The Morning After: Friday October 28th 2016
Apple’s big MacBook event introduced a new family of Pro machines, with nary a mention of the MacBook Air. The company also expelled standard USB 3.0 ports in its new range, replacing them all with (USB-C-shaped) Thunderbolt 3.0 ports — but hey, at least there’s a fancy OLED “Touch Bar.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s government shut down internet across 11 cities in the Kurdish area of the country, Oh, and Twitter killed Vine.
There’s still a headphone jack.Apple’s thinner MacBook Pro comes with an OLED touch strip, different ports again.
An even richer Retina display, more processing power, and a smaller model along with it: Apple’s newest MacBook Pro (like its newest iPhones) is a possibly divisive upgrade for the company’s faithful. The new OLED Touch Bar on the 15-inch model had some compelling use cases from Apple, but we’re still waiting to see how it all handles during a review.
Dongles for days.Your new iPhone and new MacBook will need a new cable to connect to each other.
Apple went all in on Thunderbolt 3.0 for its new MacBook Pro. But while it’s evolving its ports , it also just made every iPhone owner who wants one of these computers buy a new dongle. Sold separately.
Just ask first.The FCC has some new privacy rules to help protect your data from internet providers.
If internet service providers want to collect data about what you do and where you go on the internet, they’ll have to ask first, thanks to some new rules approved by the FCC today. That’s a change from before, when ISPs only had to offer a way to opt out of tracking behaviour like browsing habits, app usage and location or financial data. Expect to see an updated TOS from your internet provider any minute now.
Is this what a modern TV guide looks like?The Apple TV gets a guide, but it’s missing something.
Finding something to watch on streaming services isn’t quite easy enough, even with that new Siri Remote, so Apple’s TV solution is … TV. Really, that’s the name of its TV guide app, which detects the services you’re signed into and lets you browse through their content all in one place. TV works on the iPhone and iPad too, but at least so far, it doesn’t work with Netflix or Amazon. We’ll see if that changes before it launches on Apple TV in December.
Gone in six secondsTwitter killed Vine because it doesn’t fit
Twitter announced that it’s killing its six-second video app in the next few months. There are many reasons why, but perhaps the strongest is that it didn’t really fit with CEO Jack Dorsey’s vision of “the people’s news network.”
But wait, there’s more…
- Watch Apple’s MacBook event in less than nine minutes
- The original emoji character set is going to MoMA
- Turkish government cuts off internet access in 11 cities
- Alphabet’s experimental companies are getting better and losing less money
(Lead image credit: @Darth)
All London black cabs will support contactless from next week
London’s entire black cab fleet will be required to carry readers to process card and contactless payments as of Monday October 31st, Transport for London (TfL) has announced today. This is no great surprise, of course. The ball began rolling on the new rule late last year, and TfL set an October deadline this past March. For now, all that’s asked of black cabbies is they have the facility, but from January next year readers will have to be mounted on the passenger side of the glass. Some hackney carriages have supported card payments for years, but for the majority of cabbies cash has remained king. From next week, though, it’ll no longer be optional.
While the move will make black cabs considerably more convenient for passengers — especially when contactless support is so ubiquitous now that lugging around a bulging wallet or purse just isn’t necessary any more — it feels like too little too late. One of the main reasons Uber has pinched so much business from the black cab trade is convenience, both in hailing and paying. Gett and Hailo have levelled the playing field for black cabbies somewhat, and Hailo even lets you pay online for taxis you’ve hailed curbside (you don’t even need the app). Requiring black cabs to accept card and contactless payments is welcomed, but it’s hardly a game-changer.
The other main reason Uber is so popular is because it’s cheap. Black cabbies have avoided taking card payments in the past to dodge transaction fees, and so TfL went about negotiating favourable rates on their behalf before imposing this new rule. However, to cover any shortfall, the basic fare was increased by 20 pence (from £2.40 to £2.60) earlier this year. So, yes, card and contactless payments will be supported across the fleet from next week, but all rides have become even more expensive as a result. What a way to make black cabs competitive again…
Source: TfL
Europe urges Facebook to stop tapping WhatsApp data
Europe’s privacy bosses have urged WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with Facebook while it investigates its privacy practices. The Article 29 Working Party, made up of data protection heads from each of the EU’s 28 nations, told the company it had “serious concerns” about recent changes to the chat app’s terms of service. The group is examining the new policy to see if it conforms with European privacy laws and asked Facebook to reveal exactly what data it collects and where it comes from.
