Month: September 2016

(credit: Lisa Padilla)

Boston cops on Monday reluctantly launched a six-month body cam pilot program after a state judge told the police union that making the decision to wear them "is a non-arbitrable management right."

As many as 100 of the city's 1,500 patrol officers are being assigned a camera after a judge set aside the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association's (BPPA) edict that its union members not wear them until the demand is included in the union membership's contract.

The union had brought litigation (PDF), which ended Friday with a decision (PDF) by Douglas Wilkins, a Suffolk County Superior Court judge. He ruled it was up to Police Commissioner William Evans, not the union, as to whether the Boston Police Department would become the latest agency to deploy body-worn cameras (BWCs). "[T]he court sees no defensible distinction between the non-delegable decisions regarding uniform, weapons, duties and assignments and the other in this case to wear BWCs as part of the standard equipment and mission of officers participating in the Pilot Program," he wrote.

Well folks, one of the car world's craziest characters is at it again. That's right, Ken Block—the Hoonigan—has a new Gymkhana video out, and it's a good one.

Block came to fame first as the founder of DC Shoes and for his activities in the world of extreme sports. But like quite a few of his colleagues in the world of skateboarding, motocross, and so on, "with age comes a cage." For the last 11 years Block has been a professional rally driver, first in the World Rally Championship and more recently in rallycross. Currently, he's racing alongside Andreas Bakkerud in World Rallycross over in Europe, campaigning a very special Ford Focus RS RX.

The video was made in partnership with Forza Horizon 3 (you'll be able to read our review of the game on September 20) and was originally supposed to be filmed in Australia (where the game is set). Sadly for the land Down Under, the New South Wales Police were less than keen on the idea. So instead of burning rubber around the Sydney Opera House, we're treated to eight minutes of madness in an industrial wasteland also known as Buffalo, New York. (Block partnering with a video game is becoming something of a tradition—Gymkhana 6 was done in partnership with Need for Speed.)

Justin Roiland and the rest of Squanchtendo sits with Ars Technica to talk about Accounting. Video shot by Sam Machkovech, edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

SEATTLE—"How much of this am I allowed to spoil?" This was my first question to Justin Roiland—the writer, animator, and voice actor best known for co-creating Adult Swim series Rick & Morty—after 12 minutes of laughing hysterically inside of his first virtual reality project.

Roiland topped off his makeshift morning mimosa and responded pretty demurely, choosing not to offer a PR-style list of rules and restrictions. Instead, his plea sounded like one from a creator, not an advertiser: whatever gets spoiled will ruin the whole point of his first-ever, fully fledged VR product, so, you know, be cool about it.

Enlarge / The recall notice on Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 site. (credit: Samsung)

Samsung shipped around 2.5 million potentially explosive Galaxy Note 7s out into the world, and now it needs customers to bring them back. Getting the masses to relinquish their smartphones, even when they can be a danger to them or the things around them, has proven to be a challenge. To encourage stubborn owners to turn in their devices, Samsung will push out an Over The Air (OTA) update to recalled Note 7s that will limit the battery to 60-percent capacity. The hope is that customers will be annoyed into action.

According to the Associated Press, Samsung took out an ad on the front page of the Seoul Shinmun, a South Korean newspaper, announcing the move. The update will arrive in South Korea on September 20, with other countries getting the battery-limiting update pending talks with carriers. The batteries explode after overheating due to a short, so while we can't imagine a lower charge will stop the batteries from exploding outright, the hope is that gimping the battery will at least remind owners they need to turn their devices in.

Part of the problem with the current recall is that Samsung has missed its deadline to deliver fixed devices. On September 2nd it said fixed Note 7s would be available "next week." On September 9th, after finally getting the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) involved in the recall, it said new Note 7s would arrive "pending CPSC approval." Now the AP report says repaired devices will arrive starting September 19. As of now, turning in your Note 7 means going to the store and getting some kind of loaner device, then waiting for new Note 7s to arrive in stock.

Enlarge (credit: Verizon Wireless)

Verizon Wireless's "FreeBee" program that exempts online services from data caps is proving to be pretty popular, at least among services that are either owned by Verizon or affiliated with the company. Two of the first online services to "pay" Verizon for data cap exemptions were Verizon's own Go90 streaming video service and the Verizon-owned AOL. Now Verizon is also zero-rating the "NFL Mobile from Verizon" application.

"Don't miss a moment of the action by streaming live local and primetime games on CBS, NBC, ESPN, FOX, and NFL Network, all without using any data," Verizon Wireless says on its website.

NFL Mobile is owned by the NFL rather than Verizon, but premium features such as live game video for phones work only on the Verizon network. The app's name is displayed as "NFL Mobile from Verizon" even when you open it on a phone connected to another network, such as T-Mobile's.

Enlarge / Adblock Plus CEO Till Faida at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2016. (credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

Eyeo GmbH, the company that makes the popular Adblock Plus software, will today start selling the very thing many of its users hate—advertisements. Today, the company is launching a self-service platform to sell "pre-whitelisted" ads that meet its "acceptable ads" criteria. The new system will let online publishers drag and drop advertisements that meet Eyeo's expectations for size and labeling.

"The Acceptable Ads Platform helps publishers who want to show an alternative, nonintrusive ad experience to users with ad blockers by providing them with a tool that lets them implement Acceptable Ads themselves,” said Till Faida, co-founder of Adblock Plus.

Publishers who place the ads will do so knowing that they won't be blocked by most of the 100 million Adblock Plus users. The software extension's default setting allows for "acceptable ads" to be shown, and more than 90 percent of its users don't change that default setting.