IFA 2017 preview: Everything you can expect to see from Berlin!

IFA is always one of the biggest tech conferences of the year, and we’re expecting nothing less than an onslaught this time around.

IFA is approaching its 100th birthday, but the Berlin-based trade show still manages to pull in the biggest names in consumer electronics, which in more recent years means the biggest names in smartphones.

Almost every major Android manufacturer has some sort of keynote at the event, with big names like Samsung, Huawei and LG launching high profile products in the past few years. It also serves as a great launch point for accessories, wearables and more from the big names.

Here’s what to expect from IFA 2017.

LG — LG V30

The highlight of IFA 2017 should be the LG V30, which is poised to take the best parts of last year’s V20 and this year’s well-received G6 and combine them into a powerful smartphone for enthusiasts.

We know quite a lot about the V30 already thanks to LG’s agreeable policy of pre-announcing many of its phones’ hardware and software features — we’ve already heard that it will have the world’s first f/1.6 aperture on a smartphone camera, and we have already seen the company’s updated Android UX that tries to recreate the V-series’ traditional ticker display as a virtual overlay. And thanks to unauthorized leaks, we already know exactly what the phone will look like, namely a nice combination of a G6 and a Samsung Galaxy S8.

In other words, with the V30, LG is taking its V series mainstream. LG’s press conference is set for August 31.

Samsung — Gear Fit 2 Pro + Gear Sport

Like last year, Samsung is going to have a fairly uneventful IFA because it is choosing to launch its fall flagship, the Galaxy Note 8, at an event in New York just over a week before the start of the show. That’s OK, because IFA will be the first time many members of the press, and the public, will be able to try the phone, which will be festooned all over the company’s trade floor exhibit.

But Samsung is holding a press conference, and the one new product we expect to see there is a successor to the Samsung Gear Fit 2, called the Gear Fit 2 Pro, the company’s not-quite-a-smart watch it unveiled last year during the same timeframe. The Gear Fit 2 proved to be a very popular alternative to the traditional smart watch form factor found in the Gear S2 and later S3, and since it doesn’t command the same price, it likely sold better as a result.

This year’s Gear Fit successor looks to have a similar design, with a long-and-thin vertically-oriented OLED touchscreen that will, hopefully, do most of what one expects from a smartwatch without adding the mental overhead of downloading apps or fielding phone calls. It’s also going to be IP68 waterproof and swim-compatible, whiling shipping with a GPS radio and support for offline Spotify playback. It may not be a smartwatch, but it’s doing all the things a smartwatch should do.

We also saw the schematics of a so-called Gear Sport pass through the FCC, which could be the first real follow-up to the excellent Gear S2 that debuted in 2015 — the Gear S3 managed to be more of a companion product rather than a true replacement. As with many other manufacturers cautiously hedging against the continued slowdown in the wearables market, Samsung appears to be doubling down on fitness features as its upgrade path for wrist wearables, which, after the tepid reception of Android Wear 2.0, doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

It’s also possible we’ll see some other small announcements from Samsung at IFA, including new VR applications for the Gear VR, and a couple mid-range devices from the J and A lineups that sell so well in the European market. IFA is a Euro-focused trade show, after all. Samsung’s press conference is on August 30.

Sony — Xperia XZ1, Xperia X1, Xperia XZ1c

Sony always has some interesting announcements at IFA, and this year appears to be no exception. At this year’s conference, we can expect three new phones, the Xperia XZ1, Xperia X1, and Xperia XZ1 Compact. The first will be a true successor to last year’s Xperia XZ, unlike the slight spec bump found in the XZs unveiled at MWC, while the X1 and XZ1 Compact will fit into the slightly more affordable, and diminutive, categories that Sony is known for.

Expect evolution rather than revolution from Sony at IFA 2017.

As usual, leaks from the Sony camp show designs that have not changed much over previous versions — think evolution rather than revolution.

