Facebook Messenger now boasts 1 billion monthly users according to the social media giant. – Source
Facebook Messenger hits 1 billion users - CNET
Jul 20, 2016
Valve lawyers send cease-and-desist letters to Counter-Strike gambling sites
“The counter-gamblers win.” (For now.) (credit: Photo: Steam)
Valve Software, the maker of the Steam online gaming service, sent cease-and-desist notices to 23 online gambling sites on Tuesday in a move to quell complaints about the service’s “marketplace” system.
“Your commercial use of Steam accounts is unlicensed and in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement,” Valve general counsel Karl Quackenbush wrote in the letter. “You should immediately cease and desist further use of your Steam accounts for any commercial purpose.” Quackenbush then advised the recipients that they had 10 days to comply, after which the company will pursue “all available remedies”—including account termination.
The letter began spreading on social media after it was sent to all 23 sites in question, which included CSGOLotto and CSGOLounge. (Valve did not respond to Ars’ questions about the letter’s authenticity as of press time, while e-sports journalist Richard Lewis confirmed its authenticity independently.) These sites have racked up headlines as of late by gaming Steam’s “marketplace” functionality—and turning some popular in-game items, like cosmetic “skins” for characters and weapons, into veritable casino chips. While Steam itself does not contain direct gambling mechanisms, third-party gambling sites have found simple ways to exploit how Steam works so that players can dump skins into a depository, engage in various games, and then collect more skins (which often have material value by way of eBay reselling) or so that players can trade their accumulated skins outright at these sites for direct payouts of money.
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Valve lawyers send cease-and-desist letters to Counter-Strike gambling sites
Bioz pulls in $3 million from Esther Dyson, others, with hopes to become Google for life science research
Bioz, a new search engine for life science experiments, wants to reduce the time it takes researchers to thumb through thousands of science articles published online and get them right to the findings relevant to their search.
The Palo Alto startup does this by offering up article extracts from published science papers using natural language processing. The Bioz platform helps… Read More
Bioz pulls in $3 million from Esther Dyson, others, with hopes to become Google for life science research
Get lost in 10,000 square miles of multiplayer VR with MetaWorld later this year
Virtual reality as it exists currently is generally an isolating experience. Plenty of VR worlds are sparsely populated, inhabited by robots, or empty. There are social platforms for VR already, but MetaWorld, an upcoming collaboration between UK-based Improbable and Berkeley-based HelloVR, will expand the horizons of social VR – expand them nearly 10,000 square miles, to be exact.… Read More
Get lost in 10,000 square miles of multiplayer VR with MetaWorld later this year
What You Should Know If You Want to Work Remotely and Travel the World
If you’re lucky enough to work from anywhere, you can take advantage of your freedom and work while you travel. Our own …
What You Should Know If You Want to Work Remotely and Travel the World
Xiaomi has some nice deals in celebration of its 2-year India anniversary
Sometimes you can forget that Xiaomi is a very young company, and its presence outside China is even more recent. Case in point, Xiaomi is only celebrating its second anniversary in India starting today. What the company may lack in experience, it sure makes up in style as its 3-day Carnival event is packed with deals and discounts.
Here’s what Xiaomi has in store for its Indian customers, from today through July 22:
Mi 5 in black or white for Rs. 22,999, down from Rs. 24,999Mi 4 for Rs. 10,999, down from Rs. 14,999Mi Bluetooth Speaker for Rs 1,999, down from Rs 2,699
If you download and install the Xiaomi Mi Store app, you can take advantage of a number of app-exclusive discounts, including:
Mi 5 in gold for Rs. 24,999, down from Rs. 26,798Mi Max for Rs. 15,248, down from Rs. 15,298Redmi Note 3 for Rs. 10,198, down from Rs. 10,298Mi 4i for Rs. 11,99920,000 mAh Mi Power Bank for Rs. 2,199
On July 21 and July 22 at 2PM IST, Xiaomi will also give away 10 Redmi Note 3 units and 100 Mi Band units, and 10 Mi Max units and 100 Mi Bluetooth Speaker units respectively. The winners, which will be selected at random will only need to pay Re. 1 for their product.
See also: Xiaomi Mi 5 Review35
Xiaomi also has other surprises in store, so make sure to check their Mi Carnival page to see the full offer.
Xiaomi has some nice deals in celebration of its 2-year India anniversary
Refurbished Nexus 6P going for $318.99 on BestBuy at the moment, you save $181
ProductLocationItem ConditionCurrent PriceOffer ExpiresGoogle Nexis 6PBestBuyRefurbished$318.99 ($499.00)
36% discount–
GRAB IT HERE
There’s nothing better than experiencing Android Google wants you to. Well, some may argue that stock Android is irrelevant and boring, but we would respectfully disagree – it’s quite to get addicted to Android’s admirable performance.
