US Army looking to resupply troops via mortar bombardment

The US Army is working on a new means of rapidly resupplying its troops using hollowed out artillery shells. The system, while still in its concept phase, could eventually help deliver critical ammunition and medical equipment to its forces, even in the middle of a firefight.

The proposed system, dubbed the Ammunition Resupply Projectile (ARP), uses a standard mortar round that’s had its explosive payload removed. Instead, that cavity can be packed with up to 150 5.56-millimeter rounds, surveillance equipment — even submunitions to target enemy forces.

Once the round hits the apex of its flight, the outer shell will detach from the payload, which ejects towards its intended target. To keep the cargo from being smashed when the mortar hits the ground, the shells are equipped with a “a steerable decelerator system,” according to the Picatinny Arsenal. A GPS receiver and electronic navigation system help guide the rounds. The ARP system has a reported range of several kilometers yet is accurate to within 10 meters of its programmed target.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: US Army

Capy is making a game for Cartoon Network’s new show

If the words “multimedia tie-in” bring back memories of bad video game adaptations and lame comic books pushed by marketing groups to promote feature films, then clearly the 80s and 90s have scarred you too. Cartoon Network’s upcoming animated series OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is getting its own game, which would seem gimmicky if not for the the studio they brought on to make the show’s companion: Capybara Games, creators of the acclaimed Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery and Super Time Force. The game, an “action brawler with RPG elements,” will come out this fall.

/// NEWS! Capy has teamed up with @cartoonnetwork to collaborate on OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes https://t.co/nO7mWt0JLp pic.twitter.com/s0z9fWRWcr

— CAPY (@CAPYGAMES) March 9, 2017

The new series by Ian-Jones Quartey, based on his animated shorts released last year, follows K.O. and his mallrat friends hanging around a hero-populated shopping center as they level up and fight bad guys. Clearly, this meta premise bodes well for Capybara Games, which loaded its previous titles with sly genre-aware comments and dialogue. The show is set to come out this summer with the game to follow on console and PC in Q3 2017 — but if you’re at PAX East this weekend, you can play a preview version starting on Friday, March 10th.

Via: The Hollywood Reporter

Source: Capybara Games

Logitech Z337 with Bluetooth review

Research Center:
Logitech Z337 with Bluetooth

With so many wireless speaker options out there, the lowly PC speaker seems like something of an anachronism. On the one hand, investing in a set of PC speakers, all the way up to full surround-sound 7.1 setups, still makes sense for gamers and maybe video buffs who use their PCs for watching movies and TV.

On the other hand, if you’re primarily worried about playing the usual PC sounds, along with a fair amount of music, then a portable Bluetooth speaker begins to make some sense. After all, you can still plug most wireless speakers into your PC via auxiliary audio cable, and then enjoy the flexibility of unplugging them and carrying them around to use with smartphones and the like.

The Z337 provides good sound for the price.

Logitech decided to split the difference with its Z337 speaker system. It’s a rather typical 2.1 PC setup that requires A/C power and plugs in via audio cables, but it also has a twist. It’s Bluetooth-enabled, and so it can also work with smartphones and the like along with a PC, for some added convenience.

The Z337 isn’t terribly expensive at $100, which is $20 more than the Logitech Z333 speakers that have the same components, but without Bluetooth connectivity. Are they worth the added expense?

Lots of features in a compact design

The Z337’s components come packed tightly in their box, covered in plastic and segregated in cardboard containers that eschew any foam or padding. Upon pulling them out, one is struck with their rather non-descript, roughened matte finish that seems like it’s trying to look futuristic and modern. Unfortunately, the design and materials scream “plastic” instead.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The satellites are rather typical boxy rectangles with see-through fabric-covered drivers placed prominently in the center of the cabinets. They’re angled just slightly upward to direct the sound toward the listener’s ears, which isn’t adjustable — so hopefully they’re set at a good angle for your environment.

More: Transform your desktop into a concert hall with these computer speakers

The subwoofer is a big box with a large driver in the middle and a port on the left side, and it serves as the central wiring cabinet for the entire system. The satellites plug into the back of the subwoofer via 70-inch color-coded proprietary cables, which complicates positioning. If you’re accustomed to placing a subwoofer under your desk (perhaps you don’t want to spend hours optimizing subwoofer placement with your PC speakers), then you might be hard-pressed to place your satellites on the top of your desk.

Located in the back of the subwoofer is also the 3.5mm output jack, and the included cable is rather short as well. Of course, the Z337 system is Bluetooth-enabled, so you’re not tied to cables. If your PC has a Bluetooth adapter, then you can bypass the cable concerns completely and connect that way. Or, you can use the Z337 wirelessly — or via the headphone jack — with your smartphone or tablet. There are a few combinations available to you.

