Dominique Luchart's Blog, page 558
July 24, 2021
New job posting shows Amazon seeking a digital currency and blockchain expert, Kim Lyons
Amazon is hiring a digital currency and blockchain product lead for its payments team, according to a new job listing. First reported by Insider, the ecommerce giant is looking for an “experienced product leader to develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.” The listing, which Amazon has confirmed is legitimate, continues:
You will leverage your domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency to develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities.
Amazon.com doesn’t accept cryptocurrency as payment, but a spokesperson told Insider that the company was “inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon.”
Amazon’s cloud division, Amazon Web Services (AWS) already has a managed blockchain service. But CEO Andy Jassy said in 2017 when he was head of the AWS division that the company was “watching” the space but that Amazon didn’t see “a lot of practical use cases for blockchain that are much broader than using a distributed ledger,” ZDNet reported at the time. That would appear to be changing if this new listing is any indication.
Apple posted a similar listing in May for a business development manager for “alternative payments,” and among the key qualifications for the role was five years of experience “working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL, Fast Payments, cryptocurrency and etc.”
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Genki ShadowCast review: a clever but limited capture card, Cameron Faulkner
The ShadowCast from Genki is a dongle-size video capture card that might provide all that some gamers and streamers need. It’s $45, a relatively low price for a no-frills device that can get your console games onto your PC. But it has some limitations. The video quality isn’t great, and there’s a noticeable amount of lag if you’re trying to play along with the stream. These compromises aren’t a surprise, considering the ShadowCast costs a fraction of the price of something more capable like Elgato’s HD60 S+.
You can actually go a bit cheaper than Genki’s $45 if you’re willing to roll the dice on quality control. Last year we covered an affordable (between $10 and $30, usually) no-brand HDMI capture card that’s very similar to this one, and perhaps its port arrangement may be more convenient for you. Unlike the ShadowCast, which plugs into an HDMI port and has a USB-C-in port on its other end, the cheaper alternative has HDMI-in and USB-out, so you can just plug in an HDMI cable you may already own. Genki gets the nod, though, both in terms of build quality and its companion software. I’ll get into the latter part below.
It’s easy to get the ShadowCast up and running on PC or macOS. It’ll work with any device with an HDMI-out port, so the PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch and some older consoles are covered. That also includes DSLR or mirrorless cameras that you might want to use as a high-end webcam. The ShadowCast has a USB-C port on its other side, which you can connect to your PC with the included six-foot USB-C-to-C 2.0 cable, or your own C-to-A cable. It also works seamlessly with streaming applications like OBS Studio. If you’re using the ShadowCast as an interface for a camera, it’ll work with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other popular video conferencing apps. You might need a dongle if your camera doesn’t have a full-sized HDMI port. A micro or mini HDMI dongle should get the job done.
When I hooked up the ShadowCast to my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II camera to use it as a webcam, it worked well, with negligible latency issues.. It produces far better colors and clarity than a traditional webcam, though in my case, I could only get an image through HDMI by bumping the camera’s output resolution down to 720p. That may be an issue with my camera, and not the ShadowCast, so your camera may be able to output to higher resolutions without issue.
Visually, the difference between 720p (left) and 1080p (right) is striking, but I prefer the 60fps fidelity of the lower resolution.","image_left":{"ratio":"*","original_url":"https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/choru... 
The ShadowCast’s specs are competitive for sub-$50 capture solutions, and its flaws are generally similar, too. It supports up to 1080p input resolution at 30 frames per second, or a 720p image at a faster 60 frames per second. Both modes offer varying levels of graininess, so this device isn’t for people aiming to show all of the granular visual details in PS5 games — or really any game — with pixel-perfect representation. Fidelity aside, I noticed that colors from some sample images and footage look less vibrant and have less contrast than I’d see by directly connecting my console to a monitor. Neither flaw is that surprising, given the price.
A slider comparison of image quality, with a 720p model on the left and a 1080p model on the right.","image_left":{"ratio":"*","original_url":"https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/choru... 
The lag while gaming is another issue. The delay in the incoming video feed is perceivable to the point that it may be game-breaking depending on your preferences. Lag is really only an issue if you’re playing strictly through the feed coming in from the ShadowCast; most streamers who want to play and stream at the same time from a console use an HDMI splitter and instead play their games on a screen that has a direct connection to their console, thus avoiding latency. I used the ShadowCast with other cables, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports on two different computers, but the latency issues were the same no matter what.
