technologyasyouwish-blog

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I Started 'Mass Effect: Andromeda'

This week has been interesting. This is probably the most hours per day I have ever put into a game in order to hit an embargo in such a short time span. I woke up every day at 6 AM, started up Mass Effect: Andromeda, and played for 10 or 11 hours straight. 60 hours of the campaign later, plus some multiplayer, and here I am.

My official scored review went up yesterday, which is 3,400 words of detailed thoughts and opinions about the game. I suggest you go and read that if you want my full analysis, as today, launch day, I have a different task: To impart some practical wisdom from all that time spent with the game.

This is a game where you’re going to want to know a few things up front to help with your experience, so hopefully my advice will be useful. Here are ten things I wish I knew before I started Mass Effect: Andromeda. No story spoilers follow.

1. Don't Use Default Sarah Ryder

All anyone can talk about in the run-up to the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda has been the often awkward animations with human characters. While this is something of an issue, and I do wish more improvement had been made in the last five years, it does not define the experience. One thing I would recommend, however, is not using the game’s default Sarah Ryder model.

While Scott Ryder is a perfectly normal pre-rendered face, something is just off about Sarah Ryder’s visage. It’s based on a real-life model, but something got lost in translation, and it just does not look right in the game. A lot of the early game footage you’ve seen has her talking and it just looks uncomfortable. If you want to play female Ryder (as I did), I would definitely design your own rather than using Sarah. I spent a decent amount of time making my Ryder look acceptable, and lo and behold, that does translate into the game itself. While there are animation issues elsewhere in the game, I found that my custom Ryder never looked as strange as Sarah Ryder has in all these previews. Not to say whoever you make has to be some supermodel, but Sarah is not the ideal face for this game purely from an animation perspective, so I would suggest forging your own path in that regard.

2. Don't Quit After The First Two Planets

I said this in both my early preview and my review, but Andromeda does a very poor job introducing players to the new open world concept because of how bad the first two planets are. Eos is a radioactive wasteland that throws up invisible walls in the form of a toxic environment when you stray too far. Havarl is a confusing mess of a jungle planet where you cannot even use your car, and fighting enemies you can’t even see through overgrown shrubbery is a nightmare.

I’m here to say it gets better. Without getting into specifics, you’re able to make Eos a lot more friendly to exploration as the zone expands dramatically in size with its toxic barriers lifted. And the last three planets you find, Voeld, Kadara and Eladeen, are without a doubt the game’s strongest environments, both in terms of their visuals, and how fun they are to navigate. There’s also a bonus planet you’ll find later that’s the most fun to drive around by far, but I’ll leave that one a surprise. My point is that even if you think Andromeda has made a serious mistake going open world judging by the first two planets (which is exactly what I thought), power through and get to the other environments, which are way better.

3. Turn The Nomad Into The Mako As Soon As Possible

Part of how much you’re going to enjoy the open world is how much you enjoy driving around your Nomad, and for reasons that remain unclear to me, the vehicle is designed to make you hate it when you first start using it. It’s slow, sluggish and can barely navigate even the most basic of terrain like mild slopes.

You have the power to change this, and upgrade the Nomad into something more accurately resembling the Mako from the original Mass Effect. In order, the upgrades you should research in implement are six-wheel drive, which lets you climb slopes faster, a longer boost capability, better top speed, and a longer hover capability. Combine those together and you can race up pretty much every cliff in the game and get hang time over sand dunes and mountains alike. These upgrades were the key to enjoying navigating these planets, so get them as soon as you can. They’ll be in your R&D station, and new ones are added as time goes on or you find/buy more.

4. Invest In The Cache Finding Upgrade

As you play, you will get points to invest in the Nexus, unlocking different “cryo pods” that give you passive bonuses in the game, rather than specific bonuses to your character like the R&D system. A few of these are useful, like getting materials and such delivered to you regularly, but I would only deem one upgrade absolutely essential: the cache finder.

This upgrade will put a smattering of treasure chests across any planet you explore. These chests are in such remote locations most of the time, you would usually never find them without this upgrade, and they often contain very valuable gear that would have been much harder to find, craft or purchase otherwise. These caches will scale to your level, so don’t hunt them down all at once, and spread them out over the course of the game.

