NuAns raises funds to release its Windows 10 phone worldwide
When we took a closer look at the NuAns NEO in January, the Japanese company wasn’t sure if the Windows 10 Mobile phone was ever going to make it outside its home country. Now, it looks like NuAns has decided to attempt a wider release, because it’s raising $725,000 on Kickstarter to fund NEO’s global debut. According to the team’s campaign, they’re using the money they’ll get to buy the components needed for the device to work anywhere in the world, not just in Japan.
The NEO is much chunkier than most smartphones these days, with interchangeable back halves. You can choose from various finishes, like wood, suede and even ostrich. The device itself has a five-inch 720p screen, 2GB of RAM and a 1.5GHz octacore Snapdragon 617. Plus, it’s capable of running Microsoft’s Continuum feature, which turns it into a tiny computer. To get one as a Kickstarter reward, you’ll have to pledge at least $270, though that tier is quickly running out as of this writing.
Via: The Verge
Source: Kickstarter
Microsoft’s 1TB Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 hit the UK
Microsoft’s best Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 models are now available outside of North America. Both of the laptop-tablet hybrids — the Book being more laptop, the Pro more tablet — can be bought with a 1TB SSD in eight additional markets. These are: Australia, Austria, China, France, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK. Germany and Japan will be joining the list in July; Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands will get the 1TB Surface Pro 4 later this summer.
Both devices come with a Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. In short — they’re utter beasts in the power department. You’ll have to pay for all that extra storage and grunt, however. In the UK, the 1TB Surface Book costs £2,649, while the the 1TB Surface Pro 4 comes in at £2,199. Cheap laptop replacements, these are not. Still, they represent the best of Microsoft hardware, and a glimpse at what the company can achieve when it targets true power users. And in the case of the Surface Pro 4, you could always add the Signature Type Cover, just to make it even more luxurious.
Students can get a free Xbox One with a Surface Pro 4
With a new, slimmer Xbox One waiting in the wings, Microsoft is doing everything in its power to get rid of the older model. The original Xbox One is already down to $299, and starting today students can get it for free when they buy a Surface Pro 4 in the US. As the Verge reports, you’ll need to step into a retail store to take advantage of the deal — it runs until August 14th and will be sold as a $300 discount on the pair’s combined price. “So basically a free Xbox One with the purchase of a Surface Pro 4,” Terry Myerson, head of Windows and devices at Microsoft confirmed.
The deal could be a compelling one-two combo if you’re about to start college. It’s this time of year that young scholars start thinking about a new laptop purchase; a free Xbox One is an obvious and relatively budget-friendly way to sort out your in-dormitory entertainment at the same time.
The trade-off, of course, is that you’re buying into older hardware. The Xbox One S is a sleek-looking beast and the Surface Pro 4 was released last October — there’s no word on a successor to the laptop hybrid, but you have to imagine Microsoft is working on something. If you take the plunge, just be aware that you might feel some buyer’s remorse by Christmas.
Source: The Verge
Windows 10 Anniversary Update arrives August 2nd
Microsoft hasn’t done the greatest job of keeping its Windows 10 Anniversary Update schedule a secret (it inadvertently spilled the beans on June 28th), but it’s at last official: the upgrade arrives on August 2nd. It’s free for anyone who has already moved to Windows 10, so most people won’t have to pay for Anniversary features like broader biometric security and pen support, a more efficient Edge browser with extensions, smarter Cortana voice commands and the unification of the Windows and Xbox stores. You’ll have to contend with more promoted apps and won’t get previously touted perks like messaging everywhere, but those may be small trade-offs given the overall amount of polish.
Via: The Verge
Source: Windows Experience Blog
Microsoft drops Windows 10’s ‘messaging everywhere’ feature
When the Windows 10 Anniversary update arrives this summer, it will be missing one thing we were expecting: messaging everywhere. The feature Microsoft has been testing was similar to Apple’s crossplatform iMessage integration, and Google’s SMS-via-Hangouts. Switching on “Send texts on all my Windows devices” enabled users to send and receive text messages from the Messaging app on their computer that synced directly with the app on their phone.
Preview testers had access to Messaging everywhere since April, around the same time Microsoft killed Skype Integration in Windows Mobile messaging. Now, the company says it expects to deliver an experience that’s “even better” through the Skype app, probably when it releases a universal Windows version of the app for mobile devices. With the latest version, users won’t be able to receive text messages via the app on their computer anymore, however they can still reply using Cortana. PC and Mobile testers in the fast ring should see Build 14376 arriving on their devices shortly, check the blog post for the full list of bug fixes and tweaks included.
Source: Windows Blog
Valve’s mobile version of Steam finally hits Windows Phone
Steam hasn’t forgotten about the remaining Windows Phone faithful. It just seemed that way, with folks on Android and iOS getting a mobile app way back in 2012. The Windows Store listing says that you’ll be able to use Stream Guard’s authentication system, trade and sell items, keep an eye on the game marketplace and remote download and install games to your PC via the application. Just in time for this year’s summer sale; how about that?
Windows Central noticed a bit of a peculiarity here, though: This pocket version of Steam apparently isn’t a Windows 10 Mobile app — it’s actually a Windows Phone 8.1 deal. At any rate, you can grab the app for yourself and see what other mobile platforms have been using for the past four years.
Via: Steam Community
Source: Windows Store
Microsoft revamps pushy Windows 10 upgrade process
After getting hit with a $10,000 settlement and accusations of shady Windows 10 upgrade notifications, Microsoft has pledged to clarify the upgrade options that users were struggling to wrap their heads around. (And, most importantly, they’ve promised to make that red X on the dialogue box do what you’d actually expect it to do.) According to Windows head Terry Myerson, those changes should come at some point this week, just a month before the free upgrade period ends.