The ShadowCast is a viable but limited option for streamers compared to pricier options. But it’s more user-friendly than some other competitors if all you want to do is record yourself talking over gameplay and upload the video to your channel later on. Genki makes that easy to do through its free Arcade app for macOS and Windows 10 machines. More impressively, it works through Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, too. Once your console is connected, you can hit record and chat through your microphone as you play, and the recording will pick up both game audio and your voice. You can take snapshots, too, which is handy if you’re making guides for game walkthroughs.
A snapshot taken from the browser version of Genki Arcade shows the full suite of tools, including voice recording, screenshots, and video recording.The app on macOS and the browser-based versions offer all of the features above. But on Windows, it’ll let you play your games, but you can’t record footage or mic audio currently. The macOS app also outputs different types of files than the browser version. On macOS, you’ll get an .mp4 file, but the browser-based version outputs a .webm video file that’s viewable (and can be converted to .mp4) in VLC Player. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s an extra step, since you’ll likely need to convert it to a more compatible video file format before uploading.
[embedded content]Here’s a clip recorded through the Genki Arcade software in “Favor Performance” mode, which sets the ShadowCast to 720p at 60 frames per second.
[embedded content]Here’s a clip recorded through the Genki Arcade software in “Favor Resolution” mode, which sets the ShadowCast to 1080p at 30 frames per second.
Genki is also touting that its app and the ShadowCast should appeal to people who casually use their laptops or desktops as a display for their game consoles. There’s little reason to do this if you have a nearby TV, since you’ll get less latency with a direct connection. This method makes a lot more sense if you’re in, say, a hotel with just your laptop, or if you don’t own a dedicated TV and the biggest screen you’ve got is your desktop all-in-one. If those highly specific circumstances describe your situation, this isn’t a bad way to go.
Whatever your use cases are, Genki claims that its Arcade app has less latency than if you were to run the ShadowCast as a video source through OBS Studio, when tested on a 2020 base model M1 13-inch MacBook Pro. At most, it says the reduction in latency can be up to 50ms, but that it varies and may be less than that. But on my setup, the reduction in latency with the Arcade app wasn’t too noticeable. Genki told me that latency can be impacted by factors like whether you’re using a laptop that’s being charged versus running off the battery, and whether your PC’s specs can keep up. In my case, it feels similar to playing games via cloud streaming over a so-so internet connection. Like I mentioned above, that might be a deal-breaker for some, or not a concern for others.
If you’re skeptical about the ShadowCast, $45 isn’t that much to gamble, compared to pricier solutions. I like the companion software (including a web-based solution), which simplifies putting your game on a PC or laptop screen. And as a streaming solution, its video quality is serviceable, so long as capturing high-fidelity footage isn’t essential.
Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
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The Senate’s E-BIKE Act could make electric bikes a lot cheaper, Andrew J. Hawkins
A bill that would offer Americans a refundable tax credit on the purchase of a new electric bicycle was just introduced in the Senate by Ed Markey (D-MA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI). The bill is called the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment, or E-BIKE Act for short, and it’s the companion bill to one introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year.
E-bikes are more expensive than normal bikes, typically costing anywhere from $1,000 to $8,000 for some of the more high-end models. But they also have the potential to replace car trips for a lot of people, with a recent study finding that if 15 percent of car trips were made by e-bike, carbon emissions would drop by 12 percent.
This afternoon, I conducted a brief interview with Senator Schatz over text message to get a sense of the legislation’s goals, its chances in Congress, and whether he himself would ever consider buying an e-bike. (He said no, but I think I got him to reconsider.)
“The idea is simple,” Schatz said, “the electrification of transportation is not just about cars, it’s about every way to get around.”
At its core, the bill is about accessibility, the senator said. More people should be riding e-bikes than just those who can afford them. Driving is already highly subsidized across the country. We build cheap — often free — areas for parking, we invest in highways, drivers don’t pay for congestion or CO2 emissions, and zoning laws and taxes favor sprawl. We need to start accommodating bikes — and especially e-bikes — if we want more people to switch to greener forms of transportation.
“The bill makes a clean alternative more accessible to more people,” Schatz said. “E-bikes make lots of sense for working people, young people, and others who either cannot afford or don’t want a car.”
