Kaz Hirai is retiring from Sony

Sony chairman Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai has announced his retirement, drawing a 35-year career with the company to a close. Hirai stepped down as CEO a little over a year ago, passing the role to Kenichiro Yoshida, the CFO with whom he orchestrated Sony’s turnaround from a money-losing gadget maker to a profitable company focused on components and the PlayStation business.
Hirai will leave his chairman role on June 18th, but will continue to act as occasional “senior advisor” for the company upon the request of Sony’s management team. “Hirai-san and I have been working on management reforms together since December 2013,” says Yoshida in a statement. “While he will be retiring from both Chairman and our Board of Directors, we look forward to his continuing high-level support to Sony’s management that encompasses a breadth of diverse businesses.”
“Since passing the baton of CEO to Yoshida-san last April, as Chairman of Sony, I have had the opportunity to both ensure a smooth transition and provide support to Sony’s management,” Hirai’s statement says. “I am confident that everyone at Sony is fully aligned under Yoshida-san’s strong leadership, and are ready to build an even brighter future for Sony. As such, I have decided to depart from Sony, which has been a part of my life for the past 35 years. I would like to extend my warmest gratitude to all our employees and stakeholders who have supported me throughout this journey.”
Read Full Article

Record labels sue Charter for not kicking off music pirates

Major music labels are suing Charter Communications for not kicking pirates off its service. Late last week, Warner Bros., Sony, Universal Music Group, and several subsidiaries claimed Charter had “knowingly contributed to, and reaped substantial profits from, massive copyright infringement committed by thousands of its subscribers.” Specifically, the complaint says Charter received notices that its subscribers were pirating music through BitTorrent and other services, but it refused to terminate their accounts. A similar suit has been filed against Charter subsidiary Bright House Networks.
“Charter did not want to lose subscriber revenue by terminating accounts of infringing subscribers,” the complaint reads. “Nor did Charter want to risk the possibility that account terminations would make its service less attractive to other existing or prospective users.” As Ars Technica pointed out, it actually comes close to suggesting that Charter promoted piracy simply by advertising high download speeds — complaining that “Charter has told existing and prospective customers that its high-speed service enables subscribers to ‘download just about anything instantly,’” and “told subscribers that its Internet service ‘has the speed you need for everything you do online.’”
The suit says that “tens of thousands” of Charter subscribers were flagged for copyright infringement, and it’s asking a court for damages that include Charter’s profits from maintaining these accounts. Charter told The Verge in a statement that “we will defend against these baseless accusations.”
Read Full Article

Huawei’s FreeLace neckbuds pair and charge by plugging into your phone

Huawei has a quirky new idea for wireless earphones, and I’m into it. The company’s new FreeLace neckbuds can be disconnected from one another, exposing a USB-C plug that can be jacked into your Huawei phone to facilitate seamless Bluetooth pairing or simply charge up the buds. This eliminates the need for a separate charging cable, and it sidesteps one of the biggest pain points with wireless audio.
The Huawei FreeLace are rated to last for 18 hours of music or 12 hours of calls on a single charge, and they can be fast-charged to run for four hours off of five minutes of being plugged in.
The look, shape, and function of the FreeLace are super reminiscent of OnePlus’ Bullets Wireless. The design is IPX5-certified for water and sweat resistance, and it’s balanced in weight, with two elongated modules housing batteries and the in-line volume and playback controls. Huawei has done a terrific job of creating chunky, clicky buttons that are a pleasure to use with the FreeLace.
I tried out these earphones for myself, and my lingering impression is all about the joy of those buttons. I won’t comment much on the FreeLace sound yet, other than to say that it’s rich on bass and tuned to generate excitement. The audio driver inside of each bud measures 9.2 mm in diameter.
Read Full Article