Once you’ve paired a device via Bluetooth, then you can start and stop wired and wireless devices at will. In fact, you can play both sources at once — plugging in a wired connection does not disable the Bluetooth connection. Theoretically, you could play music from your smartphone while still hearing your PC’s system sounds.

The Z337’s setup is controlled by a wired remote that provides a volume dial, an on-off switch, and a button for Bluetooth pairing. Pairing via Bluetooth is a simple process of pushing the button until the light flashes blue and white, then initiating pairing on the desired device. The Z337 supports Bluetooth 4.1 with a rated 15-meter line-of-sight range.  A 3.5mm headphone jack is also provided in the remote, which is a nice convenience.

Decent sound, within limits

The Z337 has a single 8-watt driver in each satellite, and adds in a 24-watt subwoofer to provide a total of 40 watts of power. Peak power is rated at 80 watts. Accordingly, the speakers put out a fair amount of sound that should cover the typical desktop space well.

More: Rock out, dance, or just nod along with the best Bluetooth speakers

Logitech clearly put some emphasis on lows with the Z337, hence the “Bold Sound” moniker it appended to the system’s marketing materials. There’s a knob on the back of the subwoofer for controlling the bass, and that’s a good thing. You’ll likely want to adjust the bass based on the type of music, because things can get very booming very quickly. Hip hop and rap benefit, but generally it can be a bit much and lower mids can get completely lost in just about any other genre.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Despite the sheer power provided by the subwoofer, highs still manage to be prominent. They can even be a bit shrill at times, with a brightness that pops on occasion and can become distracting. As with everything else about the Z337, it’s not that highs are poorly handled, exactly, it’s just that you won’t really find yourself marveling at their clarify.

More: IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors review

Midrange is where the Z337 falls apart a bit. If you turn bass way down, then you’ll be able to better pick out female vocals and the like, but it’s not hard for the lows and the highs to dominate and the midrange to get somewhat lost.

Setup is controlled by a wired remote.

We ran the Z337 through a range of musical genres to give them a bit of a workout. Overall, they were good enough for just about anything we threw at them, but we wouldn’t classify them as particularly nuanced or detailed. They also struggled with some difficult pieces. For example, the drum intro in Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher can be a challenge for any set of speakers, and here there was some distinct clipping throughout while the bass shuffle was muddied and lost a good bit of its impact.

These are PC speakers first and foremost, so they’re also going to be used by many people for the usual PC and gaming audio and for TV and movie streaming. They provide plenty of volume for the typical desktop space, and the strong bass means that action movies and games gain some impact. They could even be used to add some audio punch to the living room TV in a pinch — if your living room is small enough, of course.

Logitech Z337 with Bluetooth Compared To

Polk Hampden

JBL Pebbles

Harman Kardon Nova 2.0

Definitive Technology Incline

KEF X300A

Monster Clarity HD Model One

Pioneer S-DJ05

Hercules XPS 101

Logitech Z523

Edifier E3350 Multimedia Speaker

Audioengine A2

Yamaha NX-U10

Logitech mm28

Logitech Z3 2.1

JBL Invader 4.1

Our Take

Ultimately, we like the Z337 as full-time PC speakers and part-time Bluetooth speakers for smartphones. They provide good sound for their price point, but anyone expecting highly detailed and nuanced music will be disappointed.

What are the alternatives?

The DT Accessory Pack

AmazonBasics 3.5mm male to male stereo cable

$7

Plugable USB Bluetooth 4.0 low energy micro adapter

$14

iXCC RCA cable

$8

There are hundreds of alternative PC speakers in the same price range as the Logitech Z337. In fact, Logitech offers a few themselves, such as the Speaker System Z523 and the Z625 Speaker System with THX. Perhaps the best alternative is the Z333, which can be had for $80 if you’re willing to give up Bluetooth. One could argue that the Z333’s sound quality at $80 is a much better fit as a PC speaker, while anyone looking strictly to play music could go with a higher fidelity – and more expensive — set like the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors.

How long will they last?

These speakers are going to sit in one place and are reasonably well built, so there’s no reason to suspect that they’ll wear out very quickly. And with RCA, 3.5mm, and Bluetooth inputs, they cover just about every conceivable device that you’ll likely want to plug into them over the next few years.

Should you buy it?

