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- The Morning After: Epic bought the maker of 'Rocket League' - Engadget
- What to expect from Google I/O 2019 - TechCrunch
- Google's poetry algorithm automates teen angst - Engadget
| The Morning After: Epic bought the maker of 'Rocket League' - Engadget Posted: 02 May 2019 03:30 AM PDT Sponsored Links Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Are you ready for the first 5G-connected TV? Huawei may have one on the way; however, we're probably closer to seeing all of Google's Pixel 3a and the Moto Z4. Also, NASA uncovered a fraud scheme that resulted in a couple of destroyed rockets, and tinkerers should check out this DIY smartwatch project. NASA was sold faulty rocket parts for almost 20 years When the launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory and Glory missions failed in 2009 and 2011, the agency said it was because their launch vehicle malfunctioned. Now, a NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) investigation has revealed the malfunction was caused by faulty aluminum materials. More importantly, the probe blew a 19-year fraud scheme perpetrated by Oregon aluminum extrusion manufacturer Sapa Profiles, Inc., which Orbital ATK fell victim to, wide open. Tesla's Model 3 finally goes on sale in the UK Including VAT and the UK's Plug-In Car Grant, prices for the Model 3 start at £38,900 ($50,853) for the Standard Range Plus model, rising to £47,900 ($62,691) for the Long Range model and £56,900 ($74,385) for the top-end Performance model. Meanwhile, in Canada, Tesla is selling a software-limited 93-mile range vehicle, which starts at $44,999, just $1 under the $45,000 limit to be eligible for a $5,000 EV credit. Epic buys 'Rocket League' creator Psyonix Fortnite-maker Epic has acquired Rocket League-creator Psyonix for an unspecified amount and will bring the vehicular soccer game to the Epic Games Store by late 2019. Needless to say, that has people worried about Rocket League's fate -- will it disappear from Steam? Epic said it had "not announced plans" to stop selling the game on Steam, but it's only guaranteeing existing customers will "continue to be supported." 'Borderlands 3' hands-on: More of the same, but in space When it comes out on September 13th, Borderlands 3 will have a four-player online co-op, and it'll also support local, split-screen multiplayer for up to two people. It has more than one billion guns, comic-book-inspired visuals, new narrative arcs with famous in-game folks, customizable skill trees and heaps of enemies to mow down. Perhaps most importantly, every scene is dripping with crass sarcasm. Netflix upgrades to 'studio-quality' audio for streaming The company is increasing its audio bitrate up to 640 kbps on devices that support 5.1 surround sound and up to 768 kbps for Dolby Atmos -- though you'll need to be a Premium subscriber for that. It's also bringing adaptive streaming, a feature it's long used for video, to your speakers. What we're watching: 'Avengers: Endgame' This month's IRL focuses on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest achievement -- Avengers: Endgame. While we can already tell you how to watch the movie (go IMAX or go home), now it's time to talk about how we felt once it was over and the lights came back on. But wait, there's more...
