Windows 10 Mobile-powered Funker W6.0 Pro 2 with Continuum support goes up for pre-order

Facebook Messenger gets a big update with a new design and a Home page

Facebook’s Messenger has become more or less ubiquitous, especially as the company is forcing users out of its main app and into its secondary offerings. And today Facebook Messenger is getting a big redesign, with a new UI and homepage.

Once you update to the latest version, you’ll be greeted by Messenger’s new Home page, which Facebook will populate with your favorite contacts, people online now, friends’ birthdays and a few other functions. On top of that, Facebook says:

We hope to show you other things happening on Messenger that you might be interested in, too. For example, with the Active Now section, you can see that a good friend or colleague is available in the moment. Maybe that will prompt you to say hi!

Facebook has been trying to push its apps and garner more users to its services. Recently it updated its Android app to be able to handle all our SMS needs, while also hiding a new soccer mini-gameinside of its platform. There’s no doubt the company will continue to add services and “modules” to its app going forward.

Nintendo executive: upcoming NX console 'is not about specs; not about teraflops'

Nintendo’s NX console has been highly anticipated among the company’s fans, and with E3 just having concluded, many were hoping to hear a few more tidbits about the upcoming game system. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn’t elaborate on its plans, though at least one executive let slip a few morsels – and the news isn’t good.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo America’s president reiterated some of what the company mentioned before: the Nintendo NX would be launching in the first part of 2017and that the console is entirely designed around gaming.

Sticking true to Nintendo’s modus operandi, Fils-Aime also mentioned that the Nintendo NX “is not about specs”. Two times now, Nintendo has put out underpowered consoles compared to its rivals, and it looks like this generation will follow suite. With both the Sony PlayStation Neo and the Xbox Scorpio, coming out next year and being geared towards powerful graphics, Nintendo fans may once again be left behind. Fils-Aime said:

For us, it's not about specs, it's not about teraflops, it's not about the horsepower of a particular system. For us, it's about the content. Nintendo is a content focused company, we create content that makes people smile.

So for us we're focused on bringing our best entertainment to both the Wii U as well as the NX in the future. So for us, whatever Microsoft and Sony are doing in terms of talking about new systems, that's for them to fight out in that red ocean.

The company has two previous experiences with putting out underpowered hardware: the Nintendo Wii sold incredibly well and was an instant hit, despite both the Xbox 360 and PS3 being more powerful; meanwhile the Nintendo Wii U floundered and was mostly ignored by the gaming community, which opted en masse for Sony’s PlayStation 4.

The original Wii, despite being underpowered, sold so well because it introduced a brand new mode of gaming, using motion controls to entice gamers. The Wii U failed precisely because it did not introduce any such element, instead having to compete on “classic” console traits. The upcomingNintendo NX is described as “an entirely new idea” so it’ll be interesting to see which way things will go this time around.

Another aspect worth mentioning, that Fils-Aime touched on, was VR support. Both Sony and Microsoft are banking heavily on the nascent field of VR with Playstation VR coming this October whileXbox Scorpio will also be supporting virtual reality. So how does Nintendo plan to integrate VR into the NX? It’s not at all clear that it will. Fils-Aime said:

We've been looking at the VR space since the days of the Virtual Boy. With us, we want to make sure our next content is going to be mainstream, mass-market approachable, and when something like VR is at that point, you can expect Nintendo to be there.

At best the company wants to say that it, with the NX, will be one to finally popularize VR, like it did with motion controls with the Wii. Either that or the company is looking to give virtual reality a skip with this generation of consoles.

In either case, we’re less than a year away until the Nintendo NX’s launch and we’re bound to find out more about the console until then.

Source: Bloomberg Via: TechRadar

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Windows Store now lets you choose install location for large games and apps

The Windows Store can be a very convenient way of downloading apps and games. But so far the Store has had a major issue when it comes to large apps, seeing as it would install everything by default into the Windows partition.