Much like the House bill, Schatz and Markey’s legislation would offer Americans a refundable tax credit worth 30 percent of a new e-bike’s purchase price, capped at $1,500. All three e-bike classes would be eligible for the tax credit, but bikes with motors more powerful than 750W would not. The credit would also be fully refundable, which would allow lower-income individuals to claim it.
A common refrain you hear from critics of this legislation is that people won’t switch to bikes without safer infrastructure to support it. Protected bike lanes are still in short supply in the US, and it’s unclear whether a surge in demand for e-bikes would necessarily lead to better policy decisions on the local level.
Schatz said there needs to be a “major infusion of physical infrastructure for bike lanes and safe streets” for this bill to have the desirable outcome, which is more people switching from cars to e-bikes. There is $20 billion in President Biden’s infrastructure proposal for safe street improvements, which include bike lanes. But whether that money survives in the final deal — if there is a final deal — remains to be seen.
“I’m optimistic,” Schatz said about the potential passage of the E-BIKE Act, “but this overall package will face multiple near-death experiences before it becomes law. We plan to get it through in the coming package, but if we don’t, we will keep pushing.”
The House version of the bill has 21 co-sponsors — all Democrats — while the Senate version is just now making the rounds. But Schatz said he doesn’t think it will be a tough sell with his colleagues.
“We anticipate that we will be able to build momentum for this,” he said. “It’s one of those rare ideas that is both revolutionary and noncontroversial.”
And while Schatz said he’s only tried riding an e-bike once, while on vacation, and doesn’t have any immediate plans to buy one for himself, he would reconsider, given his newly acquired position as an advocate for this mode of transportation.
Capital Bikeshare in Washington, DC, has a number of pedal-assist e-bikes in rotation. Just sayin’.
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Blizzard exec calls sexual harassment allegations ‘extremely troubling’, Kim Lyons
The president of Blizzard Entertainment sent an email to staff calling allegations of sexual harassment at the company “extremely troubling.” First reported by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, J. Allen Brack wrote that “the fight for equality is incredibly important to me,” and that he has spent his career fighting against “bro culture.”
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed suit against Blizzard and owner Activision Blizzard on Tuesday, alleging a culture of “constant sexual harassment” existed at the company. The complaint describes a “frat boy culture” that included male employees drinking and sexually harassing female employees without repercussions. Brack is named in the complaint as being one of the people at the company who was allegedly aware and enabling of the behavior.
Blizzard president J. Allen Brack sent out an email to staff last night addressing the allegations from this week’s explosive lawsuit, calling them “extremely troubling” and saying that he’d be “meeting with many of you to answer questions and discuss how we can move forward.” pic.twitter.com/NsMV6CNdTE
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier)
According to the DFEH complaint, “male employees would play video games during work, engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies, and make numerous jokes about rape.”
Women were subjected to numerous sexual advances and comments, the lawsuit states, including groping and other forms of harassment:
A female employee noted that random male employees would approach her on Defendants’ work site and comment on her breasts. Female employees working for the World of Warcraft team noted that male employees and supervisors would hit on them, make derogatory comments about rape, and otherwise engage in demeaning behavior. This behavior was known to supervisors and indeed encouraged by them, including a male supervisor openly encouraging a male subordinate to “buy” a prostitute to cure his bad mood.
Alex Afrasiabi, the former Senior Creative Director of World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment, was permitted to engage in blatant sexual harassment with little to no repercussions. During a company event (an annual convention called Blizz Con) Afrasiabi would hit on female employees, telling him he wanted to marry them, attempting to kiss them, and putting, his arms around them. This was in plain view of other male employees, including supervisors, who had to intervene and pull him off female employees.
Activision Blizzard executive Fran Townsend sent an email to staff the same day as Brack, according to Schreier, but with a different tone, saying the lawsuit presented an “untrue picture” of the company, adding that it was “meritless.” Her comments echoed an official statement released by the company that called the DFEH lawsuit “irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California,” and said the suit included “distorted, and in many cases, false descriptions of Blizzard’s past.”
Activision Blizzard didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on Saturday.
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Super Mario 64 probably won’t be the last million-dollar video game, Jay Peters
Earlier this month, a sealed copy of Super Mario 64 sold for $1,560,000 at auction, a staggering price that nearly doubled a record set just two days before by a similarly pristine copy of The Legend of Zelda. The auctions could mark just the beginning of even more eye-poppingly large video game sales. It seems very likely that Mario’s first 3D adventure won’t be the last game to command a million-dollar sum.
