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If the $700 Sonos PlayBase is out of reach, try the $250 Sony Sound Base
The Sonos PlayBar is without a doubt one of the best home audio products on the planet in the under-$1,000 price range. It packs so much tech and such great sound into a single package, elevating your TV and completely transforming your home entertainment experience as well. Still, $700 is a whole lot of money to spend on a speaker system, so folks on a budget might want to check out a few alternatives. We recommend the Sony HT-XT2 2.1 Channel Sound Base, which offers a similar form factor and delivers fantastic Sony sound at a price point that’s less than one-third of what you’ll pay for the PlayBase.
Here’s some more info from the product page:
- One-piece speaker with built-in subwoofer that fits nicely under your TV, Play music wirelessly via Bluetooth Control easily with SongPal app.
- Easily add wireless surround sound speakers, Enjoy wireless multi-room listening, Control your TV and sound bar with a single remote via HDMI ARC connection
- Google Cast ready for easy streaming of your favorite music apps, Music playback via USB. Chromecast built-in and spotify compatible for more music accessibility
Sony HT-XT2 2.1 Channel Sound Base with Wifi and Bluetooth: Too low to display
BGR Top Deals:
- Amazon’s new Dyson cordless vacuum deal is so much better than anything we saw on Prime Day
- This is probably your last chance for a while to get a popular Instant Pot at a discount
Trending Right Now:
- ‘Avengers 4’ to resurrect one ‘Infinity War’ hero who doesn’t like to stay dead
- Forget the Galaxy Note 9, a different Android phone will try to steal you away from 2018 iPhones
- Google Maps just got a great new feature and you probably didn’t even realize it
If the $700 Sonos PlayBase is out of reach, try the $250 Sony Sound Base originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 19 Jul 2018 at 16:09:33 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. 
Aukey’s Prime Day deal is still going on a dash cam so tiny you’ll forget it’s there
At this point, pretty much everyone knows that they should have a dash cam in their cars. The problem, of course, is that not everyone does. Dash cameras are essential devices that make it easy to prove you weren't at fault in the event you get into an accident with someone who doesn't fess up — which is very common, of course. There's no excuse to drive without one, but I often hear from people is that they don't want a big ugly camera sticking to their windshield and blocking their view. If that's your excuse, there's a simple solution: pick up an AUKEY 1080p Dash Cam right now on Amazon. It's so small you'll completely forget its there, and yet it records crystal clear full HD video and has all the features you want in a dash cam. It's also still on sale at its Prime Day price if you use the coupon code AUKEYR01 at checkout.
Here's what you need to know from the product page:
- Clear Video Capture: The DR01 backs you up in any road incident. Sony Exmor Sensor captures super-sharp 1080p video (and optional in-car audio) with 170° field of view and also performs well for nighttime driving
- Emergency Recording & Loop Recording: Emergency Recording automatically captures unexpected driving incidents and protects the recordings. Loop Recording allows continuous use by writing over old, unneeded footage.
- Extreme Temperature Operation: Powered by the included dual-port USB car charger and internal supercapacitor. The supercapacitor has greater heat & cold endurance and longer lifetime than standard battery technology
- Easy Mounting: Easily and securely mount to your windshield in seconds with the included suction cup or double-sided 3M pad
- Package Contents: AUKEY DR01 Dashboard Camera, Dual-Port USB Car Charger, USB Mini-B Power Cable (4m/4.37yd), Sticker Mount, Three 3M Stickers, Six Cable Clips, User Manual, 45-Day Money Back Guarantee and 24-Month Warranty Card
AUKEY Dash Cam, Dashboard Camera Recorder with Full HD 1080P, 6-Lane 170° Wide Angle Lens, 2"…: $48.13 (use code AUKEYR01)
BGR Top Deals:
- Amazon’s new Dyson cordless vacuum deal is so much better than anything we saw on Prime Day
- Turn any TV into a giant touchscreen with this awesome device
Trending Right Now:
- ‘Avengers 4’ to resurrect one ‘Infinity War’ hero who doesn’t like to stay dead
- Forget the Galaxy Note 9, a different Android phone will try to steal you away from 2018 iPhones
- Google Maps just got a great new feature and you probably didn’t even realize it
Aukey’s Prime Day deal is still going on a dash cam so tiny you’ll forget it’s there originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 19 Jul 2018 at 14:38:35 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. 
The Curiosity rover finally found a rock too hard to crack, but it tried anyway
NASA's Curiosity rover has been doing some fantastic work on Mars, and even though it had to basically reinvent how it uses its primary sampling tool it's managed to get back to work anyway. Unfortunately for the rover's handlers, one of the first new targets that they picked to drill into has actually managed to defeat the powerful tool.
In a new update on the Curiosity rover's mission log, scientists reveal that the rock they were trying to steal a sample from is just too dang hard to pierce. The large rock, nicknamed Voyageurs, suffered barely a scratch from Curiosity's drill bit, and it didn't reach nearly deep enough to obtain a useful sample.
Continue reading...
