How to connect your computer to a TV

Knowing how to connect your computer to a TV is an essential skill, especially in this era of cord-cutting and 4K gaming. There are a few methods you can use, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, so we’ve gone ahead and put together a quick guide that should help you get your PC and TV working together in harmony.

First off , you’re going to need an HDTV, which is to say, a flatscreen TV — here are some of our favorites. If you have an old CRT, one of the big ones with a heavy glass tube inside, you’re pretty much out of luck and chances are your desktop or laptop monitor is already a higher quality display.

The simplest solution is often best

Hands-down the quickest, easiest way to get your TV hooked up to a desktop or laptop is to just plug them right into one another. You have a couple options here though, so let’s walk through them.

First, using a plain old HDMI cord will get the job done just fine. Chances are your PC or laptop has at least one HDMI port, and your HDTV should have at least one as well. If you’ve ever plugged a game console or cable box into your TV, you should have at least one HDMI cord handy.

Here’s what HDMI cords look like. There are a few different HDMI standards out there but the ports themselves are shaped the same no matter how old or new they are. For our purposes, you won’t really need to worry about things like HDMI 2.0, unless you’re planning on getting some 4K gaming on. In which case, check out our breakdown of what all you get when you invest in the latest HDMI technology.

One other quick note here, all HDMI cables are created equal. If you need to go pick one up at an electronics store, don’t be taken in by extravagant claims by companies like Monster Cables. That $5 store-brand cable achieves the same result as one that runs $80 and will get the job done just as well. For a deeper look at HDMI cables, we spoke to an expert on the subject.

Now that you have a cable, all you need to do is plug it into your TV, then plug the other end into your desktop or laptop. Most laptops have HDMI ports nowadays, but if you have a super-thin ultrabook like the Asus Zenbook 3 Deluxe or MacBook Pro, you might need to plug that HDMI cable into an adapter like this.

Otherwise, you should be good to go. Use your TV’s remote to cycle between its HDMI ports, till you find the one you plugged your PC into. Most TVs have an HDMI or Input button that will list all of the ports currently in use on your TV, so just cycle through them till you find your PC. There you go, that’s it, you’re all set.

Wireless, but limited

Sometimes a long cable just isn’t enough. Maybe you have an unusual TV setup, or your desktop is just too big to lug around, and you really need to get this done wirelessly. In that case, you have a few options available to you, but they’re each a little tricky.

First up, you can use the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter, if you’re running Windows 10 on your PC. It’ll run you $40 or $50, depending on where you get it, but it will get the job done if all you need to do is share your desktop screen. It’s quick enough to watch movies, but gaming is pretty much out of the question. Anything that runs at more than 30 frames per second gets garbled and quickly becomes unwatchable or unplayable.

That said, it’s easy enough to set up. Just plug it into your TV’s HDMI port, and plug its little USB jack into one of your TV’s USB ports. Then, from your computer (which should be running Windows 10), click on your notification center on the bottom-right corner of your screen, from there click on the Connect button.

The Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter should show up as a remote display in the next menu that pops up, from there just click connect and you’re all done.

Additionally, you can do something similar using a Chromecast, to cast directly to your TV from Google Chrome on MacOS or Windows 10. All you need to do is plug your Chromecast into your TV, make sure it’s all setup — here’s our guide on how to get that done — and then fire up Chrome on your computer.

Click the little sideways ellipses at the end of your search bar, and then click Cast. From there, select your Chromecast, and that’s it!.

LumiWave Therapy Device review

Dealing with pain, whether it’s chronic or comes out of nowhere, is one reason many reach for the medicine cabinet to grab some form of relief. Some may call them “happy pills”, but painkillers aren’t a healthy long-term solution, leading some tech startups to push more user-friendly holistic alternatives.

The LumiWave from BioCare Systems is all about that, utilizing LED infrared pods as a method for delivering light therapy, which allegedly helps relieve acute or chronic pain without any side-effects. Pain relief is always in demand, but is there a ray of hope in these lights to actually make a difference? Digital Trends took LumiWave for a spin to find out.

Design and setup

BioCare keeps the LumiWave and its constituent parts neatly packed in the box surrounded by foam, almost indicating how delicate it all is. The three pieces that make up the unit include the strip of four LED pods, a controller, and power adapter.

