Innholdsfortegnelse for #380 i Techlife News

Tesla is cutting $1,100 from the base price of its car designed for the mass market, the Model 3. The electric car company now says on its website that the car starts at $42,900, still a ways from its goal of lowering the base price to $35,000. Tesla cut 7 percent of its workforce last month to trim costs and reduce the price of the car. CEO Elon Musk says the Model 3 must be competitive with gasoline-fueled cars for the company to succeed. For $42,900 buyers will get a rear-wheel-drive Model 3 in black with Tesla’s lower-range battery that goes 264 miles per charge. The price doesn’t include federal and state tax credits. The federal credit is now $3,750, but that expires at the end of the year.…

Ohio’s capital city is preparing to roll out a new gunshot-detection system to alert officers to gunfire. Columbus city officials stressed during a demonstration this week that the web-based technology won’t replace the need for residents who hear gunshots to call 911. The Columbus Dispatch reports the California-based company running the ShotSpotter system will record gunshots and alert officers to where they originated. Officers will get an alert on their cruiser computer terminals within a minute of shots being fired. Specialists monitoring the system in California will use technology to confirm the sound is gunfire before alerting police. Columbus Police Deputy Chief Richard Bash says the system will always be recording, but the city will only receive recordings of gunshots. Similar systems are in operation in more than 80 U.S.…

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology says it condemns Saudi Arabia for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and for other “brutal human rights violations,” but the school’s president said Wednesday he has no plans to cut ties with the kingdom. Since Khashoggi’s killing last October, the school has faced sharp criticism over its close relationship with Saudi Arabia, including research deals with the kingdom’s national oil company, its national science laboratory and a chemical producer owned by the government. Last year, those deals brought $7.2 million to MIT. Some students, faculty and alumni have urged the institution to break all ties with the kingdom, saying any continued link amounts to a tacit endorsement of the Saudi regime. But in a letter to the campus Wednesday, MIT President Rafael Reif rejected…

At the heart of Apple’s shocking FaceTime bug, which allowed just about anyone to turn an iPhone into a live microphone, stands a 14-year-old boy who stumbled upon the eavesdropping flaw more than a week before Apple took action. “The thing that surprised me the most was that this glitch happened in the first place,” said Grant Thompson, a high school freshman in Tucson, Arizona. “I’m only 14 and I found it by accident, instead of the people at Apple that get paid to find glitches.” Not only that, but Grant and his mom said they spent a week unsuccessfully trying to get Apple to do something about the bug in its FaceTime group-chatting feature. The bug allowed callers to activate another person’s microphone remotely even before the person has…

In the world of autonomous vehicles, Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley are bustling hubs of development and testing. But ask those involved in self-driving vehicles when we might actually see them carrying passengers in every city, and you’ll get an almost universal answer: Not anytime soon. An optimistic assessment is 10 years. Many others say decades as researchers try to conquer a number of obstacles. The vehicles themselves will debut in limited, well-mapped areas within cities and spread outward. The fatal crash in Arizona involving an Uber autonomous vehicle in March slowed progress, largely because it hurt the public’s perception of the safety of vehicles. Companies slowed research to be more careful. Google’s Waymo, for instance, decided not to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area and will…

The elevator pitch for Steven Knight’s “Serenity” would be: ”‘Key Largo’ meets ‘Westworld.’” And it’s every bit as ridiculous as that sounds. Seven decades after Humphrey Bogart indelibly steered a boat through stormy Atlantic seas, Matthew McConaughey has found his own tropical noir. But “Serenity,” one very leaky vessel indeed, has a strange, heightened atmosphere that goes well beyond the usual thickened air of film noir. McConaughey’s Baker Dill is a fishing boat captain who, like Bogart was in “Key Largo,” is a veteran. He lives the life of an ornery and heavy-drinking bachelor on Plymouth Island, a small spit of unknown whereabouts (the film was shot in Mauritius) where there’s a single bar, the Rope, and everyone knows who’s sleeping with whom. (In Dill’s case, it’s Constance, played by…

Apple’s top retailing executive is stepping down amid a slowdown in iPhone sales that has raised doubts about the company’s future growth prospects. The shake-up announced this week ends Angela Ahrendts’ five-year stint overseeing Apple’s 506 retail stores and e-commerce operations. She is being replaced by Deirdre O’Brien, a longtime Apple executive who also runs the company’s human-resources department. Ahrendts will remain with Apple until April. During her 30 years at Apple, O’Brien also helped gauge product demand. That issue has become a problem now that customers are holding onto their current iPhones longer instead of buying the latest models. It’s one reason Apple posted disappointing iPhone sales during the past holiday shopping season. Although Apple sells iPhones and other products such as the iPad and Mac computer through a…

