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- FTC rules that health apps must notify consumers affected by data breaches
- The Morning After: Microsoft lets you ditch the password
- Alphabet's Project Taara is beaming high-speed internet across the Congo River
- FTC set to keep a closer eye on smaller acquisitions made by tech giants
- Samsung begins manufacturing 14-inch 90Hz OLED displays
- 'Deltarune' chapter 2 arrives on September 17th for PC and Mac
- VCV will bring its virtual Eurorack synth to your DAW this November
- HomePod mini update lets it become your default Apple TV speaker
- 'Battlefield 2042' delayed by almost a month to November 19th
- Watch SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 spaceflight here at 8PM ET
- The Rocket League Championship Series is expanding to Asia and Africa
- Firefox offers its own take on suggested web links
- ‘What If…?’ put superheroics on pause to explore a more militaristic MCU
- Unicode 14.0 adds 37 new emoji, including 'melting face' and 'beans'
- Quibi will transfer its video tech to another company to settle lawsuit
- Anthony Mackie is the lead of Sony's 'Twisted Metal' TV series
- Disney+ is remaking the classic sci-fi movie 'Flight of the Navigator'
- HBO is no longer available through Amazon Prime Channels
- NFT marketplace admits employee used insider information to buy collectibles
- Boston Dynamics' Spot robot has learned to replan its routes
- YouTube TV adds Univision and other Spanish-language channels
- TP-Link's latest WiFi 6 router includes a dedicated band for gaming
- Marshall unveils its first true wireless earbuds with ANC
- Sony unveils an all-black version of the Pulse 3D Headset
- Fitbit smartwatches now detect snoring and other loud noises
FTC rules that health apps must notify consumers affected by data breaches Posted: 16 Sep 2021 04:40 AM PDT Since 2009, companies handling health records have been required to notify consumers if their data is breeched. Now, the rule has been extended to health apps that track fitness, vital statistics, sleep and more. The FTC ruled 3-2 that companies producing such apps must inform users impacted by data breaches, lest they face a financial penalty of over $43,000 per day, The Hill has reported. "As many Americans turn to apps and other technologies to track diseases, diagnoses, treatment, medications, fitness, fertility, sleep, mental health, diet, and other vital areas, this Rule is more important than ever," the FTC wrote in the ruling. "Firms offering these services should take appropriate care to secure and protect consumer data."
Recent high-profile breaches include UnderArmour's MyFitnessPal breach that affected 150 million users in 2018. A more recent data leak came about due to an exposed server that contained 61 million records related to fitness trackers and wearables that exposed Apple and Fitbit users' data online. The rule passed along party lines, with the majority Democratic commissioners voting 3-2 in favor. However, the Republican commissioners dissented because the FTC was already working on revamping health breach notification rules. "The right way to go about it is to conclude the ongoing rulemaking process, especially when the statutory and regulatory interpretation on which the majority rely is far from clear," said commissioner Noah Phillips. FTC Chair Lina Khan said the ruling is just the start of what's needed. "A more fundamental problem is the commodification of sensitive health information, where companies can use this data to feed behavioral ads or power user analytics," Khan said. "The Commission should be scrutinizing what data is being collected in the first place and whether particular types of business models create incentives that necessarily place users at risk." |
The Morning After: Microsoft lets you ditch the password Posted: 16 Sep 2021 04:15 AM PDT Microsoft isn't so much declaring war on passwords as bragging about a successful first strike against them. The Windows maker has announced users can now remove the password from their Microsoft account in favor of something that's (hopefully) more secure. The feature, which had already rolled out to enterprise users, will let you ditch your password and leverage Windows Hello's biometric security tools. Alternatively, you can grab your phone and use the Windows Authenticator app to grant you access to your machine. Given that passwords have now become such a pain for so many people to use, switching to something more elegant is welcome news. Of course, for this news to drop at the same time as the announcement that Microsoft had to patch a fairly substantial security vulnerability in Office is slightly less comforting. — Dan Cooper New York passes law that bans all gas-powered car sales by 2035It just has to work out how to integrate the necessary infrastructure.The state of New York has passed a bill banning the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035 which, it hopes, will help slash the state's emissions. It's the third major US state to do so, after California and Massachusetts, while Washington state tried, but the bill was vetoed. Given the scale of the challenge to get New York EV-ready, leaders have already tasked a number of agencies to start working on a zero-emissions vehicle masterplan. That will include creating a market for zero-emission vehicles, rolling out charging infrastructure and developing incentives for purchase. Xiaomi's 11T Pro smartphone supports Dolby Vision and charges in 17 minutesThe