2017 July 18 | AIVAnet

Jul

This little delivery robot is carrying a belly full of sushi

If you thought that food-delivery robots originated in futuristic, ‘bot-obsessed Japan, you’d be wrong. In fact, delivery robots showed up in San Francisco, London and Los Angeles first. Now, however, cute little red sushi-delivery ‘bots from ZMP are headed to the office parks and non-sidewalk areas of Japan, according to a report on RocketNews24.

The Japanese robotics company ZMP has created a cute little red robot that can apparently hold food for up to 60 people. Originally created in 2014 to deliver food to folks who can’t get out to do their own shopping, the three-foot-tall CarriRo Delivery ‘bot can autonomously navigate walkways with the use of cameras and laser sensors. It can travel up to 3.73 miles per hour, which is like a fast walk if you’re human. Plus? It has little headlights for nighttime deliveries. The robotics company has partnered with Ride On Express, which carries the popular sushi brand Gin no Sara.

Current Japanese law isn’t super clear on allowing autonomous robots into public sidewalks, so the current plan is to only operate the CarriRo in private areas, like office parks and the like. Hopefully, though, once the legalities are dealt with, Japanese pedestrians may encounter these little red ‘bots zipping to and fro to deliver sushi to folks all around the city.

Via: Fast Company

Source: ZMP Robotics, RocketNews24

Jul

Apple Clears App Store of VPN apps and ad-blockers

Why it matters to you

If you’re using a VPN-based ad blocker for your iPhone or iPad, Apple might soon remove it from the App Store completely or keep you from being able to update the current version.

Apple reportedly altered its policy relating to apps that involve ad blockers on the App Store, as was revealed when a developer’s app updates were rejected, 9to5Mac reports. A developer reached out to the site claiming the company reversed its policy on VPN-based ad-blocker applications — which install certificates on the device itself resulting in blocked advertisements in Safari and other-third party applications.

The developer — Tomasz Koperski, who is involved with popular apps such as Weblock and Adblock — explained that Apple stopped accepting updates to the applications because they violate the App Store Developer Guidelines. The requirement states that if your app is not unique, useful, or provides some sort of entertainment value, then it will not be accepted.

The policy is apparently based on section 4.2.1 of the guidelines, stating that APIs and frameworks should only be used for intended purposes, and Apple might not consider adblocking as one of them. The guidelines include examples like Homekit which should provide home automation services and Healthkit for health and fitness purposes.

After Koperski appealed the rejection to the App Review Board, a member of the Review Team reportedly responded by explaining that Apple has officially changed its policy in terms of VPN/root certificate based ad blockers — and updates for existing apps using this particular method will not be accepted, MacRumors noted. With such a supposed shift, the only adblock apps officially allowed on the App Store are any that use the Safari Content Blocker — which only blocks ads in Safari instead of VPN-based clients that block ads within all applications.

However, Apple recently responded to 9to5Mac to clarify that the guideline is not new, and apps that are designed to interfere with the performance or capabilities of other apps were never allowed on the App Store. The company also said it would take down apps that managed to sneak their way onto the App Store, and that contain features that offer to block advertising in third-party apps.

To add to its reasoning, Apple assures it has always supported advertising as one of the various ways developers are able to make money with apps. Since the App Store’s launch in 2008, its global developer community has earned over $70 billion — so the company is no stranger to helping developers make a profit.

For now, it seems users can continue to use the current version of ad-blocking apps downloaded onto their devices. However, future updates will not be permitted.

Jul

Some of us might soon be living on artificial floating mega islands

Why it matters to you

Artificial mega islands could let us make better use of the 70 percent of the planet that is covered in water.

It is one thing to come up with a wacky idea for transforming our cities or constructing the world’s greatest supervillain evil lair; another to have the expertise and inclination to actually research and build one for real. A new research project coming out of the Netherlands quite handily ticks both boxes. Developed by researchers at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), their idea is to develop giant artificial islands like today’s floating docks — only on a much, much bigger scale. Like, several miles wide bigger.

And they may just pull it off, too.

“With the world’s increasing population there is not necessarily enough space in the cities, or close to the coast where a lot of people live and work,” Olaf Waals, project manager and the concept developer, told Digital Trends. “These are also areas that are susceptible to flooding with rising sea levels. We thought it was an interesting idea to look at the technical feasibility of building floating mega islands. There are lots of futuristic concepts out there for floating harbors, farms, or cities. We wanted to look at how realistic a proposition this actually is, and come up with a workable concept.”

