The Morning After: Friday, December 2, 2016
The Game Awards, hydrogen-powered big rigs and how AI works
Congratulations, it's Friday!
Before you configure a new Chevy Bolt, check out all the highlights and trailers from last night's videogame awards show or wax nostalgic about manual transmissions, first make sure you sign up for a chance to win a smart home surveillance kit, courtesy of Synology -- the entry window closes tonight at 11:59PM ET.
The slow death of the manual transmission
Cars with a stick shift are already hard to find, but the advent of EVs could put the final nail in the coffin. Like many of you, Roberto Baldwin will miss the satisfaction and control that driving stick offers, even if a "solid, utilitarian" Bolt can drive to your destination stress-free.
Plex Media Player is free, and Plex has an official plug-in for Kodi
DIY media center fans don't have to choose between offshoots of the XBMC family tree. Plex is not only releasing its Media Player software for free, it's releasing an add-on for Kodi (fka XBMC) so that its users can easily access their content from that front end as well. The add-on is available now in beta, for Plex Pass subscribers.
Chevy puts the Bolt configurator online
Can't wait for a Model 3? Chevrolet's all-electric EV is now on sale in a couple of states. You can spec out a Bolt on its website no matter where you live, with options that put the price between $37,495 and $44,950 (before any tax credits).
Russian ISS resupply mission destroyed during launch
Yesterday morning at 9:51AM ET, ISS Progress 65 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. What happened after that is unclear, but ground control lost contact with the rocket during its third stage, and has confirmed the ship is destroyed. Astronauts aboard the space station are safe, and Japan's JAXA has a launch scheduled for December 9th.
Facebook revealed a series of videos to explain how artificial intelligence works
These days, it's possible to use AI without even knowing it, and a series of videos released by Facebook are trying to explain its role in our daily lives. Whether it's a Siri response, automatically tagged image or algorithmically sorted News Feed, computers are making a lot of the behind-the-scenes decisions on their own. Yann LeCun, Facebook's director of AI research, says "AI is going to affect our lives ... It's very important for people to have some idea on how it works and what it can do."
Now you can add HBO or Cinemax to Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime already offered premium options like Showtime and Starz, but now it's adding HBO and Cinemax to the mix. Coming just in time for you to catch up on "Westworld" or "Insecure," it won't beat the price of a cable add-on package (or standalone HBO Now), but if Amazon is how you watch TV, it keeps everything in one place. Branded "Amazon Channels," the company says it now offers over 80 video subscriptions.
This big rig doesn't run on gasoline or diesel
Meet the Nikola One, a class 8 hauler that ditches traditional fuel sources for the sweet flavor of hydrogen. Nikola says it's capable of going 800 to 1,200 miles on a tank, which is good, because hydrogen fuel stations are hard to find in the US and Canada right now. There's time for that to change before the truck launches in 2020, however, and it plans to break ground on refueling stations starting in 2018.
But wait, there's more...
Fitbit is reportedly buying Pebble for between $34 and $40 million
How the obscure "Rule 41" lets law enforcement search any computer
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