Doctor Who Knock Knock episode offers spooky binaural soundtrack that will freak you out

The BBC will be airing an episode of Doctor Who this coming weekend that features an amazing binaural soundtrack. That means that those who view it while wearing headphones will get spooky, incredible spatial sound that seems as if the effects are all around you.

Binaural audio mixes are clever as they don’t require special hardware; any standard pair of in-ear, on-ear or over-ear headphones will do. You will hear some sounds as if they are coming from further away to others, even behind you. All done through a stereo track.

It essentially recreates a 5.1 or other surround sound mix but in just two channels.

The binaural episode from season 10 of the new Doctor Who, Knock Knock, will be available on BBC iPlayer as soon as the TV screening is finished this Saturday, 6 May. You’ll be able to give it a go from 8.10pm therefore, watching on a phone, tablet, PC or even a TV – anything with iPlayer that you can connect headphones to.

You can even give the effect a try in a preview clip below, just listen to it through headphones and make sure you have the left and right earpieces the right way around:

We’re not sure if the BBC plans to use binaural soundtrack effects on future programming, but it definitely adds an extra layer of spookiness to this particular outing for the Doctor.

The Morning After: Tuesday, May 2nd 2017

Hey, good morning!

It was a day of leaks and, erm, green tights. We got glimpses at the next Surface laptop, and that (eventual) Fitbit smartwatch, which, looks like other smartwatches. The first lump of extra Zelda content has been teased in detail: hopefully, you like dressing up like Mr. Tingle.

Expect to see more of this later.Pictures of a ‘Surface laptop’ leak out ahead of today’s Microsoft event

At around 9:30AM ET today, Microsoft will show off some of its plans to take on Chromebooks for students. That is expected to include a cloud-focused focused version of Windows 10 and some new hardware, like this laptop. Pictures and specs for a 13.5-inch laptop leaked out last night via Twitter, so all we really need to know now is what’s inside and how much it will cost. Stay tuned.

‘Tingle’ and ‘Majora’s Mask’ options are coming to Link’s wardrobe, as well as a new Hard Mode.
First ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ DLC adds more reasons to replay

For players who’ve already traversed every corner of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s open world, the company has added more details of its first DLC expansion. Due sometime this summer, the company will add a ‘Hard Mode’ where enemies are powered up by one level, have higher maximum levels and they slowly regain health — oh, and enemies and chests can be found in the sky.

The ‘mother of WiFi’.

“Bombshell” is a comprehensive look at Hedy Lamarr’s storied life

Hedy Lamarr’s, regardless of what you know her for, achievements are many. This new documentary, Bombshell, makes that clear. She was a hardworking actress, a determined producer, a patriotic supporter of American troops, a wife (many times over), an unpredictable mother and an icon of Hollywood glamor. But one title Lamarr never got real recognition for during her lifetime was that of inventor. It was her wartime invention that earned her the title of “mother of WiFi.” She came up with a method of sending radio signals by making them jump between channels called frequency-hopping out of a desire to help the Navy deploy radio-guided torpedoes without enemy interference during World War II. Unfortunately, Lamarr’s beauty and scandals kept many from appreciating her technological achievements.

Let’s talk.How to be a human being in the comments: A refresher

So it has been a long time since we last posted comments guidelines and standards. To put it in perspective, the last time we talked comments with y’all, the iPhone 5 hadn’t been released, Android fans were using Jelly Bean and Facebook had just gone public. A lot can change in the course of nearly five years, but one thing that’s remained constant is our dedication to our readers. To that end, we wanted to take a minute to answer some questions, explain some features and, frankly, lay down the law when it comes to the comments section and our social channels.

The future of AR may be closer than it appears.Avegant’s light-field tech gives hope to a mixed-reality future

One thing we’ll need for augmented reality to make the next big leap is the ability to display multiple focal points at once, mimicking the way we see real objects. Light field technology could fix that if only someone had a workable solution — enter Avegant. Nicole Lee tried on the company’s prototype headset, and says it felt like putting “a 100-inch TV in front of my face.” So far, it’s less vaporware than Magic Leap and has a wider field of view than Microsoft’s HoloLens.

The company’s troubled smartwatch looks very retro.

