How to theme your Galaxy S9, Note 8, or Galaxy S8

Be different, not the same.

We strive for individuality in life, and nowhere should we strive for it more than in our phones, a digital extension of ourselves and for many an embodiment of our lives. Samsung gets this, which is why for the last few years, we’ve been able to theme the system and several core apps on the phone to match our tastes with Samsung Themes. This year, that theming reaches new heights and new polish, but as always, there are pitfalls.

Here’s how to arrive at your perfect theme.

Before we begin, it’s important to note that the order of these changes is important because of how each of these elements is applied. If you were to apply a wallpaper or icon pack you liked, then apply a comprehensive theme, it would apply the icon pack and wallpaper from that theme over the ones you previously picked out. It’s also important to note that Samsung Themes — and the instructions for how to use them — are the same whether you’re packing a brand new Galaxy S9, a Note 8, or an older Samsung device like a Galaxy S8.

Samsung Themes

Samsung Themes offers up hundreds of comprehensive themes that apply to the entire system, changing the colors of not only your app drawer and icons but of the settings and the system popups. Even if you don’t use Samsung’s TouchWiz home launcher, Samsung Themes are something you should definitely consider as they can wipe away all the blinding white from your Samsung apps like the Dialer, Messaging, and Settings and replace it with something a little more soothing.

The Themes section of Samsung Themes is laid out quite similarly to any section of the Play Store, with a revolving carousel of promoted categories and theme styles, as well as shortcuts to the most popular and new themes to try. If you tap on a theme, you’ll be given example screenshots that show how the theme looks on your home screen, lock screen, and on some system apps.

There are plenty of themes out there to try, and while there are some free themes that work quite well, many of the best themes are paid, and I’m more than happy to pay to have a good dark theme on my phone. You can even download paid themes as a trial to see how they look on your particular device before forking over your cash.

If you’re looking for a good place to start for dark themes, I recommend Material Dark by Cameron Bunch as a good free theme to start off with, and Blue Glow by Sebastian Wolodkiewicz is a paid theme that is as beautifully black as the night is long.

Infinity Wallpaper

The combo-pack of animated, shifting wallpapers that morph between your Always On Display, lock screen, and home screen are pretty cool, and if you want to use them on each of those three screens, great! If not, you should apply your Infinity Wallpaper before you set something else as either the Always On Display or the home screen wallpaper, as Infinity Wallpapers apply all three at once, wiping out your old choices.

Always On Displays

If you have your Always On Display turned off, then feel free to skip ahead, but Always On Displays don’t suck down much battery and can be beautiful, useful ways to let you see what’s going on with your phone without waking it all the way up.

Each AOD has two modes: Clock, which shows the image with the time and notifications, or Image, which just shows the image on the AOD you’ve installed. I’ve personally found the Image AOD mode to be soothing without constantly reminding me how many notifications I’ve got, but if you prefer seeing the time and all the apps pestering you, it’s your choice.

Lock Screen Wallpapers

Lock Screen wallpapers are getting some attention in Samsung Themes with the addition of Animated Wallpapers, Motion Wallpapers, and Multi-Wallpaper packs. Animated Wallpapers animate on your lock screen (but not on your home screen). Motion wallpapers are still wallpapers that have moving elements when you’re on your lock screen. And Multi-Wallpaper packs have multiple screens that the phone will cycle through each time you come to the lock screen.

It is interesting that all of these are limited to the lock screen, as there are some unique wallpapers in here. As little as most users see their lock screen, you might not want to spend as much time here as you would on system themes or AODs, but if you’ve got the time, it’s worth exploring.

Wallpapers

At last, we come to the wallpaper you’re going to see the most: the one on your home screen. While you’re not limited to the Samsung Themes store for wallpapers, you can certainly peruse the ones offered here, as they’re high quality and fitted for the tall design of the Galaxy S9’s screen. If you don’t like anything offered there, here are the best places to find yourself a new wallpaper.

Oh, but be careful when you’re setting a traditional wallpaper. You can overwrite your lock screen wallpaper if you click Lock and home screen when choosing where to apply your wallpaper.

Icon packs

Samsung, regrettably, does not allow you to use icon packs from the Google Play Store in the TouchWiz home launcher, so if you’re intent on sticking to Samsung’s launcher, then there are a few things to know about icon packs in the Samsung Themes store.

First and foremost, they suck.

