Technology News - Google Hits Pixel Resellers with 'Digital Death Sentence'

Some of Google's unwitting users are learning a harsh lesson: If you violate the company's policies, it can abruptly cut you off from your Gmail account, online photos and other vital digital services.Several people who recently bought Google's new Pixel phone on behalf of a New Hampshire dealer are now suffering that punishment after the company detected their online purchases and judged they violated its terms of service. Those rules, outlined in a document that few people read closely , forbid the purchase of the Pixel for "commercial" resale. "There isn't an hour that doesn't go by that I don't think about the enormity of what Google has done to me," said one of the affected resellers, Shmuel Super of Brooklyn, New York. "This is like a digital death sentence." Sell Your Phone, Lose Your Account Super and his fellow resellers got into trouble for buying up to five Pixel phones from Google's online store and having them delivered to New Hampshire for resale. They received $5 for each phone. As of Sunday, some started finding themselves locked out of their Google accounts. In a Thursday statement, Google described the resale arrangement as a "scheme" devised by a dealer looking to sell the Pixels at marked-up prices in violation of its policies. Google declined to say how many people were affected by the account lockdown. DansDeals , a consumer-focused website that first reported Google's crackdown, concluded that more than 200 people had been blocked from their Google accounts after talking to the New Hampshire dealer behind the Pixel buying spree. The Associated Press was unsuccessful in its efforts to identify and interview the dealer. The crackdown may come as a surprise to the hundreds of millions of people who now routinely rely on Google, Facebook, Apple and other tech companies as the caretakers of their digital lives. Few of the people involved in this situation appear to have backed up their data outside of Google. Google said it plans to restore the accounts of customers who it believes were unaware of the rules, although the company didn't specify how long that might take. Living Without Google Once they figured out why they were being locked out, the exiled consumers realized how dependent they had become on Google as the custodian of their digital communications, records and other mementoes. Some said they couldn't retrieve confirmation numbers for upcoming flights or notices about an upcoming credit-card payment. Others couldn't fetch work documents or medical records. Some started getting phone calls from friends, family and colleagues wondering why they weren't responding to emails. Like two other people interviewed by the AP, Super said he had no idea that he was violating Google's policies when he bought the Pixels for the New Hampshire dealer. He can't believe Google would do something as extreme as locking him out of his account without warning, rather than just banning him from buying its phones in the future. "Google's slogan is 'Don't be evil,' but to me, there is nothing more evil that what Google has done here," Super said. Crime and Punishment Some of the Pixels purchased for resale were delivered before Google recognized the violations and meted out a punishment spelled out in a separate terms-of-service document . "We may suspend or stop providing our services to you if you do not comply with our terms or policies or if we are investigating suspected misconduct," Google warns in one section. Google doesn't give any advance notice before it shuts down an account, and doesn't make distinctions between minor and major violations. Affected users can appeal for reinstatement, though it's unclear how long that might take or what criteria Google uses in such cases. Apple also forbids online purchases of iPhones for resale, although its terms of service say only that the company reserves the right to cancel any order suspected of breaking the rule. Daniel Levy, who has been locked out from his Google account since Monday, said he has learned a hard lesson, though not necessarily the one the company intended. "They confiscated my property and shouldn't be trusted," said Levy, who lives in Lakewood, New Jersey. "I will never use their services again."

Technology News - Facebook to Open New London HQ, Create 500 New UK Jobs

Facebook will open a new London headquarters next year and create another 500 jobs, the leading social network said Monday, despite uncertainty over Brexit.

The group said the move will take its UK workforce to 1,500 staff, adding that Britain "remains one of the best places to be a tech company", amid ongoing jitters over the nation's looming exit from the European Union.

The news comes one week after US tech giant Google confirmed it would expand its vast London campus in a move that could bring 3,000 more jobs.

The Facebook announcement will be confirmed later at the annual meeting of top business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry, which is the country's top employers' organisation.

"The UK remains one of the best places to be a tech company and is an important part of Facebook's story," said Nicola Mendelsohn, the company's vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"We came to London in 2007 with just a handful of people, by the end of next year we will have opened a new HQ and plan to employ 1500 people," she added in a statement.

"Many of those new roles will be high skilled engineering jobs as the UK is home to our largest engineering base outside of the US."

A spokeswoman added that the new office is currently under construction in the bohemian central district of Fitzrovia.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the news from the US giant.

