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Amidst an epic legal battle between, well, Epic and Apple, Nintendo has announced a Fortnite-themed special edition of its Switch console. The console is slated to hit stores in Europe on October 30, according to Eurogamer. It’ll also drop in Australia and New Zealand, albeit a little later on November 6, NintendoLife reports. The pricing for Europe remains unclear, but NintendoLife says the Fortnite-branded Switch will retail at about $350 (AU$469....

According to research from Nissan, more than half of all the UK-based parents surveyed resort to hopping in their car with their restless children to help them get to sleep: A practice Nissan charmingly refers to as a “dream drive.” And Nissan is close to replicating this in otherwise-quiet electric vehicles. [Read: A tricked-out Nissan Leaf just completed Britain’s longest fully autonomous drive] “Combustion engines transmit a sound frequency, a combination of white, pink and brown noise varied in tone – creating an orchestral soundscape that is especially soothing and comforting to young children,” Nissan noise and vibration development manager Paul Speed-Andrews said....

According to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Apple is working on a set of features to detect depression and cognitive decline using sensors on your iPhone. The company hopes to develop algorithms to detect mental anomalies using signals like sleep patterns, physical activity, and typing behavior. Apple has launched multiple studies in order to study the relation between digital behavior and mental health issues. The firm has tied up with the University of California to study stress, anxiety, and depression; another study is pharma company Biogen is observing mild cognitive impairment....

The project was announced by Alejandro Cao de Benos, the head of “Korean Friendship Association,” a group that seeks to promote international relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Cao de Benos told reporters that the token won’t be a digitized version of the North Korean Won, but that they’re still figuring out exactly what will give it value. He also said it’ll be “more like Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies,” which makes almost no sense and should be an immediate red flag for anyone paying attention....

Nothing is the new company from Carl Pei, the co-founder of OnePlus. So far, details about exactly what the company is up to have been sparse. We know it’ll focus on gadgets, we know it owns the Essential smartphone brand, and we know it’s set to release a pair of true wireless earbuds later this year. But apart from that? Not much. Now, you’d be excused for thinking that the below picture is of Nothing’s first product, the aforementioned true wireless earbuds…...

Up front: The bill, dubbed int 1894-2020, was meant to address the issue of bias in AI software. Companies such as HireVue claim their algorithms can actually remove hiring bias – the schtick here is that computers can’t be bigots. But the reality is that there’s no magic way to remove bias from an AI system. Algorithms aren’t magical spells. They’re usually math-based guidelines. And, because computers and algorithms are designed and programmed by humans, they contain inherent bias....

How did the universe get here? When did it get here? How big is it? What’s it made of? Unfortunately, our position in the cosmos makes it difficult to answer any of those questions. We’re stuck here about 1,500 light years away from the nearest black hole. Scientists have posited many explanations for the existence of black holes, but all we really know about them is that they suck. Theoretically, black holes have infinitely dense centers....

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority said it has notified the apps, “keeping in view the negative effects of immoral/indecent content streaming,” Reuters reports. [Read: We asked 3 CEOs what tech trends will dominate post-COVID] The government agency says it’s moved to block the apps — Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, Skout, and SayHi — after the companies failed to respond to its notice, seeking the removal of their “dating services,” within the stipulated deadline....

My question is this: why stop there with opening up its encryption system? I’ve got nothing to hide. While you’re scanning through all my photos, Apple, why don’t you check if I’ve got any videos of men getting it on with other men? Why should I care? Statistically, it’s under 5% of the population. Not my problem. After you’ve gone through all my media, please, have a gander at my messages too....

Projects that don’t require some level of risk are seldom projects worth doing. By that criteria, it’s no wonder that major business projects are seldom slam dunk propositions. In fact, you might even say it’s often much easier for a corporate initiative to go wrong than to sail blissfully toward completion unscathed. The average project will end up 27 percent over budget — and one in six will ultimately cost more than three times its original price tag....

Truly, friends, a golden era. Then — and I’m not sure when exactly — screensavers stopped being so much of a thing. It could be that I entered puberty, that the point of a screensaver (to, quite literally, save your screen from burning out) wasn’t relevant any more, or my life just lost the last spark of joy — who knows? But maybe those days over. Maybe times have changed....

