The Morning After: Friday, April 21st 2017

the-morning-after-friday-april-21st-2017 photo 1 'Desus and Mero' - Viceland

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to Friday, friends. A few changes are afoot at Engadget, Elon Musk has plans for brain-machine interfaces in a few years, and HTC made a phone that is rumored to be squeezable. Meanwhile, a high-end, WiFi-connected juicer with mountains of funding is also feeling the squeeze.


Changes aheadWe're learning from our past to inform our future.

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It's not the weekend yet, but we have a letter from the new editor-in-chief, Christopher Trout walking down memory lane and laying out what you can expect from Engadget in the future. In short, "authoritative reporting on the tech industry and the people, products and ideas that power it."


That's one way to sell more camerasGoPro's Fusion spherical camera is six GoPros in one

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Facebook, isn't the only one with a new 360-degree camera, as GoPro is announcing its 5.2K VR-capable Fusion camera. The spherical device that CEO Nicholas Woodman describes as "six GoPro cameras fused into one" will become available for pilot partners this summer, although details on wider availability and pricing are still TBA.


Meet NeuralinkElon Musk's latest venture is all about connecting your brain to a computer

Elon Musk figures that for humanity to avoid becoming obsolete after the rise of AI, we'll need to pursue a symbiotic relationship with technology. One way to do that will be via brain-machine interfaces (BMI) that connect people to computers and each other. By increasing the bandwidth of connections (beyond what verbal, written or gesture communication can do), Wait but Why's Tim Urban explains that Neuralink could lead the rise of the "Wizard Era." Musk predicts that it could have a product on the market for people with brain injuries within four years, although a device ready for people without disabilities could take twice as long to develop.


OopsJuicero offers refunds to its customers

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If you spent $700 or $400 on a Juicero then we have some news -- you can return it and get your money back. Of course, if you like the company's system of custom produce packs and expensive press then you can keep them, but it's a little tough now that Bloomberg showed they're easily squeezed by hand. The company's CEO laughably compared that hands-on technique to Keurig hacking, while also trying to convince the world why your juicer needs a WiFi connection.


Your new squeeze.HTC will unveil a squeezable 'U' phone in May

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HTC has sent out a Save the Date for May 16th. Invites like this are typically shrouded in mystery, and this one's no different. All the invitation says is "Squeeze for the Brilliant U," though the blurry phone in the background and the company's tweet gives us some idea of what it could announce. In the video, you can see a hand squeezing the edges of a phone, hinting that you'll be able to interact with the device by giving its frame a squeeze. We don't know why you would want to do that, but hey, innovation


'Tiny Racers' is basically 'Micro Machines' with some 'GTA' mayhem.'Grand Theft Auto' returns to its top-down roots next week

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If Grand Theft Auto: Online's last big event, the sophomorically named Cunning Stunts, stoked a flame in your racing heart, next week's add-on might set it ablaze with nostalgia. For a few different reasons, no less. With April 25th's "Tiny Racers," the camera reverts to a top-down point of view like the GTA games of yore. More than that, Tiny Racers is a pretty overt homage to the Micro Machines series of stunt-minded arcade racers from the 8-and-16 bit era. In fact, it could be better than the incoming Micro Machines remake.


Happy Holidays!420

Need advice on the intersection of technology and marijuana? If you live in California, we have advice for buying legal weed online. Otherwise, you can just read up on the future of cannabis, as concentrates push the market towards a pure THC distillate.


It'll seamlessly switch between accounts after you train it.Google Home can now recognize more than one person

Google's Home device is late to the domestic AI assistant game, but it can do one trick that Alexa can't right now: Tell family members apart just by their voices. Up to six people can link their Google accounts to one Home device, then train Google's Assistant to recognize their voices. Once that's done, it'll be able to distinguish you from your spouse or other family members and give you pertinent info, like your schedule or traffic on your usual route.

But wait, there's more...

  • Samsung and Amazon counter Dolby Vision HDR with HDR10+
  • Plastc's smart credit card project goes under despite $9 million in preorders
  • The Justice Department is reportedly preparing charges against Wikileaks' Assange
  • HBO is adapting 'Fahrenheit 451'
  • Penrose Studios' third film 'Arden's Wake' proves that social VR doesn't have to be a gimmick.

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