This this week's round-up, Agent Hall brings you the latest news from the world of science, tech and geeky entertainment – including a domestic robot that could change the way you do housework, and the latest emojis coming soon to a phone near you!
Monday 30th May
A host of exciting new devices from ASUS
This week saw the annual Computex trade fair in Taipei, where computer manufacturers from around the world gather to unveil their latest products. On Monday, it was ASUS who took centre stage to reveal what they have planned for the next 12 months.
First up, we have the ZenFone 3 range of Android handsets, featuring three different models. The base ZenFone 3 is a mid-range, 5.5-inch handset featuring the new Snapdragon 625 processor along with 3GB RAM. It features a Gorilla Glass front and back, and with a price point of about $250, could be a bit of a bargain.
Next is the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, which scraps the glass construction in favour of an all-aluminium unibody build. In fact, this is the first handset to have a complete aluminium back without any antenna lines. The screen is bumped up to 5.7 inches, while the processor is also upgraded to the Snapdragon 820. The Deluxe will start at $499.
Finally, there's the big daddy of the group: the ZenFone 3 Ultra. This is a 6.7-inch 'phablet' which features 4K video recording and playback – although the screen itself is only 1080p. At $470, it's actually slightly cheaper than the Deluxe –mainly due to the fact that it only features a Snapdragon 652 processor – but this shouldn’t make much difference to performance in everyday use.
But probably the most interesting thing ASUS announced on Monday was Zenbo –a cute little robot companion that's designed to follow you round and be your own personal butler.
As well as reminding you of appointments, Zenbo can be used to read out recipes and bedtime stories, take photos and play music. It can even link with home automation tech to control lights, heating and unlock the front door. ASUS say Zenbo will be particularly useful for older people, as it can even send out emergency messages if they have a fall and need help.
The best bit about Zenbo, though, is the price. At just $599, it's a bargain for a device that packs so much useful tech into an adorable little robot. You can get a look at how Zenbo will work in the
real world in the unbelievably cheesy video above.
Tuesday 31st May
A ludicrously overpowered processor from Intel – and good news for fans of The Witcher
Tuesday’s big news from Computex came from Intel, who announced a new range of high-end processors that should provide all the performance you’ll ever need – at a price!
The Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition CPU is Intel’s first ten-core desktop processor. Yes, you read that right: ten cores! Each core runs at 3GHz, but will boost to 3.5GHz if necessary – and it can even be manually overclocked if you feel the need.
So, what's the downside? Well, it’s the price. At over $1,700, the i7-6950X will be reserved for only the most demanding (and rich) gamers. However, Intel claim that it can handle 4K-resolution games 25% quicker than the previous flagship chip.
If $1,700 is a bit too much for you, Intel also announced an eight-core model for $1,000 and a $600 six-core model. And if these are still too much for your budget, you may be more interested in Intel's new Apollo Lake processors, also announced on Tuesday. These are aimed more towards the budget end of the market – and should bring 4K capabilities to more low-power devices.
Leaving Computex to one side for the moment, Tuesday also saw the release of Blood and Wine – the final expansion pack for the excellent and critically acclaimed RPG game, The Witcher 3.
The expansion sees main character Geralt travel to Toussaint – a bright, sunny land filled with vineyards that's a far cry from the desolate location of the main game. All is not well, though, as monsters and vampires have started to attack Toussaint's happy residents. This is where you step in, as you take on the beasts invading Toussaint and bring peace back to the land.
As well as the main storyline, you also get to run a vineyard and create your own wine! A new dye system also allows you to customise your armour with a range of different colours, to help you blend in with the bright landscape.
The Blood and Wine expansion is not just a few add-on quests to the main game: it could easily be a game in itself, with about 25 hours of extra gameplay included. At just £15.99, it’s reasonably priced as well – although you do need a copy of the original game to play it.
If you enjoyed the main game and are hungry for more, Blood and Wine is available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 now.
Wednesday 1st June
AMD announce the first generation of 'Polaris' graphics cards
On Wednesday, it was AMD’s turn to take the stage at Computex – and it looks like they could be about to start giving Intel a proper run for their money. Following Intel’s announcement of their ten-core i7 beast, AMD announced that their very own high-end alternative should be out towards the end of the year.
The new Zen Summit Ridge chip features eight cores rather than ten – but AMD are still promising a 40% increase in performance. Summit Ridge is still in the development stages, so there's no word yet on price or release date – but we’ll bring you more info as we get it.
