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Bird’s new program lets local operators run their own scooter network

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At least five entrepreneurs have joined the program. They can set their own pricing, operating hours and zoning and add their own branding. They’re also responsible for maintenance, recharging and getting permits from cities. The program is running in places where Bird didn’t plan to set up its own e-scooter networks anytime soon or at all.

The first independent Bird scooter network will arrive in New Zealand next week — rival company Lime already has scooters in Auckland and Christchurch. The Bird Platform networks will expand to Canada and Latin America in the next few weeks.

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‘Apex Legends’ update attempts to balance its most powerful weapons

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The Peacekeeper shotgun is also slightly weaker, but it hasn’t been nerfed directly. Instead, the Shotgun Bolt attachments don’t increase the rate of fire as significantly as they did before, but only when paired with the Peacekeeper specifically (leaving other shotguns unaffected). Perhaps the biggest hit on both guns, though, is that they’re now harder to find, while energy weapons and ammo boxes are no longer quite so rare. Respawn Entertainment explained in a Reddit post (where you’ll find further details on the changes) that it decided to tweak the strongest weapons and leave everything else as it is to preserve the game’s “power curve.”

In other words, guns like the P2020 pistol and Mozambique shotgun are supposed to be weaker, and something you hope to discard ASAP. In the same way you’re always after armor, equipment and attachment upgrades, maintaining a gun tier list of sorts (because everyone has their preferences) encourages players to move around the map and hunt for kills in order to improve their loadout. Respawn also says its general approach to balance is to make minor, impactful changes that have been thoroughly playtested, giving players ample opportunity to master weapons and characters without a balance patch meddling with the metagame every week.

Apex Legends

While there are no changes to the legends themselves in this balance patch, Respawn has confirmed a few minor tweaks to character abilities will be introduced alongside the Season 1 Battle Pass. More importantly, though, the same update will attempt to address the issue of the larger legends having unfairly bloated hitboxes. As it stands, the bigger the legend, the easier they are to shoot. The game is designed that way, but players have complained that the benefits of using the larger characters don’t feel like they make up for the fact they’re bigger targets. Respawn’s going to start by making small adjustments to the size of hitboxes, but may consider other changes like reducing incoming damage or increasing the power of abilities.

Again, Respawn doesn’t want to drastically alter the feel of the game with any one update, which seems sensible when you’re currently the hottest battle royale title that’s attract over 50 million players just a month after release.

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Fiat’s Centoventi is a customizable EV for the masses

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Once you’ve got the exterior and powertrain worked out, you’d be able plug in 114 Fiat-Chrysler accessories. Parts include replacement seats (including a US-illegal front baby seat), cup-holders, head rests, seat cushions and a sound system. The dashboard has small holes that Fiat relates to Lego, making it possible to use non-car accessories like Bluetooth speakers, camera mounts and smartphones, which is kind of a genius idea.

Fiat also had the strange thought that you could put digital messages on the back bumper and possibly lease it out to companies to display ads. I guess that could make you some cash, but such it seems strangely contrary to the rest of the egalitarian concept.

Fiat sees the modular idea as a way to become the Amazon of plug-in car options. “So, this is a new business model for automotive accessories, enabling them to be resold or traded on the Web,” it said in a press release. “This new business model is focused on e-Commerce, the virtual market that knows no boundaries.”

We’ve seen other concepts like Renault’s EZ Go aimed at democratizing transportation, but some of the Centoventi’s ideas — like rentable batteries — actually seem feasible for a production car. Fiat didn’t say whether it would ever be commercialized, but hopefully the company will continue to at least explore and develop some of the very novel ideas.

Follow all the latest news from Geneva Motor Show 2019 here!

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Nintendo is bringing VR to the Switch

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The Virtual Boy is back.
Nintendo’s next Labo kit brings VR to Switch

Labo VR will go on sale April 12th in a few different packages: a $40 Starter Set + Blaster that you can grow with two $20 Expansion sets adding either a Camera & Elephant or Bird & Wind Petal, or as a complete $80 VR Kit with everything included from the start. Can this VR setup succeed without a head strap or while using the Switch and its 720p, 60 fps display? We’ll find out in a few weeks.

Take a peek under the hood.
Samsung Galaxy S10 teardown shows what’s behind the hole-punch display

iFixit has torn down the entire S10 family, and it’s evident that Samsung has stuffed each phone to the gills. Most notably, cooling is everywhere. The back cover, display and wireless charging pads are blanketed in graphite, while the touted copper heat pipe is much larger — it’s closer to that in the Galaxy Note 9 than the cooling you saw in the S9.

And it’s faster too.
Harley’s LiveWire electric motorcycle will go farther than we thought

Previously, the company claimed its bike would have a city range of 110 miles. Now, Harley says, it’s good for 140, and it’ll have a mixed range rating of 88 miles, for those who occasionally zip on to the highway.

Whose privacy is he focused on?
Mark Zuckerberg outlines a ‘privacy-focused’ revamp of Facebook

In a reflection of what he said during a recent fiscal-results call, Mark Zuckerberg outlined plans to rework more of Facebook’s services around a “privacy-focused” approach over the next few years. This includes “simple, intimate” places where no one else can see your data, the use of end-to-end encryption, a reduced amount of permanent content, greater safety and secure data storage. Still, even the CEO had to admit, “Frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy-protective services.”

After Xbox and PlayStation, it’s Nintendo’s turn.
The best games for Nintendo Switch

The Switch’s online store isn’t the easiest to navigate, so this guide aims to help the uninitiated start their journey on the right foot. These are the games from its first two years that you should own — for now. We’ll be updating these guides regularly.

