Microsoft and Xiaomi will pair up on AI-powered speakers and hardware

In July, Chinese tech giant Xiaomi jumped into the smart speaker race with its answer to Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, the $45 Mi AI — though it probably won’t find its way to American shores, given how had a time it’s had penetrating the US and European markets. Today, the company made a different move with artificial intelligence, signing a deal with Microsoft to partner up on projects involving AI, cloud computing and hardware to help the device company expand into other markets.

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, Xiaomi will harness Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to expand services for its users, including data storage and bandwidth. The American tech company will consult the Chinese tech giant on joint marketing and channel support to get Xiaomi’s laptops into new international markets. And, of course, partnering will give Microsoft access to Xiaomi’s users across the world.

And that Mi Speaker? Both companies will see how well it works when Cortana is integrated with it as a first step toward greater collaboration on smart speaker products. As The Verge points out, Microsoft’s sole entry in that market, the Harmon Kardon Invoke, had a hard time prying market share away from digital assistant speakers by Amazon and Google.

The last item both companies plan to collaborate on are different kinds of Microsoft AI tech like vision, speech, natural language processing, conversational intelligence and more — things to help make Microsoft’s consumer-facing software (Bing, Edge, Cortana, SwiftKey, Skype, etc) smarter. While it’s way to early to name any possible products, the memorandum notes Xiaomi’s strong hardware experience as potential direction for their synergistic efforts. Of course, it’s also just a memorandum, not a binding document, so this partnership isn’t absolutely guaranteed to result in a novel new product featuring the best of both companies’ worlds.

Via: The Verge

Source: Xiaomi Mi blog

How to connect your PlayStation 4 to a smartphone or tablet

In a world dominated by screens, it’s only natural that we want our gaming experiences to be as seamless and integrated as possible. Developers spent many years chasing “second screen” gaming concepts, but none of them — from Xbox SmartGlass to the Wii U — ever felt right. In the years since, Sony has cultivated some less ambitious, but genuinely useful ways to bring your smartphone and PlayStation 4 together.

The PlayStation mobile app allows you to browse PlayStation profiles, compare trophies, and purchase content from within the app, which will then automatically download to your console as long as it’s active or in standby mode. The app lacks some functionality — messaging has been moved to a stand-alone app, for instance — but it remains a worthwhile companion for PS4 owners. If you need to message a friend on PlayStation Network (PSN) or check your PlayStation account from your phone, you can also use Sony’s new My PlayStation social portal in your web browser.

Either way, we’ll take you through the process of connecting your phone to a PS4, step by step.

Using the PlayStation Mobile app

Step 1: Download the PlayStation app

Before downloading the PlayStation application for iOS or Android, you’ll want to update your smartphone or tablet to the latest version of the operating system. For iOS users, you’ll want at least version 6.0, while Android users will need version 4.0 at the very least. Once updated, head over to either iTunes or Google Play and enter “PlayStation” in the search field to locate the app.

Tap the Install button to begin downloading the app to your smartphone or tablet as you would normally, and launch it once installed. You’ll be prompted to sign in to your PSN account, which you’ll need to do. After signing in, you’ll have access to most of the app’s features, including events, live-streams, and the PlayStation Store.

Step 2: Sync your smartphone or tablet with your PS4

To begin the syncing process, tap the Connect to PS4 button in the bottom-left corner of the PlayStation application and select the Second Screen option. From there, you’ll want to choose your console from the network. Once you select it, a code should appear on your TV screen. Type it into the text field on your smartphone or tablet, select Register, and voilà, your devices will begin syncing.

Step 3: Use the app

With your smartphone or tablet now synced to your PS4, you have access to a wide range of features. The biggest difference you’ll notice once your phone and console are linked? Several PS4 games, such as Metal Gear Solid V and Watch Dogs, feature companion functionality you can use while gaming.

The Battlefield 4 app, for instance, provides access to your PSN friends and your multiplayer stats, and even lets you customize your weapons and character loadouts on your mobile device. The PlayStation App did once provide access to a messaging service, but communicating with friends and enemies has been relocated to the PlayStation Messages App, which is also free and available on both Android and iOS.

Using My PlayStation

If you don’t want to use a dedicated app to control your PlayStation friends’ list and a second app to message your friends, Sony also gives you access to your PSN profile through its My PlayStation service in your phone’s web browser. Introduced in February 2018, My PlayStation lets you message friends, view trophies, and update your profile on the go. It does not, however, allow you to connect directly with your console like the dedicated app does.

