Tesla will keep Autopilot and teach drivers about it despite fatal crash
Elon Musk is pushing forward with his self-driving Tesla dreams.
Despite that fatal accident in May, which involved a Model S on a divided highway with Tesla’s Autopilot feature engaged, the chief executive of Tesla Motors has told The Wall Street Journal there are no plans to disable Autopilot.
Instead, the automaker will double-down on efforts to educate drivers about how the system works. It is the first known fatal accident involving a vehicle being driven by itself by means of computer software, sensors, cameras, and radar. Musk said Tesla will publish a blog post to explain how Autopilot works, noting that a lot of customers still don’t know what it is or how to enable it.
The fatal accident has cast doubts on the future of autonomous vehicles and was a personal blow to Tesla, which has not only pushed to expand its product lineup but also launch Autopilot as soon as possible. The company blamed the crash on that fact that neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of a tractor-trailer against a “brightly lit sky”, so the system did not apply the brake.
More than 130 million miles have been driven with Tesla’s Autopilot feature since the system made its debut in October. Tesla dubbed Autopilot a “beta feature” after launch, and Musk reiterated that to the WSJ on Tuesday: “It says beta specifically so people do not become complacent,” he said, adding that the disclaimers provided to drivers are “written in super plain language”.
- Tesla Autopilot death under investigation
- Tesla: Everything you need to know about the different models
- First Drive: Tesla Model S
- Tesla Model S P90D review: If your robot chauffeur were a racing driver
US auto-safety regulators are investigating the crash that killed 40-year-old Joshua Brown. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in June said it would investigate the first known fatality connected to the Autopilot system, and that it’s homing in on automatic emergency braking.
The Autopilot system allows cars to drive themselves in certain situations, but Tesla has warned drivers they should remain alert behind the wheel.
Pokemon Go for iOS fixes that big privacy issue with Google accounts
Pokemon Go just got a major update.
Well, technically, it’s a small one – but with it came a fix for a massive privacy issue. The iOS app has been updated to version 1.0.1, with developer Niantic Labs promising it has “fixed Google account scope”. Shortly after the app exploded in popularity, it was discovered that the augmented-reality game granted itself “full access” to those who used their Google accounts to sign up to start playing.
Security experts panned the request as invasive and warned gamers from granting access. In Pocket-lint’s look at how to play Pokemon Go, we gave users alternative means of playing the game without having to grant it such an overreach. With it, Niantic could access your location or even see and modify things such as your email, though it has since claimed the game only collected user IDs and emails.
“Google has verified that no other information has been received or accessed by Pokemon Go or Niantic,” the company confirmed in a statement, while explaining that it was working to address the issue, and that Google planned to reduce Pokemon Go’s permission to only the basic data.
- Pokemon Go: Best, worst and craziest places people have found Pokemon
- Pokemon Go coming to UK, Europe and other countries “within days”
- Pokemon coming to iPhone and Android with Pokemon Go and a wearable
Niantic has now fulfilled its promise with an update on Tuesday that also focused on making the app more stable, including a resolve for crashes.
Holocaust Museum would like for ‘Pokémon Go’ trainers to back off
The world is rife with new trainers scouring the globe for Pokémon, unable to pry themselves away from their smartphones for even a moment lest they miss out on catching ’em all in Pokémon Go. They’re invading everywhere, from churches to police stations to graveyards, but there’s one place that would like to see the craze come to an end, as far as it’s concerned: the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Museum has found itself transformed into a series of three Poké Stops for each part of the facility, like several other inappropriate locales across the world, with visitors flocking to them, phones held high. Poké Stops are like caches of items for players who happen upon them, spawning items like Poké Balls, Potions and more. What’s more, certain Pokémon like Koffing are said to have appeared in some very precarious areas of the exhibits, though that may well have been a hoax. Museum directors are not taking to these displays well, and rightfully so:
“Playing the game is not appropriate in the museum, which is a memorial to the victims of Nazism,” said Andrew Hollinger, communications director when speaking to the Washington Post. The museum is looking into seeing if it can be removed as a home for Poké Stops going forward, as it seems “disrespectful” for visitors to be engaged in these displays in areas of the museum meant for reflection and solemnity, such as the museum’s Hall of Remembrance.
It’s a precarious situation that seems to be happening all over the world, what with an individual’s home marked as a Poké Stop and users needing to be cautioned from entering police stations and even courtrooms while attempting to catch ’em all. Niantic has yet to comment on this particular situation as of yet.
