Entries by Nicole Batac (11985)

Tuesday
Mar062018

Netflix’s ‘Lost In Space’ gets first trailer

 

Netflix announced two years ago that it was going to remake the classic series Lost In Space. The original show aired on CBS in the US from 1965 to 1968. You may or may not have heard it but you might be familiar with the talking robot’s famous line, “Danger, Will Robinson!” Now the Robinson family are back and Netflix tries not to stray too far from the original show, which follows the Robinson’s misadventures in space. The original series was based on the sci-fi novel The Swiss Family Robinson. The series comes to the streaming service on April 13th.

Source: The Verge

Tuesday
Mar062018

Google’s Gboard adds support for more languages including Korean and Chinese

Google is expanding the language support of Gboard by adding 20 additional new languages. The keyboard app will add in the coming days both traditional and simplified Chinese as well as Korean. These new additions bring over 300 languages supported by Gboard and while there are thousands of languages spoken around the world, this update is said to cover 74 percent of the world’s population. Google has said they are also dedicated to bringing lesser-used languages into the app. An example is the African language Fulani, which didn’t have a written alphabet until the ‘90s. The company is working with the brothers who developed its character set.

Source: Android Police

Tuesday
Mar062018

BlackBerry accuses Facebook of infringement over its messaging patents

CNN

BlackBerry has filed a lawsuit in California against Facebook and its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram for what it says is infringement of its messaging patents. The company says the social media company has “co-opted” its patented innovations related to security, user interface, and battery life. But Facebook brushes off the suit claiming it’s just a desperate move from the beleaguered company. "Blackberry's suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business," Paul Grewal, Facebook's deputy general counsel, said in a statement. "Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, BlackBerry is now looking to tax the innovation of others. We intend to fight."

The patents cited in the lawsuit describe the key elements of modern day messaging including those that deal with notifications for the total number of unread messages, photo tagging, and messaging time stamps. It hasn’t been cited how much BlackBerry is asking in terms of damages. But it seems seeking money from the patents isn’t the only motivation, the company seems to want to partner with Facebook. "As a cybersecurity and embedded software leader, BlackBerry's view is that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could make great partners in our drive toward a securely connected future," BlackBerry’s spokesperson said in the statement. "We continue to hold this door open to them."

Source: CNN

Tuesday
Mar062018

Ubisoft cracks down on hate speech in ‘Rainbow Six: Siege’ matches

Ubisoft is joining the likes of Blizzard when it comes to stopping hate speech from spreading in matches held in Rainbow Six: Siege. The developer is now tracking how often players use hate speech in the game and issues bans on them accordingly. These could range from two days for lighter uses to permanent bans for those grievous offenders. And if you try to contest this, Ubisoft won’t beat around the bush and will tell you that you’ve been banned because of “toxicity.” This is apparently the “first step” towards controlling these kinds of bad behaviour on the platform and that there will be more in the future.

Source: Engadget