Geek News

Porsche knows you're probably going to compare the Mission E to Tesla's cars, and it's determined to prove that it its electric performance car is the one to beat. Company EV head Stefan Weckbach has promised that the Mission E has "reproducible" performance Tesla (and particularly the Model S ) can't match. The Model S can only hit its claimed 0-60MPH time "twice" in short succession, Weckbach claimed, and can't run at at full speed for significant stretches either. The Mission E can maintain its full speed for "long periods," Weckbach said. The manager reiterated some of the Mission E's known abilities, including its rapid charging (20 minutes for 250 miles of driving). He added that the car should be relatively practical, too. On top of decent rear seating, helped by sculpted batteries that allow more foot room, there's even some decent cargo space. While the front has a motor, cooling and other vital components, it shoul...

YouTube's crackdown on conspiracy theories in the wake of the Parkland mass shooting has had some unintended casualties. The streaming video firm has confirmed to Bloomberg that its human moderators inadvertently removed videos and took down channels from right-wing and pro-gun outlets. Newcomers to YouTube's moderation team can "misapply" its policies, a spokesperson said, which led to "mistaken removals" of content. The site vowed to reinstate material it had incorrectly pulled. The company wasn't specific about which channels fell afoul of the unintentional move, although the Outline (which broke the story) detailed a wide range of affected accounts. Some of them, such as Anti-School and Destroy the Illusion, explicitly peddle in conspiracy theories. Others, however, don't appear to have obvious violations -- the Military Arms Channel saw three gun videos taken down. Some of MAC's videos had been restored as of the afternoon on Februa...

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. So far? Nothing. While we wait for Apple to get its act together — presumably it’ll launch the new AirPods alongside the upcoming AirPower charging mat , which could literally happen at any time — we turn our collective gaze to Kickstarter to solve this horrible problem of plugging things in. Behold, the PowerPod Case ! PowerPod Case is a silicone case which holds your AirPod case, which... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FFoSaS"

YouTube TV has landed another Major League Soccer deal , and this time you might be more likely to notice. As part of a multi-year agreement, the internet TV service is now the official streaming option for all Seattle Sounders FC games. Similar to the LAFC deal, you can watch the 14 nationally televised games on conventional TV networks like ESPN and Fox (including through their online apps), but a dedicated YouTube TV channel will stream the teams' 20 regionally-broadcast games online. This isn't necessarily a tremendous coup for YouTube given MLS' relatively modest viewership compared to other American sports leagues. The Sounders are generally considered one of the best-known team in the league, though, so it's bound to command some attention. And like before, this illustrates how YouTube TV's growth is influencing its ability to make deals. It's large enough that major sports teams are willing to make exclusive arrangements instead of turning to convent...

The early development of our universe is still quite a mystery, but in a new study published today in Nature , researchers describe what may be evidence of when the first stars began to form. After the Big Bang, which took place some 13.7 billion years ago, the universe was dark, hot and full of high-energy particles. Photons couldn't survive, but after around 380,000 years, the universe cooled enough to allow light to actually stick around. That's when the cosmic microwave background (CMB) came to be. It's our universe's first surviving radiation and researchers have looked to it in order to learn more about the earliest years of our universe. Researchers have theorized that we might be able to see when stars began to form by looking for a dip in the intensity of the CMB. The reasoning is that once stars started forming, they would have heated up the hydrogen gas permeating the universe. When that gas heated up, it would have absorbed radiation from the CMB, cau...

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 reinstate any videos that were removed in error.” The Outline reported earlier today that several right-wing channels had been completely shut down since the Parkside shooting, and others had been issued strikes against their account — most... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CNGGgQ"

Many horror games are solitary affairs -- a little odd when horror movies are frequently shared experiences. Why not make games which play off the social side of fear? Question is trying just that. The group of BioShock and Dishonored alumni has unveiled The Blackout Club , a co-op horror title where survival depends on working as a team. You play as a group of teens who've uncovered a terrifying conspiracy in a small town, and they can only see the villains' central "boogeyman" by closing their eyes (part of the reason for the "blackout" in the name). If your group is going to live, everyone will need to keep watch -- you may save a friend who doesn't realize they're in danger. The game has a decidedly Stranger Things vibe, as PC Gamer noted , and it's not just the basic setting. A large part of the game involves proving that the threat is real (many of the adults are unwitting pawns), and that means putting yourself in harm's way s...