BGR Top Deals:
- Amazon’s new Dyson cordless vacuum deal is so much better than anything we saw on Prime Day
- Turn any TV into a giant touchscreen with this awesome device
Trending Right Now:
- Forget the Galaxy Note 9, a different Android phone will try to steal you away from 2018 iPhones
- ‘Avengers 4’ to resurrect one ‘Infinity War’ hero who doesn’t like to stay dead
- Google Maps just got a great new feature and you probably didn’t even realize it
The Curiosity rover finally found a rock too hard to crack, but it tried anyway originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 19 Jul 2018 at 14:15:04 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. 
The Logitech Harmony remote and hub bundle everyone loves is within $8 of its lowest price ever
Everyone knows that Logitech Harmony is the only name that matters when it comes to universal control of all your home entertainment gadgets and gizmos. What many people don't realize, however, is that you don't have to spend $200+ to get one. Logitech makes a wide range of remotes, but in this day and age it's all about the Harmony Hub that lets you connect your smartphone and control all your gear with an app. It retails for $100, but Amazon has a killer sale going right now on a bundle that includes a Hub and a basic universal remote. It's just $67.77 today on Amazon, which is a killer price. In fact, it's less than $8 over this bundle's best price ever.
Here's more info from the product page:
- Use your smartphone (available Harmony Smartphone app) or the included Harmony Remote to control your entertainment devices.Internet access Wi-Fi: Supports 802.11g/n, WPA Personal, WPA2-AES and 64/128-bit WEP encryption
- Smartphone app includes Swipe and Tap control for one-touch control of your entertainment system, up to 50 favorite channel icons, volume, media playback, and more (Works with iPhone iOS 6.0 or later and Android 4.0 or later)
- Included Harmony Hub lets you control devices hidden behind cabinet doors or walls, including game consoles such as PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360
- Future-proof control of up to 8 devices: Works with over 270,000 devices including cable TV boxes, Apple TV, Roku, Sonos, Amazon Fire TV, Phillips Hue, Xbox One, PS3, and TV-connected PC or Mac
- Removable battery
Logitech Harmony Smart Control with Smartphone App and Simple All In One Remote - Black: $67.77
If you want to save even more money, you can also get a certified refurb for $59.99.
Logitech 915-000194 - Harmony Smart Remote Control with Smartphone App - Black (Certified Refur…: $59.99
BGR Top Deals:
- The wireless camera that lets your smartphone see anywhere is still down to its lowest price ever
- Turn any TV into a giant touchscreen with this awesome device
Trending Right Now:
- Forget the Galaxy Note 9, a different Android phone will try to steal you away from 2018 iPhones
- Google Maps just got a great new feature and you probably didn’t even realize it
- ‘Avengers 4’ to resurrect one ‘Infinity War’ hero who doesn’t like to stay dead
The Logitech Harmony remote and hub bundle everyone loves is within $8 of its lowest price ever originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 19 Jul 2018 at 13:29:02 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. 
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Samsung's Foldable Smartphone Slated for Next Year: Report
Samsung plans to launch a foldable-screen smartphone early next year, according to reports, possibly priced around $1,500. Samsung's foldable phone will resemble a book, with the main display inside the covers, said Ken Hyers, director of the emerging device strategies service at Strategy Analytics. The exterior will have a smaller notification display on the front, and a camera, or cameras, on the back. The main display will have a 7.3-inch screen. The foldable smartphone may have a 3,000 mAh battery or larger.
Google Adds Kubernetes to Rebranded Cloud Marketplace
Google has announced the rebranding and expansion of its Cloud Launcher platform. Going forward, it will be known as the "Google Cloud Platform Marketplace," or "GCP Marketplace." It will offer production-ready commercial Kubernetes apps, promising simplified deployment, billing and third-party licensing. Google's goal is to make containers accessible to everyone, especially the enterprise, said Anil Dhawan, product manager for the Google Cloud Platform. Google's hosted Kubernetes Engine takes care of cluster orchestration and management.
Microsoft's New Skype Could Be Risky Gamble
Microsoft has announced a new version of its Skype messaging app, along with a warning that previous versions of the software will be disabled after Sept. 1. "As we roll out improvements, there comes a time when we must shut down older services and application versions," wrote the Skype Team in an online post. "This is done to ensure that all customers have the best possible Skype experience, and that there are no quality or reliability issues resulting from old technology and new technology interoperating."
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Cover Up, Your Smart TV May Be Spying on You
Did you know that fancy smart TV sitting in your living room, kitchen, bedroom or bathroom actually may be watching you? Sorry to break it to you. It's another example of amazing modern technology designed to help marketers while striking a blow to privacy. Then again, we haven't had privacy in more years than I can remember. There are two ways to look at this. If you are a marketer, you love it. You can get loads of user data for your marketing. However, if you are a consumer who cares about protecting your privacy, you feel invaded.
