December 20, 2019… That’s when we’ll see the final film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Episode IX has been name “The Rise of Skywalker” and the first trailer has just come out .
Directed by J.J. Abrams, who directed The Force Awakens back in 2015. According to Abrams, the new installment takes place sometime after Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, in which Leia Organa’s Resistance movement was forced on the run and battered by the First Order.
Josh Dzieza, writing for The Verge:
Starting last June, officials with the Taiwanese tech manufacturing giant began popping up in all corners of the state and announcing new projects. It had been almost a year since then-Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) offered the company a subsidy package that came to total $4.5 billion. Both Walker, who was in the midst of a reelection campaign, and Foxconn, which had just confirmed that it would build a far smaller factory than it had initially promised, seemed eager to make a good impression.
First, there was Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, announcing a new headquarters and “innovation center” in Milwaukee. Days later, Gou was standing in a field 40 minutes south in Mount Pleasant, digging gold shovels into the dirt with Walker, Paul Ryan, and President Trump, who declared Foxconn’s factory the “eighth wonder of the world.” Then it was off to Green Bay, where Foxconn announced another innovation center, and then Eau Claire, where Foxconn announced two more — a full “technology hub.”
Next came a $100 million gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a venture fund, and competitions to design the innovation centers, with fast turnarounds — just two weeks to submit proposals — and plans to open in just months. As summer turned to fall, Foxconn kept going: an innovation center for Racine, and another groundbreaking, for a Foxconn expansion at a nearby technical college. More branded ball caps, more gold shovels. One observer quipped that Foxconn had created jobs in the Wisconsin events business, at least.
Then the announcements stopped.
In January, work at the Mount Pleasant factory came to a halt, and Foxconn officials began to publicly waffle about their plans. In the span of a single week, Woo said that the company wouldn’t build a factory, then that whatever Foxconn was building “cannot be simply described as a factory,” then, after a call with Trump, that Foxconn would build a factory after all.
Throughout its gyrations, Foxconn maintained that it would create 13,000 jobs, though what those 13,000 people would be doing shifted gradually from manufacturing to research into what Foxconn calls its “AI 8K+5G ecosystem.” Other than buzzwords for high-resolution screens and high-speed cell networks, what this ecosystem is has never been fully explained. In February, a Foxconn executive cheerfully likened the company’s vague, morphing plans to designing and building an airplane midflight.
Such statements have not been particularly reassuring to residents of Wisconsin, where state and local governments have already taken very concrete actions to prepare the way for what was supposed to be an enormous manufacturing facility. Taxpayers have already spent more than $300 million on roadwork, infrastructure, and land acquisition related to the project. In August, Moody’s downgraded Mount Pleasant’s credit rating over the extreme levels of debt it took on for the area’s $763 million incentive package, costs that have since grown closer to a billion, in part because it had to take out higher interest long-term loans after Foxconn’s plans changed. Dozens of residents have been relocated, some under threat of eminent domain.
Adding to the confusion is the comical level of secrecy that’s shrouding the Foxconn project. The company almost never grants interviews. Even Mount Pleasant’s Village Board is supposed to route all Foxconn-related questions through a public relations firm. Getting answers is so difficult that a local TV reporter recently drove to the house of village president Dave DeGroot, who, hiding behind his half-closed door, told the reporter to go away.
Mount Pleasant residents engage in Kremlinology based on overheard conversations at local bars and which contractors are seen coming and going from the site, which is heavily patrolled by private security. Even then, appearances can be misleading. Most of the construction that was visible from the roads in Mount Pleasant this winter wasn’t being done by Foxconn, but by government contractors building roads and utilities.
As for the innovation centers announced across the state, Foxconn has bought property, but beyond that, much is unclear, including what an “innovation center” actually is.
By mid-March, it had been weeks without any update on the project, and the state officials I had been talking to were mystified as to what was happening. I decided to go to Wisconsin to see how things were going. After so many events in half a dozen cities, surely I would find Foxconn somewhere?
Josh’s article is pretty in-depth on where Foxconn currently stands in their Wisconsin expansion, it’s definitely worth a read, maybe even a couple reads to catch details you might miss the first time.
Matthew Panzarino reporting that Apple has confirmed that AirPower, the wireless charger with support for multiple devices first announced in September 2017, has been cancelled (to the surprise of nobody at this point).
“After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project. We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward,” said Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering in an emailed statement today.
