, , , , , ,
search relation.
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Tag Archives: tech
Today’s best tech deals: Apple Magic Keyboard, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and more
Today’s Dealmaster includes a notable discount on Apple’s Magic Keyboard accessory for iPads, with the model designed for the iPad Air and 11-inch iPad Pro down to $199. That’s $90 off the device’s usual street price and the steepest discount we’ve tracked to date. We were impressed with the Magic Keyboard because of its build quality and typing experience—it’s just obscenely expensive for a keyboard accessory, but this deal softens the blow somewhat.
Elsewhere, our deal roundup includes the lowest price we’ve seen on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, a massive action-RPG we enjoyed last year; a nice discount on Eufy’s Indoor Cam 2K, an indoor security camera we recommended in our 2020 holiday gift guide; the latest iPad Air and Apple Watch; recommended gaming headsets and keyboards; and more. You can check out the full rundown below.
Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.
Top 10 deals of the day
Enlarge / Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Ubisoft
Video game deals
Enlarge / Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Square Enix
Enlarge / Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gets you access to a lot of games for a monthly fee.
Microsoft
Gaming deals
Enlarge / The Apple Watch Series 6.
Corey Gaskin
Electronics deals
Enlarge / Eufy’s Indoor Cam 2K.
Jeff Dunn
Smart home device deals
Enlarge / Here’s the iPad Air with Apple’s Magic Keyboard and trackpad.
Samuel Axon
Accessories and miscellaneous deals
- Apple Magic Keyboard for 11-inch iPad Pro (2nd gen) and iPad Air (4th gen) for $199 at Amazon and Walmart (normally $289).
- Prime only: Aukey Omnia Mini PA-B1 20W USB-C PD wall charger for $10.12 at Amazon (normally $15).
- Prime only: Aukey PA-B3 USB-C wall charger—65W total, 65W USB-C PD, USB-A, GaN for $24.99 at Amazon (clip $5 coupon—normally $38).
- RavPower RP-PC112 61W USB-C PD wall charger for $19.99 at RavPower (use code: 112GAN—normally $28).
- Anker PowerLine II (3ft) USB-C to Lightning cable for $9.38 at Amazon (normally $13).
- Samsung EVO Select (128GB) microSDXC card—UHS-I, U3 for $17.99 at Amazon and Samsung (normally $20).
- Samsung EVO Select (512GB) microSDXC card—UHS-I, U3 for $64.99 at Amazon and Samsung (normally $20).
- Watchmen (Blu-ray + digital) for $13.99 at Amazon and Best Buy (normally $23).
Touchless tech mimics the ability to ‘press’ an elevator button
In their COVID—19 information page, both the CDC and the WHO warn people against touching their faces with unwashed hands, since the virus can survive on surfaces. There’s been a rise in the use of touchless technologies as a result, and Singaporean studio Stuck Design envisions a world wherein passengers won’t even have to press elevator buttons with their fingers to get to where they need to go. The studio’s Kinetic Touchless technology can mimic the movement of one’s fingers and recreate the tactile response of pushing a button.
It works by using motion as an input method so it doesn’t need direct contact and can imitate the movement from a distance. The studio says the type of touchless interaction its technology offers can be applied to various gestures, as well. That means buttons using the technology can sink inwards or move outwards if the user makes a pushing or pulling motion. A row of buttons can also follow the user’s finger if they make a sliding movement.
Google threatens to shut down search in Australia
At a Senate hearing in Canberra on Friday, Google (GOOGL) Australia Managing Director Mel Silva said the draft legislation “remains unworkable,” and would be “breaking” the way millions of users searched for content online.
“If this version of the Code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” she told lawmakers. “That would be a bad outcome not just for us, but for the Australian people, media diversity and small businesses who use Google Search.”
The company’s main concern with the proposal is that it “would require payments simply for links and snippets just to news results in Search,” according to Silva.
“The free service we offer Australian users, and our business model, has been built on the ability to link freely between websites,” she said.
Google and Facebook have tussled with publishers for years over how they display their content, with media companies arguing the tech giants should pay them for the privilege. Critics of the two tech firms point out that since they dominate the online advertising business, it puts news publishers in a bind and leaves them scrambling for leftovers.
