Month: January 2024
YouTube TV listened to sports fans, and it’s fixing multiview’s biggest problem
Fantasy players and sports bettors should be salivating right now. | YouTube
Since its launch last spring, YouTube TV’s multiview functionality has been a huge quality-of-life improvement for sports fans. You can use it to watch multiple games concurrently without making space for extra TVs — but until now, you could only watch the predetermined sets of games that YouTube thinks would appeal to most viewers. An incoming update changes that, finally letting you customize multiview with your preferred combination of broadcasts, as spotted by 9to5Google.
While a big improvement over the curated multiview feeds YouTube TV launched with, it sounds like you’re still bound by certain limitations. For instance, although you can build your own bundle of specific games, you can still only choose them from a predetermined list, according to a report from Cordcutters News.
Google spokesperson Allison Toh confirmed the rollout in an email to The Verge, noting it’s currently only available for NBA League Pass and men’s and women’s NCAA basketball. “We hope to gradually bring this to more live sports over the next few months,” Toh wrote.
I’m hoping these lists will eventually contain all games currently airing within their respective sport or league. As of this writing, however, YouTube TV’s help site still alludes to varying regional broadcast differences and server-side resources that limit what’s possible.
My ultimate dream would be to build a multiview of games from any sport or any channel (Sunday Ticket would be nice for the 2024 NFL season, just a thought!), but for now, I’ll take all the baby steps I can get.
Fantasy players and sports bettors should be salivating right now. | YouTube
Since its launch last spring, YouTube TV’s multiview functionality has been a huge quality-of-life improvement for sports fans. You can use it to watch multiple games concurrently without making space for extra TVs — but until now, you could only watch the predetermined sets of games that YouTube thinks would appeal to most viewers. An incoming update changes that, finally letting you customize multiview with your preferred combination of broadcasts, as spotted by 9to5Google.
While a big improvement over the curated multiview feeds YouTube TV launched with, it sounds like you’re still bound by certain limitations. For instance, although you can build your own bundle of specific games, you can still only choose them from a predetermined list, according to a report from Cordcutters News.
Google spokesperson Allison Toh confirmed the rollout in an email to The Verge, noting it’s currently only available for NBA League Pass and men’s and women’s NCAA basketball. “We hope to gradually bring this to more live sports over the next few months,” Toh wrote.
I’m hoping these lists will eventually contain all games currently airing within their respective sport or league. As of this writing, however, YouTube TV’s help site still alludes to varying regional broadcast differences and server-side resources that limit what’s possible.
My ultimate dream would be to build a multiview of games from any sport or any channel (Sunday Ticket would be nice for the 2024 NFL season, just a thought!), but for now, I’ll take all the baby steps I can get.
Apple Vision Pro Review Roundup
Apple has lifted the embargo on the first wave of non-curated reviews of its Vision Pro headset, and the results are somewhat surprising. The initial “high” experienced upon first impressions, where reviewers laud the headset’s “incredibly impressive displays” and “near perfect” tracking capabilities, has waned. In real-world conditions outside of Apple’s heavily-regulated demos, the Vision Pro appears to suffer from limited productivity usecases, DRM’d apps, and half-baked features that suggest this device is still very much in the dev-kit stage. Above all, however, is the isolation experienced when using the Vision Pro. It offers very few options for wearers to socialize and share memories with one another in any meaningful way. Tim Cook may be right when he said headsets are inherently isolating.
“You’re in there, having experiences all by yourself that no one else can take part it,” concludes Nilay Patel in his review for The Verge. “I don’t want to get work done in the Vision Pro. I get my work done with other people, and I’d rather be out here with them.”
These are some of our favorite reviews of the Apple Vision Pro:
– The Verge: Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
– The Wall Street Journal: Apple Vision Pro Review: The Best Headset Yet Is Just a Glimpse of the Future
– Washington Post: Apple’s Vision Pro is nearly here. But what can you do with it?
– Tom’s Guide: Apple Vision Pro review: A revolution in progress
– CNET: Apple Vision Pro Review: A Mind-Blowing Look at an Unfinished Future
– CNBC: Apple Vision Pro review: This is the future of computing and entertainment
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple has lifted the embargo on the first wave of non-curated reviews of its Vision Pro headset, and the results are somewhat surprising. The initial “high” experienced upon first impressions, where reviewers laud the headset’s “incredibly impressive displays” and “near perfect” tracking capabilities, has waned. In real-world conditions outside of Apple’s heavily-regulated demos, the Vision Pro appears to suffer from limited productivity usecases, DRM’d apps, and half-baked features that suggest this device is still very much in the dev-kit stage. Above all, however, is the isolation experienced when using the Vision Pro. It offers very few options for wearers to socialize and share memories with one another in any meaningful way. Tim Cook may be right when he said headsets are inherently isolating.
