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Facebook is using AR to bring a massive mural to life

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Down the road, the company plans to expand its “AR/T” program to other places in the US and abroad, as it looks to work with more local artists and developers on ways to put a technology twist on their art. “We feel really strongly about the value of the analog, like the materials,” Jessica Shaefer, head of public programming and partnerships at Facebook’s Art Department, told Engadget. She said these type of projects are about finding ways to integrate “the spirit and value of the handmade” through the Facebook Camera and AR, a technology the company sees as a big part of its future.

Beyond that, Shaefer said, Facebook wants to keep finding ways to connect local artists with their communities, particularly those who are part of programs like its Artists in Residence program. “This is a manifestation of what Facebook does, bringing people together in real life,” she said. “Facebook got us here, and the ultimate goal is convening.”

Facebook desperately needs positive PR to improve its damaged reputation. Gifting the Austin community a mural won’t make people forget about its data privacy problems, but it’s a start.

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buying into the Yankees Network

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As Disney completes its acquisition of Fox there’s more than just the Marvel universe at stake. One condition of the purchase is that it will sell off Fox’s portfolio of regional sports networks, and as rumors late last year suggested, one interested party is Amazon.

Reports from the New York Times and other outlets claim that while the Yankees are completing a deal to become the majority owner of the Yankees Entertainment Sports Network (YES), Amazon and Sinclair Broadcasting are among the groups chipping in to pay part of Fox’s $3.4 billion asking price for the 80 percent the Yankees didn’t already own.

YES Network broadcasts games for the Yankees, Nets and the NYCFC MLS team. According to the reports, Amazon’s stake in the business is enough for it to have the right to stream games in their local territories. That may not shift the live sports balance of power nationwide, but as Bloomberg points out a note from one analyst saying this could be a step toward unbundling regional sports networks from cable TV packages.

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UK lords call for central ‘Digital Authority’ to help regulate internet

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The report further asked for 10 guiding “principles” to dictate rules, including accountability, privacy, transparency, human rights and protections for children. The lords also wanted to enforce a general “duty of care” among internet companies, requiring them to take “reasonable” steps o prevent harm. They’d also aim for clearer community content standards through a classification system similar to the one governing British movies.

The committee pushed for more specific regulations beyond this. Companies should enable the strictest privacy and safety settings by default, leaving it to users to loosen the controls. If a firm handles data, it would be required to publish yearly transparency reports showing how they develop, buy, use and store behavioral info. The ICO would conduct audits to explore the risks of algorithms, while the government should consider a “public-interest test” for mergers where data plays a role.

There’s no guarantee this will lead to a Digital Authority, but the House of Lords contended that there might not be much choice. The current rule system is “out of date,” according to Lord Gilbert of Panteg, and self-policing is “clearly failing.” Instead of reacting to the news, Lord Gilbert argued the UK should be “looking ahead” and setting policies that can apply to services in the future.

We wouldn’t count on internet giants taking this gracefully. While they haven’t been completely opposed to regulation, they’ve generally tried to avoid it where possible. A Digital Authority and the proposed changes could leave them with no choice but to alter their practices in the UK, sometimes in drastic ways. There are also potential issue-specific problems, such as the possibility a “duty of care” requirement could limit internet giants’ safe harbor protections and hold them responsible. The House of Lords is aware of that concern and doesn’t want to eliminate the protections for fear or stifling free speech, but finding a balance between freedom and responsibility might be difficult, if not outright problematic.

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The battle to make the end of ‘Game of Thrones’

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‘Game of Thrones’ first look: Inside the brutal battle to make season 8
James Hibberd,
Entertainment Weekly

HBO’s insanely popular epic concludes in April, but the battle to film the battles, and to keep them from being leaked ahead of time, was a constant struggle for the crew. Entertainment Weekly goes behind the scenes of the final season and offers a spoiler-free primer ahead of its debut in a few weeks.