“Since we introduced a new upgrade experience for Windows 10, we’ve received feedback that some of our valued customers found it confusing,” Myerson told the Verge. “We’ve been working hard to incorporate their feedback and this week, we’ll roll out a new upgrade experience with clear options to upgrade now, schedule a time, or decline the free offer.”
The reconfigured dialogue box now includes those three options and the red X will actually close the dialogue rather than scheduling the update for a later date. If you, dear Windows 7 or 8 users, feel tempted to try out Windows 10, the upgrade is still free until July 30th but you’ll wind up with a few more advertisements on your desktop.
Microsoft’s hand-tracking magic may lead to gamepad-free VR
The next Xbox One S console doesn’t even have a Kinect port, showing that even Microsoft doesn’t care about the depth sensor for gaming. However, it may yet make a comeback in VR. Microsoft researchers have made hand- and finger-tracking much more accurate using the Kinect, which may eventually make it a more attractive option than a controller for VR games. “We’re getting to the point that the accuracy is such that the user can start to feel like the avatar hand is their real hand,” says Microsoft UK researcher Jamie Shotton.
Finger tracking currently works on the Kinect (using Kinect Studio and other apps), but its accuracy is very poor. The problem, says Microsoft, is that your hand is relatively small and complex, so when you rotate it or make a fist, your fingers disappear from view and fool the software.
To solve the problem, Microsoft creates a smooth surface model of the hand from the data points tracked by the Kinect. It then uses an algorithm that was developed way back in the 1940s to calculate where the tracking points should go next in order to conserve the most energy. The system also uses a “reinitializer” to quickly reset a hand pose in case of tracking errors.
The smoother surface model does require more computations, but the software can resolve hand positions more quickly, within four iterations. In addition, it requires fewer tracking points than other solutions. As a result, it “can track hands smoothly, quickly and accurately –- in real time –- but can run on a regular consumer gadget,” says the team.
With the app, users can smoothly interact with objects nearly in real time, something that could be highly beneficial for gaming, design and other VR applications. “The system lets you see what your hands are doing, fixing a common and befuddling disconnect that happens when people are interacting with virtual reality but can’t see their own hands,” according to the blog.
What’s more, with proper interface design, users aren’t thrown off by the lack of haptics, or simulated touch. “Thin” virtual controls make you touch your own fingers together for a fake sense of feel, for instance. And with a realistic-looking interface that works in real time and includes sound, users can be convinced they’re actually touching something.
The finger-tracking algorithms are purely research for now, and problems like collisions and tracking errors still need to be resolved. However, it holds a lot of promise for gaming, user interface design and other applications. Using an off-the-shelf Kinect, Microsoft showed off virtual gamepads, painting tools that let you “grab” a color with your fingers and a game where the player is a “god” that literally gives a helping hand to his characters.
Via: Popular Science
Source: Microsoft
Microsoft Studios shutters Xbox Fitness at-home workouts
Xbox Fitness has provided an at-home workout with the help of the trusty game console and Microsoft’s Kinect since 2013. However, the exercise option won’t be around much longer. Microsoft Studios announced that the console-driven workouts would be shuttered July 1, 2017, citing the effort required to ship regular updates to keep the gym routines fresh. The company says it has “given much consideration to the reality updating the service regularly in order to sustain it.”
The workout option was part of the Xbox One on Day One initiative to inspire console owners to get a little more active. In the two and a half years since its launch, the title added celebrity trainers and nixed the Kinect requirement. Leaderboards and the option to purchase and download workouts were features that Microsoft Studios hoped would keep things interesting, but in the end, the fitness project required too many resources to continue the regular updates it required. Starting today, users will no longer be able to purchase additional content. The “Free with Gold” label will be removed in December ahead of the official shutdown next summer.
Via: MSPowerUser
Source: Microsoft Studios
Microsoft sued for $10,000 after unwanted Windows 10 upgrade
Microsoft’s pushy and occasionally misleading Windows 10 update process has had some tangible backlash. According to the Seattle Times, a small business owner from California has successfully sued Microsoft for $10,000 in “compensation for lost wages and the cost of a new computer” after an unwanted and unauthorized update allegedly left her primary work PC slow, crash-prone and unusable.
“I had never heard of Windows 10,” Sausalito-based travel agent Teri Goldstein told the Seattle Times. “Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.”
While Goldstein appears to be the first user to get an actual monetary award, Windows 7/8 users have been complaining about the update process for nearly as long as the new version has been available. Earlier this year, Microsoft changed the update from “optional” to “recommended” and, perhaps most egregiously, the company also switched the behavior of the ubiquitous red X button so that it actually accepted the upgrade rather than canceling it. For their part, Redmond denied any wrongdoing in the Goldstein case and has offered a new tutorial for disabling the update notifications, although there’s still a chance that doing nothing at all will result in an unwanted update that has already been scheduled without the user opting in.
For others who might be looking for a handout from Microsoft, or just some compensation for their upgrade headaches, it is unclear if the case could lead to more lawsuits. The Seattle Times also reports that Microsoft was planning to appeal the Goldstein ruling, but dropped the case to avoid even more court costs. So, it seems unlikely that the company would continue to put itself at risk of more litigation, even if it does have an ambitious goal of 1 billion Windows 10 users to reach. On the other hand, a lawsuit involving a similarly “optional” operating system update for PlayStation 3 consoles recently ended in a class action settlement and potentially millions of dollars in damages on Sony’s part. So, if anything, tech savvy lawyers could have a field day with this one.
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