Apple might update the iPod touch

Apple has already announced a few product refreshes this week, but it might not be done just yet. The iPod touch may be the next device to get a hardware update, and according to MacRumors, the seventh-generation model may be announced tomorrow via a press release, as Apple did with the low-profile announcements of the new iPad Air, iPad mini, and today’s iMac.
A new iPod touch hitting soon seems plausible, as it has been name-dropped by Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with a good record for predicting Apple launches. MacRumors also notes that developer Steve Troughton-Smith discovered references to what could be a refreshed iPod touch in iOS 12.2 code.
Aside from that, an iPod touch upgrade makes sense because it’s among the oldest devices that Apple still features on its store. It was last updated in 2015, and it’s beyond due for an upgrade since it is powered by the aging A8 processor that’s also found in the iPhone 6.
As far as what could change, it’s safe to expect a significant boost to the iPod touch’s processing power. But otherwise, it’s unclear if Apple will stick with the thick-bezeled design to draw a clear line between its iPhones and the last remaining iPod, or welcome it to the notch party.
Read Full Article

Walmart is planning to launch its own low-cost Android tablet

Walmart is planning to release an inexpensive tablet under its in-house ONN brand, a spokesperson for the company has confirmed to Bloomberg. The report claims the device will be manufactured by a Chinese supplier, run on Android, and it’s expected to be aimed at kids.
The tablet is the latest attempt by the retailer to establish itself in the electronics space after it released a Walmart-branded lineup of gaming PCs and laptops last year under its new Overpowered brand. We reviewed the so-called Overpowered 17+ laptop and were left disappointed by its flimsy build quality, poor specs, and insufficient customer support. Reviews of the desktop gaming model have been similarly unimpressed.
What’s different about the upcoming Android tablet is that it will reportedly be aimed at the budget end of the market. Its main competitor will be Amazon, which produces tablets like the $79.99 Fire HD 8 and $149 Fire HD 10 — both of which are available as child-friendly Kids Editions. However, Amazon’s tablets run on its own Amazon Fire OS, a fork of Android, and so they don’t have access to a full range of Android apps. If Walmart’s tablets run on stock Android rather than a fork, this could be a key advantage for it.
Read Full Article

Dropbox adds three-device limit for free users

Dropbox has quietly updated its website to allow users on the company’s free storage plan to only connect up to three laptops, tablets, or phones to their account at one time, as spotted by Liliputing.
Users with more than three devices linked before March 2019 will be allowed to keep those devices connected, even if they’re over the three-device limit. But adding new devices — say, if you get a new computer or phone — won’t be allowed. If you have more than three devices that you’d like to use with your account, you’ll either have to pay for a Plus or Professional plan or get used to constantly linking and unlinking devices. Mobile devices count toward the three-device limit, too. So if your account is linked to a laptop, a phone, and a tablet, you’ll already run into the new limit.
It’s hard to view the new restriction as anything but a move by Dropbox to encourage customers to pay for its paid plans, which include the $9.99-per-month Plus subscription for 1TB of storage or the $19.99-per-month Professional plan with 2TB of storage. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this sort of device limit from companies that are looking to push premium subscribers.
Read Full Article

Windows 7 users to receive notifications from Microsoft about end of support

Microsoft is planning to push notifications to Windows 7 users warning them about the upcoming end of support. The software giant will stop supporting Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020, and it will start warning consumers about this cutoff date next month. Microsoft’s end of support date means that Windows 7 and Office 2010 will no longer receive security updates, and the company wants consumers to upgrade to Windows 10 PCs and Office 365.
The notification won’t specifically mention upgrading to Windows 10, but it will warn of the date of support and link to microsoft.com/windows7, a site that will encourage consumers to upgrade to Windows 10 or purchase a more modern PC. “Beginning next month, if you are a Windows 7 customer, you can expect to see a notification appear on your Windows 7 PC,” explains Matt Barlow, CVP of Windows. “This is a courtesy reminder that you can expect to see a handful of times in 2019.”
Microsoft has learned from its persistent nagging notifications during the free Windows 10 upgrade period, and Windows 7 users will be able to select “do not remind me again” on the notification so they never see it again. If they simply dismiss it by closing the prompt, then it will trigger again. Microsoft says it will only be displayed a “handful” of times during 2019, and the notifications will stop once Windows 7 support ends in January.
Read Full Article