It’s 2018, how should you make an app? Here’s the short answer: nobody knows. But maybe that’s a good thing. Yesterday, Google announced the official beta release of its Flutter app development framework (as seen on 9to5Google ). It’s one way to make an app, and it’s especially well-suited to fancy user interfaces. ”But wait,” you ask, “didn’t Google just announce Kotlin support for Android development ? Why would Google want me to learn Flutter now?” And that’s a very good question. See, there are two main paths to app development. “Native” development, where you use the default tools and languages provided by Apple or Google for their respective platforms. But then there’s... everything else. You can make apps for Android and iOS in C#... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2t76zIK"

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. Ynet reports this phone has a notch, of course, along with a 6-inch OLED display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, two 16-megapixel cameras in the back, and a rear fingerprint sensor. It also incorporates Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor and has 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage. It has... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FF9dIC"

You have a few options when it comes to streaming music and whether you're subscribed to Spotify , Apple Music , Tidal or something else, there's a lot of music right at your fingertips. But live recordings offer their own sort of listening pleasure, and while you may find some on those streaming services, Paste Music thinks you should have access to a ton of them all in one spot. Together with its sister site Daytrotter, Paste Music has just launched an app that brings together hundreds of thousands of live recordings for you to enjoy including concerts, comedy performances and interviews. And similar to what NPR did with its One app , Paste Music and Daytrotter's lets you take their sites' offerings with you on the go and personalize your listening experience. In the Paste Music & Daytrotter mobile app, you can find performances like Run-DMC on their first tour, Jimi Hendrix playing the Winterland Ballroom in 1968, the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals and the e...

The gaming chat service Discord has reportedly banned several alt-right groups. The move comes six months after the platform shut down racist accounts in the wake of the Charlottesville protests in order to 'take action against white supremacy, nazi ideology and all forms of hate.' But Discord backed away from calling out particular groups that it kicked off its service; Instead, it has removed a number of unnamed groups due to violations of the platform's terms and services, a spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. "Discord has a Terms of Service (ToS) and Community Guidelines that we ask all of our communities and users to adhere to. These specifically prohibit harassment, threatening messages, or calls to violence. Though we do not read people's private messages, we do investigate and take immediate appropriate action against any reported ToS violation by a server or user. There were a handful of servers that violated these ToS recently and were swiftl...

Science Teens may be works in progress, but they help society evolve. Adolescents are certainly in a state of emotional and physical flux, but we should still listen to their hard-earned reflections. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2F2Ut5c"

Spotify quietly signaled its intention to become a publicly traded company in December of last year, even though several lawsuits over licensing were looming. Now the streaming service has filed for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, an alternative to the more typical initial public offering (IPO) that offers the company a savings on underwriting fees and a dilution of existing shares. The prospectus document provides quite a bit of information on the company's financials, which helps investors make a more informed decision when purchasing stock. The data speaks to how hard it is to make money as a streaming services provider. For example, the company's losses are increasing rapidly. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, the company incurred net losses of €230 million, €539 million, and €1,235 million, respectively. That's despite revenues of €1,940 million, €2,952 million, and €4,090 million in the same years. Plus, their closest competitor, Apple Music, claims a 4...

Machine learning and AI are some of the biggest topics in the tech world right now, and Google is looking to make those fields more accessible to more people with its new Learn with Google AI website . Google has been pursuing AI education for a while, both with advanced projects like TensorFlow and more playful projects like cat doodles and a machine vision experiment meant to showcase AI projects in more practical ways. Google envisions the Learn with Google AI site serving as a repository for machine learning and AI, and it’s meant to be a hub for anyone looking to “learn about core ML concepts, develop and hone your ML skills, and apply ML to real-world problems.” The site will apparently cater to all levels of AI enthusiasts, from... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2t3IFOC"

The I.D. Buzz might not be the first electric Volkswagen bus you see roaming the streets. VW's Scania brand has announced that its first electric bus, the Citywide Low Floor, is going into full-fledged service in the Swedish town of Österlund in mid-March. And it's not a tiny experimental run, either. The initial three buses will run a 9.3-mile route with about 40 stops, and they'll make a total of 100 trips each day. The vehicles' 10-minute charging intervals (helped by massive charging stations) keep them from being sidelined for hours like typical electric cars. This certainly isn't the first electric bus . Scania is a powerhouse in the mass transit world, however, and this deployment could lead to many more public transit systems adopting electric transport. And it's not necessarily just for the sake of environmental concerns. Electric buses are potentially cheaper to run (both due to fuel savings and lower maintenance), and they're much quieter --...

