Previously, users on the Flexible plan had 15GB of top-speed data per month. Once they used that, they’d be downgraded to 256kbps or asked to pay extra for more gigabytes, Phone Arena explains. Unlimited customers could use 22GB of top-speed data. Now, all customers have access to 30GB of data per month before their service slows or they have to hand over more cash.
Google says the changes are temporary, but since no one knows how long this pandemic will last, it hasn’t shared an end date. Google Fi is also temporarily extending the payment grace period. Fi customers now have 60 days to make a late payment before their service is cut off.
The hardware is nice, but the real star here is the Weber Connect app. It’s the software that runs on JuneOS, which powers June’s smart ovens. Weber Connect functions in a similar manner: It uses a combination of internal food temperature and grill temperature to guide your cooking process. You can select from a number of meat and fish presets that will give you step-by-step directions for almost everything. That includes food prep, grill setup, how to insert the probe, when to flip, when to wrap (if needed), when to remove and how long to let things rest before slicing.
Thanks to some behind-the-scenes calculations, Weber Connect can estimate when cooking will be complete if you’re using one of these presets. It also estimates when you’ll need to do the next step. All of this is paired with instructional video clips embedded in the recipe steps.
These videos are helpful for a variety of things, particularly stuff like trimming a brisket or other pre-grilling prep work. These are the kinds of skills that come with experience, and it’s guidance you typically have to research on your own. I’ve used a Serious Eats in-depth guide or two, so there’s no judgement if you like to do your homework. Weber saves you time by putting everything in the app, so even if it’s your first time cooking a brisket, you know exactly what to do and when to get it right.
If you don’t need this much assistance, you can set a target temperature and use the Smart Grilling Hub in a more manual fashion. If you know you need to wrap a pork shoulder at 165 degrees you can set an alert for that temp, and then another for the final target temp. With either method, the Weber Connect app will send you alerts when it’s time for the next step or when you’re approaching that target temperature.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve used the Smart Grilling Hub in both regular and manual modes. I’ve tested recipes that were hot and fast on a charcoal grill (steaks and chicken breasts) and low-and-slow barbeque on a pellet grill (pork shoulder and beef ribs). Using the target temperature option, I’ve also reverse seared Tri-tip. The Hub led me to great results every time, but there is room for improvement.
First, while there are plenty of recipes to choose from, with options for your desired doneness and thickness along with the cut, there are several omissions in the first round of presets. There’s no option for pork ribs, for example, and the steak settings are limited to rib eye and a generic “steak” setting. (You can still select thickness.) Weber has committed to adding new recipes regularly and hopes to do so every quarter. In fact, the company says the next round will be ready soon. This means that over time, you’ll have more options to choose from, and they’ll come with that step-by-step guidance if you need it.
The estimated completion times can also be slightly confusing. During shorter cooks, I had no issues. They worked well, and the estimated times for both flipping and removing food from the grill were pretty accurate. For multi-hour sessions, it’s a different story. There’s a lot more variables and a lot more math involved. For example, if you open the grill to peek or spritz your meat, the estimate will adjust to that temporary loss in temperature. My advice is to make note of the first number you get and treat is as a rough, but reasonably accurate estimate.
Both times I cooked pork shoulders, the estimates were continually changing due to those recalculations. However, the estimate at the beginning proved pretty close, getting within 30 minutes each time. That’s not bad for a cook that can go well over eight hours. Trust me, it’s much better to have some idea when you’ll need to wrap and when you’ll be done than to be relying solely on temperature readings.
Right now, there’s no way to skip steps in the guided recipes. Now, normally skipping steps in a recipe is, well, a recipe for disaster. But if you’re smoking a pork shoulder, for example, skipping the wrapping stage allows you to build up more robust bark, especially if you’re spraying with something like apple juice or cherry soda. This really only applies to longer cooks though — you definitely wouldn’t want to skip any of the advice Weber offers on things like grilling and resting steaks or chicken breasts. It would also be great to see some more advanced features like a temperature graph that maps out the entire cook. This type of info is handy when you’re fine-tuning your process over several attempts.
Weber says it’s working on voice-assistant integration. That means you’ll be able to ask Alexa or Siri to give you an update without having to reach for your phone. While it might sound unnecessary, it could be useful in situations where your hands are full or even dirty. If you’re prepping sides in the kitchen, it would be nice to just ask for the status of things instead of having to pause what you’re working on, wash your hands and reach for your phone.
Starting April 17th, you can check out Tribeca Immersive’s Cinema360 programming via Oculus TV on Oculus Go and Oculus Quest. It features 15 VR films across a quartet of programs lasting between 30 and 40 minutes.
