The Morning After: Tuesday, November 14th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

While we prepare for The Engadget Experience today in Los Angeles, you can take a look back Monday’s biggest stories, including yet another terrifying robot from the good folks at Boston Dynamics.

No PC or base station required.HTC Vive Focus is a standalone VR headset with ‘world-scale’ tracking

After a couple of teases earlier this year, HTC has finally unveiled its upcoming standalone VR headset at today’s Vive Developer Conference in Beijing. Dubbed the Vive Focus, this all-in-one device features inside-out 6-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) “world-scale” tracking, meaning it doesn’t require external base stations nor sensors, so you can get positional tracking anywhere at any time — even on a train or plane, should you wish to.

It’s official.Amazon is making a ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV series

Here’s what we know so far: Amazon’s series “will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring,” and there’s a possibility of a spinoff in the future.

See Spot jog.Boston Dynamics teases a ‘new’ SpotMini robot

Now that Boston Dynamics has moved from Google/Alphabet ownership to Softbank, it apparently plans to keep the funky robot concepts coming. The latest is this revised SpotMini robot, a dog-like all-electric helper. All we can see in the teaser clip is its new plastic-looking shell and that it’s missing the arm shown with a previous version. The future is weird.

‘LotR’ for free?Amazon may be prepping a free ad-supported video service

Ad Age sources claim that Amazon is developing a free, ad-supported streaming service as a “complement” to Prime Video, reviving an idea that had surfaced back in 2014. For its part, Amazon says it has “no plans to create a free, ad-supported version of Prime Video.”

Time to re-evaluate?After half a season, ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is worth paying for

Is the new Star Trek series worth subscribing to yet another video service? Swapna Krishna was skeptical but now believes the answer, for Trek fans, is yes. The second half of its first season launches January 7th on CBS All Access.

The buddy system.AT&T and Verizon team up to build hundreds of new cell towers

Construction on the first towers will begin in early 2018.

How are the highs and lows?Bose uses Indiegogo to test wireless earbuds for sleep

There’s a big name behind these crowdfunded ‘sleepbuds.’

But wait, there’s more…

• EA makes ‘Star Wars: Battlefront II’ heroes easier to earn amid backlash
• Microsoft’s Black Friday deals include a $189 Xbox One S
• Semi-autonomous trucks are hauling appliances from Texas to California
• A ‘Hitman’ series is coming to Hulu from the creator of ‘John Wick’
• ESPN is launching a version of SportsCenter made for Snapchat
• What’s on TV: ‘Marvel’s The Punisher,’ ‘SW: Battlefront II,’ ‘L.A. Noire’
• Virtual nation Asgardia has launched itself into space

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‘This War of Mine’ drops first episode of its story-driven DLCs

Games about war, though insanely popular, do little to illustrate the hardships faced by soldiers and civilians. With its stark design and focus on survival, This War of Mine (TWOM) set out to change that. The indie game from the devs behind the Anomaly series struck a chord, becoming an instant hit and going on to reap awards. Three years later, it seems the title still has some life left in it, with 11 Bit Studios releasing the first chapter in a TWOM DLC series.

Dubbed Father’s Promise, the debut episode puts you in control of Adam, a father trying to protect his daughter from the horrors of war, while attempting to escape a besieged city. The scenario may sound familiar to console gamers that played TWOM: The Little Ones for PS4 and Xbox One, which put you in charge of a group of adults and children.

A story of “love, hate, and sacrifice” is how its creators describe the DLC, so be prepared for another round of emotive gameplay. Whereas TWOM takes its cues from the Bosnian War, this time 11 bit studios are adding narrative flourishes from the work of Polish author Łukasz Orbitowski.

You can grab Father’s Promise on Steam for $1.99, or as part of a season pass for $4.99.

30 governments are interfering with democracy online

Political mudslinging is a concept as old as politics itself, but in recent years it’s found its way off the podium and onto the internet, and a new report now shows the extent of the problem. According to findings from Freedom House, governments in no less than 30 countries are now “mass producing their own content to distort the digital landscape in their favor”. Furthermore, these manipulation efforts may have affected elections taking place in 18 countries.

