon, and you’re in. From there you jump into some short tutorials, and then you’re into the meat of the game.

Mad Skills BMX 2 is a sequential racer, meaning it’s kind of like a campaign; your racer progresses through the game by beating each level (and your AI opponent) in sequential order, not moving to the next level until you “win” the current one.

You are given several “worlds”, or track series, with multiple specific tracks within each. Like a campaign-style game, the first levels withing each series start out easier, but progress in difficulty as you go along.

Gameplay

One of the reasons Mad Skills BMX 2 is so fun to play is its nuanced use use of game controls and course challenges. To race your bike, you only have two main controls: up & down arrows on the right side of your display. The down arrow lets you pump or wheelie down hills and over whoops faster, and the up arrow let you bunny-hop, which helps get more air off ramps and other jumps.

That’s it for controls. There are a couple of other buttons available (rocket button for a limited turbo boost, flip button to do backflips), but they don’t affect the core gameplay.

The key is your timing in your approach to each dip, whoop, bump, and ramp on each track. Each of these obstacles provide their own challenges, but the almost endless combination of them provide the equally almost endless challenge in mastering your touch & timing. Getting to a point to beat my opponent, and the intense satisfaction that comes with doing so on each level, was more than enough to keep me coming back for more. This is a true case where simplicity and nuance brings much more to a game than a clustered collection of controls and options.

One of my favorite part of the game is that it allows you to play previously-beaten levels/tracks, racing yourself as you best raced it last, trying to create new personal records.

Add-Ons

As you progress through the game, you collect cash and gold bars, and with these you are offered several ways to upgrade your gear for the next race:

• Clothing/helmet upgrade: This is aesthetic only; can’t say it appealed to me that much.
• Bike upgrades: You can upgrade your general speed, your pump ability, or your jumping ability.
• New bikes: The holy grail! With enough money collected you can switch out to a completely new ride (complete with speed, pump, and jump attributes to fill out as you go).

If I had one disappointment, it is with the amount of ‘boost’ each upgrade gives you. I really couldn’t see or feel the difference after dropping hard-earned money for one or more attribute upgrades. I would appreciate it more if more impact was given to these.

You do collect rockets from time-to-time….these allow you to hit the icon for a short-term turbo boost in a race. These are pretty rare (provided you’re not paying real in-game cash for them), so you need to take care in using them up. Believe me, they go fast!

Overall

It sounds odd, given the lack of crazy controls, gameplay, and other game mechanics, but Mad Skills BMX 2 is a rare game I enjoy playing more than a few days before moving on. It’s still on my device, and I say it should be on yours, too.

Download Mad Skills BMX 2 from the Play Store.

LG G7 ThinQ vs. LG V30: Which LG flagship phone is best for you?

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

With a notchy new look, a super bright display, and a bucket load of A.I. smarts the LG G7 ThinQ is LG’s latest flagship. But how does it compare to the South Korean manufacturer’s last big phone, the LG V30? They may look similar, but there are quite a few differences here. Let’s take a closer look and find out.

Specs

LG G7 ThinQ
LG V30

Size
153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9mm (6.03 x 2.96 x 0.31 inches)
151.7 x 75.4 x 7.4 mm (5.97 x 2.97 x 0.29 inches)

Weight
162 grams (5.71 ounces)
158 grams (5.57 ounces)

Screen size
6.1-inch IPS LCD
6-inch P-OLED display

Screen resolution
3120 x 1440 pixels (564 pixels-per-inch)
2880 x 1440 pixels (537 pixels-per-inch)

Operating system
Android 8.0 Oreo
Android 7.1.2 Nougat (upgradeable to 8.0 Oreo)

Storage space
64GB, 128GB
64GB, 128GB (on the V30 Plus)

MicroSD card slot
 Yes, up to 2TB
Yes, up to 256 GB

Tap-to-pay services
Android Pay
Android Pay

Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835

RAM
4GB, 6GB
4GB

Camera
Dual 16MP (with OIS) and 16MP wide angle rear, 8MP front
Dual 16MP and 13MP wide angle rear, 5MP wide angle front

Video
 Up to 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30 fps, 720p at 120 fps
Up to 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30 fps, 720p at 120 fps

