Blog

Microsoft expands App Assure to bring better compatibility to Snapdragon PCs

[ad_1]

“Microsoft’s App Assure with FastTrack program is a service designed to help customers, developers, and independent software vendors address application compatibility issues, at no additional cost for qualifying customers,”  Qualcomm writes in a statement. “A focus of the program will be to engage vendors to deliver compatibility of Windows 10 apps on Snapdragon compute platforms so that users working anywhere can confidently use Windows 10 apps on Snapdragon-powered devices.”

Microsoft previously indicated that it would expand the program when Qualcomm first introduced the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 earlier this year. Microsoft hardware chief, Panos Panay, said that ensuring compatibility was a key priority for the company, which was “putting a lot of energy into this.” 

[ad_2]

Source link

Amazon Prime Day will reportedly start on October 13th

[ad_1]

After it was delayed earlier in the year, Prime Day 2020 will kick off partway through next month, according to The Verge. The website says it obtained an internal Amazon email that states the two-day shopping event will start on October 13th. The company will reportedly share its plans on September 27th.

When asked about the email, a spokesperson for Amazon told The Verge, “Stay tuned for more details on Prime Day.” They added that customers can ask their Alexa devices to keep them updated on the status of the annual shopping event.

[ad_2]

Source link

Walmart’s latest drone trial delivers at-home COVID-19 tests

[ad_1]

Walmart is starting to deliver at-home COVID-19 tests by drone. A trial got underway in North Las Vegas today and the deliveries will expand to Cheektowaga, New York early next month.

It’s delivering the kits to qualifying patients who live within a mile of certain Walmart Supercenters in both locales. Patients will self-administer a nasal swab, which they’ll send to Quest Diagnostics for testing.

[ad_2]

Source link

Google will no longer let developers charge for Chrome extensions

[ad_1]

Google will soon discontinue paid extensions for its Chrome browser. The company had previously temporarily disabled the feature but now plans to make the change permanent, as spotted by 9to5Google. 

With the change, developers who want to charge users for Chrome extensions will no longer be able to rely on Google to handle payments. In a notice to developers, Google said that “the ecosystem has grown and developers now have many payment-handling options available to them,” compared with when it first launched its web store in 2010. 

[ad_2]

Source link

Facebook prepares for a potentially ‘chaotic’ election aftermath

[ad_1]

Clegg didn’t offer specifics on the plans, or what might trigger these “break-glass options.” But he suggested that the company might consider “pretty exceptional measures to significantly restrict the circulation of content on our platform.” He pointed out the company has taken such steps in other countries in the past, including Sri Lanka and Myanmar (where Facebook’s early inaction against hate speech has been credited with inflaming tensions that resulted in genocide). 

Separately, another source told the paper that the social network is considering “about 70” scenarios, and that it’s working with “world-class military scenario planners.” Clegg, Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg would be among the executives deciding when to put these plans in motion. 

Facebook has been repeatedly criticized for not acting quickly enough to fight disinformation on its platform. The company has been battling a wave of rumors and misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, which is expected to complicate the upcoming election as more people are expected to vote by mail. More recently, the company has come under fire for not doing enough to stop the spread of QAnon, a conspiracy theory the FBI has said could pose a domestic terror threat, and far-right militia groups. 

Other platforms have also introduced new policies to address the unique circumstances of the upcoming election, including the possibility of violence. Twitter’s newly updated election misinformation policy includes provisions to address content that could “prevent a peaceful transfer of power or orderly succession.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Fortnite’s Battle Bus is dropping into ‘Rocket League’

[ad_1]

Rocket League is going free-to-play on Wednesday, and Psyonix and Epic Games are marking the occasion with a crossover with the publisher’s other big free-to-play title, Fortnite. Llama-Rama is Rocket League’s first in-game event after the switch, and it’ll drop Fortnite’s famous Battle Bus into the car soccer arena.

The event starts on Saturday at 6PM ET and runs until October 12th. You’ll need to complete challenges to unlock llama-themed event items, including a topper, wheels, decal and antenna. Once you’ve earned them all, you’ll snag the Battle Bus as well. Just remember to thank the driver whenever you score a goal with it.