Marketing Partnership to Help Fine-Tune Targeting
Sonobi and LiveRamp have partnered to help marketers improve targeting of potential customers. The partnership will let brands and agencies build media packages using the Sonobi JetStream multichannel ad platform and LiveRamp's identity resolution system. "Sonobi has a forecasting and planning engine that understands the visitation patterns of an individual user across the open Web," said CEO Michael Connolly. "Through our integration with LiveRamp, we can give their clients a complete understanding of how to best find their customers."
How E-Commerce SMBs Can Weather Political, Social Firestorms
A national debate over civility erupted after Stephanie Wilkinson, a co-owner of a Red Hen restaurant in Virginia, asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave. However, that wasn't the only consequence of the incident. In its aftermath, restaurant owners in various parts of America whose businesses had the words "red hen" in their name were deluged with a storm of angry reactions -- even though their businesses were totally separate entities. "There are no safe sidelines," commented CMO Inc. founder Peter Horst.
Did Salesforce Need to Buy Datorama?
Salesforce has inked a deal to acquire the marketing analytics company Datorama. The acquisition will give Marketing Cloud a power boost by expanding data integration and intelligence, according to Salesforce. The newly acquired tech will give marketers the ability to unlock insights across channels and data sources, providing a unified view that can help companies make smarter decisions across the entire customer journey, it added. You might be tempted to wonder, "Isn't that what the Salesforce Analytics cloud was for?"
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How I learned to stop worrying and love USB Type-C
While the rest of the world is enthusiastically adopting the all-in-one USB Type-C standard, Microsoft and Apple are stubbornly sticking with their proprietary connectors. That's why I no longer carry a Surface or an iPhone when I
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Instagram adds status markers to your DM list
 Instagram started telling you when your friends were active in the direct message list last January. Now the photo-centric social network is expanding the feature with a new green dot to indicate who is online and active. 
FCC vote likely dooms Sinclair-Tribune merger
 The FCC has voted to send the proposed sale of Tribune Media properties to Sinclair to a hearing, effectively hammering the second-to-last nail in the coffin on the buyout. The agency's commissioners unanimously agreed on a Hearing Designation Order... 
AMC is selling movie tickets on Facebook
 Facebook's Movies section gives users the option of searching for movies and showtimes and then purchasing tickets through Fandango or Atom Tickets. But now, AMC Theatres has partnered with the platform and users can now buy tickets for AMC showings... 
UK oversight board discloses potential Huawei security issues
 Chinese phone maker Huawei continues to get quite a bit of scrutiny as it tries to push into western markets like the US and UK. The FBI, CIA and NSA have warned against buying the company's phones, AT&T backed out of reported plans to bring the... 
Facebook Messenger for Kids is now available in Mexico
 Today marks Facebook releasing its Messenger for Kids app to our friendly southern neighbor. It doesn't have any Mexico-specific features, and unlike when it was released in Canada and Peru, it isn't part of a larger feature roll-out like a Spanish-l... 
Uber drivers can sell you goods during your ride
 Don't be surprised if you get a sales pitch the next time you step into an Uber car. The ridesharing service has formed a partnership with Cargo to give drivers free boxes full of goods they can sell to passengers through a mobile app, ranging from... 
Facebook will begin actively enforcing its age policy
 Facebook is tweaking its policies towards underage users, TechCrunch reports, and it will begin requiring those suspected of being younger than 13 years old to provide proof of their age. The move comes after a report from the UK's Channel 4, in whic... 
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Tech Tip: How to Convert Photo Files in Bulk
If the thought of saving a huge folder of photo files in a different format makes you tired, perk up. You can do them all at once, and you may not even need expensive software.
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Brash Tech Innovators Are Starting to Ask Permission, Rather Than Forgiveness
Not long ago, swaggering companies such as Uber and Airbnb swept through cities like a wrecking ball, establishing billion-dollar businesses and vast constituencies before regulators could figure out how to rein them in. That’s changing as companies cooperate with local officials before, not after, diving in.
U.K. Shows Unease About Huawei Gear
The U.K. government raised new concerns about the use of telecommunications gear from Huawei Technologies, stepping back from previous assertions that the Chinese company’s products didn’t present a national security threat.
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A network of giant balloons will soon bring internet access to remote regions of rural Kenya. From a report: Google's sister-company Loon has announced its first commercial deal: partnering with Telkom Kenya to deliver connectivit Tech Chief Role Grows More Strategic, Survey Finds
The rise of digital capabilities continues to elevate the role of IT leaders across the enterprise, moving them beyond back-office tech hubs and increasingly closer to products, services and customers, Korn/Ferry International rep 1111
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Brash Tech Innovators Are Starting to Ask Permission, Rather Than Forgiveness
Not long ago, swaggering companies such as Uber and Airbnb swept through cities like a wrecking ball, establishing billion-dollar businesses and vast constituencies before regulators could figure out how to rein them in. That’s changing as companies cooperate with local officials before, not after, diving in.
U.K. Shows Unease About Huawei Gear
The U.K. government raised new concerns about the use of telecommunications gear from Huawei Technologies, stepping back from previous assertions that the Chinese company’s products didn’t present a national security threat.
