Jurang Tayo

Kamis, 18 April 2019

Apple's secret lab where robots pull apart iPhones to invent 'future of recycling' revealed - Fox News

(Credit: Apple)

Apple has unveiled a brand new "secret lab" that aims to invent the future of recycling.

The sci-fi facility in Texas will use artificial intelligence and a squadron of robots to rip apart iPhones – all in a bid to save the planet.

It's called the Material Recovery Lab, and has been set up for research and development to improve recycling tech for gadgets.

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The 9,000-square-foot facility is based in Austin, Texas, and hopes to create "next-gen" ways of scrapping your iPhone.

Apple has promised to use "robots and machine learning" – including the Daisy recycling robot.

Apple announced the Daisy robots last year as a way to more efficiently disassemble the iPhone.

It's since gone through several upgrades, and can now disassemble 15 different iPhone models at a rate of 1.2million per year.

Daisy robots are based all around the world, pulling out key metals and minerals that can be re-used on other gadgets.

The new lab will work with Apple's own engineering teams, as well as scientists from universities.

(Credit: Apple)

Experts will be using large machinery that you'd typically find at a major electronic waste recycling facility.

The firm has essentially set up a replica of one of these facilities to improve how recycling takes place.

Better still, Apple has vowed to share its findings with other tech firms – allowing them to scrap gadgets in a more eco-friendly way too.

Apple says it set up the facility because no efficient recycling tech exists for some materials.

Apple also revealed that it's made some significant improvements when it comes to making gadgets more ethically.

For instance, aluminum recovered through Apple's Trade-In program is now being remelted into the enclosures of the MacBook Air.

And Apple is using 100 percent recycled tin for the main "logic boards" on 11 different products.

This story originally appeared in The Sun.

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https://www.foxnews.com/tech/apples-secret-recycling-lab-revealed

2019-04-18 13:46:06Z
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YouTube is finally coming back to Amazon’s Fire TV devices - The Verge

YouTube is returning to Amazon’s lineup of Fire TV products, and the Amazon Prime Video app will be adding Chromecast support and become more widely available on Android TV. Those two developments, jointly announced by both companies this morning, mark the end of a long-running standoff between Google and Amazon, a feud that has kept a native YouTube app off of the Fire TV platform for well over a year. Customers were really the ones who were disadvantaged as soon as these two tech giants entered into this spat, so to see that it’s over is very good news.

Google will bring YouTube back to Amazon’s Fire TV devices “later this year.” The flagship YouTube app will come first sometime within the next few months — there’s no firm launch date as of yet — and it will be followed by YouTube TV, the company’s subscription TV service, and the child-oriented YouTube Kids before the end of 2019. Fire TV will become fully certified for YouTube, signaling that it offers first-rate video quality and minimal buffering. YouTube for Fire TV will also support Alexa voice commands for searching and playing content.

In exchange, Amazon will be adding Chromecast integration to its own Prime Video mobile app, allowing users to more easily view their movies and shows on a TV screen if they own one of Google’s affordable Chromecast streaming dongles. Prime Video will also become universally available on Android TV; until now, it’s been limited to select devices running that operating system.

During its absence, Fire TV users were still able to access YouTube through web browsers, so it wasn’t completely unavailable. But a proper app will certainly make life easier for those customers.

Notably, this deal leaves out Amazon’s smart display, the Echo Show, so YouTube won’t be arriving on that device anytime soon. But a person familiar with the matter said that both companies continue to engage in ongoing conversation. In the meantime, the browser workaround can be used as a way to access YouTube on the Show, too.

Google and Amazon would not comment on the specifics of their new agreement, nor would they specify how often they’ve tried to resolve things over the course of this stubborn feud. When YouTube was initially pulled off of Fire TV, there was a ton of finger pointing between the two companies.

Amazon claimed Google was hurting consumers and “selectively blocking customer access to an open website,” while Google voiced frustration with Amazon brushing off its Chromecast / Google Cast feature and leaving it out of the Prime Video app for Android for years. Google also took issue with the online retailer’s refusal to sell many of its products like Google Home, Chromecast, and Nest devices. Amazon resumed selling the Chromecast in December of last year, but that alone wasn’t enough for YouTube to relent. Finally getting on board with casting and broadly expanding Prime Video on Android TV seems to have done the trick.

The new agreement is strictly about streaming and doesn’t include any retail component, so Amazon hasn’t caved when it comes to selling Google Home (a direct competitor to its Echo speakers) or Nest’s more recent devices.

