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Frictional Games: Amnesia Developer Teasing Next Game With Spooky ARG

Amnesia developer Frictional Games released teasers on their website. The Dark Descent, the studio behind Amnesia, launched a super spooky ARG designed to tease new game with videos. Augmented Reality Games are an excellent way to interact with hardcore fans with many game creators using them to promote their titles. A pulsating neuron featured on their website which slowly grew into a pulsating cell. It went through another change, starting off an ARG. While the cell now looks like a human embryo, there are now other changes visible on the website. The social media icons now feature an eye-shaped interloper as spotted by Foxnull on ResetEra. While clicking on it does nothing, you can hover your cursor on it to catch part of a YouTube URL.

Amnesia – The Dark Descent

Sweden-based Frictional Games has released many titles, the more popular among them being Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Soma. Soma is the latest release in the list and is commonly agreed by the players that it is Frictional Games’ best game so far. The game has a submarine research centre backdrop with a thrilling storyline and gripping gameplay. The makers have managed to capture all the feeling required to make this a huge hit in the survival horror genre. The game was released for PC and PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

The Teaser

Let’s get down to the teaser in detail. It began as a flashing, blue light which later evolved into a human embryo. The makers have managed to add another mystery element by having a hidden URL among the social media links. The links lead to a video titled “Box 52, Tape 16.” The 10-second clip shows rocks and focuses on one that has a blue symbol engraved into its surface. In addition to this, there is another link waiting to be found as well. The second link takes you to another video which has a chilling sound but no visible imagery or video. This is titled “Box 7 Reel 2, Partial Success.”

Frictional Games

The second video clip highlights a lot of background noise with erratic screaming that sounds only half-human. It is terrifying enough to make you want to stop the video. If you examine the rocks, the video clips, and all the yelling together, it looks like a very good indication of what is to come. Spooky, scary, and creepy – the teasers have all the elements to keep us hooked. The studio is well-known to come up with titles that can scare the wits out of its players. With an ARG involving the fan community, you can be sure the game is only going to be more terrifying than the promos.

What else?

The first recording ends with a text that mentions that it’s a video cassette from February 16, 1983. It is apparent that it is part of a private collection. It ends with “Marked Shetpe, KSSR”, where KSSR stands for Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, known today as the Republic of Kazakhstan. Shept, refers to a village in Kazakhstan.

February 14, 2020
Google Lookout Uses Artificial Intelligence To Help Visually Impaired People Navigate The World
Can you imagine how would a visually impaired person navigate the world?

Whether you are walking on the streets or cooking something at home, doing all such tasks without proper eyesight is really difficult or almost impossible to do. But I have seen many people challenging their situation every day by managing to do all their work by themselves. Such people are an inspiration to many of us.

The introduction of the Smartphone has made it quite easier, especially after the use of Artificial Intelligence in them. Google Lens is now capable of even identifying a dog’s breed just by clicking a picture of the dog. Why not use such smart features to help out the visually impaired people?

Google has come up with its latest initiative for helping the visually impaired or differently-abled community. Google Lookout is a US-based app that is made specially to help visually impaired people see the beautiful world around them.

With the help of the Lookout app, these people can navigate the world by using their smartphones. The AI featuring the app dictates the text to you describing what is happening around you.

Availability Of Google Lookout

Lookout is now available on Pixel devices as well as on non-Pixel devices. It has recently started supporting Samsung and LG devices.

The app is currently functional in the U.S and not yet launched in other countries. You need to update your Android to Android 8.0 in order to use Google Lookout.

You can get the updated APK from APK Mirror and install it on your phones. It officially supports Pixel 4 and 4 XL and is also available for Pixel 3a and 3a XL.

Testing Google Lookout

The app was announced last year is now finally available for you to try it out. Basically, it has 3 modes-
1. One which helps you explore the world and assist you while cooking.
2. The other is for scanning barcodes while shopping or seeing currency.
3. The third one is for reading text on mails, signs, labels and more.
Whenever you start the app, it asks you which mode you would like to use. This helps you to save your time which you would waste on simply navigating the options.

While testing the app for a short period of time, I have observed that it is really quick in identifying objects along with its location and time. It also tells me whether the object had a text on it or not.

