Facebook wants to build a village for employees and its local community

Facebook is ready to expand again. And this time it’s going to be a “mixed-use village” right behind its headquarters in Menlo Park. The social media company is calling it Willow Campus and it’ll be a small village with 1,500 apartments, retail and office space, grocery, and pharmacy. "Part of our vision is to create a neighborhood center that provides long-needed community services. We plan to build 125,000 square feet of new retail space, including a grocery store, pharmacy and additional community-facing retail," Facebook said in its announcement.

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‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ introduces new mode and difficulty level

Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment

A new patch for Horizon Zero Dawn brings with it some new “highly anticipated” features. The first one is the New Game+ Mode. According to Guerrilla Games community manager Jeroen Roding, it lets you “relive the adventures of Aloy without losing your character progression and your collected inventory.” But he notes that: “You won’t be able to progress beyond the level cap of 50, but you can still collect XP during your adventure.” There are also two new trophies added with New Game+. One is the ability to choose your face paint, the other is to alternate Focus designs for Aloy as well as advanced weaponry and armor for her. These come at a price, of course.

When you try New Game+, you’ll be given the option to adjust your difficulty level for the new playthrough. This time there’s a new “Ultra Hard” setting where the machines are smarter and have better senses. Your health regeneration is also limited. If you opt to try Ultra Hard, you’re going to need to stick to it. There is no reducing the game’s difficulty after the fact.

Source: Polygon

Time to say goodbye to Jawbone?

Jawbone as we know it now will cease to exist. Reports have surfaced online that its CEO and co-founder Hosain Rahman has moved on from the company and is liquidating the business’ assets. Rahman has supposedly moved on to put up Jawbone Health Hub, a company that focuses on health-related hardware and software services. A lot of the Jawbone’s employees have reportedly joined Rahman in the new company. Android Authority reports that current Jawbone products, like its fitness trackers, will be serviced by Jawbone Health Hub.

The maker of Bluetooth speakers, earpieces, and fitness trackers has been having some trouble for a while now. Back in 2015, they laid off 60 employees, which is 15 percent of its workforce. The company was later on said to have stopped production of its UP fitness trackers and sold its remaining inventory to a third-party company. While the continued to insist that they were dedicated to the wearable market, in February 2017, it was being reported that Jawbone was leaving the industry to focus on medical services. And that’s where we find ourselves now. Jawbone isn't commenting about the reports.

Nintendo set to launch Switch smartphone app on July 21st

The companion app for Nintendo Switch’s online play is getting its official debut this month. Simply called Nintendo Switch Online, the app will come out in time for the launch of Splatoon 2, which has a special online component within the app. The hub, which is launching on July 21^st, is basically used to communicate with Nintendo switch players online. It can be used primarily to send invites to friends via their Nintendo Account or social media handles as well as facilitate voice chat over mobile’s microphone. As mentioned, Splatoon 2 players will get support for SplatNet2—a special service in the app that will let players track things like play history, gear, and other statistics.

There isn’t any word yet if there will be other features besides those aforementioned. But with the app in its early days, we’re hoping Nintendo makes it into a more complete app and include things like in-app messaging and multiple chat channels. These online features will be free at launch but Nintendo has plans to launch its full-fledged version next year with a year-long membership that costs US$19.99 (around CA$25).

Source: Tech Radar