Sombra is officially Overwatch’s new hacker hero
If you didn’t see Sombra coming, maybe you haven’t been paying much attention to Overwatch lately. Onstage during the Blizzcon keynote, Blizzard president and CEO Mike Morhaime described her as a stealthy offensive infiltrator who can hack an enemy’s abilities. Blizzard has dropped a few other details as well. She has an EMP attack that can shut down numerous enemies at once, for instance. Additionally, she can camouflage herself, making her harder to see. If you’re lucky enough to be at Blizzcon this weekend she’ll be playable on the show floor. Everyone else? You’re going to have to wait.
Source: Blizzcon, Overwatch (1) (YouTube), (2)
Google DeepMind and Blizzard partner for ‘StarCraft II’ AI research
Google’s Deepmind AI has already learned how to best humans at Go, but now Deepmind’s resources will be pointed at an entirely different game: Starcraft II. Blizzard just announced at Blizzcon that it is partnering with Google to open up Starcraft II as a research platform for those building AI programmers. “Blizzard will release an API early next year that will allow researchers and hobbyists around the world to build and train their own AI agents to play Starcraft II,” said Oriol Vinyals, a research scientist at Google DeepMind.
Rather than Google building an unstoppable Starcraft II machine on its own, Blizzard wants to give anyone the change to build their own AI bot using the upcoming API. Essentially, this framework serves as a testing ground for building and training new AIs — it could lead to better AI in Starcraft II itself, or we could see better AI player coaches, or maybe just an unbeatable AI bot. “There’s still a long way to go, but maybe we’ll even see an agent take on the BlizzCon champion in a show match,” Vinyals said.
But this could have effects that go far beyond just Starcraft II. “On a broader scope, these advancements we make in Starcraft might help us when we apply them to the real world challenges we face in science, energy, and other human endeavors,” Vinyals said. Indeed, in a blog post announcing the partnership, Google Deepmind notes that the complexity of Starcraft II makes it “useful bridge to the messiness of the real-world.”
Of course, what Google and Blizzard find from this partnership remains to be seen, but games have already proven to be great AI trainers, so we expect that we’ll see some big AI improvements from this partnership — it just might take a while. “We’re still a long way from being able to challenge a professional human player at the game of StarCraft II,” the Deepmind team says in its blog.
Aaron Souppouris contributed to this report.
Source: Google Deepmind
CES 2017: What is it and what to expect
The end of 2016 is almost upon us and that means CES is right around the corner.
The Consumer Electronics Show is one of the biggest tech events of the year, similar to Mobile World Congress, and we expect CES 2017 to showcase a lorry load of new gadgets, TVs, cars and initiatives that’ll take our breath away. It will also outline what to expect from the year ahead.
Here’s everything you need to know about CES 2017.
What is CES 2017?
CES – the Consumer Electronics Show – is a tech conference held in January in Las Vegas, Nevada, where companies hold keynotes and presentations, as well as staff show floor booths, with the purpose of announcing and demoing new tech. It’s been an annual event since 2004. CES 2016 was a record-breaking year, with a total attendance of 177,393. The exhibition space spanned 2.47 million net square feet.
When is CES 2017?
This year’s show will be held from 3 January to 8 January 2017, although most of the breaking news will occur within the first day or so. The official press days for CES 2017 are 3 and 4 January, which is when you can expect the major press conferences and big announcements.
Which companies will be at CES 2017?
Well, on 3 January, aka Media Day of CES 2017, the following companies are scheduled to give keynotes: Qualcomm, LG, Bosch, Panasonic, TCL, Hisense, Casio, Samsung, Hyundai, Intel, ZTE Corporation, and Sony.
What will be announced at CES 2017?
Virtual reality
Microsoft
Microsoft recently announced budget VR headsets were coming with support for the Windows 10 Creator Update. We therefore might see Windows 10 VR headsets from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer – alongside laptops, monitors, and desktops. HTC might even unveil a standalone, wire-free version of the HTC Vive, which is codenamed Oasis, at CES 2017.
