Luke Dormehl - page 329

Less than two months after reinventing the Hitman franchise with the superb puzzler Hitman GO, developers Square Enix Montreal have announced that they’re set to take another crack at a mobile version of Hitman with the upcoming Hitman: Sniper.

This game will take a more classic approach to the stealth-based murder-heavy series by being a game about sniping, similar to the 2012 console game Hitman: Sniper Challenge, which was tied into the release of Hitman: Absolution. Levels in Hitman: Sniper will reportedly feature multiple solutions, with leaderboards that will make the whole thing “massively competitive.”

If you’ve already heard enough about Swift, and are looking for another language to sink your learning-teeth into, how about taking up Dothraki?

The fictitious Game of Thrones language — as spoken by the late badass Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen — is the basis of a forthcoming iOS app, and accompanying book, CD, and online learning course, set to arrive later this year. Costing $3.99, the app is described as “your Dothraki learning experience to go” and features 15 thematic flashcard decks with more than 200 Dothraki vocabulary words, a conversational dialogue, a pronunciation guide, a simplified grammar summary, and interactive games testing your vocabulary knowledge.

Apple’s new programming language Swift might be a hit with coders, but bringing it to developers wasn’t quite as speedy a process as its name implies.

Chris Lattner, director of Apple’s Developer Tools department, has updated his personal website with information relating to Swift — including some details of its development. According to Lattner, work on the language began back in July 2010. Lattner implemented much of the basic language structure himself, with only a few other people at Apple knowing of its existence. It was only when several other individuals began contributing to the project in 2011 that it started to gain momentum, leading to it becoming a major focus for the Apple Developer Tools group in July 2013.

One of the first things Steve Jobs did after returning to Apple in the late 90s was to bring back TBWA\Chiat\Day, the ad agency which had previously produced the memorable “1984” Macintosh commercial. The result was the famous “Think Different” campaign, which helped set Apple off on its present course. Now it seems that Apple is moving away from TBWA\Chiat\Day, toward producing more of its television ads in-house.

At WWDC, Apple debuted its new Family Sharing feature, which allows up to six members of a household to share calendars and even iTunes purchases when using the same credit card — meaning the end of multiple iTunes accounts for different family members.

While Family Sharing allows users to set up their family as a unit able to share photos, calendars, locations, etc. more significant to developers is that it lets users share songs, books, movies, apps, and other purchases.

On the back of the most eventful WWDC keynote in recent memory, and Eddy Cue claiming that Apple has its most exciting product pipeline in 25 years, there have been few better times to invest in AAPL shares. With that in mind, Apple has just given an overhaul to its Investor Relations minisite, giving it a long overdue spit shine.

The website features sections advising on Apple stock prices, financial information, SEC filings, and leadership and governance, alongside relevant press releases and financial news related. Notably the website’s graphical overhaul brings its into line with Apple’s current design preferences, with an abundance of thin fonts and white space.

When it comes to Hollywood badassery I’m most excited about here in 2014, few flicks match up to Hercules — starring none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Directed by Brett Ratner, and co-starring John Hurt, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes, the movie looks leagues better than the disappointing Legends of Hercules film released earlier this year. The new trailer contains some great (if potentially spoiler-filled) moments: showing Hercules face off against all manner of mythological nasties, in addition to a PETA-baiting scene in which he kills an attacking lion and makes a stylish hat out of him.

Given that it’s only been around since Monday, it’s still early days for iOS 8. But that doesn’t mean the jailbreak community is resting — and if early indicators are to be believed, we might see a jailbreak for Apple’s latest mobile operating system sooner than expected.

While there are still no concrete examples of someone jailbreaking their device on iOS 8, well-known hacker i0n1c claimed in a recent tweet that the first beta of iOS 8 “doesn’t fix anything” and should therefore be breakable.

Microsoft has issued a system update to Xbox One which includes support for external storage, the ability for players to use real names on Xbox Live, and superior SmartGlass integration. To coincide with this, the company has also dropped a major update to Xbox One SmartGlass, its official iOS companion app of the latest generation of its video game console.

The update redesigns the Home section to make it more engaging for players. It additionally lets you see all your TV and app channels in the OneGuide, as well as giving you the ability to control your cable or satellite box and TV with a brand new universal remote control feature.

Back in the day it would have been entirely possible to draw a direct line between Apple and Joss Whedon’s Firefly TV series: both superb products with passionate fanbases, but largely ignored by the masses.

That might not be true for Apple today (or for Joss Whedon either), but when you’re dealing with two subjects like tech and sci-fi, some overlap is expected. That appears to be the case at Apple, where a member of the Swift team is clearly something of a Firefly fanboy — hiding a reference to the cult show in its documentation for Apple’s new programming language.

Apple might have been planning its entry into health-tracking for quite some time, but it may not have given quite so much thought to the name of its HealthKit platform, as recently announced at WWDC.

That’s because an Australian health startup with the same name has come forwards, and it’s none too pleased about Apple apparently borrowing its name for the API of its Health app.

“It is very flattering that they like our name, but I’m a little let down because how hard would it have been to spend five seconds to put HealthKit.com into their browser and find us?” Alison Hardacre, co-founder and managing director of HealthKit told Wired. “Everybody worries that Google or Apple will come into their space and their business will die, but no one thinks that company will come into that space and use the same name!”

One of Steve Jobs’ biggest complaints about smartphones in the days before Apple created the iPhone was that they all had keyboards which were there whether or not you wanted them. Much the same has previously been true of previous iOS gamepads — which have either been clip-on phone cases in style, or else wireless controllers you need to carry around with you if you want to use them.

