Новости за 19.08.2017

A staple of coastal California’s towns, the Volkswagen Microbus will be reincarnated as an electric vehicle. VW announced that it will build a version of its I.D. Buzz concept bus, which it hopes to begin selling by 2022.

The solar eclipse set to take place on August 21st is going to be a sight to behold — provided you have the proper protection for your eyes and camera. Looking at the sun can cause permanent damage, but if you’re not careful, you can also destroy your camera.

The documentary Icarus recently premiered on Netflix, and if you're looking for something to watch this weekend, it's a really good choice.

Google has enabled Bluetooth audio streaming for Google Home, according to Android Police. The feature that was touted when the smart assistant was announced at Google I/O back in May. Google enabled the feature by accident back in June, but it seems this time everything is official.

Space suits are cool — and complicated. Earlier this week, my colleague Loren Grush launched her new series Space Craft by seeing what wearing one is like. The answer? Exhausting. Unsurprisingly, science fiction writers, movie directors, and prop-makers also love space suits — you’ll find them everywhere from Robert A. Heinlein’s novel Have Space Suit — Will Travel, to the latest Alien movie. But not everybody does their homework: for every fictional space suit that’s more than just a fancy costume... Читать дальше...

The Nest Learning Thermostat is now in its third generation, and aside from software updates, the device has largely retained its appearance since it was first introduced in 2011. That could be changing. According to gadget leak specialist Evan Blass, the device could be in for a whole new look.

Whether you’re in the market for gadgets or gaming deals, there are a couple big sales happening that are worth checking out this weekend. Just in time for the return of the school year, B&H is running a great promotion on several Apple products including $250 off the 13-Inch MacBook Pro. Amazon is offering 20 percent off PC gaming hardware and accessories in honor of Gamescom next week, and Best Buy is celebrating its birthday with a 50-hour sale on everything from computers to headphones to TVs. Читать дальше...

Samsung is expected to officially unveil its Galaxy Note 8 smartphone on August 23rd at an event in New York City. Noted leak specialist Evan Blass is reporting that the phone will be available for preorders the next day, and that the phone will hit stores on September 15th.

This week The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Disney and Lucasfilm are zeroing in on Obi-Wan Kenobi as the subject for the next standalone Star Wars film. If the studio holds to the release pattern it’s established thus far, the film could come as soon as 2020, right after Colin Trevorrow’s Episode IX caps off the final film in the Skywalker saga.

I know Twitter these days can feel like an endless litany of commentary on the actions (and omissions) of the US president and the whirlwind of social discord that swirls in his wake as chaotically as his signature hairstyle. And I’m fully aware that the internet already has a surplus of methods and applications for sending messages between people. But still, I keep faith with Twitter, and I do believe there’s room for it to expand its usefulness beyond the purposes it currently serves.

In the BBC America series Orphan Black, audiences got a little spoiled. Week after week, Tatiana Maslany would play lead character Sarah Manning and an assortment of clones. It was impressive on a technical level, working only because multiple versions of Maslany could be blended together to create the illusion of several people interacting with one other in a single shot. But it was even more impressive as pure performance, with the actor able to create differentiated characters with their own attitudes... Читать дальше...

When the Moon blotted out the Sun over Zimbabwe during a 2001 eclipse, a pod of sleeping hippos woke up from their nap. Astronomer Paul Murdin was part of a team of 250 people documenting the eclipse’s effects, and he had been put on hippo duty. He watched the massive mammals stand and start their evening trek from an island in the middle of the Zambezi river to the water’s edge.

YouTube is usually one of the first places to look for breaking news, and now Google seems to be making that even easier by adding a “Breaking News” carousel to its mobile apps and homepage, as spotted by Android Police.

Google’s research division today detailed just how easy it is for computer algorithms to bypass standard photo watermarking practices, stripping those images of copyright protection and making them vulnerable to reposting across the internet without credit. The research, presented at a leading computer vision conference in Hawaii back in July, is described in detail in a paper titled, “On the Effectiveness of Visible Watermarks.”

The next time a video shows up at the top of your Google search results, it might start playing automatically — fortunately, with the sound muted.