Engadget | Technology News, Advice and Features
not yet a member of the Engadget community?
#ICYMI: Freezing lasers, tweeting video games and more
Today on : Microsoft debuts a
that u we watch
as they're frozen in liquid nitrogen (because science!) and a programmer creates a game whose .
From the cutting room floor: Google rolls out
for its mobile app so now the walkthrough on your phone matches the gameplay on your console.
Let the team at Engadget know about any interesting stories or videos you stumble across by using the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Engadget in your inbox
News, reviews & more. Delivered daily.
Now that Yahoo and Microsoft are not exclusive anymore -- when it comes to search, that is -- they can both work with other companies. In fact, according to , Mayer and her team have already started testing Google search ads in a small number of desktop and mobile queries. It was first discovered by , who alternately saw Yahoo results with Bing ads and ones with Google ads when he used different browsers. Both of them have confirmed the arrangement to NYT but wouldn't discuss the partnership in detail. "As we work to create the absolute best experiences for Yahoo users, from time to time, we run small tests with a variety of partners including search providers," was all the company said.
Xiaomi has announced that it sold 34.7 million smartphones in the first half of 2015. Since it's already July, though, it's safe to say that the company will have to think of something exceptional to reach its target number for the year: CEO Lei Jun proclaimed long ago that he and his team aim to sell 100 million phones. Still, 34.7 million is quite impressive, seeing as it represents phones sold to customers and not devices "shipped" to retailers -- not to mention, there's been a shipment decline in China recently. It's also still 33 percent more than what the company sold within the same period last year.
Back in February, Anki gave us a sneak peek at , the second generation version of its robotic race cars. It's introducing new toy vehicles, new gameplay mechanics, a new app and new modular race tracks that let players design their own custom race circuits. Today, Anki has announced that Overdrive will start shipping to retailers on September 20th in the US, UK, Germany and Canada. It also offered more details about the new cars and revealed two more game modes called Time Trial and King of the Hill. I had a chance to play around with Anki Overdrive at the company's office in San Francisco, and while I can't say it's perfect, I was impressed at how much simple toy cars could give me the feeling of being in a video game.
In June, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) ruled that the UK government had : the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa. But there was a mix up -- the IPT has now admitted , not EIPR, that was subjected to unlawful surveillance. The human rights group was notified via email and has branded the interceptions as outrageous. "How can we be expected to carry out our crucial work around the world if human rights defenders and victims of abuses can now credibly believe their confidential correspondence with us is likely to end up in the hands of the governments?" Salil Shetty, secretary general for Amnesty International said.
It's been almost a year
Life as a combined entity, known as Dixons Carphone, is off to a good start: profits are up and the company made efforts to expand its presence, including the . Not content with growth in its existing UK and European markets, the company announced today that it's setting its sights on a bigger prize: the US. In a partnership with Sprint, America's third-largest mobile carrier, Dixons Carphone's Connected World Services (CWS) division will initially launch up to 20 Sprint-branded retail stores, lending its "home retail expertise and proprietary knowledge" to help the operator sell people more plans and devices.
Chatbots are pretty common these days -- a simple search can surface numerous variants you can talk to on a lonely Friday night. The one Google is developing, however, isn't your run-of-the-mill chatbot: it wasn't programmed to respond to questions a specific way. Instead, it uses neural networks (a collection of machines that mimic the neurons in the human brain) to learn from existing conversations and conjure up its own answers. Mountain View, along with Facebook and Microsoft, already uses neural networks for other purposes, such as to
works of art, to
objects in images and to
spoken words.
Scientists from Los Alamos National Lab have discovered how to look through and map just about anything with a new process: the science-fictionally sounding muon tomography. Even in places like the highly radioactive
reactor, the method doesn't require any disassembly or any need for x-rays or ultrasound. Instead it logs the movement of muons (of course), a radioactive subatomic particle that exists, well, everywhere. Two giant aluminum sides are put either side of whatever needs looking into, and the system measures the trajectory of these muon particles. From this, the scientists are able sketch the object, given enough of the tiny things.
As I write this, I'm waiting in line. Not at the grocery store or
for , but to get into a website. That only one person can visit at a time. For a total 60 seconds. It's madness. There are 3,662 people ahead of me and my ticket number is 113,664. I'm not great at math, but I estimate that it's going to be awhile before I see what's contained on . As site designer Justin Foley tells , he made this website because it's the exact opposite of what the internet is supposed to be: open and accessible by anyone. As for what's in the metaphorical box (or Marcellus Wallace's digital briefcase), that isn't so clear, but WaPo thinks it's random pictures of an "internet-famous animal." So,
The first all-electric Formula E season , but the racers will keep going when Forza Motorsport 6 arrives. Microsoft announced today that after including a single car from the series
the sequel will include ten versions of the
racecar representing each team. Other cars announced today include the 1988 Lamborghini Jalpa, 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C and 1985 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex. The full list of cars announced so far (117 of 450 or so) is available on the official site, but we'll have to
to see the rest.
It's been a couple of years since Edward Snowden and The Guardian
us to the NSA's spying tool called XKeyscore. Now,
has published new details about it from 48 documents Snowden provided, revealing that it's a lot more powerful than previously thought. Apparently, it's fed a constant flow of data from all over the world straight from fiber optic cables, can store content from three to five days and metadata for even longer (up to around 45 days). Based on these new documents, the publication has confirmed that the tool helped the agency look up other private info beyond emails and chats, including "pictures, documents, voice calls, webcam photos, web searches, advertising analytics traffic, social media traffic, botnet traffic, logged keystrokes, computer network exploitation (CNE) targeting, username and password pairs, file uploads to online services, Skype sessions and more." The NSA even tracked phone connections to Google Play and Samsung's App Store.
isn't all that's new for the social network today: The outfit's also announced how it plans to split video ad revenue with publishers. Like YouTube, Facebook will give content creators 55 percent of ad revenue and keep the rest, . Early publishing partners include Funny or Die, Fox Sports, Hearst and . And if you're curious about how ads will work with video, it doesn't seem like you'll have to worry about them auto-playing loud and proud while you're scrolling through your news feed . On the handheld platform, when you tap a clip you'll go to a different screen with "Suggested Videos" and once your selected video finishes, an ad will play before the next one's served up.
Contribute
Live events
Popular topics
Engadget Apps
Subscribe to Engadget Newsletter
Subscribe to Engadget in your inbox. Delivered daily.
Photography
Peripherals
Personal Tech
Networking
Home TheaterDRUDGE REPORT ;
SEND NEWS TIPS TO DRUDGE
VISITS TO DRUDGE 7/02/15
022,615,564 PAST 24 HOURS
679,386,167 PAST 31 DAYS
8,838,934,178 PAST YEAR}