Got an extra $100,000? You could bid to win a lunch with Apple CEO Tim Cook

Why it matters to you

You’re probably not going to bid on this auction but it’s at least nice to see Tim Cook participating in charity-based events.

Tim Cook has been auctioning off lunches with him for a few years now in partnership with Charitybuzz, with proceeds going straight to charity. This year, however, the winner gets a little something extra — a ticket to Apple Park, Apple’s fancy new HQ that isn’t even finished yet.

Of course, such an outing won’t come cheap — the starting bid is $100,000, but the proceeds will go to the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group. Not only that but just because the starting bid is $100,000, that doesn’t mean that’s where the price will end up — previous lunches with Cook have gone for as much as $610,000.

“Tim was recently honored with the Newseum’s Free Speech award for creating technology that has changed the way people communicate and for using his position to take a public stand on issues like racial equality, privacy, the environment and LGBT rights,” says the Charitybuzz website. “He has also been named Person of the Year by the Financial Times and he was ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s 2015 list of the World’s Greatest Leaders.”

It will certainly be interesting to be one of the first to see the new Apple Park in person. The campus has been in development since 2014 and the first 12,000 employees are preparing to move into their new office. The campus is perhaps better known by its nickname, the “spaceship,” which is largely owed to its futuristic look. The campus also runs on 100 percent renewable energy and contains a garden full of local plants.

It’s unknown exactly where winners of the competition will be able to go — Apple Park actually has a visitor center where anyone can go. Unsurprisingly, that visitor center includes an Apple Store, where you can buy all the latest Apple products, and a cafe.

Do you have an extra hundred thousand bucks lying around? You can bid for the lunch at this website.

Got an extra $100,000? You could bid to win a lunch with Apple CEO Tim Cook

Why it matters to you

You’re probably not going to bid on this auction but it’s at least nice to see Tim Cook participating in charity-based events.

Tim Cook has been auctioning off lunches with him for a few years now in partnership with Charitybuzz, with proceeds going straight to charity. This year, however, the winner gets a little something extra — a ticket to Apple Park, Apple’s fancy new HQ that isn’t even finished yet.

Of course, such an outing won’t come cheap — the starting bid is $100,000, but the proceeds will go to the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group. Not only that but just because the starting bid is $100,000, that doesn’t mean that’s where the price will end up — previous lunches with Cook have gone for as much as $610,000.

“Tim was recently honored with the Newseum’s Free Speech award for creating technology that has changed the way people communicate and for using his position to take a public stand on issues like racial equality, privacy, the environment and LGBT rights,” says the Charitybuzz website. “He has also been named Person of the Year by the Financial Times and he was ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s 2015 list of the World’s Greatest Leaders.”

It will certainly be interesting to be one of the first to see the new Apple Park in person. The campus has been in development since 2014 and the first 12,000 employees are preparing to move into their new office. The campus is perhaps better known by its nickname, the “spaceship,” which is largely owed to its futuristic look. The campus also runs on 100 percent renewable energy and contains a garden full of local plants.

It’s unknown exactly where winners of the competition will be able to go — Apple Park actually has a visitor center where anyone can go. Unsurprisingly, that visitor center includes an Apple Store, where you can buy all the latest Apple products, and a cafe.

Do you have an extra hundred thousand bucks lying around? You can bid for the lunch at this website.

T-Mobile plans to roll out 5G network within next three years

Why it matters to you

T-Mobile just spent $8 billion on 600 Hz spectrum. Unsurprisingly, it’s going to use it for 5G.

Leave it to T-Mobile, the rebellious self-coined “Un-carrier,” to make waves in the 5G space. On Tuesday, the Deutsche Telekom-owned operator pledged to launch nationwide 5G network in three years, with the aim of completing a rollout by 2020.

T-Mobile said it will deploy high-brand, high-speed 5G in select areas, but that the low-frequency spectrum it recently acquired — 45 percent of 600 MHz in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, to the tune of $8 billion — would form the bulk of its 5G network. That’s in contrast to its competitors, which have experimented with high-frequency spectrum that can deliver speedy — but geographically constrained — 5G coverage.

“This positions T-Mobile to deliver a 5G network that offers both breadth and depth nationwide,” T-Mobile chief technology officer Neville Ray said in a blog post.

For the most part, Verizon, AT&T, and others have turned to “millimeter wave” technology, which transmits over airwaves with narrower-than-average wavelengths. They occupy frequencies in the 30 to 300 GHz range — high enough to avoid interference from surrounding signals, but too high to pass through solid barriers like walls, concrete, or even the leaves of trees.

