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Thursday 26 September 2019
Volvo's electric XC40 will be one of its safest vehicles yet
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Ericsson estimates SEK12 billion hit to resolve US probes
Ericsson president and CEO said his company has to recognise it failed in the past.
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Little Talk of Sustainability at Amazon's Big Hardware Event
But CEO Jeff Bezos says he considers Amazon’s hardware strategy to be a part of the company’s efforts to reduce its overall carbon footprint.
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Amazon Alexa's next chapter is voice in your ears, around your finger and on your face - CNET
These on-the-go products should let you take Alexa with you all day.
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Tesla Model S police car nearly runs out of range in midpursuit - Roadshow
According to a report, the Tesla wasn't charged at the end of a previous shift.
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Amazon Alexa's next chapter is voice in your ears, around your finger and on your face - CNET
These on-the-go products should let you take Alexa with you all day.
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iPhone 11: Apple fiends still line up for launches. Good for them - CNET
Commentary: The iPhone 11 Pro got people lining up for days. It's unnecessary, but that's OK.
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Everything Amazon announced at its Alexa event today
As is now typical just ahead of the holidays, Amazon just inundated us with a whole new lineup of hardware devices, including new Echo smart speakers and screens, at its Alexa event today, plus other smart home and connected devices from its brands Ring and eero. There were also a slew of surprises, like Alexa earbuds, glasses, and a smart ring. And oh yeah, a new Alexa-powered oven, too.
New Echos
Headlining the event are Amazon’s latest updates to its Echo line of devices.
Echo Dot with Clock
Not one for overly creative names, Amazon has given its entry-level Echo, the Echo Dot, a nifty upgrade. The new Echo Dot with a Clock now features a digital alarm clock on the front, which can be dimmed if you prefer, at times. This LED display also allows the Dot to show the weather, when asked, or a countdown timer.
The new Dot doesn’t replace the original, however. It’s just a $10 upgrade to $59 if you want the extra feature.
Echo Studio
The Echo the audiophiles have been waiting for. The new Echo Studio is Amazon’s response to Google’s Nest Max and Apple’s HomePod. The $199.99 device supports 3D audio and Dolby Atmos. It has five drivers, including one downward-facing 5.25-inch woofer, a 1-inch, front-firing tweeter and three, 2-inch, mid-range speakers aimed at different directions.
And it has a 24-bit DAC and a power amplifier with 100 kHz of bandwidth for high-res, lossless music playback — you know, like what’s available through the Amazon Music HD service.
Echo Buds
Surprise, Alexa comes to your ear through Amazon’s own $129 wireless earbuds. The Echo Buds include Bose’s Active Noise Reduction Technology and provide hands-free access to Alexa, so you can do things like play music, get directions, order an Uber and more. Later, you’ll also be able to check Whole Foods inventory as you shop, too. (For those who still shop…in an actual store).
The Echo Buds offers 5 hours of music or 4 hours of call time and come with a case that holds up to 3 charges. And with a tap, the Echo Buds can access your phone’s other assistant, like Siri or Google Assistant.
Echo Show 8
The $129 Echo Show 8 is a smaller, 8-inch version of the 10-inch flagship model of the Echo device with a screen. It’s a little bigger than the Echo 5, which is more of an alarm clock alternative, so makes sense for watching videos and placing voice calls…or dropping in on the kids. The device features an HD display and built-in camera shutter.
Echo
The company refreshed its existing Echo speaker with better sound and new colorful fabric covers (Twilight Blue, Charcoal, Heather Grey, and Sandstone), but remains at the same price as before $99. In other words, there’s no need to run out and buy this Echo to replace your old one, but if you were in the market already, the Echo you’ll get is slightly better.
Echo Glow
This fun Alexa accessory is basically a nightlight for the kids that can change color and flash to the music. But at $30, it’s a lot of cash for a little bit of fun. Let’s wait for the inevitable Kids Edition Dot + Glow bundle, shall we?
Echo Flex
You can now bring Echo to the bathroom with the new $25 Echo Flex device. (No really, this is how Amazon had it set up in its demo area.) The Flex plugs into any available outlet and functions as a small smart speaker. There’s no camera (whew) but it can respond to voice commands, like to give you the news and weather while you get ready for work, for example. It can also be upgraded with $14 accessories, including a Smart Night Light or Motion Sensor. The Flex is $25.
Echo Frames & Loop
Amazon introduced its beta, invite-only hardware devices. One is a pair of $179.99 Alexa-enabled glasses that stick 4 micro speakers in the frame for hands-free Alexa.
The other is a $129.99 Alexa-enabled smart ring with 2 microphones that puts Alexa on your finger for quick questions or brief calls.
Other Hardware
New Eero mesh Wi-Fi router
Amazon launched the next generation of its Eero router, which now works better with Alexa. The router lets you do things like shut off or pause the Wi-Fi with voice commands — features that will later come to other routers from TP-Link, Asus, Linsky, and Arris by way of an API. The router is $99, or available in a three-pack for $249, and is available in the U.S. today and in Europe later this year.
