YouTube’s live TV service is here

Google announced YouTube TV at the end of February, and today the live TV streaming service is ready to launch. It’s available today on your phone and computer in five markets: New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia. If you hadn’t heard yet, the $35 monthly service offers live streams from all four major broadcast networks (CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC) and a host of other networks like ESPN, FX, the CW and many others. All told, YouTube TV is launching with 39 stations, but 10 more (including AMC, IFC and BBC America) will arrive soon.

At launch, you’ll use either the new YouTube TV app (for iOS or Android) or the web-based interface to access the new service. Ironically, the only way to get YouTube TV onto an actual TV set is with a Chromecast — there aren’t apps for the Apple TV or other set-top boxes or consoles yet. Google says they’ll come, but for now the website and app will be the primary way to interact with YouTube TV.

We’ll have a more extensive walkthrough of the new service right now, but for starters there are a few things it does very well. YouTube TV is very fast at getting you into live TV — when you’re browsing things to watch, live previews start almost immediately. It’s not entirely necessary to get a preview of what’s on the channel, but it’s a very engaging feature that can also keep you from clicking through to something that’s on commercial break.

Another noteworthy feature is how many channels offer on-demand movie libraries. While finding large libraries of TV shows that are available on demand isn’t easy, there are a bunch of movies from networks like FX, Syfy and Showtime (the latter channel is only available as a paid add-on, though). You can add these films to your library and watch them any time, though you might have to deal with some ads or see a movie that has been edited in some way from the original version. Still, the amount of films that you can just jump right into is impressive.

The UI is also pretty well done, particularly the “live” section of the app. There, you can vertically scroll through a list of channels and see everything that’s playing right at that moment. The top-most program in the list goes live with a video preview, and as you scroll down that’ll dynamically update if you want a preview of what’s on. When I first started using the app, I found this to be the best place to go to find programs to start watching and adding to my library. Before long I had a half-dozen shows and a handful of movies saved or set to be recorded.

We’ll have more to say about the service soon — but if you want to try it yourself, grab YouTube TV from your app store of choice or go to tv.youtube.com. You’ll have to live in one of those five metro areas, though. Google’s offering a free month trial, and you can also get a free Chromecast with your first month’s payment. There are a handful of services like YouTube TV already out there, but Google’s offering probably worth a look if you need live TV but don’t want to pay the cable company.

SpaceX releases video of its historic reused rocket landing

SpaceX made history last week when it successfully relaunched a previously-used rocket back into orbit (recovering the $6 million nosecone was just gravy). That rocket body could potentially be used yet again, given how spryly it set down on its drone barge, the Of Course I Still Love You, after delivering its SES-10 vehicle payload, if the company’s Instagram post from Wednesday is any indication.

Falcon 9 landing on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship after delivering SES-10 into orbit.

A post shared by SpaceX (@spacex) on Apr 4, 2017 at 7:16pm PDT

This marks the sixth successful landing by the Falcon 9 rocket. The company had suffered a significant setback last September when one of its rockets suffered a critical failure and exploded on the launchpad, a misstep that cost SpaceX $50 million for the lost payload alone. However, the company recovered, regained its space launch credentials and rebooted its launch schedule earlier this year. SpaceX has since promised to execute launches every two weeks and will reportedly attempt to land the Falcon Heavy’s upper stage later this year.

Source: SpaceX (Instagram)

AT&T Unlimited Plus Data Plan Now Includes Free HBO Subscription

Thanks to AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, customers on the network’s Unlimited Plus data plan will now have the chance to watch HBO programming at no additional cost. Beginning tomorrow, April 6, customers on Unlimited Plus data plans who already subscribe to HBO through AT&T video services like DirecTV, DirecTV Now, or U-Verse TV, will no longer have to pay for the premium channel.

For the same customers on Unlimited Plus and one of AT&T’s video services who don’t have HBO, they’ll be able to automatically receive access to the premium network as well. Lastly, for cord-cutters without a cable package who subscribe to Unlimited Plus, AT&T is offering HBO content either through DirecTV Now or HBO GO apps. Pricing on Unlimited Plus remains the same at $90/month for one line and $145/month for two lines, with additional lines added at the cost of $20 per new line.

Unlimited data plans have come back in full force this year, with new options from all four major carriers launching within a week of one another.

“People who want the best in entertainment want HBO. This latest unlimited wireless plan shows AT&T continuing to innovate and give customers what they desire,” said Bernadette Aulestia, executive vice president of Global Distribution, HBO. “When consumers see HBO as part of an entertainment package, they know they are getting the valued benefit of some of the greatest original programming and most recent Hollywood movies.”

