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Spotify Family plan subscribers in the UK can get a free Google Home Mini

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The £14.99 plan covers up to six family members, but Google’s Home Mini can recognize each one via its Voice Match feature in order to personalize music playback. Beware that if you share the plan with non-family members outside your household, Spotify may start cracking down on the widely-used practice.

Spotify teamed up with Google on the offer, but what’s in it for the search giant? Well, it’s competing in a tight race with Amazon’s Alexa, and the device is an important part of its main, revenue-generating ad business. On top of that, Home Mini comes with a three-month trial of YouTube Music Premium, a streaming rival to Spotify.

As for Spotify, offering free hardware will likely help it score a lot of new subscriptions and build up its already dominant lead in the music streaming business. And frankly, it likely isn’t worried too much about YouTube Premium — while Spotify leads the market with a 36 percent share worldwide, Google commands less than 5 percent.

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Tinder ditches its hidden desirability scores

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In 2016, Tinder CEO Sean Rad told Fast Co. that the Elo score — inspired by chess rankings — was based on “desirability.” Product VP Jonathan Badeen related it to Warcraft, saying “whenever you play somebody with a really high score, you end up gaining more points than if you played someone with a lower score.” In other words, if you liked a more desirable person, and they liked you back, your Elo ranking got a bump. Then, presumably, you would start to see more attractive matches.

A few years ago, the idea of an “Elo score” was a hot topic among users and media alike. And sometimes, it still is. Here’s the scoop: Elo is old news at Tinder. It’s an outdated measure and our cutting-edge technology no longer relies on it.

Unlike other dating sites, Tinder profiles are relatively sparse, so matches are largely based solely on the profile photo — attractiveness, in other words. As Tinder never revealed its secret algorithmic sauce, that led many users to wonder why they weren’t getting the types of matches they expected.

Now, the company said in a blog post, “our current system adjusts the potential matches you see each and every time your profile is Liked or Noped, and any changes to the order of your potential matches are reflected within 24 hours or so.” So in other words, it’s still based on who swipes right on you, but Tinder won’t say exactly how. It also added that its algorithms don’t store data about “whether you’re black, white magenta or blue,” nor how much money you make.

Despite the vague explanation, Tinder said “The case has been solved: Tinder matches you, using your recent activity, your preferences and your location.” In appears, then, that the changes are designed to boost engagement, given that Tinder said it rewards folks who use the app more. That, in turn, would help it boost in-app “Super Like” purchases and profile boosts — in other words, to increase revenue.

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Robot brain teaches machines to pick up objects they haven’t seen before

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CSAIL says kPAM or Keypoint Affordance Manipulation is more accurate than other similar technologies. After it detects all the coordinates on an object, it determines what it can do with it. For instance, if it sees a mug with a handle, it can hang it on a hook by its handle. If it determines that it’s looking at a pair of shoes, it can place the shoes on a rack. “Understanding just a little bit more about the object — the location of a few keypoints — is enough to enable a wide range of useful manipulation tasks. And this particular representation works magically well with today’s state-of-the-art machine learning perception and planning algorithms,” the study’s senior author, MIT professor Russ Tedrake, said.

The researchers are hoping to develop the system further until machines powered by kPAM can do bigger tasks, such as unloading the dishwasher and wiping down kitchens. They’re also hoping that the system can power factory robots part of a bigger manipulation machine in the future.

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Shrimp-inspired robot claw could punch through rock

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The researchers started by creating a 3D-printed replica of the shrimp’s claw, which includes a top half that cocks back like a gun, and a plunger that smacks into a socket in the bottom half. The human-made version relies on a top half that spins quickly on a spring-loaded rod, producing the force needed to have the plunger shoot into the socket. In both cases, the animal and the robot create a rapid stream of water that leads to a cavitation bubble — the collapse of that bubble produces the plasma and the subsequent shockwave.

There’s a lot of refinement necessary before you could see underwater robots that throw a mean hook. A design that moves beyond imitating the shrimp could be more powerful. You might see plenty of uses in the long run, mind you. It could be strong enough to drill through rock, or to purify water by breaking it down into peroxides. While it’s a forceful blow, it could ultimately prove more useful for enhancing lives than destroying them.

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Internet Archive races to preserve public Google+ posts

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If you’d rather not have your activity recorded for posterity, you can either delete your Google+ account (if it’s not too late) or else follow the Internet Archive’s process for removing specific content.

It’s not completely surprising that efforts would be underway to preserve Google+, but it’s an unusual situation. You don’t see archivists preserving a major social network (albeit one that struggled to compete) very often. The question is whether or not it will be a comprehensive record — there isn’t much time left to safeguard every last ounce of public content.

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Steam partners can use Valve’s network to speed up game traffic

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How much you’ll benefit from the better connection will vary depending on your own access and where you live. Valve’s data suggests that 43 of gamers will see at least some reduction in lag, while 10 percent will see their ping times drop by 40ms or more. The biggest improvements tend to be in parts of Europe and India, where large chunks of the population will notice the difference.

This isn’t a strictly altruistic gesture on Valve’s part. The more studios rely on its network, the less incentive they’ll have to make their catalog available through rival services like the Epic Game Store. Likewise, players who do have a choice of stores may be more likely to choose Steam if they think they’ll get a better experience. This could still prove beneficial if you thrive on multiplayer games — just know that it’s not all positive.

