Month: February 2016

Enlarge (credit: MacRumors)

When we reviewed the new Apple TV and tvOS, one of our biggest complaints with the core experience was text entry with the Siri Remote. The scrolling and swiping was inaccurate and time-consuming—it's a big pain during initial setup and text-driven searches, and it is at best a step sideways from the old Apple TV software keyboard.

Apple released the third beta of tvOS 9.2 yesterday, and among its new features was a new text dictation feature that will let users spell out usernames and passwords letter by letter with their voices instead of the trackpad. The feature is driven by Siri, so it will only work in countries where Siri is available, but for those users it looks like a decent way to save time while typing things out.

This is all still subject to change—Apple has been known to test out new features in beta builds before removing them in the final version. That's pretty rare, though, and complaints about text entry were loud enough that it's not surprising to see Apple working on a fix. We'll be giving the final version of tvOS 9.2 a closer look when it's released, possibly at or soon after Apple's rumored product event in March. The update will also add Bluetooth keyboard support, folders for apps, and an updated multitasking switcher.

Storage tanks near some Pennsylvania natural gas wells. (credit: Gerry Dincher)

Fracking, enabled by the technology to drill oil and gas wells that turn horizontal to follow specific layers of rock, has driven a boom in US natural gas production. But how much of that natural gas (which is mainly the potent greenhouse gas methane) is leaking into the atmosphere before making it to a power plant or your furnace? It's not just an idle question. When natural gas displaces the use of coal, it results in significant reductions in CO₂ and other pollutants. Leak enough, however, and that climate benefit might just disappear.

The public debate has treated this leakage issue as specific to the process of fracking. But “conventional” natural gas wells—vertical wells drilled through porous rocks that give up natural gas without the need for new fractures—have always leaked. A study by a Carnegie Mellon University group led by Mark Omara measured leakage at both conventional and fracked wells in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The results are a little complicated.

The researchers visited 18 conventional natural gas sites and 17 fracked sites (including 88 fracked wells, which are commonly drilled down from a central pad before splaying out horizontally). Between 100 meters and a kilometer downwind, they made methane and ethane measurements. To control for the dilution of the leaked gas as it spread and swirled in the wind, they added a leak of their own. Right next to the gas wells, they set up tanks of nitrous oxide and acetylene and opened the valves to leak at a constant rate. By checking their measurements of those gases downwind, they could calculate the true natural gas leak rate.

You can never have too much Google Drive space, right? At least that's what Google thinks, and it's giving away 2GB today to anyone that wants it.

This has become a yearly tradition for the company, with today's offer specifically honoring Safer Internet Day 2016. To get the extra Drive space, all you have to do is sign into your Google account and review your security settings, including factors like two-step verification, authorized devices, account verification settings, and a couple more. The process takes just a few minutes, and once you complete the check-up, you'll be awarded the extra 2GB of permanent Drive space for free.

Those who took advantage of the same Google promotion last year can rejoice, as they are welcome to snatch up this year's promotion as well. There's no word on when this 2GB offer will expire, but you have at least one week to complete the security check-up.

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Amazon just announced a new contender in the game engine market: Amazon Lumberyard. Currently in beta, this free, cross-platform 3D engine (with visuals based on CryEngine) features the usual contingent of promises: the ability to build beautiful worlds, make realistic characters, and create “stunning real-time effects.” But there’s also something else. Lumberyard, it seems, is all about connectivity.

According to Amazon, developers will be able to connect their games to “the vast compute and storage of AWS Cloud,” add cloud-connected features in “minutes” with the help of the drag-and-drop graphical user interface, and engage fans on Twitch.

The last bit is obviously the most interesting. There’s a "Twitch Chatplay" feature that lets the game interact with viewers in real-time, meaning spectators might be able to vote on outcomes or gift power-ups to the broadcasters. Rather like Twitch Plays Pokemon, one might imagine. Amazon Lumberyard also includes a Twitch JoinIn feature that will allow for multiplayer games where Twitch broadcasters can instantly invite viewers to join them side-by-side in a session.