Forget Amazon Go cashier-less stores, Moby Mart is already here

Imagine an Amazon Go – but on wheels.

Swedish startup Wheelys has come up with a cashier-less, driver-less store called Moby Mart. But unlike Amazon Go, which is stationary and based in Seattle, Moby Mart is now cruising down the streets of Shanghai. It’s a completely autonomous store that you can locate via an app and access 24 hours a day. It’s stocked with basic foods, including snacks, as well as over-the-counter medicine and magazines.

Moby Mart, which is about the size of a small bus, is a prototype for now that’s controlled by humans, but ultimately, it hopes to one day use a combination of artificial intelligence and computer vision to navigate. There are no lines, no cashiers, and no cash. You simply locate and enter the vehicle, then scan the items you want, and the Moby Mart app will check you out. It can even re-stock on its own.

Wheelys

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Moby Mart is solar-powered and can communicate with other Moby Mart vehicles. It can also notify a warehouse when it’s running low on goods and then drives itself over to fill back up. But that’s not all: there are drones atop Moby Mart that can deliver products within a three-mile radius. We got the impression that customers can not only locate Moby Mart via the app, but also summon the mobile stores.

Wheelys partnered with a Chinese university on the prototype and has been testing it in Shanghai for the past two months. It’s now just gone live, and amazingly, there are plans to produce more of them in 2018. According to Forbes, Wheelys said they’re available for as little as $4,000. It’s already sold roughly 850 units in 70 countries.

Ladies and gents, the future is now.

Best games of E3 2017: Xbox One, PS4 and Switch games that stole the show

Giant videogames show E3 2017 is well underway and we’ve already got our hands on several amazing titles coming up later this year or beyond.

As well as a brand new console, the Xbox One X, the show has potentially yielded the best Call of Duty game in many years, an amazing new outing for Spider-Man and, of course, Super Mario Odyssey – playable for the first time.

So here’s our round-up of the best games we’ve played or seen at the show so far. We’ll also be updating this list as we get time with additional blockbusters.

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Call of Duty: WWII

• Format(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Release date: 3 November 2017

Activision

The latest Call of Duty (affectionately known as COD: WW2) returns to its second World War roots to great effect.

Gone is the madcap, sci-fi action of the last few games in the franchise and in comes a more tangible, gritty tale of brotherhood on the battlefields.

We got to play a couple of multiplayer modes at the show, with team deathmatch and the all-new War Mode on offer. The latter was especially interesting because it had different objectives to meet in an elongated round, with two teams of five taking turns to play as the axis and allies.

There are multiple fighter classes to choose from and each was great for a particular strategy.

The game looks stunning, so we have great hopes that series is to return to its very best.

Strange Brigade

• Format(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Release date: “Coming soon”
• Strange Brigade gameplay preview: Undead onslaught is oodles of fun

Rebellion

Sniper Elite developer and publisher Rebellion had many a tongue wagging during the show thanks to its oh-so British co-op action game Strange Brigade.

It draws on the derring do tales of matinee programmes of the 40s and 50s, with mummies and the undead facing a bunch of odd, powerful adventures and the end result is something new and refreshing.

The game is more action-based and faster paced than the Sniper Elite series, but is still played in third-person. Hordes of enemies stream towards the players, whether there be two to three of them. It can also be played solo and is subsequently tweaked to provide a challenge but still beatable.

We particularly like the stiff upper-lipped narrator who, we were told, might even give you some wrong directions and information at times.

Far Cry 5

• Format(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Release date: 27 February 2018
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Ubisoft

The new Far Cry outing has the potential of being teh most brutal yet. It also touches on a sensitive and current subject matter, with the villain this time around being a cult and militia leader in the north west of America.

He has enslaved many of the populace of Hope County and it is your job as a local deputy sheriff to bring him and his family to justice and restore the local towns to their former safe havens.

We played a great level, even fished and flew an aircraft in the game. A much wider variety of vehicles are drivable this time around and the Guns for Hire feature, where you can employ the services of another character, even a dog named Boomer, to help you get through missions.

Spider-Man

• Format(s): PS4
• Release date: 2018

Sony

The game given the biggest fanfare at Sony’s E3 2017 press conference wasn’t The Last of Us 2 but Spider-Man.

Insomniac’s new open world superhero adventure certainly looks the part, having been shown in 4K and with HDR.

However, it should be its gameplay that impresses most. It very much seems to be a Batman Arkham game in brighter coloured tights, and there’s no harm in that.

Spidey can swing through a Manhatten four or five times the size of Sunset City – as in Sunset Overdrive, Insomniac’s last open world title. He can also use different gadgets throughout the game to take down bad guys in ever more spectacular ways.

