Olympics
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Samsung created an Olympics edition Galaxy S20+ for athletes
With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics mere months away, Samsung says it will give athletes taking part in the competition a special version of the Galaxy S20+. Dubbed the Olympic Games Athlete Edition, the "Mirror Gold" phone features the Olympic rings toward the bottom back of the device.
Igor Bonifacic02.11.2020
Snapchat will host exclusive NBC Olympics coverage
The 2020 Olympic Summer Games don't commence for six months, but plenty of marketing work goes into the international event well beforehand. NBC, which owns the media rights to the Olympic Games, has renewed its deal with Snap to publish daily coverage of competitions in the US. The two companies have partnered before, with similar deals involving the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Winter Olympics. However, this year's deal ensures far more content: NBC will produce more than 70 episodes for Snapchat -- three times than in 2018, according to Variety.
Marc DeAngelis01.23.2020
Toyota’s e-Palette will transport athletes during the 2020 Olympics
As part of its big robot push for upcoming the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota says it will have 20 of its e-Palette electric vehicles on-site to transport athletes.
Igor Bonifacic10.09.2019
Intel is hosting an Olympics-sanctioned esports tournament in 2020
Gamers will go for the gold next summer in Tokyo, but not in the Olympics. Intel has announced it will host an esports tournament in Tokyo during the lead-up to the 2020 Olympics. Players will compete in Street Fighter V and Rocket League for a price of $250,000 for each game. Online qualifiers will kick-off early next year, with a live qualifier event in Poland in June.
Amrita Khalid09.11.2019
Intel will use multi-camera, 3D athlete tracking in the 2020 Olympics
Intel plans to bring 3D athlete tracking (3DAT) to the 2020 Olympics. Today, the company announced that its 3DAT system will use four cameras to film athletes in the 100-meter and other sprinting events. Algorithms will then analyze the biomechanics of the athletes' movements and broadcast those as visual overlays available during replays.
Christine Fisher09.11.2019
The next 'Mario & Sonic Olympics' game has a retro 2D mode
Over the past 12 years, Nintendo and Sega have faithfully published their mashup, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, to correspond with the iconic sporting event. The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will be a homecoming of sorts for the two mascots, who were both created in Japan. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Tokyo Games 2020 will also see them returning to their roots in 10 "Classic Events" that use 2D sprites and environments.
Marc DeAngelis08.20.2019
Tokyo unveils its recycled e-waste Olympics medals
The organizing committee for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo have unveiled the designs for the medals. The baubles that'll hang from the necks of the winningest athletes in each game reflect their struggle for brilliance in the years before the games themselves begin.
Daniel Cooper07.24.2019
Toyota's 2020 Olympics robots will include a javelin-carrying cart
Robots are going to play a large role at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Toyota is determined to be at the forefront -- if in some occasionally strange ways. The automotive giant has unveiled its robot lineup for the summer games, and one of the biggest attention-getters is the Field Support Robot. The autonomous machine looks like a very tiny version of the e-Palette, and will carry javelins, shot puts and other items from throwing events. It won't actually fetch the items -- that's still up to humans -- but it will help reduce the number of staff on the field.
Jon Fingas07.23.2019
Paris may offer flying taxis to 2024 Olympics guests
You can be sure that transportation will be a nightmare for many people attending the 2024 Paris Olympics, but technology could make it slightly more bearable. Airbus, Aeroports de Paris and the Paris Transport Authority are exploring the feasibility of using autonomous flying taxis to carry visitors from Charles de Gaulle Airport into the city. When it takes roughly an hour to get into Paris using a bus or train, this could save valuable time that would be better spent finding your hotel and, you know, enjoying the Olympics.
Jon Fingas06.23.2019
Robots will serve as guides for the 2020 Olympics
You didn't think a 2020 summer Olympics set in Japan would go without some robots, did you? Sure enough, they're on their way. The Tokyo Olympics' Organizing Committee has launched a Tokyo 2020 Robot Project that will have automatons providing assistance both to spectators and crews behind the scenes. Robots from Toyota (above) will help wheelchair-bound guests by guiding them to their seats, delivering food and providing event info. Panasonic, meanwhile, will provide Power Assist Suit exoskeletons (below) to help workers carry food, trash and other heavy cargo with relative ease.
Jon Fingas03.19.2019
Tokyo will achieve its goal of making 2020 Olympic medals from e-waste
To make a statement about sustainability, Japan recently announced it would forge its 2020 Olympic medals from recycled smartphones, laptops and other gadgets. It just revealed that it has nearly met that goal after collecting nearly 48,000 tons of e-waste. The committee collected its 2,700 kg (5,950 pounds) target of bronze back in June, 93.7 percent of its 30.3 kg (67 pound) gold target and 85.4 percent of the 4,100 kg (9,000 pounds) of silver it needed. All told, over five million unwanted devices have yielded over $3 million worth of metals.