Fitbit’s upcoming smartwatch and wireless headphones leak out

Fitbit’s long-time-coming smartwatch has leaked and appears to swap out the clunky octagonal design of its Blaze fitness tracker for a more traditional square face. It also features a metal unibody case, which adds some colorful accents around the screen. Fitbit will also be taking on Apple’s BeatsX wireless headphones with its own pair, codenamed “Parkside.” It’ll hang around your neck and feature a slight metallic accent. We don’t know much about its features yet, but based on the leaked images it looks like a typical pair of wireless earbuds.

Better sound than the Amazon Echo, but at a higher price.
Apple’s Siri speaker could be the ‘one more thing’ at WWDC

Analysts believe that Apple will introduce its Siri-equipped speaker (possibly Apple’s “first home AI product”) at its Worldwide Developer Conference in early June. And to no one’s surprise, it would be pitched as a premium alternative to the Amazon Echo — a subwoofer and seven tweeters would deliver “excellent” sound. Naturally, there will be tight integration with other Apple devices. The main problem? You might be waiting a while. Kuo understands that it’d arrive sometime in the second half of the year.

But wait, there’s more…

• Trump creates American Technology Council to ‘modernize’ US government
• What’s on TV this week: ‘Sense8,’ ‘TumbleSeed,’ ‘Prey’ and ‘Nioh’ DLC
• The federal courts have already given up on net neutrality
• Domino’s Pizza Tracker integrates with IFTTT, so your smart home can prepare for the delivery

iRobot’s entry-level Roombas offer app control on the cheap

iRobot is bringing Wi-Fi connectivity to its cheaper Roomba vacuum cleaning robots. The company is unveiling two new models today, the 690 and 890, which sit below its top-of-the-line 960 and 980 machines. Unlike the 650 and 860 — its previous low-end robots — they can be controlled through the iRobot Home app. That means you customise their cleaning schedule, check their “cleaning status” and access customer support from any Android or iOS device. The Roomba 690 goes on sale today for $375 in the US — the same price as the 650 it’s replacing. The Roomba 890, meanwhile, will be out in “late Q2” for a yet-to-be-confirmed price.

As promised, iRobot is also adding Alexa support for its Wi-Fi connected cleaners. So if you have an Amazon Echo hooked up in your home, you can start, stop or dock the robot with voice alone. The “skill” is enabled by barking “Alexa, open Roomba,” or by selecting the Roomba skill inside the Alexa app. It’s a small, but neat trick that Neato, one of iRobot’s biggest competitors, introduced for its own cleaners late last year. For now, the Roomba integration is exclusive to the US — here’s hoping it’s available internationally when the 690 and 890 launch outside North America.

Get ready for more AR apps for Google’s Tango

With Google riding high on the back of Pixel’s success, it’s easy to forget that 2016 also saw one of the weirder releases from the company – Google Tango. Putting 3D-mapping tech into a smartphone for the first time, the Tango-enabled Lenovo Phab2 Pro, resulted in a phone better at tracking its surroundings than ever before. Now, it looks like the platform could be getting some much needed new software, as later this year Google’s AR tech will receive native Unity support.

Revealing the news at Unity’s Vision AR/VR summit, Google’s AR tech follows in Daydream’s footsteps, with the VR platform receiving native support last month. While Tango-compatible apps could already be made in Unity, native support makes development significantly easier, helping creators to get better performance from their creations.

With ASUS’ upcoming ZenFone AR supporting Tango, it seems as though Unity has begun to recognize the platform’s potential audience. It couldn’t come at a better time, as while the tech behind Tango is impressive, it has arguably yet to deliver its killer app. Now that developers have less hurdles to go through and a wider potential audience, 2017 will tell whether Tango will receive the software it needs to make it a success.

Pokemon GO used AR to briefly rule the world, so Google will be hoping that Tango can recreate some of that magic. While its mini-userbase makes it unlikely that any Tango app will be a global phenomenon, with Unity powering smash hits like Hearthstone, this partnership is certainly a good start.

Via: 9 to 5 Google

Source: Road To VR

Apple Exploring Electronic Tagging Solution For Easily Tracking Dietary Intake

Apple is exploring an electronic tagging solution to make it easier for Apple Watch users to track their calorie and nutritional intake as part of a healthy lifestyle, as shown in a patent newly granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Many of today’s healthy eating and diet-based food apps require users to manually input nutrition information into their mobile devices, whether by scanning barcodes with their phone’s camera or inputting nutritional figures unit by unit. It’s the sort of repetitive and time-consuming exercise that often causes users to give up on their diet-tracking, but Apple’s invention offers a much more convenient solution.

