‘Pokémon Go’ is finally heading to the world’s largest mobile market

Pokémon Go had a relatively quiet launch in the summer of 2016, but the mobile AR game quickly caught on, leading to server problems as demand proved too great for maker Niantic to comfortably handle.

Once it had its servers in order, Niantic soon began flipping the switch for the game in an increasing number of countries, taking it to millions of new players around the world who eagerly hit the streets in a bid to catch ’em all.

Up to now, however, there’s been one major country absent from the lengthy list of nations where players can download and enjoy the game: China.

That’s set to change after Niantic revealed to the Financial Times (FT) this week that it’s struck a deal with local gaming firm NetEase, paving the way for the game’s launch in the world’s largest mobile market.

While San Francisco-based Niantic is yet to announce a specific date for the game’s launch there, when it does happen it expects millions of new players to join in the fun — and hopefully splash some cash on the game’s in-app purchases.

Taking Pokémon Go to the world’s most populous country is a huge boost for Niantic and looks set to increase revenue for the company after a relatively quiet 2017. Niantic CEO John Hanke told the FT that despite losing a lot of players in the last year, Go still has a loyal following among a smaller but solid base of players who’ve been enjoying numerous updates for the game throughout the last 12 months.

The deal with a China-based partner means the country could be one of the first to try out Niantic’s next major game launch, set in the magical world of Harry Potter, which is expected to arrive in the latter half of this year. Mindful of the difficult launch experienced by Pokémon Go, and aware that Harry Potter will likely generate even more interest, Hanke insisted Niantic has learned its lessons and is now “much better positioned” to cope when the Potter game lands.

Whether the Chinese authorities are well positioned to cope with the potential incidents and accidents caused by Pokémon Go when it turns up on smartphones in the country, well, that’s another question entirely.

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LG will launch a ‘raspberry red’ V30 at CES 2018

LG is launching a new V30 variant at CES 2018, targeting those not quite fond of the phone’s original black, blue, silver and lavender color schemes. The upcoming version is called “raspberry red,” a muted red-pink that’s much darker than the “pink rose” Samsung Galaxy S8. LG’s V30 is a flawed phone that’s both powerful and unpolished — it performs very well, but it has a dim, gritty screen. It produces fantastic sounds, but its camera could perform better in low light, and it has a middling battery life.

The raspberry red version will be no different from the other colors, but LG’s likely hoping that the new eye-catching hue can convince people still on the fence to finally purchase the phone. It will initially be available in LG’s home country, South Korea, right after CES and will roll out in Europe’s and Asia’s key markets afterward. Unfortunately, it’s not clear if the raspberry red V30 will come out in the US — you might end up having to import one if the phone’s not making its way stateside.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Source: LG

Google brings its mysterious Fuchsia OS to the Pixelbook

Google’s Fuchsia operating system — transparent in development yet mysterious in purpose — now works on a third device: Google’s $1,000 Pixelbook. The OS, which has been likened to an Android re-do but appears to be built from scratch, also works on the Acer Switch Alpha 12 laptop and old Intel NUCs from 2015.

These are fairly obscure pieces of kit, which suggests that while Google has no beef with external developers getting inside Fuchsia and having a look around, it’s not going to be easy for them. It’ll run on open source emulator QEMU as well, but the graphics stack needs Vulcan support, which QEMU doesn’t offer, so you don’t get the OS interface, just a command line.

Getting it going on the Pixelbook isn’t any easier. The installation guidelines recommend installing it with a USB drive, but warns that the process is “destructive” to the USB device. Allegedly this just means you’ll need to reformat it, but again, the wording, and the choice of supported devices so far, means Google isn’t actively encouraging people to have a go at this stage.

Via: Android Police

Alexa and Cortana still don’t work together

Remember how Amazon and Microsoft unveiled a team-up that would let Alexa and Cortana talk to each other by the end of 2017? As you might have noticed, that didn’t quite work out as planned. Thurrott has pointed out that the voice assistant crossover still isn’t available as 2018 begins. It’s not clear why, either. Both Amazon and Microsoft have said that they expect to say more “soon,” but that’s no guarantee of news at CES or another imminent event.

The team-up promises to greatly simplify voice control in the home. You could issue commands to an Echo speaker that take advantage of Cortana’s access to Office- and Windows-specific features, while you could use Cortana to access the many, many skills Alexa offers. In short: instead of having to remember which AI helper to use at any given moment, you could settle on one.

It’s also a defensive measure. Both Amazon and Microsoft have to worry about competing platforms. Google is the most direct threat, since it allows Assistant on third-party hardware, but the two have to consider Apple as well — after all, you’re less likely to consider an Echo or a Cortana speaker if you buy a HomePod. Theoretically, this lets Amazon and Microsoft focus on their largest threats instead of trying to take each other down.

