‘EVE: Valkyrie’ studio is shutting down its VR department

While CCP Games is best known for its space MMO EVE: Online, its VR spin-off game EVE: Valkyrie won praise for its immersive (if limited) gameplay. While the studio had begun to break into other VR titles, including the one-on-one competitive Sparc released for PSVR in August, its virtual reality days are done. Today, news dropped that CCP will dip out of VR development for the next few years and refocus on PC and mobile — which, unfortunately, means shuttering two of its five global offices.

In an interview, CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson noted the company would close its Atlanta office and transition its projects to the company’s offices in Reykjavík and London. Some of the 100 laid off employees will be offered relocations to the London offices, CCP said in a statement emailed to Engadget. CCP isn’t shutting down EVE: Valkyrie, instead selling the team off wholesale. In a forum post, the game’s team assured fans that it would still release a promised Winter content update and would continue supporting the game.

Both EVE: Online and its upcoming first-person shooter Project Nova will be unaffected. The studio won’t, however, continue developing new virtual reality projects for two to three years.

“We will continue to support our VR games but will not be making material VR investments until we see market conditions that justify further investments beyond what we have already made,” CCP told Engadget in an emailed statement.

CPP haven’t lost faith in VR entirely, according to the statement. This makes sense given how much the company has professed its faith in VR over the years. EVE: Valkyrie was a prominent face of virtual reality gaming when it debuted with the Oculus Rift’s launch in March 2016. It was also among the titles available when the PSVR went on sale, but that game’s fortunes declined since and CCP relaunched the game with the option to play on PS4 without VR capability last month. But, too little too late, it seems. Some other developer will have to carry the VR torch for a few years — assuming CCP gets back into the virtual reality market at all.

Via: Rock Paper Shotgun

Source: Mbl.Is

Samsung tests Genius Bar-like ‘care centers’ in co-working spaces

If you’ve ever spent too much time waiting at an Apple Genius Bar to get your gadget fixed, you know that it can be a pretty boring, sterile moment. There just isn’t much to do there, besides checking out Apple Watch bands on your wrist, or trying to find out which set of Beats sound better. Samsung’s VP of design, Mick McConnell, felt the same way, but he actually got to do something about it. The electronics company is piloting a program at co-working space WeWorks to let people come in to get help with their Samsung devices. That way, you can get some work done at the various stations while you wait.

WeWork spots function as shared office environments; Samsung has placed new “care centers” at three locations in Detroit, Miami and Williamsburg, New York, according to a report at Fast Company. “Service is a hassle,” McConnell told the site. “I know I’m going to have to take time out of my day to do it,” says McConnell. “The concept was, if I take time out of my day, at least I can sit in a conference room, make phone calls, and do work, as opposed to sitting in a busy room with a bunch of angry people.”

According to Fast Company, the new Samsung areas are an enclosed “black steel and glass box,” complete with tables and workstations. The other areas are more like typical WeWork spaces, with high-end office furnishings and video conferencing stations. It’s a win-win for Samsung, as professionals needing co-working space will be exposed to the brand will mingle with customers needing tech help feeling a lot better about the experience than, say, Apple retail attendees are. So far, said Fast Company, customers are only able to receive tier 1 support, like technical help and mail-out repairs. Unlike the Genius Bar, then, tier 2 support, like replacing screens or hard drives, isn’t yet in the mix.

Via: 9to5Google

Source: Fast Company

Universal Music taps AR and VR to hype new releases

VR storytelling company Within has been experimenting with different musical collaborators. Universal Music Group artist The Chemical Brothers worked with the company to create an immersive, web VR-based visual interpretation of the duo’s tune, “Under Neon Lights.” Within also put together a music video for OneRepublic in VR for their single, “Kids.” Within is now going big in a new partnership with Universal Music Group to develop augmented and virtual reality experiences with the music label’s large roster of artists.

