Sony’s next big PS4 update brings Remote Play to PC and Mac

Sony surprised a lot of people when it announced you’d be able to remotely play PlayStation 4 games on a PC or Mac back in November. But we’re just as surprised at how quickly it’s turned this around: Remote Play will come with the next big PlayStation software update. Unfortunately, although the beta for the new firmware — version 3.5 — starts tomorrow, Remote Play will not be part of that pilot.

What is included is a number of software improvements. The bulk of the changes relate to PSN and online play.

First, you’ll be able to get notifications for when certain friends sign in. And, perhaps to counter this, you’ll be able to appear offline to your PSN friends. For online play, User Scheduled Events will let you set a time and date for a future play session. Once the time is right, anyone signed up for the event will be added to a party, which sounds pretty useful if you regularly game with a particular group. Once you’re in a party, you’ll be able to see what each member is playing in order to smooth out the process of joining a friend’s game. Bringing up the rear is the addition of the popular and totally relevant video app DailyMotion.

There’s no clear release date for the new firmware coming to the general public. The last major software revision had month-long beta, which gives us a clue as to the timeline, but how quickly 3.5 will arrive depends on the success and stability of the beta test. Those approved for the beta program should get the update tomorrow, sans Remote Play, of course.

Source: Sony

Sony Launching ‘Remote Play’ of PS4 Games on Mac and PC ‘Soon’

Sony has announced that its forthcoming Remote Play app for streaming PlayStation 4 games on Mac or Windows PC will be available “soon.” However, the feature will not be included in PlayStation 4’s latest 3.50 system software update, which launches in beta tomorrow.

Last November, Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida tweeted that it is working on an official Remote Play app for Mac and PC, enabling users to stream and play PS4 games on desktops and notebooks. Physically owning a PS4 will still be required to stream games.

Remote Play is currently limited to various Sony devices, including the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV and newer Xperia-branded smartphones and tablets. All new PS4 games must be compatible with Remote Play, except for games that use peripherals such as PlayStation Move.

Tags: Sony, PS4, PlayStation
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Morgan EV3 is a steampunk dream, plus it’s electric

Morgan is a car manufacturer steeped in history that respects the past. So even when going electric it has managed to remain decidedly old school in its stylings with the EV3.

The Morgan EV3, revealed as a production model at the Geneva Motor Show 2016, is a three wheel, all-electric car that really does look like something out of a steampunk game.

This is the first all electric vehicle from Morgan which will be available to buy. The 500kg machine features a 62bhp electric motor fed by lithium ion batteries. That weight to power ratio should result in a 0-62mph time of 8-seconds, a top speed of 115mph and a range of 150 miles.

Morgan currently has its similarly designed 3 Wheeler which is priced at £25,950. It says the electric EV3 will be similarly priced.

The Morgan EV3 looks like something out of the past with those thin wheels mounted on that round edged bonnet. As for that bronze looking radiator and three lights to match the wheel number, it’s inspired. We really wouldn’t be surprised if someone adapted this to work off steam with a full chimney piping out of the rear above the seat. In fact it might even enhance the car.

Morgan will start producing the EV3 in Q4 of this year so don’t expect to get hold of one until early next year. That gives you plenty of time to pick out a nice white scarf, leather driving gloves and a pair of goggles then.

READ: Porsche Macan Turbo review: The SUV superstar

Android N guide: Notifications explained

It’s been barely 24 hours since the last Android N leak and now another has landed on our desk. This time it’s the notifications panel that had an overhaul, for the better.

Android Police has managed to get a look at an early build of Android N and using that glimpse has mocked up images of what it looks like.

On an aesthetic level the shade of the panel itself will be changed, but on a more functional level settings access is also upgrading.

So what can we hopefully expect in the new Android N?

Android Poilce

Android N: Notifications

The look of the new notifications panel is a cleaner one with more information condensed into full width tiles. Currently there is a space between notifications panels, above and below. This is being done away with for Android N in favour of a more linear approach. The result is more space for a greater amount of information.

One piece of information now included at a glance is the app name which the notification relates to. This was accessible before but required a long press of the notification tile.

The older tiles featured larger app icons. Since the app name is now included, these have been shrunk down. The result is more centralised writing for focus on what’s important – the message itself. Colour also makes an appearance in the notifications, which could make breaking up the more condensed text easier for a clearer view.

