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Safari’s suggested search results have been promoting conspiracies, lies, and misinformation https://ift.tt/2OexVpP Safari’s Siri Suggested Websites search results have been recommending a litany of low-quality and conspiratorial websites, a report from Buzzfeed has revealed. Siri Suggested results are a means of linking Safari users directly to relevant websites directly from the search bar rather than needing to load the results in a web page first. The suggestions, highlighted at the top of the search bar, include a holocaust denial website, a Pizzagate conspiracy video, and an anti-vaccination website. Apple removed each of the misleading results shortly after the report surfaced. A search for “Pizzagate,” for example, caused Siri to suggest a conspiratorial YouTube video from David Seaman, who had his account suspended back in February 2018 for violating the platform’s terms of services. Meanwhile, searching for “the holocaust didn’t happen” causes Siri to suggest visiting a Holocaust denial website. Apple relies on Google for its Siri search results, having ditched Bing back in 2017. But when Buzzfeed compared results on popular conspiracy theories from the two services, Siri was found to actively promote misinformation that Google’s algorithms did not. Instead, Google successfully surfaced articles from reputable sources such as The Washington Post and Snopes designed to debunk the theories. This would seem to indicate that Siri’s internal algorithms and human curation, to the degree it exists, are to blame for the offensive suggestions. Safari users can disable Siri’s suggested websites by opening Safari’s Preferences, clicking on Search, and unchecking the “Include Safari Suggestions” box. Gadget News via The Verge https://ift.tt/1jLudMg September 26, 2018 at 05:25AM
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Amazon Alexa is down in the UK and Echo gadgets have crashed around the country https://ift.tt/2Q5IMQf Gadget News via gadgets - Google News https://ift.tt/2zdEA80 September 26, 2018 at 05:06AM
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Google Maps now helps you plan group events https://ift.tt/2ObRZJv If you've ever tried to settle on a place to eat, you know how time-consuming it can be. If you're not trying to describe each and every restaurant, you're sending a flood of links. Google is making that simpler from now on. As promised back in May, it's rolling out a Group Planning feature on Google Maps for Android and iOS that helps you coordinate events with friends. When you've found places to go, you only have to press and hold to add it to a shortlist that stays on-screen as you find places. Once you're satisfied, you can both share the entire list on messaging services and vote on the choices from Maps itself. The feature starts rolling out this week, so don't be surprised if you don't have access to it right away. It could be worth the wait, though. Group Planning was one of the most practical additions to Maps that we saw at Google I/O this year -- it's addressing one of the most common problems with nights out in a simple, straightforward way. Gadget News via Engadget http://www.engadget.com September 26, 2018 at 05:06AM
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Robots are learning to carefully peel lettuce leaves https://ift.tt/2OQOlC1 Technology is designed to improve and streamline every facet of life, and that inevitably includes areas most people would never even think about. Such a lettuce peeling. A random issue for many, perhaps, but for the agriculture industry, a new development in this field is a big deal. Researchers from Cambridge University have developed the first robotic lettuce leaf peeling system, which not only demonstrates advances in automation, but addresses increasing food and labor demands. After harvesting, lettuces must have their outer layers removed. This is a time-consuming, menial task currently performed by farm workers, whose man power is better used elsewhere. The repetitive, basic nature of the job makes it well suited to automation, but lettuces are delicate -- getting a robot to identify and gently peel away the outer layers without smashing it to bits has been challenging. But the team at Cambridge think it's cracked it. The system first uses computer vision to locate and determine the positioning of the lettuce, and then identify the lettuce stem. If it can't find the stem, a padded robot arm will gently roll the produce around until it's located. Then, a 3D printed circular nozzle, in conjunction with a suction system, gently grabs the outer leaf and removes it using a tearing action, without causing any damage to the lettuce. Researcher Luca Scimera says the process takes an average of 27 seconds to complete, and that it could be applied to other crops. "Lettuce leaf peeling is an interesting robotics problem from an engineering perspective because the leaves are soft, they tear easily and the shape of the lettuce is never a given," he said. "The computer vision we have developed, which lies at the heart of our lettuce peeling robot, can be applied to many other crops, such as cauliflower, where similar information would be required for the post-processing of the produce." Scimera says that further work is needed to better integrate the three stages of vision detection, rolling and leaf removal, but that it's an important advancement nonetheless, noting that there's a growing need to develop automated robot solutions for agriculture due to increasing food demands, changing climate conditions and the decreasing availability of manual labor. Gadget News via Engadget http://www.engadget.com September 26, 2018 at 04:36AM Gadgets research portal 91mobiles buys Pricebaba, 500 Startups exits https://ift.tt/2zvicdI Gadget News via gadgets - Google News https://ift.tt/2zdEA80 September 26, 2018 at 03:29AM
