Month: December 2017

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Remember when Valve used to make new games, instead of just making insanely popular platforms for selling games (and hats and skins)? Valve promised a partial return to those days today with the announcement of a brand-new Portal game... that just so happens to be built as an expansion to Bridge Constructor.

OK, this might not be the Portal sequel that everyone was expecting or hoping for (that would probably require putting a "3" on the game's title, which we all know Valve can't do). Still, the teaser trailer for the Bridge Constructor Portal—being developed alongside Headup Games and Clockstone Software—shows the same kind of physics-based gameplay that has made both Portal and Bridge Constructor into hits with fans of emergent design.

And GLaDOS makes an appearance, too. What more could a Portal fan reasonably want?

Enlarge / A 38mm Apple Watch Series 2 (left) next to a 42mm Apple Watch Series 3 (right). (credit: Valentina Palladino)

The latest software update for Apple Watch is now available, just a few days after Apple released iOS 11.2 earlier than expected. The biggest link between the iDevice and Watch software updates is Apple Pay Cash, which is now available for Apple's wearable in watchOS 4.2

Apple Pay Cash lets US-based users send and receive money through iMessage, with funds drawn from a linked credit or debit card. Those who receive money get it in the form of an Apple Pay Cash Card, which they can then use to pay for things through the Apple Wallet app or transfer that money to a bank account. On the Apple Watch, users can tap the new Apple Pay Cash button at the bottom of an iMessage conversation to initiate a payment to that contact.

This means users won't need to open their iPhone to make an Apple Pay Cash payment; the transaction can be made directly from the Watch. However, Apple Pay Cash on watchOS 4.2 will only work when the wearable is paired with an iPhone running iOS 11.2.

Enlarge / The Apple TV 4K and remote. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the forthcoming appearance of Amazon Prime Video to the Apple TV earlier this year, but the launch kept getting pushed back for unknown reasons. Now, Amazon's Prime Video app is finally rolling out on the tvOS app store. The Prime Video iOS app was recently updated to version 5.0 and the release notes state that subscribers can download a separate tvOS app on their Apple TV to watch Prime Video content on that device.

Although we were able to download it this morning, according to a report by 9to5Mac, the Amazon Prime Video app may not show up for all users in a tvOS app store search. If it doesn't show up there, you can find the new app by searching for "Amazon" in the tvOS app store, selecting the Amazon Shopping app, and finding the new Prime Video app in the "More by this Developer" section at the bottom of the page. In order to use the Prime Video app, you must have a third-generation Apple TV or newer device.

Cook first announced the launch of Amazon Prime Video for Apple's set-top box back at WWDC in June, and the first release was set for sometime this summer. But the summertime came and went and Apple TV users continued to go without Prime Video. Some suspected the launch would coincide with the iPhone X event in September, but no. Now, Amazon Prime Video joins a number of other big streaming services, including Netflix and Hulu, that have tvOS apps. Previously, any Amazon Prime Video content could only play on an Apple TV through AirPlay from another device.

Video shot by Joshua Ballinger, edited and produced by Jing Niu and David Minick. Transcript will be available shortly. (video link)

We've just kicked off our celebration of 50 years of Apollo, "The Greatest Leap," with the first of a seven-part series on the people and technology that put 12 humans on the Moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The first part, which we ran yesterday, examined the accident that claimed the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee—a tragedy known within NASA simply as "the Fire." The piece is based around dozens of hours of interviews with the men and women who were at NASA and witnessed the events as they happened.

It's the nature of documentary filmmaking that you always end up with more miles of footage than you can ever realistically use, and it felt like a tragic waste to let so much historically important discussion sit unseen in an archive somewhere. So, starting today and continuing over the next few weeks, we're publishing the full interviews with all of our Apollo stars. Think of 'em as DVD special features. The interviews are un-redacted and complete, though they have been cleaned up and very lightly edited to remove stuff like lighting changes, equipment adjustments, and bathroom breaks.