There’s no shortage of online food delivery services, and services that deliver alcohol. However, getting both at the same time is a challenge. How are you supposed to complement that burger with a tasty brew? DoorDash has an answer. As of today, cus…
Source: Engadget – On-demand food service delivers beer with your meal
Monthly Archives: June 2016
Remains of the Day: Google Maps for Android Adds Multiple En Route Destinations
Not all who wander are lost, they say. They’re just using Google Maps on Android, which can now accept multiple destinations when your journey is more complex than point-A to point-B.
Source: LifeHacker – Remains of the Day: Google Maps for Android Adds Multiple En Route Destinations
On second thought, Facebook doesn’t care so much about news publishers
(credit: Spencer E Holtaway)
Longtime Facebook users know better than to get comfy with how the site looks or works, as the service’s decade of longevity has come in part due to constant refreshes—for better and for worse. The same might not be said for major news outlets who’ve grown to rely on Facebook as a source of traffic, and they may very well not care for the social network’s latest site-tweak announcement.
In a Wednesday announcement, Facebook VP of Product Management Adam Mosseri declared that the site’s algorithm would now shift towards “friends and family” content—a pledge that seems to appear every time Facebook talks about its algorithms. In today’s case, however, Mosseri tucked the announcement’s real meaning into a linked clarification: that all “pages” content would be pushed down in the general rankings. Meaning, if content is posted by a news outlet, a restaurant, or another establishment with its own “page” presence on Facebook, those posts will officially see “less of an impact.”
Neither announcement touched upon “instant article” publication, a May 2015 initiative that saw multiple major news outlets—which all range from middle- to left-leaning—ally with Facebook to have stories directly publish on the social network as opposed to being hotlinked from their original sources. However, the announcement hinted at these kinds of stories possibly being deprioritized in the future. And the reasoning isn’t hard to suss out: that whole conservative news-suppression mess from this May.
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Source: Ars Technica – On second thought, Facebook doesn’t care so much about news publishers
Chinese Splatoon Rip-Off Sure Looks Like Splatoon
Something about this Chinese mobile game looks… similar… to another game I like. I can’t quite place it, though.
Source: Kotaku – Chinese Splatoon Rip-Off Sure Looks Like Splatoon
What's Actually Inside An Airplane's Black Box?
Whenever you hear about a tragic plane crash, you always hear about the mythical black box. What exactly does the black box do and what’s even inside it? What’s Inside took a look by cutting the black box (it’s not actually black) in half and ripping it open to see its guts.
Source: Gizmodo – What’s Actually Inside An Airplane’s Black Box?
AMD Posts Sign-Up For Radeon Software Beta Testing
As a follow-up to this morning’s article about a new driver beta program, the sign-up application is now available…
Source: Phoronix – AMD Posts Sign-Up For Radeon Software Beta Testing
Facebook's Political Influence Under A Microscope
Hmmm, I wonder why Facebook is going through all this effort to show that it is neutral when it comes to politics? Everyone knows that Zuckerberg and crew would never try to influence elections.
As the U.S. presidential campaign heats up, Facebook Inc is going out of its way to show its neutrality – an increasingly urgent matter for the social network as evidence of its power continues to emerge. Recent studies have shown the site has extraordinary influence. According to research scheduled to be published in August in the Journal of Communication, when people tagged their friends on Facebook in voting reminders, turnout increased by 15 to 24 percent.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – Facebook’s Political Influence Under A Microscope
Zero Time Dilemma Review: Make your final choice
Here’s your latest masked mystery character.
The Nonary Game is back for the third (and supposedly final) time, bringing the familiar structure and tropes of previous games 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward. If you’re not familiar with the Nonary Game — or the odd-sounding titles I just mentioned—prepare for some spoilers for Zero Time Dilemma’s predecessors in the Zero Escape franchise.