company also announced a new tablet and wearable.Xiaomi's new device launch includes the flagship X11T Pro, the romantically named superphone with a number of gee-whizz features. That includes 120W HyperCharge technology that promises to juice your phone full in less than 20 minutes. On the imaging front, the X11T Pro is packing a 108-megapixel primary camera that can shoot 8K Video with Samsung's HD10+ (and AI cinema modes). Watching those magnum opuses should be pretty enjoyable, too, since the phone's display has a 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision and HDR10+. At the same time, the company unveiled the Pad 5, an 11-inch tablet with a WQHD+ screen and support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. More importantly, however, Xiaomi's ubiquitous Mi Smart Band 6 now has updates for NFC contactless payments. You'll also be able to connect to Alexa for voice control, among other things. Disney+ is remaking the classic sci-fi movie 'Flight of the Navigator'Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard.Flight of the Navigator may not have been a global smash hit, but it certainly jibes with a certain age group right now. Now, several years after Disney first planned to do something with the film, the company has announced a reboot for Disney+ is in the works. Details are thin on the ground at such an early stage, but we do know that Bryce Dallas Howard (star of Jurassic World and regular Lucasfilm director) will helm the remake. If you're looking for your fill of Disney content, Kris Nadus has done their regular deep-dive on this week's episode of Marvel's What If. Boston Dynamics' Spot robot has learned to replan its routesThe robot dog can navigate around obstacles without human intervention.Well, it's official, the robot dog that will hunt us all down in the end-times has learned to navigate on its own. Boston Dynamics has announced a software update to its Spot robot means the machine can reroute itself when its regular planned path is blocked. The company says this will enable Spot to better run autonomous inspection tours, taking photos in hazardous or hard-to-reach areas. Yeah, sure, that's the reason. The biggest news stories you might have missedMarshall unveils its first true wireless earbuds with ANC Fitbit smartwatches now detect snoring and other loud noises TP-Link's latest WiFi 6 router includes a dedicated band for gaming Razer's finger sleeve absorbs thumb sweat for mobile gaming Unicode 14.0 adds 37 new emoji, including 'melting face' and 'beans' |
Alphabet's Project Taara is beaming high-speed internet across the Congo River Posted: 16 Sep 2021 03:58 AM PDT Alphabet ended Project Loon earlier this year, but the things it learned from the internet-broadcasting balloon initiative haven't gone to waste. The high speed wireless optical link technology originally developed for Loon is currently being used for another moonshot called Project Taara. In a new blog post, Taara's Director of Engineering, Baris Erkmen, has revealed that the initiative's wireless optical communications (WOC) links are now beaming high-speed connectivity across the Congo River. The idea for Taara started when the Loon team successfully used WOC to beam data between Loon balloons that were more than 100 kilometers apart. The team wanted to explore how the technology can be used on the ground. As part of the team's exploration on WOC's potential applications, they worked on bridging the connectivity gap between Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The two locations are separated by the Congo River and are only 4.8 kilometers apart. However, internet connectivity costs much, much more in Kinshasa, because providers will have to lay down enough fiber connection to cover 400 kilometers of ground around the river. What Project Taara did was install links that can beam high-speed connectivity from Brazzaville to Kinshasa across the river instead. Within 20 days and with 99.9 percent availability, the links served served nearly 700 TB of data. Taara's WOC links work by seeking each other out and linking their beams of light together to create a high-speed internet connection. It's not ideal for use in foggy locations, but Project Taara has developed network planning tools that can estimate WOC availability based on various factors like weather. In the future, the team will be able to use those tools to plan for the locations where Taara's technology will work best. Baris Erkmen, Director of Engineering for Taara, wrote in the post:
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FTC set to keep a closer eye on smaller acquisitions made by tech giants Posted: 16 Sep 2021 02:10 AM PDT FTC Chair Lina Khan wants the commission to identify potential loopholes in its merger reporting guidelines that allowed some acquisitions to "fly under the radar," according to CNBC. That's one of the FTC's key takeaways after completing its inquiry into the unreported acquisitions by Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft from 2010 to 2019. The commission has published its findings over a year after it started the inquiry in February 2020, focusing on 616 transactions valued at over $1 million. