EU holds first cyber wargame to test its response

The past couple years have seen a growing amount of foreign interference in elections, both in the US and in Europe. The European Union’s defense ministers held a cyber wargame to test their response to coordinated physical and social media attacks. Given the unrest stirred up by misinformation campaigns and hacking efforts, the time is ripe to prepare against such simultaneous warfare.

The simulated scenario saw hackers disable an EU naval mission in the Mediterranean while discrediting the EU’s efforts on social media to spike unrest and protests. The defense ministers spent the 90-minute exercise addressing the catastrophes while mock news alerts updated officials.

The cyber wargame was suggested by Estonia and hosted in its capital city of Talinn. The Baltic nation has held the EU Council presidency since July and made cybersecurity a focus of its six-month tenure in the office. It’s a particular concern for the country, which shares a border with Russia and was hit by cyberattacks coming from its neighbor in 2007.

Source: Reuters

Relive the first 11 seasons of ‘South Park’ on Blu-ray this fall

While we tend to post more about South Park video games around here, television’s most crass social satire is equally important, really. To that end, Paramount Pictures has just announced that the entire 11-year run of South Park will be available on Blu-ray this fall for the first time. The individual seasons will come as a two-disc set, with the first five seasons available on November 21st and the following six seasons available on December 19th.

This new Blu-ray release will include never-before released uncensored episode commentary by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Season 1. This is South Park‘s 20th year on air and will return for a 21st season on September 13th. The show has received five Emmy awards and a Peabody award during its filthy, hilarious run on television.

The latest ‘South Park’ game is hardest if you choose a black character

South Park writers Matt Parker and Trey Stone haven’t ever really shied away from social commentary (president Donald Trump notwithstanding) and that doesn’t look like it’s changing with the upcoming South Park: The Fractured but Whole. When creating your character in the make-believe superhero game, Eurogamer discovered that the darker the skin tone you choose, the more the difficulty level ramps up. “Don’t worry, this doesn’t affect combat, just every other aspect of your life,” perpetual jerk Eric Cartman says in voiceover.

In a vacuum, this is par for the course for the source material. One of its black characters is named “Token,” for example. You could call it a nod to comedian Louis C.K.’s joke about life being on easy mode if you’re white, too. But when Cartman’s superhero is “The Coon” (something that’s been in the show for years) the combination could strike as tone-deaf. You can spot it at the 5:40 mark above.

But again, this isn’t new for South Park’s brand of satire. Whole’s PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 prequel, The Stick of Truth, had a character class called “The Jew.” Cartman’s fantasy-inspired character class was “grand wizard,” a not-so-subtle reference to a rank in the Ku Klux Klan.

Eurogamer found that when selecting your character’s gender, the game has a clever solution in place for Truth’s male-only option: granular offerings that more or less retcon the previous game’s story. School counselor Mr. Mackey will make a phone call to your character’s parents; catch it in action at the 44-minute mark below.

“So the whole King and stick of Truth thing, she was actually a girl the entire time?” the comically large-headed counselor asks. You’re then asked to clarify if you’re cisgender or transgender, and that means another call to your parents.

“It still tracks with The Stick of Truth, yes it does. She was definitely a girl the whole time. Yes of course. I get it,” he says, relaying the parents’ side of the call to the player. It’s a smart way of addressing that the previous game only offered one gender to play as.

The game has been delayed a few times (much like its predecessor), but it’s scheduled to come out this October 17th.

Source: Eurogamer

‘Killer Instinct’ on Steam supports Xbox One and Windows 10 cross-play

More and more games are supporting cross-play between Xbox One and Windows 10 as part of Microsoft’s big “Better Together” summer push. But the newest Killer Instinct is opening the doors between those systems and Steam, allowing players on all three platforms to jam together.

While Killer Instinct hasn’t even been released on Steam, the latest update for the game opens it up to those playing on Valve’s platform. The feature might be toggled on and off after it first deploys, which is just the developers tinkering with it in the background to work out the kinks, according to an Xbox blog post. Even if they close off play for Steam users temporarily, they’ll keep it on for in-network (i.e. Xbox One and Windows 10) players.

It’s a neat move, and perhaps independent PC platforms are the right partners to start knocking down the walls separating siloed systems. If the recent Ark: Survival Evolved kerfuffle is anything to go by, Microsoft and Sony still won’t make nice and enable their fans to play together.

