Alexa Answers Goes Crowd Sourcing; France Will Block Facebook’s Cryptocurrency in the EU; Tesla Announces 3 Motor ‘Plaid Powertrain’; Huawei Tries Selling 5G Patents to Western Buyer Skirting Trump

Amazon has just started allowing anyone to field questions from users that Alexa doesn’t already have a response for. Fastcompany.com reports that any such answer will be tagged by Alexa as ‘according to an Amazon customer.’ The program has been running as a private beta for about a year. Whether the crowdsourced answers will be able to reasonably compete with Google Assistant…which can grab answers from the billions of pages Google has indexed…remains to be seen. Amazon has been in a limited partnership with Microsoft’s Bing. Amazon claims that in the beta, a ‘substantial majority’ of users’ questions were answered with vetted sources. Amazon not only hopes to keep people asking questions within the community but also those know-it-alls who want to answer them!

France has announced that it ‘cannot authorize’ the use of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency on European soil. According to cnbc.com, the French government felt it would but the sovereignty of governments at risk. Facebook has already said it would wait until it has regulatory approval from all quarters before rolling out Libra, so this ma be a pretty substantial challenge to that rollout occurring. Considering Facebook’s record with user data (see Cambridge Analytica), this seems like a reasonable position right now for the French and the EU.

Staying with its speed references from the movie “Spaceballs,” Elon Musk has announced the next iteration beyond Ludicrous speed. Electrek.co says Tesla has announced the upcoming ‘Plaid Powertrain,’ which will rock 3 motors. The powertrain will debut next year in the Model S and Roadster, along with a new chassis prototype which Tesla has tested in conjunction with the trimotor powertrain. They just used the combination to break a record at Laguna Seca. The system will not be available in the lower cost Model 3 or Model Y. Musk claims it will be a little pricier in the Model S, but still in line with competitors’ offerings.

Huawei is going to try an end run around the US blockade of its 5G system. Businessinsider.com reports that they are looking to sell a bundle of the company’s 5G patents, licenses, code, and tech blueprints in a one time transaction. They claim this would create a ‘balanced distribution of interests’. The major problem for Huawei with the US blacklisting is cutting them off from Google. the company has run Android, and without Android and the Google Play Store, it has severely impacted their smartphone business. Huawei has developed their own OS as a backup plan, but no Android is an ongoing problem for the company. The US has cited national security concerns, as they claim Huawei can act as a proxy for the Chinese government to spy..something Huawei has denied.

California Gig Economy Bill Clears Senate; McRobots at McDonald’s Drive Through; Amazon Grabs Unique Seattle Warehouse; AppleCare+ New Subscription Model

California’s Senate has passed and sent back to the Assembly a bill that will be a profound change to gig economy workers if passed. The Assembly will have to ok some amendments, then it is on to governor Newsom’s desk, and he has said he will sign it. Venturebeat.com reports that it will not only affect Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, but will ripple throughout all sectors. The gig economy has relied for years on companies utilizing contractors, and touting the benefits of flex time….but most companies have retained such a great degree of control over the hours and duties that of people have felt like they were misclassifying employees as contractors just to dodge paying benefits and a competitive salary. This law would change that. The bill actually codifies a 2018 California Supreme Court ruling, Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court, which set out a new standard for determining whether workers are properly classified as independent contractors. The court said workers are a company’s employees under state wage laws when the company exercises control over their work, or they are integral to its business.

Soon, when you order some McFood at McDonald’s, you may be talking to software and not a person. According to cnet.com, Mac’s is testing out software from an AI company it acquired called Apprente. The Silicon Valley-based startup was founded in 2017 to create voice-based platforms for “complex, multilingual, multi-accent and multi-item conversational ordering,” which McDonald’s plans to incorporate in its drive-thrus initially. The system has already been tested at a few restaurants, so maybe you’ve been talking to robots about your Big Mac and Fries. As testing proceeds, McDonald’s plans to add the AI tech to its mobile ordering and kiosks in the future.

Amazon has lease a half million square feet in a first of kind warehouse in Seattle. The goal of the online giant is to cut down delivery times as it moves to one day shipping. Geekwire.com says the warehouse setup is common in other parts of the world, but unique to the US so far in that it features the ability of trucks to access multiple levels via ramps. Home Depot has apparently also leased 100,000 square feet in the unique warehouse. Amazon has noted that their expenses are higher than expected so far with the changeover to single day delivery, so this will be a step towards rectifying that issue.

