The South by Southwest gaming awards are coming on March 17th, and they have announced the nominees for the “Gamer’s Voice Awards.” These are the set of awards that are voted on by the public, with categories from Excellence in Musical Score to Video Game of the Year. You can check out the nominees here, and cast your votes for each category here.
I can’t say I’ve gotten to play most of the games up for voting on this year. Most of the list seems comprised of console games, and I don’t own a console.
Each year, SXSW Gaming staff members invite only a handful of the best games from among hundreds of entries to receive an exhibition spot at the SXSW Gaming Expo so that they can compete for a coveted Gamer’s Voice Award, with winners chosen exclusively by attendees.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – SXSW Game Awards Coming March 17th
Monthly Archives: February 2018
Use These Prompts If You Need Help Journaling
Like any habit, journaling is easier said than done. I tried for years (all of the half-empty notebooks in my childhood bedroom can attest to this) and didn’t form a sustaining habit until I studied abroad in college and wrote in a travel journal daily. Something just clicked during that time, and I kept it up when I…
Source: LifeHacker – Use These Prompts If You Need Help Journaling
Simple telescope picks up hint of the Universe’s first stars, dark matter
Enlarge / No, it’s not a picnic table. It’s an observatory that may have just upset our ideas about dark matter. (credit: Judd Bowman/ASU)
Today, a small team of researchers is announcing that its correspondingly small telescope picked up something that theoreticians had only suggested might exist: a signal produced by the very first stars in our Universe. Their radiotelescope, only two meters across, didn’t image the stars directly. Instead, it picked up an imprint on the Cosmic Microwave Background left by the matter that these stars interacted with.
And, while the signal had been predicted by theoreticians, calculations had suggested that it would be substantially smaller than it actually is. If the results hold up, then it could be a sign that dark matter looks very different from what we had expected.
Ignition
The Cosmic Microwave Background was produced when the Universe cooled enough to allow electrons to settle down into the Universe’s first atoms, releasing radiation as they did. It famously captures the state of the Universe when it was formed, telling us about the Big Bang that produced it, as well as the composition of the Universe’s contents. But in many ways, it’s the gift that keeps giving, as subtle details in the Background provide further details of the Universe’s physics, and theorists regularly think up ways to extract more information from it.
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Source: Ars Technica – Simple telescope picks up hint of the Universe’s first stars, dark matter
Alleged LG G7 Leaks With Yes, Another Notched Display And Snapdragon 845
It seems as though we’re in for a “notch” filled 2018, as OEMs are coming out of the woodwork with smartphone designs that are eerily similar to iPhone X. At least one OEM, ASUS, was rather brazen about its decision to mimic the look of Apple’s latest flagship with the ZenFone 5 family, decrying that it is giving the people what they want.
Now
Source: Hot Hardware – Alleged LG G7 Leaks With Yes, Another Notched Display And Snapdragon 845
'Bro Culture’ Led to Repeated Sexual Harassment, Former Google Engineer's Lawsuit Says
Loretta Lee, a software engineer who worked at Google for seven years before being fired in February 2016, is suing Google for sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination she says she experienced at the company. Lee says in her lawsuit that the company’s “bro-culture” led to continuous…
Source: Gizmodo – ‘Bro Culture’ Led to Repeated Sexual Harassment, Former Google Engineer’s Lawsuit Says
Bank of America Hopes a ‘Safety Officer’ Can Keep Its Ads Out of Internet Cesspools
The brands are finally ready to take a bold stand against willingly associating themselves with things that lots of people hate.
Source: Gizmodo – Bank of America Hopes a ‘Safety Officer’ Can Keep Its Ads Out of Internet Cesspools
Sturgis tiny house is built with sturdy & renewable cross-laminated timber (Video)
This sturdy little home hides an airy, modern interior.
Source: TreeHugger – Sturgis tiny house is built with sturdy & renewable cross-laminated timber (Video)
Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph 2 plans to “break the Internet” this Thanksgiving
After sending up various eras of video games in 2012, Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph film series will return to theaters with a sequel this Thanksgiving—and Wednesday’s trailer sees the franchise changing its jokes and references to an Internet theme.
Disney isn’t being shy about the sequel’s title, opting for the ambitious-sounding Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2. However, the trailer doesn’t show the titular hero, voiced again by John C. Reilly, facing off against Kim Kardashian’s butt. Instead, the two-minute trailer shows him and his cohort Vanellope (again voiced by Sarah Silverman) shooting through a series of tubes to land in an avatar-filled approximation of the Internet.
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Source: Ars Technica – Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph 2 plans to “break the Internet” this Thanksgiving
Einstein The African Grey Parrot Performs Over Five Minutes Of Impressions To Celebrate His 30th Birthday
This is a video of Knoxville Zoo resident Einstein the African grey parrot performing over five minutes of impressions and chit-chat to celebrate his 30th birthday. How about that! He reminds me of my girlfriend. “Because he talks a lot?” What? Noooooooo. Yes of course now shut up before you get me in trouble. Now, where were we? “You just said your girlfriend talks a lot.” What — no I didn’t! *phone rings, I don’t even need to look to know who it is* Dammit, why do you do this to me?
Keep going for the video while I try to diffuse this bomb MacGyver style.