The AirPower was originally teased back in September 12, 2017, when Apple unveiled the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, Apple Watch Series 3, Apple TV 4K, and related OS updates.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, presented a sneak peek of a new wireless charging mat Apple was developing, named AirPower, which could charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously. At the time, Apple said the AirPower charger would be available in 2018
And today, after numerous delays, it’s official that it will never go beyond that tease.
APPLE CARD: Sounds good, but “low interest rate” is just words. I’d like to see the actual numbers. Kind of interesting that you get 2% cash back on Apple Pay purchases and only 1% when you use the actual card.
[…]
APPLE NEWS PLUS: Are magazines still a thing? Didn’t Apple go down this same path with Newsstand back when the iPad first launched?
[…]
APPLE ARCADE: This was the most cohesive announcement of the day. Easy to understand what it is, why you’d want it, and what the value proposition is. It looks like Apple is spending a fortune funding these exclusive games. I think this is going to be a big hit, and it makes Google’s “we’ve got games running on our servers” thing from last week look a bit silly. Most interesting to me is how much Apple emphasized the Mac and Apple TV. But why not tell us the price?
John has a few good points, I don’t necessarily agree with what he thinks of Google’s Stadia Service compared to Apple Arcade, but time will tell which comes out on top.
While similar, both services have their good features so it’ll be a toss up here.
APPLE TV CHANNELS AND TV PLUS: This whole thing was… weird. I get what Channels is — the infamous “skinny bundle” that Eddy Cue has been trying to put together for years. Paying only for the channels you want is the right way to do this, but obviously a nightmare to negotiate with the actual networks and channels. It’s also coming to Roku and Amazon FireTV, which I understand but feels so strange.
This one, I have to agree with John on entirely. This has been something Apple has wanted to do for a while now and launching on other platforms makes sense while seeming like a strange move for Apple. Google and Amazon launch their apps on Apple but when has Apple launched an app on another service before?
Roku and FireTV are also interesting choices, I can’t help but notice they’ve left out an Android app for android devices such as the nvidia shield, if they specifically wanted it TV only, it wouldn’t be hard to make it compatible only for Android TV devices rather than all devices, but this is definitely a stab at Android, and given their market share for TV streaming is hard to miss.
Tom Warren, writing for The Verge:
Google is launching its Stadia cloud gaming service at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who says he plays FIFA 19 “quite a bit,” introduced the Stadia service during a special keynote at GDC this morning. Describing it as a platform for everyone, Pichai talked up Google’s ambitions to stream games to all types of devices.
Phil Harrison, a former Sony and Microsoft executive, joined Pichai onstage to fully unveil Stadia in his role at Google. Harrison says Google will amplify this game streaming service by using YouTube and the many creators that already create game clips on the service. Google previously tested this service as Project Stream in recent months, allowing Chrome users to stream games in their browser. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was the first and only game to be tested publicly using Google’s service, and the public tests finished in January.
Of course, Google won’t limit Stadia to just one game. Google demonstrated a new feature in YouTube that lets you view a game clip from a creator and then hit “play now” to instantly stream the title. “Stadia offers instant access to play,” says Harrison, without the need to download or install any games. At launch, games will be streamable across laptops, desktops, TVs, tablets, and phones.
Google demonstrated moving gameplay seamlessly from a phone to a tablet and then to a TV, all using Google-powered devices. While existing USB controllers will work on a laptop or PC, Google is also launching a new Stadia Controller that will power the game streaming service. It looks like a cross between an Xbox and PS4 controller, and it will work with the Stadia service by connecting directly through Wi-Fi to link it to a game session in the cloud. This will presumably help with latency and moving a game from one device to another. You can also use a button to capture and share clips straight to YouTube, or use another button to access the Google Assistant.
To power all of this cloud streaming, Google is leveraging its global infrastructure of data centers to ensure servers are as close to players around the world as possible. That’s a key part of Stadia, as lower latency is a necessity to stream games effectively across the internet. Google will support up to 4K at 60 fps at launch, and it’s planning to support up to 8K resolutions and 120 fps in the future.
The nvidia shield does a similar service with Steam and it works pretty decently. It should be interesting to see Google’s take on this.
Apple today introduced the all-new iPad Air in an ultra-thin 10.5-inch design, offering the latest innovations including Apple Pencil support and high-end performance at a breakthrough price. With the A12 Bionic chip with Apple’s Neural Engine, the new iPad Air delivers a 70 percent boost in performance and twice the graphics capability, and the advanced Retina display with True Tone technology is nearly 20 percent larger with over half a million more pixels.