Google Lookout V/S Microsoft Seeing Ai

Google is not the only company to launch an app that helps visually impaired people. Microsoft has a similar app for the IOS phone named Seeing AI. The app can read handwritten texts, recognize denominations of currency, describe colors, etc.

As of now, Google Lookout lacks the facial recognition feature which adds a point to Seeing AI but Lookout might come up with this feature in the future.
February 13, 2020
Google Messages and Phone pick up new material icons with the latest Betas

Google has been always trying to improve its performance constantly. Over the past few months, it has introduced various new refreshed material items. Also, it has added a lot to its features. It was just yesterday that it showed an update icon, and again you see the signs of a refresh.

Changes in Google applications

The majority of Google applications today have been revamped with the company’s latest design language. Google’s dialer and messaging applications are picking up new material icons with the latest betas.

These moderately delicate adjustments merely change the present iconography and give just a slight change to the appearance. Though it does not affect the working, it functions the same whatsoever. Previously, the icons were colorful, but as of now, material icons with the outlines only have replaced them. These items have added changes to the home screen, messaging screen and the call screen of the application.

Google Phone beta v44

Google Phone beta v44 brings new material icons. The ‘Favourites’, ‘Recent’ and ‘Contact’ tab at the bottom now feature the new material icons with an outline. Also, the ‘Voice Search’ icon at the top section of the application experiences the same. ‘Mute’, ‘Speaker’, ‘Add Call’, ‘Video Call’, ‘Hold’ and ‘End Call’.

Google Messages v5.5

Additional to Phone beta v44, the google messages version 5.5 also brings new material icons for ‘Video call’, ‘Audio call’ and ‘Add Participants’ icons on the top part of the conversation screen.

The various other features

‘What’s new’ feature is one of those up prime that turned into a hole after the replacement. The ‘Begin Chat’ bubble on the homepage additionally shed its previous icon for a defined one. The whole ‘name display screen’ has been facelifted with new icons, together with different components within the app navigation menu and the search bar.

The most notable changes

The most notable of the changes is the wide oval ‘Start Chat’ icon. There’s an entirely new one that matches the general shape of the app icon. Also, the different screen appearance has added to the notability.

More about material designs

Material icons are pleasant, elegantly crafted icons for basic actions. If not in Google, you can still download them separately on the desktop to use them in your digital products for Android, iOS, and web.

It is an adaptable system of guidelines, components, and tools that support the best practices of user-interface design. Backed by open-source code, material icons streamline the collaboration between designers and developers. They help the teams quickly in building beautiful products.

At the end

Material theme icons in Google Phone and Messages are small changes, but increase consistency and make the two applications feel better. Both are available in beta and one should definitely try them once. If using the latest version of Google Phone and Messages seems interesting to you, then you can enroll yourself for the Beta Program of these applications on the Google Play store.

February 13, 2020
TikTok Music Streaming To be Launched Soon, Says Creator

The Tiktok music streaming space is soon to have a new face in the market. TikTok owner, Beijing Bytedance Technology Co Ltd, is reportedly in talks with music labels like Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music to obtain the global licensing of their songs as it plans to launch its music subscription service.

This Tiktok music streaming service is slated to be launched by the next month in markets such as India, Indonesia, and Brazil, which are one of the biggest markets for the company. After a successful launch in these markets, the service will be launched in the United States. The company is yet to decide on expanding its base to the untapped markets of some other countries.

TikTok

In the TikTok Music Streaming Service, besides listening to music, users will also be able to watch various video clips, which they will be able to sync with the songs. Though the app hasn’t been given a name yet and it’s not yet clear what kinds of pricing options it will provide the users. Apart from the paid option, it is also supposed to come up with a free streaming plan, considering most of the market base of the prefers this option.

The app will surely face tough competition from the likes of Spotify Technologies SA, Apple Inc, and other companies in the United States. Keeping this in mind, the price is expected to be lesser than the $10 charged by the above two services currently.

February 11, 2020
Xiaomi apologizes after the user of security camera save images from strangers’ homes

Imagine your reaction when you sit down to watch footages of your home cameras and find stills of stranger’s homes? That’s what happened with one Xiaomi consumer using the Mi Home security camera.