Titled “Electronic tag transmissions of custom-order nutritional information”, the patent describes a system that allows food vendors to encode nutritional information into radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on the fly. The tags can be generated to accompany multiple-item orders at a food counter, as an attachment to the food packaging or as part of a purchase receipt. The tags can then be used to automatically transmit the nutrition data to the customer’s NFC-capable device, such as an iPhone or Apple Watch.

In one example detailed in the patent, an RFID tag combines the multiple variables that make up a customer’s bespoke food order – such as the bread, cheese, meat, and sauces in a hamburger – to generate accurate nutritional information for the end user. Once these details are transmitted to the user’s mobile device, a health monitoring app subtracts the numbers from a daily calorie intake limit as defined in advance, allowing for a more measured, less bothersome way of recording eating habits.

If such a system ever came to market, its success would depend on the wide adoption of the technology by all kinds of food vendors – a difficult undertaking that suggests Apple’s aims may not be so grand. As noted by AppleInsider, it’s possible the RFID tagging could be used in company cafeterias and restaurants for the benefit of employees – in Apple Park, for example.

Apple has increased its focus on health and medical technology that integrates with its mobile devices in recent years, with iPhone and Apple Watch being at the center of its plans. HealthKit framework debuted in 2014, allowing developers to build health monitoring software that integrates with Apple’s Health app, while Apple’s open source framework ResearchKit was made available to developers in April 2015, enabling them to create their own iPhone apps for medical research purposes.

Tags: patent, health and fitness
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Apple Expected to Report Strong Earnings Today, But Unlikely to Set Record-Breaking Quarter

Apple is set to report its earnings results for the second quarter of its 2017 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today.

Apple provided the following guidance for its second quarter on January 31:

• revenue between $51.5 billion and $53.5 billion
• gross margin between 38 percent and 39 percent
• operating expenses between $6.5 billion and $6.6 billion
• other income/expense of $400 million
• tax rate of 26 percent

That guidance suggests Apple will report its second-best March quarter earnings results in the company’s history:

• Q2 2013: $43.6 billion
• Q2 2014: $45.6 billion
• Q2 2015: $58 billion
• Q2 2016: $50.6 billion
• Q2 2017: $51.5+ billion

Wall Street analysts generally expect Apple to meet the higher end of its guidance, with estimates averaging out to around $53 billion. If accurate, Apple will have grown around four to six percent compared to the year-ago quarter for its second consecutive quarter of growth after an uncharacteristic nine-month skid last year.

MacRumors.com compiled estimates from over a dozen financial institutions and independent firms tracking Apple and the company’s stock. The figures are listed below, ranked from highest to lowest in terms of total revenue. The date column reflects when each research note was distributed to clients.

On a category-by-category basis, the highlight of Apple’s earnings results will likely be its services, such as the App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, and Apple Pay. Most analysts estimate Apple’s services revenue will be up to 20 percent higher, totaling up to $7.3 billion versus $5.9 billion a year ago.

iPhone remains Apple’s most important product by a significant margin. Most analysts predict that Apple topped the 51.1 million iPhones it sold in the year-ago quarter, with several estimates coming in above 52 million. However, four analysts expect iPhone sales to decline compared to the year-ago quarter.

iPad unit sales are forecasted to decline to between 7 million and 9.8 million compared to the 10.2 million tablets Apple sold in the year-ago quarter, while Mac sales should remain relatively flat on a year-over-year basis.

Meanwhile, analysts believe Apple Watch sales totaled between 1.6 million and 3 million in the quarter. Apple does not disclose Apple Watch sales in its quarterly earning results, instead grouping the device under its “Other Products” category, alongside iPods, Apple TVs, Beats Electronics, and accessories.

Apple’s cash and marketable securities total is projected to have surpassed $250 billion in the second quarter, up from $246.1 billion last quarter. Apple is expected to provide an update about its capital allocation, including dividends and share buybacks, as it usually does at this time of its fiscal year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will discuss the company’s financial results on a conference call at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors.com will transcribe the call as it unfolds for those unable to listen.

