Drivers will soon have an extra set of eyes on the road, courtesy of Google.

Google’s navigation app, Google Maps, is starting to roll out speed limit and speed trap features. 

With the speed limit feature, drivers using Google Maps will be shown the posted speed limit of the road they’re driving on in the lower left side of the app. Speed traps are designated with a small camera icon and shown on the visible area of the map. The Maps app provides an audio warning for drivers when they are approaching a speed trap.

Users have had the ability to report speed traps in Google Maps since late last year. However, until now, the app wasn’t yet making the reported speed traps visible for users in maps. 

Google Maps users have long wondered when such features were going to make their debut on the service. Crowdsource-powered navigation app, Waze, grew in popularity for providing this sort of detailed information on the road. Google acquired Waze back in 2013 for around $1 billion. 

Now, nearly five and a half years later, some of the Waze features are finally making their way to Google Maps.

A lot of people have become bored with SMS messaging, and the tech industry is very aware of it. While services such as Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and the WhatsApp app allow you to add photos, GIFs and videos to your messages, they are not universal solutions – for example, you can’t send a WhatsApp message if your correspondent uses Facebook Messenger. The answer – or so Google and other companies are hoping – is Rich Communications Services or RCS.

What is it? RCS is a new online protocol that was chosen for adoption by the GSM Association(CSMA) in 2008 and is meant to replace the current texting standard SMS (Short Message Service), which has been around since the 1990s. The GMSA represents a wide variety of organizations in the mobile industry, including device, software, and Internet companies. Naturally, given all those players, it took a while to come to an agreement, and so it wasn’t until 2016 that the GSMA was able to come up with something resembling a standard.

How is RCS better than SMS? RCS will add a lot more multimedia capabilities to your messaging. Besides the usual texts (plain and fancy), it will make it simple to send GIFs, high-resolution still photos, and videos. It will let you know if the person you’re texting is available and can send you a receipt to prove they received your message. It will allow you to create longer messages and attach larger files. It also enables much better group messaging than SMS can handle. In other words, it can make standard text messaging look and work a lot like iMessage.

As of this writing, support for RCS has been promised by 55 carriers including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and a slew of secondary companies; 11 hardware manufacturers such as Samsung, Lenovo, and LG (but not Apple), and both Microsoft and Google.

Is anyone using RCS yet? Google has been a significant backer of RCS and even offers back-end services to carriers to help them quickly spin up support for it. But at the end of the day, it’s the carriers that are responsible for launching and supporting it. The big recent news is that Verizon is beginning its rollout of the service, but only in a minimal way to start. Currently, Verizon only offers it on Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones – and even then, it hasn’t hit all those customers yet. But because Verizon is supporting the standard, it will work with any other phone that supports it.

Why are people saying it’s not secure? One issue that a lot of security specialists are pointing out is that RCS – and, therefore, apps such as Chat – lack the end-to-end encryption available in some current messaging tools such as WhatsApp. End-to-end encryption means that the message is impenetrable to everyone – including the app vendor and the network provider – except the message sender and receiver. If you want to text someone with no chance that the authorities will ever see it, Chat / RCS is not the way. 
On the other hand, RCS does have all the standard security protocols, including Transport Layer Security (the underlying tech behind HTTPS), and IPsec (Internet Protocol Security), which is used in VPNs. So, for the most part, it’s pretty secure. Whether you’re comfortable using Chat / RCS depends on your security needs.

What’s next? Right now, support for RCS is limited to only a few carriers and even fewer devices, which means that most people can’t yet take advantage of it. Stay tuned to see what – and who – follows.

Honda Research Institute has announced a breakthrough battery chemistry developed in collaboration with Caltech and NASA JPL researchers. The technology, which was detailed in a newly published study, has a better eco-footprint while enabling the use of higher energy density materials in comparison to existing battery tech.

Honda says the new technology sidesteps fluoride-based battery technology temperature limitations. The team successfully demonstrated the operation of fluoride-ion based energy cells at room temperature, opening the door for high energy-density batteries that better meet the high capacity needs of modern technology.

