Uber explores offering short-hop flights across town
Uber has already resorted to more than one unusual method to get you from one side of town to another, but you haven’t seen anything yet. The ridesharing outfit’s Jeff Holden tells Recode that Uber is researching the use of VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft for short-hop urban flights. It’d potentially speed up long trips, especially in areas where traffic jams might make a conventional ride excruciatingly slow. You could travel from San Francisco to Oakland in 9 minutes, Holden suggests.
There’s no firm commitment to offering a VTOL choice, although Holden suggests it might happen within a decade. As it stands, any initial offering would be limited by modern technology and city layouts: you’d need piloted vehicles, and the combination of loud engines with limited landing areas would dictate just where these aircraft could touch down. The big breakthrough would come with autonomous, quiet (likely electric) vehicles that could fly almost anywhere. You could get a lift to a rooftop in the heart of downtown, for instance.
And it’s not as if either Uber or the industry are standing still. Remember how Uber recently teamed up with Airbus? Well, Airbus has been researching autonomous air taxis — it’s not a stretch to imagine a future collaboration where Uber uses those taxis to shuttle customers back and forth. While four-wheeled ridesharing isn’t going away any time soon, it probably won’t be your only choice at some point in the future.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Recode
Square is speeding up EMV chip card transactions
Anyone who has encountered a “NO CHIP, PLEASE SWIPE” sign while trying to pay via credit or debit card has probably noticed the switch from magnetic stripes to EMV chips hasn’t been the smoothest. According to one study cited by the New York Times, it takes an average of eight to 12 seconds just to complete a transaction. While folks outside the country might scoff at American impatience, Square went ahead and did something about it: driving down checkout times with its latest update to the Square contactless and chip reader.
Square says it now takes a snappy 4.2 seconds from the moment you dip your chip until the transaction is completed. And they’d like to see that turnaround time driven down even further, to an even three seconds. Square does have a bit of an advantage in the space because they control both the hardware and software at Square registers, but according the New York Times, Wal-Mart also managed to save customers 11 seconds just by removing an amount confirmation screen.
On the other hand, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out last month, all of this is driving towards a contactless payment future. And, as it turns outs, chip cards were not as secure as we thought in the first place.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Square
Why is the Oculus founder trying to bring hateful memes offline?
Online abuse and bullying have existed as long as the internet has, but it’s gone mainstream in a big way over the last few years. Perhaps not coincidentally, we’ve also spent the last year-plus subjected to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, an outing built on lies, harassment, intimidation and a whole host of other behavior not befitting a candidate for the country’s highest office.
These two trends collided late last week when it was revealed that Oculus VR founder and Facebook employee Palmer Luckey donated $10,000 to a pro-Trump group called Nimble America. The group’s stated purpose is to prove “shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real.” Thus far, there’s no evidence that Nimble America has been able to do anything aside from put up one insulting but fairly mild anti-Hillary Clinton billboard outside of Pittsburgh. Despite the group’s lack of impact thus far, the fact that Luckey found Nimble America worth supporting shows just how widespread trolling has become.
Luckey is, of course, well within his rights to support any group he sees fit. But the fact that he thinks bringing Reddit’s worst garbage to billboards for the world to see is, as he says in a Facebook post confirming his donation, a “fresh idea” speaks to just how ugly things have become in 2016 — both online and in the “real world.” In fact, there’s barely any distinction between the two at this point. Hate speech, whether offline or online, is becoming the best way to get what you want. It got Trump to the doorstep of the presidency, when everyone assumed he was a reality TV joke that would get bounced in the primaries.
If you haven’t been paying attention to the Nimble America controversy, here’s a quick recap. Last week, The Daily Beast reported that a Reddit poster under the pseudonym “NimbleRichMan” was providing funds for Nimble America, and Luckey confirmed that he wrote some of the posts published by that handle. Shortly after The Daily Beast published its report, the handle and posts were deleted.
