The new space race is postponed until 2018

Aboard the International Space Station, an A4-size flag of the United States hangs next to a 1:100 model of a space shuttle. The memento, placed there by the last crew to fly on shuttle Atlantis, is meant to be retrieved by the next batch of astronauts that launches on a US spacecraft. NASA had hoped to reach that goal in 2017 after awarding Boeing and SpaceX billion-dollar contracts under the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). However, the road back to manned missions is paved with thorns and technical challenges. We certainly won’t see any astronauts ferried to Low Earth Orbit before the year ends, but both companies believe that 2018 is the year that flag will be returned to Earth.

The contenders

By awarding two companies contracts under the same program, NASA kicked off a new kind of space race. In one corner, we have the SpaceX Crew Dragon, a successor to the original Dragon capsule it’s been using to deliver supplies to the ISS. The seven-seater vehicle appears to be quite the looker, with fairly large windows to give passengers a stunningly clear view of their journey — a feature you’d definitely appreciate if you were a paying customer. The company already has a solid idea of what to do with the capsule outside of its Commercial Crew responsibilities. In fact, it already sold two seats to take private citizens on a trip around the moon next year … but only if it has already started taking astronauts to the ISS for NASA.

In the other corner, we have Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which the company has been working on since 2010. Boeing has three different types of Starliners in production, each serving a different purpose. Starliner 1 will remain Earth-bound, specifically designed for ground testing. Its sibling, Starliner 3, will blast off to space for the capsule’s first unmanned orbital mission to the ISS. That leaves Starliner 2, which Boeing intends to use for its first manned-flight test.

Both commercial crew partners were on track for a 2017 launch at the beginning of the program, but by the end of 2016, they admitted that they wouldn’t be able to stick to their original schedules. NASA had to purchase additional seats on Russian Soyuz rockets for late 2017 and early 2018 to make up for the delay. While it’s unfortunate that NASA can’t end its reliance on the Russian space agency Roscosmos just yet, the companies had valid reasons to adjust their calendars.

Boeing had to push back its timeline because a Spacecraft 3 dome was damaged during the manufacturing process. Rebecca Regan, the company’s Commercial Crew communications specialist, told Engadget that Boeing needed time to identify the root causes of the damage as well as find solutions for it. The company is now looking to launch its first unmanned orbital test flight sometime in the third quarter of 2018; its first manned flight with two astronauts onboard is slated for the fourth quarter.

Things weren’t any easier for SpaceX. It, too, was forced to delay its first CCP flights after a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad in 2016. SpaceX needed more time to assess the rocket and to investigate the incident with government authorities because Crew Dragon will blast off from a modified Falcon 9. If things go more smoothly for Elon Musk and his team going forward, an unmanned Crew Dragon will be zooming toward Low-Earth Orbit in the second quarter of 2018, while a crewed mission will follow in the third quarter. Both companies will be sending two astronauts to the ISS for their tests flights, which will last for 14 days.

Starliner approaching the ISS.

Boeing

2017: Tests, tests, tests

Because the partially reusable space taxis will carry cargo far more precious than dehydrated food and science experiments, NASA and both aerospace corporations have made safety their top priority. They put their vehicles through some rigorous testing over the past year, pulling no punches to ensure their creations can withstand the stress of spaceflight. One of SpaceX’s most notable tests in 2017 involved engineers sealing themselves inside a Crew Dragon prototype to evaluate its life-support system. While inside, they assessed the temperature, carbon-dioxide levels, oxygen levels and cabin pressure, all in an similar environment to what astronauts would experience in flight.

Boeing’s Starliner had a tough time as well. The company performed one drop test after another in 2017. It dropped the Starliner on dry soil and wet soil to see how either condition would affect landing. It also examined how touching down on land will affect astronauts’ head, neck and spine by loading the test vehicle with crash dummies. And even though Starliner was designed to land on solid ground — Crew Dragon, by contrast, will land on water — it also conducted water-drop tests to make sure that it could withstand an abort scenario.

Regan said Boeing pushed its spacecraft to the limit during those tests, proving that its airbag and parachute-landing system works as a result. Back in February, The Wall Street Journal revealed that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) “raised questions about the status of tests” designed to determine the reliability of Boeing’s parachute-landing system in its report about the CCP recipients.