AT&T is also offering Unlimited Plus users a $25 monthly video credit that can be used on its range of video services as long as they remain on the wireless plan. The monthly credit starts within three bill cycles, while the free HBO credit starts within two bill cycles.

In related premium channel news, cord-cutting service Sling TV recently added Showtime into its lineup at the additional cost of $10 per month for Sling TV users. The channels include Showtime, Showtime 2, Showtime Beyond, and more, and includes all of Showtime’s original series like Homeland, Shameless, and the upcoming reboot of Twin Peaks.

Tags: AT&T, HBO
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Apple Says It Has No Plans for Solely ARM-Based or Touchscreen Macs

Apple recently invited a small group of reporters to Cupertino for a roundtable discussion about the Mac, and while the conversation was primarily focused on the Mac Pro, Apple also revealed that it has no plans for Macs with touchscreens or Macs powered solely by ARM chips, rather than Intel processors, per Axios.

The company has no plans for touchscreen Macs, or for machines powered solely by the kind of ARM processors used in the iPhone and iPad. However, executives left open the possibility ARM chips could play a broader role as companion processors, something that showed up first with the T1 processor that powers the Touch Bar in the new MacBook Pro.

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller aptly said “no” when asked about the prospect of touchscreen Macs, according to TechCrunch.

It’s worth noting that, when asked about a touch display here, in the context of efforts like Microsoft’s Surface Studio, Schiller replies “No.”

“That’s a whole other long discussion we can get into, but suffice it to say, it’s not a big need of the Mac Pro customers that we’re trying to address,” he says. “You mentioned again how we’re talking about both the iMac and MacBook — I do think that we have a two-prong desktop strategy with both iMac and Mac Pro, we think are each going to be important for pro desktops.”

It’s not the first time that Schiller or Apple have dismissed the idea of a touchscreen Mac. In November, he said that Apple has tested a touchscreen Mac and “absolutely come away with the belief that it isn’t the right thing to do.” He even went as far as calling the idea of a touchscreen iMac “absurd.”

“Can you imagine a 27-inch iMac where you have to reach over the air to try to touch and do things? That becomes absurd.” He also explains that such a move would mean totally redesigning the menu bar for fingers, in a way that would ruin the experience for those using pointer devices like the touch or mouse. “You can’t optimize for both,” he says. “It’s the lowest common denominator thinking.”

Apple design chief Jony Ive has likewise said that a touchscreen Mac would “not be a particularly useful or appropriate application of Multi-Touch.”

For now, it appears the closest we will get to a touchscreen or ARM-based Mac is the latest MacBook Pro, which has a Touch Bar powered by an ARM-based T1 chip as a companion processor. Apple has said one thing and later reversed course in the past, however, so the company’s roadmap could change in the future.
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Facebook’s ‘Stories’ Section Now Shows Your Friends as ‘Ghosts’ to Make You Think They’re Using It

Last week, Facebook launched its new camera-focused update that brought along “Facebook Stories” into the main iOS application. Like Snapchat and Instagram Stories before it, Facebook Stories let users post a picture or video onto their feed, which disappears 24 hours later.

Facebook Stories at launch
Unfortunately, adoption of Facebook Stories appears to have been fairly low and users have begun to notice that the social network company is making a slight UI tweak to the feature in an attempt to boost usage (via The Verge).

When it launched, Stories showed a circle with “Your Story,” a Facebook bubble that explained how to use the new feature, and then listed your friends’ Stories, if there were any to show. If there were none, the top of the Facebook app contained a lot of white space (as seen in the image above).

Facebook Stories now, via @Kantrowitz
Now, the company has begun to fill out this white space in the event that none of your friends are posting to Facebook Stories with ghost-like, grayed-out profile pictures. When tapped on, the bubbles simply remark that “[Blank] hasn’t added to their Story recently.” Adding to your own Story remains the same, with a tap on your own profile bubble.

Although the update could be a simple UI clean-up to address the white space issue when not many Stories were up on the app, users online are looking at it as Facebook’s attempt to draw their eyes to the new section of the app with pictures of their friends, convincing more people to post a Story of their own. On Instagram Stories, friends’ Stories are grayed out only after you’ve tapped through their most recent posts. If no one has posted anything, the space remains empty.

Since Instagram Stories and Facebook’s energetic push into video content, Facebook and Snapchat have remained rivals in the mobile app space. On April Fools’ Day this past weekend, Snapchat finally responded to Facebook’s recent glut of “Stories” updates with a copy of its own that allowed users to snap a picture using a filter that looked just like a post on Instagram.