Source: Thurrott

Samsung’s latest curved QLED monitor packs Thunderbolt 3

Samsung isn’t going to sit idly by while LG’s upcoming range of monitors hog the limelight at CES 2018. The electronics giant just unveiled another curved QLED display, the world’s first with Thunderbolt 3, which should prick up the ears of MacBook Pro users. It’s officially called the CJ791, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, and also features a 3440×1440 resolution, wide 21:9 aspect ratio, and four milliseconds response time.

Those specs are clearly no match for LG’s upcoming 34-inch ultra-wide 5K monitor (or Samsung’s insane 49-inch curved QLED display). But, that isn’t stopping Samsung from boasting of its immersive picture, achieved through its 1,500R curvature and ultra-wide 178-degree viewing angle coupled with its QLED tech, which reflects colors across a 125 percent sRGB spectrum for “deeper blacks and whiter shades.” Ultimately, the company hopes it will attract both business users in search of multi-tasking screen space, and gamers.

And then there’s Thunderbolt 3, which should entice laptop users looking to hook up to a larger monitor without the need for an additional power source. As you’ve probably guessed, that also means faster processing speeds (up to 40 Gigabits per second) and laptop charging, with up to 85 watts of power. Alas, Samsung is keeping quiet about how much cash you’ll need to drop on the display (it won’t be cheap), but we’ll report back when we hear more.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Source: Samsung

Spotify hit with a $1.6 billion lawsuit over Tom Petty, Neil Young songs

Spotify’s 2018 is off to a rocky start as it emerged the company has been hit with a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by a major music publisher.

Wixen Music Publishing, which has on its books work by the likes of Tom Petty, The Doors, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, and Weezer, accuses the music streaming giant of failing to obtain the proper licenses to allow it to legally reproduce and distribute the artists’ work.

The suit was filed in a California federal court on December 29, 2017. It alleges that Spotify is offering thousands of songs on its service without the correct licenses, and that it “failed to pay songwriter royalties to [Wixen] approximately 21 percent of the time.”

As noted by Variety, the music publishing industry has for a long time had Spotify in its sights, claiming the online streaming service favors music labels over publishers when it comes to sharing out royalties.

Wixen’s suit sates: “Spotify has repeatedly failed to obtain necessary statutory, or ‘mechanical,’ licenses to reproduce and/or distribute musical compositions on its service. Consequently, while Spotify has become a multibillion dollar company, songwriters and their publishers, such as Wixen, have not been able to fairly and rightfully share in Spotify’s success, as Spotify has in many cases used their music without a license and without compensation.”

Randall Wixen, president of the music publisher, said in a statement that his company was merely “asking to be treated fairly,” adding that it is “not looking for a ridiculous punitive payment.” Wixen said it wants Spotify “to reasonably compensate our clients by sharing a minuscule amount of the revenue they take in with the creators of the product they sell.”

Spotify is yet to comment publicly in response to Wixen’s lawsuit.

This isn’t the first time Spotify lawyers have had to face lawsuits from disgruntled players in the music business. In May, 2017, for example, the company proposed a $43 million payout to settle a class-action suit brought by a group of music artists over proper licensing, though many voiced objection to the offer.

This latest lawsuit comes as Spotify, which is valued at $19 billion, reportedly makes plans to go public some time in 2018. It’s not yet known if the legal action will have any effect on the expected move.

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Apple’s latest acquisition will bolster its tools for app developers

Apple is no stranger to acquisitions. Back in 2014, it bought the company behind TestFlight, a system that lets iOS developers get their app out to tens of thousands of beta testers ahead of launch. Now the company has purchased Buddybuild, a company that helps app developers test and manage their apps on the iOS platform.

The startup says that it has joined Apple’s Xcode engineering group and is accepting no new customers, though the service will remain available to existing ones. The free starter plans and Android customers will lose access as of March 1st of this year. Apple confirmed the acquisition to TechCrunch, as well.

Buddybuild will remain in the same offices for now. “We’ve always been proud to be a Canadian company, so we’re also pleased that we will be staying right here in Vancouver — a hotbed of developer and engineering talent,” the team wrote on its announcement blog post.

Via: TechCrunch

LG’s 2018 TVs get faster and smarter with Google Assistant, Alexa

LG’s TVs have taken home our Best of CES Award for three years running and in 2018 it’s ready to take on all comers once again. As with all home electronics of the current era, the company’s new TVs are AI-ready with its ThinQ technology, but you’ll probably be more interested in their support for third-party smart home services like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The top of the line OLED TVs will have its new “Alpha 9” processor inside that’s not only powerful enough for AI, but also ready to push video at high frame-rates of up to 120FPS. The chip also claims better color performance and “four-step process of noise reduction” although we’ll be interested to see if it can be disabled to avoid any artifacts or motion-smoothing type impact on picture quality.

