Geek News

Fitbit knows it can't lean on activity trackers forever , and it's going to shake things up in 2018. As part of a call discussing its latest earnings , the company said it would produce a "family" of smartwatches this year -- it's not just going to hope a single model like the Ionic will be enough. Details are unsurprisingly thin (this wasn't an announcement), but the aim is to produce smartwatches with "more mass appeal" while taking advantage of its core strengths in health and fitness. Don't be surprised if that translates to more aggressive pricing. The wearable giant also reiterated its push into subscription services and other offerings where it can ensure a steady stream of cash. Its fortunes are currently tied to new device launches, which tanks its business whenever there isn't something new. In some ways, the company doesn't have much choice. While cost-cutting helped it reduce losses dramatically year-over-year, it still ...

A Vulkan-compatible driver for macOS and iOS, MoltenVK, is now available free of charge and open-source . Having invested into its development for more than a year, we have sponsored The Brenwill Workshop to donate MoltenVK for inclusion in the Vulkan graphics ecosystem. We've also continued our efforts with LunarG who is today releasing a corresponding update to deliver macOS support to the Vulkan SDK. Also as a result of that work, Dota 2 will be updated in the comings months to target Vulkan on macOS. It's been almost four years since we started contributing to Vulkan's goal of becoming a cross platform solution. With support for Windows, Linux, and Android crossed off the list, this latest set of updates checks off one of the largest remaining targets, giving developers an easy yet robust way to also target their Vulkan-based engines and titles to run on macOS and iOS. By making the code to MoltenVK freely available and open-source, the goal is to enable developers t...

Following the recently refreshed A7R III , tonight Sony announced its "basic" model update with the A7 III mirrorless camera . This time around it's packing a 24.2 MP sensor, 4K video capability and what Sony says is the longest rated battery life of any mirrorless camera. It will cost $2,000 for the body alone when it goes on sale in the US this April, or as a kit with a FE 28‑70 mm F3.5‑5.6 lens for $2,200. Developing .... Source: Sony (1) , (2) via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2GLNpKv"

Barclaycard is testing a new payment service that could mean the end to waiting for your bill at a restaurant. It's called Dine & Dash, but in this version, dashing doesn't mean skipping out on your tab. Instead, with this service, restaurant-goers would download the Dine & Dash app and just tap their phone on the Dine & Dash device at their table once they arrive. They would then order their meals and eat as usual, and once they were done, they could just leave. When the Dine & Dash app registers that the diners have left the restaurant, it will check them out and close the bill, issuing payment from whatever payment option was loaded into the app by the diner. For diners that want to split the bill with a pal, the app allows them to do that. It also allows users to add a tip and apply a discount code, and once everything's all squared away, the Dine & Dash device lights up green to indicate the bill has been settled. The setup is similar to Masterc...

Science Excerpt: The Edumacation Book There were so many things in fiction, movies, and TV shows that people just took for granted. Cool stuff that was part of their world of the future. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2ETkbgd"

Drone videos can be spectacular , but editing them? Not so much -- don't be surprised if you spend hours cutting 10 minutes of footage into something worth watching. Parrot thinks there's a better way. It's adding a Flight Director feature to its FreeFlight Pro mobile app (for Android and iOS ) that automatically edits your drone footage. Algorithms study the drone's behavior and produce videos up to 3 minutes in length based on a handful of criteria, including the style (chronological, cinematic or trailer), pre-made themes and other existing footage. The biggest dilemma may be choosing your soundtrack. Be prepared to pay up to get the full experience. You can create 15-second "best of" clips for free, but you'll need to spring for the premium version of the feature in-app if you want to unlock its full potential. And of course, you'll need a Parrot drone (a Bebop 1, 2 or Power) for this to work -- you can get similar apps from the likes of GoPro ...