Christian Delbert/Shutterstock

Those limitations have carriers like Verizon investing in “fixed” 5G — high-speed wireless meant to deliver broadband in the home, rather than to mobile phones.

T-Mobile’s 600 Hz spectrum won’t deliver the speeds the competition can achieve, but it will cover a broader swath of the country. And it will have access to the airwaves as soon as this year, which could give it a further advantage.

“We’re going to run at it and run hard,” Ray told USA Today in an interview. “We’re saying that you’re going to see it at T-Mobile first.”

T-Mobile is far from the only one chasing 5G. Verizon announced 5G trials in 11 U.S. markets this year, following a partnership with Samsung, Qualcomm, and others that saw 5G routers installed in homes.

And AT&T said it will begin streaming DirecTV over 5G to some residential customers, and recently announced “5G Evolution,” a series of high-speed connectivity trials in 20 major cities.

In its announcement on Tuesday, T-Mobile sought to emphasize 5G’s other benefits.

“We expect to see a whole class of new applications and solutions that will be built for nationwide 5G,” Ray said in a statement. 5G’s low latency could help self-driving cars exchange sensor data and Internet of Things (IoT) devices save battery. Virtual and augmented reality stand to benefit from its reliability. “[Today’s] applications will just work better and faster,” Ray added.

Acer’s first convertible TravelMate 2-in-1, the Spin B1, is focused on education

Why it matters to you

If you’re a student or teacher, you can now pick up the first convertible 2-in-1 device to leverage the strengths of Microsoft’s new Windows 10 S education OS.

Microsoft is leaving the low-end Windows 10 S education PC market to its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, and will instead focus on positioning its Surface Laptop to compete against the Apple MacBook, which is popular among higher-education students. Acer is an important Microsoft OEM, and it’s acting fast to jump into the fray against Google’s Chromebook education initiative.

First out of the gate is the Acer TravelMate Spin B1, a convertible 2-in-1 device that ships with Windows 10 S education OS, Cortana, Continuum, and Ink, along with an active pen that works with the obligatory touchscreen display. This is the first convertible in the TravelMate line, and it features a 360-degree hinge that supports the four standard modes — stand, tent, tablet, and traditional notebook.

The TravelMate Spin B1 offers an 11.6-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display. Power comes by way of an Intel Celeron processor and integrated HD graphics, and it also boasts 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Connectivity is provided by a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI connection, and a 3.5mm headset jack. Wireless connectivity includes 2×2 MIMO 801.22ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Acer promises up to 13 hours of battery life.

Acer is touting the TravelMate Spin B1’s overall rugged design, which is aimed at maximizing uptime and minimizing maintenance requirements. The machine is built with a shock-absorbent middle rubber frame, offers a pressure-resistant screen that can withstand a front impact of up to 132 pounds, and features a spill-resistant keyboard that protects against up to 11 ounces of water.

The TravelMate Spin B1 runs Windows 10 S, and supports Acer TeachSmart software, which works with embedded LED lights on the notebook cover to enable students to easily and unobtrusively communicate with teachers, receive class materials, take quizzes, and more. Windows 10 Ink support makes it easy for students to take notes and create drawings.

Acer is releasing the TravelMate Spin B1 this month in North America. It will cost $300, and comes with an active pen and Windows 10 S.

Microsoft serves up the sleek Surface Laptop, its first traditional notebook

Why it matters to you

The Surface Laptop, the first standard clamshell device from Microsoft, is available for pre-order from $1,000.

Read our early impressions in our Surface Laptop first take.

In an unusual twist for Microsoft’s hardware reveals, its newest Surface product, the Surface Laptop, was leaked the night before the company’s May 2 education-focused event. While most of the surprise was therefore lost, Microsoft still managed to create a little excitement with its introduction of the new Surface Laptop.

As rumored, the new machine is the first in the Surface line to function as a simple clamshell notebook. Nevertheless, the Surface Laptop supports the Surface Pen and Surface Dial, and so can provide some of the extra convenience both afford, along with the ability to support Windows 10 Ink. As with the other members of the Surface line, the it offers a 3:2 ratio PixelSense display with a 13.5-inch Gorilla Glass 3 panel supporting 3.4 million pixels. Microsoft brags that the display is the thinnest LCD touchscreen available today on a notebook.

Microsoft focused on craftsmanship in designing and manufacturing the Surface Laptop:

Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop alongside the new Windows 10 S that’s aimed at the education market, but the hardware doesn’t quite follow the same low-cost mentality. The Surface Laptop will start out at $999 for an unspecified configuration — Microsoft is clearly leaving it to its manufacturing partners to produce low-cost Windows 10 S machines for the classroom. The Surface Laptop will ship with Windows 10 S, and Microsoft is offering a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for a limited time.