“I think we’ll see more million dollar games, probably sooner rather than later,” Chris Kohler, editorial director at Digital Eclipse, a developer that works on rereleases of classic video games, tells The Verge.
Collecting and selling stuff — both physical and virtual — for expensive prices has become a popular trend. Pokemon cards are massively popular. Some NFTs, a form of digital collectible, have sold for millions of dollars. And people have been pouring huge amounts of money into assets like cryptocurrencies and GameStop’s stock.
Video games continue to be hugely popular — more than half of Americans turned to video games during the pandemic — and retro games have already had a recent history of becoming collectors’ items. Just over a year ago, a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. claimed the record of being the most expensive video game ever by selling for $114,000, a figure that was huge at the time but is less than a tenth of what Super Mario 64 just auctioned for.
Kohler expects that the next game to break the million-dollar threshold could be a very early printing of The Legend of Zelda, like what sold this month, or another Super Mario Bros. Danielle Smith, owner of Nerdy Girl Comics, agrees. “I think that the market has kind of spoken for itself and that Mario is king and Zelda is queen of video games,” she said. Smith also said that Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis could potentially be a valuable title. That’s not only because of his cultural cache right now: “Sonic the Hedgehog sealed is really hard to come by,” she said.
It’s not just Sonic. People who are coming into collecting top-notch games may find that supply is much lower than it is in other collectibles markets. “I think that we are going to continue to see record breaking sales [in games],” said Deniz Kahn, president and founder of Wata Games, the company that evaluated both The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario 64 for quality before they were listed for auction. “At the end of the day, there’s just simply not enough supply of these high end, high grade, sealed, vintage video games to satiate the demand.”
That’s slightly different than other collectible categories. “Over the last few years there have been a lot of people who have started collecting other areas, like comics or coins or cards, and their markets are very mature,” he said. In comics, “at this point all of the copies of Action Comics #1 have been flushed out of attics into collectors’ hands. People in the [gaming] hobby — collectors, investors — we’re all realizing that the populations of these sealed games are so incredibly low when you compare them to, say, sports cards or comic books,” he added. “There aren’t hundreds of these in high, perfect grade out there. In some cases, there’s one, or 10, or five.”
Another thing that may be driving up prices is that the games are selling at public auction, meaning that everyone can see the price of an eventual sale. Before that, according to Kahn, “when a five figure video game sale would occur, which was a big deal four or five years ago, I knew about it and maybe 10 other guys knew about it. It all happened behind closed doors.”
All of the recent record holders have been sold on Heritage Auctions, and the games sold have been graded for quality by Wata Games on a 10-point scale similar to what’s used for comics. According to Kohler, the partnership between Wata and Heritage makes it safer for people to have confidence that the game they’re bidding on is of the quality that’s advertised. “You’re not just buying it from shadyguy123 on eBay,” he said. “You know you’re buying from Heritage Auctions.”
“The sales that occur [on Heritage] are now almost an indicator of health,” Kahn said. “It’s a pulse on the market.”
The person who bought the million-dollar Super Mario 64 hasn’t come forward publicly, so it’s unclear exactly why they dropped such a huge amount of money on the one game. But Valarie McLeckie, consignment director of video games at Heritage Auctions, said that those who have been buying ultra-rare games are driven by nostalgia. “The types of people who are buying these games are seeking mint-condition examples of the games they played as a kid,” she said in an email.
Kahn speculates that for some, Nintendo 64 games may hit that nostalgia sweet spot that encourages them to buy. “I think [for] the generation that’s really heavily getting involved in alternative assets, the Nintendo 64 era, for example, resonates a lot more with that demographic,” he said. “I think that might also be the reason that we’re all very surprised that the first million-dollar-plus video game was a Nintendo 64 game. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that. But it goes to show the power of emotion and nostalgia and how much of a role that plays despite all the other factors that drive demand.”
These record-breaking sales could have a positive impact on video game preservation, which is already a challenging problem due to the way technology changes and decays. If more people try to sell their video games to get in on the market, treasures that had been buried could see the light of day.
“What I think that people do not understand is that so much stuff, even to this day, gets thrown in the trash,” Kohler said. “If there’s one really great beneficial impact that something like this is going to have — especially because it passed that magical million dollar number where everybody, the mainstream news, is all paying attention to it — the beneficial impact this has is [that] fewer people will throw away their video games.”