Via: The Washington Post
‘Pokémon Go’ update fixes the iOS app’s nosy Google access
Pokémon Go for iOS doesn’t have quite as much access to your Google account as some gamers have feared, but it’s clear that Niantic isn’t wasting time trying to assuage your concerns. It already has an update for the rabidly popular game that narrows the iOS version’s access to your Google data if you sign in using a Google account. In short, you can likely relax about your privacy while you’re Pikachu-catching — the biggest issue now is simply getting to play in the first place.
Source: App Store
Google’s futuristic campus closer to reality after land deal
In a surprising real estate move for two Silicon Valley giants, Google and LinkedIn just traded nearly 3.5 million square feet of existing office buildings and future development space in Mountain View, California. As Silicon Valley Business Journal reports today, exactly zero dollars changed hands in the deal, but the “grand bargain” will clear a path for Google’s futuristic new campus design.
That design, from star architects Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick, was announced last year to much fanfare – at the time, Bloomberg Magazine called it “the most ambitious project unveiled by Google this year.” But all that hype was effectively quashed when the Mountain View city council voted to take the land Google was proposing to develop and give it to LinkedIn instead. With the land swap, Google can now go ahead with the visionary plan that includes adaptable canopies and custom robot cranes that can build and reconfigure the layout on-site.
Although LinkedIn had big dreams of its own for the North Bayshore site, a rep for the social network told the Business Journal those plans would have taken too long to build out and would have split up the company across two sites in the meantime. Instead, they will acquire additional property in Mountain View and Sunnyvale next door that will keep the campus in one piece — and probably stretch those Microsoft billions a little bit farther as well.
‘Overwatch’ gets its first new hero: A healing sniper
In the month since its release, hero shooter Overwatch has received substantial praise and increasing speculation about new characters to come. Lauded game studio Blizzard has been characteristically silent about any additions to the game, going so far to placate clamoring fans with a panel at San Diego Comic-Con to discuss their next hero. But out of nowhere, the wait is over: the studio has announced Ana, a support sniper and mother of existing character Pharah. While she isn’t released publicly yet, she is playable on Blizzard’s PC-only public test realm (PTR) servers.
Ana’s kit is pretty unique: a ranged support character that can both heal and do damage over time with her weapon. Both of her abilities follow the role, with an area of effect grenade that both heals allies and prevents enemies from getting healed, while her sleep dart temporarily incapacitates enemies for a time period or until they take damage. Her ultimate, Nano Boost, is an all-around buff that increases damage and movement speed while reducing damage taken. In short, a distance healer-fighter hybrid that can help while staying out of harm’s way.
According to the video below, Ana was one of the old guard of the Overwatch organization. An efficient professional, she completed her missions until apparently hesitating to shoot Widowmaker, an old friend turned into an assassin by a shadowy terrorist cabal. Believed dead, she lost an eye and her team of friends, but is apparently back in the fight.
Overwatch rose from the ashes of Blizzard’s canceled MMO Titan, and to keep the game’s focus on light multiplayer, all backstory is hidden in artifacts around the levels. Thus, gamers churned the rumor mill with theories about soon-to-come heroes, correctly deducing that a sniper character would soon be released and even rightly guessing her identity and story connections to the Overwatch organization. After a hint-packed tweet was sent last week by the official Overwatch account, buzz grew around when, not if, Blizzard would officially announce her.
The studio’s silence about elements in development goes hand in hand with their motto of “it’s done when it’s done.” This reflects its famously high level of polish, but also the painful process learning how much fans soured on news of game delays. Now the company only makes announcements when they are certain that characters or modes will end up in the game, though by that time they are so unusually refined that they are almost ready for live play.
It seems Blizzard’s rigorous testing process still has a ways to go with Ana, as they have only stated she is “coming soon” to Overwatch. PC players can try her out on PTR servers, which the studio uses to test new additions before they release a patch to update the game globally. The latest of these was released today, limiting teams to one of each hero in the relatively new Competitive Mode so you won’t have to worry about slamming into six Torbjörns.
Source: Overwatch blog
MoviePass unveils new prices, starting at $15 a month
MoviePass’s new CEO, Mitch Lowe, has made good on his promise to reach a $20 plan. The cinema subscription service now starts at $15 a month for two films in markets where tickets are relatively cheap (read: far away from large cities). In slightly more expensive areas it’ll start at $18 a month for two films, and in the most expensive markets like NYC and LA, it starts at $21 a month. Sure, that’s far more limiting than MoviePass’s original all-you-can-eat plans, but Lowe says he’s hoping to attract subscribers who only have time to hit the theater a few times monthly.
