theverge--2020-06-15--Apple updates Developer app to add Mac support ahead of online-only WWDC

Apple has released a Mac version of its Apple Developer app , a week before its Worldwide Developers Conference kicks @ @ @ @ @ the app in late 2019 , but it was only available to iPhone , iPad @ @ @ @ @ .
Much like the iOS version , the macOS version of the Developer app provides @ @ @ @ @ to videos showcasing new features for Apple operating systems .
The update also adds a @ @ @ @ @ previous WWDC sessions , as well as the ability to download and favorite content you @ @ @ @ @ .
The app is also another option for those to tune in to the upcoming @ @ @ @ @ announced will be online-only this year , with the event set for June 22nd through @ @ @ @ @ s WWDC is held annually and allows the tech giant to debut its new software @ @ @ @ @ consists of a large in-person conference that spans a week .

Apple has released a Mac version of its Apple Developer app, a week before its Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off. Apple initially launched the app in late 2019, but it was only available to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV users.
Much like the iOS version, the macOS version of the Developer app provides various resources from developer-related news to videos showcasing new features for Apple operating systems. The update also adds a new interface to search for previous WWDC sessions, as well as the ability to download and favorite content you are interested in viewing later. The app is also another option for those to tune in to the upcoming WWDC event, which Apple announced will be online-only this year, with the event set for June 22nd through June 26th.


theverge--2020-06-15--We’re never going to get meaningful data on self-driving car testing

The US Department of Transportation launched a new voluntary program to collect and share data from autonomous vehicle operators .
Companies testing AVs on public roads are invited to submit information to the government , which will then publicize it online .
But given the voluntary nature of the program , safety advocates say the effort is likely to fall short of providing useful data to the public .
There is currently no federal rule requiring AV companies to submit information about their testing activities to the government .
Instead , a patchwork of state-by-state regulations govern what is and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most stringent rules , requiring companies to obtain a license for different types of testing , disclose vehicle crashes , list the number of miles driven , and the frequency at which human safety drivers were forced to take control of their autonomous vehicles ( also known as a “ disengagement ” ) .
Unsurprisingly , AV companies hate California ’ s requirements .
Most states require next to nothing in the way of testing data Most states require next to nothing in the way of testing data in the interest of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2012 , at least 41 states and DC have considered legislation related to autonomous vehicles , and 29 states and DC have enacted those measures , according to the National Conference of State Legislatures .
And the federal government is disinclined to go much further than even the most lackadaisical state requirement .
The Obama administration was the first to request voluntary safety reports from companies that are testing self-driving cars ; the Trump administration relaxed the rules even further , arguing anything that could remotely be construed as mandatory could stifle innovation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have become reflections of how much the individual companies feel like broadcasting their self-driving message .
The initial reports from Waymo , Ford , and GM were more like glossy marketing brochures than anything else .
Generally , they lack relevant statistics , like fleet size , total miles driven , and disengagement rates .
Moreover , there ’ s no system in place at the federal or state level for independent certification of the technology .
We just have to take them at their word .
This current effort is no different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( NHTSA ) says that its new Automated Vehicles Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing ( AV TEST ) Initiative is intended to show where AV testing is taking place — but little beyond that .
“ You ’ ll be able to see if testing has been reported in your community and learn more about the types of activities happening , ” the agency ’ s website reads , “ including testing of various types of motor vehicles — cars , low-speed shuttles , trucks , and driverless electric delivery vehicles.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ online tools that track AV testing based on location , including an interactive map built by Bloomberg Philanthropies that ’ s been active since 2017 .
Nine companies have signed on initially to participate in NHTSA ’ s voluntary effort : Beep , Cruise , Fiat Chrysler , Local Motors , Navya , Nuro , Toyota , Uber , and Waymo .
Eight states are expected to take part as well , including California , Florida , Maryland , Michigan , Ohio , Pennsylvania , Texas , and Utah .
Nine companies have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s voluntary effort The issue of AV testing data is a hot-button one among AV companies , regulators , and advocates .
Companies are inclined to share as little as possible , in the interest of keeping costs low , protecting proprietary information , and controlling their narratives by preventing the release of embarrassing information .
The federal government tends to agree , believing that requiring any data disclosure would be too onerous for the AV industry and possibly stymie research that hypothetically could lead to a reduction in fatal vehicle crashes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Obama administration and has since been supercharged under President Trump .
DOT Secretary Elaine Chao often says the federal government should not be in the business of picking “ winners and losers.
” Safety advocates were quick to denounce the data sharing effort as inadequate and possibly corrupt .
The Center for Auto Safety , a vocal critic of the federal government ’ s light touch with the AV industry , accused DOT of siding with “ corporate interests ” over the public by accepting “ whatever table scraps of information about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Which data will be submitted , or not submitted , will ultimately be decided by Boards of Directors , not the federal government , ” the group said .
“ And when a company ’ s car kills again , whether or not that company chooses to continue sharing information is more likely to be dictated by checking with corporate public relations teams than consulting the Code of Federal Regulations.
” Congress continues to debate legislation that would create a national framework for AV testing and deployment , but continues to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

The US Department of Transportation launched a new voluntary program to collect and share data from autonomous vehicle operators. Companies testing AVs on public roads are invited to submit information to the government, which will then publicize it online. But given the voluntary nature of the program, safety advocates say the effort is likely to fall short of providing useful data to the public.
There is currently no federal rule requiring AV companies to submit information about their testing activities to the government. Instead, a patchwork of state-by-state regulations govern what is and isn’t disclosed. California has the most stringent rules, requiring companies to obtain a license for different types of testing, disclose vehicle crashes, list the number of miles driven, and the frequency at which human safety drivers were forced to take control of their autonomous vehicles (also known as a “disengagement”). Unsurprisingly, AV companies hate California’s requirements.
Most states require next to nothing in the way of testing data
Most states require next to nothing in the way of testing data in the interest of appearing inviting to high-profile companies. Since 2012, at least 41 states and DC have considered legislation related to autonomous vehicles, and 29 states and DC have enacted those measures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And the federal government is disinclined to go much further than even the most lackadaisical state requirement.
The Obama administration was the first to request voluntary safety reports from companies that are testing self-driving cars; the Trump administration relaxed the rules even further, arguing anything that could remotely be construed as mandatory could stifle innovation. As a result, the reports have become reflections of how much the individual companies feel like broadcasting their self-driving message.
The initial reports from Waymo, Ford, and GM were more like glossy marketing brochures than anything else. Generally, they lack relevant statistics, like fleet size, total miles driven, and disengagement rates. Moreover, there’s no system in place at the federal or state level for independent certification of the technology. We just have to take them at their word.
This current effort is no different. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that its new Automated Vehicles Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative is intended to show where AV testing is taking place — but little beyond that.
“You’ll be able to see if testing has been reported in your community and learn more about the types of activities happening,” the agency’s website reads, “including testing of various types of motor vehicles — cars, low-speed shuttles, trucks, and driverless electric delivery vehicles.”
Currently, there are a handful of online tools that track AV testing based on location, including an interactive map built by Bloomberg Philanthropies that’s been active since 2017.
Nine companies have signed on initially to participate in NHTSA’s voluntary effort: Beep, Cruise, Fiat Chrysler, Local Motors, Navya, Nuro, Toyota, Uber, and Waymo. Eight states are expected to take part as well, including California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.
Nine companies have signed on initially to participate in NHTSA’s voluntary effort
The issue of AV testing data is a hot-button one among AV companies, regulators, and advocates. Companies are inclined to share as little as possible, in the interest of keeping costs low, protecting proprietary information, and controlling their narratives by preventing the release of embarrassing information.
The federal government tends to agree, believing that requiring any data disclosure would be too onerous for the AV industry and possibly stymie research that hypothetically could lead to a reduction in fatal vehicle crashes. This laissez faire attitude started during the Obama administration and has since been supercharged under President Trump. DOT Secretary Elaine Chao often says the federal government should not be in the business of picking “winners and losers.”
Safety advocates were quick to denounce the data sharing effort as inadequate and possibly corrupt. Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, called the new initiative “a recipe for disaster, while the Center for Auto Safety accused DOT of siding with “corporate interests” over the public by accepting “whatever table scraps of information about AV testing” get thrown their way.
“Which data will be submitted, or not submitted, will ultimately be decided by Boards of Directors, not the federal government,” the group said. “And when a company’s car kills again, whether or not that company chooses to continue sharing information is more likely to be dictated by checking with corporate public relations teams than consulting the Code of Federal Regulations.”


theverge--2020-06-15--Game developers could make the next Pokémon Go with new widely available Google Maps tools

Google is opening up its Google Maps Platform to everyone so developers can incorporate Maps data into their games , the company announced on Monday .
Its tools let developers use Maps data to build games that let you explore a modified version of the real world , similar to Niantic ’ s Pokémon Go .
( Niantic , once a startup within Google , has its own developer toolset for making AR games that use live camera and 3D mapping data , called the Niantic Real World Platform . )
Google first announced the tools in March 2018 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ limited group ” of studios and only 10 games have been built with them so far , according to a Google blog post .
The company says indie studios and other developers expressed interest in using the platform , so the company has been working to scale up its infrastructure to allow any developer to take advantage of them .
To actually plug the Maps data into games , Google offers a software development kit for the popular Unity game engine .
Google ’ s tools let game developers do things like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ points of interest for a game .
The company has also added new features to the Maps gaming tools since their 2018 launch , including a way to show higher levels of detail for areas that are closer to a player and less detail for those that are farther away .
That could take up less processing power on your phone , potentially saving precious battery life .

