You can grab four whole months of Amazon Music Unlimited for just $0.99! That’s a saving of $38 if you’re a non-Prime member and an excellent introduction to Amazon’s 50-million track strong music streaming service. You’ll have to be brand new to Amazon Music Unlimited to benefit from this offer, so if you’ve been wondering whether to switch from Apple Music or Spotify to better suit your Alexa smart home or to have access to more titles, this might be your moment.
Amazon Music Unlimited boasts a massive roster of recent releases and high-quality classics. It’s holding onto 5 million more songs than Apple Music, and a surprising 15 million more than Spotify, meaning you’re getting access to the largest mainstream streaming library around for an eye-wateringly low price. They also often snag exclusives on new launches for a small amount of time. Of course, all the offline, ad-free listening you would expect from a paid service is included as well.
Once your four months run out, a continued membership will cost you $9.99 a month, though you can bring that down to $7.99 with a Prime membership. If you’re really looking for a cheap streaming service, you can also grab a $3.99 membership that only serves a single Amazon Echo speaker. This deal will be running throughout Black Friday, up until January 2020 so you have plenty of time to make up your mind though at this price there’s no harm in trying the service out.
Amazon Music Unlimited deals for just $0.99
Amazon Music Unlimited 4 months | $0.99 at Amazon With a library of over 50 million songs and direct integration with all your Amazon Echo devices, Amazon Music Unlimited offers a streamlined and expansive music streaming experience. While the quality is on par with Spotify, the ease of use with Alexa and price difference for Prime members makes Amazon Music a great subscription for Echo smart speaker owners. And for four months, you can enjoy everything AMU has to offer at just 99 cents! View Deal
If you still need a smart speaker to blast your tunes from, there’s always great Amazon Echo deals to be had. Or, if you’re looking for something with a bit more oomph, why not try out these Bose speaker sales. You might also want to keep an eye on our Amazon Black Fridaypage to make sure you don’t miss out on all the latest discounts.
Google has gained access to a huge trove of US patient data – without the need to notify those patients – thanks to a deal with a major health firm.
The scheme, dubbed Project Nightingale, was agreed with Ascension, which runs 2,600 hospitals.
Google can access health records, names and addresses without telling patients, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
The tech giant said this was “standard practice”.
Among the data Google reportedly has access to under the deal are lab results, diagnoses, records of hospitalisation and dates of birth.
Neither doctors nor patients need to be told that Google can see this information.
The Wall Street Journal reports that data access began last year and was broadened over the summer.
In a blog, Google said its work with Ascension would adhere to industry-wide regulations, such as the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
“To be clear… patient data cannot and will not be combined with any Google consumer data,” the firm added.
Ascension said the deal would help it to “optimise” patient care and would include the development of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support doctors.
The company also said it would begin using Google’s cloud data storage service and business applications known as G Suite.
Privacy concerns
However, Project Nightingale has already attracted criticism from those who argue that it takes away patients’ control of their own data.
“There’s a massive issue that these public-private partnerships are all done under private contracts, so it’s quite difficult to get some transparency,” said Prof Jane Kaye at the University of Oxford.
“Google is saying they don’t link it to their other data but what they’re doing all the time is refining their algorithms, refining what they do and giving them[selves] market advantage.”
Health organisations are under increasing pressure to improve efficiency and quality of care. Many are turning to AI in an effort to sharpen their services, but such moves have sometimes faced criticism over how sensitive patient data is handled.
In the UK, Google’s AI-focused subsidiary DeepMind was found to have broken the law when it failed to explain properly to patients how their data would be used in the development of a kidney disease app.
The tool, called Streams, was designed to flag up patients at risk of developing acute kidney injury.
Honor’s president George Zhao has confirmed that their next flagship, the Honor V30 series will go official in China on November 26.
The Honor V series has always been known for experimental designs and innovation in cameras. The Honor V20 (View 20, globally) was the first phone with a punch-hole display, and one of the first with the 48MP Sony IMMX586 image sensor. For this year, the Honor V30 will bring improved internals and 5G to the mix.