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The best free-to-play games

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Alto’s Odyssey

Best Mobile Games

If you liked Alto’s Adventure, you’ll love Alto’s Odyssey. The sequel to Snowman’s endless runner — sorry, endless snowboarder — is a stylish and highly-addictive sandboarding game with multiple biomes to discover. Just like the original, your goal is to ride for as long as possible while avoiding rocks, completing tasks and racking up high scores with a mixture of backflips and death-defying grinds. Odyssey introduces a new move, wall rides, that serve as both a gnarly trick and traversal mechanic for reaching higher lines. It’s a welcome addition to an already stellar iOS and Android game. NS

Doki Doki Literature Club

doki

Doki Doki Literature Club looks like any other dating sim. It plays like any other dating sim. Until it doesn’t, and then you’re rocking yourself to sleep and trying to get images of damaged schoolgirls out of your head. There’s a creeping sense that something is terribly wrong and even though we’ve already spoiled one of the major twists — that this supposedly innocent story of a bunch of book-loving teens is, in fact, a horror title — you’ll still find yourself dreading every new development and wondering what the game will do to them (and you) next. KN

Dota 2

dota 2
Dota 2 has one of the steepest learning curves of any game. Only after sinking hundreds upon hundreds of hours into the five-on-five MOBA can you even begin to understand the deep game mechanics, 100+ unique characters and team strategies. But the fact Dota 2 is so challenging makes those big plays and hard-fought victories all the more satisfying. The sky-high skill ceiling means there’s always something to learn, and if you eventually make it into the pro ranks, one tournament win can turn you into an overnight millionaire. JR

Eve Online

EVE

Eve Online proves there’s a game for everyone, even fans of dynamic spreadsheeting. OK, that take might be a little stale, but it’s a testament to Eve Online‘s incredible staying power — this interstellar MMO has been around since 2003 and still supports a robust, active audience. Eve Online is much more than an economic and inventory-management simulator, with layers of player-on-player subterfuge, collaboration and scheming. There’s a robust economy here, too, and epic space battles where players can lose billions in a single click. High stakes, high reward. JC

Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter takes the popular action RPG series and transforms it into… a game that doesn’t have very much role-playing. And a very different kind of “action.” This mobile sim places you in charge of a vault — you know, one of those places you usually have to leave before your regular game of Fallout gets exciting and dangerous. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to live in one of those vaults, turns out it’s lots of resource management, real estate and uh, eugenics, as you get to pair off your workers and hope their induced union will produce an even better worker to run your plants, do research and fight off the occasional giant rat. KN

Fortnite Battle Royale

Fortnite is a cultural phenomenon. It’s responsible for popularizing a new shooting-game genre and doing it in a way that has millions playing across mobile, PC and games consoles, like the Switch — you’ll see this particular game appear in several of our lists. It all started with a simple idea: survive. (Actually it started with a tower-defense-esque game where you built a fort to protect human survivors against zombies, but hey, it evolved.) Fortnite has a low barrier to entry (it’s free!), and the sheer momentum behind the fact that everyone is playing it makes resistance futile. Parachute into the field, grab supplies, guns and ammo, build some defensive protections if you like and make it to the end. Sounds simple, but the best game ideas are. PUBG, Apex and the rest have a tough fight on their hands. MS

Hearthstone

Hearthstone

Understanding the basics of Blizzard’s collectible card game Hearthstone takes just a few minutes, but don’t let the pick up and play simplicity fool you. The strategic depth of the Warcraft-themed title is one of the reasons it still has a thriving casual community and potent competitive scene five years after launch. Blizzard continues to update the game with new cards, balance tweaks and single-player campaigns that are enjoyable alternatives to the standard one-on-one showdowns. Though players can spend money to grow their card collection, the game is generous when it comes to free booster packs, and there isn’t a single card that can’t be unlocked, one way or another, for free. JR

