Monthly Archives: January 2016
Apple Reportedly Making Cordless Earbuds
Apple is reportedly working on a new wireless pair of Bluetooth earbuds to release this fall.
According to 9to5Mac, the cord-free earbuds don't even connect with the right and left pieces, as they're supposedly similar to the Motorola Hint headset. There will be another accessory for Siri communication and to make phone calls.
The cordless earbuds purportedly won't come with the iPhone 7. Instead, they'll most likely be available as a separate premium version of the packaged pair with the device.
The technology behind the new earbuds reportedly is courtesy of Beats, which Apple acquired in 2014 for $3 billion. To charge the wireless headphones, there will likely be a carrying case that also serves as a rechargeable battery.
Outlander Author on Not Having GRRM’s Writing Problem
Diana Gabaldon is not concerned that the Outlander TV series is going to catch up with her ongoing series of books any time soon like Game of Thrones recently did with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
Following Martin's announcement that he would not release his new book, The Winds of Winter, before Season 6 of the HBO drama is released, thus meaning that the TV show would pass his published material, Gabaldon opened up about whether or not that would happen to her.
"Unlike George, I write no matter where I am or what else I'm doing," she said at the 2016 winter Television Critics Association press tour. "He admits it himself, he likes to travel and he can't write when he travels. That's just the way he works.
Modder Recreates Mirror’s Edge Prologue in Dying Light
Mirror's Edge is now playable inside Techland's zombie survival game Dying Light. Sort of.
Using Dying Light's mod creation tools, user Elimina (via Kotaku) has made what they claim to be a 1:1 scale version of the prologue map from Mirror's Edge. According to Elimina, "every corner and detail" is "almost identical" to the original stages of DICE's dystopic parkour game. Check it out in the slideshow below.
The project is still very much a work in progress, but those interested can download it on PC now via Dying Light's Steam Workshop page. Elimina has outlined a list of things they intend to add in via future updates, including added NPCs in the police chase section, an attempt to add a wall run, and more interior detail for the environments.
Arrested Development: Season 5 Story Hints
Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz has shared some hints of what to expect from season five.
Deadline reports that Hurtwitz said the next season will be a serialized murder mystery, after season four ended with Buster under arrest for murder. He compared it to the recent real-crime documentary hit Making a Murderer.
He also said he'd like to make it very politically conscious as we're in an election year, since Lindsay Bluth has decided to run in the Republican ticket and promised to build a wall. However, the cast negotiations are ongoing, and he's not sure who will be available and when. That means some cast members' schedules may not align, a move that led to the vignette structure of season four. Once he has that finalized, he plans to start writing scripts.
Watch Us Flail Our Arms Maniacally to Play Pac-Man
Motion controls haven't gone anywhere, they've just been re-purposed. We had a chance to play Pac-Man at CES 2016 this week, but we did it using motion controls, all in the name of fitness.
Watch us flop around in the video above.
The Moff Band wearable smart toy is a high-tech slap band that you wear on your wrist. Any kid from the '90s remembers slap bands, but unlike those ones, which had a thin strip of razor-sharp metal inside, the Moff Band has a plastic core with a safe silicone rubber exterior.
Currently there are a bunch of apps that work with the Moff Band, including some from PBS Kids, but in the spring Bandai Namco is releasing a version of its classic Pac Man arcade game designed for use with the Moff Band. We took it for a test drive at CES, which you can see in the video above.
New Outlander: Season 2 Photos
Outlander: Season 2's premiere isn't until April, but Starz has released a batch of new images to preview what's ahead for main characters Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan).
The stills showcase the series' shift in location to 18th century Paris, France in Season 2. Claire in particular has a stunning set of new costumes, created by costume designer (and showrunner Ron Moore's wife) Terry Dresbach. Dresbach has spoken openly about her desire to make the outfits in Outlander honest to the period setting instead of perpetuating contemporary perceptions of what people like Claire and Jamie would wear in the 1700s. (She also is firmly against the whole improbable Hollywood idea of bodice-ripping.)
BBC America Greenlights New Dirk Gently Series
Douglas Adams' detective Dirk Gently has been greenlit for another TV adaptation, courtesy of BBC America and writer Max Landis.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Dective Agency will feature eight, one-hour episodes following the titular investigator and his assistant Todd. In Adams' pair of novels featuring the duo, they encounter many bizarre and supernatural occurrences with a highly comedic bent.
Apple Registered 3 Car-Related Domain Names in 2015
Apple appears to have registered three car-related domain names in 2015.
As reported by MacRumors, apple.car, apple.cars, and apple.auto were registered in December 2015, though they are not yet active yet.
Apple is already involved in the auto industry with CarPlay, its iOS vehicle integration. However, some are speculating that these new domains confirm rumors of Apple's electric car project.
Project Titan, the project's apparent code name, has hundreds of employees who were poached from various automobile companies, like Tesla, Ford, and GM. According to MacRumors, one electric motorcycle startup, Missions Motors, had to "cease operations" after Apple recruited many of its employees.
Fallout 4, Witcher 3 Among GDC Award Nominees
The nominees for the 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards have been revealed.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, both of which are up for Game of the Year consideration, earned the most nominations with four each. Rounding out the list of GOTY contenders is Fallout 4, Rocket League and Bloodborne.
The winners across all categories—including Best Debut, Best Narrative and many others—will be revealed at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 16.
See the full list categories and their respective nominees below.
$150,000 Rocket-Firing Boba Fett Figure Listed on Ebay
Do you have a spare $150,000 sitting around? Are you a die-hard Star Wars fan? If so, we have good news. A one-of-a-kind Boba Fett action figure is up for auction on eBay.
The listing (via Game Informer) is said to be "a once in a lifetime chance to own the rarest, greatest Star Wars action figure in the world," according to seller rarestarwarstoys. The 1979 Kenner figure was a prototype that the famous toy company never put into production. The item was originally shown on display at the Kenner Booth in New York City at the 1979 Toy Fair.