Waals’ idea involves modular giant triangles which lock together to form sizeable land masses, up to 3.1 miles in width. At least in theory, it is a pretty nifty idea. Given that 70 percent of our planet is covered by water, floating mega islands offer a whole lot more space to play with. They could be used for housing and recreation, or for the generation and storage of sustainable energy technologies like offshore wind farms, tidal energy, and floating solar panels, or for floating farms for breeding fish and seaweed.

Right now, the MARIN team is busy running computer simulations and testing a physical scale model to try and better understand the environmental conditions such a mega island would have to contend with. These potential challenges involve working out how to develop structures that are strong and safe enough to withstand winds and currents; how best to connect them together and to the seabed; and the environmental impact a water-bound floating community would have on its surroundings.

With a consortium of around 20 companies and research institutes now attached, work on the project is set to continue for the next three years. And after that? Our childhood dream of a real-life Waterworld hopefully becomes a reality.

Is it too early to start an online petition to get Kevin Costner appointed as mayor of the first floating mega city? We think not!

Jul

This collapsible 2-ounce solar lamp is saving refugees’ lives

Why it matters to you

Food and water may seem like our most important resources, but light plays a big role as well. Here to bring that resource to everyone is the SolarPuff.

You can literally have a pocketful of sunshine thanks to the latest invention to come out of Solight Design. It’s called the SolarPuff, and it’s a two-ounce solar lamp that can be collapsed into a flat sheet or expanded into a 4.5-inch cube. And while some may use them for their gardens, their pools, or their camping adventures, the SolarPuffs are also being used by refugees and those in developing countries as a source of light when all else seems dark.

Invented by Alice Min Soo Chun, who is also the founder and CEO of Solight Design, the SolarPuff provides much-needed illumination to many Syrian refugees who must find their way to a new home, sometimes in the dead of night. NGO volunteers have been handing out these SolarPuffs to help refugees navigate uncertain environments and uncertain times.

“A lot of times the kids are suffering from trauma and they’re frightened, but when they’re handed the light, they perk up,” Chun told Fast Company. In particular, the origami design of the SolarPuff, which allows the light to pop into action, “gives [the children] a sense of wonder.” Thus far, Fast Company reports that the SolarPuff has helped to reduce camp crime, including child kidnappings and sex trafficking. In fact, over the last year, there has been a 20-percent decrease in sexual assault in refugee camps. Chun notes that much of this can be attributed to the presence of light, which discourages would-be attackers as it removes the cover of darkness.

The light itself can last for up to eight hours and only needs sunlight to recharge. The lamp also comes with various settings for different light needs (high or low) as well as a blinking option that can signal distress or scare off an animal.

The SolarPuff has actually been around since 2015, when Chun first brought the solar lamp to Kickstarter. The project raised $500,000 in 30 days from over 6,800 backers, and Chun has never looked back. Ultimately, the goal is to bring sustainable, eco-friendly light to all parts of the world. “Eventually I want to do a SolarPuff house that’s completely self-sustaining and off the grid and you’ll be able to sell your energy back to the grid,” Chun said. But for now, this pocketful of sunshine will do.

Jul

Take a sneak peek at Apple’s upcoming emojis on World Emoji Day

Why it matters to you

These are just a few of the emojis you’ll have to play with on your iOS device later this year.

Last month, the Unicode Consortium unveiled the latest version of the Unicode text standard, Unicode 10. The release contains a new set of emojis, though hardware and software companies will have to update their devices to add them. To celebrate World Emoji Day, Apple has provided a sneak peek at its rendition of some of the emojis that are expected to arrive on its products with the iOS 11 update.

Apple shared the emojis via a post on its Newsroom blog. The new entries include a zombie, a woman with a headscarf, a T. rex, a zebra, and even an emoji vomiting. In total, there are 12 shown in the preview — just a fraction of the 56 new emojis included in Unicode 10.

Apple

The design of emojis is actually one of the little touches that separates platforms like iOS and Android, MacOS and Windows, or even social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Many users have a preference for a certain company’s emoji style — which is perhaps part of the reason that Google will change its controversial “blob” emojis to more traditional looking ones in the next major Android release.