This is a message from @PalmerLuckey, the founder of @Oculus. pic.twitter.com/CWlAA8ugMx
— Cody Brown (@CodyBrown) September 23, 2016
The following day, Luckey apologized on his Facebook page for his actions “negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners.” He also confirmed that he donated $10,000 to Nimble America, said he was a Gary Johnson supporter and that he did not write the NimbleRichMan Reddit posts. But emails between Daily Beast reporter Gideon Resnick and Luckey make it sound as if he wrote the posts and wanted them posted under that handle, even if it wasn’t technically “his” Reddit account. The account may have been under the control of one of the Nimble America founders, but all evidence points to Luckey having written the posts in question.
“A generous understanding of the situation is that in other instances, besides the donation one, he was given a password and used the account occasionally,” Resnick told Motherboard. “So is there wiggle room in the sense that it’s not clear if he wrote each and every post? Perhaps. But he’s not telling the whole truth in terms of his involvement.”
Whether or not we ever hear of Nimble America again is beside the point — the intent of Luckey’s actions is far more significant. A contribution by a prominent employee at one of the world’s largest and most important companies adds an air of legitimacy that is entirely undeserved. The group isn’t interested in debating the issues or even releasing more traditional attack ads that go after a candidate’s background, temperament, behavior or policy positions. They’re trying to turn insulting, racist, sexist, politically incorrect memes into mass media. For now, these memes have been limited to the internet, but Nimble America wants to them to go mainstream.
The one billboard sign that has thus far been attributed to Nimble America says that Clinton is “too big to jail” alongside a grossly distorted image of her face. It’s possibly a reference to her considerable political stature insulating her from prosecution for misuse of a personal email server — but the picture makes it an attack on her looks, as well. Nimble America’s desire to push “shitposts” into the public consciousness makes it clear that this group is more interested in trolling than having any sort of informed debate, and apparently Luckey is on the same page.
It’s a position that has both Oculus fans and developers alike shaking their heads. There’s a thread on the Oculus Reddit with more than 4,000 posts discussing the subject, and a number of developers have come out against Luckey’s statements. “Finding out last night that the founder of one of the main platforms for [virtual reality] basically thinks white supremacy is funny was a crystallizing moment,” one unnamed developer told Adi Robertson at The Verge.
That sums up why Luckey’s actions were so disturbing to me. He’s welcome to use his considerable wealth to support any candidate he chooses, but a quick search of the FEC database shows no donations by Luckey directly to any campaign. This would indicate that believes his money is better spent plastering shitty memes on billboards than it is directly supporting a candidate. That he dropped $10,000 on an organization that seems bent on lowering the level of political discourse even further — when the bar for that is already horrifyingly low as it is — says a lot about Luckey’s judgement. It also highlights how concentrated abuse has become an effective strategy at silencing those you disagree with.
Most recently, actor Leslie Jones was harassed and had her personal information hacked and released; gold medal Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas faced a disproportionate and abusive backlash this summer for transgressions that should barely be on anyone’s radar. Feminist writer and Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti quit social media altogether after her receiving death and rape threats directed at her child, and superstar singer Adele quit Twitter temporarily back in 2012 after receiving death threats focused on her newborn son. And these are just a handful of high-profile cases; plenty of average internet users have dealt with similar things but had no platform of which to really make them known. (Charlie Warzel at Buzzfeed wrote an excellent feature on Twitter’s abuse problem that has plenty more examples of this behavior.)
Combine this behavior with the hate and anger that Trump has been stoking throughout his presidential campaign (we won’t recount all his horrible statements, but Politico has a comprehensive round-up here) and it’s not surprising to see someone like Luckey putting money towards Nimble America. Their “plan” is the logical outcome of internet abuse and political hate speech becoming normalized. The first presidential debate of the 2016 election is happening in just a few hours. From now until election day, all the hate planted over the last year will be on display for all to see. Here’s hoping calmer, more peaceful minds win out — and that Luckey’s foolish donation ends up being a footnote to a turbulent election year.
Images: Getty (Palmer Luckey, lead); AP Photo/ Evan Vucci (Trump closeup)
Satellites could predict the next human-caused earthquake
Back in March, the US Geological Survey (USGS) changed its method of tracking earthquakes to include human-induced seismic activity. Suddenly, Oklahoma looked as tremor-prone as California, mainly due to the spread of wastewater disposal wells in the state. A team of geophysicists set out to build a model to predict this seismic activity. In their report released today in the journal Science, they analyzed three years of satellite radar data linking land deformation above wastewater disposal to earthquakes in the surrounding area.
