The 25-pound lady bobcat was last seen on Monday morning.
Source: TreeHugger – Ollie the jailbreaking bobcat on the lam from National Zoo
Monthly Archives: January 2017
Sony missed writing on the wall for DVD sales, takes nearly $1B writedown
(credit: Flickr)
Sony has finally figured out what the rest of us already knew—people just aren’t buying physical media like they used to.
In a Monday statement to investors, the company attributed the “downward revision…to a lowering of previous expectations regarding the home entertainment business, mainly driven by an acceleration of market decline.”
As such, the Japanese corporate giant is taking a $977 million (112.1 billion yen) writedown in its movie business. That’s driven in large part by the fact most of us are watching a lot of movies and TV shows via streaming services these days.
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Source: Ars Technica – Sony missed writing on the wall for DVD sales, takes nearly B writedown
Strapping a GoPro on a Sword Is the Best Way to Watch a Watermelon Get Slaughtered
Mounting a GoPro onto a sword and then watching it chop the hell out of things is awesome, but it isn’t as easy as I thought. You can’t just tape a camera down on one end of the blade and hope for the best, because the shot will look all wacky. The sword moves too fast so it’s all blurry, the camera angle is capturing…
Source: Gizmodo – Strapping a GoPro on a Sword Is the Best Way to Watch a Watermelon Get Slaughtered
These Storyboards May Reveal Another Alternate Ending to Jurassic Park
The ending of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park is perfect: The tension, the staging, and the turn of the Tyrannosaurus Rex from villain to hero, complete with the falling banner. It’s so good it seems impossible it could have been handled differently—but history tells us it originally was.
Source: io9 – These Storyboards May Reveal Another Alternate Ending to Jurassic Park
Skyrim Mod Makes It So You're Not Fighting The Same NPCs All The Dang Time
We’ve all been there before. You’re walking down the street in a big open-world game like Skyrim, and you see some plain-ass looking dude. A guard or something. You turn a corner and see… that guy again? OK so maybe he has a twin. But then you see yet another. So much for immersion.
Source: Kotaku – Skyrim Mod Makes It So You’re Not Fighting The Same NPCs All The Dang Time
Hip Dips Add an Extra Challenge to Your Plank
The plank is a great exercise for your core, but holding it like a statue is only one of many ways to work those muscles. This video shows a plank-based exercise you probably haven’t seen before—and it’s great for your obliques.
Source: LifeHacker – Hip Dips Add an Extra Challenge to Your Plank
Your Video Game Horoscopes For The Week of January 29th
Horoscopes, like video games, are a fun, completely made up hobby that’s totally normal in moderation. I’m looking to the stars for what’s in store for all the gamers out there for the week of January 29th to February 4th.
Source: Kotaku – Your Video Game Horoscopes For The Week of January 29th
Vespa's creators just unveiled a personal cargo robot
The Vespa brand’s owner, the Piaggio Group, doesn’t have a reputation for cutting edge tech (it only just started making an electric scooter). However, it’s making up for that in style. It’s establishing a robot-focused company, Piaggio Fast Forwar…
Source: Engadget – Vespa’s creators just unveiled a personal cargo robot
Mesa 17.1-dev vs. AMDGPU-PRO 16.60 vs. NVIDIA 378 Linux Gaming Tests
Following last week’s AMDGPU-PRO 16.60 hybrid driver release I delivered some early AMDGPU-PRO vs. AMDGPU+RadeonSI benchmark results using the newest driver code. After a few more days of testing, in this article is a larger OpenGL and Vulkan comparison when testing AMDGPU-PRO 16.60 and AMDGPU+RadeonSI of Mesa 17.1 + Linux 4.10 on various Radeon GPUs. On the NVIDIA side are fresh GeForce tests with the company’s newest 378.09 beta driver.
Source: Phoronix – Mesa 17.1-dev vs. AMDGPU-PRO 16.60 vs. NVIDIA 378 Linux Gaming Tests
Facebook's Parse Is Shutting Down Today
Facebook acquired Parse, a toolkit and support system for mobile developers, in 2013. At the time, the social network’s ambitions were high: Parse would be Facebook’s way into one day harnessing developers to become a true cloud business, competing alongside the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Three years later, Facebook announced it would be shutting down Parse. Today is that day. From Parse’s status page: As we previously shared, the Parse service is shutting down today. Throughout the day we will be disabling the Parse API on an app-by-app basis. When your app is disabled, you will not be able to access the data browser or export any data, and your applications will no longer be able to access the Parse API.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Facebook’s Parse Is Shutting Down Today
3D Print Your Own Kaby Lake DeLid Tool
This was posted over on the 3D Center Forums. The post points to an “Intel Kaby Lake delid tool” design that can be implemented on a 3D printer.
