Geek News

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include: Matchmaking Changes The initial load time into a match no longer counts against a player's abandon timer Changed the timeout before a missing player is marked as having abandoned a competitive match to be three minutes from the first time a player disconnects from the server, rather than from the moment the match is formed Queue times should now be significantly faster when dealing with large numbers of placement and recently-placed players in queue Moved the Competitive MMR change notification so it no longer overlaps your rank Fixed continuing to receive the prompt to rejoin a match after you have been dropped from said match Fixed a case where players would receive a rank change in matches that dissolved due to abandon General Added a stomp animation to Pyro that plays when coming down after blasting off from the ...

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) will introduce legislation to protect the privacy of users’ online data, the pair said today in a joint statement. Though a bill has not been drafted yet, the legislation would, among other things, give users recourse options if their data is breached, and the right to opt out of data tracking and collection. The proposed legislation will address seven key points, the senators said: Give consumers the right to opt out and keep their information private by disabling data tracking and collection. Give users greater access to and control over their data. Require terms of service agreements to be written in “plain language.” Ensure users can see what information about them has already been... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IOR3Ep"

Health You can learn how to administer naloxone yourself. Last week the Surgeon General issued an advisory emphasizing that “knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it within reach can save a life.” If you’re wondering what… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2IRffpX"

Health Here’s one more way our modern sleep schedules might be killing us. Night owls might get a rap for staying up too late watching Netflix or getting lost in meme spirals on the web, but it’s not all fun and games. Study after study shows… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2HkRdqe"

Technology It's a long list, and you've probably never heard of most of them. The information you leave around the web is an essential tool for targeting you with ads. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2qqB9cy"

Now that a popular parody and meme app in China called “Neihan Duanzi” has been shut down and its social media account on WeChat got deleted, fans of the app are gathering in solidarity offline in subtle protest. Drivers are honking at each other in code to indicate that they’re fans, The New York Times reports. A coded message might be a car honk, followed by a pause, and two more honks. This week, while in the US Congress was slowly grilling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in China, regulators brought down swift bans on offending news apps and social media apps. On Monday, China banned several big news apps including Jinri Toutiao, owned by Beijing-based Bytedance Technology. Then, the following day, authorities shut down Neihan... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2HlSnSf"

SpyParty is Now Available on Steam Early Access! SpyParty is a competitive espionage game about subtle human behavior. A Spy hides in plain sight at a fancy cocktail party, trying to accomplish missions while blending in with the other guests, while a Sniper with a single bullet looks inward, searching for the Spy. via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2GUmoJk"

Austria-based startup Rebeat Innovation has just received $4.8 million in funding for a new way of manufacturing records called “high definition vinyl,” according to Pitchfork . The process, the patent for which was originally filed in 2016 , claims to allow for records with longer playing times, louder volume, and greater audio fidelity. To create HD vinyl, the audio is first digitally converted to a 3D topographic map. Then, lasers engrave the map onto a stamper, which makes an impression in the vinyl. Conceptually, this is not too dissimilar from how traditional vinyl is made — a needle etches grooves in rotating lacquer, which is used to create a mother copy that is then used to form the stamper. Rebeat Innovation is betting that by... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IPopTM"

t7.13: == * Aegis now has an alt tooltip that explains how to pronounce the item * Tier 1 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 120 to 100 * Tier 2 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 200 to 120 * Tier 3 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 200 to 140 * Tier 4 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 200 to 160 * Range barracks team bounty reduced from 150 to 100 * Filler buildings gold bounty from 125 to 75 * Ranged creep average gold bounty reduced from 57 to 54 * Glyph duration increased from 5 to 6 * Melee Barracks HP increased from 1500 to 1800 * Shrines HP increased from 1500 to 1750 * Shrines now have 5 HP regen * Rescaled Level 12->25 respawn time curve to be slightly less early and the same later on (changed from 48/52/54/56/58/60/70/74/76/78/82/86/90/100 to 44/46/48/50/52/54/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100) * Removed hero class specific perks, the bonuses now affect all classes. * Removed Status Resistance as a Strength based attribute bonus * Rebalanced str/int/agi bonuses below (t...

Play Ballistic Overkill for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Ballistic Overkill at 50% off the regular price!* If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Ballistic Overkill. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here . *Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2Hu5wpU"

Health What you should know before you try it. While people have been practicing intermittent fasting for thousands of years, it’s only in the past two decades that scientists began to understand what, if any,… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2GWdnvx"

The struggle between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is making us all dumber  Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2JCeJNz"

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman made waves earlier this week by telling users on the platform that racism was not explicitly against site rules. The chief executive has since clarified his position in an updated statement, saying today that “while racism itself isn’t against the rules, it’s not welcome here.” Huffman had originally responded to a question about racism and racial slurs in a thread about Reddit’s 2017 transparency report , saying Tuesday that Reddit’s policy on hate speech was more lenient than other social media platforms. “I try to stay neutral on most political topics, but this isn’t one of them,” Huffman says in the statement given to The Verge . The chief exec, however, stood his ground on how to deal with racism on Reddit.... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2v4OI6m"

