Katamari Damacy’s creator debuts Project Tango-powered AR game
The maniacal minds behind the cult console hit, Katamari Damacy, have unveiled their latest wacky work, an experimental open-world game powered by Google’s Tango AR system called Woorld.
As with other AR setups, Woorld combines action on the physical plane with virtual characters. Specifically, players will be able to “explore, discover, and create using digital objects and creatures” that interact with the actual objects around them. What’s more, players will be able to team up with each other to build bigger and better objects, then share them with anyone looking through a Woorld-enabled mobile device.
Details are still pretty thin as to what the gameplay actually entails, but it looks adorable and and seemingly offers the same level of intuitive gameplay that made Katamari so easy to get hooked on. Given how fun KD was — and that just involved rolling an ever-growing pile of stuff — Woorld could well be another winner.
Source: Funomena
Google debuts Assistant, a conversational AI helper
Say hello to Google Assistant, a more conversational spin on the company’s existing mobile voice search capabilities. In many ways, it looks like the logical evolution of Google Now. By saying “Okay Google,” you can query it with simple questions, or do complex things like book movie tickets. “We think of it as building each users its own individual Google,” CEO Sundar Pichai said on the Google I/O stage today.
Developing…
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Nokia will return to mobile with Android phones and tablets
The Nokia brand will return to the smartphone market. Just as Microsoft announced it’s offloading Nokia’s old feature phone business to a Foxconn subsidiary and a mysterious Finnish company called HMD Global Oy, Nokia has revealed that HMD is also acquiring the relevant rights to use the Nokia name on smartphones and and tablets for the next ten years. That means we’ll start seeing “Nokia-branded” phones and tablets very soon. And they’ll be running Android.
We don’t know a lot about HMD yet, but Arto Nummela, currently a Microsoft mobile executive, will leave the company to be HMD’s CEO when the deal closes. Before joining Microsoft Nummela worked at Nokia for over a decade. Florian Seiche, another Microsoft mobile executive with a Nokia past, will join HMD as president. If the pair’s involvement is anything to go by, it seems that HMD will feature some faces familiar to those that followed Nokia in its heyday.
HMD says it’ll invest $500 million over the next three years to develop and promote products. This money will come both from investors and from profits from the newly-acquired feature phone business. Nokia’s involvement in the new devices will be very limited. It’ll take a place on HMD’s board, and set “mandatory brand requirements and performance related provisions.” That essentially means it’s going to make sure that HMD isn’t dragging its name through the mud by releasing awful devices.
Although FIH Mobile — the Foxconn subsidiary that bought a share of Nokia/Microsoft’s feature phone business — isn’t involved in this rights deal, it will be the manufacturer of the new HMD smartphones and tablets. It seems as though HMD will be selling and marketing the devices, while FIH will be doing the manufacturing. Of course, the pair will have access to Nokia’s vast arsenal of mobile patents through the agreement.
The various deals required to make all this happen are expected to close before the end of the year. There’s no firm timeline for when we’ll see Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets, and no information on what flavor of Android they’ll be running.
Source: Nokia
Britney’s new mobile game offers a piece of the pop princess
First came Kim. Then came Katy. And now it’s time for Britney, bitch. Vegas’ pop-princess-in-residence is following in the digital footsteps of Kanye’s notorious Instawife with a free-to-play mobile game out today on iOS and Android. Britney Spears: American Dream, the first release of a five-year deal with developer Glu Mobile, is described as narrative role-playing game. It positions you, the player, as an aspirational pop star seeking Britney’s advice and approval, and, ultimately, fame in the finicky music industry. Despite headlining the game and providing access to her catalog of hits, however, Britney is mostly a side attraction.
The game, which opens with an aerial shot of Spears’ Vegas act and a video of Britney on stage addressing players, is peppered with sound bites that lead into, but do not complete, her written dialogue. Make no mistake: The specter of Britney is present, but the game is more about players aping her achievement of the “American Dream” through performances, social media popularity and outfit changes (funded by in-app purchases).
