Mercedes + Nvidia Could Catch Tesla and Create a Truly Smart Car
Last month Mercedes and Nvidia announced a relationship. The potential for Mercedes and Nvidia to change the very nature of personal transportation is carried within this partnership. This combination could be magical, both in terms of creating a better alternative to Tesla, and a deeper relationship between you and the company providing your car as a service.
Prime Day Uncertainty a Dilemma for Amazon Sellers
One of the e-tail world's most pressing questions is: When will Amazon have its Prime Day sale this year? Perhaps a better question is: Will Prime Day happen at all? Amazon so far is not telling. If Prime Day 2020 takes place in the fall, the biggest deal days of the e-commerce industry could happen within several weeks of each other.
Women in Tech: 20 Trailblazers Share Their Journeys
Successful women in the tech trenches share their insights and tackle subjects ranging from how to search out a strong mentor to how to be one -- from how to advance in a large company to how to start your own firm.
This book is an excellent guide for students considering STEM courses, graduates pondering job choices, and career changers at any stage in life. It's also a useful tool for school and career counselors, recruiters, and HR pros eager to diversify their workplaces.
The Changing Dynamics of Essential Product Sourcing
The heart of the manufacturing world was the first region to feel the effects of the pandemic. While we have seen some stabilization, many challenges remain in terms of pricing, reliability, and the supply chain itself. Let's take a closer look at these challenges to better understand how best to navigate sourcing essential products from Asia in the current landscape.
Shoppers are starting to come back to their favorite brick and mortar storefronts as the pandemic restrictions allow consumers to exit from lockdown. But the impact of COVID-19 has etched some far-reaching changes in the retail industry that will not set back the strides online shopping has gained since March. That is a conclusion clearly visible in research published last week by TrustRadius.
B2C Marketers Grapple With Personalization Tactics
Marketers at B2C companies realize that personalization is key to business, but they are having problems implementing personalization strategies, according to a recent survey by Adweek Intelligence in association with IBM Watson Advertising.
Salesforce continues to define the market for enterprise software, and more, with innovations that few others are stepping up to; the case in point is last week's TrailheaDX 2020 developers event held online.
A browser that has received plaudits for privacy protection has been exposed for redirecting Web searches to make money. Brave, a browser with some 15 million monthly users, has been redirecting searches for cryptocurrency companies.
Some 50 editors working for Microsoft's news operation have learned their contracts won't be renewed and their jobs will be performed by artificial intelligence software, according to reports.
The University of Cincinnati online program is ranked 10th in the country by U.S. News & World Report (2020). Enjoy the flexibility of a schedule built for working professionals. Learn from educators with decades of experience in the field of IT.
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Food fight! The battle for the future of food delivery continues to deepen, with yet another merger. Reports over the weekend suggest that Uber will pick up Postmates for a cool $2.65 billion. The deal will push Uber into second place in the food-delivery wars, just behind food-delivery giant DoorDash. It's a consolation prize of sorts for Uber after it failed to acquire GrubHub earlier this year.
That might seem like a lot of money, but it gets even more confusing when you take a look at how both companies have fared, shedding cash through the COVID-19 crisis. Uber lost $2.9 billion — more than this acquisition costs. The company must have a lot of faith in the future of food delivery. And even more cash to see it through.
— Mat
Chrome update may extend your laptop's battery life by up to 2 hours
Tabs might not hog so much energy in the background.
Engadget
Chrome can really ding your battery life. Now, its makers are trying to fix it a bit, with a new experimental feature that would nix unnecessary JavaScript timers and trackers at work in tabs in the background. Reports suggest it could save a substantial chunk of battery life, especially if you use Chrome with a heavy dose of tabs. That is definitely my MO. Continue reading.
Two Nigerians face US charges over online fraud worth 'hundreds of millions'
They allegedly used email to rip off companies for millions.
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The United Arab Emirates has sent the US two Nigerian nationals, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas and Olakean Jacob Ponle, to face charges relating to large "business email compromise" scams. Abbas faces charges of money laundering in schemes meant to pull in "hundreds of millions of dollars," according to the Justice Department. This included a plan to launder $14.7 million stolen from a "foreign financial institution," taking nearly $923,000 from a New York law firm and involvement in a plot to steal roughly $124 million from an English Premier League club.
Ponle, meanwhile, allegedly participated in several 2019 fraud campaigns worth "tens of millions of dollars." One company, alone, sent a total of $15.2 million. Both could serve up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Continue reading.
What to expect from the next version of 5G
More bandwidth, better battery life.
5G coverage may still be sparse, and the world is still trying to understand how it works or affects us, but the people that define networking standards won't stop working on it. The 3GPP, a group of organizations that develop protocols for mobile telecoms, just announced Phase 2 for 5G, which will expand the use of networks by vehicles and IoT devices and tap into unlicensed spectrum as well. Cherlynn Low outlines what you can expect. Continue reading.
Rocket Lab's 13th Electron launch has ended in disaster. The company reported that its "Pics Or It Didn't Happen" mission failed during the second stage burn about four minutes into the flight, resulting in the loss of both the rocket as well as the seven satellites aboard.