Forget dreaming of electric sheep. Robots first need to figure out how to imagine themselves. One New York robot has done just that. It’s learned that it’s a robotic arm using a process of self-simulation. Columbia University engineers have given the robot the ability to model itself without prior knowledge of physics or its own shape. The robot starts out moving randomly, but over time learns enough about itself to be able to perform tasks and even detect if it’s been damaged. Columbia mechanical engineering professor Hod Lipson says “self-awareness is the Holy Grail” of autonomy. He says there are ethical risks in gifting robots with self-awareness but also many benefits, including adaptability and resilience. The research was published last week in Science Robotics.…

Women’s World Cup referees are undergoing training with VARs in matches over the next two weeks, The Associated Press has learned, paving the way for the FIFA council to approve the use of video reviews at the tournament in France. FIFA has faced criticism for not committing to using video assistant referees at the June 7-July 7 Women’s World Cup just as they were for the men’s tournament for the first time in Russia last year. Amid growing demands for clarity on the deployment of VAR, United States women’s team coach Jill Ellis said it would be “insulting” if female players didn’t have an equal right to have decisions reviewed by video at their biggest tournament. England counterpart Phil Neville has also criticized the standard of refereeing in the women’s…

A top German official floated the possibility of the government temporarily taking stakes in technology companies to head off foreign takeovers as he proposed a “national industry strategy.” In a proposal aimed at keeping Germany competitive in a fast-changing business world, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier also backed the idea of “national and European champions.” Altmaier has long been a close ally of center-right Chancellor Angela Merkel. Altmaier said his proposal is meant to kick-start a discussion in Germany and then in Europe on an industrial strategy to handle tough global competition, particularly from China, other Asian countries and the U.S. German officials and experts worry that the country, Europe’s biggest economy, risks falling behind the pace in the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and electric mobility. The…

Two tiny satellites have fallen silent hundreds of millions of miles away, after proving new technology at Mars. The twin CubeSats, nicknamed WALL-E and EVE, shadowed NASA’s InSight lander to Mars last year. As the lander descended to the Martian surface in November, the briefcase-size satellites flew past the red planet, providing real-time updates to ground controllers in this first-of-its-kind experiment. This week, NASA said it hasn’t heard from them for more than a month now — and doubts it ever will. WALL-E, which had been leaking fuel since liftoff last May, last radioed back on Dec. 29. It’s now more than 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) beyond Mars. EVE went mum on Jan. 4; it’s nearly 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) past the red planet. These were…

Michael Chapman, “True North” (Paradise of Bachelors) If John Bonham called his drumsticks “trees,” Michael Chapman must have cables on his acoustic guitar instead of strings. Like Bonham’s booming but graceful play, Chapman’s tones are thick and elegant and provide his songs with a ringing, rich emotional heft. “True North” is the Englishman’s second album in a row admirably produced by Steve Gunn and, similarly to “50,” its 2017 predecessor, offers a few new tracks, fresh takes on several older ones and a pair of instrumentals shining the spotlight on his sizable guitar skills. Including such gems as “Fully Qualified Survivor” and “Savage Amusement,” Chapman’s discography is extensive, including fascinating instrumental albums, and he’s revisited his own songs before, but the re-workings here should satisfy even the most fanatical connoisseurs…

German authorities ruled Thursday that Facebook should not be allowed to use customer data from other apps and websites to help target advertisements shown on their Facebook pages without their explicit consent, saying it was exploiting its dominant position in social media. The Federal Cartel Office, or Bundeskartellamt, said Facebook was guilty of “exploitative abuse” by forcing users to agree to allow it to collect data from other Facebook-owned services like WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as third-party websites through the “Like” or “Share” features. “On the one hand there is a service provided to users free of charge,” Cartel Office president Andreas Mundt said. “On the other hand, the attractiveness and value of the advertising spaces increase with the amount and detail of user data. It is therefore precisely…

