Geek News

Lenovo has just issued a recall for some of its 5th-generation X1 Carbon laptops. The company says that a limited number of the machines may have a loose screw that can damage the battery, leading to overheating and a possible fire hazard. Lenovo urges owners of these devices made between December 2016 and October 2017 check their serial number on the support page to see if their own X1 is affected. X1 Carbon laptops made after November 2017 are not affected, according to the company. Lenovo says that customers who have affected laptops should immediately stop using them and set up an appointment to get their X1 inspected for free and the screw removed. The company claims that the issue isn't a design flaw, but rather a lapse in the manufacturing process for the specific dates above. Lenovo says that while it's known about the issue for "several weeks," it needed time to figure out the root cause and then notify the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). ...

Amazon today announced that Amazon Music listeners can now build playlists using voice commands via Alexa. For example, if they’re streaming music from an app or listening to the radio on an Alexa-enabled device, they can use voice commands to add the current song to a playlist, or start a new playlist from scratch. It’s a small but useful addition that’s only available to the online giant’s music service. It’s also a natural next step on voice commands for listening to music on a smart speaker. Currently, voice control for competing services like Spotify and Apple Music only go as far as requesting a song, artist, album, or radio station, or skipping and repeating a song. The new playlist feature rolls out today to Prime Music and... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2E9EgyJ"

It’s a commonly accepted, scientifically proven fact that Twitter is bad for you. Not only is it awash in a synapse-frying torrent of mental spew and bad headlines, but the network is also a performative minefield waiting to destroy either your career or your emotional well being — and quite often both if given enough time. However, some of us use Twitter for our jobs. And sometimes we still find Twitter occasionally enjoyable, like when we all get to watch a rocket launch together . If you’re on Twitter period, it’s a good idea to take precautions around your tweet history. We live in an era when alt-right trolls and political operatives will spend hours scanning the online footprint of a smear campaign target, all with the purpose of... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FW3ygg"

Just a few days after Hulu added a new way for sports fans to customize their Olympic coverage , the company is back with another bit of news for sports fans. Subscribers to Hulu's live TV service will be able to watch their favorite games at 60 frames per second (fps) on select channels. The higher frame rate, common on video game platforms , will help you follow the quick action in broadcasts like March Madness and the Winter Olympics . "This was one of the most-requested features by our viewers," wrote the company in a Reddit announcement . The first phase of the rollout happens now, with CNN, CNN International, HLN, TNT, TBS, TCM, TruTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Showtime channels, half of Hulu's Fox affiliated and all NBC affiliates. You'll be able to catch the 60fps action on iPhone and iPad, Apple TV, Xbox One, Fire TV, Samsung Tizen TV and Nintendo Switch. While this is good news for sports fans, Hulu isn't the first live TV service to bump up...

Environment Reduce, reuse. A California state representative is trying to ban plastic straws at restaurants. Maybe it's time to rethink single-use plastics entirely. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2BM0XaH"

Up until now, that “check for update” button on Pixel and Nexus phones hasn’t really worked. Even if a new version of Android was technically available, users wouldn’t be given the option to update until it was seeded to their phone. Although the button was supposed to start working with Oreo, “API incompatibility” between Android’s System Update code and the manual user update code prevented it from actually doing anything. Not anymore, though. With a coming update to Google Play Services — 12.2.09, which is still in beta — users can actually press that update button and get an update in return, according to reports on Reddit and Droid-Life . Multiple users report that Android updates began showing up properly after they updated to the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2E89oKL"

Just in time for the Olympics and March Madness, Hulu has announced on its subreddit that it has added support for 60-frames-per-second live TV streams for some channels on select devices. The company is referring to this as “phase one” of its 60 fps roll-out, which will result in noticeably smoother movement when you’re watching content like sports. That’s the situation where this improvement will pay off the most, but Hulu says you’ll also spot the difference when watching news on CNN; everything from the anchors to the moving text chyron at the bottom of the screen should be smoother with the added frames. As part of phase one, Hulu is checking off around a dozen channels. In terms of the big four broadcast networks, all NBC... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EcysjI"

