E3’s video game art picks include ‘No Man’s Sky’ and ‘Witcher 3’
The Into the Pixel jury has chosen the 2016 winners for its E3 art collection, and it’s clearer than ever that video games can inspire artwork you’d be proud to hang on your wall. The 14 selections are mostly from titles where visuals not only play an important role, but set the tone for the entire game — the sci-fi novel look of No Man’s Sky gets its due, as does The Witcher 3’s brooding fantasy atmosphere and Unravel’s miniature world. There’s even art from a virtual reality game (Insomniac’s Edge of Nowhere) breaking some ground. Most of these pieces are concept art or models rather than what you’d see while playing, but they’re worth a look if you’ve ever felt that game art is just as creative and thought-provoking as what you’d find in a gallery.
Source: Into the Pixel
Passenger drone gets permission for US flight tests
Don’t be surprised if you see a very large, very unusual drone flying through Nevada’s skies. The state’s Institute for Autonomous Systems has given China’s EHang permission to test fly its passenger-toting 184 drone later this year. In addition to providing basic clearance, the move will also have the Institute create criteria that shows the airworthiness of the autonomous single-seater to the Federal Aviation Administration. It’s not certain just where the 184 will fly, although it’ll sometimes need restricted airspace. EHang won’t just be flying in the empty desert, then.
Nevada’s eagerness makes sense given its tourism-driven economy. The Institute’s Mark Barker tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he’s anticipating a day when “drone taxis” are an everyday part of the transportation system. The state sees a time when you can hop in a robotic vehicle that flies you directly to a casino, rather than a car that has to grapple with traffic and less-than-intuitive streets. The more support drone makers get, the more tempted you might be to visit that off-Strip attraction which was otherwise out of reach.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Apple Supplier Already Shipping 13-Inch MacBook Pro Hinges for Future Update
Apple’s suppliers have already begun providing it with parts for an upcoming 13-inch “MacBook” update, according to a paywalled report from China’s Commercial Times summarized by DigiTimes.
Notebook hinge maker Jarllytec reportedly started shipping metal injection mold-made (MiM) hinges to Apple in May, said to be destined for a 13-inch MacBook. The MacBook in question is likely to be a future revamped 13-inch MacBook Pro, which past rumors suggest will use MiM hinges.
Metal injection molding is a technique used to create small, intricate metal parts. Apple is rumored to be using hinges crafted this way to save space, as the next-generation MacBook Pro models are said to be ultra-thin.
The same report suggests Jarllytec will begin shipping hinges for 15-inch MacBook models in the third quarter of 2016, raising the possibility that Apple will stagger the releases of the redesigned MacBook Pro, first introducing a 13-inch model and following it up later with a 15-inch model. If Apple already has hinges in hand for a 13-inch MacBook Pro, it would perhaps be ready to debut in the next couple of months. We’ve already seen a chassis said to be for the 13-inch MacBook Pro, supporting the notion that it is perhaps already in production.
We are not expecting to see MacBook Pro announcements at WWDC, but rumors have suggested Apple will debut its next-generation MacBook Pro machines during the fourth quarter of 2016. Should Apple be planning to stagger the releases, a 13-inch model could come in September and a 15-inch model could follow in October or November should it not be ready to launch at the same time.
Predicting Apple’s plans for the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro is difficult because there are a lot of confusing rumors about the two machines. Many of the rumors about the devices have referred to them as simply “MacBooks,” and that ambiguous naming is further confused by a report from Ming-Chi Kuo suggesting Apple is also working on a 13-inch MacBook that would be sold alongside the 12-inch MacBook.
Distilling the rumors down, it’s clear there are new MacBook Pro machines in the works, but figuring out a more concrete release date won’t be possible until we have more information to work with.
In addition to being ultra thin with a MacBook-style design, Apple’s next-generation MacBook Pros are expected to include an OLED touch panel that will replace the function keys on the existing MacBook Pro. Touch ID may be included, and rumors suggest the bar will be dynamic, changing the available keys based on the app in use. This touch panel will need to be deeply integrated into OS X, so additional hints on the upcoming MacBook Pro may be found in OS X 10.12, releasing to developers next week.
Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Don’t Buy)
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Google Debuts ‘Motion Stills’ App for Creating GIFs and Movies from Live Photos
Google today announced the launch of a new app called Motion Stills, which is designed to create unique GIFs from Live Photo images captured with the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.
According to Google, the app was built by the Google Research Team and uses the company’s video stabilization technology to freeze the background into a still photo or create cinematic panoramas. Multiple clips can also be combined into a montage.
GIFs created by Motion Stills can be shared via apps like Messages or on social media networks.
We pioneered this technology by stabilizing hundreds of millions of videos and creating GIF animations from photo bursts. Our algorithm uses linear programming to compute a virtual camera path that is optimized to recast videos and bursts as if they were filmed using stabilization equipment, yielding a still background or creating cinematic pans to remove shakiness. […]
Short videos are perfect for creating loops, so we added loop optimization to bring out the best in your captures. Our approach identifies optimal start and end points, and also discards blurry frames. As an added benefit, this fixes “pocket shots” (footage of the phone being put back into the pocket).
There are several other apps designed to create GIFs for Live Photos, so Google’s offering isn’t unique, but it is notable that Google is offering an iOS-only app that works with an iOS-only feature. Google says the information it learns from Motion Stills will perhaps be used to introduce new capabilities into Google Photos in the future.
Aside from making Live Photos viewable on iOS and Mac devices running the latest operating systems and implementing an API for developers to incorporate Live Photos viewing into their apps, Apple has not designed any tools that allow users to manipulate and edit their Live Photos or convert them into videos or GIFs.
Google’s new Motion Stills app is available now and can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tags: Google, Live Photos, Motion Stills
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Apple to Live Stream June 13 WWDC Keynote
Apple has added a page for the 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference to its events website, confirming plans to live stream the keynote event on June 13 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
The keynote event, which will take place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, will be available on Macs and iOS devices through an event stream on Apple.com and on the Apple TV through an events app.
On the second and third generation Apple TV, there will be an event channel, and on the fourth-generation Apple TV, the event will either be watched through the dedicated WWDC app, which expanded to the Apple TV this year, or through an upcoming events app. Apple has not yet updated its apps on the Apple TV to reflect the streaming information.
As always, MacRumors will also be providing live coverage of the event on MacRumors.com and through the MacRumorsLive Twitter account.
The 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference is expected to focus on new software and services, with Apple debuting new versions of iOS, OS X, watchOS, and tvOS, along with potentially introducing new Apple Pay features.
Related Roundup: WWDC 2016
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Where can you vote? This f*&%ing site can help – CNET
Finding your polling location is frustrating. Is it the church on the corner? Is it really that weird neighbor’s garage? It is the Post Office? And strange district definitions can mean a polling place right next to your house may not be where you vote.
What’s a patriotic wildcat like yourself to do?
That’s where Where’s My Fucking Polling Place answers the call. The site very politely asks you to type “your fucking address here.” If you don’t the site gets irate, so you better do it.
Screenshot taken by Alina Bradford/CNET
After you click the search button the site brings up the address of your local voting location with options to share the location on Facebook and Twitter.
Still can’t find your polling location, even with an address? Click on the little globe icon to bring up your polling location on Google Maps. Hopefully the map will tell you the actual name of the building.
One particularly helpful feature of the site is it lists who you can vote for, just in case you’re not up on who’s running, especially the local candidates. There’s a list of who’s running for president, Senate and House of Representatives, as well as more local political positions.
After trying several addresses from around the country, I found that the site wasn’t always that great at finding them all, but when it did work, it was helpful. At least it gave me a good laugh when it came up with nothing.
Screenshot taken by Alina Bradford/CNET
Facebook now lets you post to the News Feed and not your Timeline – CNET
You have always been able to hide posts from your Facebook page after the fact, but now Facebook lets you post to the News Feed without the items ever touching your Timeline. This new feature, perhaps inspired by the popularity and ephemeral nature of Snapchat, is useful for, say, a quick question for some of your Facebook friends or a spur-of-the-moment status update you’d rather didn’t remain after the fact on your Timeline.
