The Logitech Harmony Ultimate has just about every feature you could ever ask for in a universal remote, and then some, and Amazon’s offering it up for an all-time low $140 today for Prime members.
Source: LifeHacker – This Discounted Harmony Remote Includes the All-Powerful Harmony Hub
It’s taken ages, but Microsoft is finally updating Notepad, its barebones text editor. This is the next in a recent series of updates to software that’s been floating around the Windows operating system since the ‘80s.
Source: Gizmodo – Microsoft Notepad Is Finally Getting an Update
These are the ridiculous smartphone ankle holders spotted at a recent Maison Margiela fashion show with a theme that was supposed to explore futurism and technology (you did not nail it). They look perfect for filming your dog or your own underwear, but otherwise completely impractical. They’re like one of those gun ankle holsters, except the only thing you’ll be shooting is your mom a text to find out what time dinner will be ready. You know, I used to think high fashion was so ridiculous until my girlfriend made me watch The Devil Wears Prada. Now I want to be part of it.
Keep going for a couple closeups in case you’re not sure just how uncomfortably the holder attaches to the leg.
Source: Geekologie – Ridiculous Haute Couture Smartphone Ankle Holders
It seems as though wireless carriers are finding new ways to squeeze out profits and in turn hit customers with further restrictions on their cellular plans. We can credit T-Mobile with causing a resurgence in unlimited data plans, but the term “unlimited” has been butchered recently. The latest carrier to muddy the unlimited data waters is
Source: Hot Hardware – Sprint Cripples Its Unlimited Plan And Launches Tier As Carriers Redefine Unlimited Data
Source: Engadget – California has already hit its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions goal
Microsoft is introducing Dolby Vision to support to its Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles, the company confirmed. It’s already available to users who participate in the Xbox One Insider Program and who download the latest system update (version 1810), along with a few other goodies. Once it rolls out to the public, the Xbox One S and Xbox
Source: Hot Hardware – Xbox One Gains Dolby Vision Support In Latest Insider Preview Build
An anonymous reader shares a report: Pornography has provided the first real boom in VR, and adult-entertainment companies like Naughty America are leading the way. In the 18 months after producing its first VR video, the San Diego-based studio released 108 more, making it one of the most prolific producers of VR content in the world. In 2017, the company operated a booth at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and became the first adult business allowed to exhibit in 19 years. It’s not surprising that adult-entertainment companies are among the first movers in the nascent VR industry. After adult content helped popularize new media formats like VHS, Blu-ray and streaming video, the idea that porn drives digital innovation became a widely accepted truth. What is surprising is how big VR porn has become, and how quickly. In 2016, Samsung, HTC, Google, Sony and Facebook-owned Oculus sold just over 6.1 million headsets worldwide, according to an estimate from SuperData, a videogame market research firm. In December 2016 alone, Naughty America’s customers downloaded more than 20 million VR videos, the company said. VR porn consumers are also more willing to pay for content than consumers of typical online porn.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – The First Real Boom in Virtual Reality? It’s Pornography.
We were hoping to see some great weighted blanket deals for Prime Day, and we aren’t disappointed. Three different blankets are on sale for all-time low prices, and the deals are available starting now. Just be sure to note the promo codes below.
Source: LifeHacker – Prime Day’s Anxiety-Smothering Weighted Blanket Deals Are Available Now
Stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of Apple products didn’t call for an Oceans Eleven-style elaborate heist. No, it simply required less than thirty seconds and moving with a sense of purpose.
Source: Gizmodo – Robbing an Apple Store Looks Exactly as Easy as You’d Expect
Enlarge / An Uber self-driving car in San Francisco in 2017. (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Uber is laying off its safety drivers in Pittsburgh and San Francisco—about 100 people in total. It’s the latest sign that Uber is scaling back its testing operations as it tries to move beyond the March crash that killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.
Uber’s testing operations have been suspended nationwide since that fatality. It already laid off its safety drivers in the Phoenix metropolitan area—previously the company’s most significant testing location. And the company decided not to renew its permit to test self-driving cars in California.
But Uber says it’s still aiming to resume testing in the Pittsburgh area. While about 100 Uber safety drivers are officially being laid off, Uber expects many of them to apply for 55 newly created “mission specialist” jobs doing similar work. Previously, Uber had separate teams testing on public roads and on private test tracks. Now, Uber wants a single team of drivers to perform testing in both cases and to provide them with additional training to better aid Uber engineers in improving the company’s self-driving software.
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Source: Ars Technica – Uber lays off 100 safety drivers as it scales back self-driving tests
If you’re an Apple fan/user and you use your notebook for productivity then you are going to like the new MacBook Pros. The 15-inch model is coming with a 6-core processor they claim will increase performance up to 70 percent and the 13-inch model will come with a quad-core for up to two times faster performance. They are also offering support for up to 32GB of memory, improved keyboard and other nice upgrades. Also of note is the Apple T2 chip that will deliver enhanced security and “Hey Siri” to the Pros. All in all this seems like a set of nice upgrades. You can get these nice upgrades in the top of the line model for only $6,700 and $3,000 of that is for 4TB of SSD storage space. Thanks cageymaru.
