2017 November 14

Nov

What’s on TV: ‘Marvel’s The Punisher,’ ‘SW Battlefront II’

After an extended cameo in the last run of Daredevil, Netflix is releasing The Punisher on its own, while EA is dropping the controversial Star Wars: Battlefront II at the end of this week. Of course, gamers can also opt for a remastered version of L.A. Noire or The Sims 4 on consoles, while Atomic Blonde arrives on 4K Blu-ray. The Mindy Project reaches the end of its run on Hulu, and we’ll check out the season finale of You’re the Worst. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

Atomic Blonde (4K)
Wind River
Amityville: The Awakening
Wind River
Fallen
Doctor Who (S10)
Hellraiser (Limited Edition)
Le Samorai (Criterion)
Desert Hearts (Criterion)
Psycho (4-movie collection)
Road Rage (Xbox One, PS4)
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (Xbox One, PS4)
L.A. Noire (Xbox One, PS4, Switch)
Ashes Cricket (PS4, Xbox One)
Ben 10 (PS4, Xbox One)
de Blob (PS4, Xbox One)
Far from Noise (PS4, PC)
Lumo (Switch)
Injustice 2 (PC)
Rocket League (Switch)
Rime (Switch)
Ittle Dew 2 (Switch)
Outcast: Second Contact (PS4, PC, Xbox One)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (PS VR – 11/17)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (Switch)
The Sims 4 (Xbox One, PS4 – 11/17)
Star Wars Battlefront II (Xbox One, PS4 – 11/17)

Monday

Dolphins/Panthers, ESPN, 8:15 PM
War Dog: A Soldier’s Best Friend, HBO, 8 PM
Lucifer, Fox, 8 PM
Kevin Can Wait, CBS, 8 PM
The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8 PM
WWE Raw, USA, 8 PM
Supergirl, CW, 8 PM
Man with a Plan (season premiere), CBS, 8:30 PM
9jkl, CBS, 9 PM
Valor, CW, 9 PM
The Gifted, Fox, 9 PM
Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics: The Truth About Wonder Woman, AMC, 10 PM
Scorpion, CBS, 10 PM
The Brave, NBC, 10 PM
The Good Doctor, ABC, 10 PM
Ill Behavior (series premiere), Showtime, 10:30 PM
Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Tuesday

The Mindy Project (series finale), Hulu, 3 AM
Future Man (series premiere), Hulu, 3 AM
Deray Davis: How to Act Black, Netflix, 3 AM
Lethal Weapon, Fox, 8 PM
The Flash, CW, 8 PM
Finding Your Roots, PBS, 8 PM
The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
NCIS, CBS, 8 PM
WWE Smackdown, USA, 8 PM
The Middle, ABC, 8 PM
Fresh Off the Boat, ABC, 8:30 PM
Major Crimes, TNT, 9 PM
The Mick, Fox, 9 PM
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, CW, 9 PM
Black-ish, ABC, 9 PM
Bull, CBS, 9 PM
This is Us, NBC, 9 PM
Inside the NFL, Showtime, 9 PM
Fantomworks, Velocity, 9 PM
The Mayor, ABC, 9:30 PM
Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 9:30 PM
Law & Order True Crime (season finale), NBC, 10 PM
Snoop Dogg presents the Jokers Wild, TBS, 10 PM
The Mane Event, BET, 10 PM
Undercover High, A&E, 10 PM
Cyberwar, Viceland, 10 PM
Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, ABC, 10 PM
Law & Order: True Crime, NBC, 10 PM
NCIS: NO, CBS, 10 PM
American Horror Story (season finale), FX, 10 PM
Hunt for the Zodiac Killer (series premiere), History, 10 PM
The Challenge, MTV, 10 PM
Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10 PM
The Jim Jefferies Show, Comedy Central, 10:30 PM
Drop the Mic, TBS, 10:30 PM
Weediquette (season finale), Viceland, 10:30 PM
Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Wednesday