In the same report, the department warned that Falcon 9’s turbine blades suffer from persistent cracks — a major threat to rocket safety. SpaceX struggled with that problem for months, even years. Eva Behrend, the company’s representative, explained to Engadget that the private space corporation ultimately had to modify its engine design to avoid turbine wheel cracks altogether.

Despite all those successful tests and design changes, a report recently published by The Wall Street Journal says that experts are still worried the capsules won’t reach the safety levels NASA demands. The agency apparently imposed a new standard that requires the companies to meet a statistical limit of no more than one possible fatal accident for every 270 flights.

That sounds dangerous compared to airplanes’ safety rate of one accident for every million departures. But the technical difficulties associated with manned missions are so hard to overcome that one accident for every 270 flights can be considered safe. NASA’s own space shuttle had a safety rate of one fatal accident in 90 flights, and it killed more people than any other space vehicle.

Space Shuttle Atlantis before it docked with the ISS during its last mission.

NASA

One of the biggest safety threats Boeing and SpaceX had to address was space debris. Both have to make sure their capsules are sufficiently protected from orbital debris, tiny meteors and other particles hurtling through space that could cause serious damage. Boeing plans to use 3D-printed plastic components that can endure extremely harsh environmental conditions better than other materials can. According to The Wall Street Journal’s report, it also plans to fit Starliner with some Kevlar. SpaceX said it worked with NASA to define the orbital-debris environment in Low Earth Orbit and to conjure up a Dragon design that mitigates risks brought about by being pummeled with flying space rocks.

If NASA itself had concerns about safety, it certainly did its best to hide them: The agency showed tremendous confidence and trust in the program and its participants this year. It promised to award both companies four more contracts after they successfully demonstrate that their vehicles can safely carry humans to orbit. In March, ISS crew members even installed a second dock that space taxis can use when they finally start ferrying astronauts to the space station. That said, the agency is thinking up ways to ensure Crew Dragon and Starliner stay in top shape. According to Tabatha Thompson, NASA Commercial Space Program’s communications lead, the agency is evaluating the use of in-orbit inspections for the capsules.

Outside of safety-related tests and regulations for their vehicles, Boeing and SpaceX both showed off their spacesuit designs this year. Between the two, Boeing’s blue suit bears more resemblance to astronauts’ current fashion choices, though it’s 40 percent lighter than NASA’s bulky suits and can keep their wearers much cooler. (Here’s a little trivia: The suit was modeled by Christopher Ferguson, the last space-shuttle mission’s commander and the one who left that historic American flag aboard the ISS. He’s now the director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.)

SpaceX’s, on the other hand, is far removed from typical astronaut wear and has a much slimmer silhouette. That’s because it’s meant to be worn only inside the Dragon and other pressurized environments. It also wouldn’t look out of place at a Daft Punk concert.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Sep 8, 2017 at 1:04pm PDT

2018: What’s next?

Unsurprisingly, before they can get their first flights off the ground, both companies have to put their vehicles through even more grueling tests. In the first quarter of 2018, Boeing will put the spotlight on Starliner’s propulsion systems needed to maneuver the spacecraft during its journey. The company will follow that up with a pad-abort test. It will fire Starliner’s four launch-abort engines, taking the capsule a mile up and a mile out before it parachutes into the desert.

SpaceX is already making custom-fit suits for the Crew Program astronauts and will continue the suits’ qualification and validation testing next year. In addition, it intends to ramp up the testing of the engines that will provide the power that Falcon 9’s first and second stages need to be able to reach the ISS. Because it plans to take off from launch pad 39A, the same historic complex NASA used to launch space shuttles, it’ll also complete the installation of a crew-access arm at the site.

After they fly astronauts to the ISS for the first time, the companies can start realizing plans outside of their work with NASA. SpaceX, as mentioned earlier, will take private citizens around the moon aboard Crew Dragon and will fly more privately crewed flights in the future. Boeing also plans to sell Starliner’s fifth seat to paying customers, whether they’re wealthy space fans or researchers sent by their institutions. It sees a long-term strategy in turning the Starliner into a Low-Earth Orbit liner, regularly taking passengers to space and back.

Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon capsule lifts off from launch pad 39A.

