Child’s Play is gifting joy and gaming carts to more children’s hospitals

If you’re at a children’s hospital next year, the chances of seeing one of the Gamers Outreach Foundation’s (GOF) signature Go Karts are pretty high. The all-in-one rolling gaming rigs have proven quite popular in the 25 facilities that currently have them. Now Child’s Play, one of gaming’s longest running philanthropies, wants to help GOF founder Zach Wigal realize his dream of comforting as many hospitalized kids as possible, through video games. “I think this is the start of us making a very serious push into having Go Karts in every [children’s] hospital in the US,” Wigal told Engadget. And with roughly 273 children’s hospitals in the US, closing the gap is far from impossible.

In February, the organization built and delivered 31 custom-built Karts in one shot. But the massive grant from Child’s Play dramatically boosts GOF’s ability to crank them out. By next March, the charity plans to put 262 Go Karts in some 200 hospitals in the United States and Canada.

Roughly a quarter of that grant will go toward moving the manufacturing process from vacuum molding — which is inefficient at larger scales — to injection molding for the plastic parts. Wigal estimates that the price of building a Kart will drop from $2,600 to around $1,400 thanks to the upgrade.

“That one grant probably saves between $50,000 and $80,000 for this particular batch. Now that we have the tools, those savings only add up,” Wigal says. “If we wanted to make 500 Go Karts next year, those tools would save another $100,000 to $200,000.”

The injection molding will also make the Karts more durable. While they’re already pretty indestructible, the abuse they absorb does lead to lots of chipped paint. But now GOF can simply use orange and gray plastic. Plus, injection molding should produce more consistent parts that will be easier to assemble and look a lot better too.

All of this cash will also give GOF the ability to expand beyond US borders. In addition to the grant, Child’s Play is ordering Karts for each of the over 100 hospitals where it operates, including to a pair in Canada.

For Wigal, the investment from Child’s Play also represents something of a personal triumph. “Child’s Play has very much inspired [GOF’s] existence,” he says. “I don’t know if we’d have known to give video games to a local children’s hospital if it hadn’t been for people like Child’s Play.” That one of the pioneers of gaming nonprofits has recognized his efforts only proves to Wigal that his dream is worth pursuing.

Billboard’s ‘Artist Pass’ is Snapchat’s first music-focused series

Snapchat is getting a music documentary series courtesy of Billboard. Called Artist Pass, the series’ five-minute long episodes will give viewers behind-the-scenes looks at musicians as they prepare for their performances, and artists like Luke Bryan and Demi Lovato are among those that will be featured.

While Snapchat has quite a few shows available to its users, this is its first music series. And Billboard is a big name for the app to snag for its foray into music-focused content. Billboard president, John Amato, told CNBC that it was Snapchat’s pull with millennials that attracted the company to it over other competitors. “We believe that Snapchat is the premier platform for younger millennials and we want to continue to find new opportunities to reach that audience,” Amato said.

The new series could also be a sign of Snapchat making a grab for some of Apple Music’s viewers. Music-centered content has been a big focus for Apple and Eddy Cue, an Apple senior VP, said last year that the company was largely interested in video content that was complementary to what it was already doing with Apple Music. Its music streaming service has aired plenty of music-focused video content to date, including Harry Styles: Behind the Album, a Clive Davis documentary, Taylor Swift’s 1989 world tour concert video and a monthly series called Up Next that focuses on up-and-coming artists. Artist Pass could be Snapchat’s first step into that arena.

Artist Pass premieres this Sunday and biweekly episodes will be available on Discover for 48 hours.

Source: CNBC

Proposed emojis include the drunk face and sad poo we’ve all been missing

It’s only been a month since the Unicode Emoji Consortium released version 10 of the colorful little communication icons, including more diverse images along with zombies, a T-rex and (yes) a sandwich icon. Now, though, the group has yet another set of proposed emojis for next year. Along with more math and science items and a silly drunk face emoji, the new group of 67 tiny pictures includes, wait for it, a new sad poo emoji.

The top two requested emoji in this list are “face with smiling eyes and party horn and party hat,” which I guess is sort of a “let’s party” emoji, along with “frowning face with question marks as eyes,” which is totally going to be my go-to “WTF” emoji when it shows up on my iPhone.

The other proposed images range from a self-explanatory “smiling face with smiling eyes and three hearts” to a more complex image like “blue face with clenched teeth and icicles.” There are body parts, like the tops of various heads (including a bald one), items of clothing like a hiking boot and lab coat, new animals like a llama and hippopotamus, more foods like a “moon cake” and mango and various activity emojis like “flying disc” and firecracker. Other proposals include cool science objects, like a test tube and DNA double helix, as well as stuff like a roll of toilet paper (handy when stuck in the bathroom with only your phone and one of the two poop emojis) and a ball of yarn.

