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Jeff's article about the lapdog mainstream media

Senior director of Apple Music has left the company

Facebook: only 85.7 percent of Earth did not use our site on Monday

NYC cabs will test app-based system to challenge Uber

Motorola will now design and build Lenovo phones

Apple Watch Debuts at No. 2, Behind Fitbit

Content blocking in iOS 9 is going to screw up way more than just ads

Microsoft Snip annotates screenshots with voice notes and scribbles

Google Tells Developers How to Get Around Apple’s New Security Rules So They Can Keep Selling Ads

Apple Announces Sept. 9 Event

Everybody hates when you use your phone at dinner

Facebook Says It’s Finally Ready to Start Cracking Down on Video Pirates

We now have a race to the bottom where publishers use tricks (some say fraud) to generate advertising revenue. This leads to pages that are overloaded with ads that publishers no longer control, combined with the collection of the most minute crevices of user behavior, information that’s then pimped to advertisers who are constantly looking for more finely-tuned methods to target their ads.

The success of scripted shows like “Modern Family,” “The Walking Dead” and others has set off something like a land grab. The number of scripted shows produced by networks, cable networks and online services ballooned to 371 last year, according to statistics compiled by FX. Mr. Landgraf believes that figure will pass 400 this year, which would nearly double the 211 shows made in 2009.

As a leading researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Dr. Flanagan was a pioneer in the field of acoustics, envisioning and providing the technical foundation for speech recognition, teleconferencing, MP3 music files and the more efficient digital transmission of human conversation — most famously in a 1976 article, “Computers That Talk and Listen: Man-Machine Communication by Voice,” that appeared in Proceedings of the I.E.E.E., a journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

About 6% of global Internet users employ ad blockers, according to an August report by PageFair and Adobe Systems Inc. That report said 198 million users ran ad blockers in June 2015, up 40% from a year earlier. Wells Fargo analyst Peter Stabler estimates that ad blockers will reduce spending on Internet ads by $12.5 billion world-wide in 2016.

The scale of Apple’s ambitions vary depending on whom is asked, but one high-level executive who talked with the company said the goal is to create development and production divisions that would churn out long-form content to stream in a bid to compete with Netflix. Apple is hoping to put a headhunting firm on those hires in the coming months, according to source, with the goal of being in operation next year. Unknown is whether the focus is on TV series, movies — or both.

The feature isn’t available for every video Amazon streams, since Amazon needs to work out deals with individual content owners (that is, pay them more money). Amazon says it has “thousands” of titles available for download; in most cases, subscribers will have 15 to 30 days to watch them. And it looks like those titles include a pretty diverse lineup: There are Amazon’s own home-grown shows, like “Transparent,” of course. But there are also offerings from CBS (“The Good Wife”), Fox (“Sons of Anarchy”), MGM (“The Hunger Games”) and Paramount (“Star Trek Into Darkness”).

Google Here worked by sending a notification to a smartphone user’s lock screen within five seconds of their entering a partner’s location. If the user clicked on the notification, a full screen HTLM5 “app” experience would launch. Google Here would know when to send the notification via Google Maps and beacons placed in the stores of participating partners. Google planned to supply the beacons to partners for the launch, according to the document. The experience could also be found by going to the Google Maps app.

Meanwhile, Nest has introduced something that they’re calling “Farsight” — a fancy way of saying that its motion sensors can sense movement from a greater distance now. Whereas the previous generations promised to sense motion at a distance of about three feet, the third-gen screen’s motion detection is said to work “from across the room”.

Some chains are also trying to beat online travel agencies at their own game. Marriott has arranged for some rooms to be booked directly through the travel review site TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor gets a commission, but only about half what Expedia would charge. “It’s a highly dynamic space,” said Mr. Khan at Cantor Fitzgerald. “Hotel operators are not sitting idle; they’re also innovating.” That said, sites like Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline remain powerful forces in hotel booking — a primary reason the hotel chains do not simply abandon their relationships with them. And nowhere has the hotel industry’s worries about competition crystallized more clearly than in Expedia’s $1.3 billion deal to merge with Orbitz.

I ordered one for review.

It doesn’t simply tell you that you’re using Google, but also shows you how Google is working for you. For example, new elements like a colorful Google mic help you identify and interact with Google whether you’re talking, tapping or typing. Meanwhile, we’re bidding adieu to the little blue “g” icon and replacing it with a four-color “G” that matches the logo.

Ahead of a law that goes into effect Tuesday requiring companies to store and process data about Russian users within the country’s borders, Russian regulators have told companies such as Facebook, Google Inc. and Twitter Inc. that they don’t plan to check until at least January whether the companies are in compliance, executives and Russian officials said.

Apple’s new Siri remote, akin to the current Apple Remote, will utilize a standard replaceable battery so users will not need to frequently recharge the device like an iPhone or Apple Watch. For gaming purposes, the remote control will have the built-in motion sensors introduced in the iPhone, as first noted by TechCrunch, so that it can be used as a steering wheel for car racing titles and similar games. Importantly, however, the controller is said to connect to the Apple TV over Bluetooth, rather than using a sensor bar with IR support. As a result, the Apple TV’s support for motion controls is unlikely to include a system navigation and pointing interface akin to Nintendo’s Wii. Like the brand new iPod touch introduced this year, the taller, thicker Apple TV will likely support the latest Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11ac wireless standards for improved power consumption, data speeds, and signal reliability. Serious gamers will have the ability to choose between multiple controllers for the Apple TV, including the packed-in remote and third-party Bluetooth gaming controllers. Last year, we profiled the controversy surrounding official Bluetooth controllers for Apple devices, discussing how high pricing and limited functionality were leading to modest interest from consumers. Now that the Apple TV will support both downloadable games and game controllers, it seems likely that both software developers and peripheral makers will work to improve their products.

The rear camera will have a 23MP image sensor capable of 5x Clear Image Zoom (the latter was also seen in the Xperia M5). It will have the fastest autofocus in the market at 30 milliseconds (the Xperia M5 auto-focus was 250 milliseconds). Sony has optimised the software to provide better pictures. The Superior Auto mode will now let you select the resolution of your pictures to 8MP (16:9), 20MP (16:9) or 23MP (4:3).