Iraq built a gun-wieding robotic vehicle to take on ISIS
Iraq built an armed robotic vehicle, according to Baghdad Post, and it could be used to take back a town occupied by ISIS. Based on Defense One’s translation of the story, the robot is car-sized and tank-like, equipped with an automatic machine gun and a rocket launcher. It also has four cameras to be able to show operators its field of view, since it’s controlled using a laptop from a kilometer away. That distance means its operators still have to be on the battlefield, but at least they can stay hidden and safe while the machine does its job.
It’s not exactly clear who built this vehicle nicknamed “Alrobot” (that’s Arabic for robot). Baghdad Post credits two brothers for the effort, but it didn’t mention their names and their affiliations. A Twitter user said it was presented at a security and defense exhibit in Baghdad half a year ago, though, and provided a photo of it from the event, as you can see below.
Since details about the robot are scarce, one has to wonder how often Iraq plans to use it and if the country’s government is planning to build more. Elliot Zweig, deputy director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, shed some on the country’s plans for it. He told DefenseOne that the video with Baghdad Post’s story talks about how Iraq will deploy the robot to retake Mosul, a city in Northern Iraq that ISIS occupied in 2014.
@DefTechPat young Iraqis presentation in the security and defence exhibition in Baghdad before 6 months ago pic.twitter.com/eq0HmkDY0L
— Qari Iraqi (@nomorestans) August 19, 2016
Source: DefenseOne, The Baghdad Post
Video claims to show a redesigned PS4 slim controller
Earlier today Eurogamer took pictures and video of what appears to be a redesigned slim PlayStation 4, and now YouTube channel ZRZ is showing off what it says is the console’s new controller. The only immediately noticeable tweak is up top, where there’s either a second light bar or the DualShock 4’s touchpad is allowing the light to shine through. That could be useful for syncing up with the PlayStation VR headset or just taking advantage of games that use the light indicator to give the player feedback. Lat year when we asked Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida about his favorite use for the feature, he called out Bloodborne’s blood-red indicator.
New PS4 Slim Dualshock 4 with Light bar on touchpad pad VIDEO #PS4Slim #PS4 #DS4 #Leaked pic.twitter.com/mxscX7eWpH
— ZRZ (@ZRZtweet) August 22, 2016
Supporting the video’s legitimacy is that the same person who bought the redesigned PS4 that we’ve seen pictures and video of has confirmed it According to @shortman82, it seems to be a see through section on the touchpad, which should also mean it won’t impact the DS4’s battery life (which is notoriously short, and the reason Sony added the ability to dim the lightbar in 2014 via a software update). Of course, until something’s announced we won’t know for sure what is or is not on the way, but take a look for yourself.
Via: Destructoid
Source: ZRZ (YouTube)
Edible milk-based film preserves food better than plastic
Figuring out how to keep food fresh was a challenge seemingly met by plastics. But as it became clear that spooling out all that synthetic packaging was adversely affecting the environment, interest in greener methods of preservation has spiked. While most containers in your grocery store can be recycled, the thin film stretched over fresh-cut meat can’t be — and it’s not even that good at keeping food unspoiled. Now, US Department of Agriculture researchers have pioneered a drastically more efficient covering…and it’s made out of milk.
The new film is edible and biodegradeable, both of which beat the current starch-based version, but it also works 500 times better at keeping oxygen out. The researchers found that a milk-based protein, called casein, could be combined in powder form with water to form the basis of the new packaging material. To make it more practical, they added glycerol to soften it and citrus pectin to resist humidity and high temperatures. Voila — a new wrapping standard, to which vitamins and flavorings could be added according to taste.
This kind of packaging could surround dried coffee or soup packets that could be dropped in hot water instead of torn open, emptied and thrown away. Likewise for single-serving products that get their own wrappers, from shrink-wrapped pizzas to the humble Twinkie. But until companies take the initiative to fast-track the new material into their products, it could be years until USDA researchers bring it to the public, according to Bloomberg.
Source: Bloomberg
NASA regains contact with spacecraft after a 2-year silence
When mission crews lose contact with a spacecraft or lander for a significant amount of time, that’s usually a bad sign… ask the European Space Agency if you want to know why. However, NASA just showed why you shouldn’t always give up hope. It reestablished contact with STEREO-B, one of two probes studying the Sun and solar weather, after nearly two years of communications silence. The team had lost its connection during a test of the ship’s command lost timer on October 1st, 2014, but kept trying numerous recovery strategies (most recently using the Deep Space Network) until they heard back early on August 21st.
