Twitter’s NFL show is a consolation for losing games to Amazon

During the 2016 NFL season, Twitter streamed the league’s slate of Thursday Night Football matchups. The 2017 season will be a lot different for the social network as it lost those weekly livestreams to Amazon last month. Twitter won’t miss out completely though, and its users can expect a daily dose of pro football coverage when the new season kicks off this fall.

The NFL announced today that it would team up with Twitter for a range of video content, including livestreams. First, the league will produce a 30-minute live show that will air on the social network five days a week during the 2017 season. As you might expect, it will feature NFL Network hosts running down the latest news, highlights, fantasy info and more. The NFL will also provide fans with pre-game coverage on Periscope for “each of its prime time game windows, as well as other key match-ups” throughout the season.

While a relationship between Twitter and the NFL already existed, it’s not the only pro sports league streaming live shows on the social channel. Last week, Twitter announced a full slate of live video that will debut in the coming months, including similar live sports analysis from Major League Baseball, WNBA game streams, PGA Tour coverage and more. That’s on top of 24/7 news from Bloomberg, a morning show from BuzzFeed and live concerts. So if you enjoyed those Thursday evening broadcasts, the NFL will still give you live TV on Twitter, it’s just going to look a lot different this year.

Source: NFL

Watch Microsoft’s Build Day 2 keynote in under 7 minutes

While yesterday’s Build keynote was almost purely developer focused, today’s presentation fest dove deeper into Microsoft’s consumer offerings. We learned about the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the next big upgrade for the OS that’ll bring in a slew of features connected to the Microsoft Graph. The key takeaway? They should make it even easier for you to work across Windows, iOS and Android hardware. We also got a brief glimpse at Microsoft’s new style paradigm, Fluent Design System, which makes it simpler for developers to build apps that work across new types of devices (while packing in some new visual flourishes).

The biggest surprise of the day: iTunes is coming to the Windows Store. It’s the first Apple app to make its way to Microsoft’s storefront, and it could be a sign that other major apps will follow. We also got our first glimpse at Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Controllers, which will accompany its new MR headsets this fall.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft’s Build 2017.

Valve brings 360-degree videos to Steam VR

While it’s not quite as immersive as a full virtual reality experience, 360-degree videos and photos are becoming more common (especially on Facebook and YouTube), and now Valve has released a Steam 360 Video Player. It uses adaptive streaming from a company called Pixvana, which should enable playback with just one click on your Rift or Vive headset. According to the FAQ, even if you don’t have a headset, it will soon support playback on the desktop with control and navigation by mouse.

Currently, playback requires users to run Windows 10 64-bit, with a minimum NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 GPU. To play 4K x 4K stereo video, you’ll need to bring at least a GTX 1070. Steam’s marketplace is offering a few sample videos to try out, including the recently released Alien Covenant in Utero.

Source: Steam

Apple Launches New Website and Videos Featuring iPhone 7 Photography Tutorials

Apple today launched a new iPhone 7 video series entitled “How to Shoot on iPhone 7,” featuring a range of tutorial videos that it’s uploaded both to a new website and to its YouTube channel.

There are five videos on YouTube, which are designed to teach iPhone 7 and 7 Plus owners how to use the camera on their devices to capture various types of photos, including panoramas, portraits, action shorts, and more.

Each video is approximately 40 seconds in length and features a clear step-by-step tutorial on how to use each feature directly on the iPhone. For the Portrait Mode video, for example, step 1 is swiping over to Portrait Mode, while Step 2 is looking for the depth effect tag before taking the shot.

All of the videos are super simple and are going to be most useful for people who don’t often use the camera or who haven’t invested a lot of time in learning the features. Each video is just one or two steps, covering readily available photo features. The most complicated video, for example, covers taking a vertical panorama.

Apple’s “How to Shoot on iPhone 7” website has a much wider range of videos, all of which might eventually be uploaded to YouTube.

The videos on Apple’s website are more specific and could be useful even to those who are familiar with the iPhone camera, as they contain tips like shooting at the golden hour for the best light, shooting a backlit subject, capturing a group portrait, shooting with street light, capturing a unique angle, and many more.

