‘Carcraft’ is Waymo’s virtual world for autonomous vehicle testing

Earlier this year we watched as an AI kept driving straight into the water in Grand Theft Auto: V. Rather than use Rockstar Games’ crime-world magnum opus to train its self-driving vehicles, though, Waymo instead uses Carcraft. Named for Blizzard’s enduring online RPG World of Warcraft, it serves as a testing ground for the company’s autonomous efforts. Yes, Alphabet built its own virtual world to train self-driving cars.

The Atlantic writes that Carcraft began as a way for Waymo to recreate scenarios the autonomous cars experienced on the road. Some 25,000 virtual cars currently tool around “fully modeled” recreations of Austin, home base Mountain View and Phoenix, driving around 2.5 billion miles per day in 2016. Physical test vehicles logged about 3 million miles in the same time period.

“In that virtual space, they can unhitch from the limits of real life and create thousands of variations of any single scenario, and then run a digital car through all of them,” The Atlantic writes.

So, in effect, it’s a lot like simulation testing manufacturers use to determine a material’s strength, or, say, how many times you can open a door before the hinges wear out. Carcraft could be the key to Waymo’s self-driving efforts getting on the road faster.

There’s an awful lot more to The Atlantic’s story — including a trip to one of Waymos’ real-world autonomous testing “neighborhoods” — so be sure to check out the links below.

Source: The Atlantic

‘Ruiner’ is not just a cyberpunk ‘Hotline Miami’

Ruiner might be one of the most eye-catching titles showcased at Gamescom — something that’s hard to achieve when every company is bombarding you with posters, flags and bags at every turn. The aggressive, manga-styled protagonist and angry catch copy are difficult to ignore. It’s also the first title to come out of Reikon studio, an indie Polish team founded by veteran gamesmakers that had previously worked on The Witcher, Shadow Warrior and many more. (I really liked Shadow Warrior, okay?)

Cofounder Magdalena Tomkowicz explained how she had grown tired of big gaming projects, and wanted to recover the passion of making a game: this top-down shooter / slasher is the result of that. The Hotline Miami comparisons might be fair at the simplest level, but Ruiner seems to take that top-down gameplay mechanic in a very different direction. Oh and a bunch of angry techno soundtracks alongside sharp character and environment design help drive things along, even if it can be a little overwhelming at times. Shoot, slash, dash and let the blood splatter.

“At first [Ruiner] started off as a sort of cyberpunk Die Hard adventure, where you hacked your way up a building. Even at this point working on early ideas, we thought, ‘Wow, this is like a party’”, added Tomkowicz. “We then thought of taking the gameplay direction similar to Hotline and we were still looking for a graphics designer. We found Benedict Szneider, and showed him some early graphical references. He simply told us: No. Let’s do this in a different way,” she added. That’s how the Ruiner you see here started.

Tomkowicz jokes that for a lot of cyberpunk fans disagree that this can even be the right term. (“Not enough neon blue and pink!”) This isn’t cyberpunk, then, but it’s certainly inspired by it. As you tear your way through corridors and rooms, the environments wouldn’t look out of place in Ghost In The Shell or other near-future anime properties. There’s some Matrix-esque touches here and there too, but also a lot of run-down dirtiness. Think Syndicate Wars, think the original Alien movie.

The team says it look a lot of inspiration from Japanese animation — and that layer of misery and grit you’ll see smeared across the screen was another part of that. “The game should feel like you’re standing on the edge of a bridge, in the middle of the night,” explained Tomkowicz, half smiling.

First impressions might suggest a whole lot of mindless slashing and shooting, screen after screen, but there’s an elegance to combat that’s hinted at even during the introductory stages: you can pre-assign your “dash” locations to avoid fire, take out a few enemies and reach cover all in one tidy movement.

Not that I could manage that. Coupled with other augments (shields and furthers methods of destruction), and using both analog sticks to steer and shoot, there’s a steep learning curve that kept getting me killed.

Yes, the game isn’t easy, but I wouldn’t call it unforgiving, either. If you’re anonymous dot matrix-headed protagonist falls, he’s swiftly resurrected to a few screens earlier, and you’re back in the thick of it. The addictiveness has its drawbacks though — it’s an exhausting game, and I needed a breather after my short demo at Gamescom. For the team at Reikon, they’re still readying the game for PC and console launch September 26th — then there’s DLC incoming and then? “We need to rest”, said Tomkowicz.

Follow all the latest news live from Gamescom here!