For this reason, the release of a new Unicode standard version doesn’t immediately give us all new emojis to play with. Unicode doesn’t dictate the style of the emojis full-stop — just the content, alongside its own design suggestions that can be followed as closely or loosely as tech companies deem fit. At the same time, many of these same companies also sit on the Consortium, so they typically each offer suggestions that are taken into account as the standard develops.

It’s a surprisingly complicated affair, made more difficult because it’s up to Unicode to balance the continued need for inclusiveness and representation with the practical element of releasing the most relevant or requested emojis in the quickest time frame. Sometimes, this means new emojis actually replace old ones that have fallen out of usage, rather than simply being added to the running tally — 2,666 as of June 2017, according to Emojipedia.

Apple was not the only company to celebrate emojis on their special day. Over the weekend, Facebook preempted today’s festivities with some interesting data on the world’s most popular emojis, as well as the ones with the greatest usage in each territory. Not to be outdone, Apple went even further in its celebrations, changing movie titles to emojis at the top of the iTunes Movies store.

Yahoo’s $30 million acquisition of Summly was all about redesigning News Digest, and the finished product is a marvel. It offers 10 of the top stories in your region, capitalizing on Summly’s artificial intelligence technology as it does to present the information in a tidy package. The news changes every few hours, too, giving you important updates throughout the day.

Download now from:

iTunes Google Play

Update: We’ve taken a second look at this list and condensed it to the best 20 mobile news apps.

Jul

The world’s fastest drone flies at almost 1/4 the speed of sound

Why it matters to you

New Guinness World Record showcases just how impressively speedy drones are becoming.

Capable of reaching speeds of around 40 mph miles per hour, regular drones are not exactly dawdlers. But when you are dealing with specially designed racing drones, things are on another level — and the Drone Racing League has the Guinness World Record to prove it!

In a record set last week, the Drone Racing League achieved a new drone speed record of 163.5 mph. While we’ve seen some fast drones before, the Drone Racing League’s DRL RacerX is almost mind-bogglingly fast for a battery-powered remote quadcopter. To put it in perspective, it is not quite on a level with the world’s absolute fastest sports cars, but it is certainly going to outrun pretty much every vehicle you see on the road. Hey, one-fifth the speed of sound is not exactly bad!

“We’re thrilled to put our proprietary technology to the test, as we’re all about speed and pushing the limits of drone design here at DRL,” Nicholas Horbaczewski, Drone Racing League CEO and founder, said in a statement. “The record-setting RacerX represents the culmination of years of technological innovation by our team of world-class engineers, and we’re very excited to unveil the fastest racing drone on earth.”

PRNewsfoto/Drone Racing League

The DRL RacerX was handbuilt by Ryan Gury, who serves as Director of Product for the Drone Racing League, and a team of dedicated engineers who feel a similar need for speed. Their lovingly crafted quadcopter speedster weighs just 800 grams and runs on a 42V powertrain and twin 1,300-mAh lithium-polymer batteries. According to its creators, earlier prototypes of the drone actually burst into flames when hitting the highest point of acceleration.

To set the Guinness World Record, the DRL RacerX had to fly back and forth across a measurement course of 328 feet, with the official speed record resulting from an average of the top speeds achieved during these various flights. The drone managed to reach a top speed of 179.6 mph, but due to the averaging process that determined how the record was recorded, this did not count as the final score. An official Guinness World Record adjudicator was on hand to oversee the successful record attempt.

Jul

The astronauts now have a camera drone — and it looks like a modern Weebo

Why it matters to you

Ground crews can now see what the ISS crew sees in real time and from any angle, tech that could influence future space exploration robots.

Camera drones offer a unique aerial perspective, but what if you are already 249 miles above the earth? The International Space Station now has a floating remote camera, the International Ball Camera or Int-Ball. The Int-Ball is the first camera that can record video in space while being controlled from the earth, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who shared the first shots from the device on July 14.

JAXA estimates that the astronauts at the ISS spend about ten percent of their working hours taking pictures — the Int-Ball aims to help free up some of that time with a hands-free camera that can view the interior of the ISS from any angle. The spherical camera drone, which looks like it was torn from the pages of a science fiction novel, allows the ground crew to see what the on-board crew sees, which helps the two groups to work together on different experiments.

