Firefox’s New Voice Controls Make It As Good As a Smart Speaker

https://lifehacker.com/firefoxs-new-voice-controls-make-it-as-good-as-a-smart-1841066550

I’m used to yelling at my Google Home and Amazon Echo, not so much my web browser. However, Mozilla is now testing voice-control capabilities for its Firefox browser, and you can join me in screaming at your screen—which is actually a little more fun and useful than it might sound at first glance.

To get started, open Firefox and visit Mozilla’s Firefox Voice Campaign page. Click on the “Get started” button, cough up your name and email address, and you’ll get a link to download the Firefox Voice addon:

Once you’ve installed it, you’ll have to approve a few permissions before you can get going. First, you’ll need to grant it access to your microphone—obviously. Mozilla will also ask whether it can collect and analyze voice transcripts of things you’ve said to your browser. It won’t identify who you are, so I’ll leave this one for you to decide. (I don’t like it when companies have recordings of me, but I also doubt I’ll be talking very scandalously to my web browser.)

That’s all the configuring you’ll have to do, though. To start yelling at your browser, you can either click on the microphone icon in the upper-right corner of your screen or tap CTRL + [period]. As for what you can tell Firefox to do, Mozilla has a giant list of commands for you to try, and the websites that support them, including:

  • Searching the web (“Look up recipes for manhattans”)
  • Search a specific website for information (“Search my Gmail for tickets to Hamilton”)
  • Visiting a specific webpage (“Go to Lifehacker”)
  • Asking a general question (“Who is David Murphy?”)
  • Playing music or videos (“Play Green Day on Spotify”)
  • Controlling audio or video playback (play, mute, pause, etc.)
  • Reading websites to you out loud (“Read this page”)
  • Getting the weather report (“What’s the temperature in San Francisco?”)
  • Translating a website to another language (“Translate this webpage to Spanish”)
  • Getting directions (“Find the nearest sushi on maps”)
  • Setting a timer (“Set a timer for five minutes”)
  • Finding a tab among your way-too-many open tabs (“Find calendar tab”)
  • Generic browser controls (“Open a new tab”)
  • Copying and pasting (“Copy full page screenshot”)
  • Creating shortcuts for commands (“open Lifehacker” > “Give that the name hacks”)

The only downside—with an asterisk—is that there isn’t a wake word to simply trigger Firefox’s voice capabilities. From a privacy perspective, that’s great; however, it is slightly inconvenient to have to click an icon or tap a keyboard shortcut all the time.

I also noticed that the CTRL + [period] shortcut actually loaded up my Firefox Containers context menu, not the microphone. However, you can change the microphone trigger to anything you want by clicking on the icon and then clicking on the gear icon to access the add-on’s settings.

(I also recommend turning off the chime that plays whenever you open the mic, lest you go crazy.)

via Lifehacker https://lifehacker.com

January 21, 2020 at 09:05AM

How to Unlock Microsoft’s Free Graphing Calculator in Windows 10

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-unlock-microsofts-free-graphing-calculator-in-wi-1841064614

While your math teacher (or your kid’s math teacher) might not let them lug a laptop into their calculus class, I still think it’s awesome that Microsoft is finally giving the good ol’ Windows Calculator a boost of geekiness. If you thought “Scientific” mode was fun, you haven’t seen anything yet—coming soon, to Windows 10, is a full-fledged graphing calculator.

I kid, but only a little bit, as it’ll be great to finally have a graphing calculator baked into the operating system. You won’t have to turn to third-party apps to emulate one anymore, not unless you crave that sweet, Texas Instruments feel.

If you’re impatient, you can even start playing with this new graphing calculator today. You’ll have to trade away a little potential stability to calculate sine curves, as you can only access said calculator at the moment via one of Microsoft’s preview builds of Windows 10.

If that doesn’t dissuade you—and you can always drop out of the Windows Insider program once you’ve had your fun, or in case you encounter issues with its Windows 10 previews—here’s how to get started.

