App Highlight: Super Senso

The App

Developed by GungHo Online Entertainment America, Inc., Super Senso is a new app with only 10,000 installs. Having been updated on May 17, 2017, the developer is constantly fixing various bugs with the latest update bringing a number of optimizations. Battle players from around the world in real-time PvP multiplayer matches and destroy the senso-gate to victory.

What it does

Using a mash-up squad of armored tanks, cats and dinosaurs, tentacled aliens, giant mechs, creepy zombies, you’ll be battling in a turn-based strategy PvP game. Deploy your army to battle in real-time to outsmart your opponents.

Compete to top the challenge leaderboard and collect and level-up SENSO heroes that fit your play style! Whether it’s soaring over opponents with Chuck or dominating on defense with Guardian, you choose to battle in a 3D battle map to overcome your opponent.

Why we like it

Super Senso has great graphics and easy controls. It is a game that you can quickly just pick up and play. I would like to see more game modes included to expand the engagement factor and also an offline campaign mode to play. Otherwise, if you like PvP games then this one is worth a try.

How to get it

Super Senso is available for free from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.

New Parkmobile integration helps BMW drivers find a place to park

Why it matters to you

This kind of integration may point the way toward a much more seamless driving experience.

Driving in a big city already requires all the patience you have, so naturally, you don’t have the energy to deal with finding a parking space. Thankfully, now you don’t have to, as Parkmobile has partnered with BMW to create an integrated solution that lets drivers find, pay for, renew, and yes, even reserve parking spaces. Previously available only as an app, Parkmobile is now featured in new BMW vehicle lines, leveraging these cars’ navigation and GPS systems to find parking.

Heralded as “the industry’s first automated on-street and off-street reservations parking” system, Parkmobile-enabled BMW cars will prompt drivers to find space through their dashboard screens. This seamless process will not require either opening up the app on a smartphone (because none of us use our phones while we drive, right?) or paying a physical meter. Rather, all can be handled directly from their in-car screens.

The new system will work very similarly to the existing app, as vehicles will prepopulate parking options based on GPS coordinates, which allows for one-touch parking. Moreover, drivers can preselect the amount of time they’d like to purchase, and manage and extend their parking sessions using the Parkmobile app.

“We are extremely proud to partner with BMW to deliver this tremendous innovation in the automotive and parking industries alike,” said Jon Ziglar, Parkmobile’s CEO. “By embedding real-time parking payment and advanced reservations capabilities into the automobile itself, we complete the circle of delivering a truly seamless parking experience for drivers in any parking scenario, whether it be on-street, off-street, real-time, or in advance. Furthermore, this is a significant step in paving the way for autonomous vehicles of the future to control and manage the end of their journey unassisted.”

So if you’re tired of adding time to your already long trip just for the sake of parking, a new BMW may be the solution.

Disney CEO Bob Iger now says the company wasn’t hacked

A couple of weeks ago, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Disney CEO Bob Iger had emailed employees about a ransom demand. Rumors indicated that hackers claimed to have a copy of an upcoming movie, possibly Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, but now the exec tells Yahoo Finance that “We don’t believe that it was real and nothing has happened.” The threat was probably taken more seriously in light of a hacker releasing Orange is the New Black episodes, but as of tonight, the only people threatening the world with another Pirates flick are the folks at Disney.

Via: CNBC

Source: Yahoo Finance

A sheet of this smart fabric can transform any table into a giant trackpad

Why it matters to you

Whether it’s for accessibility purposes or another reason, this giant trackpad material will give you more space to work.

Ever think that the twitchy computer trackpad on your laptop does not give you enough space to work with? Smart materials maker Madison Maxey is here to help. Developed with Brooklyn’s New Lab and Autodesk’s Pier 9 workshop, Maxey has created a Textile Touchpad that looks a bit like a tablecloth but is, in fact, a giant touch-sensitive surface.

“We created the textile trackpad as an early sample that can help designers, the disabled, and the elderly comfortably use a trackpad by expanding the size of the interface,” Maxey, who is founder of the smart fabric startup Loomia, told Digital Trends. “Imagine a designer having an intimate canvas, or shaky hands being able to navigate a computer with a palm instead of a finger. Fabric is a strong platform for large surface-area technology because it can fold into a small space to carry, and expand to cover a table when it’s needed. We decided to build this textile trackpad to show that smart fabric can be more than workout shirts and light up dresses — but can also be a functional part of our experience with the digital world.”