There haven’t been many issues regarding the Mi Home security camera since its release. However, as a giant, Xiaomi has decided to resolve the issue for all users as early as possible.

What’s the issue and how it all started?

Recently, a user named Dio-V posted a video on Reddit regarding an issue. His post said, “I load the Xiaomi camera in my Google home hub. I get still images from other people’s homes!!”

The issue didn’t catch the immediate attention, but comments started to flow in. Soon, it caught the attention of the Xiaomi team. Meanwhile, other users of Mi camera present on Reddit seemed to creep out as well as having fun with it.

Another user commented that the still image Dot-V sees is his house. Still, pictures were a living room, a man sleeping in an armchair, baby in a crib, etc.

In no time, Google disabled Nest Hub and Google Assistant’s integration with all Xiaomi devices.

Stand by Xiaomi

However, the giant Xiaomi has now accepted and confirmed that their device had issues. They say they’ve now fixed the problem.

Xiaomi apologizes and released an official statement to ABACUS, apologizing to all users across the globe. They are sorry for the inconvenience to the users. According to the statement, 1044 users have reported the issue. It is due to a bug in the cache update released on December 26, 2019.

Also, Xiaomi suggested that if users link the camera to the Mi Home app, this issue will not appear again. Xiaomi and Google together blocked further integration to find the root cause so the issue doesn’t happen again.

February 10, 2020
Qualcomm Releases New Inexpensive Snapdragon Chips

We realize 5G is coming, and it’s already up and running in some areas. Nonetheless, buying a new 4G mobile phone is still important, and not just for the network. Qualcomm replied to increased demand for 4G smartphones with three new Snapdragon chips released today.

Turning the networks into 5G is a big deal. Some companies, including Samsung, have jumped on the bandwagon, with the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765. Chip manufacturer Qualcomm has also widened the portfolio of 5G-enabled devices. But what operates fantastically in China and the US is far from a fact in Europe, so 5G is a distant dream for countries like India.

Snapdragon 855: Qualcomm Response To Apple And Huawei

Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 720 G, Snapdragon 662, and Snapdragon 460 to three new 4G Smartphone chipsets in New Delhi. Both three chips are running Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, and are the first on-chip device solutions that support Indian Constellation Navigation (NavIC).

Qualcomm

The Snapdragon 720 G (like the Snapdragon 730 G) used by the gaming industry are designed for audio, among many others, with Jitter Reduction and AptX adaptive. They additionally mounted Qualcomm Spectra 350L ISP, which allows HDR images to be reproduced and transmitted smoothly. The subsystem FastConnect 6200 increases the speed and the range of Wi-Fi.

Something has changed notably in the success of the 4xx series. The latest Snapdragon 460 can receive a 70% increase in performance with CPU cores. Another 4-series technology is the Spectra 340 ISP, designed to provide excellent photo quality and triple-cameras assistance.

Kedar Kondap, who is the vice president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said: “Nowadays, mobile phone users want easy, seamless connectivity, advanced features, and long-term battery life. With the expansion of our 4G portfolio, our partners can deliver advanced technologies that satisfy international demand and allow outstanding gaming experience across several level segments and price segments.”

Ups And Downs Of The Qualcomm Tech Summit

You will sadly have to wait a little longer if you look forward to a cheap smartphone with Snapdragon 460. The Snapdragon 720 G chips will first be available in the market in the first quarter of 2020. Likely, smartphones with 460 or 662 built-in chips will not be in the market until the end of 2020.

The Snapdragon 662 puts the camera at the focus of attention. Therefore, the device is equipped with a Qualcomm Spectra 340 T that supports a configuration of three cameras. It offers smartphone producers the option of installing three rear cameras on their smartphones. The chip supports up to 390 Mbit / s and 2×2 MIMO download speed for a modest price range.

Wrapping Up

The 4 G chips would remain a high priority of Qualcomm Technologies in certain regions, such as India, as stated by Rajen Vagadia (vice president and chairperson of Qualcomm India Pvt. Ltd) in a recent press release. We can be a bit happy with cheap 4G smartphones with a little luck.

