Mar 31
Mitch McConnell Plans To Change The Rules Again To Confirm More Trump Judges
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe GOP leader, who blocked lots of Obama’s court picks, is ready to make it easier to confirm district judges now.
Mar 31
They’ve hesitated to make a request that will likely set up an unprecedented court fight.
Mar 31
Mar 31
You may not want self-driving cars on public roads to drive as if they’re competing in a grand prix. That’s why companies that are working on this technology have gone to great lengths to ensure that their autonomous cars are overly cautious on public roads. What if the self-driving car is on a race track, could it drive like a race car driver? That’s something that the folks at Stanford University have set out to accomplish.
Stanford University engineers have developed a neural network which enables autonomous cars to perform high-speed, low-friction maneuvers that you see race car drivers make on the track. They haven’t just done this for fits and giggles.
The researchers feel that these maneuvers will better train the systems to avoid accidents. Since 94 percent of the crashes are attributable to human error, improving the ability to make split-second decisions will help reduce the possibility of road accidents.
“Our work is motivated by safety, and we want autonomous vehicles to work in many scenarios, from normal driving on high-friction asphalt to fast, low-friction driving in ice and snow,” said Nathan Spielberg, a mechanical engineer graduate student at Stanford.
The team trained the neural network with data from 200,000 motion samples which included test drives on surfaces like ice and snow. The system was then put to the test at the Thunderhill Raceway in Sacramento Valley. The team has been encouraged by the results and now want to collect more data to find out if the system can perform just as well in any condition.
Stanford’s Self-Driving Car Tries To Drive Like A Race Car Driver , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 31
Google launched its official link shortener some ten years ago in December of 2009. The link shortener was supposed to be used with the Google Toolbar and Feedburner. The need for link shortening services has declined over the past few years so it’s no surprise that the company has decided to sunset the service.
Google did start to wind down the service last year. Goog.gl was no longer available for new users from May 2018 onwards. The company has now decided to shut the service down for good. Existing users will not be able to access it any longer as well.
It said last year that only existing users will be able to create short links on the goo.gl console. It also said that users will be able to view their analytics data and download their short link information in csv format for up to one year, till March 30th, 2019 to be precise.
That’s when the company decided to discontinue the service altogether. It does mention that the shutdown of this service is not going to affect previously created links. They will continue to redirect to their intended destination. So if you have used goo.gl frequently in the past to shorten links, rest assured, this shutdown won’t leave them broken.
Google’s Link Shortener Bites The Dust , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 31
There was a lot of hype for Driveclub initially but it seems that it has now tapered off for the game. Sony has confirmed that it’s going to be shutting down the servers for Driveclub, Driveclub VR, and Driveclub Bikes next year. It’s going to delist the games from the PlayStation Network store as well later this year.
The company confirmed on its website that it’s going to shut down the online services for the aforementioned titles on March 31st, 2020. This means that all online features will cease to be operational after that date. It will be possible for players to still play these games in single player offline modes after that.
Given that these games have significant amounts of online gameplay, it’s no longer going to be that fun for players. When the servers are shut down, players will not be able to use their season pass online, represent their Club online in multiplayer events or tours, play online multiplayer and compete in challenges, create events, and compete in leaderboards.
The company has also confirmed that the PlayStation Store will cease selling Driveclub, Driveclub VR, and Driveclub Bikes in addition to all of their DLC and season passes from August 31st, 2019.
Driveclub Servers Will Shut Down Next Year , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 31
Footage of the deadly terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand was streamed live on Facebook two weeks ago. There have been a lot of questions since then about the reaction to that from social media platforms like Facebook. The company’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has written a letter to the NZ Herald highlighting some of the actions that Facebook will take going forward. The letter mentions that the company is “exploring restrictions” on live video.
Sandberg writes that Facebook has heard feedback that it must do more and that it agrees. Facebook is thus taking three steps which include strengthening rules for using Facebook Live, taking additional steps to counter hate on the platform, and supporting the affected community.
