Reykjavik would choose dystopia over climate change
Iceland’s capital city has announced a daring new plan to become carbon neutral by 2040, but to do it, it’ll embrace ideas from the big playbook of sci-fi dystopias. Mayor Dagur B Eggertsson has put forward a plan that’ll impose a restriction on building outside the city limits in order to reduce urban sprawl. Rather than build out and constantly expand the city, companies will be required to build up to create an ever-denser locale. At the same time, it’ll ensure that all vehicles, both public and private, will run on green energy by 2040.
This push towards densification is in order to reduce the wasteful effects of personal transport, which is wildly less efficient than its public alternative. Right now, only four percent of the city’s residents use the service, but there’ll be a push to get that figure up to 12 percent by 2030. That’s also the deadline for a dramatic increase in pedestrian and cycle traffic, up from 19 percent today to more than 30. Not only will that reduce air pollutants, it’ll also ensure a healthier population that gets more exercise in their daily routine.
Reykjavik is better placed than many to meet these targets, since it already survives on a healthy diet of renewable energy. The city’s electricity is generated at a series of hydroelectric plants while each home is heated by geothermal sources. Some sources peg Reykjavik’s non-sustainable energy uses at 25 percent, which is used for cars, aircraft and fishing boats.
When we talk about increasing density in cities, it can often send your mind firing straight for some of the worst examples in sci-fi. Blade Runner’s miles-high apartment blocks or Judge Dredd’s megacities in which a tower becomes a city in-and-of itself. If handled, well, density is nothing to be afraid of, although many of the best examples of high-density living are also some of the worst adverts for it.
For instance, architecture student Vincent Ocasla managed to “beat” the game SimCity by creating an ultra-dense city of six million. Magnasanti is a triumph of city design on the macro level, and a totalitarian disaster for its residents. City-dwellers never have to travel further than their city block, eliminating the need for motor vehicle transportation. But there’s also no green space, sickening air pollution, high unemployment and a life expectancy of just 50 — the sick population being used to prevent rebellion.
That was just a video game, and not the example that any sane city planner would want to adopt, of course. It’s not likely to become so hellish in an Icelandic city of just 120,000, but it’s worth bearing in mind should anyone propose a similar plan for New York. At least unless some of that leftover space is used for inner-city gardens.
Via: Reuters
Source: Reykjavik
Pluto’s moon Charon got its red toupée from the dwarf planet
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft showed us a part of Charon we’d never seen before: a rusty red section crowning its polar region. It’s an intriguing feature, something the mission’s ground team hadn’t seen before, so they spent the past year studying all the data and images the probe sent back. Now, they have their answer. The red cap is apparently the product of methane gas escaping the dwarf planet itself and freezing solid in the frigid pole. Team leader Will Grundy, likens Pluto to a “graffiti artist, spray-painting its companion with a reddish stain that covers an area the size of New Mexico.”
While NASA scientists already suspected that methane gas was behind the curious coloring, it’s only now that they’ve come up with the model to explain the process. See, Pluto has weak gravity that allows its atmosphere to escape, and the moon’s gravity is strong enough to capture methane gas. It just so happens that the temperatures in Charon’s pole can drop to as low as -430 Fahrenheit during wintertime, which can last for over a hundred years.
Methane itself has no color, but it transforms into a reddish organic material called “tholin” due to a process triggered by ultraviolet radiation. These tholins can stick to the pole even though it’s no longer winter, making that area permanently red. The team now believes it’s possible that other small planets in the Kuiper Belt with their own small moons could exhibit “atmospheric transfer features,” as well. Of course, we won’t know for sure until we see them, and if the New Horizons team is lucky, the spacecraft could find a similar moon in its exploration of the Kuiper Belt.
Source: NASA, Nature
‘South Park: The Fractured But Whole’ delayed to early 2017
South Park: The Fractured But Whole is set to hit PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in the first three months of 2017, a slight delay from its initial release date of December 6th. Ubisoft announced the date change in a two-sentence update on the Ubiblog.
