Facebook is adding support for 250-person chats in Groups

Today, Facebook is adding a new feature to Groups: giant, intergroup Messenger chats with the option to add up to 250 people, via TechCrunch.
The chats can also support audio or video calls with up to 50 people in them. The idea is that users in big groups — like a book club or surfing club — will be able to have smaller conversations about things like local meetups that may not be relevant to the entire group.
In-Group chats can be viewed by all members of the group, and anyone already in the group can join or be invited. Crucially, Facebook won’t spam you with notifications for each message in the thread until you accept the invitation to join, and users will be able to further filter that by only getting notifications when they’re directly @-mentioned. Group admins will also be able to shut down chats or set it so that only admins can start threads to help limit spam.

Google rebrands AR stickers as Playground and adds new animations

Google announced a rebranding of its augmented reality stickers feature today, with the name changing officially to Playground as part of the Pixel 3 hardware event that just wrapped in New York City. Playground will now exist as a special mode within the Pixel camera, and it will algorithmically suggest new AR animations to fit the scene you’re in, regardless of whether you’re using the front- or rear-facing lenses. In addition to the rebranding, Google is launching four new packs of these AR animations and fittingly calling them “Playmoji.”
Initially announced last fall as AR Stickers, these virtual animations were similar to the lenses and filters that Snapchat popularized a few years back. But a key difference is that these are entirely in 3D and are deployed with a much smarter sense of spatial and object recognition, thanks to Google’s advances in artificial intelligence. Google launched Strangers Things stickers, as well as a pack for Star Wars during The Last Jedi theatrical run late last year.

Jarvish’s smart motorcycle helmets will offer Alexa and Siri support and an AR display

Smart helmets seem like one of those great ideas that just haven’t really taken off yet, but that doesn’t mean that companies aren’t still trying. Jarvish — the latest to try to claim the crown — has an interesting take on the idea with its upcoming Jarvish X and Jarvish X-AR motorcycle helmets (via Engadget).
The Jarvish X is the more basic of the two models. It offers integrated microphones and speakers for Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa support so wearers have access things like directions, weather updates, and control music through voice control. There’s also a 2K, front-facing camera built into the helmet so you can record your ride. It’s set to cost $799 when it hits Kickstarter in January.
The X-AR goes a step beyond that, offering all of those features and adding a Google Glass-style augmented reality display for things like current speed, turn-by-turn directions, weather, incoming calls, and even a rearview mirror-esque video feed from a second rear-facing camera on the back of the helmet. It’s an ambitious idea, but it’ll really depend on how well it works in practice. (AR displays are notoriously tough to get right.) The added AR tech also makes the Jarvish X-AR far more expensive at $2,599, and it won’t be out until much later; a Kickstarter is planned for the second half of 2019.

Chinese spy chips would be a ‘god-mode’ hack, experts say

Chinese operatives allegedly poisoned the technical supply chain of major US companies, including Apple and Amazon by planting a microchip on their servers manufactured abroad, according to a Bloomberg report today. The story claims that one chip, which was reportedly planted on servers’ motherboards assembled for a company called Elemental by a separate company called Super Micro Computer, would allow attackers to covertly modify these servers, bypass software security checks, and, essentially, give the Chinese government a complete backdoor into these companies’ networks.
Affected companies are vigorously disputing the report, claiming they never discovered any malicious hardware or reported similar issues to the FBI. Even taking the Bloomberg report at its word, there are significant unanswered questions about how widely the chip was distributed and how the backdoor access was used.
But the mere idea of a malicious chip implant has already sent shock waves through the security world, which has traditionally focused on software attacks.

Google Assistant now helps you compare ride-hailing prices and summon a car

After announcing some updates to the Google Assistant user experience yesterday, today Google is rolling out a new way of booking rides with your voice — or at least getting most of the way there. Starting this week, you’ll be able to say “Hey Google, book a ride to” or “Hey Google, get me a taxi to” your destination.

Assistant will then respond by listing off price estimates and current wait times for Uber, Lyft, Ola, Grab, GO-JEK, “and many more” ride-hailing apps, according to Google. You can avoid the longer list and specify your preferred service by using its name when requesting a ride. This works on Android, iPhone, Google Home, and all other smart speakers that have Assistant built in. Support for smart displays is coming soon.

Previously, Assistant would kick you over to Google Maps for this info, as it already lists these price estimates for the services. Now it’s basically just surfacing that same information right in the Assistant window.

Facebook extends account deletion grace period from 14 to 30 days

Facebook recently extended the deletion grace period for terminating your main account from 14 to 30 days, the company confirmed to The Verge. Now, when you go to delete your Facebook account, you have up to one month to reverse the decision if you choose to log back in. Facebook won’t automatically restore your account if you log in, but it says you will have “the option to cancel your request.”
“We recently increased the grace period when you choose to delete your Facebook account from 14 days to 30 days,” says a Facebook spokesperson. “We’ve seen people try to log in to accounts they’ve opted to delete after the 14-day period. The increase gives people more time to make a fully informed choice.”
Of course, the extension of the grace period also means you must wait up to one month instead of just two weeks for the account to permanently disappear, along with all of your data. For those who are interested in leaving Facebook following news of last week’s major hack and the Cambridge Analytica scandal — or for reasons related to Facebook’s role in abetting fake news and election interference — it’s best to make that decision now so you can ensure your account and the data stored on you gets deleted as promptly possible.

What Tesla’s union-busting trial means for the rest of Silicon Valley

In some sense Tesla’s union question is an existential one: is Tesla a tech company or a car company? Car companies tend to have strong unions, while tech companies do not.
Musk runs Tesla like a tech company. Tesla’s done a top-to-bottom redesign of cars, and of the factory workflow. There are sudden pivots, and plenty of investment, despite a lack of profit — so far, so tech. Then you have the cars themselves: have to charge their batteries, the company can push over-the-air software updates to your car and totally change how it works, and uh they’re hackable. But they’re still cars: they go on roads, you drive them, and in most states you are legally compelled to buy car insurance for them.
Unions do exist in tech, though mostly among contract workers — the drivers of tech company employee shuttles have one, for instance. But Silicon Valley, the tech epicenter, exists in part because of opposition to unions, according to Alex Press. That’s how California beat out Boston in the post-World War II boom.