‘Hyper Light Drifter’ is set to launch at the end of the month

Heart Machine announced via Kickstarter on Tuesday that its forthcoming retro 2D RPG, Hyper Light Drifter, will be released at the end of March. The game, with a style that harkens back to 16-bit action-adventures, follows a helmeted hero as he hacks, slashes, dashes and shoots his way across a massive, dream-like world map in search of a cure for his debilitating disease. Heart Machine is offering HLD on Mac, Windows and Linux through Steam (though there is a small chance the Linux build will be delayed slightly). You can check out the latest trailer below.

Via: Kickstarter

Source: Steam

Google is giving Chrome’s app launcher the axe

Folks who favor launching Chrome apps from their dock on OSX or the taskbar on Windows rather than through the browser itself are bound to be disappointed by today’s news. Google has announced that the Chrome App Launcher will be removed from the Apple, Linux and Microsoft operating systems. It’s still safe on Chrome OS, though.

The internet juggernaut says that the removal will take place gradually over the coming months, starting with disabling the launcher upon initially installing a new application in a few weeks. The full-on end point is July — three years after the launcher hit Windows. And in case your friends don’t read Engadget, Google says it’ll notify users that the launcher is going the way of the Tyrannosaurus.

It’s part of Google’s moves to make its browser less bloated, with the blog post explicitly citing last summer’s removal of the Chrome notification center as an example of those efforts. Here’s to hoping that some of this results in the browser being less of a resource hog that strains even the most resilient ultrabook’s battery life.

Source: Chromium blog

Password-Stealing Instagram App ‘InstaAgent’ Reappears in App Store Under New Name

Last November, a malicious app called InstaAgent was caught storing the usernames and passwords of Instagram users, sending them to a suspicious remote server. After the app’s activities came to light, Apple removed it from the App Store, but it now appears Turker Bayram, the developer behind the app has managed to get two new apps approved by Apple, (and Google) both of which are stealing Instagram account info.

Peppersoft developer David L-R, who discovered the insidious password-sniffing feature in the first InstaAgent app, last week wrote a post outlining new password stealing apps created by Bayram. Called “Who Cares With Me – InstaDetector” and “InstaCare – Who Cares With Me,” the apps are available on Android and iOS devices.

The original InstaAgent app attracted Instagram users by promising to track the people who visited their Instagram account, and the two new apps make similar promises. Both apps say they display a list of users who interact most often with an Instagram account, asking users to log in with an Instagram username and password.

David L-R investigated Bayram’s new apps discovered a suspicious HTTPS packet, leading him to uncover a complex encryption process used to covertly send usernames and passwords to a third-party server and hide the evidence. He found both the Android and iOS versions of the app send Instagram account information to unknown servers.

As I had a closer look to the iOS app I found out that the app steals the Instagram password & username to send it encrypted to “unknown” servers. The “password-stealing” algorithm and the encryption seems to be the same as in “InstaCare – Who cares with me?” a new iOS app from the “InstaAgent” developer, which malicious behaviour I discovered a few days ago. A working PoC (Proof of concept for the iOS version) can be found here.

Multiple reviews on the iOS App Store claim that after using the malicious Instagram apps, their accounts were compromised with spam photos advertising the app that were uploaded to their feeds. As with InstaAgent, the apps show up prominently in the Top Charts in some countries, though not in the United States.

Bayram’s ability to get multiple new apps approved by Apple after having been found guilty of harvesting Instagram account information speaks towards the glaring issues in Apple’s app review policies. It is unclear how a developer who was caught operating a malicious app was able to get additional apps past Apple’s radar.

There are dozens if not hundreds of low-quality third-party apps that promise to provide Instagram users with followers and other perks, which should be avoided to avoid having account information stolen. Instagram cautions against installing third-party apps that don’t follow its Community Guidelines and says such apps are “likely attempts to use your account in an inappropriate way.”

(Thanks, Şizofrenik!)