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The Apple Watch Series 6 is $279 at Best Buy and Amazon, Cameron Faulkner
The best deal available today is on the 40mm Apple Watch Series 6 with Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity. Usually $399, it’s just $279 at Best Buy through Saturday, July 24th. Amazon is honoring this deal, too, even going a bit lower with a $265 price (though, act fast as Amazon’s stock tends to sell out faster than Best Buy’s). The thing is, this price cut is limited to the Product Red colorway that has a red aluminum case and a red sport band. This is great news for people who can’t get enough of the color red in their lives, but it’s probably not most people’s first choice in terms of how they’d like their Apple Watch to look. It’s hard to argue with the price, though. We’ve seen it sell for $20 less than this, but not since late in April. Read our review of the Apple Watch Series 6.
Apple Watch Series 6 (40mm, GPS)
$265 $399 34% offApple’s latest flagship wearable features an always-on display and new sensors that provide the ability to monitor your blood oxygen levels.
$265
at Amazon (Product Red edition)
$279
at Best Buy (Product Red edition)
Best Buy and Amazon are offering the best price yet on Jabra’s latest true wireless earbuds, the Elite 85t. You can pick up a set for $170. These originally sold for $230, but have dropped down to $200 on occasion. This model has active noise cancellation, and their ability to pair with two devices at once via Bluetooth makes them unique among competitors like the AirPods Pro and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. Read our review.
A follow-up to the Elite 75t which include solid noise cancellation and excellent on-earbud controls.
$170
at Best Buy
$170
at Amazon
In other headphone news, if you happen to be in the market for a pair of noise-canceling, wireless headphones that are good, but not too expensive, look no further than Sony’s WH-1000XM3. Their name doesn’t roll off the tongue, but the value at this price is indisputably great. These are comfy, over-ear headphones that sound wonderful and block out all sorts of noise. They’re on sale at Best Buy for $170 through Sunday, their most affordable price to date. Read our review.
Sony’s previous-generation flagship noise-canceling headphones, the 1000XM3, have been outshined by the few extra features that their successor brings. But if all that you want is comfort, excellent sound, and a world-hushing noise cancellation effect, these are still worth getting for a deal.
$170
at Best Buy
At Best Buy, you can land a complimentary 128GB microSD card when you purchase a Nintendo Switch Lite at MSRP ($200). That’s a solid promo, as a microSD card is something that a large percentage of Switch owners will likely find themselves in need of quickly. The Switch Lite has 32GB of storage built-in, and that’s only enough for a few games. So, if you’re shopping for a Switch Lite, get it at Best Buy to have this freebie added to your cart at checkout.
Nintendo Switch Lite w/ 128GB MicroSD card
$200 $235 15% offNintendo’s smaller, lighter Switch makes it easier to play your collection of Switch games on the go. Right now, you can grab the Nintendo Switch Lite and a 128GB memory card for $200 at Best Buy, a $35 discount.
$200
at Best Buy
Nomad, a company that makes leather goods to both protect and make your tech look more spiffy, is hosting its summer sale through Sunday. Right now, you can get 30 percent off of everything — except for items that are already discounted — by entering offer code SUMMER30 at checkout.
[embedded content]Best Buy is offering Ghost of Tsushima on PS4 for $30, which is $10 less than it typically costs. It’s a fantastic deal for a game of its size and quality, but it’s an even better deal if you were hoping not to shell out the full amount to get the enhanced director’s cut for the PS4 or PS5 when it launches on August 20th. Ghost of Tsushima owners will need to spend $29 to upgrade if playing on either console, so you’ll have spent $60 in total by taking advantage of this deal instead of $70. Read our review.
Set in late 13th century Japan, Ghost of Tsushima has players controlling a samurai who is tasked with protecting Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion.
$30
at Best Buy
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Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test 2: Live updates, ,
Read live updates of Boeing’s second uncrewed test flight of its Starliner spacecraft, scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on July 30.
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July 23, 2021
New ‘Star Trek’ movie slated for 2023 lands ‘Wandavision’ director Matt Shakman, ,
A report from Deadline states the as-yet untitled “Star Trek” movie slated to be released in 2023 will be directed by Matt Shakman. This has also by Paramount Pictures.
Shakman is most recently known for showrunning the nine-episode limited series “WandaVision” for Marvel on Disney Plus and that show has been nominated for an impressive 23 Emmy Awards, including one for Shakman’s work directing the series. He has also directed episodes of critically-acclaimed TV shows like HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Amazon’s “The Boys” and FX’s “Fargo.”
