The Echo doesn’t have one killer app, so Amazon is creating Alexa gadgets for every use case

The Echo doesn’t have one killer app, so Amazon is creating Alexa gadgets for every use case

Amazon on Wednesday announced five new Alexa-powered Echo devices in a dizzying product rollout that comes across as either impressively ambitious or insane and unfocused.

There was an upgrade to the original Echo that is smaller and cheaper at $100; a touchscreen Alexa-powered alarm clock called the Echo Spot for $130; and the Echo Plus with a smart-home hub embedded in it for $150. Then there were tiny Echo Buttons to be used for trivia or games at $20 a pop, and even a $35 Echo Connect gadget to turn your home phone line into an Alexa-powered speaker phone.

Add the existing Echo Dot, Echo Show, Echo Tap and Echo Look to that portfolio, and that gives Amazon nine different Echo gadgets in a little more than two years.

Alexa, what’s up with that strategy?

One theory — well, my theory: Amazon hasn’t found one, single, no-brainer use case for the Echo, so it’s releasing different form factors that can push different behavior.

The Echo Look is designed specifically for fashion advice. The Echo Show and new Echo Spot have touchscreens, making them well suited for video calls and video clips.

There’s also the new Echo Plus, which is built to be a hub to a smart home, making it easier for consumers to use voice commands to control in-home systems like lighting or heating. And the new $100 flagship Echo, which comes with improved sound that may make it a popular choice for those who prioritize music streaming over other Alexa features.

You get the idea.

The beauty of Alexa is that all of these devices come with the same brain that can offer many of the same experiences. But tweaks to the body that sits around the brain — the hardware — can produce different behavior.

Amazon may find enough people that see value in enough different use cases for all of these different devices to succeed. But, more likely, some new Echos will drive use cases that become way more popular than others, helping Amazon to focus more on fewer variations over the long-term.
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iOS 11 Update Fixes Bugs, Email Support for Outlook Users

iOS 11 Update Fixes Bugs, Email Support for Outlook Users

Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty

Having some trouble sending an office email on your iPhone? You downloaded iOS 11, didn’t you. Sure, it’s got some dope upgrades inside, but it’s also the first version of the new operating system, and that means bugs. True to form, a software issue in iOS 11 is preventing Exchange email servers from sending and receiving messages, affecting Outlook, Office 365, and Exchange Server 2016 users. The good news is that Apple’s latest iOS update, 11.0.1 fixes the issue, along with some other unspecified bugs.

Users of the Microsoft-hosted email services were greeted with the message “Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server” after downloading the first version of the new iOS. Not a great feeling, to be sure. Apple has since addressed the issue in a support page, where it tells users to upgrade to iOS 11.0.1. We generally recommend performing software updates through iTunes and a wired connection, but visiting Settings > General > Software Update will also let you update the OS from your device.

While it probably did fix a few bugs, and Outlook and Exchange users can send emails again, iOS 11 still feels a bit unpolished. App rearranging is a buggy affair, and essential shortcuts in the updated Control Center aren’t as useful as they once were. If you’ve been holding out until the first bug-fixing update, then go right ahead and upgrade your device. Just check to see if it’s compatible first. Don’t want you to get your hopes up.
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Apple explains how Face ID learns from its mistakes

Apple explains how Face ID learns from its mistakes

Today, Apple published a newly refreshed privacy page. With it came the most new information the company has released on Face ID since the iPhone X was announced. The details come from a new support page and a technical white paper on Face ID security, mentioned during the keynote and currently live on Apple.com. Over the course of six pages, the paper walks through the various privacy and security measures built into the new facial recognition system, including crucial details on how the new system works and how it will hold up under pressure.

The most detailed information comes from the description of how the iPhone X stores faceprints. In broad strokes, Face ID works the same way Touch ID did: the system reads your face (or fingerprint), then creates a partial version to compare against future prints. It’s a purposefully incomplete picture, so even if you could extract the data, it would be impossible to fully reconstruct a person’s face. According to the white paper, there’s also a random element to which information is retained, making it even harder to predict and spoof the system.

Even more interesting is that the initial enrollment is just the beginning of the process. Once you’ve registered your face with the system, Face ID will update its model by occasionally pulling images from successful login photos. The white paper insists those updated face images won’t leave your phone, although they may be stored there for longer than usual. That rolling enrollment explains why Face ID won’t be thrown off if a user grows a beard or buys new glasses. With new images periodically incorporated into the model, the phone’s idea of what you look like can grow incrementally, just like the face itself. Here’s how the white paper puts it:

To improve unlock performance and keep pace with the natural changes of your face and look, Face ID augments its stored mathematical representation over time. Upon successful unlock, Face ID may use the newly calculated mathematical representation — if its quality is sufficient — for a finite number of additional unlocks before that data is discarded. Conversely, if Face ID fails to recognize you, but the match quality is higher than a certain threshold and you immediately follow the failure by entering your passcode, Face ID takes another capture and augments its enrolled Face ID data with the newly calculated mathematical representation. This new Face ID data is discarded after a finite number of unlocks and if you stop matching against it. These augmentation processes allow Face ID to keep up with dramatic changes in your facial hair or makeup use, while minimizing false acceptance.

