Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Amazon sale: Smart geysers and water heaters available on discount
Heres how much usable storage the PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have
With games getting larger and larger, one of the growing concerns is the usable storage on the next-generation consoles. The PS5 disc and digital edition both come with 825GB of storage, the Xbox Series S has 512GB of storage and the Series X has 1TB storage. But how much of this is actually usable by the user?
It has been confirmed that the Xbox Series X will have 802GB of storage which can be used to store games and apps. The Series S on the other hand reportedly has the least amount of usable storage. It comes with a 512GB SSD of which a mere 364GB is usable. The information about the Series S usable storage comes from Reddit user spead20 who apparently got a Series S early. He was asked about the usable storage on the console, and he said “364 GB for games and apps”
The PS5, on the other hand, comes with 825GB of storage. While the usable storage isn’t officially confirmed Twitter user @okami13_ has posted screenshots highlighting that the PS5 review units sport 667GB of usable space.
In case you needed any more confirmation - the #PS5 review kits have 667 GB of storage. Looks like that's with Astro's Playroom installed.https://t.co/jccCoosOkm pic.twitter.com/XgwfmiWThy
— Okami (@Okami13_) November 3, 2020Before you freak out, know that both the Xbox Series consoles and the PS5 support expandable storage. While details of the NVMe SSD’s that are compatible with the PS5 are yet unknown, Microsoft has partnered with Seagate for a 1TB expandable drive for the Series S/X. If you would like to play backwards compatible games, you can play them off a traditional hard drive, just like you can on the PS4 and Xbox One. So, there is some silver lining here.
However, this does bring up the question of how many games one will be able to store on the console's internal drive? While the Series S will use smart delivery to download lower quality textures to the console, it will be interesting to see how much of a size difference this makes.
A game like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which will be available on the PS5 and PS4, reportedly has a mere 2GB size difference on the 2 consoles. A game like Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War currently has a size of 85GB on the consoles with a larger file size for the PC where players will be able to take advantage of higher-quality assets.
It should also be noted that while a user could upgrade the internal storage of the PS3 and PS4, this is not possible for the PS5 as the internal storage is soldered onto the motherboard. The Xbox 360 allowed for user-replaceable storage, but the feature is not present on the Xbox One family of consoles.
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ByteDance to pump $170 million into e-book reader Zhangyue
While short videos are what drive ByteDance’s revenues and give the Chinese startup international recognition, the firm is expanding into numerous new areas like other tech giants to fuel growth. It’s dabbled in enterprise software and online learning, and the news came this week that ByteDance will invest in one of China’s largest e-book readers and publishers, Zhangyue.
Zhangyue announced Wednesday evening that a ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary plan to acquire about 11% of its shares for 1.1 billion yuan or $170 million. The China-listed online literature company, with a current market cap of 12 billion yuan, operates an app where 170 million users read novels, magazines, anime and listen to audiobooks every month during H1.
For comparison, its immediate rival China Literature, a Tencent spinoff, claimed 217 million monthly users in the same duration.
The partners are targeting a booming online reading market driven by China’s smartphone penetration. In 2019, users spent nearly an hour a day on their e-reading apps, according to market insight provider iResearch. The sector is projected to generate 20.6 billion yuan in revenue, which includes subscription and licensing fees, by 2020; that’s up from 6.6 billion yuan in 2015. Meanwhile, e-book users in the country will reach 510 million this year, the researcher said.
The deal will form a close alliance between Zhangyue and China’s leading digital entertainment titan. Under the agreement, ByteDance gets to assign one board member to Zhangyue and will be able to license the publisher’s intellectual property.
In return, Zhangyue will get ByteDance support in areas like ad buying, monetization, and other technologies. The success of Douyin, TikTok and newsreader Toutiao, which collectively claim users in the hundreds of millions, have turned ByteDance into a new darling for brands and advertisers.
In all, the collaboration will incur 470 million yuan worth of transactions between the partners in the following year, up from 270 million yuan a year before the equity acquisition.
Facebook Live spread election conspiracies and Russian state-controlled content by algorithmically recommending it to thousands of people during the election (BuzzFeed News)
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Uber and Lyft may have set precedent for using tech to lobby for political outcomes, with how they used their apps to urge riders and drivers to vote on Prop 22 (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)
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If elected, Biden commits to rejoin climate accord U.S. just abandoned
On the same day that the U.S. officially withdrew from the global pact to reduce emissions that cause climate change, presidential contender Joe Biden committed that he would rejoin the Paris Agreement if elected.
In a tweet late Wednesday, Biden wrote, “Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it.”
The Trump Administration announced that the U.S. would leave the agreement three years ago, in a move that was blasted by venture investors at the time.
“I have always believed that, while we can disagree on the scientific premise behind climate change, we should all agree that advanced energy technologies represent one of the biggest economic opportunities,” said General Catalyst managing director Hemant Taneja at the time. “To give that up is a threat to American prosperity … Our American companies will be at a huge competitive disadvantage globally if they don’t have a market to rely on in their backyard.”
Biden’s decision to rejoin the agreement should come as no surprise given the $2 trillion climate stimulus package that was a major plank of the former Vice President’s campaign.
