Google, Microsoft join government’s disaster response program
People hit by storms and other disasters need more than food, clothes or shelter in the days following the unfortunate event. They also need access to working internet or cellular networks to find family and friends who (heaven forbid) might be missing or to get in touch with people who might be worried sick about them. Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hopes to supply the need for tech-savvy volunteers who can help out in those situations. That’s why it has launched the Tech Corps program and enlisted the help of several big-name companies in the industry, including Cisco Systems, Google, Intel and Microsoft.
These companies will not only provide volunteers with the skills to carry out tasks the Tech Corps needs to do, but also train others willing to help out. According to FEMA, the Tech Corps will be in charge of setting up temporary networks to bring back internet connectivity and enable telephone and radio communications in disaster areas. Some of the program partners have previous experience helping out in times of need, such as after the earthquakes in Nepal and Haiti, as well as during Hurricane Sandy. Hopefully, this initiative enables them to organize bigger disaster response operations.
According to Senator Ron Wyden, who first proposed the idea:
Tech Corps harnesses a deep well of technical expertise and private-sector manpower to make sure every resource is available immediately when disaster strikes. Information technology is often critical to saving lives, and this program ensures that red tape won’t stand in the way of volunteer experts who can stand up temporary cell networks and Wi-Fi solutions that are so important in disaster areas. I’m hopeful today’s partners are the first of many to sign up to work hand-in-hand with emergency responders to help craft more resilient and effective responses to future disasters.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Misc, Microsoft, Google
Source: FEMA
Here’s how Xbox One backward compatibility works
The Xbox 360 had a dedicated spot in millions of living rooms, bedrooms and offices for nearly 10 years, and during that time, players purchased massive libraries of games. However, when the Xbox One launched in 2013, it didn’t include the ability to play or transfer Xbox 360 games, a disappointment for many fans. That’s why Microsoft’s announcement at its E3 showcase was so exciting: The Xbox One is getting backward compatibility this holiday, with a lineup of more than 100 fan-requested Xbox 360 games to start and more to be added as demand warrants. Xbox One backward compatibility runs an Xbox 360 emulator right on the console, which is no easy feat, Microsoft General Manager of Games Publishing Shannon Loftis explains during a chat at E3.
Are you pleased with the response to the announcement of backward compatibility on Xbox One?
It’s something that I, as a gamer, have been wanting. Actually, the genesis of backwards compatibility is that gamers asked for it. It took some time for us to figure out how to do it, but we did and the response has been amazingly positive.
How does it work, technologically?
It wasn’t easy. It took some pretty dedicated engineering effort and very talented engineers. What they did was they created a software-based 360 emulation within the Xbox One architecture. So, when you put your disc in the drive, we’re actually loading up an emulator, and then we put up a little portion of the Xbox 360 dashboard and you use that dashboard to launch into your game. You still have access though to all the great Xbox One features: game streaming, game DVR, screenshots. It works for digital games as well and your saved games do transfer. Gamers have put so much into 360 games, so much passion, energy, time, money, and that value I think is important for us to bring into the Xbox One story.
Will every Xbox 360 game eventually be available via backward compatibility?
It’s up to gamers to tell us what they want. We do all the work, but there is a little bit of work and part of that involves talking with the publisher and making sure that this is consistent with their goals for the game as well. So, as gamers ask us, we will deliver.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
How Microsoft keeps ‘Halo 5’ multiplayer games glitch-free
Glitches and bugs can ruin even the greatest of multiplayer games (looking at you MW3 Javelin Suicide Bomb). But thanks to a pair of cutting-edge analytics tools, Halo‘s dev team can find and fix these coding hiccups before they become memes. Senior researcher Rob DeLine recently explained how they work. Trill is a temporal processing and in-memory analytics engine. “It’s pretty much the world’s fastest,” DeLine said in the video below. “It’s two to four magnitudes faster than the competition in terms of processing temporal data.” When combined with the Tempe exploratory data-analysis web service, which allows devs to watch replays of real-time play, devs can quickly spot and solve issues based only on what (and how) the community is actively gaming.