Android Poilce

Android N: Quick settings

Google has previously always kept its quick notifications in the top panel. Other companies have skinned the OS and offered more quick options in the pull-down. Now Google appears to want to do the same.

The Android N mock-up shows the new pull-down, which offers full settings options. Gone are the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth expandable menus but added are an edit function and pagination.

Now you’ll be able to pick which apps you want at the top and for those you use less often there’s another page for relegation.

Also there’s apparently a cool new drop-down animation that expands the bar out as you slide it open.

Android N is expected to get shown off at Google I/O in the summer.

READ: Android N appears without an app tray, just like iOS: Fans freak out

Watch Google’s robot ‘Spot’ play with Andy Rubin’s real dog

The US military recently decided that Google’s Alpha Dog and Spot robots weren’t ready for active duty, leaving the four legged robots with nothing to do. In the meantime, Google is doing with its battery-powered Spot robot what we probably would — using it as a dog toy. The company recently unleashed it on Alex, the terrier that reportedly belongs to Android co-founder and Playground Global boss Andy Rubin. The adorable result is that Alex, clearly the boss of this arrangement, sees the hapless robot as an existential threat that must be barked at and harangued (no butt-sniffing, luckily).

The model is reportedly the only one that’s not in military hands, and there’s no word on what Google’s Boston Dynamics plans to do with it now. The military thought Spot could be a potential ground reconnaissance asset, but “the problem is, Spot in its current configuration doesn’t have the autonomy to do that,” says James Peneiro, the Ground Combat head of the Warfighting Lab. It would be shortsighted, of course, to think the robots need to be put to work right away. A lot of the self-balancing tech in Spot (and its ability to take a kick) can already be found in the next-generation humanoid Atlas Robot.

Via: IEEE Spectrum

Source: Steve Jurvetson (YouTube)

The ‘Uncharted 4’ open beta starts this weekend

Sony is likely to open the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End multiplayer beta to everyone in the world this weekend. The offering was previously limited to folks who’d bought the Nathan Drake Collection, but that restriction has now been relaxed. The folks over at Eurogamer found a download client for the beta over in the European PlayStation Store, which has since been pulled. According to the site, the testing will kick off in Europe at 5pm GMT (12PM ET) on March 4th and run through to late in the day on March 6th. Naturally, the beta will be rolled out at different times across the globe, but we’d put good money on you getting in on the action once you’ve eaten your dinner on Friday night.

Source: Eurogamer

Giant virus can protect itself against other viruses

Didier Raoult, a microbiologist at Aix-Marseille University in France, must be some sort of virus whisperer. He’d made various discoveries about the world of viruses over the years. In the latest study that he co-led with fellow microbiologist Bernard La Scola, for instance, they discovered that a type of giant virus called mimivirus has an immune system and can protect itself against other viruses. Raoult believes the study’s findings are proof that mimiviruses, which typically grow inside amoeba, constitute a separate and fourth domain in the Woese system of classification. Under the Woese system, the three recognized domains of cellular life are Bacteria, Archaea (single-celled microorganisms) and Eukarya (cells with membranes and organelles).

Let’s go back a few years to understand the whole picture here. Raoult and his colleagues discovered the existence of complex, gigantic viruses over a decade ago. They’re big enough to be seen under an ordinary microscope, whereas typical viruses require the use of more powerful electron microscopes. Five years later, back in 2008, Raoult and the team he was working with found that those giant viruses can get sick when infected by other viruses now called “virophages.”

When Raoult and La Scola tried to infect mimiviruses with a virophage known as Zamilon, they found that the big viruses were able to fight the infection off. Upon taking a closer look, the team determined that the mimiviruses employ an immune system similar to CRISPR. That’s the immune system found in a lot of bacteria and archaea.

The MIMIVIRE system (as Raoult chose to name it) can store genetic materials from the virophages that it comes into contact with. It then consults this collection whenever it senses the presence of an invader. If it’s a virophage the system remembers, it sics enzymes upon the intruder to chop its DNA up into pieces.

While the researchers still have figure out MIMIVIRE’s mechanism, Raoult thinks its presence inside mimiviruses proves that these big organisms are ancient and deserving of their own domain. He also believes that just like CRISPR, it could be used in the lab to edit genes for research.

