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Antarctica is hotter than it's ever been
Temperatures in Antarctica have reached a record high. According to Argentinian research station thermometer, the temperature climbed to 18.3 degrees Celsius, or 64.9 degrees Fahrenheit. That beats Antarctica's previous record of 63.5 degrees, measured in March 2015, by nearly 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA will livestream the total solar eclipse over South America tomorrow
It's been almost two years since the last total solar eclipse passed over the US, but there's a good chance you remember all of the hype. Now, a total solar eclipse is heading for parts of Chile and Argentina. It will arrive tomorrow, and thanks to NASA and the Exploratorium, you can catch a livestream as it happens. Beginning at 3pm ET, the agency will stream the eclipse, and at 4pm ET it will begin commentary in both English and Spanish. All three streams will be available on NASA's website.
Facebook's political ad transparency tools roll out worldwide
Facebook's efforts to improve transparency in political ads are now a truly global affair. The social site has made its transparency tools available to advertisers worldwide, letting them post political and issue ads so long as they're authorized. The disclosure policies remain the same -- if someone else paid for an ad, you should see a "paid for by" disclaimer. The ads themselves will sit in an Ad Library archive for seven years alongside data like the view count and demographics.
Argentina residents use Facebook 'barter clubs' to make ends meet
Social networks can provide valuable services to the less fortunate, but sometimes they may be as much symptoms of problems as they are solutions. Reuters has reported that Argentina's poor are increasingly turning to Facebook-based "barter clubs" to trade goods in return for essentials they couldn't otherwise afford in a country grappling with high rates of inflation and unemployment. The groups had popped up in conventional forms in previous difficult years, but Facebook's rapid growth has made it the go-to option. This isn't a small-scale Craigslist-like exchange, we'd add -- there are frequently "hundreds" of people gathering at any given time.
Self-driving car race finishes with a crash
Fans attending Formula E's Buenos Aires ePrix got a nice treat: the first 'race' between self-driving cars on a professional track, courtesy of a test from Roborace. Only... it didn't quite go according to plan. Roborace's two test vehicles (known as DevBots) battled it out on the circuit at a reasonably quick 115MPH, but one of the cars crashed after it took a turn too aggressively. The racing league was quick to tout the safety advantages of crashing autonomous cars ("no drivers were harmed"), but it's clear that the tech is still rough around the edges.
Argentinean football club to offer dermal implants to its fans
Buenos Aires-based football team, Club Atletico Tigre, has taken an unusual step in managing access to its stadium. The club is considering offering its fans an implantable microchip that would grant them faster access through the gate turnstiles.
ICYMI: An accident impeding big rig, hoverbikes and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-620778{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-620778, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-620778{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-620778").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The hoverbike of your Star Wars dreams is actually being built but sad faces all around, it's being made for the U.S. Department of Defense before you suckers get to try it out; too many car accidents in Argentina inspired Samsung to make a digital display on the back of semi trucks to show other cars what's happening on the roadway with front-facing cameras; and researchers built a boat that gives lower fuel consumption based on a design change that mimics a part of a whale's tail.
Argentine cops put police drones to work finding undeclared mansions
A lot of people fear that drones might invade their privacy (and for good reason), but put to good use, UAVs can help monitor crops, film spectacular aerial views and, in this case, capture tax-evading millionaires. Law enforcement agencies in South America have been using drones widely to aid in their investigations, such as finding drug smuggling routes. So, when they suspected that some properties registered as empty lots in a wealthy Buenos Aires area aren't exactly "empty," they dispatched some of their $10,000 drones equipped with cameras to take pictures of the properties. As you might have guessed, instead of coming up with pictures of dirt and overgrown bushes, the UAVs took home snapshots of huge mansions replete with swimming pools. The homeowners are now facing some serious fines, and the government expects to earn roughly $2 million in taxes from the hidden mansions.
FIFA 15's global cover star just lost the World Cup
FIFA 15's cover athlete is Barcelona's Lionel Messi, marking the Argentinian footballer's third consecutive year on the series' box (his fourth being 2012's FIFA Street). Messi will be the lone global star on the game's cover, though EA says regional editions will include local heroes alongside him. Messi's cover spot follows Argentina's loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final match yesterday. Joystiq's own Sinan Kubba could be heard across the globe shouting, "I told you so!" to yours truly about the championship results - meaning I must now must pay my side of the bet with an unfortunate selfie in a Messi jersey. Check out large versions of the next-gen and PC cover art in the gallery below and join us after the break for that selfie and some hearty pointing and laughing. FIFA 15 will launch September 23 in North America, September 25 in Europe and one day later in the UK for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. [Image: EA Sports]
Konami investigating Metal Gear Rising's region lock on Steam
Konami is looking into region-locking concerns related to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on Steam. The news comes from a tweet recently issued by JP Kellams, a creative producer at Platinum Games. Kellams assured players that the "first thing I did in the office today was talk about the MGR region lock thing." The game's Steam community includes a number of discussion threads questioning players' inability to give the game as a gift to others across the globe, locking Russian and Argentinian copies to those regions, as an example. One discussion noted that Ireland-based players were unable to access the game's page, but seemed to find a work-around by being gifted the game from other European countries. The PC version of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will launch Thursday, and is currently 20 percent off on Steam until then.
Books come to Google Play in five South American countries
Google Play Books' expansion tour has just made an important stop in South America. As of today, bookworms in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela can browse Google's virtual shelves from Android, iOS or the web. The wider access sadly doesn't include movies, music or periodicals, but locals who want to read up on everything from Machu Picchu to Medellin should be happy.