While users could change the default app location to a different drive, having some granularity and extra control over the way the Store downloads apps was very important. And luckily this feature has now quietly showed up for Windows Insiders.

As noticed by a Reddit user, the Store now asks a user which drive he or she would like to use when downloading large apps and games. A new dialog box pops up asking which of the installed drives the user prefers. It’s worth pointing out that this is limited to only choosing a drive and doesn’t offer more granularity than that. Meanwhile, smaller apps will still use the default location which you can set in PC Settings.

We’ve tested this feature both on build 14361 and 14366, with both of them working fine, so it’s not exactly clear when this showed up. Still, this is a very useful feature, especially for those of us with low-storage notebooks.

Via: Reddit, Microsoft Insider

Samsung might replace the notification LED with 'Smart Glow'

Samsung might be ditching the notification LED found on many of today’s devices, in favor of a notification ring, which the company is dubbing Smart Glow.

The feature was spotted in some reportedly leaked materials from Samsung, which describe Smart Glow as “an alternative to the notification LED”, which sits on the back of the device around the camera lens. Smart Glow can be configured by users to display priority notifications of different colors, based on the type of notification: phone call, e-mail, text message etc.

Another Smart Glow feature is the so called selfie assist. This lets users take selfies with the more powerful camera on the back of the device, which until now has been tricky.

Sony executive expects PlayStation VR shortages, details thoughts on 'Neo'

While Sony didn't show off the upgraded PlayStation 4 - code-named "Neo" - at its E3 2016 briefing as expected, the company did unveil the PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset. Now, in an interview with CNBC, PlayStation executive Andrew House has shared his thoughts on the upcoming PSVR headset and Neo.

House stated that Sony expects PSVR shortages, mainly due to virtual reality still being relatively less developed as a medium of entertainment, with sales difficult to predict. He went on to say that:

We have growing confidence that we'll be supply constrained with this product, but we'll do our very best to meet demand. Virtual reality is a medium that's in its infancy. With such a nascent, very new form of storytelling, it's difficult to predict what user uptake is going to be.

We're obviously very excited about the overall future potential for virtual reality and we think it's the right opportunity to start to build a market. But we need to keep reminding ourselves that you're requiring a very different user engagement than we have seen previously. [...] The experiences we are delivering are truly transformative for gaming and that will inspire a certain audience. How large that audience is remains to be seen.

House also claimed that most gaming titles for the PSVR will be priced between $20 and $40, however, there will be some games which will be priced slightly higher or lower. He said that with new games which tout virtual reality such as Batman: Arkham, Resident Evil 7 biohazard, Final Fantasy XV,Here They Lie, Farpoint, and others, the company is looking to tap into the interests of the VR audience.

With regards to the PlayStation Neo, House claimed that the upcoming console is not the beginning of the next generation, but a "high-end version" of the PlayStation 4. He further said that:

We will absolutely have a single community of players. All of the games releasing within this life cycle [of consoles] will absolutely be playable on the standard PS4. […] This just offers the consumer another option. If you are looking for the highest graphics performance, if you recent bought a 4K TV and you're looking for content, then Neo is going to be great option for you. But it is that – an option – rather than saying the cycle has moved on.

With that being said, he declined to shed details on the pricing and availability on Sony's upcoming console, refusing to comment on whether it would debut this year or the next. However, he did say that the company is looking for a timeframe to launch the console such that the user base doesn't feel too rushed or the opposite. He went on to say that:

People invest in a console and they want to have that investment validated over a decent period of time. That being said, with iterations like Neo we are, to some degree as an industry, acknowledging the pace of iteration has shifted. […] People have become attuned to a slightly different cadence of innovation. The critical thing is to give the consumer options, rather than dictate the future for them.

While most details regarding Sony's Neo are unknown as of yet, the company has stated that the PSVR will launch on October 13, 2016, starting at $399. The headset is expected to receive 50 gaming titles including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and Star Wars.

Source: CNBC