There has been big news on the battle for privacy and data recently, as Apple took action against some of the other biggest names in the business. Well, it was big news if this transpires to be a watershed moment in the fight. If, instead, this turns out to be a mere ‘good news’ publicity stunt that has no impact whatsoever on future practices, then very little of long-term consequence will have occurred. However, the outlook does look promising. SANCTIONS FOR BOTH GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK Within the space of two days, Apple recently clamped down on both Google and Facebook for violating the terms of their developer agreements . Google had distributed the Screenwise Meter app, which dished out gift cards to users in exchange for Google being able to…

With Apple set to launch an entertainment subscription service in April, we explore the Netflix challenger, Apple’s rumored magazine subscription service, and its ever-changing strategy. Then, we look at whether these offerings will take Apple to new heights and increase its dominance and market value, and consider the future for the world’s greatest tech firm… ALL-IN-ONE ENTERTAINMENT Whether you’re a self-confessed Apple fanboy or you’re more inclined to Android, it is hard to deny Apple’s influence on technology over the past decade. The Cupertino company has changed the way we communicate with loved ones, play games, spend money, and more through iPhone and iPad, whilst Apple Watch has made us fitter and more connected than ever before. One area that Apple was slow to enter into, however, is entertainment… Indeed,…

The sky above the stadium that will host Sunday’s Super Bowl is being “inundated” with an alarming number of drones, raising the specter of injuries to tourists or others — or a possible collision with aircraft, the FBI said. That’s despite an ongoing restriction that bans the use of drones in the area of Mercedes-Benz Stadium downtown. Officers confiscated a half-dozen drones that were flown near the stadium, FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said at the agency’s Atlanta field office. The cases will be referred to federal prosecutors for possible charges; the drone pilots could face jail time and fines, Rowson said. “If these drones go out of control — if a pilot loses control of one — they can go into a crowd and cause serious injuries,” Rowson said. The…

It seems Facebook can be friends with a topless Venus after all. The social media giant said it mistakenly blocked a museum in Switzerland from using images of two statues — a marble Venus and a bronze of a nude, kneeling man — to promote an upcoming exhibit. The Museum of Art and History in Geneva had protested Facebook’s citing of nudity concerns to keep the images off. The two statues are part of the exhibit. Facebook said in an email to Media: “The ad was inadvertently rejected and is now available again on Facebook. We apologize for the mistake.” The museum says it has been preparing another promotional piece for its “Caesar and the Rhone” exhibit, which focuses on Caesar’s conquests in the first century B.C.…

Federal safety officials say they want a crackdown on impaired and distracted drivers, wider use of collision-avoidance technology in cars, and tougher regulations for operators of air tours and medical flights. The National Transportation Safety Board laid out a wish list to improve safety on roads, trains and in the sky. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the list was driven by data from accidents that the board investigates. “It is written in blood,” he said. The safety board investigates accidents and suggests ways to prevent similar crashes. The agency planned to unveil its top issues last month but was delayed by the government shutdown caused by a standoff over President Donald Trump’s demand for border-wall funding. Sumwalt said the 35-day shutdown delayed the start of 97 crash investigations. In some cases,…

One-third of Himalayan glaciers will melt by the end of the century due to climate change, threatening water sources for 1.9 billion people, even if current efforts to reduce climate change succeed, an assessment warns. If global efforts to curb climate change fail, the impact could be far worse: a loss of two-thirds of the region’s glaciers by 2100, said the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment released this week by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. “Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks of the Hindu Kush Himalayas cutting across eight countries to bare rocks in a little less than a century,” said Philippus Wester of the center, who led the report. The five-year study looked at the effects of climate change on a region…

Twitter is reporting that revenue and profit and its daily user base all grew in the final three months of 2018. But its monthly user count slipped and guidance for the current quarter was below some expectations and shares fell in premarket trading. The San Francisco company disclosed its daily user base count for the first time, putting the figure at 126 million, up 9 percent from a year earlier. These are users who see ads on the platform and log in at least once a day. Twitter on Thursday posted earnings of $255 million, or 33 cents per share, in the October-December quarter. That is up from $91 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 24 percent to $909 million. Analysts polled by FactSet were…

Apple has released an iPhone update to fix a FaceTime flaw that allowed people to eavesdrop on others while using its group video chat feature. The repair is included in the latest version of Apple’s iOS 12 system, which became available to install Thursday. The bug allowed some people to turn an iPhone into a live microphone while using Group FaceTime. Apple turned off the group chat feature last week, several days after a 14-year-old boy in Tucson, Arizona, discovered the flaw. He and his mom tried to contact Apple for several days before the company responded. The delay in responding to the flaw raised questions about Apple’s handling of it. Apple credited the Tucson teenager, Grant Thompson, for discovering the FaceTime bug.…

