Last night on The Shift with Drex, we talked about whether or not Samsung has a problem with its messaging app, a new parking lot with solar panels in the road, the rise of audiobooks, and the relative efficiency of Star Wars spaceships.

This week, the rise of audiobooks continues the struggle between publishers and Amazon, a B.C. city installs solar panels in a parking lot, and studying the aerodynamics of Star Wars ships. But first, are Samsung phones texting your photos without your permission or knowledge?

Are Samsung phones texting photos independent of user action?

You may be wondering if this is another case that makes you think technology may have a mind of its own.

This week, stories from users of Samsung smartphones have surfaced in which they claim that their phones are texting photos to people in their contact lists seemingly at random, and without the users initiating it.

Samsung claims to be investigating the issue, but so far it’s very unclear whether this is a real issue or not because there is a very limited number of incidents that have been reported. And they may be related to a specific mobile carrier: T-Mobile in the U.S.

There don’t appear to be any such cases from Canada.

There was an update recently to the Samsung Messages app to move it from SMS (short message service) to RCS (rich communication services) protocol, which makes messaging more robust across different devices and carriers.

It’s entirely possible this is a non-issue. Until anything is clarified, though, if you’re a Samsung user and concerned you should simply use a different messaging app. Android Messages from Google is a good option that supports RCS.

Solar panels installed in Prince George City Hall parking lot

The City of Prince George in British Columbia has integrated photovoltaic (PV) panels in its parking lot.

The electricity generated by the panels will be used by city hall and the electric vehicle charging stations at the lot.

The panels, only millimetres thick and integrated with the asphalt, were designed by French company, Colas Group.

Vancouver’s Solar Earth is also working on PV-enabled roads and last year created the Solar Compass at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

Audio books have come a long way since books-on-tape

Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, has left Vanity Fair and has become a magazine writer for Audible, the audio book company owned by Amazon.

Writing in the New York Times, Alexandra Alter details the shift in the book publishing landscape.

John Scalzi told Alter that his novel Lock In, published in 2014, sold nearly twice as many audiobook versions as hardcovers.

That’s why Amazon, through Audible, is being so aggressive about new and exclusive content, and why publishers are scrambling to keep in the game.

Star Wars spaceship designs aren’t very aerodynamic

EC Henry publishes on YouTube with commentary on all things science fiction, including lots of stuff about Star Trek and Star Wars.

Recently, he got his hands on a copy of Autodesk’s Flow Design software, which is a virtual wind tunnel, and because Mr Henry is all about sci-fi, he put Star Wars spaceships into the tunnel.

He concedes that the ships from Star Wars are mostly used to fly in space, where there is no atmosphere and no need to worry about aerodynamics.

But if you’re curious to know how the Imperial ships match up against the Rebel designs when they’re fighting above the surface of a planet, have a watch.

This week, getting perspective on things with some new maps, details on four clever ideas Canadian students came up with to solve problems in their communities, and why Apple wants Oprah. But first, why you might want to turn off the colour on your smartphone.

Going greyscale helps you keep your device time down

Facebook is going to show you how much time you’re spending there. Apple is introducing a new feature, “Screen Time”, to show you what apps you’re using on your iPhone and iPad.

Well, Tristan Harris, who spent three years with Google as the company’s “design ethicist”, wrote a long article in which he details all the ways that technology companies exploit us for their own ends.

He co-founded the Center for Humane Technology to help, and there’s a list of about ten things you can do to take control of your phone.

One is to get rid of the colour. According to Harris, the bright colours app icons are created in keep us coming back to the devices because our lizard brains get rewarded by shiny things.

On an iOS device, you can go grey in the Settings: Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut > Color Filters. By activating the color filters shortcut, you can triple-tap the home button to easily switch between greyscale and colour.

On Android devices enabling greyscale differs depending on which version you’re using, but the menu item is found through the Accessibility menu in the device settings.

Four schools get $20k in tech from Samsung Canada

Schools in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Ontario were named winners of the 2018 Solve for Tomorrow Challenge.

The objective was to use science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to solve a problem being faced by the community students are living in. The four schools will receive $20,000 in Samsung technology as finalists.

• Fort McMurray, Alberta’s Westwood Community High School shows the alternative energy solutions being used at the school and a plan to share their knowledge with younger students.

• Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Meadows West School collected traffic data and used virtual reality to educate parents on the problems and dangers faced by students during the busy drop-off and pick-up times at schools.

• Moncton, New Brunswick’s Bernice MacNaughton High School designed an aquaponics system to grow food, with the intent to one day share the surplus with a local food depot.

• Thornhill, Ontario’s Thornlea Secondary School developed an automatic pollination system to support the growing of plants in the absence of natural pollinators like bees.

Apple inks deal with Oprah

Apple’s push to build out its content library continues. This month, the company announced a “multi-year content partnership” with Oprah Winfrey to “create original programs that embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world.”