If you really want Bluetooth connectivity in your PC speakers, then the Z337 is a good choice. If you’re just looking for a decent-sounding set of PC speakers, then go with Logitech’s own Z333 instead and save a few bucks.

Game of Thrones season 7 premiere: When, how, and where to watch it

Tired of being the only person who doesn’t know who Jon Snow is or what the heck “winter is coming” means?

No worries. Now’s the time to jump on the Game Of Thrones bandwagon. You have until this summer to catch up on the past six seasons, because HBO has just announced when season seven will premiere. The much-hyped return will surely be a hit, as fans have already been told they should only expect 13 total episodes left in the series, so everyone will be eagerly tuning to see what Jon Snow does as the new king of the North.

Oh, and they’ll get to Cersei, who’s now completely childless, sitting on the Iron Throne. But, for how long – especially with Daenerys finally going back to Westeros? Here’s everything you need to know about the premiere, including when, how, and where to watch it.

HBO

What is Game of Thrones?

In a nutshell: Author George RR Martin is writing a series of fantasy novels, entitled A Song of Ice and Fire, and the show Game of Thrones is an adaptation of the entire fantasy series. It premiered on HBO in the US in 2011. The story arc follows a bunch of families and people who are all either competing to sit on the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms or fight for independence from it.

The show has received critical acclaim and garnered 38 Primetime Emmy Awards and several other award nominations.

When does season 7 premiere?

We finally have a date for the seventh season of Game of Thrones. But it’s still a long way away yet. It will return on 16 July 2017.

Where and how can you watch it?

US

HBO will broadcast the season seven premiere at 9pm EST in the US. The live-stream will likely be available at the same time via HBO Go (which requires a cable subscription) and HBO Now (a cord-cutter service that costs a monthly premium).

UK

Sky Atlantic and the NOW TV online streaming service will simulcast the episode at 2am on 17 July, followed by a repeat of the show at 9pm.

Is there a season 7 premiere trailer?

Not yet. But HBO did release a teaser, which you can watch below.

John Carmack sues ZeniMax for unpaid acquisition money

Oculus CTO John Carmack has personally joined the litigation war between his company and ZeniMax. He has just filed a lawsuit against the media firm for refusing to pay the rest of what it owes him for id Software’s $150 million acquisition in 2009. Carmack co-founded id Software in 1991, and it’s best known for developing the Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake video game franchises. The CTO says ZeniMax still hasn’t paid the last $22.5 million of the price they agreed upon. It also sounds like the company has no intention of paying up.

In the copy of the court documents that UploadVR got its hands on, Carmack’s suit says ZeniMax has been refusing to pay due to the “claimed violations of Mr. Carmack’s Employment Agreement and ZeniMax’s alleged intellectual property rights.” If you’ll recall, it sued Oculus for $4 billion, accusing the exec of taking id Software technology with him to build the Rift headset. ZeniMax scored a partial victory after a jury awarded the media firm $500 million — a result Carmack publicly slammed — but it still wasn’t enough. It also asked the court to stop Oculus from selling Rift headsets.

In a statement sent to UploadVR, ZeniMax criticized Carmack who it says is “lacking in remorse” and seems to welcome the chance to face him in court:

We have reviewed John Carmack’s latest legal complaint which is completely without merit.

We note that this is Mr. Carmack’s second complaint against ZeniMax. In the recently completed trial of ZeniMax Media Inc. et al v Oculus VR et al, in which Mr. Carmack was a named Defendant, and in which ZeniMax was awarded $500 million in damages for misappropriation of its intellectual property, Carmack had counterclaimed, seeking damages for ZeniMax’s alleged violations of his employment agreement. The jury flatly rejected Mr. Carmack’s complaint, and found for ZeniMax. Mr. Carmack was personally found guilty by the jury of the theft of ZeniMax’s property, including thousands of confidential ZeniMax documents he secretly took when he quit his employment, and his theft of the entire source code to id’s latest game, RAGE, including the id tech 5 engine. In addition to those crimes, it was revealed by an independent court-appointed computer forensics expert, that upon receiving notice of the Oculus lawsuit, the files on Mr. Carmack’s Oculus computer were intentionally wiped–destroying the evidence, and that a sworn affidavit Carmack filed with the Court denying the wiping was false. The wiping occurred right after Mr. Carmack researched on Google how to wipe a hard drive. And there was much more.

Apparently lacking in remorse, and disregarding the evidence of his many faithless acts and violations of law, Mr. Carmack has decided to try again. We look forward to presenting our response to Mr. Carmack’s latest allegations in Court.

