Obama: Clean energy has an ‘irreversible momentum’

Listen to the rhetoric and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Barack Obama’s presidential legacy will be torn apart in the next couple of months. But the 44th president believes that his work in pushing America toward a cleaner, greener future won’t be undone as easily as his successor believes. That’s the subject of a piece that Obama has written for Science entitled “The irreversible momentum of clean energy.”

Obama’s thesis is, broadly, that clean energy is good for the environment, helps businesses save money and, in the end, benefits everyone. The last eight years have seen the price of renewables fall while the economy has grown, and clean power employs twice as many people as its dirty equivalent.

While Obama’s replacement has deep ties to the oil and coal industries, it’s likely that their decline is now inexorable. The president explains that as gas-powered electricity generation is so cheap, the market won’t simply re-open unprofitable coal plants. Between the lines, he’s saying that whatever Trump has promised, it won’t be as easy as

It’s not the first time that the president has used a principally academic publication to outline or defend his policy initiatives. He has previously written in the American Medical Association’s journal in support of healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. It’s a natural fit for the former academic, who lectured in constitutional law at the University of Chicago for 12 years before he became a senator.

Source: Science

Vizio gives its SmartCast phone app a more useful home screen

Rather than using proprietary apps and tuners, Vizio’s E-, P- and M-series smart 4K TVs rely on “Chromecast built-in” (formerly Google Cast). That means you’re essentially running your TV from a smartphone (or included 6-inch tablet), which makes it easy for Vizio to do quick improvements. As such, the company just updated its SmartCast app by adding a streamlined new home page with larger buttons and simplified navigation. You can also access more TV shows and movies straight from main screen, rather than needing to dive into menus.

Vizio added a “Cast Apps” section, too, letting you launch Netflix, Hulu, Crackle and other Chromecast apps more quickly from your device. If you haven’t installed, say, Hulu yet, choosing it in SmartCast now sends you straight to iTunes or Google Play, depending on your device. There’s also “featured” section on the home screen with content recommendations, and for newbies, a curated “discover” area that shows top choices for subscription and regular content.

As before, you can cast to a Vizio TV from any Chromecast-enabled device, even if you don’t use its app. That applies to both streaming video and music, assuming you own one of Vizio’s SmartCast soundbars, too. The TVs are well-priced at $500 for a 50-inch 4K E-series version, or $1,000 for a 4K, 50-inch P-series. If Roku is more your thing than Chromecast, you may want to consider a TCL Roku model — with built-in Dolby Vision, the P-series in that brand, coming later this year, also runs $500.

Cancelling ‘Scalebound’ is a huge blow for PlatinumGames

Scalebound is no more. Platinum’s Xbox exclusive has been cancelled by Microsoft, killing the dream of a Devil May Cry meets Last Guardian mashup. What a shame. I saw the game behind closed doors on two separate occasions, and was left positively smitten with the concept. It centered on Drew, an arrogant, headphone loving twenty-something lost in a world filled with dragons. With Thuban, an eventual friend and fire-breathing combat partner, he would scour floating islands and decimate mythical enemies large and small. Throughout the game you would control them both, slashing as Drew and throwing out commands to Thuban.

PlatinumGames is an expert in stylish, over the top combat that won critical acclaim with Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Scalebound was something new, a chance to prove it could blend ridiculous action with an open world setting and RPG mechanics.

The second time I saw Scalebound, director Hideki Kamiya focused entirely on dragon customization. By collecting gems and other fantasy currencies, you would fine-tune Thuban’s build and armor. Want an agile, flying type that can pick off enemies from above? No problem. A slow, lumbering creature that can take a few hits while you launch magic from behind? Go nuts.

Scalebound’s cancellation suggests that the game was too ambitious for Platinum. Reports by Kotaku and Eurogamer suggest the project was “stuck in development hell,” behind schedule and struggling to run on the team’s chosen engine. The pressure was so intense that several senior members were forced to take a month off, according to Eurogamer, which only made it more difficult to keep up with deadlines. In a statement, Microsoft merely said that the decision was made “after careful deliberation.”