League of Legends

Best PC games

League of Legends represents one of the most exciting landscapes in gaming today. On top of supporting a monthly player base of roughly 100 million people, League is the most popular esports scene in the world. When you’re not watching pro matches, LoL itself is perfect for all-night gaming sessions, playing with a team of friends or solo. There are a few different roles to best match your preferred play style, and Riot Games consistently rolls out updates, new champions and visual upgrades. Plus, the studio has built a character roster 143 deep (and counting). JC

Pokémon Go

Best Mobile Games

When Pokémon Go launched in 2016, there were some obvious omissions, such as trading and player-versus-player trainer battles. In early 2019? Almost every problem and missing feature has been addressed. The game isn’t perfect, but the fundamentals — walking around outside, spinning Pokéstop signs and catching critters — make this a truly unique and health-beneficial experience for Pokemon fans. The daily “research” quests and timed events, which boost the appearance of certain monsters, are a great excuse to log in every day. Niantic is slowly expanding the Pokédex, too, so that your collection is never quite finished. NS

Spaceplan Prototype

Space Plan

Do you like space? Do you like potatoes? Do you like extremely strange games? If you answered yes to all three of those, boy do we have the game for you. Spaceplan Prototype is an intensely strange idle game with a twist. Like most idle games — or clickers, as you might know them by — gameplay comes down to clicking buttons to unlock things to click more buttons to unlock more buttons to — you get the point, it’s not exactly Tri-D Chess. Where it’s unique is in its story and lore, which is about humanity, life, love, death and… potatoes. Lots of potatoes.

Honestly, we’d tell you more, but it’s free, and we don’t want to spoil it for you. If you do enjoy it, though, we’ll point you in the direction of the $3 full game, which is available for PC, Android and iOS. AS

Contributors: Jessica Conditt (JC), Kris Naudus (KN), Jamie Rigg (JR), Mat Smith (MS), Aaron Souppouris (AS), Nick Summers (NS).

The best games
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Here’s what our readers think of the Google Pixel 3 and 3XL

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When it comes to the design of the phone, users were split between admiring its premium feel and having concerns about its durability. Lyubomir says the 3 is “light, very well balanced and the frosted back feels entirely different to what I imagined. It’s really soft and if I didn’t know better I wouldn’t guess that it was glass.” Brett agreed, stating he “really likes the size and weight of the Pixel 3. Google nailed it here.” User mk2 felt the 3 XL’s build quality was “much improved over the 2XL, this thing is premium, through and through.”

The screen also earned praises. Warren thought it “absolutely gorgeous,” while Lyubomir said it had a “much brighter screen” and the colors were “much more vibrant without being oversaturated.” mk2 said, “The first thing I noticed on the 3XL is the massive improvement that the screen represented in comparison to my 2XL.”

However, users also encountered some minor drawbacks. Lyubomir said the metal frame of the 3 “picks up fingerprints and grease a lot more than I expected.” Bryson concurred, noting the glass back “is extremely susceptible to deposition of material, making it appear that the back is scratched.” Nathan had a similar experience with his 3 XL, writing “the frosted glass can scratch easily which is too bad,” while El said “my old 6P felt much sturdier due to its aluminum body.”

A surprising trend amongst the XL reviews was that no one seemed bothered by the (admittedly large) notch. David said it “isn’t as big of an eye sore as you might expect. You don’t notice it 99 percent of the time.” El concurred, sharing “after about an hour of actual use, the notch pretty much disappeared for me. It never gets in the way of any app I’ve used.”

Users were more divided over the battery life. Some, like Stephen, found it phenomenal, while others like Matthew felt “the main negative” of the phone was its weak endurance. Dave said a single charge “will last me all day with moderate use,” and Tom added the 3 “will make it through the day on single charge (including three-plus hours of Waze with my daily commute while listening to Podcasts).” However, Jeffrey “noticed significant battery drain” leading him to assume “I’m not doing some things right.” Brett felt the runtime was “ho-hum and could be better,” while Tim said his “one complaint for the devices has been standby battery life.”

