Latest News - Page 2363

Snapchat gained its popularity for its messaging app and fun filters that many users have embraced. Now they announced their first gadget - a pair of sunglasses with an integrated video camera.

The device, which the company is calling Spectacles, will record 10-second clips. They connect directly to Snapchat via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and transfer data directly into the app in Snapchat's new circular video format.

Circular video plays full screen on any device, in any orientation, and capture the human perspective with a 115-degree field of view. Snapchat introduced the circular video format to resolve the landscape vs. portrait video dilemma.

Samsung is currently busy replacing all of those exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, but the rumors of its next-gen Galaxy S8 just won't go away, with the latest rumor teasing a 4K display for the Galaxy S8.

It has been reported that a senior official from Samsung was arrested in South Korea, as he was trying to steal confidential information from Samsung in relation to its 14nm and 10nm technology. The report teased that Samsung is planning to use a 10nm-based Exynos processor in its Galaxy S8 next year, but then SamMobile (who are pretty good with rumors) says they have information which says the Galaxy S8 will rock the Exynos 8895 processor with ARM's new Mali-G71 GPU.

ARM's updated Mali-G71 GPU is 1.8x as powerful as the Mali-T880 MP12 GPU that's used in the Exynos 8890-based Galaxy S7. The new Mali-G71 GPU is powered by ARM's new Bifrost architecture, offering 4K and VR and is compatible with Vulkan, OpenGL ES 3.2, GPU Compute, and Android RenderScript APIs. The GPU is clocked at 850MHz, with the 16nm GPU capable of 27.2Gpix/s, over double what the Mali-T880 is capable of at the same speeds.

These things always seem to happen close to a weekend, but there are rumors hitting fast and hard that Twitter is fielding acquisition talks with industry giants like Google and Salesforce, as well as others.

CNBC is reporting that Twitter might receive a formal acquisition big "shortly", with Twitter's board likely to sign right away. CBNC adds that there is no actual talk of a sale right now, but sources of the site say that the talks are getting much bigger, and something could happen before the end of the year. Twitter hasn't been having the success they have been aiming for, with Twitter shares plunging over the years.

They hit their high in early 2014 at around $69 per share, but hit rock bottom a few months ago at $14, and since the acquisition rumors began, they went up 3.75% to 22.38. Salesforce acquiring Twitter is interesting, as they were reportedly gearing to acquire LinkedIn before Microsoft pulled out its wallet - and Google, well... if they acquired Twitter it would give them a huge superpower against Facebook.

One of our biggest stories for the year was that No Man's Sky had bombed, and dropped 78% of its playerbase in the first week of its launch. Well, things have gotten far worse since then.

GitHyp has data that shows No Man's Sky has plummeted to just 1000 players per house, and now experiencing peaks of just 2000 players per hour. This is a massive 94% drop, an achievement Hello Games only needed 42 days to complete. It took 42 days for No Man's Sky to go from the #3 most played game on Steam, right down the ladder to #132.

Hello Games founder Sean Murray hasn't been active on his Twitter since No Man's Sky launched on August 18, and Hello Games have been much quieter than normal post-release - which should really come as no surprise at this point.

The Nashville Metro Council gave its final approval this week to the ordinance that would see Google Fiber installed across the Tennessee, USA town. However, it expects a lawsuit from AT&T is imminent, after the rival ISP threatened as such should the ordinance pass, and after its sued Louisville over the same issue in the neighbouring state of Kentucky.

"Unfortunately, the likelihood of protracted litigation could delay implementation of this law designed to benefit Nashville's consumers," stated Nashville mayor Megan Barry. "That is why I encouraged fiber providers to work together on a solution they could all agree upon, which they were not able to do. My hope now is that any potential legal disputes over this new law can be resolved quickly, and we can move forward with expanding fiber access throughout the city."

AT&T said the ordinance -- which allows Google to make necessary wire adjustments on its own -- is "is not a good solution for faster deployment of infrastructure." Meanwhile, Comcast (which has also lobbied against the bid -- said they believe there is "a better solution that is beneficial for all consumers."

System requirements for Resident Evil 7 are here, and they're fairly high. For 1080p and 30 FPS, you'll need an i5 4460 and a GTX 760/R7 260X, while for 1080p and 60 FPS, you'll need an i7 3770 and a GTX 960/R9 280X.

Capcom notes the game is still in development and requirements could change, but this should be more or less what to expect when the January launch rolls around.

The full list can be found below.

Nintendo has been eyeing down a March 2017 release for its next-gen codename NX console, which we broke the news on that it would be a Pascal-based Tegra design all the way back in May. The latest on Nintendo NX is from Emily Rogers, who had an update on NX that said:

Right now, this is what we're expecting:

Thought your expensive new Tesla Model S electric vehicle was safe? Think again, as Chinese hackers have broken into a Model S vehicle that was 12 miles away, where they could even play around with the braking system on the car.

