Daily Archives: March 1, 2017

CHICAGO McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) on Wednesday announced a push to embrace apps aimed at speeding up service at drive-thrus, which account for about 70 percent of its U.S. business, as the fast-food chain looks to woo back diners.

The company's U.S. restaurants have suffered four straight years of traffic declines, resulting in 500 million lost transactions since 2012. As part of the push for greater convenience in the United States, which contributes more operating income than any other global market, McDonald's will also offer curbside pickup of orders to reduce wait time at drive-thrus.

McDonald's will start to roll out "mobile order and pay" in the fourth quarter and have it available at all of its roughly 14,000 U.S. restaurants by year-end, Chris Kempczinski, president of McDonald's USA, said at the company's investor meeting in Chicago on Wednesday.

Customers who use the app will have the option to pick up orders at drive-thru windows or in designated curbside delivery parking spots, where a restaurant worker will hand off orders. Customers could also choose to pick up orders at restaurant counters.

Service times at McDonald's have recently slowed, and the new initiatives are expected to cut wait times, shorten drive-thru lines and prevent customers from skipping visits due to long delays, said Jim Sappington, McDonald's executive vice president of operations, digital and technology.

McDonald's has lagged other fast-food restaurants such as Domino's Pizza Inc (DPZ.N), Panera Bread Co (PNRA.O) and Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) in its use of digital technology.

The goal is "progress over perfection," said Sappington, who added that McDonald's will also debut "mobile order and pay" in about 6,000 international locations by year-end as it works to add a loyalty program and customization.

Mobile ordering should reduce errors and significantly cut the time it takes to handle large, complex orders. The new initiatives could shift some 20 percent of drive-thru orders to curbside delivery and another 20 percent to drive-thru pickup only, executives said.

"Decongesting" the drive-thru in such a way could result in 20 more cars per hour and incremental sales, said Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook. McDonald's also plans to expand delivery in the United States, which it is testing with UberEATS in Florida, and begin trying it in other countries.

McDonald's said it would use a part of the savings from refranchising restaurants outside the United States to get to 2,500 "Experience of the Future" restaurant revamps by the end of 2017. Those restaurants include self-service kiosks, table service and reconfigured kitchens designed to slash the distance a restaurant's workers walk on a given day by as much as seven miles.

Shares of McDonald's closed up 1.1 percent at $129.05 after hitting a nine-month high of $129.99.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Chicago; Additional reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)

Yahoo Inc , which disclosed two massive data breaches last year, said on Wednesday that about 32 million user accounts were accessed by intruders in the last two years using forged cookies.

SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc's virtual reality unit Oculus has cut $200 from the total price of its flagship hardware set, in a bid to expand the system's base of video game players, the company said on Wednesday.

A federal appeals court has thrown out a jury verdict that had originally required Apple Inc to pay $533 million to Smartflash LLC, a technology developer and licenser that claimed Apple's iTunes software infringed its data storage patents.

Originally posted here:

McDonald's US turnaround shifts to technology, speedier service - Reuters

March 1, 2017 7:00 AM ByScott Steinberg Parade @AKeynoteSpeaker More by Scott

Your kids think about it all the time.They obsess about it actually.And when theyre not occupied by it up in their rooms, its keeping them in the bathroom a little longer then they need to be.They talk about it with their friends, they crave it during long road trips or any spare moment theyve got. Were talking about technology, of course.

Granted, while discussing high-tech and online safety may not seem to require the same gravity as another, equally important talk we must all have with children, in some ways parents need to treat it just the same. As with the birds and the bees, kids need to know some basic ground rules of technology, and know that they can trust their parents to talk about it openly and honestly. This means that at some point in all our lives, parents need to be ready to have The Talk about technology with kids.

Following are some of the topics you should cover, and some tips to make sure the meeting goes well to boot.

What to do when something is wrong

Teach kids what they need to know to spot something fishy, whether a piece of questionable content or unscrupulous individual. Ensure theyre equipped with a basic awareness of predators, criminals, shady characters, online scams and potential sources of erroneous facts and misinformation. Cultivate a healthy sense of skepticism without instilling a sense of fear or powerlessness, and let kids know that they can come to you when questions or concerns arise.

Transparency does not mean invasion of privacy

Let your kids know that anything they do with technology can be tracked and monitored to you.Theres no reason to do nightly checks unless you suspect something is wrong, but checking in once every couple of weeks into text conversations or e-mail accounts should teach make them think twice about doing anything they shouldnt with their devices.But let them know that doesnt mean you will be prying into their personal details, either.Youre just doing a top level look to make sure nothing is wrong, so promise your kids you wont tell grandma and grandpa that they have a new girlfriend based on your tech check-ups.