Chance, Hulu, 3 AM
The Blacklist (fall finale), NBC, 8 PM
Empire, Fox, 8 PM
The Goldbergs, ABC, 8 PM
Survivor, CBS, 8 PM
Riverdale, CW, 8 PM
Speechless, ABC, 8:30 PM
Queen Sugar (season finale), Own, 9 PM
Dynasty, CW, 9 PM
Modern Family, ABC, 9 PM
The Voice, NBC, 9 PM
Seal Team, CBS, 9 PM
Star, Fox, 9 PM
American Housewife, ABC, 9:30 PM
Mr. Robot, USA, 10 PM
Shannara Chronicles, Spike TV, 10 PM
Criminal Minds, CBS, 10 PM
Chicago PD, NBC, 10 PM
Designated Survivor, ABC, 10 PM
Liar, Sundance, 10 PM
Are You the One, MTV, 10 PM
You’re the Worst (season finale), FXX, 10 PM
Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Thursday

I Love You America, Hulu, 3 AM
There’s… Johnny! (S1), Hulu, 3 AM
Titans/Steelers, NBC, 8:25 PM
Grey’s Anatomy (fall finale), ABC, 8 PM
Gotham, Fox, 8 PM
Supernatural, CW, 8 PM
The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8 PM
Young Sheldon, CBS, 8:30 PM
Mom, CBS, 9 PM
The Eleven, A&E, 9 PM
Arrow, CW, 9 PM
Scandal (fall finale), ABC, 9 PM
Van Helsing, Syfy, 9 PM
The Orville, Fox, 9 PM
Life in Pieces, CBS, 9:30 PM
Jeff Ross Roasts the Border, Comedy Central, 10 PM
How to Get Away with Murder (fall finale), ABC, 10 PM
S.W.A.T., CBS, 10 PM
Better Things (season finale), FX, 10 PM
Bong Appetit (season finale), Viceland, 10:30 PM
The Rundown with Robin Thede, BET, 11 PM
Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM
The Comedy Get Down, BET, 11:30 PM

Friday

Marvel’s The Punisher (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
Cirque de Soleil (S3), Netflix, 3 AM
Longmire (S6), Netflix, 3 AM
Stretch Armstrong & the Flex Fighters (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
A Christmas
Mudbound, Netflix, 3 AM
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Netflix, 3 AM
Shot in the Dark (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
Blindspot, NBC, 8 PM
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, CW, 8 PM
Macgyver, CBS, 8 PM
Once Upon a Time, ABC, 8 PM
A Football Life: Eddie George, NFL Network, 9 PM
Tim & Faith: Soul2sou, Showtime, 9 PM
The Exorcist, Fox, 9 PM
Jane the Virgin, CW, 9 PM
Marvel’s Inhumans, ABC, 9 PM
Z Nation, Syfy, 9 PM
Superstition, Syfy, 10 PM
Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus, Cinemax, 10 PM
Tracey Ullman’s Show, HBO, 11 PM
Kevin Hart Presents: Hart of the City (season premiere), Comedy Central, 11 PM

Saturday

Night of Too Many Stars, HBO, 8 PM
I Am Elizabeth Smart, Lifetime, 8 PM
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, BBC America, 9 PM
Saturday Night Live: Chance the Rapper / Eminem, NBC, 11:30 PM

Sunday

The Toy Box, ABC, 7 PM
Eagles/Cowboys, NBC, 8:20 PM
Outlander, Starz, 8 PM
American Music Awards, ABC, 8 PM
The Simpsons, Fox, 8 PM
Ghosted, Fox, 8:30 PM
Wisdom of the Crowd, CBS, 8:30 PM
Outlander, Starz, 8 PM
Shameless, Showtime, 9 PM
The Walking Dead, AMC, 9 PM
Poldark (season finale), PBS, 9 PM
The Girlfriend Experience, Starz, 9 PM
NCIS: LA, 9:30 PM
Smilf, Showtime, 10 PM
Nude, Starz, 10 PM
Talking Dead, AMC, 10 PM
Good Behavior, TNT, 10 PM
Madam Secretary, CBS, 10 PM
Search Party (season premiere), TBS, 10 PM
Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO, 10 PM
Unsung Hollywood, TV One, 10 PM
White Famous, Showtime, 10:30 PM