Were I you, I’d start by making a System Restore point just in case, via Control Panel > System > System protection. After that, hit up the Settings app > Update & Security, scroll down to the “Windows Insider Program,” and begin the process of signing up. Make sure you’ve enrolled yourself in the Fast track. Once your computer restarts, visit that same section again and stick with the “Windows Update” screen instead of clicking on “Windows Insider Program.” Check for updates and install anything that’s offered, which will undoubtedly require another PC restart.

After that, you should have a fresh, beta build of Windows 10 to play with—and should see something like this in the lower-right corner of your desktop, to confirm that:

You can pull up the Calculator now, but you might not see anything new—at least, I didn’t when I first loaded it. To fix that, go visit Windows Calculator’s listing in the Microsoft Store. Click on “Get” to reinstall it, and you should see a little notification that Windows Calculator has been updated. Now, when you pull up Calculator on your desktop, you’ll see the fancy new “Graphic” option via the upper-left “hamburger icon” menu:

Are you ready? Click on it, and then type in your favorite equation. Hit Enter, and you’ll see the results graphed to your left. Yes, you can enter multiple equations at once—color-coded!—and you can use the tracing feature to see the exact x and y coordinates of any point. Ah, it’s like I’m back in AP Calculus again.

And if you enter two equations that relate to one another—for example, using “x” in one and defining “x” in another—you get a little adjustment bar that shows you how different values impact the primary equation:

You can also hover over your equation and, if supported, Calculator will even give you a quick analysis that shows you key information: the domain and range, the x-intercept, the y-intercept, inflection points, et cetera.

While Calculator won’t do your Calculus homework for you, it’s at least a lot easier to navigate than your handheld graphing calculator—prettier, too, and a lot cheaper.

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com

January 20, 2020 at 05:06PM

New Virus Kills Sixth Person After Human-to-Human Transmission Confirmed

https://gizmodo.com/new-virus-kills-sixth-person-after-human-to-human-trans-1841125936

Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital on January 17, 2020 in Wuhan, China
Photo: Getty Images

Health officials in China have confirmed that a mysterious new virus which originated in the city of Wuhan can be transmitted from human-to-human, not just from animals to humans. The news comes after a sixth person has died from the virus and at least 15 health care workers have been infected. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called an emergency meeting to discuss the novel coronavirus on Wednesday.

The virus, dubbed 2019-nCoV, has infected at least 295 people and spread to Thailand, Japan, and South Korea since it was first identified on December 31, 2019, according to Chinese state media outlet CGTN. At least eight people remain in critical condition.

Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged the existence of the virus for the first time on Monday, stressing that the outbreak “must be taken seriously.” The first death from 2019-nCoV was recorded on January 9 after a 61-year-old man in Wuhan developed pneumonia-like symptoms. Wuhan’s mayor, Zhou Xianwang, announced the fifth and sixth deaths in the city during a news conference on Tuesday.

Disturbingly, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced today that 15 health workers have become sick from the new virus while treating patients. One of the health workers is reportedly in critical condition, while the others are stable. It’s not clear if the health care workers all come from the same hospital or if they’re from different hospitals in the city of 11 million.

The new virus has recently spread to some of China’s largest cities, with five cases in Beijing and two cases in Shanghai being reported so far. Chinese officials have confirmed that there have been at least 14 cases in Guangdong province, over 600 miles from Wuhan, and at least two of those cases are believed to be from direct human-to-human transmission.

Health officials previously believed that the only people that had become sick were in direct contact with animals at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan. CNN reports the market was selling a large variety of live animals for consumption, including wild animals that can carry a variety of diseases.

South Korea reported its first case of the new virus on Monday, in a 35-year-old Chinese woman who had recently traveled to Wuhan. The unnamed woman did not visit any food markets with live animals according to the Center For Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.

Experts have suggested that the actual number of people infected with the new virus could be much higher than Chinese health officials have let on. The Center for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London believes that there could be over 1,700 cases already, based on its model. Health officials have started to compare this new virus to SARS, which killed 774 people from November 2002 to July 2003.

