Fully Charged: Sinclair ZX Spectrum now a plug-and-play console, Jared Leto and Will Smith in DC’s Suicide Squad, and Google’s Santa Tracker teaches coding

Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega on Indiegogo

If you have fond memories of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum from the ‘80s, then you can’t miss the new Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega currently being crowdfunded on Indiegogo. It’s a plug-and-play console that hooks into your TV and claims to offer at least 1,000 classic ZX Spectrum games built in, with room to download more over time.

And it’s all but certain to be fully funded at this point. The campaign went live on Monday and has already raised more than £76,000 on a goal of £100,000, with almost two months left in the campaign. Sir Clive Sinclair himself and Retro Computers are behind the new product, and £100 now will get you the Limited Edition unit come spring.

[Source: Indiegogo via Engadget]

DC’s Suicide Squad gets major cast

Following Marvel’s immense success with a superhero shared universe, DC is pushing hard to get its biggest and brightest characters together as quickly as possible. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will kickstart things in March 2016, and now Suicide Squad will pull together several notable villains a few months later – with a standout cast in tow.

Jared Leto will play the Joker, Will Smith will take the role of Headshot, and Tom Hardy (who portrayed Bane in the last Dark Knight flick) is set to take on Rick Flag, with Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney and Cara Delevingne in other roles. David Ayer (End of Watch) is set to direct.

Suicide Squad, based on the comic series that’s spanned multiple volumes, spotlights a team of top villains offered one last chance to redeem themselves by the government – by completing a special mission that’s unlikely to return them alive. Sounds like DC’s best shot to have an edgy competitor to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and it’s planned to debut on 5 August 2016.

[Source: Variety]

Learn coding with Google’s Santa Tracker

Google is pretty serious about teaching kids programming skills. How serious? The company has even enlisted Santa Claus for this educational cause. Google’s new Santa Tracker has the requisite games and other activities, not to mention maps for following his gift-giving exploits later this month.

But Google says it’ll also have JavaScript lessons in the mix, so if you’re keen on getting your kids some coding knowledge, get them into the daily routine of checking the Santa Tracker. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, right?

[Source: Google]

About

Andrew writes features, news stories, reviews, and other pieces, often when the UK home team is off-duty or asleep. I'm based in Chicago with my lovely wife, amazing son, and silly cats, and my writing about games, gadgets, esports, apps, and plenty more has appeared in more than 75 publications since 2006.