[All times listed are in ET]

Nov

Study Suggests Apple Watch Heart Rate Monitor Can Detect Hypertension and Sleep Apnea

The Apple Watch may be able to accurately detect hypertension and sleep apnea, according to a new study published today by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Cardiogram, a company that’s developed an app that breaks down heart rate data collected by the Apple Watch.

Using data collected from 6,115 Apple Watch owners and interpreted by Cardiogram’s deep neural network “DeepHeart,” the study found that the neural network was able to recognize hypertension (aka high blood pressure) with 82 percent accuracy and sleep apnea with 90 percent accuracy.

Based on previously-established principles suggesting people with low heart rate variability are 1.44x more likely to develop hypertension and that algorithms can accurately determine sleep apnea by beat-to-beat rate variability, Cardiogram and UCSF researchers recruited people for an eHeart study and then trained the DeepHeart neural network to detect new variables.

Cardiogram co-founder Brandon Bollinger told TechCrunch the DeepHeart neural network was trained using data from 70 percent of participants, and then tested on the remaining 30 percent who were not used for training purposes. Of the 6,115 people who participated in the study, sleep apnea was detected in 1,016 participants and hypertension in 2,230.

The study results are promising enough that Cardiogram believes with additional research, wearables like the Apple Watch could be used as a cost effective way to test for hypertension and sleep apnea.

The result was accuracy high enough to support feasible, cost-effective, widely-deployable screening of hypertension and sleep apnea.

For sleep apnea, DeepHeart achieved an accuracy (c-statistic, or AUC ROC) of 90%, with several attractive operating points. For example, we can detect 52% of sleep apnea ( compared to 20% today) with a specificity of 97%. If a specificity of 82% is acceptable, then we can detect even more sleep apnea, about 75% of people. For hypertension, the AUC was 0.82, with an example operating point of 81% sensitivity at 63.2% specificity.

Cardiogram says that peer-reviewed clinical research will be necessary to further determine whether wearables are able to screen for major health conditions like sleep apnea and hypertension, but the research results will be translated into future Cardiogram features.

Cardiogram previously used the same neural network and Apple Watch data to determine that the Apple Watch is able to detect abnormal heart rate rhythms with 97 percent accuracy. This has led Apple team up with Stanford for its own study on whether the Apple Watch can detect abnormal health rhythms and common heart problems.

In the future, Cardiogram plans to expand its research to additional conditions like pre-diabetes and diabetes.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Nov

Gamevice’s iOS Gaming Controller Now Supports Sphero SPRK+ and DJI Spark

Gamevice, a company that makes a Made for iPhone gaming controller for iOS devices, today announced that it has partnered with Sphero and DJI to allow the Gamevice peripheral to control the Sphero SPRK+ robot and the DJI Spark drone.

When the Gamevice for iPhone or iPad is used with the DJI Spark app, the Spark drone can be controlled using the physical buttons of the Gamevice, which the company says offers improved precision, control, and ergonomics.

DJI does offer its own Spark remote controller, but it is not included in the purchase price and costs an additional $119. At $100, the Gamevice controller is more affordable and it also works with a wide range of iOS games.

“We designed Spark to be the easiest DJI drone to fly, whether using simple hand gestures, a smartphone or the dedicated remote control,” said Paul Pan, Senior Product Manager at DJI. “Gamevice gives Spark pilots another simple, highly intuitive way to control their drone, letting them fly, capture and share life’s moments while on the go.”

As for the SPRK+, it’s normally controlled via an on-screen joystick using the Sphero app with no physical control option, so the Gamevice is a great addition for those who would rather have access to controller-style input methods.