So what’s next? It’ll be a while before STEREO-B is back in action, and there’s no guarantees that it’ll pick up where it left off. The crew wants to check all of the craft’s subsystems, regain attitude control and determine the state of its observational skills before giving it a clean bill of health. Whatever the outcome, the contact itself is good news — both for science and for the mission members worried that they’d never again hear from their pride and joy.
Source: NASA
Netflix will offer an ‘Anne of Green Gables’ series in 2017
Netflix is fond of rekindling childhood memories, and its latest nostalgia trip is a big one. The streaming service is partnering with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Anne, a TV series based on the classic Anne of Green Gables novels you may well have read growing up. It’ll revolve around its namesake fiery, imaginative orphan and the effect she has on her small town. It won’t be shot on Prince Edward Island, alas (Ontario will have to do), but it will have some veterans aboard. Breaking Bad writer Moira Walley-Beckett is penning the first eight-episode season, while Whale Rider’s Niki Caro is directing and Beginners’ Miranda de Pencier is producing. You should see Anne both on Netflix and CBC TV in 2017.
That’s not the only notable work unveiled today, for that matter. Netflix has also unveiled plans for a new comedy series, Friends from College, that will be co-produced by Neighbors’ Nick Stoller and his wife Francesca Delbanco. The eight-episode first run will revolve around a group of Harvard alums and how well they’re faring in their forties. It’ll have a loaded cast that includes Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Jae Suh Park (The Big Short) and Fred Savage (The Wonder Years). Although there’s no timeframe for the debut, production starts in the fall — we won’t be surprised if it joins Anne as part of Netflix’s offerings next year.
Source: Netflix (1), (2)
What’s on your HDTV: ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ ‘Madden NFL 2017’
The Olympics were a nice diversion, but now it’s back to your regular summer programming schedule. AMC’s hardware hacking series Halt and Catch Fire is back, and Madden NFL 2017 is hitting consoles everywhere. FX’s The Strain brings its vampires back for another run, while HBO wraps up The Night of and Playdead’s latest game Inside arrives on PS4. 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 Huntsman: Winter’s War (4K)
- Ash vs. Evil Dead (S1)
- Snow White and the Huntsman (4K)
- The Nice Guys
- The Walking Dead (S6)
- Midnight Run (Collector’s Edition)
- DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (S1)
- Ratchet & Clank
- The Strain (S2)
- Lucifer (S1)
- Roots (2016)
- Narcos (S1)
- Blue is the Warmest Color (Netflix, 8/26)
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Worms WMD (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Hue (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Valley (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
- Metrico+ (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Madden NFL 17
- The King of Fighters XIV (PS4)
- Inside (PS4)
Monday
- So You Think You Can Dance, Fox, 8PM
- WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
- The Fosters, Freeform, 8PM
- American Ninja Warrior, NBC, 8PM
- Chris Harris on Cars (season finale), BBC America, 9PM
- Guilt (season finale), Freeform, 9PM
- Rizzoli & Isles, TNT, 9PM
- Cheer Squad (series premiere), Freeform, 10PM
- Adventure Capitalists (series premiere), CNBC, 10PM
- Major Crimes, TNT, 10PM
- Mistresses, ABC, 10PM
- The Making of the Mob, AMC, 10PM
- Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, TBS, 10:30PM
Tuesday
- Difficult People, Hulu, 3AM
- Casual (season finale), Hulu, 3AM
- America’s Got Talent, NBC, 8PM
- WWE Smackdown, USA, 8PM
- Pretty Little Liars, Freeform, 8PM
- Forged in Fire (season premiere), History, 9PM
- Halt and Catch Fire (season premiere), AMC, 9PM
- MadTV, CW, 9PM
- Dead of Summer, Freeform, 9PM
- Zoo, CBS, 9PM
- Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the LA Rams, HBO, 10PM
- Better Late than Never (series premiere), NBC, 10PM
- The View : 20 Years in the Making, ABC, 10PM
- Adam Ruins Everything (summer premiere), TruTV, 10PM
- One Shot (series premiere), BET, 10PM
Wednesday
- Penn & Teller: Fool Us, CW, 8PM
- Unsung: Howard Hewett, TV One, 8PM
- Big Brother, CBS, 8PM
