Technology

We may have just gotten our best look yet at Super Nintendo World, Nintendo and Universal’s upcoming Mario-themed area for Universal Studios Japan — and it looks like a level plucked straight out of a Mario game and dropped into the real world (via Input). Seriously, take a little over a minute of your day to watch this video of the park, from Twitter: 6/29パークフロントホテルから見たSUPER NINTENDO WORLD3/31にも見ましたがかなり出来上がっているオブジェクトもいろいろ動いていたし点検も行っている様子オープン延期にはなったけどエリアに入れる日まで気長に待ってます#USJ#USJファン #SUPERNINTENDOWORLD pic.twitter.com/GMPGxa48sr — 29Qu (@29QuP2) July 1, 2020 There’s just a stunning attention to detail. Coins rotating in sync! Hidden pipes! A menacing Pirhana Plant! A stack of Goombas! An angry Thwomp! Yoshi!! Every time I watch the video, I see some clever new feature that I had missed before...

Amazon Prime Video’s dedicated app for Windows 10 is now live in the Microsoft Store, the company announced Thursday. It allows you to stream videos and download them for offline viewing. While it’s always been possible to stream Prime Video content through a browser like Chrome, there was no way to download videos on a Windows device to view offline until now. Amazon has lately beefed up its original streaming content to compete with rivals like Netflix and Hulu. That includes critically acclaimed shows like Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Homecoming. A recent report found that the company is “actively pursuing” licensing deals for live TV, and earlier this week, it introduced a Watch Party feature in the US so up to 100 people can stream with friends. The Windows 10 app is free, ...

Olympus is becoming the latest camera company to release an app that allows customers to use its mirrorless cameras as high-quality webcams with a new OM-D Webcam Beta app, via PetaPixel. For now, the OM-D Webcam Beta only supports Windows computers and works with five of Olympus’ mirrorless cameras: the OM-D E-M1X, the OM-D E-M1, the OM-D E-M1 Mark II, the OM-D E-M1 Mark III, and the OM-D E-M5 Mark II. Setting up your camera is easy: simply install the app, connect your camera through its USB-C port, turn it on, and start up the software, after which point your Olympus camera will appear as an option in your videoconferencing app of choice just like any other integrated or USB camera would. For a more detailed walkthrough, check out Olympus’ video guide here. [embedded content] Olympus no...

Apple’s AirPods are among the most popular headphones on the market. They’re compact, easy to pair with your devices, and they offer reliable connectivity, which can sometimes be a problem with truly wireless earphones. So there’s a chance that you might be looking for a deal on them. Surprisingly, they’re no stranger to the occasional price cut — even the more expensive AirPods Pro that offer noise cancellation and better sound than the standard second-generation model is commonly around $20 off its usual price. We’ll run through all three of the current models below, including the second-generation AirPods, the more expensive second-generation AirPods that include a wireless charging case, and finally, the AirPods Pro. You can currently find the best price on Apple’s most affordable AirP...

Facebook will add messaging to its News Feed and Instagram’s feed to encourage people to wear face masks, the company said on Thursday. An alert will appear at the top of News Feeds on Facebook that directs users to the COVID-19 Information Center, and they will have links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information. Instagram will include a similar prompt with CDC links. The company says the move is in response to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the US. On Wednesday, the US set a single-day record, adding 50,000 new cases, as many states began reconsidering their June reopening plans. As of Thursday, the US has more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19, and more than 128,000 people have died. The current CDC recommendation is for people to wear masks in public s...

Amazon is making a new Fallout TV series based on the popular post-apocalyptic RPG games from Bethesda. There are virtually no details on the project, except that it’ll be an Amazon Prime original produced by Kilter Films. A report from The Hollywood Reporter adds that the project is coming from Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan as part of their overall deal with Amazon. Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard and Bethesda Softworks’ James Altman will also serve as executive producers on the project, which is still in the development stages. “Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time,” Joy and Nolan said in a statement to THR. “Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we’re incredibly ex...

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has signed a deal with Anduril, the “virtual border wall” startup launched by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. The Washington Post reports that the agency awarded Anduril a five-year contract to deploy portable surveillance towers meant to detect moving vehicles and human figures across the US border. The deal will see CBP purchase 140 towers in 2021 and 2022, supplementing 60 towers that were already part of a pilot program. A company executive told the Post that the deal was worth “several hundred million dollars.” Anduril has been working with CBP since 2018, and it’s secured additional contracts with groups like the US Marine Corps and UK Royal Navy. Its sentry towers use a variety of sensors, including LIDAR, to capture data. An AI system called Lat...

Twitter engineers have been working since January on an internal effort to replace problematic yet commonplace programming language like “master” and “slave,” CNET reported. It’s part of a larger effort among open-source developers who have been working to remove references to slavery from the programming community. Microsoft-owned GitHub made a similar move last month when CEO Nat Friedman said the company was replacing the term “master” with more neutral language. Regynald Augustin was one of the programmers who spearheaded the effort. Twitter eng recently shared that we would be making the language in our code, docs, and configs more inclusive. I want to speak on how we got here and what we’ve done so far.https://t.co/87RybaAiYA — Regynald (@negroprogrammer) July 2, 2020 As ZDNet notes,...

Facebook will pin a box with information about voter registration on the top of the News Feed for every US user who is of voting age starting tomorrow, July 3rd, the company announced today. The box, once it’s live, will show you information about how to register to vote, including a link to your state’s registration website or to a nonpartisan partner if your state doesn’t have voter information readily available online. Here’s what you can expect it to look like on your phone: Image: Facebook Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communications, first announced the voting boxes would be showing up on top of the News Feed in an open letter published on Wednesday. Facebook says it will host more registration drives on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger this summer. Th...

Tesla said on Thursday that it was able to deliver 90,650 vehicles during the last quarter, despite its Fremont, California factory being partially shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Wall Street analysts had expected the electric automaker to only deliver about 72,000 vehicles during the last three months, according to CNBC. This was the second consecutive quarter of better-than-expected delivery numbers from Tesla. The company delivered 88,400 vehicles in Q1 of 2020, down from the fourth quarter of 2019, when Tesla shipped around 112,000 vehicles. This was the second consecutive quarter of better-than-expected delivery numbers Tesla said it delivered 80,050 of its Models 3 and Y vehicles and 10,600 of its Models S and X vehicles. “While our main factory in Fremont was shut down fo...

For over a year, a mystery shopper known only as “John Smith” has been creating confusion across the web. He’s repeatedly visited numerous online stores, ranging from auto supply shops to home goods merchants, placed single items in multiple shopping baskets, and then left without buying anything. The Wall Street Journal has the story of the mysterious shopper, and it’s well worth reading to get to the bottom of what’s been happening. The remarkable thing about John Smith is just how relentless his online shopping seems to have been. On a recent Wednesday, he went on a spree lasting a total of 48 hours. One screenshot shared by FinnBinn, an online store that sells boxes for newborns to sleep in, shows 17 abandoned shopping carts from a period of just three days in April. It perplexed the c...

Congratulations! The world is falling apart (or at least feels like it’s falling apart), and you’ve decided to do something about it. That’s a commendable urge. Here’s where I tell you that you’ve also decided to do something very hard. Hosting a charity stream (on Twitch, YouTube, or on any other platform) is much more difficult than hosting a regular live stream, mostly because charity streams involve more moving parts — there’s the charity, the donation flow, guests, and, obviously, anything else you’re doing to make the experience special for your viewers. And it will be! More than anything, charity streams are about sharing a moment with the people who tune in. You will be overwhelmed, and it will be glorious. The other beautiful thing about charity streams is that they’re infectious;...