Even better, the researchers say that unlike popular lithium-ion batteries, which are known to be volatile, fluoride-ion batteries are safer without the risk of overheating. As well, this battery technology is better for the environment due to the lower environmental impact of its source materials.
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Batteries created with this new chemistry may have up to 10 times the high energy density of lithium-ion batteries, according to the study. Despite the upsides, this type of battery hasn’t replaced lithium-ion due to its temperature limitations – until now, it has required temperatures above 302º F degrees to work correctly.
Researchers with Honda, NASA, and Caltech, overcame this limitation and developed a fluoride-ion cell that can operate at room temperature. The team achieved this using a fluoride-conducting liquid electrolyte that has high ionic conductivity, as well as a wide operating voltage. Such technology may one day be behind batteries that power everything from consumer gadgets to electric vehicles.

Sirius XM’s recent all-stock $3.5-billion purchase of the music-streaming service Pandoraraised a lot of eyebrows. A big question was why Sirius paid so much. Is Pandora’s music library and customer base worth that amount? The answer is that this was a strategic move by Sirius in a battle that is far bigger than radio. The real fight, which will become much more visible in the coming years, is over the driving experience.

People spend a lot of time commuting in their cars. That time is fixed and won’t likely change. However, what is changing is the way we drive. We’re already seeing many new vehicles with driver-assist features, and automakers (and tech companies) are working hard to bring fully autonomous cars to the market as quickly as possible. New vehicles today already contain an average of 100 million lines of code that can be updated to increase driver-assist options, and some automakers like Tesla already offer an “autonomous” mode on highways.

Even conservative estimates predict that we are likely to see significant changes in autonomous driving in the next ten years.

These changes will impact the driving experience. As cars become more autonomous, we can do more than just listen to music or podcasts. We may be able to watch videos, surf the web and more. The value of car real estate is already valuable, but it’s going to skyrocket as we change the way people consume media while driving. 

The Pandora acquisition was a strategic move by Sirius to gain the necessary assets so that it won’t fall behind in this space – and to get into the fast-growing music-streaming business, where users consume music at home, work and play. While Pandora’s music library is arguably second-tier, it’s also good enough that it can provide pretty much every artist most people want. This is often how high-priced mergers happen – one party is concerned about falling behind and pays a premium to purchase the other company’s assets. It’s also a bet by Sirius about the driving experience of the future.

For now, Sirius probably doesn’t need to worry about competition from startups. They won’t be able to grow big enough, fast enough to get a sizable share of the market. A more likely scenario is that startups will work on software that offers unique functionality, making it an attractive acquisition target by a larger company.
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This is going to be an interesting battle to watch in the coming years, as cars essentially become software with four wheels attached. Companies like Sirius know this is a valuable space and that the battle over the driving experience will be won in software. The acquisition of Pandora is only the beginning.

Some people are entirely unaware of just how filthy their smartphones are. Other people know full well that smartphones are a hotbed for bacteria, but they still don’t bother to do anything about it. The PhoneSoap 3 UV Cell Phone Sanitizeris a device that was initially funded on Shark Tank that should be an essential accessory for every smartphone owner. It’s a box that blasts your phone with UV light, killing 99.99% of bacteria on both sides and the edges of your phone. Please, do yourself a favor and get one, they are $60 on Amazon.

Here’s more info from the product page:

•  AS SEEN ON SHARK TANK AND DISCOVERY CHANNEL.PhoneSoap’s revolutionary bacteria-zapping technology was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank and tested and proven on the Discovery Channel.

•. KILLS 99.99% OF BACTERIA WITH UV LIGHT.Our patented design is the only device that can thoroughly sanitize your entire phone. Sitting on a UV transparent plate and surrounded by scientifically proven germicidal UVC light and a reflective interior, PhoneSoap kills99.99% of all bacteria on your phone.

•  STAY HEALTHY.Our phones gather all the bacteria we touch throughout the day where they breed and grow. Our phones are Petri dishes in our pockets! Stay healthy by keeping your devices clean with PhoneSoap.

•  FITS AND CHARGES ANY PHONE. PhoneSoap 3 fits all phones, including the larger phones such as the iPhone 8 Plus. It also has two charging ports on the back of the device, a USB and USB-C. You already charge your phone every night. Now you can charge and sanitize at the same time. With PhoneSoap 3 you can charge a second device, such as a smartwatch, at the same time.

•  CLEAN WHATEVER FITS.While we have built PhoneSoap 3 around sanitizing phones, you can sanitize whatever fits inside. From pacifiers, smart watches and headphones to credit cards and keys.

