Новости за 06.04.2018

Epic Games’ iOS port of smash hit Fortnite has earned more than $15 million in its first three weeks on the market, says mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower. According to the company’s most recent report, Fortnite on iOS is now out-earning mobile heavyweights like Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans, and Pokémon Go on a weekly revenue basis, earning $6.4 million in the last seven days compared to Candy Crush Saga’s $5.8 million. Granted, those games have all been out for years, with Candy Crush Saga now a six-year-old mobile game. Читать дальше...

Boeing’s first crewed flight to the International Space Station may last a lot longer than originally planned — and the mission may have an extra crew member along for the ride, too. The company’s Starliner vehicle is supposed to take NASA astronauts to the ISS for the first time later this year on a two-week trip, but the space agency is considering extending the voyage to six months. Instead of sending just a two-person crew on the spacecraft, a third astronaut could be added as well.

The people behind third-party Twitter clients Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings are warning users that their apps could lose important features like push notifications and an auto-refresh timeline in June. The problem is that after June 19th, Twitter will be removing the “streaming services” that have enabled developers to implement these functions in their apps.

The United States government has seized Backpage.com, the controversial classifieds website. A notice informing visitors of the seizure was posted on the site, and a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the notice.

Apple is pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan. The company filed a public comment with the EPA today arguing that scrapping the policy, which calls for cutting power plant pollution, would dull the United States’ competitive edge in the clean energy economy.

After facing a barrage of criticism over the toxicity of its community, Twitter announced last month that it will attempt to more actively measure and combat bad behavior, with input from outside researchers. We’re now seeing an early, straightforward idea: make its rules of conduct more visible.

For many streamers, authenticity isn’t just a preference; it’s a must. Many viewers want influencers they can relate to on a personal level. This connection can mean the difference between a single view and a dedicated channel subscription. While it can forge a bond between a streamer and their audience, however, that balance can also tip in the other direction, opening both parties up to a dangerously intimate relationship that takes a toll.

The second season of Westworld premieres on April 22nd, and to promote the show, HBO has been leaning into its puzzle-box sensibilities by burying clues, Easter eggs, and sneak peeks in an avalanche of viral marketing. Over the last couple of months, the network has released trailers that point to secret websites, websites that introduce new characters, Twitter posts that lead to a secret poster which leads to another secret trailer… the marketing for season 2 has been a labyrinth of information... Читать дальше...

Earlier today, Spotify announced it would be sharing news at an April 24th event. It’s unclear whether the company is planning to unveil hardware later this month in New York City, but evidence suggests that Spotify has been working on an in-car controller — or even a standalone player — for the streaming service that would allow drivers to control music playback with their voice.

Facebook advertisers who want to promote their views on key political issues — like abortion and Second Amendment rights — will now have to verify their identity and location, the company announced today. These “issue ads” will also be labeled as “political ads” on the platform, along with information about who’s paying for their existence. The company says artificial intelligence and actual humans will comb through advertisers to identify those that need to be labeled and verified. Users can... Читать дальше...

Far Cry 5 is a game crippled by its potential for social relevance. Ubisoft’s open-world shooter series usually involves fictional conflicts in nonexistent countries, far away from America’s shores. But the latest installment, released last week, is set in rural Montana. Players are fighting an enemy that’s much closer to home: a gun-hoarding cult whose imagery evokes separatist militias and fundamentalist Christianity.

The people behind third-party Twitter clients Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings are warning users that their apps could lose important features like push notifications and an auto-refresh timeline in June. The problem is that after June 19th, Twitter will be removing the “streaming services” that have enabled developers to implement these functions in their apps.

Google Chrome added a new shortcut today to make adding emoji on desktop easier. It’s currently on the testing channel Chrome Canary, and users can enable it now by going to chrome://flags and searching “emoji,” as spotted by 9to5Google.

‘The northern white rhino is emblematic of our times, about the impact of humans on wildlife.’

After TechCrunch reported that Facebook has been quietly deleting messages CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sent via Messenger, the company is now saying that the ability to retract messages will soon be available to all Messenger users. According to TechCrunch, an “unsend” feature is coming in the next few months, though it provided no further details on how this new function works. Messenger currently offers a Secret Conversation mode where users can set a timer on when messages will self-destruct, but... Читать дальше...

Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special-event releases. This review originally ran after the film’s debut at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. It has been republished to coincide with the film’s theatrical release.

MIT researchers have created a wearable device called AlterEgo that can recognize nonverbal prompts, essentially “reading your mind.” The system is made up of a device that loops around a user’s ear, follows their jawline, and attaches underneath their mouth, and a computer system. The wearable device has electrodes that pick up neuromuscular signals in your jaw and face that are triggered by internal verbalizations (aka saying words in your head) but can’t be seen by the human eye. These signals... Читать дальше...

How some apps are turning cosmetic surgery into a game

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Spotify this morning invited press to an April 24th event in New York City, where the streaming music company says it will make “a news announcement.” Unfortunately, the invitation offers zero clues as to what the pending announcement could be.

We’re a few weeks out from the release of Avengers: Infinity War, perhaps the biggest superhero movie ever made. It’s a back-to-back two-parter, with the second half coming in 2019. And yet we still don’t know what the sequel is going to be called. Why the mystery?

Walmart is adding more than 500 more Pickup Towers to its US stores by the end of this year, the company announced yesterday, as spotted by TechCrunch. Each Pickup Tower lets users grab their online orders from tall kiosks inside Walmart stores.

Artist Marina Abramović is known for boundary-pushing, unpredictable performance pieces, some of which sound like schemes the characters from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would’ve come up with on a particularly beer-drenched Sunday. During her 1973 performance Rhythm 10, Abramović darted a knife quickly between her fingers, cutting herself several times. A year later, in Rhythm 0, she laid out 72 items on a table, one of which was a loaded gun, and asked her audience to use the items on her in any way they wanted. Читать дальше...

‘It was a pleasure to burn’

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Do you know something The Verge should investigate? Here’s how to get in touch

It is episode 300 of The Vergecast! To celebrate, Nilay, Dieter, and Paul start the show by explaining inside jokes that have been stamped into the show over the past few years. Don’t understand what Scissor Vodka is? Are you wondering why Bixby is a dog? Do you need to know why Paul says his name at the end of each episode? Well, we took the time to answer that.