Monthly Archives: October 2017

Amazon Tops 540K Employees After Swallowing Whole Foods in $13.7B Deal

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A reader shares a report: Amazon added a whopping 159,500 employees in the last quarter, pushing its total employment to 541,900 people worldwide, according to new numbers from the tech giant released today. Amazon’s headcount grew 77 percent over this time last year, and a big reason for that is the completion of Amazon’s blockbuster deal to buy Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion and the acquisition of e-commerce company Souq. The Whole Foods deal includes 87,000 people who worked at the grocery chain, making up a big chunk of the employment growth this quarter. Even factoring out the acquisitions of Whole Foods and Souq, Amazon’s headcount climbed 47 percent over this time last year. “Certainly hiring continues to remain strong, especially in the tech areas and sales force, particularly in AWS,” Amazon’s CFO Brian Olsavsky said on a call with reporters.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Amazon Tops 540K Employees After Swallowing Whole Foods in .7B Deal

Amazon offers $250,000 prize fund for Alexa skills aimed at kids

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Amazon’s latest bid to boost its smart assistant’s skill set is centered around kids. Oh, and a big pile of money. Alexa Skills Challenge: Kids wants Alexa tricks aimed at kids under the age of 13, with the best ones claiming cash prizes from a fund…

Source: Engadget – Amazon offers 0,000 prize fund for Alexa skills aimed at kids

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus review: A few bumps on the road to epic combat

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Enlarge / BJ is a wanted man in Nazi-overrun America for some reason. Probably because he has killed thousands of Nazis. (credit: Bethesda)

Wolfenstein: The New Order pulled off a pretty neat trick in 2014. Spiritually, the shooting-game surprise felt like a lost gem from the late ’90s era of first-person, single-player shooters, yet it had all the bombast and polish of a solid modern game. Its levels found the right balance between linear and complicated, its guns were both familiar and powerful, and its plot offered depth for those who wanted to pore through optional books and letters. At the same time, it was ham-fisted enough for anyone who just wanted to violently kill a crap-ton of Nazis.

Nobody saw such quality coming from Wolfenstein, a series that had always lagged behind its more technologically advanced sibling Doom. So what happens when a game that surprised everyone gets its own sequel?

The bottom-line gist of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is easy to sum up: more of the same. The game’s underlying 3D engine has gotten a new coat of paint, and the world has expanded with more characters and lunacy, but this by-the-books sequel will neither disappoint fans of the original nor convert anybody unmoved by the 2014 game. And if you’re showing up to this year’s Wolfenstein party because, for whatever reason, you have an itch to shoot guns at virtual Nazis as of late, be ready for some issues and pacing problems on your way through a solid Nazi-stomping quest.

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Source: Ars Technica – Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus review: A few bumps on the road to epic combat

The Intel Optane SSD 900P 280GB Review

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The Intel Optane SSD 900P brings 3D XPoint memory to a consumer SSD with capacities large enough for general-purpose storage use instead of just caching. The result is a drive that breaks almost every performance record and is clearly the fastest consumer SSD. The prices are steep, but far more affordable than the enterprise drive the 900p is derived from.



Source: AnandTech – The Intel Optane SSD 900P 280GB Review

Decorate For the Holidays In Minutes With This Discounted Laser

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Red and green holiday laser lights have been around for a few years now, but this model doesn’t just project dots (sorry, stars) onto the side of your house. With the push of a button, you can turn the lasers into Santa Claus shapes, bells, Christmas trees, or snowflakes. That’s a lot less work than actually hanging…

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Source: LifeHacker – Decorate For the Holidays In Minutes With This Discounted Laser

Finally, a Use For Candy Corn: Blasting It Out of a 3D-Printed Wrist Cannon

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Do you lean more towards the “trick” side of trick-or-treating? Do you, like 98 percent of the world, wonder who actually eats candy corn? If you answered “yes” to both, then head over to DragonflyFabrication’s Thingiverse page where you can download the plans for this double-barreled, wrist-mounted candy corn blaster.

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Source: Gizmodo – Finally, a Use For Candy Corn: Blasting It Out of a 3D-Printed Wrist Cannon

SpaceX unlocks “steamroller” achievement as company eyes 19 launches in 2017

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Source: Ars Technica – SpaceX unlocks “steamroller” achievement as company eyes 19 launches in 2017

Daimler’s electric trucks start making deliveries in Japan and US

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Most electric vehicle discussions revolve around passenger cars. Sometimes buses get thrown into the mix. We’re laser-focused on how people will get from point A to point B and sometimes forget that our streets are also teeming with delivery trucks a…

Source: Engadget – Daimler’s electric trucks start making deliveries in Japan and US

KDE Server Decoration Protocol Proposed For Wayland-Protocols

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Yesterday the GTK tool-kit added support for KDE’s server-side decorations on Wayland to be used when client-side decorations are not active. Now it’s been proposed adding the KDE Server Decoration Protocol to the upstream Wayland-Protocols repository…

Source: Phoronix – KDE Server Decoration Protocol Proposed For Wayland-Protocols

New Updates From Avengers 4, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Justice League, And More

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Steppenwolf speaks in new Justice League footage. Some new Star Wars toys may tease some intriguing Last Jedi dialogue. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Kingkiller Chronicles adaptation finds a home. Plus, Konami wants to bring another classic video game to the big screen, and Avengers 4 set pictures. Hooray for spoilers!

