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Waymo’s first outside investment round includes car industry heavyweights

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Alphabet is also contributing, but it appears to be in the minority this time around.

Waymo was vague about how it would use the funds, saying only that this would help “our people, our technology, and our operations.” One look at Waymo’s business suggests that it has plenty of need for cash, though. In addition to its general autonomous driving research, it also has to grow its fledgling Waymo One ride hailing service and Waymo Via goods delivery outfit. The investment could help those projects thrive without forcing Alphabet to reach into its coffers quite so often.

The timing is also significant for Magna. It recently wound down its partnership with Lyft for self-driving tech — clearly, the money wasn’t as much of an obstacle for the company as it seemed at first. It’s not shocking that Magna would stay invested in the field, though. It’s going to need a substantial stake in driverless cars if it’s going to remain relevant in the long run, and that means getting into the field early.

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Pininfarina debuts ultra-rare $2.9 million version of its electric hypercar

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Like many super-rare cars, Pininfarina is also playing up the craftsmanship and cosmetics. The Anniversario will be hand-built in Cambiano with a new Grigio Antonelliano color option, unique leather and Alcantara seats and loads of engraving and labels to remind everyone that you bought a special edition.

There’s just one problem: you probably won’t get it even if you’re rolling in cash. The €2.6 million (about $2.9 million) price tag is an obstacle in itself, but Pininfarina is also making just five examples of the Anniversario. If you’re fortunate enough to have the option of placing an order, it might already be too late. Otherwise, you’ll just have to ‘settle’ for one of the 147 other Battistas that will start reaching customers in late 2020. It’s a tremendous hardship, we know.

Pininfarina Battista Anniversario interior

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Netflix is hosting a live comedy festival in Los Angeles this spring

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Comedians including Pete Davidson, Jamie Foxx, Arsenio Hall, Norm Macdonald, David Letterman, Amy Schumer, Michelle Wolf and Ali Wong are slated to perform. They’ll take the stage in venues like The Hollywood Bowl, Wilshire Ebell Theater, The Regent and The Orpheum Theater.

One event, “The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up,” will feature comedy by Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman and Wanda Sykes. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin of Grace and Frankie will host an evening of stand-up with an all-female lineup.

Netflix has invested heavily in comedy specials, and it has tons of great talent to work with. Creating an in-person experience makes sense for live comedy, but this is still a big step for Netflix.



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‘Half Life: Alyx’ gameplay videos showcase gravity gloves and more

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Having played Half-Life 2 and its subsequent DLC countless times, the most jarring aspect of the trailers is the fact Valve recast Alyx. She’s now voiced by Ozioma Akagha (Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Runaways), instead of series veteran Merle Dandridge. However, once you get past that, there are a variety of interesting details on display.

To start, we see the game’s three different movement modes in each of the videos. It also looks like the gloves Alyx wears have some of the capabilities of Half-Life 2′s iconic Gravity Gun. Specifically, they appear to allow you to pull items to you without physically moving to them and picking them up. As such, they effectively let you spend less time moving Alyx, which, along with the different movement modes, should help with motion sickness.

In the third and final gameplay trailer, we see Alyx fight her way through an abandoned factory setting. The interesting revelation here is that Half-Life 2‘s Manhacks return to Half-Life: Alyx. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, they were the drones that would hurl themselves at you with their razor-sharp blades. At one point, we also see Alyx pull a van door to use as impromptu cover against a Combine soldier.

If you still want to see more gameplay, IGN has a nine-minute video that shows some different scenes. Half-Life: Alyx will be playable on a variety of virtual reality headsets, including Valve’s Index VR.

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Facebook’s rebuilt Messenger is a big step towards unifying its chat apps

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In fact, Messenger’s engineers have been steadily stripping features out of it, like the Discover tab, which the company confirmed it was axing last week. (Separately, Facebook notes some features may be “temporarily unavailable,” but no word yet on which specific capabilities may be affected.)

More importantly, the redesign lays important groundwork for other big changes that will fundamentally change the way you use Messenger, namely Facebook’s plan to bring all of its messaging into a single experience. The company also suggests that the new version helps move the app a little closer toward its goal of adding encryption to Messenger chats by default, though it’s unclear exactly how. For now, those remain longer term goals. Zuckerberg has made clear that cross-app messaging isn’t coming any time soon, and the company recently confirmed its encryption plans are still years away.

