You can build Microsoft’s Kinect-powered holodeck at home
Got a Kinect, a projector and a knack for code? If so, you can create a Star Trek-like holodeck in your living room. Microsoft has released the RoomAlive Toolkit, a software framework that lets you string together Kinect motion trackers to create interactive projection maps. You can use it to build anything from extra-immersive games through to art displays. This isn’t exactly a trivial undertaking (Microsoft is promising lots of tutorials), but it means that you won’t have to wait for someone else to bring your augmented reality dreams to life.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2015/3-87/player
Filed under: Displays, Software, Microsoft
Via: Fast Company
Source: Kinect for Windows Blog, Channel 9, GitHub
Microsoft: Media Center Edition won’t make it into Windows 10
Rumors Microsoft would dump its Media Center feature have plagued the project for years — in 2007 we worried if it still had a future, after it was largely pushed aside in Windows Vista — and the company confirmed to ZDNet this week that with the launch of Windows 10, it’s actually happening. While Media Center came to Windows 8 as an add-on and unchanged from previous versions, apparently “infinitesimal” usage statistics are the reason Microsoft is finally pulling the plug. Nearly ten years ago, the launch of the Xbox 360 suggested Media Center Edition had a bright future and a place in the living room. While the console went on to sell millions, HTPCs became an ignored and restricted niche for Microsoft, a missed opportunity after its hyped 2004 launch with Bill Gates and Queen Latifah.
For years it was one of the best DVR options available, giving users far more control over how they watched TV than the rest (remember how to skip commercials?) but it hasn’t been actively developed in a long time, and was even left out of the Xbox One. Microsoft as a company has decided to go in a different direction in its attempt to integrate with TV, using the Xbox One as an HDMI-passthrough device. After a year of lagging in sales to the PS4 and little success in getting cable providers to build streaming apps, Microsoft recently announced support for TV broadcasts via antenna would come to the US. Still, without DVR features it’s unlikely to satisfy the MCE faithful, so let us know what’s running your home theater PC these days, if you still have one?
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6IVA7vr0FOE?rel=0
[Image credit: Jeff Christensen/WireImage/Getty]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: ZDNet
Build 2015: With Windows 10, Microsoft is no longer a follower
Referencing former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s infamous “developers!” chant is practically a cliche nowadays, but it felt like the silent refrain throughout the company’s entire Build conference this week. In the run-up to Windows 10, Microsoft wants developers. It needs developers. And it will do whatever it takes to get them — even going so far as to allow devs to recompile their Android and iOS apps without much fuss. None of this seemed possible from Microsoft years ago, when simply owning the dominant desktop platform was enough. But now with mobile devices and the cloud in play, Microsoft needs to evolve. And by doing so, it’s also making Windows 10 a far more exciting upgrade than Windows 8 ever hoped to be.
Microsoft’s been talking up the idea of Windows 10 as a platform since announcing it back in September. But it wasn’t until the company revealed it was also going to be a free upgrade for existing Windows 7 and 8 users (for the first year), that it truly hit home how different Windows 10 would be. Microsoft is now prioritizing getting as many people as possible on a single Windows platform more than the revenues it would get from selling access to it.
Throughout the Build conference, one thing became clear: Microsoft is no longer just reacting to the competition. Windows 8 was notable for unifying desktops and mobile devices, but it also felt like a desperate attempt to prove that it could do touch interfaces too. Windows 10, with its hooks into Azure Cloud services, better support across a variety of devices and the promise of freaking holograms with HoloLens, finally puts Microsoft back into a leadership role. That’s a sentiment echoed by several Microsoft staffers I talked to (though they wouldn’t admit it on the record). And that could be the key to Windows 10’s success.
All of the apps
Several years after Windows 8’s launch, I can only think of a handful of truly compelling apps. Many developers didn’t want to devote time to the platform when they would be much better off building something for iOS and Android. And, aside from the vague promise of easy porting to Windows Phones, Microsoft never really gave developers a compelling case to jump ship.
Windows 10 is a completely different story. Microsoft is basically opening the floodgates to apps from pretty much every major platform. Got an iOS or Android app? You can easily recompile it and plug it into the Windows Store. Microsoft’s even making room for web apps and older Win32 desktop software. The goal is to populate the Windows Store with plenty of compelling apps — it doesn’t matter how it was originally made. Microsoft’s also making it easier to build Windows 10 apps by releasing coding tools for OS X and Linux. And the icing on the cake for developers: Once you’ve got a Windows app, you can make it “Universal” so that it runs across phones, tablets, and even the Xbox without much effort.
