Taking The Boston Dynamic Robot Dog Walkies

· Charlotte Henry · Cool Stuff Found

I’ve long been intrigued/terrified of the Boston Dynamic Robot Dog. There’s a version that can open doors, for goodness sake! However, YouTuber Marques Brownlee is braver than me and took one walkies.

Apple's Lisa Jackson Talks Racial Injustice

· Charlotte Henry · Cool Stuff Found

Having pioneered Apple’s work on environmental issues, in June, Lisa Jackson was tasked with leading the company’s efforts to tackle racial inequity. She discussed the topic of racial inequality on an episode of the Reset podcast from Recode.

Virtual Reality Helps Japanese Tourists See The World During COVID-19 Pandemic

· Charlotte Henry · Link

Image of an airplane. Smart luggage with built-in batteries will be banned from air travel.

Much international travel is hugely restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s not stopping some keen Japanese travellers though, Reuters reports. They are seeing the world with the help of virtual reality.

Inoue, 56, and his wife “flew” as clients of Tokyo entertainment company First Airlines, which is tapping into a growing virtual reality travel market for Japanese holidaymakers grounded by coronavirus restrictions. “I often go overseas on business, but I haven’t been to Italy,” he told Reuters. “My impression was rather good because I got a sense of actually seeing things there.” Grounded travelers sit in first or business class seats in a mock airline cabin where they are served in-flight meals and drinks, with flat panel screens displaying aircraft exterior views including passing clouds. Virtual reality goggles provide immersive tours at destinations including – as well as Italy’s cities of culture – Paris, New York, Rome and Hawaii.

APP SALE: Sci-Fi Game ‘Implosion’ is Free, Down From $10

· Andrew Orr · Cool Stuff Found

A sci-fi game called Implosion just went on sale for free, down from its usual price of US$9.99. Twenty years after the fall of Earth, the remnants of the Human race are once again faced with extinction. The time has come to justify our existence. A mysterious life form known as the XADA squares off against humanity’s last weapon – the War-Mech series III battle suit. Features: Stunning console-quality graphics, first-class voice acting and Hollywood-grade audio production. Full orchestral scores masterfully mixed by Grammy Award winner and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy engineer, John Kurlander.

APP SALE: Sci-Fi Game ‘Implosion’ is Free, Down From $10

‘Threema’ Now Supports End-to-End Encrypted Video Calls

· Andrew Orr · Link

Messaging app Threema announced on Tuesday that it now supports end-to-end encrypted video calls.

In order to ensure full end-to-end encryption of all metadata (including real-time metadata, such as camera orientation), our team had to make corrections to the widely used base technology “WebRTC.” This security improvement will be incorporated into the WebRTC project, meaning that countless other communication services benefit from our patch in the future.

The second part to that is great, about sharing it back to the project. You can find Threema on the App Store here.

pCloud Update Lets Users Decide Where Files are Stored

· Andrew Orr · Link

pCloud is an encrypted cloud storage service, and a recent update gave users the ability to decide in which server their files are stored.

All pCloud users will be able to choose the server location where their files are stored. This will give users greater control over the security of their files. Once the choice of where to store the data is made during registration – in the US or Europe – it is practically impossible to transfer them without the user’s knowledge or permission. Currently, the option to select the server location is available only to newly registered users.