Of course, the alternative-play industry didn’t start with Xbox or even Nintendo. The true granddaddy of second-screen gaming was the Visual Memory Unit for the Sega Dreamcast. Originally released in Japan in 1998, it was a Frankenstein monster mash-up of three things: a memory card, an auxiliary display and a tiny standalone console, complete with directional pad, action buttons and the ability to connect to other VMUs. The device augmented Dreamcast games, displaying useful stats and enabling mini-games in certain titles. For example, Sonic Adventure had Chao Adventure, a Tamagotchi-style experience played entirely on the VMU, while Quake III Arena had a maze game.
Sega dropped out of the console industry in 2001, discontinuing the Dreamcast and VMU. But for most people who got their hands on one, the VMU remains a bright, warm memory of gaming goodness. The most disappointing thing about it was that more games didn’t take advantage of its weird feature set.
This seems to be the sticking point with second-screen gaming: developers. Console manufacturers can release hardware with as many screens as they want, and there can be nearly 4.8 billion smartphones and tablets in the wild, but it’s up to studios to create software that pushes these devices to their full potential. There have been attempts at leveraging mobile devices in modern games, such as the Destiny 2 Companion App, Fallout Pip Boy tool, and Grand Theft Auto iFruit experience. These apps generally serve as hubs for tracking progress or expanding the game world, though they tend to be built for phones rather than tablets, and they appear as an afterthought of multimillion-dollar marketing budgets.
The divide between mobile and console gaming is shrinking as tablets and smartphones become powerful enough to support rich experiences, and developers attempt to tap into a market that’s billions of devices deep. In this environment, it feels like a good time to give second-screen game development another go. Nintendo alone demonstrated the allure of dual-screen gaming with the Wii U, though it unraveled that progress with the Switch, which technically uses two displays but doesn’t offer second-screen play. And now Nintendo is all about the Switch Lite, a cheaper console that doesn’t connect to a TV at all. After the failure of the Wii U, the studio has apparently ditched the idea of a built-in second screen altogether.
Luckily for Nintendo — and literally every other video game company — players nowadays come with their own screens.
When the case’s cover is closed, software can’t access audio data, whether from a standard app or one with root privileges. This means that even if the iPad’s firmware is affected by malware, a bad actor won’t be able to listen in. For the feature to work, the user has to have a case that’s MFI or “Made for iPad” compliant. Any current iPad cases designed by Apple will suffice, including the Smart Folio, Smart Keyboard Folio and the Magic Keyboard, which should be available in May. Certified third-party cases should work, too.
While iPads don’t have as many security issues as Android tablets, they’re still vulnerable to compromises. This new measure from Apple is a welcome one, but it would be nice to be able to access the option from the iPad’s interface so that it could work for users who prefer not to use a case.
Besides the skin, you’ll find a variety of limited-time in-game items to buy, including a fun microwave emote. This being Deadpool we’re talking about, expect to see the mercenary break the fourth wall when you visit the item shop menu and elsewhere. You’ll also want to make sure you make your way to the northeastern part of the map to see what he’s done with the yacht.
The anti-hero is the latest in a line of comic book characters to make an appearance in Fortnite. Superheroes and villains like Batman and Thanos have also made their way to the popular battle royale. If a movie like Kingsman appeals more to your taste, don’t forget to check out the bullet-stopping umbrella added this week as well.
Newegg continues to offer a 6-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $40 when you use the code EMCDHDE22 at checkout. Game Pass Ultimate combines Xbox Live Gold, which allows for online multiplayer gaming, with Game Pass, which gives you access to more than 100 console and PC games.
Roku discounted its TV Wireless speaker duo to $150, which knocks $50 off of its normal price. These speakers are designed to work exclusively with Roku smart TVs, allowing you to upgrade your entertainment sound system for less than the cost of a typical soundbar. They can also be used as Bluetooth speakers, so you can play audio from your smartphone and other devices through them.
Best Buy discounted the gray and crystal blue models of the Beats Studio 3 Wireless headphones to $200. These headphones provide a more balanced sound than other Beats devices we’ve tested, and Apple’s W1 chip makes them easy to pair with Apple devices. iPhones, iPads and Macs quickly recognize these headphones when they’re turned on, and you can seamlessly switch between listening on your phone or tablet to your laptop.
Best Buy has a one-day-only deal on the Surface Pro 7: the 2-in-1 machine with a Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage plus its Type Cover costs $650. This is the base model Surface Pro 7 and it normally costs $750 — and that price doesn’t include the Type Cover. We wish the base model had more RAM, but this is still a good deal for those who want the Surface Pro 7 and know they must also have the Type Cover. If the keyboard isn’t a necessity, Microsoft currently has a sale that drops the price of the Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage model to $699.