"Facebook's decision to expand in London is further evidence that London's strength as a tech hub keeps on growing," Khan said.

"It follows news that London remains the best city in Europe for digital startups.

"The capital's vibrant tech scene is the envy of Europe and Facebook's continuing commitment is another sign that London is open to talent, innovation and entrepreneurship from all four corners of the world."

Last Tuesday, Google revealed it will add a new office building to a complex currently under development behind London's King's Cross train station.

An estimated 3,000 jobs will be created by the move. A total of 7,000 Google staff will eventually be working at the hub, which is set to open in 2018.

Technology News - This is why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

If you want to make something cool, don’t give it to geeks first. Google Glass learned that the hard way.

Despite Snapchat’s best efforts, Robert Scoble still got a hold of a pair of the Spectacles camera glasses. He’s the enthusiastic tech blogger above who shot a nude selfie wearing Google Glass in the shower that came to embody the gadget’s cursed brand. He even admits to me that it was smart that Snap Inc didn’t send him a pair.

A SpectaScobles selfie was the exact opposite of Snapchat’s plan. That’s why it didn’t deliver any review units of Spectacles to bloggers, or send them to tech celebrities who usually get early beta access to new products.

If it did, that would have forged a perception of Spectacles as a serious device meant to be painstakingly reviewed instead of casually played with as they should be. And it would have positioned them for serious adults and early adopters, instead of the typical teens that make up Snapchat’s core user base.

So instead, it suddenly dropped a goofy vending machine full of Spectacles on a beach boardwalk in LA, near a national park in Big Sur, California, and a roadside tourist trap off Route 61 near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Snapchat lovers scrambled to get there quick and stand in long lines in hopes of scoring a pair.

There are several reasons this was brilliant:

Artificial Scarcity – People love exclusivity, but with an air of egalitarianism. By not openly selling them online or in a permanent brick-and-mortar store, and instead making their availability extremely limited, somewhat random, and only for those willing to stand in line, their perceived value skyrocketed. Sure, people are selling them on eBay for huge markups at $800 to $2000 dollars. But the point was anyone with $130 and some luck could don the glasses.

Geographic Clustering – Snapchat itself blew up in LA high schools, becoming a hit with a densely interconnected group of teens long before the press picked up on the phenomenon. Facebook actually started quite similarly, only being available at a few elite colleges like Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford. Spectacles were also launched like this. Beyond making everyone else a bit jealous, it limited the chance of someone being the only person in their area using the product. For Snapchat and Facebook, that meant people actually had friends to use the app with. And for Spectacles, it means there will still be hype left to exploit when they hit the east coast and abroad.

Buying As An Experience – When was the last time the acquisition of a product felt as momentous as owning the product itself, and that moment wasn’t annoying? Sure lots of people stayed up late to order their Apple Watch and tweet what configuration they got, though I wouldn’t call that fun. People got excited about their place in the waitlist to use the Mailbox email app, yet the eventual rollout was anti-climactic. But the googly-eyed Snapbot vending machine, dropped in scenic locations, with an augmented reality try-on screen, got almost as much coverage as the videos you make with Spectacles.

Snapchat isn’t the only one realizing big, flashy press conferences and early access for journalists aren’t the only way to release a product.

Facebook cut back on glitzy launch events following one it threw for Facebook Home, which immediately flopped. And after Sean Parker’s video app Airtime bumbled its 2012 launch extravaganza with broken demos featuring celebrities like Jim Carrey, its 2016 relaunch had no event attached.

Snap Inc CEO wearing Spectacles, shot by famous photographer Karl Lagerfeld for the WSJ Magazine

And poor Google Glass. It tried to normalize wearing a computer on your face by handing it to the least fashionable people around, bloggers and app makers. It needed people to look cool wearing it, or at least not super weird, before anyone cared what the reviews said and the apps did. That’s why the first memorable photos of Spectacles weren’t shot by Scoble, but by famous fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld.

Scoble concludes that the Spectacles Snapbots “make a lot more sense than the way Google rolled out Google Glass to developers and nerds.”

Technology News - Samsung is looking for Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners to test Android 7.0 on their phones

It’s not a full on Nougat rollout, but it’s something. For a second year in a row, Samsung will be offering a select group of users early access to the latest version of Android through its Galaxy Beta Program.

