LG brings a smarter pen experience to the Stylus 2

LG’s promised trickle of details leading up to the G5’s debut is in full force, but it’s also teasing out at least one other model. Like last year, the outfit is selling a stylus-equipped phablet, the LG Stylus 2. Here’s to hoping that the Korean tech company keeps that nomenclature from the prepared release rather than making us Yanks and folks in Korea request a “Stylo” again.

Other than that, the phone has a few smart features to go with its latest pointer/input method. Taking the stylus out of its holder triggers Pen Pop, a shortcut menu where the Pop Memo and Pop Scanner apps reside. The Stylus 2 also has built-in tools to make sure you don’t leave the fancy finger-replacement behind as well. Should the phone detect motion when the stylus tunnel is empty, Pen Keeper will pop an alert.

As far as hardware goes, expect a 5.7-inch, 1280 x 720 screen; 1.2 GHz processor and a 13 MP camera on the back. Nothing too crazy in that regard.

The company’s big reveal is set for next week on the 21st, but if these teasers keep it up, there might not be much new to talk about by this year’s Mobile World Congress in Spain.

Source: LG

Leaked teaser video shows off waterproof Galaxy S7, S7 Edge

Samsung isn’t officially showing off its next flagship phone until the 21st, there’s already a video of it available on a company YouTube channel. Imploring us to get ready for #TheNextGalaxy, the video shows off what we’re guessing are the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. There’s not much in the way of details and the design looks very close to the current S6 lineup, but a rainy segment would appear to confirm rumors of waterproofing. It also appears to have a flat back, confirming a Wall Street Journal report that it would ditch the protruding camera hump this time around.

Separately, a tipster tells Engadget that a rumored March 11th launch date is correct, that the devices will be IP68 waterproof certified, and there will be SIM card / microSD card slots on the top. Phone Probe also pointed out a Samsung Indonesia webpage that says the Galaxy S7 will “bring light to the night,” which alludes to better low-light camera performance. That all lines up with the leaked images we’ve seen before, although we should find out for sure in about a week.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Phone Probe, Samsung Indonesia

Army blimp went on a rampage due to lack of batteries

The Pentagon is done looking into what caused the Army’s JLENS blimp to drift away and demolish power lines in its path in 2015. While investigators refused to make the full report public, Los Angeles Times has seen the overview and summary they provided to congress staff members. According to the reports, the agency determined what led to the blimp’s disastrous rampage, including the fact that its automatic deflator didn’t work because it had no backup power source.

The JLENS or Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System program is comprised of two tethered blimps with radars that can track aircraft and missiles. An 18-inch-long device called pitot tube that measures the blimps’ air pressure apparently started the unfortunate sequence of events in October 2015. One of the blimps failed to start up its fans in response to atmospheric changes, because its pitot tube was malfunctioning and couldn’t effectively do its job. Due to the drop in air pressure, the blimp turned perpendicular to the wind — it remained that way until its 8-inch-thick Kevlar tethers were torn apart.

Now, here’s what’s frustrating. The blimp wouldn’t have damaged Pennsylvania’s power lines if only the Army installed its batteries. Its tethers also held its electric wiring, but it was supposed to have a backup power source for its automatic deflation system. The blimp would have fallen to the ground two miles from where it was tied down if only the device worked. LA Times says the military asked Congress for $27 million to get the JLENS project back up. It remains to be seen whether the government will agree, considering the project had been performing poorly before it was suspended.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Los Angeles Times

BBC Three is now an online-only channel

For sentimentality’s sake, we hope you indulged in your pre-bed ritual of catching a cheeky episode of American Dad! on BBC Three last night — because as of the early hours of this morning, it ceased to exist as a broadcast channel. For the next few weeks, it’ll be repurposed to promote BBC Three’s new online-only identity before disappearing from your TV’s EPG… forever. The switch has been a long time coming, of course, with the BBC setting the ball rolling almost two years ago as part of continued cost-cutting measures. Despite some opposition from the public, the BBC Trust formally approved the broadcaster’s plan for an online-only BBC Three late last year, and that transition has concluded today.