(Image credit: Honor)
One of the biggest changes this time will be the inclusion of the Kirin 990 chipset. It is Huawei’s latest chipset, which also powers the Mate 30 series. It is built on the 7nm manufacturing process with about a 10% improvement in processing power.
The other big change will be 5G capabilities. It’s unclear if both the Honor V30 and the V30 Pro will be 5G capable, but there will be at least one variant to do so.
In terms of design, the V30 series will be very similar to its predecessor with a tall LCD panel on the front with a punch-hole notch for the front camera. The Honor V30 will have a pill-shaped notch with two selfie cameras. The back panel was also teased recently, which revealed a quad-camera setup. The fingerprint scanner was notably missing from the back and considering that the display is an LCD panel, the fingerprint scanner is likely to be on the side, embedded in the lock button.
(Image credit: Honor)
Rumorssuggest that the Honor V30 Pro will sport a 60MP primary camera with a “Camera Matrix photography algorithm.” The cameras are said to include a 20MP ultra-wide camera, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 3D ToF depth sensor. The regular V30 will supposedly go for a 16MP ultra-wide, along with a macro shooter and a depth sensor.
The battery is said to have a capacity of 4,200 mAh with support for 40W fast charging as well as wireless charging.
The Honor V30 series is unlikely to ship with Google services on board owing to the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, which could affect the phone’s sales. Honor is known to bring Huawei’s innovation in photography to a more affordable package, and the same is expected this time. The same phone should come to global markets as the Honor View 30 later.
Apple’s AR glasses have been a source of speculation for years, with patents dating back to 2015 and 2017 detailing AR-related software and hardware. But it wasn’t until 2019 that it felt like Apple’s highly-anticipated AR eyewear project would really happen.
Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said manufacturing of the AR specs would get underway at the end of 2019 or the start of 2020, according to money.udn.com. He also said that they will be reliant on a connected iPhone to do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of processing and connectivity.
However, just as we were all getting excited about the prospect of AR-enabled iGlasses, news broke that Apple had scrapped its plan for AR glasses altogether. A report from Digitimes stated that supply chain sources have confirmed Apple has disbanded its AR team.
Although this news hasn’t been officially confirmed, again neither had the existence of an AR glasses development team in the first place! That means we have a case of Schrödinger’s Apple AR glasses – they don’t exist, but they don’t not exist.
Most recently however, a new patent has appeared online, detailing what appears to be the much rumored Apple AR glasses, reigniting the potential of their existence.
Other sources meanwhile have said they’re still coming but have been delayed by years, with an AR headset apparently landing in either 2021 or 2022, followed by AR glasses in 2023.
While you try and get your head around all that, let’s take a brief look at Apple’s augmented reality background and why AR specs seemed like the next big move for the tech giant.
Update: Apple’s AR glasses might have been pushed back, with a launch now happening in 2023, while an AR headset could land in 2021 or 2022.
Cut to the chase
What is it? A new Apple wearable, a pair of glasses using augmented reality tech
When is it out? No fixed date confirmed, but signs point to 2021 or later
What will it cost? It’s near-impossible to say, but we’d estimate somewhere between $500/AU$670/£400 and $1,000/£800/AU$1,300
What will Apple AR glasses cost?
That’s a tough question, as there’s no real precedent for this sort of thing yet.
On one hand, you’ve got the Snap Spectacles, which were recently revamped as the Snap Spectacles 3 and now cost $380 / £330 (about AU$590). But as fancy as these new models are, they’re basic, have simple AR features and we imagine Apple will have a more feature-rich experience in mind.
On the other, you have the HoloLens 2. It’s not, strictly speaking, really a consumer device yet and is only up for pre-order.
But it looks like it’ll cost around $3,000 (£2,719, AU$4,369), like the original Hololens, and will include additional software at an extra cost. However, Apple’s glasses will likely be built to mass-market scale, and with consumers (and associated price tags) in mind.
So it’s a guessing game really. Keeping in mind that Apple tends to slap a premium on its devices, a broad estimate of somewhere between $500/$AU670/£400 and $1,000/£800/AU$1,300 could be the ballpark. But don’t hold us to that.
