Sony might use 6-inch LCD screen with 2:1 ratio on next Xperia phone

Sony’s future Xperia smartphone could feature a 6-inch display panel with a 2:1 aspect ratio.

The company’s joint venture, Japan Display Inc, has begun mass production of a 1080p Full Active LTPS LCD display with a 2:1 aspect ratio. It is a 6-inch display diagonally with thin bezels, and it features “Pixel Eyes” technology, which will allow for significantly darker black levels than what’s typically associated with LCD panels, as well as the ability to operate the screen with wet fingers.

The display was achieved by “adopting a new high-density wiring layout, and new processing and module assembly technologies,” JDI explained in its 19 June announcement. “This newly-designed LCD module structure will allow the size of a smartphone device to be nearly the same as the display size. It is expected that these features will contribute to create entirely new smartphone designs.”

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JDI is a joint venture between Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi. Sony has used mobile display panels from JDI in the past – specifically for its flagships. Keep in mind Sony has confirmed that it’s planning to launch two additional high-end devices by the end of the year. It’s also rumoured to be playing around with the new image standard; it may release a new phone in 2017 with a 2:1 aspect ratio.

However, Sony’s marketing director, Don Mesa, recently said Sony has no plans to adopt 2:1 (also called 18:9) at this time, according to Android Headlines. We’re assuming the company just wants to tread carefully, rather than take a dramatic shift, considering its smartphone sales haven’t been stellar lately. That said, its other handset due out this year is thought to sport a conventional 16:9 format.

So, maybe Sony will go with 2:1 after all – for at least one device in 2017. Only time will tell.

What was missing from E3 2017? The consoles and games that failed to show

E3 2017 is done and dusted now, and there were plenty of amazing games on show, along with an all-new console in the form of the 4K powerhouse Xbox One X. However, while the convention was jam packed with stuff to see, there were also some previously rumoured and expected games and hardware conspicuous by their absence.

Here we list the games and gaming kit we expected to see at E3 2017 but, for one reason or another, failed to show.

• E3 2017: All the games and announcements that matter
• PlayStation E3 2017 press conference: Watch it again and find out what was launched
• Xbox E3 2017 press conference: Watch it again and find out what was launched
• Nintendo Spotlight E3 2017: Find out what was launched for Switch
• Best games of E3 2017: Xbox One, PS4 and Switch games that stole the show

SNES Classic Mini

Luftholen (Flickr)

In the month before the show, several rumours pointed to a new mini console to be launched by Nintendo: the SNES version of its Nintendo Classic Mini.

The previous version – based on the NES – sold out soon after launch at the end of last year and all the signs point to a replacement coming ahead of this Christmas. However, Nintendo kept tight-lipped about any such device during the show or its online showcase livestream.

We still expect the SNES Classic Mini to appear, but it looks like it’ll get its own dedicated unveiling in the next couple of months instead.

• Nintendo SNES Classic Mini: Release date, games and everything you need to know

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar

We all know that Red Dead Redemption 2 is on its way. We even know it’s been delayed to a spring 2018 release. However, many rumours ahead of the PlayStation Media Showcase on the Monday night claimed that Sony had nabbed an exclusive unveiling of gameplay footage and end the press conference with it.

It didn’t. It ended with Spider-Man instead.

The Last of Us 2

Sony

Perhaps a more surprising absentee from the Sony E3 press conference was The Last of Us 2. Yeah, we don’t expect the game to be released for another year, but considering it showed a teaser during its own PlayStation Experience event in Las Vegas in December, we would’ve put money on more of a tease at E3.

But nothing was shown. Nothing. Nada. Cue stunned faces all around us at the venue.

Master Chief

Microsoft

Despite several glimpses at shiny helmets in trailers – including a cheeky nod to Halo-esque design tropes in the Forza Motorsport 7 unveiling, there was nary a Master Chief in sight. You were more likely to see a Chief cosplayer than an official sniff.

That might be a bit strange considering Microsoft’s biggest news was its all-new, all-signing, all-dancing, all-pocket emptying console, the Xbox One X. A 4K upscale of Halo 5 was the least we expected.

2K Games

2K Games

Instead of just a game or character being missing from the 2K Games stand, the stand itself was completely absent this year.

2K Games might have NBA 2K18 and WWE 2K18 coming this year, at the very least, but the company clearly didn’t feel they were enough on their own to exhibit at the show.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim 2

Bethesda

To be honest, we had heard in the weeks ahead of E3 2017 that there was little likelihood of Skyrim 2 being announced during the Bethesda press conference. Wolfenstein II and The Evil Within 2 were enough in the sequel stakes this year.

We did get to see a bit of Skyrim running on a Nintendo Switch during the Ninty online stream though, which sated our appetites a touch.

