Geek News

Duo is Google's video calling app, and it looks like the tech giant wants to spread the word about it. According to Android Police , Duo users can now call people who don't have the app installed and who haven't registered with the service. It works like any other Duo communication, except that at the end of any call, recipients who don't have the app installed will then be prompted to install Duo. They also have the option to decline future Duo calls from that person. We've contacted Google for confirmation. It's a good move for accessibility -- and should encourage those who do have the app installed to use it more widely. Additionally, it will help expand the user base. Cody Toombs at Android Police notes, though, that he wasn't able to reach all of his contacts through Duo. It's unavailable for all non-Android phones (sorry iPhone users, you'll just have to install Duo first), but Toombs reports there are likely more criteria that play into w...

The market for PCs grew during the holiday season last year, which is a first in six years of declining demand for computers, according to a report by IDC . The market, which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations, grew by 0.7 percent over the holiday season last year. IDC had initially predicted demand would decline by 1.7 percent. The overall year’s shipments were down by 0.2 percent, which was still better than 2016’s decline of 1.5 percent. The Asia-Pacific region and Latin America saw positive growth, while the US remained a challenging market. HP saw the highest demand among the increased shipments, pulling in a market share of 22.7 percent and maintaining its lead from 2016. In order of highest demand, here are the top six... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2D5F4Dd"

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At CES 2018, TiVo announced that it will be adding support for Alexa and Google Assistant to its DVRs , letting users control their TVs using voice commands, along with additional smart home integrations through IFTTT. According to PCMag , the integrations will work a little differently, depending on whether you’re using Alexa or Assistant. The Alexa skill is said to be a little more basic, duplicating functions on a remote like “play,” “pause,” or “select.” The Google Assistant skill is reportedly more robust, allowing users to search for specific recordings directly through voice commands. Google Assistant will also add deeper integration into your smart home, so you can off the lights when you start watching a movie, for example. L... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2mxT4MC"

Ever since the Detective Pikachu game launched in Japan in early 2016, there's been a lingering question: when would it be available elsewhere, if it ever left Japanese shores? At last, there's a date. The Pokémon Company has announced that its 3DS sleuth title will reach the US and Europe on March 23rd, 2018 for $40. On top of that, there will be a $30 giant Detective Pikachu amiibo (nearly double the usual height at 5.35 inches tall) which unlocks videos that might provide clues. In a sense, an international release was inevitable. If the Ryan Reynolds-starring Detective Pikachu live-action movie is going to premiere outside of Japan in May 2019, it's going to need a fan base eager to see that movie. And besides, there's still clearly an audience for Pokémon games . The developers would be leaving money on the table if Detective Pikachu didn't get a wider release. As it stands, the game won't be alone. Nintendo has unveiled plans to launch a Pikach...

Gadgets The end-of-week dispatch from PopSci's commerce editor. Vol. 33. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap. Below, gadgets that are awesome, rad, and random. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2Do5Fcn"

Earlier this week, Intel said it would have Meltdown and Spectre fixes available by the end of the month for all recently made chips. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, some of the patches the company has released have caused some problems of their own. Some firmware updates are apparently causing computers to reboot. The Wall Street Journal got its hands on a document Intel was sharing with some of its customers, in which it advised them to "delay additional deployments of these microcode updates." Stephen Smith, Intel's data-center group general manager, told the publication that the bugs didn't have anything to do with security and that the document was being shared with computer makers and large cloud providers. Since the Wall Street Journal published its report, Intel has released a blog post explaining the systems affected by the reboots are running Broadwell and Haswell CPUs. "We are working quickly with these customers to understand, diagno...

