Новости за 21.02.2018

Journalists have written fascinating accounts of the people creating online misinformation or “fake news,” from a group of Macedonian teenagers to the infamous Internet Research Agency, whose members were recently indicted for attempting to influence the 2016 election. Fact-checking groups have circulated advice for spotting fake stories, and partnered with social media platforms to flag them. Quizzes and games like Factitious will test your personal ability to spot misinformation. Overall, the... Читать дальше...

A couple years ago, I got to test out the (potential) future of text input. It was called the “Tap Strap,” and it was a weird foam prototype that slid up over my fingers and allowed me to painstakingly input text through taps and combo taps.

Snap has officially responded to a hugely popular Change.org petition calling for the company to walk back the recent redesign of Snapchat. In a message signed by the Snapchat team and posted as a reply to the petition, the company says it’s heard the feedback loud and clear and that it acknowledges how the “new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many.” The petition was signed by more than 1.2 million people, a milestone that perhaps prompted Snap leadership to draft a response.

Last year at San Diego Comic-Con, HBO hosted Westworld: The Experience, an immersive activation that let guests visit the offices of Delos, Inc., thanks to some impressive set design and the performances of many committed actors. At this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, the network is upping that ante by recreating the series’ entire town of Sweetwater. SXSW is known its lavish brand activations, but this seems like a significant step up from past experiences.

Dish has announced separate numbers for its Sling TV over-the-top subscription service for the first time, and things seem to be looking good, with the company revealing it had over 2 million subscribers by the end of 2017.

Bryan Singer’s 2000 X-Men movie marks the beginning of the modern era of superhero blockbusters. But the film doesn’t open with the titular team. The first scene depicts a young Erik Lehnsherr losing his parents at Auschwitz, showing the pain and firsthand experience with the very worst of humanity that led him to become Magneto, the supervillain who has most shaped the X-Men universe. Other villains come and go, but Magneto helped found the X-Men, and as he alternately works alongside or against them... Читать дальше...

From bots to bullying to fake-news conspiracy theories

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It’s probably not a stretch to say that the droids of Star Wars, like R2-D2 or C-3P0, are some of the most famous robots in science fiction. But how feasible are these iconic droids in real life?

The world is getting flooded with tiny (creepy) robots that can crawl all over the place, including your clothes. The latest one, created by scientists at Harvard University, uses artificial scaly skins to move forward — kind of like a snake.

Last week, Google’s Area 120 division announced that it’s building a new app that would add Smart Reply features to a number of popular messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Hangouts. This week, Android Police surfaced an APK so you can download and try Reply on Android devices right now. Note, however, that it’s just a beta, so try it at your own risk.

A newly published attack let researchers take over Tinder accounts with just a user’s phone number, according to a new report by Appsecure. Tinder has changed its login system to protect against the attack and there’s no evidence it was exploited before the patch. Still, it’s a reminder of how fragile many login systems still are, and how powerful even basic vulnerabilities can be when chained together.

Bluetooth 5.0 and good battery life aren’t enough to make up for a mushy experience elsewhere

Just ahead of the Overwatch League’s debut season, Blizzard and Twitch announced a multiyear deal that would see every match of e-sports league broadcast on the streaming service. Now, the two companies are revealing a series of features designed to further enhance the viewing experience and offer bonuses to those who watch on Twitch.

Qualcomm announced a Wi-Fi chip for phones and tablets today that’s compatible with the forthcoming generation of Wi-Fi. The company says it’s the first to deliver 802.11ax features to manufacturers and the first to support WPA3 encryption, which protects user passwords and privacy.

Disney is planning to create a new Muppets TV series for its not-yet-launched streaming service, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fans of genre film have probably seen Joel Harlow’s work, even if they didn’t realize it at the time. The longtime makeup designer and MorphologyFX founder got his start on horror films in the 1980s, including two of the Toxic Avenger films, and went on to multiple Oscar nominations (for The Lone Ranger and Star Trek Beyond) and one win (for 2009’s Star Trek). He’s worked with Johnny Depp on films from the Pirates of the Caribbean series to Alice In Wonderland to Tusk, and on superhero movies from 2000’s X-Men to Green Lantern to Logan. Читать дальше...

Smart home company Nest today announced that a promised Google Assistant update for its Cam IQ security camera has now arrived, which brings Google’s voice-based artificial intelligence platform to the indoor version of the camera.

French startup Blade announced today that its Shadow game streaming service is launching in California, marking the first time the company will be making its product available in the US. Blade has been operating in France since July 2016, where it opened its first data center operation. (The service only works at low latency if a user is physically near their dedicated machine.) After a launch in the UK last month and a round of live demos ahead of this year’s CES back in January, Blade is ready to bring its service Stateside... Читать дальше...

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is leaving the board of OpenAI, the nonprofit research group he co-founded with Y Combinator president Sam Altman to study the ethics and safety of artificial intelligence.

Facebook has signed a deal with London-based International Copyright Enterprise Operations (ICE) to provide royalty payouts on music the company represents, as reported by TechCrunch. ICE is a European online rights hub with a catalog of about 31 million works, representing STIM in Sweden, PRS in the UK (and other territories), GEMA in Germany, and more.

How communities struggle — and sometimes fail — to stop sexual assault

Volvo is synonymous with wagons and practical transportation, but it has also made a name for itself in recent years with sleek designs. The new version of the V60 wagon carries over the theme set by the large V90 wagon that debuted two years ago.

Sequels are hard. For hit games, it’s even harder: following up something that was beloved by millions of people involves a balance of expanding your idea while also maintaining the stuff that made people love it in the first place. You only need to look at the lackluster receptions of recent big-budget gaming sequels that have dashed themselves to pieces on the rocky shores of fan expectations, like Destiny 2, Star Wars Battlefront II, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

It’s winter in New York, and heated jackets exist. Even heated jackets with apps exist. But until now, there hasn’t been one that claims to be “intelligent” and able to automatically adjust to a wearer’s habits. Ministry of Supply launched a Kickstarter campaign today for its “Mercury Intelligent Heated Jacket,” which it says will learn wearers’ behavior over time and adjust its heating patterns in turn.

Facebook Messenger now allows you to add more friends and family members to your audio and video chats while they’re still in progress. With a new feature introduced today, you can add people to an ongoing audio or video call while you’re still talking, rather than having to hang up and manually add people into a conversation before restarting the call.