Entering usernames and passwords just got much easier on the Apple TV – CNET

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Jason Cipriani/CNET

When the new Apple TV launched last fall, the biggest complaint users had was the inability to easily enter text. Most notably, entering user names and passwords using the onscreen keyboard and the Siri Remote’s trackpad was a tedious, cumbersome process.

With the release of tvOS 9.2, Apple has greatly improved upon this experience by enabling Siri dictation. Meaning, you can now use your voice to spell out your username and password, or any search term you’d like.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

After updating to tvOS 9.2 on your Apple TV, the first time you navigate to a search or log-in field, you’ll notice a new microphone icon in the text box. Press and hold the microphone button, and approve the prompt asking if you want to enable dictation. Alternatively, if you’ve recently set up the Apple TV as a brand-new device, you’re asked to enable Siri and Dictation during the setup process.

When using dictation in a search field, you can talk as you normally would. For example, you can search YouTube for “Stampylonghead” without having to spell out the term. (For the curious, Stampy creates some fantastic Minecraft videos that my kids absolutely love.)

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

The process of entering a username or password is different, however. Instead of saying your email address or password, you spell it out. Using the email address “test@cnethow-to.com” as an example, you would speak each letter individually (ex. “t” “e” “s” “t”).

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

For uppercase letters, you can say “uppercase x” or “capital y” and Siri will dictate it properly I was able to spell out “PassW0!rd” without any complications, despite having a mixture of letters, numbers, and punctuation. If Siri mishears you, “backspace” or “delete” will remove the last letter dictated.

This seemingly simple addition goes a long way in improving the overall experience of the Apple TV.

Miitomo Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Nintendo

Nintendo’s first game for iOS and Android doesn’t star Zelda, Mario or any of the company’s iconic characters. Rather it’s you, or at least your Mii, who takes the spotlight in this hybrid video game and social network.

Miitomo is a condensed version of the 2014 3DS game Tomodachi Life. You’ll use the surprisingly flexible Mii creator to make an avatar, who is promptly given an apartment and kicked out into the world to make new friends.

When you first boot up the app, it will offer to create your Mii for you using a selfie as a reference. Or you can create yourself from the ground up with custom options. I went for the custom option. Unfortunately, I found that the software had trouble replicating my hefty beard.

Next up, you develop your Mii’s personality traits and select an appropriate tone of synthesized voice. That last one is particularly important, as you’ll be hearing your Mii talk a lot. The game sometimes had trouble translating between English and Japanese vocalisations, but that’ll be less of an issue when Miitomo comes out in the US, UK and Australia. The Japanese app already comes with eight languages, including English, so hopefully that means that an English-language release isn’t too far off.

After creation, your Mii is let out into the world to socialise with your friends, which Miitomo finds by linking up with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Other Miis will occasionally drop by to your apartment to chat “in person”.

Adam Miiomo, my bearded avatar.

Adam Bolton/CNET

Conversation and socialising are where the real fun lies in Miitomo. Your Mii will ask you questions and make your answers available for your friends to see. They in turn have their own questions to answer, which you can see — and “heart” if you feel so inclined.

These small interactions give a regular update into your friends’ lives, while showing you a side of them that you may not usually see. You and your friends’ answers are emoted with typical Nintendo charm, and with the help of vocalisation. Answering questions may sound like a chore on paper, but the questions posed by Miitomo itself are sometimes too thought-provoking and silly to resist.

Free games that give you the option to purchase in-game currency often ring alarm bells, but the app is fairly generous in doling out cash as long as you’re prepared to answer or listen to a daily number of answers. On top of that, adding friends from your social networks earns stacks of coins. These in-game coins can be used to buy all manner of clothing and accessories with which to customise your Mii. Don’t worry if you don’t like the fashion options on display — the game’s store regularly rotates its stock.

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You are also occasionally given a free game ticket to use on the app’s minigames, which can net you some unique customisation options. There’s not much to these minigames, though. At present they’re no more than simplified marble-drop, Peggle-esque affairs.

Miitomo isn’t attached to any of your beloved Nintendo characters, and that may be a disappointment to some. But the game still looks to be a great start for Nintendo’s venture into mobile gaming, and it might even bring you and your friends closer together. Playing Miitomo, I sometimes felt like my Mii was more socially active than I was — Nintendo is definitely on to something here.

Sony’s ForwardWorks will build mobile games from PlayStation franchises

Sony is making another move in the mobile games arena. The company announced the formation of a new group, ForwardWorks Corporation, that will release smartphone games in Asia that will use the many franchises from its PlayStation consoles.

Sony stated:

ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters as well as the knowledge and know-how of gaming development expertise which was acquired over the years with PlayStation business to provide gaming application optimized for smart devices including smartphones to users in Japan and Asia. The company will aim to deliver users with opportunity to casually enjoy full-fledged game titles in the new filed of the smart device market.