Source: Nature (1), (2)

Even Snapchat falls victim to phishing attempts

Snapchat bragged about its eight billion daily video views on Monday, but over the weekend something happened that the ephemeral social app is probably less enthusiastic to admit: it’s just as susceptible to phishing attempts as anyone else. A post on the company’s blog says that last Friday someone impersonating the ghostly app’s CEO emailed the payroll department and requested and received information about some of its staff.

The blog stresses that unlike before, its servers were not breached in any way, nor was any user information compromised. So unless you were or are a current employee you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. And for that matter, Snapchat is providing two years of identity theft monitoring and insurance as a way of saying it’s sorry to the folks affected. There’s no word on exactly how many people’s identities were compromised.

To prevent social engineering from getting the best of employees in the future, Snapchat says it’s going to “redouble” its already “rigorous” training procedures over the coming weeks.

Source: Snapchat

iPhone 7 May Feature Flush Camera, Stereo Speakers and Thinner Lightning Port

Over the past six months there have been reports indicating that the iPhone 7 would include several new features, like a flush rear camera and stereo speakers. Tonight, Mac Otakara has issued a new report corroborating several of those rumors, including that the iPhone 7 could include a thinner lightning port, no 3.5mm headphone jack and more.

The site reports that the new phone will not have antenna bands across the rear and will have a flush rear camera, corroborating a MacRumors report in early February. The site notes that it’s likely the iPhone 7 will also come with stereo speakers, which was first predicted by Barclays analyst earlier this month.

Last September, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a report that the iPhone 7 would approach a thinness similar to that of the 6.1mm iPod touch. Mac Otakara’s report roughly agrees with that, noting that the iPhone 7 could be 1mm thinner than the 7.1mm iPhone 6s.

Mac Otakara also reiterated its earlier reports that the iPhone 7 would not include a headphone jack, instead using an all-in-one Lighting connector. However, the site claims that the Lightning connector enclosure may be thinner than normal; the Lightning port will still use the same cables.

A source on Chinese social media site Weibo claimed that the iPhone 7 would be waterproofed and use new composite materials for its shell last September. However, Mac Otakara says the iPhone 7 will include neither, instead using the same aluminum material and will be as water resistant as the iPhone 6s.

Thus far, reports have indicated that a rumored new dual-lens camera system would be included on the iPhone 7 Plus to differentiate it from the regular iPhone 7. Mac Otakara corroborates that the iPhone 7 will not have a dual-lens camera system, but notes that it doesn’t know if the feature will be included in the 7 Plus. Earlier today it was reported that Apple is considering introducing a new high-end iPhone 7 Plus with a dual-lens camera system called the iPhone Pro to better differentiate it from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

Apple is expected to announce both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus at an event in September. Unlike the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which sourced A9 chips from both Samsung and TSMC, Apple will turn to TSMC exclusively for the iPhone 7’s A10 chip. Apple is also expected to announce the iPhone SE, a new 4-inch iPhone, this March alongside a new 9.7-inch iPad.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Square Cash wants to help you stash cash – CNET

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Jason Cipriani/CNET

Square updated its Cash app on Monday, adding the ability to store money within a Cash Drawer. The digital savings account, of sorts, will keep money from being directly deposited in your checking account.

Why would you want to do that? Well, you can use the funds in your Square Cash Drawer as means to pay future bills, or easily send money to someone else without having to touch funds in your checking account.

To enable the new feature, make sure you’re using the latest version of the Cash app (iOS, Android).

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

• After updating the app, open it and tap on your profile picture in the top-left corner.
• Scroll down and find the Cash option under Funds; tap on it.
• Slide the switch to the On position, then enter a passcode if prompted.

With Cash Drawer enabled, any time someone sends money to your Cash account your Cash account will hold the funds. I had $1 sent to me, and after 30 it has yet to show up in my Cash Drawer. However, the alert did say it would take some time before the funds were in my Drawer.

When you have a balance in your Cash Drawer, those funds will be used first, followed by your linked debit card. You can view your balance by tapping on the Cash Drawer button at the top of the main screen, or by tapping on your profile icon, followed by Cash. (This is also the same place you will need to navigate to should you want to disable the feature.)

To withdraw your Cash balance, tap on the Cash Out button when viewing your Cash Drawer balance.

Square’s announcement notes the company plans on adding a button to add funds to a Cash account in the next few weeks.