FIFA 18

• Format(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Release date: 29 September 2017
• FIFA 18: Release date, what’s new and everything you need to know

EA

We actually spent several hours with an early build of FIFA 18 prior to E3, but the game had improved a bit more in time for the show.

It is excellent this year, with astonishing graphical fidelity and the attention to detail to get players and stadiums right is great. They really do look almost photo realistic this time around.

The animation engine has also been dramatically improved, which doesn’t just make the game look better, but play better too. Animations are now rendered on a frame by frame basis, so the response time between you moving the thumbstick and the player reacting is significantly enhanced.

Oh, and there are wondergoals. We’ve already scored (and have been victims of) some proper crackers.

Destiny 2

• Format(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Release date: 6 September 2017 (PS4 and Xbox One), PC version to follow
• Destiny 2 preview: Hands-on with PS4 and PC campaign, strike and PVP modes
• Destiny 2: Release date, screens, formats and everything you need to know

Activision

As with FIFA, we played Destiny 2 extensively ahead of the show, but just seeing the buzz it generated amongst the public on the show floor was incredible.

The four versus four PVP mode Countdown was available to play and its every bit as good as we’d remembered.

In Countdown your team alternates between defending or attacking two specific points on the map. During the defence round, you have to prevent your rivals from successfully placing charges on the points, defusing them if necessary. And then it’s vice versa.

It quick-paced and dropping the action to four players on each side makes it easier for newcomers and mid-level players to get to grips with it quickly.

Super Mario Odyssey

• Format(s): Switch
• Release date: 27 October 2017
• Super Mario Odyssey gameplay preview: Aces and oddities

Nintendo

Possibly the game we were most itching to see at this year’s E3, Super Mario Odyssey was playable on the Nintendo stand – something apparent by the enormous queue that snaked around it.

Fun and funky in equal measure, the game had several worlds you could visit in the demo. It was also playable using motion controls, with each Joy-Con of the Nintendo Switch performing different actions depending on how you swung them.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but no more so than Super Mario Galaxy did on the Wii. You can also play the game with a conventional Pro Controller or using the Joy-Cons in their grip.

As for the gameplay, it’s great, bonkers and everything we could have hoped for in a Mario game for a new platform.

Skull & Bones

• Format(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Release date: “Fall” 2018

Ubisoft

It’s early days for Skull & Bones as it’s not expected until next autumn, but we had a couple of frenzied five-versus-five PVP battles on a pre-alpha build and it has a lot of promise.

The competitive online game was certainly easy to pick up for us, being big fans of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. The ship sailing and combat mechanics are identical to the seabound sections of that game.

We, and four other players on our team, had to destroy merchant ships, pick up their loot and then escape the hunter ships and choppy waters. The other team had to do the same and the end result is some excellent, frenzied firefights.

You could choose one of three different classes of ship, which complement each other when you get a good balance amongst the team. We chose the Enforcer, which has the best firepower but is by far the slowest to turn and manoeuvre.

We’re really looking forward to playing more of this one next year. 

Life Is Strange 2 Before The Storm preview: No rewind mechanic, it’s all about the angst

Life Is Strange. It really is. And the game of the same name explored that concept in a fascinating life-meets-supernatural way when it was released in 2015.

Now there’s a prequel: Before The Storm. Set in Arcadia Bay once more, it rewinds the timeline by three years, following a 16-year-old Chloe Price. It’s two years since her Dad died, her best friend Max – the lead character of the original Life Is Strange – has recently exited her life, so she’s a mix of angsty teenage emotion. And the game really plugs into that.

The play style of Before The Storm is the same as the original game: navigate locations, interact with people and make choices that will affect not only the short term, but resonate as longer term consequences throughout each of the three chapters – the first is released August 31, 2017, with the other two to follow as downloadable chapters.

What’s particularly interesting about Before The Storm is that it’s done away with the “rewind” mechanic of the original game. This is was what gave Life Is Strange its unique quirk: Max was able to stop and rewind time, to make changes, fix mistakes; it was a core concept that gave the game a point of difference.

With rewind ditched in Before The Storm – and there’s no other similar mechanic according to Deck Nine’s co-director – the game depends on emotion, of pulling on the heart strings. Maybe that’ll work just fine, maybe the prequel will lack that point of difference that made the original so strong.

Square Enix

There are similar mechanics between the two titles, however: Chloe can write graffiti onto objects, in a similar way to how Max would take photos in the original game.

