‘Echo Arena’ is competitive, virtual reality frisbee in zero gravity

When we saw Lone Echo at Oculus Connect 3 late last year, it solved one of virtual reality’s biggest limitations by ignoring humanity’s most common form of locomotion: walking. The game takes place entirely in zero gravity, asking players to navigate its virtual world by pushing off of bulkheads like an astronaut, or using hand mounted jets to fly around like Iron Man. It worked shockingly well and easily became one of our favorite games from the show. Intel must have thought so too — it just made the game’s multiplayer component half of its new VR eSports league.

Called Echo Arena, the multiplayer part of the space exploration title pits teams of five weightless robots against each other in a frantic game of zero-g frisbee. The goal is pretty simple: get control of the flying disc, avoid attacks from other players and toss the space frisbee into the opposing team’s goal. Actually doing this is pretty hard. Not only is navigating four dimensions difficult in itself, but the momentum of tossing yourself off a wall in zero gravity means it’s exceptionally hard to catch a pass. With time and practice, it can be done — but between the mechanics of the game and the VR experience movement model, there’s a very clear skill curve.

That’s probably why Intel chose Echo Arena to be one of two games in its VR Challenger League. Starting in July, Intel and the Electronic Sports League will host a competitive VR gaming series in both online and localized events before a finale at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Poland next year.

After half an hour of training and four quick rounds of Echo Arena, it’s hard to say for sure if it’ll be the Rocket League of VR — but it’s definitely a start. Playing the game absolutely feels sport-like. Carefully balanced offense and defense are necessary for winning a match, and when our team didn’t work together, things fell apart quickly. But not all sports are fun to watch. Even after I played a few rounds of the game, I found being a spectator it difficult — it just wasn’t easy to tell what was going on from an outside perspective. And without spectators, VR eSports just isn’t going to work out.

It’s an issue, but not an insurmountable one. Live commentary and a solid spectator mode could go a long way toward making sense of Echo Arena as a spectator sport — and Intel is serious about making VR eSports viable. In all, up to $200,000 in prizes will be awarded to top players of Echo Arena and Insomniac Games’ The Unspoken. That’s a big investment.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Box’s desktop app is fine for you, but better for businesses

When you think of cloud storage services, your mind probably drifts over Dropbox or Google Drive. You might not remember Box as well — it was one of the earliest cloud providers out there and it’s thriving today. Now, it’s catching up with some of its biggest rivals in a notable way: it finally has a desktop app so you manage your entire Box archive sans web browser.

Ready for the caveat? It’s still technically in beta. In a conversation with ZDNet, Box product VP Rand Wacker said the tech is good enough for use in the field — it just doesn’t offer offline syncing yet.

If the broad strokes sound familiar, well, congratulations: you have a pulse and own a computer. Similar functionality has been available from cloud storage rivals and more for years now, and Box itself has been working on its native desktop app for at least two years. The delayed launch was almost certainly due to the nature of its most important customers. While competitors skew toward consumer use, Box has focused heavily on becoming the sort of platform large-scale enterprises rely on. That means serious security, among other things.

Sure, the average user can use Box Drive to ferry files into their slice of the cloud just fine. Your mom at home probably doesn’t need to worry about her online files being stored in compliance with HIPAA, though. In this case, Box thinks — or hopes — that companies in healthcare and financial services will take a shine to the new app, since those firms often rely on virtual machines where other syncing services can be wonky. (Naturally, Box Drive also works with macOS and Windows.) In any case, go forth — go forth and manage your clouds and let your hearts be full of joy.

Via: ZDNet

Source: Box

‘Duck Season’ is equal parts nostalgic and creepy

When I was a kid with the original Nintendo Entertainment System, I of course played Duck Hunt. Fast forward 25 years and I did so in virtual reality, live on stage at E3 in front of the entire internet with Duck Season — a tribute to the classic NES title. What was my high score? And, more importantly, how often did I shoot my hunting companion, an anthropomorphic dog that looks ripped straight out of Five Nights at Freddy’s? You’ll have to watch the above video to find out.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Ohio drunk drivers ordered to install Uber or Lyft

Drunk drivers may have a new consequence for getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. They’ll still face stiff penalties like fines, mandatory driver’s prevention programs and possible jail time, of course. However, according to The News-Herald, Ohio Municipal Court Judge Michael A. Cicconetti has been ordering those convicted of Operating a Vehicle Impaired (OVI) to download ride-sharing apps like Uber or Lyft as part of his sentencing. They must also enter their credit cards into the app as a condition of probation.