The device will shut off if it gets too hot, but also the temperatures themselves aren’t that relevant to the treatment.

The controller is the middleman in this setup, where both the strip and adapter plug into either end. Only two buttons adorn the controller itself, triggering the 20-minute treatment (higher temperature) and 30-minute treatment (lower temperature) with a simple press. A belt clip made for the controller helps when using it.

Each pod has 49 LEDs in it, numbering close to 200 total for the entire unit (although the LumiWave Double has two strips for increased capacity). On the high setting, it regulates the temperature at approximately 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius), while the lower mode drops it to about 105.8 degrees (40 Celsius). How hot it feels may vary, however, but the dosage of infrared light is the same in either setting.

When placed on the affected area, the warmth the light produces is supposed to feel comforting enough to help relieve pain. The heat is a by-product of the LEDs, but in maintaining some temperature control, LumiWave says it is ensuring a proper dosage to avoid tissue damage and skin irritation or burns. That means the device will shut off if it gets too hot, but also that the respective temperatures themselves aren’t that relevant to the treatment.

There is no connectivity here beyond the basics. No Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, nor an accompanying app that you can use to moderate or control anything about the device. Health and wellness tech sometimes adds a mobile element, but not here. In this case, feeling a difference is the only metric for effective relief.

The strap’s clasp and Velcro system is somewhat rudimentary, but it does the job. Fastening it in place for most areas is fairly easy, but much easier around arms or calves where it has more give to wrap around. Otherwise, the strap isn’t necessary. Laying this on the shoulder, hip or back doesn’t allow for much body movement, unless held in place to some degree by tight clothing (not too tight though).

Gauging the science

BioCare points to the safety involved with the LumiWave because there are no side-effects, but there are some conditions that preclude its use. Active hemorrhages, blood clots, and malignancies are non-starters. Pregnant women should never apply it over the womb. Applying it on top of heat-inducing creams or lotions is just asking to get burned. Areas with freshly healed wounds or sensitive skin are better treated with a thin cloth or wrap to act as a barrier.

LumiWave/Facebook

Consulting a medical practitioner about using the device is always a good idea, though no prescription is required to do so. Treatment shouldn’t exceed three times a day or less than six hours between application.

Light therapy studies go back to the 1960s, but the first clearance for using it in pain relief didn’t happen until the late 1980s. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared prescription-only LED light therapy in 1994. At the time, low level light therapy, also known medically as photobiostimulation, encompassed both laser and LED-powered devices.

BioCare’s LumiWave prototype got approved in 2005, making it the first LED near infrared light therapy device to get cleared for arthritis pain.

How does it do it? Unlike another naturopathic device like the Quell, which uses electrostimulation of the Vagus nerve for pain relief throughout the body, the LumiWave doesn’t work that way. As a localized treatment, it works with the tissue underneath, where the infrared light penetrates to release nitric oxide to increase blood flow and help tissue repair itself. Healthy tissue produces nitric oxide, whereas damaged tissue can’t do it in the same way.

For that reason, muscles, tendons, and ligaments are the most effective targets. Within those groups are a number of injuries that BioCare claims can be treated with the LumiWave, including fibromyalgia, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel, joint pain, arthritis, tendinitis, and several others.

Feeling the heat

Bearing in mind that the LumiWave is only designed to provide relief, it was always important to remember that it didn’t really have curative properties when using it. Only if the aches and pains were acute might it be effectively lasting, but anything chronic probably needs other treatments to deal with the underlying cause.

The high and low modes didn’t feel warmer or cooler.

I was a good test case, given my recent history of hip and knee sports injuries, which sometimes have nagging effects. In some respects, the LumiWave felt like a heating pad, only with a little light escaping from around the edges. It didn’t take long to feel the temperature rise on direct application to the skin, but it never really hit an unbearable level. When making contact with bone, particularly around the knees, I used a very thin cloth, like one side of a cotton t-shirt, to reduce the impact.

Other than the duration, the high and low modes didn’t feel warmer or cooler. At least I didn’t notice much of a temperature change, and it didn’t get too hot to wear for the duration, either way.

