Postmates delivers its on-demand service to 100 additional U.S. cities

If Postmates hasn’t arrived in your city yet, then check again. It may have just landed.

The on-demand delivery service has just announced its biggest U.S. expansion to date, launching in 100 additional cities across the country, from Albuquerque and Cincinnati to Salt Lake City and Tallahassee. It now serves a total of 385 locations in the U.S. and Mexico.

Having struck delivery partnerships with a slew of eateries and other businesses, Postmates has become the go-to service for a growing number of folks where the service operates.

Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Postmates said the latest expansion brings its service to within reach of 135 million people and half of all U.S. households.

While Postmates faces tough competition from the likes of Grubhub, UberEats, DoorDash, and Amazon, this week’s expansion is its biggest effort yet to increase its market share.

Here’s a list of the new locations where Postmates will be operating:

If you’re new to Postmates, here’s how it works: You can start by browsing the app to see what the service delivers in your area. You’ll find a large range of possibilities in categories such as meals, drinks, groceries, and retail goods. Be sure to check the “New” section, too, to see what’s popular at any given time. You can also enter a search term if you know exactly what you want.

Once you’ve made a selection, place your order, sit back, and wait. Alternatively, you can track the progress of the delivery driver via the app’s map. An icon shows the driver heading to the restaurant, collecting the order, and heading toward your location. In case you’re not watching the map, you’ll receive a message to let you know when your delivery is near. Payment is handled by the app, so there’s no messing around with cash when your order is handed over.

Postmates endeavors to deliver your goodies as quickly as possible, usually within an hour. An estimated delivery time and the delivery fee are both shown on the page where you confirm your order. You can also rate and tip the driver via the app once the delivery has been completed.

To celebrate its push into 100 additional locations, Postmates is waiving delivery fees from Chipotle through Sunday, July 15, “because we know burritos are what you really want,” the delivery company said in a blog post. To take advantage of the deal, enter the code CHIPOTLE100 in the Postmates app when you place an order.

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Japan Watchdog Says Apple May Have Violated Antitrust Rules With iPhone Deals

Japan’s antitrust watchdog on Wednesday said Apple may have breached antitrust regulations by forcing three major domestic network carriers to sell its iPhones cheaply and charge higher monthly fees (via Reuters).

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said that Apple had forced NTT Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank to offer subsidies and sell iPhones at a discount.

In the eyes of the FTC, this made it hard for the mobile service providers to offer lower rate plans for long-term subscribers and effectively denied consumers a fair choice. FTC anti-monopoly law explicitly forbids such acts as “unfair restraint of trade” that disregards the operations of business partners.

Apple and its Japanese arm have told the FTC they will review their contracts in light of these criticisms, according to sources who spoke to Nikkei Asian Review.

Japan’s FTC started investigating Apple’s sales practices in 2016, but didn’t punish the company after it agreed to revise its contracts with the carriers, according to Reuters.

Tag: Japan
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Apple Fixed Bug in iOS 11 That Crashed Devices When Users Entered the Word ‘Taiwan’

Apple quietly fixed a bug in iOS 11 that caused devices set to the China region to crash when the word “Taiwan” was entered in a text field or the Taiwan emoji was used, according to a security researcher (via Axios).

Digita Security’s Patrick Wardle outlined in a blog post how the glitch in iOS 11.3 caused instant crashes on a variety of native and third-party iPhone and iPad apps, including iMessages, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Wardle explained that although some aspects of the bug remained unclear, his investigations found that a “null” code would prompt the crash when a “removeEmoji” operation led the system to check the device’s language/region settings.

The glitch appears to be of Apple’s own making, given that iOS contains code that hides the Taiwanese flag emoji on devices set to the China region. Apparently the code worked for iOS devices set to China, but caused crashes on devices set to other regions.

While Apple fixed the glitch in iOS 11.4.1 after Wardle reported it, the bug’s occurrence highlights Apple’s willingness to placate China when it comes to sensitive political matters. China has long considered Taiwan to be under its sovereignty, despite Taiwan officially self-recognizing as an independent democracy wholly separate from mainland China.

Apple has made similar moves in the past to protect its important Chinese market. In July 2017, for example, Apple removed many VPN apps from the App Store in China, following regulations passed earlier in the year that require such apps to be authorized by the Chinese government.

In December 2016, the company was forced to remove both the English-language and Chinese-language versions of The New York Times app from the Chinese App Store, after being informed by the Chinese authorities that they were in violation of local regulations.

