Instagram in testing phase of a persistent Stories bar that scrolls down the feed

When I opened Instagram on my Pixel 2 XL moments ago, I noticed something different: the Stories bar remained visible as I scrolled down my main feed. Usually it stays at the top and doesn’t follow you down, but clearly the company is testing a more persistent, sticky approach to keeping Stories in front of you at all times. That seems awfully annoying to me, but some might find it convenient.
To this point, I think Instagram has developed and built onto Stories very well. They’re fun. I post and watch often. But between the obnoxious neon-orange IGTV notifications in the main app that I can’t turn off and now this, I’m not thrilled. Let people use the app how they want. I understand there’s a constant push for greater usage and better...
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God of War’s awesome world reborn in these stunning art prints

This year’s reboot of God of War on the PlayStation 4 was a wonderful surprise. It imbued the long-running series with an emotional core, turned Kratos into a likable character, and still managed to include some very satisfying action. It also looked gorgeous, as the series made the shift from Greek to Norse mythology with plenty of style. Now that style can live on your walls thanks to a new series of art prints from Cook & Becker.

If the Cook & Becker name sounds familiar, it’s because the art studio has slowly built up a reputation for offering some of the best game art around. In the past, that has included series for Fallout, Skyrim, Ni No Kuni, and even an absurdly large Final Fantasy XV art tome. The God of War collection...
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Sphero acquires crowdfunded music tech company to boost its unlicensed toys

Sphero, the maker of connected toys like BB-8, announced this week that it’s acquired Specdrums, a company that makes rings that produce music through taps on different colors. We don’t know how much Sphero spent to acquire the company’s technology, but Specdrums raised over $175,000 on Kickstarter last year and just finished shipping to all its backers. It’s clear that Sphero plans on integrating the ring and color system into its proprietary toys.
Sphero CEO Paul Berberian tells The Verge that the company wants to “get back to its roots,” through toys that won’t have as much branded, character-focused play.
We can already get an idea of what these future toys could do because Specdrums integrated its technology with Sphero’s open SDK...
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Tom Holland lets slip the title for Spider-Man: Homecoming’s sequel

The sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming is just over a year out from hitting theaters, but its star Tom Holland seems to have revealed the title in an Instagram post: Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Holland is at Ace Comic-Con in Seattle this weekend, appearing alongside other Marvel actors Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, and Elizabeth Olsen. While there, he posted a video to Instagram, and said that while there wasn’t any announcements for the upcoming sequel, he did just get the script, and held it up on an iPad, revealing the title.
Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War ahead. 

Sorry for no announcements, but I love you guys ♥️
A post shared by ✌️ (@tomholland2013) on Jun 23, 2018 at 5:39pm PDT

Spider-Man: Far From Home is an apt...
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BlackBerry Key2 gets released on July 13th preorders start on June 29th

TCL’s BlackBerry Key2 now has a release date: it’ll be available on July 13th in the United States starting at $649.99 ($100 more than the KeyOne cost at launch), with preorders set to start at Amazon and Best Buy on June 29th.
The Key2 is an upgraded version of the KeyOne. TCL has updated the design a bit, slimming down the bezels and making the iconic physical keyboard slightly larger. But this isn’t a radical redesign. Specs have also been boosted since the KeyOne: there’s a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chip (versus the 625 from the KeyOne), and both RAM and internal storage have been doubled from the previous model to 6GB of memory and either 64GB or 128GB of space.
The front-facing camera is still an 8-megapixel shooter,...
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Microsoft Says Xbox One Will Not Be Getting VR, at Least Not For Now

Fans of virtual or mixed reality who have been clinging to the hope of a headset for Xbox One will need to keep holding out -- Microsoft has confirmed it isn't focusing on either technology for the console -- for the time being, anyway.