Car soccer fans who’ve been itching to take their Rocket League fun on the go are about to be rewarded for their patience. The popular competitive video game is set to release on the Nintendo Switch on November 14th for $20.
Source: Engadget – ‘Rocket League’ hits Nintendo Switch November 14th
Monthly Archives: October 2017
Ubuntu 14.04 To Ubuntu 17.10 RadeonSI OpenGL Performance
As part of the multi-year comparisons for marking AMD’s open-source strategy being 10 years old, here’s a look back with fresh OpenGL Linux gaming benchmarks from Ubuntu 14.04 through Ubuntu 17.10 using a Radeon HD 7950 graphics card with the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver. There’s also a similar comparison with a Radeon R9 Fury.
Source: Phoronix – Ubuntu 14.04 To Ubuntu 17.10 RadeonSI OpenGL Performance
Sony comes to Paris with tons of PlayStation announcements, new footage
With Los Angeles’ E3 and Germany’s Gamescom fading in memory, Sony used the opening of Paris Games Week today to reveal a bevy of new games for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR. The company also shared new footage of some anticipated, previously announced games. Most of these announcements came in the form of polished, non-interactive trailers, many of which provided very scant details of what the games themselves are actually like to play.
Above, we’ve captured a handful of representative shots from some of Sony’s more interesting announcements along with what we can glean about the games themselves. Click through to find out more or just check out the trailers directly using the links below:
Read on Ars Technica | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Sony comes to Paris with tons of PlayStation announcements, new footage
2017: The Year That Horror Saved Hollywood
A reader shares a report: If there’s a silver lining in any of that for America’s film industry, it’s that the horror genre is still plugging merrily along, seemingly immune to the financial troubles that have befallen most studios. As the rest of Hollywood flounders in 2017, horror is in the midst of its highest-grossing year ever. On the backs of huge hits like It and Get Out, the horror genre has combined for a record $733.5 million in the US this year, according to box office data compiled by the New York Times (paywall). The year has proven that horror films are more than just cheaply made movies for niche audiences and can still cross into the mainstream to become bona fide successes. Ticket sales during the 2017 summer movie season, billed by Variety as “The Summer of Hell,” were down nearly 11% from last year due to a series of epic flops, namely King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and The Dark Tower. Arguably the only saving grace was It, the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King that became the highest-grossing horror film of all time in September (not adjusted for inflation). Today, it has made a very fitting $666.6 million (seriously) worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Following a solid first half of 2017 with Dunkirk and Wonder Woman, It helped Warner Bros. rebound from the disastrous King Arthur and the disappointing Blade Runner 2049 — to say nothing of this month’s box office catastrophe, Geostorm.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – 2017: The Year That Horror Saved Hollywood
FCC chair wants to impose a cap on broadband funding for poor families
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | MarsBars)
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wants to impose a budget cap on the Lifeline program that helps poor people buy broadband and phone service.
Under previous Chairman Tom Wheeler, the 32-year-old Lifeline program was expanded to let poor people use a $9.25 monthly household subsidy to buy Internet service. Previously, the subsidy could only be used for phone service.
But when Pai took over the chairmanship, he quickly got to work rolling back some of Wheeler’s Lifeline changes. Pai, a Republican, ramped up his attempts to place limits on Lifeline last week with a proposal that will likely be approved by the commission at its meeting on November 16.
Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – FCC chair wants to impose a cap on broadband funding for poor families
Facebook Denies 'listening' to Conversations
A Facebook executive has denied the social network uses a device’s microphone to listen to what users are saying and then send them relevant ads. However, there have been anecdotal accounts of people saying they were recently talking about a particular subject and the next thing they knew Facebook ads popped up about the same subject. Facebook might be telling the truth or they might not. Considering past history it wouldn’t surprise me if they were using the microphone without disclosing that fact.
“I run ads product at Facebook. We don’t – and have never – used your microphone for ads. Just not true,” Rob Goldman, Facebook’s vice-president of ads, posted on Twitter. Facebook managers have taken to the rival site in recent weeks in an apparently attempt to head off criticism, including over the election.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Facebook Denies ‘listening’ to Conversations
New Self-Regulating Nanoparticles Could Treat Cancer
Scientists from the University of Surrey have developed ‘intelligent’ nanoparticles which heat up to a temperature high enough to kill cancerous cells – but which then self-regulate and lose heat before they get hot enough to harm healthy tissue. These particles self-regulate their temperature and won’t go above 45C no matter what. They’re implanted in the body and then induce a temperature that kills cancer cells. This breakthrough in nanotechnology is going to have many uses in the future.