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Tesla drops mid-range Model 3 battery option

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We’ve asked Tesla if it can comment on the decision.

There are a few potential explanations for the move. Electrek noted that Tesla added the Mid Range option in October of last year as a way of lowering the price for pre-order customers who wanted to take advantage of the full EV tax credit without splurging on a Long Range variant. With the starter car available, it’s not necessary to get a more affordable vehicle. The company is also on a perpetual quest to streamline production. With one less trim level to worry about, Tesla might stand a better chance of ramping up base Model 3 production and getting the machine into the hands of waiting drivers.

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Textiles become circuits in ‘The Embroidered Computer’

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The Embroidered Computer

The Embroidered Computer has flippable relays like those used in mainframes before semiconductors came along. While they’re not nearly as fast, you have to admit that they look a lot cooler in operation (above).

The dominant material is gold, used for its highly conductive properties, arranged in patterns to form the logic of a simple 8-bit computer. “Traditionally purely decorative, their pattern here defines the function,” the artists wrote. “They lay bare core digital routines usually hidden in black boxes. Users are invited to interact with the piece in programming the textile to computer for them.”

While the artwork brings the hidden beauty of programmed circuits front and center, it also makes a normally decorative object functional. The piece imagines a timeline where computers were developed by artisans, rather than engineers, using ancient methods and skills. “Through its mere existence, it evokes one of the many imaginable alternative histories of computing technology and stories of plausible alternatives to our present daily lives,” said Kurbak and Posch.

It’s an ironic inversion, because the Jacquard Loom, which was invented in 1804, used a crude electromechanical computer powered by punch-cards to weave complex patterns. That in turn inspired Charles Babbage in his creation of the Analytical Engine, essentially the first general-purpose computer. “The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves,” said Babbage’s contemporary and computing pioneer Ada Lovelace.

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NASA’s latest cubesat candidates include a solar sail test

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The 16 chosen projects are:

  • Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) from Arizona State University. It will monitor the solar flares and activities of red dwarfs to assess the habitability of their planets.
  • BeaverCube from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was designed so that high school students can learn to design CubeSats and study the Earth’s climate by measuring cloud properties, as well as monitoring the temperature and color of the ocean.
  • SigNals of Opportunity P-band Investigation (SNoOPI) from Purdue University. It will measure snow and soil moisture for food security and water resources management.
  • Daily Atmospheric Ionospheric Limb Imager Mission (DAILI) from The Aerospace Corporation. This one will study wave propagation and transport processes in the lower thermosphere.
  • CatSat from the University of Arizona. This project will deploy a one-meter inflatable antenna that can transmit HD video in real time.
  • Compact Total Irradiance Monitor Flight Demonstration (CTIM FD) from the University of Colorado at Boulder. The instrument will measure solar irradiance and figure out how it changes our climate.
  • CubeSat Inner Radiation Belt Experiment (CIRBE) from the University of Colorado at Boulder. This mission was designed to determine the source, intensity and other details of the electrons in the inner Van Allen radiation belts.
  • Drag De-Orbit Device CubeSat (D3) from the University of Florida, Gainesville. This is a demo mission to validate a new Low-Earth Orbit drag modulating device for future spacecraft.
  • Hyperspectral Thermal Imager (HyTI) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It will show how various resolutions of image data can be used to monitor water resources.
  • Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) from University of Wisconsin-Madison. This mission is composed of two satellites that will monitor far-infrared radiation and determine its role in Arctic warming, sea ice loss, ice sheet melt and sea level rise.
  • CapSat-1 from Weiss School Florida. It’s an educational mission meant to gather data for the establishment of a STEM program in the institution.
  • Bouchet Low-Earth Alpha/Beta Space Telescope (BLAST) from Yale University. It will map the distribution of galactic cosmic radiation across the night sky, which could tell us more about the origin of the universe.
  • Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) from NASA Ames Research Center. It will demonstrate deployable composite boom and solar sail technologies for future deep-space missions.
  • BurstCube from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It’s expected to provide more information and gather info on the end stages of stellar evolution.
  • Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit Satellite to Study Radiation Belt Dynamics (GTOSat) from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It will gather data to boost our understanding of acceleration and of the loss of relativistic electrons in the Earth’s outer radiation belt.
  • Plasma Enhancement in The Ionosphere-Thermosphere Satellite (petitSat) from NASA Ames Research Center. It will keep an eye on large plasma enhancements that can interfere with radio waves used for communication and navigation.

These projects will fly aboard not just flights headed to the ISS, as well as missions led by NASA, but also aboard launches led by other government agencies and even commercial organizations.

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Amazon’s Virginia headquarters clears a key political hurdle

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The approval came despite protests from residents and activist groups. They’re concerned that Arlington and Virginia are catering to a wealthy company at the expense of the community, potentially pushing out lower-income people. They’ve also highlighted complaints about Amazon’s pay and working conditions. Amazon and its proponents have argued that the Virginia location will create jobs, fuel tax revenue and spark investments in the region.

It’s a small victory at a time when Amazon is facing a significant backlash. The company abandoned the New York City portion of its headquarters after facing opposition from politicians for many of the same reasons seen in Virginia. The approval isn’t so much a victory for the company as a relief at a time when its expansion plans aren’t guaranteed to move forward.

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