Month: April 2018

Enlarge / This 2017 concept art might be the closest we get to new Final Fantasy VII remake footage for a while.

We're now approaching three full years since Sony first announced it was remaking the beloved Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 4. In that time, we've only seen a quick trailer's worth of gameplay footage (itself now over two years old) and a few scattered pieces of concept art for the mysterious project.

Now, a new Japanese job posting from publisher Square Enix suggests the developers are still in the early stages of the project, which aims to be something much more ambitious than a simple remake of the 1997 original.

As translated by Gematsu, Square Enix's new job posting is looking for a "Battle Planner" that will lead the "creation of a battle system that combines commands and action" (this despite the fact that battle scenes were shown in a 2015 trailer for the project). The publisher is also filling a "Level Planner" position that will devise ideas for level designs and help construct a "workflow for location production."

While Amazon's Alexa successfully infiltrated homes via Echo devices over the past few years, the company reportedly continues to look for new ways that it can make homes smarter. According to a Bloomberg report, Amazon is secretly developing a "domestic robot" that may be a portable home for its virtual assistant.

The project is codenamed "Vesta" after the Roman goddess of the hearth, home, and family. According to people familiar with the plans, Vesta is being led by Gregg Zehr, the head of Amazon's Lab126 hardware research and development division. That same group developed devices, including the popular Echo smart speakers, Fire TV set-top boxes, and Fire tablets.

While the project has reportedly been in the works for years, Amazon appears to be hiring more employees for Lab126 to focus on robotics. There are a number of new robotics-related job listings on the Lab126 website, including one for an Applied Robotics Scientist position. However, most other listings now produce a 404 error page when clicked.

Enlarge / One of the 2016 MacBook Pros. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple quietly launched a new battery replacement program to help a "limited number" of MacBook Pro users. According to the program's webpage, some 13-inch MacBook Pros without Touch Bars may experience component failure that causes the built-in battery to swell. It's not a safety issue, but Apple will replace batteries on the affected laptops for free.

The company didn't provide details about which component inside these MacBook Pros could fail and cause the battery to expand. Affected laptops were manufactured between October 2016 and October 2017, and users can check to see if their device is eligible by inputting the device's serial number into the program's webpage. Older MacBook Pros and MacBook Pro models with Touch Bars shouldn't be affected.

If your device is eligible for the battery replacement program, you can either take your laptop to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or an Apple retail store to have it serviced. Authorized personnel may need to send the laptop to Apple's Repair Center for a few days, and you have the option to immediately send the device into the repair center yourself rather than going to a store first. Apple advises users to back up all data on their MacBook Pros and repair any other problems with the device before getting it serviced.

Earlier this month, executives at Eventbrite—the popular Internet event-ticketing platform used by thousands of event organizers, including many information security conferences—made a change in the company's "Merchant Agreement" that many missed until this past week. That change added a section to the agreement entitled "Permission You Grant Us to Film and Record Your Events," asserted broad rights over the content of events that use Eventbrite for ticketing. As word spread this past weekend about the changes, many event organizers reacted with shock to the terms and began scrambling to find alternatives to the Eventbrite platform. Facing a backlash to the new language, Eventbrite pulled the section from the Agreement's text on Sunday afternoon.

The new terms asserted that Eventbrite staff had the right to "enter and remain" at any event organized with the platform, record the entirety of event with video and photography—including setup and break-down of the event—and retain copyright over everything recorded. The language would have required event organizers to assure Eventbrite was afforded copyright over all the content of the event "for any purpose."

"You are responsible for obtaining, at your own cost, all third party permissions, clearances, and licenses necessary to secure Eventbrite the permissions and rights described above," the terms stated.