Tags: earnings, AAPL
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Alleged Leaked Fitbit Photos Show Upcoming Smartwatch Looks Like a Blaze

Photos emerged online overnight that allegedly reveal the design of Fitbit’s first “true” smartwatch, rumors of which we covered last month. The images were originally published by Yahoo Finance and appear to show that the company’s upcoming Apple Watch rival looks very similar to the $150 Fitbit Blaze fitness watch, which has been on sale since early 2016.

The watch’s square face, physical buttons, and flexible elastomer wristband closely resemble the company’s Blaze. Several Fitbit employees who saw the design are said to have complained about it, according to previous reports.

Specifications of the smartwatch, which is said to be codenamed “Higgs” internally, include a color display with 1,000 nits of brightness similar to the Apple Watch Series 2, built-in GPS, heart-rate monitoring, a full-fledged app store, contactless payments, storage for music, Pandora support, and four days of battery life. The $300 watch was previously thought to have an aluminum unibody design that supports swappable watch bands.

The smartwatch was initially said to be launching this spring, but technical problems have reportedly plagued the product and the company is now thought to be aiming for a fall release.

Fitbit is also rumored to be releasing a pair of Bluetooth earbuds similar in design to Apple’s BeatsX buds. Codenamed “Parkside” internally, the $150 wireless earbuds will hang around the neck and be marketed as an accessory for the forthcoming smartwatch.

A lot is riding on the success of Fitbit’s upcoming products, after the company faced one of its “largest declines ever” in the fourth quarter of 2016, which resulted in layoffs of about 6 percent of its staff. Although the company remained above Apple Watch in the number of units shipped, it has gradually been losing market share to rivals Apple and Xiaomi.

Tag: Fitbit
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Lenovo P2 review: All the battery you could ever need

Hunting down the perfect phone will, for many, mean finding one with the greatest equal combination of screen, camera, software and design. If budget is available, that likely means ponying up for an iPhone, Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S8; or, on a lower budget, a OnePlus 3T.

But what about battery? It’s one feature that’s all too often overlooked prior to buying. Nothing to worry about if you’re looking for an affordable battery boss like the Lenovo P2; a handset that holds 50 per cent more capacity than many flagship devices and which, if managed properly, might even last you for three days per charge.

Perhaps more surprising is that the P2 costs just £199, squeezing it in alongside the likes of Lenovo’s Moto G-series range. However, does its generally modest specification hold it back compared to its pricier A-list competitors?

Lenovo P2 review: Design

• 153 x 76 x 8.3mm; 177g
• Fingerprint sensor/home button
• Metal back

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Lenovo P2 design is how “not-huge” its size is, considering that battery. You might think it would be larger than the iPhone 7 Plus, but the Lenovo is lighter, shorter and narrower than Apple’s 5.5-inch flagship.

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As a direct comparison to a more similar device, the P2 is less than 1mm thicker than a OnePlus 3T, just over 1mm wider and a fraction of a millimetre taller. Yet the Lenovo contains a battery with an additional 1,700mAh of juice, which equates to a 50 per cent greater capacity than that OnePlus.

Like most smartphones these days, the main material used in the P2’s chassis is metal. This aluminium rear also features plastic panels on the top and bottom, however, which don’t match the anodised grey finish of the metal particularly well – just as we said of the Moto G5 Plus. The metal does have some quality detail to its finish though: polished, with chamfers on both the front and back around the frame, plus the centre-placed camera, make it standout.

To help the phone feel comfortable in the hand, the P2 curves towards the edges on all four sides. It’s also rounded at the corners and edges. The end result is a phone which, while seeming a little thicker than most, still feels like it belongs in your hand. It’s not a monstrosity in the slightest.

On the front, Lenovo’s design language is beginning to mirror the Moto brand too: it includes a chrome-trim home button which also acts as a fingerprint sensor.

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It’s on the edges you’ll discover the P2’s dedication to keeping battery life lasting. While it has the same power button and volume rocker makeup as most phones, the left side has a dedicated slider button. This button, when pushed up, launches the phone’s software-based ultra battery saving mode that can add days to estimated lifespan.