The battle just moved to a new level.
Huawei is suing the US government

As Huawei continues to defend itself against accusations that ties to the Chinese government make it a security threat to other countries and claims that it has stolen technology from others, it announced a lawsuit against the United States. Huawei’s ire is focused on Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). That section targeted it by name to block federal agencies from working with the company, which it believes is unconstitutional without a fair trial.

But wait, there’s more…

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Sony finally brings PS4 Remote Play to iPhone and iPad

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Much like its forbears, setup is as simple as updating your PS4, downloading the app and pairing the two. The on-screen controls are overlaid onto the image, and like many mobile games, will probably play better with a third-party controller. Sadly, you can’t connect a DualShock 4 to an iPhone unless you’ve jailbroken it, so third-party options are probably the way to go.

Of course, if you’ve really wanted to play PS4 on your iPhone, you’ve been able to, just not without Sony’s express blessing. Third party apps, like R-Play, have enabled this since 2017, although unlike Sony’s offering, you had to pay $12 for the privilege. If that seems too steep, you can now grab the PS4 Remote Play app for iOS in the App Store.

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Amazon’s joint healthcare organization is called ‘Haven’

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Haven, the website says, is a nonprofit that aims to make primary care easier to access, make prescription drugs more affordable and insurance benefits easier to understand. When the partners first announced the endeavor, they said they want to accomplish those goals with the help of technology. That hasn’t changed: they explained that they’re looking at new ways to use data and technology to better the healthcare system.

The organization will start with addressing the healthcare needs of 1.2 million Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase workers in the US. Ultimately, the partners intend to use whatever they learn from that initial period and the solutions they come up with to improve the system for everyone.

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There are only two Blockbusters left in the world, and one is closing

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Australia’s last Blockbuster, located in the small suburb of Morley, was operated by Lyn and John Borszeky. The owners put up signs indicating the store would shut down last Friday, which resulted in an outpouring of nostalgia-driven support. While they held out for as long as they could, the arrival of Netflix and other streaming services in the Australian market made this ending an inevitable one. Everything from movies to signs will be sold off from the store, with the going out of business sale set to start on March 8.

Blockbuster has already disappeared entirely from the UK, and the last remaining artifact of the rental era giant is the final store located in Oregon. As of last year, there were two stores still operating in Alaska — and they received a significant amount of attention when Last Week Tonight host John Oliver donated the jockstrap used by Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man to the store in an attempt to drum up interest. The effort failed and the stores closed last August.

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Steinway releases high-tech piano that records your performance

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Resident pianist John Batiste from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert gave the Spirio | r a whirl on Tuesday night at the Steinway Hall in New York City, reports CNET. Batiste played and recorded a Sam Cooke piece. The piano then played back the song exactly as Batiste had played it, while he played a melodica along with the piano.

Steinway’s first high-resolution piano, the Spirio, was launched in 2015, and allowed users to select from a vast catalog of music on the Spirio iPad app for the piano to play back. The catalog included legends ranging from Duke Ellington to Art Tatum, with new additions every month.

With the newest Spirio model, owners aren’t limited to pre-recorded songs. Musicians can record and then edit their music directly on the accompanying iPad app. The Spirio | r app includes the ability to modify note velocity and duration, correct wrong notes, modify pedal data, and delete or add time. Spirio | r owners can also save and share their recordings in MIDI, MP3, and Spirio’s high resolution format, an added perk for professional musicians who are using the instrument as a recording tool.

The jury is out on how much the Spirio | r will cost. The first Spirio model, released in 2015, ranges from $84,000 to $116,00 dollars. Due to its recording device, the older Spirio costs an extra $25,000 compared to a normal Steinway, the piano publication Acoustic and Digital Piano Buyer notes. Sales of grand pianos, as prohibitively expensive luxury items, have been lackluster in recent years. According to The New Yorker, Steinway sold 6,294 grand pianos in 1926, and in 2012 sold just over 2,000 grand pianos.

But the added cost hasn’t kept away potential buyers, at least of the Spirio. The self-playing Spirio accounted for 30 percent of Steinway’s sales in 2018, according to USA Today.

Given declining sales over the years, this latest technological advance from the 166-year old piano maker may be more of an attempt to sell more pianos to a broader (if still rich) customer base, some who may not even play the piano, rather than exclusively catering to musicians.

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Tesla promises to halve charging time with V3 Supercharging

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While it just opened the first “public beta” V3 Supercharger in Fremont, CA tonight, over the next few weeks it’s bumping charge rates at the 12,000+ V2 Superchargers to 145kW. On the most efficient vehicles, like a Model 3 Long Range, Tesla expects they’ll get 75 miles of charge in 5 minutes, and add range at a rate of 1,000 miles per hour.

Not all of the changes are in the chargers either, as software updates rolling out to its cars (Model 3 first, then S and X), and a new feature called “On-Route Battery Warmup.” When an owner navigates to a charging station, their car will make sure the battery is raised to an optimal temperature when they arrive which Tesla says can reduce average charge times by 25 percent.

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Google’s repair center will finally take your Pixel 3

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The repair center page still points Pixel 3 owners to physical locations. However, a Google spokesperson told Android Police in a statement that “all generations” of Pixels are covered. It’s “in the process” of updating the repair page to match.

It’s arguably an overdue move when the Pixel 3 has been on the market for five months, or more than long enough for devices to break. The addition is better late than never, though, and it might make the difference if you were eyeing a Pixel but don’t live in a place where in-person repairs are easy to find.

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