With the blizzard of Apple announcements yesterday, here’s one you may have missed hearing about. Last year, Apple rolled out an option to pay monthly for some of its two and three year AppleCare+ plans for iPhones, iPads, and the Apple Watch. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that Apple has moved it to a subscription model. Here’s what they say about it now:

For Monthly Plans, your Plan Term is one (1) month. Your Plan will automatically renew each month unless cancelled as set forth in the “Cancellation” Section 9 below, including in the event that Apple is no longer able to service your Covered Equipment due to the unavailability of service parts, in which case Apple will provide you with thirty (30) days’ prior written notice of cancellation, or as otherwise required by law.

This sounds like you can continue your AppleCare+ plan until Apple can’t service the device any more. Many people are likely to sign up if they just get hit with a small monthly fee like $3.99 instead of dropping $191 or $149 right up front.

‘Apple Day’ Recap

Instead of starting small, and building up excitement (hype) like Apple does, you’re going to get the good part first, and can scroll down further for the less impactful Apple lines they touted.

iPhone 11

Yes, the rumors were right about the naming of this year’s phones. You’ll get to choose form 6 new colors for iPhone 11—the 6.1 inch LED display with aluminum back form factor is unchanged. New colors are: purple, white, yellow, green, black, and Product (RED). Dual cams on the 11, with a new 12MP ultra wide lens…120 degree field of view. You will see on the display what switching to the ultra lens will give you in the shot. New portrait effect lets you crop out the background. Night mode switches on automatically and the results are pretty dramatic.

For video…there’s an on-screen zoom wheel to transition between the two cams. they feature 4K resolution, up to 60 FPS on both cams. Quick take returns! Tap and hold shutter button when taking a pic to roll video. The front cam has 12MP and a wider sensor….you can include more in your selfie by rotating to horizontal. The front cam now has slo-mo. They are calling them ‘slofies’. (Feel free to groan here.) The new A13 chip increases Apple’s lead over other smartphones. iPhone 11 will have an hour more of battery life over XR. Face ID is faster and wider angle on the new model. iPhone 11 starts at $699.

iPhone 11 Pro

Three cams, as predicted, on a raised glass square. The Pro has new matte glass on the back…and new colors are: Midnight Green, Space Grey, Silver, Gold.….5.8 inch and 6.5 inch displays are held over from last year. They are calling (hyping) the display as the ‘Super Retina XDR display.’ Battery life is 4 hours more on the 11 than iPhone XS and the Pro Max has 5 hours more than XS Max. Both will ship with faster charger than before.

The 3 cams….Apple dubs them wide, telephoto, and ultra wide. The cams can all work together. You have 4X optical zoom now! They showed off a number of pics by pro photographers using the 3 different cameras. A new feature will come with software update this fall. They call this feature Deep Fusion. It uses machine learning and will shoot 9 images…starting before you press the shutter, the long shot, and post shots. It then takes the best pixels from each shot and combines into one great shot.

For video, it’s 4K, 60 FPS, like on the iPhone 11. New advanced editing in iOS 13. You can now do editing for exposure, color temperature, cropping and scaling like you could photos…right on the phone. They showed off the Filmic app, which can choose 2 shots you can film, choosing from all 3 rear cams and the selfie cam, giving you your choice of framing and shots. The pro models are Priced at $999 like last year and $1099 for the Max. Price has been cut on XR to $599, and iPhone 8 will be $499. Preorders for the new phones starts Friday morning at 5AM Pacific, and they will ship September 20th. Monthly payment plans are about the same as they were through Apple…starting at $17 a month on the iPhone 11, $25 a month for the iPhone 11 Pro, and $29 a month for the 11 Pro Max. They will continue to offer the trade in program.

Watch

For Series 5, the Retina Display is always on….albeit at a lower light level. Time and complications are in view. A tap or raise of wrist brings it back to full brightness. It still has an 18 hour battery life. Series 5 also has a built in compass like the iPhone has. It shows latitude longtitude, incline, and elevation.

The SOS function will now work internationally on the new model with cellular. Besides aluminum and stainless, there are new titanium and ceramic models. Watch Series 5 starts at $399 with GPS. The cellular model $499. Preorder today, and available in stores on the 20th. Watch 3 is now cut to $199.

