Новости за 19.12.2017

The National Institutes of Health are lifting the funding ban on risky experiments that could make viruses like the flu, MERS, or SARS more harmful or contagious, STAT News reports. Grants that propose mutating viruses to make them more dangerous will go through an extra layer of review before the final funding decision.

Riding in a self-driving car involves a certain level of risk taking, especially in these very early days of the technology. Recognizing the need to build trust among normal people, Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google-parent Alphabet, announced it would be partnering with an insurance startup to cover riders in its soon-to-be-released driverless ride-hailing service.

Yesterday, interface designer Caryn Vainio wrote about the unexpected death of a friend she kept in touch with through Facebook. Before his death, the friend posted a status update about being in the hospital. But Vainio hadn’t seen the message, despite habitually reading every post on her feed in chronological order. Mutual friends didn’t remember seeing the post, either. “Not only have I lost a friend, a bunch of us are horrified that we never knew, and we don't know if he KNEW we didn't know,” she wrote. Читать дальше...

Last week, while many of us were caught up by the internet getting ripped apart by the seams, FCC chairman Ajit Pai also announced a new national system of wireless emergency Blue Alerts, which will notify the public if police officers are threatened, “missing, seriously injured, or killed.”

Google published a Chrome app in the Windows Store earlier today, which just directed users to a download link to install the browser. Microsoft isn’t impressed with Google’s obvious snub of the Windows Store, and it’s taking action. “We have removed the Google Chrome Installer App from Microsoft Store, as it violates our Microsoft Store policies,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

Warning: major spoilers ahead for The Last Jedi.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi asks viewers to throw away a lot about what they thought they knew about Star Wars. Early in the film, during the First Order’s assault on the Resistance flagship, the bridge of the ship explodes, and almost all the senior leadership is killed, save for General Leia Organa, who survives with the aid of the Force. As we learn in a later throwaway line, everyone’s favorite Mon Calamari space captain, Admiral Ackbar, is among the dead in that attack. Читать дальше...

Any doubts about whether Netflix has effectively established itself as part of the Hollywood community vanish immediately upon stepping into the company’s Los Angeles offices. Two cases full of Emmys greet visitors just inside the lobby of the 14-story tower, situated near eight Netflix-controlled sound stages on the Sunset Bronson Studios lot. In one corner sits the Bluth family banana stand from Arrested Development, while an elaborate projection art piece takes up an entire wall, simulating screens from phones... Читать дальше...

Microsoft is releasing a big update to Windows 10 testers today, just before the new year begins. The software giant is rolling out Windows 10 build 17063 to Fast Ring testers, complete with the Timeline feature and the new window tabs the company revealed last month.

Facebook’s VR hangout app Spaces just got cross-platform functionality. Now, in addition to Facebook’s own Oculus Rift headset, you can use the HTC Vive to access all the same features in Spaces, from making Messenger video calls to creating your own avatar and playing games.

For those of you holding out hope for one more high-speed test of the hyperloop before the end of the year, you’re in luck. On December 15th, Virgin Hyperloop One conducted the third demonstration of its not-to-scale system in the desert outside of Las Vegas, sending its magnetically levitating pod through a nearly airless tube at 240 mph (387 km/h).

Next year Twitch is launching its very own reality show. Called Stream On, the show will be an American Idol-style competition, only instead of would-be pop stars, it will star aspiring streamers. Twitch describes it as a game show, where “contestants will face challenges designed to test important streamer skills, and be evaluated by a panel of Twitch judges.”

YouTube has just signed an agreement with Universal Music Group and Sony Music over royalties and copyrighted material, Bloomberg reports. The deal reportedly solidifies better royalty rates for music rights holders and agrees to “stronger policing” of user-uploaded content. The third major music label, Warner Music Group, signed a similar deal with YouTube earlier this month.

Back in October, YouTube announced that it would be rolling out apps for its YouTube TV over-the-top cable TV service on connected devices over “the coming weeks.” But it turns out that two of the biggest living room platforms — Apple TV and Roku — won’t get a YouTube TV app until early 2018, according to a report from CNET.

Today, Facebook announced it is introducing new tools aimed at preventing harassment on Facebook and Messenger. The tools have been created based on feedback both from users and organizations for groups that experience higher levels of harassment online, like women and journalists.

Apple is being sued for its App Store logo by a Chinese clothing brand called Kon that has a similar logo, reports Phone Radar. Kon, according to China’s Wikipedia equivalent Baidu Baike, is a clothing brand founded in 2009 based on the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy In The UK. The triangle is supposed to be skeleton bones that symbolize power over death.

We’ve spent a wonderful three months together, but our time comes to an end today with the final episode of Circuit Breaker Live — at least until CES, a distant three weeks from now, when we’ll be flooded with more gadgets than we know what to do with.

The White House is removing its public petition system, promising that a new version is coming in late January. The Associated Press reported the news yesterday, and the system went offline late last night, after a year of neglect by the Trump administration. An official told the AP that the change would “save taxpayers $1.3 million annually,” although we don’t know precisely how.

There are so many things that could go wrong when you’re sleeping with a robot. Your partner might freak out in a burst of 21st century jealousy. Or you could accidentally push the robot off the edge of the bed and smash it into a million pieces. In my case, the robot woke me up at 5AM saying “goodnight” in Dutch and started breathing.

AirPods are currently available for a limited time on eBay, one of the last few retailers to carry them online during the holiday gift-giving rush. The sale begins now, at 8AM PT and 11AM ET.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

There’s a strange scene in The Last Jedi as Rey is following Luke Skywalker around his hermitage on the planet Ahch-To. Luke has apparently gotten into the habit of milking the planet’s local creatures — the remarkably relaxed thala-sirens that spend their time reclining against the rocks. He walks up to one of the creatures and squeezes green milk from its prominent udders. Then he drinks it, soaking his beard with the stuff. Читать дальше...

Facebook is expanding how it uses facial recognition to find people in photos. From today, the company will notify users when someone uploads a photo with them in it — even if they’re not tagged. The user will then have the option to add their tag to the photo, leave themselves untagged, or report the photo if they think it’s inappropriate. The feature will also work with profile photos, but won’t be available in Canada or the EU, where data laws restrict the use of facial recognition.

Amazon Prime Video has become the most downloaded Apple TV app in its first week, according to TechCrunch. Amazon Prime Video was released earlier this month, six months after it was announced at WWDC.

Panono continues to be a shining example of everything that can go wrong with crowdfunding. After raising $1.25 million, going bankrupt, and failing to deliver its product to most backers, supporters of the campaign are now being offered a second chance to receive the 360-degree camera they already paid $500 for — by paying another $1,100 more.

Wink, the longtime struggling smart home company that was recently acquired by will.i.am back in July, is getting some new functionality today in the form of integration with Sonos’ line of connected speakers.

The internet we left behind

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