'Persona 5'
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
This Morning After is brought to you by the death of phone calls on flights (hooray!), how Persona 5 manages to digitally manifest Tokyo and the news that the most valuable car company in the US is now Tesla -- with a lot of that value resting on the incoming cheaper Model 3.
'Planet Earth II' on Ultra HD Blu-ray is a good reason to buy a new TV
If you've been waiting for some ideal 4K demo material, the sequel to HDTV-seller Planet Earth will do the trick. Thanks to the bitrate afforded by Ultra HD Blu-ray plus the expanded color range and contrast of HDR, Devindra Hardawar claims "it completely justifies the existence of the doomed disc format."
Justice Department attacks global spam botnet as its alleged operator is arrested in Spain
Yesterday Spanish authorities reportedly arrested Peter Yuryevich Levashov, and according to a statement by his wife, linked him to alleged hacking of the US presidential election. Later, the US DoJ and FBI announced that Levashov is suspected of operating the "Kelihos" botnet that hijacked Windows computers to send spam, but did not mention any ties to the election.
Google might bring curved screens to its next Pixel phone
Google is investing up to $875 million in LG Display to develop its own stable supply of flexible OLED screens for its Pixel phones, according to multiple reports. This should help ease supply problems for its next smartphone, as the current Pixel has been impossible to find in stores for a lot of us.
FCC axes plan to allow phone calls on flights
Be quiet for a few hours, will you?
Cadillac unveils its answer to Tesla's semi-autonomous tech
Outside of Tesla, semi-autonomous driving modes are still quite rare. GM's upcoming 2018 Cadillac CT6 (due this fall) will be the company's first car with Super Cruise, a technology that can take over during highway drives. If you believe the Cadillac crew, this is the first production car with "true" hands-free driving. Super Cruise promises an extra level of mapping accuracy thanks to the use of extensive LiDAR data in addition to the usual onboard sensors and GPS. However, this also lets Cadillac dictate where you're allowed to use the feature. It'll only be allowed on divided, limited-access highways with clear entrance and exit ramps.
Tesla overtakes GM to become the most valuable US car maker
Tesla just managed a symbolic but important win in its quest to make electric cars popular. Yesterday, Tesla's stock market cap overtook that of GM -- it was worth about $51 billion, or $1.7 billion more than its established rival. While it's not clear that this will last (we've seen some give and take as of this writing), it's no mean feat for a company that has made just three car models in its brief 13-year history. The big question is whether or not Tesla can back up that value with raw sales numbers in the next few years.
'Persona 5' took me back to Tokyo
Plenty of games tries to deliver a Tokyo experience to games, but none come close to Persona 5, the latest in Atlus' long-running JRPG franchise. The game delivers a phenomenal representation of Japan's capital, capturing its sights and sounds with pinpoint precision. For more than 50 hours Nick Summers strolled through its pixel-perfect neighborhoods, hanging out in karaoke bars, bombastic arcades and relaxing bathhouses. For him, it's virtual tourism at its best. Oh, and there's a pretty fantastic game attached to it all.
This neural network generates weird and adorable pickup lines
Training a neural network involves feeding it enough raw data to start recognizing and replicating patterns. It can be a long, tedious process to barely approximate complex things, but aim one at pickup lines, and the results are a combination of cute and baffling.
But wait, there's more...
- ZTE's first Android Wear watch is also one of the cheapest, at just $200
- AT&T paid $1.6 billion to own the next generation of wireless
- Sling TV's $5 cloud DVR arrives on Android and Roku
- What's on TV: 'Hidden Figures' Blu-ray, 'Yooka-Laylee,' 'MST3K' on Netflix and 'Doctor Who'