The companies will work together to create immersive music, which will then show up on Within’s app, which is available on iOS, Android, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Sony PSVR and Google Daydream. The idea of this new partnership is to begin collaborations early in the music creation process to better integrate VR and AR into the creation, production and promotion of new tracks, rather than just as an add-on after the fact.

“Music is one of the most uniquely transformative mediums of human expression; combining it with immersive AR and VR experiences creates a new art form exponentially more powerful than the sum of its parts,” said Within’s CEO Chris Milk in a statement. “This partnership allows us the incredible opportunity to work with top artists at UMG to create ever more meaningful and expressive immersive music experiences.”

Source: Within/UMG

Creator of ‘Remotizer’ Keyless Entry System Sues Apple for Selling HomeKit-Enabled August Smart Lock

Texas resident Mark Kilbourne has filed a lawsuit against Apple in Southern Texas for selling the HomeKit-enabled August Smart Lock.

The complaint claims that the August Smart Lock infringes upon his patented Remotizer keyless entry system for existing deadbolt locks. For selling the product, Apple is somehow being solely targeted here rather than August.

Kilbourne allegedly submitted a Remotizer app for iPhone for review around September 2014, but Apple said it was unable to continue with the process because it needed the associated hardware to fully assess the app.

“We began review of the app but are not able to continue because we need the associated hardware to fully assess your app features,” read Apple’s email response, according to the complaint. It appears Kilbourne never complied.

Both the Remotizer and August Smart Lock are electronic systems for remotely opening and closing a preexisting deadbolt lock without a key. Both products allow homeowners to keep their existing exterior door hardware and replace only the interior side of most standard deadbolts.

August’s Smart Lock is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit platform for locking and unlocking with Apple’s Home app and Siri.

Kilbourne is seeking an award of unspecified damages and legal costs, and he wants Apple to stop selling the August Smart Lock, according to the complaint. The lawsuit is rather humorous given that it should probably be targeted at August Smart Lock, so we’ll see how far this one goes before getting tossed out.

Tags: lawsuit, August Smart Lock
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Square Announces New ‘Square Register’ All-in-One Point-of-Sale Device for Businesses

Square today announced the launch of Square Register, a new point-of-sale device that joins Square Stand and Square Reader, the company’s existing iPad and iPhone-based point-of-sale systems.

Unlike Square Stand and Square Reader, Square Register is a fully integrated solution with hardware and software designed by Square. The device features a large display that faces the cashier, and at the back is a second, smaller display that’s customer-facing.

The smaller display offers up a look at the order total and allows customers to swipe their cards to make a payment. With previous Square solutions, the display had to be flipped around so both customer and cashier could use it, but the two-display option alleviates that problem.

Priced at $999, Square Register is meant for businesses that want to use Square’s software but are looking for a more professional checkout system than an iPad or an iPhone can provide. A transaction fee of 2.5 percent plus 10 cents per transaction is also required, but all major credit and debit cards are supported and it includes protection from eligible chargebacks.

Merchants can also opt to pay $49 per month for the Square Register over the course of 24 months, and there are custom pricing options for large businesses.

Like other Square point-of-sale options, Square Register is equipped with NFC and will allow businesses to accept Apple Pay payments. Other features include support for accessories through a five-port USB hub and Ethernet and offline support for use even in situations with poor connectivity.

Tag: Square
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Apple Asks Developers to Start Optimizing Apps for HomePod Using SiriKit in iOS 11.2

iOS 11.2, released this morning, introduces SiriKit support for the HomePod, according to Apple. With SiriKit for HomePod now available, Apple is asking developers to make sure SiriKit-compatible apps are optimized for HomePod ahead of the device’s release.

SiriKit is designed to allow iOS and watchOS apps to work with Siri, so users can complete tasks with Siri voice commands. SiriKit is available for a wide range of apps on those two platforms, but its availability is slightly more limited when it comes to HomePod.

