Arkham Knight Voice Cast Revealed in New Trailer
Warner Bros. has revealed the voice cast for Batman: Arkham Knight.
The company has confirmed a number of fan-favourites that are set to return, including Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, Troy Baker as Two-Face and Nolan North as Penguin.
Newcomers who are set to appear include Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) as James Gordon, Ashley Greene (The Twilight Saga) as Barbara Gordon, John Noble (Sleepy Hollow, Fringe) as Scarecrow and Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights, Hart of Dixie) as Nightwing.
Earlier today, developer Rocksteady Studios confirmed the identity of Batgirl, who's playable thanks to some DLC. WB revealed the Batman: Arkham Knight Season Pass and its pricing last week. On its own, the Season Pass will run £32.99 / $39.99, or it will be available in the Premium Edition of the game for £87.98 / $99 on PS4 and Xbox One. The Season Pass will provide six months worth of DLC content.
Google Could Have a Crazy Wearable on the Way
Google's Advanced Technologies and Products department will be showing some kind of wearable at Google I/O.
According to the schedule, the team is aiming to "break the tension between the ever-shrinking screen sizes necessary to make electronics wearable and our ability to have rich interactions with them."
This is the same team that brought you Project Ara, the phone which allows you to swap components in and out, and Project Tango, Android's 3D mapping phone.
This iPhone Case Harvests Energy From the Air
Nikola Labs has created an iPhone case which converts wasted energy into more battery life.
It works by harvesting RF energy from signals like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LTE, which it then converts back into a DC current using a special circuit.
The case, which will be launching soon on Kickstarter for $99, can power the phone for 30 percent longer.
The technology could also be put to use in other devices which don't need much electricity to function. IKEA recently announced its range of wireless charging furniture, which you can check out here on IGN.
Artificial Muscles For Robots Made by Covering Onions in Gold
Scientists from the National Taiwan University have discovered onions covered in gold can function as artificial muscles for robots.
Sky News reports the team found the vegetable's skin is able to stretch and flex like real tissue, an ability which scientists have previously been unable to replicate.
It's been discovered that coating the skin in a film of gold enables an electrical current to be used to make the "muscle" expand or contract. Tests were done by freeze drying a single layer of skin to remove all water, before it was treated with a protein designed to make it brittle and then paint on gold.
Destiny Patch 1.2.0 Notes Reportedly Leaked
Destiny Patch 1.2.0 was released last night and, though Bungie has yet to officially release any notes, a number of eagle-eyed gamers have done some digging to figure out what's new.
Despite being deployed yesterday, all the changes apparently reside behind-the-scenes and won't actually be activated until a later date. With the House of Wolves content going live on May 19, the smart money is on sometime next week.
The work being done by @BungieHelp today will deploy 1.2.0 but not activate it. Changes will go live at a later date to be announced.
SpaceX’ Crew Dragon Succesfully Completes Pad Abort Test
SpaceX successfully completed the first Pad Abort Test of its Crew Dragon spacecraft, a reusable vehicle for human transport.
The two minute long test conducted yesterday demonstrated how Dragon could transport astronauts to safety if trouble flared up on the launch pad. The craft's abort system’s eight SuperDraco engines is capable of carrying astronauts into orbit in the event of emergency before descending to earth.
To radically condense today's test, the eight SuperDracos ignited simultaneously, reaching maximum thrust of 15,000 pounds, and then throttled to control the trajectory. Dragon traveled from 0-100 mph in 1.2 seconds, reaching a max velocity of 345 mph. According to Elon Musk, max acceleration was 6 times Earth's gravity, , lateral distance was 1,202 meters and velocity hit 155 m/s.
Star Trek Inspired Device Turns Powder into Meals
An Israeli company has developed the Genie, a device inspired by Star Trek's replicators, which turns pods of powders into meals in 30 seconds.
The Genie takes in Smart Baking Pods that contain dehydrated powders, which are customisable to fit your diet. Then all you have to do is add water and wait. A push of a button can switch between gluten, egg, or dairy free options.
The pods come in a recyclable container and have a shelf life of over a year. To add to the futuristic feel, the whole thing is controlled using a companion app.
Chefs of the future will now have to decide whether to make pods of powder, or create ideas for this 3D food printer.
Will Soldiers of the Future Be Invisible?
The US Army has called for proposals for camouflage which can change depending on the background.
Complete invisibility for normal sized objects is "fundamentally impossible," according to Martin Wegener of the Karlsruhe Institutre of Technology. However he and his team have created cloaks from photonic crystals which bend light at certain wavelengths.
According to Wegener, "this means that you may see less of something at a particular colour, but see it at all other colours." The cloak wearer would look transparent at some wavelengths, but would not be totally invisible.
The US Army wants these cloaks within the next 18 months, and they need to allow the soldiers to perform their normal duties. In addition, any power source would need to weigh less than 0.45 kilograms.
WoW Suffers Biggest Quarterly Subscriber Drop Ever
World of Warcraft lost 2.9 million subscribers in the last quarter, bringing the number of active subs to 7.1 million as of the quarterly period ending March 31, 2015.
The news comes courtesy of Activision Blizzard's first quarter earnings report for 2015 and marks the biggest subscriber loss in a three month period since the game launched back in late 2004.
Despite this, the company notes revenue performance for the aging MMO has remained stable thanks to an increased number of people taking advantage of added-value services like cosmetic items and account services, along with price increases in select regions such as the East.
It's important to note that this subscriber drop also doesn't cover the period during which the new WoW Token was introduced, so the number of losses can't be attributed to the method in which people are choosing to get access to the game.
Nintendo Records First Annual Profit in Years, Misses Wii U Sales Target
Nintendo narrowly missing sales targets for its Wii U console and 3DS handhelds for the year can be regarded as a moot point with the company posting very healthy results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.
With results not seen since 2011, the company reported net sales of 549.7 billion yen ($4.6 billion), with 75.4 percent consisting of overseas sales, and an operating income of 24.7 billion yen (US$207 million). Ordinary income was 70.5 billion yen (US$591 million) and net income was 41.8 billion yen ($350 million).