Three new health studies will be starting, like the successful afib study.
1) Hearing.
2) Women’s Health (menstrual cycles)
3) Heart and Movement

There is a new Apple research app you can enroll over. You needn’t, and it won’t see your data unless you do.

iPad

The entry level iPad gets a refresh, joining the other updated models. It goes from 9.7 to 10.2 inch. It has an A10 chip. It comes with a smart connector that attaches to a keyboard that can close like a clamshell and protect the screen…oh…like a laptop! A pinch of the virtual keyboard gives you a smaller floating keyboard you can move around.

More editing for video available. Apple Pencil now works with the entry level iPad. It starts once again at $329. Educational customers can get it for $299. Preorder today, ships September 30th.

Apple TV+

Tim Cook talked about the trailers for the original videos Apple has coming to Apple TV+. They premiered a video for ‘See,’ a new show with Jason Momoa. Apple TV+ will be available November 1st…also $4.99 a month for a family subscription. Starting today, when you buy an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, you get 1 year free. So basically, if you buy one device a year, you get Apple TV+ free.

App Store

Apple Arcade….1 fee to play 100 new games on mobile, computer, or Apple TV, with new games to be added monthly. Konami showed a new iteration of Frogger, and Capcom previewed an underwater game. Annapurna showed off what they called a ‘playable music video’ called Sayonara Wild Hearts.
Arcade will be available September 19th worldwide. $4.99 a month for a family access, and a 1 month free trial.

Daimler Self Driving Trucks Hit US Road; Tesla-New Battery Could Last a Million Miles; Amazon Career Day in 6 Cities; Google Maps Learns New Waze

Daimler, the Mercedes-Benz parent, has started testing autonomous big rigs on Virginia highways. According to venturebeat.com, the semis are outfitted in conjunction with Torc Robotics, a startup in which Mercedes recently acquired majority stake. The Freightliner Cascadias are retrofitted with arrays of lira sensors, cameras, and radar…not to mention Torc’s self-driving software. As has been true in other over the road tests, there are trained drivers and engineers aboard just in case. Right now, Daimler says the rigs are classified as level 4, which is defined by the SAE as capable of operating with limited human oversight under select conditions. Daimler Trucks of North America has owned the Freightliner brand since the 1980’s. There are at least 4 other companies working on self-driving for semi trucks, so expect to see more of them fanning out across the country.

A researcher named Jeff Dahn and his team have been doing battery research for Tesla. Now, electrek.co reports they have released test results for an impressive new battery cell that they claim will go a million miles. That’s two to three times the life of the present Tesla battery cells. The new battery tested is a Li-Ion battery cell with a next-generation “single crystal” NMC cathode and a new advanced electrolyte. Tesla sees these as being ideal for ‘robo-taxis,’ which they believe will be a big market in the future. Tesla is also moving to manufacture its own cells, instead of relying on Panasonic, which could also be a big boost for the company.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em (or maybe both), it’s hard to argue with the success of Amazon. Now. geekwire.com says the company will hold Career Days on September 17th to try to fill more than 30,000 available jobs in the company…including warehouse workers, retail jobs and high-tech positions. For reference, 30,000 is about the number of jobs at the Kroger Company! The job fair will also include help for people looking to start their own businesses using Amazon platforms. Amazon presently has a headcount of some 653,000 people!

Google has ported over a couple handy new features from its Waze platform to Google Maps. Bgr.com notes that they are Street View support on Android and weather info on iOS. Now, they are going to add more, as Google Maps becomes more Waze-like. Incident reports and more public transit info are coming, and even the ability to save a user’s preferred public transit options for quick access. Google is cleaning up the interface, too. There will be just 6 notification groups instead of nine. Each is customizable by the user.

Galaxy Fold Release Date; Apple In-Display Touch ID in 2020; Facebook Exposes Millions of Phone Numbers; Amazon New Fire TV Cube

The latest word is, the delayed Galaxy Fold will be released in the US on September 27th. Businessinsider.com reports that this is based on a leak, plus a customer who preordered one who was notified of that. Originally to be released last April, the Fold was held up due to terrible reviews from a small number of reviewers who had phones end up breaking after only a couple days of use. The almost $2000 Fold will apparently only be available vie retail stores on launch, and not from Samsung’s website. The phone reportedly drops tomorrow in South Korea.

