Tech News: August 2015

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Google's Project Ara smartphones keep falling apart

The search giant explains one of the reasons it has postponed the launch of its build-it-yourself smartphones: They don't keep intact if you drop them.

Google said it's testing a new technology to make sure its Project Ara smartphones don't fall apart. Lynn La/CNET

Smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung rigorously stress test their phones before the companies release them to make sure they can handle the abuse of being out in the real world.

With Google's Project Ara smartphones, which aims to let people build their phones from interchangeable parts, we already know how the drop test went: not well.

Google explained Wednesday that it is taking more time to develop the product because the phones keep falling apart. That's because the separate components of the phone snap together like Legos.

They're held in place by what Google calls "electropermanent" magnets. It turns out the magnets couldn't keep the phone intact during drop tests, so the company said it is looking to other technology.
Google didn't give much detail about how the phone will work in the future, other than to say it is "testing a signature experience" to attach and detach the different parts.

Project Ara is Google's attempt to shake up how consumers buy smartphones and how manufacturers make them. Instead of buying a complete phone, like an iPhone 6 or a Samsung Galaxy S6, Google wants to let people buy the parts -- such as the camera, processor or screen -- separately and mix and match them as consumers please. The initiative is just one of many out-there projects -- like driverless cars or Wi-Fi balloons -- that Google has invested in as it looks to where future revenue will come from.

Google hopes Ara will speed up development and innovation in the separate components that make up a phone, as hardware makers begin to compete for real estate on a handset.

The announcement on Wednesday is just the latest setback for Project Ara. Last week, Google said the company was scrapping its test launch of the phones in Puerto Rico as previously planned. Earlier this week, Google said the launch would also be postponed until 2016 and that the team is looking for a test market in the US.

'The Martian': What happens when Ridley Scott calls NASA

When legendary director Ridley Scott needed advice for his latest movie, about a manned mission to Mars gone awry, he called on the real-life team working to putting astronauts on the Red Planet.

Two men share a desire to send people to Mars, one in the movies and one in real life.

The first is acclaimed director Ridley Scott, whose latest film, "The Martian," centers around an astronaut, played by Matt Damon, who's stranded on Mars and must find a way to survive while awaiting rescue. The other is the director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, Jim Green, who hopes to put astronauts on Mars by the 2030s.

So, as Damon joked during a media screening, when the director of films like "Alien" and "Blade Runner" calls NASA with questions for his latest sci-fi film, "everybody takes Ridley's call." And Green did just that.

"The Martian" postpreview Q&A featuring (from left): NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, actor Matt Damon, director Ridley Scott, author Andy Weir, and Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.Image courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls

Yesterday, we were treated to an extended preview of the movie and a postscreening Q&A featuring Scott, Green, Damon, NASA astronaut Drew J. Feustel, and Andy Weir, author of the novel on which the film is based. We also got a tour of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where teams are already planning for the next Mars rover mission in 2020.

"The Martian" doesn't waste time getting right to the action. We were able to see about the first 45 minutes of the movie. Scott admitted that there were still a few finishing touches he needed to put on the film before its October 2 US release (it opens on September 30 in the UK and Australia).
Here's the newly released trailer:

The footage we saw featured good pacing, depictions of scientific processes and beautifully presented Martian landscapes, not to mention a broad dash of humor. The book version of "The Martian" is known for its scientific accuracy and meticulous descriptions. While the pages of scientific explanation are condensed down to their core in the movie, book author Weir wasn't concerned that movie goers would be missing out.

Andy Weir, author of "The Martian," at NASA's JPL. Mariel Myers, CNET

He explained, "Even though it's not being explained to you in detail, the science in the film is sound, and anyone can work backwards to prove it. Everything in 'The Martian' is either 100 percent accurate, or a slight improvement on what already exists today."

The movie's release this year comes three years after NASA's Curiosity Rover successfully touched down on Mars, helping to inspire what Green calls the "Mars generation." The next steps in NASA's Mars plans involve launching a Mars lander in 2016, sending another Mars rover in 2020 and human exploration of Mars in the 2030s. In fact, while we visited JPL, they were testing out new wheels for the next rover.

