Month: September 2017

Enlarge / So far, Before the Storm captures that meaningful-to-them teen melodrama. (credit: Square Enix)

On its face, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm sounds like the most superfluous prequel imaginable. The original game told the tale of teenage duo Chloe and Max as they investigated the disappearance of Chloe’s best friend in the Pacific Northwestern town of Arcadia Bay. In the process, the pair rediscovered their own lost friendship and the many unseen layers to the people around them. Oh, and player character Max just happened to be able to rewind time.

Before the Storm rewinds time, too—to three years before Max’s reality-bending and ultimately heartbreaking return. This time you play as Chloe to unravel her relationship with Rachel Amber, the girl whose vanishing kicked off the first game.

What made me so tentative about Before the Storm’s premise is that Life Is Strange was full of revelations. By the end of the original game’s five chapters, we know Rachel’s fate, how Chloe went from mathlete to punk in the years since Max moved away and back again, and just who can be trusted in Arcadia Bay. Life Is Strange was an adventure game in the Telltale vein, putting characters and choices first. After all that, a prequel featuring much of that same cast didn’t seem like it would provide much opportunity to learn or room to grow.

Enlarge (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

While the EPA is often portrayed as a massive bureaucracy, about half of its budget goes directly to other organizations through grants. While many of these are focused on cleanups and reducing environmental risks, the agency also funds scientific research into various health and environmental risks. The money for these research grants has historically been allocated based on a combination of scientific merit and environmental concerns.

All that started to change in August. That's when the EPA issued a new policy dictating that all grant programs must be run past a political appointee from the EPA's public affairs office. Now, a new report indicates that this PR specialist is cancelling individual grants.

The appointee is named John Konkus. He occupies the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Public Affairs, which is a public relations position. Konkus has a bachelor's degree in government and politics, and he appears to have no scientific background—the closest is having worked for former Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) back when Boehlert chaired the House Science Committee. Since then, Konkus worked for then-Lieutenant Governor Rick Scott in Florida, spent time at a political consulting firm, and then got involved with the Trump campaign.

Enlarge / Satellite image of Hurricane Irma at 1pm ET on Tuesday. (credit: NOAA)

We are quickly running out of adjectives to describe the destructive potential of Hurricane Irma. As of 2pm ET on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm's sustained winds to 185mph. This is near-record speed for a storm in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico.

Such high, sustained winds tie Irma for the second-strongest storm on record in the Atlantic, along with Hurricane Wilma (2005), Hurricane Gilbert (1998), and the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane. Only Hurricane Allen, which reached 190 mph in 1980 before striking a relatively unpopulated area of Texas, reached a higher wind speed. Globally, the all-time record for hurricanes is held by Patricia, which reached a staggering 215 mph in the Pacific Ocean in 2015.

Although sustained winds capture the most public attention, meteorologists generally measure the intensity of a storm based upon central pressures, which are considerably lower than sea-level pressure on Earth, 1,103 millibars. Typhoon Tip, in 1979, holds this record at 870 millibars. For now, at least, Irma has a relatively high central pressure of 927 millibars. Why the storm has such an odd wind-speed-pressure relationship isn't entirely clear.

TVR

I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see how the new TVR turns out. The British company made its name through a simple formula: a lightweight, rear-wheel drive chassis, plenty of power, a unique interior, and absolutely no electronic safety net. It died of neglect a few years ago, but a reborn TVR Tuscan is due in a couple of years and will be built in a new factory in Wales that uses Gordon Murray's clever new iStream process. Today, we got our best look so far at the new car when TVR released some teasers ahead of this week's Goodwood Revival.

The chassis is a mix of steel tubes with carbon fiber panels bonded to them for stiffness. In a nod to TVR's roots, the engine will be an American V8; a 5.0L Ford Coyote (out of the current Mustang) is coupled to a six-speed manual gearbox. Cosworth will then work its magic on the Coyote until it meets TVR's new power-to-weight goal.  Target weight is 1,250kg (2,756lbs) and the engineers are trying to get to 400hp/tonne (5.51lbs/hp seems the easiest US conversion).