5. Here's How The Ridiculously Confusing Crafting System Works

I really, really hate the crafting system in this game, but by the end I mostly have it figured out. It’s convoluted and awful, but it can be used to make the best items in the game. Here’s what you need to know.

   The Research half of crafting uses three types of tech, Milky Way, Kett and Remnant. You get points in this tech for scanning objects in the wild. Everywhere you go, always check with your scanner to see if there’s something to add. If so, it will glow. Scan every type of enemy you come across as well, living or dead. Your controller will rumble if you’re by something very valuable to scan, but ABS – always be scanning.    You have to research each level of an item, and there are 10 levels of every item, not just five the way it initially appears. The problem with this system is that even if you have a lot of scanning currency, you will use up almost all of it on just a few items per class if you’re researching upgraded versions of items. Pick your favorites, and stick with them.    Do not bother researching N7 armor. It will obviously be attractive, but eventually you unlock a Nexus perk for vendors who will sell more “special gear,” and guess what? A full N7 set is part of the product line. I wasted probably 1,200 Milky Way research credits on this.    You can add mods to weapons and armor as you craft them, which will give you innate bonuses. But when you upgrade to the next level of an item, those bonuses are gone, right? No. The game does not explain this at all, but you can dismantle your old crafted item and get all those mods back for future use. You only get a fraction of the minerals and materials, but all the mods should come back. It is crazy this isn’t made clear.

That should get you started. I hate this system but focusing on a few specific weapons, I did manage to craft some pretty great stuff by the end of the game.

6. Squadmates You Don't Like At Hour Three You May Love By Hour Thirty

I’m going to take a guess and say that many of the characters, particularly the crew members, you meet in Mass Effect: Andromeda you won’t take to right away. I felt this way about the initial two squadmates the game gave me, Liam and Cora, and then I thought that the hyper Asari Peebee was going to annoy me all game. That was true at first, but you have to give them a chance.

Having conversations with everyone, taking them on missions, and doing their loyalty quests will make you bond with them. Liam and Cora became two of my best buds on the ship, and Peebee uh, well let’s just say we became more than friends, even though my original intention was to romance my science officer Suvi. I just spent so much time with Peebee that I liked her, and it seemed like the right path. These kinds of relationships take dozens of hours to develop, so don’t expect to love everyone right away.

Also, side note. At a certain point, your romantic “choice” seems to be permanent. While I could flirt with everyone for a long time, once Peebee and I declared we wanted to be “exclusive,” I no longer even had the option to flirt with anyone else in conversation. So if you’re presented with that sort of ultimatum by whoever you’re romancing, know that’s what it probably means. But yes, I know there is a way to have a three-way in this game, but you can find that on your own.

7. Loot Containers Are Very Easy To Miss

One thing I don’t really get about Andromeda is its desire to hide loot containers from players. Many games will highlight them either on a minimap or in the environment, but Andromeda does neither so they are incredibly easy to overlook.

One problem is that pretty much any shape in the environment can be a loot container, so you have to wander around pretty close to almost everything to see if you get a prompt to open it. Some containers have a light blue shading that highlights them a bit but many don’t and it’s often hard to see. Scanning does not reveal containers either.

Nearly all landmarks will have at least one “big” chest with more stuff in it, so don’t leave until you find it. Cleared landmarks with no more stuff to get in them will turn blue on your map, but I swear sometimes I couldn’t figure out what I was missing. Also, at the end of story missions during boss fights, look around for a big loot container that will usually have a hefty prize in it. I am positive I missed quite a few of these during my first few missions before I figured this out.

8. You Can Save Preset Skill/Specialty Loadouts

Combat is a lot of fun in Mass Effect: Andromeda, and it’s made even more fun by its flexibility. It took me a while to figure this out, but you can actually save up to four preset power/class loadouts for your character in the skills screen. This will save the three powers you’re using and their assigned buttons, but also your class. Unlike past ME games, you can actually switch classes on the fly, based on how many points you’ve sunk into Combat, Tech or Biotics. For example, I had a hybrid Biotic/Combat build which let me pick between Soldier, Adept or Vanguard classes that I could flip between. Pick your skills and your class and even in the middle of combat you can totally change your play style.