ELEV8 on TouchWiz home launcher, ELEV8 on Nova Launcher

They don’t apply evenly within the Samsung system, and the number of apps most icon packs theme by just slapping a mask on them and calling it a day is laughable. Even icon packs that are robust on other platforms, like the pack shown above, are hobbled on Samsung Themes. If you care at all about consistency on your home screen, you have two options:

Use the default icon pack.
Use a third-party launcher with Google Play icon packs.

I lean heavily towards using a third-party launcher on the Galaxy S8 for a variety of reasons. The margins on the S9 home screen purposely leave gaps at the top and bottom of the desktop that can’t be filled or deleted. Folder previews with nine icons are too darn hard to see at a glance or at a distance, and folder previews with nine icons stick out like a sore thumb against a sea of regular app shortcuts. Gestures on the TouchWiz home launcher are simplified in the wrong ways, and it could stand to learn a thing or five from Evie Launcher. You can’t back up the TouchWiz home launcher, and you really, really should back up your launcher.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is a phone that themes beautifully and more completely than almost anything on the market today. Even if the launcher leaves a lot to be desired, it’s still well worth the investment in Samsung Themes for Always On Display, your lock screen, and your system theme. Now, excuse me, I think I’m going to go savor this dark theme…

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Updated March 2018: This article has been updated to reflect a new batch of Samsung devices and given some needed spring cleaning.

Upcoming PlayStation VR games we’re most excited about in 2018

Here are the unreleased VR games that we can’t wait to hit the market this year.

PlayStation VR is becoming a much larger VR platform, and with that comes a lot more games. With PlayStation unleashing new games almost every month, it’s hard not to be excited by seeing what has already been released. Here are some of the unreleased VR games that we’re most excited about.

• Golem
• Blood & Truth
• Megalith
• The American Dream
• Torn
• Dead Secret

Golem – March 13th

Golem is a beautiful game where you play as a young boy who is unable to explore to the outside world. However, he finds out that he has the power to control these steel-creatures called golems.

Follow his adventure as he finally gets to go outside in the eyes of another being.

Blood & Truth – 2018

If you were a big fan of the London Heist demo that came with your PSVR, then you are going to love Blood & Truth. It’s a heist game where you have to go through and complete missions while taking down the guys that are after you.

It is by Sony’s London Studio, so it will take you deeper into a story similar to the experience so many have already had. Only now, you get a lot more of it.

Megalith- 2018

Before there were humans, there were Titans, and you get to become one. Megalith is an action shooter where you follow the journey of this Titan who is on his way to become a God.

Take on other players as a ranged, melee, or mixed Titan to see who is truly the best.

The American Dream – April 6th

This hilarious game is all about doing mundane tasks with something you probably shouldn’t do them with: guns. Taking on a sort-of Job Simulator persona, you have to make your way through all of these tasks using your guns.

Just, be careful. It’s clear things will not be as simple as they seem.

Torn – Spring 2018

Step into a Twilight Zone-esk home as you discover the mystery behind this home. Follow around this light source that seems to have the long-gone physicist trapped inside it as you unveil what may have caused him and his wife to randomly vanish.

Torn will take you back to the Twilight Zone days with all of the strange machines and time travel, and it will be well worth it.

Dead Secret – 2018

Dead Secret follows the story of a detective who is the only person to suspect that a man named Harris was murdered in his home. Make your way throughout the home to inspect evidence that will solidify your case.

Tread lightly, though, as someone is watching your every move while you unveil some deep, and even dark, secrets.

Which VR game are you looking forward to?

Is there a VR game on this list that really caught you eye? Let us know down in the comments!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

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Samsung partnering with uBreakiFix for same-day Galaxy S9 repairs across the U.S.

This is so much better than sending your phone to Samsung.

Samsung is expanding its in-person smartphone customer service offerings with a new partnership with independent repair chain uBreakiFix. The new deal, which technically lands under the “Samsung Care” umbrella, guarantees that Samsung customers can visit any of uBreakiFix’s 300 U.S. stores for same-day repairs, including warranty service when applicable but also out-of-warranty fixes on older phones.

You may recall that uBreakiFix also has an ongoing partnership with Google to provide the same sort of service to Pixel buyers, but when you’re talking about the number of phones Samsung sells every year this is on an entirely different scale. Samsung says that all of its flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phones are supported back to the Galaxy S6 and Note 5, meaning you can easily get repairs done even on phones that are now three years old.

