Driving in an unfamiliar city can be stressful, and finding parking is even worse. Eventually, we’ll have autonomous vehicles to deal with that for us, but until then, companies are looking at ways to ease the strain. That’s why car rental brand Avis has partnered with mobility solutions company Arrive to add a space-finding feature to its app.
The Avis app already lets drivers rent a car on the go, and includes a bunch of other helpful features such as remote car locking — with Arrive integration customers in the US can now instantly find, book and pre-pay for parking. Arrive is already used in some 230 cities around Canada and the US, predominantly by third-party and business customers. Encouraging consumer use makes sense, especially as many city-dwellers don’t drive a car on a daily basis — knowing parking is already taken car of is just one less thing to worry about when you’re behind the wheel.
As Engadget Chinese noted, Google hardware SVP Rick Osterloh once said that the big G wants to bring all its employees working on hardware together in one place. It’s not yet clear if that means HTC’s Pixel developers are leaving their old building and moving into the new campus. But even if they’re staying in their old HQ, the new one will most likely give rise to more kinds of devices in the future: Google hasn’t been just a search giant for a long while now. In the past few years, it hasn’t just released its own phones, but also its own laptops, smart speakers and smart displays.
Also announced are three other games that Game Pass subscribers will get as a part of their plan from the day they’re released: Killer Queen Black, Outer Wilds and Blazing Chrome. The video below shows off both Afterparty and Outer Wilds with some additional information from the developers.
With Microsoft trying to launch Project xCloud streaming that works on every screen to buff up its subscription prowess, it will be interesting to see if an expanded Game Pass library full of indie titles will keep players interest as new entrants like Apple Arcade and Stadia show up.
Google has teamed up with researchers from Princeton, Columbia and MIT to create TossingBot, which can learn how to pick up and toss various objects into the right containers on its own. During its first rodeo, the mechanical arm didn’t know what to do with the pile of objects it was presented with. After 14 hours of trial and error and analyzing them with its overhead cameras, it was finally able to toss the right item into the right container 85 percent of the time.
As the tech giant explains, programming a robot to properly grasp and toss specific objects — a screwdriver, for instance, could land in different ways, based on where you hold it — is incredibly difficult. By using machine learning, the robot will teach itself from experience instead, as well as adapt to new scenarios and learn on the fly. That’s the kind of machine that would be useful in warehouses and distribution centers, such as Amazon’s or UPS’.
In addition to TossingBot, Robotics at Google is working on an R2-D2-like rolling robot that uses machine learning to navigate new spaces. Researchers are also training a set of mechanical hands with fingers to manipulate objects by pushing, pulling and spinning them.
If you’re an Angry Birds diehard, you’ll be happy to hear that Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs is available on PlayStation VR for $14.99. And Rovio and Resolution Games have added 13 new levels of play. Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigslaunched on Vive and Oculus Rift in February, and it looks like that was just the beginning. In addition to the new platform, the game makers hope to have 100 levels available by the end of the year.
Also new in the patch is NVIDIA Highlights, which automatically captures screenshots and game clips when players achieve certain milestones, such as defeating a large creature or discovering the Tombs of the Legionairres. A new set of sliders allow you to adjust your camera’s field of view while you’re on the ground, in flight, underwater, your weapon is zoomed, or when you are out of your javelin.
Players will be able to replay missions at a much higher difficulty level, and have access to a new mission that can be played an unlimited number of times. The update also fixes numerous bugs and issues, including the elimination of a rather pesky loading screen that appeared when visiting the Forge to configure your javelin. Also fixed are a small number of issues that caused the system to crash, or players to be unable to interact with other players or objects.
Google just made it easier to lock down your account if you’re a G Suite user. The internet giant is trotting out a series of updates for two-step verification, starting with the interface itself. You’ll see new instructions text and images to walk you through the process of setting up a security key, and the flow for that process now changes depending on the browser you’re using. You’ll get an experience unique to Chrome or Safari, for instance.
Using unmanned aircraft for delivery is an idea both the military and private sector have explored for years. Traditional aircraft guzzle fuel, cost money to purchase and maintain and require a human pilot. An unmanned aerial device doesn’t require any of these things. Companies like Amazon flirted with the idea of using drones to speed up package delivery, but couldn’t overcome logistical hurdles. While far away from being suitable for civilian use, these latest delivery gliders may be a step in the right direction.
The one caveat is that these gliders have to first be launched from a larger aircraft. The gliders can then fly, either on their own or through radio control, and then belly land or release a parachute. The gliders travel at a low altitude and don’t need an airfield-like landing zone, which as a paper on them mentions, gives them a lot of flexibility. The unmanned aircraft can fly into urban environments, small clearings, or through forest and jungle canopies.
In an interview with Engadget, principal investigator Marti Sarigul-Klijn explained that gliders would outpace both ground-based delivery drones and be cheaper than the current system of air-dropping supplies by parachute. “Gliders dropped from a cargo aircraft could greatly outdistance any ground based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for cargo logistics since the actual cargo delivery distance is the sum of the carrier aircraft’s range plus the glider’s range,” wrote Sarigul-Klijn in an email. “A carrier aircraft such as the C-17 can easily fly 2,000 nautical miles and back. Although most airdrop systems including parachutes are reused during training, all airdrop systems are expended during combat missions because it is almost impossible to retrieve them.”
Logistics Gliders, Inc. plans to continue testing its disposable gliders this year under its contract with the Marines. If successful, the gliders would be a low-cost way for the military to air-drop supplies across multiple sites or even transfer humanitarian aid across political borders. You can watch a video of a test of the LG-2K below:
Pence agreed that the timeline was short but maintained that it was possible, pointing to the Apollo 11 landing as an example of how quickly the US can move when it’s motivated. He suggested that it might require using private rockets if the Space Launch System isn’t ready in time.
There’s one main problem with the plans: it’s not clear the money is there to make this happen. Although the proposed fiscal 2020 budget did increase NASA’s funding slightly to $21 billion, astrophysicist Katie Mack noted that it would represent a much smaller fraction of the federal budget than the Apollo program represented in the 1960s. While the federal budget has clearly grown over the decades, so have the costs of space travel — the government may need to spend a lot more if it’s going to make its target.
In a speech just now, Mike Pence proposed sending astronauts back to the Moon within five years.
Just as a reminder, here’s the NASA budget over time. Current projections for 2018/2019/2020 are small fluctuations on the 2017 point. See if you can spot the Apollo years. pic.twitter.com/sLwdEjhdJg
In the case in question, Qualcomm argued that Apple iPhones made with Intel chips infringe upon two of its patents. Those patents relate to methods that improve the speed and quality of data downloads. The complaint focused exclusively on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, though it’s not clear if the sales ban proposed by ITC Judge MaryJoan McNamara would affect other models as well.
In a separate decision issued by the ITC, the commission rejected Qualcomm’s complaints that Apple infringed on a patent that deals with a battery-saving feature. As a result of its findings, the ITC decided not to issue an import ban as requested by Qualcomm. That decision is still subject to review by the full commission, which plans to conclude its full investigation into the cases by July.
The patent battle between Apple and Qualcomm has been ongoing in courts around the world. Judges in Germany and China have already found Apple to be in violation of Qualcomm patents and issued temporary bans on some iPhone models. Apple has managed to get around those bans by returning to using Qualcomm chips in older models of iPhones sold in Germany and offering a software update in China to address functionality related to the infringed upon patents.
