Tuesday 27 June 2017

The Morning After: The SNES is back

Engadget Email Newsletter

Engadget Email Newsletter

eng-daily-newsletter

It's Tuesday, June 27, 2017.

Hey, good morning! 

Welcome to Tuesday. Nintendo is reviving the SNES, Amazon’s Echo with a screen is here and we look at how iOS 11 is shaping up.

The mini console will include the never-before-released 'Star Fox 2.'
 

The SNES Classic is real, arrives on September 29 for $80
 

The SNES Classic is real, arrives on September 29 for $80<br />   

The delicious rumors are true: Nintendo is gearing up to launch the SNES Classic, a miniaturized version of the glorious original Super Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Nintendo's Twitter account, the system will be available on September 29 with 21 games built in -- including the never-released Star Fox 2. Perhaps the best news is that the company is trying to ensure the SNES Classic won't sell out quite as quickly as its predecessor -- although it seems the console will only be around for a little while.
 

Hopefully, it learned its lesson with the mini NES. 
 

Here's what Nintendo needs to do to make the SNES Classic great 
 

Being virtually sold out everywhere wasn’t the only issue we had with the NES Classic last year. With 30 of the original console's best games pushed to modern TVs over HDMI, it offered an excellent, easy-to-use retro-gaming experience. However, the console's ridiculously short 2.5-foot controller cables forced players to sit uncomfortably close to their TVs, and a few user-interface flubs made the menu weirdly difficult to access. We’ve troubleshooted those issues and a few more for Nintendo. 
 

Seeing is believing.
 

Amazon Echo Show review
 

Amazon Echo Show review<br />   

The first Echo with a touchscreen is here, and as it turns out, it does make the Alexa experience better. Despite the angular design, Nathan Ingraham felt like it was a worthy $50 upgrade over the standard Echo, allowing him to digest information in a visual way instead of just listening to it. The video-calling feature wasn’t live for us to fully test yet, but Amazon is serious about making this an intercom device that connects to other Echos or phones running the Alexa app.

It’s facing more than $1 billion in fines.
 

Faulty airbags cost Takata everything
 

Faulty airbags cost Takata everything<br />   

Takata, the Japanese corporation at the heart of the auto industry's largest ever product recall, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Its faulty airbag inflators have been linked to several deaths and resulted in the recall of more than 40 million vehicles. A rescue plan will apparently see US-based Key Safety Systems snap up its “non-toxic” assets for about $1.6 billion.
 

Your iPad is about to become a lot more useful.
 

iOS 11 preview: full of promise, especially on bigger screens
 

iOS 11 preview: full of promise, especially on bigger screens<br />   

The public iOS 11 beta has begun, and we’re ready to share our first impressions of Apple’s next mobile operating system. While it brings some welcome changes to the iPhone (like a revamped Control Center), there’s a complete overhaul on the way for iPads. The new drag-and-drop setup, Files app and multitasking are, according to Chris Velazco, “worthy improvements.” Are they enough to make you ditch your laptop? Probably not, but there’s a lot to look forward to this fall.
 

When it’s not beating world champions at Go.
 

Sorting Lego sucks, so here’s an AI that does it for you
 

Sorting Lego sucks, so here’s an AI that does it for you<br />   

Lego reseller Jaques Mattheij apparently has better things to do than sort through pieces all day, so he’s leaving the task to an automated sorter powered by a neural network.
 

What did you do over the weekend?
 

SpaceX launches and lands two rockets in a single weekend
 

SpaceX launches and lands two rockets in a single weekend<br />   

Elon Musk’s rocket company wants to amp up the pace of its launches and proved it could handle the pressure by following up a Friday launch-and-landing with another one on Sunday. The technical problems that caused an explosion last September appear to be firmly in the rearview mirror now.
 

But wait, there's more...

1. What's on TV: 'Crash Bandicoot,' 'Modern Warfare' and 'Okja'

2. Netflix cancels 'Girlboss' after one season

3. AT&T is rapidly expanding its rural wireless internet service

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.
engadget-twitter engadget-facebook engadget-youtube engadget-reddit engadget-instagram

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.

Monday 26 June 2017

The Morning After: Spectacles for under the sea

Engadget Email Newsletter

Engadget Email Newsletter

eng-daily-newsletter

It's Monday, June 26, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

It’s Monday morning, and we’re talking about how tweets are now official presidential statements, the problem with the console wars and Snapchat Specs made for underwater.

The importance of cross-platform play.

'Rocket League' will die without cross-console multiplayer
 

'Rocket League' will die without cross-console multiplayer<br />   

All online games eventually die. But the difference between the original version of World of Warcraft and, say, Call of Duty: Ghosts is that WoW was more of a service on an open system (PC). Players could gradually migrate to its annual expansions and still be a part of the overall population. When it comes to Rocket League, developer Psyonix's Jeremy Dunham has a way to fix these fractured player bases: opening up cross-platform multiplayer. "We're not trying to build six Rocket Leagues," he said. "We're not looking forward to when Rocket League 2 and 3 and 4 are coming out. Rocket League is the game we're gonna keep updating. It's important to us to keep that going, cross-generation, across multiple platforms, without sacrificing anything."

