Scientists push a record 57Gbps through fiber optic lines

Need proof that the limits of fiber optic technology have been shattered? You just got it. University of Illinois researchers report that they’ve set a record for fiber data transmission, delivering 57Gbps of error-free data. And importantly, they sent the data at room temperature — they didn’t have to cool things down to keep those bits going. Even when things got toasty (185F), the technology could still deliver a brisk 50Gbps.

The scientists currently expect the technology to get the most use in data centers, aircraft and other places where you need to shuffle a ton of information across relatively short hops in unforgiving conditions. The real challenge might be getting it to work across long distances. If that’s practical, the internet could get considerably more headroom and increase the likelihood that your 4K video streams arrive without a hitch.

Source: University of Illinois

Atari Vault brings 100 classic games to Steam

At last, you now have a simple way to play hordes of classic Atari games on your PC without resorting to third-party emulators: as promised, the Atari Vault is now available on Steam. The Windows-only collection lets you play 100 arcade and Atari 2600 games, such as Asteroids and Crystal Castles, in an environment that strikes a balance between nostalgia (such as borders that mimic arcade cabinets) and modern-day conveniences. That includes online multiplayer play, worldwide leaderboards and advanced controller support — Valve’s Steam Controller will even mimic a trackball to give you a more authentic experience in Centipede or Tempest. The Vault costs $17 on launch (normally $20), so it’s just inexpensive enough that you can relive the good old days without feeling regret afterwards.

Source: Steam

Shooting the Arabs: How video games perpetuate Muslim stereotypes

Islam has an image problem. And it’s not just recent world events that have led to an undue level of scrutiny and prejudice. The media has been pigeonholing Muslims for years. You need only watch a few episodes of 24 or Homeland to see that Muslims, particularly those of Arab descent, are almost always painted as the enemy.

“The current political and cultural climate is the reason in media we are the bad guys right now,” said Rami Ismail, a co-founder of Vlambeer, an independent game studio based in the Netherlands. The same broad brush, he says, applies to video games too. The Call of Duty franchise, for example, is rife with Muslim villains — like Khalid Al-Asadin in Modern Warfare. “That’s Call of Duty, over and over. Shoot all the Arabs,” said Ismail. “Muslim blood is the cheapest in the world.”

Ismail spoke last week on a panel at the gaming show GDC about Muslim representation in video games. The presentation’s tone was a sombre one. “The current election has been fueled by certain prejudices,” said Imad Khan, a freelance journalist for the Daily Dot who moderated the panel. “There have been some latent animosity that has erupted in the past year leading to untoward criticism and actual violence.”

“We are often just reduced to four or five stereotypes,” said Dr. Romana Ramzan, a game design lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK. “It’s usually summed up by the clothes we wear. So if you’re a woman, you wear a hijab […] If you’re a man, you have a beard or wear your national dress.” She added that Muslims are also often portrayed as aggressive and violent. “In games, we will be represented as the ‘other’ people who are the ones you have to kill. Usually it’s a slightly dark-skinned character shouting Allahu Akbar, carrying an AK-47. Or he has a camel or a goat.”

When asked about the appearance of seemingly Muslim characters in fighting games like Zafina from Tekken 6, Ramzan said that her real issue is that a Muslim doesn’t look like any one particular person. Muslims are not necessarily Arab, and Arabs are not necessarily Muslim.

“Why do we need to be represented by our faith?” she asks. “Why can’t we be represented by our nationalities? Why can’t it be what might a female from Pakistan look like, or from Lebanon, or Tunisia? We are all so diverse. No one’s really sitting around thinking what does a Christian character looks like.” She gave an example of when she visited Morocco, and she saw women who were fully clothed from head to toe, and she also saw women who wore backless dresses and miniskirts. “It doesn’t make them non-Muslims. It’s just the way they are.”

“Muslim is not a people,” Ismail said. “It’s 1.6 billion people across the world with various nationalities, backgrounds, languages. Not all Muslims speak Arabic.” For example, Ismail said, the world’s largest Muslim nation is Indonesia, which is not anywhere near the Middle East. “People just don’t realize that.”

It’s not just the portrayal of Muslims that is problematic. In several video games, images of the Arab and Muslim world are often inaccurate. The above screenshot of the Karachi map in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, for example, has Arabic written over it. But Arabic isn’t spoken in Pakistan, which is where Karachi is located. In fact, Pakistan has two official languages: English and Urdu. Farah Khalaf, a Palestinian-Iraqi game developer from New Zealand, said that she often wishes games would depict Middle Eastern cities as they really are, instead of sandy deserts. “If you show people an image of Beirut, they’ll be surprised that it’s modern!”

Still, video game portrayals of Muslims aren’t all bad. Khan says Ubisoft did a good job with Assassin’s Creed’s Altair character. “It’s this story of this orphan, who grew up in the Assassin’s order. I thought it was really well done.” It also portrayed Istanbul as a vibrant, gleaming city and featured a couple of historical characters like Suleiman the Magnificent and Selim II from the Ottoman Empire. Even Assassin’s Creed wasn’t completely free from error, however. Ismail pointed out that it was odd to find out that Altair’s father had the same last name (Ibn-La’Ahad) as him, since having the same name as your parents goes against Arabic naming conventions. Khan thought that was surprising, considering everything else in the game was well researched.