9. Shotguns Are Stupidly Overpowered

I would rarely call for something to be nerfed in a PvE game like Andromeda, but by the end, the damage imbalance between my shotguns and everything else I was using was absolutely crazy. If you have even a halfway decent sustain build (like mine, which focused on shields), you can shred pretty much every single enemy in the game with nonstop shotgun blasts. At first, shotguns are limited by their small ammo pool, but upgrades and skills fix that, and it got to the point where if I felt like if I was using anything else, I was just being inefficient. If you don’t know where to sink combat points, you really cannot go wrong with shotguns.

10. You Can Keep Playing Normally After The Story Ends

I am certainly not going to get into ending spoilers here, but in a game like Mass Effect, players are going to want to know if there’s a hard or soft ending -- meaning if they beat the game, if they can keep playing and do the stuff they missed. The answer is definitely yes.

The ending of Andromeda is structured that you can not only keep playing the game and doing missions you missed with no penalty, but it’s not even one of those situations where you’re playing in the final save point before being told to go to the last mission. No, the main storyline can end and you are free to keep doing stuff.

With that said, if you want to be safe, you may want to consider doing at least your crew’s loyalty missions and the main planetary story missions before the last few missions. I do not actually know if there’s a downside to not doing that, but that’s been the case in past games, so it’s possible you might be risking something here. But since I did them, I can’t say for sure what happens if you don’t. But yeah, the point is don’t worry about finishing every little thing before the end, which is what I did. It isn’t necessary.

Alright, that’s all the advice I have for now. I may be back with more, but that should be enough to get you started. Happy exploring, and enjoy.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Google Maps can now temporarily share your real-time location with friends

Google Maps will soon let users on Android and iOS share their real-time location with friends, family, and colleagues — all while trying to keep a mindful eye on privacy. When the feature rolls out “soon worldwide,” you’ll be able to slide out the side menu or just tap the blue dot marking where you are and choose “share location.” From there, you choose who you want to be share your precise location with and for how long. That interval ranges from 15 minutes to 3 days, but there’s no permanent option to speak of.

Maps will share a link via your preferred messaging app to a map, where the recipient can monitor your real-time progression to brunch or an important appointment. Anyone you share with can keep track of your location on Android, iPhone, and mobile / desktop web browsers.

Google is quick to note that you can turn off real-time location sharing at any moment — including before the timer you originally chose runs out. Also, an icon appears above the compass on your own screen to remind you whenever real-time sharing is active with anyone. Real-time location sharing can also be done from the turn-by-turn navigation screen. When used that way, sharing will automatically end once you’ve reached your chosen destination.

Similar features already exist in the Google-owned Waze app. And Google itself has a fairly new Trusted Contacts app that allows real-time location sharing, but here the company is baking something similar into Maps, while limiting it to shorter periods of time. Neither feels terribly far off from the old Google Latitude days.

In the last few weeks alone, Google has been adding a ton of functionality to Maps like useful parking spot reminders and the ability to share your favorite local spots with friends. The who-can-top-who war with Apple Maps rolls on.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Apple this week is releasing its most affordable iPad to date. The refreshed 9.7-inch iPad, which packs a Retina screen and Apple’s A9 chip in a device that effectively replaces the iPad Air 2, is priced at $329 with 32GB of storage.

The $70 price drop makes the entry-level iPad more competitive, particularly among schools that can now snag the tablet for under $300 at educational pricing. Businesses that are motivated by price and don’t require more advanced features in the iPad Pro will also be giving the iPad another look as a result of these changes, according to Avi Greengart, research director at GlobalData.

“This doesn’t seem specific to enterprise,” Greengart says. “If anything, it seems more oriented to education where there’s been a massive influx of Chromebooks into the mix.” Google’s Chrome OS powers almost six out of 10 computing devices shipped to K-12 schools in the United States last year, according to a recent report from research firm Futuresource Consulting.