All of this reflects poorly on Platinum. Since 2014, when the excellent Bayonetta 2 was released on Wii U, the company has put out a string of mediocre games. The Legend of Korra, Transformers: Devastation and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan were all decent, but far from extraordinary budget titles. All three have sullied its reputation. The work it did on Star Fox Zero, a disappointing shooter by anyone’s standards, did not help the situation. Platinum needs a game to prove it’s still a top-tier developer when given the time and money. Scalebound, clearly, was supposed to fill that role.

Thankfully, the company has another game in the works — Nier: Automata. The dystopian brawler could well be a sleeper hit, combining fast, combo-heavy combat with a bleak, mech-centric universe. A successor to Nier, the Drakengard spin-off from 2010, it feels unashamedly Platinum. Quick hack-and-slack encounters are punctuated with huge, multi-layered boss battles. The main character, 2B, is a cold but quippy android, that dispatches enemies with enormous swords and a tiny robot companion. An early demo received glowing reviews from the press and fans alike. The final game, if successful, would help restore public faith in the studio.

But it won’t bring back Scalebound. The dragon romp is gone forever, another vision swallowed up by the brutal realities of triple-A video game development. Platinum isn’t the first, nor will it be the last studio to abandon a project deep into its development cycle. Cancellations can also lead to better games; Blizzard created Overwatch, for instance, from the ashes of a secret and eventually discarded MMORPG. Even so, I’ll miss Scalebound. The concept was fresh and unapologetically Japanese, a rare thing among Xbox exclusives. For now, I’ll have to get my dragon fix elsewhere.

Source: Kotaku, Eurogamer

Apple Music’s ‘Carpool Karaoke’ features Alicia Keys and Metallica

We still don’t know exactly when Apple Music’s version of a popular Late Late Show segment will debut, but we do know some of the singers who will appear on it. During the first batch of 16 half-hour episodes of “Carpool Karaoke,” Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Blake Shelton, John Legend, Metallica and Will Smith will all take a ride with rotating hosts. That’s right, different people will be behind the wheel during the course of the first “season.”

There still aren’t a ton of details right now, but Variety reports that Alicia Keys and John Legend are paired together. Comedian Billy Eichner hosts the Metallica episode, Seth McFarlane rides along with Ariana Grande and Chelsea Handler hits the road with Blake Shelton. Late Late Show host James Corden will only drive in the episode with Will Smith. There’s an interview component to the Apple Music version, so each installment will have a slightly different format than the sketch you’ve likely heard about.

While Apple Music has exclusive rights to the series, “Carpool Karaoke” will still be a regular segment on Corden’s TV show. This will also be the first series on the streaming service that’s ramped up its video lineup over the last few months. As we get closer to the premiere date, we’ll likely hear more about the guess list for those first 16 episodes.

Via: Rolling Stone

Source: Variety

You can vote for emoji to replace the current Monopoly tokens

Hasbro is no stranger to taking votes on new Monopoly tokens, but this time around everyone’s favorite tiny images are among the options. Between now and January 31st, you can select which of the 56 new game pieces you would like to see make the cut. Yes, you can vote for any of the current tokens to remain or replace them entirely as you make your picks for the final 8. The company plans to announce the results of the public vote on World Monopoly Day that takes place on March 19th.

In 2013, Hasbro collected votes on Facebook for a new game token and the masses decided to replace the iconic iron with a cat. It also took fan feedback on which cities to feature in the “Here & Now” version of the game in 2015. Almost a year ago, the company debuted the “Ultimate Banking” edition of the board games, nixing paper money in favor of debit cards and an electronic card reader.

As far as the emoji go, wink face, Mr. Monopoly, thumbs up, smiley face, kissy face and crying with laughter are the options you have to choose from. You can also select a hashtag token or any one of dozens of other objects. I’m a bit partial to the T-Rex myself.

Via: Entertainment Weekly

Source: Monopoly Token Madness

Lionsgate makes another move into eSports

Film and television production company Lionsgate has invested an undisclosed amount into Immortals, an eSports organization with teams competing in League of Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros.