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Trump slams EU over $5 billion fine on Google
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized the European Union over a record $5 billion fine EU antitrust regulators imposed on Google, saying the bloc was taking advantage of the United States.
Immigration defense group rejects Salesforce.com donation
A leading nonprofit group helping immigrant families reunite at the U.S. border on Thursday rejected a $250,000 donation from Salesforce.com Inc in protest at the cloud-computing company's contract with the U.S. Customs and Border
Comcast concedes to Disney in bidding war for Fox assets
Comcast Corp dropped its $66 billion bid for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's entertainment assets on Thursday but said it would still try to expand its international footprint by acquiring 61 percent of European broadcaster Sky Plc
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Microsoft caps off a fine fiscal year seemingly without any major missteps in its last quarter
Microsoft is capping off a rather impressive year without any major missteps in its final report for its performance in its 2018 fiscal year, posting a quarter that seems to have been largely non-offensive to Wall Street.
In the past year, Microsoft’s stock has gone up more than 40%. In the past two years, it’s nearly doubled. All of this came after something around a decade of that price not really doing anything as Microsoft initially missed major trends like the shift to mobile and the cloud. But since then, new CEO Satya Nadella has turned that around and increased the company’s focused on both, and Azure is now one of the company’s biggest highlights. Microsoft is now an $800 billion company, which while still considerably behind Apple, Amazon and Google, is a considerable high considering the past decade.
In addition, Microsoft passed $100 billion in revenue for a fiscal year. So, as you might expect, the stock didn’t really do anything, given that nothing seemed to be too wrong with what was going on. For a company that’s at around $800 billion, that it’s not doing anything bad at this point is likely a good thing. That Microsoft is even in the discussion of being one of the companies chasing a $1 trillion market cap is likely something we wouldn’t have been talking about just three or four years ago.
The company said it generated $30.1 billion in revenue, up 17% year-over-year, and adjusted earnings of $1.13 per share. Analysts were looking for earnings of $1.08 per share on revenue of $29.23 billion.
So, under Nadella, this is more or less a tale of two Microsofts — one squarely pointed at a future of productivity software with an affinity toward cloud and mobile tools (though Windows is obviously still a part of this), and one that was centered around the home PC. Here are a couple highlights from the report:
- LinkedIn: Microsoft said revenue for LinkedIn increased 37%, with LinkedIn sessions growth of 41%. Microsoft’s professional network was also listed in a bucket of other segments that it attributed to an increased operating expenditures, which also included cloud engineering, and commercial sales capacity. It was also bucketed into a 12% increase in research and development with cloud engineering, as well as a bump in sales and marketing expenses. This all seems pretty normal for a network Microsoft hopes to continue to grow.
- Azure: Microsoft’s cloud platform continued to drive its server products and cloud services revenue, which increased 26%. The company said Azure’s revenue was up 89% “due to growth from consumed and SaaS revenue.” Once again, Microsoft didn’t break out specifics on its Azure products, though it seems pretty clear that this is one of their primary growth drivers.
- Office 365: Office 365 saw commercial revenue growth of 38%, and consumer subscribers increased to 31.4 million. Alongside LinkedIn, Microsoft seems to be assembling a substantial number of subscription SaaS products that offset a shift in its model away from personal computing and into a more cloud-oriented company.
- GitHub: Nada here in the report. Microsoft earlier this year said it acquired it for a very large sum of money (in stock), but it isn’t talking about it. But bucket it alongside Office 365 and LinkedIn as part of that increasingly large stable of productivity tools for businesses, as Github is one of the most widely-adopted developer tools available.
Instagram adds a status indicator dot so people know when you’re ignoring them
In a blog post today, Instagram announced a new feature: a green status dot that indicates when a user is active on the app. If you’re cruising around Instagram, you can expect to see a green dot next to the profile pics of friends who are also Instagramming right then and there.
The dot will show up in the direct messaging part of the app but also on your friends list when you go to share a post with someone. Instagram clarifies that “You will only see status for friends who follow you or people who you have talked to in Direct” so it’s meant to get you talking more to the people you’re already talking to. You can disable the status info in the “Activity Status” bit of the app’s settings menu, where it’s set to on by default.
Prior to the advent of the green dot, Instagram already displayed how long ago someone was active by including information like “Active 23m ago” or “Active Now” in grey text next to their account info where your direct messages live. For those of us who prefer a calm, less realtime experience, the fact that features like these come on by default is a bummer.
Given the grey activity status text, the status dot may not seem like that much of a change. Still, it’s one opt-out design choice closer to making Instagram a compulsive realtime social media nightmare like Facebook or Facebook Messenger. The quiet, incremental rollout of features like the grey status text is often so subtle that users don’t notice it — as a daily Instagram user, I barely did.
Making gradual changes is the same game Facebook always plays with its products, layering slight design changes that alter user behavior until one day you wake up and aren’t using the same app you used to love, but somehow you can’t seem to stop using it. Instagram is working on a feature for in-app time management, but stuff like this negates Facebook’s broader supposed efforts to make our relationship with its attention-hungry platforms less of a compulsive tic.
