Saturday, August 12, 2023

A look at Amazon One palm scanning tech, being used for payments, age verification, and more at US retailers, stadiums, and other venues, amid privacy concerns (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Amazon One palm scanning tech, being used for payments, age verification, and more at US retailers, stadiums, and other venues, amid privacy concerns  —  It's also a potentially massive play to make Amazon the central ID system for your whole life—from banking and loyalty programs to tickets …



Some Cruise car riders say they've had sex in the driverless vehicles in SF over recent months; Waymo and Cruise permit eating in their cars but not drinking (Liz Lindqwister/The San Francisco ...)

Liz Lindqwister / The San Francisco Standard:
Some Cruise car riders say they've had sex in the driverless vehicles in SF over recent months; Waymo and Cruise permit eating in their cars but not drinking  —  An Illustration generated by the artificial intelligence program Midjourney depicts two people making out in an autonomous vehicle.



How SCOTUS overturning the sports betting ban in 2018 transformed the sector into a high-growth tech business; many fear a surge in gambling addiction is coming (Oliver Barnes/Financial Times)

Oliver Barnes / Financial Times:
How SCOTUS overturning the sports betting ban in 2018 transformed the sector into a high-growth tech business; many fear a surge in gambling addiction is coming  —  Americans have bet $245bn on sporting events since restrictions were loosened in 2018.  But many fear a surge in gambling addiction is coming



Amazon is removing or reducing packaging to speed up deliveries, cut costs, and meet climate goals, amid concerns that visible products could lead to issues (Sebastian Herrera/Wall Street Journal)

Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon is removing or reducing packaging to speed up deliveries, cut costs, and meet climate goals, amid concerns that visible products could lead to issues  —  The retail giant is reducing packaging on millions of deliveries  —  Millions of Amazon orders are arriving on doorsteps across the U.S. without any extra packaging.



Pixel 8 may come with an Audio Magic Eraser: What it can mean for users

Google is set to release the Pixel 8 series in October, with rumours circulating about the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Reports have emerged that the Pro variant may come in blue and feature a new tool called "Audio Magic Eraser". The feature, expected to be available in Google Photos' video editor, will locate sounds and offer sliders for "Noise," "People," and "Music," allowing the user to reduce sound by adjusting the appropriate slider. https://ift.tt/02f1GkE

ISRO congratulates Russia's successful moon mission launch

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) applauded Russia for the successful launch of Luna-25 into space. The unmanned craft is anticipated to join India's Chandrayaan-3 in exploring the water-rich area near the south pole of the Moon. Luna-25 is equipped to detect scientific findings such as plasma and dust contents found in the lunar polar exosphere. https://ift.tt/a06KIO9

Friday, August 11, 2023

Android 14 may come soon as Google rolls out Beta 5 update with these changes

Google's Android 14 beta testing has reached Beta 5, bringing bug and issue fixes and signaling that the stable version may be released soon. There were two beta rollouts before Google announced Android 14 and the first beta version was later rolled out. Changes in Beta 5 have been specified by Google addressing multiple bugs and issues that beta testers reported over the last four beta versions, including a complete changelog on its official blog post. https://ift.tt/Dk19jJt

How to sign a document using Google Docs eSignature feature

Google has launched its eSignature beta for Docs, which allows users to request and add signatures to official documents within the platform, cutting out the need to print, sign, scan and send back manually. Although in beta, the programme is an open beta, with enrolment dependent on Workspace account eligibility. To use the feature, users can create or open a document via docs or drive, navigate to Tools and select the eSignature option, after which signature, date and name fields can be added and the completed document emailed to signatories. https://ift.tt/ywQYGEc

Sources: the US Cyber Safety Review Board, created by Biden, plans to investigate cloud computing risks, including Microsoft's recent government email breach (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: the US Cyber Safety Review Board, created by Biden, plans to investigate cloud computing risks, including Microsoft's recent government email breach  —  - Cyber Safety Review Board to examine risks in cloud computing  — Senator Wyden had called for investigations of Microsoft



LG acquires 14 patents for pushing microLED displays in Watch Ultra and other Apple devices

LG Display has acquired 14 US patents from Taiwanese firm Ultra Display Technology to mass-produce microLED displays for its future smartwatches, especially the Apple Watch Ultra in 2025. The patents cover transfer and stacking technologies and applications in augmented and virtual reality, as well as heads-up display. https://ift.tt/Bk7ml1O

Honor set to make a ‘comeback’ and launch new product in India

Honor has started teasing the launch of a new device in India, rumoured to be the Honor 90 smartphone series, which it has already launched in China. The series includes two models, the Honor 90 and Honor 90 Pro. Both models feature OLED displays, run on the Android 13 operating system, and offer up to 16 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of internal storage. The phones also feature dual selfie cameras, rear camera setups with high megapixel counts, and in-display fingerprint sensors, with a 5000mAh battery in each. https://ift.tt/elKoDrg

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Lyft begins serving in-app ads to riders as they wait for rides, when they match with a driver, and during their trips, and plans to add video ads by year-end (Patrick Coffee/Wall Street Journal)

Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal:
Lyft begins serving in-app ads to riders as they wait for rides, when they match with a driver, and during their trips, and plans to add video ads by year-end  —  The ride-sharing company and its larger rival, Uber, are racing to build significant ad operations



Alibaba reports Q1 revenue up 14% YoY to ~$32.2B, beating analyst estimates of ~$31.1B, and a ~$4.7B net income, as its core e-commerce arm returned to growth (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Alibaba reports Q1 revenue up 14% YoY to ~$32.2B, beating analyst estimates of ~$31.1B, and a ~$4.7B net income, as its core e-commerce arm returned to growth  —  - Core e-commerce returned to growth for first time in a year  — Alibaba is trying to revive its business in a volatile economy



Yandex co-founder and former CEO Arkady Volozh denounces Russia's Ukraine invasion as "barbaric", as Yandex plans a spin off in Russia from its Dutch parent (Alexander Marrow/Reuters)

Alexander Marrow / Reuters:
Yandex co-founder and former CEO Arkady Volozh denounces Russia's Ukraine invasion as “barbaric”, as Yandex plans a spin off in Russia from its Dutch parent  —  The co-founder of Russian internet giant Yandex (YNDX.O), Arkady Volozh, on Thursday condemned what he described as Russia's …



Finland, Canada, the US, and other countries are testing tech for passport-free travel, including facial recognition and a "digital travel credential" (Matt Burgess/Wired)

Matt Burgess / Wired : Finland, Canada, the US, and other countries are testing tech for passport-free travel, including facial recogniti...