The researchers found that wastewater injected in two Texas wells raised the land between them by as much as 3 millimeters every year. As far as they’re aware, this is the first study to directly measure uplift. They put this data into their model of pore pressure, or how tightly water is squeezed into the cracks in subsurface rock, explained Scientific American. More of it means greater strain on underground faults, which can cause them to slip and voila, earthquake.
In their study, the team tracked the land deformation between the Texas fluid deposits using data from May 2007 to November 2010; Two years later in 2012, a magnitude 4.8 quake hit the area. But there are still questions left to answer. For instance, the subsequent earthquakes happened 25 kilometers away from the original site, actually above different wells that were deeper but had less surface uplift. On the other hand, the study made interesting discoveries: For one, seismic activity continued even after the rate of wastewater injected had declined. “If you stop injection today, it’s possible that earthquake activity goes on for the next decade or so,” the team’s lead scientist Manoochehr Shirzaei told Scientific American.
Thus, the study is more a preliminary step adding a new tool in the geophysicist kit on the road to a fully-predictive model. The research team hopes that further analysis of their data will explain why some injection wells might induce seismic activity while others don’t.
Via: Scientific American
Source: Science
Plex Debuts New ‘Plex Cloud’ Beta Service for Accessing Media Anywhere
Plex today announced the debut of a new Plex Cloud service, which is designed to allow Plex users to store their media in the cloud so it’s accessible anywhere without the need to set up a local server.
Amazon Drive allows users to create an always-on Plex Media Server that can stream any media content to any device with Plex installed in 60 seconds or less. As with a local server, media is organized through the Plex app for quick access to TV shows, movies, music, pictures, and more.
To use Plex Cloud, Plex customers will need to subscribe to Amazon Drive, Amazon’s unlimited cloud storage offering. Amazon Drive is priced at $60 per year and will allow Plex users to store as many files as they would like with no size limits.
The service also requires a Plex Pass, priced at $4.99 per month, $39.99 per year, or $149.99 for lifetime usage.
At the current time, the Plex Cloud service is available to Plex Pass customers who sign up to beta test the feature. It is an invite-only beta test and will be limited to a select number of Plex Pass users.
Tag: Plex
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Drake’s ‘Views’ Album Becomes First to Reach Over 1 Billion Streams on Apple Music
Canadian rapper Drake’s hit album “Views” has become the first album on Apple Music to be streamed more than 1 billion times, according to an award Drake shared on Instagram this morning.
Drake received the news from Apple CEO Tim Cook, iTunes chief Eddy Cue, and his former manager Cortez Bryant, all of whom he posed with for a second photo that was also uploaded to his Instagram account.
Released on April 29, “Views” was an Apple Music exclusive for one week before it became available on other streaming music services like Spotify and it sold more than 1 million copies during its five-day exclusivity window. Apple and Drake have been working together since Apple Music launched in June of 2015, with Drake offering a Beats 1 radio show and Apple sponsoring his “Summer Sixteen” tour.
🍏🍎 Thank you to everyone. OVO Sound to the 🌎 @applemusic
A photo posted by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Sep 26, 2016 at 12:29am PDT
Just this morning, Drake debuted a 23-minute short called “Please Forgive Me,” which is designed to be a visual companion to the “Views” album. The video, which is also an Apple Music exclusive, follows Drake and his girlfriend as they attempt to make off with a wealthy man’s fortune. The songs “One Dance,” “Controlla,” “9,” Views,” and more are used in the short.
Tag: Apple Music
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Andromeda: How Google can conquer the desktop, figure out tablets — and maybe change Android phones forever
The next stage of Android’s evolution is starting to come into focus. Google’s Andromeda, like the galaxy, is vast, complex and — for the moment — unknowable.
Slowly and quietly, Android has been growing into a desktop OS. (That’s in addition to being a phone OS, a tablet OS, a TV OS and a watch OS.) This year’s 7.0 Nougat release debuted with a feature we’ve still yet to see on any production device: freeform window mode. Freeform, one of three multi-window modes, basically lets your Android tablet handle apps the same way your Mac or PC does — in a moveable, resizeable window.
