The fabulous life of a professional ‘Street Fighter’ player
Darryl Lewis stows his luggage in the plane’s overhead bin and settles into his seat, ready for another takeoff, another trip for work. He’s seated next to an older man who’s flying with his family. Eventually, the man turns to Lewis and asks him a standard question from the handbook of airplane small talk:
“What are you traveling for?”
Lewis pauses. He’s a professional Ultra Street Fighter 4 player known as “Snake Eyez,” and he’s on his way to a competition where he could win thousands of dollars for playing a video game better than anyone else in the room. Will this guy get it? Does he even know what video games are or how big the industry is? Has he heard of eSports? Will he laugh? Oh, well. There’s only one way to find out.
“I’m going to a video game tournament,” Lewis says.
The man smiles. “Ah! Vidyagames.” It’s clear that he has no idea what Lewis is talking about, but at least he isn’t laughing.
This is a fairly standard experience for Lewis, especially since the life of a professional, high-profile video game player involves a fair amount of traveling, whether for practice, tournaments or promotional events. Lewis has honed his response over the years and usually, he simply tells strangers that he’s “going to a convention.” It sounds respectable, and it’s not too far from the truth.
However, the truth is much more exciting: Lewis is a rock star in the world of competitive fighting games. He’s one of the top professional Ultra Street Fighter 4 players in the world, securing numerous championship titles since 2010 and recently locking down a sponsorship from Red Bull that includes a video series all about his life as a pro. He’s widely regarded as the best Zangief player on the planet, able to maneuver the game’s hulking, tank-like character in strategic and deadly ways.
“I like his style,” Lewis says. “I like the way he walks. The main thing I like about him, though, is that a lot of players are scared as hell of him.”
Lewis is 27 and has been competitive his entire life. He grew up playing video games and basketball, but was a relative latecomer to professional gaming. In high school, his friends — some of whom are nearly pro themselves — loved going to arcades to play Street Fighter 2, but Lewis didn’t care for the crowds.
“I was always a homebody,” he says. “I waited for my friends to come over to my house and play against me. I always wanted to see who could come to my house and give me a challenge.”
Lewis entered the professional gaming scene around 2006, though it wasn’t with Street Fighter. His first competition was a team-based Halo 2 tournament, and it effectively changed his life. Suddenly, he realized there was a community of other competitive video game players out in the wild. He wasn’t alone.
“I had no idea that an environment like that existed,” Lewis says. “When I first saw it, I was like, ‘Wow, it’s a bunch of people like me.”
Lewis dropped out of the Halo 2 scene after that tournament, partially because he didn’t enjoy playing with a team. That’s his competitive side taking over; he doesn’t want to just be the best, he wants to prove his skill, again and again, preferably on a big stage bathed in lights. It’s difficult to achieve that level of personal fulfillment within a squad of other players. So he turned to Street Fighter, a one-on-one fighting-game franchise.
Lewis showed up at the Evolution Championship Series in 2010 as a newcomer — and he won. Playing under the name “Snake Eyez,” he came in first place in the Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix championship, shocking many fighting-game fans and igniting his own career.
More importantly, the win convinced his mom that professional gaming was a valid endeavor.
“It wasn’t until I went to Evo and won that she was like, ‘OK. I can see you going somewhere with this,’” Lewis says. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is my passion, this is what I want to do, and there’s actually a big scene for this.’ There’s actually a professional scene for this kind of thing, which is very hard for people who don’t really know about video games to acknowledge.”
Today, Lewis’ mom is his biggest fan, attending tournaments and watching him play on live streams. “She loves it now,” he says.
And she’s not alone. eSports are the entertainment industry’s latest hotness. ESPN debuted a dedicated eSports section in January; television network CW plans to broadcast a professional Mortal Kombat X tournament this month; both Activision and EA have launched their own eSports businesses; and Amazon paid nearly $1 billion in 2014 for Twitch, a major player in live-streaming eSports.
For Lewis, professional gaming is a satisfying career that allows him to travel the globe, meet gaming superstars and satiate his competitive spirit. He played Street Fighter with series producer Yoshinori Ono in San Francisco about a month ago, and the two talked about the franchise’s origins and its future with Street Fighter 5. Red Bull sent Lewis to Japan for three weeks last year to train with the world’s best players and film part of his documentary series, Cultivation: House of Snake Eyez.
