Major League Baseball approves wearable tech for in-game use

Major League Baseball season started this week, and the league’s rules committee will allow wearables to hit the diamond for the first time. During games, MLB players can wear a Motus Baseball Sleeve to keep tabs on elbow stress and the Zephyr Bioharness heart and breathing monitor. For now, those are the only two approved devices for in-game use. Yes, this means gadgets like Jawbone, Fitbit or other more consumer-friendly devices are still prohibited.

The idea is to use the sleeve and heart-rate sensor for early injury detection by tracking a player’s habits. However, the collected data can’t be transmitted during games, so teams will have to download it after the ninth inning. Details on a pitcher’s throwing motion during a game could be used to prevent serious injuries that lead to procedures like Tommy John surgery. To help ease privacy concerns from the player’s union, all of the gathered data can only be used internally and it will be shared with the player. Let’s just hope the Cardinals don’t get a hold of it.

The rules committee also approved two batting swing sensors for on-field use during workouts from Blast Motion and Diamond Kinetics. However, those two devices still cannot be used outside of warm-ups, batting practice and other training sessions. While some may welcome the use of tech on the diamond, not all players are fans of the change.

“The next thing you know, the pitcher’s going to have a phone in his pocket taking selfies,” Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner told the Associated Press.

Source: Associated Press

Make your own creature feature in Fallout 4’s ‘Wasteland Workshop’

Fallout 4’s second DLC pack, “Wasteland Workshop”, is scheduled for release next Tuesday, April 12th. Today, however, Bethesda dropped this wicked cool preview of what’s in store for players. Wasteland Workshop will enable you to further upgrade your homebase with more elaborate decor like Nixie lights, letter kits and a taxidermy station but that’s beside the point. The new DLC is primarily focused on a wholly new gameplay mechanicism: the ability to capture and tame beasts from across the Wasteland.

Players will be able to construct and set traps for all sorts of creatures — everything from Mirelurks to Deathclaws — then, once captured, transport them back to their settlement and tame the creatures. Or, less scrupulous players can skip the hassle of taming and simply set their captives against one another — or human settlers — in no-holds-barred deathmatches.

This is the second of three DLC packs being released for Fallout 4 this year. The first, “Automatron”, is already live while the third DLC, the massive “Far Harbor” add-on, will be available some time in May.

Source: Bethesda (YouTube)

Apple News Gains Twitter Account to Promote Content

Apple this morning launched a new Twitter account for Apple News, giving its Apple News team a way to promote stories and content on the social network. Created last year but activated today, the Apple News Twitter account will be used to share “top stories” and “great reads” curated by Apple News editors in the United States.

Thus far, the account has shared two new stories covering the Panama Papers and an NCAA Tournament championship game from publishers Wired and SBNation.

Follow us here for top stories & great reads from your favorite publishers, curated by our U.S. editors. pic.twitter.com/eLyGKZHVMl

— Apple News (@applenews) April 5, 2016

Apple has recently been bolstering its presence on Twitter, and the Apple News Twitter account joins accounts for services like Apple Music, Beats 1 radio, iTunes, the App Store, iBooks, Podcasts, Swift, and more.

Apple’s biggest push into Twitter came last month with the launch of the Apple Support account on the social network, which is dedicated to answering customer support questions. Though Apple has multiple Twitter accounts for support and services, it does not have a main company-wide @Apple Twitter account in use, but many Apple executives maintain personal Twitter accounts including Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Eddy Cue.

Tag: Apple News
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Apple Celebrates 40th Anniversary With Apple Music Playlist Highlighting Songs From Past Ads

On April 1, Apple celebrated its 40th anniversary, marking four decades since Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne co-founded the company.

To mark the occasion, Apple shared a 40th anniversary video, flew a pirate flag at its Cupertino headquarters, held a beer bash, and launched an Apple Music playlist filled with songs that have been used in past Apple advertising spots.

Apple’s playlist includes 40 tracks from a wide range of genres, featuring artists and bands from The Rolling Stones to Adele to Coldplay. Songs from Apple ads highlighting a number of products are included, like Paul McCartney’s Dance Tonight, used in a well-known iPod commercial, and Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color, used in a recent iPad Pro commercial.

Apple’s “Apple 40” anniversary playlist is available to all Apple Music subscribers and can be accessed under the “New” section under Hot Playlists. It can also be accessed through this link.
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