While the report stresses the company “hasn’t solidified plans to actually launch a foldable iPhone,” the company has started work on some prototypes in its lab. At the moment the prototype “hasn’t expanded beyond a display,” but that’s the most important part of a folding phone, right? The report claims Apple has discussed a variety of folding screen sizes, including a 6.7-inch one akin to the Motorola Razr or Galaxy Z Flip — a small phone that unfolds into a phone the size of the iPhone 12 Pro Max....

9to5Mac spotted code in the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 beta that heavily suggests Apple is considering a ‘Pro Mode’ that would delimit fan speeds and energy-saving measures. Text in the code notes “Apps may run faster, but battery life may decrease and fan noise may increase.” It further notes that the boost is temporary. Though the mention of battery life initially made it seem Pro Mode was exclusive to MacBooks – the code seems to specifically refer to the 16-inch MacBook Pro – MacRumors received an anonymous tip suggesting the feature would come to the Mac Pro....

According to Reuters, one of the lawmakers said its creation was a direct response to Facebook‘s Libra and China’s digital yuan. [Read: Japan doesn’t want to fight Facebook’s ‘cryptocurrency’ Libra on its own] “China is moving toward issuing digital yuan, so we’d like to propose measures to counter such attempts,” Norihio Nakayama, parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters. Indeed, Japanese lawmakers have spoken out against the digital yuan, saying that it would be a “very serious problem” if it becomes well-used for international settlements....

Our new research has used DNA to trace humanity’s earliest footsteps to a prehistoric wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River. Our analysis, published in Nature today, shows that the earliest population of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) arose 200,000 years ago in an area that covers parts of modern-day Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Today it is a dry and dusty land with scattered salt pans, and it is hard to believe that modern humans lived and thrived in wetlands here for 70,000 years before our ancestors began to explore the rest of Africa, and ultimately the world....

The Casiotone CT-S1 feels like the epitome of Casio’s design philosophy. The company says it’s the spiritual successor to the original Casiotone CT-201 from 40 years ago, a digital keyboard meant to get anyone playing the piano. To me, it just seems like a fantastically good deal for a cent under $200. Disclaimer: I’m a little biased as I’ve owned a Casio Privia PX-560 for a while now, and I love that thing....

But then I heard Microsoft had acquired Obsidian Entertainment and would be debuting The Outer Worlds on Xbox Game Pass like all of its in-house titles. This seemed too good to be true because it meant you could effectively play the game for free (with a trial) or for $9.99 with a subscription that includes dozens of AAA games like Gears 5, State of Decay 2, and Crackdown 3. My suspicion, at the time, was that the game I had dared to dream would be some kind of spiritual successor to Fallout New Vegas would end up getting distilled into a hollow version of an Obsidian Entertainment game due to Microsoft’s need for quick, flashy content....

Affected traders may however want to hold off celebrating, as TechCrunch reports that Robinhood is to offer a meagre $15 discount on subscriptions in a bid to make things right. Robinhood calls this a “first step,” and said it will eventually contact users on a case-by-case basis to explore additional compensation. “When it comes to your money, issues like this are not acceptable. We realize we let you down, and our team is committed to improving your experience,” Robinhood wrote in an email to users on Tuesday....

Waymo CEO John Krafcik today stepped down from his leadership position at the Google sister company. According to an email posted to the company’s blog, he’ll maintain an advisory role. Replacing him will be not one, but two Waymo executives: former COO Tekedra Mawakana and former CTO Dmtri Dolgov. The timing of Krafcik’s departure is notable in that the company’s entering a new phase of development. Waymo was reportedly planning to expand its budding robo-taxi service before the pandemic struck....

Yes, folks, it’s true. On Wednesday, Rolls-Royce announced that it’s finally bringing its luxury cars into the electric future. The very first EV from the historic brand is about to begin extensive on-road testing. “We will cover 2.5 million kilometers – a simulation of more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce, on average – and we will travel to all four corners of the world to push this new motor car to the limit,” the company’s CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said....