Nintendo, Aaron Souppouris, Engadget
Friday has arrived -- as will your Switch preorder if you're lucky. Read our thoughts on its most important launch title, and while you're at it, gaze at the prettiest Windows Phone that's now turned Android, and how Roborace is turning robots into racecar drivers.
'Breath of the Wild' is the best 'Zelda' game in years
Nintendo has changed Zelda a lot for its Switch incarnation -- arguably the most since the series debuted. With a bigger world, exploration key to your progress, and weapons that you'll need to keep an eye as they degrade, it's a different spin on Link's journey through Hyrule. But despite all that, Aaron Souppouris says that it remains unmistakably a Zelda game.
Don't forget your Nintendo Switch's day-one update
The Nintendo Switch can't do much out of the box. It can play game cards but that's about it. So, if you're getting a Switch tomorrow, you really should connect it to the internet and grab the day-one update, which adds support for the eShop, friends list and social-network. Fortunately, the update is a fast one.
Microsoft tries something new to stop poorly-timed Windows Updates
Security updates are very important, but an operating system that reboots itself or gets stuck in a lengthy patching process at the wrong time isn't what anyone wants. Windows Update has caused that exact problem in the past, but Microsoft is testing out a way to avoid such problems in the future. Now, an icon in the Windows Settings page will show if your system is up to date, if it's not, then you can schedule a time to update or snooze the update process for three days.
LG's prototype VR headset is a bulky Vive alternative
At GDC 2017 Nicole Lee tried out LG's SteamVR headset and came away "suitably impressed." It may not have a sleek design (yet), but its flip up eyepiece could be convenient during long VR sessions. It also has a camera lens for pass-through viewing and nicely-designed wand controllers. It seems like a viable Vive alternative, but there's no way to know how far away LG is from putting this into production.
The MyKronos ZeTime is a different kind of hybrid timepiece.
One big problem with smartwatches is that users often have to choose between long battery life and an always-on screen to constantly display the time. The MyKronos ZeTime gets around that by slapping real watch hands on the face of a smartwatch. It uses a proprietary OS to display notifications and messages from your phone and can last three days on a charge. The device will launch on Kickstarter later this month for $199.
The makers of the most stylish Windows Phone embraced Android
NuAns' classy Windows phone tied okay(ish) tech specs with Windows Phone software that no-one wanted. Fortunately, it came with customizable two-tone covers that used different materials and finishes to make one surprisingly gorgeous phone. That phone, however, never made it out of Japan. This time, the company's back with the same design aesthetic, but with Android 7.1, a full HD display, faster processor and a more competent camera. The team is now looking to bring the Neo Reloaded to crowdfunding soon.
Amazon's server outage was caused by a typo
We all make mistakes sometimes, but usually ours don't bring down internet services around the world. Earlier this week one of the East Coast Amazon Web Services data centers suddenly had an outage, and the company explains it happened when a tech tried to take a few billing servers offline. Because of a mistyped command, "a larger set of servers was removed than intended." Even worse, some of the systems hadn't been rebooted in years, and took longer than expected to validate and run safety checks before they were usable again.
The journey to build driverless race cars
One of the biggest challenges for Roborace's Chief Design Officer Daniel Simon was an emotional one. For years, automotive design has revolved around some obvious fundamentals. A car needs a cockpit, for instance, and a steering wheel and pedals. But with the Robocar, Simon had an opportunity to break almost every design rule in the book. That's just the start of the challenges facing a road race that involves no human drivers.
But wait, there's more...
- Chevy is the first major car company with unlimited LTE data
- Gmail's size limit on incoming attachments grows to 50MB
- Huawei P10 MWC 2017 camera test
- LG G6 MWC 2017 camera test
- Mike Pence used AOL email for state business while governor -- and yes, it got hacked