Here’s Why It’s Good That The Google Home Hub Lacks A Camera | Digital Trends

October 11, 2018October 10, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s official: The Google Home Hub, a smart speaker with a screen, is here, and it enters into a smart display market that is getting very crowded lately. Everyone seems to want to sell you a screen for your counter. Even Facebook is in the game with the Portal and Portal+, two smart displays you can use to talk to your friends on the social media platform.

But while other manufacturers are adding bells and whistles like large, 10-inch crystal clear displays, built in smart home hubs, roving cameras, and stellar sound, Google surprisingly has kept it simple with its Home Hub. No huge screen like Facebook’s Portal+ 15-inch display. No built-in Zigbee smart hub like the Amazon Echo Show. No incredible sound like the JBL Link View. Just a simple, seven-inch touch display, which is now available for pre-order at a very reasonable cost of $149.

Skincare brand Deciem shuts stores following online post by founder | BBC News

October 10, 2018October 9, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Toronto-based beauty brand Deciem has temporarily shut its stores following a shock announcement by its founder.

Brandon Truaxe said in a video on Instagram that they were closing until further notice citing “major criminal activity”. He did not give details.

The company produces The Ordinary brand, which has become a global cult hit for its ingredients-focused and affordable skincare options.

It has stores in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia.

This Tiny Company in Wyoming Spins Over 15,000 Pounds of Wool for Retailers Across the Country | Inc.com

October 10, 2018October 9, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For Karen Hostetler, wet wool smells like progress.

On washdays at Mountain Meadow Wool the air is warm, steamy, and redolent of barnyard. Employees stand before six-foot-long troughs plunging dirty fleece into soapy water. The sediment of sheep life settles into V-shaped indentations at the bottom. The fragrance is “very sheep-y. Not real awful,” Hostetler says. Not like the time when, needing money, she processed buffalo hide from a slaughterhouse. Then, she says, “it smelled so bad I thought we were going to lose all the workers. We charged them double.”

Facebook, are you kidding? | TechCrunch

October 9, 2018October 8, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Facebook is making a video camera. The company wants you to take it home, gaze into its single roving-yet-unblinking eye and speak private thoughts to your loved ones into its many-eared panel.

The thing is called Portal and it wants to live on your kitchen counter or in your living room or wherever else you’d like friends and family to remotely hang out with you. Portal adjusts to keep its subject in frame as they move around to enable casual at-home video chat. The device minimizes background noise to boost voice clarity. These tricks are neat but not revelatory.

Google+ Shuts Down Over Breach as Google Offers New Privacy Features | WIRED

October 9, 2018October 8, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

GOOGLE ANNOUNCED ON Monday that it is shuttering its Google+ social network, following revelations in a Wall Street Journal report that the company did not disclose a recently discovered bug that had exposed data from up to 500,000 Google+ users users since 2015. In the same breath, the company introduced new tools to give users more control over the data they share with apps and services that connect to Google products.

How Two Millennials Spun Celebrities’ Instagram Comments Into a Full-Time Job and 800,000 Followers | Entrepreneur

October 8, 2018October 7, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Back in 7th grade, Emma Diamond sat spellbound in front of the TV during the Oscars, notebook in hand, writing down her votes for best dressed. This year, she spent the evening combing social media comments for the best celebrity witticisms — and popularizing them via her fast-growing Instagram account.

How to Use AI to Boost Your Marketing Efforts | Getentrepreneurial.com

October 8, 2018October 7, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The transformation which artificial intelligence and machine learning have introduced into the tech world is unparalleled. With the innovation of the likes of digital assistants and self-driving cars, what was once considered science fiction has now begun to materialize. For digital marketing, artificial intelligence offers an incredibly variegated assortment of opportunities. Ranging from process automation to consumer behavior analysis, to improved data gathering methods, marketing executives can now breathe more easily, as much of the work they have to do has become a lot more simplified. Here, we will consider ways in which artificial intelligence will help improve your marketing success and reduce your physical exertion.

Wifi Vulnerability Can Put You In Danger | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

October 5, 2018October 4, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Computer scientists at the University of California, Riverside, have discovered a security flaw that affects all Wi-Fi routers. Hackers could exploit the weakness in the transmission control protocol (TCP) and perform a web cache poisoning attack to steal passwords, login information, and other private data. Unfortunately, a fix isn’t possible, as the vulnerability stems from a 20-year-old design based on TCP and Wi-Fi. To prevent hackers from using the exploit, researchers recommend that manufacturers build routers that operate on different frequencies for transmitting and receiving data.

Fortunately, this attack technique won’t work with encrypted sites that use HTTPS and HSTS. Users on Ethernet connections are similarly not affected. Given that the attack won’t work on encrypted sites, most users who browse the internet on a modern browser shouldn’t be affected. Many browsers, including Google’s Chrome, already warn users if they visit an unencrypted site.

Predictably, America wasn’t thrilled with the nationwide Presidential Alert test | Mashable

October 5, 2018October 4, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

At 2:18 pm ET on Wednesday, cell phones across the country buzzed with a Presidential Alert emergency test from President Donald Trump.

It was part of the first-ever national test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system, part of a pair of tests delivered by FEMA, that’s been buzzing phones on a regional basis for years, alerting customers mostly to severe weather and Amber alerts.

News of the test, which hit back in September, got some folks a little riled up because these alerts allow direct communication between the president and the nation in case of an emergency, like a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

The internet industry is suing California over its net neutrality law | Money CNN

October 4, 2018October 3, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The internet industry is suing the state of California over its days-old net neutrality law.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday by major trade groups representing broadband companies, is the second major lawsuit filed against the state over the law — the first was brought by the Justice Department.

On Sunday evening, California Governor Jerry Brown signed what is considered to be the strictest net neutrality law in the country. Under the law, internet service providers will not be allowed to block or slow specific types of content or applications, or charge apps or companies fees for faster access to customers.