“I came back out here and everyone played me and they were just like, ‘Man, what the hell? How did you get this good?’” Lewis says.
The professional Street Fighter world is currently preparing for the release of Street Fighter 5 on February 16th. Lewis has been playing the beta and he’s lucky; his favorite character, Zangief, is in the new game, while other characters have been completely removed. Other pros will have to learn brand-new moves before the 2016 tournaments kick off. “I’ll probably have a huge advantage in that field,” Lewis says.
But, there’s still plenty for him to do: Lewis practices as much as he can, plus he streams and manages his social media presence nearly every day.
“I have to have a presence out there,” he says. “I can’t just play and be good at the game. That actually takes up more time than playing sometimes.”
Lewis makes most of his money from sponsorships and tournaments, but he isn’t kidding about the importance of live-streaming to a professional player, or even a casually competitive one. He knows a few players who could go pro, but they choose to make a living live-streaming instead. Their rationale? They can make more money streaming than winning first place at some tournaments.
For reference, Evo paid out roughly $33,000 to the winner of the Ultra Street Fighter 4 tournament in 2015, while the Capcom Cup 2016 has a prize pool of $500,000. These two are major competitions, but we’re not talking about chump change here.
Indeed, competition is where Lewis shines. It’s what he works for; it’s why he spends hours practicing with Zangief and other characters. He craves validation. Tournaments are a chance for him to test out the strategies he’s perfected at home: backing other players into a corner so they overcompensate and hand Lewis an opening for a big move, or letting his foes come to him, giving them false confidence and setting them up for a surprise grab.
Playing Street Fighter professionally takes strategy, quick reflexes and poise under pressure. The fact that he has to wrangle all of these things while performing for millions of people doesn’t faze Lewis. When the game starts, the rest of his world fades away.
“I definitely start to think faster,” Lewis says. “My mind starts racing. Everything around me doesn’t exist anymore. A lot of players, they get nervous because they’re on stage, but for me, I’m tuned in directly to the game. My focus is 100 percent there.”
That might be a big part of Lewis’ secret to success. After all the hours of training, traveling and tournaments, he still gets lost in the game. He still has fun playing Street Fighter.
“It’s amazing,” he says. “I get to stream whenever I want, I get to play whatever games I want. I’m definitely living the dream. It doesn’t feel real, but it is.”
Final Cut Pro X now handles 4K export to some Apple devices
Final Cut Pro X didn’t get the warmest of receptions when it was released in 2011. But Apple’s made many changes to its video-editing software since, listening to user feedback and adding features that were missing from Final Cut Pro 7. And it keeps getting better. The latest version (10.2.3) of Final Cut Pro X brings 4K export to compatible Apple devices, such as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, as well as the iPad Pro and new Apple TV. You can now share videos to multiple YouTube accounts too, which is useful for individuals who have channels with different purposes.
Naturally, you’ll also find a set of bug fixes and overall stability improvements. An issue that’s been addressed, for instance, is one where black frames would show up on videos imported from an iPhone, along with a handful of other problems. You can grab the updated Final Cut Pro X from the Mac App Store.
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Mac App Store
Final Cut Pro X now handles 4K export to some Apple devices
Final Cut Pro X didn’t get the warmest of receptions when it was released in 2011. But Apple’s made many changes to its video-editing software since, listening to user feedback and adding features that were missing from Final Cut Pro 7. And it keeps getting better. The latest version (10.2.3) of Final Cut Pro X brings 4K export to compatible Apple devices, such as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, as well as the iPad Pro and new Apple TV. You can now share videos to multiple YouTube accounts too, which is useful for individuals who have channels with different purposes.
Naturally, you’ll also find a set of bug fixes and overall stability improvements. An issue that’s been addressed, for instance, is one where black frames would show up on videos imported from an iPhone, along with a handful of other problems. You can grab the updated Final Cut Pro X from the Mac App Store.
