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HBO’s ‘Hackerville’ cybercrime series debuts in the US

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HBO is releasing Hackerville, its German series about a talented Romanian teenage hacker, to American audiences. The show follows German cybercrime investigator Liza Metz (Anna Schumacher) who is sent back to her hometown in Romania to investigate a major hack against a German bank.

Lisa teams up with a local cop, Adam Sandor (Andi Vasluianu) to hunt down the criminals. Meanwhile, a local teenager and talented hacker, Cipi, (Voicu Dumitras) is being scouted by both the police and those with more nefarious motives. Shot in both Romania and Germany, Hackerville was HBO Europe’s first co-international production. For American audiences, the network is only releasing the series on HBO Now, HBO Go and HBO On Demand.

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What’s on TV this week: ‘Stranger Things’ season three

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In the US, this week is interrupted by the July 4th holiday, and Netflix is celebrating by releasing season three of Stranger Things to take us on another trip back to the ’80s. Even if you’re not up to binge it on Thursday morning, don’t forget there’s also a game coming out for all the major systems, while anime fans can enjoy another new release with season three of Kakegurui.

Otherwise, gamers should check out Sea of Solitude, a “brilliant, emotional horror show” we’ve been waiting years to play, while on Switch, Dream Daddy and What Remains of Edith Finch are making their debuts. On Tuesday night, ESPN is airing a new 30 for 30 about the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest that focuses on the rivalry between Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

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Russia’s hypersonic weapon is reportedly running short on carbon fiber

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Russia’s current supply of carbon fiber material is unable to withstand the extreme temperatures of hypersonic flight. According to a US intelligence report reviewed by CNBC, Russia is hunting for an alternative source of carbon fiber, but so far has had no luck. “It’s expected that they will make no more than 60 of these hypersonic weapons because it’s just proving to be too expensive to develop,” an anonymous official told CNBC.

But one nuclear weapons expert told Engadget that 60 units is a pretty significant number. “To me the most surprising part was that someone would say that 60 units is ‘a few’. I would say that 60 is rather quite a few. My take on Avangard has always been that it’s a niche capability without a clear mission. I was expecting that Russia will stop after deploying maybe a dozen of them,” said Pavel Podvig, a senior research fellow at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

As it stands, the current plan is to reach initial operational capacity of the Avangard by 2020, according to Russian news reports. The current goal is to build 12 weapons by 2027, so it will be a long time until Russia is able to reach 60 weapons. Meanwhile, the US Army plans to field a battery of its own hypersonic missiles by 2023.

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Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 10 on August 7th

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This could be one of the biggest Galaxy Note introductions yet. Current rumors and leaks suggest the Note 10 will retain the harder-edged design of the Note line, but inherit Galaxy S10 features like a hole-punch camera (this time at the top center), in-screen fingerprint readers and, crucially a wider selection of models. There may be two Note variants this year, a 6.3-inch base Note 10 and a nearly 6.8-inch Note 10+ (the larger of which would offer a 5G variant). You could expect upgrades to the pen experience, the camera and likely other traits.

The Note 10 might be a step back for some, though. There are murmurs that none of the new models would include a headphone jack (making Samsung’s previous bragging a bit awkward), and that only the Note 10+ would have a microSD slot. If so, some of the features Samsung owners have taken for granted are about to go away — and there’s no guarantee that the Galaxy Buds or increased storage will satisfy some fans.

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Google pushes for an official web crawler standard

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While the Robots Exclusion Protocol has been around for a quarter of a century, it was only an unofficial standard — and that has created problems with teams interpreting the format differently. One might handle an edge case differently than another. Google’s initiative, which includes submitting its approach to the Internet Engineering Task Force, would “better define” how crawlers are supposed to handle robots.txt and create fewer rude surprises.

The draft isn’t fully available, but it would work with more than just websites, include a minimum file size, set a max one-day cache time and give sites a break if there are server problems.

There’s no guarantee this will become a standard, at least as-is. If it does, though, it could help web visitors as much as it does creators. You might see more consistent web search results that respect sites’ wishes. If nothing else, this shows that Google isn’t completely averse to opening important assets if it thinks they’ll advance both its technology and the industry at large.

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Tesla’s former head of production joins competitor Lucid Motors

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Tesla Motors is suffering from some significant brain drain. On Monday, upstart electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors announced that it is hiring Peter Hochholdinger, Tesla’s former head of production, to serve as its vice president of manufacturing, according to Reuters. Hochholdinger, who previously served as a longtime executive at Audi, officially left Tesla last week.

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WSJ report on Jony Ive is ‘absurd’

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In the message, Cook called the story “absurd” and said its conclusions “don’t match with reality.” He didn’t call out specific things he disagreed with, but claimed it failed to understand how Apple or its internal design team works, and that “It distorts relationships, decisions and events to the point that we just don’t recognize the company it claims to describe.”

The article noted that Ive declined to comment, but there’s the official Apple side of things. In closing, Cook backed Ive’s previous statement that the design team is “stronger than ever” and said “The products they’re working on will blow you away.” Most of Tim Cook’s notable emails usually go out to Apple employees, but this does bring to mind a 2012 message he sent to a blogger defending the hiring of John Browett as Senior VP of retail. Browett was fired later that same year.



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Samsung chief says he pushed Galaxy Fold ‘before it was ready’

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Don’t expect an answer on when (or if) the Fold might come back, though. He noted that Samsung had over 2,000 devices in the field and “defined all the issues,” but wouldn’t narrow down when the foldable handset might resurface. The company has largely been mum on its plans to revive the device ever since the delay was announced in the first place, and even talk of imminent launch details never panned out.

The Fold was supposed to arrive in late April, but early reviewers quickly discovered problems, including a display cover that was too easy to peel off and gaps that allowed debris to get behind the foldable screen. It was all too easy to break the sensitive panel — and that would have been a problem with any phone, let alone one costing $1,980. Samsung has to both tackle the Fold’s design woes and convince would-be buyers that it’s still worth taking a chance on a gadget with such a rough history.

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Uber makes it easier to find bikes and scooters in its app

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In a statement provided to Engadget, Uber’s Head of New Mobility Platform Billy Guernier said:

“We are putting new mobility front and center in the Uber app. Starting in Atlanta and San Diego riders opening Uber’s app will now see the nearby JUMP bikes and scooters as well as Lime scooters on the home rides screen, making it easier than ever for them to choose a new mobility option. The more transportation modes people have at their fingertips, the easier it becomes to get around without owning a car.”

Uber purchased Jump just over a year ago, and earlier this month, it announced upgrades to its Jump scooters and bicycles. So it’s not too surprising that the company has decided to promote the fleet in its main app. It’s notable, though, that Uber will partner with its competitor Lime, and photos provided by the company show Lime scooters with Uber branding. Rumors once circulated that Uber wanted to buy Lime. This partnership might make some wonder if those talks are still on the table.

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A virtual reality massage center will open in Los Angeles this week

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The center will pump in fragrances related to each setting along with a cool breeze. The massage isn’t virtual, but it’s not from a human, either — it’s an automated massage chair, hopefully better than the one you collapse into for a break at the mall.

Somewhat fittingly, Esqapes is based in the SAG-Aftra Building. That’s the home of the Screen Actors Guild, whose members certainly know a thing or two about pretend worlds.

Esqapes might not be able to offer you a massage from a real masseur or masseuse on an actual Carribean beach. But as a quick getaway from the hustle and bustle of LA, it might be worth checking out.

Esqapes VR massage

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