Новости за 14.04.2022

The Overwatch 2 PvP beta starts later this month and Blizzard has released a gameplay trailer for one of the sequel's main additions, Sojourn. She's the 33rd hero in the Overwatch lineup, but is the first character to be introduced in two years. Sojourn is a damage hero best suited for mid-range combat and you can take a look at her in action below.

Like an ambitious butcher trying to cleave a dollar of meat out of a ten cent steak, Major League Baseball announced on Thursday that it is carving out a bit more of its television broadcast rights, renewing its four season-old deal for the "MLB Game of the Week Live on YouTube" with the Alphabet property. But unlike other recently struck deals, these streaming exclusives will be free to watch and without local blackout restrictions.

Meta's Horizon Worlds might not require that you don a headset to get a taste of Horizon Worlds. In response to criticisms of Meta's 47.5 percent cut of sales in the virtual world, CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth teased that a future "web version" would demand a more reasonable 25 percent. That's "much lower" than rivals like Roblox, the exec claimed.

Late last month, hackers stole more than half a billion dollars worth of Ethereum from the Ronin blockchain behind play-to-earn game, Axis Infinity. On Thursday, the FBI announced that it now attributes the heist, dubbed the Ronin Validator Security Breach, to a North Korean outfit calling itself the Lazarus Group. 

NASA is taking steps to create more opportunities related to space, including for those from underserved and underrepresented communities, amid a broader push for improved racial equity in the federal government. The agency says its Equity Action Plan will allow it to internally and externally track progress on improving diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

If Elon Musk is indeed able to buy Twitter, the platform could look a lot different. In his first public, non-tweeted comments since the saga began, Musk addressed why he wants to buy the company, and changes he would want to bring about.

You'll be waiting a while if you want an extra dose of Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red has revealed that an upcoming expansion for the gritty sci-fi game is due sometime in 2023. You can expect more news about the add-on "later this year," CDPR said. The company didn't share much about what the new content would entail, but Quest Director Pawel Sasko said the wait would ensure the expansion was "properly crafted."

It's a busy time in the world of Elon Musk. On the same day it emerged he made a bid to buy Twitter, he's giving a TED Talk. The organizers of TED are opening up the conference's livestreaming channel to all, so anyone can watch the talk (which is underway) for free. 

TuneIn is bringing its paid service to Amazon Alexa-enabled devices. You'll be able to access TuneIn Premium content such as live sports from any Alexa smart speaker or display.

YouTube is giving Shorts creators access to a much larger toolkit. Creators will be able to clip and remix up to five seconds of any eligible video or Short in their own shorts. The feature should be available for everyone on iOS in the coming weeks, and it'll come to Android later this year.

Tinder is bringing its Festival Mode out of mothballs as in-person music events return in earnest. As of today, you can use the mode in Tinder Explore to match with people up to a month before festivals start. The initial mix of festivals includes well-known American gatherings like Bonnaroo, EDC and The Governors Ball, but also includes international events like the electronic-focused Sónar (in Barcelona) and Lollapalooza's outings in Berlin, Paris and Stockholm. This weekend's Coachella is conspicuously absent, however. Читать дальше...

Peloton is bumping up subscription fees for the first time in the US and Canada. It's balancing out those increases (at least for newcomers) by reducing the prices on some hardware: the Bike, Bike+ and Tread.

There are few instruments that are as iconic or mysterious as the Theremin. Its sound immediately conjures recollections of '50s Sci-Fi films and B horror movies. Yet when it debuted in the late 1920s, it toured the world alongside prominent orchestras, and by the late 30s it was in the hands of Clara Rockmore stunning audiences around the globe. 

The Honda Insight was first released in 1999 and immediately gained a passionate following among car enthusiasts, but was always something of an odd duck in the automaker's lineup — it was the Civic Hybrid before there was officially a Civic Hybrid. However, the Insight's days of being the single most fuel efficient gas-powered vehicle on the road that doesn't plug in are coming to a close. Despite record sales of more than 100,000 electrified vehicles (that's EVs and hybrids) in 2021, Honda on... Читать дальше...

Korg arguably kickstarted something of a synth revolution when it launched the Volca line. And the Volca FM has been a consistent favorite in the series. (It was also the first "real" synth I ever got, so I have something of a soft spot for it.) Now, some six year later, the company is issuing an updated model, the Volca FM 2. Like the Volca Sample 2 it released in 2020, this is a mostly incremental improvement on the previous model, but it does address some pain points. 

WhatsApp will start experimenting with Communities, an update that represents a “major evolution” for the messaging app, according to Mark Zuckerberg. An unreleased version of the feature was first spotted last year, but the company hadn’t confirmed its existence until now.

WhatsApp is introducing some arguably overdue messaging and calling features, including one that could reduce the spread of misinformation. To begin with, WhatsApp is adding reaction emoji to help people share thoughts without cluttering chats. You'll also find support for larger 32-person voice calls, and you'll get to share files up to 2GB to help collaborate on projects.

Vape pen maker Juul has agreed to settle another state lawsuit alleging that it targeted minors with its marketing. It will pay $22.5 million and undertake measures to prevent underage use and sales to settle a suit filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson in September 2020. Juul admits no wrongdoing under the settlement, though it told the Associated Press the agreement marked “another step in our ongoing effort to reset our company and resolve issues from the past.”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about today’s Bluetooth speakers, it’s that for general consumers, the options are pretty good. However, that doesn't make the process of sifting through the dozens of choices any easier. So I set out to test out some of the most popular models in different price ranges. Most of the speakers I tried sounded good on first listen; it was only through side-by-side comparisons that I began to suss out the nuances. Just reading the spec sheets only goes so far. As such... Читать дальше...

Amazon is bringing two mobile games to its subscription-based entertainment platform for children. Known as Amazon Kids+, the $2.99 per month service has served as sort of a one-stop shop for kid-friendly books, TV shows, movies, games and more. The first game, Super Spy Ryan is a multiplayer game based on the children’s TV show Ryan’s World. It’s available today on both the Google Play and Apple app stores in the US, UK and Ireland. The title will be available later this year in Canada, Germany and Japan... Читать дальше...

Apple's best sounding earbuds have been discounted on and off throughout the past few months, and now they're back down to one of the best prices we've seen all year. The AirPods Pro are 30 percent off again at Amazon, bringing them down to $175. That's just about the lowest price we've seen since the holiday shopping season (they were $1 cheaper earlier this month) and it puts the Pros back in line with the rest of Apple's audio lineup, which has been on sale for the past few days.

Remote robotic-assisted surgery is far from new, with various educational and research institutions developing machines doctors can control from other locations over the years. There hasn't been a lot of movement on that front when it comes to endovascular treatments for stroke patients, which is why a team of MIT engineers has been developing a telerobotic system surgeons can use over the past few years. The team, which has published its paper in Science Robotics, has now presented a robotic... Читать дальше...

Wikipedia editors have voted in favor of dropping cryptocurrency from the Wikimedia Foundation's donation options. As Ars Technica reports, an editor for the online encyclopedia called GorillaWarfare wrote a proposal for the foundation to stop accepting cryptocurrencies, as they are "extremely risky investments." They also pointed out that cryptocurrencies may not align with the foundation's commitment to environmental sustainability. 

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, SpaceX boss, that guy, has been Twitter’s largest shareholder for mere weeks but has packed in enough drama and turmoil to make it feel like months.

Researchers have revealed a new thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell that converts heat to electricity with over 40 percent efficiency, performance nearly on par with traditional steam turbine power plants. The cells have the potential to be used in grid-scale "thermal batteries," generating energy dependably with no moving parts.