Nintendo will charge less for Switch online gaming than Xbox or PlayStation

As part of the Nintendo Switch preview days, the Japanese company revealed that it will be launching a similar subscription service to Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus.

Like those rivals, you will need to subscribe to Nintendo’s version to play online, multiplayer games on the Switch, something that the firm has never insisted on before.

The good news though is that it is likely to be much cheaper for a Nintendo online membership.

• Nintendo Switch preview: Return of the king?
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• Nintendo Switch: Release date, price, specs and everything you need to know

Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima revealed to Asian news site Nikkei that an annual subscription for the Nintendo Switch will cost between 2,000 and 3,000 yen, that roughly equates to between £14 and £21. Even if you round them up to between £20 and £25 a year, that’s cheap.

A PlayStation Plus annual subscription is around £40, the same as a sub to Xbox Live Gold when paid yearly.

The only main difference is that both PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold include several free, often full-price games each month for subscribers to keep for the duration of their membership. Nintendo also plans to award members with a free game per month, but it will only offer virtual console titles from its vast back catalogue.

In addition, it was stated during the preview events that the free Nintendo games will only be active for a month at a time.

Kimishima also told Nikkei that the Switch might one day be virtual reality compatible, but that would require a system that could be played comfortably for a considerable while: “If we are able to resolve the issues with playing [VR] comfortably for long hours, we will support it in one form or another,” he said.

The Nintendo Switch will be available globally from 3 March. It is priced at £280 in the UK and some pre-order stock is available.

Classic racing series ‘GTR’ will return in 2018

It’s taken more than a decade, but GTR 2, the game rightly lauded as one of the best racing sims ever, is getting a sequel.

The game’s existence was announced via the Race Department forums (spotted by Eurogamer), and will launch next year for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While GTR 2 shot for accurate simulation, though, developer SimBim Studios UK is shooting for a broader audience with GTR 3.

Chris Speed, the CEO of SimBim’s parent company Sector3, said the game will be a “proper simulation” but “needs to appeal to both sides” to succeed on consoles. Speed pointed to recent F1 games as an example of a way to appeal to the “hardcore racer” and the “casual gamer.”

GTR 3 is only a few months into development and is being built on the Unreal 4 engine. Speed confirmed to Race Department that the game would feature a day-night cycle, dynamic weather and vehicle damage. Weather will affect the way cars drive, too: Dynamic water movement will allow rain to pool organically, which will lead to aquaplaning and other handling quirks.

Sector3 has been fairly experimental in recent years, toying with free-to-play models with RaceRoom, but with this game at least, it appears to be going for a more traditional release. Speed said that GTR 3 will not have RaceRoom’s always-online requirement, which heavily implies it won’t be free-to-play.

There are a lot of pieces left to put in place for Sector3 and SimBin. There’s no publisher attached to the project; the FIA GT Championship that the GTR series licensed no longer exists; and the team that will build the game has yet to form. But knowing that a sequel to GTR 2 is at least in the works will please a lot of racing sim fans. Although the game isn’t planned for release until 2018, Sector3 hopes to have a playable build within six months, so we should hear more about the game this year.

Via: Eurogamer

Pixel’s fingerprint gestures come to the Nexus 5X

Google’s Pixel has an Android feature that enables you to swipe down on your phone’s fingerprint sensor to open your notifications. The option made its debut with the Pixel, leaving Nexus owners wondering when they’d be able to join the party. Now, 9to5Google is reporting that the latest version of Android 7.1.2 OTA brings the feature to the Nexus 5X. As the build has yet to make it to the Nexus 6P, it’s unclear if it, too, will receive the same treatment, but it’s easy to hope for.

It’s a source of some consternation, since the Nexus 5X and 6P use the same fingerprint sensor that you’d find on the Pixel. An earlier report on the site explained that the devices used significantly different firmware — enough to make it hard work on Google’s behalf to bring the feature across. Now that the option is available on the 5X, you can activate it by going to the Moves menu in the settings pane.

