Zuckerberg finds it funny some still don’t trust Internet.org

Despite onstage sweat, several wireless microphone issues and pointed (but important) questions from his interviewer, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg held his ground at Mobile World Congress tonight. For the most part, the keynote discussion wasn’t very different from his previous talks at the conference, which included a recap of Facebook’s recent initiatives. But Wired’s Jessi Hempel, who moderated the chat, pushed him to open up around India’s recent ban of Facebook’s Free Basics program (a part of the Internet.org initiative).

“It’s been a little funny that people sometimes don’t take you on face value [regarding providing free internet altruistically],” Zuckerberg said. Ultimately, he just wants to get people online who wouldn’t have any other way to get connected. But when pressed, he added, “A lot of people think that companies don’t think about anything other than making money. … I didn’t start Facebook to be a company initially. … I wanted to connect people in my college. Going forward, I realized building a company was the best way to get a lot of people to build toward a certain goal.”

It’s a heartfelt position — one he also wrote about in his editorial following India’s Free Basics ban. At the same time, net neutrality advocates have a reason to be worried. While Free Basics is indeed a path for the very poor to get online, it also locks users into a very limited version of the web controlled by Facebook. (After early criticism, Facebook also created a way for anyone to add their website to the platform.) Zuckerberg noted that Free Basics helped get 19 million people online last year, and many who use it end up subscribing to more expansive net access. Still, the people stuck with Free Basics will only see the web through Facebook’s eyes.

“Every country is different,” Zuckerberg said, when asked what he learned from the ban in India. “Models that worked in some countries might not work in others.”

Despite that setback, Facebook is still moving forward with other Internet.org projects. After testing out a prototype, the company plans to build a second solar-powered plane for delivering web access. On top of that, it’s developing a laser system that’ll send satellite internet service right to the plane. Another program, dubbed Express WiFi, gives connected users in rural communities a way to resell their Internet access.

When asked if Facebook would ever be interested in actually becoming an ISP, he laughed. “We’re an internet service, we have a great ad business model we like,” Zuckerberg said. “Our goal is to help people get on the internet. … When people are on the internet, we have a business model that works.”

‘Carmageddon’ comes to PS4 and Xbox One this year

Carmageddon enjoyed a brief (if imperfect) revival on PCs and mobile a few years ago, but what about living room gamers? Don’t worry, you’ll be covered soon. Stainless Games has revealed Carmageddon: Max Damage, an upcoming take on the car- and pedestrian-crushing racing game for the PS4 and Xbox One. The title promises a ton of things to do, including four online and six offline events, 30 vehicles, 10 open environments and 90 power-ups. However, the studio isn’t shy about sticking to the series’ core look-at-us-we’re-controversial formula — this is still about running over pedestrians in creative ways, and smashing into the occasional car while you’re at it.

The game doesn’t have a firm release date beyond sometime this year. Whether or not it succeeds is also up in the air, for that matter. Stainless’ earlier Carmageddon revival wasn’t exactly a hit, so Max Damage will have to spice things up if it wants to rekindle fond memories of the 1997 original.

Via: VG24/7

Source: Carmageddon: Max Damage

IBM’s Watson can sense sadness in your writing

Artificial intelligence won’t be truly convincing until it can understand emotions. What good is a robot that can’t understand the nuances of what you’re really saying? IBM thinks it can help, though. It just gave Watson an upgrade that includes a much-improved Tone Analyzer. The AI now detects a wide range of emotions in your writing, including joy or sadness. If you tell everyone that you’re fine when you’re really down in the dumps, Watson should pick up on that subtle melancholy. Watson is also better at spotting social tendencies like extroversion, and studies whole sentences (important for context) rather than looking at individual words.

It should be better at expressing emotion, to boot. The update brings broader availability of a new text-to-speech engine that offers responses in an appropriate tone. If you’re angry, for instance, the computer won’t answer back in an upbeat voice. That’s not the same as taking the initiative on emotion, but this and the new Tone Analyzer point to a future where AI is sensitive to your mood, rather than cold and indifferent. Combine those improvements with an equally fresh, training-based image recognition engine and it’s clear that Watson is becoming a full-fledged intelligent agent, not just a business tool or clever chef.

Source: IBM

American Airlines drops its lawsuit against Gogo

Last week, American Airlines filed a lawsuit against GoGo to get out of its contract with the in-flight internet provider. The airline found “materially” better service with a competing company, a situation that would force Gogo to provide a new proposal that American could ultimately reject if it found a better deal or service elsewhere. It looks like American and Gogo have found better ground, however — Gogo just announced that American dismissed its lawsuit. It’s not too surprising, as Gogo said last week it was in the process of preparing a competing proposal to match what American had found with rival provider ViaSat.

