In 2002, Microsoft bought Rare. Things could have gone very differently, though: Ed Fries, formerly of Xbox, has told IGN that Activision actually outbid Microsoft for the British studio, and it was only a larger offer “at the very last minute” from Xbox’s Robbie Bach that sealed the deal.
Source: Kotaku – In 2002, Microsoft bought Rare.
(credit: Erik B)
The evening before Volkswagen Group and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) are supposed to submit a settlement to San Francisco District Judge Charles Breyer, Bloomberg’s sources have leaked new details about that supposed settlement.
Last week, VW Group was rumored to offer a settlement of $10.2 billion, with $1,000- $7,000 per car affected by the diesel emissions scandal that’s rocked the company since September. Today, Bloomberg is reporting that that number has gone up to a total of about $15 billion, with affected diesel owners potentially getting up to $10,000 in compensation.
Bloomberg’s sources specify that VW Group will set aside $10.03 billion to pay back the owners of nearly 500,000 Volkswagen and Audi 2.0 L diesel engine vehicles in the United States. “Those figures could rise if VW misses certain deadlines,” the news outlet writes.
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Source: Ars Technica – Diesel VW owners could get up to ,000 after settlement, sources say
Barrett Lyon has owned every model Tesla has ever made; a Roadster, a Model S and, now formally, a Model X—which he returned to Tesla after filing a lawsuit against the company over the electric crossover’s numerous quality issues.
Source: Gizmodo – Owner Dumps Tesla Model X Over Quality Problems
It’s Shark Week, again. If you’re in any way familiar with Discovery’s summer celebration of all things shark, then you know what to expect. There won’t be any Alien Shark episodes this year, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your pers…
Source: Engadget – What’s on your HDTV: ‘Shark Week,’ ‘Resident Evil 5,’ ‘Marco Polo’
‘This situation of captivity is degrading for the animals,’ says the Argentine capital’s mayor.
Source: TreeHugger – Buenos Aires to close 140-year-old zoo, move 2,500 animals to nature reserves
Researchers have encountered a denial-of-service botnet that’s made up of more than 25,000 Internet-connected closed circuit TV devices.
The researchers with Security firm Sucuri came across the malicious network while defending a small brick-and-mortar jewelry shop against a distributed denial-of-service attack. The unnamed site was choking on an assault that delivered almost 35,000 HTTP requests per second, making it unreachable to legitimate users. When Sucuri used a network addressing and routing system known as Anycast to neutralize the attack, the assailants increased the number of HTTP requests to 50,000 per second.
The DDoS attack continued for days, causing the Sucuri researchers to become curious about the origins of the attack. They soon discovered the individual devices carrying out the attack were CCTV boxes that were connected to more than 25,500 different IP addresses. The IP addresses were located in no fewer than 105 countries around the world.
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Source: Ars Technica – Large botnet of CCTV devices knock the snot out of jewelry website
*checks watch* OK, I think it’s been long enough now since the episode aired that we can post these. [stragglers be warned: GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS AHEAD]
Source: Kotaku – Game Of Thrones Always Wins Overwatch’s Play Of The Game
Making good accessories for Apple products means paying close attention to what Apple’s doing from a design standpoint, and making your products fit that same mold. Twelve South is one of the better known company’s for keeping things stylish, and their creative director shares his tools for doing so.
Source: LifeHacker – The Apple Accessory Designer’s Bag
Slayer Shock is basically a procedurally generated Buffy The Vampire Slayer game. Developer Minor Key Games (Eldritch, Neon Struct) describes it as “is a role-playing shooter about hunting vampires in Nebraska.” The best part? It generates “episodes” and “seasons” with their own storylines and characters. Oh, and it’s all inspired by professional wrestling. It’s out late this year.
Source: Kotaku – Slayer Shock is basically a procedurally generated Buffy The Vampire Slayer game.
We’ve heard a lot of buzz recently about the Anthropocene
, the geologic epoch of man and machine. Does it exist? Are we in it right now? Later this summer, the International Stratigraphic Union will convene and attempt to answer these weighty questions.
Source: Gizmodo – Six Signs That We’ve Entered a New Geologic Age
In its latest attempt to seem a little more human and a little less algorithmic, Facebook debuted a new feature Monday that suggests interesting events picked by real, live humans in 10 major US cities — even if those events aren’t on Facebook. As T…
Source: Engadget – Facebook debuts hand-picked event listings in 10 cities
You’re not going to be a master locksmith after you watch this video showing you three ways to break open a lock, but you might stop putting your faith in cheap padlocks. That’s because a few bent paperclips could jimmy the thing open. Even just jamming a screwdriver into the keyhole can make it unlock. Or if you’re super experimental, you can trace a key using tape and then cut out its shape on a flimsy metal can.