FTC gives Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition the go-ahead

Amazon just got much closer to completing its purchase of Whole Foods. The Federal Trade Commission has decided against further pursuing an investigation into the $13.7 billion deal, arguing that there’s no evidence the mega-merger “substantially lessened” the competitive landscape. The FTC won’t rule out the possibility of an investigation if Amazon exhibits shady behavior down the line, but the internet retailer is otherwise in the clear.

At the same time, the wheels are turning inside Whole Foods itself: the grocery chain’s shareholders have voted in favor of the deal. The outcome wasn’t exactly unexpected (this was far from a hostile takeover), but it’s one less issue to deal with as Amazon tries to close the deal by the end of the year.

Whether or not Amazon’s deal is anticompetitive isn’t an easy answer. It’s true that this isn’t a conventional case of market consolidation, since Amazon only just got into physical grocery stores. However, the concern is that Amazon might dominate in the long term. While its internet shopping know-how could help it minimize food waste and otherwise improve Whole Foods, it could also misuse its knowledge to prevent comparison shopping and design reward systems that discourage you from switching stores. The FTC may be right, but it also hasn’t had to deal with an online powerhouse like Amazon making inroads into retail on this scale.

Source: FTC

Microsoft’s ‘Insiders’ can test Windows 10 S on any PC

Microsoft’s Windows Insiders program lets interested users test future versions of the operating system before they’re released to the public. While owners of Windows 10 S, Microsoft’s app-based light operating system, were able to try out experimental builds as Insiders, but it wasn’t the easiest thing to sign up for. Now, not only has Microsoft added shortcuts for signing up within the lightweight OS, they’ve built a slick installer that makes it easy for regular Windows 10 users to try it out.

The notes accompanying the latest batch of preview builds formally added Windows 10 S to the Insider lineup. If you want to test future builds of the lightweight OS, you can do so easily by clicking here. Keep in mind that only owners of the Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 10 can try it out, and you might want to familiarize yourself with the operating system’s capabilities and limits before you dive in — because installing it replaces your current OS.

Via: Windows Central

Source: Windows Blog

Uber grows in spite of scandals, but keeps bleeding cash

Uber’s endless stream of scandals doesn’t appear to have made much of a dent in its bottom line… not that the company is breaking out the champagne just yet. The ridesharing firm reports that its bookings surged in the second quarter of 2017 (150 percent more trips year-over-year, and 17 percent over the first quarter) despite a customer backlash, and it also managed to stem losses incurred from subsidizing fares and otherwise outdo its competition. However, those losses were still steep — Uber ‘only’ lost $645 million in the second quarter versus $708 million in the first, and $991 million in the fourth quarter of last year.

Notably, Uber doesn’t have to offer these numbers as a privately held company — it’s doing so in hopes of preparing itself for an eventual public stock offering.

The figures suggest that Uber is gradually reining in its costs, and it remains to be seen how both the ouster of Travis Kalanick and numerous policy reforms affect its finances in the long run. However, time is running out for the company unless it can find another big investor. Uber’s cash stockpile shrank from $7.2 billion at the end of the first quarter to $6.6 billion this latest quarter. Needless to say, it can’t afford to lose money at this rate for very long. Whoever the next CEO may be will have to turn things around quickly, whether it’s trimming costs or getting another lifeline from financial backers.

Via: Reuters

Source: Axios

Samsung Confirms Work on Speaker to Compete With Apple HomePod and Amazon Echo

Samsung is indeed working on a smart speaker that will be introduced in the near future, Samsung mobile president DJ Koh told CNBC this morning.

“Maybe soon we will announce it. I am already working on it,” he said in an interview following the Galaxy Note 8 launch.

Koh went on to say he wants to “provide a fruitful user experience at home with Samsung devices.” “I want to be moving quite heavily on it,” he added.

Apple’s HomePod
Koh declined to provide additional details about the company’s upcoming smart speaker, but a previous report suggests it will be built around Samsung’s Bixby virtual assistant. The speaker has been in development for more than a year, but has been hampered by problems with Bixby.

Samsung initially had to delay Bixby’s introduction in the English language version of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ due to performance issues, with the functionality being added to the devices just a month ago in in July.

There’s no specific launch date for the Samsung speaker, but with Apple planning to debut its own HomePod in December, Samsung’s competing device is unlikely to be too far behind. In July, Samsung’s speaker was said to still be in early development, with several features and specifications yet to be hammered out.

Apple’s HomePod focuses heavily on speaker quality as a way to distinguish itself from competitors like the Amazon Echo. It features a 7 tweeter array, an Apple-designed 4-inch upward-facing woofer, and an A8 chip that powers robust spatial awareness functionality.

