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Samsung’s Galaxy S11 will reportedly feature its 108-megapixel camera

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According to a report by Bloomberg, Samsung is overhauling its camera to include its 108-megapixel sensor, which was unveiled in August and is already being used in devices like the Xiaomi CC9 Pro. The S11 will also host an extra three sensors on the rear, including one lens for capturing ultrawide angles and one with 5x optical zoom. In addition, to assist in augmented reality functions and taking portrait photos, the device is reported to include a “Time of Flight” sensor which bounces infrared light off a subject to help with depth detection.

Information regarding the potential battery of the Galaxy S11 comes from SamMobile, which reports that we can expect the device to sport a 5000 mAh battery. For comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a nearly 4000 mAh battery. The improved battery life of the Galaxy S10+ was considered a big plus by our readers, so it seems that Samsung is doubling down on more power to make its new device last all day and beyond.

Samsung has not commented publicly on these features, so they remain unconfirmed. The company typically announces new Galaxy phones in February each year, so we can expect to hear more about the S11 in early 2020.

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Airbnb officially bans all ‘open-invite’ house parties

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Airbnb has always prohibited “unauthorized” house parties thrown without the consent of the host. However, it has now instituted a global ban on “any event that the organizer opens up to anyone who wants to attend, such as gatherings advertised on social media,” wrote Airbnb’s VP of trust Margaret Richardson. She added that anyone trying to circumvent the ban will be subject to “consequences,” including account suspension or removal from the platform.

Today, we’re announcing three steps forward in protecting our host and guest community and the communities in which we operate: Guest Standards, details about our Party House Ban policy, and a dedicated line of communication for mayors and city officials to reach Airbnb in 2020.

On top of that, Airbnb has also banned large parties in apartment buildings, condos and other multi-family residences. The company said it would still allow authorized, invitation-only parties in single family home dwellings “that respect the home, the host’s house rules, and the surrounding neighborhood.”

Airbnb is also opening a dedicated hotline for mayors and city officials, it said. The platform has created a lot of bad blood with local governments by causing housing prices to rise and long-term rental unit availability to plummet, among other issues. Airbnb notes that it has more than seven million listings and a half a billion guest arrivals in 191 countries to date. Many cities, including Paris, Los Angeles and New York, have instituted partial bans or strict rules governing the platform.

Last month, Airbnb promised to verify properties for photo accuracy, addresses, listing details, safety and more, following a Vice report that uncovered systemic fraud on the platform. Going forward, Airbnb will provide refunds or re-book guests who check into rentals that don’t conform to listings.

The changes come in the wake of a shooting at a major house party near San Francisco that resulted in five deaths, and other issues around trashed homes and serious safety issues. Though the changes might seem like Airbnb is finally dealing with serious issues that have plagued it for while now, it likely has more to do with the fact that it’s planning to go public next year.

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Upcoming ‘GTA: Online’ heist targets the Diamond Casino

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You’ll have to work with the Cheng family in the game to infiltrate the casino, breach its vault, grab its money and exact revenge on the Duggan family. The Chengs originally owned the casino until the Texan petrochemical family took over using hostile tactics. Rockstar says the event takes an all-new approach to the Heist architecture and is highly replayable, thanks to a bunch of new scenarios you can unfold. If your plan goes awry, for instance, you can shoot your way out and sacrifice your team’s lives.

According to Polygon, you’ll need four players for a complete heist crew, and you’ll have access to a retro arcade business property to use as a facade for the operation. You’ll be able to practice hacking keypads and cracking vault doors underneath the arcade, where you can also store equipment and getaway rides. Rockstar promises to reveal more details on December 12th.

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Riot Games is expanding ‘League of Legends’ universe with third-party titles

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In October, the developer celebrated 10 years of LoL by announcing new projects to beef up the franchise, including a 5v5 version of the MOBA entitled League of Legends: Wild Rift. That list is composed of games developed internally, though: Riot Forge will focus on ones crated by the company’s partners.

Riot Games says the games will be made for PC, console and mobile, but it has yet to reveal the current crop of studios it’s working with. “Part of the reason we haven’t announced them publicly is to minimize any distractions for them,” the project’s website reads. And since those partners are still in the very early stages of development, it’s still too early to tell when first Riot Forge games will come out.

The company also clarifies on the project’s website that it’s encouraging the studios to find their own voice and that it will only guide them so they can reimagine LoL in their style. It will, however, provide support for QA, localization, voiceovers, marketing and everything else needed to get the game out.

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The National Archives preserve JFK assassination bullets with 3D scans

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To create the replicas, the National Archives enlisted the help of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and its ballistics team, which employed a technique called focus variation microscopy. It involved using a microscope with multiple lenses at different focal lengths to photograph the artifacts. By analyzing the images, and seeing which ones were in focus, the team was able to create 3D surface maps of the projectiles. According to NIST, imaging the bullets took “countless hours.”

NIST microscope
“I’ve stared at them so much I can draw them from memory,” said Thomas Brian Renegar, one of the scientists who worked on the project. The results, however, speak for themselves. Not only can you see things like the grooves created by the barrel rifling of the gun, but there are also details like scratches that are invisible to the naked eye.

