Geek News

Originally released in October of last year, The Evil Within 2 is a bleak, tense take on the horror genre, where exploration and discovery are just as important as the scares. The game was designed as a third-person experience, much like producer Shinji Mikami's famous Resident Evil series. Now, however, developer Tango Gameworks has launched a free update that will make the entire game playable in first person perspective. Switching from third- to first-person perspective is a simple menu option. You can change back and forth easily at any point in the game, too. Even the free trial has the feature so you can see how it looks even if you haven't purchased the full game. "A lot of players like playing horror games in first-person, so for those who want to see some of the game's situations through Sebastian's eyes, it's a really neat experience," said Tango Gameworks' Shinsaku Ohara in a statement. "I think exploring Union in first-person...

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Tinder says it has a new feature in the works that’ll create a better experience for women on the dating platform. Similar to Bumble, Tinder will soon let women decide whether they want to prevent men from sending the first message, MarketWatch reports . “Often, women don’t really want the pressure of kicking off the conversation, but if they want it, that’s great,” Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg told the publication. (Match Group owns Tinder, along with other dating services like OkCupid and Match.com.) Women can choose whether they want this feature on or off, and it seems to be only for heterosexual women. This, and other features in the works, are an attempt to “curtail bad behavior, any negative behavior or advances, and... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nYmYdI"

To date, Snapchat hasn't shown any more data to its biggest users than its everyday audience -- DJ Khaled and Chrissy Teigen probably know about as much as their success as you do. That's about to change. The Snap team will offer a wide range of viewer data to the "tens of thousands" of popular users creating official Stories. That includes not only the views themselves (including how many people watched to the end), but demographics like age group, gender, regions and preferred topics. If creators are hip with the teens or have the beauty market cornered, they'll know. It won't shock you at all to hear why they're getting these stats: ad money. The more influencers know about who's watching, the easier it will be for them to land sponsorships. While that doesn't directly improve Snap's bottom line, it gives those users a better reason to stick with Snapchat versus jumping ship to Instagram. And that, in turn, could help Snap grow its audi...

We found Apple's long-awaited HomePod belts out good sound for casual listeners so long as they'd already bought in to the iOS ecosystem (it needs an iPhone or iPad to work. Woof). But on top of sinking deeper into Apple's mobile OS walled garden, new adopters have something else to worry about: HomePod is damaging wooden furniture it sits on. Apple confirmed to Wirecutter that this issue is happening -- but that "the marks can improve over several days after the speaker is removed from the wood surface." And if they don't go away, you can just clean the surface with "the manufacturer's suggested oiling method." In other words, it's on you to refinish any wooden platform that your brand-new $350 domestic speaker has injured. #homepod left rings on my wood furniture in less than 20 minutes of use. Thanks #apple I am glad a paid $400 to make perfect etched circles on my more expensive furniture. Guess I can not move it now to cover ...

Accessory manufacturer TwelveSouth has released a version of its SurfacePad case for the iPhone X. The SurfacePad is a folio style leather case that provides both front and back protection for the iPhone X, along with two card slots on the cover flap. Unlike other folio cases, the SurfacePad is thin and lightweight, though it won’t provide much protection from drops, as it doesn’t cover the top, bottom, or side of the phone. You can get it in black, brown, or blue for $49.99 direct from TwelveSouth . I’ve been using the SurfacePad on my iPhone X for about a day, and while it’s better than other folio cases I’ve tested in the past, which were unusably bulky, it’s far from perfect. The leather is soft and supple and should patina well over... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2sxyKAo"

With so many flagship phones leaving behind the headphone jack over the past two years, the need for a good pair of Bluetooth earbuds has only intensified. While the first crop of true wireless products had their share of comfort and connection problems, the selection improved dramatically in 2017, with companies like Bose and Bang & Olufsen coming out with sets that gave Apple's AirPods a real run for the money. If you've been holding off on buying a pair because of cost, poor audio or because they just look ridiculous, it might finally be time to make the leap. We consulted reviews from top critics and came up with a list of six solid options that should have something for everyone, whether you're on a budget or prize sound quality above all else. Samsung Gear IconX (2018) The original Gear IconX delivered lots of good features for a first-generation product, including onboard media storage and heart rate tracking. But those positives were outweighed by poor bat...

Nexus Media News Toxic chemicals from hidden military bases now risk leaking. The melting Greenland ice sheet could leaking chemicals that the Army thought would stay frozen in perpetuity. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2nYWhW6"

Facebook's Messenger app for kids launched in December, though only for iOS, and last month, Facebook made it available for Amazon Fire tablets . Now, TechCrunch reports, and Facebook confirmed to us, that Messenger Kids will be available for Android devices starting today. The app gives parents the control over who their kids talk to, allowing them to add or delete contacts, and sends them notifications if their children report or block anyone they've been chatting with. For kids, the app provides them with a way to text or video chat with their friends and family while offering all of the visual fun of GIFs, frames, emojis and masks. And maybe the best part, kids don't need a Facebook account to use it, only their parents do. However, the app has drawn skepticism from those concerned about exposing kids to social media and overuse of digital technology. Messenger Kids for Android will be available today through Google Play . Facebook says the app will also have a sle...

