PinOut: Tips and Tricks
Endless pinball fun meets Tron-inspired art style in PinOut.
PinOut is an endless pinball game made by Mediocre, the same fine folks that gave the world Smash Hit. You work your way through section after section of futuristic pinball bliss trying to race against the countdown timer — featuring bumpers, rails and scattered power-ups and mini games
Looking to become a PinOut pinball wizard? Here’s our best tips and tricks to get you going.
- Always be aiming for the dots
- Use your flipper wisely
- Choose the right power-up for you
- Save your progress with a premium upgrade
- Make the most of your mini games
- How about that music, eh?
Always be aiming for the dots
The timer is your adversary in PinOut, and the best way to extend your play is to aim for the rails lined with dots. Each dot you collect in PinOut adds one second of time to the timer. Flippers are typically lined up to perfectly hit at least one rail, so you’ll want to quickly determine which flipper has the better angle on hitting the time extension rail, so you can add some time to the clock as you move on to the next section.
Use your flippers wisely
The in-game physics are pretty good, but not quite as realistic as… well, real-world pinball. You can use this to your advantage by learning the timing required to hit the ball at precise angles. Often times you’ll need to hit the flipper when the ball is right at the tip, which takes some practice to get down. For precise shots where you want to take the time to aim, tap and hold to keep the flipper up and cradle the ball until you’re ready to take your shot.
Choose the right power up for you
As you progress through the game, you’ll run across a few bonus targets. Some will trigger mini-games (which we’ll get to soon), and others let you pick between two power-ups. You’ll need to figure out which of these works best with your style of play. Early on, your choices are going to typically be slow motion, which slows down the pace of play, and time freeze, which freezes the timer for ten flipper hits.
I personally found the slow motion power up threw off my rhythm more than anything else, but you may find it helps improve your shot accuracy. Other power-ups you’ll discover later in the game include Motion Link (time only moves when the ball is in motion), Push (changes the controls, allows you to swipe to hit the ball, even away from the flippers), Warp (lets you skip part of a section), and Time Doubler (doubles your time bonuses from dotted rails).
Save your progress with a premium upgrade
If you’ve become hooked on PinOut, you might want to consider paying the in-app charge to upgrade to the premium version. This lets you start the game from a previously reached checkpoint, letting you skip over the earlier levels and focus your efforts on reaching further checkpoints. Again, it’s not necessary to upgrade to premium to really enjoy the game, but if you really like a game, it never hurts to show the developers some love.
Make the most of your mini-games
Occasionally you’ll come across a bonus target that will trigger a quick mini-game that will play at the top of the screen. You find your first one, Lazer Racer, after reaching the first checkpoint. It’s a simple little racing mini-game where you use the flipper controls to switch lanes and avoid crashing into other cars. For every set of cars you pass, a bonus second will be added to the timer. The better you get at playing Lazer Racer and the other mini games you’ll come across in later stages, the more time you can bank early.
How about that music, eh?
On top of the fun gameplay and sharp graphics, PinOut features a pretty awesome soundtrack! It was composed by Douglas Holmquist, and If you’re digging the tunes as you play, you’ll be happy to know that the whole soundtrack is available on BandCamp.
What are your best tips and tricks?
Do you love PinOut as much as we do? Let us know your strategies in the comments!
LA Motor Show 2016 in pictures: The best cars from the AutomobilityLA show floor
Los Angeles: Hollywood, sun, sand, silicon and celebrity.
But it’s also the USA’s home of car culture. Every November a major motor show rolls into town, where the traditional big car brands’ satellite studios show their thinking about what will be happening years down the road.
But the LA show has changed this year. As the car market adapts and technology continues to become a core focus, the once-called LA Auto Show has become AutomobilityLA to reflect this.
The show now features a tech-heavy conference programme and tent full of start-up mobility ideas.
Yet cars still play centre stage. And in LA this year it was that antithesis of ecology, the SUV, that took centre stage.
Here, we round-up the key cars currently on display in the Los Angeles Convention Center.