Televisions
LG
Last year, we saw Ultra HD 4L displays from Sony, LG, Philips, Samsung, Panasonic, Hisense, and TCL, so we expect to see these same companies refresh their ranges for 2017.
Automobiles
1. We founded a company. #FaradayFuture2. We created a concept. #FFZERO13. We joined a race. #FormulaE4. We unveil the future. #CES2017 pic.twitter.com/TVk3gZ2Dey
— Faraday Future (@FaradayFuture) October 19, 2016
Similar to televisions, cars are usually a big hit at CES, with last year’s show bringing us concepts from BMW, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, and more. Faraday Future is already teasing a few concepts it might unveil at CES 2017.
Drones
Pocket-lint
Drones made a big splash at the last show – especially the fixed-wing, autopilot Parrot Disco. We therefore expect to see more drones this year.
Smartphones
Pocket-lint
We saw the reveal of the Huawei Mate 8 at CES 2016, but the Chinese firm has already previewed the Huawei Mate 9. It’ll be interesting to see what other companies plan to use CES 2017 to announce new phones, if any.
Wearables
Samsung and Fitbit could use CES 2017 to update their wrist wearables. We’ll know more in the coming weeks.
Want to know more?
Follow our CES 2017 hub for all the latest.
Japan has some exclusive PSVR titles, but you’re not missing much
Sony’s lineup of games and demos is often slightly different depending on the region. It’s something you may have noticed with PlayStation’s VR debut in both Europe and the US, — and that’s even more true for Japan. The virtual reality headset launched in Sony’s homeland with several titles on the PlayStation Store that are not available elsewhere. While standalone (much less stand-out) games are few, there’s still handful of experiences that are only playable with a Japanese PlayStation account. Fortunately for you, I’ve got one, and have played through some of this Japan-only content. From awkward teacher role-play with a Japanese schoolgirl, to anime J-Pop idol concerts, digitized musicians, Godzilla and virtual karaoke rooms (!), these regional exclusives very much cater to the locals. Here’s how they fared over a week-long playthrough. (Factoring in some time for Rez Infinite, of course.)
Summer Lesson
Price: 2,980 yen (about $29)
Summer Lesson is the most polished — and the weirdest — PlayStation VR game you can’t buy outside Japan. You play as a tutor hired to help Japanese high school student Hikari improve her grades. So far, so anime plotline. In reality, it’s not much of a game — more like one of the dullest PSVR experiences I’ve seen yet. The gameplay consists of choosing a lesson (logic, memory, etc.) and conversation starter (family, school, sports) with Hikari, listen through greetings and some small talk, rubberstamp a lesson report card (one of the rare in-game interactions) and wait for scenes to fade in and out. (It’s fortunate, perhaps, that you don’t have to actually sit through the multi-hour lessons.)
In the middle of study, the game lets you improve (or lower) the odds of a successful lesson by changing the learning environment. However, irrespective of what you choose to do during her lesson (vocally cheer her on, introducing a rapid-fire quiz, lowering the air-con, or even turning the lights off), it has no bearing on what you see in the next scene.
Marginally more interesting scenes are randomly drip-fed in throughout this daily grind. But even these hidden scenes aren’t exactly thrilling when written: You share headphones while listening to music, she drops her pencil, she searches for her favorite comic book or brushes some virtual fluff from your virtual shoulder. Then, after six lessons, you meet her one last time to hear the results of her midterm. This depends on how smart your lesson plans were, although it’s hard to see the reasoning behind what makes a lesson successful or not.
“Swing!” 😅 #psvr
A photo posted by Mat (@thtmtsmth) on Oct 27, 2016 at 5:06am PDT
After the eventual test result, you can repeat the whole thing again, this time armed with leveled-up lesson plans… even if the timeline is reset each time. She doesn’t remember you. She never will. She’ll tell you again and again that it’s weird to have a home tutor in her room, and that she loves softball. She always eats breakfast, loves manga comics. Oh, and she still really, really loves softball.