For the Trump Administration, the official abandonment of the climate agreement was the fulfillment of a campaign promise made in what could be the waning days of its authority.
A permanent American exit from the climate accord would be a huge blow to the international community’s ability to stave off a climate disaster caused by rising temperatures related to greenhouse gas emissions. A year of wildfires, flooding and other climate-related catastrophes have shown how changing temperatures are already wreaking havoc on communities. As the second largest emitter of global carbon dioxide, the U.S. plays an outsized role in the success of any climate change mitigation plan.
The agreement, a centerpiece of the previous Obama Administration in which Biden served as vice president, was designed to limit the emissions that cause global warming so that temperatures would not rise beyond another 2 degrees celsius.
“If Biden wins, then the fact that the withdrawal became final on November 4 really won’t matter,” Todd Stern, who was the top U.S. climate negotiator during the Obama administration, told the Financial Times. “If Trump wins a second term, then it will have much more lasting impact.”
To date, the U.S. is the only country that has formally left the agreement.
Even if a Trump Administration were to eke out a slight electoral college victory and return for a second term, market dynamics could mute the effect of any fossil fuel industry advocacy or stimulus the government may try to initiate.
Simply put, renewable energy is making more economic sense within the U.S. than its fossil fuel competitors. Wind and solar are now basically cost competitive or cheaper than fossil fuels in many markets. The cost of battery storage is also falling dramatically.
A March report from Consumer Reports explained just how much better solar power can be for consumers. “Going solar is a money-saver in the long term, even though startup costs are higher for the consumer,” according to the publication. “Electricity from fossil fuels costs between 5 cents and 17 cents per kilowatt-hour. Solar energy costs average between 3 cents and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour and are trending down, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.”
Beyond market forces, a recalcitrant Trump Administration could be pressured to adopt more aggressive policies to reduce its emissions by international tariffs and potential sanctions, Sarah Ladislaw, a director of the climate change program at the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Tufts University, told the Financial Times..
“It is quite likely that other countries with ambitious emissions reduction targets, like the EU and China, will try to influence US behavior through cross-border carbon tariffs and a push to influence the global financial system to incorporate climate considerations,” she said.
DJI launches the $449 Mini 2 with upgraded camera for 4K 30fps recording, OcuSync 2.0 with a 10 km video transmission range, claims 31 mins of flight time (John Velasco/Digital Trends)
DJI launches the $449 Mini 2 with upgraded camera for 4K 30fps recording, OcuSync 2.0 with a 10 km video transmission range, claims 31 mins of flight time — - Proper 4K video capture — Handles windy conditions — Stable connection with OcuSync 2.0 — Ridiculously compact size
Sources: Apple is grappling with a shortage of power management chips for iPhones and other devices (Bloomberg)
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DJI’s pint-sized Mavic Mini gets camera and connection upgrades
We dug DJI’s Mavic Mini when the drone arrived last year. As Matt noted in his review, “It packs everything critical to be a quality drone. It has a good camera, good range and a good controller. It holds up well in the wind and is quick enough to be fun.” Today, DJI improves two of those things with the arrival of the Mini 2.
The new version, which hits retail today, is more refinement than redefinition. This is one of those cases where that’s perfectly fine, as the first release was a solid one, owing to the learnings of several generations of DJI and Mavic drones. The size and weight are essentially the same here. The Mini 2 weighs 249 grams — which comes out to about 0.55 pounds. It folds up and can be stashed away in a bag.
Image Credits: Gregory Manalo
The camera is probably the biggest upgrade here. The system is now capable of shooting 4K videos at 30 FPS. Stills, meanwhile, are 12-megapixels, and there’s 4x digital zoom (which DJI says is capable of up to 2x and still offer lossless quality). I suspect zoom is going to be a continued spot for improvement on these systems, going forward.
The other big change is the arrival of DJI’s proprietary OcuSync wireless technology — specifically OccuSync 2.0 here. The technology is also available on the latest Mavic Air. Per DJI:
OcuSync 2.0 is DJI’s world-renowned transmission technology responsible for ensuring stable, long distance, and reliable connection between the remote controller and the drone. Dual-frequency technology automatically switches between channels to help against interference.
Image Credits: Gregory Manalo
Among other things, the upgrade means a transmission rate of 19 km — around 150% of the range its predecessor delivered. Though DJI has to remind you here that you really ought to keep the tiny drone in your line of sight while operating. The battery should give you a solid 31 minutes (a slight improvement over the original’s stated 30-minute flight time).
DJI’s preprogrammed image capture is always a highlight. There are five quick-shot modes (Dronie, Helix, Rocket, Circle, Boomerang), three panoramas (Sphere, 180 and Wide-Angle) and two image modes (Triple Shot and Timed Shots).
Image Credits: Gregory Manalo
There’s a bit of a notable price bump here. The system now starts at $449 (up from $399), which includes the drone, remote and a single battery; $599 will get you two additional batteries, a charging hub and a carrying case — a solid addition.
Montenegro says Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon will be extradited to the US, potentially ending a standoff over competing demands by the US and South Korea (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg : Montenegro says Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon will be extradited to the US, potentially ending a standoff over competing ...
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