Apple Doesn’t Want Volkswagen Showing Off Wireless CarPlay
Apple has disallowed Volkswagen from showing off its new wireless CarPlay feature at CES 2016.
The exact reason why isn't clear. However, Car and Driver — to whom Volkswagen confirmed the block earlier today — theorizes that it's likely because the tech manufacturer wants to show off the new feature on its own terms. This is in spite of the fact that most iPhone users can already get a pretty good idea of how the system works for themselves.
NBC Orders Pilot for DC Comics Universe Comedy, Powerless
Powerless, a half-hour comedy set in the DC Comics universe, has been given a pilot order by NBC.
From Cars 2 scribe Ben Queen, the potential series -- which NBC gave a pilot production commitment to back in August -- focuses on the lives of ordinary, powerless insurance workers in a superhero-filled world. While the show is expected to feature superhero cameos, DC's bigger brands, such as Batman and Superman, reportedly won't be involved.
According to Entertainment Weekly, NBC ordered three additional pilots today: a self-titled Marlon Wayans comedy and two untitled projects from former 30 Rock writers Tracey Wigfield and Matt Hubbard.
We Played With the World’s Most Expensive Rubber Duck
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we got to see all sorts of crazy, cool, and expensive technology. What we didn't expect to find was the world's most expensive bath toy.
More than just a toy for tubby-time, Edwin the Duck is actually a waterproof, floating Bluetooth speaker, but it looks like an ordinary rubber duck. You can see it in action in the video above.
In fact, it seems as though it would be right at home in the basement apartment of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie.
But it's not just a clever little tub-time speaker, it also has apps. We live in an incredible era where even a child's rubber duck can contain the sort of high-tech electronic equipment that just 20 years ago would have been unthinkable.
Apple Reportedly Making Cordless Earbuds
Apple is reportedly working on a new wireless pair of Bluetooth earbuds to release this fall.
According to 9to5Mac, the cord-free earbuds don't even connect with the right and left pieces, as they're supposedly similar to the Motorola Hint headset. There will be another accessory for Siri communication and to make phone calls.
The cordless earbuds purportedly won't come with the iPhone 7. Instead, they'll most likely be available as a separate premium version of the packaged pair with the device.
The technology behind the new earbuds reportedly is courtesy of Beats, which Apple acquired in 2014 for $3 billion. To charge the wireless headphones, there will likely be a carrying case that also serves as a rechargeable battery.
Outlander Author on Not Having GRRM’s Writing Problem
Diana Gabaldon is not concerned that the Outlander TV series is going to catch up with her ongoing series of books any time soon like Game of Thrones recently did with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
Following Martin's announcement that he would not release his new book, The Winds of Winter, before Season 6 of the HBO drama is released, thus meaning that the TV show would pass his published material, Gabaldon opened up about whether or not that would happen to her.
"Unlike George, I write no matter where I am or what else I'm doing," she said at the 2016 winter Television Critics Association press tour. "He admits it himself, he likes to travel and he can't write when he travels. That's just the way he works.
Modder Recreates Mirror’s Edge Prologue in Dying Light
Mirror's Edge is now playable inside Techland's zombie survival game Dying Light. Sort of.
Using Dying Light's mod creation tools, user Elimina (via Kotaku) has made what they claim to be a 1:1 scale version of the prologue map from Mirror's Edge. According to Elimina, "every corner and detail" is "almost identical" to the original stages of DICE's dystopic parkour game. Check it out in the slideshow below.
The project is still very much a work in progress, but those interested can download it on PC now via Dying Light's Steam Workshop page. Elimina has outlined a list of things they intend to add in via future updates, including added NPCs in the police chase section, an attempt to add a wall run, and more interior detail for the environments.
Arrested Development: Season 5 Story Hints
Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz has shared some hints of what to expect from season five.
Deadline reports that Hurtwitz said the next season will be a serialized murder mystery, after season four ended with Buster under arrest for murder. He compared it to the recent real-crime documentary hit Making a Murderer.
He also said he'd like to make it very politically conscious as we're in an election year, since Lindsay Bluth has decided to run in the Republican ticket and promised to build a wall. However, the cast negotiations are ongoing, and he's not sure who will be available and when. That means some cast members' schedules may not align, a move that led to the vignette structure of season four. Once he has that finalized, he plans to start writing scripts.
Watch Us Flail Our Arms Maniacally to Play Pac-Man
Motion controls haven't gone anywhere, they've just been re-purposed. We had a chance to play Pac-Man at CES 2016 this week, but we did it using motion controls, all in the name of fitness.
Watch us flop around in the video above.
The Moff Band wearable smart toy is a high-tech slap band that you wear on your wrist. Any kid from the '90s remembers slap bands, but unlike those ones, which had a thin strip of razor-sharp metal inside, the Moff Band has a plastic core with a safe silicone rubber exterior.
Currently there are a bunch of apps that work with the Moff Band, including some from PBS Kids, but in the spring Bandai Namco is releasing a version of its classic Pac Man arcade game designed for use with the Moff Band. We took it for a test drive at CES, which you can see in the video above.
New Outlander: Season 2 Photos
Outlander: Season 2's premiere isn't until April, but Starz has released a batch of new images to preview what's ahead for main characters Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan).
The stills showcase the series' shift in location to 18th century Paris, France in Season 2. Claire in particular has a stunning set of new costumes, created by costume designer (and showrunner Ron Moore's wife) Terry Dresbach. Dresbach has spoken openly about her desire to make the outfits in Outlander honest to the period setting instead of perpetuating contemporary perceptions of what people like Claire and Jamie would wear in the 1700s. (She also is firmly against the whole improbable Hollywood idea of bodice-ripping.)
BBC America Greenlights New Dirk Gently Series
Douglas Adams' detective Dirk Gently has been greenlit for another TV adaptation, courtesy of BBC America and writer Max Landis.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Dective Agency will feature eight, one-hour episodes following the titular investigator and his assistant Todd. In Adams' pair of novels featuring the duo, they encounter many bizarre and supernatural occurrences with a highly comedic bent.