Lenovo P2 review: Display

• 5.5-inch Super AMOLED
• 1920 x 1080 resolution
• Gorilla Glass 3 protection

It’s fairly commonplace to see a 5.5-inch Full HD screen on a mid-range smartphone these days, which is exactly what appears on the front of the Lenovo P2. Thanks to the Super AMOLED panel used, it’s a big, bold and very colourful experience. So whether enjoying your daily Netflix and YouTube catch-ups, slicing fruit to pieces in Fruit Ninja, racing cars in Need for Speed or just trying to catch that rare Pokemon, it’s a capable panel for multimedia.

However, sometimes those incredibly vivid colours appear oversaturated. If the colour is too much for your preferences, there is a natural mode that’s selectable from the display settings. In our experience, however, this makes colours far too dull and lifeless, and makes whites far warmer, giving an overall yellow hue that isn’t pleasant (we found the whites were always a little too warm for our tastes).

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None of these quibbles are surprising, however, given the price point of the phone. The P2 doesn’t look as impressive as a flagship screen, simply because it’s an affordable smartphone and corners had to be cut somewhere to get it in the £200 price. Thing is, you’re unlikely to spot any downsides unless comparing it side-by-side to a flagship. So, overall, we still think it’s a great panel for the money.

Lenovo P2 review: Software

• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system
• Lenovo companion/diagnostic app
• Additional customisation options

Some parts of the Lenovo P2 software experience look and feel like stock Android Marshmallow, the straight-from-Google operating system. Not everything, though, as there’s also added-extras from Lenovo. Thankfully, this means a successful marriage of bespoke features to pre-existing Android. Perhaps the only sad part is that the P2 currently doesn’t run Android 7.0 Nougat, which has been out since November 2016.

Part of what’s great about Lenovo’s software is that it lets you pick and choose which areas you want to customise. By pressing-and-holding the wallpaper on the home screen you can choose a wide-ranging theme-picker. Here you can change the layout and appearance of the lock screen, home screen, multitasking screen and even the phone dialler.

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There are other added elements of software that don’t just change the way the phone looks, they change the way you use the phone. Digging into the settings you can choose to hide the navigation buttons, and reveal them again by swiping them up. Or you can choose to have the touch-sensitive home button react to gestures – primarily to act as the back or multitasking buttons.

You can even add a feature called Wide Touch which essentially adds a new all-action software button to the edge of your screen. Tapping launches a new popup menu on screen, giving quick access to camera, calculator, settings and recently used apps. You can also add other functions if you want, including search, home, alarm, menu and power off functions, among others.

There’s also a Lenovo companion app which gives you easy access to software updates, web support, community forums and problem solutions, as well as diagnostic tests to make sure all your main hardware components are working correctly. Diagnostics also lets you see a quick snapshot of your current system usage, so you can see how hard your CPU, RAM and ROM are being worked.

Lenovo P2 review: Performance

• Snapdragon 625 processor
• 4GB RAM and 32GB storage

In the past, anything but the best from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon range usually meant slow, stuttery performance. In more recent times, that’s not the case – and the mid-level Snapdragon 625 processor has shown itself to be fast, smooth and reliable in most devices we’ve tested. The same is true in the Lenovo P2.

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Switching between apps and opening various parts of the user interface is generally smooth, although not as fast and instant as you’d find in much more expensive flagship devices. The same is true of loading games: some particularly high-end titles with a lot of high resolution, fast-moving content resulted in the tiniest amount of stutter from time to time, but nothing too pervasive.

Lenovo P2 review: Battery life

• 5,100mAh capacity
• Fast-charging

There’s no doubting the P2’s ability to last. Even with really heavy use, we weren’t able to completely drain the 5,100mAh battery in one day. Taking the phone off charge in the morning, we were comfortably able to get to the end of a second day with moderate usage. In fact, three days of use is possible, but only if you subject it to lighter-than-typical use.

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We left the P2 in standby to see how long it took to drain to zero. After eight days in this mode it had only drained 47 per cent of the battery, with most of that consumption coming from Wi-Fi usage. And that’s without switching on the aforementioned ultra power saving mode using the dedicated side switch.

As you’d expect from a battery of this size, there is fast charging support, although not as fast as we’d hope. Being a big battery means that it won’t fill up as quickly as smaller-capacity competitors, meaning it takes over two hours to fill from 0-100 per cent.

Lenovo P2 review: Camera

• 13MP sensor 
• 21mm f/2.0 (equivalent) lens
• 4K video recording
• 5MP front camera

As with the display, the camera is another area where Lenovo has made cutbacks to get it on budget. Saying that, it’s not a terrible camera, it’s just not the very best going.

