These on-demand drone applications require a high proportion of uptime or flyability — the amount of time when drones can fly safely. But a key factor often overlooked in the hype about on-demand drone applications is the weather: drones cannot and should not fly in all types of weather. The weather conditions most likely to prevent drone use are precipitation (which can damage electronics), strong winds (which can increase battery usage or even cause drones to lose control) and cold temperatures (which greatly reduce battery performance)....

The social network is saying it’s handling notorious groups that engage in false mass reporting of posts or accounts to get them removed by moderators. It’s also targeting networks trying to cause ‘social harm,’ on and off platforms. The company removed one such group based in Germany this week that was trying to spread misinformation and create conspiracy theories about the country’s COVID-related restrictions. The Reuters report noted that the company is looking to find the core of these campaigns and their network effects, rather than targeting individual posts....

Facebook’s policy of pursuing profits regardless of documented harm has sparked comparisons to Big Tobacco, which knew in the 1950s that its products were carcinogenic but publicly denied it into the 21st century. Those of us who study social media use in teens didn’t need a suppressed internal research study to know that Instagram can harm teens. Plenty of peer-reviewed research papers show the same thing. Understanding the impact of social media on teens is important because almost all teens go online daily....

The system, called M2M-100, is currently only a research project, but could eventually be used to translate posts for Facebook users, nearly two-thirds of whom use a language other than English. “For years, AI researchers have been working toward building a single universal model that can understand all languages across different tasks,” said Facebook research assistant Angela Fan in a blogpost. “A single model that supports all languages, dialects, and modalities will help us better serve more people, keep translations up to date, and create new experiences for billions of people equally....

The move, according to the Wall Street Journal, clashes with Facebook’s privacy policies and “possibly its attempts to comply with a record $5 billion settlement with the U.S. government reached last month.” The law enforcement agency is said to be seeking technological solutions from third-party contractors that would make it possible to harvest publicly-available information en masse from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. While the vendors may not be able to glean much information from private accounts, it appears that details like names, photos, and usernames will be collected and combined with other already available datasets to get a deeper understanding of the individuals’ online whereabouts....

The Radiance is a gloriously flashy closed-back headphone. The black design with copper accents and diamond grille pattern looks stunning in person; it’s the best looking of Focal’s headphones I’ve seen to date, though I do dig the new Celestee‘s blue design too. Although a new design on the exterior, the Radiance follows the geometry of Focal’s other high-end headphones. That’s mostly a good thing, if you ask me. It’s a comfortable design that I can wear for hours on end, and they block out a decent amount of noise too, although it won’t be able to attenuate low frequency rumble the way a proper noise-canceling headphone would....

Rumors about the mythical Apple Car, codenamed ‘Project Titan,’ have been making the rounds for a good 6+ years now, with the project reportedly stagnating and pivoting multiple times. Now the latest batch of rumors suggests the project is back on again, this time focusing on a shared autonomous vehicle that may not even have a proper steering wheel (although a driveable version may be in the works too). Apple is reportedly aiming for a 2025 launch....

BREAKING NEWS: Nintendo has finally shown what Mario looks like without his suit. The Internet wondered…why does he have no chest hair? “Divinity Original Sin 2” has been released. With its deep tactical combat and complex storyline, it would definitely appeal to fans of old-school isometric RPGs like “Fallout” or “Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.” The combat system is based upon the interaction between elements — fire, ice, lightning and poison....

In a new blog post, the company says apps on Android 10 Go will now launch about 10 percent faster than they did on the older version. This improvement in speed has also made it possible for Google to include a new form of encryption for Go users without compromising overall performance. The Big G also boasts a series of new features for its lineup of Go apps. Google Go, for instance, will sport a new AI-powered read-out-out function that ought to make consuming long-form text as easy as listening to an audio book....