“If you can save one person from getting another OVI, one person from getting into an accident, one person from hurting somebody else, it makes sense,” Cicconetti told The News-Herald. “It’s just common sense. It doesn’t cost anybody anything to install it and activate it, and it’s far cheaper than paying the thousands of dollars you’d have to pay for another OVI.”

There are many technological “solutions” to the drunk driving problem, of course. Researchers have developed a laser that can detect drunk drivers remotely. There are apps with hardware add-ons to help you decide if you’re too drunk to drive. Some car-makers have anti-drunk driving technology built in. And yet there are still too many people choosing to drive while intoxicated; 604 Operating a Vehicle Impaired citations were issued in 2016 for defendants in Painesville Municipal Court. Installing an app and having it set up with a credit card for easy access could certainly encourage folks to grab an Uber or Lyft from the bar. Now if only we could ensure that the Uber drivers are sober.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: The News-Herald

Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 33 With Netflix AirPods Bug Fix

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 33 includes fixes and improvements for JavaScript, WebRTC, Media Streams and Capture, Media, CSS Grid, Web API, Rendering, and Web Inspector.

Today’s update also includes a specific bug fix that allows Netflix to properly work with Safari when using AirPods and it addresses an issue causing stuttering audio in YouTube when the page changes visibility.

With Safari 11 now available to developers through the macOS High Sierra beta, Apple is providing two versions of Safari Technology Preview, one for macOS Sierra users and one for those using macOS High Sierra.

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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Most Popular Ringtones Free offers a small collection of average ringtones, nothing more (Review)

Overview:

I don’t know about you, but I often get bored with the sounds my phone makes. So I try to change my ringtone or my sound alarm as often as I can. That’s why I’ve tried numerous ringtone apps throughout the years. Luckily, there’s a large variety of them to choose from. Which brings me to the latest app I’ve downloaded. It’s called Most Popular Ringtones Free and it’s a pretty straightforward app – easy to use, but sadly also quite easy to forget.

Developer: TM

Cost: Free

Impressions:

Getting started is super easy. Tap on the Most Popular Ringtones Free icon and …you’ll be greeted by the app’s welcome screen, followed by a super annoying ad. Whoa, that didn’t take long!

Anyhow, find the “X” on the upper left corner and tap on it to get rid of it. Finally, you’ll be transported within the app where you’ll see the list of ring tones. It’s not a super extensive one, but there are plenty of choices including bits like “Comet Journey”, “Introspective Tine” or “Dubtrance Sense”.

Tap the “Play” button to listen to the ringtone and adjust the volume using the volume slider located at the top. However, don’t expect to find anything too complex. This app simply offers a database of basic sounds reminiscent of the ones your phone comes loaded with. But if you already used all of them up, you’ll probably be grateful for this app.

Once you have zeroed in on a particular Ring Tone, press the next button and proceed to set it as:

–    Main ringtone
–    Contact ringtone
–    SMS/Notification
–    Alarm Tone
–    Timer
–    Widget

The “Set as Alarm” option will not affect existing alarms, but only the new ones you create. Users can easily delete existing alarms and create new ones.

To set a Ringtone as a widget you can either go to Home Screen>Press Menu button on phone>Add>Widget>Choose Most Popular Ringtones Free>Choose sound or go to Home Screen>Long press on desktop> Widget>Choose Most Popular Ringtones Free>Choose a sound. It depends on the kind of phone you have. Anyway, once you perform this string of actions, a widget will pop up on your Home Screen allowing you to play the Ring Tone anytime you want simply by tapping on the icon.

