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Pixel 4 pre-orders at Amazon include a free $100 gift card

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If you wanted to pre-order one of Google’s Pixel 4 phones and haven’t already, you might be in for a treat. Amazon is offering a $100 gift card to anyone who buys the Pixel 4 (starting at $799) or Pixel 4 XL (starting at $899) ahead of launch. You’re not saving money on the Android flagship phone itself, but this could get you the case, wireless charger or other accessories you want for free — the hidden costs of a new phone might go away. Google also offers $100 when you pre-order from its store, but this might be better if you’d rather have a wider range of accessories or want to buy something else entirely.

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Google finally reveals the Pixel 4

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You can now pre-register on Google Play.‘League of Legends: Wild Rift’ will land on mobile and consoles in 2020

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of League of Legends, the massive multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) that’s only dwarfed by the likes of, well, Fortnite, Riot has announced a few things. League of Legends: Wild Rift is a five-on-five version of LoL coming to consoles and phones in 2020 — free to download. There will also be a port of Teamfight Tactics and some new tweaks to the original League of Legends, too, with a new support character joining the fight.

It starts at $649, $350 less than the original Pixelbook.The Pixelbook Go is Google’s most affordable Chromebook yet

Google’s Pixel laptops used to be synonymous with “expensive.” With prices upwards of $1,000, the company’s Chromebook Pixel and Pixelbook were costly products meant only for the most ardent Chrome OS fans. Paradoxically, they were launched at a time when most people associated Chromebooks with cheap, secondary laptops — you’d have had a hard time finding a third-party option that cost more than $350.

For the Pixelbook Go, Google has softened the edges of the series, with a rounded profile and lighter frame. The Go’s ribbed surface along the base apparently makes it easier to carry and should also help it stand out against the legion of sameish laptops and Chromebooks. The 13.3-inch Go doesn’t offer a rotating screen like its predecessor, so it’s much more like a familiar laptop — which might not be a bad thing.

Do you define $649 as an affordable Chromebook, though?

The event’s headliner had its setlist spoiled long ago.Google’s Pixel 4 revealed: No surprises, impressive cameras

Welcome Google’s latest phones, now packing a charming new coral color swatch, a new dual camera setup and Soli radar that combines gestures with face unlock. The Pixel 4 will still pack the same advanced imaging software you’d expect, but it has new upgrades to localize exposure on subjects and improved bokeh effects that are less likely to turn your hair into a big smudge. The phone even has an astrophotography mode to make the most of its low-light capabilities.

A lot of this, well, you probably already knew about, but Google was confirming the facts yesterday — including the price. The Pixel 4, when it launches across all four major carriers, starts at $799 for the smaller model and $899 for the Pixel 4 XL. That means that Apple’s own iPhone 11 undercuts the Pixel 4 at launch, but Google’s phone is cheaper than the iPhone 11 Pro. The phones will ship on October 24th — expect our full verdict before then.

In-ear Assistant.The new true wireless Pixel Buds are always listening

These $179 Pixel Buds (no number differentiator here) don’t look terribly different from the originals, but this time there’s no cable connecting the two, and they fit flush to your ear. Additionally, they have a nice two-tone finish that matches the colors of the new Pixel phones. Cherlynn Low tried out a nonfunctional set at Google’s event, reporting that they’re slightly smaller than Microsoft’s more expensive Surface Earbuds and didn’t fit her ears quite as snugly.

More than just mesh.Google Nest WiFi: Range extenders have never sounded so good

As rumored, Google’s new Nest WiFi can be paired with “points,” aka beacons, that will help extend the range of your wireless network at home. These Nest WiFi points can also double as smart speakers, making them compatible with Google Assistant.

The Nest WiFi can do everything the Nest Mini does, so you can use it to make phone calls or listen to music, plus it offers up to 25 percent better coverage and twice the speed of Google’s WiFi mesh. Cherlynn Low tried them out to experience the upgraded sound and “softer, homier” aesthetic” in person.

While Nest Aware is getting smarter and more connected at a simple price.Google Nest Mini: Software tricks make up for its tiny size

The refreshed Nest Mini isn’t hiding any router hardware inside, but it does have a faster processor and a wall mount at the same $49 price. Meanwhile, Google’s software magic is tweaking the audio for better performance and enabling ultrasound detection, which can adjust to a nearby presence.

