Technology news

Very quietly, Dungeons & Dragons is testing how to treat the long-lived and beloved brand in the gaming space. Earlier this year, Experiment 7 launched Dungeon Chess, a D&D-flavored take on the ages-old game … in virtual reality. Next up came Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, a clicker game that’s seeing a thriving community of streamers (I bet it’s because of Minsc and his cute miniature giant space hamster, Boo).
In the background, Beamdog continues to expanded

GUEST: Back in May, I wrote about the concept of DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations capable of running themselves thanks to blockchain technology — no CEO or C-Suite needed. At the time I was writing, there were a few people in the blockchain community testing out the idea but no strong efforts underway. That was six months ago.
As anyone in the crypto space will tell you, six months is a really long time. Today, a market for DAO platforms is emerging, complete with teams, fundin

For the past few years, governments have been gradually remaking the airport, transforming the single security check into a system of tiered clearances and background checks. You can see this logic at work in programs like CBP’s Global Entry and TSA’s Pre-Check, which let you pass through security lines faster if you’ve gone through the pre-clearance system in advance.
Facial recognition is shaping up to be a big part of the system too, as the cameras and databases put in place

As bitcoin prices fluctuate near record highs and adoption picks up, the world’s largest bitcoin ATM provider is bringing its largest installation to-date to Georgia. Coinsource has placed 18 of its bitcoin ATMs in Atlanta which, along with 2 in Athens, add 20 new units to Georgia’s current bitcoin ATM network.
Coinsource leadership says the large installation is in response to demand in the region — Georgia is a Top 3 market in the U.S., along with Chicago and New Y

Canadian directors Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard started their filmmaking career together in 2008 with Lost Cause, a tiny comedy they wrote and starred in themselves. The rough edges are clear, but the concept is fascinating: a man’s ghost comes from the future to haunt him by guiding him to better choices. (And at one point, by telekinetically turning a sock into a puppet to interact with him.) Labrèche and Léonard’s latest film, Radius, also has s

If you’re a movie fan on the internet, there’s a good chance that you’ve come across a video series called Every Frame a Painting. Created by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos, it’s a series of video essays, narrated by Zhou, that explore everything from Marvel’s film scores, framing in the movie Drive, David Fincher’s use of CGI, and the spectacle of Michael Bay’s films. The duo’s last video dropped over a year ago, and in a post on Medium, they announce

There aren’t any fully self-driving cars available to buy today, but there are plenty of vehicles with autonomous features. One of them is the 2018 Cadillac CT6 with Super Cruise, an advanced driver-assist system that GM claims rivals Tesla’s Autopilot. When driving on divided highways, Super Cruise allows Cadillac owners to take their hands off the steering wheel and their feet off the pedals. It’s about as close to self-driving as it gets with a production vehicle today.Last

The humble SMS is 25 years old today. Even though it’s still absolutely relevant, its popularity has ebbed as a consequence of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook Messenger. It’s worth reflecting on how fundamentally transformative SMS was on language. Although texting wasn’t necessarily the origin of acronyms like LOL, G2G, and WTF, which were borne from services and technologies as diverse as USENET and TELEX, it certainly popularized them, thrusting them into

Reigns: Her Majesty builds on its predecessor’s devilishly simple mechanics with a new story of political and cosmic intrigue. As in the first Reigns, indie developer François Alliot (aka Nerial) invites you to try on the crown — this time as the queen. Her Majesty is coming out December 7 from publisher Devolver Digital for PC, iOS, and Android.
To survive your queendom, you must balance your relationship with three segments of the population: the religious, the commoner

In April, Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young announced that he was shifting gears on his high-fidelity audio project, Pono. What began as a music player and online music store would become a high-quality streaming service, Xstream. This week, Young not only released his thirty-ninth studio album, The Visitor, he also launched the Neil Young Archive, a site that contains almost his entire back catalog using the service, which visitors can listen to in a high quality format.Young has decried th

When science fiction jumped from pulp magazines to full books during the mass-market paperback revolution of the 1950s, publisher Ace Books used an innovative new format known as Tête-bêche. It packaged two novels back to back, so readers could finish one, flip the book over, and start the next. A number of prominent science fiction novelists launched their careers on the backs of these little books, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Samuel R. Delany, and Philip K. Dick.
Over half a decad

I’ve been a developer for about eight years now, but I was already faced with the challenge of choosing between using an SDK vs. API well within the first year of working as a dev. After achieving beginner proficiency in web applications, I was tasked with integrating points of interest data for a tourism website to help people discover and explore new places. I started out by delving into the seemingly daunting task of planning for API integration by reading the developer documentation.

