Facial Recognition AI Weekly: Detroit’s facial recognition battle is about the ends justifying the meansVentureBeat - Seth ColanerThis week, after U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) criticized on Twitter the Detroit Police Department’s use of facial recognition software, they invited her to visit its Real Time Crime Center so she could
Play buttonPersona (Video Game) Persona franchise surpasses 10 million copies soldVentureBeat - Jeff GrubbIt has taken nearly a quarter of a century, but the Persona series has hit 10 million copies sold. That includes all games in the series: the main Persona role-playing adventures as well as spinoffs like
Play buttonDonald Duck The RetroBeat: World of Illusion is a Genesis co-op treasureVentureBeat - Mike MinottiI’m still playing a lot of the Sega Genesis Mini. Sadly, most of you will have to wait until the retro console’s official release date on September before you can enjoy its library of 42 games. But I’m
Magic Leap Quasi-AR baby steps are preparing us for true AR’s digital futureVentureBeat - Jeremy HorwitzThough I only occasionally write about augmented reality, I sift through plenty of “news” these days that is kinda-sorta AR, but not really. For example, if you believe that a TV show is using “augmented
The Emmy Awards Wolves in the Walls wins first Emmy Award for a virtual beingVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiFable, which transitioned from being a virtual reality studio to a “virtual beings” company, has won an Emmy Award for its Wolves in the Walls project. It’s a landmark day for “virtual beings,” or animated
Riot Games Riot Games closes a chapter with sexual harassment lawsuit settlementVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiLeague of Legends maker Riot Games closed a sorry chapter of its history with the settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed against the company for alleged sexual harassment. The esports and game company
Drones Weaponize your drone and face a $25,000 fine from the FAAVentureBeat - Khari JohnsonThe Federal Aviation Administration issued an advisory this week warning drone pilots and the general public that placing a dangerous weapon on a drone can carry a fine of up to $25,000. “Perhaps you’ve
Play buttonWaymo Waymo cars refuse to drive in unsafe conditionsVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersHeavy rain and blizzards aren’t the only forms of severe weather Waymo’s self-driving vehicles encounter on the regular. In a blog post published this morning, the Alphabet subsidiary laid out the ways
Qualcomm Qualcomm wins pause in FTC antitrust enforcement pending appealVentureBeat - Reuters(Reuters) — Qualcomm won a partial stay against the enforcement of a sweeping antitrust ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to a court filing on Friday. The company
LG Dual Screen review: A foldable enigmaVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersI hold in my hands a smartphone accessory that sports a fully foldable screen. It’s got nothing to do with the beleaguered Samsung Galaxy Fold or Huawei Mate X, nor the half-dozen bendable phone prototypes
Apple Card If Apple Watch adopts Apple Card’s poor titanium coating, look outVentureBeat - Jeremy HorwitzOn Tuesday, weeks after the Apple Card began its first and second rounds of prerelease testing, Apple officially began offering its credit card to all U.S. customers — and quietly disclosed a flaw that
Play buttonGears 5 Gears Pop is Clash Royale with cover mechanicsVentureBeat - Jeff GrubbAs someone who pretends to have refined tastes, Gears Pop is a nightmare. A free-to-play mobile version of Gears featuring Funko Pop versions of the characters and enemies? I would not want my friends
Huawei Huawei details AI chips for training and inferenceVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersIn a bid to establish a foothold in an AI chip market that’s anticipated to be worth $91.18 billion by 2025, Huawei today brought to market the Ascend 910, a new chipset in its Ascend-Max family optimized
Robotics Sphero acquires modular electronics company LittleBitsVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersSphero, the nine-year-old Colorado-based company best known for its lineup of programmable robots, this week completed a major acquisition that catapults it to the top of the burgeoning science, technology,
Play buttonMobile Gaming Jam City unveils Frozen Adventures mobile game coming in NovemberVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiMobile game publisher Jam City unveiled its match-3 puzzle game Frozen Adventures, which is debuting in November in anticipation of the launch of the Disney Frozen 2 film. The original Frozen animated
