Cloud Gaming Takes a Hit as Blizzard and Blizzard Games are Pulled From Nvidia’s Platform

These past few years have been big for cloud gaming, seeing both the launch of Nvidia Geforce Now and Google Stadia, but the lukewarm reception to both platforms has many thinking that maybe cloud gaming isn’t here to stay. For those who don’t know what it is, cloud gaming is a type of online gaming where the game itself runs on remote servers and is streamed to the user’s device. It works a lot like Netflix where you can just stream video from Netflix’s servers without having to download the whole video file onto your device. This technology makes it possible for you to play complex games on your smart TV, or even your tablet or phone screen, without having to hook up an Xbox or Playstation (or any other console). Also like Netflix, these two services have the same kind of business model where you subscribe to their service and you can play unlimited games for whatever price per month they have set up (Nvidia: 5.99/month, Google: 9.99/month). Although people have responded well to this model for video, it may not be the same for video games and there are a few reasons why.

When watching a movie or show on Netflix sometimes the video will buffer, and you have to wait a few seconds before the video starts playing again. Although it’s not a huge deal for many if a movie stops for a few seconds for games it can make the experience frustrating. Latency is also a huge issue with cloud gaming. If your controller inputs and the video are desynced even a little bit it can make the game unplayable, especially games where quick reactions are key. Also, the fact that you don’t own the games you are playing can lead to some bad scenarios. Imagine if you were playing through a game, and you take a break from it for a week, and then you come back online to find that the game was removed from the service without warning. This is totally possible with cloud gaming.

The fact that Activision and Blizzard have removed their games from Nvidia’s platform is not a good sign. These two developers offer hugely popular games, and if they don’t think that cloud gaming is the way to go, and won’t even offer their games on these services then it may not be long before other developers begin to follow. In my opinion cloud gaming may be a cool idea in theory, but I personally would not subscribe to a platform until the above problems are solved. What do you think? Does cloud gaming have a future?

 

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/11/21133793/nvidia-geforce-now-no-more-activision-blizzard-games-carriage

Self-Driving Delivery Van Tested in US

Nuro, an autonomous vehicle company, has recently begun testing on the R2, a self-driving delivery van. Nuro’s vision for the R2 is that it will be able to deliver various items like groceries to those who cannot (or maybe don’t want to) go to the store to get them for themselves. The thing that makes the R2 different than other self-driving vehicles, though, is that it does not have any human controls in the car. This means no steering wheel, no mirrors, and no brakes. Up until now the US Department of Transportation has required that all autonomous vehicles have normal car controls inside the vehicle so that a human can take over if need be. However, Elaine Chao (US transport secretary) said that given the fact that the R2 is unable to exceed 25mph that these requirements “no longer make sense”.

The vehicle itself uses radar, thermal imaging, and 360 degree cameras to help direct itself. The R2 also has a rear facing camera that will be active at all times, something else that normally is not permitted by the DoT, as it can be a distraction for other drivers on the road. Other cars like Chevy’s Bolt have applied to be made exempt of the driver features, but the Bolt can reach higher top speeds, so it is unclear if they will receive this clearance.

What do you guys think? Is it safe to be making these vehicles that cannot be directly controlled by a human if something starts to go wrong? Would you want to get stuck behind this thing going 25mph on a road? Personally I think it would be pretty cool to get a pizza delivered by one of these cars, but I could see there being a lot of potential problems for something like that.

Nuro R2

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51409031

NFL and Verizon Partner to Deliver Super Bowl App With 5G Capabilities

Verizon has recently announced that it will be partnering with the NFL to release an app that will allow users to experience the capabilities of 5G. The NFL OnePass app has been a major part of the NFL experience since it was released last year in 2019. The app has already been able to help customers access tickets and lead the stadium-goers to their seats, but for the Super Bowl will be introducing a great amount of new features. For example, while watching the game users of the app will be able to switch between 5 different live views of the fame from different positions on the field. The users will also be able to rewind plays and watch instant replays as they please. The app will also let users use AR features to present fans real time stats that can overlay the views of the stadium.

These features would not be possible without the speeds of 5G, which is capable of reaching speeds up to 100x faster than 4G. The rollout of 5G has been pretty slow so far for the US telecom carriers. 5G requires the use of extremely high frequency radio waves that can carry a lot of data but are not able to permeate physical structures very easily. This means that there have to be a huge amount of 5G cell towers in close proximity to each other in order to deliver full coverage. This is not a huge problem for this scenario, though, as the wide open stadium will be covered by the use of a few 5G stations in and around Hard Rock Stadium where the game will be played.

What do you think of these features? Does something like this get you excited for the future of 5G, or are you underwhelmed by the idea? Do you think this will even get much use (as you need a 5G capable phone in order to use these features)?

 

Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/verizon-touts-5g-capabilities-at-super-bowl-2020/

New Jersey Cops Told to Stop Using Facial Recognition App

On January 24th Gurbir S. Grewal, New Jersey’s attorney general, told all New Jersey Police personnel to halt all use of “Clearview”, a facial recognition app and database. According to Grewal, Clearview controls a database of over 3 billion photos gathered from various social media sites like YouTube, Facebook , and even Venmo. The Clearview app is capable of identifying a person’s face and matching them with their photos originating from one of the sites listed above. The app can then provide a link to the person’s social media profiles therefore identifying the person in question. It has been reported that the company itself can monitor this whole process and even look into who the police are trying to identify. Grewal says that he was “troubled” when learning about the app and its potential, and says he wants to make sure that there are no data privacy or cybersecurity issues with the app before it is allowed to be used by the New Jersey Police. What do you guys think? Will facial recognition software ever be secure enough to be used by police? Or will the looming threat of a cyber security breach keep software like this from being fully implemented any time soon?

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/technology/clearview-ai-new-jersey.html?partner=IFTTT

Spacex to Offer Satellite Broadband Internet in 2020

Back in October of 2019, Spacex, a privately owned aerospace manufacturer, stated that they plain to roll out a widespread satellite broadband internet service by the end of 2020. This service would require the launching of satellites to form a “constellation” which would offer global internet coverage. These satellites combined with a supplied “user terminal” will give Spacex’s service subscribers access to the internet. No claim’s on the service’s capacity or speeds have been made, but the more satellites that are launched by Spacex the faster and larger the service will be come with a minimum of 24 satellites being required to create global coverage. The cost of the service has also not been disclosed by Spacex. The company plans to sell the service directly to the user where it can, but also stated that in some countries it would require consumers to subscribe to a 3rd party telecom service partner in order to receive Spacex’s broadband service.

Personally I think that this seems like a great idea for Spacex. Having not followed the company much my perception of Spacex is just a company that sent a car into space. This, however, seems like a purposeful and logical project for them to work on. Access to the internet right now in the US seems to be much more limited than it should be. People are paying companies like Comcast and Spectrum huge amounts of money to get subpar internet service, because these are the only companies with the infrastructure to offer these services. With Spacex’s service anyone anywhere would be able to get broadband internet for (hopefully) a reasonable cost. Even if this service isn’t great at the very least it can create competition and possibly lower internet access costs across the board.

 

Source: https://spacenews.com/spacex-plans-to-start-offering-starlink-broadband-services-in-2020/