WSJ: Discovery, AMC and Viacom try a sports-free streaming bundle

The already crowded field of “skinny bundles” will soon feature another service vying for your attention (and wallet). As The Wall Street Journal reports, a host of broadcast networks are reportedly soft launching a new streaming platform stocked with their entertainment channels. Discovery Communications, Viacom Inc., A+E Networks, AMC Networks, and Scripps Networks Interactive will all be part of the service. But, the likes of ESPN and Fox Sports won’t. That’s because the new offering, dubbed ‘Philo’, will be a sports-free zone.

Instead, it will carry a mixture of non-fiction and lifestyle programming, children’s shows, and scripted dramas. Although the exact list of networks that will make the cut isn’t certain, you can expect to see Discovery’s ID, TLC, and Animal Planet. Viacom brings with it Nickolodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and BET. And, A+E boasts the History Network, and Lifetime, while AMC carries hit show The Walking Dead. Ditching sports channels, will enable the service’s $20 per month charge.

Talk of Discovery launching a streaming service has been kicking around since 2013. The chatter was reignited earlier this year upon its purchase of Scripps Networks Interactive, which owns HGTV, Food Network and Travel Channel. Streaming also-ran Philo will reportedly power the new platform. Until now, the startup has targeted college campuses, and as of September 2015 it was available at 42 universities. Along the way, it’s faced fierce competition from Comcast’s Xfinity on Campus offering.

Foregoing sports is an interesting marketing ploy, but it does little to hide the bundle’s shortcomings. Although the companies involved claim they want to lure more pay-TV providers to their fold, it won’t be easy. The way the industry works, it’s difficult to avoid sports programming as it tends to come packaged with other channels. For example, Disney’s full line-up includes ESPN alongside its kids content — you can’t have one without the other. The same goes for FX (home to acclaimed shows such as Fargo, and Atlanta), which is owned by Fox. Therefore, you could require an antenna anyway. Or, if you happen to be a TV addict, you may have to fork out for multiple skinny bundles.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

‘Metroid: Samus Returns’ is harder than you remember 

The last few years have been good to Nintendo fans. There have been plenty of games starring the company’s italian mascot, new adventures in the land of hyrule as well as re-releases of some of the most popular Legend of Zelda games in the last twenty years. Even Donkey Kong Country made a comeback. Metroid, on the other hand, seemed almost forgotten. Now, for the first time since 2010 the Other M franchise is finally getting proper outing. A 3DS remake of the Game Boy’s Metroid II — appropriately titled Metroid: Samus Returns.

Reimagining a classic game is always a little tricky, but Metroid II isn’t the first game in the franchise to get an overhaul. In 2004, Nintendo recreated the series’ first game as Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance — but it wasn’t a straight remake so much as a new game based on the original idea. That’s how Samus Returns feels too: the plot, location and goals are the same, the map layouts, enemy behavior and even some of the power-ups are all different. The 3DS remake may be telling the same story as the Game Boy original, but mastering Metroid II won’t help you beat Samus Returns.

For the most part, that’s a good thing. Despite sharing notes with its inspiration’s soundtrack and borrowing Metroid II’s story beats, Samus Returns feels very much like an original Metroid experience — complete with vast caverns to explore, satisfying puzzles and new mechanics to learn. Better still, a lot of those new mechanics are designed specifically to address the pain points of classic Metroid games. Don’t like backtracking to another area of the game to search for power-ups or find a door you missed? Now you can use teleport stations to fast-travel across the game, instead. Can’t find that one square that Samus can bomb to proceed to the next area? Use the new “Scan Pulse” Aeion Ability to get a hint.

These additions give Samus Returns a good foundation, which it wraps in a detailed stereoscopic side-scrolling landscape that offers a peek at the planet behind Samus Aran’s adventures. The game is still played on a 2D plane, but turning on the handhelds’ namesake 3D effect lets you peer deep into caverns behind the side-scrolling stage. This gives Returns more background detail than any other Metroid, letting players see landscapes, valleys and wildlife of the planet beyond the game’s playable area.

Even so, Samus Returns isn’t without its flaws. Exploring the game’s seemingly endless caverns is as fun as ever, but some the mechanics can make the experience a little frustrating. In addition to Samus’ regular arsenal of lasers, missiles and bombs — for instance — the player now has access to a new counter attack move. Basically, enemies in the game have a “tell” before they rush in to attack Samus, and pressing the counter button at just the right moment will knock them back and stun them — lining up a satisfying and powerful attack to take them out. Unfortunately this new mechanic applies to almost every enemy in the game, which means you’re constantly being barraged with fast, hard to dodge assaults.