Apple AR glasses hardware: the evidence, the patents and the specs
Apple has been busy picking up companies with an interest in AR, which suggests it’s prepping a product of its own – and recently Cook said that Apple had several new products in the pipeline that could “blow you away”.
We’ve also seen a bunch of Apple patents appear recently, explaining how specially-designed lenses could be used to cast images on a user’s eye, and how a touchscreen surface (like an iPhone or an iPad) could be used as a controller.
One patent points to glasses with adjustable opacity, which might help add focus to a video, for example, or aid visibility on a particularly bright day.
A glimpse at digital items placed in the real world
Apple also filed a patent for a catadioptric optical system – a series of lenses designed to project images into a user’s eyes – in early February this year.
In fact, Apple has been granted 53 patents, covering its AR wearable, 3D mapping technology, and a more intelligent iPhone Home screen, amongst others, as discovered by Patently Apple.
Perhaps most telling of all is a leaked injury report out of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, which suggests Apple is working on a “prototype unit” which has resulted in eye injuries for two users. Eugh.
Apple has also made a number of key AR talent hires over the years. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple has poached a leading employee of Nasa for the project, hiring Jeff Norris, founder of the Mission Operations Innovation Office of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
He is said to be working as part of an augmented reality team being headed up by another poached talent, Dolby Labs executive Mike Rockwell.
That team is apparently 1,000 people strong, and the AR glasses they’re working on are said to have a high-resolution display, cameras, 3D scanning, and “advanced human detection”. They’re also apparently working on an AR headset, which could launch first with a design like the Oculus Quest, but a lightweight, comfortable build.
Hololens. Image Credit: TechRadar.
(Image credit: Future)
What is augmented reality?
You’re familiar with the concept of virtual reality, right? Popping on a headset and having software transport you to an interactive, 360-degree, left, right, up, down, all-encompassing virtual world?
Augmented reality works a bit like that but with one big difference. Rather than giving a window into an invented world, it uses either screens or transparent lenses to place digital items on top of the real world around you.
Pokemon Go makes the pocket monster appear in your world using AR
The most popular example of this in action would be the lenses and filters available on Instagram and Snapchat – the ones that make it look like you have a squashed face, a dog’s tongue or hearts coming out of your eyeballs.
Another great example of well-executed and mainstream AR is Pokemon Go which puts Pikachu and co into your world through a combination of your phone’s camera and screen.
Both see your real world ‘augmented’ by software on your smart device. Essentially, AR lets you get context sensitive digital information overlaid onto your real world surroundings – look at a subway station and get train times automatically displayed, for instance, or walk down the aisles of a food store and have the specs recommend a recipe. The applications could be exciting and used for games and entertainment or just extremely boring and extremely practical.
Augmented reality could also get a significant boost thanks to the advent of 5G. In fact, many believe 5G could prove instrumental to augmented reality finally hitting the mainstream – at least for those in the UK.
What is Apple ARKit?
First launched back in 2017, ARKit was Apple’s way of sticking its flag down into the augmented reality landscape, an attempt to claim the space as its own.
First revealed at WWDC 2017, ARKit is a new set of APIs to let developers build augmented reality applications for Apple devices. They can now create apps that use the cameras, processors and sensors in your iPhone or iPad and use this information to overlay virtual objects onto the real world.
It’s now in its third version, with the latest iteration arriving with iOS 13 in September 2019.
Users don’t necessarily know that an app has been created with ARKit – there’s no label – but they’ll see a fun, AR experience. For example, the IKEA app allows you to hold up your iPhone and ‘preview’ how furniture will look.
Why would Apple make AR glasses?
Apple ARKit is already bringing augmented reality to the forefront of consumer technology – but it’s just a platform. It’s long been suggested that the real future of Apple’s augmented reality road map would be AR glasses.
After all, Apple’s in need of a new product category. The last time the tech giant launched an inarguably successful new product line was the iPad – and even that has proved difficult to maintain momentum in.
AR is an exciting new area, and one in which Apple (at least in hardware terms) wouldn’t have much competition in, at least in the present with a mainstream and consumer focus.
Apple boss Tim Cook sees great potential in augmented reality. Image Credit: Apple.