Google is opening up its Google Maps Platform to everyone so developers can incorporate Maps data into their games, the company announced on Monday. Its tools let developers use Maps data to build games that let you explore a modified version of the real world, similar to Niantic’s Pokémon Go. (Niantic, once a startup within Google, has its own developer toolset for making AR games that use live camera and 3D mapping data, called the Niantic Real World Platform.)
Google first announced the tools in March 2018, but they were only available to a “limited group” of studios and only 10 games have been built with them so far, according to a Google blog post. The company says indie studios and other developers expressed interest in using the platform, so the company has been working to scale up its infrastructure to allow any developer to take advantage of them. To actually plug the Maps data into games, Google offers a software development kit for the popular Unity game engine.
Google’s tools let game developers do things like transform real-world locations or make those locations points of interest for a game. The company has also added new features to the Maps gaming tools since their 2018 launch, including a way to show higher levels of detail for areas that are closer to a player and less detail for those that are farther away. That could take up less processing power on your phone, potentially saving precious battery life.


theverge--2020-06-15--Like Zoom, Microsoft Teams will let you see 49 people at a time this fall

Microsoft is expanding the number of participants visible during a Teams meeting to 49 , the company announced in a blog post Monday .
The maximum number of participants in a private Teams meeting is 250 ; rival Zoom ’ s paid plans allow up to 500 participants at a time .
But the 49-person on-screen view — which Microsoft announced it was planning less than two weeks ago — matches Zoom ’ s max .
Teams will roll out the 49-person view as a preview this month and to all users in the fall .
It ’ s one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Teams .
It says the goal is to support its Microsoft for Education products , which the company claims has more than 150 million students , faculty , institutional leaders , and teachers actively using it as part of remote learning .
In addition to the larger gallery view , Teams for Education is getting breakout rooms for students to collaborate in smaller groups , attendance reports and class insights for teachers , and a “ raise hand ” option for students .
It ’ s also putting controls in place so that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unattended , and it will restrict who can present at a meeting .
Teams for Education meetings also will include a “ lobby ” area , where participants can be verified before they ’ re admitted .
It ’ s not clear if these will be desktop-only features .
Microsoft says it ’ s adding new features based on what it ’ s hearing from Teams clients in the education space , including teachers and education leaders , many of whom expect to use technology more than they had before the pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ surveyed expect the 2020-21 school year will be a mix of remote and traditional in-classroom learning .
Teams has been pushing new features at a breakneck pace as it tries to catch up to Zoom , which saw huge growth during the first quarter of 2020 .
In addition to the latest update to the 49-person view to match Zoom , Teams recently included an option for people to add custom background images , and it added a real-time noise suppression feature in March as more people began working remotely due to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ version of this story said that Teams for Education had 150 million users , in fact , the number referred to Microsoft for Education .
We regret the error .

Microsoft is expanding the number of participants visible during a Teams meeting to 49, the company announced in a blog post Monday. The maximum number of participants in a private Teams meeting is 250; rival Zoom’s paid plans allow up to 500 participants at a time. But the 49-person on-screen view — which Microsoft announced it was planning less than two weeks ago — matches Zoom’s max. Teams will roll out the 49-person view as a preview this month and to all users in the fall.
It’s one of several features Microsoft is adding to Teams. It says the goal is to support its Microsoft for Education products, which the company claims has more than 150 million students, faculty, institutional leaders, and teachers actively using it as part of remote learning.
In addition to the larger gallery view, Teams for Education is getting breakout rooms for students to collaborate in smaller groups, attendance reports and class insights for teachers, and a “raise hand” option for students. It’s also putting controls in place so that students can’t start class meetings unattended, and it will restrict who can present at a meeting. Teams for Education meetings also will include a “lobby” area, where participants can be verified before they’re admitted. It’s not clear if these will be desktop-only features.
Microsoft says it’s adding new features based on what it’s hearing from Teams clients in the education space, including teachers and education leaders, many of whom expect to use technology more than they had before the pandemic. A majority of the educators that Microsoft surveyed expect the 2020-21 school year will be a mix of remote and traditional in-classroom learning.
Teams has been pushing new features at a breakneck pace as it tries to catch up to Zoom, which saw huge growth during the first quarter of 2020. In addition to the latest update to the 49-person view to match Zoom, Teams recently included an option for people to add custom background images, and it added a real-time noise suppression feature in March as more people began working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


