Uber hires former head of Google Maps to oversee future technology developments
Brian McClendon, a former Google vice president that worked in the company for the past 10 years who helped develope Google Maps and Google Earth, has recently been hired by Uber to oversee its new technology center in Pittsburgh. As Uber is currently trying to improve its mapping technologies, McClendon had the perfect qualifications for this spot thanks to his years of experience and expertise in the field. McClendon will be in charge of guiding Uber’s mapping, self-driving cars, and vehicle safety measures and will be supervised by Jeff Holden, Uber’s former Chief Product Officer.
Uber is currently depending on Google and Apple map technologies for its services that include: estimated car arrival times and directions for drivers to its “UberPool” system for matching travelers who want to share rides. Uber is slowly trying to decrease its reliance on those companies, and with this new addition to its workforce, hopes to improve its systems and continue to grow as it has been successfully doing since its launch in 2010. In fact, according to Holden who had spoken with Re/Code, McClendon is an “extraordinarily talented engineer and entrepreneur”.
Source: Re/Code
Come comment on this article: Uber hires former head of Google Maps to oversee future technology developments
Still having touchscreen issues with your OnePlus One? This Cyanogen OS 12 build might help
If you’ve been experiencing touchscreen sensitivity or Bluetooth connection issues on your OnePlus One, you’ll be happy to know that one of the most recent versions of Cyanogen OS is here to help. Well, at least that’s what Cyanogen claims. OnePlus One owners have been plagued with touchscreen issues off and on ever since the device was released, and so far, only a few users have seen fixes come to their devices. But now version YNG1TAS2I3 of Cyanogen OS, which is still based off of Android 5.0, should fix the following problems:
- Touchscreen sensitivity
- Bluetooth connectivity with several in-car systems
- MMS sending on several carriers
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While this update was just recently released to Cyanogen’s site, early adopters have been reporting good results. The folks over at Android Police also claim that if you happen to be running build YNG1TAS17L, you can instead flash this incremental build of the software to save yourself around 500MB. If you aren’t running that version, however, you’ll need to flash the full ROM listed above.
Once you try out the new Cyanogen OS build, let us know if your problems are resolved!
Here’s what’s new with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 v2.1
Some methodical digging around in some kernel sources has revealed that Qualcomm has developed a new 2.1 version of its contentious Snapdragon 810 mobile SoC. Throwing further fuel on the speculative fire that something is not quite right with Qualcomm’s flagship processor.
If you’re not familiar with the saga by now, the gist of the story is that various industry sources, observers, and tests have suggested that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 runs too hot and/or throttles its peak speeds under heavy loads. Just how problematic this is is still being debated.
The folks at AnandTech have done a little digging into version 2.1 and have come up with some very interesting performance results.
Before we delve any deeper into the Snapdragon 810 v2.1, it should be noted that a processor revision in and of itself is not an admission of a fault or problem. Nor does it mean that such a problem has been fixed. Qualcomm has made similar revisions in the past with its Snapdragon series, such as the Snapdragon 801 8274-AB and AC models, simply refining the design further or adding in some new features.
The new v2.1 chip has recently appeared in the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro and the Sony Xperia Z4 (Z3+)
Now, a little history about the chip. The Snapdragon 810 v1 was the engineering sample that showed up sometime in September 2014. This was when the first rumors about the overheating issue began, but as a non-final product the speculation didn’t really carry much weight.
It was the v2 chip that shipped in the first Snapdragon 810 devices, including the LG G Flex 2 and HTC One M9. These have shown some signs of performance throttling in order to avoid overheating, but performance updates have been issued which suposidly address any problems. The new v2.1 chip has recently appeared in the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro and the Sony Xperia Z4 (Z3+).
Performance Improvements
First up, there appears to have been a mild clock increase to the GPU with version 2.1. The Adreno 430 now runs at 630MHz, representing a 5 percent increase in performance over the older 600MHz clock. No doubt this is an effort to close the gap on the impressive GPU performance boasted by Samsung’s Mali-T760 MP8 powered Exynos 7420.