It’s not like users will be relieved that they can now see who is “online” in the app. The last time Instagram users passionately requested a feature it was to demand a return to the chronological feed and we all know how that went. Over the years, Instagram users have mostly begged that the app’s parent company not mess it up and yet here we are. The Facebookification of Instagram marches on.
It’s a shame to see that happening with Instagram, which used to feel like one of the only peaceful places online, a serene space where you weren’t thrown into fits of realtime FOMO because usually your friends were #latergramming static images from good times previously had, not broadcasting the fun stuff you’re missing out on right now. It’s hard to see how features like this square with Facebook’s ostensible mission to move away from its relentless pursuit of engagement in favor of deepening the quality of user experiences with a mantra of “time well spent.” As users start to resent the steep attentional toll that makes Facebook “free”, it’s a shame to see Instagram follow Facebook down the same dark path.
FCC issues ‘de facto merger death sentence’ to Sinclair-Tribune deal
A broadcast merger that has been the poster boy for the FCC’s pro-industry agenda has been ordered to undertake a lengthy and potentially embarrassing process that amounts to, in the words of one commissioner, a “de facto merger death sentence.”
The proposed takeover of Tribune by Sinclair has been criticized by many as an unnecessary and potentially dangerous consolidation of media properties. The resulting company would have incredible reach and influence, especially combined with other recent rule changes that have further unshackled big media companies.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has himself been the target of many a sharp inquiry from the public, lawmakers, and even the Office of the Inspector General. The general feeling seems to be: We understand that you have a deregulatory to-do list here, and that’s valid, but practically everything you do benefits Sinclair directly or indirectly. Justify yourself.
Whether it was because of this unremitting scrutiny or simply because Sinclair’s merger proposal was blatantly disingenuous, Pai decided to do an about-face and put the brakes on the deal. He announced his intentions earlier this week and today brings the actual “hearing designation order,” which would require Sinclair to appear before a judge in an adversarial courtroom setting and explain its misdeeds.
What misdeeds, you ask? Well, the main one cited in the HDO is this: Sinclair was required to divest itself from certain media holdings, but instead of doing so, it set up one (WGN-TV) to be sold massively below market price to a corporate confederate, who would then effectively cede control back to Sinclair.
Here’s how the order puts it:
The record raises significant questions as to whether those proposed divestitures were in fact ‘sham’ transactions.
…One application proposed to transfer WGN-TV in Chicago to an individual (Steven Fader) with no prior experience in broadcasting who currently serves as CEO of a company in which Sinclair’s executive chairman has a controlling interest. Moreover, Sinclair would have owned most of WGN-TV’s assets, and pursuant to a number of agreements, would have been responsible for many aspects of the station’s operation.
…There is a substantial and material question of fact as to whether Sinclair affirmatively misrepresented or omitted material facts with the intent to consummate this transaction without fully complying with our broadcast ownership rules.
There are pages and pages of allegations and hints regarding the cozy relationship between Fader and Sinclair, as well as a few other entities that would be part of this obvious sweetheart deal. The order says, essentially, that Sinclair will be given the chance to explain all this — but it would be on the record, in court. Only after they offer sufficient justification could the merger go forward.
But does a company like Sinclair really want to appear publicly before a judge and attempt to convince them that this was all just an innocent mistake? That it was planning to sell a major media property to a good friend for 90 percent off while retaining editorial and operational control? Not only that, but it would take a non-trivial amount of time and money to prepare for this debacle.
Sinclair’s board and stakeholders may understandably choose rather to abandon the merger than subject the company to that kind of scrutiny — not to mention the financial disincentives of delays, extra costs, and any other concessions that might need to be made to put the deal forward. It’s already been revised again and again, with less favorable terms for Sinclair — at some point it stops being a deal worth pursuing.
That’s why Commissioner O’Rielly, in a rather sour-sounding accompanying statement, calls the order a death sentence. Not only would the Administrative Law Judge process be potentially damaging to Sinclair’s reputation, but it would be a mess of red tape. He managed to slip in some revisions, however, which “some may refer to as an initiation of a hint of due process.” Corporations do have rights, too.
Although for now the Sinclair-Tribune merger is only temporarily halted, the end result is as likely as not that it will be withdrawn. That’s entirely up to the company, of course, but it may be that the FCC has in this case succeeded in effectively regulating its industry. That would be cause for celebration.
That $20 Wyze Cam now works with Alexa
The Wyze Cam has long been a strong contender for the best deal in connected home security. I haven’t actually tried the thing out, but Greg was “surprisingly impressed” with his hands-on time with the 1080p camera. That’s probably enough in and of itself to justify the $20 price tag.
Now the dirt cheap camera’s getting some added features courtesy of a software update. Starting today, owners of the Wyze Cam v2 and the $30 Wyze Cam Pan will be able to use Alexa to summon live video feeds on the Echo Show, Spot and through the Fire TV Stick (using the voice-enabled remote). Sorry, no luck for those who picked up the first gen device. Hope that $20 camera is working out for you, otherwise.
