See Nokia’s ill-fated ‘Moonraker’ smartwatch in action
After Microsoft acquired Nokia’s phone business, it shelved the Moonraker smartwatch that the phone maker had been working on in favor of its own Band device. The Microsoft Band wasn’t able to make a lasting impression and it too was discontinued last month. When word of the Moonraker broke last summer, we had little more than an image and a few details on the watch’s basic functionality. Thanks to Nokibar on YouTube, we now have a look at the gadget in action.
In the hands-on video, Nokibar swipes through the Moonraker’s interface to show features like the pedometer alongside missed calls and text messages with access to Facebook, email and MixRadio. There’s also a button on the device that switches between a regular watch face and the smartwatch UI. Like many similar devices, the charging port is on the back.
Now that Microsoft canceled the Band 3, it appears the company is choosing to focus on PCs and its AR/VR projects rather than wearables. At last month’s event, the focus as the massive Surface Studio all-in-one and an upgraded Surface Book. Microsoft also showed off the first VR-ready Windows 10 phone, the Alcatel Idol 4S, with news that it was also working with Dell, Acer, HP, ASUS and Lenovo on $300 handsets.
Via: The Verge
Source: Nokibar (YouTube)
Xbox One gets over-the-air DVR through a set-top box
Just because Microsoft has ruled out an Xbox One DVR feature doesn’t mean that you’re without choices. Nuvyyo has introduced an Xbox One (and Windows 10 Anniversary Update) version of its Tablo app, letting you watch and record over-the-air TV streamed from the company’s networked set-top box. You’ll get the “majority” of features you see on other platforms, including a TV guide as well as options to pause live shows and skip ads.
As always, the only real gotcha is the cost. The Tablo DVR’s entry two-tuner model officially costs $220 (a four-tuner version is $300), and the TV guide requires a subscription ($5 per month, $50 per year or $150 lifetime) if you plan to use it. If you’re a cord-cutter and want to use your Xbox as your central media hub, though, the up front price may be small compared to what you save by ditching cable or satellite.
Source: Tablo
You don’t need to sign in to use Skype anymore
Unless you have Skype configured to boot-up when you start your computer, starting the program, logging in and connecting to a call can be mildly tedious. It’s not anymore — Microsoft just announced a new ‘Guest’ mode for Skype that makes user accounts almost completely optional. Now if you want to join a Skype call, all you have to do is click a link and enter your name.
Skype as a Guest includes voice and video calling, group instant messaging and screen and file sharing features for up to 300 people per conversation. Users will be given a unique link to share with contacts that instantly open the Skype conversation, which can be made up of more Guests, or fully signed-in Skype users.
So, what’s the catch? Not much: conversations expire after 24 hours, and you’ll still need to log-in to call a landline or use Skype’s live translation features. The account-free mode also only works in Skype.com’s web-client, but those limitations aside it seems to offer all the service’s basic free features. Not bad — particularly if you only use Skype when somebody else asks you to.
Source: Skype
Microsoft will release Visual Studio for the Mac
If you needed any further proof that Microsoft is welcoming cross-platform development with open arms, you just got it. In a prematurely revealed blog post, the company has revealed that it’s working on Visual Studio for Mac — yes, one of the mainstays of the Windows world is headed Apple’s way. This isn’t really intended for Windows development (you’d need Boot Camp or a virtual machine to run your creations), but you can write Android, iOS and Mac apps (thanks to Xamarin) as well as server software through .NET Core. And importantly, Mac and Windows users can share projects. You won’t have to convert your work just to make sure that everyone in your team can use it.
You’ll get to download a preview edition of Visual Studio for Mac sometime during Microsoft’s Connect() conference, which kicks off November 16th. It’s not certain when you’ll see a finished version, but the timing of the preview likely puts the polished release sometime in 2017.
The Mac version may seem odd at first blush. Wouldn’t this discourage developers from writing on or for Windows? However, it’s more logical in the context of Microsoft’s “mobile first, cloud first” strategy. If you’re already building apps on a Mac, you might as well build them in a tool that makes porting to Windows easier — and Microsoft would rather you write for its cloud platform on a Mac than risk losing you to a rival offering. The Redmond crew no longer benefits greatly from making you buy a Windows PC to write code, and the new Visual Studio reflects that reality.