“American has dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice,” an American Airlines spokesperson told Fortune. If Gogo chooses to submit a proposal in response to a competitive offering, we will evaluate it.” It sounds like American still has the option to terminate its relationship with Gogo and go with a faster or better WiFi provider if it so choses, but Gogo is now playing ball and will likely be submitting its own new proposal soon.

Still, this doesn’t bode well for Gogo’s relationship with American, a contract that makes up 15 percent of the company’s revenue. American is clearly interested in ViaSat, otherwise it wouldn’t have bothered filing suit to get out of its Gogo contract in the first place. The internet provider is working on upgrading airlines (including American) to its newer 2Ku satellite-based internet, which would be competitive in terms of speed with ViaSat. The question now is whether Gogo can offer it up fast enough to keep its business with American Airlines.

Source: Fortune, Gogo

You can get up close and personal with the titanosaur in VR

The massive dinosaur class known as titanosaurs got a lot of attention last month when a 122-foot skeleton was added to the fossil exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History. If you can’t get to New York City and see it for yourself, the BBC has put together the next-best thing: a 360-degree VR video showing off the biggest dinosaur ever. Hosted by David Attenborough, the famed writer and broadcaster who has produced a huge number of BBC documentary series, the video gets you up close and personal with a CGI recreation of the titanosaur that was created by scanning the bones of the very dinosaur currently on display in NYC.

In the video, you can ride up alongside the dinosaur with Attenborough, who drops all kinds of facts about just how truly huge the beast is. (It’s heart is three times as big as Attenborough and could circulate 90 liters of blood in a single pump, for example.) The CGI dinosaur also gives way to show its internal skeleton structure that was scanned for the video. And while the best way to experience this video is surely with a proper VR headset, those of us without a Gear VR or Google Cardboard handy can still get an idea of what it’s like — there’s a YouTube version that you can pan around in and get the full 360-degree experience.

If you’re in the UK, you can also watch a full-length program called Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur that gives plenty more details on the massive creature as well as some fun details on the making of the 360-degree video. If you’re not in the UK, you can at least check out a few clips, including Attenborough trying out the completed VR experience. Unsurprisingly, it looked like he had a blast with it.

Source: BBC

What’s on your HDTV: ‘Fuller House,’ Oscars, ‘Michonne’

After The X-Files wraps up its abbreviated run tonight, we’ll be getting ready for Telltale Games to release the first part of its The Walking Dead: Michonne game. Of course, later this week Netflix brings its new Full House revival/spin-off, as well as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. Everything closes out with the Academy Awards Sunday night, and you can get ready by snagging Best Picture nominee Spotlight on Blu-ray. Gamers can also check out Far Cry: Primal on PS4 and Xbox One, while Windows/Linux/Mac PC gamers can grab the time-bending shooter Superhot on Thursday. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• The Good Dinosaur (3D)
• Spotlight
• Jesus of Nazareth (40th Anniversary Edition)
• The Graduate
• Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
• The Big Sleep
• The Walking Dead: Michonne (Everything)
• Far Cry: Primal (PS4, Xbox One)
• Hitman GO: Definitive Edition (PS4, PC)
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (PC, PS4, XboxOne)
• Superhot (PC, Linux, Mac)
• Tiny Troopers Joint Ops (Xbox One)

Monday

• 11.22.63, Hulu, 3AM
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, CW, 8PM
• The Fosters, Freeform, 8PM
• Superstore (season finale), NBC, 8PM
• The X-Files (season finale), Fox, 8PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
• American Dad, TBS, 8:30PM
• Telenovela (season finale), NBC, 8:30PM
• Becoming Mike Nichols, HBO, 9PM
• Major Crimes, TNT, 9PM
• Lucifer, Fox, 9PM
• The Magicians, Syfy, 9PM
• Top Gear, BBC America, 9PM
• Better Call Saul, AMC, 10PM
• Billion Dollar Wreck, History, 10PM
• Castle, ABC, 10PM
• Lost Girl, Syfy, 10PM
• Independent Lens: (t)error, PBS, 10PM
• NCIS, CBS, 10PM
• Talking Saul, AMC, 11PM
• Bitten, Syfy, 11PM