Steve Dent02.08.2019
Japan's new cybersecurity minister admits he's never used a computer
Whichever way your political ideology lies, there's no doubt that we live in interesting times. A lot of us have opinions on which political figures are qualified to do their jobs -- and which definitely aren't -- but we can probably all agree that if you're going to put someone in charge of, say, cybersecurity, they should probably at least know their way around a computer. Right? Apparently not, if you're the Japanese prime minister, who has recently appointed Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, as head of the government's cybersecurity office, despite him never having used a computer.
Rachel England11.15.2018
DOJ charges seven Russian officials for hacking doping critics
Today, the US Department of Justice charged seven Russian officers of the Russian intelligence directorate, the GRU, with hacking organizations, including doping agencies. These charges are not connected to Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian activity during the 2016 US election. Instead, they are tied to the state-sponsored doping program that saw Russia's athletes banned from the 2018 Olympics.
Swapna Krishna10.04.2018
The race for self-driving taxis at the 2020 Olympics is heating up
Companies around the world are fervently vying for first place in the race to vehicular autonomy, and now it looks like one venture has crossed the finish line. A self-driving taxi has successfully taken passengers through the busy streets of Tokyo in a demonstration of what could be a fully-fledged service by the time the Olympic Games arrive in the city in 2020.
Rachel England08.28.2018
Olympic officials take baby steps toward recognizing esports
Officials from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) just convened to discuss how, if at all, they can integrate esports into the world's most famous sporting stage. The forum, held over the weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland, brought international sporting professionals and administrators together with 150 members of the gaming community including publishers, pro players and media. While no firm plans were made to officially integrate esports into the Olympics, the IOC and GAISF announced they'll form an Esports Liaison Group to keep the conversation going about potential collaboration.
David Lumb07.23.2018
Russia hacked the Olympics and tried to pin it on North Korea
Now that the 2018 Winter Olympics are over, we're now learning who was responsible for hacking the games' systems... and the culprit won't surprise you at all. US intelligence officials speaking anonymously to the Washington Post claimed that spies at Russia's GRU agency had compromised up to 300 Olympics-related PCs as of early February, hacked South Korean routers in January and launched new malware on February 9th, the day the Olympics began. They even tried to make it look like North Korea was responsible by using North Korean internet addresses and "other tactics," according to the American sources.
Jon Fingas02.25.2018
Cyber attacks reportedly cost the US as much as $109 billion in 2016
Cyber attacks are increasingly becoming a fact of life. North Korea attacked aerospace and telecom networks last year. Olympics officials confirmed a recent attack that took place during the opening ceremonies. While Russia denied its involvement in the devastating NotPetya attacks, the US has finally joined other countries in blaming Russia for them. Now, a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers says that malicious cyber activity like this cost the US economy between $57 and $109 billion in 2016.
Rob LeFebvre02.16.2018
Robots had their own skiing competition at the Winter Olympics
The Olympics aren't just an event for the most talented athletes to strut their stuff on the world's stage. No, The Games are where robots can find honest work and leisure, too. Some 85 robots (spread across 11 different models, humanoid and otherwise) have been serving drinks, cleaning floors, swimming around fish tanks, guiding lost visitors at the airport and even skiing according to regional publication Korea JoongAng Daily. "We applied three yardsticks in choosing the robots to use at The Games -- how stable, new and useful they are going to be," Park Hyun-Sub, of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said.
Timothy J. Seppala02.13.2018
Olympics officials confirm cyberattack during opening ceremony
Officials saw suspicious activity on Olympics systems during the 2018 winter games' opening ceremony, and now it's confirmed: it was a cyberattack. PyeongChang organizers have revealed that someone compromised services (including internet and TV) while athletes were on parade. Everything had been "resolved and recovered" by the 9th, spokesman Sung Baik-you said. He added that they knew the cause of the attack, but were "not going to reveal the source" after talking to the International Olympics Committee.
Jon Fingas02.11.2018
After Math: It's bobsled time!
The 2018 Winter Olympics are starting up but Pyeongchang won't be the only place crowning champions. This week we've already seen Waymo win out over Uber in court; Sasha 'Scarlett' Hostyn, the most successful woman in eSports, was victorious in an Olympic-backed Starcraft 2 tournament; and Amazon came up with yet another way to dominate the delivery market -- 2-hour Whole Foods deliveries. Numbers, because how else will you count the scorecards?
Andrew Tarantola02.11.2018