The new legislation would allow certain media outlets to bargain either individually or collectively with Facebook and Google — and to enter arbitration if the parties can’t reach an agreement within three months, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which put out the proposed legislation.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison hit back at Google later on Friday.
“Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our parliament. It’s done by our government and that’s how things work here in Australia and people who want to work with that in Australia, you’re very welcome,” he said at a press conference. “But we don’t respond to threats.”
Asked about Morrison’s remarks, Google declined to comment.
A warning of ‘consequences’
Both American tech companies have been vehemently opposed to the code since its introduction last summer. Last August, Google used its homepage to warn Australians that the bill would harm their ability to search and lead to “consequences” for YouTube users.
The US giant is now proposing three changes to the code, including how it would compensate news publishers.
One suggestion is for News Showcase — a program launched by Google last year that aims to pay publishers more than $1 billion over the next three years — to be formalized and expanded in Australia. The company already pays seven publishers in the country for content.
The company also wants to amend a requirement that would force Google to notify publishers about changes in its algorithm, saying it should do so only “to make sure publishers are able to respond to changes that affect them.”
“There is a clear pathway to a fair and workable Code,” said Silva. “Withdrawing our services from Australia is the last thing that I or Google want to have happen — especially when there is another way forward.”
An aggressive battle
Facebook (FB) is also pushing back.
In the same Senate hearing on Friday, Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice president of public policy for Asia Pacific, said the company could ultimately block news content in Australia, though he emphasized a commitment “to make the law workable.”
Milner told lawmakers there was already a “deterrent effect of this law on investment in the Australian news industry,” citing a recent decision by Facebook to launch a news product in the United Kingdom instead of Australia.
“Sir Tim Berners-Lee said, this precedent set by this law could ‘make the web unworkable around the world,'” he added, citing the inventor of the web.
Regulators say the legislation is needed to level the playing field for the news media in Australia, as newsrooms across the country have reduced service, closed temporarily or permanently shut down.
Similar cases have emerged in other countries. On Thursday, Google announced it would pay news publications in France for the use of their content online in a landmark agreement that could soon be replicated elsewhere in Europe under new copyright laws.
— Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.
How airbag jeans and high-tech vests could make motorbikes safer
But innovations in airbags could help keep motorcyclists safe.
Moses Shahrivar designed his first pair of motorcycle jeans in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Sweden 16 years ago — featuring a protective leather lining. Now he is taking the idea one step further. His company Airbag Inside Sweden AB has designed a prototype pair of super-strong jeans that have concealed airbags inside the legs.
The wearer tethers the jeans to their bike and if they fall from the motorcycle, the airbags are triggered, filling with compressed air and lessening the impact on the lower body. The airbag can then be deflated, refilled with gas and reassembled into the jeans to use again, explains Shahrivar.
Airbag Inside Sweden AB is in the process of getting the jeans certified to European health and safety standards and is putting them through a series of crash tests.
The company has raised €150,000 ($180,000) from the European Union to develop the idea and is hoping to bring the jeans to market in 2022. French company CX Air Dynamics has launched a crowdfunding campaign to develop a similar idea.
Airbag vests
Shahrivar says it’s the first time this kind of protection will be available for the lower body.
Equivalent technology for the upper body has been around for more than 20 years. Motorcycle airbag vests can be fitted under a jacket, and protect the chest, neck and sometimes the back.
Early versions were tethered to the bike, like Shahrivar’s jeans, but more recently, autonomous electronic airbags have been developed, which instead use high-tech sensors to detect when the rider is about to fall.
Among the autonomous airbags on the market is a system created by French firm In&motion.
The company started designing wearable airbags for professional skiers in 2011 and has since adapted the technology for motorcyclists. Rather than using a tether to trigger airbags, it has created a “brain” consisting of a GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer. A bit bigger than a smartphone, this box is placed in the back of any compatible vest.
“The sensors measure movements in real time and the algorithm is able to detect a fall or an accident to inflate the airbag just before a crash,” In&motion communication manager Anne-Laure Hoegeli tells CNN Business.
