‘Modern Warfare Remastered’ adds female soldiers, microtransactions
If you thought that Modern Warfare Remastered would’ve been forgotten immediately after it was released, think again. The game’s latest free update brings seven classic maps into the fold (Bloc, Countdown, Pipeline, Showdown, Strike, Wet Work) and the winter-themed, previously PC-only Winter Crash, according to the Activision blog. More than that, the “Operation Arctic Wolf” loot drop adds female soldiers to the mix — a first for the Modern Warfare franchise. Why those aren’t available as default options now is anyone’s guess, though.
The patch also brings in something that’s a bit controversial: microtransactions. You can earn those cosmetic items like weapon skins or targeting reticules by doing stuff in-game, sure, but they’re also available to buy with Call of Duty Points, which you purchase with real-world money. Gamespot reports that new melee weapons like a shovel or hammer can be purchased as well.
Of course, these are all optional things that don’t really have any effect on the game and are more for personalization that anything. But the difference between League of Legends charging for characters and skins, and CoD or Overwatch is that Riot’s wildly popular game doesn’t cost $60 up front.
Via: Kotaku
Source: Activision blog
Just Eat devours takeaway rival Hungryhouse for £200 million
Just Eat, ravenous for global expansion, has bought rivals Hungryhouse and SkipTheDishes for £266 million. The two acquisitions will help the company to consolidate its position as one of the biggest food delivery startups on the planet. In the UK, Hungryhouse is one of its biggest rivals, with close but not quite equal marketing spend and brand recognition. Buying the brand from Delivery Hero for £200 million will increase Just Eat’s scale and remove any threat it once posed. Likewise, picking up SkipTheDishes will bolster its business in Canada, while removing a potentially dangerous chess piece from an increasingly cluttered board.
Indeed, Just Eat’s competition is rife. Countless startups want to be the service that connects restaurants with would-be takeaway customers. Scale is critical, however, and those who fail to win the public’s favour are often gobbled up by their competition. Just Eat will now be focused on Deliveroo, Uber and Amazon in the UK. All three have made efforts to connect with businesses that typically don’t work with delivery startups. Deliveroo has Pizza Express, Wagamama and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, while Uber Eats has Chilango, Pho and Snog. Just Eat will need similar relationships, or something equally compelling — cheap prices, perhaps — to stay at the top of the food chain. Like adorable delivery robots?
Source: Just Eat
The best Christmas jumpers for UK techies
Christmas is coming, and that means you need to get yourself a terrifically tacky knitted jumper. Sure, you can head down to shops and grab yourself a generic wooly warmer, but there are lots of options available online that will better suit your (geeky) personality. Here are our picks.
The Animated One
The MorphDigital Dudz light-up Christmas jumpers from Morphsuits double up as phone holders. Download the app, slip your phone into the opening at the front of the jumper and your pullover will come to life with a flickering flame, a mooning Santa and other festive nonsense.
OhLED
LED lights mean that this Novelty Knitwear Santa jumper will really come into its own at night. Wear it to the office Christmas party to become the star attraction.
A Force To Be Reckoned With
This Darth Vader Christmas jumper has a stern, but fair, message for all the Scrooges out there. The lightsaber lights up and makes all the right noises.
PS4 Festive Gear
If you own the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro (or have one on your list), to play at your best you really need the matching Official Playstation Console Christmas pullover.
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
The Pokemon: Pikachu jumper has a subtle Christmas theme, so you might be able to get away with wearing this one for the whole winter.
A Marvel From Marvel
You can’t pass this one by. This Deadpool Sweater says everything you want to say at this time of year.
Evernote’s New Privacy Policy Lets Staff Read Customers’ Notes ‘to Improve the Service’
Some users of Evernote have threatened to stop using the note-taking service after the company announced a new privacy policy scheduled to go into effect on January 24 that effectively allows employees to read customers’ notes.
The policy changes are related to machine learning algorithms, says Evernote, which are being tested on user content that the company has accumulated since going into operation. Specifically, Evernote explained that staff may need to read customer notes in order to ensure the algorithms are working as they should.
The latest update to the Privacy Policy allows some Evernote employees to exercise oversight of machine learning technologies applied to account content. While our computer systems do a pretty good job, sometimes a limited amount of human review is simply unavoidable in order to make sure everything is working exactly as it should.
In describing this position more succinctly, Evernote’s privacy policy states that employees will look at notes “for troubleshooting purposes or to maintain and improve the Service”. But some users are concerned about the vague wording of the clause, which journalist Stacy-Marie Ishmael has called “so broad as to be all inclusive”. Meanwhile, some users have taken to social media to join a growing chorus of revolt.