Since it’s less than a week before the 2019 iPhones roll out, naturally there are leaks about NEXT year’s models! According to theverge.com, Apple is planning an in-display fingerprint authorization tech like what Samsung an Huawei have. This would be something of a roll back to Touch ID, but most Apple watchers say it’s likely the company will keep Face ID, so users will actually have 2 ways of getting past the lock screen. The Apple version will apparently let users touch any spot on ‘a large portion of the display’ to authenticate. The lower cost iPhone (successor to the discontinued iPhone SE) expected next year would have Touch ID on the home button, as past iPhones before Face ID came into use.

Another day, another data breach. This time, it’s Facebook. Techcrunch.com says a huge cache of users’ phone numbers has been found on a server that isn’t password protected. Each record has the users’ unique Facebook ID and phone number listed with the account. It’s millions of numbers! Facebook said it’s old data, and the information was scraped before they made changes last year to remove people’s ability to find other users using their phone numbers. Well there’s that…but scammers and marketers apparently have had the info or been able to get it, so thanks for nothing, Facebook!

In Germany, Amazon showed off a number of new products, including a 2nd generation Fire TV Cube. According to engadget.com, it sports a new processor that enables local voice control with on-device processing. It also has far-field microphones which should pick up your commands better in noisy rooms. Amazon claims it is 4 times faster than the earlier model. It has HDR10+ for a better picture, and is available for pre-order now for early October shipping….$119.99 in the US.

Apple Plans New Cheap iPhone in 2020; Apple AI Glasses May Be Close; Amazon-Pay At Whole Foods With Your Hand; Nikola Gets Cash Infusion for Fuel-Cell Big Rig; YouTube Dinged $170 Million in FTC Child Privacy Settlement

With the hero iPhones topping $1000, Apple has only had the 2016 version of the iPhone LE as a cheaper model until lately. Now, it appears that Apple may be back with a 4.7 inch screen, cheaper phone by the spring of 2020. Businessinsider.com reports that it will be about the size of the 2017 iPhone 8. The SE was $399 before it was killed off, and the cheapest iPhone right now is the XR at $749. Sources say it will have the same components as the flagship phones, but will run a cheaper LCD screen. Apple hopes the cheaper model will jumpstart sales next spring, after the initial blast of orders of the new flagship phones starts to wind down.

In other Apple news, some code in iOS 13 indicates that Apple’s AR glasses may launch sooner than previously thought. A few insiders now think the Apple Glasses (or whatever they end up being called) may launch some time in 2020.

Amazon is investing in a hand biometric payment system, which it plans to eventually offer at Whole Foods stores. The system would allow shoppers to leave their payment cards…or even phones behind and just have their hand scanned for payment. According to fastcompany.com, Amazon thinks this is ‘less creepy’ than facial recognition. This tech doesn’t even require laying a hand on a scanning terminal, either. The shopper can just wave their hand over the scanner, and it will use computer vision and depth geometry to identify the customer and charge their card on file. It is reportedly much faster than using a traditional debit or credit card, taking 300 milliseconds. Cards generally take about 4 seconds to read. They claim it is already accurate within one ten-thousandth of 1%, but Amazon wants to hit a millionth of 1% before launch. They hope to make the launch in early 2020 at select Whole Foods, then expand to all US locations…depending on how customers and employees do with it.

Since Elon Musk already glommed on to the electrical genius’ last name for his cars, the alt-fuel semi-truck startup had to go with his first name….Nikola. Cnet.com says Nikola has just gotten $250 million towards their fuel cell powered big rigs. The money didn’t come from just anywhere, either. It was from CNH Industrial, which has two subsidiaries that are big players in the commercial vehicle and powertrain market. Their division Iveco operates 28,000 trucks and busses with natural gas engines. The investors and Nikola say hydrogen fuel cell tech is the logical step between diesel rigs and full electric battery rigs. Nikola plans to launch 3 models in Europe by 2022.

Google owned YouTube will cough up $170 million to settle with the FTC and New York Attorney General. The platform had been accused of earning millions by illegally collecting personal info from kids without parental consent. CNBC.com reports that the FTC voted 3-2 for the deal…with the two Democrats on the Commission asserting that it didn’t go far enough to punish YouTube. It’s the third time since 2011 that the FTC has sanctioned Google for privacy violations.