Glu’s CEO Niccolo de Masi is hoping user-generated content, which takes the form of customized cover art for singles in-game, will help spur a lingering community and become the defining factor of American Dream’s success. De Masi says that already an overwhelming number of beta testers — about 85 percent — are spending time simply tweaking their avatar’s single artwork, a feature that translates social-media likes into in-game points.
“There’s a positive gamified feedback loop for having a more popular single than somebody else,” says de Masi. “And that obviously is not only the way life works in the music industry, but it’s also something that will keep players engaged and competing to be the most popular singles creator.”
Whether that social-media slant will prove alluring enough to foster a robust community remains to be seen. But Glu’s got a backup plan designed to attract the sort of player-vs.-player interaction that will keep players around and, in turn, help generate in-app purchases: competing “guilds,” as de Masi calls them, or in American Dream’s parlance, record labels.
As with all things tied to the business of being Britney Spears, the release of American Dream is timed to her new album, which is rumored to be dropping sometime soon. De Masi says once Britney’s new music is out, the game will be updated with “more features, as well as messaging around … her next singles” and even the next season of her Vegas show.
With the recent underwhelming performance of Glu’s other high-profile, celeb-driven mobile experiments, Katy Perry Pop and Kendall and Kylie, and a subsequent round of layoffs, de Masi is pretty candid about the importance of Britney’s resurgent popularity and expanding fanbase to the company’s bottom line.
“She’s been around long enough to capture not just 15-year-olds, but also 35-to-45-year-olds,” he says. “I think that could be a real secret monetization weapon, so to speak. Because, of course, as people age, they tend to have more disposable income. And that might well be highly favorable to this game.”
Spears, who declined to be interviewed for this piece, provided a statement to Engadget:
“I’m a creative person by nature, and I love expressing that through my show, music, personal style and dance. Now I get to flex my creative muscles in a whole new way! I’m so excited to share this project with my fans. Mobile gaming is something completely new for me and I can’t wait to hear what my fans think of all the fun music, outfits, pets and artwork. I hope they adore it as much as I do!”
Image credits: Glu Mobile
Fitbit’s app auto-tracks activity on the Nexus 5X and 6P
With more and more smartphones now rocking motion co-processors, basic fitness activities can now be tracked without the need for a dedicated wearable. Fitbit brought such a feature to the iPhone 5S back in 2013, but Android support has been sporadic. Today, the company pushed a new update for Google devices, allowing owners of the Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P to use the app without a tracker and capture basic metrics like steps, distance and calories burned.
The feature is called MobileTrack and it uses the Android Sensor Hub, a dedicated processor that connects directly to the camera’s sensors, to quietly track movement while sipping a low amount of power. Its activity-recognition algorithms can detect when you’re embarking on a run or hopping on your bike without needing to be phone to be woken. Granted, it won’t be able to give you the best overview of your fitness, but if you’re keen to compare steps with your Fitbit-wearing friends and family, it will get you off a decent start.
Via: Fitbit Community
Source: Fitbit (Google Play)
Microsoft sells Nokia’s feature phone business to Foxconn
Microsoft has signed a deal with a subsidiary of Foxconn to sell what used to be Nokia’s old feature phone business. The outfit, that still produces low-end handsets like the 222 and 230, has been sold to FIH Mobile for $350 million. It’ll now come under the control of the manufacturing giant that produces (pretty much) every device you can think of. Microsoft is also handing over a manufacturing plant in Hanoi, Vietnam, as part of the deal. In addition, 4,500 employees responsible for producing the devices will be given the opportunity to join the Foxconn family.
If Microsoft wanted to convince people that it had any ambitions in the handset world, the news today does a terrible job. The company claims that it will continue to “support” Windows 10 Mobile and devices like the Lumia 950, but makes no mention of building more. There is a line to say that the outfit will “support” partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO. Otherwise, it looks like Satya Nadella believes that his predecessor’s grand push into the smartphone wars was a mistake. After all, the company’s most recent round of financials revealed that Lumia sales have fallen through the floor.