Gamevice offers several different controller options for a wide range of iOS devices on its website. Prices for iOS devices start at $99.95.

Tags: Sphero, Gamevice, DJI
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Nov

Fitbit Ionic review

It’s becoming quite obvious as to why there are no major runaway hits for Android Wear. More specifically, it’s clear why there’s not one smartwatch that people simply “must have”. The reason? Fitbit and its ilk.

I’ve had the pleasure of using various Fitbit wearables over the last few years. Moreover, I’ve also owned and used my share of Android Wear watches, too. And, as much as I love the flexibility and promise of what Google sets forth in its OS, I just don’t wear the devices as much as I should. Instead, I find myself turning to “less smart” stuff from the likes of Fitbit, Samsung, and others.

To be clear, it’s not as if these other wearables are necessarily built better or are more fashionable. It’s certainly not as if they have more flexibility or options either. What they offer me, though, is a “good enough” experience that often comes with a more affordable price tag.

Fitness and activity trackers have evolved to the point where it’s not just steps, calories, and sleep anymore. Now we can use them for workouts, music, run tracking via GPS, and even mobile payments.

Over the years Fitbit has pivoted from one or two models to an entire lineup of wearables with variable features and options. Perhaps more importantly, Fitbit has gotten smarter with each generation, blurring the lines between fitness tracking and smartwatch. Its latest model, the Ionic, is billed as a “motivating timepiece” and is essentially its first foray into smartwatches.

Building on its Blaze (read our review), the Ionic is a major release in the era after acquiring Pebble in late 2016. It bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor but it steps things up in terms of functionality.

Priced $300 at launch, we found the Fitbit Ionic to be nearly everything we want in a smartwatch. At a minimum, it was everything we need in one. Sold in three color options, you can buy it in Slate Blue/Orange, Blue Gray/Silver Gray, and Charcoal/Silver Gray.

We were supplied a Charcoal/Silver option from Fitbit. Additionally, we were sent a set of Midnight Blue replacement leather watch straps. This way we were able to see how flexible the watch is in terms of functionality as well as form.

Build

The first thing we noticed about the Ionic is that while it’s quite similar to the Blaze at first blush, there are some subtle and welcome changes. We appreciated that there was a gently slight curve to the design as it wraps the wrist. Most square faced watches can be awkward or come to feel unpleasant over time.

The Fitbit Ionic is also a light watch, regardless of which straps you’re using. The default “Classic” plastic bands are just a smidge heavier than the leather but both are comfortable. Included in the Ionic’s box is both a small and large version of the classic band.

While you can certainly get away with using the standard straps for all occasion, the leather dresses things up nicely. The perforated leather breathes well; it’s incredibly easy to snap and unsnap the bands. It takes all of around ten seconds to swap out bands. We liked wearing leather most of the day, replacing it temporarily for the trips to the gym.

One of the chief gripes we had with the Fitbit Blaze was that it was not waterproof. It wasn’t as if we needed it to track swimming but that would have been a nice touch. Rather, we just didn’t like having to take it off every time we took a shower or expected to get wet. That problem is addressed in the Ionic as it is fully waterproof and also features swim tracking.

The downside to wearing the leather band, though, is that it’s not water-resistant or sweat proof. So, you won’t want to take it to the shower, bath, or pool. You also don’t want to get all sweaty from a workout. This is where having the classic band on for all occasions comes in handy.

The Ionic is comprised of aerospace-grade aluminum and has very small antenna bands on the sides. On the left side you’ll find one button; the right has two buttons. The entire display is extremely easy on the eyes, thanks to its brightness (up to 1,000 nits) and resolution. Gorilla Glass 3 protects the screen from scuffs and scratches.

The buttons stick out from the sides and have a nice textured grip to them. It’s pretty easy to find them when you’re out of breath and want to pause your run. There’s a nice response to all three of them, making navigation pleasurable.