Getting a same-day fix with genuine Samsung parts is a critical improvement.

uBreakiFix’s partnership specifically covers basic repairs like cracked screens, rear glass damage, faulty ports, worn-out batteries and issues with the cameras. But obviously more advanced repairs can be handled on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity. Most importantly, this partnership certifies uBreakiFix stores to perform repairs the exact same way Samsung’s own repair centers would, including using proprietary tools and genuine Samsung parts — so you don’t have to worry about a bad repair shop making things worse with a shoddy fix.

This all works by scheduling an appointment at a local uBreakiFix store, and in a vast majority of cases the service can be handled the same day. That means you don’t have to worry about shipping out your device and being without a phone for several days while repairs are done, which is perhaps the biggest complaint about most phone manufacturers’ customer service.

Samsung says that on top of the current set of 300 stores, it’s working to expand that network by an additional 200 stores across the U.S. by early 2019.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Press release:

Samsung Increases Customer Care Touchpoints Throughout the U.S.

• Samsung Care Brings Same-Day In-Person Authorized Support to More Than 300 uBreakiFix Locations Nationwide, and Growing
• Majority of Samsung Mobile Owners are Able to Get Authorized Care in Two Hours or Less

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ – March 14, 2018 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced it is bringing same-day, in-person authorized service to Galaxy phone owners nationwide.

Starting on March 15, Samsung customers are able to bring in their Galaxy mobile devices to more than 300 Samsung Care authorized uBreakiFix service locations in the U.S. for same-day support, and within two hours or less for most repairs. Samsung has plans to continue to expand the program across the country throughout 2018.

Galaxy owners can easily schedule an appointment at one of the Samsung Care authorized uBreakiFix service locations nationwide online, or simply drop off their device without an appointment. All Samsung Care authorized uBreakiFix service locations use genuine Samsung parts, proprietary Samsung tools for the repairs, and conduct repairs by Samsung certified pros.

“At Samsung, our goal is to provide Samsung Galaxy owners with a customer first care experience that is as innovative as our products,” said Michael Lawder, Senior Vice President of Customer Care at Samsung Electronics America. “This announcement marks a fundamental shift in our care offerings to consumers and underscores our commitment to provide Samsung customers with support anywhere, anytime our customers need it.”

The Samsung Care authorized uBreakiFix service locations are in all major U.S. metro areas and reach the majority of the continental U.S. population. By early 2019, Samsung and uBreakiFix plan to add nearly 200 more Samsung Care authorized uBreakiFix service locations to expand customer reach.

The Samsung Care authorized service locations will provide front and back screen replacements, battery replacements, port and camera repairs, and other in and out-of-warranty support services to the following Samsung phones:

• Galaxy S9 and S9+
• Galaxy S8 and S8+
• Galaxy S7 and S7 edge
• Galaxy S6 and S6+
• Galaxy Note8 and Note5

To learn more about Samsung Care’s efforts, visit Samsung.com/us/support, or to schedule an appointment at a Samsung Care authorized uBreakiFix service location visit Samsung.com/us/support/ubreakifix. For more information about uBreakiFix, please visit ubreakifix.com/samsung.

The benefits of a major appliance with Google Assistant or Alexa support

Better. Smarter. Possibly more annoying.

Did I leave the stove on? … What do I need from the grocery store? Is the washer done yet? … It rained — I’d better stop the sprinklers from watering. … Man, I really wish we hadn’t left the lights on all day. … It’d be great if we remembered to turn off the air conditioning when we’re gone.

Look, I’ll be the first person to tell you that not everything needs to be wired up to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant (or Cortana or Siri or whatever). I don’t need the security camera in my living room to have Assistant support along with the Google Home Max. Same goes for alarm clocks alongside Google Home Minis.

But when it comes to major appliances — and specifically things that absolutely will cost me money the more their used — sometimes smarter is better than not.

Let’s take the air conditioner, for example, now that summer is threatening to show up early here in Florida. First, having a smart thermostat like Nest or Ecobee means you’re going to have smarter scheduling. And even more important is that they’ll be sure to shut things off when you’re not home. That’s great. But even better is that with functionality with Alexa and Google Assistant you’ll be more likely to adjust things to your liking instead of just dealing with it — because changing the temperature with your voice or even with a remote control means less work. (I know, getting up is hard to do. But it’s one of those things that you’ll never now you were missing until you try it.)