Via: Windows Central

Source: Xbox Wire

iCloud Mail Unavailable for Some Users

Apple’s iCloud Mail servers seem to be experiencing some downtime, with multiple reports on Twitter suggesting the service is unavailable for a number of users.

iCloud Mail issues appear to have started just before 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, which is around when we here at MacRumors first noticed problems with our own accounts.

Affected users are seeing pop up alerts when attempting to access their iCloud Mail messages. Some alerts are blank, while others let users know there was a problem loading Mail.

At this time, Apple’s System Status page is not reporting any outages. It’s not clear how many people are experiencing problems with Mail, but not everyone is affected.

Tag: iCloud
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Fitness App ‘Streaks Workout’ Available for Free as Apple’s App of the Week

Each week, Apple chooses an “App of the Week” to highlight in the App Store, making it free to download for seven days. This week’s pick is a fitness app called Streaks Workout, which is normally priced at $2.99.

Streaks Workout was first launched in December of 2015 and has never before been free to download.

Described as a “personal trainer that you actually want to use,” Streaks Workout is designed to offer up exercises that require no equipment and can be done anywhere. As described by Apple’s App Store editors:

Sometimes we get so intimidated by complex exercise plans that we just give up and seek solace in the snack cupboard. Streaks Workout, like its to-do list sibling, eases us in by breaking down workouts into fun, easy-to-tackle chunks. In as little as six minutes–or more if we’re feeling ambitious–we’ve done our daily exercise and charted our progress. Why didn’t anyone tell us it could be this simple?

The app features 18 exercises to choose from and four different workout lengths (6, 12, 18, and 30 minutes). There’s a built-in timer, exercise demonstrations, and statistics that can be tracked over time. All workouts are also uploaded to Apple’s Health app.

Streaks Workout is available for the iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Apple TV.

Streaks Workout can be downloaded for free for the next seven days, and after that, a new App of the Week will be chosen. [Direct Link]

Tag: App of the Week
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OLED iPhone 8 Rumored to Ship Sometime After Standard iPhone 7s Models

Apple’s upcoming OLED iPhone 8 will not ship out alongside the standard LCD-equipped iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus, reports TechCrunch, citing “trusted sources.”

The high-end iPhone 8 will instead “ship out at a later time,” but TechCrunch says it is unclear how long it will be between the availability of the two more affordable models and the iPhone 8.

Apple is planning its iPhone-centric event for Tuesday, September 12, and rumors have suggested the company will start accepting device pre-orders on Friday, September 15, with the first of the new iPhones becoming available on Friday, September 22.

If TechCrunch’s information is correct, it’s possible Apple will allow people to submit orders for the iPhone 8, but those orders may not ship out until sometime later in the year. Presumably, the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus will ship out as planned in September.

Just this morning, The Wall Street Journal said iPhone 8 manufacturing issues could lead to extended supply shortages and shipping delays. Due to problems creating the OLED displays for the device and difficulties integrating Touch ID under the display (a plan that was later abandoned) Apple is said to be approximately about a month behind on its manufacturing timetable.

We have been hearing persistent rumors about serious iPhone 8 supply constraints for months. While it’s true that supply issues plague every new iPhone release, especially when it comes to the most popular models, warnings of supply problems have been notably more prominent this year.

Trusted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said the iPhone 8 will see “severe” supply shortages following its release and that it could take into the early months of 2018 for Apple to reach supply/demand balance, while a July report from Japanese site Mac Otakara said Apple may not start shipping the device to consumers until October or early November.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
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What is Alexa? It’s Amazon’s new virtual assistant

If you own an Amazon device (or have been on the internet in the last year), you’ve probably heard the name “Alexa.” It’s the name you call out when you have a question — provided you own an Amazon Echo. Amazon’s virtual assistant has been integrated into several of the company’s products and is starting to find its way into third-party devices, like this GE lamp. This voice-activated virtual assistant can perform a variety of simple tasks, like playing music, but it can also be used to control smart-home gadgets, giving it the ability to dim the lights, lock the doors, or adjust the thermostat.