Although the screen itself does accept touch for tapping and swiping we did find it a little less responsive than we’d like. This goes double for times when you’re sweaty or the watch is wet. A couple of times we found we had to shake our wrist free of droplets or wipe it against our shirt to get a good, consistent read.

Battery & Charging

With every different model of Fitbit comes a different way of charging. For the Blaze it was a case of removing the watch from the band and encasing it in a charger. The Ionic has a magnetic charger that attaches itself to a few connecting points in the back. We weren’t totally in love with the setup.

Rather than a platter-like connection that you might find with other smartwatches, the Ionic’s charger is almost like a perpendicular plug. The magnet is strong enough to get a bite but disturbing the watch could result in losing connection.

On a more positive note, you’ll only have to charge the watch two times a week at the most. We were impressed with the watch’s ability to hold a charge, especially as we played around with it in the first few days. Between goofing with the watch itself and adjusting things from the app we would have chewed through an Android Wear watch much quicker.

Performance & Usage

We don’t like to have our wrists feel constricted. It’s pretty common for a watch to have a thick or wide band that’s generally comfortable throughout the day. Come night, however, that wide strap can feel like a cuff around you wrist.

The Ionic, like many of Fitbit’s products, can track your sleep. We were pleased to discover that the watch bands didn’t feel too constricting or obvious. For what it’s worth, the leather has more play to it than the classic band.

Generally speaking, it’s easy to forget that you’re wearing the Ionic. As we said above, it’s really light. While it might look like there’s a giant square on your wrist, there’s a taper to the bottom. Indeed, only around 25% of the display touches the arm. This allows for movement in all directions without bunching your skin up or pinching.

Aside from the occasional unregistered touch, we liked navigating and using the Ionic. It offers up more than just passive tracking, something that we’ve really come to rely on. To be clear, the watch can be used in the passive manner, but it benefits the user to use the built in features.

The Iconic can automatically track exercises and activities; there are numerous coaching features to help guide you on your aerobic or fitness path. On the other end of the spectrum it can also walk you through some breathing sessions bringing your heart rate into line.

By default the watch will notify you when it’s time to get up and moving. Sit too long and it will vibrate, gently nudging you to get up and walk around. We appreciate that tracking steps can be monitored in a per-hour basis.

It’s one thing to knock out a few thousand over a run but where do your other steps come in? Are you prone to move more during morning or after dinner? The mobile app does a fantastic job of aggregating data over the short and long term to help you along.

You can glance at a running log of sleep habits, steps, calories burned, and other details or you can dive deeper into specific days. It’s truly a case of “the more you use it, the better it gets”.

The Ionic can also notify wearers of calls, texts, and calendar events. Additionally, set up notifications on a per-app basis. So, if you don’t want every Facebook or Snapchat update to hit your wrist, you don’t have to get them.

There’s enough storage in the watch to hold around 300 or more songs. Moreover, it has access to Pandora, without need of a phone. Yes, you can grab some headphones and pair them to the watch so you can get your run on.

The built in NFC chip lets you use the Ionic to make mobile payments. This is a first for Fitbit and one that we liked quite well. It also lends to the whole notion of being able to leave your phone behind. Stop by a gas station or convenience store on your way home from the gym and you’ll be able to tap and pay with the watch. This feature takes but a few minutes to set up on your phone.

Although not a first for Fitbit, the Ionic has built-in GPS antennas. You can feel free to run, bike, or walk, knowing that the watch is tracking your whereabouts. This, too, was something we wanted in the Blaze. To be fair, the Blaze would work in tandem with your phone to provide the GPS. Fitbit terms this as “connected GPS”.

We did have a couple of instances where the watch would restart or hang up in the three weeks we spent with it. Twice, at the gym, we just happened to look down to check calories and heart rate while on the treadmill, only to find the Ionic was in the midst of a reboot.

Not only did we lose the activity we had done up to that point, but we had to restart the treadmill tracking again. Had we not looked down we might not have known it had stopped. Nevertheless, we lost about 15-18 minutes in one run and around 10 minutes in another.

