Geek News

Microsoft first announced support for cross-platform play at E3 2016 , but Sony has resisted supporting PS4 vs. Xbox One gaming. In a surprise announcement yesterday , Epic Games revealed Fortnite will support cross-play and cross-progression between the PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, iOS, and eventually the Android versions of the game. The Xbox One was suspiciously absent from the list, but Microsoft has confirmed to The Verge that it’s working with Epic Games to enable this in the future. “We have been working closely with the team at Epic Games for some time to bring this functionality to all current and future versions of Fortnite and expect it to be available on Xbox along with other platforms,” says a Microsoft spokesperson. “Microsoft has... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2GcCQBo"

Science They’re windows into the heart of the Earth. Diamonds have been in the news quite a lot this week, and not for any celebrity/engagement news. Instead, it’s what’s inside that counts. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2Fwcnh1"

Technology There are lots of new rides to see in Switzerland this week. Electric cars, super cars, and a self-driving living room. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2IedCDj"

Netflix is testing out a new feature for children that lets them earn “patches” for watching episodes of certain shows. The new feature gamifies the streaming experience for kids, incentivizing them to watch particular shows that Netflix has picked out, as reported by Variety . Shows that have been selected are marked with red locks (for some unclear reason) for users who have been included in the test. Netflix has chosen films and TV shows that are all Netflix Originals, including Troll h unters, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Home , and The Magic School Bus Rides Again. You can’t actually do anything with the patches once you’ve earned them. Some studies have pointed out that while gamification can lead to increased engagement with... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2IdR6Ky"

I’ve been bitten by the music production bug recently. The gear is so good these days, how could I fail to make something amazing? All I need is a $699 Roland TR-8S , a $1,349 Elektron Octatrack MKII, and maybe a $119 Arturia KeyStep, and then just a guitar and... Well, now I’m poor. For someone who has a setup they like but wants a novel way to tweak parameters with hand motions and maybe trigger a drum pad or two, the Wave wearable MIDI controller from Genki Instruments is an interesting option. Wave’s built-in motion sensing gives you a few different control axes, which can be mapped to any property in your software setup you wish to tweak. There are three main motions: pan, tilt, and roll. Additionally, there are buttons on the ring... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2HlAcZr"

Crash Bandicoot™ N. Sane Trilogy is Now Available for Pre-Purchase on Steam! Your favorite marsupial, Crash Bandicoot™, is back! He’s enhanced, entranced and ready-to-dance with the N. Sane Trilogy. Relive all your favorite moments in Crash Bandicoot™, Crash Bandicoot™ 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot™ 3: Warped, now in fully-remastered graphical glory! via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2G8N4Cx"

Science A new study from MIT suggests "fake news" often trumps the truth. That’s not at all surprising, from a psychological standpoint. By their very design, these falsehoods prey upon one of humanity’s greatest cognitive weaknesses. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2oVYwdg"

Darwin Project is Now Available on Steam Early Access! Darwin Project takes the battle royale genre up north, where an impending ice age has given rise to a twisted new reality show in which ten participants must fight to the death under the Show Director's gaze. via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2oXllNT"

Facebook’s analytics company released a new app this week, which like many of their products, exists mainly to collect user data and package it up for Facebook. The app is called Bolt App Lock (currently available for free in the Google Play store) and it’s made by the same company behind the controversial VPN service Onavo Protect. The app was released on March 5th, as spotted by Tech Crunch today . The Bolt App Lock lets you add additional security measures like PIN codes, fingerprint recognition, or pattens, to apps you don’t want others to easily access. Some apps, like banking apps and menstrual trackers, already require you to input a passcode or your fingerprint before you can log in. Others, like Facebook, Gmail, and Twitter,... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2De0R7V"

Amazon has added a new feature for its Alexa voice assistant that you will let you make successive requests without needing to repeat your Echo speaker’s wake word, as noted today by CNET . Amazon is calling the new setting “follow-up mode,” and while it won’t let you nest one request into another, it will let you ask make multiple requests back to back. For instance, you won’t be able to ask Alexa to turn off the lights and change the temperature in the same breath, but you can make one request and follow it up with the other without needing to say “Hey, Alexa” again. Follow-up mode works by letting Alexa continue listening for up to five seconds after an initial command. This is signified by the blue ring on an Echo speaker or other... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2DcRTrB"

Gadgets The end-of-week dispatch from PopSci's commerce editor. Vol. 41. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2FuP7zY"

Motorola has put together an eclectic selection of Moto Mod accessories for its smartphones, ranging from an Alexa speaker to an instant camera . So it was probably only a matter of time until we arrived at this: a virtual reality headset, custom-built for the Moto Z line and its big, circular camera bump . News of the upcoming headset was leaked today by VentureBeat reporter Evan Blass , who posted an image of the headset to Twitter. There are no further details yet, such as when it will be available. Motorola has announced accessories with really long lead times in the past, so don’t assume that this one’s ship date is imminent. This is a hell of a Mod... pic.twitter.com/Mah61AYIZr — Evan Blass (@evleaks) March 9, 2018 While the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2tv3UZE"

Today's Deal: Save 50% on Rising Storm 2: Vietnam !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends March 16th at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2FvlONo"

Health An adolescent health specialist explains what it means to understand teens. Teenagers make up 13 percent of the U.S., and most see pediatricians for their health needs. But experts say teens need doctors trained to work with adolescents. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2Ifdfbj"

The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!* Build, discover, craft and survive. Build your settlement in a snowy encampment, survive monster attacks and manage resources to uncover the secrets of the ancients. *Offer ends March 16 at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2G8dUL3"