AMD’s other big announcement will be much more exciting for PC gamers: their first graphics card featuring the new Polaris architecture. With Nvidia’s new GTX 1080 and 1070 cards currently revolutionising the high-end GPU market, can Polaris keep up?
Well, in pure power terms, the answer is not really. The first Polaris card, the Radeon RX480 should produce at least five teraflops of computing power, and is more than capable of powering an Oculus Rift VR headset. However, with the GTX 1070 producing over six teraflops and the ridiculous GTX 1080 pumping out about nine teraflops, AMD is definitely still playing catch-up.
However, the RX480 does have one killer feature – and that's the bargain-basement price. At $199 dollars, it comes in at about half the price of even a GTX 1070– and a third of the price of the GTX 1080. At this price, the RX480 offers a huge amount of performance for the money – and is a very tempting alternative to Nvidia’s new card. AMD wanted to bring VR to the masses with the 480, and it looks like they've certainly achieved that.
If you want a look at everything AMD had to say at Computex, take a look at the keynote address above.
Thursday 2nd June
The Division movie is greenlit – and BBC micro:bit preorders open
On Thursday, showbiz trade magazine Variety revealed that Ubisoft’s blockbuster video game The Division is to be turned into a Hollywood movie starring Donnie Darko himself, Jake Gyllenhaal.
Gyllenhaal is also attached as a producer – but that’s about all the information we have at the moment. The movie is still in the incredibly early stages: at this point, there’s no script and no writer signed on to produce one.
All the same, this is exciting news for anybody who enjoyed The Division – and the numbers suggest that there’s a lot of you out there. The game quickly became the best-selling new game franchise in history when it was released back in March, raking in an incredible $330m in just its first week on sale.
Whether the movie can repeat the game’s success remains to be seen – but we’ll bring you more details, including trailers and release dates, as soon as we know more. For now, take a look at a picture of Jake Gyllanhaal’s face in the image above.
We also learned on Thursday that the BBC’s ambitious, pocket-sized computer, the micro:bit, is now available for pre-order.
Like the established Raspberry Pi, the BBC’s pint-sized ‘puter is primarily designed to provide kids with a simple, accessible means to learn coding and computer science – and to that end, thousands of the devices have already been delivered for free to schools around the UK over the last couple of months.
The versatile devices feature 25 LEDs, two programmable buttons and built-in motion detectors, accelerometers and compasses. They’re also packing Bluetooth connectivity and five input/output connectors for hooking up to other devices. The name harks back to the legendary BBC Micro– the 1981 machine that introduced a generation of schoolkids to the fine art of wasting time in the computer lab.
According to Sinead Rocks, Head of BBC Learning, “the BBC micro:bit is all about young people learning to express themselves digitally ...And as the micro:bit is able to connect to everything from mobile phones to plant pots and Raspberry Pis, this could be for the internet-of-things what the BBC Micro was to the British gaming industry.”
If you’re a Year 7 schoolchild, there’s a good chance you’ll be getting one of the devices for free – but the rest of us can fork out a rather affordable £12.99 for a pre-order. Find out more about the device in the video above!
Friday 3rd June
At last: the facepalm emoji you've been waiting for
Finally, Friday saw some great news for teenagers, the Snapchat-obsessed or anyone who just prefers to communicate visually, as the Unicode Consortium announced that a whopping 72 new emojis will soon be coming to your phone.
The Unicode Consortium is the international body that coordinates the development of the ‘Unicode standard’: responsible for ensuring that text and writing displayed across devices and formats is consistent and unified.
It’s important work, but pretty boring – until emojis enter the picture! The Unicode Consortium have the final say on which emojis make the cut, and that’s exciting, because emojis are exciting.
The new emojis include both a stack of pancakes and strips of bacon, perfect for Instagramming your breakfast – as well as the ever-versatile ‘facepalm’, perfect for undermining the ridiculous things your family post to Facebook. There’s fun for animal-lovers, too, with sharks, bats, ducks, squid and gorillas all joining the emoji menagerie.
The new emojis will be added to the Unicode standard on 21 June – but it’s up to OS manufacturers like Apple and Google to integrate the new images into their keyboard software. For that reason, we can’t say when exactly they’ll land – but hopefully you won’t be kept waiting too long to bombard your friends and family with ever more inane strings of symbols.
You can check out the highlights in the image above – or visit Unicode’s site here to see the full batch of new candidates.
That's it for another Week in Geek – but to stay up to date with the latest developments in science, tech and geeky entertainment, get your name down below for the monthly Geek Squad newsletter!