Evernote says that only a limited number of employees who have undergone background checks will be able to access note content and that users can encrypt notes to prevent staff from reading them.
But while users can opt out of having their notes reviewed for machine learning purposes, Evernote can still access content for other reasons, including violations of terms of service, to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Evernote and its users, or to comply with law enforcement requests, warrants, or court orders.
Users can read more about the new changes to Evernote’s privacy policy here.
Tags: Evernote, privacy
Discuss this article in our forums
Fitbit will keep Pebble’s services running through 2017
Fitbit might no longer sell Pebble’s devices, but it won’t brick the smartwatches the smaller company already sold. In a blog post today, Pebble developer Jon Barlow has assured fans that Fitbit will keep their e-paper smartwatches running through 2017. Pebble’s apps, app store, firmware and API, among other services, will remain accessible next year. While it sounds like Fitbit will no longer support those services after that, Barlow and his team are already taking steps to make sure they’ll still work in 2018.
Pebble’s developers are tweaking the system’s mobile apps so they can function even if their cloud services are discontinued. They’re planning to release updates in the coming months that’ll allow those apps to work on their own, just like Pebble Health, which isn’t dependent on the cloud. Unfortunately, Barlow can’t say how long the company can keep dictation, messaging, weather and other features dependent on third-party services active. But independent developers are already joining forces in an effort to keep Pebble devices working, so they might serve their owners beyond next year.
Source: Pebble
‘Dishonored 2’ has a good reason to play its New Game Plus mode
If, like me, you’re already deep into the intricate world of Dishonored 2, be prepared to keep playing for a while. Bethesda just revealed that the title’s first free update will include a “New Game Plus” mode, which will give you full access to the skills from its two heroes, Emily and Corvo. Up until now, each character could only use abilities within their specific skill trees. In a New Game Plus playthrough, which is unlocked after beating the game, you’ll be able to use Emily’s “Mesmerize” to stun an enemy and then follow it up with Corvo’s ability to summon man-eating rats. You know, as one does in the Empire of the Isles.
Additionally, playing through Dishonored 2 with New Game Plus will let you carry over the Runes and Bonecharms you’ve already collected. And yes, you’ll be able to re-assign Runes as you see fit. The game’s first update will be released on December 19th for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and PC users can test out a beta version starting today.
If you’re wondering what’s next for Dishonored 2, Bethesda also announced that its second major update will land in January and will let you choose specific missions (which is useful for gathering all those collectibles you’ve missed), as well as fine-tune the game’s difficulty.
Via: Gamesradar
Source: Bethesda
Apple will pay out $2 million to California retail employees
A long-running class action lawsuit between Apple and employees of its retail stores in California came to a quick conclusion today. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2011 by four former employees but expanded in 2014 to include around 20,000 Apple retail employees in California. The suit alleged that Apple failed to give employees adequate breaks, failed to pay wages in a timely manner after employees left the company and failed to provide accurate wage statements. The case finally went to court in San Diego back in October, and as Apple Insider reports today a jury has now ordered Apple to pay out $2 million in restitution.
The settlement works out to about $95 per employee included in the class, and $2 million is a tiny fraction of the $42.4 billion Apple pulled in during Q3 alone. For its part, Apple claimed it has offered adequate breaks in accordance with California Labor Code for years before the lawsuit was filed. The company has not yet commented on today’s settlement, but the employees who were denied breaks while helping customers pick out new iPhones and iPhones will see their cash as soon as the lawyers get their cut.
Source: Apple Insider
2016 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk review – Roadshow
The Good On paper it’s got the most off-road capability in its class. The Cherokee comes with the excellent Uconnect system.
The Bad No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The Cherokee has much less cargo space than competitors and the Trailhawk trim line suffers a bit on the pavement.
The Bottom Line If you expect to go off-road, the Trailhawk is a great choice. However, if you plan to stay in civilization, the top-of-the-line Overland trim line may be the better choice.
Many folks shopping for a midsize crossover just want a vehicle with all-wheel drive that performs well in any kind of weather, like the Mazda CX-5 or Toyota RAV4. If, however, you want a vehicle that can cross a creek and drive through a rainstorm on an unmaintained dirt road to your secluded cabin in the woods, let me tell you about the 2016 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. Just be prepared for a few on-pavement concessions.
The Cherokee, around in some form or another since 1974, debuted as a full-sized SUV. Over five generations it morphed into its current midsize crossover platform, and it currently keeps pace in sales with both the popular Wrangler and Grand Cherokee.