Bluetooth version
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0

Ports
3.5mm headphone jack, USB-Type C
3.5mm headphone jack, USB-Type C

Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes

Water resistance
IP68
IP68

Battery
3,000mAh

Fast charging, wireless charging (Qi standard)

3,300mAh

Fast charging, wireless charging (Qi standard)

App marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store

Network support
All major carriers
All major carriers

Colors
Aurora Black, Platinum Grey, Moroccan Blue, Raspberry Rose
Cloud Silver, Moroccan Blue

Price
 TBA
$800

Buy from
 TBA

Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile

Review score
Hands On
4 out of 5 stars

Performance, battery life, and charging

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

While the LG V30 relies on last year’s Snapdragon 835 processor, the LG G7 ThinQ sports Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 processor. That means it will be faster and more power efficient. Both phones have 4GB of RAM, though you can jump up to 6GB with the new G7 ThinQ, which might prove handy for serious multitaskers.

On the battery front we’re surprised to find that the V30 has a larger 3,300mAh battery, compared to the G7 ThinQ’s 3,000mAh battery. It’s not a huge difference, and the more efficient processor might compensate. LG also said it managed to reduce the display’s power consumption over from the LG G6, so we expect battery life to be similar.

Both phones support fast charging and Qi wireless charging. Only the LG G7 ThinQ supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0, though, which promises five hours of charge from 15 minutes of charging. Sadly, if you want to take advantage of it, you have to buy a QC 4.0 adapter separately because there isn’t one in the box.

Winner: LG G7 ThinQ

Design and durability

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Superficially there are a lot of similarities between these two phones, but as you look closer you’ll find some important differences. The most obvious is the presence of a notch at the top of the display on the LG G7 ThinQ. It’s customizable, so you can make it blend in like a bezel if you prefer. By default, you’ll be able to see system information on the sides of the notch, such the time, battery life, and signal strength.

The G7 ThinQ is a touch taller and thicker, but not quite as wide as the V30. On the back of the G7 ThinQ, the camera module is stacked vertically instead of horizontally and the fingerprint sensor doesn’t double as a power button – there’s a separate power button on the right spine. There’s also a dedicated A.I. key that triggers Google Assistant below the volume controls on the left edge. Both phones have USB-C ports for charging, but the V30 has its headphone port up top, whereas the G7 ThinQ has it on the bottom alongside the charging port.

In terms of durability, both phones boast an IP68 rating, so they can handle a short dunk. They also both meet military drop test standards, but we’d advise a case if you really want to keep them in good condition.

There’s very little to separate them here, but the G7 ThinQ is slightly easier to manage one-handed and offers some useful additions such as the dedicated A.I. key.

Winner: LG G7 ThinQ

Display

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Things get interesting in the display section. The V30 has a 6-inch P-OLED screen with a 2880 x 1440 pixel resolution, giving it 537 pixels per inch (ppi). There were complaints about LG’s OLED screen, mostly leveled at the Pixel 2 XL, but we felt the issue was overblown. However, LG has chosen to go with a 6.1-inch IPS LCD in the LG G7 ThinQ. The company said it’s reserving its OLED screens for the V-series.

We think Samsung’s AMOLED screens are the best in the business right now, and OLED tech offers some advantages over LCD, specifically truly inky blacks. On the other hand, one of the advantages of LCD is brightness, and LG has included a Super Bright Display feature which boosts the screen to 1,000 nits (for three minutes) so you can see clearly outdoors, which is a common problem on sunny days.

At 3,120 x 1,440 pixels the LG G7 ThinQ scores a slightly sharper 564ppi rating. Of course, the notch is still the most noticeable difference. It means the G7 ThinQ has an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 instead of the 18:9 you’ll find in the V30, but the extra screen space isn’t really usable a lot of the time. Both phones support HDR content.

We think the G7’s screen is vibrant and colorful, and while blacks don’t get as dark as on the V30, we prefer the brighter screen. If you’re not a fan of the notch, you can easily mask it away with black bars around the notch, making it hardly visible.