It takes years to design, build, launch and land new spacecraft for any NASA mission, so Hollywood can sometimes fill the gap between big missions and milestones to keep the public interested in space exploration. "Gravity" and "Interstellar" come to mind, and now "The Martian" could do the same.
"The Martian" hits theaters in the US on October 2 and in the UK and Australia on September 30.

NASA's timeline for a manned mission to Mars explains what needs to be done to set foot on the Red Planet.Image courtesy of NASA

Spider glides from the sky, can choose where it lands

A spider discovered in the forests of Panama and Peru can control the direction of its glide as it falls from the treetops.

The gliding spider, which hunts in the treetops, is very thin and light. Stephen Yanoviak/University of Kentucky

A spider native to the forests of South America has been discovered to possess a magnificent and unique trick: it is able to lightly glide and steer its descent as it drops from a tree down to the ground.
Found in Panama and Peru, the hunting spider, which belongs to the genus Selenops, is the only known spider that can control its direction in the air. But it doesn't do so for hunting purposes; rather, the ability to safely leap out of a tree is an escape tactic, used to flee from predators and other threats.
In that, it joins several other animals: flying squirrels, gliding snakes and other crawling insects such as ants and bristletails.

"My guess is that many animals living in the trees are good at aerial gliding, from snakes and lizards to ants and now spiders," said University of California, Berkeley professor of integrative biology Robert Dudley, the co-author of a new study into Selenops.

"If a predator comes along, it frees the animal to jump if it has a time-tested way of gliding to the nearest tree rather than landing in the understory or in a stream."

Dudley and his colleague University of Louisville professor of biology Stephen Yanoviak have been studying tropical forest gliding insects for over a decade. Their work began when they noticed a particular type of ant always managed to land on another tree when knocked off a branch.

The pair has been throwing arthropods from treetops ever since to find out which ones can glide.

So far, they have found that ants, bristletails and now this spider are the only adult arthropods that can glide. However, the immature wingless forms of several winged adult insects, such as cockroaches, mantids, katydids and stick insects, can also glide.

To test and study the Selenops spider's gliding capabilities, Dudley and Yanoviak threw 59 individual spiders from a height and observed how they fell. The spider, which measures about 5cm (2 inches) across, is very thin and light. To steer, it spreads its legs wide, making use of lift and drag to land where it wants. It can also flip upside down, and then right itself in mid-air.

"This study, like the first report of gliding ants, raises many questions that are wide open for further study," Yanoviak said. "For instance, how acute is the vision of these spiders? How do they target a tree? What is the effect of their hairs or spines on aerodynamic performance?"

These answers could help provide some insight into how flight developed -- Dudley believes that controlled gliding could have preceded the evolution of wings. But the answers to how the spider does what it does could also help develop robots that can turn themselves right-side-up when falling, he said.

A paper on the spider has been published in the journal Interface.

See-through swimming pool to span a street, 10 stories up

A new £15 billion development in London will offer a pool with a view.

The transparent sky pool floats 35 metres above the ground. Floats, geddit? Ballymoore

If you want to splash out on a great view in your next home, then take a look at this "sky pool": a transparent swimming pool suspended between two apartment buildings 10 storeys up.

The planned pool will be suspended 35 metres (115 feet) above the ground, bridging the gap between buildings in a fancy new development by the river Thames in London.

"The Sky Pool's transparent structure is the result of significant advancements in technologies over the last decade," says Sean Mulryan, the CEO of Ballymoore, the developer behind the buildings and the pool. Those new technologies will create a pool that's 25 metres long by 5 metres wide (90 by 19 feet) with water 1.2 metres (4 feet) deep. By our back-of-a-napkin maths, that's 150,000 litres of water weighing 150 metric tonnes. Holding back the tide is a hefty but transparent 20cm (8 inches) of glass.

Now that's what I call a high dive. Ballymoore

The pool forms part of the planned £15 billion Embassy Gardens development at Nine Elms in south-east London, near the iconic Battersea power station familiar from movies such as "Children of Men" and the cover of Pink Floyd's album "Animals". On behalf of the people of Battersea, I'd ask potential tenants to refrain from skinny-dipping.