Tag: Apple ads
Discuss this article in our forums

DOJ code-breaking project found unencrypted on the internet

Encryption is the key to our digital privacy. It keeps eavesdroppers from reading your private conversations and checking out which sites you’re visiting. It’s important enough that iOS and Android will encrypt your entire device just in case it falls into the wrong hands.

But the mass adoption of encryption has also become a thorn in the side of law enforcement and other government agencies. So their reaction has been to develop methods to either crack or circumvent encryption. A good reminder of that strategy was found in a code-breaking project that was accidentally exposed to the open internet. Ironically, the file that were stored on a backup drive connected to an NYU server weren’t encrypted.

The Intercept reports a joint project of IBM, NYU and the department of defense called “WindsorGreen” was found by a security researcher looking for open devices on the internet. The program details a system rife with the kind of complex math needed to take down encryption and brute-force passwords. The code-breaking project seems to have been in development between 2005 and 2012 with a suggestion within the documents that it would not be ready until 2014.

While the documents describes an incredibly powerful code-breaking project, according to what hacker and computer researcher Andrew “Bunnie” Huang told The Intercept, if you’re using the latest encryption, you don’t have anything to worry about. “Even if [WindsorGreen] gave a 100x advantage in cracking strength, it’s a pittance compared to the additional strength conferred by going from say, 1024-bit RSA to 4096-bit RSA or going from SHA-1 to SHA-256.”

At least when it comes to this venture. Who knows what’s currently being developed?

The story is an interesting read and a cautionary tale about being extra diligent when setting up your network and remembering to encrypt everything. And be doubly sure to encrypt your potentially top secret files about cracking encryption.

Source: The Intercept

Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets are finally here, and you can pre-order Acer’s

Why it matters to you

Windows Mixed Reality headsets will sell at much lower prices than previous models, and will support motion control without the need to set up external sensors.

Microsoft maintained its commitment to Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) during its Day 2 keynote at Build 2017. There, the company announced retail availability of two headsets alongside the reveal of a Windows Mixed Reality motion controller.

The first headset, from Acer, is now available for pre-order at $299. The second, from HP, will set you back $329. Though labeled as developer kits, the units are much more accessible than, say, the HoloLens. Microsoft said both headsets will be available for pre-order starting Thursday, May 11, on the Microsoft Store. Delivery is set for summer, though no specific date is set.

This is not the first availability of Acer’s headset. Microsoft made an announcement regarding availability to “developer partners” at GDC 2017. However, that rollout was extremely limited. The headset could not be ordered at a retailer, so today’s reveal marked the headset’s first widespread availability. We recently had chance to try the headset, and were impressed by what we saw.

The existence of WMR headsets, though exciting, is no surprise. The big reveal is Microsoft’s new Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers. While the existence of a controller for use with WMR is no shock — it was sure to happen eventually — the technology used is impressive.

“Inside-out” tracking is the weapon of choice, which means the controllers rely on sensors in the headset itself instead of external units. This is the method used by Intel’s Project Alloy and Qualcomm’s Virtual Reality Development Kit, but neither of those have controllers. They use inside-out tracking to determine the headset’s position and orientation. Project Alloy can also see the user’s hands and use that as a method of control, but its imprecise.

Microsoft says the controller will offer six degrees of freedom, and will be useful anywhere a headset’s sensors can detect them. That means they will work best when in front of the user, but may not work at all if held behind the user’s back.

The company intends to treat the controllers as a platform, not a set-in-stone device. Representatives said partners are working on their own controllers, which “must adhere to a specification,” but may otherwise deviate. There’s still some vagueness in how Microsoft describes this relationship, so it’s unclear how common third-party controllers will be.

Right now, Acer seems to be the only partner jumping on the bandwagon. A $399 bundle that pairs its headset alongside the Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers will be available alongside the $299, stand-alone headset.

The controllers are in their infancy. It’s hard to say how well the controllers will work, and Microsoft declined to provide demos at Build 2017. However, the aggressive pricing of Acer’s bundle seems a shot across the bow of Oculus and HTC, both of which charge $800 for their VR headsets with motion controllers included.