Source: 9to5Google

Quirky Wii U game ‘Project Giant Robot’ has been cancelled

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the last Nintendo-made game for the Wii U after all. If you were holding onto hope that the quirky Project Giant Robot would still grace the system, it was in vain. As Polygon reports, the build-your-own battle-bot demo has been scrapped and won’t see the light of day. A representative said that the decision was made “after considering our overall product and development strategy.”

Considering that Nintendo showed the game off to press exactly once back in 2014 and it hasn’t been seen since, this probably shouldn’t come a much of a surprise. When we got a chance to check it out, Anthony Agnello said that it felt incredibly shallow and would seem out of place even in mini-game collections like Nintendo Land and Wii Play.

“Even if it were just a mini-game attached to a larger collection, Miyamoto’s Project Giant Robot experiment would feel thin. Funny, as quickly silly as a round of Duck Hunt, but thin.”

Maybe this isn’t too tragic a loss then.

Source: Polygon

United Airlines Partners With Apple and IBM to ‘Redefine the Way Work Gets Done’ Using 50K iOS Devices

A new collaboration between Apple, IBM, and United Airlines was announced today, with the companies joining together to bring “a robust suite of enterprise iOS apps” to United’s flight attendants and gate agents as a means to make the customer’s flying experience smoother. In total, Apple and United Airlines have issued over 50,000 iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches to front-line employees of United, and the airline intends to use resources from Apple and IBM to deliver app-based tools and services at a faster and more consistent pace.

United is seeking the opinion of its employees to figure out which features it should focus on in the apps being built for workers. According to a top executive in charge of United’s technology division speaking with Business Insider, flight attendants and gate agents met with Apple and IBM in Cupertino last week, helping to start work on an app that will allow flight attendants “to communicate maintenance items discovered on the plane back to the maintenance teams.”

“United Airlines is committed to delivering positive traveler experiences that begin with front line engagements during all points of the passenger journey – from check-in to departure to destination,” said Dee Waddell, Global Managing Director, Travel & Transportation Industries, IBM. “This enhanced strategy with mobile solutions from IBM and Apple allows United Airlines employees to tap into the right information at the right time to instantaneously address the needs that matter most to passengers.”

The new deal with United Airlines is the latest evolution in the partnership between Apple and IBM, which began in 2014 with the purpose of creating transformative mobile apps for the enterprise sector. In regards to its reason for joining Apple and IBM, United’s CIO Linda Jojo said, “we wanted to have the best devices in the hands of our employees.”

Apple and IBM’s partnership has included travel-related apps in the past, including one that let flight attendants sell seat upgrades, food, beverages, and merchandise to passengers with the ease of Apple Pay. The app, called Ancillary Sale, also remembered individual passenger preferences, so flight attendants could recommend items on current flights based on the purchases a user made on previous flights.

One of United’s new apps is said to provide flight attendants with information on which passengers have connecting flights so they can better help customers find their gates upon arrival. Another will allow customer service agents more mobility to move about the concourse to help customers, instead of being tied to a single location.

Tags: IBM, United Airlines
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Google gives up on ‘Hands Free’ wireless mobile payments

Google has ended its “Hands Free” payment scheme, which let you live the retail dream of paying wirelessly with no need to pull out a card or phone. The program, which ran only in San Francisco’s South Bay area, first detects if you’re in a participating store using your smartphone’s location services. If you say you’re “paying with Google,” it then completes the transaction over Bluetooth LE or WiFi, with the cashier verifying the purchase using your photo ID.

After trying it for a year, however, Google has stopped the program, telling users in a letter seen by 9 to 5 Google that it’ll wrap up on February 8th. However, it did say that “we’ve learned so much from you and our other early adopters,” and that “we’re now working to bring the best of the technology to even more people and stores.” That vague statement could mean that it’s planning to bring some kind of wireless option to Android Pay.