Tim Cook has sung the praises of AR tech, going so far as to say augmented reality use will become as common as “eating three meals a day”.
“A significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences every day,” he said during the 2016 Utah Tech tour, before casting shade on VR.
“I can’t imagine everyone in here getting in an enclosed VR experience while you’re sitting in here with me,” said Cook to those assembled for the Utah talk.
“AR is going to take a while, because there are some really hard technology challenges there,” he added.
“But it will happen, it will happen in a big way, and we will wonder when it does, how we ever lived without it. Like we wonder how we lived without our phone today.”
Who’s the AR glasses competition?
Right now, there are a number of augmented reality glasses already on the market from companies like Vuzix, Epson and Vue. But many of them are reserved for enterprise use (in big businesses), are being used by developers or have been built for a rather niche purpose.
There are also mixed reality headsets, like the Microsoft Hololens 2, which sits somewhere between VR and AR. As well as one of the most exciting AR headsets, the Magic Leap One.
The main difference between these devices and the promise of AR glasses made so infamous by Google Glass, is AR glasses were tipped to be smaller, slimmer and could easily be mistaken for regular glasses. The Magic Leap One is an extraordinary piece of kit, but not exactly what Apple would have in store with AR specs.
There could also be mounting competition from other big tech giants. For example, in July, details were leaked about a patent, which suggests Samsung might be working on its own pair of AR specs.
Spotted by Patently Apple, the filing shows a fairly standard design for a pair of glasses with added smarts on board. They’re going to be foldable, apparently, so you can pop them in your pocket when you’re not being wowed by AR.
What’s more, according to a patent filed by Huawei at the World Intellectual Property Organization (and spotted by LetsGoDigital), the company is experimenting with a pair of AR glasses that are lightweight but only work when you insert your smartwatch into them.
It’s also not a surprise to hear that Facebook, which owns Oculus, has also been rumored to be working on its own AR eyewear.
According to a 2017 patent, Facebook’s AR glasses could use a ‘waveguide display’ to combine computer graphics with the real world – essentially an advanced method of giving the illusion of depth on specs right in front of your face.
Based on the patent images, the AR glasses could look just like a regular pair of glasses, which means there will be lot of complex, miniaturized technology to get right before they can be released.
This means Apple may not be releasing its own AR glasses anytime soon, but its competitors might be just a year or two away.
Glass Enterprise Edition 2. Image Credit: Google
(Image credit: Image Credit: Google)
Of course we can’t talk about AR specs without mentioning the legacy of Google Glass. These advanced smart glasses were tipped to change everything, from tech to the way we live, by overlaying layers of information onto the real world. But thanks to public perception, financial problems and design challenges they never fully materialised – apart from for a small number of developers and testers.
Well, at least not how they were meant to. Google Glass is still around, but exists as the Glass Enterprise Edition aimed at business use.
Although the troubled story of Google Glass may sound like a bit of a failure (at least when it comes to consumer traction), it actually taught tech companies a great deal about building AR, tech-enabled eyewear and the challenges of bringing a whole new product category to market.
London-based artist Laura Melissa Williams woke up one morning last week to find thousands of messages for her on social media – all from Malaysia.
Overnight, the thirty-something Briton, who paraglides as a hobby, had accidentally caught the attention of the nation’s teenagers.
They are in the process of taking SPM exams, roughly the equivalent of GCSEs.
And one of the English comprehension questions was about a fictional paraglider called Melissa.
The question described the fictional Melissa hitting a storm-cloud – like “being tossed around in a washing machine” – and having to be rescued from the roof of a farm by villagers.
Following the exam, a student looked up the question on the internet, found Ms Williams (whose middle name is Melissa), realised from her social media she was a paraglider – and the hashtag “The real Melissa” was born.
“It’s a bizarre set of coincidences that created the perfect storm and then went viral,” Ms Williams told BBC News.
It began with a whirlwind of humorous memes about washing machines and farms.
“At first, I thought it was funny,” she said.
Some thought Ms Williams was somehow working with the Malaysian government.
