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Lego's Powered Up kits are built for connected play
Lego's Boost sets are good for teaching the basics of code, but what about those who don't necessarily want to go that far? The company is accommodating them, too. It's launching a Powered Up platform that makes coding and connected play an option even if it's not the original intent. Only some sets will have full programing and mobile device control -- others will be powered or remote controlled, and some will be regular Lego kits with Powered Up support as an option.
Lego Boost coding blocks arrive during summer vacation
In January, Lego announced a new line of products called Boost aimed at teaching kids aged seven and up how to code. Now, Lego Boost is available for preorder at a price of $160. Units will begin shipping in late July.
Tinder's premium Boost feature is rolling out worldwide
Tinder's latest idea to monetize its mobile matching service is rolling out worldwide, as users outside of Australia and the UK will be able to Boost to the top of nearby dater's queues. Getting Tinder to put its thumb on the algorithm is free once a week as a part of the variably-priced Plus subscription, or it can be purchased individually. Either way, it lasts just 30 minutes, so Pokémon Go players can just treat it like a lucky egg -- the company says it can result in as much as a 10x increase in profile views.
How Adidas is using motion capture to reinvent running shoes
When Kanye West isn't wearing his Yeezys (or Vans, as he describes in a song on The Life of Pablo), he's often spotted in Adidas Ultra Boosts. Since being introduced last year, the Ultra Boost has quickly transcended its intended purpose as a running shoe, becoming an essential silhouette for sneakerheads everywhere. But despite Ultra Boost finding success in the streetwear community, Adidas continues to create products around a mantra from founder Adi Dassler: "It all starts with the athlete." That idea, combined with the use of evolving technologies such as motion capture, is what drove the design behind AlphaBounce, the company's latest running shoe.
Boost Mobile goes after Cuban-Americans with new prepaid plan
Now that the political relations between the US and Cuba have taken a turn for the better, American companies are pushing out marketing schemes to fit the bill. Today, Boost Mobile, Sprint's prepaid branch, announced a monthly plan that's geared toward customers who have loved ones in Cuba. The caveat, unfortunately, is that it's only available in Miami right now -- but the strategy makes sense, since it's a city with a dense population of Cuban-Americans. If you're there, $50 a month gets you unlimited text and 15 talk minutes to Cuba at 33 cents per minute -- which the company claims to be the lowest rate among prepaid carriers. Boost's Cuba Monthly Connection deal also includes 5GB of data and all-you-can-have texting and calling within the US, while $10 more monthly doubles your data.
Diablo III patches 2.1.2 and ends season one
There's a lot happening around the rainbow-and-glitter landscapes of Diablo III, although perhaps the biggest is the implementation of Patch 2.1.2 to the game. This patch adds in powerful ancient items, increases the drop rate for legendary items, and gives players more survivability with additional life and higher life-on-hit percentages. As Diablo III ushers in the patch, so it too prepares to say goodbye to the first season. The game is preparing to end season one and has posted a guide to aid players as they make the transition to the limbo that exists before season two. Season one is expected to end some time in early February, possibly February 3rd. Players on both the PC and consoles soon will enjoy an event full of boosts, including additional treasure goblins and higher drop rates. These boosts will begin tomorrow and continue through Friday, January 23rd.
You can now unplug Sonos kit from the router
Sonos has made a name for itself as a wireless home audio system. The problem is -- up until today -- that you still needed to plug something into the router (one of your speakers, or a "Bridge" device). What's new today? Sonos has come good on its promise, letting you drop that pesky "last cable" -- ignoring power leads, of course -- completely (excluding Sonos 3.1 and 5.1 cinema setups). The update means you can set up your Sonos system on your home WiFi network just like your phone, TV or anything else. Via the mobile app, punch in the credentials, and let all your Sonos speakers sort themselves out. You're still encouraged to use a Bridge if you have multiple devices and want to guarantee a more robust connection between them, though. Which brings us neatly on to "Boost," a new souped-up hub, that Sonos has announced it'll introduce later this year for "the most challenging home WiFi environments" -- paradoxically, that's probably baller-style cribs and basement conversions alike. No word on price for Boost, but depending where how you live, you might not want to chuck that CAT5 just yet. Read in for instructions on testing this with your existing set-up (don't just pull the cable).
World of Warcraft turns on Gaze of the Black Prince this week
If you're a World of Warcraft player, you're busy killing time until Warlords of Draenor comes out. So why not kill some high-level enemies and get a legendary cloak in the process? Blizzard is turning on the Gaze of the Black Prince buff starting July 15th and ending on July 29th, allowing players who have yet to complete Mists of Pandaria's legendary cloak quest a chance to get through the requirements a bit more easily. The Gaze of the Black Prince doubles all reputation gains with Wrathion and increases the chance of receiving the random drops required for the questline. It should be helpful for alts you're gearing up or just characters who hadn't quite made it through the process yet. You can also catch up with the most recent Warlords of Draenor patch notes to see how well your cloak will serve you going into the next expansion against the Iron Horde.
