‘Persona 5’ delays US release date to April 2017
The localized, English version of the highly anticipated JRPG Persona 5 just got an official release date. According to Atlus’s John Hardin, Persona 5 will land on PlayStation 4 and PS3 consoles in the US and the rest of the west on April 4th, 2017, with both the Japanese and English dubs available as a free DLC.
The dual audio support will arrive as a download “for logistical reasons,” Hardin said in his announcement, but Atlus has assured fans that it will be free in perpetuity on both the PS3 and PS4. “This was something we especially wanted to do for the Atlus Faithful,” Hardin wrote, “the ones who still appreciate our English dubs and respect all the effort we put into localizing.”
While that official release is still a solid four months off, American fans of the series can get a taste of the action with a playable Persona 5 demo at PlayStation Experience in Anaheim next month. Until then, you can watch other lucky players take it for a test run right this second on Atlus’s Twitch Channel.
Source: PlayStation Blog
The Mercedes-Maybach S650’s top feature is exclusivity
It’s nothing new for Mercedes to make a luxury car, but its new Maybach S650 cabriolet takes things up a notch (or three). Only 300 are being made, each individually numbered, and only 75 of those are headed to the US. With a pricetag likely in the region of $300,000 this isn’t the most expensive vehicle you can buy, but the German car maker is adding in enough design spice and under-the-hood goodies to make it one of the most desirable. At least for those that don’t flinch at the price.
If you do happen to have the resources, and are in the market for something to rival your buddies’ Rolls-Royce Dawn, or maybe a Bentley Continental, then the hardest decision will likely be which of the three color ways to choose (Zircon Red, Cote d’Azur Blue and Diamond White). Whichever hue you go for, you’ll be getting a 6.0 liter twin-turbo V12 under the hood.
As you can imagine, the paint and motor-muscle come with a slew of extravagant design touches, which include Swarovski crystal in the headlights (also found in the S-Class S65, upon which this is based), and bespoke custom leather luggage to match your interior. As for tech? There’s the same dual-display setup as found in the aforementioned S-Class, along with the Burmester sound system to get you started. Of course, you can expect the lucky 300 buyers will also get access to Mercedes’ mbrace connected Concierge platform.
The Maybach line is all about luxury though, and that’s basically what the S650 is, a yacht for the road. And we kinda mean literally, as its cabin is inspired by the Mercedes-designed Silver Arrow. The S650 is the Mercedes-Benz for people that want to out-luxury other Mercedes-Benz owners, a market the car-maker appears more than happy to cater to. We’re sure there’s at least 300 of them.
Twitter Introduces QR Codes for Sharing and Following Accounts
Twitter today introduced Snapchat-style QR codes, which are designed to make it easier to find and follow friends on the social network. Each Twitter QR code is unique to an individual Twitter user, so when scanned, it’ll bring up the person’s account.
To access your Twitter QR code, you’ll need the official Twitter app for iOS. In the app, go to your profile, tap on the gear icon, and select the “QR Code” option to generate your own personal QR code or scan someone else’s code.
Scanning a QR code is as simple as using the iPhone’s camera to either scan from a secondary screen or an image you’ve saved to the camera roll. You can follow MacRumors on Twitter by scanning the below code with your iPhone and the Twitter app.
QR codes were first made popular by Snapchat as a quick way to find your friends without having to search for them, but they may not be as popular on Twitter because the QR code settings are buried so deeply within the app.
Twitter’s QR codes are currently rolling out to users and may not be immediately available for everyone.
Twitter for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tag: Twitter
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Maven offers free birth control prescriptions via digital doctors
Two days after Donald Trump was elected to be the next president of the United States, searches for the term “IUD” rose more than four times across the country, according to Google Trends. Searches for “Planned Parenthood” and “birth control” similarly spiked as women in the US began preparing for an uncertain future. After all, Donald Trump and his running-mate, Mike Pence, have spoken out against protections for women’s reproductive rights and against the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to cover intrauterine devices and other forms of contraception. With a Republican Congress, there’s a path for Trump to repeal the ACA outright.
In response to these concerns, Maven, a New York-based startup that received $2.2 million in funding last year, is offering free digital appointments with a women’s health practitioner now through the end of the year. These appointments include a prescription for birth control and information about IUDs.
“It is unclear how access to women’s healthcare could change in 2017,” the company’s site reads. “At Maven, one thing we believe will never change: getting birth control easily and affordably is a social imperative. Now through the end of the year, speak to one of our women’s health practitioners for free and get your prescription immediately (or get your questions about IUDs answered).”
