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Huawei lays off two thirds of its US research division

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An employee still employed at Futurewei told Reuters that work ground to a halt after the ban took effect.

This still leaves roughly 1,200 Huawei employees in the US, although most of them are involved in customer support, public affairs and the supply chain. Moreover, the company’s American ranks have been shrinking ever since AT&T backed out of a phone deal due to US government pressure. The team is a shell of its former self, for better or for worse, and it’s unlikely to bounce back unless talk of a partial reprieve on trade gives Huawei a break.

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You can watch the ‘Fortnite’ World Cup finals while playing ‘Fortnite’

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The rest of the 9.41 update isn’t quite so daring, but there are still notable editions like a Storm Scout Sniper Rifle that will tell you where the Storm will shrink to next, plus Birthday Cake and Birthday Present pick-ups to mark Fortnite‘s second year on the scene. Creative players will have access to movie set prefabs as well as a limited-time Prop Hunt mode for some very sneaky hide-and-seek sessions. There are some significant gameplay tweaks here — it’s just that Epic won’t mind if you sit back and watch someone else play for a while.

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Facebook opens up its AI tool to OpenStreetMap users

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Map with AI relies on computer vision to spot patterns in satellite imagery. The system identifies possible roads and highlights them in OSM’s platform. This can be trickier than it sounds. A road in Tanzania, for example, looks very different from a road in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Roads can vary in size and color, be obscured by trees, or resemble a dry riverbed or other landmark. To solve these issues, Facebook built a deep neural network model that recognizes roads on satellite images with a resolution of two square feet per pixel. This level of detail allows the neural network to spot unpaved roads and unpaved pedestrian walkways, and distinguish them from a regular wall or riverbed. Human volunteers on OSM are used for final verification.

Along with Map with AI, the company also unveiled its RapiD editor. The tool auto-detects roads from satellite imagery and includes additional data integrity checks. Meant to be an improvement of OSM’s current iD editor, RapiD allows mappers to quickly add and edit new roads.

Facebook’s venture into cartography isn’t new — or entirely altruistic. The company has stated that its eventual goal is “to map the entire world“, expanding rural internet access in developing countries and reaching more users than ever with its services. Back in 2016, it released high-resolution maps for 23 countries that estimated population counts using census data. The company earlier this year unveiled population-density maps of the majority of Africa, aimed at helping relief agencies. While such efforts are billed as humanitarian, they also help the social media giant better target its billions of users.

OSM

Facebook already relies on OSM, the world’s largest source of open-source mapping data, for its maps-driven products, like Check-ins, Marketplace and Facebook Local. Last year the company began expanding its Maps team, hiring quality analysts to verify data on OSM.

Drishtie Patel, Facebook’s program manager for maps and location infrastructure, told Engadget that the company has an interest in making OSM data as accurate as possible. “People respond more positively to these products when there are high-quality maps present so we have a vested interest in making OSM the best data available. Beyond that, one of Facebook’s core goals is to connect people and ensuring everyone is represented on the map. To achieve our goals, we have created Map with AI to accelerate the development of highly accurate and complete maps of roads around the globe,” said Patel.

In the case of Map with AI, the tool has proved effective in helping mappers create quick and accurate maps. Facebook began teaming up with local communities in Thailand and Indonesia over two years ago to catalog unmapped areas. In just under 18 months, scores of volunteer mappers were able to completely map all of Thailand and 90 percent of Indonesia. Without the help of AI, such a feat could have easily taken five years, according to Facebook research scientist Xiaoming Gao.

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Starbucks licensing deal could let franchises offer its app rewards

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As CNBC notes, less than half of Starbucks’ 80 global markets has access to the company’s mobile app. This deal can potentially expand the app’s availability to countries that don’t have it yet — in fact, Brightloom and Starbucks expect franchisees abroad to be among the first to sign up. The first ones and not the only ones, because other restaurants and companies can also buy access to the platform so they don’t have to build a digital customer experience from scratch.

Starbucks is just one of the restaurant companies making technology-related advertisements as of late. Just a few months ago, McDonald’s bought a machine learning startup to build an AI for drive-thru windows. Kevin Johnson, the coffee chain’s CEO, said in a statement:

“The results we’ve seen in customer loyalty and frequency within our digital ecosystem speak for themselves, and we’re excited to apply these innovations toward an industry solution that elevates the customer experience across the restaurant industry.”

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Apple’s watchOS update fixed the Walkie-Talkie app

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Our most comprehensive set of recommendations ever.Introducing Engadget’s 2019 Back-to-School Guide

As editor-in-chief Dana Wollman explains: “In addition to top picks in 11 categories — everything from laptops to smartphones to gaming and dorm gear — we went big on tips and buying advice this year. We didn’t just want to tell you what to buy, but we wanted to help you choose wisely, and then make the most out of whatever you chose.”

They have security fixes, too, so update ASAP.Apple releases iOS 12.4, watchOS 5.3 with Walkie Talkie bug fix

iOS 12.4, HomePod 12.4, tvOS 12.4, watchOS 5.3 and macOS 10.14.6 are out, and most of them bring important tweaks. The iOS update is most useful if you’re setting up a new iPhone — you can wireless transfer data directly from an old handset to a new one instead of restoring from iCloud or iTunes.

Divide the penalty by 143 million.The Equifax data-breach settlement will only cost it $4 per person

The company has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, attorneys general and New York’s Department of Financial Services over its massive 2017 data breach. It will pay between $575 million to $700 million to victims, states and regulators, including a restitution fund that will pay up to $425 million to provide credit monitoring for up to 10 years.

