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MIT helps self-driving cars ‘see’ through snow and fog
Self-driving technology has come a long way, but it can still be tripped up by bad weather. A team from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) may have a solution. They've developed a way to help autonomous vehicles "see" by mapping what's beneath the road using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).
Waze can warn you about unplowed roads during winter
Winter is full of driving challenges, particularly unplowed roads -- they're slogs at best, and downright dangerous at worst. Waze might help you steer clear, though. It just updated its Android and iOS apps with the ability to report unplowed roads in real-time. You'll know if last night's snowfall will lead to some detours on your way to work.
Watch Ford’s Mustang-inspired EV crossover race around in the snow
Ford's Mustang-inspired EV crossover is expected to launch in 2020. The company hasn't released too many details, other than that it will have a 370-mile range and fast-charging. But this week, Ford shared two videos of the vehicle in action. The first shows a prototype of the Mustang-inspired ride zipping around Grattan Raceway and brags about the EV's acceleration.
Waymo shows how its self-driving cars navigate snow
Ask people in chillier climates if they're looking forward to self-driving cars and they'll probably just laugh. The technology has an easy time in ever-pleasant locales like California, but snow is a nightmare that obscures lanes, cars and entire roads. Waymo knows how to tackle that problem, though. In a presentation at the Google I/O keynote, the company visualized how its vehicles safely navigate a winter wonderland.
Snapchat's features could soon be harder to copy
Snap Inc. has quietly acquired a team that specializes in protection against reverse engineering. Prior to joining SnapChat, the Strong.Codes team built software which prevented dismantling a product to learn how to copy or rebuild it. This process obviously isn't news to Snap, which has previously acknowledged the risk of other social media sites mimicking Snapchat's features. Risks that were realized when Instagram and Facebook unveiled their "story" features in quick succession.
'Forza Horizon 3' weather forecast: snow and blizzards
While the Forza games have dabbled with inclement weather before (rain was the big feature of Horizon 2 expansion "Storm Island" and to the consternation of some, Motorsport 6), snow in driving games as a whole has been mostly avoided. After all, why would you want to struggle maneuvering a car through what feels like wet concrete? Folks who download Horizon 3's "Blizzard Mountain" expansion starting December 13th will find out.
NOAA: US snow cover hits an 'all-time low' for November
Researchers just supplied more evidence that climate change-related temperature increases are having a material effect on the planet. America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that snow cover in the lower 48 states is the lowest ever recorded for mid-November. As you can see in the map below, there's very little snow on the ground in the country -- you'd likely have to climb a mountain to see it. For contrast, the average snow cover between 1981 and 2010 reached as far south as New Mexico.
Facebook tried to buy Snow, the 'Asian Snapchat'
Facebook was rebuffed in its attempts to buy Snapchat and Mark Zuckerberg's been like a jilted nerd ever since. The latest entry in his burn book comes courtesy of TechCrunch, which reveals that the social network tried to buy Snow, a Snapchat-esque service used in Asia. Snow was built by Navver, the South Korean company that created Line, to take advantage of Snapchat's apparent lack of interest in all things Asian.
ICYMI: California water woes, VR arcade life and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-599462{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-599462, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-599462{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-599462").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: California adjusted the details in the project to address the water crisis in the state by diverting water, called WaterFix. VR gaming is being visualized at Sundance as a multiplayer theme park paradise. And a new smart mirror designed to simply take photos of full outfits has us feeling a little crazy. Which is where this Japanese product to capture bad guys comes in for the laugh relief. Please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
House Speaker livestreams snowstorm with world's worst soundtrack
During an election year, politics can get extra annoying. Opponents slamming each other on TV and Twitter. Donald Trump screaming "loser" every five minutes. So House Speaker Paul Ryan decided instead of trying to politicize the snowstorm hitting the nation's capital, he would just point a camera out the window of his office at the Capitol building towards the National Mall. Being social is the new kissing a baby to show everyone that you're just like them. The livestream actually quite soothing once you mute the horrible music that accompanies it. No really, the music is horrendous. But the snow is nice.
6 buildings that you can sled, ski and snowboard on
By Cat DiStasio Snow sports are wildly popular around the globe -- even in regions with no winter to speak of. No matter, because architects and engineers have joined forces to create ski and snowboard slopes in some of the most unlikely places. Whether indoors or out, artificial snow or pure natural pow-pow, these buildings with built-in slopes will blow your snow-loving mind. From the longest indoor ski slope on the planet to an eco-friendly year-round snow sports resort, this roundup has something for everyone. If you can't hold your breath 'til the next bluebird day rolls around, opt for one of these spots where it's primo shredding season with no white-out in the forecast.
