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News: iOS 11 Gets New Echo & Spotlight Screen Effects for iMessages

Apple introduced iMessage effects in iOS 10, which offer creative ways to send messages to other iPhone users. These effects can either be applied to the screen, like seeing an explosion of confetti falling down the display, or to the message bubble itself. iOS 11 brings two new screen effects to iMessage, named "Echo" and "Spotlight," and they look like they'll be a fun addition to the current lineup.

News: HTC U Spec Leak Shows Off Internals

The HTC U isn't set to be revealed until mid-to-late-April, but that isn't stopping the leaks from creating hype. Weibo user Ann Bunny just leaked a spec sheet for the new HTC phone, which can be seen below. Keep in mind, though, all details are still just rumors at this point, but they're certainly juicy.

News: Bob Iger Says AR, Not VR, Is the Way of the Future for Disney Parks

Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has out and out rejected Virtual Reality (VR) as a component of any Disney Theme park. While Knott's Berry Farm, why-hasn't-this-chain-shut-down-yet Sea World (seriously, RIP Tillikum), and Six Flags have all invested in VR to help spice up their parks in this theme park depression period, Iger has "ordered his team not to even think about it." Iger instead is very much onboard the Augmented Reality (AR) train.

News: Adobe Integrates with HoloLens for Personalized Marketing

At Adobe Summit 2017 this week, Adobe announced they are looking to occupy a new space in the market by combining their analytic capabilities with augmented reality. Teaming up with Microsoft, the company has combined Adobe Sensei software with the HoloLens, reports GeekWire. Together, the tech and software create a new tool for retailers to track their consumers' habits.

News: Spotify Considers Restricting Big Album Releases to Paying Users Only

All you paying Spotify users are about to get another exclusive privilege besides getting out of all those annoying "Ever wonder what it would be like to have Spotify premium?" ads. The Sweden-based company is looking to lower the royalty fees they have to pay to major record labels for their music, by compromising on their policy that all their music be free to paying and nonpaying users. Spotify would for a limited time restrict access on major album releases to their paying subscribers.

News: Hino Motors Leads the Way to Japan's Planned 2020 Rollout of Commercial Truck Platooning

Japan is in the process of curbing its aging population and mature workforce. According to The Diplomat, the country's population has been declining at a steady rate. To meet future productivity demands in commercial and industrial sectors, local officials are turning to self-driving technology, including truck platooning, where three or five vehicles travel autonomously in a string formation. This practice, according to a study by MIT, can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% (more about thi...

HoloLens Dev 101: The Unity Editor Basics

With any continuously active software, it can start to become fairly complex after a few years of updates. New features and revisions both get layered into a thick mesh of menu systems and controls that even pro users can get bewildered by. If you are new to a certain application after it has been around for many years, it can be downright intimidating to know where to begin.

News: EtherWars Brings Real-Time Strategic Space Battles into the Living Room

If you want to quickly understand EtherWars, imagine a game like StarCraft where you build out your base on your living room floor instead of on a computer screen. Before we had computer games to help us imagine what space wars might feel like, we played with toy ships and used our imaginations. EtherWars combines those two elements by replacing toys with holograms that actually react to your choices.

News: Pokémon GO's Nearby Menu Is Lying to You—Here's Why All the Pokémon Have 3 Footprints

The easiest way to see which Pokémon are close to your current location in Pokémon GO is by checking the Nearby tracker in the bottom-right of your screen. At least this was the easiest way up until a few days ago. Initially, the Pokémon in the Nearby screen would be marked with between zero and three footprint icons—the more footprints, the further away a Pokémon is from your location. Pokémon with zero footprints should be visible to you.

News: HoloLens Will Be Your AR Piano Teacher in the Future

You've likely seen light-up musical keyboards that teach you how to play a song with visual cues, but few of those devices exist and have a limited number of songs you can actually learn. But Karl Baumann and his HoloLens Hackathon team figured out that in mixed reality, you can learn music with visual cues with any piano.

Watch Out Facebook & Twitter: Google's Stepping Up Their Live-Streaming Game

Live streaming has emerged as a major part of the way people share information. With celebrities and news/media personalities utilizing mobile live streaming effectively to reach thousands, the appeal has bolstered the fortunes of Twitter's Periscope and Facebook's Live. Now, Google is ready to join the fray, and it's backed by its enormous YouTube property. According to initial reports, Google is at work on a brand new application for YouTube simply called "Connect," which will take its curr...

Deal Alert: Google's Giving 75% Off Any Movie Rental

If you've been looking to catch up on some of the Academy Award winners or nominees, or just feel like kicking back and watching a flick but can't find anything good on Netflix or Amazon Prime, then head over to the Google Play Store. Google is offering a single rental for 75% off the listed price, and the bargain is valid for the Play Store's entire collection of rentals. That means you won't be able to use the deal on newer buy-only releases like The Revenant and the Point Break remake. Als...