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HTC Vive Pre impressions: A great VR system has only gotten better

Sam Machkovech Say hello to the HTC Vive Pre—the near-final version of the VR system. The headset comes complete with two tracking wands and two laser-tracking stations. 12 more images in gallery SEATTLE, Washington—Valve and HTC took the wraps off of their latest, near-final version of the Vive virtual reality system at this month’s CES, but we barely got a chance to play with the refreshed headset. That changed on Wednesday thanks to an event hosted in Valve’s hometown of Seattle, where the company offered Ars 12 lengthy demos of upcoming games and apps. Our detailed impressions of those dozen demos are forthcoming, but in the meantime, we have good news. The pre-release Vive Pre hardware may not be phenomenally better than the original Vive dev kit, but every change has made an already-impressive VR system feel that much more complete, comfortable, and worth salivating over. Like the original HTC Vive dev kit , the Vive Pre asks users to wear a VR headset whilst walking around a pre-defined, real-life space and holding motion-tracked wands in each hand. These wands’ main buttons are still a gun-like trigger and a thumb-accessible, clickable trackpad; in addition, the handle has a button on each side of the controller’s grip, and those are now positioned for easier hand access. New menu buttons have been placed above and below the trackpad, as well. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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HTC Vive Pre impressions: A great VR system has only gotten better

Large Hadron Collider crew has to pull 9,000 old cables

Even particle physics researchers have messes to clean up now and then. CERN has revealed to Motherboard that it’s pulling 9, 000 obsolete cables in three of the Large Hadron Collider’s injectors in order to make way for newer cabling. That’s a lot of work by itself (many of the cables are dozens of feet long), but it’s made all the more daunting by the consequences of yanking the wrong line. Since the cables are largely for control and safety systems, one wrong move could prevent the entire particle accelerator from working — try explaining that slip-up to your supervisors. The crew has already disconnected 2, 700 of the cables, and expects to remove all of them in 2017. CERN shouldn’t have any problems with the LHC shutdown scheduled for 2019, in other words. And hopefully, this won’t be necessary again. The gigantic amount of clutter stems from a “not-so-good habit” of leaving old cables around, which suggests that engineers will be much smarter about cleaning up in the future. [Image credit: CERN] Source: Motherboard

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Large Hadron Collider crew has to pull 9,000 old cables

DeLorean Motor Company will start building new DMC-12s

Ian Weddell @ Flickr The DMC-12 was styled by the legendary Giogretto Giugiaro. The gullwing doors suggested exotic performance that the underpowered car was never able to provide. 5 more images in gallery The DeLorean DMC-12 might have been destined to pass quietly into obscurity, that is until its starring role in 1985’s Back to the Future . A little more than 8,500 DMC-12s left DeLorean’s factory in Northern Ireland between 1981 and 1983, until it all fell apart following founder John DeLorean’s arrest by the FBI on charges of drug trafficking. But Doc Brown souped up his DeLorean with a flux capacitor, imbuing the DMC-12 with iconic status in the nerd canon. Soon, you’ll be able to buy a brand new one—production is about to resume on this side of the Atlantic, in Humble, Texas. The Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company —not directly related to its defunct predecessor—has been supplying parts and rebuilding or restoring DMC-12s for many years. Now it is able to build new cars as well, following changes to the laws governing low-volume auto manufacturers. The 2015 Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 rolled up a lot of different transportation-related bills, including one that now allows companies to build replica vehicles without having to satisfy modern safety regulations, as long as fewer than 325 are made each year. Replica cars still have to meet current Environmental Protection Agency standards for emissions, so the DMC-12’s old Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 is out. DMC’s CEO told Houston’s KPRC2 that the final price will depend upon whichever engine replaces the old unit, although new cars should still cost less than $100,000 (£70,000) There could even be an electric variant , although little has been heard about this version for some time now. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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DeLorean Motor Company will start building new DMC-12s