Winner: LG G7 ThinQ

Camera

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

At first glance, it doesn’t look as though LG has made a lot of changes to the camera — the G7 ThinQ has a dual lens main camera both rated at 16-megapixel, whereas the V30 pairs a 16-megapixel and a 13-megapixel lens. The secondary lens in both cases offers wide-angle shots, which we like. The G7 ThinQ also has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, whereas the V30 makes do with 5 megapixels.

It turns out there are some improvements, but they’re in the software. LG did release a new version of the V30, dubbed the V30S ThinQ, which introduced some A.I. smarts into the camera for scene and object recognition, but the G7 ThinQ takes this further. It also boasts a super bright mode for low-light conditions, allowing you trade off some detail for a clearer photo. There’s also a new portrait mode that works with the main and front-facing cameras.

We were a little disappointed in the V30 camera when we tested it head-to-head with some of the top competition, so we’re hopeful the G7 ThinQ will perform better.

Winner: LG G7 ThinQ

Software and updates

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The LG V30 shipped with Android 7.1.2 Nougat, though most handsets should have received at OTA update to Android 8.0 Oreo by now. The LG G7 ThinQ ships with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Both have LG’s user interface on top which makes quite a few tweaks to stock Android and adds a handful of extras. We don’t think it’s the best user interface around, but it’s not the worst either.

LG is really talking up the A.I. advances in the G7 ThinQ and there are even some custom Google Assistant commands, a smart bulletin screen that’s supposed to learn your preferences and display relevant information, and the camera improvements. Combine that with the fact that the G7 ThinQ, as the newer phone, will likely get updates for longer and it’s the obvious winner here.

Winner: LG G7 ThinQ

Special features

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

If you’re looking for something special that the G7 ThinQ has over the V30, beyond the notch in the display, then you might take note of the dedicated A.I. key on the left edge. Press it once to trigger voice recognition with Google Assistant or hold it down for a walkie-talkie mode so you can talk continuously. You can double click it to launch Google Lens vision recognition. There are also some unique G7 ThinQ commands, such as “take a photo with Super Bright Mode.” Whether this is useful to you will depend on your relationship with Google Assistant – if you use it a lot then this should be a welcome addition.

Both the V30 and G7 ThinQ have a Quad DAC which should improve your listening experience when you have headphones plugged in, but the G7 takes it all a step further with its Boombox Speaker. It only has one mono bottom-firing speaker, but LG removed the module covering the speaker, and turned the whole phone into a resonance chamber. That means the audio sounds like its coming out of the whole phone; it gets incredibly loud, and sounds really rich as well.

The V in V30 stands for video and so Cine Mode was the main special feature it boasted. It offers a bunch of cinematic effects for shooting video in different styles. We found it fun to use, but you could probably achieve a lot of the same results with apps and filters.

Winner: LG G7 ThinQ

Price

At $800 the LG V30 is an expensive phone, but if you shop around you’ll find it a bit cheaper than that now. We’re waiting for final confirmation on the pricing of the LG G7 ThinQ, but we expect it to be cheaper. Both phones will work on all the major carriers, and the G7 ThinQ will be available in the U.S. in the first week of June.

Overall winner: LG G7 ThinQ

It would obviously be disappointing if LG’s newest flagship didn’t improve on its last phone, but the LG G7 ThinQ definitely does. The faster processor, design tweaks, and injection of AI should all make for a better experience. If you’re shopping today and choosing between these two, then the G7 ThinQ is the obvious pick. For owners of the V30 thinking about upgrading, it’s not quite as clear cut because there isn’t a world of difference between these two phones.

Editors’ Recommendations

• LG G7 ThinQ hands-on review
• Here’s everything you need to know about the LG G7 ThinQ
• Here’s absolutely everything we know about the LG V35 ThinQ
• The LG V30: Everything you need to know about LG’s flagship smartphone
• LG V30S ThinQ hands-on review

Apple faces patent infringement charges over dual-lens iPhone camera tech

Apple is being sued over the dual-lens camera tech used to power the exceptionally capable camera suites in the iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus smartphones.