This would be fine if the player’s hand cannon was enough to take out an enemy before that rush attack hit, but I wasn’t powerful enough to negate the counter-move mechanic until almost the end of the game. In practice, this means you either master the counter move (and do it very frequently) or try to keep your distance to avoid using it — something the geometry of the game’s levels doesn’t always allow. In practice, it’s a cool mechanic that feels a bit overused. Sometimes, though, a rushing enemy just added unnecessary frustration to the Metroid formula.

On the other hand, the counter move offers a compelling gamble in boss fights. Enemies like Zeta, Gamma and Alpha Metroids have feint attacks that make it harder to know when a counter might work — missing it deals massive damage to the player, but getting it right can speed up the boss encounter dramatically.

Despite the new risk and reward element the counter move brings to boss fights, they run the risk of being repetitive. The entire conceit of the game is that Samus must travel to SR388 to exterminate the deadly Metroid creatures. There are over 35 of them, and each one is basically a small boss battle. They start out simple and get progressively more difficult as the player encounters different types of Metroid — but each one plays out about the same.

Some of them feel unnecessarily drawn out, though. In the last third of the game, some of these bosses will flee mid-fight to move to another room, breaking up the battle in as many as three chunks. It feels like a tweak made to keep things from feeling repetitive, but in effect it just makes each of these battles feel longer.

The game also has a couple of sudden and severe difficulty spikes. The hardest fight of the game isn’t the final boss, but a giant mining robot. True to classic Metroid form, defeating the boss is a feat of learning its pattern — but it’s a huge point of frustration. The first couple of stages of the battle are obvious, but solving the final puzzle took repeated, painful and frustrating losses. This kind of difficulty curve harkens back to the early days of classic Nintendo games, but it’s questionable how fun it actually is. Fighting a boss 10 to 20 times in a row to learn its complicated, unforgiving pattern doesn’t make me feel like I’ve accomplished anything. It makes me feel like I merely memorized the answers to a pop quiz.

Putting these difficulty spikes and mildly annoying dodge mechanics aside, Metroid: Samus Returns is very much the classic Metroid game fans have been looking for. The new stereoscopic side-scrolling presentation is beautiful, and ads ton of atmosphere — but with the exception of a few new mechanics, it still very much plays like an evolution on Super Metroid. Even the special edition 3DS Nintendo made to commemorate the game feels just right, with subtle Samus artwork on the front and a gorgeous backplate filling out the colors of the bounty hunter’s famous costume. It also drags the franchise’s last classic game into a more modern style. Finally, fans can play the entire Metroid saga in 16-bit or higher graphic presentation. And it’s a pretty good experience the entire way through.

Anki makes its robot way more needy

Anki’s Cozmo robot already seems like it jumped right out of a Pixar movie. This latest update, however, will make it feel even more like you’re taking care of an adorable robotic pet. The newest version of Cozmo’s app gives your cute companion three specific needs: Play, Feed and Tune Up. You’ll now be able to see on the app if Cozmo is hungry and needs to be fed through his Power Cubes. The fuller it is, the more its likely to exhibit the need to play with you, perform tricks and explore its surroundings. Sometimes, it’ll also ask for a tune up to make sure it’s in good health.

The good news is that you can now get one of Anki’s robotic pets even if you’re not in the US and Canada. Cozmo is making its global debut with its new features in tow and will be available in Japan, Germany, UK, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden sometime this month. If you’re in any of those locations, keep an eye out for the robot, so you can have a cutie to take care of even if your apartment doesn’t allow pets

Source: Anki

Facebook Testing Pre-Loaded ‘Instant Videos’

Facebook is testing a new mobile app feature called Instant Videos that downloads video clips for later viewing whenever a user’s phone is connected to Wi-Fi, to save from burning through their mobile data plan.

First spotted by The Next Web’s Matt Navarra and later confirmed by TechCrunch, the feature will identify pre-loaded and cached videos in the news feed with a lightning bolt icon so that users know they can watch them for free while on the go.