- Click through our AutomobilityLA highlights gallery to see all the important cars
Black Friday UK smartwatch deals: The smartwatch deals online
With Black Friday just around the corner, held on 25 November this year, there will no doubt be a few smartwatch deals to be had.
With a range of smartwatches being produced now by various manufacturers including Apple, Samsung, Pebble and more, there are plenty of different designs, styles and functionality to choose from.
Whether you’re shopping for a watch as a gift for Christmas or as a treat for yourself, keep an eye on this page as we’ll be updating it with the best smartwatch deals we find as the days tick by from now through to Black Friday and beyond.
Amazon Black Friday smartwatch deals
Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are probably the most popular and well-known on the web. With Amazon’s Black Friday sales already starting early there’s bound to be some excellent smartwatches on offer.
- Sony Mobile SWR50 SmartWatch 3 brown leather for £142.47 (save £87.52) – click here for this smartwatch deal
- Pebble Smartwatch – Pink for £39.90 (save £40.09) – click here for this deal
Currys/PC World Black Friday smartwatch deals
When it comes to tech and gadgets, Currys and PC World always have a great range. This Black Friday and in the run up to Christmas, there’s the promise of 1000’s of “unmissable Christmas deals”, so we’ll be monitoring their offers to find great smartwatch bargains for you.
Currys/PC World also has a price promise that applies to Black Friday prices as well, so shopping around and comparing prices could pay off even more! Smartwatch deals here currently include:
- Sony SmartWatch 3 Classic SWR50 for £79.99 (save £20) – click here to get this deal
- Huawei Classic Smartwatch with black leather strap for £239 (save £50) – click here to get this deal
Argos Black Friday smartwatch deals
Argos is officially starting its Black Friday deals on the 25 November but, in the meantime, there are still some smartwatch offers to look out for. Remember when Black Friday comes around, the advantage of using Argos is to order a deal online and it’ll hold it at the local store for you for seven days and avoid the queues or the slow seasonal deliveries.
Current smartwatch deals at Argos include:
- Apple Watch 38mm Rose Gold Case & Royal Blue Woven Band for £199 (save £60) – click here for this smartwatch deal
- Garmin Vivomove Premium – Gold-Tone Steel and Leather for £189 (save £50) – click here for this deal
- Apple Watch Sport 38mm Silver Case & White Band for £199 (save £60) – click here for this deal
- Pebble Classic Fitness Smartwatch – Red for £49.95 (save £30) – click here for this smartwatch deal
- Apple Watch 42mm Space Gray Case and Black Woven Strap for £249 (save £50) – click here for this deal
More Black Friday UK deals
- Best Black Friday UK phone deals: Apple, Samsung, Android phone deals galore
- Best Black Friday UK TV deals: 4K, HDR, OLED TVs and more
- Best Black Friday UK games deals: Amazing PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo deals
- Black Friday UK laptop deals: The best laptop deals online
- Best Black Friday 2016 UK camera deals: DSLR, compact and system camera bargains
- Best Black Friday UK tablet deals: iPad, Android, Surface, Amazon and more
Apple could lower its cut of subscription fees on video apps
Earlier this year Apple sweetened the split with iOS developers on subscriptions, by promising to halve its usual 30 percent cut — once a user has been signed up for a year. Now, Bloomberg reports rumors that the company will move to an 85/15 split for all subscription video apps, with no time restriction. That could make partners and customers alike happy, since some services like Spotify, Netflix and YouTube have tacked on an extra buck or two whenever customers sign up via iTunes, just to cover the extra costs.
If it happens, this could also help Apple snag video services to be a part of its new TV app. The just-revealed app has yet to launch officially, the Apple TV is still lacking direct access to Amazon Prime subscription videos, and Netflix has said it won’t be a part of the TV guide and its Watch Now menuing. Even if the extra bucks fails to make Netflix friendlier, it could be good for other services considering billing via iTunes vs. being sold as add-ons for services like Prime or Sling TV.
