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While Apple Maps made debut in 2012, it hugely falls behind in terms of accurate navigation, and the company has been working on rebuilding its mapping technology from the ground up to ensure more detailed information.

Apple has set out to collect data by itself, which instead of relying on third-party mapping providers, is doing this by using first-party data gathered by iPhone users with a privacy-first methodology and own fleet of cars packed with sensors and cameras.

And come next week, when iOS 12 beta will roll out, people in the San Francisco Bay Area will begin to experience more detailed information and more accurate navigation with Apple Maps.

The Maps revamp is the biggest since debut and comes at a time when location data is piloting future innovations such as self-driving cars, even as the company had sort help from additional data providers to fill the gaps in location, base map, point-of-interest and business data.

The revamped Maps will launch in San Francisco and the Bay Area with the next iOS 12 beta and will cover Northern California by fall, while the updated maps will eventually get to all iOS devices, and will feature more detailed ground cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways and more.

Apple is targeting the entire US with the update, though the company didn't say how much time that's left to cover the entire country, nor if the planned upgrade will eventually be available internationally.

The first release of the homegrown mapping program arrived with iOS 6 mobile software and the iPhone 5 in September 2012, albeit Apple Maps failed to sway iOS users to its side as they immediately began to complain of everything from navigation to searching for location.

Perhaps, the company will be able to get things right this time, as it already understand the importance to own all of the data that goes into mapping, and to control it from a quality as well as a privacy perspective.

Apple Maps revamp Promises more Accurate Information for navigation



Brave browser is an open-source web browser that's built on Blink engine, which is also the engine powering Google's Chrome developed by Brendan Eich, the co-founder of the Mozilla project and creator of JavaScript.

The chromium based browser claims to block web tracking and remove intrusive Internet advertisements to improve online privacy, and also share far less data with advertising customers.

While the latest version of the Brave browser released on Thursday adds a technology called onion routing from the Tor Project as an option to its private tabs, which feature Mozilla had earlier announced coming to Firefox in collaboration with Tor Project.

Mozilla described it as an Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox, because it’s a more stable development cycle that will only patches bugs and won’t add new features for 11 months, which means it doesn’t disrupt how the Tor Browser works, and the Tor Project developers won’t have to integrate new features into their browser on regular basis.

Brave, however became the first conventional browser to have Tor abilities built in, and have beaten Mozilla to the launch, even with its tightened alliance with Tor in 2016 through a project called Tor Uplift, which is now branded Project Fusion.

Albeit, the Tor-based private tabs in Brave are only available in the browser versions for Windows and MacOS for now.

The Tor technology will provide better protections to Brave users against network surveillance, and makes it more difficult for ISPs or Wi-Fi providers to track users data.

So if you want more privacy online, Brave, the self-acclaimed ad-blocking browser, has a new capability to get it done on the web.

Brave browser beats Firefox to launch the Tor-Based Super-Private Mode



Mozilla has released Firefox 61 which is built on the speed of the Quantum Firefox, with smarter memory management that speeds up web browsing, and providing users of the open-source browser some nifty new features.

The new feature, Retained display lists, enable the browser to construct the view of a website from memory without recalculating everything about the page, and only recalculate the aspects of the page that has changed.

While the tab management has received a boost in Firefox 61, enabling users to manage browser tabs more effectively. And the Tab Warming feature offers faster response time when switching between tabs, through the pre-emptive loading tabs as a mouse is hovered over the tab.

Mozilla has also beefed up the browser security wise, with support for TLS 1.3, the new version of the Transport Layer Security standard which promises faster encrypted communications between the browser and a website to prevent snooping.

Additionally, the company now demands that developers whose extensions are used to enhance Firefox's behavior should implement the new capabilities of hiding the tabs, and only to take actions when they're opened.

Mozilla's aim is to iron out the extensions architecture it overhauled with Quantum Firefox, and also adopting similar approach to Chrome's implementation.

Firefox 61 is the fourth major update of Mozilla's flagship browser in 2018, following closely on the heels Firefox 60 which made debut on May 9, all part of Mozilla's effort to reclaim lost ground from Google's Chrome browser.

Mozilla's Firefox 61 bundles memory tricks that speed up Web browsing



The Wi-Fi Alliance, which is the non-profit organization that promotes Wi-Fi technology/products that conform to certain standards of interoperability, has announced the finalized protocol WPA3 standard for securing Wi-Fi connections.

While this iteration of the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) next generation security will ensure Wi-Fi protections for businesses, as the WPA3 affords better security with “robust authentications” and increased cryptography for encryption of data, among others.

