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Showing posts from May, 2019

Panasonic’s Lumix S1H can shoot 6K video with a full-frame sensor

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Panasonic’s Lumix mirrorless cameras are widely regarded as the best choice for anyone looking to create beautiful video within a mortal’s budget. The company is today pushing that reputation up into a higher price, quality, and resolution bracket with the announcement of $4,000 the Lumix S1H , a full-frame shooter capable of recording 6K video at 24fps. It’s a fresh iteration of the Lumix S1, which made its debut at Photokina last year and which I’ve recently tried and been delighted by. The upcoming Lumix S1H, scheduled to launch in the fall, comes with the claim of being the world’s first full-frame camera to do 6K/24p at a 3:2 aspect ratio or 5.9K/30p at 16:9. Aside from being cool in its own right, this bump in resolution capability should be a big help for people shooting 4K too, as it will allow them to crop in or apply video stabilization without losing image quality as they otherwise would. Downsampling to 4K will also be an option, which sounds preposterous to even think.

DJI’s most advanced drone yet comes with its own van and film crew

US Justice Department is imminently preparing a Google antitrust investigation

WWDC 2019: the latest news from Apple’s big developer conference

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All of the news, first looks, and more WWDC 2019, Apple’s big developer conference, starts Monday, June 3rd. It will kick off with a keynote full of announcements. We’re likely to hear Apple divulge details about iOS 13, the next versions of macOS and with it, perhaps the rumored Marzipan initiative that could bring iPad apps to its computers. We expect Apple to share what’s new in watchOS and tvOS. Who knows? It’s possible that it may have a few surprise hardware announcements, too. Once the keynote concludes, the rest of WWDC is focused mainly on Apple working with the developers who build apps for its numerous operating systems, including macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS. We’ll be on the ground at the event, so stay tuned for the latest news, announcements, and first looks of everything that Apple unveils onstage.

Twilight’s Robert Pattinson is reportedly the new Batman

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Twilight heartthrob-turned-arthouse darling Robert Pattinson is Warner Bros.’ next Batman. Variety reported on Friday that Pattinson would play the vigilante in a planned standalone movie called The Batman , helmed by War for the Planet of the Apes and Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. An additional report from Deadline suggested that Pattinson was Reeves’ preferred choice, but Warner Bros. executives weren’t entirely sold. The “studio was torn between him and Nicholas Hoult,” according to Deadline. Batman is a crucial franchise for Warner Bros., and the studio didn’t want to jeopardize it. There is a chance that The Batman could turn into a mini-franchise of its own, according to Deadline , with the supposed contract set to “include options on at least two more films.” Pattinson is best known for his work as the vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise, but he’s since established himself as an indie darling. He’s received critical acclaim for his work in movies lik

Vergecast: the weird laptops of Computex, new Intel and AMD chips, and a WWDC preview

Can Apple be trusted with the App Store?

This weekend, compare the TV and film versions of DC Comics’ Swamp Thing

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There are so many streaming options available these days, and so many conflicting recommendations, that it’s hard to see through all the crap you could be watching. Each Friday, The Verge ’s Cut the Crap column simplifies the choice by sorting through the overwhelming multitude of movies and TV shows on subscription services and recommending a single perfect thing to watch this weekend. What to watch Swamp Thing , Wes Craven’s 1982 movie about DC’s Swamp Thing, a comic book character created in 1971 by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson. The film stars Ray Wise as Alec Holland, a scientist whose covert, government-funded work on the untapped potential of plant life — as both a food source and a bioweapon — draws the attention of a megalomaniac, Anton Arcane (Louis Jordan). When Arcane’s guerrillas storm Holland’s laboratory, they kill Alec’s sister and chase him into the swamp where they assume he dies when the lab explodes. Instead, the facility’s various chemicals and ex

BlackBerry Messenger dies today, but it’ll never truly be gone

Driving Formula E’s game-changing electric racecar

Pixar’s Onward trailer imagines Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as elf brothers

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Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) and Tom Holland (Spider-Man) came out unscathed in Avengers: Endgame , and now they’re reuniting as elf brothers on a journey to discover if magic is still real in Pixar’s Onward . Onward stars Pratt as Barley Lightfoot and Holland as his younger, meeker brother Ian. They’re stuck in a suburban world where fantastical creatures roam. Dragons are kept as pets, trolls run the bridge toll booths, and garden gnomes have to take care of the lawns they’re standing on. The modern world has lost its magical pizzazz, and it’s up to Barley and Ian to find out if any still exists. Pratt and Holland are the two main characters in the film. Although they don’t carry the exact same energy as Spider-Man and Star-Lord on the planet Titan in Avengers: Infinity War , it is easy to picture the brothers fighting over whether Footloose was the best movie ever made. (For the record, it’s not.) Written and directed by Dan Scanlon ( Monster’s University ), Onward will be releas