February 10, 2020
Oppo’s Sub-Brand Realme Is A Surprising Hit In India

RealMe is a Chinese smartphone brand which came into the existence just one and a half year ago. Although, the Oppo’s sub-brand is already experiencing big success in India. Its shipments are growing more than 400 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

Xiaomi Vs RealMe: The Brands Are Fighting For Market Dominance in India

Xiaomi’s strategy is aggressive with respect to the prices and the product launches it has made in India. It is the No.1 smartphone brand of India. But, in the last two years, it has faced some tough competition from Oppo’s sub-brand RealMe.

The success story of RealMe in India inspires everyone. It entered the Indian market when Xiaomi was the master in the Indian smartphone industry. At that time, it was not easy for any other Chinese brand to enter the market because already a Chinese brand is been making a strong presence in the hearts of consumers of India.

But, RealMe fought and chased Xiaomi hard in the market. Now, RealMe has been ruling for a long time, and from nothing in 2018, it has grown its market share in 2019.

RealMe is chasing Xiaomi’s dominance in India

RealMe has now risen to become the fourth biggest smartphone brand in India in the third quarter of 2019, according to IDC. It gained popularity for similar reasons that of Xiaomi, which has been selling its phones in the country since 2015. Xiaomi is also growing rapidly in India by offering a good price-to-quality ratio on its Smartphones.

The Chinese smartphone is dominating India’s smartphone market

Xiaomi shipped more phones than it ever has before in the first quarter with 12.6 million units. Vivo and Oppo are third and fifth respectively in the competition. This means Vivo and Oppo’s parent company BBK Electronics owns three of India’s top five brands. Samsung is the only vendor among the top five companies to record a fall this quarter, but it’s still India’s second-largest smartphone brand though.

Some months ago, RealMe ranked third overall in sales during the Diwali holiday season in India by the Counterpoint Research. This means that the company is surpassing huge players like OnePlus, LG and others with its hit in the smartphone market.

The future of RealMe

Although Counterpoint Research’s figures indicate that RealMe had no offline sales practically during the period. The brand is fortunately revealed its plan to deliver offline sales in 150 cities of India by 2020.

Previously, RealMe also declared its aim to expand to other countries in Asia, along with Africa and the Middle East. If the brand can preserve its momentum and also offer offline sales, they can achieve even more impressive figures in 2020 for sure.

Bottom Lines

There will be a time that RealMe will take over all other brands in no time as it is adapting the market changes very quickly. Xiaomi, on the other hand, is working really hard to not allowing RealMe to take over its market at any cost.

February 9, 2020
Blackberry Goes Incognito Again After TCL Terminates The Contract

The fate of Blackberry is still unknown after its official account tweeted the news, declaring that TCL will no longer have legal rights to design, develop, or even sell the BB mobile phones. These instances have dragged the brand into a dormant state, leaving its future unpredictable. It is the second time when it is going into limbo. TCL had previously taken over the dormant brand late in 2016, and this brought some hope. TCL did an excellent job and brought some light into the brand’s future. They came up with some fantastic devices, and everything seemed to be working out correctly until they announced that they would no longer make blackberry devices.

If you have been keen on the series, you will realize that Blackberry Key 2 LE will, therefore, be the last version to be designed, manufactured, and sold by TCL. The other brand versions that Blackberry produced include Blackberry Key One and Blackberry Key 2. The BB phones produced by TCL carried over the best features that brand’s lovers liked the most from the previous versions. To be precise, the physical keyboard, the durable battery, and some other security aspects made this brand version standout amongst the earlier versions.

Blackberry

Why Has TCL Stopped Making Blackberry Phones?

The agreement signed did not specify any specific duration within which TCL would produce BlackBerry phones. It was a long-term contract. The official announcement of the deal was made back in 2016, and it is now four years down the line. No one has a robust source of why TCL decided to terminate the agreement.

The contract lifetime could have expired, or it could be due to poor market performance. Or it could be as a result of TCL’s plans to end the contract for reasons best known to them. Most likely, they may have made plans to uphold the world’s current domination in smartphones. It is essential to know that none of the above reasons is confirmed.

What Is The Future Of Blackberry?

The fact that TCL stopped making the phones doesn’t mean that it is the end of it. Who knows, another company might pick it up in the long run and still make more phones. The name is still recognizable and could earn a company quite a lot if firm strategies are effective. But even at that, we always have a clear sight of where Blackberry is going!