LG might sell a pod-based ice cream-making gadget in the future

I wasn’t looking for pod-related gadgets, but, somehow, they found me. LG hosted a pop-up at SXSW this year where it showed off a few new prototypes, although it mostly demoed new models of its CLOi line of home robots. Naturally, LG also brought something called the Snow White to the festival: an at-home ice cream machine that requires capsules to produce a treat.
The machine requires two pods: one for flavor and another for a base texture, which determines whether you’re making sorbet, ice cream, or gelato. Every capsule has a QR code printed on it that’ll tell the machine what to make. The person demoing this device didn’t know what ingredients were inside the capsules, except for shelf-safe pasteurized milk, nor how cold the machine could get.
Unfortunately, we don’t have pricing or availability details for the device, only that it’s in the prototype phase right now. I genuinely hope LG starts making ice cream pods, if only because I think that would be a funny line of business for the same company that also makes the awe-inspiring rollable OLED TV.
Read Full Article

The PS4’s Remote Play update now lets you stream to iOS devices

You can now use the PS4’s Remote Play functionality on iOS devices, thanks to version 6.50 of the console’s firmware, allowing you to remotely play your PS4 games from an iPhone or iPad (via Engadget). To access it, you’ll need to download the Remote Play app for your iOS device, and then pair it with your console. Compatible games can then be played over Wi-Fi using the on-screen buttons.
Announced back in 2013, Remote Play originally let you stream games from a PS4 console to the handheld PlayStation Vita, but later in 2016, Sony released Remote Play apps for both Windows and Mac. Although Sony has yet to announce a broader Android version of the service, the existence of an Android version of the app that’s exclusive to Sony Xperia phones suggests there aren’t any technical barriers.
Bringing the functionality to iOS is a huge expansion for Remote Play, although it’s a shame that you’re not officially able to pair a DualShock 4 controller with the app via Bluetooth for a more authentic experience (although some users have reported being able to get the controller working via a sneaky workaround). If you’re prepared to use a non-Sony controller, then you’ll be happy to know that MacStories is reporting that other MFi gamepads (such as the SteelSeries Nimbus) work just fine with the iOS app.
Read Full Story

T-Mobile tries to woo regulators on Sprint merger with promise of amazing 5G home internet

T-Mobile says it’ll launch a 5G home internet service with fast speeds, easy installation, and low prices that will reach half of all US homes within five years and meaningfully shake up the woefully anti-competitive cable industry. There’s just one catch: T-Mobile says this only comes true if its Sprint merger is approved.
In a blog post and Federal Communications Commission filing today, T-Mobile outlines in the most detail yet what its 5G home internet service will look like. The company started divulging some details around the offering last September, but with today’s CEO-written blog post, T-Mobile is starting to advertise its promises in a far more public fashion.
T-Mobile says it plans to create a true cable competitor using 5G, offering speeds at 100 Mbps or higher. It’ll come at an unspecified lower cost, and customers will be able to set up the system themselves, so they won’t have to wait around for someone to install it. T-Mobile thinks it can have 9.5 million customers within five years, and save customers up to $13 billion in that time because of the increased competition.
It’s an exciting picture, but the thing to remember is that this is all a big, beautiful dream that T-Mobile is describing to get its merger approved.
If T-Mobile and Sprint merge, the United States would shrink from four major wireless carriers down to three. The previous leader of the FCC repeatedly said that four carriers are necessary to maintain a competitive environment. And while the current leader doesn’t seem to believe that, this general concern is a big element of what’s holding up the 10-month-old merger agreement.
Read Full Article

A new tool from Google and OpenAI lets us better see through the eyes of artificial intelligence

