throw-new – Page 30 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Microsoft kicks off Skype’s Translator preview on Windows 8.1

Tu madre es una tarantula. Entiendes? If you didn’t catch that, Skype’s got you covered. Microsoft just kicked off Skype’s Translator preview , which, as the name suggests, can automatically translate speech in real-time. While English and Spanish are the only supported spoken languages at the moment, the feature can also translate instant messaging chats in 45 languages. Microsoft first showed off Skype’s Translator, which relies on machine learning to handle its language gymnastics, back in May . And it seems to have made quite a bit of progress since then — at least, according to a tooth-achingly sweet video (see below) between high school students in the US and Mexico. The feature’s only available on Windows 8.1 devices at the moment, and don’t expect flawless functionality since it’s just a preview. But it’s a sign that even aging software can still make your Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy dreams come true. Comments Source: Microsoft

Ford’s revamped SYNC infotainment system is built for speed

Ford has revealed its latest SYNC connected car system, promising smartphone-like performance, conversational voice control and a simpler interface. The SYNC 3 will feature a much brighter touchscreen than previous versions with multi-touch capability for pinch-to-zoom and other functions. It’ll also feature larger onscreen buttons and high contrast fonts to avoid any fiddling. The interface help road warriors to futz less as well, with three zone choices on the home screen: navigation, audio and phone. In addition, a “one-box search” is designed to give Google-like simplicity when searching for locations or contact info. The auto giant also said that SYNC 3 will have much sharper graphics and be as responsive as a smartphone or tablet for most functions. That said, the system was designed to be used first and foremost with voice control, and now accepts much more conversational commands. For example, a driver can just say “Play ‘Good Times Bad Times'” to hear the Led Zeppelin song, without having to name the album or genre as before. SYNC 3 now supports Siri voice commands as well, allowing iPhone users to activate it with a push-to-talk button on the steering wheel. You’ll no longer need to say or type an exact name or address, either. For instance, you can now enter “Detroit Airport” to get directions if you don’t know the official name, or give a business name like “Starbucks” rather than the address. Ford has also touched up its AppLink system, making it possible to select apps compatible with the SYNC 3’s vehicle-oriented interface. Compatible apps like Spotify or Pandora will function in a completely different way on SYNC than on a phone or tablet. After you log into your account, you’ll be able to use voice recognition and menu buttons to control music or perform other functions. The company told me that it has over 70 compatible apps so far, and expects to bring hundreds more over the next year. To update apps, SYNC 3 now has a WiFi receiver that can log onto your home network or a smartphone hotspot. The new system will be available across Ford’s US vehicle lineup starting next year, and roll out elsewhere by the end of 2016. Filed under: Transportation Comments

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Ford’s revamped SYNC infotainment system is built for speed

BitTorrent needs your help to build its peer-to-peer browser

BitTorrent is looking for Alpha testers for a new product called Project Maelstrom, and what that is may surprise you: a browser based on the company’s peer-to-peer sharing technology. What does that mean, exactly? Well, the company’s keeping details hush-hush at this point (though it did release a picture of what Maelstrom could look like above), but if the browser works just like a torrent client, then it will most likely load websites from peers instead of from servers. BitTorrent believes that its success could not only protect people’s privacy online (no servers means it won’t be easy spying on your activities), but also help maintain net neutrality and keep the web open. Part of its announcement post reads: How can we keep the Internet open? How can we keep access to the Internet neutral? How can we better ensure our private data is not misused by large companies? How can we help the Internet scale efficiently for content? The power of distributed technology that underpins BitTorrent and all of our products has long been an example in this regard and bringing more of this power to the web is only natural as these challenges loom. Project Maelstrom is still in the very early stages, though, so whether a P2P-based browser will work remains to be seen. It’s unclear how the company even plans to monetize it, because when TechCrunch asked about advertisements, a spokesperson replied that it’s “too early to tell.” Still, this isn’t BitTorrent’s first foray outside torrent clients. In addition to the Sync file-sharing service it launched in 2013, it also introduced a paywalled TV and music service called Bundle and a chat messenger named Bleep earlier this year. And yes, all of them use peer-to-peer technology, as you might have guessed. If you want to lend a hand in shaping a new type of browser, you can sign up as an Alpha tester on the company’s website. Filed under: Internet Comments Source: BitTorrent

China has a microwave pain weapon of its own

The US may never have used its microwave pain gun in combat, but that isn’t stopping China from exploring the concept of non-lethal force. Local manufacturer Poly has unveiled the WB-1 , a millimeter-wave weapon that heats the water under your skin (much like the US’ Active Denial System) to deliver intense agony without injury. It currently works at a relatively short range of about 262 feet, but extra power can bump that up to 0.6 miles — if you know where to shoot, you could cause misery from afar. It’s reportedly meant to be used on the high seas, where it could enforce China’s territorial claims without the need to capture or destroy wayward vessels. There are some unanswered questions. Besides the uncertainty of when (and if) WB-1 might enter service, there’s also the matter of its technical feasibility. The Active Denial System took 16 hours to start, and it didn’t work reliably in dust or rain. Unless Poly has licked those problems, its gun won’t do much when there’s a surprise encounter or stormy weather. With that said, you might want to be careful if you go boating around Chinese waters… you may get a lot more than a stern talking-to if you venture into disputed areas. [Image credit: Top81 ] Filed under: Science Comments Via: Popular Science Source: IHS Jane’s 360

