Confide makes its iOS messaging app ‘screenshot proof’

 Messaging app Confide, which was last year touted as a popular choice in Trump’s White House for staff wanting to leak intel to the press, has added protection against screenshotting to its iOS app. Read More
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How to Buy Discounted iTunes Gift Cards the Right Way

If you’re paying full price for a movie, song, or app on the App Store, you’re a sucker. You can easily buy an iTunes gift card for less than its full price, and redeem it to get an instant discount. The trick is to know where to buy them so you aren’t scammed on eBay or other sites. Several people online sell these discounted cards, but they won’t work when you try them. And the seller has probably disappeared. Fortunately, there are some places with a good reputation about such discounted cards, so that’s where you need to go. It’s...

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3 Superpowers You Can Get at CES 2018: Drones, Instant Camera, and More

Consumer Electronics Show 2018 brings us a bit closer to the future. Part of that future includes giving humans superpowers. For example, with FLIR, you can glimpse into the infrared spectrum using special heat-sensitive camera technology. FLIR (which stands for Forward Looking InfraRed) Systems uses a sensor and display package that translates heat imaging into spectral imaging – like the alien from the movie Predator. Imagine it like this: you can see heat rather than feeling it. Heat Vision Like the Predator Here’s a video of FLIR in action: While FLIR has been out for a while, in 2018, they finally got...

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Introducing the CVPR 2018 Learned Image Compression Challenge

Posted by Michele Covell, Research Scientist, Google Research

Image compression is critical to digital photography — without it, a 12 megapixel image would take 36 megabytes of storage, making most websites prohibitively large. While the signal-processing community has significantly improved image compression beyond JPEG (which was introduced in the 1980’s) with modern image codecs (e.g., BPG, WebP), many of the techniques used in these modern codecs still use the same family of pixel transforms as are used in JPEG. Multiple recent Google projects improve the field of image compression with end-to-end with machine learning, compression through superresolution and creating perceptually improved JPEG images, but we believe that even greater improvements to image compression can be obtained by bringing this research challenge to the attention of the larger machine learning community.

To encourage progress in this field, Google, in collaboration with ETH and Twitter, is sponsoring the Workshop and Challenge on Learned Image Compression (CLIC) at the upcoming 2018 Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference (CVPR 2018). The workshop will bring together established contributors to traditional image compression with early contributors to the emerging field of learning-based image compression systems. Our invited speakers include image and video compression experts Jim Bankoski (Google) and Jens Ohm (RWTH Aachen University), as well as computer vision and machine learning experts with experience in video and image compression, Oren Rippel (WaveOne) and Ramin Zabih (Google, on leave from Cornell).

Training set of 1,633 uncompressed images from both the Mobile and Professional datasets, available on compression.cc

A database of copyright-free, high-quality images will be made available both for this challenge and in an effort to accelerate research in this area: Dataset P (“professional”) and Dataset M (“mobile”). The datasets are collected to be representative for images commonly used in the wild, containing thousands of images. While the challenge will allow participants to train neural networks or other methods on any amount of data (but we expect participants to have access to additional data, such as ImageNet and the Open Images Dataset), it should be possible to train on the datasets provided.

The first large-image compression systems using neural networks were published in 2016 [Toderici2016, Ballé2016] and were only just matching JPEG performance. More recent systems have made rapid advances, to the point that they match or exceed the performance of modern industry-standard image compression [Ballé2017, Theis2017, Agustsson2017, Santurkar2017, Rippel2017]. This rapid advance in the quality of neural-network-based compression systems, based on the work of a comparatively small number of research labs, leads us to expect even more impressive results when the area is explored by a larger portion of the machine-learning community.

We hope to get your help advancing the state-of-the-art in this important application area, and we encourage you to participate if you are planning to attend CVPR this year! Please see compression.cc for more details about the new datasets and important workshop deadlines. Training data is already available on that site. The test set will be released on February 15 and the deadline for submitting the compressed versions of the test set is February 22.