theverge--2020-06-16--Bringing stars back to the Steel City

Bringing stars back to the Steel City

Diane Turnshek grew up with the dark .
She spent her childhood in New England camping and hiking , the night sky unfurled overhead in a familiar tapestry .
During graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson , a city bordered by some of the darkest areas of the country , she spent plenty of time out in the desert , making observations of celestial bodies for her astronomy program .
Then Turnshek moved to Pittsburgh , where she started teaching , first at the University of Pittsburgh and then at Carnegie Mellon University , where she still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and suddenly , driving hours outside of the city to view the night sky became a rarer and rarer occurrence until she could hardly recall what it looked like .
It was only in 2012 , when she traveled to Bryce Canyon , Utah , to be a crew member of the Mars Desert Research Station , that she reencountered the enduring nighttime .
“ I hadn ’ t seen a dark sky like that for decades .
It hadn ’ t dawned on me in the intervening years that there were no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Coast .
And that ’ s really when I started campaigning for people to notice that there ’ s light pollution and to try to do something about it , ” Turnshek said .
“ There were no more stars — not on the East Coast.
” Due to increased artificial light use at night , we are rapidly catapulting toward a future in which nearly all people in industrialized countries will never see the Milky Way , or the great majority of stars , for the whole of their lives .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comprehend .
On one level , we have plenty of evidence about what we physically lose when we over-light the night ; a good night ’ s sleep is the most obvious and well-evidenced response .
So too are the myriad detrimental effects on bird migration , nocturnal animals , even trees .
But we may be losing something more intangible : the ability to see the universe and to glimpse our place within it .
Since joining Carnegie Mellon University ’ s faculty in 2008 , Turnshek says she ’ s gradually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more and more of them have never seen an undiluted night sky .
“ They have this esoteric understanding that there ’ s other things out there , but it ’ s like they ’ re on the other side of a door .
They can ’ t see them.
” Kicking down that door and creating dark sky-friendly cities is the implausible dream of Turnshek and her colleagues .
Audrey Fischer , a former International Dark-Sky Association ( IDA ) board member , says that a common assumption among residents in her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s impossible to have starlight over a city and to try to go after that goal is a waste of time and energy.
” That hasn ’ t stopped IDA chapters from sprouting in some of the country ’ s largest cities , including New York City and Washington , DC .
The IDA was founded in 1988 “ to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting.
” Many of the city-based groups have mobilized around the issue of streetlights — specifically , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ converting all metal halide , mercury vapor , and high-pressure sodium luminaires to light-emitting diodes ( LEDs ) .
But not all LEDs are created equal .
To the dismay of dark-sky activists and some city residents , many cities installed ultra-bright LEDs that emit a blue wavelength similar to that of the daytime sky .
Selecting warmer colors of LEDs would help the stars shine through , but groups like the IDA would also like to see streetlights that are shielded and dimmable and backed up by a robust city lighting ordinance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A few years after her stint at the Mars Desert Research Station , Turnshek founded a local chapter of the IDA in Pittsburgh .
They had their first meeting in 2017 .
The group immediately turned its sights to the city ’ s streetlighting .
Pittsburgh officials have been discussing replacing all 40,000 of the city ’ s streetlights for the past decade , and Turnshek and the other IDA Pittsburgh members want to ensure that the replacement lights are as minimally intrusive as possible , while still maintaining safety and visibility .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scope of the problem .
To this end , Turnshek , her CMU colleague Stephen Quick , and members of IDA Pittsburgh are developing a comprehensive light pollution map of the city — all 58 square miles .
Unlike other maps , theirs will take measures of light pollution from above looking down using drones and a camera-equipped Cessna aircraft and from below looking up using human volunteers armed with spectrometers .
This work has largely been halted since the coronavirus pandemic started , but they hope to restart when it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the map will also account for light pollution readings from satellite data to create an overarching measure of light pollution in the city .
There is no light pollution map currently available that encompasses all of these measurements .
Turnshek and Quick are also planning on making a second map after the LEDs are installed ; together , the two maps will provide a concrete measure of how levels of light pollution are impacted by LED adoption and will highlight the city ’ s biggest light pollution offenders .
Turnshek sees the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transform Pittsburgh into a model for responsible streetlighting .
“ Pittsburgh , to me , is like the proving ground for the world , ” she said .
And if city officials choose lighting that adheres to IDA recommendations , it ’ s the first step toward making Pittsburgh the East Coast ’ s first dark sky city .
But can it be done ?
In 2011 , Pittsburgh received a grant from the state to install more than 3,500 LED luminaires as part of an early pilot program .
Compared to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d find illuminating a typical American street with their characteristic deep yellow glow , LEDs are more cost-effective and energy-efficient .
Speaking to Pittsburgh ’ s local NPR affiliate , Alex Pazuchanics , former assistant director in the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure , estimated that LED streetlights could lower the city ’ s energy bill by up to 70 percent .
Many environmental groups have welcomed the changes .
LEDs are far more energy-efficient than their predecessors .
Given that nearly 20 percent of the world ’ s overall energy consumption @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the transition to LEDs as a welcome opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions .
The people who actually have to live with the lights are less enthusiastic .
Pressured to cut costs , many cities installed an early generation of high-intensity , blue-rich LEDs , notorious for producing lots of glare .
In Davis , California , residents objected so strongly to the new lighting that the city spent an additional $ 350,000 to replace the newly installed bulbs .
A similar story unfolded in New York City in 2016 .
One Brooklyn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the new streetlights cast “ an eerie day-for-night glow , like a Walmart parking lot or a zombie picnic.
” Pittsburgh officials asked researchers at CMU ’ s Remaking Cities Institute to observe the installations in 2010 ; Quick was a research associate on the project .
The new LEDs were centered mainly in the city ’ s business districts , commercial areas , and major roadways .
Five years later , Quick ’ s team conducted another study on streetlighting .
They found that all the LED lights they tested produced significant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me , is like the proving ground for the world.
” “ People think that by making light at night equivalent to daylight that that ’ s the best solution .
But trying to simulate daylight is a real problem.
” Quick said .
His team found that once people ’ s eyes adjust to the dark , it ’ s difficult to shift back and forth between darkness and simulated daylight .
Our capacity to transition quickly in and out of night vision degrades as we get older , along with our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , reacting to a potential hazard on a dark street right after turning off a heavily lit freeway becomes more difficult with age .
“ If you could design a light for a 65- to 70-year-old person , to meet their reaction times , you would end up with a Dark Sky compliant fixture , ” he said .
Their findings track with other research on blue-rich LEDs .
The color temperature of many of those first-generation LEDs was around 4,000K — squarely in the blue end of the spectrum .
A 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that widespread installation of this type of LED streetlight is associated with “ significant human and environmental concerns , ” including disrupting our sleep and diverting the behavior of light-attracted animals , like pollinating moths and sea turtle hatchlings .
The report emphasized that one of the main disadvantages of LED technology is the color temperature of the lights , which are measured in Kelvin .
Higher-Kelvin lights emit light at a shorter wavelength .
Daylight , for example , has a color temperature of 6,500K ( which is why the sky @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of the spectrum , a flickering candle measures at 1,800K ( which is why it looks yellow ) .
Blue light has one more disadvantage : it scatters more easily than other temperatures , creating an even brighter sky glow over cities .
Both the AMA and the IDA recommend fixtures with color temperatures no higher than 3,000K .
“ The lower Kelvin lights are cost and energy efficient , safer , better for human health and wildlife conservation , and contribute less to skyglow , ” states the IDA ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just color temperature that matters : the AMA and the IDA also recommend lights that are dimmable and shielded so that the light points downward .
Even since the publication of the second report , Quick said they ’ ve seen significant technological improvements in LED lighting .
“ At the time we started our first study , streetlights were not a very popular item for manufacturers , ” he says .
“ They ’ re not a high-profit item .
Part of our report was to say , you have to start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ glare issues , contrast.
” In 2018 , the city of Pittsburgh put out a request for proposals for a smart LED streetlight system .
But when it got to the point of negotiating with potential vendors , city officials realized they were lacking key information to meaningfully enact the transition .
“ We really just didn ’ t have the data that was necessary to make good decisions around that program , ” Karina Ricks , director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure , said .
“ We got too far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the city doesn ’ t even know exactly how many streetlights they have or how many of them have already been converted to LED .
“ When this all became quite apparent to us , that we were missing the initial data to make the most of such a program , we pulled back that solicitation , ” Ricks said .
Luckily , Pittsburgh ’ s relative cautiousness in replacing the remainder of its streetlights means that it can now choose streetlighting that ’ s more friendly to the human eye .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be installed is not yet known , the LED lighting market has evolved over the past few years such that lower-color temperature LEDs are now available to purchase at a commercial scale .
And because LEDs can last 15–20 years , greater diligence upfront has potentially saved the city from ending up like Davis .
A “ dark sky city ” is a misnomer : should Pittsburgh become dark sky certified by the IDA , that doesn ’ t mean the city itself will be completely dark at night .
But it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city will shrink .
Instead of having to drive 45 minutes outside of the city to see the Milky Way , you might only need to drive 20 minutes .
Humans remain keenly aware of associations between lighting and safety , and urban dwellers , who are more likely to walk , cycle , or use public transportation , may be particularly sensitive to streetlighting .
All of the IDA activists interviewed for this article said that one of the most recurring concerns they encounter when speaking with people about reduced nighttime lighting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nick Mullen , a 24-year old Pittsburgh resident , said in an interview that he preferred bright white LEDs because they made him feel safer walking around his neighborhood at night .
“ We ’ re looking for a balance between safety on the ground and dark skies at night , ” Quick said .
Finding that balance is still very difficult .
John Barentine , director of public policy at IDA , says that the research on lighting and crime has produced mixed results .
“ How much of the lighting and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and not about actual evidence that the light is doing one thing or another ?
” he asked .
“ We just do not know the answer to that question to be quite honest.
” A recent working paper shared by the National Bureau of Economic Research is an evocative step toward one .
Researchers , in partnership with New York City agencies , conducted the first randomized field experiment studying the relationship between outdoor lighting and crime .
At the end of their six-month study period , they found that increased lighting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 36 percent .
But given that only 12 percent of crimes in their study took place outdoors and at night , the adjusted result is a 4 percent decrease .
The paper ’ s authors note that the temporary lighting towers were extremely bright , intensely focused , and a prominent , short-term intervention in the neighborhood — all factors that might not make them a realistic solution in the long-run or appropriate for many neighborhoods .
But for many residents , even an increase in the perception of safety due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community changes .
“ I used to be afraid to go out at night with my kids , ” said Queens resident Stephanie Arias , speaking to The New York Times on the bright LEDs installed in her neighborhood in 2015 .
“ There are a lot of stupid little guys around who like to start stuff .
Now it ’ s different.
” According to Ricks , light equity is a major piece of the forthcoming streetlight conversion in Pittsburgh , even if it means a reduction in potential energy savings .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in certain areas of the city , Ricks said .
Some have been critical of light-based social interventions , noting that it is predominantly working-class Black and Latino neighborhoods that are subject to excess artificial light at night .
Speaking to The Atlantic in 2013 , author Paul Bogard refers to groups such as public housing residents , night-shift workers , and incarcerated people as “ darkness-deprived populations.
” “ It ’ s like so many of these other things — green space , trees , quiet , and so on , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up being unevenly distributed ; where the only way to get real darkness is to be able to afford to live in a community like Aspen or Vail or somewhere like that.
” Light is a profoundly ambivalent resource , and dark sky activists wrestle with the myriad ways that nighttime lighting supports ( or curtails ) safety , equality , and community .
But that ’ s why they believe the central question is not if , but how , we should use lights at night .
In a world of stark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by carefully attending to our surroundings , we can create a more equitable nighttime , and with it , a more thoughtful and deliberate approach to both the community — and galaxy — outside our front doors .
Lights in public places , like streetlights , play a major part in decreasing humanity ’ s light footprint , but dark sky activists would like to see even more action from their local governments going forward .
The advent of “ smart ” lighting solutions , which equip LED streetlight fixtures with sensors and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , makes the goal of a darker city arguably more achievable than ever before .
Pittsburgh is still considering which sensors to include in any streetlight upgrade , Ricks said .
But the potential for downstream effects on light pollution are myriad .
Consider , for example , a sensor that allows cities to monitor pedestrian levels and dynamically adjust lighting accordingly , or automatically dim streetlights between certain hours .
In the coming months , Turnshek says the way forward will include more policy advocacy — specifically amending the city ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ completing the light pollution map .
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has added complications to both goals , slowing down policymaking and causing light pollution to fluctuate .
Widespread shuttering of commercial and industrial areas has caused both air and light pollution to plummet .
Turnshek said that people are scrambling to take sky glow measurements to give this darkness a number .
Even with a pandemic raging , Turnshek and Quick are still forging ahead , preparing a second grant application to Metro21 : Smart Cities Institute , an interdisciplinary research institute at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hall meetings , public service announcements , and community campaigns for an amended outdoor lighting policy .
They remain focused on building a darker , clearer future , where stars will shine over Pittsburgh once again .

