VW offers $1,000 in gift cards and vouchers to affected diesel owners

Volkwagen’s attempt to compensate vehicle owners who drive one of the models included in the company’s emissions scandal is now official. The initial reports were indeed correct, as the company will offer $1, 000 in gift cards and other incentives to VW customers. On top of a $500 dealership credit, the 482, 000 diesel owners will also receive a $500 Visa gift card that can be used anywhere and free roadside assistance for three years. Audi customers who drive affected vehicles will be privy to the same “goodwill package, ” too. Owners will have to visit a special website to request the items by entering their car’s VIN number and mileage alongside their name and address. Volkwagen says those customers should receive the package in a month. The company is already offering $2, 000 in trade-in credit, and with today’s announcement, the total compensation for owners of vehicles included in the on-going saga can be worth up to $3, 000. [Image credit: Getty Images] Via: Phys.org Source: USA Today

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VW offers $1,000 in gift cards and vouchers to affected diesel owners

Wii U emulator (almost) runs ‘Mario Kart 8’ on your PC

Want a Wii U but don’t want to own Nintendo’s latest console ? That’s sort of possible now. I emphasize the “sort of” because the recently released Cemu emulator is almost entirely broken at this point. There isn’t proper gamepad support, there’s absolutely no audio and the game video stutters and glitches pretty badly in most cases if the titles launch at all. For example, in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD ‘s attract mode (the opening menu screen), little Toon Link looks he has some seriously Donnie Darko -esque energy tubes coming out of his chest, stretching far out from his cliffside overlook on Outset Island. Peep it in the video embedded below. “Contains basically no optimizations, ” the download page reads. “Expect slow frame rates and long load times.” It’s still very early days for the program, but the developers are planning on sending updates every two weeks. You’ll need a 64-bit Windows 7 (or higher) machine with an NVIDIA card and the most recent driver set to get started. Oh, and some patience. But who knows, with some time, this could turn into something as cool as the vaunted Dolphin emulator that runs Gamecube games in pretty stunning high def. For now though, you’re better off with a Wii U if you want to play Super Mario Maker . [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images] Source: Gbatemp

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Wii U emulator (almost) runs ‘Mario Kart 8’ on your PC

Mario and Sonic look absolutely stunning in Unreal Engine 4

Unreal Engine 4 has shown us what the next generation of video games can look like: large, realistic and mind-bogglingly gorgeous. Frankly, its tech demos are breathtaking — technical marvels that show off photo-realistic apartments and stunningly beautiful landscapes ; but what happens when you cram cartoonish mascots like Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog into these technical marvels? Mind-blowingly awesome YouTube videos, that’s what. It was bound to happen eventually. Back in March, Unreal made its incredibly popular game engine free to anybody who wants to use it, leaving amateur game developers with immediate access to professional game creation tools. Search around YouTube, and you’ll find more than a few folks using it to put our favorite game characters into hauntingly realistic worlds. Check it out: See that vast landscape? That’s the setting for Unreal Engine 4’s Kite demo, which shows off the engine’s ability to handle large worlds and procedural asset placement. YouTube user CryZenx decided it was the perfect place to drop in Sonic The Hedgehog. The resulting demo isn’t much of a game (though it does show off just how fast a blue hedgehog can run), but it binds the potential of Unreal Engine 4 to a familiar face — letting us imagine what the coming generation of games could really look like. CryZenX made a Mario demo, too — but the plumber looks a little out of place in the Unreal’s endless prairie. YouTuber Aryoksini put Mario in a more familiar environment, a series of castles and caverns more suited to his adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom. The canned environments (taken directly from the Unreal marketplace) look a little too polished for the off-beat world Nintendo’s mascot normally inhabits, but it’s still a stunning look at where console gaming could be in a few short years. Want to see more? Hit up the YouTube search bar with “Unreal Engine 4” and your favorite video-game mascot. Let us know if you find anything good. Filed under: Gaming Comments Source: YouTube (1) , (2)

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Mario and Sonic look absolutely stunning in Unreal Engine 4

The Material That Both Conducts Electricity – and Doesn’t

Metals, which conduct electricity, and insulators, which don’t, are polar opposites. At least that’s what we’ve believed until now. But we have discovered that a well-known insulator can simultaneously act like a conductor in certain measurements . We don’t yet know the reason for this mysterious behaviour but it is likely due to new and exciting quantum effects. Read more…

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The Material That Both Conducts Electricity – and Doesn’t

Screentendo Turns Screenshots Into a Playable Super Mario Level

When you’re bored at work, pulling out your Game Boy to pass the time isn’t exactly inconspicuous. But this simple app called Screentendo is. It snaps a screenshot of whatever you’re working on and then turns it into a simple Super Mario level with clouds and breakable blocks. Spreadsheets have never been more entertaining. Read more…

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Screentendo Turns Screenshots Into a Playable Super Mario Level

Facebook Working To Weed Out Fake Likes

jfruh writes In the early days of brands on Facebook, it was crucial for companies to garner as many “likes” as possible to boost their image, and that led to some unethical businesses selling likes that came from fake accounts. Now Facebook is informing brands that they’re working to root out fake likes, leaving like counts lower but realer. Now if only I could get my relatives to stop clicking on pictures that say they like puppies and are against cancer. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Facebook Working To Weed Out Fake Likes

220TB Tapes Show Tape Storage Still Has a Long Future

alphadogg writes: IBM and Fujifilm have figured out how to fit 220TB of data on a standard-size tape that fits in your hand, flexing the technology’s strengths as a long-term storage medium. The prototype Fujifilm tape and accompanying drive technology from IBM labs packs 88 times as much data onto a tape as industry-standard LTO-6 systems using the same size cartridge, IBM says. LTO6 tape can hold 2.5TB, uncompressed, on a cartridge about 4 by 4 inches across and 2 centimeters thick. The new technologies won’t come out in products for several years. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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220TB Tapes Show Tape Storage Still Has a Long Future

Turning Styrofoam Into Aluminum is Surprisingly Easy

If you’re looking for a fun, high-risk weekend project, look no further: Grant Thompson, the self-styled “King of Random” , has decided to shared his method for transforming styrofoam into metal. (Spoiler: don’t try this one around your kids.) Read more…

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Turning Styrofoam Into Aluminum is Surprisingly Easy

US CTO Tries To Wean the White House Off Floppy Disks

schnell writes: MIT grad and former Google exec Megan J. Smith is the third Chief Technical Officer of the United States and the first woman to hold the position created five years ago by President Obama. But, as a New York Times profile points out, while she fights to wean the White House off BlackBerries and floppy disks, and has introduced the President to key technical voices like Tim Berners-Lee and Vint Cerf to weigh in on policy issues, her position is deliberately nebulous and lacking in real authority. The President’s United States Digital Service initiative to improve technology government-wide is run by the Office of Management and Budget, and each cabinet department has its own CIO who mandates agency technical standards. Can a position with a direct access to the President but no real decision-making authority make a difference? Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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US CTO Tries To Wean the White House Off Floppy Disks