Facebook users in Europe distressed about Facebook’s revelation that its latest breach left as many as 50 million users exposed could get some compensation. Facebook also faces a class-action suit and a broader GDPR investigation.
The post Facebook’s latest data breach could earn Europeans thousands in compensation appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
On the heels of Backstage Capital’s announcement to launch an accelerator for startups led by underrepresented founders, the venture capital firm has selected its fourth location. Backstage Capital decided on three of the cities ahead of time and held a public vote to determine the fourth. Well, the results are in and Backstage Capital has landed on Detroit, Mich. for the accelerator’s fourth location.
“It’s a rising standout for entrepreneurs in the Midwest,” the firm writes on its site. “Innovation and technology in the city are booming, and Detroit startups are attracting capital from Silicon Valley as well as local investors and government.”
Backstage Capital is also going to run accelerators in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and London. Through Backstage Capital’s accelerator, the firm will invest $100,000 in each company in exchange for five percent equity. Unlike other Silicon Valley accelerators, there won’t be a demo day because it “seems a little like standardized testing,” Backstage Capital Founder and Managing Partner Arlan Hamilton said at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco last month. The deadline to apply is October 15.
Backstage Capital’s mission is to provide early seed funding to founders who are women, people of color, and/or LGBTQ — groups that are vastly underrepresented in Silicon Valley. A few months ago, Backstage Capital launched a $36 million fund. Since receiving its first check from a limited partner in 2015, Backstage Capital has invested in 100 companies — writing checks anywhere between $25,000 and $100,000. You can read more about the accelerator below.
Source: TechCrunch
African swine fever is eliminating entire herds in China and Europe. But few surveillance systems capture animal pathogens, even when humans are aiding their spread.
Source: Wired
Samsung swapped out the ARM processor for Intel in the Chromebook Plus V2, making this moderately priced 2-in-1 faster but not as long-lasting. All else remained roughly the same, meaning it’s a well-built Chromebook that doesn’t stand out.
The post Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 review appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
2018 has been a good year for ridiculous, gargantuan LEGO builds. Just weeks ago, there was that life size, driveable LEGO Bugatti.
Now someone has gone and built a mega-sized recreation of Apple’s new Cupertino “spaceship” campus – otherwise known as Apple Park.
Coming in at roughly 85,000 pieces, the build took designer Spencer_R a little over two years to complete, with many of those hours spent poring over drone footage of the campus’ construction. At 6.8×4.5 ft, it’s bigger than most kitchen tables. Spencer says it weighs around 78 pounds.
Beyond the massive circular building that serves as the build’s primary feature, tons and tons of tiny details accent the brick canvas: its got the glass-walled Steve Jobs Theater, the hundred-year old Glendenning Barn that was disassembled and rebuilt on the property, the employee parking garages, the visitor center, and even some tiny employee basketball/tennis courts for good measure.
Oh, and trees. Lots, and lots, and lots of trees. 1,646 trees in all, by Spencer’s count.
This is hardly Spencer’s first time recreating a mega building — he’s done custom creations of everything from the Eiffel Tower to the Rockefeller Center. With that said, he notes that Apple Park is “nearly as large as all of [his] other LEGO skyscraper builds combined”
For more build details, you can tap through Spencer_R’s gallery/build notes here. Thank you to Fabrizio Costantini for letting us use these photos.
Source: TechCrunch
Stefani Germanotta has portrayed more than just a global pop icon—she’s popped up in a handful of genre projects too.
Source: Wired
Tesla’s Autopilot is often touted as the most capable and advanced driver assistance system available on the market today. But in Consumer Reports’ view that honor actually goes to Cadillac’s Super Cruise.
The consumer organization gave Super Cruise the top spot in its first-ever ranking of partially automated driving systems because it is the best striking a balance between technical capabilities and ensuring drivers are paying attention and operating the vehicle safely.
That’s an important distinction that means CR is considering a lot more than simply the technical capabilities of any one system.
CR evaluated four systems: Super Cruise on the Cadillac CT6, Autopilot on Tesla Model S, X and 3 models, ProPilot Assist on Infiniti QX50 and Nissan Leaf, and Pilot Assist on Volvo XC40 and XC60 vehicles. The organization said it picked these systems because they’re considered the most capable and well known in the industry.
Testers looked at the capability and performance of the tech, how easy the system is to use, and how well it monitored and kept the driver engaged. Testers also looked at how the system responded if the driver ignored warnings.
Tesla Autopilot scored higher than any other system for capability and ease of use. But Cadillac did a better job of making it clear when it’s safe to use, keeping drivers engaged and reacting when someone is unresponsive to the warnings.
A partially automated driving system — some use the term semi-autonomous — typically uses sensors such as cameras and radar as well as mapping data combined with software to assist with some driving tasks in certain conditions and wi . For instance, these systems might provide lane keeping and adaptive cruise control on highways.
