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PlayStation Preview update brings 16-player parties and chat transcription
PlayStation 4 gamers could soon have access to bigger party sizes. In a blog post by Sony, the company announced it was testing a number of new updates to the Party function, including improved audio quality, better network connectivity and increased player party participants, jumping from eight to 16.
NVIDIA certifies another 16 gaming monitors as 'G-Sync Compatible'
Earlier this year, NVIDIA began testing a wide range of gaming monitors to determine which play nicely with its GeForce GPU. Initially, the company tested 400 monitors and said only 12 met its standards. Now, NVIDIA has expanded its list of "G-Sync Compatible" monitors to 28. But, the company tested 503 variable refresh rate (VRR) monitors, meaning the vast majority (94.4 percent) failed.
UN chief warns nuclear waste could be leaking into the Pacific
A UN chief is concerned that a Cold War-era nuclear 'coffin' could be leaking radioactive material into the Pacific. The concerns are both alarming and oddly similar to the plot of Shin Godzilla -- including the part about it being the US's fault.
Boeing says its 737 Max software update is complete
Today, Boeing announced that it has completed the software update to its 737 Max planes. The update is meant to correct the software flaws that contributed to the Lion Air and Air Ethiopia crashes that killed 346 people in total. The update was expected in April, but Boeing needed extra time to guarantee that it had "identified and appropriately addressed" the problems that led to those crashes.
Japan begins testing the world's fastest bullet train
Last week, Japan started testing its latest and fastest bullet train. The Shinkansen ALFA-X is capable of reaching 400 kilometers per hour (249 mph), and it's expected to enter operation around 2030. When it does, the ALFA-X will likely become the world's fastest bullet train, carrying passengers around 360 kph (224 mph).
Instagram finally tests a fast-forward feature for videos
In a move so overdue you're probably checking the date stamp on this article, Instagram could finally be about to launch a seek bar on videos posted on users' feeds. The feature, discovered by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, would let you skip backwards and forwards through a video without having to start it again from the beginning (as every other video player ever made already allows).
How Huawei planned international robot espionage via email
Huawei began building its own phone-testing system, xDeviceRobot, in early 2012. The Chinese company hoped to improve the quality of its mobile hardware, which tended to fail far more often than competitors' devices in third-party trials. In May 2012, Huawei China asked T-Mobile if it could license or flat-out buy the company's phone-testing robot, Tappy, which served as a standard for much of the industry. T-Mobile said no. So, Huawei decided to steal Tappy. After installing a handful of employees at T-Mobile's headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, federal prosecutors claim Huawei USA and China employees attempted to illegally collect information on Tappy in a year-long espionage campaign that culminated in actual theft. Huawei was found guilty of misappropriating T-Mobile's Tappy intellectual property in a 2014 civil lawsuit, and federal prosecutors in Seattle this week unsealed an indictment that brings new, criminal charges against the Chinese company.
Tinder test lets you share Spotify clips with matches
Tinder is experimenting with allowing daters to share music via Spotify right inside their conversations. The feature, first spotted by the blog MSPowerUser and confirmed by TechCrunch, is taking place in a number of markets around the world and Spotify appears to be the only streaming service involved in the test. Users already had the ability to select an "anthem" and share their most played artists by linking their Spotify account to Tinder.
Uber allegedly ignored safety warnings before self-driving fatality
Just days after Uber announced its plans to resume testing of its self-driving taxis, new information reveals that a whistleblower had made the company aware of the technology's safety failures before the incident in Arizona last March, which saw a pedestrian struck and killed by one of Uber's vehicles, and which led to the suspension of all testing activity.
Watch Faraday Future's high-speed FF 91 field tests
Faraday Future hasn't given up on the FF 91 despite going through a financial crisis and losing executives along the way. Now, a few months after a Hong Kong investor reportedly threw the startup a $1.5 billion lifeline, it has dropped a new video showing the tests it recently conducted to validate the luxury EV's battery, thermal and powertrain controls. The company's engineers staged what they call the "Autobahn drive cycle" and "Operation 120 mph" tests, which are critical to the FF 91's engineering process. Chou Yeh, Faraday's Senior Manager of Powertrain and Thermal Controls, said the tests will help "eliminate issues before they arise and [continue] to add value to the vehicle during the final stages of verification."