The Maven system offers doctor appointments via video or private message. We recently tested out an online doctor app based in the UK and found the process to be exceedingly convenient and convincing.
In another show of digital support for women’s reproductive rights, people have taken to Twitter this week with stories about the benefits of birth control, using the hashtag #ThxBirthControl. The Twitter campaign was started by the non-profit online birth control support network, Bedside. More than 20,000 people have taken things a step further by donating to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pence’s name.
Source: Maven
New social site Gab is getting popular with the ‘alt-right’
Last night, Twitter took the bold move of banning a number of white nationalist “alt-right” users on the same day it said it would finally start cracking down on hate speech. But where oh where will the trolls go? Once possible option is Gab, a relatively new social media site cut from similar cloth as Ello — but even before yesterday’s bans, it was already taking on a reputation as a haven for the alt-right. Now, it seems that those feeling alienated on Twitter may be flocking to Gab in a big way.
Judd Legum, editor-in-chief at ThinkProgress, tweeted earlier today that he was number 130,699 in Gab’s waiting list — that’s up significantly from the 42,000 or so Wired reported in September. Of course, not all of those users are white nationalists, but a quick Twitter search shows plenty of people associated with the alt-right telling others to go sign up for Gab.
Waitlist for “Gab,” a white nationalist Twitter alternative, now over 130,000 people pic.twitter.com/DblqQ3X3Fl
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 16, 2016
The site makes no bones about being a “free speech zone” — the homepage has an image of the first amendment. (Of course, it’s worth noting that the first amendment has literally nothing to do with Twitter deciding how it wants to run its business. The site is under no obligation to let users espouse hateful views, but let’s not let logic get in the way here.)
Get on #Gab. No #SJWs, no censorship and you can #SpeakFreely without getting shadowbanned and censored.#Twexit #TwitterPurge pic.twitter.com/1u1d2sSqSD
— gab.ai/DukeNukem (@DukeNukemSez) November 16, 2016
It’s not terribly surprising that Gab has attracted attention from the alt-right — its founder Andrew Torba is an avid Trump supporter, although he recently told Buzzfeed that he identifies more as a Christian and conservative Republican. “I do not identify as alt-right,” he said. “I don’t know why people label me.”
It’s also worth noting that Torba was just kicked out of startup incubator Y Combinator for violating its harassment policy. Torba says he was banned for tweeting “build the wall” and that he was generally attacked at his time there for his views, but Y Combinator partner Kat Malanac said Torba was removed for “speaking in a threatening, harassing way toward other YC founders.”
Regardless of the Y Combinator conflict, the Twitter chatter surrounding Gab certainly shows the site is finding an audience. Whether or not anyone will want to actually interact with that audience remains to be seen. But if the alt-right flocks to Gab and builds itself a little bubble, it’ll just turn into another place where misinformation spreads like wildfire. Particularly because the site already says it is completely “censorship free” — which means the people running Gab will have even less incentive to fight fake news than a site like Facebook.
Source: Judd Legum (Twitter), Vocativ
Grab a speedy charge in the car with this $4 charger!
Right now you can pick up Aukey’s Quick Charge 2.0 car charger for just $4 at Amazon with coupon code JPEQHDZY, a savings of $6. This Quick Charge 2.0 charger will ensure that whether you have a 10 minute or two hour commute you get as much of a charge on your phone as possible so you don’t run out of battery during the day. The built-in safeguards will prevent any damage to your phone or tablet while charging it up to 75% faster than a standard charger.
At this price you may want to buy a couple of them to have around or to give as gifts. You’ll want to ensure you have one in each car in your household so that everyone can stay powered up while on the go. Remember, you need coupon code JPEQHDZY for the full savings here.
See at Amazon
Todoist Smart Schedule is adding AI smarts to your task lists
The best to-do app gets better with new feature.
Todoist, the popular cross-platform task management platform, has announced a shiny new feature it’s calling Smart Schedule, bringing some AI smarts into your daily planning.
Smart Schedule at its core will suggest completion dates for your tasks based on a number of key factors such as your current task load, past behavior and estimated urgency. It says it’s in response to “snowballers,” users who frequently just keep redating their overdue tasks and procrastinating on them. Smart Schedule is designed to help set realistic deadlines in the first place so this doesn’t happen.