Play buttonGamescom The DeanBeat: How Germany does gaming events right with GamescomVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiIn the past, Gamescom (the giant fan event in Cologne, Germany) was a sideshow for the worldwide game industry. Companies could choose to come or skip it. They made their announcements at the Electronic
Microsoft Windows Microsoft widens its efforts to support DirectX 12 games on Windows 7VentureBeat - Jeff GrubbDirectX 12 works on Windows 7, but that wasn’t always the case. Microsoft originally only supported the newest graphics API on Windows 10 and Windows 8. But the company expanded that to Windows 7 earlier
Fortnite Fortnite team nerfs B.R.U.T.E. mech to bring back more varietyVentureBeat - Jeff GrubbI hate and fear change. This is why bipedal walking tanks frighten me. They change the calculus of war in real life and, more importantly, in the battle royale shooter Fortnite. Developer Epic Games has
Technology YouTube disables 210 channels tied to Hong Kong disinformation campaignsVentureBeat - Chris O'BrienGoogle’s YouTube is the latest digital platform to confirm it has been manipulated to spread disinformation about the Hong Kong protests. In a blog post, the video streaming company said it disabled 210
Play buttonNintendo Leiting Games launches dungeon-crawler Overdungeon on SteamVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiChinese game publisher Leiting Games has announced the full version of the rogue-like dungeon-crawler Overdungeon from Pocket Pair is now available on the PC via Steam. The Shenzhen, China-based Overdungeon
Hewlett Packard HP CEO Dion Weisler steps down, taps veteran insider Enrique LoresVentureBeat - Reuters(Reuters) — HP said on Thursday Chief Executive Officer Dion Weisler is stepping down after nearly four years in the role, and forecast fourth quarter profit below Wall Street estimates, sending its shares
Alexa iDevices’ Instinct is a light switch with Alexa built inVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersIf you’ve been pining for a sleek wireless light switch with Alexa built right in, now’s your chance. iDevices, Hubbell’s smart home subsidiary, today took the wraps off the Instinct, a wireless switch
Vmware VMware acquires Pivotal and Carbon Black for nearly $5 billionVentureBeat - Reuters(Reuters) — VMware said on Thursday it bought two software companies in separate deals valued at about $5 billion, looking to expand the range of products and services it offers to its corporate clients.
Play buttonMinecraft Earth Minecraft Earth beta expands to AndroidVentureBeat - Jeff GrubbMicrosoft and the Minecraft Team want to give Minecraft players a chance to try the franchise’s new AR game on Android. Minecraft Earth is already available as a beta test for people running iOS 10 devices.
MMOGs Black Desert brings its MMO action to PS4VentureBeat - Mike MinottiPlayStation 4 owners have a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game option. Pearl Abyss announced today that Black Desert is now available on the PS4. Black Desert touts sandbox-based gameplay
YouTube ProBeat: YouTube messages should have never existedVentureBeat - Emil Protalinski YouTube is killing its messages feature two years after introducing it, despite there being no use case for a built-in chat functionality in the app.
Apple Watch Apple Watch patent application reveals millimeter wave 5G and Wi-Fi designVentureBeat - Jeremy HorwitzSmartphone makers have struggled over the past year to squeeze millimeter wave 5G antennas into devices with smaller than 6-inch screens and 8mm thick bodies. But Apple is already working on future versions
Oculus VR Oculus mobile VR leader leaves FacebookVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiThere’s a changing of the guard in the leadership at Oculus VR, the division that Facebook acquired for $3 billion in 2014. Max Cohen, former head of mobile VR, is leaving the company at the end of the
Mellon Carnegie Mellon and Oregon State team wins first leg of DARPA Subterranean Challenge robot competitionVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersThe U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) kicked off the Subterranean Challenge in December 2017, with the goal of equipping future warfighters and first responders with tools to rapidly
Hearthstone Hearthstone nerfs Dr. Boom, Conjurer’s Calling, Luna’s Pocket Galaxy, Extra Arms … and BarnesVentureBeat - Jason Wilson“One, two, Hearthstone’s coming for you” — that’s the song I’m singing to Barnes and Dr. Boom, Mad Genius right now. After drawing ire from legions of players (and in Barnes’ case, for years now), two
