Blog

Spot and Pepper robots will perform at spectatorless baseball games in Japan

[ad_1]

Sports leagues and teams around the world have been filling stadiums with stuffed toys and cardboard cutouts to stand in for fans who can’t watch in person due to the coronavirus pandemic. SoftBank, however, is taking things a step further in an effort to make its Japanese baseball team’s games a lot livelier. The company has revealed (via Engadget Japanese) that its robotic division’s Pepper humanoid robot and Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robot Spot will perform together at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ home games.

SoftBank built a special stage where the two machines will dance together to the tune of the Hawks’ theme song Iza Yuke Wakataka Gundan. The home games will be held at the Fukuoka PayPay Dome, and the robots are expected to perform there from July 7th through the 31st. Pepper, as SoftBank’s creation, will even support the Hawks in other ways, such as striking a pose when a player hits a home run.

[ad_2]

Source link

TikTok will exit Hong Kong because of China’s new security law

[ad_1]

All those efforts aren’t necessarily helping, though. When asked about it by Fox News, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US is “certainly looking at” banning Chinese social media apps like TikTok. In addition, the US Senate recently asked intelligence services to probe TikTok to see if it presents any kind of a national security risk. TikTok was recently banned in India, along with dozens of other Chinese apps.

Facebook recently said it would “pause” responses to data requests from Hong Kong, despite the new security law that gives police the power to order companies to remove content. However, Apple, which still has a large presence in China, complied last year with communist government demands to remove a Hong Kong protest-tracking app.

ByteDance has continued to try to distance itself from China and by exiting Hong Kong now, is avoiding the appearance of any potential conflicts. TikTok previously said that it has 150,000 users in the city and a source told Reuters that it’s a money-losing region for the company.

[ad_2]

Source link

Google Fiber’s first expansion in four years is in West Des Moines

[ad_1]

About ten years after starting its high speed internet quest, Google Fiber is expanding again. Availability in the city of West Des Moines, IA adds its first new market in four years. It will be a tenant, leasing space in an open conduit network that the city is building, with plans to offer service throughout the entire network. A blog post by director of corporate development David Finn noted some “mistakes” made in the project’s history, but reaffirmed a commitment to increasing broadband access.

Since Google Fiber first launched, gigabit internet speeds (at least down) have become available in more places from more providers, but there’s still many underserved areas of the country, or places that could use some competition. Initial hopes that Google would be the one to push giants like Comcast and Verizon (the owner of Engadget’s parent company) may have been too ambitious, but they’re apparently not done yet.

[ad_2]

Source link

Curiosity rover starts its ‘summer trip’ to next Martian destination

[ad_1]

In just a few weeks’ time, the Perseverance rover and its helicopter companion might blast off to space and make their way to Mars. That doesn’t mean Curiosity will no longer be in the picture, though — in fact, the older rover has just started its mile-long summer journey towards its next destination. The Curiosity rover’s next stop is Mount Sharp’s “sulfate-bearing unit.” Since, here on Earth, sulfates usually form around water as it evaporates, the data the rover gathers could give us a clue on how the Martian climate and its prospects for life has changed over the past 3 billion years.

Curiosity has been investigating Mount Sharp’s clay-rich environment since early 2019, providing information to scientists looking into whether the former watery environment could have supported ancient microbes. The rover is now leaving that clay-rich environment behind. To be able to reach its goal, though, it has to drive around a patch of sand to avoid getting stuck.

[ad_2]

Source link

What’s on TV this week: ‘The Old Guard’ and ‘Trolls World Tour’

[ad_1]

This week Trolls World Tour comes home for the second time. It was one of the first major movies to make a video on-demand debut instead of being released in theaters, but now the Dance Party Edition will be available on Blu-ray with 4K and 3D versions.

Netflix has a number of new series lined up, including the Japan Sinks: 2020 anime, but its biggest release for the week is director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s next flick, The Old Guard. It’s based on a graphic novel with stars including Charlize Theron and Chiwetel Ejiofor, telling the story of unkillable warriors who protect the mortal world or something. I’m expecting some decent action.

[ad_2]

Source link

A VR retelling of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ is coming to Oculus headsets

[ad_1]

Interestingly, while you and a friend can buy tickets for the same time slot, there’s no guarantee the two of you will get the chance to take part in the same performance. Tender Claws plans to match each ticket holder with five to seven other audience members and a single actor. They’ll be multiple performances per hour, and the studio claims no two renditions will be the same.   