Y’all really like watching commercials for PlayStation games, as Sony has again has more TV ad impressions than any other video game publisher in the U.S.
GamesBeat has partnered with iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion analytics from more than seven million smart TVs, to bring you a monthly report on the TV ad impressions generated by the gaming industry’s biggest campaigns. These are the ads, and by extension the games, that game makers a

If you’ve ever dreamt of turning your kayak into a musical-cum-scientific instrument, now you can — thanks to a how-to-manual published this week. For the low cost of $1133 (boat not included), your Sonic Kayak can record underwater goings-on with submerged sensors, and broadcast a soothing tune from speakers attached to its prow. The only problem? There’s no headphone jack.The sonic kayak is the brainchild of a team of researchers led by Amber Griffiths from FoAM Kernow, an ar

Feel old yet? The first SMS was sent 25 years ago today. For context, that makes it older than Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Harry Styles. If the SMS was a person, it’d be a debt-crushed millennial, still living with their parents while spending their money on extravagances like avocado toast and iPhones. (And if you’re wondering, the first ever SMS said “Merry Christmas.”) But while all Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Harry Styles have to look forward to 25 years af

GUEST: Paying more attention to the reality of the workers and businesses in so-called “Flyover Country” isn’t a fad. Mark Zuckerberg may no longer be writing about his travels across the U.S., but the work still continues to bring more attention to startups outside of the coasts.
Creating strong startup ecosystems is how cities, towns, and rural areas across the country will build new economic identities. Because of that, the work of entrepreneurs, funders, community organizat

In the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands, around seven and a half acres of forest are lit up at night by more than a thousand pulsating red lights. The lights can communicate with each other, and are meant to behave like a flock of birds, a school of fish, or a single “digital organism.”
Each battery-powered light, called a “Pixie,” is nestled on a diamond-shaped wooden plaque, and contains a microprocessor that sends signals to other Pixies in the forest. Each micro

As a freelance writer, I know that keeping up a consistent writing output is a key factor in my career. The nature of freelancing makes it very tempting to slack off some days, though I may feel extremely motivated during others. Over the years, I’ve come up with a tried-and-tested schedule that I stick to pretty much every week. This schedule has not only helped me stay motivated more consistently but has also had the welcomed effect of helping me write 25,000 words each month… an

GUEST: If you’ve seen The Matrix, Terminator, or WarGames, you’ve probably already planned out your bunker for the post-AI apocalypse. Technology is continually advancing: Television is moving to the internet, the internet is reaching the remotest areas of the world, and the globe may soon be covered in actual robots.
The eventual takeover of AI has been prophesized by hundreds of books, films, and TV shows, but a few brave directors see a brighter future for humans and rob

Gamers are going to get a lot of bargains on Cyber Monday, the traditional discount day for electronic commerce holiday shopping.
Cyber Monday hasn’t always been as big a deal for gamers, but the discounting strategy has spread everywhere. The day has grown in significance as electronic commerce surpasses retail sales in many categories, particularly electronic goods such as video games.Gamer sites are speculating that there will be some discounts coming on the newest titles for the Xbox O

With its ability to transport users anywhere and give them any kind of experience, VR has huge potential as a tool for positive change. Google is highlighting that with its new philanthropy program, Daydream Impact.
This new initiative is designed to give organizations, non-profits and advocates the tools and training they need to make 360-degree experiences that bring people closer to their given topics. Google already worked with a handful of organizations on a pilot period for the program, pr

Niantic may be best-known for the massive hit Pokémon Go, but for its next major release the studio is going back to the beginning. Today the developer revealed that it’s working on a significant update to its debut augmented reality game, Ingress. Called Ingress Prime, the overhauled version of the game will be launching next year, and will change virtually every aspect of the experience — from the art, design, and narrative, to the underlying technology that powers it. &ldqu

GUEST: With the U.S. economy much improved, this year’s Christmas season is expected to be one of the best in years, and with the advance of digital technology, smartphones will be a key buying method for many consumers.
Put those elements together and you have the latest “off the press” scam – the use of phony text messages and Whatsapp messages to spread malware, ransomware, and general misery. According to one study, one in every 25 apps supposedly issued by retailers