Tuesday
Jul212020

Calm app turns into an HBO Max series

 

It's not often that an app becomes a TV show. Meditation app Calm partners with WarnerMedia and Nutopia to help the HBO Max's subscribers relax, which is much-needed in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. They will produce a 10-episode series based on its popular Sleep Stories feature. A World of Calm will have a host of big stars narrating the 30-minute episodes, including Mahershala Ali, Idris Elba, Oscar Isaac, Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, Lucy Liu, Cillian Murphy, and Keanu Reeves. The series is expected to combine "mesmeric imagery" with plots designed to help, well, calm its viewers.

A World of Calm will be HBO Max's first entry into the health and wellness programming. It isn't known yet when the show will debut on the streaming service. You can check out one of the Sleep Stories that Calm offers above.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Monday
Jul202020

'The Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy' book now up for pre-order

If you're a fan of Mass Effect, you might want to check out this new art book about the games. The Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition is now available for pre-order, with a release date of February 23, 2021. It promises to include never-before-seen works of art and "contains extensive new material from the DLCs for all three games—including the award-winning Lair of the Shadow Broker from Mass Effect 2 and the fan-favourite Citadel from Mass Effect 3." On Amazon Canada, the hardcover goes for $53.99.

While these kinds of books aren't unexpected, EuroGamer points out that there have been rumours that BioWare is working on a remaster of the three Mass Effect games. Could this mean the book launch coincides with the release of the remaster?

Monday
Jul202020

Pixel 4 XL's glass back is coming loose for some users

Hardware issues are unfortunately common for Pixel phones. And this time, the latest problem is with the Pixel 4 XL. Reports on Reddit and Google's support forums have customers complaining about the phone's back panel coming loose. It typically starts in one corner and worsens from there. It seems to start from the left side corners for many users, but that could be coincidental. 

The company seems to be shipping out replacements for those affected, but this doesn't solve it. Refurbished phones can still carry this issue. A Reddit comment from last month of a user claiming to be the general manager of a uBreakiFix store says the peeling is usually caused by a fault connector that causes the phone's battery to expand. It's a problem Google has faced before with the Nexus 6P. It's not a good look for Google as its hardware continues to face issues. While the company has excellent software, it has some work to do hardware-wise.

Source: Android Police

Monday
Jul202020

Review: TCL 10 Pro

By Canadian Reviewer Staff

TCL may not be the first company to come to mind when it comes to flagship smartphones. This is the world’s number two television maker after all and has built a name for itself in making premium screen technology widely available.  

What most people don’t know is that TCL has been in the smartphone game for some time. It was a licensee of brands like Alcatel, Palm, and BlackBerry. TCL was behind the resurgent KeyOne and Key2 models, the very last smartphones that featured QWERTY keyboards.  

The TCL 10 Pro comes as a complete surprise in a year where many of us are in dire need of good news. For the price of a base iPhone SE 2, the TCL 10 Pro offers an impressive and crisp 6.47” FHD curved AMOLED display the likes that we’ve only seen on flagship Samsung phones. This TCL 10 Pro has a four camera array with up to 64MP ultra-high resolution photo capability, plus standalone  macro, super-wide angle, and low-light cameras as well as a 24 megapixel front facing camera. It also features an in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock, something that some other flagship smartphones don’t even have yet. 

Consider a fast-charging 4500 man battery with OTG reverse charging and a decent Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 Octa-core processor with 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of onboard storage, and it looks like TCL has hit the sweet spot in terms of features given its  $700 CAD  (Bell) and 665 CAD (Telus) pricing. 

Click to read more ...