Dark Skies Over Pittsburgh By Aria Alamalhodaei | Jun 16, 2020, 8:00am EDT Turning down Pittsburgh's lights might help the city see stars, but first, astronomers need a map of the city's light pollution. Illustrations by Alex Parkin Dark Skies Over Pittsburgh Turning down Pittsburgh's lights might help the city see stars, but first, astronomers need a map of the city's light pollution. By Aria Alamalhodaei | Jun 16, 2020, 8:00am EDT Illustrations by Alex Parkin Dark Skies Over Pittsburgh Turning down Pittsburgh's lights might help the city see stars, but first, astronomers need a map of the city's light pollution. By Aria Alamalhodaei | Jun 16, 2020, 8:00am EDT Illustrations by Alex Parkin
Diane Turnshek grew up with the dark. She spent her childhood in New England camping and hiking, the night sky unfurled overhead in a familiar tapestry. During graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson, a city bordered by some of the darkest areas of the country, she spent plenty of time out in the desert, making observations of celestial bodies for her astronomy program. Then Turnshek moved to Pittsburgh, where she started teaching, first at the University of Pittsburgh and then at Carnegie Mellon University, where she still works. She had four children; and suddenly, driving hours outside of the city to view the night sky became a rarer and rarer occurrence until she could hardly recall what it looked like.
It was only in 2012, when she traveled to Bryce Canyon, Utah, to be a crew member of the Mars Desert Research Station, that she reencountered the enduring nighttime. “I hadn’t seen a dark sky like that for decades. It hadn’t dawned on me in the intervening years that there were no more stars — not on the East Coast. And that’s really when I started campaigning for people to notice that there’s light pollution and to try to do something about it,” Turnshek said.
“There were no more stars — not on the East Coast.”
Due to increased artificial light use at night, we are rapidly catapulting toward a future in which nearly all people in industrialized countries will never see the Milky Way, or the great majority of stars, for the whole of their lives. The effects of this deprivation are hard to comprehend. On one level, we have plenty of evidence about what we physically lose when we over-light the night; a good night’s sleep is the most obvious and well-evidenced response. So too are the myriad detrimental effects on bird migration, nocturnal animals, even trees. But we may be losing something more intangible: the ability to see the universe and to glimpse our place within it. Since joining Carnegie Mellon University’s faculty in 2008, Turnshek says she’s gradually noticed a shift in her students: more and more of them have never seen an undiluted night sky. “They have this esoteric understanding that there’s other things out there, but it’s like they’re on the other side of a door. They can’t see them.”
Kicking down that door and creating dark sky-friendly cities is the implausible dream of Turnshek and her colleagues. Audrey Fischer, a former International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) board member, says that a common assumption among residents in her native Chicago is that “it’s impossible to have starlight over a city and to try to go after that goal is a waste of time and energy.” That hasn’t stopped IDA chapters from sprouting in some of the country’s largest cities, including New York City and Washington, DC.
The IDA was founded in 1988 “to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting.” Many of the city-based groups have mobilized around the issue of streetlights — specifically, the large streetlight replacement programs that are converting all metal halide, mercury vapor, and high-pressure sodium luminaires to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). But not all LEDs are created equal. To the dismay of dark-sky activists and some city residents, many cities installed ultra-bright LEDs that emit a blue wavelength similar to that of the daytime sky. Selecting warmer colors of LEDs would help the stars shine through, but groups like the IDA would also like to see streetlights that are shielded and dimmable and backed up by a robust city lighting ordinance.
not all LEDs are created equal
A few years after her stint at the Mars Desert Research Station, Turnshek founded a local chapter of the IDA in Pittsburgh. They had their first meeting in 2017. The group immediately turned its sights to the city’s streetlighting. Pittsburgh officials have been discussing replacing all 40,000 of the city’s streetlights for the past decade, and Turnshek and the other IDA Pittsburgh members want to ensure that the replacement lights are as minimally intrusive as possible, while still maintaining safety and visibility.
But first, they needed to understand the scope of the problem. To this end, Turnshek, her CMU colleague Stephen Quick, and members of IDA Pittsburgh are developing a comprehensive light pollution map of the city — all 58 square miles. Unlike other maps, theirs will take measures of light pollution from above looking down using drones and a camera-equipped Cessna aircraft and from below looking up using human volunteers armed with spectrometers. This work has largely been halted since the coronavirus pandemic started, but they hope to restart when it is safe to do so. In addition, the map will also account for light pollution readings from satellite data to create an overarching measure of light pollution in the city. There is no light pollution map currently available that encompasses all of these measurements. Turnshek and Quick are also planning on making a second map after the LEDs are installed; together, the two maps will provide a concrete measure of how levels of light pollution are impacted by LED adoption and will highlight the city’s biggest light pollution offenders.
Turnshek sees the forthcoming streetlight conversion as an opportunity to transform Pittsburgh into a model for responsible streetlighting. “Pittsburgh, to me, is like the proving ground for the world,” she said. And if city officials choose lighting that adheres to IDA recommendations, it’s the first step toward making Pittsburgh the East Coast’s first dark sky city. But can it be done?
In 2011, Pittsburgh received a grant from the state to install more than 3,500 LED luminaires as part of an early pilot program. Compared to the high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures you’d find illuminating a typical American street with their characteristic deep yellow glow, LEDs are more cost-effective and energy-efficient. Speaking to Pittsburgh’s local NPR affiliate, Alex Pazuchanics, former assistant director in the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, estimated that LED streetlights could lower the city’s energy bill by up to 70 percent.
Many environmental groups have welcomed the changes. LEDs are far more energy-efficient than their predecessors. Given that nearly 20 percent of the world’s overall energy consumption is consumed by lighting, some see the transition to LEDs as a welcome opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The people who actually have to live with the lights are less enthusiastic. Pressured to cut costs, many cities installed an early generation of high-intensity, blue-rich LEDs, notorious for producing lots of glare. In Davis, California, residents objected so strongly to the new lighting that the city spent an additional $350,000 to replace the newly installed bulbs. A similar story unfolded in New York City in 2016. One Brooklyn resident wrote in an online petition that the new streetlights cast “an eerie day-for-night glow, like a Walmart parking lot or a zombie picnic.”
Pittsburgh officials asked researchers at CMU’s Remaking Cities Institute to observe the installations in 2010; Quick was a research associate on the project. The new LEDs were centered mainly in the city’s business districts, commercial areas, and major roadways. Five years later, Quick’s team conducted another study on streetlighting. They found that all the LED lights they tested produced significant glare problems.
“Pittsburgh, to me, is like the proving ground for the world.”
“People think that by making light at night equivalent to daylight that that’s the best solution. But trying to simulate daylight is a real problem.” Quick said. His team found that once people’s eyes adjust to the dark, it’s difficult to shift back and forth between darkness and simulated daylight. Our capacity to transition quickly in and out of night vision degrades as we get older, along with our reaction time. So, for example, reacting to a potential hazard on a dark street right after turning off a heavily lit freeway becomes more difficult with age. “If you could design a light for a 65- to 70-year-old person, to meet their reaction times, you would end up with a Dark Sky compliant fixture,” he said.
Their findings track with other research on blue-rich LEDs. The color temperature of many of those first-generation LEDs was around 4,000K — squarely in the blue end of the spectrum. A 2016 American Medical Association (AMA) report found that widespread installation of this type of LED streetlight is associated with “significant human and environmental concerns,” including disrupting our sleep and diverting the behavior of light-attracted animals, like pollinating moths and sea turtle hatchlings. The report emphasized that one of the main disadvantages of LED technology is the color temperature of the lights, which are measured in Kelvin. Higher-Kelvin lights emit light at a shorter wavelength. Daylight, for example, has a color temperature of 6,500K (which is why the sky is blue); on the other end of the spectrum, a flickering candle measures at 1,800K (which is why it looks yellow). Blue light has one more disadvantage: it scatters more easily than other temperatures, creating an even brighter sky glow over cities.
Both the AMA and the IDA recommend fixtures with color temperatures no higher than 3,000K. “The lower Kelvin lights are cost and energy efficient, safer, better for human health and wildlife conservation, and contribute less to skyglow,” states the IDA’s website. But it’s not just color temperature that matters: the AMA and the IDA also recommend lights that are dimmable and shielded so that the light points downward.
Even since the publication of the second report, Quick said they’ve seen significant technological improvements in LED lighting. “At the time we started our first study, streetlights were not a very popular item for manufacturers,” he says. “They’re not a high-profit item. Part of our report was to say, you have to start thinking about the quality of light – glare issues, contrast.”
In 2018, the city of Pittsburgh put out a request for proposals for a smart LED streetlight system. But when it got to the point of negotiating with potential vendors, city officials realized they were lacking key information to meaningfully enact the transition. “We really just didn’t have the data that was necessary to make good decisions around that program,” Karina Ricks, director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said. “We got too far out over our skis.” Ricks explained that the city doesn’t even know exactly how many streetlights they have or how many of them have already been converted to LED. “When this all became quite apparent to us, that we were missing the initial data to make the most of such a program, we pulled back that solicitation,” Ricks said.
Luckily, Pittsburgh’s relative cautiousness in replacing the remainder of its streetlights means that it can now choose streetlighting that’s more friendly to the human eye. Although the exact type of lighting that will be installed is not yet known, the LED lighting market has evolved over the past few years such that lower-color temperature LEDs are now available to purchase at a commercial scale. And because LEDs can last 15–20 years, greater diligence upfront has potentially saved the city from ending up like Davis. A “dark sky city” is a misnomer: should Pittsburgh become dark sky certified by the IDA, that doesn’t mean the city itself will be completely dark at night. But it does mean that light-polluted area around the city will shrink. Instead of having to drive 45 minutes outside of the city to see the Milky Way, you might only need to drive 20 minutes.
Humans remain keenly aware of associations between lighting and safety, and urban dwellers, who are more likely to walk, cycle, or use public transportation, may be particularly sensitive to streetlighting. All of the IDA activists interviewed for this article said that one of the most recurring concerns they encounter when speaking with people about reduced nighttime lighting is the possibility of increased crime. Nick Mullen, a 24-year old Pittsburgh resident, said in an interview that he preferred bright white LEDs because they made him feel safer walking around his neighborhood at night.
“We’re looking for a balance between safety on the ground and dark skies at night,” Quick said.
Finding that balance is still very difficult. John Barentine, director of public policy at IDA, says that the research on lighting and crime has produced mixed results. “How much of the lighting and crime situation is about perception and feeling and not about actual evidence that the light is doing one thing or another?” he asked. “We just do not know the answer to that question to be quite honest.”
A recent working paper shared by the National Bureau of Economic Research is an evocative step toward one. Researchers, in partnership with New York City agencies, conducted the first randomized field experiment studying the relationship between outdoor lighting and crime. At the end of their six-month study period, they found that increased lighting resulted in a reduction of crime by at least 36 percent. But given that only 12 percent of crimes in their study took place outdoors and at night, the adjusted result is a 4 percent decrease. The paper’s authors note that the temporary lighting towers were extremely bright, intensely focused, and a prominent, short-term intervention in the neighborhood — all factors that might not make them a realistic solution in the long-run or appropriate for many neighborhoods.
Light is a profoundly ambivalent resource
But for many residents, even an increase in the perception of safety due to brighter streetlights can result in positive community changes. “I used to be afraid to go out at night with my kids,” said Queens resident Stephanie Arias, speaking to The New York Times on the bright LEDs installed in her neighborhood in 2015. “There are a lot of stupid little guys around who like to start stuff. Now it’s different.” According to Ricks, light equity is a major piece of the forthcoming streetlight conversion in Pittsburgh, even if it means a reduction in potential energy savings. Remedying unequal lighting may mean more lights in certain areas of the city, Ricks said.
Some have been critical of light-based social interventions, noting that it is predominantly working-class Black and Latino neighborhoods that are subject to excess artificial light at night. Speaking to The Atlantic in 2013, author Paul Bogard refers to groups such as public housing residents, night-shift workers, and incarcerated people as “darkness-deprived populations.”
“It’s like so many of these other things — green space, trees, quiet, and so on,” Bogard says. “It could end up being unevenly distributed; where the only way to get real darkness is to be able to afford to live in a community like Aspen or Vail or somewhere like that.”
Light is a profoundly ambivalent resource, and dark sky activists wrestle with the myriad ways that nighttime lighting supports (or curtails) safety, equality, and community. But that’s why they believe the central question is not if, but how, we should use lights at night. In a world of stark contrasts, dark sky activists argue that by carefully attending to our surroundings, we can create a more equitable nighttime, and with it, a more thoughtful and deliberate approach to both the community — and galaxy — outside our front doors.
✦ ✦ ✦
Lights in public places, like streetlights, play a major part in decreasing humanity’s light footprint, but dark sky activists would like to see even more action from their local governments going forward. The advent of “smart” lighting solutions, which equip LED streetlight fixtures with sensors and connect them to a central management server, makes the goal of a darker city arguably more achievable than ever before. Pittsburgh is still considering which sensors to include in any streetlight upgrade, Ricks said. But the potential for downstream effects on light pollution are myriad. Consider, for example, a sensor that allows cities to monitor pedestrian levels and dynamically adjust lighting accordingly, or automatically dim streetlights between certain hours.
In the coming months, Turnshek says the way forward will include more policy advocacy — specifically amending the city’s lighting ordinance policy, in addition to completing the light pollution map. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has added complications to both goals, slowing down policymaking and causing light pollution to fluctuate. Widespread shuttering of commercial and industrial areas has caused both air and light pollution to plummet. Turnshek said that people are scrambling to take sky glow measurements to give this darkness a number.
Even with a pandemic raging, Turnshek and Quick are still forging ahead, preparing a second grant application to Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute at CMU, to potentially fund future town hall meetings, public service announcements, and community campaigns for an amended outdoor lighting policy. They remain focused on building a darker, clearer future, where stars will shine over Pittsburgh once again.


