Your next BMW might only have heated seats for 3 months

(www.cnet.com)

This "vehicle as a platform" approach may indeed save some consumers money, particularly in the lease-heavy luxury sedan space where average ownership intervals are measured in months, not years. Also, this approach could open the door even further into letting consumers get exactly the specification they want, instead of bundling discrete options into packages in the name of streamlining manufacturing processes.

However, the potential downsides are troubling, particularly when it comes to used car sales. BMW representatives indicated that upgraded features will apply to the car, not the user, but indicated that all the details on used car sales are still being worked out. Again, there are some positives here, like being able to have a better-equipped second-hand car than the original owner, but it's hard to not see this as simply another shot of revenue for BMW in a transaction that might otherwise not involve the company at all.

If this trend in the auto industry catches on, I'll never buy a new car ever again. There's plenty of classic and slightly used cars there that doesn't have this shit.

Kongregate is no longer accepting new games and their forums will shut down.

(www.polygon.com)

No more user-submitted video games can be added to Kongregate, the company announced Wednesday. The website as players knew it will change as the company shifts its focus toward “internal game development and acquisitions,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Polygon.

Adobe will drop Flash support at the end of the year. Kongregate and other Flash-heavy websites have been working on preserving their Flash titles — by converting to HTML5 or using emulators. Even then, though, Kongregate has to change. The company said its 128,000 current games will remain playable as normal, with developers able to update their titles. Social features, like some forums and chat rooms, will be closed.

They along with Newgrounds, they were the pillars of the Flash game community and now all of that history will soon vanish. A true end of an era.

A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has been identified in China by scientists.

(www.bbc.com)

The virus, which the researchers call G4 EA H1N1, can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.

They found evidence of recent infection in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China when they looked at data from 2011 to 2018.

Current flu vaccines do not appear to protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so if needed.

We may be in for another totally different disaster.

What happens when you update your DNS?

(jvns.ca)

I've seen a lot of people get confused about updating their site's DNS records to change the IP address. Why is it slow? Do you really have to wait 2 days for everything to update? Why do some people see the new IP and some people see the old IP? What's happening? So I wanted to write a quick exploration of what's happening behind the scenes when you update a DNS record.

Here's a great exploration of what’s happening behind the scenes when you update a DNS record.

It's official: the EU will ban US travelers when their borders open July 1 due to their catastrophic failures to curb COVID-19.

(nyti.ms)

E.U. officials first disclosed on Tuesday that the United States, which has reported more coronavirus deaths and infections than any other country, was highly unlikely to make the final list.

The exclusion of the United States, an important source of tourism to the European Union, represented a stinging rebuke to the Trump administration’s management of the coronavirus scourge.

And let's be honest, the US actually deserved this due to our incompetent governments on all levels. I guarantee Asia will follow suit.

Leaked Microsoft document hints at a cheaper and less powerful Xbox console, designed to provide key improvements in Xbox Series X at a lower price point

(www.theverge.com)

The leaked document also mentions a Lockhart profiling mode. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s Xbox plans tell The Verge that this special Lockhart mode is part of the Xbox Series X developer kit. The devkit, codenamed Dante, allows game developers to enable a special Lockhart mode that has a profile of the performance that Microsoft wants to hit with this second console. We understand that includes 7.5 GB of usable RAM, a slightly underclocked CPU speed, and around 4 teraflops of GPU performance. The Xbox Series X includes 13.5 GB of usable RAM, and targets 12 teraflops of GPU performance.

That's gimping the whole experience. This is NOT the next-gen Xbox version you want to buy since it's a joke.

The EU is expected to ban US travelers when their borders open July 1, citing failures to control COVID-19.

(archive.is)

That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country.

Travelers from the United States and the rest of the world have been excluded from visiting the European Union — with few exceptions mostly for repatriations or “essential travel” —- since mid-March. But a final decision on reopening the borders is expected early next week, before the bloc reopens on July 1.

Prohibiting American travelers from entering the European Union would have significant economic, cultural and geopolitical ramifications. Millions of American tourists visit Europe every summer. Business travel is common, given the huge economic ties between the United States and the E.U.

I won't be surprised if Asia joins the ban party as well. The US and Brazil are cesspools right now.

NOTE: Since I can't read the NYT article due to having an tracking blocker, I shared an archive.is link instead.

Apple sends a letter to Hey: Change your app or get out of the App Store

(www.protocol.com)

Apple told the Basecamp team it has a few options. It can turn Hey into a standard email client in addition to the existing service, and allow users to log in with their existing Gmail and other accounts. Alternatively, it can let users pay for Hey from within the iOS app. "We are happy to continue to support you in your app business and offer you the solutions to provide your services for free," the company wrote, "so long as you follow and respect the same App Store Review Guidelines and terms that all developers must follow." But if there are no changes, it says, the App Review Board's ruling stands.

From DHH's birdsite post

Now Apple is telling us how to design our products too! They don't just want to dictate distribution, they also want to dictate product design, and define what an "acceptable" email client is.

I'm hoping Basecamp fights Apple until they're forced out. Apple has been bullies to consumers and developers for way too long.

Video Game Hall of Fame's 2020 class: Bejeweled, Centipede, King's Quest, and Minecraft

(venturebeat.com)

When it debuted in 1981, Atari’s Centipede challenged players to blast an insect as it zigzagged across the screen in challenging patterns and at various speeds. Ed Logg led a team that included Dona Bailey, one of the only female programmers in the 1980s arcade video game industry, to develop a game that helped attract more female players. It was an immediate success and became synonymous with the golden age of the arcade, though it also found later life in re-releases on home consoles, portable game systems, mobile game apps, and even as a board game.

Centipede appeals to a wide demographic and is often cited as a game that helped attract more women to the arcade in the early 1980s, said Jeremy Saucier, The Strong’s assistant vice president for electronic games and interpretation, in a statement. It’s as challenging and satisfying to play today as it was decades ago, he said. I had tons of fun playing this one in the arcades.

I'm even more shocked that it took THIS long for Centipede to get the recognition it deserves. Glad it finally did so.

Apple Is Trying To Shut Down HEY

(hey.com)

Wow. I'm literally stunned. Apple just doubled down on their rejection of HEY's ability to provide bug fixes and new features, unless we submit to their outrageous demand of 15-30% of our revenue. Even worse: We're told that unless we comply, they'll REMOVE THE APP.

There is no chance in bloody hell that we're going to pay Apple's ransom. I will burn this house down myself, before I let gangsters like that spin it for spoils. This is profoundly, perversely abusive and unfair.

DHH's birdsite rant, plus some other links to articles from yesterday. cc