Amazon Smart Oven
What’s an Amazon event without a new Alexa-powered oven, right? This time around, Amazon takes on the June Oven with a $250 combination convection oven, microwave, air fryer, and food warmer. Once paired with Echo, you can ask Alexa to do things like preheat the oven, start or stop the cooking, and more.
New Ring Cams
The Ring Stick Up Cam got a price drop to $99 as the Ring Stick Up Cam Elite, $199, launches. Unlike the Stick Up Cam, the new camera will be powered over Ethernet. The Ring Indoor Cam is a wired-only cheaper version of the camera at $60.
More Stuff
Alexa gets Smarter and Weirder
Amazon also took the time to mention a few upgrades to Alexa’s capabilities today.
- This includes a multilingual mode where Alexa will be able to now speak both English and Spanish in the U.S.; French and English in Canada; and Hindi and English in India.
- A new Neural Text to Speech model which will use machine learning to help Alexa be more “expressive.”
- Celebrity voices! Because who doesn’t want Alexa to sound like Samuel L. Jackson? No really. The Jackson voice will be a 99-cent add-on to Echo devices and more celeb additions are in the works.
- Alexa is coming to GM, including 2018 and newer Cadillac, Chevy, Buic and GMC vehicles
- Scan-to-Cook is an upgrade for Echo Show which lets you scan a barcode to have the new Amazon Smart Oven prepare the item correct. The feature works with hundreds of Whole Foods brands, like 365 Everyday Value, plus Gardein, Marie Callender’s and more.
- Certified for Humans is a new program that will highlight easy-to-use smart home products to consumers searching Amazon. Easy is just one requirement, though. The other is “works with Alexa.”
- Alexa Guard gets updated to listen for more than just breaking glass, smoke or carbon monoxide alarms. Now it will listen for human activity too — like if footsteps, talking, coughing, or a door closing, is detected while Guard is in Away mode.
- Alexa replenishment service, launching later this year, will alert you when supplies from smart home devices are low — like batteries that need changing in a smart lock, or an air filter that’s ready for a swap.
- New utterances: You’ll be able to ask Alexa, “tell me what you heard” and “why did you do that?”
Alexa-powered Food Network Kitchen Service
Customers love Alexa in the kitchen for watching recipe videos. So Amazon doubled down on this with its partner, Food Network, to offer both live and on-demand cooking classes for Echo Show users. The service launches in October, and while Alexa is the exclusive voice partner, it will also be offered on phones and tablets. Oh, and Bobby Flay is involved.
Amazon Sidewalk
One of the more interesting introductions today was Amazon Sidewalk, Amazon’s low-bandwidth, long-distance wireless protocol designed to connect all of the IoT devices around your home and beyond — including places where Bluetooth or Wi-Fi can’t reach. The network uses the free, over-the-air 900 megahertz spectrum, and could allow for things like an Alexa-connected mailbox or lights for the yard, for example.
Ring Fetch
The first product to take advantage of Amazon Sidewalk was a connected dog tag that will alert you when your pooch exits a geofence you’ve established — like the yard. The Ring Fetch launches next year.
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Get Norton Antivirus Plus annual membership for only $10 your first year
Increasingly sophisticated threats to online privacy and digital security require serious defense systems. Piecemeal security solutions are only as strong as the weakest link, which why comprehensive threat-protection is your best defense.
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Amazon asks: Where do you want to take Alexa next?
AI assistants are about to break out of the confines of the home and the smartphone: Amazon's latest announcements show the uncertainty and the potential that exists at this juncture.
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Google removes Android apps caught grossly overcharging users for basic features
Would you pay $240 for a calculator app? What about a QR code reader? A GIF maker?
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FTC sues Match for allegedly using deceptive love interest ads
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India’s Darwinbox raises $15M to bring its HR tech platform to more Asian markets
An Indian SaaS startup, which is increasingly courting clients from outside of the country, just raised a significant amount of capital to expand its business.
Hyderabad-based Darwinbox, which operates a cloud-based human resource management platform, said on Thursday it has raised $15 million in a new financing round. The Series B round — which moves the firm’s total raise to $19.7 million — was led by Sequoia India and saw participation from existing investors Lightspeed India Partners, Endiya Partners, and 3one4 Capital.
More than 200 firms including giants such as adtech firm InMobi, fintech startup Paytm, drink conglomerate Bisleri, automobile maker Mahindra, Kotak group, and delivery firms Swiggy and Milkbasket use Darwinbox’s HR platform to serve half a million of their employees in 50 nations, Rohit Chennamaneni, cofounder of Darwinbox, told TechCrunch in an interview.
The startup, which competes with giants such as SAP and Oracle, said its platform enables high level of configurability, ease of use, and understands the needs of modern employees. “The employees today who have grown accustomed to using consumer-focused services such as Uber and Amazon are left disappointed in their experience with their own firm’s HR offerings,” said Gowthami Kanumuru, VP Marketing at Darwinbox, in an interview.
Darwinbox’s HR platform offers a range of features including the ability for firms to offer their employees insurance and early salary as loans. Its platform also features social networks for employees within a company to connect and talk, as well as an AI assistant that allows them to apply for a leave or set up meetings with quick voice commands from their phone.
