Monthly Archives: February 2017

PayPal's Donation Tools Stiff Some Charities, New Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

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Charitable donations made through PayPal’s Giving Fund platform may never reach their intended recipients, a federal class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chicago has alleged. From a report on CNBC: When charitable accounts are not set up correctly, PayPal continues to accept donations on their behalf, the suit alleges. Instead of notifying donors and nonprofits of the error, PayPal takes the money after six months and redirects it to another charity “without regard to the intention, beliefs, or desires of the donor,” the lawsuit claims. The class action status of the suit still needs to be certified by a judge.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – PayPal’s Donation Tools Stiff Some Charities, New Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

Amazon cloud sputters for hours, and a boatload of websites go offline

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Enlarge (credit: Amazon)

When the Amazon infrastructure-as-a-service cloud goes down, Internet users are going to notice.

Amazon Web Services, which powers a whole bunch of websites and online services, has been struggling today, and numerous sites that rely on Amazon infrastructure have gone offline as a result. Appropriately enough, “Is It Down Right Now?,” a site that tells you whether other sites are down, has been struggling to stay online. Other apparent victims include The AV Club, Trello, Quora, IFTTT, Open Whisper Systems, and websites created with Wix.

Amazon itself was initially having trouble providing updates to its service health site. But the company posted this note at 2:35pm ET: “We have now repaired the ability to update the service health dashboard… We continue to experience high error rates with S3 in US-EAST-1, which is impacting various AWS services. We are working hard at repairing S3, believe we understand root cause, and are working on implementing what we believe will remediate the issue.”

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Source: Ars Technica – Amazon cloud sputters for hours, and a boatload of websites go offline

Marvel Just Cast Black Bolt in Inhumans

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The leader of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, has just been cast. Actor Anson Mount will play the hero on Marvel’s upcoming TV show Inhumans, which premieres in IMAX this September before moving to ABC.

“Black Bolt is a character whose deep complexity must be conveyed without uttering a single word, and I’m very excited to…

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Source: io9 – Marvel Just Cast Black Bolt in Inhumans

Lansky's BladeMedic Is Back In Stock For $8

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No matter how great your kitchen knives are, they all need some tender loving care from time to time. This $8 Lansky BladeMedic includes two v-sharpeners, a fold-out sharpening rod, and a ceramic sharpening edge for serrated knives, all in a handheld package that can fit into any kitchen drawer.

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Source: Gizmodo – Lansky’s BladeMedic Is Back In Stock For

What the Game Industry Thinks of Nintendo's Switch

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Polygon has gathered up a bunch of developers and executives to get their thoughts on aspects of the Nintendo Switch, such as third-party support and motion-controller technology. I am going to be completely honest with the fact that I couldn’t care less about what they have to say and am merely here for the illustrations, but if you want some industry-figure insight, this may be worth reading. A newer article is arguing that Nintendo’s latest console isn’t even “finished.” Who got their pre-orders in?



To some, though, the system seems incomplete. From early reports of controllers that don’t properly sync to a limited launch lineup, a lack of non-game apps like Netflix, a missing Virtual Console library and lingering questions about the online service, there’s a simplicity to Switch’s launch that recalls the ’90s—Zelda is Mario 64, and if you don’t want that or a few other games, you might not need the system right away. In time, Nintendo will address those issues. Yet more than most consoles, Switch remains a bit of a mystery at launch. Are motion controls going to be a big part of it? What type of player will Switch developers cater to? And will third-party studios embrace the hardware once the initial hype dies down?

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – What the Game Industry Thinks of Nintendo’s Switch

This Teardown Of A Tesla Model S Battery Pack Is Pretty Fascinating

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The Tesla battery pack is something of a triumph of packaging. The battery pack is integrated into the skateboard-like chassis of the car, making a self-contained drivetrain-and-energy-storage unit that allows for really flexible body packaging. It’s like the GM Hy-Wire concept, only with the mild benefit of existing…

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Source: Gizmodo – This Teardown Of A Tesla Model S Battery Pack Is Pretty Fascinating

YouTube TV is the company’s new live TV subscription service

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Today at an event in Los Angeles, YouTube announced a huge new feature that could change what you watch on the online video platform. The company debuted YouTube TV, a television streaming service that combines live content from broadcast and cable networks with content from the online creators that have made YouTube so successful. This comes as YouTube also revealed the passing of a huge milestone: as of last year, users globally watch one billion hours of content on the site every day.

