Blog

Record-breaking Faraday Future prototype EVs are up for auction

[ad_1]

However, you won’t want to drive this EV — It doesn’t have a warranty and isn’t exactly optimized for comfort. The interior is pretty bare and there’s not much of a dashboard. This vehicle’s real value is in its collectability. Those who bid won’t be vying for their next commuter vehicle, but for literal pieces of EV history.

In January, writers for car news website Autocar were able to test-drive the FF 91 (perhaps on one of the prototypes up for auction) and talk with Faraday Future CEO Carsten Breitfeld, who said the company planned to begin production of the EVs by the end of the year. It’s unclear where those plans stand in light of the coronavirus pandemic, not to mention the company’s continued financial turmoil.

[ad_2]

Source link

Russia’s antitrust watchdog finds Apple abused App Store ‘dominance’

[ad_1]

Potential action from US lawmakers may not be what forces Apple to change how it does business. Following a year-long investigation into the company, Reuters reports Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has found the iPhone-maker abused its dominant position in the mobile app marketplace and will order Apple to resolve multiple regulatory breaches. 

The agency started investigating the tech giant after developer Kaspersky Lab filed a complaint over the rejection of its Safe Kids app from the App Store. At the time, Apple said the software put “user’s safety and privacy at risk.” The agency ruled Apple forces developers to distribute to their apps through the App Store and then unlawfully blocks them. A spokesperson for Apple told Reuters the company plans to appeal the ruling. 

[ad_2]

Source link

Belarus is reportedly blocking and throttling Twitter in reaction to protests

[ad_1]

According to Vice, the government has responded to this uprise by shooting rubber bullets and stun grenades at protestors, arresting them, as well as trying to block certain parts of the internet.

Access Now, a nonprofit on digital rights, had tweeted recently that authorities in Belarus had blocked not just Twitter, but also access to various media sites and even some VPNs. NetBlocks, an organization that monitors internet freedom, also tweeted that Belarus had been “largely offline” since Sunday. Local journalists have reported that their VPNs are blocked as well.

Belarus joins the ranks of other countries who have blocked Twitter during times of conflict, which include Venezuela, Turkey and Egypt.



[ad_2]

Source link

Apple’s first watchOS 7 public beta is now available

[ad_1]

But if you’re willing to put up with buggy software, you’ll find nifty new features to check out. WatchOS 7’s most notable enhancement over watchOS 6 is the addition of sleep tracking. The update adds an app that will show you how long you slept the night before — though it doesn’t include a breakdown of sleep cycles just yet. 

Apple has also updated the Activity app. It’s now called Fitness and includes more accurate calorie tracking for activities like functional strength and core training. Other less significant but still welcome additions include new watch faces, as well as a feature that allows you to share them with your friends. Apple Maps now includes support for cycling directions — just in time for the rerelease of Google Maps on the platform. Of course, no wearable update in 2020 would be complete without some kind of handwashing feature. WatchOS 7 comes with automatic handwashing detection that will let you know how much longer you need to scrub your hands. 

As usual, it’s probably best to not install the software on your Apple Watch if you use it every day. But if you’re type who likes to live on the edge, you can also install the macOS Big Sur and iOS 14 public betas.  

[ad_2]

Source link

Longtime Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono departs Capcom

[ad_1]

“I’ve been with the Street Fighter brand for a long time, experiencing good times, bad times, and even non-existent times,” he said. “My heart is filled with appreciation to those players who’ve been giving warm and kind support on the brand especially little over the past decade or so as all the activities on the Street Fighter brand regained sunshine and grew its liveliness.”

Ono also noted the criticism levied against Capcom for switching up the Capcom Pro Tour tournament this year. The impact of COVID-19 left the publisher with little choice but to move to an online format. “It took a long time for us to decide the format for this year, but we believe that conducting the event itself would repay those who [have] been supporting the CPT, regardless of what the format is,” he wrote.

Capcom plans to extend Street Fighter V’s lifespan through at least next year, with more fighters and gameplay updates on the way. Rumors suggest that Street Fighter 6 is in development too.



[ad_2]

Source link

Facebook forms financial group to focus on payments

[ad_1]

The company believes that enabling such purchases makes advertising becomes more valuable. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that he’s quite keen on growing in-app transactions. “As payments grow across Messenger and WhatsApp, and as we’re able to roll that out in more places, I think that will only grow as a trend,” he said in a recent earnings call. 

Though Libra hasn’t quite taken off as a global cryptocurrency the way the company had hoped, the unification of all the company’s disparate payment systems under one roof makes sense. Facebook Pay is already a good example of this; simply link it with your credit card or PayPal account, and you can use it to exchange funds on Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. 

Rolling out payment systems across different countries does require getting the approval from regulators, which Marcus has had experience with during his time with Libra. Marcus told Bloomberg that it’s helpful to have this expertise in financial services regulation in his new role. “In the financial services world, it’s very different than traditional technology companies that are not regulated,” he told the outlet. 

[ad_2]

Source link

E Ink shows off a foldable e-reader prototype you can take notes on

[ad_1]

It’ll likely be a while before this tech makes its way to market. If it does, it seems you’ll get much more screen real estate than a standard e-reader, which could come in particularly handy for digital newspapers.

However, as The Verge points out, the design here is pretty clunky as things stand. The prototype has massive bezels, and having to switch on lightbars and fold them down for better nighttime reading seems cumbersome.

The e-reader is still a work in progress, though. It has evolved quite a bit from the last version E Ink revealed in June. If E Ink can make the bezels smaller and figure out an elegant way to build backlit foldable screens, it could be onto a winning idea. If it can somehow add color screens to the device too, so much the better.

[ad_2]

Source link

People are still spending record amounts on gaming in the US this year

[ad_1]

Hardware sales were “only” $848 million, but that mark represented a massive 57 percent bump from Q2 2019. NPD said that console sales were strong across the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 — so even though these consoles have all been available for a while, they all got a nice bump. Similarly, the accessories category was also up 50 percent compared to a year ago.

As for what games drove this surge, there aren’t a lot of surprises on NPD’s list. New titles Fantasy VII: Remake and The Last of Us Part II combined with time-tested sellers like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Warzone, Grand Theft Auto V, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe and, of course, Minecraft.

Given that the US is still advised to stay home as much as possible, NPD doesn’t see this trend reverseing itself any time soon. That doesn’t mean Q3 will be another record, but it does make the upcoming Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launches particularly interesting.

[ad_2]

Source link

'Horizon Zero Dawn' devs are investigating problems with the PC version

[ad_1]

Shortly after Horizon Zero Dawn arrived on PC last week, players started reporting problems including crashing, freezing and frame rate issues. Now, Guerrilla Games has acknowledged the reports in a Steam post and said that it’s looking into them. “W…

[ad_2]

Source link

Google Maps is finally back on Apple Watch

[ad_1]

After a lengthy absence, Google Maps is making its way back to the Apple Watch. Over the next couple of weeks, Google says it will start rolling out a new version of Maps to Apple’s wearable. The app will allow you to get walking, cycling and driving directions from your current location to your home, workplace and other destinations you’ve saved ahead of time. It will also work with public transit. 

You can also use Maps on your iPhone to start navigating somewhere and then continue getting directions from your Apple Watch. Along the way, the wearable will display your estimated arrival time. 

[ad_2]

Source link