SpaceX

If you were wondering, NASA doesn’t have an issue with those plans: It even encouraged both corporations to take on paying passengers to reduce the long-term costs the government has to shoulder. Sure it’s already saving billions of dollars by teaming up with private space companies, but saving even more wouldn’t hurt. It’s already sinking too much money into its giant Mars rocket and capsule, after all, and it’s almost always vulnerable to budget cuts.

While we’ve focused on Boeing and SpaceX, they aren’t the only ones working on human-rated spacecraft. Sierra Nevada, a Commercial Crew Program runner-up, is developing a crew version of the Dream Chaser with NASA in an unfunded agreement. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is working on SpaceShipTwo, though it’ll probably take a while before the vehicle can take tourists to the edge of space. Its predecessor crashed during testing in 2014, which led to its co-pilot’s death.

Blue Origin also created the New Shepard launch system with space tourism and research in mind. The Jeff Bezos-owned company recently sent the second version of its crew capsule to suborbital space for 11 minutes with a doll named “Mannequin Skywalker” on board, strapped to his seat right next to a huge window. Unlike the doll, passengers will be able to unstrap themselves to experience zero-g, which should help ensure that the experience is worth the ticket price.

A new kind of space race

The Commercial Crew Program represents a chance for Boeing and SpaceX to make history and has ignited a (possibly friendly) rivalry that now encompasses other projects. Just a few days ago, SpaceX chief Elon Musk dared Boeing to “do it” when the latter’s CEO said he’s confident that his team can make it to Mars before anyone else can.

Rivalries like this could be a good thing because they tend to give rise to new technologies that can help make life better. The last space race between the US and the Soviet Union, for instance, led to the creation of better artificial limbs, the water purifier, stronger tires, a freeze-drying technique now used for food and the material used in firefighter gear, among many, many others. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who makes it to the ISS first — we all win.

Check out all of Engadget’s year-in-review coverage right here.

Pico’s standalone 6DoF VR headset is compatible with Vive Wave

You might have missed the original Pico Neo VR headset back in April 2016, but the name is popping up again thanks to its re-release. Following the HTC Vive Focus, the new Pico Neo was unveiled earlier today is yet another standalone VR headset with six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) tracking, and thankfully, it looks a lot better than its predecessor. Much like the Vive Focus, what we have here is a dual-camera inside-out tracking system powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 (so it’s likely based on the same development kit) with the same three-hour battery life, but it features a narrower 101-degree field of view instead of 110, and it packs a pair of 90 Hz 1,440 x 1,600 LCDs instead of AMOLED.

What make the Pico Neo stand out are its controller options. Much like the Vive Focus, the Pico Neo comes with a 3DoF trackpad controller for the same 3,999 yuan price (about $610), but the 5,299 yuan (about $810) business edition comes with two 6DoF controllers — something that the Vive Focus doesn’t yet offer, not even one. The latter are enabled by the controllers’ ultrasonic sensors that keep track of their positions, so long as they are within a 160-degree field-of-view of the headset. It’ll be interesting to see how well this tracking works — after all, if it’s as straightforward as it sounds, HTC would have already implemented this on the Vive Focus in the first place.

Of course, no VR headset is complete without content. The Pico Neo is actually the first third-party device to be based on HTC’s Vive Wave VR platform, meaning it’ll be able to handle content made for the Vive Focus as well — users can grab apps from the pre-loaded HTC Viveport store. Similarly, developers who want to support both devices should be able to port existing Vive, Daydream and Samsung Gear VR content over to Vive Wave with ease.

For now, Pico is only taking pre-orders for the Neo in China, and it’s expected to ship towards the end of January 2018. But unlike the Vive Focus, Pico also plans to launch its standalone VR headset in other countries, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for further announcements.

Source: Pico

Buried ‘Destiny’ soundtrack ‘Music of the Spheres’ leaks

An epic game deserves an epic soundtrack, and Music of the Spheres, an eight-part musical work by Bungie composer Marty O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori and Paul McCartney (yes, of Beatles fame), was exactly that, designed to complement Bungie’s ambitious Destiny. But, thanks to quarrels with publisher Activision and various other legal battles, it was never released. Now, nearly five years later, it’s been leaked and can be enjoyed by fans of Destiny and sweeping soundscapes alike. Until Activision bursts in with copyright law, that is.