The report follows attempts by Russia to meddle with the US presidential election between June 2015 and May 2017, when adverts paid for by a Russian organization called the “Internet Research Agency” appeared on American citizens’ Facebook pages in an apparent bid to fuel political discord. According to Freedom House, internet freedom in the US has now declined since the previous year.

The report shows that the lowest “internet freedom” score — perhaps unsurprisingly — goes to China, but regimes in Turkey, Sudan, Venezuela and the Philippines are also poor performers. In Venezuela, for example, government agencies regularly used manipulated footage to support its re-election campaign, while in Sudan the government uses a virtual “cyber army” to spread its messages through WhatsApp.

The solution to this escalating issue isn’t obvious, and as Freedom House notes, steps to mitigate online misinformation are liable to cause just as much harm. According to the report, 14 countries taking measures to stop nefarious web activities actually ended up restricting internet freedom. In June this year, for example, Germany instituted a new law stipulating Facebook, Google and Twitter remove content marked offensive in a way that “lacks judicial oversight”.

“When trying to combat online manipulation from abroad, it is important for countries not to overreach,” said Sanja Kelly, who oversees the production of the Freedom of the Net report. “The solution to manipulation and disinformation lies not in censoring websites but in teaching citizens how to detect fake news and commentary.” But as this report shows, with governments pushing one way and online companies pushing the other, the gap between fake news and total censorship is closing, and citizens are increasingly unable to decide for themselves.

Source: Recode

Fisker has filed patents for solid-state batteries

By Joel Stocksdale

It seems that we’re on the cusp of a solid-state battery revolution. The latest company to announce progress in developing the new type of battery is Fisker. It has filed patents for solid-state lithium-ion batteries and it expects the batteries to be produced on a mass scale around 2023.

Though Fisker is a very small car company that is currently taking deposits for its upcoming EMotion electric sedan, there are reasons to believe that the company could fulfill this promise. One of the members of the battery-development team was a co-founder of Sakti3, a company that formed to develop new batteries and announced its research into solid-state technology back in 2011. That company was purchased by Dyson, the vacuum cleaner company, which also intends on producing electric cars that AutoExpress reports will feature solid-state batteries in 2020. Toyota is also expected to have solid-state batteries just ahead of Fisker around 2022.

The reason all these companies are working on developing solid-state batteries is because they present a whole host of advantages over what you’ll find in today’s phones, computers and cars. The two big ones are greater energy density and rapid charging times. Fisker claims the batteries it’s developing have an energy density 2.5 times that of current batteries, and they should be capable of providing a 500-mile driving range. The company also says the batteries could be recharged in as little as a minute. Both claims are similar to past claims from others, including Sakti3. Other benefits include lower estimated cost than conventional lithium-ion batteries as well as very little risk of fires or explosions.

Fisker also announced that it will display the new battery technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. It will be on display along with a close-to-production EMotion, which will be using more conventional lithium-ion batteries from LG Chem. That car has its own impressive claims with a range of more than 400 miles and the ability to regain around 125 miles of range in about 9 minutes. It will also retail for around $130,000, and the company is taking $2,000 reservations now. Fisker intends for it to go into production in 2019.

Apple Retakes Top Spot in Global Wearables Market

Apple has retaken the lead in the global wearable band market thanks to strong Apple Watch shipments in the third quarter of this year, according to new research data from Canalys. According to the data, Apple shipped 3.9 million units in Q3 2017, compared to 2.8 million the year previous.

Those figures gave the tech giant 23 percent of the market, placing it marginally ahead of the 21 percent recorded for Xiaomi, which briefly held the number 1 spot for the first time the previous quarter. Canalys estimates that the new Apple Watch Series 3 LTE accounted for only 800,000 shipments because of constrained supplies.

“Strong demand for the LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 has dispelled service providers’ doubts about the cellular smartwatch not appealing to customers,” said Canalys Analyst Jason Low. Despite strong shipments, the Apple Watch Series 3 did not reach its full potential in Q3. It suffered limited availability as demand outstripped supply in major markets. Service providers had underestimated demand for the new Apple Watch.

According to Low, customers in China have so far been driven away by service disruption, therefore operators need to not only bring in more stock, but also work on their service coverage to cater for expected higher demand in the fourth quarter.

