Новости за 02.08.2018

Amazon’s former Alexa smart home boss, Charlie Kindel, is joining home automation specialists Control4. Kindel spent five years at Amazon and was instrumental in creating the Alexa and Echo Smart Home features along with the “Works with Alexa” program. At Control4, Kindel will lead the company’s overall products and services, which span across software and hardware to power home automation.

Comcast and Amazon have announced a new partnership to launch Amazon’s Prime Video service on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 set-top box, as reported by TechCrunch. The integration will give Xfinity users access to Amazon original series like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as well as movies, shows, documentaries, and over 160 premium Prime Video channels, including HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax.

Just a few days after the inaugural season wrapped up, Blizzard has announced two new teams for its fledgling Overwatch League. For season two, clubs in Atlanta and Guangzhou will join the league, bringing the total number of teams to 14.

The US-based smart speaker company Sonos went public on Nasdaq today, launching an initial public offering valued at $16 per share. Hours later, its shares jumped over 25 percent for a high of $21, at the time of writing.

The Trump administration moved to lower nationwide vehicle fuel efficiency rules today by arguing that dirtier cars will be safer. The administration is also trying to take away California’s power to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards and zero-emission vehicle program, which are initiatives that many other states around the country have followed for years.

We’ve already got a handful of new Moto phones this year, including some Amazon exclusives, and today Motorola is adding yet another device to the list: the Moto Z3.

Since announcing her new job with The New York Times, a widespread campaign of harassment has targeted Verge reporter Sarah Jeong for a number of tweets she wrote years ago. Many of those now reacting to these tweets have intentionally taken them out of context, and she has since received an unrelenting stream of abuse from strangers on the internet.

If you’re on Instagram for long enough, you start to notice certain patterns emerge around types of photos: pictures in the same hot locations, framed in the same way, with the same vistas. One farm in Canada was unlucky enough to become a local Instagram obsession recently, and the increase in attention got totally out of control.

As expected, the first major test flights for Boeing and SpaceX’s new passenger spacecraft have been delayed again. Following an engine test mishap, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner will likely perform two crucial test flights next year, instead of this year as planned. Meanwhile, SpaceX still aims to fly its Crew Dragon for the first time later this year without people on board, followed by its first crewed flight in April 2019.

The Darkest Minds is based on a 2012 young adult novel by Alexandra Bracken, but its themes and plot are up to the minute. A story about children who are taken from their parents and warehoused, government camps, and a callous, mendacious authoritarian president couldn’t be much more relevant in the Trump era. The book was pretty standard fare, but the film had an unexpected chance to capitalize on, and speak to, present policies that seem as bleak and cruel as any nightmare apocalypse.

Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile has created a seven-day challenge called “The Phone Cleanse,” that’s meant to make you more aware of how you use your phone... and then try to sell you on a switch to its network.

The worldwide tablet market has been declining year after year for what feels like… forever. In fact, it’s been spiraling downward for 15 straight quarters, and the second quarter of 2018 didn’t show any improvement to that trend. Unlike many other tablet makers, however, Apple and Huawei have been able to hold out some growth, albeit minimal, according to IDC’s latest industry report.

Samsung is holding an event next week to announce the Galaxy Note 9 and some accessories to go along with it. But last night, Amazon seems to have put one of those accessories on display for everyone to see — not on its website, but at a physical location in New York where the company was holding a holiday preview event for the media.

Musical.ly users opened their phones to a surprise today as they found the app replaced with a new logo and name: TikTok. The app was acquired by Chinese company ByteDance in November 2017, which absorbed Musical.ly into its own TikTok app this morning. Existing Musical.ly users have been migrated over to their new TikTok accounts, which have been updated with a new interface but still retains the core feature of both apps: short-form videos up to 15 seconds.

California’s recent temperatures have crushed decades-long records, reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit in Chino and 111 degrees in LA last month alone.

Robots designed to interact socially with humans are slowly becoming more and more common. They’re appearing as receptionists, tour guides, security guards, and porters. But how good are we at treating these robots as robots? A growing body of evidence suggests not good at all. Studies have repeatedly shown we’re extremely susceptible to social cues coming from machines, and a recent experiment by German researchers demonstrates that people will even refuse to turn a robot off — if it begs for its life. Читать дальше...

If you’re a regular at a coffee shop or some other small business that uses Square’s checkout system, you’ve seen the same gray-and-white screens — tip, signature, receipt — over and over and over. But today, Square is opening up the ability for developers to create brand-new interfaces for Square’s payment system to be attached to so that businesses don’t all have to use the exact same app.

MoviePass may not be dead — at least not yet — but the service is now a far cry from its original “all-you-can-watch” moviegoing pitch. Following a massive outage last week and an emergency loan to keep the service up and running, MoviePass announced on Monday that it would have to significantly curtail the benefits it provides its users, including the ability to see new first-run movies, to keep the service from going under.

For people who use Google Maps to get directions or conveniently share their location with friends and family, a new feature is starting to roll out to the app. First discovered by Android Police, your friend’s battery level will be included in the set of information you receive when they share their location with you. It’s a helpful addition for keeping tabs on your friends and ensuring they’re safe.

Apple has become the first company in the world with a market cap of over $1 trillion. This follows a jump in its stock after reporting strong Q3 earnings that saw the iPhone maker surpass both its own projections and analysts’ estimates, while also making a strong forecast for its upcoming Q4 earnings.

Google is launching the Home Max in Australia, making it the third country to get the larger and louder Google Home speaker since it was first announced last October, via 9to5Google.

There are more young people online than ever in our current age of misinformation, and Facebook is developing resources to help youths better navigate the internet in a positive, responsible way. Facebook has launched a Digital Literacy Library in partnership with the Youth and Media team at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The interactive lessons and videos can be downloaded for free, and they’re meant to be used in the classroom, in after-school programs, or at home. Читать дальше...

The Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE cellular data capabilities is cheaper than ever at Best Buy right now. The pricing of both the 38mm and 42mm sizes has been lowered by $100, meaning you can own the latest model in its smaller size starting at $299.

The family of Surface computers is now large enough to cause a bit of confusion for those who are thinking about buying one.

To get it out of the way before we dive in: after an extended demo of the first hour of Insomniac’s upcoming Spider-Man game for PS4, yes, the swinging is still that good. But the question I have is how will that action gel with the epic superhero story the developer is trying to tell?