‘Photographs’ dark narrative masquerades as a mobile puzzle game

EightyEight Games released the popular puzzle/battle game 10000000 and its sequel You Must Build a Boat to great success. Now developer Luca Redwood is ready to reveal his next project for the studio: Photographs. The new puzzle game will release next year for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android.

Photographs follows five different short stories – each with its own unique puzzle gameplay to solve. “It’s unusual, and it’s dark,” Luca told Engadget in an email. “There isn’t anything else out there like it.” Redwood is working with Pixelshuh for the art and Ben Prunty (FTL) for the soundtrack, giving Photographs even more indie cred.

The secret is that it’s actually a narrative game. “The dioramas, the photographs, the sound, the voices, and the puzzles, come together to create a cohesive narrative experience that tells that specific story,” writes Redwood on the game page. “Maybe.”

If you’re worried about difficulty, Redwood reassures us that Photographs will be accessible. “You play through a bunch of puzzles as the story slowly unfolds around you,” he said. “Anybody can play.”

Source: EightyEight Games

Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $30 on an NVIDIA Shield TV

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.

Amazon Fire HD 8

Street Price: $80; Deal Price: $50

This deal matches the previous low price we’ve seen for our budget pick Android tablet. We only just saw this $50 low price during Black Friday sales, so this is a great time to pick up this tablet at a discount. With the holidays coming, this is a nice option while it lasts.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 is our budget pick in our guide to the best Android tablets. Ryan Whitwam wrote, “If you want a cheap tablet for watching videos, reading, or browsing the Web, Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet is great. It doesn’t have access to the Google Play Store or any of Google’s apps, but it costs just $80 and makes it easy to access Amazon content (especially for Prime members). Amazon’s Fire OS (based on Android) runs very well on the tablet, and the Fire HD 8 offers better battery life than the ZenPad or Tab S3. The display is only 1280×800, but that’s fine for a budget media tablet. The Fire HD 8 also has more-extensive parental controls than other tablets, making it a great family device. The selection of apps in Amazon’s app store is small compared with what you can get via Google Play, but it includes most popular non-Google apps.”

Puro BT2200 Kids Headphones

Street Price: $100; Deal Price: $75 w/ code HOLLY25!

If you’re in the market for headphones for your young one, this is a great opportunity to pick some up at the best price we’ve seen. When you use code HOLLY25! in cart, it drops the price of the Puro BT2200 headphones from their normal price of $100 down to $75. This code deal beats the $80 pricing that we’ve seen on and off since the run-up to Black Friday, can be applied to any of the 4 available colors, and can be applied to multiple sets of headphones. The code is valid thru 12/21.

The Puro BT2200 Kids Headphones are our top pick in our guide to the best kids headphones. Lauren Dragan and Brent Butterworth wrote, “The Puro BT2200 is our pick because not only do these headphones remain within safe listening levels when used properly, but they were also the top pick of all our kid panelists, which means your little ones will be more likely to use them. The Bluetooth wireless connection—done correctly here—means that the Puro pair will play at the correct levels, whatever source the child uses it with. The wireless design is also handy for avoiding tangles, a favorite feature of our big-kid panelists. The size and weight fit kids from 2½ to 11 years comfortably, so you can buy these headphones once and they’ll grow with your child, and they are sturdy enough that they should last a long time, too.”

Breville Boss To Go Personal Blender

Street Price: $160; Deal Price: $128

Down to $128, this price matches a few previous deals we’ve posted on the Breville Boss To Go, but is still the lowest price we’ve seen in the last 6 months. Street price on this personal blender tends to sit between $150 and $160. Although we do see drops to $128 with some frequency, the price usually doesn’t stay that low for more than a few days.

The Breville Boss To Go is the upgrade pick in our guide to the best personal blender. Lesley Stockton wrote, “The Breville Boss To Go offers smoother blending, sleeker design, and a better travel lid than our top pick. The Boss To Go blended kale the finest, and berry seeds were the smallest of all our picks. The Breville blends thick mixtures easily without straining. The stainless steel housing and sleeker design will look good on your counter top, and the travel lid has the largest opening of all the blenders we tested for easier drinking.”

