These are the Black Friday deals you should be buying
Black Friday is in full swing with loads of offers across a full range of devices. For tech fans, there are a huge range of offers available, but these are the devices you should be snapping up in the sales.
Sonos Play:1, £139 – click here to buy the Sonos Play:1
The Sonos Play:1 is the smallest speaker in the Sonos family, but it still has the power to fill a room with good quality audio. Sonos devices are rarely discounted, so this is a good chance to either expand your system, or get in on the Sonos action.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, £79.99 – click here to buy the Kindle Paperwhite
The Kindle Paperwhite is the hottest model in the Kindle range. It’s not as fancy as the Oasis, not quite as featured as the Voyage, but it delivers the same experience at a fraction of the price. If you’re yet to get an e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite is our top recommendation.
Amazon Echo, £119.99 – click here to buy the Amazon Echo
The arrival of the Amazon Echo in the UK has gone down a storm. If you missed the Prime member’s 50 per cent discount, there’s some relief from this discounted connected marvel. Snap it up and join the voice-controlled party.
Xbox One S with Minecraft and Forza Horizon 3, £199.99 – click here to buy the Xbox One S
Jump into the next-gen with the Xbox One S. You’ll get an Ultra HD Blu-ray player, access to HDR gaming, as well as two great games, all for under £200. You’d be foolish not to snap one up.
Sony PS4 with Uncharted 4 and FIFA 17, £199.99 – click here to buy the PS4 bundle
If you’re a PlayStation rather than Xbox fan, then this is the deal for you. The Slim version of the PS4, with Uncharted 4, the best game of 2016, as well as FIFA for loads of entertainment.
Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series 2, £139 – click here to get this deal
If you’re after a great pair of headphones, then dive in and grab the B&W P5’s. These unique headphones are so comfortable and look great and are currently £60 off.
Mars hides a gigantic ice sheet that may help astronauts
As a rule, the truly large deposits of ice on Mars are at the poles… right? No. Researchers using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s ground-penetrating radar have discovered that the planet’s Utopia Planitia basin is hiding a thick (260 to 560 feet) ice sheet larger than the state of New Mexico. It’s at least 50 percent pure, too. Observers had long suspected that the area had water thanks to surface cracking and depressions, but the previous explorer, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, couldn’t study much deeper than the surface.
Scientists tell the New York Times that the sheet likely accumulated as part of a Martian ice age and was buried before it could melt into a lake or evaporate into space.
The findings are important for our understanding of Mars’ past. However, they could also have a very practical role in the future. Spacefarers could establish a long-term settlement in a more convenient place than the poles while knowing that they’d still have steady local supplies of drinking water and rocket fuel. That, in turn, could reduce the supplies that astronauts have to carry to the Red Planet and make Mars exploration that much more realistic.
Via: New York Times
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
First ‘Titanfall 2’ DLC includes a no-nonsense skins store
Respawn made it a point with Titanfall 2 to ditch some of the more annoying business models of modern games (such as charging for important add-ons), and you’re about to find out how well that works in practice. The studio has revealed that its first downloadable content pack, Angel City’s Most Wanted, will arrive on November 30th… and this is not the usual case of charging a small fortune for a handful of extra gameplay. The extension not only gives you a ‘new’ map (surprise: the original game’s Angel City), a new pistol and several titan kits completely free of charge, but introduces an in-game skins store that is the opposite of what you frequently see in other blockbuster titles.
As Respawn notes, the store simply involves buying what you like with cold, card cash, and it’s strictly cosmetic items like Prime Titans (robots with different looks and assassinations) and camouflage. There are no arbitrary in-game currencies or loot boxes, and nothing you buy is a shortcut to victory. To put it another way: you shouldn’t have to grind for days just to get something for free.
The company is also promising a few treats in what’s left of 2016. In keeping with the young company’s traditions, you’ll see “twists” periodically show up in certain game modes. There will also be double-experience weekends and public recognition for top teams. You’ll have to wait until 2017 for more DLC, but this and Angel City at least show that Respawn is determined to avoid the drop in players that affected the first Titanfall (where paid DLC was the rule). This promises to be a constantly evolving game, and you won’t have to keep shelling out money to get the full experience.
Via: GamesRadar
Source: Titanfall
‘Deus Ex Go’ is now ready for your puzzle creations
If you’ve ever wanted to create puzzles for mobile games rather than playing whatever the developer gives you, you’re about to have a field day. Square Enix has released a promised Puzzle Maker update for Deus Ex Go that lets you craft your own challenges on Android and iOS. As the studio told us back in June, this isn’t considered a throwaway feature — the aim is to have a genuinely practical, easy-to-use level editor that you’d want to try on your phone. You can share your work with the community, as well, so this could extend the life of the game even if you hardly touch the creative tools yourself.