The truly astounding thing? Basically everything I wrote in that last paragraph would have been impossible at Microsoft a few years ago. By removing much of the friction involved in making Windows apps, Microsoft has shifted the mentality for developers from “why should I build for Windows?” to “heck, why not?”
Strong device support
Windows 10 has all of the cross-device promise that Windows 8 had, except it’s potentially far more useful. The new Continuum feature, for example, reshapes the OS’s interface depending on how you’re using it. If you’ve got a Windows 10 tablet, it’ll be much more touch-friendly. If you’ve got a traditional laptop or desktop, it’ll resemble Windows 7 with a revamped desktop Start menu. And for convertible devices like the Surface Pro 3, your experience will change depending on its orientation.
Herein lies the promise for Universal Windows Apps — developers only have to manage one codebase to bring an app to multiple devices. During one of Build’s keynotes, Microsoft reps showed off how USA Today managed to bring its desktop Windows 10 app to tablets and even the Xbox One, where it only shows you news videos. (Because nobody expects you to read articles on your Xbox.)
At Build, Microsoft also showed off how a Windows 10 phone can spit out a decent desktop interface. That won’t replace your primary computer, but if you’re working on the go, or can’t afford anything beyond a phone, it’s a feature that could fundamentally change the way we compute.
It’s no wonder Microsoft laid out an ambitious goal to bring Windows 10 to a billion devices in a few years. It has to think big. By doing so, it will finally be able to court the developers who’ve ignored Windows 8 so far.
Compelling software and features
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On their own, some of Windows 10’s features might be enough reason to upgrade. Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant is steadily improving with every new early Windows 10 build. It’ll also be the first such assistant on a desktop OS — Apple’s Siri came first, but it’s still only on iOS devices.
Then there’s Edge, Microsoft’s slick new browser which could make you forget about the dark days of Internet Explorer. It’s speedy, minimalist, and also supports Cortana. And once again Microsoft is also working hard to court developers by making it easy for them to bring over their existing browser extensions. I also got a taste of Windows 10’s Xbox One streaming feature, which performed surprisingly well, with no discernible lag or stutter. It’s definitely something I’m looking forward to using when my living room TV is occupied.
Excitement about the future
We still don’t know when and how Microsoft will bring its holographic headset HoloLens to the public, but even at this early point it’s clearly something special. It’s light years beyond Google Glass, which was more of a persistent notification platform than a true augmented reality solution. And it interacts with the physical environment far better than the VR platforms we’ve seen. Most impressively, HoloLens isn’t some far off satellite project for Microsoft — it’s part of the company’s vision of a unified Windows 10 platform. On top of being powered by the new OS, it can also run any Universal Windows app. With HoloLens, Microsoft has something that could keep developers excited for the next few years.
I had the chance to sit through a HoloLens programming session, and while the experience didn’t quite match those demos Microsoft has been promoting — the field of view was small, and the fit wasn’t very good — it still has the potential to be a significant leap forward in computing. I built a hologram using the Unity game development tool and Visual Studio (with a huge helping hand from Microsoft’s reps) and spent about an hour tweaking it. When viewed through HoloLens, my creation’s textures were surprisingly clear (I was able to read the text on a crumbled up ball of paper), but it wasn’t truly lifelike.
Sure, it was just a beginner hologram, but it was enough to make me excited for what real developers will be able to do once they get their hands on HoloLens.
Wrapping up
Maybe this is reading too much into things, but I noticed a very different feeling in the air after chatting with developers and Microsoft employees over the past few days, when compared to the Windows 8 launch years ago. Back then there was plenty of apprehensiveness around the new touch interface, and a general sense that Microsoft was just rushing to catch up to Apple and Android. Now, that anxiety has been replaced with excitement. And for Microsoft, that’s the best possible outcome from its developer conference.
Microsoft helped me build a HoloLens app, and it was pretty easy
If you had told me years ago that Microsoft would come out with a futuristic augmented reality headset, I’d have said you were nuts. And yet, a few months ago, it did exactly that. The headset is called HoloLens, which, when worn, allows you to interact with holographic objects set in the real world. It’s pretty crazy, sci-fi-level stuff — as we saw earlier this week at Build, you could have Windows apps floating around you as you sit in your living room or walk around a projected image of a human skeleton. Yesterday, in a 90-minute presentation, I not only had the chance to get my hands on a much more polished version of the hardware, but also tried my hand at creating my very own holographic app.