Another case of Apple censoring in China included the forced shutdown of iTunes Movies and the iBooks Store, following the release of controversial independent movie Ten Years, which won best picture prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards. The dystopian film imagines Hong Kong in 2025 with language police, mini Red Guards, radical protest and social alienation rife.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: China
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Cornell’s popcorn-powered robots are far more practical than they sound

Popcorn is tasty, easy to prepare, goes well with your favorite Saturday night movie, and … it could help power future robots? At least, that is the unorthodox conclusion of work coming out of Cornell University, where researchers have demonstrated how it is possible to use nothing more than popping kernels to make a robot mechanism, such as a gripper, spring into action.

“Our lab is interested in multi-functional designs that permit simple robots to achieve complex tasks,” Steven Ceron, a Ph.D. researcher in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell, told Digital Trends. “Specifically, we are looking for ways that soft robot collectives can build amorphous structures out of their own bodies inspired by multicellular slime mold. To do this, we need an inexpensive fluid that can change rigidity and potentially expand upon deployment. Popcorn successfully demonstrates these features.”

The downside of this method of actuating robots in this way is that popping is irreversible, giving it a big disadvantage compared to regular rechargeable batteries. While popcorn can’t be un-popped, however, the exhausted kernels can be easily dissolved using water, after which new kernels can be reinserted to begin the process again.

On the positive side, popcorn kernels are also readily available at a very cheap price, and show some impressive physical attributes. For example, they pop with considerable strength, expand up to 15 times their original size, and change inter-granular friction by an order of magnitude. Kernels could additionally be used to make robots which are biodegradable since they wouldn’t leave behind a battery as they decompose.

In their demonstration, the Cornell researchers successfully showed off a variety of different ways to heat the popcorn. These included heating the air around the robot gripper to pop the corn, heating it via microwaves, or heating it using direct contact with a hot Nichrome wire. They showcased the mechanism working effectively with soft, compliant, and rigid-link robot grippers. In the future, they hope that demos such as this one will inspire other novel robotic mechanisms for a variety of applications.

A paper describing the work, titled “Popcorn-Driven Robotic Actuators,” was recently presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2018 event in Brisbane, Australia.

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How to make a to-do list with Google Home

While Google Home can do a lot of cool things, including understanding three different commands at once, it lacks the ability to create a full to-do list. Sure, you can schedule events for your calendar or create a basic shopping list, but it isn’t the same thing. And while Google has released the Google Tasks list management app, it currently has no integration for Google Home.

So, what’s a productive voice assistant user to do? Fortunately, you can create lists with basic Google Home commands – you just have to set up the right apps to do it. We’ll show you all the necessary steps in the process so you can make full lists with Home in no time.

Step 1: Sign up for IFTTT and connect to Google Assistant

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a basic, consumer-friendly system to create customized commands that work with a variety of services and smart devices. You can use IFTTT to create all sorts of rules, but here we’re going to recruit the service to create a to-do list through Google Assistant. Since Google Home’s main feature is Google Assistant in a speaker box, these rules will also work with Google Home or your Android phone.

Start by heading over to IFTTT and signing up for the service, which means creating a free account and password. Then go to the Google Assistant IFTTT page and make sure your IFTTT account is connected to Google Assistant by selecting Connect. This will confirm your Google account, so make sure it’s the account you use with Google Home.

Step 2: Download Todoist

The next step is to find a to-do list app that you like using. This will be the app where your voice command to-dos are added and organized, so it should be an app that you like to use and don’t mind having on your phone.

We suggest signing up for Todoist. It’s a free service that’s easy to use, offers great task management options, and works smoothly with both IFTTT and Google Assistant. Just add a login name, email, and password to start your Todoist account. Make sure you download and open the app on the mobile devices you use to keep track of your lists. You may want to play around a little bit to see how to Todoist works.

When you’re finished with that, head over to the Todoist page on IFTTT, and select the big Connect button here as well so that both services are connected to your IFTTT account.

If you really don’t want to use Todoist, then check the Google Assistant rules for other compatible services, like iPhone Reminders, DayOne, or Wunderlist.

Step 3: Find the right IFTTT template and activate it

You can absolutely create your own IFTTT rules (known on the platform as applets) for Google Assistant (which, again, will work via Google Home), but for newcomers it’s much easier to just find an applet that someone else has already created.

If you are on a browser, you can do this by heading to the page for Add a task to Todoist under the Google Assistant category. If you are searching another way or can’t follow the link right away, the applet ID for this rule is 478848.

