Well, the people at the FIDO Alliance must be jumping for joy. In a new announcement, Google, Microsoft, and Apple have agreed to play nice with each other to enable passwordless sign-ins across their platforms. In March, the FIDO Alliance released a white paper that introduced the passkey concept that enables cross-platform and multi-device passwordless sign-ins. The new announcement ensures that major operating systems support these features. Currently, Apple and Microsoft have some ability to enable authentication without passwords within their own ecosystems....

Long story short: You’ll feel a little prouder when you pretentiously remind your roommate they used up all the toilet paper and didn’t buy a new roll, because you no longer have to waste paper on post-it notes to teach your fellow basement dwellers proper manners. Simply say, “Hey Google, leave a note that I had to wipe my ass with my bare hands because Sarah didn’t buy TP,” and Assistant will jot down your thoughtful remarks....

In July, Google announced its ditching the physical fingerprint sensor in Pixel 4 to enable an iPhone-like face recognition system. Later, the company also confirmed it’s running a ‘field research,’ where it’s offering $5 to people in exchange for their facial data. The search giant said it’s collecting this data to tune the upcoming device’s software for all kinds of faces. A report published by the New York Daily Times today suggests Google’s contractors might’ve used dubious methods including targeting homeless people and unaware college-going students to gather this data....

The service was available only in New York City, and was an experiment from Area 120, the company’s internal incubator for employees’ potentially big ideas. Google noted that “given the current health crisis, we don’t feel that now is the right time to invest further in this project,” and that it doesn’t plan to reboot Shoelace in the future. Like most 30-somethings who don’t always have an easy time meeting new people, I quite liked the idea behind Shoelace: You could join communities to find like-minded folks in your area, and spot editor-curated activities to participate in....

If you wish this really would be the Last Christmas you’re forced to endure Wham, Google’s new Blob Opera offers a chance to create something a little different. The machine learning experiment by artist David Lee lets you create an operatic festive song for a quartet of colorful blobs to sing. The creatures were taught the art by professional songbirds Cristian Joel (tenor), Frederick Tong (bass), Joanna Gamble (mezzo‑soprano), and Olivia Doutney (soprano), who recorded 16 hours of singing to train the AI model how to warble....

The device is covered in a classy-looking (and potentially cat-attracting) fabric, although it is made of 70% recycled materials, with a metal chassis on the inside. Key to the audio improvements are a new 19mm tweeter and 75mm mid-woofer. Combined with optimized software, Google says it can provide 50% more bass and 75% more volume than the original Google Home. Though shy on technical specifics, Google says it “completed more than 500 hours of tuning to ensure balanced lows, mids, and highs so nothing is lacking or overbearing....

The tech giant points out it would be in violation of the company’s code of conduct. However, employees are allowed to peacefully protest YouTube or Google in other parts of the Pride parade, just not in their capacity as employees. Google’s employees are not happy with this response. — Rebecca (@Tri_Becca90) June 24, 2019 Google’s stern stance on its employees’ protesting was confirmed by a leaked internal memo, according to The Verge....

None of these devices are particularly surprising — they’ve each been rumored or confirmed for months. Google had already previously confirmed it planned to launch the Pixel 5 this year, and that it would feature 5G support (along with a Pixel 4a 5G as well). Back in July, the company also confirmed the existence of a new Nest speaker that seems to lie somewhere in between the Nest Mini and Nest Max; Google followed this up with an official image after leaked ones started to make the rounds....

Custom in-ear monitors (IEMs) are ostensibly the endgame of sound quality for audiophiles on the move. They tend to represent the best of a manufacturer’s acoustic technology, and their bespoke nature makes them equal parts gadget and jewelry. Trying my own set of customs is an itch I’ve wanted to scratch since I bought my first pair of fancy earbuds about a decade ago, but it just seemed like such a hassle....

Yes, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo — who is regularly spot on with these sort of predictions — has said that Apple will debut six new “mini-LED products” across 2020 and 2021, something first reported in MacRumors. Some of these are expected. You know, like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro — a piece of gear we’ve written about before. Other products in this vein are the upcoming 27-inch iMac Pro, a 16-inch MacBook Pro, and a 10....