Samsung 6.7 Inch Pocket-Sized Folder; Apple Watch Sleep Tracking; Amazon’s Alexa Eyeing Your Car; Facebook May Drop Like Counts

After the disastrous almost release of their first folding phone, you might think Samsung would tread cautiously…but you’d be wrong! Bloomberg.com is reporting that they are working on a 6.7 inch phone that shrinks to ‘a pocketable square’ when it’s folded inward like a clamshell. On the plus side, it’s supposed to be lighter and thinner than the Galaxy Fold. When (and maybe even IF) it is released depends in part to the acceptance of the revised Galaxy Fold. It will have a hole-punch selfie cam at the top of the inner display like the Galaxy Note 10. The two outside cams are rear cams when it’s open….and a front cam when the device is folded up. It uses UTG or Ultra Thin Glass for the inner display. That glass is only 3% as thick as normal displays.

Most rumors about the latest Apple Watch, which rolls out a week from today, have it as very much an incremental update…no major changes. According to 9to5mac.com, one thing to look for is sleep tracking…which won’t require any additional hardware to work. The report says that since picking Beddit along with its app, Apple has been working to integrate the sleep tracker into the Watch. The update will remind you to take it off and charge it before bed, so you can put it back on to track your sleep. (Or, as some have suggested, keep your present Watch, buy a new one, and use the older model as your ‘sleep watch!’ Apple would like that!) One cool feature…if you get up before your alarm, the Watch will detect this and turn off the alarm for you. It will also automatically enable Do Not Disturb when you go to bed. It appears that most or all of the new features will run on existing Apple Watches…again, we’ll know a week from now.

It’s a long game, but Amazon has been working on Alexa for cars for a couple years now. Fastcompany.com says it will do the usual things like streaming, messaging, voice calls, and reminders. But They are looking ahead to have Alexa do much more…like rolling the windows up and down, controlling the cabin temperature at the verbal request of the driver. Besides in-car commands, they see you using Alexa from the house…’Alexa, ask my car to get ready.’ If it is an electric car, it could turn on and warm the cabin before you head into the garage. It could also calculate the charge in the batteries, and determine if you were good to go for your commute…or to drive elsewhere, like the airport to catch a flight. (If you had Tesla’s Auto Pilot and it was fully in effect, imagine the car dropping you off and going home…then driving itself to the airport to pick you up—no shuttle, limo, or expensive parking!) Personally, I am not ready for Alexa in the car…not until it can make the jerk in the Prius driving 50 in the fast lane ahead of me get his entitled butt over into one of the right hand lanes!!

Facebook may soon start hiring the ‘Like’ counter on News Feed posts…allegedly to protect users from envy, and dissuade them from self-censorship. According to techcrunch.com, Instagram is already testing this in 7 countries including Canada and Brazil. At present, the test just shows a few mutual friends who have liked the post as opposed to the total number. Facebook will have to balance this out if they go forward with it….if advertisers don’t go for it, it may not happen. If they do drop Like counts, rest assured that THEY will still have that data…YOU are the product, after all!

Waymo Asks NHTSA To Fix Self-Driving Barriers; Disney Sells Yes Net; Facebook Mines AI in Minecraft; Microsoft-Back to Desktop for Convertables

Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Google parent Alphabet has urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to “promptly” remove regulatory barriers for cars without steering wheels and brake pedals.
Automakers must currently meet nearly 75 auto safety standards for self-driving cars, many of them written under the assumption that a licensed driver is in command of the vehicle using traditional controls. NHTSA has been grappling for more than three years with how to address those requirements. General Motors, Lyft, and Honda also filed separate comments asking the agency to clear these barriers to self-driving cars.

Disney has announced it has sold its stake in the YES Network to an investor group including Amazon.
The investor group, which also includes the Yankees and Sinclair Broadcast Group, acquired the 80% stake of the YES Network that was not already held by the Yankees. Disney agreed to sell the 22 regional sports networks (RSNs) owned by 21st Century Fox as a condition of Disney’s acquisition of the company. The total enterprise value of the deal was $3.47 billion, according to CNBC. The YES Network, which airs Yankees games as well as other local sports and specialty content, was among the RSNs the Department of Justice required Disney to sell.

Facebook is hoping it can train an AI assistant to understand a broad range of human commands with a little help from one of the biggest games in the world — Minecraft. According to businessinsider.com, a group of Facebook researchers published a paper in July explaining why they think Minecraft is the perfect place for an AI to learn about human communication. The key lies in the fact that Minecraft is what’s known as a “sandbox” game, where players can roam around with relatively free rein as to what they want to do or build, while also following a set of relatively simple rules. The researchers hope that the natural curiosity of Minecraft players will give the AI plenty of humans to practice with.
Minecraft has 91 million monthly active users, so the potential pool of humans who could help train the AI is pretty vast.

