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While no one challenges the raw processing power or unparalleled visual dazzle of cutting edge gaming consoles like the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X, there’s a reason that Tic Tac Toe and Hangman have existed and thrived for hundreds of years. Because game play matters. A lot. And when it comes to game play, game designers at the dawn of the video game era pretty much nailed it right out of the gate....

From its lofty perch at the top of the creative food chain, it’s hard to remember a time when the family of apps that make up the Adobe Creative Cloud weren’t the preeminent digital creation tools on the planet. But back in the mid-80s, way before easy audio and video editing and website building, Adobe was built on the back of Illustrator, one of the early vector-based drawing programs. Graphic design has always been at the core of online creativity — and the training in The 2020 Adobe Graphic Design Certification School ($49, over 90 percent off from TNW Deals) digs deep into the three Adobe CC apps that any graphic design pro swears by....

And, because it’s 2021, that means it’s an AI startup. We love startups here at Neural, but the vast majority of pitches we get come from crappy companies pushing pie-in-the-sky misrepresentations of what predictive algorithms and computer vision can accomplish. It’s refreshing when we come across a little company with a big AI idea that seems genuinely helpful. LiveControl provides livestreaming production services to venues. Their business model is actually based on serving the needs of the church community....

In total, the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates worldwide “blockchain spending” in 2019 will reach a head-scratching $2.7 billion. The IDC also expects the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in blockchain investment between 2018 and 2023 to reach 60.2 percent. “Spending on blockchain solutions in the United States will be nearly $1.1 billion in 2019, making it the largest geographic market, followed by Western Europe ($661 million) and China ($304 million),” said the IDC in its new blockchain spending update, published August 7....

Trump’s campaign team predictably blamed the media and protesters for scaring off his supporters. But reporters on the ground noted few protests outside the venue. Nor did they spot many people being turned away from the event. Had Trump’s fans finally given up on their terrifying president? Or had they had merely decided that squeezing inside an arena crammed with maskless droolers might not be worth risk? The New York Times cited a very different reason for the low turnout: teenage TikTok users and K-pop fans grabbing “potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets” for the rally — as a prank....

In today’s rapidly changing world, all those involved must adapt to changing requirements more quickly than ever. This applies especially to car manufacturers, at all levels, including premium sports car marque Porsche. Being a premium brand does not immunize the German marque from the demands that come from changing customer behavior, competitive pressure, and the increasing desire of cities to shape the boundaries of mobility. To ensure it’s able to meet future customer needs, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer is devoting a great deal of attention to overcoming the challenges of future mobility with new products and services....

According to an OSTP press release: Background: Over the course of the Trump presidency, the OSTP was whittled down from a record 135 staffers under President Barack Obama to a mere 35. While the office itself operated under a skeleton crew, it’s still managed to create a budget, define policy for, and legislate the implementation of the National AI Initiative Office. [Read next: Meet the 4 scale-ups using data to save the planet] In effect this simply codifies what the White House has been doing since day one of the Trump presidency, namely sending lucrative contracts to Trump-friendly AI vendors such as the Peter Thiel-backed Palantir or the controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI....

The campaign, World Wide What, was made possible in collaboration with the UK based internet literacy organization, @ditchthelabel. Its aim is to help make the internet “a better, safer, and more place for everyone,” and has been described as a guide for navigating conversation around a healthier relationship with social media. World Wide What will focus on six main topics with informational videos: Fake News and Skewed Views. Don’t @ Me (focusing on cyberbullying and its effects)....

The company said on Wednesday that it will use the findings to improve the experience on Twitter: The move comes amid mounting concerns around social media algorithms amplifying biases and spreading conspiracy theories. [Read: The biggest tech trends of 2021, according to 3 founders] A recent example of this on Twitter involved an image cropping algorithm that automatically prioritized white faces over Black ones. Which will the Twitter algorithm pick: Mitch McConnell or Barack Obama?...

Hector Castellanos has a locked-in schedule. Every Monday morning he wakes up well before sunrise to get ready for his day driving for Uber and Lyft. He’s usually on the road by 5 a.m., works nearly nonstop until about 5 p.m., goes home, sleeps, and then does it all over again every day until Saturday. On weekends, he allows himself time off. In all, after expenses, he nets about $500 per week....