Sony noted that the games will be released for Android and iOS devices. ForwardWorks will officially begin operations on April 1.

LG Watch Urbane 2nd edition LTE pre-orders open at Verizon

Verizon has announced that it has opened pre-orders for the LG Watch Urbane 2nd edition LTE. The watch, which was once cancelled, has its own 4G LTE connectivity inside, so you’ll be able to make and receive phone calls, texts and more without needing a phone to power it. It is compatible with Verizon Messages so you can use the number of your phone to create text messages or place calls from the watch to avoid confusion.

The carrier will be selling the watch at $499 full retail or $449 with a new two-year activation. It will also cost an additional $5 a month on your bill to make use of the data features on the go. For a limited time, Verizon is offering $100 off the watch with the purchase of an LG G5 or V10.

See at Verizon

Google’s latest app aims to help improve Android app accessibility

Google has introduced a new app designed to help developers make their apps more accessible. Accessibility Scanner can suggest improvements to apps, such as enlarging small touch targets, changing the contrast, and more. While developers can use the app to find areas where their own applications need improvement, Google also encourages other people to use it to provide feedback to developers.

To use Accessibility Scanner, you’ll first need to give it permission to run within apps on your device by going to Settings, selecting Accessibility, then turning Accessibility Scanner ‘On’. Once it’s turned on, an Accessibility Scanner button will float on top of your screen, wherever you go. Tap the button, and the app you’re in will be scanned, with the results sent to Accessibility Scanner.

Tapping on individual app results will show you a highlighted screenshot, and you can tap the list menu in the upper right corner to get a detailed breakdown of the issues. You can then email the results to the recipient of your choice.

You can grab Accessibility Scanner from the Google Play Store right now

Here’s another look at the HTC 10 with some benchmarks to boot

The HTC 10 still remains a mystery, aside from a render, teaser or photo here and there. Now, a new leak has popped up online that clearly shows the device in-hand with some benchmarks displayed on the screen. This is all before the company is expected to officially announce the smartphone at an event on April 12.

While specifications are still unknown for now, the benchmarks shown in this new photo show the device being considerably more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and iPhone 6S. Rumor has it the HTC 10 will sport a 5.15-inch QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, an Adreno 530 graphics chip, 4GB of RAM, a 12MP camera and a USB Type-C connector.

What do you want to see in the HTC 10?

Thanks, Anon, for the tip!

Verizon begins LG G5 pre-orders with free LG 360 Cam

Verizon has started accepting pre-orders of the LG G5 on its network, and the carrier is including the LG 360 Cam for free for those who purchase the phone. This offer comes on top of the existing offer from LG for a free spare battery and charging cradle. Featuring a 5.3-inch IPS display that is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 4GB of RAM, the G5 runs Android 6.0.1 out of the box.

Those interested in the LG G5 can pay monthly for the phone or a buy it outright. Payments would be $26 a month for 24 months, or you can pay a lump sum of $624 to own it.

See at Verizon

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Playing your PlayStation 4 games remotely on your Sony phone is really cool

If you’re a gamer, you probably already have a preferred way to enjoy your games. Whether that means that you’re fiercely loyal to your platform, or that you’ve spent the money and gotten yourself a sweet setup. Games, and the way that we access them are changing, and it seems like Sony is trying t be on the forefront of that change. They’ve already announced PlayStation VR, but now they’ve also given gamers the ability to play their PlayStation 4 from compatible Sony phones.

PS4 Remote play streams gameplay from your PS4 console direct to your phone or tablet. This app is built so that you can pair a Dualshock 4 controller, and play your PS4 from your phone — so long as you are connected over Wi-Fi. There’s no need to learn new controls, since you’ll be playing with a normal controller and for the most part this app and its features work beautifully. For anybody who has lost control over the TV (or fallen asleep in the living room while playing on the PS4), this is a pretty awesome deal. So if you’ve got a Sony Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 compact, or Xperia Z4 tablet, then you’re good to go.

Setting up Remote Play is really easy, and the app will walk you step-by-step through the process. You’ll need to pair your Xperia device to a controller, and then connect your device to the PS4 system you plan on using, and make sure that you are connected to the internet via Wi-Fi. The actual setup takes five minutes at most before you have access to your console.

After you’ve gotten set up and paired, it’s time to play some games on your phone. I mean, you can watch Netflix from anywhere, but when was the last time you had the opportunity to sit outside and play video games if you wanted? Playing a game here is almost the exact same experience as you would get from your television. Considering that your TV is typically significantly larger than your phone or tablet, we were pretty pleased with the experience.

PlayStation Remote Play can chew through 15 percent of your battery in just an hour.

You also have the choice to bypass using a controller entirely and just use your phone. The controls will show up on the lower half of your screen, with less than half of the screen being taken up by the game that you are playing. Unless you are using a tablet we really don’t recommend this. It didn’t work as well as using a controller, but the bigger problem was how small the gameplay area was using this method. Holding your phone vertically will give you bigger controls but a tiny screen to play in, while rotating to landscape gives you controls that are literally superimposed over the game.