Android Pay, the follow-up to the (largely unsuccessful) Google Wallet mobile payment system, now works with all major banks, and is accepted at most stores that take Apple Pay. Since it uses a similar system, Apple Pay retailers were reportedly able to adapt it fairly quickly. Thanks to a new partnership, websites that support Visa Checkout and Masterpass will soon support Android Pay, too.

Google is reportedly bringing tap-to-pay to Android Wear smartwatches, giving shoppers the same smartphone-free benefits of “Hands Free.” If the company also has a wireless payment scheme up its sleeve, there’s a good chance we’ll hear about it (and a lot of other Google Pay news) at its I/O conference starting May 17th.

Via: 9 to 5 Google

Source: Google

Tokyo’s Olympic medals will be crafted from old gadgets

Tokyo’s olympic planning committee has a novel idea for crafting new medals: old technology. Instead of relying on mining companies for new gold, silver and bronze, it’s turning to the public and its swathes of unwanted, forgotten gadgets. You might not realize it, but your smartphone and household appliances contain small amounts of these precious materials. Starting in April, public offices and more than 2,400 NTT Docomo stores will offer collection boxes in Japan. The initial target is eight tons of metal, which will be whittled down to two tons and then, hopefully, used to produce 5,000 Olympic and Paralympic medals.

The idea is mostly symbolic. Tokyo wants to promote sustainability and recycling, while also giving its medals an added sense of history. The event itself will, of course, give them significance — who they were won by, and how — but now, there will be an extra sense of worth as athletes wear them around their neck. “Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic medals will be made out of people’s thoughts and appreciation for avoiding waste,” Japan gymnast and three-time Olympic gold medallist Kohei Uchimura said. “I think there is an important message in this for future generations.”

Via: Pocket-Lint

Source: Tokyo2020

ICYMI: Spinning synthetic veins and emotion-sensing smartwatch apps

Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers from Vanderbilt University are using commercial cotton candy machines to spin synthetic capillaries. Instead of sugar, the machines spin polymer fibers which are then coated in hydrogel and backed. The heat malts the polymer and hardens the hydrogel which then acts as scaffolding for human cell cultures.

We also take a look at an emotion-sensing smartwatch app from MIT. It pairs an iPhone 5S with Samsung’s Simband wearable to record and analyze conversational speech, then guess as to the emotion being expressed. And finally, it’s TLDR day, where we read you the top headlines of the week that you might have missed while watching American democracy slowly crumble before your eyes.

As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @engadget or @mskerryd.

Apple and Others Pen Open Letter to Trump: ‘We Are a Nation Made Stronger by Immigrants’

Last night news broke that a collection of major technology companies, including Apple among them, were prepping an open letter to United States President Donald Trump as a means to voice opposition to the immigration executive order that he signed last Friday.

Today, a draft of the full letter has been shared online, and it goes into detail about the importance of immigrants in the U.S., mentions concern for how the order will affect employees with visas, and explains that the companies are prepared to lend a hand to help the Trump administration make logical and necessary changes if and when it is ready to accept the help (via Recode).

Along with Apple, other companies collaborating on the letter are said to include Facebook, Google, Uber, Microsoft, Stripe, and more. The technology companies drafting the letter are reportedly working to include non-tech companies as well, but as yet none have joined.

Recode obtained a draft of the letter:

Dear President Trump,

Since the country’s birth, America has been the land of opportunity – welcoming newcomers and giving them the chance to build families, careers, and businesses in the United States. We are a nation made stronger by immigrants. As entrepreneurs and business leaders, our ability to grow our companies and create jobs depends on the contributions of immigrants from all backgrounds.

We share your goal of ensuring that our immigration system meets today’s security needs and keeps our country safe. We are concerned, however, that your recent executive order will affect many visa holders who work hard here in the United States and contribute to our country’s success. In a global economy, it is critical that we continue to attract the best and brightest from around the world. We welcome the changes your administration has made in recent days in how the Department of Homeland Security will implement the executive order, and we stand ready to help your administration identify other opportunities to ensure that our employees can travel with predictability and without undue delay.