It turns out that high-end graphics cards are fantastic for mining non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies, which has led to a global shortage of GPUs. Gamers are livid at the lack of supply, especially as prices skyrocket on secondary markets. But they're not the only ones with ruined dreams: The shortage has stalled plans to expand the search for alien life. Search For Extraterrestrial Life (SETI) researchers want to build out their operations at two facilities, BBC reported , but they can't find GPUs to buy. "We'd like to use the latest GPUs [graphics processing units]... and we can't get 'em," SETI chief scientist Dan Werthimer told the BBC. "This is a new problem, it's only happened on orders we've been trying to make in the last couple of months." Crudely speaking, cryptocurrency miners harness the great processing power of GPUs to work out complex math problems that, when solved, grant coin portions as a payday. SETI researchers need ...

Apple’s HomePod is a great sounding but ideologically flawed speaker , but it turns out there’s another major problem with the smart speaker aside from its lack of support for Spotify: apparently the silicon base of the HomePod can damage wooden furniture, with multiple outlets (including The Wirecutter and Pocket Lint ) reporting that leaving the speaker on top of wooden surfaces can cause a white ring to form. Apple has confirmed the issue to The Wirecutter , stating that “the marks can improve over several days after the speaker is removed from the wood surface,” with the company also recommending that users “try cleaning the surface with the manufacturer’s suggested oiling method” if the white rings don’t fade. Congratulations to... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2F23JqW"

It's official: Overwatch League has its first female player . The Shanghai Dragons have signed Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon as part of a four-player addition. The South Korean teen rose to prominence thanks to her reputation for playing Zarya (one of Overwatch 's "tank" characters) so well that she was pressed into a livestreamed skill display to prove that she wasn't cheating. She was also the first female player to compete in her home country's Apex league, one of the game's foremost competitive events until Overwatch League showed up. Two of the four new players players (Lee Eui-seok and Chon Gi-hyeon) are fellow South Koreans, while He Junjian is Chinese. Language won't necessarily be an issue, in other words, and the Dragons are providing "language assistance" to all the new players in addition to securing US visas. It's not certain when they'll start competing in earnest. The absence of female players has been something ...

For years, there have been rumors that Samsung might be making smart glasses. Now, as reported by SamMobile , the company has filed in South Korea to trademark a new logo related to “computerized vision-assisting eyewear,” suggesting that the idea of Samsung building a Google Glass-like headset is still on the table. The first hint of Samsung developing some sort of Google Glass-style wearable was back in 2013, with a design patent for a pair of “sports glasses.” Then, in 2014, a report from the Korea Times cited unnamed Samsung officials who said Samsung was indeed making its version of Google Glass, tentatively called Galaxy Glass. The glasses never surfaced, and talk about such a product slowed to a halt. This new trademark application... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2GfBrsf"

Tinder is taking a page out of Bumble's book and will soon give women the option to control the initiation of conversations, MarketWatch reports today. Bumble , helmed by Tinder co-founder Whitney Holfe Herd, has amassed some 22 million registered users and what sets it apart from other dating apps is that only women who use the app get to decide whether to start a conversation with a man they've matched with. Now, Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group -- which owns Match.com, OKCupid and Tinder -- says that Tinder will soon allow its women users to decide whether they want to have control over initiating conversations. Through a future app update, women will be able to opt in to the feature. "Often, women don't really want the pressure of kicking off the conversation, but if they want it, that's great," Ginsberg told MarketWatch . "Giving people the choice versus telling people how to engage is the big difference." Last year, Tinder launched its G...

Google has removed some 77 percent of reviews for Game Dev Tycoon 's mobile port on Google Play. Developer Greenheart Games contacted Google to find out why the (mostly) five-star reviews were disappearing, and was told that the scores were removed on purpose, with little other explanation. Greenheart's theory is that Google uses the same algorithm to police free-to-play game reviews on the Play store that it does paid games; Game Dev Tycoon costs $5 and you can't write a review unless you've purchased it . Free-to-play games, on the other hand, anyone can write a review with practically no time investment. "We are not engaging in any dubious practices regarding reviews," the developer writes . "We don't incentivize reviews, we don't review the game ourselves and we don't even tell our friends to review it." Since the game hit Google Play early this month, it's been downloaded between 10,000 and 50,000 times. Greenheart says th...

Vimeo made clear its focus on its creator community last year when it introduced livestreaming tools, now it's expanding its efforts with new distribution features that will help creators grow and expand their audiences. Announced today are "Simulcast" and "Publish to Social", both designed with creators in mind and, no doubt, to help the platform develop its visibility beyond a single destination. First up, Simulcast. This lets creators simultaneously stream live video from Vimeo to any RTMP-enabled destination, such as Facebook, Twitch , Periscope and of course, its main competitor, YouTube. The feature only needs a single input stream regardless of how many places the video is being streamed to, which means lower bandwidth costs and simpler workflow, which is handy for instances where bandwidth uplink is limited, such as conferences or outdoor events. Streams are automatically archived on Vimeo. Next, Publish to Social. Here, creators can publish their v...