“In our research, a lot of people go to one movie a month and would love to go to one more if it was a better deal,” Lowe said. “Some people don’t need unlimited [access].”
For more adventurous cinephiles, there are new subscriptions for seeing three movies a month. And, of course, MoviePass will still offer fully unlimited plans. The company is also dropping the 24-hour limit that previously made it difficult to take full advantage of its unlimited plans (if you saw a film at 10pm last night, you’d have to wait until 10pm tonight to use it again). Unlimited users will be able to see as many films as they can fit into a single day (though they still can’t see titles more than once).
Here’s the full breakdown of MoviePass’s new monthly pricing:
- Tier 1 markets: $15 for 2 movies; $22 for 3 movies; and $40 for unlimited.
- Tier 2 markets: $18 for 2 movies; $27 for 3 movies; and $45 unlimited.
- Tier 3 markets: $21 for 2 movies; $31 for 3 movies; $50 for unlimited.
The new pricing isn’t great for MoviePass’s longtime customers, who will now have to spend even more for unlimited cinema access. (Its NYC pricing was recently bumped to $45 a month.) But MoviePass might be able to attract newer customers with its cheaper pricing, especially those who can’t make the most of its more expensive plans.
By focusing on less devout cinephiles, MoviePass hopes to expand its subscriber figures. The company wouldn’t say how much its raised so far, or even how many users it has, but so far it hasn’t been able to spend much on advertising and marketing. Adding a slew of new users will hopefully change that. “You can’t raise acquisition money unless you can demonstrate the metrics of the model,” Lowe said.
The company is also ridding itself of confusing subscription cancellation fees and restrictions to make life easier for its customers. Previously, some MoviePass subscribers would have to pay an exorbitant price if they decided to cancel their subscription early. And some users have also received warnings upon cancelling the service that they would have to wait six months before signing up again. Now, you’ll be able to sign up, cancel, and reinstate your account with ease.
MoviePass will continue to research its current and potential customers throughout the summer. Subscribers who have received alerts about higher subscription prices, including a disastrous $99 monthly unlimited offer, will be able to take advantage of the new pricing in September. For now though, they’ll have to deal with higher rates if they want to keep using the service.
Looking ahead, Lowe says he’s hoping include more goodies in MoviePass subscriptions. That includes private premiere day screenings for members, as well as potential deals on merchandise after seeing a film. Eventually, he plans to bring all of the service’s functionality to your phone, so you can buy tickets and reserve seats without carrying a clunky credit card. That’s something MoviePass is already offering in a few markets. Lowe also wants to prove that the service could be a useful marketing ally for studios, by offering data on how its subscribers attend cinemas.
“I’m very confident this is a billion dollar a year business,” Lowe said.
Google buys a startup to improve Spaces
It’s no secret that Google Spaces in its current incarnation is… undercooked. The group-oriented app missing features you might expect from an internet giant, and those features that are there don’t always behave like you’d expect. Google is in it for the long haul, though. It just bought Kifi, a startup that focuses on internet-based collaboration and sharing. The Kifi team isn’t shy about what it’ll be doing — it’s joining the Spaces team to improve its underlying features. While you’ll probably have to wait some time to see what that entails, it’s clear that Spaces isn’t going to wither from neglect.
It’s not the greatest news if you use Kifi’s existing knowledge management service, mind you. It’ll keep the lights on for the “next few weeks,” but no longer. You’ll have another few weeks after that to grab any data you couldn’t afford to lose. And there’s a chance you might miss it — Kifi is in use everywhere from AOL (our parent company) to Calvin Klein and HP, so it’s not a flash in the pan.
Via: Bradley Horowitz (Google+)
Source: Kifi (Medium)
‘Pokémon Go’ is the ‘aha’ moment AR has been waiting for
Pokémon is a thing right now thanks to Pokémon Go. Niantic’s AR creature-catching game is number one in both the Android and iOS app stores and it’s on track to have more daily active users than Twitter thanks to an install base of 7.5 million players so far. It was impossible to go out this past weekend without being surrounded by Pokémon Go players of all stripes — a lot of kids, sure, but plenty of adults too. Some were revisiting their childhood love of the franchise, while others were discovering it for the first time. But cute little monsters aren’t the only thing Pokémon Go is their first exposure to: For many of these players, it’s their first time using augmented reality. And, based on their reactions, they love it.
Augmented reality has been around in various forms for years, but it’s failed to take the mainstream by storm. Sure, you can see what a kitchen remodel would look like or get more information about a work of art hanging in front of you, but these aren’t things a person does on a regular basis. Most uses of AR have been tied to very specific experiences and locations rather than a person’s daily routine.
