In this week’s Light Start, the Channel is crossed, AI takes on knitting, we indulge in some Console Wars (later), and check out some Little Monsters.
Author: Brett Venter
Fitbit’s Versa smartwatch/fitness tracker impressed us right out of the gate, though we were less taken with the sequel. The next entry in the franchise promises to do better, though, as Fitbit’s next Versa has leaked online. The highlight? A new AMOLED display, some design changes, and support for Amazon’s Alexa. Looks like we might have to get that Echo tech after all.
It’s not a good time to be either LG or Sony. Both companies have recently reported declines in smartphone sales. LG’s sales for the most recent quarter declined 21% compared to its performance this time last year, while Sony has an even worse time. Worse to the tune of 30% fewer smartphones sold for the quarter, year-on-year. According to LG, “slow sales of 4G premium models and intense market competition in mass-tier products” were to blame for the company’s drop in performance. We’re not sure about the first point there but the company’s not wrong on the second. The high-end…
If you’re a fan of zombie games, now might be a time to rejoice. Unless you’re also aware of what games based on films (specifically those timed to the film’s launch) are usually like. Cult zombie flick Zombieland’s sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, is getting its own video game adaptation. Called Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip, players will get to experience it on 15 October on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Switch. And, honestly, it’s the launch date that worries us. And that’s because there hasn’t been a single game-to-movie tie-in title that hasn’t sucked horribly. We’re not…
The Japanese company has reached a new milestone for the PlayStation 4. That is, selling 100 million consoles over its lifetime. In doing so, Sony’s knocked aside both Nintendo’s Wii and its own PlayStation 2 for the time taken to achieve this target.
MediaTek, as a brand, feels a little like Huawei did a few years back. That is, somewhat unknown but mighty hungry to make an impression. And we all know how that worked out for Huawei. Right now, though, if it’s not made by Apple, Qualcomm, or Samsung, most of us don’t pay a whole lot of attention to mobile processors.
In this week’s Light Start, we’ve got Doom on Switch (with issues), a spaceship scooping up rocks, Sony’s AC, and Zombieland 2 — at long last.
WABetaInfo, the outlet behind many notable previews for what’s coming up for messaging app WhatsApp, has come up with more early info for us. This time, WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new Universal Windows Platform (UWP), as well as a new desktop version of the app.
It’s official. Google Photos now has a billion users on the service, a milestone that took the image sharing-and-storage service a little more than four years to reach. The search giant first shared the information with FastCompany. Google Photos putting a billion users in the rear-view mirror makes it the ninth Google-owned service to do so. The others are (in no particular order): Gmail, Google Maps, Android, YouTube (oh, so much YouTube…), Chrome, Google Drive, the Google Play store, and Google itself. The iconic search page, that is. Blasting off again Google Photo’s four-year climb to the summit of Mount…
Huawei may be in a spot of bother at the moment but that doesn’t mean the company’s just going to fold up shop and go home. The pending launch of a new mid-range smartphone, the Huawei Y9 Prime (2019), is a testament to that. Stuff was present at a media event where the Chinese company showed off its first pop-up selfie camera smartphone to land in SA and it sure looks like Huawei’s here to stay.