Fully Charged: Samsung Gear VR gets premium apps, Google+ splitting apart, and Tesla’s 007 surprise
All the tech and gadget news you need to start the day informed
Gear VR gets a premium app store
Samsung just announced another Gear VR headset, this time for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, but up until this week, the original Gear VR Innovator Edition (which uses the Galaxy Note 4) didn’t even offer a way to purchase premium virtual reality content. Thankfully, that’s changed.
Software partner Oculus confirmed that a “preview of commerce” is available in the VR Store in the States now, letting developers sell more advanced content beyond the demo-like experiences available now. More content will hit the States this month before it expands globally and incorporates things like in-app purchases. Finally.
[Source: Oculus]
Read More › Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition review
Google+ splitting apart
Google+ hasn’t exactly been a Facebook or Twitter killer of late, and now it seems Google is ready to start refocusing elements of the social network. Google’s Bradley Horowitz confirmed Sunday that the company’s Photos and Streams elements will be treated as separate products going forward.
How that’ll affect the Google+ experience remains to be seen, but some sort of change is arguably needed to bring it to greater prominence. Android head Sundar Pinchai suggested last week that Google would stop treating Google+ elements as a combined focus, and that seems to be coming true with this revelation. He also confirmed at MWC this week that Hangouts will receive more attention and similarly be treated as its own product.
Read More › Google I/O 2015: What we’re expecting to see
Tesla’s Model S 007 surprise
Here’s an amazing little secret for those of you fortunate enough to have a Tesla Model S. Seems if you hold down the T icon on the touchscreen interface of the car, then input “007” in the login box that appears, the digital image of the car changes to the Lotus Espirit S1 from 1977 James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me. It even has a nod to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, of course, purchased one of the Espirit S1 models from the film a couple years back, and it appears his adoration runs deep. Very cool.
[Source: The Verge]
Read More › Tesla Model S review
Mortal Kombat X coming to mobile
When the hotly-anticipated Mortal Kombat X comes to consoles and PC next month, it’ll also make another stop: iOS and Android devices. That’s because developer NetherRealm Studios is also making a free-to-play mobile version of the gory fighter, which will incorporate card-collecting elements along with the brawling.
Sound familiar? That’s because NetherRealm did the same thing with its last game, the DC Comics fighter Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as the recent pro wrestling game WWE Immortals. Both were pretty similar team-based battlers, although that might not be the best fit for Mortal Kombat‘s usual one-on-one showdowns. From the trailer, the mobile game looks very similar to the glossier console release, but guess we’ll find out for sure in a month or so.
[Source: Business Wire]
Read More › Mortal Kombat X preview
Andrew Hayward
Freelance Writer 