Microsoft is offering four colors for the Surface Laptop: Platinum, Graphite Gold, Cobalt Blue, and Burgundy. The color scheme will apply to the all-metal chassis as well as the cloth-covered keyboard deck.

In terms of specifications, the Surface Laptop will support seventh-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, and up to 1TB SSD using NVMe technology. In spite of the high-end components, Microsoft estimates battery life at up to 14.5 hours. The company is aiming the Surface Laptop directly at the Apple MacBook line, perhaps the most popular of the extremely thin and light notebooks used in higher education today, and Microsoft highlighted the better performance and battery life of the Surface Laptop.

In terms of build, the Surface Laptop offers a tapered design, moving from 14.47mm at the rear to 9.9mm in the front. It weighs 2.76 pounds. The keyboard base uses the Alcantara material used in the company’s high-end Surface Pro 4 Type Cover, and the backlit keyboard offers 1.5mm key travel for a comfortable feel. The speakers are located underneath the keyboard at the front of the device, and utilize unique technology to radiate the sound through the cloth for an immersive experience. Connectivity is limited to a single USB Type-A port, a DisplayPort, and the standard Surface connection — surprisingly, there’s no USB Type-C port in sight.

More details will come at some point, but for now we know that Microsoft is taking pre-orders starting May 2 with delivery starting on June 15. At $999, the Surface Laptop offers a thin and light machine that’s optimized for Windows 10 and that competes directly with Apple’s MacBook while maintaining the Surface design aesthetic.

Updated on 05-02-2017 by Mark Coppock: Added additional details and updated images.

Pre-order Surface Laptop on Microsoft

Microsoft enhances learning using Code Builder for ‘Minecraft’ and mixed reality

Why it matters to you

Microsoft is providing tools and experiences to enhance learning in the classroom, including the use of Minecraft: Education Edition.

During the #MicrosoftEDU press event in New York City, Microsoft introduced Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition. Available now as a beta, this tool enables students to build and create in Minecraft by using blocks of code or manually writing JavaScript. It supports ScratchX, Tynker, and a new open platform called Microsoft MakeCode.

With Code Builder, Minecraft players are joined by an “Agent” character that serves as a sidekick and carries out the coding commands. This sidekick can essentially build anything in the virtual Minecraft world, from 3D printed objects to huge, historic architectures like the Globe Theater in 16th-century London and the Parthenon.

For instance, when using ScratchX, players can grab a handful of single-line commands, place them in the ScratchX window, and lock them together. Thus, to have the Agent move forward three steps and till the soil for farming, the player would string together three “move forward” commands and one “till forward” command.

As a refresher, Tynker is a tool that teaches computer programming for students aged seven and older. Tynker includes visual code blocks for stacking code together, tools for creating Minecraft mods, programming drones, and creating multi-level arcade games. Meanwhile, ScratchX is a tool based on the visual programming language Scratch and is mostly used to test “experimental” Scratch-based features (aka Experimental Extensions). Microsoft introduced MakeCode in March, which interacts with physical computing devices like the micro:bit board.

In addition to introducing Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition, Microsoft’s Megan Saunders talked about bringing mixed reality into the hands of students. In one demo, Amy Henson demonstrated how to create the Earth and moon rotating around the sun in Paint 3D. The goal was to show how a solar eclipse works and she eventually dropped the scene into PowerPoint and generated transitions to animate the eclipse-creating scene.

In another demo, Henson pulled a virtual model of NASA’s Curiosity rover into the Microsoft Teams client. She then used a Surface tablet’s built-in camera to shoot live video of Saunders standing on stage and dropped the Curiosity model into the scene. Coming this fall on Windows 10 as Viewed Mixed Reality, the upcoming feature demonstrated how a virtual seven-foot Mars rover can scale appropriately next to a five-foot, eleven-inch human.

Next, Henson placed Acer’s upcoming mixed reality headset on her head to show how it can be used in the classroom. She took a trip into the future to view the solar system in the year 2492, a period when all eight major planets will be in their closest proximity to each other. That last time this planetary gathering took place was around 1,000 years ago.

Finally, Saunders said that Pearson Education is injecting 3D and mixed reality into its secondary and university-level curriculum. Pearson will offer courses in Commerce, History, Health, and STEM. Thus, in the 2018 school year, any student can take any course under the four groups using any Windows Mixed Reality device. The headsets will arrive during the 2017 holiday season for a starting price of $299.