“The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal,” the announcement reads.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (man, that name never gets old) is a follow-up to the 2014 role-playing game South Park: The Stick of Truth. It was a solid first showing from show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but the duo say they’ve learned a lot from that initial release. Even PewDiePie’s playthrough gave them ideas on how to improve the new game, apparently.
When The Fractured But Whole (still not old) finally hits the market, don’t expect it to come with any ready-made DLC options. Stone and Parker have been vocal about their resistance to producing DLC as a way to generate cheap cash from content on the cutting-room floor, though they have some ideas about extra scenes they might add to the new game down the line.
Source: Ubiblog
Report: Apple is a sexist, toxic work environment
Apple made improving its employee diversity a focal point in recent years — but the company is still dominated by men. Women only make up 32 percent of its total workforce, and that imbalance has reportedly manifested itself in some very ugly ways. Mic has obtained a number of emails from female Apple employees and prospective employees, and their comments paint a picture of a sexist workplace in which women face discrimination, harassment and a “toxic” work environment.
Some of the complaints Mic reported on include a female engineer whose “male-dominated” team made jokes about an office intruder coming to “rape everyone.” The jokes caused that engineer to email CEO Tim Cook, who did not respond to her complaint. Another female employee said she was in a meeting with a dozen other men and no other women; the conversation turned to how all of their wives and significant others were nags, a conversation that the team’s manager let go on unchecked. This employee was also told to “smile more” by a male area manager.
Yet another employee said she feared retaliation from her co-workers for reporting their behavior. Someone eventually came to investigate her concerns and even admitted that she was in a hostile work environment. But the choices she was given amounted to staying in her current position or being demoted to a job that paid less on a different team. The employee took the demotion.
She also told Mic that a number of employees quit, citing a “white, male, Christian, misogynist, sexist environment” — and those employees were not given exit interviews because they company didn’t think their departure was a concern. “Their departure is being written up as a positive attrition,” she said.
These concerns weren’t confined to female employees, either. Mic spoke with a male former Apple employee who had complained about the toxic environment to multiple people at the company, including Cook. This employee said that his co-workers would say he was having his “man period” as a way of insinuating he was overly emotional and unreliable. I would consistently be referred to as an emotional man that resembled having the qualities of a woman,” he wrote in an email obtained by Mic. “Any male can tell you that being referred to as a woman is an insinuation that you are not strong enough or stable enough to handle the difficulties of life or work in the way a man can.”
Yet another female employee says that she was never given the opportunity to apply for two advanced positioned that she was “more than qualified for.” The positions were never posted externally; instead, her male boss selected two men to fill them. This employee filed a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing on August 4th to investigate how Apple treats women in leadership positions; she also emailed Cook about her concerns without a response.
An Apple spokesperson gave Mic a statement in which it said it takes these types of complaints “very seriously” and that it thoroughly investigates each situation, but that it doesn’t discuss specific incidents for the sake of privacy. If the problem is indeed as widespread as this report makes it appear, though, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear the company make a more declarative statement sooner than later.
Source: Mic
HBO Now will soon arrive on PlayStation 3 and 4
Cord cutters who own PlayStation consoles: Now is your time to shine. Sony has announced today that HBO Now, the channel’s standalone on-demand service, will soon be available on all PS3 and PS4 systems, (This includes the recently announced PlayStation 4 Pro). What’s more, both HBO and Cinemax are coming to PlayStation Vue, Sony’s streaming TV service, for $15 a month each. This is an especially big deal for cord cutters, as this marks the first time either network has offered live programming as a standalone service. That’s right: live programming, and not just the on-demand shows like you would get on HBO Now.
And here’s a nice bonus. If you do subscribe to HBO through PS Vue, you’ll be able to access the aforementioned HBO Now on Sony’s game consoles completely free of charge. Existing HBO subscribers could already access the channel’s content through HBO Go, which launched for the PS4 last year. The PS Vue service is available through not just the PS4, but also through Roku, iOS and Android apps.
These streaming offerings will launch prior to October 2nd, which coincides with the launch of a new HBO series called Westworld.