The WPA3 protocol is coming precisely 14 years after the launch of WPA2, which is now over a decade, and it comes in two modes of operation, WPA3-Personal and WPA3-Enterprise.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, WPA3-Personal offers more resilient, password-based authentication for home users, even though they choose passwords that fall short of typical complexity recommendations. The WPA3 leverages Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), a secure key establishment protocol between devices, to provide stronger protections for users against password guessing attempts by third parties.

And WPA3-Enterprise brings the equivalent of 192-bit cryptographic strength, ensuring additional protections for networks transmitting sensitive data, such as government agencies or finance companies. The 192-bit security suite provides a consistent combination of cryptographic tools which are deployed across WPA3 networks.

The tons of sensitive information floating over the Wi-Fi connections has made it increasingly mandatory to secure this important gateway, with new Wi-Fi routers coming with stronger protections for the data that's exchanged between computers, phones or smarthome devices and the internet connection.

The new protocol, WPA3 continues the evolution of Wi-Fi security and maintains the brand promise of Wi-Fi Protected Access.

The Introduction of the finalized WPA3 standard for securing Wi-Fi connections



The European Copyright Directive, which proposal has been two years in the running, was voted for approval on June 20, and closely following on the heels of the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) already passed into law.

While the European Parliament's legal affairs committee voted to approve the draft legislation, the Copyright Directive could potentially impact the free flow of information on the internet as we know it now.

It differs from the GDPR in scope, and perhaps in how it is perceived by the world at large, even as the proposal has met with the opposite reaction. Albeit, both the GDPR and the Copyright Directive promises internet users more privacy of their information, it's generally regarded as prove that the EU is once again leading the way in the internet regulations.

The Directive is Europe's attempt to harmonize copyright laws across all member countries, with the last EU-wide copyright law enacted in 2001, at a time the internet was much more different than it is today.

The new Directive is designed to make the law more relevant to the internet of today, as well as to draw a roadmap for the future projection of the growth of the internet. But critics believe that its unclear in terms of what actually needs to change and how the law will be enforced.

Though most members of the European Parliament support the overhaul of the copyright law, some believe its criticisms are obviously exaggerated.

In some part, it will introduce filters to check that contents uploaded would be mandatory for platforms like: YouTube, Instagram, Reddit and Tumblr; which YouTube already mimics with Content ID, which serves as a protection for copyright infringement, albeit the technology take quite a long time to build and refine.

And there are certain concerns that it will outlaw news aggregators or prevent any sites which could not afford a license, from linking to articles at all.

On the brighter side, it would force social networks to take more direct responsibility for policing uploaded content, which will reduce the spread of misinformation and fake news on the platforms. But as not much content are generated from within Europe, it could perhaps suffice as Europe's take-on on popular memes, and the users experience will be negatively affected.

The Directive has been approved by the legal affairs committee, and will be voted on by the European Parliament in July or in September, when the lawmakers return from their summer break.

Why the proposed European Copyright Directive is rather a war on memes



Apple has true to its word, updated the privacy of its browser, Safari for both mobile and desktop with iOS 12 and Mojave update making users-protection a priority with security enhancements including integration with third-party password managers and implementation of tracking protection against web cookies.

Safari browser's update happens once in a year, albeit perhaps more strategic than most of the other rivals, like Chrome or Firefox that carries out several updates per year, as it brings huge changes to the browser.

Safari makes it harder for web trackers with "Intelligent Tracking Protection" which gets even tougher with macOS Mojave and iOS 12 update.

Apple has also added a new API, which developers can implement with their apps for auto-filling of passwords from a third-party password manager in Safari and appropriately-coded apps. While Safari for iPhone, will automatically extract passwords from the password manager via Safari's QuickType bar, and validated by a fingerprint scan or Face ID.

For both iOS and macOS, it automatically retrieve and auto-fill the passwords by default, though such passwords must be made up of 20 random characters, with at least one number and a dash.

The passwords are stored in iCloud Keychain, and it requires a site's or service's credentials when accessing the same site or service from an iPhone or iPad logged into the iCloud account.

The updated Safari will be bundled with macOS 10.14 'Mojave' and iOS 12, while those MacOS users who still run High Sierra (10.13) and Sierra (10.12) will have to get it as a separate download.

Safari browser gets privacy theme with iOS 12 and Mojave update



The leaked Instagram long-form video hub has been confirmed to be launching soon as IGTV, which will be accessible from the Explore tab, and will allow users post longer-formed video of ten minute length and above.

Instagram has been wooing online content creators to the new platform to create videos that are at least 10-minute long, instead of the 1-minute maximum videos allowed currently on the app.

While the photo-cum-video sharing service has witnessed exponential growth in the past few years, it's still grappling with discovering the turnkey feature that will permanently sway users to its side against the fierce competition from Snapchat.

Albeit, the growth projection puts Instagram as adding 100 million users every four months, and with the recent announcement of 800 million in September 2017, Instagram may be hitting 1 billion monthly users this second quarter.

