Monday 17 July 2017

The Morning After: A 'Star Wars' hotel and 'Kingdom Hearts 3'

Engadget Email Newsletter

Engadget Email Newsletter

eng-daily-newsletter

It's Monday, July 17, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

We’re starting the week with a look back at Disney’s big news from D23, plus rumors of an Amazon messaging app and a flat microscope for your brain.

Is there a cantina?

Disney reveals plans for a ‘Star Wars’ hotel 

Disney reveals plans for a ‘Star Wars’ hotel 

One of the big announcements from D23 this weekend (beyond details on Star Wars-inspired theme parks due in 2019) is the news that Disney will open a Star Wars resort in Orlando. The hotel itself will be filled with familiar-looking aliens, while the windows will appear to look out into space. Basically, it sounds like Disney is extending the interactivity you typically find in its theme-park experiences with one of its resort hotels.

And there’s a ‘Toy Story’ tie-in

‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ has a release date: 2018

‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ has a release date: 2018

Square Enix made an appearance at D23 and dropped off a new trailer for its next Kingdom Hearts game that revealed its heroes will visit the world of Toy Story. Also, the release window has been narrowed down to 2018.

Simple.

IBM's new mainframe keeps everything encrypted, all the time

IBM's new mainframe keeps everything encrypted, all the time

According to IBM, conventional systems based on x86 processors only encrypt “limited slices” of information, while the new Z has enough power (18 times more, in fact) to lock everything down as a matter of course. That’s all thanks to an increase in hardware dedicated to cryptography and “pervasive encryption” built in throughout the system.

Yet another voice assistant.

HTC launches Amazon Alexa for the U11

HTC launches Amazon Alexa for the U11

Starting today, US owners of the HTC U11 phone can download an Alexa app from the Google Play Store. That’s in addition to Google’s Assistant AI and HTC’s Sense Companion service, but HTC considers all three complementary. The Alexa service brings thousands of skills and tie-ins, and according to Chris Velazco, the U11 integration is the first time on a phone where it really works like it should.

Moving closer to a neural interface.

Flat microscope for the brain could help restore lost eyesight

Flat microscope for the brain could help restore lost eyesight

It should not only capture much more detail than existing brain probes (the team is hoping to see "a million" neurons), but reach levels deep enough that it should shed light on how the mind processes sensory input. And that, in turn, opens the door to controlling sensory input.

Too much or not enough?

Ashley Madison will pay $11.2 million to data-breach victims

Ashley Madison will pay $11.2 million to data-breach victims

Two years after Ashley Madison’s data breach, parent-company Ruby Corp is ready to pay $11.2 million, though the amount still has to be approved by a federal judge in St. Louis. Those who were affected by the security breach can claim up to $3,500, depending on how well they've documented their losses due to the event. 

But wait, there's more...

1. After Math: Are you not entertained?

2. 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' behind the scenes footage is here

3. Amazon may unveil its own messaging app

4. Tesla will open '2 or 3' more Gigafactories in the US

5. Porsche installs its first high-speed electric car chargers

6. Recommended Reading: Spotify's other playlist problem

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 15 July 2017

The Morning After: Wireless Oculus Rift headsets are coming

Engadget Email Newsletter

Engadget Email Newsletter

eng-daily-newsletter

It's Saturday, July 15, 2017.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. Water bears are hard to kill, we got a peek at Disney’s Star Wars theme parks and it’s time for EVO.

The closest you’ll ever get to a ‘3DS XL Lite.’

Nintendo New 2DS XL review

Nintendo New 2DS XL review

The latest addition to Nintendo’s handheld gaming lineup hits stores on July 28th, but we’ve already had our turn with the New 2DS XL. Sean Buckley reports that despite a new chassis, this entry isn’t the best portable gaming console in the 3DS lineup, with a shorter battery life than its 3D-enabled counterpart. On the plus side, it does have comfortable controls with smaller bezels and a repositioned hinge.

It doesn’t stop at just movies and games.

Disney shows off a preview of its upcoming ‘Star Wars’ theme park

Disney shows off a preview of its upcoming ‘Star Wars’ theme park

As part of the D23 event going on this weekend, Disney unveiled a model version of the Star Wars-inspired lands that are under construction at its Disney World and Disneyland resorts. Ride specifics are still hazy, but one attraction will give guests control of the Millennium Falcon, while another drops them into a battle between the Resistance and the First Order. The parks are scheduled to open in 2019, but we’ll let you know if there’s any other news out of D23.

