Microsoft opens pre-orders for standard Xbox One X

Microsoft’s Xbox One X is now available to pre-order. The console, touted as the most powerful ever (that claim excludes PCs, of course), will be out on November 7th worldwide. The company opened pre-orders for a special ‘Project Scorpio’ edition last month, but those ran out fast. In fact, Microsoft says it was “the fastest-selling Xbox pre-order ever.” The regular version is basically the same, save for a tiny green Scorpio logo on the 1TB console and controller. It costs $499.99/£449.99 and is available now through the Microsoft Store, Microsoft.com and a host of local retailers.

The Xbox One X will run the same games as the cheaper Xbox One S. Many will be “enhanced,” however, with up to 4K resolution graphics and 60 frames per second performance. Today, Microsoft confirmed that “more than 130” new and existing games have now been “enhanced” for the system. Those include Far Cry 5, the remastered L.A. Noire and Okami HD. That number, of course, should improve over time as the One X install base grows and more developers experiment with the console. If, like us, you’re struggling to keep track of the “enhanced” roster, Microsoft has set up a dedicated website at xbox.com/enhanced. That’s nice of them, eh?

Twitch Prime brings ad-free streaming to Mexico

Amazon Prime debuted in Mexico earlier this year, and now the subscription service for the retailer’s $970 million livestreaming platform is available as well. In case you forgot, Twitch Prime doles out free games, in-game items and other goodies via the platform in addition to offering an ad-free watching experience. It’s free for anyone who has an Amazon Prime subscription, and recently started giving away collectibles for Madden ’18’s Ultimate Team mode.

Source: Twitch

Toshiba to Sell Memory Chip Unit to Consortium That Includes Apple

After months of negotiations, Toshiba has decided to sell its memory chip unit to a global consortium that includes Bain Capital, SK Hynix, Dell, and Apple, reports Reuters.

No official announcement has been made by Toshiba as of yet, but the company is expected to announce the sale on Wednesday. As of Tuesday, Toshiba was said to be leaning towards a group backed by Western Digital, but Western Digital is said to have failed to agree to some of Toshiba’s terms regarding limits on WD’s future stake in the business.

Western Digital may still attempt to block the sale and is said to be prepared to seek a court injunction to stop it. Western Digital previously invested in Toshiba’s semiconductor plant and claims its consent is required for the sale.

Toshiba first announced plans to sell its NAND flash memory unit in January of 2017 to raise funds to cover losses associated with its U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse. Many companies, including TSMC, Foxconn, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and a range of private equity firms entered bids in an effort to get a piece of the memory chip unit.

The consortium, led by Bain Capital, was selected as the preferred bidder in June, and in September, entered a higher bid amid fierce competition. Apple, SK Hynix, Dell, and Bain Capital are said to have offered a combined 2.4 trillion yen, equivalent to $22 billion, along with an additional 200 billion yen for infrastructure.

As of early September, Bain and SK Hynix were said to be providing a total of 567.5 billion yen, while Apple was reported to be offering 335 billion yen, equivalent to $3 billion. That sum is in line with reports suggesting Apple was prepared to spend several billion dollars for a “substantial stake” in the memory business.

Bain, Apple, Dell, and SK Hynix will own a combined 49.9 percent stake in the chip unit, with Toshiba keeping 40 percent and Japanese firms controlling the other 10.1 percent should the sale go through.

Apple already uses Toshiba’s flash memory in its products. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus include memory sourced from both Toshiba and SK Hynix.

Tag: Toshiba
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Amazon Reportedly Working on Smart Glasses With Integrated Alexa AI

Amazon is actively developing a pair of smart glasses with Alexa virtual assistant built in, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Designed like a regular pair of spectacles, the device will enable Alexa to be invoked by the wearer at any time and at all places, the report said, citing people familiar with Amazon’s plans.

The founder of Google Glass is said to be working on Amazon’s Alexa smart glasses
The company is reportedly including a bone-conduction audio system in the specs so that the wearer can hear Alexa’s voice without inserting headphones.

