Light Start – Star Wars spoilers, a new Nokia, Amsterdam, Kit-Kat, and VW car fixes

Want to avoid Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers? There’s an extension for that

You thought we were going to spoil The Force Awakens, didn’t you? Look, we’re evil but we’re never going to go that far in the direction of the Sith path. But if you’re looking to avoid spoilers ahead of the next Star Wars film’s release then there’s a Chrome extension that will help you. Simply called Star Wars Spoiler Blocker, users will find that pages that may contain spoilers will be blurred out until you confirm that you’d like to visit the page. But you don’t want to visit that page. Do you? Search your feelings, you know it to be true. And if you’re determined to remain spoiler-free, don’t just rely on this extension. It might not be fully effective at blocking spoilers.

Source: via Digital Trends

Microsoft introduces new basic Nokia handsets with focus on photos

Microsoft has revealed a new entry-level Nokia 230, which is going to arrive in single and dual-SIM versions. Just how entry-level is revealed by the operating system, which isn’t Android or Windows Phone. It’s… Nokia Series 30+. Besides the old-skool OS, they’re putting in dual LED flash cameras on the front and back – 2MP for both sides – so there’s an emphasis on selfies. The aluminium handsets will support microSD cards up to 32GB so these new dumbphones will see service as MP3 players and selfie-snappers. The pricing is set to start at around R800 when they launch in the Middle East, Asia and India next year. Perhaps we’ll see it here as well.

Source: Microsoft (YouTube)

Take a neural network to check out Amsterdam, what could go wrong?

[vimeo id=”146492001″]

Machine learning is one thing but this is something else entirely. Developer Kyle McDonald took a neural network, the NeuralTalk2 project, for a walk in Amsterdam recently. The network had been modified to ‘see’ out of the camera of a 2013 MacBook Pro and it then provided commentary on what it could see. If you want to see more than just Kyle’s walk around Amsterdam then you’re going to have to turn on captions in the Vimeo video above, where you’ll then see NeuralTalk2’s impressions of what it is seeing streamed over the web. Or just watch the standard captions hidden at the top of the screen. It’s not always accurate but this is a GitHub project recognising things it hasn’t seen before. Are you not entertained?!

Source: Kyle McDonald

No, KitKat, bad KitKat. No emoji for you

We kind of get Durex’s marketing stunt, lobbying for a generic condom emoji. And Finland’s own efforts are country-specific so we’ll let that slide as well. But KitKat emojis? That… that might work actually, but the company really should have focused their efforts in Japan where it’s a delicacy of sorts and not just a sweet that people avoid in temptation isle. Still, they’re giving it a go, with a Change.org petition looking for a mere 1,500 signatures asking the Unicode Consortium to create an official KitKat emoji is almost done. Want to help them put marketing on ever phone in the world? Head to the link below to sign off on this one.

Source: Change.org

This is what VW will be doing to diesel vehicles affected by emissions ‘problems’

VW has had a hard time of late, what with a whole lot of their cars not conforming to various emissions standards and the vehicles being subject to mass recall. It makes sense that they’d want to find a cash-friendly fix that will also allow drivers to have have to give up their cars for extensive reworking. And they’ve done just that, releasing a video earlier this week detailing how they can bring EA 189 diesel engines into compliance with regulations. The 1.6 and 2.0 diesels will need a new flow transformer added into the the mass air sensor housing. You’re South African, you don’t need a car explained to you – you’re far more likely to drive a manual than an automatic, unlike some countries. But if you’d like a clearer picture of what it looks like, the 30 to 60-minute fix is briefly detailed above (or below).

Source: VW (YouTube)