This latest big-screen incarnation will again be produced by J.J. Abrams and will use a script written by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, the latter of whose credits include “Captain Marvel” and “Tomb Raider.”
Want to try Paramount+? Here’s a free one-month trialSubscribe to Paramount+ for $5.99/monthHowever, little else is known or has been confirmed. In an earlier — and now edited — version of that same Deadline story, it included a sentence that mentioned the original cast was returning and thus suggested the film would once again take place in the Kelvin Timeline. However, the story has since been changed and that sentence removed. So we assume that this hasn’t yet been confirmed.
Several directors have expressed an interest in the nest “Star Trek” movie over the last few years since the disappointing “Star Trek Beyond” was released in 2016, including Quentin Tarantino, Justin Lin and Noah Hawley and as recently as March 2021, writer Kalinda Vazquez was tapped to script the next installment.
Deadline also reports that the 2023 film is going to move quickly into production, with principal photography scheduled to begin as early as next spring — clearly necessary if Paramount wants to have it showing in theaters by June 9, 2023. We wait to hear more on news of casting and how this new movie will slot into the “Star Trek” multiverse.
Related: The best Star Trek gifts and deals for 2021
See more
In other “Star Trek” news, the first information regarding next April’s Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention has been released. The three-day event coming to Chicago” McCormick Place Convention Center in April 2022 has four tiers of ticket pricing, all set to go on sale for the first time on July 29 at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT at the official Star Trek Missions website.
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Finally, actor Scott Grimes recently tweeted that — for him at least — the third season of “The Orville” had finally wrapped. Grimes plays a pretty central character, Lt. Gordon Malloy, so we can only assume that if principal photography hasn’t concluded in its entirety, it very soon will. Sadly, there’s still no word on when we can expect to see season three, maybe there might be a panel at this year’s New York Comic-Con, as there was two years ago, in 2019.
Today’s best Paramount Plus deals
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Here’s where you can buy a Nintendo Switch, Taylor Lyles
The Nintendo Switch was, like most consoles during the pandemic, once in short supply. Thankfully, retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart now routinely stock the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite in multiple color configurations and models, giving those who struck out ample opportunity to purchase Nintendo’s versatile console.
We’re keeping an eye across the web to find where you can buy a Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite (the portable-only version of the console), and the forthcoming Nintendo Switch OLED model, as well as any bundles that seem like good deals.
Keep in mind that stock — new, preowned, or otherwise — may still occasionally sell out as a result of the pandemic. However, we’ll do our best to keep this article current with the latest in-stock offers. When something gets sold out, we’ll try to let you know.
Where can I buy a Nintendo Switch or Switch Lite right now?Over at Amazon, you can buy an updated Nintendo Switch model with gray Joy-Cons, plus a 64GB SanDisk MicroSD card for $314. If you’re looking to upgrade, Amazon is offering two additional bundles, one with a 128GB SanDisk MicroSD card for $326 and one with a 256GB SanDisk MicroSD card for $344.You can purchase the updated Nintendo Switch model with gray Joy-Cons or red and blue Joy-Cons for $300 at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Gamestop, and Target. The Animal Crossing: New Horizons Edition is also available for purchase at Amazon for $299, as well as most other retailers.Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, and B&H Photo all have Nintendo Switch Lite stock available in different colors for $200.If you’re not against buying a preowned or refurbished console, you’ll want to check out GameStop. Another good place to look is Nintendo’s online store, where you can often find refurbished Switch consoles. Currently, Nintendo is offering the second-gen Nintendo Switch with gray Joy-Cons for $260, in addition to most color configurations of the Switch Lite for $170.
NintendoWhere can I buy a Nintendo Switch OLED right now?The forthcoming Nintendo Switch OLED model opened for preorders on July 15th, with the initial preorder stock selling out within minutes. The higher-end Switch model — which officially goes on sale on October 8th for $350 — offers a slew of improvements, most notably a vibrant 7-inch OLED display and an improved kickstand that offers far greater stability. The speakers get a bit louder and offer a touch more clarity, too, and there’s a wired ethernet port built directly into the dock.
Although preorders for both models have come and gone since initially opening, as of the time of this writing, both configurations of the Nintendo Switch OLED are unavailable for preorder.
