Smartphone: Bundesverwaltungsgericht verteidigt Rundfunkbeitrag

Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht hat wie erwartet die Rechtmäßigkeit des Rundfunkbeitrags verteidigt. Der Nachweis, nicht über ein Empfangsgerät zu verfügen, sei in Zeiten des Smartphones mit angemessenem Aufwand nicht mehr verlässlich zu erbringen. (Rundfunkbeitrag, Internet)

Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht hat wie erwartet die Rechtmäßigkeit des Rundfunkbeitrags verteidigt. Der Nachweis, nicht über ein Empfangsgerät zu verfügen, sei in Zeiten des Smartphones mit angemessenem Aufwand nicht mehr verlässlich zu erbringen. (Rundfunkbeitrag, Internet)

PlayStation VR’s true cost: $500 when bundled with needed accessories

Preorder package comes with tracking camera, two controllers, game.

All in.

When Sony finally announced a $400 price tag for its PlayStation VR headset earlier this week, that announcement was incomplete at best and downright misleading at worst. The $400 base package doesn't come with the PlayStation Camera that is required for positional tracking or the PlayStation Move controllers that are required for many of the headset's games.

This morning, Sony announced a more complete bundled package that gets at PlayStation VR's true starting price for most users. For $500 (or C$700) North American players get the PlayStation VR headset (and required cables), a PlayStation Camera, two PlayStation Move wands, and the PlayStation VR Worlds collection of themed mini-games. Even without the game, that number represents a significant savings from the suggested retail price for the Camera ($60) and Move controllers ($50 each), though both accessories often actually retail for much less than those suggested prices.

While there are doubtless some players out there who already have the Camera and/or Move controllers they'll need for PlayStation VR, we can't imagine there are a lot. For evidence, look toward Amazon, where sales for the PS4 Camera increased 3,000 percent in the wake of the PlayStation VR announcement (Move controllers and chargers saw a nearly 1,000 percent sales increase themselves). And while you don't technically need Move controllers for every PSVR game, scrimping on them means missing out on some of the system's most compelling virtual reality experiences.

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Boston Dynamics: Alphabet will offenbar Roboterabteilung verkaufen

Alphabet hat möglicherweise keine Lust mehr auf Roboterprojekte, wenn diese keinen Gewinn abwerfen: Die Boston-Dynamics-Abteilung soll daher jetzt verkauft werden. Zwischen der Robotertruppe und der Konzernmutter von Google ist es nicht immer einfach gewesen. (Boston Dynamics, Google)

Alphabet hat möglicherweise keine Lust mehr auf Roboterprojekte, wenn diese keinen Gewinn abwerfen: Die Boston-Dynamics-Abteilung soll daher jetzt verkauft werden. Zwischen der Robotertruppe und der Konzernmutter von Google ist es nicht immer einfach gewesen. (Boston Dynamics, Google)

Domino’s is trialling an autonomous pizza delivery robot

Battery-powered pizzabot has 12-mile range; customers access pizza with a code.

Pizza delivery boys and girls, beware! Pizza giant Domino’s has unveiled an autonomous pizza delivery robot that is being trialled in New Zealand.

On Friday the company unveiled the Domino’s Robotic Unit (DRU), and announced that the bot had already carried out its first successful pizza delivery on March 8. “DRU is an autonomous delivery vehicle and is set to take the world by storm,” the company wrote in a statement on its website.

The vehicle’s development started in 2015 and was pushed towards commercialisation by Domino’s Australia-based skunkworks DLab. According to a promotional video (embedded below), DRU uses software developed by the Australian military contractor Marathon, which manufactures autonomous robots with obstacle-avoidance capabilities.

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IT-Planungsrat: Hardware darf keine “schadenstiftende Software” haben

Der IT-Planungsrat hat neue Vertragsbedingungen für den Kauf von Hardware veröffentlicht. Hersteller müssen nun versichern, dass ihre Geräte keine “Funktionen zum unerwünschten Einleiten von Daten” haben. (Verschlüsselung, Netzwerk)

Der IT-Planungsrat hat neue Vertragsbedingungen für den Kauf von Hardware veröffentlicht. Hersteller müssen nun versichern, dass ihre Geräte keine "Funktionen zum unerwünschten Einleiten von Daten" haben. (Verschlüsselung, Netzwerk)

A history of the Amiga, part 9: The Video Toaster

Jeremy Reimer’s long-running History of the Amiga series is back to tackle the killer app.

(credit: Jeremy Reimer)

When personal computers first came into the world in the late 1970s, there wasn’t always an obvious use for them. If the market was going to expand beyond hobbyists and early adopter nerds, there needed to be a “killer app”—some piece of software that could justify the purchase of a particular brand of computer.

The first killer app, VisiCalc, came out in 1979. It turned an ordinary Apple II into a financial planning tool that was more powerful and flexible than anything the world had ever seen. A refined version of this spreadsheet, Lotus 1-2-3, became the killer app that put IBM PCs in offices and homes around the world. The Macintosh, which floundered in 1985 after early adopter sales trailed off, found a profitable niche in the new world of desktop publishing with two killer apps: Aldus Pagemaker and Adobe Photoshop.

To keep up with the Joneses, the Amiga needed a killer app to survive—it found one with the Video Toaster.

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Hitman im Test: Profikiller im Häppchen-Format

Auftragsmord in Episodenform: Das neue Hitman-Spiel setzt nicht mehr wie die Vorgänger auf ein komplettes Abenteuer, sondern auf mehrere, zeitlich versetzt erscheinende Episoden. Das Intro-Paket ist verfügbar – und lässt dem Spieler beim Verrichten der Aufgaben viele Freiheiten. (Hitman, Square Enix)

Auftragsmord in Episodenform: Das neue Hitman-Spiel setzt nicht mehr wie die Vorgänger auf ein komplettes Abenteuer, sondern auf mehrere, zeitlich versetzt erscheinende Episoden. Das Intro-Paket ist verfügbar - und lässt dem Spieler beim Verrichten der Aufgaben viele Freiheiten. (Hitman, Square Enix)

Spotify inks “no copyright claim” royalty deal with music publishers

“Only a temporary solution,” says copyright lobby group.

Spotify has agreed to do a better job at allowing music publishers and songwriters to claim and receive royalties from the streaming service. However there's a caveat: to strike the settlement deal with Spotify, copyright holders cannot make an infringement claim against the company.

In recent months, Spotify has faced a number of lawsuits from musicians who have challenged the Sweden-based firm's alleged failure to licence artists' works before making them available for streaming.

On Thursday, US trade body the National Music Publishers' Association said that the settlement deal it had struck with Spotify represented a "landmark industry agreement."

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Hitman “Intro Pack” review: They just won’t stay dead

A slim cut of levels might just enhance a game meant to be played over and over again.


The latest Hitman game—the first to actually bear the unadorned title of Hitman—is set to release episodically throughout the rest of the year. The opening salvo includes just three levels, two of which basically play prologue to the standout Paris map, for $15. Add to that another $10 for each of the next six episodes à la carte. Alternatively, you could just land "The Full Experience" for a sensible $60.

Normally I wouldn't bother to explain how to buy a game while reviewing it, but in this case I'll make an exception. That’s both because Square Enix has done an exceptionally poor job of communicating how to purchase the game and because understanding how Hitman is packaged is key to understanding what makes it work. And it actually works rather well.

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