Watch NVIDIA’s GTC keynote in under 15 minutes

As usual, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang revealed a ton of news during his keynote at the company’s GPU Technology Conference yesterday. There’s the new Quadro GV100 GPU, which is based on NVIDIA’s Volta architecture and will power its new RTX ray tracing technology. The company also revealed its Drive Constellation system for testing self-driving cars in virtual reality, which will certainly help now that it’s pausing real world testing. Finally, NVIDIA made some major announcements around AI: its new DGX-2 “personal supercomputer” is insanely powerful, and it’s also partnering with ARM to bring its deep learning technology into upcoming Trillium mobile chips.

Apple and Northwestern University Partner to Train Chicago Teachers on ‘Everyone Can Code’ Curriculum

Apple today announced it will establish a Center for Excellence at Lane Tech College Prep in Chicago, which will serve as a hub for teachers at Chicago Public Schools to learn and subsequently teach Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum.

Apple is developing the hub in partnership with Northwestern University, whose professors will lead the sessions. Teachers will gain expertise in Everyone Can Code, a free program designed to help students learn how to code, and they’ll also have the opportunity to be trained on App Development with Swift.

In addition to the free professional learning sessions, Apple says educators will also have access to in-school coaching and mentorship opportunities to ensure they are comfortable teaching the complete Everyone Can Code curriculum. Apple will outfit the Center for Excellence with iPads, Macs, and accessories.

Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Teachers make a world of difference in their students’ lives, and we owe so much of our own success to their creativity, hard work and dedication. At Apple, we believe every student should have the opportunity to learn to code and we are thrilled to help provide new learning opportunities for Chicago-area teachers so they can bring coding into their classrooms.

David Figlio, Dean of Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy:

We strive to bring Northwestern’s research, teaching, and service missions together in our local communities to make lives better in our hometowns of Chicago, Evanston and beyond. By collaborating with visionary companies like Apple and the education experts in the Chicago Public Schools, we have the chance to do something transformative for Chicago and the world.

This effort is an extension of an existing collaboration between Apple and Chicago to bring coding opportunities to the city’s nearly 500,000 students through a citywide expansion of Everyone Can Code.

Apple hosted an education-themed event at Lane Tech College Prep on Tuesday, where it introduced a new 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support, a new Schoolwork app for teachers and students, and more.

Tag: Everyone Can Code
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Best Buy Flash Sale: Save Big on Mac Notebooks, 5th Gen iPad, Apple Watch Series 3, and More Today Only

Best Buy today launched a 24-hour flash sale that includes heavy discounts on MacBook Air, MacBook Pro with and without Touch Bar, fifth-generation iPad, Apple Watch Series 3, and iMac. Best Buy’s new sale has the best prices available online for many of the products today, with discounts reaching as much as $400 off high-end MacBook Pro configurations.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

You can find all of the Apple products on sale at Best Buy today only in the list below, all of which represent refreshes from 2017. Remember that students and parents of students can save an extra $50 on Mac notebooks when signing up for Student Deals.

• MacBook Air – Save $300 on select models / as low as $649.99 with Student Deals
• MacBook Pro without Touch Bar – Save up to $350 on select models / as low as $949.99 with Student Deals
• MacBook Pro with Touch Bar – Save up to $400 on select models / as low as $1,449.99 with Student Deals
• Fifth-gen 9.7-inch iPad – Save $80 on select models / as low as $249.99 for 32GB
• Apple Watch Series 3 – Save $30 / as low as $299.00 for 38mm Aluminum
• 21.5-inch iMac (3.4 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion Drive) for $1,274.99, down from $1,499.99

Best Buy has numerous other items on sale today, including $200 off Bragi The Dash headphones, $100 off Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones, $170 Beats Studio2 Wireless headphones, discounts on HD and 4K TVs, and more. Be sure to check out all the items on sale over at Best Buy, and make your purchases before the discounts expire tonight at 11:59 p.m. CT.

You can also head over to our full Deals Roundup for more information on sales happening this week.

Related Roundup: Apple DealsTag: Best Buy
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SpaceX and Boeing inch closer toward manned space missions

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is making “significant progress” according to the space agency, which has outlined upcoming missions for both Boeing and SpaceX. The race between the two companies to be the first to provide commercial transportation services in space appears to be neck-and-neck. Boeing has an unmanned orbital flight test scheduled for August this year, while SpaceX plans to complete a crewless flight to the International Space Station in the same month. Crewed missions are then slated to take place in November and December, respectively.

But while NASA says that both companies are “meeting contractual milestones and maturing their designs” for their spacecraft — Boeing with its CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX with its Dragon 2 vehicle — there is a strong chance flight tests could slip into 2019. GAO has already predicted delays due to flight certification, while Ars Technica’s space editor Eric Berger revealed in a tweet that program manager Kathy Lueders appears to have “low confidence” in crew flights this year. As the delay of the James Webb Space Telescope shows, it doesn’t matter how much hype there is around a mission, getting it right the first time is always going to be more important than a schedule.