Barra thinks “standalone” VR is the future. Now he has to help Facebook ship it Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2mlVInM"

Security firm Check Point has uncovered a malicious bug on the Google Play Store that displays porn in game apps, many of which are aimed at children. The bug affects about 60 apps, including those that have been downloaded over 1 million times, like Five Nights Survival Craft and McQueen Car Racing Game, which is based on the Disney Pixar character from the film Cars . The malicious app is named Adult Swine, and Check Point says the bug displays inappropriate and pornographic ads, attempts to trick users into installing fake security apps, and tries to get users to sign up to premium services that charge the user’s account. A Google spokesperson told the Financial Times , “We’ve removed the apps from Play, disabled the developers’... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2mwmLOh"

Nexus Media News Cheaper, plant-based carbon fiber could be used to make lighter cars that consume less fuel. Scientists say it may soon be possible to make carbon fiber from plants instead of petroleum, driving down costs, making the material more widely available for use in… via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2Dpq0OG"

Introduced at the Frankfurt auto show in September, the Smart Vision EQ from Mercedes-Benz is the automaker's EV concept that combines mobility, autonomy and connectivity. The result is a car built on the Smart Fortwo platform, can wink at pedestrians, has level-five autonomy (no steering wheel or pedals), and welcomes passengers by name. It also took me for a short ride on the Las Vegas Strip. Mercedes says the concept vehicle isn't made to be sold to individuals and would instead be part of an autonomous ride-sharing fleet. The way Mercedes envisions a car like this would work is that it would arrive at a location and display the name of the individual that hailed the ride on the front of the car. They would enter the vehicle, and the dash would show their name, photo and other information they shared with the car-share service. Then the electrical vehicle would cruise autonomously around and eventually drop you at your location and bid you farewell. One interesting feat...

Hyperkin is working on something for retro gamers looking to retire any venerable Game Boys that have seen better days. The aluminum-hewn Project Ultra GB might be the hardware you need to break out your old Game Boy hits. It takes the original cartridges, as well as keeping the dimensions of the Game Boy Pocket and those iconic simple controls. Not much has changed -- in a good way -- but I really liked the idea (and feel) of a metal Game Boy. While controls and design haven't changed, Hyperkin does plan to upgrade the audio-out for anyone that likes to make their own chip tunes with old Nintendo tech: This prototype will evolve to include left and right audio for stereo as well as an audio amp. The team is even trying to add LSDJ chip tune software to the device internally. Beyond audio, the final device will also have a USB-C charging port (it's currently rocking an old-school AC port), while the screen will include an RGB wheel to cycle through color options, including...

HTC’s newest phone, the U11 EYEs, has been a rumored addition to the U11 family, and we now know a few more details about its specs, thanks to details leaked by Venture Beat’s Evan Blass on Twitter. The U11 EYEs has a 6-inch screen with a 1080 x 2160 Super LCD3 display. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB SSD, and a 3,930mAh battery. However, it’s still running the now outdated Android Nougat out of the box instead of the latest Oreo. It has two front-facing cameras, built to the right of the earpiece, that are probably the “eyes” the phone is named after. We don’t yet know the specs of the front-facing cameras, but they likely have some kind of selfie portrait mode that’s been the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2AU4BdB"

There's been a discouraging trend in computer shipments recently; year-to-year growth has declined steadily over the last six years. But now, IDC has a bit of good news : It looks as though the PC market actually grew 0.7 percent in the holiday season of 2017. This contradicts IDC's forecast, which predicted a 1.7 percent decrease in shipments. The first holiday season growth of PC shipments in six years is certainly worth nothing; the team at IDC believes that, while the computer market is still weak, it's beginning to stabilize. Overall, the year's shipments were down 0.2 percent, with a total of 259.5 million units shipped. A decline, sure, but better than 2016's 1.5 percent decline . The top PC performer in 2017 was HP, with a market share in the US of 34 percent. Lenovo followed, with Dell in third place. Apple remains in fourth place, growing its shipments 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017. ASUS and Acer were tied for fifth place. It's good ne...

Back in 2015, software engineer Jacky Alciné pointed out that the image recognition algorithms in Google Photos were classifying his black friends as “gorillas.” Google said it was “appalled” at the mistake, apologized to Alciné, and promised to fix the problem. But, as a new report from Wired shows, nearly three years on and Google hasn’t really fixed anything. The company has simply blocked its image recognition algorithms from identifying gorillas altogether — preferring, presumably, to limit the service rather than risk another miscategorization. Wired says it performed a number of tests on Google Photos’ algorithm, uploading tens of thousands of pictures of various primates to the service. Baboons, gibbons, and marmosets were all... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2r3nv2b"