Following the SatNav added to Driving Tests
The DVSA has added a section to their tests – a section on following the directions of your in-car GPS navigation machine.
Coming this December, on your test you will have to do double the amount of independant driving and the new SatNav section. But no more reversing around a corner/three point turns. But you will have to parallel park, reverse in a straight line or park in a bay (without going over the lines)
The new section, as ludicrous as it sounds isn’t as crazy and you won’t have to be strict with it and end up driving into the woods – it won’t even matter if you go the wrong way — the test is all about seeing if you can follow instructions and keep your driving up to standard.
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
REVOKE THAT WHATSAPP MSG! (maybe.)
WhatsApp are answering all the guys who send that “risky text” and regret it a few seconds later – they are reportedly working on a feature that gives you 5 mins to unsend that message.
A Twitter account by the name of WABetaInfo tweeted out the rumour informing the world of this feature with a “revoke” button” claiming that it may be available at the next iOS update.
It is unknown if this is the same as the feature that WhatsApp began testing last year that allowed you to unsend it if it hadn’t been read.
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
Exploding Kittens Card Game
We’re taking closer look at card games and board games here at How To Kill an Hour and this week we took a look at Exploding Kittens see below more about Exploding Kittens and watch the video below on how to play!
Created by Elan Lee (Xbox, ARGs), Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal), and Shane Small (Xbox, Marvel), Exploding Kittens made history when it became the most-backed game in Kickstarter history and the campaign with the most number of backers, ever.
It is a highly-strategic, kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette. Players draw cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten, at which point they explode, they are dead, and they are out of the game — unless that player has a Defuse card, which can defuse the kitten using things like laser pointers, belly rubs, and catnip sandwiches. All of the other cards in the deck are used to move, mitigate, or avoid the Exploding Kittens.
To buy our own Exploding Kittens Card Game please click here!
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
Mastercard Fingerprints
MasterCard have announced a “next generation biometric card” which embeds fingerprint recognition into debit cards. Interesting.
It is called Pick N Pay, users place their thumb on a card which includes a fingerprint reader and still require you to enter your pin, but helps if you lose the card as to use the card it requires both the number and thumbprint to match.
MasterCard is piloting this feature in Europe, Asia and South Africa and expects to to be fully rolled out by the end of 2017. Small win for security but it raises HUGE questions about privacy.
TechCrunch’s write-up, emphasis added:
One relatively large drawback for the convenience of the biometric card is that the spokeswoman confirmed users are currently required to go to a bank branch in order to register and enroll their fingerprint. (Which is then converted into an encrypted digital template that is stored on the card.)
So banks will have a Physical copy of YOUR FINGERPRINT! When Gizmodo reached out to Mastercard about this they ensured them that the data is encrypted before being stored on the chip and once on the chip it cannot be retrieved.
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
GTA V Teaching Autonomous Cars?
GTA V is one of the simulation platforms that researchers and engineers are using to test and train AI to eventually drive us to work. Car companies are touting that there will be a no hands on model in 3 years but there’s still a lot to learn and a lot of algorithms to respond to. Which is where GTA V comes in, scientists from Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany and Intel Labs have developed algorithms that have been tweaked for use in self driving cars.
This is because there’s more time to do more things in the virtual world and cars never run out of petrol. It will never be a substitute for real world environments but the game is the game is the closest and most ‘realistic’ virtual environment to compare real world possibilities to. (With 262 types of vehicles, more than 1,000 different unpredictable pedestrians and animals, 14 weather conditions and countless bridges, traffic signals, tunnels and intersections.)
Most things are done through trial and error, and we’re spitballing here, exploring countless different scenarios and adjusting how the cars would react to said situations countless times!
It may seem out of this world but realistic video games are able to generate very similar data to what AI agents can obtain from the road. AI software has been using games such as Super Mario Bros/Angry Birds tackling problems in controlled environments, learning through simple trial and error.
Waymo (A self driving car company) uses it’s simulators to create an infinite number of situations that it’s engineers can muster up. Such as having three cars changing lanes at the same time at an assortment of speeds and directions, what’s learned virtually is applied physically and problems encountered on the road in real life is then studied in simulation.
So it’s not so crazy afterall.
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
Cheerson CX Stars
Producer Bill has been honing his drone flying skills with the ultra small drone (QuadCopter) the Cheerson CS Stars!
- Ultra compact tiny design for the world’s smallest Drone/miniature quadcopter.It can be carried in your pocket with you and you can now enjoy and practice piloting anytime anywhere.
- Three speed modes switch: Equipped with high / medium / low speed switch, providing the excellent experience for both newbies and experienced players. It is such a little tough quadcopter you crush it,hit it to the wall or get it assaulted by your cat. It will remain functioning.
- Press down the left control stick three times, the remote control will make a “beep” sound for three times, and it will enter the Headless Mode, no need to adjust the position of aircraft before flying. Built-in LED lights can not only help to indicate direction at night or in dark place.
- 6-axis gyro system with built-in gyroscope, it provides extra stability, easily implement various flight movements, easier to control and stronger wind resistance.
- It can realize 360° rotation. 2.4G Remote Control and 4 Channel RC transmitter for your easy control. The frequency RC transmitter allows you to fly your copter with strong signal among other aircraft.
To get your own CX Stars please click here!
To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!