As I mentioned above, the app is pretty straightforward, but it’s also quite lacking in some areas. First off, the interface seems pretty ancient, I would have liked to be able to work with something more modern. Secondly, it would be have been nice not to be spammed by an ad every time you tapped on an option. I also noticed that some ringtones aren’t as loud of others. What’s up with that?

Another major issue with this app is that it offers next to nothing in terms of customization. So if you don’t like anything in the list, you might as well just uninstall the app and be done with it.

To be frank, using this app brought back the nostalgia of Ringtone Maker. The app allows users to select music from their personal collection, cut it down and even adjust things like waveform to create the desired effect. It comes equipped with great editing tools, so you’ll be able to get your custom ringtone in no time.

Conclusion

Most Popular Ringtones Free doesn’t bring much to the table, aside from a (small) collection of pretty rudimentary ringtones. Some tunes work better than others and if you want to truly customize your ringtone, you might as well just skip this app and install Ringtone Maker or a similar title.

Download Most Popular Ringtones Free from the Google Play Store

Razer Blade Stealth 2017: Our First Take

Razer’s Blade Stealth is no longer a new contender to the laptop world, and Razer is taking steps to ensure it stays relevant against newcomers. This time around, that means expanding the screen without — changing the chassis –raising the price, and offering a new color. Gunmetal.

This more subtle option should make it a better choice for anyone not looking to broadcast their gamer status, and it won’t cost any more than similarly equipped matte black Blade Stealth. We spent a few minutes with the system at E3 2017, and it’s shaping up to be a solid update.

More attractive than ever

Draped in attractive gunmetal, the already sexy Razer Blade Stealth cuts an even more appealing figure. It’s slim, light, and feels great in hand, something Razer has never had trouble with. The bezels, which stretched to almost a full inch on the previous model, are slimmer than before, something we’ve continually seen from higher-end laptops. It makes the system a lot sleeker, which is clearly at the front of Razer’s mind. The new Gunmetal option is absolutely gorgeous, and has a premium feel not found in less expensive systems.

Razer has also expanded the touchpad in the new generation of the Blade Stealth. It felt more precise, and stretched all the way to the bottom of the system’s chassis. Clicking the surface gave us a nice, chunky ‘thunk,’ and the touch surface felt smooth as we effortlessly flicked through multi-touch gestures.

The keyboard felt great, with long travel and a spacious layout that defies the laptop’s small size. The model we checked out had Chroma lighting, but Razer says the gunmetal rendition will just have white backlights — another testament to its commitment to taking Razer’s brand into the boardroom by cutting back on flashy elements.

Of course, building an attractive machine with solid set of input methods isn’t all there is to building a portable laptop. Razer learned that lesson with last year’s Razer Blade Stealth, which performed very well, but fell behind in battery life.

In response, Razer has changed the resolution to a user choice of 2,560 x 1,440 or 3,200 x 1,800, cutting out the 4K option in the 13.3-inch model. As far as we’re concerned, that’s a good idea. 4K resolution didn’t provide a lot of tangible benefits at 13 inches or lower, and it became a burden that weighed down battery life.

Still won’t game out of the box

While the Blade Stealth has received update, its core concept remains the same. Its thin, light chassis crowds out room for a discrete graphics chip. Gaming on this laptop is no better than on a Dell XPS 13 or HP Spectre x360.

Gaming is possible, however, if you enlist some help. Razer intends the laptop to be used with its Razer Core external graphics dock. A $400 add-on when purchased with a Blade Stealth ($500 otherwise), the Core dock adds a desktop-class GPU to the picture and connects over Thunderbolt 3.

That’s an expensive add-on, and frankly, we don’t think you should buy the Blade Stealth at all if serious gaming is your goal. It’d be wiser to tolerate the heft of Razer’s standard Blade, or simply opt for a gaming desktop alongside an inexpensive ultrabook.

But the option is there. The Core can even be upgraded with a new desktop graphics card at your leisure, so it does provide upgrade options when it comes time to boost the laptop’s performance.

