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USA Today’s first AR app brings a rocket launch to your table
After a series of VR apps like The Wall and USS Eisenhower VR, USA Today Network is now exploring storytelling on another new (ish) platform: AR. 321 Launch is the network's first AR app, and it's designed to deliver what it says is the "industry's first, multi-layered interactive experience for space news and content." It's a collaboration between USA Today and one of the company's local news brands Florida Today, which makes sense since the Kennedy Space Center is in that state. The app releases today, and you can try it out if you're using an iPhone 6S or later with at least iOS 11, or a handset running Android 7.0 or newer. If you're a space buff or enthusiast, you'll probably enjoy it.
Google app hints at custom Routines in Assistant
You can already use Routines in Google Assistant, but you've so far had to tweak "ready-made" examples to fit your needs instead of creating your own from whole cloth. That might not be a problem before long -- 9to5Google has discovered code in the latest Google app beta hinting at upcoming support for custom Routines. You can tell Assistant both what command to use and what actions to perform when you say the magic words. You could have a "movie night" command that dimmed the lights and warmed your home, for instance.
GDC 2018 by the numbers
It was a wet and wild week at the 2018 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The Engadget team spent our days wandering the show floor, meeting with developers and, of course, playing every game we could get our hands on. Here are a few highlights of the conference.
Tidal now streams music to both Amazon Fire TV and Android Auto
When last we heard in December, Norwegian publication Dagens Næringsliv reported that music streaming service Tidal had enough cash to last about six months. But the company is evidently still around and has more to announce: Tidal now has a new app for Amazon's Fire TV products and is compatible with Android Auto.
Google makes Pixel 2's driving awareness available to Android apps
If you have a Pixel 2, you might have appreciated its Driving Do-Not-Disturb feature -- it can automatically minimize distractions while telling the difference between a stop at the intersection and the end of your ride. That intelligence hasn't really been available beyond Google's walls, however, and the company is fixing that problem. It's releasing a Transition programming kit that makes this contextual awareness available to all Android apps. The framework combines location, motion detection and other sensor data to gauge what you're doing without killing your phone's battery.
Audible returns to Sonos speakers after two-year hiatus
It's taken a while (over two years in fact), but Audible is now available on Sonos again. Following an incompatible update the service was removed in August 2015, much to the annoyance of bibliophiles everywhere, but today it makes its triumphant return -- and support for Alexa is set to follow, too. Just add Audible as a service in the Sonos App, or play directly from the Audible app, to get started.
Plan group trips in Skype with help from TripAdvisor and StubHub
Bringing TripAdvisor into a group chat is pretty easy -- just tap the Add to Chat button and select TripAdvisor from the list of available plug-ins. You can choose a destination, then search for restaurants, hotels and activities in the area. Sharing interesting things from your search is as easy as tapping the Send button, and your TripAdvisor post will show up in the group chat. StubHub works similarly; you open the add-in and search for an event, location or date and then select the tickets you want. Once that's done, you can send the StubHub link to the entire group, and then everyone can click through to see the listings on the service, purchasing the seats they want.
Amazon Key can require your fingerprint to allow in-home deliveries
As convenient as Amazon's in-home delivery can be, the app powering it isn't entirely secure. It normally grants full access to your smart lock and camera footage, which would pose a rather obvious problem if the wrong person had one of your mobile devices. As of now, though, you can throw an obstacle in their way: the Amazon Key app for Android now supports fingerprint authentication. Switch it on and you should be the only one who can open the door.
eBay uses augmented reality to help you pick packaging
It can be a pain to sell your gear on eBay for many reasons, not the least of which is packaging. How do you know a box will be large enough without having it on hand? eBay can help: it just launched a previously teased, ARCore-based augmented reality feature for Android that helps you choose a shipping box for US deliveries. Point your phone at your item and you can overlay USPS box sizes to determine which one will fit your outgoing goods. This could save you time testing boxes, and might save you some cash if you can get away with buying a smaller box (or better yet, using one you already have).
Macy's will use VR to let shoppers 'see' furniture in their homes
Macy's is turning to mobile checkout options and virtual reality in an effort to get more people in its stores. The former uses the store's app (naturally) and aims to make getting out of the mall easier. The latter is for designing a room's look with furniture and furnishings.