The camera doesn’t look like the drones used on earth — the spherical camera’s exterior is more reminiscent of Weebo from the Robin Williams movie Flubber than a quadcopter. Nevertheless, the system is actually based on existing technology, JAXA says. Unlike the earth-bound camera drones, the Int-Ball is designed to move around in zero gravity, with 12 different fans arranged on the inside to allow the robotic camera to move through space on more than one axis – it utilizes three, in fact.

Both the machine’s interior and exterior parts were created from 3D printing. The two eyes make it easy for on-board astronauts to see what the camera is looking at, since the lens is actually located between those two “eyes.”

The Int-Ball can move around the space station all on its own, while the ground crew at the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center can also direct the drone, as well as stopping and starting photos and video from the device. The images are sent to earth in real time before being sent back to the ISS crew.

The Int-Ball is currently going through the initial verification process aboard ISS, but JAXA says the spherical camera drone is expected to help enhance technology that could be used on future missions. One of the camera’s objectives is to give the ground crew the ability to move anywhere at any time to record data in the form of images and video.

Jul

T-Mobile Buyer’s Guide: Everything you need to know

t-mobile-logo-darkened-tradeshow.jpg?ito

Check out what T-Mobile has to offers.

T-Mobile is the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S. with over 72 million subscribers. It provides nationwide voice and data coverage using GSM and LTE technology, primarily on bands 2, 4, 12, and 66.

T-Mobile offers unlimited talk, text, and data plans for individuals and families and carries all of the latest phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, as well as the LG G6. Since T-Mobile only offers one kind of postpaid plan, things are a bit pricey, but T-Mobile’s got solid coverage and decent extras that make it worth it for you to switch.

Here’s what T-Mobile has to offer.

Individual and family plans
Prepaid plans
Bring your own device to T-Mobile
Best phones
Best deals on T-Mobile
How to cancel T-Mobile
How to unlock a T-Mobile phone
Finding an alternative carrier that uses T-Mobile’s network

Postpaid unlimited plans

T-Mobile has just one postpaid plan: T-Mobile ONE. The carrier does not offer plans with tiered amounts of data, nor does it offer a true “family” plan; instead, every plan features unlimited talk, text, and data, as well as Music Unlimited, and the only difference in price depends on how many lines you have on your account.

Note: T-Mobile claims that you have unlimited 4G LTE data, but a small percentage of users, once they hit 30GB per month, will be throttled to slower speeds, and even then it’s only likely to happen during times of congestion.

For a single line, it’s $70 per month; two lines is $100 per month ($50/line); three lines is $140 per month ($47.50/line); and four lines is $160 per month ($40/line).

Keep in mind that those prices don’t include monthly payments on devices.

Everything you need to know about T-Mobile’s unlimited plan

Prepaid plans

Keeping things ever-simple, T-Mobile offers only a few prepaid plans: $45/month for up to 4GB of 4G LTE, unlimited talk and text, and unlimited 2G data, as well as $55/month for up to 6GB of 4G LTE. Each plan also gets Music Unlimited, which lets you stream as much music as you want without eating into your 4G LTE allotment.

Call T-Mobile customer service at 1-877-746-0909 or dial 611 on your T-Mobile phone.
Head into a T-mobile store near you and chat with a rep.

Learn more

How to unlock a T-Mobile phone

To unlock your T-Mobile phone, you’ll first have to make sure it meets eligibility requirements. Your account will have to be in good standing; the phone can’t be reported as lost or stolen, and you can’t have requested more than two unlocks per line of service in the past year.

After that, you can use T-Mobile’s Device Unlock app to unlock your phone. Keep in mind that fees may apply.

Learn more

Finding an alternative carrier that uses T-Mobile’s network

If you like T-Mobile’s coverage but aren’t thrilled about it’s lack of plan options or prices, then you may want to consider a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) or “alternative carrier”. These carriers lease coverage from the big carriers and then sell it to you for less. You’ll still get 4G LTE coverage, as well as calling and texting coverage, but you’ll probably find that you’ll pay a lot less.

There are roughly 26 MVNOs that piggyback on T-Mobile’s network, so you have a wide range of options and should shop around to find out which one will cover you and fit your needs the best.

Learn more

Updated July 2017: This article was updated with the most recent information on T-Mobile’s ONE plans.