Wakfu details boost benefits for free-to-play model [Updated]
Wakfu has always had a free option for players, but the game is saying goodbye to subscriptions altogether with its relaunch, giving all players access to every part of the game from start to finish. Of course, there has to be some way to balance that, since the company running the game will still need to make money. That incentive will take the form of boosts, allowing players to gain bonus experience on their first and subsequent characters. Boosts will be available in several different durations, with the longest duration corresponding to the greatest overall bonus. Players will have improved drop rates, health regeneration, and battle rewards as well. Prices have not yet been announced, but the goal is for the boost days to be affordable. Players with subscriptions will also see their remaining subscription days converted into boost days, allowing everyone currently playing to reap the benefits early. [Update: The team has just posted another chart with all of the veteran rewards that will be distributed to current subbers on July 9th.] [Thanks to Avaera for the tip!]
Adidas teams with Spotify to soundtrack your run, hook you up with a new route
Spotify knows a thing of two about playlists we guess. As for Adidas? It's responsible for more gallons of sweat than most. So, in something of an inspired combination, the two forces have linked-up to create a web-tool for runners. Hit up this link, and you'll be prompted for your location, a hint of your musical taste, and just how physical you want to get. Feed that info into the machine, and you'll be rewarded with a route to run in your locale (that matches your chosen distance) and a playlist based on your reference track AND desired level of physical pump. The heavy lifting for the route selection is actually powered by Runkeeper. Given there's a music-and-mapping device with Adidas' name on it, we can see potential for greater integration (offline music on the watch? A feature for loading the map? Too much to ask?). That'd definitely give not just us, but the competition, a run for its money.
Warlords of Draenor: New info from PAX East
PAX East 2014 has come and gone, but we at WoW Insider have come away from the weekend with juicy new information to share with you about Warlords of Draenor. During the expo, I sat down for a chat with senior game designers Steve Burke and Brian Holinka, lead class designer Kris Zierhut, and other developers. In our brief time together, they told me some exciting info about garrisons, raiding, transmog, and the expansion's starting experience. They also provided insight into what a boosted level 90 will experience after the expansion launches. Please note that mild spoilers about the early story of Warlords of Draenor will follow. Join me after the break for all the new info!
I'm just not that into you, Character Boost
Look, it's not that you're not a great feature -- you totally are. I get that. It's just that you don't offer me anything I need. I don't have a legion of alts hanging out below max level right now - my shaman and four or five of my warriors are level 90, another couple are in the mid to high 80's. It wouldn't take me very long to get them to 90 if I cared, but I don't, and having another 90 warrior isn't going to get me interested in playing another one at max level. Frankly, I enjoy leveling warriors. Skipping that doesn't appeal to me. I've considered using you on my level 62 hunter. The thing is, I don't really enjoy playing him that much, and I can't imagine suddenly adding a boatload of spells and abilities is going to make that an experience I'd like more. In fact, if he did good DPS I'd probably get angry, since I know I'm not a particularly skilled hunter, and if he did poor DPS (which I'd expect given my low skill on the character and lack of experience with the last 30 levels he'd have just leapfrogged past) I'd get bored even faster. It's not terribly compelling. I've actually considered getting you just to boost one of my pallies to 90, but not because I want to play him - we could use another paladin for Devo Aura on heroic Thok, frankly. It's a much better cooldown than Demo Banner, and I could also BoP or HoP or whatever it's called now to a healer so he or she could keep on healing through the silences. But that's less about my wanting to play a paladin and more about the game having an incredibly annoying fight designed so that one class just breaks the encounter, and if anything it makes us all feel dirty. It's a case of a feature not being designed for me. I accept that. But it does kind of leave me with a problem - I'm getting it one way or another. Do I do anything with it?
Coping with the new raid realities of level 90 boosts
The above image is not remotely a reflection of what raiding in World of Warcraft is like, but wouldn't it be great if it were? The addition of the level 90 boost to WoW means that we're seeing a lot of players leaping to max level where they can jump immediately into raids. Their ilvl of 483 is high enough to let them into LFR raids for anything outside Siege of Orgrimmar -- and let me tell you, it's kind of a nightmare. No, I don't mean that the influx of new 90s in itself is a nightmare: it's the fact that now anything going wrong in LFR results in 10 minutes of bemoaning the boosted characters who are keeping everyone else from progressing. It's drama city out there. It's not that the moaning is entirely off-base: boosted players don't necessarily know how to play their boosted class at 90... but none of us were class experts as soon as we hit 90. And, come on, a random LFR group doesn't need boosted characters to mess things up and wipe. So what's a player to do with this new LFR annoyance?