Professor Ravi Silva, Head of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, said: “This could potentially be a game changer in the way we treat people who have cancer . If we can keep cancer treatments at at a temperature level high enough to kill the cancer, while low enough to stop harming healthy tissue, it will prevent some of the serious side effects of vital treatment.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – New Self-Regulating Nanoparticles Could Treat Cancer
Sprint owner SoftBank may be calling off T-Mobile merger
One of the biggest on-again, off-again relationships in tech is reportedly off again. After the most recent rumors indicated a possible late October merger, Nikkei Asian Review is reporting that Sprint’s parent company, Japan’s SoftBank group, intend…
Source: Engadget – Sprint owner SoftBank may be calling off T-Mobile merger
Gag order silencing Comic-Con producers declared unconstitutional
Enlarge / San Diego Comic-Con. (credit: Kevin Dooley)
A federal appeals court is declaring a gag order that was imposed on the backers of a Comic-Con convention to be an unconstitutional infringement of speech. A San Diego federal judge had prohibited the organizers of Salt Lake Comic Con from taking to social media like Twitter, Facebook, and even the event’s website to discuss being sued for allegedly infringing the “Comic-Con” trademark.
“Petitioners assert that the court-ordered prior restraints on their speech violate the First Amendment. We agree,” the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
The gag order was issued as part of an ongoing trademark lawsuit brought by the producers of the San Diego Comic-Con. They sued a competing “Comic-Con” convention for using the unhyphenated form of their trademarked term “Comic-Con” without paying licensing fees. The case raises questions about the legitimacy of the trademark—in particular whether the trademark has become too generic and, hence, a victim to its own pop-culture popularity.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Gag order silencing Comic-Con producers declared unconstitutional
Stanford’s ‘accelerator on a chip’ could revolutionize medical care
When the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford first opened its doors in 1966, it had already earned the distinction of housing the world’s longest linear accelerator: A 3.2 kilometer monstrosity buried 25 feet under the gently rolling hil…
Source: Engadget – Stanford’s ‘accelerator on a chip’ could revolutionize medical care
Google, others showcase emoji cheeseburger construction faux pas
Enlarge / A more readily accepted burger construction method. (credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
While much of the Internet spent the weekend wondering which Trump associate was about to be indicted or freaking out about various sports ball home runs, there was another fervor brewing—albeit one far smaller in scope. It all kicked off when Thomas Baekdal alerted the world to the rather odd construction of Google’s cheeseburger emoji:
I think we need to have a discussion about how Google’s burger emoji is placing the cheese underneath the burger, while Apple puts it on top pic.twitter.com/PgXmCkY3Yc
— Thomas Baekdal (@baekdal) October 28, 2017
Apple—which is in the process of rolling out new unicode 10-compliant emoji—opts for a relatively photorealistic style, putting the lettuce underneath the patty but the tomato and cheese above. By contrast, Google keeps the vegetable garnishes up top where they ought to be, but the company puts the cheese underneath the patty.
Shortly afterward, others began to note a wide variation in burger construction across different emoji implementations. WhatsApp is alone in including ketchup. HTC’s design team went for a double patty approach with some visual separation courtesy of what we must assume is rather wilted lettuce. Mozilla’s approach is the most bare-bones, backyard cookout style, with nothing to adorn its burger save for a slice of cheese and some sesame seeds on the bun.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Google, others showcase emoji cheeseburger construction faux pas
GameStop offers used video game rentals with PowerPass program
If you’ve rented videos or games from the likes of Redbox or Blockbuster, GameStop’s new PowerPass will feel instantly familiar. According to a report at Mashable, the video game retailer is launching a rental service for used titles and sign ups wil…
Source: Engadget – GameStop offers used video game rentals with PowerPass program
Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Discusses The iPhone X
This is an video of neckless Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak sharing his thoughts on the upcoming iPhone X. Basically he says all iPhones are the same and this one doesn’t seem too groundbreaking (it’s also the first he won’t be upgrading to on the day of its release). He says he’s more interested in the technological advancements in electric and self-driving vehicles than smartphones, which I 100% agree with. You can only get so excited about a new phone coming out before you realize just how empty your life is. “So you must be super stoked.” OMG I SERIOUSLY CAN’T WAIT.