theverge--2020-06-16--Amazon deploys AI ‘distance assistants’ to notify warehouse workers if they get too close

Amazon , which is currently being sued for allegedly failing to protect workers from COVID-19 , has unveiled a new AI tool it says will help employees follow social distancing rules .
The company ’ s “ Distance Assistant ” combines a TV screen , depth sensors , and AI-enabled camera to track employees ’ movements and give them feedback in real time .
When workers come closer than six feet to one another , circles around their feet flash red on the TV , indicating to employees that they should move to a safe distance apart .
The devices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deployed quickly where needed and moved about .
Amazon compares the system to radar speed checks which give drivers instant feedback on their driving .
The assistants have been tested at a “ handful ” of the company ’ s buildings , said Brad Porter , vice president of Amazon Robotics , in a blog post , and the firm plans to roll out “ hundreds ” more to new locations in the coming weeks .
Importantly , Amazon also says it will be open-sourcing the technology , allowing other companies to quickly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ range of locations .
Amazon isn ’ t the only company using machine learning in this way .
A large number of firms offering AI video analytics and surveillance have created similar social-distancing tools since the coronavirus outbreak began .
Some startups have also turned to physical solutions , like bracelets and pendants which use Bluetooth signals to sense proximity and then buzz or beep to remind workers when they break social distancing guidelines .
Although these solutions will be necessary for workers to return to busy facilities like warehouses , many privacy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ levels of surveillance .
Many of these solutions will produce detailed data of workers ’ movements throughout the day , allowing managers to hound employees in the name of productivity .
Workers will also have no choice but to be tracked in this way if they want to keep their job .
Amazon ’ s involvement in this sort of technology will raise suspicions as the company is often criticized for the grueling working conditions in its facilities .
In 2018 , it even patented a wristband that would track workers ’ movements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which task they should do next , but if their hands are moving towards the wrong shelf or bin .
The company ’ s description of the Distance Assistant as a ” standalone unit ” that only requires power suggests it ’ s not storing any data about worker ’ s movement , but we ’ ve contacted the company to confirm what information , if any , might be retained .

Amazon, which is currently being sued for allegedly failing to protect workers from COVID-19, has unveiled a new AI tool it says will help employees follow social distancing rules.
The company’s “Distance Assistant” combines a TV screen, depth sensors, and AI-enabled camera to track employees’ movements and give them feedback in real time. When workers come closer than six feet to one another, circles around their feet flash red on the TV, indicating to employees that they should move to a safe distance apart. The devices are self-contained, meaning they can be deployed quickly where needed and moved about.
Amazon compares the system to radar speed checks which give drivers instant feedback on their driving. The assistants have been tested at a “handful” of the company’s buildings, said Brad Porter, vice president of Amazon Robotics, in a blog post, and the firm plans to roll out “hundreds” more to new locations in the coming weeks.
Importantly, Amazon also says it will be open-sourcing the technology, allowing other companies to quickly replicate and deploy these devices in a range of locations.
Amazon isn’t the only company using machine learning in this way. A large number of firms offering AI video analytics and surveillance have created similar social-distancing tools since the coronavirus outbreak began. Some startups have also turned to physical solutions, like bracelets and pendants which use Bluetooth signals to sense proximity and then buzz or beep to remind workers when they break social distancing guidelines.
Amazon has a history of closely tracking workers’ activities
Although these solutions will be necessary for workers to return to busy facilities like warehouses, many privacy experts worry their introduction will normalize greater levels of surveillance. Many of these solutions will produce detailed data of workers’ movements throughout the day, allowing managers to hound employees in the name of productivity. Workers will also have no choice but to be tracked in this way if they want to keep their job.
Amazon’s involvement in this sort of technology will raise suspicions as the company is often criticized for the grueling working conditions in its facilities. In 2018, it even patented a wristband that would track workers’ movements in real time, directing not just which task they should do next, but if their hands are moving towards the wrong shelf or bin.


theverge--2020-06-16--Yelp now lets businesses list the COVID-19 safety measures they’re taking

As restaurants across the US begin to reopen , Yelp is rolling out new tools to allow business owners to share the safety measures they ’ re taking to keep both customers and staff safe .
Yelp will launch a new COVID-19 section for businesses listed on the platform today .
Located in between the business ’ s name and reviews , the section will let business owners show what services they will offer , like indoor or outdoor dining , and what safety measures they are taking , like temperature checks .
A number of different attributes will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owners will be allowed to check off whether they observe different safety measures such as contactless payment or mandatory face masks and gloves for staff .
“ Different cities have different protocols , ” Yelp ’ s head of consumer product , Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh , told The Verge .
“ We have come up with the 10 most widely accepted protocols that consumers expect to see , and businesses have taken on to implement.
” Yelp also said that it will publish a timestamp each time a business owner updates the COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information , such as hours of operation or business updates , are current .
Businesses can add and update all this information on their own , but they must claim their listing on Yelp and log into their Yelp for Business account to do so .
Consumers can verify these health and safety guidelines for any listing on Yelp once they check into a given business , too .
Yelp is also adding new COVID-19-related tools to its Yelp Waitlist feature .
Restaurants will be able to print out a QR code that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s waitlist , offering a contact-free way to get in line .
In addition , business owners will have the option to manually adjust wait time estimates by adding restrictions such as reduced capacity or staff , and they will be notified by the app when the restaurant is about to reach or exceeds its capacity .
In early March , Yelp launched its first set of COVID-19-related tools , such as the option for business owners to let customers know if they were temporarily closed or only open for delivery or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 25 million fund that offered free advertising and Yelp services to local businesses .

