Daimler is going all-electric with ‘Smart’ cars in North America

Smart, a subsidiary of Daimlerchrysler, announced on Tuesday that starting in 2018 all of its vehicles sold in North America will be of the electric variety. The company plans to stop selling the gas-powered Fortwo and Fortwo Cabrio in the US and Canada at the end of the 2017 model year.

“Developments within the micro-car segment present some challenges for the current Smart product portfolio,” Smart’s statement read. “As a result, Smart will discontinue sales of the gasoline powered Smart Fortwo and Fortwo Cabrio for the US and Canadian markets after model year 2017.”

If Smart’s sales figures are any indication, one of its biggest challenges is that there simply isn’t much demand for the tiny vehicles. Between low gas prices and America’s overwhelming preference for trucks, crossovers and other large vehicles, Smart only sold about 6,000 vehicles in 2016. That’s down from its 2008 peak when the company sold 24,622 cars, 30 percent of which were EVs.

Still, as the US slowly warms to EVs, this could provide Smart with an important toehold in that emerging market. Questions remain, however, as to whether Smart’s vehicles will ever really gain traction outside of cities or as secondary runabouts. Sure, an electric engine’s ability to instantly produce large amounts of torque will help with the Fortwo’s abysmal acceleration (really, what did you expect from a .9-liter inline-3?) but its 76-mile range is a far cry from what other EVs can offer and drastically limits the car’s usefulness on the open road.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: CNet

The Strong Museum will open a ‘Women in Games’ exhibit in 2018

“Women have indelibly shaped every aspect of the history of video games, and that story needs to be better documented and told.”

That’s Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong museum in Rochester, New York. This week, The Strong revealed its plans for a Women in Games initiative that aims to document the contributions of women in the fields of computer science and video games. Women are already included in The Strong’s existing exhibits and archives, but Dyson says their work has been “underappreciated” overall.

This isn’t a view that Dyson holds alone. We recently spoke with Anita Sarkeesian, the creator of Feminist Frequency, about the ways women are often underrepresented or misrepresented in the video game industry (and within games themselves).

The Women in Games initiative includes an interactive exhibit set to open at The Strong in September 2018, plus an online companion exhibit designed to be “a resource for scholars, students, and enthusiasts.”

ICHEG Associate Curator Shannon Symonds is leading the Women in Games initiative and she’s put out a call for interested folks to donate relevant materials, help collect artifacts or otherwise collaborate.

“For many decades, women have played key roles in the design, production, manufacture, marketing, and writing of video games, and yet their history in the gaming industry is too little preserved and too often underappreciated,” Symonds says. “The Strong’s Women in Games initiative will document and celebrate these crucial contributions through a concerted effort to collect, preserve, and interpret artifacts and archival material related to women in gaming.”

The Strong is also the home of the World Video Game Hall of Fame and the DICE Awards exhibit, which chronicles winners and stand-out moments from the award show’s 20-year history.

Source: The Strong

T-Mobile’s upgraded phone plan ditches the HD video day pass

Until T-Mobile improved its One plan this week, one of its biggest hassles was the HD video day pass. Even if you paid extra for unlimited HD, you had to enable a pass every time you wanted more than 480p streaming. Thankfully, that’s now in the past — T-Mobile tells Ars Technica that enabling HD will be a one-time affair from February 17th onward. So long as you remain on the same One plan, you won’t have to worry about turning it on again for that upcoming Netflix session.

It’s heartening news if you’re a video buff, especially since it eliminates one more barrier to switching carriers. However, there’s still a big question: if HD video is included and lasts forever, why not enable it by default? We’ve asked T-Mobile for comment, but logic would suggest that it still wants to keep the resolution low for customers that don’t care much about video quality. The approach lets the carrier keep network congestion down without annoying videophiles who want to see every last detail.

Source: Ars Technica

Scenes from Epson’s ‘Digital Couture’ show at New York Fashion Week

Since 2015, Epson has been giving up-and-coming designers an opportunity to show clothes made with digital printers at New York Fashion Week. This year was no exception. With the Digital Couture Project, the company is trying to push its line of textile printers as an alternative to handmade and heat-based prints, two of the most traditional fabric-design methods. These SureColor machines, which range from $8,500 to $26,000, can print on garments made from cotton, linen, nylon, polyester, silk or wool, letting designers choose from a wide range of materials when working on a collection.

