The Morning After: Did someone say SNES Mini?

It's Thursday, April 20, 2017. Hey, good morning! Google getting into the ad-blocking business? A SNES Mini console? A Sony camera built for pros? It’s as if all the good news has come at once. Come join us for the last 24 hours in tech.   Whoa.   Is Google about to get into the ad blocking business? A Wall Street Journal rumor indicates that Google Chrome will soon come with ad-blocking capabilities built-in. While that may seem like a strange move from what is essentially an advertising company, the blocker would likely target annoying ads that aren’t like the ones Google itself runs. By shutting down ads that autoplay with audio, pop-ups, or full-screen countdown timers, Google could keep users from using add-ons or other browsers to block all ads (including its own.) If it happens, however, the outcry from competitors and regulators could be loud. An N64 Classic would be interesting. Nintendo rumor points to SNES mini later this year   Nintendo just announced that its throwback NES Classic Edition machines will abruptly fade out, so what comes next? According to a rumor from Eurogamer, a miniature SNES. It certainly could make sense for nostalgia’s sake, as the console was home to many iconic games. Here’s hoping that this one comes true and that this time around Nintendo remembers to include wireless controllers and downloadable games.   Facebook’s Spaces is fine as a VR tech demo, but....    I don't want to live inside Facebook's vision for social VR   Facebook Spaces was announced at the social network's F8 conference as a way of blending social media and virtual reality. If you own an Oculus Rift (and Touch controllers), you and four friends can enter a virtual world and hang out together. Unfortunately, hanging out mostly constitutes of chatting, taking "selfies*" and enjoying the virtual world around you. Oh, and it's not you, per se, but a cartoon caricature that you control. For Senior Editor Dan Cooper, that’s not the social VR experience he’s looking for.   Sponsored Content by StackCommerce Get these all-weather bluetooth headphones for half off today. Wait, that’s possible?   Remembering the first 'photo' of a black hole   Black holes are so outlandish that the scientists who first thought them up figured they couldn't possibly exist in reality. They form from massive, collapsed stars and are so dense that nothing can escape their gravitational pull, including light. Black holes mess with spacetime so badly that scientists have long wondered: How do these things look, exactly? We may be on the cusp of seeing one thanks to the Event Horizon Telescope, but back in 1979, Jean-Pierre Luminet created the first "image" using nothing but an early computer, lots of math and India ink.   "The age of the DSLR being the kingpin is over."   Sony hopes its full-frame A9 makes pros forget about DSLRs   Sony’s new flagship full-frame camera, the A9, is geared toward professional photographers -- especially those who shoot sports and other fast-paced environments. The A9 features a 24.2-megapixel 35mm sensor, an insane AF system with 639 phase detection points (93 percent frame coverage) and built-in 5 axis image stabilization. Given its target audience, the A9 is naturally all about speed, so you'll find a blackout-free, 20fps continuous shooting mode and 1/32,000 shutter speed. Sony says it is its fastest digital camera to date. It’s also "half the size and weight" of the DSLRs it wants to dethrone, like Canon's 5D Mark IV or Nikon's D5. They're designed to produce more immersive content.   Facebook's new 360 cameras bring exploration to live videos   404d4b1e2fea">Last year, Facebook announced the Surround 360, a 360-degree camera that can capture footage in 3D and then render it online via specially designed software. But it wasn't for sale. Instead, the company used it as a reference design for others to create 3D 360 content, even going so far as to open source it on Github later that summer. As good as the camera was, though, it still didn't deliver the full VR experience. That's why Facebook is introducing two more 360-degree cameras at this year's F8: the x24 and x6. The difference: These cameras can shoot in six degrees of freedom, offering a degree of freedom we’ve not really had in immersive video. Samsung says it has an easy fix.   Early Galaxy S8 owners complain of red-tinted screens   Samsung started shipping the Galaxy S8 to customers in South Korea who pre-ordered the flagship phone almost a full week ago. They were probably thinking of how lucky they were to get the phone early, until some of them noticed something off about their screen. According to multiple reports posted on Korean forums like PPOMPPU and social networks like Instagram, some S8 units' displays have a very noticeable reddish tint.   But wait, there's more... 1. Toyota is testing a hydrogen fuel-cell powered semi 2. Xiaomi Mi 6 mimics the iPhone's camera tricks without the bump 3. The Renault R.S. 2027 Vision could be the F1 car of the future 4. Capcom's collection of Disney NES games does retro gaming right The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe. Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note. Copyright © 2016 Aol Inc. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: AOL 770 Broadway #4 New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you opted in at engadget.com. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe from this newsletter.

ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter

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ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter: Wednesday -- April 19, 2017

ECT News Network -- Where Business Meets Technology
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E-Commerce Times | TechNewsWorld
CRM Buyer | LinuxInsider

This Week's Top News Headlines From the E-Commerce Times

Executive Order Triggers H-1B Jitters in Silicon Valley
(Posted 19-Apr-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84467.html

Cleveland Murder Intensifies Scrutiny of Facebook Live
(Posted 18-Apr-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84464.html

Federal Agencies Turn to Software-Defined Data Storage
(Posted 17-Apr-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84461.html

Will Amazon Go Reinvent Retail?
(Posted 14-Apr-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84458.html

Burger King Ad Creates Whopper of a Mess for Google Home
(Posted 13-Apr-17)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84457.html

This Week's Top News Headlines From TechNewsWorld

Facebook Builds a VR Space, but Will Anyone Come?
(Posted 19-Apr-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84468.html

Microsoft's Timely Response to Shadow Brokers Threat Raises Questions
(Posted 18-Apr-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84463.html

