Tag: images

Amazon’s Chinese Counterfeit Problem Is Getting Worse

A report on CNBC, citing sellers, says that counterfeit problem on the platform has gotten worse after it made it easier for Chinese manufacturers to sell goods to U.S. consumers. The report gives an example of a seller Jamie Whaley who started a bedding business on Amazon that reached $700, 000 in annual sales within three years. Her patented product called BedBand consists of a set of shock cords, clamps and locks designed to keep fitted bed sheets in place. Whaley found quite an audience, selling up to 200 units a day for $13.99 a set. BedBand climbed into the top 200 selling products in the home and kitchen category. That was 2013. By mid-2015, the business was in a tailspin. Revenue plummeted by half and Whaley was forced to lay off eight employees. Her sheet fastener had been copied by a legion of mostly Chinese knockoffs that undercut BedBand on price and jumped the seller ranks by obtaining scores of reviews that watchdog site Fakespot.com determined were inauthentic and “harmful for real consumers.” The report adds:Spend any time surveying Amazon sellers and Whaley’s narrative will start sounding like the norm. In Amazon’s quest to be the low-cost provider of everything on the planet, the website has morphed into the world’s largest flea market — a chaotic, somewhat lawless, bazaar with unlimited inventory. Always a problem, the counterfeiting issue has exploded this year, sellers say, following Amazon’s effort to openly court Chinese manufacturers, weaving them intimately into the company’s expansive logistics operation. Merchants are perpetually unsure of who or what may kill their sales on any given day and how much time they’ll have to spend hunting down fakers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Amazon’s Chinese Counterfeit Problem Is Getting Worse

These Images Were Taken With an Entirely New Kind of Photography

Image: Capasso Lab/Harvard SEAS These beetles may look like two different species, but they’re the same individual. The difference lies in how they were photographed, using a new lens that allows scientists to “see” one of the most fundamental properties of biology: chirality. Read more…

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These Images Were Taken With an Entirely New Kind of Photography

Adobe Photoshop adds Content-Aware Crop and font suggestions

Adobe usually announces significant updates to Creative Cloud every six months , and its delivering another right on schedule. While the changes are scattered across all of the apps in the company’s software subscription and its stock photo service, we’ll focus primarily on Photoshop. For its popular photo-editing app, Adobe is adding a Content-Aware Crop to the collection of smart design tools. Here, the software automatically fills in any gaps that are created when you either rotate and image or expand it beyond its original size. This new cropping option joins the handy Content-Aware Fill and other tools that make quick work of photo edits. Photoshop’s Liquify tool, a feature that’s used to tweak facial features , is getting an update as well. It’s now “Face-Aware, ” which means it’ll keep the subject’s face in proportion while you make those subtle adjustments. The application also has a new font-recognition tool that will not only identify licensed fonts, but it will suggest similar options that are available on your computer or through Adobe’s TypeKit service. A notable chance across all Creative Cloud apps include the ability to set permissions for design assets in CreativeSync. This means that when you’re working with a team, you can determine who sees what rather than having all of the images, fonts and other files available to everyone inside the CC software. There are also new search filters to that you can narrow results to still photos, video, vectors and illustrations. Adobe Premiere Pro, the company’s video-editing app, continues to add on the VR-related tools. This time the software gets a “field of view” preview mode to check progress on that immersive content. In After Effects, you can now match an animated character’s speech and movement with a real-life actor thanks to the Character Animator Preview. For Illustrator users, expect to easily export assets and artboards in multiple formats and resolutions with one click, rather than having to save separate files individually. All of the above updates are available now in Creative Cloud for subscribers, included in the cost of the software plan. Those prices are set at $10/month for the photography option (Lightroom and Photoshop only) and $50/month for the full suite of apps.

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Adobe Photoshop adds Content-Aware Crop and font suggestions

Google’s self-driving tech goes into Chrysler minivans this year (update: official)

That rumored deal between Google and Fiat Chrysler for self-driving car technology? It’s reportedly happening… if not quite in the way you’d expect. Bloomberg sources claim that the arrangement will put some of Google’s autonomous tech into the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan sometime this year. Just how deep this integration would go isn’t clear, but it’s not believed to be an exclusive arrangement — either side could cooperate with other partners. If the leak is accurate, the deal could be signed as soon as May 3rd (if you’re reading this in time, today). Once again, the partnership makes more sense than you might think. Google (or rather, Alphabet) already said that it wasn’t going to mass-produce its own cars, so it was always going to need help — this is its first major deal. Fiat Chrysler, meanwhile, has been hoping for a fast track to self-driving technology to help it compete against rivals that have already done a lot of legwork . And minivans? They could make more sense than you think. While you’re unlikely to see truly driverless Chryslers anytime soon, this would show that Google’s know-how can improve one of the most mainstream vehicles you can find: a run-of-the-mill (if relatively high-end) family carrier. If Google and Fiat Chrysler succeed there, the technology could easily spread to other models and manufacturers. Update: Yes, it’s official .. although it’s not quite how it was originally portrayed. Google is adding “about 100” Pacifica hybrid vans to its fleet of self-driving cars, the first of which will hit the streets by the end of 2016. Sorry, folks, you won’t get to drive one yourself. Fiat Chrysler is making it easy for Google to install its systems, and the minivan design conveniently allows for testing larger, more passenger-friendly vehicles that can incorporate features like “hands-free sliding doors.” Source: Bloomberg