As Epson tells it, the main benefit of this direct-to-print technology is a faster production time. For example, a piece that would have taken weeks to create by hand, or with a heat press, can now be finished in a matter of days. Designers also have more freedom to experiment with their designs, since they’re able to see what a product may look like more quickly than the analog process allows. That said, most of the 13 fashion design teams Epson brought to New York Fashion Week are just starting their careers, which means they don’t have the resources to have a SureColor printer in their own studio. Instead they rely on third-party services to make their prints.

Sarah Richards, who designed a collection for the Digital Couture Project, said she has worked with digitally printed fabrics for the past five years. Richards said she prefers this method because of the “unlimited” aspect of it, noting that she can create a line with fewer materials and in less time. Although it may not be the norm across the fashion industry, Richards added that consumers often can’t tell the difference between techniques. If anything, she said, “Digital prints have the tendency to wow people.”

I, for one, was rather impressed by the garments on display at the event — mostly because it’s hard to believe these designs came from machines that look like giant paper printers. The collections all featured different materials and styles, as you’d expect, and there were pieces for both men and women. While some designers went for colorful ensembles made out of silk, others chose more-subtle, cotton-based looks. The fashion crowd in attendance seemed to enjoy what they saw, at least based on how many Instagram and Snapchat stories I saw being posted.

Epson America’s Group Manager of Marketing Strategy, Mark Radogna, said the idea is to give the industry another tool to experiment with. He compared it to 3D printing and laser-cutting, which are now being adopted by iconic designers such as Karl Lagerfeld. “We’ve convinced [photographers] to go away from chemicals in making photos and do it digitally,” Radogna said, “and we’re just starting to do that now in the fashion space.”

Comcast’s all-in-one Xfinity Stream app arrives February 28th

Say goodbye to the Xfinity TV app as you knew it… not that you’ll necessarily mind. Comcast has unveiled a replacement mobile app, Xfinity Stream, that promises to cover just about everything you can do with your TV subscription. You’ll have in-home control, out-of-home live streaming and remote DVR access, but you’ll also get some of the features you’re used to from your X1 set-top box, such as music channels, favorite channel filtering, Common Sense content ratings and a Spanish guide. You won’t have to stay in the living room to get some of the nicer perks, in other words. The app reaches Android and iOS on February 28th.

The cable giant also tells Multichannel that Xfinity Stream will be the home for viewing its Stream TV service. Expect a rebranding, though — Comcast wants to change the name to avoid confusion when the offering launches nationwide later in 2017. Whatever it’s called, there’s no doubt that the upcoming app will be a catch-all for Comcast’s mobile video plans.

Via: Multichannel

Source: Comcast

Conway is ‘unclear’ who retweeted a racist from her account

Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President, came under fire Tuesday after someone retweeted a self-proclaimed white nationalist’s support for her from her official Twitter account. The user, Lib Hypocrisy, lauded Conway’s “strength and resiliency” for enduring “vile hatred, bigotry, and sexism from the unhinged Left” to which Conway’s account replied, “Love you back. Happy ❤️ ❤️ Day to the Hapless Haters.”

The tweet was deleted, though not quickly enough, it seems. When questioned by Buzzfeed News about the exchange, Conway claimed that “I don’t know who had access to my account.”

“I’ve never heard of Lib Hypocrisy obviously. I denounce whoever it is. I’m going to find out who’s tweeting it. It will be immediately deleted. Everybody makes mistakes,” she continued.

WATCH: @MLauer’s full interview with @kellyannepolls on departure of #MichaelFlynn https://t.co/PZ1PGtACUY

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 14, 2017

This has not been a good week for Conway (and it’s only Tuesday). Today host Matt Lauer called her out on-air this morning for giving nonsensical answers. Compounding that, the US Office of Government Ethics has officially recommended that the White House reprimand her for publicly endorsing Ivanka Trump’s products during her recent appearance on Fox News.

“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would tell you… I hate shopping but I’m going to go get some for myself today,” Conway said during the Fox and Friends interview. “I’m going to give it a free commercial here, go buy it today.”

Conway has been criticized repeatedly over the past few weeks for not only coining the term “alternative facts” but also repeatedly referencing the “Bowling Green Massacre,” a terrorist attack that never happened. While there’s no means of confirming whether or not Conway herself wrote that retweet, the fact that it was published at all is yet another faux pas for a presidential administration that has been beleaguered by missteps since coming to power in January.

