Geek News

YouTube plans to release a non-algorithmic, whitelisted version of its YouTube Kids app some time in the near future as a way to avoid inadvertently suggesting questionable or graphic content to children, according to a report this evening from BuzzFeed News . The modified version of the app will also be restricted to videos from hand-selected channels that a team of human curators at YouTube will approve. The decision, though it has yet to be officially announced, comes amid longstanding concerns over YouTube’s suggestion algorithm inherently steers viewers toward increasingly extremist content . Just last month, a report from Business Insider illustrated how the YouTube Kids app was suggesting children watch videos filled with... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IAOvtD"

Skype is finally getting a call recording feature , only 15 years after it was first released. It should be noted that Skype isn’t building its own recording software but relying on third-party apps, including Xsplit, Wirecast, and Vmix. These products, among others , have allowed you to record Skype calls for years, but now it sounds as if Microsoft wants a more streamlined version. Windows 10 and Mac users will be able to record calls if they switch their desktop Skype client over to “Content Creators” mode, a new version designed for vloggers, streamers, and podcast creators. Users can pick which third-party software they prefer to use and Skype now supports the integration. Skype envisions you can livestream a call now on your YouTube... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2JqaiFr"

Space Also in space: A neighborhood of black holes, a new (and old) reason to study Venus' clouds, and the end of the Lunar XPrize. This was a busy week for space. We heard about hopes for life on Venus, neighborhoods of black holes, and distant stars. Oh, and solar tornadoes. What's up with those? via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2qaH2us"

Back in February, we got our first sneak peek of LG’s next flagship phone — the LG G7, the latest in the G series — through leaked photos and specs. Today, more specs and photos of the new phone were leaked to TechRadar . And most notably, TechRadar spotted a button on the side that it points out could be dedicated to LG’s AI feature. Samsung started the trend of including a dedicated button for its smart assistant Bixby, which has been called structural bloatware . Now the TechRadar leak reveals that LG may follow suit with its own button on the left of its new LG G7 ThinQ, except it’s likely for the company’s AI-powered camera feature rather than a Bixby clone. LG introduced AI features on the V30S ThinQ in February, and it sounds like... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2Hk7Gsp"

Epic Games’ iOS port of smash hit Fortnite has earned more than $15 million in its first three weeks on the market, says mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower . According to the company’s most recent report, Fortnite on iOS is now out-earning mobile heavyweights like Candy Crush Saga , Clash of Clans , and Pokémon Go on a weekly revenue basis, earning $6.4 million in the last seven days compared to Candy Crush Saga ’s $5.8 million. Unlike those other games, however, Fortnite sells only silly costumes and goofy in-game dance animations, among other cosmetic items and a three-month $9.99 subscription service called the Battle Pass. Sure, that’s a pretty eye-popping series of metrics for Fortnite , but it’s not that surprising. The game is a... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GJVYWw"

Health Forget the retail therapy. It’s time for some real talk. The concept of “self-care” is inescapable, between the social media posts about rejuvenating mani-pedis and TED talks about the restorative properties of journaling. But… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2JoPwpM"

Apple is pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan. The company filed a public comment with the EPA today arguing that scrapping the policy, which calls for cutting power plant pollution, would dull the United States’ competitive edge in the clean energy economy. Apple’s comment on the repeal proposal is the first one from a company, according to Reuters . In a copy of the filing that Apple shared with The Verge , Apple calls the fight against climate change a “moral and environmental imperative that also makes good business sense.” The Clean Power Plan (or CPP) was finalized by the Obama administration, and it takes aim at power plants — the number one carbon polluters in the US, a... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qaMRrL"

After facing a barrage of criticism over the toxicity of its community, Twitter announced last month that it will attempt to more actively measure and combat bad behavior, with input from outside researchers. We’re now seeing an early, straightforward idea: make its rules of conduct more visible. CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that the company has partnered with an outside team, led by researchers Susan Benesch and J. Nathan Matias, to run a test, starting today. “Research has shown that when institutions publish rules clearly, people are more likely to follow them ,” the researchers wrote in an announcement . With that in mind, the researchers will test whether making users more aware of the rules will promote civil discussion on Twitter. L... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qfMOdI"

