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'Serial' season three is being turned into a HBO series
The third season of Serial is being turned into a TV series.
Supreme Court broadcasts oral arguments live for the first time
The Supreme Court has broadcast oral arguments live for the first time, including online, as COVID-19 prevented in-person access.
T-Mobile and Sprint merger approved by federal judge
T-Mobile and Sprint's $26.5 billion merger is almost complete. Following months of delays and push back from high-profile authorities, a US district judge has ruled in the companies' favor, allowing them to move within one step of concluding a deal that promises to deploy 5G service to 97 percent of Americans within three years.
California bill may fill data gaps in the criminal justice system
Inconsistent data isn't just a headache in the criminal justice system -- it could make the difference between someone going free or serving time. California might do something about that soon, though. The state legislature has passed a bill, AB-1331, that would improve data handling for criminal justice. The measure would set clear data collection and reporting standards for both the courts and law enforcement, such as a requirement that agencies hand over criminal ID and information, incident and court numbers. It would also let courts share some data with researchers hoping to interpret justice data and hold officials to account.
Chicago will use an algorithm to clear pot convictions
California is no longer the only state using an algorithm to reverse marijuana convictions. Illinois' Cook County will now use the Code for America technology, Clear My Record, to automatically dismiss tens of thousands of eligible cannabis convictions. State's Attorney Kimberly M. Foxx and Code for America announced the partnership this week.
NVIDIA RTX 2060 hands-on: Ray-tracing on a budget
Finally, NVIDIA's RTX 2060 is here. And that's great news for gamers on a budget. At $349, it's the cheapest of NVIDIA's desktop RTX GPUs, which sport next-generation features like real-time ray tracing. The mid-range RTX 2070 goes for around $500, while the 2080 sells for $700 and the highest end 2080 Ti goes for nearly $1,000. Sure, it's still pricey -- NVIDIA's GTX 1070 originally debuted around $380 years ago -- but the RTX 2060 also delivers plenty of value for anyone who wants to dip their toes into NVIDIA's latest tech.
Creator of viral glitter bomb video admits parts of it were staged
This week, it seemed the entire Internet rejoiced after a former NASA engineer created a custom glitter bomb designed to strike back against package thieves. His impressive invention resulted in a hilarious video of would-be criminals being coated in glitter and having their nostrils assaulted with a fart spray. But it seems the clip, which racked up more than 42 million views in just a few days, was a little too good to be true -- its creator admits parts of it were staged, seemingly without his knowledge.
NASA engineer creates glitter bomb package to thwart parcel thieves
Because we live in a world where we can't have nice things, package theft is a real problem, and in recent times unscrupulous individuals stealing parcels from porches have prompted police sting operations, as well as longer-term tech innovation, such as Amazon's smart locks. But neither of these things do a whole lot for theft victims longing for sweet, sweet revenge. Now, former NASA engineer Mark Rober has devised a frankly glorious solution that guarantees instant vengeance.
US charges Chinese, Taiwan firms for stealing secrets from Micron
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice has filed charges against a Taiwanese company, a Chinese PRC-backed company, and three Taiwanese nationals of economic espionage against Idaho-based semiconductor manufacturer Micron over the production of F32nm DRAM. Sessions also announced the creation of the China Initiative, led by Assistant Attorney General John Demers, to identify Chinese trade theft and allocate the necessary resources to go after these cases.
US government accuses Chinese hackers of stealing jet engine IP
The Justice Department has charged ten Chinese nationals -- two of which are intelligence officers -- of hacking into and stealing intellectual property from a pair of unnamed US and French companies between January 2015 to at least May of 2015. The hackers were after a type of turbofan (portmanteau of turbine and fan), a large commercial airline engine, to either circumvent its own development costs or avoid having to buy it. According to the complaint by the Department of Justice, a Chinese aerospace manufacturer was simultaneously working on making a comparable engine. The hack afflicted unnamed aerospace companies located in Arizona, Massachusetts and Oregon.
Mark Zuckerberg is using his Facebook fortune to tackle social issues
The will-Zuckerberg-run, won't-Zuckerberg-run-for-President speculation has driven most of the news about the Facebook cofounder this year. But he, along with his wife Priscilla Chan, have been quietly funding two particular progressive agendas with their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) on top of its wide-spanning philanthropy. The CZI has quietly given a total of $45 million to groups addressing two specific causes: ending mass incarceration and improving affordable housing.
New York City ordered to share code for DNA evidence software
Many attempts to open up access to software in the justice system have fallen flat. Advocates in New York, however, have just scored a significant victory. A federal judge has publicly unsealed the source code for DNA analysis software previously used in New York City's crime lab, Forensic Statistical Tool, after ProPublica motioned for its disclosure. There are concerns that the software may have sent innocent people to prison by incorrectly determining that a suspect's DNA was likely to be part of a mix of genetic material (such as the handle of a gun). Public access to the code could theoretically catch flaws in the methodology and clear someone's name.
Key Silk Road witness gets 2.5 years in jail
One of the reasons that Silk Road was so popular and dangerous was because it enabled people who would have otherwise never dealt drugs to become Scarface-like kingpins. That's the tale of Michael Duch, an IT consultant who has wound up being sentenced to two and a half years in prison for dealing heroin. Duch agreed to testify against the site's founder, Russ "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht in exchange for a lower sentence, and told the court how easy it was to make anything up to $70,000 a month from home.
