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Amazon Luna cloud gaming service now available in Canada

Amazon has launched its Luna cloud gaming service in Canada.

The platform debuted in the U.S. last March and is now finally expanding to Canada, as well as the U.K. and Germany.

With Luna, users can a variety of games on Fire TV, Fire tablets, PCs, Chromebooks, iOS, Android, Macs and more.

A few games will be available to stream at no additional cost for Prime members, including Mega Man 11. This selection will rotate every month.

Otherwise, there are three subscription options — referred to as “channels” — available for Luna:

  • Luna+ ($12.99/month with a 7-day trial) — includes dozens of games from various publishers, such as Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 2, Sonic Colors Ultimate and Yakuza Kiwami
  • Ubisoft+ ($22.99/month) — dozens of games from Ubisoft’s catalogue, including Far Cry 6, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Beyond Good & Evil and Watch Dogs: Legion
  • Jackbox Games ($6.49/month) — includes every Jackbox party game (Quiplash, Trivia Murder Party, Drawful and more)

Amazon’s channels approach is markedly different from what Google tried with its now-shuttered Stadia cloud gaming service, where you were primarily required to purchase games à la carte. It’s also more in line with the subscription model adopted by the likes Xbox Game Pass and Nvidia GeForce Now.

Additionally, Amazon is selling its proprietary Nintendo Switch Pro Controller-esque Luna gamepad on its website for $89.99. It’s intended to connect directly with Amazon’s services for a low-latency experience. However, some Bluetooth controllers, like PlayStation’s DualShock 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox Wireless Controller, are also supported. You can also use mouse and keyboard.

More information on Amazon Luna can be found here.

Image credit: Amazon 

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Mobile Syrup

The Weather Network comes to free streaming app Pluto TV

Pluto TV’s latest free ad-supported television channel (FAST) is The Weather Network, making it the first subscription-free streaming platform in Canada to offer in-depth weather coverage.

According to a recent press release, Pluto TV’s take on The Weather Network offers real-time weather coverage of major Canadian cities, weather stories, long-form programs and content exclusive to the FAST channel and a new morning show developed for a “streaming audience” that features Matt Di Nicolantonio and Michael Vann. Long-form programming includes Storm Hunters, Captured, Power to the People and more.

Other recent additions to Pluto TV’s lineup include Blue Ant Media-owned FAST channels HauntTV, Crimetime, HistoryTime and Homeful.

The streaming app is owned by Paramount, which also operates its Powermount+ premium streaming service. Pluto TV is available online or through the app on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Android TV, Chromecast, Samsung and LG devices, and via mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play.

MobileSyrup is a division of Blue Ant Media. 

Image credit: Pluto TV

Source: Newswire

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Mobile Syrup

Toronto-based Nanoleaf unveils new Matter-compatible smart lights

Toronto-based smart light company Nanoleaf is rolling out three new Matter-compatible lights as part of its ‘Essentials’ line.

The A19/BR30 bulbs and a new Lightstrip are the “first ever Matter smart lighting available on the market,” Nanoleaf said in a press release. The lights work with Matter over Thread for seamless setup and control and offer white and RGB lighting.

Matter, for those unfamiliar, is a new open-source standard for smart homes that should make it much easier to set up internet-connected devices and make them work with other internet-connected devices. Thread is the networking protocol used to wirelessly connect all of these devices.

“We’re so excited to not only launch our first Matter products, but to be the first company to offer Matter over Thread smart lighting to users today,” said Gimmy Chu, Nanoleaf CEO and co-founder, in the press release.

Moreover, Nanoleaf said its existing modular light panels and light bars, including Shapes, Elements, Canvas and Lines, will receive an over-the-air update later this year to make them compatible with Matter.

Nanoleaf’s Matter-enabled lights will open for pre-order on March 22nd on the company’s website. The A19 smart bulb and Lightstrip will be globally available on Nanoleaf’s website with pricing ranging from $19.99 to $49.99. Moreover, the upcoming BR30 bulb will be available starting April 2023, with other new bulbs like the GU10 and a recessed downlight coming later this year.

Learn more here.

Image credit: Nanoleaf

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Mobile Syrup

Google’s Assistant team is helping with Bard

Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are all the rage right now thanks to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4, Microsoft’s Bing Chat (which runs on GPT-4) and now Google’s Bard, which is available in preview in the U.S. and U.K. The main way to interact with these services now is through text and chat interfaces. But what if you could speak to the AI instead? It might not be too far away.