With everything connected, you should see an option on this rule that says “Turn on.” Select it, and wait for the rule to activate. If you skipped any of the previous steps, IFTTT may prompt you to complete them at this time.

Step 4: Start creating your lists

Turn Google Home and your mobile device off and back on again, a little soft reboot to make sure everything has taken effect. Now you are ready to test out the list making.

The command phase for this rule is “OK/Hey Google, add a task” and then you fill in the rest with the activity that you want.

For example, you might say, “OK Google, add a task: Buy milk tomorrow,” or, “Hey Google, add a task: Update history thesis Thursday,” and IFTTT will automatically add the task to Todoist. Try this out a few times, then open up your Todoist app and see if a list has been created.

If the process doesn’t work, check to make sure that all your services are properly connected, and that you are using the right voice command phrase.

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Instagram’s question stickers bring comment-like interaction to Stories

Instagram

Instagram Stories launched with all the visuals of the Instagram feed but with little interaction — but that is quickly changing with polls, emojis and now, a sticker that feels a lot like a comment tool. Instagram users can now start conversations inside Stories using a new question sticker, announced on Tuesday, July 10 after rumors of the feature leaked last week. The sticker allows users to ask a question, then add the answer to another image inside Stories.

Asking a question inside Instagram Stories follows the same steps for adding a sticker. Inside the sticker options, a new “questions” option brings up a sticker that allows you to type in a question or statement. The question sticker can be customized with different colors, and like other stickers, can be moved around the image.

Viewers can then tap on the question sticker to type in a response without leaving the Story.  The responses aren’t limited either — followers can tap and type responses as many times as they want. Any responses to that question sticker pops up in the same spot where you can view who’s viewed your Story. 

Instagram has also built in a reply feature to keep the conversation going, all within Stories. Tapping on the reply will add a new sticker to your Story with the viewer’s response automatically inside, below the original question. Using another text sticker, you can respond to those viewer comments.

While you will see who has answered the question sticker, if you share the response, the user’s name won’t be attached. You can choose to share an answer anonymously by adding to your Story, or just keep the responses to yourself.

The question sticker isn’t the first time stickers have attempted to add the traditional news feed interactions inside the slideshow-like full-screen Stories format. The emoji slider allows users to ask a question and get a response in the form of an emoji in various sizes. A similar poll sticker allows users to ask a question with two possible answers. Users can still use the message tool accessible when viewing a Story, but the question sticker can make some of those responses public, unlike the Direct messages.

Instagram hasn’t been shy about focusing on Stories — the CEO of parent company Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has already proclaimed that Stories are a focus for the future. The interactive stickers also come with the recent launch of the option to add music inside a Story.

The question sticker is already rolling out, available in version 52 of Instagram on both iOS and Android.

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How to Use the Siri Raise to Speak Feature in watchOS 5

Apple’s watchOS 5 update includes a new Siri feature that eliminates the need to say “Hey Siri” or push the Digital Crown to activate the personal assistant.

Instead, you can raise your wrist and speak right to Siri, with the Apple Watch able to detect your movements and your desire to relay a Siri command. It’s simple to enable, and it works well once you know a few tricks.

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Enabling Raise to Speak

Open the Settings app.
Choose “General.”
Scroll down to “Siri” and Tap it.
Make sure “Raise to Speak” is toggled on.
You can leave “Hey Siri” enabled right alongside “Raise to Speak,” and use whichever Siri activation method is most convenient.

Using Raise to Speak

Using Raise to Speak is as simple as raising up your wrist and speaking into your Apple Watch.

Lift your wrist as you would to view the time or do any other Apple Watch activity, and then speak a command. Most people will find that they need to bring the watch a little closer to their face than they would just to view it, so if you can’t get Raise to Speak to work, hold your wrist closer to your mouth.

Raise to Speak is a slightly different gesture than just raising your arm to look at the time, and the Apple Watch can tell the difference in intent.

Raise to Speak Tips

• Raise to Speak needs to be fairly close to your face to interpret a Siri voice command, which prevents it from automatically activating for the most part. If it’s not working, bring your wrist closer to the speaker of the Apple Watch before trying a command.
• Raise to Speak works both at the watch face and when an app is open. It does need to be activated with the wrist raising gesture, though.
• You need to speak at a normal speaking volume for the watch to detect a Raise to Speak command. Whispering will not work.
• Because Raise to Speak seems to rely on proximity to the Apple Watch’s speaker, Siri is not going to trigger when other people are speaking.

Other Siri Options

In the Siri section of the Settings app, accessible by following the steps above, you can also choose your Voice Feedback settings for whenever Siri is activated if you have an Apple Watch Series 3.

