Facebook Chatbots and VR camera

Further proving this is the year of bots and VR, Facebook announced some interesting new products.

·       Facebook announced “Agents on Messenger” a program for business to create chatbots for customer service, ecommerce and more. Customers can send a text to the chat and the Chatbots can respond with texts, custom links, and buttons that would allow users ask questions, to pay for items, or book rooms.

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·       Facebook also launched a Live video API that lets you broadcast to Facebook from any device.

·       The company also revealed an open source VR camera called Surround 360. The 17-lens camera require almost no post-production work. Rather than selling it Facebook will open source the designs and video stitching-algorithms and post to Github. Parts are estimated to cost $30,000.

New Amazon Kindle leaked

The Verge reports that an accidentally published page on Tmall gave an early look at Amazon’s Kindle Oasis as well. It has a large bezel on one side, a 300ppi screen weighs 131 grams, 3.4 to 8.5 mm thick. The translated page described a rechargeable battery case that attaches with magnets and comes in three colors, providing 20 months of standby time. No mention of it being waterproof.

Live Streamed Surgery using VR

Medical Realities, a company that uses VR and augmented reality as a medical education tool, is set to host the first live VR stream of surgery on April 14th, using a 360-degree camera to show the entire operating table. You'll only need the company's app and Google Cardboard (or a viable alternative) to tune in. The surgery isn't particularly risky (it's a fairly standard tumor removal), but the company is aware of the dangers -- the feed is delayed by a minute in case something goes awry.

Singapore to get Gigabit LTE

CNET reports that Singapore’s carrier, StarHub is partnering with Huawei to bring gigabit LTE to Singapore in the spring of 2017. The 4.5G service which promises will roll out in the central business district. The improved speeds from the new small cell network will easily surpass this, however such service will only be achieved indoors, as the technology uses mini cellular towers to blanket an area, such as a mall or office building, with coverage. Devices that can take advantage of the speed have yet to hit the market. StarHub is currently rated as the world’s fastest LTE operator with average speeds of 38 Mbps.

Twitter to stream NFL

Twitter will stream 10 Thursday Night Football games “to a global audience” in 2016 for free without authentication. That’s Huge for the NFL.

-      Twitter paid around $10 million according to Bloomberg’s source (beating out Verizon, Yahoo, Amazon)

-      CBS and NBC paid $225mm for 5 Thursday games each — Verizon has rights to stream to wireless phones

-      Twitter video will be embeddable. Include pregame Periscope streams from players and teams

-      Available on the Twitter PC, phone, and Xbox app

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-05/twitter-said-to-win-nfl-deal-for-thursday-night-streaming-rights

Facebook adds Periscope like features

TechCrunch reports that Facebook is adding a live streaming button to the middle of its iOS and Android apps leading to a dedicated page and a map of live streams. You can choose to stream to groups or events now and viewers can use all Facebook reactions. Comments and reactions will replay when viewed later. Facebook is paying some publishers to stream on the platform. The new button and features should roll out to users over the next few weeks.

HTC Vive ships

This week the HTC Vive, the main Oculus VR competitor, has begun shipping this week. While the fervor in the media has not been quiet as high as Oculus’ release last week, the reviews have been good. Most reviews admit the Oculus Rift is more comfortable and the screen is slightly better, the Vive’s hand controls and the ability to move around a room are more immersive.

However, Endgadget reports that both Oculus and HTC are shipping their new VR headsets slower than expected. Oculus told Rift pre-order customers that the delay is due to a component shortage. Oculus will update preoders on April 12th and give free shipping. Some HTC Vive orders were declined by credit card companies causing some folks to lose their order or be bumped to the end of the waiting list. HTC says it is working to put everyone back in the right order.

PS4 now streams to PC and Mac

The Verge reports that Sony will released System Software 3.5 for PlayStation 4 Wednesday that allows users to install Remote Play apps on PCs and Macs. Remote Play allows PS4 owners to stream gameplay to their computer at resolutions of 360p, 540p or 720p with frame rates of 30fps or 60fps. You'll need to connect a DualShock 4 controller to the PC or Mac as well.

New Doctor Strange Photos

This week while filming Doctor Strange in NYC, Benedict Cumberbatch stopped by a local comic book store to pick up the latest issue of the Doctor Strange comic book, in full costume. He tweeted some photos of his time there and the shop owner was understandably excited. Additionally, we get a look at Cumberbatch posing for Coming Soon! Magazine in full Doctor Strange regalia.

http://www.slashfilm.com/new-doctor-strange-photo/

Freeform Orders ‘Marvel’s Cloak And Dagger’ Series

Disney is expanding its Marvel TV. Production company Freeform has ordered a new series with Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger, a straight-to-series live-action drama based on the Marvel characters, which is aimed at young adults.

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger follows the interracial romance between Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, two teenagers from very different backgrounds, who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers while falling in love. Tandy can emit light daggers and Tyrone has the ability to engulf others in darkness.

Sherlock Season 4 starts filming

Deadline reports that Filming has begun in the UK on the much anticipated Season 4 of the BBC One/Masterpiece drama Sherlock. Three new episodes are afoot promising “laughter, tears, shocks, surprises and extraordinary cases,” the networks said today. Benedict Cumberbatch returns as the high-functioning sociopath alongside Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson and Amanda Abbington as his wife Mary. The latter two will be preparing for the arrival of their first child.

Cumberbatch said he’s “genuinely thrilled to be back filming Sherlock with all the cast and crew. I can’t wait for everyone to see season four.

Fans love the Tesla Model 3

This week Tesla Motors revealed the Model 3 and Tesla fans have gone wild for the least expensive Tesla vehicle.