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Leaked documents suggest Huawei violated Iran sanctions

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Early last year, the US charged Huawei with violating sanctions on Iran and stealing trade secrets. The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently added more trade-secret theft charges to the case, and Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is facing separate charges for allegedly committing fraud to bypass the Iran sanctions.

Huawei has pushed back. The company accused the US of political persecution and “using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company.” These new findings, however, could undermine Huawei’s rebuttal and bolster the DOJ’s case.

The newly obtained records also show that Panda International Information Technology Co. was involved in acquiring sanctioned hardware and software for Iran. According to Reuters, Panda International has longstanding ties to Huawei and is controlled by a Chinese state-owned company.

“Due to ongoing legal proceedings, it is not appropriate for Huawei to comment at this time,” a Huawei spokesman told Reuters. “Huawei is committed to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries and regions where we operate, including all export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, U.S., and EU.”

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BBC Studios is the next to pour money into Pocket Casts

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“This new partnership with BBC Studios enables Pocket Casts to further our goal of creating the world’s best podcasting platform, for both listeners and publishers,” said Pocket Casts CEO Owen Grover, former iHeartRadio and Clear Channel vice president.

A few years ago, NPR, WNYC Studios and WBEZ Chicago teamed up to buy Pocket Casts, one of our preferred options for multi-platform podcast streaming. Their goal was to improve the podcast discover experience and help creators find new audiences.

“Now, with BBC Studios’ investment, Pocket Casts continues to differentiate itself as a global audio platform focused on independent voices, supporting producers and preserving the intimacy of the medium,” the company wrote in a press release.

This may also have something to do with Spotify’s attempts to dominate the podcast market. Last year, Spotify acquired Anchor, Gimlet and Parcast, and already this year, it has acquired the Ringer, a popular sports and culture media company. BBC Studios’ investment is an example what other major players are doing to battle Spotify’s continued push into the podcast market.



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Latest Pixel ‘feature drop’ lets you pause music with a touch-free gesture

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It should also be easier to handle your purchases and passes. You can press and hold the power button to swipe through the payment cards, passes and tickets you’ve stored in Google Pay. Pixel 4 users can bring up their emergency info as well. Meanwhile, Pixel 3, 3a and 4 owners in 11 countries (including the US, UK, Canada and Australia) can take a screenshot of a flight’s boarding pass barcode to add it to Google Pay. The feature will gradually roll out through March.

There are a host of less vital but still convenient additions. If you have a Pixel 4, the front-facing camera can create images with depth, while adaptive brightness will temporarily ramp up your screen in bright sunlight. Pixel phones as a whole now have 169 more emoji to account for wider ranges of gender, skin and couple combos. Duo now has augmented reality effects to liven up your video chats. Pixel 2 owners are now receiving Live Captions. And if you live in Australia or the UK, you now have car crash detection that can automatically alert emergency crews if you’re unresponsive. Few of these features are must-haves by themselves, but they might add up to a lot.

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‘Overwatch’ college esports series will award $40,000 in scholarships

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The first Collegiate Clash is due to start in late March and will broadcast live on UMG’s Twitch channel.

The notion of elevating college players isn’t completely novel. Epic is starting official Fortnite college circuits, for instance. However, this could be helpful for any student who’s hoping to compete in the Overwatch League or otherwise make a living from their Mercy or Reinhardt skills. The problem, as such, is simply the limitations of the schedule. A two-month series doesn’t give players much opportunity to thrive — the scholarships will help, but victory won’t necessarily guarantee a path to glory.

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NASA accepts applications for astronauts for the first time in four years

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NASA says that you’ll need to be a US citizen with either a master’s degree in a STEM field or an equivalent, such as two years of work toward the doctorate in your field, a medical doctorate or the combination of a completed test pilot school program (finished by June 2021) with a STEM bachelor’s degree. You’ll also need real-world experience that includes either two years of “progressively responsible” work experience or 1,000 flight hours as a pilot in command. And did we mention that you’ll have to pass a long-duration spaceflight physical?

If you do pass muster, though, it’s a big opportunity. Barring any changes in plans, the next two decades at NASA will be dominated by lunar and martian expeditions. And even if you don’t go, this is the first call for astronauts in over four years. It’s a chance to be part of a very small club that has ventured beyond Earth, even if you don’t go further than the International Space Station.

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