Web design news

• Google Duo calls may soon work without a phone number

  04-05-2020 23:07 via thenextweb.com
  
  Google Duo is one of the simplest apps for making video calls with friends and family, but it’s been limited by the fact that it generally requires a phone number to use. Frankly, I don’t want everyone to have my phone number. It now seems Google is changing that requirement, thanks to a hidden change in the Duo app spotted by developer Jane Manchun Wong. Google Duo is working on “Reachable with email address” setting pic.twitter.com/BbCiOhoW0Z — Jane Manchun Wong
  
  Read more

• A critical review of Star Wars AI

  04-05-2020 21:47 via thenextweb.com
  
  Spoiler Alert! This article has spoilers for just about the entire Star Wars universe. Read at your own risk! When it comes to fictional portrayals of artificial intelligence technology, the Star Trek universe stands head and shoulders above all others. Series creator Gene Rodenberry’s vision for the far future seems just as prescient today, in the era of advanced deep learning, as it did in the 1960s when he unveiled it. Unfortunately, this article is about the AI in Star Wars. Read:&nbs
  
  Read more

• Apple announces new 13-inch MacBook Pro, killing the butterfly keyboard once and for all

  04-05-2020 20:59 via thenextweb.com
  
  Apple today revealed its new 13-inch MacBook Pro, using the much improved Magic Keyboard the company debuted in November. Though we’re used to seeing a myriad of Apple leaks before new product launches, the company managed to keep the timing of this one a bit of a surprise — we were expecting it later in the year. The keyboard changes echo what we’ve seen on other MacBooks. The old butterfly mechanism was prone to problems and wasn’t all that comfortable to type on with
  
  Read more

• Star Wars: Battlefront multiplayer returns for May the 4th

  04-05-2020 20:37 via thenextweb.com
  
  It’s a May the 4th surprise! Steam and GOG this weekend rolled out an update for the original Star Wars: Battlefront game, giving it online multiplayer, which it hasn’t had in years. So if you’re getting a nostalgic itch for one of the best Star Wars games ever made, you can actually play a game against each other without fan mods now. The legendary Star Wars™️ Battlefront (Classic, 2004) now features multiplayer cross play between GOG GALAXY and Steam!
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Amazon VP quits after ‘chickenshit’ management fires employee activists

  04-05-2020 19:39 via thenextweb.com
  
  Amazon‘s PR nightmare today intensified as one of the company’s VPs abruptly resigned after several employees were fired for questioning work policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tim Bray, a VP and senior engineer at the company’s Amazon Web Services division, published a scathing take-down on his blog aimed squarely at senior Amazon leadership. His post opens: May 1st was my last day as a VP and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services, after five years and five mo
  
  Read more

• This stick-on sensor detects coronavirus symptoms by monitoring chest vibrations

  04-05-2020 19:28 via thenextweb.com
  
  A new wearable that sticks to the throat could detect coronavirus symptoms before you notice them. The stamp-sized device is made of soft silicone material, which is affixed to the base of the throat. It then monitors coughs, breathing, heart rate, and body temperature. All this data is sent to a cloud, where algorithms identify signals of the disease.  The system then sends graphical summaries of the symptoms to a physician, who can use the insights to guide inter
  
  Read more

• Democrats counter Trump’s fake coronavirus news with AI that fought ISIS propaganda

  04-05-2020 16:16 via thenextweb.com
  
  An anti-Trump political organization is using AI originally designed to tackle Islamic State propaganda to counter coronavirus disinformation spread by the president. The system has been repurposed to spot comments from Trump that are about to go viral. It will then identify the most popular counter-narratives, and invite a network of more than 3.4 million influencers “to share these highly visual and emotional narratives from real people in unison
  
  Read more

• Poynter Institute is launching a WhatsApp bot to help debunk coronavirus myths

  04-05-2020 15:00 via thenextweb.com
  
  Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checkers Network (IFCN) is launching a bot on WhatsApp to curb fake information related to coronavirus. The bot‘s aim is to let people quickly check myths about the disease in 70 countries. IFCN said 80 fact-checking organizations from 74 countries have identified more than 4,000 coronavirus-related hoaxes since January. The new bot makes it easier for you to search through these myth-busters. You can search for terms like &ldquo
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• This app helps you get more out of your usual meetings while working remote

  04-05-2020 14:00 via thenextweb.com
  
  Meetquo is dedicated to the idea that meetings should improve productivity, not grind it to a halt. With this offer, you can take advantage of the Meetquo Remote Meeting Platform for life for as low as $49.99, a savings of over 90 percent from TNW Deals.
  
