This week on The Shift with Drex, I talked about Roku’s new streaming sticks, Apple Music’s debut on Amazon’s Echo, the Blade Runner replicant test, and Apple Arcade.

This week, Apple Arcade looks to be the best deal in gaming and Google wants in on that business, how you can prove you’re not a replicant, and Apple Music is enabled on Amazon Echo devices. But first, Roku has new streaming devices launching soon.

Roku introduces $40 video streaming stick

Roku, the indie video streaming device company, continues to stay relevant in a changing market. This fall, two new affordable devices are being released that despite the low cost deliver solid functionality to consumers.

The Roku Express is tiny, and when plugged into a TV it’s like it’s not even there. This is a perfect solution for those extra TVs you’ve got scattered around the house in the kitchen or the kids’ room. It costs $40.

For an extra $10 you can stream video in 4K and HDR with the Roku Premiere. Both of these sticks come with an HDMI cable and an infrafred remote, which needs line of sight to be able to work properly.

Roku’s top model is the Streaming Stick+, which costs $90. The extra expense comes with the extra features that are included with the improved remote. The remote comes with a long-range receiver that also has voice search capability.

One of the features that all Roku streaming devices have is the ability to get the audio for your viewing through an app on your smartphone. That means that anyone can use headphones or earbuds plugged into a handset.

In addition to announcing the new devices, Roku also announced last week that its Roku Channel, which provides access to free movies and TV shows on demand, is adding 14 live linear channels including:

• TMZ
• Adventure Sports Network
• Food52
• Fail Army
• Now This

Get your Apple Music music on your Amazon Echo device

Consumers win again. Amazon and Apple are working together so that if you choose to subscribe to Apple Music, you can listen on your Amazon Echo devices.

This is a new integration, and it’s a smart move by both companies, even though each competes with the other. Amazon, for example, has a couple of different music streaming subscription options (Amazon Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited), while Apple has the HomePod speaker.

This extends beyond Echo devices, too. Amazon has made it so that if you’re using Alexa to control your Sonos devices, you can use that voice activation to enable Apple Music on your Sonos speakers.

Take the Blade Runner test to see if you’re a replicant

In the Blade Runner movies, there are verbal tests that are designed to identify replicants, or to determine whether replicants are displaying human-like responses.

The test in the original film is quite different than that used in the Denis Villeneuve film, Blade Runner 2049.

Calgary writer and critic Ian Samuels found a video of the entire test that we see Ryan Gosling’s character take, and writes, “This test has a horrible, brutal but fascinating poetic that’s designed not as the subtle probe of Voight-Kampff from the original film, but as a repeated hammering meant to break something loose.”

He recommends that we try and take the test ourselves.

Apple Arcade may be gamings biggest bargain right now

Great gaming just got easier people using Apple hardware. Whether you’re using an iPad, an iPhone, a Mac computer, or an Apple TV, a subscription to Apple Arcade is going to give you access to over 100 titles in total according to Apple, all for $6 a month, only $72 a year. Contrast that with $80, which is the price of many single games.

But even $72 is too much if the games aren’t worth playing. That is not the case with Apple Arcade, which boasts dozens of amazing and varied titles, from some incredible developers.

A couple of the games I’m playing right away are exclusives, so Apple Arcade is the only place you can play them. Among those are two from Snowman, the Toronto company that got its start developing the Alto snowboarding games and has branched out into publishing.

Skate City is a skateboard game that was develped by Agens that captures the aesthetic of riding the sidewalks of Barcelona, Los Angeles, and Oslo.

Where Cards Fall is a puzzle game based on building card houses that comes from the Game Band.

Ustwo, developers of the Monument Valley puzzle games, has created Assemble with Care, which is also exclusive to Apple. It tells the story of an antique restorer and your job is to put things back together.

Not all games are exclusive; some are coming to iOS from other platforms and some are also launching on other platforms.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is as much a musical album as a rhythm game. It comes from Simogo, a developer responsible for some unique game experiences, and is available for Nintendo’s Switch, the PS4, as well as Apple Arcade.

There’s also Projection: First Light which is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Windows, and Xbox One next year but is playable on Apple Arcade now. It’s a puzzle platformer that takes its cues from shadow puppetry.

Google announces Play Pass, a games and app subscription plan

It’s only available in the U.S. right now, but Google’s Play Pass is a subscription plan that will unlock more than 350 Android apps.

This includes but is not limited to games. In the U.S. a Play Pass subscription will cost $5 a month, with a limited time offer of a year at just $2 a month.

This week on The Shift with Drex, I talked with guest host Shane Hewitt about the U.S. government investigations into the big four tech companies, the Canadian winners of the James Dyson Award, the settlement proposal for the Yahoo security breaches, and the superfun Borderlands 3.

