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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These driverless pod cars will be on the road this year

Autonomous cars are coming, sooner than you may think, with self-driving pod style cars hitting the streets by the end of this year.

The driverless pods are due to arrive on limited roads in Singapore before the end of 2016 as a way for families to get about school and work. They are effectively automated public transport systems for within public areas.

The pods won’t be on the main roads just yet. Rather, they’re built to move people about gated communities or on a campus grounds.

The electric powered pods, built by Dutch company 2getthere, will hold 24-passengers meaning when rolled out these will service up to 8000 passengers per hour, in one direction, says the company.

Similar pods have been operating on a smaller scale, with just running, in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi since 2010. Another example of similar models currently running is in Rotterdam’s Rivium Business Park where there are six vehicles carrying 20 passengers each. Here, the company says, there are 2500 people using the pods each day.

While this is still a very localised example of autonomous driving, it’s the opening of the gates to a future where self-driving cars are common. Expect there to be plenty of autonomous cars hitting the major roads soon.

READ: Self-driving cars: 14 automakers betting on driverless vehicles

The Marines are fitting their tanks with anti-missile tech

The US Marine Corps believes it’s time to upgrade their trusty tanks with technology that can detect and deflect incoming missiles. In fact, it’s joining forces with the Army to test out the Israeli Trophy Active Protection System (APS). When Trophy’s sensors detect that there’s an anti-tank missile on the way, it fires small rounds to deflect them. It can also use jammers to mislead the enemy. According to Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, they’re seeing “much more sophisticated threat(s) on the ground,” and adding more armor to the vehicles will just slow them down. They needed to turn to high-tech solutions to protect the tanks and their drivers, like how the Navy is developing new technologies for its ships.

The Corps is already tweaking some M1 Abrams tanks, one of the heaviest in the world, to be able accommodate a Trophy system. But that’s not all the Marines are doing to shore up their vehicles’ defenses. Walsh says they’re also investing in drones designed to spot enemies before they can launch anti-tank missiles.

Via: Business Insider

Source: US Naval Institute

Lenovo’s ZUK phone puts other Chinese flagships to shame

ZUK, a Chinese smartphone brand that you may have already forgotten about, has recently joined the ranks of Moto and Vibe to become Lenovo’s latest mobile sub-brand. That wasn’t the plan when Lenovo started restructuring its mobile division last year, but now it’s included the startup to make its earlier investment worthwhile. Which is a good move, given how awesome and good-looking the freshly-announced ZUK Z2 Pro turned out to be. The company emphasized that its new 5.2-inch device makes full use of Qualcomm’s 2.15GHz, quad-core Snapdragon 820, so it also comes with speedy UFS 2.0 storage of up to 128GB, LPDDR4 RAM of up to 6GB, USB 3.1 connectivity with Type-C port, Cat 6 LTE, dual Nano SIM slots and Quick Charge 3.0 — you’ll want that for the big 3,100 mAh battery.

Alas, the Z2 Pro has left out NFC for some reason, but that shouldn’t bother mobile payment users in China who are more used to in-app payments, such as AliPay, WeChat, JD and Bestpay. These can all take advantage of the Z2 Pro’s front-facing fingerprint reader which apparently tolerates wet fingers, and it also has self-learning ability to increase reading accuracy. As part of ZUK’s Android-based ZUI 2.0, you can customize various finger gestures — including single tap, double tap, horizontal scrolling and long press — to perform specific tasks using the fingerprint reader.

One of the main focuses of the Z2 Pro is fitness, so first and foremost, it’s equipped with a bright 5.2-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen — shielded by a piece of 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 — that goes all the way up to 500 nits, though it can also dial down to just 1 nit for night time reading. It also features 100 percent NTSC and sRGB color gamut, as well as a near-invisible 0.05mm-thick black border around the screen.

ZUK says you won’t have to worry as much about potentially dropping the phone while you go running with it, as it features a ThinkPad-inspired rollcage design — there’s a shock-absorbing layer between the curved glass backside and the 4.6mm-thick metallic mid-frame. But of course, there’s still no guarantee that this will prevent the glass pieces from shattering upon impact.

On the back, you’ll find an optical heart rate sensor that can also measure oxygen saturation. For those who get bored easily, ZUK’s added a fun but gimmicky feature that lets you use this sensor to take a selfie and also add a heart-shaped label showing your heart rate at the time, which can be fun for when you’re taking selfies with your idols or just any friend. But going back to health and fitness, the Z2 Pro also does more precise activity tracking by taking uphill movements and running cadence (as opposed to just steps) into account. The main camera there also serves as a 15-level UV detector, which can come in handy when you’re about to head out for a run on a sunny day.

Speaking of cameras, the main one features a Samsung 13-megapixel 1.34um sensor with a bright f/1.8 aperture, PDAF, optical image stabilization and dual-tone flash. ZUK added that its new phone does a much better job at stabilizing video shots than the iPhones, but we’ll believe it when we’ve tried it ourselves. As for the front camera, it uses an unknown 8-megapixel sensor with slightly larger 1.4um pixels, a reasonable f/2.0 aperture and a smart beautification mode that can apply the right amount of enhancement by detecting your gender.

Last but not least, we’re rather amused by the fact that ZUK has added the ability to let the Z2 Pro sync with Apple’s iCloud, which should makes lives much easier for users who are migrating from an iPhone to this Android phone. But whether this will work as smoothly as advertised or whether Apple will put a stop to this remains to be seen. At least it made us giggle during the keynote.

Now, the prices. To our delight, the Z2 Pro’s elite edition (6GB RAM with 128GB storage) will cost just 2,699 yuan or about $420, and it’s available for pre-ordering in China tomorrow. ZUK cheekily pointed out that the maxxed-out Vivo Xplay5 with near-identical specs costs 4,288 yuan, which got a loud cheer from the audience. Even Xiaomi’s Mi 5 Pro with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is also asking for 2,699 yuan. But if this is still too much for you, ZUK will also be offering a cheaper “flagship edition” Z2 Pro with just 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, but there’s no price announced just yet for its May 10th pre-ordering.

According to a company spokesperson, ZUK does have plans to continue serving its European and Middle Eastern markets (they’ve been mostly online), but we’ll have to wait and see if these prices will match, and also whether it’ll continue partnering with Cyanogen for its international devices.

Source: ZUK

ICYMI: Underwater robot snake, Earth’s ocean saving and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: Princeton researchers discovered ocean currents can move most anything around the globe within 10 years; which could help replenish dying ecosystems… and also spread around pollution. Norwegian engineers came up with a mechanical snake for underwater sea inspection and simple repair jobs near oil drills. And Harvard wants to encourage kid programming with a new robot that can be used by kindergartners to high schoolers.

Once that’s conquered, the answer is clearly to make the MIT open-source duckcar. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.