EA Access members get ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ five days early

If you’re an EA Access subscriber you’ll be able to play Mass Effect: Andromeda’s first ten hours almost a week ahead of everyone else. Like Electronic Arts has done for games in the past, folks on Xbox One will be able to play the highly-anticipated sci-fi RPG five days before its retail release on March 21st. Sound familiar? That’s because EA did the same thing for the most recent entry developer BioWare’s other role-playing series, Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014. The news comes by way of a tweet from Xbox’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb. Xbox One is the only console where Access is available, but PC owners have the same deal with Origin Access according to Game Informer.

The big question is, if you have Access will you have enough time to power through Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild before starting Andromeda on March 17th?

Great news for @EAAccess members: You will have access to a 10-hour trial of Mass Effect: Andromeda on March 16 (five days before launch) pic.twitter.com/kKqBpC7V4v

— 🎮 Larry Hryb 🎙️ (@majornelson) January 23, 2017

Source: Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb (Twitter)

NOAA’s next-gen weather satellite sends back its first images

NOAA’s and NASA’s GOES-R weather satellite has beamed back its first set of images, a couple of months after it left the planet. The spacecraft that’s now known as GOES-16 used its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument to capture photos, including the one you see above featuring the moon and the Earth’s surface. GOES-16 was designed to be able to capture images at five times the speed and four times the resolution of older GOES satellites. It can take a photo of the whole planet every 15 minutes and of continental US every 5 minutes from its geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above Earth.

Those capabilities give GOES-16 the power to boost NOAA’s weather observation and prediction capabilities for more accurate forecasts. Stephen Volz, director of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, said: “One of our GOES-16 scientists compared this to seeing a newborn baby”s first pictures — it’s that exciting for us.” You can see all the photos the satellite took and sent back on NOAA’s website. GOES-16 is merely the first of the two agencies’ next-gen weather satellite system. It will be officially operational in November and will be joined by a second satellite called GOES-17 about a year from now.

Source: NOAA

Hyperloop company to develop its technology in France

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that there are two companies trying to create Elon Musk’s vision for the future of transportation. Beyond signing a few deals to explore routes with local cities, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies still lags behind its more well-heeled competitor. Now, the company has revealed that it’ll set up shop in the French city of Toulouse, taking over a 3,000 square meter facility that’ll host its research.

Like so many parts of HTT’s business, it appears that it hasn’t had to pay for the facility that it’s about to take control of. In a statement, the company explained that the city is “providing” the building along with some outdoor terrain that can be used for experiments. The new location is located at Francazal Airport, which is being turned into an “innovation park” by the local government.

It looks like there’s a very definite split taking place between the two hyperloop players, at least in the countries they target. Hyperloop One has devoted much of its attention in the US, Asia and the United Arab Emirates. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, meanwhile, has focused much of its attention on doing handshake deals with the leaders of European cities. It’s still early days, but this split may wind up having implications further down the line. Perhaps France is backing the company as its ostensible champion in any potential hyperloop space race.

The news is also testament to CEO Dirk Ahlborn’s knack of scoring highly-prized assets for his company without spending any money. HTT has previously claimed that it has raised $100 million in investment, although TechCrunch pegged the figure at $31.8 million. The rest of that figure was made up with land use rights and as-yet unpaid work carried out by HTT’s volunteer engineers.

BT to take £530 million hit over ‘improper’ Italian accounting

An accounting scandal uncovered at BT’s Italian division is worse than previously thought. Far worse. In October last year, the mobile, TV and broadband provider said it had discovered “historical accounting errors” and “inappropriate management behaviour” to the tune of £145 million. A sizeable figure, but one that BT has admitted was a “best estimate” at the time. Now, following an independent review by KPMG, that number has been revised to £530 million. Alongside some dodgy accounting work, investigators found “a complex set of improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions,” conducted over multiple years. Ouch.

