Apple in Bidding War for J.J. Abrams Sci-Fi Drama

Apple and HBO are embroiled in a bidding war for a new sci-fi drama television series penned by J.J. Abrams, reports Variety.

Little is known about the series at this time, but it’s said to deal with a “world’s battle against a monstrous, oppressive force,” and it marks the first television series Abrams has written since “Fringe” in 2008.

Most recently, Abrams wrote “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and he is working on the upcoming and as of yet untitled “Star Wars: Episode IX.” In the past, Abrams has worked on shows that include “Lost,” “Felicity,” and “Alias.”

Abrams would serve as executive producer on the sci-fi series, alongside Ben Stephenson, head of TV for Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. The series would be produced by Warner Bros. Television, and while Variety says Apple and HBO are the top bidders at this time, the studio is open to other bidders.

Apple already has two other sci-fi shows in the works, including a revival of 1985 Steven Spielberg sci-fi series “Amazing Stories” and an untitled space drama developed by Ronald D. Moore, known for “Battlestar Galactica.”

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New Siri Podcast News Feature Begins Rolling Out in iOS 11.2.2

A new feature that allows Siri to provide audio-based news updates appears to be rolling out to iOS users, allowing iPhone and iPad users to get audio news updates via the Podcasts app when asking Siri for current news info.

The new audio news feature has been previously seen in the iOS 11.2.5 beta, but until recently it was not available on devices running the current version of iOS. In our testing, the new Siri feature is now accessible on devices running iOS 11.2, iOS 11.2.2 (the current version of iOS) and iOS 11.2.5.

When you ask Siri about the news of the day via Hey Siri or another hands-free method, the personal assistant will provide Podcast news from NPR by default in the United States. You can, however, ask Siri to switch to news from Fox News, CNN, or The Washington Post.

In other countries, local news podcasts will be played instead. In the UK, for example, Siri will offer up audio news from BBC, Sky News, or LBC.

The audio news feature, which appears to have been developed primarily for Apple’s upcoming HomePod speaker, is invoked when using “Hey Siri” or asking Siri about the news when using CarPlay or headphones. It’s essentially designed for situations where you’re not looking at your iPhone or iPad’s display.

If you activate Siri using the Side or Home button of a device and ask about the news, Siri will instead provide standard text-based news headlines instead of audio news.

The Siri podcast news feature appears to be available on devices running iOS 11 at least as of today, and in our testing, it is confirmed to be working in the United States and the UK.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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High School Student Interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently took the time out of his busy schedule to do an interview with high school student Rebecca Kahn, and her account of the interview was shared today by the National Center for Women & Information Technology as part of a new “Innovator to Innovator” series to celebrate the upcoming 2018 Aspirations in Computing Awards.

Kahn says that she first emailed Cook when tasked with interviewing a person of interest in technology during her computer class at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, South Carolina. She wasn’t expecting a response, but Cook read her email and agreed to do the interview with her.

Kahn and Cook discussed several topics that are regular favorites of Cook’s, including the importance of learning to code at a young age, advocating for more women in tech leadership roles, and the importance for companies to treat everybody with “dignity and respect.”

Cook told Kahn that his aim in life is to “work for some higher purpose” that he sees as his “North Star,” a goal that has influenced his time at Apple.

Apple is “all about doing just a few things, but the few things that we do, we want to make the very best in the world. Because we believe those make a much larger difference in the world than if we were to focus on just making the most.”

While he openly admits to his failures, Tim also optimistically regards them as lessons to avoid repeating. Whenever he feels discouraged, he tells himself to “keep your eye on your North Star, and keep moving” because the “worst thing to do would be to fail and quit. Failure is just temporary, but quitting lasts forever.”

Kahn’s full account of her interview with Cook, which covers more thoughts from Cook and her impression of the Apple CEO is available on the Aspirations in Computing site.

It was a pleasure talking to you, @rebeccaekahn! Looking forward to more conversations between Apple and the bright young minds at @NCWITAIC. https://t.co/mFIZlMats0

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 16, 2018

The National Center for Women & Information Technology plans to share additional conversations that Apple executives have had with Aspirations in Computing community members in future additions to the “Innovator to Innovator” series.