Third-party apps that use SiriKit Messaging, Lists, and Notes are compatible with the HomePod. Siri will recognize voice requests given to the HomePod, with those requests carried out on a linked iOS device. So, for example, users can ask HomePod to send a message to a friend, add an item to a list, or create a new note. Sample HomePod requests:

– Send a text to Eric using WhatsApp
– In WeChat, tell Eric I’ll be late
– Add chocolate and bananas to my list in Things
– Create a note that says “hello” in Evernote

Developers can test the voice-only experience of their apps using Siri through headphones connected to an iOS device with the iOS 11.2 beta.

Apple plans to release the HomePod this December, but a specific launch date for the speaker has not yet been provided. When it becomes available, the HomePod will cost $349.

Related Roundups: iOS 11, HomePodTag: Siri
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Microsoft Stops Offering New Outlook.com Premium Subscriptions, Rolls Features Into Office 365

Microsoft today announced that its Outlook.com Premium feature, which offered features like an ad-free Outlook experience for $19.95 per month, is closed to new subscribers.

Outlook.com Premium features are now being added to Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal subscriptions.

Today, we began rolling out new benefits for Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal subscribers who use Outlook.com. These premium email features include an ad-free inbox, enhanced protection against malware and phishing, larger mailbox sizes, and premium customer support. In the coming months, we’ll be introducing additional premium Outlook.com features to make personal email and calendar experiences for Office 365 subscribers more powerful, productive, and secure.

Office 365 subscribers will now get the same ad-free experience that was available with Outlook Premium, eliminating banner ads and advertisements in the message list.

More mailbox storage is also included, as is advanced security against email threats, including a feature for scanning attachments and checking incoming links. All Office 365 subscribers now get 50GB of mailbox storage, while free Outlook.com accounts will get 15GB of storage space.

Microsoft says that in addition to 365 subscribers, all loyal Outlook.com users whose mailbox is 12GB or larger will be updated to 50GB.

The premium Outlook features will be added to all 365 Home and Personal subscription accounts automatically for users that have @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, and @msn.com accounts. Advanced email security features will not apply to @gmail, @yahoo, or other third-party email accounts.

Existing Outlook.com Premium subscribers can continue to renew their Premium subscriptions and receive the same benefits. Premium customers who have custom domains will be able to continue to use them, with domain renewal automatically included in yearly subscription fees. Custom domains are not a feature included in the new 365 options.

Office 365 Home is priced at $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month, while Office 365 Personal is priced at $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. Office 365 Home can be installed on up to five PCs or Macs and five tablets and five smartphones, while Office 365 Personal is limit to 1 PC or Mac and can be installed on one tablet and one smartphone.

The new premium Outlook functionality is rolling out to Office 365 subscribers starting today, but could take a month to become available to all customers.

Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Outlook, Office 365
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Sprint and T-Mobile Merger Might Be Over Amid Fight for Control of Combined Company

Sprint parent company SoftBank may call off a planned merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, report Nikkei and Reuters.

SoftBank’s board of directors is said to be having doubts about the deal due to a failure to reach an agreement about the ownership of the combined T-Mobile/Sprint entity. SoftBank is worried about “losing control” of the combined company, according to sources that spoke to Reuters.

Rumors suggest SoftBank could approach T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom as soon as Tuesday to end the talks. Deutsche Telekom wanted a controlling stake in the combined company, which SoftBank’s board has ultimately decided not to agree to. T-Mobile is still attempting to keep the deal going, but Deutsche Telekom does not plan to budge on demands for control.

A T-Mobile and Sprint merger deal has been in the works since February of 2017, and as recently as September, the deal was said to be close to done as SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom worked out the final details. T-Mobile CEO John Legere was set to lead the combined company.

Should the deal ultimately fall through, it will be the second time Sprint and T-Mobile have failed to reach an agreement. Sprint parent company SoftBank attempted to purchase T-Mobile in a 2013 deal worth more than $20 billion, but SoftBank abandoned its plans in 2014 amid regulatory scrutiny.

Even if the deal progresses and SoftBank does not end the merger, it’s still unclear if it will gain regulatory approval this time around. In 2014, U.S. antitrust regulators said having four national carriers was important to maintaining a competitive market.