Xiaomi and Fitbit, which shipped 3.6 million and 3.5 million wearable bands respectively, also appear to have bucked the trend of a traditionally weaker Q3 by posting quarter-on-quarter growth. However, despite increased smartwatch shipments, Canalys estimates waning demand for basic bands meant the overall wearable band market fell 2 percent, totaling 17.3 million units. 

All indications point towards a comeback for the Apple Watch this year, thanks to Apple’s wearable division promoting a “tetherless” experience and putting particular emphasis on the device’s health features – factors that CEO Tim Cook was eager to highlight in his recent earnings call.

“The ability to go for a run with just your Apple Watch, or go for a quick errand without your phone, while staying connected, is a game changer,” said Cook. “Now more than ever, Apple Watch is the ultimate device for healthy life, and is already making a big difference in our customers’ lives.

Apple’s entire wearables business was up 75 percent year over year in the fourth quarter, according to Cook. In fiscal 2017, it had already generated the annual revenue of a Fortune 400 company.

If supplies are able to meet demand, Apple could be looking at a bumper holiday season for Apple Watch, while the device’s continued maturation could be further underlined by its medical potential, such as in the upcoming launch of the Apple Watch heart study. The study will use data from Apple Watch to see if it’s possible to identify irregular heart rhythms and notify users when unusual patterns are detected. Indeed, the smartwatch may already be able to accurately detect hypertension and sleep apnea in users, according to a study published on Monday.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Tag: CanalysBuyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Apple Reportedly Working on 3D Sensor System for Rear Camera in 2019 iPhones

Apple is developing 3D depth sensing technology for the rear-facing cameras in its 2019 iPhones, according to a new report by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The 3D sensor system will be different to the one found in the iPhone X’s front-facing camera, and is said to be the next big step in turning the smartphone into a leading augmented reality device.

Apple is evaluating a different technology from the one it currently uses in the TrueDepth sensor system on the front of the iPhone X, the people said. The existing system relies on a structured-light technique that projects a pattern of 30,000 laser dots onto a user’s face and measures the distortion to generate an accurate 3D image for authentication. The planned rear-facing sensor would instead use a time-of-flight approach that calculates the time it takes for a laser to bounce off surrounding objects to create a three-dimensional picture of the environment.

The existing TrueDepth camera would continue to be used in the front-facing camera of future iPhones in order to power Face ID, while the new system would bring the more advanced “time-of-flight” 3D sensing capability to the rear camera, according to the sources cited. Discussions with manufacturers are reportedly already underway, and include Infineon, Sony, STMicroelectronics, and Panasonic. Testing is said to be still in the early stages, and could end up not being used in the phones at all.

With the release of iOS 11, Apple introduced the ARKit software framework that allows iPhone developers to build augmented reality experiences into their apps. The addition of a rear-facing 3D sensor could theoretically increase the ability for virtual objects to interact with environments and enhance the illusion of solidity.

Apple was reportedly beset with production problems when making the sensor in the iPhone X’s front-facing camera, because the components used in the sensor array have to be assembled with a very high degree of accuracy. According to Bloomberg, while the time-of-flight technology uses a more advanced image sensor than the existing one in the iPhone X, it does not require the same level of precision during assembly. That fact alone could make a rear-facing 3D sensor easier to produce at high volume.

Late last month, oft-reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple is unlikely to expand its front-facing 3D sensing system to the rear-facing camera module on iPhones released in 2018. Kuo said the iPhone X’s 3D sensing capabilities are already at least one year ahead of Android smartphones, therefore he believes Apple’s focus with next year’s iPhone models will be ensuring an on-time launch with adequate supply.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTags: bloomberg.com, ARKit, TrueDepthBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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HTC Vive Focus hands-on: a promising start for next-gen mobile VR

We’ve already heard the news about HTC’s Vive Focus, so it was only natural to get my hands dirty with this standalone 6DoF (six-degree-of-freedom) VR headset. As it turned out, HTC delivered pre-production units to several developers two weeks ago, in order to prep the demo area today. Soon after the opening keynote, I rushed over to the other room and managed to go through seven demos. Given the limited preparation time, the results were unsurprisingly mixed, but the best ones seem to prove that there’s a lot of potential in this piece of kit.

