Kangaroos are confusing Volvo’s self-driving cars

Volvo seems to have run into trouble with a certain marsupial as they test their self-driving cars in Australia. The car maker has discovered that kangaroos are both a nuisance and a source of confusion for its self-driving vehicles. This isn’t the first time Volvo’s detection system has been exposed to large animals. In Sweden, it’s responded to deer, caribou, and elk. But the unusual pattern that kangaroos move seems to have thrown these machines into a loop.

“When it’s in the air it actually looks like it’s further away, then it lands and it looks closer,” Volvo Australia’s Technical Manager David Pickett explains to ABC. Kangaroos aren’t just wreaking havoc with Volvo’s cars, these marsupials have been the cause of vehicle collisions in Australia. But it’s a good thing that this was detected early on to avoid any catastrophic run-ins with the creature somewhere down the line. But it does seem to delay Volvo’s plans a bit. Or at least make things a bit more challenging as they aim to sell autonomous driving vehicles by 2021.

Source: Engadget + The Verge

These are the rumoured specs of the Moto X4

Tipped to be the first non-Google-branded Project Fi-ready smartphone, the Moto X4 is said to be a pretty decent mid-range device. Evan Blass (@evleaks) shares some of the rumoured key specs of the device over at VentureBeat. It’s said to run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 octa-core processor running at 2.2GHz, Full HD display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage with microSD expansion support, and a 3,000mAh battery. The X4 will said to have an IP68 certification to prevent water and dust ingress. Its focus will be on getting great photos with a dual-rear setup with an 8-megapixel and 12-megapixel setup at the back and a 16-megapixel front camera. The phone will also reportedly have a front-mounted fingerprint sensor that doesn’t just unlock the device, it can also supposedly recognize simple gestures to duplicate the functions of some on-screen navigation buttons. The Moto X4 is tipped to come out in the fourth quarter, which is just in time for holiday shopping season.

Motorola debuts new Moto Mod that comes with a 360-degree camera

Seemingly stealing the thunder from Andy Rubin’s Essential smartphone and its upcoming 360-degree camera, Motorola just unveiled its own 360-degree camera Moto Mod in Ghana. Evan Blass (@evleaks) shared a high-resolution photo of the Moto Mod. It shows the camera placed on top off a plastic back plate that’s usually used to attach these Mods to the back of Moto Z devices. Aside from the image though, not much is known about the Mod and whether it’ll make its way out of Ghana. It’ll be a wasted opportunity we say if it doesn’t, though.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft confirms reorganization of sales and marketing divisions

Mike Mozart

Earlier today we reported that Microsoft was tipped to lay off thousands of its global employees as part of the reorganization of its sales and marketing units so that they can focus more on its cloud services. There seems to be some truth to that. Microsoft has confirmed that it plans to reorganize the two divisions in a memo to its employees. But there wasn’t any mention of layoffs. The restructuring will affect those under Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela, Executive Vice Presidents Judson Althoff and Jean-Philippe Courtois. Their teams have been briefed about how the reorganization will work.

Source: VentureBeat