  Read more

• Holy sheet: How to use Google Translate in Google Sheets

  04-05-2020 13:53 via thenextweb.com
  
  Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. Google Translate is an amazing feat of engineering, which uses artificial intelligence to translate speech and text from a chosen language into another. In most cases, Google Translate’s own interface embedded in Google Search or on translate.google.com suffices to get some ad-hoc thing translated quickly. But in some cases, you want something more powe
  
  Read more

• The UK is betting on drones to transport medical supplies and help tackle the pandemic

  04-05-2020 13:01 via thenextweb.com
  
  The COVID-19 pandemic is, by necessity, leading to a flurry of innovation. And now drones are taking their turn in the limelight. In a recent announcement, the UK government said that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could be ferrying vital personal protective equipment (PPE) from the English mainland to NHS staff on the Isle of Wight as soon as early May. The Windracers Ultra fixed-wing drones, which can transport 100kg for over 600 miles, should be able to make the crossing in ten to 15 minute
  
  Read more

• Here’s the iPhone 12 rumor round-up you’ve been waiting for

  04-05-2020 12:30 via thenextweb.com
  
  Yes, you’re right — it’s iPhone 12 rumors time! Of course, it’s fantastic when the new iPhones actually arrive, but the build-up is also damn entertaining. Hell, the combination of sifting through information and following all the leaks is almost like a soap opera. Apart from instead of the finale being some familial murder, it’s just some nerds getting excited. Anyway, we’ve put together a lovely video rounding up some of the most prevalent iPhone 12 ru
  
  Read more

• Elon Musk’s luxury houses listed for sale days after ‘own no home’ tweet

  04-05-2020 12:02 via thenextweb.com
  
  Elon Musk isn’t messing about: It appears the maverick billionaire is actually selling at least two of his luxury California homes. Listings for two multi-million-dollar houses reported to be owned by Musk recently appeared on real estate website Zillow. [Read: Elon Musk bought $45M in Tesla stock since ‘that weed joke’ — now it’s worth double] Just three days ago, Tesla‘s CEO tweeted that he was selling all physical possessions and vowed to own no home.
  
  Read more

• Elon Musk’s luxury homes listed for sale days after ‘own no house’ tweet

  04-05-2020 12:02 via thenextweb.com
  
  Elon Musk isn’t messing about: It appears the maverick billionaire is actually selling at least two of his luxury California homes. Listings for two multi-million-dollar houses reported to be owned by Musk recently appeared on real estate website Zillow. [Read: Elon Musk bought $45M in Tesla stock since ‘that weed joke’ — now it’s worth double] Just three days ago, Tesla‘s CEO tweeted that he was selling all physical possessions and vowed to own no home.
  
  Read more

• Satoshi Nakaboto: ‘Here’s what experts expect from the Bitcoin halving’

  04-05-2020 11:45 via thenextweb.com
  
  Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day. Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Machiavelli used to say: Money makes the world go around! Bitcoin price We closed the day, May 03 2020, at a price of $8,897. That’s a minor 0.95 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$86.14. It was the lowest closing price in one day. We’re still 55 percent below Bitc
  
  Read more

• Amazon and Flipkart set to deliver non-essential goods in India — but read the fine print first

  04-05-2020 11:43 via thenextweb.com
  
  India issued new orders last week extending its ongoing lockdown for more than a month. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs circulated new orders with relaxation for some businesses including ecommerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart. India has Red, Orange, and Green zones to denote the severity of the spread of coronavirus in those areas (Red being the worst affected). Currently, 130 districts are classified as Red, 284 as Orange, and 319 as Green. According to new orders, these o
  
  Read more

• Tesla forgets to wipe infotainment data, exposes sensitive customer information

  04-05-2020 11:22 via thenextweb.com
  
  It seems Tesla isn’t taking full care of its customers’ personal data when replacing infotainment and Autopilot hardware in some of its vehicles. According to an investigation by white hat hacker, GreenTheOnly, previously used Tesla infotainment components have been found for sale online. The real kicker though, is that Tesla isn’t wiping the past customer’s personal data from the hardware before passing them on, InsideEVs reports. [Read: Tesla pulls a slick sales move i
  
  Read more

• Robots, apps, and ventilators: How Indian startups are fighting coronavirus

  04-05-2020 10:50 via thenextweb.com
  
  Entrepreneurs and innovators across India have responded quickly to the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A host of new innovations, some emerging from start-ups that have been incubated by universities, have appeared in recent weeks. There are a number of reasons for the quick response, including the urgency of the humanitarian situation and a proactive approach to crowdsourcing ideas from the government. India also has a wealth of trained engineering talent and helps foster what&rsquo
  
  Read more

• Uber and Ola to resume cab services in India’s ‘non-containment zones’

