Geek News

Space The James Webb Space Telescope has an ever-expanding timeline—and projected cost. NASA just pushed back the launch of the costly and ambitious James Webb Space Telescope. Again. The launch is now pencilled in for sometime around May 2020—delayed by… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2pIvcHY"

Apple pushed several updates to its music creation software GarageBand today, following education-based announcements including a cheaper iPad and new Crayon stylus earlier in the day. There’s an intriguing new feature that makes use of the iPhone X’s TrueDepth camera and face tracking features. If you’ve got Apple’s flagship phone, you’ll now be able to use your face to control effects and synths, hands-free. Yup, GarageBand will read your facial expressions and translate them into instrument controls. If available for use on an instrument or effect, a small smiley face icon will appear. The parameters that can be adjusted are locked and can’t be customized, but there are some fun options. For example, smiling / opening your mouth... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2pJ4H4R"

Gadgets It sounds like a gimmick, but each one actually plays a specific role Three cameras team up for Huawei's high-end smartphone camera. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2GxKVTQ"

Blender Character Rigging for Beginners HD is Now Available on Steam! Blender Character Rigging For Beginners HD is a video tutorial series by Riven Phoenix that takes the art student through a step-by-step process in rigging a high quality 3D human character from scratch using blender's powerful rigging features. via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2IXQ8CB"

Instead of the usual California-based event in March, this year, Apple took its team to Chicago to make its spring announcements , most of which revolved around a new iPad geared toward the education market. Additionally, the company also introduced updates to iWork , a new app for teachers , and a new stylus called Crayon that’ll also work with the new iPad. Since the event took place at a high school, we didn’t get the normal live stream of the keynote until after it was over. So if you’re curious how the announcement actually went down, here’s a supercut of the full event as Tim Cook presents the new iPad for schools. Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2I8MN2e"

The Federal Circuit has ruled for a second time in Oracle v. Google , the software copyright lawsuit over Google’s Android platform. The new decision reverses the district court yet again and sends the case back for a third trial to determine damages for Oracle. In the last trial, Oracle sought almost $9 billion in damages . The litigation has been dragging on for about eight years now, bouncing up and down through appeals and two whole jury trials. It all started because Google wanted to make the Android platform compatible with apps written in the Java language. Rather than license the Java platform from Sun Microsystems, which would allow programs written in Java to run, Google instead chose to write its own version (also known as a... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GxRFkg"

Google has acquired the GIF platform Tenor for Android, iOS, and desktop, the company announced today . Tenor is going to help Google bring up GIFs inside Google images and other services like Gboard more easily. Notably, Tenor is a GIF platform that Facebook has used in its Messenger service to let users send GIFs more easily. It’s unclear if this acquisition will change that. A blog post from Google notes that Tenor will remain a separate brand, and the company will help Tenor find more content and API partners. Google’s director of engineering Cathy Edwards wrote in the blog post that users can expect to see a lot more GIFs on Google services going forward and noted that Google images has become more about self-expression in addition... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GzHZGc"

Animals We could use their unique talents to develop better chemo drugs. Consider, if you will, a repulsive case of food poisoning. You may try to hold it in, but at some point you’re gonna spew. But not every species is that lucky—and one… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2urvCHi"

Apple is likely to release redesigned Apple Watch Series 4 models in the fall, according to a report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. As 9to5Mac notes, the updated watches should have larger displays, enhanced health monitoring, and a longer battery life. While Kuo is vague on some details surrounding the redesigned watch, he says it will have a 15 percent larger display, and a “more trendy form factor design.” The firm says that these details, combined with expected new sensors to expand health monitoring capabilities and a traditional drop in price with older models, will help bring sales of the Apple Watch to new records. KGI expects that Apple will sell 22 million to 24 million Apple Watch units in 2018, a 30 percent... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2Gxhf9o"

Gadgets Not much in the way of new hardware at Apple's education event. Right now, Google and its army of Chromebooks is winning the hardware game in U.S. schools. Its market share hovers around 60 percent, thanks in large part to its… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2I8efxi"

Google Maps is now available in 39 new languages, the company announced today in a blog post . These languages — including Afrikaans, Danish, Filipino, Hebrew, Icelandic, Mongolian, Serbian, Slovak, Swahili, Turkish, and Vietnamese, to name a few — are spoken by around 1.25 billion people. Keep in mind there are a total of 6,909 living languages recorded in the Ethnologue catalogue. Many of the languages Google chose to add today are spoken by large populations. Swahili, in particular, has 8 percent of the African continent speaking it, while Turkish is spoken by 9 percent of people in Europe. The new language additions are coming to the mobile and desktop versions of Google Maps on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows OS. Google Maps... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GvZUxs"

Apple’s education pricing, which usually knocks around 10 percent off the price of most Apple products, is available to the following people: Current and newly accepted college students and their parents. Faculty and staff of all grade levels. Homeschool teachers. If you’re one of those people, you can get Apple’s new iPad for $309, instead of the $329 list price. The special $299 price Apple announced today is for schools, not individual buyers. It’s fairly easy to prove if you’re in college, or work for a college: you probably have a student ID and / or a college email address. If you’re a K-12 teacher, I’m sure you have something equivalent. But how do you prove you’re a homeschool parent? Well, the answer is: don’t worry about it. T... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IZGDTu"