Meanwhile, Blackberry is still operating, but this as a software company. The CEO, John Chen, had cancelled all its smartphone operations since he took over the company back in 2013, and that’s how TCL got their hand on the Global Blackberry License. Even though TCL does not make BB phones anymore, they have, however, promised to offer Customer Service and warranty support to every single functional phone out there till the end of August in 2022.

February 9, 2020
Game consoles excluded from tariffs on Chinese imports ‘until further notice’

Video game consoles will not be affected directly by the tariffs placed on Chinese imports at this time. Towards the end of 2019, a more stable decision. Here, a temporary exemption was given to the consoles. The Electronic Software Association confirmed to Polygon stating that the United States Trade Representative “has suspended the tariffs on consoles until further notice.” Game consoles excluded from tariffs could lead to several issues.

The ESA or the Electronic Software Association’s statement supports the news shared by USTR. This is regarding the first phase of a trade deal between the U.S. and China. It is part of ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries. The same statement also included the kinds of goods that had tariffs delayed from September to mid-December. This involved laptop computers, game consoles, and cell phones who have had their tariffs suspended indefinitely.

Exclusion for Tariffs

Console makers, such as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have all spoken out against this issue. Not once or twice, but for several months before this happened. They had also crafted an open letter. This warned that this could potentially have a huge economic impact on the video game ecosystem and industry.

Game consoles excluded from tariffs

Last year, the Trump Government increased on tariffs for Chinese goods by 25 per cent. After that, the video games and electronic systems market feared that the fast-rising industry would come to a complete halt. Sometime in November last year, it came to light that China and the US have come to an agreement after rounds of negotiation.

The agreement was mainly discussed between the U.S. and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Here, the discussion was about the tariff towards video game consoles among other goods that will be imported from China. While it was in talks for a long time, this was only confirmed in January 2020.

ESA and USTR

Polygon received a report where the ESA stated that Office of the United States Trade Representative has confirmed the suspension of the tariffs on video game consoles. This took place just last week although negotiations surrounding this has been going for several weeks now. The USTR has decided to suspend the tariffs on consoles until further notice. This has boosted the video game industry since the tariffs could increase the trade for the American economy as well.

US-China Trade War

This decision safeguards the console manufacturers for a while. However, tabletops are not safe. Modern sets for tabletop needs specific raw materials to develop the games. This could fall under the specified tariffs on the Chinese market. While the US economy might not be as affected by this as that of the video games, it would still suffer a bit. John Stacy, the Executive Director of Game Manufacturers Association, says that efforts to execute the same exception for tabletop and other related products are underway. He says, “We are working to roll these back as well as prevent the imposition of tariffs on toys and games which was paused by the Phase One Agreement.”

February 9, 2020
Atari Plans A Comeback with an Atari-Themed Hotel Deal

Atari is the company that started it all. It brought about a revolution, after which games became more like a part of the lifestyle rather than just something which you did to pass the time. It started the home video game industry, which today has ballooned into a highly profitable business. Now, it is set to take another groundbreaking step by its new licensing deal, which could also be its biggest one ever. The company has reportedly got into a partnership that will result in the formation of eight or more Atari themed hotels around the US. The first one in this chain will be launched later this year in Pheonix, Arizona.

What New Will Be Seen?

These hotels will include arcade bars and fine restaurants, which will be endowed with virtual and augmented reality. Some locations will also include e-sport studios, which will be able to host and broadcast live sports events to the fans.

Atari

Person Behind The Scene

Atari has got into a partnership with Arizona based GSD group and True North Studio to make this dream come true. This is one of the many moves taken by the company to revitalize the brand name, which was once $37.7 million in debt. This move is credited to Atari’s current CEO Fred Chesnais, who has spent the past four years trying to bring the company out of debt, changing the organizational structure of the company and much more.

Though the foundations haven’t been laid yet, this looks like an ambitious move on the part of the company and the one which could indeed turn around its fate. As Atari looks to the future, the company, which now has only 20 employees, hopes to regain the long lost credibility in the market by using video games and the nostalgia attached to them as its primary asset.

February 9, 2020