Technology

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Apple is going to Product its new Mac Pro in Texas



Apple announced on Monday that the company will be moving production of its new Mac Pro (back) to Texas. This is following the company receiving a set number of tariff exemptions for the most powerful Mac the company has ever put together. Production of the new Mac Pro will happen in the same facility where the previous iteration of the Mac Pro was manufactured, in Austin, Texas, later this year.
Apple notes that the company is on track to meet its $350 billion commitment to the United States economy by 2023. Indeed, the company breaks down its major monetary injections into a variety of U.S.-based companies in today’s announcement:

Google launches ‘Play Pass’ for $4.99 per month

Earlier this month, Apple launched Apple Arcade to the public with iOS 13. But not to be outdone, Google has just introduced its competing effort: Play Pass.

This week, Google announced a new subscription service of its own called Play Pass. This is designed for Android device owners to take advantage of a new subscription option that will give them access to a variety of content on a regular basis, all for just $4.99 per month.
The difference is that Play Pass isn’t just for games, but also includes apps. All told, it will have more than 350 games and apps within its digital library.
The games that are available within the Play Pass service will excise any in-app purchases and advertisements. Customers will also be able to share the Play Pass with a family membership, which can include up to five family members.
Google Play Pass isn’t offering only exclusive options, either, which is one of the bullet points for Apple Arcade.
Google will be paying developers through user engagement, according to a report from The Verge. That will go beyond the number of apps being opened in a week, or screen usage time, but the finer details remain unknown at this time.
Play Pass is initially available for Android customers in the United States. It comes with a 10-day free trial, and after that it will cost $4.99 per month. There is a limited-time promotion, though, which sees customers able to get Play Pass for just $1.99 per month for 12 months:
Play Pass is a new subscription service that gives you access to more than 350 apps and games that are completely unlocked—all free of ads, in-app purchases and upfront payments. Play Pass offers a high-quality, curated collection of titles from Stardew Valley to Risk, and Facetune to AccuWeather, with new apps and games added every month.
Play Pass is coming to Android devices in the U.S. this week, and we’ll be bringing it to additional countries soon. You can get started with a 10-day free trial and subscribe for just $4.99/month. And for a limited time, you can get Play Pass for only $1.99/month for your first twelve months, then $4.99/month (see full terms).
The subscription service will expand to additional countries at a later date.

Amazon Update Alexa to Next level AI (Show and Tell) recognition Object

"Alexa, what am I holding?"

Show and Tell is an Alexa feature designed to help blind and low vision customers identify grocery items.

Alexa-enabled devices are already a big help around the house for Grijalva, from changing the channel on her Fire TV to using her voice to turn off lights and appliances. Now, an Echo Show feature mak easier to identify household pantry items.

With Show and Tell, blind and low vision customers can hold up an item to the Echo Show camera and ask, “Alexa, what am I holding,” and Alexa helps identify the item through advanced computer vision and machine learning technologies for object recognition.

“It’s a tremendous help and a huge time saver because the Echo Show just sits on my counter, and I don’t have to go and find another tool or person to help me identify something. I can do it on my own by just asking Alexa,” Grijalva said.

Amazon believes in starting from the customer and working backward, a philosophy also applied to invent and using our technology resources for good. That means paying attention to what all of our customers are telling us.

“The whole idea for Show and Tell came about from feedback from the blind and low vision customers,” said Sarah Caplener, head of Amazon’s Alexa for Everyone team. “We heard that product identification can be a challenge and something customers wanted Alexa’s help with. Whether a customer is sorting through a bag of groceries or trying to determine what item was left out on the counter, we want to make those moments simpler by helping identify these items and giving customers the information they need in that moment.”

From early research and exploration through product development and testing, Caplener’s team collaborated with the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Santa Cruz, California, where Grijalva is the assistive technology manager. For Show and Tell, Grijalva enlisted other blind and low vision customers for user studies, providing feedback to the Alexa for Everyone team. “By working together, we create an amazing product for everyone,” said Grijalva.



