Ben Heck’s Xbox One S teardown
There are few things Ben Heck loves more than tearing down the newest gaming consoles. Watch how he unboxes the Xbox One S and takes apart each component, including the controller. As Ben does his thing, we see how Microsoft kept costs down by making alterations to both the chassis and printed circuit boards. Ben also compares the XBox One S side by side with the original XBox One and discovers that a connector is missing. Which one could it be? The power supply is another major change with Xbox One S; in the early days it was basically a huge brick. Ben also highlights the changes in the CPU/GPU heatsink and the limitations of hacking the HDMI ports on the board. Do you think there’s something else we can do with it? Let us know over on the element14 Community, where you can also learn about upcoming episodes.
‘Firewatch’ comes to Xbox One on September 21st with bonus modes
Campo Santo’s wilderness mystery Firewatch became an instant indie classic when it was released back in February, but only on PC and PS4. The San Francisco-based studio is fixing that gap in its game’s playerbase with an Xbox One launch on September 21st and throwing in a few extras to boot.
For their wait, Xbox devotees will get a complete Audio Tour included with the game, which the studio describes as a Director Commentary-cum-Game Dev Workshop-cum scavenger hunt. Sometime down the line they will also get a free-range mode for gamers to explore the full wilderness without any pesky story getting in the way, which the developers say hides a few secrets. While both of those bonuses will eventually be available on all platforms, they’ll be released for players on the Microsoft console first.
Via: Xbox Wire
Source: Campo Santo blog
Microsoft fixes Anniversary Update’s login freeze in Windows 10
Windows 10 users had many good reasons to install the Anniversary Update at the beginning of August, even if most changes were incremental. Less loved were the handful of serious bugs that came with it, from breaking webcams to systemwide crashes when users plugged in e-readers. But its worst offense was freezing when users logged in on devices that put their operating system on one logical drive and app data on another. Split users, your ship has come in: Microsoft patched the error in an auto-update on August 31st.
For users still experiencing the issue and can’t log in to download the update, there are two workarounds. First, if you have a second administrator account, log in with that to install the patch. If not, use the “go back” feature to uninstall the Anniversary Update to go back to Windows 10 vanilla; if you’re unsure how, check out Microsoft’s tech forum for step-by-step instructions. Then head to the operating system’s download page and click “Update Now.” But as for the other bugs, prepare to wait: The only fix on the way is a partial one for the webcam freeze, which should arrive sometime in September.
Via: PC World, TechCrunch
Source: Microsoft tech forum
The first Xbox ‘Play Anywhere’ games are up for pre-order
Through much of 2016, Microsoft has been working on an initiative to make your game library work across multiple devices, be it the current Xbox One, future consoles (like Project Scorpio) or a Windows 10 PC. As such, the company has a program called “Xbox Play Anywhere” that lets you buy a digital copy of certain games that’ll work on both the Xbox One and a PC. Today, a handful of Microsoft’s high-profile fall games went up for pre-order, and all three are part of the Play Anywhere program.
Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3 and ReCore are all up for sale in the Microsoft store. ReCore is up first, launching on September 13th; you can pre-order it for $39.99. Forza Horizon 3 comes later in the month on September 27th for $59.99, and Gears of War 4 launches on October 11th for $59.99.
Play Anywhere goes beyond just the ability to play the game on either your PC or Xbox One. All your game progress carries forward across platforms, including save states and achievements. So if you’ve been gaming on the couch and need to pick it up later on your PC, you’ll be able to continue the game right where you left off. And in multiplayer games like Gears of War 4, multiplayer extends across platforms, so Xbox One players can match up with PC players with no issues.
If these games aren’t to your liking, Microsoft’s site has a page containing other Play Anywhere titles that’ll be coming down the line, including Sea of Thieves, Halo Wars 2 and Scalebound. As for future games, Microsoft originally said that every game from Microsoft Studios would be a Play Anywhere title, but it has waffled a bit since then — we’ll just have to wait and see how well Microsoft is able to fulfill the potential of Play Anywhere.
Source: Microsoft
Tech’s biggest names are working to regulate AI research
Artificial intelligence is hitting its stride, already giving us machines that can drive themselves, talk to us, fight in our wars, perform our surgeries and beat humanity’s best in a game of Go or Jeopardy. Five companies at the forefront of the technology industry have been meeting to discuss these advancements in AI and figure out how to regulate even more powerful systems in the future, The New York Times reports.
Researchers from Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are looking at the practical consequences of AI, such as how it will impact transportation, jobs and welfare. The group doesn’t have a name or an official credo, but its general goal is to ensure AI research focuses on benefiting people, not harming them, the NYT says.
This isn’t a new battle cry for many AI scientists. In 2015, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, the founders of Google DeepMind and dozens of other researchers signed an open letter calling for robust investigations into the impact of AI and ways to ensure it remains a benign tool at humanity’s disposal. The industry partnership is notable because it represents a renewed, active effort among disparate tech companies to address these same issues.
The companies are expected to announce the group in mid-September, though it could grow in the meantime: Google DeepMind has asked to participate separately from Alphabet, its parent company, the NYT reports.
One of the people involved in the industry partnership, Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz, funded a paper issued by Stanford University on Thursday called the One Hundred Year Study, which discusses the realities of AI and the importance of investigating its impact now. It also calls for increased AI education at all levels of government and outlines how to publish a report on the state of the industry every five years for the next 100 years.
The NYT notes that people in the technology field are worried about regulators jumping in to police their work on AI.
