Thursday 26 October 2017

Waymos’s self-driving cars are headed to the cradle of the US auto industry

Waymo is bringing its fleet of self-driving cars to Detroit, a city steeped in car history. The Alphabet unit announced today that it would begin testing its autonomous vehicles in Michigan just in time for an icy winter. The goal would appear to be twofold: teach self-driving cars how to handle slippery, unplowed roads; and thumb their nose at the legacy automakers who are scrambling to keep up to Alphabet’s big head start in autonomy.
Starting in November, Waymo’s self-driving cars and minivans will hit the road in and around Detroit, the company says. And like in other tests, a trained safety driver will be behind the wheel to monitor the car’s progress. But it won’t be Waymo’s first foray on dangerously snowy streets: the company has previously tested its vehicles in winter conditions outside Lake Tahoe.
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For human drivers, the mix of winter conditions can affect how well you can see, and the way your vehicle handles the road,” said John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, in a blog post. “The same is true for self-driving cars. At Waymo, our ultimate goal is for our fully self-driving cars to operate safely and smoothly in all kinds of environments.”
The arrival of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles may, however, send a shiver up the spine of Detroit’s Big Three: Ford, GM, and Fiat-Chrysler. (Though probably not the latter, which has sold its Chrysler Pacifica minivansto the company for its fleet.) Waymo made its first appearance in the cradle of the US auto industry last year, when it opened its 53,000-square-foot self-driving technology development center in Novi. Last January, the company took the stage at the North American International Auto Show to unveil for the first time its self-driving minivans. So it was probably only a matter of time before the company began testing in Detroit too.
To be sure, most of the legacy automakers are testing their own self-driving cars, but Waymo has a significant lead, having been working on the technology long before the company spun out of Google in late 2016.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder used the occasion to recast the state’s place in the rapidly shifting auto market. “It’s great that a leader in autonomous vehicle development is going to expand its work in Michigan — the center of the rapidly expanding mobility industry,” he said in a statement. “Waymo clearly shares our concern for and commitment to safety for Michigan residents. I’m proud that Waymo chose Michigan to expand its testing as they take their self-driving vehicles into the next phase.”
Waymo already has vehicles on the road in Mountain View, California; Austin, Texas; Kirkland, Washington; and Phoenix, Arizona. The latter city is also playing host to Waymo’s ride-hailing pilot, in which real people can sign up to use the minivans for daily trips. The company is reportedly getting closer to launching its first commercial venture too.

Wednesday 27 September 2017

Police reveal person hit by train has died

British Transport Police have confirmed the person struck by a train at Stoke-on-Trent station has died.
Emergency services were called to the station at 9.28am this morning after the incident had occurred.
Officers attended, along with the West Midlands Ambulance Service, but the person was confirmed dead at the scene.
A BTP spokesman said: "We were called to Stoke-on-Trent railway station just before 9.30am today to reports that a person had been struck by a train.
"Officers attended along with the ambulance crew, but sadly a person died at the scene.
"Enquiries are ongoing to identify the person and inform their next of kin.
"An investigation is underway to establish how the person came to be on the tracks."
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "WMAS can confirm that it was called to reports of a pedestrian who had been involved in a collision with a train near Stoke Railway Station at 9.30am today.
"An ambulance, a paramedic officer and a BASICS emergency doctor attended.
"Sadly, nothing could be done to save the pedestrian and the patient was confirmed dead on scene."
Trains had been cancelled this morning, with replacement bus services running instead. Currently trains are running on routes nearby, but there is a 30 minute delay in place.