Microsoft is planning to redesign the tablet experience for Windows 10. The software giant has started testing a new design for 2-in-1 convertible PCs that will keep the user interface more similar to the existing desktop design. Currently, Windows 10 throws you into a more tablet-optimized UI that removes task bar icons and puts the Start menu full-screen when a device automatically switches into “tablet mode.” Microsoft is now walking back some of those changes, while keeping some touch-optimized elements for 2-in-1 PCs. Theverge.com says in the new tablet experience, the desktop will remain in full view, with the task bar icons visible and increased spacing between them.

Personalized Yelp; Opendoor Goes For Mortgages; Apple Letting Indies Fix iPhones; Better Battery Tech Coming

Yelp announced that it will start allowing users to tailor their search results and homepage based on their personal preferences. According to techcrunch.com, that means if you’re vegetarian, or if you’re parent who’s usually looking for kid-friendly restaurants, you won’t have to reenter that information every time you do a search. Instead, you can enter it once and Yelp will prioritize those results moving forward. Just select the “Personalize your experience” option, then choose options around dietary restrictions, lifestyle, accessibility needs, the types of food they prefer and other interests. Once you’ve made your selections, those preferences will start affecting the search results you see in your browser.

Opendoor, the well-funded San Francisco online real estate marketplace that buys and sells homes, is getting into mortgages, intensifying competition with Seattle rivals Zillow and Redfin. Geekwire.com reports the company is starting with six markets: Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix and Tucson. One of Opendoor’s major selling points is that it will cut the time to secure financing in half. If Opendoor fails to close a loan by the scheduled date, it will credit $100 back to the buyer for every day of delay. Opendoor is now buying and selling more than 3,500 homes per month in 20 markets across the U.S. The company aims to get to 50 markets by the end of 2020.

Apple is launching a new independent repair provider program that will provide independent repair businesses with the same Apple genuine parts, tools, training, repair manuals, and diagnostics as Apple Authorized Service Providers, starting in the United States. Reuters says the program will only allow independent repair shops to offer out-of-warranty repair service for iPhones, with no mention of in-warranty repairs or other devices at this time. Apple has set up a new page on its website with more details. To qualify, repair shops must be an established business with verification documents available for review by Apple, must be in a commercially zoned area, and must have an Apple-certified technician on staff to perform the out-of-warranty iPhone repairs when using genuine parts. There is no cost to join the program. 

For a couple of years now, scientists have touted lithium metal batteries as the next major breakthrough in battery technology. Engadget.com says they can store at least 33 percent more power per pound, and they’re significantly lighter. The problem with lithium metal batteries is that they frequently develop small, tendril-like protrusions called dendrites. Over time, they can puncture the protective film that separates the positive and negative ends of the battery, leading to fires. A team of researchers at Stanford thinks they’ve solved that problem.  This battery tech would be a game-changer for electric vehicles (EVs). EVs spend about a quarter of their battery capacity carrying around their power source. The range of EVs would increase significantly with these batteries.

Microsoft Surface Event October 2; Yelp-Personalize Your Home Page; New Coating = Lighter Lithium Metal Batteries; K-Swiss CEO Shoe Collection

Microsoft will hold a special Surface hardware event in New York City October 2nd. Theverge.com reports it could serve as the first unveiling of Microsoft’s dual-screen Surface device. Redmond has been building a new dual-screen device, codenamed “Centaurus,” for over two years. It’s designed to be the hero device for a wave of new dual-screen tablet / laptop hybrids that should roll out in 2020.

Yelp announced that it will start allowing users to tailor their search results and homepage based on their personal preferences. According to techcrunch.com, that means if you’re vegetarian, or if you’re parent who’s usually looking for kid-friendly restaurants, you won’t have to reenter that information every time you do a search. Instead, you can enter it once and Yelp will prioritize those results moving forward.
Just select the “Personalize your experience” option, then choose options around dietary restrictions (whether they’re vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and so on), their lifestyle (whether they’re parents, car owners or pet owners), their accessibility needs (wheelchair access, gender neutral bathrooms), the types of food they prefer and other interests (like bookstores or date nights).
Once you’ve made your selections, those preferences will start affecting the search results you see.your browser.