Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
Welcome to the end of the week. Microsoft’s second day of its annual conference was a more interesting one.It’s trying to bridge your PC and phone, and we get to see what’s next for Windows 10. Meanwhile, a Russian blogger was given a suspended jail sentence for playing Pokémon Go in a church. We also unveil The Engadget Experience, an event coming this November, aimed at exploring a new creative revolution, involving virtual reality, augmented reality and everything in between.
Windows 10’s next Creators Update arrives this fall
Microsoft just rolled out a big update for Windows 10, but there’s another one on the way later this year. Read on to find out more details, but we’re expecting to see the debut of Fluent Design System (aka Project Neon) and a OneDrive Files On-Demand setup that blurs the line between cloud and local storage. There’s also Microsoft Graph and, oh yeah, Linux in the Windows Store.
Microsoft Graph bridges the gap between Windows and your phone
Microsoft’s push into being the connective glue between all of your devices is realized in Graph. The aim is to make all things Microsoft work seamlessly, whether you’re on an iPhone, an Android device or a Windows PC. Timeline will keep a record of everything you’ve done on your PC, whether that involves apps, files or websites. Clipboard will let you copy and paste from PC to your smartphone keyboard, while Cortana will offer up suggestions when you log off your PC and unlock your phone.
Microsoft’s five design rules that will push Windows ‘beyond mere rectangles’
As Microsoft gets ready to stretch across devices and beyond screens, it’s nudging software developers to think in new ways. To that end, it has established a set of rules for its new Fluent Design System that will help overhaul the old flat-rectangle interface we’ve seen before. So far, it’s mostly concept art, but depth, material, light, scale and motion are all critical to prepare for a day when these objects are floating in an augmented reality environment.
Microsoft reveals its first Windows Mixed Reality Controllers
If we’re going to navigate through Windows in VR/AR/MR environments, we’ll probably need more than a mouse and keyboard. Enter these new Mixed Reality controllers that use inside-out tracking and support headsets from various PC manufacturers. We don’t have a retail price yet, but Acer will bundle them with its VR headset for an additional $ 100 on top of the standard $ 299 price.
Welcome to The Engadget Experience
With technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence finally reaching the mainstream, we’re on the cusp of a creative revolution. New mediums have given birth to a new class of artists, entertainers, filmmakers and musicians, limited only by their access to and understanding of technology. Despite this explosion in creative possibilities, however, artists and technologists often exist in distinct, isolated worlds.
During The Engadget Experience on November 16th in Los Angeles, we’ll attempt to bridge the gap between these often disparate worlds through a series of talks, interviews, screenings and installations. We’ve also gathered a small committee of technology and art tastemakers to award five grants of up to $ 100,000 a piece toward the production of ongoing or original works addressing the theme of alternate realities. Read more about it here.
Fossil hopes you’ll like one of its 300 smartwatches
Fossil wants to offer consumers more smartwatch choices since not everyone likes the same style of watch. Pictured above, is Skagen’s Hagen Connected Steel-Mesh, a $ 220 hybrid smartwatch with a traditional design and features such as activity tracking, sleep monitoring and support for phone notifications. Fossil’s hybrid pieces have another thing in common: they come with a standard, replaceable coin-cell battery. Essentially, you just have to worry about downloading the companion app to keep track of your data.
The ‘Lighthouse’ uses AI to keep an eye on who is doing what at all times
This security camera moves beyond the rest by integrating 3D vision developed for self-driving cars and an Intelligence AI service. That way, instead of just recording and watching for motion, it can recognize all of the people and pets in your household, to keep track of their activities when you’re not home. For example, you can set it up to notice if the dog walker shows up on time and it will identify them using facial recognition. All of this data is apparently guarded with encryption and deleted after 30 days. If you’re interested in becoming your own big brother, preorders are available starting at $ 399.
But wait, there’s more…
- Microsoft will offer three flavors of Linux in the Windows Store
- Russian blogger found guilty of playing ‘Pokémon Go’ in church
- Apple helps you crush the ‘gram with ‘How to shoot on iPhone 7’ videos
- NASA’s mission to Mars includes a year-long stay on the moon
- Trump signs executive order for sweeping review of US cybersecurity
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