At least, that seems to be the direction Google wants to go. As noted by 9to5Google, the search giant has previously expressed its Assistant as a product where it wants to incorporate “better conversational features.” Though that hasn’t happened yet, the Google Assistant team is helping lead Bard development, suggesting there’s a clear path to integration.

Google told 9to5 that Bard is an experimental service and is separate from Google Assistant, even though Sissie Hsiao, vice president and general manager of Google Assistant, joined Eli Collins, vice president of Google Research, to announce the company was opening access to Bard.

While the products remain separate for now, Google does see the potential crossover. For example, the Assistant team has worked on conversational AI and speech understanding for years, skills that can and have been applied to Bard.

Plus, 9to5 argues that the Assistant team has plenty of experience turning research into products and services that regular people can use with ease.

Given how quickly these AI tools have improved in the short time they’ve been publicly available, it’s hard to say how long it’ll be before we gain access to something like a Bard-powered Google Assistant. But I do think it’ll happen sooner than people expect, barring any significant problems arising from Bard.

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Save up to 20 percent on select Xbox Wireless Controllers today

If you’re in the market for a new controller, check out these deals on the Xbox Series X/S gamepad from Amazon Canada

The Xbox Series X/S gamepad has received several design upgrades that significantly enhance its functionality compared to the Xbox One controller. These upgrades include textured grips, triggers, and a redesigned D-Pad, which provide a solid gaming experience.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Source: Amazon Canada

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Mobile Syrup

This Is Not a Ceremony VR experience now available on Meta Quest TV

This Is Not a Ceremony is a 21-minute-long VR experience from Niitsitapi writer and director Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon). The cinematic VR Experience first made its world premiere at Sundance 2022 and is now available on Meta Quest TV.

If you have a Meta Quest TV-compatible device, you can view the experience anywhere in the world free of cost. The experience is available to view in English, French and Blackfoot.

“In many Indigenous nations including the Blackfoot Confederacy and Piikani Nation, we have a tradition of witnessing where the witness becomes responsible to the community,” said Ahnahktsipiitaa in a statement given to Global News last year. “I really wanted to take that idea and infuse it into this piece.”

The experience recounts two stories about Indigenous men. One concerns Adam North Peigan, who is both the president of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta and a former foster child who experienced displacement during the Sixties Scoop. The other is about Brian Sinclair, who passed away on September 21, 2008, at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre.

This Is Not a Ceremony offers viewers the opportunity to face some of the more challenging aspects of Indigenous life in Canada. Check it out here.

Image credit: MediaSpace

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Mobile Syrup

Ferrari customer info stolen in a data breach

Italian supercar manufacturer Ferrari said that it has fallen victim to a ransomware attack that exposed its customers’ personal information, as shared by TechCrunch.

“We regret to inform you of a cyber incident at Ferrari, where a threat actor was able to access a limited number of systems in our IT environment,” said Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna in a letter sent to affected customers. “As part of this incident, certain data relating to our clients was exposed, including names, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers.”

Ferrari did not disclose how many customers were affected by the breach or how and when the company was compromised, though it did say that no payment details or bank account information was stolen in the breach.

Despite the attack, Ferrari maintained that the operational functions of its company had not been affected. It added that it has not paid the unnamed hackers’ ransom demand, saying that doing so “does not fundamentally change the data exposure.” Instead, Ferrari is working with “third-party experts” to reinforce its systems and investigate the breach.

Ferrari’s statement about the breach can be found here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Ferrari Via: TechCrunch

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Mobile Syrup

The Boys helped Ontario film and TV production achieve record-breaking 2022

Ontario reported its highest-ever film and TV production levels in 2022, bringing in $3.15 billion to the province’s economy.

The news comes from Ontario Creates, the government division focused on growing Ontario’s creative industries. Altogether, 2022 productions led to the creation of 45,891 full-time equivalent direct and spin-off jobs in Ontario.

In particular, Ontario Creates pointed to two major productions in the province: Women Talking, an Oscar-winning drama film from Toronto’s Sarah Polley, and Prime Video’s The Boys, which was 2022’s most-watched superhero series. Both were filmed in Toronto, with production on The Boys Season 4 still underway in the city.