Now California's DMV can allow fully driverless car testing
Automakers can now start testing fully driverless cars on California's roads. According to the state DMV's new regulations that became effective on April 2nd, it can now issue three types of autonomous vehicle testing permits. The first kind is the original one it approved years ago, which needs a driver behind the wheel, while the other two could pave the way for the release of Level 4 to 5 autonomous vehicles. See, the second type of permit it can dole out will allow automakers to test fully driverless vehicles, and the third will give the companies permission to deploy them.
Fully driverless car tests in California could start in April
Automakers testing their self-driving cars on California roads might be able to go fully autonomous as soon as April, according to the state's DMV. Instead of putting someone behind the wheel to take over in certain circumstances, such as when the self-driving system isn't working as well as it should, the companies will be required to link their cars to remote operators. Those remote drivers' job is to keep an eye on multiple cars and to take over their controls if and when needed.
Microsoft makes it easier to preview Windows apps
If you're looking to get a peek at what cool features are coming to Windows apps in the future, then you pretty much need to run an Insider build. But Microsoft realizes that some folks don't want to run beta software on their machine, which is why it's developing a way to test apps inside retail versions of the OS. Right now, a handful of Windows 10 apps have been opened up to let users see what's coming down the pipeline, regardless of their Insider status.
Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 845 is a graphics powerhouse
Qualcomm recently let journalists benchmark the upcoming Snapdragon 845 on its own reference smartphone, and the results look promising for the Galaxy S9 and other new devices. On the one hand, CPU improvements were merely incremental, despite a switch to new ARM Cortex designs. On the other, Qualcomm's new Adreno 630 GPU performed impressively, especially considering the power draw, putting rivals like Samsung and Huawei on notice. "There is need for more radical change to keep up with Qualcomm," said Anandtech.
Fingernail-sized chip can repair damaged tissue in seconds
A new device can begin repairing damaged organs in seconds, heralding a major breakthrough for life-saving medicine. Developed at Ohio State University, the technology known as tissue nanotransfection (TNT) uses a small coin-sized silicon chip that "injects" genetic code into skin cells, converting them from one type to another.
Spotify is testing a 'driving mode' for fewer distractions
Now that we've all got streaming, on-demand music in the car with our phones, it's hard not to want to fiddle with our playlists while driving. Obviously, messing with your device on the road is as bad as texting, though. As reported on The Verge, Spotify seems to be testing a new driving mode feature that will encourage you to keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel while streaming your favorite tracks in the car.
Faraday Future will test its electric SUV by climbing Pikes Peak
Faraday Future announced that one of its FF 91 pre-production vehicles will be participating in the 2017 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The company says the race will be the first in a series of public tests of the high-end electric SUV.
Germany legalizes self-driving car tests
German automakers won't have to bring their experimental autonomous cars to California for testing anymore. The country has just approved a law allowing companies to test their self-driving cars on its roads, so long as they follow a set of conditions. Perhaps the most important requirement is that drivers must be sitting behind the wheel all the time. They can take their eyes off the road to, say, use their phone and browse the internet, but they need to be able to take over if the vehicle's AI needs them to.
NASA will resume testing its Hubble successor this month
One of NASA's biggest victories last year was the $8.7 billion James Webb Space Telescope's completion. And now the aeronautics agency is set to resume vibration testing for the instrument. These tests aim to replicate the conditions it will encounter before lift-off to "ensure that functionality is not impaired by severe launch and landing environments," according to NASA.
Magic Leap will soon test its technology in the real world
We might be getting closer to finally finding out what Magic Leap's mixed-reality headset looks like. The ultra-secretive company has posted a job listing on Glassdoor for a Field Engineer, who'll actually have to drive around with its devices and collect data in real world locations. "Work will entail setting up and using high precision equipment to capture both environments and user behavior in home settings," the listing reads. Magic Leap announced a Star Wars and a Twilio partnership this year, but its technology is still shrouded in mystery even now.
