usa – Page 30 – Ken May

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

Instagram celebrates 300 million users, which is more than Twitter

There’s apparently over 300 million people on Instagram – and they’re really sharing those photos: to the tune of 70 million stills and videos every day. The user count puts it above Twitter , although it’s still far behind the number using Facebook — which, well, owns Instagram. In the last year, it’s added a People tab to coerce users into following more people showcase notable accounts, while Instagram’s spin-off video app, the addictive Hyperlapse , also launched in August — giving a better reason to post videos. While it might have reached a new user milestone, Instagram’s now attempting to hack away at that number: you might have noticed a little notification inside the app saying that the team was purging spam accounts – warning, your follower count may drop. Meanwhile, celebrities, brands and other well-monied types are being granted with verified badges starting today. Apparently, Mat Smith The Brand still needs some word. Comments Source: Instagram

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Instagram celebrates 300 million users, which is more than Twitter

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

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

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

NASA: Mars’ Gale Crater held a huge lake for millions of years

Humans have been speculating about water on Mars for hundreds of years, and now thanks to the Curiosity rover we’re getting a better sense of how wet the Red Planet used to be. NASA revealed today that the Gale Crater, the 96-mile wide patch of land Curiosity has been exploring since 2012, held a large lake bed for tens of millions of years. What’s more, the agency found that the three-mile high Mount Sharp, which sits in the middle of the crater, was likely formed by sediment deposits from the lake. The big takeaway? Mars was likely warm enough to house liquid water for long periods of time — perhaps even long enough for life to form. “If our hypothesis for Mount Sharp holds up, it challenges the notion that warm and wet conditions were transient, local, or only underground on Mars, ” said Ashwin Vasvada, NASA’s Curiosity deputy project scientist. The only problem now is that we still don’t know how the Martian atmosphere supported such a wet environment. Curiosity previously found evidence of “vigorous” waterflow , which fueled long-held speculation about water’s presence on Mars. NASA is now focusing the rover’s efforts on on the lowest layers of Mount Sharp, which could give us a better sense of how it was formed. The findings will also help NASA when planning for future missions to seek out evidence of life on Mars, and potentially even affect how the agency approaches manned missions in the 2030s. [Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS] Filed under: Science Comments Source: NASA

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NASA: Mars’ Gale Crater held a huge lake for millions of years

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

Hacked hearing aids produce stellar ambient tunes from WiFi signals

What if we could hear the numerous invisible data frequencies that swirl around us every day? That’s exactly what a project from hearing-impaired writer Frank Swain and artist Daniel Jones aims to do. Phantom Terrains is the proper name of the effort, and by hacking Swain’s Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids , the duo has transformed WiFi signals into ambient sounds . So instead of seeing the device as a prosthetic, it’s used as a sort of super power. The modification allows him to stroll around and listen to the range of tones electromagnetic signals provide — like the pattern of a network’s security parameters. And of course, no one else nearby can pick them up. “The project challenges the notion of assistive hearing technology as a prosthetic, re-imagining it as an enhancement that can surpass the ability of normal human hearing, ” the pair’s website explains. “By using an audio interface to communicate data feeds rather than a visual one, Phantom Terrains explores hearing as a platform for augmented reality that can immerse us in continuous, dynamic streams of data.” With plenty of invisible signals floating around, there’s no end to the amount of data that’s ripe for this sort of transformation. And thanks to designer Stefanie Posavec, detailed maps of signal data along the way make for quite the interesting visual compliment. Filed under: Misc , Alt Comments Via: Wired Source: Phantom Terrains

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Hacked hearing aids produce stellar ambient tunes from WiFi signals