“We’re not saying that there should be no regulation,” University of Texas at Austin computer scientist Peter Stone tells the NYT. “We’re saying that there is a right way and a wrong way.”
This summer, Engadget dove into the ways AI is poised to change jobs, war, criminal justice, history and our everyday lives. AI is the focus of much deserved attention in the technology industry because it is infinitely promising — even if we won’t be uploading our consciousness to the cloud any time soon.
Source: New York Times
‘Gears of War 4’ Horde 3.0 trailer has a Run the Jewels twist
Gears of War 4 features Horde 3.0, an updated version of the series’ classic five-player co-op mode, and today fans got the first taste of its gameplay with a bonus helping of hip hop courtesy of Run the Jewels.
First, the gameplay: Horde 3.0 pits five players against swarms of enemies and has new features such as character classes and defensive structures. The new mode offers five character variations (Soldier, Sniper, Scout, Heavy and Engineer) and new enemies like the Swarm and DeeBees. The “Fabricator” is a mobile base that players can deploy anywhere on the map.
And then there’s the music. Run the Jewels debuted a new song from their coming album, Run the Jewels 3, in the Horde 3.0 premiere trailer, and that’s not where this partnership ends. The song is called “Panther Like a Panther” and it kicks off a larger collaboration between Xbox, The Coalition and Run the Jewels.
The group’s website has been taken over by Gears of War 4-branded shirts and sweatshirts. The clothes feature a mash-up of Run the Jewels’ disembodied-hands logo and Gears of War’s famous chainsaw gun, with shirts starting at $28 and sweaters at $65.
Killer Mike and El-P are also going to appear in Gears of War 4 as multiplayer characters, once the game comes out on October 11th.
Horde 3.0 will be playable at PAX West in Seattle, Washington, this weekend, and Run the Jewels will also be hanging around the city. Killer Mike, El-P and Gears of War co-creator Rod Fergusson will be promoting the new game at BAIT from 2PM to 3PM PT on Saturday, September 3rd. That same day, Run the Jewels is set to perform on the main stage at the Bumbershoot Music and Arts festival at 7:20PM in downtown Seattle.
Source: Xbox Wire
Play Overwatch for free next weekend
If for whatever reason you still aren’t sold on Overwatch, Blizzard’s popular team-based shooter, you’ll want to clear your schedule for next weekend. Sony announced on Thursday that it will host an Overwatch Free Weekend from September 9th to 12th.
The weekend technically starts September 9 at 11am Pacific. Anybody with a PS4 (and Xbox One) will be able to download and play the 15GB game for free, no login required. You’ll have access to all 22 playable characters and a variety of game styles, be able to level up, grab loot and troll your opponents. If you want to keep the spoils of your online battles once the weekend concludes at 4pm Pacific on the 12th, you’ll need to pick up a copy of Overwatch: Origins Edition.
Source: Playstation Blog
We’re live from IFA 2016 in Berlin!
Like every year, we are back in Berlin for Europe’s biggest tech trade show, IFA. This year, as we previewed recently, expect to see many new devices from some of the usual suspects: Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, Sony and more. We’ve already checked out a number of fresh laptops, smartphones and wearables at the event, but that’s only the beginning since the show floor doesn’t open until Friday. Stay tuned, because there will be plenty of announcements to digest over the next few days. And you never know what kind of weird gadget we might find.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
Microsoft’s Sunrise calendar app gets a stay of execution
When Microsoft made a final appointment to terminate Sunrise on August 31st, fans of the app were discouraged. Not only were they losing their favorite calendar program, but Redmond has not integrated very many features into Outlook as it promised when it purchased the app last year. However, it has now decided to delay Sunrise’s shut down. “We have chosen to wait a little longer in order to deliver a few more Sunrise-inspired features in Outlook,” a spokesperson told PC World .
Last year, Microsoft promised to leave Sunrise on the market “until its features are full integrated into Outlook.” However, a lot of the coolest functions, like integration with social media and productivity apps, and “interesting calendars,” have yet to appear in Outlook. The app was supposed to be shut down yesterday, but if you already have it on iOS or Android, you can continue using it for now. However, “once [the extra] features are released, the Sunrise app will officially be shut down,” it said.
Source: PC World
Microsoft OneNote can help solve your math homework
Just in time for back to school season, Microsoft has made a few slick updates to Office 365, intended to help users get more out of their pen-based digital notes. Building on the beta launch of Windows Ink, OneNote has added new ink effects, a replay feature and a new intelligent math coach that can help you solve handwritten equations.
While OneNote already comes with shape and handwriting recognition, the new math assistant takes inking one step further by converting a longhand equation into text and then highlighting the steps you need to solve it. Simply write out an equation in OneNote, circle it with the lasso and select which variable to solve for. From there, OneNote can walk you through the steps. Voila: suddenly all those FOIL method and PEMDAS mnemonics are obsolete.
On the other hand, if a class requires a more old-school teaching approach, OneNote now allows you to rewind and play back inked notes — useful for following the pencil strokes in a sketch or reviewing step-by-step instructions. Rounding out the ink updates are a couple splashy new effects like rainbow, galaxy, gold and silver ink options that are great for artwork, but will likely drive a calculus professor up the wall.
Also in today’s announcement: New support for Windows Information Protection in Office mobile apps, which allows users to separate “work” and “personal” data on their devices; Enhanced people experiences in the web version of Outlook; and new versions of Visio for the web and iPad.
Source: Microsoft
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