Light Start – iPhone numbers, burrito drones, Star Trek Facebook, and ME Andromeda
Brett Venter
Apple’s not going to be giving out early iPhone sales numbers any more
One of the things that we generally look forward to after an Apple announcement is finding out how many handsets changed hands after the first weekend on sale. The company has often made a big deal of its numbers in the past but that’s not going to happen any more. The company says that it already knows, before the handsets even go up for pre-order, that it’s going to sell out of the new lineup. Apple said of the decision, in a statement, that “These initial sales will be governed by supply, not demand, and we have decided that it is no longer a representative metric for our investors or customers.” That’s likely not all that is behind this choice, with sales numbers for new iPhones expected to decline slightly this year (It’s still a monstrous number of phones, though, so don’t go writing any eulogies). Apple might not want that info in the news, and there’s also a logistical problem. Apple’s been releasing its handsets in more and more countries on launch date. Collating that info may have something to do with this move, too.
Pack it all up, we’ve won — Alphabet is testing drones as a burrito-delivery mechanism
The company that runs Google, Alphabet, is putting its Project Wing drones to work in the coming month and what they’re doing is basically a community service. They’re teaming up with Chipotle to deliver burrito orders to select customers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The drones are going to be autonomous, with a winch-based delivery system for the drop-off, but the test will also have a human pilot on hand in case someone’s delicious snacktime looks in danger of not happening. The results of the test, which uses FAA-approved drones, will be used to create more effective low-altitude craft for similar purposes. Now, if someone in South Africa can arrange a similar system for us to get a jalapeño/feta burger from RocoMamas any time we like, we’re quite happy to call it a day on this whole drones thing.
Facebook celebrates 50 years of Star Trek with some Reaction changes
Star Trek has been around for fifty years now, as of 8 September 2016, and Facebook has gone and modified their Like and Reaction buttons for the service to celebrate. You can see most of the alteration above, with Sad LaForge, Overly-Impressed Spock, Laughing Kirk and a few other changes in place. Which is probably where these new icons are going to stay, at least for us. The icons will be available for a limited period for Star Trek fans in the US and Canada. A few other themed Facebook page mods will be available to those same users. Still, happy anniversary to the Trek series, yeah?
This is Mass Effect: Andromeda running at 4K on the PlayStation 4 Pro
If this is what it’s going to look like to play games on the PlayStation 4 Pro, we’re going to have to take the plunge early. Bioware has shown off a tech demo of Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next slice of the Mass Effect universe, running in 4K on the PS4 Pro. Like the video says, though, you’re not really going to see what it can do without streaming it onto a 4K display. Even without it, there’s some evidence of the added power here. Character model movement is fluid, there is a more robust physics system in place (at least for player uniforms), and the lighting looks great. This is all capped by a short cut-scene and a promise that we’re going to be seeing more of Andromeda in November this year. Colour us excited (and green, because Vault).
