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Google Now on Tap sounded ridiculously cool when it was announced last year, but the reality of the feature has been lackluster to say the least. Google is apparently toying with a feature that could make it much more useful. Some users are seeing optical character recognition (OCR) as part of On Tap, but the implementation seems very early.

When we talk about OCR, that's different from reading the text on a web page or in an app as Google Now on Tap has always done.

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Google Has Added Limited OCR Features To Google Now On Tap was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 The director of UK spy agency, GCHQ, has urged closer co-operation between governments and the tech sector to end what he dubbed the “abuse of encryption”, describing it as a “moral problem” which democratic societies must grapple with in order to strike a balance between security and privacy. Read More

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday will announce a monthly subsidy for broadband internet access in low-income households, The New York Times reports, in an effort to narrow a digital divide between the rich and poor. The final proposal calls for a $9.25 monthly broadband subsidy for low-income households, and is part of a broader overhaul of the FCC's Lifeline program, which has subsidized phone services for the poor since 1985. The Lifeline overhaul will be put to a vote on March 31st and is expected to be approved by the majority-Democrat FCC.

Expanding broadband has been a priority for FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, with advocates arguing that internet access is now essential for low-income households to keep pace...

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Amazon is creating a new virtual reality platform, a job posting on employer evaluation site GlassDoor has indicated. The posting, spotted by UploadVR, calls for a senior software development manager for a new virtual reality team. The posting doesn't specify exactly what the successful candidate will be working on, but they will be responsible for "building the Virtual Reality experience within Amazon Video."

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Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

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Mobile Security & Antivirus

This week's roundup is brought to you by ESET Mobile Security & Antivirus.

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22 New And Notable Android Apps And Live Wallpapers From The Last 2 Weeks (2/23/16 - 3/7/16) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 Apple looks to have come to the end of the road in a long running legal saga involving allegations of an e-books price inflating conspiracy. Read More

This month, we challenged you to curb your impulsive spending habit. Impulse spending is unplanned spending that you usually regret because it turns you into a weak, mindless consumer. One powerful way to squash it? Think of impulsive spending as the enemy of your financial goals.

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/march-s-money-...

When I say financial goals, I don’t just mean “save $1,000 this year.” It’s easy to brush off a boring goal like that. I’m talking about specific, passionate goals. Pay off my debt so I can finally do whatever the hell I want with my money. Save up so I can finally take that trip to New Zealand next year.

While there are lots of tips and tricks that can help with emotional, mindless spending, it’s most helpful to me, at least, to remember that impulsive spending is a roadblock to my financial goals. It’s easy to get caught up in retail therapy and try to justify our purchases: “This is such a great deal, it’s only X dollars! I’ll splurge...just this once.”

Whenever I’m at that point, I try to remember: this item is the enemy of my goal. This mantra helps for a couple of reasons.

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/save-the-same-...

First, remembering my goal reminds me that my money has a purpose. Second, it’s a great rebuttal to my own spending justifications. Sure, I can break the rules and buy stuff just this once, but I’m only taking away from things I’ve decided are more important.

Photo by Henry Burrows.

Contact the author at kristin.wong@lifehacker.com.

Hellen Barnaby used to enjoy a view of Perth, Australia from her apartment balcony. Now she sees a wall from a new high-rise that almost touches the balcony.

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See sample pages from this book at Wink.

Darth Vader and Son is cute, and perfect for the little Star Wars fan in your life. It playfully posits the question “What if Darth Vader had actually raised Luke?” Author and illustrator Jeffrey Brown turns run-of-the-mill parenting activities into fun moments full of Star Wars references.

This book isn’t so much a story as it is a peek into the hypothetical everyday life of Vader and Luke. Every page of the book tells its own complete story of sorts. Some pages are miniature comics while others are full-page illustrations. Brown does an incredible job of telling his story in these single images. I imagine this book would be great for children just learning to read, similar to how the Owly books help develop a sense of story without the need for lines and lines of text. If you have a child that enjoys books but isn’t yet able to read longer children’s books with more words, Darth Vader and Son is a great compromise. At 64 pages it is long enough to be engaging for an extended period of time, but you can basically jump in and out of the book at any point.

Brown’s art style is colorful and light, reminiscent of childhood crayon drawings. Darth Vader always looks slightly goofy, which goes a long way to establish the tone of the book. The drawings include a number of visual references to the Star Wars films that will delight anyone with the eye to catch them (and there’s something on almost every page, so have fun looking for everything). Possibly the funniest parts are seeing Darth Vader engaged in totally mundane tasks like making breakfast or wrapping Luke’s birthday present. It’s a side to the character we've never had the opportunity to see, and Brown plays on the quirkiness perfectly. Overall, Darth Vader and Son is a fun read for adult Star Wars fans who like a good laugh, as well as for children just learning to love these characters. This book is actually the first in a series, so if you like it be sure to check out Vader’s Little Princess, Goodnight Darth Vader, and Darth Vader and Friends. – Alex Strine

Darth Vader and Son
by Jeffrey Brown
Chronicle Books
2012, 64 pages, 6.8 x 6.8 x 0.2 inches
$8 Buy a copy on Amazon

https://youtu.be/OAH0MoAv2CI

I enjoyed learning about match dissolves, cross cuts, jump cuts, fades, and many other movie cuts and transitions. The video uses examples from famous movies.

