IBM Watson allows players to talk to their shipmates in ‘Star Trek: Bridge Crew’

Why it matters to you

Star Trek: Bridge Crew is set to be a truly authentic experience for fans of the franchise, and IBM’s Watson technology will make gameplay even more immersive.

IBM and Ubisoft have announced a strategic partnership that will see IBM’s Watson technology implemented in the virtual reality game Star Trek: Bridge Crew. Players will be able to use their voice to interact with the other Starfleet officers and deliver commands to their crew.

Bridge Crew is a co-operative VR experience that sees players take on one of four distinct roles — captain, tactical officer, engineer, and helm officer — then work together with their shipmates to pull off difficult missions. IBM’s technology should ensure that playing the game with computer-controlled partners feels just as natural as playing alongside other human players.

Ubisoft has implemented Watson in Bridge Crew using IBM’s new VR Speech Sandbox, which combines the Watson software development kit for game development platform Unity with the Watson Text to Speech and Watson Conversation services. The VR Speech Sandbox is available now for developers who want to use voice recognition in their VR software.

IBM promises that its Watson technology provides natural language interaction, rather that keyword-driven dialogue. This should mean that players can concentrate on their strategy in the midst of gameplay, rather than fishing for a particular set of words and phrases that their AI companions can understand.

“For the first time, Watson will power the technology that makes it possible for gamers and fans of Star Trek to interact with the crew,” said Willie Tejada, IBM’s chief developer advocate. “We are only just seeing the impact of virtual and augmented reality and IBM is committed to providing developers with the tools they need to innovate and be competitive in this AI and Cognitive era.”

Watson is set to be implemented in Bridge Crew later this summer. However, players will be able to preview the functionality when an experimental beta period gets underway following the game’s launch on May 30, 2017.

How to boot NVIDIA Shield TV straight into live television

It’s a TV box so it’s not unreasonable to want to boot straight into live TV. Here’s how to do it.

If you’re using your NVIDIA Shield TV in conjunction with the Live Channels app for over the air television, then there’s a strong chance that’s going to be the first thing you want to see when you turn it on. But, like any other Android device, the first thing you see when you turn it on is the home screen.

But this is Android so there’s usually a way around things to get exactly what you want. The same is true here, and it doesn’t take much effort on your part to achieve this simple dream.

Head into the Play Store on your Shield TV and search for an app called Launch on Boot. It’s free to download and does, not surprisingly, exactly what the name implies. It’ll let you boot the Live Channels app, or any other app for that matter, every time you turn on your Shield TV.

When you open it up you get a very quick tutorial on what it does, but the options are simple. You’ve a toggle to turn it on, which you need to do to make it work. Below that there’s another toggle to turn on if you want to boot directly into the TV. Make sure this is on, hit test to make sure it’s working and your work here is done.

If you’d prefer a different app to launch, for example, if you’re wanting to see Plex, HDHomeRun or Kodi when you first turn on the Shield, simply turn off the toggle for booting into TV. You’ll then see an option to choose any of the other applications currently installed on your Shield TV. Select, hit test again to make sure all is well and you’re good to go.

It’d be nice to have this built in, but at least for now this is a simple way to get the job done.

More: How to add live TV channels to NVIDIA Shield TV

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Everywhere you can use Samsung Pay

Samsung Pay is available all over the place.

Samsung Pay makes paying for your purchases easier than ever, but knowing when it will work is handy in a pinch. There are plenty of places that work well with Samsung Pay, but it definitely isn’t available everywhere. We’ve got the details for you on where it works, and where it doesn’t.

Where can I use Samsung Pay?

Samsung Pay will work at terminals that use NFC or MST—Magnetic Secure Transmission —payments. While you may be pretty familiar with NFC payments, Samsung phones are the only ones using MST to render payments.

MST Technology allows your phone to trick a terminal into thinking a card has been swiped by using a magnetic field. Using this technology your phone is able to magnetically swipe at terminals as though it were a real card, even if the terminal does not support tap and pay.