Ford is testing autonomous cars in the snow
If you've ever driven in the snow you know how difficult and dangerous it can be. Which makes Ford's announcement that it's testing fully autonomous cars in this less-than-optimal environment better suited for skiing pretty exciting. The test vehicles use LiDAR and high-resolution 3D mapping to keep to stay on the road when the cameras and other sensors are made useless by the reduced visibility of snow flurries.
Improve your ski trip by using Ski Nation
We are right in the middle of the ski season and I am sure lots of you are planning ski vacations, ski weekends, or just a day or two on the slopes. Ski Nation will make that planning easier for you and provide you with live information directly from more than one thousand ski resorts and areas. This free universal app runs on iOS 7.0 or later. Once you complete the simple registration process Ski Nation will give you access to ski areas in the United States and Canada. Users can select one of the resorts or areas to receive detailed information about the current conditions. You can sort the ski areas by types of skiing available, alpine, cross country, or ski jumping. The list can also be displayed by the name of the resort, the country it's located in or what state it is in. Ski Nation lists the resort's website URL, mailing address, and current temperature on the resort home page. From there users can delve deeper to access the ski areas' trail maps, a snow and trail report, and a map showing the location of the resort. The most useful data is in the Snow and Trail report. Here users will find information on the current snow conditions such as the average depth of the base, the primary surface conditions, and the latest and most recent snowfall information. Additionally the report lists details on how many lifts and trails are available, the total acreage available for skiing and the resorts operational hours. For snowboarders and freestylers, Ski Nation provides information on what pipes and parks are open and where they can be found on the mountain. Ski Nation tracks where you ski and how many days by issuing users pins from the resorts you visit. The app awards you a pin for each day you spend skiing at the resort or you can collect pins from previous trips. All these can then be shared with friends right in the app via the major social network outlets and email. About a month ago, I reviewed the Ski Buddy app. Users might consider grabbing that app along with Ski Nation. The Ski Nation app prepares you for your day and assists you in getting around. Ski Buddy is aimed at tracking just what you do during the time you spend on the mountain. Ski Buddy records all of your runs and provides information on your downhill speeds, the distance you travel, the change in elevation from the top to the bottom of your run and how many runs you do each day. It provides all this data in real time and has an audio alert users can hear through ear buds or headphones. Ski Nation offers a lot of information you will need to know to get started on your trip and as such is worth downloading before your next ski trip. Combining it with Ski Buddy should give you all you need to enjoy your time on the mountain.
iPhone 6 Plus spends Christmas in the snow and survives
Living in an area where several feet of snow is a regular occurrence for several months every year means the constant fear of dropping your precious smartphone into a pile of the powdery white stuff. I remember waking up one morning to find that I had dropped my iPhone 4 on my short walk to my car the previous day and was amazed that after a night buried in the snow and ice it still powered up. This iPhone 6 test suggests that Apple's latest smartphone would also come away unscathed. To see just how well the iPhone 6 Plus deals with the winter chill, YouTuber TechRax buried the phone in a mound of snow for a solid 24 hours starting on Christmas Eve. Upon its rescue from the frigid elements the device was still perfectly functional, though the camera makes it hard to see the action on the screen itself. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus aren't officially rated as being waterproof or even water resistant, though many have noted that it performs remarkably well in terms of keeping moisture out.
Christmas brings 'Madden 15' demo to Xbox One and snow to 'GTA Online'
You know what goes really well together? Christmas and video games. This year we've noticed a bit of a trend: games giving away free stuff in light of the holiday. Weather, err, whether it's snow covering Los Santos in GTA Online, a six-hour trial of Madden or online multiplayer for Killer Instinct Classic, there's no shortage of goodies to keep your console (maybe you recently unwrapped a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One?) busy for the next few days. Let's recap, shall we? In addition to the aforementioned inclement weather southern San Andreas is experiencing, for a limited time you can don a gingerbread mask in GTA Online and start lethal snowball fights in addition to getting a few unspecified gifts for your inventory tomorrow.