But most users were also appreciative of the wireless charging. Chris considered it “a plus if you have the home base or a vehicle that has that capacity.” El was pleased to “finally have wireless charging,” and felt it “makes up for the glass body.” Opticron said the wireless charging “brings charging options back up to par even if high power wireless charging requires a dock (yuck).”

On the software side, the camera updates were easily the standout component for users. Vincenzo, a 3 XL owner, exclaimed “WOW. This is where the phone excels.” Rob said the camera is “bang on awesome,” and Stephen, a self-described former professional photographer, doesn’t “even take one of my good cameras to events with me” because of the powerful camera. Likewise, Pixel 3 users were also impressed: Tom enjoyed its photo capabilities “more than my Samsung S7,” while Opticron said the new features were “pretty amazing for low light photography and enhanced zoom.” David found “from low light shots to portraits to shot selection, the myriad of photo features add up to a top tier experience.”

Other popular software features included the gesture controls, which El deemed “really easy to use.” David agreed, saying “the Gesture Controls get a lot of hate, but I find it quick and intuitive.” Another aspect of the handset that impressed users was the squeeze feature to activate Assistant, which Bill loved on the 3 XL and Matthew felt was “much quicker and easier to activate” on the 3.

A negative theme running through many of these user reviews was the prevalence of bugs and glitches before the December software update rolled out. Users found their camera software unusable across multiple apps; Alan said “I was traveling abroad to Switzerland, and every time I wanted to get a shot [I saw a] black camera screen.” Meanwhile Amy discovered “the camera wouldn’t work in any third-party apps — Instagram, Snapchat, my banking app, etc. All useless.”

Call quality was also an issue. Thomas noticed an “electrical clicking/buzzing noise in earpiece when on calls,” while Jeremiah heard an “occasional electric feedback sound during calls from the top speaker.” Rosie complained, “I can hear my caller fine, most of the time, but to them, I often sound robotic or I cut out completely. I constantly have to repeat myself. Other times it sounds like the line has gone dead.” Karamijt likewise had “a lot of issues with reception, with the phone cutting in and out making it difficult to have a conversation on the phone that’s longer than two minutes.” Beverly stated she’s “had lots of issues with the speakers.”

Fortunately, it appears the December bug fixes solved most, if not all, of these issues. mk2 said their speakers “rattled a little before the update” but with the latest update “sound great.” David likewise stated the speaker issues and memory management were fixed by the security patch. But there’s no doubt the problems influenced the scores users gave the smartphones: Ryan, who experienced a screen defect and camera issues felt the 3 XL was “hard to recommend.” And Beverly said she “really, really wants to love this phone!!! I just wish it wasn’t so buggy.”

Despite these snags, many users felt there was still plenty to love about the new Pixels, with 3 user David claiming “I came to the Pixel 3 from iOS, and I’m not sure I could ever go back.” bassdude7 stated he was so glad “someone is still making high-end phones that you can use with one hand,” and technologiq said they “enjoyed my Pixel 3 XL far more than the Samsung S8+ and S7 Edge that I had before it.”

Bill said what he likes most about his 3 XL is “is that it has all native apps,” and kurohouou gushed “I love the vanilla Android OS and I know I’ll always have the latest OS/Security updates.” Rob was also enthusiastic: “I was wanting a pure Android experience and the Pixel 3 XL delivers it. It’s fast, clean, and for the most part gives me what I’m looking for.” Truyen summed up their experience with the 3 XL by saying “the Android OS experience on this phone is hard to beat.”

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The Morning After: Breaking up Big Tech

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The details of Canada’s cyptocurrency scandal.QuadrigaCX’s missing millions is the messiest Bitcoin saga yet

QuadrigaCX was one of Canada’s largest Bitcoin exchanges, controlling assets believed to be worth around $200 million CAD. Unfortunately, Gerald Cotten, its co-founder and CEO, passed away in December 2018. Unfortunately for customers, he was the only one who could access company funds. And then the story gets weird.