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, only mergers and acquisitions exceeding $92 million in value need to be reported to the FTC and the DOJ for antitrust review. The FTC found that the five tech giants made 616 non-reportable transactions over the course of almost a decade and that quite a big chunk actually exceeded the HSR threshold. Of the 616, 94 exceeded the threshold but weren't reported, because they met certain criteria or because statutory/regulatory exemptions applied to the transaction. Three more transactions would have exceeded the HSR threshold if the debts or liabilities the acquirer assumed were added to the total amount. Nine additional transactions would've also gone above the threshold if the "deferred or contingent compensation to founders and key employees" were added. The FTC didn't mention any specific acquisition in its report, but Bloomberg mentioned Facebook's acquisition of Giphy last year. Bloomberg says Giphy paid a dividend to investors to lower its assets so that antitrust officials wouldn't have to be notified. While Facebook didn't reveal how much it paid for the GIF database, reports say it cost the social network $400 million. In addition to identifying potential loopholes in HSR reporting, Khan also wants the commission to learn from international peers, since a third of the acquisitions involved foreign companies. Finally, the chairperson wants to scrutinize the use of non-compete clauses in mergers. In more than 75 percent of the transactions investigated, the key personnel of the acquired companies were required to sign non-compete agreements. Khan said in a statement:
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Samsung begins manufacturing 14-inch 90Hz OLED displays Posted: 16 Sep 2021 01:30 AM PDT Samsung has started manufacturing 90Hz OLED displays that will be used in the latest ASUS laptops, it announced. The 14-inch, 2,880 x 1,800 16:10 panels were significantly delayed, as Samsung said they'd arrive in March this year when it first unveiled the technology. The extra speed compared to 60Hz OLED panels makes these interesting for gaming in particular. Samsung notes that the OLED tech creates less blurring on motion than LCD panels and claims you'll see clearer movement on a 90Hz OLED display than you would on a 120Hz LCD model. In theory, that could mean relatively sharp gaming on a display that's not as taxing for your computer's GPU. The OLED screens deliver better color too, with 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage that beats most LCD models. They also offer deeper blacks, faster response times and better viewing angles. The drawback compared to LCDs is a lack of brightness and lower energy efficiency when viewing bright content. The screens are set to arrive on ASUS's Zenbook 14X Pro and Vivobook Pro 14X models announced earlier this month. Samsung is also supplying the 16-inch 4K 60Hz panels used in the ASUS ProArt Studio OLED and other models. |
'Deltarune' chapter 2 arrives on September 17th for PC and Mac Posted: 15 Sep 2021 10:40 PM PDT At the end of the stream for Undertale's sixth anniversary, Toby Fox has dropped a surprise for his fans: The second chapter of Deltarune, his newer top-down RPG, will be available this week after almost a three-year wait. As Kotaku notes, Fox's release of the first chapter Deltarune in October 2018 also came a surprise. In the game, you control a human named Kris who fell with his classmate Susie into the "Dark World," where they meet Ralsei who tells them they're heroes destined to save the world. As you'd expect from any RPG, the three embark on a quest and encounter monsters along the way. Deltarune is a top-down 2D RPG like Undertale, but it features an improved turn-based, multi-character battle system similar to Final Fantasy's. In a previous interview, Fox said the idea for Deltarune came to him in a dream he had back in 2011— development for the game started the year after that. The second chapter of Deltarune will be available on September 17th, 8PM EST for PC and Mac. There's no word on the Switch and PS4 versions yet. Fox said on the game's official website that he's planning more chapters for the game but has only completed the second one, so far.
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VCV will bring its virtual Eurorack synth to your DAW this November Posted: 15 Sep 2021 03:38 PM PDT When it was released in 2017 VCV Rack quickly became a hit. The free, open source virtual modular synth with thousands of modules to choose from (including recreations of popular physical ones) gave many of us a way to explore the world of Eurorack without dropping thousands of dollars on gear. And now, after a long and arduous road — VCV Rack 2 is nearly upon us. When it launches in November VCV Rack 2 will include a complete redesign of the UI, including a dark mode and a greatly improved browser. That last part is huge because, the library of nearly 2,700 modules is overwhelming to say the least. And chances are you're going to end up downloading a lot of them. Here you can filter by category or even just highlight your most used modules. And you can easily import, export and duplicate module selections. The big news though, is the introduction of a proper VST plugin so you can use VCV Rack in Ableton, Logic, or whatever your DAW of choice might be. Squeezing the power of an entire virtual modular synth into a plugin is no easy task. It took time and effort and VCV along with its founder Andrew Belt are hoping that some people will be willing to pay to keep the project alive. So, while VCV Rack will continue to be a free and open source application, the VST plugin will be exclusive to the Studio Edition and will include proper technical support (not just forums). VCV Rack 2 will be available in November for an introductory price of $99. Eventually that will go up to $149, but even then it's still cheaper than many virtual instruments with far less flexibility. |