The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Twitter yesterday that an emergency meeting would take place on Wednesday to discuss whether this outbreak constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern.” Such a designation would allow the global health body to more quickly allocate funds to screen for the virus.

An airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, China, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020.
Photo: AP

The virus has popped up in four countries so far this month, but others are on high alert. In Australia, a man who recently visited Wuhan is being tested for the virus, but health officials in Australia don’t yet have the specific tools to test for 2019-nCoV. Results from the test won’t be ready for another couple of days, according to Australia’s ABC News.

“At the moment we can only do a generic test for coronavirus,” Jeannette Young, the chief health officer for the state of Queensland said at a press conference today. “We can’t do the specific test for this specific virus because we haven’t seen it before, so we’ve got to develop the specific tests to be able to say it’s this particular virus.”

Airports in Australia, South Korea, and Japan have started to do thermal screening of people coming on flights from China in an effort to catch and quarantine anyone who may present flu-like symptoms. The 35-year-old woman who was discovered to have the virus in South Korea only learned about it through thermal screening at Incheon International Airport in Seoul. Just three U.S. airports are screening for the virus so far, according to a report from the Washington Post, with Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York’s John F. Kennedy setting up thermal scanners.

What can you do to protect yourself from getting this new virus? It’s the same advice for not getting the flu. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and wear a mask when you’re in public, say public health experts.

“Every flu season, it’s the exact same same advice: Hand hygiene. Wash your hands often, don’t rub your nose and mouth,” Dr. Gabriel Leung, Founding Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, said today at a press conference in Hong Kong.

“Please take care if you are ill,” Leung continued. “If you are going to a crowded place, put on a mask even if you are not ill because others may be, even if they have cough etiquette or sneeze etiquette, they may still get in touch with you.”

“If you have any symptoms, especially if you have travel history to Wuhan, then please go and seek medical attention and be honest and open with your doctors. Tell them of your travel history. Do not hide any history from your doctors because you fear, ‘Oh, if I say this I might be quarantined.’ Please be honest to help yourself and to help others.”

China’s Lunar New Year celebrations start later this week, giving public health officials even more concern that the new virus could spread rapidly. Hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel within China for the Lunar New Year and millions more will travel outside of China. And if this new virus is spreading from person-to-person with such ease that 15 health workers have already gotten sick, there’s a very real concern that this deadly outbreak could travel even further in the coming weeks.

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com

January 21, 2020 at 06:06AM

Greta Thunberg’s Message to Capitalists: ‘Act as if You Loved Your Children’

https://earther.gizmodo.com/greta-thunbergs-message-to-capitalists-act-as-if-you-l-1841130508

Greta Thunberg is over it. The 17-year-old Swedish climate activist spoke at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday where she told all the business leaders, bankers, and politicians in the audience that they need to get their shit together if we are to survive the climate crisis.

The climate crisis is growing more urgent by the day. Thunberg knows as much. Just take a look at Australia, where bushfires are threatening cities and wildlife amid extreme heat and drought. We keep breaking heat records around the world. Everything is suffering: oceans, forests, people, the Arctic and even freaking Pokémon (OK that’s not the real world but still!).

Seriously, though, Thunberg is 100 percent right. We need to panic.

“Our house is still on fire,” she said during her speech. “Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour, and we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.”

Thunberg’s warning to the gathered rich and powerful mirrors WEF’s own assessment. Experts polled by WEF for its annual risk report ranked the climate crisis and other related issues as the biggest threats we face today (including strikers like Thunberg who threaten the status quo). Addressing the climate crisis will require momentous change. Planting trees isn’t enough. Lowering emissions isn’t either. The world needs to stop carbon pollution completely or we all are at tremendous risk.

The fossil fuel industry has spent decades funding climate denial and inaction. And it’s paid dividends as profits have soared. It also means as Thunberg said quite pointedly, politicians on all ends of the political spectrum who let it happen are to blame (though some left-wing politicians are clearly trying to change that).

