‘Ex Machina’ director’s next film explores a dreamy otherworld

Frequent Danny Boyle film screenwriter Alex Garland’s directorial debut, the lauded 2015 sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, was a delightful and discomforting take on humans and the robots they create. His next film Annihilation comes out February 23rd, 2018, but check out its first trailer to see Natalie Portman explore a future United States starting to be overrun by a dreamy, otherworldly wilderness.

Annihilation is an adaptation of the first book (of the same name) in the Southern Reach trilogy, an award-winning science fiction series written by Jeff VanderMeer. Portman plays protagonist Lena, a biologist tasked with investigating Area X, a portion of the southern United States cordoned off from the outside world by a strange rainbow-slick membrane. Inside, she delves deeper into a surreal landscape, which may have played a part in her husband’s (Oscar Isaac) death after he returned from an expedition into Area X. Tessa Thompson and Jennifer Jason Leigh also star, though they have tragically little screen time in the trailer.

While Annihilation adapts the first part in the book trilogy, Garland didn’t make the film with two others in mind — it’ll be a standalone movie, he told Entertainment Weekly.

‘Eve: Valkyrie’ drops the VR requirement

If what’s been holding you back from playing Eve: Valkyrie has been the lack of a VR headset, that (very valid) reason has disappeared. In addition to the new subtitle, Warzone, there’s a new capture the flag gametype, new ships, ultra abilities and customizations for said ships and a pair of new maps. And, of course, now you can play the game on PC or PlayStation 4 sans an expensive and bulky virtual reality display hanging from your face.

All in all, it sounds like with this expansion, Valkyrie is actually a game versus the slightly deeper-than-average tech demo that launched on Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR last year. The game is available today for $30 on the PlayStation Store, Steam and Oculus Home, and the Warzone update is free for everyone who already owns Valkyrie. Best of all, you’ll be able to play against everyone regardless of platform. Enjoy it now before a possible Xbox port happens and Sony pulls its typical “cross-platform play isn’t safe for our users” card.

Source: Eve: Valkyrie forums

‘Assassin’s Creed Origins’ adds history lessons in early 2018

The Assassin’s Creed games have always had an element of historical realism to them, but it’s hard to appreciate that cultural authenticity when you’re five seconds away from being stabbed by a Templar. Thankfully, Ubisoft will take the pressure off for Assassin’s Creed Origins players. It’s adding a Discovery Tour mode devoted solely to giving you history lessons. There are “dozens” of guided tours led by Egyptologists and historians, focusing on subjects like the Great Pyramids (naturally), Cleopatra and mummification. And importantly, you’re free to explore on your own terms without combat or plot getting in the way.

The update doesn’t arrive until early 2018, but it’ll be a free update whether you’re playing on a PC, PS4 or Xbox One. It’s easy to see this as a slightly cynical ploy: it might get Assassin’s Creed into school curriculums and spur students to pick up their own copies after class. Frankly, though, it’s good to see a game series treat history as more than a convenient backdrop for the latest open world action blockbuster or real-time strategy game — you might come out of Origins with a greater understanding of human civilization.

Source: Ubisoft

Twitter proved its priorities are screwed up with just 280 characters

Yesterday, Twitter announced that it would experiment with doubling the character limit in tweets, making the jump from 140 to 280 characters. And, as expected, it didn’t take long for people on the internet to start critiquing the move, which is only available to a “small group” for now. Most of the feedback so far seems to be negative, and some are saying it’s further evidence of Twitter’s reluctance to confront larger issues. Instead of focusing on creating better tools for reporting harassment or acting faster to remove abusive content, the company is rolling out a feature that the majority of its users simply didn’t ask for.

While the 280-character trial may have come as a surprise, Twitter’s been quietly making its platform more flexible for months. In 2017 alone, it has removed photos, videos, quotes and, most recently, @replies from being counted against the 140-character limit. Twitter Product Manager, Aliza Rosen, said in a blog post that the latest change is designed to remove a major constraint for users, with the hope that it makes sharing their thoughts easier. Basically, when someone you follow goes on a tweetstorm, it’ll just take less tweets now. It’s also worth noting that, even before tweetstorms became a trend, people were already using screenshots and images of text as a workaround to the 140 characters cap.

Mom: Wow, our baby is carrying a knife, that seems unsafe.

Dad: What should we do?