Crucially, that includes the payloads from paying customers, most notably Canon. It was supposed to be demonstrating an Earth imaging camera system ahead of plans for mass production. Continue reading.
In the US, we're heading into a holiday weekend, so if you need some advice on gear for grilling or a socially distanced backyard party, then we have the appropriate recommendations. Speaker, grill, thermometer, whatever — Billy Steele outlines some of the best options.
Will gallium nitride electronics change the world?
Engadget Upscaled: The science and engineering behind our favorite devices.
Engadget
Gallium nitride (GaN) can build remarkably efficient power electronics, the circuits in a device or charger that convert your wall power into usable voltage. Some scientists are optimistic GaN might eventually outperform silicon power circuitry by a factor of a thousand, leading to ultra-efficient devices with chargers no bigger than a wall plug, and maybe even revolutionizing the power grid.
We spoke to two GaN researchers about their work and how gallium nitride might revolutionize electronics, telecoms, even space travel. As with any new technology that catches people's attention, there's a lot of promise, but also a lot of hype, and they were quick to tell us that these advances will take time.
Watch the video to learn more about what GaN is, what we can expect in the next few years and where the future might take us. Continue reading.
'NBA 2K21' comes with a next-gen upgrade... if you spend $100
Choose carefully.
2K
When the next NBA 2K game arrives this fall, you'll have some choices to make. If you'd like to buy it on current generation consoles, then the $60 version with Damien Lillard on the cover will get the job done. If you'd prefer to only play on PS5 or Xbox Series X, with super-fast load times and upgraded graphics, then you'll need the $70 version with Zion Williamson on the front.
If you plan to play across both but remain within the same console family (PlayStation or Xbox) then the only way to do that is by grabbing the $100 Mamba Forever Edition that features Kobe Bryant and comes with a bunch of other extras as well. This setup is a bit different to what we've seen with some other games that provide free upgrades to cross the generation gap, and that $70 price could indicate a new standard mark for games going forward. Continue reading.
Amazon's Windows 10 Prime Video app brings offline viewing to PCs
No such thing as too late, right?
It's been a long wait, but Windows 10 users can finally download Amazon Prime Video to their computer. The UWP app's most notable feature is that you can download content for offline watching. That will be handy once it's safe to travel again.
The settings menu includes three download quality presets: Good, Better and Best. With the highest quality setting, one hour of video (up to 1080p resolution) takes approximately 2.4GB of internal storage — less of an issue with your PC versus your smartphone, which has had the same function for years. Continue reading.
Walmart is turning some of its parking lots into drive-in theaters
It's a theater of sorts.
Walmart
In the face of social distancing and the slow return of movie theaters, Walmart will soon transform several of its parking lots across the US into drive-in theaters, in a partnership with the company behind the Tribeca Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The "safe, socially distanced drive-in events," as Walmart describes them, will run from August through October at 160 locations. Customers will be able to order concessions for delivery to their vehicles. Kinda crucial details, like entry fees, the movie lineup and exact locations, haven't yet been announced. Continue reading.
As we prepare to start a new console era this fall, the latest TVs will have to match their capabilities. Vizio just announced specs and prices for its latest models, with HDMI 2.1 features like variable refresh rate on models available for as little as $400.
Vizio
Of course, even at Vizio's typically lower prices, opting for a 120Hz panel or OLED technology will still cost more than $1,200, but there should be a lot of options available for gamers very soon.
— Richard
Samsung may have leaked the Note 20 Ultra on its own website
Meet the next Note.
Samsung
Samsung's next flagship device may have already appeared. Whether you believe it was inadvertent or intentional, the company's websites in Russia, Ukraine and China flashed a picture of this device, which is apparently the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Continue reading.
NASA's 'smell of space' is available as a perfume
Eau de Space smells smokey and bitter, and so can you.
Eau de Space
Over a decade ago, NASA chemists developed a scent that mimics the "smell of space" to give astronauts a whiff of the cosmos before they left Earth's atmosphere. Now, the company Eau de Space has gotten its hands on that scent, and you can order a bottle (or ten) through its Kickstarter.
In a video shared by Eau de Space, NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli says space smells "strong and unique," unlike anything he has ever smelled on Earth. Others have described the smell as "seared steak, raspberries and rum," smokey and bitter. Continue reading.
Google discontinues its affordable Pixel 3a and 3a XL phones
Now it's while supplies last.
Engadget
Mat mentioned only yesterday that a boom in affordable smartphones is happening. Google's Pixel 3a series was at the vanguard, offering the Pixel 3's best features — like a really good camera and excellent battery life — on a budget.
Sadly, Google is retiring the device. And while it's been teased for way too long, we're still waiting on the Pixel 4a to break cover. Continue reading.
The CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook will testify in July
Tech's biggest CEOs will face questions about their power and how they wield it.
Apple's Tim Cook, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai have all reportedly agreed to testify at a House antitrust hearing in late July. New York Times columnist Kara Swisher broke the news, as confirmed to her in an interview with House Judiciary Committee chairman David Cicilline. Continue reading.