The Model 3 will get at least 215 miles of range beginning at just $35,000. Musk is "fairly confident" that deliveries will begin by the end of 2017, and "you will not be able to buy a better car for $35,000, even with no options." And it will be one of the safest cars in the world, according to Musk. All Model 3 cars will include support for Tesla's high-speed Supercharging network, because "it's about going where you want to go," according to Musk.

Only some 24 hours after the first US dealerships began taking deposits, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla has taken 180,000 preorders. That's $180 million in deposits, and, according to Musk's estimates, $7.5 billion worth of cars at a predicted average selling price of $42,000.

Final Fantasy XV, finally!

This week the release date for Final Fantasy XV was leaked ahead of the official Square Enix press release but they also had a ton of other news about the game too.

·       Release Date September 30th, 2016.

o   Game trailer: https://youtu.be/C05PC_dGjsw

·       Final Fantasy XV is getting its own anime series. Dubbed Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, the series is somewhat of a prequel, telling the story of main character Noctis and how he came to be friends with the three characters that he'll be traveling with in the game.

o   Episode 1 https://youtu.be/fsVhwsUFaDE

·       CGI Final Fantasy Movie Coming This Year, Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV

o   Movie Trailer: https://youtu.be/otB3zq6ppwc

Microsoft BUILD announcements

This week Microsoft had several interesting announcements at this year’s BUILD conference keynote.

1.  All retail Xbox One consoles can become development kits free of charge.

a.  Xbox Dev Mode is available starting today as a preview and will be finalized as a full release this summer.

2.  The Hololens development kits started shipping this week, still cost $3,000 though.

a.  Showed off Holoportation- Full 3D Holographic video capture and transition. Princess Leia Star Wars scene.

b.  https://youtu.be/tIl7UMUxKJo

3.  The cornerstone of the keynote was the Microsoft Bot Framework.

a.  This tool in preview lets developers build their own chatbots into apps.

b.  Chatbot- Programs that chat-based conversations between a user and an automated response system. Can be so realistic some users don’t realize they’re talking/texting with a chatbots.

c.   Skype will get chatbots built in for desktop, iOS and Android and its own Skype Bot platform. Examples included booking a hotel room and arranging delivery of cupcakes. 

Oculus Rift Delivery

The first consumer versions of the Oculus rift arrived this week and the internets have been going crazy. The very first rift was hand delivered in Alaska by founder Palmer Luckey to the 1st person who preorder it. Luckey live streamed the event on Facebook Live. Overall the reviews of the rift, with its included games Lucky’s Tale and Eve Valkyrie, have been very positive. However, take into account that there’s not anything else to compare it to right now since it’s the only consumer VR headset available. The HTC Vive ships in April.

http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/26/oculus-founder-palmer-luckey-hand-delivers-first-rift-vr-headset-to-customer/?ncid=rss

The FBI says they don’t need Apple

This week the FBI put the final nail in their court case with Apple over the San Bernardino phone. They asked the judge presiding on the case to vacate the order that tried to compel Apple to help them break into the phone. The FBI acknowledged that they were able to access the phone with the help of a 3rd party security company after all.

The fight over security and national security is not over though. PC World reports the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has identified 64 cases where the US Department of Justice has requested cooperation from Apple or Google under the All Writs Order to unlock mobile devices. 7 of the 9 cases involving Google asked for a password reset. 30 of the cases are from 2015 or later. This is in addition to 12 cases identified by Apple’s lawyer Marc Zwillinger in February.

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6255515/apple-order2.0.pdf

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3049714/us-has-asked-apple-google-to-help-unlock-devices-in-more-than-70-cases.html#tk.rss_news

Apple Vs FBI canceled due to Hacker

Remember that court case where the FBI was trying to force Apple to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter? Well, that’s on hold for now. This Monday, the FBI filed a motion to vacate Tuesday’s hearing and issue a stay for Apple to assist the FBI. On Sunday a third party demonstrated to the FBI a method for unlocking the phone without Apple’s assistance. US Magistrate Sheri Pym canceled Tuesday’s hearing and issued a stay. The FBI asked for two weeks to test the new method. The FBI must give the judge a status report by April 5.

There are rumors that Israeli security firm, Cellebrite who specializes in recovering data from cellphones, is the company helping the FBI.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/03/apple-gets-short-term-win-but-new-mysterious-fbi-unlocking-method-looms/

http://www.cnet.com/news/fbis-iphone-hack-help-may-come-from-israeli-security-firm/

Apple Announcements

The Verge put together a list of the most exciting Apple announcements this week. Including:

The 4-inch iPhone SE- A smaller version of the iPhone 6S. It has A9 processor and 12-megapixel rear camera for the $399 16GB model, which is alarmingly little space for a modern phone, but $499 for the more spacious 64GB one. The company will start taking pre-orders this Thursday, and the device will be available March 31st.

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro- The latest iPad has shrunk from 12.9-inch to a smaller 9.7-inch version. The specs for the machine are about the same though it does weigh under one pound now. The new iPad comes in silver, gold, space grey, and rose gold. Pricing starts at $599 for the 32GB version, but is also offered at $749 for 128GB and a 256GB model for $899

Apple Watch price cut – The $349 Apple Watch will now start at $299. Along with it, Apple announced a new lineup of watch bands with new colors.

Microsoft Teen Tweetbot Goes Wild

The Telegraph reported that Developers at Microsoft created 'Tay', an AI modelled to speak 'like a teen girl', in order to improve the customer service on their voice recognition software. The idea was to teach the AI about culture by having it tweet with people online. Within 24 hours however the internet taught Tay to be a Hitler-loving, sex-promoting, 'Bush did 9/11'-proclaiming robot. Microsoft has since shut down Tay.

VR Porn

The video site PornHub is partnering with BaDoinkVR to launch a new VR section of the PornHub website. The site is offering free cardboard VR goggle’s to its users.