The hackers were from the company Keen Security Lab, which displayed they could hack into a Model S by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot that the car connected to while browsing the web. Once the connection is established, the hackers could use the car's CAN bus (Controller Area Network) which is the system that oversees the systems inside the Tesla.

Once the CAN was controlled, the hackers could close the car doors, slide the seats back and forward, move the side mirrors, adjust the windshield wipers - and the worst, play around with the braking system. The hackers alerted Tesla to the security hole, with the electric car maker pushing out an over-the-air update to protect Tesla owners.

Respawn Entertainment have released more details on their upcoming mech-powered game Titanfall 2, which will now be launching on the PC alongside the Xbox One and PS4 versions on October 28.

The developer has released the official PC system requirements for Titanfall 2, with some high-end hardware required for Ultra details at 4K in order to hit 60FPS. Titanfall 2 Producer Drew McCoy said the minimum specifications of the Core i3-3600t or equivalent, 8GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB would run 1600x900 with most details enabled, at 60FPS.

Respawn also said that the PC version of Titanfall 2 will take advantage of the high-end monitors with 120/144Hz refresh rates, while gamepad support with multiple configurations and sensitivity options are on the table, as well as an anti-cheat system and more.

It won't be long from now that China's first space station, Tiangong-1, will plunge from space and back into the Earth in the second half of 2017 - where keen-eyed viewers will be looking for that 'Made in China' sticker.

Senior officials have confirmed the news, with Tiangong-1's re-entry and uncertainty about falling debris worrying because China is providing a broad timeline for the events. Speculation has started that China has possibly lost communication to Tiangong-1, the result of a possibly damaged module, meaning it's no longer capable of controlling its descent.

Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astrophysicist, told The Guardian that parts of the debris could be as large as 100kg/220lbs, adding: "Not knowing when it's going to come down translates as not knowing where its going to come down". If a large piece were to fall into a house, building, or crowded place - it could cause a fair amount of damage, and even worse - people could be hurt, or killed.

Apple caused quite the stir with its iPhone 7 lacking a headphone jack, and with rumors that Samsung will be removing the 3.5mm port on its upcoming Galaxy S8 - but now we have HTC Bolt details leaked, with it lacking a headphone jack.

The render comes courtesy of leaker Evan Blass, with the HTC Bolt to be a Sprint-exclusive for US consumers only. It looks to be shaping up as a mass-market device, something that HTC could use to dip its toes in the 'hey guys, we're going to start removing the 3.5mm jack from our smartphones', testing consumers reactions to the Bolt.

It seems as though HTC has tweaked the look of its HTC 10 handset, with the Bolt to most likely be built from aluminum, double chamfer, and more. The fingerprint sensor is at the bottom, with a USB Type-C connector for charging/syncing.

ESL is stepping up its broadcasting game, with its upcoming ESL One New York Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament to be the first eSports event livestreamed in VR.

The battle will take place on October 1-2, with those tuning in with virtual reality able to feel like they're watching the CS:GO tournament in the Barclays Center, or from in-game viewpoints of the action with an awesome first-person point of view off to the side. You'll be able to look around in 360 degrees thanks to VR, but you won't be able to choose specific locations to watch from.

A broadcaster will be selecting the viewing points, just how regular games are broadcasted. Sliver.tv is the company handling the VR broadcast, which will play on all VR platforms: iOS, Android, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and the Gear VR. You'll need to watch the games through the Sliver.tv app, or the Sliver.tv website.

When the expected support for the 4K UltraHD Blu-ray format didn't eventuate with the PS4 pro, Microsoft were quick to burn PlayStation fans with a well-timed tweet. And while Sony have continued to dig their heels in regarding a video streaming future, Microsoft have doubled down on the rhetoric.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Microsoft's Product Management and Planning head Albert Penello revealed that the decision to include a 4K Blu-ray drive was driven by "a personal belief in 4K" with the decision "locked a long time ago". Penello continued to explain his strong personal belief in the format, saying: "I think it's as meaningful an upgrade as it was going from SD to HD, when you start seeing the native 4K content. And so we were just really bullish on it. We wanted to make sure we delivered when we said 4K, that we had streaming, up-scaling and physical media as part of the 4K story for Xbox One S. So I think it's fair to say I'm a fan.... For the high-end enthusiast, 4K Blu-rays look amazing. "

And just in case it wasn't clear Penello echoed the feelings of upset PlayStation fans in "We have good differentiation between the PS4 slim and us." Ain't that the truth.

A name you might not know is Mark Bolas, but Microsoft has scooped him up and dropped him into the position of Partner Director of Program Management within Microsoft Research.