Source: Buzzfeed News

Many Apple Watch Models ‘Sold Out’ Ahead of Possible Spring Band Refresh

It’s been five months since Apple launched a new line of band options for the Apple Watch alongside the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 7 last September. Now, Apple.com has a few notable stock shortages of Series 2 bundles and — to a lesser extent — single band options for the Apple Watch, likely indicating an incoming spring collection of Apple Watch bands. New Apple Watch hardware is expected for later in 2017.

The same shortage phenomenon occurred last summer, ahead of the new bands that launched in September. While hardware updates have been less frequent, Apple has kept new band lineups on a seasonal release cycle approximately every six months, solidifying the Apple Watch as an ever-changing fashion accessory in the company’s eye. Since the original Apple Watch launched, there have been four seasonal collections: Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, and Fall 2016. New bands potentially arriving in the next few weeks would mark the first band collection of 2017.

Tracked on the U.S. Apple.com store, the largest shortages for Apple Watch Series 2 bundles are mainly for models with Woven Nylon bands. Of the six Series 2 models that include Woven Nylon bands, five have models that are listed as “Sold Out” on Apple.com and in the Apple Store iOS app. Conversely, all aluminum Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2 models with Sport Bands were available to buy at the time of writing.

Out-of-Stock Apple Watch Bundles

Apple Watch with Aluminum Case

– 38mm Silver Aluminum Case with Pearl Woven Nylon
– 38mm Gold Aluminum Case with Yellow/Light Gray Woven Nylon
– 42mm Gold Aluminum Case with Toasted Coffee/Caramel Woven Nylon
– 42mm Rose Gold Aluminum Case with Space Orange/Anthracite Woven Nylon
– 38mm and 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Woven Nylon

Apple Watch with Stainless Steel Case

– 38mm and 42mm Stainless Steel Case with Saddle Brown Classic Buckle
– 38mm Stainless Steel Case with Midnight Blue Modern Buckle (all band sizes)
– 42mm Stainless Steel Case with Midnight Blue Leather Loop (both band sizes)
– 38mm Stainless Steel Case with Link Bracelet
– 38mm Space Black Stainless Steel Case with Space Black Link Bracelet

The only in-stock Woven Nylon model is the Rose Gold Aluminum Case with Light Pink/Midnight Blue Woven Nylon, and a couple of Stainless Steel bundles are also readily available to purchase, including the basic White Sport Band, Black Sport Band, and Milanese Loop options. Every model of the Apple Watch + Nike is in stock, while every Hermès model is in stock save two: Stainless Steel Case with Rose Jaipur Epsom Leather Single Tour and Stainless Steel Case with Fauve Barenia Leather Single Tour Deployment Buckle.

Out-of-stock Apple Watch Bands are far less numerous than they were last summer, ahead of the Series 2’s introduction in the fall. In June, MacRumors reported upwards of 35 different Apple Watch bands marked as “Sold Out” on Apple.com; today, just five bands are unavailable. In both 38mm and 42mm Classic Buckle, the Sea Blue, Midnight Blue, and Red colorways are sold out, while in the 38mm Modern Buckle, the Midnight Blue and Black options are currently unavailable.

That leaves a plethora of other Apple Watch bands on the store for users to purchase, including every Sport Band and Woven Nylon Band. Some bands available have lengthy shipping estimates, like the Midnight Blue Leather Loop’s 6-8 week delivery window, but most will arrive in the mail with Apple’s usual 1 day speedy delivery, and up to 2 days for free shipping.

Apple Watch stock shortages aren’t terribly uncommon, with some bundles and bands occasionally selling out months ahead of a refresh, but given Apple’s commitment to timely band releases and the number of models currently out of stock it’s likely that the company will introduce a similar refresh of Apple Watch bundles and bands in the coming weeks. The Spring 2017 collection could also see the launch of an all-new band material, similar to the debut of Woven Nylon a year ago next month, although no specific rumors about new materials have surfaced.

A full hardware refresh isn’t expected until later in the year, perhaps alongside the iPhone 8 in the fall, but it’s not yet clear if it will mark the Apple Watch’s first major design overhaul or another evolution of the basic design profile that debuted in 2015. Rumors have suggested the third-generation Apple Watch will put a focus on improving battery life and performance and may not feature other major changes.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tag: Apple Watch bands
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
Discuss this article in our forums