Ikea's Place app is now out for the latest Android phones
Ikea's Place app is heading to Android. The augmented reality application gives you access to 3,200 items from Ikea's inventory and allows to see what they'd look like in your home by placing their 3D versions over your phone's live view. Think Pokémon Go, but instead of flinging Poké balls, you position couches in the living room. Place used to be an Apple exclusive, because it was powered by Cupertino's augmented reality platform for mobile devices called ARKit. Google's version of the app runs on ARCore, its answer to ARKit that gives Android devices the power to run apps that can superimpose objects over live images even without special sensors or software.
L'Oreal buys an augmented reality beauty app maker
Makeup empire L'Oreal wants to promote its huge collection of brands the high-tech way, so it's buying Modiface to make that happen. It's now in the process of acquiring the beauty tech company, which has been teaming up with big cosmetics brands for over a decade to create augmented reality apps for mobile and desktop. Modiface's AR tech powers quite a lengthy list of beauty apps, including a website where you can digitally try on Estee Lauder's lipsticks, which you can see in the image above.
Pokémon Go players can use Facebook to log in and sync devices
Niantic is making it easier to log into Pokémon Go, perhaps in an effort to prevent you from giving up on the game completely if you don't play for long stretches of time. You can now link Pokémon Go with your Facebook account, so you don't have to spend time trying to remember a password you invented on the fly when you signed up. By linking your accounts, you'll easily be able to access your game and progress across multiple devices. You'll also be able to continue accessing your game even if you signed up using a university or work email address you might lose access to in the future.
Overcast adds a smarter way to dive back into a podcast
Marco Arment's Overcast has a reputation as the podcast connoisseur's iOS app of choice thanks to its inclusion of features you don't even find in Apple's official client, such as the automatic removal of dead air. That trend is continuing with the newly released Overcast 4.1, whose improvements might be extra-helpful if you find yourself lost whenever you return to a podcast. The new version adds a Smart Resume feature that not only skips back a few seconds when you hit play, but tweaks resumes and seeks so that they land on silences. You'll ideally remember the context of what was being said before you paused, and won't be as likely to resume playback in mid-sentence.
I took a break at SXSW to listen to an 'audio-based movie'
I stopped short when I came upon Audiojack's booth at the SXSW Wellness Expo. Four blindfolded men sat in a huddle with headphones on, looking deeply engrossed. The company's affable representative David Tobin was a few steps away, explaining his app to a group of curious onlookers. It turns out the listeners were immersed in "audio movies" -- three to 10-minute sound stories that tell tales without visuals or words.
Apple takes a stance on crypto-miners in apps
Calendar 2, the Mac App that rolled out an update bundled with a crypto-miner that went berserk, was removed from iTunes shortly after news of its controversial new feature came out. Now, its developer has provided more details about what happened, giving us an idea of how Apple will deal with apps loaded with cryptocurrency miners in the future. Gregory Magarshak, founder of Calendar 2's developer Qbix, told us that his company didn't pull the app. Apple was the one that yanked it around an hour after the developer announced that it's removing the miner altogether, making its stance on apps with crypto-miners a bit clearer than before.
Deezer can provide the soundtrack for your Xbox One games
You don't have too many options for large, on-demand music services that will stream in the background of your Xbox One games. Now that Groove Music is no more, Spotify is the main game in town. Thankfully, Deezer just gave you a viable alternative. Its newly launched Xbox One app gives you all-you-can-hear music streaming regardless of what you're doing on your console, including background streaming while you play.
Imgur's Snapchat-style GIF collections come to Android
Imgur's bid to bring Snapchat-like Stories to the GIF world is no longer confined to iOS. It's releasing an updated Android app that brings Snacks and the Feed to a wider array of devices. Snacks, as before, lives under the search tab and gives you a curated Story-style gallery of GIFs you can sit back and watch when you're looking to be entertained. The Feed, meanwhile, sits in your home section and lets you follow both Imgur users and tags to keep up with the latest GIF trends.
Google Assistant gets a proper home on the iPad
This is the year every voice assistant adds native iPad support, it seems. Hot on the heels of Microsoft's Cortana update, Google has released an iPad-friendly version of Assistant. The updated app takes full advantage of the tablet's larger screen, of course, but that also includes multitasking support in iOS 11 -- you can send commands to the AI companion while you're chatting with a friend or planning your day. The app is available now in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portugese and Spanish.
YouTube extends its 'Dark Theme' to iOS
Sometimes the best features come when tech companies let their programmers and designers play around a bit. That's certainly the case with YouTube's "Dark theme," which arrives today on the iOS version of the app. (The darker theme will come to Android "soon.") The feature, which is already available on desktop, lets you change the regular bright white theme to a more cinematic, black and grey look. YouTube says Dark theme was one of the "top requested features on mobile."