‘Oddworld’ goes dark with sequel ‘Soulstorm’

The Oddworld games have always had something to say about the world we live in, but despite tackling themes like environmental destruction at the hands of ruthless corporations. But despite the heavy material, the games themselves were pretty bright and colorful. Oddworld: Soulstorm could change that. Soulstorm picks up immediately following the events of last year’s New and Tasty remaster of the first game and sees returning protagonist Abe leading some 300 liberated Mudokon brethren through the desert.

According to the press release, Abe and Co. don’t have any access to food, water or shelter, but there is a “delicious drink that has insidious ramifications for their newfound freedom” available to them.

Series creator Lorne Lanning says that there was a “deeper, darker, and more sinister” story in the universe that his team wasn’t able to tell before now and describes Soulstorm as a “much heavier” game than previous. Itching to know more ahead of its late 2017 release? Well, that makes a lot of us. To reveal additional bits about the game, you’ll have to follow Oddworld Inhabitants’ social pages, and even then new info won’t be revealed until certain follower thresholds are met. For now you’ll just have to make due with the weird GIFs embedded below.

Source: Oddworld

Non-toxic carbon nanotube battery could power space probes

MIT researchers are developing an alternative to lithium batteries that uses absolutely no toxic materials and isn’t prone to spontaneous combustion. This alternative source of power takes the form of wires made out of carbon nanotubes — the same cylindrical carbon molecules used to create the darkest material on Earth. Those wires produce electricity if you heat them from one end to the other. That’s because the heat carries “electrons with it like a bunch of surfers riding a wave” through the carbon nanotube bundles. They do need a combustible material to burn, but the team made sure to use a material that’s also benign and non-toxic: ordinary table sugar.

In their current form, the carbon nanotube wires are one percent efficient in converting heat to electricity. While that doesn’t sound like much, that’s still 10,000 times more efficient than what team lead Michael Strano originally reported when he discovered that carbon nanotubes can be used as a power source. Other combustible materials besides sugar could improve their efficiency even further.

The team already proved that the wires can power simple devices like LED lights, but it’ll take time before the technology is ready to compete with lithium-based batteries. This power source could be scaled down for tiny wearables that are already hitting the market. But the researchers believe it could also be scaled up for use with deep-space probes. It can remain dormant for many years as the probe journeys through space and provide the power it needs whenever heat is applied.

Source: MIT

ExoMars is speeding toward the red planet

In 2013 the European and Russian folks behind ExoMars announced they’d launch a rocket to explore Mars this year and they’re right on schedule. Lifting off from Kazakhstan this morning, the spacecraft now has a seven month journey to the Red Planet where the Schiaparelli module will test its entry, descent and landing tech that’ll be used on future missions. Once on the surface it’ll start doing environmental analysis and hopefully avoid a turf selfie war with our Curiosity rover. Its “short” surface mission involves measuring electrical fields that should give insight into what triggers Martian dust storms.

Additionally, the Trace Gas Orbiter craft will execute a low orbit analysis of Mars’ atmosphere, looking for rare gases. Specifically? Methane, which The European Space Agency says is key to understanding Mars given the gas’ role in terms of geological and biological science. More than all this, the TGO will be used as a data relay point for ExoMars’ 2018 mission that’ll deploy a stationary surface science platform.

If your imagination isn’t sufficient, the video below might give you a better idea of how the rocket that took off will change the closer it gets to our red celestial neighbor.

Via: CNET

Source: The European Space Agency

Night mode is back and (we hope) it’s here to stay

Android’s going dark again, and maybe this time it’s gonna last.

When I joined the Android world, Google Play Music All Access had a dark theme to it, and I absolutely loved it. I savored those darker hues when listening to my music late into the night. Then at Google I/O 2013, they unveiled All Access, and a shiny, white UI to go with it. And I wept, for my beloved dark theme was gone. Soon, white UIs took over all the Google apps, and over most of the system, as the once-dark Settings app went white in Lollipop.