Tag: Facebook
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Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 27 With Bug Fixes and Feature Improvements

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced one year ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.

Safari Technology Preview release 27 includes fixes and improvements for JavaScript, Web API, Rendering, CSS, Web Inspector, Media, Accessibility, WebCrypto, and more. Browser changes include a new “Reload Page From Origin” option, which reloads a page without using cached resources, and the removal of the Disable Caches option from the Develop menu. Equivalent functionality is available using the Web Inspector’s Network tab.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple’s aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.

Tag: Safari Technology Preview
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‘YouTube TV’ Streaming Service Launches in Five U.S. Cities

YouTube TV, YouTube’s streaming television service that was first announced in late February, is rolling out to five cities in the United States starting today.

Priced at $35, the service is available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Separate from YouTube Red, YouTube’s premium service that features content from prominent YouTubers, YouTube TV is a standalone app that’s focused on a mobile first experience. It features access to ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, Disney, ESPN, FX, USA, and dozens of other major cable channels, alongside standard YouTube video content. Premium channels like Showtime are available for an additional fee.

YouTube TV is priced competitively with other streaming services like DirecTV Now, Sling TV, and PlayStation Vue, and its feature set includes cloud DVR options with unlimited storage space and an AI-powered recommendation system. Up to six people in a household can use a single YouTube TV subscription.

To access YouTube TV, customers will need to download the YouTube TV app for iOS or Android, both of which are available today. A one-month free trial is available, and YouTube is providing a free Chromecast with the first month’s payment to allow customers to stream content to a television set.

YouTube TV can be downloaded from the App Store starting now.[Direct Link]

Tag: YouTube
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Giroptic iO 360 camera review

Research Center:
Giroptic iO

As the still nascent 360-degree video segment continues to figure itself out, 360 cameras tend to lean strongly toward one of two extremes: The high-end models are often large, expensive, and complicated, while those made to be more approachable all too often come across as gimmicks. The new, $249 Giroptic iO is perhaps the most approachable 360 cam currently available – at least, for iOS users – yet it manages to avoid crossing over into gimmick territory by focusing on its key strengths of portability, ease of use, and effortless live-streaming.

Designed for speed and simplicity

The first thing you will notice about the Giroptic iO is how small it is. It would easily fit in just about any pocket, although you’ll want to be mindful of the bulbous dual-lens head that extends beyond the width of the camera body (and your phone). Giroptic includes a hard plastic case to keep the iO protected when it’s not attached to your phone, and we recommend using it. A plastic sleeve with “legs” helps secure the device to your phone and allows it to stand on edge with the lens elevated when not connected.

This is the 360 cam we’ve been waiting for.

In absolute terms, the device weighs just 2.5 ounces, but it feels surprisingly heavy – in a good way. The casing is made from aluminum and it conveys the sense of a premium product, even if the legged plastic sleeve makes it look like an abstraction of a panda wearing a blue jacket. (Bearing resemblance to some sort of cute creature seems to be a requisite of 360 cams, so as far as that goes, we’re certainly down with pandas.)

Beyond the adorable exterior, what impressed us most was the setup process: Essentially, there isn’t one. Taking a cue from the DXO One, the iO has a Lightning connector built into it. It plugs directly into an iPhone or iPad without any Wi-Fi or Bluetooth setup required. Users will first need to download the free iO 360 app, but after that, it’s plug-and-play. When you connect the camera, it even launches the app automatically.

The first time we plugged in the iO, we were immediately prompted to download the latest firmware update. We didn’t need to enter an email address or register the device; with one tap on the screen, it just worked. Within a minute or two, the iO had its new firmware and we were ready to go.

Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

On the iPhone 7 Plus that served as our test machine, performance was very snappy. Dragging across the screen to pan and tilt within the spherical video field is smooth and responsive. There is a brief delay (around a quarter of a second) between reality and what’s shown on the screen, but considering this is 360-degree video being stitched in real time, we can’t complain. Giroptic says the iO is compatible with iOS devices as far back as the iPhone 5S and iPad Mini 2, but we would expect performance to take a hit on those older devices.

If there’s one downside of the iO’s hardwired connection it’s that you won’t be able to plug anything else into your phone while you’re using it. That means no charging and, for iPhone 7 series owners, no headphone monitoring. In practice, we don’t expect this to be a huge issue given the iO’s intended use cases, but it’s something to be aware of.

One of the best consumer applications of immersive video tech that we’ve yet seen.

Users who put their iPhones inside a case may encounter an issue with fit. Some cases may be too thick, making it impossible to connect the accessory to the Lightning port – something we had to deal with when using the DXO One. However, using Apple’s low-profile leather case with our iPhone 7 Plus, we didn’t have this problem; we can’t say this will be – excuse the pun –the case with every user.