This isn’t a new setting, but it’s worth revisiting alongside Raise to Speak. You can choose to set Voice Feedback (aka vocal replies) to “Always On,” “Control With Silent Mode,” which will silence Siri if Silent Mode is turned on, or Headphones Only, which will cause Siri to provide vocal replies if you’re wearing AirPods or other Bluetooth enabled headphones.

You can also set Siri’s voice volume in the same section of the Settings app by tapping the volume icons or using the Digital Crown. This sets Siri’s overall response volume when the personal assistant responds to queries aloud.

Raise to Speak is a useful feature on Apple Watch for everyone, but especially for HomePod owners. If you want to activate Siri on your watch, you can now do so without accidentally triggering a HomePod that might be in the room with the “Hey Siri” command.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Game of Thrones Star Jason Momoa Scores Lead Role in Apple’s ‘See’ Futuristic Drama Series

“Game of Thrones” star Jason Momoa, who played Khal Drogo in the well-known HBO series, has been cast in the lead role in Apple’s upcoming futuristic drama series “See,” reports Variety.

“See” has been described as an epic world-building drama set in the future, with little additional information available on the series at this time. Momoa will play the role of Baba Voss, a “fearless warrior, leader and guardian.”

Image via HBO
Known for his role as Khal Drogo in the first season of “Game of Thrones,” Momoa also stars in “Aquaman,” coming out later this year. He’s also had roles in “Justice League,” “Braven,” “Once Upon a Time in Venice,” “Stargate Atlantis,” and “Conan the Barbarian.”

“See” was written by “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight and it will be directed by Francis Lawrence, known for his work on “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay.”

“See” is just one more than a dozen original television shows that Apple has in the works. It’s not clear when the first of Apple’s TV series will launch, but rumors have suggested the shows could start debuting in March 2019.

Apple is said to be considering launching a new streaming video service, which could potentially be bundled with an Apple Music subscription and a digital magazine and new subscription.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
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UE Wonderboom Bluetooth speaker review: The little speaker that could

Most of us picture a slim cylinder when we think about Ultimate Ears portable wireless speakers. This has been the company’s signature design from the original Boom series to the newer Blast and Megablast. But UE also offers a smaller and cheaper alternative, which which hasn’t gotten as much attention. Maybe this is why the follow-up to the Roll 2 has seen the biggest change.

The new Wonderboom now more closely resembles its bigger brothers, with a cylindrical, 360-degree driver design and similar aesthetics. But at roughly half the size, can this more travel-friendly option carry the same prowess, or are there too many compromises? We’ll examine it in this review.

Unboxing the UE Wonderboom

Design

Rather than the disc-shape of the Roll 2, the Wonderboom is more recognizable as a tradition UE Bluetooth speaker. It essentially looks like a shorter version of it. However, side-by-side, we see that the Wonderboom does have a bit more girth – about 50% more width.

UE Boom 2 on left and new Wonderboom on right. The signature, large volume up/down physical buttons are maintained.

We imagine this is to be able to fit all the internal components in the significantly more compact size. This makes the speaker look less cylindrical and more ball-shaped.

Otherwise, the construction is very similar. We have a super tightly weaved fabric completely around the speaker (enabling the top-notch IPX7 waterproof rating), and symmetrical top and bottom, chamfered, rubbery plastic caps. It’s a minimal design that just works. In-hand, everything feels tough and tightly constructed. This is a speaker that will be unfazed by tumbles and last a long time.

A close look shows the super tight fabric weaving that lets audio through while providing substantial durability.

At the bottom, you’ll only see a flap that seals in the microUSB charging port.

Function

Unlike the Blast line, the Wonderboom is strictly a simple Bluetooth speaker. It doesn’t have WiFi connectivity or Alexa assistance. You just turn it on, pair to your mobile device, and play.

Unlike the larger speakers, the Wonderboom sports a short string loop for on-the-go attachment. The speaker’s top panel has the usual power and pairing buttons arrangement.

And the setup process is just that easy. The Wonderboom has the same controls at the top as we’ve seen before – a power and dedicated pairing button, both with their own small status LEDs. A feature we’ve loved in the past is the ability to log in up to eight different sources, and that’s maintained here (long-press the pairing button to set it to Search mode).