If you have forgotten your trunks, there's also a walkway between the two buildings.

With the smallest apartment in the development setting you back upwards of £602,000 (around $942,000 or close to AU$1.3 million) it's certainly no dive. As well as the sky pool you'd have access to a spa, summer bar and orangery -- I don't know about you, but consistent access to fresh citrus is always the first thing I check for when looking at a new home.

The sky pool concept was designed by Arup Associates, which has also worked on striking stadia in Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Qatar, and the big pointy bus station a short swim from the sky pool in nearby Vauxhall.

Aquarium designers Reynolds and glass engineers Eckersley O'Callaghan also contributed specialist knowledge. You might say they offered their heartfelt tanks.

Three ways Geronimo will change how you deal with your email

This new email app uses swipes, taps and flicks of the wrist to turn clearing your inbox into a game.

Digging through your inbox is hardly the most fun activity of your day. A new email app called Geronimo is using gestures, like flicks and swipes, to change that. It's launching August 27 for free for iOS and works with Gmail (other email services will be added in a future update).

Geronimo is different than any other email app I've encountered. It uses inventive and fun movements to read, delete and organize your inbox, and lets you customize how your emails are displayed. Plus, there are also tons of extra features accessible with a swipe or flick of the wrist.
The app was built by ex-Apple, Google and Path developers who set out to build something very different than the Mail app that comes with your iPhone or iPad. Ahead of its debut, CNET got an early look to see why you might want to switch to Geronimo and we found three ways it can change how you conquer your inbox.

1. Delete, archive and read faster

Swipes, taps and flicks are the stars of Geronimo; these gestures are designed to help you zip through your inbox quickly. Like any other app, you tap messages to open them. But when you're viewing an email, you can flick your phone forward or backward to move to the next one.

If you're reading an email that's part of a thread of messages, you can swipe left and right to see the responses in that thread. This is different Gmail or Inbox, both of which stack the messages on top of each other, where you have to scroll up and down to read them.

To delete or archive messages, flick them towards the corners of your screen. Click to enlarge. Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

My favorite Geronimo feature is the gesture to delete and archive messages. You do this by tapping an email and swiping it toward the corners of the screen. It's almost like a game, where you can quickly fling a message to get rid of it, and you can select multiple messages at once.
Each corner of the screen has an assigned action; archive is at the bottom left, delete is the bottom right, top left adds a label and top right adds the message to the to-do list. Over in settings, you can customize what these hot corners do.

The more you use the app, you'll unlock advanced features, like one that lets you flick your phone to send emails to a hot corner and the ability to flick your phone to switch dates. You'll also be able to archive all emails from a specific date with a simply swipe.

2. Organize messages the way you want

The Geronimo inbox shows your emails in columns organized by date and you swipe left and right to switch the days. If you archive or delete all of the messages in a column it will collapse to take up less space. You can also simply tap any column, empty or not, to hide it.

If you'd rather not view your emails by date, tap and hold the timeline at the top to transform your inbox into a single list. Repeat that process to toggle back to the date view. I like that I have both options, though while playing around with app, I prefer the date view.

You can view your emails organized by date (left), or see them in a single list. Click to enlarge. Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Unlike other inboxes where messages are only ordered by time, Geronimo lets you move around messages in each day, organizing them anyway you want. Just tap and toss a message up and down the list to rearrange it.

Another great organization tool are the two built-in filters for your inbox, Robots and Humans. The former shows only messages sent by computer, like a marketing email or an auto-reply, while the latter displays the opposite -- emails from real people, like friends and family. You can have Geronimo automatically shrink Robot messages, so they take up less space in the inbox.

3. Personalize your experience

Geronimo has several features that let you customize how the app looks and works. First, you can assign a photo for each sender, so you can quickly glance through your inbox and identify messages. The app will prompt you to do this when you first start using it and it'll even suggest photos to use by searching the Web for the sender's name.

At the top of your inbox, you can set VIP contacts that you can email with one tap, just like speed dial. Those VIP contacts also appear on the compose screen alongside frequently contacted addresses. Just swipe right to reveal them.

Geronimo also has a photo editor, where you can draw on and add text to image before you send them as an attachment. Furthermore, you can filter your inbox to only show emails with attachments, to help you find what you need.