The look and feel of the Focus is pretty much everything I expected. Compared to the original Vive, the Focus is lighter which, combined with its rotational head strap plus a new cushion (presumably made of leatherette; HTC wouldn’t confirm), offers extra comfort while being worn. With the only tracking component being the dual-camera WorldSense module (plus what I assume to be its ventilation grill above it), the Focus has a noticeably cleaner look than its higher-end cousin. Though if I were to ever use one in a public area, I would probably paint a more subtle color over Vive’s signature blue first.

At the bottom of the main body you’ll find an interpupillary distance dial, a headphone jack and volume buttons, whereas the top side features just a micro-USB socket for recharging. What I didn’t notice until later on is that the headset actually has built-in stereo speakers — they are the slots almost right above where your ears would be. They obviously aren’t the best-sounding speakers, but they are loud and they do the job.

Then there’s the 3DoF Bluetooth controller. From afar, it looks like an even smaller version of the Samsung Gear VR controller but with a different button arrangement. The top side features a thumb trackpad, a select button plus a re-centering button (hold down for three seconds to re-center), while the volume rockers sit on the right hand side, and the trigger is at the usual tip area on the bottom side.

In general, I found the Focus’ “world-scale” inside-out tracking to work well in the less intensive apps, especially the soccer-themed game which let me practice my heading. That was surprisingly fun for a relatively basic gameplay, and there were times when I wanted to headbutt the incoming balls with more force, but I had to resist the temptation in order to avoid pulling a Zidane back in the real world.

Another app with good head tracking was a cartoonish go karting game, though I was having problems with maintaining my acceleration while simultaneously using nitro boost — it was hard to hold down the trigger and the thumb trackpad at the same time on that small controller. I’m also hoping that the trigger will have a stronger spring mechanism in the final version.

Amongst the bunch of higher-end apps, I was very surprised by the accurate tracking in Spark of Light, a game ported from the Vive version. The introduction level I played involved interacting with a glowing fairy and solving puzzles using the controller, in order to guide a boy through the woods. I could walk around the world and even bend down to take a closer look at objects, which was definitely something I wouldn’t be able to do with previous standalone VR devices.

Despite the controller offering just 3DoF instead of 6DoF like the headset, it worked better than I expected, though when I was inspecting an object up close, I learnt that there seems to be a minimum distance between the headset and the tracker for the latter to function properly in the virtual world. Regardless, the head tracking was smooth throughout my demo and I was keen to play longer, but around the same time a system message popped up to warn that the Focus was getting too hot, so it was a good time to stop. Hopefully this won’t be a problem later on.

I also liked the idea of Hidden Fortune, in which I had to pick out specified items in a room filled with random objects. It’s the kind of basic challenge that I enjoy from time to time to sharpen my mind. While I was apparently one of the few people who completed that level, I noticed that the game stuttered from time to time. The same happened with Bowshot, with the objective being to shoot down and dodge computer viruses in their physical forms.

The most disappointing demo was the Land Rover virtual showroom: even though the car showed impressive reflections on its exterior according to the selected environments, I noticed it subtly floating about even when I stood still. The demonstrator said this might have been to do with the crowd moving around the show floor, but I wasn’t entirely convinced given that I didn’t notice such issue in the earlier apps.

While it’s never a perfect start for this kind of new technology, the developers did only have two weeks maximum to port their existing VR titles for the Vive Focus, so here’s hoping that with a bit more time, they will all be able to smooth out the kinks. Having seen how well Spark of Light performed on the Focus, I can safely say that next-gen mobile VR is finally here. And hey Oculus, how’s your Project Santa Cruz doing?

Apple’s flagship London store raided by a hammer-wielding gang on mopeds

An Apple Store in central London was raided by thieves in the early hours of Monday morning, with the gang helping themselves to the company’s latest smartphones, as well as anything else they could lay their hands on.

A security guard was reportedly threatened with a hammer as 10 thieves on five mopeds smashed their way into the store on Regent Street just after midnight.

An eyewitness told the BBC the suspects appeared to have difficulties smashing the store’s locked glass doors but then took just three minutes to grab the goods before fleeing on the mopeds, though one was abandoned at the scene.

Cops said mostly iPhones, iPads, and smartwatches were stolen in the heist, though it’s not yet clear how much the haul was worth. No arrests have been made.

