October was a very busy month for Hello Games. We kicked it off with a visit to the Big Apple, where Sean presented the game to Stephen Colbert on CBS’s The Late Show.
Stephen is one of the first to explore the game’s massive universe, so we wanted to give him the personal touch with each new discovery he made. Watch and you’ll see what we mean :)
It was a crazy, hectic visit, but the team managed to squeeze in a little time (at 2:30am!) to check out some of the local arcades before the flight home.
New York City, you were great!
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and we were at Paris Games Week to show a new trailer with our friends at PlayStation, and revealed something many of you have been waiting for – a release date.
As Sean said on the PlayStation Blog, we know the wait to June 2016 will be long for some, but every moment gives us the time to add more features and polish to our vast universe.
You may have also noticed a familiar voice alongside the announcement – the one and only Rutger Hauer. It blows our minds that a sci-fi legend would want to be involved in one of our trailers, and it was a blast getting him involved.
The reception to The Late Show and Paris Games Week has been overwhelming, and we want to thank you, as always, for all the support you give our small team – it means a lot!
Google's search results are getting a boost from Facebook.
Facebook will reportedly provide a boost for Google searches, allowing data from its mobile app to show up in a Google search.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Facebook has begun allowing Google to crawl and index its mobile app.
For users, that means that Google search results on smartphones will display content from Facebook's app, including public profile information.
Google cannot, however, show content shared through logged-in and private Facebook app sessions, which can be found using Facebook's own search service.
A screenshot from the Anonymous video warning ISIS of impending cyberattacks shows an announcer wearing the group's characteristic Guy Fawkes mask.YouTube screenshot by CNET
Hacker collective Anonymous has declared "war is unleashed" against ISIS, the Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks that occurred Friday in Paris.
ISIS has used the Internet to recruit new members from around the world and to spread chilling images of executions and other violence.
Anonymous, a loosely affiliated group of Internet users who hack and spread leaked information, said in a series of tweets and a YouTube video that it wants to steal information from that Web traffic and force ISIS into Internet obscurity. Indeed, its #OpParis campaign aims to strip ISIS of one of its most valuable weapons: the Internet.
In the YouTube video published Sunday, a masked announcer speaks in French. The statement was widely translated as saying, "Expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared."
Anonymous has leveled its ire at a huge variety of individuals, groups and companies that it perceives as crossing ethical and moral lines. Their attacks involve leaking documents and taking down websites with a form of attack called distributed denial of service, which overwhelms websites with too many requests. The group's targets have included the Ku Klux Klan, the Westboro Baptist Church (known for protesting the funerals of fallen soldiers and others in the United States), Monsanto and Koch Industries.
The list of Anonymous' targets also includes governments, such as Tunisia in 2011, in response to reports of censorship during the Arab Spring uprisings.
But ISIS, or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, which has been a warring force in the Middle East, just struck at the heart of the Western World.
Anonymous' announcement isn't brand new. It began targeting ISIS earlier, especially after gunmen opened fire at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January, killing 12.
#OpParis is aimed at ISIS' use of social media and other Web services. Beheadings and other executions of journalists, members of different Islamic groups and people accused of being gay have circulated on the Web over the past two years. Also, recruitment websites have urged people from around the world to leave their homes and fight with ISIS.
This activity has already gotten the attention of Western governments. For example, law enforcement and intelligence officers monitor recruitment websites. Anonymous seems fixed on amplifying these efforts with its brand of crowdsourced hacking, nevermind the law.
On Monday, a Twitter handle calling itself the official #OpParis account claimed a number of "pro-ISIS" accounts had been taken down.
Anonymous, however, isn't a unified group, and dissenters were tweeting their disapproval on Monday. One Anonymous-affiliated Twitter user, who goes by the handle Discordian and claims to have participated in several Anonymous hacking efforts, said he opposes #OpParis for a variety of reasons.
"[H]ow exactly do they plan to stop an international terrorist organization that has been able to plot attacks regardless of the mass-spying by governments around the globe?" Discordian wrote on a text-hosting website called Pastebin.
Predictions from those in the cybersecurity industry of whether Anonymous will be successful are mixed, with experts saying they understand why Anonymous wants to target ISIS.
Stu Sjouwerman, founder and CEO of cybersecurity company KnowBe4, is optimistic that Anonymous will be successful. "I wish Anonymous good luck with this campaign," he said.
You might be dreaming of the time when smartphones would be available at the price of feature phones. A new Android phone has just been spotted for less than $10.
Technology-centric news site Motherboard has got a chance to spot the highly affordable Android phone called TracFone LG Prepaid Lucky LG16. This new smartphone has just been listed on the Walmart site with a price tag of $9.82 (around £7, €9) exclusive of some shipment charges.
The cheap Android running phone is marketed in the US by prepaid wireless service provider TracFone Wireless and is manufactured by LG as a basic smartphone to let novices experience Google's open-source operating system without being much of a burden on their pockets. The smartphone does not have components like a front-facing selfie camera sensor or high-speed LTE support but comes equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and features a 3.8in TFT touchscreen display. Also, there is a 3-megapixel rear camera sensor with VGA video recording support.