Once you’ve signed in (more on that below), you can view your friends list, trophies, and profile by clicking on the drop-down menu at the top of the screen. To message individual friends, go to their profile and select the “send message” option.

To use it, just head to my.playstation.com and sign in with your PlayStation Network account. You can also find it by visiting the PlayStation homepage and signing in, after which the My PlayStation tile will be listed in the top-right corner.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to mirror your smartphone or tablet on your TV
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Have back pain? Check out these step-tracking, posture-correcting insoles

Blame it on increasingly sedentary jobs in which we spend hours slouching in a chair if you want, but a lot of us have posture that, quite frankly, sucks. A new Kickstarter device promises to help us solve that, however, courtesy of what may very well be the world’s smartest insoles.

Developed by health experts in Austria, Stapp One will fit into your regular shoe, where they use state-of-the-art textile sensors to collect information about your posture, distribution of weight, movement, and location. Through this approach, its creators claim the insoles can gather details including your weight, calorie burn, posture, activity, and skeletal deformities. This information is then sent to a connected smartphone app and presented to you in a manner that’s understandable, helpful, and easy to use.

While a lot of these metrics can be measured through other fitness trackers, Stapp One’s big claim to fame is the fact that it can hone in on postural problems. In particular, it says it can recognize and help correct back pain, foot pain, neck pain, restricted movement, foot deformities, misalignment of the spine, and musculoskeletal weakness. It’s like having a tiny physiotherapist in your shoe!

“It all started with back pain that got worse every day at the desk or on the plane,” Peter Krimmer, managing director of Strapp One, told Digital Trends. “During a lunch with my friend, the physicist Philip Olbrich, together we had the flash of inspiration to measure the daily movements with a footprint — using an intelligent insole. We started searching for a podiatrist and got lucky within only a few weeks. When I met the renowned Austrian podiatrist Sylvia Strell for the first time, we knew that this was going to work. We ‘just’ had to put Sylvia’s brain into the little CPU within our insoles.”

Kimmer said that the technology is the result of years of collaboration with scientific partners in the fields of podiatry, sports medicine, biomechanics and textile physics. While no peer-reviewed studies have yet been carried out, he claims that the device is more than 95 percent accurate when it comes to recognizing problems. A study will be carried out by a U.S. university later in 2018.

If you’re interested in getting your hands (or, at least, feet) on the Strapp One, you can currently pledge money for one on Kickstarter. As always, we suggest reading this point to alert yourselves of the risks of crowdfunding campaigns first. Prices start at 189 euros ($232), with shipping set to take place in August.

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Huawei confirms its next phone is the P20 and will have three cameras

See mooore with AI.

We’ve been hearing leaks and rumors regarding the Huawei P20 for quite some time now, and just a few short days before MWC 2018 begins, Huawei’s sent out a teaser to make sure you don’t forget about its event next month.

There’s been some debate regarding whether the upcoming phone would be branded as the P20 or P11, and while sources of ours confirmed this earlier in the year, this is the first time Huawei’s officially acknowledged the P20 name.

Huawei just confirmed the name of its next flagship: The #HuaweiP20 is officially the #HuaweiP20 pic.twitter.com/HdOAsycA7i

— Alex Dobie (@alexdobie) February 23, 2018

In addition to the name, the teaser also confirms the presence of three rear cameras. Again, while this is something we’ve been anticipating, it’s nice to get confirmation from the horse’s mouth.

Huawei will announce the P20 on March 27 in Paris.

Huawei P20: Rumors, specs, availability, and more!

The most physical PlayStation VR games

So you’re looking for a work out in virtual reality.

If games like Dance Dance Revolution and Just Dance have taught us anything it’s that putting a little pep in your step always leads to a good time. Here we’ve found the best titles for your PlayStation VR (PSVR) system for you to break a sweat in. So if you’re looking for a good in home work out while also having an awesome time in VR, you’ve come to the right place!

Sprint Vector

Not only is it a battle of the fittest, but there is also nifty power-ups to give you the visual experience of a superhero workout. Here you’ll dodge obstacles by moving in the real world with this VR game. Sprint Vector has you racing against your friends to see who can make it across the finish line first. You can get it on Amazon for about $23.99! So, what do you race for? During my own time playing this game I couldn’t stop the fun I was having with the experience of competing in a fun cartoon-like world.