Other recent movies and shows filmed in Ontario include Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and Sex/Life, Paramount’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the upcoming Keifer Sutherland-led Rabbit Hole and Crave’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

Meanwhile, Ontario Creates found that domestic film and TV production contributed $1.20 billion, an increase of 25 percent. This means it now accounts for 38 percent of total film and TV production spending in Ontario, a four percent increase from 2021.

Ontario Creates notes that this doesn’t account for commercial production or broadcaster in-house production, which are estimated at over $1.4 billion in 2022. This would bring Ontario productions’ total economic contributions in 2022 to $4.5 billion. It’s also worth stressing that this is only focused on film and television; of the nearly 1,000 studios making up Canada’s $5.5 billion video game industry, roughly 300 are based in Ontario.

Image credit: Amazon

Source: Ontario Creates

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How to navigate Nintendo’s messy eShop to buy Wii U and 3DS games before they’re gone

On March 27th, Nintendo will officially shutter the eShop on its Wii U and 3DS systems.

The move has been met with a fair amount of controversy, especially given Nintendo’s historically poor efforts with preservation.

The closure of the two platforms’ digital storefronts is particularly noteworthy due to the rich, expansive catalogues — roughly $31,000 worth of games — that they possess. Naturally, then, there are a lot of games that people would like to purchase before Nintendo ceases to offer them, potentially indefinitely.

How to get started

However, that’s easier said than done. As MobileSyrup‘s Brad Bennett outlined earlier this year, you can’t actually use a credit card to buy games from the Wii U and 3DS eShops on the systems themselves. Last year, Nintendo removed that functionality, as well as the option to use a prepaid eShop gift card. This means that you’ll have to go to the My Nintendo Store website and add funds using a credit or gift card.

But there’s a catch. Your old Nintendo Network ID, which was used for the Wii U and 3DS, must be linked to your Nintendo Account. Nintendo introduced the latter system in 2017 with the Switch, and it’s been used ever since.

To link the two accounts, you’ll have to:

  • Go to the Nintendo Account site and sign into your Nintendo Account
  • Click ‘User info’
  • Scroll down to ‘Linked accounts’ and click ‘Edit’
  • Click the box next to Nintendo Network ID
  • Follow the on-screen steps

If you’re running into issues with this process, Nintendo has a troubleshooting page.

Buying and downloading the games

3DS games can be purchased from either a 3DS/2DS system or the My Nintendo Store website. Wii U games, however, can only be purchased from the tablet-esque device itself.

As long as you buy any desired games by March 27th, Nintendo says you’ll be able to re-download them “for the foreseeable future.”

What should you buy?

Of course, with so many games available across a bunch of platforms, there’s a lot to play. That said, some worth checking out include:

Wii U: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Star Fox Guard
3DS: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D, Fire Emblem Awakening (and Fates and Echoes), Pokémon X and Y (and Sun and Moon, etc), Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Metroid: Samus Returns, Mario & Luigi (Dream Team, etc)

There are also a ton of retro Virtual Console titles, including Super Mario RPG (SNES), Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS) and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA). It’s worth noting that some retro games are available through the Nintendo Switch Online service, but the vast majority are not.

What games are you planning to get? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Nintendo

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Apple reportedly working on Beats Studio Buds+ with in-house chip

Hints found in the latest iOS 16.4 update indicate that Apple might be working on the successor to the Beats Studio Buds.

According to 9to5Mac, the new buds would be called the Studio Buds+, and will feature Active Noise Cancellation and a Transparency mode, just like the original 2021-released Beats Studio Buds, alongside an in-house Apple chip, instead of a proprietary Beats chip.

Code found in iOS 16.4 early release indicates that the Beats Studio Buds+ will have features similar to those of the AirPods and other Beats wireless earbuds with an Apple chip, like the Powerbeats Pro and the Beats Fit Pro. These features include but aren’t limited to audio sharing and automatic device switching.

Additionally, the upcoming Studio Buds+ are also expected to feature media controls for play/pause and the option to press and hold to switch between different modes. The Beats Studio Buds+ is reportedly codenamed 8214 in iOS 16.4.

The publication was also able to get its hands on leaked images of the Studio Buds+ shown in black colour with gold detailing and a design almost identical to the original Beats Studio Buds.

It is currently unclear when Studio Buds+ could hit the market. Read about the original Beats Studio Buds here.

Image credit: 9to5Mac 

Source: 9to5Mac