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is Now Available on Steam and is 15% off!* Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a Narrative-Adventure game about traveling, sharing stories, and surviving manifest destiny. *Offer ends March 7 at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2CMRYSD"

Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming service, has filed for an initial public offering valuing the company at $1 billion . The Sweden-based company co-founded by Daniel Ek, who has remained its CEO since its 2006 inception, and Martin Lorentzon has more than 71 million paying users as of December 2017. The company also enjoys an overall user base that includes ad-supported free listeners 159 million, far outpacing the competition from Apple, Google, Tidal, and others. Spotify will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SPOT”. Spotify will be offering a direct listing, meaning thats its shares can traded on the open market sooner than with a more conventional IPO, as Spotify doesn’t intend to raise a large amount... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2HS1mYP"

Science You might even make a major discovery. Set up your citizen science laboratory. All it takes is a smartphone and some curiosity. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2FEjDrH"

Scientists have been puzzling over the moon's formation for a long time, and now there's a new theory that might explain some of the baffling mysteries surrounding our satellite. A new study published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets posits that the moon may have actually formed inside the Earth, before our planet had fully taken shape. This new theory is based on a new planetary object called a synestia. These are produced when two planet-sized bodies crash into one another, resulting in a quickly spinning formation of rock. The release describes it as, "a giant donut of vaporized rock." Synestias only last a century or two before they condense into a planet. "Our model starts with a collision that forms a synestia," Simon Lock, a graduate student at Harvard and coauthor of the article, said in a release . Once this occurred, the moon could have formed in a number of ways. The synestia may have ejected molten rock into its orbit, w...

YouTube has banned the Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen, but only after a Daily Beast report shamed the platform for its inaction. Since the Logan Paul fiasco, YouTube introduced a stricter content policy and (somewhat) more serious consequences for content that harms the community, but it took reports from ProPublica , Vice and The Daily Beast in the last week before Atomwaffen was banned. For starters, the group has been implicated in five murders from May 2017 to January 2018, ProPublica pointed out -- and their videos regularly pushed for a "race war." Despite a litany of user complaints, the most YouTube had done was precede Atomwaffen's recruitment videos with a disclaimer marking that it had been flagged as offensive 'to some audiences.' When The Daily Beast asked a spokesperson for the platform why the Neo-Nazi group's content was still up on Monday, they said that putting videos that are borderline hate speech or violent extremism behind 'a w...

PlayStation Plus might be a little worse of a deal starting next year, with Sony announcing that it’ll no longer be offering free PS3 games and Vita games through the service starting in March 2019 ( via Polygon .) Sony first started offering free games to PlayStation Plus subscribers back in 2010, and has since continued to build out the service to offer two PlayStation 3, two Vita, and two PS4 games to subscribers each month. Starting on March 8th, 2019, that will change to just two PS4 games per month, although any games that players have already gotten through the service will continue to be accessible for as long as they continue to subscribe. Sony hasn’t announced any changes to PlayStation Plus’s price, which will stay at $59.99 for... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2F1USZP"

Discord has recently shut down several notable alt-right, white nationalist servers as it attempts to purge toxic content, as reported by Polygon . The affected servers include the neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division, Nordic Resistance Movement, Iron March, and European Domas. “Discord has a Terms of Service (ToS) and Community Guidelines that we ask all of our communities and users to adhere to,” a Discord representative told Polygon . “These specifically prohibit harassment, threatening messages, or calls to violence. Though we do not read people’s private messages, we do investigate and take immediate appropriate action against any reported ToS violation by a server or user. There were a handful of servers that violated these... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2oCH0tI"

Changes are afoot for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Starting next March, the smattering of monthly free (with subscription) Instant Game Collection offerings won't include titles for the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita . It won't affect any games you downloaded previously, however, according to a post on the PS Blog . "Your game saves and other benefits of PS Plus will also remain the same -- the only change is that no new PS4 and PS Vita games will be added to the PS Plus monthly games lineup beyond March 8th, 2019." Speaking of games, this month PS+ subscribers get Fromsoftware's brutally difficult PS4 exclusive Bloodborne . Not in the mood to have your teeth kicked in? Then maybe Insomniac's incredibly pretty Ratchet & Clank reboot will do the trick for you. There's also Legend of Kay on PS3, and a trio of Cross Buy games including Mighty No. 9 , Claire: Extended Cut and Bombing Busters . The latter pair are Vita games that you can also p...

There was a time when the Overwatch team spent months dripping out information about a new hero for fans to obsess over. But now it's content to simply drop a new one out of nowhere like a dropped mic and revel in the game's overjoyed community. Today is one of those days: Brigitte, a new melee support hero, has joined the fray -- and you can play her right now on the game's PTR servers. Introducing Brigitte—an engineer turned valiant squire ready to protect her allies on the front line. Learn more @ https://t.co/JCSkZJGOzc pic.twitter.com/me59upxJYU — Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) February 28, 2018 Brigitte has been in the background of the game for years, first shown repairing Reinhardt's armor in the 'Dragon Slayer' comic , though the Overwatch Twitter account has been teasing her reveal. In the lore, she's the daughter of everyone's favorite dwarf Swede, Torbjörn, and goddaughter of the heroic hammerer Reinhardt. In the game, she's ...