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Instagram gets browser notification support https://ift.tt/2IgwLop For the first time, you’ll now get Instagram notifications when using the social network through a browser. Chrome support was first reported by Android Police, but we’ve also confirmed that it’s working in Safari and Firefox. The service will ask for permission first, and then notify you whenever there’s any activity on your account such new followers, likes, or comments. The functionality works across both desktop and mobile and has also come to Instagram Lite, the service’s alternative low-data, low-resource app. Instagram Lite launched in Mexico earlier this year, and is expected to launch across the rest of the world as it moves out of its testing phase. The development means the web and Lite experience of using Instagram is closer to the full-fat version of the service than ever, but there are still some differences. You can’t upload videos for example, and direct messages are not supported. It’s unclear whether Instagram intends for them to eventually reach parity. Gadget News via The Verge https://ift.tt/1jLudMg September 26, 2018 at 03:10AM
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US bill modernizing music royalties only needs the President's signature https://ift.tt/2QYnTaX The House of Representatives has given the Senate's version of the Music Modernization Act two thumbs up, which means the bill is now heading to the White House. MMA will update rules regarding royalties and licensing when it comes to streaming in an effort to make sure creators are properly compensated. It will lead to the creation of a publicly-accessible database that makes it easier to see which publishers and artists need to be compensated for particular songs. Further, it will update the royalty rates for artists behind pre-1972 songs and will update royalty rates to reflect market changes all around. The version of the bill that the Senate approved in early September had different wording from the one the House passed back in April. Instead of hashing it out with the Senate, though, the House has decided to take the upper chamber's version for its own. The president is now expected to sign it into law over the next ten days. Chris Harrison, the CEO of Digital Media Association, which helped shape the legislation, explained the importance of MMA in a statement:
Gadget News via Engadget http://www.engadget.com September 26, 2018 at 02:30AM
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Google to allow Chrome users to disable controversial login feature following complaints https://ift.tt/2xDdKsj Google is responding to criticism this week over its recent change to Chrome login behavior. Security experts criticized Google for automatically forcing Chrome users to log into the browser if they signed into Gmail on the web. You typically choose to sign into Chrome itself if you want to sync bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history between devices. While Google claims sync isn’t automatically enabled, the change has been interpreted as a method to trick users into inadvertently sharing more data. Google is now offering more control over the changes. In a blog post entitled “Product updates based on your feedback,” Chrome product manager Zach Koch explains that Google is responding to the criticisms with some changes in Chrome 70. Google is adding a new control to disable the automatic Chrome sign in. Despite the control, it appears the automatic Chrome sign in (when you sign into Gmail on the web) will still be the default behavior. Google is also updating its sync UI to make it clearer over whether you’re syncing data like passwords, credit cards, addresses, and browsing history to a Google Account. Chrome 70 will also clear all Google auth cookies when you sign out, instead of keeping these to allow you to stay signed in after cookies are cleared. You can already disable this new login behavior in Google’s Chrome flags, which is particularly useful if you’re experiencing problems using multiple accounts in Chrome after the Chrome 69 update. If you navigate to “chrome://flags/#account-consistency” in Chrome and disable the setting “Identity consistency between browser and cookie jar” it will remove the automatic Chrome sign in. If you’re happy to wait for Google to finally make this into a setting in the Chrome UI, then Chrome 70 will be available in mid-October. Gadget News via The Verge https://ift.tt/1jLudMg September 26, 2018 at 02:23AM
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PC gamers like using controllers more than you might think https://ift.tt/2Q2nYZK While PC gamers enjoy many benefits over using a console, the latest Steam stats released by Valve show there's a shared appreciation for one thing: console gamepads. According to Valve, since 2015 when it released an update allowing players to map gamepad inputs to any combination a game understands, over 30 million of its players have registered a controller, and about half of them have registered more than one. Xbox 360 and Xbox One pads combine to represent over 40 million of the controllers used, compared to about 16 million between the PS3 and PS4, which have trailed in the amount of built-in support. The big surprise in the stats is apparently Nintendo's Switch Pro, which has risen steadily to the 7th-most used spot despite only unlocking full support in May. Even the Steam Controller gets a mention -- despite only selling 1.3 million of them, Valve said it's the one used with the highest number of different games on its platform. The timing of this announcement is interesting, as theXbox One finally moves toward supporting mouse and keyboard in games where the developer's choose to allow it, Valve releases data encouraging developers to think of gamepad-using players on PC. Gadget News via Engadget http://www.engadget.com September 26, 2018 at 12:48AM Publications reportedly embracing Apple News for ad revenue potential not immediate returns9/25/2018
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Publications reportedly embracing Apple News for ad revenue potential, not immediate returns https://ift.tt/2DxdY9G News outlets have seen extensive growth in readership within Apple News as of late, with many prioritizing its audience over other forms of distribution. The only issue? Few -- if any -- have been able to actually monetize it, according to a new report. Gadget News via AppleInsider - Frontpage News http://appleinsider.com September 25, 2018 at 11:49PM |
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