The BBC Trust’s green light wasn’t without fine print, with various conditions set “to ensure younger audiences continue to be well served.” BBC Three became known for its experimental and often hilarious commissions, and the BBC has been keen to comfort loyal viewers with the promise its doctrine won’t die alongside the linear TV channel. As part of BBC Three’s rebirth, it’ll further embrace new media, with its YouTube channel and social network activity becoming more important outlets for content.

In addition to BBC Three’s iPlayer presence, a new online portal called The Daily Drop is already live, highlighting content on social media channels and blending in blog posts, news and short-form videos. Joining that site later today is another platform, “The Best Of,” which will primarily feature long-form content like documentaries, dramas and comedies, such as the new series of Cuckoo that premieres online this evening.

Plenty of new commissions have been announced across all these genres already, and while BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanagh admits “we won’t get everything right immediately,” he’s confident “being online means we can now adapt and iterate quickly.”

“We aren’t constrained by duration or form anymore so the shackles are off when it comes to creativity.”

Source: BBC

‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ lead writer joins Bungie

Not long after the departure of writer David Gaider, another scribe from Canadian developer BioWare has left the company. This time it’s the lead writer from the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda, Chris Schlerf. The announcement comes by way of Schlerf himself via a series of tweets. Naturally, he’s proud of his work on the game and says he’s excited to play it upon release, in addition to saying that working with BioWare was one of the best experiences of his career. Where’s he working now? In another sci-fi universe under the employ of Bungie where he’s presumably writing the next bits of Destiny.

This shift could signal a few things. Given Schlerf’s short tenure (his Linkedin profile says he left BioWare last September after joining in November 2013), he may have been a contracted employee, with his duties ending once a bulk of the work as lead writer was done on Andromeda. That’d make his leaving a normal course of business.

The other possibility, when combined with the rest of BioWare’s high-level exits these past few years, might be an indication that something is afoot at the studio and leadership-role workers are leaving for better opportunities sooner rather than later. We’ve reached out for more information and will update this post if anything becomes clearer.

To confirm what some folks asked about a few months back, I am no longer working on ME:A at BioWare Montreal.

— schlerf (@schlerf) February 16, 2016

All that said, very happy to be back in Seattle, working with this scrappy little company called Bungie that some of you may have heard of.

— schlerf (@schlerf) February 16, 2016

Via: Game Informer

Source: Chris Schlerf (Twitter)

Sony’s new smartphone camera sensor is smaller and cheaper

At this point, Sony’s more famous for the components that it makes for other people’s devices than their own phones. It’s certainly the case for its image sensors, which are now used by Apple, Huawei and, if the rumors are to be believed, Samsung. Just in time for MWC, the firm is releasing a new Exmor RS, the IMX318, that’s likely to pop up in plenty more devices in the next year or so. It’s a 1/2.6-inch stacked CMOS that has a maximum resolution of 22.5-megapixels and a hybrid autofocus that’ll focus in as little as 0.03 seconds. The sensor is a lot smaller than its predecessors, but now includes three-axis, electronic image stabilization that could do away with bulky OIS lenses.

If all of that jargon is too much to handle on a Tuesday, it’s probably easier to say that this is a very close cousin to the IMX300 we found in the Xperia Z5. That phone also came with similar features and makes a good case for being the best smartphone for photography that’s currently on the market. The hybrid autofocus that it was packing was devilishly quick and its low-light photography was pretty amazing. If that same technology is now available for non-Sony phones, the arguments about the quality of phone photography could soon be a thing of the past. The company thinks that it’ll be able to ship these sensors out by May, so expect it to pop up in plenty of other devices by the time the holidays come calling.

Source: Sony

Former Nokia music service MixRadio is shutting down

When Nokia signed a deal with Microsoft to license Windows Phone, the Finnish smartphone maker built a suite of apps to help lure iOS and Android users to the platform. It launched dedicated navigation and camera apps, but also a music app called MixRadio.