Source: Gizmodo – Breaking Open a Lock with a Paper Clip, a Screwdriver, or a Metal Can Is Really Easy
An anonymous reader writes from a report via PC Magazine: Speaking at a recent symposium in Amsterdam, Rolls-Royce vice president of innovation for marine, Oskar Levander, said, “The technologies needed to make remote and autonomous ships a reality exist.” In partnership with the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) project, Rolls-Royce, DNV GL, Inmarsat, Deltamarin, NAPA, Brighthouse Intelligence, Finferries, and ESL Shipping are leading the $7 million effort. Unmanned ships could save money, weight, and space, making way for more cargo and improving reliability and productivity, the AAWA said in a recent white paper. “The increased level of safety onboard will be provided by additional systems,” Rolls-Royce said on its website. “Our future solutions will reduce need for human-machine interaction by automating selected tasks and processes, whilst keeping the human at the center of critical decision making and onboard expertise.” Initial testing of sensor arrays in a range of operating and climatic conditions is already underway in Finland. Phase II of the project will continue through the end of 2017. Rolls-Royce plans to launch the first remote-controlled cargo ships by 2020, with autonomous boats in the water within the next two decades. Rolls-Royce was in the news last week when they unveiled their first driverless vehicle called The Vision Next 100.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Rolls-Royce Eyes Autonomous Ships, Expects Remote-Controlled Cargo Ships By 2020
Cities are so trendy right now that every big tech company wants to build its own. Zappos did it in Downtown Vegas
. Amazon is kind of doing it in a Seattle
. Alphabet is probably
doing it somewhere soon
. And now Y Combinator wants in on the fun, too, with a plan to build some kind of alt-Silicon Valley… somewhere.
Source: Gizmodo – Now Y Combinator Wants Build a City Because Every Other Tech Company Is Doing It
This isn’t the first time a video game has been co-opted like this, and it won’t be the last.
Source: Kotaku – So, Yeah, Bootleg Dark Souls Boner Pills
This isn’t the first time a video game has been co-opted like this, and it won’t be the last.
Source: Kotaku – So, These Boner Pills Are Pretty Dark Souls-y
When you think of breading, you usually think of flour and bread or breadcrumbs, but ground nuts like almonds or pumpkin seeds can add the same crunch, fat, and rich flavor. All you need to do is grind them up finely and toss them with a few other ingredients.
Source: LifeHacker – Turn Ground Nuts Into Crispy, Delicious Breading
Forget chalkboards and whiteboards in the classroom — Dell thinks tech is the answer. It’s launching a 70-inch touchscreen, the C7017T, that’s designed to replace interactive whiteboards in schools and boardrooms. You probably wouldn’t want this a…
Source: Engadget – Dell made a 70-inch touchscreen for schools
An anonymous reader shares an article by CRN:Partners say Cisco’s end game with its patent lawsuits against Arista Networks is simply to slow the fast-growing networking company and stunt any innovation efforts from competitors. “Cisco’s goal is to try to slow down Arista and competitors any way they can,” said Chris Becerra, president and CEO of Terrapin Systems, a Morgan Hill, Calif.-based Arista partner. “If they don’t have the technology to beat them out there, they’re going to try to slow them down any way possible.” Last week, the San Jose, Calif.-based network giant won three of five patent infringement suits against Santa Clara, Calif.-based Arista dealing with its networking switches. The International Trade Commission recommended a ban on Arista product imports containing the infringing technology. Additionally, the ITC also ruled earlier this year that Arista infringed on several other Cisco patents pertaining to its private VLANS, system database and externally managing router configuration with a centralized database — recommending a similar ban on Arista imports.For those unfamiliar, Cisco had filed its trade complaint in December 2014, in which it sought a ban on Arista’s switches. Arista, which designs and sells multilayer network switches to deliver software-defined networking solutions, was formed by former Cisco employees.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Cisco Seen As Trying To ‘Slow Down Arista Anyway They Can’ With Patent Lawsuits
Tomorrow Ikea will reportedly announce a recall of over 27 million Malm dressers. And shockingly, the Swedish furniture company is doing away with the piece of furniture altogether. Many versions of the Malm dresser were officially removed from the Ikea website today.
Source: Gizmodo – Ikea Is Discontinuing Some Malm Dressers, Recalling 27 Million Units