Source: Bloomberg
How about a drone to help you catch fish?
If you’re looking to improve the quality of your catch, or just terrorize the local fish, you should check out AguaDrone. As the name implies, it’s a drone that’s been specifically designed to operate on water for those fishy and outdoorsy types in your friend circle. As well as being fully waterproof, the device can land on and take off from bodies of both fresh and salt water. But AguaDrone’s real strength is that it can carries a series of swappable pods that’ll enable you to hunt down, film and catch those prized fish who aren’t so easy to find.
The most useful of the pods is a sonar fish finder that’ll send images of the local area to your smartphone or tablet over WiFi. The sensor pod is also capable of identifying the water’s depth and temperature, which it can identify of depths of up to 140 feet. There’s also a line casting pod that’ll carry your bait out — so long as it weighs under two pounds — as far as you can go. Finally, there’s a waterproof camera that’ll let you shoot video from under the surface for some pretty exciting home videos.
If there’s a downside to all of this, it’s that fully waterproof drones with sonar sensors and cameras don’t come cheap. AguaDrone is asking for your patronage on Kickstarter, with the “fisherman’s kit” setting you back $1,199 with delivery estimated for February 2017. Early birds more interested in the waterproof drone itself can pick up a bare-bones package with just a battery and remote for $699. Should, of course, enough people chip in to enable the firm to reach its $69,000 goal.
Source: Kickstarter
Smarter bots are coming to Facebook, Google and Amazon assistants
We keep hearing that robots are going to take our jobs, but a company called MindMeld is giving us an idea how with its “Deep-Domain Conversational AI Platform.” It’ll allow bots that can essentially replace customer service agents and even baristas by answering complicated voice or text queries over Google Assistant, Amazon Echo, Facebook Messenger and other popular platforms. Uniqlo, for one, will offer a Facebook bot that can answer questions about its products, services and retail locations with more detail than ever.
The “MindMeld Language Parser” helps it understand and answer questions with “human-like accuracy,” whether by talk or text, the company says. It adds that while current AI toolkits from Google, Facebook and others are great, they provide “little data suitable for production-quality applications” — in other words, they can do deep learning, but don’t give companies anything to teach them. It reckons that customers have been “disappointed and underwhelmed” with first-gen bots — something Facebook pretty much said not long ago.
In a video (below) the company showed some (simulated) scenarios of the bot in action. It understands relatively complicated searches, like a coffee order for a “venti, hot Pike Place Roast with room,” (I have no idea myself what that actually is). The bot can then process the order and give you a pickup time and price, or else auto-suggest more options via buttons at the bottom of the screen.
Other features include question responses across “any dynamic knowledge graph,” dialogue management and state tracking, large-scale training data generation and cloud-based or on-premise deployment. Basically, all of those buzzwords mean that companies can put together a bot without needing to do a lot of extra work (for a price, of course).
The company thinks bots will be able to do tasks like “placing a take-out order at a local restaurant, booking a flight or hotel reservation, creating a service appointment at an auto repair shop or doctor’s office, or finding retail store and production information.” It’ll eventually work across “Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger, Google Assistant, Skype, Slack, Google Home and more,” says MindMeld CEO Tim Tuttle.
The platform is available starting today, and MindMeld customers and investors already include Google, Samsung, Intel, Uniqlo, Spotify, Telefonica and others. Suffice to say, if you work in customer service or other areas, you may want to start buffing up your resume.
Huawei’s MediaPad M3 is out now for $299
After launching in Europe this September, Huawei’s high-end Android tablet has finally made its way stateside. Available now to order on Amazon, the 8.4-inch MediaPad M3 ships on November 20th. Although Europe got 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions, complete with 4G and WiFi options, only the 32GB WiFi model has made it over to the US, priced at $299.
Announced at this year’s IFA, the MediaPad M3 is a tablet with an unsurprising focus on media. Huawei is aiming to court those who love watching movies on the go with the M3, as it boasts a 2,560 x 1,600 display, high resolution audio support, Harmon Kardon-certified speakers and a generous 5,100mAh battery. Additionally, Huawei says its 10.1-inch MediaPad M2, another tablet already available in Europe, will join the M3 in the US next month.
