With new trailers hitting YouTube over the past few days, Nintendo has decided this was the time to release a cute new emoji of the god of Pokémon, Arceus.
Rumours about the upcoming next-generation Motorola Razr 3 outline a smartphone far more promising than its predecessors, according to a source who reached out to XDA Developers.
This source indicates that the smartphone will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 next-gen processor, an HD AMOLED display, up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
The device is also poised to sport ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, which should allow the foldable to work with digital car keys and other UWB-compatible accessories and devices.
The first two Motorola smartphones weren’t well-received as they both featured 700 series processors instead of the flagship 800 series. Additionally, they weren’t waterproof and lacked any 120Hz refresh rate displays.
It’s unclear if Motorola Razr 3 will be as premium as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3, but only time will tell.
As the chip shortage brings assembly lines worldwide to a crawl, Canon is the latest company to be hit with supply issues, forcing the Japanese company to teach users how to get around its ink cartridge DRM.
If you’re wondering what DRM is, it stands for Digital Rights Management. It’s most well known in the video game and music industries ensuring that users aren’t stealing content. If you’ve ever wondered why you need to be online to play a video game you’ve downloaded, it’s because the video game system is using a form of DRM to make sure you’re the only person playing that digital copy of the title.
Canon utilizes its form of DRM to make sure printer owners are more likely to use Canon ink in their devices. However, to do this, the ink cartridges require an authentication chip. Since the shortage, Canon has had to stop adding this chip to its ink cartridges, resulting in its printers no longer verifying if the ink is authentic or how much is even left in the pod.
This means that when some users pop one of these Canon ink cartridges into their printer, the machine tells them that the ink is fraudulent. Luckily though, Canon has shared a way around this issue: close whatever windows might pop open and continue printing.
In some cases, you might have to take the ink cartridge out and put it back in, says Canon. Further, if the printer says you’re out of ink, you should also be able to still use it.
Despite seemingly performing well behind Sony’s PlayStation 5 (PS5) and still not releasing official statistics, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S seems to be selling exceedingly well.
In an interview with The New York Times, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, said that “At this point, we’ve sold more of Xbox Series X|S than we had any previous version of Xbox.” Unfortunately, Spencer did not go into additional detail in the interview, but this certainly bodes well for the brand’s future. Though sales numbers are unofficial, several sources point to the Series X/S selling in the range of 11 million consoles since their launch.
It seems Xbox Game Pass’ attractive package of hundreds of games, including notable first-party titles like Halo Infiniteand Forza Horizon 5,has struck a chord with the gaming world.
Microsoft hasn’t published official Xbox sales statistics since the early days of the Xbox One generation. On the other hand, Sony’s most recent sales figures from back in July 2021 revealed that the PS5 sold 10 million consoles since its release. Given the busy holiday season that just passed, that number is likely even higher despite ongoing console shortages.
Considering how rare the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are right now, it will be interesting to see how well the consoles sell once Microsoft and Sony are finally able to meet the demand from consumers.
The Pokémon Company’s upcoming title, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, is almost here, and just ahead of its official release, Nintendo has dropped new trailer for the game.
The trailer doesn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know about the game, but it does offer a great look at Arceus’ open world.
In the trailer, we get another look at riding Pokémon, a variety of Pocket Monsters, crafting, and a reminder that the game focuses on building the world’s very first Pokédex.
Pokémon Legends Arceus is an open-world title that’s more similar to the Monster Hunter series than a traditional Pokémon game. In Arceus, the player explores Sinnoh region before the world of Pokémon Gyms. The game is set to include new fighting styles and several never-seen-before Pokémon.
Apple says that App Store developers have earned more than $260 billion USD (about $329 billion CAD) since the store launched back in 2008, according to a press release from the tech giant.
Last year, Apple revealed that developers made $200 billion USD (roughly $253 billion CAD) since the App Store’s creation, indicating that in 2021, the platform made $60 billion (approximately $76 billion CAD). The tech giant went on to say that between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve 2021, revenue grew in the double-digits, though it doesn’t offer specific numbers in its press release.
