Announced at an event in Shanghai, the device has been overhauled to feature a 13.5-hour battery life, 7th generation Intel processors and a whole host of behind-the-scenes improvements.

$1199 will get you a model with one of Intel’s mobility-focused m3 chipsets, a 128GB drive and a meagre 4GB of RAM, while the models with the more powerful i5 processors will start at $1499. Power users that want one of the i7-powered beasts with Iris Plus graphics and 16GB RAM will need to part with at least $3299.

Probably the worst kept secret in Microsoft’s history but the new Surface Pro is now finally official.

The new Surface Pro ranges in price from A$1199 for a shitty m3 based version, $1499 the sweet-point for an i5 and the exorbitant $3299 for an i7 with Iris Plus graphics and 16GB of RAM.

Interesting Microsoft also announced that later in the year there would be new version that included 4G LTE. Unsure why they’re not available from the get-go but it will be a welcome feature that for me personally, has me holding off pulling the trigger on a purchase.

No doubt about it though Apple take heed, you are being left the fuck behind. This is what the iPad Pro should have been all along!

Source: Surface Pro returns as Microsoft unveils a third option in its laptop lineup

Red Dead Redemption 2 is now set to launch Spring 2018 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This outlaw epic set across the vast and unforgiving American heartland will be the first Rockstar game created from the ground up for the latest generation of console…

Oh maaaaaaaaaan!

Better right than not, but delays suck. Especially for something as big as this. Guess Destiny 2 will have to tide me over until March next year then. Could be worse!

Source: Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Now Coming Spring 2018 – Rockstar Games

Destiny 2 is an action shooter that takes you on an epic journey across the solar system. In the cinematic campaign, you’ll enter a world filled with compelling characters and fight to take back our home. Battle alongside friends with multiple cooperative modes or challenge others in intense multiplayer matches.

For all it’s story flaws the original Destiny (which released nearly 3 years ago now) remains one of the best titles of this generation. A lot of that comes down to Bungie’s development of a shooting mechanic that is incredibly so spot-on it will remain a benchmark for years to come. Its also the only title in  recent years that has actively drawn in real-life “brick & mortar” friends to play online to the point of scheduling play dates for attempting raids.

Destiny 2 looks to do all that – and bring an actual story from day one. Alex Walker at Kotaku AU had the wonderful task of getting up at 2am this morning to watch Bungie’s reveal and has done a great job of live-blogging all the details that I urge you to read.

The most interesting point, with Destiny 2 bringing the franchise to the PC for the first time, is it being done with fellow Activision published Blizzard’s Battle.net. A first for Blizzard too, allowing a non-Blizzard developed title to use their client. Could this be the introduction of yet another player in the PC game client space? Look out Steam!

Source: Destiny the Game | Home

The Adelaide Crows Football Club has acquired Legacy eSports’ Oceanic Pro League (OPL) team, Riot Games confirmed late last night. The acquisition makes the Crows the first Oceanic traditional sports club to purchase an eSports team.

We’re the pride of South Australia, we’re the mighty Adelaide-eSports-OPL-team-Crows.

Turns out when the AFL was talking about putting on an eSports tournament at Etihad last month they weren’t kidding around!

Source: AFL’s Adelaide Crows now own the Legacy eSports OPL team | Stevivor

Google just concluded its I/O 2017 keynote, where executives led by CEO Sundar Pichai laid out the company’s future roadmap for Android, Google Assistant, Google Home, virtual reality, and much more.

Google Assistant coming to iOS is pretty big. It’s gimped of course by Apple’s need to control everything but it’s a step in the right direction to having what could potentially be a “useful” digital assistant on your iPhone.

In addition to its availability on iOS Google Assistant is essentially turning into the AI we all wanted and at the same time will probably bow down to in 20 or 30 years. It can now recognise objects through your smartphone’s camera, tell you a restaurant review by showing it the restaurant, analyse a flower (there is a lot about flowers in the keynote) and more.

Google Home is getting phone calls (just like the rushed-to-announce-before-they-do) Amazon Echo, but they’re only inbound outbound and only in the US & Canada (of course).

Google Photos also showed off it’s AI chops and demoed the potential to remove unwanted objects from a photo. The most impressive example of this a chain link fence that a photo was taken through of some Googleian’s kid playing baseball.

Lastly Google’s latest Android iteration “Android O” will have its beta available later today.

Source: The 10 biggest announcements from Google I/O 2017 – The Verge

ON A CRISP and clear March day, more than five years after Jobs’ death, I’m seated next to Jonathan Ive in the back of a Jeep Wrangler as we prepare to tour the nearly completed Apple Park, the name recently bestowed on the campus that Jobs pitched to the Cupertino City Council in 2011.

This is an amazing piece by Steven Levy that I encourage everyone to read. Apple’s “mothership” campus has been an amazing feat of design, engineering and pizza box patents! A true testament to its passed leader Steve Jobs.

Source: Apple’s New Campus: An Exclusive Look Inside the Mothership | WIRED

If you head down to an Apple store today, you’ll see a program of educational sessions on offer for the first time in Australia – covering everything from photo and video to music, coding, art and design.

Dubbed “Today at Apple”, the sessions will take place in every Apple Store, every hour (during store hours). In Australia alone there will be over 1,000 hours of free programming on offer each week.

The hands-on sessions will be led by Apple staff, teaching sessions from basics and how-to lessons to professional-level programs.

For anyone that’s been fortunate enough to visit Apple stores in the US or UK you’ve likely seen the large theatre spaces built into many of the major stores. These have been used for “how-to” or to give presentations since the inception of Apple’s retail strategy.

Aussie stores have predominantly been modelled around version 2 of their strategy that’s had the theatres removed and larger areas given to Genius Bars and general retail display.

It will be interesting to see how they accommodate the new sessions and how popular they are giving there’s no dedicated space to hold them in.

Source: Apple Is Launching ‘How To’ Sessions In All Australian Stores Today | Gizmodo Australia