These are all just draft emojis, of course. The final encoding in Unicode 11.0 isn’t set to release until June of 2018. The final candidates will be decide in the fourth quarter of this year, and decided in the first quarter of 2018. The Emoji subcommittee says that it received many proposals for new emoji that weren’t “well-formed.” The authors have been informed of the need to re-submit, so the list can change at any time.

Via: The Verge

Source: Unicode

Coinbase will support newly-minted Bitcoin Cash after all

Earlier this week, disgruntled members of the bitcoin community successfully split a new cryptocurrency off from the main branch. Bitcoin Cash, as it’s called, attempts to speed up transactions, a key problem with bitcoin’s aging structure. But the new alternative currency will only survive if users invest in it. Some cryptocurrency exchanges said they wouldn’t back it due to its instability, but one of those holdouts, Coinbase, just announced that it’s come around and will support Bitcoin Cash.

In a blog post, Coinbase stated their decision came after careful review. Ensuring the security of Bitcoin Cash’s network was a priority, as was evaluating customer demand, trading volumes, and regulatory considerations. But the exchange wanted to be clear that “both bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash remain safely stored on Coinbase,” and “that customers with balances of bitcoin at the time of the fork now have an equal quantity of bitcoin cash stored by Coinbase.”

Assuming no great risks emerge, Coinbase says it will start supporting Bitcoin Cash on January 1st, 2018. Once that happens, customers will be able to withdraw their new cryptocoins — but until then, they’ll stay safely locked away.

Source: Coinbase Blog

MacRumors Giveaway: Win Custom-Painted Black AirPods From BlackPods

For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with BlackPods to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a pair of AirPods that have been custom painted black.

Apple only offers the AirPods in white, a color that doesn’t go well with the Jet Black and Matte Black iPhones, leading BlackPods to come up with a solution for customers who want unique black AirPods at a slightly higher cost.

BlackPods sells the BlackPods Classic, in a high-gloss black finish, and the BlackPods Stealth, in a matte satin finish. The glossy BlackPods Classic are available for $279, while the BlackPods Stealth are available for $299. Apple’s AirPods are normally priced at $159, so that’s a $120 to $140 premium, but the finish is impeccable.

According to BlackPods, the company uses a proprietary coating system that’s been designed just for the AirPods, with a three-phase finishing procedure for a high-quality finish. Each pair of AirPods is hand finished and given a “rigorous” quality inspection.

In addition to selling AirPods directly, BlackPods also allows customers to send previously purchased AirPods for customization. The painting service costs $99 for glossy black and $119 for matte black. The process takes approximately 10 days and covers both the AirPods and the Case. Aside from the black paint, BlackPods are identical to standard AirPods.

We have one full set of BlackPods to give away to a MacRumors reader, with the winner able to choose either the Stealth or Classic finish. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (August 4) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on August 11. The winner will be chosen randomly on August 11 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.

Tags: giveaway, AirPods
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AirPods Now Ship in 4 Weeks, Finally Down From 6 Weeks Estimate Since December

Apple has updated its online store today to indicate that AirPods are now estimated to ship in four weeks in the United States, Europe, and many other regions, down from a six-week estimate listed since launching in December.

Apple hasn’t disclosed AirPods sales numbers, but CEO Tim Cook has routinely said supply continues to significantly outpace demand. Earlier this week, he revealed that Apple has increased production capacity for AirPods, which has perhaps led to the quicker turnaround time now quoted.

We’re also seeing incredible enthusiasm for AirPods, with 98 percent customer satisfaction based on a Creative Strategies survey. We have increased production capacity for AirPods, and are working very hard to get them to customers as quickly as we can, but we are still not able to meet the strong level of demand.

In late December, a few weeks after AirPods launched, Cook said the wireless earphones had been “a runaway success,” contributing to a “great holiday” season. Cook cheerfully noted that Apple is making them as fast as it can.

AirPods are Apple’s first pair of truly wireless earphones. They instantly turn on and connect to your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac when taken out of their charging case, thanks to Apple’s custom W1 chip. Likewise, audio automatically plays as soon as you put them in your ears and pauses when you take them out.

AirPods are controlled mainly by Siri. Doubling tapping an earpiece invokes Siri, and voice commands can be used to adjust the volume, change the song, make a call, and so forth. AirPods deliver up to five hours of listening time on one charge, and a 15-minute fast charge provides up to three hours of listening time.

AirPods have received largely positive reviews, and they earned a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate in a recent Creative Strategies survey.