The challenge wasn’t so much the heat, but rather keeping the LumiWave in place. Placing it on my hip required lying down on my left side and draping it over the right hip to maintain contact. BioCare doesn’t use gels or tape to keep the strip from sliding off, which is understandable, but sometimes forces a user to improvise. I had to resort to sports tape or compression sleeve to hold it down, ensuring my skin wasn’t irritated and affording me the flexibility to at least move around a little. Arms and legs were much easier because of the strap.

If I felt anything acute, like tightness in a hamstring or a little ache here and there, the LumiWave did a fine job helping me feel better. For the more chronic stuff, though, I had to be realistic knowing it would more likely have a cumulative effect, rather than an immediate one.

That’s pretty standard for any physiotherapy anyway, but the optics of a device like this may suggest otherwise. Patience is one of those intangibles BioCare doesn’t address enough in its manual. Granted, it’s totally subjective, but since this is not meant to be a total cure, reasonable expectations are necessary.

Setting the bar

BioCare is trying to build confidence with the recent history of light therapy. It’s easy to dismiss something like this as junk science or the latest snake oil, but at least there is some precedent here. Pro athletes have been using light therapy for years to help recover from minor aches to chronic injuries, with the NFL, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams all on board. BioCare says pro golfers, runners and other athletes have used LumiWave too, but didn’t name anyone in particular, presumably for privacy reasons.

LumiWave/Facebook

A study at Stanford University’s Department of Chemistry looked at near-infrared light absorbance for photothermal therapy. In an interview with Selfhacked, Harvard professor Dr. Michael Hamblin spoke about the efficacy and viability of this kind of treatment as a noted infrared therapy expert. Red Light Therapy is another resource website dedicated to this form of treatment.

Conclusion

Paying $500 for the LumiWave Single (tested here) or $720 for the Double is pricey for most pockets. Relative to physiotherapy costs over time, this might be an investment. Again, however, using the LumiWave for chronic pain should probably be part of wider treatment that also tackles the root cause. This device is more about dealing with the symptoms.

If you’d rather not pop any pills and push your internal organs further with their side-effects, the LumiWave is a drug-free alternative that requires no prescription and carries no residual costs. It’s expensive, but worth a try if you spend a lot on pain relief drugs.

Best PlayStation 4 Games

Want to know what to get for your PlayStation 4? Start with these, the best games you can buy!

The PS4 has a ton of great titles available, but we all have a limited amount of time (and money) so we can’t just aimlessly pick games. That’s why we have a list of fantastic choices for you to check out if you’re looking for something new to play on your PlayStation 4.

1. Horizon Zero Dawn

If you own a PlayStation 4 and haven’t considered playing Horizon Zero Dawn, you’re just plain wrong. This is the best PlayStation 4 game of 2017 by a wide margin, especially if you’re into large open worlds and smashing brutal killer robots into pieces.

This game puts you in the skin of Aloy, an outcast from birth who fights her way into the hearts and minds of the entire world by uncovering the truth of how humanity got where it is in this post-apocalyptic nightmare.

Best of all, there’s a massive DLC for this game headed your way very soon!

See at Amazon

2. The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 is one of the most acclaimed games ever made, taking place in a huge open-world densely packed with incentives to explore, secrets to uncover and stories to unravel. It’s as action-packed as they come, interweaved with a darkly mature plot, choice and consequences, and a virtual world teeming with life.

The game has been continuously updated and refined since its launch, adding new features for free in addition to large expansions that heap value on top of its solid foundation. The Witcher 3 is completely unmissable.

See at Amazon

3. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

It’s impossible to talk PS4 games and not recommend Uncharted as a must buy. A Thief’s End is the first outing for infamous adventurer, Nathan Drake, on the current generation console and takes place three years along from the end of Uncharted 3.

Drake has given up the life of old, but gets dragged back into action when his brother come’s calling. Uncharted has never looked or played better than it does in a Thief’s End and it cements the series’ legacy as one of the best you can play on any platform.

See at Amazon }

4: Overwatch

Blizzard’s first FPS game has literally taken the world by storm, and for good reason. There’s no single player campaign, which is perhaps all some might be able to criticize it for. But your average shooter this is not.

Overwatch has a big variety in its characters with different abilities and weapons for each one of them. The gameplay is objective based and just getting the most kills is no longer good enough. Throw in a unique look and some terrifically designed maps and Overwatch is one that will have you coming back for much, much more.