It looks mostly the same as Android apps running on a Chromebook. (And with good reason: There’s every chance Chrome OS’s Google Play support was central to the decision to include freeform in Nougat in the first place, allowing devs to make apps that play nicely in a window.)
Rumors of Android’s merging with Chrome OS have been swirling for years — until recently without much substance behind them.
This seemingly niche feature was an early hint at something that’s been rumored since the first days of Android on tablets: the fabled merging of both operating systems into one — or at least the advancement of one over the other.
One of the first authoritative reports claiming that this may actually be happening emerged last October from the Wall Street Journal. Google would fold Chrome OS into Android, and the new OS would go on to conquer larger devices like tablets, convertibles, laptops and perhaps even full desktops computers. An early version would be shown in 2016 and ship the following year. At the time, Google didn’t explicitly deny the report, but strongly restated its commitment to Chromebooks.
In the meantime, we’ve seen Android apps (through Google Play) arrive on Chromebooks — the result of a ton of engineering work, bringing the two closer together than ever before.
And now, in recent days, there’ve been tantalizing hints that something is indeed afoot. Android Police first reported the codename “Andromeda” on Saturday as a name for the new, allegedly “merged” OS. A tweet from Android, Chrome and Google Play SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer prompted the report, with the suggestion that events at the Pixel shindig on October 4 would be as significant as the original announcement of Android eight years ago. Since then a new report has clarified that it’s completely separate from the current effort to bring Google Play to Chromebooks.
We announced the 1st version of Android 8 years ago today. I have a feeling 8 years from now we’ll be talking about Oct 4, 2016.
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) September 24, 2016
The “Andromeda” codename has since been tracked back to code and comments in AOSP (the Android Open Source Project). In one instance, Nougat code on the Nexus 9 defines minimum performance requirements for Andromeda. In another, code was written to detect either Android or Andromeda based on whether the freeform window mode feature was available. In another, a Googler talks about “flushing” (likely meaning flashing) the Nexus 9 with an Andromeda image to test performance thresholds.
We’ve also dug up references to Andromeda in the Chromium bug tracker dating back to February, in the form of a “go” URL — a link on Google’s internal network.
All of this points to Andromeda indeed being a real thing, and from the wording of the remarks in AOSP, in some ways separate from the Android we know right now. One AOSP commit talks about “performance thresholds for Andromeda and Android devices.” Another code comment says: “We distinguish results for Andromeda and Android devices. Andromeda devices require a higher performance score.”
Note: As an aside, the comments say the Nexus 9 just about meets the performance requirements for Andromeda. But don’t get too excited about a big update for the tablet just because Google’s developing Andromeda on it: There are no guaranteed Nexus 9 platform updates beyond October 2016.
At a technical level, it sure looks like Andromeda is Android.
At a technical level, it looks like Andromeda is Android. Just like Android Wear is Android and Android TV is Android. We know Andromeda on the Nexus 9 uses freeform window mode — no surprise — and likely adds a bunch of other stuff we haven’t seen yet to make it a much better tablet/convertible OS than Android 7.0 is right now. As such, it has higher performance requirements than plain old Android.
And that’s the central puzzle of all this: What’s the real distinction between Android and Andromeda? If Chrome OS features are being “merged” into Android to form Andromeda, which features are they, besides freeform mode which is technically available to anyone building a tablet on Nougat? (Not that anyone’s really doing that.) Nobody outside Google’s circle of trust knows for sure, but there are some strong possibilities.
Andromeda would likely add a traditional, functional desktop as we’ve seen in Chrome OS, along with wild ideas like a file manager and right-click support, and changes to the way apps are managed in memory. Major changes to the Android platform would also be needed to allow full desktop-class applications — think Adobe Premiere, Lightroom or even Android Studio itself — to flourish.
Image credit: Android Police
The potential launch hardware for Andromeda is just as interesting. Android Police and 9to5Google suggest a laptop informally known as “Pixel 3” (codenamed Bison) will land Q3 2017 with internals targeting MacBook Pro buyers. Specs are said to still be in flux, but AP reports that we’re looking at 32GB and 128GB storage configurations, an Intel M3 or Core M5 chip, 8 or 16GB of RAM, two USB-C ports and a headphone jack. Stylus support is also reported, along with a glass touchpad and haptic feedback. Other notables: 10-hour battery life and a $799 start price.