Now, in the Android N developer preview, some of apps are reclaiming their darker UIs with the newly returned Night mode. And I hope that maybe, just maybe, dark themes will return to more individual apps.

In Android M’s developer preview, Night mode was hiding in the Developer options, but it was pulled from the official release. This year, it’s back, but it’s in the System UI Tuner, in a new section called Color and appearance.

Night mode has more granular settings this year rather than a simple on/off/automatic choice like last year. After enabling Night mode, you have the option to have it come on automatically based on your location and time. You can also manually toggle it from the settings menu or from the Quick Settings page, if you prefer.

At the moment, while night mode can implement a dark theme for the Android system, it does not change the theme in third-party apps, or even in Google’s apps. However, in Android Support Libraries released in February, Google did announce new DayNight theme protocols to help developers easily create both light and dark themes for their apps. They also highly encouraged them to test them, as many hard-coded colors don’t play nice in dark themes. This was a relatively recent addition to Android, so they might be holding off on the Night mode setting to switch between DayNight themes until more developers have had time to implement them.

There are three attributes to Night mode that you can mix and match to your content:

• Use Dark theme for Android OS: This changes the Settings app, the built-in file manager, and system popups (like the power off menu) to a darker color scheme. It doesn’t extend to the notifications or the Google apps yet, which is a bit of a downer, but there’s still time for that to be added in another preview.
• Adjust tint: This will add a warm hue to the screen. Some studies say that bluer hues can interfere with our sleep cycles, so many night mode apps use a red or yellow tone to counteract it.
• Adjust brightness: This will dim the phone at night. If you use adaptive brightness, you may not notice much change. If you keep your brightness cranked up, this can tone it down at night when you’re likely in a dimmer environment.

By allowing dark and light themes to be supported on a system level as well as an eventual per-app level (if DayNight is eventually controlled by Night mode), Google would give users a higher level of choice. For those who like being blinded every time they open their phone, the boring white day theme is there for them. For those of us who remember DarkHOLOYOLO, we can once more savor a night theme that is easier on our eyes.

There’s always a chance they can take Night mode out again, but I’m very hopeful that we can keep it this time. I also need to say that even if N is a preview for third-party developers, Google should be leading by example and showing devs how night mode looks in Google’s own apps. If you’re going to tell developers to implement a night theme for their apps, it should start with yours.

Google, you can start with Play Music. I’ll be waiting, dancing in the dark.

Microsoft is finally letting Xbox One, PS4, and PC gamers play together

Pigs have begun to fly.

Something that seemed like it would never happen has in fact happened: Microsoft is announcing cross-network play. The company has long-teased such a feature, but now it’s actually doing something about it. The new feature will allow Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers using Xbox Live to play with gamers on different online multiplayer networks – including PlayStation and other console and PC networks.

For years, console gamers were only allowed to play with other gamers on either the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live, which means most gamers end up buying the same console that most of their friends have purchased. With cross-network play however, online multiplayer gaming will be opened up across different platforms, thus changing the future of console gaming as well as console-buying habits.

There are some caveats, however. Here’s what Microsoft explained:

“Of course, it’s up to game developers to support this feature, and Xbox Live players will always have the option of choosing to play only with other Xbox Live players. We’re thrilled to confirm that Psyonix’s Rocket League will be one of the first games to take advantage of this new capability by enabling cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players, with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well.”

In other words… Although developers for Xbox One and Windows 10 will now have the ability to support cross-network play in their games, Sony and other networks still need participate in order for games to be played across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and the PC.

Paramount says ‘Star Trek’ fan film’s Klingon violates copyright

Ever since CBS and Paramount Pictures sued the makers of the Star Trek fan film Axanar, fans have been wondering: what alleged copyright violations were so onerous that lawyers had to get involved? Unfortunately, the studios are more than happy to explain. They’ve filed a modified complaint that details what they believe the crowdfunded project is doing to run afoul of copyright law… and some of the claims aren’t going to rub enthusiasts the right way. For one thing, it believes that speaking Klingon is a violation — yes, just shouting “qapla’” could get you in trouble. There have been concerns that Paramount might crack down on Klingon use before, but this is the first time it’s taking action.

