Jaguar thinks the Gorillaz app is a good way to find engineers

Jaguar Land Rover has teamed up with an unlikely partner to recruit its next wave of engineers — the animated band Gorillaz. The auto company will be using the band’s mixed reality app to challenge aspiring team members, fast-tracking the best performers through recruitment.

Gorillaz released the app earlier this year as an interactive lead-up to their album Humanz. Today, the app launched a new Jaguar Land Rover recruitment area, which will test prospective applicants in two parts. For the first, users will assemble the Jaguar I-PACE Concept, the company’s upcoming electric sports car. The second task involves an alternate reality game featuring a series of code breaking puzzles. The company says they need 5,000 recruits this year.

Noodle, the totally fictional lead guitarist for Gorillaz, was named a Jaguar Land Rover ambassador last year and was quoted in a statement from the company saying, “Can you crack the code? Put your skills to the test!! Hey, maybe you might land yourself the most BADASS job you can imagine. Dare to win!”

Alex Heslop, head of electrical engineering at the company said in the statement, “As the automotive industry transforms over the next decade, fuelled by software innovation, we have to attract the best talent and that requires a radical rethink of how we recruit.”

Those interested in competing can download the app now and I dare you not to dance while watching the recruitment video below.

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

Hasbro’s Gaming Crate delivers new board games every quarter

There are a plethora of subscription boxes to choose from these days, including nerdy ones like Loot Crate and Minecraft, kid-friendly boxes like the one from Nickelodeon, science-based subscriptions from MEL Chemistry and makeup assortments like Birchbox. Now even venerable toy company Hasbro has decided to jump into the fray with a a subscription service of its own, called the Hasbro Gaming Crate. It comes in both kid-friendly and more adult-oriented flavors and will send you three games every three months for $49.99.

Both of the featured games this first month have something you wear while you play. The first Family Crate will have an exclusive VR board game, Mask of the Pharoah, which was originally titled Mask of Anubis in Japan. It comes with a board, digital app and VR mask; players explore a pyramid in ancient Egypt while describing what they see. The Party Crate features Joe Santagato Speak Out, where you have to wear a weird mouthpiece that keeps your mouth open while you try to say different adult-themed phrases.

There are other board game boxes out there, like Board Game Bento and Awesome Pack, but this is the first time a major company has offered such a service. Hasbro will also curate each three-month delivery to include a few themed items that complement the included games. The company is offering free shipping on the first crate, too, which could help convince you to take the plunge. You can sign up now and crates should ship this fall.

Via: TheVerge

Source: Hasbro

PureEarth wants to liven up your wallpaper game

Overview:

PureEarth is a wallpaper app that focuses mainly on pictures from exotic locales from around the world, and interesting camera angles and picturesque scenes. It is a simple, easy app that offers some excellent wallpapers for those who are interested in visually impressive wallpapers.

Developer: Daniele Orlando

Cost: Free

Impressions:

PureEarth is similar to Google Wallpapers, except without the enhanced exploration features that let you see more info on the location and the photographer. What it lacks in those geographical features, however, it makes up for in the ability to alter the photos with filters and other editing tools before you download, to make the image more unique or visually different.

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Also, you can upload your own pictures to the app to share if you happen to have your own excellent scenic photos. You just have to make an account and upload them, and you can let everyone enjoy your favorite photos.

One thing I definitely think needs improvement in PureEarth is an organization system for the pictures. While it does have a search function, the pictures are just organized into a continuous scroll that can’t otherwise be sorted in any way. I wish there was some option to sort with filters, maybe by name or location, or scene type to make it easier to find something you like.

Conclusion:

I like PureEarth Wallpapers. It offers a lot of quality, visually interesting wallpapers for your devices and is ad-free and easy to use. I have been cycling through a few different wallpapers all week and have been very happy with the selection of images. If you’re looking for a good wallpaper app, definitely check out PureEarth.

Download PureEarth from the Google Play Store

Scientists to deploy ‘SnotBots’ to capture and analyze whale blow

Why it matters to you

New tech offers a more dynamic way for scientists to study the health of whales, giving us a glimpse at the health of the ocean at large.

Drones will soon be deployed over the ocean to help scientists study whales in an unusual way. Dubbed SnotBots, these custom-built, remote-controlled drones are designed to hover over pods of whales and capture snot shot out of their blowholes. This method allows researchers to collect biological data — including DNA and pregnancy hormones — for analysis without harming or seriously disturbing the whales.