Another example of a positive portrayal of a Muslim character is Faridah Malik in Deus Ex Human Revolution. She’s a chief helicopter pilot described as a third-generation American born in Dearborn, Michigan who’s also a faithful practicing Muslim. Ismail does think she fits the stereotype of the “Good Muslim” — oh, she’s Westernized and therefore she must be good — but likes the character nonetheless.

Khan also singled out upcoming titles like The Sun Also Rises (about civilians caught in the Afghan war), Dujanah (the story of a girl living in a Muslim country) and Saudi Girls Revolution (where the main characters are female motorcycle heroes who drive across post-apocalyptic Saudi Arabia) that show a different side of the Muslim world. The latter in particular is a game developed by a Saudi prince, which Ismail said could inspire change.

“The industry just needs greater diversity,” said Rahman. “We’re not going to be telling interesting narratives without it.”

Ismail agrees. “Diversity is number one. If you’re going to make a game about a country, talk to somebody from that country. If you’re going to have a foreign language, have someone who can read it. If you’re going to have a religion in the game, get someone who understands it.”

“These are very simple things,” he said. “Just be a human being.”

The Wirecutter’s best deals: Google’s Nexus 6P and more!

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.

You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.

iClever BoostCube USB Travel Charger

Street price: $11; MSRP: $30; deal price: $8 with code GYD97P5N

While not a huge sale, it’s a few bucks off and at $8, an affordable price if you want to stock up on a few to keep in your car or luggage. Use the code GYD97P5N at the final step of checkout to get this price.

The iClever BoostCube USB is our travel pick in our multiport USB wall charger guide. Nick Guy said, “Only a little bigger than Apple’s own iPad charger, iClever’s wall adapter has twice the ports and twice the power at half the price.”

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced Quadcopter

Street price: $770; MSRP: $1000; deal price: $740

While we expect even better deals to show up since DJI is releasing the Phantom 4 soon, and the street price on the Phantom 3 Advanced has dropped to $770, we think $740 is an excellent price for a drone of this quality.

The DJI Phantom 3 Advanced is our pick for the best drone for aerial photographers and videographers. Mike Perlman and Eric Hansen said, “We believe that the Advanced is the best choice for most people—that is, those who have no need to produce 4K video, who lack computer hardware that can handle editing that format, or who don’t have demanding shooting schedules that require constant battery swaps.”

Sony XBA-H1 Headphones

Street price: $150; MSRP: $150; deal price: $130

This isn’t the best price we’ve seen; these headphones once sold for around $90. However, it’s been over a year since they were that cheap. You’ll still save $20 off the street price with this deal, which is the first sale we’ve seen in ages.

The Sony XBA-H1 is the step-up pick in our guide on the best $100 in-ear headphones. Lauren Dragan said, “The Sonys sound fantastic. No one frequency is overly peaked. The highs are clear and delicate with tremendous detail. The lows are full and pack a punch without muddying up or overpowering anything else. The mids sound authentic and precise. The result? Your music sounds better than ever.”

Google Nexus 6P 32GB Smartphone

Street price: $500; MSRP: $500; deal price: $450 + $50 Gift Card

This deal has been around for a bit in a couple of different forms. We’ve seen the phone’s price drop to $425 and we’ve seen the gift card bonus as high as $75. The current deal isn’t as good as either of those, but it’s still one of the best we’ve seen. However, with all the 6P deals recently, you’ll want to consider whether you’ll use that Newegg gift card anytime soon versus just waiting for a lower price.

The Nexus 6P is the phablet pick in our guide on the best Android phones. Ryan Whitwam said, “It’s our favorite Android phone of any we’ve used this year. The 6P runs pure Android 6.0 Marshmallow, sports a top-of-the-line 1440p Super AMOLED screen, and has an attractive unibody aluminum frame. On the back is one of the best cameras available on a smartphone, along with a Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner that’s even faster and more accurate than the one on the Galaxy S6.”

Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.

Apple Working on Original Television Series About Apps

Apple is working with Will.i.am and TV executives Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens on a new non-scripted television show that will “spotlight the app economy,” reports The New York Times. There are no details on the television show beyond the App Store premise, so it is not clear what format episodes will take.

Apple executives have not made details like title, timeline, storylines, or episode length public, and there is no information on where the show will be promoted. Given that it’s focused on the App Store, it could be made available through an app, shown through the App Store itself, or be made available as a standard television show on iTunes.

The App Store series was conceived by Ben Silverman, who presented the idea to Apple. Silverman is an executive producer on shows like Jane the Virgin, The Biggest Loser, Marco Polo, and Flaked.

In an interview with The New York Times, Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue cautioned that the show is not a signal that Apple will be delving deeper into original television and streaming video, despite rumors last year suggesting the company was meeting with Hollywood executives to make a big push into original programming.

“One of the things with the app store that was always great about it was the great ideas that people had to build things and create things,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in an interview. […]

“This doesn’t mean that we are going into a huge amount of movie production or TV production or anything like that,” Mr. Cue said. He added that the company would continue to explore exclusive projects similar to the series about apps or its push into music programming.

Along with its television show focused on apps, Apple is also creating a television series called Vital Signs that will star Beats co-founder and Apple executive Dr. Dre. Described as a dark semi-autobiographical drama, Vital Signs will be used to promote the Apple Music streaming service, much like this new television show will promote the App Store.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tag: App Store
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