Essentially what you need to use Samsung Pay is a terminal where it is possible to just tap or magnetically ‘swipe’ your phone in order to pay. Now, many folks currently have credit or debit cards that require a chip reader in order to render payments. Depending on the card that you are using, the virtual card supplied in the app should be able to bypass this by delivering a virtual card without a chip. And thanks to tokenization, a process that randomizes the numbers of your virtual card from those of your real, physical one, if the terminal is compromised and those numbers are stolen, it shouldn’t affect your account as a whole.

Many retailers that are set up to accept Samsung Pay as a payment method have a sticker on their terminal. This makes it easy to tell at a glance if Samsung Pay is accepted, although in some locations it will work even if it isn’t indicated.

What does not support Samsung Pay?

Samsung Pay is supported at many different locations, from grocery stores to convenience stores to Square readers. However, it isn’t going to work everywhere. Specifically the place where you are going to run into problems is anywhere that requires you to insert your card in order to process payment.

This means that locations like ATMs, or vending machines are not going to be able to process Samsung Pay purchases if they require you to insert a bank card. While you do have a virtual card saved to your account, it isn’t physical and thus can’t be inserted into the machines.

The big thing to remember is that Samsung Pay is only going to work in locations that have a magnetic strip reader using MST, or access to NFC contactless technology. In some cases you may still run into issues with companies updating their terminals for chip technology.

What do terminals that use Samsung Pay look like?

Since so many places now support Samsung Pay, it can be a little bit difficult to figure out which ones don’t support this payment method. We’ve collected some photos for you, so that you know when Samsung Pay ought to work, and when it won’t.

We tested out terminals in chain stores like Target and Journeys, along with vending machines that take Samsung Pay.

Now when it comes to places that aren’t currently accepting Samsung Pay, you’ll often be looking at older locations that haven’t updated their terminals yet.

Have you used Samsung Pay?

Samsung Pay lets you tap your phone to a terminal in order to pay with your phone, and it’s available for use at thousands upon thousands of locations. While it doesn’t work everywhere, or in every case, it is a handy alternative to digging through your wallet for your card. Have you used Samsung Pay? Let us know about it in the comments below!

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How to turn off Galaxy Apps notifications on the Galaxy S8

No, I don’t want to hear about your promotions.

Having the Galaxy Apps store installed on you Galaxy S8 or S8+ alongside the Play Store isn’t ideal, but it’s the only way to update some of your phone’s core services. What isn’t necessary at all are its notifications, which can be useful sometimes but are often just promotional pushes you may not care about.

You can turn off the notifications for the app entirely, though, and it only takes a couple steps. Here’s how to get it done.

How to turn off Galaxy Apps notifications.

Open Galaxy Apps from your home screen or app drawer.
Tap on the overflow menu button in the top-right corner.
Tap on Settings.
Tap on the toggle for Push notifications to turn off promotional notifications. These are the non-critical notifications about sales, deals and promotions from Samsung.
Tap on the toggle for Show updates … to turn off app update notifications. You don’t necessarily need these turned on so long as you have “Auto update apps” turned on above it.

With both of these toggles turned off, Galaxy Apps won’t bother you at all anymore. So long as you keep the automatic updates turned on it will still update some core services periodically, and you won’t ever have to open Galaxy Apps unless you want to.

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iPad Pro 10.5-inch could be launched in June following case leak

The much-rumoured 10.5-inch iPad Pro may be unveiled in June if a leaked stock system document showing upcoming cases for it is to be believed.

The leaked stock report is allegedly from an Apple Authorised Reseller, and subsequently shared with 9to5Mac, and shows an Under Armour Gear Metropolis Folio case for an “iPad 10.5”. The UAG case is noted as being new for June 2017, which would tie in with Apple’s WWDC 2017 conference.

• Apple iPad 10.5 tipped for early 2017, could have A10X processor
• Apple WWDC 2017: When is it, where to watch and what to expect?

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Apple usually reserves WWDC for software announcements, although the company is expected to unveil a Siri-powered smart speaker. Unveiling a new iPad as well may be a step too far.

The same case is mentioned above that listing, and is available for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The listing for the 10.5-inch iPad doesn’t explicitly state it’s for a Pro version of Apple’s tablet. However the Metropolis case is compatible with Apple’s Smart Keyboard, which can only be used with the Pro model, so we can make an educated guess and assume the 10.5-inch listing is for an iPad Pro.

