Qualcomm and Daimler Developing Wireless in-Car Charging
Qualcomm Technologies and Daimler AG — owner of Mercedes-Benz—are collaborating to develop new car tech solutions such as wireless power charging for electric cars.
The Qualcomm Halo Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) technology will let drivers of full electric vehicles and hybrids to charge without having to plug them in.
The teams will also develop in-car wireless charging for smartphones, doing away with messy cables and cigarette lighter sockets. The partnership, which was announced over the weekend, will aim to advance 3G/4G connectivity inside cars.
Virgin CEO Richard Branson recently teased that his company may be soon be entering the electric car business, while reports surfaced earlier this year that Apple is also researching its own electric car.
New Girl Actor Joins American Horror Story
Max Greenfield, who plays Schmidt on New Girl, has joined the cast of American Horror Story: Hotel.
Ryan Murphy, creator of American Horror Story, took to Twitter to confirm the news.
This October, Max Greenfield (like you've never seen him) is checking in to the hotel….but not checking out. #AHSHotel
— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) May 25, 2015
Murphy promises a very different performance from Greenfield in the upcoming Hotel, the fifth season of American Horror Story.
New Trailer Lands For What Remains of Edith Finch
Giant Sparrow has dropped new information and a trailer for its latest game, the horror-kissed PS4 exclusive What Remains of Edith Finch.
As detailed by Creative Director Ian Dallas on the PlayStation blog, What Remains of Edith Finch is a "collection of short stories" about the deaths of various members of the Finch family. The game begins at the eccentric Finch house, where players can eventually unlock the bedrooms of each family member to reveal their fates.
"The Finch family house", writes Dallas, "is crazy. The family has been living here for the last hundred years and each generation adds on to it. By the time Edith arrives the house is an enormous artifact influenced by a range of eccentric, stubborn folks. Hopefully it’s also a place that comes across as believable and familiar. Our goal has been to make the house feel fantastical but at the same time like it was all made out of stuff you could buy at Home Depot."
Need for Speed Reboot Running on Same Engine as Star Wars: Battlefront
DICE’s Johan Andersson, Frostbite engine technical director, has confirmed via Twitter that Ghost Games’ upcoming Need for Speed reboot is running on the same version of the Frostbite engine as the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Battlefront.
Our next @NeedForSpeed by @GhostGamesEA running on the same version of @FrostbiteEngine as Battlefront! https://t.co/u1BIeB6d9S
— Johan Andersson (@repi) May 21, 2015
A Wii Apparently Burned This Man’s House Down
A Nintendo Wii is reportedly responsible for a massive fire inside an RV at Colorado Springs earlier in the week.
According to Southern Colorado site KKTV, fire investigators ruled out any other possible causes for the fire, which burned most of the belongings of homeowner Trevor Pellegrin.
"This had nothing to do with the wires," said Pellegrin. "It started in the actual console of the Wii."
Pellegrin had been watching Netflix on the console before switching it off, but he did not unplug it at the wall.
“There’s no warning label on that Wii saying unplug after use that it may cause a fire, there’s no warning label so I didn’t know to do that, to unplug it.”
2K Teases Upcoming Sci-fi Game
2K has launched a teaser site for an upcoming project it's currently calling 'Advent'.
adventfuture.org serves as a dystopian advertisement for 'The ADVENT Administration', striving to 'create a world free from hunger, pain, sickness, and war'. But as 2K's official Twitter account suggests, there's a sinister side to the story.
Bloodborne’s Latest Patch Is Now Live
The latest patch for FromSoftware's PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne is now live and available for download.
Sony Computer Entertainment has released the notes for Patch 1.04, which makes mention of a number of changes, including different Blood Stone drops within the Chalice Dungeons, as well as the ability to connect with others of a different level using password matching.
The developer has also tweaked the strength of some enemies in new game plus, and the resistance to bolt and arcane attacks of select foes has been been altered as well. The stamina use of both the Kirkhammer and Logarius’ Wheel have been reduced, while the duration of Old Hunter Bone has been increased and the use of Quicksilver Bullets has been conversely decreased.
RadioShack Agreement Limits Sales of Customer Data
RadioShack has reached an agreement with 38 states to limit its sale of customer data.
The former electronics retailer, now bankrupt, listed the collected data of 67 million customers among its liquid assets and put the sensitive information up for sale. The data includes somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 million names and physical addresses, 8.3 million of which have an attached email address, according to PC World.
However, the limit to the sale of data means RadioShack will limit the number of email addresses it will sell off, along with giving customers a chance to opt-out of being part of the list.
Arrow Had to Halt Harley Quinn Storyline Plans
The CW originally had "big plans" for Harley Quinn in Arrow, according to the series' Thea Queen actress Willa Holland. However, those plans were nixed by DC execs due to the character's involvement in David Ayer's upcoming Suicide Squad movie.
"We had big plans for Harley. But, I guess something came down from DC execs that told us to shut it down," Holland told Flickering Myth. "I mean we had that tease with the pigtails and the ARGUS outfit but, we’ll never see it. We would love to
Harley in Arrow but it will never happen."
True Detective Director Reportedly Drops Stephen King’s It
Director Cary Fukunaga has reportedly left the long-gestating big screen adaptation of Stephen King's It.
The Wrap claims Fukunaga fought with New Line over filming locations and budget issues which the the director felt hamstrung the project. Fukunaga made his decision this weekend, the website reports.
Another source told The Wrap that New Line was feeling less confident about the project after the less-than-stellar opening of the Poltergeist remake. Marketing for that film involved a creepy clown and, as King fans know all too well, a creepy clown figures heavily into It's plot as well.