To that effect, Google has announced a partnership with Ascension, the second largest health system in the US, in a deal that gives it access to personal health datasets that can be used to develop AI-based tools for medical providers. The collaboration — dubbed “Project Nightingale” — comes a week after the company’s acquisition of fitness wearable maker Fitbit for $2.1 billion. It also corroborates earlier reports that it’s working on a Google Flights-like search tool to make it easier for doctors to find medical records....

To that effect, developers must rework their Chrome extensions to request only minimum permissions without compromising their functionality “We’re requiring extensions to only request access to the appropriate data needed to implement their features,” Google outlined on its Safety and Security page. “If there is more than one permission that could be used to implement a feature, developers must use the permission with access to the least amount of data....

Now the search giant has issued a few key updates to this rollout plan on its support page. It’s giving users a bit more time to switch to new plans. Google has shifted the automatic upgrade to a paid plan from May 1 to June 1, 2022. That means, if you haven’t chosen a no-cost option, you’ll be promoted to a paid plan, given the firm already has your payment details....

Google said it has tested the Live View with the Local Guides and Pixel community over the past few months, and now the company is introducing it to Android and iOS devices that support ARCore and ARKit. The search giant had originally demoed the feature at its developer conference Google IO in May 2018. In essence, the AR mode will use your camera to detect roads, signs, and landmarks to point you in the right direction via augmented arrows and signs....

The feature will roll out initially in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississipi, and Texas, “with more states and countries to come.” The feature will display information like whether you’ll need an appointment or referral to get vaccinated, if the vaccine is limited to certain population groups, or if the vaccine is available at a drive-through location. Once the feature arrives, you might find yourself getting a vaccine at an unusual location: one of Google’s offices....

As spotted by 9to5Google, the November patch release notes indicate there have been “Smooth Display improvements” for the Pixel 4 and 4 XL. The company doesn’t provide any details beyond that. As a recap, it turns out the Pixel 4 would reduce the refresh rate back to 60Hz whenever the display brightness dropped below 75 percent for some reason. However, sometimes it would maintain the refresh rate if the ambient lighting is bright enough....

At first glance, the Pixel 5 looks a whole lot like the Pixel 4, at least from the rear. This time around, however, there is only one size of the model (with a 6.0″ display), and Google has abandoned the radar-based gesture and facial recognition system, opting for a fingerprint reader on the rear instead. This isn’t a flagship in the traditional sense. For the first time since the inception of the Pixel line, Google isn’t using for the most powerful Qualcomm processor, but rather the increasingly popular Snapdragon 765G....

Earlier today, the exchange announced on Twitter (spotted by ZDNet) that it was subject to a hack in which bad actors made off with 9.3 million Ripple ($4 million) and 2.5 million Cardano ($233,000) coins. At the time of writing, the amounted totals to a little over $4.2 million. — Bitrue (@BitrueOfficial) June 27, 2019 Half of the stolen funds have been transfered to private wallets, while the other half was moved to five exchanges – Huobi, Bittrex, ChangeNOW, Exmo....

But when called to defend how you are mitigating the brand and PR risk of a Tay Chatbot or 787 Max autopilot, you are likely to “find religion” in the form of ethics. Autonomous and intelligent systems (A/IS) deployment is accelerating, and managing the risks will be fundamentally different from previous technology waves. We used to build confidence in technology via testing and certification. But if you had the ability to ask Tay, the chatbot would describe exhaustive testing as impossible as there is no longer control over the inputs reaching your system or algorithms....

Thanks to its massive mirror and the ability to see at the infrared part of the spectrum, it can look back billions of years to capture the faint, red-shifted light from the very beginning of the universe. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, the image didn’t disappoint. According to the agency, it’s the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the early, distant universe to date. It shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4....

There’s no denying our climate is in crisis. In the last year, we have seen soaring summer temperatures across Europe, raging forest fires in parts of North America, and terrifying floods in Australia and Pakistan. To save our planet and our future, we need innovative ideas and new ways of thinking. Different business sectors have been scrambling to become more eco-conscious, but one area that is driving change is mobility....