But as the day wore on, some of the comments became more personal and nastier – along with sarcastic posts about whether “Melissa” should have been paragliding in the first place.
“I checked with some Malay-speaking friends as I started worrying, I got a bit concerned about any threats – they just said it was mainly immature,” she said.
And then overnight in UK time, Ms Williams found herself the subject of another hashtag: “Stop cyber-bullying Melissa”.
Word had reached Arwind Kumar, a social-media influencer with nearly 200,000 subscribers on YouTube.
And he had posted a video about Ms Williams in which he said: “There is a fine line between making a joke and being extremely rude.”
And from then on, Ms Williams said, apologies had flooded in.
“I awoke to thousands of messages of apology, from students across Malaysia – some of whom posted nasty comments originally and now regret it and some who apologised on behalf of their cohort,” she said.
She has since received invitations to go to dinner in Malaysia, offers of gifts, and apologies from school teachers, influencers and the media. A female Malaysian paraglider got in touch to ask if they could take a flight together.
“For me that’s the most amazing thing about this – that the tide turned,” said Ms Williams, who doesn’t currently have plans to visit the country.
“You hear stuff in the media about celebrities being bullied and that’s the immediate thing that comes to your head, that it’s a bunch of 17-year-olds who got carried away, but that’s the problem – it’s group behaviour, people don’t stop and think.”
In total, she has now received 210,000 Instagram messages, 30,000 tweets, countless direct messages and she has also acquired 5,000 new followers.
“I now have an army of people as my protectors and standing up for what is right and moral,” she said.
Ms Williams is now considering creating an art exhibition based on her experience.
Surprisingly, it’s not the first time this has happened – the SPM exam in 2018 featured a question about a fictional surfer named Sarah, which propelled Malaysian surfer Sarah Faudzi to Instagram stardom.
“I am truly upset that the police have detained those people. Through the years, my husband and I have never made any police report on bad things said about us,” she wrote, according to the Straits Times newspaper.
The new Google Assistant is one of the marquee features of the new Pixel 4, with a less-intrusive interface, rapid-fire responses, and smarter integration with Android 10. But even if you have a Pixel 4, you might not be seeing it due to Google’s restrictions on how and when you can get it. So if you’re still seeing the old Assistant, here’s how to get the new one.
Change your language
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The new Google Assistant is U.S.-only at launch, so you’ll need to pick English (United States) to get it to work.
The new Assistant is U.S.-only at launch, but that doesn’t mean you have to live in the United States to get it. Just head over to your Assistant settings and change the language to English (United States). That should trigger the new Assistant on your Pixel 4 even if your location is elsewhere.
Turn on Gesture navigation
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You’ll need to turn on gesture navigation to use the new Google Assistant.
Google offers two ways to navigate the Pixel 4, the new gesture-based navigation and the old 3-button nav bar. However, the new Assistant works only with the newer gesture navigation. So if you opted to stick with the old buttons, you’ll need to swap them out in the System settings to use the new Assistant.
Check your Google account
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Oddly enough, your G Suite account might be blocking access to the new Google Assistant.
A Google account is basically a prerequisite for owning a Pixel 4, but if you have a G Suite for Business account it’s going to cause problems with the new Assistant. It’s not clear why, but if you have a G Suite account on your phone, even if it’s not your main account, it will stop the new Assistant from appearing and revert to the old method. So you need to remove it completely by going into the Accounts tab in Settings. So if it’s vital for your job, you’re just going to have to wait to test out the new Assistant.
Turn on Continued Conversation
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To get the most out of the new Google Assistant, turn on Continued Conversation.
Finally, even if you are seeing the new Assistant on your phone, you might not be getting the full experience. That’s because you need to have Continued Conversation turned on to be able to ask follow-up questions, the main reason you’ll want to use the new Assistant. With Continued Conversation turned on, you’ll be able to ask contextual follow-up questions, such as, “what about tomorrow?” after getting today’s weather report. You can find the toggle inside the Assistant settings on your phone.
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It’s an interesting discovery for many companies that you can improve printer speed even for the devices you currently own. While you might assume a printer has to output at a set speed as dictated by the manufacturer, many devices do offer some form of control over this.