But Sony is well-known for changes that benefit photography fans, and the Xperia XZ1 is expected to iterate on its popular MotionEye technology, combining a large, high-resolution sensor with a fast lens and plenty of software prowess. Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium is still the only device capable of shooting 960fps slow motion, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see something similar come down to a cheaper price point this time around.

There’s also a persistent rumor that this next series of Xperia devices will vie to be the first new device to ship with Android O, a title that LG claimed last year with Nougat when it beat the Pixel to market by a few hours. Whether the new Xperia phones will sport fingerprint sensors in the U.S., though — well, that’s a lot less clear.

BlackBerry — KEYone Black Edition

BlackBerry Mobile has been having a ton of fun teasing the next version of its KEYone, which is proving to be popular amongst a small enthusiast audience. The company began teasing an all-black version of the phone a few weeks ago, and already launched a similar model in India called the BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black.

It’s unclear whether the IFA announcement will merely be a worldwide expansion of this particular model, or something else entirely, but we’re looking forward to seeing what BlackBerry Mobile has to offer.

Huawei — Nova 2 series

Huawei always has something to say IFA, be it the launch of its mid-range lineup or a new flagship. We saw the P10 and P10 Plus debut at MWC this March, so it’s unlikely the huge Chinese company will supplant those so soon, and we don’t expect to see the Mate 10 until October, so what’s left is a bump in the cheaper tier.

Expect to see European and perhaps North American availability of the Nova 2 series, since those phones were announced earlier this year for the Chinese market. These are not drastic overhauls over the originals — the Nova 2 and 2 Plus resemble the larger Nova of 2016, and have the same mid-range spec sheets.

Other prospects — Moto X4?

Even though Motorola has launched 10 phones so far this year, it’s poised to announce yet another, and this one is going to hit us right in the feels: the Moto X4. We thought the Moto X line was dead after the 2016 unveiling of the modular Moto Z line, but Motorola intends to resurface the fan favorite as an “affordable flagship,” something that it will use to showcase the best of its technology at a $399 or so price. With a 3000mAh battery and a dual camera setup, I have high hopes for this one.

We’re also due for a refresh of ZTE’s popular Axon flagship; the company announced its Axon 7 device over a year ago, and a smaller Axon 7 Mini at IFA 2016. While we haven’t seen much in the way of leaks, I’ve heard through the grapevine that ZTE will be announcing an Axon 7 successor before the end of 2017, and IFA would be a great place for it.

Your thoughts

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s IFA conference? Berlin is a beautiful city, and after a few days the trade show opens to the public, which is always great for tech enthusiasts.

At the same time, it’s a crazy time of year for us, since half the team is traveling and the other half is treading water trying to keep up with all the announcements. It should be a heck of a lot of fun!

Stick with us.

ASUS commits to Android O, less bloat for the Zenfone 3 and 4 series

ASUS has promised Android 8.0 for its 2016 and 2017 phones.

There’s no nice way to say this, ASUS has a history bloated software and taking too much time with updates. I imported and owned the monstrous (and glorious) Zenfone 3 Ultra and my only real complaints with the device were the amount of pre-installed garbage and how slowly it got the Nougat update. It took me a full hour when I was setting up the device to turn off all the duplicate features and applications.

According to Android Police, ASUS will be rectifying that. With its ZenUI 4.0 — launching with the Zenfone 4 series and coming later to the Zenfone 3 series — Asus will be cutting down on pre-installed applications significantly. ZenUI 3.5 currently includes 35 pre-installed applications, while ZenUI 4.0 will only include 13. The company also states certain apps will get some percentage faster but did not quantify those measurements.

ASUS also confirmed the entire Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 4 series would be upgraded to Android 8.0, though the company states its goal is to have all devices upgraded by the second half of 2018. That’s about the time Android P will be launching, so ASUS isn’t going to break any speed records with these updates.

As for Zenfone 4 itself, the device is supposed to feature a dual camera system common on most late 2017 flagships. Asus has not hinted at availability for the Zenfone 4. Sadly, it also appears for now there won’t be a Zenfone 4 Ultra.

Is ASUS making the right moves here, or do we need to wait and see? Shout out in the comments!