Tags: App Store, Instagram
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Google Developing Search-Focused Third-Party Keyboard for iOS

Google is working on a third-party keyboard designed for iOS devices that would incorporate search functionality, reports The Verge. Citing people familiar with Google’s plans, The Verge says the keyboard, which has been in development for several months, “incorporates a variety of search options” to attract more Google search users on iOS devices.

The keyboard is said to feature gesture-based typing like Swype, allowing users to slide their fingers across the keyboard to enter letters. Tapping on a built-in Google logo brings up a web search bar, and there are also options for searching for pictures and GIFs. Design elements are not clear, but it is apparently “visually distinct” from the standard keyboard available on Android devices.

News of Google’s work on an iOS keyboard comes just a few months after images surfaced of a Word Flow Windows Phone-style keyboard Microsoft is developing for iOS devices. It is not known when Google might release its keyboard, and a release date for the Microsoft keyboard is also unavailable.

Google and Microsoft’s effort to develop keyboards for Apple devices is curious, as third-party keyboards have not proven to be particularly popular with iOS users due to ongoing issues with slowness, crashing, and other bugs.

Tag: Google
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Showbox lets you earn real rewards by trying out apps [Review]

Overview There are apps for all kinds of things in the Play Store. Apps that let you play games. Apps that make you work more productively. Apps that help you

Hound – The next generation of voice assistance [Review]

Overview – Hound is a voice assistance app from SoundHound Inc, the developers of the Sound Hound music recognition app. Hound aims to set itself apart from the competition by

Backstage with the winners of the IGF and GDC Awards

The Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards are the highlight of GDC week. They both honor the best games of the past year in two glamorous, back-to-back ceremonies in downtown San Francisco. This time around, Her Story took home the IGF’s $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize, and The Witcher 3 nabbed the coveted Game of the Year prize during the GDC Awards.

Other winners across a range of categories include Undertale, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rocket League and Life is Strange. Nine members of the Girls Make Games program, which offers summer camps designed to encourage young women to break into game creation, walked away with the ID@Xbox Rising Star award for their project, The Hole Story.

We spoke with some of the big winners on-camera directly after they received their awards, and they had plenty to say (and celebrate).

A lineup of independent developers right after their big wins (plus, IGF host Nathan Vella):

Sam Barlow, creator of Her Story:

2016 IGF winners:

• Excellence in Narrative ($3,000) – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Excellence in Audio ($3,000) – Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Excellence in Design ($3,000) – Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
• Excellence in Visual Art ($3,000) – Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
• ID@Xbox Rising Star Award – Girls Make Games, The Hole Story
• Nuovo Award ($5,000) – Cibele (Star Maid Games)
• Best Student Game ($3,000) – Beglitched (Jennifer Jiao Hsia and Alec Thomson)
• Audience Award ($3,000) – Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30,000) – Her Story (Sam Barlow)

2016 GDCA winners:

• Best Debut – Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
• Best Audio – Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
• Innovation Award – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Best Technology – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED)
• Best Visual Art – Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios)
• Best Narrative – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Best Design – Rocket League (Psyonix)
• Best Handheld/Mobile Game – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Audience Award – Life is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment)
• Game of the Year – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED)
• Pioneer Award – Markus “Notch” Persson
• Ambassador Award – Tracy Fullerton
• Lifetime Achievement Award – Todd Howard

Facebook finally lets Android users upload high-resolution photos – CNET

Your Facebook photos are about to look a whole lot crisper. Facebook is rolling out an update that finally lets Android users upload high-resolution photos to Facebook.

The effects of compression aren’t really noticable in the Newsfeed area where images are small, but once a photo is expanded, the low-quality compression becomes obvious.

With a recent server-side switch, Facebook has added an option for uploading photos in HD from Android, which matches their efforts on the Web and iOS. No app update is required to get the new option, but you’ll need to wait until Facebook makes it available on your account.