Extras

Geronimo has plenty more features, including cloud storage support so you can attach files from iCloud, Google Drive and Dropbox. There's also a built-in calendar, search and support for the Apple Watch.

Despite its long list of cool features, the app isn't perfect. In my testing, I struggled to download photos attached to my emails, though I could do so with attached documents. I also had issues with assigning contacts to the VIP slots. I encountered a few bugs -- such as emails not loading in my inbox and the search tool not turning up results -- but I was working with a beta version of the app, so I'm giving Geronimo the benefit of the doubt.

Issues aside, I'm taken by Geronimo's unique, engaging and, dare I say, fun approach to reading and managing my inbox, which can be an otherwise tedious chore. If you want to a better way to deal with your email, or specifically searching for an alternative to your current email app choice, this free app is worth a download.

How blazing Internet speeds helped Chattanooga shed its smokestack past

For Road Trip 2015, CNET looks at how one Southern city's embrace of superfast Internet turned it into a magnet for tech entrepreneurs.

Chattanooga has spent decades cleaning up its city, which is now known for its outdoorsy lifestyle. It's also home to the largest and fastest broadband network in the US. CNET/Marguerite Reardon

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee -- It was once so polluted here that people had to drive through town with their headlights on all day. You could smell the stench from the tannery and heavy metal foundries in town before reaching the city limits. In 1969, news anchor Walter Cronkite dubbed it "the dirtiest city in America."

"Cronkite and others had basically written us off for dead," said former Chattanooga mayor Ron Littlefield. "That day was a wakeup call to turn ourselves around."

The old Chattanooga is long gone. Today, the city has some of the cleanest air and water in the region. Outdoor Magazine has twice in the past four years named the city the "best town ever." Instead of smokestacks and foundries, you'll see rock-climbing enthusiasts scaling the outdoor wall of High Point Climbing and Fitness on Broad Street -- just a block away from the city's revitalized waterfront and the nation's largest freshwater aquarium. And rather than a dirty, polluted river running through the center of town, you'll see kayakers and standup paddle boarders drifting along a rejuvenated Tennessee River.

Chattanooga's transformation has been decades in the making, but the construction of one of the largest and fastest Internet networks in the Western Hemisphere will be key to helping the city write the next chapter for the 21st century. The city represents the vanguard of communities pushing for better Internet service and serves as a model for the benefits that can stem from broader online access. The Gig, as the locals call its network, has attracted billions of dollars in new investment and a flock of entrepreneurs to the city, who may come to the city for the promise of superfast broadband, but stay for the easy, affordable lifestyle, abundant outdoor activities and hip culture.

Chattanooga may seem like an unlikely place for a tech hub, but a long history of progressive thinking has put the midsize southeastern city -- two hours north of Atlanta -- in an enviable position. In 2010, Chattanooga turned on its so-called gigabit service, an industry term for a network able to connect to the Internet at 1 gigabit per second, or 50 to 100 times faster than your average US Internet connection, through a faster fiber-optic line. That was two years before Google broke ground on its first gigabit market in Kansas City.

Today, the network, which has been recognized as a model of innovation by President Barack Obama, is the largest and longest-running deployment of gigabit broadband in the nation, spanning 600 square miles and covering the entire population of Chattanooga -- 170,000 -- with access to ultra high-speed broadband.

Samsung slips further in smartphone market but still tops Apple

Apple's iPhone 6 lineup continues to challenge Samsung's Galaxy S6 phones, according to research firm Gartner.

Samsung's Galaxy S6 lineup hasn't helped it reclaim lost sales or market share. Josh Miller/CNET

Samsung is still the top dog in the smartphone arena though it continues to drip market share.
The Korean mobile phone maker saw its cut of the smartphone market dip to 21.9 percent in the second quarter ended June 30 from 26.2 percent for the same quarter last year, Gartner said on Thursday. Over the same period, Samsung's smartphone sales fell to 72 million from 76.1 million.
Though still in second place, Apple boosted its smartphone market share to 14.6 percent last quarter from 12.2 percent in the prior year's quarter. iPhone sales shot up to 48 million from 35.3 million over the same period. Samsung launched its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in April, but those phones continue to be challenged by Apple's iPhone lineup, Gartner said.