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The 13-megapixel sensor can take decent enough shots when there’s ample light. Anything shot in daylight will normally come out in focus, with natural looking colours, and be perfectly good enough to share with your friends on social networks. Critical photographers likely won’t be that impressed, though.

Like you find with many other budget-friendly phone cameras, the P2’s sensor doesn’t balance out light levels particularly well or offer a quality HDR (high dynamic range) effect like you would find on cameras built into phones like the Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S8.

The P2 does have a smart detection tool, however, which automatically figures out what kind of scene you’re shooting and adapts settings to help make the image look better. In our experience, this was a little hit and miss. Pointing it down at a keyboard on our office desk triggered the “Gourmet Food” smart setting (disclaimer: our keyboard wasn’t covered in Hollandaise sauce). 

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There’s a manual mode which you can select to adjust ISO sensitivity, focus, white balance and shutter speed. However, even with the manual focus set to macro, the end results of close-up shots are generally a little soft. 

To put it succinctly: the Lenovo P2’s camera is good enough for the price point, without being mind-blowing. It’s the same with video capture and the front-facing camera quality: nothing incredible, but good enough for a budget phone. 

Verdict

If your primary objective when looking for a phone is a handset that lasts seemingly forever on one charge, then look no further: the Lenovo P2 is the big battery boss.

Sure, it’s not a flagship in every department, but its affordable £199 price point makes that clear. And just because it doesn’t have the latest chipset on board doesn’t mean it’s not capable: the P2 is plenty capable of gaming and all the usual daily tasks and apps, all wrapped into a decent design.

The only shortcomings are relatively minor quibbles: the screen can appear oversaturated, load times can be a little long, the camera is ok rather than great, while the clash of metal and plastic in the design doesn’t look perfectly matched.

Where the P2 wins is with battery life. Nothing else in the mainstream market comes close to the two-plus days that this Lenovo offers. Not ony is it fantasic in that regard, it’s also remarkably good value.

The alternatives to consider…

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Moto G5 Plus

If you can live without the behemoth battery, the Moto G5 Plus still undoubtedly one of the best budget smartphones available today. It has a smaller display, but still has better quality full HD panel, runs Android Nougat, uses the same processor and has a versatile home button/fingerprint sensor. Its design is also a little more refined. The fact it’s also made by Lenovo shows clearly that the company has its eye on the low end of the market. 

Read the full review: Moto G5 Plus preview: A big dose of premium, without the prohibitive price tag

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Vodafone Smart Platinum 7

At £299, it’s a little more expensive than the Platinum 7, but is much closer to competing with genuine flagship phones than the Lenovo P2. At least, in terms of screen and build quality. It’s big, has a better camera but doesn’t quite come close to matching the P2’s battery performance. 

Read the full review: Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 Review: Power and elegance without the price tag

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Huawei Mate 9

If you want a flagship phone with a huge battery, the Mate 9 is the way to go, although it is more than double the price of the P2. It’s a 4,000mAh battery which can last up to two days with light use, it has a large, bright, sharp display and is really fast. Easily one of the most powerful phones available, somewhat hampered by Huawei’s unusual software choices at times.  

Read the full review: Huawei Mate 9 review: The big-screen boss?

First Zelda Breath of the Wild DLC Pack 1 is The Master Trials, here’s how to get it

Nintendo has revealed what Zelda fans will get with the first DLC for Breath of the Wild and it’s not shirking on the new content.

Coming in “summer”, DLC Pack 1, entitled “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Master Trials”, will be included as part of the Expansion Pass for Nintendo Switch and Wii U. That also includes three new treasure chests and a further DLC Pack expected to be released at the end of the year – “Holiday 2017”.

You must buy the Expansion Pass to get the Packs as neither will be released separately.

How to purchase The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass on Nintendo Switch

There are three ways you can buy a Zelda Expansion Pass for the Nintendo Switch version:

• You can buy a digital code for £17.99 from “select retailers” such as Amazon.co.uk in the UK. It costs $19.99 in the US. That code can then be redeemed through the Nintendo eShop on the console itself.
• You can buy it through the game’s main menu, under the “Downloadable Content” section.