The project is part of a collaboration between nonprofit Ocean Alliance’s Parley for the Oceans and Intel, which is providing software to perform the analyses.

Besides the SnotBots’ collections, another fleet of drones will be equipped with cameras that will capture images of the whales so scientists can identify them. This will enable the team to monitor the whales without physically tagging them.

“For lack of a better term, I’ll call it ‘facial recognition,’” Alyson Griffin, vice president in Intel’s global marketing and communications group, told Digital Trends.

When the drones snap photos and collect snot, the data is streamed back to a ship, where Intel-backed software will analyze the data in real time. This will save time from what is usually a manual and and labor-intensive process.

“Algorithms on the ship analyze the health of the water and whales,” she said, “including who’s related, whether there are viruses, and what the acidity of the water is.”

Traditionally, missions like this would require collecting DNA or blood samples from individual whales in an invasive way, while monitoring them meant physically tagging with tracking devices. Now, Griffin said scientists “can be a safe distance away where there’s no harm to the whales.”

Studying whales is of course beneficial for whales, but it’s also important for us humans and the environment as a whole. As some of the ocean’s apex predators, whales offers a glimpse of the ocean’s overall environment, which ultimately relates to the well-being of humanity.

Glue and tape make Microsoft’s Surface Laptop a nightmare to repair

Why it matters to you

If you consider repairability an important feature, the Surface Laptop isn’t for you.

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is not a laptop — according to a recent attempt to take it apart to test its repairability. Instead it’s a “glue-filled monstrosity” that cannot be taken apart without destroying it. Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop faired well when we pitted it against the Surface Pro, but when it comes to iFixit’s teardown, it earned a score of zero out of 10.

One of the reasons some people opt for Windows systems is that they are usually easier to take apart, repair, and upgrade than their Apple counterparts. That’s not always the case, but it’s a reasonably good rule of thumb. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop turns that paradigm on its head, however, as iFixit claims it’s impossible to take apart without destroying it.

Although disassembling most laptops isn’t easy, the Surface Laptop is overly and overtly complicated right off of the bat. There are no screws hidden under the rubber feet, so your first port of entry requires removing the Alcantara coating. There are immediate signs of adhesive and metal clips, which means even returning the laptop to its original state from this step in the teardown process would be difficult.

Things only go from bad to worse from that point on, with knives being used to cut through material, separate adhesive and “ultrasonic spot welds,” which means you’ll need a whole other level of expertise to put the Surface Laptop back together. iFixit jokingly recommends duct tape should you try yourself, which shows just how difficult the system is to repair.

Although everything can be taken apart and laid out nearly like the iFixit photo suggests, that’s likely how your Surface Laptop will stay if you ever get that far. The repairability score of zero should be a stark warning to anyone considering trying it.

“There is nothing upgradeable or long-lasting and it literally can’t be opened without destroying it,” the teardown report reads.

The CPU, RAM, and storage solution are soldered to the motherboard itself, meaning you can’t replace or upgrade anything. The headphone jack can accessed only by removing the heatsink and motherboard; you can’t even replace the battery.

In short, if you own a Surface Laptop, it’s best you don’t try to take it apart. If you’re thinking about buying one and repairability and upgradeability are important to you, look elsewhere. Maybe on our list of the best laptops?

Verizon opens enrollment for screen repair services just in time for summer

Why it matters to you

Eligible Verizon customers have another chance to sign up for a plan to get their phones fixed immediately, from the convenience of their own home.

Update: With summer here, Verizon opened enrollment once again for its Total Mobile Protection plan. The company also lowered the deductible for cracked screen repairs and added more mobile devices to its list of eligible phones.

Verizon is giving customers another chance to sign up for its Total Mobile Protection plan this summer from now until July 14. The plan was updated with a few minor changes and among them is a lower deductible for repairs coming in at $49  — cheaper than the original $79. The Samsung S7 Edge and iPhone 7 are also now included under the list of phones eligible for cracked screen repairs.

Under the plan, customers have the option for same-day, on-site screen repair. Owners of select devices can request a technician to meet them at home or work to have a shattered display immediately replaced — provided they live in one of the locations listed.