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China has a microwave pain weapon of its own

The world’s slimmest smartphone is now 4.75mm thick

How thin is too thin? Well, the Chinese smartphone makers are always pushing their limits on this end. Following Gionee’s 5.1mm Elife S5.1 and Oppo’s 4.85mm R5 , today Vivo has set a new record with its X5Max, a 4.75mm-thick Android phone that still manages to pack a number of notable features. The slim aluminum mid-frame houses a vibrant 5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen, a 1.7mm-thick logic board and a 5-megapixel f/2.4 front camera. Flip to the back and you’ll find a 13-megapixel f/2.0 main camera — the inevitable bulge that goes beyond the phone’s official thickness by almost 2mm — and a loudspeaker towards the bottom. On the whole, the phone feels surprisingly light (Vivo has yet to list the official weight) but also solid and well-made. It’s worth pointing out that unlike the Oppo R5, the X5Max has managed to keep its 3.5mm headphone jack instead of forcing a micro-USB adapter upon us. Another equally impressive feature is the dual-SIM tray (fits one Micro SIM and one Nano SIM) that also lets you use a microSD card (up to 128GB) in place of Nano SIM, but you might have already seen this on the likes of the Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro or the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 . The X5Max is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chip that’s both octa-core (quad 1.7GHz Cortex-A53 and quad 1GHz Cortex-A53) and 64-bit ready, though the latter part won’t be usable until the phone is updated from Android 4.4.4 to Lollipop. You also get 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage to boot, while the fixed 2, 000mAh battery should be sufficient for a full-day usage; though you’ll miss out on the Oppo R5’s awesome rapid charging technology. Like its sibling devices, the X5Max places heavy emphasis on its audio performance, which is why it packs some dedicated audio chips — Yamaha YSS-205X signal processor, Sabre ES9018K2M DAC, exclusive Sabre ES9601 headphone amplifier and OPA1612 amplifier — as part of its “Hi-Fi 2.0” package. Together, these apparently outperform the Xplay3S’ offering in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range and restoration. More importantly (for this author, at least), the Yamaha chip is actually for implementing a karaoke mode, in which you can sing along with songs and music videos while also hearing yourself — with added echo or reverb if desired — through headphones. It may be gimmicky for some, but apparently it’s also what the cool kids like to use these days. Alas, the X5Max is only launching in China to begin with: The China Mobile version will be available for CN¥2, 998 or about US$490 as of December 12th. As for those outside China who need a phone to quench their karaoke thirst, stay tuned for an FDD-LTE version later. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments Source: Vivo

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The world’s slimmest smartphone is now 4.75mm thick

Your old laptop’s battery will light homes in developing countries

Don’t be too quick to toss out the battery from that ancient laptop — it might just be the key to powering homes in developing countries, and helping the environment in the process. IBM researchers have revealed UrJar , a device that turns old lithium-ion battery packs into rechargeable energy sources for low-power devices like LED light bulbs, fans and cellphones. To create the gadget, the team extracts functioning lithium-ion cells from a trashed battery and combines them with both charging dongles and safety circuitry. It sounds simple, but it’s potentially very effective. According to IBM, roughly 70 percent of all discarded batteries can provide at least four hours of LED lighting every day for a year. That’s enough to offer extra safety to homes in areas with little to no reliable electricity, or to keep a street vendor in business after sunset. There’s still some necessary refinement left before UrJar is ready, but IBM is quick to stress that this isn’t a commercial product. Instead, it hopes to give devices away for free in countries whose “energy poverty” hurts the quality of life (and chances of a better future) for poorer residents. UrJar should also kill two birds with one stone by making good use of the ever-growing mountain of e-waste . Rather than send your old batteries directly to landfills, you could give them a second life that helps the less fortunate. That’s not as eco-friendly as truly clean power , but it might prevent technological garbage from getting out of control. [Image credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images] Filed under: Household , Peripherals Comments Via: MIT Technology Review , Popular Science Source: University of Toronto (PDF)

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Your old laptop’s battery will light homes in developing countries