This has been a week of tech companies working out their differences. Apple and Qualcomm settled their contentious legal battle on Tuesday just as it headed to trial, and now we’ve got Amazon and YouTube finally reaching common ground.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/18/18412525/youtube-amazon-fire-tv-prime-video-chromecast-return-announcement

2019-04-18 13:00:00Z
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Samsung’s $2,000 foldable phone is already breaking, reviewers say - Fox News

Samsung’s new $2,000 smartphone doesn’t go on sale until next week — yet it’s already falling apart.

Numerous tech reviewers who received the $1,980 Galaxy Fold — known for its unique foldable screen as well as its hefty price tag — are now reporting that their devices are breaking.

Reporters from outlets like Bloomberg, The Verge and CNBC all took to Twitter to share photos of how their supposedly-flexible screens were blacking out or breaking at their hinges.

“The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just two days in,” Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman tweeted Wednesday.

Attached to the tweet was a photo of the phone with two-thirds of the 7.3-inch screen blacked out.

“When I tap the screen as well with the top of my finger and the fingernail hits it (very common), it also leaves a seemingly permanent indent,” Gurman tweeted shortly thereafter. “There is a very small tear at the top part of the hinge and after I poked at it, the screen got worse.”

Other tech reviewers complained of phones with flickering screens.

Multiple reviewers tied the problem to a thin plastic layer over the screen that they thought was a screen protector— leading them to remove it when they were not supposed to.

The disturbing reviews come as the Fold, which was unveiled in February, gets ready to hit stores next week. It recently sold out of preorder units, Samsung said.

The phone features a tablet-sized 7.3-inch display that bends, allowing it to fold to the size of a regular smartphone with a 4.6-inch screen.

Samsung claims that the Fold’s hinge can withstand 200,000 holds. But so far it’s looking like it can hardly withstand two days.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It’s not the South Korean phone maker's first embarrassing phone launch. Back in 2016, the company was forced to halt sales of its Galaxy Note 7 because the phone’s battery had been overheating, catching fire and blowing up in customers’ pockets.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.

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https://www.foxnews.com/tech/samsungs-2000-foldable-phone-is-already-breaking-reviewers-say

2019-04-18 12:17:55Z
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Google Adds Search and Browser Ballot Screens to Android in the EU - Thurrott.com

Google will implement new Search and Browser ballot screens in Android in the European Union in the coming weeks, the search giant said. The changes are designed to comply with a 2018 European Commission ruling that found Google guilty of abusing its monopoly powers.

“We’ll start presenting new screens to Android users in Europe with an option to download search apps and browsers,” Google’s Paul Gennai explains. “These new screens will be displayed the first time a user opens Google Play after receiving an upcoming update.”

There will be two different screens, one for search and one for the web browser, and each will contain a total of five choices, just like the Browser Ballot (Browser Choice) screen that Microsoft added to Windows back in the early 2000s because of a similar EU antitrust charge. Apps will be listed based on their popularity and shown in a random order, though apps that are already installed—including, yes, Google’s own apps—will be shown at the top.

“Users can tap to install as many apps as they want,” Gennai continues. “If an additional search app or browser is installed, the user will be shown an additional screen with instructions on how to set up the new app (e.g., placing app icons and widgets or setting defaults). Where a user downloads a search app from the screen, we’ll also ask them whether they want to change Chrome’s default search engine the next time they open Chrome.”

Google says these changes will roll out to new and existing Android handsets in Europe over the next few weeks. It will also evolve the implementation based on feedback, and if I know the EU like I think I do, they’ll be asking for Google to not give its preinstalled apps preferential treatment on those screens.

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https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/android/205253/google-adds-search-and-browser-ballot-screens-to-android-in-the-eu

2019-04-18 12:08:44Z
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Don’t buy the Galaxy Fold - BGR

After years of perfecting the various technologies required to manufacture foldable phones, and after years of hype, Samsung finally launched its first ever foldable. And that’s when the story took an unexpected twist: the Galaxy Fold’s screen started breaking or malfunctioning in the hands of expert reviewers. In a matter of hours, a bunch of Galaxy Fold units broke because of various issues concerning that sophisticated Infinity Flex display. Mind you, these weren’t regular users who purchased a device in stores. These were reviewers used to handling all sorts of devices. And they encountered a bunch of issues which prove Samsung’s foldable prototype is, for the time being, a failure. With that in mind, you’d better off not buying the Galaxy Fold for the time being.