Did Facebook’s ad platform give Donald Trump an unfair advantage in the 2016 election? That’s a question I tried to answer last October, when I looked at how the dynamics of the ad platform can promote more polarizing ads . It came up again over the weekend, as more people digested Antonio García Martínez’s op-ed in Wired , which examines the same issue. Here’s how he put it: During the run-up to the election, the Trump and Clinton campaigns bid ruthlessly for the same online real estate in front of the same swing-state voters. But because Trump used provocative content to stoke social media buzz, and he was better able to drive likes, comments, and shares than Clinton, his bids received a boost from Facebook’s click model, effectively... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EXdTIC"

Technology Your computer can store clues. There’s no shame in firing up a private browsing window from time to time. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2Cn0WtX"

AT&T has been involved in a long-running battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In 2014, the agency sued AT&T for throttling its customers' unlimited mobile data plans while not properly informing them it would be doing so. A few months later, the company claimed that its common carrier status meant it wasn't under the jurisdiction of the FTC and it asked a court to dismiss the agency's suit . In 2015, a judge rejected the carrier's claim , but in 2016, a three-member Ninth Circuit appeals court tossed out that ruling and the FTC's lawsuit saying that AT&T's common carrier status did indeed exempt it from the FTC's regulatory jurisdiction. And that brings us to today. As the Wall Street Journal reports, a federal appeals court has ruled that the FTC can proceed with its lawsuit, rejecting the Ninth Circuit court's earlier decision. The ruling of the full-panel Ninth Circuit appeals court backs the FTC's original argument, w...

Coinbase told its customers on Friday that it plans to comply with a court order and hand over about 13,000 customers’ data to the IRS within 21 days. The IRS made the request back in November 2016, asking for the Coinbase records of all the people who bought bitcoin from 2013 to 2015 to seek out those who were evading cryptocurrency taxes. Anyone affected by the order should now have received an email from Coinbase to that effect. Coinbase heavily resisted the summons. But ultimately , in November last year, the San Francisco court ruled Coinbase had to turn over identifying records for all users who have completed transactions of more than $20,000 through their accounts in a single year between 2013 and 2015. The data requested includes... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2HP3MaL"

Tesla shipped Powerwall batteries to Puerto Rico last fall -- and to Australia last December -- and now it's helping Hawaii. Again. Specifically, it supplied equipment to the island state to help schools combat Hawaii's tropical temperature and relative humidity. Roadshow reports that Tesla shipped some 300 batteries and solar panels to the island as a way of keeping schools cool using renewable energy. This was after state government challenged the local department of education to cool an additional 1,000 classrooms without bumping electricity usage. It wouldn't be the first time Tesla has provided ways to mitigate Hawaii's energy problem, either. Tesla already has a network of solar panels and batteries that keep Kua'i lit up at night , for instance. Hawaii's solar grid contained approximately 55,000 cells spread over 45 acres as of last March . In late January , Governor Ige announced that the original 1,000-classroom goal had been surpassed and that...

Amazon's podcast-based series Lore will return for a second season. Production for the horror-tinged series begins in April, and in addition to new episodes, it'll feature a new showrunner, Sean Crouch, who worked on The Exorcist series. There aren't a ton of details, but Amazon promises that the new season will explore horror stories on a global level. Given the production timeline, it doesn't seem like a stretch to assume the new episodes will be available by Halloween -- just in time to compete with Hulu's forthcoming macabre show. Source: Amazon via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2BScDb6"

Fiat Chrysler's diesel plans are back in the spotlight again. The Italian-American car maker was hit with several lawsuits last December, each claiming that the company's heavy-duty pickup trucks used devices aimed at cheating emissions tests. Last month, the EPA said that Chrysler had violated the Clean Air Act, alleging that the company had installed software in some diesel vehicles that increased emissions. Now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is apparently ditching diesel as a fuel source in its passenger cars by 2022, according to a report in the Financial Times . According to the site's sources, the carmaker has a four-year plan — set to reveal on June 1st — to phase out diesel in all its cars, including Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Fiat. FCA isn't the first car company to deal with diesel emissions issues, of course. Volkswagen pled guilty to US charges of cheating on emissions tests , with a $4.3 billion penalty. Mercedes' maker D...