A third instance we had was that the watch was seemingly locked up with a dead screen. Taking it off the wrist we could see the heart rate tracker blinking; however, there was nothing happening on screen. Holding down the two buttons on the right seemed to restart the watch without instance. But, again, this was just us glancing down to see the time. How long it was off remains to be seen. Moreover, we don’t know what was tracked up to that point.

Those issues aside, we’ve been incredibly happy with the Ionic. Performance was otherwise flawless so we’re hoping this is just a case of bug fixing that comes in a future firmware update.

Conclusion

The more we wear a device like the Fitbit Ionic, the less reliant we are on a platform like Android Wear. But, that’s not to say it’s perfect and does everything right. It’s not as customizable as what you’d get in a more formal smartwatch and there are very few “apps” for it.

As a product in the Fitbit family, the Ionic is wonderful. It’s priced right and differentiates itself from other models under the brand. There’s enough special here to justify moving up from the Blaze, especially the waterproof protection.

Fitbit has established itself as a premier name in the wearable space, and, by all accounts, this will only help propel it forward. Add in more interoperability with other apps and services, fix a minor bug or two, and you’ve got one killer product. Out of the box, though, we still have no issues recommending the Ionic for interested buyers.

Nov

First full ‘Wolfenstein II’ DLC arrives on December 14th

Fans of MachineGames’ wonderful Nazi-killing shooter Wolfenstein: The New Colossus were probably wondering what the title screen’s countdown would reveal. Last week, we found out: A delightful trio of hour-long mini-missions featuring characters from the game’s upcoming DLC. Today, the studio released a roadmap revealing the release dates for the game’s new content, and the first will launch on December 14th.

Return to battle with three new characters with The Freedom Chronicles. Here’s when #Wolf2’s DLC releases. https://t.co/1qfjYihhf1 pic.twitter.com/pbaLUlNm4H

— Wolfenstein (@wolfenstein) November 13, 2017

Folks who pre-ordered The New Colossus or bought its Season Pass already got a look into The Freedom Chronicles, as the DLC is known, when Episode Zero dropped on November 7th. Instead of Terror Billy, players got to toy with three different characters, each equipped with a different endgame gadget (stilts, sneaking compressor, battering ram) from the main campaign. Each full DLC entry will focus on one of them. Next month, players will get The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe, aka Joseph Stallion, the former football star fond of tackling Nazis into the ground. Often with bullets.

The Diaries of Agent Silent Death, starring the eponymous femme fatale assassin, follows on January 30th. Accordingly, her characters sports the upgrade allowing players to slip inside small tunnels for a stealthier playstyle. Last of the announced DLC is The Deeds of Captain Wilkins arriving sometime in March 2018, which lets you use the undoubted king of the upgrades, the Battle Stilts, to gun down some Nazi scum. You can get all three in the game’s $25 Season Pass or buy individually for an as-yet-unannounced per-episode price. Given the promise of “Over nine hours of content” on MachineGames’ DLC poster in its roadmap tweet, about three hours for around $8 doesn’t sound like too bad a deal.

Source: Bethesda

Nov

Bill Gates firm puts $80 million behind ‘smart city’ in Arizona

One of Bill Gates’ firms invested $80 million into nearly 25,000 acres of land west of Phoenix, Arizona to build a ‘smart city’ of the future. The proposed community, called Belmont, will have high-speed communications infrastructure, autonomous cars and data centers. In short, a hyper-connected place suitable for new companies to set up shop in.

“Belmont will create a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs,” Belmont Partners said in a news release, according to KPNX.

The land itself has been eyed for development since the early 90s, according to AZ Central. 3,800 acres will be zoned for commercial and office space and 470 acres will go to public schooling, with projected housing for 80,000. That will make Belmont the area and population of Tempe, according to the Arizona-based Belmont Partners’ press release. It will be situated along the projected path of the not-yet-built I-11, which runs from Las Vegas to Mexico.