In addition to the two bullets that killed President Kennedy, you can also see the famous “stretcher bullet” that plays an important role in the single-bullet theory of the assassination. This projectile is said to have hit both the president and Texas Governor John Connally. It was found lying next to Connally at the hospital, who survived the shooting after undergoing four hours of surgery. NIST also created replicas of two bullets authorities fired with Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle and another bullet that is thought to have been fired by the same firearm in an earlier murder attempt.

Kennedy Bullet

The National Archives says it receives “many” requests to see the bullets. By recreating them digitally, the agency feels it can strike a compromise between preserving them and allowing giving the public a chance to see them.

And they aren’t the first public institution to take that tack. In 2016, the Smithsonian Institute created a high-resolution 3D scan of Apollo 11’s Columbia command module. Perhaps what’s most interesting about the Kennedy bullet preservation is that the project has practical applications. Typically, NIST’s ballistics team uses its expertise to help authorities identify firearms used in crimes. The Kennedy bullets were so bent and warped by time and other elements that the agency had to develop new techniques to image them. They say those techniques will be useful in future cases.

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Uber’s first safety review contains thousands of sexual assault reports

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Uber mentioned developments like its In-app safety button, as well as new changes. It will share the names of deactivated drivers with other platforms for the first time, so they can’t just start taking on passengers somewhere else, and next year it will expand sexual misconduct education training for drivers in a partnership with RAINN that will also include the creation of a Survivor Support hotline “that will provide confidential crisis support and specialized services to survivors.”

  • Deactivation sharing: We’re committed to finding a way to share the names of drivers who have been banned from our platform for the most serious safety incidents with our ridesharing peers. We want companies to be able to use this information to protect their customers.
  • New technology features: We’re rolling out new features that allow riders to verify their driver with a secure PIN code, send a text message directly to 911 operators, and report safety incidents to Uber even before their trip is over.
  • Uber Survivor Support Hotline: In 2020, Uber will partner with RAINN to provide a dedicated survivor hotline that will provide confidential crisis support and specialized services to survivors.
  • Sexual misconduct education for all drivers: In 2020, Uber will expand sexual misconduct and assault education to all US drivers. We are partnering with RAINN, the nation’s largest sexual violence organization, to design and implement this program.
  • RALIANCE Business: Uber is teaming up with RALIANCE, leaders in sexual violence awareness and prevention, to create a resource center that will help companies adopt consistent, fact-based standards and strategies and improve how they respond to, prevent, and publicly report on sexual violence.

Changes you’ll see in the app will include an option for a four digit PIN that helps drivers and riders verify each other, the national rollout of the ability to report non-safety issues during a ride and text-to-911 support within the app for both riders and drivers, as riders make up nearly half the accused parties on serious sexual assault categories.

Uber plans to release these reports every two years, and hopefully the changes it’s making, as well as a focus on dealing with these kinds of issues, means there’s a lot less to talk about in the next one.



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Qualcomm teams up with ‘Pokémon Go’ developer to make AR glasses

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Their reference hardware and software design will of course be optimized for Qualcomm’s XR2 platform, which the company says is the first 5G-enabled extended reality system and the first one capable of 8K, 360-degree video playback. It will help Qualcomm figure out the standard features and specifications of a pair of XR2-powered glasses.

In addition, it will run Niantic’s Real World Platform, the AR technology behind Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, allowing the developer to tweak it and make it more compatible with the XR2. Niantic CTO Phil Keslin said during the event that once the company’s XR2-optimized platform is ready, it will be available to anyone in the Niantic Creator Program launching in 2020.

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YouTube Music can handle gapless playback on the web and Android

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Gapless music playback, the hot old-is-new feature when Spotify and Google Play Music added it on some platforms in 2012, is finally widely available to YouTube Music subscribers. Listening to playlists or albums with nary a pause between tracks is currently possible for premium members using Android or the web, and will be available on iOS “soon.” Some users had noticed the feature being switched on back in October, but now it should be available to everyone.

As we noted when YouTube Music launched last year, it arrived late to the party and very light on key features. There’s still a long list of additions users are waiting for the service to work through, but hopefully this is just the first of many updates to expect as we head into a new year.

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Apple brings Memoji and Animoji to its Clips video creation app

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You’ll be able to add stickers, animated text, filters and more to Memoji and Animoji. Memoji you create in Messages will automatically appear in Clips. You can change Animoji characters in a video even after you’ve recorded it. Apple has improved the AR functions of Clips too, so emoji, animated stickers and objects such as sunglasses can follow your face as you move around.

Elsewhere, the updated Clips app includes seven Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse stickers, along with a Let It Snow poster. It also adds support for left-to-right languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.

Apple debuted Clips for iPhone and iPad a couple of years back in an under-the-radar fashion. The update might give you more reasons to use it, as well as getting more out of your Memoji and Animoji.

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Amazon and the NFL team up to create a ‘Digital Athlete’ simulation

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The platform will combine Amazon’s AI, machine learning and computer vision technologies with NFL’s data sets, which include info on player position, play type, equipment used, playing surface, player injury info and more. In the near-term, they hope to better treat and rehabilitate injuries, but in the future, they’ll use the Digital Athlete platform to predict and prevent injuries, too. They’ll also work to better detect concussions and identify the forces that cause them.

“The NFL is committed to reimagining the future of football,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “When we apply next-generation technology to advance player health and safety, everyone wins — from players to clubs to fans. The outcomes of our collaboration with AWS — and what we will learn about the human body and how injuries happen — could reach far beyond football.

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