Other concerns include familiar-looking uniforms, the use of Stardates to mark time and Vulcans’ pointy ears. In other words, just about anything you vaguely associate with Star Trek is a problem. While the Axanar team knew it was testing the limits of copyright, it might not have expected so many issues.

If the lawsuit succeeds, it could have wide-reaching ramifications for the many fan films (regardless of franchise) that you see online. It could discourage creators from launching crowdfunding efforts to get their projects off the ground, even if they don’t intend to make a profit after release. It might also deter filmmakers who’d rather not risk releasing a project only to watch the source material’s copyright holders take it down over minor similarities. This dispute isn’t over, but it’s definitely taking an ugly turn.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

What’s on your HDTV: ‘Daredevil,’ ‘Pee-Wee’ and March Madness

This week the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament begins, so it’s time to prepare your bracket. Still, before the games get fully under way this weekend, Netflix has a loaded lineup with season two of its Daredevil Marvel series, Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday and even season two of Happy Valley. Game of Thrones fans can pick up season five or Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine on Blu-ray, while gamers can look forward to UFC 2 or Pokken Tournament. I tried the former over the last week and still couldn’t quite grasp the controls, but maybe you’ll have an easier time. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• Game of Thrones (S5)
• The Big Short
• Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
• Swing Vote
• Sisters
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• Mulan
• Love (3D)
• The Manchurian Candidate (Criterion)
• My Boyfriend’s Back
• Lilies of the Field
• UFC 2 (PS4, Xbox One)
• Sheltered (PS4, PC, Xbox One)
• Nanobots (PC)
• Samurai Warriors 4 Empires (PS3, PS4)
• Just Cause 3: Sky Fortress Pack (DLC) (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
• Salt and Sanctuary (PS4)
• Dungeon of the Endless (Xbox One)
• Overpower (PC – early Access)
• Pokken Tournament (Wii U)

Monday

• 11.22.63, Hulu, 3AM
• 2016 BET Honors, BET, 8PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8PM
• Gotham, Fox, 8PM
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, CW, 8PM
• The Fosters, Freeform, 8PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
• American Dad, TBS, 8:30PM
• And Then There Were None (Part 2 of 2), Lifetime, 9PM
• Bates Motel, A&E, 9PM
• Ebola: The Doctor’s Story, HBO, 9PM
• Major Crimes (season finale), TNT, 9PM
• Lucifer, Fox, 9PM
• The Magicians, Syfy, 9PM
• James May’s Build a Car in 24 Hours, BBC America, 9PM
• Damien, A&E, 10PM
• Blindspot, NBC, 10PM
• Better Call Saul, AMC, 10PM
• Billion Dollar Wreck, History, 10PM
• Lost Girl, Syfy, 10PM
• Talking Saul, AMC, 11PM
• Bitten, Syfy, 11PM
• True Life: I’m on Smart Drugs, MTV, 11PM

Tuesday

• New Girl, Fox, 8PM
• Pretty Little Liars (season finale), Freeform, 8PM
• Fresh Off the Boat, ABC, 8PM
• NCIS, CBS, 8PM
• Real O’Neals, ABC, 8:30PM
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC, 9PM
• Rizzoli & Isles (season finale), TNT, 9PM
• The Outsiders, WGN, 9PM
• Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 9PM
• Shadowhunters, Freeform, 9PM
• Chicago Med, NBC, 9PM
• Moonshiners, Discovery, 9PM
• NCIS: New Orleans, CBS, 9PM
• The Grinder, Fox, 9:30PM
• Awkward (spring premiere), MTV, 10PM
• Crowded (series premiere), NBC, 10PM
• Limiless, CBS, 10PM
• Gonzaga: The March to Madness (season finale), HBO, 10PM
• Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
• American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, FX, 10PM
• Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
• Faking It (season premiere), MTV, 10:30PM