The free streaming service, which started life as Nokia Comes With Music in 2007, remained exclusive to Windows Phone until shortly after Microsoft acquired Nokia and the software giant deemed MixRadio surplus to requirements. After little more than a year, its current owner, Japanese messaging firm Line, has also decided enough is enough and announced today that will shut down the streaming service.

In a statement, Line hints that a lack of revenue was behind MixRadio’s closure: “After a careful assessment of the subsidiary’s overall performance, the financial challenges posed by the music streaming market, and priorities of LINE Corporation, LINE has determined that future growth would be difficult to ensure and decided to discontinue the MixRadio music streaming service.”

Although the service will be phased out in the “coming weeks,” Line says it will continue to offer music streaming via its Line Music app, which is currently live in Japan and Thailand. There’s no word on whether the company plans to widen the number of launch markets, so if you’re an existing MixRadio user, you may soon need to find a new streaming home.

Via: MusicAlly

Source: Line

The Spectrum could return as a handheld games console

A little over a year ago Retro Computers pitched a new version of the classic ZX Spectrum on Indiegogo. The console and controller hybrid allowed anyone to play 1,000 games such as Knight Lore and Underwurlde on their TV. Now, the startup has returned with the Vega+, a portable successor that trades the Spectrum’s classic looks for a sleeker and more modern package. It still comes with an extensive library, only this time you have the option of playing it on the go using the built-in display.

Retro Computers is backed by Sinclair Research, the company founded by ZX Spectrum inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. Like the original Vega, the handheld Vega+ has been unveiled as an Indiegogo project, which — as with all crowdfunding projects — means there’s no guarantee it’ll ever materialise. The portable’s predecessor did make it to market, however, so the Luton startup at least has a track record this time around.

For £100 you can back the project and reserve a Vega handheld in either blue, red or white. An extra £75 will upgrade your backer reward to the limited “BLACK” version, which also includes a tour around the company’s factory in Nottinghamshire. As for the console itself, well, the details are a little scarce at the moment. Retro Computers has shown off some renders — but no working product, notably — which reveal a basic D-pad, four circular face buttons and three “secondary action buttons.” Along the top you’ll find a microSD card slot for loading additional games, volume buttons and a headphone socket that doubles as the TV connection port.

It certainly looks the part, and Retro Computers says it has a “fully working prototype waiting to go into production.” If you can’t wait that long, there’s always the Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum, a Bluetooth keyboard that looks the part and syncs with an iOS or Android device.

Source: Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+ (Indiegogo)

‘Better Call Saul’ season 2 hits Netflix in the UK

Although Netflix is doubling down on original content, the streaming service still heavily relies on content produced by TV networks. AMC has proved a valuable partner, allowing the company to syndicate the final season of Breaking Bad and offer episodes soon after they aired in the US. The same can be said of its spin-off, Better Call Saul, which premiered on Netflix in February 2015 and has today returned for a second season.

Season 2 sees Jimmy McGill (played by Bob Odenkirk) continue to struggle with life as a lawyer and a con-man — making decisions that will ultimately see him ditch his name and become Saul Goodman. Due to licencing agreements, only the first episode is available today, with others appearing on a week-by-week basis. It’s a departure from Netflix’s Originals strategy, but it’ll ensure you’ll have content to watch once you’ve finished the second series of Daredevil.

Source: Netflix

Simon has evolved into a touch-free memory game

Hasbro reinvented Simon in 2014, using touchscreen displays to replace buttons and turn it into the Simon Swipe. Now, the famous American toymaker is gearing up to release a new version of the game, one that you don’t even need to touch to play. Simon Air still throws color sequences at you to remember, but it removes the need for pressing buttons. It senses your hand motions to determine the colors you choose in the sequences you choose them.

Due to the way it works, Hasbro slotted in some sequences where you have to sweep your hand across several colors. Also, you can team up with friends for especially difficult moves. Simon Air isn’t available yet, but you can get one for your kid (or yourself) sometime this fall for $20. Besides the touch-free game, Hasbro is also releasing a new Monopoly and a new Bop It!, which (of course) comes with a task called “selfie it.”