Revenge porn site operator sentenced to 18 years in prison
If you think that posting nude pictures of your ex is somehow an acceptable response to your breakup, take a lesson from Kevin Bollaert. He's been sentenced to 18 years behind bars (he could be eligible for parole after 10) for operating 'yougotposted.com,' a revenge porn site that hosted more than 10,000 sexually explicit images of women posted without their knowledge or consent.
Here's how to steal from NPCs in Elder Scrolls Online
"Justice is coming to Tamriel," according to ZeniMax's latest website notice. It's probably more accurate to say that criminality is coming to Tamriel, though. More specifically, Elder Scrolls Online's upcoming Update 6 features the justice system which will enable your avatar to participate in a variety of underhanded activities including murder and thievery. The latter involves relieving hapless NPCs of their valuables while avoiding those pesky town guards, and the former involves assaulting and even killing AI citizens. At some point you'll end up with a bounty on your head, which in turns affects how guards react to your presence. Click through the links below to read the rest of the details.
Currency Changes coming for Patch 6.0
We mentioned already that item upgrades would become purchasable with Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. Now, Blizzard has clarified a host of changes to how currency will work in Patch 6.0 and beyond. In addition to being used to upgrade items, Lesser Charms will now be directly tradeable for Warforged Seals, and there's no longer a restriction on how many you can get in a week - You can dump literally all of your Lesser Charms to Seals if you so desire. Other changes include the utter removal of Valor and Justice points (not Honor/Conquest, those remain), the removal of the Test of Valor component of the legendary cloak quest (you can still get the cloak, you just don't need to get the Valor points first), and the switching of all honor/justice items over to costing gold to purchase, including heirloom items. You can read the post here.
You'll still be able to buy item upgrades and heirlooms in 6.0
There are lots of changes headed to WoW in patch 6.0, but perhaps the scariest change is the removal of valor and justice points, which have served as a primary form of in-game currency for quite a while. However, Blizzard staff have been working to reassure people that the loss of these currencies isn't the end of the world (or even the end of World of Warcraft). Almost everything you'd currently buy with valor or justice you'll be able to buy with gold moving forward, so heirlooms will have a gold cost. The one exception is with item upgrades, which you'll be able to purchase with Lesser Charms of Good Fortune (for Mists gear only; Warlords gear won't be upgradable) after patch 6.0 lands. Though the number may change before release, currently the cost is 50 charms per upgrade, with no cap on the amount of charms or how many upgrades you can do a week. Additionally, with valor being gone, the Test of Valor phase of the legendary quest chain is being removed. For those of you trying to level and gear alts before Warlords of Draenor arrives, this will be a big help -- provided patch 6.0's arrival date leaves enough time to make use of them.
Uther has too many justice
We recently stumbled across this song by Youtuber haigh152 -- a Hearthstone song made entirely of Uther's voice clips and other game sounds. The comedic approach to Uther's lyricism reminds me of classic Mr. Voletron mixes and that's a very good thing -- they're catchy, easily lovable, and often hilarious, a fine recipe for an earworm. Part of me wishes the song was longer, but with Uther's limited vocabulary, it might lose its charm if it was. I hope to see more of these from haigh152 in the future.
The struggle between gear disparity and good play
Okay, truth time - I can solo any five player heroic dungeon in Mists of Pandaria, as long as it doesn't have mechanics that prevent me. If I'm even concerned that I'll take too much damage and die, I'll pop on my tank set and go prot, but many times it isn't even a concern. Blow all my DPS cooldowns, blow my defensive cooldowns when I'm at about half health, boss falls over. Done it in Mogu'shan Palace and Scarlet Monastery. And I'm hardly the exception here - the fact is, the Mists of Pandaria dungeons were introduced at the beginning of the expansion and tuned so that players in ilevel 450 gear could complete them. I'm at around ilevel 576. Even players who are just in flex or LFR gear out gear these instances immensely. If a DPS player in full SoO LFR gear goes into Mogu'shan Palace and decides to pull more mobs than the tank was ready or waiting for, he or she can probably DPS them all down before dying themselves, especially if they get a few heals. Meanwhile, even the tanks can often put out enough damage (while taking so very little and having various means to heal it up) that they can basically solo the whole place if they want to, leaving absolutely everyone in the group feeling very little need to actually play as a group. As many, many people point out to me on twitter, it's just assumed that everyone is going to pull like crazy, so even undergeared players in a specific role often assume it's going to happen and react. Maybe your tank doesn't want to pull like a fiend, but they saw your gear and thought they had to in order to keep control of the dungeon. The lines of group communication have broken down into a silence that masks intent - runs are zoned into and pulled with grim efficiency. Into this veil of silence enters you, the player. So what can be done about it?
Blizzard "planning on simplifying our currency structure" in Warlords
I've talked before about the need to simplify currency going forward, and I'm far from the only one. Now it appears Blizzard agrees - Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas' made that very clear on twitter recently. @Glommerwort We'll have more info soon. We do want to streamline our currency system overall, though. - Watcher (@WatcherDev) February 25, 2014 Clearly this topic came up during this interview with PC Games N, which emphasized a bit more the idea of the complexity of current currency systems. The bonus roll system currently in play in Mists of Pandaria was mentioned as an alternative to valor. "We think we can take the bonus rolls system and make it a little bit more intelligent, so that it tries to avoid giving you duplicate loots - and allow that to be the way players counteract bad RNG. It removes a little bit of the grind and a little bit of the awkwardness of the current valor system." While no announcement has been made yet about how Blizzard will streamline its currency, it's good to know they're aware of and focused on the issue.