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Mac App Store
How fingerprint scanners work: optical, capacitive, and ultrasonic variants explained
Fingerprint scanners aren’t just reserved for the very top-tier of smartphones these days, even your reasonably priced mid-ranger can come packing in the additional security hardware. Technology has moved on a lot from the early days too, so here’s a look at how the latest fingerprint scanners work and what the differences are.
Optical scanners
Optical fingerprint scanners are the oldest method of capturing and comparing fingerprints. As the name suggests, this technique relies on capturing an optical image, essentially a photograph, and using algorithms to detect unique patterns on the surface, such as ridges or unique marks, by analysing the lightest and darkest areas of the image.
embedded Just like smartphone cameras, these sensors can have a finite resolution, and the higher the resolution, the finer details the sensor can discern about your finger, increasing the level of security. However, these sensors capture much higher contrast images than a regular camera. These scanners typically have a very high number of diodes per inch to capture these details up close. Of course, it’s very dark when your finger is placed over the scanner, so optical scanners also incorporate arrays of LEDs as a flash to light up the picture come scan time. Such a design is a bit bulky for a smartphone though, where slim form factors are important.
The major drawback with optical scanners is that they aren’t difficult to fool. As the technology is only capturing a 2D picture, prosthetics and even other pictures of good enough quality can be used to fool this particular design. This type of scanners really isn’t secure enough to trust your most sensitive details to.
Smartphone fingerprint scanners come in many different shapes and sizes today, but you won’t find any optical scanners here.
Much like the early days of the resistive touchscreen, you won’t find optical scanners used in anything but the most cost effective pieces of hardware these days. With increasing demand for tougher security, smartphones have unanimously adopted superior capacitive scanners.
Capacitive scanners
The most commonly found type of fingerprint scanner used today is the capacitive scanner. Again the name gives away the core component, providing you’re familiar with a little electronics, the capacitor.
Instead of creating a traditional image of a fingerprint, capacitive fingerprint scanners use arrays tiny capacitor circuits to collect data about a fingerprint. As capacitors can store electrical charge, connecting them up to conductive plates on the surface of the scanner allows them to be used to track the details of a fingerprint. The charge stored in the capacitor will be changed slightly when a finger’s ridge is placed over the conductive plates, while an air gap will leave the charge at the capacitor relatively unchanged. An op-amp integrator circuit is used to track these changes, which can then be recorded by an analogue-to-digital converter.
The theory and architecture behind a capacitive fingerprint scanning chip.
Once captured, this digital data can be analysed to look for distinctive and unique fingerprint attributes, which can be saved for a comparison at a later date. What is particularly smart about this design is that it is much tougher to fool than an optical scanner. The results can’t be replicated with an image and is incredibly tough to fool with some sort of prosthetic, as different materials will record slightly different changes in charge at the capacitor. The only real security risks come from either hardware or software hacking.
Creating a large enough array of these capacitors, typically hundreds if not thousands in a single scanner, allows for a highly detailed image of the ridges and valleys of a fingerprint to be created from nothing more than electrical signals. Just like the optical scanner, more capacitors results in a higher resolution scanner, increasing the level of security, up to a certain point.
Fingerprint fight: Galaxy Note 5 vs Mate S vs iPhone 6S
Due to the number larger number of components in the detection circuit, capacitive scanners can be a little pricey. Some early implementations attempted to cut the number of capacitors needed by using “swipe” scanners, which would collect data from a smaller number of capacitor components by quickly refreshing the results as a finger is pulled over the sensor. As many consumers complained at the time, this method was very finicky and often required several attempts to scan the result correctly. Fortunately, these days, the simple press and hold design is far more common.
Ultrasonic scanners
The latest fingerprint scanning technology to enter the smartphone space is an ultrasonic sensor, which was first announced to be inside the Le Max Pro smartphone. Qualcomm and its Sense ID technology are also a major part of the design in this particular phone.
To actually capture the details of a fingerprint, the hardware consists of both an ultrasonic transmitter and a receiver. An ultrasonic pulse is transmitted against the finger that is placed over the scanner. Some of this pulse is absorbed and some of it is bounced back to the sensor, depending upon the ridges, pores and other details that are unique to each fingerprint.
