Новости за 05.07.2017

ARKit has looked like a promising platform for augmented reality in the few short weeks since the first two beta versions of iOS 11 were released to developers. But when iOS 11 officially drops this fall, it’s more likely that we — both consumers and developers — are still going to be figuring out what to use it for. Which means, in the early going, we’ll probably be using ARKit apps to goof off.

Shawn Wasabi is an LA-based musician, but not in the way you might traditionally think. He doesn’t just play a guitar or piano or produce songs in a DAW (digital audio workstation, like Ableton Live or FL Studio). He’s a controllerism artist, using a piece of equipment called the Midi Fighter 64, a custom 64-button controller commissioned from music tech company DJ TechTools.

After beginning a wide expansion of data caps earlier this year, Cox is now putting limits on even more of its internet subscribers. As spotted by Ars Technica, Cox has expanded its 1TB home data limit to Arizona, Louisiana, Nevada, and Oklahoma; the cap was previously in place for customers in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

The first thing you should know about the Trial of the Sword, the core focus of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s first of two expansion packs, is that it is very, very difficult. The challenge strips you of all your hard-earned weapons and armor, and it takes away your vast collection of health-restoring meals and power-augmenting tonics. You’re a barefooted Link, wearing just a pair of shorts, who has to make his way through three separate 15-level endurance trials that demand you clear a room of... Читать дальше...

CNN is facing escalating backlash after publishing a controversial article on a Reddit user.

Chinese search giant Baidu today announced that more than 50 companies, including big names in the auto and tech industries, have joined its Apollo self-driving car platform. Those companies include Ford, Daimler, Nvidia, Intel, Microsoft, and popular LIDAR-supplier Velodyne. The partnerships alone aren’t a huge milestone. Rather, it’s how Baidu plans to work with these companies to turn Apollo into a global initiative that can compete with the biggest names in Silicon Valley.

The past few days have seen not one but two virtually identical-looking third-party Nintendo Switch docks hit crowdfunding sites. Over on Indiegogo, you’ll find the $59 SFANS, while Kickstarter has the slightly more expensive $69 Switch-Con to offer. Both docks try to take the features of Nintendo’s own bundled dock (which completely covers the entire console) and cut it down to a more manageable and portable size.

In the official trailers for Spider-Man: Homecoming, the web-slinging superhero can be seen soaring through the sky next to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. It’s a shot that masterfully hypes the movie in mere seconds: it teases Downey Jr.’s return, gives fans of the ongoing MCU a chance to reminisce on Spider-Man’s first appearance in Age of Ultron, and promises an epic team-up. But like so many before it in so many different films, that scene never appears in the film.

Snapchat’s latest update on iOS and Android now lets users do what brands can already do: link a website to your snap. Now your friends just have to swipe up to view whatever you link in Snapchat’s internal browser.

Most experts believe the first industry to be upended by autonomous driving will be the trucking sector. What better use case for driverless technology than long-haul trucking where most of the driving is confined to the highway? The Swedish startup Einride certainly buys into this vision. It recently unveiled a prototype of a self-driving truck that completely lacks a steering wheel, pedals, a windshield, and, well, the whole cab really.

For years, our electronic devices have been getting smaller and faster, but the trend can’t continue until we solve one big obstacle: batteries.

Facebook is building a standalone app that incorporates ideas from Houseparty, the group video chat app that rose from the ashes of Meerkat, The Verge has learned. The app, which has the working name Bonfire, was recently demonstrated for employees. It is being targeted for a fall release, according to a person familiar with the matter. “We don’t have anything to share at this time,” a Facebook spokeswoman said.

Lyft just announced that it’s now providing over 1 million rides per day in a blog post that highlights the company’s growth and momentum in its continued battle with Uber. Lyft’s ride-hailing service has spread to cover “nearly 80 percent of the US population.” For the whole of 2016, Lyft recorded a total of a little over 160 million rides. So it’s still gaining on Uber, but there’s a long way to go.

Japanese pro-gamer Daigo Umehara rose to fame as an arcade fighting game player. He’s considered one of the best Street Fighter players in the world and holds a Guinness World Record as the most successful competitor in major tournaments for the series. In honor of his legacy, UDON Entertainment is releasing an English version of the manga chronicling his road to stardom.

China increased its censorship of films, blogs, and educational websites last Friday with new rules that say sites failing to adhere to “core socialist values” will have to shut down, according to Reuters. That means that topics like drug addiction and homosexuality are banned.

Wallets already seem anachronistic. They're stuffed with paper currency, analog identification cards, and credit cards that are easily emulated by your phone. But what if your wallet had 512MB of RAM, a built-in camera, and doubled as a Wi-Fi hot spot?

China’s Alibaba is among the largest internet e-commerce sites in the world (right up there with Amazon). So it’s not too surprising that today the company announced the Tmall Genie, an Amazon Echo-like smart speaker.

Simon Stålenhag’s artwork is a delight. It’s wonderfully retro science fiction design that is set against the surroundings of rural Sweden. We’ve been fans of Stålenhag work for a couple of years now, and today, he launched a Kickstarter to produce his next art book, titled The Electric State.

UK telecom provider Three is taking a cue from T-Mobile and launching a new data plan called “Go Binge,” which sounds awfully similar to T-Mobile’s “Binge On” program. Through Go Binge, Three subscribers can use Netflix, SoundCloud, Deezer, and TVPlayer without having it count toward their data plan. Existing customers will have to upgrade their plan to qualify while new customers on higher-priced plans — with 4GB and above data allowance — will be automatically opted in.

The iPhone’s 10th anniversary this past week has put me in a contemplative mood. I’ve been thinking about smartphones in general, and about my perpetual quest to find the one that checks all of my boxes. And the thing I’ve come to realize is that I don’t actually want to ever find a perfect smartphone. So long as there’s still something else irritatingly out of my reach, some other feature that my phone doesn’t yet have, I’ll know that smartphone makers are still innovating and pushing us forward. Читать дальше...

The Trump administration’s laptop ban has been lifted for US-bound flights out of Dubai and Istanbul, according to Emirates and Turkish Airlines.

Amazon is bringing back its Alexa voice deals for Prime Day this year. The company is enabling more than 100 special deals for Alexa users that use their voice to shop on Prime Day. Amazon’s annual Prime Day sale begins on July 11th this year, and voice shoppers will also get access to special deals two hours before the main 6PM PT Prime Day event. Starting today, you can ask Alexa “what are your deals?” and a number will be presented until they end on July 17th. Deals include:

Volvo just announced plans to phase out gas-only car production by 2019, at which time all new Volvos will either be fully electric or electric hybrids. The company also said that it would launch three new fully electric Volvos between 2019 and 2021, and two high performance electrics under the Polestar brand. All new hybrids will be a mix of petrol and diesel twin-engine plug-ins and 48 volt "mild hybrid" options