Searching GIFs in iOS 10’s iMessage briefly turned up porn
As happens occasionally in huge operating system overhauls, Apple’s iOS 10 caused some mayhem as phones and devices tried to update and ran into trouble — with some devices even getting bricked. Though they announced a quick fix to the issue, others have cropped up in the days since, including today’s snafu: porn GIFs surfacing in iMessage’s new search. News spread after Deadspin found a very adult one of a My Little Pony character while searching the word “huge,” while The Verge received reports of female-on-male fellatio appearing after a woman’s daughter looked using the word “huge.”
Both terms have since been added to some sort of blacklist that brings up no results when searched for, a collection that already included some obvious offenders. A few searches still produce some provocative GIFs, like “power” as noted in the screenshot above. The search was built on Bing, so at least we know who didn’t ensure that Apple’s bundled feature was as squeaky-clean as the company wanted it to be. But since a search for “sub” produces a non-sexual yet very graphic GIF of Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero ripping a man’s head and spine from his body, so it’s unclear what level of appropriate they’re going for. Animated gore in, naughty stuff out?
Via: The Verge
Source: Deadspin
Indonesian government may ban over 80 LGBT apps and websites
While homosexuality isn’t technically illegal in Indonesia, it’s extremely frowned upon in society. That extends to the digital realm, like when the country’s Information and Communications Ministry pressured social app Line to remove LGBT themes and stickers back in February. While that and other government statements reportedly stoked anti-gay sentiment through the spring, they began drafting a bill to ban pro-LGBT sites in March. Yesterday, officials from multiple agencies exited a closed-door meeting at the Communications Ministry ready to block over 80 apps and websites in the country in an unprecedented crackdown.
The meeting was originally held to review a police request to block Grindr and 17 other apps they allege were used in a child prostitution ring, according to Buzzfeed, but the ministry expanded the list to include other pro-LGBT services. But the bans seem to come from a larger moral panic within the government.
“We would be pleased if the communication ministry blocked [gay apps] without hesitation because the smell of pornography is so strong on them, such as exhibiting nudity,” Ericson Siregar, an officer with Indonesia’s National Police Criminal Investigations Department told Buzzfeed.
Though this government action alone might resurrect anti-LGBT sentiment, others worry that this is an opening salvo to carve out US services from Indonesian internet. Communications Ministry Head of Investigations Teguh Arifiadi told Buzzfeed that they’ve already requested that Google remove three apps, Grindr, Blued, and BoyAhoy, from the country’s Play store. They could, and likely will, proceed with takedown requests for some or all of the 80 other sites and services they reviewed.
90 percent of Indonesia’s 255 million people are Muslim, and efforts to cull pro-LGBT apps and websites has been enthusiastically endorsed by religious organizations and officials. But the anti-gay pushback could be related to a greater rejection of Western values that some conservative Islamic clerics see brought in by US internet titans. True, Indonesian religious authorities are also combating the influence of radical Islam from overseas which are also using Facebook and Twitter for their own agenda. But time will tell whether the anti-LGBT online crackdown stops at curbing app and website interaction or is part of a larger campaign for Indonesia to seal its cyberspace off from influences its government doesn’t condone.
Source: Buzzfeed
Apparently, that ‘Monster Hunter’ movie is still happening
Films based on video games really don’t have the best track record. From 1993’s Super Mario Bros. to this year’s Warcraft, these movies almost always seem to lack whatever it is that resonates with fans of the games they’re based on. What’s the next potentially disappointing adaptation? Monster Hunter, apparently. Speaking at Tokyo Game Show, Capcom’s Ryozo Tsujimoto revealed that a live-action adaptation is currently under development.
The announcement was almost an afterthought to a new trailer for Capcom’s Monster Hunter Stories, though Tsujimoto was careful to note that the two projects were unrelated. “While it isn’t related to Stories,” he said, “there is a Hollywood movie adaptation of the main series in progress.” It’s not the first time we’ve heard about such a project, either — in 2012, Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson showed interest in making a Monster Hunter film. There’s no indication that Anderson is involved in the current film, however, and Tsujimoto didn’t offer any details on director, release date or cast. Still, one more major video game franchise is heading to the silver screen. Will you see it? Tell us all about it in the comments below.