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Source: Gizmodo – New Updates From Avengers 4, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Justice League, And More

Google Addresses Pixel 2 XL Display Issues, Pixel 2 Clicking Sounds With Software Updates

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from PhoneDog: Google explains that it’s been investigating reports about the Pixel 2 XL’s display and that this has given it “confidence that [its] displays are as great as [it] hoped they would be”. Still, Google will be taking steps to respond to consumer complaints about the screen. Google plans to issue a software update that’ll add a “saturated” color mode that will make the colors more saturated and vibrant, but less accurate. This way, consumers that feel the Pixel 2 XL’s screen is too muted can punch up the color saturation themselves.

When it comes to burn-in, Google says that its investigations of the Pixel 2 XL’s display found that its “decay characteristics are comparable to OLED panels used in other premium smartphones.” Google does plan to take further steps to fight burn-in, though, and it’s testing an update that’ll add a new fade-out of the navigation bar buttons after a short period of inactivity. Google is also working with more apps to use a light navigation bar to match the app’s color scheme. Additionally, the update will reduce the maximum brightness of the Pixel 2 XL’s screen by 50 nits, which Google says will be “virtually imperceptible”. This will reduce load on the display with very little change on its observed brightness. This update will roll out to the Pixel 2 XL “in the next few weeks.” Google also touched on the reports that some Pixel 2 phones are emitting some clicking sounds. The company plans to release an update in the coming weeks to address the issue, but until then, it says that Pixel 2 owners can turn off NFC by going into Settings > Connected Devices > NFC.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Google Addresses Pixel 2 XL Display Issues, Pixel 2 Clicking Sounds With Software Updates

Let's All Stop Saying Bless You

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Here’s a cool thing. When you’re sick, or allergic, or something flies up your nose, and you spasm and expel mucus, it’s polite for anyone around you, including complete strangers, to call attention to it. In English-speaking countries they say “Bless you,” in most of Europe they say “Health.” In almost every culture, …

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Source: LifeHacker – Let’s All Stop Saying Bless You

Can you survive our free zombie resources?

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Looking for something more exciting than pumpkin carving this Halloween weekend? Try your hand at our free new creepy, zombie-themed resources — perfect for both digital makers both living and undead!

Pride and Prejudice for zombies

Sketch of a G eorgian zombie couple - Raspberry Pi free resources zombie survival

If you’ve always imagined Lady Catherine de Bourgh as resembling one of the undead, you’re not alone. And if you don’t know who Lady Catherine de Bourgh is, now is the perfect time to read Pride and Prejudice, before using our resource to translate the text for your favourite zombies.

This resource will show you how to apply abstraction and decomposition to solve more complex programming problems, in line with the Raspberry Pi digital curriculum.*

*Zombie translation: Grrrrr arrrrggg braaaaains aaaaaah graaaaarg urrrrrg Raaaarghsberry Pi gurriculum.

Zombie apocalypse survival map

Sketch of two children inspecting a zombie survial map - Raspberry Pi free resources zombie survival

Are you ready to take on the zombie infestation and survive the apocalypse brought about by the undead? This resource shows you how to create a map of a specific area and mark the locations of supplies, secret bases, and enemies, and thus ensure the best chances of survival for you and your team.

In line with our digital curriculum, this resource shows you how to combine programming constructs to solve a problem, and how to design 2D and 3D assets.

Where’s Zombie?

Sketch of two people hiding behind a wall from two zombies - Raspberry Pi free resources zombie survival

Our ‘Where’s Zombie?’ resource is a step-by-step guide to turning your apocalypse survival map into a zombie-tracking game. Use the GPS on your phone to collect supplies while avoiding the undead.

By the way, if you’re not into zombies, don’t worry: these resources are easily modifiable to fit any genre or franchise! Jane Eyre for kittens, anyone? Or an ‘Hide from the stormtroopers’ map?

Pioneers

If you’re a person between the age of 11 and 16 and based in the UK or Ireland, or if you know one who enjoys making, make sure to check out our newest Pioneers challenge, Only you can save us.

Pioneers 'Only you can save us' logo - Raspberry Pi free resources zombie survival

We’re tasking our Pioneers to build something to help humankind survive a calamity of epic proportions. Are you up for the challenge?

Transferable skills

The Raspberry Pi digital curriculum was created to support our goal of putting the power of digital making into the hands of people all over the world.

Sketch of four people holding a toy robot, a sledge hammer, sitting at a destop with a PC, and with four arms holding various tools - Raspberry Pi free resources zombie survival

As Carrie Anne Philbin, Director of Education for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, explains:

We have a large and diverse community of people who are interested in digital making. Some might use the curriculum to help guide and inform their own learning, or perhaps their children’s learning. People who run digital making clubs at schools, community centres, and Raspberry Jams may draw on it for extra guidance on activities that will engage their learners. Some teachers may wish to use the curriculum as inspiration for what to teach their students.

By working through resources such as the ones above, you’re not only learning new skills, but also building on pre-existing ones. You’ll expand both your understanding of digital making and your imagination, and you’ll be able to use what you’ve gained when you create your own exciting projects.

All of our resources are available for free on our website, and we continually update them to offer you more ways to work on your abilities, whatever your age and experience may be.

Have you built anything using our resources? Let us know in the comments!

The post Can you survive our free zombie resources? appeared first on Raspberry Pi.



Source: Raspberry Pi – Can you survive our free zombie resources?

Saudi Arabia Grants Citizenship To A Female Robot While Real Women Fight For Equal Rights

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Saudi Arabia Grants Citizenship To A Female Robot While Real Women Fight For Equal Rights
It might not quite be Skynet, but Saudi Arabia this week made an announcement concerning one of its newest citizens. However, we aren’t talking about a human in this case; Saudi Arabia has granted citizenship to a humanoid robot named Sophia. The announcement was made at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, and Sophia was constructed

Source: Hot Hardware – Saudi Arabia Grants Citizenship To A Female Robot While Real Women Fight For Equal Rights