Apple Suggests Apple TV 4K Will Gain Dolby Atmos Support in Future tvOS Update

Apple TV 4K reviews are out, and one interesting tidbit is that the streaming media player could gain support for Dolby Atmos surround sound technology in the future by way of a tvOS software update.

“Apple told me that the lack of Atmos isn’t a hardware limitation, and that support is on the roadmap,” wrote The Verge’s Nilay Patel.

Dolby Atmos was developed to give sound from movies and TV shows a more three-dimensional effect. Rather than being constrained to channels, sounds can be precisely placed and moved in three-dimensional space.

Patel explains:

Atmos and its competitor DTS:X are the next generation of surround sound formats, which the industry calls “object-based surround.” Unlike traditional surround, which sends specific tracks of audio to specific speakers, Atmos allows audio engineers to place sound “objects” in 3D space, and your receiver or soundbar figures out how to recreate it.

Both the Xbox One S and Roku feature Dolby Atmos sound, while Netflix has been rolling out support since July. Several theaters also play movies with Dolby Atmos sound, and many older titles have been remastered.

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Gett is using Citymapper data to plot new ride-sharing routes

London’s public transport system is pretty robust, with plenty of Tubes, buses and overground lines zig-zagging across the city. At rush hour, though, squeezing onto a crammed DLR carriage can be a total nightmare. One alternative is a taxi-hailing app like Gett, which for some time now has been pushing Gett Together, a ride-sharing service that operates on preset routes across the city. Today, the company is announcing Black Bus 1, a new route that operates between Highbury & Islington and Waterloo. The expansion is notable because it was designed using data supplied by mobile navigation app (and now bus route operator) Citymapper.

The line launches on September 25th and will travel through Angel, Farringdon and the Aldwych. Passengers will request a ride through the app and have the freedom to both board and depart anywhere on the route. It’ll run on weekdays during peak commuter hours — 7am to 10am, and 5pm to 8pm — and cost £3, regardless of how far people travel. Gett says the taxis running this route will cut travel times “dramatically” for passengers. A journey between Upper Street and Somerset House, for instance, should take 15 minutes rather than the usual 40 minutes.

Gett already operates three Together ride-sharing routes from Ladbroke Grove, Clapham Junction and Belsize Park respectively. But none of these were designed with Citymapper’s help. Every day, the company is accumulating more data that shows how people move around their favourite cities. That, in turn, can reveal where public transport routes are currently lacking. In July, the company launched a weekend night bus using this information. Now, it’s doing the same for other companies. “This is just the beginning and we hope to launch more lines with Citymapper’s data,” Matteo de Renzi, Managing Director of Gett in the UK said.

Via: CityAM

The Nokia 8 is coming to India on September 26

Nokia’s first Android flagship will be coming to India next week.

Nokia kicked off its comeback tale by focusing on the budget segment with the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and the Nokia 6, and now the company’s first flagship running Android will be making its way to India next week. HMD Global has sent out media invites for the Nokia 8 launch in India, which will take place on September 26.

There’s plenty to like in the Nokia 8, including a 5.3-inch Quad HD display, Snapdragon 835, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, Wi-Fi ac MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, 360-degree sound capture, dual SIM card slots, 3.5mm jack, and a 3090mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0.

Nokia has rekindled its partnership with Zeiss, with the phone featuring a dual 13MP camera setup at the back with imaging sensors tuned by Zeiss. The primary 13MP camera is an RGB sensor, backed by a secondary monochrome sensor. There’s also a 13MP camera up front, and Nokia is betting on “bothies” — images taken from the front and rear cameras simultaneously — as the differentiator.

On the software front, Nokia is sticking to a clean approach with the promise of quick updates. The Nokia 8 comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, and Nokia is internally working on an Oreo beta, stating that the update will be rolled out publicly when it’s “perfect.”

As for pricing, the Nokia 8s retails for €599 ($710) in Europe, which comes out to the equivalent of ₹45,900 in India. We’ll know more about local pricing and availability next week, but the phone should be debuting at under the ₹50,000 mark in India. In the meantime, what do you think is a fair price for the Nokia 8 in India?

Mobike’s dockless bike-sharing service comes to Washington, DC

Washington DC is one of the most bike-happy cities in America, with around five percent of commuters pedaling around the city each day. That’s one of the reasons why Mobike, a company that has mostly been in China and Europe until now, is launching a pilot for the first dockless bike-sharing program in the capital. It’s starting with 180 bikes in the pilot program for now, a pittance next to the millions it has in China, but plans to expand the program across the US if things go well.