Although Apple has been positioning its iPad Pro line for business professionals, there are many lines of business, such as checkout terminals, customer-service kiosks and various applications in hospitality, that don’t need those more expensive features, according to Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Creative Strategies. “Overall, it is a good move from Apple to try and get users to upgrade older models and continue to drive first-time buyer adoption,” she says. “For enterprises this is the form factor of choice.”

The new entry-level tablet from Apple, simply called “iPad,” also represents a branding shift for Apple’s product line. “It was pretty complicated plus the naming scheme was very un-Apple,” Greengart says. “There’s no more Air. This is just the iPad. The iPad and the iPad Pro makes a lot of sense… it’s clear both in pricing and positioning.”

By downsizing on the variants of the iPad, which was first introduced almost seven years ago, Apple is making it easier for consumers to find what they want and what serves their needs, according to Milanesi. “What is interesting, however, is that the experience you get from any of the devices is not compromised,” she says. “This is not something many vendors do. You always feel there is a trade off, but not with iPhone or iPad mostly because you are running the latest OS and have access to the same ecosystem.” The Top 10 Big Data Trends That Will Shape 2017

One hang-up in Apple’s iPad streamlining effort -- the iPad mini 4 -- got a storage bump from 32GB to 128GB but the internal components lag behind the new 9.7-inch iPad and the $399 price tag remains unchanged.

In other product news, Apple discontinued the iPad mini 2 and doubled the storage capacity of the entry-level iPhone SE from 16GB to 32GB. Apple also continued to expand and reinvigorate its PRODUCT(RED) lineup of devices with a bright red aluminum version of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Finally, Apple expanded the lineup of bands available for Apple Watch with a series of new striped woven nylon, Nike Sport and Apple Watch Hermes bands.

One of the more interesting moves from Apple this week came in the form of Clips, a new iOS app that helps users edit video clips, photos and music to create videos for sharing on social networks. While the videos created by Clips look strikingly similar to “stories” on Snapchat and Instagram, Apple is focused on simplifying the creation process for its users instead of launching a new social platform.

“Clips is about content not social,” Milanesi says. Apple is staying close to what it knows -- creating and editing content -- and letting users share that media on any platform of their choice, she says. By taking a creator-centric approach to social content, Apple could also increase device usage and overall loyalty to the iOS platform, according to Milanesi. “In a way, if the engagement of creating the content moves to Clips [users] are leaving Snapchat and the rest to merely be the delivery mechanism.”

Still, the move is new from Apple, which has usually embedded these types of features into the camera app. The company also could have introduced Clips as a feature within iMessage, but it decided to create a standalone app for video editing that is less complex, and perhaps attractive to more iOS users, than other video-editing apps. Apple says Clips will be available in the App Store next month. “It feels more like a need in the market for an Apple-sanctioned, so to speak, app for video editing that is simpler and more consumer oriented than something like iMovie,” Greengart says. “It’s positioned as a social-oriented video editing app rather than a technical video editing app or a trimming tool.”

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Here’s how Nintendo is finally fixing the Switch’s Joy-Con desync issue

The Nintendo Switch is exactly what Nintendo needed right now. After the company’s Wii U was a dismal flop, Nintendo did some soul-searching that led the company in two different directions. First, Nintendo finally accepted the fact that it has no choice but to address the smartphone market, at least to some extent. Results have been mixed so far — Super Mario Run’s time at the top was short-lived, but Niantic’s Pokemon Go continues to be a phenomenon — but we can expect plenty more from Nintendo in the coming years. But the second thing Nintendo did was go back to the drawing board when developing its next-generation video game console.

With the Wii U, Nintendo found a fresh new way to approach console gaming, allowing users to quickly and easily switch between gaming on the big screen and portable play. The system isn’t without its faults, however, and Nintendo recently issued a formal response to one of the biggest problems facing Switch owners. Now, the company has finally figured out how to fix it, and we’ll show you exactly how the fix works in this post.