The ProPilot Assist system used by Nissan and Infiniti fell to third place and Volvo’s system brought up the rear with poor marks (compared to its competitors) in nearly every category.
The consumer organization is particularly wary of how these systems are marketed and believe that automakers can send “mixed messages” that suggest these systems have autonomous or self-driving capabilities.
CR’s tests appear to have already had an affect, in at least how these systems are marketed. CR said that Volvo changed the language used to describe Pilot Assist, which was listed on its website under autonomous driving. Volvo no longer connects Pilot Assist to autonomous driving.
Source: TechCrunch
Though no consumer data is thought to have been stolen, China leveraged tiny microchips as part of a hack of Apple, Amazon, and government contractors. The hack targeted trade secrets and other intellectual property.
The post Apple, government contractors were hacked using tiny Chinese chips, report says appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
The European Parliament has voted in favor of a new quota for content on streaming services. Services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, will have to make sure that at least 30 percent of their catalogs in Europe come from European countries.
Many European countries already have quotas for movie theaters and TV networks. Quotas foster cultural diversity and ensure that movies with smaller budgets get a chance to compete with blockbuster franchises.
Other countries thought it was better to let the market decide and now it’s just Fantastic Four and The Emoji Movie on repeat because local production got crushed by Hollywood’s dollars.
Some European countries also set a tax on sales ticket to finance local movie production. With today’s new European agreement, streaming platforms will also have to contribute to local productions. They’ll be able to invest directly in local content or finance national funds. Netflix has already announced plans to open offices in Paris and Madrid to produce more content in those countries.
Streaming services will have to contribute proportionally to their revenues in each country. It’ll be a bit tough to calculate for Amazon as Amazon Prime Video is mixed with a bunch of services as part of the Prime subscription plan.
In other news, online video platforms at large (including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch…) will have to go further when it comes to taking down dangerous content. This time, the Parliament wants to protect minors from violence, hatred, terrorism and harmful advertising in particular.
Platforms will need to be transparent when it comes to their flagging and moderation mechanisms. And there are new rules on children content. Platforms can’t capture personal data of children for targeted advertising purposes.
Source: TechCrunch
Whenever I see an overpass or billboard that’s been tagged, I worry about the tagger and the danger they exposed themselves to in order to get that cherry spot. Perhaps this spray paint-toting drone developed by ETH Zurich and Disney Research will take some of the danger out of the hobby. It could also be used for murals and stuff, I guess.
Although it seems an obvious application in retrospect, there just isn’t a lot of drone-based painting being done out there. Consider: a company could shorten or skip the whole scaffolding phase of painting a building or advertisement, leaving the bulk of painting to a drone. Why not?
There just isn’t a lot of research into it yet, and like so many domain-specific applications, the problem is deceptively complex. This paper only establishes the rudiments of a system, but the potential is clearly there.
The drone used by the researchers is a DJI Matrice 1002, customized to have a sensing rig mounted on one side and a spraying assembly on the other, counterbalancing each other. The sprayer, notably, is not just a nozzle but a pan-and-tilt mechanism that allows details to be painted that the drone can’t be relied on to make itself. To be clear we’re still talking broad strokes here, but accurate to an inch rather than three or four.
It’s also been modified to use wired power and a constant supply of paint, which simplifies the physics and also reduces limits on the size of the surface to be painted. A drone lugging its own paint can wouldn’t be able to fly far, and its thrust would have to be constantly adjusted to account for the lost weight of sprayed paint. See? Complex.
The first step is to 3D scan the surface to be painted; this can be done manually or via drone. The mesh is then compared to the design to be painted and a system creates a proposed path for the drone.
Lastly the drone is set free to do its thing. It doesn’t go super fast in this prototype form, nor should it, since even the best drones can’t stop on a dime, and tend to swing about when they reduce speed or change direction. Slow and steady is the word, following a general path to put the nozzle in range of where it needs to shoot. All the while it is checking its location against the known 3D map of the surface so it doesn’t get off track.
In case you’re struggling to see the “bear,” it’s standing up with its paws on a tree. That took me a long time to see so I thought I’d spare you the trouble.
Let’s be honest: this thing isn’t going to do much more complicated than some line work or a fill. But for a lot of jobs that’s exactly what’s needed — and it’s often the type of work that’s the least suited to skilled humans, who would rather be doing stuff only they can do. A drone could fill in all the easy parts on a building and then the workers can do the painstaking work around the windows or add embellishments and details.
For now this is strictly foundational work — no one is going to hire this drone to draw a Matterhorn on their house — but there’s a lot of potential here if the engineering and control methods can be set down with confidence.
Source: TechCrunch