Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine trailer is the best endorsement yet for the HTC Vive

Industrial Light and Magic — the special effects studio behind the Star Wars franchise — is working on a tie-in an experience for the HTC Vive that puts you in the center of the Star Wars universe. Dubbed a “cinematic virtual reality experiment,” Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine features R2-D2, the Millennium Falcon, and lots of lightsaber battles with Stormtroopers.

From the trailer, it looks like the experience will include both story-driven and gaming aspects, with players able to control lightsabers during the battle sequences using Vive’s position-tracking controllers. There’s no further information as to when the experience will be available, but it is likely that it will debut as a launch title for the Vive.

Pre-orders for the Vive are now live, and the headset will be available commercially starting next month with a retail price of $799.

See at HTC

MORE: First look at HTC Vive consumer version

Source: Road to VR

Comic-Con HQ explained: When will the new streaming service go live?

Comic-Con is getting its own subscription streaming service.

It’s called Comic-Con HQ. From what we can tell, it is trying to be a Netflix of sorts for comic-book geeks. It’s also trying to extend the Comic-Con experience from just a few days a year to 365 days a year by offering both archival and original programming to Comic-Con fans. The service was just announced, so details are scarce, but we’ve laid out everything we know below.

Comic-Con HQ: What is Comic-Con?

Comic-Con is a registered trademark owned by San Diego Comic-Con International, an organiser of comic book conventions held across the world. The San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) itself has been held annually in San Diego since 1970 and primarily focuses on showcasing comic books, science fiction/fantasy-related film and television, as well as toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels.

Comic-Con HQ: What is Comic-Con HQ?

In March 2016, San Diego Comic-Con International with Lionsgate announced the first details of a new video-on-demand streaming service called Comic-Con HQ. It is subscription-based, meaning you’ll have to pay a membership fee in order to access content, such as classic film and TV titles, behind-the-scenes access, live streams of SDCC panels, and original programming (scripted series and unscripted news).

Comic-Con HQ: When will it go live?

Comic-Con HQ launches on 7 May (also known as Free Comic Book Day) in beta form. Anyone can pre-register now for free beta access via the Comic-Con HQ website. An official premiere is scheduled for sometime in June, ahead of San Diego Comic-Con in late July.

We’re not sure yet if the service will be available outside of the US.

Comic-Con HQ: How much does it cost?

The ad-free service will be free during the beta but will require a paid subscription after June. Pricing as of March 2016 has yet to be announced.

Comic-Con HQ: Where can you access it?

According to SDCC, anyone who registered for free beta access can tune into the new streaming service via their “browsers and iOS/Android devices”, while a roll out across more connected devices is expected in the coming months. Example devices include Roku, AppleTV, and Xbox One, with “additional devices and distribution platforms becoming available throughout the year”.

SDCC

Comic-Con HQ: What can you expect?

According to SDCC, you can expect the following in terms of programming:

• Recurring daily and weekly programs. G4 alum Adam Sessler (X-Play) will executive produce programs on comics, science and gaming, along with hosting his own 1:1 interview series. G4 star Kevin Pereira (Attack of the Show) and his company Attack Media will executive produce an entertainment pop culture news show and a late night talk show format.
• Original scripted and unscripted series, such as the scripted comedy series Kings of Con (inspired by fan convention experiences from Supernatural stars Richard Speight and Rob Benedict), the science program Impossible Science starring illusionist Jason Latimer (he explores technologies capable of achieving his feats of magic with real science), and the unscripted series with fangirl fashion company Her Universe (hosted by founder Ashley Eckstein, who follows contestants as they design their couture concepts for the catwalk of a live San Diego Comic-Con fashion show in July).
• Live-streamed San Diego Comic-Con access with “CCHQ programming, airings of select Comic-Con panels, and immersive access to the convention floor and sanctionedevents never before available to the public”, as well as “interviews and previews available only on CCHQ in a growing library of new and archival panels, bonus features, behind-the-scenes previews and more. “
• A collection of licensed film and TV series featuring “genre greats and hidden gems from science-fiction, fantasy, cult classics, action/adventure and horror”.

Comic-Con HQ: Want to know more?

Check out Pocket-lint’s Comic-Con hub for related news.

Sony buys Michael Jackson stake in music venture for $750 million

Sony Corp. has reached an agreement with the estate of Michael Jackson to acquire the late music star’s interest in their joint music business for $750 million.