In a claim that originated in November 2017, Israeli firm Corephotonics alleges that Apple unlawfully copied its dual-lens technology after being rebuffed for a potential partnership. According to Corephotonics, after Apple refused the offer of an alliance, it then went on to develop its own version of the camera tech anyway. According to Reuters, Apple praised the tech during a meeting with Corephotonics Chief Executive David Mendlovic, and after refusing to license it, apparently made a comment that it could simply bypass the patents on the hardware without consequence.

“Apple’s lead negotiator expressed contempt for Corephotonics’ patents, telling Dr. Mendlovic and others that even if Apple infringed, it would take years and millions of dollars in litigation before Apple might have to pay something.”

The lawsuit originally only concerned the dual-lens iPhone 7 Plus, but has been expanded to include the other dual-lens camera phones under the Apple iPhone brand — the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 Plus. Corephotonics’ patents concern the construction of a telephoto zoom within the extremely small confines of a smartphone, and how this technology would interact within a dual-lens system to create a combination of optical and digital zoom.

The crux of the allegation against Apple appears to be that the technology was shown to Apple before Apple then went on to develop its own version — the implication being that Apple simply lifted the techniques and put them into its own camera designs. Apple has been granted patents for its own cameras.

According to Patently Apple, one of the patents included in the updated lawsuit was only granted in January 2018 — after both the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X were released to the public, raising questions of how an ungranted patent was willfully infringed on before it had been granted. Regardless, this may well become a thorny issue for Apple, which is no stranger to lawsuits, having been engaged in multiple legal battles against some of the largest names in the tech industry.

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• Did Apple steal its heart sensor technology for the Apple Watch?
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• Apple iPhone 8 review

Newton axes the sent folder — and it makes for a better email experience

Say goodbye to your sent folder. You never needed it in the first place.

On Wednesday, May 2, email client Newton decided to change up the way you interact with your inbox once again by ridding users of the sent folder once and for all. It’s a sensible move that streamlines the email experience quite a bit. Now, rather than having to navigate between your inbox and a separate repository for your responses, Newton is putting everything in one place, creating an interface that looks a lot more like a chat app or standard messaging service than a mailbox.

Now, when you send an email using the Newton client, you will see that email right in your inbox, alongside all your other conversations. When you reply to an email, that messaging thread is moved to the top of your inbox. And if you begin a new email correspondence, that message will go to the top until an incoming message or another response of your own pushes it down. All in all, it creates a more all-in-one feeling for your inbox, something that many of us could certainly use.

The impetus for getting rid of the sent folder, Newton explains via a Medium blog post, is that it’s simply no longer necessary. “Long ago, email clients worked by periodically checking a mail-box on the server and downloading email using a protocol called POP,” the team explained. “Once the mail was downloaded, it was deleted from the server and was shown in a folder called Inbox in the client. The client also had folders like Drafts, Sent, Outbox, etc. so that it could save emails you wrote and sent using the client in an appropriate location.” While the technology for email has improved, this formatting has not. And Newton decided it was time for a change.

“Going forward, when you start a new conversation in Newton, you’ll see it right on top in Inbox,” the blog post continues. “Also when you reply. Conversations in inbox will be sorted by activity … There’s absolutely no need to go to Sent folder any more.”

Of course, if you don’t want to have all of your messages in one place, that is fine too. Newton allows you to turn off the feature if you prefer the previous setup. But if you’re looking for fewer folders overall, this new update may be the one for you.

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Newton axes the sent folder — and it makes for a better email experience

Say goodbye to your sent folder. You never needed it in the first place.

On Wednesday, May 2, email client Newton decided to change up the way you interact with your inbox once again by ridding users of the sent folder once and for all. It’s a sensible move that streamlines the email experience quite a bit. Now, rather than having to navigate between your inbox and a separate repository for your responses, Newton is putting everything in one place, creating an interface that looks a lot more like a chat app or standard messaging service than a mailbox.

Now, when you send an email using the Newton client, you will see that email right in your inbox, alongside all your other conversations. When you reply to an email, that messaging thread is moved to the top of your inbox. And if you begin a new email correspondence, that message will go to the top until an incoming message or another response of your own pushes it down. All in all, it creates a more all-in-one feeling for your inbox, something that many of us could certainly use.

