A dreadnaught hovers overhead and next to me R2-D2 bleeps and shakes. The ship, controlled by the First Order, means trouble and Artoo knows it, as I know it. It starts shaking its head even more and it’s an absolute joy. 

It turns out watching a Star Wars movie with a gaggle of Sphero droids is like partaking in Mystery Science Theater 3000 for the selfie generation – it adds to the occassion, splashing some childish joy onto the movie watching experience. 

It’s not perfect – there were some niggles along the way to get the droids to watch a movie with you – but when it works, it brings nothing but smiles. Well, and bleeps. Lots of bleeps. 

Sphero added the ‘Watch With Me’’ feature when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released in the home back in 2016. It was an update to the BB-8 app – we tried it back then and it was fun, if a little limited. While it was great to watch BB-8 cower when Kylo Ren was on the screen, it didn’t quite click for us. 

Since then, a lot has changed. The BB-8 app has been replaced with Droids By Sphero app. This is because the roster of droids available has expanded. You can now get a battle worn BB-8, the evil BB-9E, R2-D2 and the limited edition R2-Q5 – a sinister version of Artoo that is seen in some deleted scenes of Return of the Jedi. 

The Watch With Me feature has expanded massively, too, Now you can watch the entire Original Trilogy with your chosen droid, Star Wars: Rogue One, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Episodes I-III are set to come soon, not that anyone should care about that.

Now, as TechRadar’s dedicated droid reviewer (albeit a self-titled title), I have all four of these droids in my house and to celebrate May the 4th, Star Wars Day, I decided to watch The Last Jedi with all four of them.

Now, this didn’t go exactly as planned. For a start, BB-9E didn’t want to play ball, at all. The app just didn’t recognise the droid for the Watch With Me feature. Given his screen time in The Last Jedi is minimal at best – although the stink eye it offers Finn and Rose when exposing them for what they are is hilarious – I wasn’t too bothered. The rest booted up fine. 

But then, my grand plan to have all the droids bleeping and booping at the same time, while I watched the movie and pretended they were my apprentices and I was the master, hit a bit of a snag. 

Droid life

It turns out, you can only really have one droid at a time reacting to what is on the screen. There is the option to add as many droids as you want but you can only control one of them at a time when watching the movie; or at least that’s all we seemed to be capable of being able to do. 

I didn’t let that stop me and skipped between Artoo, Q5 and BB-8 throughout the duration of the movie, trying to tie each of them in with a part when the good guys are doing something and when the bad guys were. 

I also made sure they were there to react anytime Ade Edmondson was on the screen as it still blows my mind a little that Richie from Bottom is in a Star Wars movie.

Regardless of these niggles, as a big Star Wars fan it’s so good to see toys get to a point where they wow as much as the movies they are based on. 

The moment when Artoo (my Artoo, not the one in the movie) bleeped and got excited at the first look of Luke Skywalker on screen nearly brought a tear to my eye. I had to think back to the Midi-Chlorian speech by Qui-Gon Jinn to suppress it.

We live in a fantastic time for Star Wars tie-ins. Whether it’s Lego’s Super Star Destroyer that comes in 3,000 pieces, Lenovo Star Wars: Jedi Challenges that uses AR to bring you into the franchise or Sphero’s impressive, most impressive droid collection – being a Star Wars fan has never been so much fun. 

• These are the best toys around right now for tech enthusiasts.

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As per a listing on World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a new patent for a gaming smartwatch from Huawei has been published. The patent is named – ‘Smart wearable device and control method for the same wearable device’. The patent was originally applied for on 15 December 2017.

Earlier to this, Huawei has filed a similar patent in China twice in 2015 and 2016. The document filed in 2017 seems like an improvement over the previously filed ones. 

The patent involves a new way of operating smartwatch using the bands, and this isn’t the first time Huawei is doing this. What’s different this time is that it is fully customised for gaming on smartwatch. 

But how will you game on it?

The documentations have detailed illustrations of how the technology is supposed to work. It shows that there’s a mechanical sensor and a touch area on both the bands, which can be activated by a slide or a long-press gesture.