We were shown a 30 minute play session across three distinctive areas of the game’s world. It begins with Chloe breaking into a rock concert, where she can make choices about stealing a band tee, a wad of cash, of apologising for spilling someone’s drink or not.

The new location introduces familiar characters: from Frank (your weed dealer) to Rachel Amber, the missing girl from the original Life Is Strange. But this story, while it’s about Rachel to some degree, isn’t about her disappearance – Deck Nine says it’s not about going in a straight line to a known conclusion, to give fans something fresh and new.

Square Enix

If you’re into point-and-click puzzle adventures than Life Is Strange: Before The Storm looks like it’ll go down a storm. It’s got all the teenage angst and attitude of the original. The only question mark over it is whether the lack of a rewind power will shift the game from the supernatural masterpiece of the original into something more linear and familiar.

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm’s first chapter is released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on August 31, 2017.

Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus gameplay preview: The intense first-person shooter is back and in fine form

Wolfenstein: The New Order was more than a little intense. When the classic shooter was relaunched by Bethesda back in 2014, it set hearts racing for not only its first-person action, but its intense Nazi characters and their casual brutality. Some scenes were almost tortorous to watch, but propelled the game forward in giving it a gritty, must-play setting and story.

The follow-up, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, continues in the same stead. You play as William “B.J.” Blazkowicz. But – spolier alert – things aren’t so rosy, given he was left to die at the end of the last game.

But death can’t take ol’ B.J., so for The New Colossus he’s back, albeit in less than fine form. Having been in a coma for five months, his body is broken and the opening section of the game sees him in a wheelchair, which gives a whole different dynamic to first-person play.

• The best games of E3 2017: Xbox One, PS4 and Switch games that stole the show

Wheeling around is slower, strafe is tougher and, obviously, climbing ladders and going up stairs isn’t possible. B.J. can roll down stairs at speed and there are various moving platforms in the engine sections of the submarine setting, which is where B.J. has been taken to recover and hide from the Nazis.

However, the sub has been tracked down by Irene Engel, the cruel antogonist from The New Order, whose appearance is less then ship-shape, given that B.J. tore half her face off in the original game. Scars in place, she’s mighty pissed off and the hunt is on.

Bethesda

Engel is a masterclass in acting: cruel and unusual in her ways, flipping between German and English, fat-shaming her plus sized “daughter”, while being fearless in her brutality once B.J. is captured. There’s an axe involved with chants of “do it, do it” before our demo cuts to a close, leaving us to wonder what happened.

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What we love about Wolfenstein is how it plays as a single player first-person shooter. In our minds there aren’t that many in the genre that really nail down the solo campaign. But that’s the lifeblood of Wolfenstein. It’s got a rich story and greater characters, five levels of difficulty, heaps of weapons and enemies that vary in their attacks and methods to dispatch them.

The submarine also has vaporising traps which can be switched on or off to entrap enemies – just make sure you don’t roll B.J. through them once they’re switched on! – and one of the ramps is so steep that B.J. will tumble from his chair, making for an intense crawl back into the hot seat.

Bethesda

Of course, we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. But even from this teaser taster playthrough, we’re already convinced it’s going to be one of 2017’s top shooters. A compelling and different one at that, which is just what gaming needs.

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 27, 2017.

In ‘Far Cry 5,’ your teammates might be the real stars

Far Cry 5 is one of the most anticipated games at E3 2017, even if it won’t be out until 2018 — like so many other titles previewed this week. That distant launch might be why I felt surprised that the early demo on show at Ubisoft’s booth was already so polished. In typical Far Cry style, the environments are lush and detailed (and delightfully colorful too). Cultist fighters also swarm on your location and chase you through the forest, just as you’d expect. The most notable change, then, isn’t the series’ relocation to Montana, but the company you keep as you battle the cult. Yep, while you are still pretty much a one-man army, at least one person (or canine) has your back this time around, which not only makes things slightly easier but also affects how you play through the game.

The demo offered three allies for the same church-based flashpoint you might have seen in the gameplay trailer earlier this week. That teaser showcased all three characters in action at once, but I only got to choose one. My Fallout 4 sensibilities kicked in and went immediately for Boomer the dog, who mauls and distracts enemies, retrieves weapons and is such a good boy, yes you are. (You can pet Boomer anytime you want. It’s the gameplay feature we always needed.)

I’m not the stealthiest of players, so my play-through consisted of a lot of botched sneaking attempts, some sticks of dynamite, and some lucky breaks: One dynamite explosion set off a chain reaction of fiery vehicles and killed off most of the peripheral enemies around the church. I also noticed that this iteration of Far Cry ditches the mini-map (thanks, Zelda!), opting for a compass-like halo that more subtly points you toward objects and enemies.