While the App Store seems to have experienced a big 12-months amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 30 percent revenue cut Apple takes from all apps and subscriptions sold on the platform came under fire this year. The tech giant is also still involved in a legal battle with Fortnite developer Epic Games regarding the App Store. Given the Epic vs. Apple ruling is currently on hold, it’s unclear when Apple will be forced to allow developers to offer alternate payment methods through apps offered in the App Store.
Apple’s press release also mentions there are now more than 745 million paid subscriptions to its various services, including Apple Music, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple TV+ and more. Though the tech giant doesn’t offer a breakdown of subscriber numbers, this is good news for Apple as it continues to transition to being a services-focused company.
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMTC) has created an entirely 3D printed OLED display, similar to those used in modern televisions, monitors and smartphones, using a customized 3D printer.
The new study might pave the way for future OLED displays that could be mass-produced at home using 3D printers rather than by technicians in microfabrication facilities. Published by the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances and published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the study might lay the groundwork for future DIY at-home screen repairs.
“OLED displays are usually produced in big, expensive, ultra-clean fabrication facilities,” said Michael McAlpine, the senior author of the study and the University of Minnesota Kuhrmeyer family chair professor, department of Mechanical Engineering. “We wanted to see if we could basically condense all of that down and print an OLED display on our table-top 3D printer, which was custom built.”
OLED panels function by converting electricity into light through the use of an organic material layer. According to the university, they attempted to 3D print an OLED screen in the past to no avail because the uniformity of the light-emitting layers caused issues. This time however, the University of Minnesota team created a six device layer using two different 3D printing techniques, resulting in a “fully 3D-printed, flexible organic light-emitting diode display.”
Some components of the display were extrusion printed, whereas some layers were spray printed, as seen in the video above. The result was a flexible OLED display prototype which is about 1.5 inches on each side and had 64 working pixels.
“I thought I would get something, but maybe not a fully working display,” said Ruitao Su, the first author of the study and a 2020 University of Minnesota mechanical engineering Ph.D. graduate. “But then it turns out all the pixels were working, and I can display the text I designed. My first reaction was ‘It is real!’ I was not able to sleep, the whole night.”
Since the current test display is too small (64 pixels), the university’s next objective is to design a higher resolution display with improved brightness. For reference, a regular 1080p display contains millions of pixels, so the team certainly has a long way to go.
Also, don’t expect to be dishing out OLED displays from home any time soon. The 3D printer used by UMTC is a custom one and costs about the same as a Tesla Model S.
Learn more about the study here and or read the research paper here to dive deep into the project.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and his Power On newsletter, Apple is against the concept of creating an all-virtual metaverse world for its long-rumoured augmented reality headset.
Gurman’s sources claim that the idea is “off-limits” and that the focus of the device is on communication, content viewing and gaming. Rumours surrounding the AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality) headset indicate that its display features a resolution of 8K per eye, several tracking cameras and a roughly $3,000 USD price tag (about $3,882 CAD).
Further, leaks suggest that the headset will feature more than a dozen cameras for tracking hand movements.
If these rumours are accurate, this could differentiate Apple’s headset significantly from Facebook’s Meta’s, with Facebook’s strategy focusing heavily on the concept of creating a Ready Play One-like virtual world. Some rumours point to Apple revealing its mixed reality headset in 2022.
In his Power On newsletter, Gurman also offered more information regarding Apple’s rumoured 2022 iPhone SE refresh. He says that the entry-level smartphone will maintain an iPhone 8-like design, but that it will feature 5G and the iPhone 13’s processor.
In a bid to keep up with Apple Music and Amazon, last year, Spotify announced it would begin to offer a new high-fidelity Music tier for an additional cost.
The Swedish music streaming giant said the high-res music option would launch by the end of 2021, but since that year has come and gone, it’s become unclear when the feature will release.
9to5Machas discovered a Spotify forum thread where a moderator mentions that Spotify doesn’t have any “timing details to share yet.”
As disappointing as this delay is, I’m not sure how much of a draw Spotify’s HiFi offering will be for listeners. Since it’s going to cost more than $10 per month, the price for Apple and Amazon’s top-tier offerings. That being said, Spotify still offers numerous other features in its favour. You can read how the music streaming service stacks up against its competitors here.
It’s weird Spotify is keeping the timeline under wraps for the HiFi tier’s release. This leads me to believe that it might be a lot further away than expected.
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