‘Super Mario’ is coming to ‘Minecraft: Wii U Edition’
Minecraft is available on almost every platform known to man, so when the Wii U version launched last December, most people responded with a shrug. Heck, you couldn’t even use the GamePad for inventory management. To makes the console edition a little more attractive, Nintendo has teamed up with Mojang for some special Mario-themed content. It’ll be available as a free update in May and offer a bundle of character skins, item textures and music ripped from the portly plumber’s world. There will also be a pre-made Super Mario-themed map, just in case your thumbs aren’t up to the challenge of crafting one from scratch.
Nintendo says the new material is inspired by Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. As the player, you can choose to dress up as iconic characters including Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, or mischievous foes like Bowser and Wario. My personal favourite is Toad in his delightful Treasure Tracker gear. With a flashlight on his bonnet, he seems perfect for some subterranean mining. The house of Mario will also be launching a retail version of Minecraft: Wii U Edition on June 17th, which will cost $29.99 and come with the Super Mario pack on the disc.
Such an addition won’t change the Wii U’s dwindling sales, but looking at the console’s lineup this year — which has little more than Paper Mario and Tokyo Mirage Sessions on it — this could turn out to be a real highlight. Unless Nintendo has some surprises planned for E3, of course.
Design Drawing Suggests iPhone 7 Will Have Same Length and Width as iPhone 6s
A purported sketch of the iPhone 7 obtained by French website NWE points towards the next-generation smartphone having the same length and width as the iPhone 6s.
The unverified drawing shows the iPhone 7 has the same 138.3mm (5.44 inches) length and 6.71mm (2.64 inches) width as the iPhone 6s, but the depth of the new smartphone is not listed for comparison.
The sketch also depicts a larger and slightly convex camera housing, suggesting that the iPhone 7 could possibly have a larger sensor and a nearly flush camera cutout.
Conflicting rumors suggest that the iPhone 7 series may or may not include a 3.5mm headphone jack, Smart Connector, and dual-lens camera system, while it is possible some of those features may be exclusive to the larger iPhone 7 Plus (or Pro?)
The sketch is consistent with a previous iPhone 7 Plus design drawing that showed the larger 5.5-inch smartphone will likewise have identical dimensions as the iPhone 6s Plus.
Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in September. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the smartphones will not have “many attractive selling points,” and it appears increasingly likely that Apple will break away from its typical tick-tock “S” design cycle and maintain the same 6-series form factor for a third consecutive year.
Other rumored features for the iPhone 7 series include a touch-sensitive home button, waterproofing and dustproofing, repositioned antenna bands, stereo speakers, wireless charging, and a slightly larger battery. Apple may reserve some features for the following iPhone in 2017, which rumors suggest could be far more compelling with an all-new OLED display, glass casing, and several other changes.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Drake’s New Album ‘Views’ Sells One Million Copies in Five Days Under Apple Exclusivity
Although Drake’s newest album “Views” was only available on iTunes and Apple Music for one week, under the terms of the company’s exclusivity deal with the artist, the album managed to sell more than one million copies in just five days, which The Wall Street Journal calls “a rare achievement in an age of rapid streaming growth and declining sales of downloads and CDs.”
Most of those sales numbers — 632,000 copies to be exact — came within the first 24 hours of release, with the rest trickling over the one million mark in the subsequent days. The figures specifically target sales for the $13.99 iTunes copy of Views, but Apple Music showed some impressive streaming statistics for Drake’s new album, as well.
In total, Views was streamed more than 250 million times worldwide, 200 million of which were inside the United States, suggesting Apple Music managed to get some of the artist’s fans to sign up for the service beyond its current 13 million paid subscribers.
The results fly in the face of industry fears that paid streaming services might hasten the continuing decline of music sales, which have fallen by more than 60% in the past 15 years, according to data from Nielsen. While that could still eventually happen, plenty of fans purchased the $13.99 Drake album last week even though they could also access it immediately, along with some 30 million other tracks, by subscribing to Apple Music for $9.99 a month—or even just by signing up for a free trial.
As Drake’s album launched on April 29, his record label’s parent company, Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, went to work keeping any traces of pirated songs and videos off of sites like YouTube. According to sources within the industry, the new trend of exclusivity deals between artists and streaming services like Apple Music and Tidal, has led to a renewed crackdown on pirated music. Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group alone has spent “millions of dollars a year” going through a similar process with other big releases.