This week, why you should be playing Borderlands 3. Plus, a settlement has been proposed for class action lawsuits against Yahoo in the U.S. and the Canadian winners of the James Dyson Award. But first, the U.S. continues investigating the big tech companies for possible antitrust violations.

U.S. government asks tech big four for documents

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have been asked to provide internal documents to the subcommittee on antitrust for the U.S. Congress House Judiciary Committee.

The tech companies have until October 14 to provide information about operations. Associated Press reported last week that the internal communications of executives has also been requested.

What the subcommittee is wanting to establish is whether the four companies are using their market position in ways that prevent competition and exploit consumers.

Canadian winner of James Dyson Award announced

Every year, the James Dyson Award is given to student inventors who are solving problems. The Canadian winner and runners up for 2019 have just been announced.

A team of four from the University of Toronto wins $3,000 to continue developing what they call a “wearable hot water bottle”.

Undu was designed to help with menstrual cramps. Charlie Katrycz, Robin Linton, Katherine Porter, and Graham McLaughlin came up with a thin, reusable heat pack that is comfortable and worn within special underwear that has a lining to hold the heat pack.

The two runners up are:

• interpretAR, an app that translates speech into American Sign Language in real time and then displays the signs in augmented reality (McMaster).
• Aeroflux contactless brake, a braking system for aircraft that uses magnetic fields to stop the wheels (U of T).

The three inventions will now be considered for the international shortlist, 20 innovations chosen from around the world by a panel of Dyson engineers.

Settlement proposed by Yahoo to wrap up security breach class action lawsuits in U.S.

Yahoo had a terrible time between 2012 and 2016. In each of those years, the company was subject to major security breaches. In 2013, for example, hackers got the records for every Yahoo account worldwide. Three billion users had their names, email addresses, birthdates, passwords, and security questions and answers stolen.

Last week, a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Yahoo was proposed for citizens in the U.S. and Israel.

According to the settlement website it will provide defendants with:

• a minimum of two years of Credit Monitoring Services to protect Settlement Class Members from future harm, or Alternative Compensation instead of credit monitoring for Class Members who already have Credit Monitoring Services (subject to verification and documentation)
• Out-of-Pocket Costs for losses related to the Data Breaches
• Reimbursement of some costs for those who paid for Yahoo premium or small business services

The settlement is supported by a $117,500,000 fund that Yahoo will create.

Borderlands 3 a solid sequel that turns gamers into Vault Hunters

Mayhem indeed.

It’s the promise of Borderlands 3, developed by Gearbox and published by 2K and now available for PS4, Windows, and Xbox One. And while your enjoyment of the game will depend on your appreciation for shooters and your exact definition of mayhem, it’s safe to say that Borderlands 3 has its share of bedlam.

In terms of story, the game kind of picks up where Borderlands 2 left off. I say kind of because the end of the main Borderlands 2 mission ended with the Crimson Raiders, a resistance force that includes players’ vault hunters, in possession of a map.

A couple of months ago, a final chapter of Borderlands 2 was released as downloadable content. In “The Fight for Sanctuary,” the Crimson Raiders actually (spoiler alert) lose the map. Borderlands 3 begins with you trying to recover it.

The Calypso Twins are the wise-cracking villains here, portrayed as millennial video streamers. The Twins are more annoying and insufferable than the malevolent and cruel (but hilarious) Handsome Jack of the previous game. Depending on your age, this may make them even more worthy of punishment. To me, the Calypso Twins are insufferable.

You can play as one of four Vault Hunters, each with their own unique combat styles and equipment. It’s significant that two of the characters, Moze and Amara, are female (Amara is portrayed as South Asian). The skill trees are much more complex than before, providing you with numerous ways to integrate the abilities into your play style.

As with previous Borderlands games, part of the fun is in opening boxes to collect loot, endlessly searching for the best weapons and deciding which ones to use, and learning how to strategically use them in tandem.

In addition to the campaign activities there are side missions to take on. Some of them are repetitive and banal, but they illuminate the world and the characters a bit, providing a bit more flavour to the experience.

My major complaint with the game is in how Gearbox has chosen to display the map that you use to view and navigate the worlds. For some reason, it rotates every time you go into that interface which makes it impossible to orient yourself. There’s a reason that mapmakers lock “north” to the top of the damn page, people.

I’m a confessed fan of the first two Borderlands games. I’m very happy that Borderlands 3 has been released, because for the next few weeks, that’s what I’ll be doing.

This week on The Shift with Drex, I talked with guest host Shane Hewitt about the release of Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade, the new suite of iPhone 11s, the revelation that a database of biometric data was left unprotected, and the boisterous new video game, Gears 5.