“The AI system is not just looking for certain keywords. If an employee tells the system he or she is not feeling well today, it automatically applies a leave for them,” she said.
Darwinbox’s platform is built to handle onboarding new employees, keeping a tab on their performance, monitor attrition rate, and maintain an ongoing feedback loop. Or as Kanumuru puts it, the entire “hiring to retiring” cycle.
One of Darwinbox’s clients is L&T, which is tasked with setting up subway in many Indian cities. L&T is using geo-fencing feature of Darwin to log the attendance of employees. “They are not using biometric punch machine that is typically used by other firms. Instead, they just require their 1,200 employees to check-in from the workplace using their phones,” said Kanumuru.
Additionally, Darwinbox is largely focusing on serving companies based in Asia as it believes Western companies’ solutions are not a great fit for people here, said Kanumuru. The startup began courting clients in Southeast Asian markets last year.
“Our growth is a huge validation for our vision,” she said. “Within six months of operations, we had the delivery giant Delhivery with over 23,000 employees use our platform.”
In a statement to TechCrunch, Dev Khare, a partner at Lightspeed Venture, said, “there is a new trend of SaaS companies targeting the India/SE Asia markets. This trend is gathering steam and is disproving the conventional wisdom that Asia-focused SaaS companies cannot get to be big companies. We firmly believe that Asia-focused SaaS companies can get to large impact value and become large and profitable. Darwinbox is one of these companies.”
Darwinbox’s Chennamaneni said the startup will use the fresh capital to expand its footprints in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian markets. Darwinbox will also expand its product offerings to address more of employees’ needs. The startup is also looking to make its platform enable tasks such as booking of flights and hotels.
Chennamaneni, an alum of Google and McKinsey, said Darwinbox aims to double the number of clients it has in the next six to nine months.
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Amazon Echo Buds: First impressions
These truly wireless headphones literally put Alexa in your head.
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World Tourism Day event comes to Pokémon Go on September 26
Another fun event in Pokémon Go.
What you need to know
- Niantic Inc. has partnered with United Nations and the World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO) for a special event.
- UNWTO is a United Nations agency that promotes sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
- To raise awareness for UNWTO, Pokémon Go trainers can now collect a special shirt from the Style Shop.
- Additionally, a special in-game event runs from Thursday, September 26, 2019, at 1p.m. PDT to Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 1 p.m. PDT.
- Region-limited Pokémon will be available in Eggs.
- Mime Jr. will make his way to Pokémon Go for the first time.
- Trainers might also come across new Shiny Pokémon.
Get ready for some excitement, trainers! Starting Thursday, September 26, 2019, Pokémon Go trainers will be able to participate in a special World Tourism Day event. This event is due to a partnership between Niantic Inc. and the United Nations and the World of Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The UNWTO is an agency that promotes sustainable and universally accessible tourism. This event will start on Thursday, September 26, at 1 p.m. PDT and go through Tuesday, October 1, at 1 p.m. PDT.
Trainers will be able to pick up a new UNWTO shirt from the Style Shop. Additionally, Pokémon that usually only show up in specific regions will be showing up in Eggs. This includes Farfetch'd, Kangaskhan, Tauros, Heracross, Corsola, Volbeat, Illumise, Torkoal, Relicanth, Pachirisu, Mime Jr., Chatot, Pansage, Pansear, Panpour, Heatmore, and Durant. Mime Jr hasn't previously been available in Pokémon Go, so trainers should be especially excited to catch one.
In celebration of World Tourism Day and in partnership with the United Nations and the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO), you can look forward to an exciting few days of the first-ever World Tourism Day event!https://t.co/dc9TMJNOgs pic.twitter.com/kedypMGsy9
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) September 25, 2019
In addition to these typically region-locked Pokémon, trainers might be able to come across new Shiny Pokémon that haven't been available in Pokémon Go before. Keep your eye out for Shiny Zangoose, Shiny Seviper, or Shiny Mime Jr. Additionally, trading will cost 1/4 less Stardust, you'll be able to earn twice as much XP by spinning at PokeStops you've never been to before, and there will be special Field Research tasks available for a limited time. Get out and have fun, but remember to be safe!
Mobile money
Google Play Store Gift Card
The gift of safe purchase
With a Google Play Store Gift Card you can give yourself or a loved one money to spend on favorite mobile games, music, and movies. Once it's used up, its gone.
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5 Cheap(ish) Things to Beef Up Your Digital Security
Here are a few simple things to at least prevent the worst problems and keep most of your private information as safe as possible from hacks or security negligence.
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Amazon Echo Buds: First impressions
These truly wireless headphones literally put Alexa in your head.
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Hackers set up a fake veteran-hiring website to infect victims with malware - CNET
The fake website could gain traction on social media where people are trying to support US military veterans.
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Electric cars used to be very, very bad - Roadshow
The Sebring-Vanguard Citicar might have been one of the worst among them.
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Apple Arcade updated: The full list of games for iPhone and iPad - CNET
The service expects to offer more than 100 games for $5 a month.
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