Google is also tweaking the Nest Aware subscription packages, which will cost a flat fee of either $6 or $12 per month no matter how many cameras you have installed. It will also pull in alerts from Google speakers and displays based on sounds they hear — and allow you to call 911 even if you’re somewhere else.

If you’re picking up its Stadia Pro-enhanced packages.Google Stadia launches on November 19th

At noon ET on November 19th, you’ll be able to access Google’s cloud gaming service, Stadia — if you’re one of the gamers who pre-order it. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Mortal Kombat 11 and Kine will be available for play in 4K and HDR using a Chromecast Ultra and Google’s controller, as well as in lower quality on other devices down to compatible tablets and phones. The Founder’s and Premiere Edition packages come with three months of access to Stadia Pro features, which costs $9.99 per month after that.

Don’t worry — it still feels like ‘Fortnite.’‘Fortnite’ Chapter 2 is the fresh start the game needed

As Matt Brian explains, “After over a year as the most popular game on the planet, Epic Games’ money machine has the reset needed not only to freshen things up but make the battle royale shooter exciting again.”

They’ll work with any headphones plugged into participating apps on Android and iOS.Sony’s 360 Reality Audio launches this fall with 1,000 tracks

On Tuesday, Sony announced that 360 Reality Audio, its immersive listening technology that debuted at CES, is officially launching this fall. The idea is that it moves a step beyond stereo, with the ability to recreate the experience of listening to live music. There will be around 1,000 tracks to start, from the likes of Billy Joel and Bob Dylan. You’ll be able to access 360 Reality songs via Tidal, Amazon Music HD, Deezer and nugs.net.

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Phone-based VR is well and truly dead

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But now, it seems, the dream of smartphone-based VR is over. After Google’s Pixel event yesterday, the company announced that its latest flagship smartphone will not be Daydream compatible. In addition, it’s stopping the sales of Daydream View headsets entirely. In a statement, Google said that there “hasn’t been the broad consumer or developer adoption” of Daydream that it had hoped, partially due to “clear limitations constraining smartphone VR from being a viable long-term solution.” Namely, that when the phone is in VR headset, you no longer have access to the phone, which is a definite downside for a lot of people.

In a lot of ways, this has been a long time coming. The previous Pixel 3a and 3a XL don’t work with Daydream either, and various companies have pulled support for the platform. In fact, Google appears to be backing out of VR in general. It also shut down its Spotlight Stories VR studio and Daydream’s Play Movies and TV app. It wound down its Jump VR platform earlier this year as well.

Cardboard

Phone-based VR used to be seen as something of a gateway to “full” PC-based VR. At the time Cardboard and Gear VR debuted, proper VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive were still a couple of years away. Even when they debuted, they had a price tag of $700 to $800 each. Combine that with a cost of a compatible PC, and virtual reality was, ironically, not realistic for most consumers. Phone-based VR, however, offered an affordable solution, and you could harness the power of the device you already have: your smartphone.

But phone-based VR also came with a whole host of issues. As Google stated, using your mobile in a headset means you could no longer use the phone, and it would drain your battery dry in the process. Additionally, headsets like the Gear VR only worked with one brand of phone — just the Galaxy models — which excluded a lot of people. Even the Daydream headsets were only compatible with a limited number of handsets. If you used an iPhone or you’re the sort of person to switch out phones every couple of years, then getting a phone-based VR headset just didn’t make sense.

Google isn’t the only one stepping out of phone-based VR. Samsung appears to be backing away too, because the same fate seems to have befallen Gear VR. Though the S10 continues to be compatible with the headset via an adapter, the newest Note 10 is not. There also hasn’t been an update to Gear VR or even mention of it at Samsung keynotes in years. To top it off, at the recent Oculus Connect 6 event, Oculus CTO John Carmack held a bit of a eulogy for Gear VR.

Samsung Gear VR

“I do think we missed an opportunity here,” he said during the Day Two keynote. “I invested a whole lot of effort into it, and it’s the foundation that we’ve built all the mobile things off the back of.” He noted that Gear VR sold in comparatively huge volumes, at least compared to the rest of the Rift. But the tedious process of fitting a phone into the headset turned out to be a barrier to wide adoption.