Unlike some mobile games you may have played, where the writing is illegible, or it’s hard to navigate, you get a gorgeous experience when using a controller. The entire screen of your phone becomes a TV, and the quality is on par as well. Your console is streaming over Wi-Fi to your phone, which means your phone isn’t doing the heavy lifting. The Xperia Z5 has some slight problems with heating up when you try playing heavy mobile games, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem when using remote play. Keeping an eye on your battery is a good call though, because this app can chew through 15 percent of your battery in an hour.

The biggest problem, I’m sad to say, was lag. Since you are connecting to your PlayStation 4 console over your home Wi-Fi, you may not always get a solid connection. If you’re the only person using the internet at home, you should be safe, but you’ll start to see issues if there are multiple people all using that same Wi-Fi. While we were only actually disconnected once, the warning popped up pretty regularly when there were multiple devices online. The lag can be especially frustrating for anyone playing a multiplayer game.

We ran into severe pixelation, characters moving counter to our commands, frozen screens, and the pain of catching back up to where the game was when it got over the lag. None of these issues lasted for too long, usually it was a 5-15 second aggravation that quickly fixed itself. However, when you’re in the middle of inflicting a massive bloodbath and you suddenly can’t move your character at all … it’s a problem. In fact, it’s enough of a problem that after a serious lag in Destiny we switched games.

Lag can be an issue, but it’s usually brief enough that you can wait it out and keep playing.

While there were connectivity issues on both Destiny and Last of Us, they were less of a serious problem in the latter, a single-player game that doesn’t depend on reactions with other players over the internet. When you’re playing a single-player game, you can just wait out the lag and then keep playing uninterrupted. While that’s obviously not an ideal situation, it still works quite well, and is a serious win for anyone that’s had to surrender control of the TV to somebody that doesn’t appreciate console gaming as much as you do.

To really get the most of Sony Remote Play though, you’ll probably want to order a Game Control Mount. This will let you mount your phone right above your controller and by far gives you best Remote Play experience. It turns remotely playing the PS4 into an experience similar to a handheld game system with the controls and your screen right next to one another. The mount isn’t a necessary accessory to enjoy PS4 Remote Play, but it does make things far less awkward.

Overall PS4 Remote Play is a great app for anyone who happens to own both an Xperia phone, and a PS4 console. It would be nice to see more phones with the ability to use this, but it isn’t surprising that Sony is keeping it exclusive to their own devices. The app functions well for the most part, but you’ll probably want to go ahead and steer away from multiplayer games if you’ve got roommates using the Wi-Fi. While lag and battery use were somewhat problematic, it didn’t end up being a large enough issue to make the experience enjoyable.

Are you going to give PS4 Remote Play a shot? Do you think that Remote Play should be available for more phones and tablets? Let us know what you think about it in the comments!

Nielsen will track which set-top boxes you use for streaming TV

Nielsen, which tracks viewership for television shows, among other things, will soon break out its usage data for streaming set-top boxes by brand and device type. With this data, networks will be able to see, for instance, how many people are watching a show on a Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV or Xbox One.

From Variety:

The data will let Nielsen clients track how many homes across the country own TV-connected devices, which devices they own and how much time consumers spend with them overall. For Nielsen-tracked TV content, the company said, media customers will be able to track program viewing by device.

The company will also launch a new Total Use of Television metric. This adds the use of streaming devices to more traditional television watching to provide a better picture of a home’s viewing habits.

Nielsen already tracks the total viewing done on connected set-top boxes for all of the TV content that it measures. This new step breaks down even more data for TV networks. Neilson’s new metrics will be available for clients starting April 25.

Get a first look at the augmented reality gameplay of Pokémon GO

The Pokémon Company and Ingress developer Niantic have offered a new look at the gameplay of their upcoming augmented reality game, Pokémon GO. The game will see you searching the real world for virtual Pokémon, letting you find and catch the wild creatures in your own back yard.

You’ll need to explore different areas to find different types of Pokémon. For instance, if you’re looking for a Squirtle, a Water-type Pokémon, you’ll need to look near a body of water. Players will also have Trainer levels, which increase as they play Pokémon GO. This allows for the capture more powerful Pokémon.

In addition to finding Pokémon out in the world, GO places other interesting elements in your surroundings as well. You’ll need to keep a stock of Poké Balls in order to catch new creatures, and you’ll find them at PokéStops in places like historical markers or public art installations.

Pokémon GO also has a multiplayer aspect to it, and you can join one of three teams. After joining a team, you can assign your Pokémon to an empty Pokémon Gym, which are scattered around your location like PokéStops. You and your team members can meet up with those from other teams, and engage in Gym battles.

You’ll be able to start catching Pokémon in the real world when Pokémon GO arrive for Android and iOS later this year.