Security researchers flag invite bug in WhatsApp group chats

 Security researchers have revealed details of a vulnerability in WhatsApp’s security that could be used to compromise the secrecy of encrypted group chats on the messaging platform. Read More
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7 Ways Alexa and Amazon Echo Pose a Privacy Risk

This might come as a surprise, but you know that Amazon Echo device across the room? It’s a networked microphone feeding data back to a massive central location, which might come with some privacy risks. Crazy, right? Whether you weren’t aware or buried your head in the sand when presented with the privacy risks of using Alexa, it’s something important every Echo owner should consider. Here are seven privacy invasions possible when you own an Amazon Echo device. 1. It’s Always Listening One of the most common knocks against the Echo is that it’s “always listening.” While this is true,...

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Senator John Thune has some questions for Apple

 A top U.S. lawmaker, Republican Sen. John Thune, has penned a letter to Apple with further questions about slowing older models of the iPhone via Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. Senator Thune, Chair of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, asked how Apple came to the conclusion to replace batteries for $29 or if the company ever considered making battery… Read More

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8 Things You Should NOT Be Doing on Instagram

With its myriad features, it’s no surprise that nearly one billion people now use Instagram to share their favorite photos and videos. The app has become a firm favorite for photographers, artists, foodies, and travelers to share their best work. And it’s a place where millions go to find creative inspiration and behind-the-scenes glimpses that are unique to Instagram. When done right, Instagram can provide you with a mass, captive audience who can’t wait to see your next post. “Doing it right” means knowing how to: Take a great photo Attract more likes and comments Discover the best hashtags for...

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Petal gets $13 million to build a credit card for those without a credit history

 You might be enjoying the benefits of a credit card with robust rewards today, but odds are when you were first getting started, it was hard to get even close to a card like that. That’s because, for those just getting started or who have a poor credit history, those cards are generally out of reach — and a lot of them are, Petal co-founder Jason Gross said. That’s why he… Read More

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9 Security Reasons You Should Upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo

Android 8.0 Oreo is stuffed full of exciting features, right from Instant Apps to Notification Channels. While most users are pretty excited about these new features, there’s a full range of little-known, under-the-hood security enhancements in Google’s newest operating system. Security features might not get you as excited as other headline features, but they are equally important. Security terminologies can be quite confusing for the average non-tech person, so here’s our attempt to simplify the security features in Android 8.0 Oreo. Security Enhancements Baked Into Software Here are some security features baked right into the operating system, and they come...

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Bumble is hiring an Editorial Director to build out its media brand

 Bumble, the female-led dating app founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014, is diving head first into content. The company is hiring Clare O’Connor as its first Editorial Director, who will work directly with Wolfe Herd and and Bumble’s content team to develop editorial content for their millions of users via a new arm called Bumble Media. O’Connor most recently was a staff… Read More
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How to Transfer Music From an Old iPod to Your Computer or iPhone

Do you have an old iPod or two from the last decade lying around gathering dust? Do they still have old music on them that you no longer have in any other form? Well, dust them off, because you can rescue the music from your old iPod. So, how do you transfer music from your iPod to your computer? Today I’ll share with you the procedure I discovered that allowed me to extract music from my brother’s old 16GB iPod onto my PC. Once extracted from the iPod, I could add the music to my iTunes library and sync it with...

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Make Gmail Even More Productive With These Extensions

If you use Gmail on the web, then adding handy browser extensions can save you time and boost your productivity. With notifiers, schedulers, trackers, signature creators, and similar tools, you can easily reduce the time you spend with your messages. For simple ways to improve your productivity when using Gmail, check out these awesome Gmail browser extensions. Notifications and Basic Inbox Management 1. Checker Plus (Chrome, Firefox) When you are working hard online, but waiting for an email from a certain person or regarding a specific topic, Gmail notifications can come in handy. This lets you continue to work, research,...

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Sonos One Review: Is This the One Smart Speaker to Rule Them All?

Our verdict of the Sonos One:Sonos and Alexa, in One device. Thanks to the superior sound quality, it's the best Echo device yet – and with Google Assistant support promised soon, it's the One speaker to rule them all. 910Alexa and Sonos have had a troubled relationship. Until the tail end of 2017, they weren’t talking to each other at all. Now they’ve not only buried their differences, but also created a love-child: the Sonos One. It’s a fantastic sounding speaker, as you’d expect from Sonos, with the Alexa voice assistant built in. Not only that, but Sonos has even...

