Asteroid that just buzzed Earth may not miss on return visit - CNET

"The house-size asteroid that just passed by Earth, almost as close as many satellites in orbit, will be back -- and a future visit might lead to it taking up permanent residency here.



On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, Asteroid 2012 TC4 safely passed by our planet at an altitude of 27,300 miles (44,000 kilometers), just a few thousand miles above the level of satellites in geosychronous orbit. That's nearly twice as close as when it passed us almost exactly five years ago, about a week after it was first discovered in October 2012.



The most recent models of the space rock's future path, which can be altered by Earth's gravity each time it makes a close pass, have ruled out the possibility that it will impact Earth when it makes another close call in 2050.



But the same can't be said for its visit in 2079..."



Asteroid that just buzzed Earth may not miss on return visit - CNET

Scientists develop shape-shifting ‘skin’ that would give robots the ultimate camouflage – BGR

"Humans might think that we have a pretty good handle on camouflage, but in the grand scheme of things we’re really just amateurs. A sniper in a ghillie suit might be able to blend into a bush, but when it comes to adapting your look on the fly, octopuses and cuttlefish absolutely put human efforts to shame. That’s why scientists have turned to nature in an attempt to create truly amazing robotic camo, and it’s already looking really, really amazing.



The new skin-like material mimics that of the cephalopods, which allow the aquatic creatures to raise or lower parts of their skin to create bumps and other shapes. In nature, the animals use this ability to mimic rocks and other features of the sea floor so that they can blend in for hunting or predator evasion purposes. Scientists believe this ability could be extremely useful for robots, and have set about making programmable skin that can take any shape that is needed..."



Scientists develop shape-shifting ‘skin’ that would give robots the ultimate camouflage – BGR

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What Facebook Did to American Democracy - The Atlantic

 

 "Tech journalists covering Facebook had a duty to cover what was happening before, during, and after the election. Reporters tried to see past their often liberal political orientations and the unprecedented actions of Donald Trump to see how 2016 was playing out on the internet. Every component of the chaotic digital campaign has been reported on, here at The Atlantic, and elsewhere: Facebook’s enormous distribution power for political information, rapacious partisanship reinforced by distinct media information spheres, the increasing scourge of ‘viral’ hoaxes and other kinds of misinformation that could propagate through those networks, and the Russian information ops agency.

But no one delivered the synthesis that could have tied together all these disparate threads. It’s not that this hypothetical perfect story would have changed the outcome of the election. The real problem—for all political stripes—is understanding the set of conditions that led to Trump’s victory. The informational underpinnings of democracy have eroded, and no one has explained precisely how."

(Via.).  What Facebook Did to American Democracy - The Atlantic:

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OnePlus is collecting user data without permission, and that’s not okay

"On his blog, Chris Moore reveals that the Chinese electronics company has been collecting some very specific data from OnePlus users without their permission.



The hype around OnePlus is real: the next so-called flagship killer from the company is expected to feature a bigger display with a new aspect ratio and minimal bezels, and there are already multiple reports out there creating an online buzz. However, that’s not to say that all’s well in paradise. It’s no secret that OnePlus has faced heavy criticism from its users in the past year or two over its failure to provide adequate device support. More negative press ensued after the launch of the OnePlus 5 with reports of benchmark manipulation, wrongly-mounted displays, and more importantly, users being unable to dial 911 in emergency situations. Well, it seems the Chinese tech company is in trouble again, and in my opinion, OnePlus should really take the time to explain itself this time..."



OnePlus is collecting user data without permission, and that’s not okay

Latest Gartner & IDC data shows Mac sales start to slow, but other manufacturers are falling faster | 9to5Mac

"Gartner and IDC are today out with their latest releases concerning the state of the PC industry. Following the release of the new MacBook Pro models earlier this year, data showed Apple gain on other manufacturers and now Mac sales are again starting to flatline, though other vendors are falling at a faster rate…



Gartner’s data shows worldwide PC shipments decline by 4.3 percent during the second quarter of 2017. Shipments totaled 61.1 million units, which is down 4.3 percent year-over-year. This marks the 11th straight quarter of declining PC shipments and the lowest quarter volume since 2007. Gartner attributes the slowing numbers to higher prices driven by component shortages:



“Higher PC prices due to the impact of component shortages for DRAM, solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.



“The approach to higher component costs varied by vendor. Some decided to absorb the component price hike without raising the final price of their devices, while other vendors transferred the costs to the end-user price.”



On a vendor by vendor basis worldwide, Gartner’s data shows HP reclaim the top position with 20.8 percent of the market, whereas Lenovo falls to second place with 19.9 percent. Then comes Dell with 15.6 percent and Apple with 6.9 percent. For Apple, that’s up slightly from 6.7 percent though shipments were down by around half a percent.



Zeroing in on just the United States, HP again claims the top spot, though this time followed by Dell and then Lenovo. Apple places fourth, capturing 11.8 percent of the United States market, down from 12.3 percent year-over-year. Shipments for Apple were down 9.6 percent in the United States, as well.



Moving on to the data from IDC, things look a bit better with a 3.3 percent year-over-year decline to 60.5 million units. That’s slightly better than the forecasted 3.9 percent decline, though shipments were again slightly hindered by component shortages. The worldwide market share numbers from IDC are similar to Gartner with HP atop the list, Lenovo in second, and Dell in third. Apple holds at fourth with 7.2 percent of the market, up from 6.8 percent with shipments rising 1.7 percent..."



Latest Gartner & IDC data shows Mac sales start to slow, but other manufacturers are falling faster | 9to5Mac

Google’s Home Mini needed a software patch to stop some of them from recording everything - The Verge

"Categorize this under “one of the worst possible PR nightmares for a Google smart speaker.” According to Artem Russakovskii at Android Police, the Google Home Mini he was reviewing was randomly and near-constantly recording sounds in his home and transmitting them to Google. The company acknowledged the problem and is issuing a software update to resolve the issue, which appears to boil down to a failure of the touch sensor on the top.



Smart speakers like the Google Home Mini are designed to only listen for a specific wake word — in this case it’s “Hey Google” or “Ok Google.” Only then do their microphones record what you’re saying it, transmit it to the cloud, and try to answer your question. But there is usually a way to just hit a button and ask the embedded assistant a question. On the Mini, it’s holding your finger down on the top of it.



That seems to be the rub (pardon the pun) with Russakovskii’s Mini: it thought that somebody was holding its finger down on the top and so was randomly activating and recording. The good news is that the lights turned on to indicate it was listening, but the bad news is that it didn’t make an audible tone, so it took a trip through the Home’s search history to discover the error..."



Google’s Home Mini needed a software patch to stop some of them from recording everything - The Verge

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