BT expects its revenue to fall by £200 million in the current financial year, and to take a hit of £175 million to its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation). The company says it will face “a similar annual impact” in the 2017/18 financial year too. “We are deeply disappointed with the improper practices which we have found in our Italian business,” Gavin Patterson, chief executive of the BT Group said. “We have undertaken extensive investigations into that business and are committed to ensuring the highest standards across the while of BT.”

BT has now removed several members of BT Italy’s leadership team. A new chief executive has also been appointed, who will take charge on February 1st and review the current management team. In the meantime, BT will have to deal with the financial ramifications. The company’s share price dropped by 15 percent at the start of trading today (it’s now down 19 percent), wiping off more than £5.5 billion of the company’s total value. That’s the lowest they’ve been for two and a half years, the Guardian reports, and could soon mark the company’s worst day since 2008.

Source: BT

Verizon lays off over 155 Go90 employees

Verizon launched its vertical video-focused Go90 service in October 2015, and now many of the people behind it have been laid off. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter note 155 people, mostly from the San Jose office where much of the team was based, were cut late last week. In a statement, Verizon said the moves were a result of “some duplicative resources,” but that they did not indicate a change in strategy. It does, however, bring an end to the Intel OnCue project that eventually formed a basis for Go90.

When Verizon acquired the Vessel video startup late last year and shut it down, it seemed well positioned to work on Go90. Now that is apparently coming true, as it confirmed to Variety that former Hulu CTO and Vessel co-founder Richard Tom will lead Go90, taking the title of CTO of Verizon Digital Entertainment.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety

Pokémon Go Makes a Late Debut in South Korea

Pokémon Go finally launched in South Korea today, almost six months after the popular game’s initial launch.

Developers Niantic had to overcome some unique challenges to bring Pokémons to the hugely lucrative gaming market because of the way the game relies on Google Maps to work.

Those functions are limited by the government for national security reasons, because the country is technically at war with North Korea, so Niantic had to use publicly available data sources to fill in the gaps.

Last year, some fans of the augmented reality title travelled to Sokcho, close to the border with North Korea, because the city is not classified as South Korean territory in Google Maps, which allowed the game to be played there.

According to The Associate Press, dedicated tour and travel packages were created for gamers to stay in Sokcho, where local businesses and restaurants embraced Pokémon to appeal to gamers, whose annual average gaming spend is said to be the highest in the world.

Tags: South Korea, Pokémon GO
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WhatsApp 2.17.1 Ups Bulk Media Message Limit, Adds Offline Message Queueing and Storage Management

WhatsApp for iOS received an update today, bringing some additional improvements to the messaging platform.

For the first time, users can now tap “send” on messages when they don’t have a connection, and the messages will be sent when a data connection is re-established. Multiple messages can be queued up in the offline mode, so users are free to carry on their side of a conversation until connection resumes.

The old storage screen (left); with new management options (right)
Elsewhere, WhatsApp developers have redesigned the storage usage screen, which now lets users manage their phone’s storage space by deleting selected message types, such as videos, from specific chat threads. The storage screen options can be accessed by going to Settings -> Data and Storage Usage -> Storage Usage and tapping “Clear Chat”.

Lastly, the v2.17.1 update enables users to send up to 30 photos or videos at once.

WhatsApp is a free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]

Tag: WhatsApp
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Samsung expects AI and flexible displays to drive smartphone growth in 2017

Samsung made over $45 billion in revenue last quarter, and that was without the Galaxy Note 7.

Samsung’s mobile division, despite the ignominious death of the Galaxy Note 7, performed well enough in the fourth quarter to buoy the company’s results to its best in over three years.

While much of the $7.92 billion USD equivalent in profit (9.22 trillion KRW) was due to success of Samsung’s less public divisions, such as V-NAND memory and OLED displays, strong sales of the Galaxy S7 series and higher margins for its Galaxy A and Galaxy J series, played a role.

This year, it’s all about AI.

The company noted that people keep buying larger, more expensive UHD televisions, and it also expects to make gains in its semiconductor business in 2017. All good things, despite slower growth in mobile going forward.