Otherwise, there’s not much known about the development, including when anyone will break ground on the land and start building the Belmont of tomorrow.

Via: Business Insider

Source: KPNX

Nov

Dear Google: Integrate Android and Chrome OS, or stop making $1,000 Chromebooks

We weren’t there in the meetings where Chromebooks were green-lit, but we can imagine they started as a bit of an experiment. The first ones were around $400, made of plastic, and ran nothing except the Chrome browser. With these limitations in place, Chromebooks began to find an audience. Owners realized they didn’t need to spend over a thousand dollars to write emails and watch Netflix – and they loved it.

Google has stitched Android and Chrome OS together with scissors, glue, and tape.

Now, six years later, Google has introduced the Pixelbook. It’s a beautiful 2-in-1 that seems confused about why it exists. On the outside, it’s a product that screams “MacBook competitor,” accompanied by a $1,000 price point and snazzy design pulled from the Pixel smartphones.

The Pixelbook isn’t targeting the same audience other Chromebooks are. Like Apple and Microsoft, Google wants people to buy the Pixelbook not just because they need a computer, but because they want a Google product. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, that same mindset led to the iPhone and the Surface Pro, devices that altered the future of computing.

Unfortunately, the Pixelbook is not as revolutionary.

The messy mash-up

Before the Pixelbook’s announcement, we were sure the next laptop made by Google would integrate Android and Chrome OS. The company had already added access to the Google Play Store to many Chromebooks, so it seems a natural evolution. After the success of the Pixel smartphones, we thought Google’s next device would be a mainstream 2-in-1 laptop that everyone would want. Google was even rumored to be developing a new operating system to handle the form factor of the Pixelbook.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

However, it only takes a few minutes of using the Pixelbook to realize the problem inherent in its existence. With the Pixelbook, Google has stitched Android and Chrome OS together with scissors, glue, and tape, instead of weaving them together as a single fabric. Running Android apps on the Pixelbook feels akin to running an illegal NES ROM in an emulator. Some of the apps are full of glitches and sizing issues, some of which are leftovers from the Android tablet days. You need only look down at your taskbar and see duplicates of the same app — one from the Play Store, and one from the Chrome Web Store — to see the problem.

Google Assistant and the Pixelbook Pen make the problem worse, not better. They highlight the messy melding of the two operating systems, and make the user experience downright confusing. It’s hard to predict what’ll happen when you touch the screen with the Pen, or summon Google Assistant. The response can depend on what you’re using, and doesn’t inspire the confidence. The Chrome browser doesn’t work well with the pen, but Android apps usually do. With Assistant, though, it’s Android apps that see the cold shoulder, while the Pen is often trouble-free. When a manufacturer makes both the hardware and the software, it’s fair to expect a certain amount of integration – and that’s what the Pixelbook lacks.

Google, pick a direction – and stick with it

Rumor have circulated about a new Google operating system, code-named Andromeda, that’s meant to combine Android and Chrome OS together. It was said to be scheduled for release in 2017. It’s not hard to imagine Google preparing Andromeda to be released with the Pixelbook, only to squash it altogether, as reports indicated earlier this summer.

Now, the rumors have changed, and suggest Google’s working on a new operating system known internally as Fuchsia. Nothing is official yet, but we do know it ditches the Linux-microkernel that Chrome OS is based on in favor of a new, homebrewed microkernel called Magenta. According to Google documentation, Magenta is made for “modern phones and modern personal computers with fast processors, non-trivial amounts of RAM, with arbitrary peripherals doing open-ended computation.”

Whatever Fuchsia’s capabilities, Google must decide the type of company it wants to be. If it wants to continue as the open-source, affordable alternative to Apple and Microsoft, it should stop trying to sell $1,000 Chromebooks. If it wants to be a serious competitor in the laptop and 2-in-1 space, it’s time for the company to build a decisive, fully-baked solution to the awkward gap between Android and Chrome OS.