Mayo Clinic-supported app aims to replace BMI with more accurate metric

Why it matters to you

BVI has been touted as a more accurate and potentially life-saving metric than BMI, and this app puts it in the hands of the healthcare community for the very first time.

It’s no secret that Body Mass Index is an imperfect measure of an individual’s health — and that’s not terribly surprising, given the fact that the standard was developed nearly 200 years ago. Since then, advances in science and healthcare have shown us the limitations of BMI, but they’ve failed to provide us with an easily achievable alternative that can replace it. Fortunately, a new iPad app developed in tandem with the Mayo Clinic and other global healthcare organizations is aiming to buck that trend.

The app is called BVI Pro, and in simple terms it’s able to measure body composition on the Body Volume Indicator scale using the iPad’s camera. Take two pictures of the individual — one head-on and another in profile — and, alongside information like age and reported activity, the software is able to generate an accurate snapshot of fat distribution, as well as any associated health risks.

According to BVI America, the company responsible for creating the app with 3D measurement firm and parent company Select Research, BVI is much more useful as a measure compared to BMI because it targets visceral fat — the fat stored within the abdomen and around the organs. Visceral fat is considered to be the most potentially life-threatening type in the body but, as Select Research CEO Richard Barnes explains, until now, it has always required expensive, large machinery to accurately measure.

“Most of the [body scanners used for BVI] are based on 16 to 20 cameras,” Barnes told Digital Trends. “What we’ve done over the last four years is we’ve made that software to just require two cameras instead of 16. And we’ve used an iPad to take two pictures that effectively then mesh the images together and create a 3D image of the person.”

BVI America

According to Barnes, BVI America has validated its findings throughout the development process by comparing individuals’ data achieved through the app with data produced by MRI scanners. The results are pretty consistent already, but Barnes said BVI Pro will only become more accurate as it is continually used, and the machine learning that powers it becomes more adept at matching body shape with volume.

“The approach we’ve taken on it is exactly the same that’s been done with Siri and Shazam, where we use machine learning over time to improve and validate,” Barnes said. “We have some experts involved in the business who were involved in those applications and others.”

The end result is an app that lowers the cost of entry to what could be a new medical standard going forward — one that could replace or at least supplement BMI and deliver much more useful and actionable data to healthcare professionals as well as their patients.

“The Achilles heel of BVI was basically that it couldn’t be done anywhere, whereas BMI, simple as it is, could be done anywhere — someone could always take their height and weight if they’re at home or in the office,” Barnes said.

BMI persists partially because it is so easy to calculate, and life insurance companies even continue to use it to determine policy rates. Many experts, like Amanda Salis, associate professor at The Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders at Sydney University, maintain that its value lies in estimating the health and obesity of a population, rather than an individual.

Barnes agrees, and he believes the app itself and the concept behind BVI is so simple that as people try it, they’ll understand it. Meanwhile, the professional and scientific communities will serve as a proving ground for the software, making it better through continued usage. The Mayo Clinic has already committed to helping to develop BVI into a global standard by 2020.

“Although we’ve got a huge amount of data on which we base [BVI Pro], we don’t have hundreds of thousands or millions of bits of data,” Barnes said. “We need that to get different populations and to adjust the algorithms and make it really work.”

BVI Pro is now live on the App Store for iPad for free. Although it’s primarily intended for professional use, using the app is as simple as taking a couple pictures. Barnes said that going forward, BVI America is considering more consumer-oriented mobile applications as well.

VR rehab could help prisoners learn the valuable life skills they need

Why it matters to you

Virtual Rehab is introducing virtual reality tech to prisons to help inmates navigate the world outside upon release.

When you think of the most important components of a functional prison, virtual reality headsets probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind.

However, a new initiative called Virtual Rehab wants to change that by introducing the technology to correctional institutions as a way of helping teach inmates the skills they may rely on after their sentences are completed.

“We develop real life scenarios that an offender or an addict will encounter upon their release,” Dr. Raji Wahidy, founder and CEO of Virtual Rehab, told Digital Trends. “These scenarios will measure the action and reaction of the offender or the addict. It is through these scenarios and curriculums that we will measure and teach offenders and addicts ways of making the right decisions that will help them avoid reoffending and relapsing. The scenarios are fully immersive and will challenge the students accordingly. We are also working on programs that will assist correctional officers in dealing with difficult situations, as well as empathizing with inmates.”

It’s certainly an innovative idea — and something that could hopefully help lower the massive number of prisoners behind bars in the United States. That number currently stands at 2.2 million, and last year cost the federal government a total of $9 billion.