The jury and art award winners will be announced online between April 12th-26th, the period during which the main festival was scheduled to take place. You can also watch finalists from the Tribeca X Awards (which focus on filmmaker and brand collaborations) on the festival website starting today. Meanwhile, creatives can pitch their projects to industry executives through an online market.
Last week, Lyft announced that it would provide free bike rides for healthcare workers in New York City, Chicago, the Bay Area and Boston who are helping to keep the public safe during the coronavirus pandemic. The company is expanding its efforts to help front-line employees get to and from work by providing unlimited 30-minute scooter rides, free of charge. First-responder, healthcare, and transit workers in Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, D.C., San Diego and Santa Monica all qualify, and Lyft will be providing extra scooters near hospitals to ensure that enough are available. The company has also increased its cleaning protocols so that there is less of a chance of germs spreading via contact with the scooters.
Employers can sign up by reaching out to Lyft via email. Once enrolled, employees will have access to the scooters until April 30th. Lyft’s bikes and scooters should provide workers with a convenient way to commute while practicing social distancing — public transportation and ride sharing are probably too risky for many at this point. The company is also helping to deliver food and medical supplies to those in need.
If you’re not familiar with service, it combines Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass subscriptions into one package. The former allows you to play games online, while the latter grants you access to a library of more than 100 Xbox and PC games, among other perks. Some of the titles you can currently play on Game Pass include Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, The Outer Worlds and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The library of available games changes frequently, so there’s usually always something new to check out.
If you’re new to the service, your best bet is to take advantage of Microsoft’s conversion offer. When you upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the company will convert any prepaid time you have on Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass toward your new subscription (up to a maximum of 36 months). You can combine this with the $1 Game Pass Ultimate promo by buying a prepaid Xbox Live Gold card. In this way, you can get 12 months of Game Pass Ultimate for $61. Just make sure to first add the prepaid time to your account before taking advantage of the promo offer.
Halpern tried to replicate that human-technology relationship in the show. Like Stålenhag’s art, the loop in Ohio uses three massive cooling towers. They’re visible in the background of countless shots but never questioned or explored up close. A floating tractor is treated the same way in episode six. Though it plays a critical role in the story, its ability to hover is simply accepted in the world. None of the characters gasp or run away when they see it hovering in a field.
Like Stålenhag’s drawings, the show is set predominantly in the 1980s. Or at least, it seems to be. Unlike Stranger Things, the show isn’t packed with obvious pop culture references that give the exact year away. Every room isn’t littered with Star Wars memorabilia or original NES cartridges, for instance. And the show isn’t crammed with iconic tunes like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Instead, the historical nods are more subtle. You can approximate the time period based on the clothes that people are wearing, the cars they drive and the appliances in their suburban homes.
Halpern said: “I didn’t want to fetishize the time period and say, ‘Look at these clothes from the early 1980s!’ Or, ‘Do you remember this?’ I didn’t want that element of nostalgia [in the show].”
It’s unusually difficult to pinpoint the exact year that most of the drama takes place, though. The homes in Ohio, for instance, often feature objects from a few different decades. You might theorize that the show is set in 1982, only to see a typewriter or rotary phone that feels closer to the 1960s or 70s. It’s a departure from Stålenhag’s art, but an intentional one. Halpern wanted the show to have a “timeless quality” that reinforced the show’s own history. The household objects are supposed to be a visual reminder and representation of prior generations that lived in Ohio.
“They show that it’s not just the stamp of right now, but there’s much from the past that carries forward,” he explained.
The costume design is a curious blend of American and European influences.
Amazon
The writer didn’t abandon the Scandinavian aesthetic entirely, either. The main family in the show drives a decades-old Volvo, for instance, and often wears jackets and knitted sweaters that feel more European than American. Halpern justified these touchstones through the scientific community that has traveled from across the globe to work at the loop facility. “So while, yes, it is [depicting] America, it is kind of an aesthetic unto itself,” the writer said.
The show’s visual language compliments the one-shot episode format. One story grapples with time travel, however that mechanic isn’t revealed until the final act. The timeless aesthetic therefore helps to mask the fantastical element, though it’s still possible to guess what’s happening through dialog and character reactions. Another episode involves the death of a major loop employee. In one scene, two characters step inside a mysterious structure that, through a series of echoes, can reveal how long you have left to live. Later, the employee chooses a relative as their successor, indicating that life is cyclical and the choices we make echo forward through time.
“It goes back to that word timeless,” Halpern said. “And so much of the show is about our experience with time.”
