Star Wars finally gets an official app for all your Jedi needs
It seems silly that it’s taken so long, but Lucasfilm and Disney have finally debuted an official Star Wars app to keep you connected to that far away galaxy at all times. Available for iOS and Android, it’s basically a marketing conduit for the lead up to the The Force Awakens, offering up news, countdown timers for film releases and the usual Star Wars trivia. But it also seems like they’ve had some fun with the app: There’s a jedi training feature that lets you swing your phone like a light saber, a collection of animated GIFs and classic sound effects, and you can even snap selfies as Star Wars characters. It seems like the app is basically a mobile extension of StarWars.com, which has served as a vibrant online hub for the franchise even when there were no new films on the horizon. (Insert obligatory “It’s a trap!” reference here.)
Source: StarWars.com
Facebook Planning Music Streaming Service to Compete With Apple Music and Others
Facebook is in the early stages of planning a dedicated music streaming service, with the intention of competing against the just-released Apple Music along with other industry heavyweights like Spotify and Rdio (via Music Ally).
A few reports earlier in the month tied the company to record labels with the idea of creating an ad-supported native video service, but according to sources speaking to Music Ally off the record, the bigger picture is to build an in-house music streaming service for Facebook users across the globe.
Sources told Music Ally that talks for the music-video side of things are at an advanced stage, with a rollout expected to happen in the next few months.
It’s Facebook’s plans to build on this with a Spotify-style audio streaming service that are making waves within the music industry, even though the launch date and specifics of the business model and payout formula have yet to be nailed down. Sources have told Music Ally that an audio service is very much on Facebook’s roadmap, but that both the social network and rightsholders realise that it has to get the monetised-video service right first.
Given Facebook’s history of acquiring various technology companies into itself — Oculus, Instagram, WhatsApp — it’s easy to see the social media giant doing the same in attempting to build its own streaming service. All the same, Music Ally‘s sources suggest Facebook wants to “build rather than buy,” but at this point nothing is “set in stone.”
Competition in the music streaming business is beginning to heat up with the launch of Apple Music. Just yesterday, Spotify began encouraging customers to cancel their subscriptions made through the App Store and to sign up again on its website to save $3.
Facebook iOS App Introducing ‘See First’ Option for a More Customizable News Feed
Facebook’s News Feed has gone through a number of changes over the years, with the company attempting to streamline the best way for users to visualize the content they care most about right at the top of the social media site. Today, Facebook hopes to be one step closer to that goal, with the roll out of a new “See First” option to its iOS app that will allow users to choose up to 30 people or fan pages that will automatically appear at the top of their News Feed every time they check the site (via Re/code).
Photo via The Verge
As Re/code reports, Facebook promises that any pages or people added to a user’s See First list won’t be used to target customers with ads. In fact, Facebook hopes that the more streamlined experience will encourage users to visit the site more often, and perhaps counterbalance the fact that users may generate less ad income for the company thanks to not needing to scroll through the News Feed for as long anymore.
“It sounds counterintuitive, but the worse we do on rankings, the more we make people try and scroll through, the more likely they are to just go away,” a company spokesperson told Re/code. “If we show you the stuff you really really want first, you’ll come back more often.”
The update will present users with possible suggestions for following pages and people when initially beginning the process to set-up a See First list, and also allow users to unfollow friends and pages from within the app, which you could only do on the web in the past. The update for Facebook [Direct Link] will begin rolling out throughout the day today, with the company promising the same features will be coming to Android and the web sometime soon.
Apple’s Fourth Retail Store in Hong Kong Nearing Completion
As construction continues on what will be Apple’s fourth retail store in Hong Kong, located in the upscale shopping area of Canton Road, new pictures of the store’s facade with an Apple logo shared by iMag on Facebook officially confirm that the Cupertino-based company will soon be opening up shop in the area. The store has been planned since at least August 2013 and under renovation for the past several months.
The new Canton Road location is expected to be one of the biggest Apple Stores in Asia and will mark the fourth store in Hong Kong alongside Causeway Bay, Festival Walk and IFC Mall locations. It remains unknown when the new store will open to customers, but Apple appears to be in the final stages of construction and should announce grand opening details on its website in the coming weeks or months.
PornHub built a $1,000 twerking, robot butt
If there’s one website that knows how to combine technology and savvy public relations stunts, it’s PornHub. The company behind the WankBand is gearing up to launch another piece of hardware in the form of TwerkingButt, an adult toy that promises to set a “new benchmark in sexual stimulation.” Which is a ten-dollar way of saying that it’s a robotic butt that vibrates when it’s plugged in. Thanks to CyberSkin technology, the unit will even warm itself to a temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to match that of a human body.
Once you’ve sat down and the doors are locked, you can pull out your smartphone and use it as a remote control for the device. There’s plenty of things for you to tweak, too, including the massage speed, vibration and even the twerking rhythm if you opt for the more expensive edition of the device. In addition, the deluxe version comes with a VR headset, although the company isn’t talking specifics about what content will work with your new toy, or how. What we do know is that it took PornHub and Topco, its manufacturing partner, four years from start to finish to refine the technology for human use. If that’s enough motivation for you to try one, then you can pre-order the regular model for $699 or, if you want the additional features, the deluxe box with “twerking technology” for $999.
Oh, and the answer to the question that you’re all desperate to ask is: Yes, there is an anal cavity for you to insert yourself inside. We just couldn’t think of a clear enough euphemism to just casually slip that in.