Facebook Instant Videos coming soon? ⚡️

h/t Devesh Logendran pic.twitter.com/rNZYkbeL2r

— Matt Navarra ⭐️ (@MattNavarra) September 11, 2017

The Instant Video feature is in a similar vein to Facebook’s Instant Articles, the hosted content format that loads much faster than mobile websites and negates the need to wait for a separate web app to load the content. Likewise, publishers could see the new feature as a way to get their video clips maximum exposure on the social network.

The feature could also benefit Facebook’s own original content push, with video organized under the new Watch tab, allowing users to cache episodes for viewing on their daily commute.

According to TechCrunch, the Instant Video test is currently only available to a small number of Android users, as the company lays the groundwork for more budget-conscious users in the developing world. But it’s likely the feature will eventually make its way over to Facebook’s iPhone app if the mini rollout is deemed successful.

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Video
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Apple’s Online Store Goes Down Ahead of iPhone X Event Later Today

Apple’s online store has gone down ahead of its first-ever event at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California later today.

Apple will provide a live stream of the event on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Related: Here’s When You Can Watch Apple’s First Event at Steve Jobs Theater in Time Zones Around the World

At the event, Apple is widely expected to announce the “iPhone X” with an OLED display, wireless charging, and facial recognition. It is rumored the company will also unveil a new Apple TV with support for 4K video playback, and new Apple Watch Series 3 models, including some with LTE connectivity.

Related: What to Expect at Apple’s September 2017 Event

MacRumors will provide full coverage of the event throughout the day, with a live blog, news stories, video recap, and more. Mac users can get headlines right on their desktops by enabling Safari push notifications. We’ll also be live-tweeting the event through @MacRumorsLive on Twitter.

MacRumors readers can follow along in our forums, which are a great place to discuss the announcements before, during, and after the event. Be sure to keep tabs on the iPhone, Apple TV, and Apple Watch sections in particular.

If you will be unable to watch Apple’s event today, consider bookmarking our spoiler-free article, which will be updated with nothing other than a direct link to the presentation once it becomes available from Apple.

Related Roundups: iPhone 8, iPhone X
Tag: September 2017 event
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KGI: Apple’s Own Wireless Charging Accessory Will Not Debut at Today’s Event

Apple isn’t prepared to debut its own first-party wireless charging accessory for the upcoming iPhones, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus are all expected to support inductive wireless charging when they are announced later today, so in the interim between the smartphones’ launch and the launch of a first-party Apple wireless charging pad, users will have to purchase third-party accessories.

Apple isn’t ready for the launch of its own wireless charging accessory because it has “higher requirements for wireless charger RF specifications,” according to Kuo. This means that there is currently no definite timetable for the mass production of Apple’s accessory, and it’s unclear when such a device will launch. Apple might even be waiting for certain “technological breakthroughs” before ramping up production.

An example of a Qi wireless charging pad

Apple’s own-brand wireless charger is not expected to debut at the media event, which we believe is primarily because Apple has higher requirements for wireless charger RF specifications, so there will be no definite mass production timetable prior to technological breakthroughs. However, the new iPhone models supports the WPC standard, so we think users will be able to purchase and use non-Apple WPC-compliant wireless chargers with the new iPhone models.

In the same report, Kuo said that Foxconn is planning to see a significant ramp-up in production on its 5.5-inch LCD iPhone assembly line, by as much as 70-80 percent. This falls in line with previous reports that said Apple plans to boost production and availability of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, while the OLED iPhone X will be particularly difficult to come by early on.

We’re now just a few hours away from the official unveiling of the tenth-generation iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, Apple TV 4K, Apple Watch Series 3, and more, all taking place at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park. MacRumors will follow all of the stories and news coming out of the event today with a live blog, articles, video recap, and more. Follow our @MacRumorsLive Twitter account ahead of time to see live tweets as Apple breaks news during the event.

Related Roundups: iPhone 8, iPhone X
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Volkswagen’s electric Crozz SUV gets closer to reality

Volkswagen continues to push its electric roadmap. At the Frankfurt auto show, it dropped a newer version of the pure electric ID Crozz Crossover. Initially unveiled in Shanghai, the crossover is the third vehicle with the ID brand along with the microbus Buzz and four door, ID. All three vehicles will be built on the company’s upcoming Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB).

The Crozz is rumored to be the first of the ID vehicles to be offered for sale to the US market. Meanwhile the four-door ID car should be the first to hit production for sale internationally. It’s a smart move by the automaker considering the SUV and crossover market in the United States continue to grow while regular passenger vehicle sales are flat or falling.

