Новости за 16.07.2017

Amazon.com is reportedly working on launching its own messaging app called Anytime, according to a report from AFTV News. The retail giant has begun to survey its customers about potential features, although it’s not clear what form the final product will take.

Disney’s D23 Expo is an opportunity for fans to celebrate characters and properties they love, but it’s also a chance for Disney to reveal trailers and make a ton of movie announcements. With studios like Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel all contributing to the company’s prodigious output, there was a lot to cover on the movie front. As in years past, the studio broke things up over two different presentations: one focusing on animated films, and the other on live-action productions.

It was two years ago, on July 14th, 2015, that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto — marking the first time we had ever explored this mysterious small world. The probe whizzed by within 7,750 miles of the dwarf planet’s surface and snapped the first ever close-up images of Pluto and its weird moons. Now, New Horizons is way beyond Pluto, journeying to another object at edge of the Solar System. But you can relive the flyby with this new animation from NASA that takes you over Pluto’s unique terrain. Читать дальше...

Cory Doctorow has made several careers out of thinking about the future, as a journalist and co-editor of Boing Boing, an activist with strong ties to the Creative Commons movement and the right-to-privacy movement, and an author of novels that largely revolve around the ways changing technology changes society. From his debut novel, Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom (about rival groups of Walt Disney World designers in a post-scarcity society where social currency determines personal value), to his most acclaimed... Читать дальше...

The BBC has just announced that Jodie Whittaker will be the latest actor to take on the role of The Doctor on Doctor Who as the Thirteenth Doctor. Whittaker will replace the current Doctor (the 12th in the series’s history), played by Peter Capaldi, in an upcoming Christmas special before taking on the role fully in the upcoming 11th series of the long-running British science fiction show, which is expected to air in late 2018.

This weekend at its D23 Expo, Disney offered several new details about its themed expansion land Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. But it was a much briefer announcement, confirming rumors that the company was working on an immersive, themed hotel set in George Lucas’ universe, that offered perhaps the most intriguing hint of where the company sees its parks and resorts businesses going.

In Theodora Goss’ debut novel, the daughter of Doctor Jekyll discovers that her father was part of a secret society of mad scientists. This being a gothic fantasy novel, she naturally befriends their dangerous and beautiful creations. In a world where cinematic universes have struggled to reimagine some of literature’s classic icons, including this summer’s abysmal The Mummy, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is the monster mashup that we really need.

Despite the best efforts from Apple (with the Apple Watch), Google (with Android Wear), Samsung (with the Galaxy Gear), Pebble (with the, uh, Pebble), and dozens of other companies, the dream of the smartwatch hasn’t really taken off. Turns out that turning a smartphone into a wrist device isn’t really that appealing. Even if you can somehow get the right balance of battery life, device size, and developer support, people just aren’t really interested in getting anything more than notifications... Читать дальше...

People who say “never meet your heroes” must have shitty heroes.

I’m attending CanJam London this weekend — an event organized by the guys responsible for the Head-Fi audiophile community — and have met a person I greatly admire: Axel Grell. He’s Sennheiser’s chief headphone engineer, counting among his accomplishments the classic HD 600 and 650 and the newer HD 800 and 800 S. Before today, I was a fan of his work, but having met and talked to him, I’m now a fan of him as a human being too. Читать дальше...

Disney always puts a big focus on its parks at D23 Expo, and today it revealed some important new information about the upcoming Star Wars lands. First off is the official name. They’ll be called Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, tying into the overall concept of the lands being set on a remote planetary outpost that’s outside the normal hustle and bustle of space travel.

Kingdom Hearts 3, the long awaited third major installment in the epic Final Fantasy and Disney crossover RPG series, finally has a release date, although it remains somewhat ambiguous for now. At the conclusion of a new Toy Story-themed trailer of the game shown off at Disney’s D23 expo today, developer Square Enix revealed that the game would indeed be coming out in 2018. Even better news: from the footage shown off of Sora and pals Donald and Goofy teaming up with Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the game looks fantastic... Читать дальше...

Disney’s D23 Expo covers all aspects of its entertainment empire, and today the studio revealed that virtual reality is coming to the Marvel universe. Powers United VR is being made by Oculus and Sanzaru Games, and will let players step into the shoes of characters like The Hulk, Captain Marvel, or Rocket Raccoon. The announcement came during the “Level Up” gaming panel, which also included updates about Star Wars: Battlefront II and Insomniac Games’ upcoming Spider-Man game.