Here’s the problem in a nutshell: Nintendo’s design for at least some wireless Joy-Con controllers is badly flawed. Many gamers have found that the left portion of the Joy-Con regularly “desyncs” while playing, and becomes unresponsive. After a period of time — sometimes a brief moment, sometimes up to 5 or 6 seconds — the controller reconnects and gameplay can resume. It’s a very annoying problem, and Nintendo responded with the following statement:

   At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we want our consumers to have a positive experience. It is common with any new innovative consumer technology for consumers to have questions, and Nintendo Switch is no exception. There are no widespread technical problems, and all issues are being handled promptly, including the reports regarding the left Joy-Con Bluetooth connection. To best support our customers, we continuously update the online consumer support site and provide real-time answers to the questions we are receiving. We want our consumers to get up and running quickly to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we encourage them to contact Nintendo’s Consumer Service team. For help with any hardware or software questions, please visit: http://support.nintendo.com.

The phrase “there are no widespread technical problems” has been called into question now, because it is crystal clear that Nintendo is well aware of a technical problem with the Joy-Con controllers. How do we know? Because as CNET reported in a recent post, Nintendo now knows exactly how to fix it.

Long story short, it looks like there is an issue with the design of the wireless radio inside the left Joy-Con controller. While the exact nature of the problem is not yet known, it results in connectivity issues caused by interference. The good news is that Nintendo seems to know exactly what the problem is, and it is now able to fix it somewhat quickly.

What’s the fix? A tiny foam cube.

As you can see in photos posted on CNET, Nintendo’s fix for the connectivity issue is a tiny piece of conductive foam placed above a portion of the Joy-Con’s antenna. This specially treated foam helps shield the antenna from interference from other radio signals in the air, which helps the controller maintain its Bluetooth connection with the Switch. It’s not exactly an elegant fix, but it does appear to solve the problem. What’s more, it confirms that a hardware design flaw is indeed responsible for the Joy-Con desync issue Switch owners have been experiencing.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Amazon Alexa comes to its first Android phone

Amazon Alexa on an Android phone is here, and Huawei Mate 9 owners in the US will get it first in an over-the-air update (and later through the Google Play store).

But if the thought of Amazon Alexa on a phone conjures images of an always-listening digital servant to answer your every whim and summon taxis to your exact locale, think again.

Although the voice-activated software will unlock Alexa's thousands of skills on the device in your pocket, there are some limitations right now as to what Amazon on this phone -- or any phone -- can do. It isn't always-listening. In fact, you'll have to download not one app, but two -- the Amazon Alexa app and Huawei Alexa. And if you want to shop Amazon through Huawei Alexa, you'll need that app as well.

You'll also have to open Huawei Alexa each time to get those voice commands flowing.

Amazon's foray into phones -- from the Huawei Mate 9 to Amazon's new shopping app for iOS -- is an important step in the company's bid to expand its foothold from the stay-at-home Echo to the phone. But Alexa faces intense pressure from smart assistants like Google Assistant, Apple's Siri and Samsung's upcoming Bixby to become the predominant way that phone owners vocally interact with their devices.

Here's some of what you can activate with your voice from the Mate 9's Alexa app:

   Home automation (especially useful if you don't have an Amazon Echo device at home)    Order from Amazon Prime (account required)    Sync with Google Calendar to hear about your next meeting    Access skills like news brief readouts and workouts    Games, trivia and jokes (think road trips), like this gem: "Why do teenagers use odd numbers? Because they can't even"    Activate it by setting up a knuckle control on the Mate 9

However, the Huawei Alexa app doesn't hook into your phone's particulars like GPS, contacts, or even Amazon Prime Music. So you can't call a cab to your exact location, tell it to text your contacts or play everything that Prime has to offer. This is because Amazon hasn't made it possible, but they're all on the horizon.

We haven't yet had a chance to test Alexa on the Mate 9, so we can't say for sure what works well and what doesn't. But from what we know so far, it seems like Huawei Alexa's biggest advantage is to control your Alexa-compatible smart devices remotely.

And whether you have the Mate 9, a third-party app like Ubi (which basically does the same thing), or prefer to use your phone's voice assistant and standalone home automation apps to achieve the same thing, the Mate 9 will soon be one of many mobile devices bringing the full weight of Amazon's Alexa on board.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

The Android O developer preview just dropped, and we’ve been poking around to see what’s new with the latest version. So far, it’s hard to judge the new features on Android O since most require app developers to update their code, but some digging does show tons of interesting settings that hint at what’s to come.