“This is not about right or left,” she said. “We couldn’t care less about your party politics. From a sustainability perspective, the right, the left, as well as the center, have all failed.”

Young people around the world have risen to call out the world’s failure to address the climate crisis. The movement has seen students take to the streets and strike as well as using international and national legal mechanisms to hold leaders to account. They’re also increasingly showing up in the halls of power to state their demands. Ahead of Davos, Thunberg and other youth climate activists laid out those demands in a piece for the Guardian. In her speech, she reiterated them.

“We demand, at this year’s World Economic Forum, participants from all companies, banks, institutions, and governments immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies, and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels,” Thunberg said, noting those actions needed to be taken immediately.

There has been an ongoing shift in the financial community recently with regards to fossil fuels. Goldman Sachs recently announced it wouldn’t fund drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after tribes put pressure on the bank. Blackrock, the world’s largest asset management firm, also bowed to activist pressure recently to cleanse its portfolio of fossil fuel investments. There’s still many details be hammered out and billions of dollars flowing to the fossil fuel industry, but money is starting to talk. Activists like Thunberg are a large reason why, and they’re not quitting anytime soon.

“Either you do this, or you’re going to have to explain to your children why you are giving up on the 1.5-degree target, giving up without even trying,” she said. “I am here to tell you that, unlike you, my generation will not give up without a fight.”

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com

January 21, 2020 at 10:00AM

Studio Ghibli has embraced streaming, and the world is better for it

https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/21/studio-ghibli-netflix-hbo-max-streaming/

The complete works of animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli are expensive. As a teenager, I would save up my woeful Subway paychecks and, every few months, proudly walk into the nearest HMV store to buy another movie by famed director Hayao Miyazaki. It was an agonizingly slow process. But I gradually built up my then-DVD collection and watched the movies I wasn’t sure of, and less familiar with, during the occasional Ghibli marathon on TV.

Thank goodness they’re all headed to streaming services.

Yesterday, Netflix announced that every Studio Ghibli film bar one will be coming to its platform this spring. They’ll roll out in batches starting on February 1st and be available almost everywhere excluding the US, Canada and Japan. HBO Max, an upcoming streaming service by WarnerMedia Entertainment, secured similar streaming rights for the US market last October.

Millions of people already subscribe to Netflix. And plenty inside the US are seriously considering HBO Max for its various originals, such as Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised by Wolves, and legacy shows, including Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Big Bang Theory. All of these people will soon have access to a near-complete Ghibli library. (The sole exception is Grave of the Fireflies, a bleak World War II story that is likely missing because the rights are held by Shinchosha, the publisher of the book the film is based on, rather than Ghibli’s parent company Tokuma Shoten.)

The deals should, therefore, have a few positive knock-on effects.

First, more people will likely experience Ghibli’s less popular but equally brilliant films. Growing up, I prioritized the obvious classics — My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle — which meant it was years before I watched studio gems like Only Yesterday and Whisper of the Heart. The immediate choice on Netflix and HBO Max should allow more of the viewing public to watch and appreciate the breadth of Ghibli’s output. My Neighbors the Yamadas and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, for instance, have unusual but breathtaking art styles. The Wind Rises, meanwhile, is a fictionalized biopic of the World War II aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi.

My Neighbours the Yamadas

My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)

Secondly, the availability should inspire more youngsters with a passion for drawing, comics and animation. The beautifully-constructed films are invaluable both as inspiration and reference while learning these art forms.

Finally, streaming could increase Ghibli’s short- and long-term revenue. The terms of the Netflix and HBO Max deals haven’t been disclosed, but it’s safe to assume that at least some money will be trickling into Ghibli’s coffers. The Japanese studio has long been opposed to making a quick buck through off-brand licensing deals or heavy commercialization — it runs a small museum in Mitaka, for instance, rather than dozens of theme parks.

