How to stream on Mixer with Xbox One, Windows 10, or even Nintendo’s Switch

Microsoft made an interesting move in August 2016 when it acquired interactive livestreaming service Beam. The purchase seemingly cemented the company’s promise to better support its revenue-generating gaming customers, a promise that saw an integration of game broadcasting in the Creators Update for Windows 10. Microsoft renamed the service to Mixer in May 2017 while injecting it with new features. Here’s our handy guide on how to stream on Mixer.

Creating an account

Chances are, you’re reading this guide on a Windows 10 PC. That makes the process of creating a Mixer account easier given that Microsoft owns the service. When you hit the “Sign Up” button, a window will appear sporting a “Sign up with your Microsoft account” button. Click on it, and provide the credentials that you use to sign into Windows 10 (if you use a Microsoft account), or the Xbox One console.

Once that’s done, your Windows 10 PC and Xbox One are automatically linked to Mixer, and ready to stream to the service. You won’t need to provide any stream keys – unique numbers that ties your broadcast channel to the output of your software – unless you option to use third-party software instead of the integrated tools in Windows 10 and Xbox One.

One factor we’d like to point out is that although Mixer is free to use, there is a “premium” version for $8 per month. This subscription provides you with premium technical support, early access to new features, the removal of advertisements, and a 2x experience (EXP) multiplier. This EXP system is means for unlocking new features — the more you watch and broadcast, the more features you can unlock.

In addition to experience points, you generate an on-site currency called “sparks” when you stream or watch another broadcast on Mixer. This virtual currency can be used to enable games like Minecraft, purchase apps created by the Mixer community, and even create a team from a group of friends who stream together.

Outside the broadcasting aspect of your new Mixer channel, the customization portion is limited to setting your avatar, your channel intro, and adding social profiles. Your account also provides an analytics section for viewing your broadcasting statistics, such as the number of followers, how many views you’ve raked in, and the number of hours streamed. The “Your Network” section simply lists all the broadcasters you’re following.

That all said, it’s time to broadcast!

Editor’s Recommendations

• This is how to create a scatter plot in Excel using the latest version
• Want to know how to setup dual monitors in Windows 10? We explain the process
• HBO GO vs HBO Now: Which is right for you?
• How to watch NFL games online, with or without cable
• What is Wi-Fi calling and how does it work?

Whiffing on every pitch? Adjust your swing with Garmin’s Impact sensor

Why it matters to you

Hitting a baseball is a tough skill to perfect but the Impact sensor gives you a lot of data to help you become better at it.

Since baseball’s inception, there have been three definitive ways to teach you how to swing the bat proficiently: Your parents, your coach, and Ted Williams’ The Science of Hitting. But for those of us who wanted to take a more independent, self-discovery-type approach to improve our ability to get the ball out of the infield, the options were more limited.

In the spirit of baseball and softball’s constant tradition of learning through failure comes Garmin’s Impact bat swing sensor. The device, which costs $150 and weighs 34 grams, is attached to the end of your bat grip to deliver all the analytical data you could ever want on how ugly your swing is. No longer will your parents, coaches, or teammates have to watch you in the batting cages, delivering pointed critiques of how your underwhelming swing is incapable of catching up to a Little League fastball. Instead, the device will break down that information to you gently, and give you objective information on how to improve your chances of making solid contact.

After every swing, the Impact sends information on bat speed, hand speed, time to impact, elevation angle, and attack angle to the on-screen display. After every three swings, the device will offer coaching tips and drills that were developed by professional hitting coaches and are adapted to your hitting profile — whatever it may be.

And if you’re really a glutton for punishment, the Impact offers a free app on your mobile device of choice that offers deeper analytical insights. The app gives 3D insights into your swing trajectory and highlights whether the bat is going too slow through the strike zone. If there is more than one slugger hoping to improve their swing, the app allows you to create multiple profiles.

“Garmin has seen great success with our other sports products, like the golf swing sensor, so the addition of the Impact bat swing sensor to the performance training market seemed like a natural fit,” Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales, said in a statement. “Whether playing baseball or softball, or coaching players, the on-device display and auditory cues on the Impact bat swing sensor allow batters to quickly make adjustments, so come game time, they can step up to the plate with confidence.”