More: Are Nest smart products really that convenient?

Refrigerators? Here’s what LG’s InstaView ThinQ Refrigerator — pictured above — can do:

The intelligent refrigerator recommends delicious recipes based on what ingredients the consumer has on hand – a revolutionary answer to the timeless question of what to eat for dinner. Once a recipe is selected, the refrigerator automatically sends the information to preheat the connected oven, and the integrated Amazon Alexa verbally guides the chef through each step of the process for a trouble-free cooking experience. Users can also access and listen to their favorite songs on Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and other music streaming services directly on the InstaView ThinQ for a more enjoyable cooking and dining experience.

How about them apples?

Or take a sprinkler system, for another example. While the Rachio system is smart enough to not water if it’s rained (even without a moisture sensor), occasionally it’ll still start to hose things down when you don’t want it to. If that happens, just a simple voice command takes care of things and turns off the sprinkler.

Lights are even more awesome. You can set up routines and shut down the entire house at one time, using only your voice, once you’re in the car or on the way out the door. Or you can set a specific bedtime routine to only dim what you need to, and darken everything else.

Stoves? Sure thing. Having a timer rigged up to Alexa or Assistant means you’re more likely to actually be notified when the thing goes off, instead making sure you’re in a place where you can hear it. Or even better is being able to make sure that you’ve actually turned it off when you’re done cooking. (I can’t be the only one who’s had to turn around and go home because of this, right?)

Security systems can be fun, too. I can tell my Ring Doorbell to show the video feed on my TV, and it’ll do so.

The point is, don’t shun Alexa and Assistant in major appliances. They can make life a little easier, and potentially save you some money, too.

Eufy’s RoboVac 11+ can keep your floors clean while you hang at the pool

No effort cleaning.

Summer is right around the corner, so why not let the popular Eufy RoboVac 11+ clean your floors while you hang out by the pool. Right now it’s down to just $179.99 at Amazon. This model has sold pretty steadily at the $250 mark since its release, and it’s even jumped as high as $384.99 before.

It offers 100 minutes of constant, powerful suction, has a wide rolling brush to clean the floors well, and comes with a remote to help you control it. Eufy also has a newly-released pet variant which is selling for $300 right now.

The entry-level Roomba models start at around $320. Sure, they can offer a few additional features, but at nearly double the cost it’s harder to justify the upgrade here.

See at Amazon

Grab this Amazon Web Services Certification Training bundle for just $69!

When it comes to cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is near the top of the pile. It can be found in countless places around the web, and it’s comprised of multiple services from computing and storage to analytics. As AWS continues to grow, there is understandably an urgent need for trained professionals in the field.

Because AWS is comprised of so many different services, becoming proficient in the entire system can be pricey and time-consuming. Instead of finding the appropriate courses on your own, why not grab a bundle?

Right now, Android Central Digital Offers has a deal on an Amazon Web Services Certification Training mega bundle that included eight certification courses with more than 50 hours of training. Instead of paying $1,299, you’ll instead pay just $69. That’s 94 percent off the regular price!

The eight courses in this bundle include:

• AWS Technical Essentials Certification Training
• Introduction to Amazon S3 Training Course
• Introduction to Amazon Route 53 Training
• Introduction to Amazon EC2 Training Course
• AWS Solution Architect Certification Training Course
• Amazon VPC Training Course
• AWS Lambda Training Course
• AWS Database Migration Service Course

If you’re looking to prepare yourself for the AWS certification exams, this bundle of courses is what you need. At just $69, the price won’t get much better.

See at Android Central Digital Offers

‘Hearables’ could diagnose disease, if we let them

Poppy Crum is the Chief Scientist at Dolby labs, and no stranger to the conference circuit. Her talk at this year’s SXSW — “A Hearable Future: Sound & Sensory Interface” — promised to dive into the hidden possibilities that sound and the human ear have to offer technology. Unfortunately, and perhaps ironically, Crum’s talk was plagued by audio problems throughout (through no fault of her own).

“The Ear is this incredible hub of insight between our internal state and the external world,” Crum told the audience, before having to ask the technician to reduce the reverb on her microphone. Only moments earlier her laptop (and therefore presentation) had died thanks to a technician plugging it into the wrong outlet.