There isn’t a microphone listening out for these returning signals, instead a sensor that can detect mechanical stress is used to calculate the intensity of the returning ultrasonic pulse at different points on the scanner. Scanning for longer periods of time allows for additional depth data to be captured, resulting in a highly detailed 3D reproduction of the scanned fingerprint. The 3D nature of this capture technique makes it an even more secure alternative to capacitive scanners.
Algorithms and cryptography
While most fingerprint scanners are based on very similar hardware principles, additional components and software can also play a major part in differentiating how products perform and what features are available to consumers.
Accompanying the physical scanner is a dedicated IC that deals with interpreting the scanned data and transmitting this in a useful form to your smartphone’s main processor. Different manufacturers use slightly different algorithms to identify key fingerprint characteristics, which can vary in speed and accuracy.
Typically these algorithms look for where ridges and lines end, or where a ridge splits in two. Collectively, these and other distinctive features are called minutiae. If a scanned fingerprint matches several of these minutiae then it will be considered a match. Rather than comparing the whole fingerprint each time, comparing minutiae reduces the amount of processing power required to identify each fingerprint, helps avoid errors if the scanned fingerprint is smudged, and also allows the finger to placed off-centre or be identified with only a partial print.
ARM ARM TrustZone is used to keep biometric and cryptographic data secure from the Rich OS.
Of course, this information needs to be kept secure on your device and saved well away from code that could compromise it. Rather than uploading this user data online, ARM processors can keep this information securely on the physical chip using its Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) based TrustZone technology. This secure area is also used for other cryptographic processes and to communicate directly with secure hardware platforms, such as a fingerprint scanner, to prevent any software snooping. Approved pieces of none personal information, such as a password key, can only be accessed by applications using the TEE client APIs.
Fido Alliance How FIDO login works without sending any personally identifiable information.
Qualcomm’s take on this is built into its Secure MSM architecture while Apple talks this up as the “Secure Enclave”, but it is all based on the same principle of keeping this secure data on a separate part of the processor that cannot be accessed by apps operating in the regular operating system environment. The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance has developed strong cryptographic protocols that use these protected hardware zones to enable password-less authentication handshakes between hardware and services. So you can log into a website or online shop using your fingerprint without your unique data ever having to leave your smartphone. This is accomplished by passing digital keys rather than biometric data to servers.
Fingerprint scanners have become quite a secure alternative to remembering countless user-names and passwords, and the further roll out of secure mobile payment systems means that these scanners are likely to become a more common and crucial security tool in the future.
Phones with fingerprint scanners:
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Golf-bot sinks hole-in-one at PGA event
Dropping a hole-in-one at the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona apparently isn’t that hard. Tiger Woods famously got one back in 1997, Italian pro Francesco Molinari did the same last month and just this Wednesday, LDRIC, the club-swinging robot golfer, sank one as well.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/151049022
LDRIC (Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry) is the brainchild of pro golfer Gary McCord and was built by Golf Laboratories. Normally, LDRIC spends its days testing club designs but it’s no slouch when it steps — or rather, rolls) up to the tee. The golf-bot is capable of driving balls at up to 130 mph — 5 mph faster than Tiger Woods in his prime — and mimicking any pro’s swing, but its aim isn’t perfect. It took five tries for it to successfully make that shot on Wednesday. Still, you won’t find many human golfers able to do the same unless there’s a thunderstorm.
Via: Quartz
Source: Vimeo
Ventev Powercell 3015 review
So you are in the middle of an important call, making that ever important Facebook status update, or trying to beat level 101 on Candy Crush and BAM! Your smartphone dies. What do you do? Well if you were like me, you would have a Powercell 3015 USB portable battery charger tucked away, fully charged and ready to go.
Made by Ventev, this rechargeable battery charger can charge many different mobile devices including smartphones, Bluetooth devices, music players, GPS systems and many more. The Powercell has a sleek design, about the size of a credit card, lightweight, very comfortable to hold and comes with an 18-inch Micro USB charge only cord.
When I got the Powercell, I charged it overnight, letting my phone die, in the morning I charged my phone from 3% to 80% in just under 50 minutes, which is a great help for anybody caught with a dead phone.
