Warning! Avengers: Infinity War spoilers lie ahead. (Hey, not everyone has seen it yet.)
Update: “Did we just lose?” Yep, deal with it, everyone – Thanos has won.
Or at least he has on Reddit, where that r/thanosdidnothingwrong subreddit of Mad Titan sympathisers just banned half of its 700,000-plus members.
And it seems Thanos actor Josh Brolin approves, as he posted a video on Instagram snapping his fingers ahead of the mass cull – the biggest in the site’s history.
Those who were spared could read the following message on a post-ban megathread: “Hear me and rejoice! You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan.
“You may think this is suffering. No… It is salvation. The universal scales tip toward balance because of their sacrifice. Smile… for those who were banned, you have become children of Thanos.”
It’s not all bad news for those who disappeared in a cloud of ash, though – they’ve been invited to enter /r/inthesoulstone and “forget the quaint existence [they] once knew”.
Mr Brolin, we don’t feel so good…
Original story: In a move of pure poetry, a subreddit dedicated to Avengers: Infinity War‘s big bad Thanos will soon be culling half of its users. Inspired – quite literally.
The community r/thanosdidnothingwrong has amassed more than 300,000 subscribers since its birth, with users bonding over their support for the essentially-genocidal villain.
As Marvel fans will know, Infinity War ends with Thanos wiping out half of the planet’s population in a bid to restore balance, or something equally vague and unconvincing.
So, following suit, both the subreddit’s moderators and subscribers have agreed to follow in Thanos’ huge and powerful footsteps by performing a “50% ban” next week.
One moderator confirmed the ban after successfully negotiating with Reddit’s admin team, who are reportedly designing “a bot” that will randomly cull half of the subreddit’s users quickly and easily.
If successful, the 50% ban will be the largest in Reddit’s history. No resurrections this time.
If you fancy experiencing how it feels to fade out into obscurity (but not necessarily certain death), then there’s still time to join the subreddit before half of its population is wiped out.
The ban is set to take place on July 9, so why not subscribe and see if you’ll make it to Avengers 4. Or could that be Avengers: End Game..?
Avengers 4 will be released in the UK on April 26, 2019, and in the US on May 3, 2019. Avengers: Infinity War is available to pre-order on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.
Virgin Galactic wants to send tourists to space, and its newly announced partnership with two of the biggest aerospace companies in Italy might help it get on its way.
According to The Verge, the company eventually wants to build a dedicated spaceport in Italy with its own resident spaceplane. The spaceplane would be available to paying customers who want to experience zero-gravity, or used to conduct experiments in a high-altitude, gravity-free environment.
To pull off the ambitious feat, Virgin Galactic is recruiting help from new partners, Altec (owned by the Italian Space Agency), and Sitael (the biggest private space company in Italy).
“Italy has always been a natural home to great innovators and breakthrough ideas, which have shaped the human experience,” Virgin Group founder (and notorious table dancer) Richard Branson said.
“I believe in Italy’s vision, which has led to this collaboration with our Virgin space companies, will provide a real impetus as we strive to open space for the benefit of life on Earth.
“This partnership could see Virgin Galactic launch the first person in history into space from Italian soil — and, in fact, from any European territory.”
Virgin Galactic currently has one active spaceplane called the VSS Unity, which has conducted test flights but not actually gone into space.
The plane is designed to take passengers into suborbital space for just a few minutes before returning back to Earth, and already has a waiting list of some 700 passengers eager for the trip at $250,000 (£188,628) per ticket.
Netflix users who like to sound off on what they thought of their recently-watched TV shows or movies are going to have to find a new place to vent.
The streaming service has announced it’s axing user reviews from its website this summer.
Users have been able to log on to Netflix’s desktop site and give their opinions on current content (providing that opinion has at least 80 characters) and give an out-of-five rating.
But according to the streaming service, the number of customers using the feature has been dropping in recent times.
From July 30, you’ll no longer be able to submit reviews – and come mid-August, existing user reviews will be removed from the site.
“We are removing the ability to read and write reviews in the coming weeks,” a Netflix spokesperson told CNET.
“This feature is only offered on the website and has seen declining usage over time.”