The founder of Google Glass, Babak Parviz, is said to have been working on the Alexa product since he was hired by Amazon in 2014. Earlier this year, Google re-introduced its Google Glass wearable headset after discontinuing production in 2016.

In addition, The Financial Times reports that Amazon is also working on a more conventional home security camera, and that one or both of these products may appear before the end of this year.

Previous reports have claimed that Amazon is working on a successor to its popular Echo connected smart speaker and plans to bring the device to market this year in time to compete with Apple’s HomePod, which is set to launch this December.

According to rumors that first surfaced in 2016, Apple is also working on several different kinds of smart glasses, with the main application of bringing augmented reality experiences to the wearer.

Reports this year suggest Apple’s glasses will connect wirelessly to the iPhone, much like the Apple Watch, and will display “images and other information to the wearer”.

Related Roundup: Apple VR Project
Tags: Google Glass, Alexa
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Dual-screen Yota3 is official with a sharper E Ink screen

Well, the wait is finally over. After a teaser back in June, the third-gen dual-screen YotaPhone — now simply dubbed Yota3 — was unveiled in China yesterday. Pretty much all the main specs are identical to the leak Engadget received earlier, but this was our first time seeing this rounded metallic design. First and foremost, there’s a 5.5-inch 1080p Samsung AMOLED screen along with a 13-megapixel f/2.2 camera plus a fingerprint reader on the front. Flip the device around and you’ll see its headlining feature: a 5.2-inch 720p E Ink Carta II display — an expected upgrade from the previous 4.7-inch 960 x 540 screen — accompanied by three capacitive navigation buttons at the bottom.

As previously mentioned, the Yota3 is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 625, which is a little disappointing given that prices start at 3,699 yuan — about $560 instead of the rumored $350. That said, you still get a 12-megapixel main camera with an efficient 1.4um sensor, and it’s boosted with a speedy f/1.9 aperture plus Dual PD auto-focus. There’s also a handy 3,300 mAh battery with 9V/2A quick charge via USB-C. And no, there is no headphone jack here so you’ll need to use an adapter for personal audio.

The Yota3 comes in three versions: there’s a 64GB base model with the aforementioned price, then the 128GB model jumps to 4,299 yuan or about $655, with both model packing 4GB of RAM plus microSD expansion (if you don’t mind using up one of the two SIM slots). There’s also a 64GB “national gift set” version which is also asking for 4,299 yuan, but instead of aluminum, the phone’s 7.9mm-thick body uses the more premium 316L stainless steel instead; plus it comes with more accessories and some e-book credit.

It’s hard to tell how well the Yota3 will sell in China, let alone the rest of the world. While its rare dual-screen feature will no doubt entertain a presumably small group of enthusiasts, the pricing isn’t attractive enough to push it to the mainstream audience, nor is it positioned as a premium device. Either way, it looks like the Yota3 will be a tough sell, which isn’t good news for this struggling Russian-Chinese partnership.

Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: JD

Scientists want to explore asteroids with a fleet of nanoprobes

Researchers at the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) presented a mission plan today at the European Planetary Science Congress that would allow scientists to observe hundreds of asteroids over the course of just a few years. Their plan is to send 50 nanoprobes — small space instruments — into the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter to take images and chemical measurements of around 300 large asteroids. “Asteroids are very diverse and, to date, we’ve only seen a small number at close range. To understand them better, we need to study a large number in situ. The only way to do this affordably is by using small spacecraft,” FMI’s Pekka Janhunen told Popular Mechanics.

The five kilogram probes would be affixed with a tiny telescope and a spectrometer that would analyze chemical samples from the asteroids. The nanoprobes would be propelled through space with electric solar wind sails, or E-sails. The E-sail would be composed of the main spacecraft, a smaller remote unit and a 20-kilometer-long tether that connects the two. That tether would be kept at a positive charge so that when positive ions emitted by the sun and traveling through space come in contact with it, they’ll repel each other, giving the probe a nice boost.

