Oooh apparently it's just Sony being a dick. Hopefully they'll open it up soon, and then we'll be able to play Overwatch cross platform! (And Gwent!)
(credit: Aurich x Getty)
Back in March, Microsoft announced that it would allow generic cross-platform play on its Xbox Live network. The move was essentially a public challenge for Sony to similarly open up the PlayStation Network, allowing for multiplayer matches involving more than one type of console for what would essentially be the first time.
Now, some major game developers are stressing that any technical hurdles to this cross-platform play have been overcome. Sony's walled-garden policy is the final obstacle to allowing play between Xbox and PlayStation systems, they say. "Right now, we're literally at the point where all we need is the go-ahead on the Sony side and we can, in less than a business day, turn [cross-platform play] on and have it up and working, no problem," Jeremy Dunham, vice president of Rocket League developer Psyonix told IGN in a recent interview. "It'd literally take a few hours to propagate throughout the whole world, so really we're just waiting on the permission to do so... It could be tomorrow, it could be longer than that. We just don't know—we're anxiously awaiting that, just like the rest of our fans."
Rocket League was one of the first games that announced cross-platform play between the Xbox One and Windows 10 (well before Microsoft's recent Play Anywhere initiative), so it's not that surprising that the title is ready to link in with the PS4 as well. But The Witcher maker CD Projekt says it's also simply awaiting Sony's go-ahead for a cross-platform version of the upcoming Gwent card game.
NEW YORK—Saying they weren’t afraid to take the gloves off for the general election if need be, the campaign team for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reportedly considered the possibility Monday of pivoting their strategy and going negative. “We’ve tried to run a clean campaign that we can all take pride in, but if we’re truly serious about winning this thing, now might be the time to drop the nice guy act and get a little dirty,” said campaign chairman Paul Manafort, adding that the candidate should at the very least consider ramping up personal attacks on his opponents, even if the tactic feels slightly underhanded. “Ideally, we would continue to stay the course and keep everything upstanding and aboveboard, but in politics, you sometimes have to hit below the belt. Just because it isn’t the way we’re used to operating doesn’t mean ...
Today, my untrained legs have been traumatised by the sudden regime of squats, mountain climbers and lunges I have been putting them through. I literally just have to trust-fall back onto the toilet and hope for the best, because my legs don't have the strength to support the gradual descent. FML
Enlarge / FTC Chief Technologist Lorrie Cranor speaking at PasswordsCon 2016, part of the Bsides security conference in Las Vegas.
Shortly after Carnegie Mellon University professor Lorrie Cranor became chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission in January, she was surprised by an official agency tweet that echoed some oft-repeated security advice. It read: "Encourage your loved ones to change passwords often, making them long, strong, and unique." Cranor wasted no time challenging it.
The reasoning behind the advice is that an organization's network may have attackers inside who have yet to be discovered. Frequent password changes lock them out. But to a university professor who focuses on security, Cranor found the advice problematic for a couple of reasons. For one, a growing body of research suggests that frequent password changes make security worse. As if repeating advice that's based more on superstition than hard data wasn't bad enough, the tweet was even more annoying because all six of the government passwords she used had to be changed every 60 days.
"I saw this tweet and I said, 'Why is it that the FTC is going around telling everyone to change their passwords?'" she said during a keynote speech at the BSides security conference in Las Vegas. "I went to the social media people and asked them that and they said, 'Well, it must be good advice because at the FTC we change our passwords every 60 days."
John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981, will soon be released from a government psychiatric hospital after 35 years. What do you think?
When you reach level 5 in the game, you can pick a team to join — Instinct, Mystic, or Valor.
Niantic
Maybe Instinct is for you because you place faith in intuition, or Mystic because you value widsom, or Valor because you most value strength. But it's time to find out once and for all which team is the most popular!
Hmmm not sure how I feel about the open gangway. On the one hand lots more room for standing, on the other, no barrier between the stinky homeless car and my nose.
The New York City subway system is gearing up for a major overhaul meant to bring a "modernized look and feel" to lighting, wayfinding and subway cars by the year 2020. At a press conference on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Metropolitan...
CLEVELAND—Saying their contributions had been crucial to the success of his candidacy, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump took a moment during his speech Thursday to thank all of the fear and insecurity in the audience of the Republican National Convention for making this evening possible. “First and foremost, I’d like to recognize all the fear and resentment here with us tonight because I simply could not have achieved any of this without them,” said Trump, noting how the deep sense of paranoia in the crowd had been there alongside him throughout his campaign, providing constant support since the very day he announced his candidacy. “I know rage is also somewhere out there in the arena, and I certainly want to show my deep appreciation for everything that rage has done for me over the past year. Gosh, there really are so many anxieties in here tonight that have ...
Railing against government handouts, Dr. Jennifer Leaman explains that anyone willing to put in the work can improve their lives by finding a medical degree in a lake like she did.
CLEVELAND—As each of them looked around at the people gathered outside Quicken Loans Arena and fantasized about unholstering their weapon and taking aim directly at others, both a good guy with a gun and a bad guy with a gun attending the Republican National Convention reportedly worked themselves into a heightened state of excitement Thursday at the thought of unloading their firearm into the crowd. “I can’t wait for a chance to open fire on these idiots and mow them all down; I’ll just take ’em right out—bang, bang, bang!” bad guy Harold Kefner reportedly thought to himself, his hand poised near his gun as he grew more and more exhilarated at the idea of emptying his entire extended clip into the group of people amassed around him. According to sources, at the very same moment just several yards away, good guy Benjamin Townes was said ...