The White House claims Trump's tweets are an official response to a federal committee's inquiry.
 

In 2017, tweets are official presidential statements
 

In 2017, tweets are official presidential statements<br />   

Still not sure a tweet counts as an official response to a federal inquiry? Well, the White House has reaffirmed that it is. As reported by Reuters, the White House sent a letter to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee claiming that a pair of Trump tweets on Thursday were the president's official word on the matter.

A university in the Netherlands is building a special cycling bridge.
 

A 3D-printed bridge using reinforced concrete
 

A 3D-printed bridge using reinforced concrete<br />   

Researchers there have started manufacturing parts for a 3D-printed cycling bridge using reinforced concrete. When finished, it'll apparently be the first bridge to use 3D-printed reinforced concrete (but not the first 3D-printed bridge using other materials -- or even concrete itself.) There's an environmental impact, too: 3D printing will seriously cut down the CO2 emissions made by concrete-cement production. The 3D printer also offers more design freedom, fabricating shapes that are much harder to produce with a mold.
 

No, those 'healing stickers' aren't made of NASA tech.

Ex-NASA scientist calls Goop's 'healing stickers' a load of BS
 

Ex-NASA scientist calls Goop's 'healing stickers' a load of BS<br />   

Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website, Goop, tends to promote all kinds of nonsense. One of its latest recommendations, wearable stickers by a company called Body Vibes, is pretty hard to turn a blind eye to, though, because its creators claimed that it uses NASA technology. Goop wrote that the body stickers are capable of rebalancing "the energy frequency in our bodies," since they're made of the "same conductive carbon material NASA uses to line spacesuits" to "monitor an astronaut's vitals during wear." Except, as a NASA rep told Gizmodo, that's not true -- at all.

Snapchat teams up with cruise ship for underwater footage.
 

Custom Snapchat Specs can take snaps under the sea
 

Custom Snapchat Specs can take snaps under the sea<br />   

Spectacles have made sharing marginally exciting videos on land via Snapchat easier. It also helps that you no longer need to hunt down a vending machine to snag a pair in the US. But a partnership between the social network and Royal Caribbean cruise lines will make it easy to capture footage under the sea. The SeaSeeker can record video for up to 30 minutes underwater, at depths up to 150 feet, making it perfect for scuba and free-diving. 
 

But wait, there's more...

1. Facebook, not presidential ambition, is why Zuckerberg's on tour

2. WhatsApp is becoming a top news source in some countries

3. Recommended Reading: Apple's original television aspirations

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.
engadget-twitter engadget-facebook engadget-youtube engadget-reddit engadget-instagram

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.

Saturday 24 June 2017

Editor's Pick: Sudo or Sudo Not, There Is No (4th) Try


Jonathan Terrasi
Jun 24, 2017 10:40 AM PT
If you're a Linux user, at some point in some tutorial or troubleshooting guide you've more than likely encountered Linux's magic word: "sudo". A casual observer probably can tell you that it's used to access restricted functions on your computer, but there is much more to it than that. My hope is that by taking a moment to learn about the power of "sudo", you will be better equipped to use it. [More...]

More Picks:
Experts Identify 6 Emerging Influencer Marketing Trends
Influencer marketing has become an area of strategic importance for marketing departments, according to Traackr. B2B technology companies are aware of the trend, according to the paper's coauthor, business consultant Mark Schaefer, but they lag in implementing influencer marketing programs. Interviews with 10 marketing experts suggest that influencer marketing requires a fundamental shift. [More...]
OTA Report: Consumer Services Sites More Trustworthy Than .Gov Sites
The Online Trust Alliance on Tuesday released its 2017 Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll. Among its findings: Consumer services sites have the best combined security and privacy practices. FDIC 100 banks and U.S. government sites are the least trustworthy, according to the audit. The number of websites that qualified for the honor roll is at a nine-year high. [More...]
Rivals Rev Up as Uber Hits the Skids
As Uber reels from the fallout of a sexual harassment scandal that led to this week's ouster of Travis Kalanick and several of his top executives, the company faces twin dilemmas: how to clean up its corporate work environment and restock its executive ranks; and how to maintain credibility with its customer base and core team of street level drivers. [More...]
DHS to Congress: The Russians Are Coming Back
The House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday conducted a hearing focusing on the impact of Russian hacking on the 2016 elections. Members heard testimony from former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who was in charge of the department when the actual hacking took place during the final months of the Obama administration. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the cyberattack, Johnson said. [More...]
3 WannaCry Talking Points to Win Security Buy-In
By this point, most technology practitioners -- and nearly all security practitioners -- know about WannaCry. In fact, you might be sick of people analyzing it, rehashing it, sharing "lessons learned" about it, and otherwise laying out suggestions -- in some cases, contradictory -- about what you might do differently in the future. The level of unsolicited advice can border on the annoying. [More...]
Follow Us

This Editor's Pick alert is a premium service provided to ECT News Network newsletter subscribers. If you wish to make changes to your subscription settings, please click to manage your account.

Copyright 2017 ECT News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ECT News Network, Inc. 16133 Ventura Blvd., Suite 700, Encino, CA 91436