My Lovely Daughter is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!* My Lovely Daughter is an alchemist simulator that explores the depth of a father’s grief and how far he will go to resurrect his daughter. *Offer ends March 15 at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2Ddx5QN"

eBay has a storewide 20 percent discount going on today, which also applies to some of the biggest electronics, including the Nintendo Switch. As spotted by Kinja Deals , by using the promo code PSPRING20, you can slash the price of a brand-new, factory-sealed Switch down to $224 . It’s probably the best deal on the usually full-price console we’ve seen yet. eBay’s discount is off any order $25 or more, which means the Switch alone fully meets the coupon’s criteria. Other electronics the discount applies to includes a PlayStation VR Doom bundle, Dyson vacuums, and Xbox games. Gift cards are excluded from the offer. The deal comes a few days after the Nintendo Switch celebrated its first birthday and an announcement that a slew of new... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FDHaeP"

Google is opening the gates to something that should ultimately make the Google Assistant a lot more useful: it’ll now allow other companies to create custom commands when the Assistant is built into their products. So the manufacturer of a smart dishwasher that supports Google’s voice assistant could add a command to “start a hypercycle,” even though that’s not a universal feature found on other dishwashers. Right now, devices with Assistant built in are limited to a number of universal commands that Google has set up on its own, like “on,” “off,” and “dim.” Additional functionality can be added via Actions (apps, basically), but that requires an extra step for owners every time they want to use it. That’s obviously pretty limiting if... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2HkVOVG"

British Airways is expanding its biometric identification gates to new airports in New York (JFK), Miami (MIA), and Orlando (MCO). These “biometric e-Gates,” which have been in a trial at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) since November 2017, use facial recognition to match flyers with their passport, visa, or immigration photos and can remove the need to show a boarding pass or identification when getting on a plane. Passengers still have to show identification and a boarding pass when they go through airport security. But when used instead of the traditional boarding process, British Airways says the gates dramatically decrease wait times. With the biometric gates at LAX, British Airways has been able to board “more than 400... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2p20Peh"

Facebook now has all the major music labels behind its recent initiative to use licensed music in videos posted by users on Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Oculus. Warner Music Group today announced that it reached a deal with Facebook to add its artists to the mix, joining Universal Music Group and Sony / ATV Music Publishing . As with those earlier agreements, Warner’s stable of musicians and songwriters will earn royalties from fan-created videos featuring their work. The obvious benefit for Facebook / Instagram users is that their videos won’t automatically get pulled down over copyright violations if they include portions of licensed tunes. That, in turn, might make people more likely to actually create and share... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2p0MUFp"

2017 saw huge numbers of people affected by breaches - 145 million consumer records in the Equifax breach, 200 million voter records in Deep Root Analytics breach, a firm which has contracted with the Republican National Committee, reprehensible corporate behavior (Uber’s breach cover-up); state-sponsored attacks (Russia and North Korea have been busy); and legislative response (by states , New York’s DFS , Congressional hearings , Senate proposals , and more). Harder to quantify, but certainly a major concern, is the erosion of public trust. Given all the attention (and the apparent lack of progress), the year ahead is certain to bring further backlash from frustrated customers, shareholders, partners, and government agencies. How do Directors prepare for this increasing accountability? Tara Swaminatha, renowned legal expert specializing in cyber security liability and risk, recently outlined  developments to watch in 2018, including the push to increase cyber security expertis...

Health In fact, they might even do some good. Parents the world over are concerned that touchscreen and tablet technology is negatively impacting children’s handwriting. But is this the case? via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2Fx0ZRX"

Google is celebrating Mario Day (March 10th, MAR10) in style this year. Nintendo and Google have partnered up to bring Mario to Google Maps on iOS or Android. Mario Time, as Google calls it, will be available in the latest Google Maps mobile apps starting today. A new yellow “?” icon will appear next to destinations, which will enable Mario to become the navigation arrow in his kart and accompany you along your commute. There won’t be any red shell throwing or bananas along the route, so if you’re leading the pack then you don’t need to worry about a surprise spiny shell at all. Mario will be available as a simple position marker across Google Maps worldwide for a week. There’s even a hidden Easter egg: if you tap the “?” icon 100 times... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Id4oHc"

Facebook and Major League Baseball have reached a deal that will give the social network exclusive streaming rights to 25 regular season games in 2018. All of those will be weekday afternoon games, so traditional TV networks will maintain their hold on primetime and weekend play. Even so, as Bloomberg notes , this is the first time Facebook has nabbed exclusive streaming rights for regular season games from one of the major US sports leagues. The first Facebook-only game will be on April 4th between the Phillies and Mets. The viewing experience won’t feel out of the ordinary, as MLB Network will be producing the games. So you’ll get the familiar presentation of televised games — but you’ll be able to watch on mobile, desktop, and on TVs... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Gb4b6L"

Cryptocurrency mining takes a lot of energy, and anything that uses that much energy generates a lot of heat, which is why cooling systems are so important for computers using high-end graphics cards. But what if instead of cooling down your mining rig, you found another use for all that excess heat — like, say, heating your entire home? Qarnot’s QC-1 “crypto heater” looks to do just that, combining a cryptocurrency mining rig with a wall-mounted radiator to heat your home and earn you some of that sweet, sweet digital money at the same time ( via TechCrunch ). While there’s a certain air of ridiculousness to this — how much more did cryptocurrency mining need to embed itself into your home? — there is also a certain amount of sense to the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2tw6FtL"

DIY The real sweet science. You don’t have to buy caramels from a candy store. You make them in your own kitchen—and there's some fascinating science behind the sweetness. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2oWlp0s"