The Trump administration’s case against Beijing is blunt: The Chinese have gone on a commercial crime spree, pilfering trade secrets from seed corn to electronic brains behind wind turbines. China has stripped the arm off a T-Mobile robot, the U.S. says, and looted trade secrets about robotic cars from Apple. The alleged victims of that crime spree are individual American companies, whose cases lie behind the Trump administration’s core complaint in the high-level U.S.-China trade talks going on in Washington: That Beijing systematically steals American and other foreign intellectual property in a bid to become the world’s technology superstar. Yet the odds of a resolution to the trade dispute last week — or anytime — appear dim, in part because China’s drive for technology supremacy is increasingly part of its…

Tesla is buying the battery company Maxwell Technologies Inc. about $218 million in stock. The deal gives Tesla a boost in battery technology as it tries to cut costs and mass produce electric cars. Those improvements involve improving battery capacity and cutting down on recharging time. David Lyle, the chief financial officer at Maxwell Technologies Inc. told analysts last month that because of recent technological developments, the San Diego company expected to form new partnerships within six months. Tesla Inc. expects to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles this year, a growth rate of 45 percent to 65 percent compared with 2018. The company recently announced a 7 percent cut to its workforce.…

Joanna Geary started off as a journalist in the U.K. and now lives in New York, where she is currently Twitter’s director of curation. In that role, she’s in charge of showing users everything from the day’s biggest news events to quirky trends. Geary, 38, spoke with Media recently about managing people in different time zones and managing a work-life balance. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. Q: What does your day-to-day work look like? A: I have direct reports in London, in Toronto, in New York, in San Francisco, in Tokyo and in Sydney (and indirect reports) in Mexico and Brazil. When you’re working away from people, it’s really important to have structured time to see people. So that means that my days get quite…

Music streaming service Spotify is buying podcast companies Gimlet and Anchor as it looks to take on Apple’s popular iTunes’ podcasting platform. The acquisitions are an aggressive move by Spotify to expand into the small but burgeoning podcast industry. Gimlet Media has a podcast studio with dedicated intellectual-property development, production and advertising capabilities. Gimlet is known for producing the podcast “Homecoming,” a fictional thriller, which was made into an Amazon series starring Julia Roberts. Anchor has a platform of tools for podcast creators as well as an established and rapidly growing creator base. Nick Quah of Hot Pod, a newsletter that covers the podcast industry, said in an email to subscribers that the deals help Spotify branch out from music and differentiate its product. Quah also anticipates Spotify may try…

Facebook says it has removed 783 Iran-linked pages, accounts and groups from its service for what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” That’s the social network’s term for fake accounts run with the intent of disrupting politics and elections. Facebook has been disclosing such purges more regularly in recent months, including ones linked to groups in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Russia. Twitter also said that it found “found limited operations” that have that may have been connected to sources in Iran, Venezuela, and Russia. It did not give further details and said it suspended the suspicious accounts before the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. The accounts on Facebook and Instagram typically misrepresented themselves as locals in more than two dozen countries ranging from Afghanistan, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Facebook said…

The founder of Craigslist says he will donate $15 million to Columbia University and the Poynter Institute for separate efforts promoting ethics in journalism. The announcement on Wednesday establishes Craig Newmark in the forefront of philanthropists focused on journalism, a cause he’s supported with some $85 million in the past few years. Some in the industry see irony in that, since the online classified advertising site that made him rich took away a lucrative revenue source for many newspapers. Columbia, with one of the leading graduate journalism programs in the country, will get $10 million to establish the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security. The Florida-based Poynter think tank will get $5 million, its largest single donation ever, to offer additional journalism ethics training. Newmark said he’s been…

The European Union says major social media firms have stepped up their efforts to remove hate speech online. EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said that the 2016 code of conduct “works well,” with companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter reacting within 24 hours in an average 89 percent of the cases pointed out to them. The companies remove the content, on average, in 72 percent of the cases. Jourova said she would never require that all flagged content be removed since the fundamental right of freedom of expression needs to be respected too. EU statistics show that YouTube removed 85.4 percent of the contested content, Facebook 82.4 percent and Twitter 43.5 percent. Jourova said that, together with the companies, “we found the right approach.” Despite the progress on hate speech,…