Unlike New York’s Citi Bike, Vélib’ in Paris and Washington DC’s current Capital Bikeshare program, there’s no need to hunt for a bike dock on departure and arrival. Instead, you use the Mobike app to find the nearest bike and scan the QR code to unlock it. Once you arrive at your destination, you can park it at “any authorized bike parking area” near your destination and lock it manually.

The bikes themselves use non-puncture airless tires, a chainless shaft drive and disk brakes, to ensure fewer breakdowns and a longer life. Their distinctive bright orange and gray paint scheme makes them easy to spot.

Decentralized bike sharing schemes have caught on in China, to the point that it’s comically difficult to find a parking spot in some areas. Mobike is one of the leaders in Asia, and has already launched programs in Manchester, London and other UK cities. It has been careful to gain local government approval to avoid enforcement problems encountered by Singapore-based oBike and other rival firms in London. Mobike has five million bikes in Europe and Asia, with most in China, but Washington DC is its first US city.

Funnily enough, San Francisco-based Spin, another dockless bike-sharing service, also plans to launch in Washington DC this week, the Washington Post notes. That company already offers its services in Austin, Seattle, South San Francisco and the Rockaways in Queens, NY.

As noted, DC already has the Capital Bikeshare program, but city officials are welcoming the newcomers as a way to augment, rather than compete with it. For one, they’ll operate in neighborhoods where the current service doesn’t. They’ll also bolster rush hour demand when Capital Bikeshare typically gets slammed, leaving many commuters stranded.

To ensure users can find bikes and don’t park where they shouldn’t, Mobike will mobilize a DC team to track and move them around or re-park them neatly if need be. As for the price, both Mobike and Spin are charging $1 for a half-hour ride — exactly half that of Capital Bikeshare.

Plantronics offers affordable wireless audio for your workouts

Plantronics’ latest BackBeat wireless headphones have tended to focus on value for your hard-earned cash, and that’s definitely the focus today. It’s launching a range of BackBeat Fit headphones that promise sweat-resistant designs without a huge outlay. The BackBeat Fit 300 in-ears are billed as some of the lightest Bluetooth headphones on the planet, with stable earpieces and low-friction cloth cables, but the cost is relatively easy to swallow at $80/£90 — the only big catch is the so-so 6-hour battery life. And if you tend to work out more at the gym, the Fit 500 on-ears (shown up top) give you 18 hours of comfier playback for $100/£90.

If you’re willing to splurge a bit, Plantronics hopes to sweeten the deal. The $130/£110 BackBeat Fit Training and $160/£140 Boost Editions (below) combine waterproof open-ears with a 6-month subscription to PEAR’s pro workout service through its Personal Coach app. The concept isn’t completely novel (Jabra has offered this sort of thing before), but it might be just the ticket if you’re buying headphones as part of a commitment to getting in shape. The headphones themselves are identical, but the Boost edition throws in a water-resistant charging pouch that gives you 10 more hours of listening time.

All of the new BackBeats should hit stores (including Amazon) sometime in early October.

Source: NASDAQ

‘Rainbow Six Seige’ update could make your PS4 crash

With more than 20 million players, it’s safe to say that Rainbow Six Siege is still going strong. But, a new console crashing bug could put a damper on the good times for fans of the tactical shooter. At least on PS4, anyway. Gamers have been tweeting about the issue since the release of the title’s latest patch, and Ubisoft has confirmed it is looking into it. For the time being, though, it doesn’t have a fix. “Players have reported a crashing issue regarding the party invitation. We are cooperating with Sony on this issue and would advise you to not use this feature until a resolution is found,” the developer said in a statement on its support site.

The patch has brought with it a strange bug that crashes PS4 consoles whenever players try to use the game’s social features. For now, your best bet is to either avoid downloading the patch altogether, or to steer clear of the in-game friends list and party invites. That’s definitely going to sting, seeing as online multiplayer and co-operative gameplay is the best thing about the latest Rainbow Six. But, if you don’t want to suffer repeat console crashes (which can lead to hard drive corruption) then just wait it out. Ubisoft advises keeping track of the game’s Twitter account for all the latest updates. PC and Xbox users, on the other hand, have not reported an issue with the patch.

