Classic Hot Wheels cars are coming to ‘Rocket League’

It was announced a few days ago that real-life Rocket League toy cars are hitting shelves this spring. Now, the circle has been completed: Psyonix revealed this morning that it will introduce Hot Wheels to the Rocket League arena.

Beginning on February 21st, an update will allow users to purchase classic Hot Wheels models ‘Twin Mill III’ and ‘Bone Shaker’ as DLC. For $1.99 each, players get one of the cars along with exclusive wheels and six decals. Hot Wheels first introduced the Bone Shaker die-cast model in 2006, while Twin Mill III debuted in 2008 and is based on the original Twin Mill from 1969. Players who don’t want to shell out for DLC can still deck out their car with some Hot Wheels swag thanks to random post-match drops.

Source: Rocket League

Samsung’s QLED 4K TVs will start at $2,500

If you’ve been waiting to buy one of Samsung’s QLED 4K TVs, which were unveiled at CES 2017, today is your lucky day. The company is now taking pre-orders for its Q7 and Q8 sets, starting at $2,500 for a 55-inch, non-curved model. In case that’s not big enough, you could shell out $6,000 for a 75-inch Q7 or $4,500 for the curved Q8. What’s missing from this list is the flagship Q9 panels, which Samsung still hasn’t revealed pricing for.

As a refresher, the QLED lineup is intended to rival high-end TVs from LG and Sony, with the promise of Quantom Dots delivering a picture quality on par with OLED technology. Samsung says the Q7 and Q8 are expected to ship “late” February.

Via: The Verge

Source: Samsung

MIT and Segway’s robo-hackathon focuses on eldercare

Robots have become smarter and more useful over the last year alone, and Segway Robotics is turning to developers for ideas on more meaningful applications for its Loomo bot. For three days starting February 10th, the company is co-hosting the MIT Hacking Medicine Robotics hackathon in Singapore to create eldercare-based uses for Loomo. 75 teams, each consisting of three developers, a healthcare professional and a business manager, will work on ways to use Loomo to address elderly and medical care challenges in Singapore, where the population is rapidly aging. The winning teams’ creations will be tested in Singapore, and successful applications will be rolled out globally.

In addition to coming up with helpful applications for Loomo, the event’s organizers are also hoping to get participant feedback on how to improve the robot. Segway unveiled the latest developer version of Loomo at CES this year, and announced an array of partners that includes MIT, BMW and Intel. While MIT is focusing on healthcare applications for Loomo, BMW and Intel are exploring uses in autonomous driving and perceptual computing, respectively.

One in four Singaporeans is expected to require elder care by 2030, which puts a strain on the country’s healthcare industry, increasing its need for qualified workers. Singapore is not alone in its situation, either, as numerous other nations with aging populations face similar challenges.

The hackathon’s winners will be announced on February 13th at the EmTech Asia conference, after which they’ll see their projects funded and tested. Segway says more than 300 applicants signed up for the event, which is hopefully an indicator that people are brimming with ideas on how to ease problems in healthcare for elderly people.

DeepMind is using games to test AI aggression and cooperation

As our ability to create AI grows, it’s important that we assess how it behaves in different situations. DeepMind, Google’s AI division in London, has been concerned with one aspect in particular: what happens when two or more AI have similar or conflicting goals. The team wanted a test similar to the “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” a popular game that pits two suspects against one another. In this scenario, you’re given a choice: testify against the other person and you’ll go free, while they have to serve three years. If you both say yes independently, however, you’ll serve two years in jail.

It’s a dilemma without a simple answer. To test its AI agents, DeepMind developed two new games, called Gathering and Wolfpack. In Gathering, two colored squares are tasked with picking up “apples” in the middle of the screen. They can also fire a laser which, if accurate, removes the other character from the game temporarily. How co-operative or combative would they be? Unsurprisingly, the pair was quite peaceful at the start, collecting apples at a steady pace. As the fruit pile dwindled, however, they learned to become more aggressive and fire their laser at each other.

Like Prisoner’s Dilemma, the agents have to decide whether to “defect” and attack the other player. Curiously, they would become more hostile as their computational power was increased. The rate of firing would go up regardless of how many apples were left on screen too. The reason why is simple: aiming is complicated. It involves timing and tracking the other agent’s movement. Ignoring their behavior and simply seeking apples is an easier, but potentially slower route to success. As a result, the AI with lower cognitive capacity would tend to fall back on this basic strategy.

Wolfpack is a little different. It challenges two agents to co-operate in finding a third, fleeing piece of AI. Blocky obstacles are littered on the screen, so the teammates have to figure out when to flank and corner their opponent. DeepMind noted that here, higher cognitive capacity lent to more cooperation between the agents. That’s in contrast to Gathering, which produced more conflicts when the ‘smarts’ were increased. The differing results highlight the importance of intelligence, but also the game and its underlying ruleset. AI will behave differently depending on the task at hand and what’s required to be victorious.