Source: Amazon
Eero’s WiFi hubs get faster, smarter and now support Alexa
Earlier this year, Eero launched a home WiFi solution that it claimed would solve all our wireless woes. The idea behind Eero’s system is simple; instead of relying on one router to connect your whole house, it uses multiple hubs. Each Eero hub combines the functions of a wireless router, a range extender and a repeater, and you can easily connect them to one another with a companion app. The whole system is essentially a wireless mesh network for the home. Months later, and Eero is unveiling a massive update that not only brings faster and better performance, but also Amazon Alexa compatibility and a slew of new app features. The update will roll out to users starting this week.
That performance boost comes from a technology that Eero is calling TrueMesh. It’s a brand new mesh architecture that the team redesigned from the ground up. CEO and co-founder Nick Weaver tells me that this was in large part based on the data that it’s received from its customers throughout the year. “What this has allowed us to do, is to max out the hardware that people have,” he said, adding that this will result in up to 40 percent speed improvement. He was careful to note that this speed boost is in your local area network only; your actual internet speed is of course still dependent on what you get from your ISP.
Still, this is a pretty big step forward. “A pretty huge amount of engineering went into it,” he said. In addition to speed, the firmware update will also make it significantly more resilient to connection issues. “If there’s a device that’s hogging a lot of bandwidth and causing a lot of interference, it’ll reroute traffic through the network in a much more reliable clip.” In essence, TrueMesh promises dynamic rerouting and the ability to adapt to network demand on the fly. Oh, and the tech also allows Eero to be a lot more expandable, so feel free to tack on more Eeros if you live in a particularly spacious abode.
The next big feature is the compatibility with Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. Interestingly, Weaver tells me that one out of five Eero customers already have an Amazon Echo in their home, so this feature will likely get some use. One of the things you can do with it is to pause device profiles, which you can set up for each family member. So when it’s time for dinner, for example, you can say “Alexa, ask eero to pause all profiles,” which would then cut off the internet for all connected devices, forcing your family members to come to the table. You can also pause a certain individual’s profile, which might be useful if someone’s playing a game instead of doing his or her homework.
A particularly useful Alexa feature is that you can ask Eero to help you find a missing device. If you’ve lost your iPhone, for example, you can say “Alexa, ask Eero where my iPhone is.” It’ll then tell you which Eero hub is currently connected to it so you know where to start your hunt. You can also ask Alexa to turn off the LED of your Eero, so it doesn’t glow in your bedroom when you’re trying to sleep.
Last but not least, the Eero app is also getting more functionality. For one thing, you’ll get much more information about the connected devices. You’ll be able to see which Eeros each device is connected to, what’s the signal strength of each and which one uses the most data. The app will also examine the placement of your Eeros and tell you the best place to position them for the best connection possible. And if there’s a network outage, it’ll also help you figure out the problem, be it interference or just an issue with the ISP.
“If there’s a time when you might have to physically do something like unplug a cable modem, it’ll walk you through those steps,” said Weaver. “We wanted to shed as much light as possible into the network so people can fix issues as they come up on their own.”
This software update, Weaver said, highlights how Eero separates itself from the pack. “It’s basically like getting a free engine upgrade for your car,” he said, pointing out that Eero customers are getting a slew of new features just with an over-the-air update.
When asked how the Eero compares to other home mesh networking efforts like Google’s recent WiFi router, Weaver said that the benefit of Eero is that it’s not locked up in one ecosystem. “We want to tap into as many ecosystems as possible,” he said, pointing out the Eero’s compatibility with the Amazon Echo and possibly more systems in the future. Plus, Eero has already been at it for a year, and thus has a pretty good headstart in understanding the home mesh networking space. This, according to Weaver, allows the company to address and evolve the experience. “We’re going to do everything we can to continue to lead this market,” he said.