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UK’s Carphone Warehouse fined nearly $540k for 2015 hack

 The UK’s data watchdog has handed mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse a £400,000 fine — just shy of the £500k maximum the regulator can currently issue — for security failings attached to a 2015 hack that compromised the personal data of some three million customers and 1,000 employees.  Read More

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How to Use the Photoshop Notes Tool to Your Advantage

In the overwhelming tool chest of Adobe Photoshop CC 2018, you probably missed one of the simpler features: the Notes Tool. Notes aren’t just tiny bits of information. They are also reminders, records, and the rudder for navigating images. Notes have been a part of Photoshop since several versions ago, adding metadata to images and serving as a roadmap and communication tool for any Photoshop project. Adding Your First Note in Photoshop Thanks to Notes, you can add comments, reminders, or instructions for your collaborator or even for yourself. The Notes are non-printable, so they don’t affect your image. You can change, modify or even...

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What is Snapchat, now Story sharing has stopped growing?

 In a betrayal of loyalty signaling poor morale, a massive dump of Snapchat’s usage stats has leaked. The most worrisome is that the number of users posting Stories has shown zero growth, an even worse performance than Snapchat’s total user growth that was sluggish this year. It appears Instagram’s Stories clone has stopped Snapchat’s most monetizable feature dead in… Read More
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What Can You Do With Photoshop on an iPhone?

There are three iOS Adobe Photoshop apps, and while each of them serves a specific purpose, there’s a bit of overlap in the features available in all three. You will need an Adobe Creative Cloud account to take advantage of many of the features listed here. Photo Editing: Adobe Photoshop Express Photoshop Express is the first place you’ll want to start if you’re looking for a robust photo editing app. It’s certainly not the only app of its kind out there for mobile users, and requires a Creative Cloud account to use some of its features, but here’s what you get with...

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How to Prevent Apps From Running in the Background in Windows 10

Letting apps run in the background, when you’re not using them, is convenient but comes with some drawbacks. On one hand, background apps can send notifications, check for updates, and receive information without your oversight. However, having many apps running in the background can eat up valuable resources and waste power. By default, Windows 10’s Modern apps can run in the background on your PC. Here’s how to prevent them from doing so. How to Prevent Apps From Running in the Background in Windows 10 Open the Settings app (using the Windows Key + I shortcut if you like). Select...

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What is Snapchat, now Story sharing has stopped growing?

 In a betrayal of loyalty signaling poor morale, a massive dump of Snapchat’s usage stats has leaked. The most worrisome is that the number of users posting Stories has shown zero growth, an even worse performance than Snapchat’s total user growth that was sluggish this year. It appears Instagram’s Stories clone has stopped Snapchat’s most monetizable feature dead in… Read More

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How to Change Language in Google

How do you change the language across all your Google services? The answer isn’t as apparent as you might think. Sure, changing the language in Chrome is quite straightforward, but that won’t affect the language you see on YouTube, Keep, Drive, or any of Google’s other productivity apps. If you created your Google Account while living as an expat in a foreign land and you can’t understand a thing, or you’re trying to immerse yourself in a new language in a bid to aid the learning process, keep reading. In this brief article, we explain how to change the language...

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Huawei’s Richard Yu is really pissed at US carriers

It was the 800-lb. gorilla for the duration of today’s Huawei CES keynote — will he, or won’t he? Richard Yu managed to keep his cool for the majority of the event. If I was a betting man, I’d have put money on the executive not pushing the matter — these things are seldom discussed in the context of an event like this. But as the keynote closed, things took a… Read More

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Euveka’s shape-shifting robotic mannequin could streamline the fashion and wearable industries

 Some ideas you hear and they immediately make sense. Some take a minute but the more you think about them, the better they seem. Euveka, a mannequin for clothing designers that can change shape and size in seconds, is the latter — and I think it may eventually be a standard item in any fashion studio and a fair few other industries. Read More

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Baidu sets its sights on Japan with a voice-enabled projector in a dome light

 Baidu’s DuerOS is essentially China’s Alexa. The company has built a voice assistant and an ecosystem of hardware partners that cater to the Chinese market. At CES this week, the company talked about its own first-party smart speaker. It also showed off the popIn Aladdin, a dome light with a built-in projector that the company specifically designed for small apartments. Read More

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