Playgrounds for iPad now features Swift courses with Sphero and R2-D2

Just in time for Force Friday, the innovative Playgrounds app for the iPad now has Swift courses that allow users to program Sphero and R2-D2.

Two new accessories have been added as Swift coding courses: Sphero Template and R2-D2 by Sphero.

Sphero Template is described as “an open template that allows you to build your own programs with a Sphero robot.” Sphero points users to the Sphero API documentation to see what all you can do with the robot commands.

Both new additions are available to download through the Accessories tab on the latest version of Playgrounds for iPad.

Sphero Template works with the Sphero SPRK+, BB-8, R2-D2, and newly debuted BB-9E robot.

The Essential Phone gets better quality photos from a modified Google Camera APK

Left: Essential Camera; Right: Google Camera with HDR+

The reviews for the Essential Phone have started to come in and what we’ve been seeing so far is criticism towards the camera quality of the new device. But it doesn’t seem to be because of the camera sensor itself but something more to do with Essential’s camera software. The Next Web’s Napier Lopez reviewed the device and he installed a modified Google Camera APK that works with most Snapdragon 820+ phones into the Essential Phone to check whether it’s a hardware or software issue. And he found better quality photos on it, which means, the issue lies on software. The good thing about that is, software can be remedied. Let’s hope Essential works on that soon, and we know they already have enough issues to deal with now.

Mark Hamill teases Luke Skywalker’s look and big change for ‘The Last Jedi’

It’s been so long since we’ve last seen Luke Skywalker. Sure we saw a bit of him at the end of The Force Awakens but that brief encounter doesn’t really tell us anything. A new cover for a magazine featuring Mark Hamill as the iconic Skywalker gives us a glimpse of a changed man. Luke in an all-black ensemble with red light shining on him has people talking about the lengths the Jedi Knight has changed.

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Apple confirms September 12 iPhone event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple has confirmed it is going to host a September 12 iPhone event in its newly built Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino.

Some media invitations went out today to what many consider to be the Super Bowl of tech launches, the annual iPhone September event. This year is special because it marks the 10th year anniversary of the Apple iPhone, which has superseded the iPod and the Mac as Apple's biggest and most profitable product.

This is also the first time the company will unveil the Steve Jobs Theatre in its newly-built Apple Park Campus, considered by many to be Steve Jobs legacy to the company he founded, and later on rescued from insolvency in what was one of the greatest second acts in modern business history.

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