Unfolded, the material measures 30 by 36 inches. Aside from the difference in form factor, though, it works much like any other touch surface and even boasts some smart vibration motors which provide haptic feedback to show that users’ gestures have been picked up.

If you are wondering how much you will need to give Maxey to get hold of one of your own, however, don’t sweat — it’s free. Well, almost. You need to buy components, such as the Adafruit Flora micro-controller that gives it its smarts, but Maxey has made the whole design freely available on Instructables so you can build your own.

“This project was started at Autodesk and there’s a strong open source community there,” she continued. “We decided to open source the prototype instructions so that makers can start to think of smart fabric as a tool for creation, and to align with Autodesk’s philosophy.”

You can check out the Instructables page here.

iPhone 8 Case Compared to iPhone 7 Offers Clear Picture of Size Difference

Though the launch of the “iPhone 8” is months away, case makers have already started creating cases for the device based on leaked design renderings and schematics.

A case designed for the iPhone 8 surfaced on Alibaba, and was purchased by Japanese site Mac Otakara for a series of images and a video. We’ve already seen some iPhone 8 cases so the design shouldn’t come as a surprise, but this particular case includes comparisons to both the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, giving us a clear picture of how the iPhone 8 might fit into the iPhone lineup if the case design is an accurate representation of the finalized device.

As can be seen in the images, the case is a good deal smaller than the iPhone 7 Plus, but slightly larger than the iPhone 7. That’s in line with rumors suggesting the iPhone 8 will be similar in size to the iPhone 7, but with a display that’s much larger (and edge-to-edge), closer in size to the iPhone 7 Plus display.

An iPhone 7 placed directly inside the case suggests the iPhone 8 will be about the same width as the iPhone 7, but quite a bit taller. Rumors have also suggested the iPhone 8 will be slightly thicker than the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and Mac Otakara says the iPhone 7 is noticeably thinner, with the case being “quite loose feeling.”

Leaked design renderings and schematics have suggested the iPhone 8 could measure in at 144mm tall, 71mm wide, and 7.7mm thick, compared to the iPhone 7 dimensions of 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1mm.

The case features a vertical camera cutout to accommodate a rumored vertical dual-lens camera, which may be larger in size than the camera in the iPhone 7 Plus, based on a comparison.

Volume buttons, the power button, and other ports seem to be in generally the same location as the current iPhone 7, with some small variations. The volume buttons and the mute switch are the same size as the buttons on the iPhone 7, but the spacing is slightly different.

Because Apple has tested multiple iPhone 8 prototypes, it’s difficult to determine whether this case accurately depicts the final design of the device. Most of the rumors and design leaks have centered on a device that’s similar to the iPhone 8 case Mac Otakara purchased, with no visible Touch ID button, but we’ve also seen leaks featuring an aluminum device with a rear Touch ID button.

Once we start seeing legitimate part leaks, we should have a much better idea of what to expect when Apple introduces the iPhone 8 this fall.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
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A sheet of this smart fabric can transform any table into a giant trackpad

Why it matters to you

Whether it’s for accessibility purposes or another reason, this giant trackpad material will give you more space to work.

Ever think that the twitchy computer trackpad on your laptop does not give you enough space to work with? Smart materials maker Madison Maxey is here to help. Developed with Brooklyn’s New Lab and Autodesk’s Pier 9 workshop, Maxey has created a Textile Touchpad that looks a bit like a tablecloth but is, in fact, a giant touch-sensitive surface.

“We created the textile trackpad as an early sample that can help designers, the disabled, and the elderly comfortably use a trackpad by expanding the size of the interface,” Maxey, who is founder of the smart fabric startup Loomia, told Digital Trends. “Imagine a designer having an intimate canvas, or shaky hands being able to navigate a computer with a palm instead of a finger. Fabric is a strong platform for large surface-area technology because it can fold into a small space to carry, and expand to cover a table when it’s needed. We decided to build this textile trackpad to show that smart fabric can be more than workout shirts and light up dresses — but can also be a functional part of our experience with the digital world.”

