Sony is the only remaining hurdle to cross-platform play, developers say

Rocket League, Gwent makers urge the destruction of PlayStation’s walled garden.

(credit: Aurich x Getty)

Back in March, Microsoft announced that it would allow generic cross-platform play on its Xbox Live network. The move was essentially a public challenge for Sony to similarly open up the PlayStation Network, allowing for multiplayer matches involving more than one type of console for what would essentially be the first time.

Now, some major game developers are stressing that any technical hurdles to this cross-platform play have been overcome. Sony's walled-garden policy is the final obstacle to allowing play between Xbox and PlayStation systems, they say. "Right now, we're literally at the point where all we need is the go-ahead on the Sony side and we can, in less than a business day, turn [cross-platform play] on and have it up and working, no problem," Jeremy Dunham, vice president of Rocket League developer Psyonix told IGN in a recent interview. "It'd literally take a few hours to propagate throughout the whole world, so really we're just waiting on the permission to do so... It could be tomorrow, it could be longer than that. We just don't know—we're anxiously awaiting that, just like the rest of our fans."

Rocket League was one of the first games that announced cross-platform play between the Xbox One and Windows 10 (well before Microsoft's recent Play Anywhere initiative), so it's not that surprising that the title is ready to link in with the PS4 as well. But The Witcher maker CD Projekt says it's also simply awaiting Sony's go-ahead for a cross-platform version of the upcoming Gwent card game.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Reaction captures carbon, generates electricity, makes a cleaning product

Novel technique would save 9.3kg of CO2 emissions for every 1kg of aluminum used.

(credit: Randy)

The capture of CO2 from smokestacks could make an important contribution to limiting climate change, but there are two obstacles. One is that you have to store that CO2 somewhere (like underground reservoirs). The other is that the capture process requires energy, so your power plant ends up producing less electricity per unit of fuel. That comes with a financial cost.

There are efforts afoot to overcome both of those hurdles, but there are also other possible approaches. One that sounds obvious and attractive is to turn that CO2 into something useful and valuable, rather than just reservoir filler. The sticky wicket here is chemistry. Carbon dioxide is pretty stable, and turning it into something else can require a large energy input.

Cornell University’s Wajdi AlSadat and Lynden Archer, however, are playing with one possible process that could convert CO2 into a commodity—and generate electricity while you’re at it.

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

100 MBit/s: Zusagen der Bundesnetzagentur drücken Preis für Vectoring

Ein exklusives Vectoring der Telekom im Nahbereich kommt nur, wenn der Konkurrent gute und günstige virtuelle Zugangsprodukte angeboten bekommt. Das dürfte den Preis für bis zu 100-MBit/s-Zugänge drücken. (Vectoring, DSL)

Ein exklusives Vectoring der Telekom im Nahbereich kommt nur, wenn der Konkurrent gute und günstige virtuelle Zugangsprodukte angeboten bekommt. Das dürfte den Preis für bis zu 100-MBit/s-Zugänge drücken. (Vectoring, DSL)

Insolvenz: Unister Holding mit 39 Millionen Euro verschuldet

Das Unternehmen “verfügt über liquide Mittel einschließlich eines Kassenbestandes in Höhe von 0,00 Euro” heißt es im Insolvenzantrag von Unister. Auch Yahoo schuldet die Firma viel Geld. (Unister, Wirtschaft)

Das Unternehmen "verfügt über liquide Mittel einschließlich eines Kassenbestandes in Höhe von 0,00 Euro" heißt es im Insolvenzantrag von Unister. Auch Yahoo schuldet die Firma viel Geld. (Unister, Wirtschaft)

BlackBerry “Hamburg” mid-range Android phone specs leaked?

BlackBerry “Hamburg” mid-range Android phone specs leaked?

BlackBerry is expected to launch several new Android phones this year, including a mid-range model code-named “Hamburg,” which is expected to sell for under $400 and have a touchscreen display but no physical keyboard.

Now more details about the Hamburg are starting to emerge. The phone recently showed up at the FCC and GFXBench websites.

The FCC documents don’t provide many details about the phone, other than the fact that it seems to have a 2,610 mAh battery and that the phone is manufacturer by TCL, the same company behind Alcatel smartphones.

Continue reading BlackBerry “Hamburg” mid-range Android phone specs leaked? at Liliputing.

BlackBerry “Hamburg” mid-range Android phone specs leaked?

BlackBerry is expected to launch several new Android phones this year, including a mid-range model code-named “Hamburg,” which is expected to sell for under $400 and have a touchscreen display but no physical keyboard.

Now more details about the Hamburg are starting to emerge. The phone recently showed up at the FCC and GFXBench websites.

The FCC documents don’t provide many details about the phone, other than the fact that it seems to have a 2,610 mAh battery and that the phone is manufacturer by TCL, the same company behind Alcatel smartphones.

Continue reading BlackBerry “Hamburg” mid-range Android phone specs leaked? at Liliputing.