At the end of November, lead composer O’Donnell reaffirmed his position on the matter by tweeting, “I don’t have the authority to give you permission to share MotS. However, no-one in the world can prevent me from giving you my blessing.” Permission or otherwise, the musical work has now appeared in its entirety online thanks to teenager Owen Spence, who has been running his own project to recreate Music of the Spheres since 2016. According to Kotaku, someone with a copy of the work approached Spence hoping he could make it public, so he uploaded it to Soundcloud.

Kotaku also reports that O’Donnell is glad to finally have his work heard by the public. In an email, he wrote, “I’m quite relieved and happy. This was the way it was supposed to have been heard five years ago… I don’t know who actually did it but they have my blessing. I honestly don’t know how anyone could begrudge this any longer.” Despite demand, it’s pretty unlikely the work will be released in any official capacity after all this time, so this may be your only chance to hear it. Get in quick before the lawyers do.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Soundcloud

Best iOS Apps of 2017: Affinity Photo, Halide, Apollo, HQ and More

2017 was a big year for apps. The App Store got a major overhaul in iOS 11 to separate apps and games to give both better visibility, and Apple introduced ARKit, an SDK that lets developers build unique augmented reality capabilities into their apps.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the most notable apps that came out in 2017, based both on what we use and recommendations from MacRumors readers sourced from Twitter. Our list, which is in no particular order, features AR apps, several photo editing apps, to-do and weather apps, and a few other apps. In our opinion, all of these are worth checking out if you’re looking for something to spend your Christmas iTunes cash on.

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Affinity Photo ($14.99)

Affinity Photo for iPad is one of the most robust photo editing tools available for Apple’s tablet lineup. Designed with the same backend as Affinity Photo for Mac, Affinity Photo for iPad is a must have for artists and photographers who like to work on an iPad. It’s speedy, intuitive to use, and it offers an ideal touch-based interface.

Every tool you’d expect in a pro photo editing app is available, including unlimited layers, support for RAW images, panorama stitching, advanced lens corrections, histogram information, and more, plus there are tools for quick selections and retouches. There’s also an advanced brush engine that supports custom brush creation and a wide range of painting, drawing, and texture tools.

Halide ($2.99)

Halide is a camera app that was designed specifically with Apple’s latest devices in mind – the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus. Halide is a powerful photography app that’s also simple to use, as intuitive touch gestures can be used to tweak exposure and focus.

If you want access to full manual controls for shutter speed, ISO, and white balance along with manual focusing options and tools that include an adaptive level grid, a detailed live histogram, and focus peaking, Halide is worth checking out. If you’re not looking for manual control, Halide is still great because it has an intelligent automatic mode that churns out some nice looking photos. On supported iPhones, Halide also captures depth information so you can apply Portrait effects after capturing an image.

HQ (Free)

Trivia app HQ is technically in the games category of the App Store, but we’re including it here because it’s more entertainment app than traditional game. HQ made our list because of its explosion in popularity over the course of the last month or two.

When it was released in September, HQ had just a few thousand users, but now hundreds of thousands of people tune in to the live trivia gameshow every day at 3:00 and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. HQ is played live, and players answer a series of 12 questions. If you make it through all 12, you split a cash prize with other winners. Questions run the gamut from super simple to incredibly difficult, so making it to the end can be a serious challenge.

IKEA Place (Free)

IKEA Place is an augmented reality app that lets you see how IKEA furniture will look in your house before you buy it. It’s not an app that you’re going to use everyday, but it’s on our list because it’s one of the apps that best shows off what ARKit is capable of when it comes to improving the shopping experience.

IKEA Place isn’t perfect and there are some kinks IKEA has yet to work out, but it’s a neat way to see if a particular piece of IKEA furniture works in your living space, and it’s a good way to experience a practical ARKit application.

Apollo for Reddit (Free)

When we asked MacRumors readers about their favorite 2017 apps on Twitter, Apollo is an app that came up time and time again. This Reddit client was introduced in October and it’s already become a favorite among Redditors.

Apollo has a simple, clean interface with customizable gestures, a full-screen media viewer, a markdown editor for formatting posts, a Jump Bar for navigating between subreddits, a Dark Mode, and more. The developer behind Apollo is active on Reddit and regularly solicits feedback from Reddit users.