Mom: Double the size of the knife.#280characters

— Frederick Douglass (@HITEXECUTIVE) September 27, 2017

“Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English, but it is not for those Tweeting in Japanese,” she said. Rosen pointed to Japanese-speaking users because their language lets them express themselves in less characters than, say, someone would in English: “We see that a small percent of tweets sent in Japanese have 140 characters (only 0.4 percent). But in English, a much higher percentage of tweets have 140 characters (9 percent). Most Japanese tweets are 15 characters while most English tweets are 34.”

Juan Lupión, chief technology officer at The Cocktail, a leading digital consultancy firm from Spain, says that developing this character limit feature was no easy task for Twitter. He says that given the scale of it, “simpler things become surprisingly harder.” In other words, Twitter likely spent a great amount of resources in rolling this out, which one could argue could be better spent to solve more pressing issues. “Twitter’s architecture is anything but simple,” he said. “One can think that switching to a longer text length is as easy as modifying some kind of length in a couple of variables, but that’s not really the point: Twitter is already deploying sophisticated components that are probably not bound by a hard 140-character limit.”

Rosen claims that, in all markets, data shows that “when people don’t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people tweeting.” Still, it’s hard not to think about all the other reasons Twitter decided to do this. For one, the company’s most recent earnings report proved that it is struggling to keep users from leaving in its platform. More than a million users quit Twitter in just three months this year, though, there’s no reason to believe character count had anything to do with that.

If anything, people are probably ditching the platform because of how toxic it has become. In recent weeks, Twitter has come under fire because it doesn’t know what to do with President Donald Trump, whose tweets often come close to violating the social network’s terms of service. Last year, the company did shut down the account of one of its most offensive users, Breitbart’s former Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos. But that only came after he repeatedly violated user guidelines.

Trump, for his part, has used Twitter to threaten to destroy an entire country (North Korea), to make an insensitive comment about someone (Mika Brzezinski) “bleeding bad from a face-lift”, and plenty of morally objectionable things. For what it’s worth, as BuzzFeed News reported, he doesn’t seem to have access to the 280-character feature — at least not yet.

But although the US president may be the highest-profile headache for Twitter, the company has a bunch of others to sort through, like how to respond more efficiently to revenge porn cases. Or how to make make it easier for users to report harassment and act quickly to block abusive accounts, not just dare you to check out any potential abusive mentions from randoms.

This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence! https://t.co/TuHj51MsTu

— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017

Twitter didn’t answer our request for comment on this story, but CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that he expected all the “snark and critique” for this experiment. “Comes with the job,” he said. “What matters now is we clearly show why this change is important, and prove to you all it’s better. Give us some time to learn and confirm (or challenge!) our ideas.” The good news is that, if you’re one of the people who isn’t into the feature, there’s still a chance Twitter could change its mind on the “new, still brief, constraint.”

Before it decides whether or not it’ll bring its new feature to everyone, Twitter says it will continue to test it with a small number of users and gather feedback first. Maybe while it does that, it can also figure out a way to let people edit their tweets, because all those new characters are probably going to make you more prone to messing up your tweets.

139 characters pic.twitter.com/WkfdXL8oLh

— Caitlin Kelly (@caitlin__kelly) September 26, 2017

Researchers test method to print mass-market medications

University of Michigan researchers have developed a technique to print medications onto a disposable strip or patch. In tests, these were just as effective as traditionally-produced medications at destroying cultured cancer cells. What’s more, the technique prints multiple medications at once, which could be much more convenient for patients who take many prescriptions daily.

“A doctor or pharmacist can choose any number of medications, which the machine would combine into a single dose,” University of Michigan professor Max Shtein said in a press release. He, along with recent graduate Olga Shalev, wrote their findings developing this method in the journal Nature Communications. “The machine could be sitting in the back of the pharmacy or even in a clinic.”

The researchers repurposed a method commonly found in electronics manufacturing, organic vapor-jet printing, for their new medication-making technique. This enables high-resolution printing down to a fine crystalline structure, an arrangement that makes it much easier for medications to dissolve. This would make some medicines unsuitable for conventional consumption viable again when printed using this method.

While the technique is still years away from printing mass-market drugs, it might start being used inside pharmaceutical companies that could use its quick medicine production to speed up clinical testing. But one day, the researchers envision it printing reams of medications on rolls like candy paper.