CamSoda launches a store for ‘digital blowjobs’
Porn website CamSoda is launching BlowCast, a service that it’s calling the “iTunes of Blowjobs,” Apple’s lawyers be damned. It’s a system whereby adult performers can record themselves performing oral acts upon smart dildos. That footage, combined with the sensor data, is then sold to customers looking for a different sexual experience. Rather than developing its own hardware, CamSoda will leverage the gear produced by Dutch teledildonics startup Kiiroo.
Put simply, an adult model will record themselves going to town on the Kiiroo Pearl, the company’s smart vibrator. The video of the scene will be synchronized with the data pulled from the sensors that cover the Pearl’s surface. The resulting package will then be sold online to a purchaser, whereby it’ll run in tandem with the Kiiroo Onyx, an interactive masturbator sleeve. So whatever happens on the screen, you’ll theoretically feel in real-time.
BlowCast’s platform is, essentially, a latter-day update on RealTouch Interactive, a company that offered a similar business model. It developed its own teledildonic equipment and data system that synched movement to hardware stimulation. Unfortunately, patent litigation killed the company, and the high costs of hardware development have stymied other entrants into the market.
It’s certainly an interesting concept, and one that may prove to be successful in the long term, although it wont be an easy ride. For a start, Kiiroo may be the only teledildonic equipment that’s even close to the mainstream, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly enjoyable. Your humble narrator has tried the technology and found that its ability to stimulate a user is underwhelming, at best.
BlowCast will launch with 50 movies in its catalog, with plans to add more over time as well as branching out into other sex acts. Before you can say “I’d buy that for a dollar,” the company is offering the content free for the first 30 days of its life, after which point each movie will set you back a buck. Oh, and you get a long, post-coital rumination on how technology is doing away with all forms of human labor, including sex, for free!
Source: BlowCast
Facebook’s fake news activity spiked near election day
Mark Zuckerberg said it’s unlikely that the small amount of fake stories circulating on Facebook affected the outcome of the presidential elections. According to Buzzfeed News’ investigation, though, that “small amount” of hoaxes outperformed (Google Doc) stories from legit sources on the social network during the final three months of the campaign period. The top 20 fake stories from August to election day apparently generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook, whereas the top 20 from 19 mainstream news websites only generated 7,367,000.
Before that period, mainstream sources generated up to four times the engagement fake sources did. It’s not exactly clear what caused the shift, but it’s worth noting that in the end of June this year, Facebook updated its News Feed algorithm to prioritize the updates your friends share over posts from other sources.
Buzzfeed says 17 of the 20 top-performing hoaxes were overtly pro-Trump or anti-Clinton. That supports earlier reports that Facebook didn’t address its fake news problem, because it would’ve removed a lot of conservative content from people’s Feeds. Three of the top five hoaxes, for instance, claim that the Pope endorsed the President-Elect, that Hillary Clinton sold weapons to ISIS and that the FBI agent suspected of leaking Clinton’s emails was found dead.
There were a handful of fake anti-Trump stories that made the rounds, including one that claims Mike Pence called Michelle Obama the “most vulgar first lady we’ve ever had.” But Buzzfeed found that most of the fake content in the list ultimately came from hoax websites or from hyperpartisan right-wing publishers. Some of those publishers even registered their domains merely a few months before the elections.
[Image credit: Buzzfeed]
As Buzzfeed noted, though, Facebook likes, shares and comments don’t necessarily translate into traffic. A spokesperson for the social network also told the publication that these 20 fake stories are but a small fraction of everything that’s shared on the website. It doesn’t necessarily represent the Facebook activity of all the election-related posts, whether fake or real, shared on the social network. “There is a long tail of stories on Facebook,” he said. “It may seem like the top stories get a lot of traction, but they represent a tiny fraction of the total.” Still, there are dozens of employees within the company who feel like Facebook didn’t do enough to prevent fake news from spreading. They’re now reportedly investigating the situation from within.
Source: Buzzfeed News
AIVAnet 