Source: Parabolic Arc

Hulu won’t adapt horror comic ‘Locke & Key’ after all

The second attempt to turn Joe Hill’s comic Locke & Key into a television series has foundered after Hulu opted not to pick it up as a series. According to Deadline Hollywood, the streaming service produced a pilot, had staffed a writer’s room and had even built sets. But, the show was victim to a management shift at the company, with a new content head and CEO coming in after the pilot was greenlit.

It may just be that executive egos may have caused the series to fail, or it could mark a new strategy in the way Hulu runs itself. The report claims that the platform is working to simply order shows straight to series, only paying for pilot episodes in specific circumstances. As for Locke & Key, which was previously adapted back in 2010 for Fox and similarly foundered, the new version is being “shopped around.”

The hope is that an Amazon, Netflix or even Apple will take a chance on the show given how far along the proceedings already are. Unfortunately, as yet no broadcaster has decided to open their heart (and wallet) to give Locke & Key a home. Until then, it’s probably worth checking out Audible’s full-cast audio version which starred Tatiana Maslany, Haley Joel Osment and Hill himself.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

Lincoln attempts to reinvent itself again with the Aviator SUV

Lincoln has unveiled its newest vehicle, and with it, a glimpse into the company’s future. The three-row Aviator is a clear improvement on the company’s last attempt to reinvent its line-up, with the MKT. The model boasts lean, tapered lines, for a start, and a roomy interior with Perfect Position seats and elegant furnishings.

While specs such as exact engine details and dimensions are yet to be confirmed, we do know it’ll feature a twin-turbocharged EcoBoost engine with a plug-in hybrid option. It’s safe to say its transmission will be the company’s 10-speed automatic, and the company has hinted at it being rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.

Tech-wise, the Aviator uses a feature imaginatively titled “Phone as a Key”, which is exactly what it sounds like. You’ll be able to use your phone to lock and unlock the vehicle, open the trunk and start the engine, all without a keyfob (there’s a backup passcode function in the event of a dead battery).

The car also boasts Suspension Preview Technology to adjust to changing road surfaces, the latest version of Sync, wireless phone charging and a bunch of active safety features in the form of Lincoln Co-Pilot360. There’s no word on price, either, although Lincoln is billing the Aviator as a luxury SUV designed for millennials starting families. A production model is slated to go on sale next year.

Via: Autoblog

Source: Lincoln

Apple Maps Now Supports Transit in St. Louis and Virginia Areas

Apple Maps transit directions are now available in St. Louis, Missouri and several metropolitan areas in Virginia, including Richmond and the Hampton Roads region of Virginia Beach—Norfolk—Newport News.

By selecting the Transit tab in Apple Maps on iPhone, iPad, or Mac, users can now access MetroBus bus routes and MetroLink train routes in the St. Louis area, GRTC bus routes in the Richmond area, and HRT bus, train, and trolley routes in the Virginia Beach—Norfolk—Newport News area, including arrival and departure times.

Apple Maps has aggressively expanded its transit-supported cities over the past two months to include Tucson, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Orlando, Florida; and Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville in South Carolina.

When the feature launched in 2015, it was initially limited to Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and around 300 cities in China. Since then, Apple has expanded the feature to dozens of additional cities around the world.

A list of cities with transit support in Apple Maps can be found on the iOS Feature Availability page on Apple’s website, although it has yet to be updated to reflect these latest additions in Missouri and Virginia.

(Thanks, Bernd and Ram!)

Tag: Apple Maps
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Facebook Details Revamped Privacy Tools to Put Users ‘More in Control’ of Their Data

Following revelations that emerged last week about Facebook’s misuse of user data, the company today said it has “heard loud and clear” that it needs to make it easier for users to know how to control their own privacy settings and data. These updates to Facebook mobile and on the web “have been in the works for some time,” according to Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan, “but the events of the past several days underscore their importance.”

The first update is found in a redesigned settings menu on mobile devices, so instead of settings that are spread across “nearly 20 different screens,” they’re all in one place. This area is also now cleaned up so outdated menus are gone and it’s more clear what user information can and can’t be shared with apps.

The old settings menu (left) and new settings menu (right)
A new Privacy Shortcuts menu launches users into an area where they can look at information regarding privacy, security, and ads “in just a few taps.” This menu is also now clearer, has more visuals, and provides simple explanations for how each control option works. Below you’ll find a breakdown of everything you can do when jumping into Privacy Shortcuts:

Make your account more secure: You can add more layers of protection to your account, like two-factor authentication. If you turn this on and someone tries to log into your account from a device we don’t recognize, you’ll be asked to confirm whether it was you.

Control your personal information: You can review what you’ve shared and delete it if you want to. This includes posts you’ve shared or reacted to, friend requests you’ve sent, and things you’ve searched for on Facebook.

