What if you could have a monitor that weighed less than two pounds, only required a single cable for both power and display, offered 1080p on a 15-inch IPS screen, and was designed for portability? It would be possible to easily have a secondary display with you anywhere whether it be outdoors, on the beach, in the conference room, or practically anywhere. ASUS has managed such a device with the MB16AC ZenScreen.
Source: Phoronix – ASUS ZenScreen MB16AC USB-C Portable Monitor
Monthly Archives: June 2017
Tech Firms Want to Know Your Emotions
Tech companies wanted to detect your emotions and relaying those back to said company is nothing new, remember when Google Glassholes were getting scraped, or Facebook was advertising based on emotion? Well, we are not close to that being over, and folks don’t seem to like it very much. Whodathunkit?
As revealed in a patent filing, Facebook is interested in using webcams and smartphone cameras to read our emotions, and track expressions and reactions. The idea is that by understanding emotional behaviour, Facebook can show us more of what we react positively to in our Facebook news feeds and less of what we do not – whether that’s friends’ holiday photos, or advertisements.
Facebook is not the only company in this mix as Apple, Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon are looking to know what you are feeling as well. I wonder if they can tell when you are pissed?
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Tech Firms Want to Know Your Emotions
7 US Tech Companies Pile on Google
Some very prominent tech companies have sent a letter to Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner of Competition, which we are learning about on the heels of the $2.7B fine announced yesterday. It seems that these companies want regulatory action against Google and are not afraid to ask for it.
Google ( or, to be more accurate, Alphabet ) is so huge at this point – and has its hands in so many different industries – that it is fighting a war on a seemingly infinite number of fronts. That inevitably wins the company many enemies, and while their voice is unified in the letter sent to the European Commission, each of them have their own motives for supporting regulatory action against Google and its parent company.
The list of companies that include Disconnect, Inc., Getty Images, Inc., News Corporation, News Media Alliance, Oracle Corporation, Trip.com, and Yelp Inc. have some fairly solid beefs against the Alphabet giant.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – 7 US Tech Companies Pile on Google
Google Photos' AI-powered sharing is now available
Google is making good on its promise of AI-assisted photo sharing. A Google Photos upgrade arriving this week uses machine learning to suggest pictures based on both your own sharing habits, the people in the photos, and whether or not they’re part o…
Source: Engadget – Google Photos’ AI-powered sharing is now available
Seattle's $15 Minimum Wage May Be Hurting Workers, Report Finds
As companies look for ways to cut costs, Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law may be hurting hourly workers instead of helping them, according to a new report. From a USA Today article: A report (PDF) from the University of Washington (UW), found that when wages increased to $13 in 2016, some companies may have responded by cutting low-wage workers’ hours. The study, which was funded in part by the city of Seattle, found that workers clocked 9 percent fewer hours on average, and earned $125 less each month after the most recent increase. “If you’re a low-skilled worker with one of those jobs, $125 a month is a sizable amount of money,” Mark Long, a UW public-policy professor and an author of the report told the Seattle Times. “It can be the difference between being able to pay your rent and not being able to pay your rent.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Seattle’s Minimum Wage May Be Hurting Workers, Report Finds
Vulkan 1.0.53 Released With New Extensions
As expected given NVIDIA’s Vulkan beta driver update earlier today, Vulkan 1.0.53 is now available…
Source: Phoronix – Vulkan 1.0.53 Released With New Extensions
Our furry friends are getting fat just like us; 1 in 3 are overweight
Enlarge / Who’s a good little fatty? (credit: Getty | phatthanit_r)
Our loyal companions are packing on the pounds in step with us, a new study finds.
Surveying about 2.5 million dogs and 500,000 cats in the US during 2016, a group of researchers found that about one in three were overweight or obese. Looking over data from the last decade, the researchers say the new figures reveal a 169-percent increase in hefty felines and a 158-percent increase in chunky canines.
All the data is from researchers at Banfield, which runs a chain of veterinary hospitals across 42 states. The researchers surveyed animals that checked into one of Banfield’s 975 locations, putting them through a five-point physical and visual exam. Animals were considered overweight if their ribs were not clearly visible or easily felt and if their waists were also hard to see. Pets were dubbed obese if their ribs couldn’t be felt at all and they had no visible waist.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Our furry friends are getting fat just like us; 1 in 3 are overweight
Don't Speak Unless It's Something Worth Saying
Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and how you can use its waters to reflect on and improve your life.
Source: LifeHacker – Don’t Speak Unless It’s Something Worth Saying
Introducing Dear Jane, Jezebel's General Advice Column
So, what’s your problem? You don’t have any? OK, what’s your lover’s problem? Oh, crap, they just dumped you. Bummer. Uhh, how about your mom? What’s your mom’s problem? She’s dead!? I’m so sorry. Any problems with your boss? You’re unemployed. Hm.
