CE China: East meets West in consumer tech fest

Messe Berlin, the organisers behind consumer electronic show IFA that takes place annually in Berlin in September, has launched a new event in Shenzhen called CE China.

First thoughts? God help us, not another consumer electronics show. Second thoughts? Chinese companies have been making some serious waves over the last couple of years in the western world. Offering an IFA-like show in the country responsible for a lot of the manufacturing within consumer electronics makes, well, sense. It puts western companies on the eastern radar, eastern companies are on the western radar and that’s only fair right?

Companies like Huawei have made it crystal clear that they too have plenty to offer and that China isn’t just about assembling devices for the likes of Apple, Sony and Motorola. CE China might be starting small, with 150 exhibitors in comparison to IFA’s thousands, but it could mark the start of a closer and stronger partnership between east and west.

The idea behind the new show is to replicate the “quality of IFA in China”. IFA has seen huge success over the last few years, growing significantly in importance every year as it has become the platform for numerous big announcements from the first few Samsung Galaxy Note smartphones to the beginning and end of the Sony Xperia Z line. It’s a show that is essential to pay attention to, especially if you want to know what devices you should put on your Christmas list.

CE China opened its doors for the first time on 20 April, offering visitors in Shenzhen three days to see what’s on offer from Chinese companies and western companies alike. It is by no means IFA yet, with the entire hall almost the same size as one of the main stands at IFA, but Messe Berlin claims it is in it for the long haul. If IFA is anything to go by, we could see some exciting things from CE China in the coming years.

Exhibitors at CE China included a range of Chinese companies, including Dlodlo, the company responsible for the portable VR glasses set to launch later this year, as well as the likes of brands including Bosch and Siemens.

We didn’t see any new flagship smartphones kicking around but we did find a Hello Kitty washing machine and a connected cycling helmet that allows wearers to indicate so watch this space. 

Apple famously writes designed in California, assembled in China on its devices. With the growing rise of Chinese companies globally, we’re likely to see more designed in Beijing, assembled in China.

‘Metroid Prime: Federation Force’ launches August 19th

It’s been eight years since the last Metroid Prime game came out for the Wii, but a successor was finally announced for the New 3DS handheld system at the game conference E3. Today, Nintendo announced that Metroid Prime: Federation Force will be released on August 19th in the US and September 2nd in the UK, but players can get a hands-on demo at PAX East this weekend.

Instead of series protagonist Samus, the teaser trailer for Federation Force featured a foursome of bright, blocky-armored mech soldiers. Since the gameplay hinges on co-op multiplayer, faceless Federation grunts made better in-game sense than having four Samuses, Nintendo’s Kensuke Tanabe said. The main story mode has players roam around shooting enemies and solving puzzles a la Four Swords Adventures, while Metroid Prime: Blast Ball acts as a fun, sportsy semi-tutorial.

While many fans clamored for a Metroid on current-gen consoles, Tanabe told Engadget last year that Nintendo considered a Wii U version but decided against devoting a team to its development. The New 3DS’ omnidirectional C-stick was intriguing enough to build Federation Force for the mobile system. Developers changed the game’s look to fit the smaller screen, shrinking players to bright, stocky chibi soldiers.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force launches for #3DS on 8/19, but you can be one of the first to play it at #PAXEast! pic.twitter.com/P14vQ373bo

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 20, 2016

Source: Nintendo of America

Don’t bank on Volkswagen paying you $5,000 just yet

Well, this is awkward. Yesterday, German newspaper Die Welt claimed that every American with one of Volkswagen’s dodgy diesels would receive $5,000 in compensation. Today, Reuters is offering up a contradictory report saying that the terms of the proposed settlement are substantially different. According to sources, VW’s as-yet-confidential deal with regulators means it’ll buy back 500,000 of the vehicles that cheated emissions tests. In addition, $1 billion is being set aside as an apology fund for affected owners who will need to buy a new ride. Simple division means that you’d be getting your money back on the car, plus an extra two grand as a mea culpa.

Since the terms of the deal haven’t yet been made public, there’s no way to tell which set of leaky officials are correct. If it’s whoever leaked the story to Reuters, then the agreement only currently covers smaller cars like the Audi A3, Jetta sedan and Golf compact. Larger VW vehicles with three-plus liter engines like the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg will, presumably, be dealt with in a separate deal further down the line. The news wire goes on to say that the German car company is still working on that long-promised fix for the engines, and will offer them to owners in lieu of a buyback should the EPA and others consent.