Article 29 is considered an EU advisory group and doesn’t have the power to order companies to do anything. However, in the French version of the letter, it used the strongest language it could by “urgently requesting” that WhatsApp halt the data collection.
When Facebook acquired the messaging service, it promised not to collect personal user data. However, in August, WhatsApp changed its policy and started sharing phone numbers, profile names, photos, online status and more with its new parent. That prompted US privacy group EPIC to file an FTC complaint against Facebook, and German regulators ordered WhatsApp to halt the practice.
Given the popularity of the messaging service these changes may affect many citizens in all EU member states and have created great uncertainty among users and non-users of the service.
The EU takes umbrage with the fact that while WhatsApp users can opt out of the data collection, they’re enrolled by default. That, it says, means users weren’t properly notified of the change and had no way to consent to it. German regulators are also concerned that Facebook will collect contact data from users who aren’t even on the social network. That has “created great uncertainty among users and non-users of the service,” the Article 29 group wrote.
The EU has been at odds over privacy with not only Facebook, but other US tech companies, including Google and Microsoft. It fined Microsoft $1.35 billion in 2008 for practices around its browser, and may fine Google a much greater amount over its search dominance. Companies will need to start paying more attention soon, as the EU could levy fines as high as four percent of annual sales when new “right to be forgotten” rules arrive in 2018.
Via: Bloomberg
Source: CNIL
Weak Pound and Hiked Prices Make Apple Macs More Expensive for Brits
As is traditional for Apple, the company took down its regional online stores globally yesterday in anticipation of the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros. But far from simply updating the sites to showcase the new computers, on its U.K. site at least, Apple took the opportunity to hike its Mac prices across the board.
As noted following yesterday’s event, rather than position the new MacBook Pro notebooks at the same price point as their earlier generation equivalents, Apple has made them more expensive. But for U.K. customers, that excess is vastly more prohibitive.
A 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar costs £1,449 (which converts to $1,765 on the USD/GBP exchange), while the Touch Bar version starts at £1,749 ($2,130 converted). Meanwhile a base model 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar costs £2,349 ($2,860 converted). Those notebook prices compare to U.S. retail prices of $1,499, $1,799, and $2,399, respectively.
Looking past Apple’s self-imposed MacBook Pro price increases, the equivalent U.K. prices actually fall in line with exchange conversions plus 20 percent Value Added Tax. However, the numbers also reflect the weak pound, which has plummeted since the U.K. made the decision to leave the European Union.
Unfortunately as a result, Apple has also bumped its Sterling Pound prices for its entire Mac line-up. For example, last year a 13-inch MacBook Pro started at £999. Apple is still selling the older 13-inch MacBook Pro, except it now costs £1,249 – a £250 increase compared to two days ago.
Similar price increases can be seen across the Mac mini, iMacs, and Mac Pro. The Mac mini now costs £479, up from £399, while the iMac 4K is now £250 more expensive at £1,449. The iMac 5K has also seen a £250 bump (£1,749), but Apple’s three-year-old Mac Pro has gone up a whole half grand – from £2,499 to £2,999.
On the other hand, the low value of the pound means EU citizens visiting the U.K. who are interested in buying Apple hardware could make some serious savings.
For example, as noted by discount and coupon site CupoNation, since the current price for an iPhone in Spain is 769 euros (£687), purchasing the phone in the UK (£599), is about 99 euros or 13 percent cheaper than in Spain. This means that in theory a Spanish citizen could utilize the 99 euros (£88) to take a flight to London and stay one night, and still be saving money.
Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tag: United Kingdom
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Microsoft Explains How Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook Work With Touch Bar
Yesterday during its Hello Again event, Apple confirmed that the Microsoft Office suite of apps will be gaining support for Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro, and now Microsoft has detailed what that will look like for each app. The company said that with Touch Bar support on Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook, it’s “continually evolving Office to take advantage of the latest and greatest hardware innovations across the industry.”
