Things you can do with an extra robotic arm Having extra robotic limbs sure sounds cool, in theory. With an extra arm, you could do all kinds of stuff! Throwing three frisbees at once! Eating three times as many slices of pizza at the same time! Giving three thumbs up! Er, other things! Seriously though, if we’re going to get real about supernumerary robotic limbs, we have to know what people really want them for. IEEE Spectrum
iOS 11 GM leak confirms D22 ‘iPhone 8’ features: Portrait Lighting, True Tone Display, revised AirPods, much more Here we go. We’re digging through the iOS 11 GM we received this evening to unpack what we can learn about the D22 ‘iPhone 8’ and the rest of the lineup ahead of Apple’s big unveiling on Tuesday. It looks like the infamous HomePod leak left a few surprises for us after all. 9to5Mac
Wi-Fi IoT electrical outlet: Turning on a coffee maker remotely They say necessity is the mother of invention, and there’s no question that the need to turn on my coffee maker while still in bed is a necessity. I don’t want to wait for my coffee to brew after I go down to the kitchen in the morning. I want my coffee ready as soon as I get there. It’s not that I’m impatient, I just have lots of electronics work to do, right? Project Lab
My friends at Google: it is time to return to not being evil I have known Google longer than most. At Opera, we were the first to add their search into the browser interface, enabling it directly from the search box and the address field. At that time, Google was an up-and-coming geeky company. I remember vividly meeting with Google’s co-founder Larry Page, his relaxed dress code and his love for the Danger device, which he played with throughout our meeting. Later, I met with the other co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, and got positive vibes. My first impression of Google was that it was a likeable company. Jon von Tetzchner of Vivaldi
How neural networks think Artificial-intelligence research has been transformed by machine-learning systems called neural networks, which learn how to perform tasks by analyzing huge volumes of training data. During training, a neural net continually readjusts thousands of internal parameters until it can reliably perform some task, such as identifying objects in digital images or translating text from one language to another. But on their own, the final values of those parameters say very little about how the neural net does what it does. MIT
How to hurricane-proof a Web server I had enough to worry about as Hurricane Harvey plowed into the Texas Gulf Coast on the night of August 25 and delivered a category 4 punch to the nearby city of Rockport. But I simultaneously faced a different kind of storm: an unexpected surge of traffic hitting the Space City Weather Web server. This was the first of what would turn into several very long and restless nights. Ars Technica
Firefox 57 will hide search bar and use a uni-bar approach, like Chrome Mozilla will hide an iconic section of its UI — the search bar — and will use one singular input bar atop the browser, similar to the approach of most Chromium browsers. This change will go live in Firefox 57, scheduled for release on November 14, and will be part of Photon — the codename used to describe Firefox's new user interface (UI) — also scheduled for a public release in v57. Bleeping Computer
A simple design flaw makes it astoundingly easy to hack Siri and Alexa Chinese researchers have discovered a terrifying vulnerability in voice assistants from Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, and Huawei. It affects every iPhone and Macbook running Siri, any Galaxy phone, any PC running Windows 10, and even Amazon’s Alexa assistant. Fast Co
Six leading car makers seek to electrify e-vehicle plan Six leading car makers are eyeing the government’s plan to buy 10,000 electric vehicles while policy makers are considering generous fiscal incentives to make their capital and running cost cheaper than petrol cars within five years. Broadly, the aim is to put on roads 1 million electric three-wheelers and 10,000 electric city buses by mid-2019 and make India the world leader in at least some segments of the market as the country strives to shift entirely to battery-powered transportation by 2030... India Times
Traditional radio faces a grim future, new study says A new study published today by the head of New York University’s Steinhart Music Business Program casts a sobering outlook on the future of terrestrial radio. In the 30-page report, Larry Miller argues that traditional radio has failed to engage with Generation Z — people born after 1995 — and that its influence and relevance will continue to be subsumed by digital services unless it upgrades. Key points made in the study include... Variety
Identity theft, credit reports, and you This is outside my usual brief, but one of my hobbies is that I used to ghostwrite letters to credit reporting agencies and banks. It is suddenly relevant after the Equifax breach, so I’m writing down what I know to help folks who might need this in the future. Kalzumeus
'No fire risk' with new lithium batteries The devices produced sufficient energy for use in household electronics, but did not ignite - even when punctured repeatedly with a nail. The batteries use a water-salt solution as their electrolyte, removing the risks carried by some non-aqueous commercial models. BBC
3D printed nuclear powered motor - TriNano EZ-Spin - Tritium I finally got this ultra low power motor working! I learned a lot on this build. Low power motors are a fun challenge. lasersaber on YouTube
Intel wins round in fight over $1.26 billion antitrust fine Intel Corp. won a round in its eight-year fight with the European Union over a 1.06 billion-euro ($1.26 billion) fine in a case that could have ramifications for a list of disputes involving U.S. tech giants including Google and Qualcomm Inc. Bloomberg
Product graveyard Commemorating the most memorable products that have gone away, and finding some alternatives along the way... Product Graveyard
TV turns 90 today A live webcast today will celebrate the transmission of the first electronic TV signal on Sept. 7, 1927, and the man behind it, Philo T. Farnsworth... Axios
List of Android 8.0 Oreo Custom ROMs for Popular Devices Android 8.0 Oreo is more than a week old, this update to Android may be considered incremental in nature, but that in no way diminishes the improvements it brings to the table. But unless you have a Google Pixel device or a currently supported Nexus, there’s a very good chance that you will have to wait for a few months to have your OEM send across the latest dessert onto your phone. XDA Developers