She adds that Facebook is exploring restrictions on “who can go Live depending on factors such as prior Community Standard violations.” She added that Facebook is also investing in search to build better technology that can quickly identify edited versions of violent videos and images so that such content can’t be reshared on the platform.
Facebook is also taking stronger steps to remove hate on its platforms. The shootings have been designated as terror attacks so any praise, support, and representation of the events will be in violation of its Community Standards and will not be permitted on Facebook. The company is also providing support to four local well-being and mental health organizations in New Zealand to raise awareness about their services within the country.
Facebook ‘Exploring Restrictions’ For Live Video , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 31
It seems that Apple Music might get support for Chromecast eventually. It’s a feature that many users have been waiting for. Some lines of code have been discovered in the Android app for Apple’s music streaming service which suggests that it may be updated with support for Chromecast. The lines of code reference support for Chromecast, in addition to some code that has been added through recent updates.
It’s pertinent to mention here that the mere presence of the code doesn’t indicate that the feature is definitely going to be launched but it’s a good sign for that possibility. Support for Chromecast in Apple Music would mean that it would be possible for users to play music streaming over Apple’s service to a compatible device such as a dongle or a speaker.
Apple hasn’t confirmed or denied at this point in time if it’s going to add Chromecast support to the app at any point in the future. It goes without saying that many of its subscribers on Android will be pretty happy if it does.
The music streaming service’s app has been installed on some 40 million Android devices. With the recent addition of code that also references Chromecast, it’s a good sign that this feature may arrive, so there’s hope yet for the functionality to arrive.
Apple Music Might Get Chromecast Support , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 31
The infotainment systems in our cars have become a lot smarter over the years. It’s usual for them to retain some information from the smartphones that are paired with the Bluetooth system but it seems like Teslas can do more than that. Tesla’s vehicles have a significantly more powerful in-car infotainment system and all vehicles have built-in dashcams. The video can be used to review the events leading up to a crash. It seems that totaled Tesla vehicles hold on to those videos with no encryption.
A couple of white hat hackers took a closer look at what Tesla’s onboard computers can reveal. They found encrypted information from at least 17 different devices which included the number of times they were paired with the car and contact information from 11 phonebooks. Calendar entries with planned appointments and email address of those invited were also revealed.
The white hat hackers had purchased a totaled Model 3 for this purpose. Their research also revealed that it was possible to even see the 73 last locations with navigation information of where the car had been. They were able to extract a video of the crash that the vehicle was involved in as well.
Such videos will obviously be very helpful for investigators looking into the cause of a crash. However, it leaves the door open for people with technical knowledge to simply extract someone else’s information from a salvaged Tesla.
A spokesperson for Tesla told CNBC that “Tesla already offers options that customers can use to protect personal data stored on their car, including a factory reset option for deleting personal data and restoring customized settings to factory defaults, and a Valet Mode for hiding personal data (among other functions) when giving their keys to a valet. That said, we are always committed to finding and improving upon the right balance between technical vehicle needs and the privacy of our customers.”
Totaled Teslas Retain Video Recordings That Are Unencrypted , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 31
A DC Universe subscription provided fans with access to DC comics. Many would have thought that subscribers would get access to all comics but that wasn’t the cast. Even after an expansion, the service only provided access to a “curated” selection of digital comics. That changes now as the company has confirmed that DC Universe will now give subscribers access to the entire digital comics library of DC.
Starting this month, it’s possible for DC Universe subscribers to get full access to the DC digital comics library. An issue will have to be at least a year old but, nevertheless, it does mean subscribers can even read comics dating back almost 80 years.
DC hasn’t put out a full list of the comics that will now be available to subscribers but there’s a fairly good chance that they will be able to read the early Detective Comics issues as well.
Crucially, DC has confirmed, it’s not going to increase the subscription fee for the service even though subscribers now get access to the entire digital comics library. This is good news for DC enthusiasts who can now get more bang for their buck. It also helps DC drive more subscribers to the service.
DC Universe Gets Access To Full DC Digital Comics Library , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
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