If there’s one redeeming feature here, it’s that you feel like Hikari is in the room; that you should obey social conventions (get too close and she will complain). When she gets a bit too close, you feel uncomfortable. But she’s not there. She’s inside the game. I have never felt that with typical video games. This is a sensation produced by VR.
The creep factor persists: Meet your weekly in-game targets and you’ll be rewarded with new costumes for your student. But for now, that’s about it . The game heavily hints at future content: At the Tokyo Game Show last year, Bandai Namco showed an English-language demo with a new caucasian student. As Summer Lesson stands, it’s an expensive mini-game that made me feel uneasy. Nonetheless, it speaks to the ability of virtual reality to convey human presence.
Joysound Karaoke
Price: 540 yen for 24 hours (about $5)
“The ultimate solo karaoke experience.” That’s the pitch, even if not everyone enjoys singing to their television, alone. Inside a VR headset. The experience adds cheesy, 360-degree video to your songs of choice. The lyrics run across the bottom of your virtual view, like any TV-based karaoke unit. (In fact, the company Joysound powers millions of karaoke bars across Japan.)
The videos are just as cloying and weird as the two-dimensional ones that we karaoke addicts are used to. There’s a cherry blossom picnic with the girls, a cat cafe (yesssss), picnic at the beach, an intimate music lesson setting and… a room full of handsome butlers. Those are your options, folks. At least for now. The karaoke app has already started to add a number of artist collaborations to flesh out the experience.
Japanese Visual-kei band “Golden Bombers” are one of the first artists to collaborate, offering two special edition 360-videos with two tracks. This includes possibly the most reality-blurring experience: singing said band’s song while the band itself cheers you on inside a 360-projected karaoke room. The second “experience” puts you on stage during a live concert, replete with cheering crowd. That’s pretty cool.
But back to the stock cat cafe/ picnic experiences: They aren’t limited to Japanese-language songs, so I was able to bust out half a rendition of “Under Pressure” before collapsing out of sheer shame. More concert-based content would totally work with VR and karaoke. Hopefully Joysound and Sony are on it.
360 Date
Price: 1,000 yen (about $10)
Combining the creepy schoolgirl component with the melodrama of a karaoke video, 360 Date is a short drama that tells the story of your walk home with a childhood friend who might be in love with you. (Spoiler: She is.) It’s a harmless, 360-degree mini-drama. The app suggests there will be further installments with different girls and different situations, but for now 360 Date consists of several scenes of your friend talking to you, with fade-out cuts between locations.
Your character manages a few one-word replies through the episode but it’s a borderline monologue. I didn’t have to touch the controller. I just watched. I didn’t want (or need to) play it twice. Because of the relatively low standard of acting (the poor girl is acting alongside a pole and a 360-degree camera), and the fact you can’t move around, the computer generated schoolgirl in Summer Lesson offered a greater VR sensation, more of a presence, than this human one. What’s happening to me?
Shin Godzilla
Price: Free
Sony collaborated with Godzilla studio Toho to make this very short VR teaser for the new feature film. You wake up to find Tokyo in flames, with Godzilla still terrorizing its residents. There’s no interaction — you just see the full computer-generated Godzilla shrug off the military attacks. (Fun fact: This Godzilla was built from the same model used in the latest movie.) It then somehow notices you, a lone human lying on the ground, and ambles over to you. Rocket launches, gunfire and crushed cars ensue. The demo finished even sooner than I thought it would — but at least it’s free?
Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls Viewing Revolution,
Price: 2,480 yen (about $24; glowsticks sold separately)
“Rhythm action game!”, I thought. “Cute anime characters that I dance along with, and look like an idiot!” I thought. Sure, that last part is true, but neither rhythm nor action are necessary — and again, it’s not really a game. Idolmaster virtually places you in the crowd while a fictional 3D anime J-Pop group sing/synth their way through a song. There’s more songs through DLC — I didn’t bite — and DLC accessories go as low as virtual glow sticks and wristbands for your audience member. Both are a con priced at three dollars each.