HomePod mini update lets it become your default Apple TV speaker Posted: 15 Sep 2021 02:34 PM PDT Apple didn't even touch on the HomePod line during its iPhone 13 event, but that doesn't mean the smart speakers will go untouched this fall. 9to5Macnotes an impending version 15 update will make the HomePod considerably more useful, particularly if it's part of a larger smart home. To start, you can set two or more HomePod minis as your default speakers for an Apple TV 4K. You won't have to specify them when it's time to sit down for a movie. They won't exactly produce thunderous audio, but they could save you from buying separate smart speakers or a pricier soundbar. You also won't have to approach your HomePod to use Siri. The update enables Siri voice control through supporting HomeKit accessories. While Apple's smart home ecosystem isn't nearly as large as Amazon's or Google's, that could be handy if you want to quickly turn the lights on. Other improvements are subtler, but could be valuable in the right circumstances. You can ask Siri to turn on your Apple TV, play a title and control playback. You'll automatically see playback controls on your lock screen if a nearby HomePod mini is playing music. You'll get notifications if compatible HomeKit Secure Video cameras and doorbells detect a package at your door. This is also a big update if you've ever woken your partner or neighbors by mistake — Siri will adjust its speaking volume based on both the room and your own voice, and you can specify a lower bass level to avoid irritating people in the apartment below. Apple didn't outline the HomePod update's release timing, but it's likely to arrive on September 20th alongside iOS 15 and watchOS 8. Don't assume you'll get the vaunted spatial audio or Apple Music lossless updates, however. The release notes don't indicate support will be available with version 15, so you'll likely have to wait for a follow-up patch to experience more immersive HomePod sound. |
'Battlefield 2042' delayed by almost a month to November 19th Posted: 15 Sep 2021 01:44 PM PDT Battlefield 2042, the next entry in EA's long-running first-person shooter series, has been delayed. Instead of coming out on October 22nd as previously announced, the game is now scheduled to debut almost a month later on November 19th. EA announced the delay in a message attributed to Oskar Gabrielson, the CEO of series developer DICE. Like many other studios over the last two years, DICE blamed the delay on the coronavirus pandemic.
"Given the scale and scope of the game, we had hoped our teams would be back in our studios together as we move towards launch," Gabrielson said. "With the ongoing conditions not allowing that to happen safely, and with all the hard work the teams are doing from home, we feel it is important to take the extra time to deliver on the vision of Battlefield 2042 for our players." DICE promised to share details on Battlefield 2042's upcoming open beta later this month. While the delay means series fans will have to wait longer to play the sequel to 2018's Battlefield 5, it's still coming out in 2021. That's not something you can say of some of the games that were pushed back this year like Dying Light 2 and Horizon Forbidden West. |
Watch SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 spaceflight here at 8PM ET Posted: 15 Sep 2021 01:22 PM PDT SpaceX is making history by launching the first ever all-civilian mission to orbit, and you can watch it happen live. The aerospace corporation is opening a five-hour launch window for the mission called Inspiration4 today, September 15th, at 8:02PM Eastern time. Inspiration4 was paid for a billionaire who was relatively unknown before this: Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. He's bringing three more people with him, and none of them are trained astronauts or have been to space before. Isaacman, who's an experienced pilot, will be the mission's commander, while Hayley Arceneaux will be its medical officer. Arceneaux is a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital who had cancer herself as a child. According to The Atlantic, one of the goals for this mission is to raise $200 million for the hospital, and Isaacman wanted to bring one of its employees. Geoscience professor and former NASA astronaut program finalist Sian Proctor will serve as the mission pilot. Finally, data engineer and Iraq War veteran Chris Sembroski will serve as mission specialist. Proctor won an online competition organized by Isaacman, while Sembroski got his slot from a friend who won a raffle for a seat on the mission. The team trained together for six months and completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities on September 13th. They'll spend three days orbiting our planet aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule that will blast off on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. While they're hurtling across space, the team will conduct scientific research meant to provide more data on the effects of long-duration spaceflights on the human body. SpaceX has started streaming the event on its website and its YouTube page. Netflix will also stream the launch on YouTube. Update 9/15/21 9:45PM ET: The Inspiration4 mission successfully blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida shortly after 8PM today.