Halpern hopes the self-contained stories evoke a sense of wonder. He felt the same emotion while looking at Stålenhag’s artwork and worried that any single loop effect would lose its intrigue over an eight-episode season. “It becomes a little too normal,” Halpern said. That’s why each episode tackles a wildly different idea. The breadth keeps the show fresh and ensures the viewer is never certain what the rules and narrative boundaries are. “There’s always something new if you keep watching,” Halpern hinted. “And I think that’s what I was chasing, ultimately. Just never losing that sense of wonder.”
“So much of the show is about our experience with time.”
The show does have story beats that evolve and carry over between episodes, though. So if you watch the entire season you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the cast. In episode one, for instance, you might think the loop’s security guard is a throwaway character. By the end of the show, though, you’ll know more about him and view his earlier mannerisms differently.
With the new firmware, you’ll finally have some form of slow motion in 360 mode, albeit just 60fps (2x). There is a trade off in resolution, too, as you’ll have to shoot in 3K. This might sound a lot, but given Max is essentially two cameras, it’s a relative step down from the standard 5.6K (stitched) image available at 30 fps.
James Trew / Engadget
The addition of time lapse in 360 mode fills a glaring gap in the Max spec sheet. When I reviewed the camera, I enjoyed the presence of TimeWarp, but was disappointed there was no conventional time lapse mode in 360 (you could shoot regular “flat” time lapses). Not only is it a popular feature generally, but it’s also a handy way to take multiple photos without having to manually click the shutter — if you want to catch a moving target or have multiple shots (okay, selfies) to choose from. Which interval options will be available isn’t clear right now, but we’re hoping there’s a decent selection.
Other perks in the update include Horizon levelling for TimeWarp and photos (in non-360 mode) as well as improved media offload speeds. There’s only one small caveat, and that’s that you’ll have to wait a little longer. The update is currently due to land around April 15th, but we guess it’s not like you’re planning on going on any adventures right now.
With Disney acquiring Fox, the entire Simpsons catalog came to Disney+ streaming, which was great for fans of the show. However, after learning nothing from FXX, Disney aired the pre-2009 seasons in widescreen rather than the original 4:3 format. That would be bad enough as is, but it also had the very unfortunate effect of cutting off many of the shows amazing visual gags like the one above.
Disney plead mea culpa last year and promised to fix the issue by “early 2020.” Yesterday on Twitter, the company said it now expects to “accomplish this by the end of the May.” At that point, you’ll be able to watch “the first 19 seasons (and part of 20)… on Disney+,” in the original ratio.
The safety of staff and visitors is, of course, NVM’s top priority. Turning off the lights has meant shutting off the museum’s primary source of revenue, though: admission fees.
In response, NVM has furloughed roughly two thirds of its 18 employees. That means most staff have stopped working and accepted a pay packet, funded by the UK government, that will cover up to 80 percent of their usual wages. Even a small skeleton crew isn’t enough to balance the museum’s finances, though. Iain Simons, the museum’s director of culture and a long-time writer and speaker about video games, estimates that NVM has enough in the bank to last “a few months.”
If it can’t reopen or find additional funding, it’s possible the museum will close for good.
It’s a depressing fate that management is obviously keen to avoid. Last week, the museum set up a JustGiving page with an £80,000 (roughly $99,385) target. At the time of writing, a little more than 300 people have donated £28,642 (roughly $35,582) to the cause. Simons hopes that the target amount can keep the museum afloat until it officially re-opens. No one is exactly sure how long the quarantine will last, though — not even the UK government. That’s why NVM management is also reaching out to members of the video game industry and existing museum patrons.
“Money buys time and people, really,” Simons said.
The situation might be different if NVM was an accredited museum. It’s a legitimate business, backed up by a charity called the British Games Institute (BGI), but it’s still working on the accreditation that would potentially unlock funding from Arts Council England and other UK government schemes.
The “small skeleton crew” that hasn’t been furloughed will be focused on this all important kitemark, as well developing “what the museum will be when we reopen, and obviously fundraising,” Simons explained.
The timing of the coronavirus pandemic couldn’t be worse.
“You haven’t got to be an epidemiologist to work out that we’re one of the higher risk spaces.”
Before COVID-19 reached Britain’s shores, the museum was apparently flourishing. NVM had experienced its “busiest half term ever” in mid-February, according to Simons. “Just over a month ago, everyone was basically still outside having a brilliant time,” he explained. There wasn’t a huge drop-off in the weekends that followed, either. NVM was aware of COVID-19, though, and took some common sense precautions. “Obviously, we were cleaning more, and we were doing all the things you’d expect us to do,” Simons said.