Google frequently touts that the “next billion users” will come from developing nations with different focuses and needs. To that end, the company has developed several optimized services, with one being a consistent and straightforward addressing system that works globally.

Google created “Plus Codes”for addresses that are not easily located through conventional descriptors. First introduced in February 2018, Plus Codes allow users to locate almost any spot on the planet. What many people in traditional civilizations fail to realize is that, according to a World Bank estimate, half of the world’s urban population lives on unnamed streets.

Notably, this open source solution composed of 10 characters works globally and can be incorporated by other products and platforms for free, with a developer page available here.

It works offline and in print when overlaid as a grid on existing maps. Places that are close together share similar plus codes, while the system is identifiable by the “+” symbol in every address.

This system is based on dividing the geographical surface of the Earth into tiny ‘tiled areas,’ attributing a unique code to each of them. This code comprises a ‘6-character + City’ format that can be generated, shared and searched by anyone – all that’s needed is Google Maps on a smartphone.

                   •   The first four characters are the area code, describing a region
                        of about 100 x 100 kilometers.

                   •  The last six characters are the local code, describing the neighborhood
                       and the building, an area of approximately 14 x 14 meters – about the
                       size of one half of a basketball court.

The area code is not needed when navigating within a town, while another optional character can be appended to provide additional accuracy down to a 3 x 3-meter region. Plus codes for any location can be found with this tool.

Thirty years ago, it was a big deal when schools got their first computers. Today, it's a big deal when students get their own laptops.

According to Thomas Frey, the senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute think tank, “In 14 years it'll be a big deal when students learn from robot teachers over the Internet.”

It's not just because the technology will be that sophisticated, Frey says, but because the company responsible for it will be the largest of its kind.

"I've been predicting that by 2030 the largest company on the Internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven't heard of yet," Frey said.

Frey's prediction comes amid a boom in artificial intelligence research. Google is developing DeepMind; a complex piece of machine-learning software and IBM is developing Watson-powered robots.

"Nobody has quite cracked the code for the future of education," Frey contends.

His vision for 2030 includes a massively enhanced version of today's open online courses – the kind of instruction you may find with Khan Academy, Coursera, or MIT OpenCourseWare. Only, the instructors won't be humans beamed through videos. They'll be bots, and they'll be smart enough to personalize each lesson plan to the student sitting in front of the screen.

Frey suspects that a new kind of efficiency will allow students to learn at much faster rates than if they had to compete with 19 other students for the teacher's attention. Students will breeze through their material at four or 10 times the speed, completing an undergraduate education in less than half a year.

"It learns what your proclivities are, it learns what your idiosyncrasies are," Frey explains. "It learns what your interests are, your reference points. And it figures out how to teach you in a faster way over time."

He uses the example of Google's DeepMindlearning to play the Atari video game "Breakout." Not only did it quickly pick up on the rules, but within a half hour it figured out a way to achieve incredibly high scores – all with little human input.

Machine learning will accelerate similarly in the education space, Frey says. Online bots will pick up on a student's strengths and weaknesses and use a series of algorithms to tailor the lessons accordingly. Research suggeststhis personalized method is among the most effective at raising kids' overall achievement.
Frey doesn't go so far as to argue education bots will replace traditional schooling outright. He sees them more as a supplement or a kind of tutor. If a child struggles with algebra, a bot may be able to offer some help during homework time or over the weekend.

It's up for debate whether AI can master the subtleties of language, thought, and reason all within the next 14 years. One of the most significant hurdles for machine learning is grasping social interactions. Many AI systems today are still less capable cognitively than a 6-year-old.

Frey trusts 14 years isn't too generous a timeline for the technology to ramp up, given how quickly technology innovation builds on itself. The Internet was beginning to enter a lot of people's homes 14 years ago. But by 2007 people were already surfing the Web on their iPhones, and today the Internet is almost omnipresent in daily life.
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Frey predicts that artificial intelligence will have the same trajectory in the education space. By 2030, DeepMind's ability to master "Breakout" could seem as quaint as dial-up modems do today, and what seemed like a massive library of online content in 2016 could look to future students like a skimpy collection that hardly does anything.

Last Monday was the first day that French schoolchildren under 15 could not use their cellphones at any point during the school day, thanks to a new nationwide law.

The ban, passed in July following a campaign pledge made by French President Emmanuel Macron, will affect elementary and junior high schools across the country as they return from the summer break.