I, of course, have never continually redated my Todoist list. Ahem.
The full list of features includes:
- The user’s habits: Based on when users have assigned and completed tasks in the past, Smart Schedule suggests futures dates for similar tasks. For example, if a user usually assigns tasks containing the word “read” for Fridays, Smart Schedule is more likely to suggest Friday for future reading tasks.
- Estimated task urgency: Drawing from a meta-analysis across all Todoist users, Smart Schedule estimates the relative urgency of any given task. For example, “read book” will be assigned further out than “fix bug”.
- The user’s upcoming task load: Smart Schedule takes into account all upcoming tasks and distributes recommended due dates accordingly to even out the load.
- Workdays versus weekends: Smart Schedule learns which types of tasks can be done on weekends, and which should always be scheduled during the work week (for example, “Finish draft” or “Check email”).
- The user’s estimated “End of Day”: Based on past behavior, Smart Schedule estimates when a user usually stops completing tasks and will stop suggesting “Today” as a due date.
- A user’s daily goals: Todoist allows users to set and track daily and weekly goals for the number tasks they want to complete. Smart Schedule will suggest due dates to help a user meet those goals.
Best of all the feature is rolling out from today on all platforms. Grab it now from Google Play at the link below.
More: Best To-Do List App
Barnes & Noble debuts $50 Nook tablet to take on Amazon
The battle for bookworms’ hearts and eyes this holiday season is officially underway! Barnes & Noble announced on Wednesday the forthcoming release of its new Nook tablet. The tablet will retail for just $50 — 30 bucks less than the baseline Amazon Kindle and on par with the Amazon Fire — when it becomes available on Black Friday, November 25th. It features a 7-inch IPS display, 7 hours of battery life and 8GB of onboard storage, which can be boosted by up to 128GB using a microSD card. Take that, Macbook Pro.
Barnes & Noble offers millions of digital book downloads from its online store which the Nook can pull from. Plus, it has full access to the Google Play content library so finding something good to read while your relatives political discussions devolve into fist fights at the family dinner table.
Source: Barnes and Noble
Your Fitbit stats will earn you a boost in ‘NBA2K17’
The act of logging your steps with an activity tracker is good for meeting personal goals, but what if there was another use for hitting that target. Well, starting November 25th, tallying 10,000 steps with your Fitbit device will help improve your NBA2K17 gaming sessions. Next week, logging said number of steps in a day will earn you a temporary boost to your MyPlayer in the game to offer better on-court performance.
2K and Fitbit see the tie-in as a way to keep their users active in the real world by offering some virtual incentives for physical activity. When the feature goes live next week, Fitbit owners will need to connect their activity tracker with NBA2K17 on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. After doing so, your step total will start counting towards the aforementioned in-game boost.
Once the 10,000 step goal is met, the game will alert you to apply at +5 boost to attributes and success rate to your MyPlayer for the next five games you play that day. We’re talking enhanced performance for things like agility, layups and dunks, and more. It may be a small incentive, but hey, it’s a little more than bragging rights among your friends.
Brain-altering Halo Sport headphones are available to everyone
Until now, Halo Neuroscience’s signature brain-bending headphones were only available to very specific groups: college-level athletes, pro athletes and the military. They helped build up hype for the eventual public release. That all changes today, however: you can buy your own set of Halo Sport headphones for $699. As before, that high price stems from the Sports’ “neuropriming.” The over-ears send electrical currents to your brain that, at least in theory, make it extra-receptive to training. You won’t be inherently faster or stronger, but you might hit your goals sooner than you would otherwise.
How well do they work, though? It’s hard to quantify, since there are other factors that go into an athlete’s success beyond their receptiveness to training: the quality of that training, the athlete’s other traits and, of course, the competition. Oakland Raiders cornerback TJ Carrie is having a good year so far after wearing the Halo Sport, but the Olympians who used them? Their results are… mixed. Natasha Hastings helped win gold in the Rio Olympics’ 400m women’s relay. Mike Rodgers’ sprint relay team was disqualified in its final race, though, and Michael Tinsley was knocked out in the first round of the 400m hurdles.
This doesn’t mean that the brain-altering technology is ineffective. However, it does suggest that you should temper your expectations. No matter how well the Halo Sport works, you aren’t guaranteed fame and glory — you may perform better than you would otherwise, but you probably won’t win championships or smash records unless you’re already talented.
Via: CNET
Source: Halo Neuroscience
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