Lyft will pay $12.25 million to settle drivers’ lawsuit in CA

One company is done battling a gig economy -related lawsuit, at least in California. Lyft has agreed to grant its drivers more workplace protection and to pay $12.5 million to settle a proposed class action lawsuit. The California drivers who filed the lawsuit against the company wanted to be reclassified as employees in order to receive minimum wage and benefits, as well as to get Lyft to pay for their gas and vehicle maintenance. While they’ve unfortunately failed to get their status changed — they’re still considered contractors — drivers in the state will get part of the settlement fund based on the hours they’ve put into working for the company. Lyft also can’t drop drivers whenever it wants. The company can only terminate someone based on a number of predetermined reasons, such as low passenger ratings. Even then, the driver will be given the chance to air their side of the story. Finally, drivers who consistently get high ratings and who passengers pinpoint as their favorites will be rewarded with bonuses. Jackdaw Research chief analyst Jan Dawson told Reuters that while Lyft is losing millions, it still got off “fairly lightly.” Reclassifying drivers as employees, he said, would have cost the company much, much more. Uber wasn’t able to prevent a similar case from becoming a full-fledged class action lawsuit, but this proves it’s possible to settle with the plaintiffs without changing how the company operates. [Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images] Source: Reuters , Bloomberg

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Lyft will pay $12.25 million to settle drivers’ lawsuit in CA

Here’s a Homemade Exoskeleton Jacking Up a Small Car

There’s all sorts of expensive R&D facilities working frantically to make body-enhancing skeletons into actual things, but the research isn’t limited just to big companies. Two years ago, a YouTuber showed off his Elysium -inspired suit curling 170lbs; last weekend, he decided to life a Mini Cooper. Read more…

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Here’s a Homemade Exoskeleton Jacking Up a Small Car

Uber Screwup Exposed Driver’s Social Security Number and Tax Info

Tax season already sucks for independent contractors, but some Uber drivers who logged on to the company’s Partners portal to receive their 1099s are complaining about an especially nasty surprise: Instead of their own information, drivers say they received the tax forms of other drivers. Read more…

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Uber Screwup Exposed Driver’s Social Security Number and Tax Info

This Is What Happens When You Let a Neural Network Design Fonts

Neural networks are increasingly taking on jobs that used to be the preserve of the human brain . So Erik Bernhardsson decided to see what would happen if he threw 50, 000 fonts at a neural network and left it to chew through them. The results, it turns out, are pretty interesting. Read more…

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This Is What Happens When You Let a Neural Network Design Fonts

This Is an X-Ray of the Earth’s Aurora

This planet’s aurora are a spectacular sight, but you’ve probably never seen them quite like this. You’re looking at a view of them as seen by the European Space Agency’s Integral space observatory, which captured how they look as an X-ray. Read more…

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This Is an X-Ray of the Earth’s Aurora

Floating Bonsai trees are better than floating speakers

Floating things on magnets makes most things cooler. Bonsai trees are certainly no exception. Kickstarter project ” Air Bonsai ” combines together magnetic levitation, wee plants and traditional Japanese “monozukuri” (craftsmanship). Using the same magnetic floating trick we’ve seen in speakers , everything that the tree — or plant of your choosing — needs is contained within the floating ball. The team has already passed its goal of $80, 000 but you can still add to the money pot, with $200 enough to land you a basic starter kit. Because of the import issues of sending plants between countries, US-based backers will be receiving locally-sourced, tiny pine trees, but there’s nothing to stop you floating different tiny plants for your own bizarre anime dream. Depending on your aesthetic tastes, you can upgrade the “little star” floating orb, with a particularly attractive lava-stone pot at the top of our shopping list. There’s four designs for the “energy base” that maintains the magnetic field: all of which look classier than the chintzy speakers we’ve seen at tech trade shows. And if you’re feeling classy to the extent of $10, 000 , then you can get an exclusive handmade cushion, base and Bonsai “star”, as well as a tour of both a Bonsai garden and the workshop behind the project. Source: Kickstarter

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Floating Bonsai trees are better than floating speakers