Samsung's smartphone sales and market share have been spiraling down for almost two years now. And the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have so far failed to turn things around, leading to Samsung's seventh straight drop in quarterly earnings for the second quarter. The company has been facing greater competition from Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi and Huawei on the lower end and Apple on the high end. Samsung's premium phones continue to sell at a premium price tag, though the company has promised to "adjust" prices on its Galaxy S6 lineup. And larger-screened phones are no longer the domain of Android vendors such as Samsung. Apple turned into a stronger rival last September when it introduced its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with display sizes of 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches, respectively.

On August 13, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, hoping those new phones might win over customers and help recover some of its lost sales and market share.

For the second quarter, Apple's iPhone sales rose by 36 percent, helping it gain an additional 2.4 percentage points in market share. The company benefited from healthy iPhone replacements in both mature and emerging markets, according to Gartner. Though the Chinese smartphone market has stalled as of late, China remained a strong region for Apple where total iPhone sales grew last quarter by 68 percent to reach 11.9 million units.

Chinese vendor Huawei earned the biggest jump in sales growth during the second quarter at 46.3 percent, winning third place among all smartphone vendors. The company's market share rose to 7.8 percent from 6.1 percent, while its smartphone sales jumped to 25.8 million from 17.6 million.
Gartner attributed the gains to stronger sales overseas as well as solid 4G smartphone sales in China.

Fellow Chinese phone maker Lenovo took home fourth place, though its cut of the smartphone market fell to 5 percent from 6.6 percent, while sales dropped to 16.4 million from 19 million. Those results include sales of mobile phones made by Lenovo and Motorola Mobility, which Lenovo acquired last October for $2.91 billion. But that purchase isn't paying off at this point. Lenovo announced last Thursday that it would cut around 3,200 jobs from its workforce of 60,000 after sales of Motorola mobile phones fell by 31 percent last quarter.

And fifth place was taken by another Chinese vendor, namely Xiaomi. For the second quarter, Xiaomi's market share inched up to 4.9 percent from 4.3 percent, while smartphone sales rose to 16 million from 12.5 million.

Though Huawei and Xiaomi had a good quarter, the Chinese smartphone market isn't faring as well. Still, the world's largest smartphone market, China saw a 4 percent decline in smartphone sales for the first time ever, according to Gartner, which attributed the drop to saturation.

"China is the biggest country for smartphone sales, representing 30 percent of total sales of smartphones in the second quarter of 2015," Gartner research director Anshul Gupta said in a statement. "Its poor performance negatively affected the performance of the mobile phone market in the second quarter. China has reached saturation -- its phone market is essentially driven by replacement, with fewer first-time buyers. Beyond the lower-end phone segment, the appeal of premium smartphones will be key for vendors to attract upgrades and to maintain or grow their market share in China."

Overall smartphone sales across the globe saw their slowest growth rate since 2013 last quarter, Gartner reported. Worldwide sales reached 330 million units, an increase of 13.5 percent over the same quarter last year.

"While demand for lower-cost 3G and 4G smartphones continued to drive growth in emerging markets, overall smartphone sales remained mixed region by region in the second quarter of 2015," Gupta said. "Emerging Asia/Pacific (excluding China), Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa were the fastest-growing regions, driven by good performance from Chinese and local vendors."

America's greatest giant combat robot is raising crazy cash on Kickstarter

The nation's great steel hope is looking to raise funds to battle Japan's meanest robot next year in the first true battle of the Pacific Rim.

Mk.II blasted fans in San Diego with t-shirts. Kristen Ambrose

America's favorite giant robot is halfway to a major upgrade. It only took about a day for MegaBots' Mk. II (pronounced "Mark Two") robot to get half way to its goal on Kickstarter, which will enable the giant fighting robot to take on its Japanese rival, Kuratas, in an epic piloted robot duel.

Earlier this summer, American bot-maker MegaBots challenged the veritable veteran of the giant robot world, made by Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industries, to a battle royale for the ages, without all the Hollywood special effects a la "Pacific Rim" -- just a good old fashion metal-on-metal beatdown, perhaps with some cannonball-sized paint balls to add a little color.