Keep going for the interview.
Source: Geekologie – Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Discusses The iPhone X
Danish amateur submariner admits to dismembering reporter
Enlarge / Peter Madsen, inventor and submarine and space enthusiast, after his rescue from the waters off Copenhagen. It appears he sank his sub to destroy evidence of the murder of his passenger. (credit: BAX LINDHARDT/AFP/Getty Images)
The case involving the alleged murder of a Swedish reporter by Peter Madsen—engineer, inventor, and the man behind one of two Danish efforts to create a sub-orbital rocket to put a person into space—has taken yet another twist. About the only fact that Madsen had previously admitted to was that Kim Wall, who was writing a feature story about Madsen’s mission to put himself into space, had died on the evening of August 10 aboard UC3 Nautilus—the submersible craft he designed, built, and maintained with crowdsourced funding and the assistance of members of Copenhagen Suborbitals (another group of space enthusiasts).
When Madsen was rescued from his sinking sub on August 11, he said that he had dropped Wall off ashore the night she disappeared. Then he claimed she died in an accident when he dropped a hatch on her head. But now Madsen has once again changed his description of the events after the discovery of a saw blade believed to have been used in the decapitation and dismemberment and forensic evidence that shows Wall had not suffered from a blow to the head.
Madsen gave his latest account of Wall’s death in an October 14 interview with police. He has voluntarily agreed to stay in police custody; his pre-trial detention had been set to end on October 31. The change in Madsen’s account came as police confronted him with the latest forensic evidence, including traces of Wall’s blood on his clothing. On October 4, Wall’s head and legs were discovered floating in a bag; police found a saw in the bag as well.
Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Danish amateur submariner admits to dismembering reporter
Microsoft is Killing Outlook.com Premium
Paul Thurrott, writing for Thurrott.com: A support document describing new premium Outlook.com features for Office 365 subscribers hides the real story today: Microsoft just killed Outlook.com Premium. I wrote earlier about how Microsoft was bringing some Outlook.com Premium features, like an ad-free inbox, to Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers. That’s great news, of course. But a related support document buries the lede. “The Outlook.com Premium standalone offering is now closed to new subscribers,” the support document notes. “Current subscribers can renew their subscriptions to continue receiving subscription benefits.” Yikes. There’s also a link to another support document that continues this conversation. But there really isn’t much more to say. If you’re already using Outlook.com Premium, you can continue to do so. And for now, at least, you can even renew the subscription and keep using its unique features, like custom domain support.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Microsoft is Killing Outlook.com Premium
Carve a Honeydew Jack-O-Lantern This Halloween
Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I were invited to a wholesome pumpkin carving party. Rather than lug heavy gourds across Brooklyn, we’d planned to simply grab a couple on the way, alongside the necessary libations and candy corn. Forty minutes and four stops later, we were still empty handed, and realized that we’d…
Source: LifeHacker – Carve a Honeydew Jack-O-Lantern This Halloween
NVIDIA 387.22 Linux Driver Released With GTX 1070 Ti Support
NVIDIA has shipped the 387.22 Linux driver today as their first stable release in the 387.xx series…
Source: Phoronix – NVIDIA 387.22 Linux Driver Released With GTX 1070 Ti Support
Heathrow Airport security documents found on random USB stick
Source: Engadget – Heathrow Airport security documents found on random USB stick
What's The Best Cutting Board?
GameStop Basically Just Turned Itself Into a Blockbuster For Video Games
GameStop has launched an in-store rental service called PowerPass. It’s kind of like Blockbuster where you swap out your used video game after you play it and get another one. Just pay a six-month and swap anytime you want. However, you can have only one out at a time. Is this really worth $60 for six-months? Speak to me console gamers.
This is an unexpected play by GameStop, but a seemingly sensible one. As the video game space continues to shift toward online sales, there’s likely a shrinking secondhand market to go along with it.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – GameStop Basically Just Turned Itself Into a Blockbuster For Video Games