First, let’s talk hardware. Unlike the rough early prototype we saw in January (which was burdened by a tethered computer and exposed circuitry), the HoloLens I tried out yesterday actually looks like the product seen in press photos and promotional videos. The headset is essentially comprised of two parts — a headband that you secure to your noggin, along with an attached visor. First, you’ll have to place the headband around your head similar to the way you’d don a backwards baseball cap — front up, back down — and then tighten it with an adjustment wheel. The headband is there to support the visor so it doesn’t weigh down your nose. From there, you then tilt and slide the visor around to fit your face.
While the model I tried is certainly better than the one we saw earlier this year — it’s an all-in-one unit complete with built-in battery and tiny speakers — it could still use some improvement. Fitting the headband was a chore every single time; I couldn’t get it to stay still without it slipping around. And even though you can wear the HoloLens with glasses, it just felt a little more cumbersome trying to adjust the visor to fit around them. With enough help from a Microsoft employee, I was able to put them on each time, but it was still a lot more difficult than I anticipated. It’s definitely still a prototype, which could explain why Microsoft is so secretive about it — no one was allowed to take any photos or videos during the demo. Attendees were even instructed to keep all our belongings (yes, even our phones) in lockers set up outside the conference room. This was the same precaution used during the January event, which tells us Microsoft is still being very guarded.
The HoloLens field of view isn’t this big.
But the real magic behind the HoloLens is what you see when you put it on. As we mentioned back in January, HoloLens is an augmented reality headset and not a VR one. That means you won’t get a display that fills your entire field of vision and the experience won’t be as immersive. Think of it as a really fancy pair of ski goggles — you can see through them except for a small display of “mixed reality” in the middle. This does mean, however, that the field of view for holographic apps is actually quite small — they don’t take up the entire room like Microsoft’s demos and promotional videos might suggest.
Now onto the actual presentation. I was in a group of 30 or so journalists and we basically went through an express version of what Microsoft is calling a “Holographic Academy” session for developers (the original developer edition takes four hours, not 90 minutes). With the assistance of a helpful Microsoft mentor and pre-written code, we were taught to use Unity 3D and Microsoft’s Visual Studio to cobble together a holographic application, adding specific features and action triggers to it along the way.
At first, the app was simply a static 3D structure that consisted of a bunch of origami sculptures — cubes, paper airplanes and a couple of paper balls — on top of a giant notepad. Then I learned to add a small red ring cursor, which I could move around simply by looking at where I wanted it to go. From there, I added the ability to “tap” an object by waving my finger in front of it, and soon I was able to nudge those paper balls from the sculpture to the floor. Next I included voice commands, so I could say “drop sphere” and the balls would fall off the structure. At one point, I was able to see the wireframe of the room as the HoloLens attempted to make sense of its surroundings. The app wasn’t all visual either — we were also instructed to add “spatial sound” so that the closer you were to the object, the louder the sound.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AaTyeDtht-8?rel=0
The commands all worked pretty well, and I was surprised by how instantly the actions triggered. Yet, the experience wasn’t really perfect either. Midair finger taps often took a couple of tries before anything would happen and the visuals did seem a little glitchy — sometimes they would disappear and then reappear depending on where I looked. It’s important to remember that this is all very much in beta, however.
Microsoft saved the best demo for last. We were told to add a target in the middle of the notepad so that when the paper balls fell, the notepad would explode in a puff of smoke, exposing a spacious “underworld” with green hills, a river and a flying paper bird. It was pretty hilarious to see a dozen or so journalists on their hands and knees trying to make out what was going on in a fictional hole in the ground.
On the whole, it’s still early days yet for HoloLens as far as hardware goes — the fit and finish are still very rough around the edges. But judging by how easy it was to whip up an app, software is probably the HoloLens’ most intriguing characteristic, especially since developers can make any Windows 10 app compatible with it. I suspect that whenever HoloLens makes its public debut, it’ll have a whole slew of apps ready to launch alongside the device. It just remains to be seen if people will actually buy it.