Pigs are flying as Apple iTunes, Ubuntu Linux head to the Windows Store

Why it matters to you

The wall between Microsoft and Apple is seemingly starting to crumble with the upcoming launch of iTunes on the Windows Store.

During Microsoft’s second Build 2017 keynote, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson announced that iTunes will be coming to the Windows Store. He said Windows 10 Home/Pro and Windows 10 S users will get the “complete” iTunes experience including Apple Music and full support for the iPhone.

Myerson also revealed that the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system will be offered through the Windows Store as well. This stems from the Linux Bash Shell feature added to Windows 10 last year, which enables users to install and run Linux-based operating systems without the need to create a dual-boot scenario. That said, SUSE Linux and Fedora are heading to the Windows Store as well.

Myerson made these announcements after officially revealing the next major update to Windows 10. Code-named Redstone 3, it will arrive this fall officially dubbed as Fall Creators Update, and will expand on what Microsoft introduced to Windows 10 in the first Creators Update released in April. One of the improvements will be in the Windows Store, which will see new app solutions across multiple platforms.

For example, UWP capabilities are coming to Visual Studio Mobile Center. UWP is short for Universal Windows Platform, which is an architecture that enables apps to run on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile no matter what kind of hardware is running underneath. This new capability will provide a more unified app experience across all Windows 10, Android, and iOS devices.

“For consumer apps, we added 35 new payment instruments this year and now support payments in 247 markets globally. We have also seen monthly in-app purchase sales double year over year in the Windows Store,” Myerson added.

He went on to talk about specific apps that will appear in the Windows Store. Spotify previously announced its intention to offer a UWP-based app after the introduction of Windows 10 S. Now, Autodesk plans to expand its UWP-based presence in the Store by way of its Autodesk Stingray graphics rendering engine, which will not only take advantage of proprietary UWP features, but support Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform.

“When Autodesk introduced their UWP SketchBook last summer, it became their fastest growing new platform introduction with an average of 35-percent sales growth every month throughout 2017,” Myers said. “Autodesk SketchBook, the de facto application for painting and drawing, was built from the ground up as a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app leveraging the pen and touch capability of Windows 10.”

Enterprise application software company SAP plans to invade the Windows Store this month with its SAP Digital Boardroom app. It will be a “next-generation” board portal providing a “single source of truth” for C-level executives wanting real-time contextual information, data summaries, analytic reports, and so on. However, it won’t be based on Microsoft’s UWP platform, but serve as a progressive web app instead. That means it will rely on web-based technologies but deliver an app-like experience.

“This allows SAP to reuse their web content and investments to target multiple platforms, while at the same time take advantage of deeper integration with Windows 10,” Myerson said.

Pigs are flying as Apple iTunes, Ubuntu Linux head to the Windows Store

Why it matters to you

The wall between Microsoft and Apple is seemingly starting to crumble with the upcoming launch of iTunes on the Windows Store.

During Microsoft’s second Build 2017 keynote, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson announced that iTunes will be coming to the Windows Store. He said Windows 10 Home/Pro and Windows 10 S users will get the “complete” iTunes experience including Apple Music and full support for the iPhone.

Myerson also revealed that the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system will be offered through the Windows Store as well. This stems from the Linux Bash Shell feature added to Windows 10 last year, which enables users to install and run Linux-based operating systems without the need to create a dual-boot scenario. That said, SUSE Linux and Fedora are heading to the Windows Store as well.

Myerson made these announcements after officially revealing the next major update to Windows 10. Code-named Redstone 3, it will arrive this fall officially dubbed as Fall Creators Update, and will expand on what Microsoft introduced to Windows 10 in the first Creators Update released in April. One of the improvements will be in the Windows Store, which will see new app solutions across multiple platforms.

For example, UWP capabilities are coming to Visual Studio Mobile Center. UWP is short for Universal Windows Platform, which is an architecture that enables apps to run on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile no matter what kind of hardware is running underneath. This new capability will provide a more unified app experience across all Windows 10, Android, and iOS devices.

“For consumer apps, we added 35 new payment instruments this year and now support payments in 247 markets globally. We have also seen monthly in-app purchase sales double year over year in the Windows Store,” Myerson added.