There’s no word yet on the OLED display prices, but if you’d rather stick to LCD technology that will likely be cheaper, LG’s Super UHD lineup will have a similar Alpha 7 processor inside, and improved backlighting with denser LED zones. This year they’re featuring “Advanced HDR by Technicolor” which includes support once again for HDR-10, Dolby Vision or Hybrid Log-Gamma encoded video, plus they’re ready to decode any Dolby Atmos audio.

Source: LG

Intel Chips Have ‘Kernel Memory Leaking’ Design Flaw and Fix Could Lead to Performance Drop

A serious design flaw and security vulnerability has been discovered in Intel’s CPUs that will require an update at the operating system level to fix, reports The Register. All modern computers with Intel chips from the last 10 years appear to be affected, including those running Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Similar operating systems, such as Apple’s 64-bit macOS, will also need to be updated – the flaw is in the Intel x86 hardware, and it appears a microcode update can’t address it. It has to be fixed in software at the OS level, or go buy a new processor without the design blunder.

Full details on the vulnerability aren’t yet known as the information is currently under embargo until later in the month. The Register has unearthed some data, however, and it seems the bug allows normal user programs to see some of the contents of the protected kernel memory.

This means malicious programs can potentially, in a worst case scenario, read the contents of the kernel memory, which can include information like passwords, login keys, and more. It’s not yet clear how severe the bug is, but The Register speculates that it’s significant given the rapid changes being made to Windows and Linux.

At worst, the hole could be abused by programs and logged-in users to read the contents of the kernel’s memory. Suffice to say, this is not great. The kernel’s memory space is hidden from user processes and programs because it may contain all sorts of secrets, such as passwords, login keys, files cached from disk, and so on. Imagine a piece of JavaScript running in a browser, or malicious software running on a shared public cloud server, able to sniff sensitive kernel-protected data.

To fix the bug, the kernel’s memory needs to be isolated from user processes using Kernel Page Table Isolation, which could cause a performance hit on some machines. According to The Register, Linux and Windows machines will see a 5 to 30 percent slowdown once the fix is in place.

It’s not yet clear how Macs will be impacted, as there is little information available at this time. Software updates are in the works for Linux and Windows, and though not mentioned, Apple is also likely working on a fix for the issue.

Full details on what’s known about the vulnerability can be found at The Register, and additional information will be available later this month when complete details on the design flaw are shared.

Tag: Intel
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Listening to their own brain waves could help PTSD sufferers battle affliction

Post-traumatic stress disorder, more commonly known as PTSD, can be debilitating for those who suffer from it. Unfortunately, the conventional methods of treating it — such as relying on antidepressants or psychotherapy — aren’t always effective. A new treatment being investigated by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center may offer another possible solution — letting patients listen to their own brain waves. It might sound like an unusual method of treatment, but it’s also one that could help large numbers of people, particularly those who have served in the military.

“HIRREM (high-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring) is a closed-loop, brain-wave-mirroring, acoustic stimulation neurotechnology,” Dr. Charles “Chuck” Tegeler, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “Software algorithms process electrical information collected by scalp sensors, and in real time translate specific brain frequencies into audible tones of varying pitch. While the participant relaxes in a zero gravity chair, the tones are reflected back via earbuds bilaterally, simultaneously, in as little as 8 milliseconds. The process requires no conscious, cognitive activity, so it still has effect even if the participant falls asleep during an eyes-closed protocol, or reads a book during an eyes-open protocol.”

Like a musical instrument being tuned, the idea is that being exposed to the oscillations in their own brain waves makes subjects aware of the connection between brain pattern and sound. This then helps them settle these oscillations back into a quiet pattern, thereby treating some of the PTSD effects.

“Having enrolled over 480 participants into one of five clinical studies, we have observed that the use of HIRREM is associated with reduced self-reported symptoms such as insomnia, depression, stress, and anxiety,” Tegeler said. “Many report a sense of greater calm, reduced irritability, and improved focus and concentration. We have also noted improvement of autonomic cardiovascular regulation, as analyzed by objective measures of heart rate variability, and baroreflex sensitivity.”

The HIRREM technology was created by Brain State Technologies in Scottsdale, Arizona. However, the team at Wake Forest School of Medicine has been exploring its various applications. One day, they hope it will be possible to seek Food and Drug Administration approval to use it for noninvasive, non-pharmacological treatment of PTSD.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Military Medical Research.

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