Source: Reuters

HBO Now comes to the Xbox One

It’s already available on all of the devices that cord cutters like to shove under their TVs, but HBO Now was underrepresented in the console stakes. Now, however, that’s set to change after the Game of Thrones maker announced that its on-demand platform has come to the Xbox One. Much like the other platforms the service has already come to, users can pay $14.99 and get all of that premium TV content from John Oliver through to Veep without a cable subscription. And look, HBO made the announcement just in time for that show everyone loves (to pirate) comes back.

Via: NeoGAF

Source: Microsoft

Nintendo is bringing ‘Splatoon’ gear to its ‘Miitomo’ app

Since its launch, Nintendo has held back from offering video game-related clothing in Miitomo. You can quickly earn a Mario hat, but otherwise there are few items to show off your love for a particular franchise, like Star Fox or The Legend of Zelda. That’s now changing, however, as Nintendo readies its first batch of Splatoon-themed gear. From April 27th through to May 29th, users will be able to unlock inkling shoes, shorts, t-shirts and hairstyles through the app’s Miitomo Drop mini-game. Colorful squid pins will also be redeemable using regular coins in the Miitomo Shop.

But that’s not all. To drive attention to the app — which seems to be doing pretty well, both in Japan and the West — Nintendo is running a competition on Twitter. If enough people retweet its special hashtag, everyone will gain access to the Splatoon wigs, for free, through the Gift Box system. Finally, to get your hands on an ink tank (it sits on your Mii’s back like a scuba diver’s oxygen tank) you’ll need to spend My Nintendo Platinum Points, which are accrued by completing missions in Miitomo.

Splatoon has been a smash-hit for Nintendo, spawning a live Squid Sisters concert and all sorts of crazy merchandise. The game’s take on street fashion makes it a perfect fit for Miitomo, which encourages you to frequently dress up your Mii and snap adorable “Miifotos.” It’s no secret that Engadget has some Miitomo addicts among its ranks — no doubt they’ll be first in line to download the new gear when it drops next week.

Via: Polygon

Source: Nintendo

The definitive ‘Ori and the Blind Forest’ hits PC next week

Alongside Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Xbox One played host to a smaller but no less special console exclusive last year: Ori and the Blind Forest. The 2D platformer won a bucketload of awards and high praise from the press for its tight controls and gorgeous art style. The game was also made available on PC and now, a month after the Definitive Edition’s arrival on Xbox One, Microsoft is prepping a similar release for the Windows crowd. The updated version arrives on April 27th, adding new areas, music, story elements and abilities to the original game.

The revamped Ori will cost $19.99, however owners of the original version can upgrade to the Definitive Edition for $4.99. Conveniently, if you already own the Definitive Edition on Xbox One, all of your saves and progress should sync across to the PC build hassle-free. If you’re one of the people that skipped this watercolor adventure last year, now is a pretty good time to pick up a controller and see what the fuss was all about. To whet your appetite, be sure to check out the game’s spectacular soundtrack.

Source: Xbox Wire

Watch Acer unveil its newest PCs and gaming machines

The sun is out, the weather is fine — perhaps best of all — there’s some new hardware waiting for us. Acer’s got a big to-do in New York City this morning, where it’s expected to go a little crazy showing off its brand new desktops and laptops. We’ll be there to get up-close and personal with the company’s new rigs as soon as they’re announced, but in case you want to feel even closer to the action, check out the livestream below. The show kicks off at 11AM Eastern/8AM Pacific, so stay tuned for a little showmanship (hopefully) and a lot of new stuff.

Product Hunt Launches Menu Bar Mac App

Product Hunt, the site that specializes in surfacing new technology products, books, games, and podcasts, is today launching a dedicated Mac app. The Product Hunt Mac app adds a menu bar widget to Macs, giving users a way to stay updated with new site content throughout the day.

Once installed, Product Hunt for Mac adds a “P” icon to the Mac’s menu bar, which can be clicked to display a list of the day’s stories. It’s a simple app that has few bells and whistles, but it offers Product Hunt fans a quick way to access posts. The app updates on a regular basis and is set up to display a notification badge whenever an unread story is available.