Amazon Launches New $99 Echo Speaker With Better Sound and $149 Echo Plus Smart Home Hub

At an event in Seattle this morning, Amazon unveiled its next-generation Amazon Echo speaker, which features a new smaller design and better sound than the original Echo to compete with products like Apple’s upcoming HomePod.

Apple focused heavily on sound quality as a way to differentiate the HomePod from existing smart speakers like the Google Home and the Amazon Echo, with a 7 tweeter array, a 4-inch upward-facing woofer, and an A8 processor capable of advanced acoustic modeling and spatial awareness. Shortly after the HomePod was unveiled, rumors of a higher-end Echo surfaced.

Amazon’s new Echo, image via TechCrunch
Amazon’s new Echo supports Dolby Audio and it has a dedicated woofer and tweeter, features Amazon says bring better sound. It also includes second-generation voice recognition capabilities, second-generation far-field microphone technology, and support for multi-room audio so several Echo devices can be used together.

The Echo is made from metal and is wrapped in a fabric shell, which can be swapped out with other shells for customization much like the Google Home. Amazon is offering six shells for the Echo.

Amazon plans to charge $99 for the new Echo, making it much more affordable than the HomePod, which will be priced at $349 when it launches in December. Pre-orders for the new Echo are available today.

There’s also a new Echo Plus, with built-in Zigbee functionality for smart home hub functionality and all of the same improvements in the new Echo model. It’s designed to work with a wide range of smart home products right out of the box, with over 100 partners signed up. Echo Plus is similar in design to the original Echo, while the new $99 Echo is smaller and shorter. Amazon is charging $149 for the Echo Plus, and it comes with a free Philips Hue bulb.

Echo Buttons, also new, are priced at $20 and are designed to allow Echo owners to play trivia games with the Echo, and the Echo Spot is a new Echo device that features a 2.5-inch circular display. It’s a cross between an Echo and a smart alarm clock with a price tag of $130.

Along with the new Echo models, Amazon announced the $35 Echo Connect, a device that’s designed to plug into a phone jack on one side and an Echo on the other, allowing the Echo to be used as a telephone able to accept calls from a person’s standard home phone number. The Echo Connect is also available for pre-order today. Amazon Echo speakers are also gaining call functionality that will let them make phone calls to any number.

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Amazon Launches New $69 Fire TV Dongle With 4K HDR Support

On the heels of the launch of the Apple TV 4K with support for HDR and 4K, Amazon today unveiled its next-generation Fire TV, which also has 4K HDR support.

The new device, which appears to replace both the Fire TV box and the Fire TV stick, features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, an Alexa Voice Remote, Dolby Atmos support, 802.11ac WiFi, and 2160p video at up to 60 frames per second.

Image via The Verge
Designed to be more like the Chromecast than the Apple TV, the new Fire TV is a small, hockey puck-sized square with a cable at one end to plug into a television set. It has Alexa support and offers access to hundreds of apps.

Amazon plans to offer pre-orders for the device starting today, with a launch set for later this year.

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App Store Surfacing Old Reviews From as Early as 2008 for Some Users

Since at least the iOS 11 beta, the App Store has been prioritizing old reviews from several years ago for some users. Now that the software update is publicly released, we’re starting to receive more user reports about the change.

The first review for Facebook’s app is from 2008
On my own iPhone, the first review for Facebook is from 2008, the year the App Store launched. The reviewer called it a nice app that allows him to stop using Facebook over text messaging, which is clearly a dated comment.

Similarly, the first review I can see for the Skype app is seven years old. The reviewer said he was glad the app finally has the ability to make phone calls over a 3G network, a feature added way back in May 2010.

Old reviews appeared at or near the top of the list for several regularly updated apps in my testing, including Airbnb, Dropbox, Google Maps, Instagram, Minecraft, Netflix, Twitter, Waze, WhatsApp, Yelp, and YouTube.

The top reviews for Google’s app are six to nine years old
It’s worth noting that I live in Canada. A few MacRumors editors living in the United States checked the App Store and saw much newer reviews for the Facebook app, although they were shown a three-year-old review for the Google app.

A handful of MacRumors forum members living in the United States report seeing very old reviews, however, so there doesn’t appear to be any consistency to this change. Your mileage may vary completely.

“Now I have to wade through 6-yr-old app reviews, which are worthless,” said MacRumors forum member AllergyDoc, whose location is listed as Utah.