Tags: Sprint, T-Mobile
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Amazon Fire HD 8 (2017) review

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The 2017 Amazon Fire HD 8 experience is perhaps the best tablet you’ll find in the sub-$100 price range. At only $80, it’s less expensive than last year’s take and yet features improved Wi-Fi and audio.

Whereas only a few years back we might have recommend proceed with caution on a tablet that carries a price tag of $100 or less, today that’s much easier to do. No longer is that space occupied by no-name and lesser known brands. Indeed, it’s now Amazon’s game to lose.

Don’t get us wrong, this is not a performance-based device. You won’t use this one for heavy work needs, it’s not rugged, and it doesn’t come close in benchmark tests. Hell, it still doesn’t even have the Google Play Store on it. There’s plenty here that would cause us to look elsewhere if we had different needs. The thing is, though, the Fire HD 8 tends to meet our needs again and again.

Available in black, blue, yellow, and red (the color we were sent), the Fire HD 8 measures 8.4-inches by 5-inches. Just a shade under ½-inch thick, it weighs about 13 ounces.

The HD 8’s LCD display is 1280 x 800 pixels, giving readers 189 pixels per inch. It’s not the brightest image we’ve seen and it sometimes skews a little bit yellowish, but we’ve seen worse in other tablets. Toggling the blue light filter feels much stronger than what we get in most phones and tablets. Nevertheless, it works just fine for games, magazines, and other media.

If there’s one thing we could say about the Fire HD 8, and other tablets from Amazon, it’s that we don’t know what orientation is the best. We’re torn between landscape and portrait, going back and forth depending on our usage. We like both settings but would appreciate if it felt “right” in one or the other.

Given its size we love to read magazines and books on it. To that end, portrait mode works well, spreading pages out to take advantage of the screen. But, just about everything else finds us flipping on its side. Or do we have it backwards?

The speaker and button placement try to answer this question. The dual stereo speakers are on the bottom when in landscape, moving to the left side when in portrait. It makes sense that you’d like a balanced audio experience when watching video or playing games. Reading, however, doesn’t require speakers so it matters little which side they’re on.

While in portrait orientation you’ll find the power button, microUSB port, microphone, headphone jack, and volume buttons. They run in that order from left to right. We might have preferred moving the headphone jack to below as the cord can sometimes get in the way of reading.

Operating System and User Interface

The operating system, Fire OS, is based off of Android, gives you most of the flexibility and customization that you get in other Android devices. To be clear, though, Amazon stops short of giving you an outright “tablet” experience.

If you’ve never spent time with an Amazon tablet, we’ll clear things up for you. It’s all about the Amazon ecosystem. Period. Not that this is a bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it’s gotten much better over time as the company continues to spread its wings.

If you’re not married to Google or Apple’s services, and don’t need to be overly productive with your tablet, the Fire HD line is a wonderful family of products. You can get most of the applications through Amazon that might otherwise be found in the Google Play Store. Moreover, a little bit of tinkering and time could yield a more traditional tablet or Android experience.

As for this particular build of the Fire OS, we’ve come to like it but have never really been in love with it. To us it feels a little bit too busy on the home screen. The mix of text and graphics can sometimes overwhelm; things aren’t always in the most intuitive place. New users might not feel the same way, but season Android tablet users, or those who have used older versions of Amazon’s tablets, may get discouraged in the first few days.

One of the best words to use to describe Amazon tablets is “consumption”. Whereas a more traditional, or powerful tablet/2-in-1 might lean more towards productivity, the Fire HD 8 is all about taking things in. That’s music, movies, books, audio, and games. Once you’re in the world of Amazon it’s hard to leave.

Should you already be someone who has purchased books, audiobooks, or other content from Amazon over the years, you’ll find it all here. Everything synchronizes nicely and is presented in a somewhat intuitive manner.

You’ll notice that just about everywhere you go on the Fire HD 8 you will be presented with some form of advertising or promotion. Amazon is the best company in the world for knowing its users and making smart recommendations.

