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Coca-Cola's AI-generated soda tastes like marketing
AI is just about everywhere lately, but nobody expected it to be used as a salvo in the ongoing cola wars. Coca-Cola, however, has other plans, as it just launched a new flavor co-created by artificial intelligence. The company’s calling it the soda “from the future” and it’s available for a limited time in both regular and zero sugar varieties.
Hitting the Books: What the wearables of tomorrow might look like
Smaller, more powerful electronics are leading the current wearable revolution. In The Skeptic's Guide the the Future, Dr. Steven Novella looks at what comes next.
'PUBG: New State' is a mobile-first battle royale set in 2051
Krafton has unveiled PUBG: New State for iOS and Android, taking the battle royale game into the year 2051 to a place called Troi.
A personal trainer app guilt-tripped me into exercising (and it worked)
Read Engadget's review of the personal training app Future Fit.
Facebook lays out its vision of our communal VR future
After all the new products were announced and surprise features revealed at Oculus Connect 6 on Wednesday, Facebook Reality Lab (FRL) lead Michael Abrash took to the stage to discuss the future of VR, AR, and the company's leading role in their continuing development.
Facebook simplifies its Group privacy settings
Facebook wants to make it easier to understand its Group privacy settings. It's doing away with public, closed or secret settings. Instead, Groups will be "private" or "public." Facebook claims this will simplify who can find a Group and see its members and posts.
Future earns highest-charting streaming-only album on Billboard 200
Future's new album, Beastmode 2, is now the highest-charting streaming-only album, Billboard reports, debuting at No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 200. With this album, Future has dethroned Chance the Rapper, whose Coloring Book became the first streaming-exclusive album to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 8. Coloring Book also went on to earn Chance the Rapper the first Grammy awarded for a streaming-only album.
Audi made an escape room to promote its E-Tron cars
The rise of the "escape room" has been incredible. Teams of people all over the world are now regularly battling zombies, embarking on real-life Legend of Zelda adventures or playing armchair detective via Facebook Live in fun, safe but wholly manufactured environments. The concept has become so popular that even major car makers have decided to get in on the act. Audi, for example, wanted to highlight the benefits of its all-electric E-Tron line, so it built a experience that basically presents all its future technology to the public.
After Math: Like looking into the future
It was an exciting week for futuristic technologies. Knightscope debuted its newest roboguard, Nest showed off a face-recognizing outdoor camera, and Google came up with a way to close your garage from anywhere in the neighborhood. Numbers, because how else will you know how long to wait for the future to arrive?
London’s V&A museum to put the spotlight on tech and gaming
While the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is home to some of the world's oldest artworks, the institution also takes time to recognise the impact modern technology has on our culture. It's already appointed its first-ever Game Designer in Residence and hosted the world's first 3D-printed weapon, The Liberator, but as part of its 2018 programme, the museum will open two new tech-oriented exhibitions.
Porn doesn't need a XXX hologram
In December, the internet exploded with news of a XXX hologram. CamSoda, a small adult-cam site was bringing a holographic cam girl to the 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. I had to see it for myself. Decades of work have gone into the pursuit of true, full-color video holograms as sophisticated as Princess Leia's cry for help in Star Wars. I didn't expect a porn conference to be the place where more than a half-century of scientific research would bear fruit. But two weeks after CES, I was on my way back to Las Vegas for porn's premier event. I was fully expecting an industry stuck in the past, but hoping for something more.
UK tech and gaming magazines are banding together
It's no secret that most magazines are struggling to retain, never mind increase their readership. The medium isn't dead, far from it, but the ever-growing competition online is forcing publishers to rethink what they print. The latest strategy is, unsurprisingly, to create scale through consolidation. Future PLC, the company behind Edge, T3 and MacFormat, as well as the more online-oriented TechRadar and GamesRadar, is now acquiring its fellow magazine maker Imagine Publishing. The deal is worth £14.2 million ($21.1 million) and will be settled entirely through shares.
The next big thing in smartphones is uncertainty
You've probably noticed something about smartphones. They haven't been exciting lately. Chances are, your current smartphone looks and works a lot like your last one. Your next will probably seem pretty familiar, too. But there are signs that smartphones, and the ways we use them, could be about to significantly change -- even if no one can quite agree on exactly how.
A first-hand quest for the future of sex, Part 2: Mission diverted
I'd just returned from CES, where it was obvious that sex and tech were finally coming together. Despite my rather unfortunate experiences weeks prior, I was feeling inspired. That's when Kiiroo came into my life. Like a serendipitous orgasm harbinger, it promised to take my "sex life to new heights" through teledildonics. Teledildonics is the sex industry's contribution to the Internet of Things, allowing users to remote control vibrators and sex sleeves, sync those toys to VR videos, interact with an adult cam star in real-time, "feel" a long-distance lover and, as I'd come to discover, bring new meaning to one of my favorite internet initialisms: GFY. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. This is the conclusion of a two-part series exploring the future of sex. To read the first installment, click here at your own risk.