Source: LifeHacker – Introducing Dear Jane, Jezebel’s General Advice Column
The Era of Chaos-Inducing Ransomware Is Here and It's Scary as Hell
The ‘90s cyberpunk thriller Hackers is used too often to illustrate the fearful future of cyber security, but it’s popular for a reason. The film’s seemingly fictional scenarios keep coming true. Take this week’s global ransomware attack, for instance. It’s a plot twist that would make Matthew Lillard leer at the…
Source: Gizmodo – The Era of Chaos-Inducing Ransomware Is Here and It’s Scary as Hell
Canada says court order to pull Google results applies worldwide
In 2012, Canadian manufacturer Equustek asked Google to remove search results relating to a court case against Datalink, a distributor of the former company’s network devices. While Google complied with the request, it only did so in Canada itself. T…
Source: Engadget – Canada says court order to pull Google results applies worldwide
Man posts Facebook footage of him toppling Ten Commandments monument
This is one way to break the Ten Commandments.
An Arkansas man was arrested early Wednesday after police said he rammed his vehicle into a newly installed stone monument of the Ten Commandments at the Arkansas Capitol grounds. The man also streamed the toppling of the one-day-old structure live on Facebook.
Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Man posts Facebook footage of him toppling Ten Commandments monument
Is Zillow's Claim Against the Blog McMansion Hell Legit, or an Embarrassment?
Real estate aggregator Zillow—where you may have searched for an apartment or snooped for how much an acquaintance paid for their house—has gotten some bad press after sending a toughly worded cease-and-desist letter to the creator of the viral blog McMansion Hell.
Source: Gizmodo – Is Zillow’s Claim Against the Blog McMansion Hell Legit, or an Embarrassment?
Eerily Accurate Facial Reconstructions Are Allowing the Dead to Speak
Researchers at Liverpool John Moore’s University have reconstructed the face of a man who lived in Dublin some 500 years ago. Incredibly accurate reconstructions like this are providing archaeologists with new way of studying the past—while also allowing them to visualize some of the most forgotten figures in history.
Source: Gizmodo – Eerily Accurate Facial Reconstructions Are Allowing the Dead to Speak
It Turns Out Selling Ugly $50,000 Smartphones Is Actually a Bad Business Model
Despite selling $50,000 Android cellphones to rich and famous stars like Quincy Jones and Seal, the England-based company Vertu appears to be struggling with paying its bills and employees. What a shocking development.
Source: Gizmodo – It Turns Out Selling Ugly ,000 Smartphones Is Actually a Bad Business Model
DNC hires ex-Uber engineer as its chief technology officer
The Democratic National Committee has selected ex-Twitter VP Raffi Krikorian as its chief technology officer. Krikorian was until recently the senior director of engineering at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center, but left the company in February.
Source: Engadget – DNC hires ex-Uber engineer as its chief technology officer
Artistic AI paints portraits of people who aren't really there
Mike Tyka paints the portraits of people who don’t exist. The subjects of his ephemeral artwork are not born from any brush. Rather, they are sculpted — roughly — from the digital imagination of his computer’s neural network.
Source: Engadget – Artistic AI paints portraits of people who aren’t really there
Google must alter worldwide search results, per orders from Canada’s top court
Enlarge / An employee walks in a hallway at Google Canada’s engineering headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. (credit: Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A small Canadian firm has acquired an injunction against Google from the Supreme Court of Canada that is being called the first global de-indexing order.
Equustek, a Vancouver-based maker of networking devices, sued a former distributor called Datalink Technologies. Equustek accused Datalink of illegally re-labeling products and stealing Equustek intellectual property to make its own products.
Datalink initially denied the allegations but then left the province. It continues to do business, selling products worldwide from an unknown location, according to Canadian courts.
Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Google must alter worldwide search results, per orders from Canada’s top court
Itsy Bitsy Spider Shoots Webs Into The Wind That Can Travel Up To 82 Feet, Cross Rivers
This is a video narrated by David Attenborough (heck yeah!) detailing the silk-producing capabilities of the Darwin’s Bark spider, a teensy thumbnail sized spider that, with the help of the wind, can shoot waves of silk up to 82 feet to cross rivers, search for new territory, and create massive web traps. Clearly this itsy bitsy spider *putting on cool guy shades* has no trouble climbing up the water spout and staying there. *taking off cool guy shades* God, those things give me a headache. “That’s because they’re prescription.” I just took them from the lost and found so they wouldn’t feel lost anymore *watches out window as coworker backs into another car in parking lot* but I think I know whose they are.
Keep going for the video, which has more than enough close-up spider butt shots.
Source: Geekologie – Itsy Bitsy Spider Shoots Webs Into The Wind That Can Travel Up To 82 Feet, Cross Rivers
How to Get Through Airport Security With Breast Milk
It’s perfectly legal to pass through airport security with breast milk, even without a baby in tow, but the rules don’t always hold up in real life when you’re just a parent standing in front of a TSA agent, asking him to let you get on a plane with your ice-cold packs of human sustenance.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Get Through Airport Security With Breast Milk