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The Rocket League Championship Series is expanding to Asia and Africa Posted: 15 Sep 2021 12:36 PM PDT Psyonix has revealed details for the next Rocket League Championship Series season, and it's looking to take the esport to new heights. Not only will the 2021-22 RCLS have the biggest prize pool of any season with $6 million up for grabs, there will be three new regions in the biggest expansion to date. The inclusion of the Asia-Pacific North, Asia-Pacific South and Middle East & North Africa regions mean that players in dozens more countries can compete in pro Rocket League in the upcoming season. Teams in Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and several other nations can take part in the RCLS for the first time. Although the Sub-Saharan Africa region won't have full participation in the 2021-22 RCLS, teams there still have a shot at getting to the World Championship. Two wildcard spots are earmarked for the best teams from tournaments in that region. The 2021-22 RCLS regular season will run from October 15th until July 3rd, with the World Championship wildcard and main event tournaments scheduled for later that month. Sixteen teams will qualify for the wildcard tournament. The top eight will join another eight squads that progress directly to the main event. The championship-winning team will earn $600,000. Psyonix hopes to hold events with fans depending on how the COVID-19 situation evolves. The Fall Major in Stockholm, Sweden will take place without a live audience. It's neat to see Rocket League take a step toward becoming a true global esport. It might secretly be the best esport for casual viewers. As long as you know the basic rules of soccer (get the ball in the goal), it's super easy to follow and understand what's going on. It's a blast to watch with a crowd. Here's hoping things are safe enough for Psyonix to run events with fans this season. |
Firefox offers its own take on suggested web links Posted: 15 Sep 2021 12:08 PM PDT You no longer need to use the likes of Chrome or Safari if you want the occasional suggestions for web searches. Mozilla is rolling out a Firefox Suggest feature that, as the name implies, offers relevant links when you're typing in a search, whether from the general web or from Pocket. Look for Costa Rica, for instance, and you'll get a Wikipedia link to help you learn more about the country. The company is also working on contextual suggestion that rely on sending typed searches, click info and "city-level" location info. That may raise concerns given Firefox's historical focus on privacy, but Mozilla stressed the handful of early US users would have to opt-in. The larger concern may be the objectivity of some Suggest links. Mozilla also plans to recommend content from "sponsored, vetted partners," such as an eBay link when you look for Vans shoes. While Mozilla is promising "credible" material, these won't necessarily be the most logical, organic suggestions possible. You can simply launch a standard web search to ignore these de facto ads, but this does mean you'll want to look carefully at some links before you click them. |
‘What If…?’ put superheroics on pause to explore a more militaristic MCU Posted: 15 Sep 2021 12:00 PM PDT From the opening scene of Iron Man back in 2008, the military-industrial complex has been stitched into the fabric of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Captain America, the Hulk, War Machine and Captain Marvel are all involved in it to some extent. But the portrayal has always tilted toward the positive due to Hollywood's long-standing partnership with the US military. This week's What If…? uses the freedom offered by animation to go a little dark on the subject and show us how easily the business of war could have overrun the narrative. The point of divergence this time around is that Erik Killmonger is apparently assigned to an undercover mission with the Ten Rings and, in the process, ends up saving Tony Stark's life. So Tony is never injured and forced to build the Iron Man suit, instead continuing his war profiteering ways — though now with a new BFF at his side. Instead of becoming someone who buries himself in his work (and builds a literal suit of armor to protect himself) Tony instead lashes out, with Killmonger all-too-ready to point him in the direction of taking down Wakanda. This pulls Wakanda into the narrative a lot sooner than its main-timeline debut in 2006's Captain America: Civil War. The country's isolationist policy has been used as the retcon for why we never heard a peep from Wakanda sooner but it quickly comes to the forefront here, in lieu of all the stories that spun out of the initial attack on Stark: the conflict with Obadiah Stane and Tony's palladium poisoning in the first two Iron Man films, and then later the attack on Sokovia in Age of Ultron and Baron Zemo's revenge scheme in Civil War. General Ross even makes an appearance here, casting doubt on whether the events of The Incredible Hulk even still happened the same way. Instead of being introduced to Wakanda through a UN peace conference, instead they're a country on the defensive against a horde of mechanical forces. The episode makes it quickly apparent how much of the MCU was dependent on Tony Stark's participation, though not in a feel-good George Bailey It's a Wonderful Life way. In Civil War, Vision points out that the power shown since Iron Man's debut invites challenge. Here, we end up in a major conflict anyway, showing that the aggressive energy that created the MCU's Heroic Age already existed, spurred on by advancing technology. Without superheroes to pick up the banner, it's the military that becomes the beneficiary of all that power. However, the military is a system as much as it is people, and there's a weird sense throughout the episode that responsibility isn't in any particular person's hands, even Eric Killmonger's. We're clearly shown where he's pulling the strings, but characters like Tony Stark and General Ross are all too willing to be tugged along. But even they don't feel fully in control of what happens. The conflict just escalates quickly and disproportionately in the episode's half-hour runtime, perhaps a victim of the show's need for expedited storytelling. It's no coincidence that the war that started the MCU was the conflict in Afghanistan, though it is happenstance that this episode aired only a month after the US brought its involvement to a messy close. It's been a way of life for so long that it's easy to feel swept away by the whole thing, especially if you were born after 9/11. This episode reinforces the MCU's role as escapism during this era, a place where we could move beyond all this ugly terrestrial conflict and address more cosmic issues. By removing the heroes from the equation, the MCU becomes a grim mirror of the mindset we've been living in for two decades. |