She proposed undoing Facebook’s purchase of Instagram.Elizabeth Warren pledges to break up Facebook, Google and Amazon

Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren published a post on Medium in which she detailed why she wants to break up large Internet companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Google. In her post, she accuses these companies of using their vast resources to shape the playing field and buy up potential competition.

Get in line.Porsche’s Taycan EV has pulled in more than 20,000 deposits

According to Porsche’s CEO, it’s doubling production plans for the electric car after more than 20,000 people put down a couple of grand to show they’re interested in purchasing one.

15 things you couldn’t do 15 years ago when Engadget was born.Engadget at 15: A look at how much tech has changed

A lot has changed since Engadget was born in 2004. Fitness trackers, voice assistants and electric cars were the stuff of fiction. Now, most of these are commonplace, so much so that we put our trust in them on a daily basis. To celebrate Engadget’s 15th birthday, we pulled out 15 things that didn’t exist when this site first broke cover.

There’s a reason for that.Adults are the only ones who fell for the Momo hoax

The Momo Challenge, as it’s called, reportedly encourages children and teens to commit increasingly brazen acts of self-harm and criminality. It’s also a complete and utter, laughably obvious hoax. Andrew Tarantola spoke to Professor Chris Ferguson who explains, “It’s ridiculous if you think about if for 30 seconds, but, nonetheless, this is an appealing sort of narrative.”

But wait, there’s more…

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.



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‘The Division 2’ has a 50GB day one patch waiting for disc buyers

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The size of the download is basically the size of the installed game. While physical media is still more flexible for players than login-tethered digital copies, the discs won’t contribute much, if anything, to what players are actually relying on. Last fall at least one UK retailer put the new Call of Duty on sale early to let players get their install started, and Ubisoft has arranged for retailers to sell the game up to three days early so you’ll have time to prepare.

Oh, and even if you’re staking your hopes on a digital pre-order, things are still complicated. On PC and Xbox One pre-loads have already begun, while the scheduling for PS4 is…well here’s the FAQ so you can figure it out. No matter how you plan on diving into The Division 2, anyone who has pre-loaded will need to install another day-minus-one update that will be released on March 11th, the day before $100+ Gold Edition and Collector’s Edition buyers get early access. Title Update 1.5 updates the day one update to address issues Ubisoft uncovered during its open beta like audio that occasionally cuts out — it’s about 2GB.

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Porche’s Taycan EV has pulled in more than 20,000 deposits

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Porsche chief Oliver Blume said in an interview:

“This is a significantly higher figure than we expected: we usually only see ordering peaks after the first driving reports are available, when the vehicle is presented, and when customers have been able to sit in the car in real life.”

These aren’t just people signing up for a slot either: As CNET’s RoadShow noted, reservations require a €2,500/$2,500 deposit. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the Taycan’s $90,000 to $130,000 price range, though, so the company might see a few cancellations along the way. Especially since those reservations were made before Porsche unveils the vehicle’s final design this September. One thing seems to be for sure: the automaker will equip the Taycan with a 350 kW 800-volt system that can can charge it to 80 percent of its 185- to 250-mile range in 15 minutes.

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‘Anthem’ patch to fix crash, balance problems arrives Saturday

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Anthem has had a launch troubled by various glitches, but its developers announced a patch that will deal with crashes and balance issues — among many other things — is going out between 8 and 10 AM ET on Saturday morning. As it attempts to compete in the “loot shooter” category, Destiny 2 is updating with new tweaks for its second season and The Division 2 is close to release, increasing the pressure to get things running smoothly and hang onto whatever player base it has.

The list of fixes and tweaks is far too long to list fully, but check the Reddit post for all the details. The crash issues on PS4 should be among those addressed, as head of live service Chad Robertson noted a few days ago that it had identified causes for the “power-down crash” some had experienced, and after checking had not found evidence the game caused consoles to “brick.”

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