Via: The Verge
Source: Microsoft (cached)
Microsoft Launching ‘Visual Studio’ Coding Platform for Mac This Week
Microsoft plans to launch its integrated developer environment Visual Studio for the Mac later this week, turning its cloud-first development program into a cross-platform experience that developers can use on both Mac and Windows. Although the official press release has since been deleted, TechCrunch spotted the news and noted that the launch of Visual Studio on the Mac is expected to happen during the Connect() conference this week.
Visual Studio for Mac will allow developers to create Windows apps on Apple’s macOS platform, with the use of cloud platforms like Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon Web Services to keep work stored across devices. Microsoft called Visual Studio for Mac a “counterpart” to its Windows version, and said that any Windows user “should feel right at home.”
At its heart, Visual Studio for Mac is a macOS counterpart of the Windows version of Visual Studio. If you enjoy the Visual Studio development experience, but need or want to use macOS, you should feel right at home. Its UX is inspired by Visual Studio, yet designed to look and feel like a native citizen of macOS. And like Visual Studio for Windows, it’s complemented by Visual Studio Code for times when you don’t need a full IDE, but want a lightweight yet rich standalone source editor.
Visual Studio on the Mac is said to run Microsoft’s .NET software framework and include the programming language of C#. The Microsoft Connect() 2016 developer conference is set to run later this week, from November 16-18, so an official announcement from Microsoft about Visual Studio on the Mac is likely to happen sometime during the event.
Tag: Microsoft
Discuss this article in our forums
The Morning After: Monday, November 14, 2016
Engadget’s weekend included a Japan-only Kindle made for manga and comics, an early tour of Nike’s tech-packed store in NYC and staring at a supermoon. So it wasn’t a bad weekend. This week, expect to hear plenty of car news direct from the LA Auto Show. And even if you’re no petrolhead, there should be more than enough tech news, reviews and occasionally furious editorials to get you through the week.
‘Can I try on the Nike Mags?’ ‘No.’We tour Nike’s new tech-laced NYC store
Nike’s new five-storey store in the middle of SoHo has a Kinect-sensor rigged basketball hoop, a new “Nike By NYC” customization studio, plenty of space to show off the Apple Watch Nike+ and of course, self-lacing sneakers. The aforementioned customization studio will let shoppers place on-demand orders for designs that will be exclusive to the SoHo store.
Made for mangaAmazon Japan’s manga-centric Kindle has ample space for your comic collection
Japan loves its homemade comics, so Amazon made an e-reader especially for them. Delivering eight times the storage of existing Kindles, and a bunch of speedy navigation upgrades, you might just be ready to start reading manga and comics on your e-reader. It’s not quite perfect, however.
Microsoft might be a little hostile to third-party security apps.Kaspersky says Windows’ security bundle is anti-competitive
Windows 10’s bundled Defender security tool can help with basic antivirus protection, but what about third-party options? The operating system normally steps aside when you run other programs, but antivirus mainstay Kaspersky (and its boss, Eugene… Kaspersky) believes Microsoft still isn’t playing fair enough. He’s filed complaints in both the EU and Russia alleging that Windows 10’s handling of third-party antivirus tools is anti-competitive.
But wait, there’s more…
- Get excited, here’s the first ‘Ghost In The Shell’ live action trailer.
- Did you stare at the supermoon? It’s the biggest in 68 years.
- The last week in numbers, here’s the After Math.
Kaspersky says Windows’ security bundle is anti-competitive
Windows 10’s bundled Defender security tool can be helpful for basic antivirus protection, but what if you prefer third-party software? The operating system normally steps aside when you run other programs, but antivirus mainstay Eugene Kaspersky (above) believes Microsoft still isn’t playing fair. He just filed complaints in both the European Union and Russia alleging that Windows 10’s handling of third-party antivirus tools is anti-competitive. The argument mostly hinges around when Microsoft switches you to Defender and the amount of breathing room given to other developers.
Kaspersky points out that Windows automatically uninstalls unsupported antivirus software when you upgrade to the new OS, regardless of your settings, and will sometimes revert to Defender even if you pass an initial check. Also, if your third-party antivirus tool is compatible, you’ll still get a warning that Defender is off with a “big juicy” button to turn it on. These wouldn’t be so bad if Microsoft gave independent developers more slack, Kaspersky argues. Third parties supposedly don’t get much lead time before new releases (just a week in one case), so they’re left scrambling to make their apps compatible. And to top it off, notices for expired antivirus software licenses are buried in Security Center notifications for three days before you get a more explicit warning. You may not realize that your preferred software is inactive until Defender automatically kicks in.