Netflix on Switch

Pocket-lint

We had partly expected Nintendo to announce its talks with streaming partners, such as Netflix and Amazon, had come to a conclusion – and that Netflix at the very least was heading to Switch soon.

Unfortunately, there’s still not a whiff of the streaming service coming to the platform. We’re still doomed to carry a Switch and an iPad everywhere we go.

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red

The Witcher developer, CD Projekt Red, didn’t exhibit at E3 for the first time in many years and that meant we couldn’t get a glimpse of its much-anticipated sci-fi role-player, Cyberpunk 2077.

We’ll just have to wait until illegal hackers release design documents online instead. They have threatened to leak stolen files online unless the developer pays a large come of cash. It quite rightly will not meet demands.

PlayStation 5

Sony

Although we never thought it would happen, there were some rumblings that Sony would upstage the Microsoft announcement the day before with its own powerful games console that even puts the PS4 Pro to shame.

It was always unlikely though, with a PS5 more likely to be on the cards in 2018 or 2019 instead.

Half-Life 3

Valve

Yeah, every year we hope for something. Every year we are disappointed. E3 2018 anybody? Ahem…

Volvo launches a dedicated performance EV brand

Car manufacturers are focusing more and more on electric cars, and now Volvo is making its EV intentions even clearer. It’s announced that Polestar, its performance brand, will become a standalone line focused exclusively on electric cars.

The new EVs that Polestar produces will no longer have a Volvo logo, emphasizing Volvo’s intent to create a separate brand. Thomas Ingenlath, the SVP of design at Volvo (who has been responsible for many of the car company’s recent redesigns), will become Polestar’s CEO.

Polestar was originally conceived by race engineers who wanted to determine how to apply what they’d learned in racing to regular cars driving on normal roads. They’ve been working closely with Volvo since 1995, and in 2012, they produced their first performance cars, which were based on the Volvo S60. Volvo acquired Polestar in 2015.

It’s interesting that Volvo is specifically turning its performance line into EVs. It’s comparable to if Mercedes focused its premium AMG badge entirely on electric vehicles. Clearly, Volvo thinks that electric cars are, or soon will become, a large enough market to require their own performance brand.

Via: Autoblog

Source: Volvo

Dabble in the murderous world of ‘Hitman’ for free

Since it was announced that publisher Square Enix was selling off Hitman developer IO Interactive, the studio’s fate has been uncertain. With last week’s news that IO bought the Hitman license, things have been looking up, though. And now, in an effort to get more people playing (and purchasing) its fantastic back-to-basics reboot of the long-running stealth franchise, the newly independent studio is giving it away. Well, a portion of the murderous puzzle game, at least. Specifically, Hitman’s the ICA Facility section of the first episode is available for free on Steam, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

This isn’t a bare-bones demo version of the map. All cutscenes are present and accounted for, there are two story-driven missions, some 40 challenges and you have access to the player-created missions from Contracts mode. More than that, all your progress will carry over to the full version of the game should you decide to buy it.

And speaking of which, the full game has been deeply discounted across all platforms. On Steam it’s been marked down from $60 to $23.73 for the first season bundle, while folks on PlayStation 4 and Xbox can pick it up for $41.99 and $24, respectively.

Via: Eurogamer

Source: IO Interactive

The Olympics’ VR aspirations will be powered by Intel tech

Intel is teaming up with the International Olympic Committee on “future experiences” for the Olympics, the company announced today at an event in New York City. The new partnership, which will run through the 2024 games, is set to focus on tech like virtual reality, 5G connectivity and drones. According to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, the idea is to use these technologies to help athletes, coaches and, of course, fans, including those who will be watching the summer or winter Olympics from home. For example, Krzanich says that Intel is going to set up a 5G network at the 2018 games, while its True VR platform will let fans watch events in 360-degree video.

And then there are the drones. Intel says it’ll be using these to “create never-seen-before images in the sky,” similar to the fancy light show it showcased during Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl 51 half-time performance. The company has also used drones in an NBA All-Star game before, where it used one of its high-tech flyinf devices to help a player in the Slam Dunk Contest. “Bringing together the two visions,” said IOC President Thomas Bach, “will allow us to make a great progress with regards to the experience of the games.”

As for which virtual reality headsets are expected to be compatible with Intel’s plans, Krzanich mentioned Gear VR, Daydream and “one of the tethered” devices.

Google gets closer to building its own city in San Jose

Google has been making major development moves in downtown San Jose and yesterday the City Council agreed to negotiate a sale of 16 parcels of land owned by the city. The deal has been strongly supported by San Jose’s mayor and vice mayor but the city’s residents have been a bit more hesitant.