Without the sniper character or pilot to act as support, teaming up with Boomer creates a more direct approach as you flank enemies, revive the dog when needed and just generally get up in the face of gun-toting troublemakers. I completely forgot to actually go into the church (I probably should have) and was soon on my way to the next mission, which involved smashing an 18-wheeler into other cars, hopping into a tiny prop plane to blow up some silos and then even a quick dogfight with a rival pilot. (He lost.)

I didn’t have time to play the demo with the other backup characters, but a sniper would have definitely assisted in my gung-ho play style, and while I got to meet the pilot during the demo’s missions, I ended up flying his plane myself. Far Cry 5’s early trailers hint that both allies and other non-playable characters will have stories to tell and motives for their actions — it’s something I’m looking forward to hearing more about. Oh, and the idea of your online buddies getting in on the action through a cooperative mode? That sounds even more intriguing.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Estonia is first in the EU to let cute delivery bots on sidewalks

Starship Technologies’ delivery bots have been dropping off lunches in Europe and the US with increasing regularity, and governments are slowly warming to the idea. State legislatures in Virginia and Idaho recently granted official permission for small delivery robots to operate on sidewalks, and now Estonia(!) has offered its approval as well. The measure passed 86 to 0 in the country’s parliament yesterday, making Estonia the first country in the EU to officially bless these adorable, food-slinging robots.

There are, obviously, a few stipulations. The robots in question can’t be taller than one meter, longer than 1.2 meters, or weigh more than 50 kilograms. The front and sides of the machine must also be white, with prominent, red rear reflectors and lights for evening visibility. Starship’s six-wheeled machines already seem to fit the criteria and might be the most prominent, but the company definitely isn’t alone its in quest to deliver goodies via semi-intelligent robowagon: rivals Dispatch and Marble have been operating out of California for some time.

That Estonia was first to the table on this issue isn’t really a surprise. For one, the country has proven to be a remarkably progressive one where technology is concerned. Remember: this is the country where you can charge your electric car almost anywhere, vote online in general elections and become a “digital citizen” (complete with handy ID) without actually having to live there. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Starship Technologies maintains an engineering office in Estonia, and that co-founder and CEO Ahti Heinla is a native Estonian.

With this technology as nascent as it is, many governments probably don’t think immediate official stances are necessary yet. That said, others aren’t convinced about letting autonomous delivery bots roam freely on streets and sidewalks. Most recently, San Francisco’s city supervisor Norman Yee proposed legislation to keep the machines off of pedestrian paths because of the potential threat they pose to public safety.

Source: Starship Technologies (Twitter)

Facebook is countering terrorism with AI and human sleuths

With a user base of nearly 2 billion people, Facebook’s global influence is nearly unrivaled, making it a potent platform for extremist ideologies. And while the company has long sought to limit the reach of such hateful speech, it hasn’t always been forthcoming in how it was going about doing so. That changed Thursday, when Facebook released the first transparency report in its Hard Questions series: “How We Counter Terrorism”.

“Our stance is simple: There’s no place on Facebook for terrorism,” Monika Bickert, Director of Global Policy Management, and Brian Fishman, Counterterrorism Policy Manager, wrote. “We believe technology, and Facebook, can be part of the solution.”

To that end, the company has leveraged a mix of artificial intelligence systems and human expertise to combat extremist threats posted on its site. AI is a fairly new addition to Facebook’s arsenal but is already being used for automated image recognition, which recognizes known extremist images and prevents them from being uploaded. The company is also reportedly training a neural network to recognize and remove written text that praises or supports terrorist organizations like ISIS.

Facebook’s AI is also capable enough to search through related “clusters” of posts and pages to find other offending materials as well as recognize when previously banned users attempt to create new accounts. The company hopes to expand these features to its other apps, like Instagram, in the future.

As for the company’s human-based moderation, Facebook still greatly depends on the users to self-police and report each other. However they are expanding their Community Operations teams by 3,000 employees over the next year to help address reports faster. What’s more, Facebook now employs a 150-member “strike team” of sorts. These specialists — academics, former prosecutors and law enforcement — are focused either primarily or exclusively on counterterrorism-related tasks.

Of course, Facebook isn’t going it alone. The company has partnered with others in the tech industry such as Microsoft and Twitter to create a common database of “hashes” identifying terrorist material and propaganda. Facebook is also working with governments, turning over whatever information they can to law enforcement of E2E encrypted messages that pass through its network.