Before we go further, note that this is a developer preview of Android O. It’s designed for programmers to prepare their apps for the new OS, and these settings and features may change by the time the final version rolls out to the public — Google is also likely to add more features, too. If you’re curious, you can install it at your own discretion, though I’ll note now that there doesn’t seem to be enough immediately consumer-facing changes to make it worth risking your device.

That said, here’s what O looks like so far.

One function that you can immediately use is the ability to snooze notifications. You do this by pulling down on the notification, then slowly swiping to the left or right. (It’s the same gesture you use to bring up the gear icon in Android Marshmallow.) This will bring up a clock and a gear icon, the former of which lets you snooze the notification for 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Those of you used to dismissing the notification might have to retrain and relax your thumb — in my many attempts to snooze a notification, I often swipe too far and send it away permanently.

Google teased a bunch of new updates coming to notification control, including the ability for developers to customize background colors for high-priority alerts that may require the user’s attention. What this will look like in practice is still up in the air — I’m envisioning a pink pop-up notification from the Lyft app when your driver arrives. Android O notifications can also be grouped into categories, but there aren’t any compatible apps to test this with just yet.

The most visible changes appear in Android’s Settings app, which is now completely white — including the top search bar. Menu options have been condensed into tappable categories instead of being all laid out for you to scroll through and find.

Data usage, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, for example, are now all under the “Network & Internet” tab instead of taking up the first 50 percent of the screen when you open up Settings. It looks more refined, but it does require some digging for a specific function that could vaguely fall under two different categories. Do I go to App Notifications or Display for YouTube’s Picture-in-Picture setting? (The answer is App Notifications, but you can also find it under Special Access, which saves you a tap or two.) "Settings looks more refined but does require some digging"

There are also little UI changes in addition to the all-white background. The battery page now has a big icon instead of a line graph of your power-consumption timeline, and it includes relevant management settings like Adaptive Brightness and Sleep on that same screen. On ambient displays, Android O no longer writes out the date under the time — and only displays icons of apps with notifications. You can double tap them to see more.

Some of the more interesting changes appear in the System UI Tuner, which is activated by holding the gear button on the quick settings panel at the top of the screen. In addition to fiddling with the status bar, you can now customize the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, do not disturb mode, and the lock screen.

The navigation bar menu lets you choose to realign buttons on the bottom farther to the side. You can also add a button that sits to the left of the Return icon. Theoretically, you’ll be able to assign function to that button by picking a keycode, but right now there isn’t much you can do with it. "Personalize shortcuts on your lock screen"

The more useful tool here is the ability to add shortcuts on your lock screen. Now, you can swap out the default Google Assistant and Camera shortcuts on the lock screen for any app. I’ve opted for Google Maps and SMS, but you can even select app functions as specific as “Open Trending on YouTube” or “Compose on Gmail.” It’s not the weather app widget that Adi Robertson was asking for, but maybe the ability to customize the lock screen is one step closer to that.

Diving further into Settings, I also noticed that on the Pixel XL, there is an option for Device Theme under the Display menu. (This does not appear for the Nexus 6P, the other device I checked Android O on.) This suggests that perhaps Google is thinking of adding a native theme-changing tool on its flagship device, but so far we’re only seeing two options that essentially just invert the colors into dark or light themes. Google has been doing more with theming lately, including creating a little tool for Android users to find launchers and icon packs to customize their phones.

Alongside themes, there is the option to toggle Picture-in-Picture on and off. This is a little different than Multi-Window support, because you can set your own aspect ratio and overlay it on top of another app instead of just splitting the screen in two. The YouTube app appears to support this immediately, but again, there aren’t apps to try this on top of just yet.

Other features include support for LDAC support for Hi-Fi Bluetooth audio and wide-gamut color for all those beautiful Pixel camera photos. While the customization tools for notifications and Systems UI Tuner are fun, a bunch of this seems like setup for more to be announced at Google I/O later this spring. Again, I wouldn’t recommend running off to install it first thing (assuming you don’t conveniently have a spare Nexus or Pixel lying around), but there is a lot to be excited about when developers get the opportunity to catch up to what Google’s prepping for them.