We’re aware of the friends list and crashing issues on PS4 and we are working with Sony to resolve them. https://t.co/fnrWKJpAtg

— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) September 20, 2017

Kotaku is also reporting that Reddit users have spotted a number of game-breaking exploits on several ranked maps. They include Oregon, Clubhouse, Coastline and Kafe, among others. Players have noted a bunch of glitches, such as instances where they’ve fallen through the map. Some gamers also mentioned frustrating lag issues, and there’s talk of unbalanced characters (in particular the game’s newest character Ela is being described as overpowered). Again, Ubisoft claims it is aware of these issues, and is working on a fix.

Source: Ubisoft

How to set up and get started with Google Tez

Google’s new payments service has a lot to offer.

With digital payments on the rise in India, Google is making its foray into this segment with Tez, an all-new payments service designed for the Indian market. Tez stands for “fast” in Hindi, and the lightweight app has a minimal layout with easy-to-find options for transferring money using QR codes, UPI IDs, and a new Cash Mode that relies on audio QR to facilitate transfers.

The app comes in at 8MB, and is available in seven languages aside from English: Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Tez works with all 55 banks that have registered with NPCI, the regulatory body overseeing Unified Payment Interface (UPI).

Google’s payment service joins a crowded list of UPI apps already available in the market, including the government’s own BHIM app. Banks have been offering their own UPI apps for some time now, with over 35 such apps available for download on the Play Store. For its part, Tez has a clean uncluttered layout along with a fraud detection service that ensures your transactions are secure. Here’s how you can get started with Google’s latest payments service:

How to install Google Tez

This part is straightforward. You can either go to g.co/tez from your phone to get the download link for the app, or head to the Play Store and manually search for Tez.

Open the Play Store from your app drawer or the home screen.
Search for Google Tez.
Select the action overflow button (three vertical dots on the right) next to the Google Tez listing.

Tap Install.

Hot to set up Google Tez

Once Tez is installed, we can get started with setting up the service. You’ll need to provide a phone number during initial setup, and the number has to be the same as that registered with your bank account.

Open Tez from your app drawer.
Select a language from the list to get started.

Enter your phone number.

Tez needs access to texts, contacts, and your device’s location.

After giving Tez access, you can choose the Google account you want associated with the service. If you’re signed into a single account, it will be automatically selected.
After selecting an account, tap Continue.

Google will now send an OTP to verify your account. This process is automatic.

After your phone number is verified, you’ll be able to choose a PIN for Tez. You can select your existing screen lock or set up a new four-digit Google PIN just for the service.
After choosing the screen lock, select Continue.

The initial setup is now complete. You’re directed to Tez’s home screen, but before you can start sending or receiving money, you’ll need to link your bank account with the service.

How to add your bank account in Google Tez

Tez needs two things to work — a phone number that’s tied to your bank account, and a Google address. The former is to get your account details from your financial institution, and the latter is to pair your bank account to your Google account.

Once you set up Tez, you’ll have to create a Virtual Payment Address (VPA). Unlike other banks, Tez doesn’t give you the option to set up a customized address — the default is your Google account username followed by the issuing bank.

For instance, if your Google account username is paymentsftw and your bank account is with ICICI, Tez will create a VPA along the lines of paymentsftw@okicici. The “ok” prefix seems to be common for all banks, as the HFDC account I added also had an “@okhdfc” address. Here’s how to add your bank account in Google Tez:

Open Tez from the app drawer.
In the home screen, select Add Bank Account.

Choose your bank from the list.

Tez will create a UPI PIN for the bank account, which will be used every time you make a payment.
To set up a PIN, tap Proceed.

You’ll need to authenticate your bank account by typing in the last six digits on your debit card and the expiry date.

After adding your bank account, tap Create UPI PIN.
You’ll get an OTP to authenticate your card, after which you can key in the UPI PIN.

After creating a PIN, you’ll see a message that says that your account has been added successfully.

Now that your bank account is linked to Tez, you’ll be able to send and receive money using the service. If you’re having problems linking your bank account with Tez, you’ll just need to try again after some time. I had some difficulties restoring my account details on another device, and it resolved itself after an hour.

How to transfer money in Google Tez

One of Tez’s marquee features is the ability to transfer money without having to add payee details. Dubbed Cash Mode, the feature relies on audio QR to send out an ultrasound signal (inaudible to human ears) to locate nearby Tez users. The best thing about Cash Mode is that it works on all phones — all it needs is a speaker and a microphone.