Interesting article, if you're at all interested in how the US is faring in the good ole space race.
Retired US Astronaut Eileen Collins arrives to speak on the third day of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday. (credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
In the week or so since it became known that Eileen Collins would appear at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, the space community has buzzed with questions and concerns. A brilliant astronaut and the first woman to command a space shuttle, Collins has a sterling reputation among the flight directors, astronauts, and engineers at NASA who worked with her. Why would she jump into the political fray, many asked? And for Donald Trump, of all people?
I felt the answer was pretty simple. Like a lot of astronauts, Collins comes from a military background (she's a colonel in the US Air Force) and is therefore more likely to be conservative politically. Perhaps she had discussions with the Trump people, and they endorsed her view that NASA should return to the Moon before going to Mars. In any case, it's not like she's the first former astronaut to take on politics (Hello, John Glenn and Harrison Schmitt).
So on a night when Ted Cruz stole the show at the convention for political observers, the four-minute speech given by Collins garnered the most interest among the space industry. Her remarks were largely a fairly standard call to restore some glory to America's space program, and she touched on how it has been unacceptable to rely on Russia for transport to the International Space Program for the last five years. America can, and must, do better than that, Collins said.
Falcon 9: Launch and Landing
Shortly after midnight
on July 18 a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from
Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida,
planet Earth.
About 9 minutes later, the rocket's first stage returned to the spaceport.
This single time exposure captures the
rocket's launch arc and
landing streak from Jetty Park only a few miles away.
Along a climbing, curving trajectory the launch is traced by
the initial burn of the first stage, ending near the top of the
bright arc before stage separation.
Due to perspective the next bright burn appears above
the top of the launch arc in the photo,
the returning first stage descending closer to the Cape.
The final landing burn creates a long streak as the first stage slows and
comes to rest at Landing Zone 1.
Yesterday the Dragon cargo spacecraft delivered to
orbit by the rocket's second stage
was attached
to the
International Space
Station.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
Today, after driving to three drug testing clinics that were approved for my job, each one declined me saying they dont do testing anymore. Now I have to drive another 25 miles to see if someone will say, "You're clean." FML
CLEVELAND—Warning that remaining in the vicinity could lead to numerous adverse health effects, officials at the Republican National Convention asked all pregnant women to leave Quicken Loans Arena during Ted Cruz’s speech Wednesday night for the safety of their developing fetuses, sources confirmed. “We urge pregnant women in attendance to take precautions to protect their unborn children by exiting the premises for the entirety of Ted Cruz’s speech, as any exposure to the senator could cause significant birth defects,” announced RNC operations manager Caroline Davidson over the arena’s sound system 15 minutes prior to the Texas lawmaker’s scheduled appearance, while volunteers distributed pamphlets outlining further steps pregnant mothers should take to safeguard themselves, including not reentering the building for at least 24 hours after the senator had finished speaking and avoiding direct contact with anyone who was present during Cruz’s speech for the remainder ...
CLEVELAND—Reacting reflexively to the Indiana governor’s speech while watching a live feed backstage at the Republican National Convention, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump accidentally shot off a “Boring Mike Pence” tweet Wednesday night before he could stop himself. “Boring Mike Pence lacks any charisma or charm,” Trump’s tweet about his running mate read in part, adding that the Tea Party–aligned conservative was a “total disaster” and “very hard to watch.” “Doing a lousy job. Knows nothing about winning. Pathetic.” Trump, who reportedly noticed that the social media post had quickly received over 10,000 retweets, instinctively fired off three more tweets questioning Pence’s fitness for vice president.
HBO has confirmed that due to a prolonged production hiatus, their critically acclaimed series Game of Thrones will not return until summer 2017, rendering it ineligible for next year’s Emmy nominations. What do you think?
CLEVELAND—A thrall sweeping over the assembled GOP officials and party members Tuesday as he recounted his chilling tale of hubris, New Jersey governor Chris Christie reportedly entreated those at the Republican National Convention to consider the sad story of his own dizzying rise and ignominious fall, offering a bitter warning to all in attendance that his terrible fate could befall any one of them. “Heed my tragic story well, friends, for the fickle hand of destiny could deal you the very same trials and sufferings I have known,” said Christie to his rapt audience, who listened breathlessly as the onetime presidential candidate told of the misfortunes he had brought upon himself by squandering the early promise of his governorship for a shot at the national spotlight. “You see me now in my diminished form, but know that not so long ago, I was called one of the leading lights ...
Puzzling a Sky over Argentina 
The New York City subway system is gearing up for a major overhaul meant to bring a "modernized look and feel" to lighting, wayfinding and subway cars by the year 2020. At a press conference on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Metropolitan...
Falcon 9: Launch and Landing
Shortly after midnight
on July 18 a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from
Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida,
planet Earth.
About 9 minutes later, the rocket's first stage returned to the spaceport.
This single time exposure captures the
rocket's launch arc and
landing streak from Jetty Park only a few miles away.
Along a climbing, curving trajectory the launch is traced by
the initial burn of the first stage, ending near the top of the
bright arc before stage separation.
Due to perspective the next bright burn appears above
the top of the launch arc in the photo,
the returning first stage descending closer to the Cape.
The final landing burn creates a long streak as the first stage slows and
comes to rest at Landing Zone 1.
Yesterday the Dragon cargo spacecraft delivered to
orbit by the rocket's second stage
was attached
to the
International Space
Station.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
Dark Dunes on Mars (Horizontally Compressed) 