For now, here are some screenshots to get you ready for what’s to come.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Google Maps has introduced a new feature that lets users peer around the inside of an active volcano using its popular Street View mode.Users can now explore the inside of a volcano, complete with bubbling lava.Following an update last week, Google Maps now lets users explore one of the world's largest boiling lava lakes – which spans the size of two football fields – the Marum crater on the Vanuatuan island of Ambrym.To enable this stunning feature, Google enlisted the help of Geoff Mackley and Chris Horsly.The explorers repelled some 400 metres into the mouth of the volcano wearing a 360-degree Trekker camera.The Trekker is a backpack-mounted spherical camera that sports 15 lenses to create a 360-degree panorama.It's controlled using a standard Android smartphone and weighs 18kg – something that could become a bit of an issue when you're abseiling into the mouth of a volcano.Speaking about photographing the seething lava lake, Geoff Mackley said: "It's like looking into the surface of the sun."Meanwhile, Chris Horsly said he hoped that "by putting this place on the map, people will realise what a beautiful world we live in." Has this woman really just given birth on a Berlin pavement or is it a training exercise for UK midwives?Vanuatu is an archipelago of 80 small islands that lies a thousand miles off the coast of Australia.One of the islands – Ambrym – includes two active volcanic cones: Marum and Benbow.The island nation is widely-considered to be one of the country’s most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.The news comes as Google Maps branded the picturesque Dunorlan Park, in Tunbridge Wells as "dogging central".This was not the first time Google Maps has revealed a very surprising fact about the UK.For those who don't know, the Oxford English Dictionary describes dogging as "the practice of watching or engaging in exhibitionist sexual activity in a public place, typically a car park."And now a local prankster appears to have rebranded one of Tunbridge Wells' most popular parks with the kinky sexual practice.Transport supervisor at S&S Distribution in Tonbridge, Sean Matthews told Kent Live: "We were using Google Maps to route some of our vehicles and it was just in passing that we spotted it."We all had a giggle and looked at it in disbelief. It's something to laugh about."

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Google Pixel 2 is massive

Google  likes big smartphones. Until the Nexus 6P, every Google smartphone was bigger than its predecessor but now that trend looks back on course as a potentially massive new Pixel 2 has been uncovered…

Building on news earlier this week that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are being developed under the codenames "muskie" and "walleye," Droid Life has confirmed “via multiple sources” that a third Pixel is also in development called “taimen”. And this tells us a lot.

In short: Google is famed for its (bizarre) obsession with fish-based smartphone codenames and the dimensions of each fish is always a factor:

   2012 - 4.7-inch Nexus 4 (Mako)    2013 - 5-inch Nexus 5 (Hammerhead)    2014 - 6-inch Nexus 6 (Shamu)    2015 - 5.2-inch Nexus 5X (Bullhead), 5.7-inch Nexus 6P (Anger)    2016 - 5.1-inch Pixel (Sailfish), 5.5-inch Pixel XL (Marlin)

So, for those not familiar with Google’s latest fish, muskies (circa 17kg / 38lbs) are significantly larger than walleyes (11kg / 24lbs) but taimen are truly massive and can weigh over 100kg / 220 lbs. This strongly hints that Google is going very big with its third Pixel smartphone. And with Samsung increasing its 2016 Galaxy S smartphones from 5.1-inches and 5.5-inches to 5.8-inches and 6.2-inches in 2017, the stage is set for Google to create a ‘Pixel XXL’ monster. Galaxy S8 render according to latest leaks shows how Samsung is fitting in much larger displays by dramatically reducing bezel size.

Galaxy S8 render according to latest leaks shows how Samsung is fitting in much larger displays by dramatically reducing bezel size.

Then again there is also the possibly (given the dramatic size difference of a taimen) that Google is looking to re-enter the tablet space, something it has ignored since 2014’s poorly received 8.9-inch Nexus 9. Or perhaps follow-up the 2015 10.2-inch Pixel C hybrid.  