As restaurants across the US begin to reopen, Yelp is rolling out new tools to allow business owners to share the safety measures they’re taking to keep both customers and staff safe.
Yelp will launch a new COVID-19 section for businesses listed on the platform today. Located in between the business’s name and reviews, the section will let business owners show what services they will offer, like indoor or outdoor dining, and what safety measures they are taking, like temperature checks.
A number of different attributes will be available under the COVID-19 section. Business owners will be allowed to check off whether they observe different safety measures such as contactless payment or mandatory face masks and gloves for staff. “Different cities have different protocols,” Yelp’s head of consumer product, Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh, told The Verge. “We have come up with the 10 most widely accepted protocols that consumers expect to see, and businesses have taken on to implement.”
Yelp for Business will allow owners to provide coronavirus updates on their listings. Image: Yelp
Yelp also said that it will publish a timestamp each time a business owner updates the COVID-19 section so a customer can see whether information, such as hours of operation or business updates, are current. Businesses can add and update all this information on their own, but they must claim their listing on Yelp and log into their Yelp for Business account to do so. Consumers can verify these health and safety guidelines for any listing on Yelp once they check into a given business, too.
Yelp is also adding new COVID-19-related tools to its Yelp Waitlist feature. Restaurants will be able to print out a QR code that customers can scan to join a restaurant’s waitlist, offering a contact-free way to get in line. In addition, business owners will have the option to manually adjust wait time estimates by adding restrictions such as reduced capacity or staff, and they will be notified by the app when the restaurant is about to reach or exceeds its capacity.


theverge--2020-06-16--Nintendo’s free jump rope game is a simple way to exercise with a Switch

Jump Rope Challenge is a charming new free game from Nintendo that uses a pair of Joy-Cons to jump a virtual rope .
You hold the Joy-Cons as though they ’ re jump-rope handles , and swing them around as you jump .
Jumping bunny rabbits show your progress on-screen .
The initial aim is to do one hundred jumps a day , although this goal can be increased .
It ’ s a simple bit of exercise , but the big benefit is that the game doesn ’ t require any additional accessories .
In contrast Nintendo ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Adventure , has experienced big stock shortages , as people turned to it as a way to workout at home .
Other fitness equipment has seen a similar surge in demand , resulting in shortages .
“ It ’ s all the fun of jumping , but there ’ s not a rope in sight !
” Nintendo says Jump Rope Challenge is the work of a small team of its developers working from home in Japan .
As you ’ d expect , this also means it ’ s got a fairly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a simple two-player mode where each person holds a single Joy-Con controller , and you can also customize your bunny ’ s clothes on the fly .
You can technically cheat the system a bit by bending your knees rather than jumping , but ultimately it ’ s a similar amount of effort , and Nintendo points out that it ’ s a great way for people who would otherwise struggle to jump to enjoy the game .
“ It ’ s all the fun of jumping , but there ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
Jump Rope Challenge will be available for a limited time until the end of September from the Nintendo Switch ’ s eShop .

Jump Rope Challenge is a charming new free game from Nintendo that uses a pair of Joy-Cons to jump a virtual rope. You hold the Joy-Cons as though they’re jump-rope handles, and swing them around as you jump. Jumping bunny rabbits show your progress on-screen. The initial aim is to do one hundred jumps a day, although this goal can be increased.
It’s a simple bit of exercise, but the big benefit is that the game doesn’t require any additional accessories. In contrast Nintendo’s other recent exercise game, Ring Fit Adventure, has experienced big stock shortages, as people turned to it as a way to workout at home. Other fitness equipment has seen a similar surge in demand, resulting in shortages.
“It’s all the fun of jumping, but there’s not a rope in sight!”
Nintendo says Jump Rope Challenge is the work of a small team of its developers working from home in Japan. As you’d expect, this also means it’s got a fairly limited feature set. There’s a simple two-player mode where each person holds a single Joy-Con controller, and you can also customize your bunny’s clothes on the fly. You can technically cheat the system a bit by bending your knees rather than jumping, but ultimately it’s a similar amount of effort, and Nintendo points out that it’s a great way for people who would otherwise struggle to jump to enjoy the game.


theverge--2020-06-16--EU opens Apple antitrust investigations into App Store and Apple Pay practices

The European Commission is opening two antitrust investigations into Apple ’ s App Store and Apple Pay practices today .
The first investigation will probe whether Apple has broken EU competition rules with its App Store policies , following complaints by Spotify and Rakuten over Apple ’ s 30 percent cut on subscriptions and sales of ebooks through its App Store .
“ We need to ensure that Apple ’ s rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers , for example with its music streaming service Apple Music or with Apple Books @ @ @ @ @ @ @ head of the EU ’ s antitrust division .
“ I have therefore decided to take a close look at Apple ’ s App Store rules and their compliance with EU competition rules.
” Spotify has claimed Apple uses its App Store to stifle innovation and limit consumer choice in favor of its own Apple Music service .
Rakuten filed a similar complaint to the EU earlier this year , alleging that it ’ s anti-competitive for Apple to take a 30 percent commission on ebooks sold through the App Store while promoting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the App Store investigation , the European Commission will also look at Apple Pay to assess whether Apple ’ s payment system violates EU competition rules .
Apple has limited access to the Near Field Communication ( NFC ) functionality of its iPhone and Apple Watch devices , a move that means banks and other financial service providers can ’ t offer NFC payments through their own apps .
Vestager points to an increase in mobile payments in Europe , due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic , as motivation for its Apple Pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sets the conditions on how Apple Pay should be used in merchants ’ apps and websites , ” says Vestager .
“ It also reserves the ‘ tap and go ’ functionality of iPhones to Apple Pay .
It is important that Apple ’ s measures do not deny consumers the benefits of new payment technologies , including better choice , quality , innovation and competitive prices.
” The investigation into Apple Pay comes months after German lawmakers voted in favor of legislation that could force Apple to allow other companies to access @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Apple was left surprised by the draft legislation , claiming that the move “ could be harmful to user friendliness , data protection , and the security of financial information.
” Both formal antitrust investigations will begin today , with the Commission promising to carry out in-depth investigations “ as a matter of priority.
” The investigations come just a day after Apple touted the findings of a new study that says the App Store was responsible for $ 519 billion in estimated total billings and sales of both physical products and services @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s disappointing the European Commission is advancing baseless complaints from a handful of companies who simply want a free ride , and don ’ t want to play by the same rules as everyone else , ” says an Apple spokesperson in a statement to The Verge .
“ We don ’ t think that ’ s right — we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone with determination and a great idea can succeed.
” Apple now says it welcomes the opportunity to prove to the European Commission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ At the end of the day , our goal is simple : for our customers to have access to the best app or service of their choice , in a safe and secure environment .
We welcome the opportunity to show the European Commission all we ’ ve done to make that goal a reality.
” Spotify described the investigation as a “ good day ” for consumers , Spotify , and developers in a statement to The Verge .
“ We welcome the European Commission ’ s decision to formally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ll act with urgency to ensure fair competition on the iOS platform for all participants in the digital economy.
” Update , June 16th 7:50AM ET : Updated with statements from Apple and Spotify .

The European Commission is opening two antitrust investigations into Apple’s App Store and Apple Pay practices today.
The first investigation will probe whether Apple has broken EU competition rules with its App Store policies, following complaints by Spotify and Rakuten over Apple’s 30 percent cut on subscriptions and sales of ebooks through its App Store.
“We need to ensure that Apple’s rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers, for example with its music streaming service Apple Music or with Apple Books,” says Margrethe Vestager, the head of the EU’s antitrust division. “I have therefore decided to take a close look at Apple’s App Store rules and their compliance with EU competition rules.”
Spotify led the complaints into Apple’s App Store policies
Spotify has claimed Apple uses its App Store to stifle innovation and limit consumer choice in favor of its own Apple Music service. Rakuten filed a similar complaint to the EU earlier this year, alleging that it’s anti-competitive for Apple to take a 30 percent commission on ebooks sold through the App Store while promoting its own Apple Books service.
Apple Pay.
Alongside the App Store investigation, the European Commission will also look at Apple Pay to assess whether Apple’s payment system violates EU competition rules. Apple has limited access to the Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality of its iPhone and Apple Watch devices, a move that means banks and other financial service providers can’t offer NFC payments through their own apps.
Vestager points to an increase in mobile payments in Europe, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as motivation for its Apple Pay investigation. “It appears that Apple sets the conditions on how Apple Pay should be used in merchants’ apps and websites,” says Vestager. “It also reserves the ‘tap and go’ functionality of iPhones to Apple Pay. It is important that Apple’s measures do not deny consumers the benefits of new payment technologies, including better choice, quality, innovation and competitive prices.”
The investigation into Apple Pay comes months after German lawmakers voted in favor of legislation that could force Apple to allow other companies to access its phone’s NFC chips. Apple was left surprised by the draft legislation, claiming that the move “could be harmful to user friendliness, data protection, and the security of financial information.”
Both formal antitrust investigations will begin today, with the Commission promising to carry out in-depth investigations “as a matter of priority.” The investigations come just a day after Apple touted the findings of a new study that says the App Store was responsible for $519 billion in estimated total billings and sales of both physical products and services and digital goods in 2019.
“It’s disappointing the European Commission is advancing baseless complaints from a handful of companies who simply want a free ride, and don’t want to play by the same rules as everyone else,” says an Apple spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. “We don’t think that’s right — we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone with determination and a great idea can succeed.”
Apple now says it welcomes the opportunity to prove to the European Commission it has a simple goal in mind. “At the end of the day, our goal is simple: for our customers to have access to the best app or service of their choice, in a safe and secure environment. We welcome the opportunity to show the European Commission all we’ve done to make that goal a reality.”
Spotify described the investigation as a “good day” for consumers, Spotify, and developers in a statement to The Verge. “We welcome the European Commission’s decision to formally investigate Apple, and hope they’ll act with urgency to ensure fair competition on the iOS platform for all participants in the digital economy.”


theverge--2020-06-16--How humans are beating machines in the effort to fight the spread of COVID-19