Source: Facebook

Logitech’s wireless-mouse charging tech feels like a miracle

Logitech’s main mission at E3 this year: proving to gamers that wireless mice are just as capable, and sometimes more so, than their corded counterparts. The company revealed two innovations at the show: Lightspeed, its low-latency wireless-transmission technology, and PowerPlay, a way to charge mice while using them on a custom mat. Both solve the main complaints some gamers have around wireless mice: that they’re laggy and could lose charge at any moment.

PowerPlay is the most intriguing of the two, since it’s something we’ve never seen before in the mouse arena. High-end wireless mice might give you a charging cradle, while others usually pack in a cable in the box to juice back up. The idea that your mouse can just stay charged while you’re using it throughout the day is wholly original. The $100 PowerPlay system includes two mouse pads (a soft and hard version), as well as a charging mat that sits underneath them. It uses electromagnetic resonance to keep mice juiced up, something that would appeal to anyone who appreciates Nikola Tesla’s vision of wireless power.

Logitech representatives on hand at E3 were quick to point out that their previous generation of gaming mice also featured very low latencies, Lightspeed just goes a step further to appease anxious gamers. It’s releasing two new mice — the $100 G703 and $150 G903 — that support the new technology, and they also include integration for PowerPlay. Ideally, Logitech wants gamers to invest in both the new mice and the wireless charging solution. That’s an expensive proposition, but gamers are used to spending exorbitant amounts of money on high-end mice and keyboards.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

In my brief hands on session with the G703 and G903, both mice felt smooth and incredibly responsive. The G703 is smaller and has fewer buttons, but it held up to an Overwatch session that involved lots of fast movement. The G903 felt more contoured to my hand, and if I was a more serious PC gamer, I’d appreciate its configurable buttons. Both mice rely on a small puck that sits at their base to handle the wireless charging. What’s most impressive about that technology? It’s hard to notice it’s even there. A small LED on the PowerPlay pad indicates that the mouse is charging — but that’s it.

Even though I play plenty of games on my PC, I’ve never shied away from wireless mice. But more serious gamers, especially those involved in eSports, still have their superstitions around them. It’s unclear if Logitech can actually tempt them over, but both Lightspeed and PowerPlay are the strongest arguments yet that you shouldn’t overlook wireless mice.

Logitech’s PowerPlay system isn’t coming out until August, but we’ll definitely take a closer look then.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

In a bid to improve its service, Emirates introduces….AR

Emirates is looking to boost customer service and improve the travel experience with the help of AR. The airline wants to equip its staff with AR goggles that would help them tailor service to each customer.

Emirates has had a history of incorporating premium features in order to lure and retain customers. That includes offerings like large onboard bars as well as complimentary Surface tablets to use inflight for those affected by the US electronics ban. And other airlines have turned to upgraded features to pull in more passengers — offering more comfortable seating and fast WiFi.

The airline, which earlier this year posted the first decline in profits it has seen in five years, has also had to start charging customers to choose their seats. And Emirates’ Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Christoph Mueller, is spearheading the push to retain passengers in the face of large, budget airline rivals.

But this move feels a little gimmicky. There aren’t many details about how Emirates plans to use the AR gear and it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s just jumping on the AR/VR hype in a bout of desperation.

Mueller envisions the goggles being used to give flight staff more information on a passenger’s travel preferences so that they can personalize their service. The AR goggles might also be offered to passengers to assist with airport navigation or food menu browsing. But with current AR goggles still quite large and cumbersome, it doesn’t seem that they’ll fit in with the Emirates’ look quite yet.

Source: Bloomberg

Popular GTA modder tool receives a Cease and Desist from Take Two

After nearly ten years in operation, popular Grand Theft Auto modder software OpenIV has been taken offline by its developers after they reportedly received a cease and desist letter from Take Two Interactive.

GooD-NTS, OpenIV’s lead developer posted to the GTA Reddit forums on Thursday that he had received a letter on June 5th, 2017 that was “illiterate both technically and grammatically” demanding that the software be taken down because it would “allow third parties to defeat security features of its software and modify that software in violation Take-Two’s rights.”

“Yes, we can go to court and yet again prove that modding is fair use and our actions are legal. Yes, we could. But we decided not to,” GooD-NTS said. “Going to court will take at least few months of our time and huge amount of efforts, and, at best, we’ll get absolutely nothing. Spending time just to restore status quo is really unproductive, and all the money in the world can’t compensate the loss of time.”

OpenIV is a powerful modding tool enabling users to create everything from “Red v. Blue”-style machinimas to adding entirely new vehicles and weapons to the game. We’ve reached out to Take Two Interactive for confirmation and comment and will update the post upon their reply.

Via: EuroGamer

Source: Reddit