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Google is testing its new Privacy Sandbox settings in Chrome
Google is starting "origin trials" for its Chrome Privacy Sandbox, its new system for serving targeted ads without using cookies.
CRISPR gene editing shows promise for sickle cell disease
A breakthrough in CRISPR gene editing for patients with blood diseases shows the promise and problems with the new technology.
Amazon's Prime Air can officially begin drone delivery trials in the US
Amazon is one step closer to offering commercial drone deliveries.
Autonomous flying taxi Cora set for passenger trials in New Zealand
Companies have been saying for years that flying taxis are on the agenda. Now it looks like they're finally set to take flight. Wisk -- a joint venture between Boeing and Kitty Hawk -- has signed a memorandum of understanding with the New Zealand government to begin passenger trials of its electric, autonomous aircraft Cora. The trials are set to take place in the Canterbury region of the country, although it's not clear exactly when they'll start.
Clearing 'Trials of the Blood Dragon' demo unlocks full PC game
Game demos typically are little more than a bullet point in a publisher's marketing plan designed to give folks an early taste of what a game might end up being while simultaneously driving pre-order numbers northward. But for Trials of the Blood Dragon, Ubisoft is trying something different. If you download the, err, trial version of the game on PC and complete the available challenges within a certain threshold of perfection, you'll unlock the full version of the game. Of course, you'll have to suffer through using Ubisoft's Uplay interface to do so, but that's probably a lot less work than getting 15 faults or fewer across the some 30 available stages.
UK sets the rules of the road for driverless car tests
A bunch of driverless cars are now being trialled in the UK, so it makes sense to give researchers a special kind of road-testing rulebook. After all, Britain's existing laws were never written with autonomous vehicles in mind. To support the new wave of research, the Department for Transport (DfT) has published a Code of Practice which sets out some basic ground rules for testing driverless cars on public roads. These include having a backup driver that can retake control at any moment -- similar to how Google's driverless cars operate in the US. Supervisors should also hold an appropriate UK driving licence and be familiar with new systems that might cause problems and require intervention.
Reuters: more than half of top US hospitals are trialling Apple HealthKit
When Apple announced HealthKit, one of the more interesting features was the ability for Doctors to check your health data remotely. HealthKit has already been trialled with health professionals monitoring patients with Type 1 diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Reuters suggests that these trials are moving away from Universities, and into hospitals. It claims that over half (14 of 23) the "top" hospitals (including eight on the News & World Report's Honor Roll) it contacted were running pilot programs that leveraged HealthKit data.
Trials Fusion gets eight-racer multiplayer by the end of the year
Ubisoft detailed a coming improvement to its motorcycle racer Trials Fusion this week, a new online multiplayer mode. At the game's launch in April, it included four-player local competitions, which our review of the game deemed "halfhearted." Developer RedLynx will provide a free update that adds support for races between eight players online by the end of the year. A recent Ubisoft blog post discussed the shortcomings of previous multiplayer efforts in Trials Fusion and Trials Evolution, stressing that the new mode places racers in the foreground at all times so that opponents are "never in your way." The developer plans on issuing a beta test of the multiplayer mode on PC as well, but has not indicated when the testing phase will begin. Since the game's launch, it has received three pieces of downloadable content with additional tracks, challenges and track editor objects, the most recent being October's Welcome to the Abyss pack. [Image: Ubisoft]
Google reportedly working on bite-sized app trials for Android
While Android has soared, Google Play has struggled a bit. Customers don't buy nearly as many apps, songs or movies as their counterparts using iOS. According to The Information, Mountain View is working to change that with a new app trial program. Since users are hesitant to throw down money (even just $0.99) for an app without ever using it, Google is planning to offer free bite-sized trials. Rather than downloading and installing the entire app, you could pull down just a piece as a "micro app." You might even be able to select which feature or part of the app you want to try. Obviously the hope would then be that you would love the app and throw some cash at the developer (which Google would get to keep a cut of). The smaller downloads would save time and bandwidth as well, making the trial a much smaller commitment. As for how it might work, we're not sure. Though the company recently debuted a new way to update apps that only downloads the parts that have changed -- again saving precious minutes and megabytes on your data plan.
