Yes, ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ will have a sequel

Rovio has had trouble recreating the success of the first Angry Birds with each successive sequel, but that isn’t stopping the Finnish developer from trying the same with the movie based on its biggest franchise. The first film made $346,917,138 worldwide according to Box Office Mojo, and Wall Street Journal writes that its budget was only $73 million. So, of course, optioning a sequel makes a lot of sense. There aren’t any details beyond Rovio CEO Katie Levoranta saying that pre-production is under way, though. Will Jason Sudekis and Peter Dinklage reprise their roles? That’s up in the air, but last we saw him, he was busy helping a certain Mother of Dragons.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Startup uses algorithms to fund civil lawsuits

It won’t shock you to hear that many companies see lawsuits as opportunities for profit. Patent trolls base their entire businesses around it, after all. And now, they may use technology to help that happen. Legalist, a young startup, is trying to build on the litigation finance world (already a $3 billion field) by using algorithms to determine when a company should invest in someone else’s lawsuit. The software compares a suit against 15 million historical cases to calculate the likelihood that a lawsuit will succeed. If the action is likely to pan out, Legalist funds the case in return for a cut (as much as 50 percent) of either the damage awards or the settlement.

The creators stressed to Silicon Valley Business Journal that they’re not backing individual lawsuits, like the sort that let Peter Thiel get revenge on Gawker. However, the strategy could still prove damaging. Lawsuit-happy companies frequently cherry-pick lawsuit locations in order to get courts that will see things their way — patent trolls sue in eastern Texas (particularly Marshall or Tyler) knowing that the judges regularly turn a blind eye to dodgy claims. While Legalist’s business model could empower honest companies that couldn’t otherwise afford to seek compensation, it could also help sketchy firms that are trying to game the system.

Via: Motherboard

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, Legalist

Doctors use ultrasound to jump-start coma patient’s brain

We’re getting better at predicting when a patient might come out of a coma, but helping them recover is another matter. Even after a patient wakes up, the effects of being in a persistent unconscious state can result in severe brain injury. Recovery can take ages, but doctors at UCLA are testing a new treatment that could speed things up dramatically: using low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation to “jump-start” a patient’s brain.

The research is still early, but it seems to be working for at least one 25-year-old patient, who showed “remarkable” improvement after the treatment. Before doctors used sonic stimulation to rouse the neurons in the patient’s thalamus — a structure in the brain that relays sensor signals and helps regulate alertness — he showed little concious response and had trouble understanding speech. Within days of treatment, however, the patient was fully awake, responsive to conversation and actively communicating with nods and gestures.

“The changes were remarkable,” says Martin Monti, UCLA associate professor of psychology and neurosurgery. “It’s almost as if we were jump-starting the neurons back into function.” If the treatment works in future trials, it could lead to a low-cost device to help patients recover from the effects of being in a coma.

Via: Science Daily

Source: UCLA

Latest look at the LG V20 confirms secondary display ticker

What does the LG V20 look like? Kind of like a BlackBerry Z30.

We already know a fair bit about the LG V20, since the Korean company enjoys, in the run-up to its phone announcements, what we in the industry consider a “trollout.” Based on LG’s official word, it will be the first phone outside of Google’s own Nexus line to run Android 7.0 Nougat. And thanks to a few choice leaks over the past few weeks, we suspect that it may have the same modular bones of the G5, which was unveiled earlier this year.

Now, thanks to prolific leaker, Evan Blass, we have a front view of the upcoming phone, which is set to be officially unveiled on September 6. While the headpiece bears a close resemblance to that of the BlackBerry Z30, the phone appears to retain its secondary display, which arrived on the V10 to a mixed response.

Our own Phil Nickinson noted in his V10 review that “the Second Screen is nicely implemented, but [he] just didn’t find it all that useful.” Not a great endorsement, and one largely shared throughout the industry.

On the software side, the render — together with what Google teased of the V20 with the Nougat launch — all but confirms that LG will ship the V20 with an overlay largely identical to its Marshmallow-based G5 skin, which eschews the traditional app drawer in favor of a horizontal pane. Of course, like that phone, the V20 will probably have an option to enable the app drawer. You know, for the purists.

Finally, get already knew that the V20 would have the world’s first 32-bit Quad DAC, but this week LG also shared that the V20 will “feature best-in-class audio functions developed in partnership with B&O PLAY.” You’ll recall that one of the “Friends” meant to ship with the G5 earlier this year was a B&O-powered plug-in DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) that promised to give the modular phone a superior sound experience through headphones. While LG didn’t hint that a similar module would be arriving with the V20, it did note:

LG and B&O PLAY worked closely together to bring the best sound to users by optimizing the audio capabilities of the V20 smartphone. Acoustic engineers collaborated to achieve B&O PLAY’s philosophy of delivering a natural and balanced sound in a portable package. To enhance the total experience, the V20 set will include a special pair of B&O PLAY earphones and a set of wallpapers designed for the V20 which includes the official logo of B&O PLAY, as a certification of B&O PLAY premium audio.

We’ll know lots more about the V20 when it debuts on September 6. In the meantime, let us know what you think of how the V20 is shaping up!

French official threatens lawsuits over internet photos of police

Unfortunately, it’s all too clear that some government officials just don’t understand how the internet works. After police in Nice, France were shamed online for forcing Muslim women to remove burkinis and other tradition-honoring apparel at the beach, deputy mayor Christian Estrosi announced that the city would sue people who post photos of police taking action against those women. That’s right — your Twitter post showing police officers doing their job (in a non-threatening situation, no less) could land you in court. These pictures “denigrate” the force and put officers in danger, Estrosi claims.

Whatever you think of the police actions themselves, the legal threats are problematic. Numerama observes that police don’t have any protections against being photographed in public, so it’s not clear that Nice can make lawsuits stick (it has reportedly filed a few so far). Estrosi doesn’t appear to grasp the concept of police accountability in the modern era, when cameras and fast internet connections are everywhere.

Not to mention that trying to prevent photos of police from surfacing online is akin to plugging a leaky dam with your finger… it’s going to be utterly ineffective. It’s simply too easy for anyone with a smartphone to post photos or video after an incident, and there’s nothing stopping lawsuit-averse locals from sending images to someone outside the country to make sure the truth gets out. The attempt to protect police officers (and really, to stifle criticism) may only create more of an uproar.

Via: TechDirt

Source: Numerama

Comedy Central is bringing a Snapchat show to prime time

Comedy Central is ordering a TV show starring, created by, and executive produced by comedian James Davis. This might be just like any other series announcement out there, except this show is based on Swag-A-Saurus with James Davis, a Snapchat series from Comedy Central.

You may recognize Davis from frequent appearances on Chris Hardwick’s @midnight, and the upcoming pilot he’ll star in (as yet untitled) was inspired by the Swag-A-Saurus Snapchat show, which happens to Comedy Centrals’ most watched program on the app.

The series is set to premiere in 2017, where Davis will explore topics inspired by his old stomping grounds, or “hood-adjacent,” as he says, South Central Los Angeles. If you’ve seen his Snapchat show, he routinely dissects popular slang terms and phrases like “bye, Felicia” or “meeking,” offering definitions and explanations in a funny, offbeat manner.

It’s interesting that a show is being repurposed from Snapchat to debut on television, especially as the show continues to post new episodes every Monday and will continue even when Davis’s series premieres.

If you’re interested in checking it out when it debuts, look for it on Comedy Central in January 2017.

Via: Deadline