Digital Trends Live: The impact of coronavirus, Nvidia gaming, and more

By Todd Werkhoven February 5, 2020

On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Caleb Denison break down the biggest-trending stories in tech, including the impact of the coronavirus, Nvidia’s streaming game service, Philips Hue’s hacking vulnerability, robotic bartenders, and more.

Leigh Fatzinger

Leigh Fatzinger, chief executive officer of Turbine Labs, joins the show to discuss all the information and noise that inundates our lives, and how to make sense of it.

Next up, DT Senior Editor Drew Prindle talks about the new Timeshifter app, which is designed to use sleep neuroscience to help eliminate jet lag.

We then turn to gaming as we discuss Nvidia, and how its cloud-gaming beta is finally open to everyone.

Zach Gobst

Nibler then welcomes Zach Gobst, founder and CEO of Leapcure, who talks about how to connect patients with clinical trials.

Finally, DT’s Adrien Warner and Jess Surbaugh join the program to discuss our new segment TBD, a show that focuses on the intersection of technology and pop culture. This week, they discuss AirBnB scams, and how to protect yourself against bait-and-switches, double bookings, and false damage claims.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Todd Werkhoven's work can be read at numerous publications and he co-authored a personal finance book called "Zombie…

Gaming

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit’s studio has made an AR Hot Wheels game

Key art highlighting the mixed reality nature of Hot Wheels: Rift Rally.

Velan Studios, the developers behind Knockout City and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, has announced Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, a mixed-reality racing game that uses actual RC Hot Wheels cars and will launch on March 14.
It very much looks like a spiritual successor to Home Circuit, but uses the popular toy car brand instead of Mario Kart characters and items. However, it's not on Nintendo Switch; Rift Rally will only be available for iOS, PlayStation 4, and PS5. Rift Rally comes with a Chameleon RC car that can transform into over 140 different Hot Wheels vehicles in-game, as well as four Rift Gates that players can use to set up the boundaries of a racetrack.

From there, players can participate in various races and challenges, with the RC car moving around in the real world as flashier-looking gameplay takes place on the player's screen. Rift Rally looks like it improves upon the formula Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit established, though. There is more challenge variation -- we saw gameplay footage of one challenge where players had to clear as many flower petals from a track as possible, and Stunt Mode allows players to just drive and perform tricks around their home without the need for the Rift Gates.
Hot Wheels isn't a stranger to the video game industry. There have been lots of licensed Hot Wheels games over the years, with the recent Hot Wheels Unleashed and themed expansion for Forza Horizon 5 being particular standouts. But no Hot Wheels game before now has looked and functioned quite like Rift Rally.
Hot Wheels: Rift Rally will launch for iOS, PS4, and PS5 on March 14. The game will cost $130, although a Collector's Edition that comes with a black and gold Chameleon RC car and a regular McLaren Senna Hot Wheels car will also be available for $150.

Gaming

Nvidia kills off GameStream on Shield, points users to Steam

Nvidia Shield 16gb Android TV

Nvidia is discontinuing its GameStream service on its Shield and Shield TV streaming boxes (among the best streaming devices on the market). In an email sent to GameStream users, the company announced it would start rolling out an update in mid-February that removes GameStream from the Nvidia Games app.

GameStream has allowed Shield owners to stream games to their TV from their PC at up to 60 frames per second in 4K. Specifically, the app was designed with Steam's Big Picture interface in mind, allowing you to play Steam games with ease (dubbed "GameStream Ready"). Nvidia is pointing users to the Steam Link app available on the Shield TV, which functions in a similar way.

Computing

Nvidia at CES 2022: RTX 3090 Ti, gaming laptops, and much more

Nvidia previews RTX 3090 Ti GPU at CES 2022.

Nvidia made a big splash at CES, announcing new graphics cards targeting mobile and desktop gamers, updates to its autonomous driving efforts, and new partnerships that expand its GeForce Now game streaming platform to even wider audiences. Ahead of the show, there were rumors that Nvidia would augment its RTX GPU lineup, and the company did not disappoint during its jam-packed CES "Special Address" keynote. In total, the company revealed that more than 160 laptops will launch with new mobile GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics card.

"Ray tracing and A.I. are defining the next generation of content," Nvidia GeForce Business Vice President Jeff Fisher said, revealing that the more than 160 new laptop designs are expected to serve more than 3 billion gamers and tens of millions of content creators globally.