9to5 also reports a much earlier launch of Andromeda on, bizarrely, a Nexus-branded Huawei tablet. That suggests Andromeda could live alongside Android, at least in the short term.
To conquer the desktop, Google has to fix Android’s built-in update problem once and for all. And that could be huge for phones.
There’s one potentially exciting longterm change, though: To conquer the desktop (and, let’s be honest, realistically take on the iPad) Andromeda would need to decisively fix Android’s built-in update problem once and for all. Nobody’s going to buy a laptop that sits on an old OS version for up to a year at a time. Or one that’s only guaranteed updates for two years after launch. If Android (through Andromeda) is to play with the big boys in the desktop world, there is simply no way the current Android update model can continue.
Assuming Andromeda isn’t just for Google hardware, the most likely solution is to recreate the way Chromebooks are updated — working closely with the manufacturer, but basically with updates going out directly from Google. Perhaps not entirely synchronized across every device, but way more quickly and reliably than the current mess of Android version distributions. (Google has taken early steps towards this with seamless updates in Nougat.)
And that could have game-changing implications for Android on phones. (Because if this is going to be a true merger, a true single-OS-for-everything, Andromeda — whether it’s called Android or not — should to be on phones too.) Andromeda on phones, if it’s basically the same OS, would surely be updated in the same way — quickly, and directly by Google. (Delays due to carrier approval, unfortunately, would likely continue.)
To make this happen, and not lose every single Android phone maker in the process, Google also needs to come up with a way for companies like Samsung, LG and Huawei to customize phones without messing with the update process. That’s a huge technical and business challenge, but if anyone can do it, Google can. It’s certainly had plenty of time — if the original WSJ article is to be believed, by the time Andromeda is ready, it will have been four years in the making.
Having a desktop-capable OS living in a phone also presents the possibility of a Microsoft Continuum-like feature in future Android/Andromeda phones — an exciting prospect for a number of obvious reasons. (Microsoft had that feature working pretty well on hardware far less powerful than phones will be when Andromeda is ready.)
Or maybe not. Maybe phones are outside the scope of Andromeda. Or maybe Andromeda is only for Google hardware. Either would be a huge missed opportunity, however.
Whatever form Andromeda takes, Chromebooks aren’t going away anytime soon.
Andromeda could represent the future of Android as an OS for everything. For Google-powered laptops, it represents a possible path from Chrome OS — a capable web browser that can also run phone apps — to a first-class desktop OS to rival macOS and Windows. For Google-powered phones, it’s an opportunity to largely banish Android’s update woes and make the devices that are many people’s primary computers more powerful than ever.
The branding side of things is interesting too. Our money is on any “merged” OS continuing to carry the Android name, but it’s not impossible that there might be some branding distinction between older Android devices and post-Andromeda ones. (Who knows, “Andromeda” itself might turn out to be more than a codename.)
Either way, Chrome OS can’t disappear overnight. And neither can Android as we currently know it. There are millions of Chromebooks that still need supporting — and many engineers employed to do just that — and new Chrome-powered laptops coming later this year designed around running Android apps from Google Play. There would inevitably be a lengthy crossover period between Chrome OS and Andromeda. And even if our ideal vision of post-Andromeda Android on phones comes to pass, Nougat and older versions will continue to be used.
But who knows. If Hiroshi Lockheimer’s tweet — that October 4 will be as historic as the day Google first announced Android — is more than hype and showmanship, maybe we’ll see a whole lot more than two new Pixel phones.
In either case, it looks like 2017 is going to be a really interesting year.
Anker celebrates its birthday with 20% savings for all!
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There are a bunch of other items on sale, so be sure to hit the link below to check them all out. Which will you pick up? Let us know in the comments!
See at Amazon
These are the Chromebooks that can run Android apps from Google Play
Google has published a list of Chromebooks that will be able to run Android apps when the feature arrives later this year in Chrome OS. Included are well-known Chromebooks like the Acer Chromebook 14, Google’s Chromebook Pixel, and some lesser known models, like PCMerge’s Chromebook PCM-116E and more. Chromeboxes and Chromebases are also included in the list, even though they don’t offer touch screens or trackpads.