Even when you lose or miss the target of your jump the fast recovery of the mechanics makes this super easy to get back to first place position. So roller blade yourself to the top, or laugh your way into last place! Winning or losing never felt so good!

See on Amazon

Knockout League

It’s not enough to get your workouts by dodging punches in VR or getting the jump on your opponent. You just can’t wrap the experience up until you’ve fist fought a dapper Octopus wearing a monocle and top hat.

You can get this his silly boxing game for $29.99 and it will not only have you moving around to avoid the Knockout punch but also laughing at the situations you’ll find yourself in. So throw on your boxing gloves and get ready for an amazing time with the Knockout League!

See on PlayStation Store

Rec Room

For free on the PlayStation store you can download Rec Room, a series of mini-games for PSVR that are sure to get you breaking a sweat. Whether you choose to sword and board or shoot some laser tag you’re bound to have a pretty stellar time.

Not to mention since Rec Room is cross compatible your VR friends on the computer can play with you from your PlayStation, no PlayStation+ account required!

See on PlayStation Store

VirZOOM

For $399 on Amazon VirZOOM will prove to be the best bike you’ve ever owned. Here you’ll pick a VR mini-game of your choosing so would you like to race cars or ride horses? The bike works just like a gym’s bike equipment except this time you can decide which reality you’d like to be apart of during your actual workout session!

If you’re anything like me you like to be focused on something else while you’re trying to work-out, which makes this so enticing. I always run more miles on the treadmill when I’m listening to my music or watching a TV, and now you can bike more miles by watching the scenery from your VR equipment!

See on Amazon

HoloBall

Here you can take Wall Ball and table tennis to a whole new level. HoloBall places you in a virtual reality room where you are tasked with hitting your ball into targets and not allowing it to be knocked out of the safe zone.

This is definitely a game where you want to make sure you have plenty of open game space to prevent any damage to your room. For $14.99 you’ll get lost in this Tron like scenery and have loads of fun while doing it.

See on PlayStation Store

Sparc

Here we’ll take on many different games at once. Sparc brings you options like room tennis, boxing, or even fencing you so can get moving with a PSVR headset on your face! What is room tennis you ask? Take the mechanics of table tennis and a slightly more narrow space of actual tennis and mesh them together.

The result is a confined room you and an opponent will find yourselves in to see who can get the most points. For $29.99 on Amazon you can get Sparc and challenge your friends to different sports to see who is the best!

See on Amazon

What are Your favorite workout games for PSVR? How do you feel about the titles we mentioned above! Let us know in the comments below!

Treat yourself to some new Anker charging gear for as little as $8

Time to power up.

Anker is a company that many people trust when it comes to charging gear, and these deals make its awesome accessories even more affordable. First up is a wireless charging pad with 12W wall charger for $14.59 when you use the coupon code BEST9911 during checkout. If you want just the charging pad and not the wall charger, you can pick one up for $11.99 when you use the coupon code BEST9811 during checkout. This is a savings of just over $8 and $7 respectively.

If your phone doesn’t support wireless charging and you want something that will get you additional battery life in a hurry, this 18W Anker USB 3.0 wall charger is the way to go. It normally sells for $15.99, but when you check out using coupon code ANKERQC3 you can nab one for $7.99.

You can’t go wrong with any (or all) of these accessories, so be sure to pick them up before the coupon codes expire.

HQ Trivia Android app finally exits beta

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

After becoming a worldwide phenomenon on iOS, HQ Trivia launched on Android as a limited beta last Christmas. The beta was then opened up to anyone that wanted to give HQ a shot on December 31, and just about two months later, HQ Trivia’s Android app is leaving the beta stage for good.

HQ Trivia is now sitting at v1.2.1 on the Play Store, and while there aren’t any big changes to the app now that the beta is over, this will hopefully allow the team at Intermedia Labs to start working on new features and prizes now that all of the major bugs for Android have been worked out.

You can check out our full guide to HQ Trivia if you’re new to the game, but the concept is pretty simple. A live host asks you ten multiple choice questions, and if you get all the way to the end, you win or split the prize. HQ typically gives away $2,500 for each game, but Sunday games have gone up to as much as $25,000.

There’s still some lag with the livestream here and there, but as long as you’ve got a speedy Wi-Fi or data connection, there’s a lot of fun to be had here.

Download: HQ Trivia (free)

How to print from a Chromebook

This is how to print from your Chromebook!

While most of us are living in the cloud, there are still some things that need to be printed out on paper. Printing from a Chromebook is possible, but you will need to have the right equipment and set up.

