Sony’s original TV show ‘Powers’ returns on May 31st

Sony’s first PlayStation TV show landed with a bit of a thud. Based on the comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis, Powers struggled to stand out against its superhero peers, especially those on rival streaming networks. The show does have a following, however, which was enough for Sony to commission a second season last May. Almost a year later, the company has announced that the first three episodes will debut in the US and Canada on May 31st, with free access for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

A new trailer shows the mess that homicide detectives Christian Walker (Sharlto Copley) and Deena Pilgrim (Susan Heyward) will be trying to untangle this time around. The world’s most famous superhero, Retro Girl, is murdered and the pair are told to investigate doing “whatever you need to do.” Mayhem ensues, with superpowers and explosions galore.

Around the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One, both Microsoft and Sony had grand ambitions for console-branded TV shows. Microsoft eventually abandoned its plans, however, after unbundling the Kinect and refocusing on video games. The TV-specific Xbox Entertainment Studios was closed, although a few shows did sneak through, such as the Atari: Game Over documentary and Halo: Nightfall. Sony was more cautious, green-lighting Powers — a safe bet, given the interest in superhero adaptations at the moment — and waiting for the reaction from PlayStation fans. Season two is probably its last chance to prove the concept is worth persevering with.

Source: PlayStation Blog

HTC Vive developer explains how to livestream ‘mixed reality’

Mixed reality games — which combine VR and AR — are about to become very mainstream when the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets ship in just a few days. For Twitch streamers who want to do justice to the first wave of such games, there are myriad new technical challenges (and costs). Luckily, the team that brought the us the delightful mixed reality building game Fantastic Contraption has put together a guide on streaming in the new format.

To let viewers see you interacting with the game, you’re going to need a green screen and at least an 8×12 foot space. To film with a couch, as shown above, you’ll need a larger free area around 15×12 feet. Equipment-wise, you’ll need a greenscreen, 1080p/60fps camera (preferably not a webcam), some lights, and a microphone (the instructions include a complete list).

After your studio is ready, you’ll need to set up the game, install and configure the OBS (open broadcasting software), sync the real-world to the game camera and program the director controls. With the latter functions, you’ll be able to switch between the player’s POV, a free camera to view levels and contraptions, and the mixed-reality camera. A lot of work? Sure, but if you like tinkering with cameras and computers to do some very cool Hololens-style mixed-reality streaming (as shown above), you’ll have a lot of fun, too.

Source: Northway Games

ICYMI: Multi-headed 3D printer, robo plant grafting and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: Autodesk built a 3D printing assembly line that gives different jobs to several print heads, allowing them to work collaboratively and quickly spit out a finished project. Clemson University used a Korean robot to graft up to 3,000 plants an hour. And a Kickstarter project for an augmented reality shirt is designed to teach kids and interested adults all about the internal organs.

The Milky Way is looking stunning in newly released photos from the APEX telescope. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Apple Website Gains ‘Mix and Match’ Apple Watch Gallery

Apple this week updated the Apple Watch section of its website to make it easier for customers to try out different watch styles and find the look they want.

Cult of Mac notes that Apple has replaced the old basic scrolling Gallery section of the site with a more flexible one consisting of three tabs that enable users to mix and match Cases, Bands, and Faces.

Visitors to the Gallery can now click back and forth between the various options to experiment with different styles. Existing Apple Watch owners may also find the updated section more useful should they want to buy additional bands for their wearable.

At its media event this week, Apple introduced new color options to pre-existing bands like the Modern Buckle, Classic Buckle, and Sport Band, along with an entirely new offering in the Woven Nylon band. MacRumors has put together a breakdown of all of the new collections available to purchase on the Apple online store that you can view here.

Apart from the new Apple Watch collections, Apple introduced the iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro during its “Let Us Loop You In” event on Monday. Catch up with the news in the MacRumors Event Recap and read more about various interesting details from the keynote.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 2
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Apple Music gets an Android widget

Apple Music on Android is pretty much identical to its iOS counterpart, but its latest update adds a unique feature for the platform: a widget. You can now add an Apple Music widget on your home screens if you want quick access to the service. Like any other standard music widget, it gives you a way to pause, play and skip tracks without having to launch the app itself. There’s a heart that you can tap to let it know that you like what’s playing, but if you need to access other features, you’ll just have to go into the app.

Besides launching the Android widget, Apple Music’s latest update also brings the ability to add songs to custom playlists without adding it to the library. You can now redeem iTunes gift cards to renew subscriptions and see what’s playing on Beats 1 from the Radio tab, as well. The update’s already live on Google Play, so you may want to clear up some space on your home screen if you pony up $10 a month for what Music offers.