But if your hitting confidence ever goes down the tubes, you can always switch to pitching with a smart baseball.

Editor’s Recommendations

• Improve your golf swing with the sensors from SwingLync
• Gen i1 is a smart golf ball that can help improve a player’s putting
• Garmin Fenix 5X review
• Curious what traits your unborn child will have? Send HumanCode your spit
• Garmin Speak Review

Google Pixel 2 XL: How it stacks up to my lofty expectations

The good, bad, and ugly of using the Pixel 2 XL as my daily driver for five days.

Earlier this month, I wrote an article here on Android Central titled “Why Google’s Pixel 2 XL will be my next phone.” I laid out my reasons for preordering the Pixel 2 XL the day of its announcement and why I was excited for it to be my daily driver going into 2018. I’ve now been using the phone for five days, and this is what I’ve learned during that time.

These are the best cameras you can get on a phone right now

I’m not the most avid photographer when it comes to smartphones, but the Pixel 2 XL has started to change that. Smartphone cameras have been really, really good for a while now, but Google has raised the bar to an entirely new level this year.

This is one of those cameras that you can whip out of your pocket, press the shutter button, and get an image that will consistently look awesome. Last year’s Pixel also did this, but the Pixel 2 XL also introduces excellent low-light performance, handles varying degrees of exposure while keeping all of your subjects in clear detail, and can pull off impressive portrait mode shots without the need for a second lens.

This praise applies to both the front and rear-facing cameras, and it’s praise that’s more than deserved here. The Pixel 2 XL has made me want to actively seek out things to take pictures of, and as it stands, it easily offers the best photo/video experience available in a smartphone right now.

Dat battery life

The camera package is the same between the Pixel 2 and 2 XL, and as such, some of you might be wondering why in the world you’d want to go for the XL and it’s myriad of display qualms (more on that later). Easy – the battery life.

Battery performance on most flagships over the past year or two has been good, but nothing amazing. The Pixel 2 XL changes that.

You can check out Andrew’s full review to get exact details on the battery (and everything else), but in short, this is a phone that can easily last through two full days of regular use. That’s not something that can be said for most flagships, and for someone that relies so heavily on their phone for work and personal use, having so much stamina is outstanding.

All of the other bits

The battery life and camera are what I’ve noticed most about the Pixel 2 XL during my time with the phone, but that’s not all that it gets right.

Although not everyone is thrilled with Google’s decision to use a special coating over the aluminum body, it’s a move I’ve come to really appreciate. The phone feels grippy no matter how you hold it, and while it may not be quite as “premium” as naked metal, it’s nowhere near as slippery as last year’s phone.

Great design, blazing performnace, and fun software goodies make the Pixel 2 XL a complete package.

Performance is just as fast and responsive as you’d expect from the Snapdragon 835 and Google’s ability to meld hardware and software together for an unrivaled user experience. Apps open in the blink of an eye, multitasking is buttery smooth, and not once have I come across any sort of lag or stutter.

Squeezing the sides of the phone to bring up Google Assistant with Active Edge is surprisingly useful at times, and Now Playing is wickedly cool. Being able to look down at my phone and see what song is playing around me without having to manually do anything is pure magic, and while it’s a fun party-trick, it’s also crazy practical.

Oh, front-facing speakers are also wonderful and amazing and every single phone should have them.

My issue with the display

You’ve undoubtedly heard a thing or two about the Pixel 2 XL’s display, and before I go too much further about my personal opinion, this is what we know so far.

Google is “actively investigating” the issues surrounding the phone’s screen, but at this point, we aren’t entirely sure what that means. Google will more than likely release an update at some point to add an option for more vivid colors, but not everything can be fixed with software.

Our own Alex Dobie recently conducted a pretty thorough test of the Pixel 2 XL’s screen, and while this has yet to be confirmed by Google, it does appear that permanent burn-in is happening on the screen after just days of use. Burn-in is to be expected with all OLED and AMOLED panels at some point, but only after months or years, not days.

Not everyone will be as sensitive to the display as I am, but for me personally, it’s a deal-breaker.