The feature is available this week as a free update to the Alexa app. Wyze joins Ring, Arlo, Nest, and Canary, along with Amazon’s own security cameras, of course. But if nothing else, its option is certainly the cheapest of the bunch. One of these and an Echo Spot will set you back $150 — not too shabby for an on-the-fly home security system.
With new tech coming online, cities need a department of urban testing
Shaun Abrahamson
Contributor
More posts by this contributor
The design and operation of cities is the province of urban planning. But an explosion of startups in cities means a lot of new products and services for urban areas. The problem is, we don’t really know how people are going to use these new products and services.
“The company launched a trial service in Santa Monica just last year and when I first saw the scooters (parked literally outside of our office) I was convinced nobody would want to ride them…The volume grew so steadily that I finally hopped on one, rode down to Bird’s offices and pleaded with Travis to take money from us. I had literally never seen a consumer phenomenon take off so quickly,” says Mark Suster in All The Questions You Wanted Answered about Bird Scooters and Their Recent $300 Million Funding.
There is no doubt Santa Monica scooter usage has benefited from a significant investment in bike lanes, as you can see from this map. If you doubt this, take a look at what happens as you travel a little outside of Santa Monica, where bike infrastructure doesn’t exist. Scooter riders take to sidewalks, just as they do on bikes. (I suspect data would also reveal less usage in these areas and that there are a lot of complaints in these areas about the scooters.)
Adapting To New Behavior
Just four-and-a-half years ago, people were stunned by the then huge valuation of Uber at over $3.5b. It took Uber just over four years to get to that valuation. Now Uber is acquiring electric, dockless bike companies and investing in shared scooters, as they dial back their self-driving activities. The chart below explains why.
The practice of sharing rides came out of nowhere five years ago, and two years ago, docked bikeshare seemed to be rewriting what was possible with on-demand transportation. (Let’s see if/where scooters show up in Q1:19.) It’s hard to appreciate the impact of these new mobility models until you look at them against some well-established existing modes of transportation like taxis and car rentals. These industries trace their roots back to the explosion of the automobile with Model T’s a century ago and to when entrepreneurial companies like Hertz decided taxis should be yellow to enhance their visibility for hailing. (And yes, that’s the same yellow Hertz car rental sign.) As the chart below shows, these 100-year-old industries are rapidly melting away in the face of on-demand competition.
Revisiting City Planning
What does this mean for city planners? For a very long time in the US, cars have so dominated public spaces that we’ve mostly focused on parking and roads. e forget that companies lobbied for the car – they hadn’t always dominated public spaces, and now cities around the world are steadily pushing back. With new mobility options come new corporate alliances.
“San Francisco has more than 250,000 on-street parking spaces for “dockless” cars, so why does the addition of a few thousand dockless scooters spark such a heated debate?” says Roelof Botha, who is also an investor in Bird.
Parking for small shared EVs is just the start. What about the impact of last-mile options on public transit usage? Lyft’s “friends with transit” policy could be viewed cynically as a way to win favor with regulators, but last-mile trends are also playing out with smaller on-demand vehicles. In Germany, DB figured out the relationship between bikes and transit more than 10 years ago with the first dockless shared bikes, and the massive bike parking infrastructure connected to Dutch transit.
In the city most associated with car culture, you can now stop by any Metro station along the Expo Line in LA and see a growing number of bikes and scooters. Is this associated with an increase in transit usage? Is this another reason to sort out parking for small, last-mile vehicles? With more venture dollars in the mix, there are now strong alliances seeking to test new approaches.
Maybe We Just Forgot History
Just before cars finally took over most public spaces for transportation, there were more public transit options provided by some weirdly familiar looking vehicles. You can almost see how this 1922 Austro Motorette would eventually be given a seat to become the more familiar looking Vespa.
There are some important differences now. Electric vehicles need new charging infrastructure, which has led to debates about who will pay for it. On the other hand, scooter-sharing companies have learned infrastructure doesn’t need to look like charging stations. Small vehicles can have their batteries swapped out (as with the scooter- share Coup) or companies can offer incentives to people to take vehicles home to charge (and then return them). Electric vehicles will continue to drop in price as the main cost – batteries – become cheaper. Finally, shared vehicles have never been more available, and electric scooters are almost 100x cheaper than cars. What happens to behavior when availability is so high that it doesn’t require you to leave your block to find a vehicle.
Bad Old Assumptions
It seems inevitable that AVs will replace drivers at some point. While we wait for the takeover, there are some approaches we can take to improve safety. Unfortunately, some of these seem to have unintended negative consequences. Growing up I used to visit Zimbabwe, where speed bumps were called “sleeping policemen” because it was believed that they caused drivers to slow down and obey posted speed limits. But data from a recent NYU and Urban Us portfolio company Dash, reveal that “drivers have a tendency to accelerate quickly after traffic calming infrastructure like speed bumps, which can lead to dangerous situations for pedestrians.” This is potentially a new issue as more drivers discover previously quieter streets via navigation apps and it should still force us to revisit how we try to manage drivers who are going too fast.