Tag: Tim Cook
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Ressence’s snazzy concept watch pairs with your phone for accurate timing

The watch is evolving faster than it ever has, but that isn’t stopping many from holding on to the watch styles of old. For example, many prefer to use mechanical-style watch faces on their smartwatches. Ressence, a luxury watchmaker from Belgium, has come up with a concept design for a smart mechanical watch — or a watch that blends the style of the mechanical watch with the mobile connectivity of a smartwatch.

The device is called the Type 2 e-Crown, and it was designed with the help of Nest co-founder Tony Fadell. While it does offer some smart connectivity, it’s probably aimed more at mechanical watch lovers who like the idea of a little extra connectivity, rather than those looking for a smartwatch to deliver notifications and access to a digital assistant.

But what’s smart about it? Well, it connects to your phone via Bluetooth, after which it’ll adjust the time automatically depending on the time on your phone. It adjusts for daylight savings automatically and you can switch between two time zones without having to adjust. If it runs out of power, you don’t have to adjust it manually once it’s charged up again — just tap on the watch face and it will connect and adjust the time.

Those that do like setting the time manually don’t need to worry. The watch offers three modes — one fully automatic, one semi-automatic, in which you can adjust the time manually and it will adjust to the minute, and one fully manual mode. Though, if you’re going for the fully manual mode maybe there’s not much point in buying this device in the first place.

There is another reason you might not want to buy the Ressence Type 2 e-Crown — it’s a concept and not yet available, though a version of Type 2 will reportedly be available later in 2018. According to The Verge, Ressence’s watches go for between $15,000 and $35,000.

If you are looking for a hybrid watch, however, there are a few options out there. The Garmin Vivomove HR, for example, looks like a standard mechanical watch but can also track activity, show notifications, detect heart rate, and more. The likes of Skagen, Kronaby, and even Nokia also offer their own hybrid watches with mechanical designs and smart features.

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Swipe right for legal advice? New lawyer-finding app takes a cue from Tinder

Unless you have very specific taste in romantic partners, the words “Tinder” and “lawyer” are unlikely to go together as an immediate word association. A new app hopes to change that, though. No, it’s not about finding you love with a litigator or amore with an attorney, but rather using the same matching process you’d most commonly find in a dating app, and applying it to the task of pairing up lawyers and clients for the perfect match.

The concept is simple: You download the iOS or Android app and then post a description of the work you’re hoping to have carried out. Your request will then be passed on to attorneys in the appropriate practice area and geographical location. You hear back only from those lawyers who are interested in taking things to the next level. You can also research the attorney profiles on the site to help you evaluate the best match, see how others have rated each attorney, and use the app’s searchable attorney directory to investigate further.

“[Legal Services Link] is solving two very serious problems,” CEO Matthew Horn told Digital Trends. “First, finding and hiring the perfect attorney is an intimidating and time-consuming process for many, and most don’t know where to start. That results in most people not having their legal needs fulfilled, which, in many cases, has lasting consequences. Second, even those that do try and have their legal needs fulfilled quickly realize that legal help is prohibitively expensive. Our platform addresses both of those issues.”

Most of us don’t necessarily know enough to make an informed choice about who to hire — and since lawyers may charge a fixed hourly rate regardless of what they do, it might not be in their interests to inform you that you could get the same service elsewhere for less cash. This app hopes to right that wrong by making the process more transparent when you pick between a younger attorney who charges flat fees and a pricier, more experienced one who charges $500 per hour. “It’s all about providing options, and much like dating, there’s someone out there for everyone,” Horn said. “This platform just makes finding that perfect someone that much easier.”

It’s definitely an interesting idea — and one that could potentially shake up an industry that’s already being disrupted by technology like artificial intelligence. After all, in a world where robot lawyers are helping thousands of people, why shouldn’t finding the right (human) lawyer be just a smartphone swipe away?