I’ve noticed a similar effect on my own device, and while it’s not visible in most use cases, just the fact that the shadow of the navigation bar is either showing image retention or screen burn-in after just a few days has me incredibly worried for how the panel will fare after months of use as a daily driver.

Current status of Pixel 2 XL display pic.twitter.com/Xl4h0jEJ0K

— Joe Spooky Maring (@JoeMaring1) October 22, 2017

Possible burn-in aside, the display is serviceable and isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen. With that said, for a phone that costs at least $849 USD before tax, its quality does not match its asking price. The display is subpar, and while you can get used to it, I don’t want to have to “get used” to a display on a phone that costs this much. I should be wowed by the display each time I turn on the Pixel 2 XL, but that simply doesn’t happen.

Some of you might not care about these complaints, and if that’s the case, more power to you. Unfortunately, it’s something I cannot get past and likely never will.

A learning experience

Because of the circumstances I just outlined, I ended up returning my Pixel 2 XL and replaced it with the Galaxy S8. I considered swapping out the 2 XL with the regular Pixel 2, but I’ve sailed too far away on the minimal bezel train to go back to something with a forehead and chin that big.

Is the Galaxy S8 perfect? Nope. Does it have all of the software features that I loved so much on the Pixel 2 XL. Not at all. However, each time I power on its display, I smile and feel like I’m holding a piece of the future – a feeling I never once had with the Pixel 2 XL.

It’s a true shame that the Pixel 2 XL ended up the way it is, but here’s to hoping Google can fix as many of its problems as it can and use this as a learning experience for next year with the Pixel 3.

As for me personally, I’ll be using this as an example of why I usually don’t preorder devices sight-unseen.

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

• Pixel 2 FAQ: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: The new standard
• Google Pixel 2 specs
• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

Google Store
Project Fi
Verizon
Best Buy

How to use V360: Editing your 360-degree videos is finally fun

Edit your 360 videos with just a few taps!

360 videos are one of the big perks off watching clips in VR. While it’s easy to snag great video with different 360 cameras, editing those videos has been a bit more complicated. V360 aims to fix that problem by delivering an app that makes editing your 360 videos easy, no matter where you are. You’re able to easily clip videos, add music and text, and export your videos so they can be shared on social media.

We’ve got everything you need to get started right here!

See V360 at Play Store

Read more at VRHeads

Kinect: Seven years of strange experiments

Kinect is dead. The writing has been on the wall for years, at least since Microsoft de-bundled the motion-tracking system from the Xbox One in 2014, knocking $100 off the price tag and making the system more competitive with the PlayStation 4.

The Kinect debuted in 2010 with the Xbox 360, and it had a good run, overall: Microsoft sold roughly 35 million devices in total. However, across its iterations and upgrades, the Kinect never quite found its market — the one application that would turn the hardware into an essential piece of home technology. It wasn’t a conversational, connected, voice-activated system like Google Home or Amazon Alexa, and game developers lost interest in the device as virtual and mixed reality rose to the fore. The Kinect was a product out of time.

That’s not to say it didn’t contribute to some truly wild experiences over the years. Developers quickly applied Kinect to surgery, physical therapy and a range of other medical uses. Three years after its debut, the Kinect was able to read sign language. Musicians flocked to the technology, applying it to live shows and videos. And then there were the games: Fantasia: Music Evolved, D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die and Fru were brilliant examples of the breadth of experience possible via Kinect’s gesture-tracking interface. Even Kinect Sports Rivals, for all of its flaws, laid the groundwork for local multiplayer in motion-controlled gaming.

Below, we’ve collected a handful of trippy, strange and downright cool Kinect experiments from its seven years on the market. The Kinect is dead; long live Kinect.

Bathtub touchscreen

The Aquatop projector turned a bathtub into a touchscreen surface, powered by bath salts and Kinect. From researchers at the Koike Laboratory at Tokyo’s University of Electro-Communications, Aquatop let people pinch and drag the water to manipulate images and play games — all without the fear of getting a phone or tablet wet.

Furry mirror

You could also call this one the “Chewbacca cosplay simulator,” if you’re feeling saucy. New York-based artist Daniel Rozin created a “mirror” out of nearly 1,000 black and white pom-poms, using the Kinect to track people’s movements and power 464 servos to respond in kind. This is the artistic side of Kinect — something ridiculous, thought-provoking and completely impractical.