Third Trials Fusion DLC plunges into the Abyss on October 7
The third piece of downloadable content for Trials Fusion will launch on October 7, Ubisoft announed today. Invitingly called "Welcome to the Abyss," the pack adds 10 tracks and 24 challenges to the motorcycle-flipping game, as well as five new achievements. The pack is part of Trials Fusion's season pass, though players can pick it up alone for $4.99. Welcome to the Abyss is set in "mysterious underground ruins" with ancient machines "powered by strange relics." The DLC includes over 100 new objects for use in the game's track editor as well. Trials Fusion launched in April for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC, reaching one million copies sold in July. Ubisoft expects every piece of DLC for the game to be available by May 2015. [Image: Ubisoft]
Second Trials Fusion DLC takes to the skies
Trials Fusion received a new DLC pack today titled Empire of the Sky, which adds nine tracks to the game: six classic trials tracks, one Supercross multiplayer track, the "Freefall" skill game and the "High Society" FMX track. Empire of the Sky also includes 18 track challenges and dozens of new track editor objects, such as anti-gravity technology and resort homes. Empire of the Sky is the second of six DLC packs that will launch in Trials Fusion's "first season," the first being July's Riders of the Rustlands. The latest pack follows the same pricing model as the first: $4.99 (£3.99 / €4.99) as a stand-alone download or free for the $20 season pass holders. Those with the season pass will receive all six DLC packs, which are all expected to launch by May 2015. Trials Fusion reached the one million mark in sales across all platforms (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PC) as of late July. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion moto-crosses one million mark in sales
Trials Fusion sold one million copies globally across all platforms, Ubisoft announced today. The game first arrived in April for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. Announced alongside Trials Frontier at its E3 2013 press conference last June, Ubisoft's motorcycle-flipping action game entered closed beta for PC players in March. Trials Fusion also received an update today, which improves the game's tournaments, track central and track editor modes. Now, players can craft custom supercross tracks for local multiplayer use, and can also create four-land motorcross tracks in the game's editor and put forth challenges to their friends. The Uplay Recommended section of the track central area in Trials Fusion has also been refreshed with 15 creations from the game's community, accessible to players on all platforms. [Image: Ubisoft]
Devs can now offer trials, games in same download on Xbox One
Being able to sample content from digital storefronts is one of the more compelling advantages of shopping digitally. Trial-sized portions of games could be sampled on the Xbox 360 by downloading Xbox Live Arcade titles, which could then be used to unlock the full game without an additional download, but multi-purpose downloads haven't appeared on the Xbox One. That has the potential to change, according to Eurogamer's interview with ID@Xbox Program Director Chris Charla. While demoes and full games are generally separate downloads on Xbox One, the option to offer both in the same file is something that's been "recently turned on," Charla said. "I don't think we've seen any ID@Xbox games yet that have shipped with trials, but we may well in the future. It's something that's open to everybody." The switch should make browsing for new games to play a bit easier, should developers choose to use the feature. Speaking of making things easier, Microsoft's idea of allowing any Xbox One to be used as a dev kit would certainly lower the barrier of entry for game development, but we're still waiting on details beyond the concept. [Image: Microsoft]
Tamriel Infinium: Examining Elder Scrolls Online's first major update
I've often wondered if my frustration with game creators should be taken out on the game itself. This goes for any game, not just Elder Scrolls Online. Perhaps I love the game, but I believe the creators have had missteps that drag down production, or maybe they set customer expectations to a certain level then didn't quite deliver.
