Geek News

Remember those 'sonic attacks' against the American and Canadian embassies last summer, making staff queasy and raising all kinds of questions as to what happened? There might have an answer. University of Michigan researchers have theorized that the incidents were really the result of ultrasonic signals from poorly functioning surveillance equipment. While individual ultrasonic signals can't harm people outside of extreme circumstances, multiple signals can clash with each other and produce a sound that's just low enough to be audible. The scientists tested their hypothesis by replicating the "chirping" from an AP video using two ultrasonic emitters that combined tones, one at 25kHz and another at 180Hz. That produced a similar-sounding 7kHz frequency with ripples of sound at an even 180Hz spacing. The team even built a device that would simulate eavesdropping by playing a song instead of the 180Hz tone. Don't rush to call the case closed. Researc...

Apple Pay Cash may not be limited to Americans for much longer. Users in Brazil , Ireland and Spain have all reported seeing the peer-to-peer payment service show up in iOS' Messages app, suggesting that launches in their countries (and potentially more) are just around the bend. Apple hasn't officially announced anything yet, but it's hard to imagine the company asking people to configure the feature and letting it sit unused for more than a short while. Despite the apparently imminent expansion, it's doubtful that Apple Pay Cash will allow money transfers between countries. As 9to5Mac observed , competing services typically limit you to paying others on your home turf -- the stiff fees alone would discourage across-the-border payments. An international rollout could be crucial to generating some momentum for Apple's fledgling offering. Rivals like Venmo might be US-only, but others have a broader reach -- Skype's PayPal-based Send Money feature is av...

If you want a good barometer of how far Amazon Alexa has come, you just need to look at the company's teaser for its Super Bowl LII ad. Where Amazon's first-ever Super Bowl commercial was eager to sell you on the still-unproven Echo using as much star power as possible, the biggest star (so far) in the teaser is Jeff Bezos -- you know, the company's own CEO. The clip has Bezos giving the tentative go-ahead for a sketchy Alexa replacement after the AI assistant loses her voice. Both the inclusion of Bezos and the very subject of the ad (a national panic caused by the absence of Alexa) show the kind of confidence Amazon has going into 2018. The 2016 ad reflected Alexa's young state. The Echo had only been on the market for slightly over a year, and Amazon had to explain the product to a public that had never heard of a smart speaker. Flash forward to 2018 and it's a different story -- Alexa is seemingly everywhere, including new Echo speakers , cars , and thermos...