Tickets for The Under Presents: Tempest go on sale starting on July 9th, with daily showings continuing through to the end of September. On weekdays, they’ll be performances between 7 and 11PM ET. On Weekends, meanwhile, showings will take place between 2 and 6PM ET. A single ticket costs $15 and includes access to the game’s multiplayer space. In the meantime, you can play a 30-minute demo of the base game for free, provided you own an Oculus Quest or Rift headset. 

[ad_2]

Source link

A number of first-party Nintendo Switch games are on sale at GameStop

[ad_1]

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. If you buy something through one of the links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.

If you own a Nintendo Switch and are bored staying home, you’re in luck — almost 40 Switch games are now on sale at GameStop. Some games are even priced slightly better than Nintendo’s recent summer sale. Notable titles include New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, Splatoon 2 and Yoshi’s Crafted World, all on sale for $40.

Shop the sale at GameStop

[ad_2]

Source link

Supreme Court rules against law allowing debt-collection robocalls to cell phones

[ad_1]

The American Association of Political Consultants and three other organizations filed a suit aimed to invalidate the entirety of the TCPA so as to make it possible to make political robocalls to cell phones. But six of the nine justices have decided to invalidate the 2015 exception instead, stating that the 2015 update “impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment.”

Additionally, the Supreme Court saw no reason to dismantle the TCPA, as it functions without the debt-collection exception. “The remainder of the law is capable of functioning independently and would be fully operative as a law. Severing this relatively narrow exception to the broad robocall restriction fully cures the First Amendment unequal treatment problem and does not raise any other constitutional problems,” the high court said. Because of traditional severability principles, “the 2015 government-debt exception must be invalidated and severed from the remainder of the statute,” the court said.

[ad_2]

Source link

An Ubisoft VP has resigned following assault and misconduct allegations

[ad_1]

Save for a short stint at Epic Games, Béland had worked for Ubisoft for 20 years. He worked on the original Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist and Far Cry 4, among other games.

A dozen current and former Ubisoft Toronto employees spoke with Kotaku, which published a detailed report about alleged misconduct at the studio today. They “described an overall workplace culture that undervalues women’s contributions, normalizes sexism and harassment, and makes excuses for the worst offenders while complaints about them go unheeded.” At one point, Béland’s wife Rima Brek was reportedly the studio’s interim head of HR, and the department had a “reputation for being unhelpful at best,” according to Kotaku.

Last week, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot published a letter to employees that detailed a plan to overhaul the company’s culture. As well as investigations into reports of misconduct, Ubisoft has introduced a way to report “harassment, discrimination and other inappropriate behaviors” in confidence. In addition, Ubisoft will revamp the Editorial Group (which until recently consisted entirely of white males), reassign an employee to oversee workplace culture and hire a head of diversity and inclusion.

Here’s the full statement Ubisoft provided to Engadget regarding Béland’s resignation:

“Maxime Beland, Vice President Editorial, has resigned from his role at Ubisoft, effective immediately. Despite his resignation, we continue to investigate the allegations made against him. Additionally, effective as of [Thursday], Tommy François, Vice President Editorial & Creative Services, has been placed on disciplinary leave pending the outcome of an investigation. One other individual in our Toronto studio has been terminated for engaging in behaviors that do not align with what is expected of Ubisoft employees. Other investigations are ongoing and will be conducted rigorously.
 
Ubisoft will not tolerate workplace misconduct and will continue taking disciplinary actions against anyone who engages in harassment, discrimination and other behaviors that infringe on our Code of Fair Conduct.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Gmail finally works with the iPad’s split-view multitasking

[ad_1]

Gmail just made it a little easier to multitask on your iPad. You can now use the app in Split View, alongside Google Calendar or other iOS apps. That should make it easier to, for instance, check you schedule before you reply to an email or choose photos to drag into a message.

The feature is available immediately to all G Suite and personal Google Accounts. To enter Split View from Gmail, you’ll have to turn on multitasking on your iPad. Then, swipe up from the bottom of your screen, and drag the app you want to run alongside Gmail to the left or right edge of your screen. 

[ad_2]

Source link