Google

Two Google engineers quit over firing of ethical AI leader Timnit Gebru

Two Google engineers have quit over the treatment of Timnit Gebru, former co-lead of the ethical AI team. David Baker, an engineering director, said Gebru’s dismissal “extinguished” his desire to remain at the company. Vinesh Kannan, a software engineer, said he was leaving because Gebru and April Christina Curley, a diversity recruiter, were “wronged.” The… Read more

Pixel phones will be able to read your heart rate with their cameras

Google is adding heart and respiratory rate monitors to the Fit app on Pixel phones this month, and it plans to add them to other Android phones in the future. Both features rely on the smartphone camera: it measures respiratory rate by monitoring the rise and fall of a user’s chest, and heart rate by… Read more

Clearview’s facial recognition tech is illegal mass surveillance, Canada privacy commissioners say

Clearview AI’s facial recognition amounts to mass surveillance and the company should delete the faces of Canadians from its database, Canada’s privacy commissioners said Wednesday. Commissioner Daniel Therrien said what Clearview does — scraping photos from social media and other public sites for use by law enforcement — is “illegal” and creates a system that… Read more

Bang & Olufsen wants its new Beosound Level to outlast your average connected speaker

Bang & Olufsen’s Beosound Level is the Danish brand’s latest battery-powered connected speaker. It supports voice controls via Google Assistant, Bluetooth, and you can also stream to it via the AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Spotify Connect standards. B&O says the Beosound Level uses a modular construction that it claims will make it usable far into… Read more

Parler’s CEO has been fired

After his social media platform was largely wiped off the web, Parler CEO and co-founder John Matze says he has been fired by his company’s own board of directors, according to a memo obtained by Fox News and a text message confirmation he sent to Reuters. Parler, of course, is the social network that found… Read more

Best USB-C headphones for Android phones 2021

(Pocket-lint) – The headphone jack might just be dead – when Apple first got rid of it, the outcry was widespread, but we’ve now come to accept its absence as the default. Many Android phone makers are opting for Bluetooth and USB-C audio instead. Removing the jack enables phones to be made thinner, use fewer… Read more

TikTok now has an official Android TV app, sort of

TikTok has come to Google’s Android TV platform, marking the short video app’s latest expansion to big screens, according to 9to5Google. Though the app is currently on the Google Play Store, it seems to not be working in every region yet. The Android TV take on TikTok looks remarkably similar to the TikTok app that… Read more

Meet Andy Jassy, Amazon’s next CEO

Andy Jassy speaking at the 2019 CERAWeek ConferencePhoto: Getty Images The exec helped Amazon soar in the cloud, and now he’ll determine the company’s future Amazon is getting a new CEO for the first time in its 27-year-history: cloud computing chief Andy Jassy, who will be replacing co-founder Jeff Bezos later this year. Jassy, currently… Read more

Android TV’s latest update makes it look more like the Chromecast’s Google TV

Google is rolling out a new update for Android TV that gives its smart TV OS a fresh new look — one that’s almost identical to the UI on the company’s Google TV software on its latest Chromecast. The new interface refreshes the look of Android TV to bring it more in line with Google… Read more

33 Spotify tips, tricks and features

Home Advice (Image credit: Spotify) As of February 2021, Spotify boasts 155 million Premium subscribers and 345 million monthly active users. The platform has long been the world’s most popular music streaming service, and with good cause – it got in on the ground floor and its simple interface and vast library make it a… Read more

Robinhood celebrates amateur investors in awkwardly timed Super Bowl ad

Robinhood is running its first Super Bowl ad, just as the company faces a growing brand crisis. CNBC reports that the commercial marks Robinhood’s biggest brand campaign, and it focuses on the idea that anyone can be an investor. That’s been at the center of Robinhood’s message since it was founded seven years ago, but… Read more

Oppo Watch review: More than just an Apple Watch clone?

(Pocket-lint) – For years Google Wear OS watches have been round in shape. That traditional watch look has been a big draw for smartwatch buyers, particularly with fashion watch brands (mostly from Fossil Group) building watches that look and feel just like watches should. Despite that, round screens don’t necessarily make the best platform for… Read more

Epson EpiqVision EH-LS300B

Our Verdict Epson’s EH-LS300 UST projector is practical for everyday use, with some limitations, as well as for truly immersive bigscreen movie nights. For Powerful bright image Free-to-air TV catch-up services Convenient way to get a really large picture Against No Netflix or Prime support No Ethernet 1080i/50 and 576i/50 issues Sound+Image mag review (Image… Read more

Huawei’s next folding phone is coming on February 22nd

Huawei will announce a new flagship foldable phone later this month, according to a Weibo post on the company’s official page. Based on the name, the Mate X2 sounds like it should be a more substantial followup to the original Mate X than Huawei’s last foldable phone, the faster and slightly tweaked Mate XS. Unless… Read more

Google Meet’s new ‘green room’ lets you do an audio / video pre-check

It can be difficult to figure out how you’re coming across in a videoconference, especially if you want to make sure everything works before you start the meeting. How is your lighting? Are you sitting too close or too far from the camera? Is your audio okay, are you accidentally muted, or do you sound… Read more