Sony’s PlayStation TV service comes to Mac and PC browsers
After coming to Android TV last week, PlayStation view has arrived on Mac and PC browsers, meaning it’s available on just about every device you can think of. It’ll work on Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge and even Internet Explorer 10+ browsers, Sony says. The web service has some “unique features,” including a mini-player that you can shrink to the corner of a browser window while you look for more content.
PS Vue is an streaming service that includes live TV channels from NBC, Fox, ESPN and others starting at $30 a month, though availability depends on your zip code. It’s much like Sling TV, though the basic Vue package is $10 more. However, you do get more stations in total, and can buy channels individually or upgrade your subscription to get more.
PS Vue arrived to Android and iOS earlier this year, but mobile viewing is blocked for some channels, and DVR’d shows and other features are restricted away from your home network. Sling, on the other hand, lets you watch programming on any device, anywhere in the US, and also works on Apple TV, unlike PS Vue. Despite those limitations, Sony’s service is catching on, as the company reportedly signed up over 100,000 subscribers just a few months after it launched in March.
Samsung recalls 2.8 million top-loading washing machines
No company likes to issue a product recall, but Samsung is having to deal with its fair share as of late. After going some way to reduce the damage following the disastrous launch of the Galaxy Note 7, the company has today made the headlines again after issuing an urgent recall on 2.8 million top-loading washing machines.
In a statement, the company said that it is working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to recall 34 models produced between March 2011 and October 2016. The CPSC had previously warned customers that it had received reports of top-loading washing machines exploding, but Samsung has been forced to step in after owners noticed that the drums in their washers caused appliances to “lose balance, triggering excessive vibrations, resulting in the top separating from the washer.”
The US consumer watchdog says it has already collected 733 reports of Samsung machines experiencing excessive vibration or complete detachment, which resulted in nine injuries, including a broken jaw, injured shoulder and “other impact or fall-related injuries.” Samsung said in September that it believed the issues were caused by “bedding, water-resistant or bulky items” being placed on a high-speed spin cycle and recommended that owners simply use slower settings instead.
To remedy the situation, Samsung is offering two options. The first is a free in-home repair that will reinforce the washing machine’s top compartment. Owners will be given an additional one-year warranty if they choose that option, regardless of its age. The second is a rebate that will be applied to the purchase of a new Samsung or “other brand” washing machine. Anyone buying another Samsung unit will receive an extra $150 towards their purchase. If that sounds familiar, Galaxy Note 7 owners also get money off if they buy another Samsung phone.
Samsung has set up a new website to handle the recall, which lists the models affected and allows owners to check if their washer has been impacted.
Via: Samsung News
Source: Samsung Recall Page
India wants the tech used to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone
Israeli forensics company Cellebrite helped the FBI access the contents of a suspect’s iPhone 5c following the shooting in San Bernardino last year. Now India is in talks to buy the company’s tech that will allow it to unlock phones and other devices. The Economic Times reports that India’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is purchasing the tool and should have it in hand within a month. What’s more, the FSL says India will be “a global hub for cases where law enforcement is unable to break into phones.” In other words, the India government will lend a hand to other countries that need to crack encrypted devices.
The Economic Times reports that the Indian government has already enlisted help from Cellebrite in “a few cases,” but now it will have the encryption cracking tech on hand to use as needed. Details are scarce on if the country will be the exclusive owner of the technology or under what circumstances it will make the resource available to other governments around the world. It’s also not a done deal yet, but FSL officials seem confident the government will complete the purchase soon. There’s no word on how much the transaction will cost, but the FBI paid Cellebrite over $1 million for its services in the San Bernardino case.
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: The Economic Times
WhatsApp is reportedly developing its own Snapchat clone
WhatsApp is reportedly working on an ephemeral photo-narrative feature that’s in no way a rip-off of Snapchat. According to Mashable, the Facebook-owned messaging service is testing an image-sharing function called Status. The project was apparently uncovered by keen-eyed folks examining the most recent WhatsApp betas for iOS and Android. The plan appears to be that Status will slot in on the tab menu between Chats and Calls. There’ll even be the ability to create doodles and add text captions just like… you know.