Electric scooters, skateboards and bikes.The best personal EVs for any commute

For those who only have a few miles to cover, a personal EV could replace a car ride. The knock-on effect is less traffic, fewer accidents and a reduction on maintenance costs. So, do your feet and wallet a favor and consider some of the following recommendations that should upgrade any commute, no matter the distance.

Or maybe not.You might have to be a die-hard fan to get ‘Star Trek: Picard’

After checking on the Comic-Con trailer for CBS All Access’ latest Trek spinoff, Dan Cooper is wondering whether casual fans will get enough from the show to keep watching. Picard doesn’t just pull from TNG and hit movies; scenes in the trailer even referenced the less-widely-appreciated Voyager and the Nemesis movie, which flopped upon release in 2002.

Get early looks at ‘Watchmen,’ ‘The Witcher’ and much, much more.The biggest Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO, Netflix, Hulu and CBS All Access news from Comic-Con

And on that note, you might have caught a few of these trailers and reveals from SDCC over the weekend, but we’ve corralled all the big shows on all the streaming services you can expect in the next year or so.

But wait, there’s more…

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Origin crammed an Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and gaming PC into one case

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In honor of the company’s 10th anniversary — and to celebrate the legacy of its half PC, half Xbox 360 Big O desktop — Origin PC has created a mammoth new custom gaming PC, featuring every major console on the market: an Xbox One X, a PlayStation 4 Pro and a Nintendo Switch. As the company says in on its website, doing so was a major undertaking, involving extensive chassis modifications, custom cooling systems and dozens of concept designs. But they did it, and they even managed to squeeze in an Ethernet switch, individual USB 3.0 ports for each console and 2TB SSDs for more storage and faster game load times (digital only, though).

The kicker? It’s not available to buy — even if it was, the inevitably enormous price tag would put it out of reach for most. Instead, it’s a pretty cool marketing gimmick designed to demonstrate Origin PC’s commitment to on-point customization. And sure, with a team of PC tech-heads and a limitless budget this endeavor might not be quite as sweet as some guy tinkering away at a similar machine in his garage, but that doesn’t make you want it any less, does it?

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Team Rocket is now prepared to fight Pokémon Go trainers

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You’d have to perform a purification ritual to cleanse the shadow creature, but it could be worth the trouble. According to Polygon, players are reporting that purified monsters appear to require less dust to power up, as well as fewer candies to evolve. Based on the responses on the official Pokémon Go Twitter account’s announcement, though, the special stops aren’t that common. Those living in rural locations may have to dedicate a bit more time looking for one invaded by Team Rocket to capture a shadow monster.

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Daimler and Bosch inch closer to fully automated, self-driving valet service

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It works like a kind of automated valet service. When Mercedes-Benz autonomous vehicles arrive at the garage, the driver will step out and direct the car to park itself via an app. Bosch sensors installed throughout the garage will give the vehicle the info it needs to navigate its surroundings. When the driver returns, the car will drive itself back to the drop-off location.

The system has been in development since 2015, and in the summer of 2017, the Mercedes-Benz Museum hosted a pilot of the program. Since 2018, visitors have been able to use this feature, but only with a safety driver riding along. Today, Daimler and Bosch announced they’ve received approval from the local authorities. The approval will allow the companies to fully launch the technology, and they hope it might inform testing and approval processes for future autonomous vehicle programs.

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Astronomers believe the young Milky Way once swallowed a dwarf galaxy

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Astronomers previously believed that the galaxy was made of two separate sets of stars, but exactly how or when they came together was a mystery. Using the Gaia space telescope, these researchers were able to take more precise measurements of the position, brightness and distance of roughly one million stars. They also looked at the density of “metals,” or elements without hydrogen or helium, that the stars contain. The researchers determined that both sets of stars are about the same age but that one was set into “chaotic motion,” evidence of a galaxy collision.

The researchers believe Gaia-Enceladus collided with the young Milky Way about 10 billion years ago, and over the course of millions of years, the Milky Way consumed the dwarf galaxy. The researchers also determined that the collision contributed to a four-billion-year stretch of star formation, and gas from that activity settled to form the “thin disk” that runs through the center of the Milky Way. They believe the remnants of Gaia-Enceladus eventually formed the halo of the present-day Milky Way.

According to the researchers, this information provides “unprecedented detail” about the early stages of our cosmic history. Of course, it’s not the first time we’ve heard of one galaxy consuming another. In fact, our galactic neighbor Andromeda cannibalized a nearby galaxy some two billion years ago, and it’s on track to collide with the Milky Way in the very distant future.

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Microsoft will pay $25 million to settle Hungary bribery charges

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The SEC also determined that Microsoft’s Saudi Arabian and Thai subsidiaries offered “improper travel and gifts” (read: more bribes) to officials and staff at non-government customers. The Turkish unit provided an “excessive discount” to a third party without any signs of services being offered, although US regulators stopped short of alleging bribery.

In a message to staff, Microsoft president Brad Smith said the company fired the offending employees over three years ago and severed relations with four resellers. It accordingly improved its anti-corruption efforts, including transparency for public sector discounts and using AI to flag potentially illegal sales. The company had to put up a fight, though — it faced lawsuits from resellers upset at the lost business. Microsoft eventually prevaliled, though, and said it was important to “cut all ties” with any company involved in the behavior.

This isn’t the first time a huge American tech company has been involved in European bribery allegations. HP staff were accused in 2012 of bribing Russian officials to land a computer contract. It’s still a relatively rare incident, though, and a headache for a company that was supposed to have left its legal troubles in the past.

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