See at Amazon

5: Battlefield 1

In a world of futuristic sci-fi shooters, DICE and EA went back in time to World War 1 for the latest Battlefield game. Battlefield 1 is about as far from the likes of Call of Duty as you’ll find, and it’s all the better for it.

It looks gorgeous, or as gorgeous as the muddy fields of Northern Europe could look, and the campaign is something that just has to be played. It’s an emotional rollercoaster packed with historical gunplay, tanks and more besides. The multiplayer is ambitious, and has support for 64 players at once on a gigantic map.

See at Amazon

6: Doom

DOOM is a reboot of the classic series developed by id Software. After many delays, DOOM emerged from the depths of development hell and took everybody by surprise, delivering the possibly greatest shooter campaign of this generation so far.

Unashamedly violent and gory, DOOM riffs on the classic, fast-paced formula, atop some modern flare, a nightmarish art direction, and a fist-poundingly awesome soundtrack. DOOM has a sense of purity often lost in modern shooters.

See at Amazon

7: Rise of the Tomb Raider

PlayStation fans had to wait a whole year to get their hands on Lara Croft’s latest adventure and it comes in the form of the 20-year celebration pack that also includes a free PlayStation VR experience to boot. It sees Lara get back to her roots; raiding tombs, heading first to the freezing wilderness of Siberia.

It looks fantastic and feels just like the Tomb Raiders of old, which is in no way a bad thing. Lara may have grown up and got a little darker in places, but Rise of the Tomb Raider is one for fans and newcomers alike.

See at Amazon

8. Fallout 4

Fallout 4 is the latest installment in Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG series, and is one of the finest open-world games around. This time Fallout heads to Boston and Vault 111, the hole in the ground from which you emerge in a future destroyed by nuclear weapons.

With its rich RPG systems, improved shooting mechanics, deep settlement construction engine and console-exclusive Xbox One mods, you’ll struggle to see everything Fallout 4 has to offer.

See at Amazon

9. Inside

INSIDE is among the most critically acclaimed games of 2016 for its meticulously polished gameplay, ravenously dark plot and fiendish puzzles that are just as likely to warp your mind as the game’s shocking ending.

INSIDE is from the creators of LIMBO, and is every bit as haunting. It’s not expensive and it’s one everyone should experience.

See at PlayStation

10. NieR: Automata

Nobody will blame you for accidentally sleeping on a game with a name like this, but now that you know better it needs to be a part of your collection ASAP. NieR: Automata is a beautiful, dark hack and slash with heaps of futuristic tech and no shortage of epic scale.

It’s the kind of game you play with the lights down low and the speakers up high, because the action is nonstop and the balance of bright colors against the dark backgrounds of this game are brutally intense.

See at PlayStation

If you’re looking for the very best games you can find for PlayStation VR, then head on over and visit our buddies at VR Heads who’ll walk you through the best games for your headset!

Update, September 2017: We’ve updated this article to bring you the latest and greatest from the PlayStation library!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Beats’ Studio3 headphones pack improved features at a lower price

It has been a while since Beats updated the top-end Studio line of headphones. In fact, the most recent model, Studio Wireless, debuted in 2013. Well, until now. Today, Beats is introducing the Studio3 Wireless, the latest high-end headphones for the popular brand that pack in Apple’s W1 wireless chip, Pure Adaptive Noise Cancellation and much-improved battery life into a familiar design.

First, the Studio3 Wireless joins the rest of Beats’ updated headphones with the addition of the W1 chip. Not only does that component offer quick Bluetooth pairing, but it also makes the wireless connection more efficient. The company says that this equates to 22 hours of battery life with both wireless and noise cancellation turned on. That’s 10 hours more than the previous Studio model and closer to what the likes of Bose and Sony are claiming in their high-end wireless headphones. If you’re in a pinch, there’s also a Fast Fuel feature that will give you 3 hours of battery life in just a 10 minute charge.

The Studio3 Wireless also features improved noise cancellation. With what Beats calls Pure Adaptive Noise Cancellation (Pure ANC), the headphones use “advanced algorithms” to keep tabs on your environment and adjust to best block out the outside world. Pure ANC also analyzes the fit of the headphones and adapts to sound leaks that may be caused by hair, glasses, ear shapes and movement while listening. The tech also compares what you’re hearing through noise cancellation versus the original music to “ensure optimal audio fidelity.” Beats says ure ANC scans up to 50,000 times a second to perform its sound calibration automatically in the background.