How a company plans to make it snow in Dubai
Snow isn't something you'd usually associate with Dubai, not when summers have an average temperature of 104 degrees F and the coldest of winters is only around 57 degrees. But the Kleindienst Group of real estate developers are positive they can simulate snowfall on the streets -- or at least on The Heart of Europe (THOE) islands within Dubai's The World man-made archipelago. The group first announced its plans to make it snow on the islands earlier this year, but now it's sharing how it plans to do so and has even made a test snowman, just in time for Christmas. Company CEO Josef Kleindienst told 7 Days in Dubai that his company plans to put snowmakers on select THOE streets, which is made up of islands fashioned after European locations, such as Austria, Germany, Sweden, St. Petersburg and Monaco.
Joystiq Presents: A Zelda Story
Do you remember the first day you played your favorite game? What about the moment you bought that game; what lengths did you go to pick it up? Joystiq's own Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM) recalls the story of the the day he bought The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64, and discusses the patience of his mother with our Community Manager, Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello). Listen to the MP3
Get ready to hit the slopes with Ski & Snow Report
Some of you are actually looking forward to the arrival of winter and all that snow. Those of you in this group are probably active winter sports enthusiasts. It won't be long now, in fact, at least one Colorado ski resort has already opened one lift and trail. If the weather cooperates, most of the rest will be opening over the next month in anticipation of the Thanksgiving weekend. Now you can get ready for the ski season with the Ski & Snow Report app. This free universal app runs on iOS 7.0 or later. Ski & Snow Report has just about everything you will need to know before you take off on a skiing weekend or vacation. The app features hundreds of ski resorts from Maine to Idaho and all points in between. Once you find your destination resort you can check the weather, snow depth and condition, how many lifts and trails are open, when the most recent snow fell, and first hand reports from other skiers already on the mountain. Users will also find the latest weather information in the Ski and Snow Report app including temperatures, sky conditions, wind speeds and directions and the chance of more snow. The app also provides a seven day forecast so you can start checking early in the week if you are headed out on the weekend. One new feature included in the latest version of the app is the cost of lift tickets for daily skiers of all ages with breakouts for children, juniors, adults, and seniors. The Ski & Snow Report also provides information on any specials available like a two or six day passes. Users will be able to see trail maps for the resort. These are in color and can be enlarged on your phone so you are better able to see the trails, facilities, and other markings on the map. Other features in the app are web cams from most of the resorts, a guide to the latest gear available broken down by type and manufacturer, and the ability to receive notifications of new powder falling. Users choose the resorts they want and set a new depth of powder so you are always up to date on the latest conditions. This is a real plus if you are an avid skier and live close enough to get way with short notice. Overall Ski & Snow Report provides skiers plenty of information to plan a weekend or vacation on the slopes. If you are looking ahead to the start of this winter's season grab this app and get ready. Now all you need is for the weather to change and to start dumping large amount of snow on the mountains,
Open-world skiing game Snow drifting to PS4, Oculus Rift
Swedish developer Poppermost will bring its open-world skiing game Snow to PlayStation 4 as well as PC, which gets additional Oculus Rift support. Snow arrived on Steam's Early Access service in October and is expected to move into a closed beta phase by the end of the year as a free-to-play game. The game is console-exclusive to the PS4. Those that want to check out the Early Access version on PC can pick up founders packs with alpha passes and in-game items, ranging from $15 to $60. Poppermost crammed eight square kilometers of open space and alpine terrain into its first game, which is powered by Crytek's Cryengine. In Snow, players thumb through hundreds of items in the game's catalog to equip their riders with 11 pieces of gear simultaneously before hitting the slopes to perform tricks. [Image: Poppermost]
Darkfall to add clan markets and realistic weather effects
If you haven't had enough snow this winter, you'll be able to get some more in Darkfall Unholy Wars! The PvP sandbox's upcoming patch is introducing realistic rain and snow weather effects. Snow will soon be dusting buildings, trees, ships, and the ground, significantly altering the visual landscape. Suddenly, those stark white mounts will no longer be such a liability! The update also includes a new way for clans and alliances to do business amongst themselves in the form of clan markets. The clan markets have individual permission settings, so business can be restricted to individuals (when clan-only), allies, non-enemies, or everyone. As an added benefit, clan markets won't have any courier fees or taxes, at least for the time being. These structures can be built within any clan holding, be it a a city or a hamlet, and trade can commence between all locations. Markets can be damaged to the point of deactivation or lost if holdings change owners. The patch is due out next week. Check out more details about these features and other fixes in the patch notes, and watch as snow covers the landscape and ships alike in the weather video below. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