A simple delid tool that for chopping Intel Kabylake and Skylake CPU
The author of the design does not have a 3D printer to try it out and test on, but I know some [H]’ers that do. If one of you guys wants to print this up using some “[H]ard” plastic, which I think would certainly be needed, I will subject it to abuse here if you want to ship it over.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – 3D Print Your Own Kaby Lake DeLid Tool
[H]ardware Round-Up III
MSI Z270 SLI PLUS Motherboard Review @ LanOC Reviews
MSI Z270 GAMING PRO CARBON Motherboard Review @ Play3r
NZXT Noctis 450 ROG Case Review @ Hexus
HIS RX 460 Slim-iCooler OC 2GB Video Card Review @ Mad Shrimps
Souris Corsair Harpoon (French) @ CowCotLand
How AMD’s Vega 11 Chip Could Look (German) @ 3D Center
Kaby Lake Overclocking Chances (German) @ 3D Center
Source: [H]ardOCP – [H]ardware Round-Up III
Nearly 10 Percent of Resident Evil 7 Players Play in VR
The eagle eyed guys over at IGN have been peering through the Resident Evil 7 stats over on residentevil.net and noticed that almost 10% of all Resident Evil 7 players play in VR. As the IGN folks noted, that’s a lot of soiled undies.
Personally, I have been waiting for some real AAA titles to get their feet wet with VR and for the tech to really take off before I take the plunge. As of right now VR in Resident Evil 7 is only for PS4 players, but if this trend continues on the PC platform, count me in!
Given that PlayStation 4 is currently the only platform that offers VR support for Resident Evil 7 – and considering that the nascent VR market still has a relatively small audience – the fact that 87,000 players have used VR for Resident Evil is a significant milestone for the technology’s adoption.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Nearly 10 Percent of Resident Evil 7 Players Play in VR
The Supergirl TV Series Should Introduce Batwoman Immediately
Supergirl has been firing on all cylinders this season. A move of networks and locales hasn’t diminished the show at all, and thanks to an experienced stunt team borrowed from the rest of the Arrow-verse, the action’s improved tremendously. But you know what would kick Supergirl up a notch before the inevitable Crisis…
Source: io9 – The Supergirl TV Series Should Introduce Batwoman Immediately
Silicon Valley Security Officers Protecting Facebook and Others Unionize
As the cost of living in Silicon Valley continues to rise, the security officers that work on the campuses of some of the biggest technology companies have moved to unionize in an effort to demand higher wages.
Source: Gizmodo – Silicon Valley Security Officers Protecting Facebook and Others Unionize
These Ultra Close-Up Images of Saturn's Rings Are Mind-Blowing
Though NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is sadly nearing the end of its mission, the brave li’l orbiter is putting on quite the grand finale. Cassini, which is currently in its ring-grazing phase around Saturn, has just sent back some stunning images of the gas giant’s many rings.
Source: Gizmodo – These Ultra Close-Up Images of Saturn’s Rings Are Mind-Blowing
Photo: Meadow vole delights in snowy tunnel
Our sweet-as-can-be photo of the day comes from Alberta, Canada.
Source: TreeHugger – Photo: Meadow vole delights in snowy tunnel
Gap envisions a future with augmented reality 'dressing rooms'
Fashion brands know that experimenting with tech is imperative, whether it be to enhance the retail experience or introduce fans to the concept of virtual reality. For Gap Inc., which, in addition to its eponymous label owns Banana Republic, Old Navy…
Source: Engadget – Gap envisions a future with augmented reality ‘dressing rooms’
Save On Anker's PowerCore II, the Sequel To Your Favorite Battery Pack
Anker’s PowerCore line has reigned as our readers’ favorite USB battery pack for nearly a year, and its long awaited sequel has rolled out in the form of the PowerCore II.
Source: Gizmodo – Save On Anker’s PowerCore II, the Sequel To Your Favorite Battery Pack
RIP, “Six Strikes” Copyright Alert System
This was the process the Center for Copyright Information employed to detect infringement and to notify customers of participating ISPs. (credit: Center for Copyright Information)
Four years ago, some of the nation’s leading ISPs worked in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the White House to roll out what they called the Copyright Alert System. It was deemed an “educational” approach to cut down on online copyright infringement, and it was responsible for sending millions of notices to consumers saying that they were discovered pilfering content online.
That system—which many originally feared would result in people having their Internet cut off—is now officially dead. The CAS, as it was known, didn’t have much teeth, and it didn’t really result in people losing their Internet access, either. Today, it’s no secret that online copyright infringement runs rampant.
The program primarily tried to combat infringement as follows: Internet subscribers could get two notices for “educational” purposes that their accounts had been used to commit infringement. Upon a third and fourth notice, the subscriber was required to respond and acknowledge it. On the fifth and sixth notices, consumers might have their Internet speeds throttled. The plan left it up to the rights holders if they wanted to sue copyright offenders.
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Source: Ars Technica – RIP, “Six Strikes” Copyright Alert System