He went on to talk about specific apps that will appear in the Windows Store. Spotify previously announced its intention to offer a UWP-based app after the introduction of Windows 10 S. Now, Autodesk plans to expand its UWP-based presence in the Store by way of its Autodesk Stingray graphics rendering engine, which will not only take advantage of proprietary UWP features, but support Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform.

“When Autodesk introduced their UWP SketchBook last summer, it became their fastest growing new platform introduction with an average of 35-percent sales growth every month throughout 2017,” Myers said. “Autodesk SketchBook, the de facto application for painting and drawing, was built from the ground up as a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app leveraging the pen and touch capability of Windows 10.”

Enterprise application software company SAP plans to invade the Windows Store this month with its SAP Digital Boardroom app. It will be a “next-generation” board portal providing a “single source of truth” for C-level executives wanting real-time contextual information, data summaries, analytic reports, and so on. However, it won’t be based on Microsoft’s UWP platform, but serve as a progressive web app instead. That means it will rely on web-based technologies but deliver an app-like experience.

“This allows SAP to reuse their web content and investments to target multiple platforms, while at the same time take advantage of deeper integration with Windows 10,” Myerson said.

Microsoft’s next Windows update will let you time travel and copy-paste anywhere

Why it matters to you

The next major update to Windows 10 will make your Windows PC work more closely with your iOS and Android devices.

The first day of Microsoft’s Build 2017 conference focused on the company’s developer tools, cloud computing platform, and artificial intelligence offerings. Notably missing from the discussion was Windows 10, an omission that Microsoft addressed during the second day’s keynote and sessions.

As expected, Microsoft provided details on the next major Windows 10 update, which was code-named Redstone 3 and is now officially titled the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The name isn’t a mere convenience, as the update once again focuses on making the operating system particularly useful for anyone who engages in creative activity.

The first major feature coming with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is a new creative app built with the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) thatwill be distributed through the Windows Store. Called Windows Story Remix, the app will utilize the Microsoft Graph to pull in data from various sources, including friends’ photos and videos, to create stories complete with soundtrack, theme, and cinematic transitions. Windows 10 Remix will allow users to add 3D objects and Windows Ink to photos and video that are anchored to objects, making it easy to create more complex video stories using relatively sophisticated special effects.

The app was demonstrated by using the example of a soccer game captured by multiple parents who shared their images and video with Windows Story Remix. Using Microsoft artificial intelligence (AI), the app identifies individual players and can then create stories with each one featured as a “star.” Simply by switching the star status from one player to another, the app creates individualized stories that focus on a specific player. In addition, themes can be created using music pulled from Microsoft Groove, with the system intelligently adjusting cuts to correspond with the music’s beat, and a “Remix” button will change the story using different music and styles with a single click.

Next, Windows 10 will receive a new design system that developers can tap into that will provide a more consistent look and feel across different device types, screen sizes, and interactive methods. Formerly code named “Project Neon” and now officially called Microsoft Fluent Design System, the new look and feel will integrate touch, ink, voice, gaze, and gesture to create a more responsive and inclusive cross-design experience. Fluent Design System incorporates five different elements — light, depth, motion, material, and scale — to allow developers to create apps that are optimized for a given device.

The example used in the keynote demonstration was using the pen’s specific input characteristics to both adjust how an app, in this case Microsoft Edge, works with the user to allow an optimized interaction experience. The Fluent Design System allows the pen to control every aspect of the system in a natural way, from writing into the search box to scrolling through the page and marking up PDFs. The concept goes beyond merely how an app looks but includes how it interacts with input devices, other apps, and the system in general.

Microsoft says the Fluent Design System will be an ongoing project. Its first elements have already rolled out to Insiders in barely noticeable ways, and the project will continue through multiple updates past the Fall Creators Update.

For even more robust cross-platform integration, Microsoft is utilizing the Microsoft Graph to pull information on people, conversations, projects, and content from the cloud to create a seamless experience across Windows, iOS, and Android. Windows 10 Fall Creators Update will essentially turn a Windows 10 PC into users’ central hubs for all of their devices regardless of platform.