What accessories do I need to buy for the Nintendo Switch?Frankly, the Switch comes with everything that you need to get started and have fun. However, a few extra purchases can help you get a little more out of your console, and in some cases, help it weather the wear and tear that it’ll undoubtedly endure.
The Nintendo Switch ships with 32GB of internal storage, which won’t get you very far when it comes to downloading games. Adding a 200GB microSD card is a smart, relatively affordable way to give your storage a boost.
$25
at Amazon
First off, a MicroSD card will help you extend your Switch’s default 32GB of storage. Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers regularly sell cards with up to 512GB of storage for around $60. A 400GB microSD card will cost you around $45, and with each game ranging in download size from 1GB to tens of gigabytes, the card has enough space to store several of them.
Nintendo Switch Pro controller
$59 $70 16% offA game controller designed for the Nintendo Switch and a more comfortable alternative to the Joy-Con controllers.
$59
at GameStop
$59
at Walmart
Let’s talk quickly about controllers. The Switch Joy-Cons have a somewhat unconventional look. Nevertheless, the Pro Controller is a great alternative to play most Switch games, though some Super Mario Party titles require the Joy-Cons to play. If you are looking for a Switch Pro controller, both GameStop and Walmart also have the Switch Pro controller for $59, knocking $11 off its normal retail price.
The Switch doesn’t include a screen protector, so make that one of the first things you buy.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeNext up, get a tempered glass screen cover. The display on the Switch and Switch Lite is covered in plastic, and it’s just asking to get scratched as soon as you take it out of the box. Save the heartbreak by getting an affordable, easy-to-apply glass cover at Amazon.
A two-pack of amFilm tempered glass protectors for the Nintendo Switch is $6A three-pack of amFilm tempered glass protectors for the Switch Lite is $6If you want to play online with friends, ensure that your saves are backed up in the cloud, and get access to a slate of on-demand games from the original Nintendo console and SNES console era, you’ll want to get a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. It’s $20 per year for a single user on a console or $35 a year for up to eight users on different consoles.
Right now, Eneba offers a discounted one-year, individual membership for around $19.
Nintendo Switch Online Individual Membership (one year)
$19 $20 4% offA premium online service for Nintendo Switch owners, allowing you to play online with friends and access cloud saves in addition to a slate of retro games released in the NES and SNES eras.
$19
at Eneba
$20
at Amazon
$20
at GameStop
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Oculus’ Passthrough API will enable experiences that mix VR and the real world, Mitchell Clark
Facebook announced a new API that will let developers incorporate video from the Quest 2’s sensors into their games and applications, creating a mixed reality experience. With the Passthrough API, developers will not only be able to mix the black-and-white images from the headset’s sensors into their experiences, but they’ll also be able to customize how it ends up looking to the player, apply effects, and even have the real world show up on specific surfaces.
Facebook’s announcement includes examples of how the API could improve productivity software by allowing integration of real-life keyboards and desks, and how games could include your real-life furniture for enemies to hide behind. It’s also easy to imagine other fun experiences that mix your real environment with a virtual world — how about Portal-esque puzzles that you solve in your own house, or the ability to see your walls covered in virtual paint?
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An example of mixed reality controls.Gif: OculusFacebook told UploadVR that the API was currently only for the Quest 2 when asked about compatibility with the first-generation Quest. In the announcement post, Facebook says the image processing for the API is done on-device and that applications using it won’t be able to see or store the images from the Quest 2’s sensors.
Facebook is adding the experimental version of the API to its upcoming developer tools, and it’ll be available first to programmers using Unity to build their software. Facebook does promise that the API will be getting support for other development platforms in the future.
The Quest, Quest 2, and Rift S headsets already have a version of the Passthrough technology, which lets users get a quick look at what’s happening around them in the real world. Facebook also lets you set Passthrough as your virtual environment, giving you a version of your real environment (albeit in black and white) that you can navigate the Oculus UI in. It even showed off that ability in a video about its Infinite Office feature.
[embedded content]The ability to integrate your real environment into a virtual world has long been one of the more exciting promises of headsets with integrated cameras. Microsoft even invoked the idea when it named its VR platform Windows Mixed Reality (regardless of how much that’s actually been delivered on).
The news of Oculus’ API doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to pick up your headset and have a mixed reality experience today, however. In its announcement, Facebook says it’s looking to let developers ship software using Passthrough to players “later this year.” Still, this API’s availability to developers is exciting, as it should allow for new types of experiences on the Oculus platform.
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