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• Or you can visit the game’s Nintendo eShop page on the Switch, scroll down and purchase the Expansion Pass there.

Nintendo Wii U owners can also purchase the Expansion Pass for the same price and using the same methods (roughly) as the above. This is the Amazon.co.uk link for the Wii U Expansion Pass.

• All the Nintendo Switch games: Launch titles and every game for 2017 revealed
• Is the Nintendo Switch good for all the family? Parental controls, motion gaming and more explored
• Nintendo Switch vs Wii U: What’s the difference?

What you get in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Master Trials DLC Pack 1

The first DLC Pack will work fine for new players or those who completed the game and want to continue exploring Hyrule. There are several new modes and trials coming:

• Trial of the Sword: A “certain sacred location”, which regular players will already be familiar with, will offer an all-new Trial of the Sword challenge. There will be 45 rooms in which waves of increasing more difficult enemies will need to be vanquished. Worse is that Link starts without any equipment or weapons. The reward is well worth it though, the Master Sword will be permanently powered-up after the challenge is complete (at present, it runs out of power occasionally and needs to charge again before use).
• Hero’s Path Mode: This mode shows a line of exactly where you visited in the last 200 hours of gameplay, displayed on the in-game map, showing your path through the adventure.

• Hard Mode: Is the game a bit too easy for you? A new Hard Mode powers all enemies up by a level. They also recover health over time. You might also see enemies and chests floating in the sky.
• Travel Medallion: A new item appears in a chest somewhere in the world. It has a one-off use, which places a fast travel point on the map.
• New armour: Eight new treasure chests appear in Hyrule that contain new armour to collect, all based on previous The Legend of Zelda games. And that includes Majora’s Mask, oh yes.
• Korok Mask: There is also a Korok Mask hidden in the world. It shakes whenever a hidden Korok is nearby, helping you find all 900 of them.

What you get in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC Pack 2

The second expansion pack is some way off, coming at the end of 2017, so details of what it will contain are yet to be revealed. However, we do know that it will add a “new dungeon”, an “original story” and “even more new challenges”.

iPhone owners REALLY like their AirPods, apparently

Why it matters to you

If the results of the poll are accurate, it seems Apple has a hit on its hands with the AirPods.

How’s it going with your AirPods? Sound good? Comfy? Having trouble keeping them in? Lost any yet?

Apple’s wireless earbuds, designed primarily for its first-ever jackless iPhone and released four months ago, appear to be a hit with users, at least if the results of a new survey are anything to go by.

Conducted by market research firm Creative Strategies in partnership with Experian, the findings reveal an impressive 98 percent satisfaction rating in a poll of nearly 1,000 AirPod users.

Breaking the figures down, 82 percent said they were “very satisfied” with the $159 earbuds, while 16 percent were “satisfied.” The remaining 2 percent were split between “neither satisfied not dissatisfied,” or “dissatisfied,” while no one appeared to be “very dissatisfied.”

Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies, said in a post that the overall customer satisfaction level of 98 percent “sets the record for the highest level of satisfaction for a new product from Apple.” Bajarin added, “When the iPhone came out in 2007, it held a 92 percent customer satisfaction level, iPad in 2010 had 92 percent, and Apple Watch in 2015 had 97 percent.”

Digital Trends’ in-depth review praised Apple’s AirPods for their “rock solid reliability and range,” decent battery life, and fast, compact charging case. However, they were found to offer “average” sound quality and risked slipping out “during rigorous or particularly sweaty workouts.” In addition, it costs a pricey $69 for a replacement pod or charging case.

When the poll participants were asked to explain their ranking in more detail, the researchers noted down the most frequently used words, which included “sound quality,” “convenient,” and, importantly, “fit.” However, “magic” and “love” also came up, suggesting Apple’s wireless earbuds have indeed found a special place in the hearts of some users.

Other findings included the discovery that 82.5 percent of AirPod owners wish they had “more control over their content by tapping the AirPods to do things like turn volume up or down or skip to next song,” something that can currently only be done manually or by calling on Siri. And 62 percent said they “strongly or somewhat agree” that the pods have prompted them to consume more audio content — including not only music but also videos, audio books, podcasts, and so on — suggesting that Apple’s wireless device may have helped to drive more business to the tech giant as well as third party outfits.

Putting the results of the survey to one side, how are you getting on with your AirPods?