  04-05-2020 10:34 via thenextweb.com
  
  People in India will be able to use cab-hailing services Ola and Uber starting today, but with certain limitations. Last week, the Indian government extended the lockdown by two weeks. However, it divided its 733 districts into Red, Orange, and Green zones depending on the spread of coronavirus in those areas. Currently, 130 districts are classified as Red, 284 as Orange, and 319 as Green. Earlier this morning, Uber said it’s resuming its services in Green and Orange zones. In Orange zone
  
  Read more

• 7 telltale signs your go-to-market strategy won’t work

  04-05-2020 10:30 via thenextweb.com
  
  Throughout my several decades-long career in the software industry, I have encountered scores of companies that have had great ideas, but never achieved success. They checked all the boxes: they hired a talented team, built great products, established a global presence — yet they were not nearly as successful as they could be. Why not? The complex mix of strategy, messages, products, and overall execution, known as their go-to-market strategy, just wasn’t right. [Read: If cockt
  
  Read more

• States are suspending public records access due to COVID-19

  04-05-2020 10:02 via thenextweb.com
  
  On March 4, Hawaii had no confirmed cases of COVID-19, but officials had started to take action in anticipation of an outbreak. Gov. David Ige declared a state of emergency, giving him the authority  to “suspend any law that impedes … emergency functions.” By the 16th, the outbreak had arrived: The state had 10 confirmed cases, and Ige began to act on that declaration. Among the statutes he suspended was Chapter 92F of something called “the uniform information prac
  
  Read more

• Facebook-backed Jio leaked trove of coronavirus app data because it didn’t have a password

  04-05-2020 10:02 via thenextweb.com
  
  A security lapse in Reliance Jio‘s coronavirus symptom checker exposed the results of millions of folks who took the tests. As first reported by TechCrunch, while the data was largely anonymized in nature, bad actors could’ve taken advantage of it and published all the information. Jio, India’s biggest mobile network provider, launched its coronavirus symptom checker in March with an aim to help people find relevant resources if needed. [Read: After Facebook’s
  
  Read more

• You can only see 1% of all microplastics dumped into the ocean

  04-05-2020 09:47 via thenextweb.com
  
  What if the “great ocean garbage patches” were just the tip of the iceberg? While more than ten million tonnes of plastic waste enters the sea each year, we actually see just 1% of it – the portion that floats on the ocean surface. What happens to the missing 99% has been unclear for a while. Plastic debris is gradually broken down into smaller and smaller fragments in the oceanuntil it forms particles smaller than 5mm, known as microplastics. Our new research shows that power
  
  Read more

• What European tech startups can learn from Asia’s COVID-19 market response

  04-05-2020 08:30 via thenextweb.com
  
  We may not be out of the woods yet — not by any means — but as a number of countries around the world begin to ease their lockdown restrictions, the attention of Europe’s tech businesses is turning from concerns of the now to what comes next.  In the UK, the government’s protective measures for businesses and employees will ease some of the immediate pain for hundreds of thousands of businesses and millions of employees. Included in its commitments is a £1.25b
  
  Read more

• Mozilla’s handy new Firefox extension generates burner email addresses on-demand

  04-05-2020 08:18 via thenextweb.com
  
  Over the weekend, Mozilla launched a new email relay service called Firefox Private Relay. The idea is to provide an ’email alias’ wherever a company or a service asks for your email address, so that you can avoid giving out your actual address and protect your identity. The product is currently in the testing stage and only available as a browser extension for Firefox. Plus, you’ll have to request an invite on the site to get it. [Read: Original Streets of Rage
  
  Read more

• After Facebook’s mega-investment, Indian carrier Reliance Jio raises $748M from Silver Lake

  04-05-2020 05:47 via thenextweb.com
  
  After getting a $5.7 billion investment from Facebook, Indian’s largest carrier, Reliance Jio, has raised another $748 million at a valuation of $65 billion — this time from private equity firm Silver Lake. The firm will own a 1% stake in Jio. Jio is currently India’s biggest telecom network provider with more than 388 subscribers. In a statement, Egon Durban, Silver Lake Co-CEO and managing partner, said market potential addressed by Jio is enormous. Jio Platforms is one of t
  
  Read more

• Tech in Latin America: An entrepreneur’s guide to April’s startup news 

  04-05-2020 00:18 via thenextweb.com
  
  It’s been nearly four years since influential French journalist and startup founder Anna Heim published her last “Tech in Latin America” round-up article on The Next Web, a news briefing about the technology startup industry in Latin America that I eagerly awaited as a startup founder living part time in Colombia.  Much has changed in four years. Venture capitalists, for instance, have taken a shine to the region, with funding in just the first quarter of 2019 quintupling
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsWebDesign on Twitter!