The plan, which is separate from Google’s Mountain View campus development, has been to turn the Diridon Station area of San Jose into a massive transit hub, complete with a Google village and potentially 20,000 added jobs. If the project is given full approval, the tech giant would build between 6-8 million square feet of office space and up to 3,000 units of housing. The city, already an Amtrak and Caltrain hub, also has plans for a high-speed rail line and BART trains.

Google and its partners have been buying up property all over the area for months. Two associated property investor groups have already shelled out a combined $130 million on real estate in the area.

While this project doesn’t address the affordable housing issue created by tech companies in the Bay area, the expanded public transportation could connect Silicon Valley to places with cheaper housing. But residents of San Jose want to make sure the deal with Google doesn’t displace them and have urged City Council and the mayor to make sure the project comes with safeguards against that possibility.

The project is currently in the land-buying stage and no development plans have been approved just yet. But Google is pursuing this venture with full force and it looks like San Jose governing bodies are behind them.

Source: The Mercury News

Pinterest Lens makes fab outfits from clothes you already own

Putting outfits together is fun, but it could also be irritating to do every single day. Something like Cher’s virtual wardrobe in Clueless could help — or Pinterest Lens, which the social network has just upgraded to be a much better stylist. The company says it made major improvements to give its image recognition tool the capability to make outfits based on specific pieces of clothing or accessories you already own. If you have a denim jacket that you don’t know what to do with, for instance, you can upload a picture and look at the sample OOTDs Lens shows you. The tool can also recommend new clothes to buy based on what you usually wear.

Pinterest has given Lens a general overhaul, as well. It has a brand new user interface and new features, including the capability to zoom in and out of objects and tap to focus when taking pictures. Plus, it’s much easier to upload existing images in your gallery now that can browse them at the bottom of the Lens interface. All these features will start rolling out today, so keep an eye out for updates if you need help on how to wear that asymmetrical Rei Kawakubo piece or just need some fashion inspiration.

Source: Pinterest

Entrepreneurial Teenagers Earning Upwards of $20K Over Their Summer Breaks to Fix Broken iPhones

A new report by The Wall Street Journal this week has taken a look into entrepreneurial teenagers and the lucrative business of summertime iPhone repairs. One 16-year-old in Nantucket, Massachusetts interviewed for the article, Grayson Shaw, cited a nearly $24,000 income for iPhone repairs made in the summer of 2016, when he fixed as many as nine iPhones every day.

Shaw has been repairing iPhones since he was 12, and this summer plans to set up his small business at a table outside of a local ice cream parlor. His repairs include fixing broken screens, microphones, and various other parts of both iPhones and iPads. Shaw’s rates include a $189.99 repair cost to fix a broken screen on an iPhone 7 Plus.

Image of Joseph Kokenge taken by Sarah Desforges via WSJ

On Nantucket, Mr. Shaw is the “go-to guy,” says Peter Bordes, executive chairman of a software company, oneQube, who got his phone fixed by Mr. Shaw last summer after a tip from a friend’s teenage daughter.

“She said go to this place, and you’ll find him in this store,” Mr. Bordes says. “It’s like a mafia; they know who to go to.” The repair, he says, was “flawless.”

In Lafayette, Louisiana 18-year-old Joseph Kokenge quit his job at a local bowling alley, which his father manages, after discovering how much money he could make fixing broken iPhones. He began learning how to repair Apple’s smartphones watching his father repair a cracked iPhone 3GS, and then browsed YouTube how-to videos for more information.

On average, Kokenge has charged $50 to fix the screens of iPhone 5 devices, and $200 for an iPhone 7 Plus, and he works on his repairs at a local coffee shop.

When a friend asked if his father could fix an iPhone 5, the teen watched YouTube how-to videos and repaired it himself. He soon earned a reputation at school, he says: “If a phone was broken, they knew to go to me.”

Word spread and parents, too, approached him. By senior year, he had quit his job at the bowling alley his father manages. “I told him that my time was worth more than $7.50 an hour,” he says. “He was proud that I was making more money on my own.”

Although AppleCare+ significantly reduces the cost of repairs, out-of-warranty repairs for screen damage made directly from Apple currently cost between $129 (iPhone 5 family) and $149 (iPhone 7 Plus). If any other damage is made to the device, the price jumps to between $269 and $349 for the same devices.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Qualcomm Says Its Innovations Are At the Heart of Every iPhone as Battle With Apple Intensifies

Apple this week expanded its lawsuit against Qualcomm, accusing the wireless chipmaker of “double-dipping” by allegedly refusing to sell chips to manufacturers unless they also pay separate royalties and enter licensing agreements at unreasonable rates, according to court documents filed electronically.