Beyond Mobility
With NYC’s L train shutting down in 2019, people have started to plan their housing options and new commutes to and from Manhattan. The city has responded by saying they will add additional ferries and CitiBikes. But is there a way to add more options quickly? How might they fare in the winter? It’s hard to know, but the consequences go far beyond mobility to impact everything from restaurants to residential real estate.
Mobility ultimately has lot of consequences for real estate. Are people going to live in smaller private spaces in exchange for better shared amenities? Will they use robotic furniture to get more from smaller spaces? What might cause homeowners to purchase backup power in the form of a home battery system? How will this impact the grid? Will people be OK sharing sidewalks with delivery robots?
With so many questions about how our behavior will change, we need to find better, faster ways to test new solutions. Maybe alongside Departments of Urban Planning, we need Departments of Urban Testing.
Self-driving car startup Voyage brings on ex-Tesla, Cruise and Uber exec as CTO
Voyage, the autonomous driving startup that currently operates self-driving cars in retirement communities, has brought on its first CTO, Drew Gray. Gray most recently worked at Uber as its director of engineering, leading the deep learning and perception team in San Francisco, according to his LinkedIn. This comes shortly after the company poached Uber’s head of policy for autonomous vehicles and aviation, Justin Erlich, to lead its strategy, policy and legal efforts.
Voyage, Gray said, was the obvious choice because of the mobility needs it addresses for the 125,000 residents in The Villages in Florida.
“Private communities like The Villages are often much simpler with respect to roadways and traffic patterns, and allow us to implement creative technical solutions that aren’t possible everywhere else due to regulation,” Gray wrote in a Medium post. “We believe there to be a massive un-tapped autonomous ride-sharing business in locations like The Villages?—?all with approachable autonomy requirements we believe we can solve sooner rather than later.”
Gray, who has also held roles at Tesla, Cruise and Otto, joined Voyage about a month ago to help the company achieve its mission of bringing autonomous vehicles to the masses.
“The autonomous vehicle industry is still so young, it’s an incredibly rare to work side-by-side with someone who has held senior leadership positions at many of the foundational companies in the field,” Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron wrote on Voyage’s blog. “Drew has done just that, contributing to major engineering initiatives at places like Tesla, Cruise, Otto, and Uber ATG.”
Gray and Cameron met back in 2016 when the two collaborated for the self-driving car nanodegree program at Udacity, which Voyage spun out from last year. Cameron was Udacity’s head of curriculum and Gray taught some of the deep learning content for the nanodegree program.
I’ve reached out to Uber and will update this story if I hear back.
Here’s what Facebook employees were saying about Holocaust denial … in 2009
Mark Zuckerberg has been in hot water this week thanks to comments he made during an interview with Kara Swisher about the kinds of content that should and shouldn’t be removed from the platform.
Zuckerberg brought up Holocaust deniers as an example, saying he found them “deeply offensive,” then added, “But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong.” (In a follow-up email, Zuckerberg repeated that he found Holocaust denial to be “deeply offensive” and said, “I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.”)
In light of the ensuing controversy, it seems worth bringing up some old posts by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington — from all the way back in 2009, when Arrington highlighted an effort by Brian Cuban to get Holocaust denial groups removed from the social network.
Those posts drew comments from a number of Facebook employees, including Adam Mosseri, who’s currently the VP of product management in charge of the Facebook News Feed, and Andrew Bosworth, who took over the company’s hardware efforts last year.
We’re exhuming these old comments not as a “gotcha!” moment, but simply as a reminder that this is a longstanding debate, one in which senior Facebook figures (some of whom took pains to emphasize that they were speaking for themselves, not the company) have articulated a pretty consistent position. Here’s Mosseri, for example:
I don’t understand how one can rationalize censorship, no matter how wrong or evil the message. It’s not the place of government, news media or communication platforms to tell anyone what they can or cannot say.
And here’s Bosworth:
Yelling fire in a crowded building isn’t protected (legally or morally) because it directly infringes on the physical safety of others, something they have a right to in our moral judgement. I think it is pretty clear that these groups pose no such imminent threat. They are distasteful and ignorant to all of us, but they should not be shut down unless they pose a credible threat to the physical safety of others, such as through threats of violence.
And here’s Ezra Callahan, who was then on the PR team:
You do not combat ignorance by trying to cover up that ignorance exists. You confront it head on. Facebook will do the world no good by trying to become its thought police.
There’s a lot more discussion in the original post.
Now you’re journaling with power! (with this Mario-branded Moleskine gear)
Although this isn’t a stationery news site (how I should like that!), the latest collection from Moleskine is Mario-related, so technically I can write about it. There’s even a phone case and a rolltop backpack!
It’s pretty much exactly what you expect: the usual solid Moleskine notebooks with a Nintendo flourish. They’re all Mario -related, but have different styles: a cartridge and Game Boy for the pocket-size notebooks, and stylized NES graphics on the larger ones. Unfortunately there’s no planner (hint hint, Moleskine).