Leave UK immediately': scientist is latest victim of Home Office blunder

The Home Office is still sending out letters telling lawfully resident immigrants in Britain they must leave the country, a month after the home secretary had to apologise for “an unfortunate error” in mistakenly informing 100 EU nationals that they faced possible deportation.
The Home Office had to issue a further apology on Monday to a research scientist, who received a letter out of the blue on Friday telling him his driving licence was being revoked and he “should take steps to leave the UK immediately”.
The Immigration Enforcement letter, in which his name was spelled incorrectly, warned Dr Mohsen Danaie that he could face six months in prison, forcible removal from the UK and a ban on returning to Britain for up to 10 years if he did not leave voluntarily. It was issued by the interventions and sanctions directorate of the Home Office.
Danaie holds Canadian-Iranian joint citizenship. He is an electron microscopy scientist who has worked since October 2016 at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron, based at Harwell science and innovation campus in Oxfordshire. He has a work visa valid until September 2019 and previously worked at Oxford University’s department of materials.
Danaie went public with his case after the Guardian highlighted the introductionof “hostile environment” immigration status bank account checks last week, and following an assessment by the chief inspector of borders that there was a 10% error rate in Home Office records used for some forms of enforcement action.
“I happen to be in that 10% statistic. Despite having a valid work visa, I received this letter,” he said. “It hurts on so many levels. They even have a typo in my name. Such disarray is astonishing in an office responsible for security.”
Home Office immigration letter
 The Home Office immigration letter. Photograph: The Guardian
The Home Office letter, despite being headed “important notice concerning your driving licence – please do not ignore”, told Danaie he had no lawful basis to be in the UK and that it was working with the NHS, banks and DVLA to stop access to benefits and services, saying: “This includes you.”
Home Office immigration letter
 The Home Office immigration letter. Photograph: The Guardian
Prof David Dye of Imperial College London backed Danaie by making a direct appeal to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, saying: “It’s hard to staff places like @DiamondLightSou when you do this. It’s beneath you. Please apologise and fix.”
After Danaie contacted the Home Office and insisted he did have the legal right to work in Britain, he received a terse apology, saying it had updated its records and, following a further review of his case, decided not to revoke his driving licence.
“We appreciate your assistance in this matter and apologise for any inconvenience that might have been caused,” the Home Office said.
Danaie said he felt offended by the letter and its self-assured tone: “It did not leave any doubt that we have to get packing immediately.”
While there was a phone number to call for assistance with a “voluntary return”, he said, there was no number to dispute the basis of the letter. Instead, he had to rely on sending an email and hoping somebody would respond within a 10-day deadline.
“It also left me curious to know what exactly was the bureaucratic process behind the letter. How could they possibly get my name wrong, but my address right? Did someone just type that information off a physical dossier? How advanced is the infrastructure at the Home Office? Should we not fear for our safety?” he said.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Dr Danaie is entitled to be in the UK and holds a valid work visa. We have written to Dr Danaie to reassure him that he will not face any enforcement action and we apologise for this error.”

Monday 26 June 2017

Facebook Video Creation App Launch Announced

With an aim to empower its creator community, Facebook has announced that it is planning to launch a new app just for them later this year.
Essentially a video creation app, it will be made just for its star broadcasters, who are also the same folks who are deemed worthy enough to use Facebook Mentions - an app only available to verified accounts owned by journalists, celebrities and other online influencers, Engadget reported on Friday.
Apart from the access to Facebook Live, the new video creation app will have a new "creative kit" that includes tools like special intros and outros to videos, custom stickers, custom frames, among other tools.
It will also have a Community tab, where the rich and famous can interact with their fans and followers on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, the report said.
Reportedly, Facebook is also running a "small test" in India, of a video tab in the navigation bar of its flagship mobile applications.
Pressing the tab, which resembles a play button, brings up "an endless stream" of Facebook videos, from pages users follow and videos liked or shared by friends.

Friday 23 June 2017

Snapchat map update raises child safety worries

Snap Map lets people search for places such as schools and see videos and pictures posted by children inside.
It also lets people locate their "friends" on a map that is accurate enough to determine where people live.
Snap, the company behind Snapchat, stressed to the BBC that location sharing was an opt-in feature.
Exact location
Snap Map was launched on Wednesday and was promoted as a "new way to explore the world".
Video clips and photos that members have posted publicly can be discovered on the map, while members who have chosen to share their location can also be seen on the map by those they have added as "friends".
However, members can add people they have never met to their friends list too.
A message to parents posted by St Peter's Academy in Staffordshire warned that the location-sharing feature lets people "locate exactly where you are, which building you are in and exact whereabouts within the building".
One parent described the update as "dangerous" while another said she could not find the setting to disable it.
People have expressed concern online that the app could be used for stalking or working out exactly where somebody lives.

