Autonomes Fahren: Suchmaschinenkonzern Yandex baut fahrerlosen Bus

Noch ein Suchmaschinenbetreiber, der sich mit autonomem Fahren beschäftigt: Das russische Unternehmen Yandex entwickelt zusammen mit mehreren Partnern einen fahrerlosen Bus. Bei dem Projekt ist auch ein deutscher Konzern dabei. (Autonomes Fahren, Technologie)

Noch ein Suchmaschinenbetreiber, der sich mit autonomem Fahren beschäftigt: Das russische Unternehmen Yandex entwickelt zusammen mit mehreren Partnern einen fahrerlosen Bus. Bei dem Projekt ist auch ein deutscher Konzern dabei. (Autonomes Fahren, Technologie)

No Man’s Sky: Steam wehrt sich gegen Erstattungen

In Foren machen Berichte die Runde, wonach auch nach vielen Spielstunden eine Rückgabe von No Man’s Sky auf Steam möglich sei. Nun macht Valve deutlich, dass die regulären Erstattungsrichtlinien gelten. (No Man’s Sky, Sony)

In Foren machen Berichte die Runde, wonach auch nach vielen Spielstunden eine Rückgabe von No Man's Sky auf Steam möglich sei. Nun macht Valve deutlich, dass die regulären Erstattungsrichtlinien gelten. (No Man's Sky, Sony)

Amazfit Watch is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch (kind of)

Amazfit Watch is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch (kind of)

The Amazfit Watch is a smartwatch with a 1.34 inch, 300 x 300 pixel round display, a water and dust-resistant case, and a scratch-resistant ceramic frame. It supports GPS, has a heart rate sensor, and offers fitness tracking features.

Possibly the most impressive thing about the Amazfit Watch? Its price: the watch is launching in China for 799 yuan, or about $120.

But maybe that shouldn’t be a big surprise, since it’s a product from Xiaomi’s hardware partner Huami.

Continue reading Amazfit Watch is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch (kind of) at Liliputing.

Amazfit Watch is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch (kind of)

The Amazfit Watch is a smartwatch with a 1.34 inch, 300 x 300 pixel round display, a water and dust-resistant case, and a scratch-resistant ceramic frame. It supports GPS, has a heart rate sensor, and offers fitness tracking features.

Possibly the most impressive thing about the Amazfit Watch? Its price: the watch is launching in China for 799 yuan, or about $120.

But maybe that shouldn’t be a big surprise, since it’s a product from Xiaomi’s hardware partner Huami.

Continue reading Amazfit Watch is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch (kind of) at Liliputing.

Google discontinues the Chromebook Pixel 2 without replacing it

Google remains “committed to the Pixel program,” but there’s no replacement yet.

Enlarge / The Chromebook Pixel 2. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Since it was introduced in 2013, Google's Chromebook Pixel line has always been an option for people who love Chrome OS and high-quality hardware and aren't worried about paying money to get both. But according to a statement from Google given to VentureBeat, Google has discontinued 2015's Chromebook Pixel 2, and there's no replacement in sight.

“We’re committed to the Pixel program but we don’t have plans to restock the Pixel 2,” a Google spokesperson said.

The team that developed the Pixel and Pixel 2 also designed the more recent Pixel C, an Android tablet that almost definitely began life as a Chrome OS device. It's possible that Google intends to refocus the Pixel brand around Android rather than Chrome OS, given that Android will soon have a very desktop-y windowed multitasking mode. Google is also said to be merging Android and Chrome OS at some point in the future.

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Dealmaster: Get 30 percent off the X1 Carbon and all ThinkPads

Save cash on the businessy line of laptops, plus we’ve got a deal on Star Wars: TFA.

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our partners at TechBargains, the Dealmaster is back with a big bundle of deals for your consideration. Today we're offering 30 percent off the Lenovo X1 Carbon and all ThinkPads. There's also a sweet deal on the 3D Collector's Edition of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Laptop and desktop computers

For more computer deals, visit the TechBargains site.

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“We’re a tech company, we’re not a media company,” says Facebook founder

Social network giant under EU pressure for not editing hateful and illegal posts.

(credit: Spencer E Holtaway)

Facebook faces more pressure from lawmakers in Europe, after Germany's interior minister called on the company to quickly remove hateful and illegal posts—on the same day that its chief Mark Zuckerberg reiterated that the free content ad network wouldn't morph into a media empire.

The call from Thomas de Maiziere comes less than a week since a committee of MPs in the UK concluded that Twitter, Google, and Facebook were "consciously failing" to police extremism on their services.