Memory latency in the chip’s L1 and L2 caches appears to have been improved by around 15 percent compared with v2, but DRAM latency remains pretty much the same. However, overall memory bandwidth has seen a more consistent improvement in performance, showing around a 33 percent increase in the main memory and an average 38 percent across all memory segments.
This was one area that there was definitely room to improve over the v2 chip, considering that Qualcomm made the move over to LPDDR4 RAM. This new update should see the SoC put in an even better performance when moving large chunks of data to the main memory, such as when recording and processing high resolution video content.
What about the throttling?
Testing found that there was “noticeably less throttling on the A57 cluster” in the latest revision but the effect is still present in order to keep the cores within their TDP limits during heavy workloads. All threads can still be forced off the A57 cluster if the temperatures increase too much, but things look to have improved with v2.1.
Unfortunately, we can’t see by exactly how much things have changed between v2 and v2.1, so we’ll have to wait for further testing to see how this affects real world performance. Judging by the issues facing Xperia Z3+ owners and Sony’s questionable response, there are still some noticeable persisting problems.
Testing by ArsTechnica previously showed substantal throtting with the Snapdragon 810 v2 when crunching heavy workloads over a long period of time. It’s not clearly how much things have improved with v2.1.
It is also possible that subtle design differences between the two tested handsets (the One M9 and Mi Note Pro) are also enough to affect throttling by a perceivable margin. In other words, throttling may manifest differently depending on the smartphone design. Cooling, or lack thereof, is a big part of this issue and more spacious handsets may not throttle has much. There are still a few gaps left to fill in.
In summary, v2.1 adds some minor improvements to the Snapdragon 810’s GPU and memory performance, but the revision doesn’t appear to have completely addressed CPU throttling, despite noticable improvements. Difficult to spot changes like these are sure to continue to add to the lack of consensus about whether the Snapdragon 810 is a suitable chip for mobile. The Snapdragon 820 can’t arrive soon enough.
The bots that bucked the humanoid trend at DARPA’s challenge
Humanoids are supposed to be best suited for a world that’s engineered for humans. They can climb stairs, open doors and drive cars. At DARPA Robotics Challenge, most of the participating humanoids succeeded in completing those tasks, but when it came to walking, they were clumsier than the species they were designed to emulate. Getting a machine to put one foot in front of the other has been a priority for roboticists for decades. Bipedal locomotion would presumably make it easier for robots to navigate a man-made world and perhaps make them more relatable. But the movement requires sophisticated control software and advanced AI technology that isn’t quite ready yet.
DARPA’s challenge was never about the fastest robot or about the one with the most tricks up its metal sleeves. It was about finding a mobile machine that could aid, or even replace, a first responder in the event of a disaster. Entering the competition with a biped wasn’t a requisite, but they were the popular choice. All but three of the 23 competing robots were humanoids. Out on the obstacle course though, non-humanoid robots looked sturdier than their bipedal competitors.
Carnegie Mellon University’s four-limbed CHIMP was one of the strongest contenders. It was designed to roll on the tracks installed on its limbs, which gave him an edge and flexibility over its competitors. The bright red robot picked itself up after a fall on day one and bounced back from a driving accident on day two, when it rammed its vehicle into a wall. It eventually grabbed the third spot in the overall challenge.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory brought RoboSimian (aka King Louie), a robot with four identical limbs that could be used as arms or legs depending on the task. It was adept at getting out of a vehicle, which is one of the more challenging 3D environments for a four-limbed machine, but its sluggish pace held it back. It came in fifth in the race.
The third non-humanoid, Team NimBro’s Momaro (short for Mobile Manipulation Robot), beat RoboSimian on time. It had an anthropomorphic upper body and a mobile base with four legs that ended in steerable wheels. “With the bipeds, stability is an issue,” said Sven Behnke, Momaro’s team leader and professor at University of Bonn in Germany. “We have seen some of the bipeds falling. But if you have four legs, it’s easier to navigate the terrain.” During its final run, the peculiar robot almost tipped over a couple of times. But the operator stabilized the machine and it soon wheeled out of the rubble that stood in its way.