The first Chromebooks that will support the feature are the Acer Chromebook R11 C738T, ASUS Chromebook Flip and Google’s Chromebook Pixel (2015). The Chromebook Flip is up and running now on the developer channel. The full list of Chromebooks, Chromeboxes and Chromebases that will be able to run Android apps when the feature becomes available later this year includes:
Acer
- Chromebook 11 C740
- Chromebook 11 CB3-111 / C730 / C730E / CB3-131
- Chromebook R13 CB5-312T
- Chromebook 14 CB3-431
- Chromebook 14 for Work
- Chromebook 15 CB5-571 / C910
- Chromebook 15 CB3-531 / CB3-532
- Chromebox CXI2
- Chromebase 24
Asus
- Chromebook C200
- Chromebook C201
- Chromebook C202SA
- Chromebook C300SA
- Chromebook C300
- Chromebox CN62
- Chromebit CS10
AOpen
- Chromebox Commercial
- Chromebase Commercial 22″
Bobicus
- Chromebook 11
CDI
- eduGear Chromebook M Series
- eduGear Chromebook K Series
- eduGear Chromebook R Series
CTL
- Chromebook J2 / J4
- N6 Education Chromebook
- J5 Convertible Chromebook
Dell
- Chromebook 11 3120
- Chromebook 13 7310
Edxis
- Chromebook
- Education Chromebook
- Chromebook Pixel (2015)
Haier
- Chromebook 11
- Chromebook 11e
- Chromebook 11 G2
Hexa
- Chromebook Pi
HiSense
- Chromebook 11
Lava
- Xolo Chromebook
HP
- Chromebook 11 G3 / G4 / G4 EE
- Chromebook 14 G4
- Chromebook 13
Lenovo
- 100S Chromebook
- N20 / N20P Chromebook
- N21 Chromebook
- ThinkCentre Chromebox
- ThinkPad 11e Chromebook
- N22 Chromebook
- Thinkpad 13 Chromebook
- Thinkpad 11e Chromebook Gen 2 / Gen 3
Medion
- Akoya S2013
- Chromebook S2015
M&A
- Chromebook
NComputing
- Chromebook CX100
Nexian
- Chromebook 11.6″
PCMerge
- Chromebook PCM-116E
Poin2
- Chromebook 11
Samsung
- Chromebook 2 11″ – XE500C12
- Chromebook 3
Sector 5
- E1 Rugged Chromebook
Senkatel
- C1101 Chromebook
Toshiba
- Chromebook 2
- Chromebook 2 (2015)
True IDC
- Chromebook 11
Viglen
- Viglen Chromebook 11
We will continue to monitor the list and add any new Chromebooks that Google notes will support the feature.
Chromebooks
- The best Chromebooks
- Should you buy a Chromebook?
- Google Play is coming to Chromebooks
- Acer Chromebook 14 review
- Join our Chromebook forums
Chromecast Ultra pictured, reportedly streams 4K video for $69
New Google Cast device set to arrive at October 4 Pixel event.
Google’s rumored next-generation Chromecast has leaked out ahead of its expected October 4 launch. The new streaming puck, which will reportedly debut alongside the new Pixel phones and Google Home, and maybe a whole bunch of other crazy stuff, has been revealed for the first time by prolific leaker Evan Blass over at VentureBeat.
The new device looks a lot like the current Chromecast, except for a few extra visual flourishes — notably the big “G” logo we’re also expecting to see on Google’s new phones. It does appear a little smaller than Google’s current streaming gadget, but it’s hard to get an accurate sense of scale from a render like this. Regardless, it’ll be small enough to fit behind your TV, and it’ll stream 4K video wirelessly. Blass reports that the Ultra will sell for $69, nearly double the year-old $35 model. That suggests Google might keep the older Chromecast around even after the Ultra goes on sale, for folks wanting to stream at 1080p.
Blass reports that the latest Chromecast firmware preview also features the “G” logo prominently where there was “Chromecast” before. So it’ll be interesting to see how Google’s hardware shake-up affects its casting product.
For now, we’re left waiting at least another week to get our hands on affordable 4K streaming.