“You’re in there, having experiences all by yourself that no one else can take part it,” concludes Nilay Patel in his review for The Verge. “I don’t want to get work done in the Vision Pro. I get my work done with other people, and I’d rather be out here with them.”
These are some of our favorite reviews of the Apple Vision Pro:
– The Verge: Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
– The Wall Street Journal: Apple Vision Pro Review: The Best Headset Yet Is Just a Glimpse of the Future
– Washington Post: Apple’s Vision Pro is nearly here. But what can you do with it?
– Tom’s Guide: Apple Vision Pro review: A revolution in progress
– CNET: Apple Vision Pro Review: A Mind-Blowing Look at an Unfinished Future
– CNBC: Apple Vision Pro review: This is the future of computing and entertainment
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Someone finally cracked the “Silk Dress cryptogram” after 10 years
What does “Bismarck Omit leafage buck bank” mean to you?
Enlarge / “Paul Ramify loamy event false new event” was one of the lines written on two sheets of paper found in a hidden pocket. (credit: Sara Rivers Cofield)
In December 2013, a curator and archaeologist purchased an antique silk dress with an unusual feature: a hidden pocket that held two sheets of paper with mysterious coded text written on them. People have been trying to crack the code ever since, and someone finally succeeded: University of Manitoba data analyst Wayne Chan. He discovered that the text is actually coded telegraph messages describing the weather used by the US Army and (later) the weather bureau. Chan outlined all the details of his decryption in a paper published in the journal Cryptologia.
“When I first thought I cracked it, I did feel really excited,” Chan told the New York Times. “It is probably one of the most complex telegraphic codes that I’ve ever seen.”
Sara Rivers-Cofield purchased the bronze-colored silk bustle dress with striped rust velvet accents for $100 at an antique shop in Maine, noting on her blog that it was in a style that was fashionable in the mid-1880s among middle-class or well-off women. There wasn’t any fitted boning in the bodice, so the dress was meant to be worn with a corset. It had a draped skirt and bustle with metal buttons decorated with an “Ophelia motif.” While the dress had been machine-stitched, the original buttons had been sewn by hand. A tag with the name “Bennett” was sewn into the bodice.
Apple Vision Pro: Unboxed and Set Up video – CNET
What’s inside the box, and what happens when you start it up? Come along and find out when we check out Apple’s mixed reality headset for the first time.
What’s inside the box, and what happens when you start it up? Come along and find out when we check out Apple’s mixed reality headset for the first time.
Navigating media’s ups and downs with theSkimm co-founders
Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week Becca flew solo with Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the co-founders and co-CEOs of theSkimm, a digital media company delivering news through newsletter targeted at millennial women. Zakin and Weisberg talked about what market gap they wanted theSkimm to fill. They
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week Becca flew solo with Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the co-founders and co-CEOs of theSkimm, a digital media company delivering news through newsletter targeted at millennial women. Zakin and Weisberg talked about what market gap they wanted theSkimm to fill. They […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Microsoft’s gaming revenue is up 49 percent in Q2, mostly thanks to the Activision deal
Microsoft posted another blowout earnings report for Q2 of the 2024 fiscal year, with revenues of $62 billion (up 18 percent from last year) and profits of $21.9 billion (a 33 increase). But really, the most interesting thing about this quarter is that we finally get to see how the $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition affects the $3 trillion company. While Microsoft isn’t breaking out specific numbers, it says that its overall gaming revenue increased by 49 percent, 44 points of which came from the “net impact” of the Activision deal.
Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division, which includes Xbox, Surface and Windows, was up 19 percent ($16.9 billion) since last year. The company says the Activision deal accounted for 15 points of that increase. It’s a huge change for a division that’s been severely impacted by dwindling PC sales (which affects Windows licenses and Surfaces) and struggling Xbox consoles. PC device revenues were down 9 percent for the quarter, while Xbox hardware sales were up 3 percent.