The watch strap is also shown to be acting as a virtual keyboard where half of the keys are on left and the half on are right. Users would be able to scroll up and down to access all characters. 

It is said to incorporate a number of gestures like tap, slide, pull, sway, twist, shake and press. These will be used to assign different functions to each gesture. 

The operations will be customised according to the current use case of the smartwatch. There would also be controls when it is tied around the wrist, and the they’re different when the watch rests on a flat surface.

The documents include a well-descriptive table that tells which gesture triggers what movement. For instance, one of them tells that one end of the band can be used as a navigation controller and other as face keys, similar to a controller. 

Aside from gaming, the bands can be used to control other operations like taking selfies. You can also zoom in and out, scroll, copy text and a lot more. 

The patent doesn’t only tell us about Huawei’s ambition to become number one by being the first in the category, but also indicates the kind of innovation we can expect from them. Moreover, with the tri-camera P20 Pro making its mark and an under-development foldable phone also validate the company’s focus.  

Via- letsgodigital

http://www.techradar.com/news/huawei-could-be-working-on-a-smartwatch-dedicated-to-gaming

How many things can you think of that are over 100 years old and still look this good? The Giro d’Italia cycling event is back for its 101st edition, and it’s poised to be a very compelling watch.

Indeed, it’s going to be available in a record breaking 198 countries. Thanks to 18 different TV networks getting involved there are lots of ways to enjoy all the high-paced Italian cycling action – and we can tell you how to live stream the Giro d’Italia.

Last year’s winner, Tom Dumoulin, riding for Team Sunweb will be back this year leading his team. The UK’s Team Sky will offer stiff competition with the likes of Chris Froome and David De La Cruz Melgarejo bringing their best.

The Giro d’Italia 2018 route starts in Jerusalem and ends in Rome across the 21 stages. This is the first time, ever, that a Grand Tour has gone outside of Europe. That makes for 3,562.9 kilometres of cycling with a daily average of a knee aching 169.7 kilometres.

So how can you enjoy all the wheel spinning fun? Read on to find out as we tell you the best options to live stream the Giro d’Italia. And the best bit? It’s possible to do so absolutely free.

Live stream the Giro d’Italia for free

This year the Italian broadcaster Rai is actually going to share the Giro d’Italia event coverage in Italy for free. It’s the only broadcaster we’ve found that’s live streaming all the action without a subscription of some kind. And Rai also has an Android and Apple app for watching on your tablet or phone instead. 

Yup, that means you can stream all the wheel spinning goodness on whatever device you’re using, all on RaiSport +. The catch? Well, all the commentary will be in Italian of course! But below we’ve listed the major broadcasters in English speaking countries.

How to watch the Giro d’Italia: UK live stream

For UK residents the Giro d’Italia will get the Eurosport treatment. That means Eurosport 1, which is available in lots of broadcast and streaming forms, should make watching the racing simple. Eurosport is available with basic Sky TV packages or with a Eurosport Player monthly or annual pass – a free trial for which is available here – that also gives you access across loads of devices.

How to watch the Giro d’Italia: US live stream

The Giro d’Italia 2018 is making its way to the US via Fubo.TV which means you can enjoy the cycling from multiple locations. Fubo is a sports focused streaming TV solution that lets you subscribe for what you want and stop when you’re done – ideal for this event.

Since this is app powered and delivered over the internet, you can watch it on lots of different devices. including smartphones, tablets, Smart TVs and streaming boxes. That means wherever you are you shouldn’t miss the action.

How to watch the Giro d’Italia: Canada live stream

Canadians will be able to get in on the Giro d’Italia 2018 action much in the same way as their US neighbours can. That means Fubo.TV access in Canada where the events will be streamed to whatever device you’re using. Simples. 

How to watch the Giro d’Italia: Australia live stream

Australia is getting the Giro d’Italia 2018 via Eurosport too. That means it can be watched via the Eurosport website or through the app or, of course, via a broadcaster that offers the channel. 

Images courtesy of giroditalia.it

http://www.techradar.com/news/how-to-watch-the-giro-ditalia-live-stream-for-free-and-wherever-you-are