Sustainability wonderland

Once upon a time, the New York Hall of Science hosted a sprawling, interactive forest designed to help kids better understand the core tenets of sustainability. Connected Worlds featured six different digital biomes, including a 40-foot waterfall and movable “logs” lying about the play space. It took a dozen Kinect cameras, dangling in midair, to make the whole thing possible.

Playing a four-story pipe organ

Old, meet new. Composer Chris Vik added Kinect to a huge 83-year-old pipe organ in Melbourne, Australia, and he was able to play it with gestures alone. The Town Hall organ had been retrofitted to accept MIDI input in the 1990s, so Vik wrote some code, hooked up a Kinect, and voilà.

Dino bones

In July, scientists at the Field Museum of Natural History had a problem: They needed to scan the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex, but their equipment wouldn’t fit around the beast’s massive jaw. Enter: Kinect. Researchers were able to scan the entire five-foot fossil and investigate a series of holes in its jaw, all for thousands of dollars less than using traditional scanning systems.

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails’ frontman, Trent Reznor, and art director Rob Sheridan are pretty big nerds, and they took the Kinect under their wings on a festival tour in 2013. During his set, the Kinect tracked Reznor’s movements and projected them onto a series of mobile screens as a distorted kind of mirror. We talked with Sheridan this week about the death of the Kinect; read his thoughts right here.

Guarding the Korean border

Self-taught South Korean programmer Jae Kwan Ko took the Kinect to a new level of militaristic might, applying the hardware to the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. The Kinect system monitored the border for movement, and it was even able to discern the difference between animals and humans.

RoomAlive

RoomAlive was an internal project from Microsoft that represented the dreams of gaming and sci-fi fans worldwide. It essentially turned a living room into a Star Trek-style holodeck, projecting interactive objects and environments on the walls and floors. RoomAlive never made it to the stage where it was ready for consumer consumption, but the fact that this type of technology existed — in 2014, even — was incredibly exciting.

Let it go

Finally, there’s this: The best use of Kinect in the history of mankind.

The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. We’ll recap this week’s news highlights, like Amazon’s latest service: a security camera and smart lock combo that will let its delivery people inside your house.

How do you feel about living in a cave?Getting to and living on Mars will be hell on your body

To learn more about what it will take for humans to live on Mars, Engadget spoke with NASA scientist Laura Kerber and Spaceworks COO John Bradford at the Hello Tomorrow symposium in Paris. It’s time to find out what a “torpor” is and why you’ll want to be in one to make the trip.

Alexa still reigns as the queen of assistants.Amazon Echo review (2017)

First, the good news: Amazon’s latest Echo is plugged into the ever-evolving Alexa AI that currently leads the pack of “smart” assistants, and at $99 it’s cheaper than last year’s model. The bad news? Despite some attractive, interchangeable shells, this smaller Echo puts out subpar audio compared to other smart speakers on the market.

The first qualifying event is in November — it’s time to train.FIFA and EA will put on the first-ever ‘eWorld Cup’ next year

FIFA and Electronic Arts are taking their partnership to the logical conclusion point: the pair will put on the first-ever eWorld Cup next August. Competition starts next month on November 3rd.

Think it over.WhatsApp lets you delete your embarrassing texts, if you’re quick

Have you ever accidentally sent a message on WhatsApp that you wish you hadn’t? Well, starting today, you can delete it — as long as you catch it within the first seven minutes. If you do, however, your recipient will instead see a “This message was deleted” alert.

Good luck.iPhone X pre-orders are open

Now the expected wait time has stretched to 5 – 6 weeks.

What could possibly go wrong?Bad Password: Great, now there’s ‘responsible encryption’

Trump’s Department of Justice is trying to get a do-over with its campaign to get backdoors onto iPhones and into secure messaging services. The policy rebrand even has its own made-up buzzword. They’re calling it “responsible encryption.”

But wait, there’s more…

• Which 4K OLED sets are worth buying?
• Amazon Key opens your home for indoor deliveries
• Now T-Mobile is working with Project Loon in Puerto Rico
• Microsoft ceases production of the Kinect
• Amazon vs. Roku: Which $70 4K streaming device is best?
• The real consequences of Patreon’s adult content crackdown
• ‘Stranger Things 2’ basically gives everyone a cellphone

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.