“For example Evernote, the first four reviews are older than three years old,” said MacRumors forum member vahdyx, who lives in Colorado. “One of the reviews were from when Obama was a new president.”

Many users are frustrated because Apple currently provides no way to sort the reviews in a different order on iOS 11.

Ideally, the App Store should be displaying reviews in reverse chronological order to ensure the newest comments are at the top. A few slightly older reviews mixed in is surely fine, but reviews from 2008 aren’t particularly helpful.

Previously, reviews would only show for the latest version of an app, but that is currently not the case on both iOS 10 and iOS 11.

It’s quite possible that this is simply a bug, and if so, it’s probably an easy fix that might not even require a software update. MacRumors has reached out to Apple for comment, and we’ll update this article if we hear anything back.

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Gear Up: Kenu car docks and mounts

For those of you looking to purchase a new car mount for your phone, you might want to check out Kenu and its latest products. With four new models to choose from, there’s surely something for your needs.

First up are the new Airframe Magnetic and Airframe Pro.  Priced $24.95 and $29.95, respectively, they are designed to clip into your car’s air vents. Thanks to the way the clip is created, they’ll fit in any vent style: horizontal, vertical, circular, or angled.

We’re giving stuff away to help celebrate our tenth anniversary. Are you in?

The duo are built to hold all smartphone sizes so don’t worry about that giant new handset with a 6-inch display. Go ahead and plunk that Galaxy Note 8 down and use its screen for turn-by-turn GPS.

The Airframe Magnetic relies on the use of a magnetic plate that adheres to the back of your phone. Or, if you have a protective case, you can put the plate inside; the magnet is strong enough to bite it through most cases. The Airframe Pro, for its part, is more traditional with the expandable grip.

Another handy feature for the Airframe line is that you can insert a credit card or business into the back, essentially turning the clip into a makeshift desktop travel stand. This is perfect for flights as you can set the phone down in landscape mode and watch a film.

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If you prefer a more traditional mount, check out the Airbase Magnetic and Airbase Pro. Sold for about $29.95 each, these are the sort of base that you’d stick to a dashboard or desk. Or, perhaps you might turn it upside down and adhere it to the windshield.

Both of the Airbase models feature a 360-degree pivot so you can turn the phone to just the right angle. Like the aforementioned models, the Airframe Magnetic employs neodymium magnets (safe for handsets) to keep things locked in tight. The Airframe Pro, as you would expect, features the expanding grip with stainless steel rods.

Learn more about Kenu products at its website: kenu.com

The fat lady has sung — Samsung Milk Music is officially no more

Why it matters to you

After phasing Milk Music out of the U.S. in 2016, Samsung is shutting down its music service for good in October.

It’s official: The overcrowded music streaming industry is finally experiencing a shakeout. About a year after Samsung first started “sunsetting its Samsung Milk Music service” in certain countries (including the United States), it’s now over for good. The fat lady has sung, and Samsung Milk Music is no more.

The freemium service Milk Music was originally intended to serve as a competitor to Pandora. Back in 2014, that seemed somewhat plausible, but three years later, the idea has proven to be a pipe dream. Now Samsung is cutting its losses — and the service entirely.

For those of you (probably many of you) who never used Milk Music, the service worked much like many other players in the space. Users can create radio stations, whose songs are promised to be “hand-picked by experts.” While Milk was initially offered only to Samsung mobile device users, it later became available to anyone online, as well as to Samsung smart TV owners.

“We have made the strategic decision to invest in a partner model focused on seamlessly integrating the best music services available today into our family of Galaxy devices,” Samsung said last year. “We believe that working with partners will accelerate innovation, enhance device sales, and provide amazing new experiences for our customers.”

The service was never widely available, having only ever been offered to users in South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and the U.S. For the last year or so, it has only been operating in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, but starting October 23, Samsung Milk Music will become entirely extinct. That said, those in supported markets will still be able to stream tunes from the native Samsung Music app.

“We decided to remove the Milk brand for users’ convenience, and to provide a unified music player through Samsung Music,” confirmed a Samsung official to Sammobile.

As per Variety, “a source close to the company [says] that Samsung executives are looking to ‘clean house’ after spending significantly on Milk Music without seeing the expected returns.” Another issue, a source reported, is that while users are more than happy to use the free version of Milk Music, “hardly anyone bothered to pay for Milk’s premium tier, much to the dismay of senior executives.”