Month: June 2019

Enlarge / Controller not shown to scale.

At the 2019 WWDC keynote today, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company is expanding Apple TV controller support to include "two of the best and most popular game controllers available, Xbox One S and PlayStation DualShock 4" with the next tvOS update. Note that this expansion does not include original Xbox One control pads that shipped with the 2013 version of the system—only the Bluetooth-equipped controller update that premiered alongside Microsoft's One S update in 2016 will work with Apple TV.

The announcement, which drew large and sustained applause in the presentation hall, comes nearly four years after Apple's second-generation Apple TV became the company's first foray into TV-based gaming since the ill-fated Pippin. At launch, Apple TV games were required to support the hardware's touchpad-focused, tilt-sensitive remote, and those games could optionally support any number of MFi controllers already designed for mobile iOS hardware. While Apple reversed that decision in mid-2016 to allow-for MFi-exclusive games, Apple TV game developers continue to complain about the fragmented control landscape on Apple's set-top box.

Apple TV currently plays host to thousands of games, including many noteworthy "Universal" ports of titles originally designed for mobile iOS platforms. But some big-budget attempts to bring console-style gaming to the hardware have failed—Guitar Hero Live, Disney Infinity, and Minecraft are just a few of the franchises that have aborted attempts at Apple TV support in the last few years.

Enlarge (credit: Valentina Palladino)

SAN JOSE, Calif.—At its developer conference today, Apple described its new Apple Watch software features in detail. Called watchOS 6, the operating-system update adds new apps, watchfaces, and features that enhance the ways users are already putting their Apple Watches to good use.

Arguably the biggest update coming to the Apple Watch is the new on-watch App Store. In watchOS 6, you'll be able to browse, purchase, and download apps directly from the App Store on the Watch. That means users don't need to turn to their iPhones to download and install apps.

Going hand in hand with an on-watch App Store is the new ability for developers to make independent apps for the Apple Watch. Currently, all Apple Watch apps must have an iOS app installed on the Watch's paired iPhone in order for them to work on the Watch. In watchOS 6, developers will be able to populate the new on-watch App Store with apps that users can download and use immediately, without the need for yet another app on the paired iPhone.

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  Xiaomi's under-display cameras mean more all-screen devices. [credit: Xiaomi ]

With in-screen fingerprint readers quickly becoming a regular occurence in flagship phones, manufacturers are starting to wonder about what other things they can stick under the display. In the past day, both Oppo and Xiaomi have taken to social media to show off the latest development: under-display front-facing cameras! Forget camera notches, hole punch displays, and complicated pop-up mechanisms, the under-display camera enables all-screen smartphone designs with no-moving parts.

Under-display cameras will work a lot like optical under-display fingerprint readers—a CMOS chip will be placed under a transparent section of the display, and it will peer through the pixels to see the outside world. For an optical fingerprint reader, the image capturing setup only needs to be of high enough quality to identify the ridges and valleys of your fingertip. For selfies and video chats, there will be much higher demands for image quality, and we wonder what obstructing the camera view with pixels will do to the image quality. Both Xiaomi and Oppo shared videos of the in-display cameras working, but the videos are too low quality to make any kind of image quality determinations.

Do you want a sneak peek at the future? Here you go...introducing you to Under-Display Camera technology!#Xiaomi #InnovationForEveryone pic.twitter.com/d2HL6FHkh1

— Xiaomi #5GIsHere (@Xiaomi) June 3, 2019

We've technically already seen an "under-display camera" from the Samsung Galaxy S10, but Samsung carved out any camera-impeding pixels with a laser, making a permanent black spot in the display. These new prototypes take things a step further, with Xiaomi promising the front camera will "disappear" and be "complete seamless."

Enlarge / "Being able to help bring these stories to life through animation is a true passion project for us,” Joe and Anthony Russo said in a joint statement. (credit: Netflix/Wizards of the Coast)

Avengers: End Game might have stopped short short of toppling Avatar as the highest-grossing film worldwide, but it has still raked in a staggering $2.71 billion globally. And now Deadline Hollywood reports that the next project for co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo will be an adaptation of the hugely popular and influential card game Magic: The Gathering into an animated series for Netflix.

Clearly Netflix is looking to tap into that lucrative Russo brothers box office mojo, and who can blame them? The brothers have produced "four Marvel Studios hits in five years with $6.61 billion in global box office," per Deadline Hollywood. Octopie Network will be co-producing with Bardel Entertainment overseeing the animation.

“Our goal is to not only tell a compelling story leveraging Magic: The Gathering’s incredible body of work, but to also push the medium and perception of storytelling through animation,” Octopie CEO Isaac Krauss told the site. “This series will cross the genres of suspenseful thriller, horror, and drama with deeply developed characters the likes of which are not often seen in animation.”