Additionally, like in UE fashion, the charging port is protected behind a substantial flap on the bottom. As opposed to the folding flap of the larger speakers, this one is attached at a point by a rubber stem, allowing the flap to rotate out of the way. We have a slight concern that the seal doesn’t feel as robustly locked in as on the Boom or Blast series (it’s easier to release than we would like), but we can’t report any instance of it opening on its own. Just make sure that you push and seat the flap properly before going for a dip.

How to charge the Wonderboom. USB-C would’ve been nice instead of the older microUSB standard, but it’s not a deal-breaker, espeically at this price-point.

Something missing from the Boom series is the aux port. This was an alternate method to getting music to the speaker, via a 3.5mm wired connection to a source. Its absence is understandable. The main use of this speaker is wireless audio, and there’s limited space here.

One may think that half the size means half the power. Fortunately, that’s not exactly the case here. For instance, the battery life is down by a third (10 hours of playback vs. 15 on the Boom 2). The Bluetooth range is still an outstanding 100ft. What’s probably the most impressive is that there’s still an array of four audio drivers (two main active + two low-end passive), and they’re not that much smaller than on the Boom 2 (40mm vs 45mm active drivers, and 46x65mm vs. 45x80mm passive, respectively).

Audio

Based on the specs, we were really interested to see if the Wonderboom’s sound could hold a candle to its larger brother. In a couple ways, it does. This is the strongest speaker we’ve heard at this size.

The Wonderboom doesn’t utilize our LG G7’s aptX capability, but still sounds great.

Per the “Boom” moniker, the Wonderboom does bring it. Bass is its shining quality, excellently pumping out as much definition as power. Though, some of its strength does drop off in the upper mid-bass. This allows for the mid-range to not be overtaken, but the trade-off is a lack of mid-bass oomph.

Speaking of the mids, vocals are surprisingly large for the speaker’s size. Overall, the mid-range can be a mixed bag. It all has nice body and definition overall, but some parts can show as slightly recessed. The treble detail is nicely present, even when a lot is going on in the track. However, the resolution of higher frequency bits noticeably drops off and the reproduction can be loose.

As expected, there isn’t as much volume headroom as in UE’s larger variants. Still, the Wonderboom punches well above its weight in this respect. We’re able to fill a living room space a couple notches from its max, so while it won’t necessarily rock the house, it will be suitable for causal use. The 360-degree output serves it will for an expansive sound. It’s not as full/surrounding as the Boom or Blast, but gets the job done.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we’re impressed with what UE was able to do with the Wonderboom’s limited space. There’s much less compromise than one would expect from the significantly smaller size. The Wonderboom also costs a good chunk less than its counterparts, making it a terrific value. Though, we wouldn’t go as far as to say there isn’t reason to not opt for the more powerful models. They do have more headroom for volume and fullness. It depends how you’re going to primarily use the speaker. The Wonderboom shouldn’t be underestimated, though.

Apple USB Restricted mode can be bypassed with a simple $39 accessory

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

It looks like Apple’s engineers may be going back to the drawing board, as it now seems the much lauded USB Restricted mode, created to thwart efforts to break into a locked iPhone, is able to be circumvented by a simple $39 accessory.

Introduced in iOS 11.4.1, USB Restricted mode kicks in automatically an hour after an iPhone was last unlocked, and disables all data connectivity of the Lightning port until the device is unlocked by a user, or by a trusted device. The mode was created to combat devices like the Graykey, which is used by law enforcement and other agencies to unlock iPhones. The introduction of USB Restricted mode means that these sorts of agencies now have an hour at most to unlock an iPhone, before it essentially becomes a chargeable brick. An hour isn’t a lot of time in law enforcement, and it was thought that this measure would effectively close Apple’s iPhone off entirely.

Apparently not. According to a series of tests by Elcomsoft Blog, while USB Restricted mode persists through restarts and software resets, and has so far proven invulnerable, the timer that engages Restricted mode can be paused by connecting a simple Lightning accessory. While the blog admits that tests are not yet complete, it seems that inserting Apple’s own Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter pauses the countdown, allowing agents the chance to unlock an iPhone through existing methods.

How does it work? If you imagine USB Restricted mode as a large and sturdy door, then inserting the camera adaptor essentially works as a doorstop, holding the door open. Because the accessory is otherwise engaging the Lightning port, USB Restricted mode apparently will not start the timer until the accessory has been removed.

However, like a doorstop, attaching the accessory after the hour has already passed does nothing to halt the process, just in the same way you can’t use a doorstop to open a locked door. What this basically means is that a seized iPhone simply has to be attached to an accessory, like the camera adaptor, in order to halt the hour timer on Restricted mode, effectively rendering Apple’s security pointless.

We have reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.

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