No Man's Sky just celebrated its fifth anniversary, and to underscore just how far the game has come since its rocky debut, Hello Games has released the 17th major update for the space exploration and survival sim. The headline attraction of the Frontiers update is the addition of alien settlements, which you can take charge of and rule however you like.
You'll be able to name towns, expand them, defend them against Sentinels, welcome visitors, resolve disputes between residents and even commission festivals. As with the rest of the game, interiors will be procedurally generated. You'll be able to see the population's overall happiness level, earn income from the town and gain insight into the intentions and thoughts of residents, all of which add Sims-esque layers to the game.
Hello Games
Base building has been revamped with a grid-based menu system and automatic contextual placement of features like windows and arches. There are more than 250 new base parts, including timber, stone, alloy and decorative pieces. You can even place parts inside of each other.
You now have 15 save slots instead of five, and you can save more discoveries on locally. Hello Games says it has upgraded some visual effects too (the previous big patch brought in more substantial visual improvements). For one thing, you'll start to see pretty, multi-colored nebulas in space. Players can choose "monstrous companions" as pets as well.
Hello Games
A new Twitch campaign is on the way, through which you can earn in-game rewards by watching others play No Man's Sky. Meanwhile, the next expedition season will commence soon. The Frontiers update is now live on all platforms.
Facebook wants in on the predictive games trend. The social media giant has launched a Fantasy Games feature in the US and Canada with "free, simple" sports and pop culture prediction titles. The fantasy sports offerings let you predict winners for matches, top players and other stats. MLB Home Run Picks asks you to predict the team with the most home runs in a given day, for instance, while La Liga Winning Streak challenges you to predict daily wins in the Spanish soccer league for as long as possible.
You can also guess the victors in reality TV shows like Survivor and The Bachelorette. There are promises of other pop culture games, although Facebook didn't cite examples.
Fantasy Games are currently available through Facebook's Android and iOS apps. You'll find them both through the bookmarks menu as well as through notifications in the News Feed.
Facebook clearly isn't interested in direct competition with for-money fantasy game services like DraftKings and FanDuel, at least not right now. However, there are still plenty of incentives for the social network to launch Fantasy Games. The feature could keep you coming back, boosting ad revenue as well as your overall engagement with Facebook. It also opens the door to paid fantasy games in the future. Still, this might hit the spot if you've been tempted by fantasy sports but don't want to spend real money.
Residents of some states will soon be able to add their driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet, and Apple has revealed which states will support the initiative at the outset. Arizona and Georgia will be the first to let their residents use IDs stored on Wallet, with Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma and Utah to follow.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will let travelers use an ID stored in Wallet at some security checkpoints and lanes at certain airports. Apple says these will be the first places where people can use a driver’s license or state ID they add to Wallet. The company says retailers and venues will add support later.
You’ll be able to share ID details by tapping your iPhone or Apple Watch, which could help you avoid carrying the physical copy with you or digging around in your pocket or bag to find it. “The addition of driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet is an important step in our vision of replacing the physical wallet with a secure and easy-to-use mobile wallet,” Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in a statement. “We are excited that the TSA and so many states are already on board to help bring this to life for travelers across the country using only their iPhone and Apple Watch, and we are already in discussions with many more states as we’re working to offer this nationwide in the future.”
Adding an ID to Wallet is similar to the process of saving credit cards and transit passes. You’ll need to scan the card with your phone and take a selfie for verification by your state. When you tap your device at TSA checkpoints, it will display a prompt listing the info that the agency is asking for. Once you authorize the request with Face ID or Touch ID, your iPhone or Apple Watch will share those details with the TSA, so you don’t even need to show your device to an agent or scanner.
Apple says it will store your ID securely. The function will be available as part of iOS 15, which Apple will likely release this month, if past release dates are anything to go by. The latest major version of the firmware will also allow you to add work badges and unlock some smart locks and door locks. Apple Wallet already lets students at some schools store their IDs.
Toyota's e-Palette is back in service. As Roadshowreports, the automaker has resumed use of its self-driving shuttle at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo following a collision with a visually impaired athlete. Not surprisingly, both Toyota and the games' Organizing Committee have made changes in light of the crash — they've determined that both the autonomous vehicle and the circumstances around it were to blame.
