Investment bank ‘confirms’ Razer quietly bought OUYA
One of the problems with keeping the news of a recent engagement a secret is that, sometimes, an investment banker runs off and tells your parents before you can. That’s the sticky situation that has met Razer and Ouya, since their recent union has been revealed by the latter’s advisors at Mesa Global. The news comes a week after the first rumors that corporate wedding bells were in the air, which was met with a non-denial from the high-end gaming company. There’s no word on the specifics of the deal, but like an angry relative, we’ve sent Facebook messages to representatives of both companies in the hope of getting a picture of the ring. Still, if Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan had any big announcements ready for E3, they probably just got ruined. Bankers, eh?
Filed under: Gaming
Via: Liliputing
Source: Mesa Global
Google changes architect for new London headquarters
According to recent reports, Google has made a change in the architect working on designs for a new European headquarters to be located in London. Sources indicate Google has retained British designer Thomas Heatherwick to start working on the project, replacing AHMM. Heatherwick is one of two firms that has been working with Google on a new headquarters facility in Mountain View.
Allegedly, the change comes after Larry Page reviewed proposals from AHMM for the London facility that included an indoor climbing wall and a track on the roof only to find them “boring.” The fallout from that incident supposedly caused several AHMM staff members to leave the company. AHMM has not commented on this latest development and it is not clear whether they may still be working as part of a team with Heatherwick.
Heatherwick has been involved in several high profile projects recently like the Olympic cauldron for the 2012 London games and he recently redesigned Routemaster buses in London. The Google headquarters project is expected to be a £1 billion ($1.56 billion USD) project. However, no date for completion of the project has been set.
source: Business Insider
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Huawei’s Honor 7 teaser poster points to June 30
On June 30, Huawei should have another handset announced for the world to see. The company released a teaser poster that points to the Honor 7 debuting at the end of this month. Aside from the June 30 date explicitly listed, Huawei hints at a fingerprint scanner with the faded fingerprint containing the number seven.
Other specifications expected to appear with the Honor 7 include a 5-inch display, Kirin 935 octa-core processor, 13MP camera with OIS, and 3280mAh battery. There may be two versions as well. The standard version is said to have 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage while the high-end version raises that to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
Hit the break for the teaser poster.
Source: Weibo
Via: GizmoChina
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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 will reportedly miss its sales goals this year
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 CPU has had a rough year. There have been many, many reports of the device overheating, and although Qualcomm has tried to defer those claims as just rumors, it’s pretty clear that the negative press has hurt the processor’s market share. The HTC One M9 uses the 810, but LG’s G4 opted for the 808, and Samsung has entirely skipped the Snapdragon line for their own Exynos CPUs in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. The only two major devices using a Snapdragon 810 are the One M9 and Sony’s Xperia Z4/Z3+, and neither of those devices are shaking up the market right now.
Because of all of this drama, it looks like Qualcomm’s latest processor is going to miss its sales target for the year. With underwhelming devices not selling as well as anyone had hoped and the lack of devices that are using the 810, this really shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Regardless of this misstep, Qualcomm is still a very successful company with a very, very large chunk of the mobile phone market. Hopefully they get things back to smooth sailing with the Snapdragon 810’s successor.
source: MyDrivers
via: Phone Arena
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Alibaba working on Netflix video streaming competitor in China
Aliababa, the extremely large Chinese commerce company, is reportedly working on a video streaming service to rival Netflix in China. The service will be called TBO, or Tmall Box Office, and will operate on a mostly paid-content model. The company plans to keep around 90% of the content behind a paywall, either by subscription or a one-time fee for shows or episodes. The other 10% will be free.
The Chinese online video streaming market is very competitive, although a huge company like Alibaba stands a better chance at getting a foothold than some other contenders. Netflix still doesn’t officially have a presence in China, which likely has something to do with the poor track record of foreign companies attempting to succeed in China.
source: Reuters
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Runic Games’ ‘Torchlight Mobile’ coming to Android later this year
Popular hack ‘n’ slash RPG Torchlight is coming to Android in the form of Torchlight Mobile later this year. There’s no set date for the game’s launch just yet, but we’ll certainly see a bevy updates all the way up to the game’s release.
Torchlight takes after Blizzard Entertainment’s popular series, Diablo. Since some developers heading up Diablo left the team to create their own company, Runic Games, you can imagine Torchlight has a lot of similar elements.
It’s worth noting that Torchlight Mobile will not be a port, but a full blown sequel to the PC series.
Runic Games in partnership with Fedeen Games, under parent company Perfect World, will be heading up the mobile project. It’s not clear whether the game will feature an open world, as Torchlight 2 employed, or a more restricted world like the original Torchlight game. The latter is probably the most likely due to the limitations Android has in comparison to a PC.