The findings are important as humanity releases multiple AI into the world. It’s likely some will clash and try to either co-operate or sabotage one another. What happens, for instance, if an AI is managing traffic flow across the city, while another is trying to reduce carbon emissions in the state? The rules of the “game” which govern their behavior then become vital. Setting parameters, and being mindful of other agents, will be crucial if we’re to balance the global economy, public health and climate change.

Source: DeepMind

Taser bought two computer vision AI companies

Law enforcement agencies across the country are adopting body-worn cameras as a means both of increasing their transparency with the public and generating actionable feedback to improve officer performance. Problem is, all these body cams produce terabytes of data daily, far more than many departments can effectively handle. That’s why Taser (yes those guys, they make body cameras too) announced on Thursday that it has acquired a pair of companies that specialize in computer- and machine-vision to create the “Axon AI” group. Together, they’ll develop a platform that can efficiently parse this flood of data in real time.

The Axon AI group will include about 20 programmers and engineers. They’ll be tasked with developing AI capabilities specifically for public safety and law enforcement. The backbone of the Axon AI platform comes from Dextro Inc. Their computer-vision and deep learning system can search the visual contents of a video feed in real time. Technology from the Fossil Group, which Taser also acquired, will support Dextro’s search capability by “improving the accuracy, efficiency and speed of processing images and video,” according to the company’s press release.

The AI platform is the latest addition to Taser’s Axon ecosystem, which include everything from body and dash cameras to evidence and interview logging. Altogether the Axon system handles 5.2 petabytes of data from more than half of the nation’s major city police departments.

With the new AI system in place, law enforcement could finally get a handle on all that footage. “Axon AI will greatly reduce the time spent preparing videos for public information requests or court submission,” Taser CEO, Rick Smith, said in a statement. “This will lay the foundation for a future system where records are seamlessly recorded by sensors rather than arduously written by police officers overburdened by paperwork.”

Source: PRWire

Trump’s FCC head is doing exactly what we expected

The newly minted head of the FCC has only been in the job for a few weeks but has already begun to make changes. Ajit Pai is a vocal opponent of net neutrality, promising to “fire up the weed whacker” against his agency shortly before assuming leadership. The official has also been quick to launch a campaign to roll back many of the consumer protections that the FCC was instrumental in creating.

Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, was confirmed as the 34th FCC chairman on January 23rd to the delight of the telecommunications industry. Special interests expressed their approval via third-party proxies operating under the pretense of consumer advocacy. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance, for instance, said that it was excited to watch Pai “begin to undo the damage from ex-Chairman Wheeler’s tenure.”

Just five days into his tenure, one of Pai’s first moves was to suppress the FCC’s project to reform the set-top box market. The plan, dubbed AllVid, would have required cable companies to offer apps for third-party smart TV devices. That way, you’d be freed from the requirement to rent a cable box from your provider and use your Roku, Chromecast, Apple or Fire TV instead.

AllVid isn’t dead, per se, despite pressure from Republican lawmakers like Greg Walden, congressman from Oregon, and Marsha Blackburn, congresswoman from Tennessee. As Ars Technica explains, the project has simply been removed from the FCC’s list of items in circulation, placing it in limbo. Should Pai want to, he is technically able to present a revised plan, although it’s unlikely that he will.

Pai has also begun the process of undermining the principles of net neutrality by expanding the Title II order’s small business exemption. On January 27th, he widened the rules exempting small businesses from the Title II reporting requirements. Now, these outfits will not have to comply with regulations for an additional five years.

The FCC under Tom Wheeler struggled to protect municipal broadband initiatives across the country, thanks to onerous local laws. Pai isn’t interested in enabling cities or states to push their own offerings, preferring to back the private sector. The new chief has allocated $170 million in federal funding to cable companies to build out broadband infrastructure in New York State.

Pai also began working on a series of reforms to make the FCC much more transparent in its decision-making. The commission has begun a pilot program whereby the documents relating to its open meetings will be available online up to three weeks ahead of time. The intention, according to Pai, is to show the public how the commission operates and increase its engagement.

But just three days later, the FCC revealed that it would no longer brief the media about its plans as it had under Chairman Wheeler. Back then, the commission would offer details of its upcoming proposals to the press before meetings to enable proper scrutiny. Pai described this as “inappropriate and disrespectful of other commissioners” and will end the practice.