Indeed, the longer you use the tablet, or Amazon as a whole, the less “in your face” this feels. Over time it becomes a case of, “Yeah, I should order more of those” or “I actually am interested in checking out that book”.

Those of you who have spent time in Google’s ecosystem might stumble a bit as you get started with the Fire HD 8. You won’t find any of the standard apps or services installed; they’re not in the Appstore, either. And, while most of the other big names in the mobile space are present, you will occasionally run into the rare dead end when trying to find an app.

As touched on before, you can go about installing the Google Play Store manually. Doing so doesn’t really void any warranty or cause issues and can open the door to a wider world of apps. If you go that route, proceed with caution and back up anything important first.

Amazon does a tremendous job giving users an experience that works great for the entire family. Parents can take advantage of Amazon FreeTime which lets mom and dad tailor the UI, background color, and fonts as well as handpick the apps and games. Additionally, parents enable set restrictions and daily limits on games and video and leave unlimited time for reading.

A $2.99 monthly subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited offers up thousands of books, games, educational apps, movies, and TV shows from industry heavyweights like Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, and PBS.

As you would expect, Amazon’s new tablets support Alexa, but it’s done a little bit differently. Rather than having the always listening “Hey Alexa” trigger, you’ll hold down the home button to enable the voice actions.

Performance

The 1.3GHz quad-core Mediatek processor is bolstered by 1.5GB RAM and is enough to get the job done. Thanks to the interface and tightly guarded ecosystem you’ll hardly notice that this is a fraction of the hardware that powers most devices. Should you start side-loading your own apps or tinkering with the UI you might slow things down or run into stutters.

Generally speaking we found the Fire HD 8 to be snappy with apps opening quickly. Magazines, books, and other media were speedy enough for our liking. The tablet offers both 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections for Wi-Fi; we found the latter to be more efficient in our time with the tablet.

The Fire HD 8 comes in 16GB and 32GB storage capacities with about $30 difference between the two. A microSD card slot allows for more storage of media and apps. Our 16GB demo unit gave us roughly 12GB of space free after all of the pre-loaded apps and content.

We were impressed with the sound of the tablet’s two speakers. While you might find only one speaker on a budget-friendly tablet, Amazon gives us a pair of bottom-mounted (landscape mode) speakers. You’ll find a loud, clearly defined sound that complements video, music, and games well.

We wish there was something nice we could say about the 2-megapixel rear camera but it’s hard. Really, we’ve never actively sought to capture photos from an Amazon tablet, regardless of the model. Children, however, seem to enjoy it, and use it in select games.

As for the front-facing camera, well, it’s the same sentiment. It’s there if you need it but it’s VGA quality and doesn’t perform all that great in lower lighting conditions.

Battery life is rated at 12 hours but that is based on mixed usage. We didn’t track it by hours, but our experience was that roughly every few days we could charge it up for a short bit and not have to worry.

Watching video for longer periods, and at the brightest settings, we could get well beyond four hours out of the battery. Keep a portable power supply handy if you plan to travel over a weekend, especially if you have children.

Conclusion

Without question, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is best low-cost tablet experience you can purchase. With pricing that starts at $79.99, it works exceptionally as an eBook reader, magazine and comic book reader, audiobook device, and media tool.

Amazon has done a great job of evolving its family of products and services and the new Fire HD 8 is a solid way of delivering it all in a portable slate. It’s the right size to read in short bursts but can get a little heavier in extended use.

If book reading is primarily the feature that you care about, go with a traditional Kindle. For all other practical, and consumption-based purposes, the Fire HD fits the bill. If you’ve got Amazon Prime, or use Alexa on a regular basis, you’ll love having everything close at hand.

As much we advocate for stock Android and more traditional tablets, the truth is that we often grab a Fire first. The last few years have seen us packing and toting around the Amazon product line for kicking our feet up and taking in various forms of entertainment.