Unfolded, the material measures 30 by 36 inches. Aside from the difference in form factor, though, it works much like any other touch surface and even boasts some smart vibration motors which provide haptic feedback to show that users’ gestures have been picked up.

If you are wondering how much you will need to give Maxey to get hold of one of your own, however, don’t sweat — it’s free. Well, almost. You need to buy components, such as the Adafruit Flora micro-controller that gives it its smarts, but Maxey has made the whole design freely available on Instructables so you can build your own.

“This project was started at Autodesk and there’s a strong open source community there,” she continued. “We decided to open source the prototype instructions so that makers can start to think of smart fabric as a tool for creation, and to align with Autodesk’s philosophy.”

You can check out the Instructables page here.

Does the type of device you use affect your problem-solving skills? Study says yes

Why it matters to you

There’s real evidence that suggests you think differently with a smartphone in your hands than with a mouse and keyboard at your fingertips.

Here’s some food for thought: What if the type of device you use affects your problem-solving skills? Research published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior suggests it just might. Specifically, smartphone users have been found to exhibit more rational, utilitarian decision-making, while their counterparts on PC were found to let emotions undermine their logic more frequently.

In the experiment, roughly 1,000 subjects were asked to decide between two possible outcomes of a moral dilemma. Some were assigned a smartphone to make their judgment call, while others were on a computer. The dilemma took the form of the classic “Trolley Problem,” in which a train is about to hit multiple workers, and the subject is asked if they would divert the train to instead kill one individual rather than several.

There were a few modifications made to the question. In the first trial, subjects could save five workers by pushing one man off a bridge and onto the tracks well before it reached the workers. In another, the subject could pull a switch forcing the train to change tracks, where there would be only one victim instead of five.

In both cases, smartphone users exhibited a higher propensity to choose the utilitarian option — the killing of one to save many — over what researchers termed the deontological response, which would prohibit killing of any nature, regardless of the circumstances.

Not surprisingly, significantly more subjects opted to pull the switch than push the man off the bridge. Regarding the switch question, 81 percent of smartphone users took action, compared to 77 percent of PC users. For the other dilemma, the gulf was a bit wider: 34 percent of phone respondents decided to sacrifice the man’s life, while 22 percent of subjects on computers elected to do the same. As the study states, the act of pulling the switch is considered to be much less emotionally aversive.

So how can we explain the difference? What is it about smartphones that make us into unfeeling, less emotionally driven actors? According to the study, it’s all about the lack of distractions.

The researchers conclude that the digital context of smartphone use is one of time pressure, which facilitates more rash decision making. Smartphones also focus our attention on the task at hand, and cause us to filter out secondary cues much more effectively. Without the time and multitasking resources to consider all the options available, we yield to the numbers argument. On the other hand, experts say computers grant us those luxuries, and thus make moral decisions more challenging by opening the door to increased emotional sway.

As technology bears an increasing influence over our everyday lives, there’s never been a more crucial time to study its effects on how we conduct ourselves — and how different devices and uses might complicate matters further.

Does the type of device you use affect your problem-solving skills? Study says yes

Why it matters to you

There’s real evidence that suggests you think differently with a smartphone in your hands than with a mouse and keyboard at your fingertips.

Here’s some food for thought: What if the type of device you use affects your problem-solving skills? Research published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior suggests it just might. Specifically, smartphone users have been found to exhibit more rational, utilitarian decision-making, while their counterparts on PC were found to let emotions undermine their logic more frequently.

In the experiment, roughly 1,000 subjects were asked to decide between two possible outcomes of a moral dilemma. Some were assigned a smartphone to make their judgment call, while others were on a computer. The dilemma took the form of the classic “Trolley Problem,” in which a train is about to hit multiple workers, and the subject is asked if they would divert the train to instead kill one individual rather than several.

There were a few modifications made to the question. In the first trial, subjects could save five workers by pushing one man off a bridge and onto the tracks well before it reached the workers. In another, the subject could pull a switch forcing the train to change tracks, where there would be only one victim instead of five.