Drake has been one of the headline artists representing Apple Music since it was first announced last year at WWDC. Since then, the singer has hosted 20 episodes of his own Beats 1 Radio show, OVO Sound, partnered with Apple Music to sponsor his Summer Sixteen tour, and had some of his songs featured in ads for the streaming music service.
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HTC’s revenues decline by a massive 64% in Q1 2016
HTC’s latest earnings figures continue to illustrate the manufacturer’s downfall in recent years. The Taiwanese vendor posted an overall revenue of NT$14.8 billion ($463 million), a drastic 64% decrease from the NT$41.52 billion ($1.3 billion) it managed in Q1 2015. Operating loss for the quarter was at NT$4.8 billion ($150 million), a far cry from the NT$360 million ($11.6 million) profit recorded during the same period last year.
The manufacturer is now looking to the HTC 10 as well as the Vive to boost sales heading into Q2, with both products not accounted for in the first quarter earnings. Chairwoman and CEO Cher Wang said that HTC will continue to streamline and optimize:
We have been working hard to lay the groundwork over the past year, streamlining processes and optimizing resources to enable us to develop the best products in the most effective way.
HTC is betting big on virtual reality, and has invested $100 million to boost the VR content ecosystem.
Star Wars meets Bond: Watch this stunning new intro sequence for Empire Strikes Back
Just imagine that, instead of the opening crawl and looming star destroyer, Empire Strikes Back started like a James Bond movie. Can you picture it?
Actually, you don’t need to, Kurt Rauffer has actually created exactly that. He’s directed and edited his own 007-esque opening to arguably the best Stars Wars film for you to watch below. What’s more, he’s used the rejected title track Radiohead proposed for Spectre and it is simply beautiful.
Rauffer created the sequence as part of his work at the School of Visual Arts. “After re-watching The Empire Strikes Back, I decided to use this as a chance to create a homage in the form of a title sequence. This would also serve as my senior thesis at SVA and took me the whole semester to complete,” he said.
He’ll also be posting a making of video soon.
READ: May the 4th be with you: Best Star Wars gadgets and toys to celebrate
For now, just sit back and marvel at the artistry and think what might have been. Not with Empire Strikes Back itself – after all, it wouldn’t have been the same without the crawl – but with the opening of Spectre without that awful Sam Smith warbling throughout.
Let’s hope Radiohead haven’t been put off by the process and return for the next Bond outing.
The hidden value in your house: 30 devices you could turn into cash
If you love tech as much as we do, the chances are you have a few old gadgets lying around the house, whether in a cupboard, a drawer or just cluttering up the kitchen table. Those gadgets might not be the latest and greatest, but they aren’t worthless either and as the old adage goes, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.
MusicMagpie, or decluttr in the US, might not sound like a place to go if you are looking to cash in your old devices but don’t let the name fool you. It’s an online recycling service and store that will allow you to buy and sell used gadgets, which means it is the perfect place to visit if you want to turn the gadgets cluttering up your home into easy cash.
You can also buy refurbished gadgets through the site but we’re not talking just another eBay here. MusicMagpie fixes and replaces any damaged parts, reselling them as quality assured devices with warranties, rather than just second-hand or used. Here’s how to turn old gadgets into cash using musicMagpie.
The first step is to get onto the site in the first place. As we mentioned, it is musicmagpie.co.uk for UK readers and decluttr.com for the US. The homepage gives you the option to Sell or Shop. A click on “Sell Electronics” on the Sell side will bring up a search box whereby you simply start typing the gadget you have to sell and click on the correct model from the drop down list.
MusicMagpie then brings up another box where you select the condition your old device is in. There are three conditions to choose from – good, poor and faulty – each of which sees a list of bullet points appear when you select them so you can check you meet the criteria set for that particular condition. There will also be a price quoted in the top right-hand corner and a tiny picture of the device you are selling so you can double check you’ve got the right model and how much you will be getting.
Add the device to your basket once you’ve chosen the appropriate condition and you can then either repeat the process for another device or checkout. You’ll need to accept the terms and conditions and register for an account or sign in.
Following registration, you have three options as to how you get paid, comprising bank transfer, cheque or donating to one of the seven musicMagpie partnered charities that include the RSPCA, Breast Cancer Care and Barnardo’s.
There is a free courier service available, as well as a free smart send service that allows you to pick a Post Office branch and send your old gadgets for nothing. You then confirm your order and wait for the cash to start flowing, whether it’s to you or your designated charity.