It also includes touch controls for navigation, six microphones, built-in Apple Music support, and Siri integration.

Related Roundup: HomePod
Tag: Samsung
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Hulu’s Live TV Service Now Works in Mac and PC Browsers

Hulu’s Live TV service can now be streamed to a Mac or PC using Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and more, Hulu said in an announcement this morning.

With browser support, Mac and PC users can now stream Hulu content directly to their computers in addition to set-top boxes and mobile devices.

To date, we’ve offered Hulu with Live TV on multiple living room and mobile devices, but we know many of you have asked to access our service on your laptops and computers as well. So rather than wait until we’ve finalized our new Web experience, we’re opening up a basic version to Hulu’s live TV plan subscribers so they can stream live TV via their browsers. That means, you can catch the big game, this morning’s news or the premiere of “This is Us” wherever you are.

Hulu says development on its web experience is in the early stages, so it’s something of a bare bones integration at the current time. Hulu says the Hulu experience on the web will “evolve significantly” over the next few months, gaining features like point, click, and keyboard interactions and responsive pages to fit all screen sizes.

Hulu’s full live and on-demand catalog can be watched via a browser with the company’s first iteration. Customers can browse and watch live TV, see what’s on networks, and search for content.

Hulu Live TV subscribers who want to watch the service using a browser can find more information about how it works on the Hulu website.

Tag: Hulu
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Apple Notifying Customers Using Older Pro Apps About Incompatibilities With macOS High Sierra

Apple today started sending out emails to customers who are using older versions of its pro apps to inform them about impending incompatibilities with macOS High Sierra.

MacRumors readers Lee and Dane both received emails letting them know that macOS High Sierra will not work with Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio, both of which are 32-bit apps that last saw updates in 2010.

Our records show that you may be using applications included in Logic Studio. We wanted to share some important compatibility information about these applications and macOS High Sierra, which will be available this fall.

Older versions of Apple pro music applications — including applications in Logic Studio — will not launch on a computer running macOS High Sierra.

New versions of Apple pro music applications — including Logic Pro X and MainStage 3 — are compatible with macOS High Sierra. You can purchase these applications on the App Store.

A support document linked in the email directs users to an article that further outlines which versions of Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, and other software will work with macOS High Sierra.

According to the document, the following versions of pro apps are compatible with the macOS High Sierra update:

• Final Cut Pro X 10.3.4 or later
• Motion 5.3.2 or later
• Compressor 4.3.2 or later
• Logic Pro X 10.3.1 or later
• MainStage 3.3 or later

Customers running earlier versions of these apps will need to update them to ensure compatibility with macOS High Sierra.

macOS High Sierra is in the final stages of testing and will see a public release this fall. The update brings many under-the-hood improvements, including a new file system, new high efficiency video encoding, a Metal 2 graphics API, support for eGPUs and VR content, and more.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
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‘Shinobi Striker’ makes ‘Naruto’ a serious online fighter

Naruto is in a strange place right now. The long-running manga series ended in early 2015, before its anime adaptation wrapped up in March this year. The spiky-haired ninja saved the world and achieved his dream of becoming the Hokage, or rather the leader, of the Hidden Leaf village. But now there’s Boruto, a new series about his boisterous son. Both the manga and anime are relatively new and it’s not clear just yet if either will replicate the success of the original series.

That leaves Bandai Namco, the video game rights holder for Naruto, in a tough spot. The popular Ultimate Ninja Storm games allowed players to relive the events of the Naruto manga and anime, right up to the end of the first movie starring his son Boruto. But there simply isn’t enough story material to make a new Boruto game at the moment. While everyone waits for the new manga to accumulate a healthy lead, Bandai Namco is trying something different with a game called Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker.

The new title is a tactical, four-versus-four online brawler. Matches take place in large, three-dimensional arenas, giving players the freedom to move around, run on walls and jump across large chasms. For a Naruto game, this is pretty unusual. Most have opted for a traditional one-on-one fighter system with limited player movement on a small, circular stage. Shinobi Striker is expansive and built around two competitive modes, capture the flag and a control point-style “barrier battle.” Conceptually, these feel out of place in the Naruto universe, but they’re justified somewhat by the story, which is about some kind of ninja tournament.

While surprising, the team-based combat does have some deep ties to the show. In the Hidden Leaf village, ninjas are split up into three-person teams, typically with a fourth, older member to act as their teacher. “We wanted to put that in the game as a new experience,” Noriaki Niino, the game’s producer tells me through a translator. “And then, in the story, they say the most important thing for a shinobi is teamwork. So that’s what we wanted to show in this game and build a new experience around.”

