Saturday 17 June 2017

The Morning After: Weekend After E3 Edition

Engadget Email Newsletter

Engadget Email Newsletter

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It's Saturday, June 17, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. The E3 2017 show floor has closed, but gaming news will continue to flow all weekend as we wrap up our coverage of the event. Of course, that's not the only thing that happened this week, so check below for a few more highlights.

You'll need a Galaxy S8 to get in

Samsung starts testing voice features for its Bixby AI

Samsung starts testing voice features for its Bixby AI

Despite tons of hype, Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant launched with only some of its promised features enabled. Now, Samsung is ready for an "early preview test" of voice search and control, which Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus owners can register to join. The company has ambitious goals for Bixby, and this will be our first chance to see if it can really play in the arena with Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa.

Hope you like seeing 2018 games

Watch Sony's E3 2017 event in under 15 minutes

Watch Sony's E3 2017 event in under 15 minutes

Sure, you could worry about what wasn’t in Sony’s E3 presentation (The Last of Us 2), but there is another option. Just enjoy a sleek preview of what’s coming to PlayStation next year, with a few 2017 releases dropped in. In just a few minutes, we’ll make sure you see the best of what Sony showed, including a new Spider-Man game, another Shadow of the Colossus remake and the next God of War.

Atari 2600 fans get the revival console they deserve

Time to dust off those old carts, just leave E.T. where it is.

Time to dust off those old carts, just leave E.T. where it is.

If you want to play retro Atari 2600 games, there’s plenty of options, but a new console offers support for the original cartridges with all the modern day perks. The RetroN 77 plays most, if not all, of the original game cartridges in glorious 1080p, at a modern aspect ratio right out of the box.

Two weeks left to apply

Meet the people behind Engadget's $500,000 immersive art grant

Meet the people behind Engadget's $500,000 immersive art grant

We're at a critical moment in the development of new creative platforms. Companies like HTC, Sony, Microsoft and Google are fundamentally altering the way we experience the world through AR, VR and AI. Meanwhile artists, musicians, filmmakers and developers are pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling, embracing those technologies to explore worlds beyond our own.

Engadget wanted to shed a light on that work, so we reached out to some of the people making that work possible and with their input created the Engadget Alternate Realities grant program. From now until June 30th, we're accepting submissions for new, existing or altered works that make creative use of new technologies to explore the theme of alternate realities. Those projects will debut at The Engadget Experience, a one-day event at the United Artists theatre in downtown LA on Nov. 16th, 2017.

Don't slow down.

Snipers, tanks and turrets don't exist in 'Lawbreakers'

Snipers, tanks and turrets don't exist in 'Lawbreakers'

According to Lawbreakers lead designer Dan Nanni, "The first thing we wound up doing was throw all the rules away." That's why this team shooter is lacking many of the tropes you've seen in games like Overwatch, Monday Night Combat and Team Fortress 2. That's why this game not only defined roles like sniper or tank, but also crouching, sight aiming and sprinting. Here, everything is about "vertikilling" across low- and zero-gravity zones of the map. Each character moves in a way that almost feels like it belongs in its own game. We only had a few minutes with the title, but it felt exciting and fresh.

Pirates are back.

'Skull and Bones' is about pillaging your friends' ships

'Skull and Bones' is about pillaging your friends' ships

Ubisoft's Skull and Bones takes the ship battles of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag and turns them into grand-scale, five-on-five multiplayer naval warfare. Mat Smith got a peek at some of the game's five-on-five multiplayer action, but he's still waiting to find out if Ubisoft can spin this feature into an entire game.

Meet Quill.

The most promising VR adventure yet stars an adorable sword-wielding mouse

The most promising VR adventure yet stars an adorable sword-wielding mouse

It's difficult to create new characters that players can instantly love, but Polyarc managed to do just that with Quill. She's the star of Moss, an upcoming PlayStation VR game that harkens back to classic adventure games like The Legend of Zelda and The Secret of Mana. You exist as a character in the game that Quill interacts with, while also controlling her from afar. The game is made by a team including ex-Bungie and Rockstar employees and feels like it was ripped from one of Studio Ghibli's films. Interested yet?

Wearable devices can mean new challenges.

Engadget at E3: Making virtual reality accessible for everyone

Engadget at E3: Making virtual reality accessible for everyone

Amy Kneepkens, head video creator at AbleGamers, joined us onstage at E3 2017 to give us a view into accessibility issues affecting virtual reality. If it's not the gesture controllers, it might be how camera controllers are typically transplanted to the headset itself. If you can't move your head and neck easily, how are you supposed to look around your virtual world?

But wait, there's more...

1. This worm grew a second head after a trip to space

2. After saying "it's not our primary battle," Netflix is rejoining the net neutrality fight

3. Tesla Model X earns a perfect NHTSA safety rating

4. Xbox One X vs. the PlayStation 4 Pro

5. Samsung's art-inspired Frame TV goes on sale Sunday

6. iPad Pro 10.5 review: Where execution and ambition meet

7. Elon Musk brings his Mars plan before the scientific community

8. Dat 4K 'Minecraft' water doe

9. Who wants to buy Microsoft's Xbox One X?

10. The Xbox One X will be great ... next year

11. 'Need for Speed: Payback' and the business of car crashes

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.