Enlarge Image

Screenshots by Nicole Cozma/CNET

How to enable HD photo uploads

To check if you can upload photos in HD, head to the Facebook app menu (three lines) > App Settings. There will be a new toggle titled “Upload HD photos.”

For Facebook, uploading in HD still doesn’t mean original quality, but it does allow images to be a maximum of 2048 pixels wide. If you’re not connected to WiFi when uploading, it’s also worth noting that you’ll use more data to upload these larger photos to Facebook.

B&H lists the CAM Plus ‘Friend’ for the LG G5 at $69

Pricing was never officially revealed for the Friend modules for the LG G5, but now a new listing at B&H suggests that the CAM Plus will be priced at $69. When they were first announced, LG didn’t reveal how much they would cost, and then a Korean press release suggested that the pricing may have been closer to the $90 mark.

The CAM Plus module acts similar to a camera grip, as it adds physical camera buttons, a zoom wheel and a bit of additional battery to the phone. As noted on the listing, it features:

• Camera Grip and Controls
• Power, Shutter, Record, Zoom Buttons
• LED Indicator
• Autofocus
• Exposure Lock
• 1200mAh Additional Battery

If the LG G5 is going to be your next phone, you may want to pre-order one of these now to have it when the phone is officially available.

See at B&H Photo

LG G5

• LG G5 hands-on
• LG G5 complete specs
• LG G5 CAM Plus module
• LG G5 B&O Hi-Fi audio module
• The G5 has an always-on display
• LG G5 keeps the SD card, shuns adoptable storage
• Join the LG G5 discussion

Where to buy the LG G5 in the United States

The LG G5 unofficially goes on sale in the U.S. on April 1. (That’s the informal date everyone’s working off of, anyway.) You’re already able to preorder it at some retailers and carriers, and others will announce their intentions in the days ahead.

We’ll update this list of where you can purchase the LG G5 as the carriers update their sites.

Buy the LG G5 on AT&T

AT&T’s got it’s usual bevy of options when it comes to purchasing the LG G5. And currently it’s the only place we have proper pricing. You can buy it outright, off contract, which will cost you the most. Or you can pay for it monthly as a part of your total bill. Here’s how it all breaks down:

• Off-contract: $688 before taxes.
• $23 a month on Next 24 for 30 months
• $29 a month on Next 18 for 24 months
• $34 a month on Next 12 for 20 months
• $17 a month for 28 months, and $200 down

That’s all in addition to services and fees and taxes and what not.

See at AT&T

Buy the LG G5 unlocked at B&H

B&H Photo is a longtime retailer in New York City. It’ll be selling the LG G5 unlocked, in silver only. It’ll have radio bands for GSM and CDMA carriers, B&H says, as well as 4G LTE.

In addition, B&H already has the CAM Plus module — it’s an attachment that adds some physical buttons for photography, as well as an extended battery — listed at $69.

See at B&H

Still to come …

We’re still waiting on the other U.S. carriers to announce pricing and specific availability for the LG G5. Each has information pages, however, and Verizon is said to be opening preorders on March 24. (At least according to Best Buy.) You can learn more here:

• Verizon Wireless
• T-Mobile
• Sprint

LG G5 at Best Buy

Finally, Best Buy has the LG G5 listed at $99, if you sign up for a 2-year contract with a carrier. (Specifically, that’s Sprint or AT&T.) Best Buy also is throwing in a free replacement battery, charging cradle and USB-C to micro-USB adapter.

Best Buy also is listing the LG G5 at $799 outright, but seeing as how that price is a good bit more than what AT&T is selling the G5 for off-contract, it’s possible it’s just a placeholder. In any event, that’s not an avenue we’d really recommend at this point.

See at Best Buy

LG G5

• LG G5 hands-on
• LG G5 complete specs
• LG G5 CAM Plus module
• LG G5 B&O Hi-Fi audio module
• The G5 has an always-on display
• LG G5 keeps the SD card, shuns adoptable storage
• Join the LG G5 discussion