Jul

What we’re playing: ‘Wipeout’, ‘Dead Cells’ and ‘Danger Zone’

Welcome back to Gaming IRL, a monthly segment where several editors talk about what they’ve been playing in their downtime. This month, we’ve obsessed over roguelikes, remasters and resource gathering; we’ve sent adventurers into dungeons, only to see them go insane; and one of us searched for the Burnout mode they’ve pined for, only to realize that making a 13-year-old minigame feel relevant is easier said than done.

Danger Zone

Timothy J. Seppala
Associate Editor

When Danger Zone was first announced, I was overjoyed: Someone had finally made a standalone version of Burnout‘s Crash Mode. I hadn’t played the multi-car-pileup-simulator minigame since Burnout 3: Takedown on the original Xbox, so my anticipation was high. Careening through intersections, trying to engineer the most expensive pileup possible, was a catharsis not even the GTA games provided more than a decade ago. But now, having played Danger Zone, I’ve found that my lust for automotive mayhem has barely been sated.

The good news is that the game absolutely succeeds in nailing Crash Mode’s fundamentals. How it does that isn’t surprising: Developer Three Fields Entertainment is composed of veterans Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, from Burnout‘s original developer, Criterion Games — they know what makes Burnout, well, Burnout.

Online leaderboards and Unreal Engine 4–powered graphics definitely make it feel like a modern game, but for better and for worse, Danger Zone‘s nuts and bolts are trapped in the past. I was initially caught off guard by the complete lack of music. There isn’t even a placeholder song playing at the main menu or a looped butt-rock guitar riff during gameplay, just generic car crash sound effects. To be fair, Takedown is silent as well, and its pop-punk soundtrack is available only in menus and campaign races. But that game came out over a dozen years ago.

Another bummer is that, regardless of whether I was flying off a ramp and onto a busy highway or cruising through a simple four-way intersection, each successive challenge felt the same, because everything in Danger Zone takes place within a simulation. This means you can finally crash into a school bus in a driving game, but the downside is a sense of monotony because everything looks the same: dark, dingy and gray. I realize that the game is a $13 downloadable from a small team, but a little visual variety would’ve gone a long way toward keeping things fresh. Local multiplayer is absent too, which feels like an egregious omission.

I’m having fun with Danger Zone in half-hour bursts, sure, but more than anything, it made me glad I still have my OG Xbox and copy of Takedown.

Dead Cells

Aaron Souppouris
Features Editor

Every time I open Steam, I’m confronted by a rundown of the hours I’ve spent playing each game, and reminded that I probably shouldn’t buy any more roguelikes. I lose myself in these games, and have over a dozen in my library that I’ve sunk more than 24 hours into. The two worst playtime totals are for FTL and Nuclear Throne, which I have somehow played for 271 hours combined. More than 11 days of my life, lost forever. Despite this self-awareness, I just can’t help but find more and more games to dive into. My latest obsession is Dead Cells, a roguelike that was released on Early Access back in May.

I first played Dead Cells way back at Eurogamer’s EGX event last fall, and I was immediately taken with its premise. It essentially blends classic 2D “Metroidvania” gameplay with roguelike traits. It’s probably better described as a “roguelite” — yes, when you die, you start back at the very beginning, but there is some light progression through the many, many unsuccessful runs, with new weapons and items to unlock and upgrade and a couple of skills that will help you gain access to new areas. You start each run with randomized items, and “unlocking” a weapon adds it to the list of items that can be dropped by enemies or found in chests.

It shares some common DNA with another favorite of mine, Rogue Legacy, but what stands out is its fluid combat. Dead Cells really nails the fundamentals, with gorgeous art and sound design, dozens of weapons that all handle differently, and an ever-expanding array of enemy types that combine to kill you in new and imaginative ways. Keeping everything fresh is some light procedural generation: Each playthrough has set levels linked by the same divergent paths, but layouts and enemy placements change with each playthrough.

It’s been only two months, but I’ve already racked up 50 hours in this game. I just can’t recommend it enough. The content and level of polish present in Dead Cells at launch was more than worth the $17 price tag, and with each and every update it’s become a bigger, better game. Once it’s finally complete, here’s hoping for a Switch release so I can be unproductive on the bus as well as at my desk.