The company announced a "brief pause" in August 2014 after Miyazaki’s retirement one year earlier. Miyazaki has since returned to helm How Do You Live?, a film based on the 1937 book that shares the same name. If Ghibli wants to make more feature-length movies following its release, streaming revenue could help. The cash could also support Ghibli staff who wish to start their own companies in the future. Yoshiaki Nishimura, for instance, set up Studio Ponoc with several former Ghibli animators in 2015.

Ponyo

Ponyo (2008)

Neither deal affects Ghibli fans who crave a permanent collection, either. Want a full Blu-ray set at home? Go for it. The entire Ghibli filmography was also made available for digital purchase in the US last month.

The only downside is the increasingly fractured state of streaming. Studio Ghibli’s catalog is the latest example of the regional disparity between the US and the rest of the world. Netflix in the UK, for instance, has a vastly different library to its international counterparts. HBO Max and, for now, Disney+ aren’t available in Britain, either. The situation can be frustratingly messy if you don’t follow the media industry. It could also be infuriating if you’re a Netflix subscriber in the US with no plans to get HBO Max.

(And they wonder why so many people still pirate their favorite movies and TV shows.)

Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Still, some streaming availability is better than none. I have no plans to ditch my DVD and Blu-ray collection, but it’s nice to know I’ll soon be able to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service, Pom Poko and Arietty wherever I have a stable internet connection.

Source: Netflix (Press Release)

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

January 21, 2020 at 09:39AM

This EV company is using AI and 3D printing to add lightness

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1646425

  • Arcimoto’s FUV is small, light, and nimble, but even with such a small vehicle there’s still the opportunity to save weight.

    XponentialWorks

  • The AI-designed, 3D-printed rear swing arm weighs 34 percent less than the conventional part it replaces.

    XponentialWorks

  • The brake pedal is 49-percent lighter.

    XponentialWorks

  • This upper control arm is 52-percent lighter.

    XponentialWorks

  • A screenshot from the design software. The green bit is the AI-generated design, the pink shape is the part it replaces.

  • Another screenshot showing the loads on the part.

Arcimoto

accurately calls its electric three-wheeler a Fun Utility Vehicle—

we first tested one at CES

four years ago, and it remains

one of the more entertaining vehicles

I’ve driven for Ars.

The company started delivering

the first FUVs to customers last September, but it’s not quite done with the design for this engaging little machine. As you probably know, weight is the enemy of efficiency, and even little EVs like this one have to carry around a hefty battery pack, in this case a 12kWh unit with 102.5 miles (165km) of city range. On Tuesday, Arcimoto and XponentialWorks announced they’ve been working together on a project that should make future FUVs even more efficient, thanks to lightweight suspension parts created using AI generative design and 3D printing.

“Our mission to rightsize the footprint of daily mobility means a continued commitment to optimizing not just the vehicle platform architecture, but all of its constituent parts as well. The speed at which the XponentialWorks team has made meaningful weight improvements to core components of the Fun Utility Vehicle is truly impressive,” said Arcimoto CEO Mark Frohnmayer in a statement.

XponentialWorks used ParaMatters’ AI software

to iterate new designs

for components like the FUV’s brake pedal, upper control arm, rear swing arm, and knuckle.

As with other AI-generated auto parts

, the results look far more organic than anything you’d expect to find on a road vehicle, and the weight savings is real–between 34 and 52 percent compared to the conventionally designed and constructed bits fitted to the versions we’ve tested in the past. It all happened pretty rapidly, according to XponentialWorks founder Avi Reichental.

“It took us about four weeks from taking a stock car to presenting a fully functional lightweighted FUV. With our unique capabilities to combine generative, additive and simulation technologies, we expect to be in production within the next six months,” he told Ars. For that to happen, everyone needs to be sure that the AI-designed, 3D-printed components are sufficient for the loads and stresses of life on the streets. “We believe that with our algorithmic finite element analysis solvers and powerful simulation technology, we can substantially compress the testing cycle and enhance the quality predictability and performance of each part,” Reichental told me.

Listing image by XponentialWorks

via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

January 21, 2020 at 08:07AM