Unicode 14.0 adds 37 new emoji, including 'melting face' and 'beans' Posted: 15 Sep 2021 11:38 AM PDT Following a pandemic-related delay, the Unicode Consortium has finalized Unicode 14.0. In all, the update adds 838 characters to the text standard. Of those 838 characters, 37 represent new emoji that will make their way to your devices before the end of the year and throughout 2022. The selection includes all the emoji the Unicode Consortium included in its final candidate list back in July. That means characters like "beans," "troll," "mirror ball" and "melting face" made the cut. Notably, the finalized list also includes multiple skin tone variations of the handshake emoji. Due to some technical limitations, it was one of the few characters in previous releases you couldn't modify to represent different skin shades. The Unicode Consortium and its volunteers spent the better part of two years working to fix that, and now they have. |
Quibi will transfer its video tech to another company to settle lawsuit Posted: 15 Sep 2021 10:45 AM PDT The ghost of Quibi is giving up the Turnstyle rotating video tech that let users watch its short-form content in either landscape or portrait mode on phones. A company called Eko filed a lawsuit over the feature a month before Quibi's ill-fated launch. Eko accused Quibi of patent infringement and claimed it used stolen trade secrets to build the tech. The companies have settled their legal claims against each other, and Quibi is transferring the Turnstyle tech and intellectual property to Eko. The financial terms of their settlement haven't been disclosed, as Variety notes. Eko sought over $100 million in damages from Quibi. "We are satisfied with the outcome of this litigation, and proud of the independently created contributions of Quibi and its engineering team to content presentation technology," Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg said. Eko filed its suit in March 2020. That July, a court ruled that Quibi could keep using Turnstyle pending the outcome of the lawsuit. As it turns out, the case lasted far longer than Quibi's streaming service — the app shut down last December, less than eight months after it debuted. Quibi sold its content library to Roku, which won an Emmy for one of those series this past weekend. After selling its shows, a Quibi holding company called QBI Holdings was formed as the legal battle played out. The settlement is another nail in the coffin for a big, expensive, failure of a bet on mobile streaming. Quibi was designed for on-the-go viewing, but it launched in the midst of a pandemic, when most people weren't moving around. Still, at least we'll always have memories of "The Golden Arm." |
Anthony Mackie is the lead of Sony's 'Twisted Metal' TV series Posted: 15 Sep 2021 10:20 AM PDT Sony's upcoming live-action adaptation of Twisted Metal has found its leading man. Altered Carbon and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie will play the role of series protagonist John Doe. Deadline was the first to report on the casting. "We're thrilled to have Anthony Mackie on board. His ability to blend comedy, action and drama is perfect for the Twisted world we're creating," Asad Qizilbash, the head of Sony's PlayStation Productions unit, told the outlet. News that Sony was developing a live-action adaptation of the Twisted Metal franchise first came out at the end of February. The company is billing the project as an action comedy, with Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick set to produce the series. Cobra Kai scribe Michael Jonathan Smith is also on board to write and produce. Twisted Metal is just one of the properties Sony is in the process of adapting for television and film. At the end of March, the company announced it was making a Ghost of Tsushima movie. Its The Last of Us series at HBO also recently found its Joel and Ellie in Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. |
Disney+ is remaking the classic sci-fi movie 'Flight of the Navigator' Posted: 15 Sep 2021 10:05 AM PDT Disney+ is about to lean more on sci-fi nostalgia to reel in viewers. Deadlinereports Disney is remaking its 1986 classic Flight of the Navigator for the streaming service. Details of the reboot are scarce, but it would feature a female lead and see Bryce Dallas Howard (who directed two The Mandalorian episodes) both direct and produce the title. There's no mention of the cast or a release date. It's safe to say the basic premise, of a child who bonds with an alien spaceship, won't change much for this adaptation. The project is a shrewd move for Disney. The company still focuses Disney+ originals (and many of its other titles, for that matter) around familiar brands and shows. A Flight of the Navigator reboot lets Disney+ bank on a well-known name and speed up story development — it can draw in a generation of fans (you can probably still hear "compliance!" in your head) without investing huge sums in production. |
HBO is no longer available through Amazon Prime Channels Posted: 15 Sep 2021 09:50 AM PDT HBO's subscriber numbers will take a hit after it disappears from Amazon Prime Video Channels today. Earlier this month, Amazon told users who signed up for HBO through Channels their $15/month plans would be canceled on September 15th with pro-rated refunds being issued. In all, HBO is expected to lose around 5 million subscribers as part of this move, which WarnerMedia agreed with Amazon last year. Amazon refused to support HBO Max if it wasn't available through Channels. According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO may offer its former Amazon subscribers a discount to persuade them to sign up to HBO Max. That's what this shift is all about for WarnerMedia: cutting out the middleman and having a direct connection to viewers through HBO Max. It's willing to lose some subscribers in the short-term to make that happen, so it can, for instance, personalize the HBO Max home page. WarnerMedia removed HBO as premium add-ons on Apple TV and Roku for similar reasons. The HBO Max app is available on Amazon Fire TV devices. Those who switched from HBO on Prime Video to HBO Max on Fire TV shouldn't encounter any disruptions when the former disappears from channels, THR notes. Meanwhile, Amazon is hoping people will subscribe to other premium channels. It's offering discounts on Paramount+, Starz and Showtime plans. You can pay 99 cents per month for two months if you sign up by Friday. |
NFT marketplace admits employee used insider information to buy collectibles Posted: 15 Sep 2021 09:30 AM PDT One of the largest marketplaces for trading NFTs has found itself embroiled in controversy. In a blog post spotted by The Block, OpenSea admitted on Wednesday that one of its employees, Nate Chastain, had purchased NFTs he knew the company had planned to feature predominantly on its platform.