Each probe would analyze six or seven asteroids and then swing back towards Earth to unload their data, which would negate the need for the large antennas that distant data transmission requires. The whole mission could take just over three years to complete and the researchers estimate it would cost around $72 million — a bargain for space missions.

The mission hasn’t been approved or picked up by a space agency yet, but the information they could gather would be incredibly useful. “The nanosats could gather a great deal of information about the asteroids they encounter during their tour, including the overall size and shape, whether there are craters on the surface or dust, whether there are any moons, and whether the asteroids are primitive bodies or a rubble pile,” said Janhunen. “They would also gather data on the chemical composition of surface features, such as whether the spectral signature of water is present.”

You can read the conference paper here.

Source: EPSC, Popular Mechanics

Oculus tweaks VR audio to seem closer and more realistic

Audio can be just as important as visuals if you want to make true-to-life VR experiences. That’s why Oculus has introduced changes to the Rift SDK that give developers the power to make spatial audio as realistic as possible. One of the features the company added is called Near-Field head-related transfer function (HRTF). Ordinary HRTF is necessary to create a 3D audio experience, but it can only replicate how sounds would reach your ears from a meter away. This improved HRTF can mimic how sounds would reach your ears from a much closer distance. It can, for instance, make a whisper or the sound of a phone ringing as you bring it to your ears much more life-like.

Check it out in action in this sample audio:

You could also encounter some realistic-sounding waterfalls and oceans in the future, now that Oculus has added Volumetric Sound Sources to its SDK. This feature allows developers to give big sources of sound a radius instead of a single source of origin. When you step into that radius, you’ll hear sounds all around you — it could make you feel like you’re truly stepping into a waterfall to meditate. According to the Oculus team, they’re adding features like these two, because they want you to experience a new world upon entering a VR experience. “All these little cues that you’re used to having in real life — they aren’t there in VR,” Oculus Audio Design Manager Tom Smurdon said. “We’re slowly adding them in. Every little piece is cumulative, and it makes a huge difference.”

Source: Oculus

Promise Technology’s ‘Apollo’ Personal Cloud Storage Device Supports iOS 11 Files App

Promise Technology’s recently released Apollo Cloud 2 Duo storage device is able to interface with the iOS 11 Files app thanks to a new update that was introduced to the accompanying Apollo Cloud iOS app today.

The Apollo Cloud 2 Duo is a personal cloud storage solution designed to give families and small businesses the cloud’s ease of use with the security of local storage. The network-attached storage device offers 8TB of storage space and is accessed through a home Wi-Fi setup.

Mac and iOS apps allow users to interface with the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo from Macs and iOS devices, and when used with an iPhone or iPad, files stored on the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo can be easily transferred to and from the new Files app available in iOS 11. On an iPad, Drag and Drop is also supported, so managing files from an iOS device is easier than ever.

Other Apollo Cloud 2 Duo features include a quick camera roll backup tool to save your photos from iOS devices, built-in albums with facial recognition for organizing those photos, Time Machine support for Mac backups, and selective sync, for syncing specific folders on your Mac right to the Apollo.

Because the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo connects to a home Wi-Fi network, there are no monthly storage fees.

Along with today’s app update, the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo also became available for purchase in Apple retail stores. The Apollo Cloud 2 Duo is available for $449 from Apple or directly from Promise Technology.

Tags: Promise Technology, Apollo
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Epson Home Cinema 1450 projector unboxing and setup guide

Like having friends over to watch your favorite movies and shows? Sometimes, a television screen just isn’t enough. Investing in a quality projector can turn movie night into a spectacle — and turn your den or living room into the place to be every night. Epson makes some of the best projectors out there, and the PowerLite HC1450 fits that bill.

If you need help getting started, look no further; our Epson Home Cinema 1450 projector unboxing and setup guide can painlessly walk you through the process. Keep reading for a quick walkthrough.

What’s in the box?

Of course, there’s the projector itself. Aside from that, you’ll find:

• A power cable
• A remote
• Product literature

…And that’s it! You won’t get any mounting equipment or external cables, including HDMI.

