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Departing eclipse watchers are causing traffic jams from Portland to Charleston.
Earlier today millions of Americans flocked to a strip of land about 70 miles wide, stretching from Portland, OR, to Columbia, SC, to view a once-a-decade total solar eclipse.
Now the totality is over, and everyone is trying to go home. And as these screenshots from Google maps demonstrate, it's causing traffic jams on North-South interstates throughout the path of the totality:
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No special filtered glasses required to stare at the sun in a Gear VR headset.
Enlarge / Look all you want... in VR, this kind of view of the sun is completely safe to stare at.
I've been told that being present for a total eclipse of the Sun is a life-changing experience. But I wasn't able to get my act together to travel to the path of totality for today's event. Luckily, I am part of the first generation to be able to experience an eclipse vicariously through the magic of virtual reality. While seeing a total eclipse in VR wasn't exactly a life-changing experience, it was one of the best examples I've seen of the power and promise of live, 360-degree video.
I first tried to view CNN's 360-degree Facebook Live video coverage of the eclipse on my Oculus Rift. Despite numerous tries, though, the livestream never showed up as a choice on the list of "New" or "Top Pick" videos available on the Oculus Video app. Without a built-in search function or any way to navigate to a specific URL or some such, viewing the eclipse on Rift was a bust.
As a backup, I dug out the latest Samsung Gear VR headset and a Galaxy S7 Edge. While I waited for some necessary updates to download, I was able to watch CNN's "VR" coverage in a simple Web browser window. I used the mouse to tilt the virtual camera between the people on the ground and the Sun in the sky. Having control of the viewpoint was nice, but watching through a small window on a laptop screen didn't really feel all that different from watching similar coverage on TV.
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Candy ad plays off Breakout, “an icon of early Silicon Valley ingenuity.”
Enlarge (credit: 2AM films / Nestle)
Atari claims that a commercial for Nestle's Kit Kat candy bars violates the copyright and trademark rights of Breakout, Atari's iconic 1975 video game.
Nestle's 30-second spot "leverage[s] Breakout and the special place it holds among nostalgic Baby Boomers, Generation X, and even today's Millennial and post-Millennial 'gamers'" in order to maximize the advertisement's reach," say Atari's lawyers in the complaint (PDF), filed Thursday in a California federal court.
"Nestle simply took the classic Breakout screen, replaced its bricks with KIT KAT bars, and invited customers to "Breakout" and buy more candy bars," the complaint states.
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From thick clouds to glorious totality, a flavor of 2017’s North American eclipse.
Enlarge / The partial eclipse from New York City. (credit: John Timmer)
Our staff is sharing its eclipse stories and photos from today. The post will be updated as more come in.
OAKLAND, Calif.—Oakland and the surrounding Bay Area are well-known for morning fog, particularly in the summertime. So despite having two telescopes and the helpful staff at the Chabot Space & Science Center, the clouds unfortunately didn’t cooperate. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop hundreds of people from gathering along the observation deck, near the historic telescopes named Leah and Rachel. Most people had brought protective eyewear or had made pinhole boxes, but with the cloud cover blocking the Sun anyway, they quickly figured out that they wouldn’t be able to see the Sun with them on. Attendees squealed and yelped with joy as they attempted to view what was left of the Sun peeking out from behind the Moon and the thick white cloud cover. Your correspondent caught a few glimpses of the partially eclipsed and cloud-covered Sun for just a few moments.
Meanwhile, my sister-in-law, Kelly Guyon, 28, who traveled north from Oakland, California, to Madras, Oregon, to observe totality, has declared herself an “eclipse chaser” now.
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Google partners with Nabisco, ships code to AOSP, and posts system images.
NEW YORK CITY—Happy Eclipse Day! As the Moon slowly crept its way across the Sun, Google took the opportunity to host an Eclipse-themed Android 8.0 launch event in New York City. Along with eclipse glasses and a simulcast of NASA's eclipse livestream, Android "O" finally got its full name: "Android 8.0, Oreo."
Like KitKat before it, Android's alphabetical snack-themed codenames have gone commercial and partnered with an actual snack producer, adopting Nabisco's trademarked "Oreo" as the name for this release. The event also came with the traditional statue unveiling: a superhero Android Oreo.
With today's event, Android 8.0 Oreo is shipping out across all the usual distribution methods. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is getting the 8.0 code drop. OTAs will begin to roll out "soon" to the Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and Pixel C, and system images should be up on developers.google.com soon. Any device enrolled in the Android Beta Program will also be upgraded to these final builds.