If successful, the complaints would have Microsoft clearly tell Windows users about software compatibility problems before an upgrade, preventing rude surprises with antivirus protection. Microsoft would also have to ask for your approval whenever it wants to turn on Defender, and give outside developers “good time” to address compatibility issues.
We’ve asked Microsoft for its response to Kaspersky’s issues, and we’ll let you know if it has something to say. However, Kaspersky might have a tougher time with its case than in other antitrust situations, such as when Microsoft’s rivals attacked it over browser choice. For one thing, it’s not as if Microsoft keeps Windows development completely in the dark. Ars Technica notes that the Windows Insider program gives just about anyone a peek at where Windows is going in the future, and explicitly warns you if antivirus apps aren’t compatible. Also, antivirus is more of a must-have than a nicety these days. Regulators may be hesitant to make any moves that potentially leave users unprotected, even if that’s unlikely with Kaspersky’s proposals.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Kaspersky
Ender Dragon is coming for your Windows 10 ‘Minecraft’ realms
Microsoft is all about unified apps these days and that applies to its $2.5 billion baby Minecraft, too. The Pocket and Windows 10 versions of the blocky creation-and-survival game are almost at parity with the original Java version, developer Mojang announced today. The 1.0 update, dubbed “The End,” brings end-game boss The Ender Dragon and the The End dimension to desktop and mobile players. But, despite its name, Mojang says that continual updates are planned after this is released. Oh, and the 1.0 version is what will arrive by year’s end on Apple TV as well.
More than just adding a dragon (as cool as that is), world height is getting a bump to 256 blocks — a big step up from the previous Pocket and Win10 version’s 128. For a bit of context, clouds start appearing at 127 blocks high. Reach for the sky, y’all. There’s also a new Elytra glider available for soaring over the pixely world, in addition to a handful of bits like a new mob (the Shulker) and new resources to mine.
Android users can try it out in beta starting today, but everyone else will have to wait until the update is released because the beta is exclusive to Google’s mobile platform.
Source: Mojang
Your search history could be an early detector for lung cancer
“You may have lung cancer. Please consult a physician.” That’d very likely be the worst alert you could ever see on your phone, right? In the future, though, it could be a reality. By looking at anonymous search history and cross-referencing it with demographic data, scientists from Microsoft Research propose that 39 percent of oncology diagnosis could be made a year earlier — no Watson required. It definitely sounds like something out of Minority Report, but applied to healthcare.
Using Bing (this is Microsoft we’re talking about, after all), the researchers looked for queries like “I was just diagnosed with lung cancer,” and then worked backwards from there, according to Bloomberg. Then the scientists scoured those users’ histories for symptom-related searches like bronchitis or chest pain. From there, things like smoking or exposure to radon gas were derived from location data and other search terms.
Of course, with this sort of thing, there’s always the chance for false diagnosis. That 39 percent success rate is with one false positive per 1,000 patients. And dropping to one false diagnosis in 100,000 patients could still give three percent of folks an early warning.
Since cancer diagnosis often comes when a patient is already terminal, this feasibility study, with additional testing and research, could prove to be incredibly important. And it’d probably result in one notification you wouldn’t absentmindedly swipe away.
Via: Bloomberg
Source: JAMA Oncology
Microsoft’s iOS app augments hues for color-blind folks
Color Binoculars landed on the App Store today, promising to infuse the real world with color for anyone with the three most common forms of color blindness. This isn’t the first app designed to help color-blind folks see a broader spectrum of colors, but it comes from two Microsoft software engineers (one of whom is color blind), and its straightforward filter method is simple to use.
The app uses the iPhone camera to adjust colors in a way that makes them easier to distinguish for color-blind people. The enhanced image shows up on the iPhone screen, allowing users to pick out flowers, choose matching outfits or take in the beauty of fall, for example.
Tom Overton and Tingting Zhu started working on Color Binoculars during Microsoft’s 2015 Hackathon and they finished it in the company’s Garage program, which helps experimental apps go public. Overton is color blind, so he was both a developer and the app’s main tester.
Tom Overton and Tingting Zhu (Image credit: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures)
“It’s an app that helps color blind people distinguish color combinations that they would normally have trouble telling apart,” Overton tells the Microsoft blog. “For example, since I have difficulty distinguishing between red and green, our app makes reds brighter and greens darker so that the difference is more obvious. It replaces difficult color combinations, like red and green, with more easily distinguishable combinations, like pink and green.”
Source: Microsoft
AIVAnet 