Crum handled the inconvenience deftly, taking a poignant question from an audience member asking if technology could offer her hope — she was going to be fully deaf in 10 years. Crum said it could “we want to de-stigmatize wearing hearables, we want that” before explaining her goal of helping to democratize the hearing technology space, as six companies currently owning 98 percent of the market “that’s not okay.” Technical glitches and Crum’s elegant handling of them had the audience cheering in support.

“The ear directs the eye” Crum added, talking about how situational awareness is often lead by our hearing, and not by our sight. Footsteps coming up behind us, or our ability to place a sound in 3D space long before we see what’s causing it.

Current audio wearables, or, if we must, “hearables,” are starting to take advantage of more than just delivering enhanced sound. Companies like Here, Nura Sound and Bragi (among others) have introduced sound augmentation with varied success. But most are still teetering on the edge of audio assistance — reducing background noise, or adding to the sound we already hear. Crum thinks we can do much more, and with technology that already exists.

But that advantage comes at a price. “The power of the hearable is only realized if we let the device have access and process our personal data,” Crum told Engadget after her talk. How tech firms have handled, or protected our personal data, hasn’t exactly been a success so far, so we’re forced to make the eternal choice between convenience/progress and privacy. “I think we know what to do to protect that data,” Crum added, “but it’s what we do with the understanding of that data [that’s important],” hinting the pay off could be worth it, but it’s a long road ahead.

Let’s be clear, we’re not just talking about better voice recognition, or knowing when to lower the music in our cars to calm our stressful drive. Using just our voices, scientists can predict the onset of multiple sclerosis, diabetes (through physiological changes that affect your vocal tract) and even psychosis (through vocal patterns). But do you want to let Amazon, Google or Apple be the ones to diagnose you? And have that data in its coffers? My guess is no.

“The ear is a very special place where we can gain some of the richest insight into our bodies and the external world.”

Crum’s definition of a “hearable” and the insights they can offer goes beyond wireless earbuds though. “Hearable are devices that listen, they don’t even need a transducer, they could just listen to your body.” This includes one key area of technology slowly but surely invading our living space: virtual assistants.

Right here, we have a technology that, if we let it, could listen to our daily lives, and offer up all sorts of insight: health issues, lifestyle assistance, entertainment recommendations (and enhancement) and more. But letting someone… some thing listen in on our daily lives is probably an adjustment that will take a while to earn the trust it deserves. “They might just know more about us than we know.” Crum reminds us. And that’s both horrifying and exciting at the same time.

Catch up on the latest news from SXSW 2018 right here.

Microsoft fixes more Meltdown and Spectre flaws in Windows

Microsoft has taken another step on its gargantuan journey to fortifying more than a billion PCs worldwide against Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. This week’s Patch Tuesday release updates PCs running x86 versions of Windows 7 and 8.1 against Meltdown, meaning that all currently supported Windows releases now include defense against this vulnerability.

The update also takes care of the antivirus compatibility check that had blocked previous security updates on Windows 10. The check has been lifted to “expand the breadth of Windows 10 devices offered cumulative Windows security updates, including software protections for Spectre and Meltdown.” Microsoft also said it plans to continue blocking security updates on PCs with incompatible antivirus drivers to “avoid any issues.”

Source: Microsoft

A cloud service for mobile gaming isn’t as dumb as it sounds

We’re reached a point where cloud gaming finally makes sense. The technology that exists now is beyond what was available to famous failures like OnLive and many others you could say were ahead of their time. Servers, the consoles and computers we have in our homes, and the speedy internet connections that feed them are now capable of mimicking the experience of playing a game stored on your local machine. Big companies like Sony and NVIDIA have gotten involved over the past few years for just this reason, and one upstart believes it’s spotted an unfilled niche in the market. What Spotify has done for music and Netflix for TV, Hatch wants to do for mobile gaming.

Hatch is a cloud gaming service for your phone, very much in beta at this point and currently available on Android in 16 European countries including the UK. Your first reaction to this idea, if you think like me, might be: But… why? Is it not just an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist? Is storage space so precious we need to host mobile apps in the ether? These were the questions bouncing around my head when I first came across Hatch, but the method of delivery is just part of the picture. What Hatch really wants to be is a champion of premium mobile games and creator of new social ways to play them.