Bank transfers are paid on the same day that musicMagpie receives your items, and your cash will be ready to spend the next day. The company has a Price Promise that means you’ll get the full amount you were quoted or it will send your electronics back for free.
Now you’ve heard how easy it is, here is the fun bit.
Click here to head to the gallery to see 30 devices you could turn into cash. Some might surprise you, as you can potentially turn your clutter into cash.
Want to sell your old phone? Check out Pocket-lint’s preferred recycling partner musicMagpie.co.uk / decluttr.com to find out how much money you can get for it.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080: Release date, price and why it’s the best gaming card ever
Nvidia has unveiled a PC graphics card for 2016 based on its new Pascal architecture. That essentially means that it is a massive step up from what has come before – even the mighty Titan X.
The Pascal GPU architecture has greater memory bandwidth and power efficiency than any of its predecessors, meaning that the card can potentially turn a PC into the best gaming device ever.
Here then are some of the stats and details to give you an idea of why we think it could change the landscape of PC gaming.
What is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 and what can it do?
If you are the sort of gamer that wants the very best and is willing to swap out kit in your PC to get it, the GeForce GTX 1080 is the best graphics card Nvidia has made to date.
The GPU comes with 2560 Nvidia CUDA cores and runs at 1607MHz (base clock), 1733MHz (boost).
There is 8GB of GDDR5X RAM on board and, most impressively, is capable of resolutions up to 7680 x 4320 (running at 60Hz). That’s 8K at 60fps… wow.
It is also compatible with HDCP 2.2 and has a HDMI 2.0 output, so can play protected 4K content (such as 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray) to a compatible TV or monitor.
Remarkably, thanks to the enhanced power management, it only requires a recommended system power of 500W. PC rig builders are more used to cards requiring 600W power supplies and above.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 release date
A “Founders Edition” of the card will be available from 27 May. It will be available from a number of different graphics card manufacturers: Asus, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Nvidia, Palit, PNY and Zotac.
There will also be custom boards from many manufacturers too. Release dates for those are yet to come.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 price
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition graphics card comes with a recommended retail price of $699 (£483). The custom boards will start are around $599 (£394).
The UK prices shown above are based on current exchange rates. The actual UK retail prices are yet to be revealed.
A lesser spec’ed GeForce GTX 1070 will be available from June starting at $379 (£262).
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 vs GTX Titan X
Most comparisons made at the launch of the GTX 1080 were against the company’s previous king of the hill, the GTX Titan X (which we currently use in our rig).
The Titan X is still an incredible graphics card and slices through 4K game outputs like sweet, sweet butter. However, the GTX 1080 beats it in several respects.
Not only is it capable of a much higher digital resolution (7680 x 4320 over 5129 x 3200), Nvidia claims it is two times more powerful, yet is three times more power efficient.
That’s an even more remarkable feat considering the average Titan X has more GPU cores and RAM (3072 and 12GB over 2560 and 8GB). Importantly, the GPU of the 1080 is capable of clock speeds over 1700MHz. The Titan X is just over 1000MHz without overclocking.
PC builders will also be grateful that the 1080 is the same physical size as the Titan X, so can be swapped easily: 4.376-inches by 10.5-inches.
It’s also worth pointing out that, even though it is technically more powerful, the GTX 1080 is around half the price of the Titan X.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 games and demos
We’re still to see the GTX 1080 in action and will test it ourselves in time, but during the Nvidia launch event the company’s CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, and partners did show several games running using the card.
As part of the launch announcement, Epic Games showed some renders from its forthcoming game Paragon running using a GTX 1080. We think you’ll agree that it looks pretty awesome.
However, more awesome still is Doom, running on ultra settings at a staggering 200fps.
We’ll add more demonstrations as they become available. Check back for more later.
HoloFlex is the world’s first flexible holographic smartphone
The HoloFlex is the closest thing we’ve had so far to a holographic truly flexible phone. Move the display to see 3D objects from different angles and bend the phone to change the angle further.
What’s the catch? This display, created by Queen’s University researchers, is still in early development hence the 160 x 104 resolution image. But you can see where this is going and it’s very exciting. Although the Amazon Fire Phone created a similar effect, at high resolution, and nobody seemed to care. But this offers a lot more and in a new way.