Twitch can filter streamers by their ‘Overwatch’ hero of choice

Overwatch and Hearthstone fans will now find it easier to discover livestreams most relevant to them after Twitch introduced new channel filtering options for the popular Blizzard titles. From today, viewers can open a new menu that appears at the top of each directory, which allows them to select channels based on what on hero a streamer is playing, as well as the opportunity to filter by game mode, player rank, number of wins in Hearthstone games.

It’s not the first time Blizzard has teamed with Amazon’s livestreaming service, nor is it the first time Twitch has integrated metadata filtering options for popular esports games. In June, the two companies partnered to broadcast over 20 tournaments for competitive Hearthstone and Overwatch games, while offering Twitch Prime members a free Overwatch Golden Loot Box containing a guaranteed legendary item. Twitch also debuted filtering options for League of Legends, its most-viewed game, back in April.

The filters themselves were enabled by the team behind ClipMine, a recent Twitch acquisition. According to Twitch, Clipmine’s deep learning video platform is capable of recognizing in-game objects, text and levels, which can then be selected via the site’s filters. If a player wants to get better at playing Reaper in Overwatch, for instance, the filters will identify when a Twitch streamer is playing that same hero and make their gameplay available in the directory.

“When we recently introduced metadata filtering options for one of our top esports games, we not only received positive reception from its fans, but demand from the greater community to have access to similar discovery tools for other titles,” said JT Gleason, Director of Integration Success at Twitch. “Since Overwatch and Hearthstone are also among our most popular competitive games whose players take to Twitch to improve their skills by watching others play, we focused on how we can improve discovery for them. Our new metadata filters now make it easy to find more granular aspects of gameplay that previously required a lot more searching.”

fuboTV recruits CBS to take on cordcutter rivals

Folks generally cut the cable cord to save money, but fragmentation means you might have to subscribe to more than one service. Case in point is fuboTV, which focused on international soccer (football, for our international readers), but not much else, when it launched a $10 monthly service in 2015. To attract a broader audience, it later introduced a $35 Premier bundle with more regular TV channels. As part of that, fuboTV has now gone live with CBS, making it a viable rival to services like DirecTV and Sling TV.

You’ll be able to watch your local-market CBS stations, with shows like NCIS, 60 Minutes and The Big Bang Theory. You’ll also get the CBS Sports Network (in markets with local CBS stations), Pop, and CBSN. Subscribers have video-on-demand access to CBS shows nationwide, and can log into the CBS app using fuboTV authentication.

fuboTV has already inked deals with Fox and NBCUniversal, so the addition of CBS puts fuboTV more directly into competition with Sling TV, which starts at $20 per month, and AT&T’s DirecTV, for $35 and up. While it may have fewer live TV channels on those services, it could be a better option for sports, and particularly soccer, fans — both in the US and Latin America. The fubo Premier service is available for $35 for a limited time.

How ‘We Happy Few’ plans to avoid the pitfalls of ‘No Man’s Sky’

The 1960s dystopia of We Happy Few will hit Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on April 13th, 2018, thanks to Compulsion Games and Gearbox, the studio best known for Borderlands. You’re not hallucinating — We Happy Few did already come to Xbox One and Steam as an early-access game, but now it’s ready for prime time. The full experience, priced at $60 and featuring a rich storyline starring three separate characters, will be ready to roll next spring.

That’s all fine and dandy, but We Happy Few’s joyous release-date news hides a deeper development story. Compulsion has followed a long, winding road to April 2018, and the first major twist in that path came early in the development process.

PAX East 2015 changed We Happy Few forever. That’s where Compulsion, a small studio working out of an old gramophone factory in Montreal, debuted its eerie, drug-fueled title to widespread acclaim. We Happy Few was a psychedelic experience that plopped players inside a dystopian, 1960s English town called Wellington Wells, where citizens were forced to pop pills in order to smile through the squalor. It promised procedural generation, survival mechanics and a strict society with violently enforced rules. PAX players and critics hailed it for being stylish, dense and big, like The Stepford Wives inside a BioShock-style world.