Kuratas and Suidobashi accepted the challenge and now MegaBots is attempting to raise half a million dollars on Kickstarter to outfit the American bot with new armor, hydraulics, weapons systems, a power unit and faster wheels (actually they're tracks, like on a tank). As of this writing, and with 29 days still left in the campaign, Megabots has already raised about half of its goal.
"The upgraded Mk. II will be the definition of an American robot. She'll be five times faster and powerful, self-balancing and armored for hand-to-hand combat," says MegaBots co-founder Gui Cavalcanti in the pitch video below.

Believe it or not, the existing, 6-ton iteration of the Mk. II is considered to be lightweight and designed for paintball combat at a distance. The crowdfunded upgrades will allow for it to withstand more brutal "hand-to-hand" combat with Kuratas.

A sampling of additional weapons MegaBots hopes to add to the Mk. II arsenal. MegaBots

Should the Kickstarter go above and beyond its half-million dollar goal -- as it seems primed to -- MegaBots has plans for that extra cash. Stretch goals start with creating some new weapons that could include different types of claws, pneumatically driven fists, cannon and flamethrowers, among other items taken directly from my adolescent dreams.

If the campaign raises over $1 million, the team hopes to get even fancier with a new dynamic balancing algorithm. Somewhat hilariously, only if $1.25 million is raised will the team consider spending money working with NASA on life safety systems that could be employed in the cockpit.
"Safety 4th, folks," the campaign pitch drawls.

"I've worked on every robotics system to ever drive on the surface of Mars," assures NASA's Dave Lavery in a statement. "We're looking at how we might use NASA technologies to help keep these guys safe when they take a punch."

Finally, if the campaign meets its ultimate stretch goal and raises $1.5 million -- an amount at which the team apparently runs out of amazing ideas for spending it -- MegaBots proposes adding a "Hollywood-grade paint job."

In exchange for supporting the MegaBots Kickstarter, there's a variety of schwag being offered in turn for various pledge levels, from stickers, shirts and posters to the opportunity to ride in the Mk. II or serve in the pit crew for the battle with Kuratas.

"If you want to pilot one of these monstrosities -- and believe me, you do -- Kickstarter is the way to do it. This is your chance," implores Megabots co-founder Matt Oehrlein.

Well, yes, but I'd feel a lot better about the idea if safety systems weren't so far down the team's list of priorities.

The battle is set to take place in mid-2016; the exact time and location are still to be determined.

Yamaha lifts lid on MusicCast multiroom system

Yamaha's own inhouse multiroom music system debuts on its 2015 receiver line today.

NEW YORK--Yamaha is now in the proprietary multi-room music system game with the release of its MusicCast system, which is integrated into all but one of its 2015 receivers from today.

More than 20 products will support MusicCast, including Yamaha's Aventage and RX-V receivers, sound bars, monitors and dedicated speakers.

Yamaha's RX-S601 receiver. Yamaha

The multi-room music system supports streaming from your network and smartphone as well as from Pandora, Spotify Connect, Rhapsody and SiriusXM. It offers streaming via dual-mode Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Unlike Sonos and Denon Heos, the system supports hi-res music including file formats such as Apple Lossless (24-bit/96 kHz), FLAC, AIFF and WAV (24-bit/192 kHz), and native DSD streams up to 5.6 MHz (the small speakers convert to PCM).

Yamaha

Yamaha's entry-level product is the MusicCast Wireless Speaker ($250, coming in October), which features a two-way design with a large passive radiator available in white or black.

While the category is dominated by one company, Sonos, most electronics manufacturers also offer a multi-room product and almost all are proprietary. Yamaha is currently one of only two companies that offers its wireless system on its receivers. Sony has its own multiroom system called SongPal Link, but it's only in a handful of products, while Denon's Heos isn't used in its 2015 receivers at all.
The MusicCast system is controlled via an iOS and Android app and uses standard Wi-Fi to transmit uncompressed audio. As the technology is built into its receivers, Yamaha users can transmit any of the receivers' inputs around the house including HDMI sources.