Creating and enforcing safe password policies

Many experts recommend enforcing a transparent password policy with your kids, meaning every password for any login is available for parents. If thats not for you, make sure youre clear on what does work for your family.Set rules that if you discover that any inappropriate activities or actions have taken place, these can be grounds for immediate restriction or loss of privileges. Just as you as a parent shouldnt be doing anything online thats inappropriate to share with your family, there shouldnt be anything that your kids are doing that requires being kept secret as well.

Downloading apps, media and software

Have a discussion about buying new apps, music or digital downloads, what types of content is acceptable to consume, and how it may be enjoyed then set a household policy that all members agree to abide by. Be sure to consistently apply and enforce it as well.

The right time and place for technology

Discuss the appropriate times to use technology as well as times that should be device free.For example, there should be an expectation at dinner that no one is checking their smartphone or playing with their PlayStation Vita.

You also want to make sure they know that they should never try to use any piece of technology that will distract them from driving.Texting while driving can have disastrous and devastating effects on families, and if its a concern you may want to consider one of the many available apps that disables texting ability while driving.

Discussing digital citizenship

Discussions about the appropriate way to behave online can also include discussing what is and isnt OK to share online, especially given the ready availability and permanence of information uploaded to the Internet.

Brant Pinvidic Tackles Pokmon Go, Parenting and More in Latest Why Im Not On Video

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Kids and Technology: What You Need to Talk About - Parade

For years now school reformers have been touting the power of technology to transform education. Kids can learn better, faster and anywhere they want if only school districts would invest enough money in technology and allow teachers to learn how to integrate them into lessons.

But while educational technology has been extremely helpful for some populations of students, including some with disabilities, the overarching promise that enthusiasts predicted has not yet been borne out. There are a number of reasons for this, including poor training of teachers, poorly designed technology and technology that quickly becomes obsolete.

Here is a piece on this subject by Kathy Liu Sun, a former high school math teacher who is now an assistant professor of education at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley, California.

[The new magical thinking about high-tech in schools and why its a problem]

By Kathy Liu Sun

I live and work in Silicon Valley, so its not surprising that technology has found its way into our math classrooms here. But is technology really supporting our students to learn? Just because something is labeled as technology doesnt mean it supports good learning.

In my recent work in local schools, I have observed that teachers are having their students work on computers for the entire math lesson. Proponents argue that computer-based lessons allow students to go at their own pace and expose students to content they might not otherwise have an opportunity to see. But these benefits come at a high cost.

One of the most pressing problems is the content and focus of these digital lessons, which are often simply digital replications of traditional lecture based math lessons. (You remember these: teacher at board showing you example after example, followed by practicing a similar problem with different numbers twenty times over.)

Whether delivered digitally or in person, this type of instruction sends the wrong message about mathematics. It teaches students that mathematics is about mastering a set of procedures, rather than viewing mathematics as a creative subject that is about problem-solving and sense-making.

Research has shown that such an emphasis on mathematical procedures is not supportive of student learning and fails to help students to draw connections between key mathematical ideas, think critically, and problem-solve. These skills are particularly important for 21st Century citizenry and long-term achievement outcomes.

While your seventh grader engaging in digital math lessons might be learning pre-calculus procedures, she may not have any understanding of the underlying concepts that will be critical for future success.

Instead, lets consider how technology might genuinely support mathematical sense-making and problem-solving. A recent study conducted at Stanford University found that students who played a game that focused on the relationship between numbers, rather than memorized math facts, led to better learning outcomes.

[The overselling of educational technology]

Good educational technology, implemented at the appropriate time, can enhance math learning. Here are a few things to look for when examining technology to support mathematics learning:

When the latest technology-based learning program rolls out at our local schools, lets be sure to critically examine the type of mathematics learning it supports.

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Silicon Valley teacher: Don't confuse educational technology that helps kids learn and doesn't - Washington Post

Technological advances have been credited with streamlining the work of many industries. Whether it be in the medicine, retail, sports or the like, modern technology has vastly altered the way humans perform daily operations.

Although one of the primary reasons for the adoption of new technologies is to increase efficiency, it seems that just the opposite is happening. We may have successfully managed to make phones slimmer, lighter, faster and capable of holding more memory, but these advances have done little to improve our efficiency.

It comes as an ironic twist that the advances weve made in order to accomplish tasks more speedily have actually become a detriment to progress.

We previously thought that creating sleeker and faster technology would allow us to expand our day, that we might be able to stretch out a few more hours of productivity if we werent waiting around for the internet to load or our phones to charge. It turns out that modern devices have done just the opposite, distracting us so much that there are very few productive hours left in a given day.

The easy accessibility of technology be that a phone, tablet, laptop or any device combined with high-speed data and a multitude of free social media applications, have pulled peoples attention away from the work that matters.