In need of new games? Target has a buy-two-get-one-free sale going on right now for select Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch games. Notable games included in the sale are Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Borderlands 3, The Outer Worlds, Just Dance 2020 and Overcooked! 2.
Blizzard’s spring sale started on the Nintendo eShop and it drops Diablo III: Eternal Collection to $30, which is the lowest price we’ve seen. This is a great opportunity to pick up this game for the first time. There are also a number of other Nintendo Switch games on sale, including Terraria and Bloodstained, as part of the shop’s 505 Spring Sale.
Now you can get Vizio’s 65-inch P-Series Quantum smart TV for $998 at Walmart and Vizio’s website. This 4K, QLED TV was already a great value, but this sub-$1,000 price tag is roughly $200 better than the price we’re used to seeing. Additional features include Dolby HDR support, built-in Chromecast, Apple AirPlay and HomeKit support and hands-free voice control.
Musicians can grab two (yes, two) Rane Twelve turntable controllers for $1,175 at B&H Photo. Rane is offering this deal that lets you buy one controller and get the second one at 50 percent off. This is a great time to snag two of these 12-inch vinyl turntables that each include Strip Search, four decks of control and an adjustable high-torque motor.
When the Xoom went on sale in February 2011, certain models shipped with an EV-DO Rev. A radio for wireless data plans offered by carriers like Verizon. Motorola made it clear, though, that if you bought one of those cellular models, you’d eventually be able to send it in and have that slower component swapped out for a brand-new LTE radio. No one feeling out the tablet space had tried anything nearly as gutsy, though the upgrade process wasn’t quite as smooth as Motorola had promised. If the Xoom was known for one thing, it was the fact that it was the first tablet to use Android 3.0 Honeycomb — the first and only tablet-exclusive Android update.
As we saw with the Galaxy Tab, tablets running Android 2.0 and up basically just acted like jumbo smartphones. Honeycomb was a sign of Google’s recognition that tablets demanded their own tools, features and interfaces. Because of that, Xoom owners got the first taste of Android’s Tron-like redesign, its support for dual-core processors, its easy multitasking — the list goes on. It was hardly a perfect update, but Honeycomb gave the Android tablet experience a sense of cohesion that it never really had before. Unfortunately, none of this turned the Xoom into an iPad-style success: Motorola sold a few hundred thousand units in the months after launch, and at the end of 2011, it was replaced by another, incredibly poorly named Motorola tablet called the Xyboard. That follow-up failed to catch on, too, and Motorola bowed out of the tablet race soon after.
Fun fact: The man who spearheaded that Android redesign, Matias Duarte, laid much of the visual groundwork for Palm’s webOS. That means he’s also tangentially connected to another disappointing tablet: HP’s TouchPad.
Shafted by software
Engadget
People mainly remember the TouchPad for two things: It was the first tablet powered by webOS, and that its all-too-brief life ended in an insane fire sale. When it launched on July 1, 2011, the base model TouchPad with 16GB of storage cost $500 — a reasonable price for a tablet with a 10.1-inch screen. Less than two months later, HP (which acquired Palm in 2009 in large part because of webOS), discontinued all of its webOS hardware in one swift strike. Before long, you could walk into a big-box store and waltz out with a brand new, big-name tablet for $100.
In that moment, HP robbed TouchPad of any future it might have had, but I have to wonder how much of a future it had anyway. (Nearly a decade later, that’s still hard for this old Palm nut to admit.) The hardware was decent enough for the time, with a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 1GB and surprisingly solid screen, but none of that was enough to fix the platform’s most dire issues. Chief among those problems: webOS was a delight to use, but its foundation made it nearly impossible to develop ambitious, high-quality software. Remember, it was called webOS at least in part because its apps were built using HTML, CSS and Javascript. That was great if a developer wanted to cobble together a Twitter client, but nearly worthless for creating the kinds of experience that could coax people into embracing a new platform.
Engadget
After all that, HP continued to make Android-powered tablets — including one that used an Intel Atom processor, another evolutionary dead-end for mobile devices — to little fanfare. And webOS? The TouchPad’s greatest asset and the albatross around its neck? Well, if you have an LG smart TV, you’re probably using it right now.
HP wasn’t the only tablet maker to ultimately get screwed by its software. For some reason, BlackBerry — a company that struggled to make compelling all-touch smartphones — decided to build a slate of its own. When the PlayBook launched in April 2011, the hardware didn’t give us much to complain about — it packed a TI OMAP4430 chipset with 1GB of RAM, a 5,300mAh battery and a pair of capable cameras into a sleek, understated body. Sure, the bezels around its 7-inch screen were wide enough to make it look more like a digital photo frame than a productivity machine, but that’s mostly just how things were back then.