The iO forms a symbiotic relationship with your iPhone, but fortunately it won’t leech your phone’s power. Instead, a 915mAh internal battery powers the camera for around an hour and twenty minutes, based on our tests (the camera stopped responding after it hit 21-percent battery remaining). That’s not a ton of time, but it is respectable given the ultra compact size of the device. Thanks to a Micro USB port nestled beside the Lightning connector, you can also recharge it on the go with a USB battery brick.

More: Samsung’s 4K Gear 360 camera now lets you broadcast live on Facebook, YouTube

In what may be a cause of concern for some, we found the iO to get very hot after extended periods of use. After 30 minutes, it was hot enough that we didn’t want to touch it for too long – it wasn’t hot enough to burn, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable. And while it’s not powered by your phone, keep in mind that your phone’s battery will still drain considerably faster when using the iO for long stretches of time, just as it would if you were using the native camera app.

Share it as you see it

The iO is all about sharing experiences as they happen, with a level of immersion that’s only possible with 360-degree video. While it will shoot 360 video and stills straight to your phone’s camera roll (complete with “little planet” and virtual reality modes), its real strength lies in being able to live-stream to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter/Periscope. (Power users can even set it up for a custom streaming server).

Starting a live stream is about as basic as it gets. At the bottom of the preview window, just above the record start/stop button, are three options: Photo, Video, and Live. Swipe left for Photo mode or right for Live mode. You can even go live over 4G, although you’ll want to make sure you have a good connection. Working in an area of poor service, our test stream to Facebook was cut short, and the few seconds that did make it through were pixelated almost beyond recognition.

More: Samsung Gear 360 review

With a strong connection, however, the iO is an excellent camera for live-streaming, perfectly suited to cover anything from a garage band practice to a newsworthy event like a protest or parade. The camera’s unobtrusive size also means you won’t draw as much attention to yourself in public, unlike that guy running around with a Nokia Ozo.

The iO forms a symbiotic relationship with your iPhone.

However, the iO definitely won’t match the resolution of a high-end camera, like the Ozo. In fact, with video captured at just 1,920 x 960 pixels, it also falls short of many consumer-oriented 360 cams. Samsung’s new Galaxy Gear 360 shoots at a considerably higher resolution of 4,096 x 2,048 pixels, although it is larger and likely to be more expensive than the iO. When it comes to immersive video, having more resolution really makes a big difference, since those pixels need to be spread out across 360 x 360 degrees. As such, the iO won’t produce the sharpest results. (Note: Still photos are a bit better, at 3,840 x 1,920 pixels.)

That said, this shouldn’t be a huge issue. The iO’s bread and butter is live-streaming, where video quality is limited by numerous factors (such as the aforementioned signal strength). Even the new Gear 360 reverts to Full HD when live-streaming, not the full 4K that it’s capable of. Furthermore, when viewing on a phone, we found the sharpness to be just fine. It does get a bit soft around the stitching line, but for a panda-shaped camera that fits in the palm of your hand, it really does quite well.

Giroptic iO Compared To

Garmin Virb XE HD Action Camera

Drift Stealth 2

Canon Vixia Mini

Samsung HMX-QF20

JVC GC-PX10

Sony HDR-CX130

JVC HD Everio GZ-HM1

Kodak Zi8

Samsung HMX-H106

Canon Vixia HF200

Sony HDR-CX100

Flip Mino

JVC EVERIO GZ-HD3

Sony HDR-CX7

Panasonic PV-GS300

Warranty

Giroptic offers a one-year limited warranty on the iO.

Our Take

The Giroptic iO may just be the 360 cam we’ve been waiting for. It is compact, ridiculously easy to use, and affordable at just $249. Giroptic has nailed the formula first put into use by DXO of hardwiring an accessory camera straight into the Lightning port. The seamless integration between camera, phone, and social media has removed all the pain points of sharing immersive experiences, as we’ve encountered with standalone models – including Giroptic’s first camera, the 360cam.

There are 360 cameras out there with better resolution, bigger batteries, and more features, but none that have repeatedly put a smile on our faces the way the iO has. Maybe that’s just the panda thing, or maybe there really is something to Giroptic’s approach of choosing a few key elements and building a refined product around them.

The DT Accessory Pack

Joby GripTight PRO GorillaPod Stand

$59.85

DODOcase P2 Cardboard VR Viewer

$17.50

Apple iPhone 7 32GB

$717.00

Is there a better alternative?