Taking time out for self care is critical, considering we’re all busy and pulled in different directions, but this little interactive game/flowchart, suitable for bookmarking, asks you a few pointed questions about how you’re feeling and offers suggestions to help you take good care of yourself.

From remembering to get enough sleep to reminding you to take your medication at the same time every day, the whole guide is lengthy, but worth it. The author suggestions you do it maybe at the start of your day, and set aside a good bit of time to work through the whole thing. As you do, you’ll build up the habits necessary to give yourself the best chance at, well, being the best you. As the opening screen notes:

This is meant to be an interactive flow chart for people who struggle with self care, executive dysfunction, and/or who have trouble reading internal signals. It’s designed to take as much of the weight off of you as possible, so each decision is very easy and doesn’t require much judgment.

Each of the questions is deeper than a “did you do this thing,” too. When you’re asked if you’ve eaten recently, if you say no, you get a screen that reminds you how important it is to eat something, and how it’s okay to eat whatever’s easy if cooking is difficult or you don’t have time. Similarly, if you say you need help, you’ll get some suggestions on what low-effort meals you can make in a hurry, or what some of your other options are.

They may seem obvious to some, but when you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, or just incredible amounts of stress, even a little nudge can help. Hit the link below to try the whole thing out, and keep it around for those times when you could use a helping hand.

You feel like shit: An interactive self-care guide

Photo by James Stencilowsky.

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Contact the author at alan@lifehacker.com.

BMW is in the midst of celebrating its 100th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, it just rolled out the Vision Next 100 concept at its Munich headquarters. By all appearances, it's one of the most insane concept cars BMW has ever conceived.

If you squint your eyes, you can still see a car that's clearly a BMW here — it has the iconic "kidney" grille, for instance — but beyond that, the details are all visions of a distant future. The entire windshield is an augmented reality display, which takes the place of every single dashboard display. There are also 800 triangles embedded in the dash, which BMW calls Alive Geometry. These multicolor polygons apparently communicate "very directly with the driver through their movements, which are...

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Users of BitTorrent client app Transmission became the first reported victims of Mac ransomware this week. People who downloaded infected versions of the app also received "KeRanger" malware, 9to5Mac says, nefarious software that would encrypt a user's hard drive three days after being installed and demand payment to unlock the data.

Ransomware has hit headlines in recent months — one LA hospital had to pay $17,000 to an unknown group to regain control of its computer systems in February — but Transmission's infection marks the first time a fully functional form of this specific type of malware has been reported on OS X. Palo Alto Networks notes only one other piece of ransomware for Apple's OS, an unfinished bit of software known as...

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 Less than a day after it emerged that Amazon had quietly dropped device encryption support for its Fire tablets and other Fire OS devices, the U.S. firm has flip-flopped and said that it will restore the feature. Read More

http://slayerevival.com/2016/02/28/retour-sur-le-tournage-de-buffy-avec-la-chanteuse-erika-amato-velvet-chain/?lang=en

Erika Amato, lead singer of Velvet Chain, has shared her band's Angel theme song with Slayer Revival. Darling Violetta did the song for the show in the end but it's worth listening to the Velvet Chain version to hear what might have been.

Kamalkant Shah, who worked as a technician for the State Police evidence laboratory, was accused of faking drug test results by "dry labbing" - which means just making stuff up. Shah worked on 7,827 criminal cases and the state is now reviewing each one.

Shah was removed from lab work on Dec. 10 as soon as the problem was discovered, said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General. Shah, who received a salary of $101,039, was suspended without pay effective Jan 12, he said.

Shah has not been charged with any crime, and is believed to have retired, Aseltine said.

Lab tech allegedly faked result in drug case; 7,827 criminal cases now in question

It's not that often that you witness a product demonstration that absolutely blows your mind. But at last week's Mobile World Congress, Israeli company Noveto Systems did just that. They are developing the next-generation of human-machine vocal interface, enabling sound-emitting devices to transmit sound beams to the user's ears only, without any external hardware on the user.

It's a combination of cameras and sensors that track the user’s head, using positional 3D face tracking along with wave-shaping algorithms and special transducers that send a focused audio beam into each ear. Through this use of face tracking, Noveto can change where the beam of audio is aimed or fire out multiple beams to people sitting next to each other on a sofa.  

I tried it using a dock connected to a mobile phone. It's a strange sensation when the sound suddenly hits your ears - not at all painful or uncomfortable but crystal clear. Skeptical, I also made one of the Noveto management team do the demo, and yes, I could not hear anything! It was nothing short of amazing.