The news release on Verizon’s website specifies which phones are eligible for same-day repair, as well as the more than 200 cities where remote service is available.  Multiple versions of the Apple iPhone, and Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Note, as well as Motorola’s Verizon-exclusive Droid brand, are included.

In addition to the deductible, customers will have to pay a standard monthly cost of $11 for a smartphone, $9 for basic phones and tablets, or $33 for multidevice protection for 3 to 10 lines. Verizon is also allowing Total Mobile Protection customers to file up to three claims a year, and for multi-device applicants, one account can now share nine claims.

The Total Mobile Protection is the most comprehensive of Verizon’s plans. It extends the warranty of the device, comes with Tech Coach technical support, and covers physical damage, theft, and loss. Total Equipment coverage, which is $9 per month for smartphones and $7 per month for basic phones and tablets, contains everything found in the top-level plan except for Tech Coach.

Rounding out the list, the Wireless Phone Protection option, which runs $7.15 per month for smartphones and $5 per month for everything else, only covers damage, theft, and loss without extending the manufacturer’s original one-year warranty. Customers can sign up for an extended warranty alone for $3 a month. More details on all of these programs are available on Verizon’s site.

See more at Verizon

Sprint is using Jay Z’s new Tidal-exclusive album to get new subscribers

Why it matters to you

If you want to be one of the first to get your hands on the new Jay Z album, you will have to sign up for Tidal.

Few things in popular culture will leave a dent in the national conversation like new music from one of the greatest rappers of all time. Jay Z is releasing a new album, 4:44, exclusively on Tidal and Sprint is promoting it as a perfect reason to get a Sprint cell phone plan.

The mysterious 4:44 project was confirmed on Sunday by Tidal on Twitter as Jay Z’s 13th solo album, and first since 2013’s Magna Carter Holy Grail. The news comes less than two weeks after Sprint announced it will offer its customers a six-month subscription to Tidal for free. Jay Z’s return to the microphone will also be the first major release since Sprint purchased a 33 percent stake in Tidal in January. Looks like Sprint is ready to use Tidal’s biggest draw to lure in new customers.

Sprint has had its trouble adding enough subscribers to regain its spot among the top three wireless networks since losing its spot to T-Mobile in August 2015. Since then, Sprint subscribers have remained relatively flat at roughly 58 million with less than 200,000 subscribers added in the first quarter of 2017.

Before we knew we were getting a new Jay Z album, 4:44 advertisements started popping up around the country. Our hopes were temporarily shot when a 4:44 commercial supposedly for a new film debuted during Game 3 of the NBA Finals featuring Academy Award winning actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danny Glover. Portions of the same commercial were re-released on Tidal over the weekend, but this time with Jay Z rapping a few lines from a song entitled Adnis, following the announcement of Jay’s new album. The song title is in reference to his father Adnes Reeves, who died in 2003.

As of now, Jay Z’s highly anticipated new album will appear on Tidal after midnight on June 30. The last time a Jay Z release was so closely tied to cell phones, he gave his Magna Carta album away for free to the first million Samsung Galaxy devices owners who downloaded the Magna Carta app. Looks like the same plan, just a different app this time. Let us see how many new cell phone subscribers a new Jay Z album is worth.

Close to the Metal Ep. 46: A PC perspective on E3 2017

All eyes fall on Los Angeles every summer for E3, a week of video game announcements, huge press conferences, and sprawling expo halls. We sent down a full squad of writers to cover every inch of the show — or as much as we could — including the hosts of the Close to the Metal podcast. There was plenty to see and too many games to play, but we did manage to find a few computers stashed among the Xbox Ones and Playstation 4s.

For the third year, E3 played host to the PC Gaming show, a smaller press conference exclusively for announcements from developers working on PC titles. Games like Sea of Thieves and Killing Floor 2 made an appearance, but one of the biggest announcements came from the team behind Lone Echo. Not only did the developers announce a July 20th release date for the zero gravity story game, but also announced the multiplayer side of the game, Echo Arena, would be free for a limited time. Intel sponsored the giveaway, with the hopes of it becoming a true VR esport.

