VW unveils electric race car built to tackle Pikes Peak

Volkswagen is delivering on its promise of an electric car powerful enough to conquer the Pikes Peak hill climb. It has formally unveiled the I.D. R Pikes Peak, and the design is very clearly tailor-made for the job — it looks more like a Le Mans machine than the relatively pedestrian I.D. models you’ve seen before. The company still isn’t offering specs beyond four wheel drive. However, it’s still determined to break the existing Pikes Peak electric vehicle record of 8 minutes and 57 seconds, which suggests it will have a monstrous amount of power. The current holder, a Drive eO PP100 driven by Rhys Millen, mustered 1,596HP.

It’s reasonable to presume that the VW entry will smash the record for a production-grade electric car, which Faraday Future set at 11 minutes and 25 seconds with a prototype FF91 sedan.

VW isn’t shy about why it’s fielding the EV at the Pikes Peak race on June 24th: it’s about showing “what is possible in motorsport with an electric drivetrain.” It’s also a big opportunity to advertise VW’s shift to electric cars, for that matter. The concern is whether or not anything learned from creating the I.D. R Pikes Peak will translate to everyday designs. It could help VW keep its cars at maximum performance, but there’s a good possibility this is more symbolic than practical.

Via: Autoblog

Source: Volkswagen

Facebook hires digital forensics firm to audit Cambridge Analytica

Days ago, Facebook suspended the parent company of political analysis firm Cambridge Analytica after news broke that it allegedly harvested personal data from some 50 million users. While the social network reportedly tried to sue The Guardian before the publication released the initial news with the help of a whistleblower, Facebook has dialed back its position. Today, the social network announced it has hired digital forensics outfit Stroz Friedberg to audit the political analysis firm.

In a public post, Facebook stated that Cambridge Analytica will be complying with the audit along with Aleksander Kogan, a psychology professor at Cambridge who passed along user data to that political firm (among others). Kogan acquired the information by hiring hundreds of thousands of Amazon Mechanical Turks to take a “personality prediction app” which collected their personal info — and also that of their Facebook friends. Collecting this data was within acceptable grounds at the time, but keeping it was not: Facebook insists that it ordered the personal info deleted in 2015 after Kogan and Cambridge Analytica had finished using it. While those parties insist they destroyed the data, the social network isn’t sure.

Facebook requested someone else comply with the audit — Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who talked to The Guardian and has declined to participate, according to the social network’s post. The audit will determine whether that data still exists; If it does, it would be “a grave violation of Facebook’s policies and an unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments these groups made.” But more to the point, the social network insisted that this incredible access to remote and non-consenting users’ data wouldn’t happen today: “Kogan’s app would not be permitted access to detailed friends’ data today.”

Source: Facebook

BlackBerry and Microsoft team up to make work phones more secure

BlackBerry and Microsoft may have been bitter foes before their smartphone dreams came crashing down, but they’re becoming close allies now that they’re focused on services. The two have unveiled a partnership that helps you seamlessly use Microsoft’s Office 365-capable mobile apps from inside BlackBerry’s more secure, contained Dynamics space. Ideally, this gives you the best of both worlds: you can work on that Excel file across devices without making your IT manager break into a cold sweat.

The team-up extends to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. BlackBerry Dynamics and a handful of other services are now available through Azure for those outfits that mostly live in a Microsoft world.

The two are betting that this alliance will be particularly helpful for banks, governments, health care providers and others that often count BlackBerry and Microsoft as customers. Of course, it’s also a hedge against Google — both of them see G Suite and other Google services as a threat to their bottom line, and working together could give them an edge where they might struggle on their own.

Source: BlackBerry

Atari’s retro console has a new name, but remains a tease

Atari’s retro Ataribox console has been more sizzle than steak since it was first unveiled last summer, with delays and a distinct lack of game announcements dampening the enthusiasm. And unfortunately, that trend is mostly continuing today. The company has announced that it’s rebranding the Ataribox as the Atari VCS in a nod to the 2600’s little-used full name, and plans to show prototypes of the system, the Classic Joystick and the Modern Controller at the Game Developers Conference this week. However, that’s about all it’s showing.