The game is due in “early 2018” on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Right now, it still feels like like an early prototype. At Gamescom I was able to try a few flag battles set in one of the forests surrounding Konoha, where Naruto, Boruto and their friends live. The knocked-over tree trunks and barbed wire fences are reminiscent of the manga, but the space is still quite small and feels like a stadium, rather than a natural slice of Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto’s ninja world. Again, that’s all part of the “tournament” fiction, but I was hoping to feel a little more liberated in Shinobi Striker.

Capturing flags and running them back to your base can be quite mundane. A couple of times I was able to take a quiter “route” to the opposing base and pick up a flag undetected. Only once I was half-way back did someone notice and try to give chase, at which point I was disrupted mid-wall run and plummeted to my death. All of my progress was lost immediately. The combat, however, is exciting and true to the manga source material. Sasuke is able to shoot fireballs and Naruto has his classic “Rasengan,” a powerful ball of wind. Each character has a mixture of light and heavy attacks which, if successful, unlock more powerful “jutsu” moves and awakenings.

The iconic Naruto cast have been assigned one of four classes, which roughly equate to attack, defence, range and support. Much like Overwatch, success is dependent on understanding and utilising different team compositions. A big part of Shinobi Striker is the character creator, which let’s you customise and train a ninja from scratch. Unlike the traditional heroes, these avatars are able to switch style between respawns. So you might want to push aggressively at the start with three attack types, before switching to a more balanced squad to see out the match.

“There is no real, ‘best answer’ for what is the best team,” Niino says. “It all just depends on the situation.”

Bandai Namco says you’ll be able to train with the original Naruto crew and learn their jutsu. That includes Shikamaru’s shadow stitching jutsu and Choji’s spiky human boulder. For fans, this is pure wish fulfilment. It’s a chance to build their dream ninja by cherry-picking techniques from the manga’s most memorable characters. You won’t obtain them all right away, however. It would be a little silly, for instance, if you could instantly learn Amaterasu, one of the most powerful techniques in the Naruto universe.

Unlocking them won’t turn you into a one-hit K.O. machine, either. “If you could do that in the game, it would get boring,” he suggests. So while there are some power differences between the various jutsu, they’ll actually be quite small to maintain balance across the community.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to create my own ninja. There was, however, some pre-built custom characters that I could switch to before a match. They looked pretty generic, with standard ninja jackets and headbands, but hopefully there will be some crazier options in the final game. The Ultimate Ninja Storm series was always generous with its costumes, offering outfits both from different eras and outside the Naruto universe. Shinobi Striker seems perfect for this kind of treatment and could be a way for players to explore little-seen or discussed parts of the world.

I also found the characters to be a tad slow. Niino says that’s by design, however. “That’s on purpose,” he explains. “Because there are eight players on the field and if it’s too fast, you won’t be able to know what’s going on.” The team did try a faster version, but found it too quick for anyone to react or mount attacks properly. “So we kind of slowed it down a little bit,” he adds. Niino stresses that because the game is in an early stage, character movement and other factors, including audio and visual effects, could change before the final version.

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is being developed by Soleil, a subsidiary of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki’s company, Valhalla Game Studio. That will be a disappointment to fans of the stylish Ultimate Ninja Storm series created by CyberConnect 2. In all aspects, then, this new game is a gamble. But what better time to take a gamble then now, before the next story-driven adventure game set in the Boruto universe? Shinobi Striker’s competitive slant will be off-putting to some, but for those who crave a more serious fighter, this could be an engrossing spin-off.

Follow all the latest news live from Gamescom here!

Google search uses a medical quiz to help diagnose depression

Only half of Americans who face depression get help for it, and Google is determined to increase that percentage. As of today, it’s offering a medically validated, anonymous screening questionnaire for clinical depression if you search for information on the condition. This won’t definitively indicate that you’re clinically depressed, to be clear, but it will give you useful information you can take to a doctor. And importantly, the very presence of the questionnaire promises to raise awareness and promote treatment beyond what a basic information card would offer.

The questionnaire is part of a larger effort from internet giants to provide helpful and potentially life-saving information to people with mental health issues. Facebook is testing AI that can detect suicidal comments and make it easier to get help, while its Instagram service recently started offering support to users when their friends report concerning posts.

In many cases, they’re concerned both about offering a helping hand as well as making sure that you get accurate information. Google and others are determined to fight fake news, and they know that the consequences of false or incomplete medical information could be serious. If you need help, they want to be sure you get the appropriate support.

Via: Financial Times

Source: Google