Via: Verge
Source: Microsoft (PRNewswire)
Researchers create Rubik’s cube-like touchscreen display
While modular smartphones like Fairphone or Google’s Project Ara are still works-in-progress, a group of researchers from the University of Bristol’s Interaction Group have designed a slick new reconfigurable form for touchscreen displays. The Cubimorph, as BIG calls it, is a single display built out of smaller, six-sided display cubes that are daisy-chained together and can be repositioned not unlike a Rubik’s cube with a little more flexibility.
In a case proposed by the research team, a device like a flat smartphone could be folded and reconfigured into the shape of a game controller. Or, in a less practical example, you could simply roll your phone out into a rectangular log with a postage-stamp sized display on one end. For users who were never very good at spatial reasoning or origami, an algorithm will help determine the best way to twist and fold the screen into the desired shape.
While the device is still in the awkward prototype phase at this point, the research team will present it to a panel at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm later this week.
Uber Trip Tracker lets you follow family members in real-time
Uber announced a helpful new update to its “Family Profiles” feature today. The new Trip Tracker automatically gives you a heads up when someone in your Family Profile hops in an Uber and allows you to follow along and make sure they arrive safely at their destination.
While users can technically add anyone to their Uber Family (and foot the bill for their Uber rides), the new feature is intended for situations like sending your kid to school or making sure your aging granny gets a ride back from the grocery store. Or, you could simply get a heads up when your significant other is on their way home from the office. Whoever is in charge of the family profile will get a notification and a real-time map with the passenger’s route. Think of it as a live version of a ride receipt.
Family Profiles are now available in every city where Uber operates and according to TechCrunch they are used most frequently in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Colombia. The Family feature is reportedly popular in Latin America where most households only have one credit card, but at least in the U.S., Los Angeles boasts the Family Profile with the most members in it.
Engadget giveaway: Win a Jamstik+ smart guitar courtesy of Zivix!
If you’ve always wanted to learn guitar, but never seemed to make it past the first few bars of ‘Stairway to Heaven’, this week’s giveaway could be of help. The Jamstik+ is a Bluetooth-connectable instrument that boasts real strings and frets, and works alongside the company’s app to help train first timers and provide portable freedom for impromptu jam sessions. The fretboard includes infrared sensors to gauge your finger placement, which allows the app’s virtual tutor to track your progress in real time. There’s also an arcade mode to add a gaming angle to the learning process. Until recently, the experience was limited to Mac and iOS, but now you can download the app for verified devices running Android 6.0. To help celebrate this launch, Zivix has given us a pair of Jamstik+ smart guitars and carrying cases for two lucky winners. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning. If you’re looking to pick one up now, just use the code “androidweek30” for $30 off.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
- Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
- Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. Two (2) winners will each receive one (1) Jamstik+ SmartGuitar and carrying case.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until May 18th at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Brain testing app will help diagnose mental health issues
Savonix is a company that claims to take the “analog processes” of cognitive assessment into the digital age. The firm is launching an iOS and Android app that, for the next six weeks, will let anyone examine their own mental ability. Users will have to undergo a series of tests that test the limits of their ability, from smart thinking through to emotional control. Whereas previously these tests would have been worked out on pen-and-paper under the supervision of a stern looking psychologist, now it’s open to anyone. After the open beta closes and all of the kinks have been worked out, the app will become exclusively available to users who license the app through “healthcare organizations.”
I put myself forward as a test subject, spending 40 minutes in a quiet room going through the various examinations. If you’ve ever played Brain Age / Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training on the Nintendo DS, you’ll be familiar with the territory here. If you’re not, then it’s a series of 12 cognition tests, ranging from remembering a list of words to drawing a picture from memory. There are also more advance examinations, such as the Iowa Gambling Task through to spotting someone’s perceived emotion from a still image of their face.
The test is reasonably simple to complete and to do so in the comfortable surroundings of your own home helps. The instructions are unthreatening and, on the most part, easy to understand, although a bug in the app robbed me of my practice run for one of the sections. As a tool to make general conclusions in a quick, easy and cheap manner for mental health professionals, it seems like something of a no brainer. Just be warned: if you don’t have a psychological condition that needs attention, don’t be offended if you get called average.
Source: Savonix (App Store), Savonix (Google Play), Savonix
AIVAnet 