Here’s how to use Cash Mode in Tez:

Tap the Tez logo in the middle of the home screen to initiate Cash Mode.
Choose Pay to send funds, or Receive to get money from another user.

After choosing an option, Tez will look for nearby users.

Select a user to quickly transfer funds.
Enter the desired amount, and tap Proceed to pay to initiate the transfer.

Enter the UPI PIN to transfer the money.

That’s all there is to it. Cash Mode is incredibly convenient as it saves the hassle of entering account details or phone numbers.

Aside from Cash Mode, you can send money via entering a Tez user’s phone number, UPI ID, or QR code.

Select the New Payment button in the bottom left corner.

Tap Account Number to transfer money using an account number and IFSC code.

Select UPI ID, QR, Phone to transfer funds either by entering a UPI ID, scanning a QR code, or by keying in a Tez user’s phone number.

That’s a quick look at what’s possible with Tez. The app offers a seamless way to transfer money, but it’s lacking some of the features that other services in this space offer. For instance, the ability to pay utility and phone bills is a major draw for consumers, and a lot of the apps available in this segment offer such a feature. Hopefully Google will bring more functionality to Tez in the coming months.

Did you manage to install Tez? What are your thoughts on Google’s latest payments service?

Democrats call for tougher online ad spending rules

Politicians aren’t just asking Facebook to testify on how suspicious Russia-linked ads allegedly reached its social network — they want some political reform to prevent this from happening again. A mix of House and Senate Democrats have written a letter to the Federal Election Commission calling for it to produce “new guidance” telling online advertising platforms (like those at Facebook and Google) how to prevent illegal foreign spending during elections. Internet ad buys give countries like Russia a cheap but effective method for “disruption of our democratic process,” the politicians say, and it’s important that internet companies stop this to “preserve the integrity” of election law.

The Democrats, which include well-known figures like Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. John Conyers, aren’t dictating the exact policies so much as mentioning concerns they want the FEC to address. They want to close “loopholes” in campaign disclosure systems to prevent foreign outlets from using corporate and non-profit labels to hide their spending. They’d like a set of “best practices” for preventative measures, including suggestions for improving companies’ internal procedures. And they’d like to explore changes that could apply regardless of the medium, such as tougher disclosure standards and measures that can track “coordination” between political campaigns and third-party political spending.

As you’ve no doubt noticed, the letter isn’t bipartisan. Rep. John Sarbanes tells Recode that he thinks there’s an “edict from on high” that tells Republicans to avoid touching anything that mentions Russia. Whether or not that’s true, it limits the momentum of the letter. Democrats will have to hope that the FEC cares enough about the issue to start work on guidelines, and there’s no guarantee that any action would be ready in time for the 2018 mid-term elections. Still, Facebook’s ad buy revelations were broadly concerning enough that these Congresspeople might get the FEC’s ear.

Source: Recode, Scribd

FIFA 18’s story mode has become the franchise’s best feature

When FIFA 17 came out last year, its standout feature was something called “The Journey.” For the first time in the franchise’s 24-year history, EA Sports added a story mode where you can pretend to live the life of a professional soccer (er, football) player. The plot centered around a fictional character named Alex Hunter, a British teenager who’s trying to make a name for himself in the English Premier League. Your goal, naturally, is to guide him in his quest to do exactly that. Thanks to its success on FIFA 17, the adventure continues with FIFA 18’s “The Journey: Hunter Returns.”

In the latest edition of the title, which arrives on September 29th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, EA is bringing back the Alex Hunter narrative with branching storylines, celebrity cameos and player customization. FIFA 18 will also be on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the Switch, although “The Journey” isn’t available in those formats. For Nintendo’s new console, EA had to build a custom engine to power the game, and one of the trade-offs was leaving Hunter’s story behind. It’s a shame, sure, but at least it shows that EA is willing to give the Switch a chance — a departure from how it handled the Wii U.

For those of you with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, though, “The Journey: Hunter Returns” won’t disappoint. This year, EA made its game mode even better by adding more plot twists, including one where you end up playing in the North American Major League Soccer after a brief fallout with your club in England. Last season, Alex Hunter’s life was based solely around competitions in his own country: the Premier League and the lower-tier Championship. It’s nice, then, to see his story expand to other places around the world, just as the life of a real footballer would. Not only that, but it makes a huge difference to be able to have him rock a variety of haircuts, tattoos, T-shirts and pants, something you couldn’t do in the original “Journey.”

