Showcasing the WatchOS App Store, Kevin Lynch demonstrated the platform’s discoverability features, as well as the ease in which users can manage the applications they download. It’ll make heavy use of editorial curation. That makes sense, given the difficulty of text input on such a small device. The launch of a dedicated app store, obviously, is a hugely exciting development for the platform. It drastically reduces the friction involved in downloading and discovering new applications, which is great news for people looking to make the most of their expensive watches....

But, overall, the numbers make it clear that mobile apps don’t guarantee wealth. A 2021 study showed just 0.5% of consumer apps succeed commercially. Developers have to jostle for attention among the almost 3 million apps and games on Google Play and 4.5 millionapps and games on the Apple Store. On Apple’s iPhone and iPad platforms, the App Store is the only way to distribute apps. Until recently, Apple and Google’s stores charged a 30% commission fee....

This year’s device, the ROG Phone 5, is no different. In addition to the ROG Phone 5, Asus is also launching a Pro and an Ultimate version that has some extra functions and different design elements than the base model. Looking at the specsheets and features, I would want to say, come for the specs and stay for the goodies. But I’ll leave that judgment to my colleague Abhimanyu, who is reviewing the device....

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the EU’s current pace in charging infrastructure won’t allow the Union to reach its 2030 green targets, which aim for a 55% CO2 reduction from passenger cars. Citing the latest research by consulting company McKinsey, the ACEA proposes the installation of 6.8 million public charging points across the 27-country bloc by the end of the decade. This means that up to 14,000 chargers for all vehicle segments would need to be installed every week — compared to the current average that’s less than 2,000....

Thanks to a new plan by the European Commission, you might be able to find out what Katie from sales makes or even Paul from HR. At the very least, you’ll be able to get a ballpark figure. This ground-breaking proposal means that we could be about to enter an unprecedented period of wage transparency. If the new measures are adopted, EU employers with over 250 employees will be required to publish pay gap data (British companies have already been doing this since 2017)....

Quantum computing Since it first emerged in the 1980s, the field of quantum computing has promised to transform the ways in which we process information. The technology is centered on the fact that quantum particles – such as electrons – exist in ‘superpositions’ of states. Quantum mechanics also dictates that particles will only collapse into one single measurable state when observed by a user. By harnessing these unique properties, physicists discovered that batches of quantum particles can act as more advanced counterparts to conventional binary bits – which only exist in one of two possible states (on or off) at a given time....

On May 19, China’s National Space Administration issued the first images the rover had taken on Mars. After a summer of Mars launches in 2020, and with 2021 shaping up to be a successful one for landers and orbiters, it might seem like landing on Mars is routine. Yet to understand why a first successful landing is such a huge achievement, we need to look back at the complicated history and legacy of landing on Earth’s smaller neighbor....

According to an exclusive report by Fast Company, Segway is closing the production line for its self-balancing human transporter on July 15. Unfortunately, 21 employees will be made redundant; 12 will retain their jobs temporarily to handle warranties and repairs. It’s not clear how long the company will continue to support outgoing Segway models, but hopefully a community will emerge from the ashes. Boosted, the motorized skateboard company, recently went bust leaving hundreds of customers and die-hard fans in the lurch....

— Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) May 20, 2020 Director Zach Snyder announced the release during an online watch party (a common social activity people have partaken of in quarantine). He told the Hollywood Reporter his version will be “an entirely new thing” compared with the theatrical release, and it could be released either in a massive director’s cut, or perhaps in several “chapters.” To catch you up, HBO Max is the streaming service Warner Media has been working on to compete with Netflix, Disney+, etc....

There’s little more critical to all of web development than the ultimate experience a user has engaging with that app or site. Considering that importance, it’s always a little strange when developers all too often fall into the trap of forgetting that humans will one day have to navigate the system they’re now intricately building. Use all the cutting edge design elements and exotic architecture you like, but if it potentially discourages users from engaging with your project, it’s on a fast track to failure....