Sony hack snowballs as movie scripts, celebrity phone numbers leaked

Sony Pictures is in full-blown damage-control mode and has called an all-hands meeting following another huge leak of sensitive, confidential info. The new trove of data released by the so-called GOP (Guardians of Peace) includes more private employee info, actor phone numbers and traveling aliases , legal claims against Sony Pictures, film budgets, scripts and more. As pointed out by the WSJ , it also includes private info of some 40, 000 Sony Pictures ex-employees like home addresses, previous salaries and social security numbers. Many of those folks are incensed with the Culver City-based company, which gave them no guidance on how to protect their identities or sign up for credit monitoring. Suffice to say, much of the information could be highly damaging to Sony’s reputation and bottom line. As pointed out by Fusion , the hackers have thrown many of its business practices into the open, which may make future negotiations with high profile actors, technicians and vendors difficult. Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton sent a memo to all employees saying that it had “recognized experts working on this matter” and that the FBI had taken control of the investigation. He also said that employees could meet one-on-one with their managers and called an all-hands meeting for this Friday. Much of the information could be highly damaging to Sony’s reputation and bottom line. Yesterday, Sony released info from the security firm Mandiant, which said the “unprecedented” attack would’ve been difficult to prevent. But many employees expressed disbelief that sensitive info like social securities numbers and salaries would be kept in unprotected folders by a security-conscious company. Some experts also doubt Sony’s claims that the attack was that sophisticated, saying that it should’ve noticed suspicious activity, even if the virus was “undetectable.” One researcher told Mashable that “to protect their image, they need this to be an unpreventable, incredibly sophisticated attack.” Meanwhile, the group allegedly responsible for the hack released another statement along with the leak. The GOP demanded that Sony “stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism” in reference to “The Interview, ” the upcoming Sony Pictures flick that mocks the North Korean government. That marks the first time the hackers have directly referenced the film, which was denounced by the rogue nation. However, another recently discovered email, sent several days ago, demanded monetary compensation instead. All that, along with another email that contained Korean grammatical errors, means investigators still have no idea if the attack came from North Korea or not. Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD Comments Via: Fusion Source: Gist (Github)

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Sony hack snowballs as movie scripts, celebrity phone numbers leaked

Brits double their broadband data usage, but speeds are still an issue

Broadband usage is soaring in the UK, but the companies piping it into our homes are still playing catch-up . That’s according to Ofcom , which looked into the state of connections across Britain. So how does it all break down? For a start, the average household now uses around 58GB each month (including downloads and uploads), almost double the 30GB of data Brits were moving last year. That increase may have been helped, in part, by an increase in connection speeds. According to the regulator, the UK’s average has increased from 18 Mbps to 23 Mbps over the last 12 months. However, that isn’t the case for everyone; many Brits are still struggling to get a decent connection in their home. In its report, the watchdog said the typical UK household now requires a 10 Mbps connection; anything lower and you’re “likely to be constrained.” However, Ofcom estimates that those speeds are currently unavailable to 15 percent of UK homes. So never mind whether or not you can afford (or want) a broadband package with a faster connection; if you’re living in one of the unsupported areas, you’re stuck with what you’ve got. Ofcom also looked at existing broadband connections across the UK, and how they stacked up to this proposed 10 Mbps threshold. Only a fifth of rural connections are faster, which then rises to 65 percent in semi-urban locations and 70 percent in UK cities. In fact, only 60 percent of broadband connections are faster than 10 Mbps. Given the varied nature of Britain’s communications networks, Ofcom wants to give homeowners some clarity by launching a new site that shows broadband speeds and 3G, 4G, Freeview and digital radio coverage anywhere in the UK. You can enter any street name or postcode, which could prove useful if you’re moving home or worried about a place’s potential connectivity. [Image credit: Dan Tentler, Flickr ] Filed under: Networking , Internet Comments Source: Ofcom Infrastructure Report , Ofcom Interactive Map

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Brits double their broadband data usage, but speeds are still an issue

Disney Research makes HDR videos work better on regular TVs

Disney Research has found a way to preserve the awesome quality of high-dynamic range or HDR videos when they’re shown on consumer-level TVs and displays. See, HDR videos can show shadows and light better than footage taken by conventional equipment can — in fact, the setting’s purpose is to record what we see rather than what the camera sees. Problem is, typical consumer TVs and screens these days aren’t capable of displaying them, unless they go through a process called tone mapping . Unfortunately, existing tonal mapping techniques downgrade HDR videos’ quality, so that most of their details get “lost in translation, ” so to speak, or introduce unwanted effects like flickering and ghosting or after-image. Disney’s new tonal mapping technique, however, prevents these things from happening. If you’d like to know the science behind the technique, make sure to pore over the team’s research paper for more info. Or, you know, you can just watch the video below for a demonstration of what the technology can do. Comments Source: Disney Research

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Disney Research makes HDR videos work better on regular TVs

AT&T throttles unlimited data plans at 5GB, no congestion required

It’s no secret that AT&T throttles its users unlimited data connections. The company has been rather open about the policy. However, the carrier insisted that the practice is used to reign in the biggest bandwidth consumers, only necessary to keep network congestion at a minimum. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Big Blue’s info page for “customers with legacy unlimited data plans” explains that when folks hit the 5GB threshold, they’re gonna experience reduced speeds until the billing cycle is up. The reduction to compensate for congestion bit only applies to phones with unlimited data between the 3GB and 5GB mark. Of course, the FCC claims AT&T hasn’t been clear about such practices, including just how slow the connection can get, despite the carrier claiming throttled customers get a text message when speeds are cut. In fact, an Ars Technica report found those figures to dip to half a megabit per second. At any rate, if you’re a big data user, you can expect slower speeds above 5GB, even when the network’s traffic is manageable. [Photo credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images] Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile , AT&T Comments Via: Ars Technica Source: AT&T

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AT&T throttles unlimited data plans at 5GB, no congestion required