Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for $26 billion

Microsoft has announced this morning that it will be acquiring LinkedIn in a deal worth $26.2 billion. 

Day-to-day running of LinkedIn will remain largely unchanged, with the current CEO Jeff Weiner staying in charge and reporting directly to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Both Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Jeff Weiner full supported the deal along with the entire Board of Directors.

The deal is expected to close officially at the end of this calendar year. That means that by January 2017, LinkedIn will officially be Microsoft property. 

“The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world’s professionals,” Nadella said. “Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet.”

It’s clear the two companies are seeing this as an ideal partnership. The language is very much based around Microsoft as the “World’s Leading Professional Cloud” partnering with the “World’s Leading Professional Network”. But exactly what this means for the long term future of LinkedIn is yet to be seen. 

In the past, we’ve seen deals like Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia go south after just a few years, while its purchase of Sunrise (a previously popular calendar app) saw the company swallow up the best features and kill the app. In the short term, however, LinkedIn will keep its own brand and independence and continue running as it is now. 

Walgreens is done with Theranos

After months of screaming at Theranos to clean up its act, Walgreens has formally ended its partnership with the blood testing startup. The pharmacy chain said that the CMS’ recent rejection of Theranos’ recovery plan and the looming threat of sanctions forced the relationship to end. Walgreens will now close all 40 of its remaining Theranos Wellness Centers in Arizona and “transition” customers to more reliable testing methods. Such as casting bones, consulting the tree spirits or looking at your wrist and then just guessing what’s wrong with yourself. Walgreens was Theranos’ main source of business, and without those retail locations, it’s not clear how the startup is going to survive.

Theranos burst onto the scene as an exciting medical tech startup that would use just a single drop of blood to diagnose a multitude of conditions. But its braggadocio couldn’t match up to the actual evidence and regulators wasted little time in piling on. The US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services began asking tough questions and found that the company had “deficient practices” that posed an “immediate jeopardy to patient health.” It didn’t help that the widow of one of Holmes’ former collaborators, Dr. Ian Gibbons, was threatened with a lawsuit by Holmes for suggesting that staffers knew that “nothing was working.”

Walgreens began turning the screws on its partner at the start of the year, saying that unless some dramatic improvement was made, it’d pull out. Shortly afterward, it instructed lawyers to scour the original agreement in the hope of finding an exit clause that’d enable it to escape unharmed. Despite not finding one, Theranos’ has been happily sowing the seeds of its own destruction, including voiding two years worth of blood tests and an impending criminal investigation.

But the negative publicity train hasn’t stopped there, and now Adam McKay will direct Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes in a potentially unflattering biopic. Oh, and Holmes is also facing a ban on being able to operate a medical testing lab, lost her COO and has lost her place on Forbes’ rich list, which recalculated her net worth as nothing. At this point, Holmes has transformed from pioneering visionary to traveling huckster shilling some of the world’s most expensive weapons-grade flimflam.

Via: WSJ

Source: Walgreens

Hive adds smart lightbulbs to its connected home lineup

British Gas’ connected home brand Hive expanded beyond smart thermostats to plugs and motion sensors earlier this year. As was always the plan, the product range has grown a little bigger today with the launch of Hive Active Lights. These smart bulbs are controlled via the existing Hive app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, and since they talk directly to your router through the Hive Hub, can be fiddled with anywhere you have an internet connection. In addition to on/off and dimming commands, you can also create schedules if, say, you want your lights to come on at night while you’re away on your summer hols.

The smart bulbs are available to purchase from today directly through Hive, Amazon and several other retailers including Maplin. A single screw or bayonet Active Light will set you back £19, though three- and five-packs are also on offer for £49 and £79, respectively. Existing Hive customers can also take advantage of a 10 percent discount if they purchase direct before July 31st, but if you haven’t bought into the connected ecosystem already, bear in mind you’ll need the £80 Hive Hub to get the bulbs parleying with your home router.

Source: Hive

Machines can generate sound effects that fool humans

Can machines come up with plausible sounds effects for video? Recently, MIT’s artificial intelligence (CSAIL) lab created a sort of Turing test that fooled folks into thinking that machine-created letters were written by humans. Using the same principal, the researchers created algorithms that act just like Hollywood “Foley artists,” adding sound to silent video. In a psychological test, it fooled subjects into believing that the computer-generated banging, scratching and rustling was recorded live.

Researchers used a drumstick (chosen for consistency and because it doesn’t obscure the video) to hit various objects, including railings, bushes and metal gratings. The algorithm was fed 978 videos with 46,620 actions, helping it recognize patterns in the audiovisual signal. “Training a model to synthesize plausible impact sounds from silent videos, [is] a task that requires implicit knowledge of material properties and physical interactions,” according to the paper.

The AI uses deep learning to figure out how sounds relate to video, meaning it finds the patterns on its own without intervention from scientists. Then, when it’s shown a new, silent video, “the algorithm looks at the properties of each frame of that video, and matches them to the most similar sounds in the database,” says lead author Andrew Owens. As shown in the video (above), it can simulate the differences between someone tapping rocks, leaves or a couch cushion.

In an online study, subjects were more than twice as likely to pick the AI version over the live one as the “real” sound, particularly for non-solid materials like leaves and dirt. In addition, the algorithm can reveal details about an object from its sound: 67 percent of the time, it could tell whether a material was hard or soft.

The AI isn’t perfect — it can get faked out by a near-hit, and can’t pick up sounds not related to a visual action, like a buzzing computer. However, they believe the work could eventually help robots figure out whether a surface is cement-solid or has some give, like grass. Knowing that, they could predict how to step and avoid a (hilarious) accident. If the team can enlarge its database of sounds, the machines could eventually do a Foley artist’s job — with no need for coconuts.