ZeniMax invites you to watch other people play The Elder Scrolls Online
ZeniMax has just announced a streamed Elder Scrolls Online competition in which selected guilds will rush through one of the brand-new trials launching with the Craglorn patch... and you can tune in to watch them succeed or fail live on Twitch this coming Saturday. Trials are intended as 12-player raids with hardcore mechanics like limited resurrections and complex encounters. "When it's all over," says the studio, "the guild with the best Aetherian Archive completion time (if [it] can finish!) will be declared the winner." Here's the complete schedule of start times on Saturday and Twitch channels for each guild: 2:00 p.m. EDT (8:00 p.m. CEST): German Allstars, Reddithium 3:00 p.m. EDT (9:00 p.m. CEST): BIG Nation, Resurrection 4:00 p.m. EDT (10:00 p.m. CEST): Entropy Rising, Fate 5:00 p.m. EDT (11:00 p.m. CEST): The Noore
Samsung, Nokia join 5G trials in Japan, but crazy speeds still far away
We hope you're happy with 4G, because 5G's magical land of unicorns and 10Gbps speeds still isn't coming until 2020 or so. However, Japanese carrier DoCoMo is still hard at work developing the tech and has now begun trials with some formidable hardware allies. Those include Samsung (who already tested 1Gbps 5G hardware in Korea), along with Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, to name a few. The group aims to see if high frequency bands (greater than 6GHz) can support speeds up to 10Gbps, even if masses of devices in a small area are vying for bandwidth. The first tests will be limited to an indoor research facility in Japan, then move to outdoor field trials next year. DoCoMo hopes standardization will come in 2016, but there's a lot of hurdles to clear before the mythical 1-second wireless movie download is upon us.
The Elder Scrolls Online expounds on Craglorn's 12-man trials
ZeniMax has just published a dev diary about the brand-new 12-player trials en route to The Elder Scrolls Online with its upcoming Craglorn patch. Trials, the studio stresses, are more than your average raid experience: One of the first things you'll notice about Trials is that they bring a new experience to ESO designed to test even the toughest veterans. You'll need a group of 12 to take them on, but they're not just dungeons that require a large group-we're applying additional pressure. Your team will only have a limited number of resurrections available, and additional rewards will be granted to those who defeat the weekly challenge with one of the top times across the megaserver. What makes 12 players the sweet spot for these encounters? ZeniMax hopes to downplay the organizational hassle of putting together groups, to telegraph fights without too much distraction, to keep them to about 90 minutes in length, and to appropriately rely on player skill rather than zerging. Another bonus raiders will welcome? No lockout timers! Scope out the video below for a first-hand look at the new trials.
Joystiq Weekly: Nintendo foibles, LGBT gaming cons and crash-prone dirtbikes
Welcome to the Joystiq Weekly wrap-up where we present some of the best stories and biggest gaming news from our sister-publication.
Play: The frantic, fun and infuriating Trials Fusion
Some games are so challenging, frustrating and physically draining that your controller could easily explode against the nearest wall at any second. Trials Fusion is one of those games: A repetitive, soul-destroying platformer that'll have you playing the same level for hours on end, all in the hope you'll shave mere milliseconds from your previous best. However, it's only from the epicentre of this nightmare, through the tired workings of your callused, nail-bitten hands, that one experiences true gaming gratification. As with other games of this genre like Super Meat Boy or the Super Monkey Ball series, to name a few, the premise is devilishly simple. You must successfully navigate an obstacle course in the least possible time, mistakes not recommended. As its name suggests, Trials Fusion is based on the sport of motorcycle trials, with some motocross mixed in. Just it's more arcadey, and probably harder.
Trials Fusion review: Lean to live
We've all had our secret victories in the war against wobble: freely standing in the shower on one foot while washing the other, or rejecting the easy-mode handrails of a jostling train. Trials Fusion is about those quick, instinctual corrections you make – or fail to make – when there's a bump in the road. Balance is divine in Trials Fusion, and mastering it makes you a god on a motorcycle. But that's jumping ahead to the conclusion of the journey; this story of a tenacious man driving with abandon over hills and valleys, trying not to fall his little face off. There's a lot to think about as you constantly fiddle with your speed and your driver's posture in a world of steep angles and dangerous pits, and yet it feels thoughtless in the moment. You just know it in your gut: You need to lean forward to keep the bike on this incline. Almost there, almost - oh that's too much acceleration, you're lifting up front. You can get out of this, you can bring it back, just wiggle a bit and – nope. You've gone and done the banana peel again. Now your bike is upside down and crushing your bones.