Instead, AR is more like virtual reality’s neglected cousin. While consumer-grade VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are available now, high-profile AR projects like Hololens are still only in the developer stage. Sure, there’s Lenovo’s upcoming Phab2 Pro, a phone optimized for AR usage. But Lenovo isn’t a marquee name when it comes to phones, and is unlikely to sell enough to make an impact.
Pokémon Go, however, has exploded into a full-on phenomenon. My Facebook and Twitter feeds have been overrun by people’s experiences with the game. As I walked around my neighborhood this past weekend I encountered plenty of people excited to catch Pokémon. A small child running with an iPhone in hand, his mother laughing at she tried to keep up. Three teenagers, standing outside my local library, discussing how to take over the Pokémon Gym there. I found myself walking by people with their phones out and turning to look at their screens to see if they were playing Pokémon Go… only to find they were looking back at me for the same reason.
The reasons for some of its success are clear: The app is free, which means there’s no financial barrier. It was released on both iOS and Android at the same time, which means nobody has to miss out on the initial excitement (unless they’re one of the 1.1 percent running Windows Phone). And then there’s the fact that Pokémon is an internationally recognized brand that once graced the cover of Time magazine.
Fans have been clamoring to see the franchise on smartphones for years and, though The Pokémon Company has released a handful of apps, none of the games have really utilized the basic mechanics of capturing a plethora of fantastical creatures. The motto of the series for years was “Gotta Catch ‘Em All,” and if you were to talk to a layperson even remotely familiar with the franchise, they’d probably mutter those words at some point. It’s only appropriate to make this mechanic the center of Pokémon Go.
The whole process is extremely intuitive: When you see a Pokémon on the map you tap on it. Then you center the Pokémon on the screen, and flick Poké Balls at it with a swipe of your finger. The balls even obey the laws of physics, following an arc downward as gravity pulls on them. They even roll away if you miss (you pick them back up by tapping on them). The learning curve is incredibly small for this core part of the game.
But it’s the connection to the real world that really cements the experience for newbie players. They might not feel comfortable immersing themselves in a fantasy world with a lot of backstory like the Kanto region of Pokémon Red and Blue. Instead, Pokémon Go is asking them to take a closer look at something a bit more familiar — the world around them.
It’s a lot less intimidating, especially to a newcomer. It helps that in establishing its reality the game firmly grounds itself in our world in ways that make sense to a player: Of course Water-type Pokémon live near rivers and lakes and Grass-type Pokémon are in the park. Of course notable locations like a historic house or mural would be a PokéStop. And, while there aren’t many actual gyms serving as Pokémon Gyms in the game, heading to your local library or church makes a weird sort of sense too, because these are important buildings to a community.
Pokémon Go is operating as a trojan horse for AR, because it isn’t touting itself as an enhancement in any way. It’s not going to give you restaurant reviews when you look at a storefront, and that’s fine because most people don’t need an extra layer on the world right now. Granted, AR has its own pitfalls: Pokémon Go trainers have stumbled upon dead bodies, almost caused a few accidents and there’s at least one case of late-night players being accused of drug dealing. However, smartphones are so ubiquitous that no one really questions seeing another person wave one around, and the ability to show off the game and easily explain how it works has rendered it mostly harmless.
Pokémon Go is a great introduction to AR, showing people how the technology works and putting the idea into people’s heads that there could be something more to the world around us. Right now those thoughts fall along the lines of “What if there’s a Weedle behind that bush?” But, as people get used to the idea of pointing a phone at an object or place to reveal a hidden layer to it, it’ll become second nature to them, paving the way for more substantial AR experiences.
Oculus Rift is finally up to date on pre-orders
After months of shipping delays and in-store demos Oculus is finally all caught up on pre-order shipments for their flagship Rift headsets. While that means the folks who signed up early should have received their hardware by now, those who were waiting for availability to bounce back will now be able to order Rift and have it shipped within two to four business days.
The news was tucked into Oculus’ announcement for the third edition of the company’s Connect developer conference which takes place this October 5th – 7th in San Jose, and also included a light apology for all those previous shipping delays. If you did place a pre-order but still haven’t seen it show up (or haven’t already cancelled to order an HTC Vive), Oculus would like to point you to their support page here.
Finally, Oculus reports they are on track for the Oculus Touch controller launch and increasing Rift inventory for their retail partners, so expect to see the headsets stocked in “select Microsoft stores” and over 500 Best Buy locations by the end of the summer.
AIVAnet 