Factors such as the network you use, security features being configured incorrectly, the quality of the output, the paper you use, and even whether you have the latest firmware installed can also influence how fast you can print.
In some cases, you can even upgrade the components like the processor and the RAM for an older printer – although it’s recommended to do so through the manufacturer itself and not a third party, which can void the warranty.
Additionally, your overall workflow can impact print speed (or at least the perception of print speed).
Read our review on the Xerox VersaLink C500DN here
Network used for printing
Printer speed is more than the speed the actual device can output your documents. Although that is the most critical factor, and the reason printer manufacturers rate the output speed per page for color or blackand white documents, your network can also be a factor. If the network is congested or has issues related to your server or the network configuration, you will notice that documents do not transmit as quickly to the printer itself, which slows down the printer speed. To address this problem, make sure you resolve any network issues.
In addition, print speed will be impacted by the network you use – whether it is a wired network or wireless and even the speed of the network itself. These issues won’t have a dramatic impact, but it is also true that a faster network connection will improve the time it takes to transmit any print job to the printer itself.
2. Security features
It’s obvious that printer security is more important than ever. Hackers have been known to find ways to steal data through a printer, often by capturing business documents that contain sensitive business information. And, there’s no question printer security is incredibly important.
That said, one thing that can slow printing speed is when security features are not configured properly or when the wrong security features are used. It’s worth the time to investigate any printer slowdowns related to printer security, both on the network and on the printer itself. In some rare cases, you could disable printer security altogether – for example, when the printer is disconnected from any network and you are printing documents that do not need to be secured. (Keep in mind, this is a rare case and the print speed impact might not be worth the risk.)
3. Quality settings
One of the most dramatic changes you will see in printer output speed has to do with the quality settings. If you’re used to printing in full quality mode, then decide to change to the draft output setting, you will notice a major increase in speed for all documents.
Surprisingly, many users tend to keep using the same quality settings print after print for months on end. However, not every document needs to be printed at the highest quality setting. By lowering the quality, you can even double the output speed for some models. It’s also worth evaluating color versus blackand white printing needs. Color outputs print slower, so you can increase print speed if you select black and white printing for draft documents when you don’t really need color.
4. Firmware updates
Most printers do not benefit greatly in terms of speed after you install a new firmware update. The fact is, a printer is rated at a certain speed of output based on the components used for that device and even the processor used for that printer.
However, updating the firmware could potentially provide some speed related benefits. For example, a printer manufacturer might introduce a new draft mode setting that uses less ink and outputs faster. There may be a new setting related to an “eco” mode that is even faster because it uses less ink. There is also a possibility that a new firmware increases print speed slightly due to using new programming techniques or improving the print speed through the printhead.
5. Paper choices
The paper you use can have a slight impact on print speed, mostly because the best paper materials will travel smoothly through the print head. It’s surprising for anyone who has used printers for some time to discover how a high quality piece of paper will load smoothly, flow through the printhead, and eject smoothly such that every print is slightly faster. More importantly, low quality paper is more likely to jam than higher-quality paper.
6. Processor and RAM upgrades
Although these steps are not widely known or even widely used, there is a way to improve printer speed by upgrading the components inside of a printer. In some cases, this could mean adding more RAM to the device (which means the printer can handle more data). With the processor, print speed can increase because the printer is able to handle more jobs at once and process documents faster, although this does not impact the printhead speed. Be careful about voiding the warranty though through unauthorized upgrades. In most cases, you will need to connect with the original manufacturer for the upgrades. In some cases, printer models are designed for a RAM upgrade you can easily do yourself (and not void the warranty).
7. Workflow process
Although these steps are not widely known or even widely used, there is a way to improve printer speed by upgrading the components inside of a printer. In some cases, this could mean adding more RAM to the device (which means the printer can handle more data). With the processor, print speed can increase because the printer is able to handle more jobs at once and process documents faster, although this does not impact the printhead speed. Be careful about voiding the warranty though through unauthorized upgrades. In most cases, you will need to connect with the original manufacturer for the upgrades. In some cases, printer models are designed for a RAM upgrade you can easily do yourself (and not void the warranty).