We also got the chance to play Bungie’s hotly-anticipated Destiny 2, which is finally making its way over to PC in the fall. Running at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second at 4K, the game is absolutely stunning, and we’ve got the gameplay video to prove it.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Xbox One X. Promising true 4K gaming at $500 is no easy feat, and it gives gaming computers a lot more room to fight back. We’ll get under the hood on Microsoft’s latest console, and ask whether people really have the resolution to support it.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that takes a deep dive into computing and PC gaming topics. Each show, we’ll focus in on one topic, and leave no stone unturned as we show off the latest in hardware and software. Whether it’s the latest GPU, supercomputers, or which 2-in-1 you should buy, we break down the complicated jargon and talk about how user experience is affected in the real world. Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We broadcast the show live on YouTube every Tuesday at 1pm EST/10am PST.

Surface Laptops can easily be reverted to Windows 10 S after upgrading to Pro

Why it matters to you

Switching to Windows 10 Pro on the Surface Laptop doesn’t have to be a permanent move if you don’t want it to be. Microsoft now makes it easy to switch back.

If you’ve upgraded your Microsoft Surface Laptop to Windows 10 Pro but don’t find yourself actually needing the added functionality of the fully fledged operating system, you can now downgrade back to Windows 10 S without too much hassle. All you have to do is back up your personal information and then download and run the newly available recovery image.

Although Microsoft released the Surface Laptop with Windows 10 S installed as standard, Microsoft took an approach similar to its original release of Windows 10 and offered a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for all owners in 2017. However, while the Pro version of the OS does have the ability to install non-Windows store apps and a few other advantages, its efficiency isn’t quite so strong, so reverting back to the original OS does have its advantages.

Some Surface owners have found that Pro just isn’t for them, so Microsoft has a Windows 10 S Surface recovery image that can now be downloaded from the Microsoft support site.

If you want to take a stab at it yourself, you’ll want to make sure you back up all of your personal files, as the recovery system does wipe your drive and start from scratch. You’ll also need 9GB of space for the recovery image, so make sure you have a spare USB drive or external storage solution handy.

For those a little nervous about the procedure, don’t fret — you can always contact Microsoft support for direct help. However, as MSPowerUser points out, there are also a few helpful tips and hints on the support site itself, which walk you through the process from start to finish.

You can also check out our very own guide on how to reinstall Windows 10, which will help fix any problems you might have along the way. We’ll walk you through the whole process, from the best ways to back up your files right through to reactivation.

California company wants to sequence your pet’s poop (for science)

Why it matters to you

If you care about you pup’s health, you should care about its microbiome.

You probably heard that there is a community of trillions of microorganisms living on and in your body and that it plays a fundamental role in what makes you unique, affecting everything from your weight to the way your brain works.

In fact, every animal has its own unique colony of microbes — called a microbiome — crawling over its body and any imbalance in the system could mean the difference between sickness and health.

Now, a California-based company offers to analyze your pet’s poop to study its microbiome. After a successful campaign for KittyBiome in 2015, the company is back with for man’s best friend with DoggyBiome.

“One thing that is becoming clear is that many diseases are associated with altered states of the microbiome,” AnimalBiome founder and CEO Holly Ganz told Digital Trends. “Irrespective of whether the microbiome is causing these conditions, such observations highlight why the microbiome is so promising as a diagnostic tool.”

Two years ago, Ganz and her team launched the KittyBiome Kickstarter campaign, which raised more than $23,000 to analyze the various microbiomes of domestic cats and study how these microorganisms related to certain diseases. As it turned out, 20 percent of the cats in the study had chronic digestive disorders, according to Ganz, who trained as a microbial ecologist.

“Our subsequent market research has shown that 10 percent of all dogs and cats in the [United States] have chronic digestive disorders,” she added. “This helped me realize that my idea for a microbiome-based diagnostic could address a large market, as well as meet a real need.”

Through the Kickstarter campaign, AnimalBiome hopes to collect and sequence feces from dogs of all shapes and sizes. Its end goal is to create a database of dog microbiomes (as well as health, diet, and lifestyle) which they will use to determine what microbes support health and which can cause illness in an effort to help make pets healthier. The company is also testing at least one wild animal, a wolf named Atka, who lives in a conservation center in New York.

“We are hoping to get contributions from dogs from different breeds and mixes, as well as dogs with different health conditions,” Ganz said. “By understanding what healthy dogs look like and how sick dogs differ, we can create better diagnostics and therapeutics.”

Early-bird rewards to get your pet’s poop sequenced are available for $79 dollars and will later jump to $99.