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Last week I wrote about a set of predictions that I got spectacularly wrong .
Today , to soothe my fragile ego , let ’ s talk about a case where I was a closer to the mark .
In April , after talking with public health experts , I wrote about why Bluetooth-based approaches to finding new cases of COVID-19 seemed likely to fall short .
A combination of human behaviors and technical challenges seemed likely to limit the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relied on our phones passively pinging each other wherever we went .
At the same time , I wrote , a more old-fashioned approach — using human beings to make phone calls and identify people who may have been exposed to the disease — seemed much more promising .
Somewhat hilariously , at least to me , the very next day Apple and Google announced that they were building a Bluetooth-based COVID tracking system .
( Originally they branded it as “ contact tracing , ” but after talking to more people they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notification.
” ) My qualms about its effectiveness aside , it was clearly a good-faith effort to make a real difference in reducing the spread of COVID-19 , and over the next several weeks Apple and Google worked diligently to refine their approach based on the feedback they were getting .
The first phase of the project , which allows whitelisted public health apps to make enhanced use of the Bluetooth features of your phone , launched on May 20th with three US states on board .
The hope was that more states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effective patchwork of notifications across the country .
But as David Ingram reported at NBC News over the weekend , that ’ s not what ’ s happening .
Among the challenges : it ’ s hard to get people to download these apps ; there has been no endorsement of the approach — or coherent response strategy — from the federal government ; and it ’ s unclear that Bluetooth-based approaches have been all that effective even in countries where COVID-19 is better under control .
( Norway abandoned its contact-tracing app @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent adoption . )
It seems possible that the second phase of the Apple-Google plan , in which exposure notification becomes a system-level feature of iOS and Android , could give exposure notification new life .
In the meantime , though , it ’ s hard not to feel like the tech giants ’ work to date has been mostly for naught .
They lived up to their end of the bargain , building a workable system with meaningful privacy protections in a very short period of time .
But then the federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic response largely to individual states and their governors , and much of the promise of exposure notification evaporated as a result .
( One thing the federal government did do was promote public-private partnerships to increase testing capacity , and that effort also stumbled as this piece about a Utah initiative by Robert P. Baird lays out . )
So what is working ?
I ’ m pleased to say that human beings making phone calls have largely lived up to their promise .
In the New Yorker , Ben Wallace-Wells @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which rapidly spun up an effective contact-tracing scheme known as the Community Tracing Collaborative .
There aren ’ t a lot of feel-good stories in pandemic news these days , but this is one of them .
When Massachusetts set up its collaborative , more than 22,000 people applied , and in the past few months they ’ ve effectively identified a huge chunk of potential new exposures .
Wallace-Wells writes : Throughout the spring , the Massachusetts contact-tracing program got faster .
It took between three and four days for the C.T.C @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but after investigators had that information they were able to reach seventy per cent of cases , and contact tracers were then able to speak to seventy-four per cent of those cases ’ contacts .
This still meant that nearly half of potential contacts never spoke with anyone working for the tracing program .
Crystal Watson , a health-policy expert at Johns Hopkins , who co-authored a report in April on contact tracing , told me that these numbers were better than she had expected .
“ Even if you ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s a lot better than we would have been doing without the program , ” she said .
Wallace-Wells reports that the federal government has allocated funding for contact tracing nationwide , but only at about one-sixth of the $ 3.6 billion experts say will be necessary to get the job done .
Among the missing pieces : funding for what the public health world calls “ care resource coordinators , ” who help solve practical problems for people who are sick and need to isolate — getting them food , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health experts say problem solvers like these are necessary to ensure that sick people remain isolated , but cash-strapped public health agencies are reluctant to pay for them .
The lesson in all this is not that Apple and Google should not have built an exposure notification system , or that the system they built is a failure .
Rather , it ’ s that Silicon Valley was only ever going to be able to provide one or two pieces of a comprehensive response to COVID-19 — and elected officials and public health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest .
In April , it was easy to see that Apple and Google ’ s approach alone couldn ’ t stop the spread of the disease .
What I couldn ’ t foresee back then was just how alone they would be .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms .
⬆ Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri vowed to take a hard look at how the platform impacts Black users , specifically around harassment and verification .
He also wants to examine how the app ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
⬆ Google will now prevent advertisers in the categories of employment , housing and credit from targeting customers using demographic data .
The move is designed to prevent racist hiring and lending practices .
( Ginny Marvin / SearchEngineLand ) ⬇ Twitter reactivated the ZeroHedge account after saying it had initially made an error in removing it .
Not exactly confident-inspiring work over there on this one .
( Siraj Datoo / Bloomberg ) ⭐ Russia ’ s new disinformation strategy is to identify divisive content from real Americans and help it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accounts .
It ’ s easier and more effective than creating campaigns of their own .
Nicole Perlroth at The New York Times has the story : Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan told employees at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that they were disgusted by the president ’ s recent comments about protesters .
Employees of the largely Facebook-funded initiative are pushing Zuckerberg to take action .
( Michelle Toh and Donie O ’ Sullivan / CNN ) Dozens of Tunisian , Syrian and Palestinian activists and journalists say their Facebook accounts have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Many use the platform to document human rights abuses in the Middle East .
( Olivia Solon / NBC ) Sen. Josh Hawley is preparing legislation that could make Section 230 protections contingent on tech platforms not allowing advertisers to target users based on behavioral data .
SIGH .
( Cristiano Lima / Politico ) Amazon lawyers told lawmakers Jeff Bezos is now willing to testify before a House antitrust investigation into the market power of major tech companies .
Amazon had previously resisted making him available , prompting lawmakers to threaten to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House has also reached out to other Big Tech CEOs about testifying .
( David McCabe / The New York Times ) New York ’ s attorney general is interviewing Amazon warehouse workers about working conditions .
New York Attorney General Letitia James launched a probe into the company ’ s labor practices in April .
( Annie Palmer / CNBC ) Tech companies are calling for a nationwide law to govern facial recognition technology .
But a heated election year and a global pandemic are creating the perfect conditions for inaction or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CNN ) The UK ’ s competition watchdog opened an investigation of Facebook ’ s $ 400 million acquisition of Giphy .
Facebook ’ s defense is that Giphy would have died if it hadn ’ t been acquired , which I find ... mostly pretty persuasive .
( Ingrid Lundgren / TechCrunch ) ⭐ Amazon , Apple , Facebook , Google and Microsoft are aggressively placing new bets as the global economy is reeling from a pandemic-induced recession .
They ’ re deliberately laying the groundwork for a future where they will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Here ’ s New York Times reporter Mike Isaac : Employees of Apple , Google , and Microsoft raised millions of dollars for the Black Lives Matter Foundation thinking it ’ s the international racial justice movement seeking to end police brutality .
In reality , the organization isn ’ t affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement .
Its mission is “ to bring the community and police closer together.
” ( Ryan Mac and Brianna Sacks / BuzzFeed ) Facebook ’ s first deepfake detection challenge found 65 percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of room for improvement .
( James Vincent / The Verge ) Facebook ’ s chief diversity officer will now report directly to Sheryl Sandberg .
Neglected to mention this during last week ’ s discussion of internal dissent at the company .
( Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch ) ByteDance announced plans to shut down two of its video sharing apps in India — its biggest overseas market .
It urged users to move to TikTok .
( Manish Singh / TechCrunch ) Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote about Hey , a wild opinionated new email service from the makers of Basecamp .
I mean this when I say it : It might be the most interesting new email product since Gmail .
Take a Zoom call with a celebrity on Cameo .
The celebrity shout-out company has found a way to cure Zoom fatigue .
Anybody want to spend $ 15,000 to talk with Jeremy Piven for 10 minutes ?
Send us tips , comments , questions , and contact-tracing solutions : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com @