Wednesday

• Happy Valley (S2), Netflix, 3AM
• The Middle, ABC, 8PM
• Unsung Hollywood, TV One, 8PM
• Survivor, CBS, 8PM
• Rosewood, Fox, 8PM
• Young & Hungry, Freeform, 8PM
• The Goldbergs, ABC, 8:30PM
• Baby Daddy, Freeform, 8:30PM
• MTV Woodies, MTV 9PM
• Criminal Minds, CBS, 9PM
• Dual Survival (season finale), Discovery, 9PM
• Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
• The Americans (season premiere), FX, 10PM
• Internet Ruined My Life, Syfy, 10PM
• The Carmichael Show, NBC, 10PM
• Hap & Leonard, Sundance, 10PM
• Catfish, MTV, 10PM
• Broad City, Comedy Central, 10PM
• CSI: Cyber, CBS, 10PM
• Teachers (season finale), TV Land, 10:30PM
• MTV Suspect, 11PM

Thursday

• NCAA Basketball Championship (Rd1), CBS, 8PM
• You, Me, and the Apocalypse, NBC, 8PM
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 8PM
• American Idol, Fox, 8PM
• WWE SmackDown, USA, 8PM
• Scandal, ABC, 9PM
• How to Get Away with Murder (season finale), ABC, 10PM
• Prey, BBC America, 9PM
• The Real World: The Big Leap (season premiere), MTV, 10PM
• Baskets, FX, 10PM
• Portlandia, IFC, 10PM
• Workaholics (season finale), Comedy Central, 10PM
• Shades of Blue, NBC, 10PM
• Colony (season finale), USA, 10PM
• Shades of Blue, NBC, 10PM
• Nightwatch, A&E, 10PM
• Idiotsitter, (season finale) Comedy Central, 10:30PM
• Adam Devine’s House Party, Comedy Central, 12:30AM

Friday

• Marvel’s Daredevil (S2), Netflix, 3AM
• Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, Netflix, 3AM
• The New Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show (S2), Netflix, 3AM
• Jimmy Carr: Funny Business, Netflix, 3AM
• My Beautiful Broken Brain, Netflix, 3AM
• NCAA Basketball Championship (Rd1), CBS, 8PM
• Sleepy Hollow, Fox, 8PM
• Last Man Standing, ABC, 8PM
• Dr. Ken, ABC, 8:30PM
• Grimm, NBC, 9PM
• Hawaii Five-0, CBS, 9PM
• Second Chance, Fox, 9PM
• Shark Tank, ABC, 9PM
• Blue Bloods, CBS, 10PM
• Vice, HBO, 11PM
• Animals, HBO, 11:30PM

Saturday

• F1 Australian GP, NBC Sports Network, 1AM
• NCAA Basketball Championship (Rd2), CBS, 8PM
• NBA: Warriors/Spurs, ABC, 8:30PM
• Mommy’s Little Girl, Lifetime 8PM
• Black Sails, Starz, 9PM
• Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, HBO, 9PM
• Party Over Here, Fox, 10PM

Sunday

• 60 Minutes, CBS, 7PM
• The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (season finale), Showtime 8PM
• The Passion, Fox, 8PM
• Madam Secretary, CBS, 8PM
• Once Upon A Time, ABC, 8PM
• Little Big Shots, NBC, 8PM
• The Carmichael Show, NBC, 9PM
• Vinyl, HBO, 9PM
• The Walking Dead, AMC, 9PM
• Elementary, CBS, 10PM
• Girls, HBO, 10PM
• Talking Dead, AMC, 10PM
• Quantico ABC, 10PM
• Togetherness, HBO, 10:30PM
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM
• Robot Chicken, Cartoon Network, 11:30PM

(All times listed are ET)

J.J. Abrams talks to SXSW about how technology democratized filmmaking

After President Obama’s keynote, a SXSW session featuring J.J. Abrams alongside his friend Andrew Jarecki (writer and director HBO miniseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst) was probably the hottest panel of the conference. Around 2,000 attendees showed up to get a tease of West World, the new HBO series that Abrams is executive producing, and hear a conversation between Abrams and Jarecki about how technology has changed filmmaking for the better.