Immortals is a fairly new North American eSports organization, created in October 2015 with a focus on League of Legends. For its premiere 2016 season, Immortals hired on a handful of high-profile professional League players and enjoyed an explosive debut, winning 33 of 36 games in the regular season. However, Immortals didn’t qualify for the World Championship and only one player has stayed with the team for the 2017 season.

“Our involvement in eSports creates tremendous opportunities to develop new content and utilize our suite of distribution platforms for a coveted consumer demographic with compelling engagement metrics,” Lionsgate president of interactive ventures and games Peter Levin says in a press release. “Collaborating with an elite group of partners, the combination of the Lionsgate and Immortals brands will be formidable.”

This isn’t Lionsgate’s first foray into the rich new world of professional gaming. In May, Lionsgate announced it was partnering with the Electronic Sports League and Pilgrim Media on an eSports television show — turns out, that will be a reality program all about the competitive side of Halo 5.

Throughout 2016, eSports attracted more than 200 million viewers and that audience is expected to surpass 300 million by 2019, according to Superdata Research. The industry is on track to generate more than $1 billion this year.

Source: Lionsgate

Foxconn Reports First Ever Profit Decline on Back of Slow iPhone Sales in 2016

Following a year filled with doom and gloom stories surrounding Apple and its first revenue decline in thirteen years, major iPhone supplier Foxconn Technology Group has reported its own first ever sales decline since the company went public in 1991. In a report by Nikkei, “lukewarm demand” for the iPhone 7 and a “saturated smartphone market” are said to be to blame for Foxconn’s downturn.

In total for 2016, Foxconn’s revenue of 4.356 trillion New Taiwan dollars (approximately $136 billion) was down 2.8 percent from its 2015 earnings. As a slight bright spot, its revenue for December grew 9.8 percent year-on-year because of increased user spending for the approaching Chinese New Year holidays, “and the relatively robust demand for the 5.5 inch iPhone 7 Plus model.”

Apple’s overall revenue decline in 2016 also included the company’s first year-over-year decline in iPhone sales — the first ever dip in profit for the iPhone. The lowering of demand for the smartphone directly impacted the company’s manufacturing partners, with analyst Vincent Chen reporting that in total 207 million iPhones were shipped in 2016, down from 236 million in 2015. That’s even lower than what Nikkei predicted midway through last year — believing shipments would total between 210 and 220 million.

There’s expected to be a turn around this year, however, with Chen predicting Foxconn’s revenue to grow between 5 and 10 percent on the back of “healthier demand” for the tenth-anniversary iPhone. Apple and its products account for more than 50 percent of Foxconn’s revenue.

“Look forward to 2017, we think Foxconn’s revenue could grow by 5% to 10%,” said Chen. The growth drivers for the current year will come from healthier demand for the next iPhone 8 and a mild rebound in the PC market, according to Chen. Foxconn is also the world’s biggest desktop assembler.

For 2017, iPhone’s shipment could rise to some 221 million, said Chen.

A lack of “compelling” features for the iPhone 7 was said to be the main reason why many Galaxy Note7 owners decided to stay in the Samsung family when those devices began malfunctioning. After the events of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 crisis began subsiding, analysts criticized Apple for failing to capture new customers into its ecosystem from the churning Note7 user base.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tag: Foxconn
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Consumer Reports Retesting MacBook Pro Battery Life After Apple Says Safari Bug to Blame

Last month, the new MacBook Pro did not receive a purchase recommendation from Consumer Reports due to battery life issues that it encountered during testing. Apple subsequently said it was working with Consumer Reports to understand the results, which it noted do not match its “extensive lab tests or field data.”

Apple has since learned that Consumer Reports was using a “hidden Safari setting” which trigged an “obscure and intermittent bug reloading icons” that led to inconsistent battery life results. With “normal user settings” enabled, Consumer Reports said it “consistently” achieved expected battery life.

Apple’s full statement was shared with MacRumors:

“We appreciate the opportunity to work with Consumer Reports over the holidays to understand their battery test results,” Apple told MacRumors. “We learned that when testing battery life on Mac notebooks, Consumer Reports uses a hidden Safari setting for developing web sites which turns off the browser cache. This is not a setting used by customers and does not reflect real-world usage. Their use of this developer setting also triggered an obscure and intermittent bug reloading icons which created inconsistent results in their lab. After we asked Consumer Reports to run the same test using normal user settings, they told us their MacBook Pro systems consistently delivered the expected battery life. We have also fixed the bug uncovered in this test. This is the best pro notebook we’ve ever made, we respect Consumer Reports and we’re glad they decided to revisit their findings on the MacBook Pro.”