The admission came after a Twitter user named Zuwu accused Chastain this week of using secret Ethereum wallets to buy front-page NFT drops before they were available for the public to purchase, and then later selling them at a profit following the inevitable spike in interest. OpenSea called the incident "incredibly disappointing," and said it's investigating what happened. "We want to be clear that this behavior does not represent our values as a team," the company stated. "We are taking this very seriously and are conducting an immediate and thorough review of this incident so that we have a full understanding of the facts and additional steps we need to take."
The company notes it has already implemented two new policies to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future. Moving forward, OpenSea employees aren't allowed to buy or sell from collections and creators while they're being promoted. They're also prohibited from using confidential information to buy and sell NFTs on OpenSea and elsewhere. Understandably, the incident has caused quite a stir among the company's customers, with some likening Chastain's behavior to insider trading. More than anything, the episode highlights just how much of a wild west the NFT market is at the moment. According to an analysis by business law firm McMillan, there are currently no laws in either the US or Canada that regulate the sales of NFTs. This incident may push the Securities and Exchange Commission to change that. |
Boston Dynamics' Spot robot has learned to replan its routes Posted: 15 Sep 2021 09:19 AM PDT Boston Dynamics' Spot dog is learning some new behaviors that will help the robot adapt to the real world. The company has delivered a Release 3.0 update that helps Spot do its jobs without human intervention. Most notably, it can dynamically replan routes — the robot's inspection will go smoothly even if someone inadvertently left a forklift in the way. The upgraded Spot can also handle human-free scheduled missions, and it's smart enough to automatically plan routes when you choose the actions you want to perform. The robot will help you notice when something's amiss, too. It uses scene recognition to capture photos at the same angle every time, and human inspectors can conduct live reviews of changes Spot notices with computer vision, such as gauge readings and heat changes. These updates won't mean much if you don't have the $74,500-plus to spend on a Spot of your own. They do show how Boston Dynamics' signature canine is evolving, though, and illustrate just how robots like this can help in real life — they're increasingly useful for tasks where it would be impractical (or just a hassle) for humans to step in. |
YouTube TV adds Univision and other Spanish-language channels Posted: 15 Sep 2021 07:58 AM PDT YouTube TV is now a better proposition for Spanish-speaking viewers. The cord-cutter service has added three Spanish-language channels from Univision at "no extra cost," including Univision proper as well as the youth-oriented UniMás network and the general entertainment of Galavisión. All three are included at "no extra cost," so you shouldn't have to brace for another rate hike. You'll have more options in the near future. YouTube TV is promising on-demand movies and originals from Pantaya as a $6 per month add-on in the weeks ahead. If you're more interested in variety, an upcoming add-on bundle will provide channels like Cinelatino, CNN Español, Discovery en Español, Estrella TV, Fox Deportes and Sony Cine for an added fee. The launch date and price are due in the "coming months." The expansion represents a logical move. YouTube TV has some fierce competition, including Sling TV and Hulu Plus Live TV. This could help YouTube keep up with and claim an edge over rivals by courting Latinx viewers that don't always get a healthy selection from streaming TV services. It's just as well — at $65 per month, YouTube's offering is expensive enough that it has to rely more on selection than raw value to attract subscribers. |
TP-Link's latest WiFi 6 router includes a dedicated band for gaming Posted: 15 Sep 2021 07:14 AM PDT TP-Link knows WiFi gaming routers are as hot as ever, and it's determined to keep up by offering a string of high-end features without going completely over the top. The company has unveiled an Archer GX90 router that offers not just WiFi 6 speeds (virtually required at this stage), but a dedicated 4.8Gbps "Game Band" to keep your play sessions free of interference from other local network transfers. An accelerator also spots and fine-tunes streams for games it recognizes, such as the Call of Duty series or League of Legends, while a dashboard provides stats on your playtime to help pinpoint problems. You can expect some of the other familiar tricks to improve gaming performance. Improved OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) modulation is meant to reduce lag, and a 1.5GHz quad-core processor (TP-Link doesn't name it) helps juggle heavy traffic. This also happens to be a solid router for general use with a 2.5Gbps Ethernet jack (plus four 1Gbps jacks), two USB ports and support for mesh networking through TP-Link's OneMesh-capable devices. The Archer GX90 will be available through Amazon (not as of this writing) and other outlets for $250. It's definitely more expensive than a typical home WiFi router, but that's decidedly less expensive than some tri-band WiFi 6 routers. So long as you don't mind the alien looks, this might strike a healthy balance between raw speed and a reasonable price. |