Source: UploadVR

Samsung-linked scandal takes down South Korea’s president

The same scandal behind the arrest and indictment of Samsung exec and heir Lee Jae-yong has resulted in the removal of South Korean president Park Geun-Hye. Parliament impeached Park on December 9th over charges including bribery and corruption for allegedly trying to squeeze money out of large companies in return for favors. Today’s unanimous court decision by eight judges ends a 92-day leadership crisis and triggers the process for a new election to take place within 60 days.

Developing…

Source: CNN, Yonhap News, Korea Times

What is Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat, how do they work, and when can you use them?

Days after Microsoft announced a release date for its Slack competitor, Teams, Google has introduced its own workplace chat offering.

Companies are increasingly taking an enterprise focus when it comes to chat services. Facebook, for instance, offers Workplace, a mobile and web app that aims to keep your team members connected, while Microsoft has Teams, and then, of course, there’s Slack, the app that kicked-started this trend in which businesses now require purpose-built tools to help their employees communicate.

These tools are more popular then ever because, as Google noted, more than half of the workforce is expected to “contribute remotely by 2020”. They need something that will help them to connect over video, and their chat experience has to be collaborative. So, with that in mind, Google has turned Hangouts into two services, Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat, which are aimed at bringing teams together.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new Hangouts.

• What is Slack and how does it work?
• Facebook Workplace: How does it work and when can you use it?
• Microsoft Teams is here: A Slack-like app that’s part of Office 365

What is Google Hangouts?

Google Hangouts is a unified communications service that enables text, voice, or video chats, either one-on-one or in a group. Hangouts is built into Google+, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Voice, plus there’s Hangouts apps for iOS, Android, and the web. It’s essentially a useful and cost-effective collaboration platform for the average person as well as enterprise customers.

How has Google Hangouts changed?

Hangouts Meet

Google has described Hangouts Meet as “a new video meeting experience with one goal: make joining meetings effortless”. The company wanted to improve Hangouts to make it easier and faster for people start and join video conference. Hangouts Meet is designed to have a “light, fast interface and smart participant management”. It even allows up to 30-person meetings.

Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat is “an intelligent communication app for teams that takes direct messaging in Hangouts and evolves it to reflect the way modern teams talk business,” according to Google. The idea behind it is that teams working on a project should be able to discuss tasks, share work, and more. So, Hangouts Chat offers virtual rooms with threaded conversations and integration with other Google products, like Drive.

How does Hangouts Meet work?

Video conferences

To start your meetings, you’ll simply share a link. There will be no accounts, plugins, downloads, or hassles required. People can click on this link from Google Calendar, an email invite, or an ad-hoc share. And if you’re dialing in from a conference room, your laptop, or a dedicated mobile app, Google said it will be “just a few clicks and you’re in”, though it’s being vague on details right now.

Presentations

Hangouts Meet offers native, full-screen presenting, which Google said makes it easy to showcase your team’s projects.

G Suite integration

G Suite is a package of cloud-based services that can provide your company or school with a new way to work together online. You get a domain name and access to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and other core G Suite services like Google+, Blogger, and now Hangouts Meet. Meet integrates directly with G Suite. And for G Suite Enterprise customers, each meeting has a dedicated dial-in phone number.

How does Hangouts Chat work?

Virtual rooms

Hangouts Chat features dedicated, virtual rooms for each project your team may have – and they consist of: threaded conversations, so your team can chat and track the progress of the discussion; deep integration with G Suite, so you can share content from Drive and Docs, or you can view things like photos and videos directly from conversation; and filterable search so you can search back through old discussions.

Third-party integrations

Hangouts Chat is a platform, too, so that means you can expect third-party integrations in the form of bots, which will allow your teams to do more within their conversation. Google said it has already teamed up with companies like Asana, Box, Prosperworks, and Zendesk.

@Meet

Hangouts Chat features @meet, which Google has described as an “intelligent bot built on top of the Hangouts platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to automatically schedule meetings for your team with Hangouts Meet and Google Calendar”. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Google Assistant bot it introduced in the Allo chat app last summer.

When will Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat be available?

Hangouts Meet is generally available now and will gradually roll out to all G Suite customers “over the next few weeks”. G Suite customers will be able to apply to try Hangouts Chat through the Early Adopter Program. Go here for more information about that.

How much does Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat cost?

You can use Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat as part of your G Suite package. Go here for more details on pricing for each plan. The basic plan starts at $5 per user per month.

Is Hangouts going away?

No. Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat are essentially the enterprise counterparts to Allo and Duo. The current Hangouts app isn’t going away just yet, and we imagine it’ll be updated in the future to reflect some of these new changes.