Problem was, We Happy Few wasn’t anything like BioShock.

“Talk about a reality check,” Compulsion founder Guillaume Provost says. “What the public and the press were telling us they loved about our game wasn’t anything like the procedural, story-light, rogue-like survival game we were creating at all. We were all excited about developing the story, the world and the general experience of discovering that world, but I knew full well from my time at [Dishonored studio] Arkane that those kind of experiences required a lot more money and a larger, veteran team to pull it off.”

This was the first instance of fan feedback changing the very nature of We Happy Few. Compulsion saw what resonated with players; Provost heard the excitement over the game’s potential narrative first-hand. So, the team pivoted. Compulsion ditched its previous approach, which would have resulted in an experience closer to Don’t Starve than BioShock, and it took We Happy Few to Kickstarter, promising to flesh out the story, mechanics and world. The campaign asked for $250,000, and ended up earning $334,754.

Plus, it caught Microsoft’s attention. Compulsion signed onto the ID@Xbox program and Provost ended up showcasing We Happy Few on the Microsoft stage during E3 2016. It was a lifelong dream come true, he says.

“It’s a testament to how much the game and team has grown that Compulsion now spends more money every single month developing We Happy Few than what our entire Kickstarter campaign earned,” Provost says.

After E3, We Happy Few faced even more scrutiny, with potential players clamoring for a large world with a rich story and deep mechanics. They wanted — and expected — a AAA-level game from an independent studio.

“It was the reaction of our fans that really drove home how big the game could become,” Provost says. “It was also a bit daunting. Getting too much hype is a good problem to have, but it can also backfire, and after watching the launch of No Man’s Sky that year, we carefully back-pedaled some of the hype and managed expectations with regards to the game.”

No Man’s Sky is a modern-day cautionary tale for independent developers hoping to make it big. After years of hype from Sony — including multiple showcases at E3, AAA-style collector’s editions, and a stint on the late-night talk show circuit — No Man’s Sky came out and immediately disappointed many fans.

Sony and Hello Games sold the world on a grand idea, but for many players, No Man’s Sky simply didn’t fulfill its promises. Backlash was swift; players in the UK even alerted the Advertising Standards Authority and the game was investigated (and cleared) for marketing fraud. The dust is settling now, following a handful of game-changing updates, but the lesson for indie developers and major publishers remains clear: Don’t promise anything you can’t actually deliver.

Compulsion’s solution was transparency. The team had already been sharing weekly blog posts and videos updating fans on the game’s progress, but they wanted to have a direct conversation with players. So, in July 2016, Provost and co. launched We Happy Few as an early-access game on Steam and Xbox One Games Preview. Fans went hands-on with the game and helped Compulsion fine-tune its mechanics.

Turns out, a lot of We Happy Few players simply wanted to wander around the kitschy, terrifying town of Wellington Wells without worrying about survival, so Compulsion added the violence-free BirdWatcher mode in March’s Maidenholm update. Fans were also fascinated by Joy, the drug that keeps Wellington Wells’ citizens in a perpetual state of delusion and forced happiness. So, Compulsion added layers to the drug — with this week’s Life in Technicolour update, players are able to see the world through five Joy-enabled veils: Normal, Crash, Joy, Overdose and Withdrawal.

“Finally, we’ve had a lot of feedback early on that the introduction to the game felt like a game apart, very different from the experience you get in the open-sandbox world,” Provost says. “We’ve taken that feedback very seriously, and understood that the vast majority of our players wanted more of that experience, and less aimless wandering around trying to find items in containers.”

Plus, early players brought in some early cash. Pre-release editions of We Happy Few sold for $30 a pop, though the complete game now runs $60 (anyone who purchased an early-access version gets the full thing at no additional charge). Compulsion used some of that early money to hire dozens of additional gaming-industry veterans from companies including Sony, Square Enix, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. The development team has grown from 7 people to about 40.