Last Day on Earth: Zombie Survival

Rob LeFebvre
Contributing Writer

There’s something about a survival game that just pulls me in. Whether it’s Don’t Starve or even Minecraft, I’m a sucker for a good resource-gathering, craft-making, monster-killing game, no matter what the platform. Mobile game Last Day on Earth: Zombie Survival, by Andrey Pryakhin, is the latest title to get under my skin. The basics are simple: Gather wood, stone, metal and plant materials to build a defensible home, then craft even more complex items (including metal forges, sewing tables and gun workbenches) and upgrade everything as you defend against hordes of zombies or other players. The multiplayer aspect is a fine one, as you only ever seem to run across other survivors when you’re off gathering materials in neighboring woods.

What really has me intrigued is the energy system — you have only 100 energy points to use at any given time (they replenish at the rate of one point every five minutes). Energy allows you to run to nearby spots, including humanitarian drops, a dealer in an RV or even a plane crash. You can walk there for free, but it takes real time. The meta here sees you managing your energy for very focused play sessions: I plan out my travel based on what resources I need and how far each area is, then end up walking back to my home base while my phone is in my pocket. The game has various difficulties built right in, with more tricky zombies to fight off in areas with better loot. Your equipment breaks down over time, including your clothing, so you have to make sure you’ve got enough to survive the many zombie and survivor encounters as you try and fill up your limited storage. Don’t let the free-to-play moniker fool you: This is a game with a ton of depth and would feel right at home on a console or PC.

Darkest Dungeon

David Lumb
Contributing Editor

If my last few recommendations have looked like a clearinghouse for recent indie titles, blame summer sales. But I’m glad I approached Darkest Dungeon during the season of sun, because this game is bleak.

Released in full last year after a long spell in Steam Early Access, Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based team RPG for folks brave enough to send adventuring parties into caverns of doom and probable death. The achingly pretty, Gothic Mignola-style art matches the game’s stressful mechanics: Your heroes are flawed creatures, bearing negative tics and suffering not just physically but mentally. When one character’s had too much horror, they either rise to the occasion … or, more often, break, and break hard, babbling incoherently and tumbling the rest of your party into a stressed-out downward spiral of oft-uncontrollable panic or selfishness. Misfortune might wipe out entire parties, and when your adventurers are dead, they’re dead for good, leaving you to train up new recruits, and maybe care about them a lot less next time.

Darkest Dungeon is exhausting, but it throws a realistic humane wrench into the usual fearless-adventurer equation. Maybe these faulty wretches are who we’d really be if we were passed the torch to delve into the horrors below our known world.

Wipeout Omega Collection

Nick Summers
Associate Editor, Engadget UK

Wipeout is a series that rewards precision. Every barrier on the track is a hazard that, if struck, will wipe precious seconds off your lap time. Periodic boost pads can be hard to reach, but they represent a vital opportunity to overtake your opponent. Jump ramps are a rare chance to flick the analog stick (or mash the D-Pad, if you prefer) left, right and left again, forcing your ship to barrel-roll and boost upon landing. Even a normal hairpin bend can spell disaster if you fail to tap the air brake early enough. Success depends on lightning-fast reactions and dextrous fingers.

I’m in love with the Omega Collection. Before this new remaster trilogy — which combines Playstation 3 title Wipeout HD, its 2009 expansion pack Fury and the PlayStation Vita game Wipeout 2048 — I had never encountered the franchise before. Maybe that’s for the best; on the PlayStation 4 and especially the PlayStation 4 Pro, all three games are ridiculously sharp and smooth. I’m sure the presentation was equally impressive upon each game’s respective release, but here they’re simply breathtaking. The vibrant neon colors, the heart-thumping dance tunes — it’s sensory overload in the best way possible.

What I love most of all, however, is the handling. So many “sim” racers make the fastest cars near impossible to drive. I know it’s realistic, and that’s the appeal, but steering a vehicle that feels like it’s constantly on black ice can be infuriating. I’ve missed arcade-y racers like Blur and Burnout that let you hold down the accelerator and revel in every drift, shortcut and near miss. Wipeout is one of those games. When you master a course and fall into a Zenlike state, taking each corner on muscle memory alone — there’s really no better feeling.

“IRL” is a recurring column in which the Engadget staff run down what they’re buying, using, playing and streaming.

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