That same month, though, the UK recorded its first internal transmission of COVID-19. “Fairly suddenly, things escalated in the UK,” Simons said. NVM knew it would need to take action quickly. The museum, which sits inside Sheffield’s Castle House, is packed with consoles and arcade cabinets. Hundreds of sticks and buttons are touched by an assortment of strangers every day. Even the most rigorous cleaning schedule wouldn’t be enough to stop the spread of a virus like COVID-19. “You haven’t got to be an epidemiologist to work out that we’re one of the higher risk spaces,” Smith added.
NVM stopped admissions on March 16th, a week before UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a nationwide lockdown. “I think we were one of the first museums to do that,” Simon said. “That was the right call, I think.”
The museum is used to operating on the financial edge.
The original museum, which was based in Nottingham and called the National Videogame Arcade (NVA), opened in 2015 and almost went out of business the following year. As The Guardian reports, the NVA was renting a large building and had 40 staff to pay. “It became horribly clear, horribly suddenly, that we weren’t going to be able to pay salaries,” Simons told the newspaper in 2016.
The team managed to attract investment, though, from Games Workshop founder Ian Livingstone and British developers including Sumo Digital (Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Snake Pass) and Playground Games (Forza Horizon), among others. The funding also created the National Videogame Foundation, which oversaw both the NVA and Nottingham-based GameCity Festival.
In February 2018, the Foundation merged with the newly-formed BGI. Seven months later, though, the organization was forced to move the arcade. “The thing about Nottingham is that it was on five floors,” Simons explained. “There were lots of different rooms. It was like a badly designed Quake level of a museum. It was really, really exciting but incredibly difficult to run.” When the Nottingham site closed, Simons told the BBC that it could not be “judged a commercial success.”
“If you want an easy life, don’t open a museum about video games,” he told Engadget.
The new location, which also introduced the National Videogame Museum name, is a single floor that can be easily reconfigured to accommodate new additions and exhibits. It’s not the most luxurious space, and the organization doesn’t have the money to create flashy exhibits like London’s Science Museum or Design Museum. But it’s got what’s most important — a truckload of games spanning many different decades — and other interesting objects, including merchandise and design documents, that explain how tentpole titles impacted the industry and popular culture. “You can play games at home,” Simons said. “What we’re trying to do is bring the story of video game culture, beyond just the games, to the public.”
With the support of the BGI, the museum has apparently made great strides in the last year. “We were getting to a point of stability,” Simons said. “and then guess what? This comes along.” He is well aware, though, that a museum isn’t the highest priority right now. Culture and game preservation is important, but people’s health and financial security obviously come first. “I’m not suggesting for a second that the threat to the NVM is, in any way, comparative with what’s actually going on out there in the street, or out there in the country in people’s homes,” Simons said.
Still, it’s a site that many would be sad to lose.
Simons is upbeat about the situation, though. He’s still thinking about the museum’s long-term ambitions and how it can come back with a bang once the quarantine is lifted. “At some point, [COVID-19] is going to be over,” he said. “We’re all going to go back outside. I guess I really want to make sure that we’re there with new ideas and new ways to welcome people to the museum when we get to that.” He’s focused on the museum’s survival, of course, but believes it’s equally important that people think about the future. “We need to be able to think in the hardest of times,” he said. “Being able to think positively about that is, I think, the real challenge.”
The reports are available to all users in 131 countries, and in some regions, you can search for regional state and county data. Once a region is selected, Google will generate the report in a PDF form that’s easy to share with workers in the field, the company said.
The reports cover six categories, including retail and recreation (restaurants, museums, shopping centers, etc.), grocery and pharmacy, parks (including beaches, marinas, etc.), transit stations, workplaces and residences.
Statista
Here in France, as shown in the top image, there has been a massive decline in movement to most categories — up to 88 percent — with a 56 percent drop in workplace travel and an 18 percent increase in people staying at home. That’s down to a government mandated lockdown (confinement) that prohibits any unnecessary travel, with penalties ranging from fines up to 1,500 euros and even prison time for extreme recidivists.
In California, which has implemented some of the strictest confinement rules in the US, we see a drop of just 50 percent in retail and recreation zones. Those rules are still essentially self-enforced, however, which could explain why France has started flattening its infection curve, while the US curve is a rocket ship traveling straight up.
Other mobile ad companies are also sharing similar data with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the WSJ. However, Google has access to massive amounts of anonymized location data, and reportedly created the reports to help public health officials prioritize regions based on need.
Location tracking has been used by nations like Korea and Taiwan to track movements of quarantined and healthy citizens. However, such actions are of limited use alone. Those countries have also been testing a high percentage of their populations and implementing stricter social distancing rules as well.
On top of the reports, Google said its also collaborating with epidemiologists to created an updated dataset of anonymized aggregated data, “to better understand and forecast the pandemic,” the company said.