And what’s a better way to experience the latter by getting a Nexus 6P and becoming a full-time Nexus warrior? Lucky for you, you can … – Source
Refurbished Nexus 6P going for $318.99 on BestBuy at the moment, you save $181
Uber pairs with satellite imaging company for better location data - CNET
DigitalGlobe will be providing Uber with high-resolution satellite imagery for better data on pick-up locations. – Source
Uber pairs with satellite imaging company for better location data - CNET
Looking for Pokemon Go players? You'll find them at Hot Topic and Red Robin
Location analytics firm Placed took the pulse of the Pokemon Go playing world to find out where Pokemon trainers are eating, drinking and shopping. The results? Hot Topic is the top retailer for those who have Squirtle on their mind. Considering the demographics of your typical Hot Topic customer, this is not a surprising result.
Hot Topic garnered 175 points with supermarket chain Fred Meyer, lingerie experts Victoria Secret and Express finishing second through fourth with scores of 137, 136 and 135, respectively. The top restaurant is Red Robin, which beat out runner-up Buffalo Wild Wings … – Source
Looking for Pokemon Go players? You'll find them at Hot Topic and Red Robin
Twitter Bars Member Over Torrent of Abusive Comments Online
The action against Milo Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart editor, followed a campaign of prolonged abuse against the comedian Leslie Jones, a co-star in “Ghostbusters.” – Source
Twitter Bars Member Over Torrent of Abusive Comments Online
Pokémon Go launch in Japan postponed after email leak
Game-maker Niantic has postponed today’s scheduled launch of Pokémon Go in Japan after internal emails leaked out on to the internet. Read More
Pokémon Go launch in Japan postponed after email leak
After 3 weeks, Worldpay still fumbling millions of Etsy transactions
Etsy users had another bad week as payment processor Worldpay continues to cause problems. Late last week, some Etsy users began reporting that they had experienced duplicate charges. The forum on Etsy for duplicate charges is approaching one thousand posts. In a statement, Worldpay admitted to causing the duplicate charges for Etsy users in its attempts to rectify the problem.… Read More
After 3 weeks, Worldpay still fumbling millions of Etsy transactions
One professor’s quest to 3D scan every fish in the sea
If you were wondering what a mottled sculpin looks like, there are plenty of pictures available online. But while they may satisfy a curious tidepooler, the discerning icthyologist demands more. That’s why a professor at the University of Washington is getting full 3D scans of every fish in the sea — every species, anyway. Read More
One professor’s quest to 3D scan every fish in the sea
Melania Trump's speech was run through a plagiarism checker
College students, take note: if you plagiarize, people will notice.
Melania Trump spoke during the Republican National Convention on Monday night, leaving some viewers with a sense of déjà vu.
SEE ALSO: 11 totally real earlier drafts of Melania Trump’s speech
Following a tweet from journalist Jarrett Hill, many called out Trump on blatantly plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech from the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Looking at the speeches side by side, they are shockingly similar.
…
More about Watercooler, Politics, Plagiarism, Republican National Convention, and Melania Trump – Source
Melania Trump's speech was run through a plagiarism checker
See How Much Weight You Can Lose Playing Pokémon Go With This Calculator
While the slow strolling and constant stopping of Pokémon Go isn’t going to …
See How Much Weight You Can Lose Playing Pokémon Go With This Calculator
States sue Volkswagen execs for fraud, current CEO named in lawsuits
Matthias Müller became VW Group’s CEO when Martin Winterkorn left, but both men are implicated in the most recent lawsuits from US states. (credit: By Volkswagen AG )
On Tuesday, the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland launched fresh lawsuits at Volkswagen Group and its affiliates Audi and Porsche, naming more than two dozen engineers and managers in an apparent scheme to install illegal software on diesel VWs, Audis, and Porsches that were sold in the US.
The civil lawsuits allege that prior to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public announcement in September that it had discovered defeat devices to circumvent emissions control systems in VW Group’s diesel cars, the German automaker engaged in a year and a half of cover ups and deception with the knowledge of VW Group’s former CEO, Martin Winterkorn. The company “only confessed to the defeat devices when they knew the regulators had them pinned to the facts,” according to the New York Attorney General’s press release.
The lawsuits also allege that VW Group has not cooperated with investigators. “When the investigation was getting under way in late 2015, numerous employees, tipped off by a senior in-house lawyer in Germany, allegedly destroyed incriminating documents,” the press release added.
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States sue Volkswagen execs for fraud, current CEO named in lawsuits
Xiaomi ships 1.5 million Mi Max units in two months
Xiaomi unveiled the Mi Max in May, as an upper-midrange handset with a huge 6.44-inch screen. Interest for it was high from the beginning, with 8 million registrations received for its first flash sale in China.
But what about actual sales numbers? Well, while we still don’t have those, a well known Chinese analyst has revealed how many units were shipped by Xiaomi in the first two months of availability.
1.5 million. That’s how many Mi Max devices Xiaomi managed to ship – and most of those should actually be counted as sales because of the company’s strong reliance on…
Xiaomi ships 1.5 million Mi Max units in two months