- Suits, USA, 9PM
- America’s Got Talent, NBC, 9PM
- Dating Naked, VH1, 9PM
- Dual Survival (season premiere), Discovery, 9PM
- My Last Days, CW, 9PM
- The Night Shift, NBC, 9PM
- Catfish, MTV, 10PM
- Mr. Robot, USA, 10PM
- Tyrant, FX, 10PM
- Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons, HBO, 10PM
- American Gothic, CBS, 10PM
- The Night Shift, NBC, 10PM
- Unlocking the Truth, MTV, 11PM
Thursday
- NFL preseason: Falcons/Dolphins, NBC, 8PM
- Battlebots, ABC, 8PM
- Big Brother, CBS, 9PM
- Beauty and the Beast, CW, 9PM
- Ripper Street, BBC America, 10PM
- Lip Sync Battle, Spike TV, 10PM
- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, FX, 10PM
- Queen of the South, USA, 10PM
Friday
- XOXO, Netflix, 3AM
- Dawn of the Croods (S2), Netflix, 3AM
- Glitter Force (S2), Netflix, 3AM
- Jeff Foxworthy & Larry the Cable Guy: We’ve Been Thinking…, Netflix, 3AM
- The Kicks (series premiere), Amazon Prime
- NFL preseason: Browns/Buccaneers, CBS, 8PM
- Killjoys, Syfy, 9PM
- Dark Matter, Syfy, 10PM
- Ridiculousness, MTV, 10PM
- Superstore, NBC, 10:30PM
- The Eric Andre Show, Cartoon Network, 12AM
Saturday
- UFC Fight Night, Fox, 8PM
- Unwanted Guest, Lifetime, 8PM
- Aquarius, NBC, 9PM
- Boston EMS (season finale), ABC, 9PM
Sunday
- Celebrity Family Feud, ABC, 8PM
- Big Brother, CBS, 8PM
- The X Factor U (season premiere), AXS TV, 8PM
- Downton Abbey: I Miss Downton Abbey, PBS, 8PM
- 2016 MTV Music Awards, MTV, 9PM
- $100,000 Pyramid, ABC, 9PM
- Fear the Walking Dead, AMC, 9PM
- The Night of (season finale), HBO, 9PM
- Ray Donovan, Showtime, 9PM
- Power, Starz, 9PM
- The Last Ship, TNT, 9PM
- The Strain (season premiere), FX, 10PM
- Survivor’s Remorse, Starz, 10PM
- Braindead, CBS, 10PM
- Roadies (season finale), Showtime, 10PM
- Murder in the First, TNT, 10PM
- Talking Dead, AMC, 10:30PM
- Ballers, HBO, 10:45PM
- Motive, USA, 11PM
- Vice Principals, HBO, 11:15PM
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM
- Geeking Out, AMC, 11:59PM
(All times listed are ET)
Netgear Orbi WiFi System Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The satelline unit of an Orbi Wi-Fi System
Netgear
Ever since the debut of the Eero, a number of competitors have introduced similar devices, like the Luma or the Almond 3. Today Netgear joined this home mesh network movement with an announcement of its own: the Orbi Wi-Fi System that’s slated to be available next month for $400.
The Orbi system includes two devices, a router and a satellite wireless extender. The two come pre-paired out of the box. You connect the router to an internet source such as a cable modem, then place the Orbi satellite at the center of the home — and that’s it. Now your home is covered with Wi-Fi fast enough to deliver high-speed internet.
Basically, like all home mesh systems, the satellite unit connects to the router’s Wi-Fi network wirelessly, then extends that Wi-Fi network further using its own Wi-Fi broadcaster.
What makes the Orbi Wi-Fi System different, however, according to Netgear, is that it leverages a tri-band setup. This allows the two units to communicate using one band, then the satellite unit can use its other two bands to extend the Wi-Fi network. In theory, this helps eliminate the signal loss that always happens if the extender uses the same band for both receiving and extending Wi-Fi signals.
Though this is a tri-band system (which Netgear says has a combined Wi-Fi bandwith of 3,000Mbps), the Orbi will deliver a only single Wi-Fi network. In other words, you will see only one Wi-Fi name, instead of three.
Netgear says the band that’s used to connect the two devices is a dedicated 5Ghz 802.11ac band that has a top speed of 1.7Gbps, and that you won’t need to figure out where to best put the satellite unit as long as it’s placed at the center of your home. In reality, a 5Ghz band has relatively short range, so depending on how large your home is — as with all Wi-Fi extenders — finding the right spot to place the satellite unit for the best performance can still be tricky.
Netgear claims that the Orbi system can cover a home of about 4,000 square feet. The company says that by the end of the year, it will release Orbi systems that include more than two units as well as add-on units that you can use to expand an existing system, to further extend your Wi-Fi coverage.
To find out how the new Orbi Wi-Fi System stacks up against the Eero, check back next month for its full review.
