The Morning After: Would you pay for an Android app subscription?
Halloween week. Peak Pumpkin Spice.
Welcome back! As our British readers struggle with daylight savings ("struggle" = an extra hour in bed), we saw China's first private satellite launch not go as planned, the original Wii remote prototype goes to auction and you can control your Roku device through Google's voice assistant.
Google Assistant now controls your Roku devices
Roku's Google Assistant control is here. If you're using a TV or player running at least Roku OS 8.1, you can link the Google Home app to your Roku account and control core functions using only voice and an "on Roku" suffix. You can launch channels, search for shows and control playback on most devices, while TV owners can turn on the set, adjust volume or switch inputs. For now, though, Google voice controls are your only option -- sorry Alexa.
With an app, the iPhone XR can take portrait photos of things that aren't human faces
The iPhone XR can take some quality portrait-mode photos with its single camera, but its reliance on software-based object detection limits it to photos of people. There's a cheat, though: The developers of the camera app Halide have found enough available depth data to snap portrait shots of non-human objects, starting with pets. The depth map is crude and could lead to more "temperamental" photography than with the iPhone XS' dual cameras, particularly in situations where there's not enough difference between the foreground and background.
China's first private satellite launch ends in failure
China's burgeoning private-spaceflight industry has enjoyed some success, but it's not all plain sailing. The first private satellite launch attempt failed on October 27th when the third stage of LandSpace's Zhuque-1 rocket didn't reach orbit. It's not certain what led to the failure -- the vehicle was reportedly carrying a commercial satellite for the state-owned network CCTV. Landspace spun the mishap by claiming that that Zhuque-1 had "already completed" the mission before it even left the launchpad, but didn't exactly explain what that meant, or what happens next.
Google may offer a subscription service for Android apps
A lot of us are averse to forking out cash for mobile apps, but Google might try selling you games and services as a bundled subscription. XDA and Kieron Quinn have discovered both code references and a Google online survey hinting at a Play Pass app subscription service. According to the survey, it might offer "hundreds of dollars" worth of apps and games for an unspecified monthly rate. There's no indication if or when Play Pass would go live, so let's all calm down, please. The big questions left to answer: How would Google choose which apps to bundle? Will users be able to customize what they get? How much will it cost?
But wait, there's more...
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