It's Friday: Do you know where your virtual reality headset is? We have reviews of Google's Daydream View and the new Surface Book laptop, plus a "perfect" mobile game called "RunGunJumpGun."
The NES Classic Edition has arrived
Nintendo's miniaturized NES emulator is officially on sale today. The $60 hunk of nostalgia will be sold on Amazon at 2PM ET, so set a reminder if you can't stop by a local Best Buy, Gamestop or Target to pick one up. Even if you don't buy one immediately, expect more impressions from us soon.
Review: Surface Book (2016)
This year's Surface Book has very few flaws. It's well-crafted and has a comfortable keyboard, a vibrant screen, fast performance and even longer battery life than last year's model. As ever, you'll pay dearly for the privilege, and the relatively heavy weight and imbalanced weight distribution make it less portable than lighter systems. With that heft, though, comes incredible battery life and no shortage of port options.
Review: Google's Daydream View VR headset
Google's Daydream View is here, and it's a solid first attempt at a mobile VR headset from the company that gave us Android. Importantly, it's comfortable, and VR experiences look great. The only problem is there aren't many apps available for it yet -- and we need more Daydream-compatible phones. At the moment, users are limited to Google's own Pixel handsets.
YouTube's VR app is Daydream-only for now
Now that Google's VR platform is available, it's launched the official VR app for YouTube. You'll need the new phone and headset to access it, since it's not on any other platforms yet, but now you can watch anything from the streaming site in its virtual confines. That includes 360-degree videos, or just regular stuff projected on an imaginary screen, along with voice search and all your existing subscriptions.
Trump's win shows our polling industry needs a lot of work
Election 2016 sparked discussion for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest shock came to pollsters. So did Nate Silver and everyone else just forget how to do their job, or was something else at work? We took a look at the methods and results of polling data to present some possibilities for why the predictions ended up being so different from what we got.
Hyperloop's co-founder is funding a campaign for California to secede
Billionaire Shervin Pishevar's family escaped being marked for death by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, and he's not waiting around to see what happens with Donald Trump. Asked yesterday about his comments in support of a so-called Calexit, Pishevar said he was serious, and to expect announcements soon.
Snapchat's hard-to-get shades will be available only via vending machine
If you want a pair of Snapchat's circular video-recording sunglasses, you'll need to find a SnapBot machine. So far there's only one, located near the company's headquarters in LA. It's already run out, and pairs are already selling for $900 on eBay. The best way to get a pair is probably by watching the Spectacles Twitter account, or hitting the home page that lists where bots are available.
A "damn-near-perfect" mobile game?
ThirtyThreeGames programmer Logan Gilmour says, "We weren't out to just make an infinite runner mobile game that's run-of-the-mill," and Aaron Souppouris agrees. "RunGunJumpGun" is out for iOS and Android, with challenging gameplay built around two inputs: shoot and jump. According to Aaron, "it's perhaps the most challenging, rewarding and downright fun mobile game of the year," and it's available for $3 on iTunes, Steam and Google Play.
But wait, there's more...
- How will Facebook fight the spread of fake news?
- OK Google, how did Donald Trump get elected?
- This disposable USB stick can offer results on HIV levels in less than 30 minutes
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