Tuesday

• Fresh off the Boat, ABC, 8PM
• New Girl, Fox, 8PM
• Finding Your Roots, PBS, 8PM
• The Flash, CW, 8PM
• Pretty Little Liars, Freeform, 8PM
• Here We Go Again, TV One, 8PM
• The Muppets, ABC, 8:30PM
• Grandfathered, Fox, 8:30PM
• Rizzoli & Isles, TNT, 9PM
• iZombie, CW, 9PM
• The Outsiders, WGN, 9PM
• Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 9PM
• Shadowhunters, Freeform, 9PM
• Chicago Med, NBC, 9PM
• Marvel’s Agent Carter, ABC, 9PM
• Moonshiners, Discovery, 9PM
• NCIS: New Orleans, CBS, 9PM
• Teen Wolf, MTV, 9PM
• The Grinder, Fox, 9:30PM
• Gonzaga: The March to Madness, HBO, 10PM
• Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
• American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, FX, 10PM
• Chicago Fire, NBC, 10PM
• Limitless, CBS, 10PM
• Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, Comedy Central, 10:30PM

Wednesday

• The Middle, ABC, 8PM
• Unsung: Donnell Jones, TV One, 8PM
• Arrow, CW, 8PM
• Survivor, CBS, 8PM
• American Idol, Fox, 8PM
• Young & Hungry, Freeform, 8PM
• The Mysteries of Laura, NBC, 8PM
• Mike & Molly, CBS, 8:30PM
• Baby Daddy, Freeform, 8:30PM
• The Goldbergs, ABC, 8:30PM
• Supernatural, CW, 9PM
• Dual Survival, Discovery, 9PM
• Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
• Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 9PM
• The Next: 15, TV One, 9PM
• Black-ish, ABC, 9:30PM
• Catfish (season premiere), MTV, 10PM
• Broad City, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Suits, USA, 10PM
• Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
• American Crime, ABC, 10PM
• Code Black (season finale), CBS, 10PM
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FXX, 10PM
• Man Seeking Woman, FXX, 10:30PM
• Teachers, TV Land, 10:30PM
• MTV Suspect (series premiere), 11PM
• Joking Off, MTV2, 11PM

Thursday

• You, Me, and the Apocalypse, NBC, 8PM
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 8PM
• American Idol, Fox, 8PM
• DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, CW, 8PM
• WWE SmackDown, USA, 8PM
• The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8PM
• Life in Pieces, CBS, 8:30PM
• Scandal, ABC, 9PM
• The Blacklist, NBC, 9PM
• The 100, CW, 9PM
• Mom, CBS, 9PM
• 2 Broke Girls, CBS, 9:30PM
• How to Get Away with Murder, ABC, 10PM
• Prey (series premiere), BBC America, 9PM
• Baskets, FX, 10PM
• Portlandia, IFC, 10PM
• Workaholics, Comedy Central, 10PM
• Shades of Blue, NBC, 10PM
• Elementary, CBS, 10PM
• Colony, USA, 10PM
• Shades of Blue, NBC, 10PM
• Nightwatch, A&E, 10PM
• Idiotsitter, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
• Greatest Party Story Ever, MTV, 11PM
• Dark Net, Showtime, 11PM

Friday

• Fuller House (S1), Netflix, 3AM
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, Netflix, 3AM
• Theo Von: No Offense, Netflix, 3AM
• The Amazing Race, CBS, 8PM
• Sleepy Hollow, Fox, 8PM
• The Vampire Diaries, CW, 8PM
• Dr. Ken, ABC, 8:30PM
• Hawaii Five-0, CBS, 9PM
• The Originals, CW, 9PM
• Second Chance, Fox, 9PM
• Shark Tank, ABC, 9PM
• Blue Bloods, CBS, 10PM
• Vice, HBO, 11PM
• Animals, HBO, 11:30PM

Saturday

• 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, IFC, 5PM
• Mythbusters, Discovery, 8PM
• Red Wings/Avalanche, NBC, 8PM
• Suicide Note, Lifetime 8PM
• Black Sails, Starz, 9PM
• Telescope, Discovery, 9PM

Sunday

• 60 Minutes, CBS, 7PM
• The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, Showtime 8PM
• The 88th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 8:30PM
• Vinyl, HBO, 9PM
• The Walking Dead, AMC, 9PM
• Downton Abbey, PBS, 9PM
• Girls, HBO, 10PM
• Talking Dead, AMC, 10PM
• Togetherness, HBO, 10:30PM
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM

Valve uses ‘Portal’ robots to find out if your PC is VR-ready

In mere months we’ll finally have two of the “big three” virtual reality headsets out in the market. While your bank account might be more than capable of writing the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift pre-order checks, can your PC’s performance actually cash them? Valve has a test for that. The SteamVR Performance Test is just over two minutes long and takes place in a Portal-inspired non-interactive testing facility. Naturally.