A tearful tech demo from the studio behind ‘Final Fantasy’
Square Enix, the studio responsible for the famously pretty Final Fantasy series, routinely creates tech demos for the latest and greatest gaming systems, and this week it added one more to that repertoire. During Microsoft’s BUILD dev conference, Square Enix showed off a real-time DirectX 12 tech demo called WITCH: Chapter 0 [cry]. True to its name, this demo includes a crying woman — Agni from previous Square Enix tech demos — and all of the wonky facial animations that come with such an activity. WITCH features 63 million polygons per scene, “six to 12 times more” than what was possible with DirectX 11, Microsoft says. Check out the real-time demo below and note that while the animations certainly are pretty, there isn’t much going on in these scenes in terms of AI or NPC population.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft, NVIDIA
Source: Nvidia
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week – Android Apps Weekly
Sponsored by: 100 Doors Cartoon
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
100 Doors is a hidden object and arcade puzzle game that has you finding things, solving puzzles, and unlocking doors using taps, shakes, and a little bit of logic. There are over 60 levels, four types of hints to help you get passed the tough parts, and much more. The game is animated quite well with cute animals and colorful graphics. There is also a Wheel of Fortune feature that gives you free items every day. It’s especially great for kids and it’s free to download right now.
Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines from this week:
- The once-popular app known as Secret is shutting down. The owner released a statement that the app was not what he envisioned and opted to close up shop and return all of the investment money. It had a good run.
- Google Play Services is being updated to version 7.3. Among the changes include new APIs to handle messaging and connections on wearables, the ability to connect multiple wearables at once, and some new stuff for Google Fit.
- Google Now is gaining support for more than 70 new third party applications. This means more cards and more information at your finger tips. A few of the apps that are gaining support are Runtastic, ABC News, Allrecipes, and OpenTable.
- In an effort to keep up with the competition, Facebook has introduced free video calling to Messenger. The feature is rolling out to many countries around the world and this helps put them on par with apps like Skype, Hangouts, and others.
- Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will run both iOS and Android applications. At their Build 2015 developer conference, they announced Project Islandwood and Project Astoria to help developers make their apps compatible with Windows 10.
For all of the latest Android apps and games headlines, new releases, and updates, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. There we round up all of the news for the week. If you’re so inclined, you can also sign up for the newsletter with your email and we’ll send it to you every Friday.
Subscribe to our Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
Project Fi by Google
[Price: Free]
Invites have only just started going out but the Project Fi app is now available. The app is the official mobile app for the mobile carrier service and will let you activate your service, manage your account, see your monthly statements, get in contact with customer support, and check your data usage. It’s nothing complex and it’ll get the job done. If you end up getting Project Fi, you’ll want this app.
Broken Age
[Price: $9.99 with in-app purchases]
Broken Age is the latest game from the acclaimed game studio Double Fine. It features carefully hand-drawn graphics and includes an all-star voiceover cast including Elijah Wood, Wil Wheaton, Jack Black, Masasa Moyo, and many more. The premise is you play as a couple of teenagers and you can switch between their stories as you please. It’s a family friendly game which means it’s great for kids and adults as well.
Illustration Faces 2
[Price: $0.99]
Illustration Faces 2 is a set of watch faces for Android Wear. They feature simple, retro style animations with a bit of style and class. They’re relatively inexpensive at $0.99 and each watch face comes with its own set of customization options. The watch faces may not be as feature filled as some, but they do offer a unique look to your Android Wear device and there are no in-app purchases.
Clarity Keyboard Beta
[Price: Free]
Clarity Keyboard Beta is a keyboard from the developers of SwiftKey. It’s part of the SwiftKey greenhouse beta program and it focuses on simplicity. It’s currently only available in US English and only on devices running Android 4.4 and up. For now, it’s very simple and doesn’t really include much but it’s fun to try out if you don’t mind the bugs. New features and fixes should come soon to help with the stability.
Does Not Commute
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Does Not Commute is the latest game out of Mediocre who is most known for their hit title called Smash Hit. Does Not Commute is a driving game where you must navigate through traffic in a given time limit to a destination. It’s more difficult than it sounds and and gets progressively more difficult as you play. The game is free to play but you can pay for the premium which removes ads and lets you continue from checkpoints.
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps and games news, let us know in the comments!
Microsoft snaps up the technology behind the Surface Pro 3’s pen
In love with the Surface pen? You’re not the only one. Microsoft confirmed on its Surface blog this morning that it acquired the pen-sensing technology that helps power the Surface Pro 3 from the company that created it, Israeli tech outfit N-trig. If you’re the type who pays attention to Israeli business newspapers, this whole thing might not come as a shock – Calcalist reported earlier this year that Microsoft was eyeing N-trig for a full-on acquisition that would see the company’s 190 employees folded into the Microsoft mothership at some point. That’s not the case anymore, though: We’ve been able to confirm the folks in Redmond just bought the technology, and not the whole company.