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Upgrading your system? Here’s how to transfer your data to an Xbox One X

There was a time when setting up a new console just meant plugging it into the wall and television. Your games lived entirely on discs or cartridges and if you had external save data it was on a memory card that you would just plug into the console. Physical media is going the way of the dodo, however, and modern consoles hold a host of data and preferences — let alone all your games — in their capacious, internal hard drives. All that good stuff stored on your console makes it harder to change devices, however, and the new intra-generation hardware upgrades like the Xbox One S and X might be making that a more frequent occurrence.

Fortunately, Microsoft anticipated that, and made it very easy to transfer all of your important data from one console to another. Ostensibly, this guide is for transferring data from an Xbox One to a shiny new One X, but you can use these steps to make the move from any model of the Xbox One to any other.

How to transfer with an external hard drive

Step 1: Connect and format your storage device

Since an Xbox One is practically a Windows PC under the hood, it’s no surprise that they play well with external storage devices. For our purposes, you will need a hard drive that stores at least 256 GB and connects via USB 3.0. Before we begin, note that formatting your drive for storage will delete everything currently stored on it, so make sure to back it up ahead of time.

When you plug the drive in, a pop-up will ask whether you want to use it to store media or as a general storage device. Select “Format storage device” and press “A” to prepare the drive for backing up your games and data. You will be prompted to name the drive, and then asked whether you would like to use it as the default storage destination for new games and data. Since we’re using it to transfer, you can just leave it as is. When the drive is formatted, you will see a notification.

Step 2: Back up your games

With your drive formatted, plugged in, and ready to go, press the Xbox button, go all the way to the right and select “Settings,” “System,” and then “Storage.” Highlight your internal storage on the right and select “Transfer.” This will bring up a menu with all of your games. Make sure the Target Device is the external drive you just named, then select the games or apps you want to transfer (or “Select all” on the left if you’re not picky). Press “Copy Selected” if you want to leave everything installed on the original Xbox One, or “Move selected” if you’re cleaning house.

One thing you should know: If you’re moving a lot of games, especially large, AAA titles, this process could take a long time.

Because this process is identical to just using your drive as a permanent expansion, save data transfers as well, but they are also automatically backed up on the cloud when you are connected to Xbox Live, whether you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription or not.

Step 3: Back up your settings

With your games and apps squared away, it’s time to transfer your general settings, including your profiles, preferences, themes, etc.

Navigate back to System Settings and select “Backup & transfer,” then “Back up my settings,” and finally “Back up to device.”

Step 4: Set up your new console

That is everything you need from your old console. Before you turn on your new console and begin the initial setup process, plug your external drive into a USB port. The console should recognize it and prompt you to copy over your preferences, saving a lot of time in the process. Select “Apply settings” and follow the setup instructions.

Step 5: Install your games

Bringing your games from the external drive onto the internal drive of your new console is literally the exact same process as Step 2, except selecting the external drive in the Storage menu and setting the internal drive as your target.

Press the Xbox button, go all the way to the right and select “Settings,” “System,” and then “Storage.” This time, highlight your hard drive’s storage, and select “Transfer.” Press “Select all” to transfer your games, and make sure your target device reads “Internal.” Press “Move selected” to transfer all your games to the new Xbox and delete them from the hard drive. To leave the games stored on the hard drive, press “Copy Selected.”

Step 6: (Optional) Wipe your old Xbox clean

If you’re selling your old console or giving it to a friend, you probably want to delete everything so the new owner gets an out-of-the-box experience when they boot up for the first time. Check out our guide on how to factory reset an Xbox One for a step-by-step walkthrough of that process.

How to transfer over a local network

If you have both your old and new console at the same time and can connect them both to your local network, then you can transfer games and apps without using an external device at all.

Step 1: Set up your new console

Because this process requires having both consoles up and running, you will have to go through the initial set up process on your new Xbox One, rather than transferring over your settings. Turn on your Xbox One and follow the instructions. Make sure to connect the Xbox One to your local network.

