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Riptide’s latest electric skateboard carves like a surfboard

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This isn’t Riptide’s best board in every respect. The top speed peaks at 18MPH rather than the 22MPH of the R1X, and the 7-mile range could limit this to shorter commutes and around-town jaunts.

However, the pricing might hit the sweet spot. The R1 Black is up for pre-order now at a price of $749 ($649 if you buy before April 8th), or right between the base R1 and the R1X. You also won’t need to ditch your existing board if you want a similar feel. Riptide is selling a $125 Surf Adapter kit that can introduce that surfboard-like ride to any existing model. You only really need the Black if you’re starting fresh and don’t need the power of the R1X under your feet.

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Facebook removes over 1,000 pages ahead of India’s election

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This is the latest in Facebook’s ongoing attempts to keep the platform from being manipulated around elections. Earlier this month, Facebook removed 137 accounts in the UK for stoking political tension. In January, the company removed more than 900 Pages in Iran and Indonesia for coordinated inauthentic behavior. And last year, it pulled Pages in advance of elections in Iran and Bangladesh. In the US, Facebook had banned accounts in advance of the midterm elections and suspended accounts for pushing false information in state elections.

In a statement, Facebook said it doesn’t want its services “to be used to manipulate people.” The company noted that the Pages and accounts were taken down based on their deceptive behavior, not the content they posted. It said it will continue to build new technology, hire more people and work with law enforcement and security experts in its fight against inauthentic behavior. But with more than 900 million people eligible to vote in India’s upcoming election, this will be the world’s largest exercise of democracy to date, and it could showcase just how widespread the problem of “coordinated inauthentic behavior” is.



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Google stops selling the Pixel 2 and 2 XL

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The move might not come as too much of a surprise. Google discounted Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL over Valentine’s Day, seemingly as part of an effort to shift some of the remaining stock. It removed the original Pixel from its store around this time last year, also about 18 months after announcing that handset. However, you can still find Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL at third-party retailers. It’s an interesting strategy that stands in contrast to Apple, which continues to sell some of its handsets several years after release.

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THX’s large-format cinema will take on IMAX later this year

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THX will debut its premium large format brand called THX Ultimate Cinema this spring or summer, it announced. It features a dual-laser 4K Barco projectors and a THX-certified 7.1 immersive sound system and will take on the likes of IMAX and Dolby in the premium large format (PLF) category. It will debut at the at the 1,400 seat Regency Westwood Village Theatre in LA, which has hosted numerous red-carpet premieres.

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TP-Link’s new mesh WiFi system is big on range and low in price

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Aside from being cheaper than offerings from Amazon-owned Eero, Samsung, and Google, TP Link is also promising ease-of-use. Knowing it will probably attract newbies at this entry-level price point, it says set-up is a breeze using the Deco app for iOS or Android — which can help you find the best place to put Deco nodes throughout your pad. The system can also overcome network hiccups by automatically reconfiguring itself if one Deco node drops out, hopefully giving you an uninterrupted WiFi connection.

The low cost means it lacks some of the eye-catching perks offered by pricier counterparts, like the AI-based networking optimization on Samsung’s $248 SmartThings system. But you do get adaptive path selection (keeping the access points on the fastest data stream), Alexa and IFTTT compatibility, and built-in parental controls. The TP-Link Deco M4 Mesh WiFi System is available online at Amazon and other major retailers.

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Shotgun-toting drones and washed-up Garfield phones

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Not an April 1st story.
Why Garfield phones have littered French beaches for 35 years

A bizarre mystery of 90s-era kitsch phones washing ashore in France has been solved.

No AirPower mat? No problem.
Apple AirPods are still the best-selling true wireless earbuds

If you can barely even recall the days when people mocked the AirPods because they look just like their wired brethren, we don’t blame you. They’ve shot up in popularity over the past couple of years, and according to new findings by Counterpoint Research, they’re still the dominant true wireless earbuds available despite a couple of shifts in the market. According to Counterpoint’s estimates, 12.5 million wireless headphones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2018, and Apple was responsible for most of them: The tech giant held a 60 percent market share.

In cities!Google Maps adds a city-themed ‘Snake’ game

Google has added a Snake game to Google Maps — play the classic with a major-cities theme, this time. You’ll play as an ever-growing double-decker bus snapping up passengers in London, for example, while you’ll play as a cable car in San Francisco or a commuter train in Tokyo.

Gerard Williams III led the design of all Apple processors from the A7.
Apple’s lead iPhone chip designer leaves the company

Apple’s senior director in platform architecture, Gerard Williams III, left the company last month after nine years, according to CNET. He might not be the most recognizable name from the tech giant, but he held a very important position for a company that’s making it a point to design more and more of its own components.

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Gmail can schedule messages to send them at a better time

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Smart Compose is also learning to adapt to your personal style. The AI-guided feature now knows how to recognize your usual greetings — if you open with a “hey” or “hello,” you won’t have to repeat yourself every time. The feature can also suggest subject lines based on the body text. And while the expansion technically started earlier in March, Google has confirmed that Smart Compose is now available on Android beyond the Pixel 3 (iOS is coming soon) and works in French, Italian, Portugese and Spanish.

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A Russian drone hunts other drones with a shotgun

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The drone was built by the “Student Design Bureau of Aviation Modeling” at the Moscow Aviation Institute for Almaz Antey. It’s of a similar type used by mining companies, farmers and others to survey pipelines and other installations. A visor-wearing operator uses a live video link to fly the drone and aim the weapon, which is tucked into the nose of the aircraft. A shotgun, rather than a rifle or pistol, was selected for the same reason they’re used for duck hunting: the wide dispersal pattern makes it easier to hit a target.

For now it’s merely a demonstrator, according to the Russian defense site Dambiev. However, Russia is pretty serious about weapons-packing drones, having already created the “Karnivora” drone equipped with nets to take out other UAVs. A “shock” version can reportedly carry high-explosive fragmentation grenades and anti-tank bombs — nightmare fuel, indeed.

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Apple AirPods are still the best-selling true wireless earbuds

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That’s an impressive performance, seeing as a number of mid-tier brands have started gaining a bigger part of the market that quarter, as well. Even in Apple’s home turf, where the AirPods remain the top-selling model, Korean and Danish brands Samsung and Jabra are performing well. Cupertino’s shares are relatively lower in China compared to other regions due to the growing presence of budget devices, as well.

The company is doing better in the rest of the Asia Pacific region, but the rise of new and more affordable brands is also affecting its performance. Apple probably did the worst in Europe, though, where it comparatively underperformed, where Jabra has a 14 percent share of the market and where a crop of new Western European brands has been eating away at more established companies’ shares.

In addition to new and mid-tier brands gaining more and more popularity, another factor that had a negative impact on Apple’s performance is the customers themselves. Some of those looking to get a pair of AirPods chose to wait for the new version, which popped up ahead of its big iPad and services launch in March.

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Care.com pulls nearly 47,000 daycare listings following report

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The company already warned that it didn’t verify listings, but that only appeared at the bottom of pages until after the article.

The same report also noted that Care.com offered only limited vetting of caregivers. Nine of the people in those listings had police records, the WSJ said. The company has stressed that it doesn’t fully screen caregivers.

As Stanford’s Daphne Keller noted, the shortcomings outline one of the recurring problems with internet services that depend on listings: they’re frequently encouraged to add as many entries as possible to show how they’re growing, even if those entries don’t always hold up to scrutiny. While this won’t be a serious financial blow to the site (most daycare listings are from free members), this could serve as a harsh lesson in tempering growth with trustworthiness.

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