“Early access didn’t just help shape the overall direction and focus of the game, it shaped the very fabric and makeup of our team,” Provost says. “It allows us to bring the game’s story campaign to a level of sophistication and depth that would have otherwise been out of reach.”

Which is where Gearbox comes in.

Provost and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford have known each other for a while, and they even talked about working together when Compulsion was building its first game, Contrast, for the launch of the PlayStation 4 in 2013. Pitchford is a former stage magician, and Contrast’s emphasis on noir-style magic caught his eye, but Gearbox didn’t have a publishing platform at the time.

Fast forward to the days after E3 2016, where Provost introduced millions of video game fans to We Happy Few on the Microsoft stage. By this time, Gearbox Publishing existed, led by Steve Gibson.

“We had been actively courted by other publishers, and weren’t really actively looking for a publishing partner,” he says. “The huge exposure the game had gotten through Microsoft’s press conference meant we could likely hack it on our own, self-publish and grow the team and the project organically through early access.”

But, Gibson was relentless. He flew the Compulsion crew to Dallas, introduced them to the crew and convinced Provost We Happy Few would be in good hands at Gearbox.

This week, Gearbox Publishing and Compulsion revealed the final We Happy Few release date — April 13th, 2018 — plus the game’s price increase, DLC details and some final story notes. We Happy Few is no longer a story-light, Don’t Starve kind of experience; it’s blossomed into a nuanced, narrative-driven survival game with enough drugs and eerie dystopia to make BioShock blush.

There’s even a special Collector’s Set that runs $150 and includes a replica of the game’s Bobby mask, a light-up “You Look Smashing” sign, Joy alarm clock, vinyl soundtrack and other 1960s-themed treats. The Collector’s Set does not include the game; Compulsion says that’s so early-access players can purchase it separately.

Partnering with an established label, jumping to a AAA pricing model and announcing a $150 Collector’s Set: If Compulsion doesn’t want to be the next No Man’s Sky, it’s walking an oddly similar path. However, Provost is confident he’s learned from other independent developers’ mistakes — and, more importantly, he’s confident in a game that players helped create.

“With enough funding secured to do right by the game, it feels like all the stars have finally lined up for us to shine on the world stage,” Provost says. “If someone had predicted this outcome three years ago, I’d have frowned skeptically, and told them to come back to planet Earth.”

YouTube’s live TV service is available in half of all US homes

While other services, including Hulu, PlayStation Vue and SlingTV, have been available for a while now, YouTube TV is catching up fast. Launched in April to five basic metropolitan areas, the company added 11 new markets this July. Now, the live TV service has just announced 14 more markets, making its “skinny bundle” available to half the homes in the US. Subscribers to the YouTube service will also get two new networks, Newsy and the Tennis Channel for no extra charge, starting now. Customers in Boston will be able to stream the Red Sox’s pennant race on sports network NESN for free, too. The company is also planning to expand to 17 more markets in the coming weeks and months.

The newly announced markets include Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Columbus, OH, Jacksonville-Brunswick, Las Vegas, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Seattle-Tacoma, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota and West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce.

The upcoming markets will see YouTube TV in the major metropolitan areas of Austin, Birmingham, Cleveland-Akron, Denver, Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Hartford-New Haven, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Oklahoma City, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, San Diego and St. Louis.

Source: YouTube TV

‘Volume’ developer launches a surprise, bite-sized sci-fi game

Subsurface Circular came out of nowhere.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Mike Bithell, the developer behind Thomas Was Alone and Volume, tweeted a prescient question in April, asking followers if they’d be interested in paying $5 for a unique, hour-long video game. He didn’t mention that his team at Bithell Games was already building Subsurface Circular, a bite-sized, reasonably priced experience for PC and Mac.

Subsurface Circular is a text-driven game about a robot detective solving mysteries on the subway, and it’s available today on Steam for just $4.80 through August 24th. After that, it’ll be $6.

“I have to admit, that was a cheeky bit of research,” Bithell explained on Twitter today. “Because we were making something, and I was glad folks liked the idea. My fear was hype: A hopefully good, polished short game could be ruined if we announced early and set false expectations.”

