Новости за 07.09.2017

San Francisco-based virtual reality startup UploadVR, which is now going by Upload, settled a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit yesterday with its former employee. Anonymous sources told TechCrunch that the lawsuit ended, which Upload later confirmed in a statement. No further details about the settlement were provided.

Just two days after the release of Destiny 2, the game’s fervent fan community has already centered its focus on a grievance that’s threatening to tear it apart. You could call it ShaderGate. (Please don’t actually call it that.) In short, the issue stems from a critical shift in how cosmetic items in the game work, and it has players accusing developer Bungie of overstepping its boundaries and caving to corporate greed.

A major Category 5 hurricane

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Jacob Dubé at Motherboard noticed something strange on Facebook Messenger this week. He reports that a notification popped up saying, "[Name redacted] and 15 others may want to meet up with you this week." He was then shown photos of his friends and asked if he wanted to meet up with them. His response would apparently be kept private unless both he and the other person said yes.

Scientists have developed a “pen” that can help surgeons identify cancer cells within 10 seconds. The tool could one day be used during surgeries to quickly determine what tissue should be cut in order to remove tumors completely.

Touch ID won’t be part of the redesigned iPhone that Apple introduces next week, according to The Wall Street Journal.

John Deere is purchasing Blue River Technology, a Californian startup that makes machine learning tools for agriculture. The acquisition (via Quartz) is worth $305 million, and is part of the tractor company’s multi-decade quest to automate farming. In the case of Blue River, what it’s buying is cutting-edge machine vision tools that help famers scan fields, assess crops, and get rid of weeds — all at the same time.

Native Instruments has announced a new version of production and performance system Maschine, as well as the next iteration of its Komplete Kontrol keyboard. The updates for both units were developed in tandem, meant to keep musicians in the groove without depending on outside hardware as much. For Maschine, these updates also mean a more optimized and tactile experience for programming and performing beats on the fly.

Apple’s upcoming September 12th event is more than just its annual hardware event: it marks 10 years of iPhone launches, which first shipped in June 2007 and is undeniably Apple’s most important product. So, it’s not surprising that many of the early reports and rumors about this event have been focused on the iPhone. Will it have an OLED display? Will there will be a “pro” version of the phone? And just how much will it cost?

The “haul” video or photo set is an internet-only art form that’s mostly been documented as it appears on Tumblr’s notorious shoplifting blogs, Reddit’s cosmetic and fashion communities, and YouTube’s merch unboxing channels. If you’re unfamiliar, it is exactly what it sounds like. You bring home a “haul” of new, enviable (usually expensive) goods and display them for the internet to comment on and admire. “Here are some things I now own, please respond,” is the message of a haul post, and lots of people do respond. Читать дальше...

An iPhone 7 with a 3.5mm headphone jack is a dream device for any disgruntled Apple fans still mourning the loss of the port. Now, that dream device can be yours... if you’re willing to mod one from scratch.

HTC’s U11 is one of our favorite phones of the year, owing to its fine balance of performance, battery life, design, and camera capabilities. The one truly unique thing that HTC added to it, though — the Edge Sense function that lets you do things with the phone by squeezing its sides — has never risen to be anything more than a gimmicky way to activate the camera. HTC is now hoping to rectify that by rolling out a beta update to Edge Sense, which will be distributed to users on Thursday night via the Play Store... Читать дальше...

Indiegogo is making a pair of changes today that are designed to compel crowdfunding campaigns to be clearer with backers about the state of their products. The first change is a requirement that tech campaigns disclose what state their product is in — be it just a concept or one ready to hit the manufacturing line. And the second is a requirement that all campaigns update their backers at least once a month about how the project is going.

In a surprise announcement, Rockstar has revealed that its detective adventure LA Noire is coming to four new platforms — including virtual reality.

Right before Hurricane Harvey came barreling down on Texas, residents had a few days to prepare. That's thanks to the sophisticated forecasts of the National Hurricane Center, which is now scrambling to figure out where Hurricane Irma will make landfall in the US. But if the budget cuts that President Donald Trump has requested are implemented, the agencies that give people vital time to get ready for a massive storm will have their budgets slashed — making weather forecasting vulnerable.

A company called Frank wants its backers to feel good about buying into its crowdfunding campaign for a new Android phone. Its Indiegogo page is filled with videos emphasizing that the young team at Frank — one co-founder is 17 years old — is subverting "the man" by going around big-name phone manufacturers to release an affordable, decent device. It's a nice idea to sell people on, but it's one that relies on a clever crowdfunding workaround: the Frank team didn’t do most of the work. Instead... Читать дальше...

Lyft is partnering with yet another self-driving car startup — this time with Drive.ai in the San Francisco Bay Area — to launch a pilot program that will shuttle ride-sharing customers to their destinations in vehicles controlled by artificial intelligence, not humans.

Spotify and Hulu are teaming up to combine both of their streaming services into a single education bundle for only $4.99 per month. That’s a pretty remarkable deal for students. The offer pairs Spotify Premium and Hulu’s on-demand streaming plan (yes, with ads) at a price cheaper than either would cost individually to regular customers. Spotify’s student plan is already $4.99 monthly, so you’re basically getting Hulu tossed in for free. You can sign up here.

Hipchat, the venerable team communication app owned by business software maker Atlassian, is making way for a sequel. The company today introduced Stride, which replicates the core of Hipchat while adding natively hosted audio and video meetings, task and decision tracking, and a “focus” mode that collects important notifications for you while you concentrate on getting things done.

She turned to Google for help getting sober. Then she had to escape a nightmare.

Amazon has announced plans to open a second company headquarters called HQ2 somewhere in **North America, equivalent to its massive base in Seattle. Amazon says it will invest around $5 billion in the construction and operation of the new headquarters. It’s planning to grow it to provide 50,000 jobs, and has opened up proposal requests for cities interested in hosting the company. Amazon says it has preferences for a city that has more than 1 million people, a stable and business-friendly environment... Читать дальше...

Last week I finally installed Little Snitch, a long-running Mac utility that lets you track every connection in and out of your computer. The latest version, released in July, comes with a map of where each connection is headed geographically, which is what convinced me to take the plunge. Now, Little Snitch can give you a physical representation of every IP your computer connects with. It will even light up particular paths when a new connection is made, a visual guide to all the invisible handshakes... Читать дальше...

A hurricane barreling toward the Florida coast isn’t stopping SpaceX from launching its Falcon 9 rocket today. The company is slated to launch the US Air Force’s mysterious X-37B spaceplane into orbit sometime this morning or early afternoon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The timing may work out, since Hurricane Irma isn’t slated to reach Florida until this weekend, but it’s possible weather may delay the mission until after the storm passes.

Jaguar, having freshly committed to electrifying all of its cars from 2020 onwards, has today also unveiled a new all-electric automobile, which is based on its sleek E-type from the 1960s. The new E-type Zero keeps the classic styling, which was once lauded as “the most beautiful car in the world” by Enzo Ferrari, while introducing a bespoke electric powertrain that produces up to 220kW of power. It will take you from 0 to 100kmh in 5.5 seconds, which isn’t quite Tesla territory in terms of acceleration... Читать дальше...

British automaker Jaguar Land Rover is the next company to make a pledge to electrify everything. The company, owned by India’s Tata Motors, announced Thursday it would start introducing all new cars with an electric powertrain beginning in 2020. That would include the already announced Jaguar I-Pace EV and likely a future Land Rover Defender — proving whether hybrid cars can truly make it in all types of weather conditions.