This handset caters to the (presumably small) niche of people who desire a rugged phone with a physical keyboard and a widescreen display. It’s strongly reminiscent of the divisive BlackBerry Passport, albeit running Android 9.0, and with the inherent hardiness of a CAT phone. In short: it’s weird. But also, I kinda love it. I got my hands on one last month, and I’ve been testing it out. And while there are some areas where it doesn’t quite excel, it’s fundamentally a decent handset....

The breach at Babylon Health this week allowed users of the app to see confidential video recordings of other patients’ consultations with their doctors. Hancock had notoriously praised the company in a newspaper supplement paid for by Babylon, describing its app as a “revolutionary” service that should be “available to all”. He later called for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) to change its rules so that people could more easily access the app....

As a cybersecurity researcher, I track data breaches and the black market in stolen data. The destination of stolen data depends on who is behind a data breach and why they’ve stolen a certain type of data. For example, when data thieves are motivated to embarrass a person or organization, expose perceived wrongdoing or improve cybersecurity, they tend to release relevant data into the public domain. In 2014, hackers backed by North Korea stole Sony Pictures Entertainment employee data such as Social Security numbers, financial records and salary information, as well as emails among top executives....

Today, religious leaders are bushwhacking their way through the ethical implications of modern AI and, in many respects, they’re more organized and coherent than most politicians and academics. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that the official stances of the Vatican, Southern Baptists and Evangelicals, and the Church of Satan take a firmer ethical position on AI tech than most governments and universities. Before the robots, Satan In 1988 Anton Szandor LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, released a five-point program called “Pentagonal Revisionism” in response to decades of questions about what the church actually stands for and planned to do....

The report notes that a 29-year-old man in Fujian province was suspected of killing his girlfriend after an argument over finances. He tried to scan her face in a lending app called Money Station. The app uses AI to verify applications, and it asks them to wink during the approval process. However, in this case, the app’s AI detected no eye movement. Plus, the company’s voice recognition software also found that a man is trying to apply for a loan rather than a woman....

Each year, TNW asks the leaders in the software development world for their take. Let’s face it, if anyone’s going to be a fortune-teller for the industry, it’s those working on the front lines. Here’s what they had to say. Automated code analysis will get better (and more ubiquitous) Code analysis tools are nothing new, but they previously were the preserve of the well-heeled dev teams with cash to splurge....

If software is a 747 aircraft that can change course rather quickly and arrive at your destination in a relatively short amount of time, hardware is an ocean liner. It takes much longer to get to where you’re going and if you need to pivot to find market fit, it will take much longer to turn the ship around. Investors in hardware must keep this in mind. A quick beta test with a few hundred users costs nearly nothing for a software team but can be a monumental drain on resources when designing and building hardware....

Don’t get me wrong, I love the first Transformers movie and I totally get Jake Paul’s appeal to a certain demographic. There’s room in the world for both of these things. What they represent isn’t new; anti-intellectualism has always been mainstream entertainment’s lynchpin (see: 1980s action movies, Laurel and Hardy, Jackass, and Borat). Unfortunately the emergence of big screen special effects for the independent film maker and the popularity of live-streaming stream-of-consciousness antics as an alternative to narrative cinematography has resulted in DIY filmmakers becoming an endangered species....

Entertainment on your device Most travellers these days are heading on planes and trains with all of their entertainment needs in the palms of their hands. Several major airlines are pushing to get rid of built-in seat screens on their planes and many no-frills airlines are already doing without them, or charging to rent them on planes for in-flight entertainment. If you bring your own smartphone, laptop or tablet, you don’t need to worry about this cost and you will be in charge of your own entertainment....

To support the protest movement organizers launched a fundraising campaign on the GoFundMe platform. However, the social funding platform seized the approximately $10 million in donations that were raised, alleging that the movement failed to both prohibit the promotion of violence and harassment and adhere to sanctions Canadian authorities had imposed. Organizers responded quickly by turning to the world of cryptocurrency to evade seizures and continue funding their movement. They raised nearly $1 million in a matter of days....