“The challenge with what we all, do using whatever technology is that we use, is to hide it in a way,” Abrams said. “The machinery — whether it’s the technology of what a story is, the map of a story, whether it’s the technology you’re using to code something, you’re trying to make that invisible so that the audience or the user is having as effortless an experience as possible and they’re as engaged as possible.”

It was an apt comparison to make at a conference where so many attendees are writing code rather than movie scripts, and it also speaks to the way Abrams approached his work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He’s talked about it a lot before, but Abrams again reinforced the way he thought about using technology in the film and making sure it stayed out of the way of the story. “The idea was, in the case of Star Wars, to both create a sense of analog authenticity visually, and most importantly to make sure the humanity of the characters wasn’t getting lost wherever possible,” he said. “That was our ambition, it’s up to every viewer to decide whether that worked — but that was the idea, to try and make sure the movie felt as human and as emotional as possible.”

Abrams and Jarecki both also talked about how technology has democratized the creative process, whether you’re a major filmmaker or just someone with an iPhone. One of the things that stuck Jarecki in particular is how miniaturization has change the game. “As things become miniaturized, you have the opportunity to be everywhere with a camera,” he said — an important trait for someone with a documentary filmmaking background.

Abrams has found now that there’s a lot more work that he can do in-house at Bad Robot, noting that he shot almost 10 minutes of The Force Awakens at Bad Robot’s facilities. “We used to need the giant stages, the giant lights, the giant cameras… you used to need all this equipment and get permission to use it and it cost an arm and a leg,” Abrams recalled. But now, it’s a lot easier to shoot things that are worthy of being in huge-budget pictures like Star Wars.

To that end, Jarecki showed off an iPhone app he developed and launched earlier this year called KnowMe, which is meant to sit in between the dead simplicity of something like Snapchat and more complex movie-editing tools like iMovie. He did a live demo, stringing together some video clips he shot of him talking to the camera with photos he shot around Austin to show off the SXSW experience. The message was to get people to use the tools they have to start telling more stories, and to that end he and Abrams are having a little KnowMe content where whoever makes the best SXSW video will win a “Bad Robot” of their own.

As with so much of SXSW, the message from both Abrams and Jalecki was to get the community out there and contributing to creative endeavours rather than just sitting on the sidelines. “Everyone in this room has in their pockets a movie studio and a distribution studio,” Abrams said. “There’s no excuse to not tell the story we want to tell, and that’s unbelievable.”

Apple News Gains ‘Native Banner’ Ad Format for Sponsored Posts

Apple recently added a new ad format designed to allow publishers to share sponsored posts alongside regular news content in Apple News, according to developer specification document [PDF] that was shared by Business Insider.

The document features all of the different ad types available within Apple News, including a new “Native Banners” feature. With Native Banners, which are meant to blend in with standard content, ads can be displayed right in the news feed with regular Apple News articles.

Native ads display directly in the content feeds, inline with News articles, and are intended to blend in with their surrounding. They will be set in the default font used in News.

According to Apple, these native ads include a title, text excerpt, and a small image, and in an example image provided, the format looks quite similar to the standard article list format in the Apple News app. Sponsored posts will, however, be denoted by text that lets readers know the content is sponsored.

Each ad includes a title, text excerpt and a small image, and is distinguished by a ‘Sponsored’ callout. The sponsored advertiser name is optional. If an advertiser name is not provided, the reader will see ‘Sponsored’ in the banner.

As Business Insider points out, publishers can share sponsored news posts on Apple News at the current time as long as content is marked as sponsored in metadata, but this new ad format will give publishers a clear way to monetize sponsored content and it adds tools for explicitly branding sponsored content.

Apple is also rumored to be adding support for subscription content from publishers with paywalls to the Apple News app in the future.

Tag: Apple News
Discuss this article in our forums

House of Marley Chant Sport speaker review

House of Marley isn’t your typical audio manufacturer. Yes, it focuses on high quality sound like others do, but that isn’t the only thing. Equally as important to the company is