Step 2: Enable network transfer

Once your new Xbox One is ready, press the Xbox button, navigate to the “Settings” menu. Within “Settings,” select “Network,” then “Network transfer.” Check “Allow network transfer.” both consoles need to be prepped for the transfer, go back to your old Xbox One and follow the same steps.

Once both consoles have been set, it’s time to transfer. Using the new console — the one you want to receive the data — select the old console from the network transfer menu. You will see the same transfer interface shown above, allowing you to send some or all of the apps and games stored on the old console to the new one.

Note: We recommend using a wired connection on both devices if at all possible. Taking Wi-Fi out of the equation will make the process go substantially faster.

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Swipe right for legal advice? New lawyer-finding app takes a cue from Tinder

Unless you have very specific taste in romantic partners, the words “Tinder” and “lawyer” are unlikely to go together as an immediate word association. A new app hopes to change that, though. No, it’s not about finding you love with a litigator or amore with an attorney, but rather using the same matching process you’d most commonly find in a dating app, and applying it to the task of pairing up lawyers and clients for the perfect match.

The concept is simple: You download the iOS or Android app and then post a description of the work you’re hoping to have carried out. Your request will then be passed on to attorneys in the appropriate practice area and geographical location. You hear back only from those lawyers who are interested in taking things to the next level. You can also research the attorney profiles on the site to help you evaluate the best match, see how others have rated each attorney, and use the app’s searchable attorney directory to investigate further.

“[Legal Services Link] is solving two very serious problems,” CEO Matthew Horn told Digital Trends. “First, finding and hiring the perfect attorney is an intimidating and time-consuming process for many, and most don’t know where to start. That results in most people not having their legal needs fulfilled, which, in many cases, has lasting consequences. Second, even those that do try and have their legal needs fulfilled quickly realize that legal help is prohibitively expensive. Our platform addresses both of those issues.”

Most of us don’t necessarily know enough to make an informed choice about who to hire — and since lawyers may charge a fixed hourly rate regardless of what they do, it might not be in their interests to inform you that you could get the same service elsewhere for less cash. This app hopes to right that wrong by making the process more transparent when you pick between a younger attorney who charges flat fees and a pricier, more experienced one who charges $500 per hour. “It’s all about providing options, and much like dating, there’s someone out there for everyone,” Horn said. “This platform just makes finding that perfect someone that much easier.”

It’s definitely an interesting idea — and one that could potentially shake up an industry that’s already being disrupted by technology like artificial intelligence. After all, in a world where robot lawyers are helping thousands of people, why shouldn’t finding the right (human) lawyer be just a smartphone swipe away?

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Apple and Tencent reach deal to again let WeChat app users tip each other

Last year, Apple announced a change in its policy that recategorized tips made within an app as in-app purchases, causing Tencent’s WeChat messaging app to disable tipping because of the fact that Apple takes a cut of in-app purchases. Now, it seems as though Apple and Tencent have come to an agreement — and tipping in WeChat will reportedly be re-enabled.

As part of the deal, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, Tencent will revamp the tipping system in WeChat to send tips directly to individuals. WeChat is the most popular messaging app in China.

“In the past, companies like Apple might have had a difficult time understanding China-specific features,” said Tencent executive Alan Zhang in the report. “We now all share a mutual understanding, and we’ll soon bring back the tip function.”

In China, in-app tipping is a popular way to compensate content creators, however, Apple has been wary of third-party payment systems — causing the company to ban them in May 2017. One month after restricting in-app payments that bypassed the App Store payment mechanism, the company updated its policy to allow tips through in-app purchases. The only problem for Tencent is that Apple takes a 30 percent cut of in-app purchases. In September, Apple again updated its policy to allow users to gift each other money without Apple taking a cut — though those gifts could not be related to accessing content or services.

The terms of the agreement are currently unclear. It’s not known if Apple will still take a cut, but just a smaller one, or if it won’t be taking a cut at all. It’s also unclear exactly when tipping will be re-enabled on iOS, though Tencent likely wants to bring it back soon.