The update includes a few other welcome tweaks, too. You now have an undo feature to rewind your move, and a profile page that lets you earn rewards as you gain experience points. There’s also a daily challenge if you’ve run out of levels to play. The main gripe, assuming you like Deus Ex Go in the first place, is that this puzzle editing isn’t coming to Hitman Go or Lara Croft Go. Like it or not, you’ll have to pay for the newer game (and accept its sci-fi trappings) to express yourself.
Source: App Store, Google Play, Square Enix Montreal (Twitter)
CERN introduces Large Hadron Collider’s robotic inspectors
Since the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) needs to be in tip-top shape to discover new particles, it has two inspectors making sure everything’s in working order. The two of them are called TIM, short not for Timothy, but for Train Inspection Monorail. These mini autonomous monorails that keep an eye on the world’s largest particle collider follow a pre-defined route and get around using tracks suspended from the ceiling. According to CERN’s post introducing the machines, the tracks are remnants from the time the tunnel housed the Large Electron Positron instead of the LHC. The LEP’s monorail was bigger, but not quite as high-tech: it was mainly used to transport materials and workers.
As for what the machines can do, the answer is “quite a few.” They can monitor the tunnel’s structure, oxygen percentage, temperature and communication bandwidth in real time. Both TIMs can also take visual and infrared images, as well as pull small wagons behind them if needed. You can watch them in action below — as you can see, they’re not much to look at with their boxy silver appearance. But without them, it’ll be tough monitoring a massive circular tunnel with a 17-mile circumference.
Via: The Verge
Source: CERN
Mobile shopping reaches an all-time high on Black Friday
Did you get some of your holiday gift shopping done on your phone, instead of your PC? You’re far from alone. Adobe has determined that mobile shopping (both phone and tablet) was responsible for $1.2 billion in US online sales on Black Friday — the first time it has ever crossed the $1 billion mark, in fact. It’s still in the minority, representing 36 percent of the total $3.34 billion, but that’s still a huge 33 percent spike over the shopping frenzy from last year.
Those mobile users actually outweighed their PC counterparts in terms of viewing, racking up 55 percent of visits. In other words, some of those people shopping from their PCs still checked on their phones before committing to a purchase. As for what Americans bought? In terms of tech, the highest-grossing gadgets were iPads, Samsung 4K TVs, MacBooks (particularly the 13-inch Air), LG TVs and the Xbox One.
Adobe’s data lines up with what the retailers themselves are saying. Amazon is shy on numbers, as usual, but says its mobile orders on Thanksgiving alone topped what it saw last year. Target reports that over 60 percent of its record-setting online sales came from mobile, while over 70 percent of Walmart’s web traffic was from mobile devices.
The figures were likely helped by incentives. Amazon, Target and Walmart all offered perks for shopping from your phone, such as exclusive discounts and early access. Still, it’s clear that online stores ignore the mobile crowd at their peril — they’re leaving a lot of money on the table if they assume you’ll buy gifts at a computer.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Adobe, Target, Walmart
‘Cards Against Humanity’ hole is a crowdfunding metaphor
The Cards Against Humanity crew is no stranger to backing projects that are alternately very helpful and utterly pointless, and its latest is squarely in the latter camp. It’s crowdfunding the Holiday Hole, which is… a hole in the ground. That’s it. So long as the money keeps flowing, machines will keep digging into a nondescript patch of terrain. A basic $5 donation will buy 3 seconds of dig time, but you can contribute whatever you like. CAH is even livestreaming the whole affair (with multiple camera angles!), in case you want to see where your donations are going.
It was started as a gag to mark Black Friday, but it also serves as a metaphor for every badly-implemented crowdfunding project you’ve ever encountered. After all, your money is almost literally going into a pit — at least you know that you won’t get much from this investment. You don’t have to sit through months of delays and uncertainty like you would with a ‘serious’ project. We’re just wondering if we should laugh or cry at the size of the hole when it’s finished (donations have reached $80,000 as of this writing). As hilarious as it is, what would a truly gigantic hole say about how we spend our cash?
Source: Holiday Hole
PinOut is the perfect mix of old and new
A fantastic game and an amazing value.
I’m addicted, and my drug of choice is PinOut, the latest game by Mediocre, the small Swedish game development team that has put out quality game after quality game, if not hit after hit.
The company’s latest game, PinOut, builds off the well-worn basis for its 2014 classic, Smash Hit, an endless runner of sorts that drew catharsis from satisfyingly slinging virtual balls into breakable surfaces of many forms. PinOut combines that endless runner approach and adds another satisfying element: pinball.
PinOut combines that endless runner approach and adds another satisfying element: pinball.