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Google Android 8.0 finally has a name. The operating system formerly called Android O will henceforth be known as be Android 8.0 Oreo. During an event timed to coincide with the peak of the solar eclipse in New York City today, Google unveiled a statue of the newest Tasty Treat that will be on display […]
O no more: Google unveils Android 8.0 Oreo is a post from: Liliputing
Google Android 8.0 finally has a name. The operating system formerly called Android O will henceforth be known as be Android 8.0 Oreo. During an event timed to coincide with the peak of the solar eclipse in New York City today, Google unveiled a statue of the newest Tasty Treat that will be on display […]
O no more: Google unveils Android 8.0 Oreo is a post from: Liliputing
Google hat die fertige Version von Android O veröffentlicht. Die neue Hauptversion des Mobilbetriebssystems trägt den Beinamen Oreo. Erste Geräte erhalten das Update auf Android 8.0 erst demnächst. (Android 8.0, Google)
Google hat die fertige Version von Android O veröffentlicht. Die neue Hauptversion des Mobilbetriebssystems trägt den Beinamen Oreo. Erste Geräte erhalten das Update auf Android 8.0 erst demnächst. (Android 8.0, Google) A federal court in California has issued a preliminary injunction targeting several websites that could offer pirated streams for the upcoming Mayweather v McGregor fight. The order was requested by TV network Showtime, which fears it might lose a substantial amount of revenue due to piracy. Whether it will put a serious dent in the availability of unauthorized streams is doubtful.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
This weekend, the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. will go head-to-head with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight is not just about prestige, but also about money. Some predict that the unusual matchup could pull in a staggering one billion dollars.
A significant portion of this will go to each of the fighters, but rightsholders such as Showtime benefit as well.
People who want to stream the event live over the Internet will have to cough up between $89.95 and $99.99. This will generate millions of dollars in revenue but the numbers would be even higher if it wasn’t so easy to stream the fight through pirate sites.
This is why Showtime took some of the most brazen pirate sites to court last week, demanding an injunction to stop the pirated streams before they even start. In its complaint, the cable TV provider listed 44 domain names which advertise the fight, urging the court to shut them down pre-emptively.
After reviewing the application, United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. approved the preliminary injunction, which forbids the site’s operators from offering infringing streams. The injunction stays in place until August 28, two days after the event.
While the order is a clear win for Showtime, it’s unclear how effective it will be. The sites in question are all believed to be connected to LiveStreamHDQ and its alleged operator “Kopa Mayweather,” who Showtime have battled before.
At the time of writing, the sites are all still online, although the language appears to have changed. Many now have articles explaining how the fight can be watched legally. Whether it remains that way has to be seen.
Interestingly, the injunction doesn’t mention any domain name registrars or registries. When Showtime applied for similar measures in the past, the company specifically asked to take control of domain names, so these couldn’t be used for any infringing activity.
That said, the current order applies to the defendants and any others who are “in active concert or participation” with them, so this might be enough for domain registrars and other parties to take appropriate action.
Showtime also has the possibility to request updates to the injunction, if needed, but with only a few days to go this has to happen swiftly.
As mentioned earlier, this is not the first time that Showtime has gone after alleged pirates before they get a chance to commit an offense. The company launched similar cases for the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao and Mayweather vs. Berto matchups in 2015.
While these efforts were successful in taking a few pirate sites down, there were plenty of unauthorized streams available when the events started. This time it’s not likely to be any different. With hundreds of live streaming sites and tools out there, piracy will remain undefeated.
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A copy of the preliminary injunction is available here (pdf).
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
At first glance, the most striking thing about the recently released Essential PH-1 smartphone is probably the display, which covers nearly all of the front of the device. But it’s the two little pins on the back of the phone that could be its most important feature (at least in terms of hardware). Much like Motorola’s […]
Essential’s modular phone only supports one module… but two more are in the works is a post from: Liliputing
At first glance, the most striking thing about the recently released Essential PH-1 smartphone is probably the display, which covers nearly all of the front of the device. But it’s the two little pins on the back of the phone that could be its most important feature (at least in terms of hardware). Much like Motorola’s […]
Essential’s modular phone only supports one module… but two more are in the works is a post from: Liliputing
Wer weiß besser, was Roboter anrichten können, als Robotiker? Über 100 Unternehmen aus der Roboter- und KI-Branche fordern in einem offenen Brief an die Vereinten Nationen ein Verbot autonomer Waffensysteme. (
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