Google plans software update to fix another Pixel 2 audio issue

Google just announced software updates are incoming to deal with issues Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL owners are reporting with their screens and speakers, and now there’s another one on the list. Its audio recordings seem to have an issue that makes them suddenly turn tinny and garbled, as noted in a thread on the support forums. Company representatives tell CNET and Android Police that Google is aware of the issue, and plans to fix it with a software update that will roll out in the next few weeks. That should be quite a patch when it arrives.

Source: CNET, Android Police

Best Buy bets you’ll pay $100 extra for an iPhone X

After half an hour of iPhone X preorders going live, the first ship date of November 3rd had already filled up. New owners were told they would have to wait 4-5 weeks for their new Apple device to ship. Maybe that has something to do with Best Buy’s surprise price hike of $100 extra for folks who pre-ordered either model of iPhone X on the retailer’s site.

Apple priced its iPhone X at $1000 for the base model, or $1150 for more storage. Best Buy is charging $1100 and $1250 for the same models, respectively. Best Buy defended its higher prices, which are identical to what Apple quoted would be charged to customers on carrier installment plans. Basically, if you were going to pay monthly for a phone, it would end up being the same price as what Best Buy is charging up-front for the same device.

“Our prices reflect the fact that no matter a customer’s desired plan or carrier, or whether a customer is on a business or personal plan, they are able to get a phone the way they want at Best Buy,” Best Buy spokesperson Danielle Schumann told Bloomberg in an email. “Our customers have told us they want this flexibility and sometimes that has a cost.”

Via: Bloomberg

Source: Best Buy – iPhone X

Apple Sending Emails to iPhone Upgrade Program Customers Who Had iPhone X Pre-Order Failures

Apple this evening began sending emails to customers who attempted to pre-order an iPhone X through the iPhone Upgrade Program but ran into a problem during the process.

In the email Apple asks customers to place a new iPhone Upgrade Program order and to reply to the email with the order number. It’s not clear why Apple is asking for order numbers, but it could be that the company is planning to expedite these orders in some way.

The email says Apple is working to get iPhone X models out as soon as possible, but the wording doesn’t necessarily suggest an order upgrade or faster shipping, so it’s possible Apple is just making sure its iPhone Upgrade Program customers have the chance to place an order.

Customers receiving these emails seem to have been told during ordering that their loan applications with Citizens One were taking longer to process than expected, and many later received notice that their orders were not initially approved. These customers were forced to order at a later date and now have delivery estimates of five to six weeks for their new devices.

If it does turn out Apple is planning to expedite the orders of these customers in some way, we’ll update this post, but at the current time, it’s unclear what Apple’s plans are.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTag: iPhone Upgrade ProgramBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Pixel 2 At a Glance widget now available with Action Launcher

The v30 update also brings enhanced customization to the search bar, more adaptive icons, and better performance on Samsung devices.

Chris Lacy’s Action Launcher is one of the most popular launchers on the Google Play Store, and with the app’s latest v30 update, it’s gaining even more Pixel 2-esque features to help make your home screen look as great as possible.

As you can tell by the title, the biggest addition here is the new At a Glance widget that Google introduced with the Pixel 2. The At a Glance widget shows the current date, weather conditions, and any upcoming calendar appointments in a sleek and attractive package. It looks exactly how it does on the Pixel 2, and it’s a great way to quickly make your phone look a lot like Google’s latest.

However, the At a Glance widget isn’t the only goodie included with this latest update. The last v29 update gave users the ability to move Action Launcher’s Quickbar below the dock, and v30 introduces some wild customization controls for it. There’s a new icon editor that allows you to change the appearance of individual icons on the Quickbar, and the number of options present here is insane.

The dock search bar has also been tweaked to more accurately match its size on the Pixel Launcher, Action Launcher’s compatibility with the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note 8 has been “improved markedly”, and there are also 250 new icons for Chris Lacy’s AdaptivePack icon pack.

Action Launcher’s v30 update is available in the Google Play store now, and you can download it here.

Action Launcher gains Pixel 2-style search bar with latest update