“I’m not using a legged robot because I think it’s the best for disaster response,” said Russ Tedrake, professor at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. “But it’s hard for the right reasons. The problem of balancing a humanoid robot is helping us [figure out] how to make manufacturing robots or the ones that go into your body and help a surgeon.” Even though his own team led an Atlas humanoid in the race, he thought legs were a liability in the race. “Some people argue that humanoid robots are uniquely capable of operating in a human made environment,” he said. “I’m not sure I totally buy that. I think in many situations a wheeled robot would do very well.”
In the end, Team KAIST’s DRC-Hubo, a humanoid equipped with wheels, beat 22 robots to win the challenge. It switched between walking and rolling to traverse the terrain.
The challenge brought some of the world’s best robots out to play. But most of the machines struggled through mundane tasks and stumbled their way to the finish line. “All these robots are unsuitable for disaster response. They’re meant for a challenge that has been inspired by a disaster,” says Behnke. “It’s a technical challenge with some requirements that are much lower than real disaster response robots would need to be [prepared for].”
Irrespective of their shapes, these robots aren’t ready to be deployed for search and rescue missions just yet. But, despite their sluggishness and face-forward falls, they’re not going to be cooped in a lab for too long either. “We’re only an iteration or two away from RoboSimian being a commercial item,” said Brett Kennedy, principal investigator at NASA’s JPL. “We’ve already licensed the technology and we hope to find it in the field very soon.”
Microsoft: We won’t skip ‘Halo’ betas from now on
When Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched last year, it was supposed to be ultimate fan service: four of the most renowned games in the series, all in one fancy package loaded with extras, all on Xbox One. The final product was… well, problematic. To this day it still isn’t 100 percent functional all the time, with a rash of issues like game crashes still persisting. “It was our first game on a new platform, and it was essentially five engines [with] a wrapper,” 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross explained to me this week. All that to say, because the game wasn’t a native Xbox One game is why it had so many issues. Still that makes it incredibly difficult to get excited for this fall’s Halo 5: Guardians. Will it be as heartbreaking on a technical level as MCC? I briefly spoke with Ross about how she and her teams are working to overcome and address that very valid concern.
I know that the Halo 5: Guardians development team is a different from the one that developed Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Bonnie Ross: That’s why I’m here to answer all those questions; it’s not this team.
But not everyone else knows that. My readers might not. How do you convince people who bought MCC that this isn’t going to be a problem like what happened with that game?
BR: First off, when I say it’s not the same [team], it is 343 Industries. We’ve taken full accountability and we obviously let the fans down. That’s crushing to our studio as well. I think we’re doing everything to make sure that that will never happen again. The difference with Halo 5 is that it was purpose built for the Xbox One in close partnership with the platform team. It’s a brand-new networking stack built for Xbox One, which is not what we were using with MCC; we were using old code.
Being able to solve and understand what the problems were with MCC right before we had the [Halo 5] beta, the timing was very beneficial. We did a ton of changes with the beta. It was a huge learning of the issues we fell down with with MCC that we were able to quickly incorporate into the beta and make sure that we were standing up.
We took that learning to make sure that this [game] is purpose built for Xbox One. You will never see us not do a beta again because there were a lot of things we couldn’t see when we stood up externally. Some of the testing that [Halo 5 lead] Josh Holmes alluded to is testing that we’ve developed since then to make sure we can test all the regions, with all the different types of network profiles (NAT, settings) to make sure that we are standing up.
What happens with MCC once Halo 5 releases?
We will keep supporting MCC. You’ve seen that we’ve given continuous updates, and as fans are giving us feedback we will continue to support MCC.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
This interview has been edited and condensed
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
This is the ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ collector’s edition statue
$250 worth of static love from Master Chief.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Google launches YouTube Newswire, a feed of verified news stories
The massive amounts of video on YouTube makes it tough to tell if the video you’re watching is legit, or an elaborate hoax. So, in a bid to make the streaming video site more useful for people who want accurate information, Google just announced YouTube Newswire, a curated feed of verified eyewitness videos. The search giant is partnering with News Corp-owned Storyful, a startup focused on surfacing accurate social content, for the site. Google’s also teaming up with experts from organizations like Eyewitness Media Hub, Reported.ly and Verification Junkie to create the First Draft Coalition, a site that will offer tools and training for journalists to help determine the veracity of videos and the ethics of using them. Basically, Google is finally helping journalists and news junkies make sense of everything on YouTube. It’s not enough to just offer the world a mountain of content these days, Google has to highlight the best of what YouTube has to offer.