Amazon's Electric Dreams on Prime streaming might not make you feel bad about your technology habits the way Netflix's Black Mirror does , but the tech juggernaut has plans to remedy that with its latest show. The Feed is based off a book by the same name from author Nick Clark Windo, covering what happens when we're able to download a social media feed directly into our skulls. But instead of sharing links to news sources of questionable repute , you're sharing every thought and emotion you have. And you can see those of everyone else. The story picks up when the titular social network collapses and the world along with it. The Walking Dead 's executive producer Channing Powell will lead the show and write a handful of episodes, according to Deadline , along with British production house Studio Lambert. It'll be a ten-part series, but it sounds like the first season won't cover the entirety of the book. "[The producers] see it as a returnable pr...

WhatsApp has been working on digital, peer-to-peer payments for quite some time now, and the Facebook-owned messaging company appears to have just launched the service in beta in India, one of its most important markets. TechCrunch reports that select users in India have noticed the feature popping up in both the iOS and Android version of WhatsApp, with many celebrating the launch on Twitter. Way back in April of 2017, WhatsApp confirmed it was working on a payments service specifically for India after local media reported on the upcoming feature, but it looks like it’s taken nearly a year for it to arrive, even in just a beta form. Due to a number of factors, WhatsApp is hugely popular in India, more so than Facebook itself. For one,... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nQ6AuW"

2017 was a good year for Pinterest Lens users. Whether the feature helps you find recipes based on your brunch pics, offer style tips from the clothes you already own or gave you a hand with your Target shopping , the company's visual search is handy for a lot of things. In fact, Pinterest says Lens powers over 600 million of those searches monthly, and twice as many folks are using it every day compared to six months ago. As part of the one-year anniversary of Lens, Pinterest is rolling out a new feature for the tool. In the iOS version of the app, you can now add text to any photo search. In other words, when you're looking a new sofa to match your coffee table, you can refine a Lens search with the word "sofa" to guide the results. Basically, if you're looking for specific items, using both a photo and a keyword should help. The new ability will only be available for iOS users when it arrives next week, but the company promises the Android faithful will b...

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For those interested in creating 3D art directly in VR , the update to Oculus' Quill released today should be good news. The update includes new animation tools like free frame-by-frame redrawing, copy-and-re-pose animation and an animation brush that let artists bring their drawings to life directly in Quill. "These tools open the door for a whole new kind of storytelling, with VR characters who move and perform in scenes and environments that are more alive than ever," Facebook, which owns Oculus, said in a statement. "Inspired by the early hand-drawn animation of the 1920s, but powered up with modern technology and native VR workflows, Quill animation brings a new level of freedom to artists in this rapidly emerging medium." Quill was used to create the Emmy-nominated Dear Angelica , and with the animation tools released today, Facebook says that production times can be significantly shorter than when traditional 3D animation software is used. In tests o...

Chrome has been taking measures to inform users when they're on an unencrypted HTTP website, adding notifications to more and more sites over the last couple of years. Today, Google announced it will be taking that one step further, labeling all HTTP sites as "not secure" starting with the release of Chrome 68 . You can see what that will look like in the image below. Google says there has been a lot of progress when it comes to getting developers to switch their sites to the more secure HTTPS . Now, over 68 percent of Chrome traffic on Android and Windows is protected while over 78 percent is protected on Chrome OS and Mac. Additionally, 81 of the top 100 sites now use HTTPS. To keep things going in that direction, Google's open-source Lighthouse tool now has an audit feature that lets developers see which resources are being loaded with HTTP and which of those can be simply upgraded to HTTPS. "Chrome's new interface will help users understand tha...

Starting in July, Google Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure,” according to a blog post published today by Chrome security product manager Emily Schechter. Chrome currently displays a neutral information icon, but starting with version 68, the browser will warn users with an extra notification in the address bar. Chrome currently marks HTTPS-encrypted sites with a green lock icon and “Secure” sign. Google has been nudging users away from unencrypted sites for years, but this is the most forceful nudge yet. Google search began down-ranking unencrypted sites in 2015, and the following year, the Chrome team instituted a similar warning for unencrypted password fields. The Chrome team said today’s announcement was mostly brought... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nLRzLh"

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