[Thread] Trackpad support for iPads is not Apple's capitulation, it is a part of a convergent evolution of PC hardware and software from its earliest days — Apple unveils new iPad Pro with breakthrough LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support in iPadOS https://www.apple.com/... // The “convergence” everyone has been waiting for? A “2 in 1” or a tablet or a toaster-refrigerator? Did Apple capitulate? Some context on evolution of devices... 1/ https://twitter.com/...
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
[Thread] Trackpad support for iPads is not Apple's capitulation, it is a part of a convergent evolution of PC hardware and software from its earliest days (Steven Sinofsky/@stevesi)
Zuckerberg: Facebook is using full-time staff for moderation amid COVID-19 crisis because it can't provide mental health support to contractors working remotely (Casey Newton/The Interface)
Zuckerberg: Facebook is using full-time staff for moderation amid COVID-19 crisis because it can't provide mental health support to contractors working remotely — The COVID-19 pandemic is now surging around the world, and each hour brings more developments than a full day seemed to bring just a few weeks ago.
Nokia 8.2, 5.3, 1.3 Expected to Launch Today: How to Watch Live Stream
The event was slated to be held in London, but HMD Global cancelled it and converted it into an online-only event, due to the coronavirus pandemic. https://ift.tt/2WpsqZ9
Twitter broadly bans any COVID-19 tweets that could help the virus spread
You don’t have to go far to find someone online downplaying the severity of a global pandemic that’s shut down entire economies and ground everyday life to a halt. Knowing that, Twitter will take extra steps to remove tweets that put people at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus as it rapidly sweeps through communities around the globe.
On Wednesday, Twitter updated its safety policy to prohibit tweets that “could place people at a higher risk of transmitting COVID-19.” The new policy bans tweets denying expert guidance on the virus, encouraging “fake or ineffective treatments, preventions and diagnostic techniques” as well as tweets that mislead users by pretending to be from health authorities or experts.
In its blog post, Twitter says that it will “require people to remove Tweets” in these cases and we’ve asked the company for more clarification on what that looks like.
Given the new guidelines Twitter has outlined, the platform is going to have its work cut out for it. Under the ruleset, a tweet that claims “social distancing is not effective” would be subject to removal. Twitter will also require users to delete tweets telling followers to do ineffective or dangerous things like drinking bleach, even if the tweet is “made in jest” because that content can prove harmful when taken out of context.
Twitter has also banned tweets that make calls to action encouraging other users to behave in a way counter to what health authorities recommend, with the example tweet of “coronavirus is a fraud and not real – go out and patronize your local bar!!” Some political figures have faced criticism for similar statements in recent days, including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) who encouraged Fox Business viewers “to just go out… go to your local pub.”
The rules will also ban tweets in which people play armchair doctor and make claims like “if you have a wet cough, it’s not coronavirus – but a dry cough is.” Users will also not be allowed to make coronavirus claims that single out groups of people based on race or nationality, like discouraging followers to eat at Chinese restaurants. Other race-based claims like John McAfee’s tweet that “Coronavirus cannot attack black people” won’t fly either.
Twitter’s new set of coronavirus-related misinformation rules is as thorough as it will be difficult to enforce. Many, many tweets would appear to fall under the deepened policy designed to prevent health misinformation from spreading on the social network.
To meet the unique challenge posed by the pandemic, Twitter said it has put a “content severity triage system” in place so that the most potentially damaging tweets can be identified and removed, with less emphasis on users flagging the tweets themselves. The company previously announced that it would be relying more heavily on automation and machine learning to act on content that violates platform rules, which Twitter admits may lead to mistakes in some cases.
In an effort to rise to the gravity of the situation, Twitter’s policies lay out an aggressive and fluid approach that we don’t always see from social networks. We’ll be following along to see how the platform experiment goes in the coming days and if Twitter can help stem the flow of potentially lethal misinformation as the world wakes up to the global threat of COVID-19.
FreshDirect says worker who tested positive for COVID-19 not involved in food prep or delivery
Popular online grocer FreshDirect sent an email today notifying consumers that a warehouse worker has tested positive for COVID-19. CEO David McInerney stressed that the worker had not been present in the facility since reporting feeling unwell. Nor were they involved in either the food preparation or delivery aspects of FreshDirect’s service.
The news is unsurprising, as the pandemic spreads across the U.S. As of tonight, more than 8,000 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, across all States and D.C. As residents increasingly adhere to stay in place orders, food deliver is becoming an even more essential aspect of daily life.
Last week the company noted on its site that the system was being slammed by consumer demand, writing. “due to high demand, delivery time slots are filling up faster than usual so please plan ahead.”
In his letter, McInerney explains that FreshDirect had a course of action in place for just such an event. “This occurrence triggered the implementation of our COVID-19 response protocol, as well as a deep cleaning of the impacted area, its equipment, and all other appropriate business areas,” the executive writes. “The employee is currently self-isolating and has reported that they are doing fine.”
This is no doubt not the last of these sorts of stories we’ll hear about impacted services. Most stay in place orders continue exceptions for essential services including groceries, meaning they’ll likely continue operations even as many other businesses go on hiatus. Companies are encouraging sick employees to stay away over concern for their health and that of their customers. However, a lack of access to testing, paired with a lack of safety net for many in the gig economy can disincentivize the drive to keep away.
The company confirmed the statement in an email to TechCrunch.