Long before Snapchat was a huge deal, it was the subject of a buyout deal from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg. Snapchat rebuffed the offer, and Facebook’s response has been to work relentlessly to undermine the object of its jilted affections. Instagram has been slowly drawing inspiration from its main rival, adding Instagram Stories to its core platform. In addition, Facebook tried to buy the “Asian Snapchat” this summer in the hope of curtailing its rival’s international growth. It’s a lesson to us all that if Mark Zuckerberg offers you $3 billion for something, maybe factor how much revenge he’ll exact if you say no.
Source: Mashable
Code.gov is the US government’s open-source software hub
Back in August, the Obama Administration announced a new policy that requires 20 percent of the federal government’s software projects be open source. To make all of that material easily accessible, there’s now a place for you to view all of the code. Code.gov is the web-based hub for the initiative and it features around 50 projects from 10 different agencies. Those projects include the White House Facebook chat bot, Data.gov and the “We the People” petitions API.
The recent policy change was aimed at reducing the cost of custom software purchases by allowing government agencies to share resources. Of course, the open-source initiative also gives folks outside of the government access to the code as well. “It’s a step we took to enable the brightest minds inside and outside of government to work together to ensure that federal code is reliable and effective,” explains US Chief Information Officer Tony Scott in a blog post.
In addition to streamlining software use in the federal government, the White House wants Code.gov and the wider open-source requirement to push state and local government to boost their services. Imagine if you could get an answer about a tax question or vehicle registration via a Facebook bot rather than having wait on hold for several minutes with a phone call or stand in line.
Source: White House Blog
One consultation was enough to sell me on online doctors
This time last week, I was writhing in pain.
I had a minor surgery a while back that left me susceptible to infections. This doesn’t happen very often — four times over the past decade — but when it does, it’s not fun. One side of my face swells grotesquely, brimming with pus deep within. Positioned equidistant between my mouth and temple, this swelling brings on major headaches and makes eating painful. I get a black eye, and, if left unchecked, that eye gets forced shut. Without going into more detail, it’s very unpleasant.
In the past, I’ve caught these infections as they were brewing and managed to stop the worst of the symptoms from ever materializing, but last week I was certain I was just getting headaches. By the time swelling started to appear late on Thursday night, it was too late.
In addition to the rapidly growing pile of leukocyte corpses buried in my cheek, I had another problem: I recently moved to a new apartment. Because I’m bad at life, I hadn’t registered with a new GP (a general practitioner, the Brit version of a primary care physician). That meant two things: either travel back to where I used to live to see my GP, or register at a new clinic and wait a couple hours to be seen.
I’m based in London, and work the “overnight shift” at Engadget, making sure the site doesn’t catch fire while my US-based colleagues are asleep. That means I work with a smaller team than a writer in New York, and last Friday we had a couple other people out of the office as well. If I were dying, I’m sure they could have done without me, but taking three hours off work just wasn’t practical.
And so I sat, stuffed full of ibuprofen, paracetamol and codeine, yet inexplicably still in pain. Then my colleague Matt Brian suggested I see an “app doctor.”
Apps and sites that let you virtually talk with a medical professional are pretty common. After a little Googling around for comparison, I settled on “Push Doctor,” a UK service which had a couple of good writeups and (more importantly, if I’m being honest) a large introductory discount for what is a premium service. After registering, I booked an appointment, which was as simple as you’d expect: I was presented with a list of available slots, with the earliest in my case being eight minutes away (appointments run from 7AM to 10PM, seven days a week).
The appointment felt no different from a regular check-up.
With my slot reserved, I then had two options for the appointment: download an app on my phone or use my browser. I chose the latter. The actual appointment felt no different from a regular check-up. Through video chat, I explained my complaint and was asked the usual array of follow-up questions. When I registered, I gave the doctor access to my National Health Service (NHS, the UK’s public health authority) records, so I assume they were able to verify that this was a repeat condition. The only thing that didn’t happen was a doctor poking at the swelling, asking me how it felt, and so on. Instead, I was asked to do that poking myself, and report back on the sensation.