The company noted there were only two guide people at the intersection where the collision occurred, making it difficult for them to watch all vehicles and pedestrians at the same time. There also wasn't a "sufficient" way of coordinating between guides and vehicle operators (such as the manual 'backups' for the e-Palette). It simply wasn't possible to ensure safety at this signal-free intersection without everyone working together, Toyota said.
The company has upgrade the e-Palette itself with louder approach warning sounds, more crew members and tweaks to manual acceleration and braking. Organizers, meanwhile, have increased the number of guides, created an alternative to traffic signals, and split those guides into groups devoted to pedestrians and vehicles. Toyota and the Committee vowed to refine the system on a "daily basis" through the rest of the Paralympics, which end on September 5th.
It's not clear if these changes will be enough. However, this does serve as a reminder that self-driving vehicle tech is still in its infancy — it could be a while before Toyota and other brands can completely trust onboard computing power to safely navigate streets.
One of Samsung's latest ultra-short throw projectors has been discounted by $1,000 as part of a larger sale on Amazon. The Premiere Projector with a 4.2.2 channel sound system is down to $5,498 — yes that's still quite expensive even for a projector, but it's a much better buy now than at it's normal $6,500 price. We've only seen it cheaper in June during Prime Day when it was an additional $300 off. If you feel comfortable sacrificing on sound, the same model with a 2.2 channel system has dropped to $2,998. Samsung's matching both prices, so you could buy direct from the company if you prefer.
The Premiere made it onto our list of favorite projectors in a premium category, and it's worth the price if you want one of the best big-screen experiences available. It includes separate red, green and blue lasers so it can cover the full Rec.2020 color range, which is something even most high-end TVs cannot boast. This is as close as you'll get to a true 4K projector too, and it supports HDR10+ and up to 2,800 lumens of brightness.
That 4.2.2 surround sound system completes the package, allowing you to get close to a theatrical experience in your living room or backyard. We also like its relatively attractive and compact design — it looks nice enough to keep out in your home and, being an ultra-short throw machine, you can place it close to a wall and still get a crisp image.
The Premiere also has most smart features you'd expect a projector to have today, including virtual assistant support and streaming apps. Running on Samsung's Tizen operating system for smart TVs, you can ask Alexa, the Google Assistant or Bixby to do things for you as well as stream from services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and others. So while it's not cheap by any means even when on sale, the Premiere is an investment gadget that will provide an excellent entertainment experience for a long time.
Traveling with young children is like trying to turn a cruise ship: It’s cumbersome, takes a significant amount of planning and requires a team effort. Because I apparently lack any amount of common sense, I recently took a 3,000-mile RV trip with my partner and two toddlers. Traveling with little ones can be stressful because they rely so much on their established routines; anything that deviates from that is going to be hard for them and you.
While we tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy by bringing along familiar toys and blankets, we also took the advice of a close friend who is an early childhood development specialist. She recommended keeping our twins engaged and entertained by grouping toys or activities together and rotating them throughout the day. Here are a few things that we tried that we’ll be returning to the next time we travel.
Music
Depending on how you’re traveling, music can be a great way to entertain tiny travelers. The repetition in children’s songs help kids learn patterns and expand their vocabulary. What’s more, musical play encourages movement along with both fine and gross motor skills. That’s great if you’re in a car where you can clap, sing and wiggle, but gets more challenging when you’re stuck on an aircraft with dozens of other people who don’t want to hear “Old MacDonald” seven(-ty-seven) times in a row.
Instruments
Sesame Street
My mom bought us this “CD player” for our trip and weeks later, the twins are still fighting over it. My daughter really likes the music, my son really likes taking the “CD” out repeatedly to figure out how the player works, and they both like the colorful book of lyrics. Fisher Price has a similar option with light-up buttons, which is perfect for occupying little hands.
Another cool gadget we’ve recommended in the past is the Blipbox, an entry-level synthesizer that comes with 300 melodies and a synchronized light show. It contains a digital synth engine that includes an amp envelope, two LFOs, a modulation envelope and a low-pass filter — perfect for teaching kids about creating music while also entertaining their caretakers.
