Month: November 2016

Enlarge / The Nexus 5X and 6P, which will receive Android 7.1 next month. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

Google has released the second and final developer preview build of Android 7.1.1 to select Nexus and Pixel phones and tablets today—this is the update's last stop before the final version is released to the company's older hardware in early December. Like the first preview in October, this one supports the Nexus 5X and 6P as well as the Pixel C, and Google has added support for the Nexus 9 as well—you can enroll any of these devices in the beta program here to download over-the-air updates. The final version will add support for the Nexus 6 and the Nexus Player. The Pixel phones are already running Android 7.1, though they'll presumably receive an update to 7.1.1 at around the same time with any applicable fixes and enhancements.

There aren't major feature updates in the new beta, and Google's post is mostly targeted toward developers who are getting their apps ready for the newest version of Nougat. Android Studio 2.2.2 includes support for the new API level 25, and the Android emulator images included with the developer tools have also been updated. And Google has provided tools to help developers create round icons for their apps and support Android 7.1's new iOS-style app shortcuts.

As we've covered previously, Android 7.1 won't bring all of the features of Google's new Pixel phones to older Nexus and Pixel devices. Most significantly, you'll have to do without the Google Assistant or the new Pixel Launcher, but you won't get Daydream VR support or the full benefits of Nougat's "seamless update" mechanism, either. Going forward, it's not clear whether Pixel phones will receive new Android versions ahead of supported Nexus phones, whether those older devices can eventually expect to support the Pixel Launcher or Google Assistant, or whether even more Pixel-exclusive features will be added to the operating system. Nexus owners are still getting better and faster updates than most other Android phones, but it's clear that Pixel is the future.

NASA

A half-year has passed since astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully inflated a new habitat, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM. On Tuesday, the space agency provided an update on the commercial module's performance one-quarter of the way through a two-year experiment: so far, so good.

"BEAM is the first of its kind, so we’re learning as we go, and this data will improve our structural and thermal models and analyses going forward," said Steve Munday, NASA's manager for the program. "Through the NASA sensor suites on board, our teams on the ground, and astronaut support on station, we’re gaining extremely valuable data about the performance of expandable structures and habitats in space."

Enlarge / Sausage chain (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

As the potential of blockchains rattle beyond the financial realm, Walmart is the latest to try out the technology in the hopes that it can track food through the supply chain and pick out and recall tainted products.

As Ars has reported before, blockchain technology is essentially a ledger of data chunks—blocks—that link together using validation codes. Each block’s code references that of the one before it, creating an unbroken, sequential chain. Thus, all the blocks are preserved forever in the order in which they were added, providing a sort of built-in validation system—or as Ars previously described it, as a “souped-up audit trail”—locked from tampering. Better still, the chain doesn’t need to be stored in a master location but can instead be distributed among multiple computers still creating a linked record.

The technology was initially applied to secure money transactions, underwriting the rise of Bitcoin. But recently, there’s been a push to use it in other industries. In February, Ars reported that IBM was offering blockchain-as-a-service for businesses, particularly ones involving logistics, such as those in food supply. The idea is that food products could be tracked as they move from farms and factories to store shelves. Using tags and sensors, a product’s location, temperature, and other statistics could be recorded in a blockchain ledger at each step of the way.

Enlarge

Business isn't good at a Chicago tech company that was outed last month for its practice of buying social media data and re-selling it to police.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that Geofeedia had been given special access to data by Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in order to build software products for police that the ACLU called "surveillance tools." Facebook and Instagram took action to limit Geofeedia's access in September, and Twitter cut the company off after reviewing the ACLU report.

Losing access to those social media data feeds seems to have had a big impact on Geofeedia's business. A Geofeedia spokesperson today told the Chicago Tribune that it laid off 31 employees out of about 60 total.

Enlarge / President-elect Donald Trump. (credit: Getty Images | Drew Angerer)

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed two outspoken opponents of net neutrality rules to oversee the Federal Communications Commission's transition from Democratic to Republican control.

The appointees announced yesterday are Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison. Eisenach is director of the Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), while Jamison is a visiting fellow at the same institution. Eisenach previously worked on behalf of Verizon and other telecoms as a consultant, and Jamison used to manage regulatory policy at Sprint.

Eisenach and Jamison aren't necessarily candidates for FCC chairman, but they will help set the commission's direction and could help Trump choose FCC leadership. Their views on net neutrality match those of Trump, who opposed the net neutrality rules passed under current Chairman Tom Wheeler. Those rules prohibit ISPs from blocking or throttling lawful Internet traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment.

Enlarge / Hey, a quadcopter! Sick. Too bad it's still annoying to enjoy this doohickey with friends in the game's online modes.

Watch Dogs 2 has a mighty fine single-player mode, and that fact has proved increasingly important in the week since the game launched on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles. The game's creator, Ubisoft Montreal, disconnected the game's "seamless" multiplayer modes because of game-breaking bugs discovered during the pre-release review period. That means most of the game's players have yet to test some of the game's most intriguing content.

Ubisoft announced on Tuesday, a full week after the game's retail launch, that online services had returned to the PS4 version, and that it "anticipated" the same happening for the XB1 version by "evening Eastern time." However, Ubisoft's phrasing is a little disingenuous, because while certain online content has returned, the game's promise of "seamless" online interaction has yet to come true.

The problem is that Watch Dogs 2, like Ubisoft's The Division before it, is still struggling with a major piece of online infrastructure: auto-matchmaking. At full capacity, the game is meant to have online players appear in each other's single-player gaming sessions, much like in Destiny. For example, you may be completing a single-player mission, and then another real-life player who is completing content in the same part of virtual town will conveniently appear in your game world. Tap a button and you're instantly paired up for co-op goodness. Other times, a dynamic event will launch in your part of the game world, as noted in the game's mini-map, and other real-life players will appear in your world so that you can join them for the quick, fun event. (PC gamers of old may remember this type of mission as one of the best aspects of the old Warhammer MMO).