Source: PornHub
Vortex lets kids program their own robot buddy
Sphero, the ball-shaped robot, inspired a new generation of toys that aren’t only fun, but can also be used as educational tools for kids. Vortex, pictured above, is one of these. Created by DFRobot, a company that’s been selling open-source hardware since 2008, Vortex is being revealed today via Kickstarter, with the goal being to raise $50,000 through crowdfunding. Vortex, which is small enough to fit on the palm of your hand, is described as a smart and responsive device that’s meant to inspire incredible fun and creativity — and that it does. It’s not nearly as fast as the Sphero 2.0 or Ollie, but Vortex wants to shine in other specific areas, namely its multiplayer and Arduino features.
To make programming and playing easier, Vortex is going to have companion apps for iOS and Android, which will let your kids (ages 6 and up recommended) learn basic robotics and coding by way of a colorful and easy-to-use interface. “With Vortex, DFRobot wants to bring back the joy of tinkering to the next generation and boost STEM education among children, even from an early age, DFRobot CEO Ricky Ye said to Engadget in an interview. “For the most part, toy technology has actually not changed much for decades. We’re challenging this with a smart robot that children can enthusiastically play with, while also learning about programming and robotics.”
Part of what Ye mentions is also about making Vortex accessible to people. With that in mind, the Kickstarter page is set to offer a single Vortext for $69, which includes the robot, a pack of stickers to play games and a golf set. If you want two, then that’ll be $119 — a small saving compared to the price of one unit. DFRobot says it expects to ship the Vortex later this fall.
Filed under: Misc, Robots, Science, Mobile
Source: Vortex (Kickstarter)
ICYMI: Tortilla tunes, Russian selfie safety and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: Some genius decided to engrave a record into an uncooked flour tortilla and the thing actually plays. Russians keep doing such risky things for selfies that the government just launched a selfie safety campaign. And Google’s Street View is being taken to a whole new level with an algorithm that stitches together frames to create seamless tours.
Today’s bonus video is for those of you who are missing Game of Thrones real bad: Watch the intense White Walker battle scene in green screen to see how the editors made it all happen.
If you come across any similarly interesting videos, we’d love to see them! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under: Cameras, Displays, Misc, GPS, Handhelds, Science, Internet, Google
Facebook lets you choose what appears in your News Feed
If you’re a regular Facebook user, you’ll know that the posts that appear in your News Feed are visible because of an algorithm. It’s part of the company’s mission to reduce post overload, but it can often mean that you’ll miss updates from some of your friends. In May, Zuckerberg and co. began testing a new feature that let users choose what they see in their feeds, but it was only available to a select few. From today, however, the new set of controls are rolling out to all.
So what’s new? Firstly, Facebook wants you to choose who you’ll see first when you open its apps. In the News Feed Preferences, you can select the profile picture of a friend, family member or your favorite page and their updates will be loaded before the rest of your timeline.
For those friends or pages who you probably should have removed eons ago, two updated features let you better control what you see from them. You can now zip through friends and pages and choose who you want to “unfollow,” allowing you to keep up appearances without having to suffer through numerous photos of cats, uninformed rants or needy status updates. Now it’s a handy list, you also can re-add friends that you feel might deserve a second chance.
Lastly, there’s a new Page suggestion tool that will automatically suggest pages based on your previous Likes. This is similar to Twitter’s tailored suggestions, which recommends people you might want to follow based on who you’ve just added. Facebook says that the updated News Feed controls will roll out on iOS devices today and arrive on Android and the official website “in the coming weeks.” If you’ve been crying out for a more personalized timeline, your voice has finally been heard.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/132961281?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: Facebook
These are our favorite video game soundtracks
Music can tame the most savage beast, but when you’re slinking around a cargo ship as a super spy, playing cowboy or making your way toward a massive mountain in the distance, sometimes you don’t want calm. You want dirty, wistful or haunting tracks to fit the action onscreen. The best video game scores stick with you long after you turn the TV off, though, and that’s what we want to highlight here. We’re pretty big fans of how they’ve progressed throughout the years from simple beeps and boops to full-blown symphonic masterpieces that’ve traveled through concert halls around the world. Just below you’ll find the scores the Engadget Gaming crew’s most fond of and one that we don’t particularly care for but felt like calling attention to anyhow. Have a favorite of your own that didn’t make the list? Hit the comments below.
Did any of our picks match yours?
[Image credit: WIlliam Hook/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
T-Mobile widens roaming as it becomes the third biggest carrier
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure recently said he was tired of T-Mobile’s “Uncarrier bullshit,” but that BS has almost certainly helped it displace Sprint as the nation’s third-largest carrier. T-Mobile’s preliminary earnings report shows that it added 2.1 million new customers this quarter, giving it 58.9 million in total. As of May, Sprint had 57.1 million customers after adding 1.2 million in the previous quarter. Depending on Sprint’s performance over the past few months, T-Mobile might sprint ahead of it by next quarter. As if that isn’t enough, Legere also announced the company’s latest Uncarrier move, and it’s sure to make Claure “mad, bro.”
T-Mobile is extending its Simple Choice plan to include calling in Canada and Mexico as part of what it’s calling “Mobile without Borders.” Simple Choice already allows users to text and use data in well over 100 countries, but the addition of calling to the plan means that you’ll be able to use your phone as if you were at home from anywhere in the continent. If that sounds a little familiar, that’s because AT&T recently announced it plans to create a “North American Service Area” after the purchase of Mexican carrier Nextel goes through. Unfortunately, AT&T’s North America forgot about Canada, meaning T-Mobile’s roaming deal seemingly tops AT&T’s before it’s even launched.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, T-Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
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