While no price has been revealed, the deal values ATG at around $4 billion. That’s nearly 50% down from its April 2019 valuation of $7.25 billion, CNBC reports. Self-driving startup Aurora, headed by former Waymo engineer Chris Urmson, is the buyer. While the sale might look like Uber is giving up on its futuristic vision, the move is probably more astute than it appears. Let’s first dive into what’s happening now before going into why the sale might actually help Uber’s self-driving ambitions....

— Far Cry 6 (@FarCrygame) October 29, 2020 Ubisoft said in its latest earnings report that it’s pushing back the games back to “leverage their full potential in the context of production challenges.” Far Cry 6 was originally supposed to release next February, but since they’re now in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, that means neither game will be released until next April at the earliest, and could be as late as early 2022 — though that doesn’t seem very likely....

To that effect, eight technology companies have been added to the Entity List — counting Dahua Technology, Hikvision, IFLYTEK, Megvii Technology, Sense Time, Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co. Ltd., Yitu Technologies, and Yixin Science and Technology Co. Ltd. — effectively prohibiting them from trading with US companies. However, the Commerce Department did not state specifically the actions that led to the companies getting added to the Entity List, beyond that their activities are “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US....

When immersive experiences first became accessible to everyday consumers in the form of headsets like the Oculus Rift and Google Glass, the industry appeared ripe for mainstream acceptance. A few years later, the hype around VR and AR has died down. Then Facebook (the company) changed its name to Meta and signaled its investment in the metaverse. Suddenly everyone cared about VR and AR again. Yet I still find many people still aren’t quite clear on what all these terms mean....

Called the MG5, the electric wagon is due for a European release in October this year. Details are pretty sparse right now, but MG says that more will be announced closer to the car’s official launch. MG has announced the most important detail, though, it’s trunk (boot) size. The British-Chinese brand says the rear storage capacity is some 578 liters, that’s 83 liters more than you get in a BMW 3 Series Tourer for reference....

At a sentencing heading in Milwaukee, a federal judge sentenced the British security expert to time served. He was also given one year of supervised release, although he is free to return to the United Kingdom. No fines were imposed. — MalwareTech (@MalwareTechBlog) July 26, 2019 Hutchins is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on malware, and was credited for halting the rampage of WannaCry, which is believed to be a creation of the secretive North Korean government in an attempt to gain funds....

As you can imagine, working for Google is the brass ring for a software engineer, offering the chance to ply your trade with the absolute best of the best. Google receives over 2 million resumes every year, but they only hire about 4,000 new employees. That means if you have aspirations of working with pinnacle talent on next-level technology, you better know your stuff. With the training in The 2021 Google Software Engineering Manager Prep Bundle ($15....

2020 could be the year you launch your new career as a web developer. Or 2020 could be the year you stop paying somebody else loads of money to build and maintain your website and do it yourself. Or 2020 could be the year the web stops being a frightening alien concept and starts becoming something you just understand now. From absolute beginners to experts looking to sharpen their game, The Ultimate 2020 Web Designer and Developer Bundle ($29, over 90 percent off from TNW Deals) is all you need to know about creating for the web in one all-inclusive package....

The video of the curious incident was first posted to Reddit late yesterday. A man is seen desperately trying to catch as many flowing bank notes as possible with a duffel bag placed in front of the machine (spoiler: it doesn’t work). While Redditors speculate bad actors could have caused the eruption with “jackpotting” (a term for hacking ATMs to dispense money on command), Shitcoins Club – the Polish company handling the machine – told Hard Fork the withdrawal was intentional....

The good folks over at Jalopnik, an online motoring magazine, have given us a look behind the curtain with one of their latest videos. In it, they unbox what is apparently world’s cheapest new car. The all-electric Changli — no, I’d never heard of it either. Jason Torchinsky, Jalopnik’s senior editor, has the pleasure of unveiling the unique ride and, well, it’s certainly cheap. While the “car” started out at around $930 (Torchinsky got one with more batteries and spent $1,200)....