Author Archives: Chris Burns

Today we're looking at what's likely an internal testing device made by Apple for the near-future release of AR/VR experiences aplenty. This isn't the first we've seen of this sort of hardware - it's not particularly unlike hardware used by HTC and Oculus/Facebook for their own VR headsets. This new leaked look at Apple hardware is almost certainly meant for internal testing only, as it has a certain... unrefined sort of look.

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Today Waffle House announced that they've currently closed 418 Waffle House locations in the USA, or the MOST LOCATIONS CLOSED AT ONCE, EVER. Due to the historically extreme resiliency plans put in place by the Waffle House organization, there exists an informal measure of disaster severity in the USA called "The Waffle House Index." There are three levels of severity in this metric: Green (normal), Yellow (limited menu, crisis mode), and Red (closed for business).

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 leak today is based on a variety of tips and rumors from the past several weeks. Based on what we know already, and based on precedent, it should be no surprise that the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 stands a good chance of out-doing the Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Ultra in more ways than one. For example the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra will likely have the most expensive base configuration cost of any Samsung Galaxy S/Note family phone ever.

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Today the folks behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons released a set of new items for free. This new set of items comes with some prerequisites - first, you're going to need to have the update version 1.1.0. Then, for one part of the free items collection, you're going to have to download the mobile game Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.

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An announcement from Stadia today suggests three new games are coming to Stadia Pro inside the month of April. That'll bring the total number of games available for "free" on Stadia Pro to 10. Also in the mix are Destiny 2, GRID (racing), GYLT, Metro Exodus (so long as you claim it before March 31), and THUMPER (also so long as you claim before March 31). There's also Steam World 2 DIG, and Steam World QUEST: Hand of Gilgamech.

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A location data processing company called Unacast created a "Social Distancing Scoreboard" for COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). This scoreboard's "Social Distancing Score" uses "distance traveled" by people "pre-COVID-19" and now. They cross-referenced this data with reports of people testing positive for COVID-19 throughout the United States. It's not a perfectly scientifically-sound solution by any means - but it is an interesting set of data points.

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Several Amazon employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at shipment and/or fulfillment centers in the United States. Amazon seems to be enacting quarantine measures for these employees and asking that employees who had any "close contact" with their infected co-workers to self-quarantine for 14 days. There have also been notable delays in shipments of non-essential items in the last couple of weeks due to COVID-19 and the fallout.

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The Wyze Band was revealed today as a $25 smart wearable for your wrist, with a color touchscreen and a wide variety of abilities. This band has the ability to control Wyze devices, connect to a smartphone and deliver notification, is an activity tracker, has heart rate tracking, and works with Amazon's Alexa. This device is available on pre-order right this minute.

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Today the folks at Niantic revealed a social media feed section in Pokemon GO unlike any in the app before. This new feature is called "TODAY", and it sits alongside Field Research and Special Research tasks in the game's readout section. TODAY is a layout with news, updates, and statuses on Pokemon in Gyms - plus Streaks in-progress.

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Today the Huawei P40 Pro was leaked in a major way - just before its official reveal and release date. The Huawei P40 and Huawei P40 Pro were meant to be revealed at the same time - likely within the week - but leaksters in Germany got there first. The Huawei P40 rolls with a 6.1-inch OLED display, and the Huawei P40 Pro works with a 6.58-inch OLED display with 90Hz image refresh rate.

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A new bit of research published by the National Academy of Sciences showed evidence of one of the first creatures on this planet with a mouth and a butt. More specifically, this fossil called Ikaria wariootia, is one of the oldest known bilaterians. A bilaterian is an animal with two openings and a trough-gut.

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There's a new VR headset in town - and it might arrive right on time. Here in the late Winter of 2020, we're all stuck inside on quarantine, avoiding COVID-19, and it might just be the perfect time for VR to catch hold of the masses. Not that VR device makers have been trying to make that happen for half a decade or anything... but still. Per the sneaky release today, this is the new standard for VR.

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