Apple only released a new version of the regular iPad in March this year, so we’d be surprised if a new screen size for that is released just a few months later. The Pro on the other hand hasn’t had a refresh since it was first announced in March 2016.

We’ve also heard on two previous occasions that Apple was looking to develop a 10.5-inch iPad Pro, dating back to November 2016. A 10.5-inch iPad Pro would obviously provide more screen real estate than the 9.7-inch model, and would be cheaper than the 12.9-inch variant, so would provide a good middle-ground.

• iPad Pro 2 not expected until May or even June, says report

Of course, Under Armour Gear may be producing the cases based on the same rumours and wants to beat other case makers to the punch. So as with any rumour, we’d suggest taking this one with a pinch of salt for now.

This slo-mo film was shot in 960fps, entirely on Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphones

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone is capable of recording slow motion video at an incredible 960 frames per second, as we detailed back in February, but what does that look like in the real world?

You can get a glimpse at what’s possible with such technology in a video Sony itself has put together.

In what it calls the “world’s first super slow motion film shot on a smartphone” you can see a whole bunch of clips recorded on different Xperia XZ Premium devices put together, edited and directed by movie and advertising director Chris Cairns.

Sony claims that the XZ Premium is capable of playing back video four times slower than any other smartphone. The video, as posted on YouTube, shows multiple Sony-like scenes that give you an impression of what that is capable of.

• Sony Xperia XZ Premium vs Xperia Z5 Premium: What’s the difference?

Its Motion Eye camera is also capable of 4K video recording and uses a 19-megapixel sensor, with larger pixels than most – ensuring that light is better read by the sensor than on many rivals.

The phone also has a 5.5-inch 4K HDR display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. It has a 3,230mAh battery and you can register your interest in pre-ordering one at sonymobile.com.

US laptop and tablet ban could extend to UK and Europe

The US is reportedly considering expanding its airline laptop and tablet ban to include the UK and Europe.

Flights to the States from several countries in the Middle East and Africa are already affected, with passengers not allowed to carry electronic devices larger than a smartphone in their hand baggage. Any larger devices are required to be stored in checked-in luggage and therefore not used during the flight at all.

Now CBS News claims the Department of Homeland Security in the US is looking at extending the ban to flights from Europe, possibly including the UK.

Government officials, it says, have met with US Airlines and a decision is expected “in the next few weeks”.

• Emirates gets round laptop ban by handing out Microsoft Surface tablets to passengers

If it is decided that a similar security threat could originate in Europe, you will not be able to take a laptop, tablet, games console (such as the Nintendo Switch), camera or any other electronic device other than a phone with you on a long haul flight to the States. You will have to check them in your cases.

How this will be managed is still unclear at present. Will you be checked at security for devices in correlation to your ticket – as many passengers will pass through the same security area who are not travelling to the US? Or will all passengers be double-checked the gate? Either way it could cause lengthy delays.

The UK also has an electronics travel ban in place. Passengers travelling to the UK from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia are already similarly affected.

IBM Watson adds voice commands to ‘Star Trek: Bridge Crew’

Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew won’t just put you in a VR starship when it finally launches. It’ll also give you the power to interact with the virtual Starfleet crew with your voice. The company has teamed up with IBM to add Watson’s interactive speech capabilities to the game, so you can tell a crew member to launch a missile — and maybe even pompously add “make it so” in the end — instead of using manual controls. Bridge Crew was supposed to launch last year but was plagued with numerous delays. It’s now scheduled to come out on May 30th for the PC and PS4, with Watson’s voice commands to follow later this summer during a Beta period.

Ubisoft’s senior creative director David Votypka Sr. says:

“We have been eager to find the right way to use interactive speech further the immersive and interactive experiences that virtual reality offers. Watson gives Captains in Star Trek: Bridge Crew the ability to issue commands to non-player crew members in the same way they do with a human crew; by using their voice. IBM provides an easy to integrate solution that is cloud based, so it’s light on code and performance while letting us remain fast on feature turnaround.”

While you’ll have to wait a few more weeks after the game launches to access voice control, developers can access the feature right now. They can also take advantage of the “VR Speech Sandbox” IBM uploaded to Github, which contains Watson’s Unity SDK, Speech to Text and Conversation. It can help them build VR user interfaces with voice interaction and could lead to even more immersive VR games in the future.