While “Alexa” has become synonymous with products like the Amazon Echo and has been a major selling point for devices like the Amazon Fire TV, you can’t actually go out and buy an “Alexa.” So what is Alexa exactly? Here’s everything you need to know about Amazon’s virtual assistant.

Who is Alexa?

For most people, all you really have to know about Alexa is that it’s the name of Amazon’s virtual assistant. Basically, Alexa is to Amazon what “Siri” is to Apple. You can ask it questions, such as “what is the weather today in Chicago?” or assign it to perform a host of differing tasks. Alexa has been integrated into many of Amazon’s services and can be used with products such as the Amazon Echo and Amazon Fire TV.

But really, what exactly is Alexa? When you ask Alexa question, what you’re really doing is communicating with a cloud-based service. Amazon has designed the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) to mimic real conversations, but you’re actually using intuitive voice commands to get this service to perform specific tasks. “Alexa” is simply the “wake word” that alerts the service to start listening to your voice. For most devices, you just have to say it to get a response, but with the Tap, you’ll need to press a button to make it start listening.

Here’s how Amazon describes the Alexa Voice Service on its developer page:

“The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) is Amazon’s intelligent voice recognition and natural language understanding service that allows you to voice-enable any connected device that has a microphone and speaker.”

While Alexa is the official name for Amazon’s voice assistant, you can change this wake word to “Amazon” or “Echo.” That’s a useful feature, especially if your own name happens to be Alexa.

Why Alexa?

Apple has Siri. Google Home comes alive when you say “OK, Google.” And Amazon has Alexa. But why? According to David Limp, the Amazon executive who oversaw the development of the service, the name “Alexa” was chosen for a few reasons. First, the name “Alexa” harks back to the Library of Alexandria, which attempted to collect all of the world’s knowledge. Amazon is attempting to do the same thing. Alexa is always learning but, in theory, it should be a seamless source of information.

More practically, the service was named Alexa because it contains the uncommon “X” sound. Since this service is voice-activated, Amazon wanted to choose a name that wouldn’t get confused with other words that could accidentally awaken the device:

“We did go through a number of names and the name is important as much for the personality that it creates around the persona than is this computer-based voice computer in the cloud. But there’s computer science behind it, too,” said Limp. “If any of you have Echoes, you know that it only wakes up when it hears the word “Alexa,” and the phonics of that word and how that word is parsed and the fact that it has a hard consonant with the ‘X’ in it, is important in making sure that it wakes up only when it’s asked for. And so, a combination of those two things allowed us to kind of narrow in on Alexa.”

Where can I use Alexa?

In order to use Alexa, you’ll need a device that can access it. This typically means an Amazon device, such as an Echo, Dot, or Tap, but this cloud-based personal voice assistant has also been integrated with some third-party systems. The Fire TV is also compatible with Alexa, as are some third-party devices: Invoxia’s Triby, a portable speaker, and the Nucleus intercom. Ford recently announced three of its car models will talk to Amazon’s assistant. Want to talk to Alexa through your watch? There’s the Martian mVoice. Someone even programmed Alexa to work with a Big Mouth Billy Bass.

Alexa has also become the center of many smart-home systems, including Wink, SmartThings, and the Logitech Harmony. You can also use the voice-assistant to build your smart home piecemeal, as Alexa can also pair with hubless devices such as WeMo switches and Nest thermostats.

Here’s a list of smart-home devices that are compatible with Alexa.

What can Alexa do?

The list of commands that Alexa can understand seems to grow on a daily basis. There are now over 3,200 so far, all found in the Skills Marketplace. Amazon calls these “skills,” and claimed in June that the AI possessed more than 1,000 of these. The number of tasks that Alexa can accomplish is clearly more than we can list in this article, but here are some of our favorites:

• Find recipes and give you audible step-by-step directions with the AllRecipes skill.
• Control your Neato Smart Vacuum. 
• Narrate a Kindle book to you. 
• Get movie showtimes or sports schedules.
• Order pizza and find nearby restaurants.
• Pay your bills with the Capital One app. 
• Order pretty much anything online. 
• Give pregnancy advice. 
• Track your Amazon packages. 

If you want to learn more about Alexa, all you have to do is ask: “Alexa, what’s new with you?”

Record-smashing glider reaches an altitude of 52,000 feet

Why it matters to you

This new altitude record brings the Perlan Project’s dream of reaching the edge of space in a glider one step closer.