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Google’s self-driving tech goes into Chrysler minivans this year (update: official)

Over 1M BeautifulPeople Dating Site User Details Leak Online

An anonymous reader writes: Personal information of over one million users stored by popular dating site BeautifulPeople has leaked, and is now accessible online. We already knew that BeautifulPixel.com was hacked (it happened in November 2015), but this is the first confirmation from a security researcher that the details are legitimate. (BeautifulPeople had downplayed it at the time, saying that it was a staging server, and not a production server, that was hacked.) Security researcher Troy Hunt, citing a source, noted that the data has been sold online. The leaked personal information include email addresses, phone numbers, as well as hair color, weight, job and other details.Troy also noted that of the 1.1 million users details, 170 of them have government email addresses. Some of you may remember BeautifulPixel as the creator the “Shrek” virus. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over 1M BeautifulPeople Dating Site User Details Leak Online

Toyota will make automatic braking near-standard by 2017

Worried that you might not stop your Camry in time to avoid a nasty collision? Toyota is determined to prevent that from happening going forward. The Japanese car maker has announced that its automatic braking systems will be standard on 25 out of 30 Toyota and Lexus models, at nearly every trim level, by the end of 2017. It’ll only be non-standard on the 4Runner, 86 (formerly the Scion FR-S), Mirai , Lexus GX and Scion iA. Just what you’ll get will vary: while Lexus only has one braking system (based on a camera and millimeter wave radar), Toyota has both laser- and millimeter wave-based variants. Whatever you get, though, it’s a big step forward for safety and semi-autonomous driving in one of the world’s biggest vehicle brands. You probably won’t have to fork over extra just to minimize the chances of a crash, whether you’re driving a frugal Yaris or a decked-out Lexus LX. Via: TechCrunch Source: Toyota

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Toyota will make automatic braking near-standard by 2017

New Typosquatting OS X Malware Attacks You When Mistyping COM as OM

Better watch where those fingers fall on the keyboard next time you type out a URL. Security researchers have discovered a new trend they’re calling typosquatting, where browsers are attacked after they mis-type web addresses. Read more…

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New Typosquatting OS X Malware Attacks You When Mistyping COM as OM

Twisty fusion reactor goes online after 19 years of work

Germany just took fusion power one big, important step forward. The country’s Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics has just switched on Wendelstein 7-X , the first large fusion reactor based on a twisty stellarator design. It’s only producing hydrogen plasma at the moment and won’t actually generate energy, but power isn’t really the point. Instead, it’ll serve as proof that stellarators could provide energy while operating continuously, unlike current (tokamak-based) fusion reactors that operate in short pulses. They should be safer, too. The inaugural test phase will run through mid-March, after which point it’ll get an upgrade to let it run hotter and longer. Eventually, it should discharge for up to 30 minutes at a time, and muster a heating power of 20 megawatts. The machine comes at a high price in more ways than one. It took roughly 19 years to design and build Wendelstein 7-X at a staggering cost of €1.2 billion, or about $1.3 billion. That’s a lot of effort for a testbed device. However, it could pay off if it leads to a much more powerful (not to mention less dangerous ) alternative to nuclear fission energy. Via: Motherboard Source: Max Planck Institute

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Twisty fusion reactor goes online after 19 years of work

Lyft will pay $12.25 million to settle drivers’ lawsuit in CA

One company is done battling a gig economy -related lawsuit, at least in California. Lyft has agreed to grant its drivers more workplace protection and to pay $12.5 million to settle a proposed class action lawsuit. The California drivers who filed the lawsuit against the company wanted to be reclassified as employees in order to receive minimum wage and benefits, as well as to get Lyft to pay for their gas and vehicle maintenance. While they’ve unfortunately failed to get their status changed — they’re still considered contractors — drivers in the state will get part of the settlement fund based on the hours they’ve put into working for the company. Lyft also can’t drop drivers whenever it wants. The company can only terminate someone based on a number of predetermined reasons, such as low passenger ratings. Even then, the driver will be given the chance to air their side of the story. Finally, drivers who consistently get high ratings and who passengers pinpoint as their favorites will be rewarded with bonuses. Jackdaw Research chief analyst Jan Dawson told Reuters that while Lyft is losing millions, it still got off “fairly lightly.” Reclassifying drivers as employees, he said, would have cost the company much, much more. Uber wasn’t able to prevent a similar case from becoming a full-fledged class action lawsuit, but this proves it’s possible to settle with the plaintiffs without changing how the company operates. [Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images] Source: Reuters , Bloomberg

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Lyft will pay $12.25 million to settle drivers’ lawsuit in CA