In the app, users will see a list of the most highly upvoted products, games, podcasts, and books, with trending posts at the top of the feed. Clicking on a story headline opens the Product Hunt website in the default browser, where users can read more about a particular product.

Settings allow for a small bit of customization, with filters for only displaying posts that have a certain number of votes to limit the content that’s offered up. There are also built-in FAQs and help documents for users who are new to Product Hunt.

Product Hunt for Mac is open source and available on GitHub, allowing Product Hunt users to help improve it. Product Hunt also offers an API for developers to create third-party apps for the web, iPhone, and Android. The new Mac app can be downloaded from the Product Hunt website for free.

Tag: Product Hunt
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Facebook Messenger Debuts Group Voice Calls With a Limit of Up to 50 People

Facebook has announced a new feature coming to its standalone Messenger app that will let users start up group calls with up to 50 friends and family members. Rolling out now to the iOS and Android Messenger apps, the update will use previously established group chats within Facebook’s messaging client as a springboard for starting a voice call with the group’s members (via TechCrunch).

Users will be able to begin a group call by tapping the new phone icon at the bottom of a group chat window, picking which members they specifically want included in the call, and waiting for them to receive a Messenger notification and jump in on the conversation. The social media company confirmed that a total of 50 people can be in on one group call at a time, and that anyone late to the call can join after the fact through the same phone icon in the group’s chat log.

An in-progress group call on the Messenger apps for iOS and Android
Group calls are an extension of Messenger’s established one-on-one voice and video calling features, and the company has said that group video conferencing could be coming down the line, as well. “Group video calling is definitely a use case that a lot of our people might be interested in at some point,” Stan Chudnovsky, Messenger’s head of product, said in an interview last year. “It would be a big deal if the whole [shakes hand to simulate lack of video stabilization] thing goes away.”

In addition to expanding Messenger into its own self-sufficient communication hub, Facebook has been slowly rolling out new features into its mainline application. Earlier in the year it introduced six new “Reactions” so users could communicate their feelings on a post beyond the binary liking system. At its F8 Conference, it also pushed ahead into the Live Video and broadcasting features introduced to a handful of prominent celebrities last summer, and expanded to wide use this month.

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Messenger
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Qualcomm Hints at Apple’s Switch to Intel for LTE Modems in iPhone 7

Qualcomm shares are currently trading lower after the chip maker suggested during an earnings call Wednesday that it will be losing orders from one of its major customers to one of its leading competitors.

Analysts believe that customer will be Apple, according to Bloomberg, following rumors that the Cupertino-based company will rely on Intel to supply the majority of LTE modems for the iPhone 7, which is expected to be announced at a media event this September.

Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Steve Mollenkopf told analysts he is “assuming” that a major customer will give orders to a rival, indicating a potential loss of business for the company. […] Samsung already uses multiple suppliers, leaving only Apple to make this change.

In early March, CLSA Securities analyst Srini Pajjuri issued a research note claiming that Intel has secured a “significant portion” of LTE chip orders from Apple, likely in the range of 30 to 40 percent of production. Pajjuri believes Qualcomm will likely be tasked with at least a portion of the remaining orders.

Intel reportedly has 1,000 or more employees working on preparing its 7360 LTE modem for the next-generation iPhone. Intel’s 7360 LTE modem chip [PDF] features faster theoretical downlink speeds up to 450 Mbps, uplink speeds up to 100 Mbps, and support for LTE category 10 and 29 LTE bands overall.

The switch to Intel LTE chips means the iPhone 7 could have even faster LTE speeds for browsing the web, downloading apps, streaming video, and other data-related tasks. Apple already improved LTE speeds on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus by adopting LTE-Advanced, which pushed downlink speeds up to a theoretical max of 300 Mbps.

Apple currently sources all of its LTE modems for iPhones from Qualcomm, including the MDM9635 chipset in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which provides theoretical downlink speeds up to 300 Mbps and uplink speeds up to 50 Mbps. Qualcomm has been Apple’s exclusive supplier of LTE modems for over three years.

Rumors suggest that Apple may eventually create an all-in-one system-on-a-chip that includes both an A-series processor and an LTE modem chip for improved speed and power management. Intel could play a key role in licensing and fabricating the chipset based on its advanced 14-nanometer process.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tags: Intel, Qualcomm, LTE
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