Source: IBM (Github), Ubisoft

The Morning After: Thursday, May 11th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

It’s Thursday, which in this case means we’re prepping for the second day of Microsoft’s Build 2017 conference, and it’s one you probably won’t want to miss. Take a look through Wednesday’s highlights, then check back for our live blog of the keynote speech starting at 11:30AM ET.

Vertical integration.Pre-orders are open for Tesla’s Solar Roof

Elon Musk’s quest to intervene in your energy use continues with new solar tiles. The company says it will cost an average homeowner around $21.85 per square foot, cheap enough to be cost competitive with standard tiles (when you add in the cost of electricity). However, unlike a Model S, these aren’t for showing off how green you are. Using a mix of nearly-identical solar and non-solar tiles, they’ll blend in and can be adjusted for expected energy use. Interested buyers can place their order now, with installations beginning this summer.

An amphibious ‘personal’ aircraftIcon A5 plane crash kills two, including its lead designer

When we rode in an Icon A5, it felt like ‘the iPod of planes,’ but the difference is that in-flight problems can have serious consequences. On Monday, two Icon employees were killed while flying at its facility in Lake Berryessa, CA. The cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation by the NTSB and FAA. Passenger Cagri Sever was a new employee who had recently joined the company from Ford, while pilot Jon Karkow designed the $190,000 A5.

Where is Ja, what does Ja think?Fyre Festival: When shilling for an event goes wrong

Maybe you’ve heard of the Fyre Festival by now. Billed as a music event in the Bahamas for the selfie generation, it ended with travelers eating cheese sandwiches in refugee tents due to horrifically poor planning and execution. Now the lawsuits are flying, and that could be bad news for the social media influencers who were paid to convince their fans to make the trip.

E-books over the Atlantic.DHS reportedly considers banning carry-on laptops on flights from Europe

After banning carry-on laptops for flights from some Middle Eastern and African countries, The Daily Beast reports that today the Department of Homeland Security will expand its ban to all flights from Europe. A DHS spokesperson confirmed a change is “under consideration,” but claimed no final decision had been made.

Silly rules.Netflix’s future at Cannes is in doubt

This year, Netflix original movies will be shown at Cannes Film Festival for the very first time. Unfortunately, it could also be the last time, thanks to a French law saying that movies shown in theaters can’t come to streaming for three years. Due to protests by exhibitors, the festival says that in the future it won’t accept entries unless they also play at theaters across France.

Ditch the calipersThe ShapeScale 3D scanner can color-code your body changes

If your fitness efforts require an even higher degree of precision, this device includes a camera mounted on a rotating arm that will 3D scan your body. The idea is that it will create a “heat map” to identify where your workouts are making an impact, without having to wait to see those changes reflected in the mirror you already own. The ShapeScale is expected to start shipping in 2018; preorders are now open for $299.

But wait, there’s more…

• Verizon reportedly outbid AT&T for key 5G wireless spectrum with a $3.1 billion offer
• ‘The Sims’ find a new home on iOS and Android
• Microsoft PowerPoint adds AI-powered real-time presentation translation
• Netflix HDR streaming arrives on Android
• Microsoft takes aim at Alexa with Cortana Skills Kit

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UberEats has London’s need for late-night munch covered

We’ve all been there. You get home late, the local chippy has shut up shop for the night, and you’re starving. In London, UberEats already has the hangover cure covered with the addition of breakfast deliveries earlier this year. Now, the service wants to cash in on late-night munchies in the capital too. As of today, UberEats has extended its London opening hours from 11PM to 2AM, with over 150 partner “restaurants” able to meet your midnight snack requirements — calling them restaurants might be a bit of a stretch, because we’re talking Papa Johns, Roosters PiriPiri and similar establishments that serve ravenous dinner-skippers already.

It’s not like Londoners have been going to bed hungry before now. Deliveroo still calls it a night at 11PM, but Hungryhouse and Just Eat have plenty of eateries on their books that’ll send a midnight moped ’round to wake the neighbours. There’s nothing wrong with more choice, mind, and it means you can now schedule a late-night grub delivery to coincide with the arrival of your post-pub Uber home.