Currently limited to Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners (no Note 7 for obvious reasons) in the US, UK, and Korea, the deal is first-come, first served, according to the company’s site, aimed at testing the stability of Android 7.0 on its flagship devices. The program will be arriving in China at some point in the near future, as well.

Participants will be asked to report bugs and other issues to help the company bring things up to speed for next year’s public roll out. Sadly, if you got your hands on the limited edition Olympics or Batman version of the phone, you can’t participate. Ditto for users in the UK who have devices locked by their carrier.

There’s a bunch more fine print on Samsung’s page, including the fact that “unexpected errors may occur,” because, well, that’s kind of the whole point of a beta program

Nissam zero-emission e-NV200 - Worlds First All-Electric Mobile Office

Nissan and UK-based design workshop Studio Hardie are transform Nissam zero-emission e-NV200 van. And this is the worlds first all-electric mobile office.

Nissan e-NV200 features are

1. An integrated fold-out desk, 
2. Touchscreen computer, 
3. Wireless internet, 
4. Smartphone-controlled LED lights, 
5. Wireless phone charging, 
6. Bluetooth audio system, 
7. Colour reversing camera
8. Nissan Intelligent Key
9. AM/FM/CD audio system
10. 2 Speakers
11. 15" Alloy wheels
12. Climate Control
13. Mini fridge and 
14. Brista-character coffee robot.

The e-NV200 WORKSPACe concept not single-handedly highlights the customisable potential of its electric van, it paints a portray of what desk-based employment could see when in the well ahead as hot-desking and alert operational grows in popularity across the globe. Moreover, the one-off vehicle as well as provides an example of Nissans Intelligent Mobility vision, and the companys view of how the attachment in the middle of vehicles and people are changing.

Self-drive delivery van can be 'built in four hours' in UK

A self-drive electrical delivery truck, that would air UK streets next year, has been disclosed at the Wired 2016 conference in London.

The vehicle's stripped-back style and light-weight materials mean it are often assembled by one person in four hours, the firm behind it claims.

The vehicles are "autonomous-ready", for once car rental legislation is in situ, the firm same.

The government desires to envision car rental cars on the roads by 2020.

"We notice trucks these days completely unacceptable. Loud, polluting and unfriendly," same Denis Sverdlov, chief govt of Charge, the technology firm behind the truck.

"We square measure creating trucks the manner they ought to be - reasonable, elegant, quiet, clean and safe."

He added: "We square measure removing all the barriers to entry for electrical vehicles by evaluation them in line with standard trucks, giving each fleet manager, tradesperson or company, in spite of however huge or tiny, the chance to vary the manner they transport merchandise and create our cities and cities higher places to measure in."

Charge plans to develop trucks in an exceedingly vary of sizes from three.5 to twenty six tonnes and is in talks with the main truck fleet companies.

DHL has antecedently same of the firm: "We see vast potential within the contribution they will create to advancing technology for industrial usages and also the manner we have a tendency to conceive of the longer term of supplying."

The vehicles are designed victimisation ultra-lightweight composite materials that considerably cut back the burden of the vehicle, it said.

The car rental software package has been developed in-house and is prepared to be uploaded to the trucks "at the bit of a button" whenever the govt. permits autonomous vehicles on UK roads, the firm same.

The UK government is keen to steer the manner on the event of driverless automobile technology and is presently consulting on changes to insurance rules and driving rules, with a read to permit car rental cars on the roads by 2020.

Charge plans to open a works in Oxfordshire next year with a team of ten operating over 2 shifts each day to assemble ten,000 trucks within the 1st year.

The firm is an officer partner of Formula E - the electrical racing competition - with its trucks being employed for the drive parade and for supplying on and off the track.

Mr Sverdlov conjointly heads Roborace that creates AI-powered sport cars.

Most of {the huge|the large|the massive} automobile makers square measure creating big strides in developing electrical vehicles - Volkswagen, as an example, is about to launch thirty all-electric models to reposition itself as a frontrunner in inexperienced transport following the supposed "dieselgate" scandal.

Driverless cars are changing into a reality. The UK's Transport Systems Catapult test-drove associate degree autonomous vehicle on a public street in John Milton economic expert this summer, with more trials planned for London before long.

In October, electrical auto manufacturer Tesla proclaimed that every one the cars it currently builds can have the hardware put in to drive on their own.

Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo plans to run driverless-car trials on public roads around London from 2017.