Last year Netflix retired its five-star ratings feature, which was used for personalised recommendations.
It was replaced with a more simplistic thumbs up/thumbs down system, to help the service match content to users.
At the time Todd Yellin, Netflix’s VP of product innovation, explained: “Five stars feels very yesterday now.”
Yellin contented that the five-star system “really projects what you think you want to tell the world,” and Netflix is looking for something more authentic.
He added: “We want to move to a system where it’s really clear, when members rate, that it’s for them, and to keep on making the Netflix experience better and better.”
United Kingdom regulators slapped Facebook with the maximum possible fine over this year’s Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, several outlets reported Tuesday. The Washington Post was among those reporting that Facebook would have to pay £500,000, or about $664,000, after data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained information about millions of users and used it in an effort to sway the 2016 US presidential election.
The UK Information Commissioner’s office found that Facebook lacked sufficient privacy protections and failed to catch warning signs that Cambridge Analytica was misusing people’s data, the Post reported. In addition to the US election, Cambridge Analytica also worked on the successful Brexit campaign, among other projects.
The announcement of the fine today is preliminary and could change based on further discussions between UK regulators and Facebook, the Post reported. Another update to the case is expected in October.
“As we have said before, we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015,” Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, send in a statement. “We have been working closely with the ICO in their investigation of Cambridge Analytica, just as we have with authorities in the US and other countries. We’re reviewing the report and will respond to the ICO soon.”
Hackers love to sell phone numbers, passports, and other personally identifiable information on the deep web, but last month one person was looking to make a quick buck off of a few military maintenance manuals.
On June 1st, Recorded Future’s Insikt Group discovered someone attempting to sell military documents on the deep and dark web. The person had recently registered an account on a hacking forum and published screenshots of what he had dug up. Through weeks of investigation, analysts were able to determine that the documents were authentic and the hacker had obtained them by gaining access to a Netgear router located at the Creech Air Force Base through a previously disclosed FTP vulnerability. In 2016, cybersecurity researchers found a similar vulnerability in Netgear routers with remote data access capabilities.
After successfully gaining access to the router, the hacker was able to infiltrate a captain’s computer and steal a cache of sensitive documents. This included maintenance books and a list of airmen assigned to the base’s Reaper maintenance unit. “While such course books are not classified materials on their own,” Recorded Future said, “in unfriendly hands, they could provide an adversary the ability to assess technical capabilities and weaknesses in one of the most technologically advanced aircrafts.”
The MQ-9 Reaper is a drone capable of operating both autonomously and remotely. It’s regarded as one of the most advanced and deadliest drones the United States has ever developed. The Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, CIA, and NASA all currently use the drones.
The captain whose computer was hacked had just completed a cyber safety course in February and “should have been aware of the required actions to prevent unauthorized access,” Recorded Future said.
After the Reaper document leak, the hacker put another set of military documents up for sale that appeared to be from either a US Army official or the Pentagon. These included over a dozen training manuals and survival manuals along with tank platoon tactics.
THE HACKER HAD “MODERATE TECHNICAL SKILLS.”
While communicating with the hacker, he told Recorded Future that he frequently “entertains” himself by watching live streams of sensitive footage from airplanes and border surveillance cameras. “The actor was even bragging about accessing footage from a MQ-1 Predator flying over Choctawhatchee Bay in the Gulf of Mexico,” the group said. The hacker acted alone and had “moderate technical skills,” but was able to identify these security vulnerabilities throughout the course of a week, Recorded Future said.
The military has yet to determine the extent of the breaches, but will be investigating the attack. “[This is a] disturbing preview of what a more determined and organized group with superior technical and financial resources could achieve,” the group stated.
An allegedly official render of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has been posted over at Android Headlines, and… well, there’s not a lot to see. The render only shows the front of the device, and if it’s accurate, the Note 9 will look almost identical to its predecessor from this angle. The bottom bezel might be slightly thinner, and the S Pen slot could be a little more flush with the device, but it’s hard to tell for sure.
The news, then, is that the Note 9 will probably be a lot like the Note 8, just like this year’s Galaxy S9 was an iterative upgrade on the S8. It’s reasonable to expect that the Note 9 will follow the S9 in having a more conveniently located fingerprint sensor, at least — rumors have gone back and forth on whether it might be integrated into the display, but either way it shouldn’t be off to the side of the camera again.
Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Note 9 at an event on August 9th.
A screenshot of a new Microsoft app called Screen Sketch may have leaked that Microsoft is still developing the Windows 10 Control Center feature.
Control Center is a rumored Windows 10 feature being developed that contains all of the existing quick actions from Action Center, a brightness slider, and quick links to various setting screens. This control center would be accessible via a settings cog () that would sit in the taskbar. According to WindowsCentral.com, this feature would be fully customizable so that you can decide what settings you want it to contain.
Since it was discovered in May 2017, not much has been heard about this feature until a new Microsoft app called Screen Sketch was added recently to the Microsoft Store. In a screenshot for this application, the sharp eyes at WindowsLatest was able to see the Control Center settings cog sitting on the task bar.
You can see this in the original image and a blown up image showing the cog below.
Original Screen Sketch ScreenshotZoomed in on settings cog
While it’s only speculation that the cog means that Microsoft is developing the Control Center and this image could be from an earlier build, similar leaks in the past have turned out to be true. At this point, we just need to wait and see if it is added to new Redstone 5 builds in the future.
The Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft is getting a big update today, bringing the Bedrock Engine to Nintendo’s portable console. The update enables cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones — but notably not the PlayStation 4. Sony is blocking cross-play for Fortnite, Rocket League, and Minecraft so PS4 players can’t play against Xbox One or Nintendo Switch owners. Meanwhile, Nintendo and Microsoft are partnering to utilize cross-play as a marketing weapon today.
The Minecraft cross-play trailer specifically focuses on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being able to play together. It also includes the rare sight of an Xbox One controller in a Switch commercial. If that’s not enough of a partnership, the ad even encourages players to create, explore, and survive together in Minecraft on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
It’s clear that Nintendo and Microsoft have signed a marketing deal to highlight cross-play for Minecraft, a game that Microsoft publishes itself. It’s unusual to see such a partnership between console rivals, and it once again leaves Sony as the odd one out that’s refusing to enable cross-play between consoles and staying silent.
Fortnite fans still aren’t happy that Sony is effectively holding their accounts hostage over its cross-play block, and the company has only issued a weak response to the controversy. It’s clear that Microsoft and Nintendo see the advantages of cross-play, and they’re more than happy to use it as marketing leverage.
The two biggest games in the battle royale genre are set to have their own fight in the courtroom. PUBG Corporation, part of Bluehole, has accused Epic Games, which is behind rival title Fortnite, of infringing its copyright. But the complaint, which focuses on Fortnite’s potential copying of PUBG’s items and user interface, is unlikely to succeed according to copyright experts.
“The basic notion is that copyright does not protect ideas,” says Kim Barker, a lecturer at the University of Stirling who specialises in intellectual property law. “Anybody can have the same idea, and two games can express it in exactly the same way which is on the surface, exactly what has happened with the two games in question. It’s difficult to imagine that there is actually a case to answer.” In summary, she describes the case as “frivolous”.
And to understand how that works, you need to look at the music industry. In 2013, a copyright claim was brought by Marvin Gaye’s family and record label against Robin Thicke. It argued that Thicke’s song Blurred Lines bore an uncanny resemblance to Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give it Up. While Thicke’s defence argued that “no one owns a genre or groove”, the jury found in favour of Gaye’s family based on other similarities. Such a claim is very hard for PUBG to make against Fortnite.
The case has, understandably, attracted a lot of interest. In March 2018, PUBG and Fortnite collectively had over 40 million players across all platforms. They are both very much newcomers too. PUBG only released in full last December, with Fortnite adding its Battle Royale mode in September 2017.
Filing the case in South Korea may mean it is treated slightly differently to here in the UK or even the US, but not significantly. “I wouldn’t imagine that the basic copyright elements are vastly different,” says Barker. “The only slight factor which could make a difference is it is Korea, and they tend to be a little more active when it comes to dealing with issues like infringement and lawsuits in games.”
Even with this caveat, she isn’t convinced about PUBG’s chances. “I don’t really see it going anywhere as a lawsuit. It might, but I’d be surprised. I’d imagine they’ll settle [out of court], if anything.”