Weather Atlas (Free)

Weather Atlas was designed from the ground up for Apple’s newest devices, so it takes advantage of iOS 11-style design elements and the full length of the iPhone X display. Weather Atlas offers a wealth of information in a single glance, with both hourly weather and 10-day forecasts overlaid on a map with standard rader and cloud layers.

Multiple locations are supported, there are built-in weather warnings, and there’s an option to see weather patterns on the map over time. Weather Atlas is free to download, but to get rid of the ads and to get features like themes and widgets, you’ll need a pro account. Pro accounts are priced at $0.49 per month or $4.99 per year.

Things 3 ($9.99)

Things 3, the newest version of the popular Things to-do/task management app, was another popular choice among MacRumors readers. Things 3 features an overhauled design with all of the same tools Things users have come to know and love, along with all new tools.

The Things 3 interface is more intuitive with reimagined Today and Upcoming screens that merge calendar events and to-dos into a single daily view, there’s a new Quick Find feature for searching content across the entire app, and there’s a Magic Plus Button for quickly creating new tasks. For anyone who needs a robust task management app that’s richly featured but still easy to use, Things 3 is the app to get.

Focos (Free)

Focos is a fun little photo editing app that works with dual-camera iPhones like the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 Plus. It lets you take Portrait Mode photos that can then be edited with customizable bokeh effects, aka that artful background blur that you get with high-end DSLRs.

You can either snap a picture right in the app or edit a Portrait Mode photo you’ve already captured. An adjustable aperture tool lets you change the amount of blur in a Portrait Mode photo, and an adjustable diaphragm results in different blur effects. Focos is free to download, but many pro features are behind a paywall. It’ll cost $0.99 per month or $5.99 per year to unlock them, but there’s also a $9.99 lifetime access purchase option.

Yoink ($2.99)

Yoink, which is also available on the Mac, is an app that’s designed to store items that you drag, copy, or share, giving you a central place to collect things like photos, screenshots, text snippets, URLs, and more, so they’re easier to access later.

On iPad, Yoink supports Slide Over and Split View multitasking so you can drag content from any app to Yoink. On iPhone, there’s a Share extension for getting content to Yoink, and you can also use copy/paste. It’s basically a little storage space where you can hold media you want to be able to use for something else later.

Astro Mail (Free)

Astro Mail is another app suggested by MacRumors readers. It has a priority inbox powered by artificial intelligence, which is designed to separate important emails from junk mail, and it has tools to snooze, star, archive, delete, and move emails with simple gestures.

There are options to track when an email is opened and send an email at a scheduled date, and the built-in Astrobot assistant can do things like archive old emails, unsubscribe from lists, and more. For Slack users, Astro Mail offers Slack integration so you can manage your email inbox from Slack and search across both Slack and email when looking for something.

Our list only includes apps that were released in 2017, which is why you won’t see older but still very popular apps on the list. Many of you told us that your favorite apps were older apps, though, so here’s our list of some of the best apps that didn’t come out in 2017 but were still widely used or received major updates throughout the year:

– T-Mobile Tuesdays – Free stuff for T-Mobile subscribers every Tuesday.

– Spark – Readdle’s email app that supports a smart inbox to filter out the junk, intuitive touch gestures, and more.

– Fantastical 2 – A full-featured calendar replacement with everything you need from a calendar app, plus natural language support.

– Dark Sky – A popular weather app known for its accuracy at delivering hyperlocal weather data.

– Pennies – A super simple budgeting app that lets you know how much you can spend each day after you input a monthly target.

– Day One – A popular subscription-based personal journaling app that has a rich selection of features.

– Bear – A subscription-based cross-platform writing and note taking app.

– Shazam – Shazam, which Apple is in the process of buying, identifies songs that are playing aloud. A visual feature can also identify magazines, books, posters, and more.

– Waze – A community based navigation app that offers up live traffic and road condition reports, along with the best routes to save time.