In fact, “spoilers” are integral to Zero Time Dilemma. As in the previous two games, the mystery is structured as a series of interlocking timelines: branching decision paths that can be accessed and then escaped through the convenient metaphysical explanation of psychological time travel. The plot of Zero Time Dilemma’s visual-novel-meets-adventure-game sees our nine heroes jumping from one untimely end to another—searching for out-of-order clues about why they are where they are.
This time, the “where” is a seemingly abandoned nuclear bunker. A cast of new and returning 20-somethings who are very good at puzzles have been locked inside by Zero, the Jigsaw-like tormentor whose identity changes between games.
Drowning in a sea of exposition
True to the Zero Escape games of yore, circumstance and Zero’s rules split the nine characters into three teams, each of which seems to vaguely represent a different point in the franchise.
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Source: Ars Technica – Zero Time Dilemma Review: Make your final choice
ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
An anonymous reader writes: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice contending that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s criminal prohibitions have created a barrier for those wishing to conduct research and anti-discrimination testing online. The ACLU have pursued the matter on behalf of a group of academic researchers, computer scientists and journalists seeking to remove that barrier to allow for third-party testing and research into potential online discrimination. In a public statement the ACLU contend: “The CFAA violates the First Amendment because it limits everyone, including academics and journalists, from gathering the publicly available information necessary to understand and speak about online discrimination.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Look at this ridiculous 200-watt laser bazooka
YouTuber and insane laser electrician Styropyro has outdone himself once again. While his previous experiments have led to a homebuilt lightsaber and a dangerous laser shotgun, this time has more than added more than five times the power to create a…
Source: Engadget – Look at this ridiculous 200-watt laser bazooka
Mafia III Promises An Open World That You Can Actually Change, Ever So Slightly
Mafia III, due out later this year on consoles and PC, has a few interesting things going for it. It’s a crime story set in a fictionalized version of 1960s New Orleans. It has a black protagonist. Here’s a less obvious distinctive trait: its open world can be changed.
Source: Kotaku – Mafia III Promises An Open World That You Can Actually Change, Ever So Slightly
The 20 Best Places to Party In the U.S.
If you’re looking for the best party scenes in the states, these destinations offer the most when it comes to vibrant night life and good times.
Source: LifeHacker – The 20 Best Places to Party In the U.S.
How Overwatch's Competitive Mode Works
If you’re too dang skilled for the mortal riffraff in Overwatch’s regular modes, you’ll be excited to hear that the PC version just got a competitive alternative. It’s got rankings, golden guns, golden balls—all that good stuff. So, how does it work? Let me explain.
Source: Kotaku – How Overwatch’s Competitive Mode Works
'Ghostbusters: Dimension' is a glimpse at where VR is headed
It was a struggle. My team and I spent several minutes fending off a malevolent spirit before finally subduing her, practically destroying a cramped apartment in the process. I was still reeling from being pelted with books and other loose objects wh…
Source: Engadget – ‘Ghostbusters: Dimension’ is a glimpse at where VR is headed
Jalopnik This Obscure Anime Predicted So Much About The Future Of Cars | Lifehacker Perfectly Grill
Jalopnik This Obscure Anime Predicted So Much About The Future Of Cars
| Lifehacker Perfectly Grill Fish In Three Minutes Flat With a Cast Iron Skillet
| io9 You Can Stop Second-Guessing That Big Jon Snow Revelation from the Finale
| Kotaku Zarya From Overwatch Has Become A Gay Icon, Ironically
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Source: Gizmodo – Jalopnik This Obscure Anime Predicted So Much About The Future Of Cars | Lifehacker Perfectly Grill
Deadspin Holy Shit, The Canadiens Traded P.K.
Deadspin Holy Shit, The Canadiens Traded P.K. Subban
| Jezebel Defensive Stylists Argue Leslie Jones’s Designer Gown Dilemma Is Because of Her Size
| Sploid Video Perfectly Skewers the Assholery of OK Go
| Gawker Justin Trudeau Finally Fucked Up
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Source: LifeHacker – Deadspin Holy Shit, The Canadiens Traded P.K.