Engadget
No, the real knock against the PlayBook was that BlackBerry’s tablet OS was based on QNX. It looked lovely (and very webOS-y) thanks to some design help from The Astonishing Tribe, but it also meant the company had to try and build a viable app ecosystem from scratch. Spoiler alert: It didn’t work. There was something like 3,000 apps available at launch, a decent number of which were half-baked Flash app conversions, and the company couldn’t give enough people a reason to develop apps for the PlayBook. It didn’t help that the PlayBook lacked some obvious apps from the get-go. The tablet didn’t even ship with email or contacts apps, for instance, a frankly ridiculous omission for a company that pegged itself as a friend to business customers.
BlackBerry Tablet OS 2 launched six months later and brought with it the ability to run Android apps, but by then, it was too late. The PlayBook’s chances of outselling the iPad, or literally any other tablet for that matter, were nil.
Google and Microsoft enter the fray
While HP and BlackBerry were floundering, Google was quietly working with partners to create tablets of its own. In many ways, these Nexus tablets were the clearest spiritual l counterparts to the iPad: Because they ran clean software and benefited from Google’s input on hardware, they were effectively the standard-bearers for the Android tablet experience.
Over the years, different companies produced the hardware — it was ASUS in the beginning, later followed by Samsung and HTC. And, with a handful of exceptions, they were mostly solid machines. The Nexus 7s in particular were two of the best Android tablets you could buy in 2012 and 2013, and their roughly $200 price tags made them accessible to almost everyone. They remain perhaps the most beloved of all Nexus tablets, mostly because the models that came after weren’t particularly great deals.
Musicians who rely on concert ticket sales are hurting — shows across the world have been cancelled, leaving bands with little recourse. Thankfully, platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud have been softening the blow. The latter is allowing musicians to add a button to their profile pages that links to services like PayPal, Bandcamp and Patreon, so that fans can support them directly. SoundCloud recommends that musicians use their bios to be informative and let fans know what exactly they’re supporting, from groceries, to rent to music production costs. The feature will be available indefinitely so that those affected by the coronavirus pandemic have an easier time staying afloat.
SoundCloud
The button displays prominently in blue above the user’s bio, so fans are unlikely to miss it. Above the button, some text makes it clear that this initiative is meant to support those facing hardships during the coronavirus pandemic: “The COVID-19 virus has impacted the creative community around the world. Show support for your favorite creators.” This strategy could be effective because fans don’t have to buy music to support their favorite bands. In other words, even if they already own their favorite bands’ music, they can still send their support. Hopefully musicians can leverage this feature to make it through these trying times.
But despite the push, verification remains an opaque process. Twitter’s support page lists its verification program as “on hold,” which has been the case since 2017. And more recent guidance for health officials is somewhat vague.
The company said health experts who wish to become verified should ensure they have an official email address linked to their Twitter account and a detailed bio that links to the institution they represent (which, in turn, should have a link back to their Twitter account).
To #COVID19 experts: we are prioritizing Verification for Twitter accounts that have an email address associated with an authoritative organization or institution. Here’s how to update the email address associated with your account:https://t.co/H4LkQYeGB8
But once those steps have been completed, it’s not necessarily clear what comes next, or how health experts are meant to flag their accounts for verification. A company spokesperson said Twitter is relying in part on input from “global public health authorities” that work with its policy team who can help vouch for people that would benefit from verification, but there doesn’t appear to be a formalized way for individuals to make a request.
And though Twitter’s product lead Kayvon Beykpour previously said the company would “likely” be opening a public-facing form that would allow doctors and scientists to request verification without a middleman, such a form has yet to materialize. Twitter declined to comment on when, or if, a form would launch.
Even some health experts who have recently been verified aren’t sure how the process works. A researcher at a well-known medical school told Engadget she was verified several days after updating her account information, but she’s uncertain how her account came to Twitter’s attention. And her attempts to help an emergency room doctor do the same have so far been unsuccessful.
“I wish I knew,” she says. “I thought everyone got a checkmark if you put in your credentials.”
It only takes a quick scan of the replies to Twitter’s official tweets about its new verification efforts to find dozens of similarly confused doctors and scientists — some of whom have since been verified.