Despite the damage, the store was able to open as usual on Monday morning.

This latest raid isn’t the first time a London Apple Store has been targeted. In 2011, a gang of thieves, again on mopeds, ransacked Apple’s Covent Garden store, making off with computers, phones, and tablets. Back then it was the iPhone 4S that the robbers were after.

Apple’s pricey tech gear is often the primary target of thieves going after this type of kit, with many of them hoping to make money selling the items on.

Just a few weeks ago we heard about how hundreds of brand new iPhone X handsets were grabbed from a UPS truck in San Francisco, while in 2016, again in San Francisco, thieves hid under hoodies and strolled into an Apple Store during opening hours to grab handsets straight off the display tables. Other gangs have been even more brazen, with one trio in New York dressing up as Apple Store staff before making off with more than 60 iPhones.

But in surely the most outlandish effort to date, thieves stole more than half a million dollars worth of iPhones from a truck as it motored along a highway in the Netherlands in August. The robbers reportedly drove a modified van right up to the back of the truck carrying the phones as it drove along a highway. It’s thought that one of the gang then made their way onto the hood of the van before forcing his way into the back of the truck. He then passed the phones to his accomplices through a hole cut into the van’s roof. Five men were later arrested.

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Boston Dynamics’ new SpotMini has lost its head and is friskier than ever

The slogan on Boston Dynamic’s website reads, “Changing your idea of what robot’s can do,” but for some people it may as well say, “Giving you nightmares tonight and forever more,” or perhaps, “Here’s another robot to freak you out.”

So, here’s another Boston Dynamics robot to freak you out. One that may give you nightmares.

It’s the latest version of the SpotMini, the dog-like bot that the SoftBank-owned company debuted in 2016.

In a short video posted on Monday, the new SpotMini comes bounding into view looking much more agile and frisky than its predecessor, a testament to the unquestionable talent and expertise of Boston Dynamic’s committed team of engineers.

Gone is that creepy retractable arm/neck/head thingy that allowed the SpotMini to do chores around the house like load up the dishwasher and throw away trash. Instead, we’re left looking at a robot dog that appears to have had its head lopped off. It won’t get much done around the house looking like that, though it might be good at scaring the bejeezus out of any would-be burglars.

The sensors designed to keep the new SpotMini on its toes appear to be inside that odd-looking neck stump as well as on its torso, though we can’t be sure. That’s because Boston Dynamics isn’t giving much away about the latest version of its robot dog. Beneath the video posted on YouTube, the Massachusetts-based company says only: “For more information … stay tuned.”

Boston Dynamics describes its original SpotMini as “a small four-legged robot that fits comfortably inside the office or home.” With owner SoftBank already selling a home-based humanoid robot called Pepper to folks in Japan with 198,000 yen (about $1,800) to burn, could Boston Dynamics be readying SpotMini as a dog replacement? A “dog” that doesn’t need feeding or clearing up after; one you can take for a walk around the block even though you really don’t need to do that. In fact, could SpotMini one day shove Rover aside to become man’s best friend?

We have no idea what Boston Dynamics has planned for SpotMini or any of its other extraordinary robots for that matter, but we sure enjoy checking out what steps — or indeed wheels — out of the workshop each time it completes a project. Like Boston Dynamics says, stay tuned.

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Bill Murray’s Facebook show is a tour of minor league baseball

Facebook is nabbing shows left and right for its Watch platform, which finished rolling out to US users in September. While it’s added current content with a Humans of New York program, a reality show with Marshawn Lynch and several popular Latino YouTube series, Watch is about to get a legend. Bill Murray is getting own unscripted comedy visiting minor league baseball teams with his brother. Because of course.

Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray’s Extra Innings will debut the first of ten 8-minute episodes on Monday, November 20th, with a new one coming every week. Murray, a well-known Chicago Cubs fanatic, is also an apparent longtime supporter of minor-league baseball. Across the show’s run, Bill and Brian will visit the St. Paul Saints and Charleston RiverDogs (both of which Murray partly owns) as well as the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks and the Kansas City T-Bones. They’ll also head to the Kansas City MLB Urban Youth Academy and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to hang with kids and pay homage to tragically lesser-known baseball history, respectively.

Source: Variety