Netflix vows to cut back on depictions of smoking after report of tobacco exposure in its programs

Netflix

Just before the third season of Stranger Things dropped, a report from the anti-smoking group Truth Initiative found that Netflix depicted tobacco use more often than even cable or broadcast shows. And the show mentioned earlier is named as one of biggest offenders. The report reads, “The popularity of streaming combined with the pervasive rise of smoking in episodic content points to an emerging threat to a new generation of young Americans.” The streaming service promises to depict smoking less and pledges to closely monitor, particularly the content it aims at younger viewers. Truth Initiative tracked not just the instances of smoking, but any appearance of tobacco products.

In a statement told to EW, Netflix said it “strongly supports artistic expression. We also recognize that smoking is harmful and when portrayed positively on screen can adversely influence young people. Going forward, all new projects that we commission with ratings of TV-14 or below for series or PG-13 or below for films, will be smoking and e-cigarette free—except for reasons of historical or factual accuracy. For new projects with higher ratings, there’ll be no smoking or e-cigarettes unless it’s essential to the creative vision of the artist or because it’s character-defining (historically or culturally important). In addition, starting later this year, smoking information will be included as part of our ratings on the Netflix service so our members can make informed choices about what they watch.”

SwiftKey Beta introduces the Animoji-like Puppets

It seems every single app wants to have some sort of take on Animoji. Even third-party keyboard apps aren’t safe. SwiftKey Beta is trying this feature out on its own with a new feature called Puppets. It’ll let you record yourself as one of these five animals: dinosaur, cat, owl, dog, or panda. Like all incarnations of this feature, it makes use of your phone’s camera to track your facial movements. Of course, it has the help of artificial intelligence to make this possible. And since it is part of your keyboard app, it’ll work with just about any app. You can record clips of up to 30 seconds long and you can choose to leave in the sound you recorded or just mute it. It is, as we mentioned, shareable wherever you want to.

At this moment there is no native still capture button, so if you want stills, you need to export the clip and screenshot. Ease of use varies as well. As Android Central points out, if you send it through Slack, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram, then you need to select the recipient again even if you’re in the message thread with them. Also, it can’t track mouth movements as well right now, but it’s understandable since this is the beta version. Here’s to hoping SwiftKey tweaks this for the official release.

Samsung might launch a new Email Plus app on Android

If you’re a Samsung user, you might have been alerted to this news. A few months ago, Samsung smartphone users got emails from Google informing them that the built-in Samsung Email app came from a suspicious publisher. And that this had access to their Gmail data and it could read, send, and permanently delete any message with their Gmail accounts. This turned out to be a bug, which Samsung claims it has fixed already. But it looks like the company wants to start fresh. LetsGoDigital found a new Email Plus trademark filed by the company in the UK. It’s described as a “computer software for smartphones and tablets to manage email accounts.” What the Plus in the name means, we can’t say. Nor can we say when it’s coming out, but we won’t be surprised if it gets teased during the launch of the Galaxy Note 10 next month.

Source: MSPowerUser

Teardown of Google Camera app shows what Pixel 4 camera’s hardware could be

We know the Google Pixel 4 is coming. What isn’t clear yet is what the new smartphone will have. We already know that there is a secondary camera on this device, which is a first for a Pixel. But we don’t know what kind of camera it could be. A teardown of the Google Camera app shows what we could expect. Version 6.3 of the app shows changes in the code that reference Sabre, which is Google’s codename for its Super Res Zoom. There are also some new sensor IDs for the camera that weren’t seen in version 6.2 and one of these references a rear telephoto lens, making us believe we’re getting a zoom lens. And that this lens could use Google’s Super Res Zoom to increase zoom distance digitally.

Aside from that, a front-facing IR sensor was seen in the code. This suggests that the Pixel 4 is getting facial recognition. Its presence in the Camera app suggests it could be used for Playmojis or even Google’s take on Apple’s Animoji. The Pixel 4 is slated to come out around October 2019.

Source: Android Central