Logitech’s Rugged Combo 2 keyboard case for the iPad is not likely to be something you’ll want to buy. It’s just too big for most. It’s very , very rugged, surrounding the device in a huge plastic block that feels like it could protect the glass inside from nearly anything. (Logitech says it’s good for up to a four-foot drop, but I bet it could handle more.) You won’t really be able to buy it anyway; it’s designed for the education market. But I am here to tell you that it is fascinating. The spill-proof keyboard doesn’t connect via Bluetooth, but instead via a custom smart connector Logitech developed, which passes through to the Lightning port inside the case. The keyboard is therefore removable (it attaches by a strong magnet) and can... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2I4Xcfx"

We just got a look at the new iPad accessories Logitech announced today: the $49 Crayon and the $99 Rugged Case. They are really nice, but they are not for you. Both accessories are specifically designed to sell to the education market and will not hit general retail. Let’s start with the Crayon because it’s fascinating. It’s half the price of the Apple Pencil and works a little bit differently. It does not need to be paired via Bluetooth. Instead, any Crayon can work with any iPad. Apple says that’s so a teacher can walk around with it and use it with student devices. Since it doesn’t pair via Bluetooth, it can’t do pressure sensitivity. However, everything else works the same. It can measure angle, handle palm-rejection, and it’s just... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GcbcaO"

MX vs ATV All Out is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!* All Terrain, All Vehicles, All You! MX vs ATV All Out is the complete off-road racing and lifestyle experience! Find your Rider Style at your private compound, Free Ride across massive environments, and compete in the best series events! *Offer ends April 3 at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2Gd7tK3"

Save 20% on the Multiplayer Party Pack during this week's Midweek Madness*! Includes Duck Game , Move or Die , Ultimate Chicken Horse , INVERSUS Deluxe , and Stick Fight: The Game . *Offer ends Thursday at 4PM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2GxQ7a4"

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Today, Apple refreshed its iPad lineup with a new 9.7-inch iPad with Pencil support that comes with a student-focused $30 discount. The device is designed to replace last year’s $329 base model iPad, and it sells for that same price to regular consumers. Apple’s race to beat Google in the classroom is a good thing for everyone, resulting in cheaper price points and more options. However, one product category that still remains stubbornly unaffordable in Apple’s new education and accessibility-focused iPad roadmap is the iPad mini 4. The company’s web store was updated this morning, and the 7.9-inch iPad mini, which came out back in September of 2015, is still being sold for a mind-boggling $399, as pointed out by Business Insider ’s... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2usFtg2"

Google realizes that you don’t always want to buy or rent a movie or TV show, so today it’s updating the Play Movies & TV app for Android with a helpful feature that will show which apps are currently streaming whatever it is you’re trying to watch. This works for many of the popular go-tos like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Go / Now, Showtime, and a slew of cable-authenticated apps like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, HGTV, Comedy Central, and others. Unfortunately, you'll notice that the glaring omission right now is Netflix. So Play Movies won’t know if something you’re searching for is available from the leading streaming service. But for those that do work, you can just tap and the show or movie will automatically open and start playing in... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GsBvsL"

A few months ago, I detailed my process for setting up a Pixelbook to code on . It wasn’t easy or simple or straightforward, but it worked in the end: I had all the power and flexibility of Linux, access to my favorite code editor (VS Code), and, of course, the slick web browsing experience that Chromebooks are known for. Around that same time, I attempted to set up an iPad for coding. I failed miserably. I love using the iPad for writing and other creative work. It’s super portable, has great battery life, an excellent screen, and the limited multitasking keeps me focused. Unfortunately, it’s very bad for complex tasks and intentionally crippled for software development. But I’m older and wiser now, and after an entire Saturday spent... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2uo20uB"

It took a few months after the launch of its very expensive, professional all-in-one iMac Pro, but Apple is now individually selling the space gray Magic Keyboard , Magic Trackpad , and Magic Mouse that debuted alongside it. The accessories quietly popped up after today’s event, as Federico Viticci helpfully pointed out . Previously, they could only be had with Apple’s top-of-the-line Mac. The added charge for the darker color of each device is $20, putting both the Magic Keyboard and Trackpad at $149 compared to their usual $129 price. The Magic Mouse is $99 (regularly $79 in white). All of the space gray products are shipping this week and will likely arrive in your local Apple store in standalone form very soon, as well. So if you’re... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GfxXuw"

Animals Zebras are more trustworthy African herbivores stay one step ahead of predators by eavesdropping on other species’ alarm calls. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2GcPT9b"

Futuristic “light field” camera maker Lytro is shutting down, according to a statement posted online . The company says that starting today, it will stop “taking on new productions and providing professional services,” as it prepares to “wind down” the company over an unspecified period of time. “We’re excited to see what new opportunities the future brings for the Lytro team as we go our separate ways,” says the statement. “We would like to thank the various communities that have supported us and hope that our paths will cross in the future.” Lytro doesn’t say what will happen to the company’s patents or its employees. TechCrunch reported last week that Google was acquiring Lytro, and a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GC94Z8"