In Word, users will be able to use “Word Focus Mode,” which eliminates the clutter of on-screen ribbons and commands “so you can simply focus on your work.” All of the relevant UI is then moved down onto Touch Bar, with classic buttons like copy/paste, bold, italics, underline, list, indent, and more found on Apple’s new multi-touch panel.
Microsoft said PowerPoint’s addition of Touch Bar support lets users “easily manipulate graphic elements.” Buttons like “Reorder Objects” make it easy to find the exact object users are looking for and move it to a new location, thanks to an easy-to-read graphical map of a slide’s layers. Object manipulation and slides can also be rotated and tracked by sliding a finger across the Touch Bar.
Excel’s Touch Bar integration makes it quicker to write functions into rows of the program. By typing an equals sign into a cell, Excel will immediately pull up the most recently used functions and display them on the Touch Bar. As the company explained, “for example, with a tap (for the formula) and another tap (for a named range) in the Touch Bar, you can quickly sum a range in your spreadsheet.” Easy spreadsheet organization is also available through the Touch Bar, with borders, cell colors and recommended charts propagating on the panel.
The last program detailed was Outlook, and Microsoft said that here the Touch Bar will provide “the most commonly used commands” whenever a user is working in its calendar and email programs. This means when composing an email, an add file prompt appears, along with a list of recent documents that users can one-tap to attach as a full attachment or a link. While in Outlook’s calendar, users will be able to see their events for the day, and even jump into a Skype for Business video meeting.
Before Apple’s event, Microsoft held its own presentation on Wednesday, where it announced a new Surface Book and all-in-one desktop Surface Studio, as well as a “Creators Update” coming to Windows 10. Microsoft’s new computers are up for pre-order now, the Surface Book starting at $2,399 and Surface Studio at $2,999, and are expected to ship in November and December, respectively.
Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Office
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Tesla doubles the energy density of its commercial batteries
While Tesla’s solar roof / Powerwall event isn’t until tomorrow, the product that preceded both, its commercial… cousin, Powerpack, has been upgraded and is already shipping to companies. The company says Powerpack 2 has double the energy density than the original model, paired with a new inverter (made at its Gigafactory), that’s apparently the lowest-priced, highest efficiency utility-scale inverter available. Arguably just as important, the new inverter also simplifies the installation process, with several once-separate components now baked into it.
Tesla’s blog calls the new system a “a cost-competitive alternative to other traditional utility infrastructure solutions”. It adds that nearly 300 MWh of Tesla batteries have been deployed so far –including complexes in California. Now, where’s the solar part?
Source: Tesla
Pocket Casts picks up major update with Nougat features, shareable lists, and much more
Pocket Casts is a great podcast app loaded with features. You can easily subscribe to your favorite podcasts, and a sync option allows you to pick up from where you left off across devices, and on the web.
The app has picked up a significant update to version 6.0 that adds several Nougat features, including support for multi-window mode, app shortcuts, audio effects while streaming, and the ability to create shareable lists of your favorite podcasts.
The Shared Lists feature allows you to create curated lists of your podcasts and share them with your friends on any social platform. Shared lists have a unique URL, and look something like this.
Other updates include subtle changes to the Now Playing screen, and the introduction of audio effects while streaming, such as volume boost and a trim feature that cuts out parts of a podcast that are silent (thereby removing a whole lot of awkwardness). Shifty Jelly (the developer of the app) also added accessibility improvements, and squashed playback and Chromecast bugs.
Haven’t installed Pocket Casts yet? Grab it now from the Play Store. The Android app costs $3.99, and the web player is an additional $9.99. While you’re at it, be sure to tune in to the Android Central podcast.
Hisense M6600 is a £699, 55in curved 4K HDR TV
Hisense has been on the UK TV market scene for a couple of years now, with the manufacturer setting its sights on the upper mid-range market. The company’s philosophy is to deliver much of the same technology that’s found in high-end sets from the likes of Samsung and LG, but make them more affordable and accessible for the average consumer.
