Новости за 14.02.2018

Sony is getting into the STEM education game with KOOV, a coding kit containing more than enough sensors, actuators, and electronic parts to bring blocky Minecraft-like robots to life.

Google’s messaging app strategy is a huge mess, but one surprisingly useful feature that has extended from Inbox to Gmail to Allo and Android Messages is Smart Reply, which offers three responses based on context for you to quickly reply to your contacts. Google is now working to expand this beyond its own suite of products, and is opening up a limited test to Android users to add the feature to other chat apps, such as Slack and Skype.

The struggle to find a match when you’re looking for romance, but not necessarily sex

Apple today added the Apple Watch Series 3, the company’s latest smartwatch, to its list of available refurbished gadgets, as spotted by 9to5Mac. The device is only available in two different versions: a 38mm, gold aluminum case with a pink sport band, and a 42mm space gray aluminum case with a black sport band. The 38mm version is $279 while the 42mm version is $309, with both receiving $50 discounts from the standard price. It doesn’t look like you can buy these watches with LTE functionality, but both do come with GPS. Читать дальше...

Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthquakes. Before 2009, the state had roughly two quakes of magnitude three and above each year. (Magnitude three is when things shake on the shelf, but before houses start getting damaged.) In 2015, this tally rocketed to more than 900, though it’s calmed since, falling to 304 last year.

Ah, Valentine’s Day — a holiday that can certainly take its toll on the human heart. But there’s some small solace for those whose hearts are aching instead of humming today: at least you’re not in space.

Tinder says it has a new feature in the works that’ll create a better experience for women on the dating platform. Similar to Bumble, Tinder will soon let women decide whether they want to prevent men from sending the first message, MarketWatch reports. “Often, women don’t really want the pressure of kicking off the conversation, but if they want it, that’s great,” Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg told the publication. (Match Group owns Tinder, along with other dating services like OkCupid and Match.com.)

Tinder says it has a new feature in the works that’ll create a better experience for women on the dating platform. Similar to Bumble, Tinder will soon let women decide whether they want to prevent men from sending the first message, MarketWatch reports. “Often, women don’t really want the pressure of kicking off the conversation, but if they want it, that’s great,” Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg told the publication. (Match Group owns Tinder, along with other dating services like OkCupid and Match.com.)

Accessory manufacturer TwelveSouth has released a version of its SurfacePad case for the iPhone X. The SurfacePad is a folio style leather case that provides both front and back protection for the iPhone X, along with two card slots on the cover flap. Unlike other folio cases, the SurfacePad is thin and lightweight, though it won’t provide much protection from drops, as it doesn’t cover the top, bottom, or side of the phone. You can get it in black, brown, or blue for $49.99 direct from TwelveSouth. Читать дальше...

It is Valentine’s Day, and you’re doing what makes the most sense — sitting very still in your immaculate apartment, waiting for the doorbell to ring.

Valentine’s Day on the internet can often feel like a competition to see who’s loved the most, and by noon, everyone’s seen enough red roses flaunted on Instagram to be like, “Enough!” But just when you thought it was time to quit Twitter, Michelle Obama tweeted a link this morning to a special Valentine’s Day playlist for her “one and only,” Barack Obama. It’s enough to melt the hearts of the most jaded cynics. And honestly, if Valentine’s Day was a competition, Michelle and Barack Obama would win hands down, and nobody would mind. Читать дальше...

Apple’s HomePod is a great sounding but ideologically flawed speaker, but it turns out there’s another major problem with the smart speaker aside from its lack of support for Spotify: apparently the silicone base of the HomePod can damage wooden furniture, with multiple outlets (including The Wirecutter and Pocket Lint) reporting that leaving the speaker on top of wooden surfaces can cause a white ring to form.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and the future-phobic TV series Black Mirror has a present for you. It’s a new website inspired by the season 4 episode “Hang the DJ,” in which a dating device known as Coach determines the length of a couple’s relationship. The website, coach.dating, asks you to “put your trust in the system,” which presumably also means putting a damper on any romantic thoughts that might cross your mind today.

Florence wakes up to the sound of her alarm every day at 7:00 AM. But it takes a few tries before she actually gets up and and gets going. Her life is full of routine: clean up, ride the train, toil through another day at her office job. Until one day, when her phone dies and she’s forced to take out her headphones and be present in the world around her. She follows the sound of a beautiful cello and meets Krish, a young man who changes her world.

For years, there have been rumors that Samsung might be making smart glasses. Now, as reported by SamMobile, the company has filed in South Korea to trademark a new logo related to “computerized vision-assisting eyewear,” suggesting that the idea of Samsung building a Google Glass-like headset is still on the table.

Facebook is bringing its Messenger Kids chat app to Android today after first rolling it out on iOS in December. Messenger Kids is designed for younger children (ages six to 12) as a way to safely communicate with friends and family. Parents are able to strictly control who their kids are able to connect with over the app. It includes features like video chat (complete with playful selfie “masks”), stickers, drawing tools, and more. Messenger Kids expanded to Amazon’s app store in January to add compatibility with Fire tablets. Читать дальше...

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The first sex toys date from the Ice Age, yet selling them is still illegal in Alabama today. Throughout history, sex toys have been more than just objects, writes Hallie Lieberman, who has a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sex toy history and is the author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy (Pegasus Books). They’re a reflection of our approval, or fear, toward sexuality, and our attempts to control it.

PicoBrew launched as a way to consistently brew your own beer. Now the company’s introducing new products that’ll help home brewers or restaurant owners launch their own, larger-scale brewing productions. The PicoBrew Z Series consists of four modular brewing appliances that can produce anywhere between one and 10 gallons of beer or kombucha. It costs between $1,499 and $3,999 with preorders available now and the devices shipping in June.

At least one person has been injured after a shooting at the gates of the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Yesterday, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz and NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced plans to eventually bring Turner-owned NBA content to Magic Leap’s elusive AR goggles, by casting virtual screens in front of a wearer’s face through the goggles. It wasn’t an earth-shattering announcement, but it was an indication that Magic Leap’s tech could be more than billion-dollar vaporware, and that the company is thinking about the kind of content needed to convince people to wear light-field face computers. Читать дальше...

YouTube TV, the company’s internet TV streaming service, is expanding its programming with the addition of several Turner networks including TBS, TNT, CNN, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, truTV, and Turner Classic Movies. Those channels are all being added to the core monthly package, giving customers access to hits like Rick and Morty, TNT’s new drama The Alienist, and a nice selection of live sports. On that note, YouTube TV is also bringing NBA TV and MLB Network to the base lineup. NBA All Access... Читать дальше...

The window for new player signings in Blizzard’s Overwatch League opened up at the end of January, and today comes the first major announcement, courtesy of the Shanghai Dragons. The Chinese team has added four Korean players to its lineup, most notably 19-year-old Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon, who becomes the league’s first female player.

Rocket League and Hot Wheels cars have always felt like a match made in heaven. Last year, the two brands teamed up to put Hot Wheels cars into the popular vehicular soccer game, and this fall will see the logical conclusion of that partnership, with Hot Wheels releasing a real-life version of Rocket League with remote controlled toy cars. The set was first spotted by Kotaku earlier this week.