The rich get richer

As part of the upgrade process, Razer has bumped the starting price from $1,100 to $1,400 — which doesn’t exactly feel like a selling point. However, the new base Stealth is much better equipped than the previous one, with an Intel Core i7-7500U, 256GB SSD, and 16GB of memory.

Razer will continue offering certain models of the 12-inch Blade Stealth with a 4K panel that sports, in our testing, an impressive 95 percent AdobeRGB coverage. That’s not exactly the simplest way to promote a product, but at least the internals are a bit faster.

Whether a new color and upgraded hardware is enough to draw people over to the Blade Stealth remains to be seen. It’s clear Razer has responded to user feedback, and worked to make the system a bit more subtle — a factor far more important in a portable laptop than a gaming system like the Blade.

Everything you need to know about Facebook Messenger’s M assistant

Update: Facebook’s M Suggestions are now available in Spanish to users in the U.S., and is currently rolling out in Mexico. 

Notice a little “M” logo near the textbox in Facebook Messenger? It’s the social media network’s artificially-intelligent assistant that’s meant to offer suggestions in your conversations — similar to how Google Assistant can jump in to help in conversations via Allo. With the assistant officially rolled out across the U.S., it is now available in both English and Spanish to all Messenger users in the country.

M is now able to provide suggestions in Spanish — like sending payments or sharing your location — and the feature is gradually rolling out in Mexico for iOS and Android, Facebook told Digital Trends. If you’d like to receive M Suggestions in Spanish, you can change the preferred language to Spanish.

M itself is powered by Facebook-built AI, and so far works by popping up in your chats when it detects that it can help with something. For example, if you mention going somewhere, M can detect this and will offer up a quick way to book a ride with Uber or Lyft (you can set your preference) — all without leaving the Messenger app.

Before diving into what Facebook’s M can do, there are a few things to keep in mind. Most importantly, Facebook is still working on M and it’s likely the assistant will evolve a lot over the next few months and years. It will also roll out globally at some point as Facebook says users across the globe will “start seeing a redesigned way to compose messages.” If you want nothing to do with this AI revolution, or if you think M makes your conversations too cluttered, you can mute it by heading to Messenger’s settings — tap on the person icon on the top-right of Messenger’s main page, then tap M settings and toggle Suggestions off.

A lot of M’s functions are available in Facebook Messenger — simply tap on the “+” icon on the left, and you’ll be able to share your location, book a ride, plan an event, and more. All M does is take away an extra step, and it reminds you these features exist in Messenger. If M has indeed caught your eye, here’s a list of all the ways it can currently help in your conversations.

Stickers

Facebook’s M can help make using stickers a little easier, preventing the need to search through them. During your chats, M may suggest stickers relating to whatever you’re talking about. For example, if someone says goodbye, you may see a group of stickers depicting “goodbye,” like the image above. You can swipe left or right to hide these suggestions.

Location sharing

During a conversation, it might be appropriate to share your location with the other person in the chat. If you’re meeting up with a friend who asks where you are, M will suggest you share your location. It’s not hard to share your location without M, too. Tap the “+” icon on the left and scroll to Location. You can share your real-time location for 60 minutes.

Settings reminders

Your phone probably has a way to set reminders, such as with Siri on iOS or Google Assistant on Android. Reminders with M will involve others, such as when a significant other or friend asks you to remind them of something. These are not location-based reminders, sadly, but just time-based.

Sending and requesting money

It has been possible to send money to friends with Messenger for a while, but M makes it easy. If someone mentions sending or requesting money, M will ask members of the conversation if they want to follow through. It’s really pretty easy to use — but you will have to enter your payment information first. You can store your payment information beforehand by heading into Messenger’s settings and scrolling to Payments.

Planning Events

Facebook M can also help you plan out events. Perhaps the easiest way that it does so is by looking for things like restaurants nearby — so if the assistant sees you planning to meet up with a friend, it will let you create an event with a name, date, and time.

Hail a ride

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Along with helping you plan where you want to go, M can help you get there too. When you’re planning to meet up with a friend to go somewhere, M will suggest you book an Uber or Lyft, and it will help you through the booking process — you never have to leave Messenger.