Spotify bops to Taiwan, Turkey, Greece and Argentina today
The fine people of Canada may still not have access to Spotify, but Greece, Turkey, Taiwan and Argentina are all getting the ad-supported music-on-demand service starting today. Yes, that's at least one new country for three separate continents -- Spotify's really spreading the love around with today's expansion, apparently. According to the company, that puts Spotify in 32 total "markets" worldwide, comprising 24 million "active users" -- not too shabby for seven years of existence! The company's last big expansion was in April, when it arrived in Mexico, Malaysia and several other territories. Here's hoping it finally arrives in Canada some time this year as well -- our Canadian staffers are getting awfully antsy.
EA inks exclusive deal with Barcelona for FIFA, PES gets Argentinian teams
When you think about soccer, FC Barcelona is one of the teams that likely comes to mind, especially because its forward, Lionel Messi, is arguably the best player in the world and co-cover athlete for FIFA 14. EA Sports certainly recognized this when it announced this morning that it settled on a three-year exclusive agreement to become the "official video game partner" of the soccer club. With the partnership in place, EA captured 3D head scans of 17 Barcelona players for use in FIFA 14. Meanwhile, Konami recently announced an agreement to bring 20 soccer teams from the Argentinian Football Association to Pro Evolution Soccer 2014. The license isn't on an exclusive basis according to Konami's announcement. The list of 20 AFA teams to be officially licensed (featuring correct kits, logos and team colors) for the game can be found after the break. Local Argentinian Fox Sports announcers Mariano Closs and Fernando Niembro will also be included in the game.
Apple's two-step ID now rolling out to a worldwide release
Apple recently introduced two-step verification for your Apple ID in certain countries, and the process is now being expanded to the rest of the world. The feature, which requires two different codes for verifying your Apple ID (if you want to be extra safe) was initially only available in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. But Apple has now included Canada in on the feature, as well as users in Argentina, Pakistan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium and Portugal. In other words, two-step authentication is now rolling out to a more or less worldwide release. The authentication process is still optional -- if you don't think you need it, you can still stick with just your Apple ID password as a login. The process does help security, though it's still not a perfect solution. Apple only implemented this procedure earlier this year due to some security concerns on behalf of users. But it will help against some attacks, and it should work as another step to keep unwanted invaders out of your Apple ID account.
iTunes in the Cloud movies find their way to Australia, Canada, the UK and 32 more countries
The advent of movie support in iTunes for the Cloud was a boon to Apple TV owners as well as any iTunes user with a tendency to hop between devices -- within the US, that is. Apple today swung the doors open and let Australia, Canada, the UK as well as 32 other countries and regions around the world get access to their movies whenever they're signed in through iTunes or an iOS device. Not every studio is on the same page, as many American viewers will know all too well: it's more likely that you'll get re-download rights for a major studio title such as Lockout than an indie production, for example. Even with that limit in mind, there's no doubt more than a few movie mavens glad to avoid shuffling and re-syncing that copy of Scott Pilgrim to watch it through to the end.
Sprint Direct Connect brandishes passport, brings push-to-talk to distant shores
Although Sprint is winding down iDEN services here in the US, it hasn't turned its back on the technology completely. The nation's third largest wireless carrier has announced a new push-to-talk service offering, dubbed International Direct Connect. The $10 monthly add-on will allow Direct Connect push-to-talk users in the US -- utilizing its CDMA network -- to communicate with iDEN PTT users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru free of charge. Although not explicitly stated, the aforementioned nations are referred to as "initial" markets, implying that more countries will be added to this list at some point in the future. All the details about the business-focused proposition, along with the press sheet, can be found after the break.
iTunes Match launches in 19 more countries, shows Latin America some love from the cloud
Once Apple let the iTunes Match genie out of the bottle it has actually been pretty quick to spread the love to our international friends. Australia, Canada, the UK and a host of other European nations came online last month, now a sizable chunk of Latin America (along with a few EU stragglers) are joining the party. In total, 19 new countries were added to the list this week, headlined by Central and South American nations like Argentina, Guatemala, Venezuela and Nicaragua. With a few Eastern Block countries, including Lithuania and Latvia, also being added to the list, Apple has increased the total number states where iTunes Match is available to 37. Now Apple just has to start getting a few of the Asian and African areas where the iPhone is available on board and it can officially call Match a global service. To see if your country is invited hit up the more coverage link.
Windows Phone Marketplace now accepting app submissions for China, five other countries
It wasn't long ago that the Windows Phone Marketplace hit 50,000 unique titles, and very soon, developers may find themselves with a whole lot more exposure. Microsoft's virtual store is expanding once again -- this time to Argentina, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru and the Philippines. While it's not yet live in these countries, proactive developers may submit their apps now to benefit from early certification. Practically speaking, this also enables Microsoft to have its "shelves" fully stocked come opening day. So, unless you're an odd duck who doesn't like more money, the time seems ripe to get those apps submitted.
Argentina Government blocks sale of iPhone, other smartphones
The government of Argentina has temporarily blocked the sale of smartphones, including Apple's iPhone, in an effort to stabilize its own economy. This consumer electronics ban is meant to slow inflation and reduce the widening chasm between the peso and the US dollar. The ban is a part of Argentina Ministry Industry's recent decision to reduce the automatic import of certain phones. RIM and Apple have been forced to wait between 60 and 180 days for permission to sell from the Customs Authority. There's no word on how long the current ban will last.
Alcatel-Lucent plants two flags in Latin American soil: LTE and 100Gb/s cable
Not content with newly arrived iTunes and Netflix, Latin America's growing population of web aficionados are seeing some major investment in high-speed internet services too. Alcatel-Lucent says it's won contracts to provide infrastructure for the region's first LTE network -- in Uruguay, to be precise -- as well as the first 100Gb/s optical cable network, which will soon be streaming telenovelas across Argentina. Welcome to the revolution, compañeros, and read on for the full PR.