Along with our list of top apps of 2017, make sure to check out our top games of 2017, a list sourced from our sister site TouchArcade. Have a favorite 2017 app we didn’t mention, or a favorite overall app? Share it with us in the comments.
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Mekamon review

It’s hard to keep up with all the new robot toys hitting the market these days, but occasionally something comes out that really grabs your attention. Something like Reach Robotics’ Mekamon ($300). When I first saw this crazy, four-legged spider-thing, I got excited. It looks like something out of a video game or an anime or a Transformer movie that isn’t awful. It looks, in other words, awesome. I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, either. Apple featured it in its stores recently, and it’s hard to deny this distinctly otherworldly bot isn’t impressive to behold.

Some Patience Required

When it arrived, I tore the sucker out of the box, slapped the big battery in, and then proceeded to suffer through the usual delays that prevent instant gratification with toys these days. First, there’s the app that needs to be downloaded. In my case, it didn’t work quite right on my Samsung tablet, so I had to re-download it on my phone.

Controlling Mekamon is like taking charge of a newborn mechanical alien.

After a successful install, it was on to… a firmware update. Every robot ever needs firmware updates, despite the fact that it’s something you never see them do in movies. Oh, and the battery, which regrettably uses a proprietary cable (as opposed to, say, a standard USB cord), also needed a charge. All in all, getting this thing up and running was a bit frustrating, and anti-climactic.

Four Legs For Action

But then, with the battery charged and re-slapped back into the Mekamon’s butt, those four legs started dancing to life — I was immediately entranced. Mekamon has a lot going on, even by today’s toy robot standards. It has “augmented reality” games and can battle other Mekamon(s?), should you happen to know another nerd who likes shelling out several hundred dollars for weird toys. The app also has an absurd level of minutiae for customizing every aspect of the stance, gait, height, and steps of the robot. In other words, options I’ll probably never really quite understand the importance of.

None of that mattered in the face of watching this ridiculous contraption move. A lot of companies tout the idea of toys with personality (Sphero’s pretty good at it with its Star Wars droids), but Mekamon just overflows with a weirdly and sincerely delightful sense of earnest. The robot has an array of canned reactions — everything from shooting pretend guns and lunging forward, to acting excited or scared, or lifting its leg to pretend urinate (a huge hit with the kids). Most of these movements are somehow adorable. Even its death sequence is hilarious to watch.

Twitch and go

Controlling Mekamon directly, via touch controls on a phone, is a lot like suddenly taking charge of a newborn mechanical alien. It lumbers along in an arachnid way, scaring cats, mesmerizing children (and their fathers), and occasionally overturning after getting caught up on the messes of blankets and toys that are part of its new landscape.

The mix of a real world toy and virtual opponents is an interesting gimmick, but seldom seems like anything more.

You can adjust Mekamon’s legs and body height on the fly, to help the bot maneuver better — but most kids aren’t likely to mess with that stuff. Being an adult, I did mess with the tuning, and it opened a world of maneuverability. It can even climb steps, though honestly, my attempts have been less than successful. However skilled a pilot you may be, it’s sheer fun to make it go up, down, and all around.

The Mekamon, when idle, tends to twitch as if nervous, which adds to its personality, and the illusion that it’s more than a simple toy. My ten-year-old has decided Mekamon would make an ideal monster for a movie, and she’s absolutely right. If this thing were 50 feet tall, it would be horrifying. The body fits heavily in my hand, and it’s just big enough to be impressive, without taking up too much space.

Augmented Reality

There’s not any kind of automatic mode for the Mekamon to venture out and explore on its own, and it also lacks any kind of onboard camera, which is unfortunate (especially for the price). I also can’t say I’m a fan of the clumsy phone-based AR, where you watch the screen (with the camera pointed at the robot) and pretend to pilot the robot around virtual obstacles. Mekamon has a lot of that. It’s gamified AR, though, so you can (virtually) upgrade your robot, much like Anki does with the cars in its Overdrive set.

Mekamon comes with a take on the classic Asteroids theme, where you move Mekamon around to aim and shoot at falling space rocks that bombard your screen. Another mode has you defend a virtual base against waves of robotic invaders. The mix of a real world toy and virtual opponents is an interesting gimmick, but seldom seems like anything more. The video game portion of these activities is very oldschool and primitive, and I never got into the habit of watching a real object moving through the filter of my phone screen.