The all-wheel drive vehicle (via two electric motors) will have a range of 311 miles and output 302 horsepower. It’s also expected to be able to charge to 80 percent in 30 minutes via a 150 kW DC fast charger. Still not as quick as a gas-powered car, but automakers are getting closer to making road trips without long pit stops a reality.

While the Buzz is getting all the… well buzz for bringing the microbus back to the market, America’s love affair with crossovers and SUVs means you’re probably going to see more Crozz’ on the road than retro buses.

Galaxy Note 8 makes its debut in India for ₹67,900

The Galaxy Note 8 will go on sale later this month.

Just a few short weeks after its global unveil, Samsung is launching the Galaxy Note 8 in India. The Galaxy S8 series was very well-received in the country, and there’s a healthy interest in the Galaxy Note line as well, which Samsung is eager to cater to.

As a reminder, the Galaxy Note 8 shares a similar design aesthetic as the Galaxy S8, with the phone sporting a slightly larger 6.3-inch Infinity Display with a resolution of 2960 x 1440. Samsung makes the best AMOLED panels, and the display on the Note 8 is incredible.

The Note 8 is powered by the Exynos 8895 in India, and comes with 6GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, IP68 dust and water resistance, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C 3.1, iris scanner, and a 3300mAh battery with fast charging and wireless charging.

A new feature to make its way to the Note 8 is dual cameras at the back. The phone has two 12MP cameras — a primary f/1.7 sensor that acts as a wide-angle lens augmented by an f/2.4 telephoto lens that offers 2x optical zoom. Both sensors have OIS, and there’s a front 8MP camera.

The Note 8 also has a dedicated button to invoke Bixby, and Samsung says Bixby Voice will be rolling out in India in a few weeks.

The Note 8 is retailing at ₹67,900 ($1,060), or ₹4,000 more than the retail cost of the Galaxy S8+. But you do get the S Pen and a larger screen, along with the new imaging sensors. The phone will be available for sale starting September 21, with pre-orders kicking off later today on Amazon India.

As always, those pre-ordering or purchasing the device on launch day will be eligible to receive freebies, including a one-time screen fix along with a wireless charger. HDFC customers will also pick up a ₹4,000 cash back.

Will you be picking up a Galaxy Note 8 in India? Let us know in the comments below.

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Netflix and John Legend are making a music competition show

For all the ground Netflix has covered with its original shows, there’s one area it has yet to touch: the talent show. If you ask Variety, however, that’s about to change. It understands that Netflix is partnering with John Legend’s production company Get Lifted Film Co. on Rhythm & Flow, a music talent competition series. It’s still in the early stages (they haven’t chosen any hosts yet), but it would focus on R&B and soul music. A former NBC executive, Jeff Gaspin, is reportedly involved through his Primary Wave Entertainment business.

The companies aren’t commenting on the apparent leak.

This could be partly about striking while the iron is hot. ABC, Fox and NBC are all working on music competitions, so Netflix may not want to feel left out. However, it could also be a bid to corner an audiences that aren’t usually well-served. You don’t really see streaming-exclusive talent shows, and the shows on TV tend to be relatively generic where Rhythm & Flow would target specific genres. It might not attract the massive viewership of an Idol show, but it could build a loyal following that keeps people subscribed — and that’s what Netflix cares about the most.

Source: Variety

BMW unveils the zippy i Vision Dynamics electric concept car

At the Frankfurt auto show, BMW showed off the latest addition to its iSeries vehicles: The two-door i Vision Dynamics coupe concept car. With a top speed of 200 kilometers per-hour and a zero to 100 kilometers (64 miles per-hour) launch of four seconds, it sits squarely between the urban bubble i3 and the supercar i8.

The iVision is part of the companies ongoing roadmap of bringing EVs and hybrids to the market. “Our top priority is electric mobility.” said BMW CEO Harald Krueger said the company. The automaker is planning 25 electrified vehicles (12 of them fully electric) by the year 2025.

The i Vision Dynamic has a range of 600 kilometers (373 miles) so it’s clearly targeting the Tesla Model S market. the automaker promised that this car would go into production. Although probably not looking as cool as it does now right now.

With this vehicle and the recently launched Mini Countryman hybrid and the concept electric Mini, BMW is making inroads with drivers looking to be a bit more green but also wanting performance.