AirPods can be ordered on Apple’s website for $159 in the United States. They’re also frequently in stock at resellers such as AT&T and Verizon with delivery to most U.S. addresses in as little as 2-5 days.

Tags: AirPods, Apple retail
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TouchArcade iOS Gaming Roundup: Pokemon Go Fest Fallout, Classic Titles Go 64-Bit, New Rocketcat Game

Awesome things have been happening over at TouchArcade this week, as we picked up not one but four additional writers. This has significantly increased our game review output, making our top reviews page really worth having bookmarked to keep up on all of the best iOS games that have come out recently. We’ve awarded top marks to Layton’s Mystery Journey, Linelight, Miracle Merchant, and The Elder Scrolls: Legends. So many five-star reviews in one week even had me re-publish an editorial I wrote back in 2016 about the unique challenges of reviewing mobile games, which is worth a look if you’re interested in some behind the scenes stuff surrounding review scores.

Anyway, as usual, it’s never a boring week in the world of iOS gaming, and the saga surrounding Pokemon Go Fest continues. If you missed the recap a few weeks ago, it was such a disaster that Niantic eventually just gave everyone refunds. Aside from offering an official apology, they also announced that upcoming European events will be postponed. Hopefully this will give them an opportunity to reevaluate connectivity options so they don’t get another park full of tens of thousands of people who can’t play the game. In other Pokemon Go news, the Legendary Pokemon Moltres is now available in game.

With iOS 11 approaching, we’ve been closely watching our list of 32-bit games that are going to stop working, with fingers crossed for updates. As of this week, Jet Car Stunts and Canabalt both got 64-bit updates and Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy Tactics will be getting a 64-bit update next month. As far as classic titles that should be on everyone’s iPhone, at least one of those three games is going to be on anyone’s list, if not all of them. Now, I’ve just got my fingers crossed for an update to Dungeon Raid…

If you’re the kind of person who looks for mobile games with incredibly distinctive art styles, the survival horror game White Night should be on your radar. It’s entirely in black and white, and takes place inside of a mysterious mansion where you solve puzzles to discover its path. The black and white art utilizes light and shadows in interesting ways, which I’m excited to experience. White Night was received very well when it launched on Steam, and will be available on mobile this fall.

There were some interesting developments in the Android world this week, with Google making some tweaks to the way the Google Play store works. In a nutshell, they’re going to be using the analytics that Android reports back on how often apps crash, how much battery they use, how often they’re deleted, and other similar metrics to determine ranking. On paper, it sounds great, as this should send junky apps and games that crash all the time, burn your battery, and get instantly deleted to the bottom of the pile. Once all of this shakes out, I’m really curious to see which approach ends up working better: Google’s analytical approach, or Apple’s hyper-curated iOS 11 App Store.

Finally, over on TouchArcade we’re huge fans of everything Rocketcat Games has ever released. We gave their most recent game, Death Road to Canada, five stars in our review, and their entire App Store catalog is similarly good. After a year of updating Death Road, they’re shifting gears over to working on a new game which we were all pretty sure was a joke. It’s called I Can’t Believe My Boyfriend is Some Sorta Fish Creature!, with developer Kepa Auwae describing his motivations as, “I want to make the Dark Souls of boyfriend simulation games.” It’s inspired by the Sega Dreamcast game Seaman, which was delightfully weird, so add in some Rocketcat charm and I’m sure this game will be … something else.

That’s it for the biggest stories this week. As usual, if you want to closely follow what’s going on in the world of iOS gaming, be sure to visit TouchArcade. We post all sorts of news, reviews, guides, and much more that will help you make sense of the cluttered mess that is the gaming aisle of the App Store.

Tag: TouchArcade gaming roundup
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Apple Experimenting With Several Augmented Reality Glasses Prototypes

Apple is working on “several different kinds” of wearable augmented reality prototypes as it tries to figure out the “most compelling application” for an AR headset, reports Financial Times.

Citing sources with knowledge of Apple’s plans, Financial Times says at least one group within Apple is pushing for a pair of glasses that feature 3D camera but no screens, making the iPhone the main display, similar to Snap’s Spectacles, but no final design decisions have been made.

Snap’s camera-equipped screen-free Spectacles
Rumors of Apple’s work on AR smart glasses first surfaced in 2016, and previous rumors have suggested the glasses will connect wirelessly to the iPhone, much like the Apple Watch, and will display “images and other information to the wearer.”

While Robert Scoble suggested Apple could launch the smart glasses this year through a partnership with Carl Zeiss, most rumors (like today’s) suggest Apple is still in a prototyping phase and that a launch is still a ways off.