Bolas used to run the Mixed Reality Lab inside of USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, where he hired Oculus founder Palmer Luckey years before he took to Kickstarter with the Oculus Rift. Todd Richmond, Director Mixed Reality Lab/Studio and Advanced Prototypes at ICT said in an email to Upload VR: "While I don't speak for all of USC, I can say without hesitation that Mark is a brilliant researcher and was a valued colleague and dear friend. I'd welcome him back to ICT in a heartbeat".

Microsoft hasn't said what Bolas will be doing exactly, but Upload VR does provide some mouthwatering data points on Bolas:

VR gaming PCs are going to come in all shapes and sizes eventually, but a Munich-based company is already stepping up, showing off a VR suitcase which packs an HTC Vive headset, and a gaming PC to run it.

The suitcase has everything you'll need for an unpack-and-deploy VR gaming experience, including a gaming laptop and batteries, getting the VR set up in less than five minutes. The Innoactive VR suircase packs a VR-ready notebook powered by NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1060, a carbon fiber docking station with an integrated pre-wired Vive link box, rechargeable battery and power adapters, the HTC Vive headset, controllers, and carbon fiber monopods for the base stations with integrated rechargeable battery packs for up to 8 hours of wireless operation.

As you can see, Innoactive has thought of everything. The VR-ready gaming PC is MSI's GT72R, powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, and the GeForce GTX 1060. It's not cheap, with each VR suitcase costing around $9400, plus applicable taxes and shipping.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was mashed together in a response to the money-making Marvel Cinematic Universe and the mega success of The Avengers, but too many chefs were in the kitchen and the movie was mostly a mess. The 3-hour 'Ultimate Edition' was a much better put-together movie, but it still failed to be a massive box office success.

Well, now we have Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes coming out and saying Batman v Superman underperforming, and Suicide Squad doing solid business, both were critically ripped apart. He recognises something is wrong, and when he sat down with Variety, he said: "We do think there's a little room for improvement. We can do a little bit better on the creative".

He continued: "The DC Comics characters have a little more lightness in them than maybe what you saw in those movies, so we're thinking about that. The strategy worked. The execution did deliver what we wanted to do. We're right on course or better. The main thing was to launch DC and reinvigorate it with the fan base. The reboot of Batman with Ben Affleck was a big success".

Dark Souls III's Ashes of Ariandel expansion has a new game trailer trending right now. Released only hours ago, publisher Bandai Namco titled the video: "Divert Thine Eyes" and is available to watch below:

The trailer showcases character abilities such as the use of fire to vanquish enemies as well as trademark combat fighting styles, famous to Dark Souls gamers. It also gives viewers a chance to see the type of scenery and map surroundings in which they will be playing on.

In addition, the Ashes of Ariandel expansion pack includes updated weapons, exclusive armor and new-age magical elements, all of which have not been seen in previous games.

Publisher Bandai Namco announced recently that Dragon Ball Fusions will arrive on Nintendo 3DS in the US on December 13 and Europe on February 17, 2017.

At a press release delivered by the company, the following statement was given: "Use the Nintendo 3DS' camera to take pictures with friends and fuse them with Dragon Ball characters or trade special moves with nearby players."

Dragon Ball Fusions will contain more changes from previous editions with the most obvious being released as an RPG. Players will also be given the ability to create their own custom avatar, in addition to building their own team of warriors. The game will obtain a multiplayer feature and as stated in the quote, will fuse fighters together in order create an all-new character.

The classic Rock Band game has recently been under pressure, with complaints from players regarding the quality of artists and songs chosen for the game's set list. Developer Harmonix, in attempts to fix the issues, have announced a new Rock Band 4 DLC, titled: Ozzfest meets Knotfest 2016 Pack.

The Ozzy Osbourne, Slipknot and Megadeth themed expansion pack, provides players with more difficult but classic, rock songs from all three bands. It can purchased for $5.49 as a pack, or $1.99 if purchased individually via the Harmonix website.

The expansion contains songs "Dystopia" by Megadeth, "Road to Nowhere" by Ozzy Osbourne, and "The Devil In I" by Slipknot. It will be avaliable for PS4 and Xbox One and are now available on the Xbox One and PS4.

This is something I didn't think I'd be typing, but Toyota has been working on a car that runs on your poop. The company has turned human waste into renewable hydrogen fuel to power its new electric car.

Chief Engineer of Toyota's Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car, Yoshikazu Tanaka, said that human waste is expected to solve Toyota's big 'chicken or the egg' problem. Toyota has said that nobody wants to buy their hydrogen cars when there are no hydrogen fuel stations, adding that no one wants to build a hydrogen fuel station when there are not a mass amount of hydrogen cars on the road.

Toyota is now producing the human waste-based fuel in a wastewater treatment plant in Fukuoka, Japan. How does it work? The sewage is separated into solids and liquid, with the solid waste called sewage sludge. In order to break down the solid waste, microorganisms are added, creating a biogas - which is around 60% methane, and 40% carbon dioxide.