Category: Apple

Impact Lab > Apple
Amazon.com, Apple, Computer Security, Google, Home Technology, Science & Technology News

Researchers used a laser to hack Alexa and other voice assistants

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San Francisco (CNN Business)Usually you have to talk to voice assistants to get them to do what you want. But a group of researchers determined they can also command them by shining a laser at smart speakers and other gadgets that house virtual helpers such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant.

Researchers at the University of Michigan and Japan’s University of Electro-Communications figured out they could do this silently and from hundreds of feet away, as long as they had a line of sight to the smart gadget. The finding could enable anyone (with motivation and a few hundred dollars’ worth of electronics) to attack a smart speaker from outside your house, making it do anything from playing music to opening a smart garage door to buying you stuff on Amazon.

Continue reading… “Researchers used a laser to hack Alexa and other voice assistants”

Apple, Augmented Reality, Automobiles, Science & Technology News

Apple wants to put AR navigation in your car

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Apple Maps could make driving easier with augmented reality navigation tips.

Apple is exploring ways to build augmented reality into Apple Maps. Rather than top-down views of roads and intersections, the company is considering overlaying route information onto live views of the road ahead of the car.

Apple Maps has always lagged behind Google Maps. Building in AR could help it jump ahead.

Continue reading… “Apple wants to put AR navigation in your car”

Apple, Entertainment, Internet, Music, Science & Technology News

Apple is pulling the plug on iTunes after 18 Years

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs gestures as he announces Apple ‘iTunes’ Music Store in the UK, France and Germany 15 June, 2004 at a press release party in London. The iTunes Music Store will allow music fans in the three countries the same large online2011 AFP

Apple is finally putting to rest the program that started a “music revolution.” iTunes, which helped usher in the mp3 era of music, will shutter after nearly two decades. Bloomberg reports the tech giant will announce the iTunes shutdown at a developer conference that begins Monday.

This development has been rumored for years, as subscription-based streaming services — including the company’s own Apple Music — have overtaken music downloads. According to the RIAA’s 2018 year-end report, streaming amounted to 75% of the U.S. music industry’s revenue.

Continue reading… “Apple is pulling the plug on iTunes after 18 Years”

Apple, Augmented Reality, Google, Science & Technology News, Virtual Reality

Magical new AR demo transforms 2D photos into ‘Harry Potter’-style 3D animations

Imagine if you were able to point your smartphone, tablet or augmented reality (AR) headset at a still image, and watch it come to life before your very eyes. This is something that’s possible using the latest augmented reality technology, such as Apple’s ARKit or Google’s ARCore. However, while we have seen it done before, typically it has been limited to just one or two select images — for instance, as a tool for animating advertising billboards.

Researchers from the University of Washington and Facebook have built something that’s a whole lot more versatile. Their new “Photo Wake-Up” project will animate stationary characters in any image, resulting in them springing into action to sprint toward you out of the background. Because who has time for boring old still images as we reach the final days of 2018?

Continue reading… “Magical new AR demo transforms 2D photos into ‘Harry Potter’-style 3D animations”

Amazon.com, Apple, Google, Healthcare

How Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are shaking up healthcare — and what it means for the future of the industry

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The healthcare industry is undergoing a profound transformation. Costs are skyrocketing, consumer demand for more accessible care is growing rapidly, and healthcare companies are unable to keep up.

Health organizations are increasingly turning to tech companies to facilitate this transformation in care delivery and lower health expenditures. The potential for tech-led digital health initiatives to help healthcare providers and insurers deliver safer, more efficient, and cost-effective care is significant. For healthcare organizations of all types, the collection, analyses, and application of patient data can minimize avoidable service use, improve health outcomes, and promote patient independence, which can assuage swelling costs.

Continue reading… “How Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are shaking up healthcare — and what it means for the future of the industry”

Apple, Employment, Google, IBM

Apple HR couldn’t care less if you have a college degree

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You can get hired at Apple even without a fancy piece of paper telling people you got a lot of book learning.

The traditional life plan includes four years of college then a good job. But not everyone takes this path, and sometimes the lack of a college degree keeps some people from getting a job they are otherwise qualified for. But not at Apple.

Following a non-traditional career path is no problem getting hired at Apple. And that goes for positions beyond working at its retail stores.

Continue reading… “Apple HR couldn’t care less if you have a college degree”

Apple, communication, Entertainment, Internet

The way you get TV and internet at home is about to change drastically — for the better

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Verizon and other internet providers are going to start rolling out 5G internet this year.

It will change how we get TV and internet in our homes.

Instead of drilling holes for cable everywhere, you’ll get a modem and a subscription to a streaming TV service.

Continue reading… “The way you get TV and internet at home is about to change drastically — for the better”

Apple, Automation, Business, Latest Trend, Robotics, Science & Technology News

Here’s how the plan to replace the humans who make iPhones with bots is going

 

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Foxconn Technology chairman Terry Gou on Friday reiterated a pledge that the world’s biggest assembler of iPhones has made many times: that in a matter of years, human workers will be in a minority at the company.

Continue reading… “Here’s how the plan to replace the humans who make iPhones with bots is going”

Apple, Automobiles, Electric Automobile, Transportation

Apple now has more than 50 autonomous cars on the road

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The tech company’s self-driving program continues to flourish.

Apple has more than doubled the number of its self-driving cars, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has confirmed. Since obtaining a permit to test autonomous vehicles, Apple’s fleet size has steadily risen — from a scant three test cars, to 27 in January, and now, 55 intelligent machines. Should the program remain on course, consumers could be chilling out in the driver’s seat by 2019.

Continue reading… “Apple now has more than 50 autonomous cars on the road”

Amazon.com, Apple, facebook, Google, Science & Technology News

Silicon Valley isn’t just disrupting democracy—it’s replacing it

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If you want to understand the threat that Silicon Valley poses to culture at large, consider Apple’s $5 billion headquarters. The Cupertino, California, building may seem like paradise to some, with striking architecture—a donut-shaped building featuring the world’s largest piece of curved glass—and lavish details like iPhone-inspired elevator buttons and patented pizza boxes that prevent soggy crusts. Writing for Wired, Stephen Levy quotes one of the architects of the project: “The idea that a beautiful object descended on this verdant, luxurious landscape and that it will be inhabited by 12,000 people: That is a true utopian vision.” (Never mind the lack of onsite childcare in this revolutionary building.)

Continue reading… “Silicon Valley isn’t just disrupting democracy—it’s replacing it”

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