Earlier this year, Financial Times said Apple was “stepping up” development on an augmented reality wearable, but a potential launch is at least a year away or longer. Bloomberg has predicted a similar timeline, suggesting Apple is perhaps aiming to launch a product in 2018.

As Apple works on AR smart glasses, the company is preparing to make its first major move into augmented reality with the launch of iOS 11 and ARKit, a set of APIs designed to allow developers to build powerful augmented reality experiences into apps and games. When ARKit launches, the iPhone and the iPad will become the largest augmented reality platform in the world given the large number of devices already out in the wild.

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Over the course of the past several months, Apple CEO Tim Cook has talked about Apple’s work on augmented reality several times. Just this past week, he called it “big and profound” and said he “could not be more excited” about AR and what developers are creating with ARKit.

“This is one of those huge things that we’ll look back and marvel at the start of it,” he said.

Related Roundup: Apple VR Project
Tag: ft.com
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Apple’s Series Three Apple Watch to Include Cellular Connection

Apple’s third-generation Apple Watch, set to launch later this year, will include its own LTE for a standalone cellular connection, reports Bloomberg.

With a cellular connection, the new Apple Watch models will be untethered from the iPhone, able to stream music, send messages, download apps, and connect to the internet without the need for an iPhone.

It’s not clear if a standalone cellular plan will be needed for the Apple Watch, but it seems likely. According to Bloomberg, only a subset of carriers who sell the iPhone will support the Apple Watch, but in the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all plan to offer the LTE Apple Watch when it launches.

Intel, not Qualcomm, will supply the LTE modems for the Apple Watch.

Cellular connectivity for the Apple Watch is not a new rumor – we’ve been hearing hints of it since before the Series 2 Apple Watch was released last September. Battery issues have reportedly been holding Apple back – a cellular connection drains battery more quickly.

Previous third-generation Apple Watch rumors have suggested Apple is focusing primarily on improving battery life and the company may have made enough progress to compensate for LTE connectivity.

Aside from the inclusion of an LTE chip, not much is known about the next Apple Watch. Rumors have pointed towards a more minor update that focuses on under-the-hood hardware and performance improvements rather than external design changes.

Bloomberg believes the cellular-capable Apple Watch will launch this fall alongside new iPhones, but cautions that the device could be delayed beyond 2017.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3, watchOS 4
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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myCharge AdventureUltra review: The charging companion for all of your needs

After reviewing countless portable power banks and charging solutions over the years, there are a few features I’ve come to appreciate. If anything, there are certain details I look for first when making a purchasing decision or recommendation.

I’ve spent time with a number of products from the myCharge brands over the last couple of years, each of which fills a particular void. Sometimes we need something super portable or minimal as a backup just in case we run low on a long work day. Other times we need a beast of a unit because we fully expect to deplete our batteries over an extended weekend away. Such is the case with the latest myCharge product, the AdventureUltra.

Taking up about as much space as a portable cassette player from the 1980’s, the Ultra is strong enough to power up most phones some eight times over. Thanks to its 13,400mAh internal battery, it’s everything you need to keep phones, tablets, and wearables juiced up for 2-3 days.

With this much power you might expect for it to offer even more functionality. Indeed, it does. Not only do you have the requisite USB ports (two 2.4A), but you also get a USB C port (3.0A), and an AC port (45W), as well. Yes, this means you’ll be able to power up four devices at a time — even a laptop.

Each of the charging ports is protected by a rubber boot to keep from getting dust and debris. This is convenient in cases where you might be at a beach, on a dusty job site, or spending time outside.

Given the capacity of the battery, and our likelihood of charging multiple devices at once, we’ll want to know exactly how much gas is left in the tank. The AdventureUltra offers up a great display which shows what’s remaining in terms of charge. You’ll have no problem identifying whether you need to get the charger back to a wallet out or if you can stay out and about for a few more hours — or days.

The number of use cases for the AdventureUltra is seemingly endless. Going tailgating and want to take a TV with you? This charger is strong enough to power a 32-inch television for up to three hours. So, take that TV with you to beach, Cast to it from your phone, and make sure you’re up to speed with Game of Thrones!

If you routinely spend multiple days on the road, pull marathon sessions of Pokemon Go, or go camping, hiking, then you’ll want to consider this charger. It’s built very well and ticks the marks for the things that matter. I loved that it features multiple ports for both the standard USB outlet but also the emerging USB Type C as well. Plus, who hasn’t wanted a standard wall outlet plug for a laptop, drone, or something else while on the road?

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Price shakes out to around $130 for it, but it’s certainly worth it in my opinion. I’ve always had great luck with myCharge products and find them to be solidly built devices. It’s more expensive than what you might find in a larger capacity unit, but it’s the all-in-one functionality that puts it over the edge for me.