Another thing that brings further realism to “The Journey” is that the in-game commentators, Martin Tyler and Alan Smith (in English), will talk about your life before, during and after each match you play. In one of the six chapters of “Hunter Returns,” for example, you become the subject of a rumor that claims you’ll be leaving your current team for Spanish giant Real Madrid. That prompts them to chat about how your teammates aren’t pleased with you, or how you’ve been doing in previous games. In general, details like that are what make “The Journey” such a fun game to play, and they help keep you hooked for hours.

Whether that happens or not, or how it does, depends on the choices you make throughout the game. You’ll come across different characters, like your coach, agent or various family members, who ask you questions that could have an effect on your career. Your answers can be either “cool,” “fiery” or “balanced,” and that will determine how others in your story view your personality. That includes your (Alex Hunter’s) social media followers, who can praise or troll you after games and interviews. Yes, even in a fictional world, the internet meme “Don’t @ me” still applies.

I won’t spoil all the celebrity cameos for you, but I will tell you that there’s a big moment between you and FIFA 18’s cover star Cristiano Ronaldo. That’s not all, either — you should expect to cross paths with a famous NBA player along the way (hint: he’s one of the best point guards in the league). Having access to those types of licenses is what’s always differentiated EA’s FIFA from its main rival, Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer. As much as I love the more realistic gameplay of PES 2018, the lack of official teams and players is enough to keep me coming back to FIFA.

Sure, PES does have the rights to teams such as FC Barcelona and Arsenal, but it’s still missing Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid and many more of the world’s biggest clubs. And while you can download a squad’s file from an online forum and install it yourself, that doesn’t match the out-of-the-box experience you otherwise get with FIFA.

While EA brought much-needed enhancements with player customization and a deeper storyline in “The Journey: Hunter Returns,” there are still a few things that could make the mode appealing to broader audiences. There are no playable female characters right now, for starters, although EA’s push to put more women in games raises hopes that we could see a feature like that in the future. That said, there is a girl who plays a major role in Hunter’s life, and I’m not talking about his mom. It would also be great if you could simulate some matches in “The Journey,” even if that meant Alex Hunter missing on gaining any skill points. I say that only because the story does drag on at times, but that might be because I opt to play seven-minute halves — in Legendary mode, of course.

I also wish I could change Alex Hunter’s sponsorship deal from Adidas to another brand. Yes, I appreciate Hunter having access to exclusive gear and soccer cleats (aka football boots) from the Three Stripes, but what if I wanted to start wearing Nike instead? There’s no way to change that in the new season. Still, I don’t need that to enjoy the game, per se, though the story could get more interesting if, as in real life, brands were fighting to make you their athlete.

As for the rest of FIFA 18, which is again powered by EA’s Frostbite engine, you’ll notice lifelike graphics on players and stadiums, as well as a smarter AI that makes it slightly harder to score goals — the usual upgrades on the yearly release. Then you have ICONS, a new feature that lets you use legends such as Ronaldo (the original, not Cristiano), Maradona and Ronaldinho in Ultimate Team, EA’s build-your-own-squad, card-trading mode.

But the main highlight here is, without a doubt, “The Journey: Hunter Returns.” The improvements to the narrative make FIFA 18 feel like more than just a sports game, and that will further cement the franchise as the most popular among soccer fans.

CNBC: Tesla is working on its own AI chip with help from AMD

It’s no secret that Tesla always wanted to develop an in-house chip to handle its cars’ autonomous functions. Well, according to CNBC, the EV-maker is close to reaching that goal — with help from AMD. The company is reportedly building its chip on top of AMD technology and is even working with AMD spin-off and chip fabricator GlobalFoundries to make its vision a reality. It also hired Jim Keller, who previously worked with AMD and Apple, to lead its chip division. In fact, they’re far enough in the development process to be able to make samples of the processor’s first implementation, and Tesla has already begun testing them.

The automaker previously used chips made by Mobileye, which Intel acquired earlier this year. However, the two parted ways after a fatal Tesla Model S Autopilot accident in Florida. Its current Autopilot system uses NVIDIA chips, but Tesla clearly wants more: by building its own specialized processor, it can create a technology that can do precisely what it wants to achieve, including true autonomous driving. Company chief Elon Musk once said that Tesla aims to have fully autonomous cars by 2019 — we’ll just have to wait and see if it can stick to that timeline.

Source: CNBC