After the first reports popped up online showing Galaxy Fold units with several display issues, Samsung issued an explanation about what had just happened, and confirmed the April 26th launch date wouldn’t be delayed:

A limited number of early Galaxy Fold samples were provided to media for review. We have received a few reports regarding the main display on the samples provided. We will thoroughly inspect these units in person to determine the cause of the matter.

Separately, a few reviewers reported having removed the top layer of the display causing damage to the screen. The main display on the Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer, which is part of the display structure designed to protect the screen from unintended scratches. Removing the protective layer or adding adhesives to the main display may cause damage. We will ensure this information is clearly delivered to our customers.

The problem here is that we just witnessed an unexpectedly high number of failures coming from a limited number of early Galaxy Fold samples. It’s not like a few Galaxy Fold units out of hundreds of thousands of devices showed screen issues. It’s a few devices from a very limited number of units out in the wild.

Yes, these are early Galaxy Fold units, but I’d be surprised if they were too different from the finished product that should ship to regular buyers next week.

This early reviews should have addressed, among other things, to the main questions we have about foldable devices. Are they durable enough? Will the screen break rendering a $2,000 piece of tech totally useless? Will the screen show any wear and tear markings?

No matter how exciting these devices are, at least in theory, the first thing they must do before amazing users with completely novel features is to not break — I’m not talking just about the Galaxy Fold, but all foldable gadgets.

If Samsung’s early Galaxy Fold units break that quickly, it means Samsung still has to iron out several issues concerning the durability of foldable displays. The same thing probably goes for its competitors.

Also, the fact that the phone’s display features a film on top of the display that looks a lot like a removable screen protector isn’t good for the company. Nor is the fact that said screen layer is so easy to remove by users that Samsung needs to tell people not to do it. By the way, if seasons reviewers weren’t that quick to get the message, what’s to be expected from regular buyers willing to pay $2,000 for this thing.

I said a while ago that Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is actually an exciting evolution of the smartphone, which will help usher in the next generation of mobile devices. And I still think that. I also believe that Samsung deserves credit for bringing this product to market, in spite of these significant durability issues.

But if you have $2,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you’d be served better by a different phone, and there are plenty of expensive ones out there to choose from. Just don’t buy the Galaxy Fold, at least until Samsung can prove that screen durability won’t be a problem and that steps are in place to ensure that buyers who may be affected by screen issues get fast replacement devices and free/cheap repairs.

Image Source: Samsung

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https://bgr.com/2019/04/18/galaxy-fold-screen-issues-explained-dont-buy-samsungs-foldable-phone/

2019-04-18 10:50:00Z
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Google pulls popular Chinese Android apps over large-scale ad fraud - Engadget

Google pulled a number of popular Android apps from the Play Store after BuzzFeed News has discovered a large-scale ad fraud scheme their developers were pulling off. Six of those apps were by DU Group, a developer that spun off from Chinese tech giant Baidu a year ago. (Baidu, however, still owns 34 percent of the company.) DU's properties include the immensely popular Selfie Camera app that's been downloaded over 50 million times from the Play Store. Ad fraud researcher Check Point found that it contains code that causes the app to automatically click on advertisements without the user's knowledge.

Users don't even need to fire up the app: the clicks happen even if the application isn't running, which means it can drain battery and consume data. This fraudulent action happens with ads served with Google's AdMob and Twitter's MoPub, further showing how bad actors are exploiting Twitter's ad platform. Back in March, BuzzFeed News reported a massive ad fraud scheme that also exploited MoPub by hiding video ads behind legit banner advertisements.

In addition to fraudulently clicking on ads, the DU Group apps involved in the scheme -- Omni Cleaner, RAM Master, Smart Cooler, Total Cleaner and AIO Flashlight, aside from Selfie Camera -- also hid their affiliation with the company. They didn't disclose that they were collecting data and sending it back to China, as well.

BuzzFeed News discovered DU Group's involvement after examining 5,000 popular apps on the Play Store. It found a lot of more apps involved in ad fraud other than the six DU Group applications, though, proving that it's a major problem Google needs to address. Arete Research Senior Analyst Richard Kramer told the publication that Google needs to do more to solve the issue. "Ad fraud is simply the norm in China (and for many other apps), and... Google should be doing far more to prevent it, even if it would materially reduce sales. They cannot claim ignorance of, or deny the problem," he said.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/18/google-pulls-android-apps-ad-fraud/

2019-04-18 09:05:47Z
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Google pulls popular Chinese Android apps over large-scale ad fraud - Engadget

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/18/google-pulls-android-apps-ad-fraud/

2019-04-18 08:21:12Z
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