The new law, which went into effect on August 5, bans all types of cellphones, as well as tablets and smartwatches.

While a ban on cellphones during class hours was already in place since 2010, the new law extends to breaks and mealtimes.

Schools are free to choose themselves if they implement the ban for students over 15. There are also some exceptions to the prohibition, such as for students with disabilities.

Under the new law, students have to turn their phones off during the day or put them in lockers. Schools will independently deal with the logistics of how students will be kept away from their phones.

The law was introduced amid fears that students were becoming too dependent on and distracted by their smartphones.
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Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer in June hailed the legislation as "a law for the 21st century," and said it would improve discipline among France's 12 million schoolchildren.

You may have recently gotten a message from your bank that, yes, you should read and act upon.
The message being sent by many banks involves a small, but crucial change affecting check deposits made using bank mobile apps on smartphones and other devices.

Depositors must now include the phrase “For Mobile Deposit Only” underneath their signature on all checks deposited using mobile apps. Some banks are also suggesting you add "For Mobile Deposit Only at (Bank Name)" or "For (BANK NAME) Mobile Deposit Only."

This new endorsement requirement, instituted by the Federal Reserve, officially went into effect July 1. It applies to all mobile deposits at all financial institutions, such as PNC Bank, Capital Oneand Legend Bankin Texas.

Without the inclusion of the new phrase, banks say the check may be returned with the notification that your “deposit was rejected due to restrictive endorsement."

The change is meant to protect banks from fraud, which can occur when a check is accidentally, or intentionally, presented at a bank after it already has been deposited via mobile. 

"It’s not like there was rampant fraud, but it was just an area they wanted to tighten up," said Michael Diamond, senior vice president of payments at Mitek Systems, which has digital transaction technology used by more than 6,100 banks.

"This is the banks taking care of themselves," Diamond said. "The channel is very, very, very safe, and the growth is great. More and more people are using it." 
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Case in point: Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said last month that during the April to June period, more customers deposited checks using the bank’s mobile app than in person at bank branches. Overall, 76% of all deposits come through ATMs and mobile deposits, he said.

It's not a secret that Microsoft hasn't been winning the hearts and minds of consumers lately.
Killing off products like the Groove Music service, Microsoft Band fitness tracker, and Windows Phone have left many questioning whether Microsoft's grand plan is to focus on business users and leave consumers to its competitors.

But at the company's recent Inspire conference, Microsoft execs told their partners that Redmond isn't giving up on consumers.

Yusuf Mehdi – whose new title as of June 2018 became corporate vice president of Modern Life and Devices – led a session at the partner show in Las Vegas, Nev., where he outlined the company's vision for what officials plan to christen "Modern Life Services."

"Modern Life” and "Gaming" are the two new additions to Microsoft's core digital solution areas that its sales force and its partners are meant to target in fiscal 2019 and beyond. The others, which Microsoft announced a year ago at Inspire, are “Modern Workplace,” “Business Applications,” “Applications and Infrastructure,” and “Data and AI.”

In teeing up his presentation, Mehdi acknowledged that "in the last couple of years, we've lost a little of that magic with consumers," according to attendees who asked not to be named.

Most consumer companies are laser-focused on one thing, Mehdi said. Amazon is focused on shopping; Spotify, on music; Netflix, on movies. Microsoft's core value proposition is productivity, he said. The company's job is to try to make productivity sexier.

Microsoft is targeting so-called "professional consumers" with these services, Mehdi said. These are people who already know how to use technology but need to figure out how to use it better to make them more productive. The goal of these services will be to give users back time and help them focus on what matters to them.

Microsoft officials believe because the company already "owns the work calendar with Outlook," that it has a foothold in working to blur the line between consumer and commercial activities.

What, exactly, will qualify as a Modern Life Service? Mostly they will be apps, services, and features that Microsoft already makes available or soon will in Windows, Outlook, and PowerPoint, but which officials will attempt to position as well suited to the needs of professional consumers on Windows PCs, iPhones, and Android phones.
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One example is the Microsoft "Your Phone" app, which Microsoft execs first showed off at the Build 2018 developer conference earlier this year. Your Phone on Windows 10 will allow users to respond to text messages on their Windows desktops, as well as drag and drop photos from their desktops and send them via their phones without actually having to access the phones. Microsoft believes that by not having to interrupt their workflow, users will save time and be more productive.