This display, uniquely, is flexible meaning you can play Angry Birds by bending the screen to pull back and let go to fling the bird, as an example. It also means people can look at the same image from different angles to see it differently, like a real object as it sticks out of the screen.
Technically this is a 1920 x 1080 flexible OLED but images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular blocks projected through a 3D printed microlens, totalling 16,000. The result is a screen that literally comes out at you to create that stereoscopic image.
All this isn’t simple so the handset is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with Adreno 430 GPU and 2GB of RAM running Android 5.1.
“By employing a depth camera, users can also perform holographic video conferences with one another”, says the university’s Dr. Vertegaal. “When bending the display users literally pop out of the screen and can even look around each other, with their faces rendered correctly from any angle to any onlooker”.
READ: Huawei P9 review: The flagship and the folly
Amazon wins its first BAFTA with ‘Transparent’
Amazon doesn’t have the volume or breadth of exclusives to compete with Netflix, but it does have a few standout originals that are slowly winning mind share for Prime Video. At the BAFTA TV awards last night, for instance, the company took home the International category for Transparent. The show beat out Narcos, the drug-fuelled crime drama from Netflix, as well as Spiral and The Good Wife. Netflix had also been nominated in the Radio Times Audience Award for its documentary series Making a Murderer, but lost out to the BBC period drama Poldark.
It’s the first BAFTA Amazon has ever won. Transparent has picked up plenty of awards elsewhere, however, including two Golden Globes (best actor and best comedy), five Primetime Emmy Awards and one Screen Actors Guild Award. It’s widely considered to be Amazon’s best show, edging out fellow successes Mozart in the Jungle and The Man in the High Castle. The company has commissioned a slew of other series, but few have gained the traction or critical acclaim needed to change the public’s opinion of Prime Video. These awards are, therefore, an important way for the company to legitimise its efforts and attract new viewers.
Netflix, meanwhile, is still waiting on its first BAFTA. Beasts of No Nation came up short in February, while its occasional TV nominations — which include House of Cards and Orange is the New Black — have failed to win in recent years. Still, the selections are an acknowledgment of Netflix’s output and the strides it’s taken to compete with traditional TV broadcasters. With such a large catalog of shows, it seems inevitable that the company will eventually take home its own BAFTA. Maybe next year?
Source: BAFTA
Twitter blocks US spies from analyzing your tweets
There’s more tension between tech firms and the US government, as Twitter has reportedly blocked spy agencies from a service that helps them root out terrorists. According to the WSJ, the social network cut off the government from Dataminr, a company that analyzes every public tweet sent. Though Twitter doesn’t own the service (it has a five percent share), it does provide it with unique access to its central data line. Neither Twitter nor Dataminr have confirmed the details publicly, but unnamed intelligence officials have corroborated the story.
Dataminr examines hundreds of millions of tweets every day and correlates them to news sources, geographic locations, market information and other data. It then sells the information to news agencies, stock brokers and other companies. For instance, Dataminr helped the New York Times find significant tweets during the Brussels terrorist attacks for its live blog. It also reportedly gave US intelligence services information about the same attacks 10 minutes before the general public found out.
Twitter quite rightly declining to serve as extension of US spy agencies. https://t.co/iKpVTC11D3
— Jameel Jaffer (@JameelJaffer) May 9, 2016
Twitter said in a statement that it “never authorized Dataminr or any third party to sell data to a government or intelligence agency for surveillance purposes.” However, a venture capital arm of US intelligence called In-Q-Tel has reportedly invested in Dataminr and other social media analytics firms. As part of that, Dataminr allowed certain spy agencies to mine tweets as part of a pilot program. When that ended, Twitter forbade the company from using its data, fearing the “optics” of being too closely associated with intelligence activities, according to WSJ sources.
With the decision, Twitter is following other Silicon Valley companies like Apple in distancing themselves from the NSA and other surveillance services. Apple resisted an FBI order to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, for instance, saying it was a slippery slope that could decrease security for everyone.
However, US spy agencies reportedly aren’t pleased with the decision, as they have become increasingly dependent on social media analysis to root out terrorists. Former NSA deputy director John C. Inglis told the WSJ, “if Twitter continues to sell this to the private sector, but denies the government, that’s hypocritical. I think it’s a bad sign of a lack of appropriate cooperation between a private-sector organization and the government.” The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees, however, as deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer tweeted that “Twitter quite rightly declining to serve as an extension of US spy agencies.”
Source: WSJ
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