This does not conflict with Oprah’s cable network, OWN, which she created with Discovery Communications.

Apple has reportedly set aside US$1 billion for content, and already has other projects in the works. There’s a reboot of “Amazing Stories” from Steven Spielberg, a series from M. Night Shyamalan, and another that will star Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, who will also executive produce.

Earth Timelapse uses maps to show what’s going on in the world

A collaboration between the think tank Igarapé Institute and Carnegie Mellon University, Earth Timelapse “tracks climactic and human-induced risks on a planetary scale over the past three decades.”

Using publicly available data, Earth Timelapse plots the information on a map over time to show trends and flows.

A number of the visualizations have been recorded and posted to YouTube and they are revealing.

In a video produced by the BBC and embedded below, Robert Muggah explains that Western anti-immigrant attitudes are unfounded, as the data shows clearly that most refugee movement is to neighbouring countries. And when terrorism data is layered on top of that, it’s also clear that refugees are not themselves terrorists, but are escaping violence.

Last week, on The Shift with Drex, we talked about Alexa for Hospitality, WHO’s gaming disorder, Vancouver’s hydrogen vehicle refuelling station, and Samsung’s AI research centre in Toronto.

This week, Samsung has opened a new research centre in Toronto to develop artificial intelligence software and integrations, Shell has opened Canada’s first hydrogen vehicle refuelling station in Vancouver, and the World Health Organization has added “gaming disorder” to its classification of diseases. But first, are you ready to ask Alexa to order room service?

Amazon wants you to use Alexa as your personal concierge in your hotel room

This week, Alexa for Hospitality was revealed by Amazon. The new suite of voice-activated features for Amazon’s Echo devices is intended to make Alexa “the hub of the room”.

Really, this is about giving hotel guests the same kind of functionality that they are already getting at home. There’s real convenience in asking Alexa to turn on the lights for you.

Plus, at the hotel you can order room service. Or towels. You can find out about events and attractions close to you and restaurant recommendations.

Marriott International will be using Alexa for Hospitality in about a dozen of its U.S. locations this summer.

Wynn Las Vegas announced last December it intended to install Echos in all of its nearly 5000 rooms

Ultimately, Amazon hopes you’ll be able to log in to your account so you can use Alexa to tap into your playlists and contacts. Until then, you’ll be able to connect your mobile device using Bluetooth.

Amazon insists that hotel owners and operators will not be able to eavesdrop on anything said to Alexa, or accompanying responses.

And you can always unplug it.

Canada’s first hydrogen vehicle filling station has opened in Vancouver

Electric vehicles are all the rage these days. But not all EVs need to be plugged in.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles create electricity by processing compressed hydrogen. The byproduct is water vapour.

There are two primary upsides of hydrogen vehicles over plug-in electrics. The first is range. Hydrogen vehicles have a top range of some 700 km. The second benefit is fuelling time, which only takes a few minutes.

The trick there is finding a place to refuel.

Shell’s just opened Canada’s first hydrogen fuelling station in south Vancouver at Granville and West 71 Avenue. It’s the first of three planned for metro Vancouver, with another three planned for the Victoria area. The stations are being constructed by North Vancouver’s HTEC.

“Gaming disorder” added by World Health Organization as a mental health disorder

The latest edition of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases has been released and it includes the classification of a new gaming disorder.

The criteria for being diagnosed are:

• Not doing anything else but play video games
• Playing the games is negatively affecting the rest of a person’s life
• Despite those negative consequences, continuing to play

Even the WHO doctor who proposed the disorder admitted to CNN that the likelihood of this disorder being diagnosed is “very low”.

Critics say the criteria are too broad and threaten to further stigmatize people who play games.

A Texas psychologist who works with people who believe they are addicted to video games told CNN that the experts working in mental health “do not understand the gaming population”.

Treating all gamers who may have difficulties the same is a mistake. For one, ages range from preteens to adults in their forties. And people playing Minecraft and people playing Call of Duty are having vastly different experiences.

This is not to say that people don’t have problems with playing video games more than they should. This is often a symptom of other problems such as anxiety and depression. And in many cases, the playing of the games can actually help cope with and solve those other mental health problems.

Doing anything too much could be considered addictive. The answer is to make sure you’re asking the right questions if you think someone has a problem.

Samsung opens research centre in Toronto to develop artificial intelligence

Canada continues to be a hotbed for tech innovation, with Samsung announcing in May that it’s opening a research facility in Toronto.

In a release, the company said that the Samsung AI Centre will “contribute to building the connected future by accelerating the adoption of intelligence on multiple devices ranging from household appliances to cars”.

Samsung executive Larry Heck said that Canada is “home to not only world-class talent, but also some of the most innovative start-ups in the artificial intelligence field”.

The Centre is part of Toronto’s tech hub at the MaRS Discovery district.

This adds to Samsung’s Canadian tech development footprint, which includes a research and development centre in Vancouver.