Now the thumbnails move

YouTube experiments with GIF-like video previews

Soon you might notice a 3-second teaser when your computer's pointer hovers over a thumbnail, though it only works for videos that are longer than 30 seconds.

Here are your plans for the weekend.

Tune into the EVO 2017 fighting game championships

Tune into the EVO 2017 fighting game championships

Get your fill of esports action today streaming on Twitch live from the EVO 2017 event in Las Vegas. For Sunday night’s final rounds, you can watch Disney XD and ESPN 2 to see champions crowned in Super Smash Bros. and Street Fighter V, respectively.

It got a nose job.

See how Tesla’s Model 3 has changed since its debut

We’ll let the gif do most of the talking.

#FontGate.

Microsoft’s default font settings are taking center stage in a political drama

Really.

Say goodbye to projector distortion.

Samsung made a giant 34-foot LED TV for movie theaters

Samsung made a giant 34-foot LED TV for movie theaters

Samsung has unveiled the Cinema LED Screen that's an epic 10.3 meters (33.8 feet, or 406 inches). It runs at full 4K (4,096 x 2,160) resolution, features HDR and peaks out at 146 fL of brightness, "ten times greater than that offered by standard projector technologies.

Scientists, Steven Segal would like a word with you.

Water bears may be the last species alive when the sun dies

Water bears may be the last species alive when the sun dies

Scientists have discovered that the tardigrade, also called the water bear, is the world's most indestructible living species. Researchers at the University of Oxford tested three potential catastrophic space-based events that could affect the Earth to see whether tardigrades would survive: asteroids, supernovae and gamma ray bursts. "To our surprise we found that although nearby supernovae or large asteroid impacts would be catastrophic for people, tardigrades could be unaffected,"  says Dr. David Sloan, the paper's coauthor.

But wait, there's more...

1. Here's our first look at Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' movie

2. White House releases voter-fraud comments, personal info included

3. Why TV is Facebook's next frontier

4. Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Phone

5. Spotify denied allegations it uses 'fake' artists to cut royalty costs

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.

Friday 14 July 2017

Editor's Pick: Alteryx CCO Olivia Duane Adams: Women Do Think Differently


Vivian Wagner
Jul 14, 2017 2:37 PM PT
Analytics is "about having a sense of curiosity -- the ability to look at data and say, 'what is it telling me?'" said Olivia Duane Adams, chief customer officer at Alteryx. "I define analytics as 'the ability to ingest any and all relevant sources of data that might help answer a question being asked.' Analytics is the ability to use all the data you have to answer a question." [More...]

More Picks:
Consumers Are Ready to Embrace 'Futuristic' Payment Tech
As many as 80 percent of U.S. residents support frictionless payment methods and technologies, suggests a survey of 1,000 consumers Viewpost published this week. Among its other findings: Nearly 51 percent of survey participants were paid electronically through direct deposit, and 83 percent of respondents believed paper checks would be eliminated completely within the next 20 years. [More...]
The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard Shows Which Bits Are Boss
If you've ever been curious enough to look through your system's root directory, you may have become a little overwhelmed. Most of the three-letter directory names don't tell you much about what they do, and if you ever needed to make important modifications, it would be tough to know where to look. I'd like to take those of you who haven't ventured much into your root directory on a brief tour. [More...]
With Echo Dot at Bat, Amazon Scores Prime Day Home Run
Amazon has hailed its third-annual Prime Day promotion as its single biggest global shopping event ever. Held earlier this week, it garnered an estimated $1 billion in sales, surpassing year-ago sales by 60 percent and beating the company's prior Black Friday and Cyber Monday records. More members joined Prime on this year's Prime Day than on any other single day in the company's history. [More...]
The 3 Crucial Stages of an Effective Content Marketing Strategy
There are three key stages of implementing a content-based lead generation strategy -- content development, targeting and prospect nurturing -- that marketers should take into account. However, they often focus on one stage more than the others, missing out on opportunities for optimization. That is one of the findings of a new study from NetLine, a B2B content syndication lead generation network. [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