But Samsung is also making big predictions about where mobile is going in 2017 and, as we’ve already predicted, it’s all about AI. “Although the growth of the global smartphone market is expected to slow this year, new services such as artificial intelligence (AI) will be a differentiating factor,” the company said in a press release. It also promises to “[introduce] AI-based services on premium smartphones.”

It also notes that the “mid-to-low end” of smartphones will improve its sales by doubling down on premium features like fingerprint sensors and waterproofing usually reserved for the more expensive portions of the market. We’ve already seen that with the Galaxy A 2017 series, and Samsung will be looking to bring the features to its budget Galaxy J series as well.

Finally, relying on momentum from the comprehensive Galaxy Note 7 battery fire report, Samsung says its priority in 2017 will be to “ensure consumer safety and product quality by enhancing product assurance processes, implementing new preventive measures and augmenting a dedicated team of experts.”

With just over two months until the reported early April unveiling of the Galaxy S8, Samsung may be up against an even bigger challenger than LG or Apple: its own reputation. Measures taken to ensure customer safety, along with what the company calls “innovations in smartphone form factors” like flexible panels, will boost the company’s cache in the coming months, but it first has to win back the trust of the average smartphone customer. A Galaxy S8 with a bezel-free design, embedded fingerprint sensor, AI assistant and curved design may be exactly what is needed.

Samsung

Samsung is a massive South Korea-based multinational company that makes some of the best-selling phones, tablets and mobile accessories, but also spans industries such as televisions, appliances and semiconductors (like memory and processors). Samsung is the largest Android device manufacturer worldwide.

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LG G6 photo shows off some rounded corners

We’ve already learned a lot about LG’s next mobile standard-bearer, but a picture posted by The Verge provides a look at the G6 — well, half of it anyway. We can’t tell much about its tall 2:1 (1,440 x 2,880) screen ratio without seeing the rest of the device, but its emphasis on minimal bezels and Mi Mix-ish rounded screen corners are apparent. The device will be officially unveiled during Mobile World Congress 2017 on February 26th, when we should be able to tell you all about it.

The device reportedly hangs on to its headphone jack, but will feature a sealed battery and waterproof design. We’d already heard that LG would back off of the modular idea of the G5 this time around, and LG is already talking about safety in the aftermath of Samsung’s issues. Will that be enough to cut into sales of its rivals? That remains to be seen.

Source: The Verge

Samsung’s chip business posted record earnings in Q4 2016

Samsung expected a 9.2 trillion won ($7.8 billion) operating profit for Q4 2016, but the final figure is slightly larger despite the Note 7 scandal rocking its world last year. According to the Korean conglomerate’s full earnings report, it posted a 9.22 trillion won ($7.9 billion) operating profit for October to December 2016. That’s 50 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2015 and its highest in over three years. Samsung says it did well despite pulling the problematic phone from the market because its chip business had a record quarter: its operating profit (KRW 4.95 trillion or $4.25 billion) was up 77 percent from the same period the year before.

The company also attributes its strong quarter to big OLED and large-size UHD panel shipments. Plus, it admits that its numbers were boosted by the weak Korean won, since it transacts in US dollars when it comes to its components business. Samsung’s mobile business didn’t do that badly, as well, due to the solid sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and the company’s non-flagship devices.

The company has big plans for its mobile division in 2017 despite the expected slump in the global smartphone market. It wants to bring high-end features to its more affordable phones and to “strengthen its leadership in the premium market” by releasing its next flagships, the S8 and the Note 8. Since Samsung recently revealed the battery flaws that set a number of Note 7s on fire, we’re guessing it’s taking steps to ensure the Note 8 doesn’t have the same issues.

Samsung will have to deal with less stellar earnings before its new flagships drop, though. It expects its earnings to decline this quarter due to growing marketing expenses for mobile and slow TV sales, since people are still recovering from holiday season shopping.

Source: Reuters, Samsung