I can see loads of applications for the Noveto - watching TV without disturbing a partner sitting next to you. For gamers, Noveto can also beam separate audio tracks to individual users, so you could have a split-screen game where each player hears something different. It can also provide higher volume for someone hearing-impaired. The technology could just as easily have applications in personal computing, IoT and automobiles.

Noveto believes this technology will be available commercially in the next twelve months, most likely through partnering with a bigger brand. It's definitely one to keep an eye on - it could change sound as we know it.  

YouTube channel Burger Fiction is honing the art of the supercut. Videos like "Ever Best Visual Effects Winner. Ever." and "Every Jason Statham Punch. Ever," are goofy, viral fodder created with the TLC generally reserved for headier fare. Its latest video, "Cursing Without Cursing," a supercut of characters deploying fake swears, is charming, light, and fast.

Maybe I'm a sucker for this video because it opens with Fantastic Mr. Fox's cuss showdown, one of my favorite bits of faux-cursing. Which of the non-swears is your favorite? And what would you include that isn't here? I'm struggling to think of something the supercut is missing.

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Google today confirmed that it will remove some search results from all of its sites starting next week, if those searches are made within the European Union.

In 2014, an EU court decided that Google must comply with requests to remove some search results, in a decision that became known as "the right to be forgotten." As part of that decision, European users can submit a request to Google, asking the company to delist results that are "no longer relevant" or otherwise outdated. Until now, however, Google would only delist results for its European sites, such as google.co.uk and google.fr. Presumably, then, EU users could still find the delisted results by visiting google.com.

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If you've ever tried playing an odd video format on your phone, chances are you've used one of a couple of well known video players like MX or VLC. After a slow start, the latter has been receiving rather frequent updates and improvements that keep pushing it forward. VLC also has an active beta program (of which you can be a part by joining this Google+ community and then becoming a tester on the Play Store) and its latest release is version 1.9.0 which is actually a beta for version 2.0.0.

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VLC 2.0 Beta Adds Local Network Browsing And Lets You Use The Android TV Interface On Any Device was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

We photographers tend to have a fascination with a few different subjects including old cars and bicycles.

But what other modes of transport are there that we love to shoot? How many can you see here, and how have these photographers captured their essence, done them justice?

These first few images are mine:

These are by other photographers:

The post Modes of Transportation – 28 Images of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Facebook has overhauled its UK tax structure and is "set to pay millions of pounds more in tax in the UK" as a result, according to the BBC. Like Google, Facebook makes the majority of its revenues through the selling of ads, and also like Google, it is responding to increasing pressure to account for those sales in the proper jurisdiction where they are made and to pay tax accordingly.

The present change for Facebook is said to include only big advertisers — companies like Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Unilever — and will not affect smaller ad sales that are booked online. With respect to the big business deals, Facebook will treat them as UK sales and no longer channel them through Ireland, meaning it will pay a significantly larger tax...

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Locally stored data on Amazon Fire devices is no longer encrypted. Anyone who upgrades their Kindle Fire, Fire Phone, Amazon Fire HD, or Amazon Fire TV Stick to Fire OS 5 will have local information left vulnerable to cyber attacks and stored in plain text. Amazon forum members first flagged the encryption removal and were later followed by Twitter user David Scovetta last night.

Making devices remove encryption goes against basic cybersecurity principles. An attacker or thief gets nothing but scrambled data if they gain access to an...

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Now is looking like a good time to pop a bag of popcorn and settle down in front of the Chromecast. Google is offering movie rentals for 50% off. This isn't a pre-selected crop of films either. You can rent any one of your choice for half the usual price.

This deal is valid until March 17th. You will see the discount apply at checkout. After renting, you have 30 days to start the movie.

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[Deal Alert] Save 50% Off Any One Google Play Movie Rental Until March 17th, Plus You Can Currently Get The Movie 'Bling' For Free was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Considering the shortness of February and the general malaise that is the entertainment industry between January and March, it's impressive that Android received so many high-profile games during the month. And indeed we did: JRPG fans have no less than three new classics to check out, there's a new chapter of The Walking Dead for horror fans, and plenty of titles for more causal players to try. Below in no particular order, you'll find our picks for the seven best new Android games of February, plus a few honorable mentions.

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[Game Roundup] Our Top Seven Picks For The Best New Games Of February 2016 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

An anonymous ER doctor treated a woman who claimed she had a tracking chip embedded in her body. At first he disbelieved her -- lots of people suffer from delusions that they have implanted microchips -- but then she showed him the suture.

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 First came the Transportation hub with Uber, and now Facebook Messenger is launching “its very first music integration” with Spotify. Inside the Messenger “More” section in chat threads, all iOS and Android users will now find a Spotify option. Tap it and they’ll be shuttled into Spotify’s app where they can “Search for something to share.” Once… Read More

 Alaska is home to one of the toughest endurance events in the world: the Iditarod — a 1000+ mile dog sled race across the vast wilderness that is the U.S.’s northernmost state. Most of us will never get to see this race in person (or participate in it), but you can now experience a part of the race with the help of Google Street View. Last year, Google put its Street View Trekker on… Read More