Tech In The News

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Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service- May, 2019 San Diego-based company TuSimple said its self-driving trucks will begin hauling mail between USPS facilities in Phoenix and Dallas to see how the technology might improve delivery times and costs. A safety driver will sit behind the wheel to intervene if necessary and an engineer will ride in the passenger seat. It’s a two week test which involves 5 round trips and 45 hours of driving.
iTunes is Being Replaced
Apple announced Monday that iTunes will be replaced by a trio of desktop apps called Music, TV and Podcasts -- similar to how these services are already divided on iPhones and iPads. It will still exist as a standalone iOS app and on Windows PC. Previous purchases and libraries will be maintained in each new app on Mac computers.
Google recently introduced in its Google Maps features such as
speed cameras, speed traps and crash reporting. Now Google
has added a speedometer in the navigation screen in the lower
left corner of the screen. It will warn users if they are exceeding
the speed limit and help them stay within the speed limit.
Facebook announced its own virtual currency that will be available
next year. The new currency will be called Libra and will launch in
2020. Being able to use mobile money will help those who don’t
have access to traditional banks or financial services. You won’t
have to always carry cash or pay extra fees for transfers.
They plan to make it easy to send and receive money just like you
use an app to instantly share messages and photos.
To learn more about the Libra Association you can go to:
They are working on a program to allow Amazon Alexa to be able to
recognize agonal breathing associated with cardiac arrest - which will
allow Alexa to alert the person in advance. 50% of the time agonal breathing is present and this could help that
many more to survive a heart attack.
DEF.CON, the world’s largest hacker convention, is sharing that your Bluetooth connection is very unsafe. They are saying the Bluetooth is hacker heaven and is chronic with devices like headphones and fitness trackers. They added that many Bluetooth devices “seem to have gaping holes just waiting to be hacked.” If you use your Bluetooth for music or audio, they say the danger is small.
… In honor of its 15th birthday, Gmail is adding a new feature that lets you "write now, send later" your emails. When the feature  is turned on, you will see a drop down arrow in the Send Box when you are writing your email. After writing the email, click on the drop down arrow and choose "schedule send". A time and date selector will appear for you to choose when you want your email sent and Gmail will then send your email at that selected time.
… If you should run into no internet access and looking for something to entertain your time, the Google app has a hidden game for you to play. How? To access the game, either wait until you don't have any data or manually shut off Wi-Fi and your mobile connection. Once you are disconnected, perform a search for any topic within the Google app or one of its related widgets. You'll see a notification that you are not connected along with a photo of a cloud character of the game. Click that cloud and you'll be taken to the game. Enjoy!
… The British Royals' (Prince Harry and Meghan) new instagram account @sussexroyal  first belonged to someone else?
A guy named Kevin Keiley who lives in West Sussex owned it but because it was not active in a while, Instagram took it from him and gave it to the Royal Family. They changed Kevin's to _@sussexroyal_.
If you own an Apple device, hackers have been directing users to download something called Exodus, an app that was actually malware. It allows access to photos, videos, device IDs, audio recordings, and contacts, potentially tracking a victim's location and listening to their conversations through the microphone. It's a reminder to stay vigilant no matter how safe you think your devices are.
Facebook will help find profiles of people who have died so family members and friends won't keep getting reminders about their birthdays. It will also add a tribute section to accounts that are designated as someone who has died. Family and friends will be able to write posts and share memories or photos in this section to remember their loved one.
Twitter has announced a new policy aimed at curbing spamming. It's safety team says that, effective immediately, the daily limit for the amount of people users can follow will be 400 instead of 1,000. In explaining the reason for the decision, Twitter's head of site integrity said that the company decided 400 was 'a reasonable limit' because 50% of accounts who made more than 400 follows per day were automated bots or spam.
… you can now have your suitcase tell you when you have packed
enough before reaching the over the weight limit? GetSet Luggage has
made a new suitcase that has a battery operated (two AAA batteries)
scale that provides a continuous readout in pounds or kilograms as you
pack or remove items. The price of the luggage is going to sell for
$500-$600 depending on size. Hopefully it doesn’t get damaged in
handling at that price.
… the internet just showed that the hole in the cutting board
that we all thought was a handle is where you are supposed
to slide the food you chopped into it. By placing the hole or
as we thought handle over the dish the chopped food is
guaranteed to go into the dish and not all over the counter as
well. Do you believe that’s what the hole is for? Hmmm……
… Twitter has launched a camera to help users take shots or footage and directly tweet them. There is currently no option to upload existing media so this new tweet format will only show items taken directly with the app. You will swipe left from the main timeline screen in Twitter and it will give you a camera screen that will allow you to take a picture, video, etc. and overlay it with text, hashtags or a location. 
...Instagram is launching “checkout with Instagram” where people who tap product tags on instagram shopping posts will be able to buy those items directly without leaving the app with stored payment information. You will no longer have to go to their website to purchase an item that is seen on Instagram. It is currently launching with some top brands like Adidas to test it out and will be charging sellers a fee to sell on Instagram. Just another way to sell products on social media?
Thanks to technology and movie magic, Toy Story 4 will include the late Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head again even though he passed away in 2017. They went through 25 years of everything they didn't use for the other Toy Story movies as well as everything that Don Rickles recorded for Mr. Potato Head in the past for video games or other things and were able to make it work!
...Today is April Fools Day - April 1, and Google is temporarily adding a version of the game Snakes to its Google Maps all this week. You can find the game in the menu of Google Maps. To play the game you just select a city or the entire world and swipe to move your train or bus around the map to pick up the landmarks and passengers. The game will be available all week.
...On April 1, 2004 Google launched Gmail and 15 years later has 1.5 billion users per month. Yahoo mail has only 228 million users per month. Gmail displaced AOL mail and Hotmail and is still free to consumers. A year after Gmail appeared, the company launched Google Maps which is now the No. 1 map service on the web.
...Someone hacked the Weather Channel!? Almost every day in the news you hear about credit card companies, social networks, or even large businesses being hacked. Well who would think the Weather Channel would be next? Yesterday, April 18, they had to default to a taped recording of one of their shows because they had a “malicious software attack”. Wonder who would feel the need to do this?
Through an app on your phone, vehicle owners can select which smartphones have access to the car and for how long. Those that do, can only control the Sonata when their phone is within a couple centimetres of the vehicle; However, the app can remotely manage (via Bluetooth) some car systems, like activating the panic alarm or starting the engine.
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