The real harbinger of doom for phone-based VR is the arrival of standalone headsets. As Carmack said, they’re just so much easier to use; just power them on and you’re ready to go. Affordable options like the $200 Oculus Go make them a far more palatable choice for “gateway VR” devices than phone-based options. Carmack said that the company saw widespread adoption of the Go and that it’s retaining just as many customers as the Rift.

And, if the Go isn’t quite enough and you’re willing to pay a little more, then the standalone Quest with its two 6DoF controllers and superior motion tracking is a great upgrade. Its powerful mobile processor lets you play desktop-quality VR games without having to cough up thousands more for a PC.

Daydream

Yes, the internals aren’t quite as powerful as modern smartphones, but smartphones also have to do a lot of other tasks, like checking email and pinging you whenever you get a new Instagram follow. Devices like the Quest, on the other hand, are dedicated to doing just one thing, and it won’t need quite as much oomph. Putting a phone that’s busy being your phone inside a VR cradle is never going to offer the same level of experience as something like the Quest can.

With both Google and Samsung effectively abandoning phone-based VR, it’s safe to say that it is dead. Much like how PDAs were eventually replaced by the smartphone, standalone headsets have now made phone-based VR obsolete. But hey, if you really miss the days of cardboard-based VR and you happen to have a Nintendo Switch, there’s always the Labo VR kit to feed your nostalgia.

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There’s now a Harry Potter subscription service

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Also included in the subscription is a personalized, interactive journal called Keys and Curios. This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill notebook, though. It comes bearing your name and Hogwarts house, surprise details throughout and “enchanted keys” that can be scanned with the Wizarding World app to unlock hidden content, which will be updated every month. The subscription comes with a fairly hefty price tag, though — $75 in the US and £60 in the UK — so it’s certainly geared towards to more diehard Potterheads. Still, it might represent good value if it helps fans get hold of those highly sought-after Cursed Child tickets.

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Huawei reports increased sales despite US sanctions

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The figures fly in the face of earlier predictions, which anticipated a marked downfall for the company following its US export ban in May. Indeed, Huawei’s revenue growth slowed to 13 percent in the second quarter of the year, with the company estimating a $30 billion fall out from its war with America.

Huawei has also announced that it has so far signed 60 contracts with telecom carriers to provide equipment for 5G networks around the world, so all signs point to the company holding firm amid the turmoil. However, the company remains cautious, with Huawei chairman Liang Hua noting back in the summer that despite holding steady, it’s “not to say we don’t have difficulties ahead. We do, and they may affect the pace of our growth in the short term.”

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First major ‘World of Warcraft Classic’ update adds Dire Maul dungeon

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Dire Maul dungeon was originally released for WoW as a challenging quest for players ranked from levels 55 to the original 60 cap, and that restriction still applies. Blizzard points out that to succeed, you’ll need help. “Dire Maul is a particularly dangerous dungeon for the unprepared and you’ll need dependable teamwork to make your way through all three of its wings,” it explained on its blog.

To get in, players will need lock picks, explosives or keys. Once inside, you can seek out trinkets that can boost your stats, along with the magical Orb of Deception that will transform you into an Opposite Faction member.

The update also adds quests for Paladin and Warlock epic mounts, provided you’re at level 60 and up. Dire Maul has actually arrived a bit early, as it was supposed to go live as part of the Phase Two updates. Blizzard hasn’t said when the rest of Phase Two will come along, but it took two years to release the first expansion, The Burning Crusade, in the original game.

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SpaceX is requesting permission to launch 30,000 more Starlink satellites

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The FCC submitted a total of 20 filings to the ITU, with each one asking permission for 1,500 satellites in various Low Earth Orbits. The company wants to place them in orbits between 204 and 360 miles in altitude, which MIT’s Technology Review notes could be a cause for concern. Aerospace Corporation’s Roger Thompson told the publication that while that area of space is cleanest, it’s also where we tend to fly crewed spacecraft, including the ISS. He said flooding the area with thousands of satellites “will have an impact on future human spaceflight.”

That said, asking for permission for 30,000 satellites doesn’t mean the Starlink project will actually launch a total of 42,000. Some of the company’s critics believe that the filings are just a ploy to drown the ITU in studies now that it’s on the verge of changing its rules. Whether that’s true or not, filing with the ITU is just the first step in a very long process. SpaceX has seven years to launch a satellite with the frequencies it requested, and it will have to operate it for 90 days before it loses access to the spectrum rights.