Nexus Media News Instead of storing carbon, researchers want to convert it into fuel. While scientists tend to talk about carbon capture and storage—one approach to fighting climate change — De Luna thinks the future instead will be about carbon capture… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2IANgdT"

Facebook advertisers who want to promote their views on key political issues — like abortion and Second Amendment rights — will now have to verify their identity and location, the company announced today. These “issue ads” will also be labeled as “political ads” on the platform, along with information about who’s paying for their existence. The company says artificial intelligence and actual humans will comb through advertisers to identify those that need to be labeled and verified. Users can also report ads that seem political in nature and are missing verification. In addition to advertisers needing to prove who they are, managers of “large” pages will have to do so, as well. Facebook hasn't said what constitutes a large page, but the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2q9kavq"

Every day, the news is full of stories describing the weighty and often overwhelming effects new technology has on the way people live and work. Terms such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are fast becoming everyday jargon and plans for their deployment will land high on the agenda of business leaders over the next few years – whether they like it or not. Headlines warning of cyber-attacks and data breaches are just as frequent. Assailants are everywhere: on the outside are hackers, organized criminal groups and nation states, whose capabilities and ruthlessness grow by the day; on the inside are employees and contractors, causing incidents either maliciously or by accident. Business leaders are left feeling uncertain about the way forward. The dilemma is often stark: should they rush to adopt new technology and risk major fallout if things go wrong, or wait and potentially lose ground to competitors? New attacks will impact both business reputation...

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Space Submarines and rovers will go for a dive on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn Submarines and rovers will go for a dive on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2IyBHDU"

The people behind third-party Twitter clients Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings are warning users that their apps could lose important features like push notifications and an auto-refresh timeline in June. The problem is that after June 19th, Twitter will be removing the “streaming services” that have enabled developers to implement these functions in their apps. Those services will be replaced with an Account Activity API, but so far Twitter hasn’t allowed outside developers to participate in the beta testing of that API. Even in a best-case scenario, it would only potentially restore the push notification side of things; it sounds like third-party Twitter clients just won’t have any practical way of offering a live-updating... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2H1N2zj"

Google Chrome added a new shortcut today to make adding emoji on desktop easier. It’s currently on the testing channel Chrome Canary , and users can enable it now by going to chrome://flags and searching “emoji,” as spotted by 9to5Google . What Google Chrome is proposing is adding an emoji option on the menu that appears when you right-click any text field. Users can then right-click to get to the emoji option and pull up the emoji options for Mac, Windows, Linux, or Chrome OS, depending on what operating system they’re running. It’s not a groundbreaking addition, considering there are already ways to pull up emoji on desktop, including the shortcut Command + Control + Space for Macs or the touch keyboard on certain Windows devices.... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IupXlO"

After TechCrunch reported that Facebook has been quietly deleting messages CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sent via Messenger, the company is now saying that the ability to retract messages will soon be available to all Messenger users. According to TechCrunch , an “unsend” feature is coming in the next few months, though it provided no further details on how this new function works. Messenger currently offers a Secret Conversation mode where users can set a timer on when messages will self-destruct. Similarly, Facebook-owned WhatsApp offers an unsend feature , which lets users revoke a message if they do so within a short period of time after sending. The message does not simply disappear, however; the note “this message was deleted” sits in... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GYhryr"

MIT researchers have created a wearable device called AlterEgo that can recognize nonverbal prompts, essentially “reading your mind.” The system is made up of a device that loops around a user’s ear, follows their jawline, and attaches underneath their mouth, and a computer system. The wearable device has electrodes that pick up neuromuscular signals in your jaw and face that are triggered by internal verbalizations (aka saying words in your head) but can’t be seen by the human eye. These signals are then given to a machine learning system that analyzes the data, associating specific signals with words. “Our idea was: Could we have a computing platform that’s more internal, that melds human and machine in some ways and that feels like... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2H19XuM"