Venteve powercell 3015 specs:
- Lithium-ion polymer battery
- 500 life cycles
- Input/Output – 5V
- Capacity is 3000mAh@3.7v
- 101 x 56 x 11mm
- Charge time 3-4 hrs
A lot of good things about this charger – fast charge time, nice design, lights on the side that tell you how much charge time you have left; however, there are some features that I wasn’t so keen on. The device does lose its charge rather quickly, device does kind of get hot when charging, and I would have liked a cord that was somehow connected to the device because I tend to lose charging cords.
All-in-all this is a good charger and does exactly what it is supposed to do, so the next time your phone dies in the middle of a Game of Thrones episode, just pull out the Powercell 3015 by Ventev and let the winter come!
Where to Buy
You can purchase the Ventev powercell 3015 from Ventev’s website for $35 or via Amazon for approximately the same cost.
The post Ventev Powercell 3015 review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple will reportedly accept damaged iPhones for trade-in
Apple’s iPhone recycling program is handy for getting rid of your old handset when you buy a new one. However, the initiative doesn’t allow customers to trade in older models if they have screen damage, a broken camera or buttons that don’t work. 9to5Mac reports that the policy is about to change. Apple is reportedly prepping to expand the recycling/trade-in program to accept iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones with a reasonable amount of damage. The company is said to offer credits of $50, $200 and $250 for those devices, respectively.
The company is also looking to help your properly install a screen protector on your new phone. Apple Stores will offer to put on the protective accessory with dedicated machines, partnering with Belkin (and others, perhaps) on the setup. Before now, the retail locations wouldn’t lend a hand with screen protectors in case there was a mess up. According to 9to5Mac, if the machines don’t install the covering correctly, the Apple will cover the cost of a new one. The service is said to start rolling out today, so perhaps the option will be available at your local store soon enough.
Source: 9to5Mac
Netflix renews ‘Orange is the New Black’ for three more seasons
Netflix just announced it is bringing back Orange is the New Black for a 5th, 6th and 7th season. The streaming service’s original series, created by Jenji Kohan (Weeds) and produced by Lionsgate, has been a hit since it debuted in 2013. With many award nominations during its first three seasons, including for Golden Globes and Emmys, the decision from Netflix to continue renewing the show isn’t a surprise.
“Three more years! Not quite a political term, but still plenty of time to do some interesting things,” said Kohan in a press release. “In some cultures, ‘May you lead an interesting life,’ is a curse, but I don’t live in those cultures.” We shall see where the story goes when season four premieres June 17th on Netflix.
Source: Netflix
Apple Watch discounted by up to £120 at Currys PC World
Apple’s debut smartwatch has received some hearty discounts at Currys and PC World stores across the UK. Point your browser to either retailer’s website and you’ll notice a number of deals that take between £50 and £120 off the normal asking price. To give a few examples, the basic 38mm Apple Watch Sport can now be picked up for £249 with a white or black strap (it normally costs £299) and the regular 42mm stainless steel Apple Watch can be bought with a milanese loop band for £439 (down from £559). Not bad if you were in the market to buy one anyway.
DraftKings is taking its daily fantasy sports to the UK
While daily fantasy sites DraftKings and FanDuel battle to stay open in the US, the former outfit is taking its games to the UK. Starting today, sports fans across the pond can take advantage of DraftKings’ “innovative skill-based contests” to try and win cash. As you might expect, Premier League and Champions League soccer football is getting top billing for the contests alongside 11 other major sports, including NBA, NFL, NHL, UFC and eSports. In fact, DraftKings has a dedicated soccer site to keep you up to date on all the latest happenings. What’s more, sports betting is legal in the UK, so the site stands to face less scrutiny there. But it’s totally not gambling.
If you’re unfamiliar with how daily fantasy works, here’s quick primer. Players select a contest to enter before choosing a lineup of athletes based on salary. The better someone is on the pitch, the more you have to pay for them. EPL goal leader Jamie Vardy will set you back a significant amount, for example. How well you do in the game is based on the performance of athletes in your lineup. If you happen to win, you’re entitled to a cash reward. Sound too good to pass up? You can set your lineup ahead of tomorrow’s EPL action, if you’re willing to give it a shot.
AIVAnet 