Enlarge (credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO—The first big trial over worker rights in the "gig economy" begins today, and it could answer fundamental questions about how workers in the digital age should be treated, as well as what kinds of benefits, breaks, and pay they're entitled to.

The case that's beginning right now doesn't have a big name, deep-pocketed defendant like Uber. Rather, the case is the lesser-known Lawson v. Grubhub. Plaintiff Raef Lawson sued Grubhub in 2015, claiming he wasn't properly paid for his work while driving around delivering food for Grubhub. If Lawson was an employee, he'd be eligible for benefits like insurance, unemployment, and reimbursement for expenses like gas and phone bills. He'd have to be paid at least minimum wage and get state-mandated breaks. Lawson was fired from Grubhub because, the company said, he didn't adequately respond to delivery requests.

Lawson can only seek damages, like back pay and additional penalties, for himself. His request to make the case a class action was denied by US Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. Even if Lawson wins a complete victory, it's hardly enough to make much difference to a company like Grubhub, which is becoming a growing force in the food-delivery space, and announced last month that it will purchase Yelp's Eat24 service.

Enlarge (credit: loonyhiker)

The Federal Communications Commission last week released more than 13,000 pages of net neutrality complaints filed by consumers against their Internet service providers. But the big document release came just one day before the deadline for the public to comment on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to repeal the net neutrality rules.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request in May in an attempt to get all of the net neutrality complaints received by the FCC since the rules took effect in 2015. The group also sought details on the resolution of each complaint, including ISPs' responses to each consumer.

The NHMC argued that all of the complaints should be released well in advance of the comment deadline in order to let the public evaluate the potential impact of repealing the rules. But the FCC still hasn't released the text of most of the complaints, and it has resisted calls to give the public more time to comment on the net neutrality repeal proposal.

Enlarge / Surface Laptop. (credit: Justin Wolfson)

Microsoft's Surface Laptop is available in four colors. Every configuration is available in the regular Platinum silvery color, but some configurations are also available in Cobalt Blue, Burgundy, and Graphite Gold.

Today, Microsoft has announced expanded availability of those colored units. Joining the US are Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand.

Further, the i7 models, in Platinum only, are now available in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Google and Xiaomi got together in India last night to announce a new Android One phone, the Xiaomi Mi A1. Some had wondered if Google's turnkey phone program was dead, but with the Mi A1, Android One is apparently "evolving," with a launch planned in over 40 markets.

It's hard to know what Android One stands for anymore. Originally the program saw Google lay out a "recommended spec" for local manufacturers, aiming for high-quality, low-cost devices with stock Android and fast updates directly from Google. The program wasn't popular with OEMs, which led to it being watered down significantly. Google relinquished control over the hardware and passed software update responsibility over to the OEMs. As far as we can tell, it means "stock Android" and not much else.

Enlarge (credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images)

The FTC said Tuesday that it cannot stop computer makers from selling computers that inject ads into webpages to US consumers. The statement covers Lenovo's practice of having sold computers pre-installed with the so-called VisualDiscovery adware developed by a company called Superfish. This adware, which was installed on computers without consumers' knowledge, hijacked encrypted Web sessions that made users vulnerable to HTTPS man-in-the-middle attacks and shared user browsing data with third parties.

In a Tuesday court settlement with Lenovo, the FTC said the Chinese hardware maker, or any computer company for that matter, was free to sell computers with the adware made from a company called Superfish—as long as consumers consented before it was downloaded on the machine.

"As part of the settlement with the FTC, Lenovo is prohibited from misrepresenting any features of software preloaded on laptops that will inject advertising into consumers' Internet browsing sessions or transmit sensitive consumer information to third parties. The company must also get consumers’ affirmative consent before pre-installing this type of software," the FTC announced.