Новости за 27.02.2018

Amazon has reportedly agreed to acquire smart home company Ring for more than $1 billion, according to Reuters. Ring is best known for selling its connected doorbells, security cameras, and floodlights, while Amazon introduced its own line of smart home solutions last fall with the Amazon Cloud Cam and Amazon Key.

For all its problems, I still believe in USB-C as a standard, and it’s devices like the Mu One — a super thin, modular USB-C charger (first spotted by Engadget) that checks all the spec boxes and looks great — that keeps that faith alive.

Nomad has crafted a beautiful wireless travel stand for smartphones. Wrapped in Horween leather with a built-in aluminum kickstand that can be stored when not in use, the $59 Nomad Wireless Travel Stand can fast-charge your phone thanks to its 7.5W output.

Palantir deployed a predictive policing system in New Orleans that even city council members don’t know about

Sony’s live-streaming TV service PlayStation Vue has just introduced several new updates, including the ability to sign up for the service online without needing a TV, according to Engadget.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan will executive produce a new psychological thriller series for Apple. Variety reports that Shyamalan will also direct the first episode of the series, which is being written by Tony Basgallop of 24: Live Another Day and 24: Legacy fame.

Ahead of today’s Zenfone 5 launch at Mobile World Congress 2018, Asus hosted a media briefing to tell us about its new phone and directly address the very familiar notch at the top of the device. “Some people will say it’s copying Apple,” said Marcel Campos, Asus’ global head of marketing, “but we cannot get away from what users want. You have to follow the trends.” So that’s settled: the iPhone-esque notch is now trendy and we’re all going to have to marvel at it across a diversity of Android devices, including the new Asus Zenfone. Читать дальше...

Wacom announced the Cintiq Pro 24- and 32-inch displays last summer, and now the company is introducing a new PC module that integrates into the back of the display to turn it into a Windows 10 workstation. The Cintiq Pro Engine memory and SSD are exchangeable as well as upgradable, so you can swap it out and move your work between the Cintiq 24-inch and 32-inch displays.

The digital currency exchange and wallet service Coinbase, founded in 2012 and backed by Silicon Valley investors, recently told shareholders that it booked $1 billion in revenue in 2017. A new independent analysis says about 43 percent of that came in December when the price of bitcoin was surging, and the company’s revenue has plummeted since then.

Amazon announced this morning that Transparent creator Jill Soloway will be editor-at-large for its newest imprint. TOPPLE Books, according to a press release, will primarily publish narrative non-fiction and fiction from writers who identify as women of color, gender non-conforming, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer.

Formula One fans around the world will finally have a way to tune in to each and every Grand Prix without a cable subscription: the vaunted motorsport series is launching its own streaming service. F1 and its owners, Liberty Media Group, announced today that they’re launching an over the top service called F1 TV sometime early in the 2018 season, which starts on March 25th in Melbourne, Australia.

One of the greatest role-playing games of all time is now available on PC. Today, Square Enix unexpectedly launched Chrono Trigger on Steam, with an updated version of the SNES classic that will include a handful of welcome features and additions.

Just a few weeks ago, a Barclays analyst said the wait time for replacing the battery in an iPhone was about two weeks and would be improving. Now, the firm says the average wait time has jumped to three to four and a half weeks, with some stores having a wait time of nine to 10 weeks, according to 9to5Mac.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced a settlement with Venmo, after allegations that the app misled customers and enabled fraud through lax security practices. Charges were first brought against Venmo in 2016 after reports of account hacks and other transaction fraud. As part of the settlement, Venmo is required to make specific disclosures about its transaction and privacy practices, and will be subject to third-party compliance assessments for the next 10 years.

Hyundai’s second all-electric vehicle, the Kona Electric, will get a full debut at next week’s Geneva Motor Show, but today the South Korean automaker revealed most of the specs and pulled the wraps off of the new SUV. There’s no pricing yet, but the Kona Electric will come in short-range and long-range models, with 186 and 292 miles of range, respectively.

Today, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the self-regulatory association responsible for rating the content of video games, responded to the mounting controversy around the industry’s shift toward microtransactions, specifically the gambling-style loot box systems favored by the world’s most popular competitive multiplayer titles. Unfortunately, the ESRB’s solution is only a new “in-game purchases” label that seems as if it would apply to a vast majority of modern games, from story-focused... Читать дальше...

As Blizzard’s digital card game Hearthstone heads into its fourth year, the experience is set to get a bit more social. Today, Blizzard revealed an upcoming feature for the game that will allow Hearthstone players to create their own in-game tournaments for competing with friends. The developer expects a beta version of the feature to launch within the next few months.

Oh, hey. It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means: Circuit Breaker Live on YouTube. Today’s episode has it all: smart lighting, Nintendo Switch accessories, and a universal remote with wood panelling. As usual, we’ll be live on YouTube at 4PM ET with an archived version living on our page right after.

A group of senators has formally moved to overturn last year’s net neutrality repeal, now that the FCC’s new rules have been published in the Federal Register. Today, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced a long-promised resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which lets Congress strike down new rules with a simple majority vote. The bill currently has 50 supporters, putting it one vote shy of a majority.

President Trump plans to name Brad Parscale, the digital director of his 2016 campaign, to run his re-election bid, according to the Drudge Report. The Associated Press has since corroborated the report.

Some very resilient Earth microbes might be able to thrive in the hidden ocean of Enceladus — the icy moon of Saturn that has become a prime candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life. Scientists have successfully cultivated a few of these tiny organisms in the lab under the same conditions that are thought to exist on the distant moon, opening up the possibility that life might be lurking under the world’s surface.

The Facebook Journalism Project has announced a new program today called Local News Subscriptions Accelerator that will work with several local US outlets over the next three months to help bolster their subscription efforts.

Apple is preparing to open medical clinics to provide healthcare for its employees and their families in Cupertino this spring, according to a new report by CNBC. The tech company has launched a website for the clinics, which will operate under the name AC Wellness. Currently, Apple has one Wellness Center in its headquarters in Cupertino that employs a handful of doctors, chiropractors, dietitians, and physical therapists.

Tinder announced this morning that it’s launching a campaign called #RepresentLove, in collaboration with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Emojination founder Jennifer 8. Lee, with the goal of petitioning Unicode to introduce interracial couple emoji.

Qualcomm has announced a new series of Snapdragon processors at Mobile World Congress 2018, the Snapdragon 700 line. As the name suggests, the new series of chips is designed to sit between the Snapdragon 600 series — typically found in mid-range devices — and the company’s top of the line 800 series chips (which includes the current flagship Snapdragon 845 processor found in devices like the Galaxy S9.)