Monday, September 23, 2019

Apple releases watchOS 6.1 beta, and macOS beta Version For Developer



Last week, Apple released iOS 13 and watchOS 6, its newest major updates. iOS 13.1 is going to arrive tomorrow, Apple released the first developer beta for watchOS 6.1 today. There's not a lot that's new, but the release notes do say that there might be some compatibility issues with Xcode, so you'll also need to grab the next Xcode beta release from apple.

If your apple watch is on watchOS 6 beta, you should receive this update as an OTA. If you don't want it, then you should uninstall the configuration profile immediately. Remember, unlike all of the other operating systems that Apple runs beta software for, you can't easily roll back an Apple Watch to a stable version of the OS.
Apple also confirms that macOS 10.15 Catalina Developer Beta 9, will push today for the developer which will include a few bug fixes and the Apple Os team is prepares for general availability. That's slated to arrive in October, but we should see a GM seed first.

Today Microsoft releases Windows 10 Release Preview build 18363.385

Today, Microsoft released a new cumulative update for Windows 10 to Insiders in the Release Preview ring. As usual, there are actually two new builds, one for Insiders testing 19H1, which is 18362.285, releases and another for those testing 19H2, which is 18363.385. The update packages are actually the same, but the 19H2 build has an additional enablement package for new features in 19H2.


Users in the Release Preview didn't actually get any of the new 19H2 features that are already in the Slow Ring. That is, until today, since build 18363.385 enables all of those features. As a reminder, here's the full list of new features in Windows 10 19H2:

  • Windows containers require matched host and container version. This restricts customers and limits Windows containers from supporting mixed-version container pod scenarios This update includes 5 fixes to address this and allow the host to run down-level containers on up-level for process (Argon) isolation.
  • A fix to allow OEMs to reduce the inking latency based on the hardware capabilities of their devices rather than being stuck with latency selected on typical hardware configuration by the OS.
  • Key-rolling or Key-rotation feature enables secure rolling of Recovery passwords on MDM managed AAD devices upon on demand request from Microsoft Intune/MDM tools or upon every time recovery password is used to unlock the BitLocker protected drive. This feature will help prevent accidental recovery password disclosure as part of manual BitLocker drive unlock by users.
  • A change to enable third-party digital assistants to voice activate above the Lock screen.
  • You can now quickly create an event straight from the Calendar flyout on the Taskbar. Just click on the date and time at the lower right corner of the Taskbar to open the Calendar flyout and pick your desired date and start typing in the text box – you’ll now see inline options to set a time and location.

  • The navigation pane on the Start menu now expands when you hover over it with your mouse to better inform where clicking goes.
  • We have added friendly images to show what is meant by “banner” and “Action Center” when adjusting the notifications on apps in order to make these settings more approachable and understandable. 
  • Notifications settings under Settings > System > Notifications will now default to sorting notification senders by most recently shown notification, rather than sender name. This makes it easier to find and configure frequent and recent senders. We have also added a setting to turn off playing sound when notifications appear.
  • We now show the options to configure and turn off notifications from an app/website right on the notification, both as a banner and in Action Center.
  • We have added a “Manage notifications” button to the top of Action Center that launches the main “Notifications & actions” Settings page.
  • We have added additional debugging capabilities for newer Intel processors. This is only relevant for hardware manufacturers.
  • We have made general battery life and power efficiency improvements for PCs with certain processors.
  • A CPU may have multiple “favored” cores (logical processors of the highest available scheduling class). To provide better performance and reliability, we have implemented a rotation policy that distributes work more fairly among these favored cores.
  • We have enabled Windows Defender Credential Guard for ARM64 devices for additional protection against credential theft for enterprises deploying ARM64 devices in their organizations.
  • We have enabled the ability for enterprises to supplement the Windows 10 in S Mode policy to allow traditional Win32 (desktop) apps from Microsoft Intune.
  • We’re updating the search box in File Explorer to now be powered by Windows Search. This change will help integrate your OneDrive content online with the traditional indexed results. More details here.
  • We have added the ability for Narrator and other assistive technologies to read and learn where the FN key is located on keyboards and what state it is in (locked versus unlocked).

Additionally, this update will now be offered if you use Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) or containers.

via :Neowin