Thus far, the models for the game look phenomenal. Torchlight and Torchlight 2 were both beautiful games, and there’s no doubt that Torchlight Mobile will be just as gorgeous, especially on higher-res displays.
It’ll be interesting to see how well the game plays on the NVIDIA Shield Android TV or Razer’s Forge TV. We’ll hear more information as the week goes on, as E3 2015 is currently underway where the game is being displayed at.
If you want to stay updated with the game, be sure to hit the source link below.
source: Torchlight Mobile
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Samsung’s smartwatch market share sharply dropped in Q1 2015
The growing competition in the smartwatch game has caused Samsung to see its market share drop significantly. The company’s smartwatch market share, based largely on its Tizen operating system, slid to 23.1% in Q1 2015. This, according to Strategy Analytics, is down from 47.8% in Q2 2014. Consumers want smartwatches, and wearables in general, that are compatible with various devices and platforms. Tizen, which is featured on the Gear S, only works with select Samsung devices. Android Wear, Pebble, Fitbit, and other platforms are much more open with support.
Samsung plans to gain back market share with the release of its next smartwatch that will feature a round display, refreshed user interface, and enriched developer support.
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Bethesda announces The Elder Scrolls: Legends, a Hearthstone competitor
Bethesda plans on taking on Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone with its own free-to-play collectible card game, The Elder Scrolls: Legends. It is set to launch on PC and mobile later this year.
The game was revealed during Bethesda’s keynote ahead of the E3 2015 conference. The existence of the game was surprising, since Bethesda has some other popular and long-awaited games they’re heavily working on, such as Fallout 4, Doom, and Dishonored 2.
Just like how Hearthstone first started out, The Elder Scrolls: Legends will first only be available for PC and the iPad. Bethesda hasn’t mentioned any details yet, but it shouldn’t be long after before we begin seeing a slow rollout on Android, too. After all, it is hard to believe Bethesda would limit themselves to such a small market when Hearthstone is available nearly everywhere.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Fans obviously would’ve rather seen The Elder Scrolls 6, but this card game makes a lot of sense for the developer, considering that there is a big market for it.
Be sure to stay tuned for more gaming news, as E3 2015 is underway, and mobile is a big part of it this year. What are your thoughts about The Elder Scrolls: Legends?
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GarageBand for Mac Gaining New Features Alongside Apple Music Launch on June 30
Apple has updated its GarageBand for Mac website to confirm that the music and podcast creation software will be updated with new features on June 30 alongside the launch of Apple Music, as noted by Macworld editor Kirk McElhearn on his personal blog Kirkville. The new features will relate to GarageBand’s built-in recording and editing features, including Smart Controls and Piano Roll Editor.
“Capture your changes in real time by adjusting any of your software instruments’ Smart Controls while recording a performance,” reads a caption on the GarageBand website. “You can also fine‑tune your music later in the Piano Roll Editor.”
A footnote lists the new features as available on June 30 in the United States and as “coming soon” in other countries, consistent with the Apple Music website. Smart Controls and Piano Roll Editor are two features already part of the current version of GarageBand, so it remains unclear how Apple will be improving upon these areas of the software.
It is possible that Apple may also add a way for GarageBand users to upload new music to Apple Music Connect, a social platform that will enable artists to connect with fans. Apple hopes that Apple Music Connect will help not only well-known musicians, but also unsigned artists, more easily promote their music and engage with their fans through one centralized platform.
Real Fallout 4 Pip-Boy is the wearable of the future
One of Fallout’s most iconic quasi-futuristic inventions is the trusty Pip-Boy, a wearable hub used in the game to track and manage your stats and attributes. Bethesda has announced that it will be giving away a real Pip-Boy sleeve to those who purchase the collector’s edition of the game.
While it might not be much to look at compared with today’s flashy wearables, it comes with plenty of CRT display real-estate. Better still, the Pip-Boy actually works with Fallout 4, by using your Android or iOS phone, which sits snugly inside the gadget, to access features in the game over your home WiFi network. Rather than having to enter the in-game menu, you can access the full set of Pip-Boy features directly from your wrist.
For those who don’t fancy wearing the bulky piece of technology, the app will still work with a stand-alone phone. The app will be made available once the game is released. Although second screen add-on apps are not a new feature to the gaming world, this is by far the most unique implantation that I have seen.
Fallout 4 was announced back at the beginning of the month, much to the adulation from RPG fans around the world, and details about the game have been flowing at the E3 press conference. The game is scheduled for release on November 10th 2015 and the Pip-Boy Edition will cost $119.99, €129.99, or £99.99. It also comes with a manual, poster and metal case.
As well as branching out into the wearables market, Bethesda also has a new Fallout Shelter game destined for release on Android later in the year. The game sees you watching over the lives of residents surviving inside the vault.
Bethesda has warned that supply of the Pip-Boys will be very limited, so you might want to get your pre-order in as soon as they open up.
AIVAnet 