Hardware setup

The 1450 is absolutely loaded with connective ports, all located in the rear. To wit, you’ll find a LAN port, USB-A and USB-B, two HDMI ports (one of which supports MHL), three different VGA inputs, two 3.5mm audio inputs, mono audio out, and stereo audio out. If it’s compatible with projectors, it’s compatible with the HC1450.

To angle the projector correctly, there’s an adjustable kickstand on the bottom, and there’s a dual-purpose switch on top that covers the lens while simultaneously shutting down audio and video functions. Directly behind that switch, you’ll find a zoom/focus control knob (though the projector does have an autofocus feature).

Features and design

The 1450 utilizes Epson’s proprietary 3LCD technology, brightening the picture and making colors more vivid. It’s also got a built-in 16W speaker in case you need some soothing music to show off your vacation pictures.

There are onboard controls, but you’ll probably want to use the remote instead. It’s got all the usual functions — input selection, settings, etc. — but you can also use it as a presentation remote, flicking through slides and zooming in on areas of interest.

Software setup

Generally speaking, you won’t need to tweak the settings too much — out of the box, the HC1450 should be good to go in nearly any viewing environment. Still, we have some recommendations. If you’re in a brightly lit room or area, try heading to “Color Mode” in the settings and selecting “Bright Cinema.” If the room is darkened like a movie theater, try “Cinema” instead.

There’s also a “Game” mode, which reduces processing and input lag. If you’re concerned about energy use (or about the lifespan of your projection lamp), try turning on Eco mode, located under “Power Consumption”. It’ll dim the screen a bit, though, so be careful.

New Windows Insider build focuses on bugs, resumed reading on mobile

Why it matters to you

The latest release of Windows 10 for the Insiders club shows that the Fall Creators Update is getting close to mass distribution.

Heads up Windows Insiders: A new build of Windows 10 is out, but don’t expect a major release. Now that the Fall Creators Update is essentially baked in the Redmond, Washington oven, the team is now ironing out the bugs and performing tweaks to get the update pushed out to the masses. That said, the new Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16291 is hitting the Fast Ring only, and will likely be followed by another build in the coming days.

For this build, Microsoft enhances the capabilities of Windows 10’s “resume” feature so that you can load up the Cortana app for iOS and Android, and pick up where you left off from where you were reading news and articles on the PC. This aspect joins the current cross-device features already stuffed into Windows 10 such as getting SMS messages on the PC, and reminders across all synchronized devices.

Outside the new resume addition, Build 16291 doesn’t offer anything new. Instead, you get a load of fixes for Windows 10 on PC. There are six in the entire list, addressing issues in the Skype UWP app, Outlook 2016, Microsoft Edge, Windows Update, and the F12 Developer Tools.

In the related blog posted on Tuesday, Dona Sarkar of the Windows and Devices group also posted an update for Insiders hitting a nasty bug on the Surface Pro 3. According to the post, these device owners are experiencing an infinite load where Windows 10 will remain on the “spinning dots” screen if you installed Build 16288.1 last week, or Build 16291.

The workaround, listed here, includes creating a bootable USB image to reboot into the current build. That is only a temporary fix and gives you time to download an executable patch onto the device and install via Administrator mode. Microsoft is currently incorporating the fix into Windows 10 itself, but the team warns that if Surface Pro 3 owners have not come across the bug thus far, it’s still possible. Cross your fingers the Surface Pro 3 will hold out until the release of Build 16294.

“As we mentioned previously, we are now at the point of the development cycle for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update where our focus is now on stabilization for release to the world,” Sarkar said on Tuesday. “This means that we are releasing new builds to Insiders more quickly and that these builds will include mostly bug fixes.”

Microsoft introduced a new feature for Windows Insider Fast Ring participants called “Skip Ahead” in July. Located under Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program, this branch provides all the updates currently in the pipeline for the Redstone 4 update (Fall Creators Update is Redstone 3). That is why Sarkar said the current build is only meant for participants in the Fast Ring.