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The next season of ‘Destiny 2’ returns to Mercury and Osiris

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This being Destiny, there are also new goodies… lots of goodies. All players can access new seasonal armor sets and earn gear like Symmetry, an exotic scout rifle. Season pass holders, however, get plenty of perks. You’ll need a pass to play Sundial, but paying up also immediately unlocks Symmetry and offers access to an exotic emote, finisher, Ghost and ornament. You can expect exotic questions, triumphs, bounties and lore books, too.

The season will wrap up on March 9th. If the outgoing season (Undying) is anything to go by, you’ll have to play often to complete everything, which is no doubt the point. Bungie is still keenly aware of complaints that players would quickly run out of things to do earlier in Destiny 2‘s history, and this could keep them from drifting toward other games out of boredom.

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Bloodhound’s supersonic car hit 628MPH in under a minute

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It reached those speeds using only its EJ200 jet engine. Next, the team will attach a rocket to the tunnel beneath the jet engine. That will generate several tonnes of thrust. With the added boost and data from the most recent test runs, Bloodhound hopes the car will reach 800MPH, beating the world land speed record.

The project hasn’t completely resolved its financial woes. It will need to raise up to £10 million (about $13 million) to move into the final phase of the program, but owner Ian Warhurst is optimistic. “The global media interest around the high speed testing has really raised our profile and potential sponsors are getting in touch every day,” he said in a press release.

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Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chips include two with built-in 5G

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Just when phones will arrive will depend on the individual manufacturers. It won’t surprise you to hear that several vendors have already confirmed work on devices using the new Snapdragons. Xiaomi’s Mi 10 and an unnamed Oppo flagship will use the Snapdragon 865 in the first quarter of 2020, while Nokia (that is, HMD Global) will use the Snapdragon 765 for future hardware. Motorola, meanwhile, expects to use both the 865 and 765 in its devices.

And yes, there’s good news if you liked the thought of Qualcomm’s in-screen fingerprint reader but thought it needed work. The company has unveiled a next-gen 3D Sonic Max sensor whose ultrasonic tech has a recognition area 17 times larger than before, letting it authenticate with two whole fingers at once. That promises considerably greater security, but also promises faster fingerprint registration and fewer instances of fumbling around to hit the reader’s sweet spot. You’ll have to wait until 2020 for this as well, but it could be worthwhile if you think current fingerprint sensors are too crude.

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‘Red Dead Online’ players can soon set up a bootlegging business

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In the new role, you’ll perfect your distillation methods, avoid the law and put rivals out of business. If you’re good enough, you might get to partner with the notorious Maggie Fike, purchase a Moonshining Shack and set up a speakeasy serving your shine. There will be some new wardrobe options and a new Navy Revolver.

This is the latest role Frontier Pursuit added to Red Dead Online. In September, Rockstar Games added hunter, trader and collector roles. Red Dead Online arrived one year ago, and both the game and subsequent updates have been well received.

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Microsoft’s Seeing AI app helps the blind in five more languages

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Microsoft’s Seeing AI has been helpful for describing objects and text to the blind, but there’s been a key problem: it has only been available in English, making it a non-starter if you don’t speak the language. That won’t be a problem for some people from now on. Microsoft has updated the iOS-only app with support for Dutch, French, German, Japanese and Spanish, letting many more people read signs, interpret someone’s facial expressions and otherwise navigate the world using spoken cues in their native tongues.

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Amazon plans three solar power projects in the US and Spain

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The trio will help power Amazon Web Services data centers and, in Spain, Amazon’s European fulfillment network (read: warehouses). Amazon didn’t have a time frame for when the facilities would be ready.

These efforts nudge Amazon closer to its goal of running entirely on renewable energy by 2030. The company also sent a not-so-subtle reminder that it planned to beat the Paris Agreement by going carbon-neutral by 2040, addressing criticisms that it didn’t sign a pledge opposing Trump’s plan to remove the US from the climate change pact. Amazon is clearly keen to show that it’s making environmental progress.

Nonetheless, the expansion comes as Amazon is drawing fire for claimed deficiencies in its approach. On top of the lack of a signature backing the Paris Agreement, employees have blasted it for lacking a truly company-wide climate strategy. Critics inside and out have noted that Amazon regularly contradicts itself — it’s adopting renewable energy at the same time as it caters to the fossil fuel industry through AWS and spews emissions from delivery trucks. The three new projects should help reduce Amazon’s footprint, but many don’t believe the firm is going nearly far enough.

