Category: Uncategorised

PS4's mod support in Fallout 4 is still as barren as the game's landscape.

Update, September 9, 12:44 p.m. EDT: Bethesda has finally confirmed why Fallout 4 mods haven't arrived on PlayStation 4, and the developer is saying that it's Sony's fault.

"Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition," Bethesda told fans on its official blog on Friday. "Like you, we are disappointed by Sony’s decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive."

Only one of the technical limits mentioned in our original report (below), about mod storage limits, is on Sony's side, so that may very well be the sticking point that Sony refuses to budge on. Bethesda's statement leaves room for Sony to change its tune and enable the same kind of console-mod support that Xbox One players of Fallout 4 are currently enjoying.

Enlarge (credit: Google Fiber)

Officials in Nashville, Tennessee have voted to give Google Fiber faster access to utility poles, approving an ordinance opposed by AT&T and Comcast. AT&T has already said it would likely sue the city if it implements the new rule.

The Nashville Metro Council voted 32-7 yesterday in favor of the "One Touch Make Ready" policy on its second reading.

"The second-reading vote does not guarantee the policy will pass on its third and final reading, but the second vote is generally considered the most critical in front of Nashville Metro Council," the Nashville Business Journal wrote.

If you glance at your desk or bedroom, you’ll probably immediately know if something is out of place, even if you’re not able to put your finger on what exactly is wrong without a closer inspection. That’s because humans have the ability to rapidly get the gist of a situation using only a quick glance.

A recent study published in PNAS shows that this ability goes way beyond day-to-day practicalities. Radiologists who specialize in the detection of breast cancer can discriminate between normal and abnormal mammograms in as little as half a second. But they may not even need to look at the cancerous tissue to do so.

The authors of the paper were interested in a phenomenon known as global processing, in which a quick glance at a large image gives insight into its meaning. They gave radiologists just a moment to glance at breast tissue images and compared the results of the radiologists’ insights to carefully analyzed images.

Enlarge / Old Man Winter returns. Be very, very afraid. (credit: Farmer's Almanac)

United Airlines may rank last among traditional carriers in customer satisfaction studies, but the company wants you to know that it's looking at ways to improve passenger service. That includes offering better options to customers during the stressful time of inclement weather.

During an interview with David Brancaccio of the public radio program Martketplace, United Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz offered an example of how the company is using Farmer's Almanac to put better plans in place during weather disruptions this winter:

Q. We get that you can't control the weather, but when flights do get canceled or they run late, passengers can see if an airline responds in an orderly way, or in a haphazard way. Are you making progress there?

A. Oh, absolutely. I think the hardest thing that historically the industry may have relied upon is the fact that we can't control weather, we can't control air traffic control and use that at the end of the day as an excuse. Things do happen. We know they happen. We don't know exactly when they're going to happen. But we should definitely be prepared. A very quick example: Farmer's Almanac is calling for a very nasty winter. Particularly in Chicago, one of our main hubs. So as we speak, our operating team is hard at work as to how are we going to accommodate passengers. Not our aircraft, not the operations behind it, but the humans that fly us. That's what the important difference is at United.

It should go without saying, but Farmer's Almanac has no credibility in the meteorological science community. Its seasonal forecasts are made by "Caleb Weatherbee," who is described on the publication's website as the official forecaster for the Farmers' Almanac. The site explains: "His name is actually a pseudonym that has been passed down through generations of Almanac prognosticators and has been used to conceal the true identity of the men and women behind our predictions."

Enlarge / The DirecTV app for iPhone.

AT&T is now exempting DirecTV streaming video from data caps on AT&T's mobile Internet service.

AT&T purchased DirecTV in July 2015 and today pushed an update to the DirecTV iPhone app to implement the data cap exemption. "Now you can stream DirecTV on your devices, anywhere—without using your data. Now with AT&T," the app's update notes say under the heading "Data Free TV." This feature requires subscriptions to DirecTV and AT&T wireless data services.

It sounds like the data cap exemption may not apply to all data downloaded by the app, as the update notes further say that "Exclusions apply & may incur data usage." The service is also "Subject to network management, including speed reduction." We've asked AT&T for more information and will provide an update if we receive one.