Nvidia Shield Streaming Media Player with Remote

Street Price: $180; Deal Price: $150

If you’re looking for a streaming device that supports 4K with HDR and is capable of playing local media via USB, the Nvidia Shield (2017) is a nice option that comes at a bit of a premium. Right now there’s a drop that lessens that cost a bit. This sale sees this version of the Shield with remote (but without gaming controller) drop in-cart from its usual price of $180 down to $150, beating the previous low we’ve seen for this iteration. We’ve posted a deal for the player with remote and controller for $170, a better deal for gaming enthusiasts, but this is still a great price.

The Nvidia Shield TV is our local media streaming pick in our guide to the best media streaming devices. Chris Heinonen wrote, “If you want to play back lots of local media directly from a USB hard drive or thumb drive, the Nvidia Shield supports almost any file format and serves as a full Android TV streamer, which gives it access to a large and quickly growing selection of streaming apps. It also supports 4K playback, including HDR, from most streaming services that offer it.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to thewirecutter.com.

Amazon to Resume Selling Apple TV and Chromecast

Amazon has decided to once again sell the Apple TV and Google Chromecast in its online store, reports CNET. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the company is officially offering the two products as of today.

“I can confirm that we are assorting Apple TV and Chromecast,” CNET was told.

There are new product pages for the 32GB fourth-generation Apple TV, the 32GB Apple TV 4K, and the 64GB Apple TV 4K. There are also two listings for the Chromecast and the Chromecast Ultra.

All of the products are listed as “Currently unavailable” right now, but that is likely to change soon after the listings are completed and propagated to Amazon’s site.

Amazon first stopped selling the Apple TV and the Google Chromecast in its online store in 2015, claiming the reason for the removal was incompatibility with the Amazon Prime Video streaming service.

“Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime,” Amazon said in the e-mail. “It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.”

Since then, the Apple TV has been unavailable on Amazon’s site, but Amazon’s original reason for not selling the Apple TV was invalidated with the launch of the Amazon Prime Video app for Apple TV.

Amazon last week introduced a long-awaited Amazon Prime Video app for the Apple TV. The new app is available on third, fourth, and fifth-generation devices.

The return of the Chromecast to the Amazon site comes after Google once again removed YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show and the Fire TV. Google said Amazon’s refusal to carry the Chromecast and Google Home and its refusal to make Prime Video available for Google Cast was a key reason that it stopped supporting YouTube on Amazon’s products.

Related Roundup: Apple TVTags: Google, AmazonBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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iMessage Has Emoji-Related Bug Dating Back Several iOS Versions

Apple released iOS 11.2.1 on Wednesday with multiple bug fixes, but an emoji-related issue continues to affect the Messages app on iOS devices.

The bug happens as follows: start a fresh conversation with a new recipient in the Messages app, send a single emoji as the first message, and much of the interface will essentially go blank with the top menu disappearing.

The glitch effectively renders the Messages app unusable until it is force closed and reopened through the multitasking menu.

The bug has affected most iPhone, iPad, and likely iPod touch models since at least iOS 11.1.2. MacRumors is able to reproduce the issue on iOS 11.2, iOS 11.2.1, and the first iOS 11.2.5 beta released yesterday.

The issue is prevalent in both iMessage conversations with blue bubbles and SMS conversations with green bubbles.

While this bug is a minor one, it adds to a growing list of issues that have surfaced over the past several versions of iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra, including a major Mac vulnerability that provided easy access to the root superuser.

Beyond the root bug, Apple has also dealt with a HomeKit-related vulnerability, an iPhone camera autofocus issue, iOS autocorrect bugs, and iPhone X glitches in cold weather, among other problems, in recent weeks.

We’ve alerted Apple about this bug shortly prior to publishing this article and we’ll provide an update if and when we learn about a fix.