The “examination” and questioning took around five minutes. After asking more questions about allergies and if I was taking any other medication or recreational drugs, the doctor prescribed a short course of Metronidazole (an antibiotic / antiprotozoal medication often marketed as Flagyl). Upon doing so, a prompt popped up in front of the video stream, asking me to accept a prescription charge of £6.50 (around $8). I did so, and shortly after that the call ended. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure the video chat was necessary in this case — it’s not like I had a rash to show, or anything like that — but the “face-to-face” aspect did help build trust.
Around a minute later, I received a phone call from Push Doctor asking where I wanted to pick up my medication, and I chose a pharmacy around 350 yards from my desk. Fifteen minutes later, they called again to say my order was ready. I wandered to the pharmacy, paid another £8.40 ($10.50 — the standard UK rate that’s waived if you’re elderly or young or qualify in other ways) for the meds, and went home. The entire process — from booking the appointment to getting home and popping the first of many pills — took about 45 minutes, of which only 20 required me to put my deadline on hold.
How much did it cost? I paid a total of £15.90 (just under $20), including my meds. It would’ve been more expensive if I needed more medicine (the £6.50 fee wouldn’t rise, but pharmacy costs would have), and if I needed a referral to a specialist or a sick note for work there would’ve been additional fees (£12.50 / $16 each). Also, about that discount I mentioned: A consultation is usually £20 per 10 minutes. I paid £1.
£15.90 is considerably more expensive than seeing my regular GP, who wouldn’t have charged me anything, leaving me with just an £8.40 pharmacy bill. Take off the discount, and next time I try the service it’s likely I’ll be paying around £26.50 ($33) for the convenience. But it was so convenient. I didn’t have to spend several hours away from work, sit among sick people and be prodded by a stranger. I didn’t need to wait while the pharmacy saw to my paper prescription — it was just there waiting for me.
I’m not sickly enough to need it, but Push Doctor also offers a subscription service: £20 a month covers unlimited appointments, prescriptions, referral letters and sick notes. If I had an ongoing medical concern, I would definitely consider it, but I typically visit the doctor once a year, and my employer offers a yearly physical as a perk.
So here’s the thing: The UK has a public healthcare system that’s mostly funded by taxes. Visiting the doctor, hospital or a specialist is typically free, with nominal charges for prescriptions only. Right now, these apps offer private healthcare, when every UK citizen has public healthcare rights.
To be clear, many of the doctors on this and other services are NHS GPs, who are working out-of-hours to make some extra money. Push Doctor is, however, approved as a way for NHS doctors to give (free) remote consultations to their patients. There obviously isn’t a huge uptake for this yet, but online check-ups through the public health service could be commonplace one day.
I honestly don’t think I’ll see a GP in the flesh ever again.
In the US and other countries, apps like DoctorOnDemand, HelloMD and LiveHealth perhaps make immediate sense for more than just the rich or the overworked. If your insurance company will cover the cost of seeing a virtual doctor, there’s much less of a barrier to entry.
After my experience with a virtual doctor, I’m totally sold on the idea. I won’t always be this young, and at some point in my life, I’m going to be hospitalized. I’m going to see specialists. I’m going to need physical examinations. But for the regular malaise that strikes us all from time to time, or any condition that just needs a few pills to solve, I can’t see myself visiting a clinic.
I’m definitely going to try a few other services to see how they compare, hopefully taking advantage of some more introductory discounts while I’m at it. Maybe I’ll find a better service than Push Doctor, but the basic premise is likely to be the same. It makes elegant and intelligent use of everyday technologies like video conferencing and digital medical records to give me 24/7 (okay, 15/7) access to a doctor with just a few minutes notice, no matter where in the country I am. I honestly don’t think I’ll see a GP in the flesh ever again.
Oh, and by the way, my face is fine now.
AIVAnet 