Yamaha says it doesn't have a dongle to use MusicCast with existing equipment, but will announce more products in the New Year.

Yamaha's YSP-5600 sound bar. Yamaha

Of the 20-or-so products two standout MusicCast products from the announcement include the large, Atmos-capable YSP-5600 sound bar ($1,700) coming in December and the Marantz-like slimline RX-S601 ($650) coming in September. More details on these products soon.

Australian and UK pricing and availability are yet to be announced.

The full lineup is as follows. All are available now, or on the date noted:
AV receivers

RX-V779, $850
RX-V679, $650
RX-V579, $550
RX-V479, $450
RX-S601, $650 (September)
Aventage RX-A3050, $2,200
Aventage RX-A2050, $1,700
Aventage RX-A1050, $1,300
Aventage RX-A850, $1,000
Aventage RX-A750, $700
Aventage RX-550, $550

AV separates

Aventage CX-A5100, $3,000 (September)

Home theater in a box

YHT-5920, $700

Speakers

MusicCast Speaker, $250 (October)
NX-N500 Monitors, $800 per pair (December)

Sound bars

MusicCast Sound Bar YSP-1600, $500 (September)
MusicCast TV Speaker Base SRT-1500, $600 (September)
MusicCast Sound Bar YSP-5600, $1,700 (December)
Network Hi-Fi Receiver R-N602, $650 (October)

DIY Swiss Army Barbie multi-tool is ready for anything

Barbie always makes a fashion statement but now that she has a hidden a knife, corkscrew, scissors, screwdriver, and bottle opener she can solve any problem you throw at her.

Barbie is considered a fashion icon but now she can give Rambo a run for his money with this unusual craft on Instructables.

Using a bikini-clad Barbie and a Swiss Army knife, this craft transforms the popular doll into the best accessory for any camping trip, cocktail party or apocalypse.

"Empower young girls to expand their horizons beyond playing with stereotypical gender reinforcing toys by combining a everyone's favorite pink girl-centric doll with something a little stabby," crafter Mikeasaurus said on his Instructables page.

To cut and modify the Barbie doll, Mikeasaurus used a rotary tool which you can see in action here.
Insert the Swiss Army knife inside Barbie then connect the two doll halves with magnets.

The Swiss Army Barbie is a fun, easy and practical craft that took less than $15 (about £10, AU $21) to make.

The comments from Instructables project page sum up how whimsical this craft is.

"This is crazy funny!" Mamazepp wrote. "Love this... I think I want to make it for my dad for Christmas. He will get a kick out of it!"

"This is so twisted, I just have to love it," Mid_life_crisis commented. "I had a Captain Action doll (excuse me - 'action figure') as a kid. This would have been perfect for him."

"Combine it with undercover Ken (thumb drive and spycam hidden in his halves) and self-defense GI Joe (telescoping baton) and you've got a whole super spy kit hidden in dolls," Bennybenbenny wrote.
While this Barbie doll can be a handy gadget for a quick fix around the house, it also includes quite a few pointy things and a few blades, so don't give this to kids to play with unless you also have medic Ken doll handy.

Uber background checks missed drivers' criminal records, prosecutors say

Among the drivers in Uber's service were a convicted murder and a felon convicted of sex offenses against a minor, prosecutors charge.

Prosecutors say Uber isn't doing enough to identify drivers with criminal records. Ube

Amid growing concerns over Uber passengers' safety, prosecutors in California allege that the background checks the company conducts on drivers failed to weed out 25 drivers with criminal records, including convictions for murder, assault, sex offenses and child abuse.

The charges were included in an amended complaint filed Wednesday by the district attorneys of Los Angeles and San Francisco, the ride-hailing service's hometown. The original lawsuit, filed in December, charged the startup with misleading consumers about their safety on the service and the quality of its driver background checks.

One of the Uber drivers highlighted in the amended complaint was convicted of second-degree murder in Los Angeles in 1982, prosecutors said. He was released on parole in 2008 after spending 26 years in prison, but a background check generated for Uber in 2014 failed to reveal the criminal history for the driver, who provided 1,168 rides, prosecutors said.