So, aside from a little M&A intrigue to spice up your Friday morning, what does this mean for you? Well, the Surface Pen is one of those bits of the Surface experience that seems totally extraneous at first, and then more-or-less lovely after you’ve gotten to play with it. It’s far from perfect — N-trig’s pen ditched its predecessor’s ability to erase stuff by flipping the thing around — but the purchase signals Microsoft’s commitment to making pen input something that could feasibly replace the traditional thumb-punching and finger-poking touchscreens have attuned us too. It shouldn’t be long before we see some of N-trig’s tech in action, either Windows 10’s launch is just over the horizon at this point and we already know that some new Windows smartphones will play nice with pen inputs thanks to a feature called DirectInk. That we’ll be able to write on a broad swath of new devices soon was never a question, though there is one loose end we haven’t been able to tie up: What’s going to happen to the rest of N-trig?
Source: Microsoft Surface blog
Xbox 360 update makes the digital transition easier
It turns out that support for bigger external hard drives isn’t all that the latest Xbox 360 preview’s packing. The surprise features aren’t huge by any means but they’re pretty self explanatory and as of now should make using the console a bit easier, regardless. Let’s dig in. First up we have a view for recent purchases followed by a password reset function, network statistics information and the ability to see your Microsoft account balance right from the system dashboard. Like I said, nothing earth-shattering on a piece-by-piece basis, but taken as a whole they offer a pretty clear explanation for why Redmond is updating the console in the first place: making it easier to go from discs to downloadable gaming. As a reminder, Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb says that if you have any other feature suggestions for the almost decade-old console be sure to hit the Xbox feedback website.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Major Nelson
Microsoft bought ‘Minecraft’ because it’s perfect for HoloLens
Microsoft surprised many when it announced it had acquired Mojang, maker of the hit game Minecraft for $2.5 billion. What could a company specializing in operating systems and business software possibly want with a sandbox game primarily enjoyed by children? The game’s creator, Markus “Notch” Persson, certainly had something to do with it, but Microsoft had something else in its arsenal that was also perfectly suited: HoloLens.
“Let’s have a game that, in fact, will fundamentally help us change new categories,” Nadella told the New York Times in an interview. “HoloLens was very much in the works then, and we knew it.” Already, we’ve had a taste of what Microsoft might be planning with the game. In our brief time with HoloLens, we played Holobuilder, a game inspired by Minecraft that let us build a virtual world in the demonstration room and blow a (virtual) hole in the wall. During HoloLens’ surprise January unveiling, Microsoft included Minecraft in its demonstration video, hinting that the game would be the perfect showcase for the capabilities of its upcoming headset.
Obviously, Microsoft isn’t new to gaming, but with rivals moving into different categories like virtual reality, the company has taken a different approach with HoloLens. Headsets like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR work by tricking your eyes, but Microsoft’s hoping that holograms, or more specifically augmented reality, will wow consumers by overlaying digital objects on a real world canvas. It’s already received a lot of publicity, but Nadella knows that he has his work cut out: “I don’t want to overhype it like Google Glass and say this is the next,” he said. “I want us to be deliberate about what it is.”
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: New York Times
Xbox One game streaming on Windows 10 is a killer app
With the release of Windows 10, Sony won’t be the only company to offer game streaming from its consoles. Today we finally got our hands on Windows 10’s Xbox One game streaming feature, which lets you bring your entire Xbox gaming experience to any PC running the new OS. And even in its early state, it looks like it will satisfy even the most demanding gamers. Microsoft made a risky bet by demoing the feature with Sunset Overdrive, a fast-paced game where you’d notice the slightest hint of slowdown. And as you can see in the video below, it’s virtually indistinguishable from the native Xbox One experience while running on a Surface Pro 3.
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Windows 10 streamed Sunset Overdrive at its full resolution, and there weren’t any major issues or delatys. Having spent dozens of hours with the game on my Xbox One, I didn’t notice much of a difference playing it streamed. All of its acrobatic maneuvers and twitch-heavy gunplay felt as responsive as ever. Best of all, you don’t need any crazy hardware to stream games with Windows 10. The demo was running on a fairly typical Intel Core i5 system, and it can run on even slower computers if they have some form of H.264 encoding (because the stream is coming over as a video file). Naturally, your Xbox One gets locked down when you’re streaming something, since it’s still doing the heavy lifting.
So far, Windows 10’s game streaming only works with an Xbox One on your local network. But according to Kevin Unangst, senior director of marketing for Microsoft Studios, the company could eventually implement remote play. That’s something Sony already offers with the PlayStation 4 (and 3, to a lesser extent) over its Vita handheld and some Android devices. But for many people, streaming a game on a PC they already own sounds a lot more useful than having to buy a separate device.
AIVAnet 