Good morning! It’s a busy world out there. All The News You Missed Overnight gives you a guide to everything techy that happened while you were sleeping.
You Can Now Pre-Order Samsung’s New Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge
Today is the day that you can lock in your pre-order for Samsung’s latest smartphone — and get yourself a free Gear VR virtual reality headset worth $159 for doing so. Here are all the plans from Australia’s major telcos for the 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and the 5.5-inch Gear S7 edge.
How Autonomous Vehicles Might Lead To More Driving
Self-driving cars bring many promises: fewer deaths, less congestion, no more ugly parking lots. But a new study highlights a critical disclaimer: Unless these vehicles are shared, we’ll probably see an increase in driving.
The study published in Transportation Research Part A yesterday by the University of Leeds, University of Washington and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, looks at the impact of autonomous vehicles on energy demands in 2050. And it points to a much more complicated future.
SlySoft, Makers Of AnyDVD, Shut Down After ‘Regulatory’ Pressure
SlySoft, best known for its DRM circumvention software AnyDVD, appears to have shut down operations, going by the terse message left on its website. “Recent regulatory requirements” are apparently the reason for the closure.
Even “terse” is too strong a word. The site itself is gone, with the following text left in its place: Due to recent regulatory requirements we have had to cease all activities relating to SlySoft Inc. We wish to thank our loyal customers/clients for their patronage over the years.
Why Self-Driving Cars Should Never Have Steering Wheels
The head of Google’s self-driving car division made headlines recently for asking US federal regulators to allow a vehicle without human-facing features like a steering wheel. Now he’s made a very good case for why no autonomous vehicle on the road should have these things at all.
In an interview with NPR that aired this week, Google’s Chris Urmson hit home the point that it’s simply not a good idea to any to have any kind of human-oriented controls in self-driving cars. Although Urmson gives some examples of when you might want your car to go back and forth from semi-autonomous to fully autonomous, it’s pretty clear from his last sentence that the steering wheel-free car is really the only safe option here. And that’s what we know Google is pursuing.
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