Virtual Rehab involves a varied number of scenarios that inmates can try out, presented in a way that’s engaging and practical — without putting members of the general public at risk in the process. For example, it allows for vocational job training skills such as learning car mechanics, plumbing, welding, or carpentry. Other scenarios take more of a psychological rehabilitation tact, with the goal of helping treat emotional disorders, or perhaps navigating through a scene involving dealing with family violence or alcoholism.

Given that VR is still a relatively new tool, the jury’s still out on what kind of difference it can make in a person’s life. However, Wahidy is confident it has a valuable role to play.

“VR has proven to be even more effective than some of this existing traditional ways of educating and rehabilitating,” he said. “For example, back in 1994, [integrated managed care consortium] Kaiser Permanente were one of the first [groups] to use VR to treat patients with acrophobia symptoms. The results of these studies were that over 90 percent of patients no longer showed these acrophobia symptoms. Further studies were conducted on military combat personnel who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD symptoms. Yet again, the results of these studies were that over 75 percent did not show these symptoms following the use of VR.”

Virtual Rehab soft-launched back in December, and the team has just released a Virtual Rehab Trial Version this week. Let’s hope it can live up to its promise.

Hey, if it’s a success maybe they can even get Morgan Freeman to reprise his Shawshank Redemption narrator role for a future upgrade!

Find local garage sales faster with Facebook’s update to Marketplace

Why it matters to you

Whether you are looking for local garage sales or pet supplies, Facebook Marketplace is aiming to simplify the search with one-click categories that appear to be based on your search history.

Facebook’s local commerce platform, Marketplace, is now a bit easier to navigate. The latest Facebook update gives Marketplace a facelift, making it a bit easier to find exactly what you’re looking for nearby.

At the top, Marketplace’s previous four icons now include options to access several categories in one tap, sorting the results to include just local garage sales, for example, or stuff for your kids. The new categories are color-coded at the top, alongside the earlier shortcuts to access your own for sale items.

Those shortcuts also appear to be related in part to your search history — every category is not included in the top navigation but if you recently searched for a fish tank, pet supplies will be part of the shortcut categories. Access to all of the categories is available with one tap to the categories icon, with each area color-coded and divided into sub sections — home items, from tools to furniture, for example, are blue while kids and pets fall under the same orange family category. Garage sales and local real estate are bundled under the red Classifieds category.

The new shortcuts are designed to make finding a specific item in a long list of posts a bit simpler, while text-based searches are still available with the same search bar at the top. After searching by keyword, users can sort through the results by selecting a category or narrowing down a price.

According to TechCrunch, the updates also appear for desktop users, though in a different layout, while the mobile update has now rolled out to every user with Marketplace.

A competitor to Craigslist as well as the number of new local sales apps popping up such as OfferUp and LetGo, Facebook Marketplace launched last October. While the designated Marketplace spot is designed to simplify selling on Facebook, users have turned to the platform to sell prior to that by simply sharing with friends or joining local garage sale groups, with 450 million users selling on the site even before the launch of Marketplace.

Thanks to esports, gaming PCs see increased sales in North America

Why it matters to you

Increased sales means a bigger push to create quality gaming PC components and possible higher prices in the near future.

Regardless of whether gamers prefer a PC or console experience, there is no doubt that PCs can offer the best graphics and performance. Still, consoles have largely controlled the market due to their affordable, mainstream nature. Despite claims that the PC market is declining, it actually looks to be on the rise in North America.

According to Kevin Jones, vice president of the U.S.-based electronic chain Micro Center, overall sales of gaming PCs have increased 25 to 30 percent in 2016. Even at Micro Center, sales have grown 200 to 300 percent from one year ago.

While speaking with Digitimes, Jones attributes the increasing gaming PC sales to esports. Just five years ago, he referred to PC gaming as a niche market. Now, with esports’ rapid growth in popularity, the market has become more mainstream. Mid-range prices have also lowered the entry price for those looking to get their toes wet.

Even though analyst firm Gartner reported declining PC sales for eight quarters in a row, gaming laptops and desktops tell a much different story. Gaming PC sales are expected to rise from 2015’s 6 million units. By 2020, they should reach 8.7 million units and account for 13 percent of consumer PC shipments.

In North America, retail has been going through a metamorphosis. Many small PC retailers have closed due to the competition. Yet, thanks to its partnerships with brand vendors, Micro Center has thrived with its 25 stores across 16 states. With new customers, sales have reached $60 million per year.

One threat that lies on the horizon are the PC component shortages plaguing the industry right now. While they have yet to affect prices in any major way, Jones believes prices will begin rising in the near future. Anyone looking to build a new PC might want to move up their timeline to avoid a more expensive market.