Source: Google Play

Evaporating Bitmoji cost Snapchat around $100 million

SnapChat is buying Bitstrips, the company behind those weird (and depending on your Facebook News Feed) sometimes offensive personalized avatar comic strips. Fortune reports that the deal between Bitstrips and the ephemeral messaging company is somewhere around a $100 million purchase in cash and stock. How the avatar-minded outfit will fit in with Snapchat’s temporary nature is anyone’s guess at this point, but given the latter’s big push into face-morphing tech and emoji for its evaporating stories that’s probably a good bet.
Just think: Instead of seeing someone vomit rainbows or turn into a panda, you could watch a cartoon version of their face bouncing around the concert they just got pulled onstage for. The future, ladies and gentlemen.

Source: Fortune

Apple issues new iOS 9.3 build for older iPhones and iPads

Apple has released a fix for the iOS 9.3 bug that prevented some people with older iPhones and iPads from installing the update correctly. See, the mobile platform’s latest update bricked older devices if users forgot or mistyped their Apple ID passwords. Trying again didn’t work — their devices were locked in an activation loop. Cupertino admitted to iMore that the bug could affect the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air and anything older than the two. As a result, the company temporarily pulled back version 9.3 for those devices and promised to issue a new build that doesn’t require users to key in their passwords. Thankfully, Apple addressed the issue quickly.

The patched-up version of iOS 9.3 is now out and available for download. Users can plug their affected iPads or iPhones to a computer to update them via iTunes — just make sure the build is called 13E236 — or download version 9.3 over the air if they haven’t yet. We hope that unlocks any device affected… and that those who preordered the new iPad Pro or iPhone SE thinking that the bug was a sign to upgrade don’t regret it too much.

Source: iClarified, iMore

Snapchat might soon let you add Bitstrips to photos and videos

Snapchat is looking for new ways to spruce up its app.

According to Fortune, Snapchat just bought the company behind the Bitmoji app for around $100 million. The app basically lets you create an avatar or comic of yourself, and then you can share that with your friends and family over social media or text. It has customisation features that let you choose different hair styles, clothing, face shapes, and more.

The company, called Bitstrips, is four years old and rose to popularity on Facebook, where users commonly shared the cartoon versions of themselves in various situations. You can even insert yourself into comic strip situation and include avatars of any friends also using the service. The mobile app was developed after 2014, when it raised $8 million in funding.

It’s not clear why Snapchat purchased Bitstrips, but last year Bitstrips added a feature that allowed users to overlay avatars onto images. We can imagine Snapchat allowing its own users to overlay Bitstrips onto snaps. Currently, Snapchat has filters and emojis and effects that you can put onto any photos and videos. You can even distort your face with different animations.

It’ll therefore be interesting to see what Snapchat has in mind with Bitstrips.

The first Oculus Rift has shipped, deliveries start 28 March

OMG. If you were among the lucky few to pre-order the Oculus Rift in January, you’ll be beyond happy to know that it should finally arrive on your doorstep by the end of the month. We’re not kidding.

Brendan Iribe, the CEO of Oculus VR, has tweeted a photo of a boxed Rift bundle in order to notify the world the “first Oculus Rift has shipped” and deliveries will begin 28 March, meaning the company has kept its word about sending out pre-orders of the finished Rift by spring. The virtual reality headset launched on Kickstarter four years ago but was later acquired by Facebook.

It’s priced at $599 in the US, £499 in the UK, and €699 in the Eurozone. This price does not include taxes or shipping, which will vary by country. There are also official bundles that went up for pre-order on 16 February. The bundles include not only the headset but also the certified PC required to run it. They start at $1,499 but can cost upwards of $3,000.

For instance, Alienware’s Area 51 desktop, which has a Haswell Core i7 chip with 16GB of memory and GTX 980 graphics, costs $3,149. Oculus VR has also partnered with PC makers Dell and Asus for Rift-ready PC bundles. If you didn’t place a pre-order for one last month and decide to place an order today, you’ll likely have to wait until July for deliveries.

You can read more about how to get an Oculus Rift from here.

The first Oculus Rift has shipped, deliveries begin Monday 3.28.2016. pic.twitter.com/C0MMKmezun

— Brendan Iribe (@brendaniribe) March 24, 2016

Atari Vault PC bundle with 100 classic Atari 2600 games is now on Steam

Atari diehards can go ahead and lose their minds now.

The games publisher has rounded up 100 classic Atari 2600 games into a single title called Atari Vault and just released it on Steam for PC gamers. The bundle was first announced in January. It costs $19.99 and includes fan-favourites like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Tempest, and Warlords. But if you grab it right now, you can get it on-sale for $16.99.

There have been many Atari collections released over the years, but none of this size or with these type of upgrades. It supports online and local multiplayer, allowing you to go dual-screen with a friend either online or at home. It even works with Valve’s Steam controller, comes with original cabinet and box art, and is paired with original 70s and 80s game soundtracks.

“For the first time ever, fans from around the world can challenge other players on Steam Leaderboards and compete for arcade supremacy – all while rocking out to the games’ original 70s and 80s soundtracks,” explained the company in a press release, while confirming that Atari Vault was development by Code Mystics and only requires a PC running Windows 7 or up.

You can see a full list of 8-bit games from here.

Steam