There are still on-board controls for skipping songs, controlling volume and activating Siri without having to pick up your phone. And yes, a built-in microphone mean you can also take calls with the Studio3 Wireless as well as easily switch to other Apple devices you’ve connected to iCloud. Beats isn’t talking sound quality just yet, but if its previous headphones are any indication, you can expect a load of bass here. As you might expect, the Studio3 Wireless is available in a range of colors and you can buy them now at Apple.com for $350. That’s cheaper that previous Studio models and the same price as Sony’s recently announced WH-1000XM2 that will arrive this month.

The new Sony model is the follow-up to the MDR-1000X, a very good set of noise-cancelling headphones that debuted last year and still one of the best available. We’ll have to wait and see if Beats made enough improvements on the Studio3 Wireless, but since they’re already on sale, it shouldn’t be too long before we can do just that.

Source: Beats

Play spot the difference with ASUS’ ROG Strix gaming laptops

Gamers are a broad and diverse community, and treating them all as the single customer with a single set of needs isn’t very smart. It’s why ASUS is trying to break the one-size-fits all mould with its ROG Strix edition laptops that it initially showed off earlier this year. The two devices, the Scar and Hero editions, are designed to cater specifically to both FPS and MOBA players, respectively.

The headline tweaks made to the Scar Edition include a better display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 5ms response time. In addition, the keyboard has been intentionally made shallower in order to ensure that keypresses register that little bit faster. After all, you need to be sure you’re not wasting yoctoseconds of time pushing the actual buttons in the midst of a round of Overwatch.

Visually, too, the Scar has been given a gunmetal grey finish that’s intended to remind you of assault rifles and bullets flying through midair. Open the lid and you’ll find the palm rest has been styled with a carbon fiber-esque design, as well as side-firing stereo speakers that will help you pinpoint enemies.

The Hero, meanwhile, is clad in a visual design called “Monster Scale” which is meant to evoke, well, monster-fighting MOBAs. Rather than response time, the display has been tweaked to offer a better sRGB color gamut to ensure you’re only battling enemies in League of Legends. In addition, the company has made the keyboards more resilient, knowing that such games, with repeated, furious button pressing, often ruin keyboards.

Both devices have the usual raft of build-to-order options, which you can pick and choose to your heart’s delight. What’s going to be interesting, however, is to see if gamers take to the technical customizations specific to each genre. After all, having a laptop catered around your needs is great, although it’s not easy to see if these tweaks were actually being asked for in the first place.

Follow all the latest news from IFA 2017 here!

Fitness wearables will live or die by their apps

This week at IFA, some of the biggest players in wearables launched their latest smartwatches. From Fitbit’s debut Ionic to Samsung’s Gear Sport, these fitness-focused watches also run the companies’ own proprietary platforms, each offering their own app selection. For them to succeed, Samsung, Fitbit and Garmin, which also unveiled a new watch at the show, must now race to stock their stores with the best apps. That’s good news for smartwatches in general, because the influx of wearable apps could do for smartwatches what it did for smartphones years ago.

Franky, they need it. Even though smartwatches have been selling better than expected lately, the entire product category has been poorly received in general. Companies like Microsoft and Motorola have completely given up on making them anymore, and the industry now relies on the enthusiasm from fashion and fitness brands to keep it going. Still, with the devices announced this week, there is hope for a rejuvenation of the industry, especially if smartwatch apps take off.

First, let’s quickly recap the three operating systems we’re discussing. With the Fitbit Ionic, the wearables maker also debuted its first-ever smartwatch OS, called Fitbit OS. We’ll also look at Samsung’s Tizen OS as well as Garmin’s own platform. There’s a reason these companies came up with their own software instead of going with Android Wear. While I’m not discussing it length here. Google’s system, as well as Apple’s Watch OS, are designed for a wider audience, and are therefore multi-purpose. These three proprietary offerings focus on health and fitness-related functions instead, and put these tools front and center.

For a first attempt, Fitbit OS is a surprisingly mature system, although that can most likely be attributed to the experience of smartwatch pioneer Pebble, which Fitbit acquired earlier this year. The company says it learned from Pebble that the key to encouraging app development is to make it as easy as possible for people to build apps for their OS.