Sure, years ago we would have to strain our arms to get a few bars to send an SMS message on a flip phone; and maybe we had to use dial-up internet access because Wi-Fi wasnt available or around. It may seem like a blessing that those days are over, but in reality, those days were much longer than the ones we live in now.

Because the world was slower, people were able to provide more focused, undivided attention on all tasks be it work-related activities or even leisure time. Reading a book meant going outside, grabbing a book and reading. Reading a book today means grabbing a book, putting your phone on your lap and checking your notifications every time theres a slight vibration.

This means it takes 10 times longer to read a book, and its nearly impossible to fully engage with the reading or immerse oneself in the world because you simply dont allow yourself to fully commit to any one activity.

Our brains work in such a way that even though we are able to multi-task quite efficiently due to the phenomenon of selective attention, we compromise on our skill level on tasks that we perform simultaneously. If I were to sing a song while cooking a meal, I may be able to sing in a mediocre way and cook a decent meal; however, if I had sung the song with my full attention, and then cooked the meal with no distractions, each one of those tasks would have been performed with a higher degree of precision and finesse.

Overall, nothing can compare with undivided, focused attention on a task. And although it may be painful to think about waiting to check notifications until after a chapter of reading is done, that chapter will be read much faster and it will be much more enjoyable if its the only thing youre doing.

In a TED-Ed video titled How to practice effectivelyfor just about anything, a study was mentioned in which 260 students were observed while studying. It was found that on average, the students were only able to maintain focused attention for six minutes at a time. Social media apps, such as Facebook and Twitter on smartphones, were found to be the biggest distractions.

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How technology has shortened our day - UConn Daily Campus

This past November, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter and floated the idea ofoffering a solar roof option for the Model 3. When asked outright if Tesla had plans to embed solar panels in the roof, Musk replied that they would probably offer that as an option.

Right off the bat, Musks tweet seemed overly optimistic, if not downright absurd.While a solar roof capable of harnessing the suns power and charging a car as it drives is certainly intriguing, such a design is far from practical given the current state of solar technology. At the core, the size of the Model 3s roof would only be big enough for a solar panel that would, at best, manage to tack on an extra mile or two of range per day. In effect, implementing a solar roof would be far more trouble than its worth.

Earlier this week, however, Panasonic unveiled a new a type of solar panel technology designed specifically for cars. Dubbed theHITPhotovoltaic Module for Automobile, the solar roof design is currently available for the Toyota Prius PHV exclusively, but that may change in the coming years.

What makes Panasonics work here so intriguing is that the design houses new technology which makes it possible to actually charge lithium-ion batteries, the very same which power Teslas fleet of vehicles.

Panasonics press release reads:

Panasonics solar cells have a unique structure that combines a crystalline silicon substrate and an amorphous silicon film, and feature high conversion efficiency and excellent temperature characteristics.

Conventional automotive solar cells can output up to several tens of watts and have been used only for the auxiliary charging of 12 V batteries and ventilation power sources for parked cars; however, the use of the features of Panasonics solar cells allow a high output (approx.180 W) in a limited area on a cars roof, enabling the charging of the drive lithium-ion batteries as well as 12 V batteries, resulting in a possible extension of an EVs travel distance and increased in fuel economy.

An added bonusis that Panasonics solar roof can be designed to match a cars existing design, thereby enabling an efficientinstallation process.

That said, a lot more work still needs to be done before solar roofs become an add-on worth paying for, or even considering. Even with Panasonics solar roof advancements, a parked car equipped with a solar roof panel might still only be able to eek out an additional 3-4 miles of range per day.While that could certainly add up over time, itshardly a game-changer. Additionally, consider this: the aforementioned Toyota Prius PHV would reportedly need about a full week to go from empty to full charge via a solar roof alone.

In the meantime, Tesla owners can look forward to next-gen Supercharger technology which Musk last year hinted would be a huge leap forward.

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New solar roof technology from Panasonic could eventually end up in Tesla's Model 3 - BGR

If youve played a recent Forza or Gran Turismo video game, you already know: These virtual cars are almost indistinguishable from their real life counterparts, with all the curves and light reflections that make them look like theyve driven straight out of a car commercial and into the game. But unlike films made by companies like Pixar, these game cars arent rendered over the course of months. They render 60 times every second.

Now Epic Gamesa company known for making the Unreal Engine which powers many big budget video game on the marketand VFX studio The Mill are showing just how far the realtime rendering of photorealistic graphics can go. In their new short called The Human Race, you can actually choose the car you want to star in a short Chevy commercial, then watch as it instantly appears within the video.

The end product is basically a choose-your-own-adventure The Fast & The Furious short. And technology like this is about to change the way movies, games, and everything in between are made forever.

