Geek News

Plex is clearly doing some major spring cleaning, because it has just killed a handful more barely used features after shutting down its personal cloud streaming service in early September. The company has announced that it's sunsetting plugins, Cloud Sync and Watch Later. If you don't even recognize those features, we wouldn't be surprised -- that's pretty much the reason why Plex is killing them anyway. For instance: only 2 percent of its userbase uses plugins. That's why even though they provided users a way to tie third-party accounts with their Plex accounts, the company ultimately decided to lay them to rest. Only a small number of people use the Watch Later bookmarking feature, as well, so it had to go. Cloud Sync seems to be the most barely used among the three, though, because Plex is even jokingly(?) asking people to DM the company of a p...

The average BMW X5 never strays too far from asphalt. It's more at home navigating mall parking than on a backwoods trail. BMW is changing that with its latest X5, starting at $60,700 for the xDrive 40i. The new SUV (or Sports Activity Vehicle, as BMW calls it) ships with actual "sports" capabilities along with an impressive suite of new technology that's premiering on the X5. The result is a BMW off-roader with a new infotainment system, updated driver's assist features and a big pile of features that that should keep X5 owners of the future happy even if they never take it off-road. But they totally could. The new X5's technology upgrades start inside with the iDrive 7 infotainment system. It removes the squarish cards found on the current system and replaces them with a customizable layout that supports two to four individual "widge...

M33: Triangulum Galaxy The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy . M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems. As for the view from planet Earth, this sharp image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming r egions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 7 o'clock position from the galaxy center. ...

We'll get our hands on the LG V40 ThinQ October 3rd , but in Korea the company has partially lifted the curtain on its latest V-series phone. While the line has grown more conventional since the release of the V10 a few years ago, this one separates itself from the pack by bringing the previously-rumored five cameras -- three in the back and two up front. While this announcement didn't include detailed specs about the CPU or those cameras, LG confirmed there's a 6.4-inch display, and instead focused on the feel of its reinforced glass frame. Combined with a slim and light design that is just as wide as last year's V30 but has a smaller bezel, LG claims it combines to make a phone that's easier and more comfortable to use with one hand. The LG V40 Thinq's rear triple-camera setup. LG These pictures and video clip don't show...

Lyft is happy enough with its Chicago car ownership challenge to spread it across North America. The ridesharing service is launching a Ditch Your Car program that offers a similar challenge in 35 cities, including New York City, San Francisco and Toronto. The basic principle remains the same: sign up by the end of September and, if you're lucky, you could get enough free transportation options to leave your ca r at home. What you get varies from city to city, but you'll typically receive Lyft Shared credit, Zipcar access and a local pass for either mass transit or bike service. Those who get in will participate in the challenge between October 8th and November 6th. This is a publicity move, of course. Lyft no doubt hopes that you'll like the experience so much that you'll extol the virtues of these services to anyone who'll listen (and ...

Sure, Sony has made limited-edition white PS4s , but you've been out of luck if you've wanted a completely white official headset to match. That's so... gauche . You won't have to worry about fashion missteps from now on, though. The company has unveiled an all-white version of the PlayStation Gold Wireless Headset that will coordinate nicely with the pale-hued PS4 in your living room. There's no added functionality over the black version, but that's not necessarily a problem when the he adset has generally been well-received. Every headset owner is receiving widened audio mode compatibility, too, including titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Spyro Reignited . The white headset will be available in October for the same price as the black model (officially $100). It's 'just' a color, but let's face it -- if you're at...

Hugo Barra, Oculus' head of VR, said earlier this year that the standalone headset is the key to mass adoption of VR . And in 2018, the company is doubling down on that claim. A few months ago, Oculus released its first standalone headset, the Oculus Go , an affordable phone-free alternative to Samsung's Gear VR. Today, at Oculus Connect 5, the company unveiled the Oculus Quest , which promises Rift-quality experiences, but without a PC. In my brief experience with it, the Quest lives up to t he standalone VR promise, though it doesn't quite match up to the quality of the Rift . At least not yet. What sets the Quest apart from the Go as well as the Rift, is that it is the first-ever headset to carry Oculus Insight, a technology that powers the device's "inside-out" tracking capabilities. It uses the four ultra wide-angle sensors located o...

The FCC is looking to fine an Arizona-based company $37.5 million for making spoofed telemarketing calls. The company, Affordable Enterprises of Arizona, made more than 2.3 million calls over the course of 14 months, often masking its own number with those of consumers in the area. The FCC says this is the first major action taken against a company involved in such a practice. While the commission has issued robocall fines before, in those cases, the numbers sp oofed were often ones not currently in use. One woman whose number was spoofed by the company said that she was getting over five calls per day from others complaining about the telemarketing calls seemingly coming from her number. "Such calling tactics harm both the consumers receiving the deceptive calls and those whose numbers are essentially commandeered by the telemarketer," the FCC said . R...

The US government is only dabbling in artificial intelligence at the moment. It might make a larger commitment before long, however. A bipartisan group of senators (Brian Schatz, Cory Gardner and Rob Portman) have introduced an AI in Government Act that would increase federal AI adoption by both including AI in data-related plans and supplying the resources to make those plans a reality. Thankfully, this isn't just a question of throwing money at the problem -- it would have multiple government organizations shift more attention to the emerging technology. The General Services Administration would have additional powers to both research AI policy and provide relevant expertise to agencies. A new advisory board would tackle AI policy "opportunities and challenges" for executive-level agencies. The Office of Management and Budget would create a str...