Buy a Google Cloud-compatible printer

If you don’t already own a printer — or you want to replace your existing model — the best thing you can do is buy a printer that works with Google Cloud Print. Google Cloud Print lets users print from a Chromebook, Windows or Mac computer using the Chrome browser, and iOS and Android devices. You’ll need to tie your Gmail account to the printer before using it for the first time, but after that just keep the printer connected to a network and you can print from any of your devices. Better yet, Google Cloud printers aren’t very expensive: Amazon has models as low as $38.

Even if you have other laptops or desktops, you can still use these printers over Wi-Fi, Ethernet or USB.

See Google Cloud printers at Amazon

Convert an old printer to a Google Cloud printer

Let’s say you have an older printer that you really love. There’s no need to throw it out, but there is some work you’ll need to do to use it as a cloud printer. The printer itself will need to be able to connect over WiFi, so you may need to buy an adapter from your printer’s manufacturer. You’ll also need a desktop computer running Windows or macOS and the Chrome browser to act as your print server.

If this computer is turned off or not connected to WiFi, you won’t be able to print anything to your classic printer. Once you have that set up, visit the Google Cloud Print homepage to set the printer up and connect it to your Google account. The same screen can be used later to manage your printers and print jobs.

Plug in a USB cable — with some major caveats

Chrome OS is super light compared to Windows and macOS, meaning it runs much better on low-powered hardware compared to those operating systems. A major part of this is because Chrome OS was built from the ground up less than ten years ago, while the others have decades of legacy code to enable certain functions. One of these functions is printing, and you can plug a USB printer into a Windows or macOS computer and have it up and running in just a minute.

The same is not true for Chrome OS. If you plug a USB printer into your Chromebook, they just won’t talk to each other. If you have an HP printer, you may be in luck: HP makes an extension that lets Chromebook users print over USB to some HP printers. In my experience, this doesn’t always work out. I’ve tried HP Print for Chrome a few times — both personally and professionally — and it just isn’t stable enough for me to recommend using it. Save yourself the headache and buy a $38 cloud printer.

What say you?

How often do you have to print a document? Let us know down below!

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HTC has reportedly laid off up to 100 employees in the U.S.

The company’s smartphone and VR teams are merging together.

2018’s been a rough year so far for HTC. The company confirmed on February 14 that the president of its smartphone division had officially resigned, and just a little more than a week later, it’s reported that a plethora of HTC employees in the U.S. have been let go.

A source familiar with HTC told this news to Digital Trends, and while it’s still unclear how many employees were terminated, it’s estimated to be anywhere from a few dozen up to “maybe 100” individuals.

The reason for all this? According to a representative from HTC, it’s a result of the company merging its smartphone and VR divisions under one single umbrella.

We have recently brought our smartphone and VR businesses under common leadership in each region. Today, we announced a restructure in North America for the HTC smartphone business that will centralize the reporting structure within the region. In doing so, there have been some employee reductions to align the businesses and empower the teams to share more resources.

What does this mean for HTC’s smartphone business going forward? Probably nothing good. We’re hoping for big things with the U12 later in the year, but with ten quarters of consecutive losses (and counting) and 2,000 of its former hardware employees now working at Google, it’s safe to say that HTC’s seen better days.

HTC’s smartphone president has resigned following ten quarters of losses

Sony’s trying to cash in on Pokémon Go’s success with Ghostbusters World

Coming to Android and iOS at some point in 2018.

If you’ve been itching to catch more virtual monsters and Pokémon Go is starting to get long in the tooth, you’ll soon have a few new options to choose from. In addition to Niantic’s own AR Harry Potter-themed game that’s coming out this year, Sony Pictures Entertainment just announced it’s taking its own stab at this game type with Ghostbusters World.

Ghostbusters World will be available for demo during Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Spain, and it’ll feature ghosts from the Ghostbusters movies, TV shows, comics, video games, theme parks, and also introduce original ghosts that are brand-new to the franchise.

Sony Pictures Entertainment Consumer Products, Ghost Corp, FourThirtyThree, and NextAge are all working on the game, and commenting on it, Ivan Reitman (Director and Producer of the original Ghostbusters movie) said:

The Ghostbusters Universe is rich in characters and Ghostbusters World is the perfect medium to get to know these characters in a whole new dimension.

Ghostbusters World will be available on Android and iOS when it’s released this year, and more information will be unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in March.

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