"We created a virtual production toolkit to visualize what you see in the filma virtual car," says Boo Wong, global director of emerging technology at The Mill. "But that can be extended to any character, prop, etc. From a visual effects point of view, thats super exciting."

To film the demo, the Mill used a pseudo-car called the Blackbird. The Blackbird is basically a physical placeholder for a CGI car that will be added in post-production. (Thats right! Many cars you see in car commercials are fake!) This vehicle is like a dune buggy, fit with visually trackable markers and filled with 4K RED cameras that shoot outward. Usually, the Mill's team shoots a commercial with the Blackbird because they need to film the spot before a cars final design is readyor because the car is so secretive they dont want to publicize it. But the ensuing post-production, in which the CGI car is added to real footage, takes months. Single frames can take hours, even days, to render.

Enter Epic, on the software end. Its new technology is called Project Raven. An extension of its Unreal Engine 4 used in video games, Raven has been customized to support augmented reality applicationsin fact, the platform is built to support systems like Googles Project Tango.

With Project Raven connected to the Blackbird, visual insanity ensues. The Unreal Engine gets all this real-time information from the real environment simultaneously. Footage from those 4K cameras onboard the Blackbird is mapped onto the curves of the CGI car, rendering a super-realistic reflective shell on its surface. Software analyzes this footage, too, spots the sun, and infers where its position must be in the sky, creating a realistic lighting system.

On set, the director can look through a preview monitor to see the dune buggy prop car re-skinned in real time as the CGI car from any conceivable angle. Of course, preview systems like this exist in the special effects world already, but heres the twist: The director sees the final, photorealistic pixels that will be in the actual commercial, rendered at 24 frames per second. (Sure, thats a bit slower than a high-end video game, but it meets the traditional benchmark of Hollywood films just fine.)

So where does this technology go next? As weve pointed out here on Co.Design, the Unreal Engine is evolving, making its way into more mainstream entertainment. Nickelodeon shows now use Unreal to produce TV programming with a quicker turnaround. And the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One, actually used the Unreal Engine to render some shots of the movie's K-2SO droid.

For agencies like the Mill, this technology means it can shoot something for a client once, but easily repurpose it for multiple platforms and campaigns. In a world in which any asset within a film can be swapped out, it adds the immediate capability of customization and interactivity. Unreal Engine has also pledged to support Pixars Universal Scene Descriptions, meaning its verging toward compatibility with the Hollywood 3D machine.

"Were a games company. What we see happening is the gamification of everything in our lives," says Kim Libreri, CTO at Epic Games. "If youre watching an animated TV show, why shouldn't you be able to change the costume on princess, or change the location, have a personalized experienceand share your version with friends?"

Or, as I like to imagine: One day soon, you'll pause the NBA game youre watching, reach for the Xbox controller, and take over where the real players left off.

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This Crazy New Technology Transforms Movies Into Video Games - Co.Design (blog)

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

America was great when science was great. Apparently.

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump spoke to Congress.

How odd that he thought this would be useful. The American people gave up on that idea long ago.

Still, Stephen Colbert was on hand to critique the president's speech.

In an analysis that's already tearing up the YouTube charts, Colbert wondered about almost every aspect of his speech. For example, the contrast between Democratic women wearing white to honor universal suffrage and the fact that most of Trump's support is white.

He also picked targets as diverse as Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, the president's allegedly diminutive hands and his large inheritance.

It was, however, a less noticed passage about technology that moved the comedian most. (It's at about 10:55 in "The Late Show" video below.)

"For everybody wondering the time Trump thinks America was great [manual inverted commas inserted here], he gave his answer: the 1886 World's Fair," said Colbert.

Cut to the president: "Alexander Graham Bell displayed his telephone for the first time, Remington unveiled the first typewriter, an early attempt was made at electric light, Thomas Edison showed an automatic telegraph and an electric pen. Imagine the wonders our country could know in America's 250th year."

You see, that Apple pencil is nothing. But wait, wasn't Bell a foreigner?

Some might take the president's remarks as showing a little contempt for what the tech community has achieved in these times when America hasn't been great at all. The iPhone? So dull. Facebook? Just an electric diary. Uber? A mere taxi service. How could any of that compare to the electric pen?

"When Trump says 'electric pen,'" added Colbert, "he means where he intends to keep the immigrants."

Colbert's mordant mockery of Trump has helped his show rise in the ratings. Online, too, his morning-after videos regularly trend.

Surely, though, the pressure is now on the tech world to do more than create digital scrapbooks and video-posting sites. Silicon Valley, where is your electric light?

Technically Incorrect: Bringing you a fresh and irreverent take on tech.

Does the Mac still matter? Apple execs tell why the MacBook Pro was over four years in the making, and why we should care.

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Stephen Colbert mocks Trump's love for 19th century technology - CNET