There’s no mention of a game lineup, and Atari noted that its “objective” is to announce the pre-order date sometime in April. It could be well into the spring before you can even put money down on a VCS, let alone hook one up to your TV. We’re still holding out some hope for the VCS, especially since it won’t be limited to playing vintage games, but the proof will be in the pudding — Atari needs to show a working device and playable titles for this to be more than another nostalgia cash-in.

Source: Ataribox

We’re live from GDC 2018!

Another day, another tech conference. Now that SXSW is behind us, it’s time for GDC 2018. We’ve arrived in San Francisco to cover the latest edition of the Game Developers Conference, where you can expect to see plenty of new indie titles, AR and VR projects and even films about the gaming industry. Oh, and Fortnite — you know, we’re definitely going to hear from Epic Games about its smash-hit.

Amazon and Facebook, meanwhile, have already made announcements of their own, and this week we’ll speak to execs from both companies about their overall gaming strategies. To make sure you don’t miss any news that come out of GDC, bookmark this page here.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from GDC 2018!

Internet Archive is saving all your favorite handheld LCD games

The Internet Archive has been saving gaming history for a while now. It’s archived Amiga games (and apps), Macintosh stuff from the ’80s (including Space Invaders) and a ton of other retro games you can play for free. Now the group has started collecting handheld games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Jam while also making them available to play in your web browser via MAME emulation.

Announced Today: The @internetarchive is now emulating handheld toys and games, building on the work of the @mamedev_org team. These are not “remakes” but emulations of the original circuits. Announcement is here: https://t.co/yuKihutxVs spread the word widely. pic.twitter.com/fCjzNCMFBR

— Jason Scott (@textfiles) March 18, 2018

Archivist Jason Scott explains the painstaking process of emulating these little plastic chunks of joy, explaining the technology behind making sure the various VFD, LCD and LED games are thoroughly scanned and emulated at a high level of verisimilitude.

Scott explains that while most circuit boards containing these games can be read from non-destructively, it can sometimes be necessary (as with LCD game machines) to rip the entire thing apart to get all the information off of it. “To get the information off an LCD game, it has to be pulled apart and all its components scanned, vectorized, and traced to then make them into a software version of themselves,” writes Scott. “Among the information grabbed is the LCD display itself, which has a pre-formed set of images that do not overlap and represent every possible permutation of any visual data in the game.”

Lest anyone wonder about their own favorite titles from the bygone era of LCD handheld gaming, Scott tweeted that more are on the way, as soon as he makes sure there aren’t any major bugs for individual games.

Someone went “What about the LCD Sonic the Hedgehog” and boom. https://t.co/Sm3PyVbCoe – there are lots of these items I didn’t put up because I wanted to step carefully in and find any major bugs. But as I can, I’ll add more. pic.twitter.com/4dPMYEWRTo

— Jason Scott (@textfiles) March 18, 2018

Via: The Verge

Source: Internet Archive

‘PUBG’ arrives on mobile in the US

Two weeks ago, Epic announced that its super popular Battle Royale mode for Fortnite will be coming to phones and tablets. While players debated how using touchscreens could ever be competitive against mouse-and-keyboard players, the game that made the genre a household name snuck up and dropped its own mobile version in the US. Right now, American players can download PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for iOS or Android — and both versions are free to play.

True, we knew the game would be adapted to mobile in China back in November by Chinese internet giant Tencent, but didn’t hear anything about a stateside release, though Canadians got it last week. Americans get the same officially-licensed ported version, which understandably pares down the graphics and only has the original map. The game requires Android 4.3 or above and works on “500-plus” phones, while the Apple device version requires iOS 9.0 or later and requires an iPhone 5S or sooner and most iPads.

Via: The Verge

Source: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds | Android, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds | iOS

Upcoming Windows 10 accessibility features include Narrator upgrades

Today, Microsoft shared some of the accessibility features it’s working on for Windows 10, a few of which are already available to preview through the Insiders Program. First, Microsoft is tweaking its Ease of Access settings — grouping features by ability, introducing keyboard shortcuts and allowing users to navigate settings with Narrator. There will also be some added abilities like the option to “make everything bigger” or “make everything brighter.”

