Новости за 30.12.2017

From Audi to Tesla and beyond

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Nearly every web browser now comes with a password manager tool, a lightweight version of the same service offered by plugins like LastPass and 1Password. But according to new research from Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, those same managers are being exploited as a way to track users from site to site.

It’s been a pretty good year for gadgets. While the most popular gadget may have been the fidget spinner, there have been a number of devices released in 2017 that will make a lasting impact for years to come. From the Nintendo Switch, which turned out to be a major hit for the Japanese gaming company, to new smart home devices from companies like Nest and Arlo, to changes in policy around smart luggage that threaten industry leaders in the space, 2017 has been nothing if not exciting for gadget enthusiasts. Читать дальше...

The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested a 25-year-old man who is suspected of sending a SWAT team to a private residence in Kansas, resulting in the death of a 28-year-old man.

Back when it launched earlier this year, the Nokia 3310 only worked on 2G networks. Then in September, a new version was released that supported 3G networks, allowing it to work in the US on AT&T and T-Mobile. Now it looks like there will be another new version, this time with LTE support.

Earlier this week, Apple published a letter to its customers, apologizing for slowing older iPhones as their batteries aged, and said that it would reduce the price of batteries of the affected phones to from $79 to $29. Apple says that that customers can now replace their batteries at the reduced price.

Artificial intelligence boomed this year like few other areas in tech, but despite the scientific breakthroughs, glut of funding, and new products rolling out to consumers, the field has problems that can’t be ignored. Some of these, like company-driven hype and sensationalist headlines, need better communication from the media and experts. Others challenges are more nuanced and will take longer to address, such as bias in algorithms and the growing threat of tech firms becoming AI monopolies as they hoover up data and talent. Читать дальше...

The end of the year is a few days away, and retailers are ringing in 2018 by offering discounts on some of the essentials for your New Year’s party. You can play “Auld Lang Syne” on a new Sonos Play: One speaker, which is on sale for less than its Black Friday price at Amazon. If you snag a Google Home Mini from Walmart for just $29, you can use the free $25 Walmart credit to order some champagne for your guests. If you want to watch the ball drop, why not do it on a 55-inch 4K TV on sale for $399 from Walmart. Читать дальше...

I wouldn’t blame you for tuning out VR news in 2017. There was no string of huge hardware releases, like last year’s Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR. The medium’s limits became clearer. For some people, VR reached a trough of irrelevance — stories about it were no longer conceptually fresh and fascinating, but they weren’t relevant to daily life yet, either.

A couple of years ago, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp posted a number of images to his Instagram feed of an Alien film that he had been secretly working on. The images sparked a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop the film, but after Ridley Scott began work on his Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant, Blomkamp told The Verge that he thought that the film was “totally dead.”

In 2014, as bitcoin rose in value to be worth several hundred dollars, many developers launched their own alternative cryptocurrencies, and ones that came with interesting backstories often grabbed media attention. Some of these coins were for the porn industry, others were for hip hop lovers, and some were actually serious contenders against Bitcoin that have become quite lucrative for investors.

Digital photography as we know it is about to change. It’s already changing, really, judging by some of the cameras released in 2017. Where last year was a solid, occasionally exciting one for the camera industry, the past 12 months held even more signs that the basics of photography are evolving. And a lot that has to do with advancements in software and computational photography.

Throughout the final week of 2017, culture writers from across Vox Media will be chatting about the best works of the year. In this installment, Vox’s Todd VanDerWerff and Caroline Framke, the Verge’s Laura Hudson, and Polygon’s Julia Alexander talk about TV in 2017.