Moto Z2 Play is now in Canada

Motorola just unveiled its newest smartphone, the Moto Z² Play, and the said device is now available in Canada. With a retail price of around CA$800, the Moto Z² Play gets an extra Moto Mod in the box, while supplies last, that is. If you get the unit through Bell Mobility, Bell MTS, Freedom Mobile, and SaskTel, this device gets the new JBL SoundBoost 2 included with it—giving you an additional value of $114.99. The new Moto TurboPower Pack Mod and Moto GamePad are said to be coming this summer.

The Moto Z² Play now comes in a thinner, lighter, all-metal unibody design and has a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display and a water-repellant coating. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 2.2GHz octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and promised battery life of up to 30 hours on a single charge. TurboPower charging tech promises up to eight hours of battery life in just 15 minutes. Its 12-megapixel rear camera combine laser and dual autofocus and promises to capture 25 percent more light than the previous generation. 

Update on Thursday, July 6, 2017 at 10:08PM by Nicole Batac

Updated the post to reflect that the Moto Z² Play has 3GB RAM instead of 4GB RAM.

Samsung’s newest appliances all come with Wi-Fi

The smart home for Samsung isn’t just limited to speakers with digital assistants and controllers for things like lights, locks, and air-cons. Samsung wants to make its home appliances smart, too. That’s why their newest launch in the US is the Chef Collection, which all comes with Wi-Fi connectivity. Soon, you’ll be able to control everything from your stove, cooktop, dishwasher, and refrigerator through an app on your iOS or Android device.

Some of the new products include Bluetooth-enabled range hoods that can automatically turn cooktops on and change fan speeds, Wi-Fi-enabled refrigerators with built-in cameras to see the contents in the fridge, ovens with Flex Duo to let you divide the oven cavity into different cooking zones, and a 42-inch 4-Door Flex ref with FlexZone compartments so you can chance the fridge to a freezer depending on your needs.

Source: CNET

‘Assassin’s Creed’ to get an animated adaptation

Ubisoft

Following the disappointing release of the Assassin’s Creed movie with Michael Fassbender, Ubisoft is trying another approach to adapt the game franchise into another medium. This time, they’re trying for an animation and it looks like it might be in good hands. According to producer Adi Shankar, he’ll be working on the animated version of Assassin’s Creed after he finishes work with Netflix’s Castlevania. It’s said to be an “original story” but he does have a tons of material to choose from if he takes inspiration from the game franchise itself. We don’t know what to expect with the series but we want to be cautiously optimistic about it.

Source: Engadget

Chinese company behind the ‘Straddling Bus’ concept is being investigated by authorities

China Xinhua News

You might have seen around the internet before photos of the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB), a concept that came from China where the “straddling bus” looked a lot like a moving tunnel. It was being developed with the end goal of reducing the fuel consumption and carbon emissions of the country. But it looks like the entire thing was a scam. Beijing police is investigating the company behind TEB for alleged illegal fundraising. Over 30 people associated with Huaying Kailai, an online financing platform that was selling an investment product to help raise money from individual investors to help develop the bus, are being held by authorities. The police are looking to recover the money taken from the individual investors, which is estimated to be around US$1.3 billion. It’s said that 72 of those investors have already filed suits against the company.

TEB did its first road test run back in August on a 300-meter track in the northeastern port of Qinghuangdao city. But after that it’s just become a giant roadblock. Local authorities already plan to remove the tracks by the end of the month.

Source: Quartz + Digital Trends