Qualcomm has since responded to the amended complaint, claiming that Apple is “trying to distract” from the fact that it has made alleged “misleading statements” about the comparative performance of its Snapdragon X12 modem, used in select iPhone 7 models to enable Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity.

Apple dual sources wireless chips from Qualcomm and Intel for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X12 modem is used in CDMA models, such as those sold by Verizon and Sprint, while Intel’s XMM7360 modem is used in GSM models, such as those sold by AT&T and T-Mobile.

New York-based Cellular Insights last year found Qualcomm’s modem to significantly outperform Intel’s modem in the iPhone 7 Plus, based on simulated testing of LTE performance at different distances from a cellular tower.

Apple, however, publicly stated there is “no discernible difference” in performance between the Qualcomm and Intel modems in any of the models. Apple also threatened Qualcomm not to disclose the truth, according to Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm.

Rosenberg said Apple’s bigger misconception is that Qualcomm’s innovations are limited to technology implemented in the cellular modem, when in fact its patented inventions are supposedly “at the heart of every iPhone” and “enable the most important uses and features” of those devices.

An excerpt from Qualcomm’s statement obtained by MacRumors:

Apple says Qualcomm’s innovations are limited to technology implemented in the cellular modem, when Apple knows well that Qualcomm has been the de facto R&D arm of the industry.

Qualcomm’s patented inventions make possible not only connectivity and high-speed data transmission across mobile networks, but also high-precision GPS navigation, app store operations, power management and battery efficiency, mobile video including advanced compression, graphics, camera imaging and facial-recognition technology, audio quality and audio file compression, and much, much more.

Qualcomm’s innovations are at the heart of every iPhone and enable the most important uses and features of those devices. It simply is untrue that Qualcomm is seeking to collect royalties for Apple innovations that have nothing to do with Qualcomm’s technology.

Rosenberg added that Apple is “rarely first to market with any new technology, which shows it is relying heavily on the R&D investments in the most revolutionary technologies by companies like Qualcomm.”

Apple argued that Qualcomm has been unfairly “levying its own tax” on the iPhone’s innovations by charging royalties on a percentage of the entire smartphone’s value, despite supplying just a single component of the device.

An excerpt from Apple’s amended complaint:

As Apple innovates, Qualcomm demands more. Qualcomm had nothing to do with creating the revolutionary Touch ID, the world’s most popular camera, or the Retina display Apple’s customers love, yet Qualcomm wants to be paid as if these (and future) breakthroughs belong to it.

Qualcomm said the per-device royalty that it charges Apple’s contract manufacturers for the right to use its licensed technologies in the iPhone is “less than what Apple charges for a single wall plug.” The only first-party wall plug that Apple sells is a 5W USB Power Adapter for $19 in the United States.

Apple sued Qualcomm in January for $1 billion in alleged unpaid royalty rebates. Qualcomm countersued Apple for breach of contract, encouraging regulatory attacks on its business, and failing to engage in “good faith negotiations” for a license to its wireless patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.

Qualcomm was the exclusive supplier of 3G and LTE modems for iPhones until last year, when Apple began dual sourcing from Intel.

Tags: lawsuit, Qualcomm
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Sega Forever makes Genesis classics free on mobile

We have no shortage of shiny, life-like HD games these days, but if you’d like to revisit older titles from a bygone era, Sega has got your back. The video game company has just officially launched the first wave of the Sega Forever collection with five titles meant to begin “a retro revolution that will transport players back through two decades of console gaming.” Starting today, the 1991 version of Sonic the Hedgehog, fan-favorite RPG Phantasy Star II, classic arcade-style beat ’em up Comix Zone, platformer Kid Chameleon and Greek mythology-themed beat ’em up Altered Beast will be available on Google Play and iTunes as free ad-supported games. If you have an iPhone or an iPad, your games will even come accompanied by iMessage sticker packs.

Sure, Sonic has been out for mobile since 2015, but now you can get its ad-free version for $2. All the other games will also cost you that much, though take note that you can play them offline, save and see your name on the leaderboard even if you play the ad-supported versions. Sega says it plans to add new titles to the collection every two weeks, including official emulations and ported games from all its console eras, so expect to see a lot more than these five in the future.

In fact, the company also recently made Crazy Taxi free-to-play with the option to remove ads for two bucks. It’s unclear why the company didn’t make it one of the launch titles, but we’ll bet it will also be part of the Forever collection. You can access the games on Google Play through the links below — take note that they will go live in Asia first and will start becoming available in Western markets on June 22nd:

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Phantasy Star II
• Comix Zone
• Kid Chameleon
• Altered Beast

Source: Sega Forever (Facebook), (Twitter), (Instagram)