Free-to-play games are more prevalent on mobile than any other platform, but Hatch more or less ignores this vast catalog. Instead, the games it’s adopted to date either have an upfront price attached or offer a basic, demo-esque experience ahead of in-app purchases to unlock the full game. No money changes hands on Hatch, though. You can stream the complete version of every game for free, though Hatch doesn’t like the word “free” since you are paying, to some extent, by putting up with ads dotted around the UI. They’re hardly intrusive (at this stage, anyway), but eventually Hatch will offer a subscription tier that strips the ads away.

Some special features will also be reserved for paying users, such as a kids mode with parental controls. Hatch is still figuring out exactly what its subscription option will look like because it won’t come into play until the app is fully developed.

I’m not an avid mobile gamer, but there are several titles even I recognize on Hatch’s books, such as Monument Valley, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Rocket Riot and Mini Metro. A new partnership with Square Enix Montreal means Hitman GO, Lara Croft GO, Deus Ex GO and Hitman Sniper will arrive on Hatch later this year, too.

There are just over 100 games currently playable on the service. You’d think big developers might shy away from something like Hatch: Every player is someone that may’ve otherwise bought these games from the Play Store. But that hasn’t stopped studios like Ubisoft, Bandai Namco and Ustwo from pledging their support (another big name will be added to that list in a week or so, I’m told). The cloud service itself was spun out of and is still majority owned by Rovio, which knows a thing or two about mobile gaming. Naturally then, Angry Birds and Bad Piggies have a home on Hatch.

Developers showing faith in Hatch, not to mention wanting a cut of ad/subscription revenue, is one thing. Execution is the other part of the puzzle. And if you’re still struggling to see the value in a cloud streaming service for mobile games, actually playing around with Hatch is where it all seems to come together. For lack of a more eloquent phrase, it’s slick AF.

For starters, the main UI is colorful and inviting. You swipe left and right between genre pages, with animated banners up top and visual cards for the different games beneath. There’s also a page that lists your recently played games and one for your social feed (more on that later). Tap a game card and you’ll see a trailer of sorts above a short description of what it’s all about. Hit that play button and after a short loading time you’re playing the game as if you’d downloaded it to your device. That’s how a cloud gaming service is supposed to operate, of course, but the journey there is worth a mention.

The real light bulb moment, though, is when you start exploring Hatch’s social features. At any point during your play session, you can jump into the Hatch menu and invite a friend to join your game. Up to four friends, in fact. Not only is there built-in voice chat, but both of you can actually play the game together — multiplayer for games that don’t have multiplayer.

During a quick session of OK Golf, for example, a colleague and I were chatting away and taking alternate shots, as if we were sitting on a couch passing one phone between us. According to Hatch, this isn’t even hard to do, technically speaking. Since the game is running in the cloud, the servers just push the same instance to both devices. In other words, the game has no idea you’re playing it on two different phones. Also, as the host, I have the option of locking my friends’ controls if I start seeing too many wayward shots. Multiplayer doesn’t have to mean taking turns, though. You could invite a friend in to advise you on how to beat a Bridge Constructor Medieval level, or just have them watch you speedrun Badland while you shoot the shit.

In addition to sharing your exploits with friends live, you can also clip special moments. Hatch records your gameplay on a 45-second loop. Do something worthy of remembering you can jump into a simple video editor, complete with cropping and annotation tools. You can then share this moment on Hatch’s internal social network or on Instagram. The Hatch feed is actually a lot like Instagram, with captions, likes, comments and the ability to follow other users.

A post shared by Hatch (@playhatch) on Feb 5, 2018 at 6:51am PST

These features are what make Hatch feel like more than the sum of its parts, more than the catalog of titles. Mobile gaming is, for the most part, a solitary experience. Hatch opens this up, and it’s still early days. The team has broadcasting (à la Twitch) on its roadmap, so players can livestream to anyone who wants to watch, not just who they invite into their games. “Technically speaking, it’s super easy,” Hatch co-founder and Head of Content Vesa Jutila told me, since the whole system is built to stream the same game instance to multiple devices. The challenging part is delivering it to a player a million people can tune in to.

Competitive and co-op multiplayer is also a priority, but first Hatch wants to finish developing an over-the-top lobby system that make it as seamless as possible. Something a bit like Xbox Live parties. “One of the powerful things about a service like Hatch is the fact that you can design the multiplayer game experience across all the games at a platform level, instead of designing it for every individual game one-by-one,” Jutila said. He believes it could even change how developers make games, giving them more time to craft great multiplayer without worrying about the nuts and bolts of putting people together in the same session. Hatch will handle that.

