Fully Charged: Fallout 4 info imminent and Instagram opens up to ads

Fallout 4 is being revealed today

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting news of Bethesda’s next instalment of post-apocalyptic adventuring, you won’t have to twiddle your thumbs much longer. A countdown timer has appeared at the official Fallout site, and it’s going to expire at 3pm GMT today.

The smart money (any money, really) is on a proper reveal of Fallout 4, the first full-on Fallout title since Fallout: New Vegas, released all the way back in 2010. Bethesda looks to be getting its announcement in just before E3, which seems a little unusual but is probably a way to avoid getting lost among the noise and hubbub of the games industry’s biggest event.

We know almost nothing about Fallout 4. Some leaked info suggests that it will be set in a post-nuclear Boston and its environs, but none of that has ever been confirmed. Join us after 3pm when we’ll report on whatever it is Bethesda has to share with us.

[Source: Fallout]

Your Instagram feed is about to get a lot more ads

Instagram first introduced ads to its photo feed back in November 2013, but you may not have noticed – the ads were introduced in very small quantities from select partners, and for the most part are nigh-on indistinguishable from the sort of artfully shot quotidian trivia you’d see posted by actual real-life users. But that looks set to change soon.

Instagram announced yesterday that it’s opening up the feed to all advertisers later this year, which suggests its standards might not be as stringent as they are currently. When your local chicken shop starts to post heavily filtered but cack-handed shots of a grease-stained bargain bucket, will Instagram still feel as “cool”?

Ads have felt inevitable since Facebook bought Instagram in 2012. Facebook itself remains a free service largely by virtue of its use of advertising, and it has been largely subsidising Instagram since the acquisition.

Time to find a new photo service?

[Source: New York Times]

USB-C and Thunderbolt 3, sitting in a tree…

Since being jointly developed by Apple and Intel, the Thunderbolt port has struggled to find its feet. While its specs were always impressive – even the first version could transfer data at 10Gbps, making it twice as fast as USB 3.0 – it simply wasn’t on enough products to become as popular as other standards. Standards like, for instance, USB 3.0.

So news that USB-C is to support Thunderbolt 3 (capable of 40Gbps) is a pretty big deal. Thunderbolt 3 will use the same port connector as USB-C, which should mean a lot more products will offer its connectivity. Intel told Wired it expects over 30 USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 mobile PCs to emerge in the next year, but it’s worth noting that not all USB-C products will also support the Thunderbolt standard – the new MacBook and Chromebook Pixel laptops, for example, will not.

[Source: Wired]

Netflix’ next Arrested Development bundle expected in mid-2016

The news that Netflix had ordered another batch of Arrested Development episodes came to many as something of a surprise given the lukewarm reception received by its first, but the beloved sitcom remains something of a feather in the streaming service’s cap. And now it seems we won’t have to wait too long to see if its makers have upped their game a little.

The series’ executive producer Brian Grazer told a podcast that he expects production of the 17 new episodes to begin in January or February of 2016, and that they will likely begin “airing” on Netflix about four months later. Grazer also said that “everyone” was involved, meaning the show’s various stars and its creative mastermind Mitchell Hurwitz. Fingers crossed everyone’s schedules mean they can act together in more scenes – one of the major problems of Netflix’ first effort.

[Source: The Wrap]