These tools allowed the Halo dev team to spot and fix one such glitch almost immediately after it appeared in the multiplayer beta release of Halo 5: Guardians. Halo devs used Tempe “to see what customers were doing while playing in real time. What they were looking at was how often players were winning these really rare medals.” Specifically, the team looked at how the Combat Evolved medal — wherein players have throw a grenade at a discarded weapon, blast it into the air and then catch it — could be getting awarded every few minutes. The team used Tempe and Trill to go back and analyze the gameplay footage, figure out that a coding bug made the medal ludicrously easy to get and apply a patch.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft Blog
Xbox is working with a ‘broad array of VR providers’
Microsoft is entering the virtual reality conversation with a one-two punch: partnerships with both Oculus and Valve VR. The Oculus Rift will be bundled with a wireless Xbox One controller, native support on Windows 10 and the ability to play Xbox One games in a virtual cinema via Xbox-to-Windows streaming. Valve VR joins the Rift on Windows 10, a partnership that Microsoft announced during its Xbox E3 conference, suggesting a focus on gaming in Valve’s virtual worlds. But, Microsoft’s VR plans may be bigger than just two other companies, Microsoft General Manager of Games Publishing Shannon Loftis suggested during an interview at E3 this week. Read her thoughts on VR, gaming and Windows 10 below.
What’s going on with Microsoft’s Valve VR partnership?
What we’re focused on is creating a Windows 10-based ecosystem that extends to as many different platforms and experience types as possible. VR is incredibly important. Gamers have told us that it’s important; game developers want to use it to tell stories in a special way.
We want to make it easy for game developers to deliver to gamers, so we are partnering with a broad array of VR providers — we’ve talked about Oculus; we’ve talked about Valve — to make sure that when people are creating these experiences that they have as many choices as possible.
To clarify, are you working with any other VR hardware manufacturers, besides Oculus and Valve?
None that we’re talking about right now, but a Windows 10-powered pipeline that extends to a lot of different outlets is a great value for developers and in turn a great value for gamers.
Are virtual and augmented reality the future of gaming?
Different game experiences play best in different settings and I think virtual reality is an incredible experience when you’re totally immersed in a universe, and I love the inherently social nature of console gaming. I don’t really see any of them going away because I think there are still great stories to tell and great games to build for all of these.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
This is the ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ collector’s edition statue
$250 worth of static love from Master Chief.
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
E3 Streams: ‘Volume,’ ‘Fortnite,’ ‘Elite: Dangerous,’ and more!
Onward into E3 2015! Our week in Los Angeles has left us wild and crazed. We interviewed the director of the Final Fantasy VII remake. We played Star Fox Zero. Now we’re going to give you a chance to talk to the developers of some of E3’s biggest games right here on JXE Streams. Join us starting at at 12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT on Twitch.tv/Joystiq for a chance to chat with developers like Epic Games, Elite: Dangerous creator David Braben, and a special early look at Volume with Mike Bithell.
Where can you watch these streams? Right here in this post! Want to chat with us? Go to Twitch.tv/Joystiq.
If you want to follow along with our E3 streams, here is our complete schedule for Thursday, June 18th:
12:30PM ET/9:30AM PT: Fortnite with Epic Games. The creators of Unreal and Gears of War have spent four years making this crazy blend of Minecraft and tower defense.
2PM ET/11AM PT: Skyhill with Daedalic Entertainment. Part roguelike and part noir, Daedalic’s Skyhill is an intriguingly stylized random mystery.
2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT: Elite: Dangerous with David Braben of Frontier Developments. David Braben spent the better part of two decades trying to create this modern version of the classic space sim.
3PM ET/12PM PT: Volume with Mike Bithell. The creator of Thomas Was Alone doles out his own version of the Robin Hood story in this slick stealth game.
[We’re playing all games in 720p via OBS.]
ICYMI: A new naval launcher, Halo on HoloLens and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: The Sandia National Labs robot that walked for two and a half hours on 350 watts of power; the amazing Halo 5 HoloLens demo that makes me want to pick up a gun (virtually of course); and the new electromagnetic aircraft launcher the Navy is having way too much fun testing out.
And from the cutting room floor, make sure you check out this gorgeous video from astronauts at the International Space Station. They’ve been shooting stunning Earth and space views but the best bits are the parts where they’re making and eating food. We also really wanted to address SnapChat CEO Evan Spiegel’s strange, low-resolution video but alas. Next time!
