The biggest game of September has finally arrived. We got our hands on Destiny, so we're going to stream for a little while to give you a taste of what you have to look forward to when the game launches at midnight. You can find the Twitch stream below, but this is our first stream, so please forgive any egregious technical difficulties. We'll try to keep them to a minimum.
Last year, we highlighted a profile of Apple's Boston-area speech technology team speculated to be working on enhancements to Siri. The group's efforts appear to have been ramping up since that time, with a June report claiming Apple is seeking to eventually move away from the Nuance-powered system currently used for Siri.Several commercial realtors tell me that the Cupertino company has leased more than half a floor at One Broadway, an MIT-owned building that also houses Facebook’s small local team, several venture capital firms, and the Cambridge Innovation Center. The new office, about 13,000 square feet on one of the building’s upper floors, is a major expansion for Apple, which currently has a small team on the building’s fifth floor.
Apple may be developing a rewards program as part of its mobile payments initiative, reports Bank Innovation . Apple is reportedly working on a pilot program that will see it developing partnerships with multiple retailers, which goes hand in hand with several previous loyalty program rumors. A proprietary rewards program could give Apple a way to distinguish itself from other mobile payment services.Sources close to Apple say the company has just started hiring for this division, and that, before the recent high-profile iCloud hack, the plan was to announce the pilot on Tuesday along with Apple's other announcements. That very well may happen, or the announcement could be postponed until a later date -- when more deals are in place and the mainstream media moves on from the iCloud cyberattack. Since Apple's hiring for positions for this program now, but we don't expect this program to be fully ready in the near future.
After a slight delay involving the launches of two new consoles, video games are finally beginning to trickle out once again. This week, gamers around the world will finally be able to dive into Destiny, the shooter from Bungie that marks the start of the fall season for gaming. There is some exclusive content for PS4 owners, but this is a true multi-platform release, one of many that are set to hit the shelves over the holidays. Of course, the console exclusives are what really get the fanboys excited.
Apple’s first wrist-worn wearable computer, a.k.a. the iWatch, is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday during a special media event and launch at some point in early 2015. The device won’t be the first such gadget – in fact, Samsung has flooded the market with no less than six models in the last year alone – and will have some of the same features other smartwatches already offer, including fitness, notifications, apps integration and even support for wireless payments but The New York Times also speculates that the iWatch might have a secret weapon under its belly that could be instrumental for its success.
BGR plays Destiny live starting at 5:30 p.m. ET – watch right here!