“Today, more than 5 million hours of news video is watched on YouTube every day, and the role of the eyewitness has never had a more vital place in the newsgathering process,” Olivia Ma, head of strategy and operations at Google’s News Lab, wrote in a blog post. “We live in a world where anyone can bear witness to what is happening around them and share it with a global audience, and YouTube has become a primary home for this powerful, first-person documentary footage.”
On top of these major moves, Google also announced support for the WITNESS Media Lab, which will be creating a series of projects focused on human rights struggles through the lens of eyewitness accounts. First up, it’ll explore how user generated videos have shaped the way we view police brutality cases in the US.
[Photo credit: Mohammed Abed/AFP/GettyImage]
Source: Google, YouTube Newswire
All the news you need to know from Day Two of E3 2015
Day Two at E3 2015 means there’s finally some breathing room between briefings, press conferences and literal breathing to play some of these rather exciting games. This year’s E3 has turned into a pretty good one, with strong games across all the major consoles and platforms. We’ve interviewed some of the most influential players in gaming, including Sony PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida, games maestro Keiji Inafune and a few more. We explored space in an Oculus Rift-based spacesuit, think there’s possibly a new king of the soccer games and took a deeper look at Xbox’s new Elite games controller. One more day to go, so many games left to play. We’ll sleep when we’re dead.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming
E3 Streams: ‘Volume,’ ‘Fortnite,’ ‘Elite: Dangerous,’ and more!
Onward into E3 2015! Our week in Los Angeles has left us wild and crazed. We interviewed the director of the Final Fantasy VII remake. We played Star Fox Zero. Now we’re going to give you a chance to talk to the developers of some of E3’s biggest games right here on JXE Streams. Join us starting at at 12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT on Twitch.tv/Joystiq for a chance to chat with developers like Epic Games, Elite: Dangerous creator David Braben, and a special early look at Volume with Mike Bithell.
Where can you watch these streams? Right here in this post! Want to chat with us? Go to Twitch.tv/Joystiq.
If you want to follow along with our E3 streams, here is our complete schedule for Thursday, June 18th:
12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT: Fortnite with Epic Games. The creators of Unreal and Gears of War have spent four years making this crazy blend of Minecraft and tower defense.
2PM ET/11AM PT: Skyhill with Daedalic Entertainment. Part roguelike and part noir, Daedalic’s Skyhill is an intriguingly stylized random mystery.
2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT: Elite: Dangerous with David Braben of Frontier Developments. David Braben spent the better part of two decades trying to create this modern version of the classic space sim.
3PM ET/12PM PT: Volume with Mike Bithell. The creator of Thomas Was Alone doles out his own version of the Robin Hood story in this slick stealth game.
[We’re playing all games in 720p via OBS.]
London councillor wants to ban ‘FIFA’ games after corruption scandal
Enough is enough. For one London councillor, the recent FIFA corruption scandal just crossed a line. He’s calling for radical action: a ban on FIFA video games in Camden. Awale Olad told the Camden New Journal: “We should start off by hurting their business by discouraging people from buying their popular video games and put a stop to FIFA video game tournaments popping up across the borough.” Exactly how a ban on local, independently-run FIFA competitions would affect football’s world governing body remains unclear, however. Even banning the game outright, if such a move was possible, would probably affect publisher EA more than FIFA. Nevertheless, Olad seems determined and will be bringing the matter up at a full council meeting on Monday. Perhaps the Camden councillor is onto something though; a global boycott of FIFA 16 could grab the organisation’s attention, and would it be so bad to give PES a chance this year?
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Camden New Journal
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