OSVR improves the display on its new developer headset

The Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) project will soon have a new headset for developers. Unlike previous hardware, which offered a so-so experience, the new Hacker Development Kit 2 (HDK 2) is supposed to be a true competitor for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. That means a better display — the new version comes with a low persistence OLED panel with a total resolution of 2160×1200, or 441 pixels per inch (PPI). It has a 110-degree field of view and supports VR experiences at up to 90 frames per second — both of which are fast becoming industry standards.

The HDK 2 will start shipping in July for $399. That’s a good deal cheaper than the Rift ($599) and the HTC Vive ($799), although it’s worth noting the HDK 2 doesn’t come with headphones or a controller. Still, the headset could appeal to developers who are leaking for a cheaper way to experiment with VR — or at least, a form that doesn’t require a smartphone. In addition, OSVR will continue to sell its older HDK 1.4 headset for $299.

OSVR’s supporters crave an open, dynamic VR ecosystem similar to what Android has achieved on mobile. The hope is that the HDK 2 will ultimately inspire other companies to build their own hardware, expanding the platform and attracting game developers along the way. To accelerate interest on the software side, it’s announcing a development fund worth $5 million today. The payouts are unusual though — Razer says it will buy game codes “in bulk” from each successful applicant. The number (and therefore the value) will vary depending on the project.

OSVR faces stiff competition on four fronts — the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are already out, while Sony’s PlayStation VR looms on the horizon. Google is jumping in too with Daydream, an Android-based VR platform that will offer a more premium experience than Cardboard. It’s early days for the VR industry, but already game developers are being pulled in different directions. That makes OSVR a tricky proposition — the project has some support, but to survive and flourish it really needs more momentum.

Stanford looks to the skies to calculate underground water

A team at Stanford has pioneered a new use of satellite imagery that could help its home state avoid future water supply issues. Previous Stanford research had already proved satellite images (specifically Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) of minute changes in ground elevation could provide reliable clues to underground water flow. The problem was, only tiny sections of the images provide useful data, and analyzing them is a laborious, manual process. Hopefully not for long.

A newly developed algorithm not only automates discovery of useful data points, but accurately predicts water flow between them. The new system isn’t specifically designed with California in mind, but with an estimated 30-percent of the state’s water coming from such aquifers, and a recent five-year drought, understanding this potentially valuable, but delicate source of H20 is more important than ever.

It’s no secret that increased temperatures, and low snow fall has made water supply in Stanford’s home state a hot topic. This made the use of groundwater more important than ever. The problem is, pumping too much water — known as overdrafting — is expensive, and can even stop the aquifer from naturally replenishing. What makes this new technique so tantalizing, is that as well as discovering more groundwater, it could help us get much more out of existing sources too.

The new algorithm, developed by Jingyi “Ann” Chen, a Stanford postdoctoral researcher on the team, allows them to automate the analysis of the InSAR data, which is a huge time saver in itself. Perhaps the more significant part, is that Chen was also able to figure out a way to accurately “fill in” data in what would otherwise be blind spots. The team tested the algorithm on satellite images of Colorado’s San Luis Valley between 2007 and 2011 and the predictions closely matched the real life measurements.

While California’s immediate water situation might have taken a step back from the precipice, the Stanford team will continue to incorporate data from other sources to improve and refine the algorithm. The ultimate goal would be to give geologists the tools to be able to accurately estimate the full water “budget” of anywhere that has the available satellite imagery. Knowing what’s flowing underground, and how to get the most yield from it, will have both environmental, and economical benefits, the full implications of which are hard to measure.

Source: Stanford

Microsoft Refreshes iOS ‘Xbox’ App Ahead of E3 Press Conference

Microsoft has overhauled its Xbox app for iOS, bringing new features and a look that’s more in line with its Windows 10 range of mobile apps.

The “Xbox One SmartGlass” app, which is now titled simply “Xbox”, enables an iOS device to function as a remote control to maneuver through the Xbox One’s dashboard. It also displays information on the device when playing music or TV through the console, and can be used to browse the web.

As part of the refresh, the Activity Feed now becomes the main home screen of the app and gains a more personalized feel, with screenshots and game clips appearing in it that have been shared by friends.

Trending content has also been added to the feed, for users to find out what is popular on Xbox Live.

Other social media changes include the ability to add Facebook friends to a user’s Xbox players list, a Contacts friend finder, real name sharing, the addition of Game Hubs, and redesigned user profiles.

Microsoft has also updated the Xbox One navigation and media controls within the app.

Microsoft is expected to unveil a new Xbox One S console, new games, and more today at E3 2016, the annual game conference and show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Xbox is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tags: Xbox, E3 2016
Discuss this article in our forums

Bethesda and id Software Announce ‘Quake Champions’ at E3 2016

Bethesda Softworks has revealed it is working on a brand new entry in the Quake franchise called Quake Champions.

A spiritual successor to first-person shooter Doom, Quake appeared 20 years ago and was the first FPS to focus on arena-based multiplayer combat and frenetic team-based game modes.

Tim Willits of iD Software and co-designer of the original Quake, revealed the news of the upcoming title for PC at an E3 press event yesterday, describing a new ability for players to select different classes as “esport” in design. A series of Quake leagues and events are to be built out as the game launches.

While no mention was made of a Mac (or indeed any other) version of the game during the presentation, more information about inevitable ports is likely to be revealed at QuakeCon this August.

Apple has attended QuakeCon in the past, and used the annual event in 2001 to show off its latest Power Mac G4s running Quake 3 Arena.

Quake 4 originally shipped on the Mac in 2006, and is available on the Mac App Store for $19.99, complete with full cross-platform multiplayer support, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Tourney, Capture the Flag, Arena CTF and DeadZone.

Tags: E3 2016, Quake
Discuss this article in our forums