Until then, the Pixelbook – and all other premium Chromebooks – will feel like prototypes shoved out the door too soon.

Editors’ Recommendations

The Pixelbook nearly doubles Samsung’s Chromebook Pro in price. Is it justified?
Google Pixelbook Review
These are the most common Pixelbook problems, and how to fix them
Battle of the beautiful: How does the Pixelbook stack up to the MacBook Pro?
Here’s everything we expect from Google’s October 4 hardware event

Leaked photo shows upcoming Intel/AMD module on a compact motherboard

As reported last week, Intel teamed up with AMD to create a multi-chip module (MCM) consisting of Intel’s seventh-generation processor cores, AMD’s previous-generation “Polaris” Radeon graphics cores, and built-in “stacked” memory dedicated to graphics. Renders provided by Intel shows the three components in a rectangular package that plugs into a motherboard. Now a photograph has sufaced of the Intel/AMD module, giving us a real-world glimpse.

Both the photograph and Intel’s official render show the processor cores housed in one chip, and the Radeon graphics cores in another chip parked next to the HBM2 video memory. All three are mounted on a small enclosed circuit board that also contains a dedicated “highway” to quickly pass data between the three components. The module itself is mounted on a small motherboard akin to Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC) all-in-one, small-form-factor PCs.

Speculation stemming from the now-removed photograph pegs the graphics component to possibly be AMD’s Polaris 20 graphics chip used on the Radeon RX 580 graphics card, as both appear similar in size. Meanwhile, the height of the HBM2 memory stack suggest at maximum 4GB capacity, backing up previous benchmark leaks showing two modules sporting 4GB of HDM2 memory each.

But leaked benchmarks also reveal that the Radeon graphics component reports 24 compute units, with translates into 1,536 stream processors. The Radeon RX 580 consists of 36 compute units (2,304 stream processors), the Radeon RX 570 has 32 compute units (2,048 stream processors), and the RX 560 consists of 16 or 14 compute units, depending on the card. What we’re seeing is the custom Radeon graphics component confirmed in Intel’s official announcement.

That said, the module’s Radeon component should hit a performance level residing between the RX 570 and the RX 560, or in the case of Nvidia, between the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and the GTX 1060. Adding to that, the Core i7-88809G module will supposedly have a base graphics speed at 1,190MHz, and a memory bus clocked at 800MHz. Meanwhile, the slower Core i7-8705G model will supposedly have a 1,011MHz base graphics speed, and a memory bus clocked at 700MHz.

Outside the pictured module, the motherboard seen in the photograph appears to be similar in size to Intel’s larger NUC kits. Two memory slots reside next to Intel’s upcoming module along with an M.2 slot supporting SSDs measuring 22mm x 80mm. You can also see two SATA controllers, and one side packed full of ports. Two of these are likely “stacked” USB ports, and one possibly serving as HDMI output.

The photograph emerges after Intel revealed that AMD’s former head of its Radeon graphics division, Raja Koduri, is now spearheading a new department at Intel dedicated to high-end graphics. The announcement arrived just after Intel revealed its collaboration to produce modules, and Koduri’s move from AMD to Intel is likely part of that collaboration. Intel’s new “Core and Visual Computing Group” will place the company as a third player in the high-end graphics market, competing with AMD and Nvidia.

Intel’s new modules are slated to be made available for PC makers in the first quarter of 2018.

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Nov

Leaked photo shows upcoming Intel/AMD module on a compact motherboard

Intel’s new modules are slated to be made available for PC makers in the first quarter of 2018.

Editors’ Recommendations

Intel and AMD’s love/hate relationship spilled in benchmarks detailing two chips
After teaming with AMD, Intel poaches its graphics guru to build its own GPUs
Intel is cramming custom AMD Radeon graphics into an eighth-generation chip
Want an Alienware Area-51 PC with a 12-core CPU? It won’t use Intel X-Series
Desktops are dead? Lenovo says no as it shoves new gaming PCs into the spotlight

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