Google’s Art and Culture app turns your phone into a museum
Art is a big subject. It embodies the values of humanity, preserves our culture and serves as a record of our very history. Jumping into it can be daunting and scary, but Google just made it a little easier: the company’s new Art and Culture app puts the works of over 1,000 museums in the palm of your hand. The app is more than just an online gallery, however, it’s a suite of tools that allows users to dive deep into each museum’s collection and beyond — borrowing the best of Google Photos, Streetview and 360-degree videos to bring history to life.
Looking for art featuring horses? No problem: the app’s search bar works a lot like the feature in Google Photos — handily pulling out exhibits to match your query. Curious to explore a historic Cathedral? Take a 360-degree tour of St. Paul’s with Google Street View, or pop your phone into Google Cardboard for a first-person experience. The app features daily news, themed lists and curated exhibits from partner museums, links to a new YouTube channel and even has a “Art Recognizer” mode that will identify paintings in select museums.
The app may be no substitute for going to your museum, but if you can’t make it out to say, the Louvre, it’s an incredible, easy way to experience humanity’s artistic past.
Via: FastCo Design
Source: Google, Google Play
MasterCard is lending its mobile payment tech to banks
MasterCard is hoping to make in-store mobile payments — the ability to wave your phone at a terminal to buy something — more accessible. The company is teaming up with several banks, including Citi and Bank of America, to let customers pay for stuff using bank apps on their phones. Meaning, you won’t have to download a dedicated app.
This will be enabled through MasterCard’s Masterpass service, which is already available for in-app and online purchases, but now can be used in-stores. Consumers will be able to use it at over 5 million in-store locations in 77 countries. However, the feature will only be on Android phones that have built-in NFC chips. iPhone users will be left out because Apple doesn’t permit other companies to use its chip, which already powers a similar service in Apple Pay.
Tech giants like Google helped introduce the concept of mobile payments to the US a few years ago, and last year they accounted for $8.7 billion in sales. This will more than triple in 2016, according to leading media and commerce researcher eMarketer.
Mastercard believes that the ability to provide more information, like balances and rental car coverage, will give Masterpass a slight advantage over more established services like Android Pay. The company has also introduced a new logo to kickstart its shift towards mobile payments.
The rollout will start this month in the US, followed by Europe, Africa, and the Middle East later this year, and other areas in 2017.
Source: MasterCard
Adobe Lightroom now lets you edit RAW files on your phone
Adobe Lightroom mobile users have been asking for the ability to edit RAW files in the mobile app, and now the company doing something about the request. In the latest update for the iOS version of the software, there’s a RAW Technology preview. This means that you’ll be able to import those hefty files to your iPhone or iPad, giving you a means of checking the images before you get back to your computer. Lightroom mobile for iOS will also let you edit the files just like you would in the desktop or web versions of the app, making changes to white balance, highlights and more for an uncompressed file. Those changes also sync across devices.
iOS users will also be able to adjust linear and radial selections inside the app. With those tools, you can add a selection, modify an existing one or use the features to emphasize certain parts of an image. If you fancy doing your edits with an iPad and a connected keyboard, you’ll now be able to use those handy shortcuts with the mobile app. The update is available from the App Store now for both iPhone and iPad, free of charge.
The Android version of the app is getting some new features, too. Earlier this year, Adobe added an in-app camera and “shoot-through” presets to the app. With this update, the company is adding manual controls to that workflow as well. When you’re taking photos with Lightroom mobile on Android, you’ll be able to leverage a new Pro mode that allows adjustments to ISO, shutter speed, white balance and manual focus. Adobe brought its DNG RAW format to the Android app a while back, and now the software has the manual controls to go along with it. What’s more, there’s also a new Lightroom Camera widget for easy access to those features, so you won’t have to launch the full app just to grab a few snapshots.
Android faithful also gain improved support for full-resolution files. If you have an image stored somewhere within the Lightroom ecosystem, you’ll be able to pull it into the full-res version, make your changes and export it. The latest version of the Android app offers those features and more for free, and it’s available now over at Google Play.