As always, let us know about any cool stories or videos that you stumble across by using the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under: Displays, Misc, Gaming, Robots, Science, Internet, Microsoft, AT&T
Microsoft Band will track your golf game from start to finish
You won’t have to worry about buying a dedicated golf watch to track every nuance of your next trip to the links — a Microsoft Band will soon do the job. The folks in Redmond are partnering with TaylorMade to add golfing support to both the Band and the Health app in the weeks ahead. Health will help you find your tee and compile stats, but the wearable should be the real star of the show. The Band will use GPS to detect your hole and give you distance estimates, and it’ll be smart enough to keep track of your score based on your swings. It will even tell when you’re making practice shots. Should that not be enough, TaylorMade’s myRoundPro app will draw on the Band to give you detailed data about your round, such as how often you stayed on the fairway. Although these impending updates aren’t going to improve your swing, they should help you spend more time sinking the ball and less time marking scorecards.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
‘Halo 5’ doesn’t have split-screen, but ‘never say never’
Halo 5: Guardians doesn’t have split-screen cooperative play. This is a drastic shift for the series — every console Halo game has featured local co-op, including the recently released Halo: Master Chief Collection, a bundle of the franchise’s major titles. Plenty of longtime Halo fans have hit Twitter with messages ranging from disappointment to some that promise to cancel their Halo 5 pre-orders. Microsoft doesn’t have any plans to launch the game with split-screen, but in a world of constantly updating consoles and streams of downloadable content, there’s a sliver of hope for couch co-op fans, according to Microsoft General Manager of Games Publishing Shannon Loftis.
“Well, we do listen to gamers,” Loftis says during a meeting at E3. “The priority feature for the release of Halo 5 was 60FPS, so that’s what the team has been focused on delivering. But, you know, never say never. The glorious thing about Halo and about Xbox is that we can deliver continuous improvements to any experience. But, no announcements being made here.”
To reiterate: Loftis did not announce the implementation of split-screen co-op in Halo 5, but the possibility is there post-launch. If Microsoft developers are listening to Halo players, here’s a sampling of the feedback they’re getting:
@Halo BRING BACK SPLIT SCREEN PLEASE I WANT TO PLAY WITH MY BROTHER BECAUSE I DONT HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY 2 XBOXES!
– Oscar Tovar (@oscartovar2004) June 17, 2015
I’ve been a loyal Halo fan forever, but you just lost my sale of Halo 5 by omitting local campaign co-op. I’m so disappointed. @Xbox #XboxE3
– Tim Fry (@_Kyabetsu) June 17, 2015
So there won’t be local split-screen co-op in Halo 5… But… But why? You are breaking my heart 343. My best and dearest moments (cont.)
– SieniMarsu (@TaoTaoLintu) June 17, 2015
@Halo No split screen at all on Halo 5??? Congratulations 343, you just killed Halo
– daniel (@danielbirchal) June 17, 2015
Tacos, burritos and unicorn emoji are coming, thanks to Unicode 8.0
The Unicode Consortium unveiled its new emoji set as part of the standard’s version 8.0 update on Wednesday. Yes, that taco emoji we’ve all been waiting for on bated breath has arrived and lo, it is glorious. Other food-related icons include taco’s big brother, the burrito, as well as a hot dog, popcorn and a cheese wedge. Inedible emoji like a Unicorn head, prayer beads and a volleyball are also available. Surprisingly though, no hotdog pizza emoji just yet — probably because we’re not sure yet if they’re ok for human consumption.
In all, 37 new icons (41 if you count the five skin color modifiers) made it past the consortium’s stringent vetting process. You can check out the full list, which will eventually make their way into your mobile device’s keyboard. While Apple already jumped ahead and put the skin color modifiers in iOS and OS X, it hasn’t updated with the rest of 8.0’s emoji changes, and neither have Android or Windows. The Unicode standards group is already at work on version 9.0, which is scheduled for release in 2016. Proposed icons include avocado, shrug, owl, selfie and everybody’s favorite taco topping: bacon.
[Image credit: Getty Images/Science Photo Library]
Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Apple, Microsoft, Google
Source: Unicode Consortium, Unicode (blog)
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