“It’s a newstalgic mixture of contemporary technology and timeless paper,” reads the press release. “Nostalgic” already implies both new and old so there’s no need for a portmanteau, and a Game Boy isn’t exactly “contemporary,” but they got the paper thing right.
Actually, the notebooks have some pretty dope detailing. The small ones are embossed with cartridge ridges and Game Boy controls. All of them have internal illustrations and come with a sticker pack.
  I would have loved to have these in the old days, though some SMB3 gear would probably have been more timely.
In addition to the notebooks, there’s a solid-looking, candy-red phone case that you can only get in stores and a truly  backpack. Look at these details (click for the gallery):
[gallery ids="1676828,1676829,1676827,1676831,1676830"]
Wear that at E3 and people will bow down. Well, it’s better than carrying around a giant swag bag from Atlus, anyway.
You can buy everything but the phone case online; you’ll have to find Moleskine dealers to get that for some reason.
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Twitter bots are running amok with your public Venmo data
 A data expert by the name of Hang Do Thi Duc recently exposed a problem with Venmo’s privacy settings, they’re public by default. For those who didn’t know that, Hang’s the angel on your shoulder trying to keep you safe. And, if you look to your other side, you’ll see the devil in the form of a bot that tweets the names and faces of Venmo users who are referencing drugs and sex in their transactions. Joel Guerra, the human behind the bot, wanted to “demonstrate how much data Venmo was making publicly available with their open API and their… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Twitter
Amazon’s new tool tracks down odd parts to avoid those dreaded trips to the hardware store
 A new Amazon feature first spotted by TechCrunch helps anyone with an iPhone find odd parts that might otherwise involve a trip to the hardware store. Called “Part Finder,” Amazon‘s new tool is one of the more useful computer vision tools to date. It takes advantage of the iPhone‘s excellent optics to scan, measure, and identify all types of fasteners or other pieces of small hardware. One found, the app asks for some additional information — screw type, head style, and drive type: Phillips, flathead, etc. — before leading you to the appropriate product on Amazon. To get to the… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Amazon
Backed by psychology, reviews are big for your business — here’s why
 Having been involved in the development of several e-commerce products over the years, one thing I’ve learned is that a great product and a persuasive marketing message aren’t always enough to help you generate lasting success. In fact, there’s one simple ingredient that practically every business needs if it wants to have any chance of sticking around in the long run: customer reviews. Here’s a closer look at some of the reasons why generating reviews should be a top priority for your business. The power of positive word-of-mouth There are many techniques you can use to spread the word about… This story continues at The Next Web 
Third-party sellers caught selling pirated games on Amazon
 Third-party sellers managed to hawk cheap, pirated copies of new games on Amazon. While the site has since removed the sketchy versions, it’s a good time to remember to be cautious before you buy anything for those prices, games included. One eagle-eyed Reddit user, CodependentlyWealthy, first spotted listings for new games at the absurdly low price of $3. The games in question, which include Frostpunk and The Observer, are fairly new and not really candidates for such a low price outside of a very generous Steam sale — not legitimately, in any case. After further investigation, buyers found the games were pirated, having been copied from the versions… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Amazon
Why reducing customer friction is the new customer loyalty
 Customers, as we all know, are a fickle bunch. Considering how customer loyalty is far from abundant these days, there are many ways to lose a customer, but the biggest turn-off for today’s consumers is an experience in which friction isn’t kept to a minimum. On some level, we’ve known that for years, right? The marketplaces that are winning loyalty from today’s consumers are doing it by focusing on reducing customer friction points. “Brands are trying a lot of things to reduce customer friction points,” Augie Ray, the renowned Gartner Customer Experience analyst, tells me. Ray cites how Amazon has… This story continues at The Next Web 
Cloudflare launches free protection for election websites
 Cloudflare has launched a new initiative, called the Athenian Project, to protect electoral websites from online attacks. The service is available free of charge to state and local governments, and offers Cloudflare’s enterprise-level security and reliability services. Cloudflare’s sevices will ensure that websites aren’t vulnerable to brute force attacks, which could potentially allow an adversary to gain access and deface web-pages, or proliferate incorrect information. The service will also ensure that electoral websites will stay online during peak times, or whilst a website is under attack from a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. So far, a handful of governments… This story continues at The Next Web 
Apple casually slips membranes into new Macbooks to try and fix keyboard issues
 Well, I gotta eat my words. Not did I only rubbish Apple for not fixing its keyboard, one of TNW’s editors disagreed with my take on the update so much, he wrote an article refuting it. Obtained by MacRumours, an internal document that’s been sent to Apple Authorized Service Providers (you know, the folks who fix your Apple products, but don’t wear those silly polo shirts) confirms iFixit’s find of a silicone barrier underneath the keys of the new MacBook Pro. The document states: Keyboard and Keycaps The keyboard has a membrane under the keycaps to prevent debris from entering the butterfly… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Apple
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Cultural biases in tech aren't just limited to facial recognition -- they crop up in voice assistants as well. The Washington Post has partnered with research groups on studies showing that Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant aren't as accurate unders...