Source: Adobe
Apple’s first reality TV series is ‘Planet of the Apps’
As rumoured earlier this year, It looks like Apple’s getting in on the TV-content game. Online applications are now being accepted for Apple’s first ever original series Planet of the Apps. As the punny title suggests, the show will give app developers (yes, including you), a chance feature in the reality show. Applications must be received before August 26 if you want a chance of being selected, though.
The show is being created in collaboration with Prospect Productions (the co-owners brought you The Biggest Loser and Master Chef) and the whole series focuses on apps and their creators. Obviously, therefore, any startup or founder that makes it through the audition stage will be getting some valuable airtime for their products. 100 will be chosen in total.
Prospect says that anyone selected will need to be available for non-consecutive shoots in Los Angeles between late 2016 and early 2017 and all applicants need a functioning iOS, macOS, tvOS or watchOS app by October 21 to be considered eligible. Betas are fine too.
Successful applicants will get access to “hands-on guidance from some of the world’s best experts in tech and entertainment,” the chance to meet potential backers to discuss investments of up to $10 million and featured app placement in the App Store at the end of the show. Of course, having a huge metaphorical spotlight shine on you could be a curse if it all ends up going awry, but that”s reality TV for you.
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Planet of the Apps
Scientists are teaching robots how to hunt down prey
Intelligent robots are all well and good until they start learning how to hunt prey. That’s exactly what a team of scientists at the Institute of Neuroinformatics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland did. They taught a robot to behave like a predator and hunt “prey,” or a robot controlled by a human, using special software to aid the robot to mark its target and pounce.
The applications of these lessons for the predator robot are a lot less terrifying than thinking robots are about to start hunting the human race. It’s about creating software that could potentially allow a robots to both take a look at their environments and then discern a target in real time.
For instance, as Tobi Delbruck, professor at the Institute of Neuroinformatics explained, “one could imagine future luggage or shopping carts that follow you.” This allows the software to transcend the labels of “predator and prey” to reach levels of “parent and child,” but the fundamental operating basics remain.
The predator robot’s hardware is actually modeled directly after members of the animal kingdom, as the robot uses a special “silicon retina” that mimics the human eye. Delbruck is the inventor, created as part of the VISUALISE project. It allows robots to track with pixels that detect changes in illumination and transmit information in real time instead of a slower series of frames like a regular camera uses.
This allows for data to be processed by a neural network that helps the robot learn and adapt to the actions it should take the next time it “sees” something similar, which allows it to better track prey the next time it’s asked to.
It’s a wild world out there, and no doubt robots are going to be a huge part of it going forward. Just don’t be surprised when you start seeing them taking point on newer operations just like these in the future.
Via: Motherboard
DJI makes it easier to keep your drone out of no-fly zones
DJI’s Geospatial Environment Online (GEO) software already kept pilots from flying its drones in “sensitive areas” and now the setup is getting a lot more useful. The UAV maker is making improvements to the system inside of its Go app that’s used to control Phantom and Inspire drones. By doing so, DJI gives pilots easy access to its geofencing system that keeps airports, prisons and power plants permanently locked down in addition to temporary restrictions around special events like stadiums and “national security events.”
The GEO system will also automatically update with temporary restrictions around wildfires so that drone pilots aren’t interfering with firefighting aircraft. DJI announced in January that pilots would be able to unlock restricted areas with a verified account. This ensures that things like inspections and model aircraft shows can still take place, even in a typical no-fly zone. However, locations that could cause national security issues, like Washington, DC, will not be able to be unlocked.
The improved GEO system is now available inside the DJI GO app for iOS and Android for use on all Inspire models and the Phantom 4, Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced drones. Owners will need to update the app as well as the firmware for the control and the drone itself to take advantage of the update.