That alone will help for now (many accounts that people have tweeted us have had non-descriptive bios/links/etc). We’ll likely share a link to an intake form soon for experts to fill out to request verification too– just working on way to better separate likely noise from signal
Verification has long been problematic for Twitter. The company officially “paused” public requests for verification in 2017 after it verified a white nationalist. CEO Jack Dorsey has said he would like to open verification to all users, but that option hasn’t materialized, and the company has continued to quietly verify thousands of new accounts in the years since. In the absence of a way to request the blue tick, this under-the-radar verification process has only been available to people who have access to Twitter employees who are able to vet requests.
For many healthcare professionals, Twitter has become an increasingly important tool as more people flock to the service to better understand the pandemic. “I don’t use this platform to self-promote, I use it mainly for raising awareness to critical issues,” says the researcher, who uses her account to communicate with doctors in other countries. Doctors around the country have also used Twitter to raise awareness about the lack of protective equipment and other critical supplies. Verification can help amplify those kinds of messages.
Moreover, studies suggest members of the public are more likely to trust doctors and researchers, compared with elected officials. More than two-thirds of Americans have a positive view of researchers and doctors, according to a recent survey by Pew Research.
And the fact that Twitter has been able to verify more than 1,000 healthcare experts in two weeks is an encouraging sign that the company is willing to get more of those voices in front of more users — even if its process for doing so is complicated.
Hospitals and health centers will be able to apply for up to $1 million in funding, and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Priority will be given to areas with high rates of COVID-19, as well as traditionally underfunded healthcare providers like clinics in poor neighborhoods, TechCrunch notes.
“With the adoption of the $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the FCC can now take immediate steps to provide funding so that more patients can be treated at home, freeing up valuable hospital beds for those who most need them and reducing the risk of exposure to the virus,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.
The FCC approved the funding less than a week after it was announced. But the price for that speed may be a lack of guidance. “This is a well-intended effort, but it lacks clear performance metrics,” wrote Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who mostly spoke in favor of the program. “Moreover, it does not focus on a specific problem in healthcare,” she added.
The FCC also adopted rules for the Connected Care Pilot Program, a separate, three-year initiative that will provide up to $100 million to help offset the cost of providing virtual care. One goal of the pilot is to determine how the FCC’s Universal Service Fund might be used to support long-term telehealth. In particular, that program will emphasize providing care to veterans and low-income Americans.
In light of the coronavirus, Medicare has expanded telehealth coverage nationwide. While Medicare previously covered telehealth in some rural areas, patients still had to go to specially-designated sites for their visits. Now, millions of older adults will be able to seek medical advice from the safety of their homes, and with this FCC funding, more healthcare providers will be equipped to provide it.
If you’re not familiar with Rogue Legacy, it was part of the first wave of modern indie roguelikes back in the early 2010s that included titles like Spelunky and FTL: Faster Than Light. They’re games that combine permadeath — once your character dies, that’s it — with procedurally generated levels. What was novel then has since become commonplace in the indie scene, with more recent games like Dead Cells, Darkest Dungeon and Moonlighter all leaning on the formula.
However, Rogue Legacy still feels fresh today thanks to smart design decisions. Each time your character dies in Rogue Legacy, you pick from one of three heirs — each with their own particular traits — to continue your quest. You also spend gold you find throughout the game to make subsequent runs easier, which gives Rogue Legacy a thoughtfully-crafted difficulty curve.
Cellar Door Games said it plans to share more details about Rogue Legacy 2 in the coming days, so we probably won’t have to wait long to find out when we’ll be able to play the game.
But what did people think of it back then, when the iPad first came out? Well, j said it felt like “a natural extension” of their iPhone 3G, with the bigger screen “especially useful for browsing the web and composing email.” Waclark57 was a little underwhelmed at first because it felt like a bigger iPod/iPhone, but then “developers and users began to see the potential and then the apps started coming.” And zebmorgan said “there have been times when it was extremely helpful in classes for recording and storing notes, as well as its ability to serve as an e-reader.” Kynatro agreed, calling it a “great media consumption device.”
BARBARA SAX via Getty Images
It wasn’t without its faults, however. Zebmorgan was a bit annoyed by the screen glare and Etoch struggled with the weight, saying that “I tend to read it in bed at night and it’s more cumbersome than a paperback, obviously.” Subsequent models did get lighter and thinner, though not to everyone’s pleasure, with element94 admitting “I actually prefer the physical design of iPad 1 over the later models.”
But in the end, it was the apps that stood out the most for people, more than the build or display quality. cdpinker summed it all up by saying, “If you want the best tablet experience you buy an iPad, it really is as simple as that. Other tablets can compete on specific features etc, but none come close to providing the rich, simple and mature user experience that Apple have created, along with providing the best content (apps etc).” After 10 years and multiple generations of iPad, that statement still holds up.