First off, if you’re not an iOS user, then you are currently out of luck with the iO. However, based on what the company has said at CES, an Android version of the iO may be coming later this year. We’re also eagerly waiting to review the Samsung Gear 360 (the new one), which will support iOS in addition to Android phones this time around. However, we doubt anything will match the iO’s powerful combination of portability, simplicity, and affordability – there’s nothing currently on the market like it.

How long will it last?

Our biggest concern is the battery, which is not user replaceable. We’re not sure how many charge cycles it will handle, but this could put a limit on the device’s long-term survivability. Over time, there’s also the chance that the lenses could get scratched. Again, the product feels well made, but its portability gives it an increased chance of living a more rough-and-tumble lifestyle.

Should you buy it?

If you have an iPhone or iPad and at least a passing interest in 360 video or live streaming, then absolutely. The Giroptic iO makes 360 video production effortless, affordable, and, perhaps most importantly, fun. Simply put, it is one of the best consumer applications of immersive video tech that we’ve yet seen. There will be competition, but the iO can hold its own.

New technique not only detects cancer, it can pinpoint its location from blood samples

Why it matters to you

CancerLocator may help detect early-stage cancer, potentially saving patients’ lives.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California have developed a one-two punch to help doctors diagnose cancer. They’ve called the computer program CancerLocator, and it simultaneously detects cancer and determines where in the body the cancer is located by analyzing a sample of the patient’s blood. The program could not only facilitate quicker diagnoses but more effective treatments.

CancerLocator works by detecting and measuring tumor DNA circulating freely in blood. Every time a cell dies, bits of its DNA is released into the bloodstream carrying unique identifiers called methyl groups, which can signal whether or not a gene was affected in a cancerous cell.

“The cell-free DNAs are extracted from blood samples and subjected to DNA methylation profiling,” Jasmine Zhou, one of the researchers who leads the project, told Digital Trends. “From those DNA methylation patterns, we use statistical learning techniques to identify signatures of individual cancer types.”

More: This Google algorithm can detect cancer more accurately than a human doctor

Cells have different gene expressions throughout the body so, by analyzing the methylation profile of a particular bit of DNA, CancerLocator can pinpoint where the DNA comes from.

“Using the large amount of DNA methylation profiles of various tumor types in the public database, we can identify the DNA methylation signatures that differentiate multiple cancer types as well as normal plasma,” said Wenyuan Li, another researcher behind the project. The team then developed a statistical model based on those signatures to help infer the tumor’s type and severity.

In the study, researchers compared CancerLocator to two older programs, testing blood samples from patients with liver, lung, or breast cancer. CancerLocator demonstrated an error rate of just 0.264, compared to 0.646 and 0.604 for the other programs. It was able to detect early-stage cancers with 80-percent accuracy.

A paper detailing the study was published last month in the journal Genome Biology.

New technique not only detects cancer, it can pinpoint its location from blood samples

Why it matters to you

CancerLocator may help detect early-stage cancer, potentially saving patients’ lives.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California have developed a one-two punch to help doctors diagnose cancer. They’ve called the computer program CancerLocator, and it simultaneously detects cancer and determines where in the body the cancer is located by analyzing a sample of the patient’s blood. The program could not only facilitate quicker diagnoses but more effective treatments.

CancerLocator works by detecting and measuring tumor DNA circulating freely in blood. Every time a cell dies, bits of its DNA is released into the bloodstream carrying unique identifiers called methyl groups, which can signal whether or not a gene was affected in a cancerous cell.

“The cell-free DNAs are extracted from blood samples and subjected to DNA methylation profiling,” Jasmine Zhou, one of the researchers who leads the project, told Digital Trends. “From those DNA methylation patterns, we use statistical learning techniques to identify signatures of individual cancer types.”

More: This Google algorithm can detect cancer more accurately than a human doctor

Cells have different gene expressions throughout the body so, by analyzing the methylation profile of a particular bit of DNA, CancerLocator can pinpoint where the DNA comes from.

“Using the large amount of DNA methylation profiles of various tumor types in the public database, we can identify the DNA methylation signatures that differentiate multiple cancer types as well as normal plasma,” said Wenyuan Li, another researcher behind the project. The team then developed a statistical model based on those signatures to help infer the tumor’s type and severity.

In the study, researchers compared CancerLocator to two older programs, testing blood samples from patients with liver, lung, or breast cancer. CancerLocator demonstrated an error rate of just 0.264, compared to 0.646 and 0.604 for the other programs. It was able to detect early-stage cancers with 80-percent accuracy.

A paper detailing the study was published last month in the journal Genome Biology.