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Friday 16 June 2017

The Morning After: Wireless charging mouse pads are here

Engadget Email Newsletter

Engadget Email Newsletter

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It's Friday, June 16, 2017.

Hey, good morning! 

It might only be Friday morning, but yesterday marked the end of the world’s biggest gaming show, E3. This morning, we're bringing you impressions from the biggest titles you’ll be playing in the next 12 months or so, as well as Amazon’s new Dash wand and the launch of Microsoft’s Surface laptop.

Cartoon Network and Capybara are challenging how cartoons and tie-in games are made.

‘OK K.O.’ is a brilliant cartoon with a game to match
 

‘OK K.O.’ is a brilliant cartoon with a game to match<br />   

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, an animated series from Cartoon Network, will premiere this August with, if all goes to plan, a tie-in game alongside it. The release is unusual for two reasons: One, this type of game is usually developed after a show has been launched and drawn a large, lucrative audience. Two, they're typically low-quality or made by studios with a lacklustre pedigree. Capy Games, meanwhile, is an independent studio with bags of talent. Both the game and show look intriguing, but how does such a collaboration even begin?

Ubisoft's E3 demo avoided the controversial setting and sticks to slick set pieces.

In 'Far Cry 5,' your teammates might be the real stars
 

In 'Far Cry 5,' your teammates might be the real stars<br />   

Far Cry 5 is one of the most anticipated games at E3 2017, even if it won't be out until 2018. That distant launch date might be why Mat Smith felt surprised that the early demo on show at Ubisoft's booth was already so polished. In typical Far Cry style, the environments are lush and detailed (and delightfully colorful too). Cultist fighters also swarm on your location and chase you through the forest, just as you'd expect. The most notable change, then, isn't the series' relocation to Montana, but the company you keep as you battle the cult. Yep, while you are still pretty much a one-man army, at least one person (or canine) has your back this time around, which not only makes things slightly easier but also affects how you play through the game.

It’s a completely new experience in 4K/60 FPS.
 

'Destiny 2' on PC is nothing like the first game
 

After spending some quality time with the PC version of Destiny 2 at E3, Devindra Hardawar can attest it's a much speedier, more intense experience. That's partially due to some gameplay improvements -- switching between weapons and reloading feels a lot quicker than before -- as well as the fact that he was playing the game in 4K at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second. That frame-rate bump alone makes the entire experience feel more immediate, as there's less of a lag between what you're inputting and how the game responds. It simply plays better.

The company is also releasing its pricey Surface Studio in more locations.
 

Microsoft's Surface Laptop and Pro are now available worldwide
 

Microsoft's Surface Laptop and Pro are now available worldwide<br />   

If you're looking to buy the Surface Laptop or the Surface Pro, there's a chance that you'll be able to get it right now, even if you're not in the US. Both PCs are now available in over a dozen markets across the globe. The Surface Laptop is now out in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It's the flagship device for Windows 10 S, Microsoft's ChromeOS-like platform for the education market meant to run web apps and software from its official store. A Surface Laptop will set you back at least $999 in the US and £979 (up to £2,149) in the UK.
 

It solves all of the problems with cord-free mice for gamers.
 

Logitech's wireless-mouse charging tech feels like a miracle
 

Logitech's wireless-mouse charging tech feels like a miracle<br />   

Logitech's main mission at E3 this year: proving to gamers that wireless mice are just as capable, and sometimes more so, than their corded counterparts. The company revealed two innovations at the show: Lightspeed, its low-latency wireless-transmission technology, and PowerPlay, a way to charge mice while using them on a custom mat. Both solve the main complaints some gamers have around wireless mice: that they're laggy and could lose charge at any moment.

But wait, there's more...

1. Amazon's Dash Wand lets you order groceries with your voice

2. 'Forza Motorsport 7' has more than just 4K to offer Xbox racers

3. Telegram founder says US government tried to bribe developers

4. At last, you can get Microsoft Office from the Windows Store

5. Subway hopes touchscreens will bust up its sales slump

6. I used E3 to take a very public crash course in 'Arms'

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.
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Thursday 15 June 2017

Editor's Pick: Swiftpage CEO John Oechsle: Better Interactions Lead to More Transactions


Vivian Wagner
Jun 15, 2017 5:00 AM PT
"There are groups within companies that don't want to interact with a full-blown CRM application," said Swiftpage CEO John Oechsle. "They want to access it based on the functions they want it to perform. These small purpose-built apps are going to continue to evolve. Also, people want to interact with software using voice ... . They don't want to sit there and type." [More...]

More Picks:
Broader Scope of Russian Election Cyberattacks Revealed
Federal and state officials have confirmed that cyberattacks against state voting systems during the 2016 election were more widespread than previously disclosed to the public, but they said the heightened activity did not impact final vote tallies. The confirmations follow a report that attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election were much greater than previously disclosed. [More...]
Xbox One X: More Speed, More Muscle
Microsoft earlier this week announced the next version of its Xbox line of gaming consoles, ahead of E3 2017, now ongoing in Los Angeles. The new Xbox One X, which goes on sale Nov. 7 for $499, is slimmer than previous models and packed with power. With a 6-teraflop Scorpio engine, the One X has 40 percent faster graphics performance than its chief rival, Sony's PS4 Pro. [More...]
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