Tags: emoji, iMessage
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iMac Pro’s RAM Can Only Be Upgraded by Apple or Authorized Service Provider

Standard 27-inch iMacs have a small hatch in the back that allows the RAM in the machine to be upgraded after purchase, but the iMac Pro does not have that feature.

There is no rear hatch because the RAM in the iMac Pro is not user upgradeable following purchase, but there’s good news — an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider is able to open up the iMac Pro and swap out the RAM.

iMore’s Rene Ritchie spoke to Apple and learned that any service center is able to upgrade the RAM on an iMac Pro following purchase.

Yes. Any service center, Apple or indie, can upgrade the RAM on iMac Pro post-purchase. https://t.co/4JIRCSsu5H

— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) December 14, 2017

At Apple Stores, iMac Pro users will likely only be able to upgrade to Apple-provided RAM, but third-party service providers will be able to offer non-Apple RAM and might even allow users to bring in their own RAM. Policy will undoubtedly vary by location, however.

The entry-level $4,999 iMac Pro ships with 32GB of 2666MHz ECC RAM, but up to 128GB RAM is supported. Apple charges $800 to upgrade to 64GB RAM and $2,400 to upgrade to 128GB RAM. Upgrading RAM after purchase in eligible machines is often more affordable than purchasing Apple’s RAM upgrades at checkout.

There are no post-purchase options for upgrading the SSD, processor, or graphics card in the iMac Pro.

Apple began allowing customers to purchase the iMac Pro this morning. 8 and 10-core machines will begin shipping out this week, while 14 and 18-core options won’t be available to ship out for 6 to 8 weeks. While the entry-level iMac Pro is priced at $4,999, there are a number of upgrades available. A maxed out 18-core machine with 4TB of storage and a Radeon Pro Vega 64 is priced at $13,199.

Related Roundup: iMac ProBuyer’s Guide: iMac Pro (Buy Now)
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iTunes Chief Eddy Cue to Participate in Q&A Session at Pollstar Live! 2018 Conference

Apple iTunes Chief Eddy Cue will attend the Pollstar Live! 2018 Conference where he will sit down for a QA session with Variety Executive Music Editor Shirley Halperin, Variety reported today.

Cue’s official title is vice president of Internet Software and Services, and he oversees both iTunes and Apple Music along with Apple Pay, Maps, iCloud services, Apple’s video efforts, and more.

“Eddy Cue and his team at Apple have changed the way we listen to music, played a transformative role in artist discovery, and ignited the passion of music fans,” said Ray Waddell, president, Media & Conferences, for Oak View Group, producers of Pollstar Live! “We are thrilled to have him address the attendees at Pollstar Live! and can’t wait to hear what he has to say.”

Other speakers at Pollstar Live! 2018 include William J. Bratton, Troy Carter, Coolio, Mark Cuban, Marc Geiger, Michael Rapino, Alan Krueger, James E. Meyer, Roger Lynch, and more.

The Q&A session, entitled Apple and the Music Business, will take place on the morning of February 7, 2018 at the InterContinental hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Pollstar Live! is a three day event that starts on February 6.

Tags: Eddy Cue, iTunes
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Apple Launches New Podcast Analytics Beta for Podcasters

Apple in June promised to introduce new analytics features for podcasters, providing in-episode analytics options for tracking people listening, where in a podcast listeners stop and skip content, whether ads are skipped, and how long people generally listen for.

Starting today, Apple’s podcast analytics feature is rolling out in a beta capacity, reports TechCrunch.

In recent years, podcasts have been growing in popularity, which is what led Apple to finally introduce dedicated analytics tools. Apple also redesigned the Podcasts app entirely in iOS 11, implementing a much improved end user experience with better linearity for podcast episodes.

Apple’s new podcasts analytics feature uses anonymized data to make sure user privacy is preserved while also allowing developers access to data that will improve their podcast performance. Data is available from iOS 11 and iTunes 12.7 users.

Podcasters can access the new analytics options for free starting today in iTunes Connect.

Tag: Podcasts
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