At the end of 2016, the FCC went in hard against AT&T and Verizon, accusing both of violating the spirit, if not the law, of net neutrality. The former, via DirecTV Now, and the latter, with Go90, are both “zero rated” services, which do not count against your mobile data cap. After all, the point of net neutrality is to ensure that all data is treated equally — the cornerstone of ensuring the internet remains a free and open market.

Pai disagrees and, as part of a “Friday-night news dump,” intended to bury bad news, cancelled the FCC’s investigation into zero rating. In a statement, Pai claimed that free data plans are “popular with consumers” and have “enhanced competition in the wireless marketplace.” He added that the FCC would “not focus on denying Americans free data,” but instead “concentrate on expanding broadband deployment.”

Speaking of which, another issue where Pai is taking a different tack than his predecessor is with the Lifeline program, which helps get America’s poorest online. Shortly before leaving office, former Chairman Wheeler approved nine companies to join the 900 or so that offer broadband to poor homes. Pai, however, revoked the licenses, including that of a company offering educational broadband to children in 41 states.

The Washington Post pointed out that Pai committed to closing the digital divide during his tenure running the FCC. But limiting the ability for the poorest people in the country from getting online seems to contradict his stated goal. Pai himself disputed this in a blog post defending the decision, saying that a delay in granting the licenses is necessary to prevent fraud.

Pai’s FCC is also retreating from other spheres where it had previously been responsible for protecting consumers. Under Wheeler, the agency had placed caps on telephone rates from prisons, which the agency described as “excessive” and “egregious.” Despite evidence that keeping contact with family reduces recidivism, inmates were charged up to $14 per minute. The new regime has decided to stop defending the decision in federal appeals court, which is likely to lead to the caps being lifted.

In just two weeks, then, Ajit Pai is already remaking the FCC in his own image and taking great strides to undo the policies of the Obama administration.

Chrome for Android adds WebVR support for the Daydream headset

If you have a Daydream VR headset, you may want to update your Android phone’s Chrome browser ASAP. Chrome’s stable version now supports WebVR, a JavaScript API necessary for experiences loaded on browsers to work on a VR device. Google introduced WebVR support in Chrome beta for Android last year, but now you don’t have to stick with the browser’s experimental channel anymore.

Megan Lindsay, Chrome’s product manager, listed a number of VR content you can load on your phone and view on Daydream right now. They include the 300,000+ celeb homes and tourist attractions on Matterport, as well as the Bear71 nature documentary. Within gives you access to award-winning virtual reality films, while Sketchfab features VR scenes from various videos games, anime and other sources. You can also pick up and play with objects using your Daydream controller on PlayCanvas’ WebVR Lab. This list is bound to expand, since Google is encouraging developers to sign up and make their creations viewable on Daydream.

You’ll of course have to use a Daydream-ready phone like the Pixel to access all those on the headset. But when Google launches WebVR support for other headsets like the Cardboard — and it plans to do so in the future — you can use other smartphones’ Chrome browser. The company is also working to add WebVR support to Chrome on computers for the sake of desktop VR headsets like the Oculus Rift.

Source: Google Daydream, Chrome

All Three New 2017 iPhones to Feature Wireless Charging This Year

Apple is widely rumored to launch three new iPhones this year, and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo now claims that all of them will feature wireless charging.

iPhone 8 concept by UI/UX designer Moe Slah
Kuo said wireless charging increases the internal temperature of smartphones, so he expects the rumored iPhone 8 with an OLED display and glass casing to have a new 3D Touch module with “additional graphite sheet lamination” in order to prevent the device from malfunctioning due to overheating.

An excerpt from Kuo’s research note obtained by MacRumors:

While we don’t expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation; this is because FPCB is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D touch sensor in OLED iPhone.

The new 3D Touch module could be up to $5 more expensive for Apple to procure per phone. While that is a minimal increase, it lends further credence to a report claiming the high-end iPhone 8 could cost upwards of $1,000 in the United States due to a significant redesign and the use of premium parts.

Kuo previously said Apple will switch to all-glass casing for next year’s entire iPhone lineup, including the more iterative 4.7-inch iPhone 7s and 5.5-inch iPhone 7s Plus, in order to support wireless charging. It remains unclear if the wireless charging will be based on long-range or inductive technologies.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tags: wireless charging, KGI Securities, Ming-Chi Kuo
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BeatsX Earphones Come With Three Free Months of Apple Music

One day away from their official launch, new information is beginning to come out about the BeatsX Earphones thanks to a couple of hands-on videos and reviews that have been posted online. In Jonathan Morrison’s newest video, titled BeatsX Wireless vs Apple AirPods, the YouTuber has discovered that all purchases of BeatsX come with a code for three free months of Apple Music, akin to users getting another free trial period of Apple’s streaming music service.

To get the three months of free Apple Music, all users will have to do is register their new BeatsX Earphones on the official Beats By Dre website and enter the code that comes in the box.