AI bests Air Force combat tactics experts in simulated dogfights
Retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee, in a flight simulator, takes on the ALPHA AI. It doesn’t go well for him. (credit: Lisa Ventre, University of Cincinnati)
In the future, the US Air Force hopes to have armed drones flying in formation with human pilots, responding to their verbal and digital commands to fight the enemy and strike targets. That would require an artificial intelligence capable of interpreting commands and applying knowledge of combat tactics—something that is already being proven in a project funded by the Air Force Research Lab.
ALPHA, an artificial intelligence trained by a retired Air Force expert in air combat, was originally developed as what amounts to ultimate video game AI—an autonomous simulated enemy for use in training fighter pilots. The AI is so good that it has consistently beaten human pilots in simulated air combat—even when heavily handicapped by simulated physics. And now AFRL is investigating using ALPHA as the AI for Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) in the physical world, potentially flying missions alongside human pilots.
Described in a paper recently published in the Journal of Defense Management, ALPHA was created using a “genetic fuzzy tree” (GFT) system. There’s a lot to unpack in that term, but in short, the methodology uses genetic algorithms—code intended to mimic evolution and natural selection—to train a collection of independent but interconnected “fuzzy inference systems” (FISs). Instead of training each bit of fuzzy logic independently for a given task, as is normally done in fuzzy systems, the genetic algorithm “is utilized to train each system in the Fuzzy Tree simultaneously,” lead researcher Nick Ernest, CEO of Psibernetix Inc. (the company that developed ALPHA) and his co-authors wrote in the paper. “Each FIS has membership functions that classify the inputs and outputs into linguistic classifications, such as ‘far away’ and ‘very threatening’, as well as if-then rules for every combination of inputs, such as ‘If missile launch computer confidence is moderate and mission kill shot accuracy is very high, fire missile’. By breaking up the problem into many sub-decisions, the solution space is significantly reduced.”
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Source: Ars Technica – AI bests Air Force combat tactics experts in simulated dogfights
Intense music game 'Thumper' is a PlayStation VR launch title
Chalk up one more game available day and date alongside PlayStation VR. Drool has revealed that Thumper, its PSVR “rhythm hell” music title, will launch in sync with the headset on October 13th at a reasonable $20 price. As the developers put it, thi…
Source: Engadget – Intense music game ‘Thumper’ is a PlayStation VR launch title
Auctioneer Beats: Cattle Auctioneers Get Rap Beats Added To Their Quick-Talking
Vine user Auctioneer Beats adds rap beats to short Vine videos of livestock auctioneers doing their thing. It’s pretty incredible and I’m more than a lot ashamed that I didn’t think of this first because then I could die knowing I actually made the world a better place, no matter in how small a way even though this is very clearly a big way. Somebody get whoever is making these things a Nobel peace prize or one of those genius grants or something, shit. *puts detective pipe in mouth, does some internet sleuthing* Okay well it appears at least one person came up with this same idea over two years ago. You know what that means, don’t you? “They stole the idea?” Yep, that or time travel is possible and people are using it to go back and make Youtube videos. Or maybe two people came up with the same idea independently but that’s just what people say when they steal other people’s ideas everybody knows that.
Keep going for a video compilation of the raps, I think the guys at 0:21 and 0:48 are my favorites.
Source: Geekologie – Auctioneer Beats: Cattle Auctioneers Get Rap Beats Added To Their Quick-Talking
Benevolent Time Travelers Alter Timeline to Ensure Syfy's 12 Monkeys Gets a Third Season
Syfy has just announced that 12 Monkeys, the TV series inspired by Terry Gilliam’s 1995 movie of the same name, has been renewed for a third season. If this announcement makes you shrug—or if you just haven’t been watching the show—let me explain why this is good news.
Source: io9 – Benevolent Time Travelers Alter Timeline to Ensure Syfy’s 12 Monkeys Gets a Third Season