Subsurface Circular isn’t a throwaway project for Bithell — it’s impressively deep for such a short experience, raising questions about the nature of humanity and the future of automation. Instead, Subsurface Circular is a calculated foray into a new kind of development pipeline: no hype, quick gameplay and an accessible price point.

“So, would that work?” Bithell tweeted just before Subsurface Circular went live on Steam. “If we just launched a short game, announcing it at the point it goes on sale? Let’s find out in 5 minutes.”

The previous project out of Bithell Games was also a departure from traditional development. EarthShape was a cute little launch game for Google’s Daydream VR headset, starring former Great British Bake Off host Sue Perkins.

Source: Steam

An iOS 11 feature can quickly disable Touch ID

Law enforcement authorities have been at odds with the legal system and mobile companies when it comes to gaining access to citizens’ phones. One of the more notable instances was the FBI’s attempt to get Apple to unlock the San Bernardino suspect’s iPhone, but there have been other similar incidents as well. And situations can get extra tricky when it comes to fingerprint unlocking, especially for those entering the US of late. However, with iOS 11, Apple is giving users an option to easily disable Touch ID, which could be very useful for those in sticky legal situations where they might be compelled to unlock their phone with their fingerprint.

The new OS, currently in beta, has a feature that lets you quickly dial 911 in an emergency — just push the power button five times in a row and the option to call for help pops up. But the feature also temporarily disables Touch ID until you enter your passcode. Some people are calling it a “cop button.” And with face unlocking expected to arrive on the next iPhone, this feature could become extra useful.

Source: The Verge

Congressmen call for investigation of FCC cyberattack claims

The FCC has claimed that the site it uses to collect public comment on its plans to roll back net neutrality rules was taken down by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack instead of crippled by a massive number of commenters brought about by a John Oliver segment on HBO. When pressed for details, the agency denied that it hadn’t documented the “attack,” that sharing any details would undermine security and have stonewalled any demands for evidence of a cyberattack. On Thursday, however, Senator Brian Schatz and Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) encouraging a full review of the FCC’s practices and claims.

Citing “intense public interest,” the lawmakers say that the attacks, if legitimate, were “meant to inhibit or limit public comment on this important proceeding, raising doubts about the efficacy of the FCC’s public comment process.” The letter also says that a flood of fake comments has also undermined the public process, and that the “FCC’s lack of action in preventing or mitigating this issue is also cause for concern.” The letter urges the GAO to find out how the FCC determined the site was actually a victim of a DDoS attack, including evidence and documentation of the event of the FCC response to it. The legislators also request information on the FCC’s procedures for preventing future attacks, and call the general vulnerability of all of the FCC’s systems into question.

These requests have some power behind them, as well. Senator Schatz is a Democrat from Hawaii and a ranking member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet. US Representative Frank Pallone Jr., also a Democrat but from New Jersey, is a ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. With this kind of direct questioning, via the Accountability Office, it may be that we find out the truth of the matter sooner than expected.

Source: Senator Brian Schatz

OkCupid just banned a white supremacist for life

OkCupid is the latest company to kick white supremacists off of its platform. In a tweet today, the dating service said that it found out Chris Cantwell — the fascist featured in Vice News’ Charlottesville documentary who cried in a video when he thought a warrant was issued for his arrest — was on its site and subsequently banned him for life. It also said, “There is no room for hate in a place where you’re looking for love,” and told members to report people they come across who are involved in hate groups.

We were alerted that white supremacist Chris Cantwell was on OkCupid. Within 10 minutes we banned him for life.

— OkCupid (@okcupid) August 17, 2017

Other companies that have said no thanks to racists this week include Spotify, Google, GoDaddy, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, GoFundMe, Squarespace and Twitter. And of course, a bunch of CEOs distanced themselves from President Trump yesterday in light of his comments on Charlottesville.

I can’t imagine there are too many people sad about not being able to connect with Cantwell on OkCupid, but it looks like now he has something else to cry about.

Source: OkCupid