In the video, Morrison also discusses what he likes about the time he’s spent with BeatsX, including the ease of connectivity with the W1 chip and iCloud connectivity. The biggest advantage over the AirPods, according to Morrison, is the in-line remote control on BeatsX, which provide tangible buttons for volume and playback. On AirPods, users have to invoke Siri or use an iPhone or Apple Watch for these controls.

A few other unboxing and impressions videos were posted today, including one with a closer look at the traveling case included in the box posted by YouTube channel UrAvgConsumer. The video also takes a look at comparing BeatsX to other earphones with similar neck straps, as well as putting the new earphones to the test in terms of audio quality by listening to a variety of different genres.

With a launch tomorrow, interested users don’t have to wait much longer to get their hands on BeatsX. The earphones will launch for $149.95 on Apple.com, in Apple retail stores, as well as at other retailers.

Tag: BeatsX
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The best Valentine’s Day apps for a truly special day

Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to do something special for your significant other. Maybe an unexpected trip, flowers, or a fancy dinner reservation is what you need to make this a perfect day. If you’re looking for a little inspiration to help you sweep your partner off their feet, you need to check out the best Valentine’s Day apps for iOS and Android.

More: Forgot it was Valentine’s Day? Relax, here’s how you can still rock it

These Valentine’s Day apps cover everything from flowers to romantic getaways, so they should help you make it a truly memorable one this year.

Send flowers with: 1-800-Flowers

The most traditional thing to do on Valentine’s Day is to buy flowers for your loved one, but it can be even more special if they’re unexpected. 1-800-flowers is one of the most renowned services for sending flowers, plants, and gifts, to anyone, anywhere, anytime. If you want to send flowers, cookies, fruit, or chocolates, you can do it through this service. One of the greatest things about 1-800-flowers is that it not only works in the United States, but also around the world in 195 countries.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Book a last minute getaway with: Airbnb

This is the perfect app for a last minute getaway. You can book a home anywhere in the world. Options are divided into categories so you can search by price, neighborhood, amenities, and so on. It’s a great way to discover new and exciting places, and you’ll often get insider information from your host about where to visit.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Book a romantic dinner with: OpenTable

This is a great app to use not only on Valentine’s Day, but throughout the year. Nothing says “I love you” like a nice romantic dinner at a great restaurant. You can search restaurants and book reservations, even if they’re last minute. There are special offers from some restaurants, and a feature called Dining Rewards Program, which is like a frequent-flyer program, but for eating out. You earn points when you make a reservation using the app, and you can redeem them for a Dining Rewards Gift, or an Amazon Gift Card.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Send sweets with: Shari’s Berries: Dipped Strawberries & Desserts

Does your significant other have a sweet tooth? With this app you can send sweet strawberry treats that are beautiful and delicious, right from your smartphone. You open the app, choose your gift, then you can type a nice message for the person you’re sending it to. Once you get through the secure checkout, your strawberries will be hand picked, your gift will be hand wrapped, and it will be sent express, packed in ice, so that it arrives quickly and fresh.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Book a hotel with: Hotel Tonight

If you want to find a hotel to get away, but you didn’t book months in advance, then Hotel Tonight is a great option. You have access to 15,000 hotels in 35 different countries around the world, so it’s very likely that you’ll find what you’re looking for here. You can book hotels up to a week in advance, for the next day, or if it’s a spur of the moment decision, you can book for the same night.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Make a custom card with: justWink

Cards are often a great way to express the way you feel about someone you love. The advantage of justWink is that it allows you to send a card using your social media, like Twitter or Facebook, send it by email, or even use your Apple Watch. There are several categories to choose from, so this app is a keeper, even beyond Valentine’s Day. Not only that, but justWink also lets you choose to send someone a card to be hand delivered by your local mail carrier.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Make love with: iKamasutra ($3)

If you would rather keep your Valentine’s Day celebrations private and at home, maybe you want to surprise your significant other with some new skills in the bedroom. iKamasutra details hundreds of sexual positions in different categories, all nicely drawn and explained. The app also lets you track your progress through the positions and make a favorites list. Each position is rated by intimacy, complexity, and strength to help you find the right one for you and your partner.

Download now for:

Android iOS

Find poetry with: POETRY from The Poetry Foundation

You may not be a great poet, but you can always find great poetry to share with the one you love. After all, it is the thought that counts. You can search through a huge database of poets from Shakespeare to the great Pablo Neruda. Save your favorite poems and share them on social media. The search function is fantastic: even if you aren’t familiar with the name of the poets, you can just search by themes or categories. You’re sure to find some wonderful poems to start Valentine’s Day the right way.

Download now for:

Android iOS