Faraday Future unveils its FFZero 1 supercar of the future
Faraday Future has unveiled the FFZero1, a concept car that the firm promises will spearhead a complete revolution in the way we drive. "What would happen if we just started clean?" the company's flashy promotional video asked the assembled audience here at CES 2016. The Zero1 is a single-seat race car that, it's likely, will quickly become an object of desire for car fans worldwide. As for its looks, you won't be surprised to see that the craft is pretty much what we saw in the leaked renders from earlier in the day.
Air Race Speed: Futuristic jet racing with stellar controls
Air Race Speed is a high-speed jet racing game with a futuristic theme. Travel through 36 different tracks in what looks like some sort advanced science lab or factory using one of nine vehicles. Compete with yourself to beat your own high score each time or challenge friends. The game includes multiple controlling options and an important speed boost toggle to cut down on time and improve your ranking. Air Race Speed is available universally for iPhone and iPad for US$2.99. The detailed graphics falsely give the perception that Air Race Speed is a sophisticated game with a thick storyline and varying functions, but it's actually quite straightforward. When you start the game, you get to choose your preferred track and jet. At the very beginning, only one of each is made available so you're forced to follow along and complete tracks to unlock new ones and eventually unlock the other jets as well. I love that the game gives you the option to use either on-screen controls or tilt. People tend to prefer one or the other and sometimes developers don't have a nice fluid tilting mechanism, but I'm happy to report that's not the case in Air Race Speed. I usually prefer on-screen controls for this reason, but tilting the phone was so much fun thanks to its responsiveness. Plus, the removal of on-screen controls means there's more room to view the playing environment. The object is mainly to make it to the finish line for each track as fast as possible, beating any previous records. Once you make it to the finish line you automatically unlock the next track anyway. Air Race Speed is one of those games that doesn't necessarily need a concrete reward to be entertaining, because I personally just found gliding through the various tubes at lightning speed fun on its own. Your speedometer is on the top right. Generally, the very first "Fall Leaf" jet flies at around 115 mph. When in speed mode, it easily excels past 400 mph, but be cautious that the speed boost comes with a lacking ability to control and maneuver your jet. Each vehicle has ratings on a one to five scale for speed, nitro and handling. The Fall Leaf, as the beginner jet, aptly scores just a one for each of these. To unlock other jets, you need to collect certain numbers of stars. You get up to three stars per race based on your performance, similar to Angry Birds. Air Race Speed integrates with Game Center for achievements and challenging other players. Other than that, there's really not much more to Air Race Speed. That's not a bad thing -- in fact, I found that the opposite is true. Air Race Speed manages to be an exhilarating racing title without useless complexities and controls. While bells and whistles appeal to a certain gaming demographic, the best games are ones that are elegant just by successfully executing all of the basics. Air Race Speed is a superb example of this. Grab it for $2.99 in the iOS App Store.
Rumors of a major Destiny expansion swirl
Speculation on what's coming next for Destiny is a cottage industry for fans, and an old image from October is making the rounds as a possible reveal of the game's future plans. The image may or may not be legitimate, but it suggests that the second expansion/DLC pack for the game is launching on March 10th, 2015, with three new story missions and a playable area (the Reef) that is briefly visited by characters but is not currently a playable region. The image then suggest a major expansion, Plague of Darkness, launching in September 2015. Speculation is that this would serve as a sort of re-launch of the game, with bundled versions available as well as standalones for players who have already played the game; the expansion would feature another subclass for all three classes as well as a dozen new story missions and new playable areas. Take a look at the compiled information and decide for yourself how likely the rumor is in the end.
This DIY hoverboard combines ingenuity and four leaf blowers
Let's all just be honest here for a moment: Who among us hasn't wanted to strap an array of leaf blowers to our feet in hopes that we could float in mid-air. Oh. No? Well then, at least one person saw the untapped potential of those raucous foliage movers. According to CNET's Crave blog, Austin, Texas-based maker Ryan Craven got caught up in the commotion surrounding the heart-crushingly fake HUVr and decided to make his own using some elbow grease and those off-the-shelf yardwork tools.
Diablo was once considered for an MMO, but no longer
In many ways Diablo III seemed like the sort of game that would lead naturally into an MMO for the franchise. The online functionality is there, the options are there, and it's not as if Blizzard's big MMO didn't derive quite a bit from the framework of Diablo II, after all. But according to content designer Kevin Martens, there are no current plans to take the franchise into an MMO space, even though there were plans to do exactly that not too long ago. The original thinking was that Diablo III would be the sort of game that could evolve its setting to a point where an MMO felt organic, natural, and appropriate. However, a shift in corporate culture and overall development focus cut those plans short before they went much further than discussion. Seeing how players enjoy Diablo III and what they like about the game has resulted in a shift in focus with more future content for the game... but no MMO exploration.
Future shutters last official Nintendo UK magazine
The Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK will be shut down on November 11, Future Publishing and Nintendo announced today. The magazine's staff will be shifted to other positions within the company. "Nintendo will continue to speak directly to fans via Nintendo Direct, our social media and online channels and public events," noted the magazine on its website. Future's unofficial Nintendo UK magazine stopped publishing in 2012, the same year that North America's Nintendo Power ceased operations. Future Publishing continues to try and find its financial footing in an online world.