In both cases, smartphone users exhibited a higher propensity to choose the utilitarian option — the killing of one to save many — over what researchers termed the deontological response, which would prohibit killing of any nature, regardless of the circumstances.

Not surprisingly, significantly more subjects opted to pull the switch than push the man off the bridge. Regarding the switch question, 81 percent of smartphone users took action, compared to 77 percent of PC users. For the other dilemma, the gulf was a bit wider: 34 percent of phone respondents decided to sacrifice the man’s life, while 22 percent of subjects on computers elected to do the same. As the study states, the act of pulling the switch is considered to be much less emotionally aversive.

So how can we explain the difference? What is it about smartphones that make us into unfeeling, less emotionally driven actors? According to the study, it’s all about the lack of distractions.

The researchers conclude that the digital context of smartphone use is one of time pressure, which facilitates more rash decision making. Smartphones also focus our attention on the task at hand, and cause us to filter out secondary cues much more effectively. Without the time and multitasking resources to consider all the options available, we yield to the numbers argument. On the other hand, experts say computers grant us those luxuries, and thus make moral decisions more challenging by opening the door to increased emotional sway.

As technology bears an increasing influence over our everyday lives, there’s never been a more crucial time to study its effects on how we conduct ourselves — and how different devices and uses might complicate matters further.

Check out 30 of the best iPhone 7 cases and covers for your shiny new phone

Apple’s iPhone 7 is a sleek smartphone with an elegant design, but it’s a fragile beauty that needs to be protected. Exposing your iPhone to the world could increase the risk of it getting damaged, as all it takes is a single slip to end up with a ding, scuff, or crack that will spoil those good looks. Thankfully, a proper case or cover can help keep your phone safe. After all, you’ll need to keep your phone intact while you wait for the next big thing, right? Check out a few of our current favorites below.

Killspencer Snap Case ($75)

For a snap-on case with a stylish, durable, leather finish and plenty of character, look no further than Killspencer’s Snap Case. The case is made of a basic, slim shell with generous cut-outs for your phone’s camera, ports, and side switch. There’s also well-defined button covers and an optional strap for added security, which is good because this case is more about style than protection. It currently only comes in black, but you can add a two-character monogram if you want. The latter will cost you an extra $30.

Buy one now from:

Killspencer

Griffin Survivor Clear Case ($20)

This protective offering showcases Apple’s minimalist design, allowing you to maintain the look and feel of your smartphone. This is one of Griffin’s slimmest cases for the iPhone 7, but it still offers drop protection from up to four feet. It’s made of tough polycarbonate, and features a flexible TPU frame. The back is scratch-resistant and is available in either a translucent design or one with a subtle tinge of color. The button covers are responsive and there are accurate openings for your phone’s ports, as well as generous cut-outs on the back that ensure you’ll be able to use your phone’s camera and flash without interference.

Buy one now from:

Amazon Griffin

Noreve Tradition Leather Case ($55)

This classy cover for the iPhone 7 is made of high-quality leather. A thin, plastic shell holds your iPhone in place and it’s wrapped in a padded-leather exterior that completely envelopes your phone, protecting it from all angles. The front cover has a magnetic closure, which opens to reveal a couple of handy slots for stowing credit cards. There are also cut-outs for your phone’s speaker, camera, buttons, and ports. The case is currently available in a variety of different finishes and colors.

Buy one now from:

Noreve

CM4 Q Card Case ($35)

Leave your wallet or purse at home with the Q Card Case from CM4. This case combines a number of clever features. The durable, plastic shell will fit your iPhone perfectly. You’ll also find tactile button covers, accurate cut-outs, and textured strips on the sides for enhanced grip. The back sports a leather-style pocket that can hold a couple of credit cards and some cash. There’s also a smart slot that you can slide a card into, allowing you to prop up your phone in landscape view. It comes in black, gray, gold, or pink.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Apple iPhone 7 Silicon and Leather cases ($35+)

Apple’s case lineup keeps getting bigger and bigger. In March, the Cupertino-based company added seven new colors to its case collection, including sapphire, pebble, and tan. Apple’s soft-touch, silicon bands are lightweight and sport a microfiber lining that helps protect your iPhone from bumps and scratches. Its leather cases are made from a specially-tanned and finished European leather that’s soft to the touch and compliments the iPhone’s finish perfectly.