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| What to expect from Google I/O 2019 - TechCrunch Posted: 02 May 2019 07:32 AM PDT Developer season has begun! Next week, Google will be putting on a big party at the pointy outdoor amphitheater in Mountain View. It's shaping up to be a biggie, too, if this week's Google earnings call was any indication. Sundar Pichai teased out a number of upcoming offerings from the company that we can expect to see on full display at the show. From the looks of it, there's going to be a LOT of news coming hot and heavy out of the South Bay, from new Android and Assistant features, to some rare hardware debuts. Here's a quick rundown of what we're expecting from the big show. More Q
Quiche? Quindim? I had to look up the latter — it's a "popular Brazilian baked dessert, made chiefly from sugar, egg yolks, and ground coconut" according to Wikipedia. Basically Brazilian custard. We're probably not getting a name either way at the event, of course. We will, however, get our best look yet and Pie's successor. As ever, the latest version of Android will take center stage at I/O. With an expected arrival date of this summer, we've already seen some key pieces of Android 10 courtesy of a couple of betas. So far, the keys are improvements to privacy/permissions and multi-tasking through Bubbles. Expect a lot more here. Rumors include pressure sensitive touch features and across the board dark mode. Unfolding foldables
It's admittedly been a tough couple of weeks for the ascendent form fact, thanks almost exclusively to malfunctioning Galaxy Fold units. On this week's call, however, the company reiterated that it's still bullish on the tech. And it kind of has to be. Google's devoted a lot of mind share to making Android more foldable friendly, in hopes of jumpstarting a stagnant smartphone industry. And while the Fold has been put on hiatus, we do expect a release date soon, along with Huawei's Mate X and upcoming models from Motorola, Xiaomi, TCL and more. Expect to see the form factor positioned as the future of Android interaction. The budget Pixel
Like other developer-focused shows, I/O isn't really much of a consumer hardware event. That's likely to change this year, however. In an earnings call this week, Sundar Pichai all but confirmed the long rumored arrival of the Pixel 3a. Initially floated as the Pixel Lite, the budget take on the company's flagship is designed to curb stagnate smartphone sales by offering some flagship features at a lower price point. Rumors so far have the product somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 and include, among other things, the return of the headphone jack — an acknowledgment that bluetooth headphones are still cost prohibitive. Equally interesting, this would make a push to roughly a six month release cycle for Pixel products, assuming the 4 arrives around an October timeframe. Google's made it clear that the Pixel line is about more than just showing off the latest version of Android, and a massive investment in HTC's hardware team that includes a new Taipei campus certainly demonstrate that it's not screwing around here. Gaming
Stadia had its moment back at GDC back in March. The company is harnessing its live-streaming technology to finally help gamers realize the promise going hardware agnostic. Stadia was far and away the buzziest announcement out of the gaming show, but Google held back a lot of detail, only to have Apple reveal its own gaming strategy a couple of weeks later. Pichai talked the service up during Alphabet's earnings call, seemingly priming the pump for some stage time at I/O next week. Smart Home
Growing its smartphone business has been a struggle, but Google's been firing on all cylinders on the home front. Assistant is a stronger offering than Alexa, and hardware like the Home Mini and Hub have been selling briskly. We'll undoubtedly see a lot more tricks out of Assistant this time around, including a bit focus on AI and Machine Learning smarts. In addition to a new Pixel, we may also be getting a smart home piece of hardware from Google in the form of the Nest Hub Max. As the name implies, the device is a bigger take on the smart screen — 10 inches, according to rumors — with a focus on serving as a centralized smart home panel. The device will no doubt be primed to work well with other Google Home and Nest offerings, at a higher price point than Hub. Etc. Expect more on the ARCore front at the show. The oft-neglected Wear OS, which just got a nice update this week, could get some love as well. Ditto for Android Automotive. ChromeOS, will be getting some face time, as well, though I'd be surprised to see much in the way of hardware from any of the above. Whatever comes, we'll be on-site at Mountain View next week, bringing it to you live. |
| Google's poetry algorithm automates teen angst - Engadget Posted: 02 May 2019 02:50 AM PDT Sponsored Links Roses are red, violets are blue, poetry is hard, but now a machine will do it for you. From today, you can use Google's AI to create a unique "poem portrait," an ethereal image of your self-portrait overlaid with an exclusive poem generated from a word of your choice (so basically a recreation of every image ever from DeviantArt circa 2002). The AI asks you to "donate" a word and take a selfie. Your word will then be expanded into original lines of poetry by an algorithm that's been trained on millions of words of nineteenth century literature. Your visage will then we illuminated by these original lines of poetry, which are also constantly being combined to form an ever-evolving collective poem. According to designer Es Devlin, it works a bit like predictive text. It doesn't copy or rework existing phrases, but uses its training material from more than 25 million words used by nineteenth century poets to build a "complex statistical model." Like a lot of AI-driven phrase generators, the results can be a bit nonsensical, but sometimes they're surprisingly profound. I offered up the word "technology" for example (on brand), and was given: "The technology of those who have drawn our lives, was the first moon upon the waves," which if you're into poetry is pretty meaningful, and if you're not, still sounds nice. Check it out here. |
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