What does the world look like to AI?
Researchers have puzzled over this for decades, but in recent years, the question has become more pressing. Machine vision systems are being deployed in more and more areas of life, from health care to self-driving cars, but “seeing” through the eyes of a machine — understanding why it classified that person as a pedestrian but that one as a signpost — is still a challenge. Our inability to do so could have serious, even fatal, consequences. Some would say it already has due to the deaths involving self-driving cars.
New research from Google and nonprofit lab OpenAI hopes to further pry open the black box of AI vision by mapping the visual data these systems use to understand the world. The method, dubbed “Activation Atlases,” lets researchers analyze the workings of individual algorithms, unveiling not only the abstract shapes, colors, and patterns they recognize, but also how they combine these elements to identify specific objects, animals, and scenes.
Google’s Shan Carter, a lead researcher on the work, told The Verge that if previous research had been like revealing individual letters in algorithms’ visual alphabet, Activation Atlases offers something closer to a whole dictionary, showing how letters are put together to make actual words. “So within an image category like ‘shark,’ for example, there will be lots of activations that contribute to it, like ‘teeth’ and ‘water,’” says Carter.
The work is not necessarily a huge breakthrough, but it’s a step forward in a wider field of research known as “feature visualization.” Ramprasaath Selvaraju, a PhD student at Georgia Tech who was not involved in the work, said the research was “extremely fascinating” and had combined a number of existing ideas to create a new “incredibly useful” tool.
Selvaraju told The Verge that, in the future, work like this will have many uses, helping us to build more efficient and advanced algorithms as well as improve their safety and remove bias by letting researchers peer inside. “Due to the inherent complex nature [of neural networks], they lack interpretability,” says Selvaraju. But in the future, he says, when such networks are routinely used to steer cars and guide robots, this will be a necessity.
Read Full Article

Microsoft reportedly launching disc-less Xbox One S next month

Microsoft is reportedly launching a new Xbox One S without a disc drive next month. Windows Central reports that Microsoft will unveil a disc-less “Xbox One S All-Digital Edition,” with preorders expected to be available in mid-April. This new console is said to be available in stores in May, ahead of Microsoft’s typical E3 show in June.
Codenamed “Xbox Maverick,” details on the disc-less console appeared in November. Microsoft is also rumored to be creating an option to ship this disc-less console with games pre-installed, so new Xbox owners can choose the games they want installed before the console ships.
If the report is accurate, Microsoft’s disc-less Xbox One S will be designed for digital copies of games. It will likely mean this new console is cheaper than the existing Xbox One S, as the costly Blu-ray drive is being removed. It will also be designed for services like the Xbox Game Pass, that deliver games digitally.
Microsoft has been aggressively pushing its Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service that provides access to more than 100 Xbox games. The software maker even started launching its first-party Xbox Game Studios titles like Sea of Thieves and Crackdown 3 on Xbox Game Pass at the same time as their retail launch dates. Microsoft hasn’t provided exact Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers, but the company has said millions pay monthly for the service.
Source

You can now control your Roku with an Amazon Echo

After announcing support for Google Assistant last fall, Roku is today doing the same for Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. After installing the new Roku skill, you'll be able to control the company's streaming devices and Roku TVs with voice commands like “Alexa, open Hulu on Roku.”
You can launch apps, pause content, or search for something to watch with your voice. Roku TV owners can turn their TV on or off, adjust the volume, or change inputs using Alexa as well. You'll still need to mention “Roku” in each voice command instead of just “the TV,” however. If you've got an antenna hooked up to your Roku TV, you can also tune to specific channels.
Roku tells me that Alexa and Google Assistant have the same consistent functionality when it comes to controlling its devices. So there shouldn't be anything one voice assistant can do that the other can't.
As with Assistant, you'll need to already own an existing Alexa speaker like the Amazon Echo to control Roku. Roku hasn't built support for either platform into its own remote controls, which continue to run only the company's proprietary voice control system.
But Roku's voice commands are still in need of refinement. They can get the job done for simple requests, but that's about where it ends. By supporting both Amazon and Google’s alternatives, Roku is making its ecosystem a little bit more open as it works to improve its home-grown version.
Source:- The Verge