Marshall unveils its first true wireless earbuds with ANC Posted: 15 Sep 2021 07:00 AM PDT Less than a year after introducing Mode II, its first pair of true wireless earbuds, Marshall is expanding its lineup of Bluetooth headphones to include two new true wireless models: the Motif ANC and Minor III. As you can probably guess from the name, the former includes active noise cancellation, a feature you won't find on Marshall's Mode II earbuds. With ANC turned on, the company claims you can get four-and-a-half hours of playtime from the Motif ANC earbuds on a single charge, and an additional 20 hours of battery life from the included charging case. The ANC feature is fully customizable, allowing you to set your own level of noise cancellation and transparency. Other notable features include IPX5 moisture protection, support for wireless charging, dual microphones for calls and touch controls. Marshall is positioning the Minor III as a no-frills pair of headphones. They feature 12mm drivers custom-tuned to deliver the company's signature sound, in addition to touch controls, IPX4-certified water resistance and an open fit for claimed all-day comfort. On a single charge, you can expect five hours from the earbuds and an additional 20 with help from the included charging case, for a total of 25 hours of playtime. You can recharge the case using either a USB-C cable or by placing it on a Qi-compatible charging pad. The Motif ANC earbuds are available to pre-order today from Marshall's website, with general availability to follow on September 30th. They cost $199, €199 or £180. As for the Minor III earbuds, you can purchase them today for $129, €129 or £119. |
Sony unveils an all-black version of the Pulse 3D Headset Posted: 15 Sep 2021 06:45 AM PDT Sony has revealed a second color option for its Pulse 3D headset: Midnight Black. It complements the Midnight Black DualSense controller Sony released for PlayStation 5 in June — the products share the same color scheme. The headset's original white and black colorway matches the PS5's design. Here's hoping Sony is working on first-party black plates for the console to mirror the look of the newer peripherals. The latest version of the headphones will be available on October 22nd. Pre-orders for the $100 headset are open on PlayStation Direct. The company created the headset to take advantage of the PS5's spatial audio tech, which aims to place sounds in places that match what you're seeing on screen. There are dual microphones built in, which will come in useful for speaking with your teammates or if you're streaming your gameplay (though a dedicated mic is probably a better option). The headphones are primarily designed for PS5 and will work with PS4, PCs and Macs via the wireless USB transmitter. There's no Bluetooth, but you can connect the headset to other devices through a 3.5mm headphone port or by using an adaptor. Sony is rolling out a major update for PS5 today that not only unlocks the console's expansion slot, but adds equalizer settings for Pulse 3D. There are three presets: Standard, Bass Boost and Shooter. The latter puts more emphasis on shots being fired and footsteps. You can craft your own presets and save up to three for easy access. You'll be able to change the equalizer settings through the Control Center, so you don't need to access the console's main menu system to switch things up. Meanwhile, the latest PS5 system software adds support for 3D audio through built-in TV speakers. So, if you prefer to play without headphones and don't have a surround sound audio system, you may still get some of the effects of spatial audio. |
Fitbit smartwatches now detect snoring and other loud noises Posted: 15 Sep 2021 06:29 AM PDT Your Fitbit smartwatch might just let you know if you or your partner is snoring too loudly. 9to5Googlenotes Fitbit is rolling out a promised "Snore & Noise Detect" feature that uses the microphone on a Sense or Versa 3 smartwatch to detect both "snore-specific" sounds as well as the overall noise level. In theory, this might explain why you keep waking up or otherwise feel less-than-rested . There are a number of requirements beyond the watch. You'll need a Premium subscription at $10 per month or $80 per year. You'll also have to keep your device reasonably well-charged. Fitbit notes the sampling occurs every few seconds, and recommends at least a 40 percent battery level before you go to sleep. You'll also have to be comfortable with saving your snoring data, although you can delete it at any point. The narrow hardware and service requirements dampen the usefulness of noise detection. All the same, it could be helpful if you're already invested in the Fitbit ecosystem. It also gives Fitbit a potential advantage over rivals whose sleep tracking seldom accounts for noise. |
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