Apple today also introduced the new 7.9-inch iPad mini, a major upgrade for iPad mini fans who love a compact, ultra-portable design packed with the latest technology. With the A12 Bionic chip, the new iPad mini is a powerful multi-tasking machine, delivering three times the performance and nine times faster graphics. The advanced Retina display with True Tone technology and wide color support is 25 percent brighter and has the highest pixel density of any iPad, delivering an immersive visual experience in any setting. And with Apple Pencil support, the new iPad mini is the perfect take-anywhere notepad for sketching and jotting down thoughts on the go.
The Verge:
Tim Cook is a pretty well-known figure in the business world. I know a lot of people don’t care about computers and that’s fine, but if you’re in the industry or having some sort of professional interaction with him, I have to think people usually know his name going in.
And yet, at an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting today, the president pretty unmistakably called Tim Cook “Tim Apple.”
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I went through the trouble of transcribing what the president said, just to be sure this is all really happening:
We’re going to be opening up the labor forces because we have to. We have so many companies coming in,” Trump says. “People like Tim — you’re expanding all over and doing things that I really wanted you to do right from the beginning. I used to say, ‘Tim, you gotta start doing it here,’ and you really have you’ve really put a big investment in our country. We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.
Trump just called Apple CEO Tim Cook “Tim Apple” pic.twitter.com/gTHHtjWvc9
— Sean O'Kane (@sokane1) March 6, 2019
Tim took it in stride and in response has updated his twitter handle to Tim Apple
Andrew Webster for The Verge:
Nintendo’s getting into virtual reality, but not in the way you might expect. Today, the gaming giant announced the latest in its Labo line of DIY cardboard accessories, which turns the Nintendo Switch into a makeshift VR kit.
As with previous Labo sets, there are a few options to choose from. The main VR kit costs $79.99 and includes six different cardboard kits to build, including VR goggles, a blaster, a camera, and an… elephant, as well as a screen holder and “safety cap.” For those looking to spend a bit less, there’s also a basic starter kit that includes just the goggles and blaster for $39.99.
Additional accessories like the elephant can be purchased late in $20 sets. The kits will include Labo software, which features games, step-by-step instructions, and the “garage” mode for building your own Labo creations.
The PlayStation Vita is officially done. Sony signaled that it has ended production on the handheld gaming console’s last two models on the Vita’s product page (via Polygon).
Launched in 2011, the Vita never quite caught on around the world, a victim of increased competition from smartphone apps, selling only 16.1 million units, a far cry from the PlayStation Portable that preceded it, and from Nintendo’s Switch that followed it.
The writing has been on the wall for the Vita for a while — while a fun and quirky platform for indie games, audiences and major publishers simply haven’t kept up with the device. Sony said that it would end production of the device in 2019, and that it had no plans to release a successor handheld device when it goes, and that it would end production of the physical game cards for the device at the end of the 2018 fiscal year — March 31st, 2019.
Sony has been killing the Vita off for a while, but they have finally officially ended production of this device now.
I still own a PSP, I have it set up to run a bunch of emulators and let me play hundreds of retro games on it, I’ve even set the same thing up for my daughter.
I never really got into the Vita, which is the case for a lot of people obviously.
Victoria Song, writing for Gizmodo:
Those quirky Amazon Dash buttons will soon be dead, gone, no more. Intended to be an easy way to reorder items, Amazon has now pulled them from sale worldwide and seems to be admitting that no one really needs them.
When the Dash buttons were originally introduced in 2015, it was hard to believe they weren’t an April Fool’s joke.But no, Amazon was serious about making it even easier for consumers to buy crap. Admittedly, some of the buttons had practical applications, especially when it came to bulk items like laundry detergent or kitty litter. But as time went on, they got increasingly ridiculous, with Dash buttons for products like pistachios, Pop Tarts, Calvin Klein underwear, Trojans, and Red Bull. (If you’re using so much underwear you need a Dash button, you should maybe rethink your life choices.)
So what killed the Dash? In a statement to GeekWire, Amazon said that customers are increasingly using product subscriptions and digital automatic reordering options. The company also credits increased Alexa-based shopping as another reason Dash buttons simply aren’t necessary anymore.
That doesn’t mean existing Dash button owners are out of luck. Amazon says it will continue support existing buttons. So if you really love your Kraft Macaroni and Cheese button, you can keep clicking until it physically wears away into nothing but beat-up plastic and a circuit board.“Existing Dash Button customers can continue to use their Dash Button devices,” Amazon said in its statement. “We look forward to continuing support for our customers’ shopping needs, including growing our Dash Replenishment product line-up and expanding availability of virtual Dash Buttons.”