It’s this problem that Razer is attempting to solve with its new Junglecat accessory. Snapping onto your iPhone, the Razer Junglecat adds a slide-out gamepad that connects to your mobile device by way of the lighting port. While it adds a bit of heft to your ultra-thin iPhone (and obviously means that your lightning port remains occupied), it does mean that the gamepad itself can remain safely tucked away until you feel like using it.

Apple kept its cards close to its chest about the forthcoming iPhone 6 at yesterday’s WWDC keynote (and why wouldn’t it?), but new information has arrived in the form of a report from China.

This information suggests that Apple has been able to solve the battery issues that reportedly plagued production of its expected 5.5-inch iPhone 6, and that the company is on course to ship 20 millions of these handsets in 2014 alone. The news states that Apple is partnering with the China-based Sunwoda Electronics to manufacture batteries for all of these devices — with each battery costing roughly $6.40. Apple’s regular battery supplier, Dynapack, will also help fill the order.

JJ Abrams eagerly-anticipated Star Wars Episode VII has announced two new intriguing casting decisions: adding actresses Lupita Nyong’o and Gwendoline Christie to the fold.

Nyong’o is best known to movie fans as an Academy Award winner for her role in the recent 12 Years a Slave, while Christie plays Game of Thrones badass Brienne of Tarth. Although Nyong’o had been previously rumored for a role in the movie, Christie’s casting is a surprise.

Despite pulling various Bitcoin trading apps from the App Store, Apple hasn’t previously made clear its stance on virtual currencies and how it plans to handle them in future.

Following the unveiling of iOS 8 at yesterday’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company has issued a revised set of its App Store Review Guidelines, complete with a section specifically dealing with virtual currencies. If we’re interpreting it correctly, it appears that Apple will accept apps for review which deal in the transmission of digital funds — at least to a degree.

If you don’t have time to watch the whole WWDC keynote address or peruse our great live coverage of the event have no fear: a catchy song by musician Jonathan Mann has you covered!

In just 3 minutes 24 seconds, Mann hits all the most memorable moments from yesterday’s super-exciting presentation — from the announcement of new programming language Swift, OS X 10.10 Yosemite and iOS 8, the the moment when Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi hung up on his mom.

Like an enthusiastic groupie, Apple is picking up musicians left and right these days. The latest report, confirmed by a spokesperson for Beats, says the Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor will not be leaving Beats following the Apple acquisition.

Reznor was hired by Jimmy Iovine back in January 2013, joining the company as its Chief Creative Officer, and charged with helping build up its streaming music services. At the time of the hire, Iovine said that Reznor would “bring an emotional connection back to the act of music discovery.”

Apple has unveiled the latest version of its Mac operating system, OS X 10.10 Yosemite. Undergoing a full redesign, Yosemite brings Apple’s desktop computers closer than ever to the iOS family of devices.

Here’s a look at everything that’s changing.

The nerdgasm is strong with this one!

TMZ has somehow managed to get hold of an epic 45 image gallery of pictures from Star Wars Episode VII, that will make long time Star Wars fans very, very happy indeed.

For those of us who will be giddily watching WWDC from the comfort of our own homes (read: those who weren’t lucky enough to get golden tickets), Apple has added its promised WWDC channel to Apple TV for viewing the live stream of the conference’s keynote later today.

The keynote can additionally be streamed from Apple’s website by way of Safari on OS X or iOS, or QuickTime 7 on Windows.

Amazon may have let the cat out of the bag regarding a new Mortal Kombat sequel by listing Mortal Kombat 10 on its UK website, available for PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The listing — which has since been removed — suggests that the release would come some time in 2015, although it didn’t mention a specific month or quarter. Since the listing appears to have been premature, it’s not known whether this date could change.

Hours before WWDC kicks off, a series of blurry leaked photos appear to show Apple’s next generation operating system, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, in action.

Two different sources of photos have been posted online: the first on the Reddit Mac community by a poster using a throwaway account, who claimed to have taken the photos himself at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. These images have since been deleted.

Shortly after Twitter user UI designer Doney den Ouden posted another image, citing a “reliable anonymous source.”

Assuming that the photos are genuine, they reveal several interesting changes in the look and feel of the OS — making it far closer resemble iOS. For instance, there is now a Control Center, along with a slightly rejigged Safari, with larger buttons for bookmarks and frequently visited sites, similar to the version of Safari found on the iPad.

In an age of Facetime, Skype and Google Hangouts, video calling is pretty much ubiquitous — an aspect of technology that we simply take for granted. But it wasn’t always this way.

Eighteen years ago today, AT&T and Intel held a May 30 meeting to announce a system that would allow personal computers to make and receive video phone calls over standard telephone lines.

“It sounds futuristic, but it’s here,” Intel noted in its annual report for 1996. “For the first time, a simple low-cost, PC-based video phone.”

Aside from the odd controlled leaks, Apple isn’t a company known for letting out too much info about advance products (or, really, anything) these days. However, recently we’ve been seeing more and more information come from Apple’s less secretive supply chain — and it seems that Apple has had enough.

Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer were competitors during their time as CEOs of Apple and Microsoft respectively, and now it seems that the Jobs vs. Ballmer competition continues in an altogether different arena.

The competition in question concerns a quest to buy the L.A. Clippers from embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Ballmer has reportedly placed a $2 billion for the basketball team: an offer which would triple the record for an NBA franchise.

One of the roadblocks in his acquisition plan? None other than Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs. Jobs is partnering with several other tech and entertainment magnates, including Oracle software co-founder Larry Ellison, and new Apple employee (and reported special adviser to Tim Cook) Jimmy Iovine.