Brace yourself for slower data speeds
Experts and analysts say existing telecoms infrastructure belonging to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio Infocomm may be ill-equipped to handle any sudden countrywide upsurge in home internet consumption, given the continuing spectrum crunch, low fiberisation levels and poor wired broadband penetration. https://ift.tt/2UhQbzN https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Charter Communications is disallowing its 15,000 office-based employees to work from home despite at least one employee testing positive for COVID-19 (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)
Charter Communications is disallowing its 15,000 office-based employees to work from home despite at least one employee testing positive for COVID-19 — Staff at telecommunications giant Charter Communications are still having to work from corporate offices — against the advice …
Vodafone says data usage on its UK networks has increased by 30%, and by as much as 50% in some European markets (Mark Sweney/The Guardian)
Vodafone says data usage on its UK networks has increased by 30%, and by as much as 50% in some European markets — Coronavirus places greater demand on network in Europe as families stay indoors — Vodafone's internet usage has surged by up to 50% in some European countries as consumers shift …
NYSE will temporarily close its trading floor and move to all-electronic trading starting March 23, after two people tested positive for COVID-19 (Yun Li/CNBC)
NYSE will temporarily close its trading floor and move to all-electronic trading starting March 23, after two people tested positive for COVID-19 — - The New York Stock Exchange said starting March 23, it will temporarily close its historic trading floor and move fully to electronic trading.
Apple says it will update its iWork suite of apps to add trackpad and mouse support and bring iCloud folder sharing to iPadOS 13.4 (William Gallagher/AppleInsider)
Apple says it will update its iWork suite of apps to add trackpad and mouse support and bring iCloud folder sharing to iPadOS 13.4 — A forthcoming update to Apple's Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps for iOS and the Mac will include new features that take advantage of the new trackpad support, plus iCloud folder sharing.
Indians lost Rs 228 crore in 52,000 cases of bank fraud between Mar-Dec 2019: Govt
Between fiscal years 2017 and 2020, a total of 140,471 cases of fraudulent usage cases were reported, with the amount totalling Rs 589 crore https://ift.tt/2wlCVlv https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Local language content startups help stem fake info
Indian Internet companies like Flipkart, Swiggy, Ola, MyGate, 1mg, and others have been actively pushing out content to their frontline workforce to educate them on the virus https://ift.tt/2U1Edv6 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Snapseed isnt dead as it gets first update from Google in two years
Google acquired Snapseed in 2012. Since then, Snapseed has evolved to be one of the most popular photo editing apps on the phone. However, Google last updated the app way back in 2018. Since Google is known for abandoning projects and services as new ones arise and considering there was no update to the app in two years, it was heading towards being another abandoned app from Google. However, the company has now updated it. This is the first update since 2018.
Snapseed offers one of the most robust experiences in mobile photo editing. It comes with a wide array of powerful, pro-level features to enhance your photos beyond the simple filtering norm. Moreover, the app has over 100 million downloads. Despite that, Google didn’t push out any major features, or any major updates at all, since 2018.
The brand-new version 2.19.1 has surfaced on the Play Store. However, it only brings along bug fixes. The Play Store changelog says there's a new dark theme mode in Settings, but that's not actually new — it's been there since 2018. This leaves us with one new thing, that is, bug fixes. That is an insignificant changelog for those of us awaiting new features.
According to Android Police, who first spotted the update, the Snapseed developers have been working on updates since 2019, planning to add improved RAW support and maintaining compatibility with the latest devices. While those are not major features, at least it suggests that Google is committed to keeping Snapseed up-to-date.
Check the Play Store to see if the update to version 2.19.1 is already available to you. We can assume that it will stay functional on the latest phones and Android phones in the future.
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Huawei P40 Pro retail box leaks ahead of March 26 launch
Huawei is all set to launch the Huawei P40 series on March 26. However, the phones have leaked online a number of times now. This time around, an image of the retail box of the P40 Pro has leaked online. The packing box is specifically for the Huawei P40 Pro Hongqi Limited Edition. Further, the company is said to launch just 200 units of this edition and to get one, you’ll have to buy the new Hongqi H9 luxury car. The retail box suggests that this model may have several customised accessories onboard. According to earlier leaks, Huawei P40 Pro Hongqi Limited Edition will have a black finish with a red dragon engraving at the right half of the back panel.
Recently, a marketing image of the P40 series appeared online, which revealed the phones in various colour options. It not only revealed the colour options of the phones, but corroborated with earlier reports about Huawei working on three flagship smartphones with three, four, and five rear sensors respectively. From the cheapest to the high-end, the phones are expected to be named - Huawei P40, P40 Pro and P40 Premium Edition.
The Huawei P40 is tipped to be made available in silver, gold, black, blue, and the gradient Breathing Crystal finish. It is expected to sport a 52MP primary sensor + a 40MP ultra-wide-angle lens + a telephoto sensor. On the other hand, the Pro is said to be made available in the same silver, gold, black, blue, and Breathing Crystal finishes as its standard model. Previously leaked renders have also shown a mint green colour option. The P40 Pro is expected to pack the same duo of 52MP and 40MP. Instead of a telephoto lens, it could come with a 5x periscope shooter and a time-of-flight sensor.
As for the Huawei P40 Pro Premium Edition, it is expected to be made available in Black and White variants. It is tipped to comprise of the 1/1.28” Sony IMX700 52-megapixel Hexadeca Bayer RYYB lens, a 1/1.5” Sony IMX650 40-megapixel ultrawide Cine RGGB lens, a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, a dual prism periscope zoom lens with 10x optical zoom and a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor.
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US colleges like Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are using AI to streamline admissions; Virginia Tech says AI that scores essay questions saved ~8,000 hours (Francesca Maglione/Bloomberg)
Francesca Maglione / Bloomberg : US colleges like Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are using AI to streamline admissions; Virginia Tech say...
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Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal : An interview with White House OSTP Director Michael Kratsios, a Peter Thiel protégé confirmed by ...