Terms of the deal call for Sony to pay $733 million for Jackson’s 50% stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, as well as previously announced distributions, with payments totaling $750 million.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing, established in 1995 as a joint venture between Sony and Jackson, touts itself as the world’s leading music publisher. Together with EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV owns or administers more than 3 million copyrights; it also controls “New York, New York,” “All You Need Is Love,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Moon River,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “The Mission Impossible Theme,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Stand By Me” and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”

“The entertainment businesses have long been a core part of Sony and are a key driver of our future growth,” said Kazuo Hirai, Sony president and CEO. “This agreement further demonstrates Sony’s commitment to the entertainment businesses and our firm belief that these businesses will continue to contribute to our success for years to come.”

The companies said in a joint release Monday that the sale is the culmination of a process that began in September when Sony exercised its right to purchase the other partner’s interest — a right that has existed since the joint venture was formed by Jackson and Sony in 1995.

The parties expect to reach a definitive agreement by March 31 and the closing is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Sony said the transaction will have no material impact on its consolidated results forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31. It also said the impact on Sony’s results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, is currently being evaluated.

The estate said the transaction will not affect its continuing interests in other music assets, including all of Jackson’s master recordings as well as Mijac Music, the publishing company that owns all of the songs written by Jackson as well as songs by some of his favorite songwriters and artists that were acquired during his life. The estate will also retain its ownership interest in EMI Music Publishing.

“This transaction further allows us to continue our efforts of maximizing the value of Michael’s Estate for the benefit of his children,” said John Branca and John McClain, co-executors. “It also further validates Michael’s foresight and genius in investing in music publishing. His ATV catalogue, purchased in 1985 for a net acquisition cost of $41.5 million, was the cornerstone of the joint venture and, as evidenced by the value of this transaction, is considered one of the smartest investments in music history.”

Sony/ATV Music represents the copyrights of The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Kraftwerk, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Richie Sambora, Sting, The Supremes, Wyclef Jean, Hank Williams and Stevie Wonder. Current artists include Akon, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, P!nk, Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

“When Sony first partnered with Michael Jackson 21 years ago to create Sony/ATV Music Publishing, we knew that this company had the ability to reach great heights,” said Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment, Inc. “This acquisition will enable Sony to more quickly adapt to changes in the music publishing business, while at the same time continuing to be an unparalleled leader in the industry and a treasured home for artists and writers.”

The final Lee Sedol vs. AlphaGo match is about to start

By nabbing three straight wins to kick off a five match series, the Google DeepMind AI program AlphaGo established itself as a more than worthy adversary for legendary Go player Lee Sedol. Sedol rebounded, winning the fourth match Sunday after he pushed AlphaGo to make a mistake on move number 79. Even after the loss, AlphaGo has received an honorary “ninth-dan” rating (the same rating that Lee has earned as one of the game’s top players) by South Korea’s top Go federation, the Korea Baduk Association. Now, the two will square off for a fifth and final match at the Four Seasons hotel in Seoul. The match is scheduled to begin at midnight ET (you can watch the stream here or embedded below), and it will be interesting to see who maintains an edge after four games.

Game 5 starting in 30 mins: going to be really exciting to see if Lee Sedol can exploit the weakness in #AlphaGo’s play he found in game 4

— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) March 15, 2016

Taken a quick look at the logs: AlphaGo gave a probability of <1 in 10000 for Lee’s brilliant move 78, so AG found this move very surprising

— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) March 15, 2016

Mistake was on move 79, but #AlphaGo only came to that realisation on around move 87

— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) March 13, 2016

Source: Google Asia Pacific Blog

Ads on Apple’s news app will soon look like normal articles

Apple is planning to offer ads that look like typical articles inside its News app. Ads will be showed right in your content feed “inline with News articles”, looking almost indistinguishable from not paid-for articles. There will be a tiny “Sponsored” byline beneath article-ads, for easily fooled people like me. That said, advertisers can also choose to omit their name, and readers will simply see “sponsored” — someone’s paying for this placement, but you won’t know who. The new ad format was discovered in new developer documents recently updated here, and we’ve added an example ad after the break

Apple is looking to other ad possibilities after announcing plans to shutter its iAd network for apps — although it appears that this advertising option will appeal to a wider group than companies just looking to increase apps sales. It’s also a different way of making money from Apple News besides that rumored subscription option for Apple News — regardless of how many of you are actually using it. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment.

Source: Business Insider

‘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.