It’s easier for us to single-task and focus on a book or magazine when the tablet isn’t always trying to synchronize our Gmail or Outlook accounts. While we can add our email addresses and mange things here, we like leaving them off and unplugging.

Over the last five years or so we’ve found ourselves being slowly sucked into the black hole that is Amazon. The company has its hands in a number of areas that we like and is always looking for new ways to impress. The Fire HD 8 is an affordable way to stay connected to all things Amazon.

Where to Buy

You can purchase the Fire HD 8 in two storage capacities. For $79.99 you get the 16GB model with advertisements on the lock screen and occasionally throughout the experience. For $109.99 you get double the storage capacity at 32GB; the offers are still included. Amazon terms these tablets as “With Special Offers”

Spend $15 more on either one and you’ll have the advertisements removed. This shakes out to $94.99 for the 16GB and $124.99 for the 32GB. All models are available in red, blue, yellow, and black.

Here’s everything you need to know about SpaceX Starlink

Why it matters to you

Global high speed internet, for everyone.

Unless you’ve been living in a technological black hole for the last few years, you’re probably heard of Elon Musk, and read stories about his ambitious ideas and startups. Between sexy electric cars, “hyperloop” transit systems, reusable rockets, and Mars colonies; there’s certainly no shortage of things to look forward to from the guy. In this article, we’ll explore one of his more intriguing pursuits — recently dubbed “Starlink” — and the implications it has for both the internet and the world at large. Here’s a breakdown of what SpaceX Starlink is, and why you should get pumped about it.

Humble beginnings

In 2015, Musk began probing the FCC about testing a “global broadband” system, and in September of 2017 filed applications for a satellite based broadband network called (you guessed it) Starlink, with the objective of eventually building a low-cost, satellite based broadband network capable of delivering internet access to the entire globe.

Sounds pretty straightforward — but what makes Starlink special compared to conventional satellite internet? Well, to put it plainly: while satellite internet has been around for ages, it has generally suffered from high latency, unreliable connections, and spotty service areas. With Starlink, SpaceX intends to put a “constellation” of satellites in low earth orbit, thereby providing high-speed, cable-like internet to every corner of the planet.

Much like Musk’s other ideas, this one is extremely ambitious, and in order to achieve it, SpaceX’s launch schedule is going to get busy in a way the world hasn’t seen before.

The road ahead

To give you a sense of just how formidable a challenge this is, here are some numbers: There are currently only 1,459 satellites currently in orbit around earth, along with 2,600 inactive. SpaceX will need to launch 4,425 satellites into orbit to achieve its desired coverage. That’s going to require a lot of rockets, a lot of fuel, and a lot of money.

APRIL 12, 2017 -SpaceX Dragon satellite module

The project is ambitious to say the least, but the payoff will presumably be immense. Imagine having blazing fast internet available all the time, no matter if you’re were in the middle of a crowded city or deep in the Amazonian jungle. Slated for as soon as 2024, this theoretical blanket of broadband isn’t that far off. If this project comes to fruition, it would make low latency internet available to locations that previously had either poor service, or none at all. The impact such a network might have on Earth remains to be seen, but Elon Musk is already thinking beyond our pale blue dot. In the long-term, SpaceX intends to develop a similar system to deploy on Mars for future colonization attempts, and will use the Starlink project to lay the foundation for those efforts.

The end of the world as we know it (in a good way)

Considering the fact that SpaceX is one of the world’s most advanced launch service providers, it already has many of the resources needed to establish and maintain a fleet of satellites — most notably its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon satellite programs. With 13 successful launches in 2017 (and counting), getting satellites into the air on a regular schedule looks like it won’t be a problem — although SpaceX will need to scale up its launch schedule considerably to make it possible.

If Musk and Co. are successful in this endeavor, they will almost certainly cause waves in the telecom industry. After all, with global internet, who needs traditional cell phone service? ISPs and telecoms will likely start to feel the heat as Starlink (and similar projects from other tech giants) progress over the next few years. So while this might be bad news for SpaceX’s competitors, individual consumers like yourself have a lot to look forward to.

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