Everyday chemicals may be messing up our microbiomes—but we don’t know

Scientists call for more studies as limited, mixed data hint at insidious harms.

Women washing hands in white sink good suds (credit: Arlington County)

Poke around any bathroom or cleaning cabinet in the US and you’re likely to find a product spiked with an antimicrobial chemical. One of the most common of these, triclosan, has shown up in about 75 percent of antibacterial hand soaps and is easily spotted in a range of other goods, from toys to toothpaste. It has also been found in about 75 percent of Americans’ urine. Yet, despite their omnipresence, these antimicrobials go largely unregulated and scientists don’t know their health effects.

In an opinion piece published Thursday in Science, Alyson Yee and Jack Gilbert, microbiologists from the University of Chicago, call for that to change. They lay out just how little data we have on the chemicals—and some of it even conflicts. Yet, it’s clear that our exposure may begin in the womb and that the chemicals do have the potential to mess up our microbiomes—the communities of microbes in and on us that strongly influence our health. Such microbial disturbances have been linked to wide ranging conditions, from neurological disorders to arthritis, allergies, obesity, and irritable bowel disorder.

As such, scientists should prioritize figuring out if the chemicals that are already all around us, are causing harm, Yee and Gilbert argue.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

M9S Z8 TV box is an NVIDA Shield clone (in looks only)

M9S Z8 TV box is an NVIDA Shield clone (in looks only)

The NVIDIA Shield game console/media streamer may have launched over a year ago, but it’s still one of the most powerful Android TV boxes on the market.

It’s also one of the most expensive, with prices starting at $200 for the Shield console and a game controller.

Now a Chinese company has produced a cheap knockoff… a really cheap one. The M9S Z8 sells for as little as $66 and looks an awful lot like NVIDIA’s console.

Continue reading M9S Z8 TV box is an NVIDA Shield clone (in looks only) at Liliputing.

M9S Z8 TV box is an NVIDA Shield clone (in looks only)

The NVIDIA Shield game console/media streamer may have launched over a year ago, but it’s still one of the most powerful Android TV boxes on the market.

It’s also one of the most expensive, with prices starting at $200 for the Shield console and a game controller.

Now a Chinese company has produced a cheap knockoff… a really cheap one. The M9S Z8 sells for as little as $66 and looks an awful lot like NVIDIA’s console.

Continue reading M9S Z8 TV box is an NVIDA Shield clone (in looks only) at Liliputing.

Radeons RX 480: Die Designs von AMDs Partnern takten höher – und konstanter

Mehrere Hersteller haben ihre Versionen der Radeon RX 480 vorgestellt: Die Polaris-Grafikkarten von Asus, Powercolor, Sapphire und XFX weisen zwar kaum gestiegene Frequenzen verglichen mit dem Referenz-Design auf, halten den Takt dafür aber stabil. (Polaris, AMD)

Mehrere Hersteller haben ihre Versionen der Radeon RX 480 vorgestellt: Die Polaris-Grafikkarten von Asus, Powercolor, Sapphire und XFX weisen zwar kaum gestiegene Frequenzen verglichen mit dem Referenz-Design auf, halten den Takt dafür aber stabil. (Polaris, AMD)

Pair that brought guns to Pokémon tournament gets two years in jail

Sentencing comes after players showed off weapons in threatening online posts.

Two men who were arrested last year for making online threats and bringing guns and ammunition to a Boston Pokémon card game tournament have been sentenced to two years each in prison and two years of probation afterward. The Boston Globe reports that James Stumbo and Kevin Norton pled guilty to unlawful possession of the guns and nearly 300 rounds of ammunition found in their car outside the Hynes Convention Center event last August.

Stumbo and Norton, both well-known members of the high-level Pokémon card playing community, were arrested after driving from Iowa to Boston for the event as well as posting messages on Facebook showing off the guns and threatening to "kill the competition." Another message stated that "my AR-15 says that you lose." Event security was warned about the postings and notified the police before informing attendees of the issue.

Miller's attorney, Robert LeRoy, tried to downplay the pair's online postings as "adolescent stuff" that "wasn’t threatening in any capacity." He also defended their actions by contrasting Iowa's relatively lax gun laws with the stricter regulations in Massachusetts. “They basically always drive around with loaded guns in the trunk in Iowa,” he said, according to the Globe report.

Read on Ars Technica | Comments

Koelnmesse: Tagestickets für Gamescom ausverkauft

Es wird wieder voll: Die Tagestickets für die Privatbesucher der Gamescom sind ausverkauft – nach Angaben der Koelnmesse so früh wie nie zuvor. Nur an den Tageskassen soll es noch Eintrittskarten für den jeweiligen Nachmittag geben. (Gamescom, Games)

Es wird wieder voll: Die Tagestickets für die Privatbesucher der Gamescom sind ausverkauft - nach Angaben der Koelnmesse so früh wie nie zuvor. Nur an den Tageskassen soll es noch Eintrittskarten für den jeweiligen Nachmittag geben. (Gamescom, Games)