Close
The Eero system does Wi-Fi like nothin’ you’ve seen
Drag
Fox starts the Bundesliga season with a soccer VR broadcast
Fox Sports and NextVR are at it again. The two have paired up for live sports broadcasts in VR before and now they’re bringing those immersive views to the pitch in Munich. This weekend marks the beginning of the Bundesliga soccer season in Germany, so what better way to celebrate the kickoff than with a virtual reality live stream. Friday’s matchup between defending league champions Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen will be available in VR for owners of Samsung’s Gear VR headset. What’s more, this is the first time Bundesliga action has been available in virtual reality.
So far, Fox and NextVR have collaborated on four virtual reality broadcasts. The first was Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) coverage back in January and the two companies followed that up with VR footage of both the Daytona 500 and Big East college basketball tournament. Fox owns the rights to Bundesliga broadcasts in the US, so if it were going to showcase a regular-season match, the German league is the one to cover. Game time is 2:30PM ET this Friday, so when the time comes fire up the NextVR app on the Gear VR and the match will be available via the Fox Sports portal free of charge.
Source: Fox Sports
What to do if your Instagram gets hacked – CNET
While on vacation last week (and right after discussing with my sister-in-law how her Instagram account got hacked earlier this year), I went to post a lovely shot from the shores of the Chesapeake only to discover that I was logged out of Instagram. An alert stated that someone in Russia had tried to access my account and in order to verify my credentials, I would need to reset my password via email or Facebook.
First, I tried the Facebook route because I had already linked the two accounts. Instead of getting me back into my account, my repeated attempts only resulted in the repeated message that Facebook had already authorized Instagram.
Next, I tried to reset my password via email. I immediately received an email from Instagram support with a six-digit security code. After carefully scrutinizing the email to make sure it wasn’t also an attempt from a hacker to access my account, I entered the code and was ready to get back to my Instagramming ways. No dice. The code didn’t match with my account email.
I made a second attempt at getting a security code emailed to me, and now it appeared as though my email had been removed from my account. I was locked out.
Matt Elliott/CNET
In a panic, I scanned Instagram’s help center and found a Contact us link. I quickly fired off an email describing my plight.
More Instagram news and tips
- Tips for using Instagram Stories
- Check out Instagram’s new Events channel
- 7 surefire ways to annoy your Instagram followers
In no time, I received a reply with a strange set of instructions and a nine-digit code. Again, I googled around to make sure that this email was, in fact, from Instagram and not a nefarious individual after my massive Instagram audience (95 followers!). After verifying it was the good people at Instagram I was communicating with, I followed the instructions, which were to reply to the email and attach a photo of myself. According to Instagram’s instructions, the attachment had to:
- Include the above code hand-written on a clean sheet of paper, followed by your full name and username
- Clearly show both the code and your face
- Be attached to your reply as a JPEG file
Thankfully, my Instagram feed includes the occasional selfie. I say “thankfully” because Instagram needs to match the attached photo to a photo of your from your feed so they can confirm your identity.
I submitted my mugshot and four hours later received a reply that stated I had successfully verified my account. The last step was to log out of Instagram on all of my devices (which, for me, was just my iPhone where I was already logged out) and click the link included in the email to choose a new password and log back in.
If you are reading this blog post because you are locked out of your Instagram account, I hope it helps to settle your nerves and ultimately regain access. I would also suggest posting a selfie or two now, if you haven’t done so already, if for no other reason than to give Instagram the ability to match your account to your mugshot, should it ever come to that.
How get the Android Nougat update for your Nexus device right now – CNET
Close
New features in Android Nougat
Drag
Google on Monday announced that Android Nougat will begin rolling out to Nexus-branded devices over the coming weeks. The latest version of the Android operating system adds dozens of new emojis, multiwindow support, direct reply from notifications, improved battery life and other features.
In addition to the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player, the update will also be available for the Pixel C and Android One devices.
Here’s how to check if the update is available on your Nexus device:
- Head to Settings
- Scroll down and select About Phone
- Click on System Updates
- Tap the “Check for update” button
How to jumpstart the update
Don’t want to wait for the update? We have confirmed that those users who are enrolled in Google’s Android Beta Program are being updated to the final version before others. You can sign up for the program here, click Enroll device and follow the same steps to check for an update as listed above. You should see the update available for download within a few minutes.
You can then unenroll from the program once you have installed Android Nougat. This method worked for me on a Nexus 6P and didn’t erase my personal information or apps. We have also confirmed it works on the Nexus 5X.
AIVAnet 