Xbox content and services revenue is also up 61 percent since last year, 55 points of which comes from Activision. It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft can actually leverage that acquisition to help Xbox sales, or at the very least, spur on more interest in Game Pass subscriptions. (Unfortunately, we don’t have any updates on how that service is doing.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-gaming-revenue-is-up-49-percent-in-q2-mostly-thanks-to-the-activision-deal-222502444.html?src=rss
Microsoft posted another blowout earnings report for Q2 of the 2024 fiscal year, with revenues of $62 billion (up 18 percent from last year) and profits of $21.9 billion (a 33 increase). But really, the most interesting thing about this quarter is that we finally get to see how the $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition affects the $3 trillion company. While Microsoft isn’t breaking out specific numbers, it says that its overall gaming revenue increased by 49 percent, 44 points of which came from the “net impact” of the Activision deal.
Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division, which includes Xbox, Surface and Windows, was up 19 percent ($16.9 billion) since last year. The company says the Activision deal accounted for 15 points of that increase. It’s a huge change for a division that’s been severely impacted by dwindling PC sales (which affects Windows licenses and Surfaces) and struggling Xbox consoles. PC device revenues were down 9 percent for the quarter, while Xbox hardware sales were up 3 percent.
Xbox content and services revenue is also up 61 percent since last year, 55 points of which comes from Activision. It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft can actually leverage that acquisition to help Xbox sales, or at the very least, spur on more interest in Game Pass subscriptions. (Unfortunately, we don’t have any updates on how that service is doing.)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-gaming-revenue-is-up-49-percent-in-q2-mostly-thanks-to-the-activision-deal-222502444.html?src=rss
UK law could ban Apple security updates across the world in an ‘unprecedented overreach’
UK proposes a new amendment to its IPA law that could ban Apple security updates worldwide in an “unprecedented overreach.”
Apple is no stranger to controversy, especially involving government bodies. But a new proposal could aim to be “unprecedented” in its reach over the tech giant.
Several amendments to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) have been proposed, one that would require Apple (and any other company) to “notify UK officials of any updates they planned to make that could restrict the UK government’s access to this data, including any updates impacting users outside the UK,” according to Ars Technica. Basically, if a security or privacy update doesn’t give the UK government unrestricted access to user data, it can veto that update. And this goes for non-UK consumers as well as UK ones.
Apple has deeply criticized the move, noting that it would give the UK unprecedented power and would allow it to veto privacy and security updates. In a statement from Apple, the company said: “We’re deeply concerned the proposed amendments [to the IPA] now before Parliament place users’ privacy and security at risk.”
Despite Apple’s misgivings about the amendments, the UK has defended its proposals, stating that they’re meant to fight against “hostile activity by states” as well as “terrorists and criminal groups.” The UK also remarked that it needed to apply “world-leading safeguards consistent with the UK’s democratic values,” which seems to explain why these proposals also affect non-UK countries as well.
The proposal must first pass the House of Commons before reaching the House of Lords. The House of Lords cannot directly oppose new legislation, but it can certainly delay the process and force compromise before it passes.
Apple is on the right side of history
It’s an interesting situation currently unfolding between the UK and Apple, one that is surprisingly complex. On one hand, it would almost be natural to support restrictive legislation against a corporation, especially one as wealthy and powerful as Apple. But it seems that Apple may have a point this time around.
The UK is asserting that these amendments are purely for the safety of users not only in the UK but across the world. However, allowing the UK to pass these into law would make for a significant increase in how much control the government has over corporations and especially the data of average citizens being collected and stored. And the UK isn’t asking Apple to better its security or to control how much data the company collects, but simply wants access to that data for itself.
The BBC reported that several civil liberties groups are siding with Apple, including Big Brother Watch, Liberty, Open Rights Group, and Privacy International. In a joint statement from a conference between these groups, the law amendment was characterized as one “effectively transforming private companies into arms of the surveillance state and eroding the security of devices and the internet.”
We’ll have to see how this whole situation unfolds.
You might also like
Apple says these are the best security keys around nowApple reveals some serious security bugs, so be on your guardUpdate your iPhone and iPad now – Apple just fixed a big iOS security flaw
Elon Musk’s Tesla Pay Package Is Struck Down by Judge
Shareholders had sued, arguing that Mr. Musk’s compensation — which helped make him the world’s richest person — was excessive.
Shareholders had sued, arguing that Mr. Musk’s compensation — which helped make him the world’s richest person — was excessive.