The Cherokee is available with a four-cylinder engine, but at 4,000 pounds I was glad for the extra grunt of the 3.2-liter V6 power plant. It’s an extra $1,745 but produces 271 horsepower and 239 pound-feet of torque. It’s definitely the better choice and well worth the extra coin.
Power goes to the pavement through a nine-speed automatic transmission. Yes, nine speeds. I was surprised at the well-behaved gearbox. It never searches for a gear and it willingly steps down two gears, and often three or four, during passing.
I took the Trailhawk on a road trip from Roadshow HQ in San Francisco to Los Angeles and averaged a dismal 22.8 miles per gallon, all while driving 70 to 80 mph for six hours at a time, a bit less than the EPA highway rating of 24 mpg. However, that’s much less than the EPA highway rating of the Subaru Crosstrek, at 33 mpg, and the Toyota RAV4 at 28 mpg.
Take a gander at the 2016 Jeep Cherokee…
See full gallery
1 – 6 of 10
Next
Prev
The Cherokee is available in nine different trims, but only the Trailhawk goes through Jeep’s rigorous off-road testing and wears the Trail Rated badge. I was hoping to get the thing on the dirt, but alas our busy schedule worked against us. We hope to revisit the Trailhawk, as it’s got all kinds of off-road goodies that the adventurous will appreciate. At minimum you need two things to make a vehicle off-road-worthy: a locking rear differential and a low range. The Trailhawk has both, plus more features that make it the most dirt-worthy option in its class.
The Cherokee has 8.7 inches of ground clearance and is outfitted with skid plates on the underbody, fuel tank and front suspension. The Selec-Terrain system lets you pick from auto, snow, sport, sand/mud or rock driving modes. High approach, breakover and departure angles help get the Cherokee Trailhawk up and over obstacles and it can ford up to 20 inches of water. The cherry on top is the 56:1 low gear ratio, perfect for high-torque, slow-speed rock crawling. It’s not a Wrangler, but it certainly is approaching one and on paper it kicks butt over other soft-roaders like the Subaru Forester or Crosstrek.
A grown-up Cherokee
The interior of the Cherokee Trailhawk belies its go-anywhere capabilities. The seats are comfortable and there is plenty of leather, with the added bonus of the excellent
Uconnect
navigation head unit. The optional 8.4-inch screen may seem crammed with information, but it’s all thoughtfully laid out and easy to navigate. Included with Uconnect are Siri Eyes Free compatibility, a new drag-and-drop menu bar and a Do Not Disturb function that sends phone calls straight to voicemail and can generate an automatic reply to text messages. It’s not as good as having Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but it’s a good start.
Divoom Voombox Travel 3 review – CNET
The Good The Divoom Voombox 3 is an inexpensive mini Blueototh speaker that’s splash- and shock-resistant and sounds decent enough for its low price and small size. It also has speakerphone capabilities and a built-in carabiner for clipping onto a backpack or belt loop.
The Bad You get what you pay for: It distorts at higher volumes, and the bass is limited.
The Bottom Line For its ultralow price, the Divoom Voombox Travel 3 delivers more than you’d expect.
Divoom’s Voombox Travel 3, a Bluetooth speaker that’s about the size of a creme-filled doughnut, can be found online for a mere $20 (this exact model doesn’t appear to be available in the UK or Australia, but versions of the Travel are available in the UK for around £20).
No, this little guy didn’t blow me away with its sound, but I don’t expect that much for 20 bucks, and the Voombox Travel 3 slightly exceeded my low expectations. I noticed an uptick in sound quality from the original Voombox Travel I reviewed a few years back, but it’s not a big leap.
What you get in the box.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Like all these micro speakers, it’s strongest in the midrange, so it sounds best with your favorite soft rock and acoustic material (it did well enough with several tracks from Sting’s “The Last Ship” album, for example). Its 5 watts of power allows it to play reasonably loud — enough to fill a small hotel room — but once you start throwing more complicated songs at it, your music will fray around the edges and distort a bit. There’s some bass but not a lot. It certainly sounds better than your phone’s or tablet’s speakers.
You can lay the speaker flat, but I found it sounded better standing vertically and pointed directly at me (I used its built-in carabiner to hang it from a hook). It’s splash-resistant and rated to deliver six hours of battery life, which is decent enough for a speaker this size. A microphone is on board for speakerphone calls.
This competes with such speakers as the now-discontinued Logitech X100, which also retails for less than $20 and is similar in shape. The Divoom speaker feels more durable, and — unlike the old Logitech — it’s splashproof. But I can’t say the Divoom sounds better than the X100 or is a definitely better choice than that speaker. It’s just a little different — and both are recommendable at their low price points if a a tiny portable speaker is what you’re looking for.
AIVAnet 