When my twins were infants, the only thing that got them to sleep was playing Maxence Cyrin’s version of “Where is my mind?” on repeat. We still have a classical playlist of songs for when it’s time to sleep, but I also keep a playlist of songs that are entertaining for adult passengers as well (think: “Yellow Submarine” and songs by They Might Be Giants). It’s nice both to switch up the endless parade of nursery rhymes and expose them to different types of music.
YouTube playlists
On the other hand, kids respond to nursery rhymes because they incorporate simple melodies, repetition and actions (some of which can be easy to do while seated). YouTube has dozens of long playlists of classic nursery rhymes, some of which include the lyrics, which is helpful if you’re like me and have long forgotten the words to “Three Blind Mice.”
Podcasts
Older kids might enjoy one of the many educational podcasts out there. As a bonus, if they’re able to keep headphones on for a decent stretch of time, this makes for a good airplane option, too. As an avid podcast fan myself, I’m excited for my twins to be old enough to enjoy them with me, and I’ve already bookmarked several to try out. The But Why? podcast from NPR answers questions that kids send in themselves from “how do you make ice cream?” to “why do we wear clothes?” If your kid is into science, try Brains On or Tumble to explore topics like “how far can a cloud travel?’ and “how to become an astronaut.”
Being stuck in a car or plane seat for long periods of time can make it challenging to find activities that involve younger kids’ need to explore, but there are still a few options. Most notably, a kids camera, like the Action Cam or the Creator Cam from VTech, can help them stay amused. They can document the trip with photos, videos and use stop-motion or time-lapse effects. The Action Cam can be mounted on a bike and comes with a waterproof case, while the Creator Cam comes with a small tripod and includes more than 20 animated backgrounds that the kids can use to spice up their photos and videos.
For kids younger than the recommended age for a camera, I like busy boards. Car time with my twins has become a lot easier since we got a few of the soft, zippered activity books that feature a variety of buckles, zippers and clasps for them to fiddle with.
If your child is into arts and crafts, you’re not out of luck when traveling (although maybe leave the glitter at home). There are a few easy ways to travel with a crafty kid, like bringing along a trusty Etch a Sketch, which never needs batteries, or investing in an airplane busy box, which includes coloring books as well as activities like creating a puppet show or superhero mask.
If you’d like something a little more high-tech and easy to pack, try a color by numbers app for your phone or tablet, which are engrossing even for adults. Or there’s the Osmo kit for Fire tablets which incorporates games, drawing and problem solving via various games and animations.
My kids enjoy reading as much as I do, which means there are always at least a few books included when we travel. They’re not quite old enough for a Kindle Kids Edition yet, but it will be a great option when they graduate from board books. I honestly can’t wait to load up the Harry Potter series and a selection of Roald Dahl onto an e-reader for them.
In the meantime, I compromised by taking short videos of me reading through some of their favorites, like the Grumpy Monkey, and brought a selection of others like their Indestructible books. Not only are the Indestructible books rip-proof and chew-proof but they’re also washable so you don’t have to worry about them getting wet. My favorite part is that they’re very slim, so it was easy to pack several of them at once without adding a lot of bulk.
Of course, there are a few gadgets that will help make your life easier as a traveling parent. I’m thinking specifically of the Baby’s Brew portable bottle warmer I recently invested in, which made our trip significantly easier since my daughter refuses to have a cold bottle. It did take me a few tries to get the hang of the controls, which is embarrassing to admit since there is a single button on it, but it did the job well and solved my cold bottle problem.
I also brought along the Munchkin 59s portable sterilizer which uses UV to clean a pacifier in under a minute; that’s helpful since every pacifier winds up on the floor in under a minute. Lastly, if your kiddo has a prized blanket, pacifier or toy that is essential for soothing or sleeping, consider tagging it with a Tile or Chipolo tracker. If I had thought about it in time, I would have thrown one on my daughter’s fox lovey to save myself from constantly worrying that she’d left it in Nebraska.