Before all these extra social features are realized, though, Hatch still has a lot of polishing to do on the core experience. As much as I came round to the idea, there’s still a fair few glitches to iron out. These range from the occasional lag spike that disrupts the flow of a game to voice recording for game clips straight up not working. During my playtests, I found that if I hosted a game, I could hear people I invited clearly on voice chat, while they heard a patchy, robotic voice from my end. Swap over and I would sound clear while the new host became the Dalek. Two-way audio is one of the harder things to get right, I was told, because of the different ways different Android devices handle sound.

Hatch is still very much in development at this stage. Finland was the first country to have at the open beta last August and since then it’s expanded to a total of 16 European countries. For now the plan is to settle in Europe, stick to Android, complete development and then reach other countries and platforms. I wonder whether Apple would allow Hatch on iOS since it encourages people to stream rather than buy games. But then again the same could be said for Android, and yet Hatch is featured on Google’s Early Access program.

My crystal ball won’t reveal whether mobile cloud gaming will ever be a mass market thing. “Once you offer an on-demand way to consume entertainment, adoption can happen super fast. When something starts when you press play, you never want to go back,” Jutila told me. “With consumers, as always, getting them to move to the next paradigm requires time,” he added. “It’s a totally new experience and before you’ve tried it and you understand what it is, it’s very difficult to explain.”

Assuming you can get a solid catalog together, perhaps the sheer convenience of no downloads or updates will be enough. A potential problem is that Hatch isn’t in control of ‘the last mile,’ by which I mean a crappy connection and resulting sub-par experience might quickly turn you off. But 5G is just around the corner, promising better speeds and lower latency than existing tech.

“Yes, there will always be some possibility that you have a crappy network connection and for that moment, there’s some glitches in the game,” Jutila said. “So be it, because all in all the on-demand model for gaming is way more powerful and it enables this totally new kind of social experience that wouldn’t be possible without it.” He compares it to an odd buffering incident you might suffer while watching Netflix. It’s not ideal, but you’d rather that than go to a store to buy a DVD.

If you want to game on the go, you’ve also gotta think about the damage it’s doing to your data allowance. While there’s still room for optimization, according to Jutila, in my experience the app used the best part of a gig per hour of playtime. All that said, if there’s an appetite for cloud gaming on the small screen, it’s going to be a service like Hatch that satiates it. Because it’s not even really about the streaming — it’s about turning the introverted nature of mobile gaming into a more social, console-like experience.

Source: Hatch

Apple takes a stance on crypto-miners in apps

Calendar 2, the Mac App that rolled out an update bundled with a crypto-miner that went berserk, was removed from iTunes shortly after news of its controversial new feature came out. Now, its developer has provided more details about what happened, giving us an idea of how Apple will deal with apps loaded with cryptocurrency miners in the future. Gregory Magarshak, founder of Calendar 2’s developer Qbix, told us that his company didn’t pull the app. Apple was the one that yanked it around an hour after the developer announced that it’s removing the miner altogether, making its stance on apps with crypto-miners a bit clearer than before.

The tech titan cited section 2.4.2 of its guidelines as its reason for removal. That section says apps should be able to “use power efficiently” and shouldn’t “rapidly drain battery, generate excessive heat or put unnecessary strain on device resources.” Miners are known to be quite resource intensive, so Apple could use the same reason to pull any other app that comes with crypto-mining features going forward. That is, if if it didn’t only remove Calendar 2, because the miner it came with took things to another level.

Qbix originally introduced mining as an option for users who want to unlock the app’s features for free. It was supposed to be completely opt in and was only supposed to use to 10 to 20 percent of a computer’s resources. Unfortunately, a couple of bugs caused the Monero miner to go haywire. One of those bugs caused it to run indefinitely and to launch even without permission, while the other caused it to consume more resources than intended.

Magarshak told us Qbix earned $2,000 from mining within the three-day period that it was available. To make up for what happened, though, Qbix is using that money to improve its features. It’s also making its premium features available for free for a whole year to everyone who’s ever used the app. Yes, Calendar 2 is back on iTunes, and the developer is advising users to update their apps in order to remove the problematic version from their computers.

Source: Calendar 2 (iTunes)