Your smartphone is a mess of buttons and menus. While the hamburger menu and settings cog have become ubiquitous, dig a little deeper and you’re still presented with an eclectic grab bag of options. With the release of Android P, Google is trying to change that. Again.
Material Design, Google’s attempt to make sense of the unrelenting mess that is software design, launched in 2014. It brought with it new guidelines for how not just smartphone and tablet apps, but all software, should look and feel. More importantly it tried to formalise how they should behave when a human used them. For developers, it provided handy tips and tools for making software easier to use. For users, it was meant to make smartphones, tablets and laptops more intuitive. It didn’t.
Material Design might not be the solution to how we design apps, but it is at least a solution. As Matias Duarte, the head of the Material Design group at Google, told The Verge: “A lot of both the designer and developer community took it as a ‘gospel’”. Since its launch, failure to adhere properly to Material Design on Android has made your app look like a mess.
The most common complaint from developers, which ultimately translated into you getting confused while using an app, was that Material Design wasn’t flexible enough. Companies that were happy to abide by Google’s strict design rules ended up with an app that looked too generic, which created a sea of interfaces that looked flat, boring and bland. As a result, many apps – especially those from larger companies – eschewed Google’s design wisdom and ploughed their own furrow.
Material Theming
”We spent two years telling people ‘this is how to make Material yours’, and it didn’t work,” Duarte said shortly after Google lifted the lid on its updated vision for software design. And its new guidelines for Material Design make the reason for that failure abundantly clear: to make apps, and software in general, easier to use, it is important that buttons and menus have a similar form and function – it isn’t important that they look exactly alike. And that’s where Material Theming comes in. Google calls it a “roadmap for future redesigns”, but you can call it “making Android less of a confusing hellscape”.
Material Theming is Google’s attempt to help this way of thinking along. Change the colour or typography of the app you’re working on, for example, and the rest of the app’s design will change accordingly. In practical terms, it means that developers can make their app feel distinct without chucking buttons and options all over the place. As Google readily admits, the restrictive nature of Material Design made adding flair and identity to an app without sacrificing its ease of use and consistency “tedious and inefficient”. A new tool called Material Theme Editor lets developers change one theme value and have it change throughout the design.
And Google is even practicing what it preaches. The new versions of Gmail, Google News, Google Play and Google Home all use Material Theming to create a “cohesive, branded experience”. As the new-look Gmail shows, Google has been using Material Design to change how its apps and services work on all types of devices. On the all-new Google News, which uses artificial intelligence to curate lists of relevant and related stories, the new Material Design tools have been used to formalise and set font types to make it easier to draw people’s attention to the most important headlines.
The original Material Design guidelines had a single theme that was applied to all apps. The new version has the same design principles behind it, but lets developers add their own flair and identity. It was an important lesson for Google to learn. As its developer documents make clear, the new tools in Material Design are there to make it easier than ever to make the look and feel of an app or service consistent across Android, iOS, Flutter and the web. In the coming years, as Google likely moves from Android to the in-development Fuchsia operating system, this work in standardising design will become all the more important.
As Duarte told me in 2015, shortly after he helped Google launch Material Design, software remains in quite a “raw, industrial state”. And while Google’s attempts to introduce new guidelines and tools for developers will help, software is still wedded to a decades-old graphical user interface (GUI) that feels increasingly unfit for purpose. “It cannot be that the optimal solution for 30 years ago is going to be applicable for all time,” Duarte told me.
Data liberation
And so the next big leap in software design won’t be visual, it will be technical. And it is this technical problem that’s the real focus for Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft over the coming years. Right now, apps still live in silos. The app-ification of software sliced everything up, hiding your holiday booking in Airbnb, your plans with your friends in WhatsApp and your budget in a Google Doc. The vision for Duarte and Google at large is to free up all that data and make the interfaces that lock it away disappear. The first inklings of this already exist in Alexa and Google Assistant, but there’s a long way to go.
Three years ago, Duarte lamented software’s continued addiction to the much-maligned GUI. And he set himself a ten-year target to completely change how we interact with technology. The clock is ticking.
) that would sit in the taskbar. According to 