Our Rookie Guide is here to help your newly boosted level 90
So you've just boosted a new character to level 90 and you're not sure where to go from here. How does this new class work? How should you gear them up? What should you do once you randomly land on the Timeless Isle with a class that you have no idea how to play? Don't worry, because our Rookie Guide is here to help you out, even at level 90. If you're not sure what this boosting rage is all about, check out the level boosting section to figure out how to get started -- and once you've gotten your new character to 90, read through the section on what to do at level 90. Have new-to-90 questions we haven't answered yet? Or maybe you're looking for something you can't find in the guide? Drop us a note and we'll look into covering it for a future WoW Rookie!
World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor is launching by December 20th
Just yesterday, World of Warcraft gave everyone a look at just how important reaching the level cap could be. Today, the game is opening up independent level 90 boosts for everyone via the in-game store, and they're still priced at $60 a pop. It's bad news if you have an army of alts you want to speed along to the level cap, but it's good news if you have that army of alts and more money than you know what to do with. A tutorial video is embedded just past the break to show you how to make use of this feature. Even if you're not up for buying one of the boosts, you might be looking forward to getting one along with your purchase of Warlords of Draenor. So when's that expansion actually coming out? According to the official site, it will be releasing on or before December 20th of this year, which means it's definitely coming out this year but leaves the field wide open in terms of when. Keep your eyes peeled for rollbacks on that date, as it's more likely that the expansion will be out long before the end of the year.
World of Warcraft's new Warlords of Draenor trailer wishes you were here
So your friends in World of Warcraft have finally convinced you to come back to the game. Great, but they're all Level 90 and you're Level Seriously Who Even Cares. They're decked out in epic garments while you're apparently dressed like some sort of drifter with plate armor. What are you going to do? How could you ever take part in their adventures? Well, you could buy Warlords of Draenor and just hit 90 immediately on the character of your choice. A dramatization of exactly that is available in the trailer just past the cut, with a Gnome taking the plunge and bypassing a whole lot of leveling content in the interim. Click on past the break to see it in action, and perhaps you'll be inspired to also vault past a whole bunch of leveling to get right to the top. [Thanks to Schippie for the tip!]
Arcane Brilliance: Next steps for playing a fire mage at level 90
Every other week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. Stacey Landry is the resident mage here, bender of space and time, conjurer of delicious confectioneries and expert at dressing well while setting things on fire. Congratulations! You've always wanted to play a mage alt but somehow never find the time, or perhaps you're considering a new main for Warlords of Draenor. Either way, you've decided to boost a mage to level 90 or re-spec your mage and you are faced with a decision. What spec would you like to play? We're going to talk eventually about all three excellent specs, but for now we're going to start with fire. Being a fire mage has always represented the somewhat reckless side of wizardry. Fire mages used to take talents that would increase their damage done in exchange for damage taken. (Nothing ventured, nothing gained!) Modern fire maging is a little less risky than that and comes with many advantages. You might enjoy playing a fire mage if you want:
Boost Mobile has a limited-time deal on unlimited LTE data for $35
Remember when you had the option to get unlimited data for $30 on most carriers? Yeah, us too, and we won't hide our envy for those who are grandfathered in. To alleviate some of these troubles, Boost Mobile is kicking off a temporary offer on an all-you-can-have plan, giving folks who sign up for service by March 31st a chance to have unlimited access to voice, text and LTE data for $35 per month. There are a few caveats, however: The deal will only be valid for the first six months of service, after which you'll have to pay the regular monthly fee of $50, and data is set to be throttled once you reach the 2.5GB threshold. If that still sounds good, then head over to Boost's site (or a brick-and-mortar store) to take advantage of the promo before it's too late.
ZTE's Iconic Phablet comes to Boost Mobile as the Max, available today for $300
ZTE's Iconic Phablet may have been the worst-named product of CES 2014, but fortunately the company has told us it was merely a placeholder name. Despite it only having been unveiled three weeks ago, it's already making its way stateside under a much more reasonable (though predictable) name of Boost Max for Boost Mobile, one of Sprint's prepaid legs. The 5.7-inch 720p device is available starting today sans contract for $300, and it appears that the phone didn't lose its Multi-Window feature (which works with virtually every app on your device) on its way across the Pacific. It did, however, get bumped down to Android 4.1, two versions lower than the one we played with at CES. On top of this, you'll also get an 8MP rear camera with 1MP front-facing cam, LTE support, 3,200mAh battery and a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. If you're disappointed by the name change for some reason, don't worry -- it can forever be an iconic phablet in your heart.
Moto G comes to Boost Mobile prepaid plans for as low as $100
Motorola is starting off the new year right. Yesterday we got word that the Moto G is coming to Verizon as a $100 prepaid device, and today Boost Mobile announced that it's also going to be selling the budget-friendly smartphone through multiple channels. The most eager fans can grab one of their very own today through HSN, which is selling the G for $100 after a $30 mail-in rebate; it'll also be available for $130 on Boost's website starting January 14th and brick-and-mortar stores on the 20th. If you're trying to get a solid Android device and don't mind the 3G speeds, you can't get much better than this.