Control the ads you see: You can manage the information we use to show you ads. Ad preferences explains how ads work and the options you have.

Manage who sees your posts and profile information: You own what you share on Facebook, and you can manage things like who sees your posts and the information you choose to include on your profile.

In a new area called Access Your Information, users can access and manage data — like posts, timeline memories, items on a profile, reactions, comments, and items searched for — so that it can be easily deleted. Facebook said it’s also making it easier to download the data shared on the site. Users can download a secure copy of photos uploaded, contacts, timeline posts, and more, “and even move it to another service.”

Next, the company said that it plans to update its terms of service with the inclusion of “commitments to people,” as well as update its data policy to “better spell out” what data is collected and how it’s used. In total, Facebook said that all of these updates are about transparency, and “not about gaining new rights to collect, use, or share data.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook this past weekend described the Facebook scandal as “dire,” calling for stronger privacy regulations in the wake of news that data firm Cambridge Analytica amassed data on 50 million Facebook users without their consent and targeted messages to voters during the 2016 presidential election. Facebook has now delayed the launch of its own entry into the smart speaker market, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify in front of Congress on privacy in the coming weeks.

Tag: Facebook
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Google Acquires Tenor for ‘More Effective’ GIF Searches in Google Images and Gboard

Google this week announced that it has acquired popular GIF search platform Tenor for an undisclosed sum. In the announcement post, Google said that web and mobile searches have “evolved” over the years and Google Image searches pertaining to GIFs have seen an increased amount of traffic — “we see millions of searches for GIFs every day.”

Following a recent update to the iOS and Android Google app that introduced more context around images, Google said it will now “bring GIFs more closely into the fold” through the Tenor acquisition. No specifics have been given yet, but the company said that Tenor will help Google surface GIFs “more effectively” in Google Images and, particularly, in the mobile Gboard app.

We’ve continued to evolve Google Images to meet both of these needs, and today we’re bringing GIFs more closely into the fold by acquiring Tenor, a GIF platform for Android, iOS and desktop.

With their deep library of content, Tenor surfaces the right GIFs in the moment so you can find the one that matches your mood. Tenor will help us do this more effectively in Google Images as well as other products that use GIFs, like Gboard.

Tenor is available as its own app on a variety of devices, including iOS and macOS, but Google promised that the GIF service will “continue to operate as a separate brand” so these apps won’t be affected by the acquisition. Google will also help Tenor through investing in the service’s technology, as well as in relationships with content and API partners.

Tenor has a long list of brand partners including movie studios, TV networks, video game publishers, and more that it partners with to propagate its service with the latest and most relevant GIFs. The company also fuels the GIF searches of other apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp in certain regions. About a year ago, Tenor rebranded and updated its Mac app to become the first app to place GIFs within the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar.

Tags: Google, Gboard, Tenor
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Sony cuts PSVR bundle prices worldwide

Sony has announced that it is knocking a massive chunk from the price of its console-powered VR headsets. The new starting price for PlayStation VR will be $299 in the US, €299 in Europe, £259 in the UK and 34,980 Yen in Japan. That’s down from $399, €399, £349 and 44,980 Yen, respectively, with bundles also falling by a similar figure. For instance, the Doom VFR package that was $400 in the US and $500 CAD in Canada is now $400 and $380 CAD but comes with the same accessories.

The base model will come with the headset and camera, as well as a download code for VR Worlds that will be included in the box. Apparently, those folks in Australia and New Zealand who are also in the market for a Sony headset will have to learn to delay their gratification a little longer. On that side of the globe, the price cuts don’t take effect until April 2nd. Now, Sony hasn’t said that the cuts are permanent, but it certainly looks as if the changes, which are similar to temporary cuts we saw in February, are a forever-type-of-deal.

At the same time, Sony has announced that the WipEout Omega Collection’s PSVR update is rolling out today. The free update will enable the Omega Collection to be played entirely in VR, letting you tun the whole thing from inside the headset. Players will also get three VR-exclusive ships to pilot, as well as a 3D audio soundscape and a new remix of Shake It thrown in for good measure.

VR has yet to be the smash hit its backers need it to be, and one of the biggest obstacles to mass adoption is price. HTC has struggled to get the price of its high-end Vive down to a more affordable level, a problem for several other companies in the space. Oculus, however, is hoping that its $200 Oculus Go headset, that doesn’t require a smartphone or connection to PC, will change things.

Go isn’t even out yet, but a good defensive move on Sony’s part is to make sure that people aren’t holding out for rival hardware. Given the ubiquity of the PS4, it’s a no-brainer that the company would do its best to make PSVR as affordable as possible. Although even after this cut, you’ll still be forking out a pretty penny if you’ve yet to dip a toe into the virtual waters and need to get all the gear.

Source: Sony, (2), (3), (4)