The impetus for getting rid of the sent folder, Newton explains via a Medium blog post, is that it’s simply no longer necessary. “Long ago, email clients worked by periodically checking a mail-box on the server and downloading email using a protocol called POP,” the team explained. “Once the mail was downloaded, it was deleted from the server and was shown in a folder called Inbox in the client. The client also had folders like Drafts, Sent, Outbox, etc. so that it could save emails you wrote and sent using the client in an appropriate location.” While the technology for email has improved, this formatting has not. And Newton decided it was time for a change.

“Going forward, when you start a new conversation in Newton, you’ll see it right on top in Inbox,” the blog post continues. “Also when you reply. Conversations in inbox will be sorted by activity … There’s absolutely no need to go to Sent folder any more.”

Of course, if you don’t want to have all of your messages in one place, that is fine too. Newton allows you to turn off the feature if you prefer the previous setup. But if you’re looking for fewer folders overall, this new update may be the one for you.

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Cambridge Analytica is closing, but it solves nothing

Cambridge Analytica is closing up shop. Company executives continue to deny any wrongdoing and insist the shuttering of both it and parent company SCL is due to the loss of business resulting from “sensationalistic reporting.” Cambridge Analytica has been accused of improperly obtaining data on some 87 million Facebook users — a revelation that has led to its removal from Facebook, a slew of changes to the social media giant’s handling of user data and two Congressional hearings. But the issues surrounding Cambridge Analytica aren’t just going to disappear after it closes.

Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have put a lot of effort into placing the blame on Cambridge Analytica and its associates. They’ve removed the data firm from its platform, as well others linked to it, like AggregateIQ, and have said over and over again how the policies that allowed for this particular incident to occur were fixed back in 2014. Even the tone of yesterday’s F8 keynote was about moving on from Cambridge Analytica. While privacy was touched on at the beginning of Zuckerberg’s talk, no new measures were discussed. He made sure to note how important it was to inform users of the company’s privacy efforts before adding, “But we also have a responsibility to move forward.” A responsibility to who is unclear.

Even if the problems that led to Cambridge Analytica’s acquisition of so much data have been resolved (and that’s a big if), we still have no idea how far they spread before being addressed. When asked during his Senate hearing what other firms researcher Aleksandr Kogan might have sold his trove of Facebook data to, Zuckerberg wasn’t able to answer.

Similarly relevant questions also went unanswered when the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Committee posed them to Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer. After his testimony last week, the committee was left wondering how many developers Facebook took action against between 2011 and 2014. There are also questions surrounding the company’s NDA with Kogan and whether it might prevent the company from taking legal action against him as well as who’s leading the Cambridge Analytica investigation. And on top of all that, concerns abound over how many developers were using and selling data to third parties and if Cambridge Analytica shared data with AggregateIQ. All of which are incredibly important bits of information to know if one is to truly understand the scope of data leaked from Facebook and how much of it might still be in use elsewhere.

Facebook has said that it’s conducting an audit of all of the apps that had access to large amounts of data prior to 2014 and any found to have violated its terms will be removed. But the company hasn’t shared how this audit process works or how third-party investigators missed Cambridge Analytica’s violations in the first place.

There are still more questions than answers. We have no real idea how big of a problem Facebook created for itself and its users — and we won’t know until it starts answering the pressing questions that just keep piling up.

The closing of Cambridge Analytica doesn’t mean that much in the grand scheme of things. It’s one company of who knows how many. And since an incredibly large magnifying glass had been placed over it in recent weeks, we were at least able to get a look at its practices. The others — and there are surely others — are still hiding in the shadows, representing an unknown that, for now, only Facebook can bring into the light. And I don’t know about you, but I do not find it comforting to know that onus is on them.

For its part, Cambridge Analytica chose to double-down even as its walls were crumbling. In a statement today, the company said, “Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations and, despite the Company’s efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas.” It also released a report from an independent auditor who didn’t find the accusations to be “borne out by the facts.” And it looks like many of the main Cambridge Analytica players have already made moves towards a new venture.

Cambridge Analytica may be calling it quits, bowing out as customers flee and legal fees mount, but the fallout isn’t over for Facebook. And it certainly isn’t over for its users.

Image: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images