A new Tinder test lets people pay to turn read receipts on for specific chats

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Tinder’s beginning two tests today that might entice more people to pay for the dating app. The tests build on top of the app’s paid subscriptions — Tinder Gold and Tinder Plus — by offering some subscribers the ability to pay to view read receipts on chats, as well as the opportunity to break the algorithm and push their profile to the top of people’s potential match stacks. These premium users can pay to turn read receipts on for individual chat threads, so they’ll be able to see if and when a match read their message. Only the person who upgraded the chat will be able to view the read receipts, but both people will have the option to turn read receipts off. Read receipts will be turned on by default, however, so be sure to turn them off if you don’t want other people to know you’ve read a message. The read receipts feature can be purchased in packs and then applied to specific chats. Other dating apps also offer read receipts as a paid upgrade, including The League and OkCupid,

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gets VR support

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the latest flagship Nintendo Switch game to support virtual reality through the cardboard Labo headset . The game’s most recent update, which brings it up to version 3.1.0, adds VR support, though it’s naturally pretty limited. You can only play in single-player, and you’re limited to either fighting against AI opponents or simply taking in the view while computer-controlled characters duke it out. It’s not exactly the most exciting addition, especially given how poorly VR support for Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey turned out . Still, it’s a free update, and if you already own Labo VR, it’s probably worth checking out for the novelty factor. You can read the full patch notes right here .

Dropbox ups the storage of its paid plans, gets smarter about cleaning up old files

The new Mac Pro is Apple’s chance to make a PC

China prepares to strike back at US as Huawei suffers another loss

Target recalls own-brand Lightning cables over fire risk

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Target has issued a recall for 90,000 of its Heyday Lightning cables after it received over a dozen reports of the cables smoking, sparking, or igniting, MacRumors reports . According to a recall notice issued by the United State Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been two reports of people suffering finger burns from the cables, and they can also pose a shock hazard. The recall is bad news for Heyday, Target’s first-ever consumer electronics brand. Speaking to Forbes last year, Target’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer Mark Tritton said that the “disruptor” brand had been designed and developed internally at the retailer. The recall notice says that defective Lightning cables were sold as far back as June 2018, the same month Target launched the Heyday brand . The USCPSC says that any customers with an affected cable should contact Target for a full refund. The cables are purple, green, and blue in color, have the model number 080 08 8261, an

How white supremacists evade Facebook bans

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Yesterday Twitter, in response to years of complaints about letting white nationalists use the platform even though they had already been banned, said that it plans to conduct academic research on the subject . At HuffPost , Luke O’Brien took the occasion to note just how many white nationalists are using the platform : The white supremacist accused of murdering 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March was also on Twitter, where he spread Islamophobia, white supremacist propaganda and articles about terrorist attacks. He tweeted pictures of his weapons and posted links to a disturbing manifesto he wrote, apparently in anticipation of the deadly rampage. Only after he was charged in a mass murder did Twitter act. The shooter may have carried out the genocidal end goal of white supremacy, but there are thousands of white supremacists on Twitter with the same mindset, most of them anonymous and working in concert. In a 2018 study, extremism expert J.M. Berger offered an “extre

Tesla opens Chinese preorders for cheaper Model 3s made in China

Microsoft unveils pride Surface Type Cover and skin

What if Amazon took Sprint’s place as the US’s fourth wireless carrier?

Uber’s CEO thinks Eats is a secret weapon in the ride-hailing wars

Mark Zuckerberg’s head of security accused of sexual harassment by two former staffers

Parental control app developers band together to demand an API from Apple

North Face apologizes after openly gloating about gaming Wikipedia for free advertising

British Columbia passes emissions law banning sale of gas-powered cars by 2040

Nreal’s AR sunglasses cost $499 and should ship in ‘limited quantities’ this year

Google Chrome extensions will be required to minimize access to user data

You can get a good quality phone for less than $200 now

Neil Gaiman had one rule for the Good Omens adaptation: making Terry Pratchett happy

Anti-abortion group funded a fertility app encouraging women to avoid hormonal birth control

Sprint’s 5G network is here, and it’s completely different from what Verizon and AT&T are doing

Don’t expect a headphone jack or volume buttons on the Galaxy Note 10

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The unofficial start of summer means it’s time for rumors to begin swirling for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note device, which is typically announced around August. Still, the news might not be what you want to hear: the 10th anniversary Galaxy Note might be the one where Samsung finally kills the headphone jack for the phablet line. According to Android Police , Samsung may be preparing to release two sizes for the Galaxy Note 10 — a regular and a smaller device (by the Note’s standard, anyway) — that won’t include the 3.5 mm headphone jack or physical buttons for power, volume, and Bixby. Instead, the devices are rumored to have capacitive or touch-sensitive areas that are textured, perhaps similar to how the power button / fingerprint sensor is implemented on the Galaxy S10E . The new report echoes earlier rumors that Samsung was looking to eliminate buttons on the Note 10. Removing buttons is one thing — Samsung has been trying to make everything more in-screen or unibody anyw