To that end, Fitbit launched a web-based console called Fitbit Studio, so anyone with a browser can code an app for the Ionic. Fitbit also uses popular and relatively simple standards like SVG, JavaScript and CSS for its apps, which saves developers the need to learn new languages. Given Pebble’s popularity and success on that front, it wouldn’t be surprising if developers indeed begin to create Fitbit OS apps in earnest.

Then there’s Samsung’s Tizen OS. Now in its third iteration, it’s the most mature smartwatch platform of the lot. Tizen is the platform for the new Gear Sport and Gear Fit 2 Pro, and already offers 31,000 apps and watch faces. It’s an open-source, Linux-based system that also powers TVs, cameras and printers. Linux is also a popular standard that many developers already know, although it’s not as common as JavaScript and CSS, which Fitbit uses.

Samsung has a headstart in this race, because of Tizen’s relative maturity and the company’s ability to attract big-name partners. For example, the Gear Sport and Fit 2 Pro are the first wearables to feature Speedo’s swim-tracking app. Tizen will no doubt continue to see its app numbers grow, given the steady popularity of the devices it powers.

Also launching at IFA is Garmin’s Vivoactive 3, which runs the company’s Garmin OS. Like its competitors, Garmin’s software runs apps, tracks your workouts and lets you make contactless payments from your wrist.

Through its Connect IQ open development platform, Garmin was also able to recruit partners like Uber and Trek to offer a small selection of third-party apps for its OS. Its selection is still measly compared to Tizen, though, but the company is evidently trying.

Each brand’s success doesn’t just depend on the number of apps it can offer, but the quality, too. Like we saw with phones that tried to make app development easy (cough Firefox OS cough), a high number of compatible offerings isn’t enough to make an OS takes off.

Companies must first make sure there are a compelling suite of apps at launch — and they can do this either by creating their own library or turning to partners. All three companies clearly understand this principle, having sought collaborations with the likes of Spotify, Pandora and Uber. So the race is on, then, to see which of them can ink the most deals in the shortest amount of time.

Of course, hardware and style are important factors that help determine a smartwatch’s success, too. Samsung’s Gear Sport looks the most like a traditional watch, with its round face and svelte design. Fitbit’s Ionic, in keeping with the company’s distinctly geometric aesthetic, still looks like a blockish tracker, but its fans will be happy to overlook that for the Ionic’s advanced sensors and brilliant display. Garmin, with its heritage and expertise in GPS technology, still proves to be a favorite for running enthusiasts.

Although Samsung retains its lead in app development for now, it is still too early to call it the winner of the trio. Fitbit’s OS, while young, was partly created with the help of the people behind one of the most popular smartwatches in history. Meanwhile, Garmin has a dedicated cult following of runners that have specific demands. To survive this race, each finalist must boost quality app growth in its ecosystem.

And then, the finalists left standing will have to take on the industry’s most expensive and arguably most popular device — the Apple Watch — in the ultimate round of smartwatch wars.

Follow all the latest news from IFA 2017 here!

Galaxy Note 8 and Xperia XZ1 are the latest to support Netflix HDR

The incredibly short list of mobile devices that can play Netflix in HDR has grown just a bit longer. If you tend to watch shows on the service while on the go and want to see the best possible pictures on screen, you can now add Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 and Sony’s Xperia XZ1 to your choices. Android Police has spotted the two newly launched phones’ names in the company’s FAQs, along with the first three devices that got the capability: the LG G6, the LG V30 and the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.

Netflix HDR, which offers life-like pictures for a select number of shows and movies, first became available on the LG G6 in May. Since then, it’s made its way to a couple of other HDR-capable phones, though G6 remains the sole device to use the Dolby Vision standard. If you have or plan to get any of the aforementioned devices and want to enjoy Netfix in HDR, you simply need to make sure you have the latest version of the app and your phone’s latest firmware.

Source: Netflix, Android Police

Putin says the country that perfects AI will be ‘ruler of the world’

Forget the arms race or space race — the new battle for technological dominance revolves around AI, according to Vladimir Putin. The Russian President told students at a career guidance forum that the “future belongs to artificial intelligence,” and whoever is first to dominate this category will be the “ruler of the world.” In other words, Russia fully intends to be a frontrunner in the AI space. It won’t necessarily hog its technology, though.