Currently, the new News Feed-only posting feature is available on Facebook on the Web but not on mobile. When you begin writing a status update in the box at the top of the News Feed, you’ll see a new check box for Hide From Your Timeline. Check the box and your status update will be posted to the News Feed while bypassing your Timeline.
This new Hide From Your Timeline check box is not listed, however, when sharing a post from your News Feed. When sharing, you still have the same options to share to your own Timeline, a friend’s Timeline or in a group or event.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Posts that you’ve published to the News Feed while hiding from your own Timeline still show up in search. And they get listed along with the rest of your Facebook activity on the Your Posts page that is visible only to you.
Avoid fake drone-registration sites – CNET
I recently upgraded to a shiny new Phantom drone, the first I’d purchased since the FAA’s drone-registration rules went into effect.
At first I thought, “Eh, I don’t really need to register, do I?” Then a friend asked if I knew the penalty for flying without a license. A couple hundred bucks, I guessed? Nope: Failing to register may result in civil penalties up to $27,500, while criminal penalties may include fines up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to three years.
“Pay the five bucks,” my friend said.
So, naturally, I Googled “drone registration.” The first result, Federal Drone Registry, looked like the right thing, so I clicked on through, entered all my personal and drone details, and proceeded to the checkout page. But then I found myself staring at a $24.99 cart total. Huh? I thought registration was five bucks. Maybe the cost went up since December?
Don’t blindly click the first search result that appears, otherwise you could end up paying an unnecessary premium for drone registration.
Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET
Nope. Turns out I’d fallen for a pretty standard search-engine bait-and-switch, the same kind that tricks people who search for, say, “HP tech support” and similarly broad topics. Unless you look closely at the results, it’s easy to blindly click a seemingly suitable link and end up with a third-party vendor — exactly what happened to me.
Turns out a number of small companies have cropped up to offer drone registration, providing little or no added value despite much higher prices. The aforementioned Federal Drone Registry, for example, looked pretty darn official, and only a later perusal of the site’s FAQ page revealed it had no FAA or U.S. Government affiliation.
Yes, I absolutely should have known better. Yes, upon closer inspection, there were telltale “Ad” stickers (tiny ones, though) alongside each of the top three search results. And, yes, I’d been in a hurry, so I clicked before I looked.
Don’t make the same mistake. If you need to register a drone, head to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) service. (The link, just so you can spot it in search engines, looks like this: https://registermyuas.faa.gov/) The price is $5, and when you’re done you’ll receive a small certificate you can print and an ID number you can adhere, engrave or write on the drone itself.
Cover-Up’s #WoodBack cases make your Nexus 6P look and feel awesome (Review)
I don’t love phone cases. I know most people are content with putting one on their phones and not really thinking about it ever again. I honestly wish that I was more like that because I’ve definitely screwed up more than one phone from not having a case on it, even though I baby my devices. The cases I do get interested in have to have a niche. They have to be interesting in some way. They have to make me want to keep them on the phone, rather than just becoming a part of it.
That’s why I absolutely love Cover-Up’s #WoodBack collection of cases. Not only do they look phenomenal, but they feel great in the hand too.
Protection
Let’s address protection first since that’s the reason you have a case in the first place. The #WoodBack cases aren’t military certified like UAG cases and they don’t make your phone water resistant like Lifeproof cases, but what they do offer is simple scratch and drop protection. I recently dropped my phone twice in two days. Once onto a driveway without a case and once onto a sidewalk with a #WoodBack case on. Without the case, I got scratched paint and dents. This phone is my baby (I should stop dropping my baby) and it hurts to see those scratches and dents on my phone.
The second fall, this time with the #WoodBack case securely on the phone, produced no ill effects. Not even for the case.
Your phone sits inside of a TPU case, that while thin, is pretty tough. There is some give in the case which helps disperse any shocks, but not enough that your phone is going to pop out of it. There’s also a bumpy texture on the sides of the case to help you grip the phone better. I owned a previous version of these cases that had smooth sides and it could be a bit slippery, but I haven’t had any issue holding onto my (rather large) Nexus 6P.