Narrator is also getting a slew of upgrades. The screen reader will be more responsive and will navigate the web more effectively. It will also be able to emphasize bolded, italicized, underlined and capitalized text without having to use announcements like “start bold” and “end bold.” Instead, Narrator will change its reading speed, pitch and/or volume to denote the text formatting. Narrator can now also run in Safe Mode and within Microsoft Edge, it will start describing actions like opening and closing tabs, adding favorites and page loading.

Microsoft’s eye control features are still in preview, but they’re also getting some improvements. Upcoming features include the ability to scroll, direct left and right click capabilities and the option to pause eye control so users can read or stream without accidentally clicking.

And lastly, Learning Tools in Microsoft Edge will also get new features, like the ability to break down complex words and identify parts of speech, and Microsoft will introduce text suggestions for hardware keyboard use.

Microsoft says it’s always looking for feedback when it comes to new features and these are no exception. Those previewing these features through the Windows Insider Program can share their thoughts through the Feedback app.

Source: Microsoft

‘One Finger Death Punch 2’ will pummel its way into your heart

At the GDC 2018 Indie Megabooth on Monday, Silver Dollar Games showed off One Finger Death Punch 2, the sequel to its popular 2013 brawler. Fans of the original — and fans of smash-em-ups in general — are not going to be disappointed.

The gameplay of OFDP2 is very similar to its predecessor. The player does not move around the screen to engage enemies, but rather must patiently wait for for them to step within striking distance. A single button controls punches to the left, another handles punches to the right. Despite the simple control scheme, the action doesn’t get stale thanks to the game’s 700-some strike animations which are randomly evoked as you play. That way no two sessions are quite the same. It also helps that there are dozens of various weapons strewn throughout each level, ranging from simple staves and spears to throwing stars, chainsaws, axes, sniper rifles and even energy sabers with which to slaughter the mobs opposing you.

I also really enjoyed that the mini-games — such as fending off waves of enemies using your throwing knives or cutting down opponents while on horseback — are integrated directly into the levels themselves, rather that taking you out of the action while they load. Boss fights are also much improved from the original game, with powerful mini-bosses showing up and fighting right alongside their cannon-fodder minions.

The sequel also incorporates a number of new game styles. In addition to the standard story and survival modes, One Finger 2 will offer Rogue Mode in which you have a single life to beat the entire story, as well as tag team-style co-op. For all four modes, player will have the option to increase the game difficulty by removing the attack bar at the bottom of the screen that indicates when enemies are within punching range.

One Finger Death Punch 2 is slated for release in Spring 2019 on Xbox and PC. The company hopes to then port the title to PSN and Switch. There are no plans currently to port it to mobile as the first one was. The game is expected to retail for around $8.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from GDC 2018!

Official PUBG Mobile Game Now Available From iOS App Store in the U.S.

The officially licensed app for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, better known as PUBG, today launched in the United States and several other regions around the world.

PUBG is an extremely popular multiplayer online battle royale-style game that’s been available for PC and Xbox One since early 2017 as part of a Steam early access beta, with the game officially launching back in December.

In PUBG, up to 100 players fight in a battle to the death to become the last person (or team of up to four people) standing. The goal of the game is to kill other players without being killed, while also scouting through the game world for equipment, weapons, and other gear.

Two mobile versions of PUBG were released in China in February by Tencent Games, and as of today the mobile version of the game is available in the United States, Canada, and other regions.

According to the App Store description of the game, it’s an authentic port of the PC version of PUBG, with 100 players able to fight one another to survive.

An authentic port of the PC version. 100 players are dropped on an enormous 8×8 km battlefield. Players fight to survive and eliminate each other through strategy and skill. The last one standing wins! Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Tencent says the game is compatible with the iPhone 5s and later, the iPad Air and later, the iPad mini 2 and later and the 6th-generation iPod touch. The company recommends the iPhone 6 or above to get the most out of the PUBG Mobile game.

The release of PUBG Mobile in the United States, Canada, and other regions follows the launch of the Fortnite beta on iOS, which became available last week.

PUBG Mobile can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: App Store
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