Technology Scott Pruitt wants to roll back the EPA's requirements for clean vehicles. It's going to be a fight. The 2025 EPA emissions standards may face repeal, but there's a long legal fight before that can happen. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2HfZ1XM"

Walmart is adding more than 500 more Pickup Towers to its US stores by the end of this year, the company announced yesterday, as spotted by TechCrunch . Each Pickup Tower lets users grab their online orders from tall kiosks inside Walmart stores. After completing an online order, customers will be notified when their item is available for pickup at a tower. They can then drive to the store, scan a barcode into the kiosk computer, and the item is delivered into the customer’s hands. Walmart is also trying to stay competitive with Amazon by offering customers cheaper discounts on online-only items if they choose to pick up in store rather than have the product shipped to their house. Shipping to Walmart stores costs less for the company... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2EteGQE"

The Federal Communications Commission won’t release the emails about chairman Ajit Pai’s widely disliked “Harlem Shake” video, even though there’s a Freedom of Information Act request out for those emails, as spotted by Motherboard . The emails concern the planning of the infamous Daily Caller video in December, where Pai addressed the net neutrality vote by doing the Harlem Shake while swinging a lightsaber and wearing a Santa suit. Now, it seems the FCC doesn’t want to reveal any details about who planned this video. It’s citing the b5 exemption, an excuse used by government regulators to avoid releasing public documents. The b5 exemption applies to internal agency documents that “would be privileged in civil litigation,” but because of... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qbRP6H"

DIY You season and reseason for a reason. Cast iron is strange mixture of incredibly durable and unusually delicate—especially for a cooking implement. The metal is physically sturdy, but also highly reactive,… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2uRhA1J"

When I first saw the Maingear F131 with my own eyes, I knew it was unlike any gaming desktop I had ever built or seen on display. This particular configuration I’ve been using costs nearly $8,000, which is well out of the price range of most PC gamers, but it’s mostly a showcase for the case and Maingear’s unique open-loop cooling system called APEX. That system can be added to far more affordable configurations (starting at $1,920 for an Intel chipset or $1,699 for AMD’s Ryzen) for $300. Those prices look even more appealing when you consider the fact that the popularity of cryptocurrency mining has inflated GPU prices — which makes it cheaper to buy a gaming desktop than it is to build your own, sadly. Every F131 is hand-assembled in... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qfGio7"

Doogee, known for its “manly” phones , has made a bezel-less and notch-less 5.99-inch phone with a neat sliding mechanism that hides the front-facing camera. Unfortunately, it also hides the light sensor and speaker. The concept device was revealed for the first time in an unboxing video posted by Arun Maini, also known as YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss . Doogee’s design is clever because it deftly solves the problem of needing a fat bezel or notch cut into the display in order to host the camera and sensors packed into the top of modern phones. It’s reminiscent of The HTC 7 Surround , which used a slider to hide the device’s forward-facing “boombox” speaker and rear kickstand. There is a tiny bezel that surrounds the screen, but the Mix 4 still... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GCoBsR"

If you’ve been waiting for a phone that can upset the Apple-Samsung duopoly, this is it Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qfXSrh"

Science One of the many amazing inventions that came about by accident. Roy Plunkett doesn’t sound like a man destined for greatness. And in a way, he wasn’t. Plunkett gave us the technological marvel that is Teflon—but he did it… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2qajOoh"

In January, the popular media streaming app Plex announced a new VR app that allowed users to watch movies and TV shows on their own or together with friends in VR. It was a cool idea, though compatibility was restricted to just the Google Daydream. Now, there’s good news for Plex users with different VR headsets who want to lounge around with their friends but not actually be with them: Plex has brought its VR movie app to the Gear VR courtesy of the Oculus store. There are three environments you can watch movies in, including a luxury apartment, a deep space scene known as “the void,” and a drive-in theatre — the first two are free but the drive-in requires a Plex Pass subscription. Once you start a movie or show, the content takes up a... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IzDybP"