It took Amazon a while to get its streaming music strategy truly off the ground — its Music Unlimited service, with competes with Spotify, Apple Music and the like, only launched last fall. But today, both Music Unlimited and the Echo smart speaker…
Android is often lauded for having an open platform that gives developers a lot of leeway to perform things many of the platform’s rivals withhold. Unfortunately, there will always be those who will try and abuse that freedom for personal gain. That is why Google gave Android app developers an ultimatum last month to only use Accessibility Services if their … Continue reading
Though it provides a good service, Amazon Music Unlimited suffers a bit for having arrived a little late to the party. At this point, Music Unlimited is only about 14 months old, and in that period of time, it’s only come to a select few regions, like the US, UK, Germany, and Japan. That all changes today, as Amazon has … Continue reading
Comic books are a brilliant medium, but keeping up with the latest releases can be expensive. If you live in the US, it’s worth checking out Hoopla; the service is supported by more than 1,500 public libraries, and offers free digital access to DC, I…
Electrical efficiency affects a massive number of devices, from the relatively tiny phones in our pockets all the way up to electric cars and the power grids keeping our houses running. Power converters are a particularly important part of the equati…
While software bugs do happen from time to time, we have to say that the number of bugs and issues popping up in iOS 11 is a bit alarming. In fact the latest is less of a bug and more of a security vulnerability which involves HomeKit and if exploited, will allow hackers to gain unauthorized control of various HomeKit-connected accessories.
The report from 9to5Mac claims that the vulnerability has been demonstrated to them, and like we said, this involves HomeKit-connected devices such as smart locks and garage door openers. This means that this vulnerability could in theory allow someone to open your front door and walk right in, no key required.
Details of the vulnerability weren’t shared for obvious reasons, but 9to5Mac claims that it is rather difficult to reproduce which means that not just anyone will be able to exploit it, thankfully. The good news is that Apple has since offered a temporary fix which is said to be done server-side, meaning that no action is needed by the user.
However this is only temporary as Apple does plan on fixing the vulnerability permanently in future software updates, but in the meantime hopefully the temporary fix will prevent any unwanted consequences.
HomeKit Vulnerability Discovered In iOS 11.2 , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Image credit – Taisei
While sometimes working overtime is necessary to get the job done and to meet deadlines, over in Japan, working overtime is sort of part of the working culture. Unsurprisingly this has some negative consequences to it, but it is also something that the Japanese government is trying to cut back on.
In fact Japanese company Taisei (the company behind the main Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium) has created a drone (via Engadget) designed to curb overtime. While the drone is used for surveillance and security, it has also been used to help to encourage workers who are working late to go home. How is this done? Basically the drone will fly around the office and blast the “Auld Lang Syne” song, which is typically used in Japan to indicate closing time.
Presumably the idea is that when workers hear the music, they’ll get an idea that maybe they’ve been working too long and it is time to clock out. Also the noise from the drone will also make working a bit hard to concentrate on, thus forcing workers to go home. Taisei plans on making the drone and its service available to Japanese companies starting April 2018 where it will be priced at around $443 a month.
Whether or not this drone will prove to be an effective measure to get workers to go home remains to be seen, but if anything you can applaud the Japanese for their creativity.
Drones Used In Japan To Curb Overtime, Encourages Workers To Go Home , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
As it stands, Instagram allows users to send direct messages to each other through the app. However it seems that just like Facebook, Instagram is now considering spinning off that messaging feature into its own app called Direct. This is according to a report from The Verge in which Instagram confirmed that the app is indeed in testing.
Speaking to The Verge, Hemal Shah, an Instagram product manager said, “We want Instagram to be a place for all of your moments, and private sharing with close friends is an important part of that. Direct has grown within Instagram over the past four years, but we can make it even better if it stands on its own. We can push the boundaries to create the fastest and most creative space for private sharing when Direct is a camera-first, standalone app.”
In terms of features, it’s more or less the same as the in-app messaging feature, except that it exists as a standalone app and will launch directly with the camera open, similar to that of Snapchat. Like we said, this is similar to what Facebook has done when they spun off the in-app messaging feature into the standalone Messenger app.
The app is currently in testing and is available on iOS and Android if you live in Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, or Uruguay. There is still no definitive timeline for releasing the app for the rest of the world, if at all, but what do you guys think? Should Instagram’s in-app messaging feature deserve a standalone app?
Instagram Testing ‘Direct’, A Standalone Messaging App , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