The company successfully launched the first 60 Starlink satellites into orbit earlier this year, with plans of launching 60 more within this month and even more in November.



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‘Gemini Man’ director Ang Lee sees the future of cinema at 120FPS

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Lee also pushed for Will Smith’s clone, Junior, to be an entirely CG character. He’s not just de-aged like Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel — he’s built completely from the ground up by Weta Digital to recapture Smith in his youth. So, in a way, Junior is more closely related to Gollum from Lord of the Rings than an actual human who’s had a bit of computer-assisted wrinkle reduction. His performance is motion captured by Will Smith and stuntmen, and his face his painstakingly recreated by Weta. This allows Junior to both move like a younger man, but also tap into Will Smith’s talents for his facial movements.

“The man gave peace of his heart,” Lee said. “He actually has to act harder than his usual job. No, ten times harder. If you’d like to talk about hard, Junior has it hard, a lot more than a real person. The investment we put into it to try to make believe that was a hundred times harder than just directing an actor or movie star.”

Gemini Man

Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about actors just becoming digital characters that we can easily manipulate in the future, like the film The Congress. “But anything can happen,” he says. Junior isn’t a perfect digital facsimile of young Will Smith — at times, you can easily tell that the facial rendering feels a bit off — but he’s a big step towards seeing completely digital actors in more films.

No matter how Gemini Man ends up being received — it currently sits at 24 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and has grossed just $20.6 million in its first weekend — Lee still plans to continue chipping away at the possibilities of digital cinema.

“Digital is more attractive to me now because it’s harder,” he said. “I’m curious, I have so many questions… It’s not like I’m like 36 or something. I’m in a hurry to find some answers to those questions. And it seems like every answer I get, then 10 questions open up.”

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Wild Rift’ will land on mobile and consoles in 2020

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The upcoming multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) for mobile enables faster matches and features a dual-stick, thumb-friendly control scheme designed for the platforms it’s for. You’ll find that Riot mixed familiar elements with the new, though, including the use of a 5v5 map that’s based on LoL’s largest map Summoner’s Rift. Wild Rift will also feature 40 characters from LoL’s existing roster of champions, with more to follow in the future.

Riot Games plans to launch the mobile version of the game “everywhere in the world by the end of 2020,” followed by its console debut. It will be free to download and play, and the developer promises that you can earn all its champions without having to pay a cent — you apparently never have to pay for anything if you don’t want to.

The company will start rolling out alpha and beta versions of the game throughout the next few months, starting in China. You can already pre-register on Google Play if you have an Android device, and you can even get bonus rewards if you sign up at launch if you’re in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

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Riot celebrates ten years of ‘LoL’ by finally announcing new games

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A game that is getting a port is its eight-player Auto Chess battler Teamfight Tactics. The mobile game will launch in Q1, and interested players can pre-register on Google Play starting today. New sets of champions and abilities will come to the game “every three or four months” on PC and mobile, with the first set, dubbed Rise of the Elements, scheduled to arrive on November 5th.

The main League of Legends game is getting some new touches too, with a new support character, Senna, who will join the public beta servers on October 29th, and the live servers November 10th. There are new Rise of the Elements tweaks on the way here too, the promise of Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) mode for a limited time and word that nine albums full of music from the game’s seasons are going live on streaming services starting today. Finally, as thanks for existing players — and a call to any lapsed fans out there — there will be prizes for simply logging in every day for ten days, starting on October 17th.

The Legends of Runeterra card game spinoff, meanwhile, will launch “fully” in 2020 on PC and mobile. It’s another free-to-play game which will blend cards based on League characters as well as new ones made just for Runeterra. Hopefully this works out better than Valve’s Artifact effort, and those interested in trying it out can pre-register now.

In non-game news, Riot discussed Arcane, an animated series that will launch next year and follow two of its characters through their origin stories. The League of Legends Origins documentary, separately, is now available for streaming on Netflix.

Oh, and those new games? LoL Esports Manager allows players to sim the experience of guiding a team through the game’s tournament scene, and will launch next year. Three other efforts are more secretive. Project A is a “stylish, competitive, character-based tactical shooter” for PC that’s set to unveil more about its cast of lethal characters and near-future Earth setting next year. Project L is a League of Legends fighting game spin-off, while Project F is “a very early development project that explores the possibilities of traversing the world of Runeterra with your friends.”

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