The Morning After: Spotify plots its own smart speaker


Hi there! Watching the PyeongChang Winter Olympics? Been watching them in VR? We have. We also have news of a Burnout comeback (The Best Driving Game) and Amazon brings its Prime rewards to Whole Foods shoppers.

This is how the robot revolution starts.
Boston Dynamics' robots won't be held back by puny humans

Are you looking for the exact moment robots decide to turn on their human creators? You might want to mark this day on your calendar. Boston Dynamics has posted video of a SpotMini test where it gauged the bot's ability to adjust to interference -- in this case, from a pesky human.

It needs hardware.Spotify might be building a smart speaker of its own

Spotify might be working a smart speaker, according to new job listings. "Spotify is on its way to creating its first physical products and set up an operational organization for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing," one ad states. So far, it has relied on other products like Google's Assistant, Amazon Echo and Sonos One to stream its service. However, Apple recently launched its HomePod speaker with only native Apple Music support, showing Spotify's need to take action on its own hardware.

The ads show the new operations manager, senior product manager: hardware production and project manager: hardware production and engineering would be handling manufacturing and supply for the new product. It all sounds like it's closer to being made, whatever form it takes.

Rivals like NextVR have set the bar much higher.
If NBC can't improve its VR Olympics coverage, it should just stop

If you're watching the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics on TV like a normal person, you may not realize there's another option. Steve Dent tested the VR waters with NBC, here's how he fared.

Improved graphics, 60 frames per-second and that sweet, sweet online mode.
'Burnout Paradise' is back March 16th with a $40 4K remaster

Burnout Paradise was one of those rare racers that transcended its genre and was just so good. If its recent 10th birthday had you feeling nostalgic, then we've got good news: Come March 16th, you'll be able to hit the streets of Paradise City once again, with the complete original soundtrack, and all 150 cars and eight main expansion packs -- including the Big Surf Island premium DLC. Burnout Paradise Remastered will run in native 1080p on PlayStation 4 and Xbox hardware, and EA promises 4K resolution and 60 frames per-second on PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X.

Five percent return on purchases at both Amazon and Whole Foods.
Amazon will reward Prime members for shopping at Whole Foods

Amazon says its Rewards Visa will now offer users the same level of reward when they shop at Whole Foods as they receive at Amazon itself. Eligible Prime members will now receive a flat five-percent bonus on all purchases at Whole Foods, just as they do online. By comparison, shopping beyond Amazon's universe will net you two percent back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores and a single percent elsewhere.

Whether or not it's easy is another matter.
Modders turn Nintendo Switch into a full-fledged Linux tablet

For all of its Nintendo customizations, the Switch is ultimately a tablet running a garden variety NVIDIA Tegra processor -- and that means it can potentially handle the same software as other mobile devices. To prove that point, the fail0verflow team has shown a Switch running honest-to-goodness Linux. The touchscreen, networking and accelerated 3D graphics are all functioning, but you're not about to run Steam games on it (many Linux apps aren't built for ARM-based chips), but you could theoretically use the Switch as a basic computer.

But wait, there's more...

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