Our nation’s compassion is a part of what makes it exceptional, and we are committed to helping your administration identify approaches for thorough screening without a blanket suspension of admissions under the U.S. Refugee Admissions program. While security and vetting procedures can and should always be subject to continuous evaluation and improvement, a blanket suspension is not the right approach.

Similarly, we stand ready to identify ways of helping to achieve your stated goal of bringing clarity to the future of the 750,000 Dreamers in this country under the protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in a way “that will make people happy and proud.” Removing these protections by barring renewals would effectively end the program and eliminate the ability for these Dreamers to work and live without the fear of deportation.

The business community shares your commitment to growing the American economy and expanding job creation across the country. We hire both thousands of Americans and some of the most talented people from abroad, who work together to help our companies succeed and expand our overall employment. As you contemplate changes to the nation’s complex and interconnected immigration policies, whether business and employment-based visas, refugees, or DACA, we hope that you will use us as a resource to help achieve immigration policies that both support the work of American businesses and reflect American values.

Trump’s order banned Syrian refugees from entering the country, blocked citizens of seven countries (Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen) from entering the U.S. for 90 days, and suspended entry of all refugees entering the U.S. for 120 days. The bans left groups of immigrants stranded in airports around the country while also sparking protests and blowback from various tech companies, some of which are now included in the open letter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that “it is not a policy we support” in an internal letter sent to employees last weekend, explaining that the company had reached out to the White House to try to “explain the negative effect” the ban would have on Apple. Included in the potential negative reaction surrounding Apple and other tech companies is another Trump executive order, currently in the drafting stages, that centers around changes to various work-visa programs and could greatly affect how Apple hires tens of thousands of foreign workers each year.

For the immigration-related ban, Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Apple is considering its legal options as a way to pressure the Trump administration into rescinding the executive order. Cook didn’t give further details, but said Apple would be “productive” and “constructive” in its opposing response to the Trump order, which now includes a partnership with other tech companies and today’s open letter.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Donald Trump
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Everything you need to know about Samsung Pay

Mobile payments have come a long way since Apple made a huge push into the space with Apple Pay in 2014. Google introduced Android Pay last year, and Samsung has joined the fray with its own mobile payment system called Samsung Pay. Here’s what you need to know about Samsung Pay.

More: Everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Pay Mini

Samsung has announced Samsung Pay Mini, a slimmed-down version of Samsung Pay designed to work on other Android phones, and not just those made by Samsung. Samsung Pay Mini will initially be available in South Korea, where the app will be ready to download over the coming few months.

What’s the difference? Samsung Pay Mini is only for online payments. Offline payments, that’s those used in stores, will require ownership of a Samsung phone and the full Samsung Pay app. This is due to Samsung Pay Mini and phones not made by Samsung, not supporting the magnetic secure transactions (MST) hardware that allows Samsung devices to complete wireless payments at legacy payment terminals.

The app is compatible with Android phones running version 5.0 Lollipop and later, provided the device’s screen has a resolution higher than 1280 x 720 pixels, which should cover most models released over the past few years. In addition to online payments, the app will feature Samsung Pay features for membership cards, transportation cards, and lifestyle options. The final launch date hasn’t been confirmed, but a trial version for existing Samsung Pay users to try out will be released on February 6 through Google Play in South Korea.

The announcement follows earlier rumors published by ET News, a report which also discussed Samsung Pay Mini’s chances of reaching iOS in the future. Sadly, it’s highly unlikely, but it’s not entirely Samsung’s fault. The company told ET News that Apple had rejected the Samsung Pay Mini app for iOS devices, adding, “After Apple rejected registration of Samsung Pay Mini onto its app store, we have decided to focus on smartphones with Android OS.”

Samsung hasn’t made any announcements regarding Samsung Pay Mini’s launch outside of South Korea at this time.