Source: DJI (PR Newswire)
VLC media player hits Windows 10 today, Xbox One this summer
At last, VideoLAN’s VLC media player has a universal Windows 10 app… and it definitely won’t be confined to conventional Windows devices for long. The developer has released a Windows 10 beta that, on a base level, embraces Microsoft’s modern OS on both PC and mobile. You’ll get recent VLC staples like a media library, a network browser and a “full” player alongside Windows 10 perks like Cortana voice commands, live tiles and Continuum support when you dock your phone. However, the real fun might come later. VLC has teased the app’s promised HoloLens and Xbox One support, and it’s clear that it won’t lose much (if anything) in translation — the features and interface will be familiar whether you’re watching on a console or an augmented reality headset.
To no one’s surprise, the VLC beta is going to be rough around the edges for a while. You won’t get Xbox One support until the system has access to the unified Windows/Xbox app store this summer, but there are also technical issues holding up support for HoloLens and the Surface Hub. And if you’re holding on to Windows 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1 for dear life, you’ll have to wait a few weeks before the app works. Even so, it’s a big leap if you’ve wanted VLC’s play-anything flexibility in a Microsoft-friendly format.
Source: Microsoft Store, JB Kempf
Windows 10 Anniversary Update arrives August 2nd
Microsoft hasn’t done the greatest job of keeping its Windows 10 Anniversary Update schedule a secret (it inadvertently spilled the beans on June 28th), but it’s at last official: the upgrade arrives on August 2nd. It’s free for anyone who has already moved to Windows 10, so most people won’t have to pay for Anniversary features like broader biometric security and pen support, a more efficient Edge browser with extensions, smarter Cortana voice commands and the unification of the Windows and Xbox stores. You’ll have to contend with more promoted apps and won’t get previously touted perks like messaging everywhere, but those may be small trade-offs given the overall amount of polish.
Via: The Verge
Source: Windows Experience Blog
Evernote’s free plan no longer lets you sync more than two devices
Popular note-taking and organizational app Evernote is in the process of making a few changes. Starting today, if you use its free plan, you’ll only be allowed to sync your notes between two devices. Anything more than that and you’ll be expected to pony up.
If you’re already using a free Evernote account and sync between more than two devices, you’ll be allotted some time to upgrade, but you’ll definitely have to do so soon. You can choose either Plus or Premium tiers, which run $4 and $8 respectively. Previously the Plus option cost $3, whereas Premium cost $6. Plus also includes 1 GB of space for uploads each month.
The reason behind the shift in pricing plans? It’s simple, really. Evernote’s CEO Chris O’Neill just wants to offer “a great product at a fair price.”
“We don’t take any change to our pricing model lightly, and we never take you for granted. Our goal is to continue improving Evernote for the long-term, investing in our core products to make them more powerful and intuitive while also delivering often-requested new features. But that requires a significant investment of energy, time, and money. We’re asking those people who get the most value from Evernote to help us make that investment and, in return, to reap the benefits that result.”
Via: VentureBeat
Ask Alexa to add new features to your Amazon Echo
Amazon opened up Alexa to developers a year ago, and there are now over 1,400 apps or “skills,” as the company calls them. To take the hassle out of installing those on your Echo product, it now lets you do it automatically just by asking Alexa. For instance, if you want to test your trivia skills, you say “Echo, enable Jeopardy” and it’ll add that third-party app. Up until today, you had to go to the Alexa app, find the skill and then add it manually, so the new feature will save you some time.
Amazon says that around 10,000 registered developers are working on Alexa projects, meaning you’ll soon have even more choice. It’s also invested in 16 startups to help them build wearables, smart home devices and other products via the Alexa Fund.
The company has also redesigned the skills section of the Alexa app, letting you browse by categories like “Lifestyle” and “Smart Home.” It revealed a pair of new skills from Lyft and Honeywell that will let you order a car and turn down the thermostat, I assume. Some of the most popular are Jeopardy, Daily Affirmation, Magic 8 Ball, Fitbit, and The Bartender, a skill we all can use in these trying times.
Source: Amazon
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