PayPal's BattleHack to take place in Toronto on July 18-19

PayPal Canada is hosting this year's BattleHack in Toronto on July 18-19. The Task is to build a mobile app in 24-hours to better your city or community.

Coders in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Venice and Chicago have already battled it out. Soon, a few hundred Canadian developers will take up the challenge at PayPal’s BattleHack in Toronto on July 18-19th. Team Angry Kittens (last year’s Toronto winners) won a ticket to the World Finals where they placed second and nearly won the grand prize of $100,000 (US). 

 

Don't call it a comeback: iPod line expected to see a refresh

With Apple Music showing a renewed interest in the consumption and enjoyment of music, many have wondered what was to happen to the Apple's iPod line.

Well, wonder no more. There have been various leaks and indicators that we are going to see updates to the iPod Touch, iPod nano and iPod Shuffle. French website iGen has earmarked July 14 for an iPod refresh. Aside from bold new colours, the iPod Touch is likely getting a processor upgrade which should at least put it at par with the iPhone 5s. As for the iPod Classic? it is still gone but not forgotten.

Transformers: Devastation game brings back a lot of what was good about the original Transformers

For many who grew up with the Transformers comics, the animated TV show and the corresponding cult classic Transformers: The Movie (1986, gosh!), there's a certain mystique and honesty to the animation and characterization of that time that wasn't recaptured by subsequent reboots or the over the top feature films. It is for these purists that the Transformers: Devastation video game seems to have been created. An all-out brawler that brings the comics and 80's era animation style to gaming consoles and to PCs.

Players will have the ability to shift between vehicle and robot mode, environments are expected to be immersive and they've even brought in the original TV voice actors for added authenticity  including Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Dan Gilvezan(Bumblebee), Michael Bell (Sideswipe), Gregg Berger (Grimlock) and Frank Welker (Megatron, Soundwave). Transformers: Devastation comes this Fall to n Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

iOS 9 to bring high-quality Apple Music audio playback on mobile data

Current Apple Music users who have been complaining how you get higher-quality audio over Wi-Fi than on data are going to get the upgrade they want. In the third beta of iOS 9, users are given the option to select high-quality streaming over cellular connection. It can be seen under the Music options in the Settings app.

Once iOS 9 is unveiled in the fall, users will get that option. However, there are pitfalls to a higher-quality stream, too. You use up more data and battery when you stream. And Apple even warns that playback might not be as smooth as you hope. But if you don’t mind this, then you at least have the option when the mobile operating system update comes out.

Source: Mashable