Apple is also preparing to step in when the system doesn’t work. The white paper goes into detail on a process Apple calls “Face ID Diagnostics,” which lets users reset the enrollment process and walk through it with Apple riding shotgun. If you’re setting up Face ID in diagnostics mode, you’ll be able to send enrolled pictures to Apple for examination and veto any enrolled pictures that might be throwing off the system. Apple insists that process would only take place as part of customer support, basically as one more option for an Apple employee trying to fix a misbehaving phone. Still, the measures go well beyond what’s available for Touch ID, suggesting Apple wants to be prepared for any users that end up on the wrong side of the algorithm.

After Face ID was announced, one of the biggest concerns was the chance that it could be used to unlock a person’s phone against their will. The new document details some of the protections against that kind of unlocking, but it’s not entirely reassuring. Your eyes will have to be open and pointed at the phone for Face ID to trigger the system, but the system is fast enough that instinctively looking at a presented phone might be enough to unlock it. The good news is: you can disable Face ID by pinching the side buttons to put the phone in shutdown mode. After that, it will require a passcode to unlock.

Some measures seem to acknowledge the possibility of an accidental unlock. Face ID is designed to work with Apple Pay, giving users an easy way to transfer money without typing in any passwords. But just looking at your phone won’t be enough to trigger a transaction. Apple Pay requires you to “confirm intent” by double-clicking the sleep button before holding the phone up to the payment terminal. It’s a smart protection to have, but it suggests Face ID is every bit as easy to accidentally trigger as the early demos indicated.

Then there’s the impostor problem. Phil Schiller joked about evil twins (specifically Evil Spock) at the keynote, but Apple clearly takes the problem seriously, recommending against Face ID use if you’re worried about someone with your facial features accessing your phone. The support page puts it this way:

The probability that a random person in the population could look at your iPhone X and unlock it using Face ID is approximately 1 in 1,000,000 (versus 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID).... The statistical probability is different for twins and siblings that look like you and among children under the age of 13, because their distinct facial features may not have fully developed. If you're concerned about this, we recommend using a passcode to authenticate.

In security terms, this is a pretty obscure line of attack. Even if you have a twin, it seems unlikely that an attacker could successfully enlist them in a scheme to unlock your phone. (Let’s call it a Bowfinger attack.) Still, the attack tells us something about Face ID’s limitations. Apple has built protections against printed photos and masks, but if there’s a real face with the same features as yours, it might slide through. That’s the price of a fast and seamless system.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions — most notably how well Face ID will hold up across different races. Apple says it tested the system on a diverse set of a billion different photos, but like a host of other questions, we won’t have a solid answer until the iPhone X goes on sale next month. Facial recognition is a much trickier process than fingerprint scanning, but so far, Apple seems to be treating Face ID like a smarter, faster version of Touch ID.
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iOS 11 update killing your iPhone’s battery? Here’s how to fix

iOS 11 update killing your iPhone’s battery? Here’s how to fix

iOS 11 is already installed on more than a quarter of existing iOS devices, but it’s not all good news for users who installed it. Slower performance and battery life issues are among the most problematic “features” of iOS 11. And while things will surely get better as Apple further improves iOS 11, some of you will still have to live with worse battery life on your iPhones. iPad doesn’t really count here, not because it has a massive battery, but because it’s the iPhone you take and use everywhere throughout the day.

Here’s what you can do to “fix” your iPhone 7 or iPhone 6s while you wait for Apple’s future improvements.

The radical approach

Buying a new device if yours is experiencing worse and worse battery life is a good idea. I’m not talking about iPhone 7 users here, but iOS fans who are still on older hardware. The older the batteries in these devices get, the worse they’ll perform.

If that’s not what you want to do, then you can always purchase a charging case or an external battery. These will likely fix all your battery problems. As an iPhone 6s owner, I have to say I haven’t noticed significant battery issues since the first iOS 11 betas. That’s because I usually charge the phone via an external battery.

If you have specific iPhone 6s models, you may qualify for a free battery replacement. You have to bring in your iPhone and have an Apple employee see if you are eligible. Or just go in for a battery replacement if your phone is ancient. Batteries only have so many cycles in them, especially smartphone batteries.

Getting into the software

You can use what’s readily available to you, free of charge, although it will consume your time while you test the changes in the Settings app in iOS 11.

Apply the right tweaks, and you may end up improving your battery life on the iPhone without paying a dime. It’s what some of the more experienced iOS users have been doing each year, with each new iOS release.

You can start using Low Power Mode more aggressively to get you through the day. You can lower screen brightness on the phone, and the Auto-Lock time to make sure the screen consumes as little battery juice as possible.

