Before optical and then digital storage, magnetic tape was the standard. In the rush to develop dominant formats, we know Betamax lost out of VHS due to price (and because VHS captured the burgeoning porn market). But why did Phillips’s compact cassette become the standard while almost no one has ever heard of the…
Source: Gizmodo – There’s a Good Reason This Weird, Old Cassette Format Didn’t Work Out
Journalists got a nice invitation today confirming Apple’s rumored press event on September 12. The keynote, held at Apple’s new campus, will very likely be the place that Apple announces it’s new line of iPhones, the iPhone 7s, 7s Plus and the Anniversary iPhone.
Source: Gizmodo – Apple’s Next iPhones Will Officially Be Announced September 12
Lyft just announced a major expansion of its services. As of today, Lyft will be fully operational in 32 additional states, bringing its total coverage to 40 states and 94 percent of the US population. “Our smile is as big as our coverage area — and…
Source: Engadget – Lyft expands its ride-sharing service to 32 more states
The Red Cross is probably the best-known emergency relief organization in the country—but they’re not necessarily the best. Accusations of mismanagement have plagued their responses to national and international disasters, and their name recognition (and easy text message donation system) can obscure worthy local and…
Source: LifeHacker – Where to Donate to Harvey Relief—Beyond the Red Cross
Burying beetles (Nicrophorus) are hard to miss. The insects aren’t big, but most species are painted with vibrant, orange blotches on a glossy black background. According to new research, walking around dressed in their Halloween best may have a much more important function for the beetles than just looking like …
Source: Gizmodo – Burying Beetles’ Embalming Butt Juice Is Even Worse Than It Sounds
To the surprise of almost no one, Apple has announced it’ll be holding its annual iPhone event on Tuesday, September 12th. It’ll be the first event hosted at Apple’s new “spaceship” campus in Cupertino, California. Sure, Apple didn’t say exactly what…
Source: Engadget – Apple will unveil the next iPhone on September 12th at its new campus
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – AMD Threadripper Cooling Update
The FCC was, unintentionally, letting users upload any file to their website and making that file publicly accessible through their domain due to an API slip-up: the first item submitted was a letter on official FCC letterhead apologizing for Ajit Pai being “such a filthy spineless cuck.”
People seem to be experimenting with different filetypes. So far, they have tried PDF/GIF/ELF/EXE/MP4 files up to 25MB in size, which means you could easily host malware on the FCC.gov website right now and use it in phishing campaigns that link to malware on a .gov website. People have discovered that you can upload video and play it back using an FCC.gov link, though some have been having trouble uploading, while others playing with the vulnerability are clearly not.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – The FCC.gov Website Lets You Upload Malware Using Its Own Public API Key
Steam stats suggest that Cliffy B’s anti-grav shooter is doing poorly, despite all of the marketing and good reviews: LawBreakers has struggled to pop over 400 concurrent players on Steam, peaking within the last 72 hours at 364 users, not a fifth of its launch numbers of 2000 players plus. This is particularly worrisome, being that the game is a multiplayer-only title.
Original plans were for the game to be a Free to Play product, but that changed to a retail release during development. I think it’s a little early to do an about face and go free to play right now, you also run the risk of upsetting the early adopters who put down $30 and are playing the game. But something needs to be done to inject adrenaline into Boss Key Game’s passion project. Sometimes games suffer unfavorably once they enter arenas already dominated by other titles, regardless of their own quality, (see 101 MMORPGs that aren’t World of Warcraft,) and there’s little that can be done about it, other than to cut your losses.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – LawBreakers Concurrent Player Count on Steam Is Disappointing
Logitech has taken a page out of the Surface playbook by integrating a dial in its latest keyboard: their version is dubbed the “Crown,” and it is a touch-sensitive aluminum piece that offers access to context-specific actions within apps like Photoshop and PowerPoint. A development kit will be released soon that’ll allow developers to integrate support for the keyboard’s dial into their apps.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Logitech CRAFT Keyboard Offers Its Take on the Surface Dial
Mesa 17.2 was supposed to be released earlier this month but the release process has been extended and we’re now up to the sixth release candidate for testing…
Source: Phoronix – Mesa 17.2 Set For Release This Weekend
Gigabyte is running a very cool promotion for its X299-based motherboards and is offering new owners what it’s calling an “X299 Xperience Pack”, if they register the boards before September 14. Our X299 Xperience Pack showed up a couple of days ago, so we thought we’d show you what was inside. Take a look…
The Gigabyte Aorus X299 Xperience
Source: Hot Hardware – Gigabyte Aorus X299 Xperience Pack Unboxing
Visitors to the Burning Man festival are really getting to live out their Mad Max dreams this year. But it isn’t so much post-apocalyptic as it is just apocalyptic. Dust storms and a heat wave ensured that it was going to be a rough event from the beginning, and now an enormous wildfire has shut down the main road…
Source: Gizmodo – Fire, Dust Storms and Scorching Heat: This Year’s Burning Man Sounds Like the End of Days
Instagram has revealed a flaw in its systems revealed “a number of” stars’ phone numbers and email addresses to cyber-attackers. From a report: The Facebook-owned social network has emailed verified members, usually prominent figures, to let them know. It said it believed “one or more” attackers had targeted high-profile stars to get their contact information. Instagram said passwords had not been stolen but warned users to watch for suspicious activity on their accounts. However, it did not say which accounts had been affected. The security breach was made possible due to a bug in the company’s own software.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Instagram Hack Targets Celebrities
Marshall has been lending its signature guitar amp aesthetics to headphones and speakers for quite some time. However, there was one notable omission in the company’s feature set: multiroom audio. Today, Marshall is announcing an update to its wirele…
Source: Engadget – Marshall’s updated speaker line packs Chromecast and multiroom audio
Wireless earphones are great until they run out of battery, which always seems to happen at the worst possible moment (like when the person next to you on the train pulls an apple out of their bag). But now you can listen for longer thanks to Jabra’s…
Source: Engadget – Jabra’s latest wireless earphones promise 18 hours of sound
If Microsoft has any hope of taking on Twitch with its Mixer (formerly Beam) game streaming service, it’s going to need strong mobile host software. Luckily, Mixer Create, which has been in beta for awhile, has been released to all. It lets you broad…
Source: Engadget – Microsoft’s Twitch rival gives mobile streamers a new option
When Aftershokz released its Trekz Titanium bone-conduction headphones, there was a marked change from the Bluez 2 line before it. The design shifted from a stiff plastic headband to a ruggedly flexible and sportier design. Today at IFA in Berlin, th…
Source: Engadget – Aftershokz unveils its skinny Trekz Air open-ear headphones
Little kids have a lot of big feelings, ones that can change rapidly and dramatically from the time it takes you say “Would you like a strawberry jam sandwich?” to “Oh dear, we only have the ends of the bread loaf left.” But they can’t always express their feelings in words, so they often do so in tantrums and tears.…
Source: LifeHacker – Make an Emotion Wheel to Help Kids Express Their Feelings
If you live on the West Coast, the company Tesloop can give you a ride if you’re traveling around California. As you can expect, the company’s cars accrue serious mileage in a short timespan—and indeed, Tesloop says its first car, a Model S, just rolled over 300,000 miles on the odometer. Here’s how it held up.
Source: Gizmodo – This Is What Happens When You Put 300,000 Miles On A Tesla Model S