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It's Saturday morning, so we're looking back at significant stories from Friday and throughout the last week, and just like yesterday's email, a big acquisition has me wondering about the future. On Thursday it was Apple snapping up NextVR, and on Friday Facebook announced its acquisition of Giphy. The animated image library went for about $400 million, according to a report from Axios, as the social network said it simply wanted to shore up GIF search in some of its products.
For outsiders, however, this deal's impact on privacy is the big concern. For those who try to avoid Facebook Companies, that's one more service they can't use, and one more way the social network's advertising/monitoring tech could potentially acquire data from unrelated services and apps.
-- Richard
'Strange New Worlds' is the latest Star Trek series for CBS All Access
The new show takes place a decade before James T. Kirk became captain of the Enterprise.
On Friday, CBS announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a new All Access series that will see Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn reprise their roles as Captain Pike, Spock and Number One. Continue reading.
Apple's 10.2-inch iPad is $250 at Amazon and Best Buy
Chris Velazco gave the device a score of 86 when he reviewed it last fall.
If you missed the opportunity to pick up the 10.2-inch iPad when it was $250 earlier this month, Apple's entry-level tablet is once again on sale. This time around, both Amazon and Best Buy are selling the 32GB base model 10.2-inch iPad for $250. That's an $80 savings off the device's usual list price and matches the best deal we've seen for it. Continue reading.
Surface Earbuds and Headphones 2 review
Comfort is king
Microsoft's new audio products are winners when it comes to sound quality and comfort. Plus, the headphones are $100 cheaper than the previous model, and those funny-looking buds have enough space to make their touch controls easier to operate. Devindra Hardawar did have some complaints, like shorter-than-the-competition battery life on the Surface Headphones and a design choice on the Earbuds that makes it harder to use just one at a time, but check out his review for the full rundown. Continue reading.
Epic Games teases its new, nearly photorealistic Unreal Engine 5
It's approaching movie-quality CGI.
If you needed something to hold on to ahead of next-gen consoles actually getting here, Epic is happy to oblige. It's released an early showreel of the Unreal 5 engine, showcasing its new Nanite system (in charge of generating tiny polygon geometry to add detail) and Lumen, which is a dynamic lighting system that can transform how scenes look on the fly.
Both will address two major factors in game development: money and time. UE5 should help small teams get a level of graphical fidelity closer to those of major gaming companies. But we will have to wait for it. Unreal Engine 5 will be first available to preview early in 2021 with full access expected by the end of that year.
And it wouldn't be an Epic news event without something to do with Fortnite -- yes, it's behind that, too. The battle royale title will be a launch title for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The company plans to migrate Fortnite to the Unreal Engine 5 in mid-2021, which should enhance the game's visuals (big time) and greatly expand its capabilities. Continue reading.
How to use your high-end camera as a webcam
If you're lucky, you might not need to buy anything extra.
Some (most?) webcams suck. The video quality is mediocre and camera placement is often not flattering -- especially on some laptops. Why not use that fancy DSLR camera you have? Depending on the make and model, it might be as easy as downloading an app. You may require some new hardware and cables, but regardless, we've laid out all the options for wowing colleagues and/or family on your next video call. Continue reading.
A little more than five years after NextVR streamed its first live VR broadcast from California to my house in Michigan, Apple confirmed it's acquiring the startup. While Apple has built AR features into some of its platforms already, rumors of a bigger push into augmented reality or virtual reality have remained simply rumors.
In the past few years, NextVR highlights have included concert broadcasts, golf and the NBA. Still, VR's slow adoption means only so many people could actually watch, and phone-based headsets like the one I used in 2015 have fallen by the wayside. All I can hope for now is that Apple's move will be remembered as one that helped bring quality VR experiences to the masses, and not just another example of promising technology being acquired and shelved forever.
-- Richard
'Ghost of Tsushima' includes a black-and-white samurai cinema mode
Plus, more gameplay details.
You'll have to follow the wind and the wild animals to find new places and points of interest in the world of the Ghost of Tsushima. That's one of the gameplay elements Sucker Punch Productions showcased during Sony's latest State of Play episode, focused entirely on the new samurai game.
Expect to switch between a samurai battle style and a ghost mode, the latter being sneakier and arguably less honorable. And in a bid to truly embrace its feudal Japan roots, the game will come with a black-and-white mode to help channel your inner Kurosawa. Continue reading.
VanMoof's S3 e-bike is better, cheaper and just as stylish
It's almost time for the e-bike boom.
VanMoof is like the Allbirds of e-bikes. The company has struck a chord with technology-loving people who care deeply about design and sustainable living. That niche, though, is only so large.
It's stepping toward the mainstream and is making its premium bikes a tad cheaper. So how do the S3 and X3 stack up against the competition? And how far do they move the needle for e-bike adoption? VanMoof's third-generation ride has a few frustrating flaws, but it's still one of the most impressive pedal-assist bikes that money can buy, provided you're okay with something that occasionally puts design and simplicity over flexibility. Nick Summers took the S3 for a ride. Continue reading.
Apple could launch an 'affordable' 10-inch iPad this year
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also predicts a new iPad mini model for early 2021.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple might have a few more products to launch this year. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company is planning an 'affordable' 10.8-inch iPad in the second half of the year. Apple's cheapest 10-inch iPad currently costs $329.
Kuo said the upcoming models will "follow [the] iPhone SE's product strategy" in that their main selling points are their affordable price tags and their use of Apple's latest and fastest chips. He also expects to see a new iPad mini in the first half of 2021. Continue reading.
The Boring Company completes excavation of its Las Vegas tunnels
It's on track to open in January 2021.
Elon Musk's Boring Company has finished excavating the second of two tunnels planned for the Las Vegas Convention Center's underground loop transit system. The mile-long system could cost up to $52.5 million and is currently slated for completion in January 2021. The Boring Company's first foray into commercial transit will ferry people underneath the convention center via Tesla's autonomous electric vehicles. It's designed to move more than 4,000 people per hour across the facility, turning what is at least a 15-minute walk into a trip that takes less than two minutes. Continue reading.
Chrome will start blocking resource-demanding ads in August
Ads that mine cryptocurrency or are unoptimized will get cut off.
Google has discovered that a small percentage of ads (0.3 percent) are using a disproportionate amount (27 percent) of the network data used by ads in Chrome. So this summer, Chrome will set a threshold at 4MB of network data, 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30-second period or 60 seconds of total CPU usage. Go over that and your ad produces an error message.Continue reading.