Pixel and Nexus smartphone owners on T-Mobile will now have an easier time determining whether a voicemail is worth listening to. The latest update for Google’s Phone app adds “Google-powered voicemail transcriptions for T-Mobile USA customers.” That sounds very similar to what Google Voice customers are already familiar with. When someone leaves you a voicemail, Google does its best to transcribe that message and puts the text right in the voicemail tab. It’s not always terribly accurate, but gives a very quick idea of whether it’s an important missed call or some nonsense spam about a free vacation or impending doom over owed taxes. Google spells out that this feature is available exclusively to T-Mobile users right now, which can be... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2BScQLb"

Facebook has apologized for showing a demo of Oculus Rift shooter Bullet Train at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a week after 17 students were killed in a Florida school shooting. In a statement, Facebook VP of virtual reality Hugo Barra said that the demo was part of “a standard set of experiences” that Oculus featured at public events. “In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo. We regret that we failed to do so in the first place.” Barra also tweeted a similar statement. “We got this wrong,” he wrote. Barra was responding to a video clip posted by NowThis News producer Sean Morrow, showing a short clip of a CPAC visitor firing an... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2HMrN1Y"

Last year, HBO announced that it was adapting Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 into a movie and today we get its first trailer. In it, we see Captain Beatty, played by Michael Shannon, telling underling fireman Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan) about the dangers of books and why they have to be burned. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," he says. "News, facts, memoirs, internet of old -- burn it." We also see Jordan's character spreading those ideas to school children, lighting room-fulls of books ablaze and saying with barely restrained fury, "I want to burn." Fahrenheit 451 will premiere on HBO in May. You can check out the trailer below. Via: Entertainment Weekly Source: HBO via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2FyRVwI"

50 Cent admitted that he did not , in fact, make $8 million in bitcoin by accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for his album Animal Ambition back in 2014. In a Friday court document obtained by The Blast , the rapper admits that he has never owned bitcoin, and only went along with the initial report from TMZ because “so long as a press story is not irreparably damaging to my image or brand, I usually do not feel the need to publicly deny the reporting.” He added, “This is particular true when I feel the press report in question is favorable to my image or brand.” It did make 50 Cent initially look like a baller when, at the height of bitcoin’s value , he appeared to be $8 million deep in cryptocurrency. But, to prove that he is... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2GOpRF3"

Motorola might not reserve large updates for its higher-end smartphone models this year. Leaker Evan Blass has posted an image of what should be the Moto E5 Plus, the bigger-screened device in the brand's expected low-cost phone lineup, and it's clearly not just a speed bump for the E4 . For one, there's a different camera array -- there's just one camera (despite the two cutouts), but this definitely isn't a rehash of 2017. The picture also suggests a much sleeker-looking body that tucks the fingerprint reader at the back in return for smaller bezels (albeit large enough for a prominent "Motorola" at the bottom). The image doesn't give too much else away, although the headphone jack survives. It's also reasonable to expect that the E5 Plus will run a lightly customized version of Android Oreo. It's not certain when the E5 Plus would ship, or what price it would have. The outgoing E4 Plus sold for $180 when new, though, and we wouldn'...

If we're ever going to colonize another world, we can't rely solely on the supplies we bring with us. We'll have to make use of the resources available at our destination, with water being one of the most important. Not only can we drink it, but add a bit of science and voilà! You've got oxygen to breathe or rocket fuel to fly. Figuring out what resources are where is extremely important, and we've been honing this craft by looking at our celestial ally, the Moon. A study published last year suggested that water may exist in high quantities in the lunar interior, and now researchers have found evidence of water being distributed across the entire satellite, which is at odds with the widely held theory it's concentrated in the colder spots at the Moon's poles. The problem with studying water on the Moon is that we're largely relying on spectrometry. The way sunlight bounces of the lunar surface tells us about its chemical composition, but the Moon c...