What I’m saying is the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is not on and I won’t accept it. When it comes to camera arrays, I like to think I’m a pretty open minded sorta guy. Would I want one living next door to me? That’s impossible. You’re a fool. Get out of my house. Still, the iPhone 11 Pro’s bazooka trio layout? Grand, let’s go for a drink! The robotic strip of the Meizu 17 Pro?...

But buying a new car isn’t cheap, and the delay in mass EV production means even second-hand EVs are retailing at massively inflated prices. So, if you’re still driving an ICE vehicle, here are some tips and resources for preserving your fuel intake through the practice of hypermiling. What is hypermiling? Hypermiling (also known as energy-efficient driving) is driving a car using intentional techniques that maximize fuel efficiency. You can deploy specific hypermiling in EVs to reduce range anxiety, but I’ll focus specifically on gas cars....

Maybe jigsaw puzzles and Sudoku aren’t quite doing it for you anymore. Tests of mental acuity are always a fun pastime for smart people, but sometimes, even games and puzzles can get a bit stale. In that case, you could attack a challenge that’s not only a serious brain-tester, but also incredibly practical. Rather than assembling a puzzle, how about breaking out a set of finely-honed tools and assembling the pieces to forge a working, mechanically-driven, stylish watch?...

For all of its success in software and beyond over the past half-century, Microsoft’s eyes are now set firmly on the horizons of tech’s latest new frontier: the cloud. Of course, this isn’t a new direction by any stretch. It’s actually been where Microsoft has been heading for years. Microsoft Azure launched in 2008, the company’s first major foray into cloud services. In 2017, the heritage Office suite of productivity tools, moved to the cloud and became Microsoft Office 365....

If you grew up in the 1980’s, you lived with constant fear that simmering tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union might one day lead to nuclear armageddon. Today, even with the Soviet Union gone, there’s still fear and anxiety about US-Russia relations. But even though the bombs still exist, there’s a far greater likelihood that a conflict between those world powers today wouldn’t happen with missiles being fired....

The system is the brainchild of Anurag Ramdasan and Richard Reis. The duo are the co-founders of Most Recommended Books, a repository of reading suggestions from the world’s most influential people, from Bill Gates (215 recommendations) to the Rock (one recommendation: The Art and Making of Rampage, a behind-the-scenes look at a movie chronicling the love between a man and his genetically-engineered gorilla). Ramdasan said he got the idea while he was building a platform to recommend books, and separately toying with OpenAI’s GPT-3 language generator....

There are certain innocent-sounding questions, though, that computer scientists believe computers will never be able to answer – at least not within our lifetimes. These problems are the subject of the P versus NP question, which asks whether problems whose solutions can be checked quickly can also be solved quickly. P versus NP is such a fundamental question that either designing a fast algorithm for one of these hard problems or proving you can’t would net you a cool million dollars in prize money....

There are currently over 2 billion potential customers for your online business out there right now on the web. The money they spend online accounts for almost 20 percent of the world’s retail sales totals. And since nearly half of all U.S. small businesses don’t have a website, you can capitalize big time by being one of the ones that do. But are you sure you’re ringing every dollar you can out of your digital business?...

It’s easy to just write off drones as classic big boy toys. That is…until they start saving lives. A team of researchers think it’s possible, presenting a study last month outlining how drones can be outfitted to fly over disaster areas and actually identify the screams of anyone trapped and bring help. It’s the craft that even had the drone experts at Drone DJ singing its praises, saying “for neophytes looking to wade into the drone piloting experience, the Ninja Dragon Vortex 9 RC Quadcopter may be an ideal way of taking the plunge....

Working with colleagues in France and Australia, the meteor-watchers worked out the fireball’s trajectory and determined where the meteorite pieces could be located, just north of Cheltenham in the UK. Based on their calculations, Ashley King, a specialist in meteorites at the Natural History Museum in London, made an appeal on local TV and radio stations for information about any unusual black rocks seen to have fallen from the sky....