Another background check failed to identify a felon convicted in 1999 of committing lewd or lascivious acts against a child under 14 or that he is a registered sex offender. The complaint alleges that the driver gave 5,679 rides to Uber passengers, "including unaccompanied children."
"Uber's process cannot ensure that the information in the background check report is actually associated with the applicant since it does not use a unique biometric identifier such as a fingerprint," the prosecutors said in the complaint.

Since its launch six years ago, the ride-hailing service that pairs passengers with drivers via a smartphone app has grown from a San Francisco-based startup to a multinational service in 295 cities and 55 countries. But with that rapid growth has come criticism about how the company handles safety. Over the last year, Uber has been dogged by allegations of drivers assaulting, raping and kidnapping passengers.

In December, an Uber driver in India was accused of beating and raping a passenger, prompting officials to ban the service in the country's capital of New Delhi. A couple of weeks later, a driver allegedly sexually assaulted and choked a young woman in Boston. A Philadelphia woman in March accused her Uber driver of rape, according to Philadelphia magazine, while other drivers have allegedly brandished knives and guns, and punched and beaten passengers.

The company puts all potential US drivers through commercial background checks, running candidates' names through seven years of county and federal courthouse records, a multi-state criminal database, national sex offender registry, Social Security trace and motor vehicle records. Uber rejects anyone with a history of violent crimes, sexual offenses, gun-related violations or resisting arrest.

"While we agree with the district attorneys that safety is a priority, we disagree that the LiveScan process used by taxi companies is an inherently better system for screening drivers than our background checks," Uber said Wednesday in a statement. "The reality is that neither is 100 percent foolproof -- as we discovered last year when putting hundreds of people through our checks who identified themselves as taxi drivers. That process uncovered convictions for DUI, rape, attempted murder, child abuse and violence."

The suit asks for a permanent injunction against Uber requiring the company to make changes to stop violating California law. The state is also asking for civil penalties for all of the alleged unlawful business practices and wants a refund given to all passengers who've paid "airport fee tolls" or "safe rides fees."

Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, another San Francisco-based ride-sharing service, each received letters from the district attorneys in September outlining the officials' concerns about their offerings. The three companies were given until October to respond.

While Uber didn't comply with the district attorneys' requests, Lyft opted to settle and pay $500,000 in civil penalties. Under the terms of the agreement, Lyft promised not to make misleading statements about how far back its background checks go or to compare its background checks to those conducted by taxi operators.

To address passenger safety concerns, Uber in March introduced a handful of new initiatives to improve passenger and driver safety. The company announced the creation of a permanent global Safety Advisory Board to review the company's safety practices and Incident Response Teams in every region it operates in, to be on call 24 hours a day and investigate and respond to "serious safety concerns."

Radically improve your Tinder profile by getting Kelly Clarkson to sing it

Technically Incorrect: On Jimmy Kimmel's show, Clarkson shows how a little talent can make the words "slip it into something" sound glorious.

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

The Tinder dating app is hard.

You have to feature the right pictures of yourself. You have to use the right words.

And you're likely doing all this when you're lover has left you, you've had one too many margaritas and your roommate is annoying you by playing Taylor Swift far too loud.

How, then, can you create a profile that will be a sure magnet for your target gender? I have an idea. Yes, it's a little radical, but the minute I saw Kelly Clarkson singing some Tinder profiles, I saw the future, one that I'm sure Tinder will soon encourage.

She appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and the Tinder profiles she sang were clearly chosen in order to enjoy the full range of her wonderful talent.

Still, who could believe that some of the most mundane-sounding lines could ever enjoy such vibrant life?
For example: "Just looking for someone to take me to a Celine Dion concert." Yes, it's plaintive. But once it's sung by Clarkson it discovers a magnitude of importance that would surely have respondents swiping right, as they wiped their eyes.

What she does with the line "I have a foot fetish and willing to pay for your mani pedi nails and worship your feet," has to be heard to be believed.

And then there's "I'm going to China for a month. I'm looking to slip it into something before I leave."
Clarkson gives that line an allure that it surely doesn't deserve.

So here is your solution. Promise that you'll sing your Tinder profile to the first ten target-sex members to swipe right. And watch the embers of love glow.