Either way, codename history suggests Google has big plans for the premium Pixel brand it has been carefully crafting since the first Pixel Chromebook in 2013. And in this case, ‘big’ really does suggest massive…

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

New iPhone 7 red. Beautiful.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Instagram could transform into a Yelp competitor

If you’ve been admiring hair transformations from salon Instagram accounts, you might soon be able to book an appointment with a stylist straight from the app, according to Bloomberg. The Facebook-owned app tells Bloomberg that it’s adding an appointment-booking feature in the “next couple of months.”

The ability to make appointments via Instagram will take on services like Yelp and OpenTable, which offer crowdsourced reviews and photos from the business before letting users book a visit. Businesses use Instagram to advertise in a much more visual way, which is helpful for beauty and food industries as those are arguably some of the more popular categories of photos on the platform.

Currently, businesses can add buttons to their profile that let Instagrammers call them on the phone, send them a message, or get directions. Instagram advertisers can add additional call to actions such as links to an item on sale, an app install button, or a simple “learn more” button.

The Bloomberg report also adds that other business-focused features, like reviews and more call-to-action tools, may be arriving in the future as well. Instagram’s head of business James Quarles said 80 percent of Instagram users follow a business, so it’s no surprise that the company is looking into ways to monetize from the consumer angle.

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Xbox One ‘Tech Series’ Wireless Controller For Tactical Gamers

Once a relatively niche market, the gaming peripheral sector is now a big business that has attracted a bevy of hardware makers looking to cash in on the craze. It is not just third-party hardware partners that recognize the opportunity, either. Microsoft offers its own accessories, including customized controllers. It is perhaps best known for its Xbox Elite controller, a premium $150 game pad with interchangeable parts. Now the company is introducing a more affordable wireless controller, the Recon Tech Special Edition.

The Recon Tech Special Edition is the first product in Microsoft's new Tech Series of wireless controllers. It doesn't feature interchangeable paddles and buttons like the high-dollar Xbox Elite, but it's also about the half the price with an MSRP set at a more pedestrian $70. As far as MSRPs go, that is just $10 more expensive than a regular Xbox wireless controller, the same that comes bundled with Xbox One consoles.

Mostly what makes the Recon Tech Special Edition different are the graphics.

"In developing this new controller series, the Xbox team was inspired by military technology and performance patterns, exploring concepts stemming from combat armor and sci-fi mechanical gear. Premium finishes like a laser etched texture, gold accents and insignia are on the front of the controller," Microsoft explains.

The new controller also sports a rubberized grip with a diamond texture on the back. Otherwise, it's the same as Microsoft's latest Xbox One controller, which was recently revised with improved wireless range and Bluetooth connectivity for gaming on Windows 10 devices (or Samsung's Gear VR). Read more at http://hothardware.com/news/microsoft-xbox-one-tech-series-wireless-controller#Ql8y8LZII4i6i6EI.99

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Hackers Claim Access to 300 Million iCloud Accounts, Say Apple Refused to Pay $75000 Ransom

The hackers have allegedly demanded $75,000 to be paid in cryptocurrencies Bitcoin or Ethereum, or $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards, by April 7, or they will reset a number of the iCloud accounts and remotely wipe victims' Apple devices. The email accounts are said to include @iCloud.com and @me.com addresses.

The report said that the hackers "provided screenshots of alleged emails between the group and members of Apple's security team," while the hackers also shared an unlinked YouTube video that seemingly shows proof of them accessing "an elderly woman's iCloud account" and "the ability to remotely wipe the device."

If the screenshotted email is accurate, which it very well might not be, a member of Apple's security team turned down the ransom, noting that Apple does "not reward cyber criminals for breaking the law."

   "We firstly kindly request you to remove the video that you have uploaded on your YouTube channel as it's seeking unwanted attention, second of all we would like you to know that we do not reward cyber criminals for breaking the law," a message allegedly from a member of Apple's security team reads. (Motherboard only saw a screenshot of this message, and not the original). The alleged Apple team member then says archived communications with the hacker will be sent to the authorities.

Apple did apparently request to see a sample of the dataset, according to the report, but it is unclear if the hackers obliged.

"I just want my money and thought this would be an interesting report that a lot of Apple customers would be interested in reading and hearing," one of the hackers said.

The report should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism, as these allegations could be untrue, and Apple has yet to confirm or comment on the matter.