"If you zoom right in on this new Snapchat map thing it literally tells you where everyone lives? Like exact addresses - bit creepy no?" wrote one user called Leanne.
"This new Snapchat update is awful. An invitation for stalkers, kidnappers, burglars and relationship trust issues," suggested Jade.
Snap told the BBC that accurate location information was necessary to allow friends to use the service to meet, for example at a restaurant or crowded festival, and said points of interest on the map, such as schools, were provided by third-party mapping service Mapbox.

Thursday 22 June 2017

HP issues urgent security update

Dozens of laptop models sold by HP contain built-in "keylogging" technology that stores everything users type, researchers have warned.

The records of what users type on the keyboard were stored in plain text on the computers, meaning anyone with access to them could read messages, passwords, web searches and credit card numbers if they knew where to look.

HP issued a fix for some of the affected models on Thursday night and promised another for the rest of the devices would be released today.

The bug affects 28 HP laptops sold in 2015 and 2016, including EliteBook, ProBook and ZBook models.

HP did not install the keylogging software deliberately, the researchers said, but it was included as part of a driver for Conexant, whose audio chips are included in the laptops.

The driver monitored keystrokes to look out for users pressing audio control keys to pause or change volume, but monitored and stored the entire keyboard activity. Modzero, the security company that discovered the flaw, said it could also feature on other laptop brands.

Keyloggers are seen as one of the most malicious forms of computer viruses, capable of tracking everything a user types and sending them to hackers remotely. Although there is no suggestion that the HP bug shared any of the data, if a computer was shared or someone got hold of it, a wealth of personal information would be at their disposal.

The file where users' keystrokes are stored on the laptops is overwritten every time a computer reboots, but computer forensics experts are able to recover deleted files.

"There is no evidence that this keylogger has been intentionally implemented. Obviously, it is a negligence of the developers - which makes the software no less harmful," Modzero's researchers wrote.

It said it had revealed the flaw to HP and Conexant, but that neither had responded to contact requests.

"HP is committed to the security and privacy of its customers and we are aware of the keylogger issue on select HP PCs," a spokesman said.

"HP has no access to customer data as a result of this issue. Our supplier partner developed software to test audio functionality prior to product launch and it should not have been included in the final shipped version. Fixes will be available shortly via HP.com."

Wednesday 21 June 2017

Apple Centers Health Data Strategy on iPhone

Apple quietly has been strategizing to expand its growing healthcare business to include the management of digital health records, with the iPhone operating as a central data hub, CNBC reported last week.
Apple has been in talks with numerous health industry groups that are involved in setting standards for the storage and sharing of electronic medical records, in a way that would help consumers gain more control over their private medical information, according to the network.
The plan appears to be a natural extension of Apple's recent health industry strategy, which includes its Research Kit, CareKit and HealthKit -- platforms that allow developers to create apps that help patients, hospitals and researchers find new ways to collect, manage and deliver health data efficiently and directly.
"This has been an interest point as part of Apple's strategy in the healthcare vertical for some time," said Daniel Ruppar, digital health global program director at Frost & Sullivan.
Apple last year acquired Gliimpse, a medical records startup that helped collect data from different platforms and organized the information for patients.
Thus far, Apple's efforts largely have focused on fitness information, but in recent years it has moved into more focused healthcare delivery. For example, the company recently began work on developing sensors that could help diabetic patients manage blood glucose levels.
"They've shown on a number of fronts they've been tackling health and well being," said Ian Fogg, senior director, mobile and telecoms at IHS Markit.