Buy one now from:

Apple

Utomic Edge Corner Protectors ($35)

The most annoying thing about most iPhone 7 cases is that they cover up Apple’s gorgeous design. Thankfully, Utomic has a minimalist alternative that still provides some protection in the form of corner protectors. These are small, flexible bumpers with adhesive that takes 24 hours to properly set. They stick to each corner of your iPhone, and extend from front to back to prevent your phone from touching down on flat surfaces. You also get wipes and an installation sleeve, allowing for the perfect fit. They come in an array of colors, too, and provide decent protection against falls of up to four feet, provided your phone doesn’t land on an uneven surface.

Buy one now from:

Utomic

Snakehive Vintage Leather Wallet ($19)

Snakehive’s leather folio cases are an absolute steal. The leather has a fine grain on the outside, which is pleasant to the touch, and a traditional leather finish on the inside for protection and longevity. We love the black and navy color scheme here, but it’s available in other colors too. Your phone fits perfectly inside, and there’s a very handy magnetic clasp to keep the cover closed. It doubles as a stand for your phone as well.

Buy one now from:

Snakehive

Mous iPhone 7 Case ($50)

A super-successful Indiegogo campaign launched these slick cases, available in wood, marble, bamboo, leather, or Kevlar finishes. Prices vary, and pre-orders for some styles are sold out, but keep an eye on the site for when orders open up again in the future. The cases look great, with the protective Airo-Shock interior keeping the phone safe even when dropped from a great height. Yet the cases have style and class, rather than the rugged toughness usually associated with such protection.

Buy one now from:

Mous

Facebook adds support for Google’s AMP and Apple News to Instant Articles

Why it matters to you

Facebook Instant, Facebook’s news platform, could start to show up in more places.

When Facebook launched Instant Articles in 2015, the crux of the platform was clear: A “faster” and “richer” news experience for users that did not infringe on Facebook’s advertising operation. But things did not go as well as hoped and news outlets have had a tough time generating as much revenue per Instant Article as they have from pages on their own websites. In response, Facebook’s retooled the platform with support for two competing standards: Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and Apple News.

Integration with AMP, Google’s open-source effort to speed up mobile web pages and Apple News, an iOS format, comes in the form of an extension to the Instant Articles software development kit (SDK). Using code and Instant Articles markup, the new tool converts between the formats automatically, generating AMP and Apple News versions of every Facebook-optimized article. But they won’t all look the same — publishers will be able to add templates with custom fonts, colors, and captions.

“Our goal is to give publishers control overextending and modifying the Instant Articles building blocks to be the best storytellers on every platform,” Facebook’s Piyush Mangalick, a partner engineering director, said in a blog post. “This new flexibility with Instant Articles is part of our commitment to open standards of collaboration with the community.”

Facebook said the idea came from its Journalism Project, which aims to connect Facebook with media publishers. Programs so far have included hackathons with publishers’ development teams, public service announcements to promote news literacy, tutorials for journalists, and more. But taken more cynically, it is an effort to stem the bleeding.

In April, Forbes, Hearst, The New York Times, and others withdrew support for Instant Articles, and others — including Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, CBS News, NPR, Financial Times, and Vice News have cut down on the number of articles they published through Facebook directly.

Partly to blame is the Instant Articles profit split. Publishers who manually place ads are allowed to keep 100 percent of the revenue, but those which opt for Facebook’s automatic ad placement get 70 percent instead.

Facebook’s tried to smooth out the platform’s rougher edges in recent months. A little over a year ago, the network launched Instant Articles in Latin America and opened Instant Articles to all publishers, and added support for 360-degree videos and photos in February.

Facebook also tried to give outlets greater freedom in design — and monetization. Since January, Instant Articles partners have combined multiple posts into a single digest; readers with the latest version of Facebook’s iOS and Android apps can access the posts from the News Feed and publisher’s pages. And publishers now have the freedom to insert advertisements every 250 words (up from the previous 350).

But Facebook might be changing course. Reports suggest the social network’s pursuing original video, partnering with content creators like BuzzFeed and Vox to produce television-like shows from which it will take a 45 percent cut of ad revenue.