YouTube TV will launch in the coming months and will start off with over 40 networks available for streaming. Subscribers will be able to stream live content from these networks, and record shows for later viewing with no storage limits. A YouTube TV subscription will cost $35 per month, and that gives you six separate accounts to share with friends and family.

At the event, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki introduced the new subscription service by diving into three big changes in how people consume content over the years. The rise of cable was the first, which expanded the universe of channele selection to including news, music, sports, and scripted shows. The second was the rise online video, which continued to expand the types of content available and made way for personality-driven content like that of many YouTube creators. The final was the rise of the smartphone, which changed the way people consumed content by moving it out of the home and into people’s hands, wherever they may be in the world. Wojcicki claims YouTube TV is a product of all those changes, and it puts YouTube TV directly in competition with other streaming services including Sling TV and Playstation Vue.

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Source: Ars Technica – YouTube TV is the company’s new live TV subscription service

Radio Is the Worst Place To Listen To Music, Says Jay Z

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An anonymous reader shares a Quartz report: In a candid interview between Frank Ocean and Jay Z that aired on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station last week, the latter spent a good portion mourning the golden days of radio, where he got his own start in the 1990s as a hip-hop artist. Said Jay, about modern radio: “It’s pretty much an advertisement model. You take these pop stations, they’re reaching 18-34 young, white females. So they’re playing music based on those tastes. And then they’re taking those numbers and they’re going to advertising agencies and people are paying numbers based on the audience that they have. So these places are not even based on music. Their playlist isn’t based on music… A person like Bob Marley right now probably wouldn’t play on a pop station. Which is crazy. It’s not even about the DJ discovering what music is best. You know, music is music. The line’s just been separated so much that we’re lost at this point in time.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Radio Is the Worst Place To Listen To Music, Says Jay Z

Man Wears World's Largest, Heaviest Turban (187-Pounds)

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This is a video about Bhai Baba Avtar Singh Mahakaal of Chandigarh, India, a Sikh man who wears a 85-kilogram (187-pound) turban as a symbol of his faith. The turban consists of 645-meters (2,116 feet, ~0.4-miles) of fabric and takes between 6.5 – 7 hours to tie. For reference, I could tie my shoes almost twice in that time. He says he doesn’t feel the turban’s weight at all, which, if you couldn’t tell from the shot above, also doubles as a motorcycle helmet, and probably a pretty safe one. My motorcycle helmet? It’s not so safe. “That’s a cantaloupe.” IT’S A HONEYDEW.

Keep going for the video.

Source: Geekologie – Man Wears World’s Largest, Heaviest Turban (187-Pounds)

Microsoft Is Killing Off Skype WiFi Service

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Mark Wilson, writing for BetaNews: Microsoft has announced that it will discontinue its Skype WiFi service as of March 31. The global retirement of the service is to allow the company to focus on “core Skype features.” Skype WiFi allows for paid Internet access through hotspots around the world, and is something that proved quite popular with travelers looking to minimize data roaming charges. After the cut-off date, Skype WiFi will no longer be available, and the various mobile apps will no longer act as a hotspot finder.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Microsoft Is Killing Off Skype WiFi Service

Kyle Bennett Presents "Inside VR" at AMD's "Capsaicin & Cream" Event

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In case you missed it, some random (but nicely dressed) guy named Kyle showed up and presented an up-and-coming series called Inside VR, which will be about—well, just take a guess. Hit the link to hear what our esteemed editor-in-chief had to say about his show, along with a few thoughts on Ryzen.



Ongoing Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Kyle Bennett Presents “Inside VR” at AMD’s “Capsaicin & Cream” Event

Unity's '2017' game engine will focus on artists and designers

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Unity’s keynote at this year’s GDC was all about the future of its game engine. The company has outlined plans for the next major version of its platform, Unity 2017, which is being designed with creators in mind. Unity says one of the main goals is…

Source: Engadget – Unity’s ‘2017’ game engine will focus on artists and designers