The following features will leverage both the Microsoft Graph and the new Fluent Design System:

• Timeline: Users will be able to move through a timeline that displays what they were doing, and when, moving back in time to access previously used files, apps, and websites. The timeline will allow users to go back over a long period of time and return to a past task as if it was still open. In addition, the feature will work across devices, allowing a user to see what was done no matter which device or platform was used.
• Pick Up Where You Left Off: Cortana will provide the means to access previously used apps, documents, and websites across Windows, iOS, and Android. Users will be able to log off of their PCs, for example, and then pick up a doc where they left off on an iOS or Android device.
• Cloud Clipboard: The Clipboard will now be shared between PCs and smartphones via the cloud, allowing users to copy photos, map links, paragraphs, images, or other content and then paste it into apps on other devices.
• OneDrive Files on Demand: Microsoft is bringing back the ability to see all files stored in OneDrive and access them on an as-needed basis. One of the most-requested features, OneDrive Files on Demand, saves local storage space while providing the ability to download specific files on-demand for offline access.

Microsoft previously announced a biannual update cycle for Windows 10, which would put the Fall Creators Update on schedule to arrive around September 2017, though the company has not committed to a date. We expect to see these features roll out to Windows Insiders over the next several months, meaning that nobody has to wait too long to start experiencing the new design and cross-platform support.

The Cardiogram app for the Apple Watch can help detect heart disease

Why it matters to you

Need another reason to convince yourself to own a smartwatch? Helping diagnose heart disease should be a good enough.

Turns out the Apple Watch is good for more than just telling the time, tracking steps, and dictating text messages. It can detect heart disease, too.

That is according to a study presented at Heart Rhythm 2017, the Heart Society’s 38th Annual Scientific Sessions, on Thursday. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco Division of Cardiology paired an artificial intelligence with the Apple Watch’s photoplethysmographic (PPG) sensors — the LEDs that record heart rate — to build an algorithm that could detect conditions like arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation (AF).

Atrial fibrillation, which affects more than 2.7 million American adults, was the study’s principle focus. Researchers recruited more than 6,000 users of the Cardiogram app for Apple Watch and collected more than 139 million heart rate measurements and 6,338 mobile electrocardiograms — records of the heart’s electrical activity — over the course of several months. The data was used to train a deep neural network, a human-like form of AI, to distinguish between atrial fibrillation and a normal, healthy heart rhythm.

The study’s authors validated the neural network against a subgroup of 51 patients set to undergo cardioversion, a medical procedure that restores the heart to a normal rhythm. Each wore an Apple Watch with the Cardiogram app for 20 minutes before the procedure and 20 minutes after and found that the AI correctly detected atrial fibrillation 97 percent of the time. That is higher than any previous algorithm.

“Our results show that common wearable trackers like smartwatches present a novel opportunity to monitor, capture and prompt medical therapy for atrial fibrillation without any active effort from patients,” Dr. Gregory Marcus, Director of Clinical Research at UCSF’s Division of Cardiology, said in a statement.

The researchers point out that smartwatches like the Apple Watch present a novel opportunity to diagnose hard-to-detect illnesses. They cite a recent survey indicating that as many as one in five Americans owns a wearable fitness tracker. “With the growing number of people using this mobile technology, there is an opportunity to address public health issues such as undiagnosed AF in a way that is convenient for many,” the study said.

Already, the authors are exploring the potential for broader wearable self-diagnosis and testing the AI to identify other health conditions.

They are not the only ones. AliveCor, a smartwatch accessory maker, produces Apple Watch cases with built-in ECG monitors that can detect heart palpitations. And a study by scientists at Stanford University found that wearables like the Apple Watch can spot the onset of a potential cold or disease.

Apple is experimenting, too. In September, Bloomberg reported the company was working on new HealthKit apps with rudimentary sleep and heart rate analysis. It is also planning to make the medical data the Apple Watch collects usable for diagnoses — potentially via Gliimpse, a technology it acquired this year that collates medical databases in a single location.

“While mobile technology screening won’t replace more conventional monitoring methods, it has the potential to successfully screen those at an increased risk and lower the number of undiagnosed cases of AF,” Marcus said.

Download Cardiogram for iOS