Why Is It OK to Abuse Customers?
(Posted 17-Apr-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84460.html

Apple May Transform Diabetes Care and Treatment: Report
(Posted 15-Apr-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84459.html

Google Spins VR Experiences on the Web
(Posted 14-Apr-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84456.html

Bixby Will Be Seen but Not Heard When Galaxy S8 Launches
(Posted 13-Apr-17)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84454.html

This Week's Top News Headlines From CRM Buyer

Take Marketing Off Autopilot and Get Creative
(Posted 19-Apr-17)
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/84466.html

CPQ: Boost Selling Performance and Accuracy
(Posted 17-Apr-17)
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/84462.html

This Week's Top News Headlines From LinuxInsider

Tiny Core: Small Footprint, Big Potential
(Posted 18-Apr-17)
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/84465.html

Anbox Could Be the Android-to-Linux Tool Devs Have Been Waiting For
(Posted 13-Apr-17)
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/84455.html

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The Morning After: Facebook Spaces is a vision of social VR

It's Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Hey, good morning! This morning, we put Samsung’s Galaxy S8 through its paces, finally saw why Facebook bought VR company Oculus, and started replaying a 20-year-old game. (Because it’s free.) Welcome to the Morning After. Two of the best phones available right now.   Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus review: Redemption is here   Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is mostly a slam dunk. It’s brilliantly designed, brimming with horsepower and has a beautiful screen. That’s all most people will need, and our gripes are minor. It’s too bad virtual assistant Bixby is still incomplete — its voice interface doesn’t work yet, and the stuff we did get can be hit-or-miss. Fortunately, Bixby is strictly optional, and the rest of the phone is remarkably polished. Long story short, if you’re looking for a new phone, this should be at the top of your list.   The headphone maker enters a new product category with help from an architect.   Master and Dynamic developed its own concrete for its first speaker   It's important to make a statement when you branch into a new product family. Master & Dynamic has been designing some of the best-looking headphones you can buy for just under three years; today it's introducing its first speaker, the MA770. It's not just any wireless speaker, though. Rather than using wood, plastic or metal for the primary material on the MA770, Master & Dynamic chose concrete. Power overwhelming. Download ‘StarCraft’ and ‘Brood Wars’ for free, right now Blizzard just made its hit game Starcraft available for free on PC and Mac. The company will release a proper Remastered edition later this year with upgraded online capabilities and graphics upgraded for 4K-quality resolution, but you can get the old-school feeling back right now. Yes, a Zerg rush is still just as satisfying 20 years later. See you on Battle.net. Rumors. Apple is definitely working on new iPhones The latest batch of iPhone rumors has arrived -- rather conspicuously timed to match Galaxy S 8 reviews -- as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports the company is working on three new models to debut this fall. Those following along have probably heard much of this before, but this new report suggests that the anticipated “10th Anniversary” iPhone 8 or X will have a curved screen without upgrading from LCD tech to OLED. It’s also unclear whether screen based Touch ID fingerprint scanning will make it into the high-end model, or if it will launch at the same time as the two other new iPhones we’re expecting.    Still $299 Sony squeezes a new 1TB hard drive into the PS4 slim   The PS4 slim just got a little more room, packing a 1TB hard drive instead of the 500GB storage  it featured originally. It’s just one more thing to consider when you’re choosing between this and a PS4 Pro, but the better news is that its price hasn’t changed at all.   Steve Ballmer’s new project is an open database of government spending   USA Facts will be your new favorite website for dinner table arguments about taxes.   Our leaders may be determined to make their daily dealings less transparent, but they probably didn't reckon on bored Steve Ballmer. The former Microsoft CEO has spent more than $10 million on a new project to open up the US government budget. USA Facts, as profiled in the New York Times, is an open, searchable database that tracks where almost all of your federal, state and local tax dollars are spent. Five years left to train. eSports joins the 2022 Asian Games as a medal event Esports will form part of the 2022 Asian Games, set to be held in China, with medals and everything. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said it wanted to reflect "the rapid development and popularity of this new form of sports participation." It marks an evolution from next year's 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where eSports will debut as a demonstration sport. Come 2022 however, it will be a medal event, given equal footing with long-established athletic events. And you can get it right in your browser, too.   Google Earth feeds your wanderlust with 'Voyager' stories Google Earth's latest update ratchets up its time-killing potential several notches. The major changes center around the home page, a new ship’s wheel icon… and adventure. Well, it’s actually called "Voyager." Google Earth has always been about finding and investigating, but Voyager is about enabling that encouraging that with curated content. Yes, even Google Earth isn't immune to the current trend for "stories," or in this case, curated tales from around the world (literally). These stories are essentially themed journeys around the planet peppered with rich media such as 360 videos, and Street View (including inside buildings and underwater). And for those not sold by Facebook’s Social VR, you can also put your Oculus Rift headset to use flying around Google Earth as well.  That Oculus buyout makes sense now. Facebook Spaces finally delivers on social VR Three years ago, when Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion, many scratched their heads in befuddlement. Social networks and virtual reality seem like such strange bedfellows; one is about connecting you to the world, while the other appears to do the opposite. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisioned a world where VR is a place for communication, not isolation. And, many years later, we get Facebook Spaces. It’s the company's answer to social VR and Senior Editor Nicole Lee found it surprisingly compelling. But wait, there's more... 1. AMD's mid-range Radeon 500-series video cards are here 2. Facebook's latest Messenger makeover is all about business 3. Murders, suicides and rapes: Facebook's major video problem 4. Review: Samsung's Gear VR controller The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe. Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note. Copyright © 2016 Aol Inc. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: AOL 770 Broadway #4 New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you opted in at engadget.com. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe from this newsletter.

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