"Facebook should take down racist content or calls for violence from its pages on its own initiative even if it hasn't yet received a complaint," said de Maiziere on Monday. "Facebook has an immensely important economic position and just like every other large enterprise it has a immensely important social responsibility."

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SpaceX finds a customer for its first reused rocket, satellite operator SES

Company has shown it can land rockets, but now it needs to fly them again.

Enlarge / SpaceX landed its latest booster on August 13, after the JCSAT-16 mission. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has been running out of room in its facilities in Florida as it lands rockets by sea and air, so it would like to begin reusing some of these first-stage Falcon boosters as soon as possible. The first step was finding a customer, and now SpaceX has done that. The Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES said Tuesday that it intends to launch a geostationary satellite, SES-10, on a reusable rocket in the fourth quarter of this year.

“Having been the first commercial satellite operator to launch with SpaceX back in 2013, we are excited to once again be the first customer to launch on SpaceX's first ever mission using a flight-proven rocket," said Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer at SES. "We believe reusable rockets will open up a new era of spaceflight and make access to space more efficient in terms of cost and manifest management."

SpaceX has not yet specified how much it will charge for launch services on one of its flown boosters, but industry officials anticipate about a 30 percent discount on SpaceX's regular price of $62 million for a Falcon 9 launch. The company has not shared how much it is spending to refurbish and reuse a Falcon 9 stage, nor has it offered much public information about the extent to which the vehicle's engines have had to be tested and prepared for a second flight.

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Kaby Lake is here: Intel launches 7th-gen Core chips for laptops and 2-in-1 tablets

Kaby Lake is here: Intel launches 7th-gen Core chips for laptops and 2-in-1 tablets

Intel began shipping 7th-gen Core chips to device makers this summer, and now the company is finally ready to explain what makes the new processors tick.

The company is launching new 4.5 watt and 15 watt, dual-core chips based on “Kaby Lake” architecture. They’re expected to show up in laptops, 2-in-1 tablets, and low-power desktops in the coming months.

Expect to see a lot of Kaby Lake-powered devices announced at the IFA show in Berlin this week.

Continue reading Kaby Lake is here: Intel launches 7th-gen Core chips for laptops and 2-in-1 tablets at Liliputing.

Kaby Lake is here: Intel launches 7th-gen Core chips for laptops and 2-in-1 tablets

Intel began shipping 7th-gen Core chips to device makers this summer, and now the company is finally ready to explain what makes the new processors tick.

The company is launching new 4.5 watt and 15 watt, dual-core chips based on “Kaby Lake” architecture. They’re expected to show up in laptops, 2-in-1 tablets, and low-power desktops in the coming months.

Expect to see a lot of Kaby Lake-powered devices announced at the IFA show in Berlin this week.

Continue reading Kaby Lake is here: Intel launches 7th-gen Core chips for laptops and 2-in-1 tablets at Liliputing.

Electronic Arts: Battlefield 1 setzt Gold, aber nicht Plus voraus

Derzeit startet die offene Beta von Battlefield 1 – mit unterschiedlichen Bedingungen für Nutzer der Playstation 4 und Xbox Live: Nur auf einem der beiden Systeme ist keine kostenpflichtige Mitgliedschaft nötig. (Battlefield, Electronic Arts)

Derzeit startet die offene Beta von Battlefield 1 - mit unterschiedlichen Bedingungen für Nutzer der Playstation 4 und Xbox Live: Nur auf einem der beiden Systeme ist keine kostenpflichtige Mitgliedschaft nötig. (Battlefield, Electronic Arts)

Needy robot babies may make teens more likely to have real babies

Infant simulators didn’t curb teen pregnancy and may promote early parenthood.

Enlarge / A virtual baby identical to those used in the study (credit: Australian Science Media Centre)

Babies can be a drag. Their utter helplessness and disappointing lack of communication skills often leaves new parents sleep-deprived and playing frantic guessing games amid ear-piercing cries (mostly from the baby). Such exhausting pains of parenthood should be enough to deter any unprepared teen from getting frisky too early—or so the makers of an infant simulator called “Baby Think It Over” seemed to think. But those makers may have their own reconsidering to do.

The life-like dolls are needy and a bit creepy to boot, but completely lousy at deterring teens from getting pregnant, according to the first randomized, controlled trial on the popular sex education tool. In fact, the study, involving more than 2,800 Australian girls between the ages of 13 and 15, actually hinted that the dolls may increase the risk of teen pregnancy.

Of the 1,267 teens that had to care for, burp, change, and feed the robot babies over a weekend, 17 percent (or 210 girls) had at least one pregnancy by the age of 20. That’s a slight jump from pregnancy rate of the 1,567 girls in the control group, who received a standard school curriculum on sex education and parenting. Their pregnancy rate was just 11 percent (or 168 girls).

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