US consumer safety group recalls the Samsung Galaxy Note 7
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7, noting that its lithium-ion battery can overheat and catch fire. This follows a recall that Samsung itself implemented in early September. Shortly after this initial rollback, the CPSC published a statement urging anyone with a Galaxy Note 7 to power it down and stop charging it, and Samsung said it was working with the safety group on an official government recall.
Samsung says that the overheating issue affects just 24 per 1 million devices, but the company isn’t taking chances. On top of a global recall of 2.5 million devices, the company plans to launch a software update on September 20th that limits the Galaxy Note 7’s battery to a 60 percent charge.
Since news of the fire hazard broke, the Federal Aviation Administration and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have warned against bringing the Galaxy Note 7 on both planes and trains, respectively. Samsung lost $26 billion in market value in the weeks following the recall.
Developing…
Source: CPSC
The Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $50 on Bose QuietComfort 20 headphones
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.
HiFiMan HE400S Headphones
Street price: $300; MSRP: $300; Deal price: $250
The first good drop we’ve ever seen on these headphones, despite tracking them for a long time. It’s rare to see any discount on these at all, let alone a $50 discount.
The HiFiMan HE400S are our pick for the best open-back headphones under $500. Brent Butterworth said, “Unbelievably spacious and natural sound—along with unusual versatility—makes these the only open-back headphone all of our panelists loved.”
“The HiFiMan HE400S headphones were the only ones of all those we tested for this guide that every panelist agreed was worthy of our recommendation. Not only do we feel it (arguably) matches or exceeds the performance of any under-$500 headphone we tested, it’s comfortable to wear and it’s relatively affordable for about $300.”
Bose QuietComfort 20 Headphones
Street price: $300; MSRP: $300; Deal price: $250
This is only the second time we’ve seen a great deal on these headphones. We’ve had them as a pick for years, and the first sale we saw was about a month ago. This deal matches that low price. This is for the black Android version, which has a slightly different remote than the white Apple version.
The Bose QuietComfort 20 are our pick for the best noise-cancelling in-ear headphones. Geoffrey Morrison wrote, “The Bose QuietComfort 20 offer significantly better noise reduction than any other in-ear headphone.”
For more detail about the noise reduction, “the main takeaway is that at certain frequencies, the QC20s drop the ambient sound by 45 decibels. This is an incredible amount. To put this amount in perspective, the average noise levels inside an airplane and a library are roughly 45 dB apart.”
Crock-Pot Programmable Cook and Carry Oval 6-Quart
Street price: $50; MSRP: $60; Deal price: $40
This deal comes within a couple of dollars of the lowest price we’ve seen it before, and is the first decent deal we’ve seen in a few months. Outside of a lightning deal, this is pretty close to the best price you’ll see on this slow cooker. This deal is only for the silver model of the Crock-Pot.
The Crock-Pot Programmable Cook and Carry Oval 6-Quart is our runner-up pick in our guide for the best slow cooker. Christine Cyr Clisset wrote, “If you find you need a timer that goes longer than 14 hours (which is the upper limit on the Set & Forget), we recommend the highly reviewed and easy-to-use Crock-Pot Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker. It does cook for 20 hours, compared with the Set & Forget’s 14, and looks more up-to-date (because it is); we like its handles and locking mechanism a little better, too.”
Z-Edge Z3 Dash Cam
Street price: $106; MSRP: $200; Deal price: $90
Here’s a decent $16 drop on our pick for the best dash cam. This dash cam has been featured in a couple of lightning deals before, and this sale matches the price from the last lightning deal. Since the last few notable deals have either been lightning deals or incredibly brief, it’s unlikely that this price will last long.
The Zero Edge Technology Z-Edge Z3 is our pick in our guide for the best dash cam. Eric Adams wrote, “The affordable Zero Edge Z3 hits all the marks with great video quality in the wide 2560×1080-pixel format across a range of difficult outdoor light. Though the Zero Edge Z3 was a late entry in our testing, it impressed us with its high-quality video and build, which is on a par with dash cams that cost almost twice as much. It also includes a 32GB microSD card, making it an even better deal. Combine that with the best mount of any camera we looked at, video footage that is easy to see fine detail with, rock solid build quality, and easy setup, user interface, and installation, and you have a camera that easily beats the competition.”
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.
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