‘Gran Turismo Sport’ closed beta kicks off March 17th

Like seemingly every Polyphony Digital game, Gran Turismo Sport has been a long time in coming… but you might not have to wait much longer to give it a spin. Polyphony has announced a Gran Turismo Sport closed beta that will start March 17th for PS4 owners in the US, with other countries following later. Just which cars, races and tracks you’ll get will “vary” throughout the test, but you’ll definitely get a taste for how your Driver Profile (which accounts for your on-track behavior and performance) matches you up with similarly skilled online rivals.

You won’t be racing all day, at least not at first. The team is borrowing a page from Nintendo and will only open its servers at certain times. In this case, it’s to make sure American beta hours are “matched to the development team in Tokyo” and deliver ideal feedback. Don’t panic if you can’t play, though — Polyphony is promising “larger” beta access, so you might not have to wait until launch to see if the studio’s first PS4 racer is worth the protracted development cycle.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Marines had swapped nude photos of female soldiers since last May

Last Saturday, the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that a Facebook group, Marines United, had been distributing nude photos of servicewomen for some time. US Naval authorities immediately began investigating hundreds of Marines, but more details have emerged in the days since — including the discovery of another image posting board where users traded photos of women from all service branches, even requesting some by name.

Sources pointed Business Insider to the site, called AnonIB. It apparently had a section dedicated to service members, which was used as a photo request-and-exchange forum since at least last May. Threads asking for revealing images of female service members — “wins,” as they were termed — specified by name, unit or where they were stationed. Photos were found across the internet, some self-posted from services like Instagram.

After the story broke, users were still posting on the Facebook group (since taken down) asking for the photos. Allegedly, replies pointed users to a Dropbox account “Girls of MU,” where some photos were uploaded. A Dropbox spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that said images have been taken down.

Spokespeople for the armed branches have condemned the actions of service members exploiting their peers. Today, two female soldiers identified themselves as victims of the illegal photo sharing ring, urging others to similarly step up and meet the Marines’ top commander, General Robert Neller.

Source: Business Insider

Google updates G Suite with new Google Drive services for business customers

Why it matters to you

Businesses and corporations now have new tools and better control over files shared and edited across teams, better data archiving, and more in the G Suite platform and Google Drive.

During the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco, the company introduced several new Google Drive tools for the enterprise sector. These include the official public rollout of Team Drives along with Google Vault for Drive, Drive File Stream, and a few more. The tools are part of Google’s G Suite subscription-based platform offering versions of Gmail, Google Drive, and more packed with enterprise-focused features.

For starters, Team Drives first made its appearance for testing at the end of 2016. It provides an assigned team of individuals with a shared space in the cloud. Administrators can add new team members when needed, manage the sharing permissions, and keep a watchful eye over every Team Drive used by the company. Team members can leave the group whenever they want, but the files uploaded to the shared space will remain intact.

More: Google is bringing native add-on support to Gmail

Next is Google Vault for Drive. This service targets the archiving and “eDiscovery” needs of the enterprise by enabling corporations to export, search, hold, and retain their data stored on Google Drive. Examples include files stored on Team Drives, Google Groups data, email messages, and more. The typical use of Vault spans from audit reports to legal holds to setting retention rules for archiving data.

As for Drive File Stream, it’s available now in the Early Adopter Program. This service doesn’t require users on a Mac or PC to download their files locally before viewing or editing. Instead, files are automatically streamed when accessed from Google Drive. That essentially means teams aren’t waiting for files to sync or worrying about the storage space on their device. All files are streamed “on demand,” but they can be stored locally too for offline access when needed.

“With Drive File Stream, you can work with Drive files directly from the apps you’re used to, like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop,” Google states. “Any changes you make to files in those apps are saved automatically to Drive and can be accessed from any of your devices later.”

Finally, subscribers can use Quick Access with Team Drives through iOS and Android devices. Coming soon to the web as well, this service is based on the company’s machine intelligence that will “surface” files stored on Google Drive based on intelligent predictions. The artificial intelligence analyzes the Drive’s activity, interactions between colleagues, and workday patterns to determine what files are most relevant in a search. Behavior examples used by the AI include frequently shared files, the times of relevant meetings, and more.

Outside those four new features for Google Drive, the company also announced its acquisition of AppBridge. This company developed a migration tool of the same name for the G Suite platform, enabling organizations to move their data from other storage solutions to Google Drive. It supports migration from on-premise devices, cloud services, and “hybrid solutions.” File permissions are also brought over during the migration process.

Organizations wanting to jump on the G Suite train can contact Google here.