Make Mine Mekamon

There’s supposed to be a game built around Mekamon, but the robot’s $300 price, and awkward AR app, stopped me from enjoying it. What I did love was watching Mekamon move, seeing where I can make it go, and enjoying the absurd sci-fi spectacle of the thing. Mekamon excels as a remote-controlled robot, pairing customization with ease-of-use. If you feel the need to have a mechanical creature you can completely control, this is the coolest toy of the year.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Keecker, the projector-packing robotic butler, is now available for purchase
• Can a new in-store augmented reality game save Toys R Us?
• Battle other robots in first-person perspective with the Geio AI bot
• Add the Teksta Toucan to the list of toys that can spy on your kids
• Diary from the future: Augmented Reality, circa 2027

With $40 million, you could book a trip to a luxury hotel on the ISS

For your next out of this world vacation, you now have the option of literally going out of this world — but it’ll cost you $40 million. Then again, can you really put a price tag on having the time of your life? As per a new report from Popular Mechanics, Russia is looking to build a luxury hotel in outer space. Slated to be stationed on the International Space Station, this hotel, if it ever comes to fruition, is likely to offer some seriously breathtaking views. And if you have $40 million to spare, you might as well tack on an extra $20 million for the opportunity to go on a spacewalk with a professional (which is to say, a cosmonaut).

While space tourism itself isn’t exactly a novel idea, the notion of building a full-fledged hotel hasn’t been raised before. Really, other companies are still focused on the transportation part of the puzzle — after all, a trip to space is enough for most folks. But if you really want to make the most of your time away from the planet, then the Russian space agency is here to help extend your visit.

As per the Popular Mechanics report, suggested amenities include a luxury orbital suite with big windows, personal hygiene facilities, exercise equipment, and yes, Wi-Fi. Because if you can’t share your experience on social media, did it really even happen?

Of course, the rationale behind the hotel isn’t just for fun and games. Apparently, space tourism might be able to help the Russians pay for another module to add to the International Space Station. Russian space contractor RKK Energia is currently building the first such module, which will give scientists a laboratory and power supply station from which to conduct tests.

If any of this is going to come to fruition, however, Russia is going to have to hurry. Seeing as the ISS is slated for decommissioning in 2028, there’s little time to build the hotel and scrounge up wealthy tourists to actually buy a trip into outer space. And to make matters more complicated, in order to actually begin construction, a contractor would need to find 12 passengers willing to pay $4 million sight unseen, with nothing but the promise of a future stay in the great beyond.

So if you’ve recently come into a fortune and are interested in investing in what could be the time of your life, ISS is calling your name.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Next-gen lunar station will be built by United States and Russia
• The space station is about as sanitary as your run-of-the-mill bachelor pad
• See how astronauts make pizza in microgravity conditions
• Forget humans, Russia wants a gunslinging robot piloting its spacecraft
• SpaceX launches both a reused rocket and capsule in successful ISS cargo mission

Google Play: Everything you need to know!

How to get the most out of the Google Play Store

Google Play is the cornerstone of Google’s ecosystem of content and has become a critical part of Android. It reaches almost all of Android and through Play Services is capable of fixing many of Android’s problems, especially in regards to updates and security. Google Play also is a content library and ecosystem that is accessible on more platforms than almost any other.

Born as the Android Market, it’s grown from just a home for apps and is now the one-stop shop for applications, books, movies, music, TV shows — basically anything and everything that you can buy and use on your Android phone or tablet.

Downloading and managing apps

The first thing you’re going to want to do when getting a new Android phone is downloading new apps, or re-installing ones that you previously had on another phone. It’s easy to do this, and there are plenty of tools to help you get there!

• How to download and manage apps from the Google Play Store

Sharing and review apps

When you’ve downloaded a new app, you may want to review it, or share with your friends. The reviews really help the developers with feedback for their changes, and sharing helps spread the word.

• How to share and review apps in Google Play

Downloading and sharing movies, music and books

Google Play isn’t just about apps. You can buy and rent movies and TV shows, subscribe to Google Play Music’s unlimited streaming service, or buy the latest books from your favorite authors!

• How to download and share movies, music, and books on Google Play

Sharing apps and movies through Google Play Family Library

Sharing is caring, and Google understands that when we buy things we like on Google Play, we want to share them with our family. Enter Google Play Family Library, which allows you to share your favorite paid apps, movies and books with members in your Family Library.