[ad_2]

Source link

Twitter makes its ‘biggest push ever’ to encourage voter registration

[ad_1]

As part of National Voter Registration Day, Twitter is rolling out new tools to connect US users with voter registration resources. The platform says this is “its biggest push ever” to encourage people to register.

Today, every person with a Twitter account in the US will see a timeline prompt encouraging them to register to vote or confirm their registration with TurboVote. A push alert (available in over 40 languages) will direct app users to additional voter registration information, and users will see #NationalVoterRegistrationDay and #VoteReady.



[ad_2]

Source link

Outlook for iOS and Android is getting better voice controls

[ad_1]

Microsoft is also working to bring other features that exist on other versions of Outlook (i.e. desktop) to iOS and Android. These include workspace booking, text prediction, weather data in your calendar and adding emoji reactions to your emails. That last one will start to roll out around the New Year, the company said.

Microsoft Outlook for Android update

Microsoft

To make it easier for people who use Outlook on their desktops to get the mobile apps, Microsoft also introduced a tool that makes it easier to sign into the service on your phone if you’re already logged in on your laptop. From Outlook on your desktop or browser, you’ll get a prompt to send yourself a text message to download the app on your phone. When you’re setting up the mobile app, you can scan a QR code on your laptop’s screen and Microsoft says it will securely transfer your credentials from your desktop to your phone.

Most of these new features will begin rolling out over the next few weeks, Microsoft said, with some slated to arrive further down the line.

[ad_2]

Source link

TikTok removed more than 104 million videos in the first half of 2020

[ad_1]

The transparency report also broke down the geographical origins of these removals. India came out on top, which partly explains why the government banned the app earlier this year. The US ranked second, followed by Pakistan, Brazil and the UK. In its report, TikTok said that 96.4 percent of takedowns occurred before a user had reported the video, and 90.3 percent happened before anyone had watched it. The document stops short of explaining how many were spotted and judged by a human or algorithmic moderator. TikTok did say, however, that it had been relying “more heavily on technology to detect and automatically remove violating content in markets such as India, Brazil, and Pakistan.”

As TechCrunch reports, legal requests also rose during the first six months of 2020. TikTok received 1,768 requests for user information from 42 regions, which included 290 from US law enforcement agencies.

Alongside the transparency report, TikTok has proposed a social media coalition to tackle harmful content. Vanessa Pappas, the company’s interim head, has written to nine other platform holders — we don’t know which ones, but it isn’t hard to guess — suggested a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement would encourage companies to give their competitors a heads-up whenever they spot violent or graphic content. A ‘hashbank’ would ensure that everyone benefits from the detection and fewer users see harmful content, regardless of which apps they use. For now, it’s not clear if any companies have taken up TikTok’s offer. We will update this story if and when any confirm their involvement.

TikTok’s transparency report and coalition proposal follow a wave of unusual political pressure. The service was set to disappear from US app stores on Sunday — or not be available to download, at least — after a deal with Microsoft failed to materialize. President Trump informally approved a partnership between TikTok, Oracle and Walmart last Saturday, though. The details are still fuzzy but it seems as though Bytedance, the Chinese developer behind TikTok, is prepared to create a US subsidiary called TikTok Global. Oracle and Walmart will own at least some of the company, but it’s not clear if ByteDance will own any of it — Oracle has said it won’t — and if the Chinese government will be happy with such a compromise.

[ad_2]

Source link

The next US particle accelerator will be built on Long Island by 2031

[ad_1]

Funding for the project will primarily come from the DOE, which expects to hand over anything up to $2.6 billion, with New York State adding an additional $100 million. That will pay for a 2.4-mile long ring to be built parallel to the collider that’s already in place at Brookhaven. It’s hoped that investment will pay off if researchers can understand the nature of how gluons bind these structures together. 

DOE

Department of Energy / Brookhaven National Laboratory

For all the attention that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider gets, you may be forgiven for not knowing that Brookhaven already hosts one of its own. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is designed to fire heavy ions at each other in the hope of causing a collision which can be studied. According to one report, the RHIC will be retired in 2025 to make way for its replacement, which is expected to begin operations around 2031.

[ad_2]

Source link