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Advertising comes hand-in-hand with almost any free service on the internet, but those ads are only useful to companies if you actually look at that them. Facebook has been trying to filter out unwanted ads for awhile, but now it's taking a direct approach: it's simply asking users what they don't like. From now on, whenever users select "I don't want to see this" on an item in their newsfeed, Facebook will ask why: is it offensive? Is it spam? Have you seen this ad before? In all, the social network will give users five options to chose from and use the data to adjust ad distribution accordingly. In tests the feature showed a significant reduction in ads reported as inappropriate. Check out the company's official announcement at the source link below.

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You know what Google+ really needs, more than anything else? Polls.

Right, maybe not, but Google did just acquire a startup (yes, another one!) called Polar that specialized in crafting buzzy online polls like "Who did a better job hosting 'The View'?" and "Is WhatsApp worth $16 billion?" (no, really) for media outlets and website operators. While it wouldn't be impossible for those sorts of click-driving questions to find a new home in Google+, that's not really why Google opened its checkbook. As the New York Times points out, this was actually an acquihire -- a deal meant more to snag the people behind the product than the product itself. Those folks (including co-founder Luke Wroblewski, a big proponent of mobile-first design) are joining the Google+ team to do, well, no one really knows yet. Google VP of engineering Dave Besris cryptically noted on his own Google+ page that they'd be working on making the maligned social service "even more awesome," which in this case apparently means helping fine-tune the Google+ experience, especially when it comes to those small screens we carry with us everywhere.

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Oculus/Facebook, Samsung, Sony, Google. We're about to be flooded with virtual reality hardware, but what about content? While John Carmack works on the gaming side, the folks at NextVR (formerly Next3D) have been developing camera rigs to record live video in full surround that will let VR units put you anywhere in the world you want to go, and here's the latest one. Red Camera's Jarred Land spilled the beans, posting pics of this "Virtual Reality Camera System" which links six of his company's 6K Dragon cameras together in a rather monstrous-looking array. There should be demo footage on display at the IBC conference, but based on what we've seen from NextVR already, the potential is high. There aren't any cameras pointing up (or down) but previous systems from NextVR have used fisheye lenses to expand their range, and we expect something similar would be in store for this. NextVR is providing video to go along with Samsung's Gear VR headset when it launches and it's working with Oculus too. Judging by this setup more video experiences -- whether live streamed or recorded -- will be coming to the VR space soon.

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It would seem that the saga of Atari's video-game mass grave in New Mexico is coming to a close. The Alamogordo City council has voted unanimously to auction off half of the recovered cartridges (around 800 of 'em, according to Reuters). Interested in owning a piece of history? Eurogamer says that we should see the items -- a likely majority of which will be E.T. -- pop up on eBay and the council's website within the next few weeks. Of the remaining carts, the city plans to keep 500 of them and the rest will be donated to museums. If you still can't get enough of the tale, there's always the upcoming Microsoft-backed documentary and our own interview with E.T.'s sole developer, Howard Scott Warshaw. The move to sell these to the highest bidder instead of at a fixed price is a pretty clear indication that city is being a bit opportunistic and taking advantage of nostalgia, if you ask us -- something that probably rubbed off from Atari itself.

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Kia Soul EV

Kia's reputation for low-cost cars is extending into the electric realm... well, sort of. The company has announced that the Soul EV will start at $33,700 when it reaches the US this fall. That's more expensive than the Nissan Leaf ($28,980) and well outside of budget car territory, so it's not exactly a trivial purchase at first glance. However, that doesn't include the $7,500 federal tax break -- the $26,200 you'll ultimately pay is pretty reasonable for a people-hauler with decent space, a smartphone-savvy infotainment system and (most importantly) very low running costs. The catch is availability. You'll have to wait until the fall to drive a Soul EV off the lot, and it will only be available in a handful of California cities at first; it's going to be a while before you can wander into any old dealership and pick one up.

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When we think about gadgets to aid the hearing impaired, cochlear implants usually come to mind -- but these devices are expensive and require invasive surgery. Neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman and graduate student Scott Novich have another idea: sensory substation clothing. The two are developing a hearing device that you wear on your torso. It's called the Vibrotactile Extra-Sensory Transducer (or simply "Vest" for short) and it translates sound into tactile feedback. Eaglman says that with training, the brain can actually learn to translate Vest's vibrations into useful data -- meaning that wearers could potentially "hear" through their skin.

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SanDisk's Extreme Pro 512GB SD card

If you've been dabbling in 4K video recording, you probably know that most SD cards won't cut it; you'll be thankful if you have enough space for a wedding video, let alone a magnum opus. SanDisk may have a solution for that space problem in its new, extra-capacious 512GB Extreme Pro SDXC card. It's fast enough (95MB/s) to shoot interruption-free 4K, but also has more than enough storage for a day's worth of movies and high-speed photography. Capture 60Mbps video on Sony's AX100, for example, and you could theoretically keep going for almost 19 hours. You're going to pay dearly for all that headroom, though. The 512GB card sells for a whopping $800 -- unless video production is your bread and butter, you're probably better off "settling" for the Extreme Pro's 128GB or 256GB variants.

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Bang & Olufsen advertised the Avant 55, its first 4K TV, with the phrase "the one that moves." By the same logic, the Avant 85 should be titled "the, er, bigger one that also moves." Naturally, the colossal set comes with the usual Danish video trickery, including three-channel stereo, the BeoRemote One universal remote control and direct-type LED with 2D local backlight dimming (nope, us neither). The Avant 85 is priced at an, ahem, "competitive" £16,595 (around $27,000), but if you want the thing to move as well, you'll pay upwards of £1,095 (around $1,780) for the various motorized mounting brackets or stands

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The rise of 3D printing has graced headlines for quite some time, and now Netflix brings its documentary chronicling the last several years to its streaming lineup. Starting September 26th, Print the Legend will be available for viewing. The red-hued video service nabbed the film after it earned a SXSW award, and will host theater showings in Los Angeles and New York. Influential 3D-printing outfits like MakerBot, Formlabs, Stratasys and 3D Systems are all included, as is Cody Wilson, who released plans for printing guns last year. If you're looking for a preview, there trailer awaits just past the break.

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