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X-ray lasers can spot elusive electron motion

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X-ray lasers like SLAC’s Linac Coherent Lightsource have an undulator, or a magnet that converts some of the energy from electron beams into X-ray bursts. The team added two magnets in front of the undulator to shape the electron groups into narrow, very intense spikes (some nearly 500 megawatts) with a wide variety of energies. From there, they could get attosecond-level X-ray flashes.

It was another matter to measure the X-rays. That required creating a device that sent the X-rays through a gas and stripped them of some of their electrons to create an electron cloud. An infrared laser gives a “kick” to those electrons, leading to different movement speeds that help scientists calculate the length of an X-ray pulse.

This method could lead to breakthroughs in… well, virtually any scientific field that studies atoms. Biologists, chemists and material scientists could more accurately study processes that start at the electron level, such as photosynthesis. And the technology should get better — SLAC expects both refinements and the next-gen LCLS-II laser (which shoots X-ray pulses 8,000 times faster) to allow for more intense and potentially shorter pulses. It might soon be possible to study the activities of molecules at the shortest possible intervals.

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Ring gave police a detailed map of area doorbell installations

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CNET reviewed public documents from the Rolling Meadows Police Department in Illinois. Those revealed that police had access to heat maps of Ring video doorbell concentrations, and when zoomed in, the map would show light circles around individual locations. Police could also search for specific addresses to see nearby camera concentrations. The Rolling Meadows Police Department told CNET that it didn’t use the heat map feature but that it could have shown them where Ring cameras were in certain areas.

The feature was removed in July, but CNET believes some departments may have had access for more than a year. In August, Ring revealed that 405 law enforcement partners use its Neighbors Portal, and according to CNET, Ring now partners with 631 law enforcement agencies in the US. It’s unclear how many police departments may have had access to the map.

In a statement to CNET, a Ring spokesperson said:

“As previously stated, our video request feature does not give police access to the locations of devices. Ring is constantly working to improve our products and services and, earlier this year, we updated the video request process to no longer include any device density information. Previous iterations of the video request feature included approximate device density, and locations were obfuscated to protect user privacy. Zooming into areas would not provide actual device locations.”

Amazon’s close relationship with law enforcement has already been criticized. Last month, we learned that police can keep Ring video doorbell footage indefinitely once doorbell owners provide access to it, and Amazon has asked police to advertise Ring cameras.

Privacy advocates worry Amazon’s relationship with police could encourage people to compromise their privacy or lead to a state of constant surveillance. While Ring doorbell owners have to choose to share footage with police, if police know who has a video doorbell, they may pressure those individuals to come forward.

Engadget has reached out to Ring for comment.

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Reebok’s new performance shoe is made from plants

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Reebok has sold plant-based shoes in the past, like its NPC UK Cotton + Corns shoes which are made from cotton and corn-derived polyurethane. These sneakers are more for casual wear though, so the use of plant-based materials for a performance shoe is new.

The company is confident the Forever Floatride Grow shoe can hold its own against other performance sneakers as the design is based on the Forever Floatride Energy, a popular choice as an everyday running shoe. The new shoes have a highly cushioned midsole built from sustainably grown castor beans, which is important for supporting the foot while running.

The upper part of the Forever Floatride Grow is made from biodegradable and sustainably sourced eucalyptus tree, which Reebok says is strong and breathable. The sockliner is made from an even more unusual material, using Bloom algae foam which should make it odor resistant. Finally, the outsole is made from natural rubber from rubber trees, instead of the typical petroleum-based rubber.

The shoes will launch in fall 2020.

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Amazon Prime arrives on cable-provided TiVo boxes

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There’s no such thing as regular ol’ TV anymore. There’s cable and satellite, and a seemingly endless selection of streaming services and content platforms, so clicking around your options can be a bit time consuming and clunky. But TiVo is trying to streamline the process. From today, Amazon Prime members will be able to access Prime Video content directly through their TiVo box. Sitting alongside other video streaming apps already offered by TiVo, the Prime Video app will also include select 4K Ultra HD and HDR content, as well as behind-the-scenes exclusives for top movies and TV shows. Find it through TiVo’s OneSearch function.

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