Apple is a growing presence in China, and China has become a hugely important market for Apple. In-app purchases are a pretty big source of revenue for Apple, especially in China — in the fourth quarter of 2016, Apple reported a hefty $2 billion from in-app purchases in China alone, and that was after a market share dip for the company in China.

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Bored by Skype and FaceTime? 3D video chat is on its way to a phone near you

Thanks to technologies like the depth sensor on an iPhone X, 3D imaging is truly mainstream. But recording holographic images and displaying them are two very different questions. In short: We have plenty of ways of easily carrying out the former, but very much of the latter. This is where researchers from Purdue University’s School of Mechanical Engineering think they can help.

They developed a new platform, named “Holostream,” which enables high-quality 3D video communication on mobile devices, using only existing standard wireless networks. Imagine a three-dimensional version of Skype, where you can rotate the image in real time, and you pretty much have the idea.

“The Holostream system includes four major modules,” Song Zhang, an associate professor at Purdue, told Digital Trends. “[There’s] a high-accuracy and high-resolution 3D video acquisition module that achieves camera pixel resolution at 30Hz; a novel 3D video compression module that substantially reduces 3D video data size; a 3D video streaming module that delivers compressed 3D video contents and decompresses the videos in real time; and 3D video visualization modules that allows the mobile device users to naturally access and interact with high-quality 3D video contents in real time at a remote location across standard networks.”

As Zhang explains, Holostream could be used for a variety of applications. For example, it’s easy to imagine it being used as a communication or messaging tool that could appeal to users once the thrill of iOS 11’s Animojis wears off. But it could also have more serious, game-changing uses — like being utilized in telemedicine or remote collaborative design.

“I am interested in making this technology commercially available,” Zhang said. To reach this point, however, the team needs to carry out more work on their 3D video compression algorithms to ensure that they are compressing low-quality 3D video data in the most effective way. Since different applications will require different levels of detail in the 3D images, this is an important part of the project.

The research carried out by Zhang’s team will be presented at the Electronic Imaging 2018 conference, running from January 28 to February 2 in Burlingame, California. Hopefully, it won’t be too long after that before we get to put it through its paces. Skype and FaceTime are seemingly boringly two-dimensional already!

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Bored by Skype and FaceTime? 3D video chat is on its way to a phone near you

Thanks to technologies like the depth sensor on an iPhone X, 3D imaging is truly mainstream. But recording holographic images and displaying them are two very different questions. In short: We have plenty of ways of easily carrying out the former, but very much of the latter. This is where researchers from Purdue University’s School of Mechanical Engineering think they can help.

They developed a new platform, named “Holostream,” which enables high-quality 3D video communication on mobile devices, using only existing standard wireless networks. Imagine a three-dimensional version of Skype, where you can rotate the image in real time, and you pretty much have the idea.

“The Holostream system includes four major modules,” Song Zhang, an associate professor at Purdue, told Digital Trends. “[There’s] a high-accuracy and high-resolution 3D video acquisition module that achieves camera pixel resolution at 30Hz; a novel 3D video compression module that substantially reduces 3D video data size; a 3D video streaming module that delivers compressed 3D video contents and decompresses the videos in real time; and 3D video visualization modules that allows the mobile device users to naturally access and interact with high-quality 3D video contents in real time at a remote location across standard networks.”

As Zhang explains, Holostream could be used for a variety of applications. For example, it’s easy to imagine it being used as a communication or messaging tool that could appeal to users once the thrill of iOS 11’s Animojis wears off. But it could also have more serious, game-changing uses — like being utilized in telemedicine or remote collaborative design.

“I am interested in making this technology commercially available,” Zhang said. To reach this point, however, the team needs to carry out more work on their 3D video compression algorithms to ensure that they are compressing low-quality 3D video data in the most effective way. Since different applications will require different levels of detail in the 3D images, this is an important part of the project.

The research carried out by Zhang’s team will be presented at the Electronic Imaging 2018 conference, running from January 28 to February 2 in Burlingame, California. Hopefully, it won’t be too long after that before we get to put it through its paces. Skype and FaceTime are seemingly boringly two-dimensional already!

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