Source: Geekologie – Einstein The African Grey Parrot Performs Over Five Minutes Of Impressions To Celebrate His 30th Birthday
World's first plastic-free supermarket aisle debuts in Amsterdam
To start with, more than 700 products will be available without plastic packaging in the designated section.
Source: TreeHugger – World’s first plastic-free supermarket aisle debuts in Amsterdam
The moon may have formed inside the early Earth
Scientists have been puzzling over the moon’s formation for a long time, and now there’s a new theory that might explain some of the baffling mysteries surrounding our satellite. A new study published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Pla…
Source: Engadget – The moon may have formed inside the early Earth
Why a House-passed online sex trafficking bill could hurt victims
(credit: Mayor McGinn)
In a bipartisan 388 to 25 vote, the House of Representatives approved legislation on Tuesday to make it easier for states to prosecute websites that facilitate prostitution and sex trafficking—including trafficking of underage girls. But critics say that the legislation, known as the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), could undermine a key legal protection for free speech online.
The House bill modifies Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which provides website operators with broad immunity for hosting third-party content. Digital rights groups argue that Section 230 made today’s innovative and free-wheeling Internet possible because sites don’t have to worry about getting sued if their users post content that violates the law.
“FOSTA would punch a major hole in Section 230, enabling lawsuits and prosecutions against online platforms—including ones that aren’t even aware that sex trafficking is taking place,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote on Tuesday.
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Source: Ars Technica – Why a House-passed online sex trafficking bill could hurt victims
X.Org Server 1.20 RC1 Released
As was planned yesterday, X.Org Server 1.20 Release Candidate 1 has become a reality…
Source: Phoronix – X.Org Server 1.20 RC1 Released
Airbus Introduces CIMON, An AI Companion For The ISS
Airbus has announced that they are developing the CIMON astronaut assistance system for the DLR Space Administration. CIMON, short for Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN, will be a medicine ball sized flying companion, complete with a face and voice that uses IBM’s Watson AI to help astronauts carry out everyday tasks, and using AI, can actually give suggestions to solving problems. CIMON is being developed for the DLR Space Administration, and will be tested on the ISS between June and October 2018.
Very exciting technology, even if it’s incredibly creepy at the same time. What do I know though, HAL 9000 worked out great.
Amongst other things, the Watson AI was trained using voice samples and photos of Alexander Gerst, and procedures and plans of the Columbus module of the International Space Station were loaded into the database. Alexander Gerst also had a say in the selection of CIMON’s screen face and computer voice so that he, too, could ‘make friends’ with his electronic colleague.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Airbus Introduces CIMON, An AI Companion For The ISS
New Species of Tardigrade Discovered in Japanese Parking Lot
Say hello to Macrobiotus shonaicus, a completely new species of tardigrade—those incredibly resilient microscopic wee beasties that likely have what it takes to survive the apocalypse.
Source: Gizmodo – New Species of Tardigrade Discovered in Japanese Parking Lot
Play Six Degrees of Wikipedia
Ten years ago, we wrote about Six Degrees of Wikipedia, a cute web page that would find the link path between any two Wikipedia pages. Now there’s a new visual version, by a different developer, with an updated database. The new Six Degrees of Wikipedia visualizes all the shortest paths between any two entries as a…
Source: LifeHacker – Play Six Degrees of Wikipedia
YouTube bans Neo-Nazi group following backlash over hate speech
Source: Engadget – YouTube bans Neo-Nazi group following backlash over hate speech
AI Will Create New Jobs But Skills Must Shift, Say Tech Giants
AI will create more jobs than it destroys was the not-so-subtle rebuttal from tech giants to growing concern over the impact of automation technologies on employment. Execs from Google, IBM and Salesforce were questioned about the wider societal implications of their technologies during a panel session here at Mobile World Congress. From a report: Behshad Behzadi, who leads the engineering teams working on Google’s eponymously named AI voice assistant, claimed many jobs will be “complemented” by AI, with AI technologies making it “easier” for humans to carry out tasks. “For sure there is some shift in the jobs. There’s lots of jobs which will [be created which don’t exist today]. Think about flight attendant jobs before there was planes and commercial flights. No one could really predict that this job will appear. So there are jobs which will be appearing of that type that are related to the AI,” he said. “I think the topic is a super important topic. How jobs and AI is related — I don’t think it’s one company or one country which can solve it alone. It’s all together we could think about this topic,” he added. “But it’s really an opportunity, it’s not a threat.” “From IBM’s perspective we firmly believe that every profession will be impacted by AI. There’s no question. We also believe that there will be more jobs created,” chimed in Bob Lord, IBM’s chief digital officer. “We also believe that there’ll be more jobs created.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – AI Will Create New Jobs But Skills Must Shift, Say Tech Giants
PlayStation Plus won't include free PS3 and Vita games next year
Changes are afoot for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Starting next March, the smattering of monthly free (with subscription) Instant Game Collection offerings won’t include titles for the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita. It won’t affect any games yo…
Source: Engadget – PlayStation Plus won’t include free PS3 and Vita games next year
Play the new 'Overwatch' support hero on test servers right now
There was a time when the Overwatch team spent months dripping out information about a new hero for fans to obsess over. But now it’s content to simply drop a new one out of nowhere like a dropped mic and revel in the game’s overjoyed community. Toda…
Source: Engadget – Play the new ‘Overwatch’ support hero on test servers right now