Spotify has announced that it's taking over the audio section of Delta's in-flight seatback entertainment by offering its most popular playlists along with 42 select podcast series starting on September 1st. While it doesn't mean that you'll get random access to all Spotify content, you'll get a decent selection of popular music and podcasts from the streaming service.
The content is "licensed directly by Delta and free for all passengers," and includes podcasts like Crime Junkie, Science Vs, StartUp, The Dave Chang Show, The Hottest Take, The Journal and more. Not surprisingly, several of those are Spotify originals. For playlists, you'll get access to selections like Mood Booster, Are & Be, Hot Country, mint, Today’s Top Hits, Relax & Unwind, RapCaviar and Ultimate Indie. That should provide a pretty broad mix of popular music, though likely nothing too eclectic.
The deal is an extension to Delta's arrangement with Spotify that started in 2019. At that point, however, Delta only offered a limited selection of Spotify podcasts like The Pitch,Homecoming and Dope Labs. Now, it appears that Delta's audio mix is all Spotify, albeit in a limited way — an interesting development in the relationship.
In the future, Chromebooks may be powered by Google's own CPUs: According to Nikkei Asia, the company is developing processors for Chrome OS-powered laptops and tablets in-house. It's not such a far-fetched story, seeing as the tech giant recently announced its own mobile chip called Tensor that's slated to debut on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Google hired chip engineers from around the world for that endeavor, including talents from its suppliers like Intel and Qualcomm. The company may have decided to use their expertise to work on a processor for Chromebooks, as well.
Nikkei says the tech giant was inspired by the success of its rival when it comes to developing its own chips for the iPhone, iPad and, most recently, Mac computers. The first Macs and iPad Pros powered by Apple's M1 processor launched in 2020, while the first iMacs with the chip became available earlier this year. Google's in-progress Chromebook chip is reportedly based on designs from Softbank's ARM, like most mobile processors out there. By building the processor itself, the company will be able to customize it to meet its needs and to add its own features. It'll lessen Google's reliance on third-party suppliers, in other words, allowing it to control production as it sees fit.
Google plans to release the processors it's developing for Chromebooks in 2023, Nikkei says. The first devices powered by the chips could be available soon after.
Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 will be available on October 5th as a free upgrade for qualifying Windows 10 systems, as well as on new PCs shipping after that date. But it isn’t for everyone; a gradual rollout will prioritize newer hardware and use "intelligence models" to determine who gets the upgrade first. Microsoft will apparently factor in reliability and device age. It could be the case that friends and family utterly disinterested in an OS update could be offered it ahead of anyone chomping at the bit for the latest edition of Windows. Check out Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar's preview on what to expect from Windows 11.
All supporting machines will get the update by mid-2022, if you can think that far ahead. For those at the head of the line, you’ll still miss out on Android app support, which won't be available on launch. Microsoft plans to introduce the feature in a Windows Insider preview build sometime in the "coming months."
But the service may not be ready for the next iPhone.
A rumored satellite feature for future iPhones is reserved for emergency uses only, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. A few days ago, another report said the next iPhones will come with support for Low Earth Orbit satellite calls and messages. Other sources said, however, that Apple is reportedly developing at least two emergency-related features relying on satellite networks.
The first feature, Emergency Message via Satellite, will be added as a third protocol, alongside iMessage and SMS, to the Messages app. Apple is also reportedly working on a second satellite feature for users to report crisis situations, like plane crashes and fires.
You can now visit Best Buy’s website to purchase powered bicycles, as well as electric scooters and mopeds from brands like Unagi, Bird, Segway and SWFT. In October, Best Buy will begin stocking those same EVs in select stores across the US, including Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. The company’s Geek Squad will even offer a $100 service where it comes to your house to adjust the brakes, seat height and handlebars for you.
The $150 snapper works with the redesigned Polaroid app.
Polaroid
Polaroid’s Now+ is a $150 analog camera with Bluetooth connectivity and five physical lens filters. It's the first time the company has included the latter out of the box. You can clip the filters on to the camera's lens to saturate or deepen the contrast of your photos or add new effects, like starburst, red vignette, and orange, blue and yellow colors.
