In the midst of mounting frustration with Anthem’s end-game loot grind, BioWare has announced a handful of changes to make it less grueling. They don’t address all of the complaints players have had, but it’s a start.
Source: Kotaku – BioWare Announces Some Fixes For Anthem’s Broken Loot System
Breakfast sandwiches are a deeply personal affair. The classic combination of meat, cheese, egg, and bread is infinitely variable, with everything from one’s preferred egg doneness to regional processed meat delicacies contributing to each person’s ideal version. Personal preferences aside, most people would probably…
Source: LifeHacker – Your Breakfast Sandwich Needs Pickles
This is the Polestar 2, the first long-range battery EV from Volvo’s new spinoff. [credit:
Polestar
]
Volvo’s newest brand, Polestar, took the wraps off the Polestar 2 yesterday, the company’s all-electric Tesla Model 3 fighter. Polestar has done some interesting rethinking of how a car should work (The car starts via a chair-mounted pressure switch! It has a crazy ownership subscription plan!). And one of the more wide-ranging features is in the infotainment system: this is the first car with Android Auto built in.
Previously, we’ve seen a smartphone app from Google called “Android Auto” that, like Apple’s CarPlay, runs on your smartphone and uses the car display as an external monitor. This project with Polestar is a full-blown operating system instead of a single app, and it is built into the car’s hardware instead of running on your smartphone. It doesn’t really have a name yet. Volvo was just calling it “Android,” and Google in the past has referred to it as both “Android Automotive” and “Android Auto built-in.”
Since at least 2014, Google has been on a mission to expand its phone-operating-system business into a car-operating-system business. Google’s plan for car manufacturers really is a direct extension of how Android phones work: Google builds a special car version of the Android OS and car manufacturers build the hardware. Car manufacturers can skin Android to make it look different from the competition, but they all share Google’s app ecosystem, which includes the Play Store, Google Maps, and the Google Assistant. Car manufacturers get a much more capable, more compatible OS than they could build themselves, and Google gets revenue from ads and the app store.
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Source: Ars Technica – The Volvo Polestar 2 is the first Google Android car
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration have issued new rules designed to protect air passengers from the potential dangers of lithium ion batteries. From a report: The new Transportation Department rules come after Congress last year directed the agency to adopt the new rules. The new restriction doesn’t apply to passengers or crew bringing electronics aboard aircraft. “This rule will strengthen safety for the traveling public by addressing the unique challenges lithium batteries pose in transportation,” US Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao said in a statement. In the past couple of years, the use of lithium-ion batteries has been linked to fires and spewing smoke in a slew of products, including Samsung’s now-canceled Galaxy Note 7, hoverboards and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – US Bars Lithium-ion Batteries From Passenger Aircraft Cargo
Medium is putting a gate in it paywall for Twitter users. Company CEO Ev Williams announced that users who are directed to Medium from links on Twitter will not be subject to the standard limits of the paywall. They will be able to read stories for f…
Source: Engadget – You can get around Medium’s paywall by clicking on twitter links
YouTube has responded to a report that the company allows child predators to comment and socialize in the comments section of videos that feature minors. YouTube has taken the corrective action of disabling the comments section of tens of millions of videos that feature young minors. Some videos of older minors who are at risk of attracting predatory behavior will have their comments section disabled also.
A small number of creators will be able to keep comments enabled on these types of videos. These channels will be required to actively moderate their comments, beyond just using standard moderation tools, and demonstrate a low risk of predatory behavior. YouTube will work directly with those channels to fine tune the company’s ability to catch violative comments. YouTube fast-tracked the development of a more effective classifier that is able to catch twice as many predatory comments as before.
No form of content that endangers minors is acceptable on YouTube, which is why we have terminated certain channels that attempt to endanger children in any way. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges targeting any audience are also clearly against our policies. We will continue to take action when creators violate our policies in ways that blatantly harm the broader user and creator community. Please continue to flag these to us.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – YouTube Disables Comments on Videos with Minors
SpaceX is set to send an uncrewed Dragon capsule to the International Space Station this weekend in one of the most anticipated launches of 2019. A successful test would pave the way for a crewed mission later in the year—and the subsequent return of America’s ability to launch astronauts into space on its own terms.
Source: Gizmodo – Critical Test Flight of SpaceX Crew Capsule Scheduled for Saturday
Underwater archaeologists are searching the waters off Playa Villa Rica, about 75 kilometers (46.6 miles) north of Veracruz on Mexico’s Gulf coast, for what’s left of conquistador Hernán Cortés’ long-abandoned fleet.
In 1519, at the very last moment, the Spanish governor of Cuba revoked the charter of an expedition to Mexico after a fierce argument with its leader. But the defiant Cortés set sail with 11 ships and 300 men anyway, and by July, he had worked his way along the Yucatan coast to Veracruz. There, eager to march inland to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Cortés destroyed 10 of his 11 ships, cutting off his men’s only hope of retreat and leaving them with no option but to head inland.