What separates this from the Oculus benchmark tool is that it looks beyond mere system specs and goes a little bit deeper. Valve’s tool does a specific test of how your rig maintains 90 frames per-second while running VR games and experiences, and clues you in to the percentage of dropped frames.

However, the tale of the tape isn’t the entire story. Valve notes that the app can’t account for CPU load when it comes to positional tracking and “processing-intense” applications. What it will do, though, is let you know if your CPU or your graphics card is the bottleneck and “whether VR content can tune the visual fidelity to the recommended level.”

Our test machine running Windows 10 with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 mated with a quad-core Intel i5 at 3.4GHz scored a 7.9 score (high) on the scale, for instance. As you’ll see in this video, that goes up to 11 if you have a GTX 980 TI and slightly more powerful processor. If your PC doesn’t pass, there’s always PlayStation VR when it releases sometime later this year.

To be honest, GLaDOS would probably be proud of all your tests even if they aren’t successful. But unless you smell something awesome in your oven, don’t expect any cake when it’s all over.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Steam Community

Medicated vaginal ring can reduce risk of HIV infection

A special type of vaginal ring that continuously releases an experimental antiretroviral drug called dapivirine could help protect women from HIV. Two separate groups of scientists conducted experiments in Africa (where there’s a high prevalence of HIV infection) over the past few years, and they’ve both revealed their results recently. Nonprofit org International Partnership for Microbicides funded the team that conducted the “The Ring Study.” This group found that the $5 silicone rings reduced the risk of HIV infection by 37 percent among its 1,959 subjects from South Africa and Uganda.

The NIH-funded Aspire study, on the other hand, tested on 2,629 women in sub-Saharan Africa. Its researchers found 27 percent fewer cases of HIV infection in those who received the dapivirine rings compared to those who were given placebos. But when they only included women over 25 in the count, they found that the ring reduced the rate of infection by 61 percent. That becomes 56 percent for everyone over 21.

The overall percentage is much lower, because it provided no protection for women aged 18 to 21. It could be because they didn’t use the ring as frequently as the older women did. The dapivirine ring needs to be replaced every month, see, and not everyone came back regularly. Also, it has to be used all the time to work. The researchers plan to look into it more anyway, in case there’s a biological reason why it wasn’t as effective on younger women.

The Ring Study’s Dr. Zeda Rosenberg is positive her team can apply for approval from South African and European regulators next year. She says they can even release multi-purpose rings: they can make a variant that also comes with birth-control drugs, for instance. Still, the percentages the groups presented are rather low. Scientists have to conduct further studies and figure out how to make the ring more effective before it’s released to the public.

Source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, The New York Times

Nikon launches DL line of premium compact cameras

Fresh off its exciting camera announcements from CES 2016, Nikon is now back with more. Today, the company is introducing a new line of premium point-and-shoots, called DL. This series consists of three different cameras — the DL24-85, DL18-50 and DL24-500 — each named after the type of fixed lens that’s on them. And that, for the most part, is the difference between the trio. They all feature a 20.8-megapixel (1-inch, CX-format) BSI CMOS sensor, coupled with an Expeed 6A image processor, 20 fps continuous shooting, 4K video at up to 30 fps and slow-motion movies at 120 fps (1080p) and 240 fps (720p).

If you want a 24-85mm camera, then you’d obviously go for the DL24-85; the same goes for the 18-50 version, but there you’ll find a wider angle zoom lens. The DL24-50, on the other hand, is a super zoom shooter with a 2.3-million-dot electronic viewfinder and a 3.5mm microphone jack, both features missing from the other aforementioned DL models. When the DL24-85 and DL18-50 hit shelves in April, they will be priced at $645 and $800, respectively. Meanwhile, the DL24-500 will be $1,000 when it begins shipping in March.

Nikon’s A900 is the first Coolpix point-and-shoot with 4K

Nikon has more than a few premium compact cameras to reveal today. Along with the announcement of its DL series, the company’s also introducing three new Coolpix shooters. The most interesting one of the bunch is the A900, a point-and-shoot camera with a 20-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 35x optical zoom, 3-inch tilting screen and 4K movie recording at up to 30 fps. All that for only $350. Then there’s the B700, which features the same sensor as the A900, but with a 60x optical zoom, a higher resolution LCD and 4K video, too. However, you’ll have to pay $500 for this one.

Now, if you’re not looking to spend that much, Nikon’s selling the B500 for $300. This entry-level model sports a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, a 40x dynamic zoom and 3-inch screen. That said, the B500 runs on AA batteries, so bear that in mind when you’re weighing your options. The good news is they all come with WiFi and NFC, letting you easily transfer images to a smartphone or tablet. The A900, B500 and B700 will hit stores later in the spring.