Qualcomm has reversed its stance on an acquisition offer by competitor Broadcom, providing it raise the takeover bid to $160 billion including $25 billion in assumed debt, according to Financial Times . Broadcom initially proposed an unsolicited bid of $130 billion in November of 2017, which was unanimously rejected by Qualcomm’s board of directors. Qualcomm turned down Broadcom’s first deal for two reasons : Qualcomm said it undervalued the company and came with “significant regulatory uncertainty.” The objection about “dramatically undervaluing” the company gave some indication that Qualcomm might be open to a higher offer, and today’s news seems to confirm this. Qualcomm restated that Broadcom’s offer was not sufficient and is asking... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FzVmmL"

Whether or not you think iPhone X - and Essential -style screen notches are clever design flourishes or just abominations, it looks like they're here for the long haul. Well-known leaker Evan Blass has obtained a photo of what looks like the P20, Huawei's next mid-size flagship phone, and it appears the device will have a tall screen with a cutout for the camera system at the top. The company wouldn't shove the fingerprint reader to the back (or eliminate it entirely) like so many of its peers, though. Apparently, Huawei would keep the P10's front-mounted fingerprint reader in a tiny chin at the bottom -- the P20 may be taller than other phones as a result, but you wouldn't have to unlearn existing phone habits. The prototypes don't give away too many other features, but you can spot a few. Dual Leica-branded rear cameras (here disguised as "Bydca") would make their expected return, and the phone would naturally run a flavor of Android Oreo. And w...

Two Democratic and two Republican Representatives have introduced a bill that, if enacted, would require the Department of Commerce to research how access to broadband impacts a variety of economic factors like employment, income and population growth, Wired reports. The proposed legislation, called Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act of 2017, was introduced by Representatives Ro Khanna, Brian Fitzpatrick, Anna Eshoo and Ryan Costello and is a companion bill to a bipartisan Senate proposal led by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Shelley Moore Capito. "The internet is the most vital tool of the 21st century economy, yet millions of Americans are being left behind because they lack a broadband connection," Eshoo said in a statement . "Despite its importance, the federal government does not currently measure the specific economic impact on those who have broadband, versus those who do not. This legislation is a good first step in empowering lawmakers to come up wit...

The frustrations of internet access aboard commercial aircraft may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the Seamless Air Alliance . Formed by Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint and Airtel, the group aims to improve the connectivity experience for passengers aboard aircraft by allowing mobile operators to provide internet access directly via satellite tech. The group aims to reduce the costs and headaches associated with the installation and operation of the infrastructure required to provide connectivity on aircraft. The end goal is to work together to cut costs and provide passengers with fast, reliable internet onboard aircraft. It would combine higher speeds with a better user experience because passengers wouldn't have to pay separately for internet access once on board. Anyone who's regularly used an airplane internet connection knows how dismal the experience can be , so this is a positive step forward. It's too early to say when this alliance will start having tangi...

Last year, Amazon debuted AR View , its augmented reality shopping tool that lets you see how certain items will look in your home before you buy them. At launch, it was only available on iOS, but as of today, 9to5Google reports, it's available on Android devices as well. To use it, open the Amazon app and tap the camera icon in the top right corner of the screen. Select AR View and then you can try out all sorts of products like electronics, furniture and toys. Google released ARCore 1.0 last week, which allowed Amazon to bring the feature to Android devices. But Amazon certainly isn't the first company to use AR as a sales tool. IKEA also has a feature that lets you virtually try out its products in your home as does Target . Williams-Sonoma announced plans for a similar feature last year while Sephora and Benefit have AR tools that let you try on makeup or find your perfect eyebrow shape. You can check out a video of Amazon's AR View in action in the video belo...

Bitcoin mining is a weird industry. Vast banks of dedicated computers solve complex equations to generate hashes worth a fraction of a coin, consuming huge amounts of power in the process. For such operations to be economically feasible nowadays, miners need the cheapest electricity possible. Energy is cheap in certain regions of Asia but many nations there are becoming increasingly hostile to cryptocurrency. China, for instance, is concerned that a sudden Bitcoin collapse could cause economic chaos. More importantly, it wants to cut off cryptocurrency operations near coal-fired energy plants that cause extra pollution in an already-polluted country. The answer, for many bitcoin miners, is to be found in Quebec. The Canadian province has some of the lowest electricity prices in North America, and produces an energy surplus that amounts to 100 terawatt hours over a decade -- enough to supply 6 million homes in a year, according to Global News . As such, rather than turning away ...