Do You Trust This Computer? is not a particularly subtle watch. The documentary, from filmmaker Chris Paine, is dedicated to the dangers of artificial intelligence, and while it didn’t make a splash in theaters, it was promoted enthusiastically by Elon Musk, who tweeted about the film and paid for it be streamed for free in early April. (Musk also appears in the documentary as a talking head.) It starts by bombarding viewers with quotations and whizzy graphics of phones and brains. “We have a networked intelligence that watches us, knows everything about us,” says one. “The change is coming and nobody can stop it,” says another. It feels more like a trailer for a bad sci-fi movie than a documentary on AI. This is a shame, as the field... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2EG8ncc"

Play Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands at 67% off the regular price!* If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here . *Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2EH61Kl"

Play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition at 50% off the regular price!* If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here . *Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2qr7uA8"

Today's Deal: Save up to 91% on RE-PLAY 2018 titles !* 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 Monday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2qqrPVu"

Today’s headlines are filled with technological breakthroughs that promise an optimized future, from artificial intelligence to diagnose disease to self-driving cars that revolutionize transportation . One day, everything will be easier, faster, and better, we’re told. It’s an appealing vision, but there’s a downside to all this efficiency, says scholar and writer Edward Tenner , author of The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can’t Do (out next week from Knopf). “Trying to be ultimately efficient at all times will succeed in the short run,” he says. “But in the long run, you would be damaging your efficiency.” Tenner isn’t a Luddite, and his book doesn’t suggest renouncing efficiency and Big Data. He just advises us to use common sense... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2HirNcx"

Technology From baby Van Goghs to tiny Van Halens. Four smartphone apps to begin your baby-Van Goghs to tiny-Van Halens on their path to art, music, and game creation. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2qruDBE"

A Chinese man who was wanted by police for “economic crimes” was arrested at a music concert in China after facial recognition technology spotted him inside the venue, as reported by Abacus . The man was attending a concert by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung in the Nanchang, Jiangxi province when security cameras recognized him. According to the South China Morning Post , the man, only identified by family name Ao, was shocked when police approached him. Ao had driven 56 miles with his wife to attend the concert, telling authorities he felt safe in the crowd, estimated to be over 50,000, and that he would have never gone if he thought there was a chance he would be identified. “Ao was suspected to be involved in an economic crime and was... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2JF5pIR"

Back in 2012, I quit the internet for a year . Between May 2012 and May 2013, I didn’t use the internet or ask people to use the internet for me. To make it extra hard, I didn’t use text messaging either. In a nutshell, I wanted to discover how many of my problems in life (lack of productivity, constant distraction, a sense running as fast as I could just to keep up) were the internet’s fault, and how many of those problems were just my own inherent faults. Spoiler: it was mostly just me. But if you’ve been following all the recent Facebook drama or you can’t stand the culture of Twitter discourse or you feel like the Instagram algorithm is harmful to your well-being and you’ve decided that you need to make a statement by quitting... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2EExYCA"

After two days of bruising testimony before Congress, there’s never been more interest in regulating Facebook. In question after question this week, lawmakers seemed to take it as a given that new rules were needed to rein in Facebook, with proposals like the Markey-Blumenthal CONSENT Act (which would require opt-in consent for all data-sharing), taking center stage. At the same time, Congress doesn’t seem likely to act soon ; most bills come from the Democratic minority, and both chambers are already settling into gridlock. In both hearings, Zuckerberg insisted he wasn’t opposed to new legal restrictions on the platform, although he demurred when asked to support specific measures. But there was one moment when he showed more interest... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2v8nJHd"

Twitter has announced a number of changes in its Twemoji 2.5 update. Perhaps, most significantly, following the lead of several companies including Apple , WhatsApp, and Samsung, the pistol will now be replaced with a squirt gun . In 2016, Apple successfully pushed to have a rifle emoji removed from the standardized collection of icons, a decision that was not surrounded by much contention as the argument was that a pistol emoji already existed. However, shortly after, Apple then made the decision to change the pistol emoji to a bright green water pistol . The move was seen as a political statement in efforts to stop promoting gun violence, and it wound up being a standard that several other companies later adopted. In an email to T... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2GW7ONy"

Science Some musings on our favorite mycological marvels. Mushrooms just might be able to cut down on cow farts, wash your clothes, treat PTSD, replace styrofoam and leather, fight cancer, and save the bees. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2He9aGO"

As of today, Amazon officially owns Ring, the smart home company that was famously rejected on Shark Tank and went on to popularize the smart doorbells with built-in security cameras. Amazon purchased Ring in February for more than $1 billion, and the deal officially closed today. Now, Amazon is already taking action in a very typically Amazon fashion: lowering prices. It’s starting with Ring’s standard video doorbell, which is dropping in price from $180 to $100. Amazon did a similar thing when it closed the acquisition of Whole Foods, dropping prices on avocados and other staples like bananas and ground beef. Amazon has been making some big moves in the smart home space lately. There’s Alexa, of course, which is slowly invading more... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qqQ2M3"

Misfit’s hybrid Path watch goes on sale today through the company’s website. It costs $149.99 and will be available in four colors: stainless steel, rose gold, gold, and a stainless steel with gold accents. The company first debuted the watch at CES, where we got to see the tiny new device. It’s the smallest watch yet from the company — at 38 millimeters — and doesn’t feature a touchscreen, although it pairs to smartphones over Bluetooth. You can track your steps, sleep, calories burned, and distance walked throughout the day, with all the data syncing to Misfit’s mobile app. It’s water-resistant up to 50 meters and runs on a replaceable coin cell battery that can last up to six months. Hybrid watches have become more popular because... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2v7EPVE"