Starting a poll

Last but not least is the ability to start a poll, however this option is only available in a group chat. If you’re asking a question in a group chat, for example, M might suggest a poll to more easily gather information.

Anti-poaching shockwave sensors help save Kenyan elephants from gunfire

Why it matters to you

WIPER could help protect vulnerable elephants and keep them off the endangered species list.

Conservationists have a new way to monitor Kenyan elephants and track poachers who are after their tusks. Called WIPER — Wireless anti-Poaching Technology for Elephants and Rhinos — the device uses sensors to pick up on ballistic shockwaves and transmit the exact coordinates of an elephant as soon as gunshots are detected.

“Poaching has devastated many populations on which I work and, in response, we have been developing technologies and approaches to provide enhanced protection,” George Wittemyer, Colorado State University professor and chairman of Save the Elephants, told Digital Trends. That includes the 100,000 elephants poached for their tusks between 2010 and 2012, according to Save the Elephants’ estimates.

Save the Elephants

In order to avoid detection, poachers often put silencers on their weapons. But even if the sound is muffled, the shockwave generated by supersonic projectiles is not. With just a few sensors on a tracking collar, WIPER can detect these shockwaves and alert authorities to the assault.

WIPER was designed by Vanderbilt University’s Akos Ledeczi, who’d previously worked for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create similar sensors for detecting and locating muzzled gunfire.

“In the military domain, shockwave sensing is important because the bullets typically fly close to the sensors — vehicles and soldiers — while the shooter may be far away,” Ledeczi told Digital Trends. Meanwhile in law enforcement, sensors are designed to detect muzzle blasts instead, since bullets from handguns are usually subsonic.

Engineers have been trying to use strategically placed anti-poaching sensors to detect muzzle blasts. “The problem is that you need a sensor every few hundred meters, so the solution does not scale beyond a relatively small area,” Ledeczi explained.

Since WIPER can detect gunfire using just a few sensors in an area the size of half of a football field, the researchers say just one device is sufficient to cover an entire herd of elephants. The team’s next steps include field studies in Kenya. It will also try to develop a 12-month battery life for the device.

WIPER is yet another tool in the arsenal of anti-poachers, who are battling to keep African elephants off the endangered species list. They’ve recently deployed drones to track poachers and even scare elephants away from danger.

Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence can beat your ‘Ms. Pac-Man’ high score

Why it matters to you

The method used to master Ms. Pac-Man could help demonstrate the benefits of a divide-and-conquer approach in real-world applications.

A team of researchers have managed to develop an artificial intelligence capable of mastering the arcade classic Ms. Pac-Man. Maluuba — a Canadian deep learning startup that was acquired by Microsoft in January 2017 — used a divide-and-conquer technique to empower its system to complete the Atari 2600 version of the game with a perfect score of 999,990.

Maluuba’s approach is interesting, because it breaks down the strategies and maneuvers required to beat the game into their component parts. Various different agents focus on one job and one job alone, while an agent put in charge of managing from the top makes high-level decisions about what actions should be prioritized.

For instance, some agents might be tasked with chasing down pellets, while others focused on avoiding enemies. The decision-making agent would then choose the best option based on weighted logic — if a hundred agents wanted to move left to grab a pellet, but only three wanted to move right to avoid a ghost, it would elect to move right because colliding with the enemy would end the run.

Ms. Pac-Man is relatively widely used in AI research because of the unpredictable nature of its gameplay, according to a post on the official Microsoft blog. Steve Golson, who is credited as co-creator of the original arcade version of the game, notes that this was intentional, as the game was reliant on players spending quarter after quarter on extra lives for it to be a financial success.

Maluuba used reinforcement learning, a process by which an AI receives positive or negative feedback for each attempt it makes at a problem, to address this unpredictability. It’s hoped that reinforcement learning could help foster systems that are better equipped to make decisions on their own, compared to those that are trained via supervised learning, where the system is simply fed good and bad examples to establish a base of experience.