One new tool lets you record your own voice to train the tone of an AI voice
The voices on Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and other AI assistants are far ahead of old-school GPS devices, but they still lack the finer qualities that make speech sound, well, human. NVIDIA has unveiled new research and tools that can capture those natural speech qualities by letting you train the AI system with your own voice.
To improve its AI voice synthesis, NVIDIA’s text-to-speech research team developed a model called RAD-TTS. The system allows an individual to train a text-to-speech model with their own voice, including the pacing, tonality, timbre and more.
(Maybe it’s time to build an AI voice so I don’t have to record Engadget’s The Morning Edition podcast each day. Don’t tell anyone, OK?)
South Korea has today passed a law requiring major app stores to allow alternate payment methods. The bill, due to be rubber-stamped by President Moon Jae-in, forces platform holders to open up their stores, which will affect their lucrative commissions on digital sales. Apple and Google are facing lawsuits and regulator investigations in multiple countries, many focused on how their app stores operate.
The new model also has better battery life and a lower price.
Finally, 2017’s QuietComfort 35 II headphones have a proper replacement: the QuietComfort 45. Bose says these headphones "maintain the hallmarks of their predecessor" when it comes to audio quality, comfort, reliable controls and more. The QC45 also keeps nearly the same design as the QC35 and QC35 II except for a few subtle changes — and a longer battery life estimated to be around 24 hours. At $329.95, they'll debut at a lower price than the previous two QuietComfort models.
The QuietComfort 45 headphones will be available in black and light gray on September 23rd. Pre-orders begin today at Amazon and Bose's website.
Ambient sound, customizable settings and good battery life.
When it comes to true wireless earbuds, Jabra has continued to improve design, features and technology since the Elite 65t. But there was one thing it was still missing: a low-cost model for around $100. So say hello to the Elite 3: an $80 set of true wireless earbuds with more features than we’re used to seeing at this price.
A company purporting to improve access to local TV stations for people who can’t access the signal via traditional means has been dealt a blow by a New York Court. Locast has lost the courtroom skirmish started by CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox, which said that the company was violating their copyright. Deadline reports that the quartet’s request for summary judgment was granted, saying that it couldn’t use its non-profit status as a defense against further action.
The big four, of course, don’t believe Locast’s aims were anywhere near as public-minded as the company made out. The body was reportedly backed, in part, by AT&T and Dish Network, and the networks feel that the whole project was set up as a way of dodging carriage fees. Part of Locast’s defense was that US copyright law allows third parties to boost local signals, and that it acted like a signal booster station.
It’s worth noting that Locast’s founder David Goodfriend, a lawyer and former FCC legal advisor, conceived of Locast in the wake of Aero’s destruction at the hands of the big networks. A 2019 New York Times profile explained that he had designed the legal situation to be “compliant within the law.” The profile is even titled that the company would “love to get sued” to act as a test-case for the rules.
The court found that Locast’s policy of expanding into new markets runs contrary to the aim of a non-profit, where cash should be used to cover running costs only. Judge Louis Stanton said that the cash raised from Locast’s $5-per-month (don’t call it a) subscription was being used to bankroll further expansion and earned “far more money from user charges than was necessary.”
It didn’t help, that when some TV providers have entered into carriage disputes, Locast has been cited as a way of still accessing that content. As The Wall Street Journal wrote back in 2019, DirecTV and Dish customers were directed to access Locast, although Dish and AT&T both said that this was only because it felt that it was obliged to offer the choice to its users.
By removing Locast’s major legal shield, it’s certainly likely that the project will soon have yet more lawyers on their door. After all, were it to survive, it would be a challenge both to the profitability of the major TV players and encouragement to any future upstarts looking to disrupt the space.
In a statement, Locast said that the ruling was “disappointing,” citing commentary from the EFF adding that the “court interpreted the law in an artificially-narrow way.” The EFF added that “over three million people use Locast to access local TV, including many who can’t afford cable and can’t pick up their local stations with an antenna. This ruling threatens their access to local news and vital information during a global pandemic.” It closed by saying that the ruling “treats copyright law not as an engine of progress but a moat protecting the most privileged position of the four giant broadcasting networks.”