The box measures the position of the rider 1,000 times per second. As soon as an “unrecoverable imbalance” is detected the airbag triggers and fully inflates to protect the user’s thorax, abdomen, neck and spine, explains Hoegeli. This takes just 60 milliseconds.
In&motion recently raised €10 million ($12 million) in funding to expand in Europe and the United States.
While the basic operation is similar to other electronic airbags on the market, In&motion has an affordable subscription service, explains Emma Franklin, deputy editor of Motorcycle News. “Their system has in many ways made airbags more attainable for everyday people,” Franklin tells CNN Business.
Riders can either buy the box outright for $400 or rent it from In&motion for about $120 a year. Users in France also have access to a setting that calls emergency services in the event of a crash.
While airbag protection is now mandatory in MotoGP and at this year’s Dakar Rally, airbags aren’t a legal requirement for road motorcyclists — but Franklin believes they are an important safety innovation.
Richard Frampton, a senior lecturer in vehicle safety at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, says there hasn’t been much academic research into the effectiveness of motorcycle airbag vests, as they are still fairly new for road riders. But he pointed to research from the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks, which found airbag vests offered good protection at impact speeds lower than around 30 to 40 kilometers per hour (18 to 25 miles per hour).
“From the few papers, case studies and articles I’ve seen, they look to be a very useful device,” says Frampton.
“I’m in favor of them — the chest, neck and spine are all areas where you can get life-threatening injuries.”
Facebook’s oversight board will decide whether Trump should be banned
Facebook (FB) has referred its previous decision to suspend former President Donald Trump’s posting privileges to its independent Oversight Board for review, the company said in a blog post Thursday.
Facebook said it wants the Oversight Board’s binding ruling on the matter given its significance.
“We think it is important for the board to review it and reach an independent judgment on whether it should be upheld,” wrote Facebook VP of global affairs Nick Clegg. “While we await the board’s decision, Mr. Trump’s access will remain suspended indefinitely.”
John Taylor, a Facebook Oversight Board spokesman, told CNN Business that, under its framework, the board will have 90 days to review the decision but “we expect to act more quickly than that.”
Facebook and Instagram banned Trump’s account from posting for at least the remainder of his term in office and perhaps “indefinitely” after his supporters stormed the US Capitol building to protest the election. Twitter, Trump’s preferred social media platform, banned him permanently.
In a blog post, the Oversight Board said Trump or his page administrators will be able to submit their feedback on the Facebook decision to the board as it contemplates whether to uphold or overturn Facebook’s decision.
“The Oversight Board launched in late 2020 to address exactly the sort of highly consequential issues raised by this case,” the board said. “The Board was created to provide a critical independent check on Facebook’s approach to the most challenging content issues, which have enormous implications for global human rights and free expression.”
Jamal Greene, a co-chair of the Oversight Board, told CNN Business that the case will be viewed and decided through three main lenses: whether Trump’s content truly violated Facebook’s own platform policies; whether Facebook’s decision is consistent with its own stated values; and whether Trump’s suspension largely aligns with — or undercuts — international human rights principles.
It will be the oversight board’s most high-profile and consequential case so far. The board, which was created to serve as a kind of Supreme Court for appealing and evaluating Facebook’s content moderation decisions, only started taking cases in the fall.
Kate Klonick, an assistant law professor at St. John’s University who studies technology and online speech, predicted many will view the case as Facebook’s “Marbury v. Madison moment,” referring to the pivotal US Supreme Court case that established the judicial system’s role in reviewing laws and government actions.
“The Board can establish its seriousness and jurisdiction/power over FB,” she tweeted. “That could be good for the Board but it also means that it’s very risky for establishing legitimacy, esp. so early in its history.”
Given social media platforms’ tendency to play follow-the-leader on consequential content enforcement decisions, the Oversight Board’s ruling could have vast ramifications, according to Evelyn Douek, a lecturer at Harvard University Law School.
“There is no greater question in content moderation right now than whether Trump’s deplatforming represents the start of a new era in how companies police their platforms,” she wrote in a blog post. “The past few weeks have also shown that what one platform does can ripple across the internet. … For all these reasons, the board’s decision on Trump’s case could affect far more than one Facebook page.”