Saturday
Oct302021

Nintendo shutters Toronto, Redwood City offices

Embed from Getty Images 

A couple of Nintendo's satellite offices in North America are going to be closed. The company confirmed it would be shutting down small satellite offices in Toronto and Redwood City in California, but it didn't elaborate on why it was closing the offices. According to Kotaku100 employees in Redwood City have been displaced by this move, but Nintendo won't comment on how many employees are affected. Based on the statement below, it looks like some employees will need to relocate.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Oct292021

Oculus Quest to get Slack, Dropbox as Progressive Web Apps

Facebook Reality Labs

This isn't the first time 2D apps have surfaced on the Oculus Quest virtual reality platform. But Facebook is planning to bring more third-party 2D apps to the VR platform via the Progressive Web App (PWA) framework. The aim is to give more work tools for its VR users. The plan starts with Facebook, Instagram, collaboration app Smartsheet, and email client Spike. But then Facebook will add access to Dropbox, Slack, and more in the future.

The PWA-based framework allows developers to bring their apps to VR without creating fully custom versions. But there is still a need to go through Oculus' developer channels to get their apps on the platform. As The Verge noted, this update marks a larger-scale rollout of non-VR apps inside the headset.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Oct292021

Microsoft's Two Hat acquisition hopes to improve Xbox community moderation

Dmitry Novikov/Unsplash

Microsoft has bought Two Hat, a company known for its AI content moderation tools. Microsoft didn't reveal the deal's financial details, but the company talks about how this acquisition can help improve the Xbox community moderation. The two companies have been frequent collaborators working on making Xbox Live and other gaming communities safer.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Oct292021

Fitbit Sense, Versa 3 gets status indicators, outdoor exercise mode

The Fitbit OS 5.3 is getting a new update for the Sense and Versa 3 that brings status indicators to these wearables. There will be icons that show up at the top of the watch face for three seconds to give you information on whether do not disturb or sleep mode is on, when you have a "critically low" battery, and when your wearable isn't connected your smartphone. You can see the different icons in the image above.

Click to read more ...