The IGTV videos will be similar to what's available in YouTube rather than a direct competion to the likes of Netflix, and will offer a link-out option for creators to drive traffic to their other web properties. It will be full-screen with a resolution of up to 4K, and users will be presented with a collection of recent videos, popular titles and the ability to continue watching clips from where they stopped.

Instagram may also be adding a direct monetization avenue for the creators, which perhaps will include revenue sharing, though no official confirmation about the possibility.

The overriding idea is to enable these creators express their style of content and also leverage their already sizeable audience on the platform, to expand the IGTV footprint on mobile platforms rather than the more regular publishers and TV studios.

Instagram's longer-form video service launching as IGTV, accessible from the Explore tab



Google has announced the rolling out of Messages for the Web, with features including GIF search and smart replies as part of an updated messaging experience for Android users.

While the company had earlier renamed its Messenger, Android Messages, which now serve as the default messaging app across all Android phones, with works in progress to bring Rich Communication Services (RCS) to Android Messages for better messaging experience.

Google had also moved the team behind its messaging App, Allo to work on Android Messages, with the aim to offer features such as receipts that show when a message has been read, stickers, maps and more.



The roll out of Messages for Web is part of an updated messaging experience for Android users in response to Apple's iMessage, with Android Messages now in a better position to compete with the web support.

As Apple's iMessage can be accessed on Mac using a dedicated app, Google aims to make Messages for web similar by offering the Web access to messages, allowing Android users to view and respond to conversations on desktop, even when not with their Android smartphone.

Google is also prepping additional features for Android Messages like previewing of web links in conversations; and the ability to copy one-time passwords with a tap or perhaps two taps – both the copy and the paste functions – is now a lot easier than before.

Albeit, Android users are required to download and install the latest version of the Messages app from Google Play to enjoy these new features.

Android Messages arrives to the Web, with GIF Search and Smart reply



The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) has announced the successor to their popular image format with the same moniker, called JPEG XL, which aims to offer substantial improvement in compression efficiency than existing image formats.

JPEG XL will feature desirable web distribution capabilities and offer about 60% overall improvement compared to the legacy JPEG format, coupled with efficient compression of high-quality images.

And the announcement is coming on the heels of JPEG 25 years anniversary, a remarkable achievement indeed for the legacy image format, and to celebrate JPEG's birthday, the organization behind it deems it wise to draw up the future roadmap.

With billions of images captured, stored and shared on daily basis, increasingly applications, websites and UI experts are relying on those images to share experiences, stories, visual information and put up appealing designs.

Therefore, an efficient image compression format is highly invaluable, to this end, the JPEG Committee issued a Call for Proposals following its 79th meeting in April 2018, with the objective of seeking technologies that fulfill the objectives and scope of a Next Generation Image Coding.

The Working Group is hopeful to see JPEG XL as an important format for imaging products and services as its predecessor was; the popular legacy JPEG format which has been in service for a quarter of century now.

It has given an August 15, 2018 deadline for expression of interest, registration and submissions to the Call due September 1, 2018. To stay posted on the action plan for JPEG XL, you can follow up on the project website at jpeg.org.

JPEG XL: the Next generation of the JPEG image coding format



Exemplar GAN (ExGAN) are a type of conditional GAN that utilize exemplar information to reproduce quality personalized in-paintings. While GAN is a class of artificial intelligence algorithms in unsupervised machine learning, implemented through a system neural networks contesting with each other in a zero-sum game framework.

Facebook research attempt to replace closed eyes with open ones in a remarkably convincing manner through In-Painting Eye with Exemplar Generative Adversarial Networks. This is an instance of intelligent “in-painting” when a machine fills in a space with what it thinks should be at the point.

ExGANs successfully produced photo-realistic personalized in-painting results that are both perceptually and semantically plausible by applying them to the task of closed-to-open eye in-painting in natural pictures.

Facebook researchers were able to include “exemplar” data showing the target person with their eyes open, from which the GAN learns not just what eyes should go on the person, but how the eyes of this particular person are colored, and the actual shape.

The test results were stunning, as most people mistook the fake eyes-opened photos for real, and unless they knew a photo was definitely tampered with, they probably couldn’t differentiate it in the Newsfeed.

Albeit, the capabilities still falls short in some instances, resulting some strange looking artifacts of a person’s eye if partially covered by a lock of hair, and sometimes giving a complete color mismatch.

However, their detailed nature make it particularly useful as the capacity to convincingly replace the eyes weren't available in other photo editing tools. Facebook has introduced the new benchmark dataset for the task of eye in-painting for future comparisons.

Facebook demos Exemplar GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks) In-Painting to produce personalized results

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