Apple said it has fixed the Safari bug in the latest macOS Sierra beta seeded to developers and public testers this week.

Consumer Reports has issued its own statement on the matter to explain why it turns off Safari caching during its testing and other details:

We also turn off the local caching of web pages. In our tests, we want the computer to load each web page as if it were new content from the internet, rather than resurrecting the data from its local drive. This allows us to collect consistent results across the testing of many laptops, and it also puts batteries through a tougher workout.

According to Apple, this last part of our testing is what triggered a bug in the company’s Safari browser. Indeed, when we turned the caching function back on as part of the research we did after publishing our initial findings, the three MacBooks we’d originally tested had consistently high battery life results.

The non-profit organization also acknowledged user reports of poor battery life that have surfaced over the past three months.

Consumer Reports said it will complete its retesting of MacBook Pro battery life and report back with its update and findings when finished.

Apple advertises that the latest MacBook Pro models get up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge when watching iTunes movies or browsing the web. This estimate can be affected by several factors, such as screen brightness, which applications are running, and other system processes.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: Safari, Consumer Reports
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Swift and Xcode Head Chris Lattner Leaving Apple This Month

Chris Lattner, Apple’s Director of Developer Tools, has announced he will be leaving the company later this month to “pursue an opportunity in another space.” Lattner was responsible for leading the teams behind Xcode, Swift, and some other development-related tools and compilers at Apple.

In a message posted to the Swift mailing list, shared by MacStories, Lattner said Ted Kremenek, currently Senior Manager of Languages and Runtimes at Apple, will be taking over as “Project Lead” for the Swift programming language, managing the “administrative and leadership responsibility” for Swift.org.

This recognizes the incredible effort he has already been putting into the project, and reflects a decision I’ve made to leave Apple later this month to pursue an opportunity in another space. This decision wasn’t made lightly, and I want you all to know that I’m still completely committed to Swift. I plan to remain an active member of the Swift Core Team, as well as a contributor to the swift-evolution mailing list.

Lattner said he does not expect his resignation to impact day-to-day operations of the Swift team in any significant way. He also noted Apple’s development of Swift 4 will continue under Kremenek. Apple previously said it will shift its focus to Swift 4 after Swift 3.1 is released over the coming months.

Latter is best known as the main author of the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure Project, a collection of modular and reusable compiler and toolchain technologies. He started development of Swift in 2010, and the open source programming language was introduced for Apple software platforms at WWDC 2014.

Tag: Swift
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Fitbit purchases Vector, the Pebble competitor

Fitbit moves to compete with Android Wear in 2017.

Fitbit has acquired yet another smartwatch maker, this time a small Romanian outfit, Vector, made up of former Citizen employees.

The move comes barely a month after Fitbit’s acquisition of Pebble, a more well-known smartwatch builder in North America, yet Pebble and Vector share many similarities.

Vector built a series of round smartwatches that used e-paper displays to extend battery life to 30 days in some cases, in addition to a fairly rudimentary software platform that included a slowly-growing app ecosystem. In a statement on Vector’s blog, the company says that Fitbit acquired said software and design teams, and work would cease on future development of its in-house hardware:

Today, we are happy to announce that the Vector Watch team and our software platform are joining Fitbit, the leader in the connected health and fitness market! We believe this is an important milestone as a moment when we will start building other new and amazing products, features and experiences, incorporating our unique technology and knowhow with Fitbit’s experience and global community.

Vector was overshadowed by Android Wear, Apple Watch and Pebble in Android and iOS circles, but it grew to be a popular choice for our friends at Windows Central largely because the team spent so much time ensuring that Windows Phone support was robust.

With this acquisition, it’s clear that Fitbit intends to build out its currently-basic smartwatch portfolio, which doesn’t reach the same levels of complexity as Android Wear.