Last week I wrote about a set of predictions that I got spectacularly wrong. Today, to soothe my fragile ego, let’s talk about a case where I was a closer to the mark.
In April, after talking with public health experts, I wrote about why Bluetooth-based approaches to finding new cases of COVID-19 seemed likely to fall short. A combination of human behaviors and technical challenges seemed likely to limit the effectiveness of a pandemic response scheme that relied on our phones passively pinging each other wherever we went. At the same time, I wrote, a more old-fashioned approach — using human beings to make phone calls and identify people who may have been exposed to the disease — seemed much more promising.
Somewhat hilariously, at least to me, the very next day Apple and Google announced that they were building a Bluetooth-based COVID tracking system. (Originally they branded it as “contact tracing,” but after talking to more people they switched to the more accurate “exposure notification.”) My qualms about its effectiveness aside, it was clearly a good-faith effort to make a real difference in reducing the spread of COVID-19, and over the next several weeks Apple and Google worked diligently to refine their approach based on the feedback they were getting.
The first phase of the project, which allows whitelisted public health apps to make enhanced use of the Bluetooth features of your phone, launched on May 20th with three US states on board. The hope was that more states would sign on, creating a more effective patchwork of notifications across the country. But as David Ingram reported at NBC News over the weekend, that’s not what’s happening.
States that had committed to using contact tracing apps or expressed interest are now backing away from those claims. The few states that have rolled them out have seen only tepid responses. And there are no indications of any momentum for the apps at a national level. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was an early supporter of contact tracing apps, saying on the same day that Google and Apple announced a joint project that he wanted to ”build that capacity and partnership” as part of the state’s plans. Two months later, the nation’s most populous state isn’t using any apps or cellphone tracking technology, said Ali Bay, a spokesperson for California’s Public Health Department.
Among the challenges: it’s hard to get people to download these apps; there has been no endorsement of the approach — or coherent response strategy — from the federal government; and it’s unclear that Bluetooth-based approaches have been all that effective even in countries where COVID-19 is better under control. (Norway abandoned its contact-tracing app on Monday after it reached just 10 percent adoption.) It seems possible that the second phase of the Apple-Google plan, in which exposure notification becomes a system-level feature of iOS and Android, could give exposure notification new life.
In the meantime, though, it’s hard not to feel like the tech giants’ work to date has been mostly for naught. They lived up to their end of the bargain, building a workable system with meaningful privacy protections in a very short period of time. But then the federal government all but went missing, leaving the pandemic response largely to individual states and their governors, and much of the promise of exposure notification evaporated as a result. (One thing the federal government did do was promote public-private partnerships to increase testing capacity, and that effort also stumbled as this piece about a Utah initiative by Robert P. Baird lays out.)
So what is working? I’m pleased to say that human beings making phone calls have largely lived up to their promise. In the New Yorker, Ben Wallace-Wells looks at the experience of Massachusetts, which rapidly spun up an effective contact-tracing scheme known as the Community Tracing Collaborative. There aren’t a lot of feel-good stories in pandemic news these days, but this is one of them. When Massachusetts set up its collaborative, more than 22,000 people applied, and in the past few months they’ve effectively identified a huge chunk of potential new exposures. Wallace-Wells writes:
Throughout the spring, the Massachusetts contact-tracing program got faster. It took between three and four days for the C.T.C. to learn of a positive test, but after investigators had that information they were able to reach seventy per cent of cases, and contact tracers were then able to speak to seventy-four per cent of those cases’ contacts. This still meant that nearly half of potential contacts never spoke with anyone working for the tracing program. Crystal Watson, a health-policy expert at Johns Hopkins, who co-authored a report in April on contact tracing, told me that these numbers were better than she had expected. “Even if you’re only getting half of all contacts, that’s a lot better than we would have been doing without the program,” she said.
Wallace-Wells reports that the federal government has allocated funding for contact tracing nationwide, but only at about one-sixth of the $3.6 billion experts say will be necessary to get the job done. Among the missing pieces: funding for what the public health world calls “care resource coordinators,” who help solve practical problems for people who are sick and need to isolate — getting them food, for example, or medicine. Public health experts say problem solvers like these are necessary to ensure that sick people remain isolated, but cash-strapped public health agencies are reluctant to pay for them.
The lesson in all this is not that Apple and Google should not have built an exposure notification system, or that the system they built is a failure. Rather, it’s that Silicon Valley was only ever going to be able to provide one or two pieces of a comprehensive response to COVID-19 — and elected officials and public health agencies have mostly failed to provide the rest. In April, it was easy to see that Apple and Google’s approach alone couldn’t stop the spread of the disease. What I couldn’t foresee back then was just how alone they would be.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
⬆ Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri vowed to take a hard look at how the platform impacts Black users, specifically around harassment and verification. He also wants to examine how the app’s algorithms may be biased against black users.
⬆ YouTube created a $100 million fund to amplify black creators. That’s real money. (Taylor Lyles / The Verge)
⬆ Google will now prevent advertisers in the categories of employment, housing and credit from targeting customers using demographic data. The move is designed to prevent racist hiring and lending practices. (Ginny Marvin / SearchEngineLand)
⬇ Twitter reactivated the ZeroHedge account after saying it had initially made an error in removing it. Not exactly confident-inspiring work over there on this one. (Siraj Datoo / Bloomberg)
Governing
⭐ Russia’s new disinformation strategy is to identify divisive content from real Americans and help it spread through low-profile networks of social media accounts. It’s easier and more effective than creating campaigns of their own. Nicole Perlroth at The New York Times has the story:
In February, intelligence officials warned House lawmakers that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, and that Russia intended to interfere with the 2020 Democratic primaries as well as the general election. “Russia’s trolls learned it is far more effective to find the sore spots and amplify content by native English speakers than it is to spin out their own wackadoodle conspiracy theories,” said Cindy Otis, a former C.I.A. analyst who specializes in disinformation.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan told employees at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that they were disgusted by the president’s recent comments about protesters. Employees of the largely Facebook-funded initiative are pushing Zuckerberg to take action. (Michelle Toh and Donie O’Sullivan / CNN)
Dozens of Tunisian, Syrian and Palestinian activists and journalists say their Facebook accounts have been deactivated over the last few months. Many use the platform to document human rights abuses in the Middle East. (Olivia Solon / NBC)
New York’s attorney general is interviewing Amazon warehouse workers about working conditions. New York Attorney General Letitia James launched a probe into the company’s labor practices in April. (Annie Palmer / CNBC)
Tech companies are calling for a nationwide law to govern facial recognition technology. But a heated election year and a global pandemic are creating the perfect conditions for inaction or hasty corner-cutting. (Brian Fung / CNN)
The UK’s competition watchdog opened an investigation of Facebook’s $400 million acquisition of Giphy. Facebook’s defense is that Giphy would have died if it hadn’t been acquired, which I find ... mostly pretty persuasive. (Ingrid Lundgren / TechCrunch)
Industry
⭐ Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are aggressively placing new bets as the global economy is reeling from a pandemic-induced recession. They’re deliberately laying the groundwork for a future where they will be bigger and more powerful than ever. Here’s New York Times reporter Mike Isaac:
In doubling down on growth in a time of economic pain, the largest tech companies are continuing a pattern. In previous recessions, those that invested while the economy was at its most vulnerable often emerged stronger. In the 1990s, IBM used a recession to reorient itself from a hardware company into a software and services company. Google and Facebook both rose out of the dot-com bust about 20 years ago. Apple, whose iPhones now dominate computing, doubled its research and development budget for two years during the downturn in the early 2000s. That led the company, which nearly went bankrupt in the late 1990s, to create its iPod music player and iTunes music store — and eventually the iPhone, the App Store and an unbridled growth streak, said Jenny Chatman, a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Employees of Apple, Google, and Microsoft raised millions of dollars for the Black Lives Matter Foundation thinking it’s the international racial justice movement seeking to end police brutality. In reality, the organization isn’t affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Its mission is “to bring the community and police closer together.” (Ryan Mac and Brianna Sacks / BuzzFeed)
Facebook’s first deepfake detection challenge found 65 percent of fakes. Not terrible, but lots of room for improvement. (James Vincent / The Verge)
Facebook’s chief diversity officer will now report directly to Sheryl Sandberg. Neglected to mention this during last week’s discussion of internal dissent at the company. (Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch)
ByteDance announced plans to shut down two of its video sharing apps in India — its biggest overseas market. It urged users to move to TikTok. (Manish Singh / TechCrunch)
Things to do
Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine.
Get a new email address. I wrote about Hey, a wild opinionated new email service from the makers of Basecamp. I mean this when I say it: It might be the most interesting new email product since Gmail.
Take a Zoom call with a celebrity on Cameo. The celebrity shout-out company has found a way to cure Zoom fatigue. Anybody want to spend $15,000 to talk with Jeremy Piven for 10 minutes?
And finally...
Talk to us


theverge--2020-06-16--Microsoft can now import your banking activity into Excel

Microsoft is launching a new Money in Excel feature that ’ s designed to help the millions of people who use Excel to track budgets and personal finances .
Money in Excel is a template and add-in for Excel that allows Microsoft 365 subscribers to securely connect to bank , credit card , investment , or loan accounts and import transactions and account information directly into a spreadsheet .
You ’ ll need to be a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber in the US to get access to Money in Excel , and you can simply download the template @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Plaid connector .
Most major US financial institutions are supported , and the template will automatically import transactions from accounts into a single workbook .
Transactions are categorized to make it easy to analyze how you ’ re spending your money , and there are even alerts for increases to subscription fees or bank and overdraft charges .
Money in Excel also automatically generates charts for recurring expenses , or a monthly snapshot of spending that ’ s easy to glimpse .
This isn ’ t Microsoft ’ s first foray into personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Microsoft ’ s discontinued personal finance management software , Microsoft Money .
Microsoft scrapped Microsoft Money more than 10 years ago , but an MSN Money app returned to the Windows Store back in 2012 as a news aggregator and for tracking stocks .
If you ’ re interested in trying out Money in Excel you ’ ll need to be subscribed to Microsoft 365 , priced at $ 6.99 per month for Personal ( one person ) or $ 9.99 a month for a Family ( up to six people ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ US right now , so only US bank and financial accounts will work with the feature .

Microsoft is launching a new Money in Excel feature that’s designed to help the millions of people who use Excel to track budgets and personal finances. Money in Excel is a template and add-in for Excel that allows Microsoft 365 subscribers to securely connect to bank, credit card, investment, or loan accounts and import transactions and account information directly into a spreadsheet.
You’ll need to be a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber in the US to get access to Money in Excel, and you can simply download the template to begin connecting bank accounts through the Plaid connector. Most major US financial institutions are supported, and the template will automatically import transactions from accounts into a single workbook.
Money in Excel. Microsoft
Transactions are categorized to make it easy to analyze how you’re spending your money, and there are even alerts for increases to subscription fees or bank and overdraft charges. Money in Excel also automatically generates charts for recurring expenses, or a monthly snapshot of spending that’s easy to glimpse.
Related Microsoft aims to win back consumers with new Microsoft 365 subscriptions
This isn’t Microsoft’s first foray into personal finance products. Money in Excel follows Microsoft’s discontinued personal finance management software, Microsoft Money. Microsoft scrapped Microsoft Money more than 10 years ago, but an MSN Money app returned to the Windows Store back in 2012 as a news aggregator and for tracking stocks.