Be sure to check what apps “kill” battery life and consider uninstalling some of them, at least until developers optimize them for iOS 11. You can also disable some of their features, including Background App Refresh and Location Services. Yes, these are useful features that you may use on a regular basis, but if they kill your battery faster then try turning them off.

All these changes can be made via Control Center (Low Power Mode) or the Settings app, and 9to5Mac has a handy visual guide to help you find all the right toggles.

Apple’s smarts

Not too long ago, Tim Cook bragged that the iPhone’s AI and Machine Learning capabilities will let it optimize battery life to meet your needs. That’s one other way that might help you save battery life, but it’s out of your control. Let’s just hope Apple keeps improving it as it fixes iOS 11’s energy needs.
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Bill Gates now uses an Android phone.

Bill Gates now uses an Android phone.

The billionaire Microsoft founder told Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace he recently switched to a mobile device that runs Google's Android software.

The company officially killed off its Windows Phone line and software in July, due largely to dwindling consumer interest and a lackluster app store. In the first quarter of 2017, Windows Phones' market share was 0.1%, according to a May report from market intelligence firm IDC.

Now, Gates has presumably put his own device aside in favor of another.

While Gates didn't say which phone he uses, he said it has "a lot of Microsoft software."

"So, no iPhone?" Wallace asked.

"No iPhone," Gates said.

Apple and Microsoft have been at odds for years. Its fierce competition goes back decades and was often showcased in TV ads, such as Apple's famous "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" commercials. More recently, Microsoft has gone after Apple customers with products like the Surface Studio intended for designers.

Gates said it's "great" Apple is continuing to do good work, but noted he still uses all Windows-based PCs. In the interview, he praised late Apple founder Steve Jobs, despite their famous rivalry.

"The relationship I had with Steve had every aspect you can imagine. Particularly in the last few years, our friendship -- which had always been there -- was greatly strengthened as he was dealing with cancer," Gates told Wallace. "He and I had a lot in common ... Steve was a genius. Absolutely amazing."

He also credited Jobs with helping to spur competition in the sector.

"The competition in the software and IT space that Steve helped foster, it's phenomenal. And Microsoft's a big part of that. It's been a miraculous industry that he and I got to work in," Gates said.

Separately, Microsoft on Tuesday announced Microsoft Office 2019 will be available in the second half of next year. The big update will have more IT features and server upgrades to improve usability, voice and security, according to the tech giant.

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Facebook gives bots ability to negotiate, compromise

Facebook’s artificial intelligence researchers announced Wednesday they had broken new ground by giving automated programs or “bots” the ability to negotiate, and make compromises.

The new technology pushes forward the ability to create bots “that can reason, converse and negotiate, all key steps in building a personalized digital assistant,” said researchers Mike Lewis and Dhruv Batra in a blog post.
Up to now, most bots or chatbots have had only the ability to hold short conversations and perform simple tasks like booking a restaurant table, according to the researchers.
But in the latest code developed by Facebook, bots will be able to dialogue and “to engage in start-to-finish negotiations with other bots or people while arriving at common decisions or outcomes,” they wrote.
Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence Researchers (FAIR) team gave bots this ability by estimating the “value” of an item and inferring how much that is worth to each party.
“FAIR researchers created many such negotiation scenarios, always ensuring that it is impossible for both agents to get the best deal simultaneously,” Lewis and Batra said.
“Furthermore, walking away from the negotiation (or not agreeing on a deal after 10 rounds of dialogue) resulted in 0 points for both agents. Simply put, negotiation is essential, and good negotiation results in better performance.”
But the bots can also find ways to be sneaky.
In some cases, bots “initially feigned interest in a valueless item, only to later ‘compromise’ by conceding it-an effective negotiating tactic that people use regularly,” the researchers said.
This behavior was not programmed by the researchers “but was discovered by the bot as a method for trying to achieve its goals,” they said.
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Facebook releases maps to help tackle natural disasters

Facebook has introduced disaster maps to help organisations address critical gap in information they often face while responding to natural disasters.
Based on the aggregated location information users have chosen to share with Facebook, three types of maps -- location density maps, movement maps and safety check maps -- are to be provided during disaster response efforts.

"We can help response organisations paint a more complete picture of where affected people are located to determine where resources like food, water and medical supplies are needed and where people are out of harm's way," explained Molly Jackman, Public Policy Research Manager at Facebook, in a blog post.
Location density maps show where people are located before, during and after a disaster to help response organisations understand areas impacted by a natural disaster.
Movement maps illustrate patterns of movement between different neighborhoods or cities over a period of several hours to allow respondents to better allocate resources regionally.
Safety Check maps are based on where our community uses the Safety Check feature to notify their friends and family that they are safe during a disaster.
Facebook is stated to share this information with trusted organisations that have capacity to act on the data and respect privacy standards, starting with UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the World Food Programme.
"Over time, we intend to make it possible for additional organizations and governments to participate in this program. All applications will be reviewed carefully by people at Facebook, including those with local expertise," stated Jackman.

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