Month: November 2024

Fitness app Strava is tightening third-party access to user data

Training apps, AI use, and trend analysis seem to be off-limits in Strava’s API.

The Strava app is one of the most popular ways for cyclists, runners, hikers, and other distance sports enthusiasts to track their performance and grab some bragging rights. Because most athletic types will have the app installed already—and because it's hard or impossible to run two tracking apps at once—many apps use Strava's API as a go-between for workout data.

Strava emailed its more than 100 million users earlier this week to notify them about "important updates on how Strava data can be displayed, accessed, and used by third-party apps." In the update, Strava noted that third-party apps "are no longer able to display your Strava activity data on their surfaces to other users," that Strava's API data cannot be used "in artificial intelligence models or other similar applications," and that third-party apps must be designed so as to "complement" Strava's look and feel "rather than replicating it."

What does this actually mean? It depends on which apps you're using. DC Rainmaker, a longtime fitness tech blogger, sees the "other users" clause as something that "immediately break[s] almost all coaching apps that have connections to Strava." If an app needs to see your Strava workout to provide insights on performance or connect you to a group, Strava's API seems to block it now. A manager at the training app Intervals posted on the app's official forum that the API change would break Intervals' ability to use Strava as its data source.

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Fitness app Strava is tightening third-party access to user data

Training apps, AI use, and trend analysis seem to be off-limits in Strava’s API.

The Strava app is one of the most popular ways for cyclists, runners, hikers, and other distance sports enthusiasts to track their performance and grab some bragging rights. Because most athletic types will have the app installed already—and because it's hard or impossible to run two tracking apps at once—many apps use Strava's API as a go-between for workout data.

Strava emailed its more than 100 million users earlier this week to notify them about "important updates on how Strava data can be displayed, accessed, and used by third-party apps." In the update, Strava noted that third-party apps "are no longer able to display your Strava activity data on their surfaces to other users," that Strava's API data cannot be used "in artificial intelligence models or other similar applications," and that third-party apps must be designed so as to "complement" Strava's look and feel "rather than replicating it."

What does this actually mean? It depends on which apps you're using. DC Rainmaker, a longtime fitness tech blogger, sees the "other users" clause as something that "immediately break[s] almost all coaching apps that have connections to Strava." If an app needs to see your Strava workout to provide insights on performance or connect you to a group, Strava's API seems to block it now. A manager at the training app Intervals posted on the app's official forum that the API change would break Intervals' ability to use Strava as its data source.

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Comcast to ditch cable TV networks in partial spinoff of NBCUniversal assets

Comcast to spin off USA, CNBC, MSNBC, and others, will keep Peacock streaming.

Comcast today announced plans to spin off NBCUniversal cable TV networks such as USA, CNBC, and MSNBC into a new publicly traded company. Comcast is trying to complete the spinoff in one year, effectively unwinding part of the NBCUniversal acquisition it completed in 2011.

The entities in the planned spinoff generated about $7 billion of revenue in the 12 months that ended September 30, 2024, Comcast said. But cable TV channels have become less lucrative in an industry that's shifting to the streaming model, and the spinoff would let Comcast remove those assets from its earnings reports. Comcast's total revenue in the 12-month period was about $123 billion.

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said in the Q3 earnings call on October 31 that Comcast is "experiencing the effects of the transition in our video businesses and have been studying the best path forward for these assets."

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Comcast to ditch cable TV networks in partial spinoff of NBCUniversal assets

Comcast to spin off USA, CNBC, MSNBC, and others, will keep Peacock streaming.

Comcast today announced plans to spin off NBCUniversal cable TV networks such as USA, CNBC, and MSNBC into a new publicly traded company. Comcast is trying to complete the spinoff in one year, effectively unwinding part of the NBCUniversal acquisition it completed in 2011.

The entities in the planned spinoff generated about $7 billion of revenue in the 12 months that ended September 30, 2024, Comcast said. But cable TV channels have become less lucrative in an industry that's shifting to the streaming model, and the spinoff would let Comcast remove those assets from its earnings reports. Comcast's total revenue in the 12-month period was about $123 billion.

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said in the Q3 earnings call on October 31 that Comcast is "experiencing the effects of the transition in our video businesses and have been studying the best path forward for these assets."

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Beelink EQ14 mini PC is powered by an unannounced Intel N150 processor

The Beelink EQ14 is a small desktop computer with two Ethernet ports, an integrated power supply, and support for up to two SSDs. It’s also the second mini PC announced to date that will be available with an Intel N150 processor, a follow-up to t…

The Beelink EQ14 is a small desktop computer with two Ethernet ports, an integrated power supply, and support for up to two SSDs. It’s also the second mini PC announced to date that will be available with an Intel N150 processor, a follow-up to the popular Intel N100 Alder Lake-N chip that powers many budget laptops […]

The post Beelink EQ14 mini PC is powered by an unannounced Intel N150 processor appeared first on Liliputing.

Amazon Echo Show 21 blurs the lines between smart displays and TVs

Amazon’s Echo line of products began with smart speakers and eventually evolved to include smart displays that added a small screen that could present visual information. As Amazon has more features, the lines between smart displays, TVs, and tab…

Amazon’s Echo line of products began with smart speakers and eventually evolved to include smart displays that added a small screen that could present visual information. As Amazon has more features, the lines between smart displays, TVs, and tablets has become a bit blurry. Now it’s blurrier than ever: the new Amazon Echo Show 21 […]

The post Amazon Echo Show 21 blurs the lines between smart displays and TVs appeared first on Liliputing.

Block zombies are on the attack in Minecraft Movie trailer

Where “anything you can imaging is possible—as long as what you imagine can be built out of blocks.”

Jack Black stars as Steve in A Minecraft Movie.

The first teaser for A Minecraft Movie released in September to some decidedly mixed reactions, particularly concerning the CGI and character design and especially Jason Momoa's hair. And yes, there were many ridiculous memes. We were inclined to give it a chance based on the casting of Momoa and Jack Black. Now the full trailer has dropped, and honestly, odd design choices aside—and they are indeed odd—it looks like a perfectly acceptable fun family film and not much more, albeit very light on actual plot.

As previously reported, once the film went into development, Jared Hess (who worked with star Jack Black on Nacho Libre) ended up directing. The COVID pandemic and 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike delayed things further, but filming finally wrapped earlier this year in Auckland, New Zealand—just in time for a spring 2025 theatrical release. Per the official premise:

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft, it’s essential to one’s survival! Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn (Danielle Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world (and protect it from evil things like Piglins and Zombies, too) while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Jack Black). Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative… the very skills they need to thrive back in the real world.

Game players will recognize Steve as one of the default characters in Minecraft. The teaser was set to The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" and showed our misfits encountering a fantastical Tolkien-esque landscape—only with a lot more cube-like shapes, like a pink sheep with a cubed head.

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Yi Peng 3: Chinesisches Schiff war nahe der durchtrennten Seekabel

Die Yi Peng 3 war in der Nähe der Stelle, an der die beiden Glasfaser-Seekabel BCS East-West und C-Lion1 durchtrennt wurden. Beweise für eine Sabotage gibt es keine. (Seekabel, Glasfaser)

Die Yi Peng 3 war in der Nähe der Stelle, an der die beiden Glasfaser-Seekabel BCS East-West und C-Lion1 durchtrennt wurden. Beweise für eine Sabotage gibt es keine. (Seekabel, Glasfaser)