Новости за 01.03.2018

In 2015, fantasy author Elizabeth Bear released Karen Memory, a steampunk novel about a sex worker living in an alternate 1878 in the Pacific Northwest who runs into trouble when a serial killer begins stalking women in the area. Bear is now back with a short sequel to that novel, Stone Mad, and we have an excerpt.

When a new version of Android comes out, it’s usually a big deal. There are new features, a bunch of design changes, and sometimes new phones to go along with it. But when a new version of Android launched on six new phones this week, it didn’t seem like a big deal at all, and it was quickly overshadowed by announcements like the Galaxy S9.

On March 6th, 2017, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest weather satellite, called GOES-16, detected wildfires in northern Texas from space — before firefighters in the area even received 911 calls. NOAA quickly alerted local officials, who began evacuating people.

Apple’s entrance into the “smart” speaker market earlier this month was remarkable because of its lateness almost more than anything else: Amazon’s Echo speakers have been around for a few years, Sonos (finally) brought a voice assistant to its Wi-Fi speaker last fall, and even Google managed to sneak in its smart speaker before the end of the year, despite not being a hardware-first company.

Uber announced the launch of a new digital tool meant to book rides for patients who need assistance getting to and from their appointments. A health care provider can book a ride for patients and caregivers immediately, within a few hours, or with 30 days’ notice. The company is positioning itself as a cheaper and more reliable option than most non-emergency medical transportation.

Two weeks ago, I went to an Apple Store and had a new battery put in my iPhone 6S. The very next day, I realized how unusable my old battery had been making my phone.

Two weeks ago I went to an Apple store and had a new battery put in my iPhone 6S. The very next day I realized how unusable my old battery had been making my phone.

Google has been hit with another lawsuit, this time from a former employee who says she was subjected to constant harassment due to “bro culture” within the organization. As reported by Gizmodo, the suit alleges that Loretta Lee, a former software engineer, had to endure lewd comments, pranks, and even physical violence from coworkers.

BestBuy has announced it will shut all 250 of its small mobile stores across the US by May 31st. The stores reportedly contributed only a little over 1 percent to the company’s overall revenue. The closures won’t affect BestBuy’s mobile stores in Canada, and the company will continue to sell mobile phones both online and in its “big box” stores.

British Satellite TV broadcaster Sky is unveiling a number of new improvements to its Sky Q service this week. Spotify will launch on Sky Q in the UK and Ireland in the spring, and like other third-party apps it will be integrated into the Sky Q interface for quick access to songs and playlists.

Since the Essential Phone was announced, the teal and copper “Ocean Depths” model has always stood out as the company’s boldest and by far most distinctive color scheme. Months and months of delays later, I wondered if anyone would actually care that it was finally being released — but that changed after seeing it in person.

The magicians are coming back. Syfy announced today that it has renewed the fantasy television show The Magicians for a fourth, 13-episode season, which will premiere in 2019. The show is currently midway through airing season 3, which premiered on January 10th.

Back in the distant past, when Apple was announcing the wireless charging capabilities of the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, Apple promised a new generation of AirPods that would include a case capable of wireless charging. We even heard a rumor that Apple would sell the case separately for $69. Also, that rumor stated the case would be available in December.

Major spoilers ahead for Black Panther.

Cultural critics have had a lot to say about how Black Panther’s Erik Killmonger is a sympathetic villain, and how black viewers can identify with his point of view. He’s a casual murderer with a lengthy kill list literally carved into his own body, but Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) isn’t just fighting for personal reasons. He’s avenging his father and his lost childhood, but he identifies with other black people who’ve grown up in poverty, and he... Читать дальше...

The Academy Awards may be happening this weekend, but after the best of 2017 is all sorted out, there will be time to watch other movies and TV shows — and streaming services are there with plenty of programming options this March. Netflix is continuing to lean into its original television shows, with the second season of Jessica Jones arriving on March 8th, the latest episode of David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction debuting on March 9th, and the new series On My Block premiering on March 16th. Читать дальше...

YouTube indicated that as the platform ramps up human-powered moderation efforts, new moderators may have mistakenly removed or flagged right-wing videos and channels. Bloomberg reported the news this afternoon, quoting a YouTube spokesperson saying that “as we work to hire rapidly and ramp up our policy enforcement teams throughout 2018, newer members may misapply some of our policies resulting in mistaken removals.” The spokesperson said that YouTube’s policies had not changed, and that “we’ll... Читать дальше...

It’s 2018, how should you make an app? Here’s the short answer: nobody knows. But maybe that’s a good thing.

The last time director Alex Garland and visual effects supervisor Andrew Whitehurst worked together, they created Alicia Vikander’s Ava, the robot star of Ex Machina. For their follow-up collaboration, Annihilation, they had a much bigger set of challenges. Garland’s newest film is a heady mind-trip that explores humanity’s self-destructive impulses, but it’s also a walking tour of the gorgeous and the grotesque. The story of Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist who joins a group of women to explore... Читать дальше...

We’ve heard rumors that LG won’t call its next G-series phone the G7, and that the company scrapped its internal plans for the phone to start fresh. But today, Israeli publication Ynet published a video of a device that’s clearly marked as the G7 with the codename Neo. It’s unclear whether this is actually the device LG will be releasing or if it’s just to show some work the company’s done on one of its next phones.