Pilots have set a new altitude record for engineless gliding, as the Airbus Perlan Mission II this week soared to heights of more than 52,000 feet over the Patagonia region of Argentina. The glider record beat the previous altitude gliding world record of 50,727 feet, set by Perlan Project founder Einar Enevoldson and lead sponsor Steve Fossett back in 2006.

The feat was achieved using a naturally occurring phenomenon known as stratospheric mountain waves, which form when winds of at least 15 knots cross over a mountain range perpendicularly. These mountain waves allowed the glider to climb to hitherto unimagined heights.

“World records are notable achievements, but they’re really only milestones on the way to our primary goals,” James Darcy, head of external communications for Airbus, told Digital Trends. “Airbus Perlan Mission II is first and foremost a research mission, collecting data on everything from high-altitude aerodynamics to the health of the ozone layer, and the accuracy of climate-change models. The aircraft is a unique research platform for atmospheric research because, unlike a powered aircraft, it does not heat or pollute the air around it as it is collecting data. And unlike a weather balloon, it can soar in one place in the stratosphere for long periods and return to the place from which it took off.”

The aerodynamics of Perlan are interesting to Airbus for a couple of reasons. First and foremost is the inspirational nature of the Perlan Project, since soaring to the edge of space without an engine represents a seemingly impossible goal that, Airbus hopes, will appeal to the kind of STEM talent it wants to attract. Flying at high altitude could also potentially free up the increasingly congested commercial airspace at lower altitudes.

Most intriguing, however, is the parallel that super high altitudes hold to the atmosphere on Mars. “The similarity between the atmosphere at 90,000 feet and the atmosphere on Mars is in itself interesting to us, because it means that Perlan will provide us insight into the viability of wing-borne aviation over the Martian surface someday,” Darcy said. “This is especially relevant to us, given our extensive involvement in the Orion spacecraft program, which may someday carry humans to Mars.”

Right now, the Perlan team is staying put for another couple of weeks until the mountain wave season draws to a close. Should Mother Nature deliver the right conditions, the hope is that the team will be able to get another flight in. The ultimate goal is to fly to 90,000 feet: higher than any other aircraft in history has flown in level, controlled flight supported by its wings.

Store your beer and charge your phone with Sobro — a high-tech coffee table

Why it matters to you

Speakers, outlets, and a fridge? The only thing this high-tech coffee table is missing is a bottle opener.

Imagine that you’re watching an NCAA game and you need a beer to help you cope with your busted bracket — and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your couch to get one. You can stop dreaming. Sobro has found a way to to add fridge functionality to a coffee table.

A prototype of the table was on display at the 2017 International Home and Housewares Show, boasting a modern design and plenty of USB ports and outlets for all your gadgets. And now, it’s shipping to backers.

The table has three drawers, one of which is refrigerated. The other, smaller two drawers are for storage. The coffee table also has a compressor, so it does more than keep beverages cool. You’re able to set its temperature to around 37 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 5 degrees Celsius) via touchscreens on the tabletop. The controls — which also let you adjust the music you’re playing through the table’s built-in speakers — are under tempered glass and are unlikely to short out if you spill your soda on the table.

The table is claimed to be able to sync to your device via Bluetooth to play music, and its creators also want to make a dongle that will allow it to work with TVs as well. Around the base of the table, there are LED lights, which the touch controls also operate. In order to make the controls work, you have to hold down the power button to unlock them, so setting a bowl of chips on the table shouldn’t change the lights from green to blue.

One thing to keep in mind is that this table will have to be plugged in itself, so you might have to find a creative way to make it unobtrusive. But apparently, that didn’t dissuade the Sobro’s many Indiegogo backers, who ultimately helped raise more than $1.5 million to bring the project to life. Early backers managed to snag the table for $499, but now, you’ll have to shell out $899 for the table on Indiegogo. That’s still a deal, considering the table is meant to retail for $1,500.

Slim Geransar was on hand at the IHH show to talk about the product. He told Digital Trends there are a few design features to work out, such as whether the table will have two or four outlets and making sure everything meets safety standards. Apparently, those tweaks have now been made, as the Sobro team just informed us that units are leaving the factory this week to be shipped to early backers.

Update: The Sobro coffee table is now shipping to backers.