• Top 5 thigns to know about Google Play Family Libraries

How to use a Google Play gift card

Did someone give you a gift card to Google Play that you need to spend? Wondering how to get your gift card into Google Play, or what to spend it on? We’re here to help!

• How to use a Google Play gift card

Updated December 2017: Updated and expanded with changes to Google Play.

Stable Oreo update now rolling out to the LG V30 in South Korea

LG V30 starts receiving the Android 8.0 Oreo update.

LG has been beta testing the Oreo update for the LG V30 in its home market for nearly a month, and the company is now rolling out the stable build. Like the beta update, the stable Oreo build is initially rolling out to V30 users in South Korea.

In the announcement, LG says it implemented feedback from over 500 customers enrolled in the beta program, with the company optimizing the software for a smoother experience. The update includes Oreo features like system-wide autofill, picture-in-picture mode and native support for Sony’s LDAC audio codec, along with a slew of performance and stability fixes as well as battery tweaks.

The OTA update is now going out in South Korea, and while we don’t have an official confirmation on when it’ll arrive in other markets, it is likely LG will commence the update sometime in early 2018.

LG V30

• LG V30 review: The no-BS flagship
• Top LG V30 camera features
• Full LG V30 specs
• LG V30 vs. G6 vs. GS8
• The V30 is the first phone to support 600MHz spectrum
• Join our LG V30 forums

Garmin’s new Vivofit lasts for a year with an always-on color display

It’s hard to stand out in the fitness tracker world when you can easily cover the fundamentals at a very low price. Garmin, however, is trying its level best. It just launched the Vivofit 4, which combines an always-on color display with its predecessor’s claimed year-long battery life. You can now check your activity goals or the time without having to either wake up the screen, kill your battery or settle for a drab monochrome display. Logically, the band includes Garmin mainstays like Move IQ automatic activity detection and the Connect online community to get you motivated.

The biggest deal for many might just be the price of the new band, which is available on Amazon today. Garmin has lowered the price again, dropping the Vivofit 4 to $80 where its ancestor cost $100. Accessory bands are available between $20 to $30. That doesn’t quite bring the Vivofit to impulse purchase territory, but it’s now inexpensive and feature-laden enough that it’s easier to justify over a more advanced fitness watch or a smartwatch.

Source: Garmin

Elon Musk’s massive Australian battery just chalked up another record

Elon Musk’s battery in South Australia made international headlines earlier this month for being the biggest of its type in the world.

And now, just weeks after being activated, the very same battery is claiming another world record for the time it took to spring into action following a power outage.

Built by Musk’s Tesla company, the lithium-ion battery has 100 megawatts of capacity and is reportedly three times larger than the next biggest battery. Paired with the Hornsdale wind farm 120 miles north of Adelaide and operated by French renewable energy provider Neoen, the battery stores excess energy created by the wind turbines and is used when the region’s power sources suffer outages.

Last week the battery bounced into action just 140 milliseconds after a power plant in the neighboring state of Victoria suffered a failure that would ordinarily have led to a lengthy power cut, the International Business Times reported. The battery fed its stored energy into the national power grid, preventing an inconvenient blackout from affecting numerous homes in nearby towns and cities.

“That’s a record and the national operators were shocked at how quickly and efficiently the battery was able to deliver this type of energy into the market,” South Australia Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis told 5AA radio.

He said that the battery’s fast response time exceeded expectations and performed far better than others sources of backup power, adding that usually one of its power stations “would take half an hour to an hour to energize and synchronize into the market; the battery can do it in milliseconds.”

Musk became involved in the project to build a battery for South Australia when he heard that the local government was looking for solutions after the region was hit by a huge storm in September 2016. It was described as a once-in-every-50-years weather event and temporarily knocked out power for 1.7 million residents.

No slouch when it comes to grabbing headlines, Musk hit Twitter to make his pitch, saying that if Tesla failed to meet his own 100-day deadline to build the battery, he’d foot the $50 million bill. Tesla completed the project with about a week to spare.

The news of the battery’s record-breaking performance will be music to the ears of Musk. While Tesla is better known for its electric cars than the batteries that power them, their need for such a power source prompted the company to diversify into the field, going beyond vehicles to explore the home and commercial energy market. It’s now manufacturing batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada, believed to be the largest facility of its kind in the world.

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