- Hisense 75M7900 4K TV review
The introduction of the 55M6600 is the latest testament to that, as it packs in a 55in 4K HDR screen in a body with a subtle curve for a penny short of £700. A similar set from Samsung or LG would cost well over £1000.
Hisense has chosen to create a subtle curved, as opposed to a more drastic one, as it means it can be accommodated in most rooms with relative ease, while bringing the benefits of added depth and immersion to whatever you’re watching. And because it’s only a subtle curve, more people sitting around the TV will get a good image, rather than having just one ‘sweet spot’.
The company says the 4K HDR panel on the M6600 is more than capable of “extending the range of colours available for enhanced realism in the picture” and that it can deliver “stunning levels of contrast”.
The M6600 runs on a quad-core processor, so should be pretty slick in operation and it comes with a full suite of video on-demand apps to get you up and running, including Netflix, Amazon Video and YouTube, all of which support 4K content, as well as BBC iPlayer and Wuaki.tv.
- What is HDR, what TVs support HDR and what HDR content can I watch?
- What is 4K Ultra HD? Ultra-High Definition explained, and why it matters for your next TV
Hisense has also installed DBX-TV’s Total Technology as an audio upgrade over the regular speakers you’d normally find in flat-screen TVs. The technology is made up of three areas: Total Sonics, which claims to provide a customised frequency response, “dynamic bass boost” and 3D sound for overall clarity; Total Volume which keeps sound levels consistent, instead of fluctuating across channels and Total Surround which is said to “create an enveloping sound stage for a truly cinematic experience”.
It sounds like another compelling package from Hisense, and the 55M6600 is avaiable now from Amazon and AO.com for £699.99.
Motorola has a mid-range phone on the way; the Moto M
Lenovo-owned Motorola currently offers the flagship Moto Z and Moto X devices in the UK, along with the affordable, but excellent Moto G series. There’s also the budget Moto E at the bottom-end.
- Moto Z vs Moto Z Play: What’s the difference?
That leaves a space in the middle, but that could soon be filled following the leak of images purporting to be the Moto M. The alleged mid-range smartphone sports an all-metal body and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, features commonly reserved for more premium devices.
The rumoured specs for the Moto M are also pretty impressive: 2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 625 processor with either 3GB or 4GB RAM with 32GB of storage and 4GB RAM with 64GB of storage depending on the market. Both versions appear to have a microSD card slot that will let you expand storage by up to 128GB.
On the front there’s expected to be a 5.5-inch full HD 1080p display, dual microphones and a mammoth 5100mAh battery.
The image and specs leak doesn’t mention price or release date, but considering there’s a fully-built version of the phone, we should hopefully start seeing more news soon.
Google’s AI created its own form of encryption
Researchers from the Google Brain deep learning project have already taught AI systems to make trippy works of art, but now they’re moving on to something potentially darker: AI-generated, human-independent encryption. According to a new research paper, Googlers Martín Abadi and David G. Andersen have willingly allowed three test subjects — neural networks named Alice, Bob and Eve — to pass each other notes using an encryption method they created themselves.
As the New Scientist reports, Abadi and Andersen assigned each AI a task: Alice had to send a secret message that only Bob could read, while Eve would try to figure out how to eavesdrop and decode the message herself. The experiment started with a plain-text message that Alice converted into unreadable gibberish, which Bob could decode using cipher key. At first, Alice and Bob were apparently bad at hiding their secrets, but over the course of 15,000 attempts Alice worked out her own encryption strategy and Bob simultaneously figured out how to decrypt it. The message was only 16 bits long, with each bit being a 1 or a 0, so the fact that Eve was only able to guess half of the bits in the message means she was basically just flipping a coin or guessing at random.
Of course, the personification of these three neural networks oversimplifies things a little bit: Because of the way the machine learning works, even the researchers don’t know what kind of encryption method Alice devised, so it won’t be very useful in any practical applications. In the end, it’s an interesting exercise, but we don’t have to worry about the machines talking behind our backs just yet. With open-source deep learning tools like Microsoft’s Cognitive Toolkit, it might be interesting to see this play out on an even larger scale.
Via: New Scientist
Source: arXiv
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