LG has provided Android 4.4 KitKat operating system on the $10 Android phone with a tweaked interface on top. We speculate that the smartphone would not receive an update to the latest Android Marshmallow version or even its preceding Android 5.0 or 5.1 Lollipop. However, the smartphone does have Google Play Store to let you download new Android apps and there are 3G as well as Wi-Fi connectivity options.
The Android smartphone is currently available for purchase through Walmart with an optional $5 care plan for the first two years. It would also be available through other sales channels and other regions like the UK in the coming future.
Although LG's attempt to come up with the $10 phone might not alarm its rivals such as Samsung and Sony, it does suggest a way to offer some really cheap smartphones. Google is already working on its Android One initiative to expand the presence of Android by offering affordable smartphones.
You can go ahead and spend $10 on the new smartphone, but if the latest Android experience is your primary requirement, there isn't anything pleasing. That being said, the new smartphone strives to persuade some feature phone users to start keeping Android in their pockets.
Windows 10 will not feature Android apps any time soon.Sarah Tew/CNET
The future is uncertain for Microsoft's plan to introduce a tool for bringing apps originally written for Android to its own Windows 10.
The tool, nicknamed Project Astoria, was designed to encourage programmers who wrote apps for devices powered by Google's mobile software to bring those apps to Microsoft's new operating system. Windows is still the foundation software for most PCs, but Microsoft has struggled to spread it to phones and tablets where Apple and Google software dominates.
Now for Microsoft, it seems, progress on the tool is not progressing as planned. The company wouldn't say whether Astoria has been canceled or that it will still be released. "We're committed to offering developers many options to bring their apps to the Windows Platform," a Microsoft spokeswoman said Monday. "The Astoria bridge is not ready yet, but other tools offer great options for developers."
It's vital for Microsoft that Windows 10 succeed after its predecessor, Windows 8, was widely spurned. A broad and deep selection of Windows 10 apps is crucial to that success, so people can fulfill their needs for entertainment, communication and work -- and so that Microsoft can extend Windows' financial success. Microsoft's previous smartphone software struggled to gain traction, partly due to a lack of apps in comparison to Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Astoria was supposed to be a central part of the strategy for attracting key app developers to Windows.
Astoria's future may be in doubt, but Microsoft has released two related tools: "Islandwood," which lets developers bring apps for Apple's iOS software to Windows 10, and "Westminster," which does the same for apps designed for the Web. Microsoft also plans to release a similar tool "soon" to bring older-style Windows apps to Windows 10, the company said.
Some clues hinted at waning enthusiasm for Astoria, according to the Windows Central blog. The project's forums went quiet in September, with developer questions going unanswered by Microsoft. And Microsoft stripped Astoria out of newer test versions of Windows 10 for mobile devices.
The main downside of Astoria is that it is effectively an emulator, a software layer that lets programs written for one software foundation run on another. But emulation often means an app's styling doesn't fit well in the new environment or take full advantage of its features.
In Microsoft's perfect world, programmers would write their apps directly for Windows 10 in the first place.
"Developers can write apps that run on all Windows 10 devices and take advantage of native Windows features easily," Microsoft said. "We're grateful to the feedback from the development community and look forward to supporting them as they develop apps for Windows 10."
Facebook is letting users in Paris post safety status messages after officials said more than 100 people were killed during a series of attacks Friday.
Facebook; screenshot by CNET
Facebook is helping users in Paris quickly post safety status messages after a series of shootings and explosions around the city killed more than 100 people Friday.
The social network has activated its Safety Check tool, which is automatically sending users in the affected area a note asking if they're safe. When a user clicks "Yes, let my friends know," the tool then notifies their Facebook friends.
Users outside Paris can also check to see if their friends are OK.
Facebook determines location based on what users have listed in their profile, the city where they're using the Internet, and, if they're using the social network's Nearby Friends feature, their most recent location. If Safety Check has gotten the location wrong, users can mark that they're somewhere else.
Facebook's response comes as officials in Paris are urging residents to avoid going out due to one of the deadliest acts of violence in France in decades.
"Communication is critical in these moments," Facebook said in a statement, "both for people there and for their friends and families anxious for news."
Parisians are also turning to Twitter to get information and express solidarity, as well as to help those seeking safety from the attacks. Under the hashtag #PorteOuverte ("open door"), Twitter users in Paris have been posting their address to offer shelter.
Officials said more than 100 people were killed inside a Paris concert hall where attackers seized hostages. The hostage-taking episode was one in a series of at least six attacks across the French capital, according to CBS News.
Two French police officials said at least three attackers were killed when authorities launched an assault on the concert hall, where an American heavy metal band, the Eagles of Death Metal, were performing a sold-out show.
One official described the scene inside the building as "carnage" and said the attackers tossed explosives at the hostages.
Elsewhere in Paris, police said 11 people were killed in a restaurant and at least 3 people died when bombs went off outside a stadium north of Paris during an exhibition soccer match between France and Germany.
French President Francois Hollande was at the game and was evacuated from the stadium. Hollande later said he was closing the country's borders and declaring a state of emergency.
"It's a horror," he said.
Meanwhile in the US, President Barack Obama said in a briefing at the White House that his country stands behind the French and is ready to respond.
"This was an attack not just on Paris...not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share," he said.