A slight lip comes up to protect your phone’s screen, but I really don’t know if it’s going to do anything to help it out in case of falls. It’s a bit too shallow to hold back your screen if it’s falling face down, but I think it will keep your screen from touching a surface if it’s just sitting on a table- which can help with scratches. I don’t have a tempered glass screen protector on my Nexus 6P, but I’d wager to say that if you have one on yours the #WoodBack case will come almost flush with the screen protector.
Look and Feel
The great thing about Cover-Up’s cases is the huge selection of different wood you have to choose from. Currently, for the Nexus 6P you can choose from 14 different styles of wood and designs. I am personally in love with the Blackened Ash wood and the Gold Lightning Bolt logo adds an awesome little bit of flair, without going over the top. The Elm Burl, Cherry, and Black Limba cases (pictured below) are also as beautiful in person as they are on the website.
One very appealing aspect of these cases is that no two are alike. The Elm Burl case I have pictured has some of the same characteristics as the press pictures on Cover-Up’s website, but it’s completely different in design. There are a ton of knots and distinctive features in my case that no-one else will duplicate on theirs. I love having a one-of-a-kind design on my phone.
I covered the bumpy sides earlier and that’s plays in rather heavily to how the cases feel in the hand. There’s no sliding around with this thing so my phone always feels secure in my hand. The bumps, on top of the size of the case, add almost no bulk either. The Nexus 6P is a humongous phone but the #WoodBack cases doesn’t make it feel any bigger. That’s a huge plus for me.
There are only a few minor negatives to these cases, and it’s really stretching. They are a bit deep. You can really tell how deep the case is when you’re putting your finger on the scanner on the back of the phone. I’ve not noticed any issues with getting a good read (in fact, it helps me center my finger on the scanner better) and the cutouts for the camera and flash are big enough so it doesn’t reflect back into the lens, so this is just a minor negative because it changes the feel of the phone.
Also, the case does cover the buttons on the phone and they can feel a bit mushy to press. The buttons don’t stick out very far so it’s easy to miss them unless you’re looking for them as you’re running your finger along the side of the case. It’s not a huge turn-off, but it will bother some people.
Conclusion
I think Cover-Up really hit it out of the park with the #WoodBack line. They aren’t the most protective of cases, but they’re on par with most cases out there. If you’re looking for something like an Otterbox, you probably weren’t looking at these cases anyway.
The wood backing of these phones look and feel absolutely fantastic. The fact that I will have my own unique design no matter what wood I choose is a huge selling point to me.
If you’re interested in picking up a #WoodBack case from Cover-Up, head over to its website or check out its listings on Amazon.
Bear Lock: Keep prying eyes away (Review)
Overview
Keep your apps as safe as Pooh keeps his honey pot. That’s what Bear Lock does: keeps prying eyes away.
Developer: Bear Lock Applock
Cost: Free
Setup
Setting up is relatively easy. Jasper, your guide in the app, will walk you through this. He will ask you to put in your name, set up a pattern lock and fingerprint (if you have a sensor), and your email.
Once the initial setup is complete, you are free to pick which apps you want to protect. You are given the choice between two lists: sensitive and all. Select which apps you want to protect and that’s it. You’re set up. To remove the protection, simply tap which app to remove the protection from and you’re good to go.
Review
Bear Lock is a neat app lock app. Say that five times fast. It does exactly what it says, locks your apps so no one else can get into them. Jasper will let you in only if you type the correct code. If you don’t have the code, he will eventually turn his back on you.
The fact that you can use both a pattern or finger lock is nice 
since some people (me in particular!) don’t like to use fingerprint locks. I would like to see them add a numerical unlock code in the future, but, for now, this will work. If you forget your code, don’t worry, there is also the option to be asked a security question or get an email sent.
Bear Lock also lets you theme the app. It may not be the most important feature in an app like this, but it’s a nice touch. The themes are limited to only changing the colors, but it’s still a welcomed feature. There isn’t too much more they could do in this area.
Conclusion
You can’t get much simpler than this app. I honestly believe you could get a six-year-old to set this up. The best part? It’s free. Zero dollars. I can’t find any in-app purchases anywhere and there are no ads of any sort. I’m kind of surprised about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they added more features later for a premium. If you want a layer of extra security, and don’t want to spend any money, Bear Lock is for you.
Download and install Bear Lock from the Google Play Store.
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AIVAnet 