Here’s what you’ll actually be doing in Death Stranding

Why the new Call of Duty isn’t Modern Warfare 4

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a tense and daring reboot of the beloved shooter series

Infinity Ward ‘plans’ to support cross-play for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on PC and console

Facebook filed a patent for a drone made of kites

Apple WWDC 2019: Mac Pro, iOS 13, Marzipan, and what else to expect

5G has arrived in the UK, and it’s fast

How to block ad tracking on your iPhone

Google Lens will show reviews if you point it at a restaurant’s menu starting this week

The first trailer for Netflix’s Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is astonishing

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The first trailer has arrived for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance , Netflix’s upcoming prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson / Frank Oz movie The Dark Crystal . It makes the 10-hour series look astonishingly faithful to the original film. The visuals have been updated for a digital age — now, instead of slogging through swamps and across fields full of strange puppet creatures, the characters are navigating immense, brightly colored imaginary spaces — but the film’s primary species, the diminutive elf-like Gelflings and the corrupted, bird-like Skeksis, look practically unchanged since 1982. The series, based on J.M. Lee’s recent Dark Crystal companion novels Shadows of the Dark Crystal and Song of the Dark Crystal , appears to take place in the years immediately after an event described in the 1982 movie. The Skeksis have cracked the Dark Crystal, a mysterious power source at the heart of their castle, and they are gradually turning from guardians of the planet Thra into decadent

Salesforce says it won’t work with retailers that sell semi-automatic weapons

Leap Motion, the gesture startup reportedly almost acquired by Apple, sells to UK haptics company

Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform app dream is dead and buried

The buttons on the Kindle Oasis make the e-reader feel more like a book

T-Series is the first YouTube channel to hit 100 million subscribers

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T-Series is the first YouTube channel to reach more than 100 million subscribers after months of racing to the top. YouTube congratulated T-Series on Twitter , telling the Bollywood channel to make room on its shelf for a new trophy — similar to the Play Buttons the company hands out to channels that reach 1 or 10 million subscribers. T-Series also thanked fans for helping the company reach the milestone. Hitting 100 million subscribers doesn’t necessarily help the channel, but it is a point of pride. World’s biggest YouTube Channel, T-Series has achieved another YouTube milestone by being the first one to cross an astonishing #100MillionSubscribers . Thank you for being part of our journey. T-Series - Making India Proud. @itsBhushanKumar #bharatwinsyoutube pic.twitter.com/s5Haz0bBT4 — TSeries (@TSeries) May 29, 2019 The milestone comes after a months-long battle with Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg to become the largest channel on YouTube. In the process, both channels grew by

Ferrari’s first plug-in hybrid can go from 0–62 mph in 2.5 seconds

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Ferrari has announced its first plug-in hybrid car, the SF90 Stradale . Alongside its V8 turbo engine, which the company claims has the highest output of any 8-cylinder in its history, the car has a total of three electric motors (two on its front axes and one on its rear). Combined, the combustion engine and motors produce 985 horsepower, allowing the car to accelerate from 0–62 mph in just 2.5 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 211 mph. If you’re looking to run the car in its all-electric eDrive mode, then you might be a little disappointed in its maximum of 15 miles of range. That might be enough for a quick trip to the store or a short commute, but these are hardly the trips you buy a Ferrari to make. At least those 15 miles will pass quickly: Ferrari advertises that the SF90 Stradale can hit a maximum of around 84 mph without its combustion engine. This engine will also automatically turn off entirely when you reverse the car, meaning the car’s gearbox doesn’t need to include

Motorola’s Moto Z4 is keeping the Moto Mod dream alive

Microsoft will distribute more Xbox titles through Steam and finally support Win32 games

Microsoft is bringing Xbox Game Pass subscription service to PC with over 100 titles

Why specialization can be a downside in our ever-changing world

Google, WhatsApp, and Apple slam GCHQ proposal to snoop on encrypted chats

Forget new research on Nazis — Twitter should just enforce its existing ban

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From time to time, Twitter thinks about things. And then it goes on thinking about them for a very long time. It thought about killing off third-party applications for six years, and when it finally decided to act, only went halfway through with it . It thought about banning Alex Jones, and then decided not to , and then held a meeting where it debated the nature of “dehumanizing speech,” and then banned Alex Jones , and then asked users for their input . It thought about changing “ the core of how Twitter works ,” and discussed this idea on podcasts for the better part of last summer , and then released a beta app that threads replies. (Presumably the core-rethinking continues.) Anyway, today came the news that Twitter is thinking about getting rid of the many vocal white supremacists on the platform. Jason Koebler and Joseph Cox talk to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, legal and public policy, about the company’s recent discussions with academic researchers o