The expedition ultimately destroyed the Aztec Empire and began the long and often brutal process of colonizing Mexico. Almost no one gave the ships a second thought.
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Source: Ars Technica – Searching for the ships Cortés burned before destroying the Aztecs
This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read Wirecutter’s continuously updated list of deals here.
Source: Engadget – Wirecutter’s best deals: The Instant Pot Ultra 6-quart drops to 0
With a massive, worldwide footprint and properties ranging from the affordable (Holiday Inn Express) to the luxurious (Regent and Intercontinental), you can probably stay at an IHG hotel on any trip you take, and Chase’s IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card can improve every aspect of your experience.
Source: Kotaku – Extend Your Stay With This 120,000 Point IHG Premier Rewards Welcome Offer
Besides the usual hidden storage and mirrors to enlarge the space, this redesigned layout includes a slight rotation to improve circulation.
Source: TreeHugger – Small apartment renovation features clever 10 degree rotation (Video)
If you’re planning to snag a Samsung Galaxy S10 or S10+ when they arrive next week, you might be pleased to see your new phone will already have a screen protector installed. While the plastic protector might not be as tough as other glass-based opti…
Source: Engadget – Samsung is giving away a screen protector with the Galaxy S10
YouTube said today it will disable the ability for viewers to leave comments on most videos featuring minors, as it tries to contain the damage from a scandal involving child predators leaving coded sexual comments on the site. From a report: YouTube said in a blog post Thursday that over the past week it had already disabled comments from “tens of millions of videos” that could be subject to predatory behavior. Now, it will expand that to suspend comments on virtually all videos featuring young minors, as well as videos featuring older kids that “could be at risk of attracting predatory behavior.” In a tweet, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki linked to the update and explained the change: “Recently, there have been some deeply concerning incidents regarding child safety on YouTube. Nothing is more important to us than ensuring the safety of young people on the platform.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – YouTube Will Disable Comments on Nearly All Videos With Kids
Because human achievement isn’t going to pinnacle itself, this is the Kickstarter campaign for the ~$55 Pizza Pocket Hoodie, a hoodie with a triangular zippered pocket on the front that’s made to store its specially insulated, removable (and hand-washable) pizza slice carrying pouch (which also has a magnetic closure to keep the heat in). I want one, but I’m kind of concerned — I mean how many days in a row is too many days in a row to wear a Pizza Pocket Hoodie? “Nice try, GW, but I recognize a trick question when I hear one.” Haha, you thought about it for a second though, admit it.
Keep going for several more shots and an As Seen On TV style commercial.
Source: Geekologie – The Pizza Pocket Hoodie: A Hoodie With A Removable, Insulated Pouch For Carrying Pizza Slices
Well, comics themselves are already a form of serialized storytelling, so while the format isn’t exactly new to these characters, this just-announced project is pretty intriguing.
Source: io9 – Marvel Is Bringing Its Superheroes to the World of Serialized Fiction with 4 New Series
Are you a trivia master? Or an Alex Trebek superfan? You could be on Jeopardy! The show’s application and testing process are open to anyone willing to put their knowledge to the test.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Get on ‘Jeopardy!’
Bloatware has unfortunately become a fact of life when it comes to many of the electronic devices that we purchase these days. Chances are if you buy a PC or carrier-locked smartphone, it will come preinstalled with bloatware that — 99 percent of the time — you won’t even need or use.
Samsung and McAfee have just announced a partnership
Source: Hot Hardware – Facepalm: Samsung Loads McAfee Antivirus Bloatware On Smart TVs
Enlarge (credit: TechBargains)
Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, it’s time for another Dealmaster. While we usually highlight discounts on known entities, every so often we like to alert you to a product that isn’t a household name but is still worth your consideration when it’s on sale.
Today is one of those days, as our list is led by a deal on Anker’s wireless Soundcore Space NC noise-cancelling headphones. They are currently down to $79 on Amazon when you use the code “TOMSA3021” at checkout. That’s $20 off their usual going rate and a great price for one of the few budget noise-cancelling headphones we find acceptable.
Now, if you can afford to pay for a more premium pair from Sony or Bose, do so. Noise-cancelling headphones haven’t been commoditized as much as other tech categories; the higher-end gear is still genuinely worth it. But if you can’t pony up the $350 it costs to get the best, the Dealmaster has tested the Soundcore Space NC and can say it’s effective enough to be good value.
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Source: Ars Technica – Dealmaster: Get a pair of Anker wireless noise-cancelling headphones for
Self-driving cars usually benefit from having detailed road maps, but creating those maps can be agonizingly slow when it requires cars loaded with exotic hardware. Toyota researchers and Carmera might have an easier solution: use off-the-shelf camer…
Source: Engadget – Toyota experiment uses cameras to create city maps for self-driving cars
There are some wonderful things about spray foam insulation, but the price in health and embodied carbon is just too high.
Source: TreeHugger – Why you shouldn’t choose spray foam insulation over fiberglass