Putin maintains that he doesn’t want to see anyone “monopolize” the field, and that Russia would share its knowledge with the “entire world” in the same way it shares its nuclear tech. We’d take this claim with a grain of salt (we wouldn’t be surprised if Russia held security-related AI secrets close to the vest), but this does suggest that the country might share some of what it learns.

Not that this reassuring long-term AI skeptic Elon Musk. The entrepreneur believes that the national-level competition to lead AI will be the “most likely cause of WW3.” And it won’t even necessarily be the fault of overzealous leaders. Musk speculates that an AI could launch a preemptive strike if it decides that attacking first is the “most probable path to victory.” Hyperbolic? Maybe (you wouldn’t be the first to make that claim). It assumes that countries will put AI in charge of high-level decision making, Skynet-style, and that they might be willing to go to war over algorithms. Still, Putin’s remarks suggest that his concern has at least some grounding in reality — national pride is clearly at stake.

China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

Via: The Verge, The Guardian

Source: RT, Elon Musk (Twitter 1), (2)

Apple ends its annual music festival after 10 years

Apple’s London music festival (first the iTunes Festival, later the Apple Music Festival) has practically become a fixture of the entertainment scene since it got started in 2007. Like it or loathe it, though, you’re going to have to say goodbye. The company informs Music Business Worldwide that it’s no longer offering the annual London concert series. We’ve asked it to elaborate on the decision, but it appear to be a reflection of Apple’s shifting priorities in the streaming music era.

When the iTunes Festival launched, streaming media was still in its relative infancy (remember, Google had only bought YouTube the year before). Apple’s ultimate goal was to sell more albums. Any video was a perk, and there were no subscriber numbers to worry about. It didn’t matter when you bought that live Adele or Oasis album, just so long as you bought it.

In the Apple Music era, it’s very different. Apple needs to not only attract new customers, but keep them subscribed in the long term. That means offering a continuous flow of unique content that gives you reasons to come back, and Apple has been doing just that lately. It recently supported individual shows by the likes of Arcade Fire, Haim and Vince Staples, for example. Likewise, Apple is using episodic streaming video shows such as Carpool Karaoke to encourage repeated visits. A big, monolithic music festival doesn’t really help at all — it may attract more short-term attention, but listeners could quickly lose interest once the last artist leaves the stage.

Source: Music Business Worldwide

Beats Launching New Studio3 Wireless Headphones With Pure Adaptive Noise Cancelation

Beats today introduced new Studio3 Wireless over-ear headphones with Apple’s custom W1 chip and Pure Adaptive Noise Canceling technology.

Beats Studio3 Wireless deliver up to 22 hours of battery life with Pure ANC on, and up to 40 hours with Pure ANC off. Fast Fuel quick charging technology via Micro-USB provides three hours of music playback with a 10-minute charge.

Here’s how Beats describes Pure ANC:

This groundbreaking new technology uses advanced algorithms to continuously monitor your listening environment, so that it can best block out ambient noise—not only on an airplane, but also in a noisy café or a busy office. Pure ANC also evaluates fit and adjusts for leakage caused by hair, glasses, different ear shapes and movement of your head as you go about the day. Additionally, Pure ANC simultaneously checks what you’re hearing while noise canceling is applied against the original music content to adjust and ensure optimal audio fidelity. What’s remarkable is that Pure ANC’s real-time audio calibration operates up to 50,000 times a second.

Like AirPods, Apple’s W1 chip enables the Studio3 Wireless to instantly pair with an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or other Apple device, with seamless switching between iCloud-connected devices.

Apple’s W1 chip has Class 1 Bluetooth, so the Studio3 Wireless can be used with non-Apple devices as well.

Studio3 Wireless wearers can answer phone calls, control music, and activate Siri with multifunction on-ear controls, while a 3.5mm RemoteTalk cable with in-line controls is also included in the carrying case.

Beats Studio3 Wireless can be ordered on Apple’s website starting today for $349.95 in the United States, $399.95 in Canada, and £299.95 in the UK. Prices vary elsewhere. Shipments are estimated to begin in mid October.

The headphones look virtually the same as the original Beats Studio Wireless, including soft over-ear cushions. There are six colors to choose from: Red, Matte Black, White, Porcelain Rose, and Shadow Gray.

Tags: Beats, W1
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