Alphabet’s Waymo in talks with Honda regarding self-driving car tech

After Google recently spun out its self-driving car division into Waymo, it looks like the new Alphabet company is trying to strike a big deal. Honda announced it is entering talks with Waymo on integrating autonomous vehicle tech into its cars. The discussion is still in its very early stages but Honda is proposing to give Waymo modified vehicles to help speed the process along. The new announcement isn’t meant to derail Honda’s own automated driving plans, which it intends to have self-driving cars on the road by 2020, but will be considered a “different technological approach.” If it does push through though, this would help legitimize Waymo further as a viable option for manufacturers who just plan to integrate an established self-driving platform over creating their own version.

Source: Engadget

‘Super Mario Run’ hits 40 million downloads in 4 days but not everything is peachy

Just like Princess Peach’s life, not everything is going well for Nintendo’s Super Mario Run release on iOS. While it has set a new download record of 40 million downloads in the first four days, it’s hit with a number of issues and criticisms. According to Reuters, users have been complaining over the US$9.99 price to unlock majority of the game so even if gross sales of Super Mario Run is at US$21 million, it has pushed the company’s share prices to a one-month low.

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HTC to announce a new product on January 12

HTC has something coming up. We’re not sure what it is yet all we know it’s “For U.” Basically, the Taiwanese company announced it has a new product launch coming on January 12. There is no venue yet or time of said event but we’re sure HTC will release more details in the coming days. The product could be a phone or something else. HTC hasn’t exactly stayed the path of releasing just smartphones so it could even be an entirely new product in a different segment.

Source: Android Police

Prisma finally introduces full-resolution pictures

Prisma brings some much needed improvements to the art filter app. The 1,080 x 1,080 pixel square resolution limit is now gone so users are free to crop photos how they please and filtered images now have twice the resolution as before to get better-quality photos. There is also now a new location-based photo feed in the app to algorithmically show you nearby photos from other Prisma users. Those images that get more likes will be shown more. An interactive app is also visible in the app so you can show easy access to landmarks. The update is coming to Android and iOS. However, the free aspect ratio feature is currently only available to the iOS app.

Source: The Verge