“The latest generation MacBook Pro is the fastest and most powerful notebook we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Now with 8th-generation 6-core processors, up to 32GB of system memory, up to 4TB of super fast SSD storage, new True Tone technology in its Retina display and Touch Bar, the Apple T2 chip for enhanced security and a third-generation quieter keyboard packed into its thin and light aluminum design with all-day battery life, it’s the best notebook for pro users.”
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Apple Updates MacBook Pro With Faster Performance and New Features for Pros
Over on the Steam blog they are talking about some improvements they’ve made on the Upcoming tab that some may or may not like. According to the blog the old tab just listed everything in a somewhat chronological order of upcoming titles and they felt that wasn’t doing its job. Now the Upcoming tab is going to have a more tailored listing called Popular Upcoming. It’s going to take pre-release interest in the game by using wishlists, past titles from the publisher/developer and pre-purchase info. Sounds reasonable to me and it’s available right now. Go check it out and let me know how you like the change. Thanks cageymaru.
n the past, the Steam homepage included an Upcoming tab that showed customers a complete list of everything that was coming to Steam. This was a pretty simple feature — it was literally just a chronological list of upcoming titles. It didn’t do anything to build a list of games suited to anyone’s interests and just wasn’t doing its job.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Improvements to the “Upcoming” tab on Steam
Enlarge (credit: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Well folks, it’s official: Tesla has now sold and delivered more than 200,000 electric vehicles here in the US. That’s an important milestone for the EV maker, because it means that the $7,500 IRS tax credit that buyers have been eligible for will soon be a thing of the past.
Speculation that Tesla had hit the 200,000 mark for US sales has been rampant, particularly in the wake of the company’s recent statement regarding production numbers. In the second quarter of 2018, it says it produced 53,339 vehicles, a 55 percent increase over Q1 2018. That big increase was in large part down to the company finally finding its feet with regards to the Model 3 production lines. More than half its Q2 output (28,571 cars) were Model 3s; the remainder were Model S and Model X EVs.
However, it was unclear at the time of Tesla’s announcement just how many of those cars were actually bound for US customers. In the past, Tesla has often focused one month a quarter on delivering vehicles to countries outside of the US, and it was thought likely that the company was doing everything possible to ensure it didn’t break the 200,000 US sales mark before the end of Q2. But on Thursday morning the company updated the page on its website dealing with EV incentives in light of reaching this milestone.
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Source: Ars Technica – Tesla sold 200,000 cars in the US, so the ,500 tax credit is going away
In March, Dota 2 players were introduced to Dota Plus, a monthly subscription service Valve likened to an evolved battle pass. Gamers who sign up get access to an in-game coach, special challenges and better post-match analytics. Today, Valve is roll…
Source: Engadget – ‘Dota 2’ update improves the subscription’s in-game coach
Every so often, protons and even entire atomic nuclei strike the Earth with extremely high energies—much higher than what scientists can produce in their most powerful physics experiments. Since the discovery of “cosmic rays” a hundred years ago, no one knew for sure where the most energetic of these particles came…
Source: Gizmodo – Cosmic Ray Mystery Finally Cracked Thanks to Supermassive Black Hole Beaming Energy Straight at Earth
Since the discovery of his mummified body nearly 30 years ago, Ötzi the Iceman has provided scientists with heaps of information about Copper Age Europeans. An updated analysis of his stomach contents is providing a glimpse into the iceman’s final meal, which was remarkably high in fats.
Source: Gizmodo – Ötzi the Iceman’s Final Meal Was Surprisingly Hearty
Today, Samsung announced that it is opening a Connected Customer Care Center in Greenville, South Carolina. This facility is aimed at improving and streamlining customer service across Samsung’s entire range of products. The tech-focused center speci…
Source: Engadget – Samsung’s new care center is meant to improve customer service
This week, a woman named Sylvia Acosta experienced what she described as a “Handmaid’s Tale moment” when passing through customs with her 15-year-old daughter at Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport. Because she and her child don’t share the same surname, Acosta claims she was detained and questioned by a customs…
Source: LifeHacker – The Travel Document You Might Need If You and Your Kid Don’t Share the Same Last Name
In part with GPU demand by crypto-currency miners waning a bit, NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics card availability at retailers has been improving in recent weeks as well as seeing less inflated prices than just recently had been the case. Given the better availability and stabilizing prices, here is a fresh look of the current line-up of GeForce and Radeon graphics cards under Ubuntu Linux using the newest AMD/NVIDIA drivers and also providing performance-per-dollar metrics given current retail prices.
Source: Phoronix – The NVIDIA/AMD Linux GPU Gaming Benchmarks & Performance-Per-Dollar For July 2018
Source: Engadget – Walmart patents surveillance tool that can eavesdrop on workers