Progressing through stages as checkpoints, the pinball mechanics are fluid and responsive, and the game mixes a neon color palette with an 80s synth soundtrack that recalls Tron and, more recently, Stranger Things. While the game is free to play, a small in-app purchase allows you to resume playing from any checkpoint.
More: PinOut Tips and Tricks
The game balances a regular game of pinball with an endless runner trope by using time as its main draw: you begin the level with a set amount of “life”, and must maintain it by choosing a path through the course that yields the higher number of extended time bonus. Power-ups and mini games, all of which are drawn in a cute 80s throwback hand, can also extend the time on board.
Like all great games, PinOut starts easy and quickly becomes challenging. By the third checkpoint, the courses are varied and unpredictable, with puzzle elements that incorporate as much strategy as dextrous reflexes. It’s easy to feel like you’ve begun to build momentum only to have the ball quickly drop a few stages, forcing you to spend three-quarters of your remaining life finding your way back to your starting point with nary a power-up in sight. PinOut is a very difficult game, but it is never frustrating.
The game is attractive but not garish, and unlike many games can be adapted to suit even least powerful Android phones out there.
The game is attractive but not garish, and unlike many games can be adapted to suit even least powerful Android phones out there. The three levels, Functional, Balanced and Extreme, are fairly self-explanatory, but while I noticed a few more jaggies on the former two, all three maintained a healthy frame rate on my Snapdragon 821-powered Google Pixel. The sound, too, is fantastic, from the thumping beat of the soundtrack to the pinging of each pinball bounce.
At a reasonable $2.99, the single in-app purchase is exactly the type of business model I think is best suited for Android. The game itself may be a bit short, and Mediocre isn’t exactly known for keeping its games updated with new content, but even as it stands you’re getting a lot of game for not a lot of money, and one that can easily be picked up and played for a minute or an hour at a time.
Download: PinOut (free)
Check to see if you’re covered by Google’s Project Fi network
Networks, when you think about it, come down to one thing: coverage.
If you’re not covered where you live, work and travel … well, nothing else matters. But in partnering with three U.S. carriers — Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular — Google’s Project Fi definitely has an interesting advantage. (And remember you also have calling available over Wi-Fi when you need it.)
But the question stands: will you have Project Fi coverage where you live, work and travel? And, of course, there’s a handy map for that.
To see if you’re covered by Google’s Project Fi, just visit fi.google.com/coverage and enter your location (state, city, ZIP) on the map — and no matter where you search, you can always zoom and scroll around to see what the surrounding area is like as well.
More: What is Project Fi, and why do I want it?
Like other carriers you’ll get a color-coded map that shows you the darkest green for full LTE coverage, or lighter areas for 3G and 2G. The map is pretty good about pointing out specific areas around a state or city that may come up short on coverage, and while the actual real-world experience can never be perfectly mapped this is a great place to start.
Compare Project Fi’s coverage map to those from the other carriers, and you may find that it compares quite favorably.
Google Project Fi
- What is Project Fi?
- Get the latest Project Fi news
- Discuss Project Fi in our forums
- Phones: Google Pixel | Nexus 6P | Nexus 5X | Nexus 6
- Sign up for Project Fi
‘Star Wars’ smartphone caters to your fandom
How much do you like Star Wars? Enough that you’d buy a phone that revolves around it? If so, we have good news… at least, if you’re living in Japan. Sharp is marking the imminent arrival of Rogue One with a SoftBank-exclusive Star Wars smartphone that’s clearly designed for the most devoted of fans. The slick-looking, color-shifting Light Side and Dark Side designs are just the start. The real party starts when you dive into the software. Whichever model you choose, you get a heavily customized take on Android with starfighter-based live wallpaper, custom apps and sounds, special emoji and a collectable card game. And did we mention that a free app lets you watch The Force Awakens as much as you like until December 1st, 2019?
The device itself is more powerful than some of Sharp’s other novelty phones, but you won’t get one just for the specs. The 5.3-inch handset packs a 1080p screen, a Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage and a 22.6-megapixel rear camera — very capable, but not the absolute best. It’s ‘only’ rated for IP58 protection against the elements (it’s water-resistant, but not dust-resistant), and its biggest stand-out is the TV tuner you frequently find in Japanese smartphones.
Most likely, the biggest obstacle will be availability